Google Plus+ Invitations

Image via CrunchBaseGoogle is betting that its new social network, Google+, will fix what it calls the "awkward" state of online sharing--but Google isn't sharing invitations to its latest project with everyone.
Users have been clamoring for invitations to Google+, which Google launched as a limited "field trial," noting "you may find some rough edges." Access to the project is currently by invitation only, and a limited number of users were given 15 invitations apiece to bring others on board.
If you're eager to begin trying out Google+ and can't find someone with a spare invitation, you can sign up to request a Google+ account here. Google has created an entry form that asks people to submit their first name and email address so they can stay posted as the service is rolled out more fully. "We’re still ironing out a few kinks in Google+, so it’s not quite ready for everyone to climb aboard," Google wrote. "But, if you want, we’ll let you know the minute the doors are open for real. Cool? Cool."
Source:huffingtonpost.com

Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button-Meet +1

                                  WikipediaNearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google’s search engine, allowing you to “+1″ the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it’ll be arriving at a web site near you.
Is +1 (pronounced “Plus One”) part of the new social network that Google’s long been rumored to be building? Or is +1 simply that “social layer” that Google has said would come and isn’t really meant as a rival to Facebook?

+1 Your Favorite Google Search Results

Beginning today, a small percentage of Google search users on Google.com in the United States searching in English will now see a +1 button next to search listings, when they are logged in.

Related articles

• Meet +1: Google's Answer To The Facebook Like Button (searchengineland.com)
• With +1, Google Search Goes Truly Social - As Do Google Ads (techcrunch.com)

Google's code change shifts billions from losers to winners

                            CrunchBase Google's recent change to its search algorithm has dramatically shaken up the businesses of websites that moved up or down its search rankings. Sites whose rankings rose to the top found that their traffic and revenue soared -- but the adjustment had an equally devastating effect on those that were dropped.

The Online Publishers Association, a group of content producers comprising many of the Internet's largest properties (including CNN.com), estimates that the algorithm change shifted $1 billion in annual revenue.
Some of the losers felt the hit immediately. Mahalo.com laid off 10% of its workforce last week thanks to what CEO Jason Calacanis called "a significant dip in our traffic and revenue."

The stakes are high in the Google-placement game. The top spot on a search page typically attracts 20% to 30% of the page's clicks, according to Adam Bunn, SEO director of Greenlight. After that comes an enormous tail-off: Positions 2 to 3 generate 5% to 10% of the clicks, and links below the fold receive less than 1% of users' attention. Fall off to the second page and your search-engine-driven clicks will be negligible.
Source:cnn.com