Ever wonder why you can have 548 friends on Facebook, yet only 15-20 show up in your news feed? It’s not that those other friends have stopped using Facebook; chances are they’re still there. It’s just that they aren’t showing up in your news feed.

If you haven’t noticed, there are now two settings on your Facebook news feed: “Most Recent,” which shows most of the content published by your Facebook friends in chronological order and “Top News,” which filters content based on EdgeRank.

Friends and fan pages with a high EdgeRank are more likely to show in your “Top News” stream. Users with a low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed.

For businesses or others looking to market, promote or just interact through Facebook, the implications of this change are huge. “Top News” is the default setting, so unless a friend or fan changes their default, it’s quite possible that they will never see your updates. No matter how good the content, no matter how well you manage your Facebook page, EdgeRank might be holding you back.

EdgeRank Defined

Facebook looks at everything published as “objects.” These can be status updates, links, photos, video or anything else that can be shared on Facebook. Every object receives a ranking (EdgeRank), which determines if it will show in your personal newsfeed. Objects with a high EdgeRank appear in your “Top News” feed. Objects with a low EdgeRank will not. According to a study conducted last fall by The Daily Beast, objects with a really low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed.

An object’s EdgeRank is based on three factors: affinity or the relationship between the creator and user, interaction with the object (likes, comments, etc.) and timeliness. Add the three factors together using a formula that only Facebook truly knows and you’ve got an object’s EdgeRank.

Unlike Google’s PageRank, which stays the same from user to user, every object is scored based on the individual Facebook user who may (or may not) view the object in their news feed.

Let’s take a closer look at the three factors that determine EdgeRank.

Affinity

An object’s affinity score is based on the interactions you have with the friend or fan who published the object. Friends or fans with whom you regularly interact receive a higher affinity score. Each time you visit a fan page, click the “Like” button, comment on a user’s status or look at a picture, you increase the affinity score with that user.

As The Daily Beast study points out, this affinity score only works one way. I can’t increase my affinity score in another user’s feed by constantly clicking on their “Like” buttons or looking at their pictures. Although doing so will increase the likelihood that you’ll see their updates, your objects won’t do better in their news feed until they return the favor.

Level of Interaction

Different types of interactions are weighted differently on Facebook. Activities that require higher levels of user engagement get a higher score than those that don’t. For example, leaving a comment on a photo takes more effort on the user’s part than clicking the “Like” button. Objects that receive higher levels of interaction are more likely to show in a user’s newsfeed.

Timeliness

Most people don’t want to read yesterday’s news. Newer objects have a better chance of showing up in your news feed than older ones.

Armed with an understanding of these three elements, here are six tips on how you can increase the likelihood that your content or objects will appear in your friends’ or fans’ “Top News” feed.

#1: Publish Objects That Encourage Interaction

Unless they’re interesting enough to draw comments, simple status updates aren’t going to move you into Top News feeds. Publish content that naturally encourages click-throughs or creates discussion. Objects such as creative games that require a response (i.e., trivia or caption contests) open up opportunities to add highly weighted interaction and build affinity with new users.

Top News is Facebook's default setting. Top News only shows objects with a higher EdgeRank.

#2: Create a Forum

Ever notice how political content on Facebook can generate a ton of comments? Although it doesn’t take long to realize that Facebook and politics don’t mix, people love to debate and discuss hot issues. Make your fan page a place for constructive discussion on the latest industry topics. Although this approach takes careful management, objects from a fan page filled with healthy discussion are more likely to receive a higher EdgeRank.

Objects such as surveys require user interaction which can build EdgeRank.

#3: Make the Most of Photos and Videos

Photos and videos show up in the Facebook news feed as thumbnail images. Due to their size, they almost require interaction as users click on them to make them large enough to see. Be sure to add a comment that encourages users to open the photo and add comments of their own.

By their very nature, videos and pictures encourage interaction.

#4: Share Links

Links require interaction as users click on the link to view the object. While it’s good to share content from your own website, don’t be afraid to promote interesting content from other sources. Twitter users discovered long ago that the more content of value you share, the better chance you have of driving followers to your own content when the time comes. Again, a comment that encourages opening the link or leaving comments can go a long way.

An object that receives comments is more likely to show in the Top News feed and also builds affinity with users who comment.

#5: Keep It Fresh

The Facebook stream moves quickly. If you’ve got objects that aren’t getting a response, don’t be afraid to let them go and move on to the next thing. If the object is good but didn’t get the response you desired, consider repurposing it or sending it out again at a different time of day.

#6: Ask Users to Share

Don’t be afraid to ask users to share objects or click on the Like button—especially if you’re new to Facebook. It can take a little while for a Facebook page to gain momentum. Anything you can do to help it along will only speed the process.

Although the introduction of EdgeRank may make it more difficult to share information on Facebook, ultimately it still comes down to content. Publishing content that users want to share and interact with has always been vital to any Facebook marketing campaign. With the recent Facebook changes, that content may now need a little extra push to get it the attention it deserves.

You’ll find more here on enhancing your Facebook page and Facebook marketing tips here.

How have the changes to Facebook affected your approach to Facebook marketing? Leave your comments and questions in the box below.

If you’ve ever been to a McDonald’s, chances are you’ve seen the donation boxes that support Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) on the counter or at the drive-through window.

How can a little spare change possibly help fund the organization’s global network of hundreds of houses, family rooms and care mobiles (mobile care centers)?

A little change adds up – to nearly $25 million in donations last year with the help of social media. Donation boxes are the single largest ongoing fundraiser for RMHC, helping the charity serve 4.5 million children and families every year. 

In 2010, RMHC launched a “Day of Change” campaign to drive people to donate spare change at their local McDonald’s restaurants. Using social media to spread the word virally, RMHC generated 180,000 interactions on the global Facebook and chapter pages, ultimately increasing online donations in August 130% compared to August 2009 and significantly generating more to their donation boxes.

Your spare change may seem like a small amount, but when added with others', it can make a HUGE difference.

Moreover, social media provides RMHC families a new venue to share their personal stories online, giving potential supporters insight into the RMHC experience.

“Social media allows us to engage with supporters and families in a very direct, authentic and immediate way,” said Clara Carrier, PR and Marketing Manager Communications and Special Programs, RMHC. “From an awareness standpoint, from an educational standpoint and by positioning the charity in the marketplace as one that engages and shares in an authentic way what our story is… social media allows us to do that in very effective way.”

Story-Based Content

If you know about RMHC, you’ve likely heard of its Ronald McDonald Houses, which now number more than 304 Houses around the world. Because many families must travel far from home for medical treatment for their children, the Houses are a home away from home near hospitals, allowing families at little or no cost to stay close to children recovering from illness and injury.

RMHC also runs 168 “Ronald McDonald Family Rooms” at hospitals, where family members can rest comfortably right at the hospital near a sick child. Rounding out its programs, 43 Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles bring medical attention to approximately 150,000 children each year around the world, providing care such as pediatric cancer treatment in Poland and immunizations in New Orleans.

At RMHC, based outside Chicago, Lauren Fischer serves as the organization’s primary voice of the charity on Facebook and Twitter. In addition to her other communications duties, she spends about an hour or two a day posting content on the social media sites and responding to comments.

Once she posts, those conversations tend to take off on their own. The key? Content that engages people. Often, that’s a story about a family, a volunteer or a corporate donor.

For example, this month the charity launched a big push for volunteers. Each day, Fisher asks a question of volunteers or posts a link to a story about a volunteer or corporate donor, which resides back on the RMHC site.

"At RMHC, age is relative. It's about the whole family – getting everyone involved, young and old, in the health and well-being of a child."

In honor of volunteer month, RMHC shares stories of volunteers like Mary, who at age 92 has baked more than 900 cakes for families in the Austin area. It drew 166 “Likes” and 13 comments.

