6 Secrets for Successful Facebook Marketing

Facebook is the number 1 most visited site thus to promote your business on the Facebook is a very efficient method to increase you business revenue and awarness. In order to succeed in Facebook marketing, you will need to understand what are the best practices and unique opportunity to avoid Facebook Marketing pit fall. Here is the lists of 7 secrets to create a successful Facebook marketing campaign.

Successful Facebook Marketing #1 – No Hard Sell

Facebook is a place where people make use as fun social space on the Internet. People will check status, picture and even video of other people posted on Facebook to relax. You will need to join in the people community and become part of them rather then treated as business crook who hard selling the people.

Hard selling tactics that used in real life is not applicable on the Facebook marketing Advertising login, posting repeatedly on your product or service will not bring your message to you followers but instead it will causes a negative effect and resulting follower unfollowing as think that you are spamming their wall.

Successful Facebook Marketing #2 - Run a Contest

Facebook contest is always the best way to market and campaign your product/services. Organizing a contest campaign will raise the awareness to those non follower and growing your following lists to you business. People like free gifts and they will participate if there is any contest on this.

Here is some suggestion on what contest you can run. You can start running contest campaign such lucky draw where you will require the contestant to like a post. When the people like your post, it will post to their timeline thus the other friends will start know about this and some even will participate.

Successful Facebook Marketing #3 – Post Regularly

If your business Facebook page has follower, meaning these people are interested with your company service/product. You should be feeding the people with information on your services/product regularly. Statistic shown that 50% will check their Facebook at least once a day as they would want to know what’s the new feed on Facebook thus posting your product/service information will raise seen rate.

Guideline is that you should post at least once a day and when you post, make sure that the content is interest. This is to avoid your following thinking that you are spamming them.

Successful Facebook Marketing #4 – Using Own Personal Profile

Depending on the nature of your business, but if your business is branded by YOU (such as Realtor, author, consultant and etc), you may want to consider using your own profile to help out on your marketing. You can even share your personality and your success story while sharing news about your business.

This action will gain the confident from the people as they who they are the following. This method is likely to increase your business and success in Facebook marketing as this is a proven method.

Successful Facebook Marketing #5 - Use Picture or Videos

People will get attracted to appealing photo or videos thus this is a factor in making successful Facebook marketing. You should be using the picture or video frequently to keep your followers engaged. Here are some example of what you can post:

• If you are a personal trainer, you can post a video of how to do an exercise correctly
• If you are an architect, you can post how is a renovation progress day by day
• If you are in a clothing line, you can post the new clothing stocks that arrive

The picture or videos will attract people to click onto your post and check out the details of it.

Successful Facebook Marketing #6 Engage with your follower

The next secret of successful Facebook marketing is that you would need to nurture your relationship with your follower/subscriber. Well, it does take time to build a good relationship with other people so you will need to be patient on nurturing this. You can start of by replying comment if your follower has comment on your post.

You can also start to learn more about your customer thru Facebook insight. With this you can start to tailor your post to meet up with the needs based on the statistics from the Facebook insights.

These are the 6 secrets in making of a successful Facebook Marketing that you can adopt to improve the Facebook marketing and increase your business. Let me know of what you think and whether have you tried and whether it’s working well in your marketing campaign.

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The Viral Marketing Pros and Cons

The term 'viral marketing' was coined by Tim Draper, a Harvard Business School graduate and used extensively to describe the e-mails that aided advertising of products. Viral or chain marketing optimizes the extent to which social networking can benefit sales. There is extensive word-of-mouth viral promotion of products and services that is implemented. Depending on the quantum of sales, the strategy may also include video clips, interactive forums, advergames, newsletters, ebooks and images accompanied by dedicated text messages. However, it is not without its own unique advantages and disadvantages.

How Does Viral Marketing Work?

The basic idea is to generate an 'infection' of thought among the base users, who are also lured into the advertising gimmick for a promised commission that increases with every subsequent sale. The ripple effect created and paid for involves sharing of product benefits with potential users and causing nothing short of an epidemic, while generating multilevel marketing opportunities. There is a pre-designed logistic curve to map the users used to further the interests of the campaign. The success of the campaign largely depends on the rate at which the sales take place. These strategies are often put in place alongside other marketing communication systems such as dedicated public relations and/or extensive advertising.

The goal of viral marketing programs is to identify people who can contribute to sales via quality social networking potential. The aim is to generate viral or easy to understand and replicate messages that appeal to the common man and generate a dedicated marketing environment. Extensive social networking helps to increase the probability of the product or service remaining within the community for a longer time. Viral marketing is a stealth campaign that uses unscrupulous means of under-market advertising to generate an impression that the word of mouth enthusiasm actually springs from use of the product or service.

Pros

Viral marketing enables businesses to remain buoyant within the competitive business world, via a strategy that is not only easy to integrate within a defined buyer-society, but also one of that empowers the unattached onlooker with training, tips and guidance.

This marketing strategy enables business propositions to reach out to a global audience, by effectively putting the Internet connectivity to play. Extensive use of Internet affiliate marketing, ezines and interactive forums enables the entrepreneur to promote the business, globally.

The word-of-mouth concept ripples on to peer-to-peer recommendation of the product or service. It also enables the business to generate revenue from local interest in the venture.

Cons

In this strategy, association with groups and individuals who are unknown could generate scope for the promotion to be subject to competitor viewing. The strength of the marketing depends on the transmission of enthusiasm between people, with regards to the benefits of the product being sold. The presence of a competitor within the generated link could dampen the desired strain.
Exposure to the Internet, to further the interests of entrepreneurship and generate additional revenue from a global clientèle is not without spam threats, unwanted marketing mix, and also brand dilution.

Hard core selling to benefit from increased commission is widely responsible for many potential buyers being put off.

Viral marketing is capable of generating high product credibility at low cost. The advertising technique is great in the endeavor of making a particular product or service available across physical boundaries with dedicated Internet marketing and shows high efficiency in generating the opportunity for consistent promotions and commissions.

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Best Marketing Promotion Methods

It is said, that 'customers are the kings' and indeed they are. The marketing departments of every firm fight tooth and nail to lure customers and increase the sales of their products. Promotional methods are important and efficient marketing strategies of various companies. While millions of dollars are spent on advertising methods, promotional marketing methods are relatively less expensive and can be more effective.

What is Promotional Marketing?

Promotional marketing is a business tool that is designed to pull customers to buy the products of a company. Generally, promotional marketing is carried out by companies to launch their products or attract more potential customers. Before devising any strategy for promotional marketing, firms must ensure that they allocate a budget to the promotional marketing and set a target that gives them maximum return on the invested money.

Promotion Strategies

There are basically two promotion strategies; the push strategy and the pull strategy. According to the push strategy, the marketers give generous discounts and benefits to the customers, so that, the sales can be increased drastically. One of the most successful strategies, the method of giving discounts is often successful for most of the firms. In the push strategy, main focus is on reducing costs of the advertising. The other strategy, the pull strategy minimizes the use of different channels and the major focus is on advertising the product. Its goal is to create a potential market for the products of the firm.

Advertising

Advertising is an expensive method of promotional marketing, wherein, the products are made to reach a large number of people. For example, by using electronic media, TV, radio, press and outdoor hoardings, advertisers target the audience and try to create an impact on customers.

