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Google Adds Feature for Local Search Across Devices

posted on March 6, 2012

Google is working real hard to make sure you are logged into your Google account when you do anything with the company. Of course, that is the secret to Google getting as much data about you to use for advertising so it makes sense.

The latest entry into this is a service that allows desktop searches you conduct about local questions to be viewed on your mobile device when you are logged in and doing a search from Google.com. You will see a “Recent” tab that when used will give you the recent searches you did on another device so you don’t have to repeat the process while on the go. Here is a picture from the Inside Search blog with some visuals

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Facebook Rolls Out Offers for Some

posted on March 5, 2012

I was tempted to start this post with a sentence about Facebook making an offer you can’t refuse but that would be cliche and I’m better than that, right? (Hush, you.)

So let’s skip the pleasantries and go right to the meat. Facebook has a new “deal” option called Offers. Using the system, a business can place a coupon on their Facebook page. Fans click the coupon to claim it, they get an email with the coupon code, and hopefully they use the coupon to spend money at your business.

Neat.

Here’s a sample:

Facebook only just made the announcement official, but one Facebook marketing blogger, noticed a few of these offers back in February.  She has a great post outlining the whole claiming process with lots of graphics. As she points out, these ads are one-click simple and they work on Facebook mobile, which is huge.

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Socialbakers Ranks Social Media’s Top Brands [Infographic]

posted on March 5, 2012

Socialbakers, a social media statistics portal, has decided to create a monthly infographic showing the top brands in the space.

We’re bringing you this information, because we feel there’s always something to be learned from those at the top of the heap. Also, because we like infographics.

*Side note here to the Socialbakers folks, next month can we have some more colors and cool images?

First, let’s look at the Top 10 YouTube Brand Channels based on views. A deodorant for men tops the list with a drink aimed at adventurous men right below it. You have the game oriented EA and Playstation. Nikefootball and volkswagen are also decidedly male. (Noticing a trend here?)

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Senator Calls FTC to Probe Apple and Google on Mobile Privacy

posted on March 5, 2012

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has never met a chance to get in the headlines that he didn’t like.

His latest effort comes in the form of a letter to the FTC chair and wants the agency to look into mobile phone privacy in general. He has “specific” concerns that he was certainly briefed on (I wonder if he has truly experienced anything himself) but in the end this is likely to bring Apple into the fray (which they usually steer clear of somehow) while just bringing Google to another hearing in DC. Here are the contents of the letter courtesy of the Times Herald-Record

Dear Chairman Leibowitz,

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Facebook’s US Growth Slowing Down, Twitter Has Room To Grow

posted on March 5, 2012

If you were to look at growth rate for number of users you would think that the Facebook freight train was slowing down a bit. According to eMarketer the rate of growth for the leading social network is falling into the single digits while Twitter’s growth stays in double digit territory.

Here are the growth numbers and projections for the next few years.

These numbers, however, are not anything that should signal trouble for Facebook. Maybe they have actually reached a very unique position in the US where they have simply gotten most people who are going to use social networking to sign up already. The available market left for them is simply much smaller so growth percentages would naturally have to shrink. Now, Facebook is concentrating on getting revenue out of the huge number of users it already has as evidenced by the many ad types added in recent days.

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Going Universal: How to Leverage Universal Search to Increase ROI

posted on March 5, 2012

The following post was written by our SEO Channel sponsor Link-Assistant.

It amazes me how many online optimizers ignore Universal Search. I’ve come across site owners who ask, “Hey, we are a flower retailer, how do we rank in the top 10?” And I’m like, “Jeez, you’re not even on Google Places”.

Years ago, whether you owned a hotel, a newspaper or an insurance company, the way you optimized your site for Google was more or less the same. Remember the good old SERPs with a homogeneous mass of search results?

Nowadays, times have changed. Today, the search results contain paid listings, specialized search results (Images, Videos, etc.), and what not. There is now more distraction for the searcher, and potential visitors may simply ignore your insignificant “normal” result and click on a flashy Shopping snippet or something similar.

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Cup of Joe: Never Hire Creatives

posted on March 3, 2012

nullOver the last 5 years of helping clients design and build their imagination on the internet, I have come to realize that most don’t know the difference between creativity and skill. In this post I will explain it so you can quit making the same mistakes that so many do.

Skill, is the ability to draw or paint a horse. Creativity, is putting a horn on its head and calling it a unicorn.

Skill is sculpting clay or stone to make structures. Creativity, is applying those same skills to make buildings that one can only dream of.

Skill is sewing felt and foam together. Creativity is giving it character and personality.

As you can see, skill and creativity are two different things entirely. Unfortunately, most that hire developers and designers never understand this. Typically, this is how things progress: