CRUSH – Bringing you the latest in social media news in four minutes or less. Become a fan on Facebook and get your daily crush at www.commonsensenms.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the massive lines outside the Apple store have been for the much anticipated, release of the iPad. With over 450,000 sold, it appears that having the iPad will be as commonplace as the iPod. But while there are already 3,000 iPad-specific apps available, there is one thing noticeably absent – Adobe Flash. Apple has banned flash from any of its iPhone and iPad apps, instead choosing only programs developed in HTML5.

Another media mogul Apple is taking a bite out of? Google. Apple is challenging Google’s online advertising dominance with the introduction of the iAd platform, which allows advertisers to develop interactive ads within another application. Although Apple CEO Steve Jobs has concluded it won’t be able to compete with Google’s search advertising, he is hoping Apple can become the leader in the mobile advertising sphere.

The war on climate change is heating up as the NRDC Action Fund rolled out its new media campaign to one-by-one get the 68 Senators who are not actively pushing for comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation to get in the game. And Senators, if you think they aren’t serious, just look at the recent activity towards target number one, Scott Brown of Massachusetts…

While the NRDC Action Fund works on the Senate, fifteen-year old Parker Liautaud is showing his commitment to the environment by skiing to the North Pole. His expedition, funded by none other than General Electric, is in hopes of becoming the first person to check in at the North Pole on Foursquare, which will earn him the coveted “Last Degree” badge.

Freedom of speech has been not only a liberty our country holds with pride, but also the source of controversy when it comes to media. Most recently, the forces for a free and open internet have been dealt a blow by the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., taking away the FCC’s power to move forward in it’s plans to get more Americans connected to a faster and cheaper internet, and potentially allowing Internet service providers to block internet content they don’t like. Luckily this future isn’t set in stone, and a majority vote of FCC commissioners could give the power needed to both protect consumers and close America’s digital divide. Go to savetheinternet.com to lend your support to this important cause.

The latest news from Twitter is bringing applause from the business community, as the site’s plans for a huge redesign shows a greater emphasis on data. Hopefully this will allow better insight into solving the riddle that has plagued many of us, Tweet R-O-I.

And the quest to solve new media riddles brings us to the CRUSH of the Week, where we highlight a number of individuals who are moving up in the world after making the leap from old to new media. Proving once again that the future where new media rules the day, well, is now.

Post from: Social Media Vision

CRUSH: The Great New Media Migration

Why Google Needs Buzz – Kevin Rose

If you haven’t heard about Google Buzz yet then it is time to learn what and how you can use it. Watch this video from google:
YouTube – Google Buzz

Start conversations about the things you find interesting. Share updates, photos, videos, and more.

Check out Joel Comm’s Buzzing With Google Buzz | Top One Report

When it comes to social media, it’s not the numbers that count. You can have a Facebook page with tens of thousands of fans and a Twitter timeline with.

Now I know this post is way overdue but let’s be honest we all needed some time to learn more about how Google Buzz was going to change the Social Media industry. In my honest opinion I don’t think it has really changed much at all other than become another tool or channel to share content.

Here are some Google Buzz Tips and Tricks

Doriano “Paisano” Carta made a short video tutorial in which he show how you should setup ping.fm and Google Buzz if you wish to distribute content.

Give your comments below on what you have thought about Google Buzz so far. I plan on posting my thoughts here soon.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Google Buzz, Kevin Rose and Joel Comm

Google PageRank

December 31st marked the day where Google updated the PageRank numbers for websites and blogs.

A PageRank is a metric measuring tool created by Google to measure reputation and importance content.  The last PageRank update occurred on September 2008 and usually occurs every 2-3 month intervals.  A wiki of PageRank can be found here.

There is however a lot of controversy over PageRank because webmasters are more focused on A search engine results page, or SERP.  The thing about Google is that they are very hush hush on the algorithms and formulas used behind their metrics including PageRank.  Webmasters have often experienced disappointment and frustration when determining PageRank and have often lashed out online with the results they have received.

