What’s Next For Facebook Advertising?

Facebook has reportedly begun developing a
 video advertising service which autoplays in the news feed, regardless of the users activity on the site.

According to Ad Age, Facebook is planning to have the service out by April next year, and will offer 15 second slots to Facebook video advertisers to display their adverts in the news feed.

These adverts will play across all devices and will begin automatically, requiring users to pause the video if they don’t want to watch it.

Facebook’s controversial proposal has immediately been condemned, both for its aggressive commercialisation of what was originally a social media site, and for its over-similarity to what many believe is the bane of internet browsing: pop-up advertising.

The service would greatly benefit video advertisers,  they would be able to target their highly visible adverts at specific demographics. There would, however, surely be a backlash from users, as such aggressive advertising would completely change the Facebook experience.

Only a day after news of the video advertising service was released, Facebook announced that it was putting a hold on the development of their external ad network for mobile devices.

The proposed advertising network utilised user information garnered on Facebook to target specific demographics with adverts off-site and on other apps.
“We are pausing our mobile ads test off of Facebook”, spokesperson Brandon McCormick told All Things D. “While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners has been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook. We have learned a lot from this test that will be useful in the future.”

Reading between the lines of this statement, it seems that although Facebook’s external advertising service has a lucrative future, its testing will have an indefinite hiatus as Facebook try to perfect its in-app mobile advertising.

However, it could also be inferred that, in the aftermath of criticism concerning Instagram’s policy change, Facebook are unwilling to evoke their users’ wroth further by proposing to use their information offsite.

Meanwhile, there has been a significant legal amendment in the United States, which now allows advertising to be targeted to children under 13 – the age which, coincidentally, happens to be the minimum cut-off for Facebook membership.

The relevant extract in the COPPA (Child Online Privacy Protection Act) reads as follows:
“The definition of personal information requiring parental notice and consent before collection now includes “persistent identifiers” that can be used to recognize users over time and across different websites or online services.  However, no parental notice and consent is required when an operator collects a persistent identifier for the sole purpose of supporting the website or online service’s internal operations, such as contextual advertising, frequency capping, legal compliance, site analysis, and network communications.  Without parental consent, such information may never be used or disclosed to contact a specific individual, including through behavioral advertising, to amass a profile on a specific individual, or for any other purpose.”

Many speculate that this could lead to Facebook lowering its minimum age requirement.

What do you think of Facebook’s proposed advertising changes?

5 Reasons Why Not Using Social Media Management in Your Business Is Insane!

A study by Manta showed that 42% of small businesses said that 25% of their new customers came from social media sites so isn't now the time to start thinking about social media management.
For some reason there are many businesses which are still reticent to enter into the social media forum in anyway.

This article is for those people, let me give you 5 reasons why you'd be mad not to invest in social media management for your business.

1. SEO
Even novices to the game realise that if you are online you probably want your website coming on the first page of Google when someone enters a product of service that you provide. So if I told you that social media management would help do that for you, I guess you'd be interested. S.E.O done in the right way basically means getting your website to be the most relevant site on the internet for the things people are looking for. If this happens then Google sticks you at the top of the rankings because all they are trying to do is to match people who are searching for a particular thing with that particular thing or information on that particular thing.

It stands to reason that if lots of people are talking about your service, product, website etc then it indicates that your site is relevant and useful, Google then wants to help get people to that site. Social Media management isn't the only thing that you need but if you have a strong relevant social brand presence then it isn't going to hurt is it?

2. Building Trust
Nowadays customers do a lot more research about who they are going to do business with, whether that is buying a product or a service. Most of that research is done on line so having a social media presence will help you engage with your customers in a way which helps build trust between you and your potential customer.

3. Puts A Face To The Brand
The old sales adage that people buy from people is still true even when buying online. It takes a lot of trust to buy from someone you don't know and this is exactly what you are asking people to do from your website. The more you can build a personality, the more people feel they know you and the more they trust you. Once people trust you, you can sell them almost anything (within reason of course). Look at Richard Branson, we all feel we know him even though we have never met him, hence when Virgin launches anything we feel we can trust the brand (i.e. him). Social Media Management means that we can now build this personality rapidly and at low cost but it does also mean that you can just copy and paste content. You have to give value, let people know you a real person and are interested in the things that they are. There is no better way for you to connect with your potential customers than social media.

4. IT's Where The Customers Are
The facts speak for themselves

• 2 Billion Internet users
• Last Year there were 300 billion searches performed and over 500 billion products sold online

Today being online doesn't just mean having a website; you need to be doing social media as well otherwise you will get eaten up by the competition.

• 80% of all the world is on a social network
• FACEBOOK - 1 billion active users and 500 million average visits a day
• TWITTER - 200 million members and 33 million visits a day.

This leads into point number 4

5. It's Where Your Competitors Are
The stats above mean that whilst you may be reticent to go online your competitors definitely aren't. Facebook's revenue from advertising was $3.8 billion and that could be $5.2 billion in 2012. Even the UK government have spent £100,000 to promote Britain as a great place to visit. The thing is, people don't tend to spend that much advertising on any platform unless they can see that it works.

One would hope that these 5 reasons alone have convinced you why not using social media management in your business is sheer madness.

Facebook Now Allows Facebook Marketers To Duplicate Adverts Across Numerous Accounts

Facebook’s ads manager tool now provides marketers with a “create similar ad” option, which copies the same advert across separate accounts.

So, for example, a brand can now copy an advert from its main company account onto the account of one of its individual branches.
Companies have the option of duplicating both the advert and the targeting data, just the targeting data, or using different audiences for different accounts.
The upgrade even allows users to change the type of Facebook advert, but keep the information the same: Page Ads, Page Post Ads, Page Like Stories and Page Post Like Stories are all interchangeable.

If, for any reason, an administrator has to leave an advert unfinished, the option to return and complete the advert will remain at the top of the News Feed.
The “All Campaigns” page has also been improved, so that the status of adverts is visible as text rather than as a play/pause symbol. finally, the “Daily Activity” measurements have become more detailed.
The update was first noticed by aimClear’s Merry Morud, who has taken detailed screenshots of the improved service.

Does the updated ad manager help you advertise your business?

WordPress Announces New 3.5 Version Called ‘Elvin’

WordPress has announced a new WordPress 3.5 which features a whole new and improved way to upload photos and to create galleries. The 3.5 version is called ‘Elvin’ in honour of drummer, Elvin Jones.

