Although Google have tried to downplay the launch, its new social network is here, and users have been clamouring for an invite to its trial.

Unlike thousands of other social networks’ attempts to knock Facebook from the top, the buzz around Google+ is indicating that it has real legs and here at Appeal we have all been trying it out.

Although in the early stages, we’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen so far. The network is very intuitive, structured in a similar way to Facebook and the combination of concepts are generally sound more complex than they actually are to use. Google already have a strong hold over internet users as the world’s most popular search engine and judging by the positive feedback of Google+ so far, it is going to be difficult for internet users to avoid this new network in the future!

So what makes it different?

Google+ attempts to couple with Google’s strong current offering, its search function. However instead of isolating a search, relevant information can be shared with friends, family and acquaintances. If you are a Google user, you may have noticed +1 icons appearing next to each suggested site of a search. These are similar to Facebook ‘Like’ buttons. However the difference with the +1 icon is that recommendations are only shared when users search for relevant content, instead of being shared with everyone. Google + users can then choose their contacts’ recommended sites, visible in search results.

The second feature is the use of ‘Circles’. The basic ones are friends, family and acquaintances but these can be created and named yourself and the best thing is the contact will never know which Circle you have placed them in! Information can then be shared with whichever Circle you specify. This bridges the gap between networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn by giving you the capacity to have your personal and professional contacts all in one place.

A feature we are yet to try (mainly because most of our friends are yet to join!) is ‘Hangout’, which is basically a group video chat. This works for up to 10 people and lets everyone in your chosen Circle know that you’re interested in chatting.

Aswell as adding new features, Google have tried to make some of Facebook’s best features, such as its ability to share photographs, a little bit easier to use. Instead of patiently waiting for pictures to upload, all photos taken on a mobile device are automatically uploaded to a private album and photos can then be shared with whichever Circle or individual you choose.

The final significant feature is called ‘Huddle’. A feature on the app that allows you to group message and this is available on all Android and iPhone devices.

Have you had chance to use Google+ yet? Is it enough to make you move away from Facebook?

A recent survey by Havas Media indicated that Europe is seeing a similar trend with digital readership overtaking print in France. The research found that people spent 37 minutes a day reading digital publications, and 22 minutes per day reading print.

It also showed greater diversification than previously with 51 per cent accessing news via websites; 31 per cent read electronic editions; and 17 per cent using mobile apps. Already, 56 per cent of tablet owners use them to access branded press and with the explosion of tablets, this is likely to increase considerably by next year.

Not surprisingly, advertising spend has followed these trends with online advertising now outstripping newspaper advertising. Between 2009 and 2010, online spend grew by almost 14 per cent in the US to reach $25.8 billion.

What’s more, with the recent News of the World hacking scandal and subsequent closure of the newspaper fresh in the minds of the public, online media looks set to benefit from the consumer backlash.

In the past, many businesses have been deterred by complex and time-consuming production along with prohibitive costs.  However, the advance of social media together, together with camera technology, has made it an ideal time for businesses to experiment.  Existing media relations campaigns can be complemented with an online video which can be produced for a similar cost to a stills press shot and hosted on YouTube – still the leading brand for video streaming.

Figures show that online video usage is a huge area of internet growth.  In October 2009, Nielsen reported a 25 per cent increase in online video viewing year on year  and the trend is continuing – January 2011 saw annual usage in the US increase by 45 per cent. In February, there were a staggering 139.2 million unique US online video viewers who streamed 13.6 million videos and spent an average of 4 hours, 20 minutes viewing video.

With online media such as TheBusinessDesk.com requesting that businesses submit video releases, it’s a great way of getting more profile for your story.  What’s more, Google loves video so it will also give valuable search engine optimisation benefits.

Many businesses remain cautious, with the old days of hugely expensive corporate videos still too fresh in their minds.  However, for innovative companies (particularly those who have succeeded in building up a strong social media presence) there are huge benefits to be reaped.  Here’s the latest online video we’ve produced for one of our forward-thinking clients, JCT600.

I was glad to see an article in New Media Age which I thought was worth sharing with other perplexed parents as it officially recognises this Y generation phenomenon. 

According to research carried out by marketing agency Digital Clarity, it seems that 80 per cent of the 1,300 under 25s surveyed use social networks while watching TV, with 72 per cent commenting specifically on programmes via social networks.  Unsurprisingly, the most popular networks were Twitter (72 per cent) and Facebook (56 per cent).  The shows most widely commented on were teenage cult programmes such as X Factor, Skins and Glee as well as the enduring soaps Coronation Street and Eastenders.

Yet another reminder that the consumers of tomorrow will have a completely different way of communicating with the world, effortlessly engaging with a host of media simultaneously  while we digital immigrants struggle to work out how to record on the hard drive…

That’s the findings of recent research by OnePoll, on behalf of BaseKit .  It also found that SMEs in the UK are actually harming their business by not optimising their web presence – 70 per cent of people claim they would not buy from a company with a badly designed website.

The creation of the World Wide Web has made the concept of a global village a reality in just a few years.  Giving businesses direct, fast and economical access to large international markets, it has become a crucial marketing tool for every organisation.  From just 1.3m hosts on the internet in 1993, it has grown to 9.5m in 1996 and there were 234m websites as of Dec 2009.

Today, almost every business has a website, but the question is whether they are all making the most of it.  Like all marketing tools, a website must be constantly reviewed and updated to ensure it evolves to meet customers’ changing needs as well as keeping up with the latest technology.  Not only must it be well-presented and professional to give credibility, it must also be user-friendly and functional to convert all of those online browsers into customers.

 Overused pun aside, my name is Jon, I’m on professional placement here at Appeal PR and I will be guest blogging.

Amongst the top ten fastest rising search terms of 2010 was, of course, Justin Beiber. The teenager’s meteoric rise to stardom is reflected in how rapidly his name managed to clamber into the top ten. Alongside this, September 2010 saw Justin accounting for 3 per cent of all tweets on twitter. However, despite his phenomenal ascent and the fact that the iPad topped the fastest rising searches of 2010 ahead of him; Facebook is very much in control of the top ten searched terms list overall. This isn’t all that surprising when you consider that Facebook is now more popular than all of Google’s sites combined.

Facebook, procrastination tool of many, young and old alike, remains a stronghold of social connection. The social tool has extended its grasp beyond merely the computer monitor; it can now permeate your smart phones, your normal mobile phones and even Xbox Live. Users can post to the site from other websites, sharing blog posts and other pieces of information. Facebook has slowly settled in to the bedrock of our communications and taken hold. This can most evidently be seen in the newly announced ‘non-mail’ which hopes to centralise all SMS, MMS, e-mail and IM messages into one hub: Facebook. It’s a bold venture that aims to consolidate all written communication, save snail mail, into one delivery point. This could have some implications ranging from embarrassing, as you realise that you sent a text meant for your spouse to your boss; to confusing. You can thank Mark Zuckerman for proposing eliminating subject lines.

This could also have some frustrating implications as Facebook is just one more segment of an individual’s digital fingerprint. However, the more advancements that Facebook makes, the more of a person’s information is gathered and brought to a single place. Sites such as 4chan, are prime examples. Their members are renowned for being able to gather a person’s full retinue of personal details from their first and last names, should anyone be foolish enough to provide them. This was before the era when information was as coalesced as Facebook, think about how easy this will make it now.

As if that wasn’t enough to unsettle the mind, more recently data collection from third party applications on Facebook has been in the realms of home addresses and phone numbers. People went ex-directory with their phone number for a reason! I’m sure they don’t want cold calling as a result of Facebook of all things.

Social media such as Facebook having become such an integral part of our lives over the past five years, it potentially offers businesses the opportunity of reaching out to its member base of 500 million people. A business account and a group are easy ways to tap into Facebook’s considerable traffic. A planned approach to content that goes out onto Facebook and linking it with twitter posts and blog entries would seem an effective means of ensuring the social media being utilised would be effective and a working synergy would exist between them all.

Does this mean that because Facebook has an already gargantuan lead on traditional media’s reach that traditional media itself should not be capitalised on? Well, as social media goes mobile, it seems to be that the over 50s are accessing social media, including Facebook, more and more through their mobiles, up to three times more likely to do so than people under 30. This will definitely impact businesses looking to reach specific target audiences and also make hanging onto more traditional media a sensible option.

Looking back at the advances made since the turn of the millennium, it brings to mind the prospects of the next decade as it takes its baby steps. In light of the uncertainty, ‘What is around the corner?’ becomes a more pressing question and so does this: Is Facebook going to be worth channelling effort into for reaching your target audiences?

-          Shock, horror, Facebook set to decline!  One of the findings (backed up by other surveys) is that we are likely to start to see a decrease in the popularity of the ubiquitous social media site as many teenagers now consider it to be, like uncool, as it has been hi-jacked by the over 30s, mainly their parents!

 -          A massive increase in multiplayer online games is expected and, along with larger numbers of users, there will be more brands looking to this medium as a way of engaging with mass audiences.  Korea’s Dungeon Fighter Online holds the current record for simultaneous participation with 2.2m people!

 -          In terms of mobile, it is predicted that a smartphone for less that $200 (£64) will soon be launched as Asian manufacturers having already rolled-out entry-level handsets in Africa and Asia

 -          Don’t worry if pushing the button on the remote is too much like hard work, next year a new device is due to hit the couch potato market.  Known as a ‘brush TV’, it will allow viewers to change channels just by moving in a certain way, and is an extension of Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect

 -          Interestingly, with the growth of e-books, there are fears that piracy will hit the publishing world in much the way it has devastated music and film

 -          And one last worrying thought, with online video now making up more than half of US internet traffic, there are very real concerns that gadgets like the iPad may actually lead to a cyber catastrophe with the entire internet imploding due to the sheer volume of traffic…

You can also find some more interesting predictions in this blog from Tamar.

We’re often asked by clients what subjects they should blog about.  While the main objective is, of course, to get your message across, a key factor in choice of topic should also be whether customers are likely to be searching for these keywords.  Like websites, blogs are indexed, categorised and ranked, and offer a great opportunity to boost your SEO rankings.

So, apart from keeping your finger on the pulse and being aware of the current trends in your particular industry (the trade media is a good source of ideas for hot issues), also make the most of Google analytics which will show you which of your blogs have been the most read and which terms readers are using to search.  For example, a recent blog about the use of competitions to drive traffic to websites was one of Appeal’s most read blogs last month.

There is no quick fix to establishing a successful blog and benefitting from the associated SEO advantages.  It’s a question of working hard and working smart.  Effective blogging requires an ongoing commitment to posting regularly and consistently on topic.  This will enable you to build up a substantial bank of blogs and increase your chance of attracting good web traffic through long tail keywords (these are the less predictable, unique search terms; and basically the more content on your blog, the greater the likelihood of hitting them).

One of our competitors recently took the concept of ‘working smart’ a stage further and took advantage of Appeal PR’s high search ranking by linking to an article on social media in Insider and tagging the names of all of the PR consultancies mentioned within it!  Clever, ballsy or unethical?  To me, integrity is a vital part of doing business and the same principles of professionalism should be applied whatever the task.  Social media and blogging are based on the principles of transparency and reciprocity rather than using someone else’s success for quick personal gain, but then again, maybe we should be flattered…

I’m really not sure of the answer, but it does seem that if you post a request on a LinkedIn group for example, for anything from advice about digital marketing to the best restaurant in Yorkshire, you are inundated with group members, eager to help.  Obviously, cynics will say that this is due to self-interest with respondents simply trying to sell their wares, and in some cases, this is true.  However, in many others, there is no ulterior motive, just a genuine desire to help.

In the cut and thrust world of 21^st century business, it does seem bizarre that one of the latest forms of communication is actually enabling us to return to some good old fashion human values.  Social media is based on the concept of sharing information and providing free advice.  By belonging to a community with some common interest, members also take on an unspoken duty to help each other – just look at the meteoric rise of Mumsnet or MoneySavingExpert.  There’s no doubt that people enjoy being able to give expert advice, to have their voice heard and to have the satisfaction of doing a ‘good deed’.

From blogs to forums, the concept is not to use the community to promote yourself or your business, but rather to engage with like-minded people, share your experiences and learn from their’s.

So, make the most of it!  Whether you’re looking for help with web marketing; advice on how to view group activity on the iPhone LinkedIn app; or a film star lookalike for a product launch (just some of the requests on today’s Yorkshire Mafia Group on LinkedIn) – ask the online business community to help!

And, in the spirit of altruism, these are some of the LinkedIn groups in Yorkshire which I find helpful:

Brand Harrogate

Brand Yorkshire

Harrogate & District Business Group

The Yorkshire Mafia 

Now it isn’t unusual for TheHuffingtonPost  and celebrity blogs to break some of the world’s biggest media stories, but does that mean they are at all useful tools for every business?

Nowadays we get asked the question on a monthly basis: “Should our company have a blog?”

The answer is often yes, but not always, and we run through a few questions before we advise either way:

1. Do you want to attract more relevant traffic to your website?
2. Are you willing to give away a few ‘tricks of the trade’ in exchange for this traffic?
3. Do you have expertise in your firm that can say interesting useful things on a blog?
4. Will your organisation have the resource to update a blog regularly?

If the answers to the above are all yes, then your organisation might well benefit from using a blog to broaden your profile as experts in your chosen field and markets.

In terms of building a blog, there are many suppliers springing up, and, just like web design, there are many pitfalls and a huge list of dos and don’ts.  Here are a few basic tips to remember;

1. Use WordPress freeware to build the blog – it is the most effective way of attracting Google traffic at present (make sure you include an ‘About us’ page, readers will want to know who you are; and add links to other social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn)
2. Use an expert to build it – we outsource to one of a few suppliers, they typically charge £600 to £800 to build a good blog that mirrors the style of the rest of the site
3. Keep the blog within your URL if possible – i.e. use a page within your site – www.yourcompany/blog
4. Study blogs that perform well within your sphere of work, and think carefully about how the bloggers on these structure their posts – learn from good practise!  The Top 50 Business Blogs as identified by The Sunday Times is a good place to start researching -
5. Ensure your posts are informal and informative – don’t get carried away with opinion unless it is really very interesting
6. Never rip off other people’s content or images – its bad manners and also breaches copyright
7. Think carefully about keywords and make the content relevant to potential customer searches (search engines such as Google love websites with blogs because they contain regularly updated keyword-rich content – implementing an effective blog is a great way of pushing up your Google ranking)
8. Include links to interesting content elsewhere and to websites that allow further research on the subject – be altruistic!
9. Offer the reader something they wouldn’t get elsewhere – information, hints, tips and free advice that they would often have to pay for
10. Blog about a broad range of subjects and companies, not just about yourself

Blogging is not the same as any other form of writing, it is more personal and informal, and the best blogs have links and images embedded that enhance the search relevance of the article.  It is impossible to impart every aspect of what works and what doesn’t, but hopefully these are a starting point.   

Our own blog, started in September 2009 delivered a 70 per cent increase in relevant traffic to our website within a year, and has delivered a number of very high quality business leads – proof positive that a good blog is good business.