Buzz is more than a Twitter v2 and FourSquare is more than a place to rate Cafes and restaurants. Are you ready for the true power to be unleashed?

As a Social Media/Web company we are still waiting for Foursquare and Buzz to make a serious impact on the market. But with TweetDeck and other applications now integrating Buzz and Foursquare we believe this is the first hurdle for these two new services to an impact.

As with all new social media services it is often not the service’s original intention that makes the service popular. It is integration into other social media services and usually depends on how the users will use the service.

Two days ago I had a meeting with the Social Media Champion of a large organisation who did not want to listen about potential benefits of FourSquare and Buzz. I made it clear that these technologies are still new and the fact that  I remember in recent times when I had similar discussion about FaceBook and Twittter.

Our advise to organisations considering or even against Buzz and FourSquare is to at least sign up to the services and see if your online followers are interested. Don’t make an un scientific and decision based on personal thoughts.

Organisations need to think how they can offer value to their stakeholders and online followers with these new services.

Typically organisations such as Radio Stations, Television, Recruitment consultants, sales reps and customer service organisations are at risk from having their Social Media presence inadvertently hijacked by staff with online profiles when then organisation has none. The reason is simple, people want to connect via social media and if they can not find your organisation they will typically friend your online staff.

The dangers are:

1. When the staff member leaves the risk that your stakeholders will follow to your competition is great.
2. You have no control over your staff members personal online presence
3. Your outreach and advertising opportunities are gone
4. Branding becomes about the staff member and not the organisation.

If your organisaiton is in this situation you should implement a social media policy and encourage staff to direct your stakeholders to the organisaiton online presence.

Twitter has announced that there is a new security breach to Twitter accounts that steals usernames and passwords. The second security breach in recent days with the first being the FaceBook warning.

A Direct Message (DM) Tweet is making the rounds asking “You’re on here?” with a link and also “’someone posted on their blog about you” with a link.

• If you receive such a DM just delete it.
• If you click on any link in Twitter that asks you to login with your Twitter details, please ignore it.

If you notice that your account is sending out Tweets that you did not write simply change your password.

An email is being spread en-mass on the Internet asking people to Reset their FaceBook passwords. A copy of the mail subject lines below:

From: “Facebook Networks” <password.service@facebook.com>

To: <info@netmania.co.nz>

Subject: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation NR.36272

Hi <name>

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed.

You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,

The Facebook Team.

There is also an attachment with a Trojan Horse in it.

We warned our FaceBook Fans and clients on Wednesday adn Thursday of this scam but we are still hearing of a lot of New Zealanders who are falling victim to this scam.

If you receive this email simply delete it. If you have opened it then you should

1. Run an AntiVirus on your computer
2. Change your FaceBook password
3. Notify your FaceBook friends that it happened to you in case the Virus is sending them messages or requests.

10 LinkedIn tips for recruiters based on common mistakes recruiters make.

1. Don’t make your profile private. How will clients and candidates connect with you otherwise.
2. Add your picture and complete your profile. This gives assurance that you are not a group of consultants maintaining a LinkedIn profile.
3. Be available to network with both candidates and Clients. This is the reason most people join LinkedIn is to network.
4. Seek recommendations from both clients and candidates. This gives your network the assurance that you are good at your job and offers an independent view of you and your organisation.
5. Don’t require a user know your email address to join your network. How else will people be able to network with you and contract your services as a consultant and recruiter?
6. Use the status box for general job openings. Not specific individual jobs. Maximise the limited characters and advertise all of your jobs.
7. Keep your status updates current or clear it when jobs are not available. A status with a job opportunity that is weeks old or even months old can give the impression that you can not fulfil roles.
8. Join Industry groups within your country and participate in the conversations so people know you. How else can you keep informed of trends with your stakeholders ?. This also gives you and potential clients more opportunity to network with you.
9. Don’t ask for someone’s CV that has just joined your Network. This is what LinkedIn is if used correctly “A living and up to date CV”.
10. Be responsive to all requests and messages. Clients may become candidates and candidates may become clients.

During the Christmas break we launched our FaceBook Fan Page at http://www.FaceBook.com/NetMania. We have also included the FanPage badge to the left of our web site http://www.NetMania.co.nz to make it easier for both our clients and followers to join us and take advantage of FanPage only specials.

Since we launched our FanPage we have made some customisations based on your emails to us. Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts.

