April 14, 2009

NCAA Says Facebook Fan Groups Violate Recruiting Policies

The NCAA has said that Facebook groups set up by college students to woo high school student athletes violate their recruiting policies. It's against the rules for fans to recruit players, and the NCAA says these groups do just that.

NC State sent a cease-and-desist letter to freshman Taylor Moseley to shut down a group that wants to see high school basketball star John Wall pick the Wolfpack as his college team next fall.

Still, several groups remain all wanting Wall to play for their team.

But are these groups truly recruiting? They aren't commissioned by athletic departments. Are fans truly not allowed to express their hope that an athlete would choose their school?

It's understandable that schools shouldn't be allowed to send fans to recruit. Then you would see all sorts of corruption from wealthy alumni sending expensive gifts to well, other types of "favors." It's not a stretch to think these offers could be made by fans of Facebook, who have no association with the official recruiting process.

But can the NCAA really stop the speeding train that is Facebook? Or should they update their rules to fit the times? Let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 5, 2009

Think Microblogging is Hip? Try Nanoblogging!

With all the hype surrounding Twitter these days, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to outdo them and come out with an even faster and more efficient method of communciation.

Enter Flutter. Flutter claims to be a nanoblogging service. Like all good Web 2.0 companies, they launched out of a Stanford dorm room.

Ok, ok this is all a joke. But at the same time, it is a bit of commentary on the current state of social media. Even ABC News was asking last week if anyone is sick of social networking yet?

My personal answer is that people aren't necessarily sick of social networking as they are of all the "gaming" of social media systems. Who's the most popular Twitterer? How many friends do you have on Facebook? Those vain social status games are what I find tiring. What's not tiring is simply connecting and networking. After all, networking is as old as man. It simply adapts to the technology at hand.

What's your answer to ABC's question? Does social media warrant the hype? Leave your response in the comment section below.

In the meantime, enjoy this mockumentary about the fictional Flutter.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

March 20, 2009

LinkedIn Enables RSS Feeds to Enhance Sharing in Groups

LinkedIn is allowing groups on the professional social network to add RSS feeds to aid in news and information sharing. News sharing was first allowed last November and has quickly caught on.

Group managers can utilize RSS by adding an ATOM feed, RSS feed or a web site URL. If you're in a group where a manager has enabled RSS, you can find feeds under the news tab in "Latest News."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 18, 2009

@guykawasaki & Lucille Ball: Personal Channels & Social Media Success

My wife is a prolific generator of content. She takes, on average, 200 photos per day, writes a public blog, and sends detailed, engaging emails about our travels to her personal email list.

Recently she told me she'd like to make a little money selling her photographs. I asked her what was standing in her way. She said, "I've been trying to figure out what my niche should be." My response: "You ARE the niche."

Meaning that she is a dependable source of high-quality content in a variety of media through a variety of communication channels. Her friends and readers trust her to select/create/synthesize content that, to them, due to their shared interest, is consistently useful and enjoyable. How did she earn their trust? By maintaining a steady, dependable flow of such content, year after year.

Shortly after this exchange, walking along a NYC street, I saw a vendor selling photographs. Included were shots of cultural icons: Elvis, John Lennon, Lucille Ball.

Which set me thinking: how does one attain iconic status?

In the case of Lucille Ball, she was certainly a comedic genius - but she would probably be one of the first to admit her iconic status depended mainly on her persistent hard work, channeling content from great writers. Fans tuned into her show and filled theaters for her movies because of the fact that such channeling had made her a trusted, dependable source of comedic content.

Guy Kawasaki has achieved similar status in a smaller circle. While I don't expect to see his photo sold from a table in Times Square, he's become an icon in what used to be called "high tech" circles. He's done that by serving as a dependable channel for high-quality information that's the cream of a crop of some pretty poorly-written junk. He calls his most recent communications medium, Twitter (@guykawasaki), his "full-time job."

What's he's saying is that Twitter helps him solidify his reputation as a dependable source - a trusted editor - via small, 140-character chunks of text, many times per day. 24/7. His reputation is the driver of his sources of compensation - the sales of his excellent books, ad revenue from his "virtual newsstand" Alltop, and fees for his speaking engagements like his keynote at SES New York next week.

I have a similar attitude: my main job is to serve as a channel for the best, most credible information about online advertising in general, and PPC advertising (e.g. Google AdWords) in particular. I spend a big chunk of every day reading articles and press releases, and "re-tweeting" links to the best ones on Twitter (@szetela).

At the end of every day, all of the links I've published via twitter are collected by a software "bot" and re-published in a single blog post. That way my readers can follow individual Tweets or click through the links in the blog post.

Geekier people like my friend, Social Media Marketing expert Marty Weintraub, refer to such practices with Web 4.0 terms like "personal distribution networks using human feeds." I call it common-sense relationship-building whose practice and value has been around as long as Man.

Want to win at the social media game and become an icon within your sphere? Think of yourself as the proprietor of a personal channel. It's your job to keep current on news, developments and resources within your field of expertise -- or even just your field of view. Your value to your "followers" is the fact that you can be depended upon to separate the wheat from the chaff -- and pass on to them only the best content.

Posted by David Szetela at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

March 3, 2009

Facebook Marketplace: Now Powered by Oodle

Facebook launched its Marketplace in 2007, giving users the ability to sell household goods via the social network. Now, Marketplace has been given an overhaul, which has been developed by classifieds vendor Oodle.

If you're currently using Marketplace, you'll have the option to transfer your item(s) to the updated version.

If you want to access Marketplace, search for it in the Application Directory.

With the update comes a charitable effort. A new feature called "Sell for a Cause" allows sellers to donate profits to charity.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 27, 2009

Facebook Releases New Terms of Service for Feedback; Allows Users to Vote on Changes

After enduring controversy over a new Terms of Service, Facebook has released another new version - this time with a whole new vision for its implementation. The new TOS is open for feedback, in the spirit of being transparent.

There are two documents being released. One is "Facebook Principles," which defines the rights of members. The second is a "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities," which replaces the Terms of Service. Facebook also says their users will be notified of and get to vote on changes made to the documents.

When testing occurs on the social network, it will not be subject to notification or voting.

With today's announcement, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg assured users that his social network doesn't own data, the users do.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 23, 2009

SEW Experts: Social Media Madness -- The Sweet 16

In the spirit of College basketball's upcoming March Madness tournament, we've got the "Sweet 16" of social media. In today's building brand equity column, "Social Media Madness -- The Sweet 16," Erik Qualman scores each company's strengths and weaknesses, along with details on how your company or brand can leverage these social media offerings.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 16, 2009

Aussies Show Facebook Can Become Dangerous Kangaroo Court

Following the devastating bush fires in Victoria, Australia, an alleged arsonist has come under fire from Facebook users that have threatened even lynching. The legal system will prosecute him but the kangaroo court being held on Facebook could have its own legal problems, according to ABC News.

"The creators of internet groups calling for the torture of the man accused of lighting one of the deadly Victorian bushfires could face prosecution for breaching a court order.

Members of the networking site, Facebook, have created groups calling for 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk to be "burnt at the stake" after he was charged with arson causing death.

The Facebook groups contain photographs of Sokaluk, which is in breach of a suppression order," ABC News reported.

This is a great example of how social media can go really wrong, and with the ability to spread information quickly it can cause problems that legal authorities may not be able to react to quickly enough.

Posted by Frank Watson at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Social Media Marketing (SMO) 101, Part 1

Before you begin any kind of social media marketing, I highly recommend setting up an account and jumping into a conversation or community. It's one thing to talk about social media, and another to experience it firsthand. In today's SEM 101 column, "Social Media Marketing (SMO) 101, Part 1," Ron Jones outlines some basic types of social media sites.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 9, 2009

SEW Experts: 4 Ways Facebook Can Make Big Money

Facebook celebrated its fifth birthday last week with 150 million of its closest friends. In today's building brand equity column, "4 Ways Facebook Can Make Big Money," Erik Qualman gives his gift to Facebook: four ways to make some big money this year.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2009

SEW Experts: 10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money

With traditional advertising proving less effective, marketers need new outlets like Twitter and Facebook to help create interest and demand. In today's building brand equity column, "10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money," Erik Qualman shows that by working new features into the service, the company could enhance users' Twitter experience, and monetize their service at the same time.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 21, 2009

Twitter Passes Digg For Usage, Is Facebook Next?

