5 of the best social media stories of the week as chosen by the Qubite’s. Also 5 of the rest aka “The Home of amazing”.

5 of the best

Old people talking about Facebook Exodus

Apparently teenagers are leaving Facebook as it is too full of adults, who wants their mum checking their Facebook wall after all. Anecdotally I don’t see much evidence to back this up, most teenagers I know cant seem to get enough Facebook! There are also a bunch of Youtube opinion videos from teenagers for some interesting insight. One thing I would say to many of those complaints against Facebook is that it is just a tool. A tool that is only as good as what you do with it, so if someones status updates annoy you just un-friend them. (more insightful Facebook advice is available on request )

The Whuffie Bank

A virtual bank, but not for your money. The Whuffie Bank is building a new currency based on our reputations. Twitter and Facebook are making our online reputation really important, we all excerpt our own influence over groups of people in different ways. This site offers you a way of turning your reputation into a currency that can be traded and used for … well whatever someone is willing to give you for it. I first scoffed at this site and thought “It will never take off”, but then I tried to be a bit more open minded about it. The money we use today is just a system we all believe in and use, what is to say a new virtual currency couldn’t exist and do the same? Food for thought.

YouTube to introduce live sports coverage

Youtube will start showing live sports shows, only Cricket for now but this marks an interesting move for the video sharing site. Obviously this means you can watch it anywhere without a TV licence, but what does it mean for the product? One of Youtube’s main features is the ability to rate and comment. This could be the beginning of live sport becoming social in a big way.

Virtual game purchases benefit Haiti Relief Fund

The recent events in Haiti have been tragic and is something we all need to help with. Whenever such atrocities happen companies often donate large sums of money, but more importantly those companies use their influence to encourage others to help. Hugely popular Facebook game Farmville has recently added some virtual items that can be purchased to support the Haiti Relief Fund. I think this is a great idea and something all people and businesses of influence should be encouraged to do. Think about how you can use your influence to help others when they need it most.

Manchester United bans players from using Twitter

After some high profile Twitter gaffs from professional footballers Man Utd have banned their players from having a presence on social networking sites. It is a shame that the club feels the need to control the PR of their players so heavily. The nice thing about footballers being allowed to use these networks is it actually made them appear as real people, with real faults. It also gave them direct contact with the fans who help pay their wages, something that is surprisingly lacking in the modern game.

5 of the rest

Silicone ‘clay’ lets consumers modify troublesome products

If the product you bought doesn’t quite fit the bill, maybe you can customise it? This stuff looks a bit like silly putty to me, but hey maybe it is just what I need to fix my action mans broken arm.

Crayola Color Chart, 1903-2010

How Crayola’s colours have evolved over the year. I like cool looking diagrams .

Crappy Taxidermy

This is a weird and slightly creepy site. Probably not for everyone and the title pretty much says it all.

Love Money

I have been whining about lack of really good online banking tools for a while, it looks like the banks aren’t listening but at least someone is! Love Money requires you put in your account name and password (which is a little scary) but in return offers you a financial breakdown of your spending in a really useful way. You can even set personal savings goals for it to track. Definitely one to watch.

Irrational Behaviour

For anyone interesting in videogames especially those create by Ken Levine (System Shock, Bioshock, X-com) should go check out Irrational games new website and should definatly check out their new podcast. A great example of how to do a company podcast and how to make it interesting.

A good news blog post…

After a successful 18 months using social media to develop a community and change driving behaviour in West Sussex, the initiative has now been widened to cover the whole of Sussex.

Needless to say, we’re chuffed our social marketing baby is growing up and spreading its wings.

A big thank you to everyone involved, especially the team at West Sussex for being a great client. I also want to say a big thank you to our in-house team of social media analysts and outreach specialists.

Now stop reading this and get on with some work.

Qube’s very first client project – over 6 years ago – was a ground-breaking social media campaign for Connexions Sussex to help engage young people online and encourage their participation. We have continued to work with young people online ever since with other clients including West Sussex County Council, East Sussex County Council, Sony BMG, Electronic Arts and Greenwich University.

This experience has helped us hone down why social media should be at the heart of any council’s strategy for engaging with young people.

1. Efficiency: Connect with young people in the most cost effective way
Social media allows you to create and engage with communities of young people online – something which is easier, much cheaper and possible on a much greater scale than in real life. It removes the difficulty of creating real-life communities across wide geographic areas, of hiring infrastructure or equipment. Using social media to communicate means huge savings in design, printing and media costs. It means faster reaction to young people’s needs and enquiries.

2. Reach: Engage with young people where they actually are
Today’s young people – often known as Digital Natives – have grown up using the internet and social media to connect with each other. The numbers of young people using social media are vast and increasing. It is completely natural to them and increasingly their media of choice, while TV and printed media are all in decline. Trust in advertising is also declining – they see it as a broadcast, one way activity with no opportunity for response or interaction. They increasingly build their opinions and make their choices based on their friends’ and others people’s views online – even when they are strangers.

3. Improvement: Converse with young people and create better services
Having a two way conversation with young people enables the Council to listen to the views of young people on a regular basis and understand how they feel about the services they are offered. It allows their participation in the creation of better services and ensure money isn’t wasted on services which they don’t like or want.

4. Reputation: Proactively manage the council’s reputation where young people are talking about related issues
Social networking sites, Facebook, forums, blogs, Twitter are all places where young people talk about issues that matter to them. These often will include issues such as jobs, education, what’s happening in the local area. Where these conversations become negative about the Council it can effect the Council’s reputation, particularly if left without response. There is the opportunity with social media to ensure that not only do you know about these opinions but that you can change them into positive actions.

Yep it’s official according to the Neilson report. But last time I looked at the ‘Teens Don’t Tweet” trend, it was full of teens tweeting about how Twitter trends ’suck’. Now that’s ironic Alanis.

After seeing the recent hack on twitter had been nothing more than a patient man with an understanding of the internet, I got to thinking about my own security.

It was fairly common practice to hack a friends email account when I was at school and you don’t need any complicated tools, usually just knowledge of their mothers maiden name or birthplace was enough to get past the “secret question”. How difficult is it to find that information in this day and age?

I am not as addicted to Linkedin and Facebook as some people (Twitter is my vice) but if you can see my profile you can glimmer potentially useful information. If you can find a photo of me with one of my grandparents or see if my mother has a brother you could quite easily work out her maiden name.

So without much effort you could know my mother’s maiden name, my DoB and my email address as well as the city I live in.

For most people a combination of those things could be enough to answer a “secret question” and obtain or change a password.

In today’s age of always online and always open plenty of young people are recording everything they do online. In a few years time it probably won’t be much of a stretch for me to find out your “first pet’s name” or “mother’s birthplace”. Going more extreme than that I could probably build a portfolio about you, what music you like, who your friends are, where you live and when you are not at home.

Scaremongering aside it is important to think about your online security and what you keep online. If you have children, don’t now go and demand they delete any sensitive information or ban them from talking about their lives on Facebook. Instead educate them on why elements of privacy are important. There are simple steps that will not encroach on their usage of social networks.

Simple things like making sure “secret questions” are genuinely secret and that privacy settings are set so that only genuine friends can see private information. Don’t just add anyone who sends a friend request, message them back first and ask who they are.

Don’t feel you need to close the shutters on social networks, they are all about being social and sharing. Young people of today lead very open lives online and just need to be aware of what they are putting online and who can see it. The best way to calm any fears of safety of young people on line is to start using the networks they are using, gain an actual understanding of how the privacy settings work and how they communicate.

Glenn is a 22 year old social media-ite and a very recent “young person”

I attended the launch of  Child Protection Online – Best Practice Guide on Tuesday run by Tempero. Lots of interesting information and tips on the type of stuff we need to know if we are working in the social media space.

The one bit of info that stood out for me was:   If more than 25% of traffic to site are children (under 18) then Child Protection laws apply to you.

Here’s a Vox Pox Video from the event: http://www.vimeo.com/5638295