5 For Friday – Links, Stories, & Posts for your Weekend

August 3rd, 2012 by Search Influence Alumni

 

Welcome to the Twitter Olympics – CNN

In case you live under a rock, the Olympics are going on, and the whole world is closely watching as the best of the best compete. Leave it to the internet to bring both humor and serious discussion to the event via Twitter. There was some mud-slinging, as to be expected, but when a Greek athlete was suspended from the games for racial comments via her Twitter account, it makes it clear that Twitter etiquette is becoming just as important as real life.

The 10 Keys to Optimizing Facebook Engagement – Social Media Today

So you spend all this time queuing up posts for your business Facebook page, only to have them sit there like a stone with no comments. You feel so unloved! But how can you optimize your Facebook posts to actually encourage more engagement? There are some great tips here to help you get savvy about how to get your clients talking.

Helping or Hurting – The Debate Over Google+ Local – Search Engine Land

I admit I personally haven’t given much thought to Google+ these last few months. After an exciting launch, it seemed to kind of fall under the radar, and everyone defaulted back to their old Facebook habit. In the background, however, Google+ kept working to offer more to its users, especially businesses. Over at Search Engine Land, the debate goes on as to whether or not Google+ Local is a good or a bad thing. SEOs love it, while consumers aren’t so sure they jive with what’s going on. What do you think?
Facebook Working on Better Search, But Won’t Rival Google – Search Engine Watch

Proper in-site search functionality means the difference between how many users will stick around and how many will bounce in frustration. Google’s pretty good when it comes to giving us what we want in searches, but it’s no surprise that the social behemoth Facebook wants to take a cue from them and make their internal search more efficient. They are currently searching for help to flesh out search, so who knows what’s coming down the road. Maybe tracking down people to add to your network will become easier than ever.

Goodbye, Hotmail; Hello, Outlook – Mashable

It’s hard for me to imagine using a client other than GMail, but apparently, some people still do (like my mom). Hotmail has needed an overhaul for a long time, so it’s good news to see that it’s finally happened, and it even has a new name. Now called Outlook, it has lots of cool social integration stuff built in. It’s probably going to scare my mom, but these changes will surely be handy if you want to use the platform for business.