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Are you getting tired of Facebook and the insecure and childish behavior friends exhibit on it? Facebook is the most popular social media site with over 425 million active users. And with great popularity comes some very shameful and disturbing behavior and people who look to tap into Facebook’s viral market to sell you their crappy selves or scheme your money through affiliate links and the like.

So if you happen to find yourself doing any of these top 10 irritating things on Facebook, you should look to stop doing so immediately before all of your friends look to jump ship and get rid of you. If you are losing friends on Facebook like sunflower seeds, you really need to find another approach to social media management.

1. Tagging Random People in Photos

You should quit tagging people you barely know in photos that have nothing to do with you or met at a party. It’s one thing when your buddy tags you in an unphotogenic pic, then sends it out to friends for them to laugh at. At least in this situation it’s you and your friends with the person who tagged you. But the people I’m talking about upload photos and tag as many people as they can to try and gin up as many likes as possible. This is a classic move by spammers so be cautious of anyone tries strategy out. I’ve had to call out several individuals over the years, even friends for their random tagging, and you should do the same if you suspect anyone doing this. Sending a personal message to them to stop could do the trick, but I feel like if some goofball wants to tag me in every one of his posts, he must be looking for my input so I give it to him publicly right then and there. Revenge is just a dish that is best served cold…

Worst of all… they know how picky you are about your pics and that you like to approve them before they hit the WWW. BUT, if they look good, they don’t give a flying monkey what you think They will post them and tag you anyways! Who cares if you look like a loser or cock eyed. It’s all about them! Cause they look like god!

2. Cross-Posting with Twitter

Look, we social media marketing experts understand that you are a little short on content and intelligent things to say on Facebook, but there is no need to post random stuff that no one cares about. We all post the same stuff on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, but at least have the guts to not automatically send your Twitter tweets to Facebook, because people will just mute you, dislike you, or defriend you. For one, you’ll get much less engagement posting to Facebook via any third-party app let alone Twitter which basically disregards Facebook etiquette. If you do this, it’s a clear sign you’re not really engaging with anyone on Facebook or are just too lazy to post new content manually, either way you will fail and friends and followers will keep disappearing.

3. Liking Your Own Posts

So you’ve just posted the new dog or the cutest baby pictures of your best friend. That’s cool, right? But then you go ahead and like your photo yourself. Well, we know you already like the post, aren’t you the one who just shared the thing? Besides being annoyingly repetitive, the real reason people feel the need to do this is that the action of liking the post will again show up in the streaming news ticker, giving the post even more exposure, sometimes double as much. These are typically the moves of self-proclaimed “social media gurus” or people who just feel insecure about their status posts. It’s obvious that you like your own content, you posted it yourself.

4. New Page Invites

Look, as social media marketing experts, we understand you need to create a page for your business, but do everyone else a favor and stop inviting them to your half-ass Facebook pages. Instead post interesting content to your own page, share it on your profile as well (so your friends see it), and if people are interested they will follow. There is also the new social graph that will allow others to network, who are not on your friends’ list. It’s almost not your fault, as creating a page and inviting all your friends can seem tempting, but most of your friends won’t like your page and maybe they won’t like you either and defriend you. And the ones who do like it would’ve probably found it anyways without your begging them to do so. So like the funny Oatmeal comic, don’t do this…

5. Useless App Requests

If you’re on Facebook all day playing CafeWorld and Hotelville, that should be embarrassing enough, and the last thing you should ever want to do is invite your friends and alert them to your obsessions. And I can’t even explain to you the ill feeling we get when we receive a request to join Vampire World, for example, even though we’ve already registered to be  friends with some  less intelligent friends who do not have a life or do not work.

Rule of thumb: Step off with the application requests! Only send the ones that are absolutely necessary, the awesomeness you’ve ever seen, etc. We don’t care, at all, what shape cocktail glass we are, we don’t want a shot, we don’t want to compare our favorite ‘Hills’ characters. No, no, and no.

Some people feel that every time they go on the Internet, their digital selves are being hijacked and driven to a shady data broker’s garage, where they get sliced, diced, and mined  and even sold for various purposes that are unknown to society. The people who feel like they’re getting info-jacked are starting to fight back by providing false-information security system.

Kevin Ludlow, a 33-year-old Texan software developer, calls this phenomena“Bayesian flooding” and as a data miner he wants to protect against is Facebook. The problem  with this is that once information has been collected, it will always be stored and associated with you and your name. He therefore argues that trying to hide information from Facebook may not work. A  possible solution would be to overwhelm the social media platform with too much information.”

