YOUR Social Media Platform Persona?

Researchers at King's College London, working in collaboration with Penn State University, have found that social media users adapt their behavior to individual social media platforms in a way that is clearly identifiable and learn-able when tested on a model..

Related Article: Social Media For Healthier, Happier Teens?

Using the webpages of 116,998 About.me users, the research team extracted matched user profiles on several major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and found that different genders and age groups adapt their behavior differently from each other. Such behavior includes the language they use in profile descriptions and the type of images they choose for their profile pictures.

Women were found to smile more than men in the profile pictures across all five of the social networks, while those under 25 were less likely to smile and this was suggested to be a result of the popularity of selfies among young people.

On LinkedIn, 90% of profile pictures were of a single person, while less than 60% of profile pictures on Facebook and Instagram were of only one person. Interestingly, on Facebook and Instagram, up to 40% of users used a picture that didn't include their face.

In contrast to statistics which show that women have a slightly higher myopia rate than men, more men were found to wear glasses in their profile pictures, suggesting that the two genders choose to fit in with gender-specific norms or social pressures; men may want to appear more intelligent while women appear to give in to social pressure to not wear glasses.

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The first author, Dr Changtao Zhong, now working for Twitter, says that the model developed by the researchers is able to automatically identify the network when given a profile picture or self-description.

The differences in behaviour were generally consistent across different platforms and these behavior differences correspond to how informal or formal the network is. Networks that are more formal such as LinkedIn are easier to tell apart from networks that are less formal such as Facebook.

Guest Authored By King's College London. King's College London was established in 1829 and is a co-founded constituent college of the University of London. Today, King's College London has more than 19,700 undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is home to five research councils, trains physicians, dentists and conducts complex medical and health related research. King's College London is also known for its academic and research in Physical Science and Engineering, Institute of Psychiatry and Social Services. Follow King's College London on Twitter.

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"Dr Nishanth Sastry, Informatics, said: "The results of our research have shown that different social networks do have different conventions, and users adapt their profiles to suit these conventions.

Our findings have implications for advertising strategies.

For example, brands that find a large audience on one particular social media platform may not be popular on another, because the expected norms and core demographic could be different.."

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  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Career Killing Social Media?

Social media is playing an increasing role in the way companies run their business, including how they hire..

Related Article: 7 Social Media Mistakes To Avoid?

According to CareerBuilder, 60% of hiring managers check out applicants’ social media presence as part of their screening process and over 25% of employers report terminating or reprimanding an employee due to social media faux pas.

You can argue about whether it’s right or fair for hiring managers to snoop around on your social media accounts. Clearly, they are doing it anyway. This means that you have to be vigilant.

I asked my readers over at Twitter what career killing mistakes applicants and employees should avoid on social media and got dozens of replies. Here are the best responses.

1. Being Dramatic, Combative or Insulting

“We all have those moments. You post something and some rude person tries to call you out, or you see a post denigrating a friend. In those moments, you might want to give somebody a very public piece of your mind. Resist the urge. Likewise, reconsider sharing your personal or family drama on social media as well. Employers will worry that your lack of discretion could carry over into the workplace.” – Tony Messer, CEO of Wizz Hosting.

Related Article: 20 Social Media Taboo Business Topics?

2. Having The Wrong Friends

“Some people are a lot of fun, but being around them can create situations where your professional credibility can hurt you, which can eventually hurt your financial prospects. For example, imagine somebody posting an inappropriate comment about your school/university partying days when you share an innocent throwback Thursday picture. Don’t let others cast you in a bad light. Make generous use of the hide functionality in order to prevent people from making embarrassing comments.” - Shaun Deans, CTO of Cash Stop.

3. Posting When You Should Be Working

“It’s not just what you post, but when you post as well. Potential employers may be concerned if you are posting too much on social media when you should be working. Your current employer will be bothered by this as well.” – Peter Trebek CEO of GoTranscript.

Related Article: 7 Social Media Mistakes To Avoid?

4. Bad Mouthing Past Employers

“As a leader, recruiter and trainer for the past 30 years, I’ve always found the words and language a candidate uses to be strong indicators of who you might be partnering with. For me, I’ve always listened for keywords, such as contribution, success, ownership, integrity, and an ownership mentality. “I immediately shy away from candidates who use “they” and “couldn’t,” and who display problem-oriented versus solution-oriented dialogue. Social media provides an opportunity to learn about a candidate prior to investing time and energy on a phone or face-to-face conversation. Remember, once those words cross your lips or leave your finger tips, they are available for everyone to see. Forever.” - Carey F. Wolf, VP of Sales, IntelliQuote.

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5. Lack of Discretion When Interviewing With Big Name Employers

“You’ve landed an interview with one of those companies. You know, one of the dream companies that make the ‘best places to work’ lists every year? Now what? Well, first of all, be discrete. The last thing you want to do is spread it around social media, start name dropping, or giving out insider info.” - Dave Wright, CEO of Mind Lab Pro.

