Teens who feel a round-the-clock compulsion to participate on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter may pay a price in lost sleep. They may also face a higher risk for depression and anxiety, new research suggests.

British researchers surveyed nearly 470 teens to explore how 24-7 social media participation might affect their emotional health.

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It seems hard to imagine that the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election will not also win another important race… the social media race. In todays hyper-connected world, the candidate that inspires enough of the population to eventually win the election will likely also have excited enough of the public to follow her or him on their various social media networks.

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Social media has become an integrated layer in our lives, available at almost every point in your day and even in space. It is this level of integration in our lives which has also made social media so powerful as a marketing tool and why just about every business has integrated it into their overall marketing strategies.

One important element of social media, if you really want to get the eyes, ears, and mouths of the people really making an impact, is to connect and engage with the influencers of each social platform.

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That little row of social media buttons has become a ubiquitous feature of most websites. After all, it is good to show off that you are social, and that there are channels where you can interact directly with stakeholders.

But is your website header or sidebar the best place to show that off?

Here are five reasons why having social media buttons on your nonprofits website might do more harm than good:

1) They send visitors away from your website

As hundreds of visitors line up to write prayers on strips of cloth at the Knotted Grotto art installation at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 18-year-old Cassie Sadie has a message of her own, typed in 140 characters or less.

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1. Plan around the online and social hit.
Craft your pitches to include elements that readers will want to share on social media. Think about a creative way consumers can engage with your product along with a campaign hashtag. Just as when you include a storyline in a pitch, including decorations on your product’s theme can help editors imagine how to photograph them. This reduces one step of the design process for the publication and gives you additional influence on how your product is presented to the world.

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Keywords. They are still as powerful as they were in 1996 or the introduction of the Internet to the world. No matter what keywords you have, they can provide your content the kind of impact that it deserves.

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Learn how IoT, cloud, social networks and last but not least, humans, can be integrated into a seamless integration of cooperative organisms both cybernetic and biological. This has been enabled by recent advances in IoT device capabilities, messaging frameworks, presence and collaboration services, where devices can share information and make independent and human assisted decisions based upon social status from other entities.

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As we look to 2015, what social media marketing trends are likely to develop? Here are six that online retailers should monitor.

1. Niche Social Networks Will Emerge

Mainstream social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will face challenges from lesser-known upstarts in 2015. One example is Ello, an ad-free social platform still in beta that has received a great deal of attention among those that follow social media developments.

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Consumers and businesses alike have something to learn from just about all of your social media interactions. How many people did your post reach? What sort of links do your followers like best? Does anything you do online even matter?

Fortunately, the rise of social media has been accompanied by the creation of tools to that analyze the impact of most of your social media activities.

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While there are certainly dozens of insightful takeaways that could be gleaned from Buffetts 50-year career as an investor, I think everyone can benefit from learning more about one of his core principles that have guided him through good times and bad.

Reputation matters
One of my favorite all-time pieces of advice from Buffett is this: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'will do things differently.

In many ways, the sheer simplicity and common-sense nature of that statement belies its profound implications for modern-day life. Throughout his career, Buffett has used his reputation sparingly to turn around a failing business or to gain a tactical advantage.

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Mention the words social media in a room full of school leaders and you’ll be met with more than a few reservations: It is too new. There are too many risks. I don’t know how to twit or tweet, or whatever. There has got to be another way.

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I remember saying that if I could ever figure out how a person could be in two places at once I would retire a billionaire.

And then, I figured it out.

Because being in two places or more simultaneously is exactly what social media allows us to appear to do. With a nearly endless supply of apps designed to cross-post anything we can enter into a digital device, you would think the impossible had finally been achieved.

Certainly a lot of innovative people have ensured a comfortable retirement by making that illusion easy to create. But what is it costing entrepreneurs who fall prey to it?

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Did you know companies with happy employees outperform their competition by 20 percent?

LinkedIn has carried out research to say that 58 percent of employees are proud of their company and are glad to tell others about it, especially on social media.

