Really Smart People: May 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mining patterns in search data with Google Correlate

It all started with the flu. In 2008, we found that the activity of certain search terms are good indicators of actual flu activity. Based on this finding, we launched Google Flu Trends to provide timely estimates of flu activity in 28 countries. Since then, we’ve seen a number of other researchers—including our very own—use search activity data to estimate other real world activities.

However, tools that provide access to search data, such as Google Trends or Google Insights for Search, weren’t designed with this type of research in mind. Those systems allow you to enter a search term and see the trend; but researchers told us they want to enter the trend of some real world activity and see which search terms best match that trend. In other words, they wanted a system that was like Google Trends but in reverse.

Official Google Blog: Mining patterns in search data with Google Correlate

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Daimler Has A Critical Facebook Page Shut Down - Strategic Marketing

German tech news site Golem.dereports that Daimler AG management has shut down a the Facebook page “Daimler Colleagues Against Stuttgart 21″ (“Stuttgart 21” is a massive urban development that has aroused a great deal of contoversy in Daimler’s home town of Stuttgart).

A spokesman for Daimler has confirmed the event, but claims that insults against top management, not employees’ freedom of expression, were at issue. On the Facebook page, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche were described as being “at the head of a pack of liars.”

At least five Daimler employees who had “liked” the Facebook page were called to the company’s HR department for discussions. According to the spokesman, “there were no consequences for the workers, but they were advised that they had violated an agreement they had signed at the beginning of their employment with the company… not to insult the company, its leadership, or other employees online.”

Daimler Has A Critical Facebook Page Shut Down - Marc E. Babej - Strategic Marketing - Forbes

Friday, May 20, 2011

On Copyright, Eric Schmidt Is Right and Britain Is Wrong

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has beentaking some flak from large media and content companies for comments he made about copyright in Britain, where the authorities have been considering a rewrite of the country’s 300-year-old copyright laws. His critics believe Schmidt and Google are bent on promoting a lawless, Wild West approach to the Internet, and say Britain needs to find its own way on copyright. But Eric Schmidt is right, and Britain and the global content companies pushing it not to adopt principles like “fair use” are wrong. Copyright is changing, whether they like it or not.

On Copyright, Eric Schmidt Is Right and Britain Is Wrong: Tech News and Analysis «

Why Results Quality Is So Important to Search Engines

Most users seem to know that there’s a difference between the top results, bounded by a shaded box, and the results that appear below that. The visual boundary between the two sends a cue to the user that they should be considered separately. And although that user may not be familiar with the specifics of a search engine algorithm, let alone the intricacies of an advertising quality score, the majority still know that the top results are more commercial in nature and the lower results less so.

In the user’s mind, less commercial equals more trustworthy, so the top organic result becomes a sort of usefulness baseline. Users use it to compare other results against. And this is where we see why too many ads on top starts to erode user confidence.

If an engine puts 4 or more ads on top to be considered, they haven’t left an available memory slot for the baseline listing in the top organic spot. They’ve forced the user to either consider only ads or to break their natural scanning pattern and skip further down the page (which the brain hates to do). This will almost always generate more clicks in the sponsored ads (at least, it will generate more first clicks) but the engine will pay a price.

By not allowing the user to follow their natural inclination to compare the ads against the top organic listing, they start to erode user confidence, which will eventually erode market share. This is the lesson Ask, Yahoo and MSN all learned the hard way.

Why Results Quality Is So Important to Search Engines

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Inside Google Search

Just like on google.com, social search results in other languages and on other domains are mixed throughout the Google results page based on their relevance. For example, if you’re looking for information about low-light photography and your friend Marcin has written a blog post about it, that post may show up higher in your results with a clear annotation and picture of Marcin:

Social search results can rank anywhere on the page, and you’ll see who shared the result in the annotation underneath.

Social Search can help you find pages your friends have created, and it can also help you find links your contacts have shared on Twitter and other sites. If someone you’re connected to has publicly shared a link, we may show that link in your results with a clear annotation. So, if you’re looking for information about modern cooking and your colleague Adam shared a link about Modernist Cuisine, you’ll see an annotation and picture of Adam under the result. That way when you see Adam in the office, you’ll know he might be a good person to ask about his favorite modern cooking techniques.

Inside Search

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Easier URL removals for site owners

Removals persist for at least 90 days
When a page’s URL is requested for removal, the request is temporary and persists for at least 90 days. We may continue to crawl the page during the 90-day period but we will not display it in the search results. You can still revoke the removal request at any time during those 90 days. After the 90-day period, the page can reappear in our search results, assuming you haven’t made any other changes that could impact the page’s availability.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Easier URL removals for site owners

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Facebook, Twitter & Google Oppose Law That Would Protect Your Privacy

Despite the feigned empathy towards those that are worried about the sharing of sensitive personal information, Facebook leads a group–which includes Google, Twitter and Zynga–in opposing proposed legislation in California that would make it mandatory for social networks to shore up their privacy settings.

If it passes, the law would require social networks to make all information private by default, unless the user chooses to go through each setting and remove any privacy. Clearly this is a smart idea for the user, as it would let them decide which sensitive information is shared publicly. You would also think that this would take the heat off of the social networking sites, as they would no longer get complaints that their privacy settings where too, well, non-existent.

But sadly no.

Facebook, Twitter & Google Oppose Law That Would Protect Your Privacy

Facebook Friends Now Fueling Faster Decisions on Bing

Research tells us that 90% of people seek advice from family and friends as part of the decision making process. This “Friend Effect” is apparent in most of our decisions and often outweighs other facts because people feel more confident, smarter and safer with the wisdom of their trusted circle. A movie critic may pan the latest summer block buster, but your friends say it’s the feel good movie of the year, so you ignore the critic and go (and wholeheartedly agree). Historically, search hasn’t incorporated this “Friend Effect” – and 80% of people will delay making a decision until they can get a friend’s stamp of approval. This decision delay, or period of time it takes to hunt down a friend for advice, can last anywhere from a few minutes to days, whether you’re waiting for a call back, text, email or tweet.

Today, Bing is bringing the collective IQ of the Web together with the opinions of the people you trust most, to bring the “Friend Effect” to search. Starting today, you can receive personalized search results based on the opinions of your friends by simply signing into Facebook. New features make it easier to see what your Facebook friends “like” across the Web, incorporate the collective know-how of the Web into your search results, and begin adding a more conversational aspect to your searches. Decisions can now be made with more than facts, now the opinions of your trusted friends and the collective wisdom of the Web.

Google Chromebook Laptop

Cloud Computing, Google Laptops

Monday, May 16, 2011

Bing Facebook Friends Now Fueling Faster Decisions on Bing

You can quickly see what your friends like and are sharing. Find and connect with the right friends faster. Pick the brains of friends of who live where you’re traveling and share shopping lists with your own team of retail gurus. And, return the favor to your friends by liking more things on the Web. With one click you can let your network know that you like a brand, an article, a celebrity or even a place. Because we know the best decisions are not just fueled by facts, they require the opinions and recommendations of your friends.

Bing Facebook Friends Now Fueling Faster Decisions on Bing - Search Blog - Site Blogs - Bing Community

The UK Treasury is the most cyber-attacked Govt. department with one attack a day.

Google’s Zeitgeist Conference is now in its sixth year, an event that draws together business leaders, politicians and some of the greatest thinkers across industry.

And with the first day of the two-day event in Hertfordshire now well underway, Chancellor George Osborne revealedthat Governmental departments were hit with over 20,000 emails from “hostile intelligence agencies” in the past year alone, in what the Chancellor referred to as “pre-planned” hacker attacks.

The UK Treasury is the most cyber-attacked Govt. department with one attack a day. - TNW UK

Friday, May 13, 2011

Fauxnonymous Strikes Again? Eidos Site Hacked, User Info Snatched - Techland - TIME.com

It's getting to the point where Anonymous is like the Eye of Sauron: You don't even want them looking in your general direction. As reports of the internet bogeyman collective's splintering eke out, people formerly affiliated with Anonymous–who may or may not be responsible for the Playstation Network outage–continue to wreak havoc on video game-related websites.

