A VPN (virtual private network) is used for a variety of reasons. Most typically the service is used to allow employees remote access to a secure company network. VPNs can also be used to access websites that are restricted on a network and for the purposes of hiding a users identity. When a VPN is installed on a company’s system and then on an employee’s own laptop or desktop, they are able to access the businesses network and grab files they need without sensitive data being seen by prying eyes.

VPNs are also a great way to access websites that are restricted by a specific geography. Many users take advantage of VPN services so they can watch, for example, a show on NBC when they live in the UK. read more

Never has it been easier to get yourself seen or heard as it is today.

The Internet brings content to virtually every corner of the universe. This means that all you need for a little exposure is to get yourself on the Internet, and you have a market of billions of potential consumers.

Social media has spawned advertising, and the aim of every social media advertising campaign is to go viral. The question facing advertisers is where to advertise. There are so many platforms available from which to launch your assault on the unsuspecting public, that the choice of is almost mind numbing. read more

The team at ThingLink is bringing its specialized brand of interactive images to Facebook.

The Helsinki-based company allows users to create interactive images with its online tool, those images can then be shared in fun and unique ways.

Using the program, users can place links inside of multimedia content. Once added to a users timeline, ThingLink creates a new type of interactive photo that engages the curiosity of users.  read more

Tumblr on Monday began sending promoted posts to users of mobile devices alongside its desktop users.

On its official company blog a Tumblr employee writes:

“It works very simply: Every now and then you’ll see posts from our partners as you scroll through your mobile Dashboard.”

Tumblr began offering and testing promoted posts to desktop users one year ago via the post highlighting Radar feature.

The blogging platform has not revealed its successes with promoted tweets but a shift to mobile devices appears to speak volumes for the programs success.

According to Tumblr:

“Our fashion, entertainment, and brand partners have created some truly delightful blogs and racked up tens of millions notes on their posts.”

The Radar platform currently receives 120 million pageviews per day.

Tumblr, a privately owned company earned $13 million in revenue through 2012. Tumblr is still seeking to become profitable.

The real question at hand will be whether or not Tumblr users, a younger and more tech savvy crowd, will continue to embrace the network if its ads give the appearance of a corporate culture. Many younger users turned away from MySpace and Facebook as those networks moved towards mainstream success.

Are you okay with Tumblr Promoted Posts showing up in your mobile dashboard?

Blogging as a platform has been around for nearly two decades and its popularity has only increased.

The team at web printing company Moo has compiled a list of some of the biggest blogging names and services on the planet.

Starting in 1994 when Justin Hall began blogging on links.net, the team quickly pushes forward to modern day heroes in micro-blogging, including Evan Williams and his launch of the Blogger.com network in 1999.

In 2003, gossip blogging becomes big with the launch of gossip network Gawker and Jason Calacanis’s Weblog network.  By 2007, more than 70 million blogs are being indexed by Technorati and that growth has continued.

By 2009, Tumblr alone was hosting 11 million blogs, a number that has increased at a rapid rate over the last four years.  read more

These days it seems like everything is connected to a cloud service. From our mobile phone contacts to our movies, music and even business files, we have become reliant on tech companies holding onto our personal data.

With so many files sitting on cloud servers, users can quickly find themselves practically taking out a second mortgage to pay for the safekeeping of their data.

Thankfully there are a few services that offer quick data speeds alongside a decent amount of FREE data backups.

Here our three of the best cloud-based backup service for your data needs: read more

Have you ever taken a job only to receive a Facebook friend request from your boss shortly after starting work? A new survey has found that most Facebook users don’t want to be friends with their boss.

Studying hundreds of Facebook users, the team at Fierce Inc. found that most social media users don’t want a personal social media relationship with the people they work for.

In polling 800 Facebook participants, the study found that a whopping 80 percent of workers use Facebook on the job while 50 percent of those surveyed thought it was a bad idea to mix Facebook with work.

16 percent of respondents also claimed that they have “lost respect for co-workers because of things they posted on Facebook.” read more

Remember when you used to take a trip to Hawaii and you would purchase a postcard to send home? Those days are long gone and social media is to blame.

The team at Skyscanner recently conducted a Social Media Use Poll in the UK and they discovered that most travelers have turned to social media in place of paper-based postcards.

The study found that only 6 percent of travels send postcards while 26 percent like to use Facebook to share their experiences. Two percent of users like to use Twitter for their vacation sharing needs. 14 percent of travelers also admitted that they would not attempt to contact anyone while taking their vacation, ruling out social media and paper-based postcards all together.

The study involved 1,200 travelers who took vacations to various locations.

As we move towards an ever increasing number connected social media users we will likely see less dependency on paper travel documents as a whole and more emphasis on digital products.  read more

Facebook isn’t just a website where users go to complain about their boss and a bad day. The social network, when utilized properly can be a stepping stone towards real estate sales success. Thanks to its open level of communication, robust user base and ability to target users, Facebook should be one of the first stops for real estate professionals looking to extend and maintain their brands.

But exactly how do you maintain and build a real estate brand on Facebook? read more

When Twitter cut off Instagram from its API there were questions about the effect the move would have on Twitter. As it turns out the shutdown hurt Twitter’s quarter-over-quarter engagement per photo fell, while Instagram’s own engagement increased by 30 percent.

While Twitter has put a lot of stock in the Twitter Cards system, specifically Twitter Photo Cards, it turns out that most users would rather click on a link to view Instagram photos.

The team at Column Five visualized the entire shift from Twitter to Instagram in a new infographic. Column Five worked with Simply Measured in February 2013 to determine the shift caused by the Twitter shut down of Instagram.

What Column Five and Simply Measured discovered was that engagement with brands since that time has grown by 35% on Instagram while brand follower count grew by 41%.

They also offer some helpful tips for tracking your social media photo sharing, for example, use Instagram for photo sharing on Facebook to increase engagement.

If you want to increase Twitter engagement you need to upload pictures directly to the Twitter photo sharing system and not through Instagram.

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