Here are three apps that will make you say, “How did I now know about this?!”

1. CardMunch – This iPhone app makes piles of business cards a thing of the past. Snap a picture of the card, and the information will automatically load into a portable Rolodex  The app also finds the individual on Linkedin, helping to grow your virtual network. Android users should checkout Hello by Evernote.

2. Aviary– Want to edit photos, but not ready to publish them on Instagram? Aviary brings creativity to the common photographer with its simple photo editing app for iOS, Android and Windows 8.

3. Google Drive – Google’s online document storage program allows users to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations from anywhere and on almost every device. Plus, users can collaborate and edit files together through the chat function. Our favorite part – it saves automatically!

Things are a changin’ at Facebook as it appears to adjust in order to meet the demands of younger users and hold onto ad dollars.

Last week, the social media giant announced its first major change to the newsfeed since 2009. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports Facebook is also investigating the use of hashtags as a way to group similar public conversations. It also recently announced an upgrade to its search mechanism.

The newsfeed redesign, which gives users the ability to easily filter their newsfeed to only show specific topics or users, may limit a brands visibility on the social network. Positive changes for marketers include the streamlining of desktop and mobile newsfeeds, and an emphasis on large visuals.

As social media giants battle it out for younger audiences and advertisers, we’ll be interested to see if Facebook can hold onto its title as Social Media King.

Check out these articles for more info:

http://mashable.com/2013/03/07/facebook-news-feed-marketers/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323393304578360651345373308.html

http://mashable.com/2013/03/15/facebook-teens/

Camera-shy receptionist

A dangerous tree proved to be quite damaging to a St. Louis firm’s public image after a local station picked up the story.

While reporting on a story about a resident who had repeatedly tried to contact Roberts Brothers Properties about the tree, KSDK reporter Mike Rush paid their office a visit.

Rather than buzzing the reporter in and alerting a company representative, the receptionist hid under her desk for half an hour. Not only does this response imply guilt, but it also gives the reporter a much more interesting story. See the video here.

PR Lesson: There are two things business owners can take away from Roberts Brothers Properties mistake. The first is the importance of basic media training for all employees. Receptionists and lower-level employees are usually the first ones contacted by reporter because they tend to know more and say more. Employees should be briefed on media procedures for a variety of situations – good and bad.

Carnival’s PR nightmare

Carnival is no stranger to PR problems with the latest coming from last week’s Triumph fiasco.

The media handling of the nightmare vacation has been widely criticized, but thing that struck us most was the way Carnival CEO Micky Arison handled the incident. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat, was spotted taking in a game while passengers and crew dealt with less-than-optimal conditions.

PR Lesson: Public Relations is all about perception and marketing experts know the public is more likely to judge an organization on how it handles a problem than how the problem came about.

Business owners should consider how their actions look to customers, especially disgruntled ones. Few will ever experience something as massive as the Triumph, but, in the age of social media, something as simple as blatantly ignoring a line of frustrated customers can damage a brand’s reputation.

(Source: Poynter.org, Bostonglobe.com)

Ask Americans for the one thing they can’t leave home without, and we’ll bet most of them name a smartphone or tablet.

The popularity of mobile devices isn’t anything new, but a surprising number of entrepreneurs don’t consider how it affects their business. Smartphones and tablets have changed communication in ways that dramatically affect the business world.

With that in mind, it’s vital that business owners consider the mobile implications of any marketing initiative – the most important being a mobile version of your current website.

Let’s look at the facts:

• Average smartphone usage grew 81 percent worldwide in 2012.
• In 2012, the number of mobile-connected tablets increased 2.5-fold to 36 million, and each tablet generated 2.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone
• Last year’s mobile data traffic was nearly twelve times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000
• Mobile network connection speeds more than doubled in 2012, opening the door for easier and more frequent surfing

So, take a critical look at your company website. View it on multiple devices and consider the ease of navigation. For a real perspective, ask someone who has never viewed the site to take a look and share their impressions. You may not like what you hear, but it’s a window into the potential revenue losses that come from a less-than-stellar web presence.

