The Social Path

Six changes that could complete Google+ Pages.

Google+ Pages finally launched with bang, or at least a small pop and fizzle. The company waited a baffling long time to launch their professional pages - so long that it seems much of the general public has lost interest. Nevertheless, it's Google and over time a G+ pages will become an important tool in search and customer relations, especially for storefront businesses as these pages become business listings.

The business pages have a lot of great qualities, one of them being that signature Google cleanliness. That's a welcome change from Facebook's increasing messiness. However, for the amount of time Google took in developing the professional pages after the initial launch, we still see a number of glaringly omissions that need to be added before Google+ becomes a viable competitor.

No Custom URLs

There is really not much explanation needed here. It should seem obvious  for the folks at Google to have vanity URLs available to pages. Maybe not all pages, but at least go the route of Facebook and provide custom URLs to pages once they establish a certain number of followers. It's difficult to link to a random set of numbers and letters. I can't imagine we'll have to wait too long before these become available.

Direct Connect

Direct Connect is a tool where typing +business name into your search bar will prompt the business's Google+ page to appear as the top search result in the drop-down menu, bolded and bigger than all other listings, and links directly to the Google+ page. It would be pretty handy if it weren't so elusive.

Direct Connect is attained when Google's algorithms decide the page has earned it. Followers are obviously a big factor and Google suggests that adding a link on your Plus page, as well as adding a piece of code to your website, will help Google recognize and verify your page.

However, who knows how long that could take or what the criteria are - Google never tells you. Why there isn't a verification request form is a bit baffling. The option to request verification from our Google Ad representative would be helpful too. Either way, it's a neat feature that is far too exclusive. If they expect this search habit to catch on they are going to have to make it more attainable.

Auto-Circle

Here's a new term I hope becomes commonplace in our industry - auto-circle. The circles are a great feature, and it's the feature that sets Plus apart from their social competitors. Circles are simple and required, keeping our Google+ profiles tidy and making it easy to direct certain content at the ideal audience. However, for large brands who want to follow and engage with their fans, keeping up and organizing followers into all appropriate circles is going to be difficult.

A company may want to organize each of their followers by age, location, and sex; that's a lot to keep up with if you have fans pouring in. Ideally, if we created these circles, when a brand gained new followers Google+ would have an algorithm to "auto-circle" them into the appropriate categories. That way the brand has an exhaustive list when it wants to target a specific audience within their followers. This may sound like a pipe dream but if you're gonna dream, dream big right?

No Contests or Promotions Allowed

According to the Google+ Content Policy, a brand cannot administer a contest, giveaway, promotion, etc. through Google+. However, you may link to a contest hosted elsewhere, like say ... Facebook. An odd move on Google's part to encourage brands to drive traffic away from their platform and onto the competitor's.

Search

Not that I'm impressed with most social media platform searches but ... this is Google. That's sort of their thing. After creating the Luckie & Company page, I tried finding it through the search bar and turned up results for all our employees but no trace of the new, official Luckie & Company page. I realize the page had no followers at that point but it was the day Pages launched, no one really had any followers at that point. How are we to build an audience if the audience can't find us?

Not to mention, the search offered no organization to sort out people and pages or search by some demographic; it was just one big lump of useless results. I have to say this was the most shocking discovery, Facebook is beating Google at their own game.

Multiple Admins

No man is an island, and neither are companies. Currently, Google+ Pages are only allowed one administrator - the person who created the page. Unless Google wants people running around creating fake personal accounts in order to avoid giving out their personal email address to all their coworkers, they better rectify this. Fast. 

Facebook pages were certainly no gem when they were launched years ago and are a constant work in progress. So Google should certainly get some time to figure this all out. However, this is Google's fourth attempt at social platform and they hoping in pretty late in the game. At this point, it should be apparent what is and is not necessary to survive. Although, I guess if that were the case we'd all still be Buzzing.

In your experience with the new Google+ Pages, what are the changes or additions you would make?

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Photo credit: amala_tc on Flickr.

Google's new transparency feature gives you more control over targeted ads.

