Facebook lets you evict your fans!

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Sexy fans

Are your fans enthusiastic or crazy spammers?

Facebook has added a great new feature for Fan Pages, the ability to unlike a page or person.  Are spammers plaguing your Fan Page? Do you have fans who post inappropriate content? Now you can do something about it besides just deleting the post.

In February, Facebook made some big changes. One of them was allowing Fan Pages the ability to like other Fan Pages.

Well, some pages started Liking pages and then posting inappropriate content on their wall. The page could remove the content, but they could not do anything about the page that Liked them. So they were being left open to more spam, plus they were also getting associated with these pages by being listed on their Likes. So, for example, if a hate group Liked your page, you would be listed on their page among the pages they Liked. With the Fan Page’s ability to set their featured page, you might even be a featured Like, displayed prominently on their sidebar.

Facebook now allows Fan Pages to remove a Like from their page. You can “unlike” them, even ban someone so they will not be able to post or otherwise interact with your page.

This new feature doesn’t just let you kick people off your page, it will also help you engage better. You can now sort your fans by people and pages, so you can see everyone who Liked your page. This gives you more opportunity to interact with other pages and deepen your Facebook relationships.

Keep in mind, if you are posting content on other people’s pages, you can now be removed. If you get banned by pages, you might also risk catching the attention of Facebook and getting deleted from Facebook for spam. So when you post on another Fan Page wall, make sure it is quality engagement and not spam.

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The Pink is Cloudsurfing

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PV Locker LogoIn February, Pink Visual announced PV Locker, their cloud computing solution for storing porn. Though cloud storage is nothing new, cloud storage for adult content is.  Essentially, the locker is a place you can keep your porn so you don’t have to save it on your hard drive. The cloud storage also allows you to access your content from any place, and any device,  that can get internet access. Have a tablet, like an iPad? No problem.  Smart Phone? Easy peasy!

With the launch of the new PV Locker, Pink Visual did not just keep their PR releases to the standard blog, news sites and Twitter.  They began crowdsurfing.

From the beginning, the talk of the PV Locker was not just a “Here it is!” Pink Visual announced the site and then asked for feedback.  They tweeted out to their followers, asking them to look at the site and let them know what needed improvement. But it did not stop there.  Not only did they ask for feedback, they followed up. When I tweeted them about loving the site, they quickly contacted me to ask for my thoughts on improvement.

Pink Visual Tweet

This is a great use of social media for launching a site. Soliciting this kind of feedback makes me want to dig around in their site, to see if I can come up with something that might be helpful.  In the process I become more familiar with the site, and am more likely to start using it.

In the process of crowdsurfing, they have received some feedback that will help design and navigation, from increasing the size of thumbnails, to 404’s on links. They also addressed the issue of 500 mbs of storage, and said that they will be increasing that soon.

A bit about the site

When you go to the site you immediately see featured video and a series of clips. Click on price and an internal pop-up window opens up that lets you easily create an account and purchase the video. Once you buy it, it is automatically saved in your locker.  Then when you want to access your content, you login to your account and can watch to your heart’s content.

The site is easily navigable by niche, porn stars and most popular. The design is very clean and has some fun logos (like the little PV locker) integrated nicely into the pictures.

What is so significant about the PV Locker is that this represents the new direction for porn. Businesses are accessing cloud computing for file storage in increasing numbers. More people are starting to see the benefits. And as our world continues to blend mobile computing into our daily lives, cloud computing will become an integral part of that transition.  Yet again, porn is leading the technology curve. Pink Visual is on the forefront of adaptive technology.

Though now you can only store videos from Pink Visual, the site will not keep its content storage proprietary. They have plans to open up their cloud storage to other companies.

When Pink Visual says that they are designing a site for their users, they really mean it. Crowdsurfing is a great tactic to find out people’s opinions as well as potential issues that may have been overlooked. It is a great strategy to get their fans more invested in their launch, and convert them to users as well as supporters.

 

 

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paper.li is your porn spam daily

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paper.li porn spam dailypaper.li made a big splash on Twitter last fall. By December, paper.lis were becoming a frequent visitor to the Twitter timeline.  I did a review on the good, the bad and the ugly of paper.li.  As I saw more of them being posted, I also began to wonder about a few things:

  • Are people actually reading them?
  • Do they have any effect on SEO?
  • Would they actually drive traffic to my site?
  • Do the people posting even realize they are posting?
  • How much more spam does the adult industry need?

I gave it a try, and one question was answered right away. No, I did not know when they were posting. I would see the occasional retweet and then would realize that my paper.li went out. They were also pulling from stories I would not necessarily choose. Because I did not know the post was going out, I did not see the paper before it was created. So no content approval.

The traffic question did not take long to answer. As more of my stories were caught in the paper.li generator, I watched my traffic sources to see how many billions of people were coming to my site because of this “paper”. Well, the answer was zero billions. In fact, I was not receiving any traffic from the tweets. At most I was getting the occasional retweet, which also generated no traffic.

So then I began to wonder if anyone was actually reading them. I don’t. When I see them, they just filter through my newsfeed like other auto-posting spam. The only time I open them up is when I see my name mentioned. Then I check the story and re-tweet. Even then, I don’t usually look at the other stories. About 1 in a 100 times I see another story in the paper where I actually click the link. I decided that if I am not reading them, the likelihood that other people were reading them was pretty slim.

The other issue is the idea of auto-content generation. paper.li automatically pulls content from specified users or keywords and then puts it together in the form of original content. The author credits are not always right, and if they are wrong there is nothing you can do about it. Once created they are posted to your account, jamming up the timeline with paper.li posts. Usually we call posts that jam up the timeline with content that we ignore spam,;why is this any different? Oh wait, it isn’t! At least the spam that jams up my news feed has boobies and man candy in it.

I like the idea of aggregating your favorite content into a single page and then sharing it with your followers. But this is more like phoning in your news aggregation. You have little control and it is just junking up the timeline. In fact, people are starting to block paper.li from their timelines. Which makes it officially what? SPAM!

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15 Tips to a Tip Top Twitter

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Twitter is one of the strongest tools in social media for the Adult Industry.  You can essentially post what you want,

Feature Friday Photo: Seth Gamble

Feature Friday Photo: the very sexy and talented Seth Gamble.

without fear of being deleted. You can network with people any time of day or night and every audience is to be found, from fans to B2B. This means that your Twitter needs to be working for you and not against you.

Having a strong Twitter bio is important. This is your first impression – your first chance to get someone to like you. This is also how search engines find your profile, so you want to make sure it is SEO optimized.

Once a week I go through my new Twitter followers and decide who I am going to follow back.  I consider a lot of factors in deciding why I follow or don’t follow someone.  One of the biggest reasons is their bio on Twitter.

Think of your bio as your 10 second elevator pitch. You have 160 characters to tell me why I should be interested in you.  If I like what I see, maybe I’ll click your profile and check out your most recent posts.  If those are interesting then I’ll follow you.  But the bio is your handshake.

5 Tips for a strong Twitter Bio:

  1. Tell me who you are. Are you a public figure? What do you do? Why are you here? I want to know who I am following
  2. Web Address: if you have a website, put the url in your bio.
  3. Don’t be crass or abrasive.  If you seem unfriendly and rude, why would I follow you?
  4. Don’t try to sell me.  If your bio is trying to push a product, that tells me you are about your sales and not about engaging with your followers.
  5. Be charming. Be nice. I want to think that if I follow you, you are approachable.

5 Tips to optimize your Twitter Bio

  1. Putting your web address in the bio is an easy way to have your Twitter associated with your business in the search engines.
  2. Use industry key words in your bio. Do some keyword research and make sure to use some of the big ones. That way, when people use them in a search you have a chance of coming up in the results.
  3. If your name is branded, use your name, so when people search your name they will find you.
  4. Don’t shorten any words.  Search engines don’t search for abbreviations. So unless your key term is usually abbreviated, spell it out.
  5. If you have a long URL for your website, use a Bit.ly to shorten it.

5 Ways to make me think you are a spammer

  1. Sending an auto-DM like, “Are u fun?” This is just spam.
  2. Using a validating service like TrueTwit. You are not preventing spam, you are creating it.
  3. DMing me the same message over and over…
  4. Tagging me in a post to a random link. If you post a link that says nothing but the link and my name..wham, bam, spam!
  5. If your avatar is an egg, I will think you are a spammer even if you are not.  Put in a pic.

