When it comes to the internet, I am a pretty paranoid person (I’ve mentioned this before), and like to keep things has private as possible. This includes the use of location-based apps. I don’t check in on foursquare, I don’t add my location to my tweets and I definitely don’t check in at home. The reason being is that I don’t want anyone and everyone to know where I am at all times. I work in Royal Oak and live in metro Detroit, so unless I’m going to be somewhere that in my eyes warrants sharing, you won’t know my location.

A 2010 NPR article talks about the risk of over-sharing your location. In the article, Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, “There are physical and economic safety risks when you’re publicizing to the world where you are. It’s obviously a treasure trove of information for criminals.”

While this article is two years old, I still believe it has valid points. And the reason I bring this topic back to light is that I follow someone on Twitter who checks in everywhere he goes. That’s his prerogative, but this person commits the biggest sin of check-in services: Checking in at home.  Even when I was an avid foursquare user, I never once checked in at home.

I believe that there are a few simple steps that can help make foursquare and other services like it a whole lot safer:

1. First, take foursquare’s advice and “be careful about with whom and when” you share your location. This mean setting your privacy settings to a level with which you are comfortable.
2. If you check in at home, make your residence a place that is “Off the grid” so that its location is not published publicly.
3. Don’t use foursquare to tell your friends on Facebook and Twitter where you are every moment of every day. I’m not saying don’t check in, I’m just saying don’t publish it to your social profiles unless it’s a place worth sharing. I know this sounds blunt, but if you’re at a local drug store or gas station, none of us care. If you’re at a museum, great restaurant, etc., then that’s another story! It’s how you use it, not when you use it.

Now, if you think I’m being paranoid and over-dramatic, please drop me a line in the comments. Just don’t tell me where you are.

Manjoo wrote, “Yes, Google and Bing are functionally identical. But Bing will need a lot more than parity with the most-popular search engine in the land if it wants people to switch en masse.”It seems that he chose the wrong week to trade Google for Bing. On Thursday, May 10 (one day after Manjoo’s story published), Bing announced a relaunch of its search engine. This relaunch addressed perhaps the most important aspect of search not mentioned in Manjoo’s article: social search.

Bing Social Sidebar

We all know that social search is becoming more important than ever. Google+ thrust it upon us with Search, Plus Your World and Bing did its part by integrating Facebook posts into SERPs. But Bing is taking it to the next level with its social sidebar.

Instead of cluttering up SERPs with personal results (kind of like what Google does with Google+ posts), Bing puts all of its social integration in one place. The sidebar includes four primary features: Ask Friends, Friends Who Might Know, People Who Know and Activity Feed. All of these give Bing a slight edge on Google with respect to social search. But of these four functions, People Who Know is the most interesting.

People Who Know does everything Google should do, but doesn’t. Unlike Friends Who Might Know, which determines if any of your Facebook friends know anything about your query, People Who Know will give you social results that aren’t just Facebook-specific. For instance, when Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan searched “Google” in Bing, Matt Cutts’ Twitter account was a social search result. But it doesn’t stop there: Bing will also suggest profiles “from LinkedIn, Quora, Foursquare, Blogger and — wait for it — Google+.”

You read that right, Bing will be suggesting Google+ users in its social results. And as ReadWriteWeb’s Jon Mitchell points out, this makes Google look anti-social. Mitchell writes, “The new Bing works in exactly the right way. It disentangles the many kinds of information we get from search instead of mashing them all together. There’s no awkward toggle switch between “social” and “global,” even though Google’s idea of “global” is still personalized. Bing has one set of Web links, one set of related results, and social info lives in the sidebar.”

He couldn’t have said it better. Bing is doing what Google wants to do. And yes, Bing does have a slight advantage over Google because it not only has a deal with Facebook, but also Twitter. Google only has, well, Google+. If Google doesn’t want Bing to catch up, it’s going to step it up and get a little friendlier.

Minor changes in the information you’re hashing will drastically change the results. This makes it almost impossible to see any pattern within hashing algorithms, and makes them very hard to break.

There are several different types of hashes, and several ways to interact with them to make data more secure.

Not All Hashes are Perfect

Typically, developers use a hashing algorithm called MD5. However, MD5 is old and used more often than it should be. Although MD5 is not reversible, it has a high degree of collision and it is open to rainbow tables or brute force attacks.

This means that people will make a huge list of hashes, and compare them with the hash they’re trying to break. Once they find out what went into making a hash, they will know what the original information was, and thus, the hash was broken.

One solution to this is something called a “salt.” This is where you append some additional information onto the information you’re trying to hash. For example, if you were trying to hash “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” you will get something that can be compared to a rainbow table, and easily broken.

However, with salting, you can add another layer of complexity. If you use the same rules going into the hashing algorithm, the comparison will return true every time. For example, let’s say we want to append some information prior to our information, after it, and replace all of the spaces with another set of characters. We will use the same information, but this time, we will salt that information:

“39fKa-the-asd-quick-asd-brown-asd-fox-asd-jumps-asd-over-asd-the-asd-lazy-asd-dog-39fka,”

If we apply these rules every time, we will get far more secure data, as people will rarely have this random string of characters hashed ahead of time, waiting to compare it

There also rates of collision. Because we occasionally take large bits of information, and turn them into a smaller grouping of information, there is a chance minor changes will not affect the results of our hash. This is potentially dangerous with things like SSL certificates, and other applications which use hashing in order to verify identity or legitimacy of information.

There are better hashing algorithms out there. MD5 is widely used online, and is more open to things like brute force and rainbow table type attacks, even with salting. A good alternative is the SHA2 grouping of hashing algorithms. There are many alternatives, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. You should read into your choice carefully, but at the end of the day, just don’t use MD5.

All this came to a head last month when the case went to trial. After several weeks of the two Silicon Valley heavyweights trying to prove their respective points, the verdict was announced: Google violated copyright and patent laws in its development of Android. There is, however, another question at hand: Did Google’s use of the Java language fall under the terms of “fair use.” This is one question, among others, that the jury in the Google-Oracle case could not determine the answer to. According to Stanford University Libraries, “a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.”

Now, this begs the question: Can Google’s use of Java’s code, et al be construed as a parody, criticism or comment on Java? Despite my title, I’m no copyright expert, but I’m willing to say, “No.” But because the jury could not determine whether or not Google’s use of the Java structure was fair use, Google has called for a mistrial. This is just the beginning of a long legal battle between the two companies.

We want to know what you think about the Google-Oracle case. Do you think Google’s use of the Java API falls under fair use or was it a complete copyright violation? Tell us in the comments.

The FBI is asking internet companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to not oppose an amendment to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA) that would give federal agencies, like the FBI, backdoor access to social networking sites and other online services. The reason the government wants this access? CNET reports that it’s because “the internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities.”

Currently, CALEA only applies to telecommunications companies and broadband networks, but has no effect on social networks. With communication moving more online, the government apparently feels that it needs another way to monitor suspicious activity because wiretapping phones (land-lines and cellular) isn’t as effective as it once was. The amendment the FBI is lobbying Web companies to support would give federal agencies unfettered access to online services like Facebook, Gmail and Skype.

I don’t know about you, but I’m already a pretty paranoid person when it comes to the notion of Big Brother. Everything I do online is kept as private as it can be to ensure it only reaches the eyes of those intended. And sorry, Uncle Sam, that doesn’t include you. While I’m sure the idea of “wiretap-ready” social networks was developed with the best of intentions, it just adds more fuel to the online privacy fire. The Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act were both defeated earlier this year because of the privacy-breaching powers they would have given the government. We also have the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 to worry about, which recently passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate. Add in an amendment to CALEA and we have a government who is able and willing to obtain nearly any digital information they desire, without more than a few clicks of a mouse.

If the last few months have shown us anything, it’s that tuned-in internet users have finally taken a step to stand up for their privacy rights. The internet is the Wild West of 2012, and as Wired points out, damn-near everyone has been hacked at one point or another. Anonymous has hacked government and private website and other more nefarious groups have attacked countless other websites, and while the government should be able to regulate and monitor online threats, it should not be able to do so at the expense of all users.

We want to know what you think about this. Do you think the government should be able to gain “backdoor access” to our data on social networks under the facade of monitoring suspected criminals or is there another way to tackle the problem?

There have been a lot of online privacy snafus recently. There was the issue with Google’s terms of service as how it applies to Drive, Pinterest’s terms and conditions problem and Google snooping on Safari users, among others. So it’s important to know what you’re getting into when you accept a website’s privacy policy. You should not only read the document, but peruse it with the finest-toothed comb you can find. Read every sentence, word and letter.

But what should you be looking for exactly?

Most importantly, you should know what information is being collected and what security measures are in place to protect that information. The information sites like Facebook, Google and others collect can vary from site to site, but usually it includes your personal contact info along with anything else you upload to the site. For Facebook, this means everything you post, like, comment on, upload, et al. And now with the explosion of the mobile Web, even more data can be gleaned by website–geolocation specifically. You should also make sure the data you do share with the website is secure.

It’s also crucial to find out if your data is removable. A lot of companies, especially social networks, have stockpiles of information that will make your head spin. And most of the time, they usually reserve the right to share your data with other companies and third-party affiliates. You should always be aware of whether or not you can personally delete your data if you decide to do so. One example of this is photo sharing on Facebook.

Ars Technica found out that photos that had been “deleted” by users were still rearing their heads three years later. The catch was, while they weren’t showing up on users’ profiles, they could still be accessed if you had a direct link to the file on Facebook’s servers. This is a problem that Facebook has yet to fix completely. If you want to test it yourself, right click one of your photos on Facebook and copy the URL and save it somewhere on your computer. Then deleted that photo and in a few weeks’ time, open your browser and copy that image’s URL. Chances are your photo will still be there.

And lastly, because you’re technically signing a legal agreement when you accept a privacy policy or terms of service, you should make sure the other party is holding up their end of the deal. One of the easiest ways is to find out if a site is violating their own agreement is to do a quick search. Looks for privacy concerns, class-action lawsuits, etc. If you find something, you might want to think twice about taking part in that site’s activities.

Do you have questions or concerns about online privacy polices? Tell us in the comments, we want to know what you think!

Director James Isaac found that out the hard way when his film, “Jason X,” was shelved for two years by New Line Cinema due to internal politics. Pirated versions started showing up and by the time the film was released, die-hard fans of the franchise had already seen it. The studio lost money and learned a lesson from it, but it still didn’t make it right. So what’s the deal then with pirated eBooks?

Apple...the new online king of the pirates?

A couple of things come to mind as to why someone would pirate an eBook. First, the cost of actually buying a new electronic book. A publisher doesn’t have to print them, doesn’t need warehouse space to store them, doesn’t need warehouse personnel to inventory them, doesn’t need a fleet of trucks to move them to distributors … heck, they don’t even need distributors. Why then, are the big publishers charging so much for new eBooks? Greed? There would seem to be a strong case for that since Apple and several publishers are currently being accused of and sued for colluding to raise the price of eBooks. Try as they might, they haven’t offered any reasoning for their pricing that makes sense to anyone but them.

Ironically, Apple came up in another search and is currently being sued by Chinese authors who say their books are being pirated through the use of apps in its online store. When complaints are received, the apps are removed, but soon reappear with no punishment made to the developers. Why might this be? How about because Apple receives a 30 percent cut of those sales? The better the pirated copies sell, the more money Apple makes. On the flipside, would Apple make the same amount through a legal app or is it more lucrative with pirated sales? That information isn’t available, so I honestly can’t say.

So, we have a company like Apple accused of raising electronic book prices in collusion with the big publishers and then essentially not being inclined to stop the pirating of books. Is it me, or does that seem like they’re playing both sides? If so, that’s a slippery slope to be on and somebody’s going to get bit in the ass. Meanwhile, who really suffers here? The pirates certainly don’t.

The first thing most folks tend to believe about pirated eBooks is they’re sticking it to the company (in this case, the publisher). Sure, they’re taking a hit. The second popular thing people assume when downloading a pirated eBook is that authors already have enough money and it’s isn’t hurting them. Who might those authors be? J.K. Rowling? Stephen King? Ann Rice? I’m sure even though they’re some of the wealthiest authors out there, it doesn’t mean money they’ve earned should be taken out of their pockets. After all, they did the work. They wrote the books. Why shouldn’t they get paid? The bigger problem is the sheer number of other authors who are hardly as affluent and taking the hit.

However, despite whatever reasoning people are coming up with to justify their illegal downloading of an eBook, there’s a far more sinister reason behind it; they feel entitled. Why? Because it’s there for the taking. That’s probably 85 percent of the problem right there.

The question it would seem to come down to is: Why should we struggle to contain the piracy epidemic when the companies involved in the creation and distribution of eBooks themselves are helping create a need for pirated material due to their pricing, and they’re working with a company that appears to encourage piracy? I’ve actually got an answer; because it’s illegal. Maybe that’s why they’re all being sued. I’m sure there’s a book in this somewhere. If someone at Apple writes it, they’re bound to make money off of it, pirated or not.

USA TODAY’s Mark W. Smith brought something to my attention on Twitter when he tweeted: “Google Drive users: The TOS? ‘You give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, reproduce’ …” I immediately scurried off to read the terms of service and am much less inclined to use Drive now. I should probably state the fact that I am an avid Dropbox user. I love the service, but I was willing to give Google Drive a legitimate chance. I’m not so sure anymore.

Here is the full text from Drive’s TOS:

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

What worries me about the TOS is what Smith pointed out: Google effectively owns whatever content users upload to the cloud, and by uploading to Drive, users give Google permission to essentially do whatever it wants with their stuff. I’m aware that Google Drive – like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, et al – is a free service, but I still don’t like that Google can be so willy-nilly with the notion of content ownership. And in situations like this (as well as SOPA, CISPA, etc.) I tend to go straight to the worst-case scenario in my head: my content being sold by Google to some other third-party company without my consent.

If Google wants to sell my search data to advertisers so they can pinpoint ads specific to me, I’m cool with that. It’s all professional hockey and SEO-related stuff anyway. But I’m not OK with Google selling/using what I worked to produce. This officially sealed the deal to stay with Dropbox, as its terms of service doesn’t contain any language that even implies it will use my content for any reason.

“Don’t Be Evil,” eh? I’m not buying it, Google. What do you guys think?

As it seems with every week, there are a lot of things changing with SEO and search. Todd reinforced that in order to stay ahead of the game, or at least even, you have to keep up with all the latest news and updates. Especially from Google. But even then, “you’ll never know all the moving parts,” he said. He added that if you pay close enough attention, you should be able to see changes coming ahead of time.

In Google’s ideal world, there would be no SEOs

SEO Consultant Todd Malicoat

This would be Google’s dream come true. But luckily for us, that will never be the case. Todd aptly points out that Google’s over-optimization penalty has always existed, but they let the world know about it under the facade of “transparency.” If Google was really concerned with being transparent it would tell us exactly what factors come into play with site rankings. That will never happen and that’s why it’s crucial to document everything you do with respect to your site’s optimization.

Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive recently showed us just how important documentation really is. In the matter of 12 hours, Reynolds’ site went from being No. 1 in the rankings for its name (SEER Interactive), as well as other search terms, to not ranking at all. SEER’s link profile is extensive (and legitimate), which is why Reynolds was so dumbfounded at its plummet. In his blog post, he said that friends found ”a LOT of architectural issues, lazy crap I never thought would impact us (and still don’t) but it is sloppy.”

This goes to show that no matter who you are, where your links are from and how big your social signals are, your site is still susceptible to Google’s algorithm changes.

Link equity goes social

With all of Google’s changes in the past few months (not to mention the past year or two), the backbone of having a good site ranking is still links. But it’s not the same as it once was. The effectiveness of link exchanges was destroyed years ago and now just baiting for links isn’t going to do the trick. It’s not good enough to just have other sites, blogs, etc. linking back to your site. And we know we beat this horse to death every week, but you have to be social and you have to produce quality content.

Quality content will ideally get you “social validation” for your blog posts and other site pages. It’s these social signals, especially within Google+, that will help keep your site atop the rankings. If you’re not being social on a regular basis, get on that. Yesterday.

If you’d like to hear more about what Todd and I discuss in this week’s podcast, listen below!

Today’s gem is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea‘s official website. And if you don’t read Mashable, finding things like this is a great example why you should. As Mashable adeptly points out, North Korea just spent $850 million on a failed missile launch, but spent only $15 on its website. And yes, that’s fifteen dollars, no zeros were left out of that number. The site’s designer, Robert Westmore, was tracked down by Fox News this morning and told the news organization he “had no idea. Honestly, I didn’t even know North Korea had a website.”

Westmore also said that North Korea actually paid the $15 for the theme, and that he doesn’t care what people do with the theme. He added, “As long as the template is purchased legitimately individuals or organizations can do whatever they want with the file, I’m not here to judge.”

What really drew my attention to this is the fact that while North Korea isn’t a country swimming in money, it should have enough cash to pay for a decent website. And while the nation’s site isn’t the worst I’ve seen, it’s right up there with the most absurd. Tell us what you think of North Korea’s website … would you pay $15 for that theme?

Ten years ago … even five years ago … this wasn’t much of an issue. In 2007, Facebook was only a 3-year-old and Twitter was just learning to walk. Employers weren’t yet too concerned with someone’s social media presence, but that’s changed in the last few years. More than ever, the way someone behaves in social media can impact his or her chances of obtaining a job. And whether one’s conduct in social media should actually have a bearing on the ability to perform his or her job or not, it cannot be debated that employers are definitely snooping.

But what are they looking for exactly?

According to the survey, 65 percent of employers are looking as to whether or not a candidate presents him or herself professionally online. Other reasons for investigating prospective employees’ social profiles include: Wanting to see if they will fit in with the company’s culture (51 percent), wanting to learn more about their qualifications (51 percent), to learn if they are a well-rounded individual (35 percent) and only 12 percent look for reasons not to hire someone. It’s comforting to see that, for the most part, employers are looking at social media profiles without malicious intent. We’ve seen too many cases of employers walking the ethical line when it comes to their potential employees’ social media profiles. As Forbes states, companies that are asking for your Facebook password aren’t making any friends.

Even though employers are mostly checking out social media profiles with the best intentions, it can backfire, which is why it’s still vital that (at least while looking for a job) you maintain a relatively professional persona on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Don’t be an automaton, but don’t post public pictures of you doing a keg stand. That law office you just applied to might not take you seriously. When asked why an employer didn’t hire someone, 49% percent said it was because the candidate posted inappropriate pictures to their Facebook. The next reason, 45 percent, was because the candidate openly posted about drinking or drug-use. That’s why you should be wary of what you post and what others post to your profiles.

Your communications skills are just as important as the pictures you post, however. Thirty-five percent of the employers that were asked said they didn’t hire someone because they didn’t exhibit proper communication skills. It cannot be stated enough: Whether you’re composing a tweet, Facebook status or cover letter, always write with precision. People will notice … more than you think.

What are your thoughts on employers investigating job candidates’ social media profiles? Should Facebook, Twitter and Google+ profiles be subject to scrutiny or are they part of a candidate’s personal life that shouldn’t affect their chances at getting hired?

In a previous post, we asked the question, “Is the SOPA Fight Really Over?” And in short, it’s over. SOPA and PIPA were shelved indefinitely by the US Congress, effectively killing them. That was a monumental victory for the Web. However, a new bill stands on the horizon that according to ReadWriteWeb, could be even worse. That bill is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA). And while the three bills do share some similarities, CISPA is constructed under an entirely different facade.

Unlike PIPA and SOPA, CISPA is designed to preemptively fight against cyber attacks. The biggest red flag with regard to CISPA is that it’s an amendment to a current law and would remove a very important safeguard. That safeguard is how the US government and the private sector, primarily internet providers, share consumer information. If this bill passes, US intelligence services could grant certain private entities access to specific information and would in turn allow (and expect) those entities to reciprocate the favor to the US Government. But as RWW states, “The bill does not say that companies must share information with the government.”

This is not the most alarming issue with CISPA, however. What’s most frightening and nerve-racking about the bill is its ambiguous language, which is one of its greatest similarities to SOPA and PIPA. The two biggest players in the bill’s text are “Cybersecurity Providers” and “Cybersecurity Purpose, Cybersecurity System, Cybersecurity Threat Information.” And the proposed legislation’s definition of these terms could not be more vague.

• Cybersecurity Provider: “A non-governmental entity that provides goods or services intended to be used for cybersecurity purposes.”
• Cybersecurity Purpose, etc.: “[Any entity] designed or employed to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of, or safeguard, a system or network, including protecting a system or network from efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy such system or network; or theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information.”

What the language of this bill does is allow the US government to request the smallest piece of information from a private company. Even a Facebook status or protected tweet, both of which were never intended to be used in any way associated with Cybersecurity. These are private forms of communication meant only for those they are shared with. This is why the vagueness of this bill is a problem.

Another concern with CISPA is the number of big-name internet/technology companies supporting it. Among those are Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon and more.

CISPA goes to the floor of the House of Representative for debate and vote on April 23. We urge you to contact your Congressperson today to voice your dissatisfaction with the bill. And tell us in the comments what you think of CISPA. Is it as bad as SOPA or PIPA?

Infographic designed by Lumin Consulting

The band, in particular their Danish drummer Lars Ulrich, took Napster head on. And with a vengeance. He said in a press release that ”Napster hijacked [Metallica's] music without asking. They never sought our permission. ” And while that point is debatable (Napster never stored files, but was actually just a conduit for users), Ulrich and the rest of Metallica changed the way we listen to music online forever.

