This is just a quick thought but…

I was just scrolling my Facebook page and saw the following headlines and thought: Bully! Instigator!

Neighbors Facebook Fight Leads To Arrests: Police in Manchester, N.H., say some angry Facebook postings between two neighbors led to a confrontation and a burglary arrest.

Facebook Passwords Must Be Shared in Divorce Case: “ The judge issued the order in response to the husband’s revelation his wife wrote incriminating posts on Facebook about her feelings towards the children and her ability to care for them on the couple’s shared computer. “

And this very literal translation:

Bullies use anonymity provided by Facebook and social networking sites to torment their victims. But social networking websites are being used by children and teenagers to bully each other on a disturbing scale, new research has warned. Not only are they “posting” hostile and threatening messages, some are even using the technology to send anonymous abusive messages.

I”m sure everyone has a Facebook drama to share – downside of being connected to people you barely know and seeing what they are doing/thinking/saying all the time. Pre-Facebook you would never have expected to know what the girl that sat next to you in the third grade was serving her kids for lunch yesterday…you may never have known that your neighbor was a Jersey Shore freak,  or that your ex-boyfriend joined a drum circle and moved to Alaska, or that the girl from the third grade feeding her kids cheese sandwiches legally changed her name to “L’il Miss Sunshine”.

With great knowledge comes great responsibility.

You were not intended to know so much. Use your knowledge wisely, like these guys:

Erlanger police use Facebook to fight crime. “Starting Tuesday Erlanger police will be using Facebook to get the community’s help identifying suspects. They will use Facebook posts to ask for information to help solve open cases in the Erlanger Criminal Investigations Division.”

Facebook plays role in store robbery arrests. “Local police have formally charged a Beverly man in connection with the September and October robberies at Skip’s Country Store on Route 133, and a Facebook posting has led to even more charges against him and his girlfriend.”

How A Sheriff Uses His 10,000 Facebook Fans To Solve Crimes. “When a rash of air conditioning thefts hit the county, where they can go for $500 a pop resale, Sheriff Al posted about it on his Facebook wall. His over 10,000 Facebook fans saw a description of the suspects and the make of their car. Within two days, a homeowner called up 911 and said, “I think they’re at the house next door.” Police swooped in and made four arrests.”

OK –  I’m not saying that Facebook should be hailed as a crime-fighting superhero either. I’m sure there are some other ways we can use our Facebook knowledge for good… Like selling Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup…

… Right?

But back to that social currency thing…did you know that you can leverage your social influence to get free things?

Until recently, I didn’t really care about Klout. I’d read people tweeting about it and I would kind of filter it out. I have had an account for months, but I rarely signed in. Then I heard about @KloutPerks- which are exclusive products or experiences that you earn based on your influence. In the past, influencers have earned perks like laptops and airline tickets. Suddenly, I have been checking my score a lot more often, hoping I can get my hands on some of these perks.

When I found out about the Klout Perk with Chevy, I was instantly jealous of those influencers that redeemed it! A Klout user redeemed a perk to get a free Chevy Volt for a weekend. He tweeted to his followers asking them what he should do with his free car for the weekend- definitely influencing others to talk about the Volt. Check out the Wall Street Journal’s video about this Klout user. What a great move! Brands should definitely take advantage of Klout- people trust their peers and influencers.

What do you think about Klout? What’s your score?

I am sure we have one more invite left, so give us your best reason why we should let you come to the big dance.

Tagging pages in photos enable Facebook users to share stories with friends about the things they interact with in the real-world, such as businesses, brands, celebrities, and musicians. For now, only pages within the Brands & Products or People categories, can be tagged in photos. Facebook claims to be looking to expand this functionality to more page categories over time.

To tag a single photo you are viewing: Click the photo you wish to tag and select “Tag This Photo” below the photo. Type the name of the people or product page you wish to tag. Repeat this process for every page in the photo that you would like to tag. Click “Done Tagging” in the bottom left corner.

Learn more about photo tagging for page here.

So is there a benefit to having the ability to tag a Facebook page in an image? I think so. Photos count as great content and can help to contribute to your marketing efforts. If your Facebook page is listed in the supported categories, encourage your fans to upload images related to your company and tag your page in an effort to reach new, potential Facebook users.

… And I was one of those people…

Last week my mother was on a business trip in Thailand. Her connecting flight home landed in Tokyo, Japan just before the 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit. With cell phone networks down, I could not get in contact with her. I had no idea where she was or if she was safe. It was through Facebook that I was able to connect with her and determine that she was okay.

Social media has proven to be an extremely useful outlet for communicating with others in a time of crisis. The internet in Japan has remained intact through the earthquake, and people have been using social media to connect with each other. It has proven to be an important communication tool in a time of panic.  When more traditional forms of communication aren’t available, social media has come through to provide answers and comfort for others trying to connect to their loved ones.

