Subscribe to SearchDay, our free daily e-mail summarizing the day's Search Marketing News.

March 29, 2009 - April 4, 2009

News Blogs Are Becoming the New Online Newspapers

Back in December 2007, I observed that "Blogs Are the New Trade Press." Today, it appears that news blogs are becoming the new online newspapers, too.

According to "The State of the News Media 2009," an annual report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, "nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009 may be the worst year yet."

It adds, "Perhaps least noticed yet most important, the audience migration to the Internet is now accelerating. The number of Americans who regularly go online for news, by one survey, jumped 19% in the last two years; in 2008 alone traffic to the top 50 news sites rose 27%."

In other words, people are still looking for news, "But audiences now consume news in new ways. They hunt and gather what they want when they want it, use search to comb among destinations and share what they find through a growing network of social media," reported the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

A Pew Research Center Survey in December 2008, found the number of Americans who said they got "most of their national and international news" online increased 67% in the last four years. The presidential election was almost certainly a key factor in the growth. More than a third of Americans said they got most of their campaign news from the Internet in 2008 -- triple the percentage in previous presidential election year.

Although the growth in online news consumption cut across age groups, the growth was fueled in particular by young people. Young voters and activists now rank the Internet as a news source of importance parallel to television, according to the Pew Research Center Survey.

The State of the News Media 2009 added, "And the video site YouTube also became a major delivery system for people to get news posted and recommended by friends and associates, and often from political campaigns. The Obama camp reported more than a billion minutes of campaign-produced material was downloaded from YouTube. And Youtube reported that the Obama campaign's 1800 web videos were viewed 100 million times in total."

According to Pew Research Center data, as of August 2008 the percentage of Americans who went online regularly for news (at least three times a week) was up 19% from two years earlier to nearly four in ten Americans (37%). No other medium was growing as quickly. Most saw audiences flat or declining.

The new numbers put the Web ahead of several other platforms for the first time. In the same August survey, 29% of Americans said they "regularly" watched network nightly news, 22% watched network morning shows and 13% Sunday morning shows.

The percentage of Americans, who relied on the Internet regularly, according to this data, was now roughly similar to that who regularly watched cable television for news (39%). More people still read a newspaper "yesterday" (34%) or listened to news radio (35%) than had viewed news online "yesterday" (29%). But the gap was narrowing.

Although the shift in audiences from print newspapers to online newspapers is "old news," Newsknife, which rates the top news sites at Google News, has just reported some "new news" that indicates of source gathering the news is also shifting.

According to an article posted yesterday, Newsknife noticed changes at Google News at the beginning of March that could affect traffic to news sites.

It appears to Newsknife that Google News has significantly increased its listing of blogs. "Compared with our previous findings there's now a real blogstorm," it reported.

Newsknife found 150 blog sites at Google News during March. "The growing number of blogs appearing at Google News seems to offer a simple success formula to news site owners: start blogs for your site and increase your chances of being listed at Google News," it advised.

Many news site owners started doing this a year ago. For example, Newsknife reported on March 1, 2008, a that blogs from the Washington Post, New York Times, Baltimore Sun, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times were starting to appear in Google News.

The topic of news business models for publishers in these changing times was addressed at SES New York last week. I moderated a panel that included (in aphapbetical order): Mark M. Edmiston, Managing Director of AdMedia Partners; Murray Gaylord, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Insights at NYTimes.com; Erik Matlick, CEO of Madison Logic; and Gill Torren, Associate Publisher of SC Magazine at Haymarket Media.

Following the session, Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Gaylord about the changing media landscape. Gaylord says The New York Times was aware of social media's impact back in the 1990's and has taken steps to integrate such developments into its brand making it the largest news site on the Web.

Gaylord added that NYTimes.com has more than 55 blogs and is integrating thousands of videos and related digital media into to its website, making the NY Times the most shared site on the Web. He went on to highlight a particular New York Times collaboration with Facebook, in advance of President Obama's inauguration.

