November 9, 2009
Judge Gives Google and Authors Another Book Settlement Extension
Today, Google and the Association of American Publishers were supposed to have reached a new settlement, but instead asked for another extension. Judge Denny Chin, who has been presiding over the case, granted the request.
In September, Judge Chin granted the publishers' request for a delay of the originally scheduled October hearing. The book settlement was announced last spring, but was coming under increased scrutiny from outside groups and the government.
The new deadline is this Friday, November 13.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Google AdWords Adds Two New Alerts
Google AdWords has launched new alerts to help you manage your paid search campaigns.
Under the Opportunities Tab, Google has added alerts for keyword and budget ideas.
If you're using conversion tracking, you can now set up a custom alert to notify you of changes in conversion volume, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.
So far, custom alerts are only available for individual accounts, but Google says they are working on rolling out custom alerts for accounts linked through My Client Center (MCC).
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Murdoch to Google: Drop Dead
Okay, so News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch didn't really tell Google to drop dead. That's just an attention getting device like the classic headline in The Daily News back in the 1970s: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
What Murdoch did say in a Sky News interview today was that his company is considering blocking Google from being able to search its Web sites.
Murdoch said, "I think we will (block Google), but that's when we start charging. We have it already with the Wall Street Journal. We have a wall, but it's not right to the ceiling. You can get, usually, the first paragraph from any story - but if you're not a paying subscriber to WSJ.com all you get is a paragraph and a subscription form."
In the past, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said, "In general these models (paid online content) have not worked for general public consumption because there are enough free sources that the marginal value of paying is not justified based on the incremental value of quantity. So my guess is for niche and specialist markets ... it will be possible to do it but I think it is unlikely that you will be able to do it for all news."
If you want to watch the interview for yourself, check it out on YouTube -- which, ironically, is an independent subsidiary of Google Inc.
Sky News - Interview with Rupert Murdoch
Now, would Google really "drop dead" if News Corp. blocked it from crawling its websites?
Bill Tancer, the General Manager, Global Research at Experian Hitwise, took a look at this question in a blog post entitled, "News Corp. Google-less?"
According to Hitwise data:
- On a weekly basis Google and Google news are the top traffic providers for WSJ.com account for over 25 percent of WSJ.com's traffic.
- Over 44 percent of WSJ.com visitors coming from Google are "new" users who haven't visited the domain in the last 30 days.
- Twitter and Facebook sent 4% of US visits to News and Media sites in October 2009. (via @Hitwise_US)
- The percentage of upstream traffic from Facebook and Twitter to News and Media sites is up 490% year-over-year.
So, maybe Murdoch should think twice before pulling the plug on 25 percent of WSJ.com's traffic. Although the amount of traffic from social media like Facebook and Twitter is growing, it won't offset the upstream traffic from Google and Google News.
Or, who knows, maybe the tables will be turned someday and we'll read a headline like: "Google to Murdoch: Go Ahead, Make My Day."
Posted by Greg Jarboe on November 9, 2009, 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Google Acquires Mobile Advertising Provider AdMob
AdMob has been a major player in the mobile advertising world, really taking off when Apple enabled apps on their iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Google is gobbling up their competition mobile ad competition by acquiring AdMob.
"Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time," said Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management at Google. "AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup -- generating impressive year on year revenue growth -- and we're excited to welcome this talented team to Google."
As a result of the acquisition, Google expects the following:
- Better engagement for advertisers in their interactions with mobile users
- More effective monetization for publishers and developers
- More relevant ads and access to more content (supported by ads) for users
Google bought AdMob for $750 million. AdMob founder Omar Hamoui founded the company in 2006. This is quite a payoff for him, both monetarily and with regards to innovation in the industry.
"I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model," said Hamoui. "We're proud of the progress we've made towards accomplishing this goal, and joining Google will only accelerate this process, ultimately leading to very real benefits for end users around the world. As publishers and developers generate more revenue from their mobile products, they will invest more, and their mobile offerings will become richer, more creative and more robust."
What do you think of this acquisition? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
American Daily Newspapers Employ 25% Fewer People Than in 2001
I apparently caused a stir yesterday at the PRSA International Conference in San Diego. Actually, it was a disturbing fact -- or an inconvenient truth -- that I cited which caused the stir. So, don't shoot the messanger.
During the Q&A part of the conference workshop, "Looking Ahead: The Nexus of Social Media and Public Relations," Peter Himler, founder and principal of Flatiron Communication, asked a rhetorical question of the audience. I've known Himler for about 15 years, so I raised my hand when nobody seemed eager to speculate on when traditional media relations should be declared dead.
I'm presenting a PRSA teleseminar on Nov. 17, and I had been working on my presentation before heading to San Diego. So, I happened to have a data point at my finger tips that related to the question.
According to The State of News Media for 2009, which is published by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, 5,900 full-time newsroom jobs, 11% of the total at America's newspapers, were cut in 2008. By the end of 2009, newsrooms of American daily newspapers may employ 25% fewer people than they did in 2001.
Ad Age estimates that just under 150,000 people worked in magazines in 2008, down from about 170,000 in 2000. And in local television, news staffs, already too small to adequately cover their communities, are being cut at unprecedented rates.
So, that's why PR people need to embrace social media as quickly as they can. If they don't include blog outreach, YouTube marketing, Facebook marketing, and Twitter marketing within the definition of public relations, then PR will employ 25% fewer people than it did in 2001.
Okay, so maybe that was a little like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. But facts are facts, and I was just telling the truth.
But some of the people in the room reacted like they were going through the five stages of grief described in the book by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, "On Death and Dying." They are:
1. Denial (This isn't happening to me!)
2. Anger (Why is this happening to me?)
3. Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
4. Depression (I don't care anymore.)
5. Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes.)
To help the PR specialists in your company through the grieving process, you should have the SEO specialists take them to lunch. Eat some comfort food. And let them know that they will play a really important role in social media -- as soon as they get their arms around social media measurement.
Okay, that last part may be "tough love." They may not be ready to embrace social media measurement -- yet.
But, sooner or later, they have to move on. Sooner or later, they need to heed the advice of Cher in the movie Moonstruck: "Get over it!"
Posted by Greg Jarboe on November 9, 2009, 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Twitter Tries to Get Rid of Spammy Trending Tweets
If you've ever viewed the stream of Tweets in a Trending Topic on Twitter, you've no doubt seen your share of spam. Twitter is now testing improvements to trending topics in order to get rid of the spam.
Twitter says they're focusing on identifying high-quality Tweets, but didn't go into detail. They also said you probably won't notice much change right away, but assured that small steps are being taken.
It's good to see Twitter taking on spam. No doubt spam is something that killed MySpace's popularity, which led to the rise of Facebook and Twitter.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Microsoft Rolls Out adCenter Fall 2009 Upgrade
Over the weekend, Microsoft adCenter began rolling out its Fall 2009 upgrade. Tina Kelleher took to the official adCenter blog to give the scoop:
The adCenter team is in the process of getting ready to roll out the adCenter Fall 2009 Upgrade this weekend. This upgrade will include improvements in reporting, account management and will even add a few new features; we'll have more detailed information on Monday. You should expect to see the upgrade changes after Sunday, November 8th.
Have you seen the new features yet? What do you think? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Google Maps Adds NYC Subway System Layer, Available for Some Mobile Phones Too
Google has added a new layer to their Maps: the New York City Subway System. This will be handy for those of you attending SES New York next spring.
To use it, view New York City in Google Maps and then click the "More" option and select Transit.
Zoom in and you'll see individual station icons. Click on an icon to get more information about that station.
Mobile devices that have access to layers on Google Maps will be able to access the subway maps. Those devices include BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on November 9, 2009, 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for Nine Trainers Training
During the past seven weeks, I've shared seven compelling reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are "eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."
This week, I'll share an eighth great reason -- and it isn't "nine ladies dancing."
You should attend these events for "nine trainers training."
As I mentioned back in September, training is one of the three key trends. If you type "SEO training" into Google Insights for Search, you'll see that web search interest has grown steadily since 2004 -- and is forecast to continue growing in 2010. So, it's not surprising that more time is being added to the schedules of search engine conferences for training workshops.
But I often wonder if "in-depth training" is the right term for the "radical reorientation" that takes place in these intensive workshops. The small class setting ensures participants that their instructor is accessible for informal one-on-one or small group discussions of "why" as well as "how."
As Columbus discovered, training the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria how to sail west was a relatively straightforward task. The real challenge was convincing Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand that they wouldn't fall off the edge of the world.
Fortunately, the instructors of the SES training workshops are experts who know how to handle both ambidextrously.
So, what can you learn by participating in one of these training workshops?
SES Berlin offers a "Workshopsprogramm" on 23 November, the day before the "kongress." The program includes:
• Link Building 2009 Workshop, which will be taught by Christoph Cemper, General Manager, and Melanie Arko, Project Manager CEMPER.COM.
• Web Analytics Workshop: Data Into Action, which will be taught by Timo Aden, Gründer und Geschäftsführer, Trakken GmbH.
• Best Practices der Suchmaschinenwerbung, which will be taught by Oliver Zenglein, Head of Online Marketing, be2.
Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 offers SEM training on December 10, the day after the conference. The half-day workshops include:
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop, which will be taught by Shari Thurow, Omni Marketing Interactive.
• Landing Page Testing Hands On: Developing Your Action Plan, which will be taught by Tim Ash, SiteTuners.
• Advanced Keyword Research, which will be taught by Ron Jones, Symetri Internet Marketing.
• Social Media and Your Business, which will be taught by Sage Lewis, SageRock.com.
On December 11, SES Chicago 2009 offers partnered training. The full-day workshops include:
• Search Engine Optimization Training, which will be taught by Bruce Clay, Bruce Clay, Inc.
• Integrating Search Across All Online Marketing Efforts, which will be taught by Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit; Ray "Catfish" Comstock, Senior Search Strategist, BusinessOnLine; Paul Sherman, President Emeritas, Usability Professionals Organization (OMI Professor); Jennifer Wessenmeyer, VP Analytics, Stratigent; Debbie Qaqish, Partner, Pedowitz Group (OMI professor); and Kevin Espinosa, Director eMarketing, Caterpillar.
Next week, we'll look at more reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, just keep singing "nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."
Posted by Greg Jarboe on November 9, 2009, 2:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
