Reports: Bing Users Click More, Search Deal With Yahoo Coming Th. A report analyzing traffic and click-through rates from ad network Chikita finds that “Bing users are over 50% more likely to click an ad on your site than Google users.” What this means, according to the post, is those who arrive at third party sites via Bing click more frequently on ads on those sites than those coming through Google. TechCrunch offers a bit more detail and speculation about why this might be (i.e., “the law of large numbers”). According to Chikita, the respective click rates are: Google: .97 percentYahoo: 1.24 percentBing: 1.5 percent Bing appears has made some incremental gains in search market share since its launch at the end of May. The two most recent roundups of the numbers are here and here. Even though Bing has been well received and has some momentum it doesn’t appear that will quickly translate into significant market share advances.
We’ll have to wait to see whether there’s a deal and what the terms are. Study Reveals High Levels of Twitter Use at Conferences. A group of scholars from Germany, Austria, and the U.K. recently put together a case study about the tweeting habits of conference attendees. Entitled "How People are using Twitter during Conferences," this research report (available here on Scribd.com), reveals some interesting, although not altogether shocking, insights into the role the microblogging service plays during major events.
Most notable of their findings is the number of individuals who actively use the service during conferences - a figure showing high participation levels among attendees. According to the report, the researchers were motivated to find out if using Twitter could actually help improve the interactions among the learners and enhance their learning experience when attending presentations in large groups. They looked into the motives of Twitter users, contents of tweets, and how this impacted the user's network. Working Writers Newsletter: Search - The Top Internet Tool Used. Social media: myth versus reality | Blog. The nature of the internet economy has given myth new importance in the digital age. One need only look at the field of SEO to see just how prominent (and destructive) myth can be.
Social media has a lot in common with SEO and one area where that's especially true is in the number of social media myths that have become entrenched. From the belief that social media ROI can't be measured to the idea that your business can thrive if you get to the right influencers, social media myths run rampant today. Myth: ROI can't be measured. Reality: This is perhaps the biggest myth and it's absolute hogwash. Myth: Social media is still immature. Myth: Social media is about conversations. Reality: It may sound cynical, but oftentimes social media degrades into a less formal exercise in corporate shilling; an extreme extension of the 'tell the customer whatever he wants to hear' mentality. Myth: For brands, authenticity is a must. Reality: For brands, money is a must. Myth: Social media is 'cheap'.
Publish PDF Files in Google Docs. One of the big changes from last week's Google Docs update is that the sharing features are more consistent. For example, you can now publish a PDF file by clicking on "Share", selecting "Get the link to share" and checking "Allow anyone with the link to view (no sign-in required)". While the file becomes publicly available, you still need to log in using a Google Account, despite Google's claim that no sign-in is required. Until now, spreadsheets had an unique feature that allowed you to collaborate with anyone that received the link to the spreadsheet, without even having to log in.
The feature is now available for documents and presentations, so it's easier to collaborate with many people. Try the new features: 1. 2. . { Spotted by Jérôme Flipo. } CAPTCHAs or conversions? | Blog. CAPTCHAs -- those computer-generated images commonly used with website forms that challenge users to prove they're human -- are a popular tool in the arsenal against web spam.
But when looked at from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint, do they help or hurt conversions? A great post on the SEOmoz blog details how one person set out to answer the question. 'chenry' of the SEOmoz community conducting a six-month study across 50 websites that he owns or has access to. For the first three months of the study, half of these websites implemented CAPTCHA on their forms and the other half didn't.
The results: With CAPTCHA enabled, there was an 88% reduction in spam.With CAPTCHA disabled, 4.1% of the conversions recorded were spam.With CAPTCHA enabled, 7.3% of the conversions were either detected as spam or failed. The analysis: CAPTCHAs do reduce spam conversions but it also seems to significantly increase the number of conversions that fail. Choosing a CAPTCHA implementation that is legible. 4 technologies that are killing the URL. Recently, I was involved in a few presentations and had a conversation with a colleague that got me thinking about the future of the URL (i.e., uniform resource locator -- in other words, a web address).
All of my ponderings led me to one conclusion: What we have come to recognize as the primary means of getting to a website -- -- is used less now than last year and isn't going to be used much in the future. The significance of this revelation led me to consider the methods with which we promote our web properties -- and whether we as digital marketers are ready for this shifting reality.
