Google has a crazy idea for injecting a computer into your eyeball

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Google has filed a patent for what sounds like a bionic eye.

A patent filed in 2014 and published Thursday describes a device that could correct vision without putting contacts in or wearing glasses everyday.

But to insert the device, a person must undergo what sounds like a rather intrusive procedure.

Here's how it would work: After surgically removing a person's lens from the lens capsule of his or her eye (ouch!), a fluid would be injected into the capsule. This fluid would act sort of like a glue, allowing whoever is conducting the procedure to attach an “intra-ocular device” to the lens capsule.

That fluid would solidify to create a “coupling” between the lens capsule and the device, creating an electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens would correct the wearer's vision.

A sensor in the device would sense when the wearer is trying to see something far away or up close and would let that person do so with complete visual clarity. Here's how it's outlined in the patent:

The electronic lens could be controlled to have a first optical power during a first period of time to provide images of far objects (e.g., objects more than approximately 20 centimeters away from the eye) in focus on the retina of the eye, and the electronic lens could be controlled to have a second optical power greater than the first optical power during a second period of time to provide images of near objects (e.g., objects approximately 9 centimeters away from the eye) in focus on the retina of the eye.

Google is essentially proposing an artificial contact lens that could improve vision and would only need to be inserted once.

This isn't the first time the tech giant has shown interest in creating technology for people's eyes. Google was awarded a patent for a smart contact lens that will run on solar power and can perform functions like measuring glucose levels.

But just because a patent exists, doesn't mean we'll be seeing an electronic contact lens anytime soon, if at all.

Read the original article on Tech Insider. Follow Tech Insider on Facebook and Twitter. Copyright 2016.

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More: MobileBeat 2016 is focused on the paradigm shift from apps to AI, messaging, and chatbots. Don't miss this opportunity: July 12 and 13 in San Francisco.

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This Week in Social: The Latest News, Trends and 5 Eye-Opening Stats You May Have Missed

The social media world moves incredibly fast and to help you stay up to date, we thought we'd round up some of the latest news, trends, research, and statistics that caught our attention this week.

From Twitter redefining itself and some big news from Facebook to new features on Pinterest and Periscope, it's been an exciting week.

Let's get started!

What's new in social this week

Want to jump to a particular story? Try clicking one of the headlines below:

• Facebook reaches user milestone


• Twitter recategorizes itself


• Snapchat video growth


• Pinterest adds Featured Collections


• Periscope's new features


• YouTube announces new ad format


• 5 Eye-opening trends and stats

Facebook reaches 1.65 billion monthly users

In its Q1 2016 earnings report, Facebook announced it has now reached. 1.65 billion monthly users. That figure means Facebook grew 3.7%, from 1.59 billion monthly users last quarter (Q4, 2015).

The social network's daily active user count has also grown significantly. It reached 1.09 billion daily active users in Q1, compared to 1.04 billion in Q4 2015, a 4.8% increase.

Twitter is no longer a social network

Highly alert Twitter users noticed it's now categorizing itself very differently. In an update on April 28th, Twitter now sits in the News category rather than Social Networking.

This change moves Twitter away from apps like Snapchat, Facebook and Messenger in the App Store and the switch also boosted the app to the #1 spot in the News category (it was previously sat 6th in Social Networking).

Ranking #1 in a category could be a nice boost for Twitter, and could help attract new users who want to keep up with the latest news on mobile. Being ranked #1 will also help with App Store visibility and could lead to more organic downloads.

Could this be a sign of a significant shift for Twitter? Or maybe an experiment to see how App Store categories and rankings affect downloads? Keeping an eye on this over the coming weeks will be interesting.

Video consumption on Snachat has doubled

Daily video views on Snapchat have now hit 10 billion. TechCruch reports that the new numbers represent a 150% increase in video consumption on Snapchat in just under a year.

In February 2016, Snapchat reported 8 billion daily video views and in November 2015, 6 billion views. That's incredible growth.

