Three short months ago, Google launched it's own social network, Google+, designed to rival the two great institutions within the social sphere - Facebook and Twitter. Until today, Google+ had been invite only, but finally the long awaited annoucement has come that anyone (yes, even riff-raff) can join in.

Now, occasionally the Ricemedia phone will ring and on the other end, a young, fresh faced (we assume) twenty-something will claim that they have a fantastic idea for a new social network, and ask how much it will cost to get it set up? We politely reply that their £250 probably won't get them too far, but wish them good luck in their quest.

The point here is: it is really, I mean really hard, to challenge an institution which has both built up astronomical capital and established themselves as a staple part of our daily cultural diet. We wake up, we check Facebook and Twitter, then we get out of bed. In that order.

So, unless you have considerably more than £250, you're probably going to struggle. Best to get a second job, move back to your parents' house, resist the pub for a few months, and keep saving until you've got something like £250 million.

What if you're Google? Well! Maybe then you'll stand a fighting chance. But you'll still have to be smart. By all accounts, Google+ is trying to combine more popular features of Facebook and Twitter. The ability to share photos, communicate quickly and easily with friends, broadcast yourself, whilst also being able to 'follow' people who otherwise don't know or care about you. The general consensus in the Ricemedia office is that people signed up to reserve their place for when it actually takes off. So far, it's been more Scientology than Christianity. But all that could soon change.

Google have tested the water, reacted to feedback, and surprisingly today's big launch represents the 100th change they have made in the last 90 days. And there's more to come – see here http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-101-102-103-104-105-106-107.html.

As my fellow Ricemedian Stefan points out, Google recently purchased Motorola and thus all of the patents they have built up over the years. Google seem to be accelerating into some kind of arms race with three big bullies - Apple, Facebook and Twitter. Time will tell whether they will succeed, but I get the feeling that you wouldn't want to risk missing out.

We're interested to know whether you've signed up, whether you've used it, and what you think? Please leave your comments in the space provided below.

And one more thing – please do us a favour and +1 this!

Things have really been hottin’ up here at Ricemedia and although you may not have heard from us in a while we’re back and we’re looking good… Well our new site is!

Over the past few months we’ve been incredibly busy taking on new clients, creating some impressive new sites including Red and Gray, Blackheath Products and Dulas and also encouraging some notable SEO results, such as a 270% increase in Superdry’s traffic. Yet, we’ve still managed to create some time to give our own site a much needed revamp.

Over the last year we’ve grown dramatically as a company, with the Ricemedia team expanding from 6 to 14, bringing in new talent, fresh ideas and even more knowledge therefore it’s important that the site reflects how we’ve grown and developed.

Our exciting new site is representative of what we can offer as a digital media agency blending sleek design with dynamic build and proving to you, our clients, why you’re working with us.

Focussing on our key strengths we’ve built a site that’s easy to use and gives you an insight into what the growing Ricemedia team is capable of… take a look round, we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we are.

They say two heads are better than one…then how about hundreds of thousands? No we haven’t taken on hundreds of new employees here at Ricemedia but we have been working with Universitas 21 on the design and development of their new website.

Universitas 21 is comprised of over 830,000 students, 145,000 staff and almost 2.5million alumni, creating an international network of 23 leading universities spreading over 15 countries. The network facilitates collaboration and cooperation between the member universities to create opportunities for them on a scale that none of them would be able to achieve operating independently.

Working closely with Universitas 21 we’ve designed a website to encourage its members to share experiences and compare national and regional approaches to higher education. The new site creates a strong and accessible web presence to support all of Universitas 21’s members whilst providing a cleverly built platform for sharing.

This site is at the forefront of web development, creating global learning communities through the use of new technologies. We’re extremely proud of our work on this site it really is a platform to success.

We’ve been on a roll recently here at Rice Media, helping out tyre specialists ATS Euromaster with two of their sites, www.atseuromaster.co.uk and www.atstyreshop.co.uk. We’ve been focussing on both cost of acquisition and online conversion rates.

ATS, which is owned by the legendary French company, Michelin, required our assistance with organic search engine optimisation (SEO) and a cost per click (CPC) campaign to promote their new ‘Buy Online Service’, which lets customers buy tyres online and book a convenient fitting slot.

ATS began life in the 1960s when Michelin decided to create a national tyre outlet in the UK. ATS was so successful that in the 1980s the company went on to set up Euromaster in mainland Europe. It now operates in more than 1600 locations across 12 different countries with the help of more than 11,500 employees. ATS Euromaster was also one of the first national tyre specialists to receive SAFEcontractor accreditation for health and safety competency.

The two ATS sites that we’ve been working on are already on the road to success with new page one listings after just one week with us behind the wheel.

No, we haven’t converted to Scientology but we have been talking a lot about Cult this week. Following our successful digital project for leading fashion brand Superdry, we have begun working on the digital marketing for its parent company Cult.

Cult is a well-established clothing retailer with nearly 40 outlets in the UK, more than 50 concessions in House of Fraser stores and a significant international presence, including franchised outlets in Europe, the US and Australia.

Cult clothing has a unique look, which combines Japanese design features with a vintage American style, something that has been helping it stand out from other fashion stores for the past 25 years.

As the Cult team clearly don’t need any help with their style, we’ll be working on the search engine optimisation (SEO) of their site and looking at cost per click management across a number of online advertising campaigns.

We’re hoping to improve on the success of our Superdry project, which saw the number of visits to the site increase by 15 per cent in just three weeks, with like for like sales shooting up by 10 per cent over the same period.

It’s Summer, so naturally everyone is thinking about summer holidays and this is particularly true here at Rice Media, as we have just won the digital marketing account for Co-op Holidays.

Lichfield-based Co-op Holidays, which has been offering package holidays, city breaks, cruises and flights since the middle of this Century has appointed us to implement consistent online marketing activity across a number of digital platforms.

The travel agency is part of the Midlands Co-operative Society and has high street branches throughout the UK.

We’re now managing the organic search engine optimisation and cost per click on www.co-opholidays.co.uk, as well as repositioning their Twitter and Facebook offerings.

We’ll also be using advanced analytics to deliver accurate measurements of return on investment across all platforms.

Obviously we’re thrilled that Co-op Holidays picked us because of our experience and proven ability to achieve great results in the ever-expanding digital arena, where we have worked with big brands such as Superdry, Aviva Insurance and ITV Drama.
We’re really looking forward to working with Co-op Holidays, almost as much as actually going on holiday!

We just took on the Digital Marketing Account for Superdry. The Cheltenham based company which includes Cult retail currently has a total of 40 stores in the UK with over 50 concessions in House of Fraser.

Superdry recently launched a brand new ecommerce site for this terrific brand and our requirement was to streamline their online marketing proposition to ensure maximum exposure across a multitude of disciplines. The project covers Organic Search Engine Optimisation of the new site, Cost Per Click management across Google, Yahoo & Bing, Facebook & other Online advertising campaigns and a repositioning & branding of Social Networking collateral on Twitter & Facebook accounts. Our advanced Analytics implementation is also providing transparent measurement for true Return on Investment figures across all mediums.

Whilst it is still early days and there are many other factors involved, our first 3 weeks on the project has shown an increase in visitors of 15% along with like for like sales up over 10%.

Last summer, following an extensive pitch process we picked up the digital account with one of the UK’s leading builders merchants, EH Smith.

The brief was to design & build a family of websites, along with a fully integrated enterprise level e-commerce system - the first of which will be launched in April 2010 for the core business. EH Smith was established in Birmingham in 1922 and has grown to become one of the largest independent builders merchants in the UK with a turnover of approx £120 mil. The company has 8 trading locations across the Midlands and South East, which have been serving local trade professionals and the general public for many years.

The primary goal for the development of this website was to allow customers to fully understand the extent of services EH Smith can offer. With the imminent launch of its customised enterprise level e-commerce system, customers will have the opportunity to review and purchase its wide product range and specialist services.