Google Plus – what makes it a must-have?

Google Plus

The media has been abuzz with news about the recent offering from Google’s think-tank, Google Plus. Some said it could be the instrument that would take social networking to an all new level. Google is not known for half-measures, however, so there apps and its own offering revamped and added on here. There is Google +1 too, which means users can recommend a page to others in their ‘circle’. That’s one more feather is the search engine giant’s cap, for it now allows users to see which pages have been found useful by their friends.Google Plus, which is also written as Google+, is mainly a virtual platform which lets people form ‘circles’ of friends. They can chat with or without the video option – something other networking sites have not offered until now. Some of the basic rules remain common – the user has to be an adult and have a Google account. Like Orkut, Google Plus started on an ‘invite only’ basis.The desktop and mobile versions (suitable for only Android and iOS phones) of Google Plus are ready for immediate use. The frenzy seems to have caught on mainly among iPhone users who use the Google+ iPhone app rampantly. The high demand perhaps can be attributed to the novelty of having Hangouts, Huddles and the option to ‘Spark’ topics of one’s interest. Far-flung users all over the globe can meet in a virtual chat room and see one another in a video chat. They can also share YouTube videos. The Stream is analogous with the ‘newsfeed’ of Facebook, where one can check the updates from their circle of friends.The charm of Google Plus also lies in the design of the page – it’s cool, colorful and extremely interesting to navigate through to discover the delights. Your Picasa album can be linked and shared here with some additional trappings, and you can also check your mail, Google Maps and Google Calendar. So if you are one more person who wants to have Google Plus, hit +1!

Win a Copy of The Facebook Marketing Book!

With Facebook being in everyone’s faces 24 / 7 these days it’s no wonder that every marketer feels like they need to be there. Of course, having the desire to be there and having the knowledge to be there in a way that impacts business are often two very different things.

We had a chance to talk with Dan and Alison Zarrella, the husband and wife authors of the book titled appropriately enough, The Facebook Marketing Book (not an affiliate link). Alison is a social media consultant and Dan is a social media scientist. Considering they were editing this book on their honeymoon it is safe to say that they are dedicated to their craft. Here’s what they had to say about Facebook and marketing.

MP: With the popularity of Facebook (some saying that there are 600 million accounts worldwide) is it a ‘must’ for marketers to be on Facebook?

Alison: In my opinion (and I think Dan agrees), it’s definitely a requirement. Younger generations especially expect brands to be on there, and there’s a huge disconnect when you can’t find them. If your competitors are on Facebook, as they are in most major industries, you’ve got to keep up. If they’re not on there yet, you have a chance to be the first and really set yourself apart as the most “with it” brand in your industry. Either way, it’s another way to connect with fans, try new things and secure another spot for your brand name in search results.

MP: If a business was making a decision for search marketing with Google v Facebook marketing how do they determine which is best for them? Is it necessary to be in both places rather than either or?

Alison: Facebook is indexed for search, so search marketing and social media marketing really go well together. Your Facebook Page doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Use what you’ve learned from writing and optimizing content for your website and apply it to Facebook. Turn blog posts or articles into smaller segments for status updates and drive to your site for the full post. Assets designed for your website can also be used on Facebook in an FBML tab. Your Page should have the same look and feel of your site, broken into more manageable bite-size, shareable chunks.

MP: What skills does an effective Facebook marketer need? How is this responsibility being handled by companies? Do you see dedicated staff? Is it another duty of the marketing department? Is it an outsourced responsibility?

Alison: A Facebook marketer needs to really understand the site from a user perspective. They need to know what the Newsfeed looks like when you “like” over 100 Pages, and what makes people click “like” on some Pages and not others. Companies handle this in many different ways, but the smartest plan is to have an in-house person or team who knows the business inside and out. They can answer questions confidently and quickly and make sure that everything stays on brand. Most importantly, they (hopefully) care about the company and what they’re doing on Facebook.

MP: Many businesses don’t have the resources to commit to Internet marketing for a variety of reasons. What do you recommend to companies that say “We would love to but just don’t have the time, money etc”?

Alison: I want to know what they are doing instead. Facebook is free. With the exception of advertising, you can do everything we outline in the book with absolutely no money. Yes, you need time and some skills, but if you start small and build your way up you’ll get the hang of it. People think Facebook has to take all day, but that’s not the case. The more familiar and comfortable you are with the site, the less time you’ll need to spend on it. You’ll learn how to multi-task and check in periodically without letting it takeover your whole day.

MP: In your research were there any surprises that you just didn’t see when you were thinking of writing the book?

Dan: Yes, in fact when you ask any publisher what days not to publish content, they’ll generally say Saturday and Sunday. But when I looked at Facebook sharing, I found that articles that were posted on the weekends tended to be shared more than articles that were posted during the week.
For more info- http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/01/win-a-copy-of-the-facebook-marketing-book.html

Google Announces High Replication Datastore for App Engine

It's no secret that Google App Engine has suffered from reliability issues. Google is attempting to address some of its issues by making a new datastore option available: the High Replication Datastore.

"The High Replication Datastore provides the highest level of availability for your reads and writes, at the cost of increased latency for writes and changes in consistency guarantees in the API," writes Kevin Gibbs in the announcement. "API. The High Replication Datastore increases the number of data centers that maintain replicas of your data by using the Paxos algorithm to synchronize that data across datacenters in real time." A detailed comparison of the two datastore options is available in App Engine documentation.

The price for the new datastore is starting out at three times the cost of the Master/Slave option, but the pricing will likely change in the future.

For the time being, the traditional Master/Slave datastore will remain the default configuration option. The datastore cannot be changed after an application is created, so existing applications can't be switched to the High Replication Datastore. However, Google is providing some migration tools.

There's a new option in the admin console that allow users to put their applications in read-only mode so that data can be reliable copied between applications. Google is also providing a migration tool with the Python SDK that allows code to be copied from one application to another.
For more info- http://social-media.alltop.com/