Week in Review

Facebook is Most-Searched Term Everywhere

OK, maybe not everywhere, but on Google, Yahoo and Bing it is. Overall, Facebook-related terms accounted for eight searches across the top 10 lists on the three major search engines. Meanwhile, eBay was the top paid search term across all three search properties. (Experian Hitwise)

Securing Your WordPress Blog

Upgrading, using solid passwords and using secret keys in your WP-Config file are three of the ways you can make your WordPress blog more secure. (Mashable)

Match.com vs. PlentyOfFish

Match.com is calling for PlentyofFish to stop making such outrageous claims. In response, PlentyofFish’s founder challenged Match.com’s own claims about its dating service. This smacks of the back-and-forth between Intuit and Mint.com last year, and may signal some insecurity on Match.com’s end. (paidContent.org)

Apple + Siri = Mobile Search?

Apple’s acquisition of the mobile-assistant app maker Siri may be Apple’s entry into the search business. It allows Apple to circumvent having to scrap and index the Web and build out a typical search engine. (Business Insider)

US is Still Spam King

In the first quarter of 2010, the U.S. accounted for 13.1 percent of all spam relayed across the globe, according to Sophos. China was surprisingly not on the list. The report also notes that spam accounts for 97 percent of all e-mail received by business e-mail servers. (Help Net Security)

Social Networking and Customer Loyalty

Big brands are taking part in big plans to leverage location-based social networking services to build customer loyalty. For instance, Pepsi is planning on launching a Foursquare-focused program in June that will enable users to check in at retail locations selling Pepsi. Every time they do, the rewards system will give users rewards points or badges that are redeemable for products or offers or donations to charities. (NYTimes.com)

Mobile Phones are Great Tools for Spies

Two researchers have shown that mobile phones enable some pretty scary tracking and information-gathering capabilities, relatively easily. A contractor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a journalist and his source, and people protected by high-security measures were among the people tracked in this study. They’ve alerted GSM carriers about the findings of their research but there doesn’t seem like mobile phone users can do much besides turn off their devices. (PhysOrg.com)

LinkedIn Unveils ‘Follow’ Feature

LinkedIn followed in Twitter and Facebook’s steps by introducing a feature enabling users to “follow” company profiles. This will give users the ability to easily see real-time updates, news and job postings. However, the quality of the feature is questionable, and the “condescending, pageview hungry attitude that colors so much of what LinkedIn does is all over this new feature as well.” (TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb)

Facebook > Twitter

Bigger penetration, more reliable states and a higher place on Braslow’s Hierarchy of Awesomeness are just a few of the reasons why Facebook pwns Twitter, for marketing purposes. Also, a new report shows that while nearly the same number of Americans know about both Twitter and Facebook, only 7 percent actually use Twitter, compared to 41 percent who have a Facebook profile. (Search Engine Journal, ReadWriteWeb)

30 SEO Problems, 30 Solutions

You got 30 SEO problems, but there’s an answer for each one. (SEOmozBlog)

Why Facebook is Unstoppable

It’s too late to regulate Facebook, according to Robert Scoble. The waves from the social network’s recent announcements and ambitions are felt even in Israel. After Facebook broke an invisible privacy contract with its users, the government is left with only a few unsatisfying options for action. In sum, “Zuckerberg just played chicken with our privacy and it sure looks like he won based on what I’m hearing here in Israel.” (Scobleizer)

Facebook: A Privacy Timeline

Here’s a nostalgic look back at what Facebook privacy used to be like. Back in 2005, Facebook promised not to make any personal information available to any user of the site that didn’t belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings. This has obviously eroded to where we are today. (Business Insider)

Solutions to PPC Woes

Verifying your tracking, submitting a test lead and checking for disapproved ads or keywords are just some of the troubleshooting solutions to your PPC issues. (PPC Hero)

A Tale of Two Twitters

Twitter has seen its wildly popular microblogging service branch off into two vastly different worlds. The first is maybe the more familiar: “a great broadcast medium for quickly distributing quick hits of information and/or links.” The second, however, “is the home for hate and ridicule.” Twitter must eventually resolve this rising amount of hate being published, or else an opportunity for a cleaner competitor might open up. (Business Insider)

5 Free Ways to Pre-Schedule Your Tweets

Twuffer, Later Bro, Twaitter, FutureTweets and tweetsqueue are five free services that allow you to pre-schedule your Twitter (and even Facebook) updates. Each has its own nuanced features. (Mashable)

Reporters’ Roundtable: Facebook and “Privacy” (Podcast)

Have “Facebook” and “privacy” ever belonged in the same sentence? What does Facebook have in common with AOL? Here’s a helpful overview of how the social networking and privacy landscapes have shifted in recent weeks and years. (CNET)

May Earnings

For those interested in how tech companies are faring these days, here’s a helpful calendar covering a good amount of May earnings dates. (Business Insider)

10 Reasons Why You Should Delete Your Facebook Account

Yes, let’s squeeze a few more drops of gasoline onto the fire, shall we? If you’re looking for someone to help tip you away from the social networking site, or if you’d like to have your calm view of Facebook challenged a bit, this post should do you good. Among the 10 reasons to delete your Facebook account is the point that Facebook, as an application, sucks. (Business Insider)

FTC Not Cool with Google-AdMob Marriage?

The FTC’s rather unsettling silence up to this point may indicate that the government organization is leaning toward opposing Google’s attempted acquisition of AdMob. Among the potential consequences are a weaker Google in its fight against Apple in the mobile realm, and an AdMob that will turn out to be more crippled than before if its marriage to Google is vetoed. (All Things Digital)

Twitter Set to Unveil Curation Feature

No longer will we see primitively pasted screencaps of tweets in blog posts. Twitter is preparing to introduce a Curation tool that will enable users to embed a tweet as a short script of HTML. (ReadWriteWeb)

Different Segment, Different Message

Here’s a good reminder that segmenting your customers by behavior is a key component to any campaign. “If you are in complete control of your marketing spend, have the ability to change your message by segment, and the means to capture the results to complete the feedback loop, you will win the game.” (ClickZ)

Social Network Users Are Too Risky

According to a new survey conducted by Consumer Reports, 52 percent of adult social network users have posted information that increases their risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime. Using a weak password, posting a child’s name in a caption and being found on a search engine are a few of the seven things that you should stop doing on Facebook right now. (PR Newswire)

Google, Viagra and Spammers

The blatant prevalence of black-hat spam sites that have made their way into the top 10 search results for “viagra” shows that Google’s ranking algorithm still relies heavily on backlinks. However, time spent on sites, which might be the second biggest factor in Google’s algorithm, is harder to game. But have faith – the search giant should remedy this problem eventually. (Search Engine Journal)

YouTube, Craigslist Play Roles in the Times Square Bomb Plot

We just can’t avoid social media, can we? It appears that the alleged failed bomber posted a premature victory video on YouTube and bought his Pathfinder on Craigslist. (Business Insider, Mashable)

Mobile Advertising Gets Significant Attention

“Mobile Intensives” make up 23 percent of the mobile market. More than half of them look to ads to see what they want to buy. “Mobile Casuals” and “Mobile Restrained” are two other segments in the mobile market, according to a recent study. (MediaPost)

H.264 is a Codec!

A codec can’t kill off a platform, and a platform can’t kill of a codec. Gosh, get it right, people. If you want to dive into this wrinkle in the HTML5 vs. Flash debate and nourish your inner-geek, go right ahead. (Business Insider)