StumbleUpon Version 4
StumbleUpon launched their new site changes this week and their claim is that it make the site’s interface “more simple, searchable and social”. From the stumbleupon.com blog:
We have completely updated the interface, geared to be more simple, searchable and social. The new StumbleUpon preserves the functionality of the previous interface while adding frequently requested features, such as Search Your Favorites.
For more information regarding the recent changes you can visit the New Stumbleupon FAQ or better yet, check out this comprehensive review of the changes by nvisolutions.com
Google removes Page Rank data from Webmaster tools
SERoundtable.com reported a recent change in Google’s Webmaster Tools this week which included a removal of all Page Rank information. Susan Moskwa, of Google explains:
We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.
Many SEO’s are calling this “one step closer to the death of Page Rank”, but as it stands, the Google Toolbar still shows this data, even if a bit inaccurate. Page Rank is not as valid a metric of a web site or page as it once was, and Google has consistently discouraged would-be SEOs from using it that way.
Yahoo! dropping its paid inclusion program
yourseosucks.com and then davidlew.is rumored this week that Yahoo! was going to drop the Search Submit Pro – paid inclusion program. SearchEngineLand.com later confirmed that it was (in fact) NOT a rumor. Yahoo! had sent them a statement which begins:
We are committing our resources and efforts to our core areas of focus, including improving the search experience and relevancy of our ads to increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers, and as a result, have decided to exit Search Submit.
This is likely (at least in part) due to the deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft earlier this year. The paid inclusion program (originally Inktomi) was an effective way for marketers to be included in the organic results by paying a premium. Now that Yahoo! will be serving results via Bing, the program’s demise seemed inevitable.
LinkedIn reaches 50 Million Users
The important milestone was announced on Wednesday on the LinkedIn Blog. (link via SearchEngineWatch.com) Jeff Weiner goes on to talk about the user statistics:
Where are these 50 million users? LinkedIn has been global since inception — about half of our total membership is international. There are now 11 million users in Europe alone. India is currently our fastest-growing country with almost 3 million users, while the Netherlands has the highest rate of adoption per capita outside the U.S., at 30%.
What’s interesting about the growth of LinkedIn is that, according to the post, the first million users took 477 days to aquire, while the last million were added in the last 12 days.
Twitter and Facebook coming to Xbox
Microsoft updated the “social page” on Xbox Live over the past weekend to announce that the ability to post to twitter and facebook was coming to the gaming platform. The feature will be added some time this autumn: November 19th for UK users (no other dates have been announced).
Only Xbox Live Gold Members ($50/year) will have access to the new features which will allow users to view, reply to, and post updates to the social platforms. Microsoft seems to be using this as a way to entice users to upgrade to a Gold Membership (and to never leave their couch).
The Lighter Side of Social Media
- Outdated memes, hackers, and useless “technoloy” – the 50 worst things about the internet…according to telegraph.co.uk
- The “real” reason why Google is better than Yahoo!.
- The History and Confusion of #followfriday.
- Finally: the scariest thing about the movie Paranormal Acivity is how effective it’s marketing campaign has been.