Personal Selling

One of the oldest ways of direct promotion is to sell the products by direct interaction between the seller and buyer. It is believed to be the most difficult form of marketing, as it requires skills of persuasion and excellent communication skills.

Contests

One of the effective, popular and most preferred form of promotional methods is to arrange certain contests for the customers. We all will agree to the fact that winning surprise prizes in a shopping mall or fashion store is simply exciting. One of the most attractive marketing strategies, organizing contests among the customers is a brilliant way to promote the products.

Pamphlets/Coupons

In the quest to attract more customers, companies distribute coupons and pamphlets about the products. The customers are either given basic information about the newly launched products or they are provided with discounted coupons on the purchase of some accessories/apparels. Coupons make for an effective marketing plan for small business units.

Free Samples

The idea of freely distributing products, sounds weird and crazy for any company, however, there is a certain element of truth in the fact that marketing firms have gained substantial promotion through the idea of free samples. While, it is not logical to just distribute your products, you can devise a strategy, so that, the idea of free samples doesn't incur losses for your firm.

While evaluating different methods of promotion in marketing, one should realize these strategies are not set formulas or recipes for the successful launch and eventually high sales of the product. No doubt, these strategies are effective, but there are various market forces that can affect the sales prospects of firms.

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Best Viral Marketing Tools

The practice of using viral marketing tools is in use since ancient times and finds mention in the Greek historical records, although it wasn't referred to as 'viral marketing'. A virus is characterized with a rapid multiplication after it infects a body and within a short period it infects every person in its zone of influence. The same principle applies to viral marketing.

Consider a scenario in which your high school friend is slapped by another colleague and 4-5 people notice this event. The next day you go to school and hear almost every person around you talking about the incident. How do you reckon this happened? Let us assume that each person who saw the incident mentions it to 5 people who further pass the news onto 25 people and so on. Within 2 more such iterations 625 people know that your friend had been slapped! This is a exactly how it works.

Understanding Viral Marketing

The aim of a viral marketer is to spread or rapidly multiply the message or information that needs to be conveyed. The most effective way to do this is a word of mouth publicity or through a fast medium like the Internet. The main advantage of using this technique is that, it requires less effort, as the medium of communication itself acts as the primary source of information and marketing. For example in the above mentioned case, the people themselves become the primary source and ensure rapid spread of the information. Thus it can be seen that viral marketing can be a very effective way of selling or presenting your product or service to the target clientèle.

Another important aspect is to understand the factors that can effectively and convincingly assist you in promoting your product. The best way to market an entity is through a network of closely related people since they trust the word of a friend or an acquaintance more than any advertising campaign. Hotmail is a classic example of the systematic use of this tools. It made use of the internet marketing platform to advertise its services. Hotmail services had tags attached to every e-mail account of the net user. The tags were simple signing up forms meant for adding further users. These customers would then send mails to their regular communicators most of whom actually did sign-up for the service, following the primary customer. The chain result was an exponential increase in the subscribers for Hotmail service.

Important Viral Marketing Tools

• Understanding the market psychology: A 'free' service is an instant attention grabber. Nothing sells a product better than giving it free of cost initially. It may sound ironic but the strategy is very effective, especially in the case of web services. Promoting a product by offering trials directly or through the existing customer base lures a client to at least try it or recommend a trial to their near and dear ones.
• Being a receptive domain: Willingness to accept a remark whether good or bad, is the hallmark of a responsible campaigner. People trust a service better if it is open to criticism and suggestions. If a person feels more involved in the process, there is a high probability of that person using the product or service. People who have Internet access are especially prompt in commenting on a service.
• Scrutiny and resolving: Once a detailed analysis of product sales and its feedback is done, acting on the results is crucial. This is a very sensitive medium. The information passed on at such speed also involves a lot of risk. The marketing medium cannot be controlled once the process begins. Therefore it is extremely important to project the desired and carefully studied image of the product. It involves rectifying the glitches or any shortcomings promptly and ensuring a constant watch on the market happenings.
• Taking care of the roots: Many firms take the existing promotion medium or regular customers for granted and as a result lose a large customer base. These tools are fabricated on the basis of trustworthy deliverance of service. The existing base is promoting a product either by default as in the case of hotmail or purposely because the client himself is convinced about its suitability for use. If the service rendered to this user is sub-standard or fades out, so will the marketing procedure following it. Therefore, always update the service to the satisfaction of even the most loyal and trusted user. This is one of the best way to develop a permanent client base and a reliable setup.
• Promotion and development: The recent Hollywood flick 'The Dark Knight' is a genuine example of viral marketing at its best. First, the huge number of batman fans across the world served as the biggest promoters of the movie. Besides them, the promoters ensured maximum reach of the movie by interactive movie games, contests and virtual participation in movie scenes like voting for the 'Gotham city' (the city in the movie) mayor and similar reel life experiences. Once the people could associate with the story and characters they became an 'unpaid' set of marketers for the movie. The results of a 'virally infected' movie mania are there for everyone to see.

These tools are like double-edged swords; if handled with caution they function the best, if not, they can cause severe damage. Hence, a careful and studied approach is highly recommended before trying it out in your business venture.

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Strategic Communication Process for Viral Marketing

"Viral marketing" may sound strange to those who have never encountered the term. It may strike you as to how a term like viral could be incorporated into the marketing industry terminology? Well, your doubts may hold the reigns of validity. It certainly delivers a deceitful connotation to those who don't gather the slightest idea of the concept.

Ironically, this is one concept that also grabs eyeballs in creating self-awareness. Viral marketing matches up to define itself as a thoughtful marketing strategy that concentrates on spreading awareness about a particular product; thereby, also maintains the word-of-mouth ideology. It is the marketing industry that systematically uses the terminology to elicit interest in the masses through the Internet. The communication process is such that the most important information which may attract the attention and interest of the consumer is put forth, or is circulated through the word-of-mouth technique.

The communication process may be termed as 'viral fire'. I say this, as I believe that to a certain extent, viral marketing works on the principle of how a virus is communicable in nature. It is through the virus spreading that many people may endure common colds, or fevers; in the same manner, it is only through viral marketing that there are people who pass on a good word about the product, or service they have availed of, and found it beneficial, or satisfying. It serves to be a virtual propagator that spreads the news, through its marketing strategies. There are essentially two ways in which the communication takes place: spontaneous and planned.

Methods of Communication

Spontaneous Communication

The spontaneous viral communication is a strategy that focuses on the provision of a product or service by the company. When the customers or consumers are satisfied, they would provide their feedback in the form of availing the service or the product all over again and continuing to use their offered methods. Through this method, those who have used this product will pass on their positive impression to friends or potential buyers who may be interested in the services and the product. In turn they may do the same for the ones they know. In a short period, you would have a number of people using the product or the service.

Planned Communication

A research conducted by Phelps et al. (2004), produced a forensic report publishing the efficacy and frequency of forwarding emails, with regards to classifying the email mode of communication into four sections. They also found that emails eliciting specific human emotions highlighting its minutiae, have a greater probability of being passed on. Emails that function as virtual bulletin boards are likely to garner attention by the receiver. Thus, while indulging in viral marketing, emails proves to be a strategic instrument for effective and agile communication pathway.

