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Is Twitter really dying?

After 16 years of existence, Twitter, the micro-blogging platform is suffering its biggest change.
This blue-bird social media brand is notorious especially in our industry for being one of the few mainstream spaces to allow pornographic content.
The site population represents over 1.3 billion accounts from which 238 million are monetizable monthly active users.

Elon Musk

On October 27th, Elon Musk took over the company in a $44 billion deal and started to express his will to operate significant changes to fight for democracy especially through free speech, presenting Twitter as a “digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”.

From the beginning, Musk has shown a very strong will to redefine some tools and goals for its new company. Combining his dynamic business strategies, his personal vision and feelings towards the digital space itself, the CEO has started to operate some massive changes as for example, the possibility for account owners to buy a verification check mark which ensures the world that the accounts are really who they say they are. Turning this feature into a monetization tool and pulling it away from its original purpose was one of the first actions which led Elon Musk to face a strong unpopular reaction from a wide range of Twitter users.

The ultimatum

More recently, after reducing half of the staff, the company owner, gave his employees an ultimatum that he qualified, himself, as “extremely hardcore” asking them to “ work long hours at high intensity”, criticizing remote home-office and that “only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade”.
At the end of his memo, he added an online form: “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below”. He then explained that whoever has not agreed by 5pm on Thursday, November 17th will receive a three-month severance. This way, Elon Musk has been activating what he has called “fundamental organizational restructuring” for Twitter 2.0.

502 – Mass exodus

Today, after the ultimatum and what an ex-employee has qualified as a “mass exodus”; without any explanations, Twitter has told employees that the office will be closed until Monday 21st, that all badge access will be suspended and reminded them to “comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential information”.

The news spread across the globe in no time and for many anxious Internet users, this event marks the end for Twitter. A large amount of tweets with the hashtag #RIPTwitter has been massively exchanged since then.
Although, as Elon Musk has noticed and amusedly posted: The platform is still live and people are tweeting about the death of Twitter, on Twitter.

What’s next?

It is impossible to define how this intense and mediatic situation will affect Twitter and if it will for sure kill the platform but it is important to note that the micro-blogging website is still live and extremely active.
Bad buzz, innovative business, megalomaniac drama, or tough leadership, hard to say but more than ever all eyes are on Twitter.

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Has Porn Been Shadow Banned? Big Changes in Twitter

7 veils social media porn##Repost from AVN## Twitter has been making changes that are having huge affects on your social media and they didn’t warn you about it. On October 14th, Twitter dropped a big hammer. They restricted your visibility in search. I know you want to scream censorship! But it is not censorship. This is not the pornocalypse. And this doesn’t have to affect you as much if you make some changes in your settings.

On October 14th Twitter made a change to their search algorithm that started hiding people from appearing in search. Accounts that noticed thought they were getting shadow banned. This is a term used to indicate that an account is being hidden from search as punishment for terms of service or community standard violations. A shadow ban prevents your tweets and account from showing up in search. They typically last 12-48 hours. No one tells you that you have been shadow banned, it just happens. But this is not shadow banning.

Due to recent issues on Twitter such as the purge to get rid of accounts associated with hatecrime, terrorism, and bots; the Rose McGowan suspension for what she believed was speaking out about sexual harassment on Twitter; and the subsequent women’s one-day boycott of Twitter, the tech giant has decided to crack down on sexual harassment and hate on Twitter. However, they are also putting restrictions on pornographic and hateful or lewd material.

 

—–continue reading at avn.com

If you have any questions on how to increase your reach on Twitter, or help with any social media management, please contact 7 Veils.

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Google Plus for 13 Plus

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Is Google Plus no longer for adults?

Welcome the 13 year olds! Google Plus is trying to make themselves more competitive with Facebook. Though the social network is turning out to be more like a Twitter/Facebook hybrid, Facebook is still it’s #1 competitor and Twitter will likely remain a complimentary social network.

Until recently Google+ has been for 18 years and older. But staying and “adult” network was never in their long term plans. They recognize that teenagers are the biggest demographic, especially when it comes to new technology. But it does leave open the question of security.  Right now there is a lot of adult content on Google+…and we are happier for it. The tight laced nature of Facebook gets all of our panties in a bundle. But Google+ has been pleasantly more lenient. Will opening up the network to teenieboppers make them stricter parents? Well, time will tell

They are taking stricter precautions when it comes to who the teens will be able to circle. They are planning to limit it to teenagers only being able to circle other teenagers. Seems like a good start. Now what keeps someone from putting up a fake profile (ahem..remember Myspace)? Well, nothing that we can tell. But it is likely that they will have learned from their irrelevant social network pal (Myspace), that you do need some safeguards.

Opening up the social network will be beneficial as it will bring a wider audience to the network. Many people adopt a network after their kid have played around on it, look at Facebook. So hopefully this will be a boon for the network and not a big hit for all of us who like to keep the kiddies in the kiddie pool.

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Army of Twitter Zombies

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Twitter Zombies might actually help you!

There has always been a lot of debate about weather it is good to buy followers or not. Generally the answer is no. When you buy Twitter followers you might as well be buying an army of Zombies. They won’t retweet you. They won’t talk to you. They won’t click your links. …though the might try to eat your brains.

We call these purchased followers Zombies because they might as well be zombies. They are mainly fake accounts that do nothing but boost your followers number. But that might be helpful.

To get followers you need to have followers. The more you have the easier it is to get more. So how do you get that ball rolling and does it matter is the ball starts off with fake followers?

So does it take followers to make followers? Simply, yes.

Now buying followers will not get you any real time results. You will not get clicks to your website. You will not get sales. You will not make “connections”. You will not improve your brand awareness. But you might be able to get you over that “growing” hump that can take so long. If buying followers helps legitimize your account , ironically, then it might be a good tool to help you grow your legitimate followers that will help you reach your ROI goals.

Things to think about.

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How to Change Your Twitter Username

Changing your Twitter name is a big decision. It is more than just a name on an social network. It is one of the primary ways in which people identify you online. If you are a celebrity, then your Twitter handle is extremely important to your branding.

But how do you change your Twitter handle? Thankfully it is not like Facebook where once you have your personal URL you are stuck with it. Twitter allows you to change your name on a whim…though that is not recommended. Before you change your name, make sure you look closely at the risks and the reasons.

How to Change Your Twitter Name

  1. Log in to your Twitter account
  2. Click on the picture of your avatar in the top right hand corner of the screen
    Twitter Menu
  3. Click Settings, the first menu option
    Twitter Settings
  4. You will see the Username right underneath your name. This is where you will enter in your new username.
    Twitter Username
  5. When you enter your new username it will let you know if the name is available or not.
    Rejected Twitter UsernameApproved Twitter Username
  6. Once you get a name that is available, just click save and your Twitter handle will be changed.
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Reasons and Risks with Changing Your Twitter Username

Twitter Name Necklace

Is your Twitter name representing you or your business?

Changing your Twitter name is a risky proposition. A lot of people come to know you by that handle. It is part of your online identity. But a change can be necessary if your business demands it. It is not uncommon to lose followers when you change your name, because when you tweet people won’t necessarily recognize your new handle.

Reasons to Change:

  • Too Casual – the handle you are using does not convey a professional demeanor
  • Too Niche – Your business has expanded beyond the niche you started with and you need something that encompass that and does not limit you.
  • Inappropriate – This can overlap with too casual. It is not uncommon for people to use their personal Twitter for their business. Sometimes this means that your handle is not just too casual but it actually inappropriate to be representing you professionally.
  • Not Branded – Often times when we create our Twitter names our branding is not forefront in our mind, or our branding changes over time.

Once you decide to change your name make sure you pick your name carefully.

Tips for a Good Name:

  • Keep it Professional – make sure your name is a good representation of how you want to present yourself online
  • Keep it Simple – If your name is too complicated it will be hard for people to remember. You want to make sure you name is easily remembered.
  • Keep it Short – You are limited to 140 characters on Twitter. You want to make sure that you name is not so long that it becomes prohibitive to retweeting and mentions.
  • Keep it Goal Oriented – If you are trying to corner the market on a niche, then having a niche name is inline with your overall goals. But if you want to expand beyond that then maybe being less specific would be beneficial. Make sure you name works to support your business goals.

Tips to Manage a Change:

  • Let People Know – Make sure you tell people about your new Twitter name. Tell them in your email, on Facebook (yes, really), and of course on Twitter. On Twitter make sure to tell them more than once.
  • Don’t Change your Avatar – Changing your Twitter name is a huge online identity change. To make it easier, do not change your avatar as well. A lot of people will still recognize you because of your avatar and that can help them adjust to the new handle.
  • Understand the risk – You will very likely lose followers. Do not take it personally. It is because they don’t realize it is you. Some will come back and some won’t. But if your name is more inline with the needs of your business, the change will ultimately be positive and you will gain back those followers in spades.
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Google+ on Hootsuite? Yes, if you have the money!

Google+ Pages on HootsuiteIf you weren’t sure if you should get started with Google+, here is another reason to give it a good thought. Hootsuite has announced that they will be supporting Google+ through their platform. This means that Google+ Pages will be able to be monitored much like you monitor your Twitter accounts. However, this is only available to their Enterprise level clients. So the average Josephina will not be able to use this function yet.

The integration will likely be a big cross over point for Google+. This will allow people to increase their engagement and use Google+ more like they use Twitter. They will be able to have columns with their different circles, and will be able to interact with the posts, much like you interact with peoples tweets.

For adult entertainment you can easily categorize people in your circles by fans, pornstars, fetishes, adult sites…or however you want. But it will make interacting with other industry people much easier than it is on Facebook. Of course that is not hard to do, it is almost impossible to do it on Facebook.

This will accomplish 2 things.

1. Circles: It will encourage people to put people and pages into appropriate and topic relevant circles, as opposed to lumping them all into the “friends” circle. The increase in functionality will make browsing the content of the circles much easier to manage. Plus you will have the benefit of having the different columns to show all your circles posts simultaneously, but still categorized in easy to swallow bites.

2. Engagement: It will encourage engagement. The reason why Twitter has the highest level of engagement is because of how the information is presented. The platform is conducive to a high level of conversation. By applying the twitter platform to Google+ Pages, they are encouraging a higher level of engagement with people’s posts. This could actually be a breakthrough for Google+ Pages. Facebook pages have always been limited in the level of potential engagement, but this opens things up for the new social network.

The Hootsuite integration is a big development for Google+ Pages in the social network popularity race. Unfortunately it is only available to the “Enterprise” level clients. Those are the people paying $1500/month to use the platform. Yes, you read that right. Basically if you are a big brand or manage a large number of social media accounts, you are this level user. Maybe we will hear how playboy likes it because right now, not many other people will be using it.

The reason it is being reserved for these high level users is because it is in the beta testing period. They are running it through their power users to vet the new integration for any functionality issues. Hopefully in the near future they will open it up to the rest of us. In the mean time, we can get use to Google+ Pages and get ready for it to be more user friendly on Hootsuite!

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Shop for Porn! Harnessing Social Media for Black Friday

Sexy shopping bagBlack Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. But does that mean that people are only shopping for their kids or parents? No. People are shopping for everything and that includes porn!

Though these tactics are mainly used in mainstream business, they are still highly relevant. On Black Friday people want to shop and you need to know how to harness that.

Here are two ways you can use social media to drive some extra sales over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Facebook

  1. Custom Landing Page
    Create a custom landing page that shows some great graphics and text to feature your Black Friday special. This is a lot easier than it sounds. You can use easy to use landing page design programs, like Lujure to do a simple drag and drop to create your page. You can also add trackable links using Google Analytics, which you can automatically add to the page, or by using link shortners like Bit.ly to track clicks back to your site.Here are what some other major retailers are doing with their landing pagesto help give you some ideas.Just like with anything adult on Facebook you have to be careful. They don’t like anything too provocative, but that does not mean you can’t have some fun. Take a look the Victorias Secret landing page. Sexy and still pushing the sale.
  2. Promote on Facebook
    If you did create a custom landing page then promote your sale by using the link to the tab. That way you can direct people to your new beautiful page to promote you sale. You can also link back to your website or anything else that will give information about your upcoming event.
  3. Facebook Ad
    Thought Facebook ads have a low click through rate they are incredibly easy to target and for even specific promotions they are perfect. If you have a physical location you can easily geo-target your ads, making sure the ads will only appear to people in your geographic location. If you are solely online, you can also target via age, gender, education and interest. Again, if you have a custom landing page, make sure that new people will automatically go there by setting it as your default place to land for new users (you can do that by going into edit info on your page, manage permissions, and then chose where you want new users to land).

Twitter

  1. Marketing Tweets
    Set up tweets that talk about your sale. Make sure to use hashtags to target your specific niche.
  2. Twitter Promo
    Even if you already have a sale event going on, you can still add a little extra to help your Twitter peeps. The tweeps love to know they are special. Give them their own promo code to use to get an extra bonus when they shop with you.
  3. Retweet Promo
    Retweets are a great tool in viral marketing. You can ask people to tweet your link out and let them know that they will receive a special discount by tweeting the link. There are a couple ways you can do that. You can either specifically ask for retweets and then DM anyone who RTs you a promo code or you can create a special trackable link to your website that will give people a special discount. The second way is easier and will need less involvement from you. Plus it is more conducive to the viral marketing process. People can promote your link, go to the page and get the promo. Plus by using a trackable link, or a specially designed page for your “twitter promo” you can track exactly how many people came to the page and get a gauge for your promo ROI.
  4. DMs
    We all hate those auto DMs that welcome people to their twitter. But DMs can be useful. If you are doing a big sale you can send DMs to your followers and let them know about the sale. If there is a a promo code, give them that as a special “twitter” gift. Though many people ignore DMs that are obviously ads, if you write it in a personable fashion you are likely to get a few bites.

Everyone is talking about everything, you just need to make sure you are harnessing the conversation to give your business a boost.

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Be a Dumb Tweet

Dumb Twitter

Are you making your followers feel dumb?

This is one of the most difficult and frustrating parts of Twitter. Not everyone is as smart as you are. Not everyone is good at spelling or grammar. Not everyone has a large vocabulary or a deep understanding of obscure topics. You have to speak to your audience or you will risk losing your audience.

If you are trying to appeal to a wide range of people, the last thing you want to do is make them feel stupid or inferior. You want them to feel like they can talk to you and that they get you. You want to be relatable. To be relatable you have to be accessible. This means not speaking over peoples heads or making lots of unknown references. Keep the inside jokes between you and your friends, because the rest of the twitterverse just feels left out of the loop. And if they are left out of your loop then you will certainly be left out of there’s.

I bring this up because it is something I frequently see and frequently have to remind myself of as well. When you are tweeting you want to make sure that you are speaking in the voice of your brand. But you also need to speak in the voice that your audience wants to hear. So if your audience likes snobby intellectuals then feel free to talk about the disenfranchisement of ethnic minorities post-antibellum america or the hegemony of goth culture. But if you don’t want to sound like a uptight academic then you might want to keep the big words on the smallish scale and remember that not all your followers understand complex vocabulary or references.

Most of your followers will not do you the favor and tell you when you are talking over their head. They will just stop paying attention. So you don’t need to be a dumb tweet but make sure you keep your tweets accessible.

 

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