ESPN To Launch Three More Local Sites

Mike Sachoff — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:31:03 -0400

ESPN announced today it will introduce three new city specific sports sites in the coming months, with Dallas, Los Angeles and New York joining its local Chicago effort.

ESPNDallas.com will launch this fall, followed by ESPNNewYork.com and ESPNLosAngles.com in the first half of 2010. Like ESPNChicago.com, each site will feature an integrated home for sports news, online video and audio.

"Our commitment to expand ESPN's network of localized sites is a testament to our dedication to serve sports fans and their passions," said Marc Horine, vice president digital partnerships and sales development, ESPN Digital Media.

Marc Horine

"We understand that local sports interests ignite strong passions, and Dallas, New York and Los Angeles have some of the most storied franchises and fan bases in history. We're excited by the early success we've had with ESPNChicago.com and the opportunities that lie ahead."

The announcement comes following the growth for ESPN's first local site in Chicago. ESPNChicago.com has become one of the most popular sports news and information sites for residents in the area.

In June ESPNChicago.com logged 1.4 million total minutes of time spend on the site from nearly 600,000 unique visitors, up 112 percent and 57 percent respectively compared to May, according to comScore.

The Disney owned ESPN said it will continue to expand its network in more cites but did not release a specific timetable.

Online Gamblers Search For Safer Sites

Mike Sachoff — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:40:53 -0400

A survey of online poker players, following the seizure of gambling funds by the U.S. government has found more than half are not aware their money could be at risk.

The research by the U.K. based online gambling community Betfair, found more than three quarters of poker players have searched for what they consider to be safer sites.

Nearly a third (31%) of UK online gamblers were aware of fund seizures by the U.S. compared to 42 percent in the U.S. Among these 59 percent of U.K. players were concerned about the safety of their funds. The results also indicated confusion over which sites accepted American bets.

Richard Bloch

"It is very difficult for operators which do not take bets out of the US to compete with those that do, because of the increased liquidity which comes from accepting the American bets," said Richard Block, head of PR, Betfair.

"This research demonstrates that there are other factors which consumers are taking into account when it comes to choosing their preferred place to play poker online. It's no use having funds in your account if a government is going to seize them - and consumers are obviously aware of that."

Summary of key findings:

UK: 69 % were not aware of the funds seizures in the US
US: 58% were not aware of the funds seizures in the US

UK: Of those that were aware 59% were concerned about the safety of their funds
US: Of those that were aware 88% were concerned about the safety of their funds

UK: 45% of those that were aware of the issues have moved sites as a result
US: 76% of those that were aware of the issues have moved sites as a result

Google Aims to Help Advertisers Improve Conversions

Chris Crum — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:07:42 -0400

There have been a couple of videos recently highlighted on Google company blogs that AdWords advertisers should pay attention to if their conversions are not where they want them to be. These videos deal with landing pages and ad copy.

The first video is actually a full webinar on landing pages, and is a bit lengthy. It is an important topic though, and if landing pages are a weakness for your business, it would probably be wise to view it. It runs about an hour and fifteen minutes, and talks about the "7 deadly sins of landing page design."

The second video asks a very important question: How will your customers know you really have what they want? As the video's narrator says, potential customers only see your ad when they type in a search query. They don't see your keywords, your ad groups, your campaigns, etc. You have to grab their attention.

The following video, which is much shorter than the previous one (this one comes in at a minute and a half), provides tips for using compelling ad copy that attracts clicks.

The click and the landing page are two of the most important elements of the conversion. Google wants you to improve your conversions, because it's better for their service that way. The more successful you are, the more successful they are. It stands to reason that they would offer you tips that they truly believe will help your AdWords performance.

Some of it is common sense, but in this industry, that is a trait that is often overlooked. In the heat of competition, sometimes the basics are overlooked.

Social Media Really Does Impact the Bottom Line

Chris Crum — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:15:44 -0400

Companies have long had problems putting numbers on social media marketing results. Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group have now released a study looking at how engagement with consumers through social media correlates with financial performance.

The "ENGAGEMENTdb study" shows that companies who measured as having "the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement" grew revenues by 18% over the last year, while the companies that were the least engaged dropped 6% on average.

"This is the first study of this depth on the top global brands and we think the results provide a good guide for corporations and brand marketers in every industry," says Charlene Li, Founder, Altimeter Group. "The success stories we have uncovered provide a blueprint for companies making decisions about how to best apply their marketing and consumer relations resources."

Channels taken into consideration for the study were:

- Blogs
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Wikis
- Discussion Forums

Brands looked at were the 100 most valuable ones as identified by the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking. In case you were wondering what the top ten brands are according to the ENGAGEMENTdb study, they are as follows:

1. Starbucks
2. Dell
3. eBay
4. Google
5. Microsoft
6. Thomson Reuters
7. Nike
8. Amazon
9. SAP
10. Yahoo!/Intel (Tie)

So what are these brands doing right?

According to Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group, the companies that scored well have dedicated teams (of varying sizes) who are active in the social media channels they utilize. Basically, it shows that it pays (literally) to have a team working full time on engaging with customers via social media. Even if that team consists of one person, it means they will not be distracted by other tasks and can give the social channel the attention required for it to make a significant impact.

As the social web continues to grow (meaning more people joining social networks, more people blogging, and more sites becoming social), there is a growing number of channels that require said attention.

"The ENGAGEMENTdb study goes a long way towards validating the importance of social media for business," says Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. "The closer any company is to its customers, the better, and it's hard to argue with the ability for social media to create such proximity. In this day and age, companies should feel much more comfortable investing in social media -- the correlation to results is so clear."

It is in fact that clarity that many companies have had a hard time seeing in the past. Social media is still in its early stages though really. In the grand scheme of things, it's still a relatively new concept. Keep in mind, that many businesses still do not even have websites, let alone a social media presence.

It is going to take studies like this and concrete data showing the financial benefits for more small businesses to truly get on board and engage. Having dedicated teams is a strategy that will likely become more commonplace as companies realize that half-assing it is just a waste of time.

A couple of other highlights from the study:

- The study found that the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders.

- These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational.

Along with the study, the ENGAGEMENTdb site was launched as a tool where companies can measure themselves against the top 100 in terms of the strength of their social media efforts. It's probably not a bad idea to take a look if you're serious about those efforts.

Would you focus more effort on social media if you knew it would increase your bottom line? Do you think the study holds water? Please share your thoughts.

Twitterers Ask: Why No Apollo 11 Google Logo?

Jeremy Muncy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:05:49 -0400

Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin forever changed mankind with their historic walk on the lunar surface. With today being the 40th anniversary, of quite possibly the single greatest moment in modern history, you would think a lot sites would be honoring the event, right?

Well, currently we've found two: YouTube and Bing. (If you know of more - let us know)

Bing has changed their daily background image to feature a shot of the Moon.

YouTube has changed their logo, which now includes "The Eagle" and a piece of the Moon.

You might be asking yourself, "Where is the Google logo?" Well your not alone, Twitterers have noticed the absence of the Google logo as well.

Are you surprised Google doesn't have a Moon Landing themed logo? Tell us.

One Twitterer makes a very good point about how Google honors some of the weirdest events... but fails to honor the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing. Anyone remember back in June when they honored the 25th anniversary of Tetris?

Another Twitterer even points out that Google decided to do a logo for YouTube... but not for the main Google logo. Anyone else find that kind of odd?

What do you think about Google missing the boat on the Apollo 11 themed logo? Let us know what you think.

Carl Icahn Comes Out In Favor Of Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

Doug Caverly — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:59:21 -0400

The man who once seemed set to single-handedly force a Microsoft-Yahoo acquisition - and then settled for three seats on Yahoo's board of directors, instead - is at it again. Carl Icahn's spoken in favor of a search partnership between the two companies.

"I've been a strong advocate of getting a search deal done with Microsoft," Icahn recently told Reuters. "It would enhance value if a deal got done, because of the synergies involved."

This is an interesting time for Icahn to state his opinion. There haven't been any hints that he's up to something rebellious; Icahn actually also told Reuters that he's a "strong supporter" of Carol Bartz. For that matter, since he still controls just three out of eleven seats on Yahoo's board of directors, Icahn can't force any changes.

So what we may have is another clue that a partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo is about to take place. If so, Icahn could more or less speak his mind on the subject without creating any fresh rifts.

This series of developments has dragged on for months, but it looks like we could finally be getting somewhere, then. Yahoo's earnings report tomorrow may turn out to be quite interesting.

Over 50 Million Facebook Users Related to Somebody

Chris Crum — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:43:50 -0400

If you're a Facebook user, you've almost certainly encountered the "We're Related" app in one way or another. Whether or not you have actually participated in it, you have probably at least seen an invitation.

