Social Media and the End of the World

So if we were to believe the Mayan Calendar we have just days to live as 21^st December 2012 is officially the end of the world! Nasa have released a youtube video letting us all know that there is no need to panic! The end of the world is not nigh according to their scientists.

But whether you buy into the hype or not one thing is for sure – We are going to see #Endoftheworld trending on Twitter and a whole host of Social Media buzz about it.  Here are my predictions for the last ever day on Social Media:

1.       #Everything MustGo 

Watch out for those end of the world bargains! For businesses it is a perfect opportunity to jump on the bang wagon and hold an ‘End of the World Sale’.  

2.       Milestone Reached

 

 

What a great milestone to add to your facebook page ‘I reached the end of the world’. I’m sure we will see this tongue in cheek post across facebook on Friday.

3.       Final #FF

 

So if Friday really was the end of the world it would literally be your last time to #ff – recommend who to Follow on Friday on Twitter, or for my followers my last #SocialMediaStars of the week. This Friday we’ll see people #ff-ing their nearest and dearest, or most respected colleagues. You’ve got a few days left to become end of the world #FF worthy.

4.       PInteresting Pics

 

Expect to see pinterest boards flooded with pictures of how the end of the world may happen and final thoughts. Search for ‘End of the World’ on there. It’s full of ideas already.

 

5.       Instagram End of the World

If it really were to be the end of the world how instagram would be flooded with natural disaster pictures! It will be interesting to see how many people upload fake instagrams on 21st Dec, or pay homage to the possible end of days.

Regardless of whether you are still here to read this on 22^nd December or not, we have to be sure the End of the World is coming to Social Media updates.

Need to Know #Hashtags

When exploring the world of Twitter you will soon become familiar with this little symbol - #.  This is a hash and is used on Twitter to create what is known as a #Hashtag. A hashtag is created when you put the hash symbol in front of any word. This then indexes that word on Twitter becoming a trend that people can search by to find commonly themed tweets. Each day on Twitter the most popular of these become 'trending topics'.

Why do you need to know this? Well firstly because joining in the conversation of popular trends is one good way to get noticed. Secondly using your own hashtags to highlight keywords within your tweets will help drive relevent followers to your Twitter page. Thirdly, knowing a few key common hashtags can help you not only build following, but possibly gather PR opportunities for your business.

 

Need to know #Hashtags

#SBS – A Weekly competition run by Dragon’s Den’s @TheoPaphitis.  Tweet @ him your business outline each Sunday evening between 5pm and 7pm. He chooses a handful of the best ones to retweet. #SBS winners get a certificate from the man himself and a great deal of Twitter kudos.

#WOW – Women on Wednesday is a competition run by @Jacqueline_Gold. Tweet at her what your women lead business is between 1pm and 3pm on Wednesdays using this hashtag to be in with a chance of winning a RT.

#FF – Follow on Friday – Every Friday Twitter users use this hashtag to recommend to their followers who they should be following this week. It’s a nice way to build rapport and give a mention to the deserving.

#JournoRequests – Journalists use this hashtag to draw attention to their tweets asking for people to be featured in their latest articles. For businesses this is great as you can keep an eye out for PR opportunities that fit in with your business and tweet a reply.

#DidYouKnow – This hashtags is followed by those who are interested in facts. See if you can incorporate it into factual tweets about your industry

#Socent – Are you a Social Enterprise? This Twitter hashtag links all things Social Enterprise, so use this in selective tweets to join the conversation

Thinking about hashtagging some keywords in your tweet to get it noticed? You can stop by Hashtags.org and run a search on your hashtag to check its popularity and best times to use it. Similarly Tagdef.com will help you identify hashtags trending today, regularly popular, all time top used tags and to check your proposed tags popularity. It will also help you to understand what a particular hashtag means if you spot an unfamiliar one that you want to check out.