When you have a question about something, who do you generally go to for answers? Your peers. That is why Facebook is now beta testing Facebook Questions, an application that lets you ask the community of 500 million users a question about anything that’s on your mind. Although it’s still in testing and remains to be seen how many users will actually adopt it, it’s safe to say that the application has the potential to surpass Yahoo Answers with ease simply because of the large network of active users.
Using Facebook Questions is pretty easy to do. You can either ask a question to the full Faceboook community by clicking the “Ask a Question” button at the top of your homepage, or you can ask friends questions on their wall similar to how you’d post a comment on their wall. To enhance your question, you can add photos or polls. Although any Facebook user could easily figure out how to use the application, one thing to keep in mind while using the Questions application is that anything you ask is public and visible to anyone logged in to Facebook. For now, your questions and answers are not visible to search engines, but that could change once it’s out of the testing phase.
One feature of Facebook Questions is the ability to target the people that would best answer your question. You can tag questions for a specific category and your question will be shown to people who have expressed an interest in that category. For instance, if I wanted to find out which cars have the best gas mileage, I’d tag the question with the topic “cars.” People who expressed in their Facebook profile that cars are one of their interests would be shown the question.
Another feature of Facebook Questions is the ability to follow certain themes that interest you. If I decide that I’m not completely satisfied with the answers I received from my question about cars or I simply want more information, I can browse questions related to cars. If I find a question I’d like to continue to get more information about, I can click a “follow” button to make sure I’m sent a notification each time someone posts an answer.
With this new application, Facebook is harnessing its power as the leader in social media. When Facebook Questions is rolled out to the full community it’ll be interesting to see the adoption rate and how it compares to other question and answer sites.
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Facebook, the social media powerhouse that boasts more than 500 million members and occupies more than 700 billion minutes of their time per month, is not really all that in touch with its users.
In fact, in the 2010 American Consumer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report, which is produced in partnership with ForeSee Reults, Facebook scored in the bottom five percent of all private sector companies tracked by ACSI. They only managed to score 64 out of 100 possible points which gives them a depressingly lower satisfaction rate than the IRS’s e-filing service.
Facebook’s ACSI rating was more in line with cable companies and airlines who consistently have awful consumer satisfaction rankings. Not exactly what you’d expect from one of the most popular websites in the country, is it?
This was the first time ACSI measured consumer satisfaction with social media sites, and while they also looked at YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia, only MySpace scored lower than Facebook (with a 63) and Wikipedia trumped it with a satisfaction score of 77.
This surprising data begs the question of why users are so unsatisfied with this social media superpower. According to Foresee Results president and CEO Larry Freed, it may be users’ privacy concerns and their frustration with interface changes, commercialization and advertising that causes them to give such a negative review.
No matter what the cause, this study should certainly turn some heads at Facebook headquarters. An unsatisfied user base – especially one of gigantic proportions – does not bode well for future business.
*Image provided by daveynin on Flickr
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »A recent front-page article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Monday June 21, 2010) touted the power and reach of Internet video for non-profit organizations as these agencies struggle to stay afloat in troubled financial waters. With dwindling donations in tough economic times and volunteerism down, agencies are discovering that videos for their websites and distribution across the Internet are an excellent resource – capable of providing compelling examples of WHY a non-profit needs volunteers or donations and WHAT that volunteerism or financial contribution can do for the agency and its target audience.
We couldn’t agree more. Web videos – capable of providing facility and program tours, interviews with participants and staff, and solid video footage that leaves little to the imagination of viewers as to the efficacy and needs of non-profits, are powerful and convincing marketing and fund-raising tools that educate and inform, inspire and motivate viewing audiences. Allow Fathom SEO to show your firm how to leverage Internet video marketing in order to get the membership and donations you need to make a difference in the world. Call us today at the number at the bottom of the page, or examine our website for more information & details on our Instant Replay video program.
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A lot of us like to do it. We do it in our cars. We do it in bars. We do it on the couch, and we even do it at work. What is “it?” Well, “it” refers to using social media sites.
Many of us have been bitten by the social media bug. We tweet and retweet, like and unlike, dig, post and share around the clock. Social media sites allow us to stay in touch with family and friends. They also allow us to make new connections with people around the corner, or around the globe.
So are social media sites taking over the Web?
A recent article by social media strategy consultant Amy Porterfield entitled, “22% of Online Time Spent With Social Media”, points out that “in the last year, the number of social media users has continued to climb at record speed and the audience demographics have widened.”* Porterfield came to this conclusion based off of a recent Nielson study about Internet and social media usage. The study showed that just in the month of May, Internet users spent an average of 6 hours, 13 minutes on social networking sites. The average time last year was just 3 hours, 31 minutes.
The study also found that:
- 75% of all active U.S. Internet households visited a social networking site in May 2010. A month earlier, the global number was 74%.
- 22% of the time spent online is attributed to social networking sites.
- 20% of U.S. adults online publish or own a blog.
- 55% have at least one or more social networking profiles
These numbers help prove that social media sites shouldn’t be taken for granted. If you’ve been ignoring these sites, Fathom SEO can help your company utilize major social media outlets to increase your visibility on the Web. Contact us today to learn more about our social media services.
*http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/22-of-online-time-spent-with-social-media/
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »In the World of Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) sometimes seems like the red-headed stepchild of the industry. Organic Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, CPM/Display, Video, and Social Web are all incredibly useful, but like any marketing tool, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. In today’s post, I’ve taken it upon myself to make a case for Pay Per Click when used alone and as part of an integrated digital initiative.
1. On and Off, then On Again! While an email blast is great for driving large spikes of traffic in a relatively short timeframe, no other Internet medium can match Pay Per Click’s ability to be strategically turned on and off. The ability to pause traffic for things like stock-outs, technical issues, and other hiccups can be a good way to earn traffic for dynamic Web presences that might not have the time or resources to otherwise build traffic.
2. Micro-targeting. In addition to allowing advertisers to turn traffic on and off by things like location, time of day, language preferences, interests, and age/sex demographics, the major search engines allow automated ad bids to be set up for any conceivable combination of these user qualifications. This level of sophistication allows PPC advertisers to adjust ad spend based on the relative profitability of any number of market segments, maximizing budget and eliminating waste.
3. Conversion Tracking Data. Pay Per Click Web analytics allow account managers to track user activity to the specific keyword and advertisement that caused an action. While a similar level of granularity is usually available with Organic Search and Email, only PPC allows advertisers and agencies to react with real-time changes. This level of flexibility is perhaps one if its greatest assets.
4. Flexibility. Launching a new SEO effort? Start owning key search terms in the short run with PPC and bid them down as you gain traction. Running CPM/Display advertisements? Take advantage of the increased awareness and search traffic you are earning by owning long-tailed key terms in the engine with PPC. PPC is flexible and effective enough to be the mortar strengthening the gaps of any digital marketing plan.
5. Accountability. The ability to capture performance data for Pay Per Click is all but built into the various advertising platforms. This technological fact allows ad dollars to be fully accountable to business results. While it is true that Internet marketing is a very measurable medium, in this space no other marketing vehicle speaks the language of ‘return on investment’ or ‘return on advertising spend’ so completely as PPC.
If you were unfamiliar or unimpressed with Pay Per Click, I hope to have generated some interest. If you’re a PPC pro, I hope you have a new perspective or a new appreciation for my favorite form of Internet marketing. As always, when building a marketing plan, particularly a multi-lateral online marketing plan, use the available tools that best meet business goals. If you think your company could benefit from starting a Pay Per Click program, or another form of Internet marketing, don’t hesitate to contact Fathom for a product demonstration or for an audit of your existing integrated online marketing.
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