Data from Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast
Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Overnight, the hashtag started trending worldwide, and tweets flooded in showcasing gruesome and graphic images of bloodied arms and wrists, though it can be hard to tell what is real and what is not.

Although this started as a hoax, the campaign has now taken a life of its own. Encouraging the young and impressionable Belieber followers to self-harm is a disturbing trend that we hope will vanquish as fast as it appeared. Luckily some have spoken out against the Twitter campaign, including the high-profile Miley Cyrus, who stated that “Cutting is NOT something to joke about.”

We wonder if Justin Bieber himself will make a public statement about this horrible chain of events in the Twittersphere.

USA Today pointed that Facebook is becoming the new battleground state for politics. Entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to serve the entire political spectrum should proceed with caution before putting their views online even in personal social media postings.

In light of strong evidence of the use of performing-enhancing drugs, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has banned Lance Armstrong from competing and will strip away all his titles earned throughout his career.

For years Armstrong has craved the spotlight, but now he’s making front-page coverage in leading media across the country for all the wrong reasons. And sponsors are taking notice. Endorsers – such as RadioShack, Anheuser-Busch, and longtime friend Nike – are bailing on the popular former cyclist in light of these allegations.

This controversy surrounding Lance Armstrong shows how a reputation built over time can be destroyed in mere seconds. Especially in today’s digital world where headlines jump from your computer screen to your daily morning paper in less than a day, it can be hard to hide from the truth.

The value of a good review for a business is priceless. How many of us browse Yelp when choosing where to grab a bite to eat, scout TripAdvisor to plan a vacation, or check out reviews of the local auto mechanic down the street just to see what others are saying? People rely on the opinions of others (instead of just advertisements) to decide on where to spend their money, which is why online reviews are so important.

However, don’t let the urge to get more buzz around your business sway you to the dark side. Fake reviews can tarnish your brand, and organizations have been cracking down to weed out fraudulent posts.

All the sites I mentioned already have algorithms and human moderators in place to fight fake reviews. Yelp in particular is very aggressive, with 20% of their reviews never making it to public display. In fact, Yelp is planning to punish repeat fraudsters by exposing them and shaming the businesses that employ these deceitful tactics. It is also against Federal Trade Commission guidelines, which states that you must disclose if you have been paid to endorse a product or service. Not doing so entitles you to steep fines, like a $250,000 one the FTC slapped Legacy Learning Systems in 2011.

But an even greater damage that outweighs any monetary concerns is the damage to your reputation. Years of building your business as a credible organization would instantly evaporate and instead be replaced with public scrutiny. Make sure to only employ reviews from credible sources and not engage in deceptive practices to ensure that the next business exposed online and shamed for fake reviews is not yours.

After secretly recorded comments from a private Boca Raton fundraiser leaked of Mitt Romney saying that 47% of Americans are victims dependent on the government, we can’t help but wonder why the aspiring President would vocally disparage almost half of his country. Here’s a tip for you Mitt Romney: if you are running for President, everything you say and do WILL be held against you in the court of public opinion, thanks to the Internet. The video was leaked to the press, and now everyone from Jon Stewart to Diane Sawyer is spreading the remarks to their audiences; meanwhile the Mitt Romney campaign has spun its gears to full-on damage control.

Another unfortunate recent example of the royal lack of privacy today comes from an Italian magazine publishing topless photos of Kate Middleton. The Duchess of Cambridge was simply enjoying a sunbathing session on a secluded French chateau getaway when a paparazzi photographer captured the scene. Now, the British royal family is taking the matter to court with hopes to stop further publications from printing the photos, but you can’t take back what has already been done. Amazing what a zoom lens and internet connection can do to the public image of a Princess.

Even the common person is not immune to the repercussions of online activity. Everything that you post, from Facebook cover photos to the latest Tweet about what you had for dinner, becomes fair game when you click “publish.” Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and lawyer for high-profile defendants, says that young people nowadays don’t seem to value privacy. “They put stuff on Facebook that 15 years from now will prevent them from getting the jobs they want,” he said. “They don’t understand that they are mortgaging their future for a quick laugh from a friend.”

And that’s nothing to laugh about.