Erik Qualman's Blog, page 493

Social Media and the Cloud Make Great Partners

Whether you use social media for business or personal reasons, there’s a good chance that you are on social networking sites a fair amount of the time.

As the popularity of social media has increased in recent years, so too has the technology in making the social experience as smooth as possible.

With that in mind, have you stopped to think about how the Cloud has had a significant impact on how you and millions of others use social media? If not, you’re missing out on a plethora of information.

The Cloud is still a mystery to many people, but its impact on the Internet world is not to be dismissed.

Soaring to Greater Heights with the Cloud

In taking a look at the relationship between social networks and Cloud computing, it is no surprise that the former has had to partner with the latter, using the Cloud as a huge storage server for multimedia content.

Stop and think for a moment as to what are some of the most popular portions of social media. If you said videos and images, you hit the nail on the head.

Whether it is a YouTube video or a short Instagram video, along with photos from Instagram or Pinterest, imagery in various forms has a major presence on social networking sites. In the end, individuals and businesses for that matter have the ability to access loads of data via the Cloud.

Secondly, think of all the businesses around the world using social media that are tied-in to Cloud storage.

More and more brands are turning to social media in order to promote their products and/or services, deal with consumer questions and concerns, and ultimately advertise for new hires (see more below).

Where you can best utilize social media and all the data you’ve got stored in the Cloud includes:

Brand promotions – Social networking is a great means with which you can promote your brand. Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any number of other sites you’re on to let consumers know why they should buy your brand. One word of caution, do not try and push sales down their throats during your postings. Not only will you turn many consumers off, but you could draw the ire of the social networking site or sites you try doing this on;
Respond to consumers – Along with not feeling like they got their money’s worth, nothing typically angers consumers more than being left hanging by a business. Avoid doing that on social media by responding in an appropriate and timely manner. If a customer or potential one posts a question or even a complaint on one of your social sites, be sure to not only address it as quickly as possible, but also in a professional and helpful manner;
Bringing aboard new talent – More businesses are turning to social media in posting new hiring announcements, giving job seekers yet another avenue to turn to in their search for work. Your brand can do this via different social media sites, including not only the basic job information, but also a company video to describe what potential employees will find when applying, interviewing, and ultimately working with you.

Another item to keep in mind is that Cloud computing increases the size and leverage of any social media platform, allowing for integrated analytics and a better user experience.

Speaking of analytics, having such information at your front doorstep when using social media permits you to determine what to share with viewers of social media, along with when best to post. The bottom line is offering users social media content that keeps them wanting to come back for more.

Still another bonus of having Cloud services and social media working together is the former allows social networking folks to analyze their social footprints, giving them a better idea of what their traffic is and when it is at its highs and lows.

Social Media Does Come with Some Risks

While there are many positives which can come out of companies using social media, there is also the danger of it being misused by workers, something that can get companies in hot water with the public and/or other businesses, along with potentially leading to an employee’s dismissal.

As a result, it is important for businesses to know what exactly is being stored in the Cloud so as not to open up the possibilities of a lawsuit.

Businesses also need to define in clear terms what is and is not allowed when employees use social media on company servers.

Your workers should not be using social sites while representing your brand to maliciously attack others (fellow employees, competitors, etc.), as you could find yourself embroiled in a lawsuit.

If that happens, your business and its image could be left a little cloudy.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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Facebook Makes Up A Holiday

What to say when your friend makes up their own nickname….

Woa. Facebook literally made up a holiday to celebrate their birthday. Does that mean we can do the same? The holiday called “Friends Day” takes place February 4th and marks Facebook’s birthday (they turned 12 yesterday – #HBD). No cards from Hallmark yet.

In order to celebrate, the social media site showed users who their friends (or squad as the kids call it now) are in a short video. Users flocked to Twitter to show their excitement/confusion for the holiday. Tweets included things along the lines of “what is Friends Day?”, “I know who my friends are, thanks Facebook” and “Facebook is my best friend.” #FriendsDay was so popular on Twitter that it spent most of the day Trending. Don’t know how to watch your Friends Day video – we’ve got you covered here?  (Source Mashable)

What To Say When You Have 5 Instagram Accounts…

What’s my password again … it’s tough being this popular. If only I could switch among my accounts easily…Well Instagram is finally giving the people what they want – the ability to switch among multiple accounts. Currently, users have to log in and out of accounts to go back and forth which is inconvenient for … everyone. Don’t get too excited, this ability is only available on a small number of iOS devices to test. To see if you have the ability to make your life easier click “Settings” and look for “Add Account”. If not then sorry, you’ll have to keep logging in and out like Paul Bunyan. (Source TechCrunch)

Puppy Bowl or Super Bowl?

If you prefer puppies over football, then you might be excited for the Puppy Bowl on Sunday. Think a whole lot of cute newly adopted, barking, napping, playing puppies fighting for the stuffed football. The roster includes 86 canines broken down into Team Ruff and Team Fluff. How you choose one over the other is beyond us. The Puppy Bowl is being taken to a new level this year with “Puppy Bowl Virtual Reality”. Puppy Bowl Virtual Reality includes close-up, 360-degree views of the game. Nerd alert. Did we mention the Kitten Bowl … it’s at noon … Meow. (Source The Washington Post)

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How to Use Social Media to Engage with Local Audiences

“Engage local audiences” is a popular term especially when social media is involved. However, the tricky question is how to engage in social media? It is important to note that every business is different, and thus there is no step by step way to follow to achieve results. There are a few tips business people should know and when they are combined with common sense and intuition, they can help a business gain traction and generate a sizeable local audience. The bottom line is to help your brand gain value and interests which is then translated to more sales. The following tips will help you get started.

 

What does your local audiences want? Find out what they are saying on the comments?

 

Be sure to read all the comments on your Facebook page or Tweets tweeted to your Twitter page. From the direction of the comments, you can setup a hashtag or keyword monitoring stream to find out what people think about you, the competitors and the industry in general. The idea is to get incredible insight from the varied demographics of the target local customers including their thinking and feeling. The benefit is to create opportunities for improving the engagement with your local audiences.

 

Ask questions to start conversations

 

One way of engaging with your local customers is through asking thoughtful questions. Questions have to be good, real and those that you really need answers for. There is no standard for a good question because they depend on the type of business. Tips to remember is to always keep them open-ended, relevant to your business, positive, and appealing. From the questions, your may get all the varied responses from the local audiences. Some may talk about how good the product is, some may criticize it, some may compare it with competitor offers and others may suggest improvements on the product. All these comments should be your source of intelligence and knowledge on your future decisions.

 

Answer questions from audiences to start conversation

 

Questions are not always one sided, local audience sometimes ask you questions on social media. The best way to engage with your online customers is to address the questions even if you don’t have the actual answers for the questions. Answering questions means to the local audiences that you pay attention to their questions and comments. You can also answer tweeted questions by local audiences about your industry on your Twitter page.

 

Embrace criticisms

 

If businesses operated in a perfect world, everything said about your brand or business would be expected to be positive. With the today’s world of high competition in almost every product, customers will criticize you and sometimes complain of the service offered to them. This can be a source of engagement between you and the client. To you, every complaint and comment should be a great opportunity to fix issues customers may have about the product or service. The best way to do it is publicly or at very least show empathy to the complainant.

 

Make sure you are easy to find and follow

 

It is important to ensure that all social media platforms you engage with your client are visible on your websites. Your local audiences must find it easy to find the Facebook, Twitter and other social media icons on your site. This is a great step to ensure local audiences or customers can easily ‘like’ or ‘follow’ you or reach out you for any questions or queries. For example, real estate business owners should make sure that their real estate license courses websites have Facebook, Twitter and other social media icons where visitors can click to follow or ask questions about courses offered.

 

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How To Create An Effective Social Media Calendar

Social media marketing combines creativity, ingenuity and scalability: The three characteristics which are very hard to combine, and yet people often barrel forward into the process without any thought or concern for what they are posting.

The process is pretty similar to creating any content plan, with the exception of frequency. Chances are you will be posting on social media a lot more than you will be publishing content. So some adjustments have to be made to make the most of the tool.

Here are some tips to get you started.

Plan Around Links

Source: Pixabay

Too many social media accounts, especially Twitter, are just link publishers.

They continuously post these links to their content with no context or interaction. Sure, they might have a fair number of followers, mostly due to aggressive CTAs that push for followers from their website. But they are not especially successful.

You should plan to post regular links, but they should be spread out and interspersed with other posts.

For example, text posts that are relevant to the moment, or that encourages people to speak to you or take notice.

Don’t have anything to say? Maybe share quotes you enjoy, or comment on current events. Retweet other people’s interesting posts, or share something trending.

