2020systems Blog

Imagery rules in social media.  Try to post photos and videos often in your branded social media page.

The launch of “Google Drive” has been a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley, with the product name and a rough description of the online storage product widely circulated in recent weeks as Google has worked out the final bugs. Drive opened up to millions of users around the world Tuesday, allowing users to synch their files between PCs, smartphones and tablets.

But the success of Drive will ride largely on whether Google can differentiate its offering from already established fast-growing cloud storage startups that were in the market first, such as Dropbox and Box, as well as Microsoft’s SkyDrive service and big consumer media competitors like Apple’s iCloud and Amazon’s Cloud Drive.

Existing Google Docs files, the centerpiece of Google’s existing cloud storage offering, will move to the Google Drive service once users download apps and install the new service. Google will offer users up to 5 gigabytes of storage for free, and up to 25 gigabytes for $2.49 a month, with prices for larger amounts of data lower than many competitors.

Like Dropbox, Google Drive integrates into the operating system of a Windows PC or a Mac, or an Android mobile device, meaning that one copy of a file is stored locally on each synched machine, along with a copy that is stored on the cloud. Google is developing a version for Apple’s iOS mobile operating system that powers iPhones and iPads.

A user who downloads the Drive app and syncs their devices through the cloud will see their files automatically updated between devices each time they change a file in one location.

Google decided in 2009 that it could no longer ignore the social web as it watched Facebook warp the web into a global community of 800 million plus. On June 28, 2011  Google Plus launched and became the fastest growing social network in history reaching 25 million users in less than 30 days. It continues to grow at over 600,000 users a day and is projected to reach 400 million users by the end of 2012 according to estimates by Paul Allen.

It is now both a personal and business social network after launching Google+ brand “pages” on November 7, 2011. Google plus enhanced the visual aspect of social networks by making its images significantly larger than the photos on Facebook. Facebook has since responded with a revamp of its design that allows for much larger images in its new “Timeline” for personal profiles.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a huge increase in social networking usage from a variety of users, from students to large corporations. Tons of new platforms are popping up daily – and, as you probably already know, the latest addition to the social networking family is Google+. But what exactly is its purpose and can it help you and your online brand?

Google+, the newest brainchild from its namesake, is a social platform that essentially merges all your activity into one site. Think of it as a rolled together version of all the popular networks, like Twitter and Facebook. With Google+, users can:

• Create a profile, including adding photo and video
• Arrange their networks into Circles or small groups
• Engage in video chatting with Hangouts
• Meet up with friends in chat rooms in Google+’s Huddles
• Show off and share your interests in multiple categories with Sparks, and more

Though it’s probably only the tip of the iceberg for Google+, it’s rising popularity in such a short period time (currently 25+ million users since launching on 6/28/2011) proves that the platform is not going anywhere soon, even with reports of traffic declining.

So, can Google+ actually help boost your online brand? Absolutely, especially if you use all its features to your advantage.

As with any social network, it’s important to complete your profile in full before you start spreading word of your Google+ platform. Apart from the usual information, you can include places you’ve lived in the world, “bragging rights,” and +1’s, which are what you’ve liked on the Web using Google’s +1 button. Further, think about linking back to your other social sites so you can create a more concrete brand. You can also chose which Circles you want to display on your profile as well, which could be convenient when you want to keep certain parts of your life private.

Next, try to find people you admire, like influencers or mentors, and add them to a separate Circle. Why separate? Circles are designed to make your Google+ experience easier by helping you organize your network. When you check out your stream of updates, you can chose to see what a certain Circle is talking about, posting, questions they have, etc. This makes commenting and interacting with your networks much easier.

Lastly, just having a presence on a popular social networking site can do wonders for your brand. As with the others, update and maintain your Google+ profile regularly. Above all, don’t just create an account and never take advantage of it. It can be a great resource if you use it to it’s full potential. Your brand will probably look better if you do so.

Are you using Google+? What tips do you suggest for new users who want to improve their online brands? 

LinkedIn Corp. has filed plans to raise $175 million in a public stock sale – the first major social-networking company to formally announce plans for an IPO.

LinkedIn, which has more than 90 million members around the world, announced its intention to go public in a document filed Thursday with the SEC.

In the document, the company for the first time disclosed its financial data, reporting net income of $10 million for the first nine months of 2010 on revenue of $161.4 million, which doubled from the same period in the prior year. However, the net income dropped to $1.85 million after accounting for “undistributed earnings allocated to preferred stockholders.”

For all of 2009, LinkedIn posted a net loss of $3.9 million on $120.1 million in revenue. But revenue has risen dramatically since 2007, when it was $32.5 million.

The IPO papers filed Thursday by LinkedIn put the 8–year–old company on a path to make its stock market debut in the next three to four months, barring any major stumbling blocks.

LinkedIn’s filing could encourage other rapidly growing Internet services to test the public markets after amassing followings of millions of users. Other likely candidates include: online coupon service Groupon, which rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google Inc. last year.; online game maker Zynga; online messaging service Twitter; and potentially the biggest investment opportunity of all, social networking phenomenon Facebook, which already has indicated it’s likely to file its IPO plans by the end of April 2012.

LinkedIn, based down the street from Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters, is the most mature of the group. It started in 2003, a year before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg launched his website while he was a Harvard University sophomore.

Since then, Facebook has emerged as a hot spot for having fun and wasting time while LinkedIn has positioned itself as a place for getting down to business.

Not surprisingly, kibitzing with friends and family has proven to be vastly more popular than contemplating work.

More than 90 million profiles have been set up on LinkedIn, compared with more than 600 million on Facebook.

But LinkedIn has carved out a profitable niche. The company earned $1.85 million on revenue of $161 million during the first nine months of 2010.  During the same period, Facebook earned $355 million on revenue of $1.2 billion, according to documents recently distributed to its newest investors.

LinkedIn warned it will sustain a loss this year as it invests in its service in an effort to attract more users. It’s also trying to ward off competition from similar services overseas, such as Xing in Germany and Viadeo in France, and a looming threat in Salesforce.com, which has developed a tool for professional networking.

Most of LinkedIn’s revenue comes from fees that it charges for recruiters and businesses that want expanded access to the website to help fill job openings. The company also sells online ads.

In contrast to Facebook, most of LinkedIn’s principals are in their 40s. Zuckerberg, who has been Facebook’s CEO since its inception, is just 26.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, 43, will be the biggest winner in the IPO. Hoffman also stands to profit from Facebook’s eventual IPO because he was among the early investors who backed Zuckerberg’s idea after he moved from Massachusetts to Silicon Valley.

Hoffman remains LinkedIn’s chairman. He also served a stint as CEO until turning that role over to former Yahoo Inc. executive Jeff Weiner in 2009. Weiner, 40, owns a 4.1 percent stake in LinkedIn.

The company’s other major shareholders are venture capital firms: Sequoia Capital with an 18.9 percent stake; Greylock Partners with a 15.8 percent stake; and Bessemer Venture Partners with a 5.1 percent stake.

LinkedIn has raised about $103 million since its inception and now has nearly $90 million in cash.

Some of the major stockholders plan to sell shares in LinkedIn’s IPO, but Thursday’s filing didn’t spell out those or other key details, including the projected price for the IPO. That target will likely be set as the sale of stock draws nearer.

The filing said LinkedIn will raise $175 million in the offering, but that figure often escalates as investment bankers gauge demand. Morgan Stanley & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch are the main investment banks steering LinkedIn’s IPO.

Based on stock trading by employees in secondary markets set up for privately held companies, LinkedIn is believed to be worth more than $2 billion.

Demand Media Inc., an online service that hires freelance writers to produce stories about frequently searched topics, went public this week and now boasts a market value of about $1.8 billion — higher than The New York Times Co.

The lofty appraisals have evoked memories of the late 1990s when investors were clamoring to pour money into startups that had set up websites to cater to the tens of millions of people who were just starting to embrace the Web.

This time around, though, Internet startups have been staying private longer than predecessors did during the original dot–com boom. That has given them more time to build their audience and, more importantly, develop moneymaking business plans.

If you have a Facebook account, you’ve probably reconnected with an old pal, shared photos with your family, and gotten advice from your friends on what to buy and what to read. It’s pretty likely you logged on today.

Lately, the social networking site has been introducing new products – one after the next – with the goal, it seems, of turning the entire Web into one big social network, so eventually the Internet will be Facebook.

As if the company wasn’t surging enough, the movie “The Social Network” about the creation of Facebook has heightened interest, especially in its 26-yr-old CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.  Now Facebook is about to get a facelift, and agreed to launch its new look on “60 Minutes.”

One thing that isn’t really pointed out or discussed much by Facebook, though, is the fact that the bar on the right side where the ads are displayed has about doubled from its previous width. Sponsored ads are now much more visible, and take up more Facebook real estate.

Predictably, there is a backlash from some of the Facebook community. It doesn’t really matter what changes Facebook makes–some will hate them and complain vocally that they wish the site would just remain stagnant and never change.

For us (advertisers), the changes represent an improvement in the marketing potential of the Facebook platform. Anything that improves the user experience and gets Facebook users to spend more time interacting with the social network increases the opportunity to interact with them as customers. The larger ad space will hopefully draw more attention, and give businesses a better chance of inducing a response from users.

Not everyone has the new profile update yet. It hasn’t been pushed out to users, but you can get it if you want it by visiting the Facebook site detailing the updates with the new profile and clicking the button. Be warned, though, once you switch to the new profile you can’t switch back.