According to the latest study of Nielson the usage of Twitter has grown the last year over 162% to 5,3 million users. Another agency, Comscore, says Spain has now 5,4 million users. The usage of Twitter has grown big time in 2011 but Facebook is still the king. Mark Zuckerbergs social network has 17,4 million users in Spain while the Spanish counterpart Tuenti has some 4,4 million members.

Strange enough Comscore says Facebook has less users, 16,97 million, and Tuenti has more members, 9,3 million. The difference is the fact that Comscore uses other methods to check the active users. In this study one did not look at the numbers of Google+, the social network which is growing rapidly but does not share its numbers (yet). Also Pinterest is left out of this study although the fact they are growing worldwide as well.

Spanish internet people used 203,1 million minutes of their time on Twitter, 4.6 billion minutes on Facebook and 900 million minutes on Tuenti.

One can say that social media in Spain is booming business and small businesses should try to establish a good presence on the various networks to gain more customers.

Facebook profile & fan-page

Although a Facebook profile and a fan-page are two completely different things, most of the image sizes are the same. There are five image sizes in the both Facebook timelines, being the cover photo, the profile image, the custom tab/app thumbnails, the shared photos and the highlighted photos.

Cover image:                       
The cover image is really important in the fan-page since this is the place to catch the reader’s attention. The fan-page timeline cover image used to be a little bit bigger as the one from the profile timeline but recently this was changed to: 851 x 315 pixels. You can use an image from your photo album but it would be better to upload a new custom made timeline cover photo to make good use of this space, especially in the fan-pages. In case of a fan-page there are some rules and cover images should not include: Price or purchase information such as 50% off, contact information such as web or email addresses, references to likes or shares or any other Facebook features and call to action such as “get it now”.

Profile image:
The profile image has since the launch of the timeline release early 2012 suffered some changes. The upload size of the profile image is 180 x180 pixels while the display size will be 160 x160 pixels. Make this photo important enough while this will also be the small thumbnail in every profile and fan-page status update. (by the way, it used to be 125 x125 pixels before).

Custom tab/app image (fan-page only):
In fan-pages there is also a way of changing the apps and tabs images. The way the apps and tabs are displayed has drastically changed with the timeline update. Whilst normally the app/tab image is a default one, there is a way to change this to an image of your liking. The image size is 111 x 74 pixels and can be uploaded by you. To change the image you will first have to go to the admin panel and click Manage and Edit Page. Click on Apps in the sidebar and look for the App of which you want to change the default image. Click on Edit Settings where you can change the name (which should fit in the text field) and change the Custom Tab Image. Click change and Choose File which would be the 111 x 74 pixels image you created. The new tab image will automatically upload.

Shared photo
Whenever you share or place a photo together with a status update, it would be wise to use an image which fit perfectly on the timeline. This off course to make sure the image is displayed the way you want it and to avoid readers have to click first on the image to see it correctly. The correct width of an image would be 403 pixels where the height will be proportional. It is always better to place nice looking and custom made images to make your fan-page timeline look nice for instance 403 x 403 pixels or 403 x 200 pixels.

Highlight a status update or image
Whenever you highlight a status update with an adjoining image, it is best to use custom made photos to make the massive image look nice. Highlighted images can be used for special events or to attract more attention to a certain status update. The sizes of an highlighted image are 843 x 403 pixels.

Style sheet:
Cover image: 851 x 316 pixels
Profile Image: upload 180 x180 pixels / display 160 x10 pixels
Fan-page Custom Tab/App image: 111 x 74 pixels
Status Update/Shared Image: 403 pixels wide (height proportional)
Highlight Image: 843 x 403 pixels

Google+

Google+ is relatively a new social media network but has already changed the way it looks and feels once. When Google+ was launched on June 28^th 2011 the look of the social network was already in the new Google style but early 2012 Google changed the layout of its social network completely. In Google+ there are several image sizes to think of; the profile cover image, the profile image and the images in the posts. The sizes mentioned below count for both the profile and company pages in Google+.