First, what am I talking about? In short, the URL is the way that most people think others find their pages online. There are several different technologies, all currently converging, that are contributing to the growing obsolescence of URLs. Rethinking Social Relevancy Rank: What's Missing? The future of search almost certainly involves social networks, social graphs, or social filtering in some capacity.
Companies will live or die by whether they get the "social" part right: creating the right level of intimacy, trust, reliability, social connectedness, and accuracy in their results listings. Of course, this specifically means that their user experience must at least meet or, preferably, exceed that of Google's. To achieve this, we must first stop arguing over the different flavors of search. Real-time search. Social search. Semantic search. These distinctions are essentially meaningless, especially when we can't even agree on definitions and when each of their boundaries remain undefined.
Because the promise of social network integration with search is a current favorite topic, we'll focus in this post on that: a class of social search. First, as Alex points out, "trusted opinions are scarce. " The problem of effective search runs deep. Marketing Small Businesses With Twitter. BBC News | Enlarged Image. Are Tweets Copyright-Protected? July 2009 By Consuelo Reinberg Copyright and tweeting – the debate was bound to happen. Can repeating a message on Twitter - a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets) – actually be construed as copyright infringement? This article, by Consuelo Reinberg, content editor, BP Council, was first published in the BP Council Note, June 18, 2009.
A copyright debate that was already brewing positively boiled over when Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, was recently slapped with a US$25,000 fine by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for tweeting during a game about allegedly lousy officiating. (Copyright Twitter) As new communication technologies emerge, so do new copyright infringement questions. Content – Lawyer Brock Shinen’s article “Twitterlogical, The Misunderstanding of Ownership” focuses on a salient point: facts are not copyrightable. Can a tweet ever be copyrightable? Introducing: the journalist of the future Adam Westbrook. There’s been enough talk about the cancer spreading through modern journalism. The cutting of jobs and money, the shedding of audiences and advertising, the invasion of PR guff and the medium’s failure to reject it; and vitally, the disappearance of time for journalists to do some proper journalism.
I’m tired of talking about the past and want to know what’s coming next. Here’s my picture of a future journalist, based on books, blogs, a couple of talks I’ve given recently and all the noise on Twitter. As always, it’s by no means comprehensive – so let me know what’s right and wrong in the comments box! This combines the technical skills the new journalist will need (plus the old ones), new ways of collaborating with audiences and journalists across the globe; and most importantly an entrepreneurial edge to create an army of “creative entrepreneurs”. The Jack of All Trades The Web Designer They have an amazing portfolio website which shows off their wares. The collaborator The Specialist. 6 ways to dispel fear and loathing of social media - iMediaConne. Few brands have a marketing plan that lacks the words "social media," but most are struggling with how to measure and communicate the impact of programs on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other sites.
What's the value of a tweet by someone with 100,000 followers? Does your brand's 45,000 Facebook friends translate into anything meaningful? How many of the people watching a promotional YouTube video will actually purchase the product? Many corporations are not fully capitalizing on social media simply because "digital evangelists" have not yet captured or communicated its value proposition in a way that senior leadership understands. In my previous role as marketing director of Propecia (a medicine that treats hair loss), I didn't care much about how many balding men engaged with my brand online. In some cases, our "cost-per-qualified-patient start" via social media was lower than that of paid search. Next page >> Cubicgarden.com... Correcting follower and following counts. Developer Impressions Of Google Wave: “Real-Time Email.
5 Media/Communication Channels Twitter Has Impacted. Twitter is everywhere you look these days. You don’t have to use it, but you can’t hide from it. If you live under a rock, chances are somebody’s sitting on top of that rock tweeting. It took a little bit for Twitter to catch on, but I think it’s safe to say that it has officially taken the world by storm. Let’s look at just a few ways it has impacted different forms of media and communication. 1. Instant Messaging There’s no denying that Twitter has changed the way many people instant message each other. The biggest way Twitter has impacted this form of communication is by taking real-time conversations public. 2. Tweeting is "microblogging," and technically, Twitter has impacted blogging in general. That limit makes tweeting an ideal way to get "quick hits" out to followers, which is a method that caters quite nicely to liveblogging. eBay showed a good example of this when its eBay Ink blog liveblogged the company’s earnings call via Twitter rather than on the blog itself. 3. 4. 5.
