By: Lisa Macklem and Michael Kernan

With over 500 million Facebook users, chances are either you or members of your company are on Facebook. Facebook is a great tool for business; it allows you to better sell to your customers as you get to know them better. You also get to know what is important to them, and it’s an easy way for you to check in with customers. According to Facebook’s statistic page, people are spending in excess of 700 billion minutes a month on the social networking site.

However, we have all heard stories about the embarrassing post on Facebook that made someone look foolish. This article gives advice on how to better secure your Facebook, and take steps to prevent your company, or one of your employees, from looking foolish on Facebook.

Number 1

Change your privacy settings on your Facebook account to benefit your company.

Facebook has a profile privacy page that lets you change your settings to release only certain information to certain people. Review it to understand what is possible. You can change your settings so information is not available to anyone or only to some of your customers.

Here’s a link to a Youtube video on how to change your security settings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0sPYcxSxqs

Number 2

Create friend lists from your customers.

Facebook allows you to create friend lists to treat people differently and allows you to set different terms as to what customers can see or do. Friend lists are a great answer to protect against what customers can see on your Facebook page. It takes a little time to set this up for all of your customers, but it is well worth the time to prevent that picture of you from college from being shown to your customers who follow you on Facebook.

Number 3

Always use HTTPS.

You can increase your security on Facebook by always using an encrypted channel. This is just one more way to ensure you know exactly with whom you are sharing information.

Number 4

Be aware of who your friends are.

Take control of what you put on your page, in case your friends are your competition. What your “Friends” display on your wall may harm the relationship with your customers or your image. Make sure to adjust privacy settings to craft what is and what is not available to your customers or competition.

Number 5

Get notified when you are “tagged.”

You can set your notifications to alert you whenever someone tags you in anything. It’s a good idea to know what is being said about you and by whom as well as anyone who may be using you as a reference or authority. You can receive notifications for anytime you are tagged in a photo, video, or post. You can also configure your Facebook page so that only you see when you are tagged in a photo or video.

Number 6

Keep up with Facebook because they frequently change privacy and security settings.

Make sure that you keep abreast of any changes to Facebook’s settings as they frequently change without warning. This could result in information being made available to everyone. It’s a good idea to double check all settings after there has been a change as older posts may not update automatically even when you do re-set privacy and security settings.

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By: Michael Kernan

(as published in TV Week/Advertising Week)

What will be the “I Love Lucy” of mobile? The answer remains to be seen. When TV was first invented, most television producers came from radio and did not know what to make of this new medium. So they put radio on TV, and it was less than impressive. Then “I Love Lucy” came along, and it showed what could be done with a filmed show that plays to television’s strengths.

The parallel can be drawn that the answer to mobile is to produce specifically for the medium. That said, here are a few tips for producing mobile video.

Produce specifically for the screen. First, consider the screen size of the device the person will be viewing. Most cell phone screens on the market are approximately 2 inches. However, as mobile video becomes more popular, handset makers are designing larger screens. For example, the Apple iPhone has a 31/2-inch screen.

One helpful pointer when shooting video for mobile devices is to use close-up shots. Wide shots lose focus, which makes it difficult for the viewer to see the characters.

Similarly, the fewer people in each shot the better. If a single character is in the shot, it is not necessary to frame the actor in the center. The character can be set to the side, using the rest of the shot to capture background or something else integral to the shot.

In choosing a background, use the simplest background that makes sense for the project. Overly complex backgrounds will not translate well to mobile and will detract from the focus.

Avoid TV techniques. Camera techniques used in television and film, such as tilting or zooming, do not cross over to mobile. The least amount of camera movement possible is best. The same is true for character movement. A lot of movement by a character is hard to watch on a mobile device.

Of course, camera movement should not be excluded entirely. But the camera should move much slower and allow the scene to remain on screen longer than in other mediums. Finally, fast cuts between scenes are difficult for the viewer to comprehend and should not be used.

However, not all television techniques are bad. Storyboarding should be used in planning the video, just as it is in film and television.

Lighting is extremely important. The best lighting to use is soft lighting. Lighting for mobile video is even more important than lighting for other media. Avoid any fluorescent lighting (unless specifically designed for filming) and dimly lit areas. One lighting technique that has been successful for mobile video is to have a sharp contrast between the background and the characters. This helps highlight the character without overloading the viewer and compromising the clarity of the video.

Avoid text. Text or subtitles most likely will distract the viewer. The small size of the screen makes it difficult for the viewer to pay attention to the text. It is better to use audio to get the message across.

Audio is integral to mobile video. Until handsets improve, speakers of mobile devices have a very limited capability. This is especially true when using frequencies on the lower end of the audio spectrum. Bass-heavy audio should not be used, as it will distort the mobile device’s speaker.

Many mobile video viewers wear headphones. Thus, audio should highlight the action taking place in the video. Any unnecessary sound effects or dialogue should be removed. Dialogue should be crisp and clean.

Think about where the video will be viewed. As the name “mobile video” implies, viewers will be watching the content in a vast array of situations. Thus, assume distractions. Plot lines or dialogue should not be so involved that if the viewer misses something, he is lost. This also should be considered when planning character development and in introducing new characters.

The most successful original-content mobile videos are those that present the characters and plot in a clear way to the viewer.

Be prepared for compression issues. Another pre-shooting issue to consider is that the content will eventually need to be compressed. Producers who have made content for the Internet are already familiar with content compression.

When it comes time to edit, getting rid of empty frames will help reduce the size of the file that must be compressed. The frames per second used in shooting the video should be lower than traditional television frame speed. However, the frame speed should not be reduced to the degree that the quality of the video is drastically reduced. Advances in the technology, such as Qualcomm’s MediaFlo, will eventually reduce compression concerns.

(With special thanks to Ryan Goodell.)

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