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May 24, 2009 - May 30, 2009

Nice to meet you Chandler Bing 'BING!', Great apartment Chandler Bing 'BING!'

It seems like every time we talk he wants to say my name, so that when he gets to my last name he can exaggerate the bing. BING!" - Chandler Bing on Friends

It's not like Microsoft didn't know what was coming. Choosing a name like Bing for their new search engine was bound to attract all sorts of reaction. It's a source of curiosity and quickly became fodder for jokes and references.

The first thing that came to my mind is Chandler Bing, arguably one of the most charming yet sarcastic characters in US sitcom history. Played by Matthew Perry, Chandler Bing was one of the six Friends on the hit TV show that helped define Thursday nights as a "Must See TV" night. On the show, both his first and last names were the sources of many a tease, but he took it all in stride, something Microsoft appears to be doing as well.

Another famous Bing is a crooner and classic movie star who went by the last name Crosby. Most famous for his hit musical White Christmas, Crosby's smooth vocals grace our ears every December. Crosby was a true triple threat. He could sing, dance, and act with the best of them. Microsoft is taking the multi-faceted approach as well, by tackling various niches from travel to shopping to health.

Then there are the plays on the word Bing as well as colloquialisms and acronyms. Ba da bing ba da boom is a phrase that, according to Urban Dictionary, means something that is done quickly and easily. "Bing It On" is a take on the phrase "Bring It On," while many speculated that Bing stood for "Boy, It's Not Google."

When I asked Whitney Burk of the Bing Team why the name was chosen, she said the word "sounded like the moment of discovery." But Bing is more than a sound. Burk said the word is simple, easy to remember and globally appropriate.

Oh yeah, and Burk said that Bing does NOT stand for "Boy It's Not Google." It's not an acronym.

The ultimate question when it comes to branding and naming is, "Does it pass the verb test?" Xerox, FedEx, Google and Twitter have all seen their names turned into verbs. "Can you Xerox this for me?" and "I need to FedEx the gift in time for Christmas" are phrases you've probably heard before.

Will we now hear people say things like "I Binged chocolate chip cookies and found a great recipe" or "I'm going to Bing his name and see what comes up?"

I'm not so sure. It's not that a brand has to have a name that turns into a verb. You don't put on your running shoes and say, "I'm going Nike-ing." But when it comes to search, people have come to expect it. You hear it when people talk about using Google, even in the movies or on TV.

What happens with the Bing brand remains to be seen. The search engine launches to the public next week and after that, much of it is out of Microsoft's hands. Then, the people will decide if Bing is set to join Chandler, Crosby and the colloquialisms as one of the most famous Bings in history.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Microsoft Teams Up with Tech Partners for Social Networking Enterprise Solution

Microsoft has teamed up with Telligent and speakTECH to form the Social Enterprise Alliance. Via the Alliance comes an enterprise social networking solution for manufacturing and consumer goods sectors companies.

The Social Enterprise Solution is designed to be a robust solution, integrated with a company's site instead of than simply copying and pasting code from Google's Friend Connect or Facebook Connect (which leaves a site co-branded with Google or Facebook).

"The Social Enterprise Alliance with Telligent and speakTECH demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to recognizing partners that collaborate to offer a higher level of solutions and services offerings that are more relevant to customer needs," said Greg Urquhart, general manager, U.S. ISV and National System Integrators, U.S. Partners Group at Microsoft. "By integrating Telligent's Community Server platform with speakTECH's integration and services expertise -- all of which leverage the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server platform -- companies have a better solution to connect with their customers, partners, suppliers and investors."

Ultimately, the Social Enterprise Solution is designed to define and develop communities based around a company.

"Manufacturing and consumer goods companies have a unique opportunity to put the power of social computing to work across all aspects of their business, improving engagement and collaboration of employees, partners, distributors and customers," said Rob Howard, founder and CTO of Telligent. "Holistic social computing solutions enable the agile and innovative enterprise."

As social media continues to grow at a rapid-fire pace, a deep integration of social networking technologies is becoming a necessity for many brands.

"Companies are finding the return on investment for social media campaigns to be aggressively outpacing traditional marketing strategies," said Aaron Sloman, CEO of speakTECH. "It's driving a transformation where traditional marketing departments need to re-tool as interactive marketing agencies."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Omniture Launches Facebook Analytics Solution

Omniture has created a new tool designed to measure the success of Facebook applications. Dubbed App Measurement for Facebook, it utilizes the reporting capabilities of the company's online analytics solution SiteCatalyst.

