Sacramento Social Media Optimization Guru

The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans

2010-05-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

The Local Advertising War Will Be a Clash of the Internet Titans

When Google upgraded their Local Business Center to Google Places, it launched the opening salvo in what we expect to be a long war for local advertising dollars.

With local advertising revenues expected to reach $144.9 billion in 2014 according to BIA/Kelsey — and more and more dollars are shifting away from traditional media toward digital media buys — the new war for local ad spend will be a battle between the Internet () titans and social networks.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Foursquare, Yelp and even Apple are all attempting to carve out their own niche offering for local advertising dollars. Who will succeed remains to be seen, but this is a fight you won’t want to miss.

The War of the Worlds

The challengers fighting for local advertising budgets can be separated into three categories: Search, consumer review sites and social networks. The mobile component to each sector is also quite significant, especially given that the mobile web is taking over the world, and that mobile search is still a nascent space — one that appears to be more app-driven than search-engine driven.

Each category also has its own distinct advantage and key players, but what Google has managed to do with Google Places is straddle all three sectors with an extremely valuable proposition for local businesses that includes free stuff, cheap advertising rates and the promise of exposure.

Google also has a very strong mobile presence, but their adherence to the standard search model for discovery could make them susceptible to competitors vying for local ad dollars.

Search

In the local search space we can include the obvious players: Google and Microsoft, the latter of which will grab more share once the Yahoo search deal is implemented. Both behemoths are fast-adding features to their search services to better facilitate local search queries. Bing () even has Foursquare data in maps.

For businesses, the advantages of being highlighted in local search results over competitors is significant. Sure it’s 100% paid media, but it’s also exposure at one of the primary touch points for service and restaurant queries on the web.

Google clearly recognizes the value of a targeted ad. With Google Places they also re-introduced a simpler, faster, cheaper way for their local business customers to advertise (formerly called enhanced listings). Business can pay a $25 per month flat fee to use Tags to make their listings more prominent on Google.com and Google Maps (). Included in Tags are Posts, which are like status updates for Place Pages and will appear as part of the search listing.

Tags show up as yellow markers that users can scroll over to view promoted features or coupons. While Tags are ads, they’re essentially Google’s take on Promoted Tweets, and make listings stand out from the crowd. If done right, they could be useful for both businesses and consumers.

When thinking about local search, don’t forget about Twitter. The social network also happens to double as a search engine, and they’re aggressively moving in the local direction with tweet geotagging that can identify points of interest. This extra layer of data will enable Twitter users to search locally, and see a real-time stream of nearby tweets.

Couple these new Twitter features with Promoted Tweets — Twitter’s definition of search advertising — and you have a situation ripe for local businesses. The key here is whether or not Twitter can prove why users should share their location and why local businesses should care.

In thinking about search, remember that mobile will factor into the future in a big way. Steve Jobs believes that most mobile search happens via applications, which means that Apple — which now owns alternative mobile search application Siri () — could play an important role in the mobile local advertising battle.

Consumer Review Sites

For the purpose of this post, consumer review sites like Yelp and City Search are being distinguished from other social networks because their primary focus is on user-generated place reviews.

The advertising opportunities on these sites are certainly geared towards the businesses that consumers are reviewing. That could create a conflict of interest for some networks, and in the case of Yelp, many small businesses felt that they were being bullied to pay to advertise in order to remove negative reviews. Yelp has maintained that this was absolutely not the case, and was a misunderstanding of their review filtering process.

As such, they’ve made changes in recent weeks to lessen the confusion, but now that Google Places offers a handful of business-friendly features, we could easily see local businesses jump ship with their advertising budgets.

On this feature front, the addition of service areas is quite significant. So too are the QR code window decals and free business photo shoots. Plus, if Google opts to take Google Maps inside businesses, there will be even more incentive for companies to own their Google Place Page.

In a previous post, I made a case for how the new consumer review is all about you, and that location, premium content and relationships are critical to the relevancy of the consumer review.

In this sense, Foursquare certainly factors into the consumer review equation. Their tips and content partnerships mean that their location-aware mobile social network is perfectly poised to deliver up tightly packaged consumer reviews that are place- and time-relevant. This means that smart local businesses will allocate more of their budgets to checkin rewards and mayor specials.

Lest we forget, there’s a Foursquare-esque component of Google’s Place Pages. All Place Pages include consumer reviews with both text and star ratings. These reviews are also easily accessible via Google Buzz for Mobile and Google Maps.

Social Networks

The primary social networks embroiled in the local advertising war include Twitter, Foursquare, Google and soon Facebook.

Google’s social networking endeavors have left plenty to be desired. Google Buzz () launched to an excited tech audience but enthusiasm has since faded away. There’s also Google Latitude — an always-on location-sharing service that started as a Loopt clone — which now has 3 million active users. It’s the intersection of Buzz and Latitude on mobile devices that will help Google nail down local advertising dollars.

Between Buzz for Mobile’s checkin model and Latitude, Google has a lot of information that they can both display for consumer/business use as well as use behind the scenes. Since Buzz checkins are associated with Place Pages and Place Pages have dashboards, Google has the opportunity to compete with Foursquare’s business dashboards. They also have the data to create accurate behavioral analysis around location, based on the implicit location-sharing of Latitude users. Take that and the Google name, and you have something quite compelling.

Unfortunately for Google, Facebook is most certainly moving into the same space. Given their size and trendiness, we can assume that Facebook will be a strong competitor and a viable contender for local advertising dollars. The leaked McDonalds-Facebook location partnership tells us that diners will be able to check-in at restaurants with activity and food items being posted back to Facebook. How exactly this will work or function we don’t know, but what is certain is that once Facebook knows where their 400 million members are, they can target advertising by location.

Twitter is really trying to ramp up relevancy of geo-located tweets, but they’ve never quite been able to do what Foursquare has done — demonstrate the significance of location-sharing. As discussed above, there could be a perfect storm brewing for the day when geo-aware tweets are tied to places and Promoted Tweets are available to all potential advertisers.

Once that happens, we predict that advertisers will be able to target their Promoted Tweets by location and not just keywords (as it stands now). Should they go down this path, this could be their real secret sauce, especially given what we’ve already seen from Virgin America in the Promoted Tweets department.

