Hello, my name is Dan McDonnell and I am a Community Manager at the American Evaluation Association (AEA). In the fast-paced world of social media, things are always changing. Just as soon as you stop to take a breath, Facebook has tweaked its algorithm again. Or Twitter has updated its design. Recently, there have been a slew of changes that hit just about every major social network, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to give a few quick hits on what’s new, and how and how it affects evaluation professionals.
Hot Tip: Facebook Design Changes & More
Do you run a Facebook fan page? Facebook took a cue from Twitter who recently gave a facelift to the layout of fan pages. As of June 5th, the size of fan page cover photo images has been adjusted to now require 851 x 315 pixels. In addition, Facebook removed what used to be called ‘page tabs’, replacing them with a simple menu of the major sections of your page – Timeline, About, Photos, Likes and More.
If the above changes weren’t enough, Facebook also gave users more freedom to customize the leftmost column of their fan page. Want your page ‘Reviews’ to be front and center? You can do that now! The entire left sidebar can be ordered entirely to your liking.
Hot Tip: Google + Authorship Limited
Remember that post I made a few months ago about Google Authorship? Well, it turns out, Google changed the game when it rolled out some major changes this week. While Google Authorship still exists, the biggest benefits have now been removed. Unfortunately, pictures are no longer supported in Google search results, nor will the author’s Google + circle information be shared. Now, if Authorship is correctly implemented into a blog post, only the name of the author will be added to the search result. Bummer.
Hot Tip: LinkedIn Premium Gets an Update
LinkedIn has become an essential tool for job seekers these days, as well as an excellent way to network. For the power users of the world, LinkedIn has a service called LinkedIn Premium, which I would highly recommend to anyone actively in job search mode. It’s a bit pricey though at $23.99 or $47.99 a month options, but with the addition of LinkedIn Premium Spotlight, a starter package that runs at just $7.99 a month, evaluation professionals can enjoy many enhanced benefits of LinkedIn without breaking the bank.
With Premium Spotlight, LinkedIn will make your profile stand out more among search listings, offer you suggestions for keywords to include in your profile to make yourself more visible for hiring managers and more. Check it out!
Hot Tip: Twitter Changes Fonts
Ok, so unless you’re a Helvetica purist, this one isn’t too big of a deal. Back on May 30th, Twitter angered (or delighted, depending on who you ask) font geeks around the world by changing the default typeface of Tweets from Helvetica Neue to Gotham. Some users have reported that the new font makes it more difficult to read, while others have embraced it fully. What’s your take?
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.
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