A few years ago, while buzzing away on some now-archaic SEO practices for a client, a co-worker wandered past my desk and asked if I had done this or that with Google.
"Google owns the world, you know," he told with some conviction.
It sounded to me, though, he didn't seem all too happy about that.
Now, this was back in the day before Google Earth and Buzz and Wave and all the other goodies they provide that give you impression that perhaps they do own us.
These days, he's not in the office so much anymore, and I wonder what he'd say.
I still sit at this desk, performing a myriad of social media tasks for clients who aren't so concerned now about showing up in the top spot on Google as they are in amassing general social approval of their sites and service.
You see, it's one thing for people to like you, or "like" like you (like back in high school), or Sally Field like you and give you nice shiny paperweight.
When people Facebook like you...
well, now you're the queen of your own prom! It's difficult not to see these little blue buttons everywhere you surf.
Blog post pages, Squidoo lenses, eCommerce sites with a gazillion dynamically generated product pages...
the Facebook Like Button has spread throughout the Internet like a raging case of social media acne.
It's no longer enough for Facebook users to go to the page you created there and hit "Like" for inclusion in your growing fan base - now we are encouraged to click these tiny little F's after we chuckle at some funny video or witty, insightful blog post about Facebook Like Buttons (*cough*).
For the clicker, these buttons bring a simpler opportunity to share interesting material - you bypass cutting and pasting a URL in your status update, or going through a 2-3 step rigmarole associated with other social share functions.
Simply point and shoot, and your profile page automatically updates with a direct link to the shared data.
Sounds nice, doesn't it? The more people click the buttons on your sites and blogs, the more of your links appear on Facebook.
It's a great way to go viral, but consider this: the results of the Like Button clicks appear on the profile pages of those who "Facebook Like" you, but not in your friend feeds.
So unless people directly visit profiles on Facebook, there's a good chance they could miss a few shares.
Whereas with a link shared through the status update, you'll find that appears in news feeds and can be aggregated into other social sites like FriendFeed, and can be routed into Twitter.
Does this mean you should encourage Facebook Likes? Of course not, you never know when the technology will change to further expose this promotion of your brand.
That Facebook makes it rather simple to implement the button in WordPress (a simple plugin search yields many options), or Blogger, or your website lets you know that Facebook wants you to share your stuff and gain a piece of viral goodness.
Does it mean they want to own the world? I suppose that's a wait and see.
"Google owns the world, you know," he told with some conviction.
It sounded to me, though, he didn't seem all too happy about that.
Now, this was back in the day before Google Earth and Buzz and Wave and all the other goodies they provide that give you impression that perhaps they do own us.
These days, he's not in the office so much anymore, and I wonder what he'd say.
I still sit at this desk, performing a myriad of social media tasks for clients who aren't so concerned now about showing up in the top spot on Google as they are in amassing general social approval of their sites and service.
You see, it's one thing for people to like you, or "like" like you (like back in high school), or Sally Field like you and give you nice shiny paperweight.
When people Facebook like you...
well, now you're the queen of your own prom! It's difficult not to see these little blue buttons everywhere you surf.
Blog post pages, Squidoo lenses, eCommerce sites with a gazillion dynamically generated product pages...
the Facebook Like Button has spread throughout the Internet like a raging case of social media acne.
It's no longer enough for Facebook users to go to the page you created there and hit "Like" for inclusion in your growing fan base - now we are encouraged to click these tiny little F's after we chuckle at some funny video or witty, insightful blog post about Facebook Like Buttons (*cough*).
For the clicker, these buttons bring a simpler opportunity to share interesting material - you bypass cutting and pasting a URL in your status update, or going through a 2-3 step rigmarole associated with other social share functions.
Simply point and shoot, and your profile page automatically updates with a direct link to the shared data.
Sounds nice, doesn't it? The more people click the buttons on your sites and blogs, the more of your links appear on Facebook.
It's a great way to go viral, but consider this: the results of the Like Button clicks appear on the profile pages of those who "Facebook Like" you, but not in your friend feeds.
So unless people directly visit profiles on Facebook, there's a good chance they could miss a few shares.
Whereas with a link shared through the status update, you'll find that appears in news feeds and can be aggregated into other social sites like FriendFeed, and can be routed into Twitter.
Does this mean you should encourage Facebook Likes? Of course not, you never know when the technology will change to further expose this promotion of your brand.
That Facebook makes it rather simple to implement the button in WordPress (a simple plugin search yields many options), or Blogger, or your website lets you know that Facebook wants you to share your stuff and gain a piece of viral goodness.
Does it mean they want to own the world? I suppose that's a wait and see.
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