You should have at least a 1:3 ratio of links versus other posts.

Properly Rotate Content

This tip is especially true for Twitter because the lifespan of a tweet is so short that its reach mostly depends on pure luck than anything else. Hence, re-posting the same content on Twitter is actually a good practice.

Not all of your content links should be to new content. Sure, if you post something it should be shared a couple of times to reach as many people while it is fresh as possible. But your calendar should also address old posts, rotating them to get a new audience every once in awhile.

Go to your worst performing posts and start recycling them in your calendar. One old post every other day is a great way to breath new life into older content. Plus it fills in spaces that allow you to post most often without putting too much time into it.

Use these tips to creatively rotate your content on Twitter.

Carve Out Time For Direct Engagement

Image source: Hand shake

Direct engagement is an important part of social marketing – which is why you shouldn’t be posting links along.

But you don’t have to plan your interactions; those should be natural, and in response to what you find on your social feed at any given moment.

Plan some time and include it in your calendar for interactive time on your account. Go hunting for hashtags and keywords, speak to your followers, and re-share content you find.

By keeping it separate but still planning for it, you are more likely to remain consistent and maximize your results.

You will also be able to experiment with posting times, to find when you get the best engagement. This is a valuable resource, and while you can find social platforms that calculate the data for you, sometimes it is better to use your own parameters. Just because one time gets more favorites or likes, for instance, doesn’t mean it is better than a time when you get actual comments or shares. Sometimes platforms don’t take this into account when auto scheduling.

Use these tips to genuinely interact on Twitter.

Make a Good Use of Visual Content

The social web has become extremely visual: Photos, visual quotes, infographics, short videos, animated GIFs. Unless you join the crowd, you are losing out.

Plan at least one solid visual update to go to your Facebook page weekly and least one to go to your Twitter stream weekly. Sitegeek is a good example of Facebook visual marketing done consistently right (here’s there Facebook photo tab).

Use this tool in combination with your favorite stock image source (like this one) to create original visuals daily. Make sure you are using images you are allowed to republish to avoid the risk copyright infringement.

Include All Platforms With Individual Posting Schedules

Each social platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. It also has its own way of posting without over or under doing things. Facebook requires less frequent posting than Twitter, while Pinterest does better with more posts than LinkedIn.

Your calendar should include all platforms, and be adjusted to fit each platform with its own schedule. Create a small legend at the top specifying how many times per day you will be posting to each. Give all platforms their own color, so you can see them at a glance.

This has the added benefit of making sure you give equal attention to all profiles, but in a way that is right for that network. If you post five times a day to Facebook, you might lose followers. If you post less than five times a day to Twitter, you might see the same problem arise.

Social Calendars keep you balanced.

Use Cyfe to monitor your multiple social media networks and how effective your social editorial calendar turns out to be.

Plan Weekly, Not Monthly+

This is a controversial tip, and many marketers will disagree. But drafting a monthly calendar is far less efficient than it seems. Actually, it could work against you. You don’t know what content will be drifting around the web in a month’s time. You don’t want to share something that is already stale, just because you plan for it three weeks down the line.

It may take a bit more time, but drafting a weekly calendar instead of a monthly is a simple way to improve your posting strategy and get better results. You can also make adjustments with less fuss if there are fewer posts to contend with.

Use MavSocial tool to compile weekly social media calendars.

Be Flexible: Allow For Changes When Needed

A calendar is just a guideline, not an absolute. Sometimes things happen that mean you need to make changes. Having everything planned and easy to edit is necessary, so you can occasionally slip in new content, or special announcements, or address something trending.

For example, say a massive news item hits the web, and you want to comment on it. You could easily cancel a planned post and replace it, then make a note in the calendar that states you had. Take the original post and set it for another open slot, or choose to do one extra post for that day at a later hour.

Having flexibility is much easier without sacrificing the effectiveness of your social posting when you have a schedule to follow by, and can keep track.

Have any tips to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

Image source: Calendar, Hand shake, Links

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#BeforeFacebookI…

Story of an Underdog..

