Are you a fan of social networking media? It is not a surprise to know that almost all people in all parts of the world are avid fans of the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and now the Google Plus which has only been available in the past months. Social networking sites definitely help in a lot of ways to its users.

However, there are also some drawbacks on being so much into these sites. Evident to this are the growing numbers of crime being linked or associated with the use of social networking sites. Hence, the people behind these social media are constantly emphasizing their continuous drive to tighten whatever safety and security measures they have towards their users.

One of the hottest topics that have ever been talked about in Facebook, Twitter and Google+ is whether to allow its users to use pseudonyms. In any online social networking site you patronize, determining whether the people behind a certain profile is true or not would definitely be just like finding a needle in a haystack. What more if these people are only using nicknames and not their true names?

In line with this, Google+ move to allow pseudonyms online has garnered a lot more issues as this move is contradicting to their original policy.

Here’s the catch…

People could stop worrying about security or safety issues tagged on the recent permission of Google+ to its users to use pseudonyms as Google would not be too easy on people who want to use pseudonyms. According to Horowitz from Google, they would allow users to use maiden names, nicknames and pseudonyms only if he or she could substantiate that the name that will be use has already been used to other social networking sites. This way Google can assure that there is a real person behind this pseudonym or nickname and this pseudonym is not being used for scam.

In line with this, Horowitz assured the public that Google employees will review the name changes made by its user manually. Moreover, for security purposes Google will ask for legal documents from its user like driver’s license or published material and link to social networking sites before approving.

Do pseudonyms help or not?

People differ when it comes to their preferences. It goes the same about names. Some people just don’t want to represent themselves using their own name and is fonder of using nicknames and pseudonyms. But the question is do pseudonyms help or not? The answer is its case to case basis. Like for instance, pseudonyms can definitely help those who are victims of abuse since they need to hide their identity while scammers can use fake names to fool people.

In spite of all the intrigues about this issue, there’s one thing that Google+ users can definitely be assured of. It is that Google has only good intentions for its decision to permit pseudonyms.

Google has recently launched a new tactics or project as they call it to get more people interested to them. This project is called ‘Google + your World’. Google Plus as mentioned by Google itself is not going to be a rival for other social networking sites like ‘Facebook’ but it will certainly make a difference to your usual search task using Google.

Google + lets you make your own profile and use it to your benefits as much as possible. In the short while that Google + exists, there have been many critics and to it. However, you are the only one who can rightfully decide if it will going to help you or just complicate things for you. Hence, below are some of the things you might need to know about this newest project from Google.

What You Can Do with Google +?

Like any other products launched by Google, there are a lot of things you can do with Google + that can definitely help you or your businesses prosper. Included in the list are the following:

1. You get to increase your conversion rates – Of course, this was the most important things for SEOs. When you say conversion rates it only means money for online marketers. But how can this Google + give you higher conversion rates? Here’s how it works. As you join your business or register your business to Google + you’ll be able to increase your conversions through search referrals. You can also add +1 button to your page so you’ll get free promotions from people to those who share the same interests.
2. Build a tighter relationship to your customers and prospective clients – Through a special feature of Google + called ‘Hangouts’ you will have the opportunity to talk to your customers and other people who have the same interests as you. Continues communicating to your client and other people is a good way to maintain a good social status to your business. Hence, having such a feature like ‘Hangouts’ definitely helps your business. Aside from the fact that it can help you with building a good relationship to your patrons and prospect clients you can also use this feature for internal matters such as holding an important meeting and reaching those employees assigned in the remote areas.

Google + Interface

Surprisingly, Google took a lot of effort to consider what more people want in a social networking site though they are claiming that Google + is not one. The interface looks magnificent as it is definitely easy to use and everyone can enjoy its feature as it’s very easy to understand as well as operate. There are a lot of similarities with Google + and Facebook. Both have wall posts and privacy features. But one thing that you will certainly love about the Google + interface is its feature called ‘Circles’ which allows you to add and organize people in your network. You can separate them by putting them in different circles. And the best news? Doing this is as easy as 1-2-3!

Trends affect business trade like to how climate affect countries. Those countries experiencing four seasons are affected by weather and climate changes every couple of months, as such, people adapt to these climate changes. Like the ever changing climate, trends affect the business trade in the same way except that change takes years. When trends change, the market follows and the companies adapt to changes as well. Apparently, like the ever changing climate, trend is quite unpredictable.

