Rachel Ramsey : Social Spotlight
Rachel Ramsey
Graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in Media Arts and Design and a minor in Communication Studies
| Welcome to Social Spotlight! When I'm not covering a variety of technology and communications industries - everything from the cloud and VoIP to customer relationship management and data centers - you will find me on social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, foursquare, YouTube, Tumblr... you name it, I'm there

Social Media

Pin It to Win It

January 17, 2013

Pinterest is amazing. I was introduced to the addicting social media site in 2010 and never turned back. Besides the fact that you are free to do whatever you can dream of – plan your wedding, get crafty, find recipes, laugh on the humor page all day or even catch up on news – there is a huge creative opportunity for companies to come up with marketing campaigns and contests to reach their customers. The main driving factor behind Pinterest is it’s an outlet for us to organize and get inspired about what we want to do in real life.

Broken City Knows Its Social Media

January 10, 2013

Here is a trailer for the upcoming movie, “Broken City” starring Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones that I’ve seen on TV a lot in the past few weeks. Notice anything?

Reviews to promote movies were once reserved for notable publications, but this entire trailer is built on Twitter and viewers’ reviews. It’s a creative spin on promoting the movie through what “real” people are saying and encouraging the movie’s audience to give feedback on social media.

Yo Quiero Taco Bell....On My Speedo

January 7, 2013

Interacting with customers on social media is a win-win situation. In addition to satisfying the customers' needs and giving them some bragging rights for earning a company’s recognition, the company itself also earns credit. People like companies that like their customers. When you respond, retweet, comment or like anything involving your customers, you are positioning yourself to succeed with consumers.

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2012

On the last day of 2012, I’d like to wish you a very happy and safe New Year! Here’s what’s happening on the social media blogs this New Year’s Eve.



Already trending on Twitter are NYE, Happy New Year, #Best 2012Memories and #MyWishIn2013. As similar topics start to emerge as the celebrations continue, be on the lookout for a huge amount of resolution tweets tomorrow.

“Whether you aspire to something silly or serious next year, Tweeting your #resolutions can be an effective way to account for your actions.”

Foursquare Updates Privacy Policy

December 31, 2012

In an e-mail to users last night, Foursquare announced updates to its privacy policy just after Instagram gained some [temporary] haters for changes to its privacy terms. Beginning January 28, users’ full names will be displayed across the check-in service and venue owners will have increased access to users’ check-in data. The company sent an e-mail to users last night:

As our product evolves, one of the things we do is update our policies to match it.

Year in Review -- 2012 on Social Media

December 27, 2012

As we inch closer to the New Year, social networks are rounding up 2012 with the top highlights, trends and events of the past 12 months. Most of these reports came out before the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT shooting and Christmas -- two 2012 events that dominated social media and I think belong on all of these lists.











By now, we’ve gathered that if something big is going on, you can always count on Facebook to find out a) what is happening and b) what all of your friends think about it. As a population, it’s just what we do – share.

Share Videos Instantly with YouTube Capture

December 17, 2012

If you’ve ever become frustrated with the middle step of uploading a video to YouTube through the site’s browser, today is your lucky day. YouTube has introduced the YouTube Capture app for iPod touch or iPhone that allows you to upload videos instantly to YouTube after filming. You also have the option to share to other social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ simultaneously with the upload process.

The app was introduced today in a YouTube blog post, which can basically do it all: capture, enhance and share all from one app.

Pope's First Tweet

December 12, 2012

Last week, the Twitterverse welcomed Pope Benedict XVI. His handle, @Pontifex, has been untouched until today.

“Dear friends, I am please to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response.

Twitter Filters and Instagram Update

December 11, 2012

Since the massive adoption and popularity of Instagram, we’ve seen a few other sites pick up filters of their own. Facebook, which acquired Instagram in April, recently updated its photo uploading feature. Users can now upload multiple photos at a time (up to 30) and edit with Facebook's own set of filters.

Facebook filters

Instagram and Twitter - 'Social Media Frenemies'

December 6, 2012

Over the past 24 hours there has been a lot of talk about how Instagram pulled support for Twitter Cards, resulting in cropped or poorly displayed images if you opt to click “View photo” instead of the actual Instagram link.

Users can still share Instagram photos to Twitter, but the image on the two platforms will look different. The idea is to increase traffic to Instagram and utilize the platform and its Web presence more directly, especially now that it has released its Web profiles.

 “A handful of months ago, we supported Twitter cards because we had a minimal Web presence.