Managers Skeptical of Social ROI

Some of the commentary in the tech industry suggests that the “golden era” of blogging is coming to a close, and that other modes of social media will become the preference. Keith Paul points out three factors that might challenge the role of blogging in the corporate world:

1. Managers continue to question the financial benefits of any kind of social media marketing. Quantifying the effects a social media campaign has on a company has always been a challenge, and continues to be difficult as search elements continue to change on what feels like a weekly basis.
2. Blogging is time-consuming. Generating relatively in-depth content on a regular basis takes a huge amount of time and work compared to other forms of social media. If you are looking for quality, daily updates, this can make for a near full-time job.
3. Options — blogging is no longer one of the only respectable options for getting your content onto the Internet. Paul says, “Spiceworks, Quora, Focus, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and scores more offer limitless means for social media self-publishing.” Social media is no longer just for the tech-savvy.

Write Newsletters for People, Not Machines

When we are composing our direct marketing campaigns, we can become so focused on getting our emails into the target inboxes that we might forget the actual readers themselves. Regina Gray reminds us that we are targeting humans, and need to remember what they are looking for:

• A sense of belonging: Using a welcome program to introduce your company and explain future emails can help readers feel involved. Gray says that while one welcome email is great, a welcome series could be even more effective. “Strategically crafted creative elements, calls to action, and messaging in each treatment of the series can enable continuous subscriber engagement and optimize results with double the open and click rates and three times the transaction rates of promotional mailings,” Gray says.
• Feeling known: People don’t like to feel anonymous, like a number in a system. Help them feel a connection to your company by treating them like individuals. For example, using a reader’s first or last name in the subject line can mean 58% greater “open” rates.
• Feeling special: As time passes, customers want to be rewarded for their loyalty to your brand. Gray says that sending “Friends or Family” emails after a length of time can help to build that extra level of connection. Using language like “exclusive” or “special” can also create these feelings.

South Korea Talked Out of Blocking Googlebot

Matt Cutts, known as “Google’s chief spam cop,” single-handedly convinced 80 South Korean government representatives to let Googlebot crawl their websites. Matt McGee said that this conversation did not come at an easy time, either. “Earlier this month, the Korean Fair Trade Commission accused Google of interfering with its Android antitrust investigation,” he said. “The commission alleges that Google deleted documents pertinent to its investigation into whether Google is limiting access to local search engines on Android smartphones.” On top of that, Google is not even the dominant search engine in South Korea.

Cutts has had difficult conversations on behalf of Google before this successful venture. Last year, he was the representative Google has dispatched to Washington, D.C., to explain to government officials why it would be unnecessary to regulate Google’s search results.

Twitter CEO Says 2012 to Be “Twitter Election”

Since the birth of the 24-hour TV news station, political news coverage has been brutally fast and relentless. According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Twitter is going to speed things up even more. Pointing to the State of the Union address (SOTU), Costolo said that Twitter provided real-time reactions to President Obama’s speech. In particular, tweets hashtagged #SOTU exploded when Obama made his “spilled milk remark,” seconds after the words were out of his mouth. Ina Fried said that even “Republicans took to the service to live-tweet their rebuttals, rather than waiting for the speech to end.” Waiting for the following morning, or even for the speech’s conclusion, to comment or issue a statement is becoming too late.

Pinterest Becoming Huge Boost for Retailers

Pinterest, a social bookmarking site in which users collect and share images on the Internet, has been exploding in popularity. Traffic on the site multiplied four times between September 2011 and December 2011, and has become a top-five referrer for several retail sites. The site is more popular among women (58% of users), and the retailers benefitting tend to be apparel and home design companies.

Despite the popularity of the sharing site, we have yet to see it impact sales, and search engines remain the biggest driver of referral traffic. Says Lauren Indvik, “Although Pinterest is becoming a significant source of traffic for retailers, search still dominates, and the site has yet to prove itself as a potential sales channel. At present, scant data is available about the social network’s conversion rates.”

Pintrest is an abstract, image-based site that is used less for direct promotion and more for collections of ideas and concepts as a whole. Still, a site becoming explosively popular so quickly should not be overlooked for its potential.

HTML5 Will Bring Changes

Slowly the Internet is making the shift from HTML to HTML5, and what does this mean for your search optimization management campaigns? There are four big changes that will make a difference:

• More descriptive markup tags, no including things like aside, footer, article, etc.
• The new Canvas element will help render graphs and images without first having to use a browser plugin.
• A new video element that allows for directly embedding a video without using a plugin, like Flash.
• Sites will be able to locate viewers geographically without having to use IP address detection.

These seem like some appealing changes, especially being able to run graphs, images, and video without the use of a plugin. But jumping on the HTML5 wagon right away is not going to rocket you to SEO splendor. Google, still considering it a new technology, has not yet worked it into its algorithms.

However, making the leap early is not without benefit. For one, HTML5 sites that are using the new technology well should naturally accumulate links as people are beginning to look into HTML5 for themselves. Secondly, HTML5 is designed to cut down on the code necessary to render a page, so crawlers should be able to skim through the pages of your website more quickly, and your viewers should experience a faster loading time.

Image by DavidMartynHunt, used under its Creative Commons license.

Social Networks for Writers

Regardless of genre, writers of all kinds can stretch their creative muscles, seek feedback from peers, and find a new outlet for their content with some interesting social networking sites for writers.

Writers-Network is a good resource for poets who are looking for a high number of readers. For writers who like to dabble in other genres, Inked-In is a great place to contribute to blogs and join Facebook groups. If you’re a journalist looking for a place to throw in your ideas and maybe scout out some freelance opportunities, Gather or Suite 101 are great places to start. If you are serious about developing your professional portfolio, Writertopia provides portfolio management, workshops, and reading.

How to Boost Conversions by Mastering QR Code Landing Pages

As people rely more and more on their smartphones for Internet access, it’s a good time to think about adding QR codes into your marketing campaigns. However, just integrating QR codes isn’t enough; you also need to focus on the landing page that those codes will direct visitors to.

Here are a few tips:

• Make sure your landing page is built for mobile browsers — People will not want to take the time to resize the page for their phones; or will simply click away if the page doesn’t look good on their device.
• Keep it simple — Feel free to make your page intriguing and dynamic, but keep the focus on the one most important element. It is easy to get overwhelmed on a small mobile screen.
• Focus on conversion — Don’t be afraid to be blunt. Make it very clear to visitors that conversion is the whole point of your landing page, and make it easy for them to act.