Seems Twitter may be the "next big thing" in social media. Hitwise reports it has surpassed Digg for usage - but realistically the two are different types of social media, though Twitter does have the recommendation aspects of Digg. Comparisons to Facebook may be more realistic.

Twitter has come to replace - or at least heavily supplement - the interactions between Facebook users via leaving messages on the Wall of each user. The big difference about Twitter is everyone who is following a person gets to see the messages sent and join in the conversation immediately.

It combines the community nature of Facebook with followers and there have been requests to start groups similar to those at Facebook and other features. But at the moment the rising number of users has been causing problems with overload.

Twitter doubled its resources for yesterday's inauguration, knowing people would log on to share comments, yet still had some problems.

If Twitter is going to continue to grow it will have to overcome more than its capacity issues. Methods of monetization are a major hurdle, but meeting the needs of greater features is the biggest one. Rivals have popped up and have yet to impact. If one can address the other features issue they may have better luck.

Posted by Frank Watson at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 20, 2009

SpokeUp.com: A Smarter Kind of Social Network

When SpokeUp.com launched a few weeks ago, I was a bit confused. Where's the social voting? Where's the splashy Web 2.0 design?

I gave it another chance and I'm glad I did, because SpokeUp.com is a smarter kind of social network. Instead of just voting, you actually have to comment, bookmark articles, blog, or post a short blurb to the site's wire in order to participate.

SpokeUp.com is technically a niche network. It's geared primarily towards politics, government and the economy. But I've posted tech and search news and still found interest. The idea is in the name: to speak up about the things that are on your mind that need to be addressed. There's all sorts of people from all types of persuasions. So far, the discourse is cordial and hopefully it will remain that way.

The best thing about it is that you can't game the system like Digg. Adding friends won't gain you any points, votes or power. The system is simple. Once you're logged in, if you head to the "Activity" tab you'll see what's been posted in chronological order, simple as that.

SpokeUp.com reminds us that the web, yes even the social web, can be smart. It's not about design and it's not about trend. It's truly about conversation and community.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 29, 2008

SEW Experts: Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox? Part 2

Many companies still believe they need to get users into their prospecting databases in order to market to them. But businesses capture a lot more information via social media about their consumers than they've ever had before. In today's building brand equity column, "Will Social Networks Become the New Inbox? Part 2," Erik Qualman explains that good businesses realize that the relationship still needs to be cultivated. Just like dating, companies need to learn how to court their customers in social networks.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 3, 2008

Advertising to Cretins Expected To Drop in 2009

While the News Corp founder's biographer Michael Wolff may think Rupert Murdoch's MySpace users are "cretins", the company's CEO Chris DeWolfe believes profits will "continue to grow in spite of the poor economy".

"If you're on MySpace now, you're a (expletive) cretin. And you're not only a (expletive) cretin, but you're poor," said Wolff."

"Nobody who has beyond an eighth grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people," Cnet News reported.

Guess Wolff will not be getting Murdoch to promote his book, The Man Who Owns The News, any time soon.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported the MySpace CEO has seen a drop in the value of many online companies over the past six months - which we have all seen - but the numbers mentioned are interesting.

"Web companies that were worth between $200 million and $300 million just six months ago are now willing to sell themselves for $20 million to $25 million, and some have begun knocking on his door recently," DeWolfe told Reuters.

DeWolfe said the company was interested in some international companies, as well as some music ones. So will MySpace be rolling out an iTunes competitor in the new year?

Guess 'cretins' like music.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 1, 2008

Pownce To Fold, Founders Join Six Apart

The founders of Pownce announced they are closing their social networking platform and joining Six Apart - the creators of Movable Type, TypePad and Vox, the company blog announced today.

Co-founder Leah Culver stated in the blog, "We're bittersweet about shutting down the service but we believe we'll come back with something much better in 2009. We love the Pownce community and we will miss you all."

"Mike and I have joined Six Apart as part of their engineering team and we're looking forward to being a part of the talented group that has created amazing tools for blogging and publishing," he explained.

Given the technology will join Six Apart and that company's strength in the blogging software arena, Leah's comment that they should be coming back in 2009 with something "much better" is intriguing.

Posted by Frank Watson at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 10, 2008

LinkedIn Combines Social and Search in New Events Feature

LinkedIn has announced yet another launch. This time it's a robust Events feature that includes social and search to boot.

Members will receive recommendations for events that match their profile. These can be found on the Events homepage.

Events can be searched for by industry, date, and location.

You can see who on LinkedIn has indicated that they'll be attending a particular event as well as update your own attendance status.

Also, keep track of updates or look up the history of events.

Check out this video for more info:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Build Your SEM Network -- Get LinkedIn

How does one go about getting a job in search, or enhancing their career as a search professional? In today's SEM.edu column, "Build Your SEM Network -- Get LinkedIn," Ron Jones explains that a partial answer to this question is to use a social networking tool like LinkedIn, where professionals link to one another's resume-like profiles.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 5, 2008

SEW Experts: Social Media Link Building: From Fantasy to Reality

Sometimes, a company's marketing efforts can have an unintentional impact from a link building perspective. Such is the case with this fantasy sports community site focused on building communities in Facebook and other social media environments. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "Social Media Link Building: From Fantasy to Reality," Eric Enge shares the successful strategy of Citizen Sports Network.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 30, 2008

SEW Experts: Trick or Tweet for CNN

Social media is revolutionary. It allows CNN anchor Rick Sanchez to have a relationship with 30,000 people, and make a connection with them that can translate to other media. In today's building brand equity column, "Trick or Tweet for CNN," Erik Qualman explains that companies need to relinquish the total control they've had and allow users, consumers, viewers, etc. to take their rightful ownership.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 23, 2008

SEW Experts: Zappos + Twitter = Innovative Success!

Most companies use Twitter as a PR machine, covered in a thin veil of down-home personalization. But Zappos' CEO exposes a deep level of intimacy and behind the scenes information. In today's link building column, "Zappos + Twitter = Innovative Success!," Sage Lewis explains that this helps Zappos connect with their audience, and get links as a result.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Facebook: Get Educated on the Hottest Social Media Platform

Facebook was first used as a tool to help students, faculty, and staff to get to know other people on campus. Now it's used to do the same on the Internet campus. In today's SEM.edu column, "Facebook: Get Educated on the Hottest Social Media Platform," Ron Jones outlines some ways educators are using the social network as a way to get students ready for participating in today's corporate world.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

MySpace Launches Self-Service Ad Platform

MySpace has launched a new self-service ad platform. Dubbed "MySpace MyAds," the new platform allows anyone to create banner ads and use the social network's HyperTargeting technology to find target audiences.

MySpace offered up the following steps for advertisers to get started:

STEP 1: Visit https://advertise.myspace.com or click the "Advertise" link located at the bottom of any MySpace page
STEP 2: Create a display ad using the MySpace MyAds Builder Tool
STEP 3: Select a variable ad spend anywhere from $25 to $10,000
STEP 4: HyperTarget to customers
STEP 5: Measure ad performance with MySpace MyAds analytics reporting

“With MySpace MyAds, we're blowing the lid off display advertising solutions for small and medium businesses,” said Jeff Berman, President of Sales and Marketing for MySpace. “MySpace MyAds is a direct marketer's dream – providing entrepreneurs with the most accessible, personalized, and targeted advertising toolkit in the market. We're giving businesses better ROI ASAP and in today's economy, that's a must-have.”

What do you think about the new platform? Leave a comment and let us know!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 9, 2008

SEW Experts: MySpace for Online Learning and Marketing Tools

While some schools eschew the idea of MySpace in the classroom, other curricula embrace social media. In today's SEM.edu column, "MySpace for Online Learning and Marketing Tools," Ron Jones explains that if you can pull the aptitude and savvy of students from what they like to do outside class into the classroom, it makes for a more interactive environment.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 3, 2008

Friendster Now Supports Facebook Developer Community

Have a Facebook app? Well, now you can deploy it on Friendster. They're now supporting the Facebook Developer Community. It comes almost two months after deploying the OpenSocial API. This could be a good opportunity if you're looking to go global. Friendster has 80 million members worldwide, many of which are in Asia.

"Friendster's support of both the Facebook and OpenSocial platforms is a big win for business and individual developers, as well as for Friendster users," said David Jones, vice president of global marketing for Friendster. "For the developers that have invested resources in developing and launching a Facebook app, Friendster has now made it very easy for them to 'port' these applications to Friendster, enabling them to tap into Friendster's 80 million users. For Web 2.0 companies that have developed apps using Facebook and OpenSocial APIs, they now have the flexibility to choose between approaches when launching applications on Friendster."

