growtoons} google glass social media cartoon social media humor 'Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events. Related Stories Almost there. A {growtoon}. The magic of social media. A {growtoon}. Inappropriate Attire. A {growtoon}. Tree S(app). A {growtoon}. Blogzilla. A {growtoon}. MORE >>

If you weren’t around then (and I suspect most of the Google decision-makers weren’t) I know it’s hard to believe that consumers actually rose up and made such a stink that a mega company completely reversed course about something, but they did.  So now we’ve got the New Google and for professional searchers it tastes about as good as New Coke.  Here’s the vanilla article from Lance Ulanoff at Mashable, announcing its birth:  Google Merges Search and Google+ into Social  Media Juggernaut.  I’d argue that Google is “free,” but whatever.  Google techologies SE MORE >>

Earlier this year, we began putting together a strategic recommendation for our clients on Google+ Pages for Business.  This new solution blends elements of popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter with social sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube, integrating search engine optimization and marketing into the Google network of sites. While they were new and trendy, Google+ Pages had several flaws. However even though Google claims 90 million Google Plus users and a 60% engagement rate, these numbers feel suspect. What About Google+ Profiles? MORE >>

by Jesse Noyes | Tweet this From the moment Google unveiled its social networking platform, Google+, marketers and brand managers have been asking, “ When will brand pages be available? ” Google’s answer is today …kind of. There’s a reason I hedge Google’s claim that brand pages are open for business. Like a Facebook brand page, Google pages allow brands to share photos, updates and video. By far, the most exciting feature seems to be the advent of Google+’s Hangouts feature. Direct Tie in Google Search. MORE >>

Google, the owner of YouTube said on Friday that it would not comply with a White House request to remove the video that has set off the violence in the Arab world. Google said the video did not violate its own rules on hate speech, because it was “against the Muslim religion but not Muslim people.” The government foreign policy experts for this region wanted the video to go down but Google said no, except in the cases their own company executives deemed as “delicate.” The theme of my blog is Marketing, Social Media, Humanity. foreign policy. Tweet. MORE >>