Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category

New Zealand expat creates worldwide Posse for success

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Photo credit; Butch Lebo on Flickr

Photo credit; Butch Lebo on Flickr

New Zealand expat Rebekah Campbell, who started Posse.com, which she says is the world’s first social search engine, started selling flowers and golf balls by the side of the road when she was a child just because she likes the idea of starting a business.

The former Wellington native evolved to managing bands and originally established Posse.com as a way for bands to engage their fans to help promote them and sell concert tickets.

But after selling the fan engagement platform, Campbell rebranded Posse.com as a social search engine that helps people find the favourite places of their social network. The mobile app and site launched in March of this year and has signed more than 35,000 merchants worldwide, including 7000 New Zealand stores.

Users tell Posse what they want, such as “great coffee”, “brunch” or “a gym” anywhere in the world and they will get recommendations from their “posse” of friends and local experts.

It covers most world cities, including Auckland and Wellington. The denser the population the better.

A two-tier subscription model lets businesses send customers gifts and special offers. From next year, $50 and $100 monthly subscriptions will give stores access to additional features to help them build customer communities.

The successful business has attracted a lot of attention from major tech players.

To read more on this story, click here.

Using social media to promote your business

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

An article over at stuff.co.nz explores how to successfully market small businesses using social media.

Nicole Coughlin-Smith, managing director of the Institute of Online Business says,

“it’s vital businesses get their social media strategy right from the outset. The power of social media is phenomenal, and businesses should be thinking through their objectives and putting robust systems and policies in place so they can get the most out of their online marketing.

“My recommendation would be to invest in a Facebook page dedicated to your business, a Twitter account where followers can see instant news and updates, and a YouTube account which is an ideal platform to show how-to tips or product testing videos to potential or current customers.”

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz

A guide to the new Facebook

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

As some of you will have no doubt noticed, Facebook has undergone a bit of a makeover recently.

If you’re struggling to find your way around, good news. An article over at stuff.co.nz has a rundown on some of the new features.

You can check it out here.

Facebook overtakes Microsoft in UK, Google still on top

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Whilst Google is still the most popular website in the UK, Facebook is now in 2nd place, overtaking Microsoft related websites (MSN/WindowsLive/Bing).

A report from online measurement body UKOM/Nielsen has found, for the month of May,

  • Facebook attracted 26.8 million visitors
  • Microsoft wasn’t too far behind, on 26.2 million visitors
  • Google was the clear leader however, with 33.9 million visitors
  • Twitter had 6.1 million visitors
  • While LinkedIn had 3.6 million visitors

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz

Facebook hires PR to smear Google

Monday, May 16th, 2011

The online rivalry between Facebook and Google has taken a bit of a twist, with news out that Facebook hired a PR firm, Burson-Marsteller to bring to light negative information about Social Circle, a Google service that collects and uses data about people.

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz

Using social media for your business

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Amber MacArthur, social media expert and author of Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business offers some great advice on how you can use social media to promote your business.

Facebook, Twitter & Youtube are available free to all businesses, but are often not utilised as well as they could be. Amber explains how to best use these.

You can read these tips over at stuff.co.nz

How young is too young for Facebook?

Friday, August 13th, 2010

13 years old, apparently, is the youngest age at which Facebook allows a user to sign on.  However, users younger than 13 do have Facebook accounts, according to an article on www.seek.com.au today.

Parents on the whole are positive about the effects of social networking, and use of technology to keep in touch with their kids.  However, the flipside is cyber bullying or cyberstalking.

Researchers at University of Waikato, caution against over- reacting.  Parents are advised that “Strict, inflexible rules tend to be counter-productive and can increase the allure of ‘forbidden’ technology“.

Similarly, Netsafe, a non-profit organisation which promotes cyber-responsibility, advises that “parents should play a supervisory role while their kids are young, preparing them to make good decisions when they’re old enough to be independent”.