If it wasn’t for Metallica’s infamous lawsuit, many of the options we have today might not exist. Napster was forced to rethink the way it operated which led to one of the first subscription-based music services online. This paved the road for Apple’s iTunes, Rdio, Spotify, Pandora and many more. I am willing to bet that if Ulrich would’ve became a professional tennis player (like he originally planned), I wouldn’t be listening to Megadeth on Spotify as I write this.

But where does will online music be a few years from now?

We’ve said it before, but internet technology tends to move in dog years, and online music services are no different. We’ve already seen intense social integration with Spotify, which is one of its best features. The future of online music sharing lays within the realm of social media. People used to make mix tapes to pass out to their friends. Then we made mix CDs, and now we make playlists on Spotify and share them to our Facebook. In the end, it’s all the same, the medium just changes.

Tell us how you listen to and share music in the comments! Bonus points for anyone who still makes mix tapes!

An active user base

Google claims there are currently 100 million users on Google+. That’s about one-eighth of what Facebook has, and considering that Google+ hasn’t even reached its first birthday, it’s very impressive. What Google isn’t overtly stating, however, is that whenever someone signs up for a Gmail account (or other Google service), they are automatically signed up for Google+. And that doesn’t guarantee soandso@gmail.com is going to be active on the network. In fact, because of auto-enrollment, I’m willing to bet that users will be less inclined to use the social network. Google not only needs to attract more active users, but more everyday users, too.

Everyday content

If you’re looking for a social network dominated by technology nerds and SEO fanatics, Google+ is where you want to be. And it’s one of the reasons I love it. I love that I can go to one place and get most of the information and news I’m looking for. But it’s lacking everyday content, and that stems from the lack of everyday users. Most people don’t care about the latest Google Panda update or that Facebook might be developing a search engine. They want “status updates.” And you know who does those well? Facebook.

Third-party app integration

This is what’s killing Google+ for me. Right now I could pick up my phone, read an article in Pulse and share it to both my Twitter and Facebook accounts with just a few clicks. I can’t do that with Google+. I’d have to copy and paste the article’s URL and then open the Google+ app and copy it into the post. Not only is it too much work, but the link won’t animate below the post correctly. The only way to share on Google+ is with Google+, which is a fundamental problem with the network. If I could seamlessly share content I view in apps to Google+, it would be my primary social network. I wouldn’t necessarily drop Facebook altogether, but I can guarantee that my posts would be less frequent.

Google is too concerned with integrating its social platform with search instead of creating the best possible social network. Search, Plus Your World is an interesting feature, but it does nothing to draw me into Google+. Sure, it’s cool that I can sync all my photos into a private album for Google to keep safe, but you’re going to have to do more than that to keep me. Let me post from Instapaper, Pulse, News.me and the like, then we’ll talk.

According to a report in Businessweek last week, Facebook is in the process of creating a search engine to rival Google. Michael believes that because Google is already so synonymous with search it will be nearly impossible to completely knock it off its high horse. But he also thinks Facebook could do some damage where Google is lacking, which is in two primary areas: local search and social search. Facebook does one of these things (social) better than any other social network and if it can combine its work with search, it could really draw some traffic from Google.

We believe that a Facebook search engine wouldn’t do much for big brands, they’re already too well-established. But it could do wonders for local businesses. If someone is looking for a coffee shop and searches “Detroit coffee shop” in Google, they will get decent results. But with a Facebook search engine they would be getting real socially recommended results. Their friends’ “Likes,” check ins and shares are all going to come into play, giving users the results they really want. This also reinforces what Michael and I have been preaching for months now: Engage! Engage! Engage! If you wait too long to get social media integrated into your business plan, you’ll be playing catch up for a long time before it becomes effective. The more active and engaging you are in social media, and the sooner you do it, the better.

Speaking of being active on the Web, have you been hit with a bad-link warning in Google Webmaster Tools lately? In its forever-long quest to perfect the art of search, Google has now started sending out warnings to webmasters when it suspects suspicious link activity. According to Search Engine Land, this “isn’t a fresh crackdown on link networks but rather a change from bad links being ‘silently distrusted’ to being more vocal about this type of penalty.” And now that Google is openly penalizing websites with “unnatural” links, it’s absolutely imperative that you monitor your backlinks to ensure that they are genuine. Majestic SEO is one of the best tools online for this.

I always say, “My lord is links,” because the value of a solid, well-maintained link network cannot be understated. It’s crucial not only in bringing other users to your site, but in getting more engagement from readers, users, etc. What do you think of Google’s new link penalty? Has your site’s ranking suffered because of poor links?

And don’t forget to listen to this week’s podcast for more information about these topics as well as a preview of our new social media series “4.5 Tips About …”!

In an interview with Mashable, internet law expert Lawrence Lessig said the fight against SOPA and other bills like it isn’t close to be over. Lessig, a Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School and director of the Edward J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, is one of the world’s leading internet experts. He has also voiced his advocacy of internet freedom and net neutrality.

Lessig said the fight against SOPA was just a battle in a war of larger scale. He added that the ideas laid out in SOPA and PIPA can reappear at anytime under another bill. This is something that happens all the time in legislatures. One bill will fail and after the dust has settled, it will resurface under the guise of another name.

Mashable asked Lessig if he thinks children growing up with today’s internet will experience a “reinvented” web. He responded with, “Yeah, I do. I think as people experience code-based control of sites like the iTunes Music Store or Facebook and begin to take for granted the way these controls work, they think less about how things could be different.

“We need to fight against this lack of awareness. Inside these entities — like Facebook — there have to be much stronger organizational methods [that let] people push this idea. These systems that are controlling behavior have been baked into the tech, and they could be baked differently.

“I think the resistance to this will continue to be grassroots — organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have been great in facilitating that.”

Let’s hope that the grassroots movement that Lessig refers to is just as strong as the anti-SOPA one was. The internet is a great place, when open and free. We cannot risk broad censoring of the web similar to what SOPA and PIPA proposed, which is why we need to keep our eyes peeled on future legislation.

Each week will feature a new topic and we will be posting one tip per day, Monday through Friday, at 3 p.m. on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter about that specific topic. It’s our goal to provide you with some useful (and fun) tips that can make your life on the Web easier, simpler, productive–and best of all–more fun! If you agree, like them and find some use in them, then please stop by our office. We have a tip jar that’s looking mighty empty right about now.

Also, if you have suggestions for topics, don’t hesitate to contact us to let us know!

If reports are true, the competition between Facebook and Google for social network dominance could get much more intense. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek article, “About two dozen Facebook engineers, led by a former Google engineer named Lars Rasmussen, are working on an improved search engine …” that could rival Google for social search superiority.

And while it’s unlikely Google will lose algorithmic supremacy to Facebook, this could still have huge implications for search.

The last 14 months have been big for search already. We’ve seen Google unleash its Panda on low-quality websites. We’ve also seen the release and integration of Google+ into Google’s standard search algorithm now known as Search, Plus Your World. And even though Google+ was highly touted when it first came out,  it has been largely seen as a social ghost town despite the company’s claim of 100 million users. Search, Plus Your World has been also been greeted with scrutiny. According to some experts, including people here at TM, it makes Google search too convoluted and doesn’t offer truly accurate search results.

Can Facebook succeed in social search where Google has floundered?

Only time will tell, but according to the Mashable video below, Facebook’s possible new search engine could offer users accurate social search. Let’s think about what Facebook does well for a minute. Not only is it the most popular social network in history, but it’s literally everywhere on the Web. Nearly every website I go to has the option to log into Facebook to comment or like an article right on the site itself. The social networking behemoth would be able to compile all of your social data–what you “Like,” where you check in, who your friends are and more–and use this within its own private Facebook search engine.

This could be huge for Brand Pages on the social network. Facebook just rolled out the new Timeline layout to Brand Pages on March 30 which will surely generate more traffic to your company’s page. But add a Facebook search engine to the picture and (depending on how active and engaging you are) your page could get even more traffic, especially if you’re a local business users can check in to.

If someone wants to find a local coffee shop he or she will probably head to Google and search some variation of “City coffee shop” to get the results they desire. But imagine how useful Facebook could be for this very function. Every search would include your data, your friends’ data (including check-ins, “Likes,” etc.) and other variables. There is no way Facebook could compete with Google for overall search domination, but with regard to social search, it definitely could and probably will.

What do you think of a possible Facebook search engine? Would you find it useful? Tell us in the comments!

Perhaps Gmail will offer a special service after reading this blog post!

So, here’s the 411. My partner and I were going on 17 years together and decided after a rather protracted discussion as to whether or not we found each other too annoying to stay with for another 17 years or whether we might be right enough for each other to finally tie the knot. Our first choice was to get married in a lovely, relaxing, warm climate while sipping ice tea, walking along the ocean and dipping our feet into the water. We therefore chose New York … in the middle of February. Hey, it was within our budget. And because attending the event would require travel for friends and family, we limited the wedding party to 6, which included us. Incidentally, to further help cut costs, his mother stayed in the second bed in our hotel room, which, in hindsight, really isn’t as smart a move as I’d first thought.

Anyway, while his mother joined us, my parents were unfortunately unable to. My father is suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, can no longer fly and no longer has the patience for a road trip of that length. This came as a bit of a blow to my mother since I’m the only child and she really did want to be involved in some way. That was the dilemma; how do I include her?

My partner is someone who loves his technology, buys a new laptop every 6 months, a new phone every year and travels the world over in search of new gadgets and other bits of technology to make his life easier. I’m seriously amazed he hasn’t found a replacement for me yet … and I won’t be sending this to him to read since I don’t wish to tempt fate. On a recent trip overseas, though, he picked up a new Samsung Galaxy phone, the version they haven’t started selling in the US yet and, when they do, will be inferior because we don’t believe in giving consumers what the folks overseas have been enjoying far longer. This particular phone has a phenomenal camera on it and, when hooked up to someone’s wireless network, streams video as well as any PC using Skype or Gmail video chat.

Our ceremony was to take place in the office of the officiate and he just happened to have a wireless network set up there. So, I set mom up with a Gmail account, installed video chat and showed her the basics of how to send and receive a video chat request. Then, when my partner and I arrived with the rest of the wedding party and got everything set up, mum called in. She sat in the comfort of her own chair and watched the ceremony take place. The best part is the officiate made sure to include her in the event as if she was standing right there and that made all the difference in the world.

I gotta say it; thank you, Gmail video chat! The ceremony went off without a hitch—minus the giggling my guy did every time the word ‘respect’ came up—and the only lingering feeling he’s left with is terror knowing I’m now entitled to half of everything he owns. It makes me giggle.

Has anybody else ever come across a dilemma like this? How did you solve it and did the technology work to your advantage? I figure it’s a good time to ask since the honeymoon is coming up later on in the year. Only this time, my mother-in-law isn’t coming with us!

Timeline Cover Photo

Aside from a change in the general layout of your Page, the most noticeable change is the addition of the cover photo. This is the banner image at the top of your Timeline and can be used to your advantage. The first thing you want to do is decide how you are going to utilize it. Will you be using it to promote specials and events or keep it a consistent image? Either one is fine, but it’s important to know that this will be the first thing users and fans see when they come to your Timeline. You want to have something that will captivate your audience and keep them on your Page.

Mashable has a great list of five tools that can help you create an eye-catching image.

Company Milestones

Another great feature of Timeline is the ability to go back in time and add milestones to your Page. These milestones could include your company’s founding date as well as when you introduced new products, services, etc. This is a great opportunity to tell the story of your company, especially if you’ve been around for a while. By adding milestones, you are turning your Timeline into an interactive infographic your fans can engage with. You can also “Highlight” certain milestones to draw more attention to them and make them more visible. We suggest making a list of your company’s most important events and adding them to your Timeline.

Facebook Tabs

Remember how awesome Facebook Tabs were when they were first introduced? Well, they just got a lot cooler. Now the tabs have moved from the left side of the Page to just below your cover photo. Instead of having text links, you can add thumbnails to draw more attention to your Tabs. The layout has also changed slightly. Now they’re wider, so it’s important to edit any existing tabs you may already have to accommodate the size change. And now that these (like everything else with Facebook Timeline) are more visual, you should make sure your most important Tabs are the ones featured below your cover photo. If your company has a blog, we suggest creating a Tab that will pull in the RSS feed of your blog. One of the goals of Timeline is to make it a secondary (if not primary) location for your fans to come to, and the addition of important Tabs can really turn your Page into a resource.

Spring Cleaning

It’s that time of year. Many people are sorting through their old clothes, books, etc. You should do the same with your Timeline. Before your Timeline goes live, you have the opportunity to sort through your old posts and remove ones you don’t find pertinent to your Timeline. It also gives you the chance to update your Page’s information. This includes your general About section as well as your photos and videos.

Don’t Worry

While this change may look drastic, it’s not going to change the overall functionality or purpose of your Facebook Page. You may have to reevaluate your social strategy as it pertains to Facebook, but not dramatically. We suggest making your Facebook Timeline more visual by highlighting important milestones and posts. This will show your fans what things on your profile you think are most important to them instead of them having to figure it out for themselves.

If you have questions about how to best optimize your Facebook Timeline, leave us a comment below and we’ll be happy to help!

Internet users are getting more impatient as time goes on. In fact, they’re so impatient that 25 percent of Americans will abandon a website that doesn’t load in less than four seconds. And 50 percent will move on from a mobile site that takes more than 10 seconds to load. This need for speed isn’t just about user convenience, however. It’s about online retailers as well. Amazon would lose $1.6 billion in sales every year if its site took one more second to load. That’s right, one second could potentially cost Amazon more than a billion dollars in revenue.

Check out the infographic below from Online Graduate Programs to learn more about how quickly many Americans expect their service to be, both on and offline. And don’t forget to tell us what your Web speed standards are in the comments!

This is just one more link in the chain of updates Google has released in the past year. Ever since Panda’s inception in February 2011, Google has been making an active effort to fight against lower-quality sites and gear the search engine’s focus toward content and away from keywords. But that’s not to say keywords aren’t important–they are, just not in the same ways they were a few years ago. What Google has done is draw a line in the proverbial sand and created a divide between websites with content-driven strategies and sites with keyword-driven strategies. And at TM, we’re positive the former will be victorious.

What Google wants is for websites to create content that readers want to read and that they want to share. So while optimizing your site is still crucial, don’t overdo it since you could hurt yourself in the long run. Duane Forrester of Bing also talked about the importance of content, but in relation to social. He said that if you’re not creating content readers want to share, you’re not doing a good enough job. We agree. And yes, we know this is like beating a dead horse sometimes, but if you have a business of any kind (local, corporation, etc.), you need to be active in social media. Especially Google+.

If we wanted, we could do a podcast just about Google+ every week which is probably why it finds its way into our discussions on a regular basis. But as Michael points out, being active on Google+ is not only a good idea, it’s necessary. Google has brought two things to the forefront in 2012: localization and social sharing. And Google+ is your one-stop shop to embrace both of those. Our suggestion is that you not only get on Google+ if you’re not already, but ramp up your presence. You don’t have to post every hour on the hour, just produce regular content for your followers and fans.

Speaking of your fans, have you updated your Facebook Business Page to the new Timeline layout yet? No? As of March 30, all Business Pages will be forced to adopt the new Timeline setup and it’s important that your profile is ready. No, the world won’t end if you don’t update your Facebook Page immediately, but your page will look like a skeleton. Listen to our podcast below to learn what you should do to prepare your Page for the new Timeline.

Don’t hesitate to let us know what you think of Google’s over-optimization penalty or Facebook Timeline in the comments!

Immersion

In my opinion, the best way to learn anything is by completely jumping in over your head and becoming completely engrossed in it. This is especially true with anything development or technology-related. There is such a massive conglomeration of information out there that it is impossible to fully ingest it all. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the attempt. Read, read, read, and then read some more. Find and complete tutorials. Search for blogs. Watch YouTube videos and tutorials. Never stop looking for things that will increase your knowledge base and show you what you need to know to carve out a foot-hold in your new career.

Industry leaders and blogs

It may sound cliché these days, but social media is your friend. Find people, organizations, groups and blogs that cater to your particular interests and follow them. Become active in their respective social media feeds. I have found it much easier to learn in a collaborative setting interacting with others than sitting forever alone with only a book to guide me. Finding those more experienced and smarter than you who are willing to share that knowledge and experience is paramount to really bettering yourself.

A few people and blogs that I found invaluable during my journey include:
Paul Irish, Paul on Google+:  Paul is a member of the Google Chrome developer relations team and is a huge proponent of HTML5 and jQuery. He is very much a “cutting-edge” guy and is always informing his followers of the latest developments in both HTML5 and the Chrome Developer tools.

Sitepoint blog:  A great resource for articles about all things Web development. This site features articles and tutorials for front-end developers, software developers and even those looking to go into business for themselves as a freelance developer.

NetTuts+:  A huge resource of tutorials covering everything Web development. Not all are free, but a great many are. Tutorials are available for PHP, JavaScript, general HTML and CSS, plug-in development and more.

Don’t be lazy!

Don’t use Dreamweaver, seriously. It’s a great tool, but too many beginning developers use the “Design” mode to layout a website and think they’re done. You have to learn how to code HTML by hand to truly move into the Web development field. There is a dichotomy that exists between those that drag-and-drop with Dreamweaver and those that understand HTML and the structure of a website’s layout. Don’t be lazy. Learn HTML and CSS and how to use them to manipulate a site to display what you want/need it to.

These are merely my suggestions for anyone wanting to break into the Web development field. These are what worked for me. If you have any other suggestions for resources or methods that helped you become a developer, please let me know in the comments below. Good luck out there, I know it’s hard but just remember: it’s not impossible.

One of the ways to improve your local rankings is to add a KML file to your site. KML files are what Google Earth and Maps (and other mapping services) use to determine your business’ exact address as well as its longitude and latitude. Once you upload this file to your site and submit it to Google Webmaster Tools, your site will appear in Google Earth, Maps, etc. But how do you create a Geo Sitemap?

First, we suggest using the Geo Sitemap Generator. You can either upload your CSV file to the site or enter in your company’s information manually. It’s important to know that if you are entering your address, phone number, etc. into Geo Sitemap Generator manually that you make your description is keyword rich. Localized search is more important than ever before, so it’s crucial to include local keywords in your description. Here’s an example for a fictitious metro-Detroit heating and cooling company: XYZ Heating & Cooling repairs and installs furnaces, hot water heaters, air conditioning units and generators for metro-Detroit commercial and residential residents. The example is short and sweet, but it has all the major keywords displayed. The description also has the company name (XYZ Heating & Cooling), localization (metro-Detroit) and the different services and products offered.

Once you have created and uploaded your Geo Sitemap and KML file to your website, submit it to Google Webmaster Tools. This will let Google know exactly where your site’s KML file is so that it can index it within Google’s mapping services. SEOmoz has a great diagram that shows how all of these different components interact with one another:

If you have further questions about how to improve your website’s localized rankings, listen to our latest SEO Web Talk Radio Show or contact TM today!

We’ve already discussed in-depth how much Google has changed things up in the last year, but Venice is another addition to the search giant’s algorithm that you should pay close attention to. According to Google’s blog, Inside Search, Venice is defined as follows:

• Improvements to ranking for local search results. [launch codename “Venice”] This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal.

What this means is that Google is now taking universal search results, say “used cars,” and applying them locally to your searches. So if I was looking for a used car and searched for that specific phrase, my SERPs would be populated with some local results based on my location in Metro Detroit. And while this may seem helpful for the average user, it makes our jobs as SEOs a little more challenging. This is just one reason why at TM we’re referring to 2012 as the “Year of Localization.”

The emphasis on localization has forced many people into changing how they do their SEO. Now, not only do SEOs have to focus keywords, meta descriptions and title tags more locally, but content as well. If you sell used cars in the Metro Detroit area, your site should be populated with local keyword phrases. If not, because of Venice, you could be missing out on potential customers.

SEO is a constantly evolving industry and Google never seems to let us get our footing back. It’s a game of cat and mouse where top rankings are the mouse and SEOs are the cat. But by localizing your site’s content, you are more likely to be able to secure those higher rankings. And because Google has also changed how it evaluates links, it’s important that you are working toward getting not just authoritative links, but also local links, too.

And speaking of links, one of the most popular sites for driving links back to your website is Pinterest. Unfortunately, the photo-sharing site has come under fire in recent weeks due to its awkwardly written terms of service. The TOS states that users are the owner of every image they pin to their boards, which means the only way to pin something legally is to pin your own photos and pictures. It will be interesting to see how Pinterest moves past this controversy.

To learn more about Google Venice and search localization or Pinterest’s terms of service, listen to the podcast below!

Entropy.  What is it?  In regard to passwords, it’s simply a way to indicate how random a randomly generated password actually has the potential to be.  It’s measured in bits and calculated using the number of characters potentially present along with the length of the password.  The value represents how many guesses it would take to crack the password.  For instance, a password with 32 bits of entropy would take 4,267,967,296 guesses (with each additional bit of entropy doubling the number of guesses), at most, to crack.  I say “at most” because it’s likely that the attacker would be able to compromise this particular password without exhausting all possibilities.

Even if we only need to try half of those guesses–2,133,983,648 to be exact–it would take approximately 25 days at 1,000 guesses per second (and about 49 days for the full 4,267,967,296). This doesn’t take into account any network latency or login attempt limitations, which could dramatically reduce the number of potential guesses per second.

