Facebook's 2011 Yearbook

This great infographic from Socialbakers reveals some interesting statistics about Facebook's high speed growth (with 7 new users per second added in 2011!), alongside the top brand pages and fan locations.

 
If you need help with your Facebook business pages, check out LikeIt Pages on www.likeitpages.com. 

10 Super Creative Facebook Timeline Profiles

Here's our round-up of some of the best creative Facebook timeline profiles.

Which is your favourite? Tell us in the comments ;-)

If you want to create your own custom facebook fan page, try our new LikeIt app at http://likeitpages.com/

Google Search Results Get Major Shake Up

Googles latest update, "Search plus Your World", has turned the search engine world on its head. Announced on Tuesday on the official Google blog, results pages for searches on google.com will now include:

- personal results: including the Google+ posts from you and your connections

- profiles in search: relevant Google+ profiles appear in search results

- people and pages: pages & profiles related to your query

For users that are signed in to Google (through Google+), this means radical changes in both which results are displayed and how they are displayed.

What does this mean in practice?

Let's take an example.

For the search query "music", within the results are 5 "personal results", which are posts from my Google+ contacts. Also displayed is a status update I made (highlighted in red). On the right hand side (highlighted in green) are pages & profiles from Google+ related to my search term "music".

Bearing in mind I am not an active user of Google+ (I have just 4 people in my circles), major changes in the way results are displayed (for example, the suggested profiles & pages are above the ads in the right hand column) could mean huge differences for those hooked on the social network.

The change is also apparent in the search box - as soon as you start typing in the name of a Google+ user, Google suggests you click on their profile (as illustrated below, with a search for Taylor Swift).

So, what's the big deal?

This update means that Google has put more importance on results from Google+ than ever before. Effectively, it means that better rankings and will go to individuals and businesses that are active and optimising their Google+ profiles.

At the moment, the "personal results" are comprised just of (potentially) private information (including updates & photos) you've shared on Google+. Not a mention of info shared on Facebook or Twitter, as Google is not currently permitted to crawl these pages.

While perhaps not surprising that Google use its significant power and market share in search to push its social network, it's natural that not everyone was too happy about this latest update:

- Twitter's lead lawyer, Alex Macgillivray suggested it was "a bad day for the internet", echoing Twitters' fear that Google is warping search results by boosting posts from Google+
- the US privacy watchdog EPIC (the Electronic Privacy Information Centre) has requested the US government investigate Google due to potential privacy violations and anti-trust concerns

How could it affect my business website?

Firstly, the changes have so far only been rolled out in the US (on google.com), and while the update changes results for both users signed in and not signed in (for further details, read this article by SearchEngineWorld), signed in users can switch between personalised/ not personalised results at the click of a button.

Google+ users are also still a minority compared to Facebook. Whether this will be a turning point, only time will tell. It's certain that for marketers, if these changes stay in place, it will become a necessity to have an active presence on Google+ - even if solely for SEO reasons.

What do you think? Is Google abusing its power as the worlds favourite search engine to unfairly promote its social network? Will you create a Google+ page for your business as a result?

Our Favourite Youtube Videos From 2011

1. T-Mobile: Royal Wedding
This video, with the tagline "Life is for sharing", took the internet by storm back in March. A clever parody, it features look-a-likes of the Royal Family dancing down the aisle. Released solely online, the video has over 25 milllion views.


2. STA Travel: Move
The "Move", "Eat" and "Learn" videos by STA were filmed by 3 mates, over 11 different countries, across 38 thousand miles for 6 weeks. The series of 3 minute films capture beautifully their journey, and had the blogosphere questioning "Can Advertising be Art?'.


3. Google: Analytics in Real Life
This humerous video highlights how ridiculous it would be to purchase products in real life like we do online. A bewildered shopper struggles to pay for a loaf of bread when asked for his username, password and agreement of terms and conditions.


4. Socialnomics: Social Media Revolution
This catchy viral, filled with astonishing facts about Social Media, demonstrates the need for businesses to embrace social media, and that the world of communications is changing.


5. John Street: Catvertising
A clever tribute to the growing number of cat videos online, John Street announces the agency will be following a new strategic direction - to specialise in the creation of cat videos, all inhouse. After all, no one wants to see ads anymore, they want cat videos !


6. John Lewis: Christmas Advert
The Christmas Advert by John Lewis has been attributed with growing sales in the run up to Christmas, with sales up year-on-year. It features a little boy, who just can't wait to give his parents the present he has carefully chosen for them. With almost 4 million views, it certainly did create a buzz.


These are our favourites from 2011, what are yours?