The week in web marketing ended Friday with the close of Facebook’s first day as a publicly traded company. News of Facebook’s IPO broke earlier, and it opened trading at $ 42.05 per share – the second largest amount in U.S. history – signifying the broader rise of social media marketing and advertising.

By the end of the day, the fervor resulted in a bit of disappointment, as the stock price closed at $ 38.23 per share, which fell short of expectations. According to ABC News, some experts believed the first day of trading could see growth of 5 percent to 10 percent. For Facebook, becoming a publicly owned company represents a major step for Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild and the social media industry as well. Zuckerberg has insisted that this move will not affect the service delivered to the more than 900 million users on the site, which is good news for Americans.

Experian reported this week that 9 percent of all website traffic in the U.S. is goes to Facebook, with the site garnering more than 1 billion page views every week.

Brafton highlighted the report, detailing the value of the platform as part of social media marketing campaigns. As traffic to the site continues to grow and more people and businesses make the network part of their everyday activity, the potential to improve traffic, generate leads and drive conversions grows as well.

For companies looking to improve social marketing, Facebook released a comprehensive report this week that detailed the types of content best for engagement. Brafton found that those using Facebook to boost prospect interaction saw different levels depending on the type of post. Photos and visual content were best for shares, as fans enjoy distributing attractive, engaging visuals from the businesses they Like. However, compelling users to actually Like content requires a different approach, with explicit encouragement to Like content working the best to this end.

Driving conversation and engagement is a matter of using posts that ask questions of a fans, according to Facebook. That’s a principle that many marketers and, now, stockholders are investing in.

The news of the IPO led the Associated Press and CNBC to conduct a poll of consumers’ opinions on premier technology companies.

Despite its popularity, Facebook scored quite low in the survey in comparison to others. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they maintain a favorable view of the social network. Still, 43 percent said that they view it as a fad that will eventually be replaced by other websites consumers find appealing. Google achieved a stronger rating than Facebook, with 71 percent of respondents saying they maintain a favorable view of the search giant, Brafton reported. Given recent controversy regarding adjustments to search and the integration of Google+ data into SERPs, the high rating for Google was an interesting development.

Despite this positive perception of Google, the company’s social network has struggled to make the impact others have. According to RJ Metrics, the number of accounts on the network continues to skyrocket, but activity on Google+ still has not taken off to the same extent. Brafton reported on Friday that 30 percent of those commenting on the website do not return to contribute content again. Essentially, users interact with the site after creating their accounts or when initially prompted, then seem to forget that they have a Google+ profile. While companies using content marketing for SEO can still find great value in Google+ with its +1 and Share plugins that promote content advocacy, the network itself still offers little in terms of engagement.

Its struggles in social, however, have not discouraged Google from continuing its goal of bringing the most relevant content to its users through search. In its official blog, Google revealed the latest addition to search, the Knowledge Graph.

The Knowledge Graph is the latest step in trying to ensure that SERPs contain all the information a user looks for when conducting a query. According to the company, focusing its search algorithm on contextual elements of search will help users find data quickly. Brafton reported that when a user conducts a search, they will see the standard results, while filters based on multiple meanings will show up on the right sidebar. Using the example of the Taj Mahal, Google presented a SERP containing results for the palace in India. However, the additional results contained links to other SERPs for the recording artist and casino of the same name.

As users conduct more searches, the algorithm will adjust to their behavior and bring them the information most likely to suit their needs. Moreover, users can find background information on the subjects of their queries directly on the search results page. The data is aggregated from popular websites and cited as such.

Brafton reported that this move is further in line with Google’s desire to bring users information that they want. In the past, the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates worked toward providing the most qualified results, but the Knowledge Graph takes this concept to a whole new level.

Providing the right information quickly is increasingly important for all websites, not just search engines. Brafton cited a study from Adobe Systems on Tuesday that projected 10 percent of all website traffic will come from tablets by the end of 2014. The mobile devices have continued rapid growth in recent years. According to the study, tablet traffic has increased 10 times as fast as smartphone traffic in recent years, with consumers using the devices similar to desktop and laptop PCs.

Google’s Knowledge Graph will be especially useful for these users as they look for data quickly. Brafton reported on Friday that consumers are using their mobile devices more frequently in the home to find information on potential purchases and other topics. The Interactive Advertising Bureau conducted a study, asking people to provide details on their most recent mobile commerce activity. Twenty-eight percent said they looked for information on a product or service from their devices. Moreover, 47 percent of these users said this activity took place in their home. No longer are smartphones and tablets solely reserved for on-the-go use.

Despite Google’s announcement and its impact on search marketing as whole, the news likely leading discussion into the weekend and the early part of next week will be Facebook’s IPO, its initial performance and the value of its stock. Zuckerberg insists that nothing will change for users now that the company is publicly traded. This was true on Day One. We’ll know more in the next few weeks.
Brafton

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Book Review – The Art of Non-Conformity – A book review of The Art of Non-Conformity, a guide to doing what you want with your life, particularly helpful for younger people.

