Five Orlando technology entrepreneurs have launched a program aimed at helping grow other startup companies in Orlando.
Starter Studio will be based in the 8,500-square-foot offices of Envy Labs LLC and Code School LLC when the two companies move into the GAI Building at 618 E. South St. in June.
Read Full Article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2013/05/23/starter-studio-aims-to-give-start-ups.html
I am very excited to announce that we are launching Starter Studio, a new creative space in Orlando that accelerates startups. We are accepting applications now and you should check it out at StarterStudio.com
Yeah, I know what your thinking. I am not saying facebook the company is stupid, I am saying that everything on facebook kinda is. Now don’t get me wrong, some very smart things happen in the news feed, groups, messages, and chats, but overall when you think about 99% of the things that get comments, likes, or shares are stupid. So let’s go over some examples how facebook is stupid.
1. Pictures rule because reading is for smarty pants
A favorite of ours recently has been the success of images across all social networks. You know your on pinterest or have looked, you have an instagram account, and maybe even 3 or 4 other photo filtering apps on your iPhone. On facebook though the stupid pictures rule, and always will. SocialMediaToday.com has some 65,000 fans and posts all kinds of cool and educating content, but when they get stupid they have their highest engagement rates. For example this picture is one of their most engaged images of all time on their fan page.
2. Video dominates because we are too lazy to read what you have to say
Even though what you have to say is super cool, and your a great writer I won’t waste my time reading your article. If you post as a video to your news feed and it is less then a minute long and funny I might listen. This is the general consensus of the normal facebook user, and if I wasn’t writing in a blog you wouldn’t be reading this. A proven example of this is the Orange County Florida Mayor Teresa Jacobs video posted on her news feed. When the mayor has something to say a lot of times she will post in text about it, but seldomeley to people respond to the text heavy posts. When she posts a video featuring star wars characters and flashy graphics people click in droves.
3. Fill in the blanks
Go ahead fill in the ________ with whatever you ________. See what comes out, and you might just earn your fan page some heavy engagement. We all like to play agame and be creative and even a lot stupid. Some of the blanks will get filled in with cool and clever blanks, when many others will get random and profane substitutions. Either way fill in the blanks is one of the most engaging type of posts or campaigns we do to increase engagement and edgerank scores. See how Century Tuna used it in a custom app to help make their page viral with over 400 comments.
4. Best caption wins!
There is no real prize, there is a real competition though. By combining the popularity of pictures and fill in the blanks you get a post full of engagement. We do this on our fan page a lot (http://facebook.com/tabbed.co) to increase engagement, but also to make ourselves laugh. Facebook isn’t a place to be taken seriously, so we take advantage of the stupid level as much as possible. This post garnered us likes and comments from fans we never even knew we had.
Ok, so these are post examples of how things can be stupid on facebook. You have to keep in mind that facebook is america’s greatest past time, and is not a place they go searching for things to buy. People want to be entertained and enjoy their experience on facebook, so the majority of the time stupid things are what they are looking for. The average user spends over an hour a day browsing through their friends, ex girlfriends, and children’s pictures and videos. So if you want to succeed on facebook you might want to dumb it down a little bit, or hell just become a little stupid with the other 900 million users.
by Dan McGaw
As we are all used to, facebook will be throwing another curve ball at us. Recently announced in their fan page update email, they will be updating the size and location of your profile image. Now this might seem like a small change, but for some of this it means 100’s of re-designs. Comment at the bottom of this post if your company is looking at a cover image redesign.
Therefore, the new size of your profile image will be 160 x 160. Now this will not directly affect your current image because your profile picture had to be 180 x 180 to be accepted. That image was then compressed by facebook into the current 125 x 125 box. There has been no response to whether this 180 x 180 minimum size is still required, but we do know the image will now sit 23px from the left and 210px from the top of the page.
So how does this affect you? If you have a super cool cover image which lines up with your profile image you will have to do a redesign. Companies like Ford who have done a great job lining their profile images up with the cover photo will have to make some changes. This change is not too dramatic, but if you have two or three hundred to do before the 26th, then your hands might be full.
Facebook’s statement is as follows:
“On April 26, we will be updating the size of the profile picture on all Pages. We are letting you know about this small change in advance so that you can update your profile picture on April 26. The new profile picture will be 160 x 160 pixels and will sit at 23 pixels from the left and 210 pixels from the top of the Page.”
After the most recent changes, our company is still attempting to be caught up from the launch of timeline. We are happy to have change because it keeps us all in business, but what changes do we face next. With the recent purchase of instagram will we see some changes in a few months? Will we be going through another platform overhaul next year? Only facebook can provide those answers. If you could have one thing changed what would it be? Put your answer in the comments below.
We have all been waiting for timeline to take effect on fan pages, and a lot of us have been speculating what might be changing. Well the changes are here, and our last post “Facebook Tabs are Getting Wider?” was not far off. We even nailed the spot that applications would show, and the exact size the new tabs would be. The tabs have gotten wider as expected, but what else has changed?
When you first login as your fan page today, you will see a notification at the top of your page informing you about the changes. The pages will take full effect on March 30th, and in the meantime, you can preview the new changes. This window of 30 days is very short, and goes against facebook promise to give a 90 day warning before all changes. We will not harp at that much now, but many of us in the tab industry will be scrambling to update our platforms. Let us click preview and see what changes there are. 
Now that you are previewing timeline, you will have gained a cover image, just like profiles. This is an item we all expected, and hope you have created a cover for your page. 
In addition, a big change is how the application for your fan page is displayed. Your applications are on the right side below your cover photo, and if you have multiple apps, you will have to click a button to expose them.
If you have multiple applications or tabs for your fan page, and they are not linked together on your displayed application or tab, they might never be seen. Sorry http://www.NorthSocial.com, but this update is not helpful for you.
A big part of timeline for businesses was the ability to tell its story. With timeline, you can add opening day, special events, and so much more. To review all of your previous dates might take some time, but it is worth it to gain exposure to your customers.
The new admin panel might take a little while to get used to, but it seems to keep everything nicely in one place. The panel now contains your notifications, new likes, insights, and the new messages feature. 
Timeline for pages will allow facebook users to send you private messages, and for you to respond privately too them. This is a huge feature, which can help businesses cut back on negative posts on their wall.
The facebook tabs have made a huge change as expected. They now are 850 pixels wide, and can fit the average website in side of them. Another big change is that other applications or tabs are no readily viewable from the new display. You can access them by clicking a small button that displays all of your apps, but is not extremely noticeable. This is a huge disadvantage for facebook tabs that are not directly linked together.
Overall, the new changes for fan pages are a big plus, but it will take everyone a while to get used to. To hear all the upcoming changes coming to Fan pages visit us as we watch it live athttps://www.facebook.com/business/fmc
By: Dan McGaw
Are you familiar with the News Feed? When you login on your Facebook account, you are automatically brought to your
News Feed. On this feed, you can see different comments, status changes, tags, likes, videos, photos, and links, which are also known as edge’s, made by you and your friends. An Edge is any form of interaction a member of Facebook may incur with the use of an object similar to the primary action of object creation wherein FB contacts would share, like, or comment on. You might be wondering why there are many edges made by you and your friends but why only a few of them are seen in the News Feed? In order for your post to be seen in the page, there are three components you have to remember: affinity, weight, and recency. Each of these components plays an important role in the edge rank algorithm. Therefore, edges seen on your News Feed are not randomly selected.
Understanding EdgeRank
The name of the algorithm used by FB (Facebook) to uncover what is shown in the FB member’s news feeds is called EdgeRank. The newsfeed is the “Killer App” of Facebook. There is a surfeit of significant information available readily to users of FB and the order wherein it is shown is the newsfeed. The Newsfeed is not literally a feed of news, but rather a chart of the best relevant Edges revealed by the EdgeRank Algorithm. EdgeRank finds out among your connections which is frequently appearing and might be the most relevant for you to consider. This can also determine which type of content should rank higher than the rest on your newsfeed. It is therefore significant to understand how this algorithm can prove to be effective.
The Big Three of EdgeRank
1) Affinity Score (ue) – is a score between edge creator and the viewing user. The more actions you make to a friend’s account, like sending messages or visiting profiles, the higher the affinity score will be. On the other hand, you do not gain any affinity score from them when you visit or send them a message unless they also view your profile and/or do other activities within your account. What do affinity scores do? Users with high affinity points have greater chances to appear in your News Feed than those who have lower scores.
You might notice that whenever you interact with someone on their profile walls, you will realize they are always in your news feed. Whatever interaction you do like commenting on anyone’s photo would be considered a sign that you are close to that particular friend in FB. This is Facebook affinity in action. Just remember the rule – the more frequent a friend appears in your FB newsfeed, the more possibility your affinity is expanded. In turn, it augments the probability of them showing up in your feed. Nevertheless, some people may limit themselves to a small amount of FB connections but it seems to be effective for most FB people as long as there is interaction undertaken and not just by viewing profiles alone.
2) Weight Score (we)- depends on the edge made. The more important the edge is, the higher the possibility of it being seen in the News Feed. Videos, photos, and links are considered the heaviest forms of edge. Apparently, a video post has a greater chance to be seen in the News Feed than a simple “like”. Always remember that friend’s photos are more significant to “like” rather than a business profile.
Exert more effort in featuring objects with high scores for Edge weight so that more people will comment and communicate with you even if you do not really understand the preferences of your followers. Some succeed in posting videos or links to acquire any interaction from the contacts. Undoubtedly, variety is crucial but comprehending the weights of various forms of objects will lead you to enhance potential audiences on your wall.