In the social networking space, don’t count out David — a.k.a. Foursquare — amongst these internet Goliaths. Foursquare has pioneered the location-sharing movement by making checkins valuable, if not cool. The company is hotter than ever, and its partnerships — especially with the likes of Starbucks — continually ensure that it has something the competition doesn’t. Its user base is growing astronomically, and now that the users are there, businesses are clamoring to catch up.

Foursquare has also been nimble in finding ways to cater to local businesses. Early on, it allowed business owners to offer specials to mayors and those that check in. More recently, it introduced a simple way for businesses to sign-up and gain access to the business dashboard with checkin analysis. Its offering not only parallels what Google is doing with Place Pages, but bests it.

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Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week

2010-05-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for an awesome YouTube video roundup. So please attempt to stop drooling on your keyboard (just a few more hours to go) long enough to check out some fishing tips, adorable children, British politicos, some dude with a balloon and more.

And, as always, pay it forward by sharing whatever it is you’re secretly watching in the comments. Unless it’s dirty. Or boring. Or involves Miley Cyrus in any way.

Fishing Tips

Lauren Rubin: This could be an SNL skit, but it’s about as authentic NYC as it gets…. A bait shop in da Bronx that’s been posting videos throughout fishing season for more than two years.

Cameron and Clegg Share a Joke

Amy-Mae Elliott: Thanks to inconclusive general election results, Britain was stuck with a hung parliament and uncertainty about which of the three parties would form a new coalition government. Cameron and Clegg (the new PM and deputy PM) from traditionally opposing parties here make their first joint press conference, and to the relief of many, manage to appear to be getting on — at least so far as to share a joke.

Toyota Sienna Rap Video Ad: “Swagger Wagon”

Matt Silverman: Sorry to be sharing what is quite obviously a commercial for Toyota, but when big companies (and their ad agencies) mix slick production values with viral marketing, the results can be, as the kids say, “totally rad.” What this vid lacks in kittens, it makes up for with dancing children.

Tillman Skates for Libraries – You Can Help Too

Sharon Feder: Two weeks ago I shared another dog-related YouTube () video and promised I was not dog video obsessed. Well, the dog videos are just too hard to resist! This week I have another, but with an important message. The New York Public Library (NYPL) has launched a campaign, “Don’t Close the Book on Libraries,” drawing attention to the $37 million in cuts the institution is facing, and raising awareness and support (you can write a letter, share the campaign with friends or donate on the site). As part of the campaign the organization released this video of Tillman the bulldog skateboarding through the New York Public Library.

The Lazarus Effect Campaign: 40 cents = 2 lifesaving pills

Adam Hirsch: Celebrities telling you what they’d buy for 40 cents… I got a banana at the fruit stand!

Friskies Adventureland Commercial

Brenna Ehrlich: A friend had this on her Facebook wall. This will be stuck in your head all weekend. Thank me later…

Trailer for Toy Story 3: Inception

Christina Warren: I always knew Ken was hiding something!

Pop

Jenn Van Grove: I’m having trouble explaining why this makes me laugh so much.

Do the Math!

Brett Petersel: Why this video? I used to teach math. This is not how it should be done…

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New York Times Paywall Goes Up January 2011

2010-05-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

The New York Times will start charging for some of its content in January 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, made the announcement at the Foreign Press Association dinner Thursday night.

The New York Times already announced that it would be implementing a paywall for at least some of its content earlier this year, but now it has a concrete date. The publication is actually reversing course in this area; it previously charged for access to archived and editorial content on its site, a practice that didn’t stop until August 2007.

Joe Strupp from Media Matters for America reached out to Keller about the plans for The New York Times website and how it will impact customers.

“Those who mainly come to the website via search engines or links from blogs, and those who only come sporadically — in short, the bulk of our traffic — may never be asked to pay at all. People who have print subscriptions will get full website access without charge. So we do not anticipate a major impact on overall traffic, which is important to maintain advertising.”

The plan, it seems, will not be dissimilar to what Variety is doing — offering non-subscribers access to a certain number of articles for free each week or each month.

The change in policy, according to Keller, is just a reality of the business at this point in time. Keller tells Media Matters: “It costs money to do the kind of deeply reported journalism our readers expect, and it’s well worth paying for. We assume there will be some impact on readership, aka traffic, but not as much as with a conventional pay model.”

This metered approach is certainly likely to perform better than, say, the all-or-nothing approach (like what Newsday implemented, or rather, tried to implement), but its success may ultimately depend on how much content is protected and what additional incentives The New York Times can offer subscribers.

Are you willing to pay to access some content from national newspaper websites like The New York Times? Let us know!

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Thanks to Mashable’s Socially Savvy Supporters

2010-05-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

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Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers!

Advertise with us and get noticed.

Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views a day in addition to weekly recognition as part of our “thank you” to our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card.

This week, our valued sponsors are the Awareness Networks, The Poynter Institute’s Mobile Media blog, CFC Media Lab, The Wall Street Journal for iPad, eBay Developer’s Conference, Bantam Live, Gist, Yield Software, Clickatell, Influxis, Microsoft BizSpark, MailChimp, Sun Startup Essentials, MaxCDN and Eventbrite.

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Clickatell offers mobile social networks the opportunity to measure their return on investment. Not only does Clickatell offer an Interactive Campaign Manager tool that allows you to monitor and intervene in your customer campaigns in real time, it also generates and manages database integration and comes with additional marketing tools. Track the delivery status of your text messages and the responses; take the guesswork out of campaigning. Your valuable messages will always be delivered as our products allow for message escalation to alternative delivery gateways. Social networks are also, through the account management package, given control over network channels and connectivity options. All necessary tasks have been automated and our central interface allows you to manage multiple connections and projects at the same time.

Which leading social networking companies have chosen Clickatell as a mobile messaging partner? Read our success stories here.

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Gink: The Next Great Social Media Network Sacramento

2010-05-22T23:28:00.001-07:00

Sketch troupe Derrick Comedy has tackled social networking as the topic of their latest video by creating the next next-generation social network: Gink. What is Gink? Well, it’s simple, really: “Gink is a fun made-up word, combining the words gibble and spink, both of which are also made up.”

Simultaneously parodying the proliferation of social networks and the dizzying array of specialized terminology that often comes with them, Gink goes off the deep end with an assortment of seriously delivered gibberish that would make Dr. Seuss proud.

Check out the video below — warning: some NSFW language included — and let us know what you think. Is Gink the next big thing?

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Twitter King Dethroned? Britney Set to Overtake Ashton

2010-05-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Follwer counts on Twitter don’t really mean anything, of course — still, we are surprised and a bit saddened to learn that the reigning champion and longtime poster boy of Twitter, Ashton Kutcher, may lose his spot as the #1 followed account to Britney Spears.

The two are neck-and-neck in the race to hit 5 million followers. This astronomical number is the work of long and diligent work on the part of each entity. Here’s what Ashton and Brit each have going for them and against them:

Spears’ account is almost four months older than Kutcher’s.Kutcher actually uses his own account to send personal tweets about things he cares about.Spears’ account is managed by her staff and is largely promotional or “BS alerts” when unfavorable tabloid reports surface. Tweets from “Brit” or “Britney” comprise around a third of all tweets from the account.Like many “real” users, Kutcher follows a relatively small group of friends, just 553 people as of today.Spears’ account is following nearly half a million others.Kutcher updates his account every few hours, usually via Twitter client Brizzly.Spears’ account is updated every few days. Updates are always posted from the web, even when the star tweets she is on location or at an event or party.Kutcher regularly

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Sacramento Social Media - How Many Calories Do You Burn While Tweeting?

2010-05-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever wondered how much energy it takes to keep the world updated about your goings-on, look no further than TweetCalories, a novelty web app that shows you approximately how many calories you’ve burned over the last 24 hours by tweeting.

The app works by assuming several factors. For example, it’s figured that the average word length in a tweet is about 6 characters. It assumes the average user’s typing speed is 60 words per minute, that the user is of an average or healthy weight and normally burns around 2.65 calories per minute, and that it takes around 23 seconds to write and send a tweet of 140 characters. Based on these figures, the app’s creators have determined that sending a tweet burns around 1.03 calories.

Here, you can see the difference between calories burned by a more frequent tweeter versus one who tweets less often:

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Video Calling Sacramento - Now Available for PCs

2010-05-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Skype Group Video Calling Now Available for PCs

Skype group video calling is here. The company has just released a new version of their desktop software that supports five-way video calls.

At launch, this beta version of Skype is free to download and use for PC users. Later in the year the company will release a Mac-friendly version. Once the kinks are all worked out — and the company admits that there will be bugs — Skype will also release the official updated version.

All parties involved will need to have the beta version installed to use the new feature. Otherwise, initiating a group video call takes nothing more than a click of the “Add” button to invite participates and then a click of the “Video Call” button to get video up and running.

As we previously noted, group video calling is considered a premium feature. Once the official version is released there will be fee associated with this functionality. Skype (Skype) asserts that it still has no plans to charge for two-way Skype-to-Skype audio or video calls, although we do know that advertisements are under consideration.

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Social Media Sacramento

2010-05-17T23:28:00.000-07:00

HOW TO: Turn Slacktivists into Activists with Social Media

Lazy Panda ImageGeoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007.

Throughout the non-profit world, organizations struggle with social media’s impact on the volunteer and donor cycle. The rise of “slacktivism” — doing good without having to do much at all — challenges organizations to rethink the way they cultivate their core volunteers and donors.

There are some important social media strategies for transforming those one-click “slacktivists” into fully engaged activists. Here are five tips from some of the best in the non-profit business.

1. Stop Thinking of Them as Slacktivists

The term slacktivism has its own baggage. While social media can drive action on an unprecedented and exponential scale, labeling this previously untapped crop of casual contributors “slacktivists” punishes them out of the gate for doing good. In actuality, the new era of online cause action should excite non-profits.

“It irritates me that we have invented this term as a pejorative way to describe what should be viewed as the first steps to being involved in a cause in 2010,” said Katya Andresen, Chief Operating Officer of Network for Good. “Let’s not whine that people want to do easy things that make them feel they’ve somehow made a difference. It’s okay if someone’s initial commitment is modest -– and it’s truly an opportunity that it’s easier than ever to spread information, create new initiatives for social good, and take action.”

“What the world needs now is far more engagement by individual citizens, not less, and simple steps such as signing petitions or even sharing opinions/tweeting are steps in the right direction,” said Randy Paynter, CEO and Founder of Care2. “As Edmund Burke once said, ‘Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.’ Because small steps can lead to bigger steps, being critical of small steps serves no good. It simply disenfranchises folks.”

2. Steward People Up the Engagement Ladder

Engagement Ladder Image

Social media provides a new first step on the engagement ladder. The methodology of approaching stakeholders and encouraging them to take deeper actions requires acceptance of their current level of activism, and well-crafted approaches towards deeper commitment.

“There are some slacktivists that will become fundraisers, but if you are messaging correctly, they will mostly self-select,” said Dan Morrison, CEO and Founder of Citizen Effect. “But the fastest way to lose slacktivists is to ask them [to do] what they hate doing the most — getting off their butt and [doing] something. My advice? Send out great content targeted at recruiting more fundraisers and driving people to donate, and empower the slacktivists to spread the word for you.”

“It is important to know how to meet people where they are at, and craft your conversation starters and calls to action appropriately so as to match the specific interest and commitment,” said Beth Kanter, co-author of The Networked Nonprofit. “Organizations need to have good processes and strategies for stewarding people toward ever higher levels of engagement with their causes and campaigns.”

Full Disclosure: Beth is a partner of the author in Zoetica.

3. Reevaluate the Donor Funnel

The new volunteer and donor cultivation cycle changes the traditional “funnel” approach to getting stakeholders to act. Instead of sending out messages and expecting results, non-profits need to participate in larger online social ecosystems where hotbeds of activism are already taking place. Initial economic research shows this work is well worth it.

“Non-donors who take action online are 3.5 times more likely to donate than non-donors who have supplied their e-mail address (say, for a newsletter) but haven’t taken action,” said Paynter. “Donors who also take action are better donors. Existing donors who’d taken action online were 2.3 times more likely to donate than donors in the e-mail file who hadn’t.”

“Our current funnel goes something like this: Blast out marketing, see who responds, ask them for money, send them a receipt, ask them for more money,” said Andresen. “The new funnel should work like this: Go out to where people are talking about our issue online, listen, reflect back on what you’re hearing, invite small acts of engagement, thank people and tell them the difference their small acts made, listen some more, invite them to speak, then ask for bigger acts.”

