In recent months, the focus of developments on popular social networking sites has shifted from individual user experience, to brand interests. Some speculate that these changes are a direct result of the increasing popularity of Google+ — not among consumers, but businesses.

For instance, Facebook’s planned “social shopping” through their recent partnership with eBay will allow businesses to better monetize their efforts on the social networking sites outside of paid advertising campaigns. Similarly, Twitter’s revamped profiles allow brands to more easily attract new followers and reach potential customers.

The biggest concern for active Google+ users seems to be a lacking audience; however, the way Google search results implements data from their social platform necessitates a presence there for any company utilizing social media to reach a bigger demographic. Here are a few things to consider in your approach to optimizing your brand’s Google+ profile:

• Update regularly. Profiles with frequent posts are more likely to appear as related results in Google searches.
• +1s are more influential in search results than shares or comments.
• Brand pages can more easily affect search results than a personal profile.
• Like on Twitter, your circles (or lists) and follower count matter.

Ultimately, despite the differences in these various platforms, a brand’s Google+ strategy will inevitably emulate their presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites: the focus remains primarily on the relevance of content shared and the audience reached.

Regardless of the team you support on the field, or if you prefer to simply tune out until the most expensive commercials of the year air, there’s no doubt that all eyes at home will be set on the television this Sunday night. At 6:30pm (EST), the New York Giants and the New England Patriots will go head-to-head in the highly anticipated 46^th NFL Super Bowl at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.

While everyone gathers to view the game in the evening, many view the entirety of Super Bowl Sunday as a holiday. The likeness is not hard to find: the Sunday on which the Super Bowl is played is a high-spirited time when loved ones celebrate by consuming copious amounts of food and alcohol. The Super Bowl is usually the most watched American television broadcast of the year, and is also one of the most watched sporting events worldwide. So if you’re not hosting a party at home, chances are you have made plans elsewhere.

Whether your Super Bowl Sunday celebration consists of a visit to the local sports bar, a few close friends gathered in your living room, or a large-scale party, you can find unique ways to make the most of the honorary American holiday through the BOTW Directory. Those looking to contribute some homemade appetizers can find dozens of Super Bowl themed recipes alongside party ideas on BOTW-approved sites.

Have a hunch about the game’s outcome that you simply can’t ignore? Visit any of the countless Super Bowl betting sites featured in the directory to get in on the action before it’s too late. On the other hand, less sports savvy party-goers who would prefer not to be clueless Sunday night can find information, videos, and more pertaining to Super Bowl history, as well as predictions about the upcoming game. Whatever your needs, use the resources provided in the BOTW Directory to ensure that this Super Bowl Sunday is unforgettable.

Twitter is recognized and often praised for breaking down walls and opening the lines of communication between businesses & customers, celebrities & fans, and politicians & constituents. So what happens when 140 characters are misread, or when hashtags that are used to filter discussions are abused? The resulting commentary on the social networking site is nothing but an embarrassing paper trail for those guilty of such poor judgment.

In an effort to incite a trending topic on Twitter, McDonald’s promoted a #McDstories hashtag campaign earlier this week. It quickly backfired when Twitter users began posting their horrific experiences with the fast food restaurant, service and food alike. One of the tamest tweets of the bunch stated, “My memories of walking into a McDonald’s: the sensory experience of inhaling deeply from a freshly-opened can of dog food. #McDstories”

McDonald’s is far from the only company to meet failure through efforts to promote a product in a trending topic. Surprisingly, their mistake of promoting a vague hashtag pales in comparison to some of these other Twitter faux pas:

Entenmann’s tried to jump into a hashtag trend, stating, “Who’s #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!” Unfortunately for this baked goods manufacturer, the #notguilty tag was trending as a result of the Casey Anthony trial. Whether it was an oversight or simply poor judgment, Entenmann’s issued an apology shortly after the angry responses came flowing into their Twitter feed.

Kenneth Cole was accused of “hashtag hijacking” when he posted, during the Egyptian revolution, “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online…” with a link to his products.

Furniture maker Habitat is also guilty of hashtag hijacking, but in a way many consider to be the least effective and most offensive: when advertising a £1,000 gift card offer, they carelessly tagged each tweet with one of the top 10 trending topics that day including #Iran and #Mousavi. While Kenneth Cole took full responsibility for his tweet and, like Entenmann’s, issued an apology for insensitivity, Habitat blamed an intern who was subsequently fired.