Feature Friday Photo: Seth Gamble This week’s Feature Friday Photo is the very sexy Seth Gamble.  I would like to say I was captivated by his beautiful blue eyes or his amazing body but I was drawn in by his Twitter. Seth set him self apart on Twitter because he was so genuine and approachable. This boosts his star power exponentially.   He says that “well-behaved people rarely make history….life is a gamble…I’m all in.” Seth is also a very talented actor and has appeared in a ton of movies. Make sure you check out his films and follow him on Twitter.

Visit him on Twitter @sethgamblexxx

View his acting bio

Seth a big supporter of Hot Rawks, an injected aphrodisiac made from raw organic superfoods and herbs.

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Facebook Questions: Not a Fan of Fan Pages

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Facebook has rolled out another update. Honestly, this one will not likely have a big effect on the Adult Industry. I am even arguing with myself about how this update will impact the Adult Industry because it is generally irrelevant to Fan Pages at present. But here’s the latest: Questions has been unleashed on the Facebook world.

Questions is a new feature that allows you to create a poll to post in your status update. You can ask any question, then add as many answer options as you wish for responders to choose from. The “options” are your poll choices. You can even offer “Allow anyone to add options” to let people write in their own answer, if they do not want to choose one of your pre-sets.

Everyone likes polls. Everyone likes quizzes. There are more quiz applications on Facebook than almost any other kind of app.  Why? Because we are dorks and love answering questions about whether we think we’re going to survive the next Zombie Apocalypse.  Of course, quizzes and polls are also a great way to crowdsurf ideas.  There are reasons why Survey Monkey is so popular.

Crowdsurfing is a great way to include your audience in your decisions. For Kim Kardashian, crowdsurfing is integral to her business strategy. Where Questions has the potential to be a boon for crowdsurfing Twitter, it is currently a big #FAIL because of its limitations with Fan Pages.

This is what Questions looks like when you are creating a poll:

Questions on Facebook

When you create a poll, it appears in your newsfeed and on your wall.

If you have a personal Profile and you post a Question, it looks like this:

Facebook Question in the newsfeed

In the newsfeed the Question appears as the full poll, showing profile thumbnails of people who have answered.

If you post a Question from your Fan Page, it looks like this:

Questions post on fan page

When you post a Question from your Fan Page, it shows up as a link instead of showing the poll.

As you can see, there is a big difference between how Questions appear on the newsfeeds and walls for Fan Pages and Profiles, and there is an obvious benefit to posting as a Profile. Because it shows up as a link instead of a preview to the poll, the usefulness for Fan Pages has been generally negated.

If someone does actually click through and answer the question, it will show up as activity in their news feed (as either the link or the post – Facebook is still testing this). For now, the Fan Page link situation is inhibiting the use of this feature as an interactive business tool. Maybe Facebook will change it as they work out some of the kinks.

In any case, if you’d like to try out this interesting new feature, get Facebook Questions.

Make sure to check out Wednesday’s post on Crowdsurfing for the Adult Industry.

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TrueTwit: how to turn yourself into a Spammer

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Tweet Bot
Bots? What bots? Illustration by Steve Talkowski

TrueTwit Validation is a service that lets you verify if the person following you is a bot or not. Of course I am getting these verifications from people who use their accounts for spam as well as real tweets. You just have to love the irony.

If you wonder why I would follow anyone who spams, when you follow people in the adult industry you are often risking a little spam.  I follow the person to vet them. If they are all spam, I unfollow. Plenty of people I follow are a mix of spam and real tweets.

If you sign up with TrueTwit, every time someone follows you they receive an auto-DM that asks them to click a link and fill out a Captcha to verify that they are human.

Anyone can sign up with the service for 30 days for free. Then you no longer have to receive these annoying DM’s or fill out a “verify you are human” Captcha. And after the free trial, you pay $20.

I have received an increasing number of TrueTwit Validations from people. I believe this is because by signing up they don’t have to receive the auto-DM’s anymore.  However, they are now perpetuating the spam by avoiding it themselves!