Most Users Peeved by Internet Ads. While internet advertisers ramp up their web advertising efforts, the majority of US consumers say they are frustrated by common types of internet ads, according to (pdf) a recent study by Harris Interactive. Pop-ups, ads that are "moused over," difficult-to-close ads, and musical ads are some of the worst offenders. Ads that spread across the page and cover the content beneath them are the most vexing for consumers, with 80% of respondents in the study deeming these types to be very frustrating, MarketingCharts reports. Ads on which consumers can't find the skip or close button are a close second, with 79% of respondents similarly annoyed, the survey found. Digital Most Used Despite these consumer frustrations, the survey revealed a trend toward online advertising and a move away from traditional print and broadcast.
Nearly as many (88%) say they are incorporating print advertising. Change from Last Year Internet Advertising. Between the Lines mobile edition. The American Management Association has estimated that about half of all U.S. employers have policies restricting workers from visiting social networking sites. A new TechRepublic poll conducted during the first half of July indicates that the number is even higher, as 71% of respondents said that their companies were blocking social networking sites. Since the TechRepublic audience consists primarily of IT professionals, this poll reflect mostly enterprises and SMBs large enough to hire an IT specialist. This issue is becoming a growing source of tension between IT and users, especially new college grads who are entering the workplace and expecting to use sites like Facebook to network and connect with people, but are being blocked.
The Associated Press shed light on this issue in its recent piece Young workers push employers for wider Web access. Also, a policy that is too stringent can actually inhibit users from doing their jobs, including IT workers. Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: Guest Po. The Need for the 4Cs Social Media Framework Over the last year, I have had to explain how social media works to diplomats, defense officials, and academics and students focused on fields as diverse as international affairs, management and sociology. I have found that first-timer find social media confusing because of two reasons. The first reason is the excessive focus on specific social media tools.
Many first-timers are introduced to social media via specific tools. The second reason is a clear definition of what social media is, even within the social media community. The 4Cs Social Media Framework My own approach to social media is both tool-agnostic and terminology-agnostic. Instead of getting distracted by the tools and the terminologies, I focus on the four underlying themes in social media, the 4Cs of social media: Content, Collaboration, Community and Collective Intelligence. The First C: Content However, just because everyone can become a creator doesn’t mean that everyone does. Yes, Your Social Media Strategy Needs Design - Conversation Star. By David Armano | 10:42 AM July 21, 2009 In nearly every conference room across the business landscape it’s inevitable that at some point the phrase “social media” enters the discussion.
Marketers, PR and salespeople are among the first to engage in the discussions, trying to figure how networks can be leveraged to sell more stuff. But I’d like to propose another way to approach the topic. What if we looked at “social media” as a design problem? “Design is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. Notice any key words in this small excerpt? As someone who started a career as a designer (graphic design and user experience design) and is currently exploring business opportunities in social media — which I think of as social business design — I can’t help but see the challenges and opportunities in this definition as it applies to social media.
Let’s start with the challenges — the term “social media” itself is indicative of the state of affairs. Yes, Your Social Media Strategy Needs Design - Conversation Star. Yahoo’s New HomePage Integrates Applications &#821. Cannabis anyone? iPhone app helps you find it. – The N. How Usable is the Mobile Web? How to Use Interns In Your Social Programs Web Strategy by Jer. Top Social Media Sites: Twitter Leaps 1,989% Facebook, Twitter, & Wikis Really Do Impact the Bottom Line. Free Alternatives to Photoshop With All the Bells, Whistles, Fil.
New Study Indicates Social Media Pays; Wetpaint and Altimeter Gr. The Tweeting House: Twitter + Internet of Things. Google Removes Alerts, RSS Buttons from News. Online Marketing Blog | Internet Marketing Blog. Skype for Mac 2.8: Screenshare, Status Pings, Wifi Purchasing &a. YouTube Biz Blog: YouTube myth busting. New study: Deep brand engagement correlates with financial perfo. Explore the moon in Google Earth. Nielsen-netview-online-population-kids-june-2009.jpg. Empowering Actual Communities With Social Media | Social Media E.
100 Free College Courses To Develop Your Artistic Eye - Learn-ga. Blogging Never Went Away. The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment) Lithium Reinvents Itself as a Social CRM - ReadWriteEnterprise. The Generation M Manifesto - Umair Haque - HarvardBusiness.org. ClickZ - Stats - Web Worldwide.