How important are your tweets? That is for Twitter to decide! One of the articles in our latest Digital Download discusses Twitter’s recent announcement that they are going to begin attaching value ratings to users’ tweets as none, low, medium and high.

According to Twitter, the new metadata will allow developers to sort through millions of tweets in their streaming API to help them find the conversations that are most useful to them.

Although Twitter did not say how they will actually determine each tweet’s value, it is likely the system will work the same way that “Top Tweets” currently appear in a Twitter search result. Basically, you can get your 140-characters-or-less as a ‘Top Tweet’ if you have a large following or if you manage to rack up a lot of retweets.

As we all know, some streams on Twitter have so much content and move so fast that it can be very hard to keep up. This new system may help brands find the most useful information – and the most influential individuals – in the often-overwhelming Twitter conversations. On the flip side, the new system could prevent great content from being seen if the user (or brand) is new to the ever-growing social platform.

What do you think? Do you find ‘value’ in Twitter’s new rating system?

Read more about Twitter’s new rating system in the latest 360Social Digital Download, a round-up of digital marketing news for brands.

• Twitter will now decide the ‘value’ of your tweets

  The value judgments will be assigned to the public metadata of tweeters’ posts, and used by Twitter’s streaming API to help developers more selectively curate massive amounts of status updates. More
• Social Fresh claims Facebook is turning into a mobile company

  According to Mark Zuckerberg, in 2013, Facebook is “going to get really good at building mobile-first experiences.” 680 million users access Facebook via mobile at least once a month. 157 million ONLY access Facebook via mobile (15% of the total user base). More
• Twitter launches Vine app – Facebook blocks its fan page

  Twitter has introduced a new video sharing service, Vine, that allows users to record and share brief looping videos up to six seconds in length. Upon its initial launch, Facebook made Vine’s unsearchable on its platform. Even at current date, it is not easy to get to the app’s fan page – and they only have 48 likes. More
• Mashable reports how in-app searches are taking searches away from Google
  Google accounts for two of every three searches done in the U.S., far and away the most of any core search engine. However, Mashable uncovers that more and more in-app searches are occurring on platforms like Facebook and Amazon. More
• Facebook admits critical bugs caused page reach to be misreported for months

  While trying to speed up its iOS and Android apps, Facebook accidentally stripped out too much data about news feed posts by Pages. This caused Page Insights to be misreported, leading admins to believe their posts reached fewer people than they actually did, in most cases. More

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Digital Digest, Digital PR, FaceBook, Interactive Marketing, Internet, Mobile Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Uncategorized, YouTube by Kyle-Bishop - No Comments →

By Leticia Barr

Today, the most effective parent-to-parent conversations can occur beyond the blog post. The ever-evolving online space has witnessed the development of new social tools utilized by bloggers and other digital influencers that can convey a story about a product, provide an inside look at a brand, or enhance a brand’s customer service.

Savvy marketing professionals are designing blogger outreach programs with a more holistic approach – taking into account bloggers’ use of Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Forward-thinking companies have moved beyond ‘spray and pray’ blogger outreach to engage bloggers in more meaningful ways – leading to compelling content that’s of higher value to parent audiences.

General Motors stands out as a leader for two innovative campaigns that tapped bloggers to create cross-platform content.  When prepping for the debut of the 2013 Terrain Denali, GMC invited a dozen bloggers to Michigan. Like other auto press events it included time to learn about the new Denali through a vehicle walk-around and drive-time. But the entire event was wisely designed to be interactive and capitalize on bloggers’ influence across multiple social media platforms.

Drive routes to showcase Northern Michigan at the start of summer were planned in conjunction with the Michigan Bureau of Tourism. Inspired by the scenery, bloggers captured images of the car during morning drives using Olympus PL-3 cameras provided through a partnership with Olympus. By the afternoon, we had not only experienced the car, but also learned how to shoot incredible images for our blogs.

Bloggers were invited to select a favorite image of the Denali to appear on the GMC Facebook page for the opportunity to be their new Timeline photo. As soon as the photos were up on the GMC page, each blogger went to work reaching out to our social networks by Tweeting, emailing, and sharing in Facebook groups to get our friends to like our images for the chance to be featured as the new Timeline photo. The well-planned event generated brand awareness and new Facebook fans for the 2013 Terrain Denali, as well as deepened brand relationships with bloggers for long-term gain.

As further evidence of GMC’s strategy to both spotlight and leverage digital influencers and their rich content, GMC also recently tapped leading fashion bloggers to showcase design inspirations for a custom Buick Encore digital look book, called Buick Pinboard to Dashboard.

The effectiveness of both of these campaigns is rooted in GMC’s recognition of bloggers’ digital influence across the broader social media sphere and a focus on the development of rich, compelling content. I’m excited about this evolution in how bloggers and brands are working together, and to see how consumers react to the new content we create together.

Leticia Barr is known throughout the social media sphere as Tech Savvy Mama, her award winning technology and education blog. She is also a Parents.com columnist, and a contributor to several brands’ content streams. Reach her on Twitter @TechSavvyMama.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, 360PR - MomSquad, Blogger Relations, Digital PR, FaceBook, Facebook, Internet, Social Media, Trendletter, Twitter by Admin - No Comments →

Digital Digest: July 25th, 2012

The Digital Digest by 360social gives you the best digital secrets, trends, tips and tricks for new tools, and general news circulating in the digital world. Have a question? Curious about a new site and what it does? Never heard about a tool mentioned recently? Contact Lesley Ridge, 360PR’s content and community manager:  @lesleyridge or  Facebook.com/360pr and join in the conversation using #360PR!

Filed under: Social Media, Twitter by Admin - No Comments →

By John LeRoy

Twitter has announced some changes to its feature-set in recent weeks, some of which will impact the ways that PR professionals and their clients use the platform.  You can read a previous Ragan post about the changes here, but here is a quick overview of some of the changes and what they mean for us:

-       Changing Twitter app landscape:  Since Twitter has purchased Tweetdeck, there is speculation that third-party apps will become more obsolete as Twitter controls more of the action on their own service.  Translation:  Marketers may need to re-acclimate themselves with “Twitter-approved” services for monitoring, managing multiple accounts, etc.

-       Simpler picture-sharing:  This new feature allows individuals and marketers to take and add pictures to Tweets without using third-party services, like TwitPic, making it more turn-key to upload photos.  The photos will also begin appearing directly in Twitter streams as opposed to via a link.  Translation:  Easier real-time photo sharing from events.

-       Ad Platforms: While it is still uncertain of how it will look, there is speculation that ads will begin appearing more prominently in Twitter streams.  Translation:  A potential shift in the trust that consumers have in Twitter as a news source, and also an opportunity for PR to lead news sharing on Twitter.

Time will tell what these changes will really mean for the growing micro-blogging service, but we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section.

Filed under: Digital PR, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter by Admin - No Comments →