Just don't #break it.

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Z'truth.

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Homemade #organic bruschetta. I love my wife.

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This is the most truthful serving of garlic parmesan fries I've ever ordered.

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Barney Rubble style

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Twilight at DC's National Harbor.

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No filter. Just a blood red moon over #OC this morning.

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No job is safe

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Jeff Glackin is my new best friend. Thanks for the coffee!

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Few #cars are more #epic than this 1962 #Chevrolet #Corvette

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Reaching People on Social Media is About Consistency

There’s an exciting thing that can happen when you first start advertising on social media. The organic measures of exposure are quickly fading away, so when you get that first boost of exposure as a result of spending very little money, it can become addicting.

It’s a trap. Overexposing at the wrong time to the wrong people can prevent you from being able to reach the right people in the future, particularly on Facebook. As I’ve mentioned many times, social advertising is very different from other forms of online advertising as the performance of the content being promoted has a dramatic and often instant impact on subsequent posts.

In other words, done wrong, you can do real damage.

The story of the tortoise and the hare is one that few want to hear. They don’t want their advertising to resemble that of a slow tortoise in any way, shape, or form. However, the reality is that it’s the best way to reach the most people in the long term as well as in the short term. Look at these statistics:

As with nearly every attempt at social media, there’s a quick spike. Just about everyone who is not using advertising in their social media is having a hard time truly reaching anyone, particularly at the local level. Even with a strategy grounded in consistency, there is still the initial spike and it’s almost always a noticeable difference.

The problem is that with many of the pages I check out that are using social media advertising, the view is much different. It’s high peaks and low valleys. The overall reach early on is great. The problem is that the spikes are damaging. There’s no consistent growth of active fans. There’s no steady engagement being built up. It’s happening all at once.

There are plenty of reasons why slow and steady after the initial burst is preferable to spikes and low points, but the biggest reason is that the overall number of people reached is much, much higher when it’s done with a sound steady strategy. It’s not easy to see because Facebook doesn’t offer the proper tracking and because it’s somewhat counter-intuitive, but once you really dive in and see what’s happening it makes sense.

You see, the 10,000 people reached one week are not the same 10,000 people reached the following week. Sure, there are plenty of people (if you’re doing it right) who see most of the things you post, but a consistent strategy aimed at spreading out the reach is much more effective at reaching the masses. Facebook insights don’t portray this properly which is why you see so many who throw money at Facebook to see the big spikes. It feels like you’re reaching more people that way, but you’re not.

The only time there should be spikes is when there’s something extremely important to get exposed. These should be rare. Sure, there’s always something really important going on – the big sale, a new model rolling out, incentives, etc. – but it has to be social gold as well a being important. Otherwise, standard promotion will do the trick.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy based on the fallacies in Facebook Insights for a company to demonstrate their effectiveness using inflated numbers. The biggest problem is that it cannot be sustained that way. Social media advertising is the easiest thing to do. It’s also the easiest thing to do wrong.

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• Digital Marketing is the Future

via Soshable | Social Media Blog http://soshable.com/reaching-people-on-social-media-is-about-consistency/

Why are Celebrities Heralded for Coming Out but Bashed for Changing Their Minds?

Antoine Dodson shot to fame after a home invader tried to rape his sister. He was interviewed by the local news channel and his tirade went viral. It was remixed, auto-tuned, and mimicked. There were t-shirts, bandanas, and interviews on national talk shows like George Lopez.

Shortly after stardom found him, he made no effort to hide that he was homosexual. He was very public about his love for Gucci, his strong sense of fashion, and his feminine mannerisms.

Earlier this year, he announced that he was no longer homosexual. He said that he was reading his Bible and that he was becoming a “Hebrew Israelite” that believes in Jesus. He is holding to the commandments and laws of God. His theology is not the topic of this post, however. It’s in the reaction from the media that is most concerning.

