Monday, March 30, 2009

5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

Practical advice that can help businesses understand how to make Facebook work for them... beyond advertising.

read more | digg story

Friday, March 27, 2009

How Google Shot Microsoft After It Took A Knife 2 A Gunfight

"I kind of feel sorry for Microsoft. It poked at Google with a stick, and in short order, Google took a baseball bat to Microsoft’s head."

read more | digg story

Social Networking Sites Forfeit Privacy

Research suggesting that it is difficult to maintain anonymity when part of a social networking site in part due to connections with other individuals.

read more | digg story

An Internet Video Blast From the Past

Mark Cuban in the future of the internet.. he was right.. as usual..

read more | digg story

When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking

A need for constant updates has created a cottage industry that fans may not be aware of: Twitter ghostwriters.

read more | digg story

Researchers can sometimes ID anonymous Twitterers

Web sites that strip personally identifiable information about their users (anonymization) and then share that data may still be compromising their users' privacy, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. The technique isn't 100% effective, but could be used by government agencies, marketers, or scammers.

read more | digg story

Twitter Tweeks Title Tags and Ranks Higher For Your Name

This might not sound like much but it’s actually a fairly significant tweak when it comes to search engine optimization and has already increased the search engine rankings for Twitter for the names of those using it.

read more | digg story

Twitter Tweeks Title Tags and Ranks Higher For Your Name

This might not sound like much but it’s actually a fairly significant tweak when it comes to search engine optimization and has already increased the search engine rankings for Twitter for the names of those using it.

read more | digg story

Google Aims to Connect Ads for TV, YouTube

Google plans to offer a service that will sell video ads both on television and YouTube, as it struggles to lure bigger advertisers. It also plans to pare 200 jobs.

read more | digg story

Advertising - Adults Spend 8 Hours a Day in Front of a Screen, Study Finds

"IN a world with grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cellphone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day."

Advertising - NYTimes.com

My name is not a URL

"That everyone on Facebook has to use their real name (and Facebook will root out and disable accounts with pseudonyms), there’s a higher degree of accountability because legitimate users are forced to reveal who they are offline. No more “funnybunny345″ or “daveman692″ creeping around and leaving harassing wall posts on your profile; you know exactly who left the comment because their name is attached to their account."


FactoryCity

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

10 Awesome Ways to Integrate Twitter With Your Website

There's no better time to start utilizing Twitter integration tools than right now. Here are 10 of the most useful ways to start turning your site readers (or your client's customer base) into Twitter followers, and vice versa.

read more | digg story

Geek warriors plotting to overthrow Twitter (LAT)

Esteemed online voices @LeoLaporte and @DaveWiner are sounding the alarm about Twitter's increasing platform dominance. “It’s a very dangerous network because it’s all centralized,” Winer said. Both critics have installed their own smaller, open-source micro-messaging systems outside of Twitter’s domain, i.e., Evan Prodromou's Laconica

read more | digg story

Facebook Discusses Redesigning Its Redesign

Facebook is responding to criticism about its recent site redesign with some specific descriptions of tweaks intended to make its latest interface more usable.

read more | digg story

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Call to 'shut down' Google Street View

"A formal complaint about Google's Street View has been sent to the Information Commissioner (ICO).
Drawn up by lobby group Privacy International (PI), it cites more than 200 reports from members of the public identifiable via the service.
PI wants Street View shut down while the ICO investigates the service."


BBC NEWS | Technology

Official Google Blog: Two new improvements to Google results pages

"Today we're rolling out two new improvements to Google search. The first offers an expanded list of useful related searches and the second is the addition of longer search result descriptions -- both of which help guide users more effectively to the information they need."

