Whats New With Klout & Why Justin Bieber Hates It!

Have you checked your KLOUT score lately?  This week, the influence-measurement site launched major changes to its platform.  The updates are all reflected in a new algorithm determining the almighty Klout score.  The new scores factor in more data points (now 12 million compared to the previous 1 million) and include your influence on Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, Facebook, LinkedIn, Klout (through +K's received) and, for the first time ever, real-world influence through Wikipedia. 

This Wikipedia element is what some celebrities are finding to be a Klout katastrophe!  Justin Bieber, previously the only person with a perfect 100 Klout Score, watched his score decrease by almost 10 points.  Why?  Bieber has such a huge and cult-like following on Twitter that his score was puffed up beyond his true influence.  Now that Wikipedia is factored into the mix, his score has been humbled to a more realistic (yet still quite impressive) number.  Sorry Biebs, but you are still doing pretty well!

Next step for Klout looks to be a News-Feed like stream they call "Moments".  Keep a look out for that and be sure to check in with me here at Social Media Diva to find out the latest once it goes public!

Has your Klout score changed?  What do you think of the updates?

The Haircut Heard Around The World

 Oh, the world of social media!  Isn't it quite ironic that the day after I post about using Social Media for the good of all mankind, THIS happens.

Yes, my friends.  It's another Celebrity Haircut Heard Around The World.

Not since the Britney Spears Head Shaving of 2007 have we heard this much commotion over a haircut.

This week, Miley Cyrus is sporting a new 'do.  

Quite drastic, yes.  But I think in the picture she looks very cute and spunky!

The real amazement is how the Twittersphere reacted!  Thousands of tweets about Miley's new tresses hit Twitter this week, bringing "Miley Cyrus" to Twitter Trending status for days.

The public really was against the haircut.  That is, until word got out that she donated her hair to cancer patients. 

Miley's defiantly positive attitude was apparent through her tweets; she let the world know that she was happy with her choice.

She gave to a great cause and she seems so happy with it!  I say Rock it Girl!! 

What do you think of the backlash on Miley's haircut?  

Social Media Diva Book Review!

Welcome to the first Social Media Diva book review!  

Today, I am reviewing the New York Times Bestseller: WE FIRST: HOW BRANDS AND CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD.  What a title, huh!?  Sounds like my kinda book!   But, you may ask, what’s with the 3 out of 5 star rating?  Well, I will tell you.  

1) Half the book is not even about social media!

Basically the entire first half of the book, or more, hardly touches on social media.  Maybe a brief whiff here or there, but the bulk is much more political and critical of the capitalist economic system.  Now, I am all for reading people's opinions on just about anything, but this felt like a bit of a bait and switch.  The title should give an accurate description of the content of the book.  I do not feel that this title does that.  

2) Hits readers over the head with word play.

I love puns.  I love words and jokes or clever nuances of playing with words.  But I don't love people forcing them into normal nomenclature.  Here, author Simon Mainwaring has coined "WE FIRST" (as opposed to "me first") as a type of thinking.  Great.  A fresh concept and I love it.  But he loves it so much that he can’t stop using it.   "The WE FIRST mentality is...."   "In WE FIRST businesses, they...."  "A WE FIRST nation will only...." He even goes so far as to coin ANOTHER term -- "wedia".  I'm not kidding.  This is a form of MEDIA that has WE FIRST thinking. We-dia.  Has anyone seen the movie MEAN GIRLS?  If so, you'll know the quote, "Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen, it's not going to happen".   I digress. 

3) Saves the best to last.

The good part is that when the book does FINALLY talk more specifics about social media, IT IS GREAT!  I had to wade through the entire book to finally uncover some real gems in the last few chapters. The writer loaded all his best thoughts, information, inspiration into the final chapters.   My favorite was Mainwaring's exploration into the idea of social gaming inspiring new platforms for economic change and aid in third world countries.  Originally, it sounds like a stretch to inspire the general public to go from building a farm on Farmville to one in a struggling nation.  However, Mainwaring neatly puts the pieces together to make a clear picture of how this could be the future of "Social Gaming For Good", and he makes me want to be part of it!

All in all, three stars is not that bad.  The book definitely is worth a read- but, if you are in it for just the social media goods, skip the first half and read the ending first – just like I do with a good mystery!

Another Olympic Death By Twitter

Apparently Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella is not an avid Social Media Diva reader.  Or if he is, he chose to ignore my last post and my advice to think before you tweet!!

Thus, sadly, I have to report another Death By Twitter catastrophe.

On Monday, Morganella was expelled from the Olympics for tweeting an offensive comment after his team's 2-1 loss to South Korea.

He just couldn't bite his tongue (or hold his fingers?) and had to share with the world through Twitter that he wanted to beat up South Koreans.  While the actual Tweet isn't being reported much- translations being reported include slurs such as they should "burn", they are "a bunch of monogloids" and they are "a bunch of mentally handicapped retards".  

ARE YOU KIDDING!?  That is not even a joke.  While ill suited and wrong, you can at least make a mental leap on how Papachristou thought she was being clever last week.  This, however, Morganella's tweet is just blatantly violent.  

Not only was Morganella sent home from the Games, but his Twitter account was deleted and he may be banned from FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association).  

I hope I am wrong, but something tells me we haven't seen the end of Olympic Death By Twitter.  

Death By Twitter: Olympic Edition

While the rest of us settle in to watch the opening ceremonies tonight, Greece’s triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou will likely have a very bittersweet experience.

Greece banned Paraskevi from the games this week, after she composed and tweeted what was deemed to be a racist comment from her Twitter account.  Ready for it?

"With so many Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!"

You can guarantee she regrets that one. 

Sentiments in Greece seem to be divided and reflect the opinions of a larger economic issue in the country, the influx of illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia. 

I was initially struck with what seemed like a double standard in the digital age.  I can’t help but remember just a couple weeks ago when Daniel Tosh all but threatened one of his comedy show patrons with “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped right now” with repercussions no more than an apology tweet.  What’s the difference?  How can Tosh get away with just typing an oops message and Paraskevi gets her life dream smashed? 

If there's a balance here, it must come down to who you represent.  Paraskevi was a face of her country.  Therefore, her tweets meant more than just random thoughts.  As the face of Greece in the Olympic games, she would also be the voice of Greece in the Olympic games.  And when you’re words have that weight, extra and extreme caution must be taken even in social media. 

Think before you tweet, people.

I don’t want you to be Death By Twitter’s next victim.

RECIPE FOR A PERFECT TWEET

1 cup of knowledge, a dash of insight and a pinch of humor. Isn't that the recipe for a perfect tweet?
If only it were that easy. What does that look like in the real twittersphere? What's the perfect combination of 140 characters to release to the world?
Earlier this month, All Twitter's Shea Bennett gave some insight into the perfect tweet that I wanted to recap for our readers. Shea is right on that the essentials are readability and retweetability.  
To help you achieve Tweeting Perfecton, check out these 6 tips.

1. Think Like Your Readers This is really just about knowing your customer. Don't tweet in a way that just appeals to you. Know who is reading your tweets and what they want to hear. Think like they think and you'll appeal to them. The result is more clicks, more retweets and more engagement. 2. Sell The Headline in a Non-Salesman Way No one wants to feel like they are being sold something. Even so, people need a good reason to click on or engage with a tweet! That is the conundrum that needs to be balanced for the perfect tweet. "This is cool" and "Buy my stuff now!" are among the worst statements to make next to a link. Steer clear also from making extreme promises or overhyping to your readers. If people find they can't trust your words, they will ignore them. 3. Use Correct Punctuation Just do it. Some people might not mind when you don't, but those that do, mind a lot! Use commas, put apostrophes in the correct places, employ parentheses when appropriate. Additionally, watch out for programs that auto generate tweets. While very helpful, some use erratic punctuation and hashtags that give a less than professional impression. 4. Check Your Spelling Comeon, guys. You probably know how I feel about spelling mistakes and the need to proof your own work. I've posted about it before. This goes for all tweets because this stuff matters. One caviat to this is "text-speak" such as "R U going?" or "Going 2 restrnt!". Obviously, this is not ideal. Sometimes in the twittersphere, however, it is very tempting to abbreviate because you can save yourself a few of your precious 140 characters. You need to avoid this at all costs. Here and there, I'll let you get away with a "u" instead of "you", but you are definitely better off taking an extra moment to craft the message differently and use proper spelling than resorting to text-speak. 5. Prepare For The Retweet Brace yourself. The perfect tweet shouldn't utilize all 140 characters. Yes, I am taking away some characters. To properly prepare for retweets, you need to leave room in the tweet for someone to retweet it. This is because many retweets add either your twitter handle or the retweeter's twitter handle to your original tweet. So, sorry, folks, but I am about to remove a piece of your 140-slice pie. Actually, 20 pieces. That's right, the ideal tweet is 120 characters, leaving 20 blank characters for retweeting. Granted, Twitter's internal retweeting removes the need for a shorter retweet (because it just copies your original message directly) but not everyone uses that specific type of retweet. So, strive for 120 characters when you can, but do not sacrifice the quality of your tweet. 6. Shorten Your Links Can I say this enough? Use Bitly to shorten your links. DanZarella, the social media scientist, shared a great chart that shows why Bitly is the best URL shortener. Try it, learn it, love it. Thoughts on our steps to the perfect tweet? What else would you advise?

Can Your Smartphone Predict Your Future?

An interesting new feature for smartphones is being tested in the UK. 

And when I say “interesting”, I really mean futuristic/crazy/almost scary intel!  Soon, your phone may be able to tell where you are going, predict your future movements throughout a day, and adjust accordingly. 

Now, understand this with me.  I do not mean GPS tracking where you are.  That is a cool feature and most people with at least a decent level of smartphone intelligence have benefited from real-time map directions, traffic updates, “near me” restaurant recommendations and weather reports.  Those are wonderful, but not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about future-predicting smartphones; basically tracking your past movements and recording what your friends do to determine what you are most likely doing next.

According to Mashable, researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a remarkably accurate algorithm that follows users’ mobility patterns and factors in patterns of people in their social networks to adjust for abnormalities. 

The algorithm has been tested on 200 volunteers, whose smartphones tracked their every move for months. The result was pretty accurate predictions of where they would likely be 24 hours in the future. 

The challenge now is to establish the capabilities of this future-prediction feature that make it the most useful for users.  Personally, right now, I don’t want my phone to track every single move I make.  And I certainly don’t want it feeding information to anyone out there concerning where I might be in 24 hours!  Hello, stalker-much!? 

But, let’s take a little glimpse into the possibilities.  I might be okay with this entire process if, say, my phone could tell me there is a dry cleaners for the clothes I need laundered right next to the gym I was going to go to tomorrow after work.  And, better yet, give me a 30% off coupon for said dry cleaners.  Or if, say, my phone alerted me a day ahead of time that there was going to be heavy traffic on my way to work the next day due to an Obama-visit.  It might even offer to auto-set my alarm 30 minutes earlier for me.  Why, yes, dear smartphone.  Please do. 

Since the UK study and algorithm are still in prototype phase, I don’t know if these will be the future capabilities of the data.  Unlike the smartphones, I can’t predict the future.  But I do know it would need to be extremely safe and amazingly helpful for me to use this feature.  Only time will tell.

What would you want this future-predicting smartphone to help you with?