Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

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Google Launches Facebook Competitor, Google +

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Ok, so Google haven’t really blown us away previously with their efforts in the Social Media space. We have seen services like Google Wave and Google Buzz die a slow and painful death over the past few years. Google Wave brought us innovation and a new style of online collaboration but was not the polished social powerhouse that we wanted, and pretty much fell flat on its face after much hype. Google Buzz on the other had had a lot of “buzz” after its launch, only to receive major backlash from users and the industry due to privacy concerns which was a PR nightmare.

Despite these previous efforts Google hasn’t given up and has continued to work under much secrecy on a new kind of social experience which will integrate with all its services, and after various leaks and rumours Google has now introduced Google + a new social network that is aimed and making your social network much more personal and provide users with both a social layer and a social network much like Facebook.

This includes

  • Circles
  • Sparks
  • Hangouts
  • Mobile
  • Instant Upload

Below are some videos explaining the Google + Project and some of its features in more detail

 

A Quick Look At Google +

Explore Circles

Explore Sparks

Explore Hangouts

Explore Mobile

 


So what do you think about Google + ? can they compete with Facebook or will Google + be another Wave/Buzz

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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Facebook Finally Overtakes Microsoft in UK

Monday, June 27th, 2011

social media marketing glasgow

Facebook has overtaken Microsoft for the first time to become the second most popular site in the UK after Google. Online measurement body UKOM/Nielsen has also confirmed that people over 50 and now some of the most active users on the social network. As of May this year Facebook had attracted 26.8 million visitors in the UK which is up 7% year on year, Microsoft has 26.2 million visits through the MSN/Windows Live/Bing sites. Google still holds the number one spot with a staggering 33.9 visits to the search giant’s site. Twitter has also seen growth in the UK with 6.1 million visitors; this was helped by the celebrity scandals and super injunctions, including an alleged affair by Manchester United star Ryan Giggs.

UKOM/Nielsen confirmed that the number of women pensioners visiting the Twitter has doubled after “Giggsgate”.

“The growth in audiences to these social networks is now primarily being driven by the 50-plus age group. Just a few years ago, this group may have found itself out of place on these sites,” UKOM general manager James Smythe said.

LinkedIn which is a social media platform aimed at business users has also seen growth in the UK with 3.6 million visitors to the site which is up 57% from last year.

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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Google Launches New Search Features

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

At the “Inside Search” media event held in San Francisco on Tuesday, Google announced a few new innovations that are aimed at helping users save time when searching online.  The first was a complete revamp of its mobile search interface which will now give users easier access to restaurants, bars and coffee shops in their local area. The new mobile version of Google.com which has a new set of icons at the bottom of the mobile site will gives users instant access to local search results. Google Goggles also has a new translate feature which will allow users to point their phone at any foreign text and then receive instant translation to their native language.

 
Next was Google desktop which will have a few new features, this includes voice search similar to mobile voice search.  Users will be given a microphone icon next to the search bar which you can speak your query to find what you are looking for. Mike Cohen, the manager of speech technology at Google, said: “I want people to be able to speak [their query] to find what they want…We want to change users’ mental model, he also revealed that there is two years’ worth of mobile speech put into Google’s system every day and added that the voice team were working hard to improve the tool’s accuracy. You will also now be able to drag or upload images directly in to the search bar, Google will then take your image and break down the components and provide you with any relevant information that it has stored on that image. Both of these new features will be rolling out over the next few days

Finally, Google Instant Pages which is designed to prerender search results in the background which Google is confident that you will click. This will save users between two and five seconds on typical searches giving near instant page display.

Amit Singhal, who leads Google’s search and development, said

“Instant Pages is the next big leap for Google,” “It will break down big barriers in users’ quest for information. At the end of the day our job is to get the information and knowledge people need in a blink of an eye.”

The beta of Instant Pages will roll out the week; however will only be available to Google Chrome users for now.

Something that was missing from the event was the mention of the new social features that Google have introduced, maybe these will be announced at a later date when Google finally decides what its going to do in the social media space.

