[typography font="Lobster" size="26"][dropcap]E[/dropcap][/typography] veryone loves a good scavenger hunt, especially when they don't have to leave their computers! To promote the 3D re-release of its 2003 animated hit Finding Nemo, Pixar is challenging fans to a digital scavenger hunt across multiple Facebook pages. While Facebook Timeline scavenger hunts are not a new concept in social media marketing, Finding Nemo 3D has taken it to a new level. The hunt started on August 21st with an announcement on the Finding Nemo Facebook page. Hosted on an Facebook application, fans are given a clue to find a character from the movie on one of the related Facebook pages. For example, to find Bruce, the fish-friendly shark, fans had to go to Disney Pixar's Timeline and find the date that Pixar was founded. To find the other characters, fans were driven to the Facebook Timelines of Dory, Crush, Squirt, and others.

Once fans find the character, they are redirected back to the app and rewarded with a video of one of the character's classic moments. Below you can see Crush's clip (one of my favorites).   http://youtu.be/0IgnRf8wGMc   Pixar is releasing characters in small groups of four each week until the film's release September 14. After finding all the characters for that period, fans are entered into a sweepstakes for sweet Finding Nemo swag, such as a Finding Nemo plush toy, Finding Nemo 3D glasses, and a poster signed by the director of the movie.   Overall, this is a great way to get fans excited for the upcoming re-release by sharing classic clips from the movie. It also creatively drives traffic to the film's multiple Facebook properties. And it's just super cute.

The Heisman Trophy is synonymous with greatness in college football. The Naismith College Player of the Year is awarded to the top male and female college basketball player. I'm sure these sound familiar to the average sports fan.   The Tewaaraton Trophy is given to the top college lacrosse player each year. Have you heard of it? You should have. The Tewaaraton Trophy has more than just athletic prowess associated the honor: it also celebrates history.   The "Tewaaraton" is awarded by the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy and incorporates all six nations of the confederacy. The award is endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders in 2001 and since that time has become an annual cornerstone of NCAA lacrosse.   Lacrosse is one of the oldest sports in North America and the NCAA has been able to find common ground with the Mohawk Nation using the ceremony not only to celebrate the athletes but to celebrate the history of the sport. Starting this year, the Tewaaraton Foundation will start awarding an Annual Native American High School Player of the Year Scholarship. The award will go to the one Native male and one Native female lacrosse player as nominated by high school coaches across the country.   Last year's Tewaaraton Award was given to Steele Stanwick (UVA Cavaliers) and Shannon Smith (Northwestern Wildcats).       And now they want you to get involved.   The Tewaaraton Foundation, with the support of Activ8Social, is running a social media campaign where people can submit photos of their lacrosse team to the Tewaaraton Challenge and can earn votes from their friends, family, teammates, and community for the best photo.  

  The person or team with the most votes wins 20 signed Tewaaraton posters from this year's finalists plus five tickets to the award ceremony on May 31 in Washington, DC.   College lacrosse is the newest sport using social media to help expand their fanbase and so far it has succeeded. It's giving college sports fans the opportunity to celebrate the sport and its history in a way that connects with the youth of the sport. NCAA football and basketball if you are reading, you should take a few notes!

  The highlight of every teenage girl’s life is going to prom. Girls spend weeks planning every detail of this quintessential high school experience, from finding the perfect dress to finding the perfect date. But what if you’re a touring female professional golfer that’s home schooled?   More focused on winning golf tournaments than the color of her corsage, LPGA rookie Lexi Thompson has recruited her fans to help her get ready for prom. Through a Facebook photo contest, Lexi has asked her fans to help decide who to take to her prom. Fans can also provide inspiration for Lexi’s prom look on Pinterest (more details to be announced).     To honor those serving our country, Lexi has asked members of the military to submit their picture and tell Lexi and her fans why they should pick him to go to prom with her. “… I’m looking for somebody special and somebody I respect. That’s why I’m choosing a guy from the service,” said Lexi.  

