Apple CEO: Google Wants To “Kill The iPhone”
According to a hearsay report in Wired, Apple CEO Steve Jobs allegedly said the following at an internal town hall meeting for Apple employees coinciding with the launch of the iPad:
We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t [...]
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Cup of Joe: Strategize With Pretty Pictures!
So the other day, I was talking to a client about a new project they want to begin in the next couple of months. From their mindset this project is going to be huge and may redefine their organization in the coming years. As part of this new project they want a sophisticated web presence. They read off a list of different social networks and services that they want their new site to engage. My first thought was Wow I am going to bill them out the ying yang for all this! But, then my conscience kicked in (yes, I have one), and I had to ask, “do you think all of this is necessary?” They were kind of surprised with my question and responded, “well yes, why wouldn’t it be?”. I then asked them, “well. what are your goals with each service?” They didn’t really say much after that.
We are all quick to jump the gun and want our brands to be engaged with every network, every outlet, and be plugged into every gadget. But, sometimes we loose sight of our goals and dive right in head first. Some believe that you can define your goals later, after you have built your brand. But others understand that having too many points of contact can confuse your base and scare away those that want to engage.
Building a clear and concise strategy is key to every successful internet marketing campaign. Without a strategy you risk wasting resources and missing the folks that matter.
I am a very visual thinker. So when I am building a new strategy I like to create a “mind map”. A mind map is basically a diagram of thoughts. By putting your thoughts in a visual format you can see parallels and patterns that might reveal your strongest ideas. Below is an example mind map that I created just for this post. I like to start with a main idea like “Brand Building” and then work on supporting ideas. You can see from the example mind map below that Twitter will play a large roll in this strategy. Which means that I need to put more resources into managing the brand’s Twitter account versus starting a LinkedIn account. By building this visual strategy I am preparing myself to succeed by identifying the strongest areas and eliminating the others.
(click to enlarge)
Building mind maps are a quick and easy way to see your thoughts and minimize wasted resources as the campaign grows. However, it can also serve as an excellent brainstorming activity for team of people that need to manage branding efforts as a whole. By doing this you can get everyone on the same page and develop a framework for moving forward. So before you start your next project consider mapping out your thoughts first! I guarantee doing so will create a more efficient and targeted strategy!
Irony: You Need A Map To Find Google Street View On The iPhone
We came to a strange realization on Friday at SEL headquarters: Google Street View is terribly unintuitive on the iPhone. As Danny Sullivan suggested, you practically need a map to find it. For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch who know how to use Street View already, move along — there’s nothing [...]
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Free Cash: Find a Bug in Google Chrome
Everybody wants free money, right? Well, here’s one way to get it: find a bug in Google Chrome or Chromium, the open source code database behind the browser. Google is offering intrepid developers from $500 for pointing out “select interesting and original vulnerabilities.” The maximum award is $1337—no, seriously. You guys are just so freaking funny.
Of course, not just any bug will do—no need to spell check the GUI. The goal is to minimize security vulnerabilities in the browser, so only bugs along those lines will be eligible. They’re focusing on “high and critical impact” bugs, but “clever vulnerabilities” of any security level would be . To submit the bug, just use the usual Chromium bug tracker with the Security Bug template.
The maximum payout, of course, is reserved for bugs whose impact would be severe if not fixed. The dollar amount is a “clever” nod to the leet speak used among hackers. In the blog post, Google gives a nod to their inspiration, the Mozilla vulnerability reward program.
Most developers will be eligible to participate, however, “residents of countries where the US has imposed the highest levels of export restriction (e.g. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria)” cannot receive rewards, nor can minors (though Google says they’ll work with an adult representing a minor). Participants are also asked not to publicly disclose reported bugs until Google addresses them—then they’re free to speak openly.
What do you think? Did your weekend plans just change 
?
Microsoft’s Q4 Good, Bing’s Not So Much
Microsoft saw Windows 7 carry them to a strong fourth quarter last year—but its Online Services division (home of Bing) didn’t see a boost, according to the official reports. Microsoft emphasized Bing’s growth and the fact that their search advertising somewhat offset other losses, but the division still operated for a loss.
Microsoft reported $17.3B in revenue ($0.60/share), including a deferral of $1.7B on the Windows 7 release. They were expected to hit $17.9B ($0.59/share). For the quarter, the Online Services division saw $581M in revenue (down 5% YOY), and an operating loss of $466M (a 46% increase over last year).
Microsoft emphasized the gain in search market share and search advertising revenue. Much of the division’s losses ($29M, a 14% YOY loss) came from the Access department, Microsoft’s ISP and subscriptions to online paid services. Online advertising also saw a decline ($11M, a 2% YOY loss) but Microsoft claimed that, without the Access numbers, the Online Services division was inline with industry losses for online advertising. The losses came from display, but search’s increase wasn’t enough to counteract those losses completely.
Naturally, Microsoft closes the disappointing report with a note of (what they hope will be) good news:
On December 4, 2009, we entered into a definitive 10-year agreement with Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo”) whereby Microsoft will provide the exclusive algorithmic and paid search platform for Yahoo websites. We believe this agreement will allow us over time to improve the effectiveness and increase the value of our search offering through greater scale in search queries and an expanded and more competitive search and advertising marketplace. The transaction is subject to regulatory review; we expect to close the transaction in fiscal year 2010.
What do you think? Will the deal with Yahoo—where Yahoo’s display advertising and Bing’s search (and search advertising?) will run for both sites—improve both their fortunes?
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42% of Americans Have Googled Themselves; None Have Gone Blind
A new study commissioned by Microsoft is about, of all things, googling yourself. I guess that if someone had used the phrase “binging yourself” there may be laws about that in many states but the irony of this is not lost on me. At any rate, the study shows that there aren’t as many people keeping an eye on what their personal online reputation looks like. Consider the people who are googling other people as a part of their job (ie. human resources types) this could be something that comes back to bite you.
Search Engine Land gives us some of the background
The numbers come from a December survey commissioned by Microsoft on the subject of online reputations. The survey polled about 2,500 consumers and recruiting personnel in the US, UK, Germany and France, and was just released to coincide with today’s International Data Privacy Day.
The chart below says that 42% of the people in the US have googled themselves or looked up their online information using a search engine.
If you would like to get the study it can be found on the Microsoft site.
Either people in Germany and France are more online reputation monitoring savvy or more paranoid but they seem to get the concept more so than the US and the UK.
So what are the pitfalls of not googling yourself on a regular basis (please keep the wisecracks to a minimum)? Ask an HR professional. If you are in the US they are paying very close attention to what is online about you and it can have dire consequences for job hunters.
While those of us in the US may not be Googling ourselves, the Human Resources industry is picking up the slack. According to the survey, 79 percent of US hiring personnel say they review online information about job applicants, and 70 percent admit to rejecting candidates based on what they’ve found. Those numbers drop dramatically for each of the other countries surveyed, with France the most different: Only 23% of recruiters there review online information, and only 14% have rejected candidates.
In addition to search engines which the study showed is the most popular way for HR types to learn about you the are also paying attention to social networking sites, photo and video sharing sites and professional / business networking sites.
One thing to note for you folks who suffer from having a common name that it seems like millions of others do. If you think that you can hide behind the fact that there are a lot of people with the same name all anyone needs to do is add a small qualifier to see just who you really are. I looked at just “Frank Reed” v “Frank Reed internet” and the results are quite different as they are much more directed at me. Any savvy HR searcher is not going to just look at your name and feel like they have done their due diligence.
It’s pretty simple; be careful with what you put ANYWHERE online. We hear that a lot but everyday the reports of ‘stupid human tricks online’ grow. Remember that according to some of the more influential people in this space like Google’s Eric Schmidt and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg privacy is not something to be expected anymore. If you are not monitoring this yourself it’s your fault if you get caught not Google’s.
Tagged.com Now Fighting Spam, Instead of Sending It?
Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or a heart-warming story of a bad guy that’s now fighting evil?
Social network Tagged.com has been the subject of many email spamming complaints in its life. Now the company has been awarded $210,975 in a default judgment against a spammer.
In a ruling issued earlier this week, a U.S. District Court Judge in the northern district of California found Vogeler guilty of sending messages to 6,079 Tagged users and assessed damages of $25 per violation for a total of $151,975. Court also ordered Vogeler to pay Tagged $50,000 in attorneys’ fees and to cease sending commercial emails through Tagged.com.
That money will go a long way towards covering the $750,000 in fines the company had to cough up in November of last year.
Is this a case of no honor among thieves or has Tagged.com turned over a new leaf?
Good Bye Winter, Hello Santa Clara. PPC Marketer’s Dream Agenda
I suppose the next best thing to dreaming about leaving the cold New Hampshire winter is to actually do it! Can’t think of a better way to toss off winter blahs than with a few days at SMX West.
Agenda Item #1 – Monday, Monday
I am planning to get in early on Sunday [...]
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Yelp Ratings Appear In Google AdWords
I received a screenshot in email of an AdWords ad for a San Diego auto repair shop that featured Yelp ratings (and a link to the Yelp review) in the AdWords copy. Here’s a screen of the ad:
Detail:
Google has been making AdWords richer, with product images and maps (and so on) in the ad copy:
However [...]
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Microsoft Earnings Beat Estimates Online Services Post Loss, More On Bing And The iPhone
Microsoft had a “blow out” quarter in which it saw $19.02 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase from $16.63 billion in the same fiscal quarter a year ago. This was largely about the success of PC OS Windows 7. That’s the story: people like it and are buying PCs. Everything else is a bit [...]
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