Tues News Category

Tues News: 3/16 (Twitter in Transition Edition)

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
It looks like Strong Sad is waiting with bated breath on the news about Twitter!

It looks like Strong Sad is waiting with bated breath on the news about Twitter!

Twitter is in an interesting period of its development. By all accounts, it is still a very popular site, ranking 12th in the world and US according to Alexa. That said, the honeymoon period seems to be over as Facebook and Google have upped their social networking game and new players such as foursquare and Gowalla have entered the fray. If Twitter wants to remain one of the most important websites in the world, it’s going to have to do two things: innovate and make money!

In this edition of the Tues News, we’ll examine Twitter at this crucial stage and see whether recent goings on seem to point to a bright or dim future for the masters of the mini blog. Let’s get going!

  • As I mentioned above, Twitter needs to make money, obviously, if it wants to survive. Google proved that ads can drive a search engine; Facebook proved that ads can drive a social network. Since Twitter is a little bit of both, it could be assumed that, if done properly, a proprietary ad system on Twitter could bring it into the black. Well, according to Peter Kafka, we will probably see such a platform in mid-April. It will be very interesting to see how this is rolled out, how advertisers will be able to interact with it and how effective such a medium can be. In Google and Facebook, ads benefit from being very targeted and from a plethora of impressions. Will Twitter be able to duplicate these success stories? [All Things D]
  • Making money may not prove to be particularly difficult for Twitter in the short run. Twitter’s real time search function should prove novel, if not valuable to advertisers and I’m sure that there will be some clamoring to be one of the first to use Twitter as a marketing vehicle. That doesn’t help the innovation issue, though. Twitter, aside from a few tweaks here and there, is very similar its iteration from a few years ago. They’ve added lists, a search box and easier interaction with hashtags and that’s about it. At South by Southwest, Twitter announced its first big innovation in a while, dubbed “@anywhere” but failed to really wow the crowd. The new @anywhere function is supposed to serve the purpose of getting more users involved as well as making the site more user friendly. The reaction of the crowd, as well as the Twitterers taking note online, was far from complimentary. Hopefully, it will be more successful in practice than in theory. [Wired.com]
  • Remember when Google used to use that reassuring “Don’t be evil?” Nowadays, you really only hear about that motto in the form of Google’s competitors using it against them because, you know, Google can very easily be criticized for not adhering to their own slogan. Well, it seems that Twitter’s new slogan is pretty similar: “Be a force for good.” For the most part, I think it’s a bad idea for a corporation to try and instill morality into their mantras. Corporations exist to make money, if any good is done along the way, that’s generally a happy coincidence. Now, it’s true that Twitter played a role in uniting people during the Iran Revolution, however, it also provides a mouthpiece to the world for the likes of Paris Hilton. I’m sorry but how does facilitating tweets like this constitute “being a force for good”:

Bye Boston! Now driving 6 hrs to Philly in a stretch limo so @CarlaDiBello and I can sleep the whole way! Watching Casino 2 fall asleep.

Can’t we just agree that, at best, Twitter is likely a “force for neutral” at best? [TechCrunch]

Twitter is at a real crossroads, not in terms of its success but in terms of its identity and future impact. My guess is that it will do fine on the monetary front, however, its future as one of the most influential websites of this new decade will be determined by innovation. I can’t guess as to whether or not Twitter will be looked back upon with reverence or with disappointment, I can only proffer that based on the most recent news out of their San Francisco HQ, the future is cloudy.

Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

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Tues News: 3/9 (Sweating the Small Stuff Edition)

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Homestar, that's NOT what I meant by sweating the small stuff!

Homestar, that's NOT what I meant by sweating the small stuff!

For the companies most involved with search marketing, it’s not always about the actual dollars and cents. Sometimes, companies focus on auxiliary projects to try and better your user experience, increase your dependence on their products or improve your opinion of their brand. Don’t get me wrong, the hope is that these sorts of investments will pay off in real dollars in the long run, but if a company can do some of the small things well, the return on investment can be both well-deserved and highly profitable.