Video marketing has turned out to be one of the most convenient and effective methods in advertising products and services. Business promotion is made a lot easier by video marketing. The following are some expected trends that most likely will be seen in 2012.

Statistics Doesn’t Lie

Last November 2011, comScore, a world-renowned leader in measuring the digital realm, released the October 2011 United States Online Video Rankings. They revealed that 184 million United States Internet viewers watched videos online 21.1 hours per viewer at an average. The statistics revealed all-time high results of a total of 42.6 billion videos watched by the U.S. Internet audience. And from 2010’s report, this year there is a 5.1% increase in the average time spent on watching online videos per viewer.

This trend shows that this year, the United States population will spend almost 39.7% more online watching time. That is roughly 193 million people who will watch about 29.4 hours in 2012.

Moreover, it was reported that Google sites ranked as the number one online video content property in October 2011 with a remarkably 161 million unique viewers from YouTube.com. They also topped the highest engagement of 7.1 hours per viewer.

The previous year’s report of comScore revealed that Google sites through YouTube.com with a sum of 146.3 million different viewers, topped as Internet video content property in October 2010. Furthermore, Google sites with 4.5 hours at an average topped last year’s average time spent watching online videos.

So, it’s safe to conclude that Google sites will be the number 1 online video content property a year from now.

History Repeats Itself
The August 2009’s On the Predictability Of Search Trends by Niv Efron, Yair Shimshoni and Yossi Matias of Google revealed the following:

• Of the most popular Google searches more than half are predictable.
• While almost half of the most popular Google searches are not predictable

From these findings, Google launched a feature in the Insights for Search. For instance, the term “snow” spikes in February to December 2012. This means video marketers can start planning now to create and release content themed events like the holidays.

Creativity can be broadly defined as inventiveness, imagination and originality. To create is to bring into being something that wasn’t there before. It can be a fresh new arrangement of existing elements. Take composers for instance, they have created countless pieces of music from basically eight notes. This proves that the capacity for creativity and originality is infinite even when the elements that comprise it are finite.

In Facebook ad where you are limited to just 160 characters, being creative and original requires a fair amount of good skill. We have heard this before: A picture is worth a thousand words. This is true in photojournalism, paintings and advertising. And now that life has taken a faster pace, people do not have the luxury of time to read ads. That’s why in a Facebook ad, the image alone must tell the story. Here are some tips that should be taken into consideration to have the best Facebook Ad Image.

1. Invest in Good Visual Styling

Images say pretty much what it shows. A dog is always a dog. It is visual styling that adds emotion and spice to the image. And, these visual styles are only achieved through art direction, excellent photography and good production design.

2. Be The Iconoclast

Art is guided by classical rules, however in the realm of creativity, sometimes breaking new grounds is the best way to call attention. Facebook ad images puts premium on creating impact, therefore, more often than not, clichés just don’t work to bring perceptual interest and the drama that is more inherent to the image.

3. The 7 Categories of Fascination Triggers

Human beings are hardwired to pay attention the 7 Categories of Fascination Triggers such as: Lust, Prestige, Alarm, Power, Vice, Mystique and Trust.

It doesn’t take much IQ to figure out that an advertisement image associated with the 7 triggers can plausibly be something interesting to the target market. The following are examples of images that turned up using the formula “topic” + trigger.

4. Size Matters
If you finally came up with some possible images, decide on which images could be cropped, tilted or digitally enhanced to make it more visually prominent and appealing.

At this point, it is also best to consider which photographs work best with the small image format of Facebook. Facebook’s image size is less than 5MB, 80 pixels high by 110 pixels wide. Choose the images that will work well with this size. If your image won’t match up with that specs, its best to select another.

Social connections have circled into Facebook almost all of the time. Virtual presence is highly important for people as much as for businesses who want to plunge into a different plateau in business, which is making use of the web marketplace to maximize visibility to a wide range of consumers all over the world.
Facebook is said to be the second most-frequented site globally with more than 700 million users and counting. Anything you put into Facebook is considered viral in coverage. That is precisely the reason why many businesses are seeing the perks and major advantages of having a Facebook business page and being able to circle into the whole Facebook community.