The email is, therefore, a model of planned communication. Planned communication is a program set up by the company or the organization to let the masses know about the products or services they have on offer. The communication process has a planned strategy that functions on the principle of the following elements.They are:

Take Away Products

This is a standardized, and the most popular method in helping the company market their presence. "Free" and "discounted rates" are favorite terms in the marketing terminology. They will offer their products for a free trial to let the masses know that they are 'in the market', and their products are competitive. In terms of services, there are text messages and emails forwarded so that the information may be utilized by those interested. Coupons and rewards are distributed through emails to create awareness about the product or service they are propagating. In short, they serve to be an incentive for the masses to try a product, or service.

Easily Communicable Messages

The organization devises certain techniques to help people pass on the message quickly and easily, without any fuss, or time-consuming tactics. They are of the view that the consumers are overworked, and it is best to provide them with an alternative that does not consume much of their time. This is how they could let others know, particularly when they have an accessible via media to do so.

Preparation for Varied Response

The organization that has released the campaign must be prepared for any one of two set response; it may be small-scale (involving very few people to participate); or large-scale (to face 'n' number of people being interested in availing the benefits that you have put forth).

Concentrate on the Typical Human Mentality

The organization has to understand; rather, predict what makes the consumers tick, and what are the motivational factors that make them all the more interested; thereby, igniting their curiosity meters. Use certain time-tested devices such as humor, love, the urge to be trendy, the desire to go around popular places in the world, and the riches. These are some of the tendencies that market men can play upon.

Human Communication Networks

The existing human communication networks are the most successful and effective, as they have close contacts and relations through networks on the Internet and social networking sites. This is the strongest way through which messages can be sent and passed on. They are instant, and don't require the individual to invest more time.

This is how the communication process of viral marketing materializes. I believe this article has given you the cycle that the marketers follow to have their strategies take wings, and reach new heights.

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How to Associate Web Design With Search Engine Optimization

The SEO marketing that was once started as an individual small business has many massive corporations indulged in it in the present day and is a booming industry. Hiring a firm to solve the SEO marketing issues is the smartest idea that a business venture can apply to increase their sales drastically.

SEO firm will never be a waste of one's hard earned money as it will lead to only profit making. o, it is very important to take the help of only that SEO firm which has a good track record. This is perhaps the most incredible means to increase search engine traffic. Hiring the services of an SEO marketing firm can mean a lot of big difference in one's business.

In today's era, internet and search engine marketing can either make or break the online business. S Since most of the customers shop through internet, it is not a good option to stay visible on the net. A good SEO firm will act as an internet marketing consultant and help in marketing one's business on the internet.

Permanent one way link building is an important means of search engine optimization as the basic idea behind optimization is to establish link popularity. Meta tag optimization has also given adequate boost to many companies although this technique cannot be adopted by novices and requires the guidance of an established SEO firm. SEO is a huge business and one of the most offered service packages on the World Wide Web.

Designing the website that fulfills all the requirements of the Search Engine optimization is very crucial. Before putting your site in the search engine makes it sure that the content and new pages show up notably in the search engines. If this is not so, you may need to opt for a content management system. The business can be affected in both ways by internet marketing and appropriate guidance is essential to yield positive results. 

Online business is becoming complicated day in and day out and the competition both in and for the business is immense. Both web site developers as well as SEO marketing agencies work simultaneously for generation of effective business. CMS or (content management system) is actually a software package. It allows you to update your site and add content. Not all content management systems are created equally. Some can make SEO (Search Engine optimization) a natural and easy part of your workflow, while less SEO-friendly systems can help you fight every step to implement more common optimization practices.

There are some steps that you need to follow to get your website noticed in the search engine. These include:

First of all, you need to plan your Search Engine optimization (SEO) strategies. A good content management system might provide and a set-up and a structure that is conducive to SEO.

Look To the web page address of each page. Content management system offers human -readable URLS. It is one of the most important tasks.

Use standard, clean code and ensure templates. Whether you are building your own templates or using the ones provided by the CMS, check that the code of the template is clean, readable and solid.

Give importance to Metatag Customization.

You can opt for site maps that are automatically created.

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Business Marketing By Using Facebook

Social networking sites are a rage all over the world for their power to interest and intrigue the users. A networking platform such as Facebook, can serve bigger purposes than just chatting with friends, if used wisely. The use of social networking as a tool to promote a business idea or create awareness about a social issue, is being widely felt. For amateur businessmen, using Facebook for business marketing reduces expenditure on advertisement. This cost-effective measure for advertising allows a business to be popular across international boundaries with just a little effort. What more could a startup want?

How to Use Facebook for Marketing Your Business

Attention

Using Facebook for business marketing, follow the same rules of advertising through any other medium. Seeking attention is the first step of advertising. Facebook gives you an option to create a page (an identity or a profile) for your business. Login to the site, and create this page, by adding a profile picture and details. The site will guide you at every instance and the instructions are quite simple to understand. A page will give your business an identity and a starting point.

Interest

Why would people look at your page? Why would they like it? What's in it for them? Fair enough. To increase views, likes and followers for the page, you need to make the page interesting with pictures, intriguing snippets, quizzes, polls, personal information about the founders, prizes and such other stuff. The second step of using Facebook for marketing business, is to generate an interest amongst the viewers and to retain it. Remember that the page has to be regularly updated and it has to be kept alive with interactivity to retaining its users' interest.

Desire

After you've got attention and generated interest, you need to arouse a desire amongst users about your products or services. More the interactivity, more desirous will be the product. Persuasive updates, consistent advertising messages, pictures that bring out the essence of your product and making offers of reasonable deals are some of the ways in which your followers will want to own your product or avail your service. Increased number of followers, constant interactivity, inquiries and suggestions are all indicators of the fact that your product has reached the desired state.

Action

This may seem confusing, as we are talking about a virtual marketing. Responding to queries, which increases your sales is the action in question here. Say for instance, you are promoting a startup event company. After following the aforementioned steps, if you get calls from potential customers who would buy the invites, it is a job well done. When it gets rolling because of its popularity, it is known as action, in advertising terms. The same holds true for Facebook.

Satisfaction

It is important to revert to your customers and get important feedback from them. A feedback will help you figure the levels of satisfaction and the scope for improvement. This makes your customers feel valued, which goes a long way is establishing a loyal customer base and increasing your clientele.

Virtual business marketing is easy but it requires dedicated effort minus deviations. It is one platform that will give you a wide audience that is spread across the world. Thus, launching yourself in the international world is just a click away. Advertising a product on a social networking website comes with a great responsibility of matching up to people's expectation. And they don't ask for much! Worth a shot, I say.

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Social Bookmarking To Generate Targeted Traffic

Even if you are new to Internet marketing and don’t have much experience yet, you would probably have heard about social media and how it’s growing more and more these days. Social media websites allow people to mingle with like-minded people about a chosen topic and there are an ever increasing number of these sites springing up on the internet these days. On these sites, communication usually embraces various forms of messaging, sharing, tagging, and commenting. But how can you use these social media sites to your advantage as an Internet marketer?

Many Internet marketers have already discovered how beneficial these sites can be for generating targeted traffic to their own websites and blogs. You could also be able to achieve an increase in sales, as these social media sites have gained a reputation for attracting converting traffic. In addition to increasing your traffic and sales, you could also leverage these social sites to establish your brand name.

If you don’t know much about generating traffic or establishing your brand, then you may have a slight difficulty in trying to understand exactly what you need to do to make effective use of this marketing tool. All businesses, big or small, can benefit from using social media marketing to generate greater traffic that will potentially make a purchase, and improve their standing in the market. Twitter is an excellent example of a micro-blogging website that allows you to keep your followers posted about activities and events happening in your life, by posting frequent short updates.