Finally, entropy only applies to random passwords.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be a completely unintelligible string of characters, but higher entropy doesn’t mean much when measuring words in a dictionary…or your dog’s name.

A password’s entropy is inversely proportional to its likelihood of successfully being guessed.  Unfortunately, high entropy passwords are often very difficult to memorize, so it’s a good thing password managers exist to help you with this particular issue.  These applications and services exist to maintain a vault of your passwords, all locked under a single password.  This allows you to have several truly random passwords for various sites and services without needing to memorize them.

The greatest drawback to this system is that if they have your primary password, they have all of the keys to the kingdom.  This issue is best guarded against by implementing a particularly tough-to-guess primary password.  It may be difficult to remember, but the overall convenience it provides can be worth it.  Additionally, it’s only one password to remember, instead of several.  Want to learn more about password managers?  Take a look at some of the links at the end of this article.

Here at Trademark Productions, we’ve developed a simple password generator.  It utilizes a few options to customize the output, so you may tailor it to your needs.  In addition, it provides a simple entropy gauge to indicate the strength of the generated password.

Check TM’s simple password generator!

Password Managers

1. KeePass Password Safe (freeware)
2. LastPass (freeware option)
3. RoboForm (freeware)

That’s right, illegal. And it’s all because of one minor detail–copyright infringement. In Pinterest’s terms of service, the company states that when a user pins a picture, they acknowledge that they are in fact the owner of said picture. Based on my observations, this makes the majority of the activity done on Pinterest not only a violation of those terms, but also illegal.

One of the coolest things about Pinterest is that it made social networking fun again. It’s kind of like Instagram, just not as cool. Pinning is exciting, even invigorating. With a simple click of my mouse, I could pin nearly any picture I want to my inspiration boards. But, I can promise you now, I won’t be.

In an article for PR Daily, attorney and photographer Kirsten Kowalski explained why she deleted her Pinterest boards, saying the fact that Pinterest even has that language in its terms of service is contradictory to the site’s objective. Which according to the network’s “About” page is to “organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.”

Kowalski is quoted saying, “At the moment, there is very little that can be done to avoid infringing copyright if you are a Pinterest user. The only way to pin pictures without violating the site’s terms of service and the picture owner’s copyright is to only pin pictures that you’ve taken yourself.”

According to Davis Wright Tremaine attorney Bruce Johnson, as it currently stands, it looks like the only way to protect yourself as a Pinterest user from infringing copyright law otherwise is to contact a picture’s owner before pinning it. Even if you do get permission to use a certain photo, this would take away the spontaneity that has become the network’s keystone. All fun would be sucked out of Pinterest as if it were light being devoured by a neighboring black hole. What was instantaneous just became a days-long or even weeks-long affair. And no one wants that.

I have full confidence that Pinterest will come out of this controversy relatively unscathed, but according to Kowalski, even the site’s founder Ben Silbermann knows there are issues with its terms of service. In her blog, she wrote, “He knows there are issues with Pinterest and the fear of claims of copyright infringement and he wants to figure out a way to make ‘his little web page’ … work within the confines of the law AND in a way where photographers and every user feels comfortable.”

But even as a fellow Web-user and social media fanatic, I am on Kowalski’s side of the line. In one of her previous posts, she said it best, “… until Pinterest changes some things or until the law is more clearly established, I won’t be taking the risks involved in pinning other’s work.  Guess my corkboards and tacks and ripped pages from magazines will live to see another day!”

What do you think of the legal issues associated with Pinterest and its terms of service? Will this stop you from using the site or will you just keep pinning away?

Donald Judd - Untitled (Stack) - 1987

I’m often reminded of how many things I own. Not necessarily things that I value, or things that I love. Just things that I have in my possession. Usually it’s all for one legitimate reason or another (like for work). Then I began to wonder how I could organize something better so it looked like I had less. Which eventually evolves into, “Why do I really even have it to begin with?”

My name’s Tyler, and I’m a hopeless minimalist.

Hopefully not forever, but presently, I am. I’ve grown an attraction to minimalism and the state of only having what is needed to accomplish your goal, and it has greatly affected my design work as of late. But similar to my struggle to proclaim true minimalism in my daily life, my ability to achieve success with minimalistic Web design has been void. There always seems to be something more, something extra that to me screams “this totally needs more definition, more contrast, more depth.”

So I’ve decided to put together a little list here that helps me hunker down and keep my focus when aiming for an original, minimalist-style Web design, and hopefully it will help you along your path to simplistic beauty as well.

Don’t force it.

As Web designers, we all have a tendency at one point or another to be more focused on including what we usually implement into a layout, instead of what we necessarily need.

Avoid that. Analyze what you and/or the client need to have as part of the design, simplify and condense as you can, and then move forward with your creativity. I may or may not get hunted down for this, but sometimes creativity goes too far and strays us from our end goal when not properly guided.

Don’t over-think it.

Exactly what it says. No elaboration or thought necessary.

Keep things separate, and only show what’s pertinent.

Minimalism is about simplicity and utilizing the bare minimum to accomplish what is necessary. Only include what is relative to the current page. Show proper separation between elements. Eliminate clutter.

Use a grid.

I naturally try to align elements in a loose grid with all of my designs, because that’s what I’ve been used to doing for so long now. But with particular relation to minimalism, a strict grid can be an unbeatable tool for helping achieve levels of distinction and importance while keeping layouts simplfied. Guide your visitors with a clean, well-aligned pattern. Your clients/visitors will thank you later.

Hierarchy, hierarchy, hierarchy.

After you’ve solidified what needs to be included in a design, structure its hierarchy appropriately. What is most important? What needs to take precedence? Where will the visitors eye lead them? Brutal contrast and sizing is our most effective weaponry in minimalist hierarchy. Use them wisely, and efficiently. In fact, do some test runs with “non-webbies.” Make them call out what elements they see, in order, and collectively decide with your team what alterations to make.

When you’re looking for something else to fill space, it means you already have everything you need.

Don’t let comfortable tendencies eradicate your minimalistic attempts. Instead of safely putting a block of color with a border around a sidebar to differentiate it from a content area, or sticking to a common three-column layout that you normally default to, rely on your familiarity with the principles of design and produce something original, but simple. Contrast, space, emphasis, variety and rhythm can easily achieve everything that you need to properly relay the information across that is necessary to your audience.

Less is more.

Cliche, I know. But it’s the simplest description of the minimalist concept.  Accomplish more by using less. Simplify until function dissipates. Break all of your ideas down until one more step will hinder the significance of your goal.

These are just a handful of the thoughts I tend to talk myself through as I’m going into any project with minimalistic intents. It’s not suitable for every project, but it’s effective enough to be considered for most. Add it to your arsenal of techniques, and join me in the “hopeful” journey to mastering minimalism on the web.

Here are a few examples to inspire you:

The newest update to the Google Panda algorithm, Panda 3.3, is similar to the last two updates in that it’s more minor than previous updates. Google referred to this update as a “data refresh” and said this refresh will make “it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web.” This wasn’t the only thing Google has changed in recent weeks, however. It also changed how the search engine will evaluate links. And while Google did not elaborate too much on how it’s changing its link evaluation, they did offer this tidbit: “We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years. We often rearchitect or turn off parts of our scoring in order to keep our system maintainable, clean and understandable.”

If you would like more information about Panda and what its updates mean for SEO and search, we have a comprehensive Google Panda update blog post that covers all existing updates to its algorithm. Our SEO team will also continue to update the blog as more updates occur.

The importance of content, especially with Google Panda, cannot be understated anymore. The better your content is, the better chance you have for higher rankings in Google. But, what is good content? One of the best ways to produce content is to use public data sets. As Michael points out in the podcast, data doesn’t mean anything without context.  One of the best ways to create interesting and meaningful content is to take different sets of data and combine them to create a story. Some great resources for public data are USA.gov, American Fact Finder, SearchSystems.net and FedStats.gov. If you do decide to use public data as inspiration for content, you should always let the source know how you’re using the data. Not only is this just good practice, but it could get you a backlink as well.

For more on these topics and what Michael thinks about the “Newt Gallon”, listen to the podcast below! If you have questions or comments regarding this podcast, don’t hesitate to comment below or contact TM today.

Google Panda was first unleashed upon the Web a year ago in February 2011, and, in that year, there have been several updates to its algorithm. Below is a comprehensive list of all Panda updates to date. Check this space regularly for news and updates about them as they are released. And in honor of Google Panda’s first birthday, Search Engine Land has a great infographic that covers its first year.

Google Penguin – April 24, 2012

In Google’s endless fight against webspam (or search spam) it released a new search algorithm named Google Penguin that will affect about 3 percent of all search queries. According to Search Engine Land, Google is fighting against sites with “keyword stuffing; link schemes; cloaking, ‘sneaky’ redirects or ‘doorway’ pages; and purposeful duplicate content.”

It’s worth noting that while this sounds like an addition to the over-optimization penalty announced by Matt Cutts last month, it’s a fight against spam not SEO. Cutts told Search Engine Land, “I think ‘over-optimization’ wasn’t the best description, because it blurred the distinction between white hat SEO and webspam. This change is targeted at webspam, not SEO, and we tried to make that fact more clear in the blog post.”

Google Panda 3.5 – April 19, 2012

This was the Google Panda update everyone seemed to miss. Google didn’t make a big announcement like it has in the past, but that’s probably because it wasn’t a huge update. Panda 3.5 is another refresh to the Panda algorithm and is designed to improve its ability to fight against websites of lower quality. This update specifically targets sites that utilize “black hat SEO.”

Google Panda 3.4 – March 23, 2012

Google has announced a “Panda refresh,” dubbed Panda 3.4 by Search Engine Land, that will only affect approximately 1.6 percent of all search queries. It’s unclear as of now how big this update really is, but this is clearly another step in Google’s fight against low-quality websites.

Matt Cutts Announces Over-Optimization Penalty –  March, 16 2012

According to Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz, Google is working on an algorithm change that would penalize over-optimized sites. Google’s Matt Cutts said, “We don’t normally pre-announce changes but there is something we are working in the last few months and hope to release it in the next months or few weeks. We are trying to level the playing field a bit. All those people doing, for lack of a better word, over optimization or overly SEO – versus those making great content and great site.” Stay tuned to this space for more information about over-optimization penalties.

Google Venice – February 27, 2012

In the same blog post that announced Google Panda 3.3, the search company also announced the release of Google Venice. This puts the emphasis on local search results, which will start coming up in organic search results. Google Venice will force more local companies to localize their SEO to improve their rankings.

Panda 3.3 – February 27, 2012

Google’s February update to Panda, update 3.3 is again similar to the previous two updates. Google said, ”This launch refreshes data in the Panda system, making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web.”

Panda 3.2 – January 25, 2012 

Google Panda 3.2 is another minor update to the Google Panda algorithm. Search Engine Land said, like Panda 3.1, it’s just a data refresh and that “there were no additional signals or algorithm changes.”

Panda 3.1 – November 18, 2011 

This update to Google Panda was very minor. According to Google, it affects less than 1 percent of all search queries. In a tweet, Google referred to Panda 3.1 as an “algorithm data refresh.” One of the things Google Panda fights against is duplicate content, and while duplicate content has been an SEO issue for years, Panda has upped the ante. SEOmoz has a great explanation of how duplicate content is affected by Panda.

Panda 3.0 – October 2011

When Google released Panda 3.0, they barely made a sound. In fact, there was no blog post or mention about it from the company. But Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz said a Googler “expressed that one of the 2.x updates we labeled as a “minor” update, should have likely been named as a major update and thus labelled a 3.0 update. I personally believe that was an October Panda update … ”

Panda 2.5 – Sept. 28, 2011 

While Google declined to specifically share what changed in Panda 2.5, there were clear changes for a few sites. But sites like popular tech blog The Next Web, The Today Show and blog aggregator Technorati all saw decreases in traffic via Google. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Android.com, YouTube and AOL.com all went up in search rankings.

Panda 2.4 – August 2011 

Update 2.4 is the biggest update to Panda yet. Google released its Panda on all languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Google said that only six to nine percent of all non-English language search results would be affected by Panda 2.4 as opposed to the 12 percent of English-language sites affected. Because Google Panda is changing the way the search engine views content, link building expert Eric Ward has some great suggestions on how to combat Google Panda.

Panda 2.3 – July 22, 2011 

This is another minor update to Google Panda in the form of Panda 2.3. According to Google, this was a manually-pushed update that “incorporates some new signals that help differentiate between higher- and lower-quality sites. As a result, some sites are ranking higher after this most recent update.”

Panda 2.2 – June 18, 2011 

When Google rolled out Panda 2.2, it improved its detection of scraper sites, further enhancing search results for users.

Panda 2.1  - May 9, 2011

Google said this update to Panda, update 2.1, is a minor change in comparison to Panda 2.0. The search giant also said that a much smaller percentage of sites will be affected by Panda 2.1.

Panda 2.0 – April 11, 2011 

The first update to Google Panda expanded Panda’s reach to all English-language search queries. This update also incorporated data about sites than individual users blocked in either the Chrome browser or via the SERPs.

Panda 1.0 – February 24, 2011 

This is Google’s initial update to its search algorithm, which targeted content farms and scraper sites. The update, deemed Google Panda, was designed to lower the rankings of sites that simply reproduce other websites’ content or pack their sites full of extraneous keywords. The goal was to make the search experience better for all users and will affect around 12 percent of all websites. When Panda first debuted, it only affected search queries in the US.

What does this mean exactly? There are three major components of any given application, be it a desktop application, mobile application, or a web-based application. These three components are the Controller, the View, and the Model. Now let’s get a more concrete idea of what each of these three components actually does within an application.

The Controller is essentially the traffic cop of the application, directing traffic to where it needs to go, figuring out which view it needs to load up, and interacting with the appropriate models. For example, when you go to login to your email on a website, the controller is going to tell the application that it needs to load the login form view. Upon attempting to login, the controller will load the model that handles logins, which will check if the username and password match what exists within the system. If successful, the controller will then pass you off to the first page you enter when logging in, such as your inbox. Once there, the inbox controller will further handle that request.

In a web-based application, the view is exactly what it sounds like: the visible interface that the user interacts with, displaying buttons, forms, and information. Generally speaking, the controller calls up the view after interacting with the model, which is what gathers the information to display in the particular view.

The Model is where data from the controller and sometimes the view is actually passed into, out of, and manipulated. Keeping in mind our last example of logging into your web-based email, the model will take the username and password given to it from the controller, check that data against the stored information in the database, and then render the view accordingly. For example, if you enter in an incorrect password, the model will tell the controller that it was incorrect, and the controller will tell the view to display an error message saying something to the effect of “Your username or password is incorrect.”

Now that you know the basic concepts of the MVC pattern, you’re probably wondering what makes it so special? Essentially, it allows for the programmer to isolate these very separate pieces of code into their own domain, which makes code maintenance and debugging much simpler than if all of these items were chunked into one massive piece. If I have a problem with an application not displaying an error message when it should, I have a very specific set of locations to look to see why this is not happening. First I would look at the “Login Controller” to see if it is telling the view to display the error. If that’s fine, I would look at the “Login Model” to see if it is passing the data back to the controller to tell it that it needs to show an error. Then if that’s correct, the last place it could be happening would be in the “Login View.”

Using this development pattern allows for very easy maintenance, as well as independent development of pieces of the same system by different programmers, which makes for quick turnover of applications all while still maintaining a very high standard of quality for the application.

In essence, the White House’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights in a Networked World” is suggesting that the US Congress allot the Federal Trade Commission with more authority over Web companies and how they handle user data. And while this is merely a list of suggestions, it’s important because this is the first time the Obama Administration has articulated explicit support for consumer privacy protection. Both Michael and I believe that while this is a step in the right direction, it isn’t a concrete law that large tech giants (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.) have to abide by, but Microsoft and others did say they will heed these suggestions. Only time will tell if Congress will follow the administration’s lead and hold Web companies accountable for how they handle users’ data.

Speaking of user data, one of the last search engines that offered true, unbiased, non-personal search results has gone six feet under. Scroogle, a privacy-first search engine, has finally succumbed to weeks of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. I am especially disappointed by this because I used it on a regular basis to see true search results rankings. But there are still other services that essentially do the exact same thing as Scroogle, such as DuckDuckGo and ixQuick.

I also discussed my time at PubCon Paradise in Honolulu, Hawaii. At PubCon, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation on “Black Hat” reputation management and how people, companies and brands can protect themselves from those with malicious intent. You can view the slides of my presentation here. I also had the opportunity to sit down with both High Rankings CEO Jill Whalen and Distilled.net’s Kate Morris to discuss social search and where they see search going in the future.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of PubCon was Andy Beal’s presentation, “Reputation Management Tactics,” which featured 50 tactics in 50 minutes. Many of the things he discussed were fairly simple, but essential. For instance, he said two of the most important things were to know who your audience is when using social media and to make the right first impression. Both of these things are essential for success within the social media realm. He also included to make sure your website is updated on a regular basis with fresh, relevant content. As Michael and I point out, there’s no sense in publishing content just for the sake of publishing content. You should be a resource for your audience. These are things that we try to implement here at TM because we understand the importance of having both a good online presence and a solid reputation.

For more on Andy Beal’s presentation and other topics, listen to the podcast below. Tell us what you think in the comments!

The search giant has been taking a lot of heat lately. Whether it’s about their conglomeration of privacy policies or Search, plus Your World, Google can’t seem to catch a break. And it’s in hot water again, this time with the US Congress. This isn’t the first time Google’s had to deal with Congress. It recently defended its new privacy policy to Congress to ensure it wasn’t doing anything illegal.

But this latest misstep is much worse than anything we’ve seen from the company before. Apparently Google, and other Fortune 500 companies, have been exploiting a bug in Apple’s Safari browser and have been tracking users without their consent. And though I don’t use Safari too often (ironically, I prefer Chrome), this still enrages me. When I do use it, I definitely don’t want my activity tracked without my consent. I already harbor “1984″-esque fears of Big Brother watching me, I don’t need Google to actually do it.

Neowin.net’s Tyler Holman said it best: “From time to time, companies happen to run across such bugs while building software for platforms other than their own. In such situations, it is considered ethical to kindly inform the software maker of their error, so that it may be promptly patched, even if they happen to be your rival. It’s just good manners, and it’s good for the industry as a whole.”

Holman points out the nut of the issue: Google is deliberately going against their “Don’t be evil” motto, the very thing they have prided themselves on for years. They are supposed to set the example for the rest of the industry. If it goes around mining user data without permission, surely other companies are going to as well.

The idea of online privacy has been fluid the past few years (Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg), but that doesn’t mean I don’t still value mine. Google has every right to track my activity when I’m signed into its services and using its browser, but not under any other circumstances. It’s like the police installing a GPS tracker in my Jeep just for fun.  This just illustrates the fact that many large Web companies may not care about users’ privacy, even though they say they do.

Google, I think it’s time for you to take a step back and rethink your strategy as of late. You’ve already changed the way search will always work, making it too personal and too cluttered. Now you’re spying on me. If I didn’t love you so much, this relationship would be over. Do your users a favor and “Don’t Be Evil.”

Kate Morris, SEO Consultant

With the recent advent of Google’s new search algorithm Search, plus Your World, the emphasis on social media and social interaction is more important than ever. And when Dwight asked Morris about this, she claimed to have seen this coming since 2005, saying, “So called it. So called it.”

This premonition, she said, first came to light when she learned that search results were different from person-to-person based on what their previous queries were. Morris said she realized that this was Google’s first step in personalizing search results for individual users and it would affect search results in ways she and other SEOs couldn’t control.

“We’re not going to be able to guarantee rank. We’re not going to be able to show rank,” Morris said. “Because everything that we strive to do to get to that top position, that’s going to be absolutely impossible to show that you’re in that top position. We’re only going to be able to show by doing the correct work, by doing the marketing, by doing the right content, the right this, the right that; that traffic increases.”

She also notes that Google did this for the consumer, to make it easy for users to find what they want to find at a faster rate. Morris said Google doesn’t “like ratings.” And the fact that Morris was right about this only goes to show how little Google cares for someone to hold onto that top search result.

Speaking of social media and search, Morris also comments on how to better improve relationships with clients as an SEO. She said the No. 1 and No. 2 most important things are communication and education. Communication is an obvious aspect in what we do, but sometimes it doesn’t always happen the way it should. In order for a project to succeed in a timely manner it is crucial that all parties involved communicate regularly and effectively. No one wants a project to be delayed because someone didn’t relay specific information somewhere down the line.

But, almost as important as solid communication is education. Morris said that in order to get a client to “buy in” to your idea, you have to educate them. This means going in prepared with reasons and facts to back up your idea. If you can educate them about your idea and the results you think you can achieve, you have a much better chance of them agreeing to go along with you.

These aren’t the only things Morris discussed with us in her interview. She also talks about Pinterest (and their affiliate links) and more about client relationships. Listen to the entire interview, recorded live from PubCon Paradise below!

You can read Kate Morris’ blog posts at either Distilled or SEOMoz. She can also be found on Twitter at @katemorris. If you have any questions about this interview or PubCon Paradise, don’t hesitate to contact us or comment below!

Jill Whalen, High Rankings CEO

The hottest topic right now in the world of search is Google’s Search, plus Your World. This is Google’s new search algorithm that personalizes search more than ever before. With the integration of Google+ into Google search, Whalen said the most important thing people, businesses and brands can do is become authorities in their industries.