 

Matthew Marley – 360innovate

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How to Opt Out Of Facebook’s Facial Recognition

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Once again the social media giant has activated a new default setting without giving users any prior warning, meaning all users must opt out from within the sites privacy settings.  According to a report from Sophos, the new feature which is currently being rolled out globally, implements a new facial recognition technology allowing users to easily tag friends in pictures.  This means when you are given the option to tag friends in pictures, Facebook will use the new facial recognition technology to group your friends that it identifies together, allowing you to tag them in groups.

This is not the first time that Facebook has implemented a new feature without alerting users and is sure to upset many privacy focused users of the site.

A Facebook spokesperson told CNET

“When we announced this feature last December, we explained that we would test it, listen to feedback, and iterate before rolling it out more broadly. We should have been more clear with people during the rollout process when this became available to them. Tag suggestions are now available in most countries and we’ll post further updates to our blog over time.”

Social Media Marketing Glasgow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t want Facebook to suggest you to friends when they are tagging photos from that wild party that you would rather not share , then here is how you can disable the feature in the privacy settings.

  • Go to your privacy settings.
  • Click “Customize settings.”
  • Scroll down to “Things others share.”
  • Find “Suggest photos of me to friends.”
  • Edit accordingly.

 

Matthew Marley

360innovate

 

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Is This The End For Tweetdeck ?

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

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According to various sources online including CNN and CNET Twitter has now finalized the deal to acquire social media client Tweetdeck for $40 million and shares. This comes after weeks of speculation on who would purchase the popular third party app . The rumour broke back in April when The Wall Street Journal reported a deal worth around $40 – $50 million was close to being complete.

It was also reported that UberMedia which has a history in buying 3rd party Twitter apps was also interested in purchasing the London based company for $25 to $30 million as they had a 30-day exclusive on the negotiations, but they took too long, and Twitter jumped in with a higher offer. It’s also been rumoured that Ubermedia is building its own micro blogging rival to compete with Twitter which may have also increased Twitters interest in acquiring Tweetdeck.

Twitter is keeping quiet on the deal with a Tweet late on Monday night that said ““For all those who might be curious, we continue to not comment on rumors.” Tweetdeck have also not taken any calls or emails.

Tweetdeck is arguably the best Twitter desktop application and is credited with 13% of all daily tweets. Based in London the company was set up in 2008 by Ian Dodsworth and has received a total of $3.8 million in funding over the past three years from various VC’s including The Accelerator Group and Betaworks.

So what does this mean for Tweetdeck users? Does Twitter really want a desktop client or will they decide to kill it off, forcing its users back to the Twitter website. Tweetdeck also supports various other social media platforms including Facebook, Foursquare and Google Buzz, will this continue if they keep the desktop app alive? These questions are surley going to leave Tweetdecks users worried.

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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Google Launches Business Photos

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Google announced yesterday they will be releasing a new feature for Google Places called “Google Business Photos”. The new photo offering will be integrated in to the already popular pages service which Google provides for free to online businesses and is aimed at enhancing current places pages that it shows in organic search results.

The type of business’s Google are interested in speaking with are restaurants, hotels, retail shops, and other storefront businesses. Visitors who then search for your business online will have a unique opportunity to view panoramic views of the interior of your business premises. The new service which is aimed at small business owners will give brick and water company’s the opportunity to promote their business visually online and will be a great way to show potential customers what your business is really like.

According to Google’s head of local search Marisa Mayer who was speaking yesterday at the “Social Loco” conference in San Francisco. Google Places now has over 5 million reviews and ratings and continues to grow as Google maintain their focus on local search. Google is inviting local businesses from a few city’s in the US, Australia and Japan to apply initially, Google will then send a sponsored photographer who will take interior shots of your business.

If you would like to find out more information on Google Business Photos or apply just follow this link

If you are a business and would like to find out more about Google Places and Local SEO, and how this can benefit your business online then please feel free to give us a call on 0141 241 6190

Matthew Marley

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Google Launches + 1

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Yesterday Google launched its new “+ 1” service which is designed to enhance the social functionality within its search engine. The new service which is Google’s version of the Facebook “like” or the “retweet” button will add a “ + 1 button” to search results within Google and allow users to publicly share recommendations with friends.

To recommend something all you have to do is click on the “+1 button” on any webpage, this will then share the information within you Google Profile and social circle, which will mainly be your contacts from other Google services including Gmail, Google Reader, Google Buzz and Google Chat , although Google has confirmed that It would be interested in using data from other services including Flickr, Quora and Twitter which Google considers “open web apps”.

