Viral Fever

Critique of the Distributed Agile Team Model

Nathan C Brown — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:46:22 +0000

Critique of the Distributed Agile Team Model by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

The most quickly evolving business model is the "distributed agile team," which describes most companies I've worked with over the last 5 years. Being "Distributed" often involves employees who telecommute, but strictly speaking it just means the team members and/or offices aren't centralized anywhere. These teams are often spread around the region, country, or even globe to provide manpower for 24/7 coverage or support. The "Agile" part of the trend can trace its roots to digital development teams, but the principle applies in other fields:

"The best teams are usually most productive when given the freedom to be task-oriented and not deadline-oriented, self-motived rather than fear-motivated."

Revenue: For many, going distributed & agile means significantly less overhead. No office utilities, you rarely need more than a couple people running the entire HR department, distance and better yet, it's more feasible to provide 'round-the-clock support and/or inbound & outbound sales calls Work Environment: The results for at least a dozen startups I'm familiar with are staggeringly successful, until they grew a good bit and the distributed model bit back. Eventually, being based out of an "HQ" turns into a rarity, and eventually the administrative-level jobs become too much for the core founding team. Since the nature of telecommuting can be prohibitive to building co-worker rapport, it's not unusual for founding members or C-levels to hesitate when it comes time to hand off a portion of administrative work. Longevity: The distributed agile model works for the long haul in fields like programming development, but for most every other field, successful Agile Startups eventually outdo themselves and have to realize they're not Peter Pan - they've grown up and have to take the deadlines & business law that comes with it.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

How To Bulk Up Your Blog

ViralFever — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:13:08 +0000

How To Bulk Up Your Blog by ViralFever on ViralFever

This post was written by one of ViralFever's expert Guest Authors - Learn more about how to start a blog, get people to read and share your blog, and make money from blogging with a step-by-step tutorial at the author's site at howtostartablog.com.

The primary steps of creating a blog are considered the most thrilling part. You have so much things in mind that you want to include in it like your writing piece and interactive features. It’s just like getting a new apartment and having to fill every corner in it. But after a while, things tend to slow down as excitement fades and blogging starts to feel like a chore. Several blogs are even left idle. Boosting your blog content is a tool to achieve a winning blog. Always make sure to publish write ups on a regular basis so that your blog is always fresh which your readers would appreciate and your blog will be visible to a structured directory of topics. But some bloggers are experiencing difficulty catching up with the demand, so shared below are tips to boost your blog content. 1. Learn to manage your blog posts. Many bloggers write articles in their leisure time. Make the most of your leisure time, learn to manage your blog posts. Write down all your ideas or certain incident that you want to tackle on your blog before the actual blogging. Doing so reduces idle time in front of the computer. Make use of a blog draft written on a sheet of paper so you will not lose your focus by other web page. This routine can save a lot of time and this will help you produce quality articles as well. 2. Set limits on your entries by dividing it into parts. You may have full enthusiasm to write a blog one day but you might not sustain that same feeling the next day. Instead of having heavy blog post, limit your blog entry by dividing it into parts. Besides,long blog post will bore your readers and might lose their interest in following your blogs. Add a ‘to be continued’ note on your blog entry to let your readers know that there’s more to it and then schedule the publish date of the next installments in advance. 3. Get more authors. Simply put: two people can give multiple opinions rather than a single individual do the entire thinking. Popular blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger allow multiple authors in a single blog. This means more than one person can publish articles in a single blog domain. This feature is frequently used by teams, group and associates. If another person shows interest to write an article on your blog, better give it a try and go for it. 4. Welcome guest post entries. Give opportunity by having guest posts on your blog. Guest posts are blogs made by another bloggers. This is a usual tradition amongst bloggers in the same genre so that in exchange, there’s a link going to the website of the guest blogger. Create a small advertisement on your blog to encourage guest post submissions. 5. Easy-To-Use Article Directory. Article directories are websites with collections of articles for distribution. A few examples are articledashboard.com, selfgrowth.com and articlepool.com. By joining the article directories, you are given the privilege to look for write ups from their broad directory – at no cost! But like the function of guest posts, articles derived from article directories might have links that once clicked, it will be routed back to the author’s website. 6. Syndicate content automatically. Rich Site Summary, often called RSS or Real Simple Syndication, is a format that permits content made available to other media automatically through web feeds. Most blogs display their RSS feed link openly for easy syndication of others. Syndicating a blog always link back to your site whenever there’s new posts. This routine is not considered inappropriate because RSS feeds will display a hyperlink going back to its original source. Given the suggestions above, you should not struggle coming up with more content on your blog.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Off Site SEO with Free Link Building Strategies

Nathan C Brown — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 05:47:55 +0000

Off Site SEO with Free Link Building Strategies by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Off Site SEO

SEO teams often forget that SEO is really about traffic - not ranking. Ranking helps, of course, but the entire purpose of ranking higher in search result is to obtain more traffic. As a result, people & even SEO "experts" spend all their time worrying about things like SERP and keyword rankings, and not enough time focusing on their overarching internet marketing strategies.

SEO teams often forget that SEO is really about traffic - not ranking.

Free link building strategies

If you have a new(ish) site or haven't developed your off site SEO much, check Alexa for domains linking back to your own. Chances are, the report will reveal that very few (if any) domains are linking back - so building quality backlinks will be vital to the site’s reputation & pagerank. Along the way, those links provide useful traffic if properly placed, and can play a major role in your marketing strategy long before you achieve that #1 spot on Google. Avoid “black-hat” SEO methods or trying to automate backlink building - these automated links generally are either low-value links from bot-generated forum profiles, or just as low-value links resulting from link building strategies that Google highly frowns upon. As a result, the most efficient free link building strategy is also the most time-consuming & tedious - writing articles, submitting press releases, participating in niche forums & question sites, etc., not to mention identifying ‘do-follow’ backlink opportunities (the preferred type of link for SEO, assuming the link is from a quality site). Once your site has grown enough to afford it, SEO outsourcing is a common route to take for backlink building. This allows the site owner to focus on providing their own services rather than lose hours chasing links. If you're not quite at that point yet, here are a few sample methods that the ViralFever team has used to obtain quality one-way backlinks without dropping a lot of cash:

Build your own social groups

Example: Email Marketing on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/email) Reddit is one of many social networks that allow users to build their own groups, or "subreddits" as they call it. When we first found it, /r/Email had no active moderators but was still receiving fairly steady content submissions. A simple volunteer message to the Reddit admins offering to take over the moderation of the subreddit resulted in access to a page on a PR8 domain which self-updates regularly with user generated content. That's the beauty of these social groups - when run properly, eventually the users begin to submit more content than you do as the administrator! The same goes for other social networks as well, such as the viral marketing LinkedIn Group we've just launched (which you should all definitely join, by the way!). With some quick CSS & sidebar edits, the subreddit quickly provided a single, non-spammy, & strong "do-follow" link directly to ViralFever.net, and even with "Internet Marketing Strategies" as the anchor text. (Warning: Reddit is another universe - once you go in you may never come out!)

RSS Feeds SEO

Google likes fresh content - Without steady, fresh content (at the very least monthly), eventually your ranking will decrease. Adding an RSS feed is an effective way to avoid this, since feeds can be automatically distributed and automatically ‘ping’ feed sites such as Technorati, alerting them to fresh content. Some corporate sites choose to only use their feed when they update their site's static pages, but the results are exponentially more effective if real, useful content is being written. Generally, it's best to have a minimum of 350 words for Google to recognize the page. The maximum word count depends entirely on the attention span of your typical reader. As with backlink building, blog writing/management/distribution is often outsourced to either established writers or ghostwriters if it proves too much upkeep.

Off Site SEO = Time & Commitment

Let's face it: off site SEO is tedious & time consuming. If you have the time & patience to do it yourself, however, it can be extremely rewarding. Otherwise, you may wish to consider outsourcing the campaign - in some cases it can even be cheaper then paying for a PPC campaign!

What free link building strategies have worked for you? Tell us in the comments:

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Terrorism or Activism? Millions of Sites down due to GoDaddy hack by alleged Anonymous Leader

Nathan C Brown — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:03:29 +0000

Terrorism or Activism? Millions of Sites down due to GoDaddy hack by alleged Anonymous Leader by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

In a move that has brought down countless websites, @AnonymousOwn3r has taken credit for a GoDaddy hack of their DNS (Domain Name Servers). As the largest domain registrar, and one of the most popular web hosts out there, this has resulted in far-reaching repercussions for many website owners. The team here at ViralFever has attempted to get through to GoDaddy phone support, however it currently seems inaccessible from at least our location. On top of domains being inaccesible, some GoDaddy users have reported that other services are down as well - hosted E-mail, Phone services, & more. The alleged member of Anonymous* taking credit for the downtime is known as the group's security leader, identified only by his Twitter handle @AnonymousOwn3r, and has made it clear that at least for the GoDaddy hack, he is acting alone, apart from the Anonymous collective:

Hello everyone who wanna me to put 99% of the global Internet in #tangodown?— Anonymous Own3r (@AnonymousOwn3r) September 10, 2012

*While the account bio claims to be 'Security Leader' for Anonymous, this is unverifiable currently - due in no small part to their...well, anonymous, nature.

With #TangoDown now a buzzword in every website owner's ear, Twitter accounts claiming to be Anonymous still haven't shied away from applauding their comrade's efforts:

#TangoDown -- godaddy.com | by @anonymousown3r | — Anonymous (@AnonOpsLegion) September 10, 2012

GoDaddy has said that they are aware of the problems, and are in the process of resolving them currently.

Status Alert: Hey, all. We're aware of the trouble people are having with our site. We're working on it.— Go Daddy (@GoDaddy) September 10, 2012

Neither the hacker himself, nor the Anonymous collective have shared with the world why GoDaddy became a target - although some media outlets have theorized it may be related to when GoDaddy was pressured in to opposing the SOPA bill. That said, it could be any number of recent controversial events that the company has been involved with. ViralFever investigators are researching leads to determine the motive. A lot of people have cheered on Anonymous for their past actions, like when they posted a list of Twitter accounts of known pedophiles, or went after various foreign governments to fight censorship. So -

Terrorists or Activists? Tell us what you think in the comments

Or, read more about Internet Freedom

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

How to Build a Brand – Viral Theory 101 Part II

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 12:44:11 +0000

How to Build a Brand – Viral Theory 101 Part II by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

or all my fellow online marketers, or those of our readers who are just learning how to build a brand, pay very close attention to what I'm about to say. This may be the number 1 mistake that I've seen people make when launching their first campaign:

People follow people. They don't follow websites.

How to Build a Brand

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're new to the scene, it's the cold truth that people really don't care what you have to say. If you're just another random screen name, no one is going to listen to you, nor will they care what content you have on your website. What's more, if all you ever do is post your own content, then people will see it and dismiss it as just what it is– self-promotion. So the question becomes, “How do I get people to read my content, on my own website?” After all, the whole point of online marketing is to create conversions. We covered that in the first edition of Viral Theory 101. But people don't visit the website, or follow someone's social profile, if they don't have a good reason to. This is where a good brand awareness campaign using tools like content curation comes into play.

Content Curation

First, if you haven't already, create social profiles for yourself on all the major social networks. This should be a given–this includes Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, Quora, LinkedIn, Reddit, and countless numbers of other networks. Most people already know to do this, but then they make the biggest mistake: the content that they share to their networks is only their own. A quick way to register your username across all of the major networks is to use a service like KnowEm, which checks the availability of your desired username in each network and registers it if you so choose. So how do you get around this? The trick is simpler than you might think–but it is time-consuming. In order to drive more visitors to your website, or create more conversions of any kind using content, you have to build up your social profile so that you become viewed as a reliable source of fresh, relevant, content in your field. This includes content that isn't your own–yes, I mean that you should be sharing content from other websites and sources other than yourself. The complaint that I've gotten from a lot of clients at this point is “What about competitors? I don't want to send people to other websites or other social profiles. They should be coming to our website or our profile.” While that's entirely correct, and it is the end goal of any Internet marketing campaign, have you ever followed someone's social profile or website just because they claimed to know what they were talking about? Or do you follow someone because they provide the freshest, most relevant content? Nine times out of 10, the latter is true. Like I said, people follow people, not websites. Just throwing 'social media guru' into your bio isn't how to build a brand, nor is it going to get people to listen to you. Enter the world of content curation. Last edition of Viral Theory 101, we talked about several different types of Internet marketing campaigns. The first one was brand awareness – if you haven't performed a campaign for brand awareness yet, this is without a doubt the best place to start. Even if you don't have a website yet, and even if you don't have a company or brand yet, you can still run a brand awareness campaign for your self–building up your own reputation as an individual in whatever your field is. Once you've done that, it's exponentially easier to introduce the audience you've created to new projects, ideas, and brands. Of course don't get me wrong–there are plenty of other ways to advertise on the Internet and run online marketing campaigns without having a strong social following. But having one makes your job significantly easier. So, let's go over some of the more effective methods of building your influence using content:

1) Content Curators

There are a number of online services that have been created to help this process–but, there's still nothing better than good old-fashioned personal research. This means using RSS feeds, subscribing to e-mail loops, and whatever else it takes to keep track of the best content in the field you want to set yourself up as an expert in. When you find an article that's worth sharing, let people know–across whatever social profiles you think would be most effective. Those are just a few things to keep in mind–but, those curation tools I mentioned can also be extremely useful. These are a few of the more common ones: There are a number of other third-party services that provide curation assistance. A popular choice here at Viral Fever is SproutSocial, which is primarily a social dashboard to manage your social media profiles but conveniently integrates with both Google reader and Web alerts.

2) Content creation

All this talk about content curation doesn't belittle the fact that being the author of new content is a power in its own right. Creating content for your website is a big enough topic on its own which we'll leave for another post, so we'll focus on some of the other content creation platforms. No, I don't mean WordPress.com, or Tumblr, or any of the other free blog sites. Those sites are useful, but by themselves they don't do a whole lot in the way of actually promoting your content. So let's look at some of the other options:

Your turn:

This is a pretty general overview so far - we're going to keep digging deeper into various marketing strategies, such as effective content writing, social brand monitoring, SEO, and more. But we don't want to go too fast for our readers either - What questions do you have so far? What do you want to hear about next? Do you have any specific questions in regards to how to build a brand?

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Building your SEO with Squidoo

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 10:03:03 +0000

Building your SEO with Squidoo by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

The latest craze to hit the net, Squidoo is actually a brilliant little website that exploded in popularity. It gives its users the opportunity to create what they call a “lens,” which is really nothing more than an article. While building your article, your options are complete with link building, images, comments, and even wiki and user generated content. But it doesn't end there–once you've created your article, Squidoo actually assists in the process of promoting that article. First, your lens needs to obtain a “lens rank,” which usually happens within about 24 hours. Once that happens, Squidoo will post your lens in the appropriate categories and topics on the wooded website. In some cases, your lens may even qualify to be promoted in one of their lands “newspapers.” Now that your lens is on Squidoo, it's automatically promoted to other users of the site (or “lens masters,” as they call them). These lens masters then have the opportunity to “squid like” your lens, giving you an even higher lens rank and promoting it even more viewers. If you have good content, there are enough users on the website for this to be a fairly easy task–and this is where it starts to get fun. As your lens becomes more popular, and you become more reputable as a lens master, Squidoo will actually submit your lens to search engines like Google, directories, etc. If you have links back to your website on your lens, this can do wonders for your SEO.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

How to Make a Newspaper

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:19:07 +0000

How to Make a Newspaper by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Paper.li is probably one of the more common content curators, this service is basically an “online newspaper.” It pulls information from tweets, RSS feeds, major news sites, Facebook profiles, and just about any other source that you ask it to. Once it’s done, it puts the whole thing into a newspaper format, complete with headlines, featured articles, and even videos. You can choose to subscribe using e-mail, or even have the service automatically announce new “editions” view your Twitter page. Technically the service is free, but there is also a “pro-” version for $9 per paper monthly.I've experimented with a number of setups, and different ways of setting up the curator. While RSS feeds are the most reliable, they also require steady updates. Using twitter hash tags, and common keywords, can be a more effective way to curate more content on your topic. The downside is, sometimes it's difficult to monitor what articles actually show up on your paper. There are a number of ways around this–using the free version, the simplest way is just to constantly monitor what is on your paper. If you've upgraded to the Pro version, the process can be made significantly easier since the Pro version allows you to approve the updates to your paper before it gets syndicated across your networks. Other benefits to the Pro version include custom logo, custom ads, and more control over the timing of your syndication. If your main goal, however, is large amounts of study content, the free version should do the trick. The downside of course is that you have less control over your content, thus increasing the chances of undesirable content on your paper. Keeping a steady eye on the content of your paper and utilizing the “blacklist” feature to avoid spammers, should help keep your content clean.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Planning Internet Marketing Strategies – Viral Theory 101 Part I

Nathan C Brown — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:42:51 +0000

Planning Internet Marketing Strategies – Viral Theory 101 Part I by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

aunching your own internet marketing strategies can be a daunting task. Just setting up your own website is a learning curve by itself - suddenly terms start swirling around like SEO, PPC, CPC, CPM, SMM, SEM...I could go on! All of us have been there (including those of us here at Viral Fever), and frankly, it's hard to find a simple way to start an effective internet marketing strategy. So, we decided to put together a series of posts to act as a guide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and startup advertisers. Welcome to the Viral Theory 101 Marketing Strategy course! No, this guide won't make you an Internet god overnight, nor will it make you a master of Google AdWords - what it will do is give you a workbook to start with, and based on your feedback in the comments we'll continue to write articles to answer your more in-depth questions!

Planning your Internet Marketing Strategy

First off, something really important that I've noticed new online marketers seem to often confuse: Most people start their marketing campaign with a simple assumption: "I can't do anything without a website!" Not to be blunt, but that's dead wrong. We're dealing with the Internet here. There is practically no limit to the ways you can connect with your audience, other than your own creativity. Don't get me wrong, a website is really helpful, and in most cases it really is necessary. But between the power of social media and the numerous other ways available to reach your target audience, the first task on your list isn't automatically making your website. The first task when creating a marketing strategy is to ask yourself a simple question:

What do I want?

What do I want to gain from this campaign? Am I looking for leads? Perhaps email subscribers? Do I need to take a step back and make sure people know who I am or what my company does? There are a few common goals that online campaigns are created for - so, check out the guide below, and see which one you're currently after. From there, we'll tackle the best way to approach your campaign, then go over some specific tools to help. Important terms are in bold and defined:

1) Define your goal

2) Establish Conversions

In other words, just pick which of the 4 goals above is your current focus. When you successfully lead someone online to complete that goal, you've made a conversion! This will be an ongoing series, and I'll be making separate posts for each of these conversion strategies, but here's a quick overview of them:

The most successful online marketing strategies will include, integrate, and cross-reference each of the above campaigns!

Next up in Viral Theory 101, we'll dive deeper into one of the specific internet marketing strategies...read more about How to Build a Brand using creative brand building tactics.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Extended Trailer for the Wachowski’s new mindbender ‘Cloud Atlas’

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:27:17 +0000

Extended Trailer for the Wachowski’s new mindbender ‘Cloud Atlas’ by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Cloud Atlas Movie Extended Trailer Online

Cloud Atlas is adapted from a novel of the same name written in 2004 by David Mitchell. The Wachoswki duo partnered with director Tom Tykwer to adapt it to the silver screen. If you're a movie buff like us, there's a director's commentary and a couple of other trailers available over at iTunes Trailers. Frankly, we're not sure what to think yet. Even after watching the Cloud Atlas trailer, there are a lot of unknowns about the story - then again, that's probably to be expected from the mind-bending masters Wachowski (The Matrix, Speed Racer). Warner Bro.'s description is enough to catch our eye though: "An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future..." Cloud Atlas arrives in theaters on October 26, 2012...

Your turn: Is it worth watching?

[schema type="movie" url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111/" name="Cloud Atlas" description="An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution." director="Tom Tywker, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski" producer="Stefan Arndt, Tom Tywker, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski" actor_1="Tom Hanks" actor_2="Hugo Weaving" actor_3="Susan Sarandon" actor_4="Halle Berry" actor_5="Jim Sturgess" actor_6="Hugh Grant" ]

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

#BoycottApple trending on Google Plus after judge bans Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 12:34:49 +0000

#BoycottApple trending on Google Plus after judge bans Samsung Galaxy Nexus by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

[#GoingViral]: #BoycottApple hashtag via Google Plus

The timing of this couldn't really be more uncanny. Samsung just lost a major court case to Apple - that loss came via a ruling in favor of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus Ban. Of course it's just temporary, and the court cases will continue. In the meantime, we get to watch #BoycottApple start skyrocketing in trends on Google+. The best part is this, though - for a search engine, Google is what many would consider the standard, or at least a seriously major player. Despite that, a Samsung spokesperson actually revealed that it's the search feature itself that's exactly where the trouble is:

the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function[...] Nam Ki-yung, Samsung Spokesperson

So, the #BoycottApple hashtag is now trending, and has conquered the world of Google Plus! We're watching for updates, as well as monitoring Twitter to see if it picks up there as well. We'll update this post when more trending news shows up - in the meantime have some fun watching the Apple bashing on Google: [UPDATE 9:34AM]: #BoycottApple Live Trending Google + Feed [UPDATE 9:46AM]: Apple website parody [UPDATE 11:14AM] Well it doesn't seem like the trend has quite made it to top 100 status for non-tailored Twitter accounts. But, #BoycottApple is still going strong on Google+. That's what we know for now... but let's take a look at the victim at this Galaxy Nexus 7 ban, the tablet itself!

[video id="YMQdfGFK5XQ" type="youtube"]

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Google Drive: Small Business Document Collaboration

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:02:32 +0000

Google Drive: Small Business Document Collaboration by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Google Drive is no tech wonder, but great for document collaboration

Video via Butterscotch, Creative Commons 3.0 (read) For the most part, Google Drive has managed to sneak into our GMail accounts fairly uneventfully. A small bar at the top of what we all know as 'Google Docs' tells us that Drive is coming. Beyond that, there's not much to see unless you go looking for it. But for avid Google Drive users, or for small businesses, teams, and entrenpreneurs who need cheap document collaboration, I can see this becoming a must have. Check out the video above for a visual review, from some fellow tech nuts over at Butterscotch team and LabRats.TV The video covers all the cool document collaboration features that Google Drive has. So, I'll skip to the concerns - the biggest of which is quite simply iOS access. Yes, you can download the Google Drive 'app' for your iPhone or iPad. And yes, you can read documents. Beyond that, the features are frankly mediocre at best. As someone who has both worked for and managed teams needing document collaboration, I can honestly say that I've never been in a work environment where we didn't have to figure out cross platform compatibility. While Android is definitely pulling their weight in the market (and then some), the Google Drive iPhone app is still a bit of a letdown. That said, Google Drive is still a good, inexpensive, and steady cloud drive for document collaboration. I'm curious about this audience's reaction to it though...

Do you intend to start using Google Drive?

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Edit Facebook Comments with the latest feature from Facebook

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:57:55 +0000

Edit Facebook Comments with the latest feature from Facebook by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Edit Facebook Comments |REPORT|

We're all just as guilty. Guilty of that "Oh, no!" moment that occurs when you realize just too late that you've mistyped something on your latest Facebook comment. Or, maybe your smartphone's auto-correct decided to thoughtfully change a few words on your behalf. Good news for Facebook fans - the days of having to delete, re-type, and repost the entire comment are over: enter Facebook Comment Editing, allowing network socialites to edit Facebook comments with a single click! Facebook announced that comment editing would be made available, along with a full historyof the comment's edits, according to Verge.com on Thursday. There are still two questions burning in our minds though:

Will Facebook allow editing for original posts, in addition to comments?

What about the social comments plugin feature, like what we use here at ViralFever.Net? Will these posts also become editable?

We'll be keeping a close eye on the Facebook Newsroom and page for updates on both of these. For page managers and website owners, these answers could be crucial to their routine. With all of the latest attention on the Facebook IPO fiasco, it's easy to miss that these new features are being added. Comment editing isn't the only thing the devs at Facebook have been cooking up! They've also published a full infographic of just what happens when you report a post, and even given users a choice as to if their 'Likes' can be converted into Sponsored Stories. We'll be updating you as answers reveal themselves - In the meantime, what do you think of this new feature? Should posts be made editable too? Share your comments below, or submit questions and tips to team@viralfever.net!

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Ashton Kutcher plays Steve Jobs in “Jobs: Get Inspired” – Confirmed

Nathan C Brown — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:30:19 +0000

Ashton Kutcher plays Steve Jobs in “Jobs: Get Inspired” – Confirmed by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

It's been confirmed - despite the horrible timing of the original posts by Variety.com and others (April Fool's Day is seriously the worst of days for a blogger or credible news source to spring a surprising story, at least if it's true) and the Huffington Post's decision to repost the news the same day, the truth has emerged after much outrage and incredulous disbelief among the blogosphere and social networks. Just skim through the comments on the Huffington Post article, and you'll find a hodgepodge of opinions ranging from outrage at how soon this "BioPic" is being made after Steve Jobs passed away, to people even ridiculing the news sources and blogs for taking what could easily be seen as a (completely tasteless) April Fool's Joke so seriously. Within the day, Variety's Jeff Sneider had to take the argument up on Twitter - to clarify that their story was confirmed, but still admitting to the "unfortunate" timing of the story. Now, almost a whole month later, many people are still in disbelief. Keeping your credibility as a news source can be tough - especially when so many readers seem confused by nothing more than the day the post was made. To live up to our mission of finding the truth through crowdsourcing and the "free marketplace of ideas", We've dug up the real sources for our readers here at ViralFever, direct from the producers and Hollywood/film industry insiders themselves. But first, one can't help but have a quick chuckle at ABC News' light-hearted version of covering the topic:

Reposted via share embed provided by ABCNews.go.com

So, let's see what happens when we dig further into the mass of info...

New(ish) to the production scene, Producer Mark Hulme of FiveStarInstitute lets the proverbial cat out of the bag in an interview with Neowin.net, even going so far as to announce "It will be released in the 4th quarter of this year."
MovieInsider, IMDB, and HollywoodReporter - between these three (usually pretty well up-to-date) film news feeds, we can cross-check and confirm not only that the film exists, but that it's officially in the Pre-Production phase under the guidance of Director Joshua Michael Stern. Unfortunately for HollywoodReporter, they also ran the story on that fateful day of April 1, 2012. Sigh.
Another actor, Josh Gad, is reported to have signed on to play the role of none other than Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak.

And then from there, most of the other blogs simply reposted that same material as quickly as they could - many of whom failed to consider the timing of such news. With a tentative launch date and another actor signed on, unless they still think it's April Fool's Day it seems fairly clear that Jobs: Get Inspired will be coming to our theaters, likely by the end of the year.

oral of the story, no news source is infallible - even if all of the trouble was over one little day. And yet, somehow it is good to know that when the story just doesn't make sense, we haven't - yet - begun to believe everything we hear.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Freedom of Thought & the ‘Free Marketplace of Ideas’

Nathan C Brown — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:49 +0000

Freedom of Thought & the ‘Free Marketplace of Ideas’ by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Thought, the ideas of individuals...

...protecting the 'Free Marketplace of Ideas' from censorship and commercialization

The Mission of ViralFever

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...when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe ... that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

We will not claim that all ideas are right. We will not claim that the "crowd" is always right. In fact we daresay that the opposite is often the case - but not for lack of truth! The 'Net has given us something that at one point, mankind never believed we would have - a true 'flat world', an even playing field that gives the idea of a single individual just as much of a chance at success as the latest multi-million dollar promotion from some major DotCom mogul. Anyone can log onto a website and become their own content creators by writing blog posts or status updates - no longer are the masses content being 'mere consumers'. Of course being human, we had to go and commercialize this new opportunity for a public forum: There is a plethora of ideas, creations, and even breaking news just waiting to be heard that instead gets lost in the sludge of high budget ads and so called "promoted viral campaigns" (is it just us or does that defeat the point of 'viral'?). As a result, terms like 'net neutrality' and 'internet censorship' have sprung up and resulted in countless debates. Many creatives, professionals, small business owners, etc. find themselves at a loss in getting their word out into this vast due, because thanks to this commercialization and failed net neutrality they now lack the ability compete in what we like to call "The Free Marketplace of Ideas".

Philosophers have and will continue to argue over this idea, but it's simple:

An individual has an idea
The "culture" has its own muddle of countless other ideas (the Free Marketplace of Ideas)
If the individual idea has the opportunity to compete on neutral ground in the "free fmarketplace of ideas", then the truth or at the very least the best of the ideas is more likely to be found by a logical, reasoning person sifting through the sheer amount of ideas. To do so, however, it would require net neutrality on both a governmental (censorship) and corporate (high budget advertising) scale.

"Social Networking" has given rise to a new free marketplace of ideas - a way to provide unlimited freedom of expression, allowing for nearly the ultimate in a "net neutrality" of the marketplace. And with this thought, ViralFever was born. Are we always right? Nope. Are the millions of Twitter updates always right? Nope. Our mission is not simply to report, but to provide an opportunity for creations and ideas to flourish and compete, across the entire World Wide Web. Our goal is to (one day) become more than simply a blog - more than simply another RSS feed in your inbox - but a centralized way for everyone to participate equally, and to be heard as equally as the next guy with all the advertising cash.

“He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.” -Thomas Jefferson, in a Letter to Isaac McPherson (1813)

We're here to share independent & unfettered viral news, social networking trends, and tech tools - for everyone. Enter ViralFever: A collaborative effort combining the talents of some of the freshest, most creative minds in digital technology & media with the trends and news of today. A chance for startups and online entrepreneurs to connect and share insights into each other's ventures. This is why ViralFever.Net exists.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

MusicFever Weekly Catch – Jack White, Lana del Ray, and Fun.

Trae Primrose — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:16:44 +0000

MusicFever Weekly Catch – Jack White, Lana del Ray, and Fun. by Trae Primrose on ViralFever

Some of the latest buzz in the #MusicFever world...Jack White, Lana del Rey, and Fun.

Jack White - Blunderbuss

Fans of any of Jack Whites projects (The White Stripes, Dead Weather, Raconteurs) will appreciate his solo debut. From the raw energy on “Sixteen Saltines” to his catchy croon “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” the record flows in a way thats unparalleled. If I were to highlight a single song the records title track, “Blunderbuss” is fantastic if you’re into jangly bluesy ballads. Check it out on iTunes and Amazon!

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

This album is pop, but constricting it to a genre almost seems shallow. This sultry crooner’s sophomore effort hits it out of the park. Every song sounds like not only could it be a single but perhaps a classic. The hit “Video Games” sounds like Nancy Sinatra’s take on well...video games. Other stand outs include “Off to the Races” and “Lolita” the latter sounding like Britney Spears meets Sleigh Bells. Find the album on iTunes and Amazon. [video id="Bag1gUxuU0g" type="youtube"]

Fun. - Some Nights

If you haven’t heard of this group yet then you are surely missing out. Lead singer Nate Ruess, formerly in “The Format,” is the shining star of this three piece. His style of singing has been most compared to Freddy Mercury and the band incorporates so many instruments its difficult to believe its only three members (6 members touring). The single “We Are Young” which has been featured on Glee, and used in a Chevy Super Bowl commercial should sound familiar to all. Other notable songs include “Some Nights,” and “It Gets Better.” Check it on iTunes and Amazon.

Mention of any content, digital or otherwise, does not indicate ViralFever's endorsement or affiliation with said content, merely a opinion representation or review of content we have found to be trending or noteworthy.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Top Three Twitter Apps for Productivity and Results

Brittany Highland — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:21:12 +0000

Top Three Twitter Apps for Productivity and Results by Brittany Highland on ViralFever

While Twitter’s 100 million active users are dwarfed by Facebook’s more than 900 million active users, Twitter still has the clout to impact your project or business. Let’s face it: The entire population of Mexico is just over 112 million, so the potential audience that Twitter gives you access to is worth taking a look at to ensure you're using the right Twitter apps! But in a community as large as Twitter’s, it can be easy to get overwhelmed or distracted. I want to introduce three tools to you today that will help you accomplish your goals on Twitter without wasting time.

#1: Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck opened my eyes to the usefulness of Twitter more than three years ago, and I’ve been a devoted user ever since. This desktop tool allows you to load your most important Twitter streams into columns and manage multiple accounts at once if needed. These are the minimum columns I have loaded for each account at all times:

All Friends
New Followers
Mentions
Direct Messages

I also take a glance at my Trending: Worldwide column from time to time, to make sure I’m on top of any news that may be breaking on Twitter. The Trending column is also useful for finding new followers and popular conversations that may relate to my interests or projects.

With Tweetdeck, you can set up your important Twitter streams in columns and easily manage them at once

Tweetdeck makes it easy to bounce between tasks, search for users or keywords, find new followers, and enter the conversation. I recently deleted the Tweetdeck app on my iPhone because it crashed all the time, but I’ve rarely had any issues with the desktop version beyond the occasional lag. Tweetdeck is free to download for Windows or Mac at Tweetdeck.com.

#2: Buffer

Buffer is a new website that has tremendously boosted my productivity on Twitter. This freemium tool gives you the ability to schedule tweets in advance and send them out at times that you set. The free version lets you manage one account and schedule up to ten tweets at a time.

Buffer helps you schedule tweets to send throughout the day

One of the best parts of Buffer is the browser extension. If you find an informative article online that you want to share on Twitter, it’s as simple as clicking the Buffer button on your toolbar. Buffer loads the article title and shortens the URL for you, and you can add commentary or keep as-is.

Buffer’s browser extension lets you easily add articles to your Buffer as you discover them

With the extension, Buffer also adds a link to every tweet on Twitter.com, allowing you to easily schedule RT’s.

The Buffer browser extension adds a handy scheduling button to each tweet on Twitter.com

I don’t have time to manually tweet throughout the day, and you probably don’t either. Buffer solves that dilemma for me. Since I started to use Buffer Twitter apps, my follower count has increased consistently. Start using Buffer for free by visiting BufferApp.com. There is also a paid version available.

#3: bitly

Without the ability to measure the results of your online marketing, it’s like throwing pieces of paper into the wind, knowing you’ll never see them again. It’s one thing to post a link to your latest article on Twitter, but how can you tell how many people clicked on the link, when they clicked and where they’re located? Bit.ly can give you all of that information and more. Bitly first became known as a link shortener, useful for that 140-character Twitter update, but it now provides a wealth of free and useful tracking data.

Bitly displays the number of clicks for each of the links you share on Twitter

You can also use your bitly links on Facebook and anywhere else that you market online. Bitly CTR (click-through rate) data will signal problem spots and successes, so that you can adjust your marketing to be even more effective. I definitely suggest that you connect your bitly account to Buffer, so that links sent through Buffer will be tracked as well.

Bitly supplies more detailed data for each link, including the time of each click and social networking shares

Sign up to use bitly for free at bitly.com. There are so many Twitter apps out there, but check out my three favorites and share any tools of your own that you prefer! What are your favorite Twitter apps and how have they helped you connect with others and grow your accounts on Twitter?

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

How to get those Facebook Likes you’ve always wanted

Nathan C Brown — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:11:57 +0000

How to get those Facebook Likes you’ve always wanted by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

Day 1

"I made a Facebook Page!!!!"

Day 3

"I have 15 likes!!!"

Day 30

"I have 15 likes...still..."

Yup, pages don't advertise themselves. If you want "likes," you need Page direction - essentially, give people a reason to want to like your page. Take a look around at this very page you're on. Just to comment on ViralFever, you've got to log in using Facebook or Twitter. In all honesty, the biggest reason for that is those pesky spammers! Forcing a social login is one tool to avoid comment spam (although other steps should be taken too).

But there's more to it...

Google +, Facebook, Twitter - the more people see your brand online, the more leads to your site you get. With Facebook getting to be such a big deal in the corporate world (and one of the most cost-effective advertising methods currently on the web), getting "Likes" is key. The big secret? Not a whole lot, actually - just use the tools that Facebook already provides! One of our personal favorites is the "Like Box" (you can make your own here). It's visible both on this site's sidebar and right here, too:

And the best for last...

Use incentives! If you're a band, offer a free download for a limited time for those who "Like" your page. If you've got another product or incentive you can use, utilize that too, like the 'social incentive' below! (And yes, it's a real eBook :) ) [wdsm_ad id="882" class=" aligncenter" ] Of course don't get too post-happy with the self promotion - but that's a subject for another post! Facebook Ads are another great tool for those willing to spend some money, check out our tips for them here!

How do you prefer to drive likes to your Facebook Page?

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

The Hunger Games: A Response to the Reviews

Marcie Little — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:57:01 +0000

The Hunger Games: A Response to the Reviews by Marcie Little on ViralFever

I had no intention of “reviewing” The Hunger Games. In fact, I rarely (if ever) write a review of a movie, because if it’s controversial enough, then most likely other people with whom I agree will have already written about it, and this introvert hates being just another voice spouting the same thing as everyone else. But for this book/movie, something was different. Almost every time I read a review, something seemed wrong. Even if the review was good, I would read comments that readers posted, and their thoughts would trouble me. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what was bothering me. Vaguely I knew it was because people were just spouting but not thinking through their arguments (yeah, I debated in high school, and yeah, it still affects me). But an odd sensation was growing inside of me: I wanted to write a response to the reviews of The Hunger Games. Something about all the other reviews made me think that something was missing. And then I figured out what it was.

I did not watch the movie for entertainment. If you are going to watch it for entertainment, just don’t.

I watched the movie for instruction. Because I had read the books, I knew what was coming. I knew about the violence. I knew it would be hard to watch. But I chose to watch it anyway because I knew that seeing the movie would make me think, and think really hard. In our entertainment-driven society, it’s hard to think about reading a book or watching a movie for a purpose other than entertainment. And that’s why I said that if you’re only going to watch the movie or read the books for entertainment (and have NO discussion of the ideas), then don’t do it. From things I’ve read from and about the author (Suzanne Collins), the series was meant to critique our “vulture-culture” that loves to see and hear about violence in the news, in stories, and in our own neighbors’ lives. (You’re probably guilty, too. Ever wished the person giving a prayer request at church would have provided just a few more details?) That was her intention. It saddens me to see all the entertainment hype surrounding the opening weekend of the movie, because that goes against the very critique of the book. But maybe it also illustrates a point. And that point may be this: That our society no longer knows how to watch a movie or read a book and be instructed or warned by it; a movie today automatically says “entertainment for a couple of hours” and viewers, figuratively speaking, shut their brains off. That is tragic to me. Why? Because one of the best ways to be instructed is through stories – stories of another person or society’s failure or triumph. Through those stories we gain knowledge and wisdom about how to live our lives, how to love well, and how to influence and understand culture. The simple truth is, every story has a message. No movie or book is exempt. And if a person is mature enough to read or view a story with discernment and take instruction from that, then by all means, go read or watch. If a person doesn’t have the discernment to watch for a purpose other than being entertained, then please do not go see this movie, and do not read the books. In fact, I can’t think of very many movies or books you should read if your sole purpose is entertainment and you aren’t willing to think a little bit. I don’t think this means we shy away from controversial issues, because our whole existence consists of controversial issues. Instead, I think it means we tackle them, know them for what they truly are, and use discernment in how to think about them.

What did I learn from reading and watching The Hunger Games? I saw a bleak picture of where our society could be headed. It happened to Rome, and there is nothing to say that it could not happen to the United States. I entered into the story and ached for the Districts of Panem whose sons and daughters were forced to endure a bloodbath every year. I was sickened by the violent society that enjoyed watching the bloodbath. I was touched and inspired by the courage of some of the children that defiantly stood against the evils of the Capitol, and were willing to suffer personal pain and the possibility of losing everything and everyone they loved because they knew that the Capitol was wrong, and that there was something better to fight for. I was moved by the themes of self-sacrifice, unconditional love, and honor and courage that stood strong in the midst of the violence.

I want to offer a brief aside before I wrap this response up. For those who have not read the book or watched the movie, please understand this while you read all the reviews: The story is not about violence. That was one thing that really bothered me about many of the reviews that I read; the author (sometimes someone who had not even seen the movie or read the book) thought that because there was a lot of violence in the story and that because so many people in the culture enjoyed watching it, that the book and movie advocate violence, and therefore, people should not read or watch it. This is a far cry from the truth, and we should not be guilty of such blatant misrepresentation of the story.The story uses violence to illustrate a point; it is not about violence, and in fact portrays it as being against everything that is good and true.

Reposted with permission from Little Things

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Your Customer Support Sucks

Nathan C Brown — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:52:55 +0000

Your Customer Support Sucks by Nathan C Brown on ViralFever

eriously. We've all been there, bumbling around on a new web app that we have no idea how to use and the so-called "Help Docs" are either nearly non-existant with nothing more than 10 FAQs, or it's an enormous "Support Wiki" that's nearly impossible to find your answers in. Then there's Phone Support, where we get put on hold for what feels like forever, and hope we get the answer we needed by the time the conversation is finally over. Of course sometimes this is smoothed over by the wonderful feeling of getting to talk to a computer for half of the conversation...Then there's Live Chat, which is actually pretty awesome except for the fact that it's really darn expensive to hire enough knowledgable people to run this 24/7. Last but not least, there's good old Email. So for a small business that wants to wow their customers with awesome support, how do they do it? Your customers expect the best, but you can't just go hire a 100-person support team right off the bat. So, here's our tips and some of the biggest mistakes that a startup can make when it comes to support:

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

iPhone & iPad Apps – “These are a few of our favorite things…”

ViralFever Team — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:17:17 +0000

iPhone & iPad Apps – “These are a few of our favorite things…” by ViralFever Team on ViralFever

The iPhone's App Store is enormous. After all, they just hit 25 billion dowloads. So, how on earth do you find what you're looking for? To make it just a bit easier, we've thrown together just a few of our favorite apps to enhance your mobile productivity (and a few that are just plain cool!). To-dos and Task Management Sure, Apple introduced "Reminders" to the iOS. But what if you want to coordinate tasks with other people, or have more options? For the average Joe, Orchestra is the perfect app for better control of your tasks. But if you're a business or organization and can foot the bill, the paid service Podio has almost every tool an entrepreneur can dream up.

Paid: If you're looking for a paid, multi-user task management software for businesses, the hands-down winner is Podio, with near unlimited customization and client and project management. But Podio is clearly a business application, and requires a paid Podio account, so for most of us the hefty price tag is too much. Defintely great for businesses & organizations, but for the rest of us and our day-to-day lives, stick with Orchastra

For the free alternative that sticks to good ol' to-do lists, Orchestra is a task Management lifesaver...assign tasks to other people too and vice versa, even multiple people for large scale projects. The app lets you assigns tasks to lists, set deadlines, or just say "Soon" or "Someday" for the generic projects in your life. Great app, awesome price tag. GPS

Waze - Totally free, totally up-to-date turn by turn navigator. Live traffic updates, fellow "Wazers" can alert everyone in the area of construction (or police!) with a touch of a button. Before trying Waze, we tried paid versions of GPS navigators. For their price, there's not really a whole lot more that they offer that Waze doesn't already. Links to Foursquare, too, for you "Check In" addicts. Social Networking/GMail

G-Whizz ($2.99 in the iTunes App Store) is something we only just recently discovered, but it has the potential to completely change the way iPhone users with GMail accounts use their devices. Links not only to multiple GMail accounts, but a slew of Google Apps and Facebook and Twitter. Google Plus, Google Chat, Google Voice, Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter, all in one tidy little package...completely worth the $2.99 you pay for it. Free Lite version available to try. Posting to your Networks

Posterous technically started as a web application that allowed you to autopost to multiple account on several platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, Youtube, just about everywhere) but the iPhone app is a great feature to add on to an already great idea! These are just a few of our "favorite things" here at ViralFever, but there's plenty more to come! Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when the site is fully launched!

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Report: Has Apple really already sold out the new iPad?

ViralFever Team — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:23:22 +0000

Report: Has Apple really already sold out the new iPad? by ViralFever Team on ViralFever

Take a quick look at Apple’s new iPad page. Once upon a yesterday, the “ships by” date was March 16. As of today, the date has been pushed back to March 19. Unless you’ve pre-ordered already, it looks like you’re going to have to wait a bit longer to get your long-awaited iPad!

Tom Cheredar from VentureBeat.com has made the claim that this means Apple has already sold out of their first batch of iPads. While we haven’t gotten the chance to verify this yet, it would definitely explain the new shipping date. If they really have sold out, I only have one question: why? With the unfortunate performance from Apple at their Wednesday announcement and rather cheesy new marketing strategy (“Resolutionary,” really?)

I can only think of two answers…One, people see the headlines about a “new Apple product” and they just rush out to buy it, no matter what (Apple has the late Steve Jobs to thank for building that reputation), or two, Apple seriously underestimated their own sales capability. In either case, I hope for Apple’s sake (and my own, as an avid iDevice user) that this isn’t a sign of a downward slope for the company.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News

Google Announces “Google Play,” but can it compete with iTunes?

ViralFever Team — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:42:49 +0000

Google Announces “Google Play,” but can it compete with iTunes? by ViralFever Team on ViralFever

In a move conveniently timed right before Apple’s big day, Google has announced the new “Google Play.” According to Google, this new “app” will provide cloud streaming of music, books, and movies with the power of the almighty Google Cloud. Based on Google’s performance over the last few years, there’s a good chance that this new feature will just add to the ever growing, ever more confusing list of Google Apps. Let’s face it, Google Buzz was a bust and Google Plus is nowhere near becoming the new Facebook. But some have claimed that the very name of the app is Google’s way of “rationalizing” the muddle of brands and programs called “Google Apps.” Google Play will be hitting Android phones “starting today,” according to Jamie Rosenberg. Google’s Director of Digital Content. More than just that, Rosenberg goes on to tell us that the Android Market is officially no more:

“Starting today, Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore will become part of Google Play. On your Android phone or tablet, we’ll be upgrading the Android Market app to the Google Play Store app over the coming days. Your videos, books and music apps (in countries where they are available) will also be upgraded to Google Play Movies, Google Play Books and Google Play Music apps.”

So long, Android Market. Hello, iTunes competitor? Google Play may sound like “the cool new thing to beat” in tech, but there’s a helpful reminder from the journalists at UrbanTwist: Google Play is not a new platform, it’s just Google piggybacking off of the Android Market’s success. Be that as it may, I’m willing to bet that Apple’s hyped-up announcement tonight will give us some insight into which company will hold the media world’s attention this year.

ViralFever - Internet Marketing Strategies, Social Media Trends, & Digital News