Ironically a lot of the people who are sending me the TrueTwit validation auto-DM’s are people who use their accounts for Twitter spam. The whole point of the service is to help you avoid it – they even advertise that it does this. That doesn’t actually make sense. If someone follows you, they cannot DM you. They are not appearing in your Twitter stream. So what spam are you getting from them?  The only way you would get spam from them is if you auto-follow people.  Here is an easy solution: don’t auto-follow!

And by the way, this is not a sure-fire way of preventing bots from following you.  If the bot owner signs up with TrueTwit they will not have to fill out the Captcha.

I read a great blog post about TrueTwit. It essentially answered my questions.

Basically, why would anyone want to use this?

  1. Who cares if a bot follows you?
    If you have quality tweets and engagement, the majority of your followers will be real people. So if you have a couple of bots, does it really matter?
  2. Why do you want to spam your new followers?
    If you are using TrueTwit then you are sending an auto-DM to your new followers that is basically spam.  Except now you are not spamming them with your own site, you are spamming them with someone else’s.
  3. How many followers are you losing?
    How many people don’t click that link? How many don’t fill out the Captcha?  Because if they don’t then you are not getting their follow.  So how many people are you losing because you are trying to prevent a bot that can get around the validation anyway?

So do your followers a favor, and just say no to TrueTwit.

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“Are u fun” and other Bad Twitter Strategies

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Melinda Stanely twitterbot illustration

Great image from illustrator and designer www.melindastanley.com

Everyday I get at least one DM (Direct Message) that asks “Are u fun?”  sometimes it is shortened even further to “r u fun?”

Auto-DM’s  are a tool frequently employed by people using Twitter for business purposes. There is a lot of debate about their effectiveness.  For those not familiar with the concept, an auto-DM is a direct message that goes out automatically. You can set them to go out to a new follower or you can schedule them to go out to all your followers at scheduled times.

Auto-DM’s are meant to be a way to communicate updates to all your followers easily, however they are increasingly a tool for spam and are extremely annoying. Many welcome messages you receive amount to a generic “hello” with links to other websites or an attempt to start the sales funnel.  But I can tell you they don’t really work. Sure, you might get the occasional click but is it worthwhile?

Fastcompany has a great list of traditional auto-DM’s and why they are awful. Maybe I will write up a similar list for the Adult Industry!

A Non-Scientific Test

I did a small test where I sent out 100 welcome messages with links and tracked the links. I had 2 clicks: a 2% click-through rate. This means that 2% decided the link might be worthwhile and 98% ignored it, which put me in the category of a potential spammer.

Now in all fairness to my non-scientific small focus group study, I did not auto-DM porn.  My auto-DM was a link to a website of a related topic to the Twitter account.  Is it possible that porn has a better click-through rate? Absolutely.  If you say “Thanks for following me. Here is an exclusive picture just for my tweeps: pic link” you might get some good clicks, and I would speculate that you could get a lot.  But most people do not have an auto-DM strategy.

Strategy…what strategy?

Most people do not have a Twitter strategy beyond, “I tweet”.  So the idea of having an auto-DM strategy is even more foreign. But if you use Twitter for business; to get people to your website, to promote your brand, to build awareness about you – then you need to have a strategy to ensure that you are accomplishing your goal.

The idea of using Twitter as a distributor for exclusive content is not a strategy widely implemented. Most say, “here is my website link”, and the subtext says “I have no interest in actually interacting with you but I want you to spend money on my site”.   Or my personal favorite, “Are u fun” – with the punctuation intentionally omitted.  Why would you need punctuation when you can’t even spare the letters to spell out “you”?

If someone has tweeted with you, and then they follow you and get an auto-DM with a generic “here is my link” or fun time inquiry, it also makes them feel like you don’t care.  If they suspect it is an auto-DM they can get turned off by being lumped into a massive pool. If they don’t know that it is an auto-DM, they may get confused about why you are messaging them with some generic spam message, instead of continuing the conversation you were having.  Either result ostracizes your new follower.

At best, an auto-DM will get people to click your link or open up some form of business communication; at worst you lose a follower.  It is also likely you will be targeted as a spammer, so even if you do not lose the follower they are probably not paying attention to your tweets anymore. Then you have lost an opportunity to develop a relationship with them, whether that relationship is for branding, sales or business communication. If you use auto-DM’s, create a strategy and a purpose behind them.  Track your successes and failures to determine if they are even worthwhile. Ask yourself: are you really getting the results you want?