Today, we’ll take a look at three such efforts taken by search marketing leaders (Google and MSN) as well as the provider of the dominant medium for mobile ads (Apple via the iPhone). Let’s get going!

  • Google is the master at sweating the small stuff in order to get the big payoff in the end. Just think about Google Maps. Sure, there are ads on the page but if you think that those ads paid for thousands of cars taking pictures of every street in America, you’re sorely mistaken. Google builds these sorts of products to increase loyalty to the Google brand and to build a positive rapport with the user. And it works! Recently, Google shared it’s search data to show their lighter side, depicting the winners and losers of Oscar night through their stats. As it turns out, the Hurt Locker didn’t just take home the most golden baldies, they also received quite the spike of searches. Thanks for sharing, Google; this stuff always fascinates me. [Google Blog via Mashable]
  • Microsoft has been focusing on something that seems small to most of us but is really big news up in Seattle. For months, msn.com has redirected you straight to bing.com, showcasing Microsoft’s much ballyhooed “decision engine.” No longer! The redesign of msn.com is complete and you should go check it out when you get a chance. It may not look like much, but watch for customized content and other such bells and whistles. Personally, I think it looks a lot more like yahoo.com and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Bing.com seemed to make quite the effort to copy Google’s minimalist approach; I guess Microsoft wanted to give users a choice between simple search and profound portal. Well, take your pick! [paidContent.org]
  • Apple wants your iPhone to replace a lot of the various gadget in your life. Calendar? Check. Calculator? Check. Game Boy? Getting close! The list is long and only getting longer. One thing that I never expected to see was for my iPhone to replace my house keys. Yikes, Apple! I think you may be trying a little too hard to help me out. This borders on invasive. Also, I’m not sure that I want a key to my house that runs out of batteries every day, is dangerously susceptible to water damage and can be rendered useless if it falls out of my pocket. Why not just stick to the fundamentals, Apple? Black turtlenecks and brushed aluminum casing. Oh yeah, that’s your sweet spot! [Vallywag]

So, sometimes focusing on details that aren’t directly related to your core competancy are a good thing. Google is great at search marketing but it’s great to see them use their info for a fun blog article. Microsoft is great at desktop applications but it’s important that they are taking their commitment to search (both on bing.com and msn.com) seriously. Apple is great at user-friendly hardware but maybe it’s not so great that they are thinking so much about getting into your apartment! Just remember, when you’re sweating the small stuff, make sure that it’s stuff that your potential customers actually want you to sweat!

Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

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Tues News: 3/2 (Win Some, Lose Some Edition)

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Everybody wins at a Strongbadian tea party!

Everybody wins at a Strong Badian tea party!

“Sometimes you win. Sometimes you tie. You almost, almost, almost never lose.” –Will Ferrel,”Bat Fight” 2009

Oh, Will Ferrel, truer words have probably been spoken many, many times before. However, Will isn’t completely wrong, either. As it stands, this quotation is not only accurate as it applies to bat fights; it’s also pretty accurate as it applies to Google. Think about it: lots of victories, a couple of washes and the occasional failure. In this edition of the Tues News, we’ll take a look at a recent Google win, a recent loss and an upcoming venture that could go either way. Let’s get going!

  • Google scoring another victory isn’t particularly newsworthy, however, in the area of patent law, every win is potentially huge. This week, Google was finally awarded a patent for location-based advertising. I know what you’re thinking: “Hey, isn’t that patent incredibly broad?” Answer: yup! I’m not sure whether this will make Google’s purchase of AdMob the smartest move since they bought Urchin but it certainly seems like a possibility. Could Google use this patent to go after Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN adCenter? Could they wield this as a weapon against Apple in the mobile game? We’ll certainly find out but, either way, this is an epic win for an already phenomenally successful company. [MarketingPilgrim]
  • When I was a kid and my Little League team lost, my dad would remind me, “You can’t win ‘em all.” Then I would go play Tecmo Super Bowl on Nintendo, beat every team without trying and wonder where the disconnect was between my father’s axiom and the reality of my complete dominance over the competition via video game Bo Jackson and the LA Raiders. That mystery may never be solved completely, however, what is true is that, for the most part, even dominant companies like Google can’t win ‘em all. Recently, AT&T decided to go with Yahoo as the default search engine on their latest phone, snubbing Google completely. Perhaps, this is retaliation to Google releasing the Nexus One, a direct competitor to the iPhone which is, of course, AT&T’s flagship phone. I can’t be sure about that but what I do know is that AT&T chose to use Yahoo as their search engine and that Yahoo’s CEO declared them “not a search company” last year. To choose Yahoo over Google, the obviously number one search engine in the land, is a major coup in what has become an outstanding spitting match between the phone carriers, the search engines and the computer companies. [Gizmodo]
  • I saw this headline and I immediately shuddered: Google Extends “Click To Call” Ads To All Advertisers. This was famously an area where Google hadn’t found much success in the past. After speaking with our reps and reading this article, though, it seems that Google is going to give Click To Call the old college try… again! With mobile ads figuring to be the future of revenue expansion for Google, maybe a different approach will yield better results for the search giant. It’s one thing for Google to fail at something once–that happens to everyone–but for them to fail twice? That seems nearly unthinkable! We’ll have to keep an eye on this as more information is made available. [SearchEngineLand]

As you can see, there is an ebb and flow for every successful business, even one as successful as Google. Of course, Google has much more ebb than flow. Or is that more flow than ebb? I don’t know, whichever one is good is probably the one that Google sees more of. As always, don’t bet against Google, but at the same time, remember that everybody other than Tecmo Bo has trouble winning ‘em all.

Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

Edit: I can’t believe I left this out. Thanks to Jeff C. for reminding me. If you didn’t hear, the town of Topeka, KS recently renamed itself Google for a temporary period of time in a bid to get free Google fiber-optic Internet connectivity. Now, that’s what I call a win for Google marketing execs! I wonder if they’ll have to update the Wikipedia entry for the state now that its capital is a corporation from Mountain View, CA. [LA Times]

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Tues News: 2/23 (Sexy Edition)

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Oh man! Now, that's what I call "modestly hot!"

Oh man! Now, that's what I call "modestly hot!"

Whoa, this is sure to be a popular version of the Tues News, am I right? Maybe not. After all, what’s sexy to a search marketer and what’s sexy to you (we call you guys “normies”) may not align. Still, just because Wpromote is a respected corporation doesn’t mean we can’t comment on the world of sensual goings on online.

I won’t keep you all in suspense anymore; let’s get going!

  • Apple recently dashed the hopes and dreams of aficionados of sexy imagery by banning all sexual content from the app store. Although this may come as a boon to parents and watchdog groups, this comes as terrible news both for males aged 5 to 95 as well as developers of apps that don’t actually contain sexual content but could possibly be used in conjunction with sexual content. For example: an application called Wobble allowed a user to make parts of a static image appear to wobble, as the name might suggest. Of course, the application was often used on parts of the female anatomy to liven up beach photos, but that was the choice of the user, not the creators of the app; you could also use it on a photo of Jello, if you so chose. This presents problems of hypocrisy, as MG Siegler of TechCrunch writes. Safari is probably the most popular application for viewing pornographic photos and it’s a product of Apple! Of course, Safari isn’t going anywhere–neither are apps from companies like Sports Illustrated or Playboy–and there appears to be little logic behind it. The app store is Apple’s and Apple’s alone, so it is always their decision regarding which apps to reject or accept; it’s just somewhat disheartening that the determining factors appear not to be concern for children but rather, concern for their own bottom line. [TechCrunch]
  • The Tues News is, generally, not what I would call a gossip rag, however, it’s not generally normal for the mistress of Google’s CEO to post a blog exposing their relationship (allegedly!). I should stipulate that I’m not a journalist and I don’t hang out with Eric Schmidt, so I don’t know what’s true and what’s a lie. That said, it appears that not only may this relationship be real, not only may the blog be legitimate but Schmidt may have had the blog removed altogether! Unfortunately for his alleged mistress, she went with Blogger (a Google property) to host her blog… oops! Let this be a lesson to all you scorned men and women out there: if you want to post a blog about your ex-lover, make sure that they don’t own the domain name! They may have to live with the shame of entertaining a extramarital affair but they certainly do not have to host your website! [Valleywag]
  • What could be steamier and sexier than sultry online content or a scandalous fling? Well, how about getting a voyeuristic look at what’s hidden behind the clothes of… Google’s search supremacy? Oh yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about! I told you our tastes were probably different! Anyway, Wired.com wrote an excellent piece about why Google’s search algorithm came to dominate the Internet in the manner that has for the last several years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer seems to be a combination of attention to detail, commitment to innovation, dedicated computing resources and a little bit of luck! Oh Google, you really know how to get me going! [Wired.com]

I assume that everyone is now going to need a long, cold shower after reading those three salacious stories. I know I do! Well, I won’t hold either of us up any longer. Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

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Tues News 2/16 (What You Don’t Know Edition)

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
What you don't know is that those pixels are actually what Homestar looks like shirtless!

What you don't know is that those pixels are actually what Homestar looks like shirtless!

Thank you to Amanda for saving my buns by providing the links today. With Presidents’ Day on Monday and with me leaving for New York to take a new Google test, I’ve got quite the busy week for myself. However, whereas that may have prevented a Tues News in the past, steadfast Wpromoter, Amanda Moshier won’t let that be the case this week. She even threw in an extra link!

The theme, as I understand it, is “what you don’t know,” spurred by the recent SNAFU with Google Buzz. We were going to go with “the privacy edition” except that I feel like privacy is coming up as an issue week after week. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well then, let’s get going!

  • Okay, so if you didn’t hear by now, everyone is really, really upset with Google. It turns out that if you had a Google profile and you enabled Buzz, there was a chance that people could see the Gmail addresses of your friends. As it turns out, that’s not a good thing, since many people who use Gmail often use it as their personal account and nobody knew about this until it was already happening. In a world where people get fired for receiving emails with the F-word in them, the privacy and separation of one’s personal email is sacrosanct. Hey Google, next time you rush a product, maybe make sure it’s good enough that people won’t notice this sort of gross oversight! [MarketingPilgrim]
  • Who are the happiest people in the world? If you believe TV sitcoms, marriage is Hell and it’s the single guys who are having all the fun. If you believe Facebook, though, it’s the other way around! A recent Facebook poll has revealed that, at least in this online social network, married folks are having all the fun and those in open relationships are the ones that feel most empty inside. Would you have ever guessed? Although I’m not sure how scientific this study was, if valid, it would seem like those Hallmark movies of the week were more insightful than we gave them credit for. [ReadWriteWeb]
  • What’s Face.com? You may not know now but you will soon. What would you say if I told you that I could look through my cell phone at someone and get a Terminator-like readout of that person’s stats? You would probably think I was insane, right? Well, the folks at Face.com are trying to make this a real thing! So, ladies, the next time you think that creep at the end of the bar is trying to take an unsavory cell phone photo of you, don’t worry; he probably just wants to know all of your intimate information so that he can have some back-story to go with the unsavory photo he plans on taking of you later! [Gizmodo]
  • If you went through the Google Buzz privacy fiasco and are wondering, “What else should I know about my setting in my various Google applications?” you aren’t alone! Lifehacker has come up with the Top 10 Google Settings You Should Know About and it’s worth reading. Some of it will keep you safe; some of it is just plain useful. Give it a try! [lifehacker]

Sorry for the streamlined version, everyone. As always, thanks for dropping in; I hope you’ve learned a bit about some issues you may not have known much about. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

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Tues News: 2/2 (Groundhog Day Edition)

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
When the Cheat comes out of his grill, I wonder if he'll see his shadow?

When the Cheat comes out of his grill, I wonder if he'll see his shadow?

Today is Groundhog Day, which means that the world’s most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, came out of his hole to give us a prediction. Well, it’s bad news, unfortunately, as Phil saw his shadow and doomed us to another six weeks of winter. That’s bad news, however, much like in the movie Groundhog Day, starring the irreproachable Bill Murray, it’s just more of the same. Phil, you see, has seen his shadow in ten out of the last eleven winters! It seems that life is imitating art with this sort of repetition.

Well, repetition and “business as usual” seem to be the order of the week in the field of search marketing as well. This time, I’ve brought you three stories of what feel like old stories but are actually hot off the presses in honor of Groundhog Day and the eponymous movie. Let’s get going!

  • Microsoft can’t make money online. No, this story isn’t from when Microsoft created the inferior adCenter after breaking away from Overture. No, this story isn’t about Microsoft failing to purchase Yahoo. This story is about how after the big push for Bing, the gains don’t seem to have outweighed the losses. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing, Microsoft still lost over $2 billion last year. Hey, Microsoft! Maybe if you made adCenter about half as good as Google AdWords, you wouldn’t be in this mess! But no, don’t listen to me; it’s not like I’ve been saying this forever. I just can’t imagine why Microsoft can’t put two and two together: advertising is a three party process involving 1. users/consumers, 2. advertisers and 3. a medium (in this case adCenter). If Bing is an improvement for the user/consumer, wouldn’t it make sense to improve the experience for the advertiser? Maybe give it a try or just enjoy losing the GDP of Greenland every year. [BusinessInsider]
  • Google and Apple are fighting. No, this story isn’t about the Android feuding with the iPhone. It’s not about Apple denying Google Voice native apps on the iPhone. It’s not about Safari vs. Chrome or anything like that. Nope, this is just a good ol’ fashioned cat fight between Jobs and the Google faithful. You see, Jobs said that Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” slogan was BS, only he didn’t say “BS,” he said the actual words that refer to the defecation of a male variety of cattle. Google fired right back, saying “Nuh uh!” which was followed by Apple retorting with “Yuh huh!” I believe that, after that, someone pulled someone else’s pony tail and, I think, someone stole somebody’s Sun Chips from their lunch. It’s getting really personal and really petty. If I might weigh in, though, I think that the jig actually may be up on Google’s “don’t be evil,” thing. I’m not saying that it’s BS; I’m just saying that every public company is beholden not to the greater good of society but, rather, to the shareholders. This means that, quite often, there are, in fact, conflicts of interest between doing what’s best for everyone and doing what’s best for the company. So, Steve Jobs, you’re not wrong, you’re just an ***hole! [Valleywag]
  • Obviously, the biggest news of the past week was the introduction of Apple’s iPad. There are more opinions on this product than there are features and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it in the Tues News. As it relates to Groundhog Day, the hype surrounding the release of the iPad was very, very typical. Everyone, and I mean everyone, had high hopes for this thing. My girlfriend’s family is from Israel and I had a conversation with her sixty-year-old uncle about it at a party last weekend! By the way, for those keeping score, he predicted that it would be called the iSlate and I predicted iPad: Block 1, Uncle Manny 0. Just like the release of just about every Apple product, the hopes for the iPad were high. And, just like every Apple product except for the original iPhone, many were disappointed. I know, that doesn’t sound, right, right? The iPad was the first disappointment from Apple since the Newton, right? Not so. Think back to all the releases that Apple has come out with in the past few years: the short, fat, ugly iPod nano, the too skinny, multi-colored follow-up, the iPhone 3G and then the 3GS, the super-expensive but cool-looking new MacBooks, the various iterations of the iPod shuffle… a lot of these products either left people disappointed, wanting more or discouraged by the price. They weren’t “flops” necessarily, though, so don’t expect the iPad to be a flop either.  [CNET]

Just remember, the next time you think to yourself, “How could Apple drop the ball like this? They always make outstanding products,” that you may be reading revisionist history. Other than the original iPod and the original iPhone, Apple has made some good stuff and some bad stuff but nothing else revolutionary (albeit, two revolutionary products in a decade is nothing to sneeze at). This cycle of hype, release and arguing over the merits of the new Apple product is nothing new, really. It’s just like Groundhog Day! I’m an Apple fanboy, myself but I’m not ready to drink the Apple Kool-Aid. In fact, I don’t think I’d drink any Kool-Aid! It’s either going to kill you (Jonestown Kool-Aid), make you a mindless follower (Apple Kool-Aid) or just really spike your insulin levels (Cherry Kool-Aid). I’ll stick to coffee and ice water, thank you!

Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

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