On Tuesday, Over 760K Tweets Dedicated to State of the Union

A total of 766,681 tweets hit the Web Tuesday night during the President’s State of the Union Address, containing the hashtag #SOTU. Of those, 548 tweets were from members of Congress — 60% of them by Democrats, and 40% by Republicans.

The top topics for tweets were also the main focuses for President Obama during his speech. The top five were: #education, #energy, #jobs, #fairness, and #manufacturing. Also heavily mentioned were #taxes, #defense, #housing, #immigration, and #budget.

The number of tweets generated peaked at certain points throughout the speech, including mentions of Steve Jobs, college tuition, Obama’s “spilled milk” line, and energy.

Tips for Sure-Fire Email Deliverability

Now that people are becoming increasingly savvy about the Internet and marketing, and are getting used to the lightning-quick pace of today’s advertising, making your emails as relevant and deliverable as possible is more important than ever. Here are a few tips to keep in mind before you launch your next email marketing campaign:

• Delivery rate boosters — Patti Renner says that maintaining a good relationship with major email services, selecting a reputable email service for your own use, and creating messages that don’t rely on images can all help your email get into that elusive inbox.
• Subject lines — Avoid even the lightest flavor of spam, without sacrificing interest. Renner says that this can be difficult line to tread, but critical. “Subject lines that clearly communicate the benefit of the email consistently outperform those that lack clarity,” she says.
• Know your customers — Understanding your target audiences and tailoring your approach to their needs has always been important to successful marketing, and emails are no different.
• Data matters — Relying on external data from an outside source can put your email at risk. “Not only will data fall through the cracks (hurting potential ROI), but you also compromise your standing with customers by inadvertently sending them outdated or irrelevant messaging,” Renner says.

“Dont’ Be Evil” Tool Takes on Google

Engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace came together to start a website called Focus On The User and a tool that depersonalizes your Google search results. The enthusiastically named “Don’t Be Evil” tool bookmarks in your browsers and eliminates People and Places results, Google+ sitelinks, and Google+ suggestions in Autocomplete.

This should clarify many of your searches, but there is one downfall of the tool. Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land says that all of the information from the tool still comes from Google. This means that the tool cannot deliver a result unless Google+ at least suggests it first.

Google Search Showing Results for Punctuation Marks

Try typing a lone comma into the Google search bar. In the past, this would register as a blank search, but now you can learn anything you would want to about commas.

Not only does common punctuation register, so do symbols like the @ or #. Is this quiet change a step towards more context-relevant Google searches? Or is this simply to include the plus sign in Google+ for Google searches?

Image by LucasTheExperience, used under its Creative Commons license.

In an historic move, this year’s Super Bowl will feature a Social Media Command Center, and I’m not talking five geeks in a basement, either. While the game is a one-day event, the Command Center will be up and running for about two weeks and will mainly be concerned with serving the Indianapolis area.

Cynthia Boris of Marketing Pilgrim describes it thus:

The goal of the social media center is to act as an information hub for people coming to see the game. A staff of 50 has been assigned to scan Twitter, Facebook and other media for Super Bowl related questions. Since they’re specifically dealing with those visiting the Indianapolis area, it’s not as massive a job as it could be.

The secondary function of the center is one they hope they won’t need, that of emergency management. The staff is prepared to send out emergency information via Twitter in order to quickly reach a large portion of the 150,000 fans at the game.

Scott Olson of the Indiana Business Journal gives us some detail on the operation, an effort spearheaded by interactive marketing company Raidious:

Raidious’ staff of 16 is teaming with a group of volunteers to monitor the communications hub — and add to the conversation. All told, about 50 people will spend time in the command center, including researchers from Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, Butler University and IUPUI.

About 150,000 visitors are expected to converge on downtown for Super Bowl festivities. Volunteers will respond to fans in need of assistance by indexing keywords and phrases used by those visitors in social media conversations. Guests searching Twitter for destinations or parking and restaurant options, for example, should receive responding tweets from the throng of volunteers tracking the digital dialogue.

Anyone who has tried to use Facebook or Twitter during a game knows there is an explosion of status updates, often quite colorful ones. Last year’s Super Bowl, with no command center driving engagement, saw a dizzying 4,064 Tweets per second (TPS). Not quite the all-time record of 6,939 TPS that we saw as the Japanese welcomed in the New Year, but still vastly more than any other sporting event on record had produced.

That stunning fire hose of data is about to get a boost. It will be interesting to see what sort of engagement numbers we see once we are viewing the game in hindsight.

So, as we close, here is where to go for the updates. It’s interesting to note that the Command Center will not be updating on Google+, a move that would have been truly forward-thinking:

• Facebook: facebook.com/indysuperbowl2012
• Twitter: twitter.com/superbowl2012
• YouTube: youtube.com/user/superbowl2012
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indianapolissuperbowl/
• Foursquare: Multiple locations

Image: Super Bowl logo, used under Fair Use: Reporting.

Wikipedia’s anti-SOPA blackout.

As an online content creator, I’m worried about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Very worried. As a matter of fact, it is the last worry anyone wants to have in the current economy — fear for your livelihood.

Of course, after yesterday SOPA is not just the topic of conversation of the Internet nerds. With the Internet titans like Wikipedia and Google blacking out and displaying prominent links to the anti-SOPA resources, it has entered the daily news. And let me tell you, the news is coming thick and fast.

That’s a good thing. SOPA attacks the way the Internet works, in a fashion never seen before. Its broad and unspecified powers would allow me to be prosecuted for including a quote from another news source in a blog post. The words “draconian” and “overkill” come immediately to mind.

As usual, the voices of Capitol Hill are spouting off about technology they do not understand, and this time it could be a job killer. This is why so many websites (including all four of my own) went dark, and aimed people at information on how to take action against this egregious act.

Now that the blackout is over, the field has changed. Many former SOPA supporters, including a few former co-sponsors, are giving the illusion of final victory. However, I can guarantee we will see another version of this come down the pipe. In the meantime, let’s take a look at things in the aftermath of this one battle.

News Roundup: The Internet Goes on Strike

Lets start with a fantastic examination of things. Ladies and gentlemen: John Stewart!

That should give you the basics, and a good illustration of why it is such an absurd piece of legislation. Of course, information is always good to have, so you might want to check out Sally Kohn’s article for Fox News, in which she illustrates exactly why SOPA is such a danger:

You might not like foreign-based websites like WikiLeaks. Fine. That’s a debate worth having.

But it’s one thing to use existing legal channels to get unauthorized content removed from WikiLeaks’ pages. It’s another thing entirely to create new laws that, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, mean businesses and governments could get unopposed court orders to cut off such sites entirely, blocking even their perfectly legal and legitimate content from public view.

