You’ve probably heard of URL shorteners. People use them on Twitter all the time, to shorten space-wasting long web addresses into more manageable ones so they can actually fit in some other text!

Google has just launched its own one and we’d suggest you start using it right now. The reason?

Google’s URL shortener tells you how many people have clicked, where from, and it’s free to use

You just go to goo.gl and put in the URL you want shortened, and then it generates the short random link. You’ll then have a table below of all the URLs you’ve shortened, complete with stats on how many times the link has been clicked.

goo.gl in action!

Then click “details” and you’ll get to see what site the click came from (Facebook, Twitter, your site) and various other nuggets of info. If you are logged in to a Google account, all these details are recorded and you can see your past links stats (great for re-using them too).

Whilst engagement (likes/comments/shares/retweets/mentions) are all important, and often used as a measure of effectiveness – these don’t take into account the “dark figure” – those shadowy characters who are reading your content, but not interacting with it in any public way.

The "dark figure" of social media

This information is really valuable to marketers as it gives you a whole new insight into your fan/follower behaviour that “engagement” itself does not reveal.

Start using it today, and let us know what you think of it! Hopefully you will get a few nice surprises.

Don’t know your API from your “Lurker”? Never fear, inspired by the ultimate list from hubspot, here are Net Natives’ very own list of all the social media terms. You’ll find a bunch of useful links here as well as some key terms explained – happy reading!

AddThis – This is a simple and free way to share content from your website on popular social networks. It has built in analytics so you can see what is most popular, and what is being said about it.

Application Programming Interface (API) – Means that a website/app allows others to interact with it. Twitter has an API – that’s how you get loads of programs that can run it for you!

Analytics – Measuring, collecting and analysing web data to create a picture of web usage, such as visits to a website, which pages are popular, where are visits coming from .

Algorithm – Set of formulas a computer uses to carry out a function. You don’t need to know the details but you will hear the term e.g. “Google has changed it’s search algorithm”

Avatar – An image that represents you online. Not used as much as before as the term “profile picture” is big with Facebook, but it’s still a relevant term on many sites.

“Beyond the Wall” strategy – Not everyone will “like” you! A good “Beyond the wall” strategy involves creating destinations within Facebook that don’t rely on “like” as the sole marketing call to action. Apps/custom tabs and more.

Bitly – Free service to shorten those lengthy web addresses so you can squeeze them into shorter posts!

Blog – From the words “web log”, a blog is a series of posts about a certain topic. Think of it like a mini online magazine. This can be someones life, food, a business, education, anything! Anyone can do one and many huge corporations have them, even Facebook!

Blogger – Googles own blog making site. Also a term for someone who writes a blog!

Blog Talk Radio – Online service where users can host and stream their own online radio show.

BoardReader – This allows you to search the web for keywords but only searching posts within discussion forums. Helps you to find mentions you may not otherwise see!

Bookmarking – Saving web pages you find interesting in one central location so you can easily access them. Many sites facilitate social sharing too – try www.delicious.com

Chat – Communication in real-time over the internet – the term usually refers to text-based services. Can be group or one on one, and more modern versions include video/audio. AKA “instant messaging”

Circles – Custom groups of Google+ users that you can make, and share selectively with. You can make circles for colleagues, friends, family, courses, anything.

Collective Intelligence – An emerging trend in social media; a shared intelligence that emerges from collaboration and interaction.

Comment – A reply by a user on a social platform, usually in reaction to a post, video or image. One of the key factors in Engagement in social media.

Connections on LinkedIn – Their equivalent of friends on Facebook. The key difference being they are business contacts, not personal.

Delicious – Online bookmarking service to keep your favourite web pages and share with others

Digg – Social news site, members can submit and vote for articles, the most popular go on the front page and get the most exposure, helping to drive viral spread

Ebook – A book published digitally, most often in as a PDF. Used frequently in marketing, often giving out good free content in exchange for marketing information such as email address.

Eventbrite – Advertise your events with this website and sell tickets if you want. Free for free events.

Facebook – The largest social media website in the world with over 800 million users. Connect with friends and share everything from photos to music tastes. Massively important in advertising.

Flickr – Online photo sharing community. Budding photographers, professionals and the general public can share photos via groups, posts and more.

Followers – People who are following your tweets on Twitter

Forums – Internet message boards, one of the oldest types of social web experience. Usually built into a website with some kind of common theme. Less popular nowadays due to users commenting on Facebook etc.

#FollowFriday (#FF) – On Fridays on Twitter, a lot of users post usernames of their recommendations of who to follow, along with the hashtag #FollowFriday or #FF.

FourSquare – A location based networking site. Users can connect with people based on proximity, show where they have been and so on. Not unsimilar to Facebook places.

Friends – The people you are friends with on Facebook! For some people, these are real friends only. Others may include acquaintances, and even strangers, it’s up to you!

Google+ – One of the newer social media networks. Google+ is deeply integrated into search on the main Google site, and enables some clever selective sharing.

Google Docs – An online document editing suite, free, and enables collaboration and sharing between multiple users

Google Reader – Pull through the content from a variety of blogs and RSS feeds and put it into one place for your convenience. No more flicking between news sites!

Gowalla - Another location based networking site. Users can connect with people based on proximity, show where they have been and so on. Not

Gumtree – A free classified site. Not social as such, but very popular and there are paid advertising opportunities via the platform.

Hangout – A free video conferencing feature on Google+

Hashtag (#) – A way of saying outright what the “topic” of a tweet is. If you want your tweet to be “about” the TV show LOST, you could put #Lost. This differentiates it from a more casual mention.

Hootsuite – Manage multiple social media platforms with this great web-based software. Schedule updates, monitor keywords and more! Free basic version.

Inside Facebook – Website all about new Facebook developments, tips and tricks etc.

Instagram – iPhone photo sharing app, that shares content to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and other networks. Has funky photo effects built in for retro camera fun!

Instant Messaging (IM) – Communication in real-time over the internet – the term usually refers to text-based services. Can be group or one on one, and more modern versions include video/audio. AKA “chat”

Klout – A website service that measures “social influence” – how important you are in social media!

Last.fm – A social music website. Users “scrobble” their music tastes (let their computer send info to the web) and it produces charts of most popular artists, songs etc, and users can interact with each other and artists.

Lifecasting – Broadcasting a continual stream of a persons life via social media!

Like – Users on Facebook can click “like” on a post, publicly declaring their approval of something. Other people see that someone has done this and hence helps promote spreading. The more likes something has, the more prominent Facebook will place it in peoples news feeds.

Link Building – Strategy to get more links pointing to your website, to increase Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). A popular way of this is to use blogging sites (your own, or others) to do so.

LinkedIn – A social network based on business contacts, aimed at enhancing your career rather than popularity. Used for online CVs, job applications, advertising and more nowadays, very important.

LinkedIn Today – A social news service provided within linked in, and by email. Based on sharing popularity of stories within the site.

Lurker – Someone who views social content (forums, facebook etc) but does not usually interact with it. Just because no-one comments – doesn’t mean no-one is reading!

Mashable – Heavyweights in the blogging world. One of the leaders in technology and news, they have a special social media section too.

Meme – A repeating thought or idea that features on the internet. Various hashtags could be memes, as could “I can haz cheezburger?” from Lolcats.

@mention - Users direct messages publicly at each other on Twitter by writing the @ symbol followed by the username(s) of people you are addressing

Monitoring – Actively searching for mentions of a certain thing online. Usually, you, your competitors, or your specialist area. Achieved via searches on various sites, and can be automated with software such as Hootsuite.

MySpace – Once the king of social media, until its crown was stolen by Facebook. Originally very innovative and still a relevant platform for music and film. Part owned by Justin Timberlake!

News Feed – A list of what is going on within a given site, where you can see updates by your connections/friends/people you follow. Often the default “home” page of the site once you have logged in.

Net Natives – That’s us! We are digital marketing experts specialising in the education sector, amongst other things; clients include CERN, The Guardian and G4S Olympics 2012, as well as over 70 college/universities.

“On The Wall” strategy – Our term to refer to your social content strategy for your Facebook wall, i.e. what you are posting, why, who for, etc. Important to have an “on the wall” and a “beyond the wall” strategy in place.

Permalink – A permanent web address, often ascribed to a blog article, and made SEO friendly where possible

Podcast – A non-live media stream, most commonly audio. May be a radio show, comedy, anything really.

Posterous – Post to multiple social media platforms, just by sending an email!

Places – Function on Facebook where people can interact with Pages via their physical location – allows people to “check-in” and share where they are, and tag photos based on where they were taken, let businesses show up on maps, and much more.

Real-time search – Search that displays brand new results without a delay, so will pick up emerging up-to-date articles.

Reddit – Like Digg, another social news site based on submission, comments, sharing.

Retweet – Where a Twitter user decides to share your original tweet with their own followers. This helps to “get your name out there”. Only happens if your content is decent!

RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication) – A standard format to output frequently updated content such as blogs and newsletters. This is then interpretted by an RSS reader for you to see it. Means you can pull content from many places without you having to visit them!

RSS Reader – A piece of software that displays RSS Feeds for you to read. Such as Google Reader.

Scribd – Online service to convert documents into a web viewable format for easier sharing

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – The process of improving your website so that it ranks higher in search results and hence gets more traffic

Seesmic – Social media client for web and mobile so you can post to multiple sites and keep up to date

Sentiment – Social “attitude” towards something e.g. a company. Can be positive or negative.

Skype – instant messaging and voice calling program. Popular due to enabling international voice chat over the net for free assuming you have a broadband connection.

Slideshare – Upload presentations online and share on social networks

Social Media – Media which is intended for distribution via social channels – turning communication from a one-way to a two way street

Social Media Examiner – great news blog website about social media, does a newsletter too

Stumbleupon – A website to find interesting content on the web. Ideal for sharing to promote engagement.

Timeline (Facebook) – The new (2011-12) version of a profile – best described as a “scrapbook of your life”. Can be navigated by year, location and gives a rich experience compared to previous profile designs.

Timeline (Twitter) – The news feed showing who is tweeting what, organised chronologically

Trend – When a topic or word becomes popular, it is “trending”. Twitter displays trending topics in its own Trend section; Facebook increases exposure to stories the more popular they are.

Tumblr – A blogging site for users to share thoughts, ideas and media about any subject

Tweepz – A search engine to find relevant Twitter users to interact with

Tweetdeck – Another great web/mobile app to post across different social media networks

Twitter – Micro-blogging site where users share 140-character long messages to their “followers”.

Twitter Chat – Using #hashtags to denote the topic, may be one off or regular and often to coincide with events such as a conference. Allows unconnected users to all converge on a central theme.

Twitter Search – On Twitter you can search real time to see what people are saying that very moment about a topic

UStream – Service to stream live videos. Great to promote events, competitions etc.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – The tech term for a “web address”

Video Blog – Like a mini TV show but published via the internet, usually around a central theme. Rising in popularity due to easy mobile access, connection speed etc.

Vimeo – Video sharing site. Like YouTube but does not allow commercial content.

Viral – The term for when something gets spread from person to person at an impressive rate (typically funny videos etc) – spreading like a virus is the analogy.

Webinar – An way of doing an online meeting, often to demonstrate software or techniques by sharing a computer screen over the net. Multiple users can participate.

Wiki – A type of website that is editable by multiple people to allow collaboration and collective knowledge

Wikipedia – The most famous Wiki, an encyclopaedia for the whole world updating daily by thousands of people in all areas of expertise.

WordPress – A blog software that can be used standalone to write a blog or within a website as a CMS.

Yelp – Once the Yellow Pages, Yelp allows for users to recommend/review businesses

YouTube – The biggest video sharing site. Great for serious searches and also time wasting!

Forget all the controversy over paying for votes (that don’t count!) in television competitions. That’s old news. We’re talking about the “classic” phone-in – the public’s opportunity to have their few minutes of fame and give their opinions to the masses.

• What do you most hate about roadworks?
• Have you ever had a cowboy builder?
• Should celebrities diet?

It’s always interesting to hear other peoples views – and even more so when we disagree with them! It’s always been the charm of these shows (This Morning, The Wright Stuff) and here at Net Natives we think we can draw some inspiration here for how to use our Facebook wall or Twitter.

Get that “phone” to RING!

We know how important engagement is… it’s pretty much THE benchmark to look at to see how well you are doing on social media. The more engaged your users are, the more connected they are to your brand. Plus, like breeds like – high engagement means more people will get to see your content, as it will gain higher newsfeed priority, more shares/retweets and so on.

Here’s the big secret…. (drum roll)

The way to get your engagement up is to post content that will entice people to comment!

Yes that sounds simple, and to be honest, it is.

Questions, wacky statements, images/video, competitions, polls, you name it.

