I love this photo and this quote. I also love that I found picmonkey.com: a free, online photo editing tool.

Picmonkey.com allows you to edit/create photos using effects, touch ups, overlays, textures, and themes. But my favorite use for picmonkey is the ability to add text to photos. This site makes it easy to create graphics for blog posts, social media campaigns, personal photo cards, etc. and share them through social platforms– all for free.

I know this site will be my go-to editing tool for a while, and I can’t wait to edit and update my pictures and blog post images. How will you use picmonkey.com? Share your photos and creations with me!

Annually, twelve thirty eight, (PR agency) creates a Buzzword Report compiling buzzwords, jargon, etc. that PR professionals commonly use and journalists commonly hate. The report was concluded from 500 correspondents, reporters, and editors from national and regional newspapers, TV and radio stations.

Below is the list of the top 20 hated words that appear in press releases. Beside the word in parentheses is the agency’s definition.

1. Issues (problems)

2. Dynamic (likely not to be)

3. Paradigm (a ‘silk purse’ word)

4. Elite (you wouldn’t normally get to attend)

5. Hotly anticipated (i.e. never heard of it)

6. End-user (‘customer’)

7. Influencer (probably isn’t one)

8. Evangelist (person with a tendency to tweet with loads of hashtags)

9. Deliverables (‘tasks’)

10. Icon/iconic (‘use before 01.01.01 or never’)

11. Rocketed (‘made modest progress’)

12. “An astonishing x per cent” (it rarely is astonishing)

13. Marquee event/marquee client (probably a ‘very local’ event)

14. Going forward (‘in the future’)

15. Ongoing (‘a bit behind schedule’)

16. Optimized (‘changed by consultants then changed back’)

17. Horizontal, vertical, etc (two words in lieu of a strategy)

18. Phygital (easy to press or swipe we guess)

19. SoLoMo (no idea)

20. Well-positioned (‘hopeful but a bit scared’)

As I write a press release today, note to self: the well-positioned marquee event that is hotly-anticipated and will attract elite influencers ……probably won’t catch journalists’ attention.

The life-saving app is called Broadcast for Friends (BFF). It gives you the ability to record video and post it on Facebook simultaneously, in real-time. So all I needed to do was BFF my conversation with Joshua (Daniel) and I would have gained lots of envy from my Revenge-watching friends.

The video uploads straight to your Facebook timeline using 3G or WiFi, and you can customize the audience of the video to where everyone, just your friends, or just you can view it.

It really is a great app. I can’t wait to implement it around the airport and for personal use too, like the next time I get hit on by a celebrity.

Download it and tell me what you think!

According to a social behavior study by MyLife, which was conducted among 890 adults, ages 18+, there’s a good chance you and your friends fit into one of these social personalities.

Fun Fact: If you’re a young parent, you’re 88% likely to post pictures of your kids or talk about parenting at least once a month (from the updates on my news feed, I’d say it’s WAY more than once a month).

Fun Fact: Nearly 25% of men, younger than 35, admit to stalking an ex-girlfriend’s profile at least one a month, which is less often than women who reported only 20%. Shocking.

Take a look at the infographic below. What’s your social networking personality? I’m interested!

Spoiler Alert: I’m a Lurker Judger. I’m best at monitoring and silently judging. Guilty.

Just wanted to share this graphic, because I think it’s an important (and easy) rule to follow!

What do you think? From November 1-30, do you like seeing things your Facebook friends are thankful for? Or, are you tired of seeing status posts that begin with “Day 14:”?

Share your thoughts!

