Who is ready for a long holiday weekend?  I’m looking forward to cooking on the grill, fireworks, and fun!  But before you head out….I thought these items would be of interest.

Tech News You Can Use

Technology is constantly changing and keeping up with it is sometimes unnerving.  I wanted to give you a few tidbits of information to ponder over the break.  Stuff you need to know and that could make a big difference in your business.

• Facebook Live is changing to include the ability to interview someone and have a chat “waiting room.” Consequently, people are moving to Facebook Live from Blab and Periscope.  How about you?  Have you started using any of the live streaming platforms?  What is your preference?  Are you considering a change?

• Instagram audiences are more responsive than other social media platforms to making purchases directly from a post.   Are you on Instagram yet?   You might be missing out on sales if you’re not.   Need help getting started, check out my post, Instagram for Beginners.

• Pinterest last week, previewed camera-search tech that could simplify shopping.  Soon you will be able to snap a photo of an object in the real world and get related recommendations of where to purchase on Pinterest.  This feature will be available in a few month.

• Facebook was in the news this week with their Safety Check feature.  Safety Check automatically sends Facebook users in an affected area a note asking if they’re safe. When a user clicks on “yes, let my friends know,” the tool notifies their Facebook friends. Safety Check on Facebook is one of the many ways the internet has become an essential tool in responding to crises.

• Here is another Facebook item.  All the pictures that have been synced via a mobile device to Facebook will disappear soon if you don’t subscribe to Facebook’s new “Moments” app. This is IMPORTANT since you could lose lots of pictures!  You should have seen a message about this on your mobile device.This won’t affect pictures posted publicly just auto-synced ones.  They are in folders in facebook that will be deleted.  There is still time to save the photos to your computer.  Deadline is July 7.   Or just the “Moments” app.Moments arranges the photos on your phone into groups, all based on when they were taken—like at a wedding, or a weekend getaway. Facebook’s facial recognition tech can identify which of your friends are in the photos, and you can privately send those photos to specific friends in the shot. So far moments appears to be a good bet for users.

I will follow up on some of these newsworthy items when I learn more!

Now my friends….I wish you a wonderful long weekend and a sparkling 4th of July!   Enjoy!