April 2010

As Facebook grows in popularity, its "like" option, which allows users to prioritize content based on whether they approve of it or not, has some supporters of the social media website rallying around a new standard for search engine optimization that would be based on the feature, according to a recent report by All Facebook.

The news provider says that some web developers believe that Facebook needs to create an open standard for its "like" feature. At a recent developers conference, Facebook announced that it would soon allow developers to integrate the social network's tools into their own websites.

Social media expert Nick O'Neill explains that websites are traditionally prioritized through links, while a search engine optimization model based on the "like" feature may lock developers in.

"Google uses hyperlinks as the standard for determining the relevance of websites and pages throughout the internet. However, posting links is still an overly complex process," says O'Neill. "It requires understanding how properly formatted HTML will significantly help your search rankings. In Facebook's new system, however, the information is not available for anybody to access."

In the winter of 2009, Scripting.com said that there needs to be an open-source shell for Twitter, to put control of the platform in users' hands.

The use of social media delivers a quantifiable boost to advertising, according to a recent study by Nielsen and the social media website Facebook.

The study, titled Advertising Effectiveness, says that 70 percent of consumers trust information that others post online, while only 41 percent believe information from advertisements embedded in search results and 37 percent trust online video ads.

The survey reached out to 800,000 Facebook users and analyzed 125 Facebook ad campaigns from 70 brand advertisers.

The Nielsen-Facebook study also took a close look at 14 Facebook ad campaigns that incorporated the "like" engagement tool and analyzed the effectiveness of three different types of ads on Facebook.

The study also found that 10 percent of users remember homepage ads, while 30 percent of users remember homepage ads that have social media content alongside them.

"While exposure to the homepage ad itself increased ad recall, those users exposed to both the paid ad and the organic impression remembered the ad at three times the rate of those just exposed to the paid homepage ad," the report says.

Facebook is now trying to go beyond the web with its marketing tools. The social media network recently released window decals for local businesses to promote their Facebook presence, according to a recent report by Mashable.

Facebook is distributing window decals for local businesses that instruct passersby to send a text message to indicate that they "like" the business, according to a recent report by Technorati.

A sample of the stickers were sent to the online publication Mashable by the Museum of Making Music in California. Mashable says that it's an indication that Facebook is taking their "like" feature seriously, to allows users to share their approval of any entity imaginable, including local businesses.

Facebook told the sticker recipients that businesses see a 20 percent increase in consumer connections when using offline social mediamarketing strategies, according to Mashable.

Social media expert Don Martelli writes for Technorati that Facebook realizes social media needs to be couple with offline marketing strategies to successfully court an audience.

"This move by Facebook is proof positive that online engagement strategies need offline counterparts," says Martelli. "Social media marketing can't work in a vacuum and in order for the machine to do what it needs to do - engage audiences - it needs to work in tandem with offline counterparts. The offline counterpart is a simple direct marketing initiative."

Twitter is also expanding its marketing efforts. The social media network recently announced that it will start offering Promoted Tweets, that are placed within a users search results.

Google recently announced its acquisition of an Israel-based startup that specializes in the development of mobileweb applications and internet widgets.

The Labpixies acquisition was valued at $25 million, according to TechCrunch. Previously, the company has produced widgets for iGoogle, Facebook applications, and MySpace games.

In a message posted on the Google Code Blog, iGoogle's Don Loeb says that Labpixies developers can add value to Google offerings across the board.

"We are looking forward to working with Labpixies to develop great web apps and leverage their knowledge and expertise to help developers and improve the ecosystem overall," says Loeb. "The team will be based in our ever-growing Tel Aviv office and will anchor our iGoogle efforts across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa."

TechCrunch says Labpixies is a good buy because of its ability to take its games and re-produce versions of them across an array of mobile and social media platforms. The publication says Google may use Labpixies applications first for iGoogle and then mirror their efforts for Google's mobile platform Android.

The announcement comes as Google increased its marketing services for local businesses. Google Places was recently re-branded to allow local business owners without a website to enter their company data into an index for its search engine and Maps application, according to MediaPost.