6. Poor Grammar And Spelling in Your Posts

“Yes, social media is a casual platform, and you aren’t required to use the Queen’s English. That doesn’t mean that you can get by with posts that are full of embarrassing spelling and grammar errors. Employ a bit of editing to ensure that your posts meet some basic standards of quality.” – Michael Corkery, President of Pool Guard USA.

7. Professional Profiles That Contradict Your Resume

“It isn’t necessarily a problem to strategically write your resume to make yourself look as good as possible, unless you tell a lie. The fastest way to tell a lie and get caught is to forget to bring your social media profiles in line with your resume. For example, if you would prefer to leave a short, regrettable job off of your resume, then you should probably leave it. - Dan Fox, CEO of BOSS Laser.

8. Failing to Establish A Social Media Presence Whatsoever

“You might be tempted to simply eliminate your social media presence entirely or never start one to begin with. Unfortunately, this is a bad idea. Many employers won’t consider someone who doesn’t have a social media presence. Besides, there’s so much good that having a social media presence can do for your career.” – Peter Mendez, CEO of Crafted NY.

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9. Forwarding Spam Chain Mail And False News Posts

“Unfortunately, it’s become nearly impossible to scroll through your feed without seeing a post that claims you must share it lest you be accused of being heartless in some way, or threatening you with bad luck if you don’t pass it along. Not only are these posts irritating to others when you pass them along, potential employers view them negatively as well. Resist the urge to forward these, doing so casts doubt on your critical thinking skills and judgment.” – Judith Bolen, CEO of Five Aces Plumbing.

Guest Authored By Jimmy Rohampton. Jimmy is a freelance writer, business consultant and the creator of HowToCreateABlog, where he empowers people to gain digital skills. He's written and consulted for many companies including Cadbury, LEGO, BMW and Unbounce. He's a Hootsuite Certified Social Media Consultant and a Digital Marketer Social & Community Specialist, and he shows people how social media can be a key to personal and professional development. His work has appeared on Entrepreneur Magazine, The Huffington Post, Engadget, and more. Follow Jimmy on Twitter.

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You can argue about whether it’s right or fair for hiring managers to snoop around on your social media accounts.

Clearly, they are doing it anyway.

This means that you have to be vigilant..

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  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Afterlife Social Media Profile?

How to protect your social media accounts after you're gone..

But what happens to our digital estates and social media profiles when we pass on? More than half of states in America have some form of digital estate legislation in place.

Related Article: Protecting YOUR Social Media Privacy?

You may not realize it, but nearly every hour of every day, we are building up a digital estate.

Think about your music library. Over the last 20 years we have moved from owning CDs, to purchasing MP3s to streaming all music. That’s all digital. Photos are on the cloud, along with almost everything else personal to us, and our families. These are parts of your digital estate.

A Digital Estate is all assets in digital form, such as online accounts, iTunes music, social media profiles, photos, even those crazy cat videos.

But what happens to our digital estates and social media profiles when we pass on? For most people, social media accounts play a big role in our lives. Your online presence is – for better or worse – where people look to understand you. Managing this data, in both life and afterwards, is important.

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So what happens when I die?

Learn how each service addresses deceased users. The only way to deactivate a Twitter account is if a friend or family member reaches out and can provide an ID as well as a copy of the user’s death certificate. On LinkedIn, a friend or family member needs to fill out this form to request deactivation. While Facebook and Instagram will deactivate upon request, they also offer an option to “memorialize” the accounts of deceased users.

Facebook adds a “Remembering” badge to the profile, hides the profile from public spaces, and prevents anyone from logging onto the account. Anything the user posted previously is still visible and, depending on the settings, friends can still add memories and comments to the wall. If a legacy contact was appointed, that person can update your photo, respond to friend requests, and add a pinned post to your profile (example: a final message). As for Instagram, a memorialized account is also hidden from public spaces and no one can log into the account but there is no option for a legacy contact.

Now that you know the basics, here are a few key rules to protect your social media:

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Lay Out A Plan

It might seem frivolous to make plans for your Facebook account when you have a home, kids, and a spouse to worry about, but it’s a good idea. Roger Ebert apparently left instructions with his wife on the use of his Twitter account. Sit down and think of the following questions:

--What do you want done with your accounts?

--Do you want everything deleted or to live on forever? This will depend on the type of account and site.

--Who do you trust that can get it done? Leave specific instructions about how you’d like them to be managed with a loved one.

With Facebook and Instagram, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle for your family to get them memorialized. But with Twitter or really anything else, you’ll need to put some thought into it, since someone else would essentially have to take over your account.

Related Article: Avoiding The Social Media Minefield?

Appoint a Legacy Contact

Facebook accounts can be memorialized without a legacy contact. But if you don’t appoint one prior to your death, that means nothing about your profile can be changed. No updated photos, no pinned final messages, and no means to accept new friends who want to share their memories. If you’d like to keep that option open, do this:

--Go to Settings

--Then Security

--Then Legacy Contact

--Type in any Facebook friend’s name and hit “Add”

--After you click Send, your friend will be notified that they’ve been appointed as your legacy contact

You just have to be 18 or older to use this feature and you can remove and/or add a legacy contact at any time. (Here’s how they break it down on Facebook.)

