Archive for the ‘News’ Category

A lesson from others on how to apply social media optimization to your domain name.

Google. Twitter. MapQuest. Digg. Stumble. eBay.

These successful brands all benefited from brilliant naming… and deep pockets. I wonder how many potential names these companies ruled out before assuming their identities and becoming the mainstream monsters they are today. Sure, money had something to do with it – premium domain names aren’t cheap. But at some point, the selection process had to be very intentional.

These brands became the standard verbs for the actions they represent.

Google it. Tweet it. MapQuest it. Digg This. Stumble This. eBay it.

How did this happen?

Most of these online services were among the first of their kind, which helped. But by coupling quality service with a name that can be used in a sentence, these great companies became part of our language. Which brings me to my next point.  ... Read This »

Facebook aims to learn as much about it’s individual users as possible in order to display contextually relevant, paid advertising to them. What does your profile say about you, personally? And, which of that information is Facebook “mining” to pin down precisely who you are, and what products and services you might be interested in?

Let’s look at the user inputs on Facebook.

First, it’s a social network, so they’ve got your connections mapped out. They know who you know, and they know who they know, and how they’re connected. They know how often you talk to certain members, and can make assumptions as to how close you are, or would like to be. They know who’s pictures you look at. But what does Facebook do with these insights? Other than suggesting “virtual gifts” on your pal’s birthday, I don’t think Facebook does much with the data that establishes “connectedness”, other than to provide that data to 3rd parties for a fee; background check services, I would imagine.  ... Read This »

It has been observed among the SEO community that content farms such as eHow, HowStuffWorks, Mahalo and Wikipedia receive a disproportionate and undeserved share of top rankings for competitive search terms. But, being the conspiracy theorist that I am, Google must be ranking these sites well for a good reason.

Here is the conspiracy:

Certain words or phrases imply a corresponding search intent, beyond relevance and quality. If I were to search “buy a car,” I wouldn’t expect Google to return news, how-to guides, images, videos, or maps – these do not match the consumer-oriented intent of my search. I want to buy a fricking car!

Take this search for example: “Banner Ads”

 ... Read This »

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, has made some bold predictions that the internet will undergo radical transformation over the next five years. He was right about the marketing value search engines would have and as the dominant online player, Google’s decisions directly affect the future of the internet, but Google’s success may have given Schmidt slightly less than prophetic delusions.

His prediction that mobile web usage – internet use via web-capable cell phones – will surpass internet use via desktop is based upon some misplaced presumptions:  ... Read This »

1. Cell phones are fully capable of displaying the internet.
2. Proper cell phone design can provide robust navigation and adequately sized keyboards.
3. Increase in cell phone quality equates to increase in utility.

Technorati, the second most popular blog search engine next to Google Blog Search and 5th largest social media space, recently underwent a “web 2.0″ face-lift. Some changes were for the better, some for better business and some are a work in progress. A few cool new additions are Twittorati – a Twitter API, the Technorati Blog, and a few more Technorati properties.  However, it seems that for the time being, Technorati is a bit anti-social.

The Technorati profile, once a way for bloggers to connect with fellow bloggers and subscribe to blogs, has been crippled for a couple months. Currently, members cannot subscribe to blogs and blog reactions have been reserved for “authoritative” sources. Meanwhile, Blog Catalog offers a few features Technorati does not – it is not only a blog directory and blog search engine, but a social network, community, blog activity stream and blog subscription service.  ... Read This »

Twitter and Facebook are about to go head to head in a grueling evaluation of their effectiveness as blog syndication channels. At the end of three standard paragraphs there will be only one declared winner, one declared loser and ultimately two options that aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but for comparison sake: the following is brought to you by Smobot – “the social media optimization guide.”

First, we have to assume a level playing field. Let’s examine a situation where you’ve got an equal number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, and both options will each only receive one status update per blog post, the content of which shall be, again, assumed equal. Facebook enables users to comment, “like this” or something, share content, and invite friends to “fan” that Facebook page (fan: v. – the act of becoming a fan of a person, place or thing’s Facebook page). Twitter enables users to @reply and retweet content. Overall, retweeting occurs more frequently than Facebook sharing (refer to Mashable’s home page), but Facebook enables users to easily suggest the Facebook Page to their entire network of friends. Round one is a draw.  ... Read This »

Word of mouth and network marketing have been around long before Al Gore invented the internet, but you might say that the internet has “cheapened” the value of a referral. It has made referrals easier (just click the link), so we are often bombarded with media that we don’t really engage with, trust or value. Which delivery channel do you trust the most? Is it a social network, a link board, or email perhaps?

A direct referral from a true friend always wins. In my mind, a link shared via email is more direct than a public status update, potentially viral though they may be. Status updates offer the benefit of broadcasting to the entire network and typically offer integrated sharing options (an easily accessible link to… share the subject link), but a direct email – from one person to another – would seem most direct and obligatory. Usually, if I receive a link via email, I feel obligated to check it out and respond. That person who emailed me emailed me and only me… which is valuable.  ... Read This »