Facebook is like a refrigerator. You get bored and keep checking, but nothing ever changes.

— Will Ferrell (@itsWillFerrelI) April 27, 2011

With the recent update to Hack Social Media’s theme which you can read over here, you might’ve noticed that the time stamp on blog posts no longer display the actual date such as “December 12, 2011.” In its place are relative dates popularized by Twitter where tweets were shown with dates according to how long ago since the tweet was published(2 hours ago).

Using a slightly modified piece of code I found via this blog post, I was able to convert the blog posts to display relative dates. Here’s the main PHP code:

if(!function_exists('how_long_ago')){
        function how_long_ago($timestamp){
                     
            $difference = current_time('timestamp') - $timestamp;

            if($difference >= 60*60*24*365){        // if more than a year ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60*60*24*365));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' year' . $s . ' ago';
            } elseif($difference >= 60*60*24*7*5){  // if more than five weeks ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60*60*24*30));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' month' . $s . ' ago';
            } elseif($difference >= 60*60*24*7){        // if more than a week ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60*60*24*7));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' week' . $s . ' ago';
            } elseif($difference >= 60*60*24){      // if more than a day ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60*60*24));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' day' . $s . ' ago';
            } elseif($difference >= 60*60){         // if more than an hour ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60*60));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' hour' . $s . ' ago';
            } elseif($difference >= 60){            // if more than a minute ago
                $int = intval($difference / (60));
                $s = ($int > 1) ? 's' : '';
                $r = $int . ' minute' . $s . ' ago';
            } else {                                // if less than a minute ago
                $r = 'moments ago';
            }

            return $r;
        }
    }

The code above creates a function called “how_long_ago.” First, it determines the time difference between the current time and the time the particular blog post was published. This value is stored in a variable called $difference. Then, the function uses a if…else if…else block to determine what date to output based on the value of $difference.

Place the code above in your functions.php file inside a <?php and ?>block. In order to display the relative dates in your blog post, open up one of your theme files where the date is currently being outputted, such as the single.php or index.php file. Then, replace the existing function that returns the dates of your blog post, if it is there, and insert the following:

<?php if(!function_exists('how_long_ago')){the_time('F jS, Y'); } else { echo how_long_ago(get_the_time('U')); } ?>

The above code first checks if the function “how_long_ago” does not exist. If that is true, it will display the regular timestamp(December 12, 2010). Otherwise, the function does exist, therefore the relative timestamp is shown. This check is necessary as a means to avoid the “white screen of death” if you happened to delete your “how_long_ago” function.

So if Larry Page is all big on social for Google now, did I miss him getting a Facebook page or Twitter account?

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) April 10, 2011

Backstory: For years, Google has struggled to produce a successful social product, ranging from Buzz, Orkut, and Wave. More recently, Google launched their +1 service which adds a button next to search results which allow users to click to recommend to their friends and family. Now, Google is ramping up their efforts in 2011 when Google CEO Larry Page announced to employees that their bonuses this year would depend on the performance of Google’s social strategy.

Here’s how you can add Facebook Questions to your Page.

1. Switch to Facebook Page Mode

Under the Account tab, select Use Facebook as a Page. Then, select the Page you would like to add Questions to.

2. Head over to Facebook.com/Questions

Once you’ve switched to Page mode, head over to http://www.facebook.com/questions and click on the green button labeled Go to Questions. A pop-up box will appear confirming that your Page is now equipped with Facebook questions.

3. Ask your fans a question



Now, whenever you view your Page, you will find a new Questions tab alongside the familiar Status, Photo, etc. tabs. Simply type in the question you would like to ask your fans. You can also include some poll options and even allow fans to submit their own custom answer.

The Result:

Note: This feature may not be available in all countries at the moment. Sit tight!

The study highlighted several implications for leveraging Twitter as a part of the classroom learning experience:

• Student-faculty contact was improved
• Students became more cooperative and helped each other out with class material.
• Twitter extended the class discussion beyond the classroom and helped to build a strong learning community
• Twitter provided prompt feedback for questions related to assignments and issues students faced

As a student myself, technology has established a growing presence in class. Last quarter I was required to participate in an online forum setup by one of my professors. While it didn’t provide the same immediacy that Twitter offers, it gave me a place for me to interact with other students in my class, asking questions about assignments, exams, and projects. In my previous classes, without the aid of any forum, contacting the professor or the TA for help was a long-shot considering that 200+ other students were probably doing the same thing.

