Dallas, U.S.A. — Social Media Club of Dallas, a premier networking and education organization dedicated to marketing and new media, along with platinum sponsor, Sprint, has announced that its August 16 meeting will feature a panel of social customer care experts moderated by Bryan Person, Director of Social Insights for Social Dynamx. Bryan and panelists Tony Turnage of FedEx, Sean Valderas of Nokia and Mike Cearley of Fleishman-Hillard will discuss the challenges that businesses and brands face in building a successful customer service operation in a social world, including:

• Customers’ impatience and expectation of instant responses
• Confusion associated with tracking posts across multiple channels
• Using social tools that weren’t designed to support customer service
• Tracking the elusive ROI of customer service
• Communicating with customers in a public forum

The panel will educate the audience on how to overcome these challenges and deliver exceptional social customer service to customers and fans.

“More than ever, customers are reaching out to companies on social media when they have customer service issues and questions,” said Bryan Person. “And when they do, they *expect* a response — and fast. I look forward to discussing how businesses and brands are adapting to this new reality during our panel.”

The meeting will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 16, 2012, at the Angelika Film Center Dallas in Mockingbird Station. Guests are invited for more networking at a post meeting Tweet-Up at Trinity Hall. Early registration tickets cost $35 and are available through August 15, 2012. Tickets on the day of the event are $45, if available.

Please register here for the event on Eventbrite.

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Funimation held an extended panel this year at Anime Boston in order to include some stories of how anime had affected fans’ lives and helped them pull through hard times. They also used the time to announce several new streaming and DVD-release titles, as well as reiterate their social networking committment and online streaming presence.

The two Funimation panelists began by talking about their online presence on social networks and talking about all the places you can find Funimation online: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Xbox Live, and Nikiniko Douga’s English website.

They also addressed their TV channel’s exclusion from Verizon Fios, and voiced their thanks to the fans for ‘trolling’ Verizon on their behalf to get them included back in the programming.

They announced that they have acquired the rights to simulcast some shows on their Nikiniko channel, and if you have a subscription to their streaming service, you will get access to shows before their street-release date.

Their mobile app for iOS and Android platforms was released on the first day of the con, and allows for access to their entire online catalog. The free app includes commercials and banner ads, the paid app has no banner ads, and the paid up with the monthly streaming subscription of $8 has no advertising.

They also awarded prizes to fans who wrote in or came up on stage to tell their stories of how anime helped them or touched their lives. For one girl, the con, rather than high school, was her main source of friends. When she had a breakdown one year, con-goers–strangers–descended on her with hugs and support. Another girl, meek and depressive, learned to be strong from tenacious anime characters.

Many of the stories carried the gist that anime brought together kids who could not fit in with the normal crowd, and provided a community of support and shared hobbies and interests. From there, the Funimation panelists segued into their new dub release schedule, starting with Princess Jellyfish, about a girl learning to accept herself.

Next up was Heaven’s Lost Property, about a high-schooler who finds a wish-granting servant girl who falls from the sky; following that was Legendary Heroes, Black Butler, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Second Star of Milos (a new film), Cat Planet Cuties, about a race of cat-girl aliens who come to Earth to have fun, and then the creepy and mysterious Shiki.

They also spoke about Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, which is Funimation’s first creation of their own. Funimation generally licenses, dubs, and adapts Japanese titles for the Western market, but in this case, they worked closely with BioWare to create a prequel story to Dragon Age II. The art style is almost three-dimensional, and looks quite a lot like a cel-shaded video game. It will have a worldwide release (another first for Funimation, who generally keep to North America) on May 29 for $35.

They briefly spoke about their Mass Effect project as well, another project done in cooperation with BioWare. They announced that The Future Diary will be getting a release in physical format, as it had only been available streaming until now. KenIchi, Shangrila, Sankarea, and Jormungand were also announced for streaming.

Funimation will also be handling the North American distribution of the second season of Kore ha Zombie Desu ka?, the excellent series that lampoons all of the tropes and trends in modern anime. There will also be new content in the Lupin III series, the first new story in 20 years.

Judging from the fan feedback in the room (which could be described as enthusiastic bordering on psychotic) while the panelists were presenting the new releases, Funimation can look forward to a lot of support from the anime fan base. Based on their lineup of titles as well as their foray into original content, we can expect Funimation to expand their customer base and international name recognition in the year ahead.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.animeboston.com

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As millions of children get ready to open their iPhones, iPads, and other smart devices Christmas morning, SkM Consulting sent an urgent “tweet” and letter to Twitter’s CEO demanding that the popular social networking site immediately delete Twitter profiles targeting children with hard-core pornography.