This article examines the top 10 Facebook conspiracy theories that hit the roof recently and had many, many fans going crazy. You can never been to sure about Mark Zuckerberg and his intentions.

What is conspiracy theory?

A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.

1.  Global Revolution

 Many conspiracy theorists argue that Facebook and other social media websites conspired to birth the political uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. After all, they argue that Facebook offered of a forum for acute sociability and democratic processes, which have given the youth of those countries a taste for democracy. The Occupy Movement in the U.S. holds a very similar philosophy. Except the part where they fight tanks.

2.  High Divorce Rates

In a study done on UK divorce proceedings, it was found that 20 percent of divorce suits filed mentioned Facebook as a contributing factor to marital unhappiness. Couples the world-over began to flock away from the site now painted as a direct road to infidelity. But what media channels failed to offer was that unhappy marriages just happened to be more prone to spending time apart, especially on Facebook. To this day, people are still frightened over the myth that Facebook itself causes divorces. But, the social media platform is still growing and becoming even more popular.

3. Mark Zuckerberg is reading your mail

The Next Web, amongst other sources, revealed that if you mention a Facebook page in your private messages the likes for that page will increase. Admittedly it sounds a little innocuous at first, but surely it means someone was going through your messages and looking at the content.

Facebook admitted that it has been scanning messages but that’s an honest mistake. Mark Zuckerberg does not give a crap about who you’re dating. The whole purpose was to create those cute little thumbnails that come up at the bottom and the increased likes are apparently a virus.

But who would trust Zuckerberg…would you?

4. Facebook uses your photos for advertisement

When Facebook updated its terms of service back in 2009 many started question whether users really own their content once it’s uploaded to the site or whether it becomes fair game as soon as it hits the social network.

A Vancouver,  B.C woman filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook in2012 for profiting from an advertisement that used her photo and profile information without her consent.

Debbie Douez claimed that Facebook, Inc. allowed her name and photo to be used without her permission and acknowledgement for an advertisement that appeared on Facebook last year.

5. Facebook charges for accounts

This has to be the most popular rumor. Despite myths, top 10 list believes that Facebook is not charging and never will. However thousands of users every day, and frequently many more, spread the myth that Facebook is about to start charging for the service. The price tends to differ each time the myth arises, yet people continue to fall for this myth over and over again. We will have to wait and see if this will happen. For now, Facebook is introducing new features, most recently the Graph Search and before that it was the messenger.

1. Password Hints

If you’ve got online accounts, you’ve probably answered a dozen different security questions, telling your bank or brokerage firm your Mom’s maiden name; the church you were married in; or the name of your favorite song. Have similar things on the information page of your Facebook profile? You’re in for a royal treat by giving crooks an easy way to guess your passwords. Big NO NO!

2. Home Addresses

Facebook is a great way for organizing meet-ups with friends, but listing your private house party on there is not a very good idea. Unless you’re up for the kind of shindig that involves hundreds of party crashers  ripping up the carpet, spilling booze all over and doing away with your family valuable. To be honest, we would have thought people wised up by now after the dangers of Craigslist were exposed, but I still see this happening and people are still posting their personal information on Facebook

3.  Vacation Messages

Time for a bit of holiday in the sun? Good for you because you deserve it. Just try not to sign off for your trip with a status update along the lines of: ‘Yippee! Off to France for 10 days tomorrow!’ It’s not that we’re jealous (honest), it’s just that putting that kind of information online is little better than slapping a ‘not home for weeks’ poster on your front door. Even if you’ve taken the sensible precaution of not including your address on your Facebook page, it can still be easily found elsewhere online, especially with the new graph search.

Facebook knows who you are, what you’re interested in, where you go on the web, what apps you use, and more with this new graph search. However, other companies have bits and pieces of these data sets. LinkedIn knows your resume, Google knows your web searches, Twitter knows who and what  you follow, Apple and Amazon have your all credit card number on file, and your phone’s OS maker knows what apps you’ve downloaded. This is CIA of 21 st century. Who your real-life friends are, though, is Facebook’s domain. Nothing is every private.

There’s plenty of noise about all this. Some people blindly accept most requests they get, while others send them to anyone they meet once, and all the connections and networks grow over the years and quadruple. Still, if you want to jumpstart a social app, Facebook’s Find Friends feature is very valuable. It can be the difference between an empty feed and low retention, and a vibrant, addictive feed teeming with content from people you care about.

4.  Facebook Games

Time for a reality check. No one cares that you found a golden egg in your imaginary cowshed or that your cafe is growing super-great or farm is multiplying after being watered by good friend. In fact, people care so little, there are now even browser plug-ins available that will prevent Facebook game updates from showing in Facebook feeds. If you’re going to waste your time on Farmville or similar games, fair enough. Just turn off the auto-updates, please?

