Women.com 

A new social networking site women.com launched earlier this month and (you guessed it) it’s for women only. The site is an online forum with user-submitted topics through which community members talk openly with one another, rather like Reddit or Metafilter. It was established after CEO Susan Johnson realised women weren’t able to express themselves fully on social media ‘because it’s a co-ed environment.’ It’s no secret that sexism is well and truly alive on social media sites with women receiving regular rape and death threats online. But women.com has come under criticism already, with a key argument being that men need to be part of the feminist discussion.

Facebook market value climbs above $200bn

This month Facebook have become the 22^nd largest company in the US with a value of $200bn. Economists have advised growth in Facebook’s media advertising has boosted confidence in the stock and has seen the shares rally 42.5pc since the start of 2014. This is hardly surprising given that Facebook have really given businesses no option but to pay to advertise and boost posts since slashing organic reach down to a mere 6% of the audience.

Social Media and the Scottish Referendum

It was big news in September and Scotland said ‘No’ to independence keeping the United Kingdom united. But social media played a crucial role in the referendum. “In just a month we’ve seen the referendum debate come to life on Facebook, with over 10 million posts, comments and likes relating to the debate,” said Elizabeth Linder, Facebook’s politics and government specialist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. On the day of the referendum Facebook released the “I’m a voter” button which users could share to let people know they had taken part in the referendum (but not revealing which way they voted).

The referendum had a record turnout of voters and the Facebook button was designed to contribute to this: “Studies show that when people see their Facebook friends talking about voting, they are more likely to vote themselves. We hope the ‘I’m a Voter’ button will make it easy for voters to share that they are taking part in the referendum at the end of months of debate and discussion,” said Elizabeth Linder.

Getting chatting on Twitter

If you’re stuck for how to get chatting on Twitter, have a look at this blog on the best Twitter networking chats http://heroicsearch.com/twitter-chats-on-marketing/ most of which run weekly and help you to get in touch with like-minded professionals and give your social media a boost!

What do you think? Let us know in the comment box below.

By Harriet Thacker

Harriet is a marketing expert, social media enthusiast and Shake Social’s champion blogger. Struggling to maintain your own blog? We can help!