Unless you live in a cave, you've been hearing all the buzz about the new movie, "The Social Network.
" Whether you buy the storyline or not, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook is hot.
On fire.
The press is even more excited about the cranking competition between Facebook and Google to acquire the most users.
At last count, as expected, Google was in first place.
But the bookies are betting that it's just a matter of time before Facebook reaches 1 billion users.
Facebook may be Avis now; they are certainly trying harder.
Because of Facebook's rising popularity and utility, new opportunities are emerging, almost daily, for internet marketers.
What are the new Facebook techniques you need to understand now? Internet marketers are always trying to make sense of the web so that they can catch the wave and make the biggest splash possible.
Google has uses links as signs of authority.

• Key word analytics apply spiders to crawl the web to selectively target links.
  That crawling helps you get ranking in the prime spots on Google pages.
  The idea is simple.
  The process is not.
  And, the rules of engagement are always changing.
  
• Facebook is using "Likes" instead of links but the same concept applies.
  While Facebook is not a search engine like Google, it is a different path to making an impact on the web.
  

Google is said to be adding more social media content to its index browsers in response to Facebook's new power play.
Facebook is definitely in the game.
For internet marketers, that means you have to wake up and smell the coffee or get left with yesterday's grounds.
Social marketing trends wait for no one.
Facebook has also opted to embed Bing search results alongside queries.
Bing is likely to become a more active player as a result of this apparent collaboration.
What does this mean in plain English? Facebook is setting itself up not only for recommendations tossed among friends but as a fully operative 'hub' that will yield traditional and social search value, something that only occurred through search engines before.
Of course, nothing this exciting happens without criticism and negative hype.
Facebook continues to face a lot of scrutiny concerning privacy and its effect on the teen population in particular.
Rightly so from the perspective of a parent.
But that doesn't mean that internet marketers can afford to ignore Facebook, strictly as a business decision.
A Facebook page alone is not a social media strategy.
It is a part, an important part, of a social media strategy.
Being socially connected means interacting with customers, fans and even critics.
Digital conversation.
Everything you do online should dance to the tune of being social in some way, shape or form.
Learn and understand the new Facebook techniques.
Stay tuned for more as we watch the story unfold.
Whichever team you are rooting for, Team Facebook or Team Google, it's wise to make friends with both if you are in internet marketing.