Dr. Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog writes iPads And Tablets: Ten Ways To Keep ‘Em Safe While Traveling – iPad’s size and weight make them great for traveling Read all about how to help keep yours from the black hole that is ‘ airline lost and found.’

FG @ Financial God writes Betting on the Future President – Have you ever visited Intrade, which brands itself as the leading prediction market? You can make a market in almost anything these days, it seems. Intrade is a prediction market based in the Republic of Ireland, and lets you bet on predictions in all kinds of areas, including the future president of the United States.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes What Income Level Do You Consider Rich? – There’s no secret formula to getting rich. Even as little as 10 Percent of your income invested over 30 years and you’ll be set for the rest of your life.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes The 3 O’s of Success – The 3 O’s of Success is the fifteenth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes Earn $ 5 for Taking a Picture of Your Grandparents (and 12 other weird things…) – Fotokoi is an online market that allows people to exchange photos. The best part is, people interested in your work will pay you for rights to your photo.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes What Is Gap Insurance On Your Car And Why You Need It – What is gap insurance? And, do you need it? Gap insurance is a type of car insurance policy that is designed to cover the gap between what the value of your car actually is, and what you owe on the vehicle.

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes Paul Ryan is a Fiscal Liberal – If Barack Obama is the most liberal president in history for spending $ 3.6 trillion in 2011, then why does the Ryan plan spend $ 3.5 trillion in 2013?

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes What is Crowdfunding? – Crowdfunding works in much the same way as microloans for the poor. You receive a large number of small cash infusions, rather than one or two large ones.

KT @ Personal Finance Journey writes In Debt? Consider Paying Cash for Your Purchases – Are you in debt (besides the mortgage)? Do you have thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt and/or credit card debt? If you are struggling to make your payments, one of the best things you can do is to stop using credit and begin to use cash.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes 8 Most Common Types of Houses – Shopping for houses means looking through countless of listings, In order to eliminate the confusion, below are the eight most common types of houses

Jacob Wade @ I Heart Budgets writes Budgeting Basics (Part 2): Tracking Your Income and Expenses – This is part 2 of the budgeting basics series on iHeartBudgets.net. This week we are talking about how to track your income and expenses in detail and put everything in categories, which will be the foundation of your budget. Also, read through the end of the post for this week’s bonus question!

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes How to Make it in America – I am sure you know that it is not easy to make it in America. Making it (whatever it means for you) requires a lot of work and determination. It also requires bravery and courage. For someone like me, making it in the land of opportunity was not just about hard work and determination.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Politics and economy in the Eurozone part 1 – The people have spoken in France and Greece. They do not like this austerity business one little bit. Can you blame them? After all it was not the people who caused the problem so why should they suffer while the banks get off scot-free?

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Unexpected Costs of Pet Ownership – Pet ownership can be quite expensive. If you are considering getting a new pet, make sure to consider these costs.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Should I Buy A House? – I rarely divulge details from my personal life, but today I’m looking for some feedback. Let me give you the full story: I have been dating Miss Blinkin for approximately 1 year and 4 months. Without giving too much information, I foresee an engagement in the coming months.

MMD @ MyMoneyDesign writes What Did You Learn From Working as a Teenager? – Was your job as a teenager a complete waste of time, or did you learn some incredibly valuable life lessons that prepared you later on in life to be a better working professional? I present to you 17 lessons I learned from my early days of employment that I still carry with me today.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Doing it Again – Renting Out a Spare Bedroom – We rented out the spare bedroom of our current home 2 of the 5 years we’ve lived here. And we’re doing it again starting today.

ETZ25 @ Entertainment Timez writes Thoughts on a Dividend Stream For Entertainment – I hash out my plan of attack for the future dividend stream for entertainment.

101 Centavos @ 101 Centavos writes Wall Street Hates Wal-Mart – After running a just-for-fun post a while back on a Redneck-themed stock portfolio, some readers suggested adding Wal-Mart (WMT) to the mix.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Why You Need A Will – A few weeks ago, I wrote a guest post over at Money Q&A titled Four Overlooked Estate Documents You Need.

Jeffrey @ Money Spruce writes Travel When Retired? No! Travel Now! – I just don’t buy into the whole “travel when you’re retired” thing. It seems like such a waste to wait my whole life to travel (and, not to be morbid, but assuming I make it to retirement age). I just got back from my latest trip to Montreal, which was fantastic. It was my first visit, and it definitely won’t be my last.

Kanwal @ Simply Investing writes Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Dividend Paying Stocks – Dividends are cash payments made to shareholders.  As a shareholder you are part owner of the company and therefore are entitled to share in the profits. Dividends can also help you determine when a share is undervalued, and priced right for purchase.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Investing in a Timeshare – Is It Worth It? – Is investing in a timeshare worth it? Find out the benefits and costs associated with timeshare vacation programs.

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes What Is Asset Allocation and Why Is It Important? – One of the things that investment gurus always emphasize is to diversify, diversify and diversify. Supposedly, diversification will help improve the overall performance of your portfolio since it doesn’t ride on just one investment vehicle.

