With so much competition among the many social media platforms it takes something very unique about the platform in order to drive the most traffic. So perhaps the world’s new obsession is “pinning”; browsing the web for the latest trends in style, food creations, photography, and home décor. Pinterest is sure beginning to catch the attention of many web surfers, specifically the online pin board accounts for 3.6% of the total referral traffic from January, according to Shareaholic (which is based on aggregated data from more than 200,000 publishers that reach more than 260 million unique monthly visitors). Pinterest is up a notable 1.1% just from December, making it almost even with the amount of traffic driven through Twitter; while Google Plus on the other hand dropped 0.02% to a total of only 0.22%.

The above chart tells us that Facebook, to no surprise, is still the leading social media platform, accounting for 26.4% of total referral traffic. So although it seems like Pinterest has a way to go before becoming the next Facebook, its noteworthy enough to cite the extreme jump in numbers in just one month, not to forget to mention that it is driving more traffic than Google Plus, LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube combined.

The infographic below, “Is Pinterest the Next Social Game Changer?” helps us visualize how much attention the new social networking site really has gained in comparison to others. A shocking increase of 429% occurred last year from September to December, putting its estimated unique visitors at 7.21 million. According to Monetate (creator of the infographic), Pinterest is now part of the top five social networking and forum websites driving the most referral traffic, with Facebook taking the number one spot and Google Plus not even making the list.  Having only been around for two years now, we are excited to see if Pinterest will remain on the Internet as the hot new trend, or is it just a fad that will leave our minds soon enough?

Back on January 19^th, Larry Page of Google noted that their social networking site Google+ had reached the 90 million user mark. Now, Paul Allen, a “unofficial statistician” for Google posts that the membership has grown more than 10% since then. By the end of today, Google+ is on mark for a whopping 100.8 million users. That means sometime today maybe you could be that 100^th million member.

So what has contributed to Google+ recent growth? Earlier we heard about the Google plus Your World, a program where Google+ integrated company search results with daily search results. This may have convinced companies to utilize Google+ toward more of a business standpoint. Another intriguing scenario is the move to open the network doors to teenagers. Google+ started with restriction that only 18+ may join, since then Google+ has set the age limit to those 13 years or older – which has presumably gained a larger share in the younger audience.

Timeline Deadline

Another interesting factor is Facebook’s movement toward a universal Timeline. The widespread mandatory Timeline may have forced Facebook users to switch platforms and move toward the Google+ network. This is still taking affect so the real results of this won’t be seen till later.

Facebook or Google+ take your pick. We all know that this battle still has years and years of great competition ahead of these social media sites,  but who do you think will prevail?

Transmitters of phishing have been manipulating users out of credit card numbers and other personal information since the mid 90s. The problem has been brought to light more recently as users have become more knowledgeable of the Internet and the methods that phishing uses to lure people into revealing sensitive information to unreliable sources. However, the problem has still managed to spike recently.

Today, Google and Yahoo have teamed up to combat the perpetrators of phishing through DMARC.org – Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance. The two search engine powerhouses are working with Bank of America and Fidelity Investments to create this technical specification that will provide reliable authentication results to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL users.

What’s To Blame For The Increase In Phishing?

DMARC’s group of search engines and financial services blame social media for the spike in phishing because of the readily available user accounts and personal information across social media platforms and e-commerce sites. Well-known brands are easily targeted in emails because users naturally find them more authoritative.

The following is an excerpt DMARC’s site explaining why spammers target email: “Email is easy to spoof and criminals have found spoofing to be a proven way to exploit user trust of well-known brands. Simply inserting the logo of a well known brand into an email gives it instant legitimacy with many users.”

There are already two existing authentication screening mechanisms – SPF and DKIM – that will become standards in the industry with the implementation of DMARC. The fact is that most phishing emails are already intercepted and sent to the user’s spam folder. The goal of DMARC is to remove those emails from the spam folder altogether. Inexperienced users are still easy targets for phishing emails to trick them out of their personal information.

How can you avoid being the target of spammers? Avoid clicking on URLs within emails and be aware of popular scams that are infiltrating the Internet.

Do you ever wonder who started the juicy gossip you catch up on from day to day? Well now you can find out who were the top contributors to those stories and much more through Google+ Ripples. A few weeks ago Google announced this “Ripple” feature that seemed to almost be overlooked, when in reality it should be of much consideration to us marketers, and here’s why:

The ripple effect allows us to:

1. Find a influencer (Dalai Lama)
2. Make a connection to that influencer
3. Repeat to find who the influencer is sharing with (Vic Gundotra) to virally spread your content even more

The above example was a public post shared by Dalai Lama which illustrates the spread of the post (you can find the Ripple of any public post using the dropdown arrow menu at the top right of the post). If you watch the spread, you will see the content being shared to more and more users over about a months’ time frame.  Also, at the bottom of the page you will see the influencers (people with many public reshares), Statistics (how this post publicly spread), and Languages (of public shares of this post). As seen below:

So How Will This Help Us?