S. Murray Gaylord, VP Marketing, New York Times, on social media's impact on publishing

What does this mean to readers of this Search Engine Marketing News Blog, which is also one of the more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide that have their headlines aggregated by Google News?

It means news search SEO is larger than press release optimization. It's larger than news article optimization. It includes blog post optimization.

And based on the latest Newsknife findings, it appears that news bloggers may be better at optimizaing their posts than traditional newspaper reporters. And this was happenening even before the economy collapsed.

What are the implications? The news industry has to reinvent itself sooner than it thought. And it has to do this at a time when economists are trying to draw the line between a recession and a depression.

In the meantime, marketers need to focus on the news blogs that are becoming the news online newspapers.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 3, 2009, 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Med Students to Provide Answers on Health Search Engine

Health search engine Healia will be getting some assistance from medical students to help answer questions in the community section of their site. The feature is a results of a partnership with the American Medical Student Association.

Between 75% and 80% of U.S. internet users have searched online for health information, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

If you've ever been in a health forum, you know that finding answers can get a little crazy. Oftentimes, it turns into a Worst Case Scenario portfolio.

Sites such as WebMD or MayoClinic.com provide good information, but if you have a nuanced question, they may not have what you're looking for.

It will be interesting to see if having med students on Healia can fill this gap in online health information. At the very least, it's great that tomorrow's doctors will experience how their patients approach health care online. Hopefully it can help them incorporate technology, internet, and even search into their practices.

Trulia Sees Strong Traffic Growth in Q1 2009

Recently, Trulia announced that they experienced record growth in February 2009. That success was a sign of a good first quarter in terms of traffic for the real estate search site.

Compared to the first quarter of 2008...

Visits increased by 40%
Property views increased by 50%
Page views increased by 63% across home listings, stats & trends and Trulia Voices
Trulia Voices community site membership increased by 61%
Questions asked increased by 160%

"This was by far our best quarter to date," said Pete Flint, Trulia CEO and co-founder. "Consumers were more engaged than ever and we believe there is pent up demand as prices have reached new lows. Everyone at Trulia is committed to providing consumers with innovative products and access to data and resources to help find the home of their dreams and to better understand the real estate values in their ideal neighborhoods as we spring into the open house season."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 3, 2009, 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Zillow Partners with 180 Newspapers for Co-Branded Real Estate Sites

Last September, real estate search site Zillow announced a newspaper consortium. This week Zillow is partnering with 180 newspapers to create co-branded real estate sites. The Tampa Tribune and 100 papers with Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. have launched. Papers such as the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem Journal are among those that will launch in the coming months.

"This next step of the Zillow Newspaper Consortium brings Zillow's unique local content and data to millions of online newspaper visitors searching for real estate information," said Lloyd Frink, Zillow president. "As our newspaper partners evolve and build out online content, we're excited to be a key part of the process."

Zillow has content for over 88 million homes in the United States, 3.3 million of which are for sale.

"The combination of Zillow's cutting-edge real estate technology with CNHI's deep community relationships will help us serve local readers and businesses in exciting new ways," said Donna Barrett, CEO of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. "This relationship with Zillow will help cement our status as the deepest, richest source of local information in our markets."

Related Reading:
Zillow Launches Answers Feature
Zillow Unveils Automated Quote API
Zillow Launches Free Professional Directory

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 3, 2009, 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DiggBar Enables Easier Social Bookmarking, Sharing

Lately, we've seen the emergence of toolbar-esque social media features that enable sharing and social networking without having to install a toolbar or visit a complete site. Google Friend Connect's Social Bar enables social networking with a horizontal "bar" of social networking that web developers can place on their site. Facebook has a bar that runs along the bottom of the page while you're hanging out on their site.

Now, DiggBar comes along to make the Digg experience easier. Whenever you're on a site, you can simply type "digg.com/" in front of the URL to launch the DiggBar.

From there you can add comments, share on Facebook, Twitter, etc. or click the "Random" button to see a random Digg submission.

Of course, this is very reminiscent of StumbleUpon's toolbar, but it does make it easier to Digg. I expect we'll continue to see these social bars pop up on more and more sites.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 2, 2009, 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google Shows Local Results for Non-Local Queries

Do a search for a broad keyword and you're likely to come across some local results in Google now. You don't even have to be signed into your Google account.

The local results appear along with a Google Map about mid-way down the page. It's hit or miss. I was able to produce the results for "golf" and "pizza" but not "coffee."

Must give props where props are do. Florist SEO Watch blogged about this over the weekend and was pointed out to Mike Blumenthal (where I learned of it) by Cathy Rhulloda.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 2, 2009, 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo! Launches New Mobile Site and iPhone App

Yahoo! has unveiled a new mobile version of their site. It can be accessed at http://new.m.yahoo.com. Check it out, compared to the old version:

New

Old

Yahoo! has also released a mobile app for the iPhone. They previously have released Inquisitor as an iPhone app (of which yours truly is a big fan) as well as Yahoo! oneConnect as an app. Now, the new Yahoo! mobile app is basically their portal, app-style.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 2, 2009, 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Matthew Liu Discusses YouTube Insight and Sponsored Videos

At SES New York last week, one of the speakers at the conference session, "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 & Beyond," was Matthew Liu, the the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos. You may remember him from such hits as the "YouTube Sponsored Videos Overview."

Well, enough about the past. Liu spoke about some of YouTube's newest applications, including YouTube Insight and YouTube Sponsored Videos, at SES New York. For example, he discussed how Insight, an analytics tool, allows users and advertisers to learn more about their videos and how much traffic they are receiving.

Liu also discussed how you can use Sponsored Videos to promote your videos on YouTube. He said Sponsored Videos is like "AdWords" for Youtube.

And just like Matt Cutts of Google, who always draws a crowd after he speaks at a session, Liu also drew a crowd after he spoke last week. Check out the video interview below.

YouTube Product Manager Matthew Liu on YouTube's Insight and Sponsored Videos

As the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos, Liu focuses on building an advertising platform that allows video creators -- from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser -- to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos. Previously, Liu led numerous other projects at YouTube for advertising, content partnerships and rights management, and community engagement.

Liu has a MS in Management Science & Engineering and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 2, 2009, 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Suggest Goes International

Last August, Google set a search query suggestion feature as default on its homepage. But like many Google features, it was rolled out to the U.S. only.

Now, Google Suggest is going abroad. It's available to 155 domains in 51 languages.

Adjusting search suggestions for different languages and regions involves more than simply adding a feature. You have to understand locations and interest. For example, a search in the UK that begins with "liv" is probably headed for a query related to "Liverpool," while in the US it would be for one of the most vital organs in the human body.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 2, 2009, 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twitter Tests Search-Centric Interface (We've Got Screenshots!)

Twitter is testing an interface that incorporates new search features. The interface is an attempt to keep it simple by using the original Twitter design. The test has been rolled out to a subset of people. I was pleasantly surprised to sign in and see my profile was getting the test page. Now I get to show you what's up!

First up, the search box is included on the sidebar. Previously, Twitter was testing a search box in the top right navbar. You'll also notice trends underneath the search box.

Next, the search results appear right there on the homepage, where you would normally see the Tweets from your Tweeps.

You can also save your search if you wish to return to it at a later date. When you do, it lists the search under the search box:

What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 2, 2009, 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read "The Truth About Search Engine Optimization" by Rebecca Lieb

Read, don't skim, "The Truth About Search Engine Optimization" by Rebecca Lieb. It's has just been published by FT Press and this book reveals 51 proven search engine optimization techniques and bite-siz, easy-to-use advice that gets results.