Official Google Blog

Twitter page shut down, accused of impersonating APD

The Texas Attorney General's Office is hunting for an Austin police impersonator who investigators say posed as the police department by creating a Twitter page.

read more | digg story

Making More Than a Good Impression

As marketers continue to grapple with how to best make use of social media, moves are afoot to change the way success and failure are measured. And as the point of advertising in these venues is to engage users, the current dominant forms of measurement, based on clicks and impressions, fall short.

read more | digg story

Twitter Craze coming soon to Yahoo & AOL Mail / IM

In a matter of months, expect both Yahoo and AOL to come up with their own news feed offerings, likely to be embedded in their more popular web services. While Yahoo’s working on a life-streaming product called Yahoo Updates, AOL’s new offering that takes a cue from Facebook Connect is being called “Site Social” internally.

read more | digg story

Twitter Craze coming soon to Yahoo & AOL Mail / IM

In a matter of months, expect both Yahoo and AOL to come up with their own news feed offerings, likely to be embedded in their more popular web services. While Yahoo’s working on a life-streaming product called Yahoo Updates, AOL’s new offering that takes a cue from Facebook Connect is being called “Site Social” internally.

read more | digg story

Twitter Revenue? Twitter starts generating revenue: LOOK!

Finally. Here comes Twitter’s first real foray into advertising, courtesy of Microsoft’s marketing budget.

read more | digg story

Google Goes (Slightly) Semantic with Tweaks to Search Result

Google has introduced two changes to its most important product, search.

read more | digg story

Court Allows Dentist To Sue Writer Of Bad Yelp Review

"A California court has ruled that dentist Yvonne Wong can continue to pursue a lawsuit against a husband and wife who allegedly panned her on the review site Yelp"

MediaPost Publications

Monday, March 23, 2009

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations is Now Available

This book is written for the those facing the new intersection of all that is Public Relations including PR, media and analyst relations, customer service, product development, social media, etc.

read more | digg story

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Comprehensive FAQ Guide to Twitter

Ask Jeremiah: Comprehensive FAQ Guide to Twitter.

read more | digg story

B2B Social Media and Awareness

I found this fascinating quote today:



B2B marketing will not be effective in social media if it continues to focus on goals of awareness.  Mailana, a nifty tool to analyze strong conversational relationships on Twitter shows that a circle of influence is a tight one.Mar 2009



You should read the whole article.

‘Google Mistrial’ - Is Search Getting In The Way Of Justice?

Jurors and Judges are increasingly using materials from OUTSIDE the legal chain of evidence to decide cases?

read more | digg story

Tweleted Recovers Deleted Tweets

Tweleted is a simple service created by Tom Scott that recovers deleted tweets by comparing a person’s Twitter history to Twitter Search. It then uses that comparison to find the ones that are missing. Just type in a Twitter username and deleted tweets from the past 1000 tweets or so will appear.

read more | digg story

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Inner Circles of 10 Geek Heroes (Kevin Rose) on Twitter

Hotshots, rock stars, geek heroes - many of us follow a lot of the same people online. But who do they pay the most attention to themselves? The influencers of influencers are of interest for a lot of different reasons, most appropriately because finding them is a good way to dive deeper into niche topics.

read more | digg story

Friday, March 20, 2009

Worio Taps Into Social Search With Facebook Connect

Two big trends in search right now are semantic and social search. Worio, a startup in Vancouver, BC, is combining the two approaches today by tapping its semantic search engine into Facebook Connect.

read more | digg story

Worio Taps Into Social Search With Facebook Connect

Two big trends in search right now are semantic and social search. Worio, a startup in Vancouver, BC, is combining the two approaches today by tapping its semantic search engine into Facebook Connect.

read more | digg story

Worio Taps Into Social Search With Facebook Connect

Two big trends in search right now are semantic and social search. Worio, a startup in Vancouver, BC, is combining the two approaches today by tapping its semantic search engine into Facebook Connect.

read more | digg story

Worio Taps Into Social Search With Facebook Connect

Two big trends in search right now are semantic and social search. Worio, a startup in Vancouver, BC, is combining the two approaches today by tapping its semantic search engine into Facebook Connect.

read more | digg story

Worio Taps Into Social Search With Facebook Connect

Two big trends in search right now are semantic and social search. Worio, a startup in Vancouver, BC, is combining the two approaches today by tapping its semantic search engine into Facebook Connect.

read more | digg story

Headhunters Using Twitter - The New Productivity Check

A future look on headhunting and it's possibilities with third party Twitter tools. A new era of recruiting is born!

read more | digg story

What will stimulate spending? Advertising!