With App Measurement for Facebook, marketers can view users by how many members they have, see which parts of the app are most popular, monitor video sharing, and observe which users invited their friends to the app.

Check out more screenshots of the tool at Omniture's Flickr stream.

Facebook apps are an increasingly popular way for companies to leverage social media in their online marketing campaigns.

"With more than 200 million active users, marketers are intrigued by the potential of Facebook to help them connect with consumers in personalized and meaningful ways," said Brett Error, CTO and executive vice president, products at Omniture.

But unlike SEO and SEM, social media has been notoriously difficult to measure. App Measurement for Facebook attempts to fill this void.

"The relatively young phenomenon of social media has forced marketers to rely on experimentation to tap into that potential," said Error. "The App Measurement for Facebook solution will deliver actionable insight concerning Facebook applications and help marketers develop data-driven social media marketing strategies that support and positively affect efforts across other online channels."

The tool is now available for SiteCatalyst customers and is part of the Omniture Online Marketing Suite.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Book Settlement Raises Eyebrows in Europe

Google's book settlement in the US is not sitting well with some in Europe. As a result, the EU is commissioning a study on the affects of the settlement on European authors. The deal that Google made with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) includes European authors who have been published in the States. However, they are allowed to opt-out of the deal if they so choose.

The EU, of course, isn't the only one scrutinizing the agreement. Last month, the Department of Justice here in the States launched an antitrust investigation into the settlement, despite the deal's nonexclusive clauses.

Additionally, the settlement must be approved by a court. The hearing is scheduled for October 7, 2009.

The settlement came after two years of disputes and negotiations between Google and the AAP. It involves Google shelling out $125 million to establish the Book Rights Registry, which would kill the existing class action lawsuit against Google for its book search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lyrics, Free Downloads are Among McAfee's Most Dangerous Searches

Security technology company McAfee has identified the world's most dangerous search terms. They searched 2,600 keywords culled from several of the top keyword lists from sources such as search engines and Hitwise. They then ranked them based on risky downloads, browser exploits, email practices, phishing, excessive popups, and linking practices.

The risk for your average search results is low, at just 1.7%. That means if your search returns 250 results, about 4 of them are risky.

But there are certain categories and terms that are more risky than others. Searching for something with the word "free" attached turns out to be a risky venture indeed. Want lyrics to a song? 1 in 4 of the results for an average lyrics search are risky.

Here are the most risky categories as determined by McAfee:

In the United States, these are the most risky keywords:

Globally, one of the most risky searches that can be conducted is for "free work at home" schemes. With the current economic crisis, these search terms may be quite tempting, but they're probably not worth the risk.

McAfee also analyzed risk based on keyword variations. Here is a list of risky root words when looking at variations:

What do you think of this data from McAfee? Leave a comment below to let us know.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 29, 2009, 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dossett Departs Yahoo! After Just Six Months

Jeff Dossett joined Yahoo! last fall but recently gave his resignation. The reason for the departure is personal, according to BoomTown.

Dossett's responsibilities have been assumed by Vertical Audience Experiences head Jimmy Pitaro and Search & Social Applications Tim Mayer.

Dossett originally replaced Scott Moore and Al Warms. Previously, Dossett worked at Microsoft.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Home Buyers More Likely to Search Online than Newspapers for Open House Listings

Trulia is releasing home buying search data from a Harris Interactive-commissioned survey. When looking for open house information, home buyers search:

• 62% online
• 53% info from real estate agents
• 36% neighborhood signs
• 31% newspapers and local flyers

"The real estate section of the weekend newspaper is no longer the go-to resource for open houses," said Sami Inkinen, co-founder and COO of Trulia. "Home buyers are increasingly going online to not only search for the most up to date listings but also to obtain rich information about the neighborhood, schools, and local shops. Both the Trulia.com site and our iPhone application allow home buyers to search for open houses in neighborhoods that interest them, plus they can sign up for email alerts on our website letting them know when new open houses are listed. The print newspaper can't offer that type of experience."

91% of home buyers plan to attend an open house during the purchasing process.

What do you think of this data? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Bing: What to Expect (Hint: It's More Than Just a Live Search Rebrand)

Yes, Microsoft's Bing is a rebranding of Live Search, but there are added features which make it a whole new search engine from the software giant.