If you've ever wondered why you get certain personalized ads in your Gmail or search results — or if you're simply annoyed by them — then you'll be incredibly happy with Google's latest addition to its advertising.

The recently announced "transparent" approach to ads offers a "why these ads" button out to the side of any ad featured in your Gmail. Click it to find out why Google felt a specific ad would be beneficial to you. Not interested? Visit the Ads Preference Manager to opt out and refine what type of ads you'd like to see.

Not interested in targeted advertising whatsoever? Select "Opt out" in the Ads Preference Manager to remove specified advertising. Of course, this does not remove advertising from Google, it just makes it less personal and theoretically more private.

I've never been bothered by targeted advertising in my Google mail or search, but I understand that some people feel violated. I respect and appreciate Google for making these changes and improving the user experience and relationship with the company. 

Check out Google's official video on the new ad interactions below and let us know what you think. Are you going to jump at the opportunity to customize or opt out of ads, or are you happy with Google analysis of your ad preferences?

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Photo credit: M.V. Jantzen on Flickr.

Google keeps you painstakingly safe and secure.

In recent weeks, hackers and viruses have reared their ugly heads more frequently and successfully than we've seen in a while. And worst of all, they're not just coming through our outdated email addresses and Friendster; they've crept across Facebook and our beloved Gmail.

Facebook already has stepped up to the plate by offering a secure HTTPS connection, and now Gmail has followed suit by rolling out an advanced login option.

You can check out the official Google Blog for details, but, in summary, they have built a thorough system - to a fault. It all starts simple enough...

Step 1: Open your account settings and select 2-step verification.

Step 2: Download the Google Authenticator App on your phone and scan the QR code on your computer.

Step 3: The QR code will give you a six-digit code that randomly regenerates every minute. Just type that code into the next screen.

Step 4: You're then provided 10 backup codes to print and store in a safe, easily accessible location, should you lose your phone.

Step 5: Finally, you input a backup phone number, should all of this fail you.

Step 6: Just when you think it's over, Google determines if you use a phone or desktop application, and then you'll have to get another code ... and then I passed out from sheer exhaustion. 

The whole process really only takes 15 minutes and can secure your whole Google world, which is truly fantastic. I had to log out and start over because my randomly generated codes were repeatedly rejected but the second time was the charm. 

I've never been hacked, so maybe I have a rosy disposition, but I just didn't deam this necessary for my Gmail. However, this could be a vital tool for independent contractors or others who run their companies from their Gmail accounts. Just clear some time and get organized before diving in or you'll burn up a lot of time going through the process.

P.S. - To all the hackers out there, I didn't secure my Google account with the codes pictured above so don't even think about hacking me.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Photo credit: Truthout.org on Flickr.

Google HotPot: The best app you didn't know existed

Toward the end of 2010, Google quietly launched a great new review application called HotPot. It's sleek, user friendly and thorough. You can search and rate everything from restaurants to toy stores to parks, all from one easy application. 

In order to vote, all you have to do is sign in to Google (so if you're on Gmail right now, you're already logged on). You also must create a username. The voting has a few easy, fun steps to complete, all without leaving the main page. When you select the star rating for the item you'd like to review, the selection flips like a baseball card. Then you can fill in your stats, write a description if you'd like and submit.

In addition to submissions from HotPot, Google aggregates reviews from all over the Web - so instead of nine crummy reviews from one application, you get a true measure of the place's value. 

HotPot is built into the Google Places iPhone and Android applications (without the HotPot name attached at all, which is weird) and is every bit as simple as the Web application. Google recently announced Twitter integration of HotPot in its Google Maps for Android app, but Twitter sharing is noticeably absent on the Web-based and iPhone applications.

This is one of Google's best ventures into social applications, and in time I believe it will become the most reputable and popular. So be sure to step up and claim your business to get into the game early.

The Social Path's vote is five stars! Great service, atmosphere and value - but now we're starving.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Google Instant debuts, saving 1 million hours per day.

Big announcement from Google today as the search juggernaut reveals its new real-time results on Google.com. As you type, results appear automatically below the search bar, so you can more quickly find what you're looking for.

Google Instant is being rolled out as we speak, so in case it's still not working for you,  check out this video introduction:

According to The New York Times, Google has estimated that its new results will shave 2-6 seconds off each search. That's a cumulative 3.5 billion seconds — or nearly 1 million hours — saved per day.

I'll especially be curious to see how this new approach is incorporated into Web browsers and Google mobile apps. From the company's statements today, it sounds like we'll find out in the coming months.

So what do you think? Impressed with the new results? Find it too distracting?

And most importantly, got any ideas on how the world should use those 1 million salvaged hours each day?

David Griner is a social media strategist for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

The 6 biggest Twitter announcements of the week.

This week, Twitter is hosting its annual developers conference, Chirp, which is why you've probably noticed a flurry of announcements and changes at Twitter. All of these are meant to improve the user experience, so unless you're a developer who has to make sense of it all, you should be pretty excited about the prospects to come. 

In case you've had trouble keeping up with all of it, here's a handy guide so you can keep up at this weekend's nerdiest cocktail parties:

1. Twitter created its first true advertising opportunity with "Promoted Tweets"

For now, promoted tweets will appear only in relevant search results. So if you search for "new car," your results might include a promoted tweet from Ford. These branded messages will likely be  phased into Twitter streams gradually, so you'll eventually see them popping up between your friends' updates.

Some have likened this new ad style to how Digg.com handles sponsored items, which is pretty seamless, though it can sometimes be easy to miss that a front-page Digg item is sponsored.

Twitter is treating this endeavor with a lot of care to remain unobtrusive and only allow sponsored tweets that are relevant and useful to users.

Will businesses find it a worthwhile service to pay for? Hard to say at this point, though it'll be interesting to watch it evolve.

2. Twitter bought an iPhone app.

Since the iPhone's debut three years ago, third-party applications have been the only options for Twitter users. Now Twitter has officially gotten on board with the purchase of Tweetie, a (currently) $2.99 application. The app will soon be known as Twitter for iPhone and be a free application (and will lead to the development of Twitter for the iPad).

The announcement of an "official" Twitter app jangled the nerves of third-party developers, who were justifiably concerned that they will now be competing with Twitter itself.

3. Twitter announced the creation of "User Streams"

If you use a desktop Twitter application like TweetDeck, the addition of a "User Streams API" by Twitter should come as good news. It means you won't have to worry about data limits, and you'll see your network's updates quite a bit faster.

4. The Library of Congress will archive every public tweet.

The Library of Congress plans to catalog all public tweets dating back to 2006. Moving forward, all tweets will be recorded for posterity within six months of posting. 

Why keep such a comprehensive chronicle?

Twitter provides a glimpse into the everyday lives, interests, and opinions of the modern individual. Trending topics shift with the political climate and world events, so our tweets provide insight into the real-time thoughts of people across the planet.

Because in 20 years, I'm gonna want to remember who won in the 2010 battle of Beiber vs. Coco.

5. Google announced two new Twitter tools

Google's never really found a smooth way to tap into Twitter, but the tech giant announced two mildly interesting new projects at this week's conference.

First is a system that graphs the popularity of Twitter topics over time, which is something many sites have tried and failed to do accurately. It will become part of Google's "Updates" search option, and you can see a test version here.

Second is Google Follow Finder, which makes recommendations for which Twitter users you should add to your network. Suggestions are delivered in two categories: "Tweeps you might like" and "Tweeps with similar followers."

"Tweeps." Ugh.

6. Twitter has 105 million registered users, up 1,300% from a year ago

About 75% of Twitter's traffic comes from third-party applications (versus, say, direct posts on Twitter.com). On a related note, 37% of tweets are sent from mobile phones.

For lots more statistic madness from the Twitter developer conference, check out this link.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Day 18: Get your Google Profile up to date.

Throughout January, The Social Path is running daily tips on how to improve your social life — online, at least. Click here to learn more.

For all the work people put into maintaining a profile on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, relatively few think to update their info on the world's most-used Web site.