Despite the often sad stories of those whom RMHC serves – families facing difficulty – the social media sites remain overwhelmingly positive and inspirational.

“I would say 80% of the content we share is about inspiring our followers – the other 20% is about what we want them to do for us,” Fischer said. Sharing stories on Facebook in turn encourages fans to post their own stories more freely.

“Even with privacy concerns, people feel so secure about sharing their stories,” Carrier said. “They feel that, in sharing, they’re healing. They’re supporting other families going through the same situation.”

2010 Day of Change

During 28 days across August and September 2010, RMHC made a major push for spare change donations at its many McDonald’s locations. Posts leading up to the primary day, September 9, increasingly built awareness and excitement through social media and traditional channels such as direct mail and email.

The team created a Facebook event for that day, encouraging people to sign up to attend. In effect, they were pledging to visit a McDonald’s that day to drop off change. In total, 5500 people registered for the event, which showed up on each of their Facebook streams, encouraging a viral effect.

RMHC created a Day of Change event on Facebook, which drew 5500 attendees pledging to drop change at restaurants.

Following an ongoing effort, Carrier spearheaded outreach to “mommy” and other parenting bloggers regarding the event. A year before, she had started building relationships with bloggers, encouraging them to learn more about RMHC and attend a local event to experience a Ronald McDonald House firsthand.

“We learned that when mommy bloggers or anyone experiences what the House program does, they’re hooked,” Carrier said. “When someone has the opportunity to exchange stories with a family and understand what the program does, they’re immediately  supporters of the charity.”

In turn, more than 30 bloggers wrote about Day of Change, helping drive people to donation boxes and the RMHC website.

More than 30 parenting bloggers featured Day of Change on their blogs.

Empowering Chapters

Adding to the efforts of the global office, more than 100 RMHC chapters around the world used their own websites, newsletters, media relationships and social media to spread the word about Day of Change. The global office equipped them with a guide with key messages and assets specifically for the campaign.

For social media, that included suggestions such as encouraging RSVPs for the Facebook event and using the event’s Twitter handle, #RMHCDayofChange. Markets that actively communicated the event saw local increases to the donation boxes.

In Chattanooga, RMHC attributes a 32% net increase in box donations year over year to the campaign, while Austin saw a 17% increase.

Across all locations, online donations during the campaign grew by 130%. Plus, RMHC added valuable fans, followers and email newsletter subscribers – a jump of 748% for the latter – so the charity keeps in touch with new contacts.

Making the Case to the Board

Every nonprofit faces tough choices about how to spend resources that largely come through donations. RMHC must regularly report to the board on the impact of its marketing efforts, with social media results now included.

Happily, they can report that relationships with more than 100 bloggers, and a 1400% increase in Facebook interactions contributed to a 13% jump in website traffic in 2010. In response, online donations increased 9% for the year.

But Carrier and the team are careful to demonstrate – and place value on – more than just the numbers. A newly added analysis tool, Heartbeat software by Marketwire, measures the sentiment of the conversations on Twitter and Facebook.

Heartbeat is a cost-effective, real-time social media monitoring and measurement tool.

“The software puts a number on sentiment, which has helped tremendously with our board,” Carrier said. “We’ve spent time making them understand why Facebook conversations and Facebook sharing are important and giving solid examples.”

Ultimately, those conversations contribute to the bottom line by building the brand capital of RMHC.

“In the end the community supports our programs if we educate and share and have a call to action – and social media is allowing us to do that,” Carrier said.

How do you or can you engage your social media audience more with stories? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Are you wondering if it makes sense to advertise on your favorite social network? Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have different demographic profiles and use cases that may provide good advertising opportunities.

All three platforms are also developing new and innovative ways to target advertising messages, based on the overwhelming amount of data they possess about their users. Marketers should explore the paid opportunities social networks offer with as much thought and effort as they experiment with the “earned” and “owned” aspects that these networks provide.

Depending on your business objective, one platform will likely prove more useful than others. In this article, I will explore the functionality each provides and how you can integrate the paid activity for maximum impact and return.

