A few social media developments that are currently on our radar:
New Facebook Promotions Guidelines
In early May, Facebook revised their promotions guidelines, simplifying them and making them easier to understand.
The most important change to Facebook’s promotions guidelines is that you can no longer use Facebook Likes as votes. For example, a photo or post with the most Likes can’t win a promotion or contest.
Other changes to Facebook’s promotions guidelines are that children aged 13-17 are no longer banned from entering contests and dairy and alcohol (previously banned) can now be used as prizes. Note: you still need to follow the laws and regulations in your province or state in regards to minors entering contests and giving away alcohol as prizes.
Facebook’s other promotions guidelines still apply.
Twitter’s Photosharing Service
On Monday, TechCrunch leaked that Twitter is about to launch its own photosharing service. This service would compete with Twitpic and Yfrog, both sites that allow you upload photos and video and share them on Twitter.
A photosharing app would add to Twitter’s growing list of features, as they just announced that they bought Tweetdeck last week.
Referral Key
Although it launched back in 2007, there has been a lot of buzz in the last few days about Referral Key as the new social media tool for business. Referral Key is a business referral tool that allows you to receive and give business referrals. Referral Key works with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and your email to find colleagues to add to your referral network.
With the buzz Referral Key has been attracting this week, there’s been some backlash on the spammy messages that people have been receiving from contacts asking them to join their referral network. As with any social media tool, make sure to customize your messages and only contact people who would be valuable to add to your network. Copyblogger’s advice about LinkedIn connections applies here: “As general rule, ask yourself, would you feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling this person? If not, don’t add them to your contacts.”
We’ll be paying close attention to see what happens next with all the new tools and features.