What's being carried over from Live Search include the homepage images with hotspots, deep links, Instant Answers, xRank and a slew of features on the local, video, and image searches. Search suggestions are now called "Auto-Suggest." As reported earlier, programs like Cashback and sites like Farecast will be rebranded under the Bing brand.

Here's what's new:

Web Groups affect the way results appear. Certain search terms will have results that are categorized. For example, if you search for a city, you may get groups of results sorted according to restaurants, hotels, weather, airport information and more. A search for a celebrity may sort results according to biography, movies, images, etc. Powerset plays a key role in these groupings. Here are the categories that will be affected by Web Groups:

• Automobiles (car models, car manufacturers)
• Travel/local (countries, cities, states and points of interest such as stadiums, parks and passes)
• People (celebrities, athletes, musicians, bands, politicians, etc.)
• Sports (teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB)
• Health (cancer, diet, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, symptoms, genetic and conditional disease, injury trauma)
• Entertainment (popular television shows and movies)
• Retail (certain electronics such as cameras, cell phones and optics products)
• Events (Oscars, Fourth of July, NASCAR, etc.)

Bing Health is going to include more content directly in the web results. In the screenshot below, you can see how a search for "influenza" brings Quick Tabs in the Explore Pane. When articles is selected, actual articles appear in the results. Content will be provided by nine trusted medical sources including Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society and MedlinePlus.

Best Match is designed to make the most helpful information stand out from the rest. If you're searching for UPS, obviously the UPS site should be first and foremost. Included with the result are deep links and a customer service number. There's also a box in the search results where you can type in a number to track a package.

Quick Previews allow searchers to mouseover results and see more information from the site behind the result. Microsoft says up to 24% of clicks result in a quick click back to search results because searchers quickly realize a page isn't what they're looking for. Quick previews can help prevent those unnecessary clicks.

The Explore Pane is a lefthand sidebar that serves up Recommended Searches (previously on the right hand side in Live Search) as well as search history and quick tabs to information relevant to your search.

Bing will also be available for mobile devices and will power Microsoft's Windows Live and MSN toolbars.

Bing isn't available for public use until next week, but what are your impressions of this preview? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Live Search Provides Instant Answers for MTV Movie Awards

This Sunday, the MTV Movie Awards are finally worth watching again for one reason: Andy Samberg of SNL fame is hosting. But if you can't catch the awards live and want to know which movies are winning the Golden Popcorn trophies, simply go to Live.com (because Bing.com won't be launched yet) and type in "MTV movie awards" for some instant answers.

via the Live Search blog

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Search Adds Sports Shortcuts

Earlier this week, we looked at the Instant Answers that Live Search provides for sports teams and players. Now, Yahoo! is rolling out search shortcuts for sports as well.

Simply type in a team or sporting event and get immediate stats. The shortcut works for NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA, and college sports leagues including the NCAAF and NCAAB.

Here are some examples:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Unveils Custom Search Web Element, Previews Wave at Developer Conference

Google is holding its annual developer conference this week and have unveiled a couple of noteworthy projects.

First up is the Custom Search Web Element. This is a tool that generates code which you can then copy and paste on your site. This is a feature of Custom Search, which you can have on your site to assist in on-site searches. The element supports Promotions, which lets you specify information pertaining to a particular search, as well as refinement tabs, which help filter searches.

Next up is Google Wave. The idea behind Wave is the next era of internet communication. The product was designed by brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen who came to Google via the acquisition of their mapping product Where 2 Tech. A "wave" can be created about a given topic and then people contribute to it with rich formatted text, photos, feeds, and gadgets.

Here's an image provided by the Official Google blog (click to enlarge):

While impressive, I'm not sure how innovative this is. It appears to basically be a fancy-pants wiki. Wikis definitely need this sort of updating, but there's nothing that appears to be truly brand new here.

Having said that, the product is only being released as a developer's preview. The team is still working on Wave for months until it is released for public use.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

All Things Bing: A Roundup of Reaction to Microsoft's Big News

The long-awaited unveiling of Microsoft's new search product finally came today at the D7 conference. Wall Street reacted positively with a 2.11% increase on MSFT, higher than the DJIA of 0.67%. Here's how the media and blogosphere reacted:

First, here's a summary of Steve Ballmer's appearance at the D7 conference.
From the Live Search blog: The sound of found: Bing!
The Official Press Release