Can you imagine the impact this could have on your business if you were to post an update discussing your new product or service, or a great deal that you have found? The potential is really unlimited! Even if only 10% of your online following checked your posts, that’s still a big boost in visibility for your product or service. The more people that see your posts, the greater the marketing impact could be. Plus, how much time does it take to post a short simple update – probably only a minute or two. Therefore, just a small amount of effort and time could produce some wonderful results.

However, you will need to employ effective and tested strategies, if you want to have an successful social bookmarking campaign. The first thing you should do is bookmark your own website pages. This is quite easy and simply involves signing up to as many of these bookmarking sites as you can. It is really up to you to determine just how many bookmarking sites to join, but the more bookmarks you have, the more traffic you can generate. Don’t be afraid to ask your family and friends to bookmark your pages, every little bit helps. Make sure that you take part in the social networking websites, in other words, be active.

There are some bookmarking services that don’t have features for you to interact very much with other members, but others allow you to invite your “friends” and “colleagues” to share bookmarks. Bookmark other people’s pages, tag their bookmarks, and be a friendly person in general; you will find that people will usually return the favour.

In summary, you can really build a good sized audience for your website through social bookmarking. However, you will certainly need to have good content to really succeed with this method. Your content should be rubbish, but bookmark worthy, in other words it should be informative, interesting to read and fresh. So start yourself down the road to increased brand recognition and greater traffic by using some of these social bookmarking tips.

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Make A Fan Page On Facebook - Fan Pages Catapult Advertising and Branding To A Whole New Realm

Secaucus, New Jersey – Ewen Chia, world renowned Internet Marketing guru, has leveraged the power of fan pages and has launched a system, Facebook Fan Page Secrets, geared towards teaching entrepreneurs, business owners, advertisers, companies, and etc., how to make a fan page on Facebook to build credibility for their brand, advertise their businesses, and ultimately generate profits using tried-and-tested advanced Internet marketing ideas.

Facebook has grown to become one of the most popular sites on the Internet with over 400 million users and an Alexa traffic rank of 2. In fact, tens of thousands of people are joining Facebook every day. With this massive flood of new Facebook users, business owners, advertisers, and companies now have a big advantage if they decide to make a fan page on Facebook and leverage it's power by building a huge fan base and powerful brand.

With the increase in popularity of Facebook, it is easy to see that simply creating a Facebook account and adding some friends isn't enough, you need to do more. A Facebook Fan Page is the answer to this question. With a fan page you can start building followers who are keen on hearing what you have to say. Through your fan page you get instant access to these followers and can mail them highly targeted messages.

“The Facebook Fan Page Secrets program will guide you through this process and show you exactly how to set up your page and promote it so that fans come flooding in to your site. You'll also learn how to advertise your fan page so that you can get highly targeted visitors to the site quickly and easily. There is nothing else available that will give you this insight into the dominate force in social networking. As the web changes to become more and more interactive, social networking sites such as Facebook will become much more important.

This is your opportunity to join in the social networking revolution and establish yourself as a major player in the market place.”

Facebook fan pages allows you to become an authority in your chosen niche. You can create a fan base that follow your every word and respect you as a marketer. It's a great opportunity to tap into a massive, vibrant marketplace full of potential customers and buyers.

You can keep in contact with your existing customers, build a buzz about product launch and market products and offers to a group of people who have specifically expressed an interest in you. In addition, you can establish yourself as an authority in the niche, build a strong relationship with both your prospective and existing customers, target your marketing with laser like precision, build your autoresponder list, market products and services to an eager fan base, and much more.

"When he comes out with a product, I want to let you know that it has my stamp of approval." Top Internet marketer, Mike Filsaime, reiterates.

"Ewen Chia is the real deal, I've known him personally for many years and I've seen him in action first hand time and time again. But the thing that is cool about Ewen is he gives back, he really shares his knowledge with others." reveals popular marketer, Jeremy Gislason.

Founder of Warrior Forum, Allen Says adds, "He's that good. I've always been amazed at how he ranks #1 for everything he promotes. If you want to learn anything about internet marketing I couldn't imagine sending you to anyone else."

Facebook Fan Page Secrets will teach you to master how to make a fan page on Facebook and use it to build a list, build a relationship with your list and generate income. To learn more about Ewen's Facebook Fan Page Secrets program, visit: http://www.FacebookFanPageSecretsToday.com.

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Marketing Through Facebook

The popularity of social networking has increased immensely in recent years in all circles. The Internet has exploded global communication. However, social networking is the feature that really got everyone connecting. People are successfully utilizing social networking to get jobs, influence friends, and generate truly new social connections. Facebook is one of the largest social networking sites that the Internet has seen. These days, it seems that people don’t really have an online identity unless they’re Facebook members.

Every day, people use their Facebook profiles to network with other people that have the same interests, play games together, and communicate on an unparalleled level. This must obviously sound like a proverbial gold mine for you to find new customers in. It would be perfect! Now that people everywhere are realizing what an amazing advertising medium Facebook can be to attract targeted customers, the popularity of Facebook marketing has soared. There are millions of users on Facebook and they have varied interests, which is a perpetual Goldmine for online marketers. This article will be talking about how Facebook can help you promote your business in the best possible way.

The social ads service on Facebook is the most prevalent method of Internet advertising that’s done through that particular service by businesses. Social Ads are the simplest and most direct method of advertising on Facebook. With social ads, you have the added advantage of gearing your ads to whatever demographic you need, depending on their interests, age, gender, etc. This turns a normal ad into a super targeted one, which means you won’t be having random people clicking your ad, and your click-through-rate will naturally increase.

When you have a high CTR, you’ll have more visitors coming in and get a better return on investment. You can also include a picture in your promotion, and that can also improve your CTR. So how does this work? Well, an ad with a picture will grab the audience’s attention more readily, and give you better responses. You should also try your best to make the ad into something that will catch the attention of someone just browsing through. You can always hire a professional to create your ads if you don’t know how to do it.

If you want to go the free way, instead of spending money on ads, then you can try creating groups or fan pages on Facebook. If done correctly, you and your product can gain popularity and a large audience. It seems users of Facebook are addicted to joining groups that represent what they are interested in, or possibly becoming a fan or a certain page. So make use of their compulsions by writing appealing fan pages and attracting people to it. Best of all group pages allow members to invite other Facebook users to the group. However, in order to get the most out of your fan pages is to advertise and promote them through the use of Facebook’s Social Ads and other marketing tools. Even though Facebook fan pages and groups can expand by thousands of members literally overnight, you will still have to have a plan for converting them into traffic for your site.

If you want to go beyond what your competition is doing, and if you want to reach a larger audience, then give Facebook a try. It will do nothing but assist your company in reaching new heights. Not everyone likes taking risks and experimenting, but ultimately that’s what determines how far you go.

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Facebook Likes Tripled Valuable Than Tweets

ChompOn, a company that provides a white label group buying service, similar to Groupon, that restaurants and other businesses can provide their customers directly, recently released a report (PDF) that used its wealth of marketing data to estimate the value of tweets, Facebook shares and other social networking behavior.

What the report found was that, for their customers and buyers, every share on Facebook was worth about $14 where every tweet was worth only $5. Likewise, a Facebook like, meaning someone was following the account on Facebook, was worth $8 but every Twitter follower was worth only $2.

