Posts tagged social networking
New Brunswick grade schoolers place third in InterroBang
May 24th
A New Brunswick elementary class recently placed third at the InterroBang (http://playinterrobang.com/) competition, and international social networking contest designed to develop 21st Century learning skills.
The interesting twist is that the Grade 4 class was competing against middle and high school students in both Canada and the United States.
John Kershaw
New Maryland Elementary School (NMES) (http://nmes.nbed.nb.ca) is one of New Brunswick’s 21st Century schools. Teachers are integrating 21st Century competencies, such as leadership, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurialism, collaboration and digital competency into instructional practices. Steve Pierce, the principal, is leading the learning and teaching transformation and states that results are inspiring.
InterroBang is an on-line game where students complete real-world “missions” to learn and win prizes. It is a “social networking game for middle and high school students that encourages their natural energy and inclination to help others. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadians #tweettheresults in revolt against Election Act Sect 329
May 3rd
By Nestor Arellano
In a rare exhibition of election fervor Canadians vented their views about the polls and a few even braved the risk of being fined by Elections Canada by “illegally” tweeted early results of yesterday’s Federal Election.
Nestor Arellano
The act of online civil disobedience squarely went against the archaic but still in effect Elections Act, Section 329 which states: No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another district before the close of all the posting station in that other district.
Penalties for violating the act, which was introduced back in the 1930s to prevent election results from Atlantic Canada from being broadcasted to the rest of the country, could include a fine of up to $25,000 and five years in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
5 ways to get more Twitter followers
Apr 26th
By Kristin Burnham
Twitter has evolved into one of the most popular, go-to tools when it comes to reaching broad audiences, whether you’re promoting content, branding yourself as an expert in a field or networking with individuals who share similar interests.
One way to expand your reach on Twitter is to obtain more followers–but it’s not as simple hitting the follow button and hoping they follow you back. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Rebecca Black’s Friday
Mar 18th
By Nestor E. Arellano
Who says you can’t buy fame in the social net? Well I did, last year. And I guess I’m having crow for dinner.
Tens of thousands of teenagers on March break will probably be cranking up Rebecca Black’s iTunes hit single Friday anytime to herald the weekend – not withstanding, or perhaps because, of the fact that it has been called the “the worst song ever.”
Nestor Arellano
When Rebecca’s feel good ode to the final day of the work week aired on YouTube in Feb. 10 it garnered a few thousand views. By this Thursday, “Friday” had hit more than 12. 7 million views on YouTube, had been the among the top trending topics on Twitter for more than three days and at 99 cents a pop was among iTune’s number 69 top selling songs. Read the rest of this entry »
3 smart reasons for SMBs to avoid Facebook
Feb 19th
By Katherine Noyes
For small businesses, the conventional wisdom today is that social media have become the best way to reach out to potential and current customers, and that companies need to be out there participating actively on Facebook and other social sites. After all, that’s where consumers are, right?
I’ve never been a big fan of the social networking site, and that feeling increases with each passing day. For small businesses, however, the benefits of using it are uncertain at best. The truth is, there are several reasons why the popular social network is not the right place for small businesses, and especially young ones. Here are just three of them.
Leave Out Violence with the click of a mouse
Dec 10th
The call for businesses to use social media to boost the presence, increase sales or enhance customer touch points keeps on growing louder each day.
Nestor Arellano
But at the same time we keep reading reports about how SMBs are puzzled by these new tools. Perhaps some of the most creative ways of using social media can be found in the various cause-oriented and charitable organizations that are effectively employing these tools to boost awareness, augment programs or raise funds.
Leave out Violence (LOVE) an award-winning non-profit youth organization has effectively been using the power of digital images for some three years now to spread its message of hope for victims of violence against youths. Read the rest of this entry »
I tweeted on the Rock
Nov 18th
I tweeted on the rock last week, and the response I got was worth blogging about.
Krista Napier
I was in Newfoundland checking out the startup scene, and while I was there I tweeted a simple 102 character comment on my iPad:
“In Newfoundland this week checking out the tech start up scene out east – hoping I don’t get screeched”
My tweets are synched up with LinkedIn, so faster than you can say “Long may your big jib draw”, I had two people reach out to me. Read the rest of this entry »
ITB blog readers dig Facebook security, phone OSs and discount plans
Oct 20th
A Facebook security and privacy setting guide, a video blog of a mobile operating system smackdown and a review of a new budget cell phone plan for Quebec users were top picks in the recently concluded ITBusiness.ca blogging contest.
Nestor Arellano
Headlines about Facebook’s continuing security and privacy faux pas, the social networking site’s most recent retooling and not to mention repeated hand slapping from Ontario’s privacy commissioner must have had something to do with Facebook security and privacy hardening guide being the top read at ITBusiness.ca Blogs.
In his winning blog, security expert Claudiu Popa, however took a different approach by not only talking about Facebook’s security and privacy settings, but also offering readers a easy to follow free downloadable tool. Popa is principal of Informatica Corp., an international IT security consultancy firm based in Toronto. Read the rest of this entry »
Video Blog: Keeping the Canada in your ad copy
Oct 6th
My kids and I used to play this game every time we watch movies on TV. We try to spot the visual cues that would give away whether or not the flick was shot in Canada.
Nestor Arellano
Back then, it always seemed to amaze them that local cities like Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal could be used as stand-ins for cities like Seattle, New York or Paris.
Bleaching out the Canada from their metropolitan landscape may be profitable for some Canadian locales seeking Hollywood dollars, but marketing guru Terry O’Reilly, author of the book The Age of Persuasion, says the same strategy could backfire on businesses selling products and services.
“Every product has a story and when you tell that story in an engaging way that sets your product apart from others in the market and adds value to your product,” says O’Reilly. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook security and privacy hardening guide
Sep 27th
By default, Facebook assumes that when you sign up, you want to share a certain amount of data, establish connections and be found by others.
Claudiu Popa
This makes some sense, since it is after all a social network and it didn’t get to be the world’s largest such community by encouraging users to be paranoid about their online activities.
But over the years, Facebook has demonstrated that their definition of privacy, perception of security and their own priorities have changed significantly.
As such, many people are now preferring to manage their own accounts and control their information in a specific way: by deciding what gets shared and what doesn’t on an individual basis, rather than by accepting Facebook’s arbitrary defaults which err on the side of openness.
To make matters worse, Facebook’s application platform allows developers to access information on users and their friends in ways that are both direct and indirect (i.e. by aggregating data), leaving people to wonder exactly how risky it is to use Facebook when daily headlines describe increasing numbers of data breaches perpetrated on the system by morally corrupt individuals. Read the rest of this entry »
