This week we’ve decided to give you a roundup of some new articles that do a lot of different things. It’s been a busy week and we didn’t want you to miss out on some important and helpful information that’s been popping out of Mashable in particular. So, in an old fashion tip of the hat to Mashable, we present you with some of this great content getting you up to speed on what’s up with all of these different platforms.

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What’s Up With Smartphones? Well, we’ve got tips for you to make your app more discoverable. It has to do with optimization, in-bound leads, and customer reviews. Oh by the way, soon your phone may be able to tell you when you’re sick. When will we see the phone that tells you what the right thing to do is?

What’s Up With Twitter: They’re putting promoted tweets in your timeline in the Next 2 Months. And by the way, I hope you like the new twitter. Because the old one is dead.

What’s With Facebook? They’re experimenting with comment ads. This is an interesting move, and is a nifty new idea that you may want to start considering. With this addition to the ad strategy, en element of engagement is instantiated that wasn’t present before.

What’s Up With LinkedIn? They’re perpetually getting better, and now they’re using column ads and profile promotions to encourage follows and recommendations, similar to some of the features on Facebook’s right hand interface column. Imagine, on the side of your LinkedIn page, “you might be interested in applying for this job”.

It’s important to remember that getting more fans isn’t the point of social media. It’s a necessary part of it. You want the right fans, and you want to engage them in the right way. A large part of getting more fans is to have a solid, well-kept, helpful, interesting Facebook page. So never sacrifice quality of content for numbers. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere.

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Oh yeah, two notes. Firstly, there are a lot of people out there telling you that you can buy more Facebook fans from them. It’s ridiculous, and don’t do it. Unless of course you’re hiring on a professional, reputable company who is helping you build a social media strategy. Otherwise, stick to doing social media well. It’ll pay off.

Secondly, a couple of these first articles are old (the dinosaur ages of 2009 and 2010). This isn’t because we’re unhip–hey, we read Slate–but because the trouble of getting more fans has been around since pages were introduced. So some of the information is outdated, but know we chose these articles because they are still useful, and the tips are still relevant/still hold. And there you doubted us for a second.

How To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions. Now this article doesn’t actually tell you how to get a million fans (and for a small business, we’re not sure that’s what you’re aiming for). Aaaaand it’s also from 2009, but that shouldn’t deter you. Even if it is one of those articles telling you what a facebook fan page is, we checked through all 10 tips and all 10 tips still hold. Call it goin’ retro. It works.

21 Creative Ways To Increase Your Facebook Fan Base. Quick tips: use video, cross-post to other social media outlets, print (people still walk around in the real world from time to time).

How To Get Facebook Fans: The Easy Way and the Hard Way. This article focuses on Facebook advertising and why it’s a route worth taking. From January 2011.

9 Best Ways to Increase Facebook Fans. Some additional, more current ideas on some solid, proven methods of getting more fans.There’s some overlap, but call it reinforcement.

The Top 5 Ways to Stand Out On Facebook. This one is less directly focused on getting more fans, but talks about how to be a good brand on Facebook. You do that, and people will like you, link to you, and trust us, you’ll see the fan count rise.

image courtesy www.bulklikes.com

With a good Texan salutation, we move on to this week’s Friday blog post, in which we cover some new stuff with Facebook. No, we won’t be covering the “shift+enter” complaints or the “memorable status updates” (Watch your words! Facebook never forgets!), but we do have some articles that should prove a tasty treat for those of you with a sixth basic taste of business. So what can Facebook do for you today? Let’s see:

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What’s New With Facebook

Facebook Expands Tagging to Include Comments: The same “@” sign that you’ve been using to link events, people, and pages is being expanded into virtually any place you can enter text on Facebook, which, if you’re the taggable brand, is good news for you.

4 Facebook E-Commerce Tips for Brands: a lot of businesses use Facebook to sell directly rather than as a referral tool. If you’re doing this or this idea sounds appealing to you, here are some good tips on doing it right.

Yes, Facebook Is A Viable Marketing Strategy For Startups: There is some concern among “the they” that Facebook is no longer– or at least will soon no longer be—fashionable or effective. Nick O’neill calls them out and argues that Facebook is still the number one marketing channel and is “practically mandatory” for online startups.

REPORT: Facebook Like Drives $1.34 In Ticket Sales: Eventbrite recently released a study showing the dollar worth of a facebook share and a tweet in ticket sales for events, a must-read for any business hosting (or thinking of hosting) events.

