Facebook Tweaks Group Selling, Pinterest Changes Rules


Facebook Tweaks Group Selling, Pinterest Changes Rules


Social platforms like Facebook and Pinterest are constantly evolving. Sometimes those changes are beneficial for business users, and sometimes they aren’t. This week, Facebook announced improvements to its For Sale Group features. The features are designed to make listing and selling items in Facebook groups easier. There is also more information on apparent changes to Pinetest’s contest rules aimed at cutting down on spam.

Check out these stories and more in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.

Social Media

Facebook is Adding New For Sale Group Features

This week, Facebook announced adding improved features for For Sale Group members. The features are designed to make listing and selling items on Facebook groups easier and more efficient. The new Sell feature can be selected by For Sale Group members when they create a post.

New Pinterest Contest Rules Aim to Limit Spam

Pinterest is changing the rules. Well, their contest rules, at least. Hosting contests on social media can be a great tactic for businesses, but it can also be abused. After feeling that their previously lax form was being taken advantage of and wanting to avoid actions they view as spam, Pinterest has decided to set new Pinterest contest rules.

New YouTube Metrics Coming This Year, Google Says

According to Search Engine Land, Google announced that later this year they would begin reporting viewability metrics for DoubleClick users and selected YouTube advertisers.

Oh No! Google Talk for Windows Ends Feb. 16

Google chat users who’ve been holdouts against Hangouts have probably hoped this day would never come. But recently, the company notified fans of the Windows version of Google Talk (affectionately known as Gtalk) about Google Talk shutting down as of Feb. 16.

Marketing Tips

Vistaprint Social Postcards Unveiled, Making Facebook Ads Easier

Say you run a small retail business. You have a special event or campaign coming up to bring in more revenue. Perhaps you’re sending out specially designed postcards to a mailing list of potential customers. Vistaprint provides printing services for some 16 million of the smallest microbusinesses around the world.

Research

Are Younger Americans Losing Interest in Entrepreneurship?

Recent studies suggest that young Americans are less interested in entrepreneurship than their parents’ generation was 25 years ago. While no one really knows why, some data suggest declining risk tolerance could be part of the explanation. Business ownership by young people has declined substantially over the past two decades.

Small Biz Spotlight

Spotlight: Consolidated Plastics Puts Quality at Customers’ Feet

Plastic is a material that can make up so many different things. You might not even think about all of the different products that include plastic. But Consolidated Plastics is a family-owned business that specializes in plastic products. The company has been in business for 34 years. And it specializes in selling branded floor mats and other plastic-based products to long-term clients.

Startup

Can the Storm Electric Bike Deliver For Cheap?

What happens when a surfer with a background in industrial design finds himself injured and unable to get to the beach? In his Indiegogo campaign, Storm Sonders says when he found himself in this situation he built himself an electric bike. To do this, he used parts he sourced from manufacturers in Asian and all over the world.

How Republic Bike Keeps Companies Rolling in Style

The bicycle industry is enjoying somewhat of a boom in recent years. Individuals in cities around the world are enjoying the practical, health, and environmental benefits of biking. Choosing this form of transportation can also benefit businesses. And that’s the market Republic Bike is after with its Bikes for Biz program.

Franchise

Elevation Burger Franchise Takes “Junk” Out of Junk Food

Elevation Burger is taking the fast food experience to new heights for burger lovers. The fast food burger franchise is the only one of its kind that boasts fresh, organic meat from grass fed cows instead of grain fed. Not only are the burgers fresh, but the French fries have a twist on them, too. They are fried in olive oil as opposed to vegetable or canola oil.

Technology Trends

Flotilla Wants to Make Digital Tinkering Easy as Pi

The guys behind the colorful start-up Pimoroni like their Raspberry Pi. We are not talking about the delicious dessert but rather the credit card sized computer. Pimoroni got its start making Raspberry Pi cases, called the Pibow. Now the company is branching out into other Raspberry Pi accessories.

Google “Trash Can” Saves Your Deleted Analytics Data for 35 Days

Until recently in the Google Analytics tool, deleting anything was akin to kissing it goodbye forever. Delete meant delete and that was that. There was no “undo” features to speak of that could reverse that mistake. After getting a lot of feedback from Google Analytics users, the company decided it needed to introduce a feature that captured all those deletes within the platform.

This Lockitron Deadbolt can be Opened with Your Phone

The time may be coming when losing a set of keys will be considered old-fashioned. Losing a smartphone, on the other hand? That’s another concern altogether. Assuming you can hang on to your phones better than your keys, however, products like a new one from Lockitron will be welcomed with open arms.

Lenovo Celebrates 100 Millionth ThinkPad with Hangout Event

Lenovo is celebrating the shipment of its 100 millionth ThinkPad. It took a little more than 20 years to hit the milestone. And Lenovo, the current maker of ThinkPad devices, marked it with a live Google Hangouts On Air event on Feb. 10, 2015. The event featured a roundtable discussion and Q-and-A session with key members of the Lenovo ThinkPad team.

WitKit Platform Lets Your Team Collaborate in Security

A new collaboration tool’s main goal is to give your company a secure environment to do work. WitKit is the latest all-in-one collaboration tool. The workplace collaboration suite offers one place to share documents, communicate with staff or co-workers – including a video chat platform – and a place to work on projects together.

Google Bringing Fiber Internet to Southeast. What’s Next?

A much faster Internet is headed South this winter. Google has just announced expansion plans for Google Fiber. This is the company’s revolutionary Internet connection that Google once compared to a public utility. Dennis Kish, Google Fiber vice president, announced on the Fiber blog that this gigabit connection is coming to four metro areas, all in the Southeast U.S.

WhatsApp Is Testing Voice Calling to Rival Skype

The much ballyhooed WhatsApp brings a voice calling feature to its popular platform. The first mention of a possible Whatsapp voice service emerged last year. Though at the time it was uncertain what form the service might take. The new Whatsapp voice feature might bring them into competition with Skype and Viber, both of which offer online voice calling services.

New CloudBerry Box Heats Up Competition with Dropbox, Box

There are files that we feel confident saving to the cloud alone. And then there are files which we believe are best saved locally, either on our laptops or desktops. But if something is saved on your desktop and you’ve only got your laptop and need those files on the desktop, there’s little you can do. Enter Cloudberry Box. This is the latest offering from Cloudberry Lab.

Microsoft HoloLens: A Fully Untethered Holographic Computer

Microsoft announced some big things at its Windows 10 preview. New features offered by Microsoft’s latest operating system and flashy tech were highlights of the preview, but possibly the most eye catching announcement was HoloLens. Microsoft is calling this new product a fully “untethered” holographic computer.
Facebook sign photo via Shutterstock

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