Facebook close to surpassing Google in visits

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new application called Facebook Places that allows users to document places that they have been.  Cool.  It should be a popular feature on the world's most popular social media site.

Pardon, not just social media.  Facebook is poised to becoming the most popular place on the world wide web, period.

For the month of July, Google had 3.161 billion visits.  Check this, Facebook had an astonishing 3.152 billion visits.  eMarketer estimates that the popular social networking site will rake in over $1.3 billion in revenue for 2010, almost double the $665 million it brought in last year.

The site's staggering growth is fueling speculations that Facebook will go public by way of an IPO sometime in 2012.  That's speculation, but the site has institutional investors.  One thing we know about investors, the final objective is harvest.

Bloomberg recently valued Facebook at $24.9 billion, using data from two private exchanges where investors can place positions in venture-backed companies.

The site has become a global phenomenon, and earlier this year, it surpassed the 500 million user mark.  A big chunk of the world's population uses the site as a place to connect.

There are also expectations of $1.8 billion in revenue for 2011, based on estimates of between 600 to 700 million users.

Facebook is not just a popular online site.  It's staggering growth makes it a bona fide powerhouse.  An interesting question is, will Mark Zuckerberg keep user's experience as a friendly and homely one?

Or will pressures to monetize this most valuable of web properties commercialize the site to such an extent, that friendlier, homelier competitors can snatch the initiative?

Social networks on the rise among US web users

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Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube account for nearly a quarter of the time Americans spend online, or six hours per month, according to new research from Nielsen.
The media research organisation also found that US web users spend 36 per cent of their online time visiting or communicating across social networks and blogs as well as emailing and instant messaging their contacts.
Perhaps more surprising is the news that the nations' social networking audience is getting older - with Nielsen reporting that twice as many Americans aged 50 or over visit social sites compared to users under 18.
"Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the Web, nearly half of U.S. online time is spent on three activities - social networking, playing games and e-mailing," explained Dave Martin, vice president of primary research at Nielsen.
Mr Martin added that "friends and family are endorsing content to others," explaining the rise in popularity among social network-hosted games such as Zynga's FarmVille.
USA Today reports that online games overtook personal email in June as the second most popular online activity, accounting for 10 per cent of user time compared to just eight per cent for email. Email was still found to be the dominant activity of mobile web use, however, rising from 37 per cent to 42 per cent in June.
Other findings disclosed by Nielsen include the statistic that American web users streamed an average of three hours and 15 minutes of online video content in June. The Pew Internet & American Life Project also recently reported that newer members signing up to social networks tend to be older, more racially diverse and from more divergent social backgrounds than members who signed up previously, as social networking becomes a universal phenomenon.

Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Twitter Tightens Security, But Is It Enough?

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Twitter began an effort this week in hopes of preventing the spread of malicious links through its service. Sharing links is one of the most popular uses of Twitter, but it is also dangerous since spammer and hacker activity has recently been high on the site. As a result, users are led to inappropriate websites and in some cases, are forced to deal with malware attacks on their computer.

Twitter uses Google’s Safe Browsing API as it checks for fraudulent links. When a user posts a malicious link, Twitter deletes the tweet and returns a message reading: “Oops! Your tweet contained a URL to a known malware site!”

At this point, the filter does not block malicious links that are put in url shorteners. However, some shorteners such as Bit.ly use their own spam filtering systems.

While security experts are pleased that Twitter is making an effort to improve its security, they also believe there is more work to be done. Nishant Jadhav, the Director of Product Management and Business Development at FaceTime, told WebProNews that Twitter’s tightened security could be a result of the U.S. Marine Corps’ move to ban social networking sites. He went on to say that the next step for Twitter and other social networking sites could be content-based filters.

More WebProNews Videos

Is Twitter doing enough to protect against malware? What other measures could they be taking?

My Page - Free document publishing for Ning networks

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via CrunchBase

Gabor Keller's Page on Free document publishing for Ning networks and the Web

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Dramatically Expand Your Twitter Following With Twit Pro Quo

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Twit Pro Quo is a simple and fun yet effective new service which helps people increase and diversify their Twitter following for free. Using a proprietary design, Twit Pro Quo seeks to level the playing field in a world where celebrities tend to attract more Twitter followers than almost everyone else combined.
As Twitter continues to grow, more and more individuals and companies see the importance of maximizing their reach within this social network. Twit Pro Quo is a service which embraces this notion and adds an enjoyable twist for users to expand their Twitter following. The objective is to help as many people maximize their exposure on Twitter, and to use it as an effective marketing tool.
http://twitproquo.com

