Pinterest: A Beautiful Gluten-Free World

Pinterest is now one of my favorite sites for gluten-free social networking. The beauty of Pinterest lies in the photos, called pins, which are pinned on bulletin boards. Pinterest is a welcome visual break from the plethora of text on blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Twitter. It is also one of the easiest sites to learn how to use.

I have been using Pinterest both personally and professionally for many months. As a social media specialist for a food company, it has been extremely effective in reaching our target market. If you are familiar with the term retweeting, then you will instantly understand the concept of repinning.

According to an article in Entrepreneur, Pinterest is "driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined." An article in the Huffington Post offers tips for small businesses on Pinterest and provided this useful stat.

"Seventy percent of the site's visitors are women age 25-44, and they spend an average of 15 minutes looking around. If that does not make a small business mind sit up and take notice, nothing will."

Here is a great short video introduction to Pinterest with some handy tips.



So join Pinterest and be sure to follow my boards.

Facebook Upsets Users by Deleting Discussions

Recently, page admins started seeing messages that Facebook will be deleting the discussion board app at the end of this month. Despite the fact that many Facebook pages have active discussions with tons of valuable information, Facebook stated that wall posts and comments are a better way to engage users, and all the discussions will be deleted! 

“We're Making Pages Better 

We want to make sure the tools you use to manage your page are as effective as possible. Here's an update that may affect how you connect with your audience:

· Improvements to Insights: You'll now see a new public metric called People Talking About This underneath your fan count to show the number of people on Facebook who have engaged with your page in the last 7 days. Learn more in your Page Insights. 

· Discussions: The best way to encourage conversation and feedback is through posts and comments on your Wall. To focus on this, we'll be removing the Discussions app on October 31st. Learn More”

I visited several gluten-free Facebook pages to see how they use discussions. While popular pages like Gluten Freely have many discussions, the most recent post was about one month ago. However, it used to be a very active discussion board, and there are some great resources.  

On the Food Network Facebook page, there are over 1,200 topics in their discussion board and posts are made daily. There are many comments from fans upset about Facebook deleting the discussion board and wondering how they can continue. Some suggested Google Plus or creating a Facebook group. One user created a blog in an attempt to continue the Food Network discussions. Perhaps some will decide to move them to LinkedIn or Ning.  What do you think of Facebook deleting discussions, and how will you preserve them before they vanish?

Discover LinkedIn Groups

While LinkedIn is well known for professional networking, many may be surprised at the plethora of groups covering a wide range of topics. Groups exist for blogging, writing, social media, photography, marketing, nutrition, chefs, foodies, food allergies, gluten-free, Autism, and much more.

Being in a shared group with people makes it much easier to add them to your network.  Joining a city specific group, like Washington DC Connections, ensures local connections.  After joining a group, remember to actively participate, by commenting on discussions.

In June 2010, major updates were made to LinkedIn groups, making them more user-friendly and improving their appearance. In August, improvements were made to the moderation features, helping group managers. Additionally, users can enjoy the new following features to follow both people and companies.

Watch this video for an introduction to LinkedIn Groups and an overview on all the new features. Visit the LinkedIn Learning Center for more instructional videos and tips. Don't miss out on this great resource. Join LinkedIn today!

Dramatic Increase in Social Networking Among Older Adults

According to a study from Pew Internet, 42% of internet users ages 50 and older now use social networking sites. Between April 2009 and May 2010, this percentage almost doubled. The study also found that 26% of internet users ages 65 and older use social networking sites. Here are two interesting statistics.

“One in five (20%) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10% one year ago.


Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.”

Hopefully, many older adults are discovering the terrific gluten-free resources on Twitter and Facebook. Make sure your gluten-free tweets and Facebook pages are appealing to adults of all ages!

ABC World News Video: Using Facebook for Medical Purposes

Carlos Sanchez found a new kidney through Facebook. “This is one example of how medicine is being changed by social media.” This video from ABC World News also mentions using Facebook to find a missing person with Alzheimer’s disease.

Using Facebook for fundraising drives, to connect with support groups, and obtain medical information is also discussed. Watch the video here and read the story here. It is part of a series of videos, Social Networking Revolution. Inside Facebook Headquarters is very interesting.

For the gluten-free community, social networking is powerful. Although there is some inaccurate information about celiac disease, there are many gluten-free professionals and dedicated bloggers who are committed to providing accurate information, increasing celiac disease awareness, and answering questions. I would love to see a follow-up video called, “Using Social Media to Save Lives: Helping People with Undiagnosed Celiac Disease.”

Popular Gluten-Free Forums

In addition to great gluten-free social networking on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, there are many popular gluten-free forums. Whether you are new to eating gluten-free or an experienced gluten-free blogger, these are terrific resources for getting quick answers as well as sharing gluten-free recipes and other information. Leave a comment with you favorite gluten-free forum or share a smaller gluten-free forum not mentioned here.

Gluten-Free Faces Forum

SillyYaks Yahoo Group

Celiac Listserv

Delphi Celiac Disease On-line Support Group

Celiac.com Forum

Glutenfree.com Forum

GFCF Recipes Yahoo Group

Gling

Local Celiac and other GF Yahoo Groups

Food Allergy Kitchen Yahoo Group

About.com Celiac Disease Forum

Parents of Food Allergic Kids Support Forums (POFAK)

Gluten-Free Faces and GlutenFreeTravelSite Announce New Partnership

The popular gluten-free social networking site, Gluten-Free Faces, has joined forces with GlutenFreeTravelSite, an extensive database of gluten-free reviews. Now, members of Gluten-Free Faces can easily access all of the dining and travel reviews on GlutenFreeTravelSite simply by clicking “gluten-free maps” and entering a search zip code or city.

If you aren’t a member of Gluten-Free Faces, you can still access the reviews through GlutenFreeTravelSite. Remember, to submit your own reviews to help make travel easier for everyone who eats gluten-free. There are over 4,000 members of Gluten-Free Faces. Are you one of them?

Ning Makes Gluten-Free Social Networking Easy

Over one million social networks have been created using Ning, and there are several that are gluten-free. Ning networks are easy to use. Either create your own network or join others. After joining a gluten-free social network, members customize their page, invite friends, join groups, chat, participate in discussions, post and read blogs, and share gluten-free information, including videos, news, and recipes.

Gluten-Free Faces has almost 2,500 members and is the largest gluten-free social network on Ning. The good news is that once you know how to use Gluten-Free Faces, then you also know how to use all these other gluten-free social networks on Ning.

Grandma's Gluten-Free Baking N Cooking

Mom Cooks Gluten-Free

Gluten-Free Trina

Life Without Gluten

Greater Greenville Celiacs

Celiac SF (San Francisco)

New Grist

Gluten-free groups can be found on large Ning social networks, like Twittermoms, which has two gluten-free groups.

Are you considering creating your own social network on Ning? This video will show you how.





For more information:
Read the Ning blog

Watch the Gluten-Free Faces video

Join the bloggers group I created on Gluten-Free Faces