Gripe all you want on social media, Chicago not bringing back ‘I voted’ stickers

Chicagoans may have taken to social media to complain about not getting “I voted” stickers after casting their ballots in Tuesday’s primary, but that isn’t doing much to sway city election officials.

In other words, don’t expect to see them pop up — or make a comeback, the city issued them years ago — in polling places during the November general election, said Jim Allen, a spokesman for Chicago’s Board of Election Commissioners.

Stickers don’t drive turnout, Allen said. “Voters come to the polls for the candidates, contests and issues on the ballots, not stickers,” he said. “If stickers were so important, why does Chicago pretty much always beat suburban Cook County in turnout?”  Read More

7 Hot Social Media Marketing Positions

Whether you’re unemployed, underemployed or looking for something more challenging, the Mashable Job Board is full of listings that will help take your career to the next level.

Since 2005, Mashable has been committed to bringing the top digital, social and tech news and resources to our readers. Over time, we’ve built a readership of 20 million people who are well versed in digital trends, social media and all the hottest technologies. So when the world’s best companies are looking to fill open positions, they post them on the Mashable Job Board. New jobs are added every day, and many positions are exclusive — employers know that if they’re going to find the right person for the job, they’re going to find them reading Mashable.  Read More

Instagram could make a video move

 

(Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)

Wildly popular photo app Instagram may be looking to grab some social status in the video arena.

Facebook sent out an invitation saying, ” A small team has been working on a big idea” in a move to tease interest in a new product announcement scheduled at the company’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters on Thursday.

Facebook’s Instagram has seen sizzling growth on interest in mobile photo sharing, and a logical step would be to stake out videos next.

Shares of Facebook rose 1.7%, to $ 24.02, amid the rumors.

The social-networking giant reported in its first-quarter earnings that Instagram has attracted more than 100 million users, up from about 22 million when Facebook acquired the company.

App videos have become an Internet sensation as heaps of startups try to become the next mobile version of YouTube. Short ones from Vine, purchased by Twitter in October, have made 6-second videos a new message form.

Facebook and Twitter compete for social attention and have added features such as streaming radio music services to keep users glued in. Facebook last week borrowed a page from Twitter’s hashtags convention of providing search around certain subject areas to launch hashtag support on the world’s largest social network.

Facebook has a history of trying to match the features of rivals, points out analyst Greg Sterling. “They have seen the success that Vine has had and do not want to have Instagram lose favor because it does not offer that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to do something that one-upped it.

The prospect of Instagram launching a video service saw increased speculation in media reports on Monday.  Read More

Social media at 180 mph: Las Vegas Motor Speedway turns to Twitter

If “The Bachelor” TV show can post Twitter feeds from viewers during its broadcasts, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway figures it can also offer instantaneous social networking quips at a new social media nerve center at this weekend’s NASCAR race event.

Speedway officials are rolling out the social media hub at the Neon Garage for the Thursday-Sunday NASCAR weekend, which will feature guests from Team Lowe’s Racing, NASCAR, Sprint and media churning out real-time comments. About 130,000 fans are expected for Sunday’s NASCAR main event, the Kobalt Tools 400.

The hub – dubbed the “Kobalt Social Media Command Center” – will host computers and large video monitors that will give fans a live glimpse at the racing luminaries cranking out insights on Twitter and Facebook. NASCAR racer Brad Keselowski is the circuit’s famed Twitter man, and was even fined $25,000 for sending out tweets from his car during a race.

“There’s no question it’s a must-do at this point at every major sports event and property. You have to be active in social media,” said Nancy Lough, University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor of higher education and editor of the Sport Marketing Quarterly.

Lough explained that the fans’ responses and observations to NASCAR’s social media content will allow race officials to monitor trends among their consumers.

“They’re putting out content that can be accessed by their consumers and then they can listen to what the response is by taking out the intermediary,” Lough said Tuesday. “Twitter is a monitor or meter, if you will. You can monitor what is resonating with fans.”  Read More

How to Determine Facebook & Twitter ROI

“Brought to you by the InventHelp marketing team.”

Social Media Stocks Falter –Facebook Debuts on the Options Market

NEW YORK, NY, May 31, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Social media stocks have fallen sharply recently. The Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) is down almost 14 percent in the last month. There are currently a total of four social media companies (Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, and Pandora) who have went public in the last year that are trading below their initial IPO price. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for social media stocks and provides equity research on Facebook Inc. FB +5.00% and Pandora Media Inc. P +1.61% .

Access to the full company reports can be found at: http://www.FiveStarEquities.com/FB

http://www.FiveStarEquities.com/P

Facebook options began trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, and will make its debut on the BATS Options Exchange Wednesday. According to an article from the Dow Jones Newswires roughly 365,000 Facebook options had been traded Tuesday, giving the right to buy or sell 36.5 million shares of the stock. “When you see a lot of people buying puts, that may put downward pressure on the stock because of the hedging that market makers have to do,” said Brian Overby, TradeKing senior options analyst. Facebook after Tuesday trading was worth $79 billion, down from its IPO valuation of $104.1 billion.

Five Star Equities releases regular market updates on social media stocks so investors can stay ahead of the crowd and make the best investment decisions to maximize their returns. Take a few minutes to register with us free at http://www.FiveStarEquities.com and get exclusive access to our numerous stock reports and industry newsletters.

As reported in a recent New York Times article Facebook is hoping to release a smartphone by next year. Last year technology website AllThingsD reported that Facebook and HTC partnered up to create a smartphone. The project (code-named “Buffy”) is still currently in progress.  Read More

Mark Zuckerberg Loses $1.5 Billion On A Bad Day For Social Media Companies

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost $1.5 billion today. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After losing about $2 billion more than a week ago on Facebook‘s second trading day as a public company, CEO Mark Zuckerberg came out of the three-day weekend to witness another precipitous drop in his fortune. According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, the value of his stake in Facebook plunged $1.5 billion to $14 billion after the company’s share price fell below $30 on Tuesday.

Facebook’s stock closed down 9.6% at $28.84. Since Facebook’s stock debuted on the Nasdaq on May 18 with underwriters selling shares at $38, it has dropped 24.1%.

Selling pressure seemed to be boosted by the start of options trading on Facebook, which opened today with record volume and a fair amount of negative sentiment. With options, traders can bet on a stock by paying less to buy an option than they would have to by buying or shorting the stock itself. That sentiment can in turn affect interest in a company’s shares.  Read More

Socal-media start-ups bring compatible travelers together

April Thompson has sat next to some interesting people on planes. She once struck up a conversation with the pilot of Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001. Another time, she listened to a French pastry chef talk about starting a bakery in Alabama.

Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY

But there were many other instances when she sat next to someone with whom she didn’t want to spend hours talking. So last year, when she heard about Planely.com, a social travel-media website that connects fliers on the same flight or airport, she was eager to join.

“I’ve had some really great experiences on flights,” Thompson, a travel blogger, says. “I always thought it was a great opportunity to meet cool people, so I figured this tool would facilitate it and keep me from sitting next to crazy people.”

Traveling, especially by plane, has gone from glam to glum. To try to reverse the trend, social travel-media websites linking travelers around the world have popped up. Many help travelers plan trips and share their experiences.

Now, a number of start-ups, such as Planely and Satisfly, are taking the concept to another level by helping travelers meet not only online, but in person. Call it the Match.com of travel.

“It’s about real connection,” says Asaf Engel, co-founder of IMGuest, a social-networking site for business travelers staying at hotels. “It’s about being engaged. We push people to get along and meet up.”

Airlines such as Delta have already been experimenting with social media by selling tickets on Facebook. Now, some carriers are trying to tap more aggressively into customers’ social circles.  Read More

Facebook CEO’s age is just a number, or is it?

Don’t let the hoodie and sneakers fool you. Mark Zuckerberg is no wet-behind-the-ears CEO.

Facebook’s chief executive turns 28 on Monday, setting in motion the social network’s biggest week ever. The company is expected to start selling stock to the public for the first time and begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday. The IPO could value Facebook at nearly $100 billion, making it worth more than such iconic companies as Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.

At 28, Zuckerberg is exactly half the age of the average S&P 500 CEO, according to executive search firm Spencer Stuart. With eight years on the job, he’s logged more time as leader than the average CEO, whose tenure is a little more than seven years, according to Spencer Stuart. Even so, the pressures of running a public company will undoubtedly take some getting used to. Once Facebook begins selling stock, Zuckerberg will be expected to please a host of new stakeholders, including Wall Street investment firms, hedge funds and pension funds who will pressure him to keep the company growing.

Young as he may seem — especially in that hooded sweatshirt — Zuckerberg will be about the same age as Michael Dell and older than Steve Jobs when those two took their companies, Dell Inc. and Apple Inc., public. In his years as Facebook’s CEO he’s met world leaders, rode a bull in Vietnam while on vacation, started learning Mandarin Chinese and as a personal challenge, wore a tie for the better part of a year.  Read More

Does AOL Need HuffPo More Than HuffPo Needs AOL?

Photograph by Francois G. Durand/Getty Images

The plot seems to be thickening at AOL, at least when it comes to Arianna Huffington’s position at the former portal. She confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that her role within the company has been reduced, something that was the subject of much speculation after a New York Times story last month said her power base had actually increased and also revealed private equity firms have approached her about taking the Huffington Post private. But how would the site fare if it was removed from AOL’s grasp? And if that did happen, would it be the beginning of the end for the faded Web giant?

The New York Times piece in April portrayed the changes in Huffington’s role as largely positive, with a headline reading: “Huffington Gains More Control in AOL Revamping,” and noted she had been given back the control over various aspects of the Huffington Post—such as the technology side and the marketing side—that had been absorbed by AOL. As the Wall Street Journal story makes clear, however, these gains also came alongside a substantial loss of power over other parts of AOL that used to fall under Huffington’s purview, including the Patch hyperlocal unit and sites such as TechCrunch.

At the Guardian’s Activate summit on digital media in New York on Thursday, the HuffPo founder joked about a “billion-dollar Kickstarter” fund she was raising to buy back the network from AOL, but she maintained that her relationship with Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong was just fine and that she had no intention of leaving the company. She did admit, however, that private equity funds had approached her about possibly mounting a bid to extract the Huffington Post from AOL and taking it private as a separate company, although she claimed to have no interest in doing this.  Read More