In the big push to boost the economy, says a veteran marketer, the government left out a key ingredient.

read more | digg story

Gmail Lets You “Undo” Sent Messages

Gmail Lets You “Undo” Sent Messages

read more | digg story

Ballmer Says Microsoft Can Experiment in Web Search

Being the underdog in the Internet- search market has one advantage for Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer []: He says his company can experiment, while rival Google Inc. plays it safe.

read more | digg story

Privacy Group Asks FTC To Investigate All Google Apps

"Earlier this month, Google admitted that a glitch in its system had resulted in the sharing of private documents that users had uploaded through Google Docs.
The incident only affected about .05% of documents, the company said. But the fact that it occurred at all has some privacy advocates asking what other security breaches might lie in store for Google users."

MediaPost Publications

7-Eleven Launches 'Brainfreezing' Online Viral Campaign

"Branded micro-sites, it appears, are still alive and well. With the help of Omnicom Group's FreshWorks/The Integer Group and interactive technology provider Oddcast, 7-Eleven has launched a new online 'experience' to promote its Slurpee beverages."



MediaPost Publications

MediaPost Publications 'Skank' Blog Shuttered, But Model Persists With Lawsuit 03/20/2009

"The blogger behind Skanks In NYC, a site devoted to trashing model Liskula Cohen, has taken it down.
The blogger's lawyer, Anne W. Salisbury, said the move to shutter the site could resolve the case."

MediaPost Publications

Thursday, March 19, 2009

47 Twitter Power Users’ Secrets To Getting Many Followers

Twitter power users have many thousands of people following their tweets. Here are their tips and insight to gaining so many followers.

read more | digg story

'Smoking Smarties' Videos Create Blaze of Unwelcome PR

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- What happens when people use your brand in unconventional ways? Sometimes you end up with the Diet Coke and Mentos experiments. Sometimes you get "How to Smoke Smarties."

read more | digg story

How Amazon made $2.7bn with one small tweak

User reviews have proven to be an effective sales driver, but there is more to it than just adding them to product pages. Once you start to get large amounts of reviews you need be able to sort them in a meaningful way for customers.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Analyst: Google, MySpace Make a Bad Fit

"Google doesn’t care about social networking. But perhaps it should, since social-networking platforms are gradually making search less relevant."

-not really.. people ask questions and others go google it in a desire for the accpetance of others by lending a hand.


ADWEEK:

Listen Up, Marketers: The Focus Group Is Dead

"I assume most Social Media Insider readers would agree with the statement that corporate America needs to do a little work on this listening thing. What I love about all of these examples is that, even if many of you have preached this gospel for some time, there's an increasing body of evidence to support why this is so important."


MediaPost Publications

Why Microsoft continues with search: it's still not solved

Ars learns a little more about Microsoft's strategy for search thanks to a chat with Stefan Weitz, one of the members of the Live Search team.

read more | digg story

Why Microsoft continues with search: it's still not solved

Ars learns a little more about Microsoft's strategy for search thanks to a chat with Stefan Weitz, one of the members of the Live Search team.

read more | digg story

Google, WPP Team To Research Ad Effect

"Google is teaming with the world's largest buyer of media, Martin Sorrell's WPP Group, to conduct new primary research to understand how advertising works on both digital and traditional media outlets. Details of the initiative, first reported in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, is expected to be released today, and will include an investment of $4.6 billion to fund three years of research including projects with such prestigious think tanks as the Harvard Business School, MIT, and Stanford University, and will leverage data from some of WPP's biggest clients, including Ford and Unilever, the paper reported."

MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily

Twitter Tools And Applications

If you haven't heard of Twitter by now, you must be living under a rock! It is everywhere, and everyone is using it. To say that the rise of Twitter has been explosive would be an understatement. As a result of this growth, the number of Twitter apps and tools available has become extensive. So, in this post we have filtered them down to 99.

read more | digg story

Controversial Twitter Marketing Techniques | MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

"WARNING: The techniques explored in this piece are purely to be used for ethical purposes, if you’re weak of stomach or of pure malicious character, then I urge you to please leave immediately.
Twitter can be evil.WARNING: The techniques explored in this piece are purely to be used for ethical purposes, if you’re weak of stomach or of pure malicious character, then I urge you to please leave immediately.
Twitter can be evil."

MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

Survey Finds Workers Average Only Three Productive Days per Week: Most Respondents to New Microsoft Office Survey Say They're Working Longer, But Are Less Productive; They Relate Their Productivity to Technology

"Unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings are among the top time wasters that workers around the world say make them feel unproductive for as much as a third of their workweek on average, according to results of an online Microsoft® Office survey announced today. Survey respondents also said that, as they grapple with the need to work longer hours and the desire for better work-life balance, they rely heavily on technology tools to help optimize their personal and team productivity."


Survey Finds Workers Average Only Three Productive Days per Week: Most Respondents to New Microsoft Office Survey Say They're Working Longer, But Are Less Productive; They Relate Their Productivity to Technology

Mega PR Firm Does About-face; Stakes Claim in 'Authenticity'

In a press announcement that sent ripples throughout the business community, Edelman, one of the largest PR firms in the world, proclaimed that the agency was doing a complete about-face radically shifting direction. The firm has staked "its claim in ‘Authentic Communications.’"

read more | digg story

Bloggers Block - 20 Blog Topics To Get You Unstuck

"I’m often asked how I come up with so much content so often and so consistently. One truth is that I write all the time, and that my discipline of writing all the time means I’m more practiced and skilled."

chrisbrogan.com

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

46% of the Digg Front Page is Controlled by 50 Websites

Recent changes and restrictions made by Digg.com to encourage diversity in the range of users whose submissions reach the front page have had 2 profound results. Newer and less active users have seen their stories reach the front page, but the sources that are able to hit the front page have tightened.

read more | digg story

B.C. search engine's suit could make Google illegal

A small Internet search engine company has brought a case against the Canadian Recording Industry Association that could drastically change the way files are shared on the Internet.

read more | digg story

How to Build a Reputation Monitoring Dashboard

"An essential aspect of any reputation management job, is monitoring the never-ending flow of content germane to our client. Most often the keyword monitoring “Big List” includes brand, products, C-level executive names, intent phrases and competitors’ keyword permutations."

aimClear Search Marketing Blog

The Needle Jerks

"After a decade covering the growth of digital media, you get pretty jaded about metrics, growth curves, and pretty much any claims surrounding adoption rates of new technologies. Triple-digit YOY growth? Ho-hum. 'Starting from what base?,' I ask the Stanford-grad-start-up-CMO, now by rote. Okay, so-and-so percent of people who ever breathed on the planet have tried a (pick one) podcast, e-book, full-length TV episode online, virtual world, etc."

MediaPost Publications

Time to “unfriend” someone on Facebook?

Facebook is great for sharing information, staying connected and meeting new friends. But if someone doesn’t speak to you in the hallway, why should you be friends online?

read more | digg story

Despite The Hype, Twitter Isn’t A Mainstream Social Marketing Tool

Ciaran writes a post on Search Engine Land about how Twitter may be overhyped..

read more | digg story

FREE FOOD - Arby's and Denny's

"March 16, 2009: Following in the 'free food' footsteps of Denny's and Taco Bell, Arby's said it would give away All-American Roastburgers on Monday, March 23, if any 16th seeded team defeats any of the four No. 1 seeded teams in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament this week."

NY Sports Journalism - PAGE ONE

Twitter is Peaking

Steve Rubel Talks about where Twitter is and where it might be going.

read more | digg story

hmm... choices..... which blog???

Monday, March 16, 2009

How to Lose Twitter Followers in 10 steps.

"Since the advent of Twitter, and more recently, Qwitter, we have all been able to feed our strange compulsion to know exactly how popular we all are. The race to see who can gain more followers has consumed some South African Twitter users way beyond what can be considered healthy."

