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Trends In Social Media Use

A recent report indicates that more people spend their time online on social media sites than any other type of site, meaning that it has definitely become a mainstream and accepted thing to do.

Those on a personal computer spent around 20 percent of their online time on a social media site of some type, while those using a tablet, smart phone or similar device to access the Internet spent about 30 percent of their online time on one or more sites. The survey was carried out by Nielsen and NM Incite.

Pinterest (Photo credit: stevegarfield)

Everyone should already know just how important social sites are when it comes to finding new ideas for the home. Following people on the two largest sites, Facebook and Twitter can lead to many great ideas and designs that you may never have found through the old methods of searching through catalogs or even looking through your favorite home design websites. Although the top two social networking sites are great for getting new ideas, there’s a new arrival on the scene that is quickly becoming the go-to place for home improvement and all related living topics. I’m talking of course about Pinterest, which while it is only a couple of years old is already the number three ranked social networking site in the world, and it’s not hard to see why.

Image by Yann Ropars via Flickr

Chances are that unless you hired a web professional with SEO experience, your website is missing essential components. The entire purpose of a website is to establish your online presence in a positive light while increasing your customer base. Whether you’re an alcohol treatment facility or a shoe store, if your website is not doing a good job marketing your business, you’re missing out on easy revenue.

There are certain essential elements to a well-crafted and productive website. Find out what it is, make sure your website has it, and enjoy a more successful business.

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U.S. politicians are increasingly discovering the benefits - and perils - of social media. While Anthony Weiner's Twitter scandal - or Joe Walsh's YouTube video - might be the most publicized examples of social media backfiring, far less sordid uses of social media by politicians have nonetheless demonstrated the limitations of a public figure's ability to control his or her online image.

As more and more politicians have begun creating Facebook and Twitter pages to communicate with their constituents, a growing number of those constituents have been communicating in return and, quite often, they aren't happy. Negative political talk back seemed to hit a fever pitch during New York's recent debates in the state Senate over the state's legalization of gay marriage.

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Pretty much every website you go to tries to provide you with a customizable experience. Amazon suggests other items you may be interested in – based somewhat on what others buy but also on what you’ve bought, what sites you’ve visited, any cookies your browser may have, etc.

Facebook takes into consideration which links you click on and which posts you like, and then displays more updates from those friends and fewer updates from other friends. This may be good or bad, depending on whether you want to stay in touch with everyone or you want to just see what you care about most. (Compare this to Twitter, which may suggest users, but leaves it up to you to manage your actual feed.)

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A third party client for access Twitter is now becoming part of Twitter. Rumors have been surfacing for weeks that Tweetdeck was going to be purchased and now the rumors appear to be true. Unnamed sources at several technology/money websites including CNNMoney and The Next Web have reported the price will be near $40 million when the sale is finally announced. This price will include a combination of private stock and money.

And, so, the online media wars continue.  .  .  . Just as “Video Killed the Radio Star” in the ‘80s, so “the Internet Killed Print Media” in the 00’s. Or, so it seems. Yet media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, has unveiled his vision of an apps-only news source which he thinks will challenge this trend and cause readers to turn to their ‘readers’ for their daily dose of news, rather than to online news aggregators like Google News and Yahoo! News.

Twitter Retires the Early Bird Advertisement Product

Today at the IAB Mixx conference, Twitter COO Dick Costolo announced that the Twitter Early Bird program would be retired. The advertising program allowed advertisers to make product announcements directly to Twitter users through one centralized account, @EarlyBird. Virgin American and Disney were companies that took advantage of the program but most offers were only for the American market which Twitter felt was alienating to international users.

Internet Awaiting Twitter Announcement

Rumors are stirring that one of the advancements that Twitter plans to unveil this afternoon with be inline photos and video. This will be a nice addition that will make video and photo Twitter third party applications unneeded in the future. The feature was made available by mistake back in July to a limited number of users. And some code present on the site today provides for a picture icon when a picture is attached to a tweet. A similar feature is well represented by the options offered by Brizzly.