If you are reading this on or near December 8th, chances are pretty good that you are a Google+ user since Blogger shares automatically to my G+ page. But if it's at least 24 hours past that, you probably stumbled across this post via some other social share, or by searching for info about Google+.
For the second group, this post is for you.
So, are you on Google+? Technically speaking, you probably are. But I suspect you are not using it yet. There's a lot of confusion around G+. People aren't quite sure why they need another social network. People think it's a graveyard, there's no one there.
Showing posts with label seo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seo. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2014
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Facebook Graph Search is Useless
A few months ago Facebook held a press conference. Rumours were that they were introducing a better search function for their site. Count me as really excited at the prospect of having a better search on the Facebook page.
As a person helping businesses set up pages I struggle to help my clients find other pages to follow that are interesting, relevant, and sharing good content. We try to find local pages by searching the name of the city, with okay results, but not great. Then we search the subject of some pages they may want to follow, with not great results, but with patience and time we find some to follow.
Wouldn't a better search feature be great for me and my clients so we can build up a great home feed and meet other local and complimentary businesses?
On the other side, as a person helping businesses set up pages I struggle to help my clients get found. Until they reach the magical number of 30 fans they can't change their unique URL to make it easier to tell people how to follow them. And I often work with small organizations of two to five staff. Even if they all like it, and ask their family to, it sometimes takes some time to get there. And once they've reached the number and have their unique URL, it's still a challenge to get people to connect with their page. They rely on shares and search.
So, I have clients who use that search bar to search their own business name and see if they show up in the first couple of automatic links. But they don't. And the average Facebook user doesn't realize there is a link at the bottom of the list that reads "See More Results" and they may find what they are looking for there. Every one of my clients wants to be the first automatically suggested result.
Wouldn't a better search feature be great for me and my clients and the average Facebook user to get the results they want right there at their fingertips?
So, Facebook introduced Graph Search, promising a more robust search feature. A way to connect better with other Facebook users and find out what your friends like. Sounds great until you start to look at it.
Graph search will help you find stuff your friends like, so if you want to find Facebook pages about video gaming or parenting, or your city the search results give very limited results. So then you need to change your search terms to fine tune what you are looking for. And then you still only get a handful of answers and none that you are looking for.
I recently wanted to check in with a friend who is a children's musician and see what he's been doing. I've worked with Music with Brian, performed shows with him, liked and commented on his page. But when I typed "music with brian" in the search bar (since that is the fastest way to get to a Facebook page or profile) I got results that sucked!
Brian's personal Facebook profile showed up at least, but nothing remotely like his page. So I clicked "See More" and the results became even more ridiculous.
Only when I hovered my mouse over the list did I notice there was a scroll bar. I scrolled through the option of finding Music liked by Brian's I had never met or even heard of, let alone friended on Facebook. It wasn't until the second to last item on the list (which is to give up on Facebook and go the Bing search page) that the official Music With Brian page showed up.
The worst part is that now that I've switched to Graph Search, I can't go back to the regular old, less sucky version of search.
I rarely complain about changes to Facebook, but this one has really created a challenge for me and I'm not sure how to overcome it.
As a person helping businesses set up pages I struggle to help my clients find other pages to follow that are interesting, relevant, and sharing good content. We try to find local pages by searching the name of the city, with okay results, but not great. Then we search the subject of some pages they may want to follow, with not great results, but with patience and time we find some to follow.
Wouldn't a better search feature be great for me and my clients so we can build up a great home feed and meet other local and complimentary businesses?
On the other side, as a person helping businesses set up pages I struggle to help my clients get found. Until they reach the magical number of 30 fans they can't change their unique URL to make it easier to tell people how to follow them. And I often work with small organizations of two to five staff. Even if they all like it, and ask their family to, it sometimes takes some time to get there. And once they've reached the number and have their unique URL, it's still a challenge to get people to connect with their page. They rely on shares and search.
So, I have clients who use that search bar to search their own business name and see if they show up in the first couple of automatic links. But they don't. And the average Facebook user doesn't realize there is a link at the bottom of the list that reads "See More Results" and they may find what they are looking for there. Every one of my clients wants to be the first automatically suggested result.
Wouldn't a better search feature be great for me and my clients and the average Facebook user to get the results they want right there at their fingertips?
So, Facebook introduced Graph Search, promising a more robust search feature. A way to connect better with other Facebook users and find out what your friends like. Sounds great until you start to look at it.
Graph search will help you find stuff your friends like, so if you want to find Facebook pages about video gaming or parenting, or your city the search results give very limited results. So then you need to change your search terms to fine tune what you are looking for. And then you still only get a handful of answers and none that you are looking for.
I recently wanted to check in with a friend who is a children's musician and see what he's been doing. I've worked with Music with Brian, performed shows with him, liked and commented on his page. But when I typed "music with brian" in the search bar (since that is the fastest way to get to a Facebook page or profile) I got results that sucked!
Brian's personal Facebook profile showed up at least, but nothing remotely like his page. So I clicked "See More" and the results became even more ridiculous.
Only when I hovered my mouse over the list did I notice there was a scroll bar. I scrolled through the option of finding Music liked by Brian's I had never met or even heard of, let alone friended on Facebook. It wasn't until the second to last item on the list (which is to give up on Facebook and go the Bing search page) that the official Music With Brian page showed up.
The worst part is that now that I've switched to Graph Search, I can't go back to the regular old, less sucky version of search.
I rarely complain about changes to Facebook, but this one has really created a challenge for me and I'm not sure how to overcome it.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Technorati
I've just created an account with Technorati, which is a blog directory. People everywhere have knowledge, expertise and unique views on topics, and I want to learn from the best. I'm hoping to navigate Technorati to find those best blogs.
Do any of you use Technorati regularly? I'm still learning how to find new blogs and posts, how to add posts and build Technorati Authority. Any tips from people who have gone before are welcome.
In the meantime, the first thing I did was claim my own blog. I don't expect to ever be in their top 100, but why not have another way for readers to find me.
It's really easy, and if any of you have blogs, I recommend doing the same thing. Simply create an account and on the account page scroll down the bottom and add the address and RSS feed to your blog. They will ask some questions about how your blog should be categorized and what tags to use. Be realistic with your tags, but put in as many as you believe your blog to be about.
Once you are done that you will be given a claim code and need to write it into a blog post. Simply copy and paste it into a new post and publish, then click the Verify Claim Token and you are done. Your blog is now on the largest blog directory around.
Do any of you use Technorati regularly? I'm still learning how to find new blogs and posts, how to add posts and build Technorati Authority. Any tips from people who have gone before are welcome.
In the meantime, the first thing I did was claim my own blog. I don't expect to ever be in their top 100, but why not have another way for readers to find me.
It's really easy, and if any of you have blogs, I recommend doing the same thing. Simply create an account and on the account page scroll down the bottom and add the address and RSS feed to your blog. They will ask some questions about how your blog should be categorized and what tags to use. Be realistic with your tags, but put in as many as you believe your blog to be about.
Once you are done that you will be given a claim code and need to write it into a blog post. Simply copy and paste it into a new post and publish, then click the Verify Claim Token and you are done. Your blog is now on the largest blog directory around.
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