Google +1 Button: The More Social Dimension of Searching

In an effort to deliver the most relevant search results, Google has just introduced +1, a shorthand used to recommend a link found at Google search result that will become visible to people within your social circle and the world in general. This feature is roughly similar to Twitter’s retweet function, but unlike in the microblogging platform where retweets immediately show up in the stream of the person you’re following, links that are +1′d — let’s see if this ever becomes a verb in the future — only show up when they become part of search results. Oh, and yes, it’s Google’s way to help influence clicks towards pay-per-click ads.

Overview

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Facebook Places Security Issues

Overeager Hong Kong Facebook users greeted the launch of its Places feature by making updates that allowed friends to know their whereabouts. A friend posted his Facebook Place update while on transit via MTR; he updates his location every time the train arrives at a certain station. I almost forgot about a long-time ex-colleague until his Facebook wall showed his recent affinity for Pages and broadcast his current location. Aside from those two friends, there are more who got hooked into this latest Facebook feature, and proudly announce they are in the lobby of a luxury hotel, an exclusive bar in town or in some place that may raise suspicion from family or friends. If that’s not enough, Facebook users can also tag friends in a certain landmark granted their privacy settings allow them to do so.

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Social Media Week in Hong Kong 2011

While I am unable to attend the event, I am excited to write about Social Media Week in Hong Kong. That’s because I seldom see a opportunities like this in the city, in addition to the social media’s growing influence in the realm of digital marketing. Hong Kong is ripe for such kind of gathering of thoughts. Wireless access is ubiquitous, domestic broadband and mobile phone penetration is at all-time high, such elements vital in propagation of social media in the city. Facebook and YouTube occupy two of the first three spots in Web applications according to Hitwise.

Source: Social Media Hong Kong Week Facebook page

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How Social Media Influence Search Engine Results

With the popularity of social media activities, major search engines have integrated new features to integrate social media into search results. But while those features were be introduced they didn’t necessarily mean they play a role in search engine visibility. Until recently. That’s when both Bing and Google confirmed that tweeting stories with links or sharing a page through Facebook has some impact on how these pages appear on search results.

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WTF Is My Social Media Strategy: Random Social Media Strategy Generator

Aspiring social media practitioner and in urgent need of inspiration indispensable source of social media “strategy” to propose to clients? Fret no more, as a website developed by a UK branding company provides you with a handy strategy, one page reload at a time.

Built by Mike Phillips, a social media and engagement planner at a UK branding company called Lawton Communications Group, “WTF Is My Social Media Strategy” is a social media “strategy” generator. Put humorously, a visit to the website gets instantly rewarded with a randomly generated social media objectives. Unconvincing? Not a problem. Press [F5] and you’ll get another one.

A list of “strategy quotes” includes the following:

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