Mediaboss Marketing

The Miiverse is dying.

For five years, Nintendo fans have filled up the walls of Nintendo's social media service with simple communications and beautiful hand drawn art. That art often filtered into Wii U and 3DS games, and made for unique experiences while playing Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon online. All of that will end on November 7, 2017 when Nintendo pulls the plug.

"We started the Miiverse service in 2012 along with the launch of the Wii U system because we wanted to provide a space where users could share their feelings about games with each other," Nintendo said in a statement. "Thanks to users' support throughout the years, we think we were able to achieve that goal. We decided to end the service at this time because, among other reasons, many users are shifting to social networking services."

On November 8, Miiverse users will wake up to a world where all their art, conversations, and Luigi associated shitposting will disappear. That is, unless, Tim Miller and the Archive Team can save it. Miller is a web developer and the Archive Team is a loose collective of programmers and archivists interested in preserving the world's digital history. It's most famous project was rescuing large parts of GeoCities from the ashes in 2009. They've teamed up to archive and host the Miiverse before it's gone forever.

"The great art on Miiverse will be lost when it shuts down," Miller announced on Twitter on September 3. "So I'm writing an archiver to try and save it." Two hours later he had archived 30,000 images from the Japanese Miiverse alone.

"Social networks disappearing leaves behind a ton of content," Miller told me via an Archive Team IRC channel. "People have invested a ton of time and effort into giving parts of themselves up to it. Just look at the Splatoon drawing feed. The effort that goes into that art is insane. And Nintendo is going to go 'Fuck you, it's gone.'"

Miller acknowledged that Nintendo is allowing users to save their content by requesting an archive through Miiverse. The company promised to send users a URL containing their content, minus both comments and messages from others, from which they can download their Miiverse account.

Miller thinks he and Archive Team can do better. He wants to save everything. "Art, posts, user data," he said. "Leave no stone unturned. To me, it's all important, I'm not one to judge content. That's for history to judge."

"To me, and I think would go to the rest of Archive Team, it's a part of history and culture," he said. "And saving that for future generations is important. While it may be a failed social network for Nintendo, it's still apart of our culture in some way."

Once the team has collected all the data, Miller plans to create an easily shareable database for everyone to use. He's not interested in creating a site for the content, but he wants all that sweet Splatoon art ready to go in case someone else does.

Check out Miller's archiver at his Github or get involved by jumping into the Archive Team IRC channel.

Read the original post:
The Mission to Archive Nintendo's Dying Social Media Platform - Motherboard

Did you know your teen can go online and get drugs, learn about getting high or find out what other kids are experiencing? According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), teens increasingly use secretive social media sites like Snapchat, where parents dont lurk.

Most of these social networking apps are free and readily available, and most kids are several steps ahead of parents on privacy settings. Still, the DEA has a few tips for helping your child develop the skills to make good online choices.

1. Talk with your child about the implications of online actions.

2. Monitor your childs online activity, and learn about the websites and apps they use.

3. Block inappropriate content with parental features.

4. Enable restrictions on phones and home computers.

5. Learn webspeak, the abbreviated language kids use when texting or chatting.

Basic Webspeak

DOC = Drug of Choice

PAL = Parents are Listening

BRB = Be Right Back

P911 = Parent Alert

420 = Marijuana

KPC = Keeping Parents Clueless

Other important tips include talking with your child about basic social media safety. Remind them that some actions have consequences and, despite what they may think nothing ever truly disappears from the internet.

The rest is here:
Social Media Safety - The Star Democrat

September 1, 2010: Apples new music-focused social network, Ping, ships as part of iTunes 10.Apple says the service will let users discover new music and more easily follow their favorite artists.

Apple previously dabbled in social networking (it was the first significant tech company to advertise on Facebook). But Ping was Apples first attempt at actually launching its own social network.

Aside from following artists, the service let users post thoughts and opinions. Anyone could share details about favorite albums and songs. Plus, they could view concert listings and tell friends about upcoming shows they planned to attend.

iTunes is the number one music community in the world, with over 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries, and now were adding social networking with Ping, Steve Jobs said. With Ping you can follow your favorite artists and friends and join a worldwide conversation with musics most passionate fans.

In some ways, Apple seemed to be perfectly poised to launch a music-focused social network. It had a cool, youthful image, along with brand-loyal customers, wide reach, good standing in the music community and thanks to its success with iTunes and the iPod a history of delivering music-related tech in a way that other companies failed to do.

Early on, Apple experienced significant success with Ping. However, things went downhill after Apple crowed about the 1 million users who signed up in the first 48 hours. Ping lacked Facebook integration due to a (never entirely explained) breakdown in negotiations between the two companies.

Ping wasnt Apple design at its best. It was too fiddly to use, and felt less like a true social network than an attempt to sell music by adding a veneer of interaction on top of the iTunes Music Store.

Ultimately, it became another failed attempt by Apple to enter the internet services space (following its failed MobileMe experiment).

The writing was on the wall for Ping from early 2012, when Tim Cook discussed the services lack of traction at the All Things Digital conference. We tried Ping and the customer voted and said, This isnt something I want to put a lot of energy into,' he said. Some customers love it, but theres not a huge number that do, so will we kill it? I dont know. Ill look at it.

He also noted that Apple didnt need to have a social network. Apple shut down Ping on September 30, 2012.

Today, Apple encourages users to follow their favorite artists on Apple Music. However, much like Ping, these features dont seem to have gained much traction.

Instead, Apple is dabbling in original video content to push Apple Music subscriptions. Efforts range from music documentaries to shows such as Carpool Karaoke: The Series.

Do you remember Ping? Leave your comments below.

Here is the original post:
Today in Apple history: Ping social network fails to strike a chord - Cult of Mac

Ive written several times about how an unprofessional social network profile can harm your career. Citing privacy concerns and other issues, I still have some (mostly baby boomer) acquaintances who proudly declare that they dont participate. No Facebook. No LinkedIn. No Twitter. Turns out, that may not be such a good idea, either.

Recruiters and hiring managers have had a complicated relationship with social networks. On the one hand, they worry that peeking into a candidates online profile is crossing a line. What should matter is how they conduct themselves on the job, not in after-hours activities online. Online profiles can also reveal information its not legal to ask in an interview, like marital status, sexual orientation and political or religious affiliations. On the other hand, if theres something that would make the candidate a bad fit (or an actual liability), shouldnt we try to find out about it sooner than later?

Weve officially reached a tipping point in social networking. According to statista.com, 81 percent of the U.S. population has at least one social network profile, up from 24 percent in 2008. So it might not be surprising to learn that more than half of employers surveyed are less likely to hire someone they cant find online.

A recent article in the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reports: A national survey conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder found that more than 57 percent of employers are less likely to interview a candidate they cant find online. The majority of companies will dig through social profiles, but find it even more suspect if they see nothing at all.

Reporter Kara Driscoll writes, More than 70 percent of employers will use social media to screen candidates before hiring, a significant increase from the 11 percent of companies who practiced cyber-vetting in 2006. Its become so important to employers that 30 percent of human resource departments have an employee dedicated to check social media profiles.

IT recruiters are most likely to cyber-vet candidates (76 percent) followed by sales recruiters (65 percent), and finance (61 percent.) According to CareerBuilders 2016 survey, 53 percent of these hiring managers want to see if the candidate has a professional online persona, 30 percent want to see what other people are posting about the candidate, and 21 percent admit theyre looking for reasons not to hire the candidate.

Nick Morelli, writing for recruitingblogs.com, says companies take a risk when cyber-vetting, and a company should have clear guidelines about what a recruiter should be looking for. He writes, A company will generally check for three things. The first is to see whether there is anything on a candidates social media profile which contradicts his resume and interview statements. The second is to see whether the candidate has a history of badmouthing his employees. And the third is the candidates character, whether it is a history of discriminatory statements or one of drug or alcohol abuse.

But a recruiter will also have access to all posts and photos that are public, which is problematic. You cant unlearn what you have learned about a candidate, Morelli says, so you could open the door for discrimination lawsuits.

If youre in a job search, my advice is to make sure your privacy settings are tight on more personal and social networks like Facebook. That means your LinkedIn profile will provide most of the information a recruiter sees. But abstention from social networks is no longer an advantage if you want to be competitive in the 21st century labor market.

Candace Moody is vice president of communications for CareerSource Northeast Florida. Her column appears every Wednesday in the Times-Union, and she can be reached at cmoody@careersourcenefl.com.

Continued here:
Work Wanted: Not on social networks - Florida Times-Union

Any business owner will tell you LinkedIn can be an invaluable resource for a company, from recruiting talented employees, and connecting with clients and potential leads to networking with other professionals.

But Im often inundated with so many requests in a day from people who seem like scammers to people trying to sell me useless services and more. Its hard sometimes to cut through the noise to use LinkedIn to its full potential. Luckily Ive found a few tools to help weed out useless sales pitches, scammers or just people who won't help my network or business grow. Here are my favorites:

I use pitch.Me as a supplement to LinkedIn. pitch.Me is a career and social-networking site where users create a customized profile highlighting their professional and personal experience as well as skill sets and talents. Additionally, profiles can spotlight a users past or current employers, education and unique character traits. But the real magic of it lies in how you connect with other users.

You add a list of needs to your profile this can be open positions, services for your business, etc. People who find me and want to connect have to donate a certain amount of money to my charity of choice, and then theyre able to schedule a 15-minute in-app video or audio call.

I put a little note on my LinkedIn saying if youre wanting to set up a phone call or connect, go to my pitch.Me and schedule it there. It really helps weed out blanket requests and ensures that calls I have are only with people who take the time to get to know me and put some effort into the relationship.

A lot of people use LinkedIn ineffectively. Often there is no effort to build a relationship or to network its just heres what you can do to help me, will you do it? I reached out toLinked University founder Josh Turner, who explained, Would you go up to a person you just met at a networking event, and immediately start pitching them on your products and services, features and benefits? No way. And if you did, you wouldn't get far. It's the same on LinkedIn.

In Joshs Linked University, I learned how to better build a relationship with members of my network on LinkedIn and utilize its features to make it a resource and not just a place where I send out cold messages for sales and services.

If youre on LinkedIn for any period of time, youre bound to get a message for a free month of LinkedIn premium. I was always hesitant to pull the trigger on that but when it came time to fill a position at the internet marketing agency I founded, I decided to give it a try.

It took way less time to find candidates than going to Craigslist or working my local network to find talent. With the time left on my trial, I tried out some other features. A really cool feature I have used is statistics for top search terms, peoples visiting my page and their industries and locations. If I can see a lot of search traffic in visitors might be people who are looking for services my company offers, I can then work to tailor my intro and profile content to catch their eyes.

So there are some of my favorite tools for making sure my LinkedIn network works for me. What are yours?

Read more:
3 Tools to Build a LinkedIn Network That Actually Works - HuffPost