Facebook changes terrible, but what you don’t know CAN hurt you – 4 things you need to know

Facebook made some dramatic changes to their systems and user interface that once again created an uproar.  It seems as though they completely re-code their GUI a few times a year without regard for user input.  Furthermore, this last major change appeared to not be planned well at all, leaving mobile users without access for some time.

In light of these recent changes there are four things I want to cover that you need to know.  Some need your attention immediately to prevent potential damage and others are helpful tips to make your use of Facebook smooth and inline with your goals.

Email Address Display

Facebook made a substantial change to how they display email addresses within user profiles just before the major user interface “upgrade” that was pushed on everyone.  This change is significant and can harm you so pay attention!

Just a few months ago, Facebook displayed a user's email address within their profile as an image.  This was done to prevent SPAM spiders and bots from easily screen scraping and capturing email address to be used in Spam emails.  THIS HAS CHANGED.  For whatever reason, Facebook has changed to now display a users email address as text, leaving many open to Spam.

So what should you do?  Change your profile settings for your email display immediately to be a minimum of “Friends Only” view, and a maximum of “Only Me” view.  Here’s how to do it.

1)       Go to your Profile and click the “Info” tab.

2)       Next to your email address click the “edit” button.

3)       Then click the Lock icon and select the level of protection you wish to have.  Again, I suggest either friends only or Me only to ensure your email address is not abused by people you don’t know.

Feed Display of Friends

Again for unknown reasons, Facebook now controls the number of friends (randomly it appears) whose posts appear in your news feed.  The number of friends is capped at 250 automatically by the Facebook system.

If you are like me, you have more friends on Facebook than their 250 cap, and missing posts from some could be harmful to my reasons for using Facebook to begin with.  Therefore, you need to increase this cap so as to see all stream posts from all of your friends.  Here is how you change this setting.

1) Go to your Facebook home page (News Feed).

2) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Edit Options” link.

3) Change the “Number of Friends” from the 250 default to 5000.

Your Profile Display Settings

If you use Facebook to network, conduct business or connect with people in specific industries as well as your friends, it is important to manage your profile settings appropriately.  The default settings for profiles have changed so many times through the “upgrades” Facebook has done, that it is important to constantly check your settings.

So many times I notice a friend of mine has become a friend with someone and I click to view that persons profile only to see that their profile is “locked” down and not displaying their location, employer or website.  That’s great for those who just social network to stay in touch with friends, but if you are using Facebook for business, you are missing opportunity to connect and meet others.

1) To edit your profile display settings, go to your profile and click the “Info” tab.

2) Click the “Edit” link next to the section you want to change your settings for.

3) Select the viewing options you want others to have.  Again, click “Everyone” or “Friends of Friends” if your goal is to network with others you may not know yet.

Blocking Game Posts

One of the biggest advantages with the Facebook changes is the ability to block posts from annoying games in your news feed.  Now if you play games and enjoy that sort of thing that’s great, however some people don’t and find the hundreds of posts beyond annoying.

If you want to remove posts from a game application, follow these steps.

1) Go to your News Feed and find a game post you’d like to block.

2) Hover on the right side of the post and a “Hide” button will appear.

3) Click the Hide button and it will give you three options.

4) Click the center button to block posts from that game application.

It has been said that if something doesn’t grow or change it’s dead.  As with all changes we experience in life, some are bad, some are good and some just require us to change along with it.  I hope you have found these tips helpful and enable you to be more effective with Facebook, while protecting you from any harmful affects of change.

By Robert M. Caruso
CEO fondalo, Inc. www.facebook.com/robertcaruso
www.twitter.com/fondalo

Socializing your retail business - The facts of why Social Media is a must!

If you are a retail business considering getting into Social Media Marketing –or- you are currently utilizing social media but are trying to figure out the what’s and more importantly the why’s, this is a must read.

According to Razorfish’s 2009 Digital Brand Experience Study, as reported by eMarketer, over 40% of US Facebook and MySpace users have “friended” a brand or company. Couple this data with the chart put out by The Business Insider, showing the average Facebook user views 662 pages a month and the data begins to become almost surreal. These numbers beckon retailers, whether kicking and screaming or with positive enthusiasm to engage in the medium.