If you are a newbie entrepreneur or maybe a bigwig in any major industry; here are quick and easy tips to tweak your Facebook business page and make it real SEO-friendly:

1. Page Name –

When creating your business page name, make sure to incorporate proper keywords in accord to your line of business. This will help optimize your page when someone searches for items within your category.

2. Load Up Your Business Information –

boost your page by indicating comprehensive business information; such as your Twitter, LinkedIn, or any website that you have.

3. Utilize Facebook Widgets and Buttons –

You are sure to get high quality backlinks and traffic conversions thru recommending your visitors to like, share, or follow you on your blogs.

4. Set your Privacy Settings to “Everyone” –

fluidity is important in being viral. Setting your privacy settings to “Everyone” will definitely leak and send your information and website to every single user who stumbles upon your page thru direct or indirect means.

5. Keep it Interactive and Updated –

It is highly important that you keep your users hooked to your page by providing them fresh and interesting news or information relevant to your products and services. Keep the updates on a regular and steady fashion as this will encourage visitors to frequent your page and keep posted on your updates.

6. Inject Creativity and Innovation –

Boring pages are supposed to be deleted these days. No one visits monotonous pages; for obvious reasons. So always inject fun and creative input into your Facebook page. You can incorporate different media or applications such as videos or even games. You can also give timely promotions or contests. Basically, anything that encourages participation from users will be very helpful in boosting much-needed exposure and traffic to your site.

7. Be Active and Contribute –

The more visible you are in Facebook, the more people will recognize you and follow your posts. Be sure to voice out your opinion on a variety of posts your connections may have.They may also be inclined to share as well as recommend your page to their contacts. This will depend on how targeted your market is with regard to the products and services that you are offering. You can actually search on your target market by optimizing the search buttons on Facebook. You can see their posts and status updates as well which may have some relation with your business.
Facebook has definitely transcended beyond being just a trend. It has now become a necessity for personal and business connections. What sets Facebook apart from its emerging competitors is that these pages are built on solid reputation and trust. This is not just a fancy web marketplace, but it has become a community of people who are in constant interaction with one another.

Facebook has been a household name for years now and nothing has ever come close to making it topple over from its stable position. There are over 500 million Facebook users all over the world who eats and breathes Facebook likes and comments all over the place. Yes, this is not just a mere social application for people, for this has become a part of every person’s life. It’s like a public timeline where every single day is documented in one syncopated module.

Almost everyone has a Facebook account and active users who frequent the lobbies of Facebook every single day. There are varied uses for Facebook; whether it is for personal or social needs; as well as for business purposes. This has diversified the way we use social networks and has kept us hooked not just for plain chit-chat but for our business dealings.

More Than Just a Hobby – It’s a Necessity

Moreover, Facebook has made it real for people to use it not just to kill the time but be a necessity for business and personal transactions. It has become as basic as real-time communication is all over the globe. People are able to reach out in more ways than one with the use of Facebook’s innovative features.
Interaction has been real savvy yet very easy to use and enjoy. There are a whole lot of applications for communication as well as for entertainment or leisure purposes. There is never a dull moment with Facebook. That is precisely the reason why we log into it every day in a ritualistic pattern. What keeps people hooked to Facebook? That is what keeps Google + thinking real hard.

Here are 2 Reasons why Google + poses No Threat to Facebook

:

• Convenience –

Google + has awesome features but they can be confusing especially for people who are not so techie. It can be real fun at first but the features that Google + has is nothing new and is never even better than what Facebook has been offering its users. The greatest challenge posed here is how can Google + entice satisfied Facebook users to still go for Google +. It is very inconvenient to start updating another social network when you already have a solid ground with the other. It is fairly easy to invite others to join and create accounts; but to keep them coming back is entirely another story. But, let’s see what Google + has up its sleeve.

• Usability –

Let’s face it, the layout of Google + is similar with that of Facebook for obvious reasons. Facebook is really a familiar place for people. This is like a virtual space where people meet and converge and do a lot of mindless as well as essential things online. Google + has a lot of complicated terms and not-so-friendly verbiage like the “+1” which is equivocal to “likes” in Facebook. Liking something is real; but having a +1 is something that we should get accustomed to in Google+.