“With social, it’s similar [to authoritative links], but it’s your profiles, it’s your social profiles. Do you have an authoritative account? An authoritative Twitter account and an authoritative Google+ account?” she said. “Those kinds of accounts, when they talk about a brand, a website or anything like that … it’s more likely to have an effect on what Google might show in the search results because somebody of some importance is talking about it.”

Though, Whalen did say that because Search, plus Your World is so new, it’s hard to tell exactly how search results will ultimately be affected. She did say that despite of Google’s claim that there are 100 million members of Google+, very few people are actually on it. Like a lot of up-and-coming social networks, Google+ first caught on with industry experts, like SEOs, and has yet to see the type of engagement that Facebook gets on a daily basis.

“(Google’s) definitely going somewhere. They’re definitely going to try to put more emphasis, more weighting on what people do in Google+,” she said.

But Whalen also points out that until more people are on it, we won’t really see how it will shape out. The fact that Google is actively trying to get SEOs on Google+ is something else Whalen weighs in on, saying they’re purposefully getting SEO people involved so they tell their clients that in order to succeed, their clients need to be active on Google+.

“It’s smart, you get SEOs involved at first,” she said., “Then they’ll trumpet it for (Google) and tell everyone else, ‘You have got to do this because this is where you’re going to see these personalized results.’”

These personalized results are the ultimate goal for brands because if a brand can get their Google+ posts to show up high in SERPs, they could get higher conversion rates. But, Whalen notes that people in the SEO industry “tend to have blinders” on when it comes to Google+ because all of our friends and colleagues are on it, but not everyone else is yet.

Google+ isn’t the only key to getting good search results, though, Whalen said. She also said that by simply improving and updating content, your results could rise. Anyone working in the SEO world has seen content that is so keyword-packed it’s nearly unreadable. By simply making content more readable, you improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.

To hear more of Dwight’s interview with Jill Whalen, please listen to the podcast below. She goes on to discuss what she thinks of Pinterest and social media conversions. You can find her on Twitter at @jillwhalen and Google+. If you have questions about this interview or any of the topics discussed, feel free to comment below or drop us a line today.

In a recent ReadWriteWeb article, Alicia Eler writes about how the amount of friends someone has on Facebook can affect them outside of the digital realm. It’s not surprising that she states that while you specifically don’t care how many friends you have, other people online do. She states, “… Having more or less friends than the average Facebook user may affect how other users view you, and how you feel about yourself. Too many Facebook friends might indicate that you’re participating in a certain Facebook culture of adolescence hat focuses more on popularity (hello, junior high!) and less on authentic, trusting friendships.”

The issue of what other people think about us often feels like something we should grow out of as adults, but that is never truly the case. No matter how old or mature we are, part of us always wonders what impressions others have of us. With social networking, that impression can often be tainted by something as small as a mundane status update or a friend count of over 1,000. (I personally find it ludicrous when someone is friends with that many people.)

Yes, social media is about making connections. But often times, these connections are centered around one thing: a class you shared, a band you and someone both liked or perhaps you thought they were hot at a college party. All of these are very legitimate reasons to “friend” someone on Facebook. But they are not legitimate reasons to maintain a long digital relationship with that person. The point of Facebook, in my opinion, is to create and cultivate relationships with people. But when that initial feeling of, “Oh man! This person’s so awesome because they love “Star Wars”as much as me!” wears off, what’s left?

Nothing.

But this is how people (like me) accumulate hundreds and hundreds–sometimes thousands–of friends over time. I have found that with any social network, whether it’s Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. it’s all about quality content. In a previous post I talked about my least favorite things in social media and wrote: “I know it’s completely unrealistic for every status, tweet, check-in, etc. to contain meaningful content. There are things I’ll post that’ll violate my own rules from time to time, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive toward a future that has smarter social media.” But in all seriousness, that is what I base my digital friendship on. If you give me good content, you’ll make the cut. If not, you’ll be cut. It’s just the way it is.

Having too many social networking friends is literally exhausting. My recommendation to you, dear readers, is to weed through your Facebook news feed and clean it up. Sometimes you’ll find someone you totally forgot about, sometimes you’ll realize that hot girl from the party is literally just a hot girl. That happens, life moves on, and so will they.

There are hundreds of ways for someone to damage your reputation online, and knowing how they might do that is the first step in protecting your online identity. It doesn’t matter if you are a singular person, a company or a brand, reputation management is imperative. When a person sets out to hurt your reputation, they usually will impersonate you throughout many different mediums. This includes blogs, social networks and other websites. Claiming your name on these spaces, even if you aren’t utilizing them, is absolutely essential. What many impersonators will do is sign up for different profiles under your name and claim to be you.

One of the ways these “black hats” go about damaging your reputation is by doing all the research about you they can. This includes combing through public records as well as your social network profiles and other online connections. The wealth of information that is available is unbelievable and is easier to obtain than you might think. One of the biggest ways to combat having your reputation diminished is by claiming your name on as many online spaces as possible. One of the best services for this is called KnowEm. This service will help you reserve accounts across many different social networks in your name so they are not taken by people who aren’t you. It is especially valuable for people of high prestige.

But as Dwight states in both the podcast and presentation, it’s never a good idea to engage in this kind of reputation management. There are two perfect examples of this. The first belongs to Kuwaiti billionaire Bassam Alghanim. He was involved in a fight with his brother over a family fortune and hired Chinese hackers to break into his brother’s email account. And it only cost him $400. This shows how easy it can be to hire someone, for very little money, to run nefarious errands for you online.

Another example of “black hat” reputation management is the case of Jeremy Wakeman. Wakeman was pulled over and ticketed by Clinton Township Police Officer Michael Allis on May 4, 2011 and shortly thereafter started harassing Allis online. According to the Macomb Daily, he “was accused of creating a fake Facebook identity for … Allis … last May. He mocked Allis in postings and messages, and indirectly encouraged others to contact Allis for potential further harassment.” In January 2012, Wakeman pleaded guilty to cyberbullying the officer and is currently awaiting sentencing.

These are just two instances of how people can utilize the internet to damage your reputation. For more information about how to prevent “black hat” reputation management you can view the slides or listen to the podcast below.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

For those unfamiliar with the story, Facebook filed their Initial Public Offering of $5 billion last week to become a publicly-traded company. This is huge. Facebook is the world’s largest social network, boasting more than 845 million users. That’s roughly 12 percent of the world’s entire population. But what we don’t think Facebook realizes is what this will mean for company transparency. Facebook has always done things behind closed doors without much noise. This will change once the company goes public in May 2012.

The Guardian’s Michael Wolff doesn’t know if Facebook is quite ready for prime time yet. He writes, “I don’t think that Facebook, with its messianic ambitions and squirrelly zeal, is actually ready for the harsh light of public company life. Even though it comes to market with the weight and hegemonic feel of the biggest brands, it has grown up in such a bubble of cultishness and doctrine, that primetime scrutiny could shortly become very uncomfortable … Public exposure, rather than fictional movie exposure, could be cruel – even though Zuckerberg is said to be practicing up for earnings calls. Indeed, it is hard to overstate how truly public Facebook is about to become, and how much more difficult it will be to contain the controversies – about its provenance, its financing, its privacy polices and its data thirst – that have always dogged it, and which, in the past, it has largely just gone tightlipped about.”

Wolff’s last point is the most crucial. Everything the social giant has done in the past has been done behind a veil, now it must open up and let the public in. We don’t know if Mark Zuckerberg and Co. are prepared for what’s about to come.

Speaking of being ready, 2012 is only a month old, but the amount of change our industry has experienced seems like seven times that. SEO.20 recently published blog post featuring “40 Cutting Edge Social Media & Search Services to Invest in Now.” Of the 40 items on the list, the most important are Online Reputation Management and Mobile SEO. It doesn’t matter if you’re a person, company or brand. It is absolutely crucial that your image and reputation be protected online. And next to having a solid online reputation, it’s also vital that your site be easy to find, especially in a mobile platform. More and more internet surfing is being done via mobile devices, and if your site can’t be found, you’re missing out on a lot of potential customers.

Listen to the podcast below for more about Facebook’s IPO, SEO tips and an update on The @davebing Experiment. Tell us in the comments what you think!

Social networks, in essence, are platforms for people to share and disseminate information. This sadly includes a number of things I could care less about, amateur food porn included. For those who don’t know, Wikipedia states that food porn is “a glamorized spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows or other visual media.”

What is this?

This is one of the many activities that needs to be stopped across all social media. Another pet peeve of mine is overusing Foursquare. Now, I have nothing against Foursquare. After all, I used to be an avid user. But there was one thing I never did: share my location when it wasn’t cool. To be honest, I’ve deleted friends from Facebook and Twitter because 50 percent of their posts were Foursquare check-ins. There’s literally nothing I care less about than when you’re at Target. What value does this bring to my Facebook or Twitter feed? None. Now, if you’re somewhere awesome, like a museum, sports game, hole-in-the-wall bar or a concert, then by all means, check in. I want to know when you’re at a cool place. But please, stop telling me every time you go to the drug store.

I know this seems like an over-the-top rant–and it is–but things need to change. Food porn and Foursquare usage aren’t the only things that need to be reevaluated, either. The thing that concerns me the most is the status update (or tweet).

Everyone’s guilty of posting mundane, valueless statuses (myself included), but they’re getting a little out of hand. I think Jesse Eisenberg’s character in “Zombieland” summed it up best: “The best thing about Z-land … no Facebook status updates. You know, ‘Rob Curtis is gearing up for Friday.’ Who cares?” Exactly! Who cares? No one … well, not me at least.

I know it’s completely unrealistic for every status, tweet, check-in, etc. to contain meaningful content. There are things I’ll post that’ll violate my own rules from time to time, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive toward a future that has smarter social media.

Aside from sheer annoyance, there are actual real-world implications poor social content can have. We’ve discussed it a few times already, but Google has completely revamped how their search service works. Search, plus Your World has completely changed the game with social content (Google+) showing up in search results, which makes this even more important. If you’re a Google+ user, for the sake of everyone in your Circles, keep an eye on what you’re posting.

When I post something to a social network, I usually ask myself, “Would I want to read this?” If the answer’s “no”, then I don’t post it. You should do the same.

We want to know what annoys you in social media! Tell us in the comments.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, it’s that social media is just as important, if not more important than all other forms of advertisement. With this in mind, I took it upon myself a few years ago to get into the political game. No, I didn’t run for office, no I didn’t publicly endorse any one candidate. What I did was tweet. And that experiment is one of several topics TM  Social Media Manager Michael L. Hoffman, PR and Communications Expert Dario Chiarini and myself discuss in this week’s TM podcast.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing

In 2009, after former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick left office in disgrace, there was an election for a new mayor and I decided to do my part. I registered several Twitter accounts for the candidates, on my own volition, such as Dave Bing, Ken Cockrel Jr. and Freeman Hendrix. But the one that took off was Dave Bings (@davebing). Within the course of just a few months, the @davebing account had gathered more than 10,000 followers, all of which thought I was Dave Bing. In fact, this @davebing account was quoted as saying, “We just need new leadership. The city of Detroit had a lot of oysters but no pearls for a long time,” in a May 17, 2009 Detroit Free Press article entitled, “Social site become political tool.”

When I decided to take up the task of operating a Twitter account under the guise of Mayor Bing’s persona, I did so without malice. But this still leads us to proper reputation management. Bing’s team did nothing, literally nothing, to obtain ownership of the @davebing account. And in December 2009, after several attempts to contact his team, I wrote the mayor a letter, which read:

The reason I am contacting you today is because I would like to consult and manage – free of charge – web marketing and social media for you through your term.  My motivation is to raise the profile of small, entrepreneurial companies such as mine that are working to diversify the economy in Southeast Michigan and create new jobs. Being a native Detroiter and DAC member I was happy to finally see a qualified, honest individual step up to turn our city around.

Detroit Free Press: May 17, 2009

Still, I never heard anything back from the Bing camp. No phone call, no email or no letter. But around Christmas of 2009, the @davebing account had been closed and a new one had been registered, which actually has less followers than mine did.  But what should we take away from this? Was it right to operate a Twitter account as another person? Probably not. But it shows how important it is for you, as a company, brand or public figure, to monitor  your online reputation. I could have done a lot of damage has @davebing, which shows how easily it is to get duped online, and why it’s crucial that your image is protected on the Web.

Listen to the podcast below for more on our @davebing experiment as well as Google’s new privacy policy. Do you think what we did was wrong?

Google’s new privacy policy is a culmination of over 70 previously-individual policies. This single, omnipotent policy will cover all of Google’s services and create a customized Google for each individual user. They elaborated on this in their blog post about the new policy, stating, “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

This comes only a few weeks after the release of Search, plus Your World, which integrates personal and organic search results into one stream. It is clear that Google is making a push to not only be a company more focused on social, but also on personalization. Mashable’s Kate Freeman points out several features of Google’s new policy that could make users’ experiences better overall. She writes, “Not searching for a gym membership in January? Google will remove those ads from your search. Email a friend about adopting a puppy? You might see ads for animal shelters in your area. Your friend Jon doesn’t have an ‘h’ in his name? Google Docs will remember this, too. By syncing your Google products, the ads you see and your search results will be customized.”

The search giant, however, stressed that it will not be giving users’ personal information to advertisers. Instead, Google uses your information to target you with ads they have already purchased. It’s also important to note that users cannot opt out of this policy. The only way to do that would be to opt out of Google completely, and really, who wants to do that?

What do you think of Google’s new privacy update? Do you think it’s going to enhance your experience as a Google user or is it integrating social and search too much? Let us know in the comments.

In McCarty’s case, Google asked him, “Want to ask your friends about groin rashes? Ask on Google+,” and he’s not too happy about it. In his article, he writes, “I understand that your goal is to get everybody using Google+ and I know your reasons behind it. But I’m pretty put off by being asked on EVERY SINGLE SEARCH QUERY whether or not I’d like to ask my friends about something. It’s like the Facebook share button on a porn site. There are things that I don’t ever want to talk to my friends about, even if they’re not embarrassing, so please stop asking me.”

Sullivan echoed his sentiment and stated, “However, there’s no particular intelligence going on behind this prompt. It shows up for every search, which means you can have lots of fun with it.” He then gives the following example:

Clearly, Sullivan and McCarty are right. There is no need for this to be offered for every search query. It’s another way for Google to integrate their own social network, Google+, into search results. And while we have discussed the possible impacts of Search, plus Your World before, this feels like a bit more of an intrusion. It’s well-known that users tend to head to their social networks when a search query doesn’t give them the results they want, and because of this, the “Ask on Google+” link feels a bit pushy. No one likes someone who is constantly giving you unsolicited advice, and this is what that link feels like.

It’s clear that Google+ is here to stay, and Search, plus Your World is a solid integration of search and social, search should remain Google’s primary service. What do you think? Do you find the “Ask on Google+” link as annoying as McCarty and Sullivan do? Let us know in the comments!

We discussed the blackout in detail in a previous blog post, but its importance and effectiveness cannot be understated. The protest of SOPA and PIPA was spearheaded by social news site Reddit and online encyclopedia Wikipedia. The goal was to illustrate what the internet would look like if SOPA and PIPA made it through Congress. The effects of the protest were palpable in Washington as several supporters and co-sponsors of the bills dropped their support, and eventually, both bills were tabled indefinitely.

But perhaps the most interesting week’s most interesting news regarding online piracy was the federal take down of MegaUpload. MegaUpload was a file-sharing website that the US government shut down on Jan. 19, the day after the blackout. In response to MegaUpload’s take down, hacker organization Anonymous, attacked the Department of Justice, Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America websites, as well as UniversalMusic.com. This isn’t the only issue we discuss in the podcast though, we also discuss more changes from Google.

The search giant announced this week that it will be penalizing websites that have too many ads “above the fold,” which is the part of the website you can see before scrolling down.  As Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan points out, Google “heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.” This, however, isn’t the only big change Google has made recently.

We revisit the topic of Google’s new search format–Search, plus Your World–and how it makes ranking reports nearly obsolete. The reason being is because search results are now different for everyone. If I search “credit cards” here in Michigan, and Michael searches it in Florida and Dario searches it in California, we will all get different results based on location and personalized results. This means that one website could rank much higher in one area than another, thus making SEO much harder in the future. It further emphasizes how important it is for companies and brands to be engaged socially.

We want to know what you think of these issues, let us know in the comments or contact us! For more on these topics, listen to the podcast below:

Many websites, including Reddit, Wikipedia and Mozilla, blacked out their sites to protest SOPA and PIPA and @herpderpedia kept us all in the loop with Tweeters’ frustrations. Most of the rage on Twitter was directed at Wikipedia for being down. Some people voiced their confusion, “What’s up with this Wikipedia blackout bullsh*t? #confused” but others were a little more intense. This tweet, “OMG WIKIPEDIA YOUR KILLING ME YOU COMMUNIST F*CKS!!!!!!!!” is a good example of how most people seemed to feel.

But what many people didn’t realize is that their sights should have been pointed their senator or congressperson, not the online encyclopedia. What Wikipedia and other sites were doing were voicing their opposition against these bills, which according to Reddit, “Introduce regulation and enforce censorship on what should be a free and open internet.” They wanted to bring awareness to two proposed bills that have the potential to censor much of the internet.

The New York Daily News published an article explaining why Wikipedia and other sites went black on Jan. 18:

Simply put, they would give copyright holders new ways to punish websites that host pirated content.

That means that users within the U.S. would essentially see an error message when they try to visit that website, though users in other countries would still be able to visit it. This provision has been removed from SOPA pending “further examination,” though it’s still included in PIPA.

SOPA also requires search engines to delete links to offending websites from their search results, while PIPA does not.

Both bills require advertisers and payment services not to do business with sites accused of piracy. They also allow internet service providers to pre-emptively block websites they believe are dedicated to piracy.

It seems that the online protest against these bills has been effective. According to Mashable several co-sponsors and supporters of both SOPA and PIPA abandoned the bills after Wednesday. Those who revoked their support were PIPA co-sponsor  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and SOPA co-sponsor Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ). This, along with the White House’s opposition to the bills, is a big hit to the legislation. But, as Mashable notes, it’s not over. The tech blog states, “Even though co-sponsors of SOPA and PIPA pulled their support for the bills on Wednesday, SOPA’s lead backer says he’s not backing down and “expects to move forward” with the bill next month.”

If you didn’t contact your US Representative or Senator, it’s imperative that you still do so. The bills, while struggling, are not completely dead. You can contact your representative or Senators here.

What do you think the greater ramifications of SOPA and PIPA are? Let us know in the comments. And if you need some background info, check out this video to learn why SOPA and PIPA are bad for the internet:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

UPDATE Friday Jan. 20, 2:05 p.m.

SOPA and PIPA are both effectively dead in the water. Re. Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that he has pulled the bill off the table and earlier today Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the vote for PIPA has been postponed.

Rep. Smith told Reuters, ”I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

He also said that Congress will be working with “copyright owners, Internet companies, financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.”

And while this is a huge victory for freedom of speech on the Web, this won’t be the last we hear of bills like this. Stay tuned to this space for more information as it comes.

There were several big news stories in the past week that we discuss in this week’s podcast. Some of the topics we touch on include Google’s “Search, plus Your World,” protecting children on Facebook and the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Perhaps the biggest news this week is the roll out of Google’s new search format, Search, plus Your World. This new format is an integration of social and public search that is unprecedented. Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan discusses the new search format in detail saying, “The new system will perhaps make life much easier for some people, allowing them to find both privately shared content from friends and family plus material from across the web through a single search, rather than having to search twice using two different systems.”

What we wonder here at TM is what implications this will have on SEO. If personal results are getting shown before organic results, it will force more companies to get social and engage. We also note that this could really push the competition between Google+ and Facebook to a new level because of Facebook’s search deal with Bing.

One issue that has been gaining traction over the past few months is protecting children on Facebook. According to the New York Times, many parents are actively lying to let their children on Facebook under the age of 13, Facebook’s minimum age requirement. This is a multifaceted problem, and needs to be handled on many levels. First, parents need to stop letting children on Facebook under the age of 13. This is a direct violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and it also compromises their children’s privacy. One of the things we think needs to happen is either a) an update to COPPA or b) a completely new law that is more relevant to today’s Web. What do you think needs to happen to help solve this problem? It’s something that needs to be tackled, but it’s still unclear what way is best.

Another issue that has been getting a lot of attention online, but not in the mainstream media, is SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act. For months there has been opposition on the Web to these bills, but until now there hasn’t been a lot of action taken against them. That’s all going to change Wednesday Jan. 18 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. when Reddit and the entire Cheezburger Network go dark in protest of the bills. But will this be enough to sway the US Congress or will more sites like Google and Facebook have to go down too?

We want to know what you think of all of this, so let us know in the comments below or contact us to tell us your thoughts!

The first thing you as a Facebook user need to know is if you want to permanently delete your profile or merely deactivate it. Permanently deleting a profile is exactly what it sounds like–permanent deletion. The account is closed forever and you’ll no longer have access to the information contained within your Facebook profile. Deactivating it, on the other hand, is kind of like cryogenically freezing your profile. It will stay stuck in one spot in time until you decide you want to thaw it out. When you deactivate your Facebook, it makes your profile inaccessible by your now former friends, but if you log back in, everything is just like it was.

Now that you’ve decided whether you want to terminate or freeze your profile, let’s get started. We’ll begin with Facebook Deactivation.

