After posting tweets regularly, NASA’s most digital savvy rover, Curiosity, is now the first Foursquare user to check in on Mars.

The rover made its first check-in yesterday at the Gale Crater. This is where Curiosity first landed on the night of August 5. It is on the equator of Mars and is home to the 3-mile high Mount Sharp. It is also the rover’s primary target, as it holds billions of years of Martian history.

Because Curiosity is the first to post from Mars, the rover will share updates and tips regularly for the benefit of future space tourists. According to Stephanie Smith, part of Curiosity’s social media team:

Like any great tip you want to share back home, so that is why the rover is sharing check-ins and tips from her amazing trip.

What Lies Ahead for Curiosity

At the moment, Curiosity checked in on the Gale Crater twice yesterday. One more to go and it will become the mayor of Gale Crater. In case that happened, NASA social media manager Veronica McGregor said that it is something that the rover deserves. Aside from the check-in, the rover also shared a tip on how people can weight less:

Wish you weighed less? Visit the Red Planet. Because Mars is so much smaller, its gravity makes you weigh only 3/8 [of] what you do on Earth.

The rover’s next check-in will be from Rocknest. It is another point within the Gale Crater, wherein the Curiosity will park for the next two weeks to conduct a couple of experiments. As stated by McGregor:

We’ll start getting to more specific locations within the crater. We may not do daily check-ins for each drive, but we will be able to do check-ins and tips for locations after we name them.

As always, the Foursquare tips coming from Curiosity will be a mix of science and humor. That is according to Courtney O’Connor, NASA’s social media specialist:

We’re having fun with these tips. We have to consider things like atmosphere, temperature, and things we don’t normally think about on Earth. We have to put ourselves into her point of view. You have to get into character.

NASA’s Mars Curiosity will continue to check in and tips throughout her 23-month expedition. For more tips and updates on the Red Planet, users are free to follow the rover’s official Foursquare account.

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Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced in an official blog post yesterday that the social network was able to hit one billion active users.

This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month.

If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.

Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.

I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.

Facebook’s Road to IPO

In July of this year, Facebook reported that they were able to acquire 955 million active users. On the other hand, it took them longer than expected to reach the one billion mark.

Prior to reaching the 900 million mark, iCrossing’s Senior Analyst Gregory Lyons estimated that Facebook will gain one billion users by August. He even pointed out that India and Brazil could make this possible:

Both are large countries with millions of potential users who have yet to sign up to Facebook. With only 3% of India’s population on Facebook and 16% of Brazil’s (compared to 49% of America’s population or 47% of the UK’s population) countries such as these will clearly contribute heavily to Facebook’s continued growth.

Despite that, having one billion active users is still a big number. In fact, it makes other social media platforms small compared to Facebook. The social network took several years before it was able to reach 100 million active users in 2008, but it continuously gained unstoppable traction from then on.

However, although Facebook remains a social media giant when it comes to number of users, the network began looking vulnerable after releasing their less-than-stellar initial public offering in May.

The network’s stock plunged low last August, going less than $20 for the first time. That is almost half the price it debuted at in May. As a result, Facebook’s market cap is now at around $43 billion, which is a far cry from the over $100 billion valuation that was given before the IPO. However, it is believed that the network is poised to lose revenues as some users are starting to migrate to mobile platforms.

 

After reaching the one billion milestone, people would definitely wait for Facebook to gain two billion active users. But whether it will become a reality or not remains to be seen.

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If you’re new on Twitter, your initial reaction would be “Why would I let other people know what I’m doing?” or “I don’t care what other people are doing.” However, this micro-blogging site is very valuable when it comes to social media marketing.

According to Chris Brogan, there are three ways on how you can make Twitter as a useful communication tool:

1. Publicly send a short message to a lot of people.
2. Publicly send a short message to a specific person.
3. Privately send a short message to a specific person.

Twitter as a Micro-blogging Network

Before it was considered as a social media marketing tool, Twitter was first dubbed a “micro-blogging website.” That’s because users can only post updates with 140 characters or less. In turn, it made the social media website compatible with mobile phones and text-messaging.

An update with 140 characters or less may be short and limited, but it is what makes the social media website unique. Moreover, it enables a user to receive real-time and concise update from a lot of people.

This means that Twitter is ideal in building and maintaining relationship between your brand and your target market.

Twitter for Business

When it comes to social media marketing, the most obvious use of Twitter is to let businesses meet their potential customers. It is also ideal for generating leads, which is similar to what you’d do during a trade show or networking event. However, there are still other ways on how you can take advantage of the micro-blogging site’s marketing capabilities.

Promoting Your Brand and Content

Of course, the best use of Twitter for business is to help it leverage your brand and its content. When a lot of users follow your account, all of them can see your updated tweets. Furthermore, they can retweet it with their followers that expose your business further.

Enabling Other People to Leverage Your Business

The good thing about Twitter is that you can let other people to promote your brand. As long as they are following your account, they can easily view your updates and share it with their connections.

Interacting With Your Customers

Just like in any social networking websites, Twitter lets you interact with your customers. As mentioned earlier, there are three ways on how you can treat the micro-blogging site as a communication tool.

Connecting with Bloggers and Journalists

Aside from your existing and potential customers, you can also connect with bloggers and journalists for PR opportunities. Bloggers and journalists have their own set of followers, so if they share your content to their network, this is a great way to create a buzz regarding your business and its products or services.

Monitoring What People Say About You

Another great use of Twitter for business is through market research. Using its Search and Advanced Search capabilities, you can now monitor what your followers say about you or your brand.

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