We hope to have more interaction with you in our FanPage so feel free to visit and join us.

With over 300 million FaceBook users actively using FaceBook, it has become the new area for hackers to spread viruses and steal your account information.

Below are some tips to avoid becoming a victim.

1. Install Anti Virus and keep it up to date. AVG is the most reliable for Social Media.
2. At the moment all viruses are spread via Facebook email and Wall posts.
3. If you see numerous friends posting the same message with links then contact them off FaceBook and warn them that their FaceBook account may have been compromised.
4. Do not open a link telling you to go to a YouTube video with a link that uses http://bit.ly . YouTube have their own link shortener http://youtu.be .
5. If a message from a friend does not sound like them. It probably is not them. Delete the message and let your friend know of the message.
6. If your account does have a virus, run a virus checker and then change your Facebook password.
7. If you have completed step 5, then email all of your FaceBook friends to let them now and suggest these tips to them. The more vigilant we are against this the less likely FaceBook will be targeted.
8. If you click a link and are asked to log back into FaceBook DON’T. This is a common tactic to steal your login details.
9. If you add people to your account that you do not know and they send you a message stating that you are in a video or pic etc then remember that they do not know you. This will be a virus.
10. Join our FanPage for the most up to date information about new viruses and FaceBook threats along with the best solution to rectify the problem.

Net Mania Fan Page is at http://facebook.com/NetMania or by using the FaceBook URL shortener http://fb.me/NetMania .

For many small business owners we deal with there is usually a thought that “out of date site plugins, old seo materials and even copied pages that have been copied multiple times” will cause no issues to their site.
In reality old plugins and code can cause many issues such as slow page speed, confusion for developers as they are looking at irrelevant code and even conflicts with new updates that are required to be installed.

If you spend 30 minutes going through web site deleting and updating old plugins and removing old and irrelevant pages and information you will increase your site traffic and reduce future cots and time with site updates.

Often when a page is copied and copied the html becomes corrupt and if you have copied the page from a CMS such as WordPress there will be a lot of code that is irrelevant and difficult for developers to work with.

If you constantly copy files to create new pages you should consider having a template created giving you the benefit of the same page, only relevant code and no need to copy and paste and delete information all of the time. The end result will save you costs and be more beneficial for all if you can look past the initial set up cost.

Recently the media highlighted the need for small businesses to monitor their online presence. It reported that a competitor altered their competitions Google Local Business Maps details and that it took sometime for her to get caught.

Too often small businesses in New Zealand believe that they are immune to being hacked and that nobody would defame them or their business online. This results in the common thought that they should not bother to invest in online technologies to monitor their online presence.

An even more common issue for New Zealand Businesses is that they do not have any consideration for for Search Engine Optimisation or online marketing. Thus, they do not list themselves in online directories, instead waiting for an automatic listing to occur.

The media report states that a Hamilton Florist manipulated her competitors Google Map listings resulting in her competitors loosing an alleged substantial amount of business.

Google Local Business Maps is an effective and reliable free option to be ranked high in search engines and is an easy way to find local businesses in your area. You log in and add a number of details about your business such as location info, contact information, services, hours of operation and business website link.

To register your organisation in Google Lcoal Maps you need to have a free Google account.

While most organisations in the English speaking world have holidays over the Christmas period your web sites SEO results could be hampered by your competitors still being active over the Christmas break or a number of other situations occurring that could hamper your search engine results.

Other considerations to keep your site updated over the Christmas break include:

1. 1. Not everyone goes on holiday
2. In the quiet period people use the Internet more to find information and products.
3.  During the holiday break people make New Years resolutions and have a chance to think about things they need to do. Maybe your updated site will be more appealing.

If you have a Word Press web site with a Blog you can schedule a number of pre written posts to be made at prescribed by you times. This will keep your site up to date over the Christmas period and will not effect any thing that you might add to your site.

To Schedule your Posts

1. Write a new Post
2. In the top right hand corner is a box called Publish
3. Look for “Publish immediately Edit”
4. Select “Edit”
5. Select the date and time you would like your post to be published
6. Select “OK”
7. Select “Schedule

To ensure your online brand is safe during the break.

Set up an automated system that will send you RSS feeds, Tweets and Google alerts to a low traffic account. Perhaps create a new email account only for this purpose so you will not be flooded with other emails during your break.

Perhaps once every few days you can check your online brand or even have alerts sent straight to your mobile phone.