“Facebook Gave You 10 Free Credits.” What is this you say? Is Facebook now giving me an allowance?

What are you going to do with YOUR Facebook Credits?

Whether or not you’re playing FarmVille or Texas Hold’em, this is a fairly significant move to Facebook commerce. Soon we’ll be provided an open platform to facilitate payments via Facebook. And the Facebook Open Graph will ultimately add some interesting experiences to shopping online.

People enjoying shopping at sites like Amazon because it recommends products based on purchases and ratings – what you like and dislike. Imagine carrying this info ‘with you’ to every store. Are we ready for this type of identity? A drivers license that knows me better than I do?

For now, spend your allowance wisely and invest in a farm or buy some land.

Shooting for a billion users, Facebook asked me “Who’s Missing?” the other morning in a note/ad that showed up above my news feed. I may not be the only one that stared at this for a few minutes thinking…huh?

This is aimed at importing your contacts from Google/Gmail. You probably did this when you setup your account originally (or perhaps not). Part of me asks why they didn’t just say “Check your Gmail account to find friends.” But I’m sure that would have shown lower clickthrough rates.

The screenshot below shows the unit with a few friends highlighted as those who “Tried the automatic friend finder and found out.” First, I wonder how they chose these three friends – are these my cool friends?  If they’re doing it, I guess I should . Second, Facebook’s social graphing system is powerful – it’s influential when they use this in a marketplace or search environment.

Screenshot from Facebook's Google/Gmail Importer

This may be prompted by a slow growth rate of U.S. users in June 2010, picking up only 320,800 new monthly active users after a huge May (7.8 million). As noted by Inside Facebook.

I’m gathering that the slow growth is a combination of general over-saturation, perhaps influencing early adopters to drop their accounts (blaming privacy policies), but really…who else is missing?

Are they going to reach 1 billion users? Or will projects like Google Me have enough influence and ease of use to encourage a migration?

Kathleen Ellis at the Insurance Journal wrote a nice piece on The Growing Risks of Social Media. Regardless of the size of your business, if you have employees that manage public communication through social media, I would recommend organizing and documenting a Social Media Policy and or set of Guidelines to follow. Although Kathleen focuses on reducing risk, this documentation can also set a company tone of voice and provide practical advice on representing the company to a wide internet audience.

The Cisco Social Media Playbook: Best Practice Sharing has been a recent popular example of a well-defined presentation and policies document model. The dedication to stats and worldwide social media usage at the beginning is important to ensure employees understand the landscape and the reach of online communication. The process and policies are also of vital understanding to ensure the culture of the community and the company represented is maintained.

Social Media is an efficient means of communication to the masses, but getting an understanding of its power and reducing risk in an organization is a critical first step.

• I'm at California Pizza Kitchen (2200 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Thousand Oaks). http://4sq.com/cXbGNI #
• Using my first Foursquare coupon at CPK. Appetizer with purchase. Not bad! #
• Watching Audrey in Alice in Wonderland (@ Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza) http://4sq.com/89Zx3x #
• PDF = Portable Document Format. (In case you were wondering) #
• “@latimes: Reality TV kids don't have a safety net http://lat.ms/av0t5g” glad someone's thinking about their future. #
• @mikehill33 Guess I was a day off eh? in reply to mikehill33 #
• If you must fax, use PamFax.com. Nice desktop app makes it easy to send faxes. (mac an pc). #
• Kin is dead – not surprised. Being young doesn't mean you need a weird UI. What a waste of time and money. http://bit.ly/d86mrx #
• No, that wasn't an earthquake. That was Verizon digging up the street again. Must have forgotten a cable. Thought we were going wireless? #
• Dance Recital Marathon (@ Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza) http://4sq.com/89Zx3x #
• I'm at Borders (125 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Moorpark Rd, Thousand Oaks). http://4sq.com/4wuepL #
• Nice review of Tommy at Conejo Players in Thousand Oaks – Catch the show this weekend! http://bit.ly/agmX71 #
• If you're thinking about Twitter or E-mail contests, use http://www.random.org/ to pick a winner. #
• I'm at Shave It (11 E Thousand Oaks Blvd, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks). http://4sq.com/bSMz69 #
• I'm at Trader Joe's (125 N. Reino Rd., at Borchard Rd., Newbury Park). http://4sq.com/c446Ou #
• Is getting hacked the new sex tape? #

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• Played music tonight. Ragnar was on bass. Legit http://bit.ly/9ptzTl (via @KurtyD) – I second that notion. Good composer too. #
• Can't assume people know wifi vs cell time I guess. Apple: FaceTime Video Calls Won't Use Your Carrier Minutes http://bit.ly/dgY5Sd #
• “@mashable: LEGO Universe: Adventure and Build With Your Friends [VIDEO] – http://bit.ly/90C4hG” this would be a gateway MMO for my son #
• The Who's Tommy starts this Friday @ Conejo Players Theatre. My son and nephew share the role of young Tommy – fun! http://bit.ly/ajtSxt #
• @netflix it's time for the Tomatometer! #
• Zumbox in Westlake Village is looking to hire a Senior Java Developer. DM me if interested. (via @ConejoJoe) #
• Twitter @anywhere gets slammed during World Cup. (190 mil users now) : http://bit.ly/aIrQdT #
• @nme Lights by Interpol. It grows on you. #
• correction… @nmeradio Lights by Interpol. It grows on you. #
• YouTube wins case against Viacom. Will be interesting to see the effects of this. http://bit.ly/a1QYBx #
• @TalentTalks You'll find more of that talk at http://www.youropenbook.org in reply to TalentTalks #
• Twitter FTC Announcment http://bit.ly/drvDDj. I might need the rest of the story. 55 (of 190mil) accounts hacked and the FTC comes? hmm #
• No FTC Fines for Ann Taylor gifts. http://bit.ly/99liN4. Seriously? FTC spends time here in this economy? How about Identity Theft? Scams? #
• "the squeaky wheel gets the deal" 10 solid BD tips from @jasonnazar http://goo.gl/PBZj (via @steepdecline) #
• My Starbucks Idea integrated with SalesForce, what a great connection http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ #
• Chatter by Salesforce. Branded social network directly tied to your Sales Team? Could be dangerous http://bit.ly/90E2Lg #
• Testing out Postling.com. This could be a good relationship. #
• The best Facebook solution for bands. http://www.rootmusic.com/. Been impressed since SXSW. Now added SoundCloud as their player. Sweetness. #
• EXCLUSIVE: First Teaser For “The Social Network” [VIDEO] – http://bit.ly/aK9fRy (via @mashable) #
• in light of "The Social Network", let's reminisce on "Startup.com" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoecCTun1qI #
• @ianpk and I are working on Logic music files via Dropbox. Technology brings collaboration. #
• http://internships.com/ Why didn't I think of that. #
• It's taken a while, but I'm noticing more social dashboards pop up. This one's focused on analytics: http://w.sns.ly #
• @makeitwork more power to you. As a former pc owner, I made it work, pulling my hair out. Will keep you guys in mind for my clients. #
• @ianpk and I are working on Logic music files via Dropbox. Technology brings collaboration. #
• Verizon iPhone and iPad announcement on Monday? #
• I'm at Shave It (11 E Thousand Oaks Blvd, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks). http://4sq.com/bSMz69 #
• Toooy Stoory (@ Muvico Thousand Oaks 14) http://4sq.com/cc10qQ #
• @Firqby challenging to design social strategy w/out a biz plan. A call for an FB page usually turns into a biz dev relationship. in reply to Firqby #
• Dropbox for collaborating with Logic (Recording). Second post, but well worth repeating. #

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• Check out this Twitter page to see who has access to your account: http://twitter.com/settings/connections (via @AndrewWarner) #
• @netsolcares My client's website has been down since Sunday due to a latency w/SQL Database. How many sites are down? #
• @radian6 thanks for the walkthrough. Social Media Tracking and Response Platform – well done. #
• A Hamburger Today http://bit.ly/aoY1uz (via @stevegillmor) #
• @netsolcares 2nd week of database problems. Still no definition as to #
• what in the world is going on with Network Solutions? Transparency on why sites are down? Is it the WordPress hack? #
• New website launched for @citysourced http://www.citysourced.com/. Nice job guys! #
• @ConejoJoe I'll be with you in spirit. in reply to ConejoJoe #
• @Cory_Jackson Three sided view – not bad! in reply to Cory_Jackson #
• Anyone using AT&T Microcells? I'm fortunate to have good service, but wondering if these work for those who don't http://bit.ly/bTDu6n #
• @tyr looking good! Are you going to add an FB Like for posts? Easy WP Plugin… in reply to tyr #
• RT @mashable Inside Gatorade’s Social Media Command Center http://bit.ly/96DgR9 #customer service #gatorade #ibm #
• Sites like http://picfog.com/ help us grasp the vastness of realtime content generation – in this case photos from twitter. #

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SiteLab has for years focused on SEO under search engine maven, Dana Todd. Just received an e-mail from them with a nice list of top 10 ‘No-No’s’, with good suggestions for a wholistic effort to increase appropriate traffic.

“SiteLab’s Top Ten SEO No-No’s

1. Using Black Hat SEO techniques or vendors – Tactics known as “black hat” are those that attempt extreme manipulation of known SEO techniques. Explicitly frowned upon in the industry, tactics include keyword stuffing, using link farms, and hidden text.

2. Designing a site in Flash – Flash design can engage users however, it can also hinder the ability of search engines to index the content found on that site. A site developed entirely of Flash web pages has no guarantee for search engines to “crawl” the site therefore eliminating the ability to appear in top search engine listings.

3. Not researching keyword traffic – If you never research the keywords searchers are using, how do you know what keywords to put on your page? Often time’s companies ignore the language that searchers are using, instead focusing on marketing phrases or internal jargon used commonly in the company. The problem with this is that your customers don’t work for your company and they don’t use your marketing slogans.

4. Changing URLs/domain without using 301 redirects – The domain of any site is like its address. What happens when someone changes their address, but doesn’t leave a forwarding address? The same thing that happens when a website changes its domain or URLs without leaving 301 re-directs. Establishing 301 re-directs whenever any URLs or domains change will give your site the best opportunity to maintain its SEO reputation.

5. Duplicate content – Search engines work by exploring the Internet and copying everything to their own servers. Make sure content is not duplicated elsewhere or else that content runs the risk of being ignored by the search engines. Once ignored by the search engines, it will be especially difficult to regain their attention.

6. Repeating the same title tag on multiple pages – Imagine browsing a library where the titles of all the books were identical! The title tag describes what’s on any individual page in your site. To give different pages the best chance to be found by different searchers, title tags must be uniquely crafted to suit the content on each individual page.

7. Ignoring best practices – There are a number of low effort SEO tactics that are generally just good habits of web design in general. An example of good practice: Put keywords in ALT tags, page file names, headlines, title tags and link anchor text. Never over stuff these elements with keywords, but it is acceptable and important to describe whenever possible.

8. Reciprocal linking/linking to bad neighborhoods – Earn PageRank by getting as many links from other sites as possible. However, there are sites with a reputation for using “black hat” tactics. Linking to one of these sites could potentially damage a site’s reputation since it indicates support for an illegitimate practice. Do not attempt to gain quick PageRank by linking to a site that promises quick gains with little effort.

9. Poor “non-descriptive” link anchor text – Anchor text or text link tells the search engines what the linked site is about. Using non-descriptive anchor text such as “Click here”, “More Information”, or “Find Out More” really misses an SEO opportunity to give make the search engines align a keyword with that linked page.

10. Server is often inaccessible to search bots – If your site is often down or can’t be crawled by search bots, then there’s no reason for your site to rank highly. When a site goes down for more than 48 hours, search bots have a tendency to not come back and drop the site from rankings dramatically.

If this is Greek to you or you don’t have the internal resources or talent to develop and manage your SEO strategy, SiteLab can help. Our goal is to build your brand and drive qualified traffic to your online door step. Help is just a click away! Contact Us today at info@sitelab.com or call 858 456-4720.”

I’m attracted to business and life cheerleading books as much as the next ambitious, hopeful entrepreneur. It’s so “easy.” Change your thinking and you’ll change your life. I get it, but give me the meat, cut the fat.

Jack Garson will either pump you up or scare you away with his true accounts and advice on building a business that will earn you the ultimate payday. Crafted in a handbook of sorts, his book “How to Build a Business and Sell It for Millions” encourages you to begin with the end in mind.

The first half of the book shows how to design and operate a healthy, profitable business, built for growth and attractive to buyers. The latter gears you up for the tango and sometimes craziness of negotiating the sell of your company.

Jack Garson delivers a lean and mean picture of what’s really going on when you read the headlines about the latest startup purchased for a mint. If you’re ready for something beyond ’sell sell sell’ and ‘think big’, read this guide and take the trip.

Warning: you may want to take with food. Each chapter could be a book on it’s own – especially in the latter half – negotiating strategies, terms, agreements, oh my. It sounds like a real challenge to go through, but hopefully it’s in the future for us. Do you have what it takes to make it to the ultimate payday?

Oh yea, and what happens when you get paid? There are probably a few things you haven’t considered – also examined and outlined well within. Get ready.

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, IndieBound and more…

More about Jack Garson.

Just read this great e-mail from Joel Ordesky on the Do’s and Don’ts of Social Networking. Social communities have their own culture and it’s important to learn the etiqutte before entering. The more we live in this online space, we create our own language and sometime’s ‘regional’ dialect. Twitter probably has the biggest learning curve as there are subtleties within the technology and often a shorthand language to fit within 140 characters. He recommends The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook which could be a good read, especially if you’re introducing an organization to social media. Joel also links to Brian Solis’s thoughts on Finding the Tweet Spot – Top Tips for Building Twitter Relationships – a very good read. Learn the Do’s and Don’ts of Social Networking.