Step away Facebook we’ve got a new kid in town. Miramir (pronounced mir-a-mir) is a new social media platform that’s gaining traction through their Kickstarter campaign. The platform’s angle is all about privacy, literally.  The word Miramir in Russian means universe, world & peace. The idea for the site hit founder Max Sidorov after he tried to delete his Facebook account and he received the glum response of deactivation only. His mission for the startup “is to create a platform that allows users to interact, create, develop and share information without the threat of privacy invasion and government intrusion.” So far people are loving the idea of privacy, the Miramir campaign has 44 backers and has gained $2,209. The Miramir video is like a flashback to an 1984 Apple Macintosh video. It may go by the way of other Facebook privacy clones – time will tell. (Source Collective Evolution)

#BeforeFacebookI was …

Outside more … Happy Birthday to Facebook! The social media mogul recently celebrated its 12th birthday and people are sending their congrats by posting the witty hashtag #BeforeFacebookI…… People are reminiscing about their lives before social media and some of the posts are making us ROFL. The hashtag started trending on social media after the Comedy Central’s midnight show. One particular laughable post goes as follows:

Oh Tom…we miss you and your MySpaceness. Here’s a list of the most memorable and funny posts that’ll have you reminiscing back to your high school days.

Move Over Doc Brown!

Good news folks, the federal government recently sent the a-okay to the southern based manufacturer of the famous Delorean from “Back To The Future”. The Delorean Motor Company is completely thrilled since production of the famous icon has laid dormant since 1982 when the company went bankrupt. The government approved a “low volume manufacturing bill” and a small total of just 300 will be produced. If that’s not sad enough the iconic sports car will be selling for just under $100,000 (cue tears of sadness). We can expect to see these babies cruising on the streets in 2017 and hopefully the cars will come with the famous Doc Brown jumper! (Source Tech Insider)

 

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Graduating from Social Media User to Legitimate Strategist

The workplace is starting to flood with a generation who grew up with social media. Yet, as digital natives who have only known Tumblr and never used LiveJournal,  we don’t necessarily know more about social media simply because we grew up with it. While us millennials in social media startups are naturally linked to social platforms, both dictating the consumer market and as part of it, we still have to develop the skills that will benefit the brands we work for.

Try out e-learning

Could you be doing things better? Absolutely. Learning doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom, especially in the constantly evolving world of social media.. One way of ensuring you are always at the forefront of your industry is to enroll in a form of training.

There is an abundance of useful courses online, especially when it comes to social media. Lynda has courses that detail Facebook ads, targeted audiences, Twitter cards and more. These kind of personal development tools are time effective and can support on the job learning. As a result, your employer may be happy to front a subscription.

For simple social media strategy updates digital marketing sites, such as Moz, can be very instructive alongside the vast array of YouTube videos out there. However these online courses can often only provide a brief basis of knowledge, or updates, and do not always get to the root of social media learning.

Don’t overlook the training course experience

Where online learning can fall short, something more in-depth and IRL may be better suited. Classroom training companies like Activia Training have written on how useful online learning can be, but that it cannot compete with the real world environment in terms of student engagement. It’s important to weigh up the the worth of online learning against the level of engagement involved within a classroom environment.

If you can make a good case to your employer as to why the business could benefit from more in-depth training, e.g you can then help other staff learn best practices and in-depth knowledge of the social media/marketing landscape, it is worth broaching the subject.

Don’t assume you know everything there is to know

Social media and digital marketing practices are ever growing and advancing, just because you’ve got a 10k Twitter following doesn’t necessarily mean you are an amazing social media strategists – it may mean that you were one, within a certain industry, at a certain time. But if we don’t evolve we will fall behind.

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Uber Gets A New Logo

Uber Gets A Facelift

Uber users may have noticed an email in their inboxes this morning titled, “Introducing a more colorful Uber”. Well it turns out that Uber isn’t making their cars more colorful, just their branding. “Same ride, new look” is what they’re saying. The app logo has changed from the U to a circle thing with a square? People are confused but Uber has a reasoning for it. The new look and feel of Uber is to celebrate technology and the cities Uber serves according to a press release. Uber isn’t “Everyone’s private driver” anymore, instead they just want you to “Get there” according to the new tagline. (Source Mashable)

What To Say When You’re In A Sticky Situation…

“Today we’re announcing a strategic plan…” That is what Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced Tuesday after not so hot fourth quarter earnings. The strategic plan that Yahoo hopes will help their transformation includes a 15% cut of their workforce (about 1,700 employees), closing of various departments and eliminating some of its digital verticals, according to Mashable.Yahoo is continuing to seperate its holding Alibaba and the Yahoo Internet business. Mayer has been trying to make Yahoo relevant again but things are still rough. (Source Mashable)

GoPro Hide and Seek

Dan Iverson had the adorable idea of putting a GoPro on his kid’s head during a game of hide and seek. The GoPro captured footage of the boy searching the house for his parents while his parents hide in a closet laughing as they watched a livestream of the GoPro. Luckily, the family dog comes in handy and helps the boy out. Iverson posted on Facebook, “If you have a toddler and a GoPro, strap it to their head and play hide & seek. It’ll be the best thing you did. Promise.” The 13 million people who viewed the Facebook video agree. Check it out here.

