NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's reach is wide but not deep. Few users surveyed in an Associated Press-CNBC poll say they click on the site's ads or buy the virtual goods that make money for it.

More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site — to share news, personal observations, photos and more — at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. But many of them don't have a very high opinion of Facebook or trust it to keep their information private.

If Facebook the company were a Facebook user, it would have a lot of virtual friends but not many real ones, the poll suggested.

Users' distrust limits the value of the site's ads. Advertisers want to target their messages to the people most likely to respond to them. And the more Facebook knows about us, the better it will be at tailoring those ads to our interests.

Yet in the poll of U.S. adults published Tuesday, only 13 percent said they trust Facebook "completely" or "a lot" when it comes to keeping their personal information private. A majority, or 59 percent, said they trust Facebook "only a little," or "not at all."

Users' desire for privacy and Facebook's need to target advertising aren't necessarily opposing interests. Facebook doesn't expose information about its users directly to advertisers. Instead, it effectively accepts missions to deliver ads to groups of people, like "moviegoers" or "people planning trips to Europe." It's up to Facebook to figure out how to find those people.

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

Everyone’s searching for the ultimate SEO Marketing Tips to catapult their website to the top of the search engines. That simple goal can be the determining factor for thousands of businesses trying to stand out and take their business to the next level. Below are easily the most successfully utilized SEO strategies you’ll find online and how you should be putting them to use right now.

On Page Optimization Techniques

There is no search engine optimization technique that has been around as long and has been as well tested as On-Page Optimization. Ironically, it is also one of the least useful listed here. At one time, these strategies could make or break your website. Today, it makes up some 15% of your complete search engine ranking and Page Rank numbers. But if you don’t make the most of these on page optimization methods, it can definitely adversely afftect your online business in a major way.

On-page optimization techniques include optimizing keywords, using image alt tags , deep navigation, SEO friendly links, using title tags, in generating code that is SEO friendly.

Article Marketing

Article marketing is another SEO method that has been around for some time and is highly successful . Essentially, you will write articles that focus on a keyword or two and have a link back to your own site. You then upload those articles to article directories that publish them for free.

Once an article is posted, it creates a link back to your website that the search engines detect. Article marketing is not a one-time thing, however. You will have to continuously submit new articles over time to gain more and more backlinks in order to push your website ever higher in the search engines.

Trusted Site Backlinking

Article marketing does generate lots of backlinks, but you need some of your backlinks to be high-quality, which means finding trusted sites that are willing to link back to your site. Trusted sites are the ones that Google considers to be top-notch. Thus, any website that ends in .GOV or .EDU is considered a ” trusted site.” Also, high level directories like DMOZ and Yahoo! are trusted sites. Major forums and information resources like Wikipedia are also solid choices.

Using Your Site’s Content for Link Baiting

Link baiting is a search engine optimization strategy in which you create well-researched, quality content on your site that will attract positive attention from visitors and other sites on its own. The ideas for such an article are not difficult to conceive. If you had a gardening site, you could produce an article on the Top 20 plants to use in borders. The article would need to be informative and accurate, and it should take hours to research and write, but it would also be an extremely powerful goto resource in your niche of choice, drawing attention from lots of other websites. When other webmasters start linking to you on their own, you have gone and accomplished something to brag about.

Social Media: Using it Wisely

Social media is a common tool these days, but many thoughtless marketers abuse it. The goal is to use social sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to position yourself as an authority and an easily recognizable and respected personality and brand that can be trusted for niche information. You need to provide valuable content daily for your readers.

Viral Marketing

In Viral Marketing, just as in social media and link baiting, your goal is to draw people to you. As an SEO technique, viral marketing is the hardest to measure, but it can be the most effective. Examples of viral marketing include video productions for YouTube, free reports, building squeeze pages, and providing free software.