According to Google Product Manager Rob Spiro “The beauty of “+1′s” is their relevance – you get the right recommendations (because they come from people who matter to you), at the right time (when you are actually looking for information about that topic) and in the right format (your search results),”.

One of the main concerns of many people in theonline marketingworld is how will this effect organic search and SEO ?, Google rep Jim Prosser confirmed that +1 would not have any effect, however this is something that Google is very interested in and may look at incorporating in the future.

Will this be another failure like Buzz and Wave or has Google finally managed to put together a social product that the users will actually find useful ! what’s your thoughts ?

If you are in the US and would like to experiment with “+ 1″ then you can check it out here Google.com/experimental

 

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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Social Media Statistics 2011

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Social Media Marketing

2010 was a big year for Social Media in many ways, we have seen services like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin grow rapidly over the past 12 months, we also started to see more SME business’s introduce social media marketing in to their online strategy. Many people thought that social media was a fad and would simply disappear, however after seeing many large enterprise organisation such as Dell, Starbucks, and Ford implement very successful social media campaigns many smaller company’s are now using social media to create an online presence and engage with new and existing customers on various social platforms. Here is a few mind blowing statistics that indicate that social media is here to stay and isn’t going away anytime soon

Twitter

2010 – Twitter had 75 million user accounts

2011 – Twitter now claims to have 175 registered users, Twitter has also recently announced that its adding 15 million new users per month.

Linkedin

2010 – Linkedin seen steady growth with 50 million users, 20 million of these users being in the EU.

2011 – Linkedin announced that will going public and most recently announced that it now has 100 million active users globally.

Facebook

2010 – Facebook had 350 million active users worldwide

2011 – Facebook has seen amazing growth in the past 12 months with now over 640 million users, 50% of active users logging in each day and 65 million users accessing the site through a mobile device. The site has now overtaken Google as the no 1 site visited on the web globally!

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Is Bing Coming To Facebook ?

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Last night AllFacebook.com – The Unofficial blog of all things Facebook, reported the company could be testing a new web search feature at the top of their pages. The search box which would more than likely direct traffic to Bing due to Microsoft’s relationship with Facebook could be a game changer in the search industry which is dominated by Google. However I can imagine this wouldn’t come cheap; Bing would have to pay a substantial amount to have its search engine on such a valuable property like Facebook. This isn’t new to Social Networking; Google was willing to spend millions per year on MySpace allowing its users to have access to search within the site when it was in its peak.

Could Facebook be looking at another revenue stream, before its IPO next year? According to the Search Engine Land who Facebook contacted last night, they have not been testing this feature and have said that they user who posted this screenshot could in-fact been infected with malware.

See the full statement below

“We are not testing the placement of a separate web search field and have no plans to do so. We believe the second search field or “Search the Web” box appeared on peoples’ accounts as the result of unknown actions by a third party targeting the browser (potentially a browser plugin or malware) unrelated to Facebook. If people think their browser may have been affected by malware, we offer a remediation process which includes a free browser-based virus scanning tool built by McAfee. Users are required to run this Scan and Repair tool and clean their machines of malware before accessing their account.”

This could be true, however I’m not sure if I’m buying it. Bing will continue to be a major player in the search industry and a deal like this could have a significant impact especially with Facebook’s continued growth. I wouldn’t count them out just yet, many people focus primarily on Google when implementing a SEO or Online Marketing strategy, and this is not recommended, something as small as the addition of a search feature in Facebook could shake up the industry over night !

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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Happy Birthday Twitter – New Site & Video !!

Monday, March 21st, 2011

Say what you like about Twitter, but we can’t deny that it has changed the world of social media since its launch 5 years ago. Today it celebrates its 5th birthday and to celebrate it has launched a new discovery site along with a video featuring some of its most popular users. Some of the featured stars include tennis sensation Serena Williams, Virgin founder Richard Branson and hip hop star Snoop Dogg.

The YouTube video which is sure to go viral, includes interviews with some of the sites most famous tweeters discussing who they follow on the micro blogging platform and what significance they feel Twitter brings to their lives. The video includes interviews with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UFC President Dana White.

Matthew Marley
360innovate

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