In 2012, Facebook tweaked its algorithm, turned down the reach, and turned up its push for paid ads. We found ourselves screaming “Damn you Zuckerburgggggggg!,” more often than not. Like any tool used correctly, Facebook ads are effective. Best advice for FB ads: Less is more. Be smart. Do your research, Zuckerberg be damned.

We can’t wait for the new MySpace. Justin Timberlake & Co. purchased the social media grandaddy, and are attempting to reinvent it by catering to a hip/hipster audience of bohemian 30-somethings. Only problem: It’s late! It’s got more buzz in social circles than a Kimye baby bump at a sorority rush party. We waited months to get our invites, finally receiving access to the beta site just recently. It looks pretty sweet. But one has to wonder: Will the wait for the new MySpace be justified? To quote Robin Gibb: “No … no it won’t.”

Google Plus is the best-kept secret in social SEO. G+ is a haven for wonks,
geeks and businesses if they know what’s good for them. Retailers and restaurants, especially, should know that 2013 ain’t nuttin’ but a G+ Thang, bay-beh.

Twitter should stay strong in 2013, but will diversify. Like all social sites, expect it to tweak its algorithm and start bombarding you with opportunities to advertise. Resistance may be futile, but stay resolute — Twitter is still the most social, social-media site. Who to watch: Justin Bieber. The king of “selfies” will continue his public self-reflection. We’re still amazed at his 35 million followers. Honestly: Do you know anyone that follows him?

Pinterest. The leader in visual content. Well, maybe. Instagram is expected to see an 89 percent increase in 2013 — the LARGEST among major social networks. Hopefully this increase will involve #fewer #hashtagged #photos. Rumor has it that Pinterest is going to gang up with a sporting goods/outdoors store and run a campaign that will attract men like a Kate Upton Google search. Best advice: Unless you’re a visually oriented business, steer clear of the Big P.

Aside from running legal Facebook contests (which almost no one truly does) analytics are still the biggest obstacle to overcome for most “socialites” in 2013. Expect the Facebooks, Twitters and Pinterests of the world to introduce suped-up analytics offerings native to their site/helping show ROI.

Tout: Replace a 140-character post with a 15-second video.
SnapChat: Real-time picture-chatting.
InstaCollage: Instagram, but with more borders, filter options, texts, and background color.
Tappr: Milwaukee start-up has 11 bars added to its local app. We love the idea of buying a beer for the lady at the end of the bar … with our iPhone.
Overgram: Add text captions to photos and pictures for Instagram.
RetailMeNot: A coupon go-to when shopping at Target, online or in-store.

Happy socializing in 2013!

Usually, you have to travel to tropical locales to truly soak up some rays. But the Ultimate Sun tan can be found about halfway between the equator and the North Pole — right here on Milwaukee’s East Side.

The solar specialists at Mindspike Design have formulated a new way for customers to keep an eye on Ultimate Sun with a brand spankin’ new website.

Ultimate Sun’s five different types of tanning beds are featured, all offering UV-free tanning options — a far cry from the cramped tanning beds of old. And that fresh take on tanning has transferred to the redesign, which includes one-touch drop-down pricing options for Ultimate Sun web surfers. In a spiffy social-media connection, the brand’s Twitter feed has been integrated into the sleek, sexy, photo-focused site.

The fully content-manageable site was created to be mobile friendly, with a responsive design in mind. The redesigned site goes beyond selling Ultimate Sun’s hand-picked products. It also tells fans about who they are with a “meet the fam” tab, profiling each employee’s hometown, favorites, photos and includes a few “rando” references for good measure.

UltimateSunTan.com shines a positive light on owner Sini Skodras’s stellar shop, which stands the shadows of UWM. Messaging mentions students — a welcome clientele that’s offered special discounts — and caters to sun-seeking patrons looking to add a little color by spray or by bed.

(Cue movie trailer voiceover:) We thoroughly enjoyed working with Ultimate Sun. You could even say this redesign was … fun in the sun.

The only thing better than writing about beer (or designing around it) is tasting it. And that’s just what Mindspike Design is going to do at the 3rd Annual Milwaukee Brewfest on Saturday, July 28 at the Old Coast Guard Pavilion along Milwaukee’s lakefront.

Wait, the only thing better than writing about beer and designing around it is writing about it while drinking it. So here we go!

Milwaukee's Best (beer festival)

A few beer facts: 

• Beer is the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems. In this case, attending the Milwaukee Brewfest 2012 is a way to skip out on your honey-do list. Which is, in a way, a solution to a problem.

• 24 Hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? Well, you’ll have to ask the 75 different beer companies scheduled to tap a keg at Milwaukee Brewfest.

• Egyptian “laborers” received “a measure” of beer a day as they built the pyramids. And there will be a number of breweries in attendance that started small, building national operations from ground up. Craft-brew grandaddies Sam Adams, Paulaner and New Belgium will roam the Pavilion with a certain air of debonair, whispering secrets to tasty upstarts.

