How many social media accounts do you have? Personally, I have six (Facebook for work, personal Facebook, Twitter for work, personal Twitter, LinkedIn and Yammer) and, in the past, have found it a nightmare to juggle them all. Recently, I started using a social media management application (Yoono) and it has made life a whole lot easier.

There are several social media management software applications out there – some great and some not – and they all have the same aim: to simplify the management of multiple social media accounts. The other added benefit of such applications are the fact that you can use them as a secure place to store all of your social media account usernames/logins and passwords and you can post updates across your various platforms simultaneously. In these time-poor times, this is a serious time-saver.

While none of the applications are totally perfect (this is not, however, a perfect world!) and each has their own flaws, they do make life a little easier and will save time.

But which application to choose? A lot depends on your own personal needs, what you wish to achieve via social media and the size or your business or organization. And whether you want a desktop application, browser add-on or a mobile app.

For a run-down of some of the social media management software application hard-hitters, check out this useful post by Matt Ferner for Practical Ecommerce.

Images: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has said that he will, at ‘some point’, challenge the law that currently prevents children under the age of 13 from using his social networking website. Currently, children under 13 aren’t supposed to become members (but we all know that they do). America's Consumer Reports suggests that 7.5 million of Facebook's 600 million users are under 13 and, each day, Facebook closes the accounts of 20,000 underage users. But this begs the question, is Facebook really suitable for youngsters? While some under-13s are responsible and appreciate that the internet must be treated with care and caution (and not to infect the home computer with all manner of random malware), others don’t. And it’s this second group that set the alarm bells ringing.

Should children under the age of 13 be allowed to use Facebook?

Zuckerberg argues that Facebook is a great educational tool for children (Is it? How so? What do you think?) but there are some people who feel that he simply wants to add to his already enormous coffers by tapping into the hugely lucrative pre-teen market. Wouldn’t a Facebook spin off, especially for pre-teens be a better idea? That way, they’d be protected from more adult content (‘Is that a photo of a totally plastered Aunty Rita wearing her knickers on her head, mama?); and adults would equally be sheltered from tedious tween updates (‘I love Justin’, etc).

Continue reading »

While having a mooch on Facebook recently, I saw that one of my younger friends (who’s soon to be 17) was available for chat. ‘Yoo-hoo!’ I fired off. And I can only say that I was honestly, jaw-droppingly shocked by the reply. It was beyond offensive. I sat, frozen, with my hands hovering over the keyboard, really at a loss how to respond. Was this really my pal? It just couldn’t be. Why would she write such things? And where had she learnt that language?

While waiting for the freeze to thaw, I decided to do something decidedly old-school and pick up the phone to call my young friend to check that she hadn’t been taken over by potty-mouthed aliens or the like. Turns out she was at work (waiting tables in a café), not in touching distance of her iPad. So (feeling slightly panicked), I concluded that her Facebook account must have been hacked. ‘I think your Facebook account has been hacked,’ I said. ‘What, again? Ha! Ha!’ was the response. Ha, ha? In what way was that funny? ‘Yeah, happens all the time,’ she expanded. It’s kind of like a thing that we do at school. Hack each other’s Facebook and write funny things. It’s called Facebook rape…’

Continue reading »

Some friends of mine have a new dog. No big deal, to be honest. I’m very happy for them. But I wasn’t so happy to receive a Facebook friend request from aforementioned puppy. No offence, Scruffs (or whatever your name is), I don’t want to be your friend. Call me old fashioned, but I think that Facebook profiles should only be created and maintained by those who are able to do so for themselves (so that pretty much rules out puppies, kittens and babies). But the sheer amount of dog profiles on Facebook is staggering. According to (an admittedly small) survey, there are potentially millions of pet profiles on Facebook. Of the people who took part in this survey, 14 percent had created a social networking profile for their dog. So, what’s on your mind, Rover?

Maybe befriending dogs isn’t such an issue for some, but for me (evidently) it is. I don’t like dogs. I do, however, tend to keep my dislike of dogs under my hat because there are many, many people who adore their four-legged friends with a passion (some would say borderline obsession). Almost 40 percent of households in the US own (at least) one dog, which equates to there being approximately 77.5 million owned dogs.

Continue reading »

It’s staggeringly hard to believe that only 20 years ago hardly anybody had access to the internet. 20 years. It’s nothing in the grand schemes of things. In fact, when I started my first job straight after college (in 1997), I didn’t even have email (and this wasn’t some small, insignificant company – it was the BBC). Imagine life without the internet now. Impossible, eh?

But the usual rules of etiquette that govern and moderate everyday modes of social behavior are a long way off being commonplace on the internet. Not everybody knows the rules. In everyday life, we know not to eat with our mouths open, pick our noses or spit – but what about social networking manners? Does that person, who’s just sent me an entire email in block caps, know that a) reading it is making my eyes bleed b) it’s the written equivalent of like shouting c) it makes him look unhinged? Evidently not.

Netiquette

Social Media Enthusiast Jessica Malnik recently posted a series of blogs about the Seven Deadly Sins that people can make when using social networks. At last, some social networking rules (not quite set in stone but, hey, it’s better than nothing)…

Seven Deadly Twitter Sins

Seven Deadly Facebook Sins

Seven Deadly LinkedIn Sins

Seven Deadly Email Sins

Images: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

For most of us, the days of having all of our vitally important documents and files stowed safely away in a metal, fire-proof box (tucked away at the back of the wardrobe) are long gone. In these hi-tech times, we tend to have a wealth of important data floating around on the net – that would be a total disaster to lose.

But is there an online equivalent of the old-fashion metal, fire-proof box that can keep our online stuff safe?

Well, not really – but there is one way to safeguard your stuff:  Back It Up. It’s highly improbable that the internet will ever come crashing down (but remember the scaremongers peddling panic about the Y2K Millennium Bug?) but it’s not totally infallible either. And it’s always better to err on the side of caution and avoid the possible heartbreak of losing half a decade's worth of precious photos (like that poor guy who was the victim of a Flickr screw-up recently). Gulp.

Back it up! Here are two excellent blogs providing easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides on how to keep your stuff online safe:

Mashable’s Brenna Ehrlich explains how to back up your Facebook, Twitter, WordPress  and Tumblr accounts.

Softonic’s Elena Santos provides a guide on how to back up your Flickr photos.

Images: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

We've done it: You liked Finday and Finday liked you. Last week we had the worldwide launch of Finday in Spanish and English, and the response we've been receiving from technologically specialized media has been largely positive. One of them has come as far as describing us as "the Softonic of searches," which fills us with pride and encourages us to continue building the world's best participative search engine.

Truth be it, at Finday we are not resting on one's laurels, and we continue working hard to incorporate substantial improvements as well as new and more interesting features in the very near future. And if you really think, like us, that Finday can dramatically improve your search experience of Internet content, you'll surely be interested in keeping abreast of all our updates. With that in mind, we introduce you to 3 different alternatives (aside from this blog of course) to receiving our news and suggestions on time.

Continue reading »