In the new era of digital democracy the Internet has promised us, potential censorship through SOPA threatens the values our nation and the net holds dear.

This really is my own biggest issue with it — lack of due process. This is America, we do have rights, and the right to due process of law is one of the most fundamental ones.

The Wall Street Journal has a good breakdown on exactly what the law is, but it makes the same mistake that I saw in Go Daddy’s original statement of support for SOPA. It referred to the intent of the law. The intent of a law means nothing in the courtroom, the letter of the law does. This is what makes the crafting of a law so vital.

As websites across the world blacked out and redirected people to contact their legislators, things got interesting. Rupert Murdoch created a Twitter account simply to blast anti-SOPA supporters. Rob Pegoraro of Discovery News reports:

For an undiluted taste of it, sample Rupert Murdoch’s tweets. The News Corp. CEO has called SOPA opponents ‘Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy,’ labeled Google a ‘piracy leader’ and called warnings about risks of DNS censorship ‘nonsense’ because search engines block speech in some countries just fine. Those views may seem ridiculous, but I have heard more subtle, polite versions of them from more than one entertainment-industry lobbyist.

It looks like a healthy chunk of the Internet finally got fed up with this treatment. Good.

From the world of video games comes news that the CEO of online games studio Red 5, Mark Kern, has issued a call to arms, urging the industry to boycott 2012’s E3 to protest the expo’s support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. He has also stated that the funds his company had set aside for E3 would now be used to launch an anti-SOPA lobbying group called The League For Gamers. That’s $50,000 that E3 has just lost, for those keeping track. Ars Technica has a great interview with Kern up right now that goes into much more depth.

Johnathon Lamy, the person tweeting for the RIAA, let his attitude (and lack of good spelling) show through in a now deleted tweet on its official account: “After Wikipedia Blackrout, somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her facts straight. Perish the thought.” Granted, that might be humorous in a person’s Twitter stream, but from a lobbying organization? I agree with Mario Aguilar of Gizmodo, the man who got a screen capture of the tweet in the hour before it was deleted:

Or maybe try a new slogan? The RIAA: Good at Lobbying, Bad at People.

As a former radio blogger, I’ve held that view for quite some time.

But wait, there’s more!

In the halls of power, it seems as though this issue is a terrific example of the divide between traditional Republicans and their younger counterparts who self-identify as Libertarians. It’s hardly shocking that the younger set are more aware of the online world and the tsunami-sized backlash SOPA was unleashing. (Politico covers this nicely.)

Todd Wasserman of Mashable warns of an upcoming advertising campaign being commissioned by the MPAA that will be its counterstrike in response to Wednesday’s Internet blackout. Here is one of those ads he provided as an example:

One creator, Alex Wild, a nature photographer for Scientific American, took a different approach. While the rest of the Internet was replete with black screens and exhortations to stop SOPA, he decided to open up some of his works to the public domain. Both his reasoning and his images are worth a look: Compound Eye on Scientific American.

One reaction I found interesting was that of the Chinese. In their country, government censorship of online data is axiomatic. It’s just another fact of daily life. The LA Times brings us their reactions:

If anything, Chinese bloggers say, the debate underscores how privileged U.S. Web users and Internet companies are, even in times of duress.

‘Only an American company could protest the way Wikipedia or Google has to the government,’ said Zhao Jing, a closely followed blogger in Beijing who uses the pen name Michael Anti. ‘A Chinese company would never get away with that.’

No, they wouldn’t. Personally, I like living in a country where they can. It is to keep us from becoming like China and similar regimes that we need to be vigilant right now. The imprecision and lack of depth of the act are a slippery slope, much as I hate that phrase. Proponents can talk about the intent of the law all they want, but I grew up in family of lawyers, and am well aware that intent means nothing when you are looking at the cold, hard print of the law.

The various blackouts seem to have the sponsors abandoning ship, the question is whether enough of them will. I’ll close with CNN’s coverage as one of the original co-sponsors, Mark Rubio of Florida, rescinds his support:

Image by Wikipedia, used under Fair Use: Reporting.

Are Newspapers Civic Institutions or Algorithms?

Since 2007, the newspaper industry has taken a massive hit, and remains more uncertain than ever. Dominic Basulto sees the news industry as becoming more and more algorithmic, as a result of “appification.” Instead of paying to read an entire issue of The New York Times (which looks the same to every reader), people can use apps that will determine what they are more interested in, and direct them toward that information specifically.

“In the physical world, they may not be willing to pay two bucks for a newspaper on the newsstand,” says Basulto. “In the Apple iTunes app store, however, they are willing to pay anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99 for a stylish app that’s based on a superior algorithm.”

How Your Brand Can Get Personal With Customers

The Web is becoming increasingly personalized, and advertisers and search marketers need to adjust. Carrie Ferman says, “The personal web is about delivering the right information to each consumer at the right time, to the benefit of both consumers and businesses.” Consumers now expect their interactions online to be tailored to their specific needs and interests, and will often shun messages that aren’t relevant.

How can your business keep up with this trend?

• Research Your Audiences. Understand the demographics of your followers, their favorite platforms, their search patterns, and more. This information will help tailor Web experiences as much as possible.
• Make your homepage versatile. Avoid static content and opt for frequently updated content, as well as including different media from images to audio to video.
• Encourage feedback. Allow your readers to contribute and comment, and constantly seek feedback from them.
• Make sure your content is complete, and that all information is naturally easy to find.
• Target your content toward the specific audiences you want to reach.
• Draw followers out by highlighting interests and passions they might have.

Why Should You Conduct a Full Link Audit?

Conducting a thorough link audit — i.e. determining where your backlinks are coming from — is a time-consuming process, but it can help you shape your link building efforts in the future. Nick Stamoulis suggests going beyond gathering the quantity of links and exploring the quality and source of those links — from comments and directory links to editorial citations and press release links.

“Visiting each of the links in your link portfolio can also give you a good idea of where the holes are in your link building campaign and where there is room for growth,” Stamoulis says. An audit can help you fill in the gaps in your campaign and diversify your content.

The Crippling Image Intelligence Problem: The Evolution of Content Into a Highly Visual Experience [Part 1]

This article kicks off a four-part study on content creation and the emergence of the Internet as a visually dominated medium. The first part of the series looks at Facebook, and how Web users today have become familiar with content creation through their Facebook pages. According to Matthew Carrol, the Internet has become so content-laden that people are using images to help sift through information more quickly.

“This is changing how we relate to and interact with the web — it’s becoming intensely image-based & visual — which is a good thing,” Carrol says. Facebook has consistently embraced this trend with new features, like Timeline, which visually breaks down a profile with images, instead of relying heavily on text.

Blogs Provide Versatility for B2B Content Marketing

Ardath Albee reminds us of the versatility a blog can bring to your content marketing efforts. More and more businesses are tapping into the power of a solid blog. “According to the B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report produced by CMI and Marketing Profs, the use of blogs has increased to 65% from 51% in 2010,” Albee writes.

But are we using our blogs to their full potential? Here are a few ideas for your blog, courtesy of Albee:

• Create a newsletter. Pick your top blog posts and email them out in the form of a newsletter.
• Embed videos, photos, audio files, and more.
• Float ideas and test them out on your readers.
• Fuel social media, and break down your posts into Facebook and Twitter material.
• Expose thought leadership by interviewing experts or inviting them to write a guest post.
• Spark conversation by inviting comments as much as possible.

Image by Susan NYC (Susan Sermoneta), used under its Creative Commons license.

Here’s an example. The first red arrow points out the notification of “personal results.” The second is aimed at the icon which will appear next to all G+ results. Immediately underneath, you can see the first standard result for comparison.

According to the Official Google Blog, there are three substantive changes being rolled out:

1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts — both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.

Basically, anything pertinent to your search that appears either publicly or in circles that have been shared with you will now show up on your results page. On the surface, it looks like a very skewed digital landscape, after all, both the search and the Google+ social platform are Google properties. Closer examination shows that the two largest social networks had effectively opted out a long time ago.

Facebook and Google have had a very adversarial relationship over the past year or two, and, as a result, Facebook has blocked Google from accessing most of its data. Zuckerberg and Co. have since cultivated an extensive relationship with Microsoft’s Bing.

Twitter, the other 800-pound gorilla in the room, voluntarily ceased its relationship with Google last July. The company greeted the announcement of this integration with a very direct and unhappy announcement of its own. Here is its entirety, as reported by TechCrunch:

For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet.

Often, they want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.

I think those words would have more sting if Twitter had not removed itself from Google search six months ago. It doesn’t really have much of a leg to stand on, having effectively walled the search giant off from indexing its content.

Ian Paul of PCWorld brings up the next big topic of discussion: Will this trigger any anti-trust action out of Washington?

Perhaps a bigger issue than any potential sniping from other social networks is that, as bloggers such as MG Siegler and Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan have mentioned, Google may get into antitrust trouble over Search plus Your World. Google is effectively using its popularity as a search engine provider to promote its social network by prioritizing Google+ data. Bundling one smaller service on the back of another much bigger one is what sparked Microsoft’s trouble with antitrust regulators through the late 1990s and early 2000s when it included Internet Explorer with Windows.

With all the current antitrust interest in Google from lawmakers and regulators, deliberately prioritizing links to Google+ in search results may not be the best idea.

I find it hard to believe that no one at the Google headquarters would have considered the possible invocation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It is distinctly possible that they are playing a longer game.

The most cogent theory I’ve run across comes from Eric Eldin at TechCrunch. He points out Facebook’s relationship with Bing as a perfect way for Google to leverage the situation:

You can imagine how Google might frame this to the government. It’d go something like this (and the following is something I made up, it’s not from Google or anyone else): ‘We are competing against a social networking company with clearly dominant market share, that has a strategic relationship with our largest existing competitor. That relationship specifically excludes our search engine from working effectively. This is no more fair than our integration of Google+ into search. If you’re going to regulate us, regulate them, too. Or leave us all alone.’

Even if Google takes all sorts of grief from the government (not to mention users and the press) over this, the biggest end result could be new scrutiny on its two main rivals. The fact that Facebook has never had to go through an arduous antitrust investigation before means any suggestion of one now could give investors pause as it looks to go public sometime within the next year.

Eldin’s take on things seems quite plausible. Facebook has been a thorn in Google’s corporate side for some time now, effectively walling off huge swaths of the Internet. Since it’s already in the hot seat as far as the FCC is concerned, this sort of approach could really turn up the heat. The fact that IPO rumors abound simply sweetens the deal, as potential investors could well shy away.

All in all, the virtual ground has just shifted. A lot.

Those of us who work with SEO will be having many sleepless nights while we examine the impact of these changes and how best to move forward.

Source: “Google+ Search = A Way To Call The Feds In On IPO-Bound Facebook (?),” TechCrunch, 01/11/12
Source: “Search, plus Your World,” The Official Google Blog, 01/10/12
Source: “Google’s Search Plus Your World: What it Means for Users,” PCWorld, 01/11/12
Source: “Has Google Popped the Filter Bubble?,” Wired, 01/11/12
Image by Loki, created for this report.

Google Spanks Itself After SEO Firms Catch the Company Buying Links

Google penalized its own Chrome browser page after getting caught using sponsored posts to gain links. Last year, Google penalized JC Penney, Forbes, and Overstock for doing the same thing. A statement from Google to Search Engine Land explained that Google would lower the page rank for its Chrome browser download page for a period of 60 days. Google claims that it did not authorize the practices used in the campaign.

Lowering a page rank is not to be confused with banning the page. Danny Sullivan explains, “Lowering the PageRank value is not the same as removing or banning the page from Google. Potentially, however, a lower PageRank value will reduce its ability to rank well for certain terms.” Although this penalty is by no means crippling for Google Chrome, Sullivan considers Google’s move “a solid penalty against itself.”

End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging Is Over

Jeremiah Owyang predicts that we are coming to the end of a Golden Age of tech blogging. He explains that we are leaving a period of emergence and innovation, when nearly anyone can get on board and anything goes.

Four factors indicate that tech blogging is becoming an established media:

1. Corporate acquisition of organized blogs, which locks down the blogs with a more conservative attitude.
2. Leading blogs are experiencing a major talent turnover, as the kings and queens of the industry start looking for new opportunities in other areas.
3. Audiences are looking for something different. Readers have come to expect blogs to be small, fast, and socially oriented.
4. Business models are beginning to solidify as we learn what works and what doesn’t, making it harder to jump into the game with new ideas. However, with the talent turnover mentioned earlier, there is still a vacuum for new people and ideas in the field.

Blogging Predictions for 2012

Jennifer Howze of The Huffington Post makes some predictions about how the blogging world will change in the upcoming year. First and foremost, she believes that blogs will become more professional, and less of an item of personal hobby. Howze also guesses that blogging will go more mainstream. Instead of just being a tool of the tech savvy, Howze says that even average Joes are becoming familiar with the medium. “They’ve gone from saying, ‘What’s a blog?’ to ‘Should I have one?’ and this year will be saying, ‘Check out my latest post.’”

Howze also predicts that video blogging will become more prevalent, that parent blogs will grow and expand as a genre, and that bloggers will look for new ways to market their material with e-books and online widgets.

Nine New Year’s Resolutions for Link Building in 2012

Rick DeJarnette breaks down some do’s and don’ts for successful link building this year. As usual, creating great content is high on his list of priorities, as well as building a steady social media community as a platform for that content. DaJarnette points marketers towards some up-and-coming social media sites, including SlideShare, FourSquare, Gowalla, and Pintrest.

“Since you’ve already resolved to regularly invest time in social media outreach, do more than the minimum with the ubiquitous venues of Facebook and Twitter,” he says. DeJarnette also warns marketers against submitting to junk directories, as well as purchasing links.

Internet Marketing Creates Big Data Headaches for Business

Great content and skilled use of social media applications can result in profits for your business. But one more element is necessary for success online, and that is data tracking. According to Frank Reed, “unless you can truly monitor the impact of all the great content your company has produced then you can only really say that you have produced great content.”

A recent study by Connotate shows that more businesses than ever are at a loss as to how to measure the impact their Internet marketing has on their revenue. Forty-five percent feel that they have to devote significant manpower to collecting and analyzing all of their data. On top of that, 44% feel that there is simply too much information in order to break it down and use it effectively.

Image by tetradtx, used under its Creative Commons license.

As is consistent with their attempts to block the marketing of recordable CDs, and, before that, cassette tapes, SOPA is sheer overkill.

Allyson Shontell wrote the following for Business Insider:

They are well-intentioned. They want to prevent piracy and copyright infringement. But they do so in an overly-aggressive, innovation-endangering way. They allow the entertainment industry to censor sites they feel ‘engage in, enable or facilitate’ infringement.

The issues with SOPA:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation describes SOPA as the “blacklist bill” because it would “allow the U.S. government and private corporations to create a blacklist of censored websites, and cut many more off from their ad networks and payment providers.”

That means the Attorney General would have the power to cut off select websites from search engines like Google. It could also cut off advertisers and payment processors like Visa from the sites. The Attorney General could essentially kill all of a site’s traffic and revenue in a matter of days.

SOPA only allows targeted sites five days to submit an appeal. That doesn’t leave much time for companies to defend themselves before losing their sites and their revenue altogether.

Fight For The Future has a video I highly advise watching (it’s only about four minutes long):

Now that you are familiar with the basics, it should come as no surprise that some of the biggest players on the Web — Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay, Yahoo, and Twitter — are reportedly considering a “nuclear option”: A single day when the largest and most used websites would all go dark as an example of what the Internet would be like post-SOPA.

I must say, it would certainly get people’s attention. Just a shutdown of the Google properties alone would grind significant portions of the Web to a halt. Joel Hruska of ExtremeTech notes that if this comes to pass, it will be hard to counter:

It’s a trump card that the likes of the MPAA and RIAA have no way of matching. There’s solid technical data behind the tech industry’s claims that implementing SOPA could damage the function of the Internet, and plenty of evidence (some of it just weeks old) that copyright holders will abuse existing judicial processes to eliminate content they don’t like. The MPAA and RIAA are willing to talk about jobs lost to piracy in the abstract, but won’t (and can’t) promise that passing SOPA will allow them to hire thousands of Americans or create jobs in a statement they’d be held accountable for fulfilling.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, a writer for ZDNet, has an alternative idea that he say would anger Internet users less than a blackout but would still be effective:

Pick a day, a week, when all participating sites will show their visitors a page about what SOPA is, why they’re against it, and then list by name the Congressmen and women who are supporting this law and urging everyone to vote against them in the 2012 election. After that, let the visitors go about searching for the latest football scores, a cheap copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, whatever.

To aggravate the situation, it is not always clear who does and does not support SOPA. The video game industry is fighting with this very problem right now, as reported by Dan Crawly of VentureBeat:

Major game companies Nintendo, Sony and EA reportedly removed their individual support for SOPA in the past week, but in an update, EA said that story was incorrect, because it had never expressed support for the Senate version of SOPA, but rather for something similar to it.

However, these companies are all still members of the ESA trade association, which is listed as a supporter of the bill [PDF].

Of course, the hacker community has been hard at work finding ways of circumventing SOPA should it go into effect. On WebProNews, Drew Bowling asks “what if we could use a different Internet altogether?”:

If one is to ever exist, the architects of that straight line to Internet freedom will be Hackerspace Global Grid, a cabal of hackers that have taken up the cause of creating a satellite-based communication network that would be capable of establishing an ‘uncensorable’ Internet. It’s just one of the many goals of their ambitious project to pioneer a global grass-roots space program. Think of it as open-source outer space mission.

Of course, this is the sort of thing that Homeland Security would quite possibly make short work of, but then again, it might not. I refer you to the actions of Anonymous in recent months as an example of just how effective motivated hackers can be.

WebProNews also reports a “SOPA Emergency IP list” [Warning: NSFW: Language] compiled by users at Pastie.org. The list is composed of the IP addresses of useful/favorite sites that might disappear from view if SOPA becomes law. As you can see, many people out there are preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, a close cousin of SOPA has just passed in Spain. Legislators there have just signed the “Sinde Law” targeting the file-sharing community.

I have a feeling that things are going to be heating up a lot between now and January 24. That is when the gentlemen in Washington, most of whom have no understanding of the technology or its ramifications, go to vote. If the rumored nuclear option comes to pass, all signs point to it being on January 23. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be getting my work for that day done in advance. Just in case.

In the meantime, allow me to encourage you to self-educate about the issue. A simple search on Google can unearth a wealth of information, and Wikipedia has tons of info posted on all its pages. We’d love to see links to anything exceptionally useful that you find.

Source: “Video game industry voices urge ESA trade association to drop SOPA backing,” VentureBeat, 01/03/12
Source: “Should Amazon, Google & Wikipedia ‘nuke’ the Web to stop SOPA?,” ZDNet, 01/04/12
Source: “[Exclusive] Can Hackers Create A SOPA-Proof Internet?,” WebProNews, 01/04/12
Source: “Preparedness In a Post-SOPA World,” WebProNews, 01/03/12
Source: “Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter considering “nuclear option” to protest SOPA,” ExtremeTech, 01/03/12
Source: “How Spain’s version of SOPA is setting the web on fire,” GigaOm, 01/04/12
Image by hoyasmeg (James Emery), used under its Creative Commons license.

Then I met Kristin Zhivago. She attended a webinar on The Benefits of a Top-Five Blog I produced for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). I later requested a meeting at Book Expo America, but Kristin couldn’t attend. She asked for a phone appointment instead to discuss an online PR campaign for her new book, Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy.

