Month: December 2013

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Google+ Announces +Post Ads

Here’s another way that Google is monetizing the Web and the newest way that Google is boosting Google+ participation.

To help advertisers create visually rich and compelling experiences online, Google today announced that it’s testing a new type of monetization for Google+ called +Post ads. The new ad unit will let brands turn Google+ content into display ads that can run across the more than two million sites in the Google Display Network.” Read more online.

This is actually pretty big news. Let me help you to understand why.

1. Different than other social networking advertising, you don’t just reach your network, you reach Google’s network! If you advertise in the Google AdWords Display network, you’ll know that this means hundreds of thousands of impressions.

2. Google is anticipating that this new format will improve click through rate and user engagement. Make sure to watch the video of how Toyota is using +Post ads.

3. The key take away is the ability to connect with a large audience, allow immediate comments to the Google+ post, and one click sharability across platforms – Pretty revolutionary stuff!

4. If you want to try +Post ads, here is the beta sign up to get early involvement. Additionally here is more information from Google about +Post ads. Although I don’t have more information as to pricing, how the program is administered or who can and will be approved, based on what Google has done before I would imagine that there will be a separate ad interface as they used for Google Local ads called AdWords Express. AdWords Express is shown in the AdWords control panel but administered outside the AdWords control panel.

+Post ads just show another innovation from Google on how they are leading the way with mobile and social interaction and how your message can be relevant using Google advertising platforms to reach and engage a greater audience.

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Pocket – a Cool App That Allows You To Read Later

Don't let your pockets be empty! GetPocket helps you be productive.
Don’t let your pockets be empty! GetPocket helps you be productive.

Brian Shea of Seven Sages turned me on to this very cool app that you should check out, it is called GetPocket. Here’s what GetPocket is and what it can do.

Pocket allows you to save to read later any article or web page. By saving something of interest to your own Pocket account, you can read it on your phone, on your tablet, or on your desktop. You don’t even have to be online to be able to read the content!

To get started visit www.GetPocket.com. Chrome makes it easy to add a GetPocket app that sits in your browser top menu. IE makes it a little more difficult but follow these instructions and add it to your Favorites Bar. In this case you right click the orange button and then save to Favorites and then in the open list Favorites bar.

You can sort your links, delete them, and favorite them. You can add articles, videos, links whatever you want. Visit Google Play or the Apple Store to get the free smartphone app that expands it use tremendously.

For me, this is a fabulous tool as it takes everything that I want to read later and allows me to be more productive on the go. So often I find cool things or articles I want to read later to blog about and I have been saving them in Outlook for Saturday reading. But I have to be sitting at my computer to re-read them. Now, I can sign into GetPocket.com and read my articles sitting at the dentist waiting on kids or when I have a free moment out and about.

Thanks Brian, for letting me know about this very cool and helpful app/tool!

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Dealing with Teen Internet Addictions

Teens Taking Self Portrait with Camera PhoneThis generation we are raising up has always known Facebook, texting, and Twitter. They have been connected online and to each other electronically to a degree that many adults do not even embrace for work. While it seems like a good thing on the surface – teens are embracing technology which is good for their work futures, this is what I am seeing.

Oh, by the way I have triplet 16 year olds, so not only do I see what three are doing, but multiply this by the number of their friends as well. I am seeing a wide strata of 15, 16, and 17 year old teens.

1. Texting is out of control, not for every teen but for some. I have one who fits the category of a hypertexter. She had 8,000 tweets in a 30 day period before we took her phone away. What is concerning is this behavior is not about socializing by borders on addiction. With the instant interaction and need to respond immediately when a text comes in, this type of behavior crosses the line into concern. Studies have shown this type of behavior actually although appearing to be socializing is at such a superficial level that it is not relationship building. Additionally these online interactions can lead to a serious amount of drama in a teen’s life that sleep patterns are affected, grades drop, and depression becomes a common problem. Studies have shown that the same type of endorphins in the brain that are released with an addiction are released with hypertexters while they interact – highly concerning!

2. Inability to read body language and emotions – which is leading to increased bullying and rudeness. By connecting nearly full time with other teens online, kids are missing out on the crucial cues that are translated via faces and body language. As a result I am seeing more correspondence that borders on rudeness, bullying, and comments like “I am just speaking my mind.”

3. The Instagram Mentality – one of my own teens mentioned how Instagram has fostered a false sense of individuality. With selfies being the rage and pics of “here I am at a party”, “look at me”, accompanied by conversations of “did I get 100 likes yet?” Instagram is not feeding confidence, but eroding confidence in our teens. Superficiality is the rage and the more outrageous the pic the better. All these things are posted without regard of others feelings or the awareness that once online, forever online.

4. Lack of socialization – which regresses self identification and slows maturity. Wow, just go to any restaurant and look around and you’ll see families all on their phone not even talking to each other. One of my teens went to a party last night and said there were many people sitting by themselves using their phone, not even enjoying the party. Some did not talk to another person all night. Those at her table interacted, but had to frequently check their phones to check the time or comment on other’s Twitter posts or Instagram posts while at the party.

I wonder what kind of legacy we are leaving for this generation by allowing, fostering, and encouraging this type of hyper-Internet behavior. I personally feel that we are hurting them more than we are helping them.

I welcome your feedback and comments on this interesting and important topic.

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Using Sky Drive for Work

My Google Calendar is full!
My Google Calendar is full!

I’ll let you in on some tips that I use to task and manage projects given to my employee and independent contractors. I have three family members that work for me that I routinely and on a daily basis send new project details to. To make things easy, I use Sky Drive from Microsoft accessed now through www.Outlook.com to manage these projects.

Here’s what I do:

1. In Outlook, I have created a work calendar for each individual. I keep their project calendar separate from my own main Outlook calendar. My own mail Outlook calendar I sync to my smartphone and GMail as my preferred personal work calendar. My contractors each have their own job calendar which is posted at Outlook.com.

2. I have given them each my own master user name and password – created just for this purpose so they have full read, write, and edit privileges. When I add a task to their calendar from my desktop in Outlook, automatically the new task appears in their own personal Outlook.com online calendar tied to my work login. When they complete a task, they drag the project to the beginning of the calendar which makes it easy for me to know what my employee has completed and to just check in on tasking with my independent contractor.

3. I’ve just found out that Microsoft now has two smartphone Android apps that will allow me to add these two calendars to my smartphone so I can add, review, and update tasks and projects for staff on the go. Outlook.com app and Sky Drive app.

As it can get very complicated now to try to sync multiple calendars to Google without paying to use Google apps and send all your mail through their exchange servers, I simply like the greater control and free aspect of compartmentalizing my work and project work separately.

As you can see from the image of my own personal work calendar to try to integrate my project calendar would simply be too much data to manage as it is nearly as full as my own calendar. If you haven’t tried out some of these online tools, you may want to play around with the Outlook.com and Sky Drive calendars separating out kids and family schedules from work schedules to see how you’ll like using them.