Facebook snapped up the hugely popular photo-sharing app Instagram Monday, for roughly $1 billion in a combination of cash and stock.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the acquisition in a post on his Facebook Timeline Monday.
The sale is expected to close later this quarter, and will bring the nine-person staff of Instagram to the social network.
“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Zuckerberg said in the post. “Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”
Zuckerberg went on to say that the company will be building on Instagram’s strengths and features and growing the app independently rather than “just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.”
Facebook plans on keeping features within the app that allow photos to be published on other social networks, and the ability to have followers and follow people who are not necessarily your Facebook friends.
“We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products,” Zuckerberg said. “At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.”
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom echoed Zuckerberg’s statements on the Instagram company blog adding “We’re psyched to be joining Facebook and are excited to build a better Instagram for everyone.”
Instagram launched its iOS app in October 2010, and came to Android for the first time last week.
This is the first time Facebook has acquired a company or product with so many users. “We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all.” Zuckerberg said. “But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.”
What do you think this means for the photo-sharing app — and how will it boost the social network? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Thursday, 5 April 2012
How Google+ Can Succeed at Business Without Really Trying
Google+ arrived last summer armed and ready to compete with Facebook. Yet despite more than 100 million users, the network has failed to slow Facebook’s growth or diminish its market share.
Many have already dismissed Google+ as a failed venture, but it would be premature to write off the network as a social experiment gone awry. Just as Gmail was key to Google’s enterprise play, Google+ is fast becoming the enterprise social networking tool of choice for savvy office workers.
The consumerization of IT certainly plays a role in this. In fact, a Forrester study found that the market for enterprise social collaboration is projected to increase tenfold in the next four years as more traditional services like video conferencing decline. Tools that succeed in this new era will combine communication and collaboration services with social features in much the way G+ does.
This is why G+ truly is Google’s enterprise Trojan horse. As Microsoft Office 365 becomes a viable competitor to Google Apps, G+ is what separates the two cloud-based services. The following are some of the features that make G+ a great tool for social enterprise collaboration.
Circles
If you’re familiar with G+, you’re aware of the Circles feature, which allows users to easily segment followers into different groups. That’s a particularly powerful concept in enterprise because a company can create Circles for various departments, clients, partners, and more.
Circles compartmentalize relationships, help save time, and provide a company with a targeted approach to content sharing. By the way, Circles can be shared, so if you just hired a new sales exec, he or she can gain instant and personalized access to your client base.
In the IT department, admins can create custom organizational units and then add users to the appropriate units, depending on what a company wants a given user to have access to. To make it even more useful Google should consider adding the ability to sync organizational units with G+ Circles, which would save time and effort for admins and end users.
Hangouts
As a whole, Google Apps is cutting costs for enterprise IT. Hangouts further reduces those costs because it can be used for anything from an impromptu meeting with your satellite office to a customer demo.
Admins should consider eliminating pricey web conferencing services and implement a company-wide Hangout policy for web meetings. For this to happen on a large scale, Google should consider Hangouts integration with Google Voice and the ability to dial into a Hangout via a phone line, much like with traditional web conferencing services.
Google Docs
Google Docs is an amazing Google Apps feature. The tool not only provides word processing and editing capabilities, but allows you to share your work and collaborate in real-time with co-workers and other business colleagues.
This March, Google integrated Google Docs into Hangouts, making word processing truly social. Users can now update documents with co-workers who may be on the other side of the world, all while feeling like everyone is working in the same room.
Search Functions
The new Search Plus Your World feature added to Google’s search function has received its share of criticism. In reality, it has a lot to offer from a brand marketing perspective. With G+’s integration into Google Apps, employees were given the chance to create separate personal and work networks.
Circles may have helped separate work life from personal life, but G+ for employees actually lets workers brand their pages in the company’s image. It makes for great marketing. Every time an employee +1s or shares, it’s another impression for your business.
It would be great to see G+ give users the ability to switch back and forth between work and personal accounts from the same login. This would help speed user adoption, with professional users creating personal accounts and vice versa.
Organic Connections
As with any social network, G+ is a great way to organically build connections that can be meaningful for your career. Check out who your co-workers are following and add them to your Circles. This could lead to idea sharing, a new sale, or even a partnership. Plus, if you’re new to the company, you can quickly get the lay of the land by following important influencers in your company and industry.
That said, creating and maintaining Circles can be tedious. A nice addition by Google would be an opt-in auto-suggest service to populate and create Circles.
Many have already dismissed Google+ as a failed venture, but it would be premature to write off the network as a social experiment gone awry. Just as Gmail was key to Google’s enterprise play, Google+ is fast becoming the enterprise social networking tool of choice for savvy office workers.
The consumerization of IT certainly plays a role in this. In fact, a Forrester study found that the market for enterprise social collaboration is projected to increase tenfold in the next four years as more traditional services like video conferencing decline. Tools that succeed in this new era will combine communication and collaboration services with social features in much the way G+ does.
This is why G+ truly is Google’s enterprise Trojan horse. As Microsoft Office 365 becomes a viable competitor to Google Apps, G+ is what separates the two cloud-based services. The following are some of the features that make G+ a great tool for social enterprise collaboration.
Circles
If you’re familiar with G+, you’re aware of the Circles feature, which allows users to easily segment followers into different groups. That’s a particularly powerful concept in enterprise because a company can create Circles for various departments, clients, partners, and more.
Circles compartmentalize relationships, help save time, and provide a company with a targeted approach to content sharing. By the way, Circles can be shared, so if you just hired a new sales exec, he or she can gain instant and personalized access to your client base.
In the IT department, admins can create custom organizational units and then add users to the appropriate units, depending on what a company wants a given user to have access to. To make it even more useful Google should consider adding the ability to sync organizational units with G+ Circles, which would save time and effort for admins and end users.
Hangouts
As a whole, Google Apps is cutting costs for enterprise IT. Hangouts further reduces those costs because it can be used for anything from an impromptu meeting with your satellite office to a customer demo.
Admins should consider eliminating pricey web conferencing services and implement a company-wide Hangout policy for web meetings. For this to happen on a large scale, Google should consider Hangouts integration with Google Voice and the ability to dial into a Hangout via a phone line, much like with traditional web conferencing services.
Google Docs
Google Docs is an amazing Google Apps feature. The tool not only provides word processing and editing capabilities, but allows you to share your work and collaborate in real-time with co-workers and other business colleagues.
This March, Google integrated Google Docs into Hangouts, making word processing truly social. Users can now update documents with co-workers who may be on the other side of the world, all while feeling like everyone is working in the same room.
Search Functions
The new Search Plus Your World feature added to Google’s search function has received its share of criticism. In reality, it has a lot to offer from a brand marketing perspective. With G+’s integration into Google Apps, employees were given the chance to create separate personal and work networks.
Circles may have helped separate work life from personal life, but G+ for employees actually lets workers brand their pages in the company’s image. It makes for great marketing. Every time an employee +1s or shares, it’s another impression for your business.
It would be great to see G+ give users the ability to switch back and forth between work and personal accounts from the same login. This would help speed user adoption, with professional users creating personal accounts and vice versa.
Organic Connections
As with any social network, G+ is a great way to organically build connections that can be meaningful for your career. Check out who your co-workers are following and add them to your Circles. This could lead to idea sharing, a new sale, or even a partnership. Plus, if you’re new to the company, you can quickly get the lay of the land by following important influencers in your company and industry.
That said, creating and maintaining Circles can be tedious. A nice addition by Google would be an opt-in auto-suggest service to populate and create Circles.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Getting Started on Twitter - Five Steps to Success
Building a presence on micro-blogging site Twitter may seem easy, but for those who have tried it and come up against a follower brick wall this article is for you. If you want to build a genuine, meaningful and lasting Twitter presence then follow these five steps to success:
Perfect Profile
Let's start right at the beginning; profile creation. When you begin using Twitter you will be prompted to create a profile. Don't rush through this step - it is your shop window and gives other users a chance to learn about you and what you are all about. Choose a profile photo to reflect you in the appropriate light; of you are a brand then your business logo is often a good place to start. Remember that Twitter is public and your profile can be viewed by the world, so don't portray yourself or your business in an inappropriate light.
Brilliant Bio
As part of your profile you will be prompted to create a bio. You have 140 characters at your disposal; use them wisely. Trying to describe yourself or business in 140 characters is an art form and can be tricky to master, but keep it to the point, snappy and welcoming and you will be on the right track. Businesses should always include a link to their website within the bio and this is also true for bloggers.
Spread the Word
Only when you have created your profile should you start to alert family and friends to your presence on the site. Search for people you know and follow them. Try not to over-fill your follower list with too many celebs to start with, instead opt for genuine friends or businesses that interest you. Retweets and @ mentions are always helpful, so ask those who you know if they will give you a shout out to get you started.
Understand the Hashtag
The hashtag, or # symbol, is widely used on Twitter but many people fail to understand its significance. Placing a # before a key word in your tweet makes it easier for people to find in searches, so if you want to talk about something going on at home and you live in Manchester type #Manchester instead. People searching for the word "Manchester" will be shown your tweet and may engage with you through a retweet (RT) or even a follow.
Tweet Often (but be sensible!)
Tweet often but don't spam. People want to read what you have got to say, but will quickly unfollow you if you clog up their timeline with irrelevant or uninteresting tweets. Make your tweets original and don't always simply retweet or tweet links from other sources on line or you will start to look like a robot. Be human, be kind, be interesting and engaging and before you know it your Twitter account will be an exciting community of friends, strangers and "tweeps".
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6949032
Perfect Profile
Let's start right at the beginning; profile creation. When you begin using Twitter you will be prompted to create a profile. Don't rush through this step - it is your shop window and gives other users a chance to learn about you and what you are all about. Choose a profile photo to reflect you in the appropriate light; of you are a brand then your business logo is often a good place to start. Remember that Twitter is public and your profile can be viewed by the world, so don't portray yourself or your business in an inappropriate light.
Brilliant Bio
As part of your profile you will be prompted to create a bio. You have 140 characters at your disposal; use them wisely. Trying to describe yourself or business in 140 characters is an art form and can be tricky to master, but keep it to the point, snappy and welcoming and you will be on the right track. Businesses should always include a link to their website within the bio and this is also true for bloggers.
Spread the Word
Only when you have created your profile should you start to alert family and friends to your presence on the site. Search for people you know and follow them. Try not to over-fill your follower list with too many celebs to start with, instead opt for genuine friends or businesses that interest you. Retweets and @ mentions are always helpful, so ask those who you know if they will give you a shout out to get you started.
Understand the Hashtag
The hashtag, or # symbol, is widely used on Twitter but many people fail to understand its significance. Placing a # before a key word in your tweet makes it easier for people to find in searches, so if you want to talk about something going on at home and you live in Manchester type #Manchester instead. People searching for the word "Manchester" will be shown your tweet and may engage with you through a retweet (RT) or even a follow.
Tweet Often (but be sensible!)
Tweet often but don't spam. People want to read what you have got to say, but will quickly unfollow you if you clog up their timeline with irrelevant or uninteresting tweets. Make your tweets original and don't always simply retweet or tweet links from other sources on line or you will start to look like a robot. Be human, be kind, be interesting and engaging and before you know it your Twitter account will be an exciting community of friends, strangers and "tweeps".
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6949032
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