Social Media Marketing

How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog / Website

2012-06-13T11:55:00.003-07:00

I have created a cool Social Media Marketing Blog last months, it has lot of good quality content and very informative. But I got very few visitors in last month, traffic was very low on my blog. It require lot of hard work to create such blog, it will become disappointing when there is no traffic. After some time I realized that having great blog is no use if you don’t have good amount of visitors or traffic on your site. Then I started searching on internet, ways to increase traffic on website. I came across lot of useful ways and tips. I applied those to my blog and came up with positive result, traffic to my blog started increasing. I am sharing some of ways to increase traffic to website with you. i am sharing most important things to help increase traffic or visitors on your website. if you can do these things you can improved your website page rank.

Different ways to increase traffic to website are mentioned below:

1. Update the site daily: if you are Post something daily to your website as people are looking for new and latest stuff on internet they must read. Strong keyword which attracts visitors: Do some research and come up with list of keywords which people are searching in internet. Use those keywords on your site in articles.

2. Post site link (signature) in forums: Post your website link in forums which are related to your website. Make sure that the post in forum should be informative and helpful for others then only they will visit your website.

3. Backlinks: Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. In basic link terminology, a back-line is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node.

4. Directory submissions: There are lot's of Online directory submission sites you may submit your story this is a process which includes identification of proper category and filing the website or webpage detail in particular related category and get it approved by directory editor.

5. Article submissions: Write some article those unique content related to your website and submit it to any article directories.

6. Classified ads: Advertise your website using advertising services, there are many good free classifieds website out there where you can specify your website and get some traffic from them.

7. Forum commenting: if your will Put your website links as your signature in forums and start commenting for posts. Your post will content your signature website link. If people will satisfied with your link post then people may visit your website also.

8. Guest posting: if you Write a guest post on a blog which has higher SEO juice so that your post gets good traffic or visitors and in turn your blog gets some traffic via link which will be added in authors bio.

9. SEO technique: There are lot of Search engine optimization techniques available for you need to search those and apply it to your site like Directory Submission and social bookmarking submission.

10. Share story in social networking sites: if you Share your thoughts on the Social Networking Sites or how you came up with this site or any interesting moment of past.

11. Yahoo answers: Join yahoo answers and give answer to the questions related to your interest and also related to your website and give your website as source.

12. Make site interactive with forums, polls and surveys: Try to make your website interactive and informative. Put some survey or poll which makes visitors to interact more with the website and traffic will increase.

13. Business cards: if you can Add your website link to your business card and will give the cards to all your friends and relatives and tell them to share those cards with their friends it's very helpful to you.

14. Sitemaps: if you can Add sitemap to your website this helps website user to quickly go through all the pages and it will increase website.

15. Bookmarking: Join social bookmarking sites and bookmark your websites, put some useful keywords as tags. There are log of bookmarking sites available such as Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit, twitter, etc..

16. Other ways to increase traffic to your website:

Social bookmaking

Moving Billboards

Press Releases

Profile Creations

Google webmaster

On page and off page optimization

There are lot more ways available, please tell us about those if you know any?

How To Submit Directory After Penguin Fire

2012-06-12T23:36:00.001-07:00

The Google+ Local launch came out while I was working on this piece so it merits a brief mention. While Google+ Local will be a big deal, at the moment for most local businesses, it is not a huge deal. Thus far, there does not appear to be much change in Google’s main local rankings algorithm besides the fact that Google+ Local pages will be indexed versus the old Places pages which were pseudo-indexed.

It seems as if this update is mostly about getting us ready for changes coming down the road, where social activity gets even more ingrained in Google’s algo. If you’re interested in the subject, you can read some more thoughts on why Google+Local may be a ghost town and some prognostication from about a year ago that I think is still pretty much on the money. Of course, the local searcharati has plenty to say on the matter.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

In this post-Penguin landscape (imagine Mad Max, but with more geeks and less leather) there has been a renewed focus on quality directory submissions. While not as glitzy and glamorous as more recent strategies (like infographics and guest posting on blogs) – locally focused, vertical and niche directory submissions have been a solid bet in any link-builder’s portfolio for quite some time.

For the most part they are a pretty painless task, and while some may cost you a bit, they can provide positive results. However, when it comes to directory submissions are generally safe, a focus on quality, diversity, timing and relevance must play a central part in selecting which directories to submit to.

1. Quality: - Quality and niche categories matters a lot. Now the things are changed and links found on different niche counted as spam or un-thematically. Its must to check before submitting to a directory, is the same one is indexed by Google or not? If the directory is not indexed by Google then don't submit on that otherwise it become a green flag for anti spam algorithms.

2. Relevance: - Relevance and thematic links are the major focus of Penguin algorithm. So its most important to submit a link in particular category of directory. Making sure that the directories that you are submitting to are relevant and have a suitable category for your listing is crucial.

3. Diversity: - Always remember "Variety is the Spice of Life", this Idiom is same for penguin. Don't use same title's and descriptions for hundreds of submission. Vary details after some time and must submit different descriptions and titles for deep links.

4. Time: - Now the time is change for link building and its methods also changed to build backlinks. Don't use automated tools to submit hundred or thousands of directory instantly. Slot your time and submit on high quality directory sites after some periodic distance.

So these are some basic rules to follow while submitting directory submission. If you like my post please follow my blog and share it with your friends.

What Kind of Links are Still Useful After Google's Penguin Updates

2012-06-10T21:38:00.002-07:00

With Google's Penguin knocking out some sites to the extent that webmasters are deciding it's better to start from scratch, many people are wondering how to formulate a link plan that will quickly bring them back to where they were ranking before. Site owners are scrambling to clean up link messes after receiving warnings or just erring on the side of caution.

This bears a great question: is there a template for starting from scratch, link-wise? I think that there is, of course, just as there are things you need to do to make your site perform at its best.

To get started, let's talk quickly about two free systems that I view as critical for any site: Google's Webmaster Tools and Analytics. While some may argue that giving Google information is a bad idea, if you plan to count on Google for anything at all, you need to be in synch with how they view your site, period. There are other free alternatives to their analytics platform of course, but I have not found anything that beats it.

Google's tools give you the two critical pieces of information that you need to build links: information about whose coming to your site and where they're coming from. Analytics is customizable and with the introduction of Dashboards, you can easily create a quick view that will show you the data you're watching as you start to build links.

Now, to get into the meat of the matter, let's break it down into the types of links that most people pursue along with what I'd recommend. Afterwards, we'll put together a quick basic plan to follow.
Directory Links

When I first started doing SEO, directories were a must. Today, not so much. Recently we've seen talk about some of the free directories being delisted in Google but as far as concrete results, I haven't seen anything.

My opinion? Some of the higher-quality directories like BOTW are still worth a submission, but I wouldn't waste much time submitting to any of the lower-end ones, at least not when you're starting out. I think there are better links to be had right now.
Blogroll Links

Blogroll links weird me out, honestly. They have been abused to the extent that they can potentially be less valuable than a regular editorial link, but you do see totally relevant and quality blogroll links. This is where you need to look at the whole picture.

If you see a site that has 10 blogroll links going to crazy types of sites that have no connection with the one you linking to them, I'd say you don't want a blogroll link on that site. If you find a great blog about parenting and there are 10 blogroll links that all go to other great resources, that might be OK. One of my issues with blogroll links is that they are sitewide and I'm not a big fan of sitewide links.
Sitewide Links

Sitewide links are links that appear on every page of a site. You commonly see them as blogroll links, footer links, or sidebar links. If you get a sitewide link on a 100 page site, well you've gotten yourself 100 links that show up in your backlink profile. While that might sound good to a novice, it's not, especially if you're the kind of person who relies on straight numbers for a gauge of progress.

Google doesn't count these 100 links as 100 links. They count them as one link. While that isn't what makes me dislike them, the clutter that they can bring to a link profile makes me want to tear my hair out.

Luckily you can ignore sitewide links in many link analysis tools, but still, you shouldn't intentionally pursue a sitewide link these days. Take one, sure, but don't waste time going after one.
Comment Links

Just like most other links, comment links could be relevant and legimate. However, they've also been abused to the extent that I'd say don't pursue them unless it really is done in order to add to the conversation taking place.

Here's an example of a link I added to a comment on a blog that my company does. The backstory here is that our city was trashed in an article appearing in a New York paper, so many people in town were highly pleased to see us get a more favorable mention in the New York Times.

However, will Google properly analyze my intent? I doubt it, but I thought it would be good for users.

Still, comment links should never be a large percentage of what you do.
Social Media Profile Links

These are links that I really, really like. In a social media platform like Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, you can list a link to your site. Links that you promote socially aren't usually followed (and if they are, that will change most likely) but these profile links are a great way to build links initially.

(Don't fuss at me about linking to Wikipedia...here's a great list of social networking sites.)
Editorial Links

These are definitely my favorite kind of links. These are the links you get just by having great content or being otherwise remarkable. They are links that you get without asking.

To get editorial links, you need to do what makes people roll their eyes when you say it: create great content and get people in front of it.

However, you can also get these kinds of links through networking, both online and offline. For example, let's say you start talking to someone on Twitter and he or she writes a blog post later on that includes a mention of you and your site. Yes, that definitely happens. Maybe you meet someone at a restaurant and give him a business card with your URL on it, then he includes you in his weekly roundup of local businesses.
Guest Post Links

I love these because, when you actually take the time to write a compelling piece of content, you're adding value and getting a link for it. I've gotten some great links by guest posting, and now that my company has a blog, I've much more aware of how awesome it is when someone helps you contribute content to the web. I'd definitely use these as part of my initial strategy.

To find guest post opportunities you can join a community like My Blog Guest or you can simply do some extremely basic searches like these:

· keyword + "submit a guest post"

· keyword + "write for us"

· keyword + "blog for us"

I'd also set up some Google alerts that run at least once a day for queries like this. (You can definitely get much more advanced with your search queries to fine tune the results of course, so play around with it and see what gives you the best results.)

You get the idea...don't limit this to search engine searches though, as there are some fantastic tools you can use to search social media platforms for these opportunities as well. My current favorite is Icerocket.
Resource Links

Resource links are just that: links to resources, one of which is yours hopefully. You can find some older sites that still have a links page (and amazingly, some that are still quite good) and you can find sites that have a small list of resources in a post. If you're starting out, definitely look around to see if there are places that list resources similar to yours, contact the webmaster, and ask for a link.

To find resource link opportunities try something hyper-simple like this:

· keyword + "resources"

You can also just see if the sites you'd want to be linked from have a place for resources. Sometimes that can be an easier way to get a link (suggest that you could be added to that specific list and explain why) than cold-calling via email and asking for a link.
"May I Have A Link?" Links

These are the kind of links that you ask for, nicely of course. These are definitely not mutually exclusive with any of the other types with the exception of the editorial links.

Basically, you find a site that you think is totally awesome and you email the webmaster asking for a link. You'll get turned down a lot and you may even be accused of being a scam artist, and getting links this way is definitely seriously hard work, but you can get some fantastic links this way. While you can pay for a link in many cases, this isn't recommended if you're starting from scratch.
Legitimate Business Links

These are your links on sites like your local city business listings, your Chamber of Commerce, relevant trade organizations, etc. Definitely pursue these types of links as a priority, as they can be fantastic for traffic. You can find opportunities through searches for both local and industry resource sites.
Local Links

I like these although many people report problems when they need to change a listing. However, they certainly won't hurt you so go for it.

Here are the big three:

· Google Places

· Yahoo Local

· Bing Business

There's a great resource for more though, so if you have time, there are some great potentials listed here as well.
Reciprocal Links

Once the darling of the link building world way, way back, reciprocal links generally aren't seen in a flattering light, and they usually aren't recommended. A typical reciprocal link scenario means that someone links to you and you link to them in one experience.

There isn't anything wrong with linking back to someone who links to you...especially if you do it later on. For example, let's say you write a blog post and you link to a site. Three months down the road, your site is referenced as a resource. That's kind of a reciprocal link but the reciprocity isn't immediate.
Infographic Links

Infographics range from the truly fantastic to the absolute abysmal. An infographic is a graphical representation of a story, basically, and it generates links through various methods, one of which is the placement of your site's link in the code that people use to put it on their site.

The idea of a great infographic is that it goes viral and gets republished on other sites, thus linking to you. Infographics are a great way to build links, but someone starting from scratch should put it on the back burner, in favor of other types of link building, but keep it in mind if a great idea comes to you.
Widget Links

Widgets are little bits of code that do something cool. You know how you're on a site and they're raising money for a charity and you see a fundraising thermometer? That (probably) is a widget.

Widgets are super cool when done well, and like with an infographic, they come with lovely embed code that has your link in it. While they can be a good way to build links, they can become problematic if coded poorly, used on spammy sites, etc. For a person beginning a new link campaign, focus on other links first.
Image Links

An image link is simply an image that links to your site. I love these as a small part of a link profile and find them no more difficult to build than text links.

Create a cool image and ask for a link just as you would with a text link. I wouldn't create a silly image and try to get a respected business site to put it up though, so if you're going to ask for an image link, make sure you have a reason for it. Initially, you can take the opportunity if it presented itself but I wouldn't spend much time pursuing these, at least not just yet.
Text Links

These are the gold standard for links. They are links in text, not an image link. That's really very self-explanatory I think but hey, maybe it's not.

To conclude that section, let's talk about the issue of paid links. Saying that paid links violate Google's guidelines is true but it doesn't give the full picture.

If you nofollow a paid link, it should be fine. The idea is that you shouldn't be able to pay to get a link somewhere that will be used to raise your rankings. People do this of course, some get caught and some don't, but if you see the chance to get a great nofollowed paid link on a site that could send you lots of converting traffic, I'd say take it.
The Plan Itself

· First Wave: Business listings, local links, resource links, social media profile links, guest post links, and begged-for links.

· Second Wave: A good directory listing like BOTW, more of the links listed for the First Wave.

· Third Wave: An infographic and a few image links, plus the same continuation of the First Wave links.

Action!!

How do I get any links? Social media promotion of your site, sending content to bloggers and webmasters, asking for links, guest posting...there are tons of ways and I'd say figure out what works for you.

As IT people a lot of us aren't fans of picking up the phone, but if you like to actually speak to someone, the phone's a great way to get a link. Actually at my company when we have a webmaster ask to speak on the phone, we almost always get that link.

How do I find good sources to pursue? Good old-fashioned manual discovery works for me, but there are countless ways to do this. There are tools that generate search queries to use (my favorite is Solo SEO's Link Search Tool) or you can enter some keywords into the search engine of your choice.

Can I really just ask a webmaster for a link? Yes you can. You can be turned down of course, but if you have a great resource to point a webmaster to, you can definitely ask. People ask for links without offering any value all the time anyway.
What About My Competition? Where Do They Fit In?

Competitive analysis isn't the best way to build a link profile. It can be extremely useful in showing you patterns and giving you an idea of where to start, but remember that in any backlink profile that has been around for more than a few months, you're probably going to find some crap there and you don't want to spend time trying to get tons of sitewides from article distribution sites just because your competitor has lots of sitewides from article distribution sites.

As long as you realize that a competitive analysis is not the full picture and that you shouldn't totally copy a backlink profile, it's definitely an insightful practice.

A Social Media Campaign for Social Courage

2012-06-07T09:23:00.002-07:00

You might think that a social media campaign excluding twitter and facebook is doomed from the start but Carlsberg are ‘on a mission to unbottle the courage that brews in all of us. Not just any courage but the kind you need in social situations.’ In Sweden.

A Social Media Campaign for Social Courage

Why Sweden you ask? Because apparently the Swedes are among the most cautious and reserved in Europe which sparked the idea to create a social media campaign aimed at not only encouraging social courage but finding, and of course rewarding, the most courageous in Sweden all without the use of the social media behemoths Twitter & Facebook in their campaign.

Unbottle Yourself – In Sweden

Carlesberg have put together a social app for both the iPhone and Android to encourage the people of Sweden to ‘Unbottle themselves.’ The app contains over 500 missions and each mission represents a social challenge. Many missions require you to use smart phone features and social media to succeed. The kicker: “This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, Apple, Facebook or Twitter.” sits boldly above the explanation of the contest. It seems the social media campaign is focusing on the app and the experience of the consumer instead of the media they’ll be using to share their experience of the Unbottle Yourself Challenges.

Back to Social Media basics

Carlesburg have gone back to the basics of Social Media: engaging your consumer and beginning a meaningful dialogue/interaction with them. The Swedes are being challenged to shrug off their social inhibition and walk backwards for 5 minutes, challenging fellow shoppers to a supermarket trolley race or even pretend to be a mime and earn some money. In return Carlsberg are going to send the most courageous participant on a trip for two to Hong Kong for a ‘life changing’ party as well as a variety of daily prizes to encourage participation. It’s easy to get caught up in complicated and unnecessary Social Media endeavours, trying to be all things to all people on every platform. You don’t need an outrageous budget and big brand clout, although it can certainly help, this campaign shows all you need are a clear objective and a creative idea that focus on the engaging your chosen target audience and maintaining a meaningful dialogue and a real, long term relationship. If you would like to talk more about a bespoke social media campaign, get in touch with us at 4Social.

Google’s Penguin Update

2012-05-31T01:50:00.011-07:00

Back in early April 2011 Google rolled out the update that we have all come to know and love, the Panda update. This was essentially an algorithm change designed to improve the experience and search quality results for users. Google went about doing this by clamping down on spam sites and link farms with the aim of improving the rankings for those sites featuring high quality, unique content.

Introducing Google’s new addition to the animal kingdom… the Penguin update. Released on the 24th April 2012, this pesky Penguin is the main talking point within the SEO world at the moment, as we mitigate the impact that this will have on our websites.

So what is the purpose of the Penguin update? The aim of the Penguin is to catch those people who intentionally spam Google search results; those who have been creating unnatural links through comment spam, paid text links and the like, which Google have said is against their publisher guidelines. Some of you may be thinking “So? I thought Google already combated spam”. And you would be right; Google does already combat spam, but what is happening is that they are rolling out better ways in which to detect such spamming techniques.

You might also be thinking “I’m a white hat SEO so this won’t affect me, right?” Not necessarily. Some smaller content sites have reportedly been impacted as a result of the Penguin update. This suggests that the emphasis on quality content has never been greater, with the larger sites beginning to show their authority in the SERPs. For smaller content sites, this shows the importance of keeping site content “fresh” and regularly updated, providing the user with the most relevant content.

So what does Google deem as web spamming?

Comments spam– Blog commenting has been a well known and well used SEO Linkbuilding tactic since times began. However, exact match anchor text links and comment signatures may prove to be a major contribution to Google’s perception of a website trying to rank for a specific keyword.

Exact match paid links – Purchasing “exact match” anchor text links from other sites is one way that companies might try to steal a march on their competitors. With Google’s Penguin on the loose, an anchor text link needs to have direct user benefit and not just be designed to manipulate the search results.

Article spam and irrelevant guest blog posts – Companies that distribute articles to websites chock full of content with exact match anchor text links are likely to be affected. So too are companies that post guest posts on sites harbouring a large amount of blogs with wildly varying content, also using exact match anchor text.

However, the Penguin doesn’t just penalise web spam. It also goes after infringements on Google’s ‘Quality Guidelines’, especially the following:

Duplicate Content– When distributing duplicate content, especially with exact match anchor text links, you can expect to see an impact on your targeted keywords. This also applies to duplicate content hosted on your own site. This particular advice has been in Google’s guidelines for a while, but it now appears to be of greater importance.

• Website load time
• Crawl errors/404 URLs

So what can you do?

Monitor your links and focus on content. Forget using exact match phrased keywords, and focus on building links organically with the aim of providing the user with what they are looking for. Look at where you may have built links in the past that Google may deem as spam sites.

Google will never provide us with the exact algorithm signals with which they rank websites. What we can do is ensure that we continue to build links organically and distribute content to relevant sites with genuine content.

According to Google, “The change will go live for all languages at the same time. For context, the initial Panda change affected about 12% of queries to a significant degree; this algorithm affects about 3.1% of queries in English to a degree that a regular user might notice. The change affects roughly 3% of queries in languages such as German, Chinese, and Arabic, but the impact is higher in more heavily-spammed languages. For example, 5% of Polish queries change to a degree that a regular user might notice.”

Peter Carl Faberge's birthday

2012-05-29T22:01:00.003-07:00

Today's Google doodle celebrates the birthday of Russian jeweller Peter Carl Faberge, also known as "Karl Gustavovich Faberge". The doodle depicts Faberge eggs, which are Easter eggs made using precious metals and gemstones instead of regular materials.

The first Faberge egg was commissioned by the Tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1885 as a gift for his wife the Empress Maria. Faberge made one egg every year for the Tsar for the next 10 years. The next Tsar, Nicholas II, ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his own wife, Alexandra. The tradition continued until the October Revolution.

The Imperial eggs enjoyed great fame, and Faberge made some other large eggs for a few select private clients. A Faberge egg were also featured in the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy, where it is the object of a bidding war between James Bond and Kamal Khan. Ultimately, Bond replaces the real egg with a dummy egg that contains a recording device.

The Google doodle features six Faberge eggs, one for each letter in the Google logo.

About the Peter Carl Faberge's

The Faberge family originated in France, but the Protestant family fled after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Eventually, some family members settled in Russia. Peter Carl Faberge was born in 1846. His education and goldsmith apprenticeship were in Germany. After establishing himself independently in 1866, Carl continued to refine his skills. By age 24, Faberge had inherited his father's jewelry workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia. For ten years as head of the business, Carl continued to produce goods similar to other jewelry makers. He also volunteered his time to the Hermitage, a treasury which stored all of the precious objects of the Russian czars, including gold artifacts and ancient treasures. All of these pieces Carl helped catalog, appraise and repair. He reorganized the business with the help of his able brother Agathon and forever changed the face of jewelry and art.In 1882 Carl's younger brother Agathon, a trained jeweler full of ideas, appeared on the scene. The two made copies ancient Russian treasures and sold them. Eric Kollin, a Finnish craftsman, helped the Faberge brothers make a number of pieces which they decided to feature at a fair in Moscow. Czar, Alexander III, and his wife, Czarina Maria were in attendance and made a purchase at the Faberge exhibit. There, Carl Faberge was presented with a gold medal honoring him as "...having opened a new era in jewelry art".Until that time, many felt the value of jewelry was intrinsic, based upon the precious metals and stones. Faberge felt that the artistic creativity and fine craftsmanship of jewelry made it art that transcended bullion value.

Goldsmithing became Carl Faberge's primary interest, and he hired Michael Perchin, a Russian goldsmith to assist him in his experiments with gold and enamel. Through careful examination of works of art, the two learned and attempted to replicate techniques of earlier artisans. Their efforts were so even the czar could not distinguish between the original piece and Faberge's copy of a snuff successful that box in his own collection. Soon after, Faberge became the Supplier to the Imperial Court.

Google Penguin 1.1 Now Live

2012-05-27T23:00:00.002-07:00

For the past few weeks, we have been reporting on speculation in the forums that Google released a Panda refresh. The Penguin 1.1 update is now officially live.

All of those speculative posts were down right wrong, according to Google. But Google's Matt Cutts has tweeted that a Penguin update is now live - the moment many of you have been waiting for.

Minor weather report: We pushed 1st Penguin algo data refresh an hour ago. Affects <0.1% of English searches.

Personally, I think all those times we reported on Penguin updates - I think those were live tests of what we see now. I think Google was testing this and some webmasters picked up that their sites either recovered or newly hit. Of course, there are many who were under the false understanding that they were hit by Penguin. But for the most part, I believe these were live tests. I can easily be wrong.

Those updates were on or about May 13th, May 15th and last night on May 24th.

So now we have it - I hope those who were hit by the original Penguin update on April 24th has recovered.

Free Instant Approval Directory Sites

2012-05-27T06:45:00.007-07:00

Why Social Media Is Reinventing Activism

2012-03-25T06:37:00.001-07:00

The argument that social media fosters feel-good clicking rather than actual change began long before Malcolm Gladwell brought it up in the New Yorker — long enough to generate its own derogatory term. “Slacktivism,” as defined by Urban Dictionary, is “the act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem.”

If you only measure donations, social media is no champion. The national chapter of the Red Cross, for instance, has 208,500 “likes” on Facebook, more than 200,000 followers on Twitter, and a thriving blog. But according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, online donations accounted for just 3.6% of private donations made to the organization in 2009.

But social good is a movement still in its infancy. Facebook launched in 2004, YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006. Let’s give the tools a little while to grow up before we start judging them.

All of that virtual liking, following, joining, signing, forwarding, and, yes, clicking, has a lot of potential to grow into big change. Here’s why: