Are you struggling to find the appropriate definition of Social Media? You need not, as Social Media is defined as the integration of different activities including the social interaction, technology and also the building up of pictures, words, audio and video.

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Different forms are being included in the social media and it includes message boards, Internet forums, wikis, weblogs, videos, pictures as well as the podcasts. In the same way, social media also make use o different technologies like the picture-sharing, blogs, wall-postings, vlogs, instant messaging, email, crowdsourcing, music-sharing, voice over IP and lot more. You can also find different applications of the same like the YouTube, Google Groups, MySpace, Last.fm, Flickr, Digg, Facebook and the list goes on unending.

Social media is considered to be entirely different from the traditional media which has been outdated these days even though still in use. They include the radio, newspaper, television, telephone, books etc. With the social media it is possible to interact as well discuss with the people by sharing the meaning with the utilization of the technology.

One of the greatest advantage of social media and the talked about one is the search engine optimization. It is also referred to as the social media optimization and can be done by implementing several techniques to enhance your website, product, business or even the services.

Social media helps in bringing more traffic to your websites along with the back links. There are different ways through which the social media facilitates the search engines. It includes deeper indexing, indexing sites faster and also the number of votes related to quality of sites.

Universal Search is referred to as another media newly introduced so that you get to see images, videos and other results when you search for something new. For example, when you search for something in Google, it is possible to get results other than the text links such as video and pictures.

There are plenty of benefits confined to Universal Search. They are described below.

• The users can get a clear picture of the thing they are searching for as there are video, pictures and even text result seen.
• If the media type is not mentioned, the users can get a complete view in every concept giving a general idea.
• Even after a single search, there is greater and faster possibility of getting the information the user in search for.
• With the introduction of video in the outcome of search, there is greater possibility of entertainment for those interested in watching videos on the internet. By adding videos to your website, you can simply add to the success of your business by acquiring top ranks in universal search.
• The image result also seem to be in beneficial in the same way as it is always said that a picture can convey things in a greater prospective than a thousand words. With this special feature you can get in touch with the users if you add the images in your site as it can prove to be the pathway to success.
• Apart from the videos and images, universal search also includes press releases, news etc. Therefore, you can add up news and other broadcasting items on your website so as to increase your rankings.
• Universal search will also have a direct effect on the significance of the blogs as they will play an important role in improving the ranks of the websites.

The phenomenon of Universal search has not only been implemented in Google, but also in other search engines like Yahoo, MSN, Ask and lot more. Google is not the only search engine present and there are plenty of other websites making use of this great trend which has been proved to replace the old fashioned or traditional searches.

Indeed both social media and Universal search can combine to reap greater benefits as a whole. We can relate both together as, search to be the commencement of the conversation and social media to be conversational. Both social media and universal search is recognized to be made for each other and is the natural fit as they seem be like bread and butter. It really surrounds around the searcher as he puts in the keywords the entire optimization takes place and the steps are being taken to make the universe much smaller with it.

All that is said is that by serving the marker, you indirectly serve the marketer. The real key behind the marketing optimization is put the searchers into the conversation on a busy schedule. Universal search has also made the world understand that videos and images are as important as the texts and the landing pages. It is the new world which has been constructed to bring a lot of difference in the searching criteria.

Social media can bring people closer and let know about the different happening in and around the country where as the universal search presents the users a vast result in different medias thus making the entire search double useful and informative in every aspect. Search engine optimization is something which both Universal search as well as social media as it results in increased traffic to your sites thus bringing up the rankings.

Social media does not promise of life long existence or popularity, instead it can simply die out in a day or two. On the other hand, it can surely shoot up the traffic of your site to a greater level. For example, a success story on Digg can bring in more than 20-30K visitors in about 24 hours or more. On the other hand, with the universal search there would be an increased and steady traffic for long. There are in fact plenty of success stories benefiting from the universal search and thus sharing their views with the social media.

You can find people conveying their success over the social media due to universal search and it has actually encouraged people to start up on their own with the positive reviews they receive.

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Digg is a place for people to discover and share the content from any where on the web. The content posted on the digg is not only taken from the most popular and content rich websites but also from the blogs with high quality articles, even though there are people who share their poor quality stuffs there LOL…

It allows it’s users to share the content and takes the best stories and cool pictures and awesome videos to the front page where thousands of people can see it within a couple of hours. them based on their performance, this is a place, which allows the users to determine the value of content, and it changes the way in which people consume information online.

How digg manages information from the news to videos and from images to products? Management here comes from the users, there are some key issues to be managed in order to make one community most popular digger.

It’s quite important to know the habits of most of the diggers, sharing of information can strive out to give enormous benefits for the site and also for the people who join in.

As seen on Alien TV (don’t ask how we managed to do it), TOP diggers have the following habits:

1. Adding Valuable Friends: For an efficient digg profile it’s important to add friends who are having a helping nature, friends from various places and areas, with sound knowledge and systematic ways of approach can help a network to improve and become popular. Search for a friend from various communities like, news reading, information writing etc will be of sound help and improves your network.
2. Efficient RSS Reader: RSS readers always helps in keeping you up-tp-date about the latest news and content, when ever something of quality is published, there are hundreds and thousands of people who wishes to submit it first, under this circumstances there should be a tool in order to help you to be the first to submit it. Hence popular RSS readers like Feed Demon and Google Reader can be of much help. Google reader is a high performance RSS reader as compared to Feed Demon. Google reader has a button called as “mark as all read” which helps in detecting unread articles by the user, and points it or highlights it so that user reads it.
3. Quality Content Acts As a Backbone For Digg: Any website or a network is said to be a failure if it does not have good quality content. Most of the people who visit the site should know what the content really is, or what the use of this site is? Any site with much ease of understanding the content and efficient rich content will surely be a success in the market, especially for a digg, as it’s a social network where sharing information is crucial. So much care has to be taken in order to make it popular and efficient.
4. Profile and Contact: Completing the profile perfectly, and providing all the instant messenger details, helps in making good friends in the network. It makes a person popular in the network, and rich friend circle always helps in maintaining good results in the network. This can assist in updating the information easily and increases the readability by most of the people. Sharing and discussing stories with friends and chatting with them can solely increase your knowledge.
5. Keep Track of Your Friends: Adding your friends on a RSS feed reader can allow you track what your friends are submitting and help you digg them easily. You can also use the Greasemonkey addon for making it easier for you to digg. You may also consider to collect the instant messengers of your friends if possible.
6. Remove Non-digging Friends: Friends of less importance should be removed social awareness is created with the help of good friend circle, friends who never contribute to your own network should be removed. If they do not stay active with your activity on Digg then there is really no point keeping them on your friend’s list. Also remove those whom you don’t know because if you will keep filling your friend’s list with people whom you do not know then it will be really difficult to keep track of items that your true friends submit.
7. The Magic is in Title Have an attractive title and a good description of submission because most of the diggers digg a story just by reading the title and they do not even go through the whole story. The eye catcher title is the main key to bolster its acceptance by the digg community. Most of the time catchy and attractive titles hit the front page of digg.
8. Digg tools and Add-ons: If you really want to use digg efficiently like a power user then you must use the digg tools. Do not get carried away with the eye candy applications out there but try to use essential and effective tools that can enhance your proficiency for using digg such as Digg Alerter, Smart Digg Firefox Extension, Google Reader Digg News, Digg Friends Easier and many more.
9. Active on Other Social Media Sites: Active diggers are always active on many other social media sites. There is no hidden secret in this fact that social media sites strengthen your online marketing strategy. Connect to other social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Reddit etc. to disseminate ideas and attract traffic and links. If you are an active member of multiple social media sites you can simultaneously submit your news to all the sites with the help of Social Media for Firefox Extension.
10. Rinse and Repeat: This is one of the great concepts that is to be implemented while making out a digg. ‘Rinse’ is applied to the content to make it crisper and clear whereas ‘Repeat’ here indicates that you must make the digg new and rich with good content to make it popular and interactive with more communities. If rinsed properly and repeated continuously, digg gains most of the popularity that was intended.

Changes are most common in this socio economic world, every day many sites and networks are emerging on Internet and Digg.com is one of them. Hence, Digg is all about attracting users in a fast moving environment with lots of competing links. Rich content, good user interaction, frequent updates are some of the key factors that can make a social network popular and successful. A digg having habits as mentioned above is said to be best digger ever seen.

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Social media is part art, part science. There are techniques, but as in any other activity that deals with fellow human beings, you can count on being surprised from time to time. The most common surprises become the most important lessons in social media and your public relations. So, you must have to learn from your mistakes you have done in past. Here I am sharing some experiences about social media which may help one to be successful in this field without making some mistakes.

1. Not Being in Contact Regularly: If you want yourself to be called as a social person, then it is a primary need to be in contact with others, regularly. A friend may need you help at some point of time, so you should be present at that time to help. If you are in contact with a friend every day, then they might find befriending you, and pay you more attention.

   If you are not in contact with a friend regularly then he/she might forget you after some time. When you contact that friend they may ask “Who are you?” or say “I do not remember you”, which could be serious for your social media presence. Give them a way to remember you. If you are going out for a vacation or have some other planing, make sure to let everybody know about your absence. So that once you come back they will still remember you. Professionalism you see!

   The reason above step is very important is that, they may not respond when you have their need. You thought that your friend will help you but, that’s not to be. Relationship is based on communication and mutual understanding, if you are not communicating and contacting your friends then how will you make a mutual understanding.

2. Not Helping the Community With Quality Content: Every community is driven by their users. Users are the one who submit content on social media sites, which are really interesting, resourceful and helpful to the community members. If you are sharing good content on social media then the community will acknowledge you.

   If you happen to share poor quality content on the social media sites then you will be obsolete of your friends because, many of the users join the social media sites for gaining knowledge and making better relationship. Many of the new users submit content from their own site, it is generally not liked by the social community because, they think that you are promoting that poor site or poor content. Following are worst practices about the content submissions.

   1. Sharing content from your own site, which are not that good to be called as quality.
   2. Benchmarking a new user for selection of content which has to be Shared.
   3. Sharing an old content on social media which is probably known to every one there.

3. Submitting Content of Single Field: If you leave some niche specific social media sites then on all the social media sites there are all types of people, who have different taste and interest.

   If you are submitting content only from a single field then you will earn the attention of some of the users. If you do this, then you will get friends from specific field only. A better network will not be formed because, some of the times people from same field have the thinking of competition in their minds. To gain full potential on social media sites, you should have friends from all the fields. So, you must share the stories from various fields, which are interesting.

4. Not Communicating in a Proper Language: Language is the most crucial factor in the social media. Communication in a proper language is the best way to impress others. If you use easy and simple language then you do not have to worry about anything. Being humorous at times is also necessary. Face it, you are there to make good friends not slaves!

   Language having words like Sorry, No Problem, Well Friend are generally used while talking to a friend on social media or on Instant messenger. Using an aggressive tone may hurt your friend. So, you must not make following mistakes while talking to a friend.

   1. Using a language which is not easily understandable.
   2. Showing aggression while Conversation.
   3. Showing attitude.
   4. Showing that you are busy while talking.

5. Not Being Active Regularly: Missing just one day, may harm your image on the social media. If you are not regular on social media then every one will not expect that you will be online when they need your help. So you must avoid this by following the first point. Also show your presence on other social media sites where they can find you.

   To get yourself updated with the social media you must have to be online for few hours if you are busy the whole day. Be active most of the time if possible, you can influence social media users by doing so. If you are not regularly active then there is possibility of following things.

   1. Your friends may un-friend you.
   2. Your friends will not trust you that you will be available in the time when they need help.
   3. When you are not active, you can be unknown to the new submission for your friends.

6. Not Paying Attention on Friend’s Submissions: Do this one thing and consider yourself dead on social media sites! Giving from one hand and taking from other hand is the key rule of social media. Remember it always about giving first, then taking. For getting voted on your stories you must have to vote your friend’s submissions.

   If you do not pay attention on the friend’s submission then why will he/she give you vote in return. So, always pay attention on friend’s submission and also cast some comment for creating discussion on it.

7. Assuming That What’s Important to You is Important to Everyone Else: In the social media arena, you are interacting with people socially so it is not certain that you and your friend have a common interest. For an example, your interest is in Search Engine Optimization but generally it is not liked by most of the users on Digg but there are many friends you have may have interest on it.

   So, always think about a problem from your glance and from your friend’s glance too. In the case of sharing news and information on the social media you must be sure that it will be liked by your friends too, because it is not necessary that what ever you liked, your friend will like that too.

8. Thinking That Only Breaking News Counts: It is not true that only breaking news is liked on social media. There are many people who share breaking news whether it is a good news or a bad news. So, on the social media sites it is not necessary that you only share breaking news. Share some humor, it will change your image on social media as humorous person. And so on…

   In the environment of social media, breaking news may be bad for someone and good for some others. So, do not try to share only breaking news. Discovery of some new data which is always existing on the Internet and less known to people is a best story for the social media.

9. Duplicate the Best People Around: Always keep eyes on friend’s action, benchmark a power user, always open your channel of communications, show dedication towards your colleague, helping your friend in any condition, sharing any news which must be known to every user, helping the community by your actions. These are the key things that every users must keep in mind. If you do so you will be away from avoiding the things which are obvious.
10. Not Providing Help to New Users: Think about your start and struggle. If any one had not provided you help? In the same way if you help some new users then it will be more easier for him/her to establish in social media. A new user may benchmark you in social media, what is the better thing than this?

    Helping new users may establish you as a good member of social media, and by doing so you will counted in those people who are helping the community.

11. Spamming the Social Media: Do not send the same message again and again. Send it once, and twice at the most, in case your friends did not get it. If you continue sending messages over and over again, it may harm you and establish your image as a spammer.

Well friends that grabs it up! These were the general mistakes made by new people on the social media sites. So, for success on Social Media Sites avoid these mistakes as soon as possible.

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Today morning I logged on to my Digg account only to find that MrBabyMan the #1 Digger and Zaibatsu the #2 Digger had their accounts swapped. Looking first I found it really confusing, MrBabyMan showing name of Zaibatsu and his profile picture and Zaibatsu displaying his.

This is MrBabyMan’s profile:

This is Zaibatsu’s profile:

Then I dugg more and found this post, and a comment on Zaibatsu’s profile..

In a buyout of epic social media proportions Mrbabyman and Zaibatsu have transferred accounts on digg. Quoting Zaibatsu: “I get free Disneyland tickets for life!”

Hmm…pretty interesting!

I don’t know what the reason behind this would be, I really loved this prank!

Happy April Fool’s Day!

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Unless you have been living at one of the poles this last year, or in a cave in some deep, dark, forest then I guess that it’s no secret. Social Networking Sites have seen an explosion of popularity over the last year. Again, as I said before, there is nothing new about networking as a means of getting your business to grow.

This is exactly why people all over the world will join the local Chamber of Commerce and other similar organizations. They get a chance to meet other local businessmen (and women), to talk about their respective businesses and see if there is any common ground between them. But, the fact that the practice is now becoming so popular on the Web is really exciting. It represents a significant shift in the way that net users think, and also represents a gradual change in the way people are going to be finding what they are looking for in the years ahead.

When is the last time you searched for something using one of the major search engines and ended up extremely frustrated with all of the totally nonsensical results? Err, probably the last time you tried using a major search engine, right? But, with social bookmarking sites, a user can search a topic and find results based on how many other members found a particular website helpful.

So instead of relying on faulty software algorithms to return search results, what we are now seeing is results based on real, warm blooded human beings. Plus, most social networking sites are so easy to use and understand, even for people who are not particularly web savvy.

Anyone can join one of the big networks like MySpace and set up a profile in a matter of moments. For this reason the number of people who use sites like MySpace is only ever going to increase. And all of these people are effectively a captive market for you and your products, as long as you know what you are trying to do and exactly how to do it.

