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Facebook is beginning to roll out some new privacy and sharing features to help give you more control over how you share things on the social network with friends. Many look at features Google has integrated into Google+ as the reason why these fixes have finally been integrated since many users and Facebook privacy advocates have been asking for these features for a long time.

The new features are starting to trickle out among Facebook users and one of the most important changes in this roll out is the ability to approve or deny images and posts you are tagged in. Taking this a step further, you can even request undesirable content to be removed from Facebook altogether. For those of you who have a picture happy friend that posts a less-than-desirable image you can ask for it to be removed whether or not you are tagged in the photo.

Besides this major feature, Facebook is also bringing those elusive privacy controls front-and-center for any content you share. Prior to this update, the privacy controls were tucked away under the obscure “Privacy Settings” page under the control menu. Now when you share a link, image, or status update you can select who the post gets shared with from a simple drop down menu right on the post menu.

While people have been screaming at Facebook to adopt more upfront and user-friendly privacy settings, maybe having Google breathing down your neck is going to make Facebook a more friendly and intuitive product. Google+ is beginning to look promising and will certainly attract a good chunk of Facebook’s audience but with changes like these, Facebook is providing more reason to stick with the social network.

[via Facebook]

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Google’s new social network Google+ is gaining more momentum and has many promising features. Although previous Google lovefests for other products like Google Buzz and Google Wave ended up seeing poor performance over time with no long-term adoption, Google is hoping this is the next big feather in its cap. Speculating on whether Google+ is going to be a Facebook or Twitter killer might be best left for the pundits but the reality is Google+ has many promising features making it a product worth paying attention to.

As marketers we see the service as a great way to connect a brand to its customers but in order to do that, Google+ needs to reach a critical mass of active users engaging and perusing content. Social media has been a great way for consumers to have unfettered access to companies and products like never before and you can expect that to extend to Google+ as well. As we take our initial look at Google’s new social network we do realize there are definitely risks and opportunities at hand.

For those of you who have held a Gmail account over the years, this is your entry into Google+. Unlike other networks that may close your account and give you the “boot” for violating their terms of service, mess around on Google+ and not only risk losing your identity on the network but you could lose access to your entire Google portfolio under that email address. Now common sense can probably help preventing this from happening but you just never know in this digital age.

Edd Dumbill examines Google+ going beyond just a Facebook killer in his post on the O’Reilly Radar. Dumbill sees Google+ plus as the social backbone finally uniting a scattered social graph. Taking a crack at breaking down the “walled garden” approach of many current social networks, Google+ could be that backbone that could be applied to new networks, groups and communities allowing for a central hub that connects your friends, family and followers — and the associated information you’ve created and shared — to other third party sites and services. In essence, taking what Facebook Connect was doing but adding a more robust network behind it.

AOL’s Social Media & Marketing Director, Matthew Knell is anxiously awaiting Google to greenlight the use of Google+ for brands. There are plenty of brands chomping at the bit to get in and play around. Google has asked companies to refrain from establishing footholds in the new network until they launch its services specifically for businesses. Some brands like Ford took the risk and started a presence on Google+ but for smaller business without the clout Ford has, becoming victim to an early denial of use by Google may do more harm than good. Sure taking a cowboy risk and doing something innovative may pay off but you just have to take into account the possible risk. Either way, just like with other social networks, its about taking risks and chances to learn how best to connect with your audience.

Google+ is still new and we’re kicking the tires and revving the engine and ready to take it out on the track for a couple laps. After we put it through the paces, we’ll be able to come back with more insight but until then, Mashable’s Ben Parr put together this great online manual Google+: The Complete Guide that is worth checking out.

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It’s all about feelings. And, as a brand, if you’re not in touch with your customers’ feelings online, you’re going to have problems.

This week, Google unveiled a potentially game-changing update to Web search: real-time search. Sure, Twitter and other sites have allowed searches before now, but Google’s built-in support of social media brings up-to-the-second information searching into the mainstream. Where social media made online activity personal, real-time search makes it emotional.

The leading search engine said it would begin supplementing its search results with real-time social networking updates posted to sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. As the updated search engine rolls out in the next few days, searches will include the standard Web results with an additional scrolling box including blog posts, press releases, news articles, and tweets.

This has huge implications for marketing and brand advocacy campaigns.

We constantly remind our clients that a well-managed PR effort includes in-depth monitoring of their online reputations. Over the last few years, as social media has become more dominant, analyzing and tracking Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, review sites, and other networking platforms has become essential. These sites create a level of interaction, risk and opportunity never before seen in the marketing landscape. Now, real-time search takes this into over-drive, increasing both the positive and negative challenges for businesses online.

The days of objective searching are over. No longer will searches be limited to slow-to-change and easier-to-manage information and details provided by brands’ websites. Current and potential customers searching for information about your brand will not only find the basic information you (for the most part) control, but a streaming feed of real-time opinions, perceptions, and complaints about your brand as they happen.

A recent Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries found that recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online were the most trusted forms of advertising. In fact, almost 70 percent of those surveyed said they trusted other consumers’ opinions online. So, when those opinions are integrated into your customers’ searches, real opinions matter even more.

Look at Tiger Woods and his PR crisis as an example. Before, search results would list information about the man, his golfing stats, as well as the latest news articles of course. However, with real-time search, users will get more than the recently published articles on his alleged transgressions, but up-to-the-minute thoughts, opinions and feelings on “Tiger Woods” from everyone, not just the traditional media sources most often found in regular search. His long-garnered clean reputation is suddenly not so family-friendly in Web searches.

Time is no longer on your side. Unhappy customers, recalls and scandals will require immediate action by your brand, which can only happen through constant and careful monitoring. On the other hand, satisfied customer testimonials, successful events, and great PR wins will also be better utilized for maximizing your marketing outreach. Either way, sitting back and neglecting your online reputation is no longer an option. If your customers are talking about you, you better be part of the conversation.

Source: New York Times, Google Adds Live Updates to Results

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What is Sidewiki?

Google’s Sidewiki focuses on the idea that lots of different people visit the same websites for the same information…and may possibly have other important knowledge to contribute to other visitors that the site’s creator didn’t include. This includes research, reviews, comments, testimonials, and so on. Anyone, by downloading the plugin, can comment and see what others are saying–good and bad–about any web page at any time. This is a potential game changer for the online user experience and essential for businesses to monitor for reputation management.

On web pages, Google uses an algorithm to decide which comments go at the top. And Google, not the site owner, decides which content must be taken down because it’s inappropriate. The only control a website owner comes by verifying their Google account as the owner of the site in Webmasters, allowing them to get primary placement of their own comments above other comments on their verified websites, as well as the ability to leave comments as the business on other sites.

How do get started?

1. Sign up with a Google account.
2. Verify your site in Google Webmaster (click Add a Site, then add the Meta Code provided to the home page of your website; once added, click Verify).
3. Sign up and download Sidewiki
4. Go to your website, open Sidewiki, and add a comment. If you don’t see a box that allows you to check “Write the page as owner,” something went wrong.
5. Don’t go crazy, try just leaving a welcoming comment with a very short message. Also, as you comment on other sites, always keep in mind the Golden Rule.

Play fair, but nice.

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