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The Truth About Cyber Monday

As I am sure you are aware, today is Cyber Monday.  A day supposed to be filled with discounts and deals for online shoppers.  While you will find many great deals, some are questioning whether Cyber Monday is real or just a smart business ploy.  It seems to be a bit of both.  Let me explain.

Just 4 years ago, in 2005, Shop.org coined the phrase ‘Cyber Monday’ in order to bring more traffic to their website.  A year later, hundreds of other online retailers jumped on board and started an Internet tradition.  While Black Friday, remains the biggest shopping day of the year, CyberMonday surprisingly is actually not the biggest online shopping day.  One year after Cyber Monday started, Scott Silverman, Executive Director for Shop.org, said “It was not the biggest day, but it was an opportunity to create some consumer excitement.”  (more…)

This Week In Social Media: November 25, 2009

This Week In Social Media: Nov. 25, 2009 iePlexus from iePlexus on Vimeo.

From Rupert Murdoch teaming up with Mircosoft, to celeberating TweetsGiving this is what happened this week in the world of social media and on the world wide web.  (more…)

Google Boosts Real-Time Ad Capabilities

Google announced this morning they have teamed up with Teracent, a San Mateo, Calif., advertising company.  Teracent has created some high-tech software and algorithms, which will help create automatic and real-time advertisements.

“We think that this technology has great potential to improve display advertising on the web,” Google’s blog said. “That’s why we’re pleased to announce today that we’ve entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Teracent. The transaction, which is subject to various closing conditions, is expected to close this quarter.” (more…)

News Corp and Microsoft Team Up against Google

It was just two weeks ago when News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said to Sky News Australia that he wanted to take News Corp websites off of Google.  This week, Microsoft has teamed up with News Corp to remove the sites from Google.  And at the same time, Murdoch paid Microsoft to include their results on their search engine, Bing.  (more…)

This Week In Social Media: November 20, 2009

From “what’s happening” with Twitter, to Facebook becoming one of the top video sites, this is what happened this week in the world of social media. (more…)

Google Translation Offers New Features

With the power of the Internet, we are able to connect with just about anyone. 

Back in middle school and high school, I had an online pen pal who lived in Munich, Germany.  I personally know about two words of German, while my pen pal was trying to learn English.  While we were worlds apart, we had a lot in common and always had lots to talk about.  However, there was that language problem.  What we ended up doing was writing our e-mails into a translator, trying to be polite to one another.  Of course we all know that the translations don’t translate word for word and sometimes make for an interesting read. 

Google Translator, however, has rolled out three new features which should make translations much easier. Fifty-one languages are supported by Google Translator and according to Google that’s 98 percent of the Internet community.  (more…)

Google Sites Makes Site Building Much Easier

Last month, we told you about Yahoo shutting down Geocities.  Google has not wasted any time taking advantage of their free Web hosting site.  With Google Sites, you are able to create a simple web page for your company, classroom, or even just your family.  They also allow you to embed any pictures, videos or other documents you want.

Google had been getting a bit of criticism for the lack of features.  So, Google has taken the constructive criticism and turned it into something “A Whole Lot Prettier” according to Mashable’s Stan Schroeder. (more…)

Page Speed Could Determine Search Rank

In an interview over the weekend with WebProNews, Matt Cutts, software engineer for Google, had suggested that a site’s speed could determine where it shows up in Google searches. 

“We’re starting to think more and more about should speed be a factor in Google’s rankings,” says Cutts.  “A lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast, it should be a good experience.  And so it’s sort of fair to say if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. Or maybe if you have a really awfully slow site, users don’t want that as much.” (more…)

This Week In Social Media – November 13, 2009

This Week In Social Media: Nov. 13, 2009 iePlexus from iePlexus on Vimeo.

From Facebook groups being invaded, to Rupert Mudoch taking his New Corps Sites off Google, this is what happened this week in the World of Social Media & on the World Wide Web. (more…)

Give It a Shot: Google’s Vaccination Tracker

Many of us consult Google Maps when planning a road trip, and the application is always useful for locating a nearby pizza delivery place. Apparently, its utility doesn’t end there. With flu season hitting its seasonal stride and concerns about the H1N1 virus still running rampant, the folks at Google have updated their mapping app accordingly.

The new feature, accessible at google.com/flushot, can locate sources for regular flu shots and the H1N1 vaccine as well. In place of the traditional push pin graphics that mark potential destinations on Google Maps, the flu shot tracker substitutes little red and blue syringes. Blue indicates a source for H1N1 shots and red designates seasonal shots. (more…)