The Earthquake that Rocked Social Media

The earthquake that shook the US East Coast yesterdayt really rocked in social media. There is even a Foursquare checkin for Earthquakepocalypse!

Huffington Post has compiled some amazing social media statistics that happened today:

2. From @Twitter: "Within a minute of today's#earthquake, there were more than 40,000 earthquake-related Tweets."

3. From @Foursquare: "Check-ins also travel faster than seismic waves (xkcd.com/723/). Over 10,000 check-ins @ Earthquakepocalypse already. http://t.co/ichT6Yg"

4. From @anoyes: "Following the East Coast quake at approx 1:55 p ET we saw term "earthquake” appear in Facebook status updates for nearly 3 mil U.S. users."

5. "Five minutes after the quake hit, Twitter's average response time doubled from 2.16 seconds to 4.17 seconds, according to monitoring site AlertSite." -- CNN Money.

Mashable is also reporting some fantastic statistics for social media sites.


Today Mashable shared a slide show of some funny Earthquake Tweets in a slide show.

When it comes down to it, we have to be grateful that the top story is the earthquake's impact on social media rather than desctruction of buildings, land and lives. Glad we can be finding humorous and quirky comments rather than reporting much worse.

8 Privacy Tips For Online Marketers

photo credit: o5com

Here is a great article written by Matt V. for EmailKarma.

The article really hits home the idea of how privacy laws are changing globally at a very fast pace and that privacy is a really big issue for online users and companies that operate in the online space have to be very aware of the changing landscape as well as take great care with data and information to protect privacy.

"It seems like you can’t open a news feed these days without being inundated with stories about privacy. Network data breaches. Location-based tracking. Court injunctions. It’s a minefield out there. Nowhere is privacy more closely watched — or as potentially explosive — as in the field of online marketing."

Here are 5 of the 8 best practices for safe guarding privacy online:

1. Learn to earn: With privacy such a moving target, your team needs to stay on top of the latest developments. Develop trusted sources of online content you can access to keep current.

2. Never assume: Don’t assume your plan is problem free. Netflix, the online movie company, ran into a U.S. federal investigation and lawsuit after releasing user information supposedly stripped of personal data in a contest to improve its online rating system. Two thumbs down.

3. Consent: Do you have it? How? Err on the side of caution. Use very clear language on how and what people are agreeing to, as well as what, if any, information you intend to track. The mechanics vary, from pop ups to opt-ins and opt-outs (Some choose to use a confirmed consent, where it must be reconfirmed through an additional action; Click a link or reply by text). The goal should be the same: To be transparent and easy to understand.

4. Spam: Avoid it. Voluntarily. The laws are tough and getting tougher. Why bother, really? Avoid blasting—the chances that you will become “blacklisted” are high and the chances you will annoy people are even high and the potential for big money fines are just on the horizon.

5. Cookies: Be clear on what cookies are being set and what you are using them for. How will the cookies benefit your customer? Do you intend to share tracked data? How? And what steps can users take to manage their cookies? Tell them.

For all 8 tips, see EmailKarma: http://emailkarma.net/2011/08/privacy-goes-public-eight-tips-for-online-marketers/#ixzz1VCitbka1

Privacy and tracking issues like this will be addressed at the next South Florida IMA event!

With the upcoming SFIMA event featuring congressional leaders speaking about legal issues concerning online privacy and tracking, we wanted to feature some articles on these subjects currently in the media. So stay tuned to the SFIMA blog over the next two weeks we will be featuring articles and current events to get you up to speed on these issues and concerns.

LinkedIn Listens to Users, Takes Action & Amends its Ad Policy

This is an update to the post from yesterday: LinkedIn "Pulls a Facebook" with User Data.

Late yesterday, Linkedin set itself apart from Facebook by listening to member complaints and taking action!

After the uproar in the media and it's users the professional networking site LinkedIn changed their privacy policy in response to complaints from users of being opted in for their picture and name to be used in ads.

A great example of the change can be seen on Mashable's article featuring before and after articles with user's images no longer in the ad.

LinkedIn's blog post in response to the complaints is entitled: Privacy, Advertising & Putting Members First.

Kudos to LinkedIn for listening to users' comments and taking action to resolve the issue.

LinkedIn "Pulls A Facebook" With User Data

When both Yahoo News and Business Insider articles refer to LinkedIn's privacy policy change as "a Facebook move" it makes one wonder if LinkedIn or Facebook should be more worried about that?

The news hit today that LinkedIn changed it's privacy policy and in doing so, opted their users in to sharing their photo and name with LinkedIn's advertisers. LinkedIn announced the policy change in a blog post. The network now allows advertisers to use pictures and names of other users in their network of connections who have recommended or followed that brand.

