Are SEO and SMM really separate?

[Makaveli2007]

I just read a post where someone on here stated he expected facebook to become a mini-www on their own...with no (or little) need for many people to leave their website (well..basically what google is doing, now, just without ever sending visitors away).

I had read about the facebook becoming a separate kind of www before, already, and must say it made sense (im not saying itll kill the www :-), and of course its more like part of the www, but i hope yo uget the point).

However, what happens if facebook grows and grows and grows and becomes that huge? How will people find content *within* facebook?

I'd say they'll be using search.....and if it becomes huge (everyone being able to set up their own facebook pages, etc. already)...then they'll need a ranking algorithm just like google has one, wont they?

In other words I dont see facebook necessarily as a SEO-killer, but some sort of separate www, that'll need a sophisticated search engine as well.

[topr8]

>>become a mini-www on their own

this has already happened! among my less internet savvy friends, facebook is basically the only site they use and some of them are somewhat addicted - certainly logging on every day to play games and chat with their mates.

[fintancostello]

The line between SEO / SMM is extremely blurred as it is and will only get more so.

For example, optimizing fan page posts so that they appear in peoples news feed is practically SEO :)

[OMZen]

If you look at SEO as a way of getting "organic search traffic" and SMM as a way of getting "referral traffic from social media sites", then yes they are technically different; albeit they both fall under the broad scope of IM with overlapping objectives.

#2
Google and FB both have different business model so FB essentially won't need to carve out a "ranking algo" like Google.

Both of them use the enormous datasets at their disposal differently - Google wants to send visitors away from Google as early as possible while FB makes money by trying to keep the visitors on their property for as long as possible.

[David_Hill]

Yes SEO and SMM both are different things.

Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks," the more searchers will visit that site. The leading search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results.

Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing also known as social influence marketing is the act of using social influencers, social media platforms, online communities for marketing, publication relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.