Google Voice Simplifies SMS to Multiple Recipients

Google has taken steps to make sending text messages to multiple recipients a little bit easier with Google Voice. In the past, users had to copy and paste the message for each person on the list.

Google is now letting users send the message to multiple people at once. Users now just need to click on the SMS button at the top of their Google Voice inbox, enter the names/numbers in the "To" field, separated by commas, and write the message.

"Replies from each recipient will be threaded into separate conversations, so you can keep track of them in your Google Voice inbox," explains

Google's Greg Hecht. "To prevent spam, we've set a maximum of five recipients per message."

The feature is also available in the Google Voice Chrome extension in the recently released gallery. Google says it will soon be adding it to the Google Voice mobile app.

Last week Google launched the new Google Voice mobile web app for iPhone OS 3.0 and higher and Palm Web OS devices. It utilizes HTML5.

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PayPal Launches “Send Money” Facebook App

PayPal has introduced a new Facebook app for sending money. The app is designed to allow uses to use PayPal to send money to anyone starting from Facebook. Users only need the person's email address.

PayPal Director of Product Marketing Heinz Waelchli explains how it works:

Visit our send money application page and click on the "Get Started" button to install the application. Next just fill in the fields in the form and click the "Continue to PayPal" button. You’ll be taken to the PayPal site to log-in (if you don’t already have an account, you can create a new account in minutes). You’ll then choose your method of payment, if you use your PayPal balance or bank account to send money to friends and family within the U.S., it’s free. You can enter a personal message to your recipient if you like. Finally, click on the "send" button and that's it! Your recipient will be notified by email right away. The receiver can then log-in to PayPal to claim the money or quickly sign up for a new account.

It's probably a good idea on PayPal's part to have a Facebook app in place before any really significant Facebook e-commerce system takes over. Last month PayPal opened up its global payments platform called PayPal X, which provides APIs and a developer portal. This is likely an important move for keeping PayPal relevant in the social eye as well.

On another PayPal-Facebook-realted note, PayPal is in the middle of its second annual " Regift the Fruitcake " campaign, an event, which calls upon people to create virtual fruitcakes and give them to their Facebook friends to raise money for 25 different charities. You can read more about that here.
 

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Kanye, Swayze, Others Propel Google News to Record Week in UK

Google News had a record week in the UK last week. Hitwise attributes this largely to a big week for celebrity news.

"Last week was a bumper week for celebrity news stories (unfortunately for sad reasons in many cases), and Google News UK was a top recipient for many of the most popular terms," says Hitwises's Robin Goad. "The site was the second biggest recipient of UK searches for ‘patrick swayze’ and ‘kanye west’ (picking up 8.25% and 8.26% of traffic respectively), third for ‘katie price’ (9.29%) and fourth for ‘keith floyd’ (5.28%)."

According to Hitwise, last week was Google News UK's busiest week ever, with visits increasing 71% and the site ranking 28th most popular overall (up from 46th the previous week).

Google News also got a good deal of attention last week when Google formally announced Google Fast Flip, a new way for users to read the news in a more visual, magazine-like way. This feature is still in "lab" status, and is not a full-fledged feature of Google News yet, but it has received mixed reviews.

Another piece of Google News-related news is that Google has recently started distinguishing between blogs and other news sources in a new way. I would have to say this system is a bit flawed though. More on that here.

As Google News reaches new heights in popularity in the UK, UK publishers may want to consider some SEO tips for ranking on the site. In addition, Google News has recently added real-time suggestions.

Utilizing the secrets of Opt-In lists

Emails are replacing regular mails from the post office. Not only because it is cheaper, since you do not need to buy a stamp, it’s also definitely faster. Emails can be sent in as fast as five seconds, depending on the server, anywhere in the world.

No doubt emails are being used to distribute news letters, promotional mails, and other stuff. How then would you be able to round up email addresses to send those marketing mails you have? Here is where an opt-in list comes in.

An opt-in list is a directory of email address you can send to those mails to. Though it seems to be easy to find email addresses, if you are talking thousands in numbers, it is going to be hard. Besides, you have to determine the recipient of the email. You wouldn’t want your readers mostly male if you are selling lipsticks, right?

A good opt-in list should include the profile of the email address owner. Here are tips on how to create a comprehensive opt-in list for target market.

Create your website.
Creating a website is made simple nowadays. A lot of programs are milling about assisting regular computer users in making and maintaining websites in a real simple way. Some website creator just needs you to cut and paste, like that of a regular paint program. Several web hosting sites are available too. Some are even free. If you have a site of your own, you can ask visitors to register with you or sign your guest book as they leave.

Set up a promotion or a freebie.
Not all the best things in life are free, as they say. But you can definitely try to give something out for sure. You can see this done all over the web. Free screensavers, free games, free download of programs. And what do they need from you? They just ask for an email address, your name and a little something more about you. Then you can place a check box on the registration form for sending of email. For sure, you can think of something to give out as well.

Write and write some more.
There are some web magazines where in readers can submit their writings for a particular topic. If you had a chance to do so, add a link to your article providing information about what you are trying to promote. Some readers of your article may enjoy your work so much they’d like to contact you, so don’t forget to leave your email address too.

Pose an easy opt-out option.
People who like to join your opt-in list would, along the way may want to opt out of it somehow. People who are wary of joining may not join at all if they see that it would be near impossible to remove their email address from the listing. Show them that it is as easy to opt-out as it is opting in.

Check other’s strategy too.
It would be better if you can find a partner in generating an opt-in list. This way, you can split the expenses and both of you can share the list generated. It will be best to partner with a company that has a business similar to your own line. Both of you can profit more should that be the case.

Use offline ways too.
You can put up a small raffle preferably in a supermarket for a certain item they buy. You can place an email address opt-in part in the raffle entry to add to your list. This way, you’d also know the buying preferences of the participants if you mark the entries systemically.

Creating an opt-in list entails a lot of work and funds. You should outline how much you will spend in creating an opt-in list. People appearing at opt-in lists are sales prospects. They are those interested in a certain product that you may be selling. Obtaining an optimal opt-in list would boost your sales up so these tools are undoubtedly essential.

Acquire an opt-in list now or generate one. Either way, you are reaching to people that can be your one of your treasured customers for a long period time.

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