There is an ever increasing number of regional and community banks that truly understands the impact of Social now and, more importantly, in the future. Strategically utilized, it will help retain and recruit customers from the large mega-banks. We have seen a surge in regional and community banks using Social Communications in innovative ways and have picked up on five key strategies:

1. Build a sense of community

What is the connotation when you hear the word “bank”? Conservative, stuffy, imposing, and unapproachable are a few adjectives that come to mind. That won’t make you rush to your nearest bank, but smart financial institutions are learning what will. They realize that now, more than ever, if they focus on relationships and building a sense of community then they can easily attract and retain customers. Banking is truly a retail business and should speak to and adopt the personality of the customers it serves. We want our bank to be friendly and approachable, and utilizing Social Communications can get us there. These are the days of engage, engage, engage. Gone are the days of sell, sell, sell.

2. Research

If you need to know what customers think of your products or services, Social allows for a way to enlist them for feedback. We have found a highly engaged social community will give you great insight into your organization and provide you the opportunity to provide better service.

3. Customer Service

Your social networks are a great customer service channel. More and more customers are using social channels like Twitter to get quick customer service questions answered. Take that great in-branch customer service and showcase it online by being responsive and engaging.

4. Marketing

This one is pretty obvious, but needs to be mentioned. Banks that are using social communications to brand themselves are integrating social channels into their existing campaigns and, in some instances, creating new social specific campaigns to foster a sense of community. The additions of social media tools now allow for solid, trackable marketing results.

5. Transparency

Today we find a tremendous amount of distrust in our financial institutions due to the financial meltdown of the last several years. In order to overcome this distrust, banks have turned to the social channels to become more transparent and build back that trust. What better way than to answer questions than on Twitter, Facebook, or a blog, where interactions are in real time and can be extremely transparent.

According to reports from The New York Times and USA Today, Goldman Sachs and Russian partner Digital Sky Technologies have reportedly agreed to invest $500 million in Facebook.

So what does this mean for Facebook?

Well with an investment like this, Facebook has more power to steal away valuable employees, develop new products and possibly pursue acquisitions – all without being a publicly traded company. The investment may also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out at least some of their stakes.

Is there a catch?

According to resources, The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an inquiry into the increasingly hot private market for shares in internet companies, like Facebook. Some experts suggest the inquiry is focused on whether certain companies are improperly using the private market to get around public disclosure requirements.

What will this mean for the future of Facebook? Only time will tell.. Though Facebook is in no rush to go public, it may be pushed to do so once it reaches 500 shareholders.

According to the survey results, more than 80% of companies use or plan to start using social networks for recruitment, and more than half said they had successfully hired a candidate found through a social network. The most popular social recruiting channels include LinkedIn (78%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (45%). LinkedIn was not only the most popular, but also provided the most success – about 90% of companies who have hired through a social network reported they found the candidate on LinkedIn.

The 2010 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey found that the success in this area is leading employers to increase recruiting program spending on social media and decrease spending on more expensive recruiting channels, like job boards and search firms. When it comes down to candidate quality, survey respondents rated social networks significantly higher than job boards.

Companies are continuing the look for the most cost effective, efficient way to reach new talent. Through social networking, recruiters can find the right talent without making a major investment. Does your company recruit through social networks? Have you found this method to be successful?

Starting on Sunday, Facebook Credits gift cards will be available in values of $15, $25 and $50 at all Target stores and at their website, Target.com. Rumor has it that two or three other major retailers will soon carry the gift cards as well.

The “social-network giant” will take its first step into the retail space. It anticipates a large portion of its 500 million members will purchase the cards and use them on their favorite social games, applications and virtual goods.

According to Facebook,  more than 200 million users play free social games on Facebook each month.  And many of them are beginning to spend money on premium goods and services associated with those games.

Will Facebook’s venture into the growing prepaid gift card market prove to be profitable? What do you think?

As previously documented, Facebook has released its first ever location based service, Places, according to Mashable. This application is directly available on the iPhone only at the moment, though other smartphone users can access Places by using the touch.facebook.com site. Android and Blackberry editions will eventually be released though no set dates have been announced.

Facebook users will be able to share their location with friends, locate where other friends using Places are, and find new locations near them. Specifically, capabilities will include: adding places, checking in to existing locations, and tagging friends who you are with.

This service will be launched across the entire United States within a few days, though international launch dates have yet to be determined. Facebook plans on making data available for developers. Gowalla, Foursquare, and Booyah have been sited as applications who will load data back into Places.

Businesses have much to gain from this new feature by adding their location. Places may be claimed by official representatives only and will require and official document (business license or accreditation).

In terms of privacy, always a Facebook concern, CEO Mark Zuckerberg assured naysayers that it is designed to share places with friends, not the entire Facebook world. However, checkins will be displayed on your profile by default. Additionally, similar to being tagged in photos, friends have the capability to tag you without your permission. This can be disabled by adjustment within the “Customize settings” option. As with all profile content, users can decide who views their check ins.

The capability to report false information, abusive behavior, duplicate content or a closed business is also available through flagging content, though it will not be removed immediately.

Users should be sure to revisit their privacy settings before engaging in this new feature. Overall, Places will certainly provide a new outlook on how we can utilize this social network in the future.