The new version has updates that go far beyond a fresh photo improvement. Elvin has added a new default theme for mobiles called Twenty Twelve.
Twenty Twelve has a new refreshed style for the dashboard, has updated the theme so that it has high resolution graphics, and is 'Retina-ready.’

Highlights of version 3.5 for the media manager section of the blogging site include a streamlined new interface where users can create galleries with a simpler drag-and-drop method. They will also be able to insert multiple images at once.

The Twenty Twelve default theme is a simple and more elegant design which is its first that is responsive on mobile devices and makes use of all of the latest Theme Features.
Enhancements to the admin page include a new welcome screen, better accessibility for screenreaders and other touch devices, a new colour picker and more.

The video below shows the new features in more detail.





The new release is just under 5MB in size and can be downloaded from WordPress.org/Download.

What do you think of the updated WordPress 3.5 Elvin?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below 

New Tool Shows How Many Fake Twitter Followers You Have

Socialbakers’ new tool gives Twitter users the ability to see how many of their followers are actually real and who are fake.
The social media analytics company based in the Czech Republic has released its new tool, aptly called Fake Followers Check.
The tool uses several guidelines to distinguish the ”fake or empty followers” from the real ones. The fake followers more than likely do these things:

• The Following to Followers ratio is less than 50 Following to 1 Follower.
• Some tweets are repeated more than three times each.
• They have never tweeted.
• Phrases like “diet,” “make money,” and “work from home” are overly repeated.
• Over 90% of the tweets are retweets.
• More than 90% of the tweets are links and the profile has a following to follower ration of 7 to 1 or more.

Followers that are thought to be inactive are those who have “only 1 or 2 retweets on profile” or their latest tweet is “older than 3 months.”
Socialbakers claims that the Fake Followers Check tool gives the ability to “type in any Twitter handle you want, which means that you can analyse anyone from Justin Bieber to your competition.”
Those who choose to use the tool however are limited to only 10 requests per day.

Will you be using Fake Follower Check? How many fake followers do you think you have?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

Online Retailers Braced For A Manic Cyber Monday

After a poor financial year in the UK, Online Retailers are hoping for a lucrative Cyber Monday as shoppers flock online to buy their seasonal gifts.
Cyber Monday, one of the most recent American ideas to cross the Atlantic, was originally conceived as a way of competing with the chaos of Black Friday, a major day for American retailers.

This year Cyber Monday has extra significance, with sales falling last month by 0.2% from last November according to BDO’s high street sales tracker – a drop partly due to adverse weather conditions.

Online shopping figures, however, are up 26% compared to last year, with credit card company Visa expecting the increase in online sales to continue: Visa are predicting 6.8 million transactions worth in the region of £320 million this Cyber Monday.



"A combination of pay day for the majority of consumers falling on the last Friday of the month and a weekend spent browsing the shops results in shoppers logging on to buy their gifts online on the subsequent Monday,” said a Visa spokesperson, "All of these factors will result in consumers spending £222,222 per minute, making 4722 transactions every 60 seconds."

Online retailer Amazon’s Chris North cites improving internet software on mobile devices and at home as a key factor in the increase of online sales:

“Monday 3 December could be the busiest day in the history of Amazon.co.uk",” said the company’s managing director, “As people increasingly shop on mobile devices and benefit from fast broadband at home, we’re seeing a move towards customers buying their Christmas gifts later in the evening when they are at home relaxing.”



A number of websites are even offering deals specific to Cyber Monday, though not to the extent done in America, where there is a special website, www.cybermonday.com, with hundreds of deals available.
This is Cyber Monday’s fourth year in the UK, after it was introduced on 30th November 2009, but all signs point to it being the most successful ever.

Have you bought anything on Cyber Monday?  

Google+ Profiles Can Now Support Panoramio Photos

Panoramio users are now allowed to export their photos onto their Google+ profiles.
Google+ Local will also feature Panoramio pictures that are connected with particular places to add a more in-depth aspect and to add more visibility to the photos.

Gerald Sanz, Community Manager at Panoramio, says that: “sharing your photos in Google+ will be easier than ever as by uploading your photos in Panoramio, you will automatically upload your photos in Google+, so you can get the best of both worlds.”

“Two years ago, we launched a feature that allowed all Panoramio users to import their photos from Picasa Web Albums into Panoramio so they could share them with the world via Google Maps and Google Earth.”
When exporting photos to Google+, users will be able to download security copies through via the Download your data link under the Google Accounts tab.

Will you be uploading your Panoramio pictures to your Google+ account?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

Google Analytics Show Your Top Tweets With Campalyst

Campalyst, a tweet plugin by Google Analytics can help you find out which of your tweets generate the most traffic for your website, and from which users.
The plugin synthesizes very smoothly with Google Analytics which gives detailed information about your Twitter referral activity.
Although there is a free version of the plugin, it’s recommended that potential users of the service try out the Pro version. The free version gives data on ten tweets that have taken place within the past five days.

The free version searches the first ten tweets in Google Analytics from whatever time range has been selected. Most of the time these will be the top ten tweets by the number of visits that have been generated.
The Pro version of the software is not limited by certain restrictions of the free version and only costs $5 a month. For a how to guide, click here.
CEO and Co-founder of Campalyst, Jay Kazanins, says that they “will store resolved tweets from the day of their registration (only the tweet IDs are stored, no other data is passed from Google Analytics to our servers); thus, over time they will be able to look at a period longer than 5-7 days.”
When registering for the Pro version, users can select up to five different Google Analytics profiles (five different websites for example or all for the same site).

Campalyst say that they are just “trying to make the life of social media marketers easier and help them make data-driven decisions.”

What do you make of these analytics? Will you be using them?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

Instagram Rolls Out Profile Badges

Photo sharing site Instagram have just launched “Instagram Badges” as an easy way to help users promote their profiles across the internet.
The badges are similar to the buttons and badges shown on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and will link people from other sites to your Instagram profile page.

The badges aim to help brands and users to endorse their official profiles with fans and followers across the web. Now that users can follow other people’s profiles online, this update may increase social traffic.
Instagram has been popular with celebrities and brands even before the site was attained by Facebook. Since then, Facebook have taken a more focused look into how brands can use Instagram as part of a broader social strategy.

To get your own Instagram badges, go to instagram.com/accounts/badges and follow the instructions by clicking on the icon you want, copying the JavaScript and pasting it onto your website or blog.



What do you make of Instagram badges? Will you be installing one on your website?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below

Facebook Announces New Gift Options

Last night, Facebook announced the addition of hundreds of products to the Gifts application.

Facebook released the Gifts app earlier this month, which allows users to send a real life present to a friend with an upcoming birthday.

The option to send gifts appears on the events page on mobile devices and in numerous places on desktop devices, including profile pages and the News Feed. Now, a prompt appears notifying users of a friend’s upcoming birthday and invites them to buy a gift.

Facebook has made the application very easy to use: just click on the gifts option, choose a gift and send it to a friend. Users don’t even need to know their friends address. As soon as a gift is bought, the recipient receives a message asking them to accept it.



Products new to the Gifts application are from a range of retailers, including BabyGap, L’Occitane, Lindt and NARS Cosmetics. Users can even buy and send online subscriptions to websites like Hulu Plus and Pandora.

Currently, Gifts is only available in the US, but if Facebook continues its push into e-commerce, Gifts will almost certainly be released overseas.

Would you send a birthday present using Facebook?

YouTube Videos On Your TV Made Easier

YouTube are making it a lot easier for users to be able to watch YouTube videos on their television with just the click of a button.
Video sharing site YouTube have been working on the idea of watching videos from their site on your television screens with just one click since 2010 and today have taken the next step.
With an update to the YouTube app for Android and Google TVs, these two devices will automatically be synced on the same WiFi making the videos appear on your television screen.
Just find a YouTube video on your app for Android, click on the TV icon, and instantly the video will begin to play on your Google TV.



Using your tablet or mobile phone as a remote, you can then pause, skip, and scroll while the video plays on your TV. Because the devices are connected in the cloud, you can do other things whist your video is playing as well such as search for the next video or browse the web.
Although this will only  be available on Android apps and Google televisions at first, YouTube are asking for people to stay tuned to see this feature coming to more devices and screens in the future.

What do you think of this development?

Facebook Friendships Get a Timeline Upgrade

There’s a page for just about anything you can imagine on Facebook — including every friendship. Whether you knew they existed or not, friendship pages have been there since October 2010, displaying every jot of information the network has about you and any given friend.

Now Facebook is giving those friendship pages an upgrade, in order to make them look more like Timeline profiles. And as a bonus, it’s adding a new page for you and anyone you’re in a relationship with: the adorably-named facebook.com/us.



To see the friendship page you share with anyone else, go to their profile page. Then click the gear button on the right, next to “Message,” to reveal a menu with a list of options; Friendship page is the one you want.
Facebook is slowly rolling out the Timeline-style pages over the next few days, so you may not have it yet. If you do, you’ll notice you have the opportunity to edit the page, removing photos that are unflattering to that relationship. (They won’t be removed from Facebook as a whole, though; you’ll have to untag yourself in them.)

Like much else about the social network, it’s a revealing and slightly disturbing look at just how much information has been gathered on you. I tested it with a few friendships where I was sure that friend and I hadn’t been tagged in pictures together — but sure enough, there we were, often on opposite ends of the table at large dinner parties, in the Timeline-style cover photo.

What do you make of the new friendship pages? Does this soften your attitude towards Timeline? Let us know in the comments.

Facebook App Update Includes Photo Filters

Those who have the updated iOS Facebook app will now be able to edit their photos in an Instagram styled manner on their phones.
The updated app allows users to edit photos that they have taken by tapping a wand icon at the bottom of their screen. Once the photo has been selected, the wand icon reveals 13 different filters, similar to that of Instagram.

The filters have names such as cool, contrast, neon, coffee, and black and white. Users can upload the picture straight to Facebook from the app.
Shortly after Facebook had bought Instagram in April, the social media giants introduced a Facebook Camera app. This app was almost identical to Instagram in terms of the filters available.



Although filters aren’t new for those accustomed to Facebook Camera, this is the first time that they have been united through the Facebook app.
With Instagram soon to have an online presence and Facebook having the ability to edit photos, it seems that although linked, both are looking to expand by using each other as a model of success.

3 Great Facebook Ways to Advertise What You Want

There are many different ways to market with Facebook. A good Facebook marketer is going to be aware of all of them. The truth is that most beginners do not know exactly how to deal with all the possibilities offered by Facebook. This is why you must always deal with professionals. Out of all the different ways to market with Facebook there are some that stand out. Let us think about the most common methods that are currently used.

Facebook Pages and Groups:
Pages and groups are great ways to market with Facebook. There are differences between the two so we need to be aware of them in order to realize the true potential of each technique. Pages are definitely more customizable but groups allow members to invite new members. This is the biggest difference between the two. With a group you can get new members based on your current member base but with pages all that you can expect in a viral in-house Facebook promotion is the use of the Share button. A page is a great way to establish brand notoriety and groups are great to start discussions.

Facebook Events:
Out of the different ways to market with Facebook the Facebook events can create the most exposure. You can create events for anything that you might want to organize from webinars and coaching sessions to actual meetings in real world. The great thing about events is the fact that people are invited can also invite others, even if they are not going to attend. Also, based on how many people say that they are to attend you can get a clear image of what to expect from the event you are going to organize. There are thousands of Facebook events that are live as you read these lines for events that vary from concerts to simple friendly meetings in a pub.

Facebook Messages:
If you get many people in your group or many friends you can send them messages. This is a very direct approach that is highly similar with email marketing through newsletters. By sending one message once in a while you will be able to reach potential customers much easier. All that you need to do is make sure that you are not going to send too many messages. This would be considered spam and most Facebook members are going to be annoyed by such a practice.

The bottom line is that there are different ways to market with Facebook and it is highly important to really know what you are doing. The methods mentioned above are just the most common ones but a good Facebook marketer is always going to be aware of new methods that can be used. We recommend that you always deal with professionals whenever thinking about Facebook marketing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7357869

New Tool Visualizes Facebook Analytics in Real Time

PageLever, which provides analytics tools for brands with Facebook Pages, has introduced a new tool that lets you visualize user engagement on those Pages in real time.
Such data is updated by Facebook every 15 minutes or so, but only as raw data. PageLever Now, however, gives you charts showing which status updates are hitting and for how long.



In theory, being able to see this data in perspective in (almost) real time will let you manage your Page more effectively. If a status update is getting unusual traction, for instance, you can amplify its effect by buying a Promoted Post. By noticing the ebbs and flows of post reactions, you can better schedule status updates to maximize your impact. As an added plus, the tool ranks your recent posts not in chronological order, but by engagement so the posts with the most fan reaction rise to the top.


Typically, page managers have had to wait about 48 hours to get such reports from Facebook. Google started providing real-time analytics to page managers last September.

Pricing for PageLever Now starts at $99 a month.

A Beginner’s Guide For Businesses on Pinterest

Pinterest is currently the most successful social media site at promoting sales. Visitors directed to a business’ site from Pinterest are 10% more likely to purchase something than from any other social media site.
Use Pinterest to keep followers up-to-date and to promote new and existing products and services that your company provides.



1. Before you start, ask yourself these Questions:

• What catches your eye on Pinterest?
• What images relating to your business can you pin?
• How will you make the most of Pinterest?

Have a look through some of the pinboards on Pinterest. They can be relevant to your business or not. Find out what the most successful and interesting images are.
Work out how you can best illustrate the unique selling points of your business on Pinterest. There is a reason Pinterest is such a successful marketing tool: images are popular and eye-catching, they draw a visitor’s attention.
Pinterest’s celebration of the interesting and unique means that smaller businesses can compete on the site with larger businesses.

2. Perfect your Profile and Attract Followers:
Use an interesting image relevant to your company as your profile picture. Make your description concise and clear. Make sure that the ‘Pin It’ and ‘Follow’ buttons are obviously placed.
Put links to your website and other social media sites on your profile. All your social media profiles should be interlinked for ease of access. Follow other pinboards and profiles related to your industry.
Videos can be pinned on Pinterest, but it is not really necessary to do so. Only YouTube videos can be embedded. Use your other sites to promote video content. You can learn how to manage all your social media sites quickly and effectively with Ezeesocial.


3. Perfect Your Pins:
Most importantly, make sure the images you pin are eye-catching.
Keep in mind how big your images should be: 300 pixels is too small, 554 pixels is too wide. Pins are not limited by height, but visitors won’t want to keep having to scroll down to see them.
Pin original and unique pictures to ensure your profile gets the most traffic. If you see another pin that you think will interest your followers, then repin it.
Make sure the file name of each pin contains a key phrase, descriptive of what the image depicts. You are allowed a 500 character description with each pin, make sure these are clear and concise.
Create pinboards for specific subjects and name them appropriately. Have a variety of pinboards to keep your visitors interested and diverted. Make sure your pinboard names have appropriate key words in them: pinboards do appear in Google Search.

4. Promote Sales:
Edit pins to add links to your website, or do a purchase page for the product shown in the pin image.
Create catalogues of your different product lines, or specific new ranges that you are selling.
You can add a price banner to your pins by putting ‘$’ and then a price in each pin’s description. A visible price ensures that people following the link to your page are more likely to be customers. Of course, it can dissuade people from clicking.
Bear in mind, Pinterest is a social media platform, not an advertising and marketing site.



5. Keep Followers Following:
Comment on the pins you repin, and read the comments on yours. You can monitor your target audience by reading and even responding to their comments.
Create exclusive pinboards for new ranges, and give your followers offers exclusive to Pinterest.
Host competitions: invite fans to pin images to win prizes. For example, create a competition where whichever follower posts the best image of their favourite product from one of your ranges, wins. Make sure the prize is stated. Competitors would need to put a specific hashtag in their pin’s descriptions to enter.
How do your promote your business on Pinterest?

6 Ways to Download Tagged Photos and Albums From Facebook

Storing all your photos in one online basket is never a good idea. Should you want to migrate to another social media account or delete your profile or if your friends are about to delete their profiles, you’ll want to ensure albums and tagged photos amassed over the years are backed up. Plus, since you can never be too careful with the media you entrust to social media sites, use these six online tools to download tagged photos for safekeeping.

• Social Folders (free up to 2,000 files downloaded) — Sync photos from Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Google Docs, Twitter, Instagram, Picasa, and more to a folder on your desktop. Use SocialFolder to move files easily from one website to another, or send and receive files to/from your friends.
• Pick & Zip (free) — Download albums, photos tagged of you, and videos from Facebook through this free software. Pick which media you’d like to back up, and the software will compress the video and images into a .zip file or .pdf.
• Facebook2Zip (free) — Log in to Facebook; then, in addition to your own photos, select which friends you’d like to download albums from, choose albums, and Facebook2Zip will download the photos into a .zip file.
• IFTTT Recipe (free) — This won’t download the photos you’ve already been tagged in, but it will save photos you get tagged in from here on out. Every time an image is linked to your Facebook account, IFTTT (If This Then That) will add that file to Dropbox. Think this recipe is cool? There are plenty of other nifty automated commands that IFTTT can do for you.
• Move Your Photos (free) — This Chrome browser extension makes migrating to Google+ easy, by exporting Facebook photos to Picasa. Share photos with any of your Google+ circles instantly from Picasa or download them to another backup source.
• PhotoLive (free) — Install this browser extension into Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Opera and download your own photos or those of friends. We like PhotoLive because the extension doesn’t have any Facebook log-in buttons — the extension doesn’t keep track or store any user activity.

If you’re not interested in entire albums, you can always download each Facebook photo manually by opening up the image, hovering over the window, and clicking Options > Download, which will give you the highest resolution possible.

Blogging As a Path to Branding Excellence

Branding is the most effective and most rewarding type of marketing a small business can perform. Once you embed your brand into the consciousness of your customer, it tends to stick around. Blogging is one of the most effective and enduring tools available to assist the small business owner in achieving top-of-mind awareness, aka branding.
What makes blogging such a useful tool for branding? A number of things, so let’s talk about some of them.

• The Conversation – You can’t control the conversation in most venues online. Forums, social media, other off-site platforms are usually controlled by someone else. But your blog is yours. You can initiate the conversation and control the conversation. It’s the perfect branding tool.
• Customer Interaction – Besides being in control, you can interact with your customers and maintain a level of positive engagement. That is much harder to do in social media.
• Your Hub On The Web - Everyone needs a home base. I’m not saying don’t use social media or off-site platforms. You should use them, but you should use them to drive traffic back to your hub – the place of conversation that you can control, your blog.
• List Capture – As you direct traffic to your blog, get people to go deeper by joining your mailing list. This is where the money is and your blog is the gateway.

Branding begins with the conversation. Instead of throwing out bland marketing messages, interact with your customers and drive them to a deeper relationship with you through your blog.

Zuckerberg Debunks the Biggest Myth About Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg used Facebook’s third quarter earnings call to clear up what he sees as the biggest myth about the company: that Facebook can’t make money on mobile.

Early in the call, Zuckerberg referred to Facebook’s “opportunity on mobile” as “the most misunderstood” aspect of the company right now. “I want to dispel this myth that Facebook can’t make money on mobile,” he said during the call on Tuesday. “This might have seemed true earlier this year because we hadn’t started trying yet.”

Facebook released its first mobile ad product just a few months ago and now mobile revenue makes up 14% of the company’s total  ad revenue. As Zuckerberg put it, “We’re just getting started.”
In fact, Zuckerberg argued that the company will end up reaching more users on mobile than desktop and will see better monetization from mobile users than desktop users. Part of the reason for this, he says, is that mobile users are actually more engaged with Facebook than desktop users. Facebook has found that mobile users have a 70% likelihood of logging onto Facebook on a given day, compared to a 40% likelihood for desktop users.

Zuckerberg also noted that engagement on iOS devices in particular has improved since Facebook overhauled its iPhone and iPad apps in August, improving speed. Facebook has apparently seen an 80% increase in News Feed loads and a 20% increase in likes, comments and other forms of user engagement within those apps in the past two months.

It’s no surprise that Zuckerberg spent so much time talking about mobile, as concerns about mobile monetization have plagued the company’s stock to date. In fact, Zuckerberg revealed that monetization has become such a big focus for the company that each of Facebook’s product teams are now tasked with coming up with a revenue strategy for their products. This is a marked shift for a company that has traditionally been very user-focused, rather than monetization-focused.

Overall, Facebook’s third-quarter earnings came in slightly ahead of Wall Street estimates, posting an adjusted earnings per share of $0.12 on revenue of $1.26 billion. Analysts had expected Facebook to report earnings per share of $0.11 on revenue of $1.23 billion. Shares of Facebook rose by more than 11% in after hours trading following the earnings report and call.

Aside from debunking the myth of mobile monetization, Zuckerberg also tried to put a positive spin on the impact of declining revenue from Zynga, another big concern of investors ever since Zynga pre-announced some particularly lousy earnings results earlier this month. According to Zuckerberg, payment revenue from Zynga did decline 20% in the third quarter year-over-year, but revenue from the rest of Facebook games increased 40% year-over-year.
Nevertheless, Zynga continues to make up a significant portion of Facebook’s total revenue. Zynga accounted for 7% of Facebook revenues in the third quarter, down from 10% in the previous quarter and 12% in the third quarter last year.

Facebook’s earnings call got off to a sloppy start, as someone apparently forgot to press mute on the phone. As a result, listeners could hear Facebook executives fumbling and saying, “Oh my god.” The issue was fixed quickly enough and the rest of the call went relatively smoothly.

5 Tips to Empower Your Email Marketing

Email is has proven to be a very effective way to drive engagement with consumers. Here are five things to ask yourself in order to create an email campaign that will drive maximum engagement.

1. Is it Easy on the Eyes?
Make sure that you have less text that is spaced out and that your content is highlighted. Reduce the fine print to what is required and put in pictures that are relevant. Pictures help break the monotony of reading and help with cognition. Design your email well — think about putting pictures in a frame, they need to look pleasing. But don’t stop with the email. Create a mobile version, and do not forget about your landing page.

2. Is Your Subject Line Compelling?
The goal of your subject line is to draw in the consumer. Use powerful words and sentences that inspire action. These types of words and phrases include, “proven,” “exclusive,” “limited number,” “two more days,” “for our platinum segment” and “advanced tips.”
Remember to test your subject line — first with your team, then conduct an A/B test before launching to the entire list.

3. Will it Find the Inbox?
Marketers should monitor deliverability to ensure that the message is getting through to their consumers. Start by checking the spam score, include multi-part messaging, avoid spam traps and spam words, and keep checking your bounces. Make sure that you are honoring the subscribe and un-subscribe process. It is also important to ensure that the reputation of your IP addresses is aboveboard.

4. Are You Looking at Your Numbers?
Make it a habit to check the results of a campaign before scheduling the next campaign. Opens, clicks and conversions can be improved by looking at other factors. Monitor the time between an email being sent and the email being opened. Look at the quality and length of your subject lines. One of the best things you can do is to predict your results and then evaluate the difference to improve.

5. Does Your Consumer Trust You?
Every message you send and every open (and click) is a way for you to build up on your value proposition. Continue looking at branding, the consumer’s attention span, and your ability to convert the consumer to a customer. Your biggest success would be driven by focusing on getting the consumer to trust you — they need to learn to depend on you for important and relevant messaging.

Facebook Introduces Profile Completion Bar

In a move to further increase the site’s marketability, Facebook now has a profile completion bar. The bar, which can be found in the top right corner of the About tab on the user’s Timeline, displays the percentage completion of the user’s profile page.



The information displayed on a profile page informs Facebook marketers of potential targeting options. For example, last year Facebook users were asked “which city do you live in?”, the answer allowing businesses operating in the same area to target them specifically.

Both LinkedIn and Google+ already have percentage completion bars on their profile pages. Facebook’s introduction of their own completion bar comes days after they began trialling a new Collections feature, which displays many similarities to Pinterest.

Both the percentage bar and the Collections feature are believed to be moves by Facebook to increase their online marketing revenue.

Do you think Facebook Collections and the new percentage bar are good ideas?

Contact us on Twitter and Facebook, or leave your comments below.

First Impressions of the Newest Social Site: Pheed

The most buzzed-about startup in Silicon Valley launched this morning and I’ve been switching between work and my Pheed all day. All the while, I’ve wondered what element set these guys apart from their intimidating list of competitors: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (to name a few). From the moment I googled the site to now, their slogan has answered that question: express yourself.

The social design on Pheed encourages users to create original content. Users can easily upload video, audio, words, pictures, or even a live stream onto their Pheed. One of the first aspects of the site I noticed was the little “copyright this pheed” button at the bottom of each post I made. The mere presence of this button serves as a little, constant reminder that you should be posting your own content. The idea of original content on social sites has always been confusing, and Pheed has taken a massive step in offering peace of mind to their users (without making them dig through a mountain of privacy policy pages).

Another massive difference with Pheed is their incorporation of easy monetization. By upgrading to a premium account, you can charge others to subscribe to your Pheed. Many uses come to mind for this setup. Bands and DJs could launch new demos to their Pheed followers before the general public, social marketers could use it like a private “Secrets for Success” mailing list, or it could just serve as a way for internet celebrities to streamline their monetization strategy. Time will only tell if this subscription service catches any traction.

Overall, I’m excited. I always get excited when we get a new social UI from Silicon Valley. Over the next few months, we’ll see if Pheed can deliver on the enormous pressure set by their CEO’s statement, “The wheel had to come about before the car. There are stages, like how Friendster came, then MySpace, then Facebook, each one improving on and adding to the format. There was Twitter and now Pheed—the evolution of a genre.”

3 Social Media Mistakes that Make You Look Like a Rookie

Poker is a game of skill, chance, and luck.
The key element that sets it apart is the ability to bluff your opponents, regardless of the cards you're dealt.
So you're not always playing the cards in your hand. You're playing your opponents.
Anytime they say or do something unexpected, they're possibly giving you hints about their cards. This tell is usually involuntary, but it can clue you in to what cards they're really holding.
If you're experienced enough, then you can pick up on these quickly and know exactly what type of player you're up against.
The same is true online. There are certain "tells" that aren't obvious to most. But if you know where to look, you can quickly uncover the truth.
Here are three social media mistakes that could make you look like a rookie.

Mistake #1: No "Anchor"

Each individual status update should be a part of a larger strategy.
The careful coordination of your activities will give you much better return in the long-run. So before doing anything, you need to start with an overarching goal. The one you pick will act as an anchor that brings order from chaos. And it will simplify your decision making when you need to choose between conflicting options.
Typically, there are three primary ways to use social media:

1. Growth / Awareness
2. Engagement (Proactive)
3. Service (Reactive)

With that in mind, you could write one status update three different ways. This "anchor" is what ultimately guides those small, day-to-day decisions.
So get in the habit of running marketing campaigns that build off each other. When you string enough of these micro decisions together, you'll start to get some momentum. But only if the next one builds off the last.
And focusing on higher leverage tactics, like business development, is a much better use of your time. Because you're investing in one campaign that will give you multiple returns (Content + SEO + Social).

Mistake #2: No Consistency

Online marketing is part art, part science.
You have do a lot of experimenting, and failing before you find what really works well.
So when you do find successful tactics, try to make them as "repeatable" as possible.
Obviously this helps to manage your customer's expectations. But it goes deeper than that.
When you have repeatable tactics, you can start to estimate and forecast potential results.
For example, if "X" tactic gets you between 200-300 visits each week, and that traffic converts at "Y"%, then you will make $"Z".
You'll immediately uncover the areas you need to address to increase sales (bring in more customers and/or increase conversions). And you'll know how much you can invest to achieve or improve your results. Like start advertising or hire extra staff to scale these tactics for you.
If you have to invest $50 or one hour to get 100 visits, then think about how you can make that process more efficient and squeeze out a little more, for a little less.
And you'll start to see that you really don't need 10 different tactics or to be on every single social network.
You just need a few that are performing well, with possible room to grow. And you can focus your energy on doing more with less.

Mistake #3: No Engagement

Customer engagement is the missing link between strangers and loyal buyers.
Because people need to trust you before they're going to buy anything.
And blog comments aren't the only form of engagement. Look a little deeper, and see if people are engaged with your online presence:

• High time on site and/or pages per visit
• Low bounce rates
• Above-average conversion rates or click through rates
• High email member ratings (based on open and click rates)

So how do you increase engagement and create customer loyalty?
Research!
Demographic information only gets you so far. Online, you need to understand what makes them take action or freeze up when it's time to buy.
And many times your online audience will be different from your loyal, past customers. (The "curse of knowledge" prevents us from seeing the obvious.) Last year I surveyed a client's customer database of over 400,000, and less than 25% even knew they had a blog or Facebook page!
So obviously, you either need to do a better job of getting these people to your online properties, or you need to change the message to match your potential online customers. And use a mix of both methods:

• Qualitative: Pair short, open-ended surveys with incentives to drive up response rates.
• Quantitative: Watch metrics like the ones above to see if your marketing messages are actually making a dent. (People sometimes say one thing, but do another.)

It doesn't matter if you're using the hottest marketing strategy and the most cutting-edge social media techniques.
If you're aiming at the wrong target, then you're going to struggle to get traction.
And the first place to look for a clue is your engagement.

Understanding Endorsements on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has a cool new feature that is being used by many. Maybe this use is because of it's visibility, often being the first thing you see on a profile.

Endorsements allow you to easily recognise skills and expertise of your network. In a click you can endorse your connections for a skill they've listed on their profile or recommend one they haven't added yet.
It is great to pay it forward and endorse your colleagues, but be sure only to use for those you do actually endorse. This sounds obvious, but don't be too nice and endorse someone's skills when you haven't seen evidence of the skill.

Having an endorsement from an industry leader or decision maker can be a powerful marketing add-on tool to your profile. If you are a leader yourself, endorsing someone gives them a stamp of approval and adds credibility if done for the right reasons.

By endorsing someone you may be asked about them and what you endorsed them for, so be sure you can back it up.

How to endorse your connections:
At the top of a connection's profile, you'll see recommended endorsements for them. You can endorse on the suggested skills, which come from their profile, or suggest additional skills.
When you endorse someone they receive a notification. Same applies if someone endorses you.
It is an easier faster process than writing a recommendation for a connection. These still have a place and are highly valuable because they are specific and show someone has taken the time to put some words together about you.

With the feature prompting your network to endorse you, is it time to revisit the skills you have listed and revamp them?

Are your current skills listed? Does the list actually include skills or are they more like qualities?
Use the skills area to list things you want to be known for - things that are part of your brand, your business offering or skill set as an employee.

What words are being suggested to your network for endorsement? are these words a good representation of your brand and actual skills? Do you want to be endorsed for being 'open minded', 'emotional' or 'average' as in some examples we have seen?

Schedule a profile review this week. Ensure your keywords are being used throughout your profile, including in your skills.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7310768

Twitter Publishes Bizarre Online White Pages

Ever wished you could just leaf through Twitter profiles like you were looking through a phone book?
Probably not. But if there is a situation where that could conceivably be useful, you’re in luck. Twitter quietly launched an online profile directory this week, with profiles neatly arranged at roughly 100 to a page.
The profiles are listed by first name, rather than Twitter handle, which is odd enough. But to find them you’ll have to burrow down through encyclopedia-like category pages — which for popular or common names is worse than useless.

For instance, Justin Bieber’s profile is under “JustBooks.in — jzzzzzzzzz.” But to find the actual singer, you’d have to wade through pages of “Justin Bieber-Justin Bieber.” Turns out it’s quite a popular name to claim to have on Twitter. (The company doesn’t require you to enter your real name on a profile.)

So why would Twitter publish this? One word: Google.

The two companies fell out over search results in January; the search giant announced plans to push Google+ results, which Twitter decried as “bad for people.”

Google fired back that Twitter had ended a real-time search agreement and taken itself out of search results with a piece of code that instructed its search bots not to follow tweets.
Now it seems Twitter is much more keen to be indexed on the world’s largest search engine. As Search Engine Land‘s Danny Sullivan points out, a search for the Twitter directory on Google already yields about 700,000 results.

That, along with a number of other under-the-hood tweaks Twitter has made in recent months, should make your tweets a lot more searchable. The user directory, therefore, is effectively little more than an SEO anchor.

Do you want your tweets and your profile to be more searchable? Did you try finding yourself in the directory? Let us know in the comments.

Social Media For Your Online Business

Are you looking to profit with your Online Business, then, you need to find creative ways to promote. The internet opens up opportunities to a huge number of people. Millions of people are on the internet, and this makes prospecting easier. Social networks are very well-liked to targeted online users.
YouTube and Facebook are very popular networking sites. These sites enable you to find new leads at zero cost. You can find twice the amount of leads at half the amount of time. You can prospect, and at the same time, develop a relationship.

Over the recent years, social networking has become popular. With these networks, you can have thousands of friends. Escalating your online presence and doubling your chances of finding quality leads. Targeting potential leads is very easy using these networks.
Learning to apply this strategy can be very profitable for your online business. Once you find the marketing method that works for you, duplication is no problem. The benefits cannot be ignored, many people build MLM businesses using only the internet. This brings more prospects, and also more visitors to your business opportunity website.

Another advantage of a good social marketing strategy, is to be able to position yourself as a leader in your group or business. New marketing methods are being utilized daily by many people. Using these methods raises the bar in your online business. The more you learn and study about these strategies the better your results will be.

Remember, Social Media is a good way for you to place yourself as a leader in your business. The name of the game is to develop relationships. When you create these relationships you also create trust. It is more important to have trust than to just promote, this in itself brings more business.
There are other Social Networking Sites like, Twitter, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Google+, and the latest Pinterest. These sites are well-known and very effective, when used properly, for social networking. Knowing how fast things work on the web, I'm sure that there will be more social sites that will be added shortly. These sites allow the average marketer to get out to more people. The more people, the more prospects and well you get the point. If communicating to new people is your forte', then social marketing would be the way to go for your business. People with such a gift, would enjoy to be able to reach out to so many with such little effort.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7284543

Pinterest More Important to Brands Than Instagram

Our “Social Media around the World 2012” study is clear: the two social networks with the biggest growth potential are Pinterest and Instagram. They seem to be the only sites that will find their place next to the big four (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Google+) and the local heroes (Qzone, Vkontakte).

The user facts

The facts about both sites are pretty comparable at first sight. About one quarter of the online population knows both sites. The adoption rates are still very low: 3% use Pinterest and 4% Instagram.
Looking at the other facts, there are some important differences between Pinterest and Instagram. Half of Pinterest users log ondaily as opposed to just 31% of Instagram users. Also, 60% of Pinterest users intend to use the site more often in the future whereas for Instagram users this is “only” 40%.
My conclusion is that both sites have a strong growth potential, but the level of enthusiasm is a lot higher among the early users of Pinterest.

The brand link?

A lot of managers are in doubt whether they should invest time and resources in these two photo sharing sites. Looking at the growth potential of both sites, I think it is certainly something to look into as a brand manager. In addition, our survey shows that Pinterest probably has the biggest potential for brands. 41% of Pinterest users are currently sharing brand-related content on the site, compared to 35% of Instagram users. Both sites do well in this regard, but just as with the overall stats, Pinterest scores better than Instagram.

Gmail Now Lets You Search Within Email Attachments

Beating your head against the wall trying to find a specific attachment in your overstuffed Gmail inbox? Google just made life easier for you with a newly added keyword search feature for Gmail attachments.
Previously, the popular email client only allowed search within text files, but now users can search within files from several leading programs, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Powerpoint and more. This comes just a few months after the company announced that personal emails will turn up in your search results.

Several other popular email clients — Yahoo and Outlook included — have had this feature for years. To try this out for yourself, simply add “has:attachment” to the beginning of any keyword query. Limiting the search to a specific file type involves adding “filename:(file type)” to the search term.

For example, if you wanted to look for the name of your favorite tech website in a PDF attachment, you would type: “has:attachment filename:PDF Tecca” into Gmail’s search. That search will then pull up the related content.

Have you tried out Gmail’s latest feature yet? Tell us what you think about it in the comments.

Building a Twitter Strategy in 3 Steps

No one can tell you what to tweet, but it's essential for you to ask real questions that provoke your followers to "listen" and "engage" themselves in a conversation. And these high-concept buzzwords are easier said than done. What you really need is a proper Twitter strategy - and these are some advices that will help you to get there.

Know your audience and follow their conversation:
It may sound cliché but it is utmost important to know whom you want to reach on Twitter and listen them. You need to be specific and limit your demographic scope as well. Target your audience based on your industry and the market you cater to. Once you know your audiences, look at the terms they are talking about and the way they describe themselves. These would be your keywords to expand your reach to people who fit into your audience. Also, focus on the profiles that influence your audience.
To reach out to your targeted audience and make them follow you, it is essential to listen what they are talking about. You need to understand how they talk and what they like or share (read retweet). Listening to your audience will also help you to understand what people are saying about your company/ products or services. Similarly, find out what people are saying about your competitors. All these will help you to understand how your audience talks and what motivates them. And the trick is to tone yourself to match your audience.

Set your goal and don't forget to track it:
This is where your strategy begins - set a goal. And tracking it will give you the numbers. And metrics is not all about tracking your follower count. Rather, focus on the numbers of profile that are actually paying attention to your account. Approaches differ based on the size of a company's fan base; however, the overall goal should be on brand awareness. Additionally, you need to focus on creating buzz for your company and generate new leads. Some of the metrics you need to consider include retweets, clicks, direct messages, Twitter mentions etc.

Defining the marketing approach:
Target your language towards your audience. Be thoughtful and accurate while sharing something. Decide your approach - whether you want to be formal or informal; should you include hashtags or buzzwords; the kind of content or links you should share; the effort you need to put to find new followers and reach out to existing ones, and the special offers and campaigns that you can provide.
Be authentic in your approach and your audience would surely love it.
Finally, don't forget to calculate your ROI to estimate the overall success (or failure) of your Twitter strategy. Based on your goals, find the worth of each lead that Twitter is generating. Though it is a perpetual work, you need to be flexible and keep on experimenting with your Twitter strategy for success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7238590

Always Keep Tabs on Your Friends with New Foursquare Notifications

If Facebook stalking or following friends on Twitter doesn’t satisfy your curiosity, Foursquare has got you covered. The location-based social network unveiled updated notifications Tuesday that lets users keep tabs on their friends no matter where they go.
With the new settings, users can opt to “always” receive notifications when family or close pals check in somewhere “even when they’re not nearby or you have all check-in notifications turned off,” Foursquare announced in a blog post.
To select this option, users simply go to their friend’s Foursquare profile, and select “Always On” from the drop-down menu.


The notifications allow you to keep up with globe-trekking friends when they’re backpacking abroad, or to see if they’ve arrived safely at the airport, for example.
Previously, users only got check-in notifications from friends who were in the same city. Alerts for friend activity can be received via email and push notifications on mobile devices.
In July, Foursquare announced new merchant tools that gave business owners the ability to communicate with customers through the platform, including changes to the dashboard and tools, as well as updates and specials. It launched its redesigned app in June.
What do you think of Foursquare’s notifications update? Tell us in the comments below.

Facebook Plugin Offers Another Way to Control Privacy

Facebook has offered another way to control which activities you’ll share when using apps that interact with Facebook on the web. A new plugin called Shared Activity lets users modify their privacy settings while in a particular web app, giving them control of who sees their activities created on that app in Facebook.
Facebook’s Developer Blog offered an example (pictured at right) of how this new plugin works:
“From the plugin on sites such as Airbnb, people can set the default Facebook audience for activity shared from your app, or manage the settings for stories previously published to Facebook, including selecting an audience or removing it altogether.”
These capabilities are already available in Facebook itself, but now users won’t need to leave an app to adjust its sharing settings. The plugin is complimentary to the current ability to adjust sharing details in three different places within Facebook: in the Timeline itself, in Facebook’s app settings, or its activity log.
This new plugin gives users more convenient control of who gets to see their input. For instance, if a user doesn’t want the general public to see what stories he likes in a certain app, or his comments within it, he can adjust that without leaving the application and going back to Facebook.
Adding another way to ensure privacy on Facebook sounds like a great idea, but do you think this plugin will add yet another layer of complexity for users to navigate? Is it too much?

Everything You Need to Know About the New Twitter

Twitter rolled out on Tuesday a series of design updates aimed to add more personality to member pages. Photos have been brought to the forefront and room has been made for Facebook Timeline-like cover images.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo first unveiled the updates during morning news program The Today Show — an unlikely stage for a tech company that is continually introducing new features and designs. Since the announcement was coupled with a short segment about Twitter’s growth and success, it was likely part of an effort to introduce the platform to a greater audience not yet using the site.

“Today’s changes are all about bringing that personality forward. More media forward, more photos forward,” Costolo said on the show. “So it’s much easier to see these media experiences and flip through them.”

The company also announced new apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices.

Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about the news:

Behind the Header Photo

Member profile photos have been moved from the top left to a spot in the center of the page. Users can upload a long horizontal “header” image that resembles the cover photo concept currently used on Facebook and Google+. Existing profile pictures are embedded in the center of the header.

“The page itself has been reoriented to play up other visuals as well: Your avatar is no longer tucked in the corner, but will display front and center,” Twitter said in a statement. “The photo stream, too, has been moved up, and will now be accessible on the apps.”

How to Add a Header

First, visit your profile — the page that’s labeled “Me,” not your homepage — either on Twitter.com or via your mobile app. To add a header photo, visit Twitter.com/Settings/Design and select a photo from your existing library or port in a new one. To upload a header photo from a mobile app, visit to the “Me” tab, click the settings button (gear), tap “Edit profile” and then “Header.”

Note: After selecting a picture, you’ll need to scale it to size. The original image size can’t surpass 1252×626 pixels (with a max file size of five megabytes) and anything less than 640 pixels won’t look great.

App Upgrades

The iPhone app looks similar to what we’ve seen in the past, particularly in regards to the news feed and navigation. The “Me” section has been optimized for a header photo, however.

Meanwhile, the iPad app received a whole new user interface. In addition to highlighting a header photo and giving uploaded photos a bigger display area, you no longer have to swipe to reveal the sidebar. It also gives greater prominence to media — images now appear full-screen and links show up within the tweets when expanded. The company called the iPad app more than just an upgrade.

“We’ve rebuilt the app from the ground up to make it fast, beautiful and easy to use,” Twitter said in a statement.

Twitter also noted that the news represents “our mobile-first strategy.”

User Reaction

Mashable conducted a poll after the news was announced to gauge user feedback, and 47% said they loved the emphasis on photos and the new header. About 27% said cover pictures are “so 2011,” while 25% said they were indifferent.

Google Refuses to Remove Anti-Muslim YouTube Video

White House officials on Friday asked YouTube to review an anti-Muslim video cited as fueling violent protests worldwide, but according to The New York Times, the Google-owned site doesn’t have any intention of taking it down.

Google told the publication that the “Innocence of Muslims” video does not violate terms of service for YouTube regarding hate speech because it is focused on the Muslim religion and not the people who practice it. Although Google put up a temporary block on the clip in Egypt and Libya due to local violations in those countries, it still remains accessible to most worldwide.

The 14-minute video, which was a trailer for an upcoming “Innocence of Muslims” film thought to be created by an American man — upset the Muslim community for insulting the religion’s Prophet Muhammad. (Note: Early reports pegged the filmmaker as “Sam Bacile,” a supposedly Israeli-American real estate developer living in California. However, certain details didn’t add up: There’s no licensed real estate developer in California with that name and Israeli officials denied his existence.)

The video has also been credited as contributing to global protests, including the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens including a U.S. ambassador, and igniting other protests across the globe.

Google’s decision to not comply with the White House’s request is in line with a company policy from 2007 that said it would consider laws, local policies and culture when deciding whether to remove or restrict a video.

“One type of content, while legal everywhere, may be almost universally unacceptable in one region, yet viewed as perfectly fine in another,” Rachel Whetstone, senior VP for communications and public policy at Google, said in the policy. “We are passionate about our users, so we try to take into account local cultures and needs.”

YouTube’s Community Guidelines “encourage free speech” and “defend everyone’s right to express unpopular points of view.” However, it does not allow “hate speech,” which the company defines as “speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.”

The Obama administration initially “reached out to YouTube to call the video to their attention and ask them to review whether it violates their terms of use,” Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, told the Washington Post.

UPDATE: The original version of this story said it was believed that the filmmaker was an American-Israeli man, but it has since been updated to reflect that authorities now think a false identity was used.