5 Things I Want to Know About Bing - PC World
Microsoft's Bing: Powerset's role, market share, brand (and other burning questions)
Microsoft Reveals Its New Search Engine [Video] - Mashable
To Bing or not to Bing? Hands on with Microsoft's new search - Ars Technica
Hands On with Microsoft's Bing Search - PC Mag
Microsoft's Lu on Bing Search: 'A First Step' - Business Week
What Has to Happen for Bing to Win - AdAge
Bloodied By Google, Microsoft Tries Again on Search - NY Time
Confirmed: Microsoft's New Search Engine is Called 'Bing,' Opens June 3rd - Gizmodo
Bing it on: Microsoft overhauls search, again

Interestingly enough, the best source for Bing news was searching Twitter.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Carol Bartz Paints Yahoo! in a Different Light

"It's simple." That's the mantra new Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz kept repeating at her D7 appearance this week. It's a message Bartz wants to get across to both her staff at Yahoo! and the media.

Bartz took to the stage at the annual All Things D conference to be interviewed by Kara Swisher. I found this to be an unusual pairing, as Swisher is constantly publishing rumors leaked by Purple People and Bartz wants to crack down on the moles leaking the info.

Swisher's column at All Things D is a popular one, though and their opposite personalities provided for one heck of an entertaining session.

If you read news articles and blog posts about Yahoo!, you'd be tempted to think that the company is a search engine that just happens to have a few popular websites. But new CEO Carol Bartz wants you to think of Yahoo! as a whole, not just as one of its parts. And while that may seem the opposite of simplification - it isn't.

When Bartz was asked if Yahoo! was a media or a tech company, she essentially responded with asking why there has to be a separation. She's right. It's as if Yahoo! was a human and everyone wants to concentrate on its foot, when it, indeed, has arms, legs, organs, a brain, etc.

This is a fact sometimes lost on Yahoo! itself. Bartz spoke about the silos Yahoo! has constructed, where the homepage division doesn't want to send traffic to the Finance site. They want to keep the traffic for themselves. And if a company has the wrong goals for its divisions, something that creates competition instead of integration, it's easy to see how this would happen.

Thankfully for Yahoo!, Bartz sees the whole picture. While achieving her holistic vision for Yahoo! is painful at times (i.e. recent layoffs and restructuring), Bartz seems poised to build on Yahoo!'s strengths.

Bartz reminded the audience that Yahoo! is one of the most visited sites in the world, and when people arrive, they spend a lot of time hanging out. She seeks to enhance and personalize that experience so that Yahoo! meets a variety of needs for their large, diverse audience.

Of course, one of the most-anticipated moments was Bartz was asked about the possibility of still striking a search deal with Microsoft. Bartz said the possibility was still there but that it required the right alignment of tech, goals and money. Her take was consistent with her goals for integration and streamlining Yahoo!: "It's simple."

Watch highlights from Kara Swisher's interview with Carol Bartz here.
Read a summary of the interview here.
Read a Q&A with Carol Bartz on the Yahoo! blog Yodel Anecdotal here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft Live Search is Now Bing

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today drew back the curtain on the new incarnation of Live Search: Bing.

Speaking at the D7 Conference in San Diego, Ballmer launched Microsoft's new Search brand, formerly code-named "Kumo." Bing will begin rolling out in the coming days and will be fully available on 6/3.

More than just a rebranding of Live Search, Microsoft is repositioning Bing as a "decision engine," with a goal "to provide customers with intelligent search tools to help them simplify tasks and make more informed decisions," according to a Microsoft spokesperson.

Bing's "decision engine" will begin by focusing on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

"Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don't do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find," Ballmer said in a statement. "When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they've found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions."

Bing includes some advancements to Live Search's core search, such as entity extraction and expansion, query intent recognition and document summarization technology. It also offers a new user experience model, which changes based on the query to offer more relevant decision-making tools.

The Bing brand will extend across other Microsoft search products. Microsoft's mapping platform, Virtual Earth, will now be branded as Bing Maps for Enterprise. Technology from Microsoft's April 2008 acquisition of Farecast is now a central part of Bing Travel. Microsoft's popular cashback program is now dubbed Bing cashback, and will be fully integrated into the Bing Shopping experience.

Microsoft has created a new site describing Bing, DiscoverBing.com, and the brand has a new Twitter account, @bing.

Earlier this week, AdAge reported that Microsoft will launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, which will include online, TV, print and radio.

According to AdAge:

People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.

The Bing situation is a lot like Ask.com's situation two years ago, and again last year. In 2007, Ask.com launched a $57 million campaign aimed at winning new searchers with quirky messaging, taking on Google and others head-on. In 2008, it spent another $22 million, but shifted gears to focus on certain niches it was already doing well in.

Those campaigns didn't help Ask.com win any market share. Will Microsoft's campaign for Bing fare any better?

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on May 28, 2009, 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Time Warner Board Approves Plans to Spinoff AOL

The Time Warner Board has voted and AOL will be spun off into an independent company. Right now, Time Warner owns 95% of AOL and Google owns the other 5%. Time Warner plans to buy back the 5% Google stake in the third quarter of 2009 before it spins off AOL.

Brand spankin' new AOL CEO (and former Google VP) Tim Armstrong had this to say:

This will be a great opportunity for AOL, our employees and our partners. Becoming a standalone public company positions AOL to strengthen its core businesses, deliver new and innovative products and services, and enhance our strategic options. We play in a very competitive landscape and will be using our new status to retain and attract top talent. Although we have a tremendous amount of work to do, we have a global brand, a committed team of people, and a passion for the future of the Web.

AOL is made up of media and internet access services. Last year, there was talk of splitting those two divisions into two companies, but thus far, nothing has come of it.

Despite AOL's relatively small chunk of the search market (compared to Google), it's Platform-A online ad network is highly successful, consistently ranking at the top of comScore's online ad rankings and reaching 91% of the U.S. internet audience.

How do you think AOL will fare on its own? Share your predictions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 28, 2009, 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo! Testing Localization on Global Homepages

Yahoo! has been testing a new homepage for a long time now. The latest test involves localization features for global homepages. For example, if you live in the UK, you can get local transportation information via a widget on the left sidebar. The India homepage will feature a cricket app.

Of course, the US homepage is getting apps, access to email accounts (including non-Yahoo! ones) and social networking. You'll be able to check network updates from a variety of sources directly from the homepage.

I've been able to check out the new homepage when signed in and using Firefox as my browser. It definitely has a sleeker design and the widgets are cool if you can make a new habit of using them. Usually, I just get distracted by a front page story or two before I go on to my normal browsing.

Have you seen the new homepage? What do you think? Share your impressions in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Android, iPhone Web Requests Higher Than Their Market Share

AdMob has released its April 2009 mobile metric report and, as expected, the iPhone is rocking the mobile web. While it doesn't dominate the market share for handset sales (yet?), it does produce the most mobile web requests. The iPhone comprised 8% of smartphone market share, but generated 43% of ad mobile ad requests last month.

Android has similar stats, but on a much smaller scale. Android consisted of 1% of smartphone sales but generated 3% of mobile ad requests.

Smartphones on a whole generate far more web requests than their market share. They only make up about 12% of sales but 35% of AdMob's ad requests. Phones using the Symbian operating system (primarily Nokia phones) enjoyed 52% of handset sales in April 2009, but only generated 36% of mobile web requests.

24% of April's requests were made over a WiFi network. The top 5 devices making Wifi requests were:

• iPhone
• iPod touch
• Sony PSP
• HTC Dream
• HTC Dash

Compared to March, global web requests were down 2% for April, but compared to April last year, mobile web requests are skyrocketing:

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yahoo! Image Search Launches Creative Commons Filter

If you need to find photos or graphics that have less restrictions than a fully copyrighted image, Yahoo! is making that easier with a new Creative Commons filter on its image search. Creative Commons does not mean the creator signs away all rights on their content, but they do open it up to greater use.

For example, bloggers flock to Flickr for Creative Commons images that they can use freely on their blogs to complement their writing. Usually all that's needed is a simple attribution to the user who uploaded the image to Flickr.

Of course, Flickr, which Yahoo! acquired in 2005, isn't the only place Creative Commons images can be found. That's why it's nice to have a filter on a broader image search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Live.com Offers Instant Answers for NHL, NBA Playoff Games and Players

If your team wasn't painfully swept in the playoffs last night, you might want to use Live.com to keep up with future playoff games. Typing in the name of a team or player will give you Instant Answers, a feature that Live Search has increasingly been expanding.

Right now the NHL and NBA playoffs are going on. Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Eastern Conference finals, beating my Carolina Hurricanes. The only thing that makes this ok is if they go on to beat the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup. BUT, Detroit's Western Conference playoffs are not over yet. They are up against the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 and need just one more game to move on. Game 5 is tonight and if you're away from your TV, you can check scores via Live.com and get an instant update on what's going on.