To learn more check out the Friendster Developer Platform.

Related Reading: Friendster Names Googler as New CEO

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Using Twitter as an Education Tool

Innovations are popping up everywhere as educators find more uses for Twitter and other social media tools to cater to 21st century students. In today's SEM.edu column, "Using Twitter as an Education Tool," Ron Jones outlines a few examples of professors and teachers using Twitter in their lesson plans.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2008

SEW Experts: Could Social Media Be the Google Killer?

Much discussion has been made of where the David to the Google Goliath will come from. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Could Social Media Be the Google Killer?," Frank Watson and Chris Boggs wonder if the ongoing growth of social media may indicate that we should look beyond a Yahoo-Microsoft merger and other algorithmic-based search engines and explore the possibility of search becoming less important.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2008

SEW Experts: 5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem

Facebookers are annoyed that their beloved social network implemented a new design. But will their annoyance outweigh the value they get from using the product? In today's building brand equity column, "5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem," Erik Qualman considers whether Facebook's brand will be damaged, or emerge stronger than ever.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 29, 2008

SEW Experts: Looking for Answers in a Search Marketing Forum? Be Specific!

If you're a newbie looking for guidance in search marketing, there are plenty of places to find it, if you know how to best phrase your request for information. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Looking for Answers in a Search Marketing Forum? Be Specific!," Frank Watson and Chris Boggs remind us that search marketing has grown into a very broad field, but if you take the time to ask specific questions, you're much more likely to get you the answers you need.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 28, 2008

SEW Experts: Leveraging Social Media to Educate

There's been lots of hype about social media lately. But what's it mean from a business perspective? How can it help you educate potential clients or customers, or spread the word about your product or idea so that people are talking about it among themselves? In today's SEM.edu column, "Leveraging Social Media to Educate," Ron Jones explores the basics of social media, and tells you how to get started using it to help spread that awareness you seek.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 19, 2008

Friendster Deploys OpenSocial API

Friendster has today announced the deployment of the OpenSocial API. Friendster is encouraging developers to make use of the API to reach its 75 million members. Google launched OpenSocial, a set of APIs, last fall. Earlier this month, Friendster named Richard Kimber, former regional managing director of South Asia for Google, as its new CEO.

"With widespread support throughout the industry, OpenSocial has become a de facto standard for developers of social applications. OpenSocial makes it easier than ever for developers to build and distribute their applications across multiple destination sites like Friendster. Developers can spend less of their time on integrating and more of their time on building interesting, useful, fun, and/or compelling features," said David Jones, vice president of global marketing for Friendster. "Everybody wins - users gain access to new features, developers can introduce their innovations to the massive user bases of social networks, and social networks gain third-party features to continue to drive up user engagement on social networks."

"We are pleased that Friendster has deployed OpenSocial APIs for the benefit of users and developers alike," said David Glazer, director of engineering at Google. "Friendster's launch is another major milestone in the adoption and deployment of OpenSocial throughout the social web and around the world. We're particularly excited that OpenSocial is helping Friendster bring new social applications to users in Asia, and we look forward to seeing users embrace these apps."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2008

Social Networking and Employees: Where Do You Draw the Line?

With the rise of social networking, employers are left wondering if or how the trend affects their bottom line. Many have decided that Facebook and MySpace in the workplace are not appropriate (for content or productivity reasons) and have banned the sites from being accessed at their offices.

To which I say: Good luck with that!

With the onslaught of iPhones, resisting social media (and I don't mean for marketing purposes) will prove to be futile anyway. Go ahead. Fire someone for accessing their Facebook iPhone app. But don't be looking for any "Best Places to Work" awards anytime soon.

And when morale is down, productivity goes down. Call it anecdotal, but the places I've worked at with low morale lose productivity to gossip and office politics. What they're really looking for is support in a difficult workplace. So ban social media all you want, your employees will still find ways to "waste time." Or as I like to call it, not go completely mental.

On the flip side, social networking more often than not helps your business. Think of all the contacts that your employees have. All those college and high school pals now have careers in a variety of industries. Perhaps there are great partnerships to be had in these vast social networks.

Or when its time to hire a new employee, these networks are a great place to start.

Social media is also a great way to stay on top of your industry - to learn about things that are happening, what's new. You can't do it all yourself - or even with just your marketing team. What if a guy/gal in IT catches wind of a new program being implemented at a competitor? Chances are, they'll find it out via a social network, blog, Twitter, etc.

I say kill those largely unfounded fears and allow social networking in the workplace. Like the rest of business and life, it won't be perfect. But it can be reasonable.

By the way, one of the new hot things in social media is internal social networking, sometimes referred to as enterprise social media. This can foster genuine channels of good communication among departments across your company.

What's your opinion? Yay or nay to social media for employees? Leave a comment and tell us how it is!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

July 10, 2008

NowPublic Buys Truemors: Kawasaki Says It's All True

TechCrunch is reporting that NowPublic has acquired Truemors, a rumor site launched by Guy Kawasaki in May 2007. NowPublic bills itself as a"participatory news site." The startup has raised two rounds of financing. Kawasaki will serve on the company's advisory board as well.

This is one acquisition rumor TechCrunch got right: Guy Kawasaki confirmed it on his blog and Twittered the buyout.

NowPublic is an unusual site to say the least. Besides a story on Sarkozy being behind a break-in, one of the top stories is Top 10 Porn Dreams of Filipino Men.

The terms of the deal aren't being disclosed.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SEW Experts: Has Facebook Found the Key to Making Money via Search?

While it's anyone's guess what will be rolled out at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference on July 23, the buzz is predicting an announcement of e-commerce and micro-payment capabilities. And once there's scale to the commercial transactions taking place on Facebook, then people will start searching for things rather than just people. In today's building brand equity column, "Has Facebook Found the Key to Making Money via Search?," Erik Qualman notes that there's money to be made there, and small businesses need to start paying attention.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 8, 2008

Twitter Buys Summize?

Twitter, the social media sensation, is rumored to buy Summize, the Twitter search engine.

Summize is widely considered to be the best search engine for Twitter conversations.

Of course there are skeptics about the acquisition given that it was reported in TechCrunch:

The Social Times: "Want a good way to build a popular blog? Make up a story! According to “the sources” of what appears to be a high school student, Summize is being acquired by Twitter. Mike Arrington's verification model for this source? Why a FriendFeed post from Jason Calacanis of course! Mike Arrington has confirmation that the two companies were talking but no acquisition confirmation.

Hat tip to Josh Chandler for breaking the news.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

Twitter Gains a Googler and Amazon's Bezos

It's no secret that Twitter has been struggling lately. At any given moment, the social chat platform can go down, preventing a plethora of Tweets from being broadcast to the socially adept.

But that hasn't kept the company from getting another round of funding, and help from friends in high places. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is investing in the social network using his personal venture investment company, Bezos Expeditions.

Meanwhile, Rudy Winnacker is leaving his Google position of 5 years to tackle the operations going (or not going) on at Twitter.

Hopefully, these new additions can help the birds finally lift that whale once and for all. (If you don't know what that means, you're not Twittering enough!)

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 19, 2008

Scott Richter Is the $6 Million Man of MySpace

Call Scott Richter the $6 Million Man of MySpace. For the self-proclaimed "Spam King," lawsuit losses are becoming just another cost of doing business.

"Spam King" Scott Richter must pay $6 million in legal fees and damages to MySpace for spamming subscribers in August 2006. The judgment was handed down in arbitration.

Richter's company, Media Breakaway, won't appeal because the judgment is much lower than MySpace had originally sought. Earlier this month MySpace won a record $230 million in damages against spammers Walter Rines and Sanford Wallace, who fled before judgment was handed down.

MySpace had accused Richter sending unsolicited emails to thousands of MySpace customers purporting to be from MySpace friends promoting a website called consumerpromotionscenter.com.

The social networking site said that Media Breakaway used phishing tactics to obtain the email addresses.

