Facebook has been a challenging venue for marketers and advertisers ever since it started really getting popular in 2009. At that time, it was clear that it was the social network to beat and the company started trying to cash in with different types of advertising options. Most of them failed miserably for the same reason that many marketers continue to fail today: people go to Facebook to be entertained, not to be the recipient of ads. Today, it’s getting easier. People are more accepting of ads. A lot of it can be attributed to the way that Facebook has handled their promoted posts. They have done…

The internet. It has become such an integrated part of our lives that many do not spend more than a few waking hours without being connected in some way. We post to Facebook, check our emails, visit websites, read the news, and generally connect throughout much of our days. How does this translate into actual activity on the internet every day? It means that there are over a hundred thousand websites launched. It means that we’re spending over 3 hours a day on social media. It means that there are more minutes of video watched every day than the entirety of a year’s worth of television shows produced….

The reviews are rolling in. For the most part, they’re not good. Google may have laid a major egg with Google Glass by building a device that has such a limited set of realistic uses that one might be better off taping a GoPro camera to their cap and wearing a quality Bluetooth headset connected to their smartphone instead. If you’re wanting a 1st-person perspective video for a roller coaster ride, Google Glass may come in handy. Then again, a GoPro would work just fine for that. If you want to be connected to online communication services all the time, Google Glass has you covered. Of course, you’ll…

Picture this. You are driving your car on the highway, and you decide to tweet about the lack of traffic on your morning commute. By hitting a button on your steering wheel and speaking when prompted, you can easily tweet to your followers without even glancing at your smart phone. This is technology that we may eventually see in our cars. With social media becoming more and more a part of everyday life, and phone-related driving accidents increasing, it is not crazy to think this could happen. One of the benefits of this feature would be the safety it brings to drivers. Unfortunately, drivers can’t…

In the early days of search engine optimization, the pitch that many companies used was very appealing. “We’ll get you listed on thousands of search engines so that everyone can find you.” Today, this seems like a ludicrous statement. There’s only three real search engines that account for 97% of the search traffic and it’s been like that for some time, but back as recently as 2008, many companies were still pushing automated search engine submission as their primary selling point for search engine optimization. The same thing is happening today, only with social media. There are companies out…

Things were looking good for Google Plus when it first launched almost two years ago. Even while it was still in its testing phase, millions of people were clamoring to sign up for Google’s social networking service. Invites had to be suspended for the invite-only field test because of the insane demand for new accounts. It only took two weeks for ten million people to create accounts on the new service. Hopes were high and it looked like a real competitor had finally arisen to take on Facebook. But even as the number of users increased, users and journalists began criticizing the service. More…

We all knew Facebook was huge. We all knew that a ton of people use Facebook on a regular basis. Now we know the true numbers from Q1 2013 and they’re probably bigger than you might have expected. According to their public results release, Facebook had 1.11 billion monthly active users as of the end of March, a number that represents the people who logged into Facebook at least once in a 30-day period. The daily active users is arguably more impressive, nearing 2/3rds of a billion people at 665 million who log in every day. That’s a lot of cheddar potential for the company with the numbers representing…

The social media explosion means that it’s easier than ever before to keep in touch with old friends and to hook up with some new ones at the same time. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great for sharing news too and the majority of users will happily head online to announce details of a new job or a new arrival in the family. Both of those sites, Facebook in particular, are great for sharing your vacation with others. It’s a perfect opportunity to show off your skills as an amateur photographer and to let your friends know of all those exotic places you’re visiting — but is it just your friends…

Many major companies are going flat. No, it’s not just the economy or consumer sentiment, but rather in design. Flat is in and it’s sweeping across the internet, but how long will this trend last? Facebook made headlines last week with their move to a flat logo. Apple is rumored to be flattening their interface on iOS 7. Sabina Idler at Usabilla asked the question of whether this was a trend or a revolution. We’re going to go with trend. Flat design has many advantages including speed of design, simplicity of usability, and the sheer vintage trendiness of it all, but there’s something about stunning…

If you haven’t been paying attention to America’s favorite sugary beverage, Coca-Cola has come out with its first all-digital marketing campaign, aimed at its teenaged consumers. It consists of games and apps geared toward mobile devices like smartphones and tablets (though desktop users can still access the content). Coke’s vision for this strategy – titled “The AHH Effect” – is that it will stick as a long-term marketing plan for years to come. It’s pretty rare these days to spot a teenager in the wild who isn’t typing away or playing games on their smartphone. And they’re…