Category Archives: Social Networking

How to create a Twitter bot using Bot Libre

Social Networking, Twitter, , ,


We have recently been involved with creating some Twitter bots to help us save time by automatically tweeting at set times. Although there are services that allow you to do this they do charge for full functionality whereas this service is free.

To create the bot you can use the steps given on the following page here: Bot Libre Twitter bot

We have so far created 3 and it saves a lot of time, we only use the feature of automatically tweeting but there is an endless feature set.

Let us know what you use yours for?

New MySpace comes at a time when social networks are becoming bloated

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MySpace LogoType

Have you checked out the all new MySpace? If you haven’t already then you really should take a look.

In June 2011, Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake jointly purchased the company taking it over from News Corp.

Since the takeover the whole site and platform has been rebuilt and redesigned, and for music discovery and networking (in that sense) it is the best out there and blows Facebook out of the water.

What’s better is that the help and support platform is actively managed and you do get a response to any queries.

My recommendation – check this out!

You can sign up by clicking the following Link: Sign Up

 

What is Foursquare?

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Foursquare Logo

This is a question we get asked quite a bit, so I thought I’d put it together in a blog post so you can stop asking us – sound good?

So to get to the nitty gritty: What is Foursquare (#4sq)? Taken from the web site, which explains it in the best detail:

Foursquare is a free app that helps you and your friends make the most of where you are. When you’re out and about, use Foursquare to share and save the places you visit. And, when you’re looking for inspiration for what to do next, we’ll give you personalized recommendations and deals based on where you, your friends, and people with your tastes have been.

Whether you’re setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, Foursquare is the perfect companion.

The app is free and available for all popular mobile platforms as well as via a mobile site at http://foursquare.com/mobile.

I’m a big advocate of the app – it helps you discover new locations and lets you and your friends find different locations to hang out.

Depending on where you check in, offers may be available to you where you can get money off, or deals on products (food, drink etc). I can spend a lot of time discussing the business marketing aspect but I’ll be here all night, so shall keep that for another time – watch this space!

If you check in at a location often enough you become the ‘Mayor’ and again, depending on the venue, different offers may be available to you!

So, what are you waiting for, get started!

Twitter – key to higher follower numbers?

Social Networking, Twitter, , , , , ,

Twitter LogoThe basic answer is that you have to engage with your audience. Think of Twitter as an extension to your presence in real life.

Talk about things you’re doing, hobbies, jobs, where you are can help by attracting followers from the areas you’re visiting – FourSquare can really help here – check it out!

You should start using ‘#’ tags – this enables your tweets to show up more easily in searches on Twitter. For example, if you’re looking for help fixing your broken Vauxhall motorcar you would add #Vauxhall to your tweet. Anyone then searching for this will see your tweet – and don’t be surprised if you have a Vauxhall dealership or mechanic somewhere reply!

And most importantly do engage – that is the key word. If you have a BlackBerry, iPhone, Android phone there are apps for Twitter available. Otherwise you can access the site at mobile.twitter.com (data charges will apply, so if you don’t want to be charged check with your mobile provider first!)

And post often!

If you would like any further advice and tips just comment below and I’ll be happy to assist!

Implementing Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button to your site

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Adding the ‘Like’ button to a web site is fairly simple. Facebook actually have quite a good Developer web site which tells you how to do this.

There are a few steps you need to follow to do this successfully.

  1. Visit the following web site: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
  2. Scroll down to ‘Step 1 – Get Like Button Code‘
  3. Add the web address for your site to the ‘URL to Like’ field
  4. Leave the rest as it is and click on ‘Get Code’
  5. Copy the code from ‘iframe’ and paste it somewhere in the <body> section of your page
  6. Next – scroll down to ‘Step 2 – Get Opn Graph Tags‘
  7. In ‘Title’ add something like ‘My site’
  8. In ‘URL’ add the address of your site
  9. If you want an image to appear next to the ‘Like’ on Facebook add a web link to it in the ‘Image’ field
  10. In ‘Site name’ add the actual name that you want people to see so ‘Toby White’s web site
  11. Click on ‘Get Tags’ and again copy the code from the ‘iframe’ section to the <head> section of your site – anywhere before </head>

Upload your site and test it out, when you click on ‘Like’ it should pop up and ask you to log in to Facebook if you haven’t already and update saying you ‘Like’ that page. This will update and be reflected on your Profile as well if it’s worked successfully.

To add the button to Tumblr follow the steps above and continue with the following:

  1. Make sure you’re logged into Tumblr
  2. Click on Customize -> Theme -> It should say something like ‘Use custom HTML’
  3. Now that you can see the code you can search using your web browser (Ctrl + F on Windows or Option + F on Mac) to find the specified <head> and </body> tags.
  4. Depending where you want the ‘Like’ button on your layout will depend on what theme you have installed, look for the ‘header’ section in the code

Please leave feedback if you have any questions…