A few months ago, Google introduced their own social networking platform with the intention of entering the ring to contend for the social media crown against the likes of Facebook and Twitter. This platform, simply dubbed Google + (pronounced Google Plus), showcases quite a few similar features as its leading competition. So as a musician, you may be asking yourself ‘why would I even bother if I’m already on Facebook and Twitter? Do I REALLY need to update yet another social account??’.

Well frankly, the answer is yes, you really do need to get yourself set up on Google + and the reasons as such are quite simple.

Why Musicians Cannot Avoid Google +

1. Google + pages rank very highly (if not #1) in Google searches.

This is incredibly important for any emerging musician trying to establish an online presence, as it will almost instantly increase your visibility. Even if you are still too obscure for your Facebook Fan Page or your personal website to appear towards the top of a Google search, a Google + page will almost instantly rank towards the very top.

2. Google + is the fastest growing social network in history.

Of course it is! Google is already such a dominant force that anything they introduce can grow, and fast. So it is no surprise that Google +, introduced in July of 2011, received 20 million visits in the first 21 days of its existence. As of September 2011, Google + was up to 25 million registered members, which is still infantile compared to Facebook which is somewhere in the range of 750 million registered members. But if Google + can continue to grow at it’s current rate, it may be able to give Facebook a real run for the money.

3. Google + has already shown to be a powerful tool for musicians.

Within the first weeks of the Google + launch, a singer/ songwriter named Daria Musk took advantage of some of the FREE Google + features, namely Google Hangouts, to host a virtual concert to hundreds of fans and new listeners.

Read the rest of this article at Music Think Tank

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions – or at least labeling it as such; but I do have things that I would like to do, change, and improve on each year. For 2012 I have decided to come off my year long Facebook hiatus.

Yes, it has been a year. I decided to deactivate my Facebook account for a number of reasons. Social media is great, it allows you to connect with people, get news in a different and timely manner, among other things. But it does become overwhelming, not to mention time consuming and before you know it you have become consumed by it.

I used it regularly. Added pictures, wrote on people’s walls, chatted with my friends, but after a while I found myself just sitting on Facebook for hours. Doing nothing but looking on every one’s pages and simply being nosey.

Privacy was another reason why I had to take an extended break from the social networking site. Around the time I decided to part ways I was tagged in photos, I didn’t know were taken and that I obviously didn’t want circulating around Facebook (they weren’t that bad, I just didn’t care for them) and two friends had recently gotten their accounts hacked into. So that was it, I was done.

But now, a year and some change later. I have decided to come back to the world of Facebook. What have I missed? A lot I assume being that every week they come up with a new feature, addition, or update.

This time around, I’m creating a plan. Social media can be used for so many other things outside of personal entertainment and I plan to utilize it more professionally this time around. Professionals are using social media now more than ever, so I think it’s time to board the train again and make it work to my advantage.

Surprisingly a lot of people go on social media hiatus’ for their own personal reasons. And while I’m coming off one, many have decided to enter.

A new web project called Facebook Sabbatical 2012 supports the idea of a Facebook break. The website encourages a day, week, or month long break as a way to get a new perspective on social networking and to slow down and resist distractions in the New Year.

So if you’re looking to do things a little different this year, making a change to your social networking activity may just be what you need. Whether you are getting back in the groove or taking a much needed break.

Microsoft is joining the increasingly crowded social media market, recently going public with So.cl. Not to worry — this is not Microsoft’s attempt to take on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

So what exactly is So.cl, pronounced social? In short, it’s a social network geared at helping students interested in social media. Microsoft describes it as “a research experiment for students focused on combining web browsing, search, and social networking for the purposes of learning.”

Using search functions powered by Bing’s API, So.cl encourages students to search for topics and then create montages of the visually rich web content. The links are automatically shared as you search, in case there are other students looking for the same thing. You can also have “video parties,” which “let you search, and quickly assemble a list of movies to view together with friends.” (Those friends are other online So.cl users.)

It is currently only available to college students in information and design schools at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University.

Read the rest of this article at 10,000 Words

Zoomsphere a platform that provides detailed statistics for major social networks such as Facebook,Twitter,Google+ and LinkedIn gives us a a look at the top 12 brands on Google+ 

1. Android: 255,026 followers
2. Mashable: 146,794 followers
3. Coldplay: 130,696 followers
4. Google Chrome: 128,757 followers
5. H&M: 120,788 followers
6. Google+: 114,574 followers
7. Marvel: 114, 531 followers
8. Train: 112, 459 followers
9. The All-American Rejects: 110,338 followers
10. The New York Times 108, 335 followers
11. Linkin Park: 107,829 followers
12. Pearl Jam: 104,711 followers

Wouldn’t it be cool to track the history of your favorite rap artist using a location-based application like Foursquare? Well thanks to a public relations manager, Paul Rayment you can.

Rayment is mapping the history of famous rappers on Foursquare, adding note-worthy locations in the buildup to their careers. He has mapped Tupac’s roots and he plans to chronicle Jay-Z next.