How to Deactivate Your Facebook Profile:

1. Go to your profile’s Account Settings. When you arrive at the Account Settings page, select the Security page to the left of the screen.
2. Once you are at the Security page, click the “Deactivate your account” link.
3. At this stage of the game, you will have to fill out a brief form explaining why you want to deactivate your Facebook profile. After filling out the form, you will select the “Confirm” button, which will prompt you to enter your password, then you will have to fill out a captcha to make sure you’re a human being and not a robot.
4. You are then automatically logged out and your Facebook is deactivated.
5. To reactivate your profile, just log back in like you would any other time.

It’s literally that easy. Now, if you’re one of the people who want to permanently rid yourself of Facebook, follow the steps below.

How to Permanently Delete Your Facebook Profile:

1. To access the Facebook Account Deletion page, go to the Facebook Help Center by clicking the “Help” link at the bottom of the screen.
2. When you arrive at the Help Center, type “How do I permanently delete my account” into the search bar.
3. That will bring you the “Account Settings and Deletion” help page, click “submit your request here” at the bottom of the third paragraph to access the Facebook Account Deletion page.
4. When you are at the Facebook Account Deletion page, click “Submit.”
5. After you click “Submit”, you will be prompted to enter your password and fill out a captcha (to verify that you’re a human).
6. Once you fill out the necessary information, click “Okay.” You will then be sent an email from Facebook that says your Facebook will be permanently deleted in 14 days (two weeks).
7. This may seem simpler than deactivating your account, but it comes with a caveat: You cannot log into your Facebook at all during that 14 day period or it’ll cancel the deletion and you’ll have to repeat the whole process over again. This includes using Facebook Connect, Liking or Sharing things on external sites (websites outside of Facebook).
8. After 14 days, your Facebook profile will be no more and you’ll be living a Facebook-free life.

One important thing to remember is if in your two-week period before your account is officially deleted that you decide you don’t want it deleted after all, just log in. When you log back, in everything will appear as it was before you preemptively decided to delete it.

Do you have any questions or comments about deactivating or permanently deleting a Facebook account? Let me know in the comments or contact us!

Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan discusses the new search format in detail saying, “The new system will perhaps make life much easier for some people, allowing them to find both privately shared content from friends and family plus material from across the web through a single search, rather than having to search twice using two different systems.”

This could prove to be the biggest change in Google’s search results, but as Sullivan points out, the company will surely come under scrutiny for promoting its own content over that of its competitors. And what sets this change apart from others that have been implemented is that it will be combining social search results with public search results into one big stream, as opposed to two separate ones. This could be useful for users because they would be able to see both results at once, but it could also confuse others for the same reason.

Sullivan notes that the singular list of search results could create privacy concerns for Google because people may think those are public listings. But don’t worry, they’re not. They only appear to you because they have been shared with you. Unless someone has had that information shared with them personally on one of their social networks, they won’t be able to see private content.

In Sullivan’s article, Google’s Amit Singhal said, “The social search algorithm, and the personal search algorithm, and the personalized search algorithm are actually one algorithm now, and we are merging it in a way that is very pleasant and useful.”

It’s important to note that Google has not integrated Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or any other social networks aside from Google+. But that is not Google’s fault according to Singhal who said, “Facebook and Twitter and other services, basically, their terms of service don’t allow us to crawl them deeply and store things. Google+ is the only [network] that provides such a persistent service. Of course, going forward, if others were willing to change, we’d look at designing things to see how it would work.”

But aside from the social aspect of Search Plus Your World, the new search format could also have big SEO implications. Now that Googlers will be seeing more personalized search results based on what has been shared with them, it could prove a challenge for websites trying to to rank highly on the first page.

Only time will tell exactly what the effects of Search Plus Your World will be, what do you think of the new search format? Is it an improvement of Google’s services or a hindrance?

The new cloud, announced by PC and tablet manufacturer Acer at CES 2012, will allow users to share documents and photos across Acer devices and Android smartphones, but in a limited capacity. But unlike its iCloud and Dropbox counterparts, AcerCloud isn’t about online storage, it’s about sharing. Documents and photos are only stored for 30 days in AcerCloud, and the files are ultimately stored on your PC, not in AcerCloud.

Here’s an example of how the service works: if you take a photo with your smartphone, AcerCloud will automatically upload that photo to a service called PicStream, which will store your photos for the 30-day limit. PicStream is more of a pit stop for your photos than a parking spot, though. You can then push your photos from PicStream back to your PC or another Android device for permanent storage.

Saving documents to AcerCloud works similarly to photos, in that they are stored in the cloud for 30 days before expiring. But there is one thing AcerCloud may have on the competition. Acer says that files stored on the “Main PC” are accessible at any time via AcerCloud, even if the computer is in sleep mode. This could prove useful for people who want to extract data from their home computers without having to spend time uploading it to another cloud service.

Are you an Acer user? If you are, would you use AcerCloud? We want to know.

Featured photo © HYTHEM.

In this week’s podcast we discuss a variety of topics including innovative RFID use, Google’s surprising mistake, Rick Santorum’s Google problem and the importance of SEO and content.

It’s not everyday Google messes up, but when it paid bloggers to link to the Chrome browser’s download page, they did just that. In fact, the search giant violated its own terms of service and because of that is penalizing itself. For at least 60 days  Chrome will be lowered in search results due to the violation. What do you think, did Google slap its wrist hard enough?

Great Wolf Resorts is taking RFID technology to the next level. The resort chain’s guests are already using RFID-enabled bracelets as a charge card, room key and guest identification bracelet. But that’s not all. The bracelet can now be used it as a social media tool. Guests can link the wristband to their personal Facebook accounts to upload photos to Facebook throughout their stay. All they have to do is go to one of the park’s “Paw Posts” get their picture taken and the photo is automatically uploaded to their Facebook. This four-in-one wristband not only makes life easier for guests, but allows them to stay connected without their smartphone.

Do you want to know more about these topics? Listen to the podcast below and let us know what you think in the comments! If you have anymore questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Kravitz is a former writer who worked for PhoneDog Media, and when he was hired, he was told to create the account @Phonedog_Noah and use that for professional purposes. In the eight months of his employment, Kravitz amassed a Twitter following of more than 17,000 people and is now being sued for $340,000 by PhoneDog Media for changing the name of his account to @NoahKravitz post-departure.

Where does the number $340,000 come from? That’s $2.50 per follower multiplied by the number of followers he collected (17,000), multiplied by the amount of time he used the account for PhoneDog Media (eight months). According to this suit, each Twitter follower is worth $2.50. But that isn’t the most important issue. Rather, the most important issue is who owns the Twitter account @NoahKravitz (formerly @Phonedog_Noah)?

One of the biggest issues with this case, however, is the fact that Kravitz and his former employer don’t even agree on whether he was an employee or a contractor. Depending on which he was, it could have an impact on how the courts determine this case. If he was a contractor, he was essentially working as a freelancer. Whereas if he was an employee, he was working directly for PhoneDog Media. There’s also a question of whether or not the company had a social media policy covering the use of accounts created for work.

Personally, I operate two separate Twitter accounts; I have my personal Twitter account and my professional Twitter account, @MikeTMProd. I set up @MikeTMProd a few weeks ago so I would have space that would primarily be for professional use. But I was never told to set this account up by TM. I did it on my own volition. It still begs the question, since I am representing TM with not only the content, but the name as well, do I really own that account? I like to think so, but this lawsuit could determine who the real owner is.

I am a firm believer that it’s important to keep your personal and professional lives separate in social media. How many stories have we read about people not getting a job or losing a job because of something an employer saw on Facebook?

Not a week goes by where we don’t see a new story about how controversial social media can actually become. Kravtiz’s battle with PhoneDog Media is just the beginning of where things could go. What do you think? Does PhoneDog Media own Kravitz’s account or does he?

(Photo credit: cbhdesign)

We’ve discussed in a previous blog post why it’s important to have an online presence that’s both well-established and engaging , but one thing we didn’t cover is why your fans’ and followers’ recommendations are so important. The reason is simple–trust.

If there’s one thing that links people together through social media, it’s trust. Most people don’t add friends on Facebook or follow someone on Twitter if they don’t trust them and/or value their opinion. Just like you wouldn’t befriend someone you didn’t trust in the real world. This trust is what can make or break a brand, company or business in social media. People don’t usually share mediocre experiences with their friends online, but if you can provide your online community with an extraordinary experience, they’ll more than likely tell their friends about it.

This type of sharing is what can really help a business grow, especially a smaller, local business. If a few people are gushing about the hottest new place or product, their friends and followers will be more influenced to try it out for themselves, whether it’s a restaurant, automobile maintenance garage or boutique. This is why it’s imperative that your customers trust you as a company and a business. If they don’t, they’ll tell the world. But if they do, they’ll do the same and the results will be clear.

We want to know if you can tell us of any instance when you tried out a new product or business because of a friend’s recommendation online. What do you think? Is trust as important as we believe?

Aside from preparing for the apparent apocalypse in December by building an underground bunker with all the proper amenities–toilet paper, NERF launchers, coffee, peanut butter cups, etc, the TM Team is very much looking forward to the new year. In 2012, we aim to continue to provide the best in web design and development, social media management, SEO consulting, e-commerce website building and other online services in metro Detroit.

If you’re new to us, we are a leading web agency in metro Detroit, based in the suburb of Royal Oak. Our team of experts work day in and day out to create the best websites in the business and it’s our goal to continue to do so in the coming year.

Our web development and design team is anxious to continue creating top-of-the-line websites that exceed our clients’ expectations. Our developers are skilled in all the necessary means of website creation. They will ensure that your website not only looks and feels professional, but that it has valid code so it’s properly accessible by all of the most common internet browsers

But in addition to just the standard build, our developers are equipped with all of the tools to build you an expandable content management system and if you need it, an e-commerce site so that you can sell your products online. Check out our client portfolio for some examples of websites we’ve designed in the past.

Does your company lack a social presence on the web? We can help you with that as well! Our social media management team is here to not only help your company grow on the social internet, but also promote meaningful interaction between you and your followers/fans, which is nothing but positive for your company’s image (including opening the doors to potential leads).

Have you Googled your company lately? Is your website appearing on the first page? If not, it should be, and we can make that happen for you. Our SEO consultants can optimize your website to gain better search results. Search is the most common way potential customers find websites and improving your search engine results will lead to more sales, and better brand awareness. Everybody wins.

So if you’re looking for the best in the business, you’ve found it. Contact us today to find out how TM and its team can improve your company’s online presence!

At Trademark Productions, we offer social media management services and were blown away at just how important this tool is in understanding the quality of your brand’s Page.  We’re all about having information at our fingertips here and it seems like most social media services don’t want you knowing what they do, or don’t want to make it readily accessible.  Not so in this case.

Facebook states Insights is for “… Facebook Page owners with metrics around their content. By understanding and analyzing trends within user growth and demographics, consumption of content, and creation of content, Page owners and Platform developers are better equipped to improve their business and create better experiences on Facebook.”

This tool is very similar to Google Analytics, except it’s solely dedicated to analyzing Facebook data. All data is updated on a daily basis and is available 24 hours after it’s analyzed. Insights provides Page owners with two kinds of basic information: User Insights and Interaction Insights.

User Insights will show you the number of fans, or Likes your page has, Like sources, new Likes and Unlikes, page views and unique page views, tab views, demographics, media consumption, and external referrers.

This information will allow you to see exactly how your Page is doing. It’s a great way to test out different social media strategies and see what works best. If you launch a social media campaign about your product and your Page views and Likes increase, then you know you’re doing something right. The opposite applies if Page views decrease and you are Unliked by users. Social media campaigns are often a trial-and-error system and these metrics will help you better refine your techniques.

User Insights

An the other hand, Interaction Insights show you daily story feedback (post Likes or comments) and your Page’s daily activity, such as discussions, mentions, wall posts, video posts, and reviews.

All of these Insights are excellent ways to determine how your individual posts are doing. It’s similar to User Insights in that it will help you better understand what posts work and what posts don’t. Interaction Insights also give you a look into how many people are directly interacting with your Page, a vital resource in determining how successful your Page is.

Interactions Insights

One of the best features of Insights, however, is the fact that the data provided can be exported, so you can keep a log of how your page is doing and track any progress on your own.

Whether you’re a big-market brand or a small mom-and-pop store trying to get your feet wet in social media, Facebook Insights are a vital tool for you to understand the health of your Facebook Page.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions about how we can help to improve your social media strategy; we’d love to hear from you! And as always, the coffee’s on us.

Yes, the network is barely six months old, but author Chris Brogan has told Mashable he believes it’s a game changer.

When asked why he thought this, Brogan said, “It’s pretty easy to explain. Google+ posts sent to ‘public’ rank fairly well in Google search results. You can’t get that with Facebook or Twitter these days. If almost 70 percent of people start their online trek to your website via search, then that’s fairly self-explanatory.”

In essence, the importance of Google+ brand pages boils down to one thing: search. People are using search engines more than ever to find company websites or information about a company. This is the main reason Google+ is so important for businesses, small or large, to invest time into.

Cultivating an online community is a challenging task that we discussed in a previous blog post, but with Google+, it’s not about the size of the community, but the quality. Google+ offers your brand things that simply aren’t available on Twitter or Facebook. One, as mentioned before, is the ability to have posts rank in search engines. The second is that Google+ Brand Pages are not passive networks like Twitter.

When something is shared on Twitter, it’s just thrown out into cyberspace. There is no guarantee that someone will send a @mention in return or retweet the post. And while those things are not guaranteed on Google+, there’s more room for encouragement. Brogan said, “… the visual appeal of Google+ pages encourages more clicking. Brands can host hangouts and have deeper interaction than on Twitter. Because Google’s search features are far more robust than Facebook, the opportunity to prospect and find more potential community members is much better.” This deeper interaction is why your company needs to invest in Google+.

Facebook and Twitter should not be discounted, though, since they are still the dominant social networks and should be treated as such. But Google+ offers your company a chance to do something different and it would behoove you to take advantage of that.

One of the things Brogan suggests companies do is host a Hangout, Google+’s group video-chat system. Hangouts are an asset that Facebook and Twitter don’t have. They could be used in a multitude of ways, such as giving your community advice or tips about your product. And this is just one of the many ways you can use Google+ to help your company gain better social exposure.

Do you have questions about how Google+ can help your business? Give us a call or shoot us an email! We’d love to discuss how we can help improve your company’s web presence with the use of  this and other social networks.

It seems pretty awesome, right? To have a tool to tell you how important you and your tweets are? I just signed up for Klout to check my Twitter influence and I have a Klout score of 51. But what does this mean?

For Twitter, what Klout does is use an algorithm to determine your influence by looking at your follower/following count and ratio, how many @mentions you have received, and retweets. Essentially, it looks at how many people you influence, how you influence them, and how influential they are. My personal Klout page is a great hub of information, but it’s still unclear what my score of 51 actually means.

Over the past several months, there have been countless articles written about the usefulness or uselessness of Klout. In one article, ReadWriteWeb writer Robert MacManus writes that yes, Klout is flawed because its “main issue right now is that nobody can figure it out. It’s at best opaque, at worst gibberish.” But MacManus also writes that people should use Klout because it can be useful to measure raw social data.

Not everyone is saying that Klout isn’t reputable, however. For instance, Jay Baer believes Klout critics are being too harsh and ignoring what Klout doesn’t measure, like real-life interaction. He writes that critics’ “slam on Klout is typically rooted in the fact that Klout doesn’t account for people’s offline influence (or even digital influence that isn’t expressed in social media).” In my eyes, offline influence is more important in the end. You can influence thousands of people on Twitter, Facebook, etc., but if you can’t influence people in the real world, then you are falling short.

I believe that Klout is, at best, an interesting measuring tool, but is not the end-all-be-all social data measuring tool some think it is. Now that I’ve signed up for Klout, I’ll still check back regularly. I think it contains useful data, but at the same time I am not going to be putting all of my efforts into raising my Klout score.

Using social networks has one purpose: sharing information with your followers/friends. And if you supply them with interesting content, you will influence them regardless of what your Klout score says.

What do you think of Klout? Do you use it?

(Featured photo © greensimagery)

Go Daddy continued, “It’s a welcome step in the right direction, and we at GoDaddy.com applaud the leadership in the House Judiciary Committee, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet and the Senate Judiciary Committee, for taking decisive, bicameral and bipartisan action.”

The bill was crafted to protect intellectual property on the Web and to combat online piracy, but the overreaching power this bill could extend would allow government censorship of many websites that are doing perfectly legal activity. For instance, if this bill is passed social networks will be responsible for the content on their sites. This means if people are sharing copyrighted material on Facebook, Facebook is responsible for the spread of that content. And while this is an extreme example, it illustrates the potential impact if it is put into action.

In response to SOPA critics claiming that the bill can be compared to online censorship, the company said, “This bill cannot reasonably be equated with censorship … Not only is there no First Amendment concern, but the notion that we should turn a blind eye to criminal conduct because other countries may take oppressive steps in response is an affront to the very fabric of this nation.”

But as ReadWriteWeb wrote, “SOPA critics aren’t buying” Go Daddy’s logic. One such critic, Cheezeburger CEO Ben Huh went to Twitter to air his grievances against the domain registrar. He tweeted, “We will move our 1,000 domains off @godaddy unless you drop support of SOPA. We love you guys, but #SOPA-is-cancer to the Free Web.”

The amount of companies that support SOPA is astounding. Gizmodo has a list of SOPA-supporting companies here.

What do you think of SOPA? Is it as overreaching as many say it is or is it appropriate legislation?

Something about you has been bothering me for awhile now and I don’t know if this relationship is working out for me anymore.  I’m not talking about our relationship, because I do in fact love you.  But you have some quirks that I need you to work on.

I’m talking about the relationship that you have going on with Royal Oak, a city that I have grown to love over the last decade of my life.  It seems that you have been cheating on Royal Oak for quite some time now.  You’re even calling Royal Oak the other municipality’s name from time to time which further strains your relationship.

So that there are no more embarrassing situations for you in 2012, I wanted to be a friend and give you some advice.

I live and work in a city called Royal Oak, Michigan.  I take my family to places in this city and I recommend to others that they hang out here.  It’s a great little town full of restaurants, boutiques, bars and culture.  The city is also full of tech start-ups, small mom & pop businesses and a very diverse middle to upper middle class population.

To the south of us, in a much different part of metro Detroit, is a small township called Royal Oak Charter Township.  Between Royal Oak (city) and Royal Oak Charter Township, are several other small cities. I’ve used my favorite map service to show you the difference in the location of their city/township halls.

The Royal Oak Charter Township, while I’m sure its a very lovely place, has an entirely different vibe, culture and population. You see, it’s not just geography and distance that separates us.

So, what I’m trying to figure out, Google, is this: in all of your vast experience, knowledge and greatness, why is it that every time I try to check-in with G+ to somewhere in Royal Oak (city) and often when I try to give directions to someone … you say Royal Oak Charter Township?

My home, agency and life are not located between 8 Mile and 9 Mile. I assume that people in Royal Oak Charter Township are equally confused as theirs is not located between 10 Mile and 14 Mile.

Your issues seem to only be in a couple of services still.  Google Maps seems to have gotten better, but still has the occasional glitch.  G+ is definitely broken.

Look, Google.  I know that you have a lot of relationships and data to figure out, but this can’t continue.  The people of Royal Oak and Royal Oak Charter Township deserve better from you.  You don’t want to be known for screaming out the wrong name, do you? This cheating has to stop.  Let’s see if you can get your relationship issues fixed soon.

Love and Best Wishes from a faithful follower and minion,

DDJ

Dwight

In 2012, I am looking forward to enjoying more time with friends and family, especially my wife and two children.  This upcoming year will also find me turning my gaze inward and embracing my inner self in a warm hug of peace and tranquility.  I’ve been reading about sweat lodges out west and the cleansing rituals that purify the mind and body while providing direction in life with fewer of the trappings society imposes. The new Dwight that emerges will be less reactionary, more nurturing and wholly loving of nature and all people around me.  I will also have sage advice to share that will literally reshape the face of the planet and how we do business.  It may even be called the School of Dwightenology.

May your glass always be half full and your spiritual deity guarding you from the insensitive pandering of lesser humankind.

Happy holidays.

Dean

In 2012, I am looking forward to the continued growth of our business, pursuing new directions and opportunities for our company and the adventures that it will all bring.  On a personal note, I’m looking forward to my two week trip to India in February.  It’s my first vacation out of North America and is certain to be an epic trip. Beyond that, I’ve been considering investing in an adult novelty store and putting any profits from that into the Trademark Cabo Office where Dwight will shortly thereafter take up residence.

Meredith

2011 was pretty great.  Sure, the economy is still in the crapper, and there are so many morons out there to infuriate a fair-minded gal that at times I thought my head might explode.  But truly, 2011 was still pretty fun.  So much to see and do….

So, I guess what I’m looking most forward to in 2012, is doing it all again.  Taking part in all the fun activities this city has to offer, and with any luck trying at least 20 new places, and taking part in 20 new activities that I have yet to discover; keeping it open to new adventures.

Happy New Year!
Xo
Mere

Tyler

What I’m looking forward to most in 2012 is a clean slate with a brand new opportunity for growth and experience. It’s so easy to get sucked into the same thing, the same routine over and over as the years go by. I think it’s time to mix it up, have some fun, and really reach out to do some things that have been on the back-burner for way too long. This may or may not include attending Lilith Fair, The Vagina Monologues and the Motorhead/Megadeath concert with Dwight in February.

Super excited to start the year off on the right foot, and never take anything for granted.

