There is always plenty to discuss about Facebook as the site continues to grow rapidly. However, there are a few items of interest floating around the blogosphere currently that I wanted to highlight here.
New Google AdWords Beta Expands Internationally
Google launched limited beta testing of a new AdWords campaign management interface back in November. At first it was only available to a limited number of US advertisers. Now the company has expanded the testing to more US advertisers as well as advertisers in the UK and Australia.
Google Updates Blog Search Algorithm
Google has updated its Blog Search algorithm after postponing the update earlier in the month. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable quotes Googler Jeremy Hylton who explains:
Google To Eliminate 200 Positions
Google represented something of a bright spot during the past few months; while other tech companies made layoffs, the search giant just slowed its hiring spree. Unfortunately, Google became part of the downsizing pattern this afternoon, announcing the elimination of 200 sales and marketing positions.
Facebook Wants You To Get Your Family Involved
Facebook now has a landing page for users to send to their families as invitations to a group. It comes in the form of a web form with your family’s name filled out as the name of the group.
It then asks you to invite your family members who are on Facebook to participate, then gives you more places to fill in emails of family members who aren’t on Facebook.
Study Looks at Video Viewing Demographics
A study from Nielsen and Ball State University found that 45-54 year-olds are the top consumers of video media. The study ran over the course of a year.
Data was gathered from traditional TVs (including DVD/VCR and DVR viewing), computers, mobile devices and other small screens like in-cinema movies, GPS and display screens outside of the home. Some key findings include:
Wikileaks Sponsor Raided By German Police
The Internet is the last refuge of free speech, but governments aren’t too keen on keeping it that way. The latest offense comes out of Germany, where police raided the home of a Wikileaks volunteer. The police also seized the wikileaks.de domain, which the man owned.
Google Starts Including User-Generated Maps in Search Results
Google has now made it easier to find maps created by others using My Maps. They are starting to show links to completed user-generated maps when they deem it relevant to a query.
Google Gets Involved with Potential 3D Graphics Standard
Tech companies are getting together to crate an open, royalty-free standard for presenting accelerated 3-D graphics online. Included in the consortium are Google, Adobe, Intel, Apple, and others.
Wikirank Shows What People Are Reading About
Search trends are fun, and give you an idea of what the mass population is into during a specific slice of time without always giving much of an explanation for why; the intent of their search could be merely informational or it could be commercial or for some other reason.