Nerd Mag

Seattle P-I to publish last edition Tuesday

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will roll off the presses for the last time Tuesday, ending a 146-year run.The Hearst Corp. announced Monday that it would stop publishing the newspaper, Seattle's oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers.

read more | digg story

Skittles' Stupid Social Media Trick - Forbes.com

What Social Media marketers can learn from Mars' Twitter goof

read more | digg story

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Turning SXSW Tweets into Art

These 5 colorful JavaScript-only visuals extract meaning from SXSW-related tweets... the top words among SXSWers only, the best and worst parties, where people are tweeting about & what they're gossiping about. No Flash!

read more | digg story

Turning SXSW Tweets into Art

These 5 colorful JavaScript-only visuals extract meaning from SXSW-related tweets... the top words among SXSWers only, the best and worst parties, where people are tweeting about & what they're gossiping about. No Flash!

read more | digg story

#SXSW- Location is the New Black

NYTimes Article on how social and gps are being used @ #SXSW

read more | digg story

Friday, March 13, 2009

No Search is an Island

"My ambiguity comes from the unique nature of search. We consider search a marketing channel, and in recent times we’re treating as such. But it’s not. Search is glue. Search is intent expressed. Search is a mirror of our dreams, objectives and fears. To treat search as a channel divorces it from its real role as an integral connector. And, as such, search is inextricable from not just the online world, but the offline one as well. Whatever happens, whenever it happens, it shows up in the search trends."

Gord Hotchkiss | Ask Enquiro

The Rise Of Help Engines: Twitter & Aardvark

Search - where u ask and get a response based on the semantics of your query. Help Engines where u ask people questions.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tim Berners-Lee Warns Against ISP-Based Ad Targeting 03/11/2009

"As Google is shaking up the U.S. online ad world with its move into behavioral targeting, news comes that another ad company, Phorm, is again under scrutiny in the U.K."


MediaPost Publications

Google Ups Share of Search To 72%; Yahoo, MSN and Ask Continue To Tank

"Hitwise released a report yesterday showing that Google has posted a year-over-year increase of 8% in its share of U.S.-based search queries, for a total of 72.11% of all U.S. searches conducted over a four-week period that ended Feb. 28. Yahoo, Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 17.04 %, 5.56 % and 3.74 %, respectively, and are down year-over-year at -17 %, -20%, and -10 % respectively."

MediaPost Publications

Google Base Opens Up New Doors for Internet Marketers

"First of all, what is Google Base? Google Base is essentially Google’s mash up of eBay, Craigslist, and Shopzilla. Google Base allows users to submit pretty much anything, ranging from products to services to events."

Best Rank

Google Takes Mystery Out Of BT, Gives Consumers A Say In What They See

"Google will unveil new privacy measures today that will give consumers more control over behavioral targeting.
Now, when Google serves banner ads on outside publishers' sites, the ads will include links that provide more information explaining why they were served. Clicking through will lead to details about the company's behavioral advertising program, which categorizes consumers as interested in particular types of goods or services based on the sites they visited."


MediaPost Publications

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Social Media PhD Scholar Vivek Kumar Shares Views On Social Media

"is the definition of Social Networking Sites [boyd & Ellison, November 2007].
We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.

Any social platform that’s being used for driving marketing or other related strategies would fall under the purview of social media whether it is social bookmarking, blogging, microblogging or podcasting."

Interview: Social Media PhD Scholar Vivek Kumar Shares Views On Social Media | Brian Cray's Blog

Monday, March 09, 2009

Is Twitter a search engine?

Yes you can search twitter, but most still will use Google or their search engine of choice.

read more | digg story

Social Networking More Popular Than Email

New stats from Nielsen Online show that by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach.

read more | digg story

Saturday, March 07, 2009

WSJ.com - How to Twitter

Julia Angwin on Twitter's social rules, tips for gaining "followers," and why the opinionated people win.

read more | digg story

The How and Why of Twitter

Great artice about twitter, a very good article on twitter...

read more | digg story

ORM - BackType Connects the Conversation Graph

Listening effectively requires extensive and active monitoring of not only blog posts and Tweets on Twitter, but also blog comments and other active networks that define the Conversation Prism. It's how identify active communities that necessitate not only responses, but ongoing participation.

read more | digg story

Friday, March 06, 2009

Search box starts popping up on Twitter

Not everyone is getting the new feature yet, but the microblogging service has begun to display search and trends in its homepage toolbar.

read more | digg story

Can MySpace get its mojo back?