This is great news, as happier employees means happier customers, because they pass on their energy & passion in everything they do, including customer support.

But how can you create happy employees on social media?

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Question for you to answer: What is YOUR goal for your business startup?

I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing the answer to that question. A defined goal helps your team plan strategic & measurable steps; while, in the process, you also keep resources in check as you strive to reach it.

It can be used as a tool to achieve either of these goals:

increased email subscribers
grow profitability
get leads
more website traffic to your website
improved customers service
increased brand awareness
…and more!

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A man suspected of a double murder was on the run, and a lot of people turned to the Knox County prosecutors Facebook page to find out about it.

Posts about the killings of Sandra Lee Stelk and Jaime Barber — who were found shot to death in a rural Knox County home on Sept. 30 — and about suspect Travis Bonham were each shared hundreds of times and reached more than 100,000 people.

This was good news to Prosecutor Chip McConville and his legal assistant and communications manager, Emily Morrison, who have worked since January to find ways to use social media that are helpful to the public.

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Social media allows you to connect with the world, but many seemingly harmless quizzes and games can really be traps laid by social media hackers.

The simple and sometimes silly surveys that pop up on Facebook feeds often ask simple questions that may appear simple enough: What's your favorite color? Where did you grow up? What is your spirit animal? Where did you go to high school?

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Celebrity selfies and fan-snapped shots on the Internet have cut the prices they can charge for their pictures. But those tweets and Instagrams and Facebook posts allow them to track down and trail boldfaced names like never before.

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A recent analysis conducted by a University of Florida educational leadership scholar indicates the lack of concrete policy on the use of social media by teachers and other school employees is increasing the potential for misuse and inappropriate teacher-student relationships online.

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Social media is a big part of many peoples lives, and it can be a great tool to help build and maintain relationships, and for general self-expression. LinkedIn has 396 million users, Twitter has 307 million active users and Facebook almost 1.5 billion active users, according to Statista.com.

However, social media can easily lend itself to blurring the line between users’ personal and professional lives. And any information — good or bad — posted to social media can be difficult to delete once it’s out there. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to become a more responsible social media user. Read on to find out how social media can hurt your career, and how to avoid social media mistakes.

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The holidays are right around the corner, but regardless of whether it is Christmas, Valentines Day, someones birthday or any other holiday, you can always surprise that special social media lover in your life -- or yourself -- with any of these awesome gifts.

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The 4 well established steps of a social media audit include the following;

Step 1: Review your Social Media profiles

Where are you present?
The first thing to start from is mapping your social media presence. Locate all the social media accounts for your brand and write down the current status and audience size. This is a a great base to evaluate your presence on each platform at a later stage. Here’s an example from a recent social media audit for Twitter Counter.

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The same laws of attraction have never governed the social media marketing scene for too long.

Just as one Tweet changes another, so does user preferences when it comes to consuming online content. New social media rise and fall quickly and this year SnapChat and Periscope already shown a great influence on the marketing landscape. With new players entering the field and old companies rushing to introduce new features and innovations, the rules of social media play hardly ever stay the same.

In 2016 we should expect to see new exciting trends and changes in the social scene and here are the top 4.

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The end of the year is drawing near, which means its time for fresh starts and new beginnings. While that does apply to whichever New Year’s resolution you plan to make in 2016 (and, in all likelihood, abandon by February), it applies to social media sites as well.

Unfriend and Unfollow
The new year is the perfect time to go through your friends list with a fine-toothed comb. Here is a quick guide for whether you should be friends with someone online: Do you know who this person is? Have you seen him or her in the last year? Do you honestly think you’ll need to talk to him or her in the future?

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In 2015, we have seen several major changes and improvements to the way we conduct business on social media. We have seen brand new networks rise, while others have fallen. We have watched popular networks pivot, and promising networks not take off as expected.

This years social media ad revenue is estimated to total $23 billion.

