Microsoft's search engine, Bing, has teamed up with Facebook to provide users with search results based on their Facebook profile (such as their interests, likes, and friends), to create a product simply called "Liked Results." Mediaweek explains it like this: If you search for a movie, you will get results back that will include which of your Facebook friends either liked or disliked the film, in addition to Bing's regular search results.
Of course, Bing will give you the option to disable the integration of your Facebook profile. Mark Zuckerberg, who needs no introduction, also went on record at the press conference to say that they will only be using information that Facebook users have made public. So, anything you specify as private stays that way. There is the question however, that even though people make things public on Facebook, are they willing to let it appear in search engines? Facebook is no stranger to ciriticism, and with over 500 million users, someone is bound to be upset.
Additionally, there will be a Facebook Profile Search Tool on Bing's page that helps you find old friends and reconnect, either by friend request or message. Search results will also utilize your friend circle to determine who you might be looking for.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
AOL Brings Back "City's Best"
Today, AOL re-released it's guide to cities, City's Best, which is basically a resurrection of the 1990s feature they had called Digital Cities. This time around, City's Best will focus on 25 cities pertinent to the AOL market like Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, and New York City, among others.
It's an interesting time for AOL to bring a city guide out onto the market, considering big competitors like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, and Citysearch, and hundreds of smaller sites and blogs dedicated to bringing the newest and best information to target audiences.
AOL has hired five regional editors to oversee five markets each, to ensure content is both original and linked to the community. Each market will depend highly upon user activity, and will have applications for the Android and the iPhone.
City's Best has goals to expand the 25 city market to 40 cities eventually, as well as dreams of taking the site international.
It's an interesting time for AOL to bring a city guide out onto the market, considering big competitors like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, and Citysearch, and hundreds of smaller sites and blogs dedicated to bringing the newest and best information to target audiences.
AOL has hired five regional editors to oversee five markets each, to ensure content is both original and linked to the community. Each market will depend highly upon user activity, and will have applications for the Android and the iPhone.
City's Best has goals to expand the 25 city market to 40 cities eventually, as well as dreams of taking the site international.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Surprise! Internet is Popular Worldwide
A new global survey reveals that the Internet is the most used medium among countries that have Internet access, beating out television, radio, and newspaper. Globally, 61% of internet users go online everyday, compared to 54% for television, 36% for radio, and 32% for newspaper.
Another trend is that developing countries who have acquired Internet recently use it more than the developed world.
Then there's blogging. 88% of Chinese users say they have posted a blog or responded on a forum, compared to Brazil's 51%.
Social networks are popular around the world, with Malaysians as the heaviest users and highest amount of "friends."
You can see more statistics here.
Another trend is that developing countries who have acquired Internet recently use it more than the developed world.
Then there's blogging. 88% of Chinese users say they have posted a blog or responded on a forum, compared to Brazil's 51%.
Social networks are popular around the world, with Malaysians as the heaviest users and highest amount of "friends."
You can see more statistics here.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Search Tidbits
An article was posted following the Search Marketing Expo (which took place in NYC a few days ago), and the author regurgitated some interesting information regarding the current state of search.
First, Google announced at the conference that the Google Adwords Keyword Tool will now only provide keywords that Google finds to be profitable. As far as other Google highlights, their browser makes up for a whopping 97% of mobile search, and Google Instant (love it or hate it) has had a strong effect on video views, increasing clicks by 28%.
Second, real-time search is on fire--including one example of a blogger who's post was indexed within one minute of publishing. And Twitter is processing 12,000 queries/second, which rounds out to about 1 billion queries per day. A little more on search--55% of search queries are 3 words and up, and 20% of those are brand new queries.
And remember MySpace? After reducing page load times (which always seemed to take forever), they have seen page indexing undergo a quadrupled increase.
First, Google announced at the conference that the Google Adwords Keyword Tool will now only provide keywords that Google finds to be profitable. As far as other Google highlights, their browser makes up for a whopping 97% of mobile search, and Google Instant (love it or hate it) has had a strong effect on video views, increasing clicks by 28%.
