Facebook has updated its targeting capabilities for advertisers that allow for much more specific targeting than before. If you're running paid ads on Facebook as part of your social media marketing efforts to get traffic to your site, this is great news. Details are below, but a quick note – you have to be using Facebook’s Power Editor presently to access these capabilities.

We all do it. We check our Facebook on a regular basis and we are always looking for technology to make our lives easier. So it isn’t surprising that Facebook is making it easier for businesses to sell products online. This week’s business news from Half a Bubble Out is to give an update on social media marketing and to help you decide if your business is up to snuff.

Google may be smarter than you thought. Next time you search for something, that search might be answered by a machine called RankBrain that can learn and figure out what you are trying to find. Call it creepy, or call it cutting edge and game changing, but it’s here.

This story broke in a recent Bloomberg article, which had the following to say:

"When Google-parent Alphabet Inc. reported eye-popping earnings last week its executives couldn’t stop talking up the company’s investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

You’ve probably heard a lot about mobile search lately. It keeps getting more and more popular, as consumers are shifting to their smartphones to research, find local businesses and even purchase products.

In a recent article, Search Engine Land reported that the Google search app is now the 4^th most popular app according to ComScore research. This is really significant, and here is what Search Engine Land had to say:

Let’s face it, Facebook has created a reign on our lives. There are 1.49 billion users on the popular platform and 968 million of those users are active on a daily basis. Even with the increase of business ads and lack of privacy we are all still in love with - or for the most part addicted to - staying connected to our friends, family and strangers via Facebook.

You may have heard already, but recently Google was re-organized to become one division of a new “parent” company called Alphabet. The newly formed parent company will also include other businesses in addition to Google. If you are a business that advertises on Google or relies on an SEO strategy to rank in Google search results, you won’t really be affected by this change.

You may be wondering what this has to do with your business. In this transition, there are a few principles that can apply to any business or entrepreneurial endeavor. Read on to find out some of the things Google is getting right that you should also be doing with your business.

We come in all shapes and sizes when it comes to being a consumer of technology.

Are you the “preorder-to-be-the-first-one-to-try-it” type of consumer OR are you the “sit-back-and-wait-for-everyone-else-to-try-it-first-then-buy” type?

It’s happening - the numbers from Nielsen are showing that TV watching is going down and the number of subscribers to online streaming services is going up. One of the popular services, Hulu, may be making a marketing move that will not only please its customers but will bring in more revenue. The billion dollar a year company might be going ad free. But as a business owner, why should you care about this weeks’ business marketing news?  

Kentucky Fried Chicken, better known for short as KFC, is widely known across the United States as a fast food restaurant that serves up [big surprise here] fried chicken. After 21 years of not showing his face, KFC’s mascot is back and has been reaching TV screens across the country.

Facebook announced that it will begin to roll out new user preferences that will give Facebook users the option to customize and personalize their news feeds more so to their liking. On July 9, 2015, Facebook announced the change, which will be rolling out to all devices in a new update during the coming weeks.