Meeting with several prospective clients of fondalo recently, I’ve heard many excuses or reasons why a company has decided not engage the medium for their retail business. Two of the top reasons have been 1) “our customers are not on the internet/Facebook” and 2) “we don’t have the knowledge, time or bandwidth to do it”.

Let’s address these individually:

1) Our customers are not online or on Facebook: Excuse me, but I beg to differ! With almost 100 million social network users in the US alone, your customers are not only on Facebook, they are finding your competitors and NOT you.

Further data in the Razorfish study shows that 64% of consumers said they made their first purchase from a brand because of a digital experience—be it a Website, microsite, mobile coupon or e-mail. More importantly “friending” or becoming a fan took raising awareness to consideration, purchase and recommendations to friends. What other medium you have used has these results?

2) We don’t have the bandwidth: What company now days are blessed with additional human and/or expertise bandwidth to throw at a new requirement? The answer, none! So making decisions, setting priorities and even seeking outside professional help is a must.

fondalo helps many clients to build a sustainable social marketing strategy and use social media marketing to achieve ROI immediately, while escalating the results of branding and viral customer sharing of your offers.

So lets review… Step one: realize that the reasoning you have used for not creating a social media presence is flawed and modify your decisions to engage your customers. Step two: find and hire a social media professional, consultant or company that can help you build a strategy. Use these outsourced resources to help you execute the strategy and learn the necessary skills and information you need to make it successful.

By Robert M. Caruso

www.facebook.com/robertcaruso

CEO fondalo, Inc.

VanderVeer Center Joins the fondalo Buying Power Social Network Application

VANDERVEER CENTER, THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST’S PREMIER COSMETIC MEDICINE CENTER LEVERAGES NEW BUYING POWER SOCIAL NETWORK APPLICATION TO OFFER EXCLUSIVE SAVINGS

VanderVeer Center launches program to save people money with new social network application, fondalo®, for Facebook and Twitter

Portland, Oregon December 4, 2009 – VanderVeer Center, the Northwest's premier cosmetic medicine center, helps men and women of all ages restore a youthful, natural look without surgery is proud to extend exclusive offers and savings to new and existing clients with the new fondalo® Facebook application. fondalo offers VanderVeer Center, as a fondalo member company, a new way to leverage social networks in unprecedented ways. The agreement between VanderVeer Center and fondalo brings exclusive deals to fondalo users on VanderVeer Center services including ZERONA™ Body Slimming, BOTOX® Cosmetic, Dysport™, Restylane®, Juvederm™, Perlane® dermal fillers, facial rejuvenation, fat removal, laser hair and laser tattoo removal, liquid facelift and many more. Those offers are posted directly to Facebook and Twitter user news feeds making the consumer outreach truly viral.

“VanderVeer Center is excited to be part of the best way to both offer consumers great value in this tough economic time AND work within social networks like Facebook and Twitter to reach out to men and women who may be planning for a wedding or reunion, re-entering the job market or dating scene. The targeting and social sharing components fondalo delivers within their buying power social network application provides exciting and expanded reach to new and existing clients, ”said Elizabeth VanderVeer, MD, President/Medical Director, VanderVeer Center. “We love the fact that we can social network with our existing and prospective clients this way. It's a win for them with savings they can't get any other way and a win for us in that our brand and offers are shared with their Facebook and Twitter social networks.”

How Does It Work?

fondalo users identify the categories, brands, products and services that interest them and can also connect with friends and other like-minded users to request special offers from retailers. fondalo member companies make exclusive offers to fondalo users based on their identified user purchase preferences, which are then shared within Facebook and Twitter.

"VanderVeer Center already has great name brand recognition in this market,” says Robert M. Caruso, fondalo, Inc. CEO. “Having them as a member company making special offers to our user base delivers significant value to a whole new user demographic both inside Facebook and the fondalo system. We believe fondalo is the solution to leverage social networks both for consumer buying power and social marketing at its finest for companies."

The company launched version 1.0 on September 1st, allowing consumers to create their own deal mobs, users to build their category, product and service interests, make their Facebook and external friend connections, then start requesting and joining offers from companies. “In October fondalo launched its application to give local, regional and national companies a results driven social media marketing platform that gets response marketing results while maintaining the traditional social branding and communication businesses need” says Caruso.