Imagine your Facebook wall is a phone, and you want it to RING. And you want it to ring ALL DAY, with interested, engaged users commenting/liking/tweeting away on the other end! Imagine that phone EVERY time you post on Facebook or Twitter, and do your absolute best to get it going.

PEOPLE LIKE TO BE HEARD – SO GIVE THEM A VOICE!

Of course, there are limits

Just be sensible. We’re not suggesting you turn your wall into a one-man jokeathon or spend all day asking for opinions on things that are nothing to do with your business, or even worse, completely put your foot in it and mention a topic that you really don’t want to associate with yourselves.

But there is a lot of scope for you to have a bit of fun. Films/Tv/Music/games/food. Find ways you can link to these topics that are at least tenuously relevant. Here’s an example, the type of thing I’d put, to crowbar a famous celebrity into a status:

“So, you’re on a desert island. On your own. You’re allowed to have access to either Facebook or Twitter… which would you take? Which can’t you do without and why?”

You get the idea. It’s all just about having fun and starting a chat. And then, keep it going!

Just keep that “phone” ringing, and you’ll never look back…

“This Morning” would be proud

NET NATIVES are experts in “on the wall” social media content strategy and can help YOU get the best results with your Facebook engagement. EMAIL US or give us a ring on 01273 783 847 to find out more about what we can do for you!

We promised  our good friends at the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to let you know all about the exciting things that are happening as part of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) this year.

NAW is now in it’s 5th year, and aims to make sure all eyes are on apprenticeships by raising its profile for parents, employers, the media, teachers and individuals. The 2012 event runs from 6th-10th February and is featuring social media as an important part of its strategy.

They’ve planned different “themes” for each day of the week; the focus will shift daily, including the benefits of doing apprenticeships, thank you messages, and how people got their dream job via the scheme.

Check out the full details of the promotion, and how YOU can get involved, on the link below…

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Awards/Apprenticeship-Week-2012/Social-media.aspx

Images are all over printed media, and they’re all over the web too. Yet not everyone uses images to the best effect on their Facebook pages! We’re not talking about apps, nor profile pictures here. We mean actually using images as PART of your wall posts. Trust me, images can REALLY help you with getting your content out there… just read the rest of this article to find out how.

Why you should use images in your Facebook wall posts

1. Images make your posts stand out
   http://mashable.com/2011/12/14/eyetracking-facebook-brand-pages/ Peoples eyes are drawn to images on the page so you might as well take advantage of this and get people’s attention!
2. Use the images to help tell your story
   If you are writing a post about online CVs – use a pic of someone searching jobs online (screenshot of your website being browsed!) – if it’s about paper CVs, have a pic of a paper CV on a desk, for example. Make it easy for the user to see what the post is about.
3. Images make your page wall generally “look better”
   Nothing technical here but a wall with lots of colourful attractive images simply looks better than a bland one covered in text! Images also help to break up your posts and separate them better on the page.
4. Facebook shows more posts that feature images
   The Edgerank formula prioritises “rich” content – you are more likely to reach your fans if you post images in your updates
5. Posting a link (which shows a preview thumbnail image) is not the same as posting an image deliberately
   Thumbnail link images will usually be small – and Facebook treats it as a link rather than specific image content – so you may not get as many views!
6. More likes/comments = even MORE likes/comments
   And again this is another factor that Facebook uses to decide what to show in News Feed. People who have commented/liked in the past will be more likely to be shown your future content – you can build on your own success this way.

What to do

1. Get GOOD images
   These might be images you already own/created as a company – or you can find them on the web, or take them yourself! Make sure the pics are a decent size so they are worth looking at.
2. Click on “Upload Photo” and follow instructions
   
   
3. Put in whatever text you want in your update  - THIS INCLUDES LINKS!
   Put whatever other content and links in now. You need to put links in AFTER the photo, otherwise the preview will be of the link, not the picture you have chosen to share. You can see in the below picture how there is a nice big image and then the text (blue) link appears in the post, without hijacking the whole post preview!
    

4. That’s it
   Sit back and wait for results. But be sure to monitor your efforts – view your page Facebook Insights to see how well different post types are performing, or just look on your wall to get a rough idea!

We hope you have enjoyed these tips and found them useful… comments welcome here and on Twitter/Facebook

One word for you – Timeline – and now Facebook have started rolling it out to everyone.