The app is not the most popular one on Facebook, but it is certainly up there. Currently, it sits at number 4, according to FamilyLink.com, the company behind We're Related. The app has resided on the list of top ten Facebook apps for over a year.

Although We're Related is only the fourth most popular app on the social network, it has hit a milestone by surpassing 50 million users. The company attributes the app's popularity to the growing number of 35+ Facebook users.

FamilyLink.com points to a report showing that the number of US Facebook users over 35 grew significantly in the last 30 days, up by nearly 1.5 million in each of the 35-44, 45-54, and 55-65 categories.

"We had expected to reach the 50 million mark by the end of the year. Reaching that goal in 6 months is very exciting," said Jason McGowan, Chief Social Officer for FamilyLink.com, Inc. "We are excited about the growing user base and especially about the activity of the users. As the number of We're Related users grows, so does the number of connections people are making to their families, now surpassing 300 million."

With the We're Related app, users can:

- Find relatives on Facebook

- Keep up with family

- Build a family tree

- Share news and photos with family

"Facebook has always been a personal tool for managing relationships," adds McGowan. "We're Related fits that context perfectly. We are looking forward to future growth, continual innovation, and offering new functionality to our loyal users."

The We're Related app plays on one of the core reasons people start using Facebook in the first place. They want to stay connected with family and friends. The app is simply an extension of the desire to keep a strong bond amongst family members. It's not hard to see why it is popular.

Media's Love Of Twitter Translates To $48 Million

Doug Caverly — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:41:42 -0400

Twitter gets criticized on a regular basis for not having a business plan. But the point of a business plan is to bring in money, and it turns out that, at least in terms of marketing expenses, Twitter doesn't have any financial needs. A report claims that the company's received $48 million in free media coverage over the past 30 days.

VMS, which specializes in news monitoring and PR measurement, came up with the large sum. Apparently television contributed to about 57 percent of it, newspapers supplied 37 or so percent, and magazines were good for about 5 percent.

Gary Getto, VMS's vice president of integrated media intelligence, also made clear to Abbey Klaassen, "This is huge. It's very, very high. In fact, we looked at online coverage of Twitter vs. Google. Twitter is running significantly higher than Google and I didn't think anything was more popular than Google."

So everything looks fantastic for Twitter from one perspective. The only problem will be if all of this free coverage fails to do it much good. Since there's not much more anyone can do to promote the site, fans might be right to worry if not a lot of people are coming to embrace it.

There's also a question of how long Twitter will be in the spotlight. VMS CEO Peter Wengryn said, "Twitter seems to have a higher sizzle today than any of its peers. But for long term, we don't know if this will be sustainable or whether there will be another that comes to displace it."

Facebook Most Popular Social Site In The U.K.

Mike Sachoff — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:36:33 -0400

Nearly thirty million (29.4) people in the U.K. accessed at least one social networking site in May, averaging 4.6 hours per visitor during the month, with Facebook ranking as the most popular property, according to comScore.

The majority (80%) of the total U.K. online population visited a social networking site in May. Visits were highest among 25-34 year old Internet users, with 89 percent visiting the category during the month, followed by 15-24 year olds (86%). Visits were somewhat lower among older age groups, but remained relatively high, reaching two thirds of the total online population age 55 and older.

Engagement leaned more heavily towards the younger age segments, with 15-25 and 25-34 year olds averaging 5.4 hours per user per month compared with 3.7 hours per month among users 55 and older. Overall, social networking was the second most popular online activity in the U.K. based on average time spent per user (4.6 hours), trailing only instant messaging (8.6 hours).

"Accurate demographic profiling is the crux of effective digital media planning and advertising," said Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe. "Understanding audience composition is particularly important in a category such as social networking, as there continues to be a misconception that social networking is the preserve of the young."

"While those under 35 years old are certainly the more prevalent users, there is both a sizeable and heavily engaged audience of those 35 and older as well. In fact, advertising on social networking sites has a better chance of reaching these older demographics than site categories such as business and finance, which is a critical insight that might be lost for those trying to optimize their campaign against target audience segments."

Of the 36.9 million people in the U.K. who accessed the Internet from a home or work location during the month, 29.4 million visited at least one social networking site, representing an 80 percent reach and a 9 percent increase in growth over the previous year.

Facebook was the most popular social networking site with 23.9 million visitors, followed by Bebo (8.5 million visitors), Windows Live Profile (6.9 million visitors) and MySpace sites (6.5 million visitors). Twitter grew more than 3,000 percent during the past year to 2.7 million visitors in May.

Who's Right: TechCrunch or Twitter?

Jeremy Muncy — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:33:56 -0400

This past Wednesday it was made public that 300+ confidential documents from Twitter had been stolen. While most industry related sites chose not to post these documents, a few did, most notably being TechCrunch.

Was TechCrunch wrong or right in publishing the stolen documents? Tell us.

To say Twitter is unhappy with TechCrunch would be an understatement. But, why is Twitter so angry? According to TechCrunch, Twitter had given them a green light to post the information:

"It’s important to note that we have been given the green light by Twitter to post this information - They aren’t happy about it, but they are able to live with it, they say (more on why they did that in our later post)"

Twitter CEO, Evan Williams (@ev) sees it entirely different, as you can see by his following tweet:

Taking the matter even further, Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone (@biz) updated the company blog where he reiterated Evan's statement:

"...the publication of stolen documents is irresponsible and we absolutely did not give permission for these documents to be shared."

On Wednesday, this author wrote an article giving Biz's response to various security concerns after the hack. He briefly touched on the legality of posting such documents:

"We are in touch with our legal counsel about what this theft means for Twitter, the hacker, and anyone who accepts and subsequently shares or publishes these stolen documents. We're not sure yet exactly what the implications are for folks who choose to get involved at this point but when we learn more and are able to share more, we will."

TechCrunch has been receiving some serious flak for posting the stolen documents. Some loyal Twitter users have even began spreading the word that they're boycotting TechCrunch from now on:

InformationWeek has taken the TechCrunch vs. Twitter debate to a much higher level, asking Michael Arrington, founder TechCrunch, to step down.

"By publishing documents stolen by a hacker, Michael Arrington has proven he doesn't have the judgment necessary to run a news organization. He should have the decency to step down."

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington defends his publication of the docs:

"There is clearly an ethical line here that we don’t want to cross, and the vast majority of these documents aren’t going to be published, at least by us. But a few of the documents have so much news value that we think it’s appropriate to publish them."

So, what are your thoughts on TechCrunch vs. Twitter? Let us know what you think.

Apple Tells Microsoft To Stop Running Laptop Hunter Ads

Jeremy Muncy — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:30:20 -0400

Recently during his Worldwide Partner Conference keynote Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO, informed partners of an interesting development. Apparently Apple has taken notice of Microsoft’s Laptop Hunter ads... and really don't like them.

Apple doesn't like them to the tune of having their lawyers contact Microsoft, telling them stop running the ads.

Below is the section from Kevin Turner's keynote talking about how Apple isn't a fan of the new ads:

"And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? "Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000." Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.

And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them."

So does Microsoft finally have this advertising thing figured out? Looks like they might be on the right track... finally!

Along with the Laptop Hunter ads, Microsoft is having some viral success with their new Internet Explorer 8 commercials featuring Dean Cain.

How do you like Microsoft's Laptop Hunter ads? Tell us what you think.

Google Wants To Save Your Life (Or Help End It)

Doug Caverly — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:04:04 -0400

Health issues are highly personal. Some folks, for example, are scared of living for years on end without control of their bodies. Others are terrified that a plug will get pulled moments before they make a total recovery. And a certain search giant thinks both of these attitudes represent great reasons to start using Google Health.

A post on the Official Google Blog tells readers, "An advance directive allows you to determine your end-of-life wishes so that your family and doctor can honor them if you get sick and are unable to communicate." It has the ability to save all sorts of people all sorts of pain, and whatever your age or condition, is something you should consider completing.

Google just wants to make sure its software is part of the equation, and as it turns out, Google Health can now process scanned paper documents.

So the post continues, "Google Health is now working with a leading advance directive provider, Caring Connections, that provides a free, downloadable form customized for all 50 states. To complete your form, download it, print it out, complete it, scan it, and upload it to Google Health. Once you've uploaded the signed form, Google Health makes it easy to share it with your caregiver."

Admittedly, this seems morbid and a bit opportunistic. But the issue's an important one, and this may prove an effective tack for Google to take.