Google Profiles offer you an easy-to-find hub for your bio information and links. Not sure if you've got a Google Profile? Just Google the word "Me" and see if it pops up at the top of your results. If not, you'll likely want to set up your profile.

Here are a few tips to making the most of your Google Profile:

1. Obviously you'll want to make sure that your basic information and links are up to date. Google makes it easy to add or remove links, and you can also shift certain links higher or lower in your list 

2. The Contact Info section can be as detailed as you'd like, though you can also use privacy filters to limit your phone numbers and e-mail addresses to known contacts. People viewing your profile will still have a chance to contact you without learning your e-mail address.

3. Be sure to fill out the "Places I've lived" and "Where I live now" sections, which are incorporated into a cool little map. This has little practical use, but what can I say, I like little maps.

4. You can include a photo stream to jazz up what's otherwise a pretty dry profile template. Google lets you import photos from its own Picasa system, along with Flickr and other photo sites. You can choose to feature your most recent photos or specific photo sets.

One last thing. Be sure to set the URL for your profile. If you haven't done this before, it should be an option at the bottom of your edit page. If you can keep the address uniform with your ID on Twitter, Facebook, etc., it'll help you solidify your social identity even more.

Once you have a fleshed-out Google Profile, it should be featured on the bottom of Google search results whenever someone looks for your name. That's not the most mind-blowing placement ever, but I suppose you get what you pay for.

For now, a Google Profile isn't a tremendously useful resource in day-to-day life, but you can bet that Google will find more and more ways to leverage this tool as it faces increasing pressure from the social juggernaut of Facebook.

Estimated time needed: 10-20 minutes.

Benefits: Improved search presence and a more unified hub for your online presence.

Day 13: See what your readers see.

 

Throughout January, The Social Path is running daily tips on how to improve your social life — online, at least. Click here to learn more. 

We're going to be talking about a few ways to streamline your blog's look and navigation in the next few weeks, so we wanted to get started with an easy little test that can help you step back and take a good look at your own site.

Recently, Google unveiled a tool called "Browser Size," which lets you find out what percentage of the world's Web browsers can actually see your site's front-page content without scrolling.

Why is this important? Because chances are, your blog has a purpose in life. Whatever that purpose, shouldn't it be reflected in the layout of your site? 

Are you looking for new customers? Soliciting donations? Sharing hot news in your industry? Angling for a book deal? The answer is rarely a simple one, but I bet you could summarize your strategy in a few simple bullet points. 

For our part, The Social Path is aimed at helping Luckie's clients, partners and friends stay up to speed on the rapidly evolving world of social media. It also helps introduce Luckie to folks who might not know how much butt we're kicking down here in Birmingham.

With that in mind, several things jump out to me when I look at The Social Path through the lens of Google Browser Size:

1. Why do our bios get such prime real estate? Sure, it's nice for you guys to know who we are, but this site is about what we've learned and accomplished as an agency, and that should probably be better reflected in the design.
2. Why are the subscription options so hidden? Only 40% of our site's readers can see the "Subscribe by E-mail" form without scrolling, and just 20% see the RSS link. (Admittedly, most RSS enthusiasts know to look for it in the browser's URL bar, but that's no excuse to hide the button below the fold.) 
3. What kind of topics does this blog cover? There's really no hint at the types of info we write about, beyond the tagline. How can we get some basic navigation or popular topics into the main display without cluttering it up?

Some of these are issues we'll be able to improve within the 30-Day Social Media Makeover, but some others might take time — and that's OK. The key for today is simply to take stock of your design and see what kinds of opportunities you're missing. 

After all, there's no shame in taking a moment to question yourself and admit that you're not perfect. Or as mythologist Joseph Campbell once said, "Out of perfection, nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up.”

Estimated time needed: 10 minutes.

Benefits: A clear look at areas for improvement in your blog or site design.

Coming tomorrow: Isn't it time you shared the love on LinkedIn?

Facebook, Google and the URL butcher block.

