Google Analytics Adds Annotation Feature
Google Analytics is one of the most robust offerings by the search giant and it manages to fly under the radar a little bit. It has almost become ubiquitous for a large number of companies that are not prospects for other analytics packages like Omniture, Coremetrics, Webtrends etc. Many will even run it concurrently with these other players that have one distinct and major difference compared to Google’s offering: they cost money.
Now, many people rail against the amount of data that Google has at its disposal as a result of their analytics offering (formerly Urchin). That’s fine and is great fodder for the Google conspiracy theory set, which is a pretty active community. On the street level though it is hard (read: impossible) to find a more robust offering that is free (another bone of contention for Google haters so go ahead and let’er rip).
Well, Google is not resting on its laurels as it has announced a new feature that allows for users of the program to include annotations on reports. Search Engine Land tells us
Following October’s release of Google Analytics new features, Google has just released another set of very cool new features. Among them is “Annotations,” a tremendously useful new feature both to analysts as well as executives, who are usually not up to date on granular details about website activity.
The annotations feature basically allows users to make comments on graphs regarding events that happened on specific days.
Here is an example of what can be done with the annotation feature:
The idea here is that there can be real collaboration between those who put together campaigns and those who see the analytics without that important data. There is nothing more dangerous than an upper level executive that sees a spike or a dip on a graph but has no idea that there may have been very good business reasons for why that type of traffic or conversion or whatever pattern exists. A simple note that outlines a “cause and effect” for the data consumer can save a lot of time and trouble.
Daniel Waisberg of Search Engine Land points out some great scenarios where this could be useful
- The PPC team can announce major changes to their campaigns.
- The seo team can annotate changes to the website so that results can be tracked over time.
- The PR team can update dates of events, enabling the tracking of offline activities into Google Analytics more easily.
- The media buying team can provide updates of major banner campaigns.
As per usual Google does a pretty good job on its blog showing how this feature is implemented as well a other additions to the analytics tool.
Here’s to a 2010 full of real communication and good cheer!
Why the US Government Might Take Control of Twitter
You know how I love a good conspiracy theory, so try this one on for size.
- Millions of people decide they don’t like the way the US government is handling a major issue–healthcare for example–they start protesting.
- They use social networks to voice their concerns, Twitter almost buckles under the strain of the conversations.
- A group of very vocal–and sophisticated–protestors start using Twitter to put together a group of hackers willing to coordinate a DDoS attack on a prominent web site–how about Whitehouse.gov?
- Before they can unleash their “protest” the President takes control of Twitter and shuts down one of the most important communication channels of our time.
- Twitter is deemed to be of national importance and so becomes government owned and sanitized nationalized.
Pure fiction, right?
Wrong!
The pieces of the above puzzle are already coming together and, while the events above are extreme, they could actually happen–thanks to the unhealthy fascination of all things Twitter by the US Government.
First, we have speculation that the White House put pressure on Twitter during the Iran elections.
Next, we have government backed groups positioning Twitter as a prime communications channel in an emergency:
The Safe America Foundation, a national safety group working with the U.S. government, announced yesterday that text messaging, social networking sites, and Twitter could help families stay in touch in the wake of a disaster.
And lastly, the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009 which would give the US President* unprecedented and ambiguous control of the internet in the event of a cyber-emergency:
A proposed Senate bill would give President Obama emergency control of the Internet, potentially allowing him to shut down all online traffic by seizing private networks in the event of a “cyber-emergency.”
But nowhere in the bill is “cyber-emergency” defined, leaving many cyber security experts worried that this legislation could destroy certain industrial and civil liberties.
If I were Twitter, I’d hurry up and figure out how to make some real revenue–and do it fast! All the while Twitter grows its importance, without revenues, it risks becoming a ubiquitous service such as email. A service without revenues is arguably more likely to be “governmentalized” than one that’s a viable business entity.
Think about it. Google is massively important to, well, everyone. Yet, can you ever see the US government getting its grubby little hands on it? Not likely! Google earns billions of dollars a year and would fight the move every step of the way. Now look at Twitter. It has no business model, no revenues, yet is of extreme importance. It would make it a much easier target for government ownership.
If I were Twitter, I’d be very concerned about the growing perception of its national importance–it’s growing at a much faster clip than its revenues!
* For those of you who make it this far, note that this could all happen regardless of whether the President favors blue or red. 
Is Google Deliberately Sabotaging Bing’s Search Listing?
Despite the millions of dollars Microsoft is spending in an attempt to get us to use Bing, it’s apparently still well aware of the hand that feeds it.
A lot of searchers are still conditioned to begin all web browsing at Google, and Microsoft knows that it’s crucial that Bing is easily found. So, you can imagine their angst at seeing the following in a search for Bing:
Yep, the second result for Bing suggests searchers might wan to stick with Google for a while. Now, if you read the snippet, you’ll see why we even got to this situation–a power outage last Friday temporarily took out Bing’s Travel site.
Apparently, Google’s spider has been on vacation since then:
Notice, Google hasn’t re-indexed the page since July 4th! Do you smell a conspiracy theory? Since when does it take Google that long to revisit a site as popular as Bing?
Bing employees may not be crying foul, but they’re disturbed enough to send a public tweet to Google.
It’s kind of hard to puff up your chest and go cap in hand at the same time, don’t you think?
(via)
Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!
New Twitter “Ads” Appear? My Conspiracy Theory
Remember when Twitter first launched its sidebar ads? Only, Twitter told us all that they weren’t actually ads? Then, guess what, they magically started turning into real ads.
OK, so explain this mysterious “public service tweet” that’s started showing up on Twitter:
Actually, Biz Stone has explained it and he says it’s not an ad, just a way to help users upgrade to a browser that supposedly will ensure a “better Web experience on Twitter.”
<Crosses arms, tilts head>
Really? OK, I’ll buy that these are nothing more than a PSA, but I’ll also give it 6 months before ads start showing up in the exact same place–maybe even linked to the #hashtags you’ve clicked on. Oh wait, you didn’t realize that Twitter made #hashtags clickable, so it could track your interests? 
These types of ads work well on many free apps that Twitter users download to their desktops and, just like Google tests new ads placements before deciding if they should be fully released, I believe Twitter is testing the engagement levels of these ads messages.