The latest breach involves Eidos, the company best known for the Tomb Raider franchise, and the website for their upcoming action RPG Deus Ex: Human Revolution. According to KrebsOnSecurity.com, the responsible parties tried to pin the hack on the "Ryan" who outed the internal strife amongst the ranks of Anonymous. Along with being scapegoated by angry fellow hackers, "Ryan"'s former comrades also leaked personal information about him. The Krebs link includes a chatlog from alleged culprits "ev0" and "nigg" where they discuss their plan of attack. In addition to defacing the official website for the upcoming Deus Ex title, the hackers apparently made off with personal data on 80,000 users who visited Eidos' websites.

Fauxnonymous Strikes Again? Eidos Site Hacked, User Info Snatched - Techland - TIME.com

“News near you” on Google News for mobile

Google News for mobile lets you keep up with the latest news, wherever you are. Today we’re excited to announce a new feature in the U.S. English edition called “News near you” that surfaces news relevant to the city you’re in and surrounding areas.

Location-based news first became available in Google News in 2008, and today there’s a local section for just about any city, state or country in the world with coverage from thousands of sources. We do local news a bit differently, analyzing every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located.

Google News Blog: Introducing “News near you” on Google News for mobile

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear Attempt on Google

For the past few days, a mystery has been unfolding in Silicon Valley. Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people’s privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post.

The plot backfired when the blogger turned down Burson’s offer and posted the emails that Burson had sent him. It got worse when USA Today broke a story accusing Burson of spreading a “whisper campaign” about Google “on behalf of an unnamed client.”

Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear Attempt on Google - The Daily Beast

Mobile Advertising Platform Tap.Me Reels in Rockfish Brand Ventures

CHICAGO, IL – May 12, 2011 – Tap.Me, creators of a new mobile advertising platform, received the distinction of being named as Rockfish’s first investment by their newly created venture capital capability – Rockfish Brand Ventures. In this latest round of fund raising, Rockfish is joined by existing Tap.Me investors the likes of David Cohen’s Bullet Time Ventures, the i2A Fund and Hyde Park Angels.

Rockfish Brand Ventures, a new model of agency ventures, brings emerging digital innovations together with agency capabilities and client relationships. By securing this partnership, Tap.Me will benefit from access to the diverse client network and services Rockfish provides as an award-winning agency, as well as guidance from experienced and connected Brand Ventures executives. Tap.Me attracted Brand Ventures with a combination of a strong development background, a gamer-first model and a fluid platform with opportunities for virtually any brand to partner with.

“The Rockfish Brand Ventures team brings us more than financial backing, but crucial knowledge of the digital space that is literally priceless” said Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Tap.Me. “Their collaboration with our team has given us insight into the mobile space that, partnered with our development experience, will make Tap.Me the next evolution in mobile advertising.”

Rockfish Blog - Mobile Advertising Platform Tap.Me Reels in Rockfish Brand Ventures

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Can I tell Google about links to my site?

Google, SEO, Backlinks, Link Building

Can I flag spammy links to my site that I didn't create?

Online Reputation Management, ORM, Link Building, inbound spam links

Google Webmaster Team

Back in the 1990s, anyone who maintained a website called themselves a “webmaster” regardless of whether they were a designer, developer, author, system administrator, or someone who had just stumbled across GeoCities and created their first web page. As the technologies changed over the years, so did the roles and skills of those managing websites.

Around 20 years after the word was first used, we still refer to ourselves as the Google Webmaster Team because it’s the only term that really covers the wide variety of roles that we have on our team. Although most of us have solid knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other web technologies, we also have specialists in design, development, user experience, information architecture, system administration, and project management.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Introducing the Google Webmaster Team

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Music Beta by Google

Google Music, iTunes, RSS beatmixing

Facebook Strikes A Blow To Social Media Spammers

In Facebook, Inc. v. Max Bounty, Inc.(N.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2011), U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel struck a serious blow to spammers who had transitioned from “mere” email schemes to social networking platforms like Facebook.

Facebook argued that communications on its website fall within the meaning of federally regulated “electronic messages” under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (“CAN-SPAM Act”). The court agreed.

Facebook Strikes A Blow To Social Media Spammers - Ben Kerschberg - Law & Technology - Forbes

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Do Digital-Only Agencies Need to Evolve?

