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October 3, 2008

Two Health Sites Merge to Challenge WebMD

Two health sites have merged in what many are saying will be a challenge to health search giant WebMD. The Revolution Health Network and Waterfront Media are joining forces to dominate the health space. Waterfront Media runs the Everyday Health Network.

AOL co-founder Steve Case, now CEO of Revolution Health said, "When we entered the health care market we knew one of the areas we wanted to focus on was using the Internet to empower consumers and give them more choice, control and convenience. The merger of Waterfront Media and Revolution Health Network builds on each company's complementary strengths to create a new industry powerhouse — thus enabling us to accelerate our efforts to reach the largest, most engaged audience and help people stay healthy, manage chronic disease and deal with serious illness."

What do you think about the merger? Can they take on WebMD? Give your predictions in the comments.

h/t Reuters

Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 3, 2008, 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Blog Search Redesigns as Meme Tracker

Google Blog Search has redesigned and added meme trackers like Techmeme and Megite on the front pages of several categories and the homepage itself.

I've shared a screenshot and you can see how the blog posts are separated by story along with how popular they are. This allows for easy scanning, which is useful if you're looking for blogs talking about a hot topic.

What do you think of the update? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 3, 2008, 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Senator Kohl Wants Oversight of Google-Yahoo Deal

Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is okay with the Google-Yahoo deal, but he wants the DOJ to keep a close eye on the implementation. In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett, Kohl, Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust urges:

Recognizing the nascent and fast-changing nature of this marketplace, we encourage the Department to continue to monitor the state of competition in this industry, whatever the outcome of its current investigation. If, over time, you determine that Google is gaining a dominant market position as a result of the Google-Yahoo agreement, then we would encourage the Justice Department to intervene to protect competition. Even should you conclude at present that this deal is not contrary to antitrust law, the Department must be sure that this deal never in the future crosses the line into an unacceptable, anti-competitive collaboration among competitors which will harm consumers and advertisers.

Kohl also acknowledged both the fears of advertisers and the assurances of Yahoo and Google. I think it's prudent to let the deal go through, but to watch as the program unfolds to see if anti-competitiveness occurs.

What do you think?

h/t Reuters

Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 3, 2008, 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friendster Now Supports Facebook Developer Community

Have a Facebook app? Well, now you can deploy it on Friendster. They're now supporting the Facebook Developer Community. It comes almost two months after deploying the OpenSocial API. This could be a good opportunity if you're looking to go global. Friendster has 80 million members worldwide, many of which are in Asia.

"Friendster's support of both the Facebook and OpenSocial platforms is a big win for business and individual developers, as well as for Friendster users," said David Jones, vice president of global marketing for Friendster. "For the developers that have invested resources in developing and launching a Facebook app, Friendster has now made it very easy for them to 'port' these applications to Friendster, enabling them to tap into Friendster's 80 million users. For Web 2.0 companies that have developed apps using Facebook and OpenSocial APIs, they now have the flexibility to choose between approaches when launching applications on Friendster."

To learn more check out the Friendster Developer Platform.

Related Reading:
Friendster Names Googler as New CEO

Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 3, 2008, 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google No Longer Directory Promoter?

Search Engine Watch Editor Brian E. Ussery noticed Google's Webmaster Guidelines suggestions for improving your sites has removed.getting links from directories. This is not to say Google is not using directories in the algorithm, just they are not pitching for them.

Great catch Brian - good article!

Posted by Frank Watson on October 3, 2008, 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Olympics and Fantasy Football Drive Huge August 2008 for Online Sports

In August, Americans went online at work to get sports info 26% more year-over-year, thanks largely in part to the Olympics and Fantasy Football. Yahoo! Sports enjoyed a whopping 112% growth, putting them in the top spot for the month, according to Nielsen Online

Also of note, visits from women jumped 37% while traffic growth from men increased by 21%.

Here's the chart:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on October 3, 2008, 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Charity Events: Search With a Cause

Search Engine Watch Expert - Frank Watson Search Engine Watch Expert - Chris Boggs Our industry affords us a pretty good living -- the people are friendly and helpful for the most part -- and the work is interesting. We should have no problems digging into our pockets occasionally to give to charity. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Charity Events: Search With a Cause," Frank Watson and Chris Boggs share your next opportunity to do so: next Monday in New York.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on October 3, 2008, 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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