Cuts. Major Relevancy Changes at MSN, Yahoo, & Possibly Google : SEO Book.com. By Amy L. Webb. Microsoft LookingGlass Helps Businesses Catch the Social Media Wave at Advertising Week 2009. Political Streams. Microsoft Tells Advertisers “Engagement” Is More Important Than Clicks, But Is Vague on Details. Online advertising executives love talking about “engagement”: It is not the impressions or clicks that count, it is how many people who saw your ad and actually ended up doing something about it.
In a speech today Brian McAndrews, Microsoft’s senior vice president of Advertiser & Publisher Solutions, announced the beta of a new way to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns that Microsoft is calling “Engagement Mapping.” Instead of measuring clicks or impressions, engagement mapping aims to track how many times a person comes across an ad on the Web, and correlate that to actions taken down the line.
So if you see an ad on Facebook for a Visa card, and then on three other sites before you click through to sign up, Microsoft will give Facebook some credit for that eventual customer engagement. In theory, it sounds good. We all know that clicks can be gamed. It sounds complicated. Microsoft-Yahoo Battle Getting Expensive. Should Microsoft Give Up? Yahoo: Just Breathe (and Those Rumors Are All True, Except the Ones That Are Not) Oh, the head spins with all these rumors and counter-rumors and rumors countering the counter-rumors, related to the state of Microsoft’s takeover bid for Yahoo.
With a fast and furious certainty, a tsunami of claims have been crashing ashore over the last week only to be cleared out quickly with the next new wave of certainties. Let me take a wild guess at the only thing that will be entirely true: That this is all going to take an awful lot longer than the breathless moment-by-moment, life-hanging-in-the-balance tone that has overcome the proceedings. In any case, let’s review some of the key points in an informative BoomTown Q&A session: Q: Will Microsoft raise its $31 offer to $35 or $36 after Yahoo’s board rejected it as undervaluing the troubled Internet portal and leaking a $40 figure?
A: Sure it will, especially since major investors of Yahoo think it is a good idea–of course they do! Payback is, well, you know! Lots of Googley fun either way, it seems to me! NewsGlobe. Yahoo may consider Google alliance, source says. Yahoo, Google Joining Forces to Make Microsoft Jealous? While we all stand by and anxiously watch the train wreck that is Yahoo, it looks to be more and more likely that the #1 singular Internet portal will take Microsoft's bid for $44.6 billion.
Despite all appearances, however, perhaps Yahoo is seeking out an alternative to the unsolicited bid from Microsoft, which became the most important tech story in recent history, just two days ago. In what direction could Yahoo divert its current tracks? In one day, the company lost Semel, and caused quite a stir when it finally commented on the bid offered by Microsoft. The weekend proceeded with additional remarks from Google, in regards to the potential monopoly a merger could cause, making it appear to be quite the expression of a personal vendetta against the trouble-causing Microsoft when Google itself was forced to deal with anti-trust issues for its (still pending) acquisition of Double-Click. Let's not forget that Yahoo still hasn't given a very solid response to Microsoft's bid. Windows Live Lounge. Microsoft Wants A Piece Of Facebook?
[qi:010] How much is a 5 percent stake in Facebook worth?
$300 million? $500 million? $750 million? It all depends on how desperate the buyer is and how well Mark Zuckerberg can play a game of corporate poker. Rational thinking long ago flew out the window when it comes to anything Facebook. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, is reporting that Facebook and Microsoft (MSFT) are in early talks about an investment that could value Facebook at upwards of $10 billion. If the Z-meister takes the cash, then in a sense he is getting an put call option from Microsoft, which prevents Facebook from embracing anyone else. Yodel Anecdotal.