With Facebook soaring, and top talent leaving, News Corp.'s social network needs answers.

read more | digg story

How to add ShareThis to your website.

Is Google Rewiring Our Brains?

UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior is one of the hotbeds of this brain research, with Drs Gary Small, Susan Bookheimer and Teena Moody doing a number of interesting fMRI studies looking at the impact of technology on our neural networks.

read more | digg story

Is Google Rewiring Our Brains?

"Some time ago, I wrote an article called “Are Our Brains Becoming Googlized?” It became my most read Search Engine Land post ever. Apparently I wasn’t the only one fascinated by the prospect of wholesale rewiring of our brains through exposure to technology."

Gord Hotchkiss - Search Engine Land

Yahoo! Launches Major Challenge to Facebook Connect

"Yahoo! Updates, the company's answer to Facebook Connect, became available on more than 600,000 websites today with the launch of a new partnership with commenting infrastructure company JS-Kit. Whereas Facebook's technology for tying profiles and activity updates between sites around the web has raised concerns about proprietary control over data, Yahoo! has implemented the open standard OAuth in its system."

ReadWriteWeb

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Google Won't Remove that Page You Don't Like, But You Can

Google's head of web spam (a division of the engine's search quality division) recently posted a piece entitled, Why Google Won't Remove that Page You Don't Like. An excerpt:Every few weeks or so, someone contacts me and says Hey Matt, there's page out on ...

read more | digg story

Take The Poll: Is Twitter Your Search Engine Alternative?

Danny Sullivan has a poll setup to ask questons about your search behavior, please check it out.

read more | digg story

Google branches into expandable ads

"Google is expanding its AdSense program--literally.
The Web search giant announced Wednesday in a blog post that it is pitching advertisers on the use of expandable ad units, those adverts that start out as banners or square ads and launch larger ads that cover much of the Web site's content."

Digital Media - CNET News:

Omniture Adds Twitter Analytics for Brands

"We’ve established that Twitter is a viable place for brands to put up shop, but now that they’re microblogging away, how can they measure their output, customer service endeavors, conversation abilities, and overall ROI?"

Mashable

25 innovative ways companies are using Twitter

25 great Twitter tips that you can incorporate into your marketing mix.

read more | digg story

25 innovative ways companies are using Twitter

25 great Twitter tips that you can incorporate into your marketing mix.

read more | digg story

PR Scorecard For Social Media Vendors

"Social Media Vendor Announcement Scorecard
Pathetic: Do nothing
Poor: Press release, no social media
Ok: Press release, social media announcements
Good: Attempt to create a conversation in your market
Great: Create a conversation in your market, that has a life of it’s own and spreads, with no need of a press release
Extra credit: Bonus points for using your actual product."


Jeremiah Owyang

Forrester Report on Sponsored Blogs Draws Google's Ire

"NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A report by Forrester Research this week talking up paid blogs left out one guideline that is religion for Google: Paid posts with sponsors behind them not only need to be disclosed as such but also must also bear 'no follow' tags so as to not fool the Google spider that crawls the web for ranking purposes."

Advertising Age - Digital

Skittles Twitter Campaign Turns Into Potty-Mouthed Echo

another reality check for skittles.

read more | digg story

Skittles Buzz Lasts as Long as a Sugar Rush

Skittles me this.... the 2nd time i have seen the term "fiasco" in the last couple of hours.

read more | digg story

Twitter Sounds - Skittles Replaces Web Site With Twitter Feed - sound bites.. lol

Fox News video - It's pretty much about twitter but it's got some good twitter sound bites.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Facebook's Response To Twitter

Facebook made a number of announcements today about changes to its home page, profile pages, and activity streams. Taken together, these represent a concerted response to the rise of Twitter as a real-time message broadcasting system that goes beyond members’ personal circle of friends.

read more | digg story

New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers

"As more and more marketers use Facebook as a key conduit for brands online, it is important to note some of the new changes to their Business Pages. Following last fall’s overall redesign, these pages will now migrate to the same Wall and tabs design that personal profiles have used. You can explore the new format and follow Mashable on Facebook at Mashable’s Facebook page."

