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
There’s a lot of hype in the social media realm over the dozens of new tools and dashboards that help you keep an eye on what people are saying about your company. Indeed, online reputation monitoring and management is quickly becoming a must-have for your marketing strategy. It is every business owner’s dream to be able to keep tabs on their brand name. Now, they can swoop in and clean up after a dirty situation. Likewise, they can reward or thank people for good mentions. Social media is growing at an enormous rate, but it still makes up only a relatively small portion of the Internet. There are billions of websites and blogs that also like to talk about things. Many of those sites have a reach comparable to or larger than the social mentions that are happening around your brand. Reputation monitoring goes beyond social media: you should be monitoring the whole Internet. Before you spend money on expensive – 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
Search giant Google and social media giant Twitter both recently released year-end reports that indicate how the world searched – and tweeted – in 2010. Google Zeitgeist 2010 The annual Zeitgeist report, which represents an aggregation of the search terms that people have typed into Google Search over the past year, offers insight on 2010’s fastest-rising global search trends, in categories that include news and events, people, entertainment, sports, consumer electronics, food and drink, health, maps searches, and even humanitarian aid. Here are some of the search terms that you will find in the Google Zeitgeist 2010. For the complete list, visit the Google Zeitgeist 2010 home page. 10 Fastest Rising 1. Chatroulette: A Russian-based chat website that pairs random strangers from around the world for webcam-based conversations. 2. iPad: Apple’s tablet computer, which was released in April 2010 and generated sales of 3 million units in 80 days. 3. Justin Bieber: The 16-year-old Canadian pop singer who released his – Read the full article
Did you know that 20 percent of all searches on the Internet are for specific locations or businesses? Search giant Google did, and that’s why they changed Google Local to Google Places and began to display – for every search query that may be locally or geographically influenced – the local information for businesses, maps, and directions in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Right now, Google displays seven Places results for every search, as well as a map on the right side of the SERP that shows exactly where these seven places are. Obviously, Google Places pages help customers search these maps for local information while finding businesses within their area that are relevant to their search. Meanwhile, for small businesses, mom-and-pops, stores, offices, and other organizations with a physical address, Google Places is a unique local search tool that can drive and direct those who are searching to those who have something to offer or sell. Leverage this – Read the full article
Google-Groupon Deal? Search giant Google is reported to be offering as much as $6 billion for leading e-Commerce coupon site, Groupon. According to a number of media sources, the deal’s initial payment will be worth about $5.3 billion, with the remaining $700 million to be used as an incentive for keeping Groupon’s employees. The deal, if it happens, is going to be Google’s largest acquisition yet, much bigger than its successful $3.1 billion bid for DoubleClick and the $1.65 billion price tag of the company’s YouTube deal. Launched in November 2008 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Groupon is a social shopping network that delivers daily deals to users in cities across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. While the price of the rumoured acquisition seems high – Groupon only has an estimated $600 million in revenue – industry observers say that the coupon site is the clear leader in a rapidly growing new category on the Internet. Its overwhelming success in – Read the full article
A new web browser has been unveiled by the people who brought us Netscape 16 years ago. RockMelt, founded by Eric Vishria and Tim Howes, was released Monday as a “re-imagined” web browser that is designed to serve as a social networking hub, tightly integrating Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites into a traditional web page navigation program. RockMelt allows users to “share easily, search faster, connect with friends, and keep up on news”; since the Monday release of its early version, the new browser has gotten industry observers in and beyond Silicon Valley talking. The RockMelt browser is based on Google Chrome’s HTML-5-compliant and open-source Chromium foundation (which is why you might perhaps echo our same initial sentiments, “It kind of looks like Chrome”). However, what makes RockMelt different from Chrome (or Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari) is that it actually frames the social media experience – Facebook updates, chats, Twitter streams, etc. – within its browser, – Read the full article