• It helped make Milwaukee famous. A dozen breweries located within a Galena hops-throw of Milwaukee will be representin’ like no-coast gangstas. Wisconsin brewhouses like Leinenkugels, Lakefront, Capital, Titletown, Tyrenea, Furthermore, O’So, Delafield, Rhinelander, Point and Milwaukee Brewing will all be in attendance.

Milwaukee Brewfest may be a big festival for smaller breweries, but it’s where the cream always rises to the top. Maybe we should trademark that … Prost!

P.S. V.I.P tickets are sold out but you can purchase general admission tickets here!

The Spice Girls may have been all about “girl power” in the 90′s, but as far as social media goes, no single platform has ever shown the influential power of the female demographic as Pinterest has.

Now Pinterest is by no means a unique idea, as you can see in the graphic below. The social pinboard is a veritable homage to the social platforms that have come before it–one that has borrowed and blended together the best parts of popular social platforms in a smooth, aesthetically pleasing way.

So how did such a simple concept generate so much traffic and buzz? Pinterest is kicking virtual butt and many people find themselves asking, “What’s the big idea anyways?”  There are countless blog posts and articles available that share traffic statistics, opinions and other musings on why Pinterest has gained popularity so quickly. However, very few of them talk about what is–in my opinion–the real answer behind the success of Pinterest.

The ladies love it.

Now I’ll include a disclaimer here by stating that I’m a female, and yes, I too love Pinterest. However, social media (being my job) is something I eat/sleep/love/live 24/7 so my opinion regarding social media platforms in general is slightly biased.

That being said, my sisters, female friends, aunts, and my mother are all in love with Pinterest. When I say “in love” I mean that they’re obsessed with it–completely smitten like a schoolgirl with a crush. They all get together and gab about their pins with an enthusiasm I’ve never seen a girl show toward something in the social digital spaces before. Many of them couldn’t care less about technology; certainly none of them could tell you what a web app or a bookmarklet was if they tried. Some of them barely even check their own email! But they all love Pinterest, and for the first time I have a common social media connection point with them, apart from Facebook.

To the broad audience of the social web, Pinterest has created something that no other social platform has created before, which is an online haven that’s inherently appealing to women. Pinterest successfully appeals to the emotional, psychological, and social needs of a demographic that few other sites are reaching properly, and that is the key to Pinterest’s astronomic success.

So why hasn’t this happened earlier? As a general trend, women engage more on most social sites, including Facebook and Twitter. According to Nielsen, Women are the majority of social networking users, spending 30% more time on sites than men and comprising 55% of all mobile social network usage.

I expect that social platforms will be taking notice of this and acting accordingly in the days ahead. Women tend to be much faster at adopting new social media, and in the clear example of Pinterest, are a force to be reckoned with in terms of setting trends on the social web. The Spice Girls would be pleased, indeed.

Google has unveiled its newest product called Google Buzz. It’s a social connect application built right into Gmail. So far, it has created tremendous ‘buzz’ across the Internet with its potential in the world of social media, interaction and sharing potential. Let’s run through some of the more interesting features of Buzz.

Auto Following:
Once you Buzz is initialized in your Gmail account, it will identify those in your address book who you regularly correspond with and add them to your Buzz line up of contacts. This saves you the daunting step of having to add contacts right at the beginning.

Private and Public Sharing:
This is an exciting feature to be sure. No, you no longer have to have your whole profile set to private to ensure the privacy of your updates and links. You can customize your sharing privacy for each update and link that you share on your Google Profile.

Twitter/Picassa/Google Reader Integration:
At the moment you can share (one-way share) all your Twitter posts, Picassa pictures, video and Reader links through your Google Buzz account. So far, these are some of the only sites you can share through Buzz, however, Google has informed us that they will continue to open up the platform in the future to offer more integration across multiple platforms through API and Facebook Connect. However, that future is still uncertain.

Recommendations:
In Buzz, if you are not part of the conversation, Google will recommend it to you. With a click of a button, Buzz will allow you to enter in discussions that you maybe interested in.

Mobile App:
Don’t stop at just Gmail. Buzz will be available in a Mobile App for Android and iPhone users. You’ll be able to keep track of your status, updates, conversations while on the go. Also, you will able to geotag yourself in specific places nearby and offer up comments about your location. (Sound familiar Foursquare?)

These are just some of the exciting aspects of Google Buzz. The roll out to users begun at 1pm on Feb 9th, to the first round of journalists and media gurus. The full rollout will begin shortly and extend for a few days. There is no sign-up, it will simply be in your Gmail Inbox as a present one magical morning.

I’m curious to see the impact Buzz has on social media. Specifically, the impact it has on link sharing, privatization versus public updates, platform integration and user adaptation. The last big rollout of Google’s was Wave and Wave didn’t measure up to the hype it promised. Filled with bugs, slow speeds and lack of adoption from users, Wave sunk. Let’s see if Google Buzz lives up to the Buzz.

Do you have Buzz? Have you started using it? If you don’t, what are you excited about?