Islam in Europe

According to the Pew Forum, the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2010 was about 44 million (6%), excluding Turkey. The total number of Muslims in the European Union in 2010 was about 19 million (3.8%). Approximately 9 million Turks are living in Europe, excluding the Turkish population of Turkey, which makes up the largest Muslim immigrant community in Europe. However the real number of Muslims in Europe is not well-known. The percentage of Muslims in Russia (the biggest group of Muslims in Europe) varies from 5 to 11.7%, depending on sources. It also depends on if only observant Muslims or all people of Muslim descent are counted.

The Muslim population in Europe is extremely diverse with varied histories and origins. Today, the Muslim-majority regions of Europe are Albania, Kosovo, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as some Russian regions in Northern Caucasus and the Volgaregion. The communities consist predominantly of indigenous Europeans of the Muslim faith whose religious tradition dates back several hundred years. 

The Muslim population in Western Europe is composed primarily of peoples who arrived to the European continent in or after (1945), when many Western countries (firstly, the UK and France) started the policy of multiculturalism and permanent immigration of non-white and/or non-Christian people. Muslim emigration to metropolitan France surged during the Algerian War of Independence. In 1961, West German Government invited first Gastarbeiters. Similar contracts were offered by Switzerland. A 2013 poll by Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung says that Islamic fundamentalism is widespread among European Muslims with the majority saying religious rules are more important than civil laws and three quarters rejecting religious pluralism within Islam. However, the formulations and interpretations of similar polls have been strongly contested. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia reports that the Muslim population tends to suffer Islamophobia all over Europe, although the perceptions and views of Muslims may vary.

A 2015 poll by the Polish Centre for Public Opinion Research found that 44% of Poles have a negative attitude towards Muslims, with only 23% having a positive attitude towards them. Furthermore, a majority agreed with statements like "Muslims are intolerant of customs and values other than their own." (64% agreed, 12% disagreed), "Muslims living in Western European countries generally do not acquire customs and values that are characteristic for the majority of the population of that country." (63% agreed, 14% disagreed), "Islam encourages violence more than other religions." (51% agreed, 24% disagreed)

58.79% of Albania adheres to Islam, making it the largest religion in the country. The majority of Albanian Muslims are Secular Sunni with a significant Bektashi Shia minority. The percentage is 92% in Kosovo, c. 30% in Macedonia, and c. 45% in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In transcontinental countries such as Turkey 99% of the population is Muslim. Muslims also form about one sixth of the population of Montenegro. In Russia, Moscow is home to an estimated 1.5 million Muslims.

A Pew Research Center study, published in January 2011, forecasted an increase of Muslims in European population from 6% in 2010 to 8% in 2030. The study also predicted that Muslim fertility rate in Europe would drop from 2.2 in 2010 to 2.0 in 2030. On the other hand, the non-Muslim fertility rate in Europe would increase from 1.5 in 2010 to 1.6 in 2030. A Pew study published in 2015 projected that in 2050 Muslims will make up 10.2% of Europe's population. Data for the rates of growth of Islam in Europe reveal that the growing number of Muslims is due primarily to immigration and higher birth rates.

Philip Jenkins of Penn State University estimates that by 2100, Muslims will compose about 25% of Europe's population. Jenkins states this figure does not take account divergent birthrates amongst Europe's immigrant Christians. Other analysts are skeptical about the accuracy of the claimed Muslim population growth, stating that because many European countries do not ask a person's religion on official forms or in censuses, it has been difficult to obtain accurate estimates, and arguing that there has been a decrease in Muslim fertility rates in Morocco, the Netherlands and Turkey.

15 Google Plus Tips for Newbies

Google Plus is a new social network, so at this point we can be considered as newbies at Google Plus. Now I would like to introduce 15 G+ tips which will help you use it with its all functions.   

1.     Add friends. Add friends from Suggestions. There is a Suggestions area highlighting friends you can easily add. Add friends from Yahoo Mail. This option is available, if you are a Yahoo Mail user. Add friends from Hotmail. Block friends. 

2.    If you have a friend in the photo you can tag them by using the actions option just below the photo.

3.    Mobile photo. Once you have Google+ installed on the phone, uploading to your Google+ Photos account is instant.

4.     Google chat security settings. It allows you to select the circles you wish and enables chat for Google+.

5.     Hardware settings in Google chat. Selecting settings allows you to configure and verify your microphone and webcam are working to your liking.

6.    The notifications window lets you comment on status updates right within the notifications dropdown and scroll through notifications newer or older than the one you are viewing.

7.     You can select to mute a given post, from the notifications window as well.

8.     Google bar share button: Click this and the status Google plus stream update box pops up.

9.    Your Name on the Google bar Gives a dropdown with links to take you directly to your profile page, circles page, account settings and privacy.

10. Surplus. It’s the notification bar from the browser toolbar, so you can leverage the notification bar regardless of what site you are on. Also has desktop notifications.

11. Private messages. You can send a private message to someone by typing in their name in the destination field.

12.  Adding multiple people to a circle. You can add people to a circle by creating an empty circle, and then single-clicking people in your contact list, and dragging them into the circle.

13. You can format your text, make something bold or italic.

14. Handling mail notifications. G+ will automatically send you emails when you’re added, mentioned, and something is shared with you. There are two ways to handle it. If you want the emails turned off, you click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner of your G+ window and select “Google+ Settings”. There, you can select which types of emails you want sent. If you want the emails but not in your main stream, create a filter in gmail.

15. Send feedback. You can highlight or block pieces of the page you’re on when sending feedback which will help in their understanding of the problem. You don’t have to add everyone back.

Google+ definitely is needed, because I feel like Google+ will be a permanent addition to the social media landscape, regardless of whether or not it takes the crown from other social networks

Effective Strategies For Having more fans on Facebook That You Can Use Starting Today

Today, Facebook is considered to be one of the hottest social networks. It is also very powerful instrument for attracting clients and fans. If you already have a Facebook page, it is time to start use it to your advantage. Here, I would like to introduce some primarily and effective strategies you can use in order to get more and more fans.

First of all, Facebook users need to get away from their own circle. They have to start interact with people within the fields that they want to get in. So the users have to join groups that interest them and are very popular. Also they need to make friends people whom they consider useful and attract top authorities. Users can also attract thousands of new fans around simple and common events.

Second, users have to fill out their pages fully and add images. Fans do not attract incomplete pages. The profile image should be expressive enough. The more expressive and original your page is, the more fans it will attract. And the landing page should help to get Facebook fans.

Third, users must understand the purpose of the Facebook page. So they have to connect and interact with other members, communicate with the fans. They must write on the others’ walls, comment of pictures, ask questions and also celebrate holidays. What the user writes must be unique, interesting or funny.

Forth, as Facebook Applications let users spice up the profile, so they have to add things that interest them, for example, YouTube or Static FMBL. You can add different videos, which must be very attractive, as people enjoy the video and start to share that video with other fans as well as their friends. Through Static FMBL application users can add HTML/CSS code to their pages therefore having more options for designing the page.  But the users must not waste time using improper applications. Using a wrong application can kill the page. That is why users need to find out the best applications for their pages. 

Finally, users need to keep their pages up-to-date. If do not, their pages will die. So users must be active, answer fans’ questions fast, help solving some problems. Users also can send an update to all fans of the page and help to ensure that all fans see an important announcement. For example, Jencarlos Canela does so and has very very many fans.

These simple strategies helped me and I hope they will be useful also for you. So, do not hesitate, start now. 

Five Things Small Businesses Must Know about Google Plus

Google Plus can be very useful for small business owners if they can understand what Google Plus is and what they can do with it. So, now, I will tell about the main five things that small business owners must know.

1.    +1 feature

The +1 feature can be inserted into business owners’ blogs or webpages. It is somewhat similar to the Facebook “like” tool.

2.    Circles

    With help of this feature small business owners can divide their contacts into circles. These circles will allow determine which information show to which people. This always allows divide some of the contacts into circles surrounding the business and others into circles for the personal life.

3.    Google+ is very hot social network

 In a very short period Google+ has amassed more than 100, and its growth has not stopped. On January 19, 2012, it was reported that Google+ had surpassed a user base of 90 million. According to independent analysis of its growth in December 2011, the site was adding an estimated number of 625,000 new users a day, which may total 400 million members by the end of 2012. The site's popularity accelerated in December 2011, with almost a quarter of its total user base joining in December alone, said Paul B. Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, who tracks the numbers as the "unofficial statistician" for Google+. Thus, it becomes a good place for small businesses around the world.

4.    Google+ is a social network which includes a collection of different social products. These include Stream (a newsfeed), Sparks (a recommendation engine), Hangouts (a video chat service), Games and Photos.

5.    Features for Google+ Mobile

Google Plus has improved SMS support so that users from all over the world can post to Google+, receive notifications, and respond to group messages via SMS. They have also made it easier to +mention someone from a mobile device. Users are edit their profile photos from a mobile device. Google has made it simple to organize Google+ notifications from a mobile device. This feature allows business owners to select which notifications are important to them and which are not so that their mobile devices are not inundated with superfluous notifications.

 However, every small business should use the full features of Google Plus. All the features that businesses can use at the moment are free. The slogan of the Google Plus is “real-life sharing rethought for the web. It is available in 40 languages. Google+ integrates social services such as Google Profiles and Google Buzz, and introduces new services identified as Circles, Hangouts and Sparks. Google+ is available as a website and on mobile devices. Google+ is considered the company's fourth foray into social networking, following Google Buzz, Google Friend Connect and orkut. 

Five Steps to Improve Your Website's Visibility

1.    Complete your website’s home page

When visitors first appear on your website a page displaying your home page highlights fills the screen. Given the importance of first impressions, the information in your home page should be complete, current and optimized.

This is your best chance to make a good impression. In many cases, someone may read through your entire website, but most people are going to get the information they need from your home page.

Upload an interesting video file which introduces your website and your activities. This is your very best opportunity to make a great first impression and is essential to attracting connections.

2.    Create a compelling headline.

While creating a headline use brief, descriptive, compelling keywords so the right people can discover you. Focus on terms that your target markets are more likely to search for. What language do they use? Make your headline text compelling, but use words that resonate with your market. Make sure to describe each of your website’s roles in depth, and again use those keywords that will resonate with your target markets. It will be useful include a link to your Twitter profile. Add your Twitter handle to your website. Visitors to your website can now follow you on Twitter.

3.     Use keywords within website summary section

The summary section on your website is where you have the most flexibility to expand upon what about your website is, whom you serve and how you help your clients or visitors. It will be useful to write the text in your summary section in the first person, as if you were talking directly to potential clients, visitors. Your summary section should include keywords that describe your website in language that resonates with it. Try to stay away from industry jargon if possible. Also, do not stuff your summary section with keywords. Simply use effective keywords and phrases where they fit.

4.     Leverage your existing network

Your existing contacts can provide a rich online networking experience and can help you quickly ramp up your visibility. This foundation network is key to create a powerful presence on network.

To uncover all of your connection opportunities, use your navigation menu. Thoroughly review all connection channels.

5.     Focus on timely and relevant status updates

If your website is a professional business network; therefore, it must be busy during business hours. You should strive to be visible and valuable during that time. Your status updates should add value to your target markets. Also, spread out your updates rather than posting them all at once. You can customize your news updates by industry and easily share relevant stories with your connections. Top news is surfaced by the people, not by an editorial staff.

How to get more views and promote your video on VIMEO?

Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. Once you have uploaded a video on vimeo you need to promote it and get more views. In order to get more and more views you have to follow some simple steps. First of all you must share your vimeo videos with your friends. Your friends and family are your best audience, so you should start with them when looking for people to watch your videos. Vimeo offers a variety of sharing tools so you can easily share your vimeo videos on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg or MySpace. While sharing you must write on your Social networks’ walls about your vimeo channel. If you have a blog you can also add your vimeo channel link on your blogroll. It will be helpful if you get your free membership on forum websites and discuss on forums about your videos and add vimeo channel link on your forum signature.

The next important thing is adding description and tags. When you share your movie on Vimeo you will want to make sure to add a description and tags to ensure that people will be able to find your video in a search. This is known as metadata. You add this information then you can fill in a description and tags related to your video. Create a brand through using logo, title and description. You have to remember that vimeo is not only a video sharing website it is also a great community and you must get the help of vimeo community. It will be useful if you comment on other vimeo channels. You can also ask your friends to join in your vimeo channel and refer about your channel.

Finally, you must create some discussions through asking some questions in your video description. Ask viewers for join as your vimeo channel subscriber in your video description.

Doing the above mentioned things you must not forget that the most important thing is quality of your video. You need upload good videos in your channel, upload fresh and quality videos in your vimeo channel, always upload popular, trending videos.

In addition I would like to say that good keywords are also important to get more viewers. So use your keywords in video title, description, tags, include your main keyword more than 2 times in title. Do not use Google stopped words more than 2 times. Google always ignore the following types of words: “a”, “I”, “at”, “in”, “me”, “my”, “no”, “of”, “to” or “we”. 

Vimeo is a great way to promote blogs, websites, services and products. But promoting video too needs attention, time and good work. Mentioned points are work full and if implemented we can go viral in video marketing.