➤ For more on Snapchat, check out our 'Complete Guide to the Ghost' here.

Pinterest Featured Collections

Pinterest has released Featured Collections, a way to keep tabs on trending topics and content. Every day, the brands, celebrities, and influencers, and Pinterest's own editor's will curate popular pins, users, boards, and searches within Featured Collections.

The Featured Collections will be localized to the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Japan, further strengthening the network's relationship with international users.

Periscope launches sketch feature and deeper analytics

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11 Ways To Engage Influencers Before Asking For Something

You want to get noticed by influencers don't you?

The trick is not to yell “me, me, me” over the rooftops.

Unfortunately, I see exactly this tactic nearly every day. Here's a recent email I received:

I get this exact template ALL THE TIME. It reads like this:

1. Hey Dave – you wrote a great article (which I probably didn't read)


2. But you forgot to link here, or linked to a poorer resource


3. How about linking to mine, instead?

From people I have never met, who offer me nothing in return.

Now to be honest, sometimes the resources they send are great, and from time to time I'll even link to them.

But what would go SO much better would be if someone offered me something, anything related to what I'm working on.

So, in light of this movement towards depersonalization, I'm going to pitch you all on how you can engage with people BEFORE demanding something from them, as well as give you some ideas for what you can offer in that outreach email.

Here are 11 ways to build a relationship before asking for something in return.

1. Respond to their audiences' questions in comments

What do influencers value most?

Their audience, of course!

What I love (love!) is when someone sparks a discussion on my blog. Afterall, the point of writing content, lest we forget, is to spark conversation.

For example, here's a great discussion that took place on BareMetric's blog not that long ago.

The question was originally to Josh, but the first person to answer was actually another member from the audience. Once the ice was broken, more comments flooded in.

Influencers love to see this! Do this just a few times on their blog, and they will remember you.

2. Invite them to a podcast or interview

My most successful outreach campaigns (by acceptance rate) are always requests to interview someone on our podcast.

And, not surprisingly, these are the outreach campaigns I respond to the most as well.

Does it surprise anyone that I have much better luck featuring someone on my podcast than asking a stranger for a link?

Probably not. In fact, I don't think I've ever turned one down myself.

People like to be featured, influencers especially. It's what got them there in the first place after all.

And afterward, you can capitalize off that new personal relationship to maybe get a link (possibly even to that very same podcast – see how it works?).

3. Send them a gift (ex. an amazon book)

Let's stop thinking digitally, just for a moment. We tend to default there automatically since we all work online.

But it's not all that hard to transition out of it, we just have to ask for someone's phone number, or physical address.

Here's an email I received from Sara at Socially Stacked, in which she offered me a free t-shirt in exchange for changing my link (which was already to them, she just wanted an update).

Everyone loves free t shirts – especially people who went to college and lament the fact that post college they are so hard to get!

P.S. – You know what I love most about this shirt – my girlfriend likes it. Yes, it's actually a quality shirt, and it's the first time someone ever sent me a physical gift for a digital action. #remembered.

4. Buy them lunch (or offer to meet in person)

Sticking with our recent theme of non digital acts of affection, let's move onto buying launch, which I've seen recommended by not just one but two great entrepreneurs (Ramit Sethi and Neil Patel).

Now you might be wondering if they have so much money and you, potentially, don't – why would you buy them lunch?

Remember, it's not about the money, it's about the gesture.

Offering to buy someone lunch is like saying, “I know your time is valuable. I'd like to treat you in exchange for spending it on me”.

This tactic will allow you to move levels above your traditional social / entrepreneurial class, and the cost of lunch (<$30) is well worth the advice (which usually costs hundreds per hour).

5. Leave them a review on Amazon or iTunes (or give them a testimonial)

Positive reviews are how many search engines work, such as iTunes, Amazon, and TripAdvisor.

Unfortunately they're a pain in the butt to get, because they require the person to create an account, log in, and post something after they've already received all the value there is to get.

They have no incentive to leave a review, which is why so many great products and podcasts have relatively few reviews.

