Maybe 2012 will be the Year of Online Security? There seems to be some talk about it these days and that is a good thing. We like to get excited talking about all the latest ways to communicate and the gadgets that enable that communication. We are all about getting the message across and finding out who did what and why online. As marketers that is perfectly acceptable and good. It's our job. An increasing part of that job, however,

One of the attractive feature of Apple products in general is the relative insignificance of viruses, malware and overall mischievous behavior by those who like to mess things up for folks in the Internet age. Most of the wrath and venom of hackers and others has been pointed at Microsoft based products because Microsoft is cast as the villain of the tech world, whether it is deserved or not. Marketers need to pay attention to systems that they tie their success to as well.

Online security and privacy will always be an issue. There is nothing that will put an end to the need for paying attention to the state of your personal or corporate online security. Nothing. It's a cat and mouse game that is simply between the good guys and the bad guys. There are bad guys online just like there are in every walk of life.

We think that most people understand the fact that once you do something online it can be very difficult to make it go away. Just ask Bruce Clay about his issues recently around trying to take a site down in time for people to not tear it apart. The "magic" of the Internet has created numerous ways to still bring that site up even though it is no longer in existence. Ooooops. The reality is that most people )those outside of the Internet over-saturated,

There is a lot talk about Facebook. The billionaires, the millionaires, the speculation, the complaining, the changes. You name it, the list goes on. Of everything I have read, one quote summarizes it all from Wall Street Journal article . It comes from Veronica Stecker the media manager for Omaha, NE based retailer Gordmans . Simply put in just 44 words )or 255 characters including spaces according to Word's word count function(.

With the Super Bowl being this weekend and the fact that two major metro teams, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, are participating there is A LOT of press coverage. Usually the Super Bowl hype is overbearing but even to this sports fan )and New York Giants fan( this one is getting a bit ridiculous. One reason is social media. I decided to follow a few athletes just to see what they might say. I usually don't do this for two reasons: 1. I like the games.

I'm a Giants fan so I'll let Pats fans win this one. It's Sunday that matters . The IAB )Interactive Advertising Bureau( put together this infographic )click through to see the full image( and a whitepaper taking a look at the mobile life of Giants v. Patriots fans. It was a close contest for sure and has no bearing on the result for this Sunday but it is fun to consider. Sports is changing and mobile capabilities are helping to lead that charge.

We all know by now that Facebook has filed the paperwork for their IPO . If you want to learn who is getting rich and by how much there are myriad blogs etc that will give you that information. I have read a few of these and the takeaway from them all? Zuckerberg is stupid rich while Sheryl Sandberg is "busting through the glass ceiling" and brings home the bacon for her home in a big way. There, I just saved you a toe of time!

Tumblr is categorized as a social blogging site. That's a nice title until you realize that there are 42 million Tumblr sites that are generating content )I hope they are not counting my account that I have done nothing with(. One would hope that there is something of worth is going on in a community that big. Combine this with the fact that Tumblr is a free service that needs to turn all of those accounts into revenue and your thoughts probably go to advertising.

Thanks to Avinash Kaushik Created by Kashmir Hill, Forbes.

Search isn't going anywhere. Social is great and it's important and it is likely to continue to gain momentum. In fact, those in social should enjoy these early years because you can use growth numbers that tout high double digit jumps mainly because the industry is young and those numbers are possible. Search used to see the same numbers but as shown by a report from eMarketer the days of the big, gaudy numbers are likely over and that's fine for two reasons.

eConsultancy along with Experian Marketing Services has released their Marketing Budgets 2012 report and as we have seen in the recent past, most companies continue to or intend to continue to increase spending on the digital channel. That's good news in that there is recognition that the digital channel is an effective use of marketing dollars which can often be harder to find in the current economic climate. Here are some quick data points from the study.

The following post comes from our Inbound Marketing Channel sponsor HubSpot. The FBI recently posted a Request for Information )RFI( for a "social media application." But, it was really a request for a social media monitoring application. Why? Because the FBI recognizes what many inbound marketers already know and many others are discovering: There's gold in them thar social media data.

I am a Seinfeld fan. A fan of the show that is. His standup? Not so much. So, I got a little nervous when I heard he was doing a Super Bowl commercial because we know how these things can go. Well, this one wasn't too bad. Oh and the folks at Acura? Smart move promoting the ad now rather than waiting to "premiere" it during the game. You'll get more attention now. Very smart. Of course, being a New York Giants fan,

At the All Things D's, D: Dive Into Media event , Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo was interviewed by Peter Kafka. He touches on Google, China, political ads, IPO's and more. Of course, he has to say that 2012 is going to be the year of a Twitter election. Not too arrogant but hey who am I to argue? Oh and shockingly, Kara Swisher gets involved. All kidding aside, thanks to AllThingsD for getting Mr.

Google must be getting paranoid by now. I bet Larry Page can't fart without getting a letter from Congress these days. The latest Congressional attention of course comes from the latest privacy scandal to hit the Internet. Oh, I'm sorry, I must have channeled my inner sensationalistic blogger for that last line. The only thing that has really happened, at least as Google says it of course, is the consolidation of privacy policies.

This post comes from our SEO channel sponsor Link Assistant . The mobile Web has been gaining HUGE momentum in the past few years. Different statistics pertaining to the mobile Internet paint a vivid picture of the latter growing bigger each day: 76 percent of the world population )5.3 billion people( use mobile devices, of which over 1 billion are smartphones.

This post was written by our Social Media channel sponsor Full Sail University. "Alright, you primitive screwheads, listen up!" For those familiar with the work of movie director Sam Raimi, "Army of Darkness" is, no doubt, a perennial favorite. For those as yet indoctrinated, I'd encourage you to check out the film. It's one of my favorites! In addition to being funny and imaginative, the chief protagonist, Ash Williams, would make a great Internet marketer.

This post was created by our Reputation Channel sponsor Webimax. Numbers reflecting user participation on social sites were issued recently, stirring the interest of marketers and brands leveraging popular sites like Facebook and Twitter. Out of 2,000 U.S. web users asked, an astounding 85% had Facebook accounts. About three-quarters of the population use the social platform daily, and over half of those asked have at least a hundred friends. Wow,

If you were asked what it would take to get Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Aol and other to come together, agree on something and work together to accomplish something that would benefit most of the online world, what would it be? That is a pretty short list of option for sure but one thing has worked: a push to eliminate phishing scams in the e-mail space. According to Wired On Monday, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!,