Maybe you're not away from your TV, but you're watching the Denver-Los Angeles game in the NBA playoffs. That series is tied at 2 games each. Perhaps you're interested in learning the stats of a particular player. Simply type that player's name into Live.com and get Instant Answers stats.

This feature is a little trickier, however, since players don't have unique names. For example, the Denver Nuggets Chris Anderson shares a name with a name with the editor-in-chief at Wired Magazine. No Instant Answers stats come up for his name.

Another Denver Nugget, J.R. Smith, shares a name with a plumbing products company. His Instant Answers stats show up after the first organic link for that company.

For the majority of names, the Instant Answers stats works just fine. It's a great feature for sports junkies who want to look up stats on the fly.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Adds Display Ads to AdSense Link Unit Pages

When online publishers use AdSense, they have an option to utilize link units. These ads feature a list of links that are contextually based on the content of the page they're featured on.

When the links are clicked on, it takes the user to a page of sponsored links. That page is now getting a display ad at the bottom. Google says the conversion rates are better for pages with the image ad. The display ads are also contextually targeted.

If there are no relevant image ads for the content, no image ad will be shown. It will not be replaced with a public service announcement or blank space.

Advertisers may bid on these display ads on a cost-per-impression (CPM) and cost-per-click (CPC) basis.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digg Removes 'Shout', 'Blog This' Features in Favor of Other Sharing Options

Digg is removing two sharing features from its lineup: the controversial 'Shout' feature and the not-used-so-much 'Blog This' feature. But you can still share content found on Digg.

The new (and also controversial) DiggBar enables email, Facebook and Twitter sharing. Digg also launched Twitter feeds a few months back, which means you can ReTweet links in order to share content as well.

The DiggBar launched last month, and it's a toolbar that frames content instead of installing in your browser. As a result, DiggBar uses Digg URLs, which stirred up opposition from the SEO community.

Digg quickly responded by saying that it had talked with experts at search engines and promised that the DiggBar was SEO-friendly. But judging by the comments and blog posts out there, many SEOs were not convinced. Digg continues to work on SEO issues regarding the DiggBar, hoping that its tweaks will finally win SEOs over.

Many Digg members are notorious for disliking SEOs, as they feel they game Digg simply for linkbait. Of course, those same members often game the system themselves in order to win popularity and have more power on the social bookmarking site.

Digg seems to work diligently to strike balances and update Digg to make it friendly to a wide audience, but it's a challenge indeed. Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook are growing rapidly, potentially threatening the impact Digg once enjoyed in the social networking niche - especially with their ability to share content.

These latest chess moves in the ability to share Digg content seem like an attempt to position the site more in line with the latest trends in content-sharing and social networking. It's an ever-changing scene and there's plenty of room for competition and collaboration.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 27, 2009, 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ask.com Will Not Renew Contract with LookSmart

Ask.com is not renewing its contract with LookSmart. This appears to be a major hit for LookSmart as Ask Sponsored Listings revenue generated 89% of LookSmart's Company Publisher Solutions revenue in Q1 2009 alone.

The partnership between the two companies began in May 2005. The current contract expires on December 31, 2009.

When contacted, Ask.com said that their Sponsored Listings division is working on the next generation of their platform. No further details are available at this time.

An email to LookSmart's financial PR firm was not returned.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 26, 2009, 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

After Successfully Suing Google, Greenspan Settles with Facebook

When it comes to legally challenging tech giants, Aaron Greenspan is on a roll. In March, he won a small claims court suit against Google's AdSense program, which cut him off without warning and without paying him what his site had earned.

It turns out that Greenspan attended Harvard at the same time Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg did. Greenspan developed a network for the Harvard community called houseSYSTEM. The network included course scheduler, student marketplace, email service, automatic birthday reminder, message boards, photo album, digital flyer advertising, event calendar (with online RSVP's), map integration, job placement, and local business reviews. Greenspan thought about adding profiles, but at the time nixed them for security reasons.

houseSYSTEM included a section called 'The Universal Face Book.'

Later, Zuckerberg would add profiles when he started his social network in 2004. And, of course, he called it Facebook.

Naturally, this led to trademark disputes which have now been settled.

This isn't the first time a classmate of Zuckerberg wanted credit for their Harvard-era work. ConnectU's co-founders (and twins) Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, along with co-founder Divya Narendra sued Facebook for idea-stealing. That case was settled as well, with leaked reports purpotedly showing the settlement money in the $65 million range.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 26, 2009, 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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