Facebook seems to finally have done something with the group messaging application it bought called Beluga. Yesterday the social media company launched its Facebook Messenger app.

At first, the application seems like a duplicate of your “Inbox” on your normal Facebook app, however, there are a few slight improvements/differences. For example, it not only allows you to message people on your Facebook list (and who the heck isn’t on Facebook?!?!), but you can also add anyone from your SMS list! The app also allows you to tag your location to each message using your phone’s GPS.

For example, I come from a small town, and I have some friends who refuse to use Facebook, and believe it or not, I also have some that don’t have a cell phone, but do use Facebook. This application is perfect because it enables a group conversation between all my weird friends.

Another thing I like about the application is that sometimes I really don’t care, or have time to go into the full, bloated Facebook application, so this snapshot of my inbox is very handy.

Just search for Facebook Messenger in the App Store or the Android Market to download now. Let me know what you think about it.

kitestring recently had the pleasure of facilitating some of Toronto’s brightest minds in a workshop  with the team at the Toronto 2015 Pan/ Parapan American Games.

We were inspired by the intense creative energy that came together to explore innovative branded possibilities for how the Games will be experienced by those who will attend the events.

The Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and kitestring are offering up a smorgasbord of branding expertise in three delicious picnic sessions. These three sessions run on February 9, February 16 and February 23 from 5:00 to 8:00pm. The first session, “Gathering Ingredients”, will help you understand how to properly assemble your own brand and learn a fresh philosophy about how to communicate through social media. Second you’ll need to get “In the Kitchen” and define your brand online using the ingredients you’ve gathered. And lastly, your brand will go “To Market, To Market” by collectively developing a fully integrated campaign platform that engages your brand’s target audience through social media. Join in on the (educational) fun by pre-registering with the SBEC by calling 905.540.6400 or send them an email at mail@hamiltonsmallbusiness.ca.

Remember when you didn’t need an Apple or a Blackberry to tweet your heart out with little blue birds?

kitestring is pleased as punch to announce that the social media mavens from Mabel’s Labels will be the belles of the Snow Ball: A Social Media Social

Along with kitestring, Mabel’s Labels will share their fresh approach to social media at the event, which includes an interactive workshop, and a tea social that includes all that you would expect a dainty lunch to include.

Oh my! How swell!

The social will be held at the beautiful Staircase Theatre (27 Dundurn Street North) on March 3rd, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

kitestring welcomes marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, social media newbies and pros, groups and singles to the Snow Ball! We’ll learn from each other by building on shared experience.

kitestring’s first ever social media social has limited seating, so please register here by purchasing your ticket.

Snow Ball: A Social Media Social
Hosted by kitestring creative marketing + design
Wednesday, March 3rd 2010 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Staircase Theatre, 27 Dundurn Street North, Hamilton, Ontario

…what kind of twitter strategy really “works”? And what defines tweet success for organizations really?

I know, I know, awareness, image and reputation management, being able to reach a customer with a good or bad review in real time and being able to respond in an instant.

I guess, more specifically, I’m wondering what comprises a successful twitter follow for an organization’s twitter?

Today I tweeted about a kijiji link to someone selling a group of vintage cameras. Two minutes later I was followed by DigitalCamFan and UniqueAntiques. This makes sense right? Camera. Antiques. Antique cameras on kijiji.

Really?

Although I understand why this type of following on twitter occurs (mention + connection= profit), and could make sense in someone’s business mind, I have a hard time finding the time spent on following anyone who tweets about bananas as a banana company’s best investment. How do you measure the time spent by the banana company’s social media specialist against banana R.O.I?

For some organizations twitter is an excellent tool to reach, poll and even persuade their target audience to create, collaborate and even consume. But for DigitalCamFan and UniqueAntiques, that ten seconds they spent searching “antique” and “camera” was totally lost on me. And believe it or not, ten seconds can really add up.

Maybe our searches should be more specific than a noun and a geographical area. Maybe twitter is just a small step towards something even better. A social media that instinctively knows what you want, like that E-Harmony website claims to do for dating. Sometimes I wonder…

It is said that over 50% of HR and hiring managers will look someone up on social sites before they interview them. I know I have done it, and it has definitely changed the way I have looked at that candidate. The lines between professional and personal lives are being blurred. For the most part, this is good, but this can also be a bad thing.

If you’re looking for a job where responsibility is key, maybe you should keep the pictures of you throwing up in the alley private on Facebook. And just so you know, all someone has to do is change their Facebook network to the same location as you, and they can see most of your profile (unless you actively restrict it).

If you are going to use social media to develop your personal brand for career development, then you really have to take control of it. Some people actually hire social media managers!

For example, I manage Facebook very differently than any other social site. Facebook to me is for family and friends, although, I’m still very careful as to what I put up there. I am hesitant to even share my Twitter account with friends and family, not because I don’t want them to see it, but because it’s mostly about nerdy stuff, and would bore the hell out of them.

Another reason for being proactive is that you want to control the information that people find about you. I made sure to update and fill in my Google profile, so that if someone was to look for me using Google, they would see what I want them to see. Although, Google really doesn’t like the French last name so much. If you are logged into your Google account, just do a search for “me”, and at the bottom of the screen, you can edit your profile to control what people see. You can add links, contacts, and personal and work information about yourself.

I also made sure to register on multiple networks, and promote myself, so that I show up in searches. Using a tool like namechk.com or knowem.com are both handy for finding out if your name is available on all the popular sites.

Just be yourself out there, but use common sense. This is a social web, so it’s open to anyone, and whether you’re looking for a client, a job, or even a friend, no one needs to see you drunk, running naked in public.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Brandon

Nowadays, with social media and branding being so important to a company’s image, it is crucial to have a presence on some of the more popular websites out there.

The application is surprisingly fast and fun to watch it go through each site and scour them for your chosen username.

Having a presence and active profile on these sites can help your Search Engine Optimization, and get the word out.

Now, mind you, not all of them are important in a business sense, and some of them are not even around any more, but some of the notable ones are behance.net, Blogger, Flickr, FriendFeed, Twitter, Xing, and maybe even YouTube.

Check it out at namechk.com

Chris Farias – kitestring creative marketing + design
www.kitestring.ca

Illustration by Chris Farias