Google are to launch a new social media tool that will be bolted on to their Gmail service. But has Buzz got enough to compete with Facebook and Twitter?
With the social media bandwagon continuing to gather momentum, Google have now thrown their hat in the ring. Not satisfied with integrating Twitter updates in their SERPs or introducing Social Search [see: Google's Social Search Adds Further Personalisation to SERPs], they are now getting in on the action with a new platform of their own – Google Buzz.
But with Twitter and Facebook seemingly cornering the market, is there really enough room for Buzz to get take a slice? Conventional logic would suggest not, but this is Google.
It would take a brave man to suggest that a Google product will fall flat on its face, and I’m certainly not going to buck that trend. But Buzz does have an uphill challenge. Facebook is the king of social media. With 350 million users and the second largest traffic stream (behind Google.com) of an individual domain, there is undoubtedly healthy competition out there.
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As Social Media continues to expand and lure in vast volumes of Internet traffic, where does its fustier, slower (methodical if you will) and more derided website marketing compadre, SEO, now fit in?
Search Engine Optimisation has been saddled with a reputation for being something of a shadowy practice; online alchemy, created to appease the search engine gods. The thing is though, it works. Better still, it continues to work to this day.
Social Media has emerged from the Friends Reunited Petri dish and exploded into a full-grown living organism, consuming everything in its path; or, at least, nearly everything. Facebook has experienced the most meteoric of rises, propelled by the slipstream of fading stars like MySpace, it has slipped seamlessly into the top 3 sites in the world (2nd by some metrics, 3rd in others) and gained itself over 350 million users.
Thanks to Facebook, along with Twitter, YouTube and a whole multitude of bookmarking cohorts, Social Media has got the world communicating in real-time. This free network of conversations has engulfed the Internet and opened the door of opportunity to marketers. Inevitably, when something huge comes to dominate an entity as the Internet, something has to make way; but is that thing SEO?
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Social media has the Marmite effect; either you love it, or you hate it. General indifference seems hard to come by and as such this polarising effect has been reflected in the modern workplace.
Some businesses can’t get enough of social media. Employees are actively persuaded to get involved in online conversations and whole departments have been generated to work as a sort of sales/marketing/customer service/PR hybrid team of tweeters. Others though are quite the opposite. Employers are blocking access on office machines and handing down severe punishments for unauthorised usage.
Invariably, as you are reading this, you too will have your own opinion on the value of social media in the workplace. It is a seemingly very insignificant debate, but is one that has been thrust into significance due to the amount of coverage it receives. Again, this coverage tends to highlight the two extremes, one full of saccharine sweetness the other disdainfully sour; balance and neutrality are difficult to achieve in this debate, which is why it largely remains unresolved.
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Have we become too open to the idea of sharing information and what can be done to safeguard Internet users from an avalanche of spam in the future?
The Internet as it stands is acting much like the human heart. Whilst continuing to provide a lifeline for millions of individual cells, the arteries that feed it are becoming increasingly clogged by sediments of spam and useless information. If this allowed to continue, could it be on the verge of a fatal cardiac arrest?
Potential avenues of profitability have opened the doors to the scurrilous and the entrepreneurial; although with more emphasis sadly on the former. The Internet is now rife with automated content, worthless websites and endless empty conversations, all of which are combining to create a monstrous jumble. One of the biggest meeting points for the real world and Internet sharks is on social media sites. More…
Still in the formative days of this new year, we look ahead at the 7 ways you can help your website get the level of attention you deserve in 2010.
Making bold predictions to cover a 365 day period, you can easily set yourself up for a fairly monumental fall. However, with this very much in mind, I have put together a straightforward guide to promoting your website in 2010.
As anybody who has spent a day or more working amongst websites will no doubt already understand, there are a fair few avenues for you to explore when it comes to promoting your site, brand and company. As any company with limited resources will have no doubt also have discovered, targeting the most effective techniques in the efficient fashion is not always straightforward.
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With the dawning of a new year, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over again with renewed vigour. Search engine algorithms have undergone a significant makeover in the past 12 months, perhaps it’s time your website does the same.
Websites aren’t a static marketing tool. They can’t be left to stagnate and simply tick over. So don’t let lethargy undermine your efforts so far; if your site is to succeed in 2010 than you need to be prepared to take the fight to your competitors, which means investing time and effort into each of your pages.