MySpace sued Richter in January 2007 for damages under California's Can-Spam Act. The legislation awards $100 per email sent, which would have run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Richter's previous company, OptInRealBig.com, declared bankruptcy in 2005 after Microsoft and the New York Attorney General sued Richter for spamming. They were asking for $50 million, but Richter settled with Microsoft for $7 million and the New York Attorney General for $50,000.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 18, 2008

SEW Experts: Social Networks: We Are All Animals

People don't talk anymore. They misinterpret information, fly off the handle, and dehumanize the people around them. To them, people on the receiving on end of communications aren't people at all. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Social Networks: We Are All Animals," Kevin Ryan says that a lot of human complications could be reconciled by being forced to experience the tears, smell the anguish, and see the bloody devastation that one has created, live and in person.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 17, 2008

iWidgets Launches Public Beta, Makes Widget Development Easier

To compete in social media or with open source search applications, widget development is key. But it can be costly if you don't know what you're doing. iWidgets is demystifying the widget development process by launching their platform into public beta. The service is free to use and brings widget creation to a wider audience.

“Private beta users were so enthusiastic about iWidgets, we knew the market was ready,” said Peter Yared, CEO of iWidgets. “Our robust tools provide an unmatched ability to display personalized content from a source website without requiring experienced programmers. The result is incredibly viral - a fun, interactive application people want to use and share.”

Widgets created through iWidgets can be used on iGoogle, Facebook, MySpace and others.

If you've been holding back on widgets, are you inclined to check out iWidgets? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

The Twitter Birds Just Can't Lift That Whale

The constant over capacity problems Twitter is experiencing - and also its millions of new users - has been creating a situation where people are slowing there use of this new social media community. Whenever the site goes down and back up it is inundated with comments about it going down which in some cases causes it to drop offline again.

There have been offers of donations and suggestions of ways to monetize. The Twitter team - tweam? - has their hands full. But lets hope this gets solved soon.

You have to love the picture though... well captures the size problems they are having right now.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

May 23, 2008

SEW Experts: Do Social Networks Bring Out the Animal in Us?

The surreal nature of the Web has shown it brings out the animal in people who don't feel anchored to society's rules. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Do Social Networks Bring Out the Animal in Us?," Frank Watson and special Crossfire guest Kevin Ryan share their thoughts on the flawed promise of social networking bringing human communities together.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

Social Media Evil: Lori Drew and the Dark Side of MySpace

The U.S. government charged a mother who allegedly used MySpace in a deadly hoax that drove her daughter's 13-year-old classmate (pictured here) to suicide with conspiracy.

Missouri resident Lori Drew, after her daughter's schoolgirl fights with neighbor Megan Meier, 13, created a fake MySpace account to pose as a boy and flirt with Meier. When Drew began using her online identity to taunt Meier, the girl hanged herself.

The boy Megan had been corresponding with on MySpace unexpectedly began calling her a fat slut. He wrote "the world would be a better place without you." It turns out he was a hoax created by the mother of a former friend.

Drew was indicted today for conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to inflict emotional distress. She faces 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty.

"Any adult who uses the internet or a social gathering website to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences," Los Angeles federal prosecutor Thomas O'Brien, who brought the charges, said in a statement.

The case was filed in California, where MySpace is headquartered.

The suit goes a long way toward establishing and enforcing the boundaries of acceptable and illegal behavior on the Internet in general and social media sites in specific.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SEW Experts: Facebook & MySpace Connect: Good Idea or Social Media Catastrophe?

Both MySpace Data Availability and Facebook Connect will soon let users' personal information follow them as they traverse the Web. In today's Building Brand Equity column, "Facebook & MySpace Connect: Good Idea or Social Media Catastrophe?," Erik Qualman notes that, besides the implications for personal and business transparency, it looks like Google should worry about social media stealing some of its market share.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

SEW Experts: Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn

It's a time investment. But something worth having takes time. Keeping up with what's going on in your industry and creating a community you can talk with are key factors that successful web businesses employ. In today's Small Business Search Marketing column, "Small Business Owners Need Twitter and LinkedIn," Carrie Hill explains how social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn can benefit small business marketers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 25, 2008

Social Media Power: UC Berkeley Student Twitters Out of Egyptian Prison

CNN is reporting that Student James Karl Buck twittered his way out of jail with single-word text messages after being arrested. The "twit" (messages) communicated to his "tweeple" (friends) on micro blogging platform "Twitter," resulted in pals hiring a lawyer. Buck twittered all during the experience, the transcript of which is visible here. This is yet another case study speaking to the societal power of modern networking tools.

There is a lot of passion regarding Twitter in the search marketing community, with top SEOs/social media pros like Lee Odden and DoshDosh having dozens or even hundreds of "followers."

Respected link builder Jennifer Laycock has written extensively regarding applications of the platform. Others use Twitter (on their computer and/or phone) to stay in constant touch with family, customers and friends throughout each day. Twitter deployed recently in Japan with advertising in an attempt to leverage the channel. Stay tuned...

Other Twitter Resources: The Many Uses of Twitter techipedia

Twitter: Different Ways to Use Twitter Lifehacker

200+ Internet Marketing Gurus on Twitter Marketing Pilgrim

5 1 Favorite SU, Sphinn, Twitter & Facebook Posts of 2007 SocialDesire

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 12:39 PM | Permalink

April 21, 2008

MySpace Launches Beta Version of New Advertising Platform

Social media networks have struggled to produce confidence in their advertising options, but MySpace is hoping to change that with the beta launch of Community Builder, the social networks' new advertising platform. According to Bryce Emo, Senior Vice President of Sales, the new platform, “enables marketers to fulfill long-term communication strategies with consumers who engage in and friend their communities. It's an opportunity to connect with users faster and easier than ever before.”

Emo added, “Community Builder is the next evolution of the MySpace brand profile -– a more flexible solution that puts creative freedom and control into the hands of advertisers to ensure that a community stays dynamic and interesting in between major campaigns and projects.”

There are two versions of Community Builder: Self-Service and Full-Service. Self-service is for advertisers with advanced coding skills in CSS and XHTML, while Full-service is for the coding-challenged. Both versions offer advertisers 24/7 access to update community elements (blogs, bulletins) as well as increased analytics (via Hitbox) and profile functionality.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:51 AM | Permalink

March 24, 2008

Is Twitter the New Google Alternative?

When searchers can't find something on Google, they might turn to another search engine like Yahoo, Windows Live or Ask. Or they might turn to one of the growing answers sites.

But lately, more and more people are turning to Twitter.

Yes, Twitter.

Brian Clark, author of the popular Copyblogger.com, turned to Twitter when searching for software recently. "I'd been looking for a photo editor, and Google wasn't really giving me what I need. [I'm] not sure any other search engine would have either."

Clark was looking for was direction on which product to choose. "What I needed was a personal recommendation, either from someone I knew and trusted, or by consensus from multiple people."

He's not alone. Lisa Creech Bledsoe, director at Calvert Creative, a social media consulting firm, has been using Twitter for both business and personal use. She's finding that Twitter offers her something that the search engines can't: human interaction.

"Because I deliberately cultivated a Twitter community of my industry peers, I knew they could give me the answer quickly. I can also 'refine' my 'search' on Twitter because I'm talking to actual people, as opposed to posing questions to an algorithm," said Bledsoe

Human feedback is what Wendy Piersall needed recently when launching the process of rebranding her site, eMoms at Home. Her reader base had expanded beyond moms, and she wanted her site to reflect that.

"I just needed real input from real people, which obviously Google can't provide like that," said Piersall. "It was more important to determine what our readers thought of this word -- that's when I turned to Twitter."

Twitter has certainly not replaced Google. Instead, Piersall finds that the two complement each other. When Piersall was looking for a new word that reaches her audience, she needed to research what was already out there. "I certainly first Googled it to determine how [a] word is already being used by other companies/sites."

Lisa Creech Bledsoe shares that sentiment. "Searching for the right information isn't necessarily an 'either/or' situation (either I use either Google or Twitter), it's sometimes a 'both/and.'"

But where are Yahoo, MSN, AOL or Ask in this discussion? A recent comScore report showed that Google has increased its dominance over the search landscape. And that is reflected in Bledsoe's search behavior. "I use Twitter for search and for business reasons all the time now, and I go to all four major search engines when I'm doing research for my clients, but interestingly, I rarely use Yahoo, MSN, or Ask.com for personal use."

Some of the major search engines are expected to begin adding more social media elements to their sites. Until then, Twitter and other social sites, may well be on their way to being the Google alternative.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:38 AM | Permalink

March 10, 2008

BoomTown Calls Out TechCrunch: No Google-Digg Buyout

Last week's TechCrunch article about Microsoft and Google in a bidding war for Digg is the stuff that soap operas are made of. Or tabloids. But Kara Swisher at Boomtown has the real scoop, albeit a less sexy one.

