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!

DIY Costumes for Social Media Mavens!

BOO!

Yes, folks, it's Halloween weekend! (Well, at least the first of two!)

And if you are a last minute planner, you might have not planned a costume yet.

Well don't just throw a bedsheet over your head and say you are a ghost (although, that is fun, I know from experience).  If you are obsessed with Social Media like I am, some of these awesome Internet Inspired Costumes will be worth the effort!!

DIFFICULT:

So, yeah, Grumpy Cat isn't new but he IS adorable. And you will be too in this costume.  Basically an adaptation of the normal, everyday cat costume.  Add heavily darkened eyes, a frown over your mouth and make a cardboard frame for yourself and voila! 

EASY:

With a basic black or white outfit and some construction paper, you can transform yourself into either hardware or software that everyone loves.  A black dress + Mini apps = iPhone!! White outfit + cardboard easel = Pinterest board!  Or even easier -- just wear a white shirt with some safety pins!

EVEN EASIER:

Okay, this is for people who are kinda slackers, but we love you anyway.  Write on a shirt: "ERROR 404: Costume Not Found".  All of a sudden, your laziness looks like tech genius.  You're welcome.

No matter what your preferred level of difficulty, have fun, be safe and HAPPY Halloween!!

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!!!

Don't Get Pricked By Pinterest Spammers

Pinterest is one of the latest darlings of social media.  Yet with its invite-only policy and open sharing pages, there has been a “we’re all friends here” mentality on Pinterest that apparently is too ripe for scammers to miss.  The site has been plagued with scams from free gift cards to huge discounts on your next Starbucks latte.  

Last month in its official blog, Pinterest acknowledged the scam problem and committed to improving its anti-spam technology.   It added a “Report Pin” button and reminded users that Pinterest doesn’t do any surveys, giveaways or other promotions and not to click on pins that promote such things. 

Even with Pinterest on the case, spammers are finding ways to monetize and hack the typical user experience.  Here are three of the latest Pinterest scams to watch out for!

FAKE ANDROID APPS

The scams start even before you enter the Pinterest site.  Multiple fake apps have shown up on Google Play claiming to be the official Pinterest mobile app.  But wait!  As of now, there is no Android Pinterest App, only a mobile app for iPhone. So don’t be tricked!  These impostor apps display ads on the mobile device and some can gain access to your browser history, bookmarks or even your location.  

JUSTIN BEIBER

Of course there is a scam that has to do with the Bieb.  Recently, a pinned image of Justin Beiber - coming out of the ocean sans swim trunks - encouraged users to click through to a Facebook page to see even more images.  Once users clicked, however, they found themselves in a maze of survey sites to complete before they were able to see the “additional pictures”.  The scam is one of the first to use dual social media platforms.

WONDER DIET

These posts claim to offer a wonder diet and are usually posted under pictures of thin models, motivational sayings or scrumptious looking food.  One reads, “Summer is about to come and I finally took off these last 27 pounds!  If you’re interested too, [clickable link here].”  After clicking on that link, hopeful users are redirected to a fake news page promoting the alleged diet products. While these sites typically don’t harm your computer, some users are convinced to pay for these fake drugs which they never receive or input their private details to the fake site.  This type of scam is so prevalent that Pinterest is now blocking these posts.  The spamming profiles, however, have yet to be shut down, so the problem has yet to be solved.