Zynga’s newest game continues to grow the fastest on Facebook.
Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook shares have surged to their highest closing price ever on SharesPost, to $40 apiece, after the social network already filed its registration to go public.

Read the rest of this entry »

Valentine’s Day, the joint venture between Hallmark and Satan, is fast approaching, bringing with it a flurry of Facebook applications.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just upgraded: The timeline-ready application Foodspotting, which bills itself as a visual guide to food that focuses on individual dishes rather than on restaurants.

Foodspotting had appeared on the list of 60 different applications in Facebook’s open graph actions announcement almost two weeks ago, and now the mobile application has entered its third release on iPhone and Android.

New features in the upgrade include:

• The ability to bookmark dishes you want to try and hide ones you don’t;
• Single-click options to show whether you loved a dish, or tried it but didn’t love it, and whether you want to try it.
• An activity feed showing friends’ likes and activity;
• Publication of your actions onto your own timeline and Facebook news feeds, plus
• Recommendations from professional restaurant reviewers.

Combining professional recommendations with feeback from one’s own friends certainly makes Foodspotting seem more palatable than Yelp. Said predecessor has essentially lost its credibility for reviews of restaurants, which now have the ability to pay to prioritize only the best posts.

The company behind Foodspotting has put together a cute video about the upgrade, and we’ve embedded the footage below. Let us know what you think of it.

The precursor of today’s ticker on Facebook might disappear, possibly replaced by aggregated news feed posts grouped by friends or application. Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook may submit paperwork as early as Wednesday to register for an initial public offering that could be the largest of all time and make the social network one of the world’s most valuable companies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Small business page administrators are receiving emails that look an awful lot like phishing attempts but are actually legitimate product research by Facebook.  A copy of one such email appears at the bottom of this post.

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo-sharing platform 1000memories announced that it integrated Facebook’s new timeline profile into its ShoeBox iPhone application, allowing users to scan paper photos and import them directly into their timelines.

Read the rest of this entry »

Get ready for a goldmine of marketing insights: The video below covers how memes develop on Facebook.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three common mindsets among people who aren’t heading down the right path in social media.

1. My Son Or Daughter Does That For Me

If your son or daughter is a college graduate with a broad-based education that includes a degree in mass communications, I’d say you may be on the right track.

However, if your kid is 18 and sole or primary qualification is having Twitter and Facebook accounts, I’d say you need to reevaluate your choice of marketing personnel here. Just because they’re yours and can use Facebook and Twitter, doesn’t mean he or she has the skills necessary to market a business using social media.

2. I Hired a College Intern

While college students may be part of the social media generation, it doesn’t automatically qualify them to do social media for you. Unlike traditional media, which is a communication to a broad audience, social media is one-to-one marketing outreach.

You are communicating directly to individuals and anyone who has ever posted an opinion in an Internet forum knows the online audience is not to be trifled with. Understand that your reputation is on the line. With the variety of questions and comments you will receive, it is critical that they’re handled with care and professionalism to avoid any repercussions to your name and brand.

A social media marketing professional is an astute communicator who ensures each time the right tone, caring and message is delivered for maximum return and keeps your audience engaged. This dynamic is crucial for the success of the program.

3. I Got 11 New Fans This Week

Of course, amassing fans is important, but you’ll never make a social media campaign work with the onesy-twosy approach. For myself, my company and our social media clients, we have a monthly benchmark for building followers.

Now, this benchmark is not a gross number, but a net figure after we have weeded out spammers, chronic friend adders, and marriage proposals from men in foreign countries, and yes, I’ve gotten a few of those.

At the end of the day, social media is serious business. Done right, it can create a base of thousands of followers. Done wrong, it wastes time and energy and, most important, gives people the impression that social media marketing isn’t important. In fact, it has become one of the most critical and fundamental components for any marketing strategy, which every company needs to put in place.

Guest writer Marsha Friedman is the founder and chief executive officer of EMSI Public Relations, and author of