It seems that Digg's canoodling with bankers Allen & Co. is more along the lines of delegating the task of handling incoming interest rather than putting a "For Sale" sign up at its San Francisco offices.

And if an offer does come in from Microsoft or Google, don't expect to see the purported $200 million. Swisher says that a $60 to 80 million price tag is a more realistic offer, according to the acquiring types she spoke to.

Even Digg CEO Jay Alderson broke Digg's "we don't comment about things like this" policy and blogged that the rumors were out of control, denying the very existence of a Microsoft/Google bidding war. But TechCrunch stands by its original sources.

And why shouldn't they? As Kevin Heisler opined last week, a Digg acquisition would make strategic sense for Google. And with or without the Yahoo deal, Microsoft has last year's ad deal with the social search engine as an incentive to raise their auction paddle in the air.

In the meantime, like a policeman trying to keep traffic moving around a fatal accident, everyone but TechCrunch seems to be saying, "There's nothing to see here. Keep moving along."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:58 AM | Permalink

March 7, 2008

SEW Experts: Social Media Meets Local Search

Despite the growing traffic to social networks, local search tools for users of those sites are surprisingly few and far between. That doesn't mean you shouldn't stay active in those communities. In today's Vertical Search column, "Social Media Meets Local Search," local search expert Gregg Stewart take a look at emerging local search products/applications on the heavily trafficked social platform/portal sites like MySpace and Facebook.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

March 6, 2008

Trackur Offers Easy Online Reputation Management

Last week, Andy Beal released an online reputation management tool called Trackur. It was created for “individuals and companies concerned that they may be the subject of an online conversation, but don't have the time or knowledge needed to set up their own online monitoring tools."

It's also aimed at PR firms that want to add online reputation monitoring to their existing "clipping" services.” Users can be up and running with Trackur in just 5 minutes, which Beal says "removes the hassle out of maintaining dozens of manual reputation searches.”

At first glance, Trackur appears to be a simple RSS aggregator of social media search queries. Indeed, a social media-savvy individual could likely replicate what Trackur does with a bit of time and effort. But not every business has the knowledge, or the desire, to know what they should be tracking. Trackur makes good business sense for those types of users, Beal says.

“We take the hard work out of monitoring social media. We monitor news, blog posts, images, videos – even Twitter! Users can set up multiple searches, use sophisticated filtering to remove items that are not relevant to them, bookmark items, share items, sort items, then subscribe by email or RSS – or just use our beautiful AJAX interface,” Beal says.

All of this sophistication comes at a price. Trackur offers plans from $88-$388 a month, or less than the cost of a venti latte at Starbucks a day. But for small businesses, Trackur is essentially reputation insurance. “A smear against the reputation of a small business can be more detrimental than one against a Fortune 500 firm. Small businesses live and die by referrals and word of mouth. Just a single blog post can hurt the business of a restaurant, attorney, or flower shop,“ says Beal.

Technology alone cannot manage a reputation, so a Google support group and consulting services are in place for those who need help acting on their results. Trackur offers a 14 day free trial of its Standard version so users can experiment with the tool before shelling out the monthly fee.

In the coming weeks, Beal says to expect new features such as trending reports to be rolled out with the tool.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:11 AM | Permalink

February 23, 2008

SEO Shenanigans Bury Digg, Trip StumbleUpon, Poison Delicio.us?

If you read only one blog post this weekend, let me micropersuade you to read Steve Rubel's SEO Shenanigans Pose a Clear and Present Danger to Social Media.

Before engaging in the debate, I'd like to invite Steve to expand on his Micropersuasion post in Search Engine Watch, home of Sergey Brin's Internet Doomsday Scenario.

Hey, we don't hate debate. We like controversy. We love search engine optimization, SEOs, social search, SMM and search engine marketing.

Steve: help our readers around the world understand what specific search engine strategies are "SEO shenanigans." You listed this Search Engine Watch blog post first: Boost Organic Results. Link Build with Social Media.

I think it's a brilliant guide: How to earn more money, improve online reputation and build brand equity online -- goals, Steve, you share for your clients?

Even so our blogger received death threats. Marty's blazing new SEO and SMO trails and that takes courage.

Wikipedia (Slate's new BFF) defines a shenanigan as a "deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance."

I don't think your brilliant linkbait blog post is a con game. It's a great SEO shenanigan!

Anonymous Wikepedian(s) go on to say, "However, in some regions, shenanigans can merely refer to harmless mischievous play, especially by children. It should be noted that the word itself is considered humorous, because of its unique sound."

So Steve were you - a PR maven - just joking around? Let me know. I think I may agree with you to a certain extent but I'm not sure.

So let's dynamically insert "search engine optimization" and "social media" keywords into Dictionary.com's definitions from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:

1. SEO mischief; prankishness by SEOs: Halloween shenanigans. social media marketing deceit; SEO trickery. 2. mischievous or deceitful SEO trick (Googlebombing?) practice, etc.

Here's the revised American Heritage Dictionary version of SEO shenanigan:

1. A deceitful SEO trick; an underhanded SMM act. 2. Online social media remarks intended to deceive; SEO PR deceit. 3. A playful or mischievous search engine optimization act; an SMM prank. 4. SEO mischief; SMO prankishness.

None of the above seems to pose a clear and present danger.

Graywolf points out in your post's comments that everyone's playing by Google's rules. Here's what The Google says:

Google's number two SERP (search engine results page) suggests shenanigans engaged in by couples present a clear and different danger.

Shenanigans - Indiana - Midwest's Premier "Couples Only" Club for ... The Midwest's Premier "Couples Only" Club ! Shenanigans "Where Adults Come for Fun". Couples Only!

For inquiring minds, that's shenanigans.net. Since the keyword's in the title, it's not SEO shenanigans at work (or in play).

Google's paid search algorithm matches "shenanigans" with the "biggest losers" crowd: diet, fat and weight loss tips and tricks:

Sponsored Links 10 Rules to Cut Belly Fat Lose 9 lbs every 11 Days with these 10 Idiot Proof Rules of Fat Loss. www.FatLoss4Idiots.com

Steve, did your database of intentions intend SEO shenanigans to encompass a Google broad match/Thesaurus.com semantic search? For example, did you mean:

SEO antics, SEM capers, SEO dirty trick, fooling around with SEO, social media optimization frolicsomeness, search engine optimization funny business, SEO gag, search engine optimization hanky-panky, SEO high jinks, SEO PR horseplay, SEO PR horsing around, social media misbehavior, social media marketing mischievousness, monkey business*, SM naughtiness, SEO nonsense, search marketing prank, SEO trouble, social media marketing vandalism

If so, Google contextual advertising (content advertising) seems to think shenanigans are just a joke: Super Trooper-style (see YouTube result for keyword "shenanigans") or in a Superbad Knocked Up kind of way.

Here's another AdSense ad matched to "shenanigans" on Thesaurus.com:

Readers, your results may vary - my Google results? Not personalized:

Sponsored Links FreshTurd.com What's in Your Bowl? Turd-O-Gram, send one to your Boss. www.FreshTurd.com

Whether that's "funny or die" funny is a matter of taste. What it is: Google's algorithm at work in the Google Ecosystem.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:53 PM | Permalink

February 16, 2008

Social Media Buzz Pocket Mining: The New Keyword Research

The fundamental premise of search marketing remains revolutionary and timeless. We research what people care about and market (organic and paid) directly to SERPs for their queries. Classic keyword research reveals search frequency and phrase permutations to gauge marketplace interest. Lateral stemming thesaurus tools help us brainstorm frequently used alternate keyword clusters. For instance if your 're marketing "catering services," some customers are also searching for "wedding food" and "party planning." This is not earth shaking news to most. However, keyword research's social-climbing step sister, "Buzz Pocket Mining" is not-so-quietly becoming the 800 pound gorilla next door. Buzz Pocket Mining refers to tools, usually free, that take the temperature of a social community's chatter patterns. What hot topics are people chirping about enmasse? What do social site SERPs reveal about the marketplace for your product? Who owns the thought leading authority profiles in any given community for a topic? What are the blogs of note? These are crucial questions for social search marketers who are considering forays into paid and organic social media marketing. Each community has different methods and tools available to measure it's users' Buzz Pockets. One of my favorites is StumbleUpon's socially moderated SERPs. It's free, so let's have a look . First, navigate to the StumbleUpon buzz page. This illustrates, at an overview level, what tags and sites are hot in SU. As an aside, getting your site to this level can mean 5K to 20K unique visitors in a day. Type gibberish into the search box (outlined in red) and submit. The search results for this nonexistent keyword offer a treasure trove of information revealing what StumbleUpon users are interested in. Depending on the demographic of the product you're marketing, this insight can truly be worth its weight in gold. The font size is proportional to community interest-level. Ok, say you're marketing candy bars. Yay! There's a relatively small (but statistically significant) chocolate Buzz Pocket in StumbleUpon. Click on "chocolate" in the Tag Cloud. The results are exciting. First, you'll note the SU users who are interested in chocolate. Yup that's me. I'm active in SU and happen to love chocolate. Make note of these users for one- to-one conversation marketing later. These are potentially valuable evangelists for your candy product. They've expressed interest in chocolate by the sites they've bookmarked and tagged. Further down the page is a list of featured chocolate sites. Note: getting your site on this page can result in 300-1000 unique visitors over the course of several days, depending on the size of the Buzz Pocket. There's even more word-of-mouth value to be gained here. Click on the Chocolate Travel Tours link. Now you've identified a blog comments-thread to participate in order to grow your involvement in the chocolate blog community. Each social community presents a different methodology to mine: it's Buzz Pockets for social media marketing. The insights gleaned are invaluable while researching the likely success of SMO efforts. While traditional keyword research remains the cornerstone of search marketing, Buzz Pocket Mining is becoming more and more important as "marketing to the social graph" comes on line and evolves.

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 11:48 AM | Permalink

January 26, 2008

Facebook Drops Another Hurdle

Still looking for some attention from the social networks? Facebook delivered a new client library on Friday afternoon, which makes your widgets easier to launch in their ecosystem. While this library isn't exactly the second coming, it's welcome news.

According to Facebook developer Wei Zu, “This JavaScript client library allows you to make Facebook API calls from any web site and makes it easy to create Ajax Facebook applications. Since the library does not require any server-side code on your server, you can now create a Facebook application that can be hosted on any web site that serves static HTML.”

Facebook also encourages developers to install applications outside its domain, which I understand was possible (if more difficult) before this release anyway. Blogger Nick O'Neill is ebullient about the social connections to be made across the web, if you place these applications on your site.

My reaction is just more measured, that's all. When someone arrives on your site, they can connect with others only if they are signed into Facebook. Will you attract people or turn them off? This entirely depends on your business and whether joining up is an important attribute right now.

Here's a gameplan for your Facebook interactions. Since the widget hurdle has been virtually dropped, it's worth thinking about what kind of traffic (or links) you might get from Facebook overall. Like any social network, it's not under your control -- but you should try to become more available and present there. Consider the following approaches for engagement.

Groups: As a start, you can simply set up a group that attracts people who identify with your site or services. Try setting up an open group for some specific purposes, like sharing opinions or news, having events, etc. Of course, the postings there can link back to your site too. You can be a more active moderator, or let interested group members start to communicate and drive the agenda.

Widgets: In addition, you can create widgets that people insert on their pages. Look at what works on your site, and see what's transportable to a widget. Don't assume that since interactivity matters, your quiz or poll idea will be a runaway success. If you're a content site, then consider options like headlines and stories. If you're an e-tailer, then try sharing your latest arrivals or bargains.

Domains: Although this is a alpha or pioneering effort, consider inserting your Facebook widget back on your domain. This widget should be a tool that helps people connect, rather than a dominant site feature. Also make sure you mention this in your policies, since you'll be using external cookies on your site too.

With this latest Facebook news and hype, one thing is clear: it's time for you to test communications and interactions through this "coin of the realm" social network. Just as you have placed pages on MySpace to drive traffic, there's more to be gained by injecting into Facebook too.

We just don't have the metrics and stories to share with you yet, so let us know what you learn. What kinds of traffic do you see? Are the engines picking up things differently for you? We're all learning about optimization from this latest social network together.

Posted by at 10:30 PM | Permalink

January 10, 2008

SEW Experts: Free Big Brand Marketing and Other Facebook Problems

Even successful third-party applications don't generate a dime for Facebook, leaving the social platform cut out of the revenue loop. In today's Brand Equity column, "Free Big Brand Marketing and Other Facebook Problems," Eric Qualman shares various ways that advertisers can get involved with Facebook.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

December 27, 2007

SEW Experts: Social Search Engine Face-off: Facebook vs. MySpace

Everywhere you turn, everyone's abuzz with Facebook, social search, and social networking. What's all the fuss about? In today's Brand Equity column, "Social Search Engine Face-off: Facebook vs. MySpace," Eric Qualman helps brand marketers understand whether they are missing the train, or jumping on the wrong train.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 30, 2007

Facebook Alters Beacon program

Facebook has faced objections from users and privacy groups since it launched the Beacon program earlier this month. The controversial program notifies a user's Facebook friends when the user buys a product at, or in some cases just visits, a partner site.

Facebook has apparently seen the light, making changes to the Beacon program to make it an opt-in program, rather than an opt-out one, according to the NY Times.

Facebook still does not offer users an option to opt out of the program altogether, other than to stop publishing their feed to friends. Users can opt out on a case by case basis with each advertiser, which Facebook has made more prominent.

Previously, when a user bought something from a participating advertiser, a pop-up box notified the user that it would send that information to Facebook, with an option for the user to click "No thanks." If the user didn't, a message would pop up at their next Facebook visit asking for permission to share that data with the user's friends.

Now, the pop-up box will ask for permission, assuming the answer is "no" unless told otherwise. The box will also remain on the screen longer, making it easier for users to notice.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:32 PM | Permalink

November 21, 2007

Privacy Group Takes on Facebook

The latest advertiser to use Facebook's new Social Ads platform may not have been the kind of marketer the company was hoping for. Privacy watchdog MoveOn.org has posted an online petition demanding that Facebook respect the privacy of users by making it easier to opt out of the "Beacon Ads" program, where actions Facebook users take on partner sites are added to their Facebook news feed. The feed is delivered to the user's friends, along with a related ad and the user's profile picture.

The full petition text reads: "Facebook must respect my privacy. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites – or let companies use my name to endorse their products– without my explicit permission."

MoveOn.org has also launched a group on Facebook, "Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!." There are currently more than 4,900 members.

Facebook does not offer users an option to opt out of the program, other than eliminating their feed altogether. Users can opt out on a case by case basis with each advertiser.

When a user buys something from a participating advertiser, a pop-up box notifies the user that it will send that information to Facebook, with an option for the user to click "No thanks." If the user doesn't, a message will pop up at their next Facebook visit asking for permission to share that data with the user's friends.

MoveOn.org thinks that's not enough. In the Facebook group, they write: "Facebook says its users can 'opt out' of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed. And even if you do 'opt out' for purchases on one site, it doesn't apply to purchases on another site – you have to keep opting out over and over again. The obvious solution is to switch to an 'opt in' policy, like most other applications on Facebook."

More coverage on Techmeme.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:33 AM | Permalink

November 7, 2007

Here Come the Social Network Ads

The top social networks have each unveiled plans this week for bringing more targeted ads to their networks. On Monday, MySpace expanded its HyperTargeting platform to capitalize on the mountains of data from user profiles to better segment its audience and refine ad targeting. The system launched in July with 10 broad categories, but now slices the MySpace audience into more than 100 segments.

Yesterday, it was Facebook's turn, as it launched the Facebook Ads system. The system has three parts: Facebook Pages, Social Ads, and the Insights reporting interface. Brands will now be able to create their own profile pages, filled with their own content, applications, and of course ads.

Social ads will use keyword and profile-based targeting to serve ads into users' news feeds, which serves as the start page for most Facebook users. At the launch event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested a scenario where friends of a hypothetical Facebook user and Saturn ASTRA owner named Ben might see in their news feed a sponsored ad with Ben's photo and the ad copy "Ben is a fan of Saturn ASTRA." Other interactions that may appear in ads include anyone who added content to a brand page.

There's currently no way for a user to opt out of endorsing Facebook's advertisers – look for that to explode in their face once the first ad appears.

In addition, Facebook has partnered with 44 Web partners in the Beacon program, which will allow users to incorporate their user data from other sites into their Facebook profile. So users can do things like share their movie plans, using data from Fandango, or show their eBay listings in their feed.

Facebook has also recently entered into an agreement with Microsoft to sell and serve ads into its network. This new program is unrelated, and will not affect that deal.

