Google Friend Connect Closing Down

Sorry to say, Google Friend Connect is closing down along with 6 other Google Apps. Goodbye my old friend GFC....

Google OS Video

Originally scripted as a Jack Humphrey interview, I just released this Google OS video trying to answer your questions on what Google is doing and how a Web OS can benefit your business.

Google Web OS Browser Chrome Based, Try It Now

I have been running a browser based OS for months now and I was before that, I just did not know it. Here is an insiders view of the Google Web Browser OS from someone that has been using it since 2008.

Get Your Facebook Name URL Tonight at Midnight

Facebook is going to offer /name URLs at Midnight tonight.

The get yours Facebook name URL bo following the instructions in the link.

YouTube Is Now A Social Bookmarking Site

Social bookmarking is back and it is way more exciting that Digg ever was. Try this out and you will see the potential and how YouTube is now the greatest Google results positive indicator there is.

Google Friend Connect - YouTube Adds Twitter - GFC adds Bookmarking

Google Friend Connect has added huge viral sharing to Google Friend Connect widgets. YouTube Adds Twitter links right to YouTube video pages. GFC adds Bookmarking, 30 social bookmarking sites in the Google Friend Connect widgets.

Palm Springs California Real Estate With GFC

One of my blog subscribers has been following my Google Friend Connect Tactics and just rolled out his new blog. He decided to add GFC to a very commercial blog. We are all waiting on the edge of our seats here to see how GFC does on his Palm Springs California Real Estate blog.

This will be the first time one of my subscribes has added GFC to a flat out commercial blog. Let's see how Palm Springs responds to GFC and if he can craft ways he can use GFC to further his marketing and clients.

Check it out and join the site, he writes some very good insightful content judging by his first post.

Good luck to you Steve!

Chris Lang Welcomes Google Friend Connect Questions Live

I will be taking all Google Friend Connect questions here on my Googling Social blog tomorrow and from here on out.

There is allot of confusion and misinformation out there and I would like to set the record straight for all of you and help you get past any problems you are having.

Just enter your questions in the comments section and I will be glad to answer it live in person. Just let me know how I can help.

This is also an effort to build a GFC (Google Friend Connect) FAQ for us all to be able to refer to. Google watches everything we do on this blog so we will be bringing Google some major insight to what they need to do better.

Phoenix Arizona Google Friend Connect Blog

Just launched a Phoenix Area Google Friend Connect Community

To demonstrate how Google Friend Connect can be used to create local communities I just launched Phoenix Arizona Google Friend Connect to show how you can do the same in your area.

If you live in the Phoenix valley join thru the GFC widgets.

If not, try doing the same in your area. I think you will enjoy it and bring value to your community.

Google Social Networking Kicks Facebook Butt

Google Friend Connect is just a piece, the whole of Google Social Networking kicks Facebook's butt. Here's Why...


Here are the top ten reasons Google Social Networking is already the Friend Connect of choice.

#1 Gmail is the Google Social Networking contact manager.

#2 Google Reader is now a social networking bookmark site.

#3 Google Friend Connect is copy and paste code.

#4 Facebook Connect does not even exist for Bloggers.

#6 RSS has been taken mainstream with Google's Friend Connect Widget

#7 Chris Lang loves it and he is never wrong.

#8 If you don't know Chris Lang just refer to #3.

#9 Boomhauer loves it and he listens to Chris Lang so he is never wrong either.

#10 Google loves Chris Lang and they are wrong.

Google Chris Lang is always right and they say so.

Seriously though guys, follow the link above and you will see why Google social networking kicks Facebook butt.

Last Minute Gifts

For those of you spending all your time on Digg, here is a great way to buy last minute gifts right from your comupter. Between Digg that is....

How to Add Friend Connect to Blogger

Adding Google Friend Connect to Blogger blogs is insanely easy, we all probably over thought it. Watch the video, the add Friend Connect to Blogger in about two seconds.

Social Marketing Conference, San Diego

Social Marketing Skills don't come cheap but this social marketing conference will bury your Christmas competition before they know what hit them but won't empty your wallet!

Chris Lang and 5 more social marketing experts will be revealing
their insider social marketing secrets December 5th in San Diego for a price that is just in time to double your social networking arsenal to give you that little extra edge over your competition.

I will be doing a case study of how I took the worst site possible from no where to top Google rankings in just three weeks with my Wicked tactics.

Can even Chris Lang do this? Of course he can, Chris Lang is back.

Digg Analytics Tools, Tips and Digg Utilities

Today I have a blog post that is on just one part of the New Digg Analytics tools.

Five professional videos, all short and to the point on how you can easily and quickly create an absolutely sick Digg profile in 30 days with only 30 minutes of your time a day.

Actually this is a web app so there is no software to install. This kind of browser based software is where the web is headed so take a look at each of the short videos. If anything it will give you valuable insight into how the Digg top 100 got where they are.

My insider information tells me they have even more unbelievable custom software than this, but for us this is as good as it gets and it is an unbelievable deal and I am not even an affiliate.

By the way there is a new affiliate program up for this site and it is based on 2Checkout.com whom I also happen to love. Do yourself a favor and get Digging with this extreme time saver.

Be Careful Who You Take Advice From

The Internet is a dangerous place filled with smart people who write totally bullshit articles, so be careful who you take advice from

Case in point: Google gets search results very badly wrong.

This person thinks they are calling Google out by catching a result in search that should have never been there. Instead they are just showing their ignorance.

Look the the above link, (it's a short one) then read my response below.

Chris Lang says...

What you have done is produce a theory from unfounded information. You do not understand what has happened here and you did not look into it enough either.

It's OK I have done this too. But if I can, let me point out your mistakes in thinking this through.

#1 Since the post is from 10-12-2007 it has accrued pagerank over time, hence it will outrank other pages.

The Digg post is a PageRank 0 page, all the others are news items, since they are only a day or so old they have a greyed out page rank.

#2 Next you mention it has only 7 links. At the time you published your blog post the news articles were only hours old so they had NO links.

7 links is more than 0 links.

You also have to take into account the quality of the links, not all links are created equal.

#3 The news articles are few hours old and may have 100s of links but none of those pages have any incoming links or any PageRank either since no one has linked to them.

It is also important to note that PageRank has nothing to do with the rankings you will receive in Google results. It is however a visual indicator of a documents quality, it's incoming link's quality and it's power to rank well in the search engines.

Hope this clarifies why this link is here. Search engine results are not always fair.

It they were you and I would always be top ten under every keyword.

Cheers - Chris Lang

Be careful out the guys, the internet is a dangerous place filled with disinformation.

Google Rolls Out Friend Connect on Blogger

Google Friend Connect
released on Blogger,

but still trying to fly under our
Googling Social radar...

Google instead of Friend Connect
calls it Following on Blogger.

You can try out Friend Connect right now if you have a Google profile in the widget in the upper right hand corner of this blog under the heading "Followers" by clicking the join button. Confirm your join request and here you can enroll in Friend Connect if you do not already have a Google Social profile.

Next, click one of the avatars of those who have already joined and add the person as a friend and send them an introductory blurb.

The next screen you will see is their Google profile, links to their social networks and their Google Reader shared items. This is Google's social bookmarking application.

NOTE: All these links open in a new tab so you will not lose this page.

Here is the lowdown on the rest of the Google Social Network and Bookmarking application.

Here is JohnT's blog post from July 28 when he predicted Google Going Social before I was even talking about it publicly.

Here are two sites you can play with Google Friend Connect on, just one part of the Google Social Network: Googling Social.

Social networks might actually be semi-anti-social

Google Friend Connect for Blogger Users

How to add the Friend Connect widget to Blogger.

For those of you who do not know how to use Google Social, called Googling Social, I have instructions to create a Google profile, add friends to from Gmail and get started with Google Reader which is Google's social bookmarking application.

Currently, the links to get to the pieces of Googling Social are hard to find so the best starting point is someone elses Google profile, so here is mine with a link to my Wickedly Evil Social Marketing Blog where you can find instructions to making friends in Gmail and Google Reader.

Chris Lang's Google Profile. Chris Lang's Social Marketing Blog

Look in the upper right hand corner of the page, the link is "my profile" and it is right behind your gmail address.

Word of warning, the Gmail address that you are logged into will be your public Gmail address in Google Reader and how you make friends thru Gmail. So if you do not want that Gmail address to be public, choose one that you want to use.

You only get one Google profile no matter how many Gmail addresses you have, so choose wisely.

If you have any questions you can email me from my contact page on my site. Also if you want to add me as a friend in Google Reader, send me an email at chrislang[at]gmail[dot]com.

Obfuscations in the address are used to fool spam bots that harvest addresses so just replace the monikers with the appropriate email characters.

Cheers! = Chris Lang and JohnT from the driveway and the inaugural Indiggnation driveway cast.

Google Social Bookmarking Is Here

Google social bookmarking has quietly been released within Google reader.

You can share blog posts.

You can bookmark single posts from feeds you are not following.

Add friends and share items thru Google Reader.

What no one else seems to have caught is that Google Reader will suggest other blogs for you to follow based on your friends reading and sharing habits.

More on Google Social Bookmarking here...

The Worlds Largest Digger

Worlds Largest Digger banned for Digging Too Much

One of my clients got a little carried away and Dugg too many articles. Yeah, that's right, too many Diggs. Digg immediately banned the account and sent this email from Digg.

Greetings from Digg.com,

Your account has been banned under suspicion of using a bot/script/macro to Digg stories, which is explicitly against the Terms of Service (digg.com/tos) you agreed to.

Over a period of 24 hours you Dugg 4000+ stories which is not indicative of organic Digg usage and determined that there is no way you would have been able to actually read the stories you Dugg in the time-frame.

Thank you for understanding as we must be vigilant in protecting against activities that compromise the Digg Community.

--Digg Support

I know this guy and I know that he did not use any automated software. He is simply "The worlds largest Digger." Not to be missed but also the owner of "The Worlds Largest Shout"

While I definitely recommend participating highly in Digg, do not just rip through results blindly Digging everything in your path.

I told my client that you have to submit good articles and comment intelligently for your Digg profile to prosper. Nobody listened and look what happens. Blindly Digging will just bring you up on the radar and you are NOT guaranteed your day in court with Digg.

Digg has so much spam and spam activities that if you brush up against the wrong side of Digg's TOS you are thru.

Pale Donkey Launched, Pale Donkey Riders Beware

A few of my frineds have just launched pale donkey, a blog dedicated to catching your drunken buddies in the act of hooking up with a pale donkey.

A pale donkey is the girl (or guy) that in a drunken desparate moment you may have made a huge mistake with.

Beware, now your pale donkey moments can be detailed forever! These guys accept camera phone pics and videos submitted to their number and they publish them as a blog post the next morning.

So the next time your pale donkey riding drunken buddy has the beer goggles on get that pic and it will live a life of it's own.

How to Get More Diggs and Why This Blogger Did Not

Social bookmarking can help your blog's rankings in so many ways. But I have come to believe that so many have tried how to get more Diggs and after doing it wrong have given up.

However, think about this: If Digg has 5 million users and the average number of posts, from the Digg top 100 to the user who no longer participates is 1 post per day, that is 5 million posts.

How can you possibly expect that Google will see your 1 link in Digg in 5 million others as a backlink to your site. In fact if you submit your site to Digg and no one else Diggs it, I have come to feel that is a negative indicator in Google’s eyes. The worst thing you can do is submit your Digg posts yourself and then get no Diggs.

One of my friends on Social Marketing Central wrote an article that went hot on the Internet. He got like 1500 visitors in a few days and 80 comments. The bad news is that he only got 18 Diggs. Now tell me this: Don’t you think that Google, that has access to the popularity of posts on Digg just like we do, would not see 1500 visitors and 18 Diggs a negative indicator of this blog and the blog post itself?

I can easily get 100 to 200 Diggs for any article I want in Digg in 2 days. I do that through my own strategies and participation.

So social bookmarking if done wrong can actually hurt you. Social marketing is about being social, so be social on social bookmarking sites, don’t just submit you own content and expect that this will bring you results.