When someone comes out as being homosexual, they are often called courageous. Today, it’s arguably more dangerous from the perspective of material success in this world to denounce one’s homosexuality. As he posted on his Facebook profile:

“I’ve lost so much(materialistic things), but in return I’ve gain truth and understanding. At first I didn’t understand what was happening in my life. I’ve lost so called friends and family. It just felt like everything was going wrong in my life. But the Most High is awesome and he have his way of doing things. As the days went on my tears begin to dry up and the understanding of what was going on in my life seemed clearer. I started to realize as I began to walk with the Most High more and more that sometimes you will lose everything that you ever know or known to discover your truths. Truth really is the best gift one could give another. So what I don’t have the things the idols do. I have one thing they don’t have and that’s truth and I walk in it. Be blessed everyone and know that the Most High will always work in you favor even if it seems bad. Just wait for the outcome, I guarantee it’s awesome. Praise to the Most High, much love to the Son the messiah the lamb Amen.”

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Dodson’s change was met with harsh skepticism. The “journalist” made it very clear that she did not believe in the reality of what Dodson was saying and attempted throughout the interview to paint his sudden shift as unlikely. One listening might believe that she was trying to denounce his denouncement of homosexuality.

“So Antoine, you are literally trying to pray the gay away,” she asked him in a condescending tone.

Today, one will not get attacked for announcing that they are homosexual, at least not in the media. Publicly, people are shifting towards acceptance and understanding being the way that they want to be perceived.

Today, one will get attacked for announcing that they are no longer homosexual. This is just one example of an interview where Dodson had to defend his choice. Listen to the sentiment. Understand the implications.

via Judeo Christian http://judeochristianchurch.com/why-are-celebrities-heralded-for-coming-out-but-bashed-for-changing-their-minds/

Maple #bacon cupcake. Tonight, the internet is mine.

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Turkey pot pie. No explanation needed.

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#MINI in the underground

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The Cambrian Explosion Makes the Theory of Evolution Unlikely

There are two important things to note before checking out the infographic below. We do not believe in the general tenets of the concept of intelligent design nor not believe in a need for proof when it comes to our Lord or the validity of the Bible. Yes, God is our creator and yes, there are ways to prove the validity of the Bible, but intelligent design puts emphasis on reconciling the creation with scientific data. This is a dangerous and false path to follow.

While we disagree with the concept of time listed in the infographic below, it still highlights an interesting point in time when there seemed to be an explosion of life forms being created. It isn’t that we believe in the premise of the graphic but it can be used to start an interesting dialogue about the falsehoods of Darwinian Evolutionary Theory.

Click to enlarge:

via Judeo Christian http://judeochristianchurch.com/the-cambrian-explosion-makes-the-theory-of-evolution-unlikely/

The way. The truth. The life.

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"A separation of business and personal..." Starting today, I'm only going to be posting personal stuff here on my profile. If you want to see the tips, links, videos, and graphics that pertain to my business side, you'll want to like my page: https://www.facebook.com/James.D.Rucker My goofball side will remain alive and well on my profile, but "serious business that's seriously serious" will reside on the page. I love my job, but I simply can't pollute my profile with work. Thank you for your time. I'm JD Rucker and I approve this message.

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The Snowden snowball effect: why one man started an avalanche

His is a face that will be remembered for years and a name that will be remembered for decades. It isn’t what he revealed that will cause his legacy to endure. It’s the effects of his actions that will continue to resonate as long as the United States is still a world super power.

When Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA data collection initiatives that have been spying on Americans for years, it caused outrage domestically as it was intended to do. Now, the reach of his revelation is spreading around the world. Those who didn’t trust America before now have an entry point through which to investigate the defense and espionage practices of the country.

Today, there are inquiries and investigations. Tomorrow, there will be accusations and demands. Brazil is launching a massive investigation into the NSA surveillance footprint on their own soil after Snowden named them the top target in Latin America. China now has a stronger scent about where to look while fighting American surveillance in their country. Russia has been openly hateful for years and are now probing deeper into the NSA, only with a more focused approach.

Those are just the top 3 countries listed by Snowden. It doesn’t even include the damage done to some of America’s closest allies in Europe.

Edward Snowden has started an avalanche. In many ways, that was likely the intention and his actions before and after he blew the whistle indicate that we haven’t heard the last from him whether he’s caught or stays in exile. What’s less clear is the reasoning behind the avalanche.

Those who support him say that he’s a hero defending the privacy of Americans, but that argument is hard to make as he has extended his accusations beyond helping the American people. Those who do not support him say he is a traitor, someone who is trying to do harm to the country, but that type of motivation normally drives people to stay hidden as long as possible rather than to come out publicly as the person behind the leaks.

