Google+ is gaining immense popularity and everyone’s talking about it right now. Forget for a second about its “competition” with Facebook and other social media sites; in and by itself Google Plus is receiving fast and wide acclaim, at a global level, and many even say that soon it is going to act as a channel to get people to patronize your business. A channel, in other words, for Internet marketing and social media marketing. Currently, there are no Google Plus profiles exclusively for businesses, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the social networking site to help your work gain more visibility. Here are some tips on leveraging Google+ in order to advance your business objectives: If you already have a Google+ profile, you are halfway to generating, well, more business buzz. Not yet a member? Well, first you have to create a Gmail account (if you don’t already have one). Then you have to get an invitation. For – Read the full article
Let’s face it: we post a huge amount of information on Facebook. It doesn’t even matter whether we’re using the hugely popular social network for business or for pleasure. They’re all there: status updates, photos, videos, notes, links, messages, apps, etc. Imagine if we suddenly lose all these tomorrow. So much social data, lost in a digital black hole. It would be like Yahoo! GeoCities all over again. Don’t let any unexpected turn of events mark the end of the world – or the end of your Facebook life. Because it won’t be, not with these great ways to download, store, and back up your Facebook data. (Hey, and while you’re at it, make sure you check out our recent guide on how to create a Twitter archive.) Facebook’s Download Your Information feature Not many users know about it, but Facebook has its own information backup tool, which you can access by going to your “My Account Settings”. (Check out – Read the full article
Social networking giant Facebook has passed Google, the world’s most popular search engine, as the most-visited site in the United States in 2010, according to leading Internet research and competitive intelligence firm Experian Hitwise. Facebook received 8.93 percent of all US web visits from January to November 2010, while Google accounted for 7.19 percent. Rounding out the top five were Yahoo! Mail (3.52 percent), Yahoo!, and YouTube (2.65 percent). Facebook ranked only third on the list last year, trailing Google and Yahoo! Mail. In 2008, it ranked ninth, behind sites like Google, MySpace, and eBay. “Facebook” was also the most-searched term for the second straight year, followed by “Facebook login” and “YouTube”. According to Experian Hitwise, however, the combination of Google-owned sites like Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube still ranked ahead of Facebook properties, accounting for 9.85 percent of all US visits. Facebook received 8.93 percent, while Yahoo! properties came in third with 8.12 percent. The results of the study – Read the full article
As mentioned here last week, 2011 is about to bring lots of hotness on the World Wide Web. One of the things that we mentioned was the emergence of HTML5, a new markup revision of the HTML standard, and which is expected next year to extend its reach even wider. While HTML5 is still under development, developers, programmers, and tech companies are already adopting a number of its features. Even some of the world’s most popular websites are enabling support for HTML5. How fast it will replace Adobe Flash – if HTML5 will replace it at all – remains to be seen, but just in case you’re keen on checking out what the HTML5 buzz is all about, we’ve compiled a list of websites whose HTML5 features you can test-drive – right now. Dive into HTML5 Authored by Mark Pilgrim, this book explains and demonstrates HTML5 in a no-BS language that’s easy to understand. In the introduction, Pilgrim notes how – Read the full article
Facebook, the world’s largest networking site with over 500 million members, launched a new messaging system Monday, taking various communication platforms like E-mail, SMS, instant messaging, and chat and integrating them into what is called Facebook Messages. The system is a result of a 15-month engineering project, considered by many as the largest Facebook has undertaken. Facebook Messages is actually a revitalization of its current messaging system, and – despite industry observers and news media hyping the new feature as an “E-mail killer”, intended to rival Google’s highly popular Gmail – it isn’t technically a new E-mail platform. “This is not an E-mail killer,” said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “We don’t expect anyone to wake up tomorrow and say they are going to shut down their current E-mail accounts.” What Facebook Messages does provide are three unique communication features, which served as the highlights of Zuckerberg’s Monday announcement. Seamless messaging: Facebook users will be able to send and – Read the full article
Social media can be pretty confusing to individuals, businesses, and organizations who haven’t adopted – and who aren’t used to adopting early – to online trends and technologies. While some may have taken Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social media sites as an indelible part of their lives, others are left to wonder how and where to start. There’s just too much clutter, too much noise, and without proper guidance, successful adoption may seem out of reach. And now Google Buzz has been added to the mix. While as a business owner you may have heard a thing or two about how critical social media is to one’s business strategy, you may still find it next to impossible to keep up – especially with all these new social media sites appearing and growing all at once, like mushrooms. “So how is Google Buzz different from Twitter?” “I need a Google profile to use Google Buzz?” “Oh, I already have a – Read the full article
Rising along with the popularity of Twitter as well as other instant messaging services with character limits are services for URL shortening. There are hundreds of services on the Web for this, letting people use the smallest space possible for sharing and linking to content. Some of them generate shorter links; some come with bars at the top of the application; some are content to let their links expire. Standing out among all these URL shorteners, however, is Bit.ly, created by John Borthwick of Betaworks. After serving as the default URL shortener for Twitter during the most part of last year, Bit.ly grew to become a web-wide tool. In December, Twitter stopped using Bit.ly, but this breaking of ties hasn’t stopped the URL shortening service from continuing to scale and serving as a useful tool for users, publishers, Internet marketers and eCommerce providers. Still need convincing that Bit.ly is the URL shortener for you? Here are the top 6 reasons – Read the full article
The Apple iPad has been revealed recently – in a highly publicized keynote address delivered by Steve Jobs – and while critics are quick to point out the upcoming tablet’s flaws, we’ll focus here on one of the reasons why the Apple iPad can be a potential game-changer. Apple claims that the iPad is the best way to experience e-mail, and the tablet sure has enough features to back that up. Equipped to provide a reading experience unlike any we’ve had before for a large-screen device, the iPad is poised to benefit everyone who uses e-mail: businesses, entrepreneurs, e-mail marketers, and individual users. Of course, as far as Internet marketing is concerned, there’ll never be a better time to design and launch e-mail campaigns. Cleanliness The Apple iPad seems to have been designed for users who want a relaxed and engaged reading experience. Unlike most web and desktop e-mail clients out there on the market, the iPad – with its – Read the full article