ChompOn, however, did acknowledge that the value of likes and followers may be much higher due to long-term loyalty.

But even if the exact figures are off, the report shows the relative value between Twitter and Facebook and it paints a very bleak picture for the value of Twitter.

But does this mean that Twitter is dead or dying for marketing? Not likely at all.

Though the ChompOn report doesn’t speculate as to why Facebook actions are much more valuable than Twitter ones, there are several probable explanations.

• Less Noise: Most people have far fewer Facebook “Friends” than Twitter followers. This keeps the noise down and makes the message more likely to come through.
• Closer Friends: People more closely monitor who they friend on Facebook and many, if not most, limit their interactions to friends and family. This makes any recommendation on Facebook much more powerful, coming from someone that the viewer probably knows and trusts.
• More Users: Though Facebook users tend to keep a smaller social circle, there are far more Facebook users than Twitter users. This makes the potential reach of Facebook much, much higher.
• More Media: Where a tweet is pretty much just 140 characters of text and link, a Facebook message can have images, video, and much more text.
• Better Demographics: As the above demographics study showed, Facebook users tend to be more brand loyal and are more likely to update their status every day.In short, they are more committed to the brand and more likely to be there to share when they are wanted.

Of course, all of this is pure speculation but these are very likely factors in the nearly 3x valuation of Facebook shares over tweets. However, this doesn’t mean that Twitter is dead, just that it has a different purpose altogether.

Why Twitter Still Matters

While all of that being said is true, what Twitter lacks in quality it can make up for in quantity. For example, where a Twitter follower might only be worth a quarter of a Facebook “Like”, one can often get 5x-10x more Twitter followers than Facebook likes.

Since Twitter is viewed as less personal, people are more inclined to follow companies and marketers, making it easier to grow an audience.

Furthermore, even if tweets are significantly less valuable than likes, they still do add value. A five dollar tweet is still five dollars that the company did not have before. It is still, most likely, very much worth the time and effort to participate in Twitter.

That being said, Twitter is clearly a game of quantity over quality for social media, where Facebook is more about building fewer, higher-quality connections.

On that note, marketers, large and small, need to be aware of these differences and learn how to use these two promotional tools to their advantage. Ignoring the nature of these two services risks making your time on them useless.

Both sites still matter but have very different cultures and goals. What’s right for one is not right for the other and, at times, a business that does well on one won’t on the other, The goal isn’t to find the “best” solution for everyone but, rather, to find the best solution for your particular needs.

That, in turn, is why demographics like OnChomp’s can be so important, helping paint a clearer picture of what the sites can provide. - source

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Using Twitter To Generate Website Traffic

‘Twitter Traffic’ as some call it, is a great way to get some targeted visitors to your websites. Twitter is simply a social networking site that allows small updates of 140 characters long to be posted for anybody viewing your Twitter account. You also have the option to use Twitter in conjunction to your cell phone or Blackberry, making the whole promotion of your content and traffic generation easy. Whether someone writes a blog or if they have a business online, everyone wants to attract more people to their website.

You will find that your company or blog has more and more followers that are eager to see your updates on Twitter. It’s as simple as signing up for Twitter and posting messages. The possibilities are endless for how well you can use Twitter to your advantage. Twitter can get the word out quick about a new product, an affiliate product, a company event or anything else you may want to announce.

If you want to generate good traffic try not to abuse the benefits of Twitter. The regular tweets that you send across do make a big difference to your account but at the same time, as a marketer, you have to be aware of how much time you dedicate to each method and be efficient. You want to automate the process as much as you can. There are websites available that can help you accomplish this, including socialoomph.com which allows you to send micro messages to your entire list at one time, or at set intervals. In this way, you can spend the bulk of your time growing your account, because you will be saving approximately 30 – 60 minutes per day, by not having to type each message separately.

This is a good way to start taking things to the next level. Since Twitter lets you tweet links you can use it to link to your website and drive traffic. This is also an example of a feature that should not be overused, and it is recommended that you limit your posting of promotional links. You can also generate traffic directly from your profile because followers can see the relevant links that are posted there. You must first have a good understanding of who or what your intended audience is, in order to make the most of the opportunities to generate traffic from Twitter. Gain your followers trust by regularly providing accurate information and you will have good luck increasing the traffic to your site or your promotional deals.

If you have done any degree of homework on Twitter marketing, you will be aware that increasing the number of people that follow you and staying in contact with them is one of Twitter’s most significant traffic generating components. However, these aren’t the only ways to drive targeted traffic to your website or blog. The best part about Twitter is that you can tweet your updates and include a link in the update that leads people directly to what you are talking about on your site. If you want people to know about a product of yours, all you have to do is tweet a link that will take them to the page the product is on. Over time, you will be able to design new strategies for promoting your business or blog and find more creative ways to introduce links into your tweets on Twitter, which will help draw more visitors to your site.

Twitter is new but it is powerful because of its fast growing. The amount of people you can reach through Twitter is astounding, and is only growing. The opportunities Twitter offers are boundless. All you need to do is put a bit of common sense with an effective marketing strategy to see real time results.

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HTC 8X Windows Phone Review

The HTC 8X Windows Phone is one of three flaghsip devices for the new OS. Justin Williams gauges how it measures up to the competition in an increasingly-crowded sector.

I've always had a soft spot for HTC's phones. The Taiwanese company was among the first to bring a touchscreen smartphone to the UK and was an early trailblazer for Android back in 2007. Its HD7 was an understated but worthy competitor when pitched against Nokia's colourful Lumia range in the small group of devices that ran Windows Phone 7. And, of course, it sold container-ship loads of Android devices up until 2011 when sales – thanks to aggressive marketing by Samsung – began to fall off a cliff.

So there's a lot riding on the 8X for HTC. Again it's up against a big brash phone from Nokia in the form of the Lumia 920 which seems to have a Frankenstorm marketing effort behind it as well as a flagship Windows phone from Samsung. It may not be a make-or-break device but we should not underestimate how important it is for HTC that this phone holds its own against the Lumia.

Hardware

The bald specs may suggest that the 8X isn't anything special but let's make no mistake here – this is an absolutely gorgeous phone. From its unibody design with its polycarbonate back through to a fabulous 4.3" LCD 2 screen, the 8X oozes quality. At 10.6mm it is thicker than both an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy SIII. But the 8X has tapered edges giving it a good grip and making it feel as slim as both the Apple and Samsung flagships. The phone isn't especially light but it sits evenly in the hand and the polycarbonate makes the hard plastic finish of the SIII and HTC's own One X feel cheap and slippery by comparison. Only the iPhone beats it in terms of design quality.

The physical buttons on the 8X – the power button on the top and the rocker and camera switches on the side – as well as the camera and flash are all flush with the body giving the phone a smooth profile whatever the viewing angle and HTC has reverted to placing the micro USB port on the phone's base rather on the side as with the One series.

Our review phone came in California Blue and the 8X will also be available in black, red and yellow

The phone is sealed so there's no access to the 1,800mAh battery but we had no issues here getting a full day of high usage out of it in contrast to the One X which was a great phone badly let down by its battery life.

What will almost certainly be an issue, though, is that the 8X comes with only 16GB of storage on board and no microSD slot (Windows Phone 8 does not support this). HTC points to the free 7GB of Skydrive storage giving an 8X user the ability to stream music to the device ignoring the reality for most of us who spend much of our lives outside 3G or WiFi zones. With the iPhone 5 offering up to 64GB and even the Lumia 920 having 32GB on board, one really has to question what astral plane HTC’s design team were on when they plumped for such a parsimonius amount of memory.

