The MOST liked photo in Instagram history!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, some are worth a million likes.  Or TWO million likes!

This week, the record for the "Most Liked Image on Instagram" has been crushed.  And the media-mogul family that everyone loves to hate (or hates to love!) is keeping this title all in the family.  Yep, Kendall Jenner has stolen this "prestigious" title from her sister, Kim Kardashian.  

Kendall's newly-awarded photo was actually taken almost a month ago, but has progressively creeped up on the "most liked" title.  At the time of this writing, the image has over 2.7 million likes!  That is more LIKES on one picture than Caitlyn Jenner, Kendall's father, has FOLLOWERS in total!

Kendall's pic is a whimsical selfie showing her in a overly fancy but kinda serene corpse-like position on the floor.  Her eyes are closed, she's wearing a beautiful white gown and her strands of hair are meticulously formed into small hearts encircling her head.  Sounds a bit intense, right? Leave it to that family to take a typical Instagram selfie to another level entirely!

I wonder if this battle for the most liked image will continue.  Kendall stole the title from her sister, who's wedding photo had over 2.4 million likes.  Interestingly, Kim's husband, Kanye West, spoke last year about how important it was to them to have the most liked photo!  He said the couple spent four days on their honeymoon making sure the photo was JUST right before they posted it.

Well, Kanye better get moving again.  He might need a week to perfect a new photo this time, if he is going to steal the title back from Kendall!

Who would you rather see hold the title for most-liked Instagram photo, Kendall or Kim?  Or someone else entirely?

Why Lindsay Shouldn't Post In Arabic!

Oh, L.Lo.  What are we going to do with you!

I just see the name Lindsay Lohan in a headline now, and I assume it is going to be about something ridiculous.

Well, this week is no different.

Monday, Lindsay posted an inspirational quote to her Instagram followers (she has over 3 million followers!).  The picture, in English, said "You're beautiful" and then had an Arabic translation beneath.  Very nice.  Except, the translation was wrong.  Oops.  The Arabic portion actually translates into "You are a donkey" or "You are an ass".  

How does this even happen? Where did she get the pic!? Does she know Arabic?  This should be a general rule for posting languages: If you can't translate it yourself, don't post it!

Of course, Lindsay has taken down the blooper of a post, but not before setting off the social media world. If you notice #YouAreADonkey trending, now you know why!

The New Wave of Celeb Hackers

"And the hackers gonna hack hack hack hack hack"

Yeah, I couldn't help but get Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" song stuck in my head again today!

Poor Taylor was hacked on Instagram and Twitter yesterday
!  Of course, the social media accounts of stars being hacked is nothing new.  But Taylor just happens to be one of the most-followed celebs in the social media world, so you can bet her fans noticed when something was fishy about her account!

And that leads me to what might be the most interesting point about this celeb-hacking: its purpose.  Many times, hackers have done so to post a lewd photograph or start a juicy rumor or something similar.  But not this time.  No, this hacker seemed to mainly be after one thing: followers. Yeah, followers!!

The hacker posted a tweet as though it was from Taylor telling her fans to follow his actual Twitter account.  And later, he asked them to do the same for a supposed friend.  What a crazy thing to do to gain some social media followers!!  And while most of Taylor's followers recognized the hacker and told him to take a hike, a few had a different plan.  They messaged Taylor's account (while the hacker was on it) and asked him to follow them from Taylor's account!  

This "follow-for-a-follow" type of world is crazy and the things people do to elicit social media followers are just as nuts.  What's the craziest thing you've heard of someone doing to get social media followers?

Commemorate 2013 Instagram Style!!!

A quick perusal through my Instagram feed this morning led me to one very awesome post.  A year in review!  A quick video of your most popular Instagram posts throughout 2013.  As soon as I saw my friend's video I was struck with social media envy and had to make one of my own.  

Well, it was easy and fun and now, (lucky you!) you can make one too!  Ready?

First, head to site Statigram.  Statigram is a great Instagram-tracking service, actually it is so great that it deserves it own general post.  But today, I am in a reminiscing mood (after all, its almost the end of the year!) so we are going to focus on one specific tool within Staigram, the 2013 Year In Review creator!

Statigram's site is very user friendly and by simply linking your Instagram account to the site, and clicking to make the video, you are done!  The videos can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to create, but you'll get an email with the video attached when it is ready.  