With all of the negative attention that Facebook draws each time they opt their users into a new change on their site, (even just today with the phone number issue)you would think that LinkedIn could have learned something from that and been either more proactive about announcing the change directly to their users or letting users opt in to the advertising rather than assuming 100 million users would be ok with this type of activity in this day and age of new privacy laws and hyper-awareness social network members have with their data and information.

The Business Insider article listed the steps you can take to opt out of allowing LinkedIn to share your picture and name with advertisers:

1. Click on your name on your LinkedIn homepage in the upper right corner. From the drop-down menu, select "Settings."
2. On the "Settings" page, select "Account."
3. In the column next to “Account," click “Manage Social Advertising."
4. Uncheck the box next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising."
5. Now check the new default settings under "E-mail Preferences" and "Groups, Companies & Applications." Make sure to opt out of "Data Sharing with 3rd-party applications" as well.

Lawsuits Filed Over Tracking Technology

Trouble is brewing with KISSmetrics tracking technology after lawsuits were filed against KISSmetrics and Hulu. Hulu and Spotify both dropped KISSmetrics tracking technology when they found out the the tracking company was using coding that still tracked users' activity even after their cookies were cleared.

"The controversy about KISSmetrics' tracking methods erupted late Friday, when researchers from UC Berkeley published a report stating that the company was using ETags to track people regardless of steps they had taken to protect their privacy."

See MediaPost for the full story.

Privacy and tracking issues like this will be addressed at the next South Florida IMA event!

With the upcoming SFIMA event featuring congressional leaders speaking about legal issues concerning online privacy and tracking, we wanted to feature some articles on these subjects currently in the media. So stay tuned to the SFIMA blog over the next two weeks we will be featuring articles and current events to get you up to speed on these issues and concerns.

Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011

European Pressphoto Agency

Sens. John Kerry and John McCain

The upcoming SFIMA event for August: Learn. Interact. Connect... with Your Legal and Congressional Leaders is going to be a ground breaking educational event for us and is a rare opportunity for members of the community to come together and discuss the legal issues with their elected officials and learn how the pening legislation will affect us as marketers. So that you can have a good idea of the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011, we wanted to share the bill with you. The full bill can be found here: http://epic.org/privacy/consumer/Commercial_Privacy_Bill_of_Rights_Text.pdf

If this bill is passed, it would impose new rules on companies that collect personal data, including a requirement to allow the people access to that data and the ability for people to block the information about them from being used or distributed.

For more information see the Wall Street Journal Article & video and Wired.com .

Invitation to SFIMA Members: Digital World Expo

September 25 - 27, 2011
Industry event in Las Vegas - Great opportunity to network with other IMAs around the country

Special offer for SFIMA members: 25% off!
Use access code "SFIMA2011" when registering.

On September 25th - 27th, Digital World Expo will debut an annual forum for professional education in all forms of digital media. With the conference hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada, professionals from across North America and other Interactive Marketing Associations will attend to learn, train and build awareness of technology in media and what's to come. This event will focus on four primary areas to meet the needs of today's media professionals in advertising, marketing, development and strategy:

1) Classroom-Style and "How-to" Instruction
- Both seasoned professionals and newcomers alike will find a multitude of topics ranging from SEO to virtual worlds. Each digital media channel will be discussed with attendees walking away with new found on "how it all works".
- Social Media, Viral Campaigns, Video Advertising, Display Advertising, Behavioral (and data) Targeting, Mobile Advertising, APPs, In-Game Advertising, Analytics and more will be designed in both "beginner" and "advanced" attendee formats.

2) Media Placement Opportunities
- Attendees will have first-hand exposure to media placement opportunities currently offered by publishers, creative agencies and service providers. The exhibit hall will feature companies in every applicable channel.

3) The "Future" of Media
- Everyone will have the opportunity to get a glimpse of our "digital future" through special interactive exhibits and keynotes.
- High-profile brands and professionals will engage the attendees in a fun, high-energy atmosphere as they experience what's to come.

4) Entertainment and Networking
- The ambiance of the entire conference will be accented with special attractions and events appealing to all the senses.
- Cocktail Mixers during evenings of assembly

Register below
Special offer for SFIMA members: 25% off!
Use access code "SFIMA2011" when registering.

Where: The Mirage Events Center, Las Vegas, NV
Website: www.digitalworldexpo.com
Registration: Via website or call 702.478.6777
Room Reservations: www.mirage.com (promo/room rate code: DWEMB)
Cost: Exhibit Hall - Free Class-Pass only - $550 Full-Access Pass - $770

Do Not Track Online Act of 2011

The upcoming SFIMA event for August: Learn. Interact. Connect... with Your Legal and Congressional Leaders is going to be a ground breaking educational event for us and is a rare opportunity for members of the community to come together and discuss the legal issues with their elected officials and learn how the pening legislation will affect us as marketers. So that you can have a good idea of the Do Not Track Online Act of 2011, we wanted to share the bill with you. The full bill can be found here: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=85b45cce-63b3-4241-99f1-0bc57c5c1cff

In short, if the bill were to be passed, it would be similar to the Do Not Call Act, in that consumers could opt out of being tracked online and give them the power to block internet companies from tracking their online activities.

