Google has been getting a lot of buzz lately. Google is another year older, and with a budding social media presence, the search engine is getting more influential by the day. In case you missed it, some of the biggest recent Google stories are re-capped below.
Google+ survives
Social media experts thought Google+ was doomed to fail [...]

For the past week, we here at TVG have been inspired by the back-to-school season. Here are some things we wanted to share in the spirit of learning:
Keeping It Legal
The always evolving realm of social media provides opportunity for growth and advancement. It is also important to stay on top of to the latest developments. [...]

With “back-to-school” just around the corner parents, students, teachers and faculty are learning about new opportunities and restrictions of social media.
Teachers and Students Can’t be ‘Friends’
Recent legislation in Missouri will make it a crime to be Facebook friends with teachers. Beginning on August 28, any contact through social networks like Facebook and Twitter will be [...]

As we have all learned, once something is on the Internet, you can’t take it back.
St. Louis County Government (@SaintLouCo) experienced this firsthand with their recent minor Twitter misfortune. After tweeting, “@MileyLikeABoss thanks for the #StLCo love,” in reply to MileyLikeABoss’, “STL city is downtown. The county is so much [...]

There is one moment you always dread in communications — that is, the “oops” moment. We all know what it is, but hopefully you’re lucky enough to avoid a situation like this one:

Chrysler recently had a big “oops” when someone at a firm hired to manage their Twitter account accidentally tweeted from the @ChryslerAutos account [...]

In light of the recent email breach that exposed customer data from more than 50 major retailers, we decided it’s time to take a look at email marketing privacy issues. To summarize the situation, a huge security breach at email marketing firm Epsilon exposed the names and email addresses of customers of major brands, including [...]

Russian delegates from the Community Connections Program (CCP) visited the Vandiver Group this afternoon to learn about public relations and communications practices for non-profits. CCP is managed by the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for Information Development (USAID) and is run locally by the World Affairs Council of St. Louis.
The Community [...]

Christmas is next weekend, which means you have one week to finish any holiday shopping. Good luck! Here’s the Friday 5:
1. Foursquare vs. Facebook
Foursquare has emerged as one of the premier check-in services for your mobile device, but is facing stiff competition from Facebook Places. In response, Foursquare is focusing more on discovering new places, [...]

By Donna M. Vandiver
In twenty-first century marketing, there is a new rulebook. Rule Number One: Your best marketers are always your satisfied customers. In conversations with friends, family, peers, people they interact with online, and even those who follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and the myriad of other social media sites, your customers [...]

In the most recent issue of Enterprising Women magazine, Donna Vandiver discusses the updated FTC guidelines for testimonials and endorsements in social media. Here’s an excerpt from her article, “Make Sure Your Company Knows the Rules Before Entering the Game”:
“The world of communications is changing.  Social media is growing by leaps and bounds and it [...]