4. Shift Your Attitude

A non-profit’s tie to the casual online participant is a tenuous one at best. Their relationship ties are often personal and emotional, embedded in a social network, and conversational in nature. They are often committed to an issue, but not any specific organization, and thus have little incentive to interact. That means non-profits need a new approach than simply asking.

“Value the whole funnel, not just the top or not just the bottom,” said Kanter. “Non-profits need to get into their stakeholders’ heads and understand what the hot buttons are to trigger their support from one level to the next. Small actions add up … Incorporate some sort of emotional tie – [understanding] that the clicking is a form of self-expression or love or way of helping.”

“I think slacktivists — like anyone else on social networks — need to be cultivated and feel appreciated for their contributions, as small as they may seem,” said Carie Lewis, director of emerging media at The Humane Society of the United States. “We message our cause supporters individually, and respond to (almost) every message that comes into us via social media. It takes a lot of time, but this individual engagement is what has made us successful.”

5. Create New Calls to Action

Protest March Image

Activist behavior and attitudes on social networks challenge non-profits to deploy new forms of engagement. Instead of simple “donate now” links, non-profits must create meaningful and repeatable ways for activists to take small action steps and foster long-term relationship development.

“Nobody joins these ‘I bet this potato can get more fans than seal clubbers’ type groups so that they can be involved in the group,” said Lewis. “They join them to make a statement. Facebook Causes is similar. Yes, some non-profits including us are raising real money. But its more about showing the world you believe in something, and showing your support.”

“Don’t focus on asking them to give, focus on asking them to retweet any and everything you tweet, post on their wall, forward e-mails, etc.,” said Morrison. “Focus on that, because that fits in their behavior pattern. Now, every once in a while, you can make a [money] appeal [to] the ones that [send] you a signal that they may be emerging from slacktivism. If you build a relationship with them, they will naturally graduate up the value chain. You can give them a nudge, but trying to force them will make them leave in droves.”

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Local Search Engine Optimization SEO Sacramento

2010-05-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

How Mobile Technology is Affecting Local News Coverage

This series is supported by The Poynter Institute’s Mobile Media blog – your guide to the intersection of mobile and media. Sign up to receive the blog in newsletter format and be entered into a drawing to win an iPad at Poynter.org/ipadgiveaway.

Listen up, journalists — your cellphone is more than just a channel by which to reach sources, your editor and sustenance (you have the local Thai joint on speed dial, don’t front): It’s an essential tool for both local news-gathering and dissemination.

Mashable (Mashable) talked to reporters, publications and experts in the field to get the lowdown on how your cell is affecting local news coverage. We might not be able to get you to change your ring tone — “Poker Face,” really? — but we hope we can change how you’re using your iPhone, Droid, Palm or BlackBerry.

Read on for some actionable ideas for how you can make your mobile more than just another channel by which your mother can nag you about how you should have been a lawyer instead.
An Army of Citizen Journalists

If the recent spat of natural disasters and uprisings have proven anything, it’s that when it comes to local news coverage, audience engagement is truly an asset. Although the advent of the mojo (mobile journalist) is truly upon us — journalists are increasingly using mobile phones to collect video and photos and even to file stories — we also have a veritable army of citizen journalists out there armed with their own increasingly more advanced reporting tools: mobile phones. And, as we have seen, they’re more than eager to help a journo out.

Take, for example, the meteorite that zoomed over the Midwest back in April. Immediately after the event transpired, news stations took to Twitter in an attempt to get TwitPics and footage of the occurrence. Among the most successful was local Wisconsin news outlet, WISCTV_News3, who garnered an ample collection of cellphone pictures and YouTube (YouTube) videos.

According to News Director Colin Benedict, the rapid influx of content was due, in part, to the strong relationship the station already had with its viewers. “We use Twitter and Facebook every single day in our newscast,” he says. “Because when those big events happen, you have to have that relationship built already. We need to be in these spaces because that’s where our viewers are.”

Although the station doesn’t yet have a smartphone app -– it’s working on it –- it does have a distinct advantage when snagging this citizen footage: familiarity.

Parker Polidor — the president of Cell Journalist, a platform that allows folks to easily submit video from cellphones and other devices to local news stations –- would agree. Cell Journalist has 85 clients countrywide, and was instrumental in furnishing user footage during the flooding in Nashville, Tennessee, at the beginning of May.

“On a local TV level, this is where [local media] has a distinct advantage over all other forms of media,” he says. “When they issue the on-air call to action, they get flooded with content –- no pun intended. Over the course of that weekend, we received a little over 40,000 pieces of content submitted here in Nashville and a couple thousand in Memphis.”

By submitting footage like this to local stations, viewers and consumers feel like they’re a part of the story. “Any time a user sees their content on air, that gives them motivation to submit more content,” Polidor says. So, it would behoove the local reporter, station or paper to use social media to connect with these walking camera men and women, who make for excellent sources of information when disaster strikes.
Using Geolocation to Crowdsource

There is a distinct untapped market here when it comes to mobile crowdsourcing: geolocation (i.e. tools like Foursquare (Foursquare), Gowalla (Gowalla), etc). Your first thought here might be: “Why do I care who’s checking in at Chipotle at any given moment?” And we would agree — for the most part. But think about how tools like these could be used creatively. For example, Tracy Swartz, a journalist for Chicago’s RedEye paper, has found a novel use for Foursquare: She’s a transit reporter, so she scours checkins at various subway stations for news about delays, fare jumpers and track conditions.

This is only one way in which a journalist has figured out how to use the location-based tool. Now think how helpful Foursquare could be for a food reviewer (I’ve seen people mention things like vermin in checkins at various restaurants and bars), a crime reporter (I can easily see someone reporting gang activity or shots fired via a Foursquare checkin) or even an entertainment reporter (tons of people usually equates to something cool –- find out which concerts and music venues are racking up the checkins and proceed accordingly).

As more and more people get hip to Foursquare in your community –- 40 million checkins ain’t bad –- we would suggest becoming early adopters. Download this tool and start digging -– at the very least, you’ll score a mayorship and some serious street cred among the tech cool kids.
Putting Mobile First

I have a vivid memory of my grad school dean holding up his cellphone during various assemblies, imploring us to start thinking about how we’re going to get the news on “this,” rather than “this” –- the latter “this” being a newspaper. Back then, my immediate reaction was: “Ha, what? Who wants to read a story on a tiny screen?” Well, two years later, and I’m eating that thought bubble.

Although smartphone use is not as widespread among the majority of average consumers as it is within, say, the tech community — of the top five mobile phone manufacturers, only Motorola and RIM have made significant inroads in the smartphone space in the U.S. –- it is growing. And with more and more handsets and form factors on the market, the mobile space is indeed important when it comes to news dissemination (hell, the iPad sold one million units in the first month — that’s a huge market for mobile offerings right there). Still, at present, the space is a true work in progress.

Reporters and publications have to start thinking of the news in terms of “mobile first” –- i.e. Thinking about how to distribute content via mobile devices first, said Stephen Buttry, director of community engagement for TBD.com (a soon-to-be-launched digital local news operation covering the Washington area for Allbritton Communications).

“News organizations need to move quickly, and looking back on our history with the web, we know their tendency is not to move quickly,” he says. “It was easily 10 years or more into the history of news on the web that we even started hearing ‘web-first.’ … If we don’t make mobile our first priority, we’re going to screw it up like we did with the web.”

Folks like David Beard, editor of The Boston Globe’s Boston.com, have seen firsthand how quickly the news delivery landscape has changed. “When I took this job maybe two years ago, I was mostly the browser guy,” he says. “We had e-mail alerts and text alerts and not much more. Now we’re on five or six different platforms.”

Currently, Boston.com has two iPhone apps — a news app and a photo blog app called The Big Picture — and Beard says they’re doing fairly well. “We’re up triple the mobile pageviews this year from last year at this time,” he explains. Boston.com is also currently working on an iPad app.

Still, the local website, like myriad other sites, has a lot of obstacles to overcome when it comes to making inroads in the mobile space: deciding whether or not to adapt to more than one platform (Android (Android), Palm, etc), as well as weathering the battle between Adobe and Apple.

(It would be an entire other feature at this juncture to get into the whole Flash vs. HTML debate, but suffice it to say that many publications are trying to figure out the best way to get video on mobile handsets. According to Jeff Whatcott, SVP of marketing at popular video platform Brightcove, “When the iPad came out… we actually had so many requests coming in from so many customers that we decided it would be most efficient to just book a hotel room in New York, and we did the same thing in London, to get all of our customers together. That was something we haven’t seen before.”)

Still, folks like Buttry are not impressed with most local news apps –- which aren’t really that different from their mobile sites (which are essentially the website shrunk down to fit a smaller screen). Yet he sees any local news site with an app as moving in the right direction. “I’m glad that they’re getting their feet wet,” he says. “Because those are skills and experiences they need to develop. And if the first one is pretty lame, that’s OK –- don’t stop there. Because the first news story you wrote was pretty lame.”
Taking Advantage of Location-Aware Abilities

Again, however, having an app is only the beginning of the story. What we have not yet fully realized is the location-aware nature of the mobile phone and how vital that is when it comes to delivering local news.

According to Amy L. Webb, CEO and principal of Webbmedia Group, LLC, “If you encode your content correctly –- to really be able to deliver people real-time news that’s about where they are at that moment — that’s hyperlocal news that makes sense. The problem is that most news organizations aren’t thinking that way. They’re still thinking in terms of zip codes.” What she means is that we have the ability to tie news to exact street corners, and we should be taking advantage of that.

Recently, we’ve seen several brands and publications making partnerships with Foursquare in an attempt to make ample use of geo-location. The Wall Street Journal is probably the most notable example of late. Basically, the paper’s partnership with the location-based service allows readers to collect badges for checking in at various New York locations, but –- more interestingly –- it also seeks to integrate news consumption into the game.

For example, the publication has added tips to places like Yankee Stadium that include facts about the location as well as links to stories. In fact, just the other week, The Wall Street Journal broke the news about a suspicious package found in Times Square via a Foursquare tip. Essentially, the publication is bringing us the news in a whole new way –- instead of reading stories for pleasure or leisure (via the printed page) or searching for information (via the web), The WSJ is making news dissemination about discovery.

Of course, it may be prudent at this point to recall that Foursquare only has around one million members, so it’s probably not the best way to reach your entire audience at present, but it’s this kind of innovation that people like Webb hope to see more publications experimenting with.

The same goes for aggregators on mobile platforms, which seek to bring a location-specific array of news to consumers. EveryBlock –- which is basically the granddaddy of location-based news aggregators –- has matured and developed over the years, adding a location-aware iPhone app that delivers a selection of local news to your handset. Newer services, like Fwix –- whose iPad app has been a huge success –- are seeking to do the same thing.

These services seek to provide users with the most information — from the most sources — about a given location. “Local news has to come from a ton of different sources,” says Fwix founder Darian Shirazi. “It just can’t come from one source anymore. We’ve been a central location to collect all that news together.” EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty would agree, “The more location-specific news there is, the better position we’re in, because we aggregate all that,” he says. “We love the fact that Twitter has launched geo-coding Tweets, because, in theory, it means there’s more geo-coded news out there.”

Still, the question, again, becomes: Will the average person use such a service? Webb doesn’t think so. “I think that people want local content for sure –- we know that they do,” she says. “The problem is that they want it in a way that makes sense to them. You can aggregate all you want, but at the end of the day, people want accessible, critical, niche local content that makes sense to them that’s relevant that depends on where they are.”
What All This Means for You, The Journalist

The fact of the matter is: Mobile technology is moving at a breakneck speed. Handsets that are hot at one moment may be completely incompatible with all the newest software a couple of months down the road. So the takeaway here is that you have to be aware of the changing landscape and adjust accordingly, but you don’t have to be a tech fiend.

When it comes to innovations and services like geo-location and the iPad and various and sundry apps, make sure that they are on your radar. Use the ones that suit your needs and at least test out the others. Casting an eye to the horizon –- while also keeping your feet square on terra firma –- is essential to staying relevant in the local news game.

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Social Media Parenting Sacramento

2010-05-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Social Media Parenting: Raising the Digital Generation

Kids with Laptops ImageWho are your kids friending on Facebook? What are they really texting to their classmates? How much online time is too much?

Too often, parents who are misinformed about the social web (willfully or otherwise) will shut their kids out of it completely, only to find they are logging in anyway. If you’re not taking an active role in your child’s online life, you may be missing important opportunities to ensure they are on the path toward “digital citizenship,” and protected from inappropriate content and people.

To help shrink the tech-culture divide between parents and their kids, we sought advice from the experts, who draw not only from their own research, but their family experiences as well. Keep reading for some valuable wisdom on raising the first fully digital generation.
Take an Active Role, and Do Your Homework

Girl Facebook Image

For kids, social media can no longer be dismissed as a time-waster or distraction. The networks your kids use to rate their friends and comment on photos will eventually become their core business tools and career prerequisites. Those who don’t learn to use them responsibly will face a severe disadvantage.

So how do you grant kids the freedom to explore while still keeping an eye on their safety? Start by educating yourself.

“Parents can’t just decide to keep their kids at a distance from all of this. There’s no way to opt out,” said Melissa Rayworth, a freelance writer who tackles parenting and digital issues for the Associated Press, Babble.com and other media outlets. “Parents need to learn about the sites and devices their kids want to use, and then set strong boundaries. If you don’t know what something is or what it’s about, dive in and start using it.”

“If [parents] engage and have their own experiences on Facebook (Facebook), LinkedIn (LinkedIn), [etc.], they will better understand the attraction, the possibilities, and the issues that their teenagers face,” said Sue Blaney, author, speaker, and teen parenting blogger at PleaseStopTheRollercoaster.com.

One important step, especially when it comes to younger children, is to set up their social media accounts with them.

“Parents should guide their teens through the privacy settings on Facebook and all other social networks on which they participate,” said Blaney. “Make no assumptions here. Instead, invest the time so you can make informed and considered choices about privacy.”

Being a part of the sign-up process from day one will establish you as the gatekeeper of social media, and not a barrier for your kids to inevitably circumvent. You can become part of their online life while learning the ropes yourself.

“Have your teenager show you around the web. Be a ‘curious tourist’ in your teen’s digital world,” Blaney continued. “Ask your son to show you his favorite games, or ask your daughter to share her favorite sites, videos or activities. This can be a pleasant way to engage with your teenager and to learn from her.”
Safety and Privacy

Safety and privacy are probably the two biggest concerns of parents when it comes to social media. While there are some software and profile setting solutions, your greatest asset here is likely education.

“[Kids] need to understand the differences between private sites and those that are completely open to the public and leave them vulnerable,” said Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, who authors the Momania parenting blog for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And if they can’t tell the difference, then they need to be taught to stay off of questionable services.”

Because social media has become such an integral part of our daily lives, the time has come to merge “online” and “real-world” pursuits of common sense into one educational package for kids.

“We need to teach them as they grow up that ’stranger danger’ exists in the virtual world, as well as the real one — whether it’s the weirdo in our local park or a weirdo following you on Foursquare (Foursquare),” said Giarrusso. “We also need to constantly be hitting home, ‘think before you act online.’ The repercussions can stay with you and be devastating.”

Kids may not always be up for a boring web safety lecture from mom and dad, but there are some more “edutaining” resources out there, like this PSA clip from the popular Disney Channel cartoon Phineas and Ferb. One overarching tenet kids should take away here is, if you wouldn’t do it in real life, don’t do it online.

Fortunately for parents of younger children, many of the brands that seek to engage them online, do so via kid-only games and networks that are a far cry from the content free-for-alls that abound on sites like Twitter (Twitter). Rather, these networks have built-in safeguards that will put most parents at ease. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should set kids adrift and walk away from the screen.

“Many social media sites for young kids only let them post pre-approved phrases, so they can’t divulge personal info, and no one posing as a kid can say anything inappropriate,” said Rayworth. “But at some sites you need to turn those controls on, so definitely explore any site your child wants to use.”

When Giarrusso discovered her five-year-old son had signed up for the Cartoon Network’s online multiplayer game FusionFall, she not only sat down with him to explore the site, but reached out to the game’s administrators to get the scoop on the safety features. She turned her conversation with the game’s executive producer into a blog post so other parents could benefit from her investigation.

While most parents won’t need to go quite so in-depth, making contact with a real person at the other end of a kids-only social network is never a bad idea.

Rayworth also notes that online safety concerns don’t stop at inappropriate content or strangers. There’s also the potential for invasive marketing.

“So many kids’ products now have a social networking component to their site. A few months back my son went to the Hot Wheels site and he had the option of spending time on the site logging which cars he has, and talking to other kids about them,” she explained. “Things like this are potentially a lot of fun, but you have to keep in mind that your child is being advertised at the whole time … I think it’s really vital to limit that.”

Teens can face a whole new set of safety and privacy challenges on the larger networks, most of which are open to everyone, and are far more public.

“In terms of safety for older kids, every expert I’ve spoken with says, ‘don’t let them have a computer in their room,’” Rayworth noted. “Keeping it in a common space gives you more access to what they’re doing, and a clearer idea how much time they’re spending online. Kids may also make better decisions if they know mom and dad are nearby and can see the screen.

“The complicated thing is figuring out how far you want to go in the name of safety,” Rayworth added. “Some parents aren’t comfortable reading their teenager’s texts or accessing their Facebook messages. Others think it’s important. One option with Facebook is telling your kids that they must friend you … but agreeing that you won’t be posting on their wall or commenting on their posts. Agree to just stay in the background.”
The Fine Line Between Participating and Spying

While it’s important to take an active role in your child’s online life, there are personal boundaries that should be respected and adjusted based on the child’s age, maturity, and earned trust. While public posts on a social network may be fair game, things like e-mail messages and passwords could be considered an important threshold of maturity.

“Parents have a right to have their kids’ passwords, particularly younger teens,” said Blaney. “When teens get into the upper levels of high school, different rules may make sense for teens who prove themselves to be trustworthy.”

Remember, social networks are just that — social. They tend to be an extension of what kids do and say in their “physical” social circles — much of which is not intended for parental consumption.

“During the teen years, they often experiment with various personas. Am I like Britney? Am I like my older cousin Jamie? A teen may change her look, her friends, [and] her activities during this natural and important exploration process,” said Blaney. “It makes sense that some of this experimentation will take place over and through the communication channels that they utilize, including texting and social networks.”

If you’re intruding on your teen’s personal online space, she’s likely to take it underground. Remember, she’ll always be one step ahead of you technologically, so it’s unlikely you’ll win that race. If you’re willing to give up having passwords, you should trust that simply being a part of her online community (from day one, if possible) will be enough to ensure good behavior.

“Be a presence on your teen’s online profile, but in the background,” said Blaney. “Some parents like to post on their kids’ Facebook pages, but that isn’t necessary to do an effective job of monitoring (and may be a real turn-off to your teenager). Often, just letting your teen know that you look regularly is enough.”
Setting Limits Without Being a Luddite

Teen Texting

As with any digital pastime, too much social media use can become a distraction, especially for kids. Yet locking them out of the social web (either partially or entirely) would be doing them an educational and cultural disservice. The key is to find balance.

“It’s stunning how many hours per day kids spend with some kind of screen,” said Rayworth. “I think if most families step back and really do the math, they’ll find a lot of consumption even among little kids. One option is requiring that for every hour your kid spends online … they then spend an hour doing non-screen things and hanging out with live people in person. That can be eye-opening.”

“Technology is changing the landscape, the demands, and the context for [children’s] educational experiences,” said Blaney. “Again, without a real understanding and appreciation for how technology is being used and the fundamental impact that it has on their child’s future, parents run the risk of being a hindrance in their teen’s education.”

Be fair but firm, and have a good understanding of the technologies to know when it’s becoming too much.
Good Parenting? There’s No App for That

When we originally set out to explore the issues surrounding kids and social media safety, we were in search of software or network settings that could automatically filter inappropriate content. What we quickly learned from these interviews was that the challenges for parents are far more nuanced, and solving them takes work.

“Much like driving a car or going off to college, parents have to hope that they have instilled good values and have taught their kids enough to handle situations they will encounter on social media,” said Giarrusso.

There will always be a technology and culture divide between parents and children. But with a little extra effort, perhaps it doesn’t always have to be so big.

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Google AdWords Sacramento

2010-05-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

HOW TO: Land Your Dream Job Using Google AdWords

By now, landing a job via social media is nothing new; we’ve perused the how-to guides and heard dozens of great success stories. There are, however, still plenty of creative opportunities for securing a job with a bit of clever online marketing.

Meet Alec Brownstein, senior copywriter at creative advertising shop Young & Rubicam (Y&R) New York. Last summer, Alec was just another tired, 28-year-old copywriter at a large international ad agency who wanted nothing more than to work at “a really creative shop for really creative [creative directors].”

While Googling his favorite creative directors last summer, Brownstein noticed that there were no sponsored links attached to their names. Since Brownstein Googles himself “embarassingly frequently,” he assumed that the creative directors did so as well, and thus he decided to purchase their names on Google AdWords.

“Everybody Googles themselves,” Brownstein explained. “Even if they don’t admit it. I wanted to invade that secret, egotistical moment when [the creative directors I admired] were most vulnerable.”

Since Brownstein was the only person bidding on the names of the five creative directors he most admired, he was able to get the top search spots for a mere 15 cents per click. Whenever someone ran a search for one of the creative directors’ names, the following message appeared at the top of the page: “Hey, [creative director's name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too” with a link to Brownstein’s website, alecbrownstein.com.

Over the next couple of months, Brownstein received calls from all but one of the creative directors whose names he had purchased. And finally, at the end of the year, he received a job offer from two: Scott Virtrone and Ian Reichenthal of Y&R New York.

The whole campaign cost him $6.

But the rewards for Brownstein’s creativity haven’t ended there. He has also received awards in the self-promotion category at two major advertising awards shows, The One Show and The Clios.

We asked Brownstein if he has any advice for others trying to land their dream jobs via Internet (Internet) marketing. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there in an interesting way,” he said. “The people who you want to work for can’t hire you any less than they already are. So shoot for the moon.”

We couldn’t agree more with his advice. What do you think of Brownstein’s story? Have you or anyone you know used online marketing to land yourself a job?

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VSEO Sacramento

2010-05-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

One of the most hotly contested battles in the Flash-versus-HTML5, Apple-versus-Adobe, out-and-out war has been staged around the issue of online video. Flash content — including videos — can’t and won’t be displayed on devices such as iPhones and iPads. Even web experts who don’t particularly care about Apple devices are keen on HTML5 as a more “open” standard than Flash for online content.

A new study from MeFeedia, an independent video website, indexed content from around 30,000 providers, including Hulu (Hulu), Vimeo (Vimeo), DailyMotion and YouTube (YouTube). What MeFeedia found is that currently, just 26% of all online video supports HTML5. While certain online-only outlets seem to be handling HTML5 formats very well, news and network TV are lagging in their support of HTML5.

This 26% figure seems appallingly low, but there are a couple of bright spots.

The study found most sites that support HTML5 can detect iPad users and will switch to an HTML5-compatible format. But only YouTube switches content to HTML5-friendly formats when that content is embedded on other sites, as well.

And the furious (and, to some, infuriating) Adobe/Apple debate over web standards may have fueled the fire that allowed HTML5-supported video formats to reach even 26%. As late as January 2010, only 10% of online video could be played on iPhones or other non-Flash-supporting devices.

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Google Social Media Sacramento

2010-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Is Google Discriminating Against “Cougars?”

A website called CougarLife, a dating network targeted toward “women in their prime,” has called Google out for sexism because the search engine has classified CougarLife ads as not safe for families. But CougarLife’s CEO says Google doesn’t make the same distinction for “sugar daddy”-type dating sites, whose ads can be seen by anyone.

A Google (Google) rep told the National Post today that the classification of CougarLife ads as for-adults-only was “not just about the ad, it’s about the ad and the landing page of the site[...] Anything that’s considered non-family safe will not run on the Google content network at this point.”

But defining “family-safe” is a confusing exercise in community standards, it seems.
The CougarLife Angle

CougarLife’s landing page states, “Cougars are classy, confident women that already possess many of the finer things in life — but now want the young, hot guy to go with it.” The copy and the images that go along with it are fairly innocuous:

Even a CougarLife YouTube ad, which touts the attractiveness of a late-30s/early-40s woman to a group of construction workers, comes off as cute rather than trashy:

The Sugar Daddy Angle

On the other hand, SeekingArrangement is considered family-safe by Google but is totally sleazy by other standards. Copy on its landing page reads, “Sugar Babes are college students, aspiring actresses or someone just starting out. You seek a generous benefactor to pamper, mentor and take care of you — perhaps to help you financially?”

The site goes on to describe a mutually beneficial relationship as “a relationship between an older and wealthy individual who gives a young person expensive gifts or financial assistance in return for friendship or intimacy.” Inviting young people to walk the fine and blurry line between sex-related leeching and bald prostitution is safe for families?