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4 Reasons Why You Need Social Media for SEO

Many people wonder why there is all the fuss about social media when it comes to search engine optimization. They are those who believe that they can successfully optimize their sites without having to connect to these platforms. You, however, should know that SEO is not complete without Social media. If your business is not on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the likes, you just do not know what you are missing. The revolutionary nature of interactive websites and their ability to have a lot of people online is one of the reasons why you should tap into their resources. The following are just some of the advantages of doing it.

It is a fast way to rank any site

If you are looking for the fastest way to rank your site, you need to think about social networks. There has been a significant shift in the way search engines determine which site should show in the search results. This has caused some of the websites that used to always be at the top to suddenly disappear. With networking, you get connected to lots of sites, some of which you do not even know about. This is because people keep sharing your content and the credit flows back to you. The people who share your content include;

Those who follow you directly
Other companies that offer services that are similar to yours
People who just want to share content that interests them

As you can see, you actually never know where your content will end up when you use it across social networking platforms. Yet, everywhere it goes, it is likely to generate links and make a sale for you. A post can go viral in a matter of minutes thus bringing faster results as opposed to conventional methods that would take months to show any significant results.

It costs almost nothing

All the popular social media websites are free to join and use. You can create an account in less than a minute and you will be up and running. Although you might be required to pay if you need premium services such as advertising, you can always rank your site with the free tools. Things such as share buttons links are always free. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that these platforms do not have stringent restrictions when it comes to the content that you can use on your pages.

If you go for traditional search engine optimization techniques, you will find out that they are way too costly. There are companies that will charge you thousands of dollars just to rank your site. Do not be surprised because this is justifiable. They will have to spend lots of money on tools that will eventually propel your site to the top. They also will invest lots of their time and resources to help you succeed. In return you will have to part with a huge amount of money. On the other hand, if you use social media for SEO, you can save those thousands and use them on other things that can make your site better.

It is easy to use

You do not need to hire an expert to help you with social networks. These are networks that even dummies join and start using right away like they are professionals already. The reason is that the processes have been simplified. These sites ensure that everything that you will ever need is integrated in their systems. Your only task is to click on the buttons that you need and you will be taken to that step. There is no configuration needed to use a social network because you do not even have to download any software.

The ease of use is one of the things that have social networks popular across the world. A page on any of these networks is as if you already have your own mini site that has been optimized and fitted with all the plugins that you will ever need. The only thing that you might be worried about is content because you have to upload content on your site every day and ensure that it is the kind that your audience wants to see. This should, however, not worry you because even if you cannot come up with the right posts, you can always find someone to do it for you for a small fee.

The conversion rate is high

Statistics show that at any given time, whether day or night, there are billions of people who are active on social media. Although most of them are looking for fun, such as connecting with their friends, there is no doubt that you can always lure them into buying from you or at least, visiting your website. You have a ready audience which is active and so, you do not even have to worry about where to start looking for traffic. Just make sure that you use the right approach.

It is easier to get leads through these networks, thanks to the way that you can create posts that drive them to do what you want them to do. For instance, if you are selling health products on your website, you can post about some serious health issues and start a debate about it. See how many people say that they suffer from the same and give them a link to the site where they will get the solution. It is a simple yet powerful way of doing the work that might have taken you months to accomplish had you not used these networks.

To sum this up, whether you like or dislike social media, there is no doubt that you need it badly. It is the solution to rejuvenating that site that has stagnated for long. If you had reached a point of despair because no amount of search engine optimization seems to bring in the required traffic, worry no more because you now have the solution that you have been searching for so long.

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Don’t Be Too Social in Browsing the Web

Whether you run a business or are just an individual who spends lots of time on social media, it is important that you don’t open the doors up to identity theft and other computer-related problems by being too social.