Okay, I should disclose that I've know Rebecca Lieb for years. She was the The ClickZ Network's editor-in-chief for over seven years, which is about as long as I've been doing SEO PR. But she now oversees the U.S. operations of Econsultancy, the leading source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and e-commerce. So, I have no conflict of interest in plugging her book.

Lieb spoke at SES New York last week and Jamie O'Donnell, the co-founder of SEO-PR, interviewed her about the target audience for her new book. As she says in her introduction, "It's not a book for geeks. It will not teach you how to write code, or get you up to your elbows in programming. But whether you're a small webmaster or a chief marketing officer overseeing a search optimization initiative, you will learn tactics, strategies, and best practices for wrapping your arms around this whole search thing."

Rebecca also discusses her favorite takeaways from her new book. Of course, my favorite is Truth 22: "Using SEO PR as a link strategy."

Check out the interview below:

Rebecca Lieb, eConsultancy, on her new book about search engine optimization

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 2, 2009, 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Twouble with Twitter" - No, This Isn't an April Fools' Day Prank

I know it's April Fools' Day, but the video below actually was posted to Dailymotion a week ago. Which was about the time that Guy Kawasaki, the co-founder of Alltop.com, was giving his opening keynote at SES New York about "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media."

Since people are still Tweeting about Kawasaki's tips and tools, I figured that you might enjoy this as much as the Digg community seems to be, where it is called: "'Twouble with Twitter' - Hilarious Animation."

Twouble with Twitter
Uploaded by tux-planet

Twouble with Twitter

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 1, 2009, 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

4/1/09: We Won't Get Fooled Again (Puts On Sunglasses)

It's that time of year. April Fool's Day. What's news and what's fake? Here are the jokes for 4/1/09:

Live Search Hotspots

Which reminds me of this video from Qualcomm:

(This is an image, click to go to the page with the video - couldn't embed, sorry)

YouTube revealed a new layout, which made viewing Jeffrey Wooten's Punch List even more interesting than usual today.

Google CADIE (Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity)

CADIE can even search your brain for that word that's on the tip of your tongue.

Gmail Autopilot

Yahoo introduced Ideological Search so you can stop thinking for yourself. Click Donkey if you sway blue and Elephant if you're a red head:

Reddit redesigns and looks suspiciously like another bookmarking site, I can't quite put my finger on it....

ThinkGeek launched a new line of products:

Meanwhile, CafePress launched Cafepress-o-pedia:

Pirate Bay has made peace with Warner Brothers:

Woot! has a special deal on shipping - it's just $1,000,000.00! (One day only!)

What April Fools Jokes have you seen today? Point us to the good ones in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 1, 2009, 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SES Speakers to Be Outfitted with Buzzword Shock Wristband

Was last week's SES New York just too filled with buzzwords? Was Guy Kawasaki's keynote too predictable? Did you feel that reading Lisa Barone's live blog coverage was the same as actually being there?

Those days are over.

From now on, if an SES speaker ever utters a buzzword, they will be shocked by this hi-tech wristband from ThinkGeek.

Buzzwords that trigger the wristband include:

integration
transparency
visibility
user intent
funnel
engagement
conversation
buzzword
tactics
collaboration
syncing
maturation
competency
paradigm
discovery
relationship
leveraging
globalization
optimization

What do YOU think of the buzzword shock wristband? Leave your comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 1, 2009, 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Is Your IT Department the Department of SEO Prevention?

Although I conducted this interview with Jill Whalen, the CEO of HighRankings, in February at SES London 2009, I've been saving it for April Fool's Day. Why? Because we talk about the IT Department, which is often called the Department of SEO Prevention in many organizations.

One of my tips to get the IT folks on board with that an SEO consultant recommends and your organization needs to make is to buy pizza for everyone who claims to be too busy to implement them. Check out some of the other practical advice that Whalen shares in what has become an ongoing mission of hers.

Jill Whalen, HighRankings, on building better relationships between marketing and IT

By the way, High Rankings is offering new intermediate-advanced 1/2 day SEO workshops on April 2 and 3, 2009, in Framingham, MA. One is on keyword research, another on SEO copywriting, a third on social media marketing, and the fourth is about web analytics.

If you tell Jill that you're from the IT Department, you could get a slice of pizza. Then again, this could be an April Fool's joke that I just made up and all you'll get is an in-depth website marketing workshop.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on April 1, 2009, 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft to Announce Third Quarter Results April 23, 2009

Microsoft has announced that it will release its third quarter earnings on Thursday April 23, 2009. (For many companies, it's time for first quarter earnings, but Microsoft's fiscal year begins in July instead of January.)

The earnings will be announced via conference call at 2:30pm PST on the 23rd. A live webcast of the call will be made available at the investor relations site which can be found here.

In January, Microsoft surprised Wall Street by releasing its 2nd quarter earnings several hours earlier than announced.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 1, 2009, 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdWords Brings Rich Media and Video Templates to Display Ad Builder

Last October, Google launched a display advertising builder in AdWords to help online advertisers create banner ads. Since then, the tool has received a few updates as well as the addition of various templates from time to time. For example, last week a coupon template was released.

This week, rich media and video templates are being added to the mix. Advertisers will be able to track interactions such as mouseover rates and use multiple destination URLs with these new templates.

Here's a video introducing the new templates:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 1, 2009, 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google News Expands Local Feature to UK, Canada, and India

In February 2008, Google News launched a feature that allowed users to view local news. The feature is a section of the Google News homepage. Users simply type in their zip code or city and get headlines from their area. The feature, like most Google products and updates, debuted to a US-only audience.

Now, users in the UK, Canada, and India are getting the local news feature for their respective Google News sites.

If you can't find the local section on your page, click the "Personalize this page" link in the top right corner. Select "Add local section" and you should be good to go.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on April 1, 2009, 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Job Search Site, Simply Hired, Expands to Germany, Spain and France

The job search site, Simply Hired, has announced its expansion to Germany, Spain and France. Simply Hired already has job search sites for the U.S., Australia, Canada, India and the U.K. and has aggregated 5 million jobs worldwide.

"Each of Simply Hired's websites is tailored for the job seeker, with features and functionality that empower them to lead the pack of candidates applying for any given job," said Sachin Shah, director of product management, Simply Hired. "By design, the Simply Hired websites show job seekers their requested results and then enable them to click directly to the originating website, facilitating the most direct interaction with the employer."

Related Reading:
Job Search is Fastest Growing Online Content Category in 2008
Top 10 Toughest Jobs to Fill? The Top 3 Are In Search Engine Marketing
The 5 Web Resources You Need to Find a Job in Search
Matt McGowan Quoted in BusinessWeek Article about SEO Jobs

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Long Term Tech Exec to Exit Yahoo!

Another executive at Yahoo! is planning to leave the Sunnyvale search engine. Venkat Panchapakesan, executive vice president of the Audience Technology Group will say farewell at the end of the summer. It will be almost one year after consumer-facing platforms were moved under his direction after a Yahoo! reorganization last summer.

Panchapakesan was CEO of Yahoo! India R&D from 2003-2006. He's returning to India after an 11 year stint as a Purple Person.

While at Yahoo!, Panchapakesan worked on a bunch of products including Mail, Flickr, Answers, Groups, Messenger and content properties. Prior to Yahoo!, Panchapakesan worked for Hewlitt Packard.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jimmy Wales Whacks Wikia Search

Jimmy Wales launched Wikia Search a little over a year ago. His idea was to build a user-generated search. It opened to not-so-great fanfare and the dismal economy didn't help things. Wales said that due to a reassessment of priorities, he's nixing Wikia Search.

Not all Wikia products are suffering a dark fate. Wikia Answers is proving to be quite popular, which holds with the current trend in the popularity of Answers sites.

