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Has Google+ Already Won that War Against Facebook? A SPN Exclusive Article

By Pace Lattin in Featured

Just within the last two years Facebook overtook Myspace as the king of social networking. Now Myspace has been regulated by the technology and advertising community to the garbage heap of websites. Now has arrived what everyone knew would come, Google+, the newest best “social network” to compete in a crowded pack, dominated significantly by Facebook. Many people see that Facebook has a stranglehold on the social networking, and that nothing will take away it crown. I see completely the opposite that Google+ has already won, and within a year will easily take away any dominance that Facebook has, quickly sapping Facebook’s influence and value.

For the last few years, I’ve made the argument to friends and colleagues that Google should be buying Facebook, it was only a natural progression. Instead of selling to Google, Facebook felt that it was a long-lasting company that itself needed to buy other companies and become the next Google. In this, Facebook has made a complete miscalculation and they’ve already lost the war, barring some miracle — and here’s three reasons that I feel confident in my prediction:

1) Google has everything already Facebook has and more. While Facebook is attempting to buy or partner with companies like Microsoft, Google already have competitive features for almost everything Facebook wants. From mail, to video chat, to embedded search, these features are seamless within Google and in many cases superior. Now when you login to Google+ you are connected to all these features and will be able to use it as part of your social networking experience. If they don’t have it, rest assured they will get it.

2) Advertisers love Google. Despite Facebook’s enormous growth in advertising, Google is still the main source of advertising money. Google has known for a long time that everything is interconnected in interactive advertising and has been building and buying solutions that will connect with their Google+ technology. The universal login that Google+ will become, combined with mail, calendars and much more will provide targeting feature that no other network, no other behavior targeting company can even come close to duplicating. Pretty much, with Google+ turned on, most of what you do, from networking, to search, to mail, to surfing non Google websites will have you somehow connected eventually to their back advertising and targeting systems. Advertising prices will rise, Google’s income will double, and many other advertising solutions will have no way to compete, including Facebook.

3) Facebook cares too much about “social networking.” Social networking as a stand-alone solution is gone. With Google, everything will become on function of the internet. People have made for a while the argument that Facebook is really just another extension of the internet, and that “social networking” is nothing more than another word for what we all do on a daily basis – just made easier by software solutions. However, with Google+ all these interests, all of the networks and groups that we create will be more integrated into every other function of the internet. Remember that Google is often the first site, the main site that everyone uses on a daily basis to connect to everything else they want to know. Search will become a social tool and social networking will become a search mechanism. There will be no distinction perceived or in reality. When you are connected to the Internet, for most of us, you will always be connected to Google.

That last point really wraps up all the points together. Technologists have been claiming for a while that at some point the Internet will be more than just a destination on a computer or phone, but instead a part of everything we do. Microsoft knew this many years ago and has been trying unsuccessfully to have a universal login that will log you into everything. Even before that America Online (AOL) wanted to be the login to the internet, but never even came close to converting from an ISP to a destination. Facebook has been quickly addressing this, with integration into blogs, login for everything, but they still aren’t anywhere near the daily influence and reach of Google. That’s what Google has over Facebook, and what will make Google dominate the market. The pure integration potential of Google is just amazing. Since most users on the internet chose the easiest solution, whatever is put in their face (or the first page of Google), that is where they will all eventually go.

If Facebook doesn’t like it, they also have another reality to face: Google generates somewhere around 30-times as much revenue as Facebook and they can easily buy all the new users they need.

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Pace Lattin is a leading expert in interactive marketing and advertising. Pace Lattin, the publisher of the top newsletters in new media and online advertising is one of the inventors of many of the technologies and methods that have become standards in the industry. He has been called many things, including a rabble-rouser, a guru, an innovator and a watchdog — but one thing stays the same: he is one of the most interesting leaders and commentators in the online advertising industry. Marketing Sherpa, a leading marketing research publication called him the most influential journalist in online media for a reason.

The Five Steps to Increasing Your Presence on The Social Networks

By Cary Ganz in Featured

There is no question that social network marketing is not only here to stay but more than likely a moving force in marketing in general. Sometimes getting started with something new can become a very daunting task so I thought it would be advantageous to write a brief article on making this event a bit more user friendly.

In reality, social network marketing has two basic components. One is the personal side and the other a business event. In both cases the process is basically the same.

Step 1: Finding Your Home - You need to determine where you want to spend your time. Not all of the social network sites are the same. Some lean to different ages (i.e. MySpace), some to different niches (i.e. Facebook) and others more related to business (i.e. LinkedIn). Now, in reality, most of these sites, including the ones just mentioned, cross over to some degree.