Facebook Ads

Facebook’s advertising platform is by far the most developed and widely used of the three major social networks. Offering a self-serve platform very similar to the early Google AdWords interface, Facebook advertising is available to even the smallest businesses with the most limited budgets.

Examples of Facebook ads.

Because the platform is still developing and underutilized, prices remain low for clicks and impressions when compared with more mature channels like Google AdWords and online display advertising.

Facebook allows users to target messages by a host of different criteria, which are determined from users’ profile information. Whether you want to reach 24- to 35-year-old women or 55- to 65-year-old men, people who like gardening or people who like jazz music, Facebook can deliver that demographic due to its scale and targeting capability.

Because much of the data Facebook has is of a demographic and interest level, Facebook advertising is very effective at B2C targeting. It also offers geographic targeting, which works well for metro areas and cities, but is somewhat lacking if you want to target rural areas specifically. Facebook advertising is relatively ineffective for B2B advertising, because the information it bases its targeting on is largely of a personal nature.

Facebook also allows users to run ads to attract “Likes” on their pages, which can help you grow your community on Facebook into a business asset. Paying for Likes can help your “owned” messages on Facebook reach a wider audience, and can be a prudent investment if managed closely. Before running Facebook ads to acquire Likes, however, it is very prudent to think through in rough terms the value you think you can obtain from having that line of contact with individuals.

Connect with real people with a real interest in your products.

LinkedIn Ads

On the other hand, LinkedIn advertising is tremendously effective for B2B industries because of the professional information LinkedIn uses to target its advertisements, which are called “LinkedInAds”

Examples of LinkedIn advertising.

LinkedIn allows you to deliver advertising only to people with certain qualifications or titles, such as VP of operations or director of marketing. This makes the advertising spending very efficient, and fast movers can also take advantage of the current low prices on the platform.

When setting up your LinkedIn campaign, also make sure to see if there are any relevant groups that you could use for your targeting. LinkedIn Groups draw users back for longer sessions, and this can be a great way to reach targeted individuals while they are considering business issues and topics in the group setting.

LinkedIn Ads are quickly growing in popularity, so be wary of quick spikes in the cost of advertising if you choose to establish a campaign through this network.

Reach your exact audience with LinkedIn Ads.

Twitter Ads

Currently the most underdeveloped advertising platform, Twitter only offers advertising to large brands at this time, in the form of “Sponsored Tweets” or “Promoted Trends.”

Advertisers pay per impression to have their tweet show up at the top of feeds when certain hashtags are used or for certain search terms on Twitter’s search engine.

Promoted Trends give users something new and exciting to discover

An advertising platform that connects advertisers with tweeters.

As a result, Twitter advertising is neither practical nor attainable for most marketers and businesses today. To warrant the valuations it has received, however, Twitter will almost certainly begin to offer an advertising product to smaller customers as it focuses on its monetization efforts.

Due to the real-time nature of much of the communication on Twitter, it holds tremendous promise for marketers, if the eventual mass-market advertising application can effectively harness this power to make ads more relevant and timely. Twitter’s value to smaller advertisers and marketers remains on the “earned” and “owned” side of the equation for the time being.

Example of Twitter advertising.

Overall

Marketers should think about their target customer base and begin experimenting with social media advertising to reach them at a lower cost. Each platform offers specific features and benefits that will be more relevant to some businesses than others. I suggest a “test and invest” approach in these new channels to determine what works before spending large sums.

What has been your experience with social media advertising? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

In this video I interview Rohit Bhargava, senior vice president of digital strategy and marketing at Ogilvy and the author of the book Personality Not Included.

Rohit talks about how to put personality back into your company to tell a better story about what you do, get people to believe in your company and tell everyone about it.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Personality matters because people matter. Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video about how to humanize your company:

• What you can do get personality back
• Where to focus your attention to humanize your company
• How to identify the employees who are your “accidental spokespeople”
• How to cultivate these people to become a voice for your company
• Why Innocent Drinks has a great personality
• How to find the right backstory model for your company
• How to humanize your brand

Find out more about Ogilvy on their 360° Digital Influence blog. Connect with Rohit on his Influential Marketing blog and download a chapter of Rohit’s book at Personality Not Included.

How do you humanize your company? What tips do you have to share? Please share them in the comment section below.

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

What’s New This Week?

Oneforty and KISSmetrics Publish Cool Infographic on Social Media Monitoring: Their infographic is based on a survey of 150 social media professionals. It provides a list of popular social media monitoring tools and insights into how marketers use them.  Check out the useful data below.

Mashable Follow “Changes The Way You Stay In The Know”: Mashable’s new Follow feature makes it easy to stay up to date on the subjects of interest to you and reinvents how you share content. Be sure to check out how this new tool allows Mashable to strengthen their community.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbLazF5KxUc

Foursquare Adds Friends’ Photos Feature: You can now see the photos your friends share on Foursquare when you all check into the same place. Location marketing is becoming more social.

This new feature "works wonderfully for parties, elaborate brunches, and things like concerts and is an easy way to share photos."

Facebook Expands Social Reporting Tools: Facebook’s social reporting tools have been around for a while, but they have now expanded to more sections. You can now find them on Profiles, Pages and Groups.  The means the “marketers” using borderline tagging tactics can now easily be called out as spammers.

Facebook users now have more options to respond to being tagged in unwanted photos.

Google Lets Americans Edit Information on Google Map Maker: This service used to only be available outside of the U.S., but Google now lets Americans update and add to the information currently in their Google Map system.  This is a way of crowdsourcing improvements to their data which impacts other Google tools.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=znCPgldRWTc

With the rise of location marketing, you might want to check out the information for your local businesses and update it if needed.

Here’s another social media tool worth a look.

Bobsled Allows Free Voice Calls on Facebook: Facebook users can download T-Mobile’s new Bobsled application and use it to call friends while on Facebook.

Use Bobsled for free voice calls or leave both public and private messages for your friends on Facebook.

And don’t miss this:

Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Success Summit 2011: Check out the largest online social media conference! Help your business grow with social media.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

In this video I interview LaSandra Brill, the social media marketing manager at Cisco.  She talks about the cool stuff Cisco is doing with social media.

LaSandra shares insights into how Cisco reached 90 times the audience at one-sixth the cost on a recent social media product launch and how they did this compared to a similar launch using traditional marketing. You’ll also hear about other ways Cisco uses social media to deepen relationships and connect with customers.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• Use blogger outreach for your social media product launch to connect with a wider audience
• Show a lighter side on Facebook to get more engagement with customers there
• Adapt to your social media audience: Cisco uses MetaCafé in addition to YouTube due to their global reach
• Identify the channels you want to target so you don’t spread yourself too thin
• Follow how B2B companies are integrating the Facebook Like button

Connect with LaSandra on Twitter @LaSandraBrill and with Cisco @CiscoSystems.

How is your company using social media to connect with customers? What tips do you have to share? Please share them in the comment section below.

Since location-based check-in app Foursquare was launched at South by Southwest in 2009, the app has seen exponential growth, reaching over 7.5 million users this year.

Other apps have been popping up as well, as geolocation takes center stage in the mobile arena and users flock to apps that create games from typical situations and offer rewards for users.

Two years later, check-ins are old news and the still-young area of geolocation is evolving to keep users interested. Apart from gamification through leaderboards and badges (or stickers, or pins), the motivation for users to participate in location-based networks is severely lacking.

Foursquare rewards users with badges for checking in.

Obviously the gaming aspect is a huge draw, as evidenced by the millions of users checking in across the globe, but developers continue to chase after our elusive social graph to make geolocation as indispensable as microblogging and photo sharing.

If there are any golden rules when it comes to geolocation, I would say they are 1)make it easy and 2) create value. Users want to put in less effort and receive more value. It’s up to both developers and businesses to do what they can to ensure these services have as few boundaries and as much value as possible.

In this article I’ve highlighted some of the ways developers are pushing toward these goals and what we can expect from the future of geolocation.

Recommendations

Possibly one of the most obvious and expected developments is the integration of recommended places to check in to. Foursquare’s most recent version includes a section called Explore, designed to recommend places around you based on your friends’ favorite places and your own check-in history.

Tell us what you're looking for and we'll help you find something nearby.

Scoville integrates with your Foursquare check-ins and collects your favorite places on a weekly basis. As more users sign up, these recommendations will create a ranking of places in each city, allowing Scoville to recommend check-ins based on popularity.

Scoville brings location and bookmarking together to help you keep track of favorite places.

Bizzy is trying a different angle, collecting place ratings and reviews as users leave a venue, through the check-out feature.

Bizzy recommends local businesses based on user ratings.

Some newer apps are focusing more on adding valuable content to recommendations, such as special offers or information. Lowffer recommends nearby deals and special offers based on user recommendations and your location, acting somewhat like a mobile Groupon app. Like Foursquare, a game-like leaderboard is emphasized to motivate user participation.

Deals and special offers with a local twist from Lowffer.

Groupon founder Andrew Mason has his own ideas about taking the popular deals site mobile, with the upcoming release of Groupon Now. Using Groupon’s successful deals focus, the new mobile app offers users two options: I’m hungry or I’m bored. Each option, combined with the user’s current location, returns special offers nearby.

The age-old human conundrum—where to eat lunch.

Like any other location-based app, the take-off will be slow until enough users get involved to make it worthwhile, but with Groupon’s proven success in the daily deals space, this could be the end of that all-too-common question, “What will I have for lunch today?”

Spot, another soon-to-launch app, is hoping to fill a gap some other apps have opened up by offering an easy way to collect location recommendations from friends and save them for later. Alan Danzis’ Wish List for Foursquare 4 suggests similar features that could be added to Foursquare’s next version, allowing users to recommend deals to friends and save their favorites, and providing check-in reminders.

Social Connections

Connecting with those who are already part of your social graph is pretty much expected when using geolocation apps, but connecting with strangers is a whole new game. Unlike recommendations, this is a feature that’s seeing somewhat unexpected traction in location-based apps. Following the success of sites like Chatroulette (for web-based conversations) and social networks like Twitter, it may not come as a surprise that meeting new people is a popular activity online, but using geolocation takes this much closer to crossing the cool-or-creepy line.

Randomized video conversations create new connections on Chatroulette.

Yobongo is one such app that’s slowly rolling out across the U.S. The premise of Yobongo is to create connections with strangers nearby, using your location to show other users around you. By setting up a room of 10 to 15 users, the app aims to help you break the ice and create new friendships. Founder Caleb Elston told GigaOM that offering up your location data to the app (but not other users) is a worthwhile trade for the value you get back.

Yobongo offers a location-based way to meet new people.

Taking this idea a step further is the Situationist app, which aims to bring strangers together to participate in random situations. Although the app is based on a political agenda, it offers simple tasks to complete to bring users together in a more casual way as well. Using your location data, the app alerts you to users nearby who have predetermined which situations they are comfortable with; for instance, hug me for 5 seconds, or let me inspect the contents of your bag for bombs and such.

Situationist app helps you create spontaneous connections.

Location-Based Info

Moving away from discovery and meeting new people, Glympse is designed to enable sharing location data with people you know. Using SMS or email, you can send a Glympse to any of your contacts, showing them a map of where you are, and where you’re going. The map updates using real-time GPS data to show when you’ve reached your destination and how long you will be there.

Glympse offers an easy solution for privately sharing your location.

This idea is taken a step further with Geoloqi, a mobile and web platform that works in the same way, but adds functions like Geonotes, layers and automatic Foursquare check-ins.

Geoloqi adds new functionality to sharing location data.

Automatic Foursquare check-ins is an impressive feature that we will likely see more of this year in various geolocation apps. By choosing your favorite Foursquare venues, you can set Geoloqi to automatically check you in 10 minutes after arriving, taking the effort out of check-ins without removing the reward.

A lesser-known feature of some of the more popular check-in apps, Geonotes is front-and-center in Geoloqi as a way to use location data to make your life easier. Using Geonotes, you can leave notes for your friends, which will show up when they arrive at a specified location. You can create reminders for yourself as well; for instance, reminding yourself to get milk when you arrive at the supermarket.

Task Ave is an iPhone app focused exclusively on this idea, but with future versions of Geoloqi (which is free to download) integrating with popular to-do app, Remember the Milk, I would be surprised to see anyone paying $2.99 for Task Ave.

Location-based tasks from Task Ave make your to-do list more manageable.

Push notifications and SMS alerts are proving to be popular for other purposes, as well. Location-based question-and-answer apps like LOCQL and LocalMind connect users to share information by asking and answering questions based on their location. Push notifications are used to alert users who have agreed to answer questions about a place when someone has a question, promoting both a social connection and the sharing of information.

The mobile advertising company Chalkboard publishes ads from local businesses inside supported apps when the user is within 1 mile of the store. Although this is a similar idea to previously mentioned Groupon Now, the focus of Chalkboard is taking the user action out of the equation, providing ads to users automatically, based on their location.

Mobile advertising goes local with Chalkboard.

Automatic Check-Ins

Chalkboard is not the only app taking the manual action out of geolocation. Geoloqi, as mentioned before, offers automatic check-ins for your favorite Foursquare venues, and will most likely add support for other popular check-in apps in the future.

RFID (radio-frequency identification) and NFC (near field communication) technologies are going to become much more popular as geolocation apps continue to evolve and developers look for ways to make sending and receiving location-based data easier. Both of these technologies allow communication (such as sending a post or completing a check-in) with a specified tag by just swiping a device, such as an NFC-enabled phone.

Foursquare has already begun testing NFC check-ins and Coca-Cola used RFID at last year’s Coca-Cola Village teen camp to enable Facebook Likes and status updates to be sent with wristbands.

Teenagers were given a plastic bracelet adorned with what resembled a Coke bottle cap. The cap was embedded with a 125 kHz passive RFID tag.

What Else Can We Expect?

There are some exciting innovations emerging in geolocation already, but there’s surely much more value to be had from this technology. Some of the developments I’m most interested to see are:

• A collection of user-generated information about a place, like a location-based Wikipedia
• Mobile check-in for flights, bypassing the long check-in counter queues
• Mobile check-in at doctors’ offices, sending the secretary an automatic notification of your arrival
• Mobile identification, providing entry to adult-only venues like nightclubs (our phones are already replacing cash, so why not our photo IDs?)
• Digital, geotagged nightclub stamps to prove you’ve paid to get in
• Bookmarking for places with push notifications, so you’ll finally remember to check out that café your friend keeps recommending
• Interactive maps attached to promotional material (with QR codes?) so you can easily find the new pizza place that sent you coupons in the mail

Weigh In

What do you expect to see in the future of location-based services and what would you like to see? What tools or services would benefit your business most? Leave your comments in the box below.

If you’ve spent some time on LinkedIn, you may realize that the network allows for companies to build dynamic profiles on the site. Did you know that you can discover important information conducting company searches?

What is LinkedIn Company Search?

According to LinkedIn, your professional network isn’t just about the people you know, it’s also about the companies in your network and how you’re connected to them. LinkedIn’s new Company Search provides an opportunity to discover connections in your network and filter them by the companies they work for.

Why is this important? Not only can you search for companies by attributes such as location, industry and size, but also by how you’re connected! Ultimately, LinkedIn Company Search can help you expand your professional network in ways that you may not have thought about.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5VoN_v-Us

How Can You Utilize LinkedIn Company Search to Expand Your Professional Network?

LinkedIn Company Search results are more robust than the “People” search results for those who do not have a Premium LinkedIn account. These search results appear to be unlimited for the time being, as long as a particular company has created a company profile.

How to Expand Your Professional Network Using LinkedIn Company Search

#1: Set your Company Search parameters

Navigate to Company Search, located underneath the “Companies” tab. Next, refine your search in the left-hand column using the following parameters for the most relevant results:

• Location (focus on your city)
• Industry (target a single industry initially)
• Relationship (choose second-degree connections)

Hint: Your current number of first-degree connections will directly impact the number of second- and third-degree connections that you have. If you don’t have many first-degree connections at this point, you’ll want to focus on building meaningful connections as quickly as you can!

Filter search results for location, industry and second-degree connections.

#2: When viewing these search results, look for the number of people in your network for each company listed

Each company that shows up in your search results will showcase a link to the number of people who are in your network. These “people” will all be your second-degree connections, given that you filtered for this parameter. The search results may also show you job postings by the company if you choose to view that parameter.

Identify the number of people who are in your network for each search result.

#3: Click the link to “View all X people.”

To expand the list of second-degree connections from each company who are in your network, you’ll need to click the “View all X people” link (see image below). Once you click this link, you’ll see a list of all of your second-degree connections who are associated with this particular company, along with the number of shared connections that you have with each person.

Click to view all of the second-degree connections who are in your network from this company.

Note that when these results are shown, in order to see those individuals who work in your specific geographical area, you’ll have to reset that search parameter in the LinkedIn Company Search filter on the left-hand side of the results page. (Just as you did in step #1, refine your search results by location once again.)

Now you’ll see the list of second-degree connections who are in your network and work for this particular company, as well as the number of shared connections that exist between you and this individual. LinkedIn will also show you any groups that you have in common with this list of second-degree connections, which could open up the opportunity to make a direct connection. (LinkedIn will allow you to send invitations to connect with mutual group members.)

View the list of individuals with whom you have a shared connection.

#4: Click to view your “shared connection(s)”

The most exciting part of this search is being able to see exactly how you’re connected to this new list of people! Your shared connections in many cases will be key in providing you with an introduction to a new second-degree connection and can also share with you what they know about the person.

Make a connection and if someone else is connected to that person as well you have a shared connection!

#5: View the second-degree connection’s profile and connect!

I suggest that prior to asking for an introduction from your shared connection that you spend some time learning more about the person. For example, view the profile of the second-degree connection and look for common experiences, interests or additional places on the web where you can connect.

Does the person have a blog you can subscribe to? Do they have a Twitter account that is visible on their LinkedIn profile? Are there groups that they are a member of that would make sense for you to join as well? Do you share common personal interests or past work experiences with this individual? You might also Google the person to gather additional intelligence.

This research prior to asking for an introduction to connect or sending any type of direct invitation to connect helps you have a more meaningful dialogue once you’ve become connected on LinkedIn.

#6: Promote, refer and engage your new connections.

If you want to build influence on LinkedIn, always remember to focus on promoting, referring and engaging your connections. You can “like,” “share” or “comment” on their status updates, invite them to join interesting groups or attend local events, and suggest or refer any of your existing connections with whom they can benefit from knowing.

In addition, you should consider sending relevant news and resources to your new connections that can help or benefit them in their business and networking efforts.

Don’t forget to be consistently updating your LinkedIn status on a daily basis if possible. This will also expand your visibility and increase your opportunity to be seen as value-added to your new connections.

As you can see, leveraging LinkedIn Company Search is not only a powerful way to manually build a qualified list of prospects by location and industry, but you also have a connection pathway to meet these individuals through an introduction or by sending a direct invitation, depending on your account level. Keep in mind, however, that the best new business relationships often come by way of referral or introduction!

Spend some time doing these kinds of searches for your business. If you have a Premium LinkedIn account, you can actually create folders and save the profiles of all of your new and prospective connections.

What do you think? Have you experimented yet with LinkedIn Company Search? If not, will you utilize this strategy to find new connections and expand your influence? Leave your comments in the box below.