1. The launch of Google+, a competitor to Facebook
2. The update of the social media revolution video series by Erik Qualman; and
3. Our thoughts regarding what may be considered a social media bubble.

Google+

Pete talks about his experience using Google+ and Mark discusses his impressions based on articles he has read. Overall, they agree that you shouldn’t discount the social media effort by Google, even though previous efforts (as in Wave and Buzz) have been less than spectacular.

Pete points out that one thing Google has going for it is for many people, Google already houses their electronic address database. Adding a social networking element like Facebook to an existing set of Gmail contacts – where you know who your top 20 emailed contacts are, and so much more data – is easier than developing your social network from scratch on a new social media platform. But of course, Facebook has volume with some 600-million-and-counting users.

Mark and Pete discuss the ability in Google+ to create circles and assign contacts to specific spheres of influence, like college, neighborhood, friends, church, etc. This functionality is nice and user friendly.

For a 10 minute video overview of Google+, we recommend this video from Jason Falls.

Social Media Revolution 3

The author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman, has recently released an updated video documenting social media’s rapid growth and acceptance. You can check the video out on YouTube.

A Social Media Bubble

For all the talk of social media tools, there remains talk of return on investment.

With recent IPOs Mark asks the question: “Are we putting too much value on social media?”

Mark and Pete discuss the social media trend of these last few years and what the future may hold.

We Added Music

Here we are more than a year into our podcast and we’re finally adding something we’ve missed – music!

Funny how we counsel others on how to create a professional podcast and are slow at taking our own advice. What can we say? We’ve been busy.

We extend a special thank you to Pete’s friend, Tyler Castleton, for contributing the theme music for the Online PR Podcast.

Join the Conversation

What do you think?

Have you already received a Google+ invite? Have you experimented with it? What are your impressions?

Do you like the soundtrack used for the new Social Media Revolution 3 video?

What do you think about the idea of a social media bubble?

We’d love to hear from you.

Image via Mashable

This week they address the state of the Online PR Podcast – lessons learned and rationale for continuing the podcast, Google’s Panda update to its search engine, and recent IPO news from LinkedIn along with rumors of a Facebook IPO in early 2012.

About this Podcast

Although it was March when the last Online PR Podcast episode was published, Pete and Mark have discussed the podcast and scheduled and re-scheduled times to record the next podcast. The good news is both of them have been so busy that is has been difficult finding time to schedule the podcast. That’s the bad news as well.

Looking back, however, both Mark and Pete recognize the value of the podcast in maintaining a firm grasp on current trends and issues. They both feel that although it may take some commitment to schedule time to get together and record Online PR Podcast episodes, the time spent is well worth it.

So, the good news for listeners is that we plan to continue the podcast, at least posting updates every few weeks.

Google’s Panda Update

Mark and Pete discussed changes they’ve seen in Google’s search performance since the company initiated its Panda Algorithm update.

Before the podcast they reviewed this post on Search Engine Land that featured a Q&A with Google’s Matt Cutts, Google’s top spam cop, discussing Panda.

Mark mentions the tool WooRank for identifying inbound links on your site.

Social Media IPOs

Pete and Mark addressed the recent LinkedIn initial public offering and rumors and speculation about Facebook’s IPO which is supposedly planned for early next year.

See what Mashable reported on June 13 about Facebook’s upcoming IPO.

Feedback

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please let us know what you’d like to have us address or leave any questions by submitting a post comment or contacting us here.

Facebook Pages

Administrators of Facebook can now interact on Facebook as their page and not their personal profile. This is perhaps the best advance yet for using Facebook as an organization.

Social Media’s Legal Implications

Two recent stories have made news:

One about a worker who posted derogatory comments on her Facebook page about her boss, then was fired. A lawsuit filed by the National Labor Relations Board argued the worker’s negative comments were protected speech under federal labor laws. The suit was settled out of court and the company agreed to change its social media policies which previously prohibited employees from talking about their job on social media sites.

The second, a 30 year-old English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was put on paid leave after the school district found out about her blog that characterized some of her students as “disengaged, lazy whiners” (read the article on USA Today).

The law hasn’t caught up yet with this social media phenomena. Fact is, the technology and its acceptance is moving so fast, it would be difficult to keep up. At least in America, what we’re witnessing is the debate between an organization’s right to protect itself and its interests and an employee’s right to free speech.

This debate is just getting started and we don’t believe it’ll be resolved until we have case law — most likely Supreme Court decisions — to reference on the many different ramifications of rampant social media acceptance and usage.

Southwest Airlines’ Updated Blog

The newly re-designed Southwest Airlines blog combines regular blog posts, podcasts, and video posts (their vlog, which is their YouTube channel), into one streamlined site. We give it high marks for functionality and creativity. Well done, Southwest!

Resources

Facebook pages

Associated Press – Feb. 7, 2011 – Feds settle case of woman fired because of her comments on Facebook
The New York Times – Feb. 7, 2011 – reporting on the same story

Southwest Airlines Blog

TweetDeck adds Foursquare, Buzz and scheduling

This week TweetDeck announced integration of Google Buzz, Foursquare and scheduled updates.

For months Pete and Mark have talked about convergence in social media.

With TweetDeck’s changes, it becomes a pretty powerful social media aggregator, listening platform and versatile social media publishing tool.

Top Facebook Pages

Based on an article published by TechCrunch, What Are The Top Brands On Facebook?, Mark and Pete review the top 10 list for Facebook pages.

Not surprisingly, many of the brands are very well-known. But surprisingly, some of them aren’t as mainstream as you might expect.

Facebook’s anti-privacy stance

Mark and Pete discuss recent developments and articles about Facebook and its design and privacy policy changes. The social networking giant is perhaps too full of itself and even immature in its approach to taking personal profile information and automatically making it public information – available to search engines and advertisers.

For additional background, check out Facebook’s Gone Rogue on Wired and Facebook Exodus Planned for May 31 on Mashable.

Adobe versus Apple

We’ve all heard the discussion of no Flash for the iPad. Adobe has launched an aggressive campaign to fight back at Apple for refusing to play with their software. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Read the Fast Company article, Adobe Launches Hearts and Minds PR Campaign to Bite Apple, for more information.