5. Confessions

This is not the place to make a big, large confession. You may hate your job, lie on your taxes or be a really good illicit drugs, but this is no place to confess it. Employers commonly peruse social networking sites to determine who they will hire — and, sometimes, who to fire.

Need proof? An emergency dispatcher was fired in Wisconsin for revealing drug use; a waitress got canned for complaining about customers and the Pittsburgh Pirate’s mascot was dumped for bashing the team on Facebook.  All in all, an estimated  8% of companies fired someone for “misuse” of social media.

The most appalling story?  A mother of three  was canned for posting on Facebook. She was fired after her employer claimed she violated the company’s social media policy by posting that the Harbin Clinic could not treat her sick child. Like millions of other, Roberson joined Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends.

As the New Year begins, we recall the top ten social media fails of the past two years. These are the ones that stand out; if there are any others that you think were as juicy for news, be sure to comment on our blog.

The immediacy of social media makes it the ideal way for businesses to expose themselves to mockery by sending out a hasty and unthinkable tweet without thinking through the consequences.

But not all of the examples on this list are sinful tweets – indeed some of the fails have been reversed with a sincere apology and reply. Others were not so lucky.

So without further ado, here’s the top 10 list of disastrous social media campaigns.

1. Ryanair:

In August of 2012, Ryanair traveler was forced to pay 300 euros for forgetting to print off her family’s boarding passes. She posted this complaint on Facebook and received 350,000 likes and 18,000 supporting comments as a result. The Chief executive of the company, Michael O’Leary, unapologetically said, “We thing Mrs. McLeod should pay 60 euros for being so stupid.” What happened to his customer service skills?

2. McDonald’s:

In January of 2012, McDonald’s invited its customers to use the Twitter hashtag to share their experiences of dining inside the McDonald’s restaurants (#McDStories). The fast food giant was hoping for some heart-warming tales and experiences. Instead, they faced an army of consumers taking this as an opportunity to criticize the franchise’s bad quality food, poor customer service and their treatment of animals.

3. American Red Cross:

Red Cross’ Tweet read, “Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzerd.”

Response, “We’ve deleted the problematic tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated keys.”

What happened? Someone at the American Red Cross accidentally tweeted a personal, unprofessional message on the non-profit organization’s official Twitter account. The response was received quite well using self-depricating humor.

4. Chrysler:

Chrysler decided to drop an F-bomb on thousands of followers on Twitter. It tweeted, “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive.” New Media Strategies, Chrysler’s agency, accidentally tweeted it and the tweet was promptly canned. Chrysler made a public apology for such remarks and decided not to renew the agency’s contract. Can anyone blame them?

5. Anthony Weiner:

Anthony Weiner sent his Twitter followers lewd pictures of himself online. This is a bad idea, especially when you are a married public figure in congress with a kid on the way. Weiner initially claimed that his account was hacked. It was later reported that Weiner admitted to engaging in flirtations with other women while he was marred. He resigned 8 days after the statement was released to the public.

Lesson? Don’t post anything you don’t want the world to know about or see for that matter.

When it comes to job searching, most of us quote this saying “It is not what you know, it is who you know,” especially in this age of social media where we’re more connected than ever before. More job seekers are using social media to find and research new opportunities – while employers are using it to find good candidates for employment.

But many people are still making small and preventable mistakes. We’ve all heard of the dangers come with posting on Facebook  and Twitter. Just take a look at our post Top 10 Disastrous Social Media Campaigns and you will see what I mean.

But other smaller mistakes could be harmful. Not updating a LinkedIn profile or not separating private and professional social networks can damage your career opportunities. And few people use the full power of their social networks.

A surveydone by Kelly Services Inc. found that less than 25%  of American job searchers were more likely to use social media than traditional methods, such as newspapers, job boards and recruitment firms. And many people aren’t aware that well-known companies such as Starbucks, Citibank and UPS use  Social Media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to recruit.

This article highlights top 10 suggestions for social networking that will help you when you’re job searching,  trying to market yourself effectively, and connect with people who can help with you find a job.

Let us know what worked and what didn’t and whether you had success.

Tips:

• Keep the information you publish on your personal social media profiles clean and professional, you do not want to follow in the footsteps of the American Red Cross employee who used the company twitter account to make a not so funny joke. This  may increase your chances of getting hired when your profile is seen by potential employers.

• Reply to and follow up in a professional manner with individuals in your social media audience who rebut or challenge your opinions or argument. This will demonstrate to potential employers that you are  open to constructive criticism feedback and can effectively handle negative comments without coming across as defensive or unprofessional.

1. Create Profiles

Build marketable, professional profiles for yourself. Include your job history going back no more than 15 to 20 years as well as your education and skills. LinkedIn is an obvious place for such a profile, but Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are just as good for this type of information. These profiles should demonstrate not only what you’ve accomplished, but where your strengths lie and what you can offer future employers. Leave the ball in your hands and make a compelling argument, one that an employer cannot refuse.

2. Network

Connect with others in  your industry. LinkedIn’s Groups is the perfect place to start. Search the directory to find the relevant groups for your industry, join those that appear active and have numerous followers and then make sure that you introduce yourself to the other members so that they know who you are. Most importantly, be sure to build your social capital and become known as the source for quality content.

3. Add pictures

If you do not have a picture,  make sure you add one and that represents your in a professional manner! Never include images that are unprofessional and something that you would not want to show your own mother. Be weary of what you post on Facebook and Google, because with the advanced search options,  your information may easily spread beyond your friends and into the hands of unintended parties. Check out Facebook new social graph info.

Tip: Use a single photo, which identifies who you are. You’re imagination is the limit, but be careful with what you post. You don’t want to reveal too much info.

4. Show your expertise

Do not be afraid to show your expertise. Every time there is something to report, report it. Link it and feed it onto social media platforms.

Be careful with what you post, you may want to double check grammar, spelling and make certain that there is nothing offensive.

5. Meaningful connects

Connect with people, but make certain that you are upfront about it. Don’t send a default message; that’s unprofessional! Give your connections a reason to network with you. If you really want an in, tell them you’d love to learn more about their company and any positions they have opening. People love to talk about themselves and you can find more ways to get an in.

It is equally important to engage with individuals who are already working in your field, even close friends. This will help expose and promote your skills and content to potential employers. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter all have a side bar, which suggest relevent user.

A well-planned online marketing and social media marketing strategy is to use all channels of traffic to bring qualified leads and traffic to your website. If you still haven’t started with Twitter, then 2013 is the best year to start. Twitter is currently growing at a very fast rate with over 200 Million users in Dec 2012. Almost every celebrity uses it to tweet gossip, updates and even their views on global issues.

This post will not be about how to setup a twitter account but on how to use Twitter #hashtags for your Local Business. Basically, twitter hashtags are words that includes the number operator sign (# sign). When one click on the link associated with a #, they’ll see the latest messages from people who have included those hashtags in their messages. Hashtags are very important because they allow you to find highly targeted and relevant twitter users in your area or niche.

1.  Figure out the purpose

The primary reason for using a hashtag in a tweet is to emphasize a particular issue or theme that other people can then connect themselves with by utilizing the same hashtag.

A perfect example is Adidas’ use of the hashtag #takethestage during the 2012 London Olympics, which enabled other users to tweet their views about the Olympics and the athletes featured in Adidas’ marketing campaign.

This automatic indexing is important as it helps users find out information linked to their interest on a social rather than search optimized basis.

2. #Don’t #overdo the hashtags

As mentioned, hashtags are designed to index content based on a common theme  and to make it easier for users search.

Therefore, it’s annoying for other users (and looks very amateurish) when someone incessantly hash tags every word in their tweet . This is actually considered spamming  and not a good social media marketing or SEO practice.

A good parody account that makes fun of this problem is @Chino_Wanker.

So, instead of jumping on three hashtags to make sure your content is viewed by others, just pick the most relevant possible hashtag and use that instead.

3. Make #Hashtags Short, Sweet and to the Point

Twitter is based around short form content – 140 characters or less – so avoid using long hashtags. You are also creating less  room for other users to contribute their own views.

Long hashtags are also tricky to read and easy to misspell, meaning the content won’t be associated with its intended conversations.

Finding short, creative hashtags is becoming a painstaking task as the platform becomes more popular, but it’s better to come up with something brief and creative than something long and precise.

4. Don’t change the hashtag halfway through your campaign

Once you’ve selected your hashtag, stick to it. A change  halfway through the campaign will result in split up conversations or will force people to use two different hashtags, which again limits their ability to contribute to the conversation.

Take a look at Adidas’ Olympic Marketing Campaign for a perfect example to follow.

5. Join & Promote your Hashtags
To become an effective hashtags, you would need to stick yours on all your social media websites, on your print marketing materials and even at the bottom of your emails, and so on.

However, there is  a reason behind the use, so make sure to include a call-to-action asking your customers to join the discussions or voice their views and opinions.