Timeline is a MASSIVE leap in the design of a Facebook profile, and I’m already seeing loads of people raving/complaining about it. It’s a little hard to use at first, and some people object to the way your friends can just navigate their way through your life by year, but there’s no denying it adds a much richer user experience.

MAKE THE MOST OF THIS TO INCREASE YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE ENGAGEMENT!

• People will be sitting around on their computer adding new photos and fiddling with Timeline’s new features – you’ve got a captive audience sat there tinkering away – it’s an ideal time to get your Facebook presence noticed!
• Discuss timeline – ask fans to post pictures of their cool new header, perhaps offer a prize for the best (maybe they could feature your brand?!). Remember, topical issues will get people talking – and them interacting with you now means they are more likely to see your updates in future as they will be prioritised by Facebook

Just a little food for thought there, let us know how you get on!

More nuggets of wisdom from us on Facebook & Twitter – Like and Follow us to stay up to date

“Net Natives have helped us gain better control of our identity on Facebook…”

When you’re one of the UK’s leading universities, you can forgive your students for getting a bit excited on Facebook and creating an endless number of pages celebrating your institution. It’s important though to present a clean, unified front to your online audience – so how do you go about assimilating your various Facebook pages into one comprehensive portal? The Natives will always have the answer.

The Challenge?

The University of Glasgow came to Net Natives with a simple request: to consolidate the vast number of unofficial pages headed up by the University’s name into one all-encompassing site. Every Facebook user who had stated their affiliation with one of these rogue pages would need to be connected to the new, official one. Let us at it, we said!

What did Net Natives do?

We put into action our Facebook Brand Strategy, consolidating the University’s fans across Facebook and seamlessly migrating them onto the new website.

The University then said, “but what should we have on our page?” So we provided our Content Strategy Consultancy too. We shared our knowledge about what content works on Facebook sites, leading to maximised engagement between University and fans.

The Result?

The University’s official page now has over 22,000 likes – a true reflection of the University’s fanbase. The University has full control over their Facebook presence, and can see exactly what is being said. Another success for the Natives.

“Thanks to their understanding of social media, Net Natives have helped us gain better control of our identity on Facebook and we are now able to directly engage with over 20,000 ‘fans’ who were originally connected to unofficial Facebook pages for University of Glasgow.”

“CERN is a scientific organisation that’s trying to understand the science behind the universe – Net Natives is the company that understands the science behind Facebook. They understand the metrics, the branding, the algorithms and most importantly they understand both the customer & the target audience. Our people here love what Net Natives have achieved for us and creating engagement via Facebook has now become an integral part of our daily job in recruitment” Head of Recruitment, CERN.

The Challenge?

It seems that everyone has now heard of, and has an opinion about, CERN and their pioneering experiments. This made the management of their employer brand within Facebook and ability to focus on quality not quantity approaches almost as hard as trying to find the Higgs Boson Particle. By far their biggest exposure, but greatest opportunity, lay in the user generated communities which had been created on the Facebook platform. This engaged community numbered over 50,000; all wanting to enter the conversation with CERN. Many willing and expertly able to be involved in some way.

What did Net Natives Do?

After consultation with CERN, we established the relevance of a Facebook specific strategy. As a Facebook agency, we then worked with the platform to consolidate the various CERN identities, to create one official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/CERN. Marrying this with a relevant social media content strategy and training (an “On the Wall” Strategy) that we developed for their communications team, that was informative and engaging.

We then turned our attention to their recruitment strategy. Obviously, recruitment is not built on “Likes”, but with variety of relevant and quality applications, regardless of the channel. Net Natives call this, “Beyond the Wall”. Through our unique Social Content Management System (SCMS), we built a multi layered recruitment site. One that had the full functionality of their existing career site, but which respected and worked in the social environment.  www.facebook.com/CERNjobs.

The Result?

CERN are now in control of their identity on Facebook, controlling and engaging with their connections. Their main page is now a primary resource for ongoing comment about CERN and their Facebook page doubled in connections within 2 months, with a vast increase in relevant applications through the platform and one of the principle recruitment communications channels for existing and potential employees.

“CERN is a scientific organisation that’s trying to understand the science behind the universe – Net Natives is the company that understands the science behind Facebook. They understand the metrics, the branding, the algorithms and most importantly they understand both the customer & the target audience. Our people here love what Net Natives have achieved for us and creating engagement via Facebook has now become an integral part of our daily job in recruitment.” – Head of Recruitment at CERN.

