The Blog Herald

VEVO Traffic Grows 142% After Facebook Integration Added

James Johnson — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:58:30 +0000

VEVO has witnessed a 142% year-over-year increase in audience registrations and the video-sharing platform is giving a good chunk of that credit to Facebook. In February 2012 VEVO relaunched its website, iPhone and Android apps with facebook integration and after that move the number of daily registrations increased by 200%.

According to VEVO by March 60 percent of its traffic was coming from timeline app stories that had been published to Facebook.

The company also uses Facebook to personalize playlists by syncing them to a users’ liked Facebook pages and iTunes libraries.

A recent study found that unlike Facebook the VEVO system typically doesn’t have a bad effect on workplace productivity since a majority of its video views are completed from 6 p.m. through midnight.

Here are a few impressive quarterly metrics shared by VEVO’s Matt Marquess:

There was an increase in traffic (12%) as well as time spent (16%) on VEVO.com
There was a 600% increase in Facebook-published or watched videos compared to February
500,000 new users registered for VEVO through Facebook— a 142% increase from the previous month
Total impressions on Facebook grew to 171 million— a 181% change from February

Using VEVO’s platform many of today’s top articles including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Rihanna and others have reached more than 1 billion pageviews for their videos while earning plenty of cash for their efforts.

Facebook Developer Platform: A Quick Look At The History Of Social App Development [Infographic]

James Johnson — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:36:46 +0000

Five years ago Facebook announced the Facebook Developer Platform and since it was announced at the 2007 f8 conference with 70 app developers the program has sky rocketed in use. In fact one year after it was first revealed the program already had 30,000 apps.

Adding to Facebook’s reach was the Connect platform in 2008, the first glimpse into third-party website integration for the company.

Eventually we were treated to the Facebook “Like” button, tons of games from the likes of Zynga and the Open Graph.

Fast forward to 2012 and the Facebook developer platform has created more than 182,000 American jobs with an economic value of $12.19 billion.

Throw in Facebook Timeline which is hated by many users but offers the potential for even closer app development integration and its easy to see why Facebook continues its meteoric rise, even as people complain about privacy issues and other Facebook missteps.

From major app development firms (Disney, EA Sports), to mom-and-pop startups the Facebook developer eco-system is helping raise millions of dollars in venture capitalist funds while spawning an entire generation of new developers and new thought processes surrounding how apps are built for the internet.

Here’s the Facebook Developer platform infographic courtesy of Mashable.com:

What do you think the Facebook Developer Platform must do next to continue its positive track record of success?

Obama 2012: “Dashboard” App Revealed For Social Media Campaigning

James Johnson — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:49:12 +0000

In 2008 President Obama launched the most successful online campaign in the history of US politics and now as team Obama gears up for their 2012 re-election challenge they have announced an even more robust campaign that offers its own set of social media campaign tools.

Known as “Dashboard” the new platform offers almost everything a brick-and-mortar campaign office offers but in digital form. For example specialized tools will allow helpers to make calls to recruit other to join the team while organizing campaign events and even communicating with Obama’s leadership team. The platform can be access from desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone devices which makes grassroots campaigns more mobile than ever.

The Dashboard design is similar to Facebook’s interface and brings with it social media driven metrics reports.

Users will also be able to find Obama supporting groups to join in their area.

The Dashboard app however isn’t just for local users, the staff for Obama’s administration will be able to set specific goals for individual Obama supports while tracking their success rates. Groups will then be able to engage in and compete in a friendly competition with one another.

The goal of the platform is to grow the Obama supporter base while creating completely open dialogues among supporters within a campaign focused social media system.

Users of MyBarackObama.com will be semi-familiar with the new Dashboard system which draws from the former platform for inspiration.

Do you think President Obama’s innovation in social media can help him secure a second term as President of the United States?

Facebook Testing New Timeline Design, Cleans Up “Above The Fold” Output

James Johnson — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:55:08 +0000

Facebook this week began testing a new Facebook Timeline output that cleans up the first bit of information users see when they access a users page.

Posted on Talking Points Memo on Tuesday morning the new version of Timeline features a condensed area for user details, specifically the information that shows their name, occupation, education and location. Those options now appear on top of, rather than below the cover photo.

Facebook has then taken the carousel thumbnail images that shows friends, photos, places, likes and other information and compressed them next to sit on the same level as their main page thumbnail.

Users will also notice that before the carousel images Facebook has added a “Summary” section which we assume will highlight key events inside a users Timeline.

Here’s a look at the new version:

Now compare that new version to the old version and you will immediately spot the differences which includes a much cleaner new look:

If Facebook user account change history is any indication there will likely be complaints raised about this new setup, on the other hand Facebook needs to earn money and by pushing more of the sites content above the fold they can attract more advertisers and hopefully increase user ad engagement.

Do you like the new Facebook Timeline output or do you prefer the old version?

Facebook Power Users. A Look Inside The Facebook Addiction [Infographic]

James Johnson — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:43:06 +0000

Facebook “power users” are the most addicted social network users the site has to offer and they make up nearly 20-30% of the social networks user base. If you log into your account multiple times per day, leave messages on friends walls, post constant “Likes” and more you are probably a “power user.”

The team at DemandForce wanted to highlight some of a power users typical site uses and released an infographic to showcase that use.

According to the company a “power user” will “like” content up to 14 times per month and they will share at least nine status updates and contribute 21 comments during that same one month period.

Not only do Facebook power users share more content, they are invited to share more, according to the company 11% of those users are invited to join a Facebook group and 63% of those users have received friend requests in the last one month period.

The infographic also reveals how Facebook power users are broken down by the sexes with females posting more status updates by almost three times their male counterparts.

Being a power user on Facebook doesn’t just mean you sit in front of your computer all day either. A study by Pew Research found that Facebook power users are more likely to attend political rallies and political meetings.

Here’s the Facebook power users infographic:

Do any of these Facebook power users stats surprise you?

Twitter To Use Browser Data To Offer Follow Recommendations

James Johnson — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:22:48 +0000

When a new user joined Twitter’s microblogging service they are given a set of recommendations that are fairly similar to everyone else’s recommendations, that’s because Twitter has no way of knowing your interests to make better recommendations. Now Twitter is testing a new feature in some countries that dives into your browser history and makes recommendations accordingly.

In a blog post on Thursday Othman Laraki, Twitter’s director of growth and international business wrote:

“After all, even though millions of people love Justin Bieber, FC Barcelona or Kim Kardashian, not everyone using Twitter may want to follow them.”

Twitter buttons and widgets are located on millions of sites which means the company will be able to use data collected from their own pieces of already installed technology to gather information for the recommendation engine.

As Laraki explains:

“By recognizing which accounts are frequently followed by people who visit popular sites, we can recommend those accounts to others who have visited those sites within the last ten days.”

In the meantime I reported on Thursday that the company has also implemented a “Do Not Track” option which users can now take advantage of through their browser to stop cookies and other tracking. Do Not Track is currently only available on the Firefox browser.

Twitter will also roll out a “Personalization” option for current users who can set an option in their account settings which in turn will create tailored follow suggestions.

Do you think Twitter’s new option will help new users find the usefulness in the website right aware or just anger privacy experts?

Twitter Announces “Do Not Track” Setting

James Johnson — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:29:48 +0000

Twitter on Thursday gave privacy advocated a big win by announced a new “Do Not Track” setting that allows users to opt out of being tracked by Twitters platform.

The plan was unveiled at an Internet Week panel in New York Thursday morning by chief technology officer for the Federal Trade Commission, Ed Felten.

Twitter also revealed the new Do Not Track button, tweeting:

“The Federal Trade Commission’s CTO, Ed Felten, just mentioned Twitter now supports Do Not Track. We applaud the FTC’s leadership on DNT.”

Users can take advantage of the Do Not Track option using any browser that already support the option. The new feature prevents Twitter from collecting information about users through the use of cookies which are typically placed on a users computer. It should be noted that the Firefox Do Not Track feature only works if websites agree to enable the feature as Twitter has done.

The announcement comes just two months after the FTC called on internet browser designers to stop allowing for the collection of sensitive user data.

In the meantime Facebook has yet to announced a Do Not Track feature option of its own.

Do you think a browser based universal “Do Not Track” feature should be released for general website use?

Facebook App Gogobot Attracts 1 Million Users

James Johnson — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:13:56 +0000

Gogobot, a Facebook travel app that just launched in January 2012 announced on Wednesday that it has passed the 1 million registered users mark.

Gogobot officially launched in private beta 18 months ago but came out of beta in January. The company now claims that a new users signs up for the program every 15 seconds and that more than 5 million locations have already been shared on Gogobot.

The travel app allows Facebook users to share vacation photos with friends and strangers while giving recommendations to people who post questions about general travel and specific destinations.

Users of Gogobot can also create a “passport” that lists the places they have been alongside reviews and recommendations for those locations.

If that isn’t enough information for your trip you can make it even more social with trip itinerary tools and the ability to search trips other users have taken to help in the creation of your vacation schedule.

Gogobot recently released new versions of its free iPhone and iPod Touch apps which allow users to comment on postcards, search the platform more easily and even look for restaurants and attractions based on their current location.

Do you think Gogobot will continue to grow as Facebook users take to “social travel” on a larger scale?

Foursquare Check-Ins Now Integrated With Facebook Timeline Map

James Johnson — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:31:39 +0000

Foursquare users checking in with Facebook permissions synced to their accounts will now find their check-ins plotted across their Facebook Timeline maps thanks to deeper integration announced by the location based service on Tuesday.

Until this point in time only Facebook check-ins and Instagram geo-tagging options were plotted on the Facebook Timeline maps.

Using the program means integrating your Foursquare account with Facebook and then simply checking in at which point your locations will be plotted on the Facebook Timeline map using standard pin placements.

Facebook and Foursquare have also made it so check-ins already map have been updated to mapped out pinned location markers.

Integration in a key component of Foursquare’s growth strategy as the company now has more than 20 million users and various partners ranging from big box customers such as American Express to small mom and pops stores who use the s

ervice to offer coupons and other special offers to customers in their area.

Do you think Foursquare check-in integration with Facebook Timeline maps will get more people interested in the new location based services option?

Social Recruiting On The Web – A Hiring Infographic

James Johnson — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:12:24 +0000

Before the days of LinkedIn and the Facebook app Branch Out recruiters looking for employees had to rely on resume websites (Monster, CareerBuilder), emailed resumes from interested parties and even headhunting agencies that specialized in finding resumes online.

Now thanks to digital recruiting platforms employers can quickly and efficiently find potential employees with the skills they require.

Thanks to the team at Jobvite we now have a nicely integrated infographic that shows how far “social job recruiting” has come since the 1990s.

According to a recent Pew Research estimate 65% of job seekers now use social media to look for new jobs. Jobvite found that 49% of people already holding down a job will use social recruiting websites to find a new job in 2012 while 55% of company’s plan to invest more money for social recruiting this year.

Social recruiting isn’t just about employees reaching out to potential employers, as jobvite points out, employers use social media to influence workers they want to attract, putting their own personal spin on their brand with 93% of companies admitting to social media use for hiring purposes.

Here’s the social job recruiting infographic:

Google+ For iPhone Gets Updated, Adds New Features

James Johnson — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:34:20 +0000

The Google+ App for iPhone was updated on Thursday and with its upgrade comes larger profile images, easier photo and video browsing and new visual cues that makes looking for options far more simplistic.

In a blog post Google says the app has been upgrade to “focus on the most personal of personal computers: your mobile phone.”

On the visual side the program now allows users to see photos, articles or text in a new visually stimulating manner, while new crisp fonts, larger profile pics and a nicer homescreen have been added.
The company hopes that its new layout will allow users to distinguish between Google+ and other apps that are not quite as “crisp” in design. ogle also said of the layout “We’re making the stream easier to scan, and easier on the eyes with overlays, gradients and other visual elements.”

Along with its visual updates Google also has some functional upgrades:

Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time
Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts
Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites

Check out the original Google+ blog post here or just update the app on your iPhone and get started with the upgrades right away.

Facebook Launches Crisis Tool To Combat Military Depression and Suicide

James Johnson — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:09:13 +0000

Just one week after announcing its organ donor program Facebook is once again jumping into the “public good” sector with a new crisis tool meant to flag the profiles of military personnel when they post content deemed to be harmful or suicidal.

The new tool is an extension of the suicide prevention program Facebook launched in December 2011 which allows other Facebook members to alert then network when suicidal thoughts are expressed by clicking a link next to that persons comment. When the link is clicked Facebook sends an email to the user with suicide prevention resources.

According to military support organization Blue Star families:

“While this is helpful for a military family, there are several specific resources provided to our nation’s military that we wanted to make sure they were aware of at their time of need.”

The new program sends military specific resources such as the Veterans Crisis Line.

According to Blue Star Families in a survey of 2,891 military family members 10% said they considered suicide and 9% said they knew of military members who had contemplated suicide.

In many Facebook comments military members simply told their fellow soldiers to “suck it up” or “soldier up.”

Facebook currently serves 86% of military families which means using the network as a means to prevent suicide could be a huge benefit for many military members and their families.

Viddy Reaches 26 Million Users, Receives $200 Million Valuation

James Johnson — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:02:40 +0000

Social video sharing app Viddy wants to be the Instagram of mobile video sharing and the company is on its way to reaching that goal after attracting more than 26 million users and a market valuation of $200 million.

A recent report by The Wall Street Journal has also found that Viddy is currently signing up 1 million new users per day.

The company’s $200 million valuation comes after the company’s launch just one year ago.

After Instagram’s success many company’s decided to focus on video to differentiate themselves, for example the application Color which started as a photo app is now offering streaming of live video that can be shared on Facebook, however that app just passed 1 million users.

Other competitors in the space include the even larger SocialCam which now has 36 million users and the Leonardo DiCaprio-backed Mobli Media which counts 3 million users among its ranks.

Much like Instagrams filters Viddy offers a similar type of setup for video, allowing amateur videographers to grab video on their phone and then convert them to a unique look.

Among the apps users is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who joined the platform in April and shared video of his dog, Beast.

Do you think Viddy deserves its $200 million market valuation?

LinkedIn Releases Q1 2012 Earnings Report, Has Best Quarter Ever

James Johnson — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:32:54 +0000

Sales at the network for the quarter reached $188.5 million, $10 million more than the $178.4 million expected by analysts. The company also reported a net income increase of $5 million which is up from $2.08 million one year prior. Analysts expected 0 cents per share but were instead met with 4 cents a share.

The company also announced an increased user base which jumped to 161 million users from 150 million in the previous quarter.

Showing its potential for growth LinkedIn also added 33 employees in the quarter with expectations for more expansion throughout 2012.

The increasing profits could signal good news for Facebook as it prepares for its IPO, however it should be noted that LinkedIn saw profits increase after the company focused not just on traditional display advertising but also on the practice of selling more services, such as job postings and upgraded LinkedIn accounts.

In further news that LinkedIn is healthy and growing the company also announced plans to buy online presentation builder Slideshare.

My Top 15 Favorite Places to Submit a Guest Article

Amanda DiSilvestro — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:00:57 +0000

As most Blog Herald readers probably know, I am a full-time guest blogger. I have at present written approximately 440 guest articles that have been scattered over almost 130 different blogs. Now I am not here to brag about how great this is—if it was your full-time job, you would be in the exact same position (if you aren’t already). I am simply telling you this to give you a perspective on just how many different publishers I have worked with and how many different blogs I have gone out and analyzed both before and after my guest post went live.

I thought it would be helpful to compile a list for the blogging community to help those who need to guest post. I have therefore created a list of my top ten favorite blogs to offer up a guest post. I based my decisions on three things:

Is the editor easy and friendly to work with? I personally feel that this is one of the most important reasons
Is the guest post either acknowledged or live in a good amount of time? In my eyes, a good amount of time is within the week. The post does not have to be live within a week, but it’s nice when an editor at least gets back to me and lets me know the status of the article.
Does the blog get a lot of visitors and activity?

There are also two different kinds of places where many people guest post: Sites where there is direct contact with an editor and sites where there is not. I have split these up into two sections for the guest bloggers who have a preference. And so, in no particular order, a list of some of my favorite guest posting opportunities:

Blogs with Direct Editor Contact

1. Get Busy Media – I feel as though I am part of the team when I guest post for this website. I am looped in on the emails that ask the staff to promote my content and am always given a big thank you. PR 4 site.

2. Tribal blogs – Jen is incredibly quick to respond and always thankful to have a guest post. Although still a PR 3, this site has a great design, great content, and a great editor, so it also has great potential.

3. Brazen Careerist – You always know that the editor Alexis is going to get back to you. Although it will take a while to hear whether or not your post has been approved, I give her a ton of credit for being able to sort through the many posts I know she receives and still taking the time to touch base with each author. PR 5 site.

4. Under30CEO – Jared is extremely easy to talk with and always gets back to me in an appropriate amount of time. His blog is also a PR 6, and it’s rare to find such an authoritative blog with such an easy going guest posting routine.

5. SEM-Group – This blog attracts great writers and will work with you to make sure your post will do well in the social media sphere. Gerald is a real social media guru, so I always know my posts will get tons of promotion. PR 4 site.

6. Who Design Today – While this blog is also only a PR 3, I see tons of potential. It could not be left off the list because Darryl is easy going and attentive.

7. PR Breakfast Club – Nathan (or Peter as I met him!) treats you as though you are a friend. The best part is that Nathan allows you to have full rights to your writing. He doesn’t appear concerned with search engine rankings or making a ton of money, he just loves blogging and loves the site. PR 4 site.

8. Skyje and Social H – You get one editor for two sites with Ayman. You email him, he reads your article, he sends you the link when it’s live. It’s as simple as that. And oh…did I mention both sites are PR 6? Very hard to find this type of situation.

9. About Public Relations – Steven R. Van Hook is interested in more than just your article. I really feel like he cares about his writers, and his site gets great publicity. PR 5 site.

10. Web Marketing Therapy – Writing for this site does make me feel as though I’m part of a community. Although my articles are not always accepted, I am told exactly what I need to do to fix them by different editors who are all nothing but nice. PR 4 site.

Blogs Without Direct Editor Content

1. Social Media Today – The most tweets I’ve ever received on a post. Need I say more? PR 6 site.

2. Lakeshore Branding – I happen to know that the editor of this site is incredibly friendly and positive about the posts that go through to her site. However, now all you need to do to submit a guest post is just upload it right onto a page for review. PR 4 site.

3. She Writes – This is a community of all women (obviously) and you can publish your article the minute you upload it. Easy, quick, and a PR 5 site.

4. Recruiting Blogs – This site also allows you to upload your article and publish it immediately. A dream for guest bloggers who specialize in recruitment advice. PR 5 site.

5. Business2Community – I have a feeling that most people are already aware of Business2Community. The site gives you a login, you upload the article, it is reviewed, and it is published all within the time frame of around 24 hours. Not bad for a PR 5 site.

I will add that these sites are simply those I find most pleasant—not easiest. These sites put out what I classify as excellent content, but they do it without needing constant follow-ups and with nothing but kindness. While I have written for others sites that I greatly respect, they might be a bit more high maintenance, which is not a bad thing by any means. Still, it’s nice to have an easy going guest posting opportunity sometimes that will really give you some great visibility, and these sites always provide that for me.

What are some of your favorite sites to offer a guest post? Let us know in the comments!

Photo Credit: invisibleheartstrings.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to 401k services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including payroll companies to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

Google News Buddies Up To Google+ With Further Integration

James Johnson — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:39:21 +0000

Google News on Friday added some new upgrades to its platform including larger thumbnail photos that dynamically expand when stories are selected and the ability to more robustly share information via Google+.

Speaking about the company’s new Google+ integration a representative for Google wrote in a blog post:

“Many news stories inspire vibrant discussions on Google+, and today we’re starting to add this content to both the News homepage, and the realtime coverage pages.”

If you want to see just headlines the feature can be turned off, otherwise you will see news from your circles, journalists and other “notable” writers right on the Google News homepage.

The new integration comes at a time when Google is trying to capitalize on the always updating landscape of online news reporting, including a new “real-time” news feature that organizes stories based on published times in more or less chronological order. Google also highlights highly cited, opinion pieces and in-depth articles below each story.

Do you think better Google+ integration will ultimately help Google+ attract more users via Google News or does the real-time feature and other upgrades overshadow the company’s attempt to further integrate Google+ into Google News.

Wil Wheaton Uses Tumblr To Go On Google+ Attack Rant

James Johnson — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:26:19 +0000

It seems like everyone these days loves the ability to Tumblr to attract new readers but Google+ might not be included in that group, especially after Star Trek actor and geek superstar Wil Wheaton took to his Tumblr account on Thursday to flip out on Google+ over a forced registration request while watching a YouTube video.

In his rank Wheaton specifically attacked a mandatory registration request made by Google when he tried to “Like” a video to his Facebook account.

Here’s the rant:

Oh, go **** yourself, Google. This is just as bad as companies forcing me to “like” something on Facebook before I can view whatever it is they want me to “like.”
Just let me thumbs up something, without forcing me to “upgrade” to G+, you ****heads.
The worst part of this? For a producer like me, I’m going to lose a crapton of potential upvotes for Tabletop, because the core of my audience is tech-savvy and may not want to “upgrade” to yet another ****ing social network they don’t want or need.

You might think Wil Wheaton is just another crazy guy ranting on the internet but he commands an audience of more than 1.4 million followers on Google+ alone and his new found distaste should he choose to leave Google+ could turn many users against the Google led social network.

Do you think Wil Wheaton has a valid point or did he go crazy over nothing?

Foursquare Now Offering “Fast-Track” Verification For Business Pages

James Johnson — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:32:29 +0000

Foursquare wants to keep its location-based service fresh by offering the most up to date POI (points-of-interest) data possible and in an attempt to ensure those POI numbers keep rolling in the company on Wednesday announced a new verification process for businesses that makes it easier for them to hop on the company’s system and get verified.

In the past businesses would have to send a verification request to Foursquare using the US postal service, then wait around for their documentation to be verified, an odd request given the technology based nature of the company. Because of hand requested materials and use of the post office it would take three to four weeks simply to have a business verified.

Under the company’s new plan a company can simply pay a $10 processing fee and get verified immediately. The new verification system is currently only available in the United States.

In the meantime the move leads me to question whether Foursquare initially made the process so cumbersome in anticipation of charging a fee in the future. Now the company can claim they worked to create an easier system which warrants a small processing fee. With this announcement I highly suspect that Foursquare competitors will soon begin offering the same type of verification at no charge in order to attract businesses.

For some small business owners however the $10 will be a small price to pay since once verified they can add coupons and specials to their Foursquare location, coupons and specials that are then offered to customers when they check in at the businesses location.

Do you think the $10 charge is a fair price to pay for immediate Foursquare verification for businesses?

Facebook Timeline Now Offers “Organ Donor” Option

James Johnson — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:47:45 +0000

Facebook on Tuesday rolled out an update to its Facebook Timeline setup that allows users to list whether or not they are an organ donor.

The move is meant to help more than 114,000 people in the Unite States and millions of others around the world who are waiting for transplants for everything from heart and kidneys to liver and other necessities of life.

In a blog entry announcing the new feature Facebook writes:

“Many of those people — an average of 18 people per day –- will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis.”

To add the new feature simply visit your Timeline and click on “Life Event” and then “Health & Wellness” followed by the “Organ Donor” option which will allow you to register and if you would like to ad your own personal story.

If you are not currently an organ donor Facebook also provides links to the appropriate registry database in your state.

Facebook is also allowing users to choose if their organ donor status should be kept private or made public for its 901 million users to see.

Here’s a screenshot of the simple to add Facebook organ donor option:

LinkedIn Is Huge…In India

James Johnson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:41:16 +0000

LinkedIn isn’t just a big publicly traded social network in the United States, it’s one of the fastest growing internet company’s in India, growing by more than 300% in the last three years.

According to recent numbers from company CEO Jeff Weiner, 14 million people in India use LinkedIn with the company excited to target the more than 300 million young people who live in the country in the coming months and years ahead.

Speaking at LinkedIn’s B2B conference in Mumbai Weiner told the audience that he wants big firms in India to adapt to LinkedIn’s platform in order to find new workers in a country where the tech boom has benefited many of the countries tech savvy workers, especially the regions younger generations.Weiner specifically named the likes of Wipro, Cisco and Huwei as potential partners who can increase LinkedIn’s reach in India while providing a valuable service for potential employees.

LinkedIn currently has 100 workers in its Indian offices and it doesn’t plan to add any more jobs at this time but instead to focus on taking the network more viral while launching India-specific pricing for its products. For example the LinkedIn Recruiter, Jobs Network and Talent Direct are all now available in local currencies to Indian users, a move that could help Linked secure regional contracts.

How Instagram got to $1 Billion [Infographic]

Lucy Hodgson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:12:04 +0000

It’s not every day that a mobile app is acquired by a social media giant for a cool one billion dollars- which explains why Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook was one of the hottest topics a few weeks ago. Infographic Labs, which previously created an infographic on the Rise of Instagram, tracks Instagram’s journey to $1 billion with this infographic design:

Pinterest Interest Skyrockets, Soars Over 2.3 Billion Pageviews [Infographic]

James Johnson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:02:42 +0000

Pinterest is still in closed beta but that hasn’t stopped the relatively new social network from racking up 4 million unique visitors a day with 2.3 billion pageviews.

In celebration of the new social network darlings achioevements the team at Tamba has created an infographic that highlights the increased amount of interested in the Pinterest system.

Launched 25 short months ago Pinterest has grown to include full-on Twitter and Facebook integration while providing 250,000 iPhone users with the Pinterest app for mobile browsing. The team at Pinterest has also managed to add a dedicated following to its system where users spend an average of 14.2 minutes browsing the visually stunning social link sharing network.

Throw in more referrals than the more popular Twitter and Facebook social network systems and its easy to see why this network has become a “business darling” in recent months.

Here’s the “Interest in Pinterest” infographic:

Sports And Social Media, A Changing Landscape Of Fanatical Fans [Infographic]

James Johnson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:52:13 +0000

The landscape for major league sports is changing, not in board rooms and locker rooms but rather online. As social media has become more prevalent players are taking to social media networks like Facebook and Twitter in droves and their fans are following right around, creating a fast acting, viral system of support and camaraderie for athletes in various sports.

In celebration of sports new found home a top social media networks the sports medicine company KT Tape has created an awesome infographic that shows how social media has changed the sports we watch and the players we idolize.

Exactly how popular has sports and social media become when wrapped together? When Tim Tebow through an 80-yard lob last year to move the Denver Broncos into the playoffs he broke a Twitter record with 9,000 tweets per second mentioning his name. Then there was Jeremy Lin, a relatively unknown player who’s early season play for the New York Knicks led to the term “Linsanity” and eventually 550,000 followers in a single month.

Social media in sports also isn’t just leveraged in the United States, soccer players Kaka and Ronaldo have become the most followed athletes on Twitter.

KT Tape has culled researcher from some of the leading sports networks to create this infographic, take a look and let us know what you think.

Should a Blogger Pay To Post Content on a Website?

Amanda DiSilvestro — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

As a full-time guest blogger, I sometimes feel like I’ve seen it all—fake names, odd responses, rude comments, the absent-minded who forgot who I was—but the majority are, of course, normal. However, editors asking me, the writer, to pay to put my content on their site has been a growing trend. Quite frankly, I found this a bit odd. Many websites are thrilled to have my content because they feel it is quality content, I promote the content to a new audience, and the site does not have to put in the work of creating content.

Just the other day and editor explained to me that my content could be featured on the blog for $700, and a few weeks earlier an editor wanted to charge me $250. Naturally, both blogs were very authoritative and had a list of reasons why their blog was so wonderful, but I couldn’t help but think to myself: Shouldn’t you be paying me?

The Pros and Cons to Paying for Exposure

It seemed bad enough to blog for exposure and not get paid, as in offer your content for free, but paying for content seems to bring things to an entirely new level. I can see both sides to the issue, which makes this dilemma a bit harder to solve. On the one hand, paying to put your content on an authoritative site can be very beneficial:

Paying for Exposure Pros: Your content gets put in front of the eyes of thousands. The site that was going to charge me $700 to feature my content would promote that content to 200,000 social media contacts and it will be seen by over 100,000 visitors per month. Naturally I would do a bit of research to see if this were in fact true, but if so then this is a great way to help kick-start my brand. I can let people know that I was published on this very authoritative site, and that would make me look great.

On the other hand, I keep thinking of reasons that I simply do not want to pay that fee.

Paying for Exposure Cons: There are quite a few very authoritative websites out there that will allow me to publish my content for free including Social Media Today and Kissmetrics. These sites have turned down my writing before, but in general they are open to posting content that is really valuable to readers. When my writing finally made it to the site, I had almost 400 tweets on each article. If you’re a site that asks writers to pay to be on the site, isn’t there a chance that you’re just getting a bunch of content from rich people and not good writers?

As of now, I have never paid to have my writing featured on a site. I want my writing to be placed on a site that really values my writing, and so far I haven’t gotten that feeling from the sites that ask me to pay for the exposure they have to offer. If I was willing to pay, which I’m not opposed to, I’m not sure how much “exposure” is really worth.

If anyone has an answer to this question or an opinion they would like to share, I’d love to hear some more thoughts on this topic!

Photo Credit: stevecozartphotography.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to business credit cards. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including 401k plans to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

LinkedIn iPad App Brings Full Force Of Business Network To The Masses

James Johnson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:19:41 +0000

Social network LinkedIn on Friday rolled out a new iPad app which provides LinkedIn users with the ability to take advantage of the new iPad’s “retina display” while accessing most major functions found on the company’s website.

Currently serving more than 150 million users per month users formerly had to download the iPhone version of the program to gain mobile access, an option that was not optimized for iPad use.

Once installed users will notice the “in” button in the top left corner which will guide them through a simple and effective tutorial which explains the new iPad based application, allows users to filter through updates and much more.

The biggest upgrade to the company’s mobile strategy is likely the addition of more activity in the users home stream. The new app includes LinkedIn news, Dow Jones monitory, a calendar box that pulls from your Apple calendar and more.

The LinkedIn iPad app is also able to pull in your connections’ Twitter accounts if they have chosen to share those accounts within their own LinkedIn accounts.

With a layout similar to Flipboard (newspaper style) that makes for easy story retrieval and an interface with lots of white space the program is definitely a move forward for social media tablet apps.

In the meantime LinkedIn iPhone app users who choose to upgrade the app on their iPad devices will be given the choice to update rather than re-download the entirely new mobile application.

Give the LinkedIn iPad app a try today and let us know what you think.