Take a look at this video from Mashable for details:

Student journalists should know by now, you likely won’t start out earning an enormous salary. And that money will seem even scarcer if you’ve got student loans to pay back. So Thursday is your chance to both support the First Amendment — that’s the one with freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which I really hope you already knew — and to potentially earn a $5,000 scholarship. It’s as easy as exercising your right to tweet — by tweeting about why you love that right (or any of the others in that near sacred amendment). For those who’ve gone through other scholarship competitions, that’s a scholarship essay of 140 characters instead of 1,400 words or so. And with 22 available awards, your odds may be better than many national winner-take-all competitions.

Read the rest of this article at 10,000 Words

It’s that time of the year again where everyone starts their social media and/or technology predictions for 2012 blog post. In the past few years one I look forward to reading is by David Armano @armano on the Harvard Business Review website. This year David list six social media trends to look for in 2012 which includes:

1. Convergence Emergence.
2. The Cult of Influence.
3. Gamification Nation
4. Social Sharing.
5. Social Television
6. The Micro Economy

While I agree with David’s post here are six more trends I think you should keep an eye on in 2012.

7. Mobile Commerce/Payments
Everything from NFC, QR Code payments, Visa mobile payments and the social web favorite Square will be become more main stream and integrated with social behavior analyst. Also more custom mobile payments like Starbucks has.

8.Niche Social Mobile Local Communities
In 2012 instagram will continue to grow and we’ll see more niche mobile platforms launch and gain traction. Expect to hear a lot about Path and Pinterest. With something new launched or become the instagram of 2012.

9. Social Identity Verification
With more social networks and other platforms being launched the big three Google, Twitter, Facebook will be doing more to try to solidify your one identity for the social web.

10. Cross Posting APIs
This is for the programmers. APIs are the secret sauce to an app or platform. We’ll see more APIs being used and created for cross platform integration to add feature sets to gain users. Hint… google+ API.

11. Virtual Goods and Gift Cards Offline Transactions
I’m not a big gamer or into gift cards but I have a feeling that between the millions of virtual goods being paid for with real cash on platforms like Facebook they will start to merge into offline transactions for products with marketers.

12. K.I.S.S. Design
Many people don’t think about design when it comes to social media but they should. In 2012 everything is even more K.I.S.S. ( Keep it simple stupid). 2012 is the year of mobile and not just smartphone, tablets! As the number mobile users increase it means you need to think about how your customers use social media on mobile devices. Keep your design, simple, slick and shiny.. . yes shiny with big pictures. That’s the trend.

Where do you see social media going in 2012?

Sheets Energy Strips, a dissolvable strip that goes on the tongue, is looking for a fan to make its next TV commercial and is using Facebook and LeBron James to make it happen.

The brand is running a contest for people to create their own ad in hopes to be featured on TV and in cinema in 2012. James created his own ad for the contest, which shows him with a new found energy unlike we’ve ever seen before, from him anyway- which is the whole point, to show that these strips really do give you energy.

This isn’t James’ first social media marketing initiative.The Miami Heat player is also involved with another similar contest for lip balm company, Carmax. The contest also requires fans to submit entries via Facebook and Twitter to tell how Carmax fits into their everyday lives.

Fans have 45 days to submit their video for the Sheets commercial- go to www.facebook.com/TakeaSheet for all the details.

Check out LeBron’s commercial here:

#NewTwitter and #newnewtwitter is trending on twitter right now and no it’s not a list of the best #newtwitter trending tweets but for the second time in twitter history twitter today launched a new interface/design of twitter. In a “Let’s Fly” blog post twitter stated the new design is for Twitter.com, mobile phones and they also updated TweetDeck to be consistent. With the new version comes four new tabs: Home, Connect, Discover, and me. The new #newtwitter redesign will be rolling over the next few weeks to everyone but the post states you can see it on your mobile phone now at mobile.twitter.com. To further explain the #newnewtwitter, twitter created the Yours to discover video. Take a look.

If you don’t have the new twitter here are a few screenshots.

A few new features comes with the new #newtwitter anouncment such as an easier way to embed tweets and twitter brand pages as you can see below.

To embed a tweet just click on open, then details if you have the new twitter.

A new way for you to share your story, send tips and get featured on BlackWeb 2.0 ow.ly/1g2xET

— BlackWeb20 (@BlackWeb20) December7, 2011

@disneypixar Brand Page:

The mobile web, iPhone and android versions of the new twitter are just as slick as the website redesign.

For more about the #newnewtwitter visit fly.twitter.com and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @BlackWeb20. You can find me on twitter as @WayneSutton

Do you have the new twitter? What are you thoughts on the mobile and website redesign?

Shaquille O’Neal — all 7-plus feet and 300-plus pounds of him — isn’t just known for casting a huge shadow on the basketball court. He looms large in social media, too, as America’s most-followed athlete (second in the world behind Brazilian soccer star Kaka) and Twitter’s first-ever verified celebrity account.

He’s known for interacting with fans, announcing whimsical stunts like posing as a statue in Harvard Square and even announcing his retirement this year via social media.

But these and other “Random Acts of Shaqness” aren’t just the brainchild of the big man himself — many were developed in tandem with Amy Jo Martin, founder of Digital Royalty, a firm launched in 2009 to develop social media strategies with athletes, celebrities and companies looking to enhance their online presence.

Read the rest of this article at Mashable