There are countless ways to find you have committed a hashtag hijack or simply tagged a post in a way that will mislead users and result in backlash within this very public forum. The verdict is still out on whether or not bad publicity, like that in these aforementioned Twitter blunders, is better than none at all. Habitat seemed to think no Twitter presence was better than a negative one, and deleted their account after their intern’s misguided tweeting caused such an uproar.

It is important for businesses to maintain a presence on these social networking sites and to encourage communication with clients and customers; however, it is equally pertinent to consider social media etiquette before sending controversial and potential harmful information to your followers. If you neglect this and abuse Twitter tools in a marketing scheme, you may find your influence diminishing very quickly.

A few months ago, when the issue first arose, we asked whether or not SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act), if implemented, would be effective in protecting intellectual property theft online. Ultimately, would it and its companion bill, PIPA (the Protect IP Act) be more helpful than harmful? This week, the Internet community responded in unison with a resounding no.

This Wednesday, many of the Internet’s most popular websites — including Google and Wikipedia — spent 24-hours taking a stand in protest of the imposing legislation. By blacking out their pages and redirecting users to digital anti-censorship petitions as well as encouraging calls to state representatives, Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, and dozens of other high traffic sites aimed to show users and law makers alike the importance of the freedom to access information.

Google chose to less officially participate in this blackout. Instead of closing the search engine for 24 hours, which undoubtedly would have led to problems for users worldwide, Google implemented the blackout on its logo only. Beneath the search bar it featured a link prompting users to sign a petition to Congress. Meanwhile, Tumblr put the decision in the hands of its audience, giving bloggers the option to blackout their blogs in protest.

On the websites that were not blacked out, however, SOPA and PIPA were far from forgotten. Whether in the form of complaints about beloved websites being unavailable, shared links to petitions, discussions, or media reports on the progress of both pieces of legislation, this potential censorship and the actions it rallied reached all corners of the web. Through the petition link featured on Google’s homepage alone, an additional 4.5 million names were added against SOPA and PIPA .

Before the 24 hour protest was finished, President Obama announced that he would not support the bill. Shortly thereafter, Senator Marco Rubio withdrew as a co-sponsor of PIPA. Senators John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, John Boozman, and Orrin Hatch all followed suit. Similarly, Representatives Ben Quayle and Lee Terry have announced that they will no longer support SOPA as it is written.

While many lawmakers have been swayed by the outcries of the Internet community at large, others remain unmoved. Representative Lamar Smith stated that he stands behind SOPA regardless of the widespread criticism it was subjected to as a result of Wednesday’s protest. Therefore SOPA, although delayed for the time being, is not to be dismissed just yet.  Just as when the issue first arose, concerned Internet users can stay informed about these two pieces of legislation through BOTW-approved websites containing news and legal information pertaining to the Internet, online piracy, and related intellectual property matters.

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Earlier this year, Facebook announced the Open Graph protocol that enables developers to integrate pages into a social graph, allowing users to connect to brands, pages, and friends through social actions. Instead of merely “liking” a page or product, now additional verbs can be found filling the new feeds of Facebook users.

Those connected to Spotify, for instance, will publish stories displaying what they “listen” to through the online radio application, while avid news junkies can share all the articles they’ve “read” on a site. When Facebook launches Open Graph Actions, users will be able to interact with applications, products, and brands in even broader ways.

Facebook users are all too familiar with frequent changes to the popular social platform, but that doesn’t mean they’re immediately accepting of such updates. This is especially true when privacy issues arise, which is the case with the auto-publishing features that Open Graph applications enable.

While users do have the ability to remove any stories published to their Timeline, certain applications (such as Spotify) require Facebook users to grant access for auto-publishing. This is problematic for users who are not constantly monitoring their Timelines and do not want to share all, if any, actions.

On the other hand, however, Open Graph applications and the launch of Actions in particular will have positive implications for brands. Unlike brand pages, users do not have to “like” an application in order to use it or to enable auto-publishing. As a result, brands that are frequently interacted with can easily gain exposure through the new social actions.

Additionally, the Open Graph applications feature related friend activity prior to content, encouraging the sharing and discussion of mutually interesting brands and products. Paired with the action-based mini-news feed visible on the home page (implemented when Timeline was still in Beta) that tracks friend activity, brands have many more opportunities to attract new users through Actions.