That’s why the value of an invaluable marketing resource as ‘Traffic 2.0′ is only ever going to increase over the coming months and years too. Because it shows you exactly what you need to do to get these people to do business with you, and exactly what you must do to make it happen, once you have ‘Traffic 2.0′, you will literally wonder how you ever got by without it!

See, as more and more people become familiar with the concept of social network marketing, the number of people you can market to through these systems will obviously grow. And that means that whatever it is that you are selling, in whatever niche of the marketing world you operate, there will always be a growing market for your products and services. And, here’s another thing about social networking sites. They all give people that sign up an opportunity of creating their own profile. That means that you can find out lots of information about a potential customer before you ever even contact them!

Can you begin to imagine just how powerful that could be?

You can decide if somebody looks like a good fit for the kind of information or products you are selling before you even attempt to contact them, so, when you invite them to be on your friends list, you already know that they should like what they see in your profile too!

Are you beginning to see the true business power of social networking sites?

Success on a site like MySpace could literally set you up for life. Okay, so that’s the good news - there is a massive untapped opportunity out there. Now for the bad. You’re not the first person to recognize this fantastic opportunity, and many thousands have tried before you to make it big on MySpace and other networking sites like YouTube.

Most of these folks failed, abjectly and miserably.

Why?

Because they did almost everything that they could do wrong well, wrong! Like everything in life, there is a right way and a wrong way. Like everything in life, to have the greatest chance of success - success that could be measured in thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars - you need the social media guidebook to show you the way.

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It is very important for the humans to make friends, to enjoy the life in society because Human is a social animal. If you share some thing with your friends then it relaxes you and minimizes your stress. Charles Horton Cooley in his book Life and the Student says at one place “Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.”

So you need friends in your life. You may have experienced many places when you need a friend, but not many of them would have helped you. So, it is necessary to choose a right friend in your path of life. This is also true for Social Media. You make friendship with people of similar taste and likes.

Friendship over on Internet is quite similar to friendship offline. You must know how to make friends on Social Media to get help and support from your friends. If you are eager to make quality friends on the social media then “The road to a friend’s house will be never long.” Here I am discussing some of the friend making advices which will propel you to become a good Social Media user.

Start with the Obvious: If the Social Media is a new thing for you then, tools like address book importing and search will make your way easy. You may be surprised, how many of your friends aren’t on the social media, or who signed up with different email addresses. E-mail and invite your friends to know about Social Media sites and add them to your list.

Make Your Profile Strong and Powerful: Many of the newbies send friend request to the others. If their profile is not properly managed then they create negative impression to the other users. A strong, well mannered and nice looking profile may attract others.

You must use a common avatar in your profile this proves that your profile is real and builds trust. Be careful in choosing profile avatars, use your original image or use the unique images which will make you remember to others.

You must also consider to mention your instant messaging contacts in your profile and if possible also mention your social media presence on other social media sites. This way your friends may find you on other Social Media sites.

A Friend’s Friend is Your Friend: Just as you’ll often run into one friend talking with another in the real world, chances are good your online friends have already linked up with other folks you know. Flip through their friends lists and you’re bound to run into somebody.

Background Research: New users are not aware about different strategies and tricks of social media optimization. So, study plays an important role in making friends.
1. Study the Profiles of friends.
2. Study the top user’s profiles.

Unique and Quality Submissions: You can attract many users by your exceptional submissions. If you are doing so, then many of the users will make you friend because you will provide them different types of content everyday.

Subscribe to quality sites which will provide you different contents everyday and you can choose them for submissions.

Participate in Discussions and Leave Comments on Other’s Submissions: Participating anywhere is a very great way to make people familiar to you. If you join any discussion and comment on any submission then people want to know who you are and visit your profile.

Send IM to Your Friends for Support: Keep the lines of communication open. Interacting with users and asking questions are extremely important in today’s Social Media. Not only does it build trust and allow users to learn from each other but it also can enhance your Social Media presence. Talk to your friends every day at least 10 minutes and interact with at least one new member everyday.

