Twitter is under fire after Jeep, Burger King hacks
Cyberattacks that targeted Jeep's and Burger King's Twitter accounts have sparked calls for the service to implement stricter authentication processes. "They've been oddly silent about this, and I think they can't be for long," said Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (2/19)
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Network Update

Social network helps users find their personality type
A social network called ArchetypeMe uses personality tests to assign its users into various Jungian archetypes that are used to present targeted content, community pages and marketing messages. CNNMoney/Fortune (2/19)
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Teens flock to Pheed
Many teenage social networkers are using Pheed, an iPhone application that combines aspects of Twitter, SoundCloud, Tumblr, Ustream and Instagram, Jon Swartz writes. The app's key selling point is that it allows users to share files, photos and videos of unlimited size, and users can add a copyright watermark on content. USA Today (2/19)
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Ideas in Action

Social networks struggle to shut down terrorists' activity
Terrorists are using social media to reach their supporters, and networks such as Twitter and Facebook are finding it tough to effectively block extremist groups. Groups whose accounts are banned simply create new accounts and start over, says analyst Aaron Zelin. "It's like 'whack-a-mole,' " Zelin says. The Atlantic online (2/20)
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Research and Reports

Study: Social marketing, service silos hurt brand perceptions
Brands are hurting consumers' perception of them because hardly any of them "are doing equally well on social marketing and social servicing," says Jacqueline Anderson of J.D. Power and Associates, which conducted a study looking at six industries, 100 companies and 23,000 consumers. The study suggests that the problem arises from social-marketing and social-servicing silos and a disparity between how various age groups use social channels. "It's kind of a failure to understand why consumers are reaching out. Many companies are still organized around servicing on one side and marketing on the other," Anderson says. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (2/19)
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SmartPulse

Do you use a dashboard to manage your social media content?

No	58.91%
Yes	41.09%

Are social media dashboards a blessing or a curse?: Most poll respondents indicated they don't use dashboard tools to manage their social media efforts, and that's too bad, SmartBrief's Jesse Stanchak writes. Dashboards can make it easier to handle social media duties, but they can also breed complacency, he writes in SmartBrief's SmartBlog on Social Media.

Are you concerned about your social media accounts being compromised by hackers? 

Yes

No

The Takeaway

4 ways to build a more loyal social media fan base
Investing time in showing gratitude to social media followers, beyond an automated response, leads to a more engaged fan base, writes Lisa Wiese. On Twitter, the list tool can help users note which followers most frequently pass along content, enabling personal thanks later. Other ways to show gratitude include adding LinkedIn endorsements to profiles of engaged customers who are personal connections and creating personalized thank-you videos to post to social media. B2C Marketing Insider (2/18)
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Social Shareable

Millions of birds descend on Kentucky town
Millions of blackbirds and starlings have descended on Hopkinsville, Ky., assembling in such numbers that they darken the skies and whitewash trees and parked cars with their waste. Locals are fighting back with air cannons and bottle rockets, but say it's hard to effectively repel the assembled mega-flock. Some have speculated that the birds are not flying farther south, as they normally would, because of changes to the climate. Reuters (2/19)
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SmartQuote

It's the way we respond as marketers that determines whether we earn respect or get dinged." -- Jeff Semones, president of M80, as quoted by Advertising Age Share: