Facebook Tops Google

Facebook has topped Google.com in traffic for the first time in Internet history, with Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking creation spending nearly all of 2010 as the most visited website in the United States.

Facebook edged out Google with 8.9 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010 (second-place Google had 7.3 percent), according to Experian Hitwise, an Internet measuring service.

Google dominated the top spot as the most visited site in America during 2009 and 2008. MySpace was the No.1 visited site in 2007; it’s now No.7.

From the big picture, 68 percent of Canadians use the Web. This is believed to be the highest penetration in the world, according to comScore, an Internet measurement company tracking global access.

France and Great Britain have equal ranking of 62 percent, followed by Germany, 60 percent, and the United States, 59 percent. About 17 million Canadians, or 53 percent of the population, have Facebook accounts.

We, at WMB, believe the stats are telling because they show millions of consumers have access to social networks and potentially just about any business with an interactive Web presence.

Web comments people make about products, services, and companies is input from consumers, who have direct exposure or experience, or know someone who has it.

Facebook and Twitter see the highest adoption rate in social media and marketing, while customer reviews rank No.1 for boosting sales and customer engagement, according to recent research by internetnews.com.

Taking things a step further is a report, “Communability and Social Media Study,” done by e-commerce consulting firm, the e-tailing group, and online customer review firm, PowerReviews.

The report findings come at a time when recession-strapped companies are turning to social media marketing as a more affordable way to promote products and services.

The trend coincides with the uptick in the community base of social networking sites. Facebook just passed the 300 million user mark and provides a vast traffic volume for retailer branding efforts.

But Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only social media used by marketers. The other top brands include Twitter Publishing, with 65 percent saying they currently use it; customer reviews and blogs, both used by 55 percent; and virtual videos by 50 percent.

WMB agrees with Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, who says:

“All merchants must test and understand how to effectively deploy it (community and social media) for their brands to retain customers, encourage sales, and avoid abandonment to competitors who’ve better embraced its marketing potential.”

What’s The Future?

Increasing sales is the ultimate goal for adopting social media marketing, but Freedman’s study found three concerns by retailers.

First, brands want to put their own spin on their products and services, and mitigate “brand degradation” from consumers already using sites such as Facebook.

Second, retailers want to be seen as up-to-date in their online presence, not out of touch.

Third, study participants fear their customers will leave e-commerce sites for others that are more socially engaging. It’s akin to hanging out with the most upbeat and “cool” site.

The e-commerce study found Facebook is considered by merchants to be the “single most effective tactic in mobilizing brand advocates and influencers to spread the word about products/services.”

Still, customer reviews are at the top by a wide margin, with 78 percent of those polled listing that information as the No. 1 social media tool for generating sales, and 61 percent listing it as No.1 in driving customer engagement.

The bottom line: Social networking isn’t just about online talk. It’s about marketing – yourself, your company and your products.

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author. Please share this post!

Let’s Go To The Source

Where do you get your news information … from family, friends, coworkers, newspapers, radio, TV or the Internet? Does it matter? The source really counts and, increasingly, it’s not newspapers.

The number of Americans who say newspapers are an important source of information continues to decline, according to a survey by the The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

Some 56 percent of Internet users surveyed agreed with the statement that newspapers were an important or very important source of information, while 68 percent said television was, and 78 percent said the Internet was, according to Mathew Ingram, blogging for gigaom.com.

The findings are part of the Annenberg School’s ongoing Digital Future Project, which has been surveying Americans on their views and behavior related to the Internet for 10 years.

Interestingly, the Annenberg survey also found a growing number of online users do not believe information they find electronically is reliable. A majority of users said less than half of the information they get from the Internet is reliable.

Americans increasingly see the Internet as an important source of information, despite the fact they view much of that information as unreliable, according to Ingram.


Depending on how you feel about Internet users in general, it’s either an example of contradictory behavior, or a sign of healthy skepticism about online media, Ingram writes.

The survey’s findings are perplexing because a large amount of Internet news content can be traced to an original source which, typically, is a newspaper. Still, it’s like the old chicken-or-egg saying – which came first?

Often news breaks online before it appears in print and the electronic version, because of print deadlines, remains fresher with frequent updates. It's now versus yesterday.

One of the things newspaper editors and reporters always pride themselves on is serving as a reliable and credible source of vital information for the public interest in a highly competitive marketplace. This blog’s co-author knows this from 30 years in newspaper newsrooms.

Sometimes it’s sensational news, like corruption at City Hall; sometimes, it’s merely about the fact property taxes are rising yet again. But the news, in dead tree format, is usually about things that matter to you, from the immigration battle in Arizona to parking meter charges in your downtown.

Regardless of whether you agree with a newspaper’s editorial policy, you can be certain any paper worth reading always goes the distance to separate itself from the competition by pursuing stories that really matter to readers. It’s the primary mission.

A secondary mission, especially for most community papers, is to serve as “the paper of record” in documenting key events (fires, accidents, elections) and individuals (profiles, obits, achievements) for historical purposes.

With growing online access to newspaper archives, this witness-to-history service becomes even more important. If it appeared first in newsprint after 1990, chances are it was archived electronically by the paper.

It’s not that newspapers are no longer relevant, but they are stuck in a 20th-century delivery format – print on paper. With rapid advances in technology, especially electronic devices such as the iPad, a faster and more portable format is in high demand by our hurry-up society.

Importance and credibility work in tandem in delivering information, regardless of the format. One only needs to look at the high traffic generated by the websites belonging to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to understand the relationship.

Part of the reason viewers flock to NYT and WSJ online is directly connected to the print papers’ branded reputation (political views aside) for being the Source of reliable information. That belief follows to a lesser extent as you move from big-city metros to small-town community papers.

Brick-and-mortar operations for print still play a role in our fast-paced world as the foundation for what we see online. WMB and other blogs rely on information from websites whose quality can vary greatly, depending on the source. Attribution plays a big role at WMB; we make liberal use of links.

JohnDoe.com is not going to carry the same weight as cnn.com, nor is a content mill piece by a “citizen journalist” versus a story written by a Times staffer. Information gathering still requires a consumer-beware attitude, which probably explains some of contradictory findings in the Annenberg survey.

While there are infinitely more choices today for information junkies than before the Internet and cable TV, the fact is we all place value on the source of what we hear and see.

Maybe Brian Williams' take on unemployment figures means more to you than Wolf Blitzer's version of that story? Did they do some direct reporting, or did their researchers do the grunt work? Did they offer attribution for the information? The source always matters.

If newspaper owners and executives are smart street-wise folks, they will find ways to brand their print and online operations as compatible and profitable sources that target key sectors of public interest.

You can’t put the information genie back into the bottle in the Internet Age, but you can make it do your bidding with quality material pushed via varied formats that reach consumers where they live.

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.

Managing Your Personal Brand

Personal branding was fairly simple before the Web became part of our everyday existence.

You developed a solid resume and work portfolio, networked through social events and marketed yourself or business through traditional methods, word of mouth and newspaper ads, for example.

Today, it only takes a few keystrokes for someone to check out you and your business in deciding whether to pursue a business arrangement. What they find in those first few minutes of a Google search could be flattering or disheartening, and the impact could have long-term consequences.

There are some free and easy steps you can take to keep tabs on your Web image.

I recommend using the Online Identity Calculator to measure your personal brand online. In my case, it shows previous job titles, online profiles and some posts involving genealogy, one of my hobbies.

The volume, quantity and quality of the Google hits provide a snapshot of you and your business and, obviously, shows the level of your online presence. If you've done a good job of managing your personal brand, through social networking for example, it should be reflected in such a user search.

Generally speaking, three pages or more of hits means you have a presence on the Web.

As for the quality, I offer this: Whatever you do should be treated as though your family and friends will read it -- and potential customers and clients.

Everything should be kept as professional as possible. Save the really personal stuff for your private e-mails and carefully monitor your privacy settings at profile and social networking sites.

Another useful way to track you and your business in the virtual world is by setting up Google Alerts that allow you to monitor by e-mail whenever your name or business is searched via Google.

Sometimes there are "false hits" if common or similar names are involved but, for the most part, this is a worthwhile customized tool. It just requires a few minutes to set up, change or delete.

As for me, I practice what I preach in this blog and at writenowworks.com.