So if you want to stand out in the crowd, a relatively easy way (5 minutes, seriously), is to write someone a review.

A spin on that is to send someone an offer for a testimonial. I used this recently myself by offering Drip, the email marketing software I use, a testimonial solely because I like their product so much:

About a month after I provided them with the testimonial, they demonstrated our blogger outreach software and became a customer. An unintended but welcome consequence!

6. Offer them your product for free

Speaking of products, have you considered offering yours for free?

If your product is inexpensive, or digital, this is a super simple way to get a few folks on board.

People love free swag (remember the t-shirt example).

This works great in tandem with a product review if you're marketing an eCommerce website or SaaS!

7. Endorse them on LinkedIn

The other day my partner met with a potential client. He didn't close the deal.

The reason, the client said, was because his LinkedIn profile was lacking connections.

Now, this might seem like a very arbitrary reason to ding someone (to us it did), but the point is that your online profiles matter.

They're your reputation.

And when it comes to LinkedIn, one of the ways to make it sparkle is through Skills & Endorsements.

So, spend some time and hand out a few recommendations. It's free, and the person gets a notification when you do it!

8. Join their newsletter and respond to their questions

A tip that Brian from VideoFruit recommends is to join someone's newsletter and answer their first email.

As someone who has a newsletter and in whose first email is a question, I can say that people rarely take the time to answer this question and engage with me.

But I always respond when someone does.

Sign up for the newsletters of your favorite influencers and actually let them know you're following along.

9. Introduce them to someone (a potential customer, or a connection)

This is by and large the most valuable thing you can do for someone.

A valuable introduction, is, well, invaluable.

Here's an example of this happening to me just the other day:

In addition to helping two people at the same time, you'll also be helping yourself by tightening your own network.

And trust me, if the two people get major value out of meeting each other they will NEVER forget who made that introduction.

10. Become a case study for them

Another thing I'm looking for is successful case studies that prove the points I try to make elsewhere.

For example, if I write and publish this article about building relationships, I'd love for someone to put it into action and use one of the techniques and then let me know.

Another example is with my software – we're constantly on the lookout for success stories, and when one comes my way, you're guaranteed to get featured with a link.

I did this recently as well with Drip in an article I wrote about how we achieved nearly 1000% ROI on Black Friday with Drip. In turn, they featured us on their blog and on Medium (note how in this example we've used multiple techniques including the testimonial and the case study to build a relationship with another software tool in our niche).

11. Send them birthday wishes on G+ or Facebook

This last one is a fun one, but why not wish someone a happy birthday, which you can do on FB and G+.

It will make you feel good, try it!

Wrap

We've been way more successful at getting links (and many more things much more valuable than links), when we thought first about what we could give and thought last about what we could take.

I've also been much more generous giving out links and other things when the tables were turned.

How do you like to build relationships with influencers?

Guest Author: Dave Schneider is the co-founder of NinjaOutreach an all in one Prospecting and Outreach tool which was created to streamline the process of connecting with influencers. He can also be found @ninjaoutreachand his business blog SelfMadeBusinessman.

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Facebook says 60% of data requests from U.S. government came with a gag order in second half of 2015

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Facebook's latest transparency report is out covering the second half of 2015 and the social networking company says it continues to see an uptick in government requests for user data worldwide. In fact, authorities have requested information about account data 46,763 times, a 13 percent increase from the first half of last year.

The company has also revealed for the first time the percentage of requests it has received that include non-disclosure orders. According to Chris Sonderby, Facebook's deputy general counsel, “approximately 60 percent” of all requests received for user data that came from the U.S. government contained a gag order thereby prohibiting the company from even notifying users. In looking at the specific report, it's unclear which request types were impacted by this except that it's not any national security figures.

Above: Facebook government request report from the U.S. for the second half of 2015.

Image Credit: Screenshot

“As we have emphasized many times, Facebook does not provide any government with “back doors” or direct access to people's data. We scrutinize each request for user data we receive for legal sufficiency, no matter which country is making the request. If a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back hard and will fight in court, if necessary,” Sonderby wrote.

There were certainly quite a few events that may have precipitated the increase in government requests during the latter half of 2015. In its transparency report, Facebook cites case studies to give readers a better understanding. Sonderby specifically calls out a single photo related to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, saying that the image “allegedly violated French laws relating to protecting human dignity.”

“We restricted access to more than 32,000 copies of the photo, in France only, in response to a legal request from the French government,” he wrote.

To reinforce it's position that it doesn't voluntarily surrender user information to governments, Facebook also explained how it's advocating for improvements in public policy and cooperation with international law enforcement. Sonderby explained that Facebook was a supporter of the Email Privacy Act which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, and that it also supported improving ways to make the Mutual Legal Assistance process more efficient along with “establishing agreements between governments that resolve conflicts of laws and allow providers to respond to foreign law enforcement requests in a manner consistent with international human rights.”

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Social Media Marketing World 2016: Tips and Reflections #SMMW16

Social Media Marketing World is one of my favorite conferences of the year and a must-attend for social media marketers.

We had some fun on our #SocialTalkLIVE show talking with Mike Stelzner and some of the attendees as well as Ali McGee, Social Media Examiner Society Manager.

This was the 4th year for Social Media Marketing World and it has grown from 1100 attendees to 3000.  This was the first year it was held in the San Diego Convention Center which is 1/6 of a mile long.  So there was a lot of walking.

Statistics from Mike Stelzner:

• ~3000 attendees


• 84,500 tweets


• 1 Billion Reach Twitter


• 5,400 Instagram Pictures


• Over 100 sessions during the 2-1/2 day event


• 100+ volunteers to help run the event

New this year:

• Geofilters on Snap Chat


• Deep dive 90-minute workshops on Sunday and throughout the event


• At the San Diego Convention Center (and it will be there through 2019 at least)

Another technique that they use to be able to start conversations with people was the different color lanyards and flags.  The orange lanyards were for people who had attended 3-4 years. People got an Alumni flag if they had attended 1 other year.  White lanyard new attendees.  Pins were for Society members. So now the volunteers or the staff could easily start a conversation with someone saying “Oh I see this is your first year” and make sure they felt welcome or know that they had come before.

Watch the SocialTalkLIVE session to hear feedback from the attendees – and in case you've never attended our Friday afternoon live stream before, we like to have a little fun with hats and wigs on a Friday afternoon.

Highlights mentioned

Michael Port Workshop – Heroic Public Speaking

Joe Pulizzi – Content Marketing in 3s – Do 3 amazing pieces of content to reach out to your audience (a great e-mail, a helpful pdf, or something else) – you don't have to do everything

Focus on Live Video in 2016 and beyond – especially Mari Smith's tip that Facebook gives more preference to live video in the News Feed while you are live

Darren Rowse tip – Giving answers with steps in your blog posts because Google is presenting his steps in search results

Holly Homer – Organic engagement on Facebook and how Quirky Momma does it

But a common theme with all the attendees is how wonderful the connections were.  Everyone was so friendly and if you had attended before, it felt like a reunion.

People come to the conference the first time for the content and they come back for the relationships #SMMW16

I am a big believer in attending conferences to take your online relationships into the real world.  So many partnerships, clients, and good friends develop from those conversations over dinner or in the hallways.

               

 

And I always love connecting with my Social Media Manager School group and my Facebook Advertising Secrets group!

 

Highlights from Social Media Marketing World

Here's a great video summary of the event.

If you are thinking about going to Social Media Marketing World 2017, I highly recommend it!  It's worth every penny.

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Twitter's Jack Dorsey on Facebook's move to live: 'We've been doing it for 10 years'

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Twitter's latest efforts to define itself can be summed up in one word: Live. It was something that was not only uttered countless times during the company's Q1 2016 earnings call, but it has become something chief executive Jack Dorsey believes makes Twitter so special. So when a question came up about how Facebook's foray into live video and real-time conversations might affect Twitter, Dorsey responded by saying: “We've been doing it for 10 years.”

“We believe we have a leadership position in it,” he continued. “But it's not just about showing a live event, it's also about hosting a conversation around a live event. Twitter has always been the best place to see what's happening immediately, instantly, to bring people around a particular shared experience.”

“The easiest way to get what Twitter is is really to show a live event, show people the great accounts who are providing insights you can't find anywhere else, you can't find in your address book but you meet on Twitter through that experience, to connect them through a follow and also to encourage them in a conversation, that's what we're focused on making sure we continue to do,” Dorsey said.

As Twitter attempts to convince shareholders of Dorsey's strategic vision for the company he cofounded, it certainly won't be an easy one. Investor confidence in Twitter continues to drop - just look at its stock price after the earnings call. And what's more, Facebook is beating on its door with its own live offering. The social networking company has its own livestreaming service and recently opened up an API to extend it to third-party services and devices. Additionally, Facebook has delved into the live events with the launch of its Sports Stadium program which had been dominated by Twitter for some time.

Meanwhile Dorsey's promise for Twitter users is the capability to be among the first to know who won the Democratic presidential primaries, that a plane landed in the Hudson, the latest sports scores, or that SpaceX successfully landed a rocket on a platform in the middle of the ocean. It's all in real-time and in public, something that Dorsey thinks gives it an advantage over any competitor:

“Because we're public, and because we're distributed, and because we're simple, we're the fastest way to see the event, but it can go everywhere, so it can reach the 800 million audience that we continue to grow and continue to focus on, and then we're working on making sure we have the best experience out there and using technology appropriately to increase that experience and the enjoyment of the experience.”

This isn't the first time that Twitter has been defined by being about live and real-time conversations. Former CEO Dick Costolo once defined the service as being akin to a town square, and while this may be true to some degree today, it's a small town as people have flocked to more populated areas, specifically Facebook. But armed with products like Twitter Moments, Vine, and Periscope, Dorsey's team has the ability to woo back not only old users, but new ones with the promise of participating in a global conversation. A key effort to get growth going again is with Twitter's NFL Thursday Night football deal.

For all of the talk about Twitter being “live” for the past decade, it's time to make things happen. Facebook has more users than Twitter and incredible reach so there's a uphill battle to show that Twitter can really prove its “significant leadership position” in the space. And whether it's through more acquisitions or new features that provides users greater opportunities to share what's going on in the moment, it's time for Twitter to prove the live strategy is the key to Twitter's growth.

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3 Brilliant Marketing Automation Hacks for Content Marketers

For the last few years, automation has been a buzzword in content marketing circles.

If you've been under the impression that it's just another fad that'll fizzle out eventually, this recent report from Markets and Markets will probably lead you to think otherwise.

According to the findings of the report, the global marketing automation sector is set to grow from $3.65 billion in 2014 to $5.5 billion in 2019.

The reason why businesses are increasingly adopting marketing automation software is because it reduces manual effort while simultaneously improving effectiveness.

It also enables sound decision-making, allowing marketers to make better use of the limited resources at their disposal. Through automation, marketers are able to achieve greater levels of customization, thereby enhancing customer experiences.

Here's how you can use marketing automation at different stages of your social media and content marketing campaigns to drive engagement and improve ROI.

1. Automation in content creation

It's true. You can have all your content written entirely by a computer program. While the technology itself is rather sophisticated, automated content often lacks depth and insight.

“Set-it-and-forget-it” applications definitely make content generation a whole lot easier, but they do little to establish your thought-leadership in the industry. Automating content generation entirely may not be the best idea, but there are several parts of the content creation process you could automate for better results.

The most critical and challenging aspect of content creation is ideation.

The content you create should not only be relevant to your business or industry, but should also interest your audience. However, you may often find yourself hitting a dead end when you're looking for topics or themes to address through your content.

Content explorers help simplify the brainstorming process by recommending topics and ideas for your content. You can also use these tools to look for posts on similar topics and take inspiration from them.

For example, BuzzSumo lets you identify blog topics that have received the highest engagement based on specific keyword searches. As a result it helps you align your blogs with trending topics, increasing their appeal to your audience.

Other tools like Headline Analyzer score your headlines to tell you how effective they are in attracting readers' attention.

Not only does it give your headline a score and a grade, but it also gives you a break up of the types of words you've used. Based on the word usage pattern it suggests a tip to help improve your score too.

In this example you'll see that I've used 0% Emotional words, and trying to use some could better my score.

It also classifies your headline by type – generic, list post, how-to, and question headlines. Another important factor based on which it scores headlines is their length. The ideal headline length recommended by the tool is 6 words (56 characters).

Automating lead management processes could have a significant impact on your sales numbers. Although these processes may not always involve content creation, in some cases they do.

Lets assume you own an eCommerce website. Several prospects may have visited your virtual store and left without making a purchase. Using marketing automation tools will help you generate custom messages and ads for every person that visits your e-store.

These tools typically take into account the visitor's purchase history and current location, and tailor a message that will nudge the prospect to make a purchase. You can also use automation in your email marketing campaigns to send more targeted messages to your prospects.

In a less direct manner, it is also useful in content creation since it lets you customize your message based on the buying stage that the prospect is in. Here's an example:

2. Automation in content curation

If you're looking to build a strong social media presence for your business, content curation is a must.

Social media has caused an unprecedented rise in content consumption and relying solely on content creation to meet the growing demand will simply not suffice. Content curation helps you stay visible and relevant in the transient social world.

However, curating content manually is a dreadfully time-consuming process, particularly if you maintain multiple social accounts.

Automating content curation will help you save a significant amount of time and effort, while also achieving consistency in your social media activities.

In most cases, content discovery engines recommend content based on a keyword search. The argument against such tools is that they affect the quality of content being shared. But that argument holds water only if you've set your tool on auto-pilot and are running posts without reviewing them.

In such a situation, you stand the risk of sharing content that may not reflect your business' values, or worse – may promote your competitors.

It's important to note that automating content curation is meant to reduce your effort, and not eliminate it entirely.

As long as you review all posts before you schedule them out, automating content curation will only work to the benefit of your business. In fact, more and more businesses are now using tools to automate content curation given their value proposition.

Content discovery and scheduling tools like DrumUp help you streamline your social media activities and significantly reduce the time and effort you invest in social media management. All you have to do is go through the recommended content for each account you add to the tool and pick the ones that you'd like to share.

You can also edit the post, schedule the same post to all/multiple accounts, add recommended hashtags, add images, choose a custom time of publishing and set posts on repeat schedules.

3. Automation in content distribution

Content distribution is an important aspect of your content marketing strategy. Ensuring that your content reaches the right people, at the right times is more important than simply creating content.

Without a holistic content distribution plan even the most exquisite piece of content could be left undiscovered.

You may have very well optimized your content for search engines, but with the amount of content being published online and the ease of access to all of it, your content distribution strategy needs to step up and move beyond those plain, old SEO tactics.

When you're devising a content distribution plan, you should consider paid media, owned media as well as earned media.

Ads, newsletters, email subscriptions, and social media all hold tremendous potential in amplifying your content. And if you'd like to reach out to thousands of people through content distribution, automation is imperative.

Tools like MailChimp help ensure that your content reaches all the right eyes and ears, all at once.

Ask Katie Cross, and she'll tell you just how good the little monkey postman in the blue hat is. The independent writer recommends the tool highly, particularly for its awesome analytics. Who wouldn't like to know how many people are actually opening those emails?

Given the challenges of a highly competitive market, the question really isn't whether you should use automation in content marketing; it's how well you use it that makes all the difference.

So, what tools will you be using today?

Author Bio: Vasudha is a blogger at Godot Media, a leading blog writing services firm. She writes extensively about social media marketing and content marketing. Her other areas of interest include travel and business.

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