Subscribe to Submissions of Your Friends: Many of the times some of your friends do miss to tell about their submissions. So, subscribe to submissions of all your friends and vote for their submissions everyday. Also ask them to subscribe to your submissions.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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‘ATLAS SHRUGGED’ these two words are profound enough to give a slight impression of what they mean, but then are intriguing enough that they made many of us pick up that great book, wondering what it is about. They say we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or title for that matter, but the title sure makes us give it a second look. Then when you actually read it, you can decide whether to place it in your library, or gift it to your biggest enemy lol..

The same applies to your articles and blogs. Give them great titles, and people are surely gonna take a look. Remember the exercise in our school days when our English teachers made us give titles to obscure pieces of writings (never mind how many marks you got then lol.) Looking back, I think they did teach us useful stuff at school.

Trust me, it takes a great deal to make people pay attention to what you’ve written. No one has the time anymore. Short is sweet, and if you can put all you wanna say in a sentence or two, God bless you! Hence, the longer your article is, the more important it is to make your title more awesome.

Here are a few ways how to write a compelling title:

• Your title should give a glimpse of what is going to come.
• But don’t give away the whole thing, try to give them some amount of anticipation.
• Funny titles would surely grab attention. Either downright funny or subtly witty-no one would pass up an article whose title made them smile.

So go ahead and create awesome articles and awesomer titles, and by the way, who can think up a great title for this piece? Lemme know!

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Photo by: terinea.

You want to make it big in the social media. You want to capture the attention of people. You want to get your blog read. You can do all that and more, just follow these few simple rules, and you could soon be boasting about getting your website or blog rated as numero uno.

1. Don’t Just Start With Submitting Your Articles: Sure, you have many ideas spilling out of your mind, but don’t start posting them right away. Haste makes waste, remember? Take it slow and easy. Get a feel of the social media environment, because you intend to stay there for a long while, right? There are a few things you need to do initially.

2. First Complete Your Profile: Tell them who you are. Anonymous writers don’t make that big an impact. Fill up your profile, giving all the details you think you should. That way, people can get to know you better. There are a lot of potential friends out there. Here is the reason, how Shana broke into Problogger.net radar.

3. Read, To Get Read: Find out what articles are being liked and promoted. Check out some websites and blog pertaining to your interests. You might find additional information supporting your points, or some format you might want to use, and while doing that, if you find a blog or article to be impressive, make sure you leave a comment to tell them that their work is commendable. Trust me, that’s a sure way of getting people to like you. Also, don’t forget to leave a link to your blog there. Maybe the appreciation will be mutual.

4. Submit Others Article: Why would you do that? Submitting others article on social media sites shows that you care. Well what does socializing mean if you keep submitting your stories and voting for them only. If you submit other’s article they will find you and befriend you. This way you get more and more friends;

5. Vote for Others: This is the step that shows that you care. Give enough people what they need and they’ll give you what you need. It’s that simple! People keep track of their votes. Voting for others story, lets them know who is actually worth voting for and who isn’t.

6. Make Friends: Socialize on the net. Pick out the people whose work you admire or like and make friendly relation with them. A good network can do wonders for your website, providing you with useful sources of information, and providing people access to your work too!

7. Make A Contact List: Make up a list of people you specifically want to show your work to. Your friends, people who share your interests, or people who might be interested in the particular thing you are currently developing. This will make it easier for you to send out the link when you want to, and this way, you make sure no one’s left out.

8. Keep Track of Your Friend’s Submissions: I say it again, read more. You’ll need to see what impact they are making.

9. New Friends: There are millions of people out there who are going online every day. Regularly keep a track of new people who add you, vote for you and show that they deserve your friendship. This way it doesn’t block success for newer social media geeks.

10. Be Creative: Think what will grab people’s attention. Find out what they like, and devise ways of giving it to them, the way they like it.

Just keep these little (but important) things in mind, and work your way to the top! And yes don’t forget to add me as your friend. I’m always in search of new friends online. You can find links to all my profiles on the right side of your screen. All the best for your social media success!

Popularity: 30% [?]

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