Social Media Beginner’s Guide By SagarGanatra

Whether it’s keeping up on the latest web memes on Reddit or Tumblr, following your favorite comedians on Twitter, professionally networking on LinkedIn, or staying in touch with college friends on Facebook, social media has become an integrated and constant part of our everyday lives.
To digital natives, it may be difficult to imagine a world where these tools aren’t at our fingertips, but the fact is, new users join these services every day. For the uninitiated, check out our beginner’s guides to get started on Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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1. The Beginner’s Guide to Tumblr

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This micro-blogging platform brings together bloggers, brands and tastemakers. Whether you want to create your own content or curate and share the stuff on the web you dig the most, Tumblr give you a user-friendly, beautiful way to get started.
If you’re already comfortable tumbling, check out these our tips and tricks for power users:

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2. The Beginner’s Guide to LinkedIn

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It may not be the sexiest social network out there, but LinkedIn now has 161 million members in more than 200 countries, making it the world’s largest professional network on the web. Our beginner’s guide will walk you through everything you need to tackle today’s job market, from creating a profile to finding professional organizations and applying for jobs directly from the site.
Already have a profile? Our tips for advanced users will show you how to get even more out of LinkedIn:

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3. The Beginner’s Guide to Reddit

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Reddit is the web’s most popular message board. If you’re new to the site, you may be overwhelmed by the mishmash of text links, comment threads, points and upvotes but sticking with it reveals what really distinguishes Reddit: its community. Our guide takes you through the Reddit culture, how to submit a story, upvoting and downvoting user submissions and more.
Once you’ve posted a couple of stories to the site, check out what other Redditors have been able to do with this social network:

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4. The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook

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As the world’s largest social network, Facebook boasts 900 million users worldwide. But even if you’re already on Facebook, there’s plenty aspects of the service that are worth reviewing. Our guideline recaps the network’s main features and policies.
For a more in-depth look at the world’s most popular social network, check out these additional resources:

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5. The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter

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Share news updates, links or one-liners 140 characters at a time with this social platform, which lets you communicate with and follow people from around the world. Our beginner’s walkthrough takes you through everything you need to get tweeting, from creating a profile to retweeting and direct messaging.
Racking up followers faster than Ashton Kutcher? Check out these pro tips to stay on top of your Twitter game:

How Social Media Could Improve Public Safety by sagarganatra

When it comes to public safety, forward-thinking government agencies are beginning to look at social media as a support tool for improved situational awareness.
The very nature of social media’s open communication and crowdsourced information provides a powerful tool for public safety agencies. Take, for instance, the Twitter user who unknowingly tweeted in real-time about the Osama Bin Laden raid, or the Florida deputy who used Facebook to negotiate a standoff, or the kidnapper who found time to update his Facebook friends.
A 911 center supervisor recently talked to me about the role social media played during a mall shooting. While police units established a perimeter around the mall and assessed the situation, they tried to sift through conflicting reports on the shooter. A 911 dispatcher jumped on Twitter and Flickr, and was actually able to obtain photos of the shooter, posted by witnesses inside the mall. Imagine the value that information provided to the incident commander and tactical operators on the scene.

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Is Emergency Response Via Social Media Feasible?

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To understand the spectrum of social media applicability and the challenges it poses to public safety, it’s helpful to think how the public safety context is different than traditional social media usage. First, public safety is event or incident-driven, whether for prevention, reaction or investigation. Second, public safety is really a unique form of customer service in which the expectation of service is very high, everyone expects to receive the same level of service, regardless of his frequency of use or willingness to pay for it, and the cost of failure can be astronomical.
Think of it this way: You may feel comfortable posting to a brand’s Facebook Page and not receiving a response for a few hours or maybe even a day or two. However, if your local emergency center planned to monitor calls for help via Twitter and Facebook, it would face major concerns. Therein lies the challenge for public safety — how do you effectively use a powerful set of tools for gleaning real-time information, without incurring huge cost and liability, not to mention, set unrealistic expectations for the public?

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Where is Social Media Emergency Response Applicable?

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When public safety agencies take to social media, they must remember two factors.

• The direction of the communication (i.e. the agency pushes outbound information to citizens, the agency draws on inbound information from citizens, or mutual, two-way communication).
• The timing of the communication with respect to an incident.

For example, a local police department sends an emergency notification through Twitter, alerting citizens to poor road conditions due to inclement weather. In this case, emergency notifications through social media are outbound. Conversely, decision support relies on inbound input from citizens. Public safety agencies monitor information streams, selectively engage users if the situation dictates, and then develop a course of action.
Emergency 911 centers (or their international equivalents) are typically designed as the communication hub — or customer service center, if you will — for two-way citizen emergency communications. Therefore, they’re also a natural fit for social media engagement.
However, with limited exceptions, these centers do not typically welcome technology beyond caller ID and some basic location information. Efforts like “Next Generation 9-1-1” plan to equip centers so that they may receive a wide array of media-rich content. In the meantime, individuals post photos and videos of unfolding events to social media platforms. Many of these individuals will never even contact 911 directly, assuming that other witnesses have already done (or will do) so.

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Would Public Safety Face Any Challenges?

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It is becoming increasingly important for emergency responders and other officials to rapidly access and make sense of relevant social media to provide a better picture of the incident and surrounding area (i.e. situational awareness). However, emergency responders are unavailable to mine these social media sites, and often, the 911 center will be too overburdened with incoming calls to do so either.
Several larger agencies have established dedicated units (often within police departments) to provide real-time intelligence. Real-time crime centers operate in several major U.S. cities — notably, New York City and Houston, TX. These centers have access to powerful data aggregation and decision support tools. The New York City Police Department has created a social media unit within its intelligence division.
Traditionally, the data used by these crime centers was more static in nature and limited to the various databases maintained by the city, such as the police department’s records management system, the municipal court information system, permits, etc. This is not the case with social media. Officials can glean valuable intelligence from social media posts across dozens of online platforms. Additionally, this data can emerge from many a dynamic scenario. Consider the foreign tourist who posts a photo of a suspicious package in Times Square, or the concertgoer who shares a video of a crowd fleeing a shooter.
In addition to valuable intelligence-rich posts, people share thousands of well-wishes or anecdotes that, while thoughtful, provide no useful information to public safety officials and obscure the posts that could enhance emergency responders’ situational awareness (see the most recent shootings at Virginia Tech). The amount and velocity of social media traffic and “background noise” is so extensive that it is nearly impossible for intelligence analysts or emergency managers (let alone a busy 91-1 center) to consistently provide real-time information to first responders.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Social Media in Strategic Communication project seeks to apply analytics and advanced data solutions to social media in the same way it has improved video analytics and other operational intelligence.
As social media continues to exponentially grow, so will the sheer volume and type of content. Public safety will be forced to develop solutions that better automate today’s mostly manual response efforts. Hopefully, information sharing between the public and public safety agencies will improve and, ultimately, lead to safer communities.

Social Media Could Be Hurting Your Job Search

Social media is awesome, isn’t it? It does so much and asks so little. And using social media the right way can hook you up with the right people, in the right place, at the right time. When used to its fullest potential, actively engaging a network online can transcend your social media game from person to personality — someone who engages his circle and provides interesting and relevant content to the masses.
However, like most good things, social media can be a real killer for job seekers who use it inappropriately. Any big no-no on a profile can be an ultimate deal-breaker in a matter of seconds, with no recourse and no notification. Are you sure your social media game is helping — not hurting — your cause? Check out these five ways that your social media efforts could be killing your job search.

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1. You’ve Got Friends in Low Places (Thanks, Garth Brooks)

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As much as you might love your fraternity brother who never really grew out of the Animal House phase, your prospective boss might not. Employers will not judge you solely based on your connections, but having a wild child as an online friend posting inappropriate status updates and photos still can kill your chances for landing a plum job.
Pay attention to how you interact with your friend and how they work with you. If you sign on to find the occasional profane comment or dirty picture tag, it’s time to set some limits. Talk to your friend about who is reading your profile and/or change your settings to restrict who can post/tag what.

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2. Is Anybody Out There?

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It’s one thing to join a social network; it’s another thing to participate. If you don’t have the time for social media, don’t make an account. An empty or barren social media profile says that you start things you can’t finish and aren’t taking advantage of the tools you have.
More and more employers are searching candidates on Google, so that MySpace profile you started and thereafter neglected will pop up. Hit the basics by including a current (and appropriate) picture, basic info, and updating at least once a week. If you can’t do that much, delete any accounts that are not adding value.

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3. T.M.I (No More Need Be Said)

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​​On the flip side, a common problem many job seekers run into is putting too much out there on social media. While it might be awesome to share all those wickedly funny party photos and NSFW videos with your friends, your current or potential employer might not appreciate the humor.
Additionally, the job search is a lot like dating. When you’re gainfully employed, your current employer isn’t going to want to see you actively job-searching on Facebook. If you’re shopping around, many recruiters and hiring managers will lose interest if they see you getting cozy with another company.
Know what to share, when to share it and with whom. Be discreet. Your privacy and how you value and protect it is also a critically important attribute of your online brand.
Maintain a certain level of professional aloofness by limiting the content you upload and checking your privacy settings frequently.