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Charities are turning to online stars with large YouTube audiences, following an approach increasingly used by big brands to reach new donors and volunteers.

The Make-a-Wish Foundation, for children with life-threatening illnesses, DigDeep, the non-profit organisation focused on water, and Los Angeles-based anti-poverty group United Way are among the charities using a new technology platform designed to let this new kind of minor social media celebrity do their marketing for them.

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Luckily, there are ways that you can improve your blog posts and other content to make them more shareable on social media. If you implement these tips when creating content and posting on your blog, you might be surprised by the number of shares that you get. In no time, you’re sure to be pulling more traffic from social media than ever before!

1. Optimize Your Images for Social Media

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Social media has become a popular (and profitable) marketing tool for new and experienced entrepreneurs. Establishing an account and building an audience organically costs only time, and most platforms offer reasonably priced advertising options for those who want a little extra push.

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The ethics guidance interpreting Attorney Advertising rules in the social media context continues to evolve, but this time the evolution appears to be for the better, taking into account the realities of the growing use of social media. As you may recall, early last year, the New York County Lawyers Association weighed in on the ethical implications for lawyers using LinkedIn and suggested that attorneys using the self-proclaimed Worlds Largest Professional Network needed to beware that their posts on that site, even the most casual, did not run afoul of the attorney advertising rules.

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Social media is driving our lives right now. You may say that is untrue, but I say you are in denial unless you are one of those emasculated men who share a Facebook account with your wife or you are part of the 1 percent who spends little to no time online. This is 2016 and Facebook has more than one billion daily active users. One billion. Daily. Active. Users. Amazing.

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On average people check social media every 6 and a half minutes,thats about 150 times a day.

And that habit is creating phantom phone vibrations in some people.

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According to a study by Pew Research, the number of people who get their news from Facebook and Twitter has increased significantly over the past few years. As of 2015, 63 percent of Facebook users turn to the social platform for their daily news, and the same percent of Twitter users browse news stories via the site.

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One of the first things some people do after a major life incident is to post on social media, and sometimes those life incidents are rather personal for such a public venue. This has repercussions in two different ways.

First, people create their own liability by posting online.

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The greatest change over the last few years in promotion and advertising is the use of the Internet.

Our websites are a platform to blog and promote our business. In addition links to social media are vitally important.

The use of Twitter and Facebook has grown considerably – every business, no matter what size, can enjoy the benefits of social media.

We have focussed on Twitter and Facebook a lot over the last 12 months. Gradually we have increased our activity and developed what we think works best for us.

On Facebook we have a business page. We regularly post technical articles about current accounts and taxation topics. These prove popular and often result in questions and contact from current clients.

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Whether you’re new to social media or a pro, an effective social media program can broadcast   both your company and employment brand. It may also help stock your sales funnel.

Tackle these four fundamentals and you’ll be off and running.

#1: Start with a clear-cut strategy.

A clear social media strategy can help maximize your efforts from the outset. Start with your goals:

Identify your top priority and focus on it.
Who do you want to reach? How do they use social media?
Do you want to drive traffic to your website or store -- or both?
How can community engagement help support these goals?

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Lately, Facebook newsfeeds have been seeing a new page pop up asking for assistance from the community, and the response has been abundant.

Jessica Williams, chief probation officer and program director of the Ross County Probation Department, created a Facebook page for the agency a few weeks ago. She started posting names of people wanted on warrants after violating the terms of their probation, along with their pictures.

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For better or worse, we are all on high alert about the whereabouts of children, even those who are not our own. Adults who saw a creepy looking 18-year-old at a coffee shop sweet-talking an underage girl would become suspicious and some might even contact the authorities.

And certainly parents today — who sometimes go to the lengths of attaching GPS devices to their kids backpacks and tracking them using cellphone apps — would never allow an adult male to have regular unsupervised contact with their young daughters. But it happens regularly through social media.