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F-Bomb Tweet? Who Cares?

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It was big news last week when a horrendous tweet was sent out by Chrysler that not only insulted their customers and community, but also dropped the F-bomb.

Chrysler Retweet: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f**king drive.”

This is highly damaging to their brand because it is offensive to so many people.  Of course part of what is offensive is the causal use of the F-bomb.  But really, who cares?  Well, a lot of people.  And this is where the Adult Industry and the rest of the world diverge in some ways.

If you are in the Adult Industry and you drop the F-bomb no one really gets upset, at least not in the same way that the vanilla world does.  People might question why you are being unnecessarily crass, but even that may be unlikely.

What is interesting, though, is that the F-bomb is still generally a Twitter no-no. Even in porn you don’t see people using it very much and when they do it is usually in direct reference to a sex act and not used as an exclamation or just for shock value.

Studies have been done to show that negative tweets are no good. They can cause you to lose followers or slow your network growth.  Despite what people say about drama drawing attention, Twitter has shown that Tweeps like to keep it positive.

This makes me wonder if the F-bomb, despite its myriad uses and meanings, is generally thought of as a negative word; maybe that is why even in Adult business it is used with restraint and avoided whenever possible.

Of course the F-bomb was not the only problem with the Chrysler tweet. The fact that it dissed their entire community and consumer base is the bigger issue.  Even porn stars would not be able to get away with genuinely insulting their audience.

The take-away? Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and use the F-bomb sparingly, if at all.

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Facebook’s New Fan Page for Everyone!

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Facebook GirlsYesterday the new Fan Page dropped for all Facebook users. Many of us converted our Fan Pages in February when we were first given the option, and because of this we experienced the plusses and minuses of what the new page was about. In fact, we even started an online rally against some of the negatives of the Fan Page wall. Our cry to bring back chronological posts was a success. So the early adopters helped pave the way for the rollout.

Many people in the Adult Industry are leery of Facebook pages, and for good reason.  However, the new layout and functionality will actually make it easier for the Adult Industry to interact with people in a way that does not violate the Terms of Service. If you are using the new features of the Fan Page to interact with other pages and engage in discussions, you won’t be flagged – unless you are spamming. These new engagement opportunities are paving the way for Adult Industry sites to start using Facebook in ways that are actually beneficial.

  • Your Fan Page is visually more like a profile now. This will make it easier for people to
    Feature Photo Friday: PornoBobbie

    PornoBobbie is this week's Feature Friday Photo. He is an adult star, writer (and blogger) and connoisseur of life. This photo just inspires me to be naughty...and naked.

    engage with you, because familiarity breeds comfort.

  • You also have the ability to use Facebook as your Fan Page identity or brand. Now you can interact with other pages, post on their walls and comment on their posts. This will dramatically help with engagement and networking. Previously, you could only interact with people as your business or brand if you were on your own Fan Page.
  • The best part of the new functionality is notification. When someone comments on a post, you will receive an email (if your settings are set to do so) and you will see a notification alert just like you would if you were normally using Facebook. This is a great way to know when people are interacting, so you can respond. The notifications will also let you know when you have new fans. Now you can see your number of Likes increasing and you’ll know who recently Liked you. This is great for demographics and networking.

No doubt there will a lot of discussion about the new Fan Page as it is released for everyone. Stay tuned!

PornobobbiePornoBobbie is this week’s Feature Friday Photo.  Not only is Bobbie a sexy porn star but he is also a talented writer.  He posts frequently to his blog, The Life and Times in Pornolandia, which chronicles his adventures in the San Fernando Valley as a porn star and writer, and the general craziness of life.  Bobbie is another example of a porn star who can write!  He is funny, witty, provocative and alluring. He is also a great Twitter tweep.  Always good for an interesting tweet, I recommend you give him a shout. I also love this picture, he looks academic and devious. My favorite combination.

Read Bobbie’s blog at The Life and Times in Pornolandia

Follow PornoBobbie on Twitter @PornoBobbie

Talk to PornoBobbie on Black Book Buddies!

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