Google Music Ready to Take on iTunes With Warner Agreement

Google is gearing up to go toe-to-toe with Apple and Amazon in MP3 sales.
The company announced Monday that Warner Music Group agreed to begin selling its catalog of songs through Google Play. All four major U.S. record labels have now signed on to Google’s music, video and app retailing platform.

Google launched its music offering, which allows users to upload and play their existing library to the cloud as well as purchase music, last November. The service was hampered by its lack of selection, however, making Amazon’s Cloud Player the superior option for Android users. (iTunes is not available on Android devices.)
Google also said it would begin selling movies in Canada, the UK, France, Spain and Australia on Monday, as well as music in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain on Nov. 13.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the unveiling of Google’s new line of Nexus devices: a Nexus 4 smartphone, a 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet and a 10-inch Nexus 10 tablet.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ShaneKato

Facebook Messages Update Rolls Out To More Users

We’re closer to seeing a widespread updated version of Facebook Messages.
In August Facebook announced that it would be giving Facebook Messages a whole new look, but didn’t announce when it would be bringing that look to users. Two months later, most Facebook users appear to have still not received the update.

The announcement in August teased a new side-by-side layout to messages, allowing you to see your most recent conversations on the left side of the screen and see a whole conversation on the right. It also allows you to insert photos and emoticons into messages.

Search and Navigation will also be improved in the updated Messages, allowing you to search by sender’s name or keyword from the main messages view, keyboard shortcuts will also be available to access some of Messages functionality.

On Wednesday, Facebook user Interactive Swim posted a picture of the welcome note for the updated Messages which recently hit its page, indicating that the feature may be starting to roll out to additional users.

A Facebook representative confirmed Wednesday that the updated version of Messages will be rolling out to all users. But the representative declined to indicate a time frame for that rollout.

Do you have access to the updated version of Facebook Messages yet? Let us know in the comments.

[via AllFacebook]
Photo courtesy iStockphoto, bb_1.

Pheed Wants to Take On the Giants of Social Media

Is there room for another social network? A new startup, Pheed, certainly hopes so.
Pheed is trying to court users of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. And it’s got some powerful friends. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton and David Guetta have already signed up for Pheed. Since soft-launching last week, more than a million users have signed up for the new service.
Pheed is the ultimate “mashup” of other sites, says Pheed cofounder and CEO O.D. Kobo. Kobo and his team “cherry-picked” what they liked best of their social media predecessors, and left out what bothered them, creating in Kobo’s opinion something both significant and simple.

The site features a Facebook-inspired “timeline,” trending topics ala Twitter, and the ability to easily incorporate photos, videos, audio and even live broadcasts into posts. Pheed allows users to “rate their channel” marking them as PG-13 or R based on the content you plan to produce. You can even share your “pheeds” back to Facebook, Twitter or any other blog.

Monetizing Social

More than just social features, Pheed also has a business model by way of an optional paywall.
Pheed’s concept is based on offering premium content. Pheeders have the ability to apply a month subscription fee ($1.99 to $34.99 per month) to their streams or users can charge on a pay-per-view basis ($1.99 to $34.99). Pheed takes 50% the content’s revenue and the user takes the rest.

“The next step up of the [social media] evolution includes monetization to users,” Kobo tells Mashable. “It’s not fair that just platforms make money for content. The content creators need to have a fair playground.”
Kobo says everyone from celebs to high schoolers have something to gain from the premium option. A famous singer or a high schooler in a band, he says, can charge to broadcast a concert from their living room. Even if the high schooler only makes a few hundred bucks, Kobo says, it could mean a lot to them.
The premium content is only an suggestion, not a requirement of the site. It’s something Kobo says he hopes will only take off once Pheed has gained “critical mass.” He thinks charging for content is a huge responsibility which he doesn’t want users to exploit until they’ve really mastered the power Pheed offers.
And when that happens, Kobo hopes that Pheed will be the answer to the Internet’s white noise. The need for a content filter is what drove Kobo’s startup, he says, believing that if money becomes a part of the process, there is a better chance to increase the quality of information coming through social media streams.
The site has gained about a million users since its soft launch last week and with the app dropping later this week, it is poised to draw in a big crowd in the days to come.

Kobo says mobile advertising will also be another focus of attention for revenue.
“Our business model is based on the long tail,” Kobo says. “We don’t want to be like other platforms that get to 15 million/20 million users and then go round and round looking for money to raise.”

Will This Work

Although charging for access to a network isn’t unheard of — App.net requires users to pay in order to use the service (though non-users can browse the global content and individual user feeds for free). Vimeo is preparing to launch features that will allow its Vimeo Pro creators to charge for access to video content.
Still, paying to watch a video is very different from paying to read a status update or to see an Instagram photo. Will users be willing to pay to access basic social feeds?

Though Kobo believes premium content means elevated content, he forgets that lots of free content is already above par. Payment may simply decrease, instead of increase, access to what’s already high quality. Pheed’s premium channels could backfire, expanding the reach of the lower quality, free pheeds and create a class war of social media. “Elite” pheeds versus the visions of Facebook and Twitter — making people and information more open and connected and less controlled.
Moreover, the service lacks originality and innovation on many fronts. By compiling the services of other social media companies, Pheed offers very little new and creative and could hinder the chances of users splurging on premiums.

So you tell us, are you excited about Pheed and the concept of monetized social media? Answer in the comments below.

Pinterest - The Beautiful Social Media

Pinterest is the newest big Social Media phenomenon after Facebook and Twitter. Although the beta version of Pinterest was launched in March 2010 which operated on an invitation-only basis, it eventually opened to everyone only in August 2012. The interest in Pinterest has been so great that it has become the fastest website in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark which was reported in January 2012.

When you visit the Pinterest website, what strikes you straightaway is the imagery. It is just full of beautiful images which you could not imagine existed. There are pictures posted of everything but mainly of places, clothing, food, babies and cute animals. But it is not just limited to these. The current statistics from Pinterest states the most popular pins to be in the order of Food and Drinks, DIY and Crafts, Home Decor, Women's Fashion, Hair and Beauty and other categories. In short, Pinterest has been taken to heart by the female population. Some estimates suggest the proportion of female users to range anything between 72-96% of total Pintrest users.

So how is Pinterest similar to or different from Facebook and Twitter you may ask. Imagine Pinterest to be at one extreme of image-to-text scale and Twitter at the other while Facebook is somewhere in the middle. In Pinterest there are features just like in Facebook and Twitter that make them social such as the ability to follow, like, share and comment on other users material, which in the case of Pinterest are only the images. The more powerful the image, the more interest you will provoke in visitors to your profile which in turn will result in your profile attracting more followers. As In other social media platforms, followers can be converted to customers.

So, if you have never been on Pinterest, this is how it works. Everything on Pinterest is organised around images. You can pin your images on pinboards which you can create around whatever category you choose. For instance you can create a board on your hobbies, events, businesses, travel, fashions, foods etc. You can even repin other users images you to one of your own boards.
If an image is liked enough, there is a great opportunity for it to go viral. Just imagine the effect that would have on your website in terms of the traffic it would attract if one or more of your images linked to your website went viral!

However, one of the major disadvantages of Pinterest must be finding attractive images to post regularly. Unlike Twitter and Facebook where you can conduct your social interaction with words, you cannot do this on Pinterest without first posting an image. To, overcome this issue, you can post images from third party sites such as Google and Flickr. You must always post images that are relevant to your pinboard and you must adhere to the copyright of the image you pin.

Just as in other social media, if you show interest in someone by following or liking, they are most likely to return the favour. And if those you follow are interested in your niche and they followed you back then you have accomplished what people in internet marketing strive to do, which is to get targeted traffic.

Images are very powerful and emotive objects to humans and therefore a great potential exists to monetize them. The easiest way is to attach affiliate links to the images. Unfortunately from internet marketers' point of view, this practice is frowned upon by Pinterest who have been known to alter the affiliate links to their own advantage. This practice by Pinterest could potentially land them in deep legal waters.

Unlike words which are plenty and readily available, images are restrictive but more importantly they are subject to copyright laws. Certain websites have opted out of having their images pinned on Pinterest by deploying a special meta tag that was released by Pinterest. This puts further limitations on finding attractive and unique images that are readily available.

All social media are evolving entities, including Pinterest. Perhaps it will adapt and evolve into something different in the future. However for now, it presents an enormous opportunity for internet marketer to do business on Pinterest.

Pinterest, as part of the overall internet marketing strategy could make a significant contribution to your online business. It is yet another viable source to make money online.
To your social media success!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7333332

5 Free Traffic Tips

It is a fact that there are thousands of written articles online that can give you free traffic tips for your website or your blog. Some are complicated, some are very easy to do and some may even require you to do some cash outs, which of course you don't want to do. There are good tips to follow to make sure that you get the right kind of traffic, here is a list of 5 free traffic tips that are crucial to building a good audience online.

Search Engine Optimization
Like anything else finding the right words is vital. Whatever your website is about may it be a blog or you're selling something exposure is what you need. It's one thing to be searchable via the major search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing but it is another to be on top of the search list. Targeting the right keywords that people often use to search can help you crawl up on the major list of results.
A lot of companies hire and pay good money for good SEO writers than can spin key phrases and words. Because of these SEO words there is a better chance that you can crawl up your site as among the first results and get more traffic since most people only open the first few choices on a results page. But, you don't have to pay money to get SEO done on your site; just make sure that the right word tags are used or repeat a certain searchable phrase on a blog post then you can slowly optimize your chances for a better traffic.

Read Blogs and Leave Comments
Here is another technique that can build your online presence, reach out and leave comments, sincere ones at that, on blog posts. Writers love to be recognized and be heard, after creating a rapport with other writers you will be expanding your online social circle and can add up to your regular traffic. You never know they may even write about you.

Keep Linking Out
Make use of social networking sites. Linking out through these networks can drive hundreds or even more traffic to your website or blog. These links can also be shared thus making it easier to spread news about your post or site. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and social sharing sites like StumbleUpon are great avenues to promote your stuff.

Good Content is Everything
One way to make sure that there will be consistent traffic to your website is to have killer content. Whatever your site may be, content should be top-notch. This is what separates sites and blogs from each other. It is easier to get traffic if you do different strategies but it will be effortless for you if your content is something people can be interested in that they will even promote your site to people they know. Research and do the proper work in preparing for the stuff or write up you put out, it will all be worth it.

Be Relatable to Your Readers
There are so many sites only after the traffic to earn more on advertising but some of these sites are impersonal and totally un-relatable to readers. Even if you write about car parts or your site is about photos of plants if people can put a face and relate to the human being running the site - readers and site visitors will warm up to you. You can get your traffic in more ways than one but get your traffic the Right way by creating a good relationship with your readers. Through this they will feel like they know you and they can easily adopt you and your website within their respective online community.

These are simple 5 free traffic tips that you can do to promote your site. There is no need to spend big bucks just so people will visit, just set-up a site where they can come to and relax and be entertained.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7327865

Why and How to Use Social Media For Your Business

If you've been in business for a little while, you've probably heard that you should jump on the social media marketing bandwagon. However, you may not be sure what social media is and what it can do for you. Read on to learn how you can best use social media to help attract customers to your business and increase your profits.

Social media marketing has many benefits for most business owners. The two most important benefits are that social networking is a free source of advertising and that social media marketing can reach millions of customers.

To understand why social network marketing is an important part of your business marketing strategy, you first have to understand how social network works. On social media sites, people post things that are of interest to them and their friends read them. Friends may comment on the person's posts or share the same content on their own pages.

This ability is important to businesses because if they can harness it, their messages may literally go around the world. For example, suppose you post a link to your business on your social media page and one of your customers re-posts it with a comment that this is his favorite business. Five of that customer's friends may re-post the link as well, and some of their friends may repost it. As you can see, in a matter of minutes, hours or days, your link may reach thousands or millions of customers via this process! This advertising is all free; the only thing you pay is your monthly Internet service bill.

In order to get the results you seek, however, you need to use social network correctly. Many businesses make the mistake of only posting links to their business. This results in people ignoring the business because they feel it is there solely to advertise.

A better strategy involves interacting with your customers. Your goal should be to make the customer feel valued, special and appreciated. Think about what type of information you would want to get if you were a customer looking for businesses like yours and then post it. For example, post status updates and links that tell customers how to solve a common problem.

You also need to make sure to respond to customer comments as soon as possible. Customers feel honored when a business takes the time to respond to them. In addition, your customers will begin to see you as a trusted friend, which makes it more likely that they will do business with you.

As you can see, it's important to know how to use social network correctly in order to increase your business success. If you're new to social network, don't worry; it is fairly easy to learn. Sign up for an account on Facebook or on Twitter and spend some time looking at other business pages so that you can see how businesses use social media effectively. When you're ready, create your first page. Follow the tips you just read to help you successfully create a business presence online and attract customers to your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7308770

What Is StumbleUpon? One Amazing Marketing Tool!

I'm on a few email lists and this article came through today that really brought it home about StumbleUpon. Even as long as it's been around, people new to marketing still may ask, 'Well, what is StumbleUpon?'
According to SU's own website...

"We help you easily discover new and interesting stuff on the Web. Tell us what you like, and we'll introduce you to amazing web pages, videos, photos and more that you wouldn't have found on your own.
"As you Stumble through great web pages, tell us whether you Like or Dislike our recommendations so we can show you more of what's best for you. We'll show you web pages based on that feedback as well as what similar Stumblers and the people you follow have Liked or Disliked.
Our members have given us some pretty great compliments in the past, including describing us as "the entire Internet, all in one place," "an epic journey" and "a map to an adventure you wouldn't otherwise have found out about.

Whether you're interested in Humor, Photography, Fashion or Sports, we have something for you. Every Stumble is an adventure, and something amazing is always just a click away."
Personally, I love StumbleUpon for bookmarking my articles and other things out on the 'Net that I think other people might enjoy. And what's really cool about SU is that for as long as they've been around, they haven't made any substantial changes like most other social media sites out there.

As Chris Crum, Staff Writer for WebProNews says in his article "Read This, And Tell Me StumbleUpon Isn't An Amazing Marketing Tool"...

"Some things don't change. StumbleUpon, after all these years, can still be a great driver of traffic to your website, despite how little it has changed in comparison to other social services. Think about how much Facebook has changed over the years, or even Twitter.
"StumbleUpon is certainly a different kind of beast, but each of these products is used by people to consume information, and even if StumbleUpon's primary appeal isn't necessarily the social element, that element is there, and it has helped make StumbleUpon one powerful force for content producers."

And this is so true! As far as social media and social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, Pinterest, Google +1, Delicious and even Facebook, whenever I bookmark my articles to StumbleUpon, I get more traffic from that one source than all the others put together. When it comes to driving traffic to your site or blog, SU is a "beast" indeed!

So if you haven't already started to do so, add social bookmarking to your To-Do List for places to submit your articles, and be sure to include StumbleUpon on the top of your list!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7315334

Three Easy Ways to Promote Your Twitter Followers

“Pay it Forward Day” is coming April 25, 2013. The phrase has an interesting history and was tearfully illustrated in the 2000 movie of the same name. Our culture values promoting others, and social media is a great example of that. Instead of picking a certain day of the week (#FollowFriday), we should have a regular habit of promoting our Twitter followers. Adding value to our followers is the best way to create not just a following, but a loyal following. Here are three un-cheesy ways to promote your Twitter community.

1. Acknowledge new followers. I always try and send a personal message to new followers. Some days this can be labor intensive as a blog piece published on a national board will create a host of new followers. However, after a while I get pretty good at recognizing who is following for a follow-back, or who really wants the information I have to give. As a rule, I don’t do this with brands or bots. I find out where the follower is from and what their sector is and craft a short and simple message thanking them. I prioritize this by making sure I thank people that have retweeted me as an initial gateway to following. I don’t get to everyone, but I try and get to as many as I can. I do this mostly because I don’t follow back as a way of thanking people. I list people so I can guard my direct message input.
2. 2.       Thank people for retweeting your stuff.  People who retweet you are your gold. I do this selectively. They may be a new follower or an old friend—it doesn’t matter to me. I like to do this a couple times a day, and I @reply them personally so it doesn’t go out to my general Twitter feed.  Just remember to start the message with the @reply if you don’t want to clutter your followers’ timeline.
3. 3.       Retweet other people’s stuff. When I switched to using Sprout Social as a dashboard, I tended to look at Hootsuite less often. One downfall of Sprout Social is that it doesn’t offer a column by column Twitter feed on one screen, making it inconvenient to see everything at a glance. I found myself tracking my retweets but neglecting my newsfeeds. Now, I also keep Hootsuite up on my desktop and check my lists regularly.  I always leave room in my daily tweeting schedule for retweeting. Besides tweeting links I find in my RSS reader and Inbox, I like to pick up good information from my Twitter followers to pass on as well. As a personal note, I only retweet information that I think will add value to my followers. Remember, spread the curating wealth around.

So there you have it—three easy ways to pay it forward on Twitter. And you don’t have to wait for #FollowFriday.

Google Passes Microsoft’s Market Value for First Time Ever

Google‘s market cap passed Microsoft’s in early trading on Monday, making the search engine giant the second most valuable technology company in the world behind Apple.
Microsoft’s stock dropped by about 0.8% in the first few hours of trading, while Google’s stock increased by about the same percentage, helping it to overtake Microsoft’s market cap for the first time ever. As of publication, Google’s market cap was closing in on $249 billion and Microsoft’s market cap had dipped below $248 billion.

Google’s stock has been on a tear ever since mid-July, passing $700 a share in early September and hitting a new intraday trading high of $747.28 just a few weeks later. Since then, the stock has continued to tick up gradually and is currently trading above $760 a share.
For Google, the stock’s rise is tied to strengths in several key areas, including positive reports about its display advertising and growth in mobile activations. On Friday, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek told Barron’s that these and other factors put Google in a great position for long-term growth.
Microsoft’s stock, on the other hand, has been on the decline in the past couple weeks on fears about the health of the PC industry and uncertainty about the prospects for its latest operating system, Windows 8.
Google is quickly closing in on Walmart, which has a market cap of just under $250 billion, to become the third biggest U.S. company behind Apple and Exxon Mobil.