When Facebook and Google both make a similar move, it's a trend. When these similar moves come to light on the same exact day, it's a land war.

That's exactly what happened yesterday, when word came out that both companies were launching URL shorteners, tools that help you share a long Web link by shortening it to a small new address. TinyURL was the first resource of this kind, though it's recently been eclipsed by the subtly superior Bit.ly service.

Beyond TinyURL and Bit.ly, the field was already crowded with dozens of other URL shorteners -- is.gd, ow.ly, etc. -- fighting for market share.

Then the big boys rolled into town. Facebook quietly launched fb.me, though any hope of a celebratory parade was drenched just moments later, when Google unveiled Goo.gl.

What do these innovative and powerful entities have to offer? Will they unseat Bit.ly with sheer audience girth alone?

First, let's look at the perks of each site's new tool, along with a recap of Bit.ly's benefits, including new features just launched yesterday. (What a coincidence!)

Facebook's Fb.me

Status: Active, but in testing. No official announcement from Facebook yet.
How it works: Automatically shortens some links sent within Facebook, via Web or mobile device.
Bonus features:

• Already works as a replacement for branded fan page URLs, meaning that Facebook.com/LittleDebbie and Fb.me/LittleDebbie take you to the same place. This means a company retains its branding while saving space on a site like Twitter.
• Likely will soon offer customizable links and analytics for Page managers.
• Could become a standardized aspect of how Facebook Connect lets you share information across the Web using only your Facebook login.

Google's Goo.gl

Status: So far can only be used from the Google Toolbar browser plugin or from FeedBurner, Google's popular service for managing RSS subscriptions. Like Fb.me, you can't just go drop in a Web site and turn it into a Goo.gl address -- yet.
How it works: Google Toolbar offers a "Share" button, which gives you options of where you want to share the Web site you're currently viewing. When it posts your link into Twitter, Digg or a similar network, the URL will be converted to Goo.gl.
Bonus features: Google is focusing on three areas where it hopes to beat competitors like Bit.ly.

• Security: Google will scan site links for malicious code or suspicious activity, hopefully protecting you from clicking through to a dangerous page.
• Stability: As the Web becomes more and more dependent on URL shorteners, people are going to get more and more upset when these link sites are down, preventing you from clicking through to anything they've shortened. Google is promoting its massive resources as a sort of insurance that Goo.gl links will always work. (Though even Google has had its outages.)
• Speed: Again, Google says its resources will help ensure that the linking process is as fast as possible. It might be a subtle improvement, but these kinds of subtleties can be a deciding factor when you're choosing your default service.

Bit.ly

Status: Alive and well since mid-2008.
How it works: I recommend dragging the "Shorten with bit.ly" link into your main browser bookmarks. That will automatically truncate a link to whatever page you're currently viewing. But you can also just copy and paste the link onto the Bit.ly site itself.
Bonus features:

• Bit.ly offers simple but fascinating analytics on how many people have clicked through to a certain link. You should consider opening a Bit.ly account, so that your analytics are tracked from any machine, though you can get quite a bit of data without an account.
• Ubiquity: Bit.ly is the default URL shortener for Twitter, which makes it the envy of its field (and the mortal enemy of TinyURL, which it toppled on Twitter in May 2009).
• As of today, Bit.ly has Pro accounts, which (among other things) let businesses create their own branded URL shorteners, such as nyti.ms for links to The New York Times. This is another sign that branding is becoming a key concern in a world where clearly identifiable links are being shortened to jibberish, a service that's great for the customer but frustrating for companies trying to get their name out there.

So where's all this headed? Is there really a lot of money here?

Probably not. The very nature of URL shortening eliminates almost any hope of selling ads for revenue, and pro accounts will always be a tough sell when there are dozens of free competitors out there.

This is a fight for marketshare, a battle to become (or remain) the industry standard. In a war like that, the winner will be the company that's willing to invest the most resources with almost no hope for monetary reward.

Which means six months from now, you'll probably be using Goo.gl when you link to my new blog post called "Whatever happened to Bit.ly?"

Photo credit: Sean Rogers1 on Flickr.