For a great article on the topic, see The Washington Post article.

Spokeo Legal Battle Over Privacy Concerns

The data aggregating web site Spokeo is currently trying to have a lawsuit against them thrown out by the 9th District Court of Appeals. A Virginia man is suing Spokeo alleging that they are "unlawfully operating and profiting as a consumer reporting agency." He alleges that their incorrect information about his caused him to not be hired by a company that used the information listed in reviewing his application for employment.

For more details on the law suit and privacy issues it involves, see the full article on MediaPost.

Privacy laws affect us, not only as marketers but personally as well. With the upcoming SFIMA event featuring congressional leaders speaking about legal issues concerning online privacy and tracking, we wanted to feature some articles on these subjects currently in the media. So stay tuned to the SFIMA blog over the next two weeks we will be featuring articles and current events to get you up to speed on these issues and concerns.

Groupon Privacy Policy Draw Congressional Scrutiny

Groupon recently changed it's privacy policy and this is causing some concern among lawmakers, specifically the lawmakers who co-chair the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus. Among Groupon's policy changes, the company said they would be collecting and sharing more data with merchants. Legislators also questioned about geo-location privacy issues and age data collection to ensure the protection of minors.

"The lawmakers' questions include whether Groupon intends to obtain consumers' opt-in consent to data collection, including geolocation data, and whether the company requires its business partners to adhere to Groupon's privacy policy."

For more details see the full MediaPost article.

It is good to know that there is a Privacy Caucus committee that is watching out for all of our privacy concerns online and the implications of new technologies and company's policy changes.

With the upcoming SFIMA event featuring congressional leaders speaking about legal issues concerning online privacy and tracking, we wanted to feature some articles on these subjects currently in the media. So stay tuned to the SFIMA blog over the next two weeks we will be featuring articles and current events to get you up to speed on these issues and concerns.

Learn. Interact. Connect... with Your Legal and Congressional Leaders

You asked, and SFIMA has delivered. With a congressperson or two, no less. As we face profound legislation which could fundamentally change the way we market online you will want to join us for an industry-focused discussion. Be in the know and learn how to get involved. This is your time to interact and connect with your representatives. Click here to register for the event!

Date:

*Wednesday August 17, 2011

Time:

Networking: 6:30 - 7:15pm

Presentation: 7:30 - 8:30pm

Place:

Galuppi's

1103 North Federal Highway

Pompano Beach, FL 33062-4321

On Wednesday, August 17th, The South Florida Interactive Marketing Association presents Congressman Allen West (FL-22), who will give you an insiders’ view on big legislative and other changes that may affect you.

Join us for this epic event moderated by Gaida Zirkelbach, a SFIMA board member and business, technology and Internet attorney. As a Gunster shareholder, Gaida provides strategic counseling and negotiates transactions in the areas of technology, Internet, interactive marketing, mergers and acquisitions, and privacy and security. She advises large companies and start-ups and has vast experience in negotiating deals with technology and Internet industry leaders, including the largest online media properties and Fortune 500 companies.

Topics on the agenda include:

• Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011
• Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011

in relation to:

• Marketing and privacy
• Behavioral targeting and tracking users
• Digital economy and jobs
• Issues affecting interactive marketing business owners

Relax, we will not be talking about the deficit here...

Click here to register for the event!

With the upcoming SFIMA event featuring congressional leaders speaking about legal issues concerning online privacy and tracking, we wanted to feature some articles on these subjects currently in the media. So stay tuned to the SFIMA blog over the next two weeks we will be featuring articles and current events to get you up to speed on these issues and concerns.

This special event is sponsored by Media One!

SPECIAL RAFFLE FROM OUR SPONSOR, MEDIA ONE: During the SFIMA event, attendees can drop their business card at the Media One table for a chance to win a 32" LED Color TV --that the winner can take home that night. Winner must be present to win.

SFIMA & OMS Joint Networking Event

Join us for the SFIMA & OMS Joint Networking Event on Tuesday, August 9, 5:30-7:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency Miami. There is no cost to attend, and complimentary drinks and appetizers will be served.

When:

Tuesday August 9, 2011 from 5:30 - 7:00pm

Where:

Hyatt Regency Miami

400 SE 2nd Avenue

Miami, FL 33131-2140

To register for the event, please click here.

OMS is one of the premier online marketing educational events that travels across the country, and will be in Miami from August 8-9, 2011. SFIMA members get a 20% discount. Register today for the 2-day summit using promo code SFIMA20 to receive an exclusive 20% off -- 5% more than the early bird rate!

The SFIMA & OMS Joint Networking Event on August 9th will be an excellent opportunity to network with professionals from some of the region’s top marketing organizations. We hope you can join us.