Facebook: “Promote your Post” Just a Test
March 3, 2010
Update: I finally got word back from Facebook, who confirmed that the feature is indeed only a test. "The "Promote" feature is just a test and is unrelated to our Promotions Guidelines," the company says. They did not give any specifics about a possible full launch.
Original Article: Facebook appears to either be rolling out or testing a feature that lets Facebook Page owners promote specific posts. When you make an update, a link that says, "Promote" can be found by the links for "Comment" and "Like".
Once you click that Promote link, it brings up a dialogue box, which asks you to create an ad, with targeting descriptions, the ad duration, and the maximum price of "Up to $50.00 USD".
Editor's note: Feel free to become our fan on Facebook, by the way.
You can click on "Edit Ad" to go to the standard Facebook Advertising Page, or you can click "Create Ad" to go to this page:
Interestingly enough, this comes after talk last week about how you have to have promotions approved by a Facebook account representative, which would reportedly cost you about $10k. This would appear to eliminate that notion.
The feature appears to only be available for some admins of some pages. We're not sure if they're rolling out the feature or just testing it. I've contacted Facebook to learn more about the feature, and I'll update when I receive a response. Any other Facebook Page admins getting this feature? Talk to ArisYulianta and Friends....
Google Integrates Panoramio, Picasa
February 24, 2010
Google Earth, Google Maps, and regular Google search results may sport some more geographically relevant photos in the future. Today, Google announced that it's linked Panoramio and Picasa in order to make it easier for people to share pictures.
Panoramio is the geolocation-centric photo-sharing site that Google acquired in 2007. Picasa is the more traditional photo-sharing site Google's owned since 2004. Bringing them together makes sense, even if it's not the timeliest move Google's ever made.
As for some specifics, Roger Trias i Sanz, a software engineer at Panoramio, wrote in a post on the LatLong Blog, "[W]e are happy to announce that you can upload your pictures right from Picasa Web Albums into Panoramio. By uploading your best photos of places into Panoramio you can share them with the Panoramio community and the world . . ."
Or you can not share them, of course. Google's apparently learned some lessons about unauthorized automation since the debut of Buzz, as the post made clear that photos must be both geotagged and in a public album to be transferred from Picasa to Panoramio. Plus, users will have to be logged into a Panoramio account to start an upload.
All in all, this development has the potential to improve several of Google's products without upsetting anybody.
Google Pulls Out Checkbook To Secure Chromium
January 30, 2010
Security experts who either weren't inclined to do Google any favors or actually wanted to cause a little mischief now have good reason to help the search giant out. Google's implemented a rewards system for finding bugs in Chromium.
People who report an eligible bug should receive at least $500 from Google by way of thanks. Particularly clever discoveries may even net individuals $1,337 (which is, aside from being a nice sum of money, a sort of joke likely to amuse Google's target audience).
As for some eligibility specifics, the key is to be the first person to report a bug through the Chromium bug tracker. Bugs present in Chrome, but not the Chromium open source project, are eligible. Would-be winners just can't have worked on the code, be under 18, or live in countries like Iran and North Korea.
This is a clever way for Google to receive a lot of help. The company's got plenty of money, after all - its market cap is in the neighborhood of $170 billion - but this approach will allow it to receive aid from many experts without adding hundreds of people to the payroll.
More information about the rewards program is available on the Chromium Blog. Good luck if you decide to take part.
Have You Read This?
> Google, PayPal, Mozilla Help StopBadware Go Solo
> Avast Software Added To Google Pack
> Gmail Switches To Default Https Encryption Following Attack
Kaufman Bros. Analyst Upgrades Yahoo
December 12, 2009
Just in time for the holidays, a financial expert has given a sort of present to Yahoo. Or, perhaps, given everybody else a way to spend whatever cash they receive. Regardless, Kaufman Bros. analyst Aaron Kessler has upgraded his rating on the search company from "hold" to "buy."
Earlier this week, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said at a conference that "things are looking up." We also saw Nielsen report that time spent stats for the Yahoo homepage are on the rise. With this additional outside-the-company approval, Yahoo seems to be on quite a roll.
As for the specifics, Kessler raised his price target to $20 (from $19), according to David B. Wilkerson, citing whispers about display ads and search performance as reasons why. Kessler's also anticipating regulatory approval of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal.
Yahoo's stock appears to be heading up today as a result of this show of confidence. While the Dow and Nasdaq are up 0.60 percent and down 0.09 percent, respectively, Yahoo's stock has managed to increase in value by 1.79 percent.
If you're interested in a couple more comparisons, Google's down 0.24 percent and Microsoft's down 0.10 percent.
Have You Read This?
> Yahoo Rolling Out Something Like Real-Time Search
> Yahoo And Microsoft Finalize Deal
> Yahoo Deepens Integration With Facebook