Google Docs Opens Template Gallery To The Public

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:27:57 -0400

At the moment, there are exactly 725 alternatives available in the Google Docs Template Gallery, and that's a rather large number. But if you check back at this time next week, there are liable to be a whole lot more, because Google's now letting everyone submit templates.

In an email to WebProNews, a Googler explained, "[W]e are opening up the template gallery so that anyone using Google Docs can create and submit a template for inclusion in this public catalog. If you submit a template to the gallery, other Google Docs users will be able to view a preview, create a copy for their own use, and rate your template to help others find the most useful templates."

This crowdsourcing effort represents a clever move. After all, it'll cost Google very little, and people like participating in communities and showing off their creations. Also, this is a way in which desktop-bound software will find it difficult to compete.

Google doesn't even have to worry about the Template Gallery filling up with junk, since sorting options like "Hottest," "Most Users," and "Highest Rating" should keep individuals from wasting their time.

So consider showing your creative side - or at least see what other people have to contribute - on Google Docs.

Facebook Adds New Security Measures

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:08:43 -0400

Facebook announced today that it has taken additional measures to help users whose accounts have been hacked or used to send spam.

The company says the vast majority of its users have never experienced a security problem but it wants to give members new ways to take back control of their accounts if it does happen.

"We've spent the last few months improving the way to guide people through the process of regaining access to their account after it's been compromised and used to send spam," Facebook said in a blog post. "Currently, we send emails explaining what happened and provide links to remedy the situation."

"Now we're moving towards a new model that also involves clear and simple steps taken within Facebook itself. In doing so, we can ensure that the person logging in is the true owner of the account, thereby preventing hackers from using it to send spam in the future."

Facebook says it will still send email notifications to users who have had their account compromised, but its added an additional step to verify the account holder.

"They'll go through a quick verification process to ensure that they're the legitimate owner of the account in question. Finally, we'll help them pick a new, secure password and refer them to the Facebook Security Page, which includes helpful tips and information on how to be safe on Facebook and across the Internet."

Facebook said it will be introducing similar safeguards in the coming months focused on the different threats members may face.

Hitwise Finds Bing, Yahoo To Be A Good Match

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:15:07 -0400

If the latest reports and rumors are true, Microsoft and Yahoo are (once again) about to enter a partnership. So this afternoon, Hitwise's Bill Tancer looked at whether they'll make more of a natural fit or an odd couple.

Specifically, Tancer analyzed statistics to see whether there's much of an overlap in terms of searcher demographics and behavior patterns. If so, Bing and Yahoo may be able to conserve more resources (and/or eliminate redundant efforts) as they pursue similar goals.

Tancer concluded, "[There] appears to be a closer demographic fit which should yield more search advertising sales efficiencies."

He also wrote, "[T]he homogeneity of search behavior is becoming evident in where searchers click-off to when executing a search. In the past, searches on the different engines showed very different downstream industries. The table below indicates that search behavior now looks strikingly similar between the two."

Microsoft and Yahoo may be able to save quite a lot of time and money if they end up partnering, then. And interested parties might do well to listen closely when Yahoo makes its earnings report on Tuesday, just in case the announcement comes then.

iPhone, Palm Pre Launch Drive Search Traffic

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:39:01 -0400

Trends in the number of weekly searches on terms related to the Palm Pre indicate that the "Now Network" advertising campaign by Sprint during the second half of May helped create early interest in the device, according to comScore.

The number of searchers more than doubled during the week ending May 24, coinciding with the YouTube homepage takeover. Interest fell somewhat during the falling week, but recovered in the next two weeks after the official launch of the device, with 267,000 searchers for the week ending June 7 and 361,000 for the week ending June 14. The final two weeks in June saw the numbers of searchers fall to about half the number of the peak week activity.

comScore notes this decline in Palm Pre search activity occurred with the launch of the Apple iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17 and the launch of the iPhone 3GS two days later. For the entire month of May and the first week of June, the number of unique iPhone searchers remained fairly consistent at around one million people per week. In the week before the launch of the 3GS, the number of iPhone searchers more than doubled to 2.3 million people during the week of launch.

The Palm Pre appeared to appeal to a different audience than those interested in the iPhone. Among the people who searched for Palm Pre-related terms during the eight weeks of the study, just 11 percent also searched for iPhone-related terms, indicating that the majority of people interested in the Pre have little interest in the iPhone.

comScore looked at the impact of the device launches on traffic to the online store locator features at AT&T and Sprint to understand how such intent may have been impacted.

The week the Palm Pre launched, Sprint's website saw a 42 percent increase to 137,00 visitors to its online store locator page, followed by a 41 percent jump to 193,000 visitors the follow week. The AT&T store locator page saw traffic surge 90 percent to 295,000 visitors during the week of the iPhone 3G launch.

Adobe Approved Trust List Launches

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:52:30 -0400

Following Twitter's recent problems, identity verification is at the forefront of everyone's mind, and Adobe launched a new program this morning that may play an interesting role in the field. The Adobe Approved Trust List aims to make digital signatures more dependable.

As an Adobe representative explained in an email to WebProNews (and on its security blog), "The AATL will allow millions of users around the world to create digital signatures that are trusted whenever the signed document is opened in Acrobat or Reader 9.0 and above. Essentially, both Acrobat and Reader have been programmed to reach out to an Adobe-hosted web page to periodically download a list of trusted root digital certificates."

Then, "Any digital signature created with a credential that can trace a relationship ('chain') back to a certificate on this list will be trusted by our products." And users will see an image like the one visible below.

Organizations including GlobalSign, the U.S. Federal Government, and VeriSign are cooperating with the Adobe Approved Trust List (with more partners on the way), so this is no minor effort. Acrobat and Reader 9 turn on the feature by default, too, so it's about as user-friendly as possible.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Muncy covered the latest news concerning Twitter's issues earlier today.

New Tool Aims To Fight Click Fraud

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:22:56 -0400

Click Forensics has introduced a new tool to help marketers combat click fraud.

The new tool is called "Block List" which provides ad networks with a continually updated list of visitor IP addresses and publishers known to generate online click fraud. Block List can be used with the Click Forensics platform to block invalid traffic and to shift advertsing dollars to other sources that offer better results.

The Block List tool could help marketers reduce the rate of click fraud between 15 to 25 percent according to Click Forensics.

Paul Pellman

"Our new Block List is a quick first step for ad networks looking for information on some of the best and worst online traffic sources," said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics.

"They can use it to help their clients make the most of their online advertising investments."

Examples of blocked traffic sources include:

--Publishers committing click fraud;
--IP addresses of visitors known to commit a high level of fraud;
--IP address ranges generating non-human traffic, such as co-location facilities; and
--Other traffic sources that generate hacker attacks and spam.

"The Click Forensics Block List feature is an invaluable tool to help us protect our advertisers and deliver better results," said Evan Balafas, Managing Director of Excite Digital Media, a search advertising network.

"Just as we proactively protect our own computers from viruses and malware threats, we need to continually do the same for our advertisers so they get the most out of the millions of dollars they spend online."

US Video Game Revenue Down 31%

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:21:50 -0400

U.S. video game sales of hardware, software and accessories declined 31 percent in June to $1.17 billion, according to the NPD Group.

The year-over-year decline was the sharpest since a 41 percent drop in September 2000. "This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales number, said Anita Frazier, NPD Analyst.

Anita Frazier

"While the aggregate of content may not be as strong as what we saw in the first half of last year, and while the consumer base willing to spend dollars on hardware at the current price points may be thinning, the size of the decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend."

Nintendo's Wii remained the most popular game console in June, selling 362,000 units, but down 45 percent from the same period a year ago. The Wii has been the top-selling console in the U.S. for 21 consecutive months.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the second best-selling console in June with 240,600 units sold, up from 175,000 in May. The Xbox 360 was the only console to see a year -over-year increase.

Sony's Playstation 3 sold 164,700 units and Playstation 2 sold 152,700 units.

Among handhelds, the Nintendo DS sold 766,500 units up from 633,500 in May, while the Sony PSP sold 163,500 units up from 100,400.

Microsoft, Yahoo Search Deal Likely

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:51:12 -0400

Microsoft and Yahoo are close to reaching a deal on search and online advertising after more than a year and a half of negotiations.

A number of reports have surfaced indicating a Microsoft partnership with Yahoo on search is "imminent."

Steve Ballmer

In May Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said there were still possibilities to work with Yahoo to "create a better search product."

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has expressed past interest in a search and advertising deal if it involved "big boatloads of money."

Terms of the deal could include Microsoft paying around $3 billion to take over Yahoo's search advertising business. Microsoft would share revenue from the search business with Yahoo for a number of years.