As digital becomes more integrated into the larger picture of marketing, marketers are not optimistic about the future of digital-only agencies, with just a third saying these shops can survive in their current form.

Do Digital-Only Agencies Need to Evolve? - eMarketer

Google Chrome: Dear Sophie

Google Ads, Google chrome video

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

5 Ways to Use Google for Local Search

Any business with a local presence needs to take advantage of Google’s offerings to grow.

It’s not just that Google is big — it’s also responsive. Just look at Google Maps — it has a 49-percent share and is incredibly responsive to what we want from digital. The day after the Japan earthquake disaster, Google‘s fleet of planes captured satellite images of the areas affected most so the world could see the earthquake’s devastation. Google Earth’s 3D imagery of the Royal Wedding procession route allowed viewers to see the same sights that William and Kate saw when traveling from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace last Friday.

We want to experience the world at their fingertips and Google Maps has provided just that.

5 Ways to Use Google for Local Search | iCrossing Digital Marketing Blog, Search Engine Advertising Blog: iCrossing

Google search basics - Google Instant

How it works

The basics of Google search are the same, including how results are ranked and how Google determines relevant results. What has changed is the path you can take to get to relevant results.Here's what happens when you search:

Start to type. As you type a search on Google, the homepage automatically starts displaying your search results -- no need to press Enter. A list of predicted queries is generated using the autocomplete algorithm. These predictions are displayed in a drop-down menu below the search box.
See results. The algorithm tries to predict what the rest of your query might be based on popular queries typed by other users. The first prediction is shown in light grey in the search box, and the search results you see instantly will be for that predicted search. If instead you want to see results for only the text you've typed, just press Enter or click the Search button.
Type more, see more. If you continue to type, Google dynamically updates the search results to match the first prediction for what you've typed.
Refine your search. Don't find the information or website you want? It's easy to refine your search after seeing what results appear. Here are some options:
- If you see what you're looking for in the list of predicted queries, click the query to see relevant results.
- Use your keyboard's down arrow key to scroll through the list of predicted queries, and see results appear for each query you pause over.
- Continue typing your query until the results show what you're looking for. As always, you're still able to type your full query and press Enter or click the Search button

Google search basics - Google Instant

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

New Online Coupon for Retailers and CPGs Helps Justify Online Media Spends

Up until recent times, consumer-packaged goods companies considered much of their online media spends as brand-building activities. After all, most don't sell any product directly on their website. Then social media came along which gave brands a new call-to-action for their ad creative: "Like us on Facebook!" or "Follow us on Twitter!" These have led to a firestorm of new case studies andarticles. Quick on their heels, deal sites like Groupon and Living Social captured advertisers' attention, especially when larger brick-and-mortar retailers started testing them out. Recently, General Millsbecame the first CPG to run a test on Groupon.

As a marketing vehicle, coupons have long-attracted CPG and retail companies. Certainly, they're a way to stimulate sales and fend off competition. Replicating the traditional print coupon in an online environment has not been easy for CPGs and retailers, however. The process has been wrought with problems like counterfeiting and fraud, software, and site integration complexities, and, as anyone inshopper marketing will tell you about any coupon, getting a complete handle on shopper data is either impossible or very expensive. Until now.

New Online Coupon for Retailers and CPGs Helps Justify Online Media Spends | ClickZ

Dallas SEO and Social Media Blog

StevePlunkett on Dallas SEO Blog - A Dallas Social Media and SEO blog. Version #3.3.. an experiment in content management. This blog is about what I read in the areas of: #SEO, #DAO, #KBO, #ORM, Blogging, Search, Analytics, Social Media Strategy, Twitter, Google, Google +, Organic Search Engine Optimization, Digital Game Optimization and Game Development Strategy, Dallas Digital Advertising Agencies, Digital Public Relations, (PR), Computer Security, Privacy, Spy Ware, Viruses, Legal Issues, Hacking, Technology, Mobile, Video Games, Console Gaming, (XBOX) and Music.
Follow@steveplunkett

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HASH:#whitecoatseo4social

Move Along Young Jedi, these are not the comments you wish to linkspam, Good.. farewell young jedi...

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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