CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-06-19 11:23:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Help improve moderation in Google+ Communities!
Please reshare
Do you moderate a Community? I'm a researcher at Google and we'd love to get your feedback on what's working and how we can make it better. If you've got five minutes to take our survey we'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TgivTZeHpR7QTzhjQ9Clk1RF8egE6lwWEIoo8sL1Ppw/viewform

2013-06-19 01:43:01 (12 comments, 7 reshares, 26 +1s)

Make the New Notifications Drop-down Work for You

The new notifications drop-down provides much more capability than was available previously. The beauty of this is that you can use the unread notifications section as a Google+ to-do list. You can look at the list, handle important notifications immediately, leave some to handle later, and remove others. 

Notifications are now listed in two groups, ones you have not read and ones that were Previously read. In addition, unread notifications can be either new or not. A new notification is one that was added to the list since the last time you opened the Notifications list.

A bell icon replaced the old notification counter icon, and the icon provides useful information itself. The icon is only an outline of a bell when there are no unread notification but is solid (as shown below) if there are unread notifications. Then... more »

2013-06-19 00:12:12 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Best possible outcome of a rained out Durham Bulls game

2013-06-19 00:10:44 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 28 +1s)

Best possible outcome of a rained out Durham Bulls game

2013-06-18 22:38:20 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

We've got a wonderful Men's Health Month Hangout this Friday with +Mark Traphagen and +Martin W. Smith speaking about their experience with cancer. Mark has recovered from rectal cancer and Martin has terminal leukemia and is starting a website, http://curecancerstarter.org, to fund cancer research. They'll be speaking at 7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST. http://bit.ly/11rVF5M

2013-06-18 22:36:29 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Baseball on the deck of Noah's Ark

2013-06-18 19:08:10 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

My Brit Lit Honors students ended their year with Hamlet videos. Such fun!

2013-06-18 18:06:41 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Amazing! Great way to make the outdoors more accessible.

cc +REI

2013-06-18 18:04:16 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Terry Simmonds you said, "the fact Google themselves use the rel=author tag on business pages throughout Google+"

I'm confused by that. I cannot find a business page that has rel=author markup on it. Can you provide an example, or clarify what you mean by that statement?

2013-06-18 14:55:03 (10 comments, 5 reshares, 10 +1s)

Healthcare Online Marketing Seminar

Come to the Research Triangle Park near Raleigh, North Carolina, for this content-packed morning of training, case studies, and valuable information for healthcare providers, professionals,and related businesses. 

Learn how to use free Google tools and services to increase the reach of your healthcare business. Click the link for details!

2013-06-18 14:26:44 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

Cool SEO Tool & Recovery Tips
Let's say your website, that magical set of content, images and navigation, has taken a severe Google Panda or Penguin hit. What do you do? 

First you confirm that Google's new algorithm is the problem. I don't know a better way to do that than use Panguin. Panguin 2.0 launched yesterday and it is an even better version of something that was already cool. 

Panguin is such a simple tool. Panguin overlays the dates of Google's changes, labels them (letting you know if you have a content or link spam problem or both) and it uses YOUR data. 

If you depend on organic SEO to make your numbers shame on you. Internet marketing is a game of diversification. You must, must, must be strong in at least 3 channels (PPC, social, organic SEO, video marketing, email marketing, cause marketing, etc...). If you depend on anysi... more »

2013-06-18 14:06:03 (1 comments, 11 reshares, 27 +1s)

SEO: How to Rank in Search Engines

Here's your #SEO Bible, from the incomparable +Cyrus Shepard and the folks at +Moz 

2013-06-18 12:17:58 (17 comments, 4 reshares, 19 +1s)

Google: Stock Images Do Not Hurt Your Search Rankimgs

But they sure do affect the way users view your site. I can spot a stock image from a mile away, and for some reason it always has a negative vibe for me. Seems to cheapen the content for some reason. Do obvious stock images affect you that way?

2013-06-18 11:49:17 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

Google Released the Spam Algorithm  Last Wednesday to target spammy niches & illegal link building..