Wales hopes to return to his Wikia Search project during future, more profitable times. He holds strong to his belief in openness and transparency in search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yield Software Launches Search Marketing Suite

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with the guys from Yield Software about their brand spankin' new search marketing software that they're launching today. It's called the Yield Web Marketing Suite and it automates several tedious search marketing tasks into one.

There are 3 components to the suite:

SEO - The software will scan your web page, run library of best practices, monitor what's happening with search engines, and offer analysis. But don't expect any sketchy recommendations. It's only white hat here, folks.
Paid Search - Yield offers automated bid management for the big three search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. You can view all of your campaigns in a single place. The software also offers keyword optimization.
Landing Page Optimization - You can use Yield to help create multivariate experiments. If it sounds intimidating, don't freak out - there are step by step instructions to help. You can also have it automatically display the most successful version to increase conversions.

Yield offers month-to-month contracts that start at $129. The software is web-based so you don't have to worry about downloading or installation.

Best part? You can try it free for 30 days. The Yield team gave me a demo and the software looks slick and user-friendly.

What do you think of Yield's Web Marketing Suite? Demo the software and then head back here and give your review in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Twitter Taps Ex-Google Lead Designer Doug Bowman as Creative Director

Recently, Visual Design Lead Doug Bowman left Google because he felt it was too constricting of an environment for a designer. I wasn't surprised. Marissa Mayer holds a tight leash on all things Google design-wise. Managing a design effort that's based on an old style serif font with primary colors and micromanaged by an executive with a programming background is probably not the dream of most cutting edge designers.

But don't feel bad for Bowman. The hottest tech company out there right now has picked him up. Twitter has tapped Bowman to be their Creative Director.

When you think of Twitter and design, a few things come to mind:

A very bubbly logo
A bird
Small birds attempting to lift a very infamous whale

It will be interesting to see where Bowman takes Twitter. There's no doubt the company is evolving. With the inevitable monetization methods on the horizon, design will likely play a key role.

But design also has its role in simply updating Twitter as is. Twitter has tweaked the front page a lot since its inception, from testing a search box to a sidebar overhaul. The design efforts have been squarely under co-founder Biz Stone's responsibilities.

Of course, Biz is a very busy dude right now, so hiring a Creative Director appears to be a wise delegation.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Starts a Venture Capitalist Fund

If you didn't think Google had enough dominance in search, try this on for size: the search engine giant has started a venture capitalist fund. The areas they seek to invest are:

Consumer Internet
Software
Clean-tech
Bio-tech
Health care

Google says more industries could be added in the future as their interest determines. Google says it will follow the best practices of "top-tier, financially focused venture capital firms" and place Googlers at the center of the effort.

Will Google be successful? I'm sure a lot of you have opinions on the matter. Let 'em rip in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 31, 2009, 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Andrew Goodman to Guy Kawasaki: You are Ruining Twitter!

At SES New York last week, I was amazed that the buzz generated by Guy Kawasaki's keynote about "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media" lasted more than 24 hours. Well, now it's a week later and everyone's still talking about the implications of what the author of Reality Check and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures said in his bully pulpit.

Andrew Goodman at SES San Jose 2008.jpg For example, check out Andrew Goodman's latest post in Traffick: "Is Guy Kawasaki Singlehandedly Ruining Twitter? (Part I)." Goodman says, "I'm relatively new to Twitter, but then again, I'm not slow :), so I have seen these kinds of trends come and go. Mostly, since the late 1990's, what we've seen are spammers in various channels tell us that they're the cool ones and not really spamming."

And then as quietly and calmly as someone who is about to take you to the woodshed, Goodman adds, "I'd love to be able to make the point that it's not about the man, it's about the tactics. As honorable as that might be, it's impossible to separate the two... as you'll see."

You're going to have to read Goodman's next 17 paragraphs for yourself. I haven't seen this kind of outburst by a mild mannered Canadian since Molson ran its extremely popular ad, "The Rant", in 2000.

However, let me give you one small sample: "If everyone listened to Guy Kawasaki and admired his Twitter tactics, Twitter would start looking more and more like a digital trailer park."

I'm just glad that I don't live in Buffalo anymore. Or, I would have been blistered by the heat from nearby Toronto.

Maybe everything on the Twitter front will have cooled down by the time SES Toronto is held June 8-10, 2009. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Remember, Molson's commercial, "The Rant", was a remarkable success, spawning a number of parodies and copycats. This includes William Shatner's variation, "I am not a Starfleet commander."

So, I don't think we've seen the last of this.

I know that Twitter has an 140-character limit. Now, if only we could limit responses to Kawasaki's keynote to 140 Tweets.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on March 31, 2009, 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

MySpace Mobile Application to Support Microsoft Windows Mobile and Silverlight

A new MySpace mobile application set to debut this summer will support Microsoft Windows Mobile as well as Microsoft Silverlight. Silverlight is technology similar to Adobe's Flash that powers rich media.

"We are pleased to bring MySpace users the benefits and flexibility of Microsoft's platforms," said Aber Whitcomb, chief technology officer of MySpace. "Our relationship enables app developers to use Silverlight to create engaging MySpace apps and allows Windows Mobile users to have a more personal MySpace experience on their phone."

MySpace already has mobile applications for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Sidekick, Palm, and Nokia.

Related Reading:
MySpace Launches Self-Service Ad Platform
Facebook & MySpace Connect: Good Idea or Social Media Catastrophe?
Google, Yahoo & MySpace Team Up for OpenSocial

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 30, 2009, 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Search Drives 5th Consecutive Record Setting Year in Internet Advertising

Despite the economic decline of 2008, internet advertising reached $23.4 billion, setting a new record high. Records have been set for five consecutive years, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Search grew 19% over 2007, maintaining its role as the driving force behind the continued (yet slowed) growth in internet advertising.

Meanwhile, digital video is on the rise, more than doubling revenues from $324 million in 2007 to $734 million in 2008.

The fourth quarter of 2008 was the first time a single quarter surpassed $6 billion.

"We are seeing an ongoing secular shift from traditional to online media as marketers recognize that ad dollars invested in interactive media are effective at influencing consumers and delivering measurable results," said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. "In this uncertain economy, where marketers know they need to do more with less, interactive advertising provides the tools for them to build deep, engaging relationships with consumers--the experience marketers gain from this will deliver dividends especially after the economy turns around."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 30, 2009, 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Report: Jonathan Miller to Run NewsCorp's Digital Unit

AOL's former Chief Executive Jonathan Miller has been approached by NewsCorp to head up their digital unit, according to reports. Miller is under a non-compete agreement with AOL, but that expires within days. The agreement prevented Miller from joining Yahoo!'s expanded board, a compromise with investor Carl Icahn last summer during the Microsoft acquisition aftermath.

Currently, Miller is a partner at investment firm Velocity Interactive Group. He left AOL in 2006. Last fall, it was rumored that he wanted to buy Yahoo, but it turned out he was raising funds for Velocity, not a Yahoo purchase.

NewsCorp is the parent company of MySpace. They also have an investment in fast-rising online video site, Hulu.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 30, 2009, 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google AdSense Says Goodbye to YouTube Video Feature

Google will no longer be offering YouTube video ads in AdSense. Apparently, the feature hasn't performed as well as AdSense had hoped. Publishers may still get video ads if they accept image ads on their sites or if the produce video content and use AdSense for video.

Meanwhile, if publishers still want to feature YouTube videos, they can, of course, embed videos directly on their site. They can also create playlists to feature multiple videos.

What do you think of Google killing YouTube video ads? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Google AdSense Releases News Widget
AdSense Publisher Sues Google - And Wins
Google AdSense Allows Feed Ad Review

Posted by Nathania Johnson on March 30, 2009, 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

See More Posts From:

This Week | This Month