Facebook Hoax

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gotten a forwarded message on their Facebook that is "supposedly" from the founder of the popular website, Mark Zuckerberg.

Attention all Facebook membeRs.

facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated,there have been many members complaining that Facebook is becoming very slow. Records show that the reason is that there are too many non-active Facebook members and, on the other side, too many new Facebook members.

We will be sending this message around to see if members are active or not. If you are active please send to at least 15 other users using Copy+ Paste to show that you are still active. *Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks will be deleted without hesitation to create more space.*

Send this message to all your friends to show me that you're still active and you will not be deleted.

Founder of Facebook,

Mark Zuckerber

First off, if this was a real, official, bonafide, genuine message, it would definitely not be sent out through the messaging system in Facebook. A message of this urgency would be sent out to the emails of the users. And even if it was sent through Facebook, why not just send it to every user and have them reply to the initial message instead of forwarding it to millions of people? The answer is because it's a fake. I personally have not even noticed any slowing of Facebook either.

The message isn't even written professionally. With punctuation errors, spacing issues, capitalization mistakes, and a general air of informality, it's painfully obvious how unofficial this is; as though the founder of this popular of a website would have the time to personally write something to the users himself.

And what's this about too many new Facebook members? Can there even be such a thing? I can understand servers being bogged down from an enormous amount of traffic at one time, but there's no such thing as "too many" users. The whole point of Facebook is to hook as many people as possible.

So my point is, do not fall for this hoax. It only spreads it and scares people; not to mention it annoys people who are a bit more in the know. If something sounds too good, or in this case, even too horrible, to be true, more than likely, it is.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/overload.asp#facebook

Online Marketing Benefits

Online marketing is becoming more and more popular for businesses and companies. It's effective and it saves money, but those aren't the only benefits of marketing your business online.

1. Changes can be easily made - Unlike traditional marketing, with online marketing, you can change anything instantly: the wording, the graphics, the visual arrangement, etc. You cannot make such changes with newspapers, ad placements, magazines, and commercials.
2. Ability to follow results in real-time - Online marketing also gives you the ability to track real-time results. You can immediately see how your marketing efforts are succeeding, figure out what needs to be done, then make the adjustments necessary. Usually you can't do this with offline marketing.
3. Ability to target certain demographics - It's much easier to target particular demographics using online marketing, such as age, gender, education levels, location, occupation, income levels, and more.
4. Multiple ways of marketing online - Blogging, video, audio, newsletters, email, social media; all are different options in online marketing. 
5. Immediate Conversion Ability - You have the ability to instantly convert a customer online. You can convince the customer to buy your product or service much faster through online marketing (it only takes a few clicks of the mouse). This ability doesn't apply to traditional marketing, where more time is needed to pitch your product or service to a customer.

Stay Away From Hard-To-Pronounce Words

A study printed in Psychological Science experimented with the idea that people think hard-to-pronounce words are high-risk. The participants in the study were given the names of two fake food additives, and were asked which of the two would be more dangerous, their based soley upon the name. In another study, subjects were asked to do the same thing, only this time with roller coasters. They had to decide which ride would be more thrilling and more vomiting-inducing. In both cases, subjects chose the word that was harder to pronounce, regardless of whether the risk worth taking or not.

So why is this helpful to know? If you plan to market your product, you want to pick a name for it that is familiar and easy to pronounce. If you plan to write an article about or advertise your product or service, you should make sure your words aren't too difficult to pronounce. They ought to be commonplace and used in day-to-day conversation. If you can't, at least provide the pronunciation to go with the word. That way, the word is more understandable and will become more familiar with it.

A couple of things to remember:

• What people see as familiar, they also see as less risky and more agreeable.
• When people have to make a decision and there is no information to base a decision on, they will usually choose based on comfortability ("comfort factor").

With online marketing, things like this are crucial to know. When people surf the internet, they make all kinds of decisions: whether to click a website link, reading the text, deciding to buy the product or purchase the service or not, etc. Visitors have to feel comfortable to hook them in, so make every word count!

Facebook Love

There almost isn't a day that goes by where I don't sign in on my Facebook. I have to see what my friends are up to, what they think about my latest status update, and check out their most recently posted photos. And let's not forget the abundant supply of applications to keep us entertained everyday; after all, I don't want to let my crops go to waste in Farmtown.

Facebook is more than something to keep our minds engaged and fight off boredom (we have television and video games for that). It's a service that easily allows us to keep in contact with our friends, family, colleagues, and loved ones.With Facebook, it's so easy for college students to keep in contact with one another even after they go their separate ways after high school. I can still keep in contact with a friend who moves across the country. I can have a live chat with her, see photos of her, and basically keep in touch with her almost as though she were still here. And it's also a way for people to reunite with long-lost friends online, and even arrange meetings, because everyone is connected by specific networks (i.e. a Los Angeles Network, a network of people who went to your high school, etc.)

Of course, there is also Myspace as well. But honestly, I cannot stand Myspace. Sure, you are able to customize your homepage and tailor it to suit your personal tastes. However, this is not always a great thing. Not everyone is knowledgeable with HTML, and when you put an HTML-illiterate with complicated coding, you end up with an uncoordinated mess. Nothing looks put together, professional, or clean, making reading the actual words on the page quite difficult.

Facebook is much cleaner and neater in appearance. Though you can't customize your profile, the site overall looks much better that way. And aside from socialzing, there are thousands of "applications" you can allow on your page. There are games, quizzes, and truly all kinds of things that are fun and entertaining. There are just too many to name. And it's fun to tag one another in photos, and let people know, "Hey, that's me!"

Also, don't forget to become a fan of ITChair on Facebook. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Web Designing.

The How-To's on Getting More Website Traffic

Here are a few simple, but helpful tips on internet marketing, on how to get more traffic on your website so consumers will actually pay attention, read it, and hopefully buy whatever it is that you are selling.

1. Be conversational in your text. Communicate with the viewers using words they know, instead of big, long blather that people won't understand. Write as though you were talking to that person to get a better connection with the reader.
2. Use active verbs instead of passive verbs. For example, instead of saying, "The ball was thrown by Mark", say "Mark threw the ball". You say what you want with fewer words, and the connection with the reader will be stronger. They will be more engaged in the text.
3. Readers typically do not care how authoritative you are, or how far you have gotten in your field of study. What they care about is how you can help them. So, harp on the benefits in your article, and how and why this should help the viewer.
4. Make sure to establish a strong connection with your audiences' emotions. Readers will more likely pay attention to what you have to say when they feel you sympathize with them and understand them.
5. Conciseness is key. Make sure you keep your copy short. Say what you want to say with as few words as possible. Long copy might scare off readers because they do not want to read too much; they are afraid of being overwhelmed with information. Cut long sentences in half, use bullet points and lists, use subheadings, etc.
6. Be clear. Clarity is important. Don't force your audience to read through tons of irrelevant information before you finally get to your main point. Say what you want to say right off the bat. Otherwise, your readers will get lost and confused, and won't pay attention to you anymore.
7. Keep things simple. The simpler your writing is, the more likely people will understand it. You don't have to make your article extremely simple, just make it so it's as painless and effortless as possible for the reader to understand your message. This way, you're being straightforward and comprehensible with your audience.

Using these easy internet marketing tips, directing traffic to your website by making your targeted audience more interested in your writing should pose no problems to you.