So finally Twitter have announced that they are going to be doing something a bit different for brands… they have just announced the upcoming launch of “Brand Pages”, following in the footsteps of Google+ who recently announced theirs.

In this video you can see a couple of clips of the new brand pages, and also see some of the other changes to the user experience.

Brands basically get a big header image, and the ability to promote a tweet to the top, acting sort of like a welcome message and enabling them to control the first thing their users see.

But the question on everyone’s lips is “Will I need to set up a new profile, or does Twitter let us convert the current one?”. There was a lot of disgruntled users having to start afresh when Facebook introduced pages and wanted businesses moving away from groups, for example.

Brand pages will be beta tested on a few big brands first so you can expect to start seeing them fairly soon.

So what events have shaped the social media landscape this year? We put our pretty little heads together and here’s what we came up with…

Facebook & The Open Graph

It’s a term you may have heard but probably haven’t looked into – basically the Open Graph refers to the way Facebook integrates with the rest of the web, and it’s own content. The clever folks at Facebook HQ have now added a new idea called “gestures” – where rather than just things being “like”able, developers can use whatever words they want to describe how a person is interacting with something.

There are already apps that do this – once you’ve allowed them permission. The Guardian app will share what you have “read” on your profile and in peoples news feeds. Music app Spotify  can publish what you have “listened” to. We’re in the early stages of these social apps, but expect to see a lot more of these in the coming months!

Net Natives did some quality work in the latter part of this year for the European Parliament – we produced an app where users could “vote for” and “submit” photo entries in order to have the chance to win a holiday – check it out HERE

We predict there will be a big place for these in education – for collaborative learning for example. Users will be able to share what they are working on, what they are learning/have learned, and who they are studying with.

Timeline – and will brands get it?

The Facebook profile has changed a LOT since it’s inception. What was once just a few words and a photo has evolved almost beyond comprehension, and the best is yet to come.

Facebook recently revealed “Timeline” – a complete overhaul of the profile design. The “wall” is now like a scrapbook of your whole life – you can even navigate it by year! And it has a space for a lovely big picture at the top… nice.

There is no confirmation yet – but we’re pretty hopeful that Facebook will integrate the Timeline into it’s brand pages. This will mean you can tell the story of your college’s history in a way never before possible. Showcase your awards, alumni, and events for the world to see.

We wrote an in-depth article on implications of Timeline for Colleges that you can check out HERE

Google + Launches Brand Pages

Google+, the internet giants own social network, just unveiled their dedicated brand pages, enabling your business to build a presence on their network. Whilst it has been criticised for being a bit rushed, there are a few interesting features that we really liked.

• Circles – user made custom lists to view and share with. You could create circles for adult learners, staff and subject groups, and use these to find or provide the right content to the right users.
• Hangouts – basically casual video chat but fully integrated to the platform. This could be great for small seminars & tutorials, Q&A’s, interviews etc.
• Great search integration – search a business name preceeded by a + sign on normal Google search engine and their Google+ page will come right up.

More on Google+ HERE

Twitter Launch Brand Pages too!

So finally Twitter have announced that they are going to be doing something a bit different for brands… they have just announced the upcoming launch of “Brand Pages”, following in the footsteps of Google+ who recently announced theirs.

In this video you can see a couple of clips of the new brand pages, and also see some of the other changes to the user experience.

Brands basically get a big header image, and the ability to promote a tweet to the top, acting sort of like a welcome message and enabling them to control the first thing their users see.

But the question on everyone’s lips is “Will I need to set up a new profile, or does Twitter let us convert the current one?”. There was a lot of disgruntled users having to start afresh when Facebook introduced pages and wanted businesses moving away from groups, for example.

Brand pages will be beta tested on a few big brands first so you can expect to start seeing them fairly soon.

LinkedIn continues to grow

LinkedIn recently went public with an IPO and this is a clear indication of the growth of the platform as an employer engagement tool. We will be releasing a white paper on LinkedIn in Jan/Feb 2012 so EMAIL US if you’d like to get hold of it when it comes out!

So Here’s to a Great Year…

What will 2012 bring for social media? Will a new platform emerge? Will Google+ continue to ruffle Facebook’s feathers? Will Twitter go crazy for advertising?

Get on our LinkedIn group Education Futurology and stay right up to date!