Marketing Pilgrim

Yesterday MySpace announced that you can use your MySpace profile on other sites. Not to be outdone, today Facebook announced their version. It’s called Facebook Connect and it’s a good sign that data portability is catching on. Especially because Facebook usually doesn’t follow suit when it comes to sharing data (unless it’s for advertising).

Facebook Connect was announced on the company’s developer blog.

Privacy is a big concern as it always is with social networks. Free means you give up personal information so you can be on the site. If you change your mind, getting the information off could be tricky. Also, each site has its own privacy policies.

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No points were awarded yesterday. Ten brownie points today for the person who can correctly identify this quotation without resorting to a search engine: [She] “doesn’t know anything about love, or kindness, or the joy of helping others. You know, sometimes I don’t think she’s really very happy.”

• I don’t think this is part of the original partnership: Yahoo Answers Serving Google Adwords.
• Sigh. I was so excited yesterday, but today Yahoo says there are “No Plans” to Bring Yahoo Glue Pages to North America. Phooey.
• I know you’ve been wondering, and apparently someone knows How to Make Money With Twitter.

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Are display ads in the future for Google Image Search SERPs?

Marissa Mayer talked to Bloomberg Radio earlier this week and she didn’t deny the possibility:

We haven’t found a proper way to monetize image search to date. You may see us roll out an ads-image search in the future, but when we do you’ll know that’s because we found a way that ultimately enhances user happiness with the product.

Even more interesting was the information Mayer provided on their previous attempts at monetizing image search:

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I’ve wanted tell you about TinEye for a few days now, but I’ve been swamped this week.

Then I figured out you’d probably prefer to see the demo by Amber Mack anyway.

Don’t want to watch the video. Here’s the elevator pitch:

TinEye uses image identification technology. You give it an image to search for and TinEye shows you where and how that image appears all over the web - even if it has been altered. The technology behind TinEye is Idée’s advanced image identification algorithms that identify images without the use of any meta-data or watermarks. TinEye literally does for images what Google does for text.

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After yesterday’s firestorm, I feel the need to clarify a few things and then explain what I mean by branding.

1) Was I linkbaiting? No. Telling the truth as I see it even when it is unpopular is not necessarily linkbaiting. I do have a small gift for provocative titles though.

2) Do I really believe what I said? Yes, every word. Some people seem to find it stunning that I would actually believe what I wrote. Trust me when I say I do believe it.

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If you’re not a fan of Google-related news, you might want to turn away now (we’ll tell you when it’s safe to resume reading).

<Google Overload>

Google held its annual shareholders meeting yesterday and discussed lots of topics. Here are the Pilgrim’s CliffsNotes:

Yahoo: "Excited to be working with them…They were under a hostile attack and we wanted to make sure they had as many options as possible."

YouTube: New ad products in development that are neither pre-roll or post-roll.

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Ten brownie points to anyone who can make up a great song about Linky Goodness!

• Don’t worry, this one has pretty pictures. You know, if regression lines and scatterplots count as pretty. Why Don’t We Read on the Web?
• Google says goodbye, you say, “Hello? What was that?” Picasa’s photo sharing service, to be discontinued on the 15th.
• Poor Stacey. Once upon a time, she had all the guys going after her. Yeah, well, you know what happens with you have a crush on every boy: “Where have all of Yahoo’s Plan Bs gone?” AOL, MySpace and possibly even Google may not be interested now that Brad Microsoft’s not.

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Each time you sign up for a new site you create a profile which is unique to that site. You’ve got to upload a picture and fill everything out. It’s a pain to keep up with it all, which is why I haven’t yet added my picture to my Digg or LinkedIn profile.

MySpace has launched the Data Availability initiative which can make MySpace your home base for profiles. With this new initiative you’ll be able to integrate elements of your MySpace profile on partner sites that so far include Twitter, eBay, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and Photobucket.

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Yahoo India has launched a new feature in their search results called “Glue” pages. As Barry Schwartz explains:

Glue Pages are specialized pages that contain an enhanced visual search result page, for select search queries. The search results that trigger the special “Glue Pages” run across searches in health, sports, entertainment, travel, technology, and finance categories.

The new pages are not quite equivalent with Google’s Universal Search blended SERPs, as the various types of information are broken out into separate columns. Instead the results more closely resemble those of Ask3D.

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It’s been nearly four months since MySpace announced a joint agreement with 49 state Attorneys General to protect minors online—and now Facebook’s finally gotten around to signing on. CNET reports (emphasis added):

In the deal, the social network has agreed to develop age verification technology, send warning messages when an under-18 user may be giving personal information to an unknown adult, restrict the ability for people to change their ages on the site, and keep abreast of inappropriate content and harassment on the site.

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According to Shoemoney, SEO has no future. I do not always agree with him, but in this case, he is dead right. Let me pull on my flame retardant suit before I explain why.

First, understand that the only reason SEO has ever worked is because search engines were not advanced enough to always show relevant information. I remember when I started selling online. At the time, I had only a few competitors in my industry and it was easy to beat them in the SEO game. It took only a few metatags and such, and within weeks, I was dominant.

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It’s one of those days. Lots of news and not enough time to blog it all.

Take a look at today’s Picks and let me know what jumps out at ya.

• Inside Facebook has details of the upcoming Facebook profile redesign.
• News Corp. is backtracking on the "very agressive projections" it made for 2008.
• David Alston guests at Online Marketing Blog and shares his 10 reasons for monitoring your online reputation. So read them, then head here.
• Microsoft and Yahoo may have stolen the limelight from Google the past few months, but AP explains why Google has its groove back.

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