Carol Bartz

If Microsoft were able to close the deal it would grab about 30 percent of the U.S. search market, more than tripling its current share.

Sources on both sides have warned, that although a deal of some sort is close to being reached it could still fall apart.

If an agreement is reached an announcement could come as early as next week. Yahoo is scheduled to release it quarterly results Tuesday and any deal with Microsoft would only help to boost investor's confidence.

YouTube Profits Closer Than Ever

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:47:13 -0400

The days of YouTube representing a financial black hole may soon come to an end. Several of Google's execs have indicated that the video-sharing site is on track to start making more money than its operations consume.

Google's CFO, Patrick Pichette, issued the most precise forward-looking statement during the company's earnings call late yesterday. "We're really pleased both in terms of its revenue growth, which is really material to YouTube and, in the not-long, too-long-distant future, we actually see a very profitable and good business for us," he said.

CEO Eric Schmidt also confirmed (speaking a little more vaguely), "YouTube is now on a trajectory that we're very pleased with."

And as for what the current state of things looks like, Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's senior vice president of product management, specified, "We're now monetizing billions of views of partner videos every month."

This paints a pretty rosy picture, all in all. YouTube, while one of Google's most popular sites, has also been something of a disappointment in that Google hasn't gotten a significant return on its initial $1.65 billion investment. Now it looks like Google will be able to correct the problem.

Netbooks: Moving in Right Next Door to Useless

Mike McDonald — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:27:14 -0400

Netbooks are apparently surging in popularity. Some of the more recent data suggests that some 30 million netbooks will be sold this year. That’s a fair amount of hardware. Clearly, people are hot for netbooks. I just don’t see why.

Are you interested in buying a netbook? Share why or why not in the comments.

Netbooks are like like a regular laptop except they are smaller. Kind of like the iPhone or one of the 20 Android phones coming out. They aren’t as powerful as a regular laptop, but you can do basic web surfing, texting and Twittering. Kind of like iPhones or one of the 20 Android phones coming out. They are a smaller form factor and easier to lug around than a full fledged laptop. Also kind of like the iPhone or one of the 20 Android phones coming out.

So, what the heck is a netbook? Is it a phone with a bigger screen or a laptop with a little brain? Either way, is there a real reason why I am supposed to want to drag yet another gadget around with me everywhere? What am I missing here? Where’s the draw? I can check my email on my phone. I web surf on my phone. I can update Twitter, catch up on sports scores and read articles all just fine on my phone -- and my phone sucks (I am upgrading soon). What do I need a netbook for?

More to the point, what does ANYbody need a netbook for? Today’s phones do a pretty good job with the web. Over the next 2 or 3 years, assuming technology progresses like it always has, they will get even better. I guess I just need somebody to explain to me the netbook’s ‘niche’ here because to this point, I see no ‘need’ for their existence whatsoever.

Hardware and service providers are definitely on board. Most telecom providers have announced or already launched some sort of subsidized netbook program. Your telecom providers love subsidy programs. They typically involve lengthy contract extensions. Maybe there's more to it here... I just don't see it.

Google has even announced a new Netbook oriented open source OS. MS has invaded Google’s search turf with Bing. So, it’s only natural for Google to want to fire a shot across Microsoft’s bow and announce an open source OS for netbooks. Of course, this new open source OS isn’t due until late next year which is pretty ‘forward looking’ even for Google.

I’m not saying anything, but some people might think this announcement had as much to do with Bing’s impressive (early) numbers than anything else. I don’t think Google really believes they are going to be snatching much of Microsoft’s OS business with this thing for netbooks, but it probably gives the hardware vendors the semblance of some bargaining chip with Redmond for a price break. I hope that isn’t the rationale for the 10 month advance notice for the Chrome OS though, because that just sounds desperate.

But back to the actual gadgets. Somebody explain to me how these things aren’t the the epitome of a useless ‘tweener’ device. Not quite a laptop, not quite a phone but still apparently considered desirable by some 30 million people. Basically so they can do stuff they were already doing with their phones and laptops.

Do you think a netbook is a 'needful' thing or just a redundant gadget? Weigh in in the comments.

I have used these things a little bit too, so telling me how the screens are bigger and the keyboards are nicer is only going to get you so far. We have one of these things floating around the office. The Sony P-Series even, one of the best you can buy. It’s not even a ‘real’ netbook because it has laptop-ish specs. Guess what? The screen is still too small and it’s sitting here somewhere collecting dust. Why? Even though it would be easy to carry around if you needed to, nobody needs to carry it around.

Music Fans Favor CDs Over Downloads

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:14:18 -0400

Most UK music fans are still content buying a CD rather than downloading songs, according to research by The Leading Question and Music Ally.

Despite data indicating digital music will soon make CDs obsolete, the report found 73 percent of music fans are still happy buying CDs over downloading tracks. Interestingly 66 percent of 14-18 year olds favor CDs over downloads and 59 percent of all music fans still listen to CDs everyday.

"Digital is still the future but rumors of the death of the CD are premature. The continued popularity of the CD should be looked upon as an opportunity," said The Leading Question CEO Tim Walker.

Paul Brindley

"We believe that labels and online stores could and should be doing more to build on music fans' familiarity with CDs to provide them with additional digital content and to use the CD as a bridge into the digital world. Music fans have spoken and digital is evidently not the clear cut replacement to the physical CD."

The research found that even though most digital music fans continue to buy CDs, there is little evidence that digital music downloads are making up for physical sales.

Those who are paying for a digital music subscription service spend more on CDs each month than most music fans ($27.74 per month compared to $18.70).

Those who stream music also spend more on CDs ($20 a month) and downloads ($11.54 per month compared with a survey average of $6.26) than most music fans.

"While we fully expect that digital will eventually replace most physical consumption, this is not a clear cut replacement cycle like the change from vinyl to CD," said Music Ally CEO Paul Brindley.

"It's particularly encouraging that those who are listening to streamed music on their computers are actually buying more music on both CDs and downloads than the average music fan. This suggests that digital can and is being used as a way of sampling new music which users may then go on to purchase."

Facebook Testing New "Penguin FB" Twitter App?

Jeremy Muncy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:34:07 -0400

Recently Facebook engineer Blake Ross tweeted a test message from a mysterious Twitter app called "Penguin FB" which resides on Facebook's development servers. Now the question is, what exactly is Penguin FB?

Do you think Twitter is building an official Twitter app? Tell us what you think.

The general consensus from various blogs is that Facebook is working on an app that would allow users to publish updates to their Twitter accounts from Facebook. Sure, they’re apps that currently allow this... but it seems Facebook wants their own.

InsideFacebook reports that they contacted company, asking about the Penguin FB app and they had no comment. Shortly after that, Blake deleted his test tweet. (You can still view his tweet via search.twitter).

It's no secret that Facebook is infatuated with Twitter. From the highly scrutinized redesign to the recent updates with the privacy features, which added ways for you to open up your update stream much like how Twitter does things.

What do you think "Penguin FB" is? Tell us.

Did Twitter Cost Brüno Millions?

Jeremy Muncy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:25:33 -0400

Early Friday morning it looked like Sacha Baron Cohen had done it again with his new film Brüno. With post-midnight ticket sales in the neighborhood of $1.6 million some Hollywood insiders were predicting around $50 million for the opening weekend.

Well, $50 million didn't happen. Brüno finished the weekend with a respectable $30.4 million. But, $20 million is a pretty big gap... what caused such an erroneous projection? Well, TIME thinks Twitter is to blame.

Did Twitter cost Brüno millions? Tell us what you think.

"Brüno's box-office decline from Friday to Saturday indicates that the film's brand of outrage was not the sort to please most moviegoers — and that their tut-tutting got around fast. Brüno could be the first movie defeated by the Twitter effect."

With techsavvy moviegoers tweeting their opinions to literally millions of followers, the micro-blogging site can make or break a film in one day.

Days after the movie was released, Brüno is still a trending topic on Twitter. Users can't seem to stop tweeting about the film. Sure, some of the tweets are positive saying how funny the film is... while others are incredibly harsh and could have contributed to the Twitter effect that was mentioned above...

It's hard to say if Twitter cost Brüno millions at the box office. The film had already been under fire from The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) so it's unclear how much impact Twitter actually had.

But, in any case this is a new trend we're sure to keep an eye on.

Do you think Twitter can have a negative impact on the box office? Tell us.

Blogger Sentenced For Guns N' Roses Leaks

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:43:40 -0400

A Los Angles blogger who leaked nine unreleased tracks online from Guns N' Roses new album "Chinese Democracy" has been sentenced to two months of home confinement.

Kevin Cogill also received one year's probation and has agreed to appear in an anti-piracy commercial for the Recording Industry Association of America under terms of his plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Kevin Cogill

Cogill pleaded guilty last year to a single misdemeanor count of violating federal copyright laws. He posted the tracks from "Chinese Democracy" onto the website antiquiet.com five months before its official release.

His public service announcement for the RIAA is scheduled to air during the Grammy Awards next January.

In a post on the antiquiet website Cogill explains why he is doing the public service announcement for the RIAA and his view on illegal file sharing.

"Well, the reason i agreed to do the psa was because i do respect an artist's right to decide for his or herself how their music is released. i can speak genuinely about that on behalf of riaa, with real regret.but i'm not going to be an anti-p2p poster boy," Cogill said.

"i strongly feel that p2p and everyday "illegal" sharing helps artists reach those that can't, or are only passively curious. i believe it directly generates revenue and stimulates the industry at best, causing no harm at worst."

Google Posts Impressive Q2 Profit

Doug Caverly — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:25:27 -0400

Google released its second quarter earnings report this afternoon, and the search giant met and beat most analysts' written estimates. Its bottom line in terms of profit looked especially good.

The consensus was that Google would post $4.05 billion in net revenue. It managed $4.07 billion, instead. Then the company established a more impressive contrast when it came to earnings per share - $5.35 versus $5.05 - although Henry Blodget wrote, "the EPS upside appears to have come from a lower-than-expected tax rate."

As for net profit, Google leapt from $1.25 billion for the second quarter of last year to $1.48 billion, a jump of 18.4 percent. That doesn't look to be a result of being tentative, as the official report announced, "We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures."

Eric Schmidt also stated, "Google had a very good quarter, especially given the continued macro-economic downturn. While most of the world's largest economies shrank, Google's year-over-year revenues were up 3%. These results highlight the enduring strength of our business model and our responsible efforts to manage expenses in a way that puts us in a good position for the economic upturn, when it occurs."

Still, Google's down by 2.62 percent in after-hours trading. It may be that some people are doing a little profit-taking, or there could be another problem plaguing the company. Dan Frommer wrote, "CNBC mistakenly reported Google's net sales as $3.07 billion before correcting themselves a moment later."

One last thing worth noting: as of June 30th, Google employed 378 fewer full-time employees than it did on March 31st, so some significant cutting has taken place.

Things You Need to Know About Twitter Security

Chris Crum — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:01:28 -0400

There has been more than one story in the news recently about Twitter accounts being hijacked. The most recent examples of note include the accounts of Britney Spears and famed blogger/entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki. These issues have highlighted some potential dangers of using the service, or really social networks in general. Have you encountered security issues with Twitter or other social networks? Share with WebProNews readers.

Amit Klein, CTO of Trusteer, a security firm, who counts the nation's largest direct bank, ING Direct, among its customers, feels that Twitter account hijacking is an issue that more people need to be aware of. WebProNews asked Klein a few questions about it, and the following is the resulting Q&A session.

WebProNews: Please talk a little bit about what is happening when Twitter (and other social network) accounts are hijacked.

Amit Klein: Typically, criminals hijack Twitter accounts in order to spread malware. That is, they abuse the hijacked accounts to post messages to all the "followers", with a link to a site that serves malware. In the Guy Kawasaki incident, for example (not a classic account hijacking, but still a malware spreading campaign), of the 139,000 followers, it is estimated that hundreds got infected. Earlier this year, accounts of 33 celebrities (among them Barack Obama - 1.6 million followers, and Britney Spears - 2.1 million followers) were hijacked.

WPN: How big of a problem is hijacking of Twitter (or other social network) accounts?

AK: This is quite bad, since a twitter account enables one to send malware links and plain spam to all followers. Of course - the more followers, the more widespread the attack is.

WPN: How common is it?

AK: Over the last 10 days, we've seen two high profile incidents, in which an account was abused to serve spam and malware. One is the Guy Kawasaki incident, and another is Britney Spears.

WPN: Has it been limited to "high profile" accounts, or is it becoming common for regular users as well?

AK: Obviously the media covers only the high profile attacks (celebrities, politicians, etc.). We believe that attacks against more average accounts are also taking place - quite possibly via mass production utilities.

WPN: What are the dangers that come with it?

AK: The most obvious danger is that a hijacked account can be used to serve malware and spam automatically to all a user's followers. An account can be hijacked a long time before it is abused. Attackers usually wait for the right opportunity to hit as many users as possible.

While twitter is currently used to spread malware, it's a perfect platform to commit fraud as well. Followers trust the messages that come from the person they follow, while in reality the message could be spam trying to convince followers to fall to a scam. A very simple example would be a request to donate a small amount of money to charity (for example to support the situation in Iran). The link would go to a fraudulent website that records credit card numbers. A high profile account that sends such a message could result in hundreds of thousands of compromised credit cards.

Another example is false rumors about companies and stock, which could result in pump and dump attacks.

WPN: What can users do to protect their accounts?

AK: To secure their Twitter presence, users needs to take several actions:

1. Protect their twitter credentials - users need to be vigilant and keep on the look out for Twitter phishing attacks, and pharming (DNS poisoning) attacks. Users can install client side security tools that ensure they are only providing their Twitter credentials to the genuine twitter website. In doing so, they will protect their credentials against keyloggers or malicious browser plug-ins ("man in the browser" attacks).

2. Control and protect their twitter information. As tempting and convenient as it may be, using 3rd party applications and services that enhance Twitter may increase the exposure of users to abuse. Every website which is allowed to automatically post to a user's Twitter account adds attack surface that criminals may exploit.

WPN: Please feel free to discuss anything else related to the subject that you feel people should know.

AK: Somewhat akin to phishing, is a practice called "twitter-squatting", wherein names of people/organizations are registered by fraudsters (or sometimes pranksters). It makes a lot of sense to monitor for such registrations, or better yet, to register brand names and individual names as early as possible to thwart such attacks.

Another threat associated with Twitter is abusing "Trending Topics" to serve malware. The attack involves sending many tweets (with malicious links) with some special keyword in them, so that this keyword will show up as a trend in the "Trending Topics" list at twitter.com. A user that views a sample tweet for this keyword and clicks on the malicious link will be served malware.

Both examples show how well established web attacks carry over into the twittersphere. Cyber squatting is a well-known practice on the web, which is now occurring in Twitter. Likewise, search engine poisoning is a common practice on the web, and now in Twitter also.

Security-wise, Twitter should be treated both as an individual website with its own potential security issues, and as a microcosm into which many existing web attacks can be mapped. This makes securing Twitter harder than protecting typical websites.

Wrapping up

WebProNews would like to thank Amit for sharing the above insight into Twitter security issues. Has your Twitter account ever been hijacked? Have you been a victim of Twitter abuse of any kind? Tell us about it.

Facebook Now Has 250 Million Users

Jeremy Muncy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:59:45 -0400

It was just mere months ago that Facebook announced they had 200 million members worldwide. Well, today they've passed another milestone... 250 million people are now using the social networking site.

It should be noted that back in January Facebook only had 150 million users... feels kind of funny saying only 150 million.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, updated the company blog with the following:

"So today as we celebrate our 250 millionth user, we are also continuing to develop Facebook to serve as many people in the world in the most effective way possible. This means reaching out to everyone across the world and making products that serve all of you, wherever you are—whether through Facebook Connect, new mobile products and the other things that we are building. We're grateful to have all of you with us, and we look forward to helping connect the next quarter billion people on Facebook."

Below is a pretty neat map, which shows Facebook's growth to 250 million users.

So Facebook is well on its way to 1 billion users... care to make a prediction on when this will happen? Tell us when you think it'll happen.

Misleading Ad: Twitter is Hiring

Jeremy Muncy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:48:34 -0400

Did you know that Twitter was hiring? Apparently, you could be making $75/hr from the comfort of your own home! I saw the ad on the Drudge Report so it has to be legit, right? I mean a site that is the one of the largest news portals on the Internet wouldn't advertise misleading, dare I say spammy items, to their loyal audience... would they?

Unfortunately, I recently saw the following ad atop the popular Drudge Report. The ad is without a doubt pulling at the heartstrings of a recession stricken America where hundreds of thousands are currently unemployed.

If you'll notice the Drudge Report asks you to "Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers". Shouldn't The Drudge Report hold itself up to a higher advertiser standard ... especially since they ask you to click on it? Tell us what you think.

Upon clicking the ad it takes you to newspaper-ish looking article, that has no mention of Twitter hiring mind you, but instead is a story about Mike Steadman, and what do you know... he's from where I live! Mike claims, "I get paid about $25 for every link I post on Twitter and I get paid every week... I make around $10500 a month right now". Good going Mike!