Facebook Hit by Koobface Virus

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Friday, December 5th, 2008 by Taylor Pratt
Rumors swirled around the Twitterverse yesterday that Facebook had been hacked. McAfee Avert Labs Blog says that while Facebook has not been hacked, it does have a virus spreading across its millions of users.
The virus is a variant of the social networking virus Koobface. The virus is spread by sending fake messages around Facebook accounts. The message looks like this (photo credits to McAfee):

If a user ends up following that link, they are taken to a site with a flash video player. The virus then alerts the user that their Flash software is out of date. The virus than prompts the user to download the latest version, and if the user accepts, it downloads the virus onto their computer. Finally, the user receives an error message once the virus is installed saying there was a problem installing their Flash update.
Facebook is aware of the problem, and asks users who have received the virus message to reset their password and scan their computers for the virus.

Using Linkedin As A Small Business Owner

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The philosophy of most small businesses is the same for Linkedin.com ….
Relationships Matter
Sounds familiar right? As a small business owner, you get it. Success is usually linked to the professional relationships you build over time. So the theory is that the more relationships you have, the more success can come your way. Who can argue with that?
So, what exactly is Linkedin.com?

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.
When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you.
Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

Here’s a short video about what Linkedin.com is and how you can use it to create more relationships, and more success for your small business.

LinkedIn May Be Right for Your Business

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By Chris Crum - Fri, 11/14/2008 - 12:37pm.
The Social Nework of Choice for Many Business Owners
LinkedIn is the preferred social network of many business professionals. It's not the only one by any means, and some people will tell you it's not the best, but studies show that it is the favorite among business owners.
Mike Sachoff recently reported on a study that also found a direct correlation between LinkedIn use and personal wealth. He wrote:

The study found a direct relationship between the number of connections and high personal income. Those members with personal incomes between $200K-$350K were seven times more likely than others to have over 150 connections.
The survey found that senior executives, who make up about 8.4 million members, have the highest average personal income with $104,000. Savvy networkers, also described as consultants have the second highest averaged income with $93,500 and consist of 9 million LinkedIn members.
I wrote about this and some other LinkedIn related information, all pointing to it being a network that business owners can turn to for networking purposes. Today I came across a helpful video at Small Business Trends, that shows you just how to go about using LinkedIn to benefit your business.
Experienced social networking folks, probably won't gain a whole lot from watching the video, but for those of you who haven't really gotten your feet wet, the video should prove to be a good watch. Comments on Small Business Trends indicate that a number of people have found it quite useful.
LinkedIn is all about relationship building, which is a fundamental element of small business growth. While there are a number of other networks you can use to build relationships, LinkedIn tends to cater to business professionals more than some of the other ones. If you like other networks better for business use, please feel free to let us know in the comments.
About the author:
Chris is a content coordinator and staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and the iEntry Network. Subscribe to SmallBusinessNewz RSS Feeds.

Increase Site Traffic Easily And Affordably

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 By Giorgos Kontopoulos
Many people doing business online have great websites but don't seem to be selling anything. Their products or services are top-notch, and their looks both professional and unique. So why aren't they making any money? The issue is that it really doesn't matter how amazing your website is if no one ever sees it.
Here are 45 ways you can increase your website traffic easily and affordably.1. Create your site with search engines in mind. Most people who look up something on the internet do so by using a search engine. Use words and phrases related to your business throughout your site.
2. Blog about your site. Even if you don't have a dedicated blog for your website, mention it in your personal blog. You might even make multiple blogs-a personal one, a business one, etc.
3. Update these blogs on a regular basis (at least once a week).
4. Tag your blogs on sites like http://del.icio.us and www.technorati.com.
5. Use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to advertise your website.
6. Put your website address in your email signature.
7. Put your website in the signature area of any forum you post on regularly, especially if the forum is related to your service or product.
8. Add an RSS feed to your website news section or your website blog.

9. Watch for any grammar/spelling errors on your website. No one will stick around your site if it has obvious (and avoidable) errors on it. Proofread!
10. Likewise, make certain all the links on your website work.
11. Look at what kind of navigation tools you are using on your site. Some may not work with every web browser.
12. Write good articles and press releases about your website. The goal here is to get keywords into the article that will send people to your site.
13. List your website at DMOZ ( http://dmoz.org).
14. Review products on epinion.com and other review sites that are similar to yours.
15. Post comments on other blogs and websites that discuss products or services similar to yours. Be sure to include your website if there is space for a URL.
16. Put up business-related photos on sites like Flickr and tag them with your website address.
17. Make comments on blogs related to your website, and encourage people to comment on your blog.
Continue reading this article.

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About the Author:
Giorgos Kontopoulos is a web consultant from Greece. He is one of the authors of GeoLand.org where he can often be found blogging about issues related to web development and search engine optimization.