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The U.S. Digital Registry was announced Jan. 29 as a one-stop shop for the social networking needs of government departments who are actively engaged on such platforms as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Unlike official government websites that end with .gov or .mil, profiles created through third-party platforms can often look deceptively authentic, but are used to mislead the public and steal personal information.

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How do companies stay afloat in recessionary times with so many calls for financial prudence and as far as the additional cost of marketing goes, is a recession a good time to lay back on your Social Media efforts or should you be stepping it up?

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Social media narcissism is on the rise. The team behind Psychology Today compiled research to show that millennials could be the most narcissistic generation in history. Social media is one of the exemplifications of the problem. That is not to say that everyone on social media is a narcissist, but it is where these people tend to hang out.

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I know we think of social media as being a new millennium thing — but the truth of the matter is that the seeds of what would become the social networks we know, love, and sometimes hate today have been around for a heck of a lot longer than the mid-2000s. And these 90s social media sites from before social media was a thing? They are proof.

Most of the sites on this list were originally founded in the late 90s, so I suppose we might also be able to consider them social networks from the early 2000s; after all, that’s probably when a lot of us actually started using them.

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When it comes to online reviews, business owners take the good with the bad. Reviews can be highly influential. On the upside, positive reviews highlight things such as terrific customer service, stellar products, delicious food and the like. There is a local Facebook group for Kansas City foodies, and a positive review of a new restaurant can be a major boon to a new local eatery.

On the flip side, even the most customer-focused and conscientious of businesses will eventually get a less than favorable review. It’s simply the law of averages. Reviewers definitely do not lack places to post their comments: Traditional review sites like Yelp are always in play, but people also take to Twitter and Facebook to air grievances.

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Social media is not always an online distraction or procrastination platform. While some may be addicted to their social media networks, it is one of the best ways to stay informed. Major news outlets, corporations and persons of interest use social media to deliver messages to the masses. With items posting immediately, the public stays informed. Some issues cause controversy, but social media does more good than harm in retrospect.

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After you have you social media profiles up and running, you may forget to pay attention to your profiles. It is easy to do as you are focused on posting, tweeting, and uploading videos. However, in order to maintain a positive image on social media networks a bit of maintenance is required. You need to make sure that you keep your social media profiles up to date at all times.

The social media profile is extremely important, so here are some things that you can do to make sure that you are getting the most out of your profile.

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The more time young adults spend using popular social media, the greater the link to depression, new research suggests.

The finding stems from research—which involved nearly 1,800 men and women between the ages of 19 and 32—that tried to get a handle on how depression and social media habits may interact.

But does greater involvement with social media actually promote depression? Or, are people who are already depressed simply more likely to gravitate to social media? The jury, according to the study authors, is still out.

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Social media is the primary battleground for the most controversial presidential campaign in modern history. Here is what real-time data says about each campaign.

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I previously analyzed their 2013 report and their 2014 report and came to the same conclusion each year. Most companies still do not get social media as a customer service channel.

Six years ago, I did my own tiny social media study. That is back when the Starbucks Twitter profile said that some guy named Brad did the tweeting. Things are pretty much the same as even back then. (Except for Brad. I am not sure what happened to him.)

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Social media is a blessing for small business entrepreneurs to spread the word about their business without spending a huge amount of advertising dollars. Nevertheless, a majority of small businesses are not able to capitalize on this opportunity.

A recent ProOpinion poll found that many small business professionals don’t use social media or a social media calendar on a regular basis. Only 31 percent post frequently on social media, and whats even worse, just 15 percent interact with their audience.

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One click on social media can reach hundreds of people. But the wrong post could reach your boss and cost you your job.

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Social media is a double-edged sword, providing both benefits and drawbacks.

In order to stay connected, many of us are becoming captivated by these pervasive tools. A social media report by Sensis in 2015 reported that nearly half of all Australians access one or more social networking sites every day.

The report also found that Australians now spend an average of 8.5 hours a week on Facebook alone, with 24% checking social media more than five times a day. Seven in ten people used a smartphone to access their accounts.

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