Many Twitter users update to Twitter and other social networking websites with the same information duplicated. For instance, Twitter and FaceBook can be linked so when a post is published on one it will be duplicated on the other.

Even though there have been debates about duplicate content and search engine ranking, many marketers choose not to duplicate content for fear of the invisible red flag from Google. But, what about duplicate social networking posts?

Personal Versus Professional

Now, the casual social networking user will probably have nothing to worry about. The update about Cindy finally getting her braces off will not include links to a website or business, in most cases. However, the Internet marketer and website business often include links in their posts to website main pages, inner pages and articles used to market a business. If these posts are duplicated, exactly, will the search engine see them as SPAM?

The trouble with social networking is connectivity. This social network is connected to that social site and that social site is connected to another social network and on and on…

There was once a time when being a member of a social network meant being social, but those times have been replaced with mass updates, link posting and hourly pushes to read this and click here.

There are literally hundreds of social networks out there and if all of them eventually have their posts indexed by major search engines, how will the bots differentiate between the SPAMMERS and the businesses just trying to increase popularity the right way? It could all weigh on duplication.

Retro Indexing or Future Indexing

Another huge question about the indexing of social networking posts is when the indexing will start. If the indexing is retro fitted and all past updates are indexed, it could mean a HUGE shift in the top 10 rank listing for popular keywords.

Just imagine 10,000 or 20,000 posts being indexed from various social networks all containing back links to inner pages of a website. That could be enough to blow up servers with an over abundance of traffic hitting the website.

The Place for Social Networks in the Search Engine Results

Despite the troubles that could result from search engines indexing social network posts, there is a very real need for this integration to occur. When a fierce battle for the top 10 page is being constantly fought, website owners and Internet marketers use every tactic they can to increase traffic.

For the website that has chosen to integrate social networking, that upper hand could fall in their corner. Social networking with links is link building – the search engines just have to catch up.

So, whether or not the duplicate content will count against social networking businesses or not will probably be an issue hidden in the new algorithm for the most popular engines. Until the Tweets, bulletins and updates are indexed, we will just have to continue being social.

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Writers often use the “stumble” button to find new and exciting information for their books, websites and blogs.

Internet marketers have also been utilizing the “stumble” button from time to time as a source of incoming links and potential traffic.

But, with only 8 million users a month, there was no competition compared to the major search engine and social networking websites, until now.

StumbleUpon is ready to rebirth itself as a viable search engine which could mean more traffic for those stumbled websites.

The New Social Networking Search

The new StumbleUpon has one major feature that the previous version did not, search. Users can search the websites other community members have stumbled for information the community thinks is worth looking into.

If a user needs information on Women’s Health, they will be able to search that keyword. But, the results will be limited to the websites stumbled by users.

There are currently 35 million websites indexed in the StumbleUpon search engine. This number is sure to increase as soon as article marketers and Internet marketers get a whiff of the new social networking search engine aiming to position itself between Google and Twitter.

But why is StumbleUpon angled at just the right place to hit it big?

Unlike Twitter, FaceBook and MySpace, the information shared on StumbleUpon is linked to the Internet. The users find relevant content and share that content with other Stumble users.

There is a personal side to StumbleUpon, but this side is not as personal as many other social networking websites which could lend to the clout of the links being submitted to StumbleUpon.

Growing Traffic In Groups

Now, just because StumbleUpon is not your common social network, does not mean those other networks are not just as important for link building, traffic growth and website popularity.

For this reason, users of the StumbleUpon search engine will have the opportunity to share the information they find on other popular social networks.

With whispers about social network updates and content soon being indexed on search engines, do you realize what this StumbleUpon change means for link building?

A website URL that is stumbled is indexed on the new StumbleUpon search engine. That website is found by a StumbleUpon user and shared on FaceBook.

A friend finds the link very interesting and Tweets about the website. Followers click through to the website and decide to share it with their friends and post the link on MySpace. From one stumble grew a viral link.

StumbleUpon does have the opportunity to change the face of Internet marketing by integrating the social networking quality readers love and the viral link building that website entrepreneurs need to increase traffic and profits.

This could be a fantastic platform for boosting website presence and popularity which could mean some changes in the search engine rankings placement pages.

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In order to get the best ranking results from your social pages and posts, there are
a few things you need to know about how Google manages to index the billions of new
posts per day, and which ones they decide to add as search results.

The first thing you need to know is that the social pages that are indexed are no longer
stored on a hard disk like they were ten years ago. Instead, the results are stored in
RAM across thousands of machines which is incredibly fast but also very volatile.

This is necessary because there are so many new posts that storing them in a hard disk
memory and sorting them later for the index is not an option. They have to be stored
temporarily and organized practically immediately for near instant (within minutes)
inclusion in the SERPs.

This means two things, because RAM is so volatile, a small system glitch or power
outage on the machine that is storing your new post could mean that the data is deleted
and will never appear in the index, second that the SE needs to find a way to pick out
the few pages and posts from each social network that they are going to index and add
to the serps, and they need to do it fast.

Not all new sites are treated this way, this is a new index system that was developed
specifically for social networks and sites because they are updated so frequently and the
data becomes outdated so quickly. We have seen pages that have been posted to Digg
appear in the serps in as little as two minutes and typically within 5.

With that in mind, the second thing you need to know is…

Obviously, every new social page such as a Digg post or a Squidoo lens cannot become
a top ten listing, regardless of how well optimized it is, otherwise the search engine
results pages (serps) would change every second!

So Google looks at a couple of things to determine the ranking of a users page or post.
First they look at the at the amount of time a post stays on the main page of the social
site and then they look at the amount of views it gets, how many users link to it, and
the amount of time users spend viewing the page.

What does this mean? It means that you need to find ways to get your new pages and posts
to remain on the main page of the social site longer, you have to get eyeballs looking
at them and you need to make sure they are looking at them for a long time, long enough
to read them in their entirety.

In conclusion…

First and foremost, and although I did not mention this before, it should make perfect
sense: The title of your post, page, lens etc. is the most important part of the process!
The more interesting and thought provoking it is, the better the likelihood of it getting
clicked and read.

Try to get your pages, posts etc. listed in the featured section of the social site main
page, the longer the post remains there, the better the chances of it becoming a top ten
search engine result.

Another way to keep it on the main page longer is to get your readers to vote it up, this
feeds into the next thing to do, which is…

Get people reading your new post as soon as it is posted, twitter it, send an email to
your list, post it on facebook etc. The more people that read your new page the better the
chances again, of it staying on the main page and ranking in the serps.

And this should go without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway, make the post interesting
and informative so that the people reading it will read it all. This not only helps get the
current post listed, but it assures that the next time you make a post and ask your readers
to take a look, they will, because they expect it to be good.

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If you are trying to promote a business with a social networking website, it is not as simple as signing up and logging in to post. You need to familiarize, read and join.

Familiarizing yourself with an online social network and the tools the network offers is the perfect first step to Internet marketing. Each network will offer different tools, but all are used to share information with users. Before posting and adding friends to your network, take a look around at the top users and the website itself. There could be some hidden marketing gems that you would never see if you just jumped into the socialization.

Reading the terms of service is another huge step in creating and maintaining a strong social connection with your readers. Each social network will have a different set of terms. These details in the fine print could include information about linking to outside sources and the number of links allowed per post. It is important to know what rules you need to follow and keep track of those rules with a handy “How To” guide for each network.

Joining groups within the social network is a great way to build readership without spending hours looking for friends who are interested in your niche. If you are running a dating website, for instance, there could be a social networking group within the site that already has thousands of members. Joining this group will give you immediate access to people looking for information on dating.

Along those same lines, many business niches have groups within social networks as well. These business niches will often be filled with other businesses looking to promote their products or services which could mean learning more about online marketing but will often not lead to additional hits on your website.

Forums as Social Networks

Forums are a form of social network that tend to be a bit more rule oriented than say FaceBook or MySpace. There are forums available for every website niche, but joining these forums and sharing often requires following a set of rules. Many forums require a new member to post a certain number of times before they can share a link in a signature or within a post. This can be a great thing as it takes time to build a relationship with members of the forum.

Relationships are at the heart of social networks and those relationships can mean all the difference to a website that wants to build quality traffic. While links shared on social networks are not (as of the posting of this article) indexed by search engines, that is not to say they won’t ever be indexed. Just imagine the power of your website if you get into the habit of posting regularly on a social network when a search engine begins to recognize these links.

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