No single method is going to make or break your business. But if you are not employing two or more of the techniques above in tandem, you’re missing out on a fantastic chance to generate FREE traffic for your website. SEO strategy must begin with a detailed, long term plan and goal set. You should utilize various methods, test constantly, and adjust when necessary. This is the most effective blueprint to produce reliable free traffic.

Today, particularly, companies must focus on Marketing invention to stay in the game and Marketing innovation to get ahead of the game.  The long term key to success is to know the difference and to balance both invention and innovation simultaneously.

Inventions are based upon solving contradictions.  In Marketing, inventions include social media, contact management systems, content management systems and a litany of analytic models.  These inventions are usually targeted at answering questions about what are the optimum processes and to what degree to invest in processes to get your message out and your target market messages in.

NEW YORK — In the middle of the real social-media boom, advertisers and marketers are still getting a feel for how it can best be used to reach their audiences. Curtis Hougland, the CEO of the PR firm Attention, told Wired’s Disruptive by Design business conference Tuesday that much of the social-media strategy employed by marketers today follows guidelines that are based on common myths:

Social media is technology: “We argue the opposite,” said Hougland. Instead, “social media is biology and consumer behavior.” He cited the addictive qualities that we display when we check our e-mail and our texts: “Dopamine is being released in our brain, which is the same process an addict goes through. Without this, we feel lonely.” His advice, then, for marketers, is to relate to consumers at a really personal level.

1. Social media is a bubble: Hougland would argue that it is “absolutely” a bubble, and that social media is going to alter the marketing landscape for years. Media behavior doesn’t drive consumer behavior, it is reflective of consumer behavior.
2. Marketing is more difficult: Because the supply of consumer attention is relatively fixed, demand will grow exponentially faster. This leaves us needing to satisfy the basic needs of utility, entertainment, value and reciprocity. Consumers want you to value their humanity in a time where they are busier and more isolated than ever.
3. Brand matters more: Social media is actually largely dilutive of brand. When we share a brand to our friends, it’s our brand — people matters more than a corporate brand. Your brand is nine times more important than the opinion of a stranger. Brands see erosion if they don’t adhere to this. Brands needs to create a one-to-one relationship with everyone in the world.
4. The primary benefit of social media is buzz: Hougland argued that social media has transformed the traditional marketing into a marketing loop. A link has become the most dominant form of digital word of mouth. We need to make relationships to grow the loop.
5. The web site is the center of the customer journey: The customer journey is alinear, and we don’t know the zero moment. The world is social, and we must socialize every step of the customer journey, leaving no dead ends. The average attention span has shrunk in 10 years from 14 minutes to four, which should change everything we do in marketing. “Influence is Money Ball for marketers,” said Hougland. “We can measure campaigns in real-time through social data.”
6. Great creative drives disruption: Science and math are trumping art, and social media is the world’s biggest focus group — data will decide creative decisions. Your marketing organization may be digital but not social. The best model we found is to organize your brand like a social network, and the companies who use social data in real time for feedback are running better businesses.

In other words, make relationships, make human connections, use links and be personal. People don’t just want to be seen as a number on a datasheet, and they can usually tell when they are being treated as such. With use of data acquired from social media on the rise, how to use this data is becoming increasingly important.

Photo: Curtis Hougland, CEO of Attention, speaks at the Wired Business Conference in Partnership with MDC Partners at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on May 1, 2012 in New York City. (By Larry Busacca/WireImage for Wired)

At least a dozen times a week, someone asks me about buying a tablet. Inevitably, their one main question is, "Should I get the no-frills $499 version of the newest iPad or the fully loaded $829 model?" (By the way, we're talking about the latest iPad, the device we all keep calling the "iPad 3," even though Apple's gone all Prince/Artist-Formerly-Known-As and is just calling it the "iPad.") Anyway, my response is always to ask a few questions back that help me zero in on their particular tablet traits: Why do you want a tablet? What will you use it for? How much money do you want to spend? And what kind of smartphone and laptop do you already have?

When it comes to getting a new tablet, the choice isn't between the latest, greatest iPad or nothing. Like so many other personal technology devices from your smartphone to your exercise gadget, tablets are not one size fits all. Sure, the newest iPad is nothing short of the bang-up brilliance we've come to expect from Apple, but there might be another make, model, style, or size that's a better fit for you. Here's a guide based on personality types to help you figure it all out.

Apple iPadType 1: The Metroactive
What: iPad
Price: $499+

You're hip, trendy (but not for trend's sake — you just happen to be ahead of the curve), and pretty darn cool. Most people appreciate your style, but what they really admire is how easy you make it all look. You have the extra dough to spend on the best of everything, as long as it's high quality, intuitive, and totally headache-free.

For you, the newest iPad is the obvious choice. The screen is like an HDTV, with vibrant color and eye-popping definition. Battery life is better now, and it's 4G fast. Consumer Reports has even ranked it the best tablet on the market. So what's not to love? The price tag, for starters. Starting at $499 for the bare-bones model, it's just too expensive for a whole lot of people. Which leads us right to personality type two...

Kindle FireType 2: The Penny Pincher
What: Amazon Kindle Fire
Price: $199+

You are fabulous and frugal. You just don't see the point in paying for what you won't need or use. You want a tablet to surf the web, check your email, watch movies, and most of all, to lighten your load while you cart around a small library of literature to feed your bookworm ways.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is a perfect choice for you. At $200, this low-cost, high-quality hybrid e-reader is a savvy buy. It's a small, portable powerhouse with long-lasting battery life. While it doesn't have the hundreds of thousands of apps that the iPad has (no other device does), it has free cloud storage for all Amazon content, including more than 20 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and — of course — books.

Lenovo IdeaPadType 3: The Bottom Line Bargain Hunter
What: Lenovo IdeaPad A1
Price: $189+

You go one step beyond the Penny Pincher. Armed with digital coupons and savvy shopping apps, you do your homework on everything from a gallon of milk to a gallon of gasoline. You still want and need to be totally tech'd out, but you love a good bargain the way a Kardashian loves a camera pointed her way. Because you like a bargain, your smartphone is likely an Android (more choice for lower prices), and I recommend staying in the same gadget family you're most familiar with.

For you, the Lenovo IdeaPad A1 could be a little slice of the high life for a price your piggy bank can handle. This 7-inch, lightweight yet rugged tablet is great on the go. It even has a unique offline GPS navigation technology that gives you a direct satellite link. That means no more worries about network availability, and no more getting lost on the way to your son's soccer game. It also comes in different colors such as hot pink or blue.

Sony Tablet SType 4: The Entertainer
What: Sony Tablet S
Price: $399+

You're the life of the party, the hostess with the mostess, the unrivaled director of fun. Whenever there's a big game, a night of karaoke, or the season finale of Dancing With the Stars, you're at the center of all the action. You have fun, whether you have to save or you're in a position to splurge. For you, it's all about the overall experience.

The Sony Tablet S is your new go-to gadget. This sleek, multimedia device lets you send video to your TV with a simple tap and doubles as a universal remote control. With a 9.4-inch screen, eight hours of battery life, and a cool, wedge-shaped build, the Sony S makes typing and gaming in your lap feel more natural than ever. This just happens to be one of my personal favorites, though I'm more the wife of the life of the party.

Sony Tablet PType 5: The Cool Cutting-Edger
What: Sony Tablet P
Price: $549+

You're hip, happening, and always hot on the trail of that special something everyone will soon be talking about. You're attracted to James Bond-esque gadgets, devices that go that extra mile to be sleek, sophisticated, and just plain cool.

For you, it's hard to beat the new Sony Tablet P. It's the size of a woman's wallet and folds out with two separate 5.5-inch screens. This comes in handy for doing things like playing a game on the upper screen while using the lower one as your controller. You can also read e-books in a more traditional, two-page book format. Or you can check emails on one screen while doing a little online shopping at the same time. If you want to stream a movie, the two screens can also act as one for a larger overall screening surface. The Tablet P fits into the palm of your hand and slips into your purse or even back pocket.

Toshiba ThriveType 6: The Anti-iPad
What: Toshiba Thrive
Price: $379+

You are a PC. You hate all things Apple; you've even developed a dislike for real apples. You wouldn't own an Apple product if Steve Jobs flew down on a new set of superiorly designed angel's wings and app'd you out for life.

The Toshiba Thrive is the ultimate anti-iPad and really highlights what the iPad doesn't have, such as a full USB port, full SD card memory expansion, and a full HDMI port. Why might you want all that? The USB port lets you plug in a thumb drive to play music, movies, or use your tablet like a PC. You can use the HDMI port to plug your slate into an HDTV, without a special adapter, wifi, or the cloud. You can even pop the cover off to recharge with a replaceable battery. You can't do any of that with the iPad.

More great slates than can fit on a page
There are a lot more really great tablets on the market today, and we've written about them extensively at Tecca. Here are a few of my other favorites:

• Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime A tablet when you want it, a laptop when you need it.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab series Some of the best and most affordable Android tablets yet.
• Toshiba's Excite X10 The new 10-inch Android tablet lays claim to the new "world's thinnest" title.
• Motorola Droid Xyboard Another multitasking masterpiece, this tablet also comes with water-repellent nanocoating for those among us who tend to ride our gadgets hard and put them away wet.

Sometimes old is the best "new"
Don't forget that you can get a great new or refurbished iPad 2 in the $300 range from reputable resellers like Glyde, Amazon, and NextWorth. Unless you have the older model right next to the newer one, most people (tech experts excluded) can't tell much of a difference.

What tablet best fits your particular personality? Let us know in the comments section of this page.

The term pay phone has a new meaning today.

For consumers who wish to ditch their wallets, paying through a mobile phone can be awfully convenient. Those same consumers can also, often unwittingly, give up valuable information about themselves to merchants that want to sell them things.

A new survey by law professors at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that most Americans are uneasy with the idea that their phones could divulge behavioral and personal information, like phone numbers and in-store browsing habits.

The survey was created by Chris Hoofnagle and Jennifer Urban, who study digital privacy issues, and financed by Nokia, which makes cellphones. The survey posed a variety of questions by phone to 1,200 people nationwide. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

It found that four out of five of those surveyed “objected to the transfer of their phone number to a store where they purchase goods,” while 15 percent said they would “probably allow” transmission of that information and only 3 percent said they would “definitely allow it.”

It also found that consumers were less worried about giving up their e-mail addresses. Although half of the respondents said they would not want to share their e-mail addresses with the merchant, one-third said they would be “willing” or “probably willing” to do so.

The most visceral reaction was elicited by a question that asked whether consumers would be willing to share “information about you with the stores that you visit, when you are just browsing.” An overwhelming 96 percent said they would “definitely not allow” or “probably not allow” it.

Mobile payment is common in many parts of the world, and slowly gaining acceptance in the United States, particularly with young consumers. A Federal Reserve survey found those in the age bracket of 18 to 44 represented more than two-thirds of mobile payment users.

It is not always clear to users of mobile payment services exactly what kinds of information is recorded and retained by the company that owns the mobile platform – say Apple, in the case of purchases made on iTunes, or eBay in the case of mobile payments using PayPal – or how that is used for marketing purposes.

The researchers wrote that the new wave of mobile payment services could profoundly alter the relationship between customers and those service providers.

“Further,” they concluded, “there is no guarantee that this shift would be apparent to consumers using mobile payments systems to complete sales transactions.”

Facebook allows its users to buy virtual goods with a currency that it calls Facebook Credits. The Berkeley professors warned of the prospect that “social network services with payment systems could add transaction histories to their already rich databases of behavioral information.”