PPlan @ Provident Plan writes U.S. Companies Exploit International Workers – Lack of Fair Wages – Learn more about Infosys and why U.S. companies should not treat workers this way.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes Retiring Early is Only Going to Get Harder – Related Posts:Why Your Children Should Open a Roth IRA at Age 18Common Sources of Retirement IncomeAbout The Baby Boomers Already Flocking to RetirementFinding…

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Wedding Gift Etiquette – Buy A Gift or Write A Check? – So what do you want for a wedding gift? With just weeks to go before my wedding, I’ve been asked that simple question more times than I can count. When people pose it, they’re looking for a simple answer.

Vanessa @ Random Thoughts & Acronyms writes A Frugal Girl’s Guide to Europe – How I visited Europe for two weeks for a bit over 2 000$

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes How Blogging Has Changed My Life – Find out how blogging has changed my life. It has not only improved my writing, but has allowed me to build a side business.

Linsey @ 1099 Mom writes Update Your Blog to Get Even More Paying Customers – A verdict has been reached: Provided that your company’s blog is full of useful, engaging insights, there is a direct correlation between the amount of content you generate and the number of people who are buying your product or service!

Beating Broke @ Beating Broke writes The Work Revolution – In The Work Revolution, Dr. Clow lays down the argument that it isn’t that you need to find an escape from work, but that work as we know it is in need of a revolution.

Matt @ Living in Financial Excellence writes If You Feel You MUST Get a Credit Card, Keep These Tips in Mind – I’m in no way endorsing the use of credit cards as a savvy way to win financially. I’m perfectly fine living without credit cards and I strongly believe that I am much farther ahead because I don’t have credit cards. If you disagree with me and really want to get one anyway, that’s fine. At least take the time to make sure that the card you choose is the best one for you and know what you’re signing up for. What the big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Steve @ Brip Blap writes Stability and Desperation – What all of these people fail to realize is that the instability they feel in uncertain times like these arises from their own lifestyle, and not from the government or the corporations or “the economy.” Learning how to build prosperity, not just surviving paycheck-to-paycheck, is a big first step. Learning to live within your means gives you a more stable life. Learning to think more about making money than saving money helps create stability.

Emily @ Evolving Personal Finance writes Joint and Separate Money Series: Changes During the First Year of Marriage – I review a study in which married couples were asked about their money management systems and ownership models around the time of their wedding and one year into marriage. The authors found a general trend toward pooling and shared mindsets, along with several other interesting observations.

TRL @ The Retired Landlord writes Different Places to Save a Down Payment – Find out the many different accounts or investment places that you can use to save a down payment for a rental property.

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes Start Saving Early for Retirement: Tips for Young People Just Starting Out – The longer you save for retirement, the more money you will have to retire on, even if the amounts saved are quite small in the beginning. This article looks at the reasons an early start to retirement saving is so vital and why so many people just don’t get it.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes When Should you go for a Reverse Mortgage? – Reverse mortgages are tricky things. Instead of avoiding them, why not research them and see if they would work for your financial goals!

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Using Extra Income to Pay for Luxury Items – I was under the (incorrect) assumption that I had already told you guys how I afford to pay for my luxury items. Sometimes I get a little confused about what information I post on here, reply to in comments on here and leave in comments on other people’s blogs.

Jeremy Waller @ Personal Finance Whiz writes Reader Question: Spend Money to Repair a Gas Guzzling SUV or Sell And Get a More Fuel Efficient Car? – This week I received an e-mail from one of the PF Whiz readers: We are at a cross road dilemma to purchase or repair. Our gas hog Acura 2005 MDX, with 107,000 miles needs new a timing belt & other minor repairs. The cost estimate is $ 2800. This car only takes premium unleaded.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Why We Didn’t Sell Our Car on Craigslist – Last week I detailed why we considered buying a car through CarMax, and I wanted to do a follow-up on a service of theirs that we actually used.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes How to Save Money on Hotel Rooms – How to Save Money on Hotel Rooms is a post from: Broke Professionals if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed. You don’t have to be rich to take a trip or go on a vacation, but they do cost money.

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes The Importance of Vacations For Kids – This article explains the reasons that we prefer to take destination oriented vacations for the kid’s sake.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Is Now The Time To Buy Real Estate? – With the low mortgage rates, is this the perfect time to buy real estate? I find myself looking more and more often.

Everything Finance @ Everything Finance Blog writes How To Transfer Money Between Bank Accounts – You may need to transfer money between bank accounts if you have money in two different banks. There are several ways to do this beyond the obvious of driving to one bank, withdrawing the money and then depositing it at the other bank. Which way works best for you depends on how quickly you need the money and how much money you want to spend to transfer the funds.

Thad @ ThadThoughts writes 10 Tips: How To Beat Stress – Working too hard? Having trouble sleeping or staying focused? These tips can help, and not one of them refers to Red Bull!

