Remember almost a year ago when I painstakingly explained how to properly run a Facebook contest?
Forget everything I said.
Facebook has again changed its promotion & guideline rules, effectively turning upside down what everyone has dutifully done on the Facebook pages for quite a while now.
The big news is is that you do NOT have to use a 3rd party app in order to run a promotion on Facebook. Now it’s okay to do something like say “Comment on our photo and be entered to win!” whereas before, doing something like that could have caused your page to be shut down.
I know, I told everyone not to do that for over a year and now I’m taking it all back.
So, this is good news for Facebook pages — it is definitely going to help to increase engagement and help to build brands. However, it’s bad news for companies like Shortstack and Wildfire, who have built their business being able to provide the 3rd party apps previously needed for Facebook promotions.
Also, I’m curious what will happen with pages in terms of what their fans can see on their newsfeeds. Faceboook also changed their newsfeed algorithm AGAIN last week and I can’t help but think that the two announcements are related.
In short, I think that Facebook is going to strongarm brand pages to have to pay to promote their photos and posts that are now promotions. Running a promotion on Facebook was always free, other than what you had to pay to the 3rd party app. I’m getting a sneaky suspicion that is all about to change.
To find out more about the changes on how to run a promotion, you can read their official guideline here.
Just remember, everything to do with Facebook is always subject to change, so make sure you familiarize yourself with their guideline and more importantly, keep checking to make sure it hasn’t changed.
By the way, Facebook? I think you owe an apology to the pages you shut down for breaking the rules before this change. I bet they're pretty upset right now.
GigaMom is about to do what is now known as the "Facebook Facepalm." Join me, won't you?
A few days ago Forbes released their annual list of Top 100 Websites for Women. On it are some familiar names, some great new websites for women to check out, and one that really doesn’t belong on the list at all.
The website on the list that I have a huge problem with is a new addition for 2013—“Get Off My Internets” also known as GOMI. According to Forbes, GOMI is “the antidote to Mommy blogs, this snarky site offers endless commentary, criticism and gossip on a web of lifestyle, fashion and mommy bloggers.”
Forbes, are you serious?
Did you actually READ anything in GOMI’s forums?
I look forward to reading this list from Forbes every year, but am really saddened to see that GOMI was listed as one of Forbes Top 100. There’s nothing informative or compelling about that site at all, other than to show how online bullying amongst adults happens. It’s not an engaging community, it’s a nasty community that doesn’t speak to anyone other that people who love nothing more than to take time to criticize, harass, and essentially bully writers and bloggers behind the veil of an online forum.
So, for those of you that don’t know what GOMI is, let me explain further.
Essentially it’s a website that has a very active group of people who “discuss” various blogs by way of a message board forum. Many of the comments are snarly, nasty, and berate bloggers on a personal level. Some forum members post photos of bloggers and criticize them saying things that they would NEVER have the balls to say to a person in public. I’ve read forum threads that belittle women who have had a child die, are going through a divorce, and are battling health problems.
Take a look at the GOMI forums and you see right at the top: Opinions expressed by forum commentators are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site admins or Get Off My Internets.
Well, that’s nice and all but it doesn’t really hide the fact that parts of the GOMI forum are purely fuelled by nastiness. And this is the part of my blog where I originally had some verbatim examples of things said on the forum that I found particularly upsetting, but then after reading them all, I deleted them… because you know what? I don’t want those words here on my space.
However, I will share some of their forum category descriptions, so you can get an idea:
Mommy / Daddy Bloggers
Yes we know, you're the first parent ever.
Lifestyle Bloggers
You don't know how to live. They can help.
Tech Bloggers
Discuss the folks who think they invented the internets.
Food Bloggers
That looks disgusting.
Now, I am always one to say “to each his own” and I do tend to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how they behave, especially online, but any time I take a look at the GOMI forums, I find myself thinking the same thing…
Why do these people revel in being so horrible to others? Not only that, but to do it publicly while at the same time, doing it behind the back of the person being talked about. The common name for someone like that is a “troll.” Trolls follow blogs and social media feeds and then take great happiness at being utterly horrible to someone while hiding behind an avatar or a username. I’m not ashamed to say that I truly hate the trolls.
I’m online all day, it’s my job to be online all day to read, write, and share. Because of that, I have a policy about what I say online. And that policy is, if you can’t say it to the person if they were sitting with you in a coffee shop, don’t say it at all.
At all.
The reason why I have that policy is because of websites and forums like Get Off My Internets. Those websites feed the trolls, and that needs to stop. Wake up “internets,” these sites promote online bullying and aren’t we supposed to be teaching our kids that online bullying is wrong?
It is wrong, and it needs to stop.
Actor and LGBT activist George Takei is well known not only for his Star Trek character Mr. Sulu, but most recently for his amazing power on social media. With over 4.4 million Facebook fans and almost 800,00 Twitter followers, Takei’s force is the stuff of legends.
Plus, he’s really good at it.
His social media is engaging, funny, thought provoking and smart. If you’re a fan of his page, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you’re not a fan of his page… go there right now so you know what I’m talking about.
On August 6th, George Takei put a post up on his Facebook page. One that so far has generated close to 40,000 likes, 12,000 shares and over 4,000 comments.
*Image source: Facebook
Simply and eloquently put, George explained in 3 sentences and a linked blog post what he felt about the new Russian Law, and made a suggestion that the Olympics actually be moved from Sochi to Vancouver, BC — where they were successfully hosted in 2010.
What's the law all about? In late June, Russia signed a new law, one which imposes fines on individuals accused of spreading "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors and proposes penalties for those who express these views online or in the news media.
Although the Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has stated that the new law wasn't designed to punish anyone for being gay or lesbian, he did say that Olympic athletes would be punished for propaganda, which is a word kind of open to all sorts of interpretation.
The interpretation of what "propaganda" means is already starting. Last week at the world Track and Field Championships in Moscow Swedish high jumper Emma Green-Tregaro painted her fingernails in the colors of the rainbow flag in support of Russia's gay community. Her actions prompted prompted Russian pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva to state that what the Swedish athlete did was disrespectful to Russia.
So... this is disrespectful propaganda?
Image source: Instagram
The new Russian law itself is SO upsetting, and this suggestion to move the games to Vancouver is an interesting spin on the various boycotts people are putting to Russia right now. Is moving the games even possible? I don’t think so. The former Athlete’s Village has been converted into condos and sold. Olympic venues have been transformed into community centres and are being used for events already booked. However, I’m always one to say that anything is possible so you never know.
But what’s important here is that, through the power of social media, a blog post and an online petition, the world is aware of what’s going on and are talking about it. It’s an incredibly important discussion and one that will definitely make some of us look at the 2014 Olympics from a different perspective.
And truthfully, I’m a bit sad that this controversy has taken away from what the spirit of the Olympic games are. Speaking as someone who lived the excitement of the 2010 Olympic games being in their hometown, this isn’t want the Olympics should be about. Athletes shouldn’t be fearful in a host country. They shouldn’t be scared and afraid, they should be proud and focusing solely on their athletic performance.
To find out more about the online petition George Takei is talking about, take a look at this video, and read the full petition here.
Then, in February 2014, let’s cheer on our Canadian Olympic athletes and feel proud of whatever flag they fly, maple leaf or rainbow.
Image source: Gage Skidmore
Printer-friendly version