How to Use FriendFeed – a Social Media Aggregator Tool

by Nicole Munoz

FriendFeed is a social network that aggregates contacts from all your other networks. It can automatically search your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Hotmail accounts for other people who have FriendFeed accounts.

Unfortunately, after being acquired by Facebook in 2009, FriendFeed has more or less stopped being updated and no longer has its feed aggregating capabilities. That said, it still gets over 250,000 unique visitors per month in the United States and over 1.5 million worldwide, making it still one of the largest social bookmarking sites around.

Here’s how to use FriendFeed.

Joining FriendFeed

The best way to join FriendFeed is to use either your Facebook or Twitter account. Yes, you can join with just an email address, but in order for FriendFeed to find your friends, you should use a social media account instead.

Start by selecting what account you want to use to join.

Then grant it permission to link your account.

Import Addresses

You can import friends and addresses from a number of different accounts. Click the account to scan your address book in that system for other friends on FriendFeed.

Browsing the Feed

Using FriendFeed’s feed is much like using feeds on Twitter or Facebook. You have a list of posts in chronological order from all your other friends who’ve posted to their feed.

Posting to Your Feed

Posting to your feed is done at the top of the page. Just type in your message, then click “Post.” To attach photos or files, click the respective button next to “Add.” To also post it to a social media account, click the checkbox next to the account under “Cc.”

Using Groups

If you’re subscribed to a group, posts from all its members can appear in your feed. This allows you to stay in touch with what’s going on within entire topics and industries.

To join a group, click the “Browse/create groups” button in the right sidebar.

Choose a group. By default FriendFeed will display all the groups your friends are. You can also search for groups by keyword.

To subscribe to a group, click on its name to go to its profile page. Then click “Subscribe.”

You can choose whether to add the group subscription to your main feed, or to a specific feed.

You can access specific feeds in the right sidebar.

Direct Messages

To send a direct message to someone else on FriendFeed, click “Direct Messages” in the right sidebar.

Enter the person’s username and the message you want to send.

Notifications

Want to get updates of your feeds in an email, an instant message, or a popup? You can. Just click the Email / IM button at the top of your feed.

Those are the most essential features of FriendFeed. You’ve now learned how to setup your account, import contacts from a number of different features, browse your feed, post to your feed, use groups, send direct messages and receive notifications.

How to Set Up and Run a Successful Facebook Page

by Nicole Munoz

Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in the world. Creating a page on Facebook’s platform allows you to reach millions of new people, as well as stay in touch with existing fans. Viral pages have been known to reach hundreds of thousands of people in as quickly as a week from creation.

Here’s how to create a Facebook Page, as well as a few tips for success.

Step 1: Getting Started

Get started by going to http://www.facebook.com/pages/. Click on “Create Page.”

Step 2: Choose Page Type

Select what kind of page you want to create.

Step 3: Name Your Page

Give your page a name. If Facebook needs additional basic information, they’ll ask for it here.

Step 4: Add Profile Image

Add an image from either your website or from your computer. Pick an image that accurately represents your brand.

Step 5: Invite People

Once your page is up, it’s time to get people to visit. There are two ways you can do this: By building friends, or by importing your contact list from somewhere else. The first option will send a Facebook invite, while the second will take your existing contacts and let them know you’ve created a page.

Step 6: Edit Your Information

Click the “Edit Info” button at the top to edit your page details.

Edit your category and most importantly your description. You can also create a username for your page here.

Step 7: Posting to the Wall

All that’s left is to post content to your wall. Posting to your wall is like posting to any other wall on Facebook. You can post in text, as well as attach multimedia content and hyperlinks. One unique feature of pages is the ability to ask questions.

Play by the Book when Posting Facebook Updates

Here are a few tips for running a successful Facebook page.

Short, Snappy Posts. People on Facebook will usually see you content through their feeds, rather than explicitly visiting your page. When you’re appearing in their feeds, it’s best to have short and snappy posts. This helps catch their attention and keep it. Overly long or boring posts tend to lose readership.
Post Regularly. Get people used to reading your content. Try to post on a regular schedule, daily if possible. Since a status update really shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to write, you can even write it all at once for the week and just post it at the end of the day every day.
Have a Two-Way Dialogue. Get your readership involved. Ask them questions. Have conversations. Don’t just use your page as a one way outlet of information and promotions. Instead, use your page to actually talk to your customers. Give them a chance to express themselves.
Encourage Free Speech. One of the biggest mistakes brands make is limiting what customers can and can’t say. Even if customers are posting dissident information on your boards, you should welcome the opposition. Let your readers speak freely.
Respond. If you don’t respond regularly and quickly to comments and questions, people will simply stop responding. On the other hand, if you respond quickly and regularly, people will enjoy participating more and do it more regularly.
Use Multimedia. Don’t just use text. A few years ago, communicating through social media with just text was entertaining and engaging. Today however, to really catch someone’s attention you should use a variety of media, including images and videos.
Be Human. Don’t just be an anonymous brand. Let them get to know you, who you are, what you stand for and your personality. Don’t be afraid to make a joke or let a little humanity come through.
Give Value. Every once in a while, host a contest or giveaway that’s exclusive to your Facebook fans. This helps create reciprocity and increases loyalty. Reward them for following you on Facebook.