VanderVeer Center is making their first offer for the incredible ZERONA™ Body Slimming lazer package. This surgery-free treatment was featured on AM Northwest recently.

Click here to view the video.

Click here to accept the offer in the fondalo Facebook application.

About fondalo, Inc.

Based out of the Portland, Oregon metro area, fondalo is a buying power social networking application, that gives business subscribers a way to effectively launch marketing campaigns into the most popular online social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

fondalo gathers buying preference information from its subscribers to create a powerful marketing database. Business subscribers use this database to identify consumer groups within the system that are most likely interested in their offering, then they use the fondalo system to push targeted marketing campaigns into social network sites. Once inserted, the offer is spread throughout the targeted subscribers' social network. The more appealing the offer, the more virally it can spread via connecting social networks.

Consumers join fondalo for the opportunity to find bargains locally, regionally and nationally. They build a profile of their interests and join together around those interests to request deals from businesses that sell those products and services. Business subscribers can make offers to subscriber requests or make their own offers, based on non-identifying user profile data.

About Elizabeth VanderVeer, M.D.

Elizabeth VanderVeer, MD, President/Medical Director, VanderVeer Center is a Board Certified Medical Doctor in Portland, Oregon with extensive sub specialty training in Aesthetic Medicine. Dr. VanderVeer is a National Trainer for Allergan, Medicis and OrthoNeutrogena. and a Luminary for Alma and Candela Lasers, for which she has conducted clinical studies. Dr. VanderVeer is also a well known TV personality as the Medical Expert and Anti-Aging Editor for FOX 12’s nationally syndicated daily television news program BETTER.TV and has appeared onCBS, NBC and ABC news. She is a sought-after International Lecturer and published author.

About VanderVeer Center

VanderVeer Center is one of the top full-service non-surgical aesthetic practices and the #1 cosmetic injectable facility in the Pacific Northwest (BOTOX® Cosmetic, Dysport™, Restylane®, Juvederm™, Perlane®). VanderVeer Center was selected as the best in non-surgical facial enhancement by Health Forum and is a preferred medical site for introduction of new aesthetic medical equipment and treatment as well as a premier training facility for physicians and their staff.

Contacts

Robert M. Caruso

fondalo, Inc.
503-764-1444 Ext 101
http://apps.facebook.com/fondalo
http://fondalo.blogspot.com


Francine Raften
Director of Marketing/Public Relations
VanderVeer Center
office 503-443-2250
cell 503-720-2034
Francine@vanderveercenter.com
http://www.vanderveercenter.com/

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Social Marketing - What consumers want from Brands

In an article released today by eMarketer, Inc. and quoting from data from Lightspeed Research, consumers want Offer Discounts!

The report shows the significance that consumers are placing on the desire to get valid news and information about a brand they like, as well as the desire for useful and relevant online applications that benefit them.

One of the more interesting points detailed in the article data is that consumers ranked advertising in places that are relevant to you as a 2.8 out of 5 in level of importance. Further data indicates consumer’s community surrounding their brands.

fondalo, launched it’s version 1.0 social networking buying power application in September of this year, well before this study was released, has hit on these points with incredible clarity and usefulness. fondalo primarily does two things: 1) adding value to social networking for consumers by allowing them to join together around brands, products and services to get better deals and 2) gives businesses a powerful tool to launch effective, targeted marketing campaigns into facebook, twitter and other social networks.

These two focuses of the fondalo application team up nicely with this latest report on what consumers want from brands. Inline with the fondalo focus, toping the list of what consumers want is clearly offers and discounts. fondalo hits this nail on the head!

Try the fondalo facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/fondalo

View the entire article from EMarketer at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007349

Thriftway Grocery Chain Joins Fondalo

fondalo and Thriftway leverage consumers grocery dollar

fondalo® is please to announce that the Oregon/Washington 28 store grocery chain has joined fondalo as a member company. Thriftway shoppers that use fondalo will now receive exclusive offers and savings because of the stores’ affiliation with the new fondalo buying power social network.

The first Thriftway offer is now posted in fondalo’s Facebook application and saves consumers $15 over the company’s last week’s newspaper circular ad.