Mashable

Google CEO: Twitter A 'Poor Man's Email System'

Google CEO Eric Schmidt commenting about Twitter:"Speaking as a computer scientist, I view all of these as sort of poor man's email systems."

read more | digg story

The World Is Tuning Into Twitter Search

"In the future, searches won't only query what's being said at the moment, but will go out to the Twitter audience in the form of a question, like a faster and less-filtered Yahoo Answers or Wiki Answers. Users would be able to tap the collective knowledge of the 6 million or so members of the Twitterverse."

John Battelle's Searchblog:

The World Is Tuning Into Twitter Search

"In the future, searches won't only query what's being said at the moment, but will go out to the Twitter audience in the form of a question, like a faster and less-filtered Yahoo Answers or Wiki Answers. Users would be able to tap the collective knowledge of the 6 million or so members of the Twitterverse."

John Battelle's Searchblog:

The most popular blogs written in All languages - Top 100 Blogs

"There are a lot of blogs all around the world, some of them are a bit bigger than others. We thought it would be nice to see which blogs belong to the top segment in different languages. Please be aware that the list shows the blogosphere from Twingly's point of view. Feedback on Twingly Top 100 is very welcome."

The most popular blogs written in All languages

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Growth Of Paid Search Budgets Decline While SEO Budgets Increase

"eMarketer’s latest report named Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics says that in the realm of search marketing budgets, SEO budgets will increase in the next five years, while paid search budgets will decline relative to the overall marketing budgets for companies.
MediaPost reports the growth for SEO campaigns will increase from 17.7% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2013. At the same time, growth for paid search campaigns will decline from 15.9% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2013. Growth for both SEO and paid search both will decline between 2008 and 2009, due to the economy."

Search Engine Land

Google Analytics Certification - Google Press Center

"Google Analytics Launches Individual Qualification Program
Online Course and Test Promote Increased Understanding of Web Analytics
Google announced today the launch of a new skills qualification program, Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ), which allows individuals to demonstrate proficiency in Google Analytics. Google provides a free online course that covers web analytics techniques and Google Analytics implementation, administration, and analysis tools. Agencies and other organizations can have staff take the course as part of professional development."

Google Press Center: Press Release

Google Analytics - Conversion University Help

"Follow these lessons to prepare for the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) test or to simply become a more knowledgeable Google Analytics user. The presentations move quickly; use the Pause and Back buttons to make sure that you don't miss anything. You can click the Notes tab in the presentation to read what is being said. Access to a Google Analytics account is strongly recommended so that you can experiment and apply what you learn."

Conversion University Help

Monday, March 02, 2009

Twitter: Full of Sound and Fury?

We are about to head into the trough of despair, where early users will give up on the technology and bemoan the way the medium has become polluted, and then…lo and behold. It will be seen as a single thread in the warp of how we communicate.

read more

Newspaper Dead Pool - comment please.

New York Daily News – Circulation: 632,595 (10% Decline Since 2007)Los Angeles Times – Circulation: 739,147 (4% decrease since 2007)St. Paul Pioneer Press – Circulation: 184,973 (3% decrease since 2007)Chicago Sun-Times – Circulation: 313,176 (.2% increase since 2007)Check out the link.. then guess in the newspaper dead pool.

read more | digg story

Skittles: Tweet the rainbow (or racial slurs)

Skittles embraced social media too fast without the proper controls.

read more | digg story

Contempt - Automated Data Integration - Black Hat Seo

One of the aspects of BHSEO with Affiliate Marketing in mind is data integration. This could be from RSS feeds to straight XML files, even just research on one product ...

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Skittles: Tweet the rainbow (or racial slurs)

Skittles embraced social media too fast without the proper controls.

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Sunday, March 01, 2009

Big Brands and Social Media

"...Marketing teams and budgets are inherently driven by campaign timelines. Marketing has not historically run on a 24/7 timeline, which is what it takes to make social media work for a brand.

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Social Networking at Work: Fear Not Facebook, MySpace?

The growing popularity of social networking sites might decrease productivity at work due to distraction of these sites.

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Facebook Pages Redesign Coming

Post On Syber Blog at syberplanet.net about the redesign of some business pages.

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