The montage starts with the first image you posted in 2013 and follows with the five most liked images from your account.  I loved looking at my 2013 Instagram highlights.   

If you want to a slideshow or video with more than five images, check out a few other apps that can create that: namely Everlapse or Flipagram.  These montages feature up to an entire year of images.  I prefer the highlight reel, but I've seen great examples of both!

Have fun looking at your year's highlights, and Happy New Year!!

Sneaky Social Media for Thanksgiving

Here's the thing.  Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and loved ones.  For many of us social media junkies, the same can be said for our social media habits.  Connecting with people continuously brings me joy!  However, our relatives might not all understand this.  There is nothing worse than getting vicious glares from Aunt Ida at Thanksgiving Dinner as I am uploading pics of the turkey to Instagram.

So, this Thanksgiving, I've got three sneaky ways to get your social media fix without ticking off the family!!

1) Spotify
Create a crowd sourced Spotify holiday mix!  You can have this playing in the background of your family meal, and even share your station with friends or family that can not be with you in person.

2) Pinterest
You need to OD on Pinterest TODAY and tomorrow morning folks! That is, before the gang gets together.  Searches for "Thanksgiving feast" or "Holiday table settings" will display a plethora of festive ideas. Get crafty!

3) Pic Stitch
Everyone will be taking photos this Thanksgiving. And of course you want to share these with everyone over social media!  Instead of posting each individual photo to your accounts- which takes time - use Pic Stitch to make a compilation of your photos and get all the awesome memories into one post!

And after you employ these moves, put down your tablet, mobile device and laptop for most of the day and connect with your loved ones. Afterall, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all the rest will still be there tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Another Social Media/Reality TV Crossover!

 Reality TV takes some cues from Instagram!

We've all seen Twitter and other social media sites abuzz with news from the latest reality TV show.  But how about when the tables turn? This week there is news of social media spurring a new reality TV show!  

If you've spent much time on Instagram, you may have heard of "The Rich Kids Instagram".  This group of twenty somethings on Instagram loves posting pictures of their overly extravagant lifestyles and even have a slogan of "They have more money than you and this is what they do."  Check out some of these pictures...

Wow, right!?  So now, almost like a new version of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", the reality show based on the lives of these wealthy young'uns is set to debut on E!  Sources report that it will be called "Rich Kids of Beverly Hills" and, even with the similar name and some of the same individuals as the Instagram feed, it claims not to be connected with the social media site.  Yeah, right. 

I wonder how many more social media starlets will spring onto television and movies!?  There's been news that the meme "Grumpy Cat" is getting a movie deal!  Who else would you like to see follow suit?

Rumor Has It: Filter Fight 2012

If you can't beat them, join them.  
According to rumors, Twitter is taking this advice as a next step in its war against Instagram!  
Twitter hasn't confirmed this yet, but here's the latest gab... 
Before the end of the year (that's not too much longer!), Twitter is rumored to be releasing photo filters of its own to use right within the app.  This is a logical next step to competing Instagram out of Twitter’s market.
I'm pretty excited.  Instagram's filters were one of the things I was most thankful for this year, remember!?  And we all know about my love for Twitter.  So I am falling right into Twitter's plan for market domination, huh?  Thus far, Instagram has actually made it quite easy to use both apps together, but Twitter is now putting a stop to that (like I mentioned last week). 
Geez, this rivalry is making me want to pick a side!  But I just love both, so it’s hard!  Maybe Twitter's rumored filters will push me over the edge onto Team Twitter!? More updates on this as they come!   

Are you Team Twitter or Team Instagram??  
And, more food for thought, if you could have Twitter improve something about photo filters, what would it be?

Instagram "Defriends" Twitter!

The way I see it, Facebook and Twitter were like the odd couple of social media. They are similar, but different enough that people used both.  And everyone seemed happy.  That is, until this September when Facebook's affair with Instagram began!  Sure enough, Facebook bought Instagram and now no one is happy.

The latest feud here is over pictures.  Instagram previously used Twitter as a way to get traction for its images.  But now that it's owned by Facebook, that game plan is changing.  This week, Instagram's CEO announced the company wants to keep users and their images solely on the Instagram site.  Now, Instagram pictures are not displaying correctly on Twitter!  Twitter updated its site this week claiming that Instagram has disabled its integration with Twitter cards (which are used to display images on the site).

Oh. My. Gosh.

This sounds like a bunch of bickering fifth graders to me.

What happened to customer service? What happened to caring about user experience?  Yes, the sites should want users on their site but NOT at the cost of hindering our overall social media experience.

This seems like it is going to be a long and drawn out war.  I've tested images through Instagram and they seem like they are showing up fine on Twitter.  So is this just being blown out of proportion?  Or are we headed into social media throwdown?  Only time will tell.

Are you having compatibility problems between Instagram and Twitter?  Do you think Instagram is right to disable their pictures within tweets?

Top 10 Things to be Thankful For: Social Media Style

30 Days of Thanksgiving has taken over my Facebook feed.  Every other person seems to have taken the oath to write one thing per day for each day of November that they are thankful for.  I love it.  It is so important in our daily lives to take a moment to remember our blessings.

With that said, what if some of the things I am actually thankful for don't seem to fit with the status updates?  Most people are saying lovely, beautiful, heartfelt appreciations every single day.  Example:  For the love my husband bestows on me every day.  For the children who light up my life with their laughter.  For the family that has stayed by my side through my biggest struggles.

Yes, these are all wonderful things to recognize.  But for me, a social-media-lover, it makes some of my potential posts wither away from lack of significance.
BUT NO MORE!  I post proudly to the world, the Top 10 Things I am Thankful for in Social Media!

10. Thankful for Twitter for being there to tell me the facts when I THINK I feel an earthquake, but am not positive.
9. Thankful to Instagram for making me look like a much more creative photographer than I actually am.

8. Thankful for Pinterest for motivating me to clean areas of my house that I didn't even know were dirty!

7. Thankful for Skype, that I can virtually be with the ones I love even if we are far apart for the holidays.

6. Thankful for Goodreads, my digital book cataloger-of-choice, for suggesting amazing books and steering me away from less than stellar ones.
5. Thankful for streaming Netflix on my iPad, for those nights when I can't fall asleep but don't want to go all the way to the couch to turn on the TV.
4. Thankful for YouTube and its instructional videos that instantly teach me everything from "Best way to tie a long scarf" to "How to fix a cracked iPhone Screen".
3. Thankful for status updates that help me stay, at least somewhat, in the loop on the lives of friends and family that I would not be able to otherwise.  
2. Thankful for Facebook Birthday Reminders, you know you need these too!!
1. Thankful for my SocialMediaDiva family and readers for their love and support!

Of course there are so many more social media tools and tricks that make our lives just a little better every day.  Let us know the ones you are most thankful for.  And Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  

Happy Social Media Day!

You know you've hit it big when you have a day of the year dedicated to you.  I'm still waiting for Social Media Diva Day.  It has a nice ring to it, don't you think!

In the meantime, Social Media Day is here!  This Saturday, June 30th is Mashable's 3rd annual Social Media Day!  Started in 2010 by Mashable, the worldwide event is a celebration of "the digital revolution happening right before our eyes"!

Here's my challenge for you for Social Media Day 2012. Learn something new.

Yup, that's it.  Seems simple, huh?  And guess what!?  It IS simple! 

There are so many amazing sites that can simplify, deepen or enhance your life and your learning.  I've listed several of them below.  I want you to sign up for one of these, create a username and spend an hour digging around on the site.  Get involved in the conversation and the community.  And let me know what you learn.  I can't wait to hear about it.

http://www.facebook.com/ (really?  If you aren't on Facebook yet, we need to talk!)                  
http://www.tumblr.com/
 http://www.pinterest.com/
http://www.instagram.com/ http://www.meetup.com/                                                                                                                   http://www.twitter.com/
 http://www.digg.com/                                                                                                                       http://www.flickr.com/
 http://www.youtube.com/                                                                                                                 http://www.blogger.com/
 http://www.klout.com/                                                                                                                      http://www.reddit.com/
 https://plus.google.com/                                                                                                           http://www.stumbleupon.com/

 Bonus points:  Logon to to http://mashable.com/smday/ to see if there is a Meetup scheduled in your hometown.  You are sure to meet a ton of people and learn.   Strange enough, here in LA, our Meetup currently has no details!  But social media lovers are biting at the opportunity.   If deets aren't up soon, this is going to be a crowd sourced event!!!