5 SEO Trends To Prepare For In 2014

As the year comes to a close, it is a great time to stop and reflect on what has happened during the past year. From an SEO perspective, 2013 will definitely be remembered as a year of significant changes with all the Google updates. We have seen the major Hummingbird algorithm update and more Penguin and Panda updates that have changed the search engine results landscape.

SEO Trends – Looking forward

What will work in search engine optimization going forward into 2014? Although it is difficult to accurately predict what will actually work with absolute certainty, it is safe to assume that the current 2013 trends will continue to work and will be amplified in 2014. Let’s review 5 important SEO factors that should continue to be significant influences.

1. Content Marketing
   In 2013, many companies that embraced content marketing as a comprehensive search engine optimization strategy saw the results of their labor. Google appeared to be rewarding those companies providing fresh, unique and valuable content with specific audience targets. In 2014, Google will likely continue rewarding those websites that are growing, thriving and providing helpful information while following Google’s rules of the game.
2. Social Media
   Over the last few years, we have seen the increasing influence of social media marketing. From Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter to the more visual Pinterest and Instagram, social media has become an important player. As companies fine tune their social media marketing efforts to target their specific audience, expect social media to continue to be a considerable factor in 2014.
3. Google Plus
   Although Google Plus falls under the social media umbrella, it has earned the distinct honor of being highlighted for its impact in 2013 with Google Authorship and Google Publisher. There has been a great deal of debate whether or not Google Authorship is influencing search engine ranking positions, but those companies that are utilizing the golden Google Authorship / Publisher strategy will be putting themselves in the position of strengthening their social media marketing efforts. If you haven’t set up Google Authorship yet, you will want to do this now.
4. Mobile
   Mobile SEO has emerged as a significant factor in 2013 and should increase in 2014 as more and more people use their mobile devices to search the Internet. The way your website displays on a mobile device is going to impact your overall SEO initiative. Google’s recommendations are for websites to be responsive to the specific viewing device. If you have been putting off a responsive website redesign, now is the time to take it off the back burner.
5. Minimum Desirable Word Length
   Many people have had a goal of writing articles of at least 300 words in the past. In 2013, we have seen the emergence in the value of longer articles as Google continues its quest to provide valuable, unique and fresh content for its users.
   In the article for Search Engine Watch, Jason DeMers cites a year-old study that showed that “the top 10 results for a specific keyword search tended to be more than 2,000 words in length.” Although he does disclose that the validity of that study is being debated, there is a growing trend for longer – but valuable articles. He explains that, “As a result, we’ve seen a trend where the “minimum desirable length” for text-based content has shifted from something in the range of 550 words to articles in the range of 1000-plus words.”
   With Google’s continued goal to provide value, plan to have a goal of a minimum desirable word length for your articles to help with your SEO strategy.

As 2013 comes to an end, looking back to the SEO factors that have made a critical impact will help us with our marketing strategies as we enter 2014.

Your Turn: Were there any significant SEO factors on this list that surprised you? Going forward, will you be changing your SEO strategy to maximize those trends in 2014?

The Psychology of ‘Adapting to Change’ on Google Plus

When the platform changes, many of us go through a process of thinking “nooooo, why do they keep changing stuff!” etc.

We tend to like status quo, whilst knowing change is inevitable.

But what happens when this changes ‘happens to us’? How do we shift our internal models of what was was, to was it now? Well, I have had the good fortune of watching what happens for me so thought I would share it.

Introduction

My experience of Google+ could be summarised as a constant learning curve. Some changes leading to a totally new versions how I ‘see’ Google+ in my head, whilst others tend to be subtle adjustments of the processs at play e.g. how a +1 can lead to people seeing posts in their streams (where it was more passive earlier).

During the early part of the summer many of us know how Google+ was transformed – now with ‘cards’ that ‘flip’ and pages that are far more dynamic. Let’s face it, it is very pretty and functional too.

But do you remember how it looked beforehand? I am getting the answer is ‘no’, and even if you can recall it will be hard work to patch it back together. And what about the process of change…do you think about it as a cyclical process?

Freeze, unfreeze and refreeze

I was recently discussing this with the very forward thinking social fellow Paul Simbeck-Hampson as a way of preparing people for a change occurring within an organisation. There are several models of change out there but one way to think about is loosely applying Lewin’s 3-stage model. 

It is frozen and you know ‘where things are’
It unfreezes and many things that were in place are not lost, but there is learning occuring
It refreezes whereby integration has occurred and the change process/cycle is completed

Below I have taken this model and applied it to my own experience of internal changes to thoughts as they are ‘forgotten’ and ‘rebuilt.

Stage 1 – Frozen.

Applying this to how we create the internal model of the platform.
In essence, through experience and learning, we have thoughts we have ‘in our head’ – largely visual, with some auditory overlay i.e. the neurology is laid down.

These thoughts, when we recall them, create an internal map that represents the platform.
Depending upon the person, there is a mapping between the thoughts and the actual platform, with varying degrees of accuracy in the recall.
These thoughts can then be altered (meaning in this context ‘come and go’), one by one, or chained, whereby a person moves from ‘screen to screen’, or step-by-step as they mentally ‘click a button’, mouseover, drop in a file to a post etc.
This gives us the ability to ‘know the place’ and be able to navigate it in our minds.

Stage 2 – Unfreeze (during the change)

We will often find ourselves in a state of confusion when things ‘change’.
But how does this happen?
Well, it is likely the thoughts relating to ‘knowing the platform’ become ‘weaker’, often with a physical association of ‘discomfort’ or uncertainty.The images are no longer as clear, as bright, lacking depth etc.One is no longer able to accurately ‘map’ where the buttons will lead when you click them, a mouseover no longer does the same thing, you get ‘lost’

Stage 3 – Re-freeze

Once, through practice, the new task has been learned (as effectively every click, mouseover, drop of a file etc is a task) you return to a state of ‘knowing’ once more. But not until you have grasped this new territory and mapped it accordingly. When this happens…

The thoughts return more consistent density in terms of clarity of the content
You can, for example, perceive detils better than in the previous stage – you think of a screen on Google Plus, e.g. the box for making ‘posts’ and the icons are clear to you
The ‘content’ (e.g. where the icons are on the Page) is now the ‘new way’ and the stability of the object i.e. the thought is now formed
You are able to move through sequences of tasks far easier and you ‘know where you are’ i.e. the actions are coming from a more clear internal model – the patterns are now laid down.

Conclusion

Knowing this to be one way to describe the natural cycle of change, it makes it easier to relax during the unfreeze process, where many people feel all at sea. It is during this stage of the process that community support really helps, as well as access to reassuring and straightforward materials that enable any changes to be understood in the easiest possible manner. With numerous educators in the Plus – alongside Google themselves – they reduce too much discomfort and provide clear explanations of ‘what is going on’ and what it means.
Changes will not stop happening, and if anything it is going to speed up considerably. We all know this, but often we want ‘frozen’ to stay forever as it is comfortable. Instead it may well be easiest to flow down stream when system changes come, getting to a point where the flow itself is enjoyable as it enables new learning and increased integration, understanding and connection to who and what matters to us most. It is one heck of a ride!

- See more at: http://www.martinshervington.com/the-psychology-of-adapting-to-change-on-google-plus/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+martin-shervington+%28MartinShervington.com%29#sthash.5sj7WaDi.dpuf

Should Your Business Have A Google Plus Page?

The simple answer to this question is yes. You might as well set one up now because, if you don’t, every time you log onto your YouTube channel or your Gmail account Google is going to pester you to set one up anyway. Of course, you might not have a Gmail account or a YouTube channel. If that’s the case, and you never intend on getting them then, well, you should probably still set up a Google Plus Page for your company.

As I mentioned previously, Google is trying to get all its users, no matter what part of Google they are using, to sign up for every Google service imaginable. To be honest, though, signing up for every Google service imaginable isn’t too bad an idea. Gmail is a popular and respected email service. YouTube is the biggest video sharing site out there. Drive is great for sharing files. Calendar is perfect for companies that need to share work schedules. Blogger is a very good blog site. Search is… Well, it’s the original Google, the most successful internet site of all time.

So, all of Google’s services are useful, even the ones I didn’t mention above, but why do you need a Google Plus Page? All you need to sign up to any Google service, after all, is a Gmail account. Well, it turns out that Google are so proud of their social network they want everyone to start using it, despite its lack of popularity when compared to the likes of Facebook.


To persuade people to use Google Plus, the search giant released a special dashboard a couple of months ago. From this Google Plus dashboard, users can organise their business’ profile and settings on many Google services: they can change their company address on Google Maps, they can manage their YouTube channel and they can change their company’s search results on Google Search.

Search is how Google made its name. It’s the most popular search engine online and it makes the most money of all the free-to-use websites. Maintaining an active presence on Google Plus, by setting up and managing a Page for your business, helps your company rank in Google Search – not just your Google Plus page, your website as well if you link the two together.

Don’t get me wrong, Google Plus has a number of great features as well as the dashboard. On the service, you can post diverse content with interesting hashtags to drive conversation. You can follow, comment, +1 and interact, potentially gaining your company new clients and customers. You can find communities that are relevant to your business and connect with likeminded people. Best of all, you can use Hangouts to run video conferences.

When Google last updated Plus, adding hashtags and changing the stream, I noted that, although the features improved the social network, people still wouldn’t flock to it. Google announced, last year, that400 million people were on Google Plus. In may this year, that figure went up to 500 million. At the time this seemed like a stretch. The reality was that 500 million people were signed into a Google service, be it Gmail, YouTube or docs, but they were not necessarily maintaining an active Google Plus account.

For the reasons I have mentioned above, though, its still worth setting up a Google Plus business page. Don’t put as much effort into it as you would your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, but make sure it’s there so that when you need it (and, considering Google’s domination, you soon might) you can access it in a moment.

What do you think of Google Plus?

Everything You Need to Know About Google's Big Announcements

The bar was set high for the annual Google I/O Developer's Conference in San Francisco following a whole series of product announcements and surprises in 2012, and although no one jumped out of a plane wearing Google Glass this year, we were treated to some cool new products.

The keynote was packed with announcements of enhancements to Google services. For example, Google Maps now shows clouds hovering over the world in real time and displays how Earth looks in the Milky Way as the sun sets. Google+ has 41 new features. The company announced impressive stats about the popularity of its applications, and there was even a rare Q&A session with Google CEO Larry Page. However, we didn't see a new Android tablet launch, an operating system update or more details surrounding Google Glass.

Here's a look at highlights of Wednesday's keynote.

Google+ Redesign and Photo Features

Google+ added 41 — yes, really — new features to its social network to make it smarter and more intuitive, with the inclusion of bigger pictures and related hashtags. The image-focused design looks a lot like Pinterest and Facebook.

The update includes a multi-column layout for pictures and related hashtags. If you're following a sports team, Google+ will tag it for you by adding, for example, #SFGiants. It also rolled out a new way to improve photos. Auto Awesome — yes, it's actually called that — uses a set of photos in your library to create an animated GIF.

Meanwhile, Auto Backup automatically backs up mobile pictures as soon as they are taken, and Auto Enhance acts like a filter to correct color and saturation of pictures.

Hangouts App

A new stand-alone Hangouts app was announced for web, Android and iOS, and it's available starting on Wednesday. Vic Gundotra, senior VP of engineering, told attendees it will focus on conversations, rather than contacts. Contacts will be ranked by Google according to how often you talk to or chat with those contacts.

Users will be able to use text, photos and video within the app, and it will all be stored so you can go back and retrieve that content any time. There is also an option to delete what is shared with others during a Hangout.

Google Maps

After a string of rumors that the company was readying a new Google Maps design, it announced a spectacular new look for the platform. In fact, Google said it rebuilt Maps from "the ground up."

The new Google Maps has Google Earth and Street View baked into it. With stunning Google imagery, as well as user-generated photos that can be uploaded and submitted to Google Maps, the platform has never looked better.

Now, you can create a tailored map for each search and click you make, and it incorporates Zagat badges and restaurant reviews. Offers from retailers such as Starbucks can also be integrated directly into the site, and it makes smart recommendations specifically for you. The more you use it, the better it gauges your interests.

Overall, Google Maps also aims to be a GPS device killer. You can re-route directions based on traffic conditions seen on the Map and view side by side how long each route takes to select the quickest and shortest one.

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4

An unlocked "Google edition" of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 smartphone made an appearance during the keynote. The model will be available on AT&T and T-Mobile and tout LTE support, 16 GB of RAM — which is expandable with an SD card — and its bootloader unlocked. This will allow it to receive system updates "promptly with every Android platform update."
The device will be available starting June 26 on Google Play for $649.

New Gaming APIs

New tools have been introduced to help developers make their Android games more social. The suite is a part of updates to the Google Play Developer Console, which developers use to organize their apps released onto Android.

Some perks include the ability to add leaderboards and achievements games within Google Play, giving players the ability to compete against friends through high scores.

Another new API lets gamers play the same game across multiple devices, allowing the game to move from a smartphone to a tablet and so on.

Check out this awesome Google Racer app which creates a track across devices.

More Location-Based Services

Android location services also got a refresh with three new APIs. First, the Fuse Location Provider can acquire locations faster and more accurately — all using less battery power than before.
Another API relies on geofencing by embracing what Google is calling "virtual fences" around geographical areas. It will allow developers to add up to 100 geofences for each app.
The third is an activity recognition feature that lets users track their physical activities. It senses whether a user is walking, riding a bicycle or driving, thanks to accelerometer data and other classifiers.

Android and Chrome Stats

Google announced there have been a total of 900 million Android activations, which is a huge increase from 400 million activations it said it had last year at Google I/O. Although this is impressive — the operating system launched only four and a half years ago — Apple is reportedly close to 50 billion app downloads for iOS.

Google is also proud of its browser Chrome, and it should be: it now has 750 million active users. This is up about 300 million users from the same time last year. Chrome, which launched in beta in 2008, became the most popular browser used worldwide last year, beating Internet Explorer for the top spot.

Chrome Voice Commands

Google is also adding voice commands to Chrome. By saying "Okay, Google" and then asking a question — such as "show me things to do in Santa Cruz" — the Google results page will speak back to you. It comes from its knowledge graph and knows Santa Cruz is a place. It then pulls related things to the city. Users can also make more narrow voice requests, such as "show me pictures of the Santa Cruz boardwalk."
Users can also ask how far away a point is to their location and where to eat nearby.

A Spotify Killer?

On the heels of rumors of launching a Spotify competitor, the company announced the Google Play Music All Access, which "blends your music collection with ours" across multiple devices. Despite its clunky name, the streaming platform is strategically priced at $9.99 — the same as Spotify's monthly subscription service. For those who sign up by June 1, Music All Access Plus will go for $7.99. It comes with a 30-day free trial and is now available in the U.S. It will eventually roll out to more countries soon.

Google hasn't said which record labels have signed on; it's been rumored that deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are in the works.

Google Cloud Improvements

Google Cloud Messaging just got a big revamp during the big Google I/O conference held in San Francisco on Wednesday, and it's now a whole lot faster.
Last year, Google Cloud Messaging — which lets you push data from servers to apps — was announced, and now 60% of the top 100 apps in the Google Play store use it. The company is expanding this service by supporting connections between a persistent connection from servers to many devices.

This means you can upstream messages to send data in both directions, from servers to apps and then from apps to servers. It also is launching a new API that syncs notifications across devices.
"All of the new features are rolling out progressively, and all you have to do up is sign up starting today," Google said.

Google Play for Education

A new program called "Google Play for Education" was discussed during the event and is designed for making devices and software affordable for educators. Teachers can now buy apps and push then to a classroom of tablets at once, which then can be charged to a school account.
Last year, over a thousand schools in the U.S. are using Chromebooks and more than 2,000 new schools this year.
"Chromebooks have gone mainstream in education — not just in US, but around the world," a Google spokesperson told attendees.

Larry Page Speaks

In an unusual move, Page fielded questions from attendees after the keynote presentation and delivered a passionate speech about the importance of technology and programming's "image problem" and took questions from the audience.

Page, who is battling a medical condition related to his vocal cords, spoke softly as he discussed how his father influenced his love for tech: "My dad was really interested in technology. He drove me and my family all across the country to go to a robotics company. Then we got there, he thought it was so important his son would go to the conference."

He also discussed the industry's competitive nature and the company's role in the upcoming Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson film The Internship to help shatter consumer opinion that computer programmers and scientists are "nerdy curmudgeons."

"When I read about us in the press, it's always us vs. some other company or some stupid thing," Page said. "I just don't find that interesting. ... [The] most important things are not a zero-sum game. There's a lot of opportunity out there."

Thumbnail via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, and images via Google and Mashable

Google Bans Users From Reselling and Lending Glass

Explorer editions of Google Glass began rolling out to customers as of Tuesday, but the company has enforced restrictions on those lucky new owners, banning them from reselling and lending the eye-wear.
Here's what the company's terms of sale state:

"You may not resell, loan, transfer or give your Device to any other person. If you resell, loan, transfer or give your device to any other person without Google's authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the Device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the Device will be entitled to any refund, product support or product warranty."

While users can't commercially resell Glass, however, Google says they can give the device as a gift.
A Google Glass listing popped up on eBay in February, with a starting price of $1,500 (the original cost of the eye-wear). That number eventually shot up to $16,000 before eBay removed the listing for violating its "pre-sale listings policy."


Glass owners who don't want their device have up to 30 days from delivery to cancel their purchase, according to the terms. Google asks that returns include original packaging and accessories, and remain in "reasonable" condition.

The company adds that it will provide "initial support" for existing orders, returns, defective devices and general technical support.

Do you think Google's terms are reasonable or not? Discuss in the comments, below.

Image courtesy of Google

How Gmail Has Evolved Over the Years

Gmail turned 9 this month, and before we know it, it will be heading off to middle school. It's grown up fast. In fact, it knows 57 languages now — the latest one being Cherokee.
Google's email platform has greatly evolved since its inception, with a lot of user feedback taken into account.

"Gmail was inspired by one user’s feedback that she was tired of struggling to find emails buried deep in her inbox," the company said on its official blog. "So we built a new email that leveraged the power of Google Search. You told us you were tired of spam, so we set to tackling that, and today your feedback makes it possible for Gmail to filter out well over 99% of incoming spam."


The company posted on Wednesday an infographic outlining how it's changed in time.
We almost forgot we had to wait a whole two years for GChat. Not to mention you had to be invited to sign up for an account by an existing user for the first three years. And although Gmail got its first Android app in 2009, the site didn't officially leave its beta test phase that same year.

For a full look at how the platform has evolved, check out the infographic below (click to enlarge) and let us know in the comments what you'd like to see from Gmail in the future.

Mashable composite, images via iStockphoto, kemie, and logo courtesy of Google

Google Maps Adds Real-Time Public Transit Info

Good news, New York City-based commuters: Google Maps added Wednesday real-time subway departure times for the seven lines that have such data available. These include the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Times Square - Grand Central shuttle. The Metropolitan Transit Authority's other lines require an expensive overhaul before they'll be able to provide real-time data.

Metrorail riders in Washington, D.C., will also now receive up-to-the-second service alerts via Google Maps. That'll be handy for capitol denizens, who will be able to use the app to find routes that avoid any unplanned delays or schedule changes.

Public transit-goers in Salt Lake City, Utah, can also now receive bus and tram information in real time.
"With these updates — part of the millions of live transit schedule updates we process every day — you get instant access to the latest information right on Google Maps, making trip planning a cinch," reads a Google blog post on the update.


All Google Maps users on desktop, Android and iOS platforms can access the new transit information immediately. The MTA also recently released an official app which provides the same real-time New York City subway information as Google Maps now shows. Just remember, New Yorkers: Most stations don't have Wi-Fi or data access, so check your route before you head out!

Do you use Google Maps to plan your urban commutes? What are you other favorite public transit apps? Share in the comments below.

Image via iStockphoto, ymgerman

Google+ Now Lets You Use GIFs for Profile Pics

In what may be a sign of their resurgent popularity, Google+ announced Monday that members can now use animated GIFs for their profile photos.

The social network unveiled the update in a post on its Google+ page, alongside a link to a Google search for "How to create a gif."

Matt Steiner, a software engineer at Google, first made the announcement on his profile page. He said GIFs will animate on both desktop and mobile, "like newspapers in Harry Potter."
Steiner also changed his profile pic to a GIF of himself turning towards the camera and smiling. Check it out, below.

The update comes just a week after Google added a search filter for GIFs and transparent images. When users conduct an image search, they simply click on "Search tools" below the search box, then select "Animated" under the "Any tupe" dropdown menu to refine their results.

Earlier today, Google pushed out a new update to its iOS and Android apps, with photo editing and filters, as well as a new design that looks similar to its desktop layout.

Google+ users, what do you think of the update? Do you plan to change your profile photo to a GIF? Tell us in the comments, below.

Image via iStockphoto, maxphotography

Facebook Jumps 5% As Wall Street Learns to Like the Stock Again

Facebook is off to a good start this year. The stock jumped by more than 5% on Wednesday to close at $28 a share, pushing the company's market cap back above $60 billion.

Several other big Internet stocks like Google and Yahoo also enjoyed gains on the first day of trading this year thanks to renewed investor confidence following the news that the U.S. Congress had approved legislation to avert the worst of the fiscal cliff.

However, there's more to Facebook's stock surge than general market optimism. After months of downgrades and sell-offs, analysts are gradually learning to like Facebook's business potential again.
Several analysts have put out positive forecasts for the company this week. JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth helped boost the stock after he raised his ad revenue estimates for Facebook by 6%-7% on the strength of mobile ads, noting that "marketer feedback on mobile and news feed ads has been very positive." Anmuth raised his target price on the stock to $35 from $29.

Likewise, William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart expressed confidence in the potential of advertising through Facebook Exchange. "Based on our findings, we believe FBX ads are being rapidly adopted by advertisers, and pricing has the potential to increase by three times, although timing of pricing ramp is unknown," he wrote in a report.

Meanwhile, Rory Maher, an analyst with Capstone Investments, reiterated his buy rating on the company, noting the big potential to generate revenue from Russia.

The stock is still a long way from its $38 IPO price and initial market cap of $104 billion, but it's heading in the right direction.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Robert Scoble

Why Facebook’s Search Engine Won’t Be Anything Like Google’s

When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg mentioned during an interview last month that he wanted to build a search engine, headline writers instantly put leading search engine Google on notice. Yet, while Larry and Sergey are probably watching closely, the technology and data at Facebook’s disposal suggest the company will most likely create something fundamentally different from Google’s search service.
Facebook lacks the comprehensive index of the Web that it would need to equal Google’s ability to match queries with web pages — and it would have to invest a lot to create one.
However, flush with cash from its IPO this summer, the world’s largest social network already has its own unique stockpile of data — courtesy of its users’ social lives — that could power a new kind of search engine altogether. By mining users’ updates about vacations, music listening interests, online habits, and more, Facebook Search could be better at answering subjective questions, about what products, experiences, and businesses you might be interested in, than a traditional search engine.

“It would be very hard to create a general search engine to match Google,” says Apostolos Gerasoulis, a professor at Rutgers University who helped lead work on search technology at Ask Jeeves after the company acquired his search engine Teoma in 2001. Trying to replicate Google’s approach would require Facebook to spend considerable sums developing and deploying software “bots” capable of crawling billions of web pages every day to gather a comprehensive index of the web, he says. “Because Google is so big,” says Gerasoulis, “They have data for the long tail” — the uncommon queries for which relatively few pages are a match.

Microsoft’s experience with Bing should caution Facebook against such an approach. Since 2009, the Redmond company has spent more than $5 billion on Bing, according to some analyses. Although the quality of Bing’s results come close to Google’s by some measures, Microsoft has struggled to turn web users’ heads. It serves only 15% of U.S. searches, compared with Google’s 65%.
A different approach may be more appealing to users of Facebook and other websites too. The social network has amassed a huge amount of data (see “What Facebook Knows“) because, in a sense, its users are crawlers that index tiny fragments of both the web and the offline world. As well as recommending Web pages, videos, and songs by sharing them with friends, and labeling those recommendations with relevant descriptions, Facebook users check into restaurants and other businesses, and post photos tagged to real locations.
Gerasoulis says that could be the feedstock for a search engine focused on answering queries about the things that people share and discuss on Facebook, such as vacations, movies, recipes, and more. “When you go to specific subjects, the signals Facebook and other social networks have are amazing,” says Gerasoulis. That approach would also open up new avenues for advertising revenue, since Facebook could sell ads that appear next to the results for particular search queries. This is the very model that provides most of Google’s revenue.

Delivering on that potential would require sophisticated algorithms capable of weighting social information, says Gerasoulis. Google and Microsoft have both experimented with such things through their efforts to introduce social signals into their search engines (see “Social Search Without a Social Network” and “Why Bing Likes Facebook“). But Facebook has much more social data to work with than just counts of “Like” button clicks.
Mining users’ comments could help Facebook unlock even more useful data. The new social search engine Trove — built by a startup that just began publicly signing up users — hints at the potential of this approach. It can retrieve content scattered across a person’s multiple online accounts. For example, a search for “cute puppy” could reveal an unlabeled Instagram photo of a new pet because the photo previously elicited a tweet using the word “dog” and a Facebook comment saying “adorable!”
As the hosts of so much valuable information, “Facebook and Twitter both have teams working on search,” says Seth Blank, Trove’s founder and CEO. Digging deep into social data can uncover a wealth of information and forgotten content related to things people care about, he says, most of it not accessible by conventional search engines.
“If you’re planning a vacation somewhere, the truth is your networks have probably already discussed it at length,” says Blank by way of example; the networks he means consist of friends of friends as well as direct contacts. Blank believes his company will survive alongside a Facebook search engine by offering a neutral service capable of linking together different social sites. So far, the big social networks have been happy to let Trove work toward that, he says.

As Microsoft discovered, though, technology alone may not be enough to tempt people to try a new search engine. Facebook’s site already offers a search box at the top of every page, but people use it primarily to find other people, not search for content or answers to questions. Blank says research at Trove has shown that some people presented with a search box plugged into their social networks struggle to think of what to search for.

Gerasoulis says that is not an insignificant challenge for Facebook. “Search is about what you want right now,” says Gerasoulis. “You go to Facebook and hang out; it doesn’t currently have the same directness.”
If Facebook wants its search engine to succeed, it will need to craft something that not only is matched to the data the company holds but makes it clear to its millions of users why they need another search box in their life.

Google’s New Maps App for iPhone Won’t Come for Months

If you’re anxious to get your hands on Google’s new Maps app for the iPhone and iPad, it looks like there is a wait of at least a few months.
According to a new report from the The New York Times, Google is working hard to finish the app by the end of the year.
The news comes a little more than a week after Apple pushed out its new iOS 6 software update for mobile devices, which replaces the previous Google Maps app with one designed in-house.
Apple’s new Maps app has been widely criticized for omitting transit directions, incorrectly identifying locations and incomplete 3D views that display some national monuments very oddly, such as the Eiffel Tower. There are also some broken roads and satellite views that display nothing but clouds.



The poorly reviewed Maps app has many wondering when Google might release a new app for iOS. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday in Japan that the company hasn’t yet submitted a Google Maps app for the iPhone to Apple for approval. Once it’s submitted, it could take Apple some time to approve and release the app — standard practice for the company.
That is, if Apple even accepts Google’s app.

Google+ Has 400 Million Members

Google‘s social network Google+ has more than 400 million members, Google’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra has announced.

Gundotra posted the news on his Google+ profile today, adding that Google+ also has 100 million monthly active users — if you count in the mobile app.

“This week we also hit an important milestone–over 400,000,000 people have upgraded to Google+. It was only a year ago that we opened public sign-up, and we couldn’t have imagined that so many people would join in just 12 months,” wrote Gundotra.

For comparison, Google+’s biggest competitor, Facebook, had 955 million active users in July.

Of course, the methodology of counting active users (as opposed to the total number of users who’ve signed up for the service) between the two companies may differ, but judging by these numbers, Facebook is approximately 10 times bigger than Google+.

That may sound like a big advantage for Facebook, but one also has to take into account that it took Facebook several years to reach 100 million active users, while Google+ managed to do that within 12 months.

Google Officially Acquires Motorola Mobility, Appoints New CEO

Motorola Mobility is now officially part of Google. CEO Larry Page announced Tuesday the search giant had closed the deal to acquire the cellphone manufacturer, also revealing that Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha would be stepping down.

In the blog post, Page said the new CEO is “longtime Googler” Dennis Woodside. Page says Woodside, an ironman triathlete, is largely responsible for building Google’s presence overseas, especially in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. He has served as Google’s president of the of the Americas for the past three years and played a role in increasing Google’s revenue from $10.8 billion to $17.5 billion over that period.

After Google announced its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, the deal was met with surprise and some confusion, since Google had previously been content to be the steward of the Android mobile platform but to keep out of the hardware business. The acquisition made more sense as an purchase of Motorola’s extensive intellectual property, including some patents fundamental to how Internet communication works. Google, as a relatively young company, had a far weaker IP portfolio.

How Motorola’s hardware business will be integrated into Google’s operations is still an unanswered question, but there have been rumors that Google is planning to begin selling more Android devices directly to consumers (as opposed to selling them all through carrier partners). However, to avoid showing favoritism, Google is said to be planning to partner with several device manufacturers.

Motorola announced it would split into two companies in 2008, creating Motorola Mobility, a mobile communications company focused on consumers, and Motorola Solutions, a telecommunications equipment provider. That plan went into effect in January 2011, about eight months before Google announced the deal to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.