Skillful Means Consulting (SkM), led by lawyer Craig Perra and his wife Michelle, discovered that pornographers are exploiting Twitter’s weak and poorly-enforced anti-porn policy and describe their findings, “Twitter is overflowing with hard-core pornography with no real restrictions to prevent child access.” Attorney Perra states, “If you have an e-mail address, Twitter gives you access to porn.”

The social networking site “supports more than 100 million active users, who fire off 250 million daily tweets,” says Laura Segall at CNNMoney in her December 19, 2011 article. “Children use the site,” says Attorney Perra, “and it is clear that pornographers know this, too. Twitter’s porn problem is prolific. It compromises future investment and advertising dollars from legitimate companies.”

“Porn peddlers tweet kid-friendly search terms like Disney, Toy Story, Bieber, Tinkerbell, along with pornography links, explicit language, and graphic pictures (#disneyporn),” says Perra, founder of vicereport.com.

Michelle Perra, Mother and Chief “WTF” Officer of SkM, explains, “Twitter searches like ‘Tinker Bell’ and ‘Disney’ produce tweets with a children’s picture then linking to extremely pornographic videos and pictures. I never imagined that I’d have to demand that a company fix its #disneyporn problem.

“I was shocked to learn that hard-core pornography was linked to kid-friendly words and that the average age of exposure to Internet porn is 11. My son is 8; the thought is horrifying. One profile picture showed a young woman with a particular bodily fluid covering her face, and another depicting a naked girl spread-eagle with duct-tape over her mouth.”

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Facebook’s new design “Timeline” and Google Plus’ neat organization and visual impact have given it users something to talk about. Twitter has decided to follow its competitors’ strategies and give its users something to talk about as well. The social network has unveiled a new set of changes and modifications in its design.

The new design, dubbed Fly Twitter, proposes a new and fresh design for its users. The slogan, which appears on twitters official site (http://fly.twitter.com/index_en.html), portrays the new design by saying: ”Yours to discover. A faster, simpler way to stay close to everything you care about.” Although not yet publicly available, it will be introduced in the coming weeks to its 300 million users.

The new design will basically consist of four areas: Home, Connect, Discover and Me. According to Twitter, the Discover Page will be one of the most significant since it will expose trending topics and popular discussions that are being discussed around the web. On the other hand, the Connect area will be the platform where everything that users do–such as mentions, retweets and followers–will be placed.

These changes have clearly developed to grant the social media site a place in the market since its competitors have applied new designs too. ”Today we introduce a new version of Twitter. We’ve simplified the design to make it easier than ever to follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new,” Twitter said in a post on its official blog.

“What we’re announcing today is just the beginning. We now have a framework in place that we will quickly build and iterate upon to help users connect with whatever is meaningful to them.” New apps for iPhone, Android and TweetDeck have been released this Thursday, December 8.

Twitter’s new image will integrate a lot of simplicity and visual impact. The users will be able to count on an easier way to navigate through the the page, and newer applications with different page areas will offer something different.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0qqDy5BmYKE

1000 Words / Shutterstock.com

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On the Beach report that social media is a great way to research holidays this festive season; and not just flights, but hotels and car hire as well. More and more UK travellers are turning to sites like Facebook to find polls, discounts and reviews on their prospective destinations. 40 per cent of UK holiday makers use social media to help them research, a recent survey reports.

On the Beach say social media is useful for providing a range of information including reviews, flights prices and cheap hotels. The report, which was published by the World Travel Market, surveyed over 1000 British holiday makers who travelled locally or overseas in 2011. One third of the respondents using social media reported that they’d changed a hotel booking after looking at social media sources.

Alistair Daly, Marketing Director at On the Beach, commented that Facebook is a useful tool for customers to exchange information. “Our On the Beach Facebook Fan Page provides a forum for customers to quickly and easily give us feedback, suggest pages to friends and look up quotes. It’s a great forum in which to ask questions and get professional advice for booking a holiday.”

Daly continued: “Using Facebook, we’re able to keep in touch with our customers, directly addressing their issues and interests, and alerting them to the best budget deals and cheap flights to Turkey, Majorca and Portugal, to name a few.”