The actions of Edward Snowden seem to be consistent with one motivation – to take down the NSA, CIA, and other elements of the US intelligence community. Sure, there was a good amount of anti-Big-Brother patriotism at work and they was likely at least a little desire deep down to hurt the country for its actions, but the real enemy in the mind of the Edward Snowden appears to be the NSA itself. Otherwise, he would not have done all of the actions that he’s taken so far.

He wanted them to know who bested them. He wanted the American people and the people of the world to judge him one way or another. He wanted to protect the privacy of the people of the United States as well as the people of the rest of the world that the United States targets. None of these motivations are in question.

The main motivation, despite all of these worthy or unworthy elements, was to expose the NSA. They were his primary target. They are the reason that he started this avalanche and why he will continue to feed it more snow until he’s exhausted or captured.

Edward Snowden may or may not be a hero. He may or may not be a traitor. He is definitely a man of vengeance and the intended victim of his wrath was the National Security Agency.

via Techi.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techirss/~3/P5wRyfoxQPI/

You Know Your Area. Use that Knowledge on Social Media.

If there’s one thing that gets under my skin the most about local businesses on social media, it’s that they rarely take advantage of one of the most important types of posts: local facts. It’s a low-hanging fruit that is completely missed by most.

It starts with having a local following and fan base, of course, but if your page is in what we like to call stage 2, then local facts are an easy way to get people talking to your and about you. It’s one of the most important tools in our arsenal that we use to promote clients but it doesn’t take a team of social media specialists to make it happen. You can do it very easily on your own.

In the example above, you see this Long Beach Chevy dealer has a post up about an interesting fact for the Long Beach area. Someone saw it in their news feed, recognized it, then tagged their friend in a comment. The friend saw the post as a result and commented as well. He recognized the house in this case… it was his neighbor!

The individual interaction has an exceptional algorithmic effect on Facebook. Whenever anyone likes, comments, or shares a post, it has an opportunity to be seen by that person’s friends. When something like this happens where two friends are having an exchange on the post, the chances of their individual friends seeing the post increases, of course, but the chances of their shared friends seeing it shoot up exponentially. Once one of those friends like the post, now it’s very likely that their entire shared circle of friends will see the post.

This is a great thing because chances are very high that the majority of the people within this circle are within the market area of the dealership. That’s one of the ways the Facebook algorithm works. It’s one of the easiest ways to get posts like this to be liked by 30 local people and seen by over 1000 locals.

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via Soshable | Social Media Blog http://soshable.com/you-know-your-area-use-that-knowledge-on-social-media/

#BudgetGourmet. Dirty rice, cherry tomatoes, kosher green beans. #HowIRoll

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Party on(ion)

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Bench in front of the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

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Can't blame them

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For Independence Day, I present to you... America

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You know you're in SE Los Angeles when the Burger King has bulletproof glass

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Hey Google and Facebook: where’s the outrage? #NSA

The Fourth of July is about celebrating the freedom of the United States. This year, it’s marred by PRISM scandal that showed how the US government is collecting personal communications data on the citizens.

High powered sites like WordPress, Reddit, and Mozilla are amongst the usual suspects of privacy-conscientious tech companies supporting the Independence Day protest being organized by non-profit organization Fight for the Future. Who’s not on the list of supporters? Facebook and Google.

The two companies who have the most information about us are the ones that don’t seem to be outraged by the NSA’s actions. They’re the ones that get more traffic and time spent on their sites and properties than any others. They’re the ones who should be leading the charge.

Instead, they’re silent.

As you watch the video below and contemplate the implications, start thinking about how much Google and Facebook rely on our interaction. They’re gargantuan companies and are both embedded into the daily lives of millions of Americans so it’s easy to believe that they cannot be swayed. It’s easy to believe that they won’t listen to the voices of the people. That’s not the point. Whether they will listen or not, it’s the responsibility of American’s to spread the word and let as many people as possible know that Google and Facebook, by their submission to the US government as well as their unwillingness to support the protests, are lockstep with the enemy in the war over our rights.

Here’s the video. Spread it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Yes, we know.

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Fibonacci Sequence at work in a cabbage

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A secret meeting of the supercars

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Celebrating freedom, only without the freedom

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