Cover image
Google+ changed its cover image layout with its new design to match it with the Facebook timeline. Instead of Facebook though, users have the choice to maintain five separate square images of place one big cover image. When the user chooses the separate images there can be five images of 112 x 112 pixels each. These images can be placed in a separate folder within your online images. If the user chooses one big cover image the size of this image will be 900 x 180 pixels with two separate parts; one big one on the left of 625 pixels wide and one smaller part right next to the profile image of 13 pixels. There are no Facebook-like restrictions in what users can mention or show in the cover image.

Profile image
The profile image in Google+ is much bigger as in Facebook. In a way one could say Google+ is just the other way around as Facebook, meaning Google+ has a big profile image and small cover image where Facebook offers its users one big cover image and a small profile image. The Google+ profile image offers a 250 x 250 pixels square image with a 5 pixels padding and 1 pixels solid border which makes the final profile image 262 x 262 pixels.

Post image

The images the user can place in their posts on Google+ are 259 pixels wide. The height of the images will be scaled proportionally. Placed videos are also shown with these dimensions. While placing images in a post it is advisable to adjust them to these sizes so followers can see the full image in the post-stream and don0t have to do an extra click to see the rest. Also the images will show better in the mobile App and mobile version of Google+.

Style sheet:
Cover image, five squares: 112 x 112 pixels
Cover image. Big one: 900 x 180 pixels
Profile image: 250 x 250 pixels
Post image: 259 pixels wide (height proportional)

Twitter

The micro blogging site Twitter has two important image sizes, the profile image and the changeable background image. The profile image is important since this will also be the smaller thumbnail when a user places a tweet. Experts recommend to use a personal image, meaning of a face, and not a company logo or impersonal image.

Profile image
Twitters’s profile image has the following sizes: 128 x 128 pixels. This image is also used for the smaller 48 x 48 pixels thumbnail image or avatar. The profile image can be uploaded and changes in the settings page and the profile menu and can only have a maximum size of 700k.

Background image
Twitter offers its users to change the background of the Twitter.com personal homepage. This is an excellent way for companies to promote their business or give the user more information or contact information. Although the Twitter page is centered in the middle of the screen, the background is fixed to the left of the browser. When a user makes the browser window wider, the right part of the background is not seen anymore. This is the reason you as a user only have to concentrate on the left of the background image.

Twitter itself has a fixed width of 865 pixels (it used to be 1040 pixels in the old design). This means you can use between 66 pixel and 194 pixel on the left to show information, images or text in a so called sidebar. When you decide to use 66 pixels wide sidebar for text or information there is a possibility that 99% of the visitors can see the full info. When you use 194 pixel 82% of the users will see the full info and using 238 pixel means only 56% will see the full info. So, if you want to make sure users on desktops, notebooks and laptops can see the full info you decide to include on your background, 66 pixels would be advisable.

To change the background image you need to design something yourself or use one of the many templates on the internet to define your look. When using Twitter for your small business it would be wise to create an overall look of your website and the Twitter background. Uploading an image can be done in the settings menu and the design tab. Here you can customize your own background by uploading your GIF, JPG or PNG image with a maximum size of 800k.

Style sheet:
Profile image: 128 x128 pixels
Background image: 1280 x 1024 pixels

Facebook

The king of all social networks is undoubtfully Facebook. Just before going to the Stock market in Wallstreet, they announced they now have 901 million users. This is 33% more as for one year when Facebook had 680 million active users. Looking at active users they gained also 41% compared to last year with in 2012 over 526 million people posting photos and stories compared to 372 million in 2011.

Youtube

Most people don’t think about it but besides being the world second most used search engine, Youtube also is the second as a social network. Monthly Youtube records 800 million unique users, that’s 101 million less than Facebook. Still, Youtube receives a stunning 4 billion visits a day. Youtube is owned by Google after they purchased the video sharing site in 2006.

Twitter

During the last six years, Twitter managed to gain over 500 million users. Every second ten new members join Twitter, the 140 characters micro-blogging network, worldwide. Although they have loads of members, only 100 million are really active on Twitters network. Twitter rivals with one of the newest networks, Google+.

Google+

Google’s third attempt to develop a social network seems to work. Google+ was launched in June 2011 and managed to gain 170 million members until march 2012. Still Google+ has to go a long way since Facebook, perhaps a competitor perhaps not, gained 200 million members in the last year. Also the active users on Google+ is still low and most people spent only 3,3 minutes a month on the social network. Still, Google+ has a great future, especially when they start combining its functions more with Gmail and other Google services.

Linkedin

This social network for professionals is often called the more serious network. Serious or not, Linkedin has 161 million users worldwide of which 34 million in Europa, 9 million in Great Britain, 3 million in The Netherlands, 3 million in Spain and 1 million in Belgium. There are more than 2 million company pages.

Pinterest

Pinterest is perhaps the hottest thing around and perhaps a big rival to Google+. Still Pinterest is a photo sharing network which for now mainly attracts women. Pinterest only exists for two years now but halfway 2011 they saw its members rise and rise each day. According the latest numbers, Pinterest has now 11,7 million active users. In the US, Pinterest is the 3^rd most popular social network. In Europa the users are still less but growth is underway.

Instagram

Photo sharing site Instagram is perhaps a different social network since it only works on mobile devises. First Instagram was only available on iPhone and gained in just one year 30 million users. After the application became available on the Android system they gained another 20 million users and now has a total of 40 million photo sharing enthusiasts.

Hyves (The Netherlands)

In the Netherlands Facebook is now also the biggest social network but long before there was a Dutch competitor called Hyves. Hyves has now 9 million users but is losing them to Facebook which now has some 6 million users, still Facebook members log in much often than Hyves users, probably as well since loads of Hyves profiles are not being used anymore. Anyway, Hyves nowadays is more a teenager thing and more adult people start using Facebook.

Tuenti (Spain)

In Spain one of the popular networks is Tuenti. Mostly used by teenagers, just like Hyves in The Netherlands. There are more than 13 million members of which some 10 million a month are called active users. Despite the fact that Facebook has 15,6 million users in Spain, Tuenti also gained 21% more users during 2011.

For months there were rumors and leeks of pictures and even video presentations but finally Google launched its %GB cloud storage service, Google Drive. The new storage service is integrated with Google Docs and allows to access files from anywhere and you can even collaborate on documents with colleagues or friends. Google Docs is built into Google Drive which means you can work with others, in real time, on documents presentations and spreadsheets.

Google server

Since the uploaded files are all stored on the servers of Google (hence cloud) these will be available everywhere and anytime. Of course you must have an Google account to benefit from this online cloud storage service. Google Docs has now been replaced by Google Drive and offers its users 5GB free but also offers monthly payment for extra storage. Users can upgrade their Drive space to 25GB for 2,49 dollar a month, 100GB for 4,99 dollar a month and 1TB for 49,99 dollar a month.

Start using it

To start using it you can go to. Dirve.google.com/start to get started if you are currently a Google user. If you are not a user this page also serves to sign up for an account to start using Google Drive and all the benefits and apps of Google. You will have to download one small piece of software to your local computer which basically installs a place on your computer where you can just drag and drop files you want to upload to Google Drive. These files can be PDFs, videos, photos, adobe products like photoshop or indesign and much more.

So with Google Drive you can create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations ans store everything safely to access it anywhere, especially when you are mobile. The mobile apps also updated from Google Docs to Google Drive.

Third party

Google Drive is already built to work seamlessly with all Google products available like for instance Google+ where you can post uploading from Google Drive. Soon there will be more possibilities and this can be very promising. Also, Drive is an open platform which allows third-party developers to create apps like send faxes, edit videos, create website mockups and even more. These apps will be available in the Chrome Web Store.

If you own a small business you probably opened an account on Facebook with the name of your business as the name for Facebook. After some time you have gained followers/friends and you interact with them about your business. The problem comes when you reach 5.000 friends, the maximum for Facebook profiles, and you still want to add more friends, something which will not be possible.

Differences

Though the terminology is often confusing, a key difference between the profiles and fan-pages is that users can simply “like” a fan-page while they must “friend” (establish a mutual relationship with) a profile, which makes fan-pages a much better solution for businesses and public figures.

So it is now the time to convert your profile into a fan-page. This in fact is not a difficult thing to do with the special tool from Facebook. The social network describes the conversion or migration like this:

Be aware that when you convert your profile to a Page, your profile pictures will be transferred, and all of your friends will be automatically added as people who like your Page. No other content will be carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning your migration.

Conversion

If you convert your profile into a fan-page is cannot be undone so be aware of what you do. Before migrating it would be wise to download your profile information which includes photos, wall posts. Messages and your friend list. As you could read above, the only thing which will be switched are your profile photos and your friends who will be automatically added as likes.

The Facebook migrating tool has been around for a while but the truth is most small business owners are not aware of it. This could be the moment to switch over to a fan-page for more possibilities.

Merging an existing fan-page with a new one

There are cases that you already own a profile and a fan-page and you simply want to change from your profile to your existing fan-page. To do this you have to follow the same steps as mentioned above but in addition merge your new page with your old fan-page. You do this using the merge option which is on the fan-page with the vanity URL you want to keep. After that it will take at least 48 hours before you see changes. This happens since the progress is done manually by Facebook.

So, will you now migrate from your profile to a fan-page to keep your personal stuff separate from your small business activities? If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

In a post on the official blog, Google noted that the social network now boasts more than 170 million users or active accounts, and all that in less than one year since its launch in June 2011. This is one of the main reasons why Google renovated its social network and introduced personalized applications, the possibility to post larger photos and videos and an overall new social experience.

Profile

One of the most improved and redesigned aspects of Google+ is the profile page for each user, much more visual and very Facebook Timeline alike with a big photo on the top. There is also a smaller profile photo on the right of the page. Users still have the choice if they want one big cover photo or use the older option with five smaller photos.

Navigation

The static navigation icons at the top are replaced by a dynamic ribbon of apps on the left of the screen. Now it is possible to drag apps up or down so the user can create its own order. When hovering over some apps a set of quick actions open and it is possible to show or hide apps.

Hangouts

Since the beginning of Google+ the hangouts have become one of the attractions of the social network. With the new design Google adds a special hangout page to Google+ which creates more opportunities to connect to people. There is now an always updated list of invitations, quick access to every public hangout and a rotating billboard of popular hangouts.

Explore

Google+ now also includes a similar like service as the Trending toppings from Twitter in the explore menu. On this page are the most interesting and trendy mentions shown. Something especially interesting for finding new friends as well.

Chat

On the right hand side of Google+ the user will find the chat function which is much more visible in the new design. This is also the place to add new users who could be interesting.

Pages

The new design also affects the pages section of Google+, the place where companies can present the companies and interact with followers. Here also the look of the photos have changed and new functions are added.

So what do you think of the new and improved Google+? Do you like it or don’t you? What would you change and why? It’s always nice to hear from you.

It is easy to set up a Facebook profile and a lot of users have set it up with the name of their small business, something which in theory is in direct violation of the Facebook Terms of use. Since you probably set up a personal profile the logical step for most business owners like you is to set up a profile for a business. But this is not the correct way to do.

One of the main reasons for keeping companies and individuals separate on Facebook is to reduce the amount of spam. If a business was able to invite you become a fan of their page, users would be flooded with businesses looking to inflate their number of fans.

Facebook profile

Facebook profiles are meant to represent single individuals where they can share their thoughts, photos, videos and other interesting (or not so interesting) stuff with their online friends. When you first sign up for an Facebook account you create a personal profile with information about YOU, where you went to school, where you work, what your favorite books are and what kind of music you listen to. Facebook likes to think they are the personal homepage of individuals, something which in essence for a lot of users is true.

Facebook profiles are strictly for people not for businesses and/or products, this is what Facebook says on their website. Any individual over 13 years can create a profile on Facebook and start sharing with friends. The maximum number of fiends allowed on Facebook is 5.000 where most users have an average of 150 friends, some less and some more.

Why do people prefer a Facebook profile over a fan-page? One of the reasons is the ability to add friends yourself to a profile while on a fan page you can only have fans, not friends. This makes it harder to get a big number of friends and therefore most small businesses prefer a profile and not a fan-page.

Please remember, profiles are meant for individual persons and not business therefore one could be violating the Facebook Terms of Use and your profile could be disabled forever.

Facebook fan-pages

Where Facebook profiles are meant to be for individuals, businesses can set up a fan-page. Fan-pages are called this way because where on a profile you have friends, on a fan-page you have fans who follow your news about your small business. On a fan-page you don’t have the ability to invite people, they will have to become a fan to become part of your Facebook community. Facebook fan-pages allow updating your status with photos, videos, discussions, questions, wall posts, groups and applications which will get shared with your fans.

To set up a fan-page you need a Facebook profile which must be set up as an individual. One of the advantages of a fan-page are the possibilities to interact with your business website by using the social plugins. The fan-page also has the ability of using a bright range of special applications and, perhaps more important, the administrative tools like insights where the user can see how many visitors the fan-page has and which news have been read most.

Visitors to fan-pages can become fans using the “become a fan” button or start liking your fan-page by using the “like” button which can be found on the fan-page itself and can be used on websites. Of both the most interesting is the “like” button because this means fans will start receiving updates from the fan-pages, these will appear on the personal profile timeline.

So, what to do?

If you use Facebook as a person you must use the personal profile. If you use Facebook as a small business, you first set up a profile and then create a fan-page to start promoting your business on Facebook.

In short

Facebook Profile:

• Strictly for people (not a business or product) to interact with friends and family.
• Any individual can create a profile, just not a commercial business or product.
• A business that opens a profile page is in direct violation of the Facebook Terms of Service and will be disabled.
• Other users become FRIENDS of a Facebook Profile.
• A Facebook Profile can upload pictures, videos, status updates, and can invite people to become friends.

Facebook Pages:

• Designed for businesses, brands, companies, products, and celebrities.
• Other users become FANS of a Facebook Page.
• Can upload pictures, videos, status updates, host a discussion board, display wall posts, and other features.
• Can track metrics like fans, page views, interactions, gender, age, location, language, and more.
• Can not invite other members to become a fan.

Here we go:

• Use other social networks like Google+, Twitter or even Pinterest to tell or show your friends something they probably already know: Facebook doesn’t work.
• Take a long shower or use the pool.
• Clean our office, desk and even your whole house.
• Start calling, yes using the phone, your friends to talk to them for real (which is difficult if you have hundreds of Facebook friends).
• Start playing Monopoly again, yes I’m talking about the real game.
• Use the good old fashioned test messages to send messages or use the free WhatsApp service (if available on your phone).
• Go and play with your children or read them nice stories.
• Try out some sport or start jogging again (and don’t forget to mention that on Twitter of course).
• Start organizing your administration and throw away all letters which are not important.
• Start planning creating your very own Facebook and a real competitor (just kiddin).
• Spend some real good time with your girlfriend/wife or boyfriend/husband.
• Go and use the good old MSN messenger again, yes it still exists.
• You can even try to use Skype to send messages to your friends.
• Get on Google+ and start a Hangout to talk to 9 other friends about the fact Facebook being down.
• Send out tons of E-mails to your friends to tell them Facebook is not working.
• Start reading a book or at least one chapter (depending on how much time Facebook will be down of course).
• Clean your car for real.
• Start doing some DIY stuff around the house or do some gardening.
• Bake a cake, eat it and share it on Pinterest and Twitter.
• Check in on Foursquare in a restaurant/bar nearby and see if some friends are near to eat and talk about the fact Facebook is down (socializing).
• Just sit around, doing nothing until Facebook will be online again.
• And when it does, tell everybody Facebook was down …duh!

Any more ideas?

Shareholic organized a study amongst 200.000 bloggers in the United States and found out that amongst the over 270 million visitors to their website most visitors where redirected from Pinterest and not Twitter. Perhaps the fact Pinterest is a more visual network then Twitter which is more text only, had a big influence. Overall experts say photos and videos are getting more important with social networks, just look at Google+ and Facebook who offer the photos shared online at bigger sizes.

Still this information is surprising because Pinterest is just two years old and only has 11,7 million users worldwide, something which cannot be compared to Twitter with over 100 million users (500 million registered).

According Shareholic 50% of the traffic in February came from Google followed by Facebook with 6,38%, Yahoo with 1,61% and Bing with 1,21%. Pinterest occupied the sixth position with 1,05% and Twitter the last place with 0,82%. Of course there are also visitors to websites who come there directly, 18,20% of them.

Do you want to know more about Pinterest, read our article about the new and upcoming social network.