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Dear Readers,

Have you heard about Google+ yet?

Google “Plus” is Google’s latest attempt to create a social networking site to compete with Facebook.

Right now Google+ is in beta and access is by invitation only.  Google tried this before with Orkut but the service didn’t take off. (In fact when I joined Google+ I think a bunch of my data was pulled into my profile automatically because of my old Orkut account.)

In order to access Google+ you need to receive an invitation from a Google+ user.  You also have to hope that at that moment Google is accepting more users. They frequently throttle new users and turn them off for a bit to keep the service from being overwhelmed.

Google+ TIP: If you receive a Google+ invitation from someone and cannot use it because Google has turned off invites, just keep the email. Later on when Google allows invites you can click on the link in the email instead of having to wait for a new invitation from someone.

You may be asking what’s new about Google+? Why use Google+ instead of Facebook?

The main advantage to me appears to be what Google+ calls circles. Since we are social media savvy now we know that we want to break our friends into different groups. My mom may not want to read all my updates and I may not want my mom to read all my updates either   My business contacts might not want to read the updates that my high school friends read and so forth.

The advantage is that now that we’re starting over with a new social media site AND we have an easy way to identify groups of our friends… We can organize our contacts from the beginning.  This single advantage could be huge to Google+.  It isn’t that we can’t do that with Facebook but that now that we have hundreds (or thousands) of Facebook friends it is hard to go back and create groups.  Since we’re starting out with Google+ we can create groups at the beginning and use these “circles” from the get go. This means our Google+ account will be more organized than our Facebook account.

The reality is when Facebook began social media was still in it’s infancy.  When Facebook began they couldn’t imagine the success they would have. They couldn’t imagine that they’d have a membership base of approximately 700 MILLION people.

Google has the advantage of:

• Having attempted a social media site before with Orkut.
• Having been able to architect their new site with the advantage of experience.
• Having a built in userbase of 240+ million Gmail users to start with.

If Facebook could go back and architect everything over again I’m sure Facebook would be a lot better too!

So what does the Wall Street Journal think about Google+?  They just posted an article about how the effect of Google+ could impact the planned Facebook IPO. They suggest that Facebook has waited too long for their IPO and their reaction to Google+ may be too little too late.

Google+ Makes Facebook Look Socially Awkward from the Wall Street Journal Online.

A friend of mine and day trader suggests that the Facebook IPO will still be a hit. He’s probably right. I imagine that the general public isn’t even aware of Google+ yet. They won’t be aware that Google lost 6 million users in the USA and 1.5 million users in Canada in May.  The average user will buy Facebook stock anyway and savvy users will still buy Facebook stock knowing that the masses will drive up the value anyway!

What do you think about Google+?

Do you need a Google+ invite? If so leave a comment to let me know and I will try to email (to the email address you use when you comment) and I’ll send you an invite when they’re available.

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > facebook

Dear readers,

Yes it’s true. Facebook loses 7.5 million users in one month!

I’ve been on Facebook now for over 4 years.  I’ve watched the rise in popularity and now I fear we’re watching the fall of Facebook.

As Facebook prepares for a $100 Billion IPO, there are warning signs that the company may have grown too big.

Inside Facebook reported that last month Facebook lost 6 million users in the USA and 1.5 million users in Canada.

Of course Facebook did add users worldwide and they added more than the 7.5 million they lost in the US and Canada. But considering the US & Canada were some of the first Facebook markets, is this a sign of things to come?

Two articles last week highlighted issues where Facebook has frustrated some of the people that help them most… application developers.

• Grow your social network but not on Facebook.
• Suddenly Facebook shuts down apps left and right.

Past articles in reputable resources like Ad Age have suggested that perhaps Facebook has jumped the shark.

There are many theories as to why people are leaving Facebook and maybe that should be the subject of a future blog post…

The question of this blog post is…

Facebook loses 7.5 million users. Where are those 7.5 million users going?

• Are they going to other social media sites?
• Are they giving up on social media altogether?
• Is this just a summer time anomaly?

What is your opinion? Do you think the 7.5 lost users are going to other social media sites? Are they early adopters that have left to join other social networks or did they give up on social media altogether?

Lets discuss! Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > facebook

Dear readers,

I am always look for ways to save time in my social media marketing.

We have to be careful not to waste time being “busy”.

Next thing we know we’ve wasted hours on social media and gotten no work done!

Here is a great tool to save time photo sharing by allowing you to upload photos to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, and Foursquare all at once!

This tool is called Instagr.am.

Instagram is an application for your iPhone or iPad that allows you to take photos, add filters to them, and share them with social media sites.  You can also network with your friends, see their photo streams, like photos, comment, etc.

Here are some uses for Instagram:

• First, it allows me to perform cool effects with my photos and add stylizations to them that make them look like old photos or black and white or whatever.
• Second it allows me to automatically post them to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, and Posterous.
• Third it allows me to network with my friends, I can update them that I just posted new photos. I can see their photos. I can see other people they follow to find new friends, etc. (Basically a social network based around photos.)

For me I’m not looking to join another social site. I’ve got enough.

I do however want to be able to share photos with multiple social sites.

Primarily I want to share photos easily with Twitter and Facebook.

When I’m out and about I want to post photos to both Twitter and Facebook. If I can use one tool to post to both I’ve saved several minutes of time.

Since I can add in other social media sites like Flickr or Tumblr, why not add them too!  Even though I’m not primarily using those services, I do have accounts there. Any social media tool that allows me to cross post to multiple social sites is allowing me to be more effective in my social media marketing!

Best of all Instagram is free.    There are some paid applications out there but the basic Instagram application is free to use!

Have you used Instagr.am yet?

What do you think?

Does saving time photo sharing mean anything to you?

- Ben Fitts

Are you following me yet?

MLM Training > facebook

Dear readers,

Today I wanted to share a real quick post with you.

Here are 3 Awesome Social Media tools you should be using!

1. HootSuite

HootSuite is a web based service that allows me to post status updates to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, My WordPress.com blog and more. I use one tool to simplify all my efforts.

I like the fact that it is easy to use and is web based. I have two computers I work from a desktop and a laptop so I prefer web based services.

I use HootSuite to not only post status messages but I use it to post links. They have a built in URL shortener and it can track clicks on links for you, see my previous post here.

I also like HootSuite because I can setup tabs to follow specific Twitter users, lists of Twitter people, or search for specific keywords or hashtags.  This makes it a lot easier for me to follow a lot of people on Twitter.

2. Fully Follow

I recently discovered this one. This is a very simple site.  Basically instead of giving people separate links to follow you on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter you can use one link instead.

I give people a link like this: http://www.fullyfollow.me/benfitts They can quickly and easily follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  You can also pick 2 of the 3 services if you don’t want to pick all 3.

3. CINCH

Cinch is a website/application that allows me to record voice messages and broadcast them to my Facebook or Twitter.

You can download the application and put it on your smartphone to record messages direct from your cell phone. Or you can dial a special phone number and record voicemail messages to be broadcast.

You can also add your Cinch messages to a web site by pasting in a code like this:

If you’d like to explore more awesome social media tools check out this post from the social media examiner which outlines 22 hot new social media tools.

- Ben Fitts

PS. I am affiliate for HootSuite but you can use HootSuite free!

MLM Training > facebook

Dear Readers,

Did you read my post yesterday about Empire Avenue?

Empire Avenue (EAV) is a social media game.

– Setup Your Empire Avenue Account Here –

The game connects to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr profiles.

If you need Empire Avenue Help with your new account read on:

1. When you start, you want to connect all of your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr profiles.
2. You can also connect to your blogs as well.
3. You also want to make sure you add a profile photo. I always encourage people to use the same photo on all their social networking sites.

If all you do is those few things you can still get a lot of value from EAV.

Once you have your social media profiles connected within a few days you will begin to be ranked.

For example: They’ll give you a ranking on how your Facebook profile compares to other Facebook users.  This score will be based on a system of 1 to 100.  1 being the worst and 100 being the best.

Your ranking will give you some idea of whether or not you are using your social media profiles to their fullest potential.

Here is a quick Empire Avenue instructional video that explains some of the basics.

As you can see you get credit for participating in social networks, how many friends, followers, etc. you have. The more active you are and the more engaging you are with other people your ranking goes up.

Additionally your “daily dividend” is based on how active you are. The more active and engaging you are on your social networks and EAV the higher your daily dividend to your shareholders. The higher your dividend the less likely your shareholders will be to sell your stock!

This is a great lesson because it teaches you how to be more active and engaging with your social network.

The other cool thing is you can learn from other networkers. I’m watching what other top people do.  I am getting real value from watching them and learning how they interact with their shareholders and how they promote EAV on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

TIP: If you own at least 1 share of someone, you will get shareholder email from them. This is a great way to get more Empire Avenue Help as many times they will share advice or strategies in their shareholder email.

Shareholder email is another great way to provide value to your shareholders and keep them happy. Again this is something I learned from watching how other top social media networkers do business.

I have posted a list of some top network marketers EAV profiles for you to purchase shares from.  Purchasing at least one share will get you access to their shareholder emails!

Finally, if you aren’t playing Empire Avenue yet you can use this link to join EAV.  When you do make sure to buy at least one share of “BENFITTS” stock so you can get my shareholder emails!

- Ben Fitts

MLM Training > facebook