If your previous experience with Windows phones stretches only to Phone 7 then you’ll find the 8X quick… very quick. It opens apps, renders web pages and fires up the camera at near light speed compared to, say, the Nokia Lumia 900 or even an iPhone 4S which was no slouch in its day.

Display

Coupled with Windows Phone’s Live Tiles, the 8X’s 720 x 1280 pixel HD display is stunning. The pixel density (342 PPI) is higher than on the Nokia Lumia 920 and even the iPhone 5. Colours are rendered accurately and, even zoomed in, details are sharp and clear. We couldn’t detect any noticeable colour bias and there isn’t a hint of oversaturation.

Glare does not appear to be a problem and we were able to use the phone even in strong direct sunlight.

Until now, I’ve found Kindle books to be difficult to read on anything except an iPhone’s Retina display but this is as pleasurable on an 8X as a larger device.

Cameras

The 8X has a f/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens on the back coupled with a dedicated imaging chip which deliver the best results I’ve ever managed to squeeze out of a smartphone. The pictures are incredibly good for a point and shoot device whether close up or at a distance. Depth of field is good as is colour reproduction with sharp, accurately rendered colours that veer more towards under rather than oversaturation. Close-up, the macro performance is stunning with great detail reproduction even in low light.

Video capture is also up there with the best in class delivering 1080p at 30fps with a noticeable lack of wind noise and very speedy processing.

On the front, HTC has introduced a 2.1mp, f/2.0 wide angle camera allowing the social narcissists among us to start including up to three friends in those all-important profile and status shots.

Software

With Phone 8 development, Microsoft has gone down the Apple route opting to nip and tuck rather than radically overhaul the OS. It’s a brave strategy given the disappointing sales for Phone 7. But it’s the right decision – Windows Phone’s live tiles are far enough removed from the static icons of iOS and the confusing widget farm that Android has become to put clear blue water between Microsoft and its competitors.

Our testing predated the relaunch of the Windows Phone Store so we weren’t able to see the promised range of updated apps but it probably fair to say that this will continue to be very limited compared with the iOS App Store or Google Play. Those of us who desperately want to see a proper Twitter app or Dropbox on a Windows phone are likely to be still waiting months from now.

First introduced with its One series, HTC has included Beats audio technology with the 8X delivering an amazing depth and range of sound on even the cheapest in-ear earphones. But the inclusion of such an amazing sound system only serves to make the decision to limit on-board storage to 16GB appear even more bizarre.

What truly differentiates a Windows device from all the media-centric phones out there is its Office integration. With Phone 8 we’re still waiting for track changes on Word documents but tables and tabulation now render accurately and spreadsheets look and work like real Excel creations. For those of us who occasionally use a phone to grab a picture or a thought and share it with a desktop or tablet, the OneNote integration is fantastic and for the productivity minded this could be the deal sealer.

Microsoft is now bundling Nokia maps with all of its phones so you can download maps for most of the world and use them offline. This is a stroke of genius but one really does wonder what Nokia was thinking about when it decided to give away what was probably its last remaining USP.

I’d like to be able to say that web browsing on the 8X is pleasurable but Microsoft has failed to fix two of the biggest flaws with Phone 7: rendering and bookmarks. Pages still fail to render flawlessly leading to text and pictures overlapping on some sites giving the updated (and admittedly very quick) Internet Explorer an early 2002 Symbian feel. And as for bookmarks, the inability to manage and arrange your web bookmarks in folders or any other kind of coherent structure – rather than one long list – is baffling and, frankly, inexcusable.

Conclusion

The HTC Windows Phone 8X is a beautiful device with a delightful form factor. It is without doubt the best phone that HTC has made and has enough punch to be seriously considered alongside the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII. On paper, it seems to beat the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC has moved heaven and earth to get it to market on time which must give it a head start over the other Windows signature phones. The cameras – both front and back – are class leading and the image results breathtaking for a phone.

But it isn’t without its flaws, most notably the limited on-board storage which will make gaining adoption among music lovers an uphill struggle. - source

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Understanding the difference between AMOLED vs LCD

Display technology is often a key battleground when it comes to top of the line handsets. But it’s not just display resolution and screen size that you’ll find on a spec sheet, manufactures also list different display types to choose between as well. Often you’ll find that manufactures stick to a particular display type, such as Samsung with its AMOLED technology or HTC opting for LCD, citing certain benefits over the competitions’ technology.

So let’s find out if really there’s a noticeable difference between these two displays technologies, if there is what sort of differences we can expect, and if the company marketing hype is to be believed.

The technology

First things first, let’s quickly go over the technological differences between the two display types before we delve into how this affects the consumer experience.

We’ll start with LCD, which stands for Liquid Crystal Display. The properties of this liquid crystal are a little complicated, but the important thing to know is that liquid crystals untwist when an electric charge is applied to them, which affects the frequency of the light transmitted through it. Combine this will two polarized panels and you can control the flow of light by twisting and untwisting the crystal molecules.

However, these liquid crystal materials don’t emit any light of their own, so a backlight is used behind the filter layer in order to generate light. A grid of integrated circuits is then used to control each pixel, by sending a charge down into a specific row or column. Colors are created by the use of red, green, and blue filters, known as sub pixels, which are then blended by varying degrees to produce different colors.

The construction of a red LCD pixel

AMOLED, on the other hand, uses lots of tiny colored light emitting diodes (LEDs) to produce light and different colors, which sounds quite a bit simpler. By adjusting the voltage, and therefore the brightness, of each of these red, green, and blue LEDs you can create a wide range of colors, or lack of colors (blacks).

The showdown

The most noticeable difference between these two screen types is the range of colors that can be displayed. The available colors that can be displayed are known as the color gamut, which is a portion of all colors that can be seen by the human eye.

Most types of media fit into the standard RBG color gamut, which most LCD screens aim to match. This is often why LCD screens are considered to be the most natural, but that’s simply because it most closely matches the color range used by other sorts of media. AMOLED displays offer a much larger gamut than LCDs, which can cause images to look much more vibrant.

The reason for the large differences lies in the way that these technologies work. Because LEDs can be individually controlled to a much greater extent, and development isn’t so concerned with the quality of filters as is the case with LCD, it allows the display to produce a wider gamut due to superior blending of primary colors. Another benefit of AMOLED is the greater control over blacks, which is achieved by dimming or turning off individual LEDs.

A gamut comparison between the Galaxy S4′s AMOLED display and the HTC One’s LCD display. The curved shape represents the visible spectrum, the black triangle is the sRGB gamut, and the white line is each display’s gamut. Notice the additional greens and blues with the S4.

However, a wider range of colours isn’t always better, as it can lead to images look oversaturated and can cause pictures to end up looking a tad distorted in extreme cases.

The strange thing here though is that LCD manufactures often aren’t satisfied with the look of their displays. In an attempt to make their displays look more vibrant, possibly just to keep up with the marketing of AMOLED displays, some LCD device manufactures often mess around with the levels of saturation, which can also end up ruining the color balance. If you’re looking for vibrant colors, then you’re probably better off with an AMOLED display with a decent colour balance, rather than an oversaturated LCD display. If you’re interested in a closer look at AMOLED/LCD saturation, then I highly recommend this video by Erica Griffin.

But it’s not all bad news for AMOLED displays, the technology does have some advantages over LCD. For a start the viewing angle tends to be a bit wider, as light can only travel through the LCDs crystal molecules and polarized panels at a limited angle, although this does vary from handset to handset. LEDs also react faster to changes in voltage than crystal molecules, which means that response times are often faster on AMOLED displays too.

One final point to consider is power consumption. As LCD displays are constantly powered by a backlight they tend to draw more power than OLED based displays, which can turn off LEDs when displaying darker images. However, different colored LEDs have different levels of power consumption, so energy draw is more consistent and predictable when used LCD technology.

This chart shows the lifespan of different colored PHOLEDs. Although the technology is a little different to AMOLED, the difference in colour lifespans is typical of all LED based displays.

The different LED energy levels can also shorten the lifespan of the displays. The blue pixels in LED displays require the most energy to power, but that also means that they can burn out faster. After a long time this can result in a slight tinting over part or all of an AMOLED display.

So which display wins

I know it’s a cop out, and you might here this a lot, but in the end it really is down to personal preference. Even within the same display types there are varying levels of saturation, gamut, and differences in calibration, so picking the best display type for yourself isn’t really an exact science. You could like HTC’s LCD displays but absolutely hate the look of LG’s. Typically, those looking for more vibrant displays will be better off with AMOLED, but well built and properly calibrated LCDs may provide a more realistic look.

On top of that, each technology has its own advantages and disadvantages that are also worth considering. If you’re looking for a long lasting display then you might be better off with LCD to avoid pixel degradation, whilst consumers looking for a better battery life and a wide range of colors could be better off with AMOLED. - source

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Facebook Now Owns Your Instagram Content

Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, is going to continue to allow users to post their images, photos and related content to its platform entirely free of charge. But, Instagram has just informed its users that any content posted to Instagram is essentially the property of Instagram.

Here is how Instagram worded its announcement, which boils down to the fact that anything you post publicly to Instagram can be used by the company in any way it sees fit: "By displaying or publishing ("posting") any content on or through the Instagram Services, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such content, including without limitation distributing part or all the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except content not shared publicly ("private") will not be distributed outside the Instagram Services."

So, there you have it. Of course, if anyone is truly surprised by this development, then they're not stopping to think about Instagram's business model and its ramifications. By now, most Internet users understand that if a service is free, like Facebook, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn - and so on and so forth - then the product is actually the user and their data. User data in all forms becomes the product that is mined, sold, rented and re-purposed by all levels of advertising and marketing initiatives on behalf of corporate entities around the globe.

User data becomes the cornerstone of the new marketing initiatives that will be served to consumers in the hopes that they will consume even more of the products and services produced by the world's corporations. And that cycle continues indefinitely, until it no longer works.

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This Controversial Invention Promises to Banish All Web Ads

The unassuming rectangular box that you’re seeing can, in some ways, be thought of as a time machine.

Its inventors, Chad Russell and Charles Butkus, conceived of the device as a way for users to surf web pages without being inundated by the proliferation of advertisements, reminiscent of how people experienced it in the good old early days of the internet. “The idea started as a casual conversation with a friend about how cluttered the internet had become,” says Russell. “These days not only do you have banner ads, but also video commercials and advertising embedded into you mobile apps. They’re everywhere.”

After testing several hacked “Linux boxes” as prototypes, the duo came up with AdTrap, a mini-computer that connects to both your router and modem, and functions as an advertising firewall. The final product was designed to be entirely hardware-based so that it automatically removes all ads without the need for installed software or configuration. Simply plug it in and the low-powered machine instantly blocks out display ads, app-based ads and even the type of video ads commonly programmed into your favorite YouTube videos. And, it enables users to do this on every one of their devices.

“The unique thing about AdTrap is that it is run on a full web server, so it has better ad blocking abilities than just software,” Russell says. “And the ability to prevent video commercials from rolling is a new innovation, which I believe makes it interesting.”

Only a month after launching a funding campaign in November on the crowdsourcing site Kickstarter, Russell and his development team at the Palo Alto-based security software startup Bluepoint Security well exceeded their fundraising goal, finishing with $213,392 worth of seed money.

Since the simple days of text, photos and links, online advertising has become big business, essentially subsidizing much of what exists on the web. Data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau reveals that a record $20 billion was spent on advertising in the first half of this year alone, doubling the amount spent in 2007.

Third party solutions designed to combat this intrusive trend isn’t anything new. Popular browser plug-ins like AdBlock Plus have been widely available for a a few years now, and fundamentally, AdTrap employs many of the same strategies. But the mere fact that users can put in place such comprehensive ad filtering, and do it with such ease, can, in the long run, pose a substantial threat to the main source of revenue for a vast percentage of major publications (not to mention Silicon Valley stalwarts such as Facebook and Google).

As the project has rolled ahead (shipment began in August), Russell has yet to receive a single legal challenge or even stir up any complaints. He isn’t at all surprised since he sees the device as neatly falling into the same category as other widely-accepted means of filtering internet content, such as firewall security systems and parental control software like NetNanny. He also doesn’t think of the project as a means of waging war on advertising.

“We are not against ads,” says Russell. “The main problem with the way a lot of advertisements work nowadays is that they encroach upon people’s privacy by collecting data on their online activity, which many prefer outside parties not to have. Basically, internet users are paying for content by trading in their private information.”

Russell is hardly alone in working towards developing alternatives that would help users protect their privacy. Recently, a team of former Google employees figured out a way to buck their former employers by releasing Disconnect search, a free browser plug-in that prevents search engines such Google, Bing and Yahoo from keeping tabs on your search habits. The uprising against the long arm of marketing has reached a level where Russell says that even advertisers are fearing broader ramifications on the industry as a whole.

In fact, he mentioned that the company has begun negotiating with a small number of prominent firms to formulate a model that just might work better for all parties involved. For example, a few of the discussions have revolved around a potential opt-in system that gives users the choice to allow for ads from certain parties in exchange for a small payment. The advantage for sellers, he explains, is the potential to receive more individual attention from audiences without having them become annoyed by the sheer barrage of flashing click bait.

Even so, there are still other pressing concerns. Like, for instance, what if the technology eventually takes off? Would the internet, as a whole, suffer? Will it lead to sites cutting back on content, or might cash-strapped outlets resort to producing cheaper, lower-quality content?

Russell argues that online publishers need to continue evolving as they’ve always been. He points out that other media entities, like Pandora, have shifted to giving users a choice between having to listen to ads and the option of a commercial-free paid subscription.

“Listen, I wouldn’t like to see every site put up a paywall either,” says Russell. “But when you rely solely on advertising, it’s almost like you’re saying content isn’t worth anything. People should be allowed other means to subsidize content. If you’re against that, it makes me wonder what the value of that content is in the first place.” - source

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Miccrosoft 1 Million Xbox-One Sales in Less Than 24 Hours

Microsoft Corporation has announced that it has sold more than 1 million of new Xbox One units within 24 hours. The new console has set a record for first day Xbox sale. Xbox One has been launched in 13 countries world-wide. Microsoft calls it the biggest launch in Xbox history.

Company said that Xbox One has already been sold out at more of the retailers. Company also promised to replenish stock as fast as possible.