2013-06-18 11:37:19 (18 comments, 5 reshares, 18 +1s)

More than the Sum of Us

"When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you." said Nietzsche. He was talking about the connection between the observer and the observed (what Heisenberg enshrined in his Uncertainty Principle) where the more you look and the more you understand the less certain you become. 

The moment everything devolves into the realm of statistical probability you get the manifestation of the Quantum Mechanical world where everything is possible but some things are more probable but only when viewed from a certain perspective which then makes everything relative. 

A post I did not intend to write, for instance, (http://goo.gl/tyFzF) mentioned fishing and a fisherman I met on a chance encounter. I do not talk about fishing – like ever. +Bruce Marko  mentioned his grandfather was a fisherman, +Nikolaos Bogioglou  mentioned that hefishe... more »

2013-06-18 11:14:55 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Hysterical!

2013-06-18 01:57:23 (24 comments, 4 reshares, 20 +1s)

First PageRank 8 Google+ Page Found!

Paging +Euro Maestro   and +Joshua Berg

To my knowledge, https://plus.google.com/+googleenterprise/posts is the first PR 8 Google+ entity we've discovered. Credit goes to +Paul Shapiro (@fighto on Twitter) who alerted me to it on Twitter.

Previous to this (unless I missed the news) the highest PR we had found was +Barack Obama's 7.

Update: the +Google+ official page is also an 8.

2013-06-17 23:47:25 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

I will drink this while I re-watch the three seasons:))

2013-06-17 23:41:57 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Our Brand New Bag
Ever see those old James Brown clips where he looks exhausted, his helpers come out on stage, drape a cape over his shoulders and begin to walk James out only to have him shrug those shoulders, run in place with those amazing feet and return to the microphone?

Brown's "new bag" is startling, full of FUNK and rhythm and new. So too better be our Internet marketing. Added attribution to this piece to make sure +Phil Buckley, +David Amerland, +Mark Traphagen and +Amy Lewis  received the credit they deserve. There is a brand new bag and we can't leave the stage just yet. 

2013-06-17 23:34:04 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

A Bit of Youthful Brilliance

This past Saturday I had a table at the North Carolina Maker Faire at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. I was showing young people how to make quick LEGO stop motion animation videos using the Vine 6-second video app. 

Most of the kids did fairly random stuff, which was great. They were having fun, being creative, and learning what you could do with a very simple tool.

And then there was Audrey.

This 10-year-old young lady went to work on her video while her father and I chatted amiably nearby. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she seemed a little more intense, a little more "in to it" than most of the other kids had been. 

After a few minutes she was ready to show us her creation. And for the rest of the day people were pulling their friends and relatives from across the crowdede... more »

2013-06-17 23:33:36 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

A Bit of Youthful Brilliance

This past Saturday I had a table at the North Carolina Maker Faire at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. I was showing young people how to make quick LEGO stop motion animation videos using the Vine 6-second video app. 

Most of the kids did fairly random stuff, which was great. They were having fun, being creative, and learning what you could do with a very simple tool.

And then there was Audrey.

This 10-year-old young lady went to work on her video while her father and I chatted amiably nearby. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she seemed a little more intense, a little more "in to it" than most of the other kids had been. 

After a few minutes she was ready to show us her creation. And for the rest of the day people were pulling their friends and relatives from across the crowdede... more »

2013-06-17 20:58:10 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 17 +1s)

First Posts Ever on Major Web Sites

They say you always remember your first....

This site shows you the first ever post or product on a bunch of the biggest most famous sites on the web. 

What was the first YouTube video uploaded?
What was the first question asked on Quora?
What was the first thing posted on Reddit?

Those answers and plenty more at this intriguing site!

2013-06-17 20:45:52 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 13 +1s)

rel=author vs rel=publisher: When to Use Each

I've noticed time and again that there is rampant confusion about the difference between Author and Publisher verification (rel=author vs. rel=publisher). This post is my attempt to disambiguate the two, and to explain what I think their proper usage is.

Let me know if you have questions, or even disagree with my take!

2013-06-17 15:40:12 (14 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

Hangout Marketing Secrets - starting in an hour.

Let's talk engagement and author-rank with the one and only +Mark Traphagen and explain why Your Google+ Network is More Powerful than You Think.

Join us here: goo.gl/Yl5P6

----------
#hms   #hangoutmarketingsecrets   #authorrank   #engagement  

2013-06-17 12:06:36 (0 comments, 12 reshares, 31 +1s)

Advanced Authorship: The Deep Dive

This post has coverage from +Search Engine Land of the Google Authorship panel on which I participated last week at #SMX Advanced in Seattle, including a summary and list of take-aways from each panelist's presentation.

See (and hear!) my complete presentation "Google+ Profile Page Rank: Is It the Real AuthorRank?" at http://www.slideshare.net/marktraphagen/google-profile-page-rank-the-real-authorrank-smx-advanced-2013-22828686

#smxadvanced   #authorship   #googleauthorship   #authorrank   #gplusseo   #seo  

2013-06-17 11:50:50 (1 comments, 6 reshares, 21 +1s)

rel=author vs rel=publisher: When to Use Each

I've noticed time and again that there is rampant confusion about the difference between Author and Publisher verification (rel=author vs. rel=publisher). This post is my attempt to disambiguate the two, and to explain what I think their proper usage is.

Let me know if you have questions, or even disagree with my take!

2013-06-16 21:49:51 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 50 +1s)

"There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience."

--Jean de la Bruyere 
 

2013-06-16 21:37:48 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 49 +1s)

This is Why We Loved JC Kendall

The man was honest. I will yell science as well JC.

2013-06-15 10:52:36 (12 comments, 6 reshares, 59 +1s)

Why Google+ Is Under No Pressure to Have Ads

Back in December I wrote a post that became more controversial than any Google+-related post I'd ever written: http://www.virante.org/blog/2012/12/21/google-plus-ads-will-there-be-any-what-will-they-look-like/ In it I insisted that it would be a long, long time before we would see any advertising in Google+, and that I believed it quite possible we never would.

Here's a quote from Google's Andy Rubin that I read this morning in the book In the Plex. In context, he was speaking about why Google wasn't charging for the turn-by-turn directions service built into mobile Google Maps, but I believe Google thinks the same way about Google+:

Rubin said, "We don't monetize the thing we create. We monetize the people that use our products. The more that people use our products, the more opportunity we have... more »

2013-06-15 10:36:47 (13 comments, 23 reshares, 38 +1s)

Authorship or Publisher: Which Is Right for What?

In this article I untangle the confusion around the two ways Google has given us to make verified connections between Google+ and our activity on the web: rel=author ("Authorship") and rel=publisher (verified brand pages). 

2013-06-15 10:10:54 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 17 +1s)

What if...the public square were everywhere?

2013-06-15 09:56:36 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 16 +1s)

The latest from us at Google X: Loon.

google.com/loon

2013-06-15 03:09:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Last Call

2013-06-15 03:08:14 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Last Call

2013-06-15 01:32:04 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

My other son putting +Project Glass to use for the first time. Like his 14-year-old brother, I gave him no instructions on what to do. All he knows is what he'd seen in that SNL skit :)

First he takes a picture, which goes so fast that he didn't realize it happened (I could tell, because I was screencasting what he was seeing to my Android phone). That made him say "Capture," and he continued on that way, thinking he could / should be able to just naturally tell the device what he wanted.

For example, later, after asking for directions, he tried to get it to zoom in on the address by saying "Zoom in." He did another search and tried to get Glass to take him to a web site (YouTube, probably to watch some gaming videos), but you can't do that (yet) in Glass.

At the end, without any training, he figures out how to send a message. Since he'sw... more »

2013-06-15 00:50:19 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Posters are here, they look killer! Only 50 were printed, get 'em while they last.

2013-06-15 00:36:46 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Northern Exposure Fans: Get Northern Exposed Published!

If you're a Northern Exposure fanatic like me, you'll want to know that the Indiegogo campaign to help Darren Burrows (aka Ed Chigliak) get his book and DVD documentary about the making (and unmaking) of our favorite TV show ever is down to the wire. Ends tonight!

2013-06-15 00:17:12 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Seattle Photos - June 2013

Some of my +Instagram shots from my trip to Seattle this week for #SMX Advanced

#smxadvanced   #seattle   #seattlephotographers  

2013-06-14 23:53:47 (9 comments, 4 reshares, 10 +1s)

New Layout For Local Search Results | Google Local Carousel  http://buff.ly/13MwcqL by +Greg Gifford 

2013-06-14 23:48:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

According to the book In the Plex, this was the fake consulting company Google set up for its representatives who were out scouting sites for possible data server farms, so as not to run up prices if people found out it was Google.

2013-06-14 23:20:35 (9 comments, 3 reshares, 28 +1s)

In the Plex: Google as Cheapskate

I'm finally reading In the Plex by +Steven Levy - who had unprecedented (and unlikely to be repeated) access to Google and top Googlers for several years.

One of the most startling and unexpected revelations in the book is how darn cheap Google was, and how that was one of their secrets of mega-growth. Most of us think of Google as being rather lavish: the extravagant perks for employees, the sprawling campus in Mountain View. But when it cam to building the massive infrastructure needed to make Google's massive data-crunching work, they were cheaper than a pawn shop manager.

Their mad method was to buy massive amounts of the cheapest, second-hand, no-name hardware they could find, especially for servers, and then plan for hardware failure at a level way above what any other tech business would have considered tolerable.more »

2013-06-14 22:37:51 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)

Sweet Google Glass tweet from +Danny Sullivan 

2013-06-14 21:39:33 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 16 +1s)

Now with SlideCast Audio!

OK, this is pretty darn cool....

I recorded a slide-by-slide audio track for my +SlideShare deck from my #SMX  Advanced presentation given earlier this week. Pretty much what I said at SMX, with a little embellishment.

Then using the SlideCast feature of Slideshare, I was able to upload the audio and sync it with the slides. So now if you hit the play button on my presentation there, you get the audio of my presentation, and the slides advance automatically at the appropriate moments.

This is great stuff. I'm never going to upload a silent presentation again.

2013-06-14 20:00:51 (10 comments, 6 reshares, 24 +1s)

rel=author vs rel=publisher: When to Use Each

I've noticed time and again that there is rampant confusion about the difference between Author and Publisher verification (rel=author vs. rel=publisher). This post is my attempt to disambiguate the two, and to explain what I think their proper usage is.

Let me know if you have questions, or even disagree with my take!

2013-06-14 19:46:41 (48 comments, 45 reshares, 72 +1s)

rel=author vs rel=publisher: When to Use Each

I've noticed time and again that there is rampant confusion about the difference between Author and Publisher verification (rel=author vs. rel=publisher). This post is my attempt to disambiguate the two, and to explain what I think their proper usage is.

Let me know if you have questions, or even disagree with my take!

2013-06-14 18:32:42 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Detroit Airport Dancing Fountain

Took this during my recent layover at the Detroit Airport. No decent beer in the entire terminal, but at least they have this ;-)

2013-06-14 18:31:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Detroit Airport Dancing Fountain

Took this during my recent layover at the Detroit Airport. No decent beer in the entire terminal, but at least they have this ;-)

2013-06-14 18:29:20 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Seenive Is Your Vine Profile on the Web

So far the popular Vine 6-second video app has not provided web profiles for its users. So there is nowhere on Vine.com that you can direct people to easily view your Vine videos on the web.

Seenive.com steps in to provide what Vine left out. If you have a Vine account, just go to the seenive.com home page and search for your Vine name. You'll see a nice profile page with all your public Vines on display.

Here's my profile on Seenive http://seenive.com/u/906730193534717952

#vine   #vineapp   #vinevideo  

2013-06-14 18:28:13 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Seenive Is Your Vine Profile on the Web

So far the popular Vine 6-second video app has not provided web profiles for its users. So there is nowhere on Vine.com that you can direct people to easily view your Vine videos on the web.

Seenive.com steps in to provide what Vine left out. If you have a Vine account, just go to the seenive.com home page and search for your Vine name. You'll see a nice profile page with all your public Vines on display.

Here's my profile on Seenive http://seenive.com/u/906730193534717952

#vine   #vineapp   #vinevideo  

2013-06-14 14:52:25 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 19 +1s)

Good article by +Janet Driscoll Miller that really underscores the scope of Google Authorship.

http://searchengineland.com/expanding-google-authorship-beyond-webpages-160782?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main