A 3-Minute Rundown of the Latest News in Social Media and Web

The nature of the online world is that it’s always updating, changing, and adding new features. Facebook, Google, and Twitter all announced some tweaks in the last week that we think could be pretty useful for businesses and their customers to be aware of.

Facebook Graph Search 

On Monday, Facebook announced an update that will allow users to search for conversation topics within status updates, comments, photo captions, check-ins, and other types of posts. Now, users can search for specific topics of interest and search for posts or comments from a specific period of time or location. For example, users can type in something like, “Posts made by friends last week” or “Posts written in Downtown Houston”. Facebook Search Graph is only currently available on the U.S. English version of the site and all searches can be made through the search bar found at the top of the page.

Google Hummingbird Update 

For Google’s 15th birthday last week, Google released another algorithm update that has got businesses wondering if it’s going to end up helping or hurting their online marketing. The change, called the Hummingbird update, is an attempt by Google to refine itself in order to better serve the needs of users. To accommodate the ever-growing number of complex searches thanks to mobile, tablet, and voice activation software, Google has enacted Hummingbird to interpret what a user means when they search for a topic, based on a number of factors. The update to the algorithms tap further into Google’s new Knowledge Graph, the company’s encyclopedia of 570 million concepts that was also announced last Thursday.

Those companies that are aware of the recent talk about the Panda and Penguin updates will already know that Google has been and will continue to be rewarding sites that produce the best-quality content for the needs of the audience. The Hummingbird update is the next step in further separating the best material from any rubbish on the web. Hummingbird will place less focus on matching keywords and more focus on understanding what the user is most likely wanting to get from the search results instead.

A bit of advice for businesses: focus on your target audience and provide well-written content that is relevant and helpful to your audience. Companies that focus on the needs of their particular audience satisfying those needs will do well on the web now and in the future.

Twitter Enriches Photos 

Remember when Twitter was just a social media site full of words? Twitter has now spread its wings and will place photos front and center in its latest update to embedded Tweets. With other sites such as Facebook and Google+ enhancing the way photos are presented to and posted by users, Twitter is trying to do their part in providing a rich, photo-friendly environment on their platform. Both portrait and landscape photos will now be presented in a bolder, bigger focus. Users can click on any photo to view the conversation and latest updates behind the tweet. Twitter displayed the following two examples in their latest post about the update. Take a look!

“Good morning! Perspective – Sunday is a fine day to go for a walk with a friend.pic.twitter.com/P3uDfjYsEU.”

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) August 11, 2013

“Reemerging into society after backpacking ~35 miles through Yosemite’s Grand Canyon of Tuolumne River. My legs hurt.pic.twitter.com/TkjNgKn6b8.”

— Bill Couch (@couch) July 7, 2013

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Small Screen Producer is a full service, marketing firm located in Houston, Texas that specializes in online digital media marketing through a 4-step process. Step 1: WE PLAN a custom web presence strategy for your business through website design and development, mobile development, social media account creation and branding. STEP 2: We then POSITION your brand through Pay-Per-Click advertising and search engine optimize tactics that include on-page and off-page SEO that are Google and Bing approved. STEP 3: We then PROMOTE your brand using an Inbound marketing strategy or a content marketing strategy to help you accomplish your marketing goals. We do this through blogging, video production, infographics, call-to-actions, landing pages, and free educational offers. We help you build trust and rapport with your customer base. STEP 4: We then PROTECT your brand’s web presence with a reputation management program that monitors social media and on line reviews. Get started today with a free online marketing assessment of your company’s web presence. Your company deserves it.