We immediately hit it off. Kristin is a no-nonsense, get-down-to-business management consultant. We fairly quickly agreed to exchange online marketing services for management consulting, and we embarked on The Zhivago Method.

The Zhivago Method

I’m not going to review Kristin’s book because I think it’s unethical to review a book I’m being paid to promote. However, I’m on safe ground reviewing her services as a management consultant, which we have paid for.

Zhivago’s main principle is deceptively simple: If you want to know how to increase sales, ask your customers.

There is a whole philosophy twisted up inside that sentence. Notice that you don’t ask your employees, as some suggest, because they’re usually not your biggest customers. You don’t ask suppliers. You don’t ask the Internet. You don’t implement some plan you read about in a book or online — unless it’s based on first asking the customer.

Another twist in this sentence is: You can’t reason through this yourself — bright as you are, with all your experience running your own company for many years. The only one who knows what it’s like to be a customer of yours is a customer.

I feel like I know my business better than anyone. I’ve studied it, I’ve experimented, I’ve had the benefit of watching hundreds of students work out novel solutions to online marketing problems. My clients pay me because I am an expert. So why should I ask my clients how to run my business?

And there’s the next twist in the concept: Zhivago responded that I’m not asking my customers how to run my business. I’m asking them about their buying process. How did they come to choose me? Why did they choose me?

Once I realized my expertise was not going to be called into question through these surveys, I became less defensive. Only a customer knows how they came to buy from you. Ask them, and then reverse-engineer a successful sale and replicate it. That is The Zhivago Method in a nutshell. So we asked our customers.

Asking the Customers

Zhivago set up phone interviews from a client list we provided. She says email surveys, Web surveys, and written questionnaires simply won’t tease out the answers you need. Your customers have to be interviewed by someone who knows how to do it and, hopefully, also knows enough about your business to navigate the terminology.

Zhivago records the interviews and sends them out for transcription. She then pores over the interviews looking for common threads, which lead her to a summary document and a set of recommendations.

I didn’t think I would learn much from the interviews I didn’t already know. Was I ever wrong!

The first thing that struck me, reading the transcripts and summaries, was that my clients confused our firm with other vendors. They credited us with campaigns we did not do. They mixed up the services we offer with services offered by competitors.

Initially, I wanted to dismiss the results because they were partly about other companies, not ours. Then I realized that was the result. Your clients can’t keep you straight because they are focused on their own issues, not on you.

I was wrong about what the customers would say. I was wrong to try and dismiss the results. And I was wrong that you don’t really need to interview your customers to learn how to grow sales. There is simply no other way to get this information except by asking the customer, preferably in a phone interview by a trained professional.

Where Do We Go From Here?

You follow the roadmap.

Interview the customers. Summarize the results. Brainstorm with management. Adjust the company’s promises, practices, products, people, and policies. Now go out there and make happy customers!

Again, it’s deceptively simple.

For SixEstate, it means our customers are less interested in our process than their problems. Our site needs to focus on customer goals, not our methods.

From there, we turned the project over to a branding expert — my brother, Kelly O’Keefe, an entrepreneur and professor at the VCU Brandcenter. I’ll save the branding story for another post.

The Zhivago work plus the branding work led to a new vision of the company, a new logo, a new look for the website, and a renewed focus on customer service. We’ll be introducing the new logo and website later this month. The new mindset is firmly in place.

Following the roadmap is not as simple as it sounds. We’ve been at this for over six months. That’s a lot of time to spend on branding for a company that is just two years old. And we still don’t know how “the shift,” as Zhivago calls it, will affect sales. I’ll report back on that next year.

We do know that following The Zhivago Method has dramatically changed our company, hardening our resolve about our mission, and committing us to our client’s goals rather than our processes.

The intriguing thing about The Zhivago Method is that you are most likely going to get a completely different set of solutions by interviewing your customers. For our company, the message was to be client-centered, not company-centered. For your company, you simply won’t know until you ask.

Source: “Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy,” by Kristin Zhivago, Bristol & Shipley Press, 2011.
Images of book cover and Kristin Zhivago are used under Fair Use: Reporting.

Steve O’Keefe is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of SixEstate Communications. He has taught Internet PR since 1994 for Tulane University, Stanford University, UCLA Extension, Publishers University, and the PRSA, among others.

This is the saga of a one-man show called Ocean Marketing, the exact type of operation that inspired me to write my rant about the social media “gurus” a few months ago. Ocean Marketing is a marketing and social media company that works for N Gaming. Its purpose is to interact with customers on N Gaming’s behalf  in matters concerning the Avenger Controller. N Gaming is not directly responsible for the terrible chain of email you are about to read, although they should have checked out their PR company better.

The interaction was between Dave, an erstwhile customer making inquiries about when he would receive his Avenger PlayStation 3 controller that he had pre-ordered, and Paul Christoforo of Ocean Marketing, the PR lead for the product. First off, Christoforo should not be interacting with the public without a copy editor. The number of misspellings and grammatical errors was truly stunning to behold and would have received a failing grade in any self-respecting high school classroom. Then there is the combative rudeness, just the trait I’m sure N Gaming was looking for in its representation to the public.

Here is the entire exchange (courtesy of Penny Arcade), it is Not Safe For Work (NSFW), and keep in mind that the misspellings, grammatical errors, and profanity are preserved in order to demonstrate the full-blown horror of this PR nightmare. Christoforo should not be allowed in any position that involves dealing with the public (or writing at all). We will pick up afterwards with the rest of this amazing tale. Trust me, it gets even worse:

From: Dave 
To: Ocean Marketing 
Dec 16, 2011, at 1:34 PM

I ordered 2 of the upcoming PS3 controllers (invoice xxxxxxxxx-Nov 3, 2011). Any chance of getting an update of when these items will ship? I’m not really happy about being forced to pay upfront then have the advertised date of “Early December” be completely missed without any sort of update on availability. I really need one of them for a X-mas present as well. Anyways, looking forward to finally using one of these bad boys. Thanks and happy holidays.

-Dave

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Dave
Dec 16, 2011 2:45 PM

Dec 17

- Paul Christoforo

From: Dave
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 19, 2011, at 11:02 AM

Thanks for the reply Paul.  Can you clarify whether my particular order already sent or if Dec 17 was the first day shipments went out?  I have not received any sort of shipping confirmation email or tracking information.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Dave
Dec 19, 2011 11:21 AM

They still haven’t shipped yet on the way here from china

From: Dave
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 20, 2011 4:29 PM

So then delivery to customer doors by December 24th is no longer likely correct?  Do you have an estimated date of when units will arrive in California? Thanks.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Dave
Dec 20, 2011 5:11 PM

They are in the USA now in customs so its wither before or after Christmas.

