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TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

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Tin It Or Bin It – 27 January 2012 – Facebook Timeline

Facebook announced this week that they are rolling out Timeline to all users. It will be compulsory in February for user’s entire history (the ‘story of their life’) to be exposed in reverse-chronological order on their profile. That includes status updates, photos, marital changes and other major life events. In a nutshell it means that those embarrassing posts and photos that you had forgotten about will resurface. Yikes.

Not surprisingly Facebook has received wide criticism for this. Key tech site Mashable said, “Facebook must know that putting a ticking clock in front of users is bound to make very few of them happy, yet here it is, stop watch in hand.” Until recently users had the choice to opt-in to Timeline, now they will be automatically switched over – whether they like it or not. However you are given seven days to delete the content that on you profiles and hide what you don’t want to display.

We have taken a peek at the new look and played about with it. It looks fairly slick with the cover photo and new layout but it is also quite cluttered due to the massive amount of statuses and photos now displayed in the Timeline.

To tie up with the new feature, Facebook are also introducing apps to personalise your page with interests such as cooking, listening and reading. A user listening to Spotify on a smartphone, for instance, will default to posting every song to their Timeline for all their ‘friends’ to see. So it’s crunch time, is Facebook’s new Timeline a yay or a nay, a Tin or a Bin? It’s an interesting idea but the fact that they are forcing their users to change to this radical new feature leaves a bitter aftertaste. It would have been nice to have a choice in the matter.

For now it’s a Bin It.

Look no further!

TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

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Tin It Or Bin It – 13 January 2012 – Stranger danger?

This week we are looking at an app called Situationist, which apparently aims to create extra-ordinary situations in your everyday life. Sounds exciting but it is quite a big claim to follow through on.

The app uses geo-location and looks to make your every day life more exciting and random by alerting you to other user’s proximity and encourages members to interact with each other in unpredictable situations. The situations can vary from things like hugs, compliments, scare tactics, or even…revolutions. Users upload their photo and pick the situations they want from a list, knowing that those choices might then occur anywhere, and at any time.

It’s certainly intriguing but possibly not for the right reasons. Stalker tool perhaps…?

One of the visionaries behind the app, Ben Carey states that this is the complete opposite of what they are fighting against: “When the media deliberately demonise strangers as paedophiles, stalkers or terrorists, it is time to fight back and reconnect with our fellow citizens and human beings”.

This idea is certainly great in theory but when you look closer, it really just boils down to strangers doing random things to you.

Despite the best intentions this app is just plain weird and that’s why it’s probably banned from the app store. This is a BIN IT.

Opening a new savings account or credit card online is set to become a lot easier thanks to a new partnership between ‘digital passport’ providers miiCard and data specialists Callcredit.

Until now, fraud and money-laundering regulations have meant that customers applying for a financial product online have usually had to follow this up by providing proof of identity and other documents by post.

As a result, up to 90% of sign-ups are never completed – meaning many customers are missing out on the attractive ‘online only’ rates offered by banks.

But in a major step for both consumers and the finance industry, miiCard and Callcredit have joined forces to provide a unique online identity service that removes the need for paper-based checks.

The miiCard (My Internet Identity Card) service allows a consumer to prove their identity online and in real-time, creating the same level of trust as a passport or driving licence. Callcredit’s award-winning identity verification software, which contains data on millions of UK consumers, gives an extra, robust layer of protection that ensures the service meets strict anti-money laundering and fraud regulations.

James Varga, Chief Executive of miiCard, said: “In a digital economy where there is a 70% to 90% drop out rate when selling financial products online as soon as the process goes offline, removing the drivers’ licence, passport and utility bill checks is critical. Creating this level of trust online will not only change the face of financial services but anywhere you need to know who you’re dealing with.”

Graham Lund, Managing Director of Callcredit, said: “At this time of year, many consumers will be looking to get their finances in order for 2012 by taking advantage of competitive online banking offers.

“As a recognised leader in identity verification and fraud prevention, we have been working closely with miiCard to make it easier for customers to complete the sign-up process without compromising compliance with regulations or fraud rates. The new service provides a consumer-focused solution that combines the latest cutting edge technology with the widest range of robust data sources. Today represents a shift in the way consumers and companies will view identity verification in the future.”

miiCard

Look no further!

TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

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Tin It Or Bin It – 6 January 2012 – Take a Wander

After a brief break we are now back in 2012 with your weekly social media need-to-know.

We have been looking at a free iPhone app called Wander, which connects pen pals and Instagram to allow users to look at and take part in the lives of others all over the world, whilst also interacting and sharing with them.

Not everyone has the money or opportunity to go travelling around the world, so this free app can help to satisfy your curiosity for other cultures and help you become closer to the lives of others.

Wander creates connections with people you have never met through photo based conversation threads and provides the opportunity to explore different surrounding in an interactive, expressive way. Magic.

Each week, you can explore a new part of the world with a new user acting as your local guide. The app works by highlighting a new guide, from over 80 countries and across 6 continents that you can choose to connect with.

If you connect, the app will then suggest photo-based missions to start the interaction. You then upload them to the conversation. No worries if you don’t speak the same language, as there is a built in translation feature to aid your communication.

Wander currently has 12,000 app downloads and nearly 1,100 photos shared each week.

The only downside appears to be that is it currently just available for iPhone users, however the app will soon be rolled out for Android devices. Hurrah!

Wander seems to be the natural step in social networking and for that reason it’s a TIN IT.