• The Challenge! –

Google + is a new thing and that could really draw out curiosity in people and will actually drive them to check it out and explore for themselves. This is something very natural for digital individuals. We all crave for something profound and innovative. The only challenge for Google + is that they should be able to deliver and meet the expectations as well as the needs of individuals more than what Facebook has already been successful with in accomplishing for the past years.

Facebook has definitely changed the way people connect. It’s a whole new different ballgame for internet marketers as well. Evidently, new updates are being implemented in Facebook as the entire internet media platform where virtual transactions are done every millisecond.

Facebook has not gained more than 500 million registered users for nothing. This only goes to show that Facebook is not only built to please consumers all over the globe but more so, it was built to satiate as well as to improve with the ebb and flow of modern demands.

Basically, successful implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is what makes Facebook stand out among social networks and other impending competitor; and that is besides the fact that theirs is the most user-friendly interface and the most interactive features any individual or business would ever want to have.
It has set the trend and the definitive pace for other social paradigms as well, which poses as a real challenge for others to beat or at least afford to be in the same plane with them. What does it take to level off the playing field then? Hints are geared towards a better and more optimized year 2012 for Facebook which is bound to implement innovative ploys towards leveraging better advertisement results for the year to come.

Here are the 2 Facebook Tools designed to give you the ultimate marketing edge:

• CalmSea -

This stands to be the forerunner of Predictive Social Marketing which strategically combines the elements of ecommerce, social networking, and that of predictive analysis in order to employ the appropriate advertising strategy to target clients. This gives businesses the ability to monetize Facebook in more ways than one.

The premise revolves on being able to acquire and then segment users, then consequently keep them engaged on your page. You should be able to deliver what your clients want and to advertise across multiple channels. Content is the key to get clients and to keep them coming back to your page; and finally, to convert them into sales.

• InfiniGraph -

its ultimate function is the ability to consolidate Facebook and Twitter data in order to properly pinpoint relevant affiliations, interests, and content that are intrinsically trending within the circle of a specific product or brand. This allows businesses determine which of the trending updates are closely relevant to one’s followers and which of these do most people like or are more interested in. This will then serve as your clue as to be able to effectively deliver to meet your client needs and demands.

Bottom-line?

Data is the epitome to get across varied channels in today’s modern industry. It ultimately depends on the perfect consolidation of content as well as the timing of delivery. This is where Facebook powers up its social leverage on gaining access to all information necessary regarding clients, engaging them with relevant and interesting content. It also seals the deal and get repeat clients who will encourage others as well to like your page and purchase. This is how viral Facebook is and will continue to be in the next years to come.

Google is already ruling the search engine world. Almost every person in the planet equate online search with Google. However, many people are still unaware of the other products from Google aside from the excellent search engine they offer. If used properly, these products can considerably improve efficiency and productivity. Here are the best Google products that might be useful to you:

Google AdWords

This is the advertising platform of Google. Google AdWords offer a pay-per-click (PPC) type of advertising along with site-targeted advertising that is not just for text ads but also for banner ads. If you have an online business or just want to advertise online, this is definitely a program you should use. This will help a lot of people find you or at least know about you.

Gmail

This free webmail service from Google uses POP3 which gets rid of the problem of having to refresh constantly to check for new mail. Another one of Gmail’s strong points is its excellent spam protection that is definitely above other webmail providers. This will help save a lot of time in sorting which emails are important and which are spam. Gmail also offers many other very useful and helpful features that can help save time and make things more efficient.

Google Bookmarks

This online service enables you to save the sites that you visit often and lets you attach labels and annotations. This will prevent having to search for the website or looking where you wrote down the website. This is really a great tool for efficiency and saving precious time during work.

Google Docs

The best thing about this product is that it is free. It is not just a web-based word processor but also a spreadsheet and presentation program. You can easily share and collaborate with other people online. You will have access to you online documents using any computer in any place at any time. What more could you ask for? There is no more need for sending documents to yourself or carrying a USB stick everywhere you go.

YouTube

You’re probably an alien from another solar system if you haven’t heard of YouTube. This video sharing website was purchased by Google in 2006. This is excellent not just for video sharing but also for many other purposes such as product awareness, advertising, learning, etc. YouTube is definitely the biggest and most popular video sharing website today.