“We are humbled and grateful for the excitement of Xbox fans around the world,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, Xbox. “Seeing thousands of excited fans lined up to get their Xbox One and their love for gaming was truly a special moment for everyone on the Xbox team. We are working hard to create more Xbox One consoles and look forward to fulfilling holiday gift wishes this season.”

At the time of launch, 22 titles are available for Xbox One including 10 exclusive games. Microsoft has also revealed some stats about the games played on Xbox one so far. According to company, Xbox One users have:

• Killed more than 60 million zombies in Dead Rising 3
• Driven more than 3.6 million miles in Forza Motorsport 5
• Completed more than 7.1 million combos in Killer Instinct
• Defeated more than 8.5 million enemies in Ryse: Son of Rome
• Earned more than 43.3 million Fit Points in Xbox Fitness

Xbox One comes with better gaming experience, TV, Skype, Sports, Fitness, Music and much more in one gaming device in you living room. You can also control it by giving voice command.

Few days back, Sony has also claimed to sell 1 million PS 4 in 24 hours. It seems that gaming console market is going to have tough competition.

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Jazztel Bonding the new alternative to VDSL

Since the launch by Jazztel of 30/1.5 (now 3) over VDSL, users are away from their central longed for access to this service in order to obtain maximum performance in their lines.

But the strict conditions of employment for VDSL so far have not allowed that dream can become a reality. The only hope for these users on copper pair, almost the majority, and not eligible modalities Cable / FTTH, is that ADSL operators implemented the ADSL bonding as an alternative.

At this point, all plants covered Jazztel VDSL are prepared and ready to start offering turn bonding. As confirmed by the Director of the Division of Residential and CMO Jazztel, Luis del Pozo, in an exclusive interview to bandaancha.eu (and soon to be available on the cover of this page) from the first half of the next 2011, Jazztel plans to launch its marketing Bonding + service, which will offer its existing users synchronization values ​​similar to those enjoyed by lucky customers with coverage for VDSL2.

Bonding +, the alternative to VDSL Jazztel

According to the Well, Jazztel "always attentive to the suggestions of its customers, has decided to launch this new modality, to bring those most affected by the distance factor solution both an economic and high quality. Currently our team technical closely with Huawei technicians, working around the clock for final tuning of Jazztel DSLAM and interesting alternative to offer this in the first third of 2011 "

Recall that the ADSL bonding involves using two lines on copper loop, doubling the theoretical maximum speed of ADSL2 +. This, in addition to the core, and require two physical copper pairs connected to two DSLAM ports, the subscriber must have a router compatible with this standard, from which hang two microfilters, one per line.

Net equipment: Comtrend NexusLink 5631Hg

The company chosen to provide new equipment for customers who sign this new option has been, as it was almost predictable, Comtrend which in turn is working hard to adapt their new NexusLink 5631Hg to the requirements of the operator and the deadlines set by this.

Thus, the new router must support IPv6, be compatible with the standard N and take at least one Gigabit Ethernet port, which lacks elements Based Comtrend model, which itself has two USB port ready to connect external storage devices or usb printer.

Until then, the limited beta tester of this new modality being used to test the latest tuning its predecessor, the NexusLink 5631 , the same team that the British operator BE is provided its users with bonding.

Source photo beusergroup.co.uk / technotes / index.php? xusLink_5631 you ...

Note that although the new method is not intended Bonding + exceed benefits Premium VDSL2 mode, in some lines in tests has achieved up to 40 Mbps in the downstream channel, as we can see here

The price

The trading prices of Jazztel Bonding + are defined yet, but according to the Well, should not exceed the service VDSL, although the cost of keeping the two lines and the launch of the service in the customer's home could reach somewhat expensive product, but, in his own words "along with the usual policy of Jazztel try to strive, as far as possible in the least possible impact these costs to the end user"

Recall that the cost of Jazztel VDSL, right now (final price and without promotions) only exceeds in just 2 € to 20 Mbps service to the operator's intention would then be to not beat this price for users Bonding + hire.

In the coming days we will have more details and information on this interesting scoop that we advance here more summary, on the cover of bandaancha.eu

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Malware hijacks Twitter accounts to send dangerous links

Twitter users in the Netherlands are being targeted by a piece of malware that hijacks their accounts, according to security vendor Trusteer.

The software vulnerability lies on the client computers of people using Twitter and not Twitter itself. Once a computer is infected, the malware injects JavaScript into the victim’s browser when they’re on their Twitter account page. The malware steals the user’s authentication token, which allows it to make calls to Twitter’s API (application programming interface) and post tweets.

Dana Tamir, Trusteer’s director of product marketing, wrote that the malware had been used in the past to steal user credentials for financial accounts but has been modified for Twitter.

The malware tweets messages in Dutch such as “Our new King William will earn even more than Beatrix. Check his salary” and “Beyonce falls during the Super Bowl concert, very funny!!!!” along with links.

Although Trusteer said it did not follow the links, it is suspected the links are malicious and aimed at infecting new users. The links are shortened URLs, making it impossible to tell where the links lead.

Hackers will send malicious links to potential victims that, if followed, will land them on a website that tries to attack the person’s web browser, looking for vulnerabilities in which to exploit and deliver malware.

“This attack is particularly difficult to defend against because it uses a new sophisticated approach to spear-phishing,” Tamir wrote. “Twitter users follow accounts that they trust. Because the malware creates malicious tweets and sends them through a compromised account of a trusted person or organization being followed, the tweets seem to be genuine.” - source

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MIPS-based eCosCentric Developer's Kit Now Available!

MIPS Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications, and eCosCentric Limited, the eCos and RedBoot experts, today announced that eCosCentric has ported its eCosPro® open source real-time operating system (RTOS) to the microMIPS™ instruction set architecture (ISA).

eCosCentric has also made available its eCosPro Developer’s Kit for the MIPS32® M14K™ and M14Kc™ cores, which are based on the microMIPS ISA. This builds on support for other MIPS cores already offered by eCosCentric.

With the robust, feature-rich and fully-supported eCosPro RTOS for the M14K and M14Kc cores, users can choose from a rich set of supported peripherals, network stacks and file systems. They can become productive quickly with the full Eclipse-based development environment that packages the RTOS. Since the eCosPro Developer’s Kits for MIPS cores were built and tested using standard MIPS reference designs, engineers can start building applications within a few minutes.

“The ecosystem of third party support for our microMIPS ISA and M14K cores continues to grow, and we are excited to offer our licensees who are designing products around these technologies access to the highly popular eCosPro RTOS. We are seeing interest in the combination of eCosPro and microMIPS among our customers for a range of cost-, speed- and resource-constrained applications,” said Art Swift, vice president of marketing and business development, MIPS Technologies.

According to Alex Schuilenburg, managing director/CEO at eCosCentric, “We are pleased to add to our existing support for MIPS cores by porting eCosPro to the microMIPS ISA. Existing eCos users will be able to migrate quickly to eCosPro on the new microMIPS architecture, leveraging their existing application and system design knowledge. They also have the assurance of guaranteed commercial support direct from the original designers of the RTOS.”

Availability

The eCosPro Developer’s Kit for the M14K and M14Kc cores and microMIPS on the SEAD™-3 reference board is available directly from eCosCentric, with packages of support to suit teams of varying sizes. eCosCentric can also tailor-build a run-time to meet customer requirements. Visit www.ecoscentric.com/ecospro.shtml, contact info@ecoscentric.com or visit stand #2319 at the Embedded Systems Conference – Silicon Valley 2011 for more information.

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