Social media is quite a hot topic right now. Companies are putting their marketing dollars into social media instead of traditional direct marketing tactics. The media and celebrities are on a tweeting frenzy. Everyone and their mother (literally) are on Facebook. “Social Media experts” have sprung up left and right, claiming to know how to get thousands of followers in just days (they’re called autofollow scripts, get over yourselves).

Although social media is changing the face of marketing, there are some of us that need to be reminded to stop taking things so seriously. So here are some of the funniest videos about social media, some ridiculing the “experts,” some mocking the social media addicts, and some just taking things to an extreme… on the altar. But it’s all in good fun.

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Here are some free Twitter backgrounds with an office theme! Feel free to use, share, and distribute these backgrounds. If you would like to add your own photo, links, and contact information, you can open these jpeg files in a photo editing software like Photoshop or Gimp, a free photo editing software.

If you don’t want to customize your background, no problem; you can simply upload to Twitter as is.

Want updates when new backgrounds are available? Follow me @dianafreedman.

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There are literally hundreds of URL Shorteners to choose from. TinyURL was the first URL shortener to gain popularity, and because of Twitter, demand for URL shorteners has grown exponentially. There’s bit.ly, snipurl.com, owl.ly, cli.gs, su.pr, is.gd, badurl.com, tr.im, short.to, 6url.com, just.as, tiny.cc, kl.am, adjix.com, notlong.com, xr.com, and that’s just to name a few.

Who has time to sort through all of these links? Stating the obvious, these sites all pretty much do the same thing: shorten links. But there are some features that make bit.ly a step above the rest (and if you want to follow along, I suggest registering for a bit.ly account first): Read the rest of this entry

Here are some free Twitter backgrounds with a holiday theme! Feel free to use, share, and distribute these backgrounds. The first three designs are customizable (PSD downloads), so you can add your own photo, links, and contact information. If you don’t already have Photoshop, you can open the files in Gimp, a free photo editing software. 

If you don’t want to customize your background, no problem; variations of these designs are available that you can simply upload to Twitter as is. 

Want updates when new backgrounds are available? Follow me @dianafreedman. 

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Twitter has recently launched a new retweet functionality intended to solve tweet attribution confusion, the repetitive nature of retweets, and messy editing of the original tweet. Since the functionality is still in BETA, not everyone has access to this feature yet. But Twitter is gradually rolling out the feature, so you should see this soon. Read the rest of this entry

Facebook launched a new feature yesterday that allows fan pages to target updates by geography and language. Admins of fan pages have access to this option, and this functionality will be great for local and global brand integration.

This will be great for brands considering creating separate pages in order to gain an international social presence; now they won’t have to. All international updates, in all different languages, can now live on the same fan page. Read the rest of this entry

Several weeks ago, a widgets center went live on Facebook, where users could create widgets for their blogs or websites. These included both widgets for individuals’ profiles, such as the profile badge, and widgets for businesses’ fan pages, such as the fan box and share functionality.

Now, Facebook users can create a fan badge to promote pages they are fans of. Your most loyal fans will gobble this right up. And what blogger doesn’t like filling up their left sidebar with useless widgets?

Just kidding.

Here’s what the tool to generate a fan badge looks like: Read the rest of this entry

About two months ago, @ mentions went live on Facebook, mimicking the way @ replies work on Twitter. The “social media experts” exclaimed that it would be Twitter’s downfall. Yet very few people actually use @ mentions on Facebook. Fewer understand what the benefits are. And even fewer know the functionality exists.

Way to go, “social media experts.”

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If you’re new to Twitter (yes, many people still are new), getting followers can seem like rocket science. Twitter has evolved since a year ago, when everyone followed everyone back. Now social media is a glamorous affair, with celebrities, companies, and CEO’s joining the party. Now there are tens of millions of people on Twitter, and they’re more picky about who they follow back.

The biggest influence in the decision is interests and how much you have in common. When you follow someone, they’ll get an email notification from which they can click on your profile to see if they should follow you back. The decision is often made within seconds, so it’s important that your interests jump off the page. Read the rest of this entry

The ability to link Facebook statuses and tweets is great for lazy people, Tweetdeck fans, and social media aficionados boasting “Look at me, see what I can do!”  Ok, that’s a bit harsh. Yes, logging into various social networks to speak your mind may be a bit inconvenient. But it doesn’t mean that the best solution is to say the same exact thing everywhere.

Here are some reasons to consider unmerging your status updates and tweets: Read the rest of this entry

Social icons are important for both encouraging users to share your content and promoting your presence on social networks. So here is a large selection of social icons in different colors to fit the color scheme or your website or blog:

They are available in 20×20, 40×40, and 60×60. Right click and save each icon individually, or click on an icon to download the entire icon pack (.zip file). If you have any color or size requests, leave a comment and I will add them as soon as I can.

If you use one of these images, donations or links back to this site are much appreciated! Read the rest of this entry

Obtaining a high page rank isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes time, effort, and patience. You may have read advice that tells you to comment on other relevant blogs, build relationships with dofollow bloggers, participate in forums, and guest blog. And while that’s all good advice (great advice, actually), some of us don’t have as much time as others. And these things are very time consuming. Read the rest of this entry

Disqus is a commenting system and moderation tool for your site or blog. It’s pretty amazing; I use it here at U Stand Out. It’s super easy to use and is packed with neat features including social network integration, powerful moderation/spam filter tools, and connection to an entire discussion community. Disqus V3 is being launched today, and now offers a management system for the commenters themselves. Read the rest of this entry

Twitter is a microblogging platform that lets you broadcast short messages to your “followers” (the equivalent of a friend or connection). If you don’t already have an account, I recommend you get one, at least to see what all the fuss is about. It’s all over the media, has become part of major companies’ interactive marketing campaigns, your coworkers are talking about it, and even celebrities are using Twitter.

But I’ve talked to so many people who haven’t joined or gave up on Twitter because they didn’t know where to start. The interface is almost too simple, and it’s not always obvious what to do next. So here is a newbie’s guide on how to use Twitter. Read the rest of this entry

About a week ago, I was browsing through a salon and hair product shop at a nearby outlet mall, when a very familiar design caught my eye. The Twitter bird was part of the design of Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree products.

My first thought was “wow, Paul Mitchell stole Twitter’s logo,” so I quickly took some shots with my cell phone.

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