As we discussed last week, one of the biggest challenges of internet marketing is that the playing field is always changing. As we work each day the thought of keeping up with it all can be overwhelming, so I am going to highlight some of the biggest changes each week right here.
This week I have been thinking a lot about doing things better with the tools you already have. As I was compiling my list for this week, I feel as though I am not alone. Many businesses are honing in on what they do best and applying it in new ways or adding features to make sure they are keeping up with their competition. I think that is very important in business. Stick to what you do best and really own that space.
So here are the major newsworthy items of the interwebs this week:
eMarketer says Social Media is Number 1 for Lead Generation – This week eMarketer published a post claiming that social media is emerging as a powerful force in lead generation. This post gave lots of social media fans a reason to celebrate this week and many refurbished the article for their own blogs as validation that their hard work is paying off. The article is worth a read and I like how the second part questions the quality of leads, which we should always consider.
HTML 5 gains momentum – Even though Apple and Adobe have ‘had a long relationship’ it is no secret that they don’t exactly seem to get along. Apple products (iPhone, iPad) do not support Adobe Flash and they have no interest in doing so. The work around? HTML 5 – the newest web standard that lets you create advanced graphics and animations. We will talk a lot more about this next week but for now… I bet Adobe isn’t very happy about all this.
Google lets you customize your search page – Google likes to play around with personalization with everything from your search results to your gmail background. Now you can also personalize your Google home page with your favorite photo, company logo etc. This new feature has a few people raising an eyebrow that this is very ‘Bing-like’ of them. I think it is a fun change and perhaps it took a page out of Bing’s book but they did it better.
Mark Zuckerberg faces the music on security – At All Things Digital, this week Mark Zuckerberg had to pay the piper on Facebook’s privacy issues and changes. The video is quite uncomfortable and Mark needs a towel for his brow. The newest privacy changes were explained on their blog but many are uncomfortable with the state (and lack of transparency) of Facebook’s privacy policy. I also enjoyed this post last week explaining in plain English some of the newer features of Facebook privacy.
In other Facebook news, George Bush got a Facebook page this week… apparently this is breaking national news.
Location based apps still fighting it out – It seems location based applications are the wave of the future but no one seems to quite have a grasp on why and how. Each of the big players are adding updates and new features every day. This week Loopt, one of the very first location based services, took a shot at Foursquare by making Loopt Star which is more game-like and tries to add the value of a loyalty card from your phone. The other kicker is they got some big companies behind them quickly like Gap and Starbucks.
LinkedIn lets you find your professional Twitterers – LinkedIn, the popular business social networking site, now lets you find your LinkedIn connections on Twitter. I found value in this quite awhile ago and had a longer solution. Now just by adding the Twitter Application you can quickly find your LinkedIn connections on Twitter. Great way to add quality people to your Twitter stream!
Google mobile search includes apps – More and more people are accessing the internet from their mobile phones. Their is a noticeable difference with what a mobile searcher wants versus what a desktop searcher wants. The platforms they are using to search and their location play a major part in what they want for a search engine result. Google has now accounted for that by adding applications to mobile search results so users can download an app that will potentially help them with what they are looking for.
AT&T drops unlimited data plan – iPod and iPad users flipped when they heard the news that AT&T retired their unlimited data plan. Wired had a nice low down on what the change actually means for users.
IE6 goes the way of the Dodo bird (phew) – Web Developers all over the world rejoiced when they heard what they have been dreaming of for too long, IE6 is becoming extinct. IE6 has troubled developers with its countless bugs and work-arounds for those bugs. The trouble with IE6 is responsible for the massive jump from Internet Explorer to Firefox in recent years. If you ARE still using IE6 we highly recommend upgrading to IE8 or switching to Mozilla Firefox.
I hope you found some of this news helpful and as always feel free to send me any questions or updates you want us to talk about more!
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