There are more details for users on the Facebook Blog, and you'll find plenty of commentary on the news at Techmeme.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:21 AM | Permalink

October 25, 2007

Size Matters in Social Media

While many social media marketers focus on the big social sites, there can be hidden treasure in "micro communities." In today's SearchDay, "Bigger Not Always Better in Social Media," Eric Enge discusses the benefits of these smaller, vertically focused sites.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:35 PM | Permalink

September 5, 2007

Facebook Profiles to Become Searchable

Facebook is opening up its user profiles to be crawled by search engines, allowing limited information to be available unless users change their privacy settings, according to the Facebook blog. Users will be notified of the changes, so they will have time to mark their profile as private before the changes are implemented later this month.

When I logged in to my Facebook account today, I was greeted with a message saying: Since your search privacy settings are set to "Everyone," you now have a public search listing. This means that friends who aren't yet on Facebook will be able to search for you by name from our Welcome page. Public Search Listings may only include names and profile pictures. In a few weeks, these public search listings can be found by search engines like Google. No privacy rules are changing; anyone who discovers your public search listing must register and log in to contact you via Facebook.

The move will bring Facebook profiles in line with other services, such as LinkedIn, which make it easier to find a user's profile when searching on their own site, or in general search engines. These social media profiles are a popular tool for reputation management, since they usually appear high in the results for a person or company's name.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 8:07 AM | Permalink

August 22, 2007

How Many Vandals?

Exactly 187,529 different organizations have made at least one anonymous Wikipedia edit. That seems like a very large number of editors who wanted to hide their changes -- but were they all vandals?

Grad student Virgil Griffith created WikiScanner recently to uncover surreptitious editors. He's certainly raised awareness of these activities, as reported by Wired and amplified by the NYTimes last Sunday. Some pretty well-known companies and even the CIA are making these edits to Wikipedia entries.

On his site, Griffith identifies three kinds of vandalism and disinformation. “Without naming names, I've found three types of common vandalism: (1) Wholesale removal of entire paragraphs of critical information; (2) White-washing -- replacing negative/neutral adjectives with positive adjectives that mean something similar; and (3) Adding negative information to a competitor's page.”

He used publicly available information, starting with Wikipedia's database dumps between early August 2007 and February 2002. He discovered over 34 million anonymous edits in that time period. Then he identified organizations based on IP addresses, using IP2Location tools.

Why does it matter? Simply put, Wikipedia attracts traffic that's interested in your organization. Craig Paddock reported that "despite its current use of no-follow tags, Wikipedia's ability to generate high-quality traffic can be equal to or better than that of most search engines."

Like any social community, organizations and their marketers should pay attention to this user-generated content and to their online reputations. However, the marketers should not be hiding in plain sight. My hope is that this “revealing” process will drive down anonymous posters. Correct things publicly, and let your customers speak for themselves too.

Posted by at 3:41 PM | Permalink

August 10, 2007

Fit or Fat -- It's Up To Your Network?

Researchers have now scientifically proven the effect of social networks -- providing hard data about how “unstated” interests are shared among participants. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, obesity can literally be spread among mutual friends.

This is solid off-line research, based on three decades of data collected from 12,000+ socially-connected people. According to the study, the spread is most likely due to the “general perception of the social norms regarding the acceptability of obesity” rather than the behavior itself. In fact, friends do not even have to live in geographic proximity to influence weight gain.

Consider The Underlying Influences:

Which, of course, made me consider the underlying influences among our online communities. With all of the intense socializing people are now doing online, should we be more careful about selecting our buddies -- even if it's not face-to face? Could our intense online social networking lead to “catching” interests, attributes or behaviors? Leaving aside our political correctness, do we care if these common interests are considered desirable or undesirable?

Well if our behaviors are any indicator, we aren't consciously thinking about our participation and are joining up because everyone else is too! Social destinations continue to boom (comScore, June 2007 vs. 2006), including over 70% growth for MySpace and some 270% for Facebook. The daily visits to each grew in a similar fashion. Even with other places to socialize, these stats alone illustrate that online communications are happening, period.

With the possibility of behaviors transferring implicitly between friends, perhaps the attraction comes from deeper connections which are made too. For example, Joe's travels to France could attract others who share interests in European travel or in 18th century French antiques. And, by the way, one of his friends truly relishes Spanish cuisine. Some of these interests may become known by Joe, and he eventually tries paella.

Target Based On Connections:

Why does this matter? Well, people are definitely connecting in ways perhaps unexpected by advertisers. It is your challenge to gain a larger and more complete picture of the segments and communities that actually exist out there. I'm advocating for all advertisers to experiment and actively learn from the social networks, rather than merely dip your toes into the water.

Realize that many of your current consumers are part of the social crowds, whether you are doing anything or not. Your product (or brand) promoters and detractors will be among them, and their collective explicit interests may signal implicit ones that actually matter to you. By signing up for social networks, you should be able to browse or search some of this topical feedback online.

Think more like a sociologist, about consumption and sharing of your product. Then consider some action based on direct as well as adjacent targets. There are plenty of ways to advertise to the networkers, from participating as a "persona" on social sites to making more traditional buys.

I'm pleased there's analytic proof -- in the off-line world no less -- that clearly shows social networks aren't only about explicit interests. Let's think more broadly as marketers reaching the right people in the right places. We should stop being overly cautious media buyers here, spending on keywords and controlled content silos alone. The networks have too many interests to ignore.

Posted by at 2:01 AM | Permalink

June 1, 2007

Check Your Blog Deletions

This week, Six Apart attempted to block what they genuinely believed were inappropriate blogs and it backfired. Given the proliferation of blogs, it's time to examine your own approaches to deleting user-generated content from your sites.

In the case of Six Apart, they took action on their own Live Journal site. After discovering what they believed was sex-themed content, entire communities "took the hit" and everyone was blocked. Then Six Apart went back and unblocked individuals who were not violating their terms and conditions. (See CNET coverage here and here. )

Before blogs, the original free web-hosted services also wanted to prevent dirty or potentially illegal materials from appearing. When I was general manager at Freeservers.com, we literally had someone assigned to the task full-time. We monitored spikes in traffic and blocked the offending web site. Alternatively if someone registered a complaint, regardless of our opinion or judgment, we also blocked sites that offended him/her. We thought that worked pretty well.

Currently, it is possible to do more with internal searching mechanisms. Blog suppliers could search for inappropriate terms and content within blogs. They might block particular blogs, bloggers or perhaps postings. All these actions are acceptable, as anyone who creates a blog is subject to the terms and conditions of the supplier.

If you're a publisher, then take a look at how you're handling bloggers who have signed up and are posting on your domain. Check your Terms of Service, and either adjust them or otherwise create policies that are appropriate for your site. Beyond the policies, decide how you want to handle bloggers and posters in general. How do you want to monitor them? How to you want to respond to complaints? Are you comfortable with an "anything goes" approach?

In the user generated era, you should encourage free speech and open dialog. It's just 99.9% rather than 100% free-for-all.

Posted by at 9:31 AM | Permalink

May 30, 2007

eBay Acquires StumbleUpon

As rumored last month, eBay has acquired social media service StumbleUpon for $75 million in cash. The deal gives eBay access to StumbleUpon's 2.3 million users via the StumbleUpon toolbar, which allows users to "stumble" to new sites, videos, and other content within user-selected categories.

StumbleUpon's founders and management will remain with the company, which will now be led by Michael Buhr, senior director at eBay, who becomes StumbleUpon's general manager.

It's unclear at this point what eBay plans to do with StumbleUpon. Om Malik hypothesizes that eBay will add a StumbleUpon search box to the Skype client, which it acquired last year, as a "desktop backdoor." Other options include adapting the technology to eBay's core auction business, to showcase related products based on a user's bid history, or using the StumbleUpon toolbar as the entry point.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:28 PM | Permalink

March 9, 2007

MySpace Planning Social News Site

MySpace seems to be the next site to join the social news trend, according to media analyst Terry Heaton. Heaton reports, based on inside sources and Fox Interactive Media's own marketing materials, that it plans to launch MySpace News, a social news site similar to Digg. As Pete Cashmore notes at Mashable, this is likely being built on technology that Fox bought in the acquisition of Newroo last year.

Heaton thinks the MySpace play will have a much better chance of success than USAToday's social media makeover earlier this week, which he calls "a Media 1.0 play in Media 2.0 clothing."

