Supporting the suspicions of some, new data shows that since Google launched its "Search, plus Your World" feature in January, traffic from Google to Facebook fan pages has dropped. When SPYW debuted, Web watchers speculated that, by prioritizing Google+ search results, it would have a negative impact on SEO traffic to competing social networks, i.e., Facebook. The new study, from analytics provider PageLever, centered around a sample of 500 Facebook fan pages -- each with a minimum of 100,000 fans -- focusing on external referrals from both Bing and Google. Between April of last year and January 9 -- a …

As it turns out, the Web wasn’t big enough for Google+ and Google+ Pages for business. Less than a year old, a new service named Google+ Local pages is swallowing Google Places whole. “As of this morning, roughly 80 million Google Place pages worldwide have been automatically converted into 80 million Google+ Local pages,” reports Search Engine Land, citing comments from Google exec Marissa Mayer. “It’s a dramatic change (for the better) though it will undoubtedly disorient some users and business owners,” SEL adds. “Google added a social element to its local search today, with the launch of Google+ …

Nearly a year after dropping $8.5 billion on Skype, what’s taking Microsoft so long to integrate the VoIP service into its other products? In part, a desire by the software giant to give Skype its space. “We always want Skype to be first and best on Windows, but certainly a strategic part of the value in communications software is working on all platforms,” Microsoft head Steven Ballmer, recently told The New York Times. “Still, [Microsoft] cannot afford for Skype to be too independent,” writes NYT. “They want to avoid repeating what happened after Skype was acquired by the auction …

Coinciding with the rise of mobile, media brands are increasingly relying on apps to reach consumers. Giving some publishers a leg up, Apple has introduced “Editors’ choice” and a free “App of the week” on its Mac App Store and iTunes. “Apparently we weren't the only ones excited about the release of Cobook, as today Apple began promoting the intelligent contact manager on the Mac App Store with its new ‘editors' choice’ branding,” The Verge reports. “This marks the first instance of the labeling, which has also been extended to Facebook Camera,Extreme Skater, Air Mail, and Sketchbook Ink for iOS. As The Verge notes, …

How is Facebook going to solve its mobile problem? Perhaps taking a cue from Yahoo -- irony of ironies! -- the social net should simply build what PandoDaily calls “the best mobile browser the world has ever seen.” That’s right, in the wake of Yahoo debuted its innovation cross-platform browser, Facebook do the same -- but better! No easy task, sure. But, “Luckily for Facebook, it can pinch plenty of ideas from some mobile browsers that are already on the market,” PandoDaily writes. “Specifically, it should look to China, where UCWeb (200 million users and counting) and Dolphin are showing …

Business fundamentals aside, Web watchers are now wondering whether Facebook can recover from its flubbed IPO.    Facebook, its underwriters, including Morgan Stanley, and founder Mark Zuckerberg, are facing multiple lawsuits alleging that the company hid weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16 billion public event. “The highly publicized IPO is facing scrutiny from several quarters for possible irregularities that may have occurred before the stock was floated and continued through the first day of trading,” reports PCMag.com. In one New York case, “shareholders said research analysts at several underwriters had lowered their business forecasts for Facebook during the IPO …

No wonder Mark Zuckerberg put off an IPO for so long. Raising more questions about Facebook’s future, we’re now learning that a Morgan Stanley analyst quietly reduced his revenue forecast in the run up to the social net’s big event.  Coming from Facebook’s lead underwriter, “the sudden caution very close to the huge initial public offering … was a big shock to some,” reports Reuters, citing sources. “They say it may have contributed to the weak performance of Facebook shares, which sank on Monday -- their second day of trading.” Regarding the pre-event re-evaluation, Business Insider’s Henry Blodget …

Marking the end of an era, new data suggests that Google Chrome has overtaken Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the foremost Web browser. According to StatCounter -- and first reported by Global Nerdy blogger Joey deVilla -- Chrome recently overtook IE for the first time. “Measuring the Web is an imprecise science, very often based on scaling up small scale measurement surveys,” notes The Next Web. “But the gist of Statcounter’s data over the last year indicates that Chrome use is rising … at the expense of IE and Firefox, regardless of the exact precision of the data.” “This isn’t the first time …

While unlikely to dampen interest in Facebook’s first day of public trading, the company has been hit with a $15 billion class-action lawsuit. Representing a number of Facebook’s users, the suit claims that it invaded their privacy by tracking their Web usage -- ironically, exactly how investors expect Facebook’s to further monetize its service.  “As a public company, Facebook will be expected to grow its advertising revenues very rapidly, putting it under considerable pressure to collect more and more user data to help it target its ads,” The Telegraph reports. “If the claimants are successful in their case against Facebook, …

On the heels of revitalized subscriber numbers, Netflix has overhauled its video player for browser-based watching, adding in a host of new features and options, including single TV episode and whole season previews. “Besides beefing up the playback with added options, information, and video accessibility, the video service also redesigned the control bar to be more user-friendly,” CNet notes. “With the exception of tweaks for new features like HD video and closed captioning, Netflix's Silverlight-based Web player has been largely unchanged for years,” Engadget notes. “The new player is gorgeous,” VentureBeat gushes. “The design better matches the user interface on …