And since “family” is a euphemism for “children,” let’s make the distinction even clearer: Would you rather have your kids know that mature ladies can be desirable to cute young guys, or that college girls can get their bills paid by having sexual relationships with older men? One message seems fairly sex-positive, and the other just creepy.
A Culture of Stigma

When it comes to online dating, statistics show that women over a certain age typically have a more difficult time than their younger counterparts. Yet men in the same age range don’t suffer nearly as much when it comes to getting attention from potential partners. This latest revelation — that someone at Google considers something about CougarLife inappropriate — might have less to do with childproofing online ads and more to do with the larger cultural bias against mature women dating younger men.

Have a look at CougarLife, and let us know if you see anything there that you personally would consider unsafe for families — especially when comparing the site to dating networks of the “sugar daddy” variety.

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Google Gives Away Google Voice Invites to College Students

2010-05-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

Students, you can now move to the head of the Google Voice class. Google’s celebrating the end of the school year with priority Google Voice invites for students.

Now anyone with a .edu e-mail address can enter it into the Google Voice for Students page and get an invite within 24 hours.

Google explained, “We’ve heard college students in particular really appreciate getting their voicemail sent to their e-mail, sending free text messages and reading voicemail transcriptions rather than listening to messages (especially handy while in class).”

This blanket invitation to the collegiate crowd seems like a way of appealing to a younger generation of mobile phone owners. Our guess is that Google hopes to convert these students into Android owners. With Android already making big gains in market share, this offer could help the company tap into the all-important youth demographic even more. Smart move, Google.

Facebook Social Media Optimization Sacramento

2010-05-14T11:28:00.001-07:00

Four New York University students have a vision to build Diaspora, “an open source personal web service that will put individuals in control of their data,” or essentially the anti-Facebook.

They started with just a dream and a prayer — that prayer was to raise $10,000 by June 1 so that they could spend the summer making their vision a reality. They reached that goal in just 12 days.

Now, still more than two weeks away from their deadline, the team of programmers has already broke $100,000, collected via the fundraising platform Kickstarter.

Team Diaspora — college kids Daniel Grippi, Maxwell Salzberg, Ilya Zhitomirskiy and Raphael Sofaer — believe that sharing information online and maintaining one’s privacy should not have to be mutually exclusive. What they set out to build is a network that allows everyone to install their own “seed” — i.e. a personal web server with a user’s photos, videos and everything else — within the larger network. That seed would be fully owned and controlled by the user, so the user could share anything and still maintain ownership over it.

What it looks like remains to be seen, but this answer to current Facebook (Facebook) culture has a hit nerve with the more than 2,300 individuals who have agreed to back the company with as little as five bucks.

Now that the guys have reached their goal, we expect them to fulfill their promise and forgo all fun this summer to build their pet project. In a few months time we should see what $100,000 and a powerful vision can produce.

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Facebook Social Media Optimization Sacramento

2010-03-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

AT&T: Buzz the "Best Way" to Get Your Business in Front of Facebook Users

Google Buzz has captured a lot of the buzz around services with "Buzz" in the title (of which there are a few), but before Google Buzz was even announced, AT&T Interactive had already launched a beta version of its latest take on local business search at Buzz.com. Buzz.com has only been available on an invitation basis so far, and will remain that way until some bugs are ironed out, but you may find AT&T's Buzz becoming a bigger part of your life than Google's simply, because it will be coming at you from your Facebook friends.

We spent close to an hour talking to AT&T about the product, checking out a demo of the service, and getting a feel for just what AT&T plans to do with Buzz.com. Right off the bat, Charlie Hornberger, director of product development told WebProNews it's not as much about getting in front of people on Buzz.com, but getting in front of them on Facebook. That's just for now anyway, it's already integrated with Facebook, and Twitter is next on the list, he says. Then they'll figure out what other networks to integrate, whether that be Gmail contacts, instant messenger lists, or anything else.

Buzz.com is focused on only positive reactions to businesses. Users can "favorite" businesses and recommend them to their friends. So as far as reputation management goes, there shouldn't be too many issues here from the standpoint of monitoring negative commentary. Although if your competitors are getting a lot of "buzz" and you're not, that may be worth looking into.
AT&T's Buzz.com - how it works

Hornberger doesn't appear too worried about any branding issues around the name Buzz. Jokingly, he said it seems like "if you don't have Buzz then you have a problem." The very nature of Buzz.com shouldn't make it much of an issue anyway, because it's essentially coming at you right in your Facebook news feed. You don't necessarily have to go to Buzz.com to feel its presence, although he views having buzz.com as a URL as a "great asset," because it "makes sense for this product."

Before you get all riled up with visions of Farmville-style Facebook updates, relax, because Buzz's Facebook integration is set up to prevent feed-spamming. If a user shares a lot of businesses at a time, it will consolidate these into a single update on Facebook. Some Facebook users may still wish not to see such things, but they can adjust their settings in Facebook the same as with anything else. Frankly, this is adding more value to the user than learning about friends' pseudo-farming practices, because if a friend recommends a dentist, for example, that might be useful to you at some point.

Businesses will want to make sure they're listed in Buzz.com, because not only will they be listed in Buzz.com, they'll be listed right in Facebook users' news feeds anytime a Buzz.com user "favorites" their business, and shares that with their friends. Hornberger calls it a way to get on Facebook "in the best possible way."

Currently there is not a place on Buzz.com that businesses can go and get listed, but he says there will be soon. However, listings come from the same database that powers AT&T's YellowPages.com. I'd advise making sure you have a listing there, complete with a link to your site. They are looking at other potential ways to expand listings as well, including potentially, a way for users to submit things besides businesses (like a public tennis court for example).

They will have a mobile web app available in a couple weeks for Buzz.com. Hornberger says they haven't started on one for the App Store, but even if they do, it will be more for visibility purposes, and the web app will likely provide the better user experience (no mention of an Android app).

For now, you can use Buzz.com if you get an invite. Everyone that gets an invite can send out more invitations. There is a chance you are already seeing people post Buzz.com activity to Facebook. Until the kinks are worked out, it will continue to be on an invitation-only basis, but that will likely change in the not-too-distant future.

Buzz.com could play a significant role in the local search space as it grows, and is probably not something businesses want to ignore. On a side note, Buzz.com utilizes AT&T's existing partnership with Microsoft by providing Bing Maps imagery, so this could be considered another factor in Bing usage.

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