Founded in 1995, On the Beach is one of the UK’s leading online travel agencies carrying over 500,000 passengers every year. On the Beach provides value for money flights and hotels in the world’s most popular beach holiday destinations. They also provide consumers with a huge selection of travel products, from 50 million available seats, more than 30,000 hotels around the world, insurance and in-resort transfer partners.

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Social Media continues to expand around the world and impact it, in its own way. In Guatemala, e-Marketing didn’t start picking up until about 3 to 4 years ago and it wasn’t only until about a year and a half to two years ago that agencies started to develop social media strategies.

After seeing some of the success from local companies, restaurants started taking advantage of it, to get their share of the market. It continues to expand throughout the years, with Facebook being the biggest social media platform utilized in Guatemala today. With only 2.5 million people with access to the internet in Guatemala, 1.6 million people have a Facebook account.

However, before Facebook, hi5 was considered one of the most popular social networking sites. In 2008 hi5 had 12,831,000 Latin American unique visitors ages 15 and up, while Facebook had only 7,711,000. MySpace became very big 2 years ago. According to comScore, social media has always been huge in Latin American countries. They are heavy internet users and mainly use the internet as a way to communicate with others.

According to Enrique Parros of TPP Emarketing, Twitter is a Social Media platform that is starting to grow in Guatemala and the reason for this growth is that mobile phones are becoming more easily attainable. The demographic segment in Guatemala that is currently active on twitter is mostly made up of kids, but 24- 35 year olds are starting to pick up on Twitter. This is why twitter is still an educational process in Guatemala.

The main social media Platform used for marketing in Guatemala is currently Facebook, due to the high concentration of people logged into Facebook. Facebook, to TPP Emarketing, is a great way for consumers to communicate with a brand. It is also a great way for people to interact with the brand, which will later help them to decide the future of the brand, and where it is heading. Another way Facebook is being used in Guatemala is as a focus group.

One major success story for TPP Emarketing is from the Facebook page Claro, which has 264,196 likes on Facebook. Gallo was also another great example of how successful Facebook was in helping to boost sales. In April of 2011, Gallo had about 90% of the market share in the country.

TPP Emarketing works with so many brands, such as Claro, P & G, and McDonald’s, that it would be hard to manage each account separately. This is why they use Hootsuite. It is a service used to manage social media accounts on one dashboard. With Hootsuite, companies like TPP E-marketing can manage their Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare and myspace accounts at once, and even schedule posts for later dates.

E-marketing is still growing in Guatemala, and for some it is still a learning experience, but digital marketing is always growing and expanding. Agencies are starting to pick up on it and take advantage of the marketing tools that are accessible. Some of the services offered today are SEO marketing, Public Relations, E-Mobile, Social Media and E-Advertising.

Digital marketing may be growing but TPP E-marketing understands the importance of utilizing it in their marketing campaigns and strategies.

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Where are the children who play hide and seek in the streets, fly kites, jump ropes, ride bicycles, play with dolls and cars, spend hours building a Lego’s castle during their childhoods’ golden age? They are no longer easily found in the outside areas around their neighborhoods.

Instead, infants are hiding themselves and replacing their group activities on a sunny day for more and more solitary pleasures under their home roofs. One in four Brazilian children uses the Internet, according to research done by the Comitê Gestor da Internet (CGI), the Internet Manager Committee.

In the same report, the group reported that 90 percent of children surf the web to play video games and do homework. Video games, especially Internet games, are holding children’s attention who stare at a computer screen for hours and hours.

Children are also becoming familiar with modern technologies, such as smartphones that allow users to access the Internet just by touching the screen with a finger. They can download games on their phones, and play for long periods, which can represent a regression in their social activities and developments.

The research showed that 42 percent of the children, from five to nine years old, access internet from their homes, and 29 percent of them usually are by themselves when they use of it. Contradictory to previous studies that showed more children in the 13-18 age group used social media, research shows that one third of the children from five to nine years old are engaged in social media.

The most common websites used in Brazil are Orkut, Facebook, and Twitter. While kids are spending their times in social media, adults are not engaging themselves as much on the same websites. According to the website vagas.com.br, which receives résumés and job applications online, out of the 54,000 resumes registered, 8 percent of 30-34 year olds have a profile on Facebook, 9 percent use Twitter, and 11 percent use LinkedIn.

For people older than that, the estimate is even lower, with only 4 percent that use of Twitter, and 5 percent that use LinkedIn and Facebook. The general social media public is made up of those under 24 years old. Adolescents use Twitter the most at 44 percent, Facebook at 43 percent, and LinkedIn at 25 percent.

Brazilian social media users are not balanced in numbers. Children and teenagers use the technologies because they grew up in an environment surrounded by the innovations. Now adults and the elderly are following online trends by trying to insert themselves in the same environment.

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Social network sites can do more than entertain us, they can actually help people find employment. And even those who have good jobs can benefit from being apart of a social network site; they can grow their contact list and create content related to one’s training.

The following popular social networking sites can be very helpful tools when trying to advance one’s career:

LinkedIn: the largest professional social network. Creating a profile on LinkedIn allows the user to display their resume, interests, and career objectives. Past employers are able to “recommend” someone who worked for them in the past.

Recruiters and human resource professionals are able to view users’ skills sets; there is a chance they will reach out to LinkedIn members if there is a job opportunity that fits their specific abilities. This is also a helpful place to follow news on one’s favorite businesses and industries. Additionally, LinkedIn posts job openings for members to look at.

Xing: it is similar to LinkedIn. Xing has been very successful in Germany, although it is being used in other countries as well. With more than 11 million users, Xing is giving Linkedin some competition. It allows professionals to connect and engage with each other.

Twitter: a social networking sites with a limitation: 140 characters. Twitter is unique in its use of fewer words. It is a great tool to share and follow interesting content. It is easy for users to “follow” companies, organizations, and individual people that they like. “Retweeting” comments by people can be a great way to show interest in the topic or company they represent.

Also, sometimes companies or individuals will post job openings on Twitter.

Facebook: It is possible to use this popular social media site, with its more than 500 million users, in a professional way. It is important that the user is careful with their privacy settings.

Users shouldn’t display too many personal photos or comments; However it is possible to use Facebook for both personal and professional use if the user is mindful.

Google +: This new social networking site consolidates social networks with other platforms. Google + combines the content sharing and viral quality of Twitters with Facebook’s communication format; with more characters and “like” buttons and commenting options. Also, creating “circles” on Google + is a simple way to organize your content and control who sees your information.

One of the most important things to remember when using any of these sites to advance oneself professionally, is to display a conservative and appropriate photo. It’s also important to not be a pest. Sending too many private messages to someone could scare them away instead of making them interested in you as a potential employee.

Users should try to adapt to the different types of social sites they are using. While each has its specific rules and etiquette, the strategy of engaging with companies and presenting oneself professionally applies to each site when searching for a job.

With today’s weak economy, it’s necessary to be patient when searching for a job. Being resourceful is also key. Getting a presence on all the different platforms can be helpful; maximizing one’s presence and connections to others.

There are other ways to use the web to advance professionally that doesn’t involve social network sites. Creating and updating a blog can be a great way to present yourself, your skills, and your interests. Blogger and WordPress are popular blog platforms.

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Social Media Today dedicates itself to understanding and studying the complexity of new media in our societies. This innovative website, gathers professionals from all around the world, forming a comprehensive community on the dwelings of social networking, advertising, publicity and other subjects.

A recent article by Barry Hurd, a speaker on online business practices, gives insight on the top five questions business owners must ask to completely understand social media policies and how to work with them to their advantage. They often rely on traditional human resources tactics and forget that they too can manage their workers by using online channels.

Who owns it?  Hurd brings up the important question: if employees are authorized to post online during work hours or if they must do so as a part of their job, who truly owns the company’s social media policy? Owners should take into account that a laid-off employee can easily take a firm’s mailing list and all of its contacts, causing hundreds of dollars in damages.

One must make proactive decisions regarding online communication and the owner must make sure his or her is its leader and the head of a social channel hierarchy.

Do you have access to all your social accounts 24/7? This topic is also related to leadership and control. One must be in complete control of the communication hierarchy to ensure that there are no leaks and that all of the company’s assets are protected.

Have you identified mission critical paths? Hurd said that a vast array of processes for a social media policy need special supervision, and some have particularities that must be taken into account. Barry Hurd singles out sales, marketing, security breaches, employee/client privacy, investor relations, regulatory concerns, among others:

“Each of these communication processes have mission critical elements that are accelerated by social media usage. In many cases the most immediate requirement is the management of fast and effective communication for senior managers and executive leadership.