Having a secure presence on the Internet is important for myriad of reasons, most notably so that your personal information is not being stolen, information that could cause you numerous problems were it to be swiped.

With that in mind, what are you doing to make sure your time spent on social media is not proving to be too risky for you and/or your brand?

Some of the factors to keep in mind when using social networking include:

Giving away company secrets – For the business owner, make sure your employees (if you have them) do not spill company secrets all over social media. This can include an array of things, one example being two employees discussing personal client information. If someone has hacked into one or more social media accounts, they can quickly learn pertinent client details by monitoring a Facebook conversation between two employees. Another example would be one of your former employees (see more below) giving out personal company information on their Twitter page, hoping to hurt you and your brand. While you could threaten to hold that former worker libel for their postings, you can avoid the problem altogether by making sure that any important client or company information you have stays with you and only with you. While it is commonplace for companies to demand former employees on their way out the door not take any computer or handheld personal files, not all businesses enforce this rule;
Alerting the world about your personal plans – How many times have you read in your newspaper or seen online about the homeowner whose residence was broken into while they were away, only to later learn that the individual posted information and/or pictures of their travel on social media? It happens more times than you might think, so don’t be that victim. Just as you can have total freedom in web browsing, you don’t want the same for potential hackers. Do your best to block identity and personal property thieves from getting to you in the first place. One of the ways to go about this is by using encryption to keep your personal information just that. You should also be monitoring who it is can follow you on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For example, don’t take friend requests on your Facebook page from strangers (you can consider such requests if they are friends or family of people you trust on the site). Oftentimes, identity or personal property criminals will reach out to you, hoping you will then befriend them. When that happens, they have better access to your personal info. They may even disguise themselves as a business you trust, hoping you will click on a link and/or download malware;
Negative talk of former or current employers – How many times have you seen current or former employees taking to social media to trash a company? Unfortunately, it happens more often than it should, leaving both the individual and the employer looking bad (even if the allegations are not true). This is yet another reason why employers should be careful in what they allow current workers to post on their social networking sites. Once the employee has left the company, the employer has little or no control over what the individual may say on Twitter, Facebook, and other such sites, again only threatening to file a lawsuit if untrue information is shared or tweeted. Meantime, those individuals who are currently working for a business need to be mindful that their employers may (and oftentimes are) visiting their social media sites. Tweeting out that your boss or co-worker is the worst human in the world isn’t exactly going to endear you to the company. With more and more companies using social media to scan the posts of current and potential employees (applicants), you don’t want your networking efforts blowing up in your face.

There is no denying that social media is popular and does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

That being the case; avoid becoming too social when you hop on your social site or sites of choice.

Always keep in mind that there are countless individuals (many with bad intentions) monitoring your every move on social sites, hoping you make just that one mistake that lets them create a world of misery for you and what you represent.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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Twitter Predicts Winner of Iowa Caucus

Twitter Predicts Winner of Iowa Caucus

It seems like the winner of the Iowa Caucus was actually Twitter. Twitter decided to channel their psychic abilities to predict the winner and Twitter got pretty close to getting it right. On the Republican side, tweeters thought that Ted Cruz was #1 followed by Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. No surprise to anyone that Trump took to his Twitter to talk about how he did. On the Democrat side, Twitter predicted that Hillary Clinton would have an easy win. After a close call between Hillary and Bernie Sanders (#FeelTheBern), CNN reported that Hillary was the winner. Off to New Hampshire the candidates go but we’ll be watching the hashtags on Twitter. (Source Mashable)

What To Say When You Are Crushing It…

Google’s holding company, Alphabet, has had a pretty good day today. They have officially surpassed Apple as the most profitable company in the world being worth $553 million compared to Apple’s worth of $538 million. It seems like Google being the go-to for advertisers is doing better than the iPhone 6S. TBD how long Google will be winning this worth race against Apple but we’ll be watching from the sidelines. (Source Gizmodo)

In Case You Didn’t Hear…

The Zika virus is officially a global emergency by the WHO, which is a BFD since it’s only the 4th time this declaration has happened. The virus has reached 25 countries, including 36 individuals within the U.S. The outbreak started in Brazil with a microcephaly symptom – babies were being born with smaller heads. To protect yourself Fox News Health pretty much recommends: never go outside, camouflage yourself, stay away from water and oh, sleep under a mosquito net. (Source ABC News)

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