If we’re able to locate the influencer that is sharing content of our interest, then we’ll be able to connect to that influencer through Google+. Usually many other social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) are linked with their Google+ account which allows you to tack action with your preferred method of making a connection.

Once you’ve made the connection, put out something of value to them or possibly share their post so they know you’re interested in what they’re sharing. Hopefully at that point, they will see you sharing their posts and return the favor by sharing your content to their huge circle of followers. It’s important to not bombard the top contributor with too much content; rather research into who they’re sharing posts with (the influencers of the influencer) and reach out to them as well.

It’s all about finding that niche target market, and now thanks to Google, it’s easy (and fun!) to watch content go viral with the use of Ripples.

On  11.11.11, 92 years after the first proclaimed Veterans Day by former President Woodrow Wilson in 1919, we once again remembered and honored  all of our brave military veterans.  In these nine decades lots of things have happened, one of which is the technological boom that has brought us the likes of Facebook, Twitter and other social media applications.  Social media is a source for social interaction in an attempt to make our large world seem just that much smaller.

Social media and holidays together make a lot of buzz on the internet as there are lots of web interactions during times of holidays like Veterans Day.  This is not just by random people either, these are our veterans who are different than the previous as times have changed.  Nowadays these veterans are instead trying to get on Twitter or Facebook.

The effect of Veterans Day on social media is something you can see taking form.  Earlier this week there was a Facebook fan page launched for the US Military on Facebook to show support for members of the military, as well as both veterans and their families by sharing info and maintaining a connection.  Also, a new application on the U.S. Military Facebook page was created to give thanks to military members in your life, titled “A Nation Gives Thanks”.  We at Internet Marketing Inc. have also been able to utilize our own Facebook page for the celebration of Veteran’s Day by thanking our veterans as a whole, including one of our own.  Co-CEO Brent Gleeson served as a Navy SEAL operator at SEAL Team 5 located in Coronado, California.  Brent completed three separate tours of combat, with two tours in Iraq and one in Africa.  His job as a Navy SEAL was running Capture or Kill missions in tandem with the CIA.  So as it being Veterans Day we appreciate what our Veterans and Brent have done for our country.

Facebook is not the only social media app to see the effects of Veterans Day, Twitter has seen just as much traffic in regards to the national holiday.  Today many of the hottest stars and celebrities are taking to Twitter to honor the brave men and women that serve our country, like Toby Keith who is a notorious patriot. See what he said below:
Toby Keith (@TobyKeithMusic): Happy Veteran’s Day. To all Veterans, THANK YOU for our freedom.

Also on Twitter the tweet tag “#HappyVeteransDay” and “Happy Veterans Day” have been trending a lot as well.  The History Channel has also done it’s part for Veteran’s Day with it’s new social campaign of “Thank a Vet” through Twitter too.

Thanks to the internet we can see who and how many people are honoring their veterans and  grasp how important these men and women are in serving our country.  With our constant elevation of social media technology we are able to bring our world closer together one tweet or like at a time.

The changing world of internet marketing is constantly strengthening and developing new avenues for lead generation. This year, SEO takes the prize as the number one source for generating leads. Out of the 500 U.S. online marketers surveyed by the 2011 State of Digital Marketing Report, two-thirds identified themselves as business-to-business marketers.

Social media marketing, PPC and SEO were among the categories considered to have the largest impact on lead generation. B2B marketers accredited 57.4% of their lead generation to SEO, while B2C marketers credit 41%. Although SEO was the number one generator of leads, marketers are planning to increase their social media budgets in 2012 even more than their SEO budgets.

PPC, social media and SEO are all essential aspects of  internet marketing for businesses, but each year we will see those numbers shift with new developments in online marketing efforts. It will be interesting to see how marketers spend their internet marketing budgets in 2012.

In an attempt to expand the overall coverage for this Social Networking site, the Facebook Company has set in motion plans to build a new Data center near the Arctic Circle. Its position will be in Lulea, Sweden, which is only 60 miles south of the circle, and will be the first Data Center located outside of the United States. The interest in this location was purely chosen for its icy cold climates, as cooler temperatures help keep generators from overheating.

Facebook in the Artic Circle

Where are the current Data Centers Located?

Currently the only functioning Data Centers are located in Virginia, California, Oregon, and one more will be built in North Carolina, which has always resulted in slower data speeds for Facebook users in Europe. With this new Center, set to be built in 2014, European users will find better performance when accessing Facebook.

How Facebook is taking over the world in a great way

With Facebook’s 800 million users it comes to no surprise that Data Centers will need to expand outside the U.S. for better service from this social networking site. But when looking at the overall picture it’s amazing to think how Facebook has become such a worldwide commodity and how imperative it is to expand to other countries. The only question to consider is what international laws allow such construction near the Arctic Circle and how far will Facebook be able to expand before conflicting with international security breaches? What are your thoughts on this?

Facebook's Data Center

With the recent NFL blackout threat finally put to rest, football fans are finding NFL players using all means of marketing their teams. And more popular method that has been taking off is the use of social media. NFL players can “Tweet” their take on a game while sports commentators can submit Facebook posts discussing current stats. With over 4 million NFL Facebook fans, and a 144% increase in fan content since last year, it is easy to see how NFL is taking advantage of social media to their benefit.

How does this help bring revenue?

This year’s kick off alone sparked a new record for the amount of social media attention it brought online. And while the NFL company originally tried to focus on using social media to bring traffic to the NFL.com website, players are now finding that the best way to reach their fans is through a social outlet. This increases playful competition between teams, offering more traffic to fantasy football leagues and more online purchases on merchandise. Overall the NFL and NFL players are noticing an increase in revenue across the board.

So who is using social media the most?

Surprisingly a large fan base comes from the New York Jets for their emphasis in using social media to their advantage. But in terms of demographics it turns out the audience is completely across the board, including all ages, gender, race, and income. It goes to show that when you’re devoted you will utilize any means of connecting to your interest. More importantly this shows  how social media is becoming a great marketing method or bringing in new forms of revenue.

NFL and Twitter working together

Having begun my first week at IMI as the Director of Social Media, I am looking forward to stepping in and continuing to grow and further develop the social media department.  With a background in marketing and experience on the client side of Internet marketing technologies, I am eager to bring my brand perspective to the fast-paced agency world.  I started in the social media realm in 2007 at Upper Deck, a prominent sports and entertainment company, where I built social channels from the ground up and worked to integrate them into existing marketing plans.  In 2010, I joined the hospitality and travel industry, managing online marketing and social media efforts at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, CA.  In January of 2011, I ventured out and started my own social media consulting business, working with a wide array of clients from the medicine field, technology, real estate and non-profit organizations to help businesses leverage the power of social media.

Now, as a part of Internet Marketing Inc., I am excited to bring my unique background to the team, to work with clients to catapult their business into social success through various social media channels.  By auditing a business initially to get a detailed feel for the company culture and existing marketing plans, our social media team then formulates a strategic plan with recommendations on which social channels make sense for each client.

When part of a strategic marketing plan, social media has the power to transform businesses, personifying the brand and cultivating brand advocates that ultimately lead to increased ROI.

Through polished, professional social pages, real-world events, and a strategic backbone to hold it all together, social media has the power to change the way people communicate about your brand.  People are talking about your business — it’s time to join in the conversation!   Click here to request a free consultation and to speak with someone from our social media team.

In the past couple of weeks, Facebook is really stepping up their game in the social media world.  For example, its latest news feed layout and real time ticker were  new additions recently. Due to many competing social networks such as Google +, Facebook is now releasing yet another new unique feature, Timeline.

 Is Facebook Becoming Like A Creepy Stalker With Timeline?

If  you are already frustrated and angry with the privacy issues Facebook has, well you might get even more concerned now.  Timeline  basically is a redesigned profile that follows a yearbook style layout. Facebook now goes into stalker mode by time-lining every status, photo, “likes” and any other interaction you made on the site in chronological format. Since the moment you signed up on Facebook, they have been documenting your life from start to present. It was crazy to see how much saved data Facebook had on my life when I installed Timeline!

 Blast From The Past

On the right side of the new layout, friends can click back on a specific date and then it will display some highlights from posts you had during that time period.   The new profile now shows milestones in your life such as graduating from college, getting a new job, and even when you become friends with people you interact with a lot on Facebook. It is kinda creepy how Facebook  knows who and what is important to you. For those of you who want to forget about your past, Facebook makes it more difficult and pretty much displays it all out for your friends to see. However, you can control and edit what is revealed on the Timeline.

 Some Key Points In The Facebook Timeline Layout

• It summarizes your stories, past and present on a monthly/yearly basis
• It organizes your apps, photos, likes, and places
• You can add  life stories and experiences with a cover photo and choose the date where it will be added on your Timeline
• You can add a larger banner photo as your cover

Sounds like we will now have to accept a new way of presenting our profile information to the world!  When Facebook changes the rules,  we really should  learn how to control our privacy and use new features  to our advantage before swearing it off.  You can enable Facebook Timeline now and see how you like it. Then, come back and report your thoughts! Are you of angry with Facebook Timeline and how it layouts your past for others to see? Or, do you think Facebook Timeline revolutionizes social media and gives Facebook the edge it was looking for? Me personally, I love it!