If you have the time, join them all. Most people will find one or two networks where they will feel comfortable.

Step 2: Creating Your Profile – One the items common to practically all of the social network sites is the need to create a profile. Tell your future friends who you are, what you like and why you are participating in this specific forum. I would suggest that this is not the place for ‘spin’. You need to be honest and forthcoming if you are going to create the long lasting relationships so necessary to be successful in social network marketing.

Step 3: Relationships - OK. OK, we now have to create relationships. Unfortunately this can sound a bit oversimplified but the actual reason for participating in social networking is to create relationships and interacting on a consistent basis about concepts they have in common. That is the true purpose of being ‘social’.

This will require effort and time. The internet, being a relatively ‘unsocial’ environment due to the inability to actually ‘touch and feel’, requires additional effort. In most ‘brick and mortar’ relationships you meet someone, you talk, you look each other in the eye and a relationship starts.

Unfortunately this just doesn’t happen on the web. You need to be a bit more resourceful.

Step 4: Content/Frequency – Relationships on the social network scene are created by content you develop and post on the specific site. It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s on Twitter or on Facebook or MySpace. There are certain limitations with each of these websites but for the most part, you need to add content that is real and pertinent to your current and/or potential friends. You not only need to add good content but it needs to be frequently placed in order to a) get noticed and b) maintain relationships.

Step 5: Don’t Burn Your Bridges Marketing – OK. You may be reading this article in order to learn how to use social networks for marketing your new or current online or offline business. It is not the intention of this quick article to discuss all of the various ways to help you in that goal. However, there is one real important point to be made here that will make your marketing efforts successful. Be hones. Don’t SPAM or SCAM or you will most certainly burn your bridges behind you.

Like in the ‘real’ world, relationships are made and lost easily. It’s usually more difficult to make friends and real easy to lose them. On the web this process is made a bit more complicated and therefore it requires a great deal of attention.

Before I end this article I wanted to give you a real world example of what I am talking about with the hope that you can extrapolate it to the world of social networking.

The example is the club. When you begin to think of joining a club the first thing you need to determine is what type of club.(i.e. golf, tennis etc.) Let’s assume you are a great golfer and want to find new golfing friends. You join the club and start letting people know who you are. You can join a wide variety of committees. You go to club functions and try to meet club members. You tell them who you are and what you are looking for in the club. Then, you start participating in outings. You join foursomes and play as often as time permits. It is common knowledge that many who join golf clubs intend on using it as a business tool and therefore will ten to find like minded members and will eventually creating business while on the golf course. You’ll be honest and forthcoming or else you will either lose your foursome or even possibly your membership.

Conclusion: Does this sound familiar? Well, it should and the very same concepts apply to joining an online social network “club”. Whether you are currently a member of one or more social networks or planning on joining, be sure to think of the five basic steps before jumping in with both feet.

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You can learn much more about Social Networking and Social Network Marketing at Twitter Right. Cary Ganz is the Creator of The Newbie Phenomenon where you can find over 250 additional products for only 99 cents with unrestricted, unlimited access for thirty (30) days

How to Learn HTML for MySpace and Web Page Design with Video HTML Courses

By Peter Nisbet in Featured

Everybody should learn HTML. It is a very useful skill to have, and whether you are using it to pimp up your MySpace page or design a website, you will be glad that you took a HTML course. So, what is the best way to learn HTML. There is a variety of free sites online that teach you HTML, but is that the best way?

For a quick answer, let’s have a quick peek into the world of advertising. Advertisers have newspapers, magazines and radio at their disposal and many use both. Each is effective in its own way, one being visual and the other using the voice to get the message across. However, if these relatively inexpensive advertising techniques are so effective, why do those that can afford it go to the sometimes incredible expense of TV advertising? Simple!

TV advertising makes use of both your eyes and your ears, and it has been proved countless times that a combination of aural and visual advertising is considerably more effective than either alone. The same is true of teaching. Whether you teach HTML or children to write, you will find that your pupils will learn much faster and retain what they learn much longer, if you show them and speak to them, than if you simply handed out a book telling them how to read or how to use HTML (did you spot the incongruity there?).

In a nutshell, you will learn HTML quicker if you do so by video than from a book or a web page course of HTML lessons. Although HTML for MySpace might seem a fairly limited application, it nevertheless requires knowledge of formatting text, tables, graphics, hyperlinks and so on; even of special effects such as HTML scrolling, or the ‘marquee’ tag. No less than is needed in learning HTML for a website.

Many wonder why they should learn HTML in the current era of wysiwyg HTML editors, but there is only so much you can do with wysiwyg. It doesn’t properly format your web page for search engines, for example, where most of the important SEO is carried out using html in the ‘HEAD’ section of the page, before the ‘BODY’ that is visible to the eye.

SEO applies just as much to your MySpace page as it does a regular website, and the same is also true of your blog. In order to format your blog behind the scenes, as it were, you have learn HTML and apply that knowledge to the various elements of your blog. The heading, sidebars and other areas can be individually designed and formatted by means of HTML, assuming that it can be formatted in this way. If you are running WordPress from your own server or web space, for example, you will have access to the HTML that makes your blog what bit is.

A video HTML course will teach you the basics very rapidly, before on to the more detailed frames and CSS formatting, not to mention the special effects that will make your page stand out amongst all the others.

It is pretty obvious, then, that if you want to learn HTML and apply your imagination to your website, blog or MySpace page, you will do so much quicker and easier with a video HTML course than just a written one. Science has proved the fact.

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Learn HTML and design your website, blog and MySpace page exactly as you want it. Check out Learn HTML where you will find a video HTML course to meet your needs, or New Business Schools HTML Video Course for more information on HTML Courses and online business in general.

Social Networking, Going Beyond the MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter

By Bill Rice in Featured

Have you noticed? Social networking and social media is taking the Internet by storm. Everyone is getting into the game from small businesses to big corporations. Does that mean all of the opportunity is gone? No. The real truth is 90 percent of people are getting it completely wrong.

Effective social networking goes beyond registering for MySpace, Facebook, and/or Twitter. Social networking requires participation and valuable contribution to the community. Here are the secrets of maximizing your social networking.

Listening

Getting into the conversation starts with listening to your community. Take some time to research your target audience–people you want in your community. Here are a couple of my favorite techniques:

• Use Google’s Blog Search to find blogs and commentary associated with your business
• Set-up Google alerts to email you tips on new content related to your marketplace
• Use Twitter Search to monitor community related conversation in real-time

Not only will listening tune you into your target audience–it will reveal opportunity.

Participating

Note, the first word is social networking is “social.” That means that people expect connections in their network to participate. They are looking for a conversation. Getting the most out of your social networking means giving your community what they want. Here are a few techniques I like to use:

• Ask questions. Nothing draws a crowd faster than asking for advice.
• Answer questions. This demonstrates expertise and adds value.
• Link to great resources. Linking gives to the community and builds goodwill.
• Share good content. I good proportion you should share your own content.

Participating shows a genuine interest in the community, building your credibility and reputation–important to powering a successful social network.

Audience Building

Once engaged in your social network, it is time to build your own audience. Your audience should be folks that follow you and are influenced by you.

You want to be a leader in your social network to get the biggest return. This of course requires trust and reputation. Each is built over time and based mainly on useful and valuable participation.

Join the conversation, help people, and be willing to learn and your audience will grow. However, one powerful suggestions–focus on conversations and interactions that have keyword clues. This will help attract an appropriate audience. Also, every social network has a search tool–this is how most audiences get built, like websites it takes a little smart SEO.

Mobilizing

As you build your audience don’t be shy to get them doing something. People love to be part of a cause or project. Most will happily get involved. So, start mobilizing your audience early. This will make them a powerhouse as you audience grows and you are really to charge them with a really big initiative.

Are you now convinced that social networking is more than a seizure inducing MySpace page, a college reunion FaceBook network, or a java fueled blasting of what your ate for dinner? Social networking is about–listening, participating, and mobilizing. Get yours started today.

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Bill Rice Social networking is much more than just signing up for a few social media accounts. A smart social media strategy takes real community, audience, and target market consideration. http://bizinneed.com

MySpace Founders Comment On Social Media Arms Race

By Catharine P. Taylor in Featured

Was settling in to relax a bit on the couch last night, after a long day of blog posts, tweets and friending, when, in my nightly channel surf, I came across Charlie Rose interviewing this guy who screamed Silicon Valley: boyish good looks, a J. Crew-style sweatshirt, and graying hair that hadn’t been combed since he got out of bed or the shower.

Turned out it was Chris DeWolfe of MySpace, who, with his even more boyish co-founder, Tom Anderson, was being interviewed by Rose. A few statements by DeWolfe and Anderson stood out:

• They view their competitors, at least in terms of ad revenue, as being Yahoo and MSN, not Facebook.
• They view Facebook as being a more utilitarian communications tool, and MySpace as “more about culture and creativity and expression,” per Anderson.
• They pooh-pooh suggestions by people such as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch that Facebook will surpass MySpace in unique users by January of next year. (Note: Though it wasn’t specified in the interview, Arrington was talking about Facebook surpassing MySpace in the U.S.)

Interesting observations, these, as it has become popular, at least in the social-networking circles in which many of you travel, to declare MySpace over and Facebook the victor. (Yeah, I’m guilty of it, too.) We do this even though Facebook hasn’t reached MySpace’s critical mass in terms of users or revenue.

Here are my thoughts about what DeWolfe and Anderson said:

• That the portal’s true competitors are Yahoo and MSN: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or five minutes on MySpace or Facebook, to figure out that if Facebook is the Upper East Side, MySpace is Times Square. Ads are everywhere. What’s interesting about this view of their competitive set is what DeWolfe and Anderson didn’t say. While much of the social media world is concerned about embedding marketing into social media in ways that make marketing a welcome part of the social stream, that isn’t as much of a concern for these guys. The big concern, said Anderson, is getting “the advertising world to understand that … what we have is not that different from what Yahoo has, which is a big audience of people.” Are they wrong? Or are the rest of us so hung up on user experience that making money in social networking has become viewed as a bad thing?
• Facebook as more of a communications tool: When I look at my Facebook usage — which may, or may not, be typical — it’s true that it is primarily concerned with various forms of communication: posting links, tossing up status updates and emailing within Facebook. MySpace does host massive amounts of audio and video — I could throw that “Times Square” analogy back in here — but I’m not sure I agree with Anderson’s contention that MySpace is “more focused on the whole world and all the things that people are interested in” rather than just being a people-to-people communications device. If you want to find a way to connect with your passions, Facebook is also a great place to do it.
• On Facebook surpassing MySpace by January 2010: “No. We’re focused on obviously growing our user base, which we are,” said DeWolfe. “Year-over-year our unique users are way up, our engagement is up 40%, number of minutes spent on the site is 50% more than our nearest competitor. ” (In reply to a question by Rose, DeWolfe added that MySpace users spend an average of 400 minutes per month on the site.) He didn’t cite his sources, but one reason those stats may sound odd is that many of us saw a post Mashable did in December featuring U.S.-only numbers from Nielsen Online. It’s very likely DeWolfe was quoting global numbers. Meanwhile, the Mashable numbers showed that, as of November, average time spent on MySpace per month declined in the last year by 23%, to 1 hour and 52 minutes. It also showed Facebook’s domestic uniques going up 116%, to 47 million, while MySpace’s went up 3%, to 59 million. ComScore’s number paint a very different picture for MySpace, showing, as of December, that uniques are up 10% year-over-year and total minutes spent on the site are up 42%. There’s much more data drilling to be done here to figure out what is really going on.

As I was writing this column, the full interview was posted here at charlierose.com. I’d suggest you take 32 minutes and stream it, then come back and comment here, of course. In the social networks arms race, it’s fuel for thought.

Catharine P. Taylor has been covering digital media and advertising for almost 15 years. She currently writes daily about advertising on her blog, Adverganza.com. You can reach her via email at cathyptaylor@gmail.com, follow her on Twitter at cpealet, or friend her on Facebook at Catharine P. Taylor.

Web 2.0 Tools and Making Money Online

By Matthew Bredel in Featured

There are a lot of different social networking sites that people are using to make money. If you find the right site and establish yourself you can take advantage of this. How do you capitalize to maximize your investment of time so you achieve maximum results? Choose the right site and get the right results. Here are three helpful tips:

Navigating the Social Media Landscape

By Leslie Russell in Featured

You know what Facebook and MySpace are. You’ve heard of people twittering. You read a couple of blogs now and then, and you must admit, you already know that your company’s firewall prevents you from watching YouTube videos at the office. What you don’t know is how these social sites might connect to your marketing plan.

Exploring social media – such as blogs, social networking sites, image hosting sites and social bookmarking sites – is becoming increasingly essential for businesses. Social media marketing (SMM) allows you to build your company’s reputation as an authority in your field while engaging your consumers in an open dialogue. Most importantly, it helps you drive up site traffic, meet conversion goals and bolster search engine marketing results via links and quality content – all while supporting your traditional marketing efforts.

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