Facebook Develops Conversion Tracking Tool

Facebook plans to add a conversion tracking tool to its suite of advertising products based on demand from the marketplace. The platform will allow marketers to track clicks through conversion, Brian Boland, manager of direct response solutions for Facebook, told OMMA Social attendees in San Francisco on Tuesday.

How Web Video SEO is Finally Coming of Age

Though publishing videos on the web has been child’s play for years now, the process of getting them to rank high in search remains enigmatic at best, frustrating at worst. The pace of video publication is accelerating faster than ever, and though video SEO seems to have been left behind the rest of the industry, it’s finally starting to catch up through some exciting developments that will hopefully provide more incentives for publishers to produce great video content.

As we start a new year and a new decade, here’s a look at the state of web video SEO right now. 

10 Principles at Work in Creating Buzz in Social Networking

Last Christmas break was a busy socializing extravaganza with family, friends and business colleagues. There was much wine consumed, gifts given, food eaten and stories told, both tall tales and true. Superficial but interesting conversations were engaged on topics like movies recently watched ..such as “Avatar” and  questions such as … “Is it a paradigm shift in the way we watch and consume movies?” and is it a movie worth going to see?

Not Buying Google Ads

Oliver Willis notices a Google ad that links to the White House website, with the text, "The president's vision includes...the renewal of our nation's nuclear energy industry."

As the text suggests, and Dan Pfeiffer confirms, this isn't a White House-sponsored effort.

Open-Thread: Dealing with Real-Time Negativity

I'm fresh off a Social Media Week panel with Collecta co-founder Brian Zisk and Stage Two marketing firm founder Jeremy Toeman; we've been chatting for the past couple hours on how to deal with the realities of the real-time web.

One of the greatest concerns folks in the audience had is how to deal with negativity - bad-review-type blog posts, angry tweets, disparaging comments, etc. - in an environment that's instant, viral, noisy and difficult to control. While each of the panelists had their own answers, I'd like to ask our readers: How do you handle being smacked down, called out or criticized in a real-time web environment?

Are you attending the Washington DC iPhone Bootcamp?  If you're not in the Nation's Capitol, they're holding similar events around the country.

Cruising Howard Dean's wikipedia page earlier looking for confirmation that his candidacy raised $50M (it did!) and I found this nugget:

While presidential campaigns have traditionally obtained finance by tapping wealthy, established political donors, Dean's funds came largely in small donations over the Internet; the average overall donation size was just under $80. This method of fundraising offered several important advantages over traditional fundraising, in addition to the inherent media interest in what was then a novelty. First, raising money on the Internet was relatively inexpensive, compared to conventional methods such as events, telemarketing, and direct mail campaigns. Secondly, as donors on average contributed far less than the legal limit ($2,000 per individual), the campaign could continue to resolicit them throughout the election season.

Open for discussion is why you think the Republican Presidential candidates have yet to tap this same cadre of donors? Surely, we're out here.

This is our first open thread at TechRepublican. I'd like to use it to explore tech-related issues like net neutrality, broadband access, etc.

What are your thoughts on the legislation signed in to law on Sunday which increases the government's ability to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens sans warrants?

From today's New York Times:

Bush Signs Law to Widen Legal Reach for Wiretapping

President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.

Congressional aides and others familiar with the details of the law said that its impact went far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were needed to gather information about foreign terrorists. They said seemingly subtle changes in legislative language would sharply alter the legal limits on the government’s ability to monitor millions of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the United States. (Read full story)

Ready. Set. Go.