Thriftway has given fondalo users an exclusive FREE 12pk of soft drink offer available from October 2 through the 12th, with more weekly offers to follow.

facebook users can finally get some real benefits within their social networks. Click here to view and accept the Thriftway Free 12 pk offer.

fondalo launches user side beta

Late Monday afternoon, fondalo opened it's system to users. Reminds me of the famous movie quote... "if you build it they will come." Well, they came, they are using and are inviting others. Does that happen anymore with start-ups? Apparently it does when you build something the market has been unknowingly dying for.

There were some incredible comments and quotes over the first 24 hours. Lots of, I don't get its and several ah ha moments. I am going to share a few tid bits that were gleaned. A new term has emerged that is already being used in and out of the site. fondaloing... I guess it is a verb? Never the less we loved it! Still another comment we saw within the system as one user explained fondalo to a friend they invited. "Imagine that you have 100 friends and they have 100 friends and they have 100 friends. Within a few degree's of separation there are thousands and then millions of us. Now imagine the buying power of that group. That is fondalo!!!."

Could we have said it any better ourselves?

Still another person called me this morning and asked, "Are you telling me you built a facebook type network that lets people buy things cheaper?" Before I could answer, she continued, "OMG, this is incredible. I am going to finish signing up and invite all my friends."

We think people are getting it.

Here is what has been taken away from our first few days. First, the concept is sound. Consumers understand social networking and have a need to find a way to use it that benefits them beyond just posting where they are and what they are doing. Secondly, though a totally new concept of socially building buying power though an online user controlled environment, the economic drive is there. Consumers see a huge value in pooling communities, networks and connections to save money, get more for less and forge new relationships with retailers, brands and products.

What's next for fondalo? We have a mission to build the user base to critical mass levels, educate and facilitate effective use of the system and build sizeable groups of people around products, services and brands they are interested in. Finally, we will help fondalo users to leverage that mass to get great offers from local, regional and national companies.

happy, ummm fondaloing!

What's next for social networks, where's the benefit?

Facebook, Twitter and the countless hundreds of other social networking sites that have popped up in their wake have transformed the internet. There is no debating this fact. But have you stopped posting, re-tweeting and commenting long enough to ask where is the benefit?

Now don’t get me wrong, business, guru’s and even the Hollywood crowd has bought in and are seeing results derived from social networks. Facebook recently announced their 200 millionth user. Twitter’s popularity is growing at a massive pace, potentially beyond useful, at least in the short term.

I read another article the other day talking about the social networking craze and how critical mass and dominance of different networks all competing for the cherished user reduce the benefits of social networking to users; you know, the persons and individuals that made Facebook the enterprise it has become.

So I ask what is next for social networks? Where is the benefit? We thought it was time that someone spent some time analyzing these questions. We asked ourselves, what does social networking really do well? What’s inherent to social networks that’s currently being overlooked, and how could it be leveraged to benefit users?

What was most interesting to me as we delved deeply into these questions is how obvious some of the answers were. Once the light came down from above, I was even more amazed at the fact nobody, not even the biggest boys online, had addressed it.

What is inherent to social networks is an incredibly effective tool for building large groups of like-minded and connected people. I know, I know. You are sitting there reading this saying Duh, right? Stay with me for a moment…

Now ask yourself, what should a tool that can achieve massive groups so efficiently be doing next that would bring a previously unknown benefit to users? The answer is buying power. It's so obvious.

We asked ourselves what would happen if social networking could be leveraged by creating a hybrid of collaborative and social systems? The answer was buying power that could be used to deliver products and services to users with a pricing advantage given to purchasing agents at the largest retailers.

Still need an example? You need to buy a new laptop computer. You gather 400 other people that want the same or similar item and go to the manufacturer or retailer and tell them to make the group an offer. Do you think the company is going to be able to get the group to buy their product at the same price they are advertising on their site for a single purchase? Think again!

What about the companies? If they did not have to spend excessive advertising and marketing costs and guessing on demographic and geographic targeted of consumers and could just go right to the people wanting their product, isn’t that worth something? You better believe it is. A lot!

The idea? Revolutionary! The task of designing and developing systems that would be able to do this? Daunting!

What you will see over the next several years is social networking migrating from building thousands of “friends” comprised of your elementary school mates, and guru marketers clogging up your network feeds into something that delivers benefits that positively impact your life financially.

Intrigued? Check out fondalo and see how this revolution of bringing power to the people is changing everything!