Oh, and at the bottom of the page it even says "Twitter is in no way associated with this website."

That's some serious cabbage Mike, too bad it's painfully fake and you're probably a stock image from somewhere.

I viewed the source of the page and found out that the page is using a simple script to pull the Geo IP location to make it appear as if someone close to you is getting rich. Below you'll see the same page as above but now Mike is from Washington, D.C. If you can't trust Mike, whom can you trust these days?

This fake online newspaper, or whatever it's supposed to be, is nothing more than a funnel which is attempting to get your credit card information. The moneyback guarantee for "Easy Twitter Cash" made me chuckle, remember the ad that lead me here said that I could be making $75/hr now check this out...

"After six days we will charge you $84.79 for the first month, and a lower discounted rate of $49.87 every month from the signup date thereafter until you cancel. Additionally, you will be charged $6.82/month for a Health Tracker subscription."

Seeing these ads on The DrudgeReport got me thinking about a couple of things...

1.) Has Twitter been too relaxed with their trademark/brand?
2.) Can Twitter do anything at this point to better control use of their brand by outsiders?
3.) Shouldn't publishers, e.g. The DrudgeReport, step in and ask that such a misleading ad like Twitter Hiring be removed from their sites advertising rotation?

1.) Has Twitter been to relaxed?

That's easy, the answer is yes. Twitter has been extremely easy going with their trademark/brand. Almost every 3rd party app/service has either Twitter, a bird, or the word tweet in the title. For example Twitterrific, TweetDeck, CoTweet, Tweetmeme... etc.

Below is an official response from Twitter about their trademarking of the word "Tweet"...

"We have applied to trademark Tweet because it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective but we have no intention of "going after" the wonderful applications and services that use the word in their name when associated with Twitter. In fact, we encourage the use of the word Tweet. However, if we come across a confusing or damaging project, the recourse to act responsibly to protect both users and our brand is important."

Social Media commentator Andy Beal had the following to say about Twitter trademarking the term "tweet" ...

"I’m not a trademark attorney–if you are, correct me if I am wrong–but if you register a trademark, aren’t you obliged to police it? I was under the impression that if you didn’t prevent others from using your trademark, you risked losing the protections granted by its registration.

If that is the case, maybe third-party application developers should be worried after all.

In addition, the above sentiment is how Twitter feels about the situation today, but what about in five years from now? What if it’s acquired by Google or News Corp–and they have a more stringent policy on the use of their trademarks?"

2.) Can Twitter gain control?

Alexander
Macgillivray

I do believe that Twitter can gain control of their trademark/brand, but it's going to be difficult. Twitter might finally be on the right track with the recent rumored hiring of Alexander Macgillivray, who was Google's associate general counsel for products and intellectual property. Will Alex bring to Twitter Google's aggressive approach to protecting trademarks?

My guess is we'll see a new Twitter before the end of the year, one that doesn't just roll over.

3.) Publishers need to step up, and are they at fault?

The Drudge Report has 12 million unique visitors monthly, according to the media kit. They also certainly serve a lot of ad impressions to their readers, over 669 million in the past 31 days! Shouldn't the Drudge Report be concerned with the quality and truthfulness of the ads displayed on their site?

The company that handles the advertising for The Drudge Report is Intermarkets, Inc. The following is a sentence from their website about "corporate integrity"...

"At Intermarkets we are committed to conducting business with integrity, building valuable win-win relationships and providing exceptional service."

With the above sentence in mind, Intermarkets may want to re-look at the "Twitter is Hiring" ad? Twitter isn't hiring here, there is no Lexington Reporter publication, my Google search of Mike Steadman came up empty, the comments on the article don't appear genuine, and there definitely is no affiliation with Twitter and the fine print mention of this doesn't cut it! Oh, and by the way, I would love to meet a real person who makes $10,000 a month placing text ads in their tweets as a result of this program!

So, I guess the real question is... who is to blame for this misleading "Twitter is Hiring" ad? Is it The Drudge Report for not stepping in and saying pull it - or is it Intermarkets for even running the ad in their network? Tell us what you think.

A Nobel Peace Prize for Twitter?

Mike McDonald — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:08:52 -0400

I have been covering Internet business and webmaster news for nearly 10 years now. If I have learned anything over the course of the past decade it is that you just never know what you can expect to see in Internet news every day. Most recent case in point, Twitter’s consideration for a Nobel Peace prize.

More WebProNews Videos

That’s right. A Nobel Peace Prize. For Twitter. Mark Pfeifle at the Christian Science Monitor writes; “Without Twitter, the people of Iran would not have felt empowered and confident to stand up for freedom and democracy.” As impressive as that sounds, I am left feeling a little suspect about the validity of the claim. Call me jaded, but I just really have a hard time thinking that proponents of democracy in the Middle East looked at Twitter and thought to themselves “Now’s our chance!”.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter. I use it all the time, but let’s not get too carried away here folks. Does anybody really think Twitter is going to bring peace and democracy to the Middle East? Hey, I hope I’m wrong and it does, then it can move right on to ending hunger and curing cancer...

Beyond the fact that I believe the reasoning behind Twitter’s Nobel Prize qualification is a tad specious. There is also the fact that Twitter isn’t a person... it’s a platform. Do we really want to start awarding Nobel Prizes to things? Where are we going to draw that line? If you want to credit Twitter with enabling the fight for democracy in Iran, then by the same line of reasoning, why wouldn’t we want to also nominate iPhones (or whatever device the Iranians used to do their Tweeting).

Then again, maybe singling out the iPhone or any one device would be unfair too. I doubt all of the Iranian Twitterers were sporting the same hardware. So, maybe by that rationale, we would need to nominate ‘Cell Phones’ for the Nobel Peace prize. That doesn’t work though, does it? Not all cell phones even have web access so we can’t really credit them for enabling the fight for democracy in Iran.

Well, how about just ‘The Internet’ then? Twitter is part of the Internet. You can’t have a Twitter without the web can you? But who do we give an award to? Tim Berners-Lee? Vint Cerf? Al Gore?

I just don’t think much of the idea. If you wanted to talk about the Twitter founders maybe being deserving of a nomination I guess that would have been a little better. Although, I don’t think too many folks in Iran could come up with Jack Dorsey’s name if they had to. I could be wrong about Jack, I have never met the man, but I doubt he has spent a lot of time in the Middle East.

I guess at the end of the day, I have two main problems with nominating Twitter for a Nobel peace prize. First, it isn’t a person. Twitter is a platform. To me that’s like nominating McDonald’s french fries for a pulitzer because so many writers enjoy them. Second ‘it’ didn’t ‘do’ anything. Twitter didn’t do anything in Iran. Twitter never marched, Twitter made no signs, Twitter itself didn’t do a single thing in Iran. The Iranians did. To be perfectly honest, I rather think nominating ‘Twitter’ for a peace prize because of what somebody else did with it borders on an insult to the people that did the tweeting.

Is eBay in Trouble?

Chris Crum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:09:17 -0400

eBay's traffic appears to be on the way down. This doesn't come as a huge surprise if you pay attention to the commentary on message boards and comment sections on eBay articles.

The griping usually comes from disgruntled sellers, and there is a lot of it. We've covered that before. Users have been frustrated for a variety of reasons.

If you look at the traffic patterns, you can see these gripes reflected. AuctionBytes looks at Nielsen data for page views, unique audience, and time per person spent on site. Here are a couple of those graphs:

Unique visitor data from Compete paints a similar picture. This is from the last three months:

The question is how far is this going to go? Will eBay's numbers continue to plummet or will the company win back the respect it used to get. Competition certainly isn't getting any slimmer. What do you think eBay's future holds?

Putting Twitter into Perspective

Mike McDonald — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:46:17 -0400

Brett Tabke was among the speakers on the 'Mega Panel' at SMX Advanced this year. This session essentially consists of a panel of established industry experts fielding questions from the crowd of conference attendees. It never takes long in these type of sessions to get a feel for what's on everybody's mind. This year, to the surprise of exactly no one, it was all things social media and Twitter that dominating the Q & A.

More WebProNews Videos

I caught Brett Tabke, founder of WebmasterWorld, shortly after the session to get his take on some of the high points of the discussion. It looks like this social media thing is doing nothing but growing and it's impact is being felt across the board in ways most of us never imagined.

Realtime Search:
Realtime search is one of the biggest concepts to talk about in terms of social media. Brett brought up the example of the French airliner that crashed in South America recently. Information about the incident was available instantly through Twitter.

More significantly, this information wasn't simply in the form of Tweets about the crash, there was new content being created and linked to in Tweets. This new content, created on the fly and accessed in real time, wasn't available through Google, Bing or Yahoo yet, but it was in Twitter.

The concept of content discovery in realtime hasn't really been done (at least not very well) to this point. This is why you've been reading weekly rumors of this company or that company being interested in purchasing Twitter.

Marketing:
Social media marketing is entering a whole new level. Business interest in social media started out a lot like business interest started in blogs. When blogs were first coming into vogue, businesses were, for the most part, looking at blogging from a public relations/reputation management standpoint. Of course, as blogs became more and more prevalent businesses increasingly incorporated them into their marketing mix.

The same thing is happening with social media, just a little faster. Take a look at BestBuy and their 'Twelpforce' Twitter strategy. They have over 500 people signed up, scouring Twitter looking for folks with questions about plasma TVs and various gadgets.

Social media, particularly Twitter, is moving more and more out of the realm of the 'optional' for business. Managing your identity in social media is becoming just as important, if not more, than managing your .com domain. GoDaddy is even going ahead and registering your Twitter accounts along with your domains now.

Just like with your domains, if you aren't 'you' then somebody else is apt to become 'you'. Twitter registration has evolved to the point that account creation there is just another step in responsible brand management.

Evolution of Twitter:
Now that Twitter has become too big to be ignored and (for many) too important not to use, what comes next? Just as with anything else new on the web, it hasn't taken spammers long to get into the mix. Spammers have hit Twitter like 7 year locusts. Anyone who has been using the service of a significant amount of time can tell you that the peddlers of porn, mortgage 'deals' and pharmaceuticals have arrived en force.

Twitter by nature is completely opt-in so you would think that the spammers would have a hard time with getting much done. Fortunately for the spammers however people are, by nature, just greedy. The currency of Twitter is (for the most part) your follower count. Whether it's to increase the effectiveness and reach of your tweets or just to stroke the ego, for many, the Twitter game is largely about growing the follower number.

This has given rise to countless "add 500 followers per day" schemes and mechanisms in order to game the system. The rationale being, if you find somebody with 3000 followers, you are apt to think, "hey, this guy must have something cool to say". It's logical enough but unfortunately not necessarily the case.

So, how can you tell if somebody is worth following? That's a question a lot of people are asking. What is authority? How can you tell if someone is an authority? How do you know the person you are following is even who they claim to be?

Twitter has started verifying accounts for some of the A list set. Celebrities are finding their way onto Twitter in increasing numbers. Prompted in large part by a lawsuit filed by Tony LaRussa, Twitter has started a program of verifying the accounts of celebrities. It's a step in the right direction which will likely make it's way from celebrities to businesses soon enough but it's really just a start. What if you want to find twitter people to follow within niche industries, or within your local area?

Finding people to follow is easy enough. We have Twellow and Twellowhood (shameless plug alert) just in the way of examples of sites you can use to find interesting people. How do you tell who is worth following though once you've found them?

Brett and I talked about this a bit in the interview. We are starting to see some sites and services pop up to 'grade' Twitterers in an attempt to assign some sort of authority or rank to accounts. Sound familiar? It should. This is essentially what search engines have spent years trying to figure out for websites.

Personally, I think there is something a little unsettling about the concept of having rank or some arbitrary authority assigned to Twitter accounts, but I suppose it's probably inevitable to some extent. You can check Klout.net for an example of such a service. Here you will find an algorithmic number value assigned to Twitter accounts. The ingredients and factors of the algo are (of course) secretive and mysterious, but we're all used to that by now aren't we?

So in some regards, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. There's still a lot of ground to cover with this whole social/Twitter thing. Remember search? How many search engines did we go through before we got Google? How many Google-killers have come and gone since then?

Social Media is still an area very much in it's development. There will no doubt be plenty of twists and turns as we move along. However, there is one thing you can absolutely take to the bank: if aren't in it, you need to get there. For better or worse, "wait and see" strategists have no place in this world.

Tweet As the Real Twitterers Do

Chris Crum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:53:08 -0400

Some people tweet a lot. I follow a good deal of them. Sometimes excessive tweeting can include plenty of wisdom. Often times, however, it is just annoying. Chances are that if you follow somebody, you do care what they have to say, at least to some extent. If they tweet too much though, you may find yourself caring less, and you may even decide to unfollow them. Do you unfollow people who tweet too much? Tell us.

Excessive tweeting is at the root of more than one of Twitter's problems.

The Retention Problem

Twitter has been known to have trouble with user retention. People sign up and abandon their accounts. A common complaint about Twitter is that it contains too much "noise." In other words, there are too many random tweets that nobody cares about.

I've always found it a bit naive to assume that just because you find a tweet useless, it is useless to everybody. I've long considered that you control who you follow, so if you don't like somebody's tweeting, you have the power to stop following them.

This is still true, but perhaps it is more complex than that. I may want to follow @soandso (I'm only using this as an example) because I know that they will say things that I need to know sometimes, but @soandso may also flood my Twitter stream with useless conversation that I have no interest in - noise.

If that noise gets to become to much of an issue, I will likely end up deciding to unfolllow @soandso anyway, and try to obtain the info from somewhere else - somewhere that is less annoying.

The lesson here (from the business perspective) is that if you want to keep followers, you should probably limit your tweeting. That's not to say that every Tweet has to be incredibly important. Just think before you Tweet, and keep your audience in mind.

The Capacity Problem

By tweeting too frequently, you may actually be hurting Twitter's accessibility. Interestingly enough, while I was researching this article, I encountered the "Twitter is over capacity" error message a couple times (one with and one without the Fail Whale), which if you'll notice in the illustrations below, is accompanied by "Too many Tweets! Please wait a moment and try again."

If Twitter's not operating properly, it's not going to do anybody any good until it comes back. If you're tweeting too much, you're contributing to the problem. Twitter does limit the number of tweets you post in a day.

"We do cap the number of updates a user can make in a 24 hour period, whether via the API or any other input method (web, mobile, etc.)," said Alex Payne, Twitter's API Lead in a Google Groups conversation back in January. "Right now, that number is 1000, but it's subject to change at any time. "

I am awaiting confirmation on whether or not this is still the number, but whether it has changed or not, Twitter may reduce it more still, considering the capacity issue. If Twitter wants to keep growing, this has to be a turn off (despite all of the charm of the Fail Whale).

Tweet How the Real Twitterers Tweet

I thought it would be interesting to see how frequently the people who actually run Twitter tweet themselves. As far as I can tell, the frequency isn't too high. They tweet often, but not excessively. I browsed the last month or so worth of tweets from the following list of Twitter staffers (hat tip to Twittercism who has a huge list of Twitterers), and they all pretty much kept it to 20 tweets a day or less (5 or less or 3 or less in some cases, most were under 10).

10 of the People Behind Twitter

1. Evan Williams (@ev) - Twitter CEO

2. Biz Stone (@biz) Twitter Co-founder

3. Abdur Chowdhury (@abdur) - Twitter's "Chief Scientist"

4. Alex Payne (@al3x) - Twitter's API Lead

5. Crystal (@crystal) - leads twitter support team

6. Eric Jensen (@ej) - Co-founded Summize (Twitter Search) - search and text mining technologist

7. Greg Pass (@gregpass) - Director of Engineering and Ops

8. Jason Goldman (@goldman) - Director of product strategy

9. John Adams (@netik) - operations engineer

10. Rudy Winnacker (@ronpepsi) - operations engineer

I have to wonder if Twitter employees have a limit in place for themselves. Of course they know what happens when there are too many tweets. No point in creating more work for yourself.

Can You Tweet Too Little?

Depending on what your goals are for using Twitter, I would say that it is possible to tweet too little. If you are using it for business purposes, then a lack of updates could reflect poorly on your effort to stay in touch with your followers.

As long as you're not completely dead on Twitter for months at a time, you'll probably be ok though. In fact, I don't consider myself a very frequent tweeter. There is just as much (if not more) to gain from Twitter by absorbing the content that is coming in, than there is by pushing content out.

The Moral of the Story

Your Twitter frequency should be dictated by you goals. That said, you do not want to overdo it. You may lose followers from a lack of updating, but I would think you would be more likely to lose them when you update too much. Use moderation. Use other channels of communication when applicable. Use direct messages for one on one conversation.

What are your thoughts on overtweeting? Undertweeting? Discuss with WebProNews readers.

Bing is Taking Feature Requests

Chris Crum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:50:22 -0400

Microsoft wants you to like Bing. If the company ever hopes to lure a significant enough amount of people away from Google, it has to deliver on user experience. For the most part the public's response to Bing in this area has so far been relatively positive.