The Internet is a constantly expanding organism that mutates at a similarly speedy rate. The techniques and principles that worked just a few years ago will be almost redundant today. So if your website is suffering in the search engine rankings or isn’t getting the levels of targeted traffic you were hoping for, perhaps it’s time to take a fresh look at it.
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Unfortunately not all websites are owned by companies with endless resources and a bottomless pit of money. Most in fact have tight restrictions when it comes to both time and finances. However all sites share a common desire, which is to be the most successful in their field, regardless of the strength of their competition.
To get to the top with limited resources, particularly for SMEs, is no easy task. It requires an acute understanding of your market and effective management of your priorities. Many businesses see SEO as a cure, others have heard about the emerging success stories emanating from social media, whilst some believe that Paid Search (PPC) will get them the targeted traffic they need. There’s plenty of evidence to support all of these viewpoints, but which will work best for you?
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Not all that long ago I wrote about the interchangeable roles of social media and traditional interaction [see: Is Social Networking Actually Harming Social Interaction?]. For many, social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become a part of their day to day communication, for others it has all but replaced it.
Today, at 11 o’clock there will be a two minute silence in honour of those who have fought and died in conflicts since World War I. With troops still in frontline action today, serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, this Armistice Day – or Remembrance Day – will no doubt be keenly observed in streets, offices and homes across the country. However, should that silence spread online?
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The idea of social SEO, or indeed an SEO social, has little or nothing today with gaggles of optimisers discussing the latest techniques. It instead reflects the convergence of two Internet superpowers, search engines and social media, in an online marketing mêlée.
Whilst search engines benefit from a longstanding tradition and user familiarity, social media represents a surging market and unique real-time capabilities. To some, the two are chalk and cheese, to others the differences are becoming increasingly blurred.
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And so we enter the difficult second post. My defence of SEO so far has centred on its ability to get content noticed, rather than relying on divinity or good fortune. With this post, I want to tackle the accusation that it is to blame for clogging the Internet with spam.
If you haven’t read the original article, Is SEO Essential or an Outmoded Scam Touted by Charlatans? Part I, then first and foremost I recommend it, and secondly you may be completely oblivious as to what the purpose of this follow up is. Essentially SEO comes in for a lot of criticism, often from those in and around the website development sphere; this post comes in response to a particularly stinging criticism from Derek Powazek – a noted designer.
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From the outset social media was created to link people together. Whilst Friends Reunited touted the idea of finding long lost classmates, Facebook was connecting students in Harvard. But somewhere along the line, boundaries between harmless conversations and prolific publicising have become blurred.
Nobody can argue that there are fantastic opportunities to be gained for businesses using social media and that their influence can be a positive one – providing discounts, useful information and a right of reply – but is there a danger web 2.0 overkill will eventually be its downfall?
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One major issue facing social media platforms is how exactly to monetise their services. Subsisting on investor funding isn’t sustainable, so turning the corner and making a site profitable is a significant priority, but one which many struggle to achieve.
For many years YouTube was a cash cow for Google. Whilst it was widely used and hugely popular, the video sharing site just couldn’t find a way to turn that into hard currency. In fact two months ago to the day, in a strange piece of social media circularity, it was announced that Facebook had 250 million users whilst YouTube were on the verge of making profit. Today, Facebook has reached 300 million users and is itself the one who is ready to start funding itself.
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It appears that America’s politicians are having a few communication issues this week. Following hot on the heels of warning teenagers about the dangers of sharing too much information on website’s such as Facebook; it is now Barack Obama who has fallen foul of a random outburst.
Mr Obama had talked to students on a number of issues, one of which centred on what it takes to be a President. In response he said:
“Well, let me give you some very practical tips. First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life.”
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The buzz surrounding social media has reached near hysteria. Every day there are tales of people earning fortunes whilst others are having their lives ruined by sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Few would doubt the potential for generating new business that social media offers. There’s a huge audience to tap into and the freedom to approach them, you can start networking and create brand new opportunities for yourself or your company.
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Social media has developed into an excellent online marketing tool for businesses and companies wishing to gain more visitors to their websites whilst building up their brand awareness.
It is a great way to focus on a specific target audience but there are certain rules you should adhere to when using social media if you want it to benefit your business.
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