Whether it is another budget cut or a reluctance to change, education systems in the many countries are badly in need of a shot in the arm. Technologies like Twitter promotes collaboration and sharing, and should become a regular part of classroom participation.

]]> http://hacksocialmedia.com/twitter/can-twitter-make-students-smarter/feed/ 1 http://hacksocialmedia.com/twitter/can-twitter-make-students-smarter/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HackSocialMedia/~3/K3aCnHTMgsg/ http://hacksocialmedia.com/tumblr/tumblrthemr-developing-tumblr-themes-the-easy-way/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:59:07 +0000 Tony Hue http://hacksocialmedia.com/?p=565 ]]> http://hacksocialmedia.com/tumblr/tumblrthemr-developing-tumblr-themes-the-easy-way/feed/ 0 http://hacksocialmedia.com/tumblr/tumblrthemr-developing-tumblr-themes-the-easy-way/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HackSocialMedia/~3/_YBNxKNj4Mo/ http://hacksocialmedia.com/facebook/how-to-integrate-facebook-insights-to-your-website-or-blog/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 05:33:34 +0000 Tony Hue http://hacksocialmedia.com/?p=550 If you administer a Facebook page, you are probably familiar with Facebook Insights, the analytics software that details the performance of your Pages. But how about the likes and shares your website’s content is generating? With a simple line of code, you can painlessly start tracking how your content is being shared on Facebook.


Step 1: Head to the Insights Dashboard

The direct link is http://www.facebook.com/insights/.

Step 2: Click on the Insights for your Domain link on the top-right



Step 3: Fill in the appropriate information



Here you’ll need to enter your website or blog’s domain name followed by the Facebook page you want to link your domain to. You can link to either your personal account or your website’s Facebook page(if you have one).

Step 4: Copy the meta tag code and add it to your website

You will need to place the code provided anywhere in the root of your domain. In WordPress, add the code in your theme’s header.php file, entering the code anywhere between the opening and closing <head> tag. Upload the updated file back to your web server.

Step 5: Visit your website’s Insight Dashboard


When I followed this procedure, the Insights data updated right away, but in some cases may take up to 24 hours.

Conclusion

For a detailed look at the analytics Facebook Insights provides of your website, read this blog post from the Facebook Developer blog.

Facebook also recently published a Facebook Insights Guide to help new users get up to speed with Facebook Insights. You can download and view the PDF here.

]]> http://hacksocialmedia.com/facebook/how-to-integrate-facebook-insights-to-your-website-or-blog/feed/ 1 http://hacksocialmedia.com/facebook/how-to-integrate-facebook-insights-to-your-website-or-blog/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HackSocialMedia/~3/6fiycAJReu4/ http://hacksocialmedia.com/twitter/happy-5th-birthday-twitter/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:21:13 +0000 Tony Hue http://hacksocialmedia.com/?p=540 [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/jack/status/20"]

A mere 5 years ago, Jack Dorsey (@jack), Biz Stone (@biz), and Evan Williams (@ev) founded Twitter. The service at that time was named Twttr and was purported as a group SMS tool people could use to broadcast and update their status to their network of friends. Since then, Twitter has seen its user adoption explode, with more than 140 million tweets sent each day, or approximately 1 billion tweets every 8 days. In addition, while it took approximately 18 months for the first 500,000 accounts to sign up, Twitter now sees about the the same number of accounts created every day.


In celebration of its fifth birthday today, Twitter launched a new Discovery page, accompanied by a star-studded video of celebrities, famous politicians, and others who use Twitter. For example, people like Sir Richard Branson, Snoop Dog, and Piers Morgan make cameos as they talk about the things they love about Twitter and how it has helped them in their daily lives.

In wake of events occurring in Egypt, Libya, and Japan, Twitter and other social networking tools like Facebook have been pivotal to this new generation of technology-equipped youth. Since I started tweeting two years ago, Twitter has helped me explore my interests and meet new people who share the same interests as I do.

What has Twitter meant to you?

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