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4. Man of Many Talents

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We’ve all seen statistics describing social media as a great tactic for all job seekers. However, remember that the job search should only be about 20% online, and social media is just one part of that.
You have many talents. You cannot demonstrate the various facets of your personal and professional brand exclusively via online tools, no matter how sophisticated the social networking platform or your digital marketing skills. So make it a point to practice all of your networking skills, and get away from the keyboard once in a while to talk with someone face-to-face.
If you rely on social media too heavily, you’re going to become a one-hit wonder real quick. Employers want to see candidates who are well-rounded with their branding and job search methods.

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5. It’s a Time-Suck

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Admit it, you’ve spent a little too much time friending on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, pinning on Pinterest, or grouping into circles on Google+. That’s fine. Social media wasn’t meant to simply be a job search tool — it’s a place to have fun, connect with friends and, maybe, see how that girl you knew in high school is doing now.
​However, be aware that five minutes can turn into an hour on social media, which can seriously hurt your job search efforts. Stay focused on your job search, and set time aside in your day for “fun” social media so that it doesn’t run away with you.
What do you think? What other ways can social media kill your job search? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

10 Ways Networks Try to Make You Stay by sagarganatra

1. Twitter: "You don't know what you're missing."

If you choose to ignore your Twitter account, you'll receive an email within a few weeks saying, "We've missed you!" More than that, Twitter lists everything you're missing out on, from the latest news to plain happiness.

2. Facebook: "What did I do wrong?"

It may be easy to deactivate your Facebook account, but it's a pain to figure out how to permanently delete it. Whichever option you choose, Facebook essentially makes you fill out a questionnaire to explain why you're leaving. And that's before it lists specific friends who "will miss you."

3. MySpace: "I can change."

Like Facebook, MySpace wants to know why you're moving on to bigger and better things, but it also tries to bargain with you. When you choose a reason, like "Bored" or "Spam," MySpace offers new ways to keep you happy.

4. Tumblr: "I hope we can still be friends."

Tumblr is pretty civil when you decide to leave. Alongside an anguished robot, the network gives you the option to contact the staff if you want to talk, and there's a standing offer to start things up again at any time.

5. Google+: "Think about what you're giving up."

Google+ plays it cool. It's pretty simple to delete your G+ content or even your entire Google profile, but first expect a comprehensive list of everything you're giving up: Circles, +1s and the like. It makes it clear that this process can't be undone, so don't expect a reconciliation.

6. LinkedIn: "Let's work on this."

How appropriate. When you give a reason for closing your account, LinkedIn gives you tips on how you can make your experience better, like building your professional network to get more value from it.

7. deviantART: "You're breaking my heart."

This artist network tugs at the heartstrings. DeviantART's demon mascot, known to run around and smile mischievously, cries devil-sized tears when you try to delete your account. An unhappy face accompanies each item on a list of everything you're giving up. Get the hint?

8. YouTube: "Remember all the good times we had."

YouTube wants to make sure you're making the right decision to erase memories with a reminder that all videos, comments and your username will be deleted forever.

9. Klout: "You're nothing without me."

OK, maybe not exactly. But Klout does say that everyone has a certain amount of influence, and its "mission is to help you understand that influence and use it to make your life better." So, delete Klout and you might miss out on a better life. Bold.

10. Orkut: "Leave a message at the tone."

Orkut, owned by Google, is extremely popular in India and Brazil. At the time of this post, you receive an error message when you try to delete your account. That's what you get for trying to break up long-distance.

2 Minutes Check Out Who Has Access to Your Social Media Accounts?

There are more than 130 Facebook app developers with access to my profile. Sixty-eight apps have permission to post to my Twitter feed, eight of them can access my LinkedIn data and another eight are connected to my Gmail account. You don’t have to be an online privacy expert to understand that’s probably too many, but how many apps have permission to your account?
Israel-based entrepreneur Avi Charkham has cut down the time it will take you to find out. After becoming frustrated with how difficult it is to locate app permission pages on social sites,
He recently relaunched the list at the domain mypermissions.org, and it took off on Twitter and Facebook after a fan submitted it to Hacker News on Monday. Using the site to help clean up your app permissions takes about two minutes, and you can sign up to receive monthly reminders to review your app permissions thereafter.
Charkham is the cofounder of a web app called MyFamilio that lets families post their family moments privately. The simple MyPermissions site is just a side project and — if you’re looking to better protect your online privacy this year — a favor.