Tag Archives: top 5

5 Goals of a SXSW Newbie

4th March 2011

In one week from today, I’ll be heading west to Austin for the first time, for my first experience of SXSW. Thanks to a few veterans around the office here at Engauge I’ve been briefed on the do’s and don’ts, told the go-to spots, and registered for far too many after hours get-togethers.

In addition to their tips, I’ve put together a few of my goals for the week:

1. Be outgoing. I don’t have a problem in the slightest chatting with people I know well. Throw me in a room of strangers and I’m back in kindergarten again. I’m determined to fight this next week.

2. Keep business cards to myself. This might sound crazy, but with so many digital alternatives, the paper cards can stay in Atlanta. A few of my favorites, Contxts and Hashable.

3. Pack light. It’s no secret Texas is hot and humid in the Spring. This means Chacos, dresses and tanks. Considering I despise winter, this shouldn’t be too hard to do.

4. Blog daily. This will be tough, but I’m being sent to Austin to learn and share the knowledge, I’m making this daily homework for myself.

5. Plan accordingly. Or maybe lack there of, but with the help of a few tools, I’ll be hoping to keep my schedule locked in one place. A few of the tools I’m looking forward to checking out: Beluga, Sched.org, sitby.us and Planely.

So the countdown is underway. Let’s just go ahead and rename this grown up version of  spring break. Have a tip or suggestion for a SXSW newbie? Share in the comments.

5 Unique Features of the New Facebook Pages

14th February 2011

Late last week, Facebook unveiled changes to Pages that made a big splash in how businesses can now communicate with their fans.

Facebook outlined many of the core changes to pages to page administrators, referencing features such as better communication, more opportunities for expression and improved relevancy. Moving beyond the visual tour offered to page administrators, let’s take a look at some of the smaller, and very powerful, details of new Facebook pages.

1. Moderation: This feature automatically mark posts or comments containing words an administrator outlines as spam. Find it here: Edit Page –> Manage Permissions –> Moderation Blocklist

2. Email notifications: Forget to check your page multiple times a day for new fan content? You can now select to receive an email each time a fan posts or comments on your page. Activate this feature here: Edit Page –> Notification Settings –> Email Settings

3. Post as a page: As outlined in the Pages tour, admins can now login to Facebook as a page rather than a person. Not only does this allow an admin to comment as a page, you can now directly post to the wall of another Facebook Page, just as a fan would. This feature will allow Pages to easily cross promote, but watch out, we could see an increase in spam with this as well.

4.  Questions: The Facebook Questions application is now available to all pages. To add it as a tab to your page and allow fans to ask you questions directly in a dedicated format, visit: Edit Page –> Manage Applications –> Questions –> Add Tab

5. Featured admins: Pages now have the availability to feature admins to the public fan base, allowing fans to place a face with a page. However, use this feature carefully, as fans will be able to click to see any public information of an admin’s personal Facebook page. Activate this feature here: Edit Page –> Featured –> Add Featured Page Owners

What new features of Facebook Pages have you stumbled upon? Do you love or hate the new format? Share your thoughts in the comments.