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Leave Your Login Information with Someone You Trust

All three of these social media sites explicitly ban family members and friends from obtaining your password, even if they can verify who they are. If you want to keep your Twitter account active, you’ll need to entrust someone with your login credentials. This person can keep an eye on your account for potential hackers and if they see something suspicious, immediately change the password and report the issue.

While you should always hope for the best, plan for everything. More than half of states in America have some form of digital estate legislation in place, which allows, to some degree, an Executor to treat digital assets like any other asset the deceased owned. But unlike an antique table, digital accounts are more complicated because each service has its own set of rules.

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Imagine this scenario:

It’s a few months after you pass, and your family is doing their best to move on. Then one day, your social media accounts are overrun with inappropriate photos and virus-spreading spam.

While it might be shocking, or even amusing, to acquaintances or people you barely knew, it will be deeply troubling to those who were closest to you. Better to address these issues now than leave them for your loved ones to handle when you are gone.

Guest Authored By Amy Schneiderman. Amy is the co-founder and co-CEO of Everplans.com, a company dedicated to transforming the way people organize all the details in their life. Everplans, which she created in 2010 with her co-CEO Adam Seifer, is used by individuals, financial services companies, insurance providers, and employers across the country. A serial entrepreneur, Amy worked across the NYC start-up ecosystem launching a variety of businesses. Her passion is discovering new ways to use technology to enhance every aspect of people’s lives. She has been featured in numerous publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, & USA Today, but her claim to fame was being named to Fast Company’s list of the most creative people in business (along with Hamilton’s Lin Manuel Miranda)! Follow Amy on Twitter.

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"While you should always hope for the best, plan for everything.

More than half of states in America have some form of digital estate legislation in place, which allows, to some degree, an Executor to treat digital assets like any other asset the deceased owned.

But unlike an antique table, digital accounts are more complicated because each service has its own set of rules.." -AmySchneiderman

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

How Social Media Fits Into YOUR Hiring Plan?

I’ve said it countless times: Meet your audience on their platform of choice. We’re no stranger to this tactic in the world of PR, digital and social media marketing agencies..

You use social media for business strategies, but are you making the most of this cost-effective tool in your hiring process?

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How Social Fits Into Your Hiring Plan

At my company, we’ve expanded this theory above and beyond consumer and B2B marketing and into the world of social recruiting.

Businesses know that millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, and social recruiting uses digital platforms to meet future employees where they are: online.

A candidate’s digital presence serves to supplement a resume, but that’s just the beginning of how social media can reshape your hiring plan.

Social platforms essentially facilitate conversations, be it between individuals or brands and consumers. When qualified candidates are in the final rounds of consideration, social media can serve to show which ones are already contributing to digital conversations.

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What To Look For In A Social Profile

Common sense keeps most candidates from posting questionable content on their public profiles, but that’s just the basics. Identifying skilled candidates means recognizing potential. Are they retweeting articles by industry thought leaders? Do they have LinkedIn endorsements for skills that can add to your agency’s capabilities? What type of content are they resharing or interacting with?

A designer’s Instagram may serve as an unofficial portfolio while an account exec’s blog posts may showcase their aptitude for branded content creation. In many cases, personal profiles show a distinct voice, visual identity or overall brand. A sense of awareness is a sign of emotional intelligence, which is on every recruiter’s radar.

While a social media profile doesn’t need to be sterile or professionally branded, it should convey a sense of that candidate’s relationship with social media. Someone who is passionately plugged-in can bring that curiosity and drive to their work. And, on the other hand, for those who display highly negative or concerning behavior on social media, you should be mindful of how they would fit in with your culture.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Voice?

Make The First Move

Your agency can strategically reach out through social channels for cost-efficient results, from directly engaging with passive candidates via LinkedIn to targeting the ideal applicant with Facebook ads. By customizing an ad’s audience on Facebook or Instagram, you can boost messaging to reach a finite demographic.

For example, if you are using social advertisements to recruit for an entry-level position, your agency can pay to target ads to recent graduates as opposed to an experienced audience or passive candidates. You then effectively spend less while reaching more realistic candidates. By targeting likely candidates online, agencies can stretch ad spend while increasing efficiency.

It’s a unique advantage for both the candidate and the employer to connect organically online. Savvy job seekers know to use their public social media platforms as a tool to share their skills; it’s up to your hiring team to identify these standout candidates.

Guest Authored By Kelly Ehlers. Kelly is Founder and President of Ideas That Evoke. An influencer and social media agency focused in the beauty, lifestyle and luxury markets. Follow Kelly on Twitter.

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“It’s a unique advantage for both the candidate and the employer to connect organically online.

Savvy job seekers know to use their public social media platforms as a tool to share their skills; it’s up to your hiring team to identify these standout candidates.."

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)