The qualifications? "I'm thinking the minimum requirement is probably 6-feet-2," joked her mother, Judy Thompson. Besides height, her potential date must be a member of the military and between the age of 18 and 20. Lexi is asking each potential date to their story of how they embody the core values of the military including respect, honor, and integrity.

 

  The US Military member that Lexi will have the honor of taking to prom will receive an all-expense paid trip to Ft. Lauderdale. So, if you think you’re ready for this special mission, “Like” Lexi’s page and share your story.  

  Stop me if you've heard this one before: the question of social media comes up at your company or organization. Someone says the company should be on Facebook. But is it really the right fit for your organization? A new infographic from Zintro answers the burning question of which social network you should use for business.  

Facebook or Twitter? LinkedIn or Google+? Find out which network suits your needs below.

 

• Facbeook boasts 845 million users globally
• Largest segment of Facebook users are male, 21-24 years old
• On March 12, 2011, there were 572,000 new Twitter accounts created
• 140 million tweets were sent per day on average in 2011
• There are more than 150 million LinkedIn users
• Google+ has over 100 million registered users (many are not active)

 

Hope you had a great holiday! The Monday #SoMash is here with the top social media stories from last week, including Pinterest's new editable board covers, Instagram for Android, the best time to tweet and Facebook's new ad tools.   Pinterest Gets Editable Board Covers   Pinterest's redesigned profile pages left something to desire when the fastest growing social network made the changes a few weeks ago. The new design showcased board covers however you could not choose which ones to feature. Well, the people behind the pins have given all the Pinterest addicts out there a chance to edit each board cover and the girls in this office are pretty excited about it.  

  To edit a board cover, hover over the board with your mouse and an "Edit Board Cover" button will appear. Once clicked you can rotate through all of your pins to select the cover image you want to be featured. What's even better than that is that Pinterest gives you the ability to adjust the positioning of the image for a better fit, much like you can with Facebook's new cover photos for the Timeline. When you have the cover image exactly how you like it click "Set Cover" to finish.   Finally, Instagram Available for Android   Android users rejoice! The time has come! Instagram is now available in the Android Market. Over 430,000 people had signed up on the waiting list from the sign up page announcing the coming of the Android version about a week or two ago.   The iOS app had over 30 million users after just a year and a half on the market.  With over 500 million Android activations out, compared to 180 million iPhones sold, Instagram has a chance to break the 100 million user mark. To put this into perspective, it took four years for Facebook to reach 100 million users. Imagine now a mobile only social network reaching that many users in less time!  

  Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, said consistency between the iOS and Android version was a major concern. To keep the interface similar, the same 13 people that built the iOS application also built the it for the Android.  Android users can expect the same filters as the iOS version, but features like Tilt/Shift, Flickr integration and inline posting didn't make it into the app this time around.

Are you an Android user who's been waiting for this moment? What are your thoughts on the app?   For Twitter, Timing is Everything   According to recent research, timing, more than wording matters most to getting your tweets seen.    Lemon.ly found that twitter receives the most traffic from 9 to 11am ET and 1 to 3pm ET, while the best time to tweet is at 5pm says Hubspot's, Dan Zarrella. So here's the low down on when the best times are to tweet based on time zones and days of the week.   Based on the info above, it's best to spread out your tweets throughout the day, but focus more emphasis on the late afternoon. Based on the breakdown of where tweets come from in the U.S., stick to East Coast time.   48% of tweets are from the East Coast 33% of tweets are from Central time 14% of tweets come from the West Coast time zone Almost 80% of the U.S. populations is in either the Eastern and Central time zones   In terms of days of the week, the best times are towards the end of the week. For tools to help you schedule tweets and reach the most amount of your followers click here.   Facebook Testing New Tools for Higher ROI   If you're an advertiser looking to optimize your ad campaigns for a higher ROI get excited because Facebook is in the testing phase with a few tools to help you out. New features could include "Objectives" which lets advertisers ask Facebook to "Show this to people who are more likely to: [Like my Page] or [Install my app] or [Click on my ad or sponsored story]." Additionally, Facebook is trying out a simpler interface and more targeting options.   The new features allow advertisers to specify which actions they want their ads to achieve and will help them tell Facebook the goals they have in mind. Currently advertisers can only target precise interests (for example, basketball) or broad categories (like sports) in a single campaign, but in the new interface they will be able to choose from both sections.  

