A brief outline of what to expect from the Outlook Social Connector (via MSDN blog):

• The People Pane A name, picture, and title for your colleagues whenever reading a message from them.
• Rich history See a rich communications history for each person that sends you messages with one-click access to the most recent messages and attachments.
• Activities Download and see real-time activity for your colleagues from business and social networks.
• Get friendly Request someone as a colleague or friend with one click. Synchronize those colleagues with Outlook and keep them up-to-date as their information changes.
• SharePoint 2010 Connect to the new MySite social networking experience right out of the box with the OSC & SharePoint 2010.
• Extensible A public SDK allows anyone to build a connection to business or consumer social networks.

It’s now available on Outlook 2010 Beta and we’re wondering about the Outlook Social Connector.  Has anyone been using it?  It seems like Outlook’s version of Google Buzz with the mission of LinkedIn.  Have we reached the copycat era of social media or is there going to be a real breakthrough in connecting with people?  With the onslaught of real-time results, we’re thinking that we’ll need a predictive formula.  This social media plug-in will predict where all of your friends will be going and what they will be doing based on their past entries…  It’s Tuesday.  Amber is going to go to the Starbucks on King St. and will tweet about their delicious bran muffins at approximately 9:18am.  Oh [big] brother!

Source: Michael Affronti, MSDN

Today, I was buzzed at work.  Okay, forgive the terrible pun.  The office mates and I were discussing whether or not we like Google’s latest venture into social media.  Carly, our SEO Manager, has the mobile version on her phone and likes that it shows people nearby.  However, we are all fairly unimpressed with the Gmail version.  It feels like a mass Instant Message and G chat status.  It’s nice that it automatically follows friends, but it’s also odd that you cannot be voluntarily anonymous like on Twitter.  Also, how are we encouraged to find and follow more people?  On the mobile version, we can find people near us.  On the Gmail version, we are talking to the people we already talked to.  With Twitter; however, I can search by area or trending topic and find people interested in the same things as I am.  We’re all unsure which category to fit Buzz into.  Isn’t it going to drive me crazy to see everyone’s constant flow of Picasa, Flickr and Google Reader activity?  I already turned on my filter so that my inbox won’t be flooded with replies from friends.  What is your opinion of this latest craze?  Will it fade in and out like Google Wave or be the proverbial “Twitter killer”?

We are all anticipating the arrival of the Google Buzz icon in our gmail inboxes.  Google has announced that it will be rolling out its new product within the next few days and if you already have a Gmail account, you will automatically have a Google Buzz account.  Buzz will also start following the people you chat and e-mail with the most.  Search Engine Land has a thorough article about everything the new product will offer, but here are some key features that are exciting us for Google Buzz:

No sign-up or setup.

Sharing pictures, websites, status updates, messages, etc. can be completely public or limited to just your friends.

Buzz can display updates from other sites like Flickr, Picasa and Twitter.

Buzz will recommend other people’s updates and put them in your feed according to your interests (and it has a ‘not interested’ feature).

Buzz Mobile will have all of these features, but additionally, will focus on more location-specific updates.

Check out this demo on YouTube:

What do you think about the addition of Buzz to your social media arsenal?  Is it going to be a Twitter or Facebook killer?  For location-specific posts, it will be very interesting to see how it interacts with the blogging world.

Steve Jobs is currently presenting the new iPad, which he says is not a netbook.  He says that the net books have “slow, low-quality displays and run PC software.  They’re not better than a laptop at anything, just cheaper.  We don’t think they’re the third device.”  In other words, the iPad is.  It is described as a much bigger iPhone with a keypad that appears much like it does on the iPhone, which Jobs demonstrates by typing on while it sits on his lap.  Jobs says that surfing the web on the iPad is the “best browsing experience you’ve ever had.”

What about the hardware, you ask?  “A half inch thin. Weighs just 1.5 pounds. Thinner and lighter than any netbook. 9.7 inch IPS display. Super high quality using IPS technology so you get great angle of view. Full capacitive multi-touch. 1GHz Apple A4 chip (Gruber laughs). Most advanced chip they’ve ever done; processor, graphics, I/O, and everything in one chip. 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of flash solid state storage.”

Things You’ll Love:

- 10 hours of battery life, one month on standby

- arsenic-free, PVC-free, mercury-free and highly recyclable

- you can run apps at iPhone size or tap them twice and they “blow up” to full screen

- grab metadata from your Mac or PC desktop

- websites like the NY Times can be manipulated by changing the number of columns, resizing text and watching embedded videos

- seamless transition for apps like MLB At Bat (below) – “like holding an HDTV inches from your face that’s fully touch enabled”

Favorite quote so far: “People don’t like the iPad name but I think the connotations you’re thinking of will drift away,” Jobs says, “iPod didn’t mean anything either, but here we are.”

Here’s my question: There is no doubt that this is an awesome product, but are you going to carry it around with your iPhone and MacBook?  In what circumstances do you need all three?

Source: Mac World live updates

Photo courtesy of kevin.lexblog.com

Google Reader has introduced a new feature that allows you to be notified when a page has updated content, even if you’re not subscribed to the RSS feed.  Feeds are a great way to keep updated on the happenings of your favorite websites and Google Reader is simply ensuring that the updated information is always available to you.  This, in addition to the establishment of real-time search results, simply reiterates how important it is to keep your website constantly updated with the correct information and properly managed content.

For more information, check out Google’s announcement on their blog here.

Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media found that her Twitter trending topic feed was slightly different last week.  Since we are in Charleston, we hadn’t yet seen the new Local Trends on Twitter.  Basically, it’s a breakdown of local trends which will be great for reaching the appropriate demographic when marketing on Twitter.  You can now see what is relevant in your direct area as opposed to the entire Twitterverse.  The cities that are currently experiencing Local Trends include L.A, NYC, Chicago, D.C., the UK, Atlanta and Dallas.  Here is a look at local trends side by side (courtesy of Lisa Barone):

Photo courtesy of Gizmodo

Apple announced today that it will be holding a press conference to introduce their newest “creation” on January 27th.  Could it be, the mythical Apple Tablet, is finally going to be seen by the public?  For more baseless assertions, you can check out the full Gizmodo article by Kat Hannaford and follow the event live on January 27th.

On today’s Twitter trending topics, you will see Haiti and Yele in spots number one and two.  Twitter has become instrumental for getting the word out about worldwide crises and how to help.  The American Red Cross has joined in by assigning a number for people to text and donate.  When you text 909-99, you will donate $10 to go directly to the aid of the Haiti earthquake victims (showing up on your phone bill for that month).  The updates can be quickly seen on Google Real Time Search Results:

Yele is a program developed by recording artist Wyclef Jean committed to keeping the spirit, heart and pride of the Haiti people intact.  He, too, assigned a number (501501) to automatically donate $5 to the disaster relief of Haitians after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Photo courtesy of HubSpot's blog

We know that blogging is becoming a more integral part of search engine marketing (as seen in our post here), but many businesses struggle not with traffic, but generating comments on the blog in order to keep it relevant and fresh.  I found this great article by Alisa Bowman posted on SEOgroup.net and thought it to be helpful.  Here are a few of her tips for generating more comments on a blog:

1) Giveaways encourage people to comment right away.  You will get a lot of comments (that is, if you have followers), naturally, because people love freebies.  Alisa instituted a “Reader of the Month” giveaway, which she tracked with the My Top Commentators widget.

2) Discuss relevant topics to your readers.  This might seem simple but you need to stick to your business’s specific niche on your blog.  If you jump from topic-to-topic, it will inhibit comments.

3) Pose questions within your post and in bold letters at the end of posts.  This will engage readers and they will be able to share their similar experiences.

4) Don’t be afraid to expose weakness or struggle.  It is easy for people to relate and they may also be inclined to offer insight or advice.

Photo courtesy of getclickz.com

Happy New Year everyone!  The new decade is being ushered in with the onset of Google Caffeine, but does not have a debut date just yet.  According to Official Wire, Caffeine is actually just a souped-up version of the Google we already know- with faster speed, emphasis on real-time search results and slight changes to the way Google indexes websites.  It is imperative; however, that websites stay up-to-date in order to maintain relevancy in the search results.  Things like blogs, press releases, social media, etc. will need to be integrated into your business marketing and maintained with the introduction of Caffeine.  Most users might not notice a difference in their web results, but “keeping websites fresh through regular updates will be important to ensure that they are crawled by Caffeine” (Crisafi).

Source: Peter Crisafi, Official Wire