3) Recency Score (de) – is the time when an edge is created. Actually, it is also known as time decay. Recent actions are prioritized than those made a few days earlier. Edge ranking pays more attention to new activities rather than old ones so it is wise to post everyday or every now and then to update your contacts on what is going on. It is a fact that some of your FB friends are not always online 24/7 so there is probability that they might have missed your status update. There is also a chance to lessen the competition for newsfeed spots by increasing the exposure through content creation when others are less likely to post anything. You may notice that some post even while using their mobile phones or other gadgets and the reason behind this is to update their status and apply the time decay perspective.
To gain success on Facebook, it is vital for all businesses and digital marketers whether huge or small, to have an extensive knowledge on the ins and outs involved in the execution of EdgeRank and how it affects the Facebook user’s newsfeed.
So the facebook craze is here and your one of the millions of people trying to get people to like your page. You got some friends, some clients, and even some people you don’t know to like it, but you still want more! We know it can be tough and that trying to stand out can get over whelming and even frustrating. Don’t give up, hang in there and follow some of these tips to watch the number climb again.
1. Have you set your username? What is a username you ask? Go to your fan page on facebook and look at the URL in your browser. Does it say “pages” after facebook.com and before your company name? If it does then you are missing giant step in mankind. Facebook allows you to give your page a custom URL that they call a username. This username should be set to your company name so you can give people a direct link to go like your page. Learn how to set your username here
2. Have you told your friends about your fan page yet? There is multiple ways to let your friends know you have created a fan page. You can Share it on your wall, send them a request, but have you told them yet? Facebook lets you send a mass e-mail out to your friends to inform them of your new page. This feature is a little hidden secret but is a part of your fan page itself. It even will pull the contact info from many companies like AOL, Yahoo, and Mac. You can also upload a mass e-mail list in .CSV if you have one. Facebook will send out a request for them to come like your fan page. To use this feature you will need to go to your fan page and hit the Edit Page button. After that, you will then look on the left side of the screen and look for the resources section and click on it. In about the middle of the page you will see the “tell your fans” link and it will then walk you through a step-by-step process. QUICK TIP – Only hit the SEND button once! The page might act as if it is not sending your messages, but it really is. Simply wait a few moments and then exit that page.
3. Become a part of the conversation. Most people do not even know that their fan page can talk to people on other fan page posts. This is a great way to get your name out there and in front of new people. A fan page works just like your profile does, except you cannot post on normal profiles walls. So go out and like other companies fan pages that might be similar to yours. After you like these companies, you can comment on their posts and their fans will now see your company. If you posted something cool, they will click your name and then visit your fan page. If your page is as cool as your post, they will click the like button. This is a simple way to get more attention and build likes. It is all about being a part of the conversation. To see the updates of all of the pages you like simply click the facebook logo after you have switched over to your facebook page.
4. Don’t just sign up for a fan page. Building a fan page is just one part of the package, there are many ways to customize your page to represent yourself correctly. A popular way to increase your page likes is to build a custom landing page. This page is showed to all new users first when they visit your page. These pages typically have an arrow or call to action pointing at the like button telling them to like your page. These pages can do many of cool things like show pictures of your company, list information, and even show videos of how cool you are.
5. Simply having a fan pages will not bring you fans. You need to build your facebook presence into your daily marketing plan. How are your customers to know you have a fan page if you do not tell them somehow? We recommend putting a facebook logo and your custom facebook URL (tip 1) on every piece of marketing material you have from your business cards to the windows. This way people will see it and know they can find you on facebook. Click here to get a free facebook sign.
6. Facebook Ads. Facebook loves itself and helps you tremendously with getting likes through its ads program. Your fan page even suggests you buy ads all the time. By creating targeted ads, you can reach more people then you could imagine in just a few clicks. If you sell peanut butter you can show your add only to people who like peanut butter, if you sell dog food you can show your ads to people only interested in dogs. Their targeting is amazing and if you get good, you can get your click cost down to .25 cents per click.
7. Offer an incentive for liking your page. Many businesses with custom landing pages offer an incentive for liking their page. If you own a restaurant, you could give 10% off your next check, a free appetizer with the purchase of 2 entrees’, or a fee drink at the bar. There are many options and your fans will appreciate the offer. They will even come into your establishment and redeem it.
8. Add a Facebook Badge to your website. This is very easy to do and facebook will even write the code for you. Visit Facebook’s website plug ins page. Facebook Plug-ins
9. Post status updates that people actually want to see. Content is king and people only share good content. If my friends share content I am more likely to look at it. Use your status updates (posts) as a way to spread good information that people really care about. This will help your content get shared and in turn spread the word about you.
10. Make sure your profile image is legible. Your profile image is big when you see it from the fan page, but when everyone else views it in a post, search, shared content, or on the wall, it is really small. It is only 50px by 50px, which is smaller than an American penny, and if they can fit Lincolns head in a penny, we can fit your company logo in a 50px by 50px box. This image will help people identify you company immediately if they search, browse, or stumble upon you. Read more…
http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=&t=