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes Should I Get Married with Debt? – Money and marriage. They go together like peanut butter and jelly,

Robert @ My Multiple Incomes writes The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Backlinks – Social media is a great starting point for backlinks, and since popular articles are usually shared multiple times, the amount of backlinks multiplies over time. If this happens, not only will you see increased traffic to your site, but you will see your site ranking highly in Google as well. Also, I will give you some tips on how to execute a social media backlinking strategy that will save your time and effort. Continue reading to see the full list of social media backlink sites, how t

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes 4 Things All Women Need to Know How to Do – I think independence and self sufficiency is a must for all women.

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Actively Avoiding Debt – Find out how you can actively avoid debt by not having a wish list or items that you want to buy next.

Teacher Man @ Young And Thrifty writes Choosing the Latest Investing Fad – Don’t you love the guys/gals that get their investment advice from the water cooler? You know the guys and gals that are constantly hopping on the bandwagon of whatever terrible investment advice that their co-workers heard on the radio on the way in this morning?

John @ Married (with Debt) writes The Goal of Work is Retirement: Rule 10 – This is Rule 10 in my 10 Rules to Eliminate Debt and Change Your Life The reasons I started Married (with Debt) are twofold: to help people get out of debt, and help them change their lives.

Teacher Man @ My University Money writes Lifestyle Inflation – The Upward/Downward Spiral – Yes, I know, many of you have seen this before, and are probably thinking, “Man, I don’t go out and spend frivolously, I’m not trying to pretend I’m a Rockefeller, I’m just an everyday person, I don’t have any lifestyle inflation.” Here is the thing – lifestyle inflation is a silent beast.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes Predicting the Future Rate of Inflation – May Edition – What does the market say about inflation predictions? The answer is plenty.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Frugal Mother’s Day Ideas – Sometimes what we want to give loved ones cannot come close to what we can actually afford to give them.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes How to Dodge Investment Scams – This Post was Originally published at How to Dodge Investment Scams on Start Investing Money

Echo @ Boomer & Echo writes Pitfalls Of Chasing The Highest Dividend Yield – Choosing a dividend stock involves a lot more than simply looking for the highest dividend yield. Here are some of the pitfalls to avoid:

Mike @ Rewards Cards USA writes Best Airline Miles Credit Cards – One of the reasons that many people sign up for rewards programs is to save money on travel. Here are some of the best airline miles credit cards:

Jeremy @ Modest Money writes Career Lessons From My Mom – In honor of Mother’s Day this coming Sunday, I decided to write about how my mom overcame financial adversity. As a single parent she went from collecting welfare to being a successful entrepreneur and is now retired early. She is a true success story.

harry campbell @ Your Personal Finance Pro writes Traveling on a Budget: A Review of My Vacation to Maui – I never realized the value of a vacation until I started working full time. You could even say I took my travels to Thailand, Hungary & Turkey for granted. My trips during college were an awesome experience that I would recommend to anyone at any age. But for working professionals, who get anywhere from 2-4 weeks off a year, vacation time becomes a precious commodity. I get two weeks a year but I think I would be a lot happier with four

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes 8 High Paying Jobs Without a College Degree Needed – Not everyone has the means or want to go to college. Luckily for them there are still plenty of jobs that you can make over $ 100,000 while not having a college degree

Jon Rhodes @ Affiliate Tips writes How Many Keywords Should You Use On A Page? – This article talks about blogging, and how many keywords you should include in a post.

Earth and Money @ Earth and Money writes How NOT to Make a Financial Decision – When it comes to making financial decisions, it is imperative that you have a clear and focused mind. Given how hard we work for our money, a poorly made financial decision can come back to haunt us many times over.

SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Best Credit Cards for Balance Transfer in 2012 – We analyzed over 20 cards geared towards balance transfer scenario and rated top 3 based on overall feature of the cards.

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes Top Risks for Investing in Oil and Natural Gas – Every investment opportunity has its share of risks. This article talks about the risks of investing in oil and natural gas sector, geared towards beginner investors.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes Rental Property – The Financial Side – There are many numbers that are important when making a decision on buying a rental property. The first one that we calculated was how much we would offer for the townhouse. It was listed at $ 73,500 which may not seem like a lot but would probably be about 5,000 under market value IF it was in great shape and ready to rent out. It wasn’t, so we definitely would not be offering anywhere near that amount.

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes Remember Your Investment Horizon – Fears in Europe, slowing economy, unemployment concerns, and a few hundred other data sets all contribute to the daily swings of the market. When the markets start acting crazy, remembering your investment horizon will bring everything back into perspective.

Financial Carnival for Young Adults – 12th Edition is a post from: 20′s Finances If you are reading this outside of a RSS reader, this content has been stolen.

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This is an alarming trend, but really no surprise when you consider the high real estate prices in Canada and our tendency to take on mortgages with longer amortization periods.  A 35-year old couple buying a home today might still be making mortgage payments into their 60′s.

In other news, Facebook shares are set to begin trading today and could be valued at $ 100 billion by the end of the day.  That’s roughly 16 times the market cap of Research In Motion, even though RIM’s revenues are 4 times higher.

Here’s a look at some other interesting personal finance articles from around the blogosphere this week:

1. Cash Money Life explains why resume fraud is never a good idea
2. Free From Broke asks should you charge your Boomerang kids rent?
3. Retire Happy Blog looks at negotiating retirement as a couple
4. Young and Thrifty compares RRSP vs RESP accounts
5. Money Mamba explains why everything you thought about stock picking is wrong
6. Canadian Finance Blog looks at marrying for money and earning potential
7. Money Smarts Blog asks should you sell your house and avoid the market crash?
8. Financial Highway looks at increasing fixed income returns
9. Big Cajun Man says you should take advantage of the rules when you can
10. My University Money asks are banks really in it for you?

We were also included in the following blog carnivals this week:

• Carnival of Financial Camaraderie
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Financial Carnival for Young Adults
• Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week
• Carnival of Money Pros
• Carnival of Financial Planning

Have a great weekend, everyone!

• What’s New Around The Blogosphere: May 11th, 2012
• What’s New Around The Blogosphere: May 4th, 2012
• What’s New Around The Blogosphere: April 27th, 2012
• What’s New Around The Blogosphere: April 20th, 2012
• What’s New Around The Blogosphere: April 13th, 2012

Boomer & Echo

The game of life is a classic American board game. I grew up playing this game as a child with my family and I continue to play it with my wife and friends. While my wife is not a huge fan, this game represents one of the many fond memories I had as a child. Who wouldn’t want to re-live their childhood memories, while building new relationships?

The last time my wife and I sat down to play with friends, I realized that this game is all about money. Talk about a great post idea, right? I couldn’t stop myself from analyzing the lessons that the game of life teaches young children. If you are playing this game with your children, do you know what they are learning by playing this game? Find out the lessons and lies that this game teaches.

Money Lies from the Game of Life

1. Life is all about money – In the game, the main goal is to make the most money of all the competitors. You get life tiles for different life actions, like having a child or graduating college. Sounds like it is teaching kids that life experiences matter, right? WRONG! In the game life tiles = money, but this isn’t the case in life – nor should it be.
2. Good not to have a house/children – If you are a strategy person and have played this game long enough, you will know that it is almost always better not to have a house or children. The main reason is because there is no liability. You never know when you could land on the tile that makes you pay money for not having insurance. This is not the case in real life.
3. Car insurance is not necessary - Similar to number 2, you can choose to take a gamble and not get car insurance. You may end up regretting this, but it could pay off big. In real life, however, everyone is required by law to have it in real life.
4. It doesn’t matter when you pay back your school loans – In the game of life, you only have to pay $ 5000 in interest for every 20k and you can pay it back at any time during the game, including at the end. There is no extra interest for waiting. This teaches people to live with debt as long as possible – otherwise, if you pay it off too soon, you could be force to take out another loan (with more interest to pay back).
5. There are few career choices – The game of life is simple – you get a college and your salary more or less corresponds to your job. There are very few option in the game of life. In real life, you can think out of the box and earn money from new business ideas. Think how the world would be different if there were no self-made millionaires.
6. You are stuck in your career – In the game you can only change your career if you land on a special space. In real life all it takes is time and hard work. In fact, you can switch jobs easier today than ever before. Most people switch jobs multiple times in their career, and some switch occupations completely.
7. Return on your stock investments is a game of luck – While there is some truth to this in real life, investing in the stock market isn’t just luck. There is a lot of research and educated investments involved. It’s not as simple as luck.

Financial Lessons from the Game of Life

1. Going to college doesn’t guarantee higher paying job – I will be graduating with my master’s this coming December, and even though I live in a place with a high cost of living, will be making less than many with just a bachelors.
2. Buying a house is optional – Some people think that you have to purchase a home, but renting is a perfectly viable choice. In fact, some people prefer this to have more money to invest. I am looking forward to home ownership for the simple reason of having lower living expenses in retirement, but it will be a few years.
3. More money you make the better retirement you are going to have – This is undoubtedly true. The more that you make in your career, the better retirement you will have.
4. Making money on your house is a game of chance – This volatile market has brought uncertainty to the security of the stock market, but is probably more stable than in the game of life.

What has been your experience with the game of life?

Financial Lessons and Myths from the Game of Life is a post from: 20′s Finances If you are reading this outside of a RSS reader, this content has been stolen.

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A report from PulsePoint found that many marketers, agencies and content publishers are struggling to generate content that appeals to their target audiences across channels. As more consumers and B2B buyers access content from computers and various mobile devices, the need for dynamic, multi-faceted campaigns becomes increasingly clear and Pulsepoint’s study indicates many marketers struggle to keep up with evolving internet behavior.

According to the study, agencies have been more successful than marketers and publishers in launching campaigns that appeal to their target demographics on several different fronts. Fifty-seven percent of those included in the study said their multi-channel efforts are very or extremely effective.

It appears as though agencies are looking to improve their ability to gauge the strength of their campaigns. More than 41 percent of agencies said a top priority was adopting new metrics to assess campaigns better.

Twenty-seven percent of publishers said their multi-channel efforts are effective, while just 15 percent of marketers considered this to be true.

PulsePoint said that multi-channel campaigns are common now given the multi-platform behavior of consumers. These efforts are effective in the sense that they improve presences in several different areas. However, insights for campaigns are too frequently analyzed separately when they could be combined to gain an understanding of cross-web influence, according to PulsePoint. Essentially, social metrics are applied only to social, rather than using data gathered from Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to improve website content or email campaigns.

Cross-channel campaigns, which PointPulse defined as any effort that uses insight from different channels to inform actions in others, are more likely to help companies succeed moving forward. Similarly, real-time interactive marketing efforts, which allow organizations to make changes to their campaigns more quickly.

By and large, agencies believe their cross-channel campaigns and real-time interactive strategies are effective. However, marketers and publishers are less successful with these kinds of strategies, PulsePoint found.

Adjusting marketing practices to make campaigns adaptive to audience responses will help companies moving forward. Consumers are increasingly active on the web, using multiple networks and channels as part of their daily lives. Failing to aggregate data and provide prospects with an experience that transcends each channel can hurt businesses.

Despite marketers’ current struggles in providing a truly cross-channel experience, their efforts are likely to change based on priorities set for the coming months. For example, 42.3 percent of publishers said they hope to be more active on new channels soon, while 45 percent of marketers will reportedly work to better optimize their efforts this year.

Changing consumer behavior has been well documented, and it’s likely that the shift will continue as people make more technology a greater part of their lives. Brafton has recently highlighted a number of studies that illustrate the increasingly dynamic behavior of web users. For example, a report from Nielsen found that more than 70 percent of consumers turn to the web while shopping to learn about electronics they look to purchase. Businesses trying to better integrate their online web presence can consider using website content marketing to appeal to these shoppers doing brand comparisons as well as social content discussing new products to reach those checking social channels and encourage users to learn more on their sites.
Brafton

It’s surprisingly easy to reduce the amortization – and the amount of interest paid.  When you pay off your mortgage faster, a big part of your household budget will become available to help you achieve your other financial goals.

Make a lump sum payment

A lump sum payment, or prepayment, is an amount you pay in addition to your regular mortgage payments within the mortgage term.  The prepayment reduces your outstanding principal balance.  The sooner you can make the prepayment, the less interest you will pay over the long term, and the sooner you will be mortgage-free.

Related: Our Fast Track to Financial Freedom

Your mortgage agreement will specify the maximum amount you can prepay each year (usually 10% – 25%) and how often (usually once per calendar year) without penalty.  The prepayment option is not cumulative, so if you don’t take advantage of it one year, you can’t double the payment the next year.

Coming up with such a large lump sum (up to $ 75,000 on a $ 300,000 mortgage) is next to impossible for most mortgage holders unless you’re lucky enough to receive a windfall.  Keep in mind though that even small lump sums – from a bonus or tax refund, for example – can still reduce your overall interest amount.

One thing to note, if you pay off your mortgage and are facing a penalty for doing so, the lender is obligated to reduce the mortgage balance by the allowable prepayment amount before calculating the penalty.

Increase the amount of your payments

One of the ways to pay off your mortgage faster is to increase the amount of your regular payment.  This option is easier for most people than coming up with a large lump sum.  Most mortgage lenders will allow you increase your payment by 10% to 100%, but there may be a fee if you change it again during the calendar year.

Related: How To Save $ 65,541 This New Year

Paying $ 100 extra a month on a $ 300,000 mortgage at 3.29% over 30 years will give you an interest savings of over $ 11,000 and reduce the amortization by 3 ½ years.

Make more frequent payments

Most financial institutions offer a number of payment frequency options.  The standard options are:  monthly, semi-monthly, biweekly and weekly.

Many people like to match the frequency to their pay periods for ease in budgeting.

If you decide to make more frequent payments, make sure you choose an accelerated option.  Accelerated weekly and biweekly payments can save you thousands, if not tens of thousands, in interest charges because you’ll pay off your mortgage much faster.  The reason is that you make the equivalent of one extra monthly payment each year.

Related: Why A Mortgage Payment Vacation Is A Bad Idea

There is very little extra savings if you just switch to a more frequent payment without taking the “accelerated” option.

On the same $ 300,000 mortgage as above, a biweekly payment will save just $ 289 in interest.  On the other hand, an accelerated biweekly payment (an extra $ 50 per payment) will save over $ 18,000 over the life of the mortgage.

Keep your payments the same if you renew at a lower rate

When you renew your mortgage, if the interest rate is lower than what you were paying previously, your regular payment will be less.  You could pay off your mortgage faster by simply keeping the amount of your payments the same.

Conclusion

You can save thousands of dollars in interest by paying off your mortgage as fast as your household budget allows.  Choose any one, all, or a combination of the prepayment options available to you.

Contact your mortgage lender for your payment options and any penalties and fees you may be required to pay.

• Pros And Cons Of Waiting To Buy A Home
• Is Manulife One Worth A Look?
• Why A Mortgage Payment Vacation Is A Bad Idea
• First Time Home Buyer: HBP Or TFSA?
• 4 Advantages To Building A House

Boomer & Echo

Let’s put this in perspective. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, in an article that’s become the main springboard for most analysis of the announcement, GM has decided to stop paying to advertise on Facebook, saying the company hasn’t seen enough positive results to justify continuing to spend there. Advertising had accounted for roughly a quarter of GM’s spending on Facebook-related things — the remaining $ 30 million was spent on advertising and media agencies’ work in creating and managing content across its various brand pages. While GM is the third-highest-spending advertiser in the U.S. (behind Procter & Gamble and AT&T), its $ 10 million investment in Facebook ads should be considered against Facebook’s $ 3.7 billion revenue for 2011 and the automaker’s own total U.S. ad budget of $ 1.8 billion in the same year. GM is also still engaged in a long process of recovering from near-financial ruin, which led to an infamous bailout from the U.S. government and a real PR black eye over actions that made certain GM executives seem out of touch and insensitive. The company’s in the midst of a long slog of re-asserting its relevance and retooling its image. Meanwhile, companies in all kinds of industries are shifting their social ad budgets around, shying away from Facebook display ads and putting more resources into creating and promoting content users can interact with and share. There is a substantial difference between axing a company’s Facebook display advertising budget and yanking the budget for promoting posts, and trusting the brand’s agencies can create content that’s engaging enough, and that their fans are loyal enough, to spread organically and justify what is still a $ 30 million investment. The WSJ doesn’t explicitly say GM is effectively doing both of those things, but that’s what its reporting implies.

Clearly, GM isn’t ignoring Facebook; it’s simply reassessing its strategy, and what that means remains unclear. While many voices has dismissed the auto giant’s decision as sheer folly, there’s something to be said for stopping to think about what’s valuable for a brand in social media and how that value should be measured. Over the phone earlier today, Spruce Media (a Facebook Ads API Partner of note) COO Lucy Jacobs said that Facebook has “really done something powerful, which has changed the way advertising works. It’s really about word-of-mouth marketing at scale.” And then the challenge for the brand for understanding what’s most effective is a question of analytics. “I think the brands sometimes don’t understand the metrics of success,” she said. She explained she’s seen brands “struggling to understand what content is resonating with fans and where to allocate ad spend.” And she said a brand like GM, with many different makes and models of products aimed at so many different audiences, might at times “need help navigating which segments of content” are catching on.

For GM in particular, Jacobs explained, Facebook’s payoff is “not about driving to your local car dealership,” but about appealing to customers’ emotions and helping them place the brand in the context of their own lives (especially over long periods of time, considering how rarely most people run out and buy a car). There’s value in that approach, but it’s hard to quantify. If GM is going to pull its spending from advertising on Facebook, while maintaining its presence on the network, she advised, “They’ve got to make their content more viral.”

To Roger Katz, CEO of social media marketing and advertising services provider Friend2Friend, GM’s decision might have been less a statement about Facebook and more a statement about GM itself. “It sends a huge message about the new GM and their willingness to walk from things,” he said. Katz considered the $ 10 million cut a ceremonial gesture (“It’s a very small sliver” of GM’s total ad budget, he pointed out), and he suggested the company’s timing — right around the time of both Facebook’s IPO and the TV upfronts (“We’re not talking about ESPN,” he noted) — had some significance. “The fact they’d come out and talk about it this week is an interesting message,” he said. “I’m expecting that this kind of announcement is pretty nuanced.”

There’s definitely some nuance if, as Katz suggests, GM actually does get how Facebook works. “Obviously they’re dedicated to Facebook,” he asserted. “People universally agree that Facebook is for engaging [audiences]. GM has these communities. They do engage them. They’re looking at ways of tracking that.

“Facebook is not the place people go first to buy a car,” Katz acknowledged. But he insisted that Facebook is simply too large and too full of opportunity to retreat from. To not cultivate audiences there in some ways is, he said, “mind-blowing,” and he pointed out, “These brand pages are the first branded communities at scale.” And it’s true — brand pages are places where people congregate just to willingly share their enthusiasm for and experiences with a brand. No matter what GM’s Facebook strategy is for now, he cited the $ 40 million total (ads and content creation) and commented, “If that number is not bigger next year, it’s unfathomable.”

As unwise as it might be to yank its Facebook ad budget, it might be as unwise to suspect GM has entirely spoken its part on this subject. If the automaker is too big to fail, it should be too big to miss the point of Facebook, as well

Adotas

Google has announced its latest update that will break the search mold of matching keywords to queries. The company’s Knowledge Graph attempts to revolutionize search by making its engine “understand the world a bit more like humans do.” The update is a step toward giving users relevant, meaningful answers to searches instead of results that seem to match queries – completely changing SEO and supporting Google’s effort to become a “knowledge engine” instead of an “information portal.”