• “It is what it is.”  (It’s annoying.)
• “I personally feel”  (Redundant.)
•  “You need to be more passionate.” (You can’t make people feel passionate.)
• “That company does social really well.”  (The word “social” is not a noun. Being social means having friends, not selling product.)
• “I’m a ____________ junkie.”  (Since when is addiction a virtue?)
• “I’m just doing what I’m doing.”  (Redundancy will be the death of me.)
• “We need to own social media.” (The public owns social media. What you really mean is you need to tie your social media efforts to a bottom line, be it financial, social good or reputation.)
• Guru (Self-proclaimed guru that is.)
• “No offense.”  (Translation: “I am about to offend you.”)
• “I’m confused.”  (Translation: “You’re confused, and I am going to set you straight.”)
• “True that.”  (It’s extremely annoying.)
• “With all due respect”  (Hearing that phrase, buckle-up: The words that follow will certainly bear no relation to “respect” or any recognized synonym.)
• “To make a long story short” (Already makes your story six words longer.)
• “How should we spin this?” (You shouldn’t.)
• “Irregardless” (Are you quoting Mean Girls?)
• “Think out-of-the-box” (Who would want to stick to inside the box?)
• “Transparency”  (Those who use this term are anything but transparent.)

I’m sure there are more words and phrases that would put me over the edge, but this is a good start.

Feel free to add to the list!

The survey was conducted among 4,400 consumers in 11 countries. It found that young adults in the U.S and Italy were most likely, both 33 percent, to friend bosses on Facebook.

The survey also revealed that 60 percent of those Facebook users who are friends with their bosses don’t restrict any content from them– not even the drinking, smoking, doing-illegal-activities content.

Also, 13 percent (average of all countries) of these young adults have posted something negative and abusive about their boss or company.

“Our research show that a good percentage of young adults between the ages of 18-25 do not filter personal or professional data or pictures that are posted online,” AVG’s Senior Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe told Mashable. “They need to pay closer attention to how they interact with their bosses, colleagues and friends via social channels, and ensure they don’t negatively impact their future by sharing information in a careless manner.”

Are you friends with your boss on Facebook? I am. Why? Because it’s my test:  If I wouldn’t want my boss and co-workers to see what I’m posting, then I shouldn’t be posting it for the whole world to see in the first place.

1. Look for Business-Specific Conversations

If you use Twitter for one thing, use it to learn from others. Look for hashtags such as #smallbiz or #socialmedia to find advice, resources, and influential people to follow. While using these hashtags to learn and gain advice is great, step into the conversation once and a while. Using a hashtag about a subject you’re interested in will put you in the conversation and will allow other people to engage with you too around that topic.

If you want to jump into a more specific conversation, narrow down the hashtag. For example, looking for a business savvy person to follow? Try #entrepreneurs. Wanting to meet new people? Try #networking.

2. Keep it Simple and Consistent 

When tweeting about a new blog post about creating and developing mobile apps, don’t do this: #MobileAppCreationandDevelopment. Try this: #mobileapp #development #design. Overwhelmingly long hashtags are hard to read, making your tweet buried in the mix, and also aren’t search-friendly.

3. Create Your Own Hashtag

Large and small companies can create their own hashtags, and they should! Hashtags are a great way to generate buzz around just about anything! For example, Domino’s Pizza told followers to tweet #letsdolunch. When the number of tweets reached 85,000, Domino’s split prices in half during lunch that day. Get creative! Hashtags are a fun way to engage with you followers and be more than just a Twitter account.

4. Organize Social Dashboards by Hashtag

Whether you use HootSuite or TweetDeck, using a social dashboard can conveniently keep you up-to-date with relevant hashtags for your company. You can create specific columns by social network, search term, or hashtag.

5. Take Advantage of Follow Friday

Micah Baldwin, CEO and Chief Community Caretaker of Graphic.ly, announced on Twitter that he would suggest people to follow every week. This trend took off with the hashtag #FollowFriday and has now been shortened to #FF.

You can use Follow Friday in two ways. You can create a list of great people to follow and try to fit as many of them as you can in a tweet using the hashtag #FF. You can also group your favorite followers in categories. For example, tweet #FF #entrepreneurs and then list the entrepreneurs you like following. This is a great way to contribute to the conversation while letting people know you like following them at the same time.

These are just 5 ways to use hashtags. What are some ways your company uses them?

Below is a current example of how our business used hashtags in the hiring process.