Seth

I’m looking forward to whatever happens in 2012 and I’ll make the most of it. Since I am not a fortune-teller despite being annoyingly omnipotent–which my co-workers always seem to forget–I can’t quite exactly say what will happen, but I will look forward to it, whether it be new progressions with the Web, the latest and greatest technology, good fortune for my family or starting my own family since I really, really want at least a dozen children.  I also really, really want to be more like Mike when I grow up!

Michael

What am I looking for in 2012? Less finger smashing for starters.  I think I’d also like to find out Jeff’s super secret weakness so he’ll pretend to start liking me. Sure, it’ll be out of fear, but fear is better than nothing, especially when you’re dealing with Jeff. I plan on traveling more in 2012, keeping up with my friends, continuing to improve my social media and writing skills and start a family–that last one is, of course, in my mind ONLY since it’s the only way I’ll be able to pay for 8 kids to go to college.  I’d also like to individually win the Stanley Cup. All joking aside, I really, really want to be more like Seth when I grow up!

Jennifer
In 2012, I’m looking forward to enjoying the simple things in life–having dinner with my friends on a Friday night, or a movie with that special someone on a cold January day. I’d also love to take more vacations and perhaps enjoy the sand in between my toes, little scorpions running up and down my legs, tickling me, and sea snakes!  I’m also a huge reptile person. Spiders, too. I love spiders! On a professional note, my goal is to gain a better understanding into the development world and use my organizational skills to further refine and perfect the project management system here at Trademark.

Jeff

In 2012, I’m looking forward the most to finishing my courses at Macomb Community College so I can end the cursed homework and truly focus on my chosen career.  I’m also looking forward to my son getting coordinated enough to play video games with me!  Lastly, I can’t wait for Google to take over the world like they’re supposed to and I can welcome them as my search-based overlord (more than I already have…).

Anthony

What am I looking forward to in 2012?

When asked this question, a few things come to mind.  Is the end of the world really going to happen on December 21, 2012?  I remember back when Y2K was going to mark an extreme change in the world.  That all electronic devices using a 6 digit date system were going to seize operation and cripple the infrastructure  or most, if not all, businesses utilizing “technology”.  I remember the news reports of people stockpiling anything they could buy in bulk to prepare for what is sure to be the end of civilization.  On December 31, 1999, as we all counted down to the New Year, global breath-holding took place in each time zone.  Nothing happened.  We all survived and are now 12 years removed.

But what if the Mayans are right?  What if our governments aren’t telling us something?  They would never withhold crucial information from us would they?  Stand on your own soapbox and find that one.

I’m not one to try and predict the future.  I’ve been a firm believer that I can control my own destiny with the exception of an occasional traffic light not turning green when I want it to.  I am a father.  I’ve learned that as a father, you look forward to that fine line of your children being self-sufficient enough in more areas of their lives and when they need you.  To me, there isn’t a more satisfying moment when I can teach my children something they haven’t learned in school or from a video game or, God forbid, the Disney Network.

In 2012, I am looking forward to more stories like Tim Tebow (love him or hate him) and how his faith in a higher power is overcoming his statistical production on the football field.  His team is 7-1 since he became the starting quarterback, and most of the wins have been come-from-behind victories that would take an act of God for them to have won.

The human race is fascinating.  Give me more iPhones and iPads and smart cars and electric cars and Brita water filters.  Give me Tom Toms and Garmins so that none of us waste time being lost (unless you want to be).  Give me the things that make us great.  Don’t give me this crap about our existence being wiped away.  We have so much more potential than that.

Happy Holidays.

Kris

My needs are simple.  He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Blu-Ray Racks tells us to have faith in His wisdom and also look forward to more 3D releases in 2012, but I’m all about the quality time with people…by having them join me in watching these 3D home video releases.  Because sharing is fun.

Aside from that, I will continue to be there for my father as he enters the next stage of Alzheimer’s while offering relief to my mother, who is with him 24/7.  There’s also a chance to renew a long-absent family tie and I’m hopeful that it goes well.  I look forward to continuing writing, exploring new places, revisiting places I’ve already been, getting married and verbally/mentally torturing a few specific co-workers who desperately deserve it.

Cheers!

Eric

Being 30. I will be 30 four days into 2012. It seems like almost forever ago I thought people who were 30+ years old should be in wheelchairs or sitting around playing bridge in a nursing home. Now here I am, about to be 30 years of age myself, and I’m looking back on my youthful self thinking “This isn’t so bad, right? Why on earth did I think that 30+ year olds were all geriatrics?” Perhaps I’m just trying to convince myself that I’m not getting older than dirt. Or perhaps I’m just coming to terms with the fact that I’m 3 decades old, and that’s just A-OK with me. Of course, there’s also the possibility that the old adage “With age comes wisdom” is actually true, and now I realize I’m just that much closer to being more wise than my elders, and should be ready for world domination any day now.

Ryan

Since everyone is driving flying cars by 2015 (Right, Doc Brown?), I’m looking forward to seeing the first real signs of consumer flight-capable automobiles in 2012.  We’ve already seen the Nike MAG in 2011, so the time for hovercars is nigh. I also look forward to the day when I can listen to my Norwegian thrash metal with Eric and literally watch horrible, horrible horror movies non-stop with Jennifer.

Ciao! (not chow)

This past weekend we saw Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mike Commodore provide us with both an example of how not to act on Twitter and then how to make up for a mistake. He received a tweet from a fan that took a jab at his lack of playing time and took offence to it. He retweeted the tweet (pictured at left), but preceded the post with a type of response that a public figure should never do.

This begs the question: What is an appropriate way for public figures to respond to criticism in social media? Clearly, the way Commodore responded is not the correct way. Throwing profanity in the direction of a fan is not a good way to boost his public image. (The tweet has since been deleted.) What he should have done was taken the tweet in stride and either a) not said anything to the fan at all, or b) not included the F-word in his response.

Personally, I have no problem with a public figure responding to criticisms or negative comments. In fact, I welcome it. But the manner in which Commodore responded was completely inappropriate. But wait…there is something positive that comes from all of this.

The day after his original response, Commodore apologized to the fan he responded to by tweeting, “I do have a sense of humor. Although u deserved it I will apologize for my language. My bad. I take it back. #Inappropriate.” He then followed it up with, “… Caught me at a weak moment …”

And while it is admirable that he took the high road and apologized, there are two things that should have never happened in the first place, a) dropping the F-bomb to a fan, and b) deleting his original tweet. We all know what was said anyway.

In short, we can take a few things away from this incident. First, public figures should be careful how they interact with their fans and followers to prevent a situation like this from occurring. It’s bad PR when something like this happens. And perhaps the most important lesson, is when something unfortunate like this happens, public figures should handle it like Commodore did and take the high road and apologize.

Tell us what do you think, was Commodore wrong to react the way he did?

Update 5:24p.m.: Commodore sent two tweets to TM in response to our blog post saying, “Read ur article. Pretty good. I disagree with the part about deleting the tweet being a bad thing though….reason I deleted…” and, “it was I didn’t want any kids to stumble upon it. That was the only reason. wasn’t trying to cover my tracks at all.”

This is a very classy move by Commodore. It shows that when people make mistakes online, sometimes all it takes to fix it is a little professionalism.

The bill states that districts must enact an anti-bullying policy that informs parents of both parties involved when bullying takes place. But there is a critical flaw in the legislation–there is zero mention of cyberbullying.

When I was a kid, the Internet was not as socially developed as it is now, making cyberbullying a non-issue. But now, with the advent of Facebook and other social networks, bullying has moved from school halls and lunchrooms into cyberspace. This makes it much easier for bullies to prey on their victims because they no longer need to be face-to-face.

According to BullyingStatistics.com, “About half of young people have experienced some form of cyberbullying, and 10 to 20 percent experience it regularly.” As this statistic shows, cyberbullying is a growing problem that needs to be tackled. The new Michigan anti-bullying law is a good first step, but the legislature has dropped the ball on protecting children online.

One of the best ways to combat cyberbullying is to educate young people about its consequences. And the consequences are very real. PureSight.com states that eight percent of middle-school students have considered taking their own life because of cyberbullying.

The internet is a wide-open place with an infinite amount of ways to communicate with other people. But what people, especially young people, need to do is treat online interactions as if they are taking place in-person. Everyone has heard the saying “treat others how you would like to be treated” before, and online interactions aren’t an exception to the rule.

Our goal should be to make the Web as safe as possible for children; fighting cyberbullying is one of the ways we can do that.

Do you know anyone that’s been cyberbullied? What are some ways we can fight against it?

(© photo: Boom Boom! Revolution)

What YouTube has done is announce YouTube for Schools, which ReadWriteWeb says, “will enable educators to open up classrooms to the wide world of educational content on YouTube without all the junk.”

This is an excellent idea for a few reasons. First, keeping the Web open on school networks is challenging because of the wealth of content inappropriate for that environment. One thing schools often do is block sites containing adult content or overtly offensive material, and that’s OK. There are things that students shouldn’t have access to on a school network (websites promoting gambling or bullying, for instance). But when it comes to sites like YouTube, it’s tough to limit what students can and cannot see.

YouTube can be a great way to do research on a specific topic, but it also contains a lot of videos that are too distracting or inappropriate for a school setting. For instance, if a high school student is doing a report on big cats such as tigers, lions, and the like, and searches YouTube hoping for “Planet Earth”-type videos, he or she will find many videos with the phrase “funny big cats” in the title. I know, I searched it. While he or she may find some informational videos, seeing a tiger maul a pumpkin has little-to-no educational value and is just a waste of school bandwidth.

YouTube for Schools is a great way to cut the “funny big cats” out of students’ searches and will help them better use the site for educational purposes.

What do you think? Is YouTube for Schools a good way to enhance students’ learning?

In this week’s podcast I am joined by Dario Chiarini (PR and Communications expert) to discuss tips to help your business overall in the new year. Some of the topics we discussed were SEO tips for 2012, how to improve your content, why social engagement is important, and continuity in your company’s message online and offline.

One of the simplest things you can do to help improve your business’s site is to produce original content on a regular basis. Even if you don’t have the most comprehensive understanding of technical SEO, publishing original content regularly is one of the best ways to bring people to your site. It’s also crucial to spread the word about that content across your social media accounts to further expand your readership.

We also discuss how important it is to interact with people on your social networks, especially if they say something directly to you. One rule of thumb I believe in is to do your best to respond to your followers’ comments within an hour if possible.

Another topic we discuss are the updates to Google Analytics, which we addressed in a previous blog post as well.

Dario primarily focused on keeping your company’s message consistent, both internally and externally, to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that it’s uniform throughout all channels.

Listen to the podcast below – there is a lot of great information in there for SEO & Social Media improvement. We want your feedback and other suggestions as well, so don’t hesitate to contact us!

According to Google, “Google Analytics anonymously tracks how visitors interact with a website, including where they came from, what they did on a site, and whether they completed any of the site’s conversion goals. Analytics also keeps track of your e-commerce data, and combines this with campaign and conversion information to provide insight into the performance of your advertising campaigns.”

Some of the most important changes made to Google Analytics include enhanced dashboards, the addition of the keyword cloud, integration of Google Webmaster Tools, and the added ability to track social engagement. Let’s take a look at these things individually to better understand their importance.

First, the new dashboards in Google Analytics have been simplified to make them easier to use. One of the new features of the new dashboards is that users can now create up to 20 separate dashboards to fit their needs. This gives users the option of setting up unique dashboards for things like visits or source/medium and many others to create a customized experience within Google Analytics.

Because search is so important for getting traffic to your website,  one of the best improvements to the Web tool was the addition of the keyword cloud. Before this, users had to analyze keyword lists to spot trends, which wasn’t always the easiest thing to do. The cloud, though, allows you to visually analyze what the top keywords based on criteria from users like bounce rates, visits, and pages per visit are. Understanding keyword trends is essential to developing a search engine-friendly website and the keyword cloud makes this that much easier.

Another improvement to Google Analytics is the integration of Google Webmaster Tools. Though the statistics from Google Webmaster Tools are not 100 percent accurate, it is a great way to spot trends regarding where your site’s visitors are coming from within Google. And while this integration is extremely useful, it is still limited within the Google Analytics platform; but knowing Google, they will probably update it in the future to improve it.

One of the most useful components to the new platform is the ability of being able to track social engagement. Social engagement is becoming just as important as search for bring traffic to a website and being able to track where visitors are coming from is extraordinarily helpful. Being able to track this engagement is essential for understanding how your social media strategy is working and where you’ll need to improve.

Google Analytics continues to be one of the most important tools used on the Web for analyzing site traffic data. The TM Team has the skills to not only analyze your site’s data, but also help you improve your site’s SEO. Contact us to learn more about how we can help your business!

Controversy has surrounded .xxx since its inception. The basic idea behind the domain is to make the internet safer for children by making the sites less easy to stumble upon and easier for parents to block. CNN published an article outlining some of the pros and cons of the .xxx domain. One of the biggest pros is that those that apply for .xxx sites will be subject to regulation because the promise of online pornography is often just a front for viruses or Malware.

CNN states, “By applying for a .xxx site, webmasters, adult performers, studios and others become part of a ‘sponsored community,’ agreeing to operate legally and within agreed-upon business standards.” Each site with a .xxx domain will be scanned by McAfee tools which the ICM Registry claims will make them some of the safest destinations on the Web.

But there are cons to the .xxx sites as well. In the same article, Morality in Media CEO Patrick Trueman said, ”The establishment of a .xxx domain would increase, not decrease, the spread of pornography on the Internet, causing even more harm to children, families and communities.”

David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press points out that many Michigan universities are buying up .xxx domain names to protect their schools from adult websites. Jesse reports that the University of Michigan reserved 14 names for 10 years while Central Michigan University reserved three names. This is one of the primary concerns with the .xxx domain–will companies and organizations be able to protect their reputation?

It’s definitely something to consider.

What do you think of the .xxx domain? Is it a good idea or something that has the potential to do more harm than good?

For those unfamiliar with Spotify, it’s a free service that allows users to create their own playlists, listen to specific artists, and share what they’re listening to with their friends across different social networks. But what makes Spotify so great is that it combats music piracy unlike anything before.

There are literally millions of tracks from thousands of artists to choose from. You can find everything from Beethoven to Britney Spears to indie bands like The xx or rappers like Jay-Z. Plus like on the radio, these artists get paid royalties every time their song is played. So even though you’re listening for free, the artists get paid.

Since Spotify’s US debut over the summer, they’ve been planning on enhancing their service with applications, and last week those plans were announced. What Spotify has done is partner up with several well-known music publications and services like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone Magazine and Last.fm to allow them to have applications integrated within Spotify itself. The Pitchfork app, for example, will allow users to listen to albums they are reading about all within the Spotify client.

ReadWriteWeb published an article that gives a hands-on explanation of how these applications will work. From the looks of it, Spotify seems as if it’s about to take a leap forward in a big way.

We know that we’ll be using these applications once they’re released to all Spotify users, but will you?

That is until Google changed the game with its own Web browser, Chrome.

Today, ReadWriteWeb asked a very important question, “Is Firefox Doomed?” And the answer is, probably.

In the article, RWW discusses a 2008 agreement between Firefox and Google that made Google Firefox’s default search engine. This worked out greatly for Firefox because it made a lot of money from Google’s search results as well as helping them compete against the stubborn IE.

But now, with that agreement coming to an end, the future of the partnership between these two companies is murky at best. In 2011, Chrome became the new No. 2 browser, overtaking Firefox, putting it at a disadvantage. But even more importantly, Google has captured the mobile Web much better than Firefox has. TM has discussed the importance of the mobile internet and Google has taken advantage of this while Firefox hasn’t.

Currently, Google not only has well-made apps for BlackBerry and the iPhone, but their own mobile operating system, Android. Firefox has yet to make the investments in mobile technology that Google has and is now suffering because of it.

Firefox, while still a solid browser, might in fact be “doomed” because it always seems to be one step behind Google, and that’s never a good place to be.

To briefly recap: Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher, discovered software on the Android smartphones that logs the activities carried out by the user. Carrier IQ logs text messages and phone numbers typed into the phone as well as Google searches. The company claims that the software was designed without malicious intent and is used to gather information to help improve the user experience at a later date.

But in the last 24 hours, the weight seems to have shifted against Carrier IQ. U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has called for an explanation from the company on what kinds of data it records. In a statement the senator said, “Consumers need to know that their safety and privacy are being protected by the companies they trust with their sensitive information. The revelation that the locations and other sensitive data of millions of Americans are being secretly recorded and possibly transmitted is deeply troubling.”.

It’s estimated that Carrier IQ software is on at least 150 million mobile phones in the U.S. and Gizmodo.com has created a list of phones it’s “pretty sure” doesn’t carry the software.

It’s unsettling to us that a third-party company is logging our activities on certain devices, but how do you feel about it?

In an article published on November 30th, the online newspaper states that security researcher Trevor Eckhart has proven that there is software out there, logging every text message, Google search and phone number typed on a wide variety of smartphones. This is a frightening realization to many who thought that what they did on their phone was private.

The software, Carrier IQ, raises many privacy concerns because it is something that is included in most products customers are using daily.  Eckhart refers to Carrier IQ as a “rootkit” which is a security term for software that runs in the background of an operating system without the user’s knowledge.

Carrier IQ told Wired.com that it’s software does not have malicious intent, but instead is for “gathering information off the handset to understand the mobile-user experience, where phone calls are dropped, where signal quality is poor, why applications crash and battery life.”.

If it was gathering information for these purposes, why is it saving Google searches and text messages?

What do you think? Is Carrier IQ a breach of privacy?

Social media is all around us. Everywhere you go (in person and online) there are Facebook or Twitter icons showing you that a company is online and social. The primary reason social media can get pushed aside and sometimes forgotten is simple: it’s time consuming. Cultivating an online presence is challenging and isn’t as simple as creating a profile and posting into the void. You have to be interactive and constantly evaluate what’s getting the best results.

Twitter is one of the most popular social networks used by companies to interact with their customers. But, like anything else, there are good and bad ways to use Twitter.

One of the worst ways to use Twitter is to send generic tweets that don’t have any substance. Case and point: the “Good Morning, Twitter” tweet. First, sending a good morning message across Twitter is the same as if one of us stood in the middle of Royal Oak and yelled, “Good Morning, Royal Oak!” at the top of our lungs. Sure, a few people may look, and a few people may even reciprocate our morning greeting, but most people will either a) not notice or b) look at us and go on with their morning. See what we mean? It doesn’t do anything for your company. Why waste the time and energy on something that has zero benefit to your business?

Another example of how not to use Twitter is to copy people’s or users’ tweets. One of the most commonly seen social media posts is the “Inspirational Quote” post, which are similar to the mundane “Good Morning” tweets. The reason being is that when you’re tweeting for your company, you want the content to be a) engaging and b) original. Copied content tends to be neither. Sharing others’ content is acceptable when it is relevant to your industry, but not when it’s a JFK or Shakespeare quote.

Re-tweeting content that has already (literally) been seen by thousands of people is another example of this; try to find content that is unique and under-shared. Helping out those who are lesser-known is good online karma, and usually comes back around. Part of the reason companies should use social media is to help build an online brand and community of followers. This community of followers will do wonders for your company once they are engaged. They will share your content and share content with you that they find relevant. That is one of the most important aspects of social media.

And finally, one of the most important tips for using Twitter is not to flood it with your blog posts. If your company has a new blog, you should definitely promote it, but no more than once or twice a day. There is no need to send countless tweets about it. Simply let people know it’s there and interact with them, the rest will take care of itself.

Over the last several years, we’ve seen social media’s importance rise exponentially, but many of us are still learning the ins and outs. That’s why the TM Team is here. Contact us with your questions regarding the best social media practices. We’d love to hear from you!

More than ever, people are accessing the Web from devices like smartphones and tablets, and there are few things more frustrating than a website that just refuses to load on a mobile device. According to Google, the internet will be accessed more by mobile phones than personal computers starting in 2013. That’s barely a year away. And while this doesn’t diminish the importance of a top-of-the-line desktop website, the need for a mobile-friendly site is on the rise.

But aside from more people using the internet, why are mobile sites so important? Let’s take a look:

User Expectations

As with any product or service, there are always expectations and the mobile Web is no different. For example, 60 percent of smartphone users expect sites to load in less than three seconds. If a site is loading slow or doesn’t load at all, 78 percent of people won’t try to refresh the site more than two times. This means if your company’s site isn’t functioning properly on the mobile internet, you might lose a potential customer. Mobile sites should be growing your customer base, not decreasing it.

User Experiences

More than 50 percent of consumers will not recommend a business if they have a bad experience with its mobile site. And even worse, 40 percent of people have chosen to shop at a competitor’s site because it’s easier to use. But if your site is user-friendly, not only will you gain more customers, you will also improve the overall experience of your website.

Connecting Locally 

With the advent of location-based apps like Yelp and Google Places, more people are looking for businesses closer to them. In fact, Google stated that 95 percent of smartphone users have searched for local businesses, and out of those people, more than 55 percent of them either call or visit the business location. This makes having a properly built and optimized mobile site more important than ever.

Apps vs. Mobile Sites

But what about mobile applications? Google has stated that more than 80 percent of consumers prefer mobile sites to applications for researching product prices. It also stated that over 60 percent of consumers prefer mobile sites for actually purchasing a product, which makes investing in your mobile website one of the best ways for potential customers to not only find you, but do businesses with you as well.

Mobile sites are not only as important as desktop websites, but will become more important as time goes on.