Bing has set up a discussion page on Facebook where fans can request features they would like to see added to Bing. Here is a sampling of some of the requests made so far:

Microsoft is taking the right approach by reaching out to users. Facebook is a great way to do this, as the social network continues to gain popularity (it's even close to Google in unique visitors according to Compete).

Bing is doing its own fair share of growing too of course. If it hopes to keep doing so for a long time, it is wise to continue paying attention to what users want.

Of course there is a big difference between asking for requests and acting upon them. Obviously, they're not going to fulfill each one, but Microsoft is clearly taking search seriously now (they've got a lot of money invested in the marketing alone), and keeping the users happy is a good way to expand on market share.

What would you like to see added to Bing? We'd love to know too. Comment.

Why It's Not Wise for Your Business to Overlook FriendFeed

Chris Crum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:47:23 -0400

If your business didn't have enough reasons to set up a FriendFeed account before, it has a very good one now. Last week, FriendFeed launched its real-time search feature. Results for this roll in when something that fits the query is posted somewhere. Think Twitter Search, only covering a bunch of services. Do you believe FriendFeed's real-time search is significant? Tell us what you think.

If you're unfamiliar with FriendFeed, it allows users to add their updates from pretty much any service on the web into one stream. For instance, I could include my WebProNews articles, my SmallBusinessNewz articles, my tweets, my Facebook status updates, my Digg activity, my YouTube uploads, my Flickr uploads, etc. all in one stream where people can go or subscribe to if they want to stay up to date on all things Chris Crum.

Clearly, there is plenty of potential for such a tool from the business perspective. Look at all of the services you can add to the stream:

There are a number of real time search engines out there right now. They seem to be coming out of the woodwork in fact. Most of them cover more than just Twitter too. Twitter kind of kicked off the whole real-time search party, and tweets are definitely a big part of the picture, but there is activity going on everywhere on the web. The whole web is pretty much social now. Everyone can publish anything they want, and they have tons of sites to use to do so.

FriendFeed is about consolidating all of this. That's what draws users to it. FriendFeed is more than a search engine obviously. It is a community. In fact, it's more than a community. It's a community for communities. Even as it draws from sources all over the web (as specified by the users), the conversation continues right within FriendFeed's own interface.

People are going to FriendFeed just as if they would Facebook. That is where FriendFeed's new real-time search stands out from other real time search engines. People are still using Google for search. If they want to find out what's happening "right now" they probably go to Twitter.

A more accurate picture of what is going on "right now" however, can probably be found at FriendFeed. Out of the real time search engines out there, FriendFeed is the one that already has an established (and growing) community behind it. People are using it. Now that its real-time search functionality is here, expect people to use that plenty.

FriendFeed has climbed significantly over the last year in terms of unique visitors. There is a good chance it will continue to grow as the web continues its trend of becoming more social and people look to consolidate their social media streams.

So the more FriendFeed grows, the more people will realize that they can search in real-time throughout content across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and all of the others shown in the image above. The only problem with this is that the results will only come from what is being shared via FriendFeed.

That's where you come in.

If you do not have a FriendFeed account and have all of your relevant accounts and postings going into your stream, you will be missing out on appearing in users' real-time searches.

This may become less of an issue when Google finally begins offering up real-time search. People are going to be using Google when they want to search for something for the foreseeable future. Once they add real-time search into the fold, I would imagine it will be the first place many turn for that as well.

We know it's coming, but we don't know when. Co-founder Larry Page has publicly acknowledged that it's something the company has to do. Actually, Marissa Mayer, VP of search product and user experience was just talking about the importance of real-time search again.

But for the time being, FriendFeed may be at an advantage in the real-time search space as far as looking at real-time info from across the whole web, and not just what people are saying on Twitter. At the very least, it should make for an important tool in the real-time search toolbox, which as a whole, is very important for online reputation management.

Following are a few other articles worth reading for getting a better understanding of some benefits you can get from using FriendFeed, beyond just the real-time search aspect:

- Why You Should Use FriendFeed

- 10 Ways to Get more Out of FriendFeed

- How to Use FriendFeed as a Collaborative Business Tool

- How Bloggers Can Use FriendFeed Effectively

Do you use FriendFeed? Do you agree that it is an important tool? Share your thoughts.

Majority Of Computer Users Don’t Fear Bots

Mike Sachoff — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:50:31 -0400

Almost a third of consumers have admitted to responding to a message they suspected might be spam, according to a survey by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG).

The survey found 80 percent of users doubted their computers were at risk of ever being infected with a bot that could send spam or cause other damage without their knowledge.
"Spamming has morphed from an isolated hacker playing with some code into a well-developed underground economy that feeds off reputable users' machines to avoid detection. Consumers shouldn't be afraid to use email, but they need to be computer smart and learn how to avoid these problems," said MAAWG Chair Michael O'Reirdan.

About two-thirds of consumers said they were "very" or somewhat knowledgeable about Internet security. While most consumers use anti-virus software and over half said they never click on suspected spam, the survey also found that 21 percent take no action to prevent spam messages from entering their inbox. More than half (63%) of consumers would allow their network operator or anti-virus vendor to remotely access their computer to remove detected bots.

"According to the MAAWG findings, about one in six people are prepared to make an effort to report spam and the industry should find more ways to tap into this potential," said David Ferris, Ferris Research Principal.

"Conversely, the volume of people who still respond to spam is regrettable because it's an economic incentive to spammers."

Forrester: Interactive Marketing Spend To Double By 2014

Doug Caverly — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:37:37 -0400

People who specialize in interactive marketing hardly have to worry about whether the recession has damaged their industry, according to new data from Forrester Research. Indeed, it looks like the field of interactive marketing is set to thrive, even as offline aspects may be de-emphasized.

Forrester predicts that about $25.6 billion will be spent on interactive (display, email, mobile, search, social media) this year. It's supposed to represent 12 percent of all ad spend, which is respectable enough.

But by the time 2014 rolls around, Forrester predicts that roughly $55.0 billion will go towards interactive marketing efforts. And that may represent as much as 21 percent of all ad spend for the year as overall advertising budgets decline.

Shar VanBoskirk reasons in a post on the Forrester Blog, "With dollars moving out of traditional media toward less expensive and more efficient interactive tools, marketers will actually need less money to accomplish their current advertising goals."

Or, to look at the shift in a slightly less measured way, the executive summary of VanBoskirk's report also refers to the "cannibalization of traditional media."

Regardless, though, it looks like some interesting changes will be afoot in the advertising industry.

Do Meta Geo Tags Influence Google?

Chris Crum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:13:25 -0400

Google's Matt Cutts frequently posts useful tips for webmasters on the Google Webmaster Central YouTube channel. The short clips generally offer valuable nuggets of info that can have an impact on your site's performance in Google.

In these videos, Matt always answers questions submitted by users, and in a recent one he answers the question: "How do meta geo tags influence search results?"

Noticed changes in your ranking based on geographic info? Discuss.

Cutts says it's not something Google really looks at at all. He says they do look at:

- IP Address
- gTLD
- ccTLD

He also points out that there's a feature in Google's Webmaster Tools where you can tell it that your site pertains to a specific country even though it's a dot com. "Typically the geotags that are in meta tags are not as useful and We don't tend to give those as much weight if at all," says Cutts. He suggests spending your time:

- trying to make sure you have the right domain name

- trying to make sure you have the right IP address if you can

- If you have content (even if it's geo-located) even if it's a sub-domain or a sub-directory, you can specify it in Google's Webamster Tools. You can tell it that certain content is relevant for a particular country.

These are good things to keep in mind if geographic information is important to your site. Have you used the Webmaster Tools Feature Cutts refers to? Tell us about it.

Privacy Commissioner Scolds Facebook, Sets Deadline

Doug Caverly — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:07:04 -0400

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada isn't campaigning against Facebook; representatives have actually said some very nice things about the company and social networks in general. Just the same, following an investigation, they believe Facebook isn't meeting certain standards.

"It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a statement.

One specific problem is the lack of clarity when it comes to deleting an account. Deactivating one is easy enough, certainly, but the Office of the Privacy Commissioner wants to make sure users can have their data erased.

Another issue relates to third-party applications. The Office is of the opinion that it's too easy for developers to access users' personal info.

Anyway, Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, who also said, "Social networking sites can be a wonderful way to connect," concluded, "We urge Facebook to implement all of our recommendations to further enhance their site, ensure they are in compliance with privacy law, and ultimately show themselves as models of privacy."

Facebook has 30 days to take action (remember that it's in the middle of rolling out new privacy controls right now), and then the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which can move the matter to Federal Court, will review its progress.

Top News - WebProNews