In the world of social media policy, many mid-management employees feel they are doing the ‘right thing’ and are unfortunately trying to make decisions in an area of business that they are acting blindly in.”

Are you monitoring your employees for rogue communications? What should you do when an employee disrespects you or a company client? This is a very delicate matter which must be settled using sensible criteria and one must be very careful of its consequences; they could potentially violate someone’s civil rights and liberties.

And finally: Does it influence hire/fire decisions? This question takes into consideration the legal requirements of firing someone based on a comment they made in a social communication channel.

One must take into account the legal precedents involved in such cases, and according to the National Labor Relations Board, ”Our review of cases found many specific policies alleged to be overbroad, including those that restrict discussion of wages, corrective actions and discharge of co-workers, employment investigations, and disparagement of the company or its management.”

They have “only just begun to address these many important issues, and it is, of course, hard to speculate as to how the Board will rule as these cases develop and whether those decisions will withstand judicial scrutiny. It is hoped that this survey can assist employers and counsel identify issues with which they should be aware as they grapple with the application of labor law to employee use of social media.”

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The importance of social media in Turkey has increased considerably in recent years, which in turn has led to a mounting interest in the phenomenon and its overall impact on the Turkish society. Sharing her opinions on the matter, Gulay Ozkan, a Turkish internet and mobile entrepreneur, suggests that the increasing popularity of social media is mainly to do with the large percentage of young people in the country’s current population.

Different types of social media, such as Facebook or Youtube, can indeed be very appealing to young people all over the world. Turkey is a country where 70 percent of the population is actually under 35 years of age, a fact that makes her explanation both valid and rational. “Social Media is a very hot topic at the moment as it brings freedom to a culture that traditionally is shy”, Gulay says.

She lays emphasis on the idea that social media offers free and open communication, which is perhaps the aspect that appeals the most to young Turkish users. Currently, the most popular social network in Turkey is Facebook. The popularity of the well-known networking website rose to such an extent that Turkey has now become the fourth largest nationality on Facebook in the world.

However, Twitter and personal blogs have also gained popularity recently. Turkey’s mobile penetration is larger than internet penetration, which is an immediate consequence of people’s using mobile phones to access their favorite social networks. Gulay also predicts that this trend will grow even more in the future.

Increasing internet censorship is still a problem in Turkey, a situation that has led to numerous protests organized by youth groups. Although some networks such as Youtube may still be banned there, the restriction does not seem to prevent young Turkish people from freely accessing it by using DNS switching and other proxy settings.

This can be interpreted as a sign that the population is ready and wishes to open up to the new form of communication. In fact, it has been this extensive use of social media which have allow Turkey to join the global community. Information spreads far easier and faster via different kinds of social media outlets than via traditional media or educational platforms.

The importance of social media also extends to Turkey’s public relations campaign. There are many instances when international public opinion on Turkey have been shaped and influenced through the use of social media, which should propel the country to engage more in the use of social media as a means of promoting its own image.

One such example is the case of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan abruptly leaving a panel discussion on Gaza with Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2009. His gesture received a lot of media attention. At the time, hundreds of thousands visited Youtube to watch the video of the Prime Minister. Links of the video began to be circulated via Facebook, fan groups and other web applications were launched, all of them carrying the name of Erdogan.

The politicization of social media in Turkey is becoming more and more obvious. Many analysts recognize the role social media is starting to play in politics. “For the past two years, as the political environment has become more severe, the political weight of social media has increased,” Ozgur Uckan, a professor at Bilgi University, said in an interview discussing the relation between social media and politics in contemporary Turkey.

“Blogs on the one hand and social media on the other have begun transforming into a political agora, a forum space,” he added. However, the politicization of social media is seriously threatened by internet censorship. Besides Youtube, many other websites, such as Blogger, have also been banned in Turkey. This phenomenon has led to the foundation of groups such as “Don’t Touch My Blog”

Moreover, national protests have been organized in reaction to the government’s attempts to impose internet censorship. Such is the case of the national, multi-locational protests that took place on May 15 in response to legislation planned to impose filters on internet access.

“I think we will see more of these sorts of interactions in the future,” says Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Bilgi University, who also added that political parties themselves have begun using social media in their campaigns.
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