Google Maps seems to have the edge in the maps game worldwide. Granted, there are plenty of competitors and there are many options for Internet users to get directions and business information but many go to Google because they are there anyway so why not? Now, New York City, the place where Google made a monster real estate investment just a short while ago which will continue to bring more jobs to the city,

We have seen enough around the web about this innovative way of creating a "paywall" that is not really a paywall for publishers premium content. What's that you say? A paywall that's not a paywall. It's actually a viewing "speed bump" if you will. Google Surveys allow companies to gather market research as publishers require visitors to premium content areas to answer survey questions to get to the content.

Facebook v. Google is no longer a David v. Goliath story. In fact, it is far from it except in one area: search. Search has been and is likely to continue to be the domain of Google. In fact, if Google is to truly survive it has to keep its position as the search king since many of their other efforts either fall flat or just kind of exist without truly impacting the market. So if you are Facebook where could you grow and tap into a proven ad model like keyword driven PPC?

Google is in between the proverbial rock and a hard place these days. On one hand, you have newer competitors who have been able to build their empires with social media as the central rallying point. Facebook is the obvious choice here. When Facebook adds another service there is an initial wave of whining followed by resignation to the fact that Facebook has all of your stuff. Google, on the other hand,

OK, I admit it. I have not paid attention to LinkedIn like I should. I take full responsibility for this because of the nagging fact that I have a life outside of social media so this one is on me. As part of the first million to join the network I have shirked my duties that I share with that small and very intimate group of 1 million other LinkedInners. Please forgive me. That is until recently. In all seriousness I, like I suspect many others,

Remember the days when we looked to Google as a leading innovator in the online space? We still do to some degree but there is a crowded field of competitors that has been beating Google to the punch in many areas. As a result, the search giant is starting to come off as a "me too!" player as of late with Google+ being the biggest example. Of course, anything developed to help push the Google+ experience to the world will carry the ring of "me too!" as well.

Google's move to a more traditional company has been interesting to watch. The began as the nimble new kid on the block that took the Internet by storm by doing what other search engines couldn't. In its quest to organize the information on the Internet Google has gone through the process of going public, adding oodles of employees, growing at meteoric rates and finally has become public enemy #1 to many.

In the age of "promote first to test the waters then wait until whenever to actually do something" we have the latest entry by Twitter. It has been over a month since Twitter and American Express announced their quest to get 10,000 small businesses to sign up for the program. Well, today we get a press release, a blog post and a video all promising that things are actually happening finally ' but slowly. Here's the video. In fact you can still be part of the 10,

Google's international legal team sure must be hopping these days. Between the European Commission trying to impact the company regarding privacy )at the behest of Google's competitors no less( and continued privacy concerns in all four corners, Google has its hands full. Now add to the list some trouble in Japan.

It's that time of the year isn't it? Spring is springing. You clean out the garage. You spruce up the whatever it is that needs sprucing up. It feels good, right? Well, we figured what better way to enter this season of renewal than to refresh the look and feel of Marketing Pilgrim! We hope you enjoy the new car smell of our new design including our improved sharing options that will help you easily pass along content you find valuable and want to share with others.

You may have noticed that we look a little different today. While many use this time of year for spring cleaning, we thought it was time to give MP a new look and feel. A refresh, if you will. We hope that our expanded and improved sharing options will help you pass along information to your networks more easily. Thank you for sharing our content and, in the process, growing our readership this year significantly.

As you have probably seen recently, there are reports coming out of Facebook accounts being an integral part of job interviews. Of course, we know that if something is public on Facebook it can be found by anyone. That's fine. It's the direct requests by employers to prospective employees to give them their login and password for their Facebook account that has many up in arms. Included in that many is Facebook itself.

Let's just start by saying that the B2C approach vs. the B2B approach to social media marketing is often at opposite ends of the spectrum. Not always but often. Honestly, it should be. Asking you friends about an electronics purchase or the best place to find shoes is an inherently different mindset that finding the right multi-million dollar software and hardware combination for a business. In other words,

There is literally not one single day that doesn't go by without someone finding some new information or releasing the latest findings in something or other. It's a lot to take in and process. How about a nice change of pace by being counted instead of talked at in the 2012 SEOmoz Industry Survey ? Our friends at SEOmoz last did this industry survey back in 2010 and as we all can attest to, much has happened since the last one.

By now you realize that HubSpot is the sponsor of our Inbound Marketing channel here at Marketing Pilgrim. We appreciate them recognizing that our audience is one that is the right fit for HubSpot's innovative SaaS delivery of an inbound marketing platform. If you haven't checked out their myriad webinars and more that help educate marketers on the ins and outs of inbound marketing a new series might be the right time to get involved.

We are suckers for an infographic chock full of information aimed at CMO's. The 2012 CMO's Guide to the Social Landscape does just that. We often mock the CMO for their seemingly disconnected existence from the social landscape. We also get a little shiver when we hear that those who climb to the top of the marketing food chain stay there only an average of some 23 or so months. I have said in the past it's like CMO's climb a burning rope to the top.

YouTube announced on their blog that they have made an addition to the YouTube Video Editor that will do some pretty neat clean up on an otherwise difficult to watch video. If you upload a video that's shaky or dark, we'll automatically offer to fix it for you, creating an updated version of your video on YouTube. When you upload a video that could use a fixup, you'll see a notification bar on the Upload page and in your Video Manager. Click the button to fix it,

What have you heard a million and one times in business? Don't discuss religion or politics. Generally, that's a good rule of thumb because it doesn't take much to set off a firestorm if you have landed on the wrong side of a customer's or prospect's political or theological point of view. It appears that the same applies for social media as well. Here in the US,

Often research is not meant to necessarily inform us. I rarely come across research where there isn't a moment of "Yes, I have thought that was case" or "I figured as much" especially when it comes to growth in the online space. We all know there is still plenty of room for growth and that growth should continue for quite some time.

We all like to debate the merits of Google's social media efforts. It makes for some spirited back and forth but the truth is that Google is not a social media giant today and may never be. With today's announcement of social media integration into Google Analytics we may now have a vision into one way that Google could put a hurt on the likes of Facebook and Twitter without having to be a social media giant. You see,