Second, real-time search is on fire--including one example of a blogger who's post was indexed within one minute of publishing. And Twitter is processing 12,000 queries/second, which rounds out to about 1 billion queries per day. A little more on search--55% of search queries are 3 words and up, and 20% of those are brand new queries.
And remember MySpace? After reducing page load times (which always seemed to take forever), they have seen page indexing undergo a quadrupled increase.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Yahoo! Increases Depth of Search Results
Now on Yahoo!, users that search for famous people, movies, and other topics, will get an "intelligent shortcut" feature among their search results that delivers the latest tweets, images, event listings, articles, and videos on the topic in question, according to a recent article. Additionally, if your location is turned on, Yahoo! will locate close movie listings and concert dates pertaining to your area.
In keeping with Google and Bing, Yahoo! has also enhanced its search results to show a more image rich return on search queries, most notably in the form of photographic slide shows relevant to the search topic.
In keeping with Google and Bing, Yahoo! has also enhanced its search results to show a more image rich return on search queries, most notably in the form of photographic slide shows relevant to the search topic.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Videos Must Instantly Grab Viewers
Does your company have a YouTube site? Are videos loaded onto your web site? Then you want to hear about this!
According to a new study (one that consisted of 40 million clips that added up to over 7 billion views), 20% of the video-viewing audience stops watching around the first 10 seconds.
For those viewers who stick past 10 seconds, a third of the audience is gone when the video hits 30 seconds, and 44% is gone around the 1-minute mark. Also, length of video doesn't have much of an impact, whether there are 30 seconds left or 3 minutes, viewers will simply click elsewhere if they are not interested in what they are watching.
So, essentially, you have about ten seconds to catch the attention of your viewers. Considering 1 out of 5 viewers bounces before that is a powerful statistic, and definitely something to keep in mind when creating your next video.
According to a new study (one that consisted of 40 million clips that added up to over 7 billion views), 20% of the video-viewing audience stops watching around the first 10 seconds.
For those viewers who stick past 10 seconds, a third of the audience is gone when the video hits 30 seconds, and 44% is gone around the 1-minute mark. Also, length of video doesn't have much of an impact, whether there are 30 seconds left or 3 minutes, viewers will simply click elsewhere if they are not interested in what they are watching.
So, essentially, you have about ten seconds to catch the attention of your viewers. Considering 1 out of 5 viewers bounces before that is a powerful statistic, and definitely something to keep in mind when creating your next video.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Google Instant vs. Regular Google
Do searchers like being interrupted by the new "instant" results, or prefer to finish their query in peace?
Google says not only is Google Instant the future of search, it also is a search prediction tool--meaning they know what you want to find before you even finish asking. Ideally, this is supposed to save you (the searcher) countless hours of finding what you are looking for. Some people really like this, claiming Google is like a crystal ball, knowing what they want and taking them straight to it rather than scrolling through pages of possibly unrelated sites.
However, some people actually have openly tweeted their hate for the feature, due to the fact that is a distraction from what you really want to find. As an example, I went to Google and typed in "blue." My number one result? Blue Martini. As in the lounge. Maybe I wanted to look at blue couches? You see, now I could be distracted into viewing a menu rather than furniture.
The anti-Instant crowd seems to be the minority though, according to this survey that Mashable conducted a few weeks ago.
What do you prefer? Google Instant or searching the good, old-fashioned way?
Google says not only is Google Instant the future of search, it also is a search prediction tool--meaning they know what you want to find before you even finish asking. Ideally, this is supposed to save you (the searcher) countless hours of finding what you are looking for. Some people really like this, claiming Google is like a crystal ball, knowing what they want and taking them straight to it rather than scrolling through pages of possibly unrelated sites.
However, some people actually have openly tweeted their hate for the feature, due to the fact that is a distraction from what you really want to find. As an example, I went to Google and typed in "blue." My number one result? Blue Martini. As in the lounge. Maybe I wanted to look at blue couches? You see, now I could be distracted into viewing a menu rather than furniture.
The anti-Instant crowd seems to be the minority though, according to this survey that Mashable conducted a few weeks ago.
What do you prefer? Google Instant or searching the good, old-fashioned way?
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