Tag Archives: facebook

Google Plus Nuances

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‘ve been using Google Plus for a few days. It’s very much like Facebook but with some subtle improvements. For one thing it will hyperlink URLs even if they don’t begin with http or www. That’s a small difference but is quite helpful. If you are the kind of person that care about this sort of thing there are no ads on g+.

Google has been for a while now using your social graph to influence the search results you see. Using g+ Google will have a lot more data to use to filter your results making them more relevant to you. This is the real reason Google got in the social game. They want the data. As they do now Google will contintue to crowdsource the user base as a filter for what is relevant. When my Geocaching circle interacts with some content I shared with them that content will get a geocaching signal added.

We live in interesting times.

Google Plus Launch +5 days

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Anyone that has spent any time around me knows I like tools.  All kinds of tools.  Everything from my Swiss Army knife to my portable projector.   I even like online tools like Facebook and Twitter. I’ve discovered that the right tool makes a job go so much easier.   When Google launched their social networking tool I wanted to get a crack at it and see if it will make what I do online any easier.   It’s too early to tell if it really will.   Facebook has a HUGE network that will not move en masse to  a new platform.  I do have some thoughts on why Google has a shot at being successful with this product.

  1. Google already knows who my friends are.
  2. Google knows stats.
  3. I already use Google products every day.

I like almost 200,000 other people,  use Gmail for email.  This means that Google already knows who I communicate with most often.  The suggest tool in gmail prompts me to confirm the recipient if there might be confusion over which John or Bob I’m trying to send a message to.    Google could  apply this or similar algorithms to my plus account to help me figure out who belong in which circle.  Google isn’t doing this yet but some variation of this is going to come.

I’m a big fan of Google Analytics.  I use it on a large number of websites including Google Knol (Google’s Crowdsourced encyclopidia) and just recently Google Picasa (Picture Sharing website).   The latter are two are Google servicess you don’t generally associate with Google Analytics.  I don’t think it will be long before you can track your Google Plus traffic in Google Analytics.  Facebook offers stats if you use their “Pages” but you can’t see them for your profile.  Would we be alarmed to see how often our profile is viewed?  Is this something we want to know?

Today on Facebook one of my friends said he wasn’t switching to Google Plus until he had to.  I get his thinking.  All his friends are on Facebbook so why switch.  This is a sound rational if you are are already on Facebook and really, who isn’t?   I invited another friend to join me on Google Plus and he declined because he doesn’t use social media.  This is where Google has an edge.  Pretty soon all Google services will have a g+ hook.  Any Google service that offers sharing today will easily hook in to g+.  Services like Google Reader, Bookmark, Library and others will all be made more useful when attached to Google Plus.  The social graph is a powerful filter.   These services all have an installed base.  Leveraging that base is a way for Google to overcome the enormous inertia that Facebook has.

Ultimately who knows if Google Plus can usurp Facebook’s dominance in the social graph.  The folks at Facebook will have something to think about if the adoption rate keeps up with the current pace I’m seeing.

Transparency is Better than Hiding

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I’ve been using FaceBook for a couple of years.  I like that it allows me to keep in touch with my various social circles whether that is family or geocachers or other folks I’ve met throughout the years.  What I don’t like is people that aren’t sure they want to be on FaceBook so they create a profile with a fake name.   I don’t want to be friends with your imaginary self, I want to be online friends with the people I know in real-life.

I don’t know why people use fake names either on FaceBook or online in general.  Anonymity is not a good social construct.   It never has been.   Drivers are rude because you don’t know them.  I bet you’ve never had someone you know cut you off.  People typically become less civil when they can hide behind an pseudonym.   Flame wars in online forums tend to happen because the combatants can hide behind anonymity.   Remove the anonymity and things get much more civil, even between rivals.

I am currently reading Jaron Lanier‘s You Are Not a Gadget.   I’m finding the book a little hard to read but I do agree with one of the tenants of his manifesto.   In the book Lanier makes the case that you should own your online identity.  He believes as I do that what you say on line should reflect what you say in person and for that to work you can’t be anonymous.   Couple this with another book I’m reading (okay listening to, multi-media for multi-purpose I suppose) Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom, by Matthew Fraser and you can see why I’m taking this position.

In Throwing Sheep the author cites a number of examples where people have not realized that the Internet has infinite memory.  What you say online never goes away.  That isn’t always a bad thing.   If you have a vivid enough online reputation it becomes incredibly difficult for someone to impersonate you online.  If you haven’t secured your name on sites like FaceBook or LinkedIn or elsewhere then someone else can.  There are a couple of famous John Robb‘s out there.  They secured their identities which means I need to assert mine to avoid confusion.  There are even companies that will manage the creation of your online profile.

Transparency is the key to ensuring you control your online identity.  If you hide behind a pseudonym someone can come along and pretend to be you using your real name.  Protect yourself, be yourself.

Is being social more important than being in Google?

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From time to time I use my personal blog for little experiments.   I recently hooked up my blog to my Twitter account to see what kind of effect it would have on traffic.  I’d start by saying it is positive.   Below is an image of the stats for this site over the last few days.   See below for an explanation of each referer and my conclusion on what effect being social has on website traffic.

Referers to johnarobb.com

Referers to johnarobb.com

  1. Organic traffic from Google.  Most of my search traffic from Google is because of either my Tablet Recipe or my Family History.
  2. Facebook traffic is mostly because I integrated my tweets as my Facebook status message.  So even though the traffic appears to be coming from Facebook it is really as a result of my twitter activity.
  3. Well if it’s coming from twitter it’s because I’ve posted a link to my blog.   The interesting thing here is that twitter sends almost half of what Google sends to my blog.  Is Google less important?
  4. Image searches are mostly looking for picture I took for my tablet recipe.   I guess it just goes to show that blended search is a reality.
  5. Buzzmachine is the blog of @jeffjarvis.   I commented on his blog after reading a tweet.  It turns out those URL links from comments actually help drive traffic.
  6. Davidairey.com is another blog I commented on.   If you leave thoughtful comments people will follow the link to your site.
  7. A link to my family history page
  8. Another link to my family history page
  9. more image searches
  10. you really need to believe in this blended search thing.
First a couple of caveats.  My blog doesn’t get a ton of traffic.  Maybe my sample size is too small.   I’d point to stats from other sites for comparison but none of the other sites I have access to use social media to this extent.
As an added bonus when I link to out to other blogs via my tweets those links are listed in the ping backs for my blog.  Here’s an example of how my tweet generated a ping back to my blog:
Waxing UnLyrical ping back

Waxing UnLyrical ping back

Conclusion:
Using social media has long-term SEO and traffic benefits that should not be underestimated.   Links tend to live a long time.  The act of providing insight via tweet or via comments earns you some equity in the link economy.  Use that equity wisely.
I might also post this entry at my SEO Blog.