Tag Archives: google

Cheat Sheet – Social Media Image Sizes

Posted on January 11, 2013 | 1 Comment

Thank you LunaMetrics for the ultimate, complete, final cheat sheet for social media image sizes. See below…but is it “final?” Certainly don’t want to jinx that, but it will probably be hours before FB modifies their layout and image specs. :) -Dan, TGPRsocial-media-sizing-cheat-sheet

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Posted in Facebook, Pinterest, social media, Twitter, youtube

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Google Joins Sites Protesting PIPA/SOPA

Posted on January 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

You can add Google to the list of sites participating in today’s welcome, massive online protest of SOPA and PIPA. Read more about the online protest here.

Don’t like the thought of these bills going into action? You can join the fight to “End Piracy, Not Liberty” with Google’s online petition HERE.

-Dan, TGPR

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Posted in social media, Technology

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Facebook Phone is Deep

Posted on November 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Facebook looking to get its feet wet in the mobile market.

So so deep. According to Facebook and a recent All Things D article, a new Facebook phone will be focused on ”deep” social integration. The article spews references to the word four times:

  • …The phone is planned to run on a modified version of Android that Facebook has tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services…
  • Facebook spokesperson says: “…every mobile device is better if it is deeply social…”
  • In reference to France Telecom’s Orange unit which announced a series of Facebook-centric phones, All Things D says the Facebook phone’s “…integration will go much deeper…”
  • Of course this will bring “friends and social activities deep into the mobile interface”

I’m deeply interested in how much more social a phone can get. It’s no surprise Facebook is planning to break into the mobile market (350,000,000 active users on mobile devices), trying to keep up with Google and Apple, but a Facebook phone just sounds gimmicky. Personally, I just want my Droid or Apple device to work well with Facebook. What about you? Any interest in a Facebook phone? What are some examples of deeper social integration on my phone, that a Droid or iPhone can’t already do?

-Dan TGPR

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Posted in Facebook, Mobile, social media

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Google+ Still Needs an Identity

Posted on November 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

Early last year when we first started getting Google + invites, we researched the service and were less than impressed. However, we regularly check in and keep abreast of the news on Google+, and last week the big announcement is Google+ now offers business pages. This becomes especially important as we move forward and counsel our clients on whether its time for a Google+ page.

So is Google+ the Facebook killer? Is Twitter shaking in its boots? Or is Google+ just another social network that users feel they have to join and then visit each day? First we’ll need to examine pros and cons. Perhaps that will help us decide?

PROS

  • Rich Suburban Parents: While Facebook wins in the users war, any statistician will tell you its about the demographics not total numbers. Google+ is winning a key battle. Business Insider reports that rich suburban parents are ditching Facebook for Google+ and account for 2.9% of all visits to Google+. Why is this demo important? The study calls them “Prosperous, middle-aged married couples living child-focused lives in affluent suburbs” so if you have a product that sells to kids, then you want these parents to see it. Facebook accounts for under 1% of this demo.
  • Broad Array of Services: From YouTube to Google Maps to Chrome, Google has positioned itself as the one-stop shop for all your web needs. In theory, this is something that Facebook doesn’t have – they in essence rely on Google for a lot of its content like when you embed your favorite uber cute kitten video on a friends page. For businesses it will be interesting to see how Google Maps plays hand-in-hand with the Google+ pages. A large majority of business searches on the web are related to directions and addresses of businesses so this could give Google+ the upper hand.
  • The Power of Search: Google has reigned supreme for over a decade when it comes to search; don’t think that they haven’t made use of that with Google+. Wired reports that “With Google+ Direct Connect, searchers can insert a “+” before their query and jump directly to a business’s Google+ page. Type “+YouTube” into a Google search box, for instance, and Google will take you straight to YouTube’s Plus page.”

CONS

  • No Multiple Administrator Policy: As hardcore Facebook administrators know, this function was one of the most brilliant concepts for handling pages. Facebook connected the “Fan” page with your personal page, giving you and other users a very convenient dashboard. Google+ admittedly does not offer a function for multiple administrators for its Business pages. There are rumors of them implementing one within a year or so, but if you need to have multiple people working on your pages, the wait seems endless.
  • Integration and Compatibility: one of the positives we mentioned earlier was that Google+ has a broad array of services so we expected the compatibility to be exemplar. Not so much. Especially now with Google Android phones, we assumed that Google+ would be highly integrated, however when we went to share a pic we were met with the ability to share with Goggles and Picasa…but not Google+:

  • Not on Most Management Dashboards: While we are certainly seeing that little “+1″ icon on more and more blogs, websites and the social tools for news articles, it is not guaranteed to be there like the Facebook icon.
  • 40 Million vs. 800 Million: Numbers do not lie. Facebook currently eclipses Google+ when it comes to eyeballs. Facebook has 800 million compared to Google+’s 40 million. We would guess that Facebook’s users are also more active users, from our unscientific observations that a lot of the newest posts on our Google+ stream is still from the first few weeks of the Google+ launch.

It is still too early to tell whether Google+ should be mandatory for all your clients business and brand pages. Our suggestion is to get an account and keep your eye on Google+ (the actual site and news updates) because its certainly not going away — whether or not it will find its identity is in question. Wired on the other hand predicts that Google+ will win the page war. What say you?

-Andy and Dan, TGPR

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Posted in Google+, social media

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Our Experience with Google+

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

SPOILER ALERT: sign up graphics are the most exciting part.

It all started within moments of Google+ going live, when one of our staff members got a “sacred” Google+ invite. As a PR firm that prides ourselves on being on the forefront of social media, we were eager to try it out. Pretty soon our entire office was on it, learning about “Circles,” “Hangouts,” “Huddle,” and “Sparks.”

Wondering if you should try it out? Here’s what we found so far – maybe it will help you decide:

1) Sign up graphics are the most important part

Gorgeous illustrations of the Google colors, circles, and other shapes will pique users’ interest. Don’t be deceived, after signing up, none of those gorgeous graphics will be there to greet you.

2) Looks like Facebook, feels like Facebook

If you squint your eyes in certain areas of the service, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. In fact, on the homepage we haven’t quite seen anything that differentiates it. People post pictures, can share links, a status or three…sounds familiar, no? Biggest difference is your (enter number here) Facebook friends aren’t on Google+.

3) Circles

The circles are supposed to be the “game changer”. The only thing that we collectively enjoyed about the circles, was watching little faces roll around in circles. Other than that, they haven’t shown their purpose yet, unless you are trying to avoid a boss or parent; or an old “friend” that you hoped to lose touch with, yet still finds you on social networks. BTW, Facebook has a filter that allows you to block users on each individual status update. So you effectively have circles there.

4) The invitation thing is sneaky

When it asks you who you want to be “friends” with, it is basically a ploy to invite all your friends from email and other services. It might be above my pay grade, but I could not figure out a way to differentiate between who was already on Google+ and who wasn’t. This can result in spamming people you haven’t talked to in years.

So that’s some initial feedback from our end. If you signed up already and want to bow out, we hear a button exists within Google+ that will delete your entire account instantly if you ever decide to leave. However, like several other Google+ features, it’s hard to find…

As we have many faithful personal Gmail account users around here, we were eager to give Google+ a shot. We will continue to see how it changes and evolves as more people use it, but just can’t imagine Google+ as a success right yet. People would essentially have to convert to or add a new social network to their lives. Who wants to spend time going through that time sucking process — creating and building a whole new audience — when Facebook hasn’t Myspace’d itself yet?

-Andy and Dan, TWW

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