World Apocalypse without Facebook

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Rumor has it hacker-activist group Anonymous will attempt to shut down Facebook on November 5, 2011, accusing the social network of invading users’ privacy – frightening!

For couple of years now Facebook has raided our lives, altered our social communication manners and revolutionized our marketing strategies.

But what happens if the Anonymous group succeeds in shutting down Facebook? My-Oh-My! It’s indeed the end of the world.

Imagine socially you will no longer be able to spy on your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend–Indeed catastrophic. Imagine parents will no longer know where their teenage children have checked-in — Tragic. Most importantly you will no longer know who’s dating who and who broke up with whom! SHOCKER!

Clearly we underestimated the power of this spying network…

Unfortunately the world of online marketing will get shut in the face. Brands will no longer be competing socially for the best viral effect and televisions advertisement will reign again.

No more pages to like, brands will no longer be able to communicate with their fans and groups will no longer spam their members! (Wait that’s not bad now is it?)

Oh my god. Have you also forgotten about the events and the invites! How will you be updated on the latest event and its whereabouts?! Does this also mean you will no longer be able to embarrass your friends and tag them with annoying pictures of them acting stupidly? Sad, so sad.

It’s indeed the end of the world.

Blocking Social Media at Work

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A common practice among many employers/organizations in the MENA region (as well as all over the world) is to block access to social media networking sites. Even with the emergence of the importance of having access to Social Media networks (SMN) in the workplace, for various reasons, some employers don’t seem to be quite convinced yet of the benefits. Yes, there are quite a few.

The major thing it says to an employee when a company bans the use of SMN and free Internet surfing is that they, in fact, think of you as a child, or an idiot, or both perhaps. Not an adult that is there to perform his or her job because you are fully capable of doing so, without having a chaperone holding your hand. With the rampant use of all sorts of smart phones nowadays, anyone can check their Facebook and other Social Networks on their BB’s, IPhones and other devices. It must be said though that in some cases, some employees do ‘use and abuse’ said privilege. However, in most cases the pros outweigh the cons.

Studies have been done showing that when employees take a break from work, surf the net, and spend a few minutes on FB or twitter, their morale and self esteem actually increases. Also, as far as marketing for your company goes, Social Media is proven to be one of the most effective means of doing just that, for a much cheaper rate than other marketing means. There is no better way to learn the ins and outs of Social Media Marketing than to actually use it on a daily basis, whether on a personal or professional basis.

Blocking these Social Networks may mean missing many opportunities for lots of productive and collaborative work in these organizations. There is always a small percentage of people that will waste way too much time on these platforms doing nothing productive, but there are way more people that can actually benefit from having free access to them. Don’t you think?