From: Dave
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011, at 9:47 AM

I noticed the updated info on the webpage, and I don’t understand why there is absolutely no benefit given to those like me who have already ordered, and paid their money.  You’ve had my money interest free for nearly two months, yet now ANY new order will get $10 off….meaning I should just cancel my order for 2 controllers, get my money back, then re-order.

My other questions is regarding item compatibility.  Ocean Marketing seems to be involved with the Xtendplay controller holder, so I was wondering if the Avenger N-Controller can be used in conjunction with the Xtendplay (for both Xbox and PS3)?  Thanks

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Dave
Dec 26, 2011 10:14 AM

Yes it can be used with xtend play if you remove the stand and no one is allowed to cancel and re order if we catch anyone doing it we will simply just cancel your order all together and you can buy it retail somewhere else.

Things happen in manufacturing if your unhappy you have 7 days from the day your item ships for a refund. You placed a pre order just like any software title the gets a date moved due to the tweaks and bugs not being worked out and GameStop or any other place holds your cash and im sure you don’t complain to activision or epic games so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself. Have a good day Dan.

At this point Dave is (I think) understandably frustrated. His next email is sent to me as well as Kotaku and a few other news sites.

-Gabe

From: Dave
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011 12:11 PM

Then cancel my order if you want to.  I’m making a legitimate complaint about your poor communication and you’re the one stooping to childish levels, a patronizing attitude, and threats.  Hell you can’t even get the spelling of my name right.

And Gamespot pre-orders…wow what a terrible comparison.  Retailers take a couple dollars IF THAT for you to guarantee your game availability on the release date, whatever that is. That’s the understanding and that’s what you get.  Plus, I don’t have to complain to Activision or Epic games about these issues because they’re usually not missing the street dates for their AAA titles.

Now let’s take YOUR situation:
1) You’ve promised a new product based off the design for an existing, working product
2) For the longest time, you’ve stated on your website (your failure to update regularly is another issue) the initial/special/limited batch of your new product by early December, obviously in time for the all-important holiday gift-giving season.  I and thousands of other customers GIVE YOU OUR MONEY, INTEREST FREE on the promises you made online.
3) I reach out to you, on Dec 16 (AFTER you have FAILED TO MEET YOUR ADVERTISED DEADLINE AND FAILED TO COMMUNICATE TO ANYONE WHAT THE SITUATION IS) obviously a little frustrated but more curious about when I and other customers can expect the product we paid for.
4) Your reply to me is a cryptic “Dec 17″ with absolutely no explanation of what that means.  In the mean time you having been using funds from pre-paid customers to complete Research & Development, product redesigns, and manufacturing mis-steps.
5) You force me to follow-up with an email asking for clarification about what “Dec 17″ means since the day has passed and I have yet to receive any new information about my order.  Now you instead of ANSWERING MY QUESTION OF WHAT THE NEW DELIVERY DATE IS, you tell me the goods have yet to leave China…  Why are you telling me this?  I’m not your employee I’m your goddamn customer!  TELL ME WHAT THAT MEANS IN TERMS OF MY TIME AND WHEN I CAN EXPECT MY PRODUCT I PAID FOR.
6) So great…I have to email you AGAIN trying to get a CLEAR answer from you whether a Dec 24th delivery date is possible and if not, what the new date is.  Rinse & repeat: You give me an update of the delivery process (wow, thanks…you haven’t told me anything I don’t know about the order of international shipping procedures) but instead say “…so its wither before or after Christmas.”  WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?  GIVE ME A DATE!?  One that you’re actually going to follow, because I already see “late Nov to early Dec”;  “Dec 17″; and now “CHRISTMAS” in my rear-view mirror.
7) So I guess what’s left for me to do but just wait?  Oh but what’s this, you’ve updated your website…Ok at least you’ve clarified the dates more, I can expect my controller my latest first week of January.  But now as a “token of our appreciation” to all your “loyal customers” (you mean like customers who put up cash for you hold an use?) you’re giving a $10 coupon.  Let me get this straight…so you held my money interest free for 2 months to help bring this product to market, and now some new customer can place an order and pay $10 less than what I paid?  You have financially penalized me in two ways for being a “LOYAL CUSTOMER.”

I’m SURE you’re getting tons of other inquiries and I’m sure you’re not enjoying the fact that your product is not out when you wanted it to be.  I and everyone else understands that “sh*t happens,” but if you want us to be understanding of that, then you need to keep us in the loop.  You’ve already set yourself up for failure by making explicit promises that aren’t even “likely” given that the design and manufacturing are still be refined.  Then you make sure you’re going to fail by actually taking all of our money, Not just a little bit….THE WHOLE F*CKIN BEEFALO.  Why wouldn’t we trust that you’re going to deliver our merchandise on time?  Besides…it’s based off an existing product so how hard can it be?  Well as your youtube video shows, making any consumer device is hard and requires many iterations and improvements.  But I’m not going to apologize for holding your feet to the fire.  You created these expectations by acting like the release was already a done deal and by hiding the fact that it was faaaar from it.

I want my two n-controllers.  I 1) PAID FOR THEM   2) WAITED   3) DEALT WITH YOUR UNHELPFUL ASS.  I also didn’t want to feel like my trust and loyalty as a customer was being abused and then actually punished in comparison to other customers.  But I guess we can’t have it all… so right now I’ll settle for getting my merchandise and hopefully never having to deal with you again.  I’ve spent enough time writing this email which I hope you gain some insight from.  If you actually do want to screw me over by not fulfilling my order, then I assure you be hearing more from me or people representing me.

You show a surprising lack of business polish for someone who’s quite established, AND an lack of awareness of your customer base: Hardcore gamers.  We’re a demanding, vocal customer but the flip side is we’re loyal and eager to spend.  It’s lucky for you that I really want this product because it seems really deliver on making the gaming experience more effective and enjoyable.  Hell, I want to combine the aventer-controller with the xtend play to make the ugliest, most comfortable, most awesome controller ever.  And I’ll still buy the xtend, so let that be a testament to your products, the rise above your poor representation.

-DAVE with a V

p.s. You look really douchy be having one youtube video complaining about the noise of traffic next to your home and then another video showing off your obnoxiously loud rice rocket (which is nice, I gotta hand it ya).

p.p.s. Welcome to the internet, bitch.  That’s how I roll.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Dave
Dec 26, 2011 2:19 PM

LOL Thanks for the Free PR I know the Editor N Chief of Kotaku , IGN , Engadget I’ll be meeting them at CES .The noise complaint was for people high up on the food chain in a corporate world of real estate you have no clue about.  Thanks for the Rice Rocket Compliment too love me some motorcycle . Send that over to Engadget you look like a complete moron swearing and sending your customer service complaints to a magazine as if they will post it or even pay attention do you think you’re the first or the last what are they going to do demand us to tell you were your shipment is or ask for a refund on your behalf … Really … Welcome to the Internet ? Son Im 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls and before it was the internet, thanks for the welcome to message wurd up.  Grow up you look like a complete child bro. I Don’t have my controller so im gonna cry to the world … Really ?? Hey take that free time and do something more productive. All you had to do was check the like everyone else , people have inquired but you’re the douchiest of them all J

To all our pre-order customers looking for information on the status of their orders after a busy couple of months The PS3 Avengers are on their way from our Manufacturing plant overseas. We are aware that everyone is anticipating having their Avengers under their Christmas Tree and were doing our best to get these orders shipped out as fast as possible. We appreciate you as loyal customers and for supporting our company. Customers will start receiving their products this week before Christmas and After Christmas and into the New Year. As a token of our appreciation we are offering all our pre-order customers and new customers 10$ off your next order with us just enter Avenger1001 at Checkout. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Oh and FYI When a street date gets pushed by a publisher on a video game you pre ordered do you cry to them too ?

You just got told bitch … welcome to the real internet check kotaku in 2 weeks when they are reviewing free PS3 Avengers we send them as well as G4 and all the other majors hell yeah , don’t forget to check Amazon, gamestop.com, play n trade , Myers , Frys and a ton of other local stores coming your way you think you speak for billions son your just a kid you speak for yourself no one cares what you think that’s why were growing and moving 20-50 thousand controllers a month. We do value our customers but sometimes we get children like you we just have to put you in the corner with your im stupid hat on. See you at CES , E3 , Pax East ….? Oh wait you have to ask mom and pa dukes your not an industry professional and you have no money on snap you just got told.

The Pax East comment gets my attention and I decide to engage. I tend to have a calming effect on these sorts of arguments.

-Gabe [Penny Arcade and PAX]

From: Mike Krahulik
To: Dave, Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011 at 8:45 PM

Holy shit this is unbelievable. Dave, if this guy has a booth at Pax east we will cancel it.

From: Dave
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 8:53 PM

Hey thanks Mike.  It’s truly a shame because I think this device is great for gamers with disabilities and problems.  I think of Child’s Play and if anyone’s gonna need greater accessibility when using complicated gamepads…it’s sick kids!  Shit man, I’m really gonna feel bad if I think that sick children may somewhere down the line have fewer avenger controllers because I got into a pissing match with a sad old man.  Please don’t cancel their booth on my account.  As much as I hate this asshole, I still WANT his product and think it should be out there.  GAH, I wish I was in a position to make a competing product to really stick it to guy.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 8:54 PM

Hey Mikey,

We’re not renting a booth at pax east this year , bigger and better shows to be at we got nothing from the show . Oh so you know this guy has sold over 500 thousand dollars of product in Dec and is my main distribution arm landing us in GameStop , fry’s , Myers , Best buy , Activision , MLG , play N trade and a lot more . Were in 6 countries and you’re not going to take my money for a booth that’s a crock I can guarantee I’ll get a booth if I want one money buys a lot and connections go even further.  He’s a native Bostonian from Little Italy . Who are you again ?

From: Mike Krahulik 
To: Ocean Marketing 
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:08 PM

I am mike krahulik, Pax is my show. Feel free to google me=) I can promise you that you will never have space at any future Pax event.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:33 PM

OK Mike whatever you say lol , are you sure hour not in Boston I spoke to the person who ran the show in Boston last year. If you let some little kid influence you over a pre order then we don’t want to be a your show ,Ill be on the floor anyway so come find me , I’m born and raised in Boston I know the people who run the city inside and out watch the way you talk to people you never know who they know it’s a small industry and everyone knows everyone. Your acting like a douchbag not that it matters pax east pax west , e3 , CES , Gamer Con , SSXW ,Comic Con, Germany I’m all over the place. If we want to be there we will be there with industry badges or with a booth you think I can’t team up with turtle beach , Callibur or Koy Christmas , I can’t get Kevin Kelly to pull some strings or G4 , Paul Eibler Ex CEO of take 2 ,  Rich Larocco Konami , Cliff Blizinski Epic who were working with on a gears version , Activision who were working with on a MW3 and Spider man Bundle , The Convention Center Owners themselves , Mayor of Boston come on Bud you run a show that’s all you do and lease a center in Cities you have no pull in its all about who you know not what you do.  I’ll see space where ever I want , with who I want when I want and where I want so many ways around you and so many connections in this industry its silly. Anyway , I have no issue with you Sean Buckley Engadget, Scott Lowe IGN and the list goes on and on. Little kids unhappy with a PRE ORDER starting trouble and you email that to us , he’s a customer unless you’re his boyfriend then you should side with the company not the customer. Be Careful

From: Mike Krahulik
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:40 PM

I do run Pax, but I also run a website called penny arcade. It’s kinda popular.

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Love penny Arcade !!

From: Mike Krahulik
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:42 PM

I’m glad you like it! You will be on it tomorrow:)

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:46 PM

Great !! Love PR

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:46 PM

Mike I’m not trying to fight with you I’m really not , you should give me the benefit of the doubt before judging over one person’s bitching . Did I feed into his emails a little bit too much yeah ok . But it’s one person dude for real. No disrespect intended for you , My name is good in this industry and I know a lot of people. I’ll be at CES are you going ?

From: Mike Krahulik
To: Ocean Marketing
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:47 PM

Please remove me from this mailing list

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:57 PM

Your spamming me you’re not on a mailing list you idiot ! You sent me an email remember . Make sure you stir up a lot of controversy about us the more the better we needed some drama gets good blood flow going about the new product launch .  Your sites amateur at best my son could put together a better site than yours and you run PAX ?? Wow , Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails , I have about 125 dedicated people to run PR , Blogs , Articles , Videos you have no clue who I am . Thanks again.

In less than 24 hours, the following (NSFW) satire of the conversation hit YouTube:

That sort of rapid YouTube response is generally a good sign of a viral PR disaster, and that’s exactly what we have here. After the email exchange was made public, things began to truly spiral out of control. It did not take long to discover that Ocean Marketing’s website is replete with stolen content. Here are some examples:

•  Original on Forbes/Stolen Version on OM
• Original on Search Engine Optimization Journal/Stolen Version on OM
• Original on BizReport/Stolen Version on OM