UPDATE 3/13: Wired News claims to have obtained a leaked sales document showing screenshots of MySpace News.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:31 AM | Permalink

February 28, 2007

Step Right Up, Start A Community Site

Maybe community sites are the next wave for entrepreneurs. Now anyone can invite their extended neighbors into a closed community and begin making money, right? We wish it were that easy.

In yesterday's WSJ, there's an interesting article (subscription required) about several niche sites that grew into something meaningful. What these sites share in common is a loyal and active user base. Otherwise, they seem quite different.

Stick To Targets:

First there's QuentinsFriends.com, a marketplace site for younger New Yorkers that's akin to Craig's List. It charges membership fees and accepts members via referrals. Next is ASmallWorld.net, which helps diplomats and other travelers find each other. It's ad-based and free but also controls invitations. Finally, MothersClick.com addresses the concerns of new parents. It's also ad-based yet open for registration.

These sites are experiencing success on a niche scale. They focus on meeting the needs of members who share similar demographics and interests. People can ask questions, make posts, or participate in transactions. Perhaps it's the small-town feel that makes these sites work.

Flash back to 2005, when we were all exploring the potential targeting opportunities for vertical search. There was even going to be a vertical search destination for left-handed dog walkers, right? Maybe not, but a large variety of vertical search destinations didn't come to pass either.

Keep Them Active:

Community sites may be targeted like search sites, but the similarity ends there. These are destinations which seek far higher levels of participation. At some point, there's enough activity to keep things interesting for active users.

Reporter David Enrich says that the main obstacle to the ongoing success of niche sites is the profit motive. The balancing act between revenue and membership growth may wipe out “the niche player aura that made the sites attractive in the first place.”

However I'm not sure that community sites are more trustworthy or successful because they're smaller. Their success may hinge on sticking to their main mission of social participation, without adding extra functionality. Another reason for success may be some rate of natural turnover and freshness among the members, which keeps the sites more vibrant.

Who knows? Maybe these communities and others like them are considered hip places by their audiences now. When other hip places open, some will stagnate or close due to diminished interest in them. We have all followed the herds before.

Posted by at 1:36 AM | Permalink

February 27, 2007

Ning Launches Build-Your-Own Social Network Service

Social networking startup Ning has launched "Your Own Social Network on Ning," a customizable platform that lets users pick and choose elements to add to their hosted social networks. Ning, co-founded by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, launched in October 2005 with the promise of allowing anyone to create social media apps. With this new release, the company has succeeded, according to GigaOm's Om Malik.

Services include "video aggregation, photo albums, weblogs, forums, sausages and sauerkraut," quips Malik in his review of the new service, noting that the end result is "a 15-minute Social Network."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:04 AM | Permalink

February 26, 2007

Niched Portals and Vertical Search: The Catch Phrases of 2007

Seems 2007 is going to be the year of niched portals and vertical search.

Microsoft is buying Medstory, a health information search engine, and furthering their move into niched portals and vertical search. In China they have started development on a job search engine.

Yahoo is doing the same thing: business search in China, community portals covering specific audiences like Pontiac owners, investors and health sites.

Yahoo seems to be using the portal, community model with search ads as part of the monetization. Though they are trying to develop a business search engine as their primary perspective for the Chinese market.

Yahoo has created entertainment community pages for the Oscars; car fan sites using the manufacturers as support and advertiser.

This seems to be a repeating theme in the two months so far of 2007. Let's see where this all ends up.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:56 PM | Permalink

February 12, 2007

Voices of the Few

The “voices of the few” seem to be setting the social search agenda, or at least influencing what we find on social sites. In the weekend WSJ (subscription required), an article entitled “The Wizards of Buzz” identified super-influencers across America who are contributing freely or for minimal pay.

These influencers include techies, people in the hinterlands, and devoted teens. They contribute links or bookmarks at a feverish pace.

What's clear is that many social site visitors respond to these contributions. On sites like Digg or Reddit, influencers submit items that receive many votes. At De.licio.us or Furl.net, influencers tag and bookmark many items and others respond by bookmarking what they discover.

What's less clear is whether the influencers are truly defining relevancy for the visitors, and whether visitors are missing what smaller voices are contributing as well.

Posted by at 12:30 PM | Permalink

February 9, 2007

Facebook on the Rise

Social networking success story Facebook came up with a one-two punch of announcements over the past two days, as it looks to boost its social networking capabilities and become a legitimate competitor to dominant market share leader MySpace.

On Wednesday, Facebook partnered with Comcast to distribute a new online video series called Facebook Diaries. Facebook gets distribution and exposure for its new video efforts while Comcast gains content to bring web traffic to its site Ziddio.com and the ability to tap into a younger demographic among Facebook's 16 million users.

Then yesterday, the company announced a new partnership with online jobs site Jobster. This brings Facebook the added dimension of job hunting to its existing social networking mix, while Jobster gets a much needed boost in distribution and exposure. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch has a nice summary of Jobster's recent history, which includes an AOL-like dissmantling of the subscription wall to make way for an ad model.

The two young companies could be powerful together, and their union is reminiscent of MySpace's partnership with SimplyHired, which yielded MySpace Jobs. Given that a major chunk of Facebook's user base remains college-aged (it started as a high school and college social networking site as explained below), it could represent interesting targeting opportunities for job posting and other advertising to that demographic set.

The fusion of social networking and career building is also interesting, in that it could be competetive with sites like LinkedIn, which has formed a niche where these media collide. Jobser's free job posting model (explained in the TechCrunch article mentioned above) could also become a considerable threat to the Monsters, CarreerBuilders and HotJobss of the world, now that the company has vaulted its market position and exposure.

And speaking of threats, Facebook itself is nipping at the heels of MySpace. After gaining considerable traction with high school and college students - the site first required a .edu email address to join - the company released access to the general public in September. Its traffic then went up 16 percent in October and has been rising steadily ever since.

It has a long way to go to reach MySpace's nearly 80 percent market share in the social networking space (Facebook comes in second with about 8 percent), but anecdotal evidence suggests that many teens and twenty-somethings are flocking to Facebook. Or to use the vernacular, MySpace is "so 2005".

Ironic that the same viral marketing and herd mentality that built MySpace's massive user base could be its undoing. If this happens, it will take a while. Regardless, Facebook is on a tear and will be a company to watch closely.

Posted by Mike Boland at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 31, 2007

Can Mainstream Media's Adoption of RSS and Web 2.0 Spur Consumer Adoption?

Alex Iskold in Read/Write Web surveys the number of prominent mainstream media publications that have added Web 2.0 buttons to their pages. He reviewed the web sites of a dozen prominent newspapers and magazines including BBC, Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, New York Times and found that 100% of those he surveyed included RSS feeds. A substantial number of publications offer readers buttons for using Digg and del.icio.us and NewsVine. Iskold postulates that:

we are nearing a tipping point for the mass adoption of prominent web 2.0 services, like digg and del.icio.us. Endorsement by mainstream media opens these services up to millions of people who otherwise would either not know about them, or not take them seriously.

Many of us who are following the adoption of RSS and other Web 2.0 applications, look to the presence of these Web 2.0 buttons on mainstream media hopefully. Will consumer interest and adoption follow? This remains to be seen.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 10:07 AM | Permalink

January 18, 2007

The Huffington Post testing Digg-like section

Kevin Roderick of LA Observed reports that The Huffington Post has added HuffIt, a new beta section "where readers can indicate (Digg-style) which news stories of the moment interest them." The "most Huffed news" get priority play on The Huffington Post front page.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:44 PM | Permalink

December 27, 2006

Pandora's Opened Her Box

Without prior permission from its listeners, Pandora has enabled complete searching of individual music preferences. All in the name of community sharing, right?

Until last week, everyone who signed up for this music service did so as a private listener. Count me as a fan. Now anyone who signs up can search and find what I'm listening to live, my stations, songs that I thumbed up or down, and even my log-in name.

Pandora's CTO says: "It's easy to set your profile to private" in the company blog. That's true. Yet I would think best practices do matter. When you change policy, you need to notify us first. We might even go along with it.

Posted by at 1:32 PM | Permalink

October 3, 2006

How To Game Digg & Why You Shouldn't

Peter Da Vanzo shows how you can pay someone to Digg your content for a fee. SEO Blackhat reveals a guaranteed way to get your content on the front page of Digg. But after-all, is it worth gaming the Digg system or any social networking type of site's system to get that exposure? Rand explores the pros and cons of gaming Digg - it may not all be positive.

Posted by at 9:17 AM | Permalink

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