Why You Need Facebook’s Like Button On Your Site: We probably don’t need to beat you over the head with this idea for you to know its importance. But really, you should do it. The article has some resources and fully explains the awesome functionality of the “like”.

image courtesy www.twitter.com/facebookmedia

On its surface, it seems ridiculous. What could we possibly have to learn from a self-proclaimed cocaine addict, a possible wife abuser, and guy who waves a machete on his roof all wrapped into one?

On a personal level, probably not much. But on a professional level, Charlie Sheen has really done something interesting with social media. And all without a Facebook page.

Below we have one of the videos that started it all and had everyone asking, is he crazy? Has he lost it? Is he coked out? Or is he a genius?

But after a while people stopped caring so much about what brought on this sudden outburst from the actor we’ve known so long, and started #winning, throwing a #fastball, and discovering their #tigerblood. The simple word “winning” has gone from a cool thing that might get you a few Facebook likes from friends to “Just scored the last jelly donut at work. #WINNING” and puts you in touch with the wave of millions of Charlie Sheen fans all stoked on their fortune, all part of the most twisted and accidental motivational campaign the internet’s ever seen. And even the ironists are taking part in the trend in Chuck Norris-Joke fashion, which is just as much absurd as it is peculiarly self-satisfying. Like Sheen says,

“Admit it folks, the whole winning thing, you just feel better when you say it.”

But how’s he doing it? First, the video went viral. But how do you sustain it? He took some cues from Conan O’Brien, creating his Team Sheen, and with a Twitter the world could get as much Charlie as their smartphone put out.

No matter what’s behind the outing of Charlie Sheen’s new public game face–a hugely successful publicity stunt, a comedian that never was, whatever; as long as you’re #winning right?–there’s no doubt it’s been tremendously successful. So here are five things we can learn about social media from Charlie Sheen.

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(1) Video, Video, Video.

Here is the viral video that started it all (apologies, it wasn’t embeddable). We’re not recommending you do this–or anything else Sheen mentions in the video–with your business or with your self, but there’s something to be said for (1) standing out from your competition, (2) breaking the rules, (3) being fearless, (4) having crazy intense catch phrases rolling out of your mouth every five seconds.

But that’s not all. Sheen also does live Ustream shows for his fans. It’s called Sheen’s Korner. Branding branding. Some of this stuff is really amazing writing, and we doubt it’s all Sheen. But after all, it is Charlie.

(2) Twitter Is Powerful For Personalities

This is the link to the official Charlie Sheen Twitter. It’ll speak for itself. But here we have a mind that millions of people want to get inside of, and Twitter is the perfect platform for that. Look at the extreme use of personality to drive people to this Twitter. And also, we’re cheating here, but another lesson—Never Understimate Humor. If people couldn’t laugh with Sheen (and remember Sheen is laughing too), they wouldn’t be following him.

Just a few hours ago an article was published “revealing the secret” behind Charlie Sheen’s tweets. Surprise surprise, it’s not all him. But we can safely assume it’s mostly him, and he’s been using this to promote his “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option Show”. Want to talk ROI? Now here’s some tangible, monetary ROI.

(3) There Are Some Important Considerations In Getting An Intern

There’s been a big fuss recently about last week’s tweet from Charlie Sheen saying he’s looking for an intern. The particular fuss is that once people know that Sheen’s totally removed from his tweets, people will lose interest. They want the #warlock. So there’s some good discussion on what makes a good intern. Your scale of social media probably isn’t Sheen-sized, but if your business doesn’t depend solely on your personality (or even if it does), do some serious thinking about who your intern will be and how your intern will operate within your social media goals.

(4) If People Like You, The Street Team Will Form Organically

Not everyone is so lucky to have a last name that sounds a lot like “team”, but you can get creative. If you’ve stood out from your competitor’s in an important, bold, and assertive way, people will appreciate that and promote your distinction all on their own. Word of mouth is one thing, but if your breakfast taco is “twice the power of the normal taco”, the idea is so absurd and funny that people are likely to take it upon themselves to promote it how they can. We seem to be in an age that appreciates they hyperbolic, the exaggerated, the ridiculous. Capitalize on this and find your quirk. People will want to talk about you and promote you.

