YouTube surpassed Yahoo as the Internet’s 3rd most visited site, according to Alexa.com…with spots 1 & 2 belonging to, yup you guessed it, Google and Facebook.

This recent upswing is not surprising from the standpoint of understanding, “yes, YouTube gets a helluva lot of traffic.” But, how much? And, how did they manage to surpass the “leading” online portal of news and e-mail? One must tread carefully using Yahoo and leading in the same context of course.

Back to YouTube.

There are several schools of thought for looking at YouTube’s recent traffic spike.

• Yahoo traffic continued to fall while YouTube held steady.
• Yahoo traffic remained steady and YouTube continued to grow.
• Yahoo traffic fell and YouTube continued to grow.
• YouTube just flat out grew past Yahoo.

According to Alexa, Yahoo traffic grew by 1.35% the last 3 months with YouTube growing by 2.58% during the same period.

Why did this happen?

First off, Yahoo is a great site for following up on news, free e-mail, and some even use it to search – - – meant Bing.

The problem is, they are not the ONLY site offering these features. Yes, they used to. Not any more. With the advent of blogs and more news aggregates the only plausible conclusion is: options.

Yes, Yahoo has one advantage: name recognition. However, in the decade of change…this only goes so far.

The cyber sphere is quickly learning there is life beyond Yahoo.

Quick political blurb: as the landscape becomes more partisan, individuals are following suit by choosing WHAT information is consumed. Everyone used to go to Yahoo, as mentioned earlier. Now, Conservatives can go to Fox or the Drudge Report and Liberals flock to the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos.

YouTube’s advantage stretches beyond popularity. They happen to be the ONLY descent online video portal, and just so happen to be a verb – just like their parents.

Google It.

YouTube It.

When was the last time you heard, Yahoo It?

As always, we would love to hear your comments on these issues. Not only do we love talking about recent online developments…but listening to what our loyal readers have to say is even better.

See you around.

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Gmailers are rejoicing from all points of the globe as news about about Gmail’s new chat feature is released.

Within the next 48 hours, most Gmail users will be able to make PC > Phone calls all from the comfort of their inbox.

Yup you heard it. That’s only the good news.

Great News. It’s Cheap!

• Calls to the U.S and Canada are free
• PC > Phone calls to numerous countries at only .$02 cents / minute
• Routing various international calls to your mobile pone cost .20 cents / minute

It sounds like they have it down.

“We went through a couple of exercises when figuring our how to price it,” says Google product manager for group communications Craig Walker.

Since Google Voice didn’t take off as some thought it would…Google has a chance to re-launch the voice feature with Gmail.

Speaking of launch: the feature should be going live in the next few days. However, we don’t suggest taping tooth picks to your eyes and waiting up for it.

As far as quality?

Walker said Google’s engineers have done existent work to increase the sound quality between microphones and PC speakers and rates the sound quality as good as Skype and better then a mobile phone.

In case you’re wondering – here’s a little breakdown of how it will work.

Gmail Voice will piggy back off of the Gmail Chat feature in the lower left hand corner. It will operate like any standard touch tone phone. Click on “Call Phone” in the top of your chat list and fire away.

On a side note, the official Gmail blog says calls to the U.S and Canada are free for at least for the rest of the YEAR.

Well, we may see some Mountain View benevolence by making the free calls permanent.

With Google, Skype and Vonage battling in the VOIP war…one thing is guaranteed. Look for more releases and better technology. As long as there’s an emerging industry – technology will be developed quicker.

Depending on Buzz’s success, Google might play a key role in bringing voice to social media!

Why is Facebook dragging its feet in developing live video / voice services? Answer: no competition.

Google is surely watching this.

In the meantime, happy talking!

Questions or comments about Gmail’s new voice feature? Feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you think? Sorry, text responses only.

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However, for Maryland State House candidate Shukoor Ahmed, he’s doing things a little differently.

Different for some maybe.

Ahmed, who is CEO of V-Empower, a web and IT consulting firm, is making his second run in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s District 23A House of Delegates seat. And, he plans on making it worth his time (and money)…utilizing every available social media and online advertising avenue

“We will be doing much more advertising online [than in other media] because we can measure effectiveness of online advertising dollars,” Ahmed told Clickz.com – a website dedicated to online marketing news and culture.

Not only is Ahmed serious about his online presence, he’s also hired 19-year old college student Ben Lighter to take over the role as the campaign’s director of social media.

Not a bad gig.

“It’s about keeping people involved in what’s going on in the campaign,” said Lighter, who “It’s not limited to my generation anymore.”

Of course, setting up social media platforms is not enough…so Ben, how do you plan on getting the word out about Ahmed’s campaign?

“We want to be able to connect with teenagers…and be able to mobilize them,” said Ahmed.

That’s  a good start.

Here are some of the strategies Lighter is implementing or plans to in the near future.

• While Ahmed is campaigning , such as knocking on doors , he always makes sure to     ask  if they are on Facebook. Once located, either he Ahmed or Lighter posts a quick thank you note on their wall.

• Video and more video.  As Ahmed canvases his district , talks to voters or serves up pancakes (well we aren’t sure if he’s done this yet) Ligther and Ahmed plan on documenting everything they can….with a few endorsement clips and Q&A sessions in the works. Voters are also encourage to send Ahmed’s campaign an e-mail and he’ll create a custom video response.

Even though online marketing seems to be Ahmed’s niche, he hasn’t forgot his roots. Traditional marketing that is. Yes, he does plan on running print ads, sending direct mail and TV advertising…but for now, its all about the Internet.

“We’re looking to spend 30 to 40 percent of our budget online,” Ahmed said,

Well, with 90,000 people in his district and 37,000 of them on Facebook, that will be money well spent.

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Some would call it a bandwagon. I prefer plague.

The problem (plague) starts off like this:

Day 1

#1 – Company A needs to expand marketing avenues and start using “New Media.”

#2 –  Well, how should we go about it? Create a Facebook profile of course. Throw in some YouTube, Twitter,  Linked In, Google Buzz and you have yourself a social media campaign.

“Great, we are officially a 21st century company!…got a welcome video / status update posted and tweeted a few times”

Day 17

Your new “social” media attempts have a better chance at landing a spot on Life After People vs. engaging you’re base and recruiting potential customers.

YouTube still has a welcome video.

Facebook says “Keep checking our page for updates (say whatever you want)…but there there are no updates to stay tuned for.

Twitter has a Tweet

Linked In and Google Buzz have nothing to Link; neither is there anything to Buzz about.

I’m afraid to announce, this is what I’m seeing a lot of these days. Remember, social media without being social is simply media. And, media left to it’s own devices is useless. You can always start an introverted media campaign if you like…however, I wouldn’t encourage it.

This isn’t Field of Dreams. Just because you build it, does not mean they will come. Whoever they are. And, this brings me to my next point.

Who are they? And, how do we find them?

Stepping into the social media realm is no different then walking into a party with dozens of people you don’t know. The question you have to ask yourself is – will you be the person sitting in the corner staring at the Ficus tree?

Hopefully you said no.

Or, the other option (and there is no in between) is to actively MEET your community.

M = Make a connection. It all starts with the first comment.
E = Engage – start a conversation and find some common ground.
E = Entertain – no one wants to talk to a clone of their should have retired 20 years ago geology professor.
T = Teach – introduce them to your product but don’t stop there. Show them WHY it will solve all of their problems, eradicate world hunger and bring world peace. You get the idea. Showing them what your blog is about will create interest (buzz) and build trust and credibility.

Now that you know what you need to do, take a look at few things you shouldn’t do with social media.

Spamming the community will get you no where. I don’t necessarily mean in the old fashioned sense of harvesting a bunch of contact info and sending unsolicited messages. A more relevant form of social media bombardment would be to randomly post links and information unrelated to the topic at hand. The best speakers tend to be great listeners. Engagement also means paying attention to what users want and providing timely and helpful solutions.

As the saying goes, “don’t call only when you need something.” Your posts should be helpful even when they don’t directly further your brand. The idea is to build trust so when you release that hot product or write a killer post, no convincing is necessary. Don’t expect to teach before engaging.

Even though we’ve been talking about customer relationship management for years, social media has made the relationship far more accessible. Notice I didn’t say easier.

No true relationship will ever be easy. Especially when dealing with humans who have wants, needs, ideas, problems, good days, bad days. The list goes on.

But, as Woody Allen put so simply – yet profound “90% of life is showing up.”

Shoot for 100%.

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The once bankrupt airline struck a deal with the social networking giant to begin showing display ads and allowing customers to book a flight without leaving the site. They are the first airlines to offer this feature.

Upon visiting Delta’s Facebook page, the feature is accessable by click on the “Book-a-Flight” tab…then visitors are prompted to allow the app to access their persona information – name, profile, picture, gender…etc

As far as when these ads will be up and running? Well, it looks like they are not wasting any time. The display ads and new booking feature will be cycling on Facebook and other publisher networks in the next few days, according to Facebook spokesman, Paul Skrbec.

He went on to point out:

“There will be an arrow consumers can click that will expand a window right on the site they are currently on,” he said. “The entire transaction happens in the ticket window.”

Delta? Any response.

“We’re now delivering technology where our customers are – from our own website to our Facebook page to Internet news sites and beyond,”  Bob Kupbens, Delta’s vice president of eCommerce said in a statement.

Even though 1-800 Flowers has been using this feature, its still relatively new in terms of availability. This only fuels the debate where the Facebook will grow into a large portal and offer users turn-key solutions. Of course more merchants will have to step up and offer more than flights and flowers, however.

To please the privacy advocates, the following was posted online about their new campaign:

“Note: Information collected here goes to Delta and not Facebook.”

Referring back to the debate surrounding Facebook’s growth, achieving 500 millionth user milestone, for example…some have seen Delta’s recent move as a vote of confidence for Zuckertopia to increase steam and keep on marching.

With Delta having complete control of the app, ones options are limitless in terms of how much data they will have. access to. Photos, age, location, likes, dislikes. Bascially, all of the data marketers drool over.

What type of data collection regulations and policies Facebook will (or be forced to) adopt, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, keep an eye on this feature and see how many more companies use the technology.

How much / little do you think this feature will help Delta? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Social networking is coming to an area near you.

Litterally.

The Foursquare.com iPhone app brings new meaning to the terms “social” and “network. Basically, the app allows users to ping locations in their local area, write descriptions about restaurants and earn points / badges for frequently using the program.

According to Wikipedia: Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at venues. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook or both. In version 1.3 of their iPhoneapplication, Foursquare enabled push-notification of friend updates, which they call “Pings.

Based on a video from HowCast titled “How to Unlock Your World With Foursquare,” visitors are also able to “find happiness right around the corner.” (see video below)

What if the following corner’s findings are not so attractive? Well, they didn’t get that far.

However, here are a few cool details:

• If you don’t have access to the web, users can update their status as well as locations and “findings” via text.

• You can check in by using GPS.

• Unlock badges and points depending on how much you using the program.

If you’re wondering about the levels, here are some details. Every game (tool) has to have levels, right?

• Superuser level 1 can edit venue info (address, cross street, phone, Twitter names, map pin location), mark places as “closed”, and let Foursquare know about duplicate venues.
• Superuser level 2 can edit venues, merge duplicate venue listings, adjust the latitude and longitude of a venue, remove tags, and add venue categories for any venue.
• Superuser level 3 adds the ability to create and remove venue aliases. (Wikipedia)

Use Foursquare wherever you go…airports, concerts, museums, the White House (maybe not)…but you get the point.

For a little history on the program, Foursquare was founded in 2009 and was available to roughly 100 metro areas. And, not surprisingly, as interest grew functionality was expanded to include all worldwide locations.

In case you’re wondering…Foursquare is not relegated to the iPhone – including apps for Android, WebOS, Windows 7 and Blackberry.

What do you think about this app? If you’ve used it before, drop us a line and tell us what you think…if not – well, leave a comment anyway. If it sounds like something you will / won’t use… please tell us why!

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In fact, as seen from the view of CEO Tim Armstrong, it looks like they haven’t hit bottom yet. I’m sure Wall Street loves this.

It’s about taking a company that was very sick and making it healthy,” Armstrong said, suggesting that much has changed in the past year. “This is the first quarter in Q2 where we were able to start playing some offense as a company.”

Most investors attribute the losses to the company’s restructuring process…including reducing inventory and shutting down global operations.

A few things to note pertaining to the recent drop in Q2 revenue:

• Overall advertising plunged 27% from Q2 in 2009 to 2010.
• During the same time international ad sales took a flying leap…with a 52% drop. The company also pointed out this was due to their plan to reduce global operations.
• Domestic display ads fell 7% (not such a bad number considering the alternative)
• Total display revenues dropped 13% or 17 million.

Even though these numbers are not what investors wanted to hear, most AOL executives attribute this to the overall plan to cut the pork out of what some have called a “failing company.”

In some ways, AOL is following directly into the path of Yahoo – i.e, looking for premium ad dollars vs. relying on large quantities of cheaper advertisers.

Armstrong also noted 60% of its homepage campaigns have come from what he deemed as premium advertisers…vs. 40% in Q2 of 2009.

Yes, the numbers are bleak. They suck actually…to put in bluntly. So, when does the rebound begin? Such as maybe a few mergers and acquisitions? On a recent conference call to investors, he Armstrong gave the following response:

I think we are a build-first company in terms of trying to build things ourselves. I think we will do more M&A activity as we go forward, but I think it will be very targeted and tuck-in-level in the areas that we see successful, with the goal being consumer growth and advertiser growth in general.
One of the best things that happened at the company, actually, is that we are very connected to the startup community now, which we weren’t a year ago. We are very active in the AOL Ventures area, as well as very active in constantly discussing partnerships.

I doubt that really clears anything up. What AOL really needs to do is finish up their downsizing and get back to their “bread and butter.” Start utilizing the ad marketplace by beefing up Advertising.com.
It’s the advertising stupid!

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Whether it’s 500 – 500,000 – 500,000,000 or 500 (insert desired digits)…it is a rather strong number. Five is five from zero and five from ten. Go think about that for a while.

When someone asks you, how long will X task take…your standard answer? Five minutes.

What is the most famous race in NASCAR? Daytona 500 (More amusing stats below).

How many active users are there on Facebook? Well, as of last week 500 million.

We all thought it was a big deal when the social networking giant surpassed MySpace (yeah that was a while ago) then 300 million users, 400 and then now.

What makes 500 million special is that Zuckerburg and his gang now rank fourth among websites in active users…still running behind Google (932 million) (Microsft 789 million) and Yahoo (622 million).

Of course to make a crack at Google’s record, who will probably surpass the 1 Billion mark later this year…Facebook needs to recognize it won’t come without a fight.  Also, in a number of countries they are not the leading social network

Zuckerburg isn’t worried, however.

“It tips at different countries at different times,” Zuckerberg told an audience at the Cannes Lions ad festival last month. On the question of whether Facebook would crack a billion users, he said “it is almost a guarantee that it will happen.”

At least he’s optimistic.

I would say Rupert Murdoch was too…so we’ll have to see what happens.

As promised here are a few more stats concerning the great number 500…

Five hundred is also

• many NASCAR races often use the number 500 at the end of their race names (i.e. Daytona 500), to denote the length of the race (in miles, kilometers or laps).
• the longest advertised distance of the IndyCar Series and its premier race, the Indianapolis 500.
• an Italian car, the Fiat 500, or a number of cars in the United States built by Ford: the Ford Five Hundred, Galaxie 500 and Custom 500.
• a name of two different card games, see 500 (card game) for the trick taking game and 500 Rum for the rummy game.
• (500) Days of Summer is a 2009 film directed by Marc Webb
• an outdoor ball/disc game, see 500 (outdoor game)
• an HTTP status code for Internal Server Error
• an SMTP status code meaning a syntax error has occurred due to unrecognized command
• the years AD 500, 500 BC.
• the winning permillage of a sports team with equal numbers of wins and losses. Such teams are often referred to as “500 teams”.

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This time all of the above happened.

There has been so much interest and feedback surrounding the iPhone 4…it became impossible to ignore. And, trust us…we tried.

So, that brings us to our version of: iPhone 4 Mania Follow Up So Everyone Will Stop Talking About It 1.0

With that said, instead of writing an overall synopsis of the phone –  here are the top 7 reasons we’ve compiled and came up with not to buy the iPhone 4.

Enjoy

Drum roll please…

#1 – Flat out costs too much.

You can go out and buy a premium Droid or Blackberry and still pay less than the iPhone 4. For all of the reasons we are about to mention…it is simply not worth it.

#2 – Where in the world is Mr. Flash?

This is a huge mistake by the trend setters of hand held media and mobile technology. ALERT for browsing junkies: the iPhone 4 can’t handle most flash videos or apps. Of course the Droid can. Amazing.

#3 – Definitely not running on Energizer.

Of course this problem is nothing knew to Apple users and is not exclusive to Apple, however, for all of the other under performing features…can we at least get the battery right? Even if everyone is not happy with the overall seducing qualities of the phone, at least allow maximum usage out of the device.

#4 – Of course I’ll share with you…whether you want to or not.

If you’re sitting on the plane next to someone with a set of these “factory” headphones….well, I hope your tastes are more similar than the guy behind you drinking caffeine-free Diet Root Beer. You just opted into his play list for the next 3 hours and 17 minutes. Don’t charge high dollar for a phone and dish out 50 cent headphones.

#5 – No, you may not do two things at once.

Just like your elementary school teacher told you, work on one thing at a time. Well, with the iPhone 4 you’ll have no choice.

Yes, you still have to open the app to view MSN and Yahoo Messenger. Of course an auto alert would be too much to ask. Brilliant.

#6 – Looks good but doesn’t feel the same.

OK. It’s sleek and sexy. Bravo. But, what about one of those two hour conversations where your ear is numb and turning another shade of purple? Might as well go back to Staples to get a “real” phone. iPhone doesn’t help you much here either. With its cool looking design great to whip out on the subway….not so much at home.

#7 – This time…no sharing

The time you might want to share, Apple says no. Should you attempt to set up any iPhone as a mobile hot spot, consider it…defiantly not done. No Socratic type speech by Steve Jobs will reverse disappointment on this decision.

Even though we covered the Top 7 not so likable features of the iPhone 4…we need at least three more from YOU.

Leave a comment or drop us a line to round out the Top 10.

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Oops, I meant King James.

This move has been sliced and diced for the past month, and I don’t see the choppers laying down any time soon.

That’s not the point of this article, however. We will be talking about one king we are all too familiar with.

Content.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past however many years the Internet has been in existence…you know the only way to a viable website or blog is solid content.

This is where MadContent.com comes in. If you’re looking for a concrete solution to boost SEO rankings and reduce your labor cost – while providing solid information, the team over at MadContent will flip your wig with over 9 proven services and quick turnaround time.

All articles are 100% owned by you…basically, content won’t be recycled and you won’t see it appear on another website 2 years down the road. Unless a lazy developer gets a hold of it, of course.

Every article will pass a CopyScape check…plagiarism is flat out prohibited. After spending some time on the phone interviewing their Dallas office, I walked away thinking…wow these guys are serious.

I think I’ll stick to my blog posting. Might as well let the professionals do their thing.

As mentioned on their site, here’s what satisfied customers are saying:

I have hired other freelancers who were inconsistent at best and at worst well lets just say that I am still waiting on some articles.

“My first order with MadContent was for 75, 600 word articles that were delivered quicker and cheaper than my previous freelancer could write 15.

I completely trust and recommend their services….Oh, and did I mention they were grammatically correct? Don’t even get me started LOL””

Steven Roddy
The Marketing Model

The truth is…you are more than welcome to go create an account at eLance or ScriptLance and pay top dollar for marginal results. Of course there are some capable providers on there.

But now, you have an option.

Instead, pay a descent rate for extraordinary results.

I think Steven’s comment can be summed up in three words….Quickness, Affordability and Quality.

Once you get angry enough about finding quality content…I have a feeling you will find yourself at MadContent.com

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