Building the bridge between queries and meanings

The Knowledge Graph helps Google understand the meaning of queries and the relationships between different objects in the real world. Google explains that the goal of the Graph is to collect information about different real-world entities (like a book, a product or a person) so that the search engine will be able to provide the best answers by combining info it deems relevant and info other searchers’ have marked as useful on that topic. Among other things, the Graph seems to incorporate more search history and aggregate social data into results, with Google indicating it draws on “collective human wisdom.” The update seems to shed light on Matt Cutts’ recent Webmaster Central video that carefully explained Google’s use of human raters in search ranking.

In a video announcement of the Graph, Google’s Jack Menzel said, “If we can understand that [queries] are talking about real-world things, then we can do a better job of getting you just the content that you want off the web.” This mirrors an earlier statement from Menzel about SEO and the rise of the interactive web. Brafton quoted him at SMX West as saying that Google “wants the web to be about conversations” to provide contextual answers and meaningful content.

The Knowledge Graph and the changing the nature of SEO

The Knowlege Graph tries to treat web entities as objects in the real world. The company explains this means Google search attempts to understand the relationships between “things, not strings” which SEO marketers might interpret as an emphasis on contextual relevance over links. “As we grow the knowledge graph, we’re excited at the opportunity we have to understand users queries, to understand the information on the web and intelligently connect the two,” said Sashi Thakur, technology lead.

This brings to mind the contextual markup tool, schema.org, which Google has supported in the past. Though, as Search Engine Land reported, Google’s Matt Cutts has advocated rel=author above schema.org to help sites build contextual authority through their content writers. The update suggests site owners and marketers must strongly consider adding rel=author to build brand authority in their niche.

Social data will wield more influence in what ranks for searches with this update. As product manager Emily Moxley explained, Google will “jumpstart [searchers'] research by combining the information that others found useful with information in the Knowledge Graph.” The company says people’s activity will inform what it puts in the database.

Three initial Knowledge Graph elements that impact search

Google’s Amit Singhal broke down the first three features that will roll out as part of the Knowledge Graph.

1. Smarter interpretation of search queries: The Knowledge graph will help Google understand the meaning of words users type in based on their real-life meanings. Google presents a side bar with different interpretations of search query meanings, and users can narrow their results by clicking the interpretation that is relevant to them. 
2. More contextual information around results: Continuing its rising tradition of putting answers directly on SERPs, the Knowledge Graph gives users summaries of the core details around their searches. The information included in summaries is based on Google’s studies of aggregate searches conducted around specific queries.
3. Discovery through search: Google provides information for search queries to give users additional facts and make them aware of unexpected connections. In some cases, this feature may answer questions that would have merited follow-up searches, and in other instances Google says it could start a whole new line of searches. Singhal explains:

We’ve always believed that the perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want. And we can now sometimes help answer your next question before you’ve asked it, because the facts we show are informed by what other people have searched for.

Google’s move toward a search landscape that gives users “exactly what [they] want” is an indication that sites looking to gain visibility on the web will have to work on the same principle of satisfying users.

Search enhancements from the Knowledge Graph are being rolled out gradually, and Google says smartphone- and tablet-friendly versions will soon be available. Marketers can learn more about the Knowledge Graph in the official video announcement.

Brafton

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Financial Carnival for Young Adults – 11th Edition is a post from: 20′s Finances If you are reading this outside of a RSS reader, this content has been stolen.

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ADOTAS

According to the report, AT&T accounted for 56 percent of mobile ad impressions during April, while Verizon, Sprint and TMobile nabbed 24, 19 and 1 percent, respectively. Sprint gained 6 percent in impression volume, which the report’s authors suggested might’ve come about through the January release of the iPhone 4S.  On iPhones specifically, AT&T held 61 percent of impressions, 28 percent Verizon and 11 percent Sprint.

Wifi remains more popular than data carriers, and increasingly so: Wifi was accountable for 75 percent of impressions versus carriers’ 25 percent, and wifi’s up 3 percent in the last six months in that regard. The report suggested changes in data pricing plans might’ve been responsible for the slight shift.

iOS delivered 55 percent of mobile impressions, up 2 percent from March. Android delivered the remaining 45 percent.

Apple leads in impressions by device: iPhones delivered 20.4 percent of all mobile ad impressions, iPod Touch devices 14.9 percent and iPads 13.4 percent. Samsung, Apple’s closest competitor for devices, collectively delivered just 3.3 percent of impressions, by comparison. Nonetheless, the report saw growth of the new iPad as slower than the iPad 2: The new iPad saw 8 percent of all impressions, while iPad 2, at the same point in time after its release, was seeing 13 percent. The report credits the rise of competitor tablets for this version of the iPad’s figures at this point.

And among the industry categories the report addressed, the category of “women/mothers” saw the highest CPM, $ 15.15. Finance — on the rise in mobile, according to other reports — was next, at $ 10.21.

The whole report is available for download on the Velti blog.

Adotas

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