If you have questions, we have the answers. Contact us today and let us tell you what a mobile website can do for your business!

Social Media Marketing and Management are both still relatively new, which makes creating a social media strategy all the more difficult. But, as previously stated, it’s important not to load all your resources into one network and neglect the others, or vice versa. The first thing you must decide is what your company’s purpose is going to be on social networks. Is it just promotion, or do you want to engage with followers to facilitate a large group of supporters? Or both? Once you have decided on your company’s purpose, you must then decide what social networks you’re going to be dedicating your company’s efforts too. Facebook and Twitter are the biggest, but you can’t discount Google+ either.

One of the best ways to not only build followers, but to also get your audience to engage with your company is to hold a social media-only promotion. Offer a coupon that can only be obtained via Facebook or Twitter. Or have a contest. This can not only attract new followers, but also keep your current followers interested in your brand. Simply put, both adding new followers while keeping the current ones invested in your company’s social media are crucial to a successful social media strategy.

Each social network functions differently than the other. For instance, Twitter is only comprised of posts that are less than 140 characters. Every Tweet has a set character limit, meaning that your company must choose its words wisely. You can’t be too wordy or too brief; you must find that 140-character sweet spot. Facebook and Google+, however, have similar functions. Each network allows users to comment under/share each post. Commenting on posts is where most of the interaction between brands and followers occur, unlike Twitter where most replies are sent to one or two people individually. Knowing how to use these different social networks can make or break your company’s social Web presence.

Social media etiquette is also crucial. There are no set rules on how much is too much or how little is too little on the social Web, but there are guidelines. First, you don’t want to flood your followers’ streams with constant updates. Unless you are directly interacting with followers, it’s a good idea to keep your posts spread out throughout the day. No one wants to see 10 to 15 posts per hour from a company; it can get noisy and you will lose followers. Finding that aforementioned sweet spot is imperative. Every audience wants to see different things, and catering to your audience is also crucial. Also, it’s very important to respond to your followers as much as possible, even if what they are saying is negative. It’s important for your company to be able to respond to negative feedback in a constructive manner. Interaction is what makes the social Web so effective. Utilize this and you will not only gain followers, but influence on the social Web as well.

The Trademark Team would love to discuss how using social media can help your company gain more exposure online, leading to more business. Contact Us to make an appointment today, the coffee’s on us!

When the World Wide Web first came into existence, it was standard practice to create all sites using a text-base format. And while most of these types are gone, they were once the industry standard.

This is what Yahoo! looked like in the fall of 1996.

From there, Web development started to move forward faster and faster giving the user a more visually appealing interface. Web developers and designers took a step away from text-based sites and moved toward sites made of tables which separated the site’s content from its sidebar navigation, making websites easier to use and understand. This is also around the same time when GIFs, scrolling text, and other animations started to be used as Web development and design elements.

Let’s go back to the year 1996 for a moment when the world of design changed! Macromedia introduced Flash and changed how the internet would be designed and feel by enabling more advanced animations to be used. Although, it’s been 15 years since its inception, Flash is still being used today as a way to add animations to sites, especially by advertisers.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) also changed the world of design with its ability to completely separate the design from content. This brought design, not just content to the forefront. Companies could now make websites that were visually attractive on a level not seen before, but also have all the necessary content.

From text-based sites to Flash to CSS to HTML5, the Web is a consistently advancing landscape. But the TM Team is not only skilled in the methods and techniques of modern Web design, but also on top of all the latest Web development and design trends.

But what specifically can TM do to enhance your company’s website? A lot.

We offer several different services ranging from Web development and design and site rebuilding to SEO content writing and management. Whatever your company’s sites needs are, we aim to exceed your expectations. Let’s take a look at your site together and talk about how we can improve your site…the coffee is on us.

Link bait is content on the Web that generates links. It can be a photo, blog, news story, video, or anything else for that matter. But link bait is online content that gathers attention by being linked to by users. For example, if you read or see something that you find interesting and you share it on your social networks, you make that content link bait.

Link bait is one of the biggest motivators in social media activity. It’s what makes people want to share interesting online tidbits with their friends, family, coworkers and other online connections. But the deal with link bait is that there are two different kinds: Good link bait and Bad link bait.

First, let’s talk about Good link bait. Good link bait is original content that the creator can not only be proud of, but willing to share with others. This is work that cannot be found anywhere else on the internet, unless plagiarized. An example of good link bait would be a concert review. That article is about a specific event that is specific to a time and place. And if it gains a lot of attention by people linking to it from various platforms, it is link bait … the right kind of link bait … the good kind.

Good link bait is usually helped by a steady following. Content like this may be uniquely creative, but without a following, it might not go anywhere. Developing an online following is a great step in ensuring that users link back to specific content.

Now, let’s discuss Bad link bait. This is where things get a little foggy because sometimes it’s hard to tell what bad link bait is but we’re here to help! Bad link bait is when someone creates something or does something intentionally to get a community to link back to them. This can be something as simple as someone posting a comment in a Reddit thread that not only is attempting to anger the thread’s readers, but also linking back to the writer’s own personal blog. In short, bad link bait links attention by doing something negative to get those results.

A specific example of bad link bait would be if someone wrote, published, and promoted a blatantly libelous blog about a celebrity just to get their site more hits. This is the worst way to market yourself.

Caution: There is also good link bait that looks like bad link bait. Take the Reddit thread example again, but instead of someone deliberately angering the thread’s readers, a user with a point of view contrary to the rest of the thread posts a link back to his blog. This might look like bad link bait, but it’s not and can be controversial to readers.

It’s important to make sure that you are not using negative link baiting to gain traffic. Not only does this only result in short-term gains, but it can be damaging to your reputation. And a damaged reputation is a lot harder to fix than it is to uphold an already solid, trustworthy one. So, let’s be careful out there when we’re creating online persona.

It wasn’t long ago that in order to comment on a website’s articles, users had to become a member of said website. They would have to create a login name, password, give out their email address, select an avatar; the list goes on. Many of us had countless log-in names for news sites, social networking sites, blogs, etc. We had to. There was no other option. But with the advent of social networking in the last five years or so, things are starting to change. Now people can log into a website, like Salon or Mashable, with their Facebook or Twitter credentials. Seems awesome, right? Seems simple, too? And frankly, it is. This concept’s simplicity is what makes it so useful. But it also has a downside.

This downside is the fact that when you log into a website with your Facebook credentials, you are allowing that site to have access to your personal information such as, email address, friends, wall, etc. But even more nefarious, you even grant these websites the ability to post stories to your feed. I bet you didn’t know that. I know I didn’t until recently. This raises an all too important question: Who Really Owns Your Internet Identity?

Do you own it or do the social networks own it … or does some third party own it? This is where things get complicated. Many people believe that the information they distribute on Facebook is theirs and that they have all the control over it, this is not the case. In fact, because we don’t pay for Facebook, Facebook owns all our stuff. That thing you posted on your friend’s wall about using a watermelon helmet, Facebook owns that. Your Notes, Facebook owns those too. It owns it all. But, what happens when you give third-party sites access to all that information? Do they get a cut of your Web identity too?

In essence, they do. When you as the user give this information to a third-party site, you are trusting them with an awful lot of information. You are allowing them to run through your profile’s information with a fine-tooth comb and then some. This is yet another reason to be cautious with what you share online. If you liked an article on CNN using your Facebook credentials, but don’t want the news network to know about last weekend’s escapades, then don’t post about them. The social Web is a dangerously open place, perpetuated by Facebook and its open-graph system.

This is why we must ask ourselves as internet users:  Do we want this to be seen by everyone? And everyone includes every site you log into with your social media credentials. Be wary, internet friends. Your identity isn’t as secure as you think.

The basic idea for the service is to set up a series of tasks and recipes that can carry out functions for you once there is a trigger. It wants to help users spend less time doing things themselves and let ifttt do the work for them. The combinations of tasks and recipes are nearly endless. Users can set up tasks as simple as being notified by email if they are tagged in a photo on Facebook or to alert them via text message if they get an email from a specific person. Things like this is what makes ifttt so beneficial.

I wasn’t sure what to think it when I first heard about the service. At first, I thought it was a cool idea, but it was also another site that required me to sign up, adding yet another username and login for me to remember. But after signing up and exploring the site and its features, I realized ifttt really has a lot to offer internet users.

The very first task I set up was a simple one–I set it up so that every time I take a photo on the photo-sharing application Instagram, it would then drop a copy of that photo into a folder in my Dropbox account. This creates a “physical” copy of the photo outside of Instagram itself, allowing me to share it with people who may not be using the application.

One of the most important tasks I set up is one my landlord will be thankful for. I set up a task that will send me a text message the day my rent is due, making it that much easier to remember important dates on my personal calender. The internet is complicated and often sites don’t always cooperate with one another, but ifttt is doing its best to ease the online tension  and, in my opinion, is doing an excellent job. The start-up is young and new to the Web scene, but if this is a preview of what’s to come, I am excited and you should be, too.  To check out ifttt yourself check out its website!

It probably helps to start at the beginning. First, what is “The Cloud”? Essentially, The Cloud is technology that is accessed via the Web and is hosted by the third party. For instance, when you use Google Docs to create, compose, edit and save a document, you are using a form of Cloud technology. What makes The Cloud so efficient and effective is the fact that users are not using their own personal, physical hard-drive space, freeing up space to be used for running applications and allowing the computer to use less resources. Also, it allows users to access all their Cloud-stored files from any computer with an internet connection.

The most popular and efficient online-storage service right now is Dropbox, which according to Mashable, raised $250 million and sports over 45 million users. I’ve been using Dropbox for months and it’s made my online life a lot easier. I use it as my proverbial thumb drive, which is good because I always seem to lose mine. But I can’t lose the internet! It’s always there, which is why Dropbox and other services like it are so much more efficient than the standard thumb drive.

Dropbox is not the lone Cloud service out there, though. There are also Google Docs, Box.net and Apple’s new iCloud service just to name a few. All of them have the same basic premise, but Dropbox is the one I prefer most. It makes sharing and transporting files extremely easy. If I’m working on a project for work and there are other contributing to it,  I can create a folder and share it with people via email, allowing them to download the folder’s contents as well as upload to it. Best of all, I can use it to back up all my important documents so that if I ever need to access them immediately–there they are. Also, unlike iCloud, I can upload any files I wish. ICloud has a policy that the video and music stored on Apple’s servers must have been purchased from iTunes, so if you discover an old CD from 1998 you want to save to iCloud–you’re out of luck.

Another thing that sets Dropbox apart from its competitors are its smartphone applications. Dropbox offers apps for both the iPhone’s App Store and the Android Market, and both are sleek, easy to use and self explanatory. And when you join, you get two gigabytes of storage free and can purchase more if needed.  Or, if you get people to sign up for DropBox via a referral, you can earn more storage space that way, too. So if you’re looking for a Cloud-based storage system, Dropbox is your best choice.

Seth getting ready to roll.

The two-team, two-game tournament left one team standing tall and the other in the gutter. TM Administrator Kris was picked last, but did not let that hinder his or his team’s performance. His team (Team One) consisted of himself (Kage) Anthony (T-Bizzle), Tyler (Tae-Bo), Seth (Sailing) Jennifer (J-Dubs) and Dean (Deano) while their competition (Team Two) was Dwight (Dizzy), Eric (Easy G), Meredith (Mere), Jeff (Rhymin J) and Ryan (Rype).

Team One left the lanes on top, beating Team Two both games regardless of a hefty handicap in both games. Dwight, or Dizzy, was left dazed after only scoring 97 and 107-point games and rolling a grand total of 14 gutter balls; something that tickled the opposing teammates to no end. The winners were promised donuts the following day, but were left hungry, instead having to forage for their own food here in downtown Royal Oak. There are rumors that bagels might appear, but who knows?

The TM team waiting to bowl!

Here is a rundown of how the games went: The night’s top performer through both games was Ryan scoring a combined total of 250 points while Jennifer nipped at his heels scoring 226 points while the bottom two players who played two games were the men in charge, Dean and Dwight with 199 and 204 points, respectively.

Click here to see Tyler roll a big strike for Team One and here to see Meredith miss two spins to botch a spare.

Here are the scores for both games:

Team One

T-Bizzle: 110 points (he did not bowl the second game).

Tae-Bo: 123 and 121, for 244 points.

Kage: 101 and 119, for 220 points.

Sailing: 132 and 83, for 215 points.

Waiting to bowl!

J-Dubs: 130 and 96 for 226 points.

Deano: 115 and 84, for 199 points.

Team Two:

Dizzy: 97 and 107, for 204 points.

Eazy G: 84 points (He only bowled one game).

Mere: 95 and 83, for 178 points.

Rhymin J: 116 and 72, for 188 points.

Rype: 92 and 98, for 190 points.

We are a small, busy and dedicated team who love what we do! We’re not new; we’re small on purpose. We believe in establishing a close rapport with our clients and enjoy giving them our personal attention while helping them succeed online.

We are a full service web development and online marketing firm.  We do it all and we’re good at it! We like to play, live and work with winners…people who want to succeed and always want to be better. We’re not a “corporate” environment–we have fun here–but we get dirty when it’s time to get dirty.

We are looking for people who:

• Take responsibility for their tasks
• Pay attention to details
• Work well with a team or independently
• Love what they do
• Are good at what they do
• Love a challenge
• Work with minimal instruction, but can take direction, advice, constructive criticism and instructions, too
• Are able to follow our processes and help improve them if there is an opportunity

If you’re a web genius and are looking for a career–not just a paycheck–then you should send us your info for consideration.

We currently have openings for highly qualified individuals in the following positions:

• PHP Web/Software Developer
• Front-End Developer & Designer
• Copywriter/Social Media Coordinator

In case you’ve been under a rock for the last twelve weeks, Google began beta testing their new social media platform, called Google+, about three months ago in an effort to continue to be awesome and relevant on the web.  Google+ is a feature-packed social media platform that allows users to add the people they know to “circles”, like family or friends.  You can also do an on-air hangout via a group video chat with any of those circles and pull in streams of articles on things that interest you.  These are just a few of the features that Google released on Google+ and that they’re continuing to improve.  In fact, over the last three months, Google has released 100 new features to its platform.

The 100th feature?  They’re open to the public!  Google announced yesterday that the proverbial flood gates are open and anyone can “join the project and connect with the people they care about”.  All you have to do to join is visit google.com/+ and sign up your account.

Out of the 100 features that Google+ has released over the last three months, Facebook is doing their absolute best to steal…erm…”copy” every single one of them, and to be fair, come out with several of their own new features.

Not to be outdone, Facebook announced yesterday that it is doing a complete redesign of their profiles and will be formally announcing it later this week at its f8 developer conference.  There aren’t many indications about what exactly will be changed on the new, updated profiles, but inside sources are saying that the changes are going to be “major”.

It’s expected that Facebook’s new updated profiles will be incorporating its new media platform, which is also going to announced at f8 this week.  This component is expected to keep track of what users are actually watching or listening to on a service such as spotify and then posting it on their profiles for their friends to watch or listen to.  This is a little too Big Brother for me. :/

There is also talk of making content on Facebook profiles more “sticky”, which would make people stay on their Facebook profiles longer.  Because we all need to spend more time on Facebook?!?

Other suggestions are that they will be getting more into social ecommerce, using special Facebook credits and that there may also be some moves in preparation for the new HTML5 mobile platform called Project Spartan, which is supposed to be launching soon.

With everything going on in the social media war between Google+ and Facebook, one thing is certain; this is a divisive battle of heavyweight proportions.   A social media civil war if you will.  As time goes on, you’ll see more people jumping off of the Facebook ship and moving to Google+.  Is there enough room for both to exist?  Will people use just one of them?  Are Facebook fiends going to have another addiction to feed?

What’s going to happen next?  Look out for Facebook’s big announcement and release of the new profile format tomorrow.  I’m interested to see what happens and how Google responds.

If you have ever used or seen Google Analytics or another analytics program, you know that there is a tremendous amount of data available and reading and understanding it all can be difficult for some.  You could literally spend days looking at every possible “this means this” and “that means that” scenario from that data for a single website.   To make things easier for you, I want to explain a couple of simple and basic Key Performance Indicators that will help you out the most.

Percentage of New Visitors

By looking at how many of your website’s visitors are new visitors, you’ll be able to tell whether your recent SEO or marketing campaigns have been successful in generating new traffic to your website.

If you find that your percentage of new visitors is steadily increasing month after month, you must be doing something right.  If you find that your percentage of new visitors is declining or is pretty standard across the board, you may want to take a look at your online efforts and what you could be doing more of or be better at.

Also take into consideration big events that your business or website has seen this month that might cause a spike.  Or, if you’re a seasonal business such as a golf range or furnace company, you can expect to see seasonal deviations.

Visitors per Lead or Visitors per Sale

This Key Performance Indicator could be very simply explained as “How many visits does it take for my website to achieve its goal?”  Whether your goal is to sell something, generate a sales lead or get someone to join your membership, you need to know “Out of every 1,000 visitors, ‘x’ convert into a lead.”

This KPI is a great way to determine whether your website is accomplishing its goals.  If you’re seeing thousands of visitors and only a couple of sales or leads, you probably have a problem.  What is it?  Are the prices too high?  Are shipping costs too high?  Site too slow to load?  Is the contact form hard to find or broken?  The list goes on and on, but this KPI is a good place to start.

Cost per Lead

Once you know your Visitors per Lead or Visitors per Sale, take a look at the next Key Performance Indicator which is your Cost per Lead KPI.  If you’re spending $5,000 per month in pay-per-click advertising and another $5,000 in SEO services, and combined they’re generating 22,000 visitors and 7% of them are buying or contacting you once they get to your site….what is your cost per lead?

7% of 22,000 is 1,540.  So essentially, you received 1,540 leads or sales at a cost of $10,000.  10,000 divided by 1540 is roughly $6.49 per lead in this case.

Obviously the next step is to calculate out how much profit each of those leads makes you.  If you’re only making $5.00 in profit for each of these leads and they’re costing you an acquisition fee of $6.49…you’re losing money and you’ve got a problem (sometimes…maybe you don’t care if your goal is to create brand awareness)!

But, if you’re making $20 or $1,000 in profit on average for each lead, you’re still turning a positive ROI.

Stickiness

The last basic Key Performance Indicator that we’ll cover for right now is “stickiness”, which is an indicator of how much of your website visitors are viewing during their visits.

By looking at the level of involvement your visitors have with your website, how long they’re spending on each page, etc. you can determine a number of factors about the value of your content.

If they really like your content in a particular section of your site (like your blog), they’re likely to spend more time in that part of your website.  This is a good indicator or content that’s working!  You should create more links to this content throughout your website and also analyze whether this “style” of writing should be used in worse performing sections.

If visitors used to spend a lot of time in a section of your site and don’t anymore, it probably means that it’s time to update your content.  If you find that they aren’t finding particular pages of your website, you may have issues with linking or navigation that you should look into.

Are they finding a high value page and quickly leaving it? Why?

KPIs at a Glance

There are many other Key Performance Indicators for you to consider, but knowing the basics of these four KPIs can do wonders for your online performance.  More importantly, they can help you make educated decisions about your web presence and keep track of whether what you’re doing is working.

As always, we’re happy to help if you need help with understanding these Key Performance Indicators, learning about other KPIs you should know about or if you don’t even have analytics installed.  Feel free to contact us at anytime to chat!

I’m not going to mention his name or link to the posts about him because doing those things is part of the problem. Let me explain:

A very large website that gets a lot of traffic “reported” on this man’s death, except their manner of reporting was lazy and weak, and neglected some important details, such as the fact that the death was an apparent suicide (they later updated their post to reflect this rather important bit of information). The reason this was news at all? This man was a “social media celebrity”. Yes, there are such things.

Social media celebrities are people who have reach a critical mass of Twitter followers (usually around the 100,000 mark) after which large groups of other people (Usually social media wannabes and others who fancy themselves future social media rock stars) hang on their every word and rabidly click the RT button and link to every blog post they write.

This site knew that this man was a social media celebrity and threw up a keyword-rich blog post as quickly as possible (which, again, they later had to fix—not that it mattered; they were there first). Since all the social media sycophants follow this site very closely, the news got tweeted and linked and retweeted, ad infinitum, into the Great Social Media Echo Chamber. They all talked about how sad, how tragic, and wrote blog posts and comments and tweets about how this made them think and how it inspired them to get to know one another better.

Each of those people, of course, got the Retweets and blog comments that they so crave, thus furthering the cycle. Nobody wanted to appear callous. Nobody wanted to admit that they had no idea who this guy was other than “they followed him on Twitter and read his blog posts once in a while.” Now they’re in tears and talking about how inspiring he was and how his death is a poignant reminder to hug the ones we love and are we sure we really know people, and so on.

It reminds me of being in eighth grade, when the horribly unpopular girl got into a car accident and died. Nobody knew her name (or if they did, it was to make fun of her) until she became a martyr. After her tragic death, every popular kid in school went out of their way to cry and show how much they cared about her and how fondly they remembered her and it was oh so sad. Signs, memorials, and speeches went on for about a week or two until they all forgot about her… again.

Well here we are again, in eighth grade. This time, it’s not an unlucky nerdy girl. It’s an unhappy nerdy adult. The popular kids are not cheerleaders and class presidents. They are social media experts and marketers.

I feel sorry for the family and (actual) friends of this poor man. I didn’t know him before his death, and I don’t know him now, so I won’t pretend that I’m horrified and saddened by his suicide. However, his death has become a social media circus, and his friends and family don’t deserve that. Social media experts, you should be ashamed.