(5) It Is, Always Has Been, and Always Will Be About People

Sure, we can talk about online conversion and merchandising—Charlie Sheen is making big bucks off of all this. With catch phrases like “Dyin’s For Fools” and “I only know one speed–Go!”, who wouldn’t want a shirt that says that? But in the end, no one is stoked on Coca-Cola, or Disney World, or XYZ Donuts. People really follow people. So perhaps the most important lesson from all of this is, for better or worse, be a real person, be fearless, and be yourself.

Oh and yeah, get an autotuner.

Holly's "chocolate-chocolate-cherry" cookies

Good tidings of joy, everyone! And a happy holiday season. So you know the rules: you can open one gift on Christmas Eve. But hey, we’re hip! And who are we kidding, you guys are great! So we think we can make an exception–just this year—because we’ve got five gifts for you. And unlike that houndstooth sweater, you can totally regift this.

This Christmas dinner, you’re a social media hotshot. You just checked in at “Granpappy’s House”, on FourSquare, Facebook Places, and Twitter Places (not even integrated) and you tell Aunt Maude: “It’s all about the fans” and grab some casserole. So we take a look at how to get more fans on Facebook and how to be good to them. Then we give you some information that will help you address user-end Facebook concerns with the newsfeed filter and instant personalization.

Be on the lookout every week for news, tips from pros, reviews, emerging technology, and a whole bundle of thought-provoking articles on this ever-developing, exciting world of social media.

Your biggest fan,

Neovia

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Surefire Way to Get More Facebook Fans: If you’re like most of us (everyone but the Glee fan page), you’ve faced some difficulty getting people to “like” your page. Why is that? It’s an art, and in this article from Guy Kawasaki, he recommends incentivizing your fan page content in creative ways. Read on for details.

How to Convert Email Contacts to Facebook Fans Using “Tell Your Friends”: In early December, Facebook threw fan page admins a bone and released an incredibly helpful tool that tells you which of your email contacts aren’t currently liking your page, allowing you to message them. So, tell your friends.

6 Surefire Ways to Piss Off Your Facebook Fans: You just got Facebook fans with the above surefire methods. Now, avoid surefire pissing them off. Facebook fans are your friends. So be good to them, particularly by avoiding the herein-contained activities.

Facebook Creates Page Explaining Instant Personalization: Speaking of pissing off fans, privacy has been and always will be a concern for Facebook users and fans on your page, so it would do you well to be in the know in this department. Facebook released a video showing how they use information to create Instant Personalization and how to turn that off.

Facebook Newsfeed Filtering: Facebook has given the user more control in deciding what goes on their feed. Which means “liking” a page isn’t enough anymore. How will you stay in the feed?

Thanks again to Tech in Twenty for having us!

[Links we mentioned]

• Facebook: What are friends lists and how do I create them?
• Twitter: How to use Twitter lists
• Foursquare: How do I get pings or notifications when my friends check in? (Or not.)
• RSS/feed readers: How to find feeds
• Seth Godin’s “Ship It” pamphlet
• “Open Government” by O’Reilly Media

Twitter:

• @nanpalmero
• @luissandovaljr

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This week we bring you some stories and tips for the two most popular kids walking the social media hallways, Facebook and Twitter.

Be on the lookout every week for news, tips from pros, reviews, emerging technology, and a whole bundle of thought-provoking articles on this ever-developing, exciting world of social media.

Facebook

How To Steal Your Competitor’s Fans on Facebook. What sounds like a dirty business comes down to showing the merit of your product over another via strategies entirely acceptable in the Facebook Guidelines.

Facebook Geolocation Services Are Coming. Everyone had talked about it and now its closer than we thought. With Facebook’s ridiculously large membership, will you still be using FourSquare or TwitterPlaces? Find out.

Facebook 101 For Business: Your Complete Guide. Herein lies the most thorough introductory guide to Facebook for business that we’ve come across. If you’re just stepping in or even may have missed a few basics, they’re all in here.

Twitter

HOW TO: Get tweetable moments from your presentations. Is your presentation worth tweeting about? This article incorporates some fascinating social psychology to determine how to get listeners and talking social about your presentations.

15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Executives. Twitter Lists are great ways to find a slew of tweets related to your position of profession of interest. From CEO lists to Techie lists, see what these lists can do for you.

Why Using Twitter for Business Makes Cents: Twitter is obviously invaluable for its reach and potential for brand exposure. But here are five more fantastic reasons why you should be tweeting right now.

Image courtesy www.editorsweblog.org