  Other social media articles from last week that you may enjoy:

On February 4, 2012, The Social Network, aka Facebook, turned 8 years old, and what an amazing, well documented journey it has been for Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg. This informative infographic from Infographic Labs visualizes some of the staggering numbers behind one of Silicon Valley's most powerful giants.

Here are some key takeaways:  

• 845 million monthly active users accounting for 100 billions connections
• Europe (174M) and Asia (183M) have more registered users than the US
• Users upload 250 million photos daily and "Like" 2.7 billion times
• There are 425 million mobile users (50.3% of active users)
• Gardens of Time by Playdom is currently the most popular game
• Hidden Chronicles if the fastest growing game of 2012
• Zynga accounted for 12% of Facebook's 2011 revenue
• Facebook's net income was $1 billion in 2011
• Zuck is worth between $18 billion and 24 billion

  Check out the infographic below for more insight into everybody's favorite social network and the state of affairs in 2012.     Credit: Infographic Labs

The Monday #SoMash is here with the following social media stories from last week, including Google+ apps section, Pinterest's terms of service, NBA features player Twitter handles on shirts, and Facebook prepares for IPO.   Google+ Launches Apps Section for Hangouts, API Comes Out of Preview   The Google+ team announced last week that it has added a section in Hangouts to support the creation of developers and that the Hangouts API will come out of preview. According to the team,

"Hangout apps are regular web apps, running in a big window inside the Hangout UL. In addition to using shared-state APIs to give users real-time interactivity, you also have access to built-in Hangout features."

The Apps section features all of the effects Google has built internally, such as adding an overlay onto your video to turn you into a dog. As opposed to Google Voice and Docs in Hangouts, these new apps will appeal to the regular consumer rather than the business user. They also offer more options for a video chat than Skype or Face Time.   Pinterest Terms of Service Gets Updated    Last week, Ben Silberman, CEO of Pinterest, announced that Pinterest will update its Terms o Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy so that they are "easier to understand an better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future," according to a blog post.   Lately, many have raised concerns about the site and copyright infringement. Silberman hopes that the new policy will solve these problems by streamlining tools for reporting infringements. Another addition to the policy is new language that will likely make the Pinterest API for apps and Private Pinboards available soon.   Following in the footsteps of Tumblr, Pinterest has now prohibited pins that encourage self-harm or self-abuse. In addition, Pinterest's original Terms of Service stated that by posting content to Pinterest, users granted Pinterest the right to sell their content.  In the updated terms, they have removed that language.   To read over Pinterest's proposed Terms of Service, make sure to check out their Terms and Privacy page.   NBA Brings Twitter Handles to T-Shirts in Pro Sports First   This week, the NBA will begin selling official T-shirts that feature the Twitter handle of the league's biggest stars', including Dwayne Wade, Jeremy Lin, and Kevin Durant, above their jersey numbers. The shirts will be available at the NBA Store website.   According to Lisa Pilken, the NBA's Vice President of Licensing,  

We are always looking at new ways to connect with fans. As the top sports league on Twitter with more then 4.5 million followers on @NBA and more than 350 NBA players active on the site, we thought this would be a great way to engage with our fans.

  The NBA may be the first to officially make player Twitter T-shirts, it's not the first to utilize this idea. Professional soccer and lacrosse teams have replaced players' names with their handles on official game uniforms.   Facebook Preparing for May IPO   Rumors have been spreading that Facebook is preparing for its initial public offering for May. The social network will be the largest ever Internet offering. A source noted that Facebook halted its trading of shares last week to determine its shareholder count. The offering, which was filed in early February, could raise as much as $10 billion dollars and value you it at $100 billion. Last year Facebook made $3.71 billion in revenue and has 845 million users throughout the world.   Facebook is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the IPO and will most likely file at least one amendment on its S1 registration papers. The word is still out on which week in May Facebook will go public. It largely depends on the SEC.   Other social media articles from last week that you may enjoy: