This week, Inc. 5000 magazine published a list of the 5000 most successful businesses in terms of growth. Marcel Media is proud to announce its ranking of 817 out of 5000 of the fastest growing companies in the nation.  The rankings are based on the amount of revenue growth of an independently owned company from 2004 through 2007. Within these three years, Marcel Media’s growth has reached 434 percent.

“Marcel Media is honored that our customers and dedicated management team have made it possible for us to be named to the Inc 5000 list,” said Kelly Cutler, Marcel Media Co-Founder and CEO.

Marcel Media also ranks 70 for the Top 100 Advertising & Marketing Companies.  Not only has Marcel Media ranked high nationally, but its honors are prominent in the Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin regions by ranking number 39 for Top 100 Businesses in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI.

Since its start in 2003, Marcel Media has brought many successes to clients in an array of industries.

“For over five years, our team has established a proven track record of helping our clients increase website visibility, traffic, and customer acquisition,” added Ben Swartz, Marcel Media Co-Founder and President.

Success appears to be at the horizon for the Inc. 5000 company, which hopes to see continual growth in the upcoming months and years.

The Real Estate industry is the latest one embracing web 2.0 technologies. Social networks for real estate agents, brokers and individuals interested in buying and selling their homes continue to rise in popularity. Trulia, for example, is a listing site for available homes as well as industry news. Trulia has upped their services by introducing mobile capabilities. Trulia’s mobile site is available through the Apple’s iPhone application, as well as via other Smartphones like the Blackberry. The free app lets iPhone-toting house hunters find listings and open houses in their vicinity.

Trulia looks to out beat competition from other sites like FrontDoor.com, which is owned by HGTV and StreetEasy.com, which already has an iPhone application (with 5,000 downloads, reportedly). Real estate seems to be the next industry to utilize mobile media to its advantage, reaching its users everywhere. While some speculate that this may hinder the effectiveness of a real estate agent, it may just be the tool that can connect possible buyers with an agent, facilitating the home buying process.

Last week’s announcement of the advances in Google’s Android sparked much interest. Recent reports state that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the Android System for use in the United States. The Android System is backed by Taiwan-based company, HTC. The phone currently in production is called the Dream, and already has the fourth largest wireless carrier, T-mobile, as a service provider.

The Android system is said to give Google an edge in the open source and Linux mobile operating system industry. Google faces current competition from companies such as the Symbian Foundation and the LiMo foundation. Will Google have the right product to come out on top? It appears as though the search engine giant does in fact have a chance of changing mobile, especially since news reports have reported the introduction of the Dream phone by the end of 2008.

Many niche social networking sites have arisen in the past months. After LinkedIn was valued at $1 billion, moreover, business professional social networks have become increasingly popular. TalkBizNow.com is one of the sites that boasts being a full service professional site. This includes an array of digital tools such as webinar capabilities, instant messaging, blogging, a calendar function and file storing. LinkedIn’s new competition, TalkBizNow, says it hopes to get 3 million users within the first six months.

What gives TalkBizNow a possible edge against LinkedIn? While TalkBizNow offers similar features as LinkedIn in that it brings business contacts together, TalkBizNow goes one step further. Not only can contacts keep in touch, but users can do business with each other on the site, too (either within one company or within business-to-business). Nevertheless, LinkedIn remains the top business professional social networking site. Will users stay loyal to LinkedIn, or will TalkBizNow take over?

Online advertisement has changed drastically throughout the years. Online ads are becoming more and more personal, so much that things like customized ads have become largely popular among businesses. Internet provider, AT&T is considering observing the online behaviors and activities of its users to help understand their reactions to ads. This can help businesses track what users do when they go online, and can capitalize by advertising on websites users frequently visit. Although AT&T has not created the software or tools that would enable them to monitor its customers’ activities, they report that they have their customers’ best interest in mind.

While this can be beneficial to businesses and marketers, users may be turned off to AT&T’s services, as they can feel like their privacy is being compromised. AT&T, however, is aware of this issue and reports that having one’s Internet activity monitored would be completely optional.

Although Mobile web browsing is becoming increasingly popular, it is important to note that the majority of users do not own a Smartphone. This deters users from receiving email, and calls for less user-friendly web browsing. However, BlueWhaleMail is a new application that allows users without Smartphone capabilities to experience aspects of the web such as social networking, without logging on.

Users without Smarphones can now social network on the go through the BlueWhaleMail application. Users simply download the application, and have access to sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. It works similar to a text message in that when a Facebook friend updates their status or profile, users are notified through their cellular phone. Users can then respond to these updates through the application. There is a larger emphasis on being able to go on Facebook through phones from manufacturers such as Nokia and SonyEricsson, as users can download the application through Facebook’s website. The emphasis placed on social networks through mobile phones is just one way in which social media is becoming more and more prominent in everyday life.

Insights for Search is the new Google tool introduced this week that is said to track how popular several; phrases are within users’ Google searches. Insights for Search can differentiate between similar terms, but different products. For example, one could filter a search for ‘apple’ by excluding the product, and only including the fruit. The tool can also give an in-depth look at where (geographically) certain phrases are searched the most, say, across states, regions, or even neighborhoods. Additionally, one can see at what times throughout the day a keyword becomes popular.

Insights for Search is an addition of Google Trends, which can track what keywords users are searching. Insights for Search is positioned for success both with advertisers as well as business owners who want to track their websites.

Social Networking site Friendster has not been able to keep up with big names like Myspace or Facebook. However, recent news shows that ex Google employee, Richard Kimber has become the CEO for Friendster. IDG Ventures has also invested $20 million worth of funding. Although these recent plays by Friendster give it momentum for a possible comeback in the social networking industry, its tactics are a bit different in terms of who Friendster is targeting.

Although Facebook and Myspace are the leaders in social networking in the United States, such is not the case in Asia, where Friendster takes the reign. For instance, Friendster is the number one social networking site in Singapore. Kimber plans on continuing Friendster’s work on targeting the Asian-Pacific region, and may have success in doing so.

The rise of Wikipedia has greatly influenced the search engine industry. When users perform searches, the top results usually include a Wikipedia article on the searched subject. However, Google has announced their new implementation of Knol, a website much like Wikipedia.

Wikipedia prides itself of its reliance on users to generate content on the site. One problem that can result in this, however, is the lack of credibility that can be associated with such articles. Nevertheless, the articles that are created and edited are still moderated. What makes Knol better that can potentially outdo Wikipedia? Knol will depend on more reliable sources for its articles. For example, the original creator will be the only one who can make edits to the article. Additionally, Knol verifies user identity with more scrutiny than Wikipedia, making misuse of the site less likely.