Buy Friends....Online Friends that is

One of the biggest trends found on social media sites today is the overwhelming number of accounts that allow users to purchase friends.  There are multiple accounts that allow users to send the money ranging from $5 to $100 for more followers or friends on social media sites in order to increase their popularity.  The website 1000followers.co allows individuals to purchase packages that guarantee the individual a certain number of added followers on their social media account.  Though with today's world this seems like pretty promising business to get into and could create a lot of money, I feel that this just isn't right for the average person.

For the average person, I don't understand what the difference is whether you have 3 followers or 3,000 followers.  I personally feel that I would much rather be actual friends with my followers or at least interested in topic that a group posts rather then just have an absurd amount of random people follow me.  However, if the account is for a band or business starting up this may be something beneficial to look into.  Having a lot followers or friends on an account provides a sense of credibility when other individuals may look at the account and could be very beneficial for the account.

source: http://buy1000followers.co

Facebook Going too Far?

Recently this past week, Facebook has been challenged in court by an Illinois man who has a very interesting law suit.  We all have seen the facial recognition feature on Facebook and how it can practically pick out who is who, and this is thanks to Biometric Data.  The question now comes that if  Facebook should be allowed to have this data, or is it an invasion of our privacy?  This individual from Illinois plans to test this and is taking Facebook to court of the unauthorized use of his biometric data because he never received a notification was told that they would be storing and using this information.

I'm not totally 100% how this will go for Facebook. I think a lot of this court case will be decided on how good this individuals lawyer is, and how far into Facebook's privacy regulations that they want to dig into.  I can see both sides of the argument in this situation but I feel like Facebook should be okay with this court case.  When you sign into and register with a social media site, you are taking the risk of your information to be taken or stored on the internet.  I feel at most Facebook will have to send a message describing that the users information is stored and being used for facial recognition with pictures to all users and pay a small fee to this man, but I do not think this will change anything or force Facebook to not use this feature.  After this court case is settled I believe that we will see a very bold line in the agreement that we have when signing up for a Facebook account that states the use of biometric data being store by the company strictly to avoid something like this happening again.

source:
http://mashable.com/2015/04/07/facebook-facial-recognition-lawsuit/

Periscope = Something New? or Just a Remake of Snapchat?

Periscope is the newest social media app to hit the market over the past few months.  This new app has many new features though that make it quite interesting.  Like SnapChat the main objective is to take videos (or pictures in Snapchat's case) and use these as a form of media to connect individuals from across the globe.  However, when using Periscope all the videos are set to being live immediately.  This means that there is no do-overs or reruns when recording and your friends on Periscope can comment on your videos as you're recording.  The other biggest feature of this app is the connection with Twitter and the ability to upload your videos right to Twitter.  Partnering with this social media powerhouse is probably one of the best options Periscope could have taken because of Twitters reputation and already high fan base.

Though this new social media app will be competing directly with Snapchat, I think that Periscope has a chance of making it in the social media world.  The partnership with Twitter is probably the biggest and most successful direction this company could have gone in to survive in this market.  The ability to add you friends from Twitter, share directly with Twitter and comment immediately will allow Periscope to compete in the market and separate themselves from other competitors enough to be successful.  Only time will tell however with how successful they will be with advertising their service and how they will be able to gain users at a fast rate.

source:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/periscope-and-meerkat-the-apps-where-life-is-but-a-stream-20150411-1mhxsk.html

Twitter Saves the Day for NHL Goaltenders

This past year, I've witnessed more unlucky goals in the NHL then I have ever seen in my entire life.  Whether the puck is dumped in from center ice, or it bounces out of no where and ends up in then net, the puck has seemed to find its way into the net this year more then normally.  With this new trend in goaltending, a variety of NHL star goaltenders have found a very creative way to help ease the tension they were receiving form the public.....Twitter.  Luongo is one of the most popular NHL figures on Twitter with his constant stream of punny comments, and hilarious photo's of his teammates.  After giving up a goal against the Florida Panthers this past year, he took to Twitter in an effort to stop the mocking he received from every hockey fan across the world.  He allowed a goal from center ice, and the puck bounced down the ice and right over his glove and in the goal.  Taking to Twitter, Luongo released a picture of himself with a large cardboard piece taped to the top of his glove, demonstrating the new addition he would like to add to his equipment in order to not allow goals like this again.

By doing so, Luongo made a joke of his recent tragedy during a game and sparked a trend within the goaltending community.  Since this post other NHL goaltenders, such as Jonathan Bernier, have released similar posts trying to ease the tension on themselves and from the public about the issues they've been having.  These accomplish a lot for not only the individual but for the organization.  Making these posts such a "fan favorite" provides great publicity for the teams and gives the public an insight look at the character of these players.  Demonstrating that they're not just a "big mean fighting machine", and rather normal people just like us.  These Twitter posts also provide the goalies a way of easing the tension on themselves and help them move forward after the incident.  I'm sure that we will likely see a lot more of these posts throughout different social media platforms as teams are now creating SnapChat accounts with stories demonstrating the day to day activities of the players, and Facebook accounts allowing the players to interact with fans.

source:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/11/toronto-maple-leafs-jonathan-bernier-is-off-the-hook-roberto-luongo-allowed-a-terrible-goal-against-anaheim-ducks/#__federated=1

Apple Taking a SERIOUS Shot at Android

Though isn't your typical social media move that we've seen Apple make, Apple is taking a HUGE shot at Android over the past week.  Apple released over there corporate website and social media accounts that Android users can now turn in their phones towards gaining credits for paying for a new iPhone.  By doing this, they have created quite a stir within the technological market as they took a direct shot at all Android companies.  One of the biggest successes of this move by Apple was their secrecy before making the act, and immediately taking to their corporate social media accounts to spread the word.

Through using their corporate social media accounts loyal users were alerted of this new opportunity immediately.  Hundreds of thousands of users follow Apple on a variety of social media accounts and voiced their opinions.  Most of the comments and shared posts appeared to be very positive towards Apple, and most think it's a great idea.  However, the biggest social media move I'm waiting for is from companies such as Samsung, HT&T and Motorola.  The next moves that will happen should be very interesting in the way that nobody knows how they're going to react.  Should they respond with their own campaign in the same manner? Or should they try and make a joke of Apple and try and play it off?  Only time will tell.

source:
http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/30/apple-launches-in-store-android-trade-in-program-to-boost-iphone-sales/

Your Twitter Page Running Itself...

Can you imagine a day when your Twitter page could post by itself without you having todo anything? And being able to post what you actually want it to?  Well this is about to become a reality within the next 10 years thanks to the use of Artificial Intelligence.  No i'm not talking about Aliens, but about Cortex.  Developed out of Boston, this software learns the needs and wants of brands and is able to help them make decisions on social media sites.  The use of having a strong social media presence is becoming much more important and this is the reason why Cortex was developed.

Through running a series of algorithms, the software is able to learn the tendencies and situations that he brand is exposed to on social media accounts.  By doing so Cortex is able to learn and develop strategies that could help the brand function in a more beneficial manner.  The biggest point being made by Cortex is that nobody has to be there to run it.  The artificial intelligence runs by itself, makes decisions and practically runs the users social media accounts for them.  Though this seems mildly terrifying, I believe that this could be a huge step for technology and social media in the world. Being able to not have to hire somebody to run the accounts, and having the best possible knowledge about social media can only be beneficial for companies.  With Cortex being able to develop and adapt to changes so quickly, I believe that we could see a serious drop in jobs in this field if this technology continues to grow.

Source:
http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/03/25/with-the-launch-of-cortex-artificial-intelligence-comes-to-social-media-management/

Virtual Reality Coming to Facebook

At a recent press conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced the introduction Facebooks latest study on virtual reality.  Working with Oculus, a virtual reality company that Facebook bought for $2million this past year, they hope to be able to take this technology and change how we use social media.  The main focus of using this new "Virtual Reality" is to connect the world in a totally new fashion and in a way that everyone can experience using social media platforms and peer to peer interaction.  

The development of this new technology can open Facebook from just a typical social media site, to an international market place.  This all depends on what steps that Zuckerberg wants to take and into which direction he wants the company to go in.  If he were interested in making Facebook into a more business oriented site, the use of Oculus could help drastically change how we deal with interacting with meetings.  The use of the virtual reality would allow individuals to feel like they're at the business meeting and interacting with other members, without ever having to be there.  The use of virtual reality would potentially allow for meetings, conferences, games and other sorts of issues to become a first person experience; no matter your location.   Time will only tell if this new form of media will take off, or if it'll be just a giant waste of money.

source:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2902183/at-f8-today-virtual-reality-may-be-next-phase-of-social-networking.html