Facebook is slowly becoming less of a social network and more of a way to pass the time while they are on the internet. When Facebook started it was a way to keep in touch with old friends or find people who are interested in similar things that you are. Now it has become overrun with apps. These apps aren’t useful apps like the ones for smart phones, they are games that you can play with friends. These apps are just something to do while you are online maybe talking to some friends on chat. Facebook has gotten away from the networking and moved onto entertaining its users with games or even movies now.

LinkedIn is an important tool for up and coming entrepreneurs. This website is compareable to Facebook in the way tha it is a social networking tool. LinkedIn is a place where ideas, knowledge, and opportunities can be shared by the 80 million professionals who are apart of it. An user creates a profile where they put all of their personal and proffesional information. When on the website you can send collegues messages if you have an important offer or idea you would like to talk about. Not only is it a networking tool but LinkedIn is also a place where jobs can be offered. All in all LinkedIn is a great tool for those who are looking for feedback on an idea or are even looking for a job.

Xtranormal is an easy to use animation site. You sign up for the site free of cost and you choose your template then write what you want your characters to say or do. It is a simple way to make either an informative video or a video making fun of something or somone. Companies have figured out that they can use xtranormal.com to make extremely cheap commercials. For example, Geico has started making them as their primary commercial. Not only are they simple and easy to understand but they cost almost nothing to make. This gives the company the ability to explore other options in advertising while also having a strong base for their marketing strategy.

Penny Auctions are a simple concept, an user buys bids from the site, then the user finds an item that he desires and begins bidding. Every bid that is placed raises the item one penny. This simple concept sounds like a great way to save money on items but there are some downsides. It is very difficult to win a bidding war. At times if nobody is bidding the site itself will bid on the item. Another way to look at it is that although you might get an iPad for cheap, that might be the only auction you win. All that money you put into bids are basically a waste because for each penny bid you can pay up to a dollar. So although there is a possibility of getting a product at a great price you have to be careful that you don’t get too involved without thinking about it.

Small businesses have started to step away from physical marketing tactics and they have turned to social media marketing. The average small business budgets $2,500 for marketing and they don’t plan on increasing. Social media marketing has become an extremely efficient way of marketing. Facebook is the most popular tool. It is now number one after passing Google, 70% of businesses use Facebook to their advantage, let it be an ad or a page. Facebook is very simple to use and it shows great promise for the business. Another tool that is used for marketing is Twitter. Businesses use this to create awareness about their busniess. Twitter is also simple to use and it can be updated from any phone so it is easy to maintain.