Let’s lay it out in layman’s terms: If AT&T is allowed to acquire T-Mobile, all of T-Mobile’s customers will be absorbed into a company that has continually proved itself to be lowest in customer service ratings, not great on pricing, and willing to punish customers with arbitrary bandwidth caps. With a new, bigger AT&T, that leaves Verizon and Sprint as alternatives. Sprint will be the odd-man-out in this scenario, and they will very likely be absorbed (possibly by Verizon or Comcast). That will leave consumers with less competition, which is never good for us.

Let’s hope the Justice Department stands firm and fights this every step of the way; you may or may not like T-Mobile, but you should at least respect that you need the role they fill.

Onto the last Google news: We wrote an article this week about why Google Places is important for SEO. On the topic of Places, Facebook killed Facebook Check-ins this week (quietly, though) and last but not least we talk about over-saturation of the “deals” and reviews marketplace for small business owners. With a flood of choices (now that Angie’s List is offering premiere profiles to businesses) such as LivingSocial, Groupon, Yelp, and so on… are small business owners lashing out and experiencing “Deal fatigue”?

Lastly Dwight talks about the recent NYT article on Cornell University researches creating a new algorithm to “out fake reviews” that are paid for, well, bullshit reviews.

Join Dwight Zahringer and Brian Ambrozy as they wax poetic about this week’s SEO, social media, and weather news.

The new layer is a weather layer; by turning it on you can see current weather conditions anywhere in the world, as well as cloud cover. Go take a look at it right now; you can see the hurricane about to hit the Florida coast.

While we can’t see live, “Storm of Doom Descending Upon Us” animations like you can on Weather.com yet, it’s still another feature that brings us more into the Google ecosystem for our daily internet needs. It makes sense; Google’s mission of making the world’s information accessible marches on, and weather is definitely information.

Of course, this feature rolls out just three days after I return from a wild cross-country road trip, during which I saw a tornado forming. Thanks Google; could have avoided that one!

The weather layer is not yet available on the mobile version of Maps as of this writing, but I’m sure it will roll out soon.

I pulled up the client’s listing on Google Maps and then their Places page. Lo and behold; they weren’t even listed as a Widget company. They were listed as a doohickey company. That’s probably a large part of the problem; now we had a strategy to begin optimizing geo-local search results for the client.

Take a look at your Google Places page. If you don’t know how to find it, just search for your business address on Google Maps. Click on the pin for your location, and then on your name. This will take you to your Places page:

What you see on the Places page is what Google sees your business as. Is your information correct? Are you categorized correctly? Does the Places page link to your website?

Look up in the right corner, above the map. If you see something incorrect, you can propose an edit to Google. However, to go one better and actually take control of the information on this page, you need to claim the listing. Next to the words “Edit this place” you’ll see “Business Owner?” (which is a really vague and poor interface choice, but hey, Google has never been known for their user experience wizardry). Click that to begin the claim process, which involves getting a postcard in the mail with a code number on it. The process isn’t difficult, but it does take some time.

It’s very important that you claim your business page so that you can control the accuracy of information on your places page. Google is and always has been first and foremost an information provider: The more (and more accurate) data you can give them, the better it is for you. Make sure you add photos, videos, and as much relevant information as possible, including your hours (if you’re a restaurant owner, PLEASE put your hours in… it seems like so many restaurants don’t list their hours!)

All of this information is going to do one thing: Help people find your business. Google may seem to be a know-it-all, but they only have the data that they can find. It’s not always accurate. You know your business better than they ever will. Make sure you help them help you.

Just a bit of news for your Monday.

This week, Google announced an update to the aesthetics of Sitelinks. While at first it may seem like a minor change, we have a few opinions on some of the deeper meaning behind this. Here’s what the new Sitelinks look like:

As you can see, the new Sitelinks are much bigger and more in-your-face than the old, and will take up a significantly higher portion of your screen real estate in search results. Also, as you can see, my name is the only one that appears on our personal Sitelinks results, which means I’m a pretty big deal.

This is going to affect eyeballs and how they scan a page, and present more information on top search results than ever before. So, what’s the point? Is it simply a user experience choice? Or is there a deeper meaning? Join Dwight and Brian as they discuss this change.

Other topics we discuss: HP’s declaration that WebOS and TouchPad are dead, and they may even be considering spinning off their entire PC business. We also talk about Klout’s continuing quest to add even more social networks to their metrics.

Oh, and one last thing—poor Eric had to compete with Ryan and he ALSO downed a Lockhart’s Quadruple Bypass. Video forthcoming. These crazy kids.

The participants were Tom Nixon from Identity PR, Pam Perry from Social Media PR Solutions, Melih Oztalay from SmartFinds Internet Marketing, and myself.

As social media took the marketing world by storm in the last couple of years, PR companies have had to learn to quickly adjust to their clients’ needs and wants. Clients are becoming increasingly more educated on the latest tools and trends as the promise of social media fulfills itself: people are spreading news to more people, more rapidly than ever before. If a traditional PR agency can’t stay on top of it, their clients will go elsewhere.

We have seen a pattern over the years, as we’ve kept up on the trends; however, our focus has and always will be tangible results from any outreach efforts. We’re working hard to increase page views, increase search traffic, and get new business for our clients. Right now, social media tools are one of the methods we’re implementing to get this done. Social media can be a powerful force for SEO and we’re making that a part of our client strategy.

At the end of the day, social media is just another tool in the toolbox. The fundamentals have remained constant: a rock-solid code base as a foundation, semantically correct markup, and excellent content. These will continue to win the day, no matter how the message is spread. Regardless, whatever comes next, we’ll be on top of that, too.

Today I fired up Klout only to see a little YouTube icon at the top. That means Klout is adding yet another service to their overall social media metric. Again, Klout’s algorithm is a secret, but it’s a good bet that a high number of YouTube page views, friends, comments, and likes are all pretty good for your Klout score.

Klout is adding new services fairly quickly. It was only three weeks ago that they added Foursquare. Of course, the big question is how long it will take them to add Google+ to their metrics (once Google releases an API for it, obviously).

It’s exciting to see Klout becoming more and more relevant. I’d love to see them add as many services as possible. Gowalla? SCVNGR? Blog metrics from Postrank? Absolutely. They all provide a big picture of how influential you are.

It feels like this is the future for rich web content. With its clean, standards-compliant code, this combination is essentially the end of proprietary web formats. Let’s spell is out: The writing is on the wall for Flash, Adobe knows it, and this is their attempt to get a head start on it.

The preview version of Adobe Edge is similar to older versions of Flash. You can drag assets into the timeline, keyline them, animate shapes, and create transitions. When you “collect for output”, all the assets are put into an /images/ folder on your server and the appropriate code is packaged and uploaded with it.

Adobe Edge will most likely come out with Adobe CS 6, but that’s just an educated guess on our part.

Code hippopotami, code chickens, code deer, code horses, yes… Code monkeys? Never. Won’t do it.

Writing good code is not a job for monkeys. Hippopotami are fierce, hard-working animals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Horses are highly intelligent and loyal. Deer are agile, move quickly, and are amazingly perceptive. Chickens? Well… You can’t win them all.

When we’re not creating amazing websites or helping increase our clients’ traffic, revenue, and search engine rankings, we engage in the gentlemanly sport of “paw wrestling”, also known as arm wrestling in seedier parts of town. Here we have Code Hippo versus Code Horse while the menagerie cheers them on:

We’re here every day in beautiful downtown Royal Oak, Michigan. Stop by and say hi, we’ll give you an ice-cold Vitaminwater or Smartwater, and perhaps you can challenge Code Hippo to a paw wrestling match.

I downloaded Adobe Edge preview today and decided to give it a spin. Here’s a quick look at the interface when you open a new, blank project: (Click to enlarge any of these screenshots)

The interface is quite similar to Flash and Premiere and should be relatively comfortable to anyone who has worked in CS5 or 5.5. The “stage” is your first <div> and as you add objects to your set, the elements panel adds them hierarchically:

There’s a timeline at the bottom which acts exactly as you would expect; as time moves forward you can drag and drop different elements into play, keyline them, and act upon them:

The preview doesn’t have many content creation tools yet; the basic shapes are available with some rudimentary drawing tools (rectangles, lines, etc.) but you can import assets created outside of Edge. I didn’t see any sort of code view or in-line editing tool, but it’s safe to assume there will be some sort of advanced tools like this in the release version.

The question is: What is Adobe’s end-game here? Is Edge a tacit admission that Flash is doomed? Edge should be fully standards compliant; the content created with it should work fluidly on any platform, rather unlike Adobe’s embattled Flash.

It’s a smart move on Adobe’s part; by taking the neutral high ground and saying “Hey, we’ll give content creators the tools to make compelling and rich content, regardless of their platform choice”, they avoid the holy war that rages on about standards. Perhaps they’re getting back to their roots as a purveyor of the world’s best design tools.

We’ll do our best to stay on top of Edge development. Stay tuned!

We also bring you our thoughts on the news that Foursquare has just partnered with Groupon. And last, but not least, we bring you breaking news from the world of SCIENCE that INTERNET EXPLORER users are DUMB. Or something like that.

Give a listen, leave a comment, and hey—have a great weekend.

Internet Explorer was, until recently, exceptionally non-compliant with modern web coding standards. When a web application developer such as us had to create applications for clients, we often had to take extraordinary and special measures to make sure the sites we created would even work properly in Internet Explorer. More recent versions (the latest is Internet Explorer 9) are more compliant with web standards, but the adoption of the latest versions has been slow as people have migrated away to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome as well as Safari on Mac computers.

Any web developer will tell you horror stories about coding for IE6. While we’re happy that those days are over, this news still confirms some basic suspicions we’ve had about users of Internet Explorer…

It all makes sense now.

Anyways, if you want to be a Smart Kid™ too, change your browser. You can download Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera and join the club. Let us know how many IQ points you gain.

Google has always claimed that their mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Anything they do has to be filtered through that mission statement, as they have shown time and again that this is their core value. How does creating a social network make the world’s information universally accessible and useful? “Useful” is the key word, here.

Google realizes that the value of Twitter and other social networks is in personal recommendations and connections. While they do have access to Twitter’s “firehose” of information, they don’t own it. Better to have their own network of social signals. They knew that if they built a good social product (and they’ve tried and failed in the past), they would start having excellent and useful data to enhance their core product: Search.

The fact that Google was persistent in attempting to break into social shows how important it is to them. Finally, Google+ is the one that just might make it. According to some reports, they are rapidly approaching the 20 million user mark. That’s certainly enough data to help make search results more useful. There are many people criticizing the “geekiness” of Google+, saying it’s not a thing their mom or dad would use; if Google is trying to get tech-savvy geeks to link to things and share relevant data on Google+, though, that’s not a problem for them at all.

In order for Google+ to truly become a “Facebook killer” it will have to become an ingrained habit—part of a daily normal lifestyle; with Android, Google has a shot at this. However, even if they don’t ever achieve Facebook Huge status, they can still mine the incredibly relevant and useful patterns and data from their techie userbase to influence their most precious product: search.

Things I learned on this trip:

• The Fiat 500 is a fun little car to drive
• Parking the Fiat 500 is a joy
• The Fiat 500 can turn on a dime
• When you drive a Fiat 500, you will get a lot of attention from others
• Driving a Fiat 500 is extremely economical
• The Fiat 500 interior is roomier than I had thought
• Fiat enthusiasts are more like family than any other group of car enthusiasts I’ve ever met
• Community is a fundamental part of a brand’s success

That’s one thing I couldn’t shake—the sense of family with these enthusiasts and Fiat owners. Even though these guys and gals see each other online and in person at these events, every time they get together and talk about their cars, the love of the brand just shines through.

Fiat has done well to foster that sense of community. Fiat owners are fiercely proud of their dedication to the brand, and now that it has made a reappearance in the US market, they can say “we were there.” Well, the waiting has paid off. The Fiat community is sure to get a giant boost of new blood, excited new enthusiasts, and lifelong fans.

If you missed any of my posts about my day-to-day experience, you can catch up here:

Nashville bound in a Fiat 500

Detroit to Cincinnati

Cincinnati to Nashville (with call-in podcast)

Here is the slideshow of all the pictures I took (Lots of Fiat porn!)

Proudly proclaiming my affiliation with Fiat

I checked out of the hotel and went out to the car, and there was a new sign on it, proudly proclaiming that it was a part of the Detroit to Nashville Fiat Freakout roadtrip. That was sure to get even more eyeballs than I already had.

My hair was a shaggy mess, so I decided to stop and get a haircut before I left Cincinnati; I wasn’t on any super-tight schedule, so why not? I did what any modern, connected person would do in that situation: Turn to Google and Yelp to find the best barber in Cincinnati. They didn’t let me down; Russ was a character and I got a good haircut for a good price.

It was interesting talking to him because he was excited and bewildered at all the business the internet brought him. Through a combination of SEO (a solid code foundation on his website), social media (Yelp and Myspace, in his case), and excellent follow-through (very good haircuts, and excellent customer service) he achieved success.

Crossing into Tennessee

After the haircut, I got on the road and drove almost straight through to Nashville. When I arrived at the Music City Sheraton, it was like Fiat heaven. They were everywhere.

Here’s the interesting thing about the Fiat Freakout event: It has been going on for almost thirty years. Every year, a small group of Fiat owners and enthusiasts would meet somewhere to trade stories, show off their cars, and celebrate their like-minded community. Now that Chrysler has partnered with Fiat to bring the brand back to the US, the size of the group is sure to explode, as a new generation of American car enthusiasts becomes part of this community.

In the lobby of the hotel, a full-sized Fiat 500 was retrofitted to become what I call the “world’s most elaborate video game controller”. The (real) Fiat is hooked up to a giant screen which displays a driving game. The goal is to not race to the finish and get the fastest time possible; rather it is to get to the goal with the best fuel economy. The game is designed to show off the Fiat 500′s Eco:drive technology. I came in 26th place; clearly I need to work on my efficient driving.

Let’s talk about Eco:drive. It’s insanely cool technology. You download the application, and insert any USB stick into your computer, where the application copies some code to your stick. You then take the USB stick and plug it into the Fiat’s dashboard USB port. As you drive, the car records data and send it to the stick. When you’re done, you take the USB stick and plug it back into your computer. The Eco:drive application then downloads your driving data and goes into great detail about how you can improve your efficiency with smarter shifting and other tips. It’s truly fascinating.

The Fiat Freakout event itself begins today and goes through the weekend. On Monday, I’ll have my thoughts, impressions, and overall experience up on the Trademark blog. Ciao!

Update: Here are photos from the trip!

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Alas, it was not rain, just insane heat and humidity.

I really wish it wasn’t so abysmally hot today—I wanted to drive with the windows down and the sunroof open. It wasn’t meant to be, however. The weatherman issued severe heat warnings, telling people to stay inside. Time to crank up that air conditioning to max.

My 2011 Fiat 500 to test drive. Mine...mine...mine...mine...

Driving in early morning rush hour traffic wasn’t very much fun. I was excited when I finally got outside of Detroit and really had the chance to open up and cruise in 5th gear. I found the climate controls, the cruise control, and the radio all very intuitive, and relaxed and settled in for a few hours’ drive. The Fiat that I got has a particularly swank Bose sound system, with a subwoofer and Sirius/XM tuner. There are buttons for voice commands and Bluetooth, but I didn’t mess around with those. I tuned Sirius to Alt Nation and let loose.

Interior of the 2011 Fiat 500

It’s been a long time since I sat in an awesome car by myself with wind in my hair (albeit, A/C in this case) and too-loud music. The car just called for it, though. It was liberating and made me feel like a kid again. As I drove down the freeway, I got points, stares, and even someone taking a picture of the car. It’s new, unique, and very charismatic. People are drawn to it.

I stopped at the Ohio border to visit a homemade jerky store that I’m fond of. I don’t get down that way too often, and it’s unique enough to be worth a stop. It was about 9:30am and two locals were sitting outside a barber shop. The town, Luna Pier, has a very small-town feel. As soon as I parked, the two men got up and started walking towards me. They were older, so I figured maybe they’d say something negative about foreign cars.

To the contrary, they were both as excited as kids. “Oh wow, I heard of these, but I’ve never seen one!” “Look at the painted calipers” “That is a sharp logo!” “Chrysler is doing well to bring these here!”. They asked about the performance, the engine, they looked at the interior, and were far more enthusiastic about the car than I had assumed they would be.

It was a neat experience, and it told me one thing: Americans are ready for smaller cars. We got into a conversation about the size and efficiency. He said he was thinking a small car like this might be nice for his wife.

I got back on the road and stopped for gas outside of Dayton, where a man came up to me and asked if I was driving a Ferrari. I guess the new Fiat looks like it could be a Ferrari? I got a laugh out of it.

The Cincinnati Fiat Dealership

I finally arrived in Cincinnati, checked into my hotel and then headed over to the brand-spanking new Fiat Studio (Kings Fiat). They call their dealerships “Studios” and there’s a good reason for it—when you go in to buy a car, you pretty much get to design it custom to the way you want it. The first thing I noticed was how many color options were available. Then, I noticed that every single Fiat on the lot (and there were quite a few) was totally unique; either it had unique interior color combinations, or custom pinstriping in a variety of ways, or an Italian flag decal on the front quarter panel, or something that made it different from every car on the lot. The manager told me that there are so many possible combinations that it’s a pretty good chance there are no two Fiats on the road that are the same.

No two 2011 Fiat 500s on the road may be the same.

I’m beginning to wrap my head around the Fiat culture. The people who walk in the door to a Fiat studio are far more than just people who are looking for a car. They are already part of a community. They are fans, enthusiasts, family members. They walk in knowing more about the cars than the sales team. They want to be part of a lifestyle. The sense of community is overwhelming with these cars. You’re not buying a vehicle; you’re buying a passport into this enthusiastic group.

I have a feeling that by the end of this journey, I will be a part of the community too. Even if I never own a Fiat.

Update: Here is the photostream from the trip:

The reason I’m doing this is because Fiat reached out to me and asked if I’d like to give my impressions of this tiny car while I check out the Fiat owners’ community at the Fiat Freakout event. Why they chose me isn’t perfectly clear, but it might have something to do with my experience with Chevy earlier this year when I was chosen as part of the Chevy SXSW Road Trip Challenge. Maybe it has something to do with my work on Icrontic, and the story I wrote there about Mopar. Perhaps it was my involvement with Tweetea, where I met Chrysler’s social media guru Mike Driehorst.

The point of that “Feather-in-my-cap” stuff wasn’t to brag. It’s to show that social networking works. Fiat wants me to be in this car because I will be honest, genuine, and tell them my thoughts. Have blog, will travel. They get exposure out of it, I get a neat experience where I’ll probably make some new friends, and have some neat memories to put into my scrapbook. Plus, I’ll have the confidence of being able to say, “Hey, Fiat chose me to write about their cars.” That stuff snowballs and turns into more opportunity. If I can share that success with our social media clients here at Trademark, then all the better.

I went to pick up the Fiat in Auburn Hills, MI (which, coincidentally is the home of Chrysler Group, LLC.) The car I get to drive is a dark silver, sporty little thing, with black checker graphics and a snazzy leather interior.

It’s a 5-speed manual; here’s where I embarrassingly reveal that I haven’t driven a manual since 2001 or so, when I had a 1985 Jeep CJ-7 that was built like a tank. It was like shifting a cement truck. I think I actually grew toned biceps from driving that truck for a half a year. So here, I have to get into this little sports car and pretend like I can remember how to drive a stick.

I stalled immediately upon backing up, which was no big deal except for the two people that worked at the facility who were annoyed with me in the parking lot. No worries! I’ve got this! I restarted it and lurched forward to the security gate and nonchalantly pretended like everything was A-OK while the guard filled out paperwork to release the car to me. Yep, I got this.

I got out of the parking lot and down the road, but I stalled again at the first red light. Now, here’s where I remember to tell you that I had my 13- and 12-year old sons with me. They were terrified. “Dad…” my oldest said dubiously. “You… uh.. you sure you know how to drive this…?” He was not at all confident. My younger son was silent as a ghost in the back.

The car behind me was irked, but I got ol’ bessie going again and realized that the next step was I-75, a major freeway. Did I mention it was rush hour?

Well, I’ll spare the details except to say that by the time I got home (40 miles later), I re-mastered the manual transmission, became a hero to my sons (very important), and didn’t damage the car in any way. Success!

Now that I’ve found my legs again, I’m ready to get this baby on the open road. The Fiat is tiny, zippy, and a ton of fun to drive. It’s very strange to get used to the “borders” of the car, since they’re so close to you, but it doesn’t feel strange now that I’ve spent a couple of hours in it.

I’ll update the TM blog, make sure to take lots of pictures and video, and try my best to share this fun experience with everyone. Wish me luck!

Update: Here is the photostream from the trip:

Well, not really, but their car was parked right outside our back door today, so we went out and snapped a few pics for geek porn purposes. Obviously, Google has their work cut out for them in terms of mapping every single road, alley, street, circle, route, and frontage in the world, so there’s a good chance this is not a very rare sighting, but at least it got us excited.

Last week, The Detroit Zoo (which is just down the road from us) got the nod as the first theme park in the nation to get mapped out by the StreetView team. This makes it the first pedestrian StreetView destination in the US. They’re using the StreetView Trike to make that happen, not this car, but still—we love geek porn just as much as you do. Enjoy!
Video:

Pics: