You may think this is a joke, but it is not. German privacy protectors asked web sites owners to remove Facebook like buttons from their sites, and threaten to fine € 50,000. They claim Facebook Like buttons and Fan pages violate European privacy law.

From the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection's web site:

The Data Protection Commissioner’s Office (Independent Centre for Privacy Protection – ULD) calls on all institutions in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to shut down their fan pages on Facebook and remove social plug-ins such as the “like”-button from their websites. After a thorough legal and technical analysis ULD comes to the conclusion that such features are in violation of the German Telemedia Act (TMG) and of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), respectively the Data Protection Act of Schleswig-Holstein (LDSG SH).

You can read their reasoning here:

https://www.datenschutzzentrum.de/presse/20110819-facebook-en.htm

If I told you now what I think about this newest German bureaucracy stunt, I'd probably go to jail…

What do you think? Tell me in your comments.

In case you never heard of it: it's a service that allows users to post comments to a web site and, at the same time, get these comments posted to their social profiles, like Facebook or Twitter. There are more features, but the core for me is connecting comments on this blog with social networking sites.

I considered this several times in the past, but never did it. Mostly because I thought I would lose my Disqus comments once I might decide to revert back to wp's comment system. That is not true anymore, since Disqus will synchronize the comments with the wordpress database. Cool!

What made me change my mind …

… was using Disqus today not as webmaster, but as commenter on other sites. Really nice how the comments show up in Facebook, and get interaction that wouldn't happen otherwise.

I did some research about alternatives and finally chose Disqus. It's clearly the most popular, and thus has the best chances for a long live and future improvements. Others might have some bells and whistles, but that means nothing if they go out of business.

I made that mistake back in 2007 when I used a more sophisticated blog software for my Internet Business Blog (the one you're reading right now). It was a great tool, but simply didn't have a chance against the fast and innovative progression of wordpress. So later I switched my blog to wordpress. Lesson learned: go with market leaders!

So, I'm giving the Disqus comment system a try!

Please help testing my new comment system.

I still wonder if there will be any mess with my wp theme. Please help me test the installation by posting a comment, especially also a nested comment, i.e. replying to an existing comment.

Danny Sullivan, the editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, helps us discover the answer by holding an interview session with 3 big shots of Google, namely, Amit Singhal, Ben Gomes, and Matt Cutts.

These 3 men are authorities as they control and monitor particular areas of the Google search engine that directly relates to users’ queries. Amit Singhal is the master of algorithm; he’s the one who sorts the sites and figure out which should and should not be presented to users for specific queries. Ben Gomes takes hold of the look of Google. That is, he plans how the Google search engine looks like and what features should be added on it. Last, there is Matt Cutts who generally takes out spam and keeps the search results clean and orderly.

The interview covers a lot of topics such as the following:

• How Google decides what to rank and which to mark as spam
• Google’s opinion on the claim that it is keeping rivals from search results
• What Google thinks of social media, now that it has launched Google+
• What factors Google base on to measure a site’s relevance to a query

But of course, I don’t want to spoil it by giving you all the details. So why don’t you take out some time and watch this Google interview?

Some think that the internet and the World Wide Web are the same thing; people use these two terms interchangeably, in fact. However, they are actually two very different things. The internet and the first internet message was sent over 40 years ago, but the websites, delivery of information, and user interaction that we are so familiar with today only started with the WWW Project in 1991.

WWW Project

Back in the 80ies, the internet is a place where physicists share information. If you are a common folk, there is no way that you can access the internet and use it for personal or business gains.

Fortunately, in 1991, Tim Berners-Lee realized that for the internet to grow, it should be a platform not only for experts but for everyone. That is the year that the World Wide Web is conceived and given birth to.

And today, my friend, that is what we celebrate—the World Wide Web’s 20th birthday.

The world wide web has reshaped the world.

• New industries and new professions have been created.
• Millions of online and offline businesses only exist because of the internet.
• Work became location independent, for workers as well as for business owners.
• Organizations, businesses and governments manage and interconnect their work online.
• Applications move from PCs to online servers, soon bringing an end to the classic desktop PC.
• On the downside new threads emerged, making governments and businesses more vulnerable than ever before.

Looking Back at Yesterday

Twenty years has brought along a lot of changes to the World Wide Web. From coding to user interaction and to graphic presentation—the internet has evolved from static to brimming with life and activity. As we commemorate this great day, let us look back at 22 particular events, or milestones, that made the World Wide Web that we know today…

1990-1991: The Birth Year

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee, the man behind the WWW Project, launches the first web server and the first site that is still online today info.cern.ch. This website, and his WWW project, started free use of the internet and is the reason why we are all able to convene in a virtual world and easily share information.

1993: Infancy

The World Wide Web continuously and rapidly grew. Enthusiastic marketers began to start online campaigns, using websites and emails to deliver information and advertisements.

Sadly, in1993, “spam” gets commonly accepted as term for unsolicited email. Email marketing gets its bad name, making business harder for serious marketers.

On the upside, the first web cam is used in the same year. The first image it captured is of a coffee maker in a computer lab in Cambridge University. The popular coffee machine stays online until 22nd August 2001.

1994: Access for All

While the internet has become free for use, there is no doubt that in 1994 a certain amount of knowledge of computers is still necessary. Fortunately, in 1994, Netscape Navigator makes WWW accessible for non-geeks. It's the first popular internet browser.

1995: Start of Today’s 3 Top Sites

In 1995, three big websites and corporations emerge: Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay.

We all know that Yahoo created a search engine and news portal, but do you know that Amazon made affiliate marketing popular? Yes, when we are talking about the easiest and most lucrative form of internet businesses, you can count on Amazon being its forefather. Amazon became the number one online shop it is today through its affiliate marketing program. In the year 2011 countless other businesses use affiliate partners for promoting their products and services.

1995 also saw the birth of eBay—today’s most favored site when it comes to private selling and small internet businesses using eBay as their affordable and easy to use ecommerce platform.

1996: Internet Explorer and Flash Takes the Scene

With the internet becoming a necessary part of businessmen and common folks’ lives alike, Microsoft finds the need for a new and reliable browser. Thus, in this year, it integrates Internet Explorer into its Windows operating system. At its peak IE reaches a market share close to 70%, 15 years after its introduction IE has a market share around 40%.

1996 also marks the release of Macromedia Flash, the software that is used to create multimedia applications for web sites.

Sidenote – Everything Is Impermanent. The year 2011, in my humble opinion, marks the soon to be celebrated death of the Flash format, thanks to HTML5, CSS3, and web developers coming to their senses.

1998: Go Google

Probably the most memorable event in 1998 is the birth of today’s most popular search engine, Google. In this year, Google was incorporated by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, PhD students of Standfor University at the time. They used a friend’s garage as base and hired a fellow student, Craig Silverstein, as their first employee.

We all known what Google has become, and what a huge impact it has for internet businesses. It sends traffic to our web sites through search and ads. It creates new industries (SEO), and allows millions of people to make easy money online by simply putting adsense on their sites.

By 2011 it spreads into gazillion business ventures, frequently launching new services.

Such a humble beginning that rocketed to unimaginable heights, isn’t it?

1999-2001: Napster is Born

Today, we know Napster as an online music store and a Best Buy Company. However, it first began as a P2P (peer-to-peer) file-sharing company. Of course, it easily attracted attention, criticism, and lawsuits. After all, it is offering copyrighted materials for free—something that music and label owners can’t stand. It is eventually shut down by court order but was bought and revived into a music store by Roxio.

2000: Dot Com Boom Meets Its End

During the 90ies the internet is the new gold rush. Investors pour billions of dollars into seemingly promising startups, wihtout even asking how the startups ever plan to make profits. With this thought, numerous sites popped up in mid-1990s—all using “.com” in their web address, thus the term “dot com boom.” At this period, stocks are boosted and profits abound. Sadly, though, every beginning has an end. In 2000, the dot com bubble bursts, leaving a lot of loses and tears.

Sidenote – The New Dot Com Bubble. In 2011 Facebook's (still theoretical) stock value is estimated to be higher than $100,000,000,000.00. That's 100 Billion dollars, more than $130.00 per Facebook user. In 2010 the revenue (not profit!!!) per user was $4.00. The public will be ripped of again, the little guy / investor will lose his money, banks and CEOs get 100 Billion richer.

2001: We Get Wikipedia

What do people do when they want to get quick information about something? They open their browsers nad do a search on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with information submitted by users, making it a continuous, collaborative project.

2002: Finding Friends in Friendster

One of the earliest social networks founded is Friendster. It is established in California by computer programmers Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin. At that time, Friendster is the talk of the town, its creator being the cover, or at least feature, of numerous publications as well as by late-night talk shows.

Sidenote – Everything Is Impermanent. Although it savored its peak, though, it had to go through rough times, especially when strong rivals like MySpace came around. In May 2011 Friendster says goodbuy to social networking, and turns into a gaming site.

2003: MySpace and Skype Get on a High

In 2003 Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark create Skype, an application that allows users to make phone calls and chats via internet. For internet entrepreneurs it's another piece in the puzzle of location independent businesses. Skype will later be sold to eBay, and finally, in 2011, to Microsoft.

With social networks being a hit, MySpace came up strong after it is launched in 2003. In fact, it is named the most popular social network in the US in 2006 to 2008. Of course, that is until it got beaten by Facebook. Let's see what Justing Timberlake will do about that.

2004: Facebook, Flickr, and World of Warcraft

Facebook is one, if not the most, popular social network today.

Flickr is the most popular photo-sharing site today.

World f Warcraft or WoW is the the most popular multiplayer online role-playing game of all time. For me it's most of all an adorable internet business model.

Now, what do these 3 have in common? They are all established in the year 2004! Indeed, it is a year where the internet bears witness to sites and games that turn into legends.

2005: Rise of YouTube and Web 2.0

If there are just two internet things 2005 came to know of, it will probably be YouTube and Web 2.0.

For one, YouTube was, is, and probably will be the most popular video-sharing site. In 2011 it is the third most popular web site in the world, according to Alexa.

In 2005, Tim O’Reilly also popularizes the term “Web 2.0.” It was actually first used in 1999 by Darcy DiNucci. Web 2.0 is the shift from web site publishers pushing content to their web sites, and thus to users, to users pushing their own 'user generated content' to the web site.

Users now have the power to post their own articles and comments, publish their photos and videos, share their interests, and the like.

2008: Twitter Gets Tweeting

Today, people like things fast and instant. That is probably why fast food chains flourish. Perhaps it is also the reason why, when Twitter is introduced in this year, people hold on to it with much ardour. After all, who does not have just a few seconds to type their thoughts and share them with the world?

2007: Web Goes Mobile with Apple iPhone

The internet started on the computer, but it is definitely not where it will end. In 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone, a device that does not only allow users to send SMS and capture photos and videos but also access the internet. It's the first mobile that makes browsing web sites somewhat comfortable. Without doubt, the iPhone is the frontrunner of the mobile World Wide Web.

For marketers and businesses the mobile web means having to expand their efforts, knowledge and investments on more platforms than ever before.

2008: Google Creates Android

Apple got iPhone, so what is Google to do? Having such a competitive spirit, Google came up with Android, a software stack for mobile devices. Android covers not only the operating system but also the middleware and key applications. Talking about creating an all-in-one system.

2009: Cloud Computing Soar to Popularity

Cloud computing is all about saving your files and installing your applications on web servers, instead using a local PC. Once this is accompliched, files and software can be accessed from any computer all over the world – as long as internet is available.

Cloud computing is specifically useful to internet business owners who are on the go, those who love to travel, and those who simply feel more secured with their files and other data in a separate web space. It's also great for backups.

2010: Apple's iPad takes the world by storm

Considering the still not so exciting web experience on mobile phones, and the relatively small market share of netbooks, the iPad is what finally frees the internet from the PC. Within a very short time, more people will access the internet from mobile and tablet devices than from traditional PCs.

Besides offering new platforms for browsing the internet, mobile hardware also introduces the use of apps (including the years before 2010), bringing the web and 'software applications' (how old people like me tend to call apps) closer together.

2011: Google+ Starts a Buzz

So, what is the latest in the World Wide Web today? Why, Google+, of course! Google+ is just launched on June 28, but it already acquired more than 20 million members. That is saying something considering it works on an invitation-only system. There is really no doubt that Google+ is the fastest growing social network ever. If it is able to continue its rapid growth once its beta phase is over, who knows just how much popularity and influence will it get? That will definitely be something to look forward to!

There are so many things that happened within the 20 years of the World Wide Web’s life that I probably just scratched the surface with this news. Nevertheless, it is great to take a moment, see how far we have come and dream of how far we will be able to reach tomorrow!

Adobe Edge is a tool for creating website animations. It allows you to add rich motion designs to any of your HTML projects, regardless if it’s a website, desktop program, or mobile app. With Edge’s current tools and capabilities, you can effortlessly create new compositions, import popular graphic files like JPG, PNG, and GIF, and give life to existing HTML pages without messing up their underlying code.

Before anything else, I want to point out that I have never really favored Adobe Flash. Yes, it is flashy (pun intended), but it comes with several flaws, namely:

• Bad for search engine optimization.
• Horrible usability on standalone Flash web sites.
• Breaks default browser behaviors (like the back button).
• Renders invisible on an increasing number of machines, for example Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

In fact, I recommend to clients that they stay away from Flash as much as possible, and I have been doing so for years, knowing that this technology doesn’t have a bright future.

The Apple Adobe War

Apple Inc. has been in a close relationship with Adobe Systems before. However, as time passed by, a rift formed between the two.

Apple continuously motioned Adobe to develop Flash and fix its internal problems that result to Mac crashing and apps not being compatible with Apple’s mobile platforms; as a cross-platform tool, these issues are definitely unacceptable. The problem was: Adobe had been too slow in its actions.

This Apple-Adobe problem worsened and ended up in an explosive issue:

Apple completely banned Flash from iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

Apple’s top bosses have been relatively calm and tight-lipped about it, but with Adobe Systems seemingly insinuating that Apple is on the losing end, Apple simply couldn't let it slip. Finally, on April 2010, Apple’s Steve Jobs released a controversial statement called "Thoughts on Flash."

This statement pointed out not only the problems Apple Inc. is encountering with Flash but also listed reasons why people should generally stay away from Adobe Flash—the statement that has indubitably mapped the downfall of Flash.

With Edge, though, Adobe Systems seems to be trying to convince critics, myself included, that it is still the leading multimedia software provider. Adobe Edge is based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—Adobe’s answer to the new demands of the market and the continuous complaints against the poor performance of Flash. With this new product, Adobe Systems reaches out to markets that it can’t otherwise touch into with Flash.

Intended to be added to the Creative Suite Package, Adobe Edge features a simple drag-and-drop interface guided by a timeline. You simply drag your objects around and make your settings, and Edge transforms everything into professional HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.

As Edge uses CSS controlled by JavaScript, it offers a smooth text and graphics transitions.

As of this writing, Adobe Edge is in its beta phase. That is why Adobe is still polishing its to-do lists, aiming to allow incorporation of videos and audios alongside the graphics formats they currently handle. Nonetheless, even at its current stage, Adobe Edge already offers a great alternative for web content design. Aside from the fact that it integrates with Dreamweaver, Edge also adopts WebKit, the layout engine used by popular browsers and top corporations such as Apple Inc., Google, Amazon, and Nokia.

There is no doubt that Flash is starting to get thrown over. Nevertheless, with Edge, Adobe Systems hopes to keep their leading position and recognition among web and mobile users alike.

Adobe Edge: The Reason behind Its Creation

Adobe Systems Incorporated has always been one of the leading computer software companies. Founded in 1982, it has since grown into a global provider of computer software, with products ranging from desktop publishing, video editing and special effects software, to web design programs.

When it comes to web design programs, Adobe is most popular for Flash. Adobe added Flash to its portfolio (together with Dreamweaver) when it purchased the orignial Flash developer Macromedia Inc. back in 2005, thereby killing its own web design software ‘GoLive.’

Adobe Flash is actually a multimedia program that allows web masters to include video, animation, and other forms of interactivity on their web pages. With a lot of users, websites, and even browsers relying on Flash to run applications, allow video streaming, and leveling differences between browsers, there is no doubt why Adobe Flash has hold the position of top web content plugin for years. That is, until numerous issues, especially usability and security problems, gave it a bad reputation and alternatives came up.

So, why did Adobe Systems create Edge? If you are still wondering, here is the straightforward answer: because now there is HTML5 and CSS3!

The most important reason why Adobe Systems started to change ship and created Edge is the fact that HTML5, the successor of the HTML4 standard, has created a solid foundation with regard to structuring and presentation of content on the Internet.

With HTML5 it is possible to play audio and video without using any plugins, like the Flash plugin. Playing video has been the major reason for millions of web sites to use Flash. Now even YouTube is offering HTML5 rendered video.

With CSS3 and JavaScript, it is now possible to animate graphics and text, also without need of any plugin.

With these new alternatives for multimedia playback and animation, there is little need for resource hungry workarounds like Flash.

Why You Should Not Opt for Flash

Among the points raised by Steve Jobs, the most notable are probably that Flash doesn’t provide sufficient security and that it only prohibits developers from continuously advancing.

Security. Flash has raised concern among developers and users due to its poor performance. Not only does it make web pages load slower; it also has a tendency to crash, leaving users no choice but start working again on online projects they are handling at the time it crashes from the beginning—a big inconvenience that Adobe has yet to create an effective, permanent solution for.

Development. Flash is meant to help developers deliver top-of-the-line apps for consumers by being a cross-platform development tool. However, Adobe Flash is developing relatively slow, putting up a strict limit to which platforms certain apps can be viewed—something that opposes its supposed objectives.

The above two points are strong enough reasons for users to deviate away from Flash.

After several years, Adobe Systems fully felt the impact, prompting it to finally create an HTML-based program in the form of Adobe Edge. Contrary to Flash, Adobe Edge embraces open standards yet retains qualities like clean, crisp graphics and movements that made Flash a phenomenon before.

Future of Adobe Edge

Right now, a lot of speculations are budding around Adobe Edge. While it proves that Adobe Systems is ready to move forward and adapt to the demand for open systems, the fact that there are already several players, such as Sencha animator, that have already established tools for CSS-based animation, might make it hard for Edge to gain the recognition it aims for.

But then again, Adobe has a knack for getting attention and ahead of competition, so we can only just wait and see how Edge will be welcomed by the community.

You can downlaod the beta version of Adobe Edge here:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge

As we already know, Internet users can be a very, very irritable and impatient bunch. That is exactly the reason why webmasters like us aim to optimize our site’s performance by limiting content and use of graphics. But, you see, who doesn’t want to add nice images, creative Flash graphics, and videos to their websites? They are like icing on the cake that makes our web pages lively. The only problem is that with too many of those, our websites load slower than a garden snail—something that will turn off potential customers.

Fortunately, today, Google launched yet another part of Page Speed: Page Speed Service.

Page Speed is a project started by Google two years ago. However, until early this year, Page Speed is only available as an extension and an online tool. While these options are useful by themselves, they require time and some learning curve—some things that may perhaps peeve web developers.

Page Speed is a notable project as it promises improvements of 25-60% in loading time. With such benefit, you will not only guarantee your customers’ satisfaction, but you can rest assured that you can continuously engage them as well as be able to reduce bandwidth and hosting fees.

Now, you’re probably already asking: how much will it cost me?

There is no doubt that Google will be asking a fee for using this service once it is finalized. In fact, Google already allude to the fact that the service will be offered at a competitive price in the future. Nonetheless, for now, we can enjoy this service for free as it is currently an open source project that welcomes ideas for further development. If you are planning to use or have already tried it and think there are still ways to enhance it, you can simply join the discussion or offer your thoughts in the Page Speed page in Google Code.

Page Speed Arsenal

Although Page Speed is intended mostly to help your website load faster, it actually serves a lot of other purposes. For one, it assists you in further optimizing your website’s content. This is valuable since the suggestions come directly from the search engine we are all targeting to get first page ranking from.

Even better, Page Speed provides you with several options, each with benefits that will suit your role or preference.

First of all, you can get the browser extension. This will evaluate your site’s current performance, taking into account your web server’s configuration and front-end code. After the analysis, it provides you with suggestions on how to improve them. Sadly, though, this extension is currently offered only to Chrome and Firefox.

If you are hesitant to download the extension or are using a different browser, Page Speed Online may be your best bet. Not only will it help you analyze your website, but it can even look into the performance of your mobile site, specifically how it looks on Smartphones.

If you want your site to be automatically rewritten and optimized, perhaps mod_pagespeed Apache can useful. This module uses different filters to optimize JavaScript, HTML, and CSS stylesheets. You have to remember, though, that is effective only for web pages using Apache HTTP Server. If you are not using it, it is best to look at the options.

Then there is the latest addition to the family: Page Speed Service. Page Speed Service is Google’s “automatic” answer for web masters who want to get their web pages loading faster without breaking a sweat. To start using this service, you only need to fill out the web form here.

Unique or Not

Right now, Google Page Speed is creating a buzz because of its seemingly unique features. Not to mention it is launched by a renowned company. However, we are yet to find out whether it delivers real results and if it does more than already existing services like Amazon’s CloudFront, which also relies on a content distribution network (CDN) to help its clients.

Source:

Page Speed Service Launch

Page Speed in Google Code

These seem to be the issues that pushed Google administrators to change Google Places’s content and formatting and present a revamped Google Places last Thursday afternoon.

If you visited Google Places on July 22, you have probably already noticed the difference—third-party reviews are completely removed. This means that Google Place pages, which used to show snippet reviews from sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, are now a lot cleaner in the sense that they hold a lot less information.

Overall ratings are now based only on a few reviews and ratings left by Google users. Although they provide insight, Google Places pages now seemed to be stripped of its former value. Considering it’s supposed to be users’ one-stop-shop for information, the move seems to be proving the opposite.

It’s in line, of course, with my prediction that Google will rely more and more on its own content, and significantly reduce references to other people’s content. As odd as it sounds – it will even happen on search results pages!

Organizations are apparently requesting followers to leave reviews as well to reestablish their now relatively empty pages. This seems to be one of the contracting issues about the Google Places change. That is, while some think that they will get less exposure since Google Places usually rank high in search engine results pages, others think that the change is providing smaller and newer establishments to get a head start.

Google Places now also put more emphasis on encouraging visitors to give reviews. Whereas the “Write a Review” prompt is shown as mere link before, it now stands out in a big red box that somehow screams “Review, please!” However, it must be noted that for users to leave a review, they must first log in using their Gmail accounts.

The Reason behind the Move

Now, you’re probably wondering: why exactly did Google Places have to take a drastic step? Aside from the fact that Google has been getting a lot of complaints from business owners saying that they’re getting nothing from Google Places, as surmised in the first few sentences of this news article, Google is also trying to avoid hitting the wrong nerve.

A month ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started a stricter anti-trust investigation of Google and its web advertising dominance. FTC is an independent agency in the US that aims to promote consumer protection, both offline and online, and its tasks include investigating issues raised by reports from consumers and businesses—that’s why the change.

With the European Commission still hot on its heels after complaints from Foundem, a European business, Google is probably hoping not to dig its own grave. So while a lot of users have already expressed disapproval, Google Places is firm on its stance.

Some Hopes for the Future

It’s obvious that most users are skeptical of the change in Google Places. Nevertheless, there are some that see the brighter side. For one, some speculate that this can be the start of a good connection between Google Places and Google+ wherein users can easily leave reviews or find establishments faster than through regular search engine queries.

How about you? What do you think will this change in Google Places bring?

Sources:

Google Places Blog

Google Places News on CNet

Google under EU Investigation: CNet News

Facebook has, for years, enjoyed monopoly over the social networking market. MySpace is continuously plummeting, and smaller networks like Orkut and Hi5 have yet to gain popularity and appeal as strong as Facebook. With such power, Facebook implemented a lot of changes—some excellent, some good, and some seemingly bad. Although Facebook users enjoyed and endured the changes, with a new player out to steal the scene, it seems that the tides are starting to turn.

Last June 28, Google+ is finally launched. With a year spent in its making, Google+ promises more control, more targeted search, and more privacy for users. While Facebook allows users to control who can view their photos, videos, and the like, the latest annual report from ForeSee Results indicates that users are finding greener grass on Google+; in other words, Facebook is now becoming just a second option. There are a lot of reasons why users are now thinking that Google+ will provide them with better services, but probably one of the biggest factors is that it currently offers a more private and personal network.

ForeSee Results further noted that Facebook is currently at the bottom 6% of the 2011 American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). ACSI is a renowned and respected economic indicator established in 1994 that, as the name implies, measures the satisfaction of American consumers with regards to goods and services.  Annually interviewing 80,000 Americans, it has easily become a reliable source for academic researchers, market analysts, corporations, investors, and government agencies–as well as individuals who wants to constantly be at the top of their games like us.

Now, with Facebook being left behind by its competitors as proven by ACSI, specialists speculated a big impact on how Google+ will be welcomed, and indeed, it turned out that a big space was left for Google+ to penetrate and leave a strong impression.

Google+ Launch and Growth

Since its launch, Google+ has experienced a boom in its member base. Within 10 days, it has reached 2 million members. By July 18, it has reached 18 million members, and on July 21, barely 3 weeks after its launch, its member count has already reached 25 million. Although this number is not yet on the official releases and is simply insider information as cited on SFGate, the steady increase in member count and activities as well as the constant flow of feedbacks is proving to be a good sign.

As of this writing, Google+ is still in beta mode and has currently restricted access even to those who already received invitations (Google+ works on an invitation-only access). This is because it has already exceeded its capacity—indeed a sign of the successful launch of Google+.

Google+ Features

Critics are describing Google+ as a Facebook-style Google network. However, Google+ has some unique features that definitely make it stand out. Three of its notable features are Circles, Hangouts, and Sparks. What are these features for?

• Circles- this groups your contacts (e.g., family, co-workers, etc.) and allows you to share items with them through various Google products, services, and platforms.
• Hangouts- this features lets you have a group video chat (with 10 maximum participants). Only people who you invite or posses the unique Hangout URL can join.
• Sparks- Sparks make searching for topics you’re interested in a lot easier.

Google+ is still in its baby stage right now, but it certainly has a big potential to succeed. With its current statistics and its continuously growing popularity, Google+ might just outshine Facebook faster than we might think possible, just like how Facebook has easily grabbed the spotlight from MySpace before.

Sources:

Google+

ForeSee Views on Google+

ForeSee and ACSI 2011 Report

Paul Allen on Google+

SFGate Google+ Report

http://internetbusinessmastermind.com/free-article-rewriter

I’ll publish a longer post about it Monday, but for now you should be good by just going to the tool, it’s easy to use.

Here are the direct download links for the 5 B2B social media PDFs, no sign-up required.

B2B Tech Marketing and Social Media

The Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms

2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Social Media for B2B Marketing

Emerging Trends In B-to-B Social Media Marketing

They’ve added a new feature to their ranking algorithm, and it basically says:

If users let Google know they don’t like your site, your ranking will suffer.

Google’s Amit Singhal explained it this way:

“… we’ve also incorporated new user feedback signals to help people find better search results. In some high-confidence situations, we are beginning to incorporate data about the sites that users block into our algorithms.”

I don’t know what ‘some high-confidence situations’ are, but at this point it probably means it’s a minor change that will not have too much effect on the overall search results. But, I’m predicting that …

We are going to see a huge shift in how Google rankings are measured.

5 years from now we will have rankings that are LARGELY based on user votes.

A long time smart people have been claiming that it is vital to build high quality sites, because Google wants high quality. But actually that is NOT EXACTLY what Google wants.

It’s clearly Google’s goal to give users what they are looking for, what they like most. Pardon me, that’s not necessarily the same as high quality.

Anyway, Google will work hard to find ways to do this.

• In the past Google counted webmaster votes, using backlinks as a measure for site ranking.
• In the future Google will be counting user votes, be it blocking sites, or referencing them socially in Facebook, Twitter and the like.

=> In the long run the internet users will determine which sites are ranking high, and which sites go down.

It’s harder to figure out for Google, but it’s definitely coming at you!

SEOmoz has researched how URL mentions on Twitter and Facebook seem to influence a site’s ranking already:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/facebook-twitters-influence-google-search-rankings

What do you think? Tell me in your comments;

1. Will my prediction come true?
2. Will site owners who play the social game well (despite having crappy sites) win over those who build excellent sites?
3. Or will great content finally be king?

Now one those web masters was “smart” enough to complain about his site not being indexed in the Google forum. Haha.

Google took the time to actually quote his badly spun content and show him where it came from.

Let me end up with quoting the closing sentence in this thread: “Scraping content from another source without adding value violates our guidelines.”

It was the W3 Total Cache plugin. I’m a little bit sorry about deactivating it, because having it was a huge performance boost for wordpress.

Unfortunately it caused several problems that I wasn’t able to fix.

• After submitting the secret password it wasn’t shown to the users that they were actually logged in. Consequently they could not get the free downloads.
• The Javascript that displays related posts and tags in the sidebar stopped working after I minified it using W3 Total Cache.
• Some Javascript in the footer bar also did not work anymore.

Long story short: W3 Total Cache is gone for now, performance is back to its much slower state, you can now easily unlock your free downloads again.

P.S. If you’re familiar with W3 Total Cache and know how to fix these problems, you may chime in here:

My wordpress forum post about this problem.

Actually it is working, but you have to REFRESH the page after login. Click the refresh button in your browser or use the key combination Ctrl + F5 on your keyboard.

This problem is caused by a new plugin that I installed. When it’s enabled, the code that displays the download to the logged in users is only executed when refreshing the page.

I’m working to fix it and update you once the solution is found.

You’ve probably made that mistake yourself.

Excited by unlimited opportunities you take on dozens or (in my case) hundreds of projects…and in the end there’s little chance of creating anything of excellence.

Simply because you’re diverting your resources.

You’re spreading yourself to thin.

That’s what I’ve been doing the past 5 years. While I enjoyed the freedom of the internet lifestyle, I did not build anything to really be proud of.

Because I was falling in love with too many ideas and projects.

But no more…

Last week I said goodbye to 55 domains and 55 web sites.

And now ‘ll focus to make InternetBusinessMastermind.com really good.

Here’s what I’m working on to give you better value.

1. Articles, downloads, and tools for your internet business success.

Internet Business Mastermind has been around for 3 years now, and I’ve published about 150 posts.  Yes, you can call me lazy.

Now, that I’ve freed myself from some unfinished projects, I’ll publish new content much faster.

• We’ll publish new posts more often, covering what you need to make more money using the internet.
• You’ll get free, downlaodable ebooks and software on a weekly basis.
• You’ll also get free online tools, that will help you to get some of your tasks done more efficiently, and save time.

2. More focused on what matters for your success, less clutter.

I’m building a new category structure. It’s more focused on giving you a framework to start or grow your internet business.

There are now 3 main blog categories:

• internet business ideas
• getting more web traffic
• increasing internet sales

Some of the old categories are gone, some will come back, and a few new ones will be introduced.

I’m also removing unnecessary content and items that distracted you from the main content. Lots of redundant stuff and hundreds of links have been removed from posts and the sidebar.

3. Better Newsfeeds for your Feedreader.

From now on the newsfeed will contain the article intro only. That’s easier for you if you don’t check your feeds on a daily basis. You’ll see all new posts with short intro, and can click through to whatever you’re interested in.

I will soon offer category specific feeds. That’s great for readers interested in specific topics. For example you could subscribe to a newsfeed that only notifies you of new posts for the ‘getting more web traffic’ category.

So, that’s the stuff I’m working on to improve the blog, making internet business mastermind more focused on your success.

To get the ball rolling I’ve recently uploaded your first free download, it’s a huge package of 32 free ebooks.

Download disabled. Please enter password.

As I will explain in a more detailed post later today, there’s going to be a lot of new content coming to the internet business mastermind blog.

Up until now I had only 1 post per week. Sending you the full post via news feed was comfortable and a fast way for you to read the whole article.

But with posts coming out much faster now, it’s not so easy to digest anymore. After all, who would want to read a news feed with thousands and thousands of words?

Making the feed show only the summary will make it easier for you to see what’s new and to decide what’s interesting for you.

For those articles that you like to read entirely you can then simply click through to the full post.

You can see how it looks like here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/InternetBusinessMastermind

Dr.Mani, heart surgeon and infopreneur, is launching his second print book on February 14th, 2010 as part of an annual fundraising event, “The Heart Kids Blogathon”.

But he’s doing something unusual today… he’s letting you read his book for FREE!

http://www.47hearts.com

If you visit his website, you can download a FULL copy of his new book – and read it without paying a cent!

And then, if (and ONLY if) you like it, Dr.Mani is asking you for a favor in return… to buy a copy (or better still, 5 copies) of the print book on launch day – to keep or give as gifts to the special people in your life.

You can also help by joining a “47 HEARTS GROUP” and making a difference to a child’s future. That’s why Dr.Mani is staying up all day and night blogging on Valentine’s Day – to raise awareness about congenital heart defects, and help heal a child’s heart.

By reading this ebook, telling a few of your friends, and (if you can) by making a donation, you can join a worldwide movement that has saved more than 47 little hearts – and will touch many more.

http://www.47hearts.com

Thank you very much for your support.

Ralf

this is Ralf Skirr, sending you a New Year’s Gift to help you meeting your goals in 2010.

I’ll keep it short and give you the links to your gifts right away:
(right click the link with your mouse and chose ‘save as’)

http://ibmm.com/Achieve_Your_Goals.pdf

http://ibmm.com/Worksheets.pdf

Many people are using this time of the year to think about the old year that has passed, and to make up their dreams and goals for the upcoming year 2010.

I did this yesterday and today, and my major goal for the upcoming year is to help my subscribers and readers (that would be you) succeed.

If you’re in the process of planning your year, and even more if you have not done it yet, you’ll find these 2 e-books helpful in making things easier for you.

http://ibmm.com/Achieve_Your_Goals.pdf

http://ibmm.com/Worksheets.pdf

To Your Success,
Ralf Skirr

P.S. It’s an immediate download, no strings attached.

But the links will go away in 48 hours.

There is, however, a very boring aspect in email marketing: preparing your emails for your autoresponder software.

Formatting your emails is a 3-step process:

1. Re-format your source text so that the lines are no longer than 50 to 60 characters per line. Doing this, you get better readability and thus more people will actually read it till the end.
2. Next you must create 2 different versions of your message, 1 being plain text, and the other one being in HTML format.
3. Finally you have to search for each URL in your source text and turn it into an HTML hyperlink for your HTML email.

Now, keep reading, as you’ll certainly like what you are about to read!

For me, this is probably the most boring task in my daily work. That is of course the reason why I’m outsourcing it now.

It’s also the reason why I asked my programmer to create a tool for me and my assistant that helps making email formatting fast and easy.

Knowing that you are likely to have to do the same boring tasks, I’m giving the email formatting tool to the public, so that you and your staff can use it too.

Whenever you have a series of messages to format for your autoresponder, just click to my free email formatting tool, and it will help you do the job.

These are the features:

1. Formatting short lines for easy reading.
2. Creating 2 versions for text and HTML email.
3. Creating the correct source code for your HMTL hyperlinks automatically.

If you’re an affiliate marketer, you will be happy to see that it keeps your affiliate links intact.

Here’s how to use it, it’s so easy, your dog could do it in 3 simple steps:

1. At the top, you will find a box where you paste your original text.
2. Then you click the button ”Click Here to Format Your Email’.
3. Like magic and at the blink of an eye, your email is now formatted and ready to paste into your autoresponder without requiring any tedious work from you! Two text fields are now filled with your nicely formatted text and HTML email.

Check it out for yourself at http://www.InternetBusinessMastermind.com/email-formatting.

I’ll just want to introduce you to a new kind of give-away that Willie Crawford recommended to me earlier this day.

Seriously, it’s a no brainer…

No other give-away has ever done this before!

Done what?

Offered 100 percent commissions for referrals AND your own special offers!

http://ibmm.com/100percentgiveaway

That’s right the admins are taking nothing and giving it all to you! Sit back and think about it, this is going to be one heck of an event! Everyone will be promoting to earn their share of the referral commissions right? Which means that contributors will be spending less than 10 bux to get the upgrade.

Upgrade?

Yeah! Upgrading as a contributor will take you from only being able to submit ONE gift, to being able to submit 3 gifts and 2 text ads and 1 special offer! This offer will surely be a big hit, as the contributor who submitted it will get 100 percent of it’s earnings!

So the cycle will NOT fail!!!

Which bring us to the LIST BUILDING fundamental.

Now with all these contributors raking it in by promoting…

… guess what happens on launch day?

You guessed it!!

Massive Member Signups !!

Now here is the “win win” for everyone… The admins work their tushes off by helping to make special offers submitted, more attractive and sellable, manually approving ALL gifts carefully to ensure a quality event!

You simply sign up, upgrade your account ($9.97)… and grab an email from the promotional tools section and send it out to your list for contributors and then on launch day for members..

With everyone doing their part, some lists are gonna grow for sure, and some fat wallets too!

Click here for the 100 % Give Away.

So jump on in before everyone beats you to the punch ok?

Best of luck!
Ralf Skirr

P.S. There are plenty of commissions to go around!
Click here and get your FULL 100% share now!

http://EzineMarketingCenter.com/book/twr/launch.htm

Words can bring joy, hope, and love to others. And in this case, words can bring you money too. Today I want to introduce to you… “THINK, WRITE & RETIRE : How To Turn Words Into Wealth – Easily!”, a marvelous book written by Dr. Mani, a heart surgeon and an infopreneur at the same time.

This book has all ready gathered support and stalwart testimonies from known businessmen like Chris Garett, Teri Dean, Carrie Wilkerson, Mark Joyner, Yaro Starak, and Joel Comn.

Even better, this book aims to give charity—definitely all of the sales generated from this book will serve as funds for a child’s heart operation!

Just think about what you’ll be getting and giving.

Purchase a copy of “THINK, WRITE & RETIRE : How To Turn Words Into Wealth – Easily!” on August 25, 2009 (launch date) and you will be given an ultimate guide to becoming an infopreneur… and save a child’s life!

Not only that! To make this offer a real catch not worth missing, Dr. Mani is giving away bonuses and free gifts amounting to $500 when you purchase the book on its launch date.

The main goal here is to propel the book to Amazon.com’s HOT 100 list—acquire more and better visibility and, in turn, produce more money for charity.

Don’t miss this opportunity! YOU can take part in this noble cause. Order your copy at Amazon.com and claim your gifts at http://EzineMarketingCenter.com/book/twr/launch.htm

After the disaster with Myriadnetwork’s hosting earlier this year many of my sites went offline and I had to transfer them to other hosts. I’m sorry to say that I forgot to update the DNS entries for Turbomembershipreviews.com and the site was unavailable for a while.

Today I re-created the site and fortunately no entries or user-reviews of TurboMembership were lost.

Stay tuned for some exciting updates and freebies at TurboMembershipReviews.com very soon.

So what is the site about? John Delavera’s TurboMembership (TM) is one of the best memberships on the internet. Some even call it: “The Holy Grail of Internet Marketing”

But obviously everyone promoting the TM would say this, right?

That’s why I created Turbomembershipreviews.com.

Customers, friends, and enimies of  TM can post their honest, uncensored review of Turbomembership. All reviews will be published (except maybe when someone would publish below the line, dirty language insults – but that has not happened yet.) So no matter if you like of hate TM , please remain civilized with your review.

To keep in touch with the updates you may subscribe to the RSS Feed, I can’t reveal much yet, but be sure there are some goodies in store for you!

[flv:http://web-templates-online.com/custom-graphic.flv 502 411]

We’re still working on our major site update, I hope I can put it online within 24 hours.

Visit Web-Templates-Online.com.

The first update we integrated is a sales video for new visitors. It’s actually the very first marketing video I’ve ever published on my own sites, despite the fact that I have been creating marketing  vids for clients since 2001.

[flv:http://web-templates-online.com/web-templates.flv 502 411]

What do you think?

So why did my friends warn me?

Because in April the Thai people celebrate the New Year. They call it “Songkran” and funnily it’s not celebrated on the same day in the whole country, but the party moves through the country over the course of several days.

The ‘problem’ with Songkran is that people party several days with THROWING WATER at people. Seriously, you can’t get out of your apartment for 10 minutes without getting soaking wet…

Here are the pictures:

This is Pattaya’s Walking Street at April 18, 2009, a few hours before the official beginning of Songkran. The water is not from rain, but from people partying.

No matter whether you’re pedestrian, riding a motorbike or driving a car, you’ll always get wet.
Ready – Fire – Aim…

Waiting for the next victim…

Well, let’s cool her down a bit…

No mercy. With dedication she pours approximately 1.5 litres right into the poor guy’s face.

Open window in your car?
Bad idea…

Party-time.

Back in my room late at night. The white stuff is something people put in your face wishing you a ‘happy new year’.

Next day, April 19, the party continues on beach road with thousands of people partying.

A closer look at beach road. No cars allowed today.

What? Even the monks throw water…

Woah, Bad Ass Warrior….

One of my German friends and 3 strange strangers under ATTACK!!!

Look closely – the air is filled with water.

We arrived at a save spot.

Making pictures wasn’t easy at Songkran, because I had to watch out for water coming at me (and the camera) all the time.

I’ll be back in Thailand in late June, July and August; I’m sure to post new pictures then.

The moral of this post: if you want to travel or work from the nicest places on earth, make sure to build an internet business. It’ll give you all the freedom you long for.

Well, Jeremy (Jezhunt) suggested I should go for green. It would probably look like this:

Fortunately it’s just a quick Photoshop work.

My hair stylist went for a less dramatic approach and used two colors, one slightly lighter and one slightly darker than my natural color:

This is me sitting in one of the nicer cafés in my hometown Kaiserslautern in Germany.

Melodies derived from Stock Charts, arranged with Songsmith, the Microsoft Composition Tool.

At Twitter ‘going viral‘ usually means that your Tweet gets re-tweeted by others. The more ‘generations’ of re-tweeting a post of yours gets, the more people will see your message.

The author, Dan Zarella, unveils his detailed research about:

1. What phrases work best as ‘call to action’ to make your Tweets go viral?
2. What is the best time to post your viral Tweets?
3. What’s the most important thing your post needs for best chances to go viral?
4. How to increase your rate of ‘virability’?
5. What types of content make the Twits fall in love with you and get them to re-tweet?

It’s really a great article, very focused and with clear instructions how to make your marketing messages on Twitter successful.

Read it here:
http://www.copyblogger.com/go-viral-on-twitter

I recommend that you read it word by word.

In case you don’t know yet: http://www.seobook.com is one of the premier sources on Search Engine Optimization.

In today’s post Peter has confronted the world’s leading SEO experts to answer this question:

What qualities are common in Aaron Wall, DaveN, Bob Massa, Jason Duke, SugarRae, et al, that new SEOs can adopt, to come closer to people like these in expertise. Where do most new SEOs go wrong when they set learning priorities?

• If SEO makes you feel overwhelmed, check out this SEO article.
• If you don’t know where to start and what to focus on, check out this SEO article.
• If you want to find out what the pros focus on with SEO, … you know what to do.

Here’s the link:

http://www.seobook.com/where-do-new-seos-go-wrong-when-they-set-learning-priorities