The bottom line about PageRank is that its just another measurement tool used in the online world.  This may not be used to gain better search results but here is what it may be used for …

• A statistic used by Domain sellers & buyers.  Like it or not, domain buyers will want to know about your PageRank. 
• Can Deliver traffic based on PageRank worship and comment love.  Bloggers love finding high PageRanks to subscribe and leave comments on so that they can build their own backlinks through your PageRank Juice.  You will also gain traffic through un-marketed blogrolls, bloggers will more than likely list a high PageRank than a low PageRank.
• Google’s highly secretive search results formula still might be influenced by PageRank whether its a very small amount or a high amount.
• Overall PageRank is a measurement number widely viewed by the online world to determine rank.

So whether you like it or not, the best suggestion would to have a high PageRank anyways instead of complaining about it.  It’s best to have a good rank rather than be left in the dust and lose out on opportunities on a simple PageRank upkeep.

So below are tips and advice that I have done just in the matter of 1 month.  Social Media Vision opened up on 11-06-2008.  My other blogs based on Finance & Sales are all in the PR3 range and took many months to achieve that rank.  In the forum world people have also said to wait at least 1 year or so to even see a PR1 change, so I was very humbled and surprised when I see a Google PageRank 3 achieved in this PageRank.

Now there is no exact formula out there and guarantee due to the complex nature of Google but feel free to follow these tips below to help gain some tips on achieving a higher PageRank.

Google PageRank Tips

1. No BlackHat Advertisements

Google will penalize for unlawful selling or buying links.  Another blackhat ad trick is selling your posts on your blog for profit or Pay Per Post.  If you are going to do these ads on your site, use the “no-follow” code rel=nofollow.  This will allow Google to not track that you are following these ads or links.  I would suggest even using it on all your 125×125 Block ads.

2. Use Do-Follow Forums utilizing forum signatures

Forums are great resources for hidden promotion gems.  You can create a signature that displays your website/blog on ever comment you make in the forum.  I was commenting on forums that were in my niche “Social Media” like

• SitePoint forums, DigitalPoint forums and Warrior forums

You can use a do-follow search engine like DoFollow Forums to determine if the forum will give you PageRank juice with your signature links.  It won’t make any sense to start commenting like crazy expecting results if the forum is a no-follow forum.  

3.  Comment on Do-Follow blogs

Just like with forums, search and find Do-Follow blogs to comment on.  A good way to see if they follow a do-follow rule is look the blogger’s comments page and notice where the user will leave a website in the comment field, do a right click –> view source to look at the code to find the website of that commenter and if you see a no-follow code right next to the commenters website then that blog is a no-follow blog.  

There are many search engines out there that you can Google Do-Follow search.  I have found that commenting on the Do-Follow blogs has also upped my community experience too in getting to know my blogger niche community.

4.  Comment on Commentluv blogs

You may noticed my blog is commentluv enabled which allows my commenters a display of the last blog post they wrote if they opted to display their website link.  This is a great link love where you can gain great authority and new readers with commentluv.

5.  Find blogs with top commenter widgets

I have also found that finding blogs that display the Top Commenter widgets that show the top 5 or 10 commenters on the sidebar is another way to gain PR link juice.  Since this will be static in showcasing your site, the main website is giving your site a major boost in back-link juice.  I have found that major websites with high PR is very beneficial to get on the top commenter list even though it may be difficult to achieve.

6.  Submit site to directories

First rule is to develop content first within your website .  I wrote a good 10 articles before I started submitting to all the major blog and website directories out there.  It may be tedious but its worth it.

7.  Use social bookmarking

Social Bookmarking sites have really helped me with SERP and Google organic search results.  Use Social Bookmarking tools to get your blog indexed fast and start gaining authority in the Social Media world.

So even though you may hate PageRank and don’t think its worth it.  I highly suggest that you may reconsider and hopefully these tips/guidelines may help on your next PageRank update.  It’s only 2-3 month intervals so if you were disappointed on the last update, hold your head up and make a major bounce back.

Build rapport with a global audience and have your brand known, hire a social media agency today.

Post from: Social Media Vision

How I Got From Google Pagerank 0 To PR3 In 1 month

Google Friend Connect

Earlier this week on December 15th 2008, Google’s Official Blog wrote a post on how Twitter was integrated with Google Friend Connect service. 

This allows Twitter users now to sign in and join in with this social networking service by using Twitter Ids now so you tweet about the sites you join or find other Twitter users in your community.

Twitter Plays Fair

Quickly word spread that Twitter slapped Facebook & Myspace in the face with this breaking news but Twitter CEO Evan Williams had this to tweet about it, saying “For the record: Twitter did not “choose Google, not Facebook.” We’re working with both. We have more to do on the FB side before launch.”

Turns out Twitter wants to debunk rumors on siding with just Google, but what about Myspace you ask?

Twitter was originally one of the launch partners for Myspace ID (similiar to Google Friend Connect and FacebookConnect) Myspace has been using Google Friend Connect currently and is awaiting integration with Twitter.

Twitter’s Biz Stone also quoted from Tech Crunch here saying

Twitter plans to integrate with the open initiatives offered by our friends at MySpace, Facebook, and Google. We officially announced our intent to work with MySpace back in May because we believe strongly in offering the exchange of public information between our complimentary services.

Integrating with MySpace as well as FacebookConnect will require some development effort on our part. Now that we have 13 software engineers working at Twitter and our reliability continues to improve we’re getting closer to integrating with your favorite social networks

 

2 cents

So it appears Twitter want’s to be friends with everyone and is playing it very safe along the lines on who to side with.  Twitter seems at this point very smart to keep a hush hush business advertising model and playing it fair on all sides. 

Keep in mind Twitter was offered a buyout from Facebook earlier and was turned down.  More and more big players are viewing Twitter as “The Hot New Toy” recently, the question is who will Twitter play with the most?

Post from: Social Media Vision

Twitter Playing Fair With Google, Facebook & Myspace

Google Friend Connect officially launched in May 12, 2008 [via Google Press Center]

Google Friend Connect is in BETA stage at the moment and requires people to register to be white-listed to use the service.  Since my blog is fairly new anyways I figured I give it a shot and find out if this is a good Social Media Tool that Google claims it to be.

*Updated* – Google Announced December 4th 2008 that it will be open to any website owner to add Friend Connect in response to Facebook Connect.

Setting up

The first thing I had to do was set up a new site to use this service.  Apparently this service will only work on self hosted sites where you would have to download 2 .html files to upload to your main server.

After setting up .html files, you are directed to choose a Gadget or Widget from the gallery.  Apparently there will be tons of open apps to be available but for now there seems to be just 3 main apps.

• Add a Member Gadget – Similar to MyBlogLog’s members widget where users can add their profile to your site.
• Wall Gadget – This gadget allows users to interact with your site by posting comments, or links to videos on your site.  Similar to a Shoutbox.
• Review/Rate Gadget - This gadget allows users to rate a page, or a section of a page. Users rate videos, articles, books, photos, songs, etc etc.   This gadget is similar to the rating plug-ins or widgets currently out there in the blog world.

Review

*12/5 Update* - I added the wall feature at the very bottom aswell, please feel free to test this new tool

Post from: Social Media Vision

Beta Testing Google Friend Connect Similiar To MyBlogLog & Rival Facebook Connect

Gmail New Video Chat

about

If you haven’t noticed already, check your Gmail account and you will notice at the top of your screen is a new feature called video chat.

Video chat is a plug-in you install when signed into Gmail.  In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.

Playing catch up

Yahoo has launched webcam chat a long time ago http://messenger.yahoo.com/features/webcam/

Aim has launched Video IM a long time ago http://www.aim.com/help_faq/using/win/video_im.adp

It doesn’t matter really because everyone loves Google and most people are migrating over to Gtalk and with all the new people using Gtalk it only makes sense to add Video Chat.  This doesn’t come to a surprise, just look at Google Chrome, everyone wants a piece of the action.

Have fun with your Gmail Video Chat and if you don’t have a Webcam there are some promotional items on the Gmail Video Chat Link http://www.google.com/mail/help/videochat/learnmore.html

Post from: Social Media Vision

Gmail is catching up on video chat