Marketing Pilgrim

While not the longest timeframe to be measuring in and considering all the Bing buzz surrounding its launch, Microsoft has got to feel that at least they are keeping everyone else out of the news with Bing having some early success.

In a case of “I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news” if you are Microsoft the bad news of search traffic pre-Bing in May ’09, well, pretty much sucked. PCWorld Canada reports that Nielsen’s search engine report for the month revealed a bitter pill for any search engine to swallow

Microsoft’s Live/MSN search engine was the only one among the top five that saw its search usage shrink last month compared with May 2008.

Back in April, Credit Suisse issued a report stating that YouTube stood to lose $470M this year. But now it looks like the financial services company was overly pessimistic (and, really, they’re probably just used to that, with the economy the way it is). New estimates from research company RampRate puts the losses for the most popular video website in the world far more conservatively:

RampRate lowered the estimated bandwidth costs, stating that by locating its data centers in “out of the way” locations like Iowa and Finland, the company saves significantly on the cost of transmitting data. RampRate also took into account peering costs for what they say is a more accurate estimate.

Before we get in a tizzy, “social search” here only refers to looking at what your friends are doing on a social network. But yes, Facebook is currently testing real-time search results for searches on the social network:

Those of you in the test group will be able to find content from the people, organizations and public figures that matter to you as soon as they share it on Facebook. . . .

Those of you in the test group will see new layouts for search results that will continue to include people’s profiles, Facebook Pages, groups and applications, and some entirely new Search features. With the test, you will be able to search your News Feed for the most recent status updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared by your friends and the Facebook Pages of which you’re a fan.

It appears that North Carolina is about to follow New York’s lead and implement a tax collection scheme that will see Amazon.com shut down its Associates affiliate program in the state. Today, all Amazon Associates in NC received this gloomy email from the online retailer:

We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.

Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.

I hate to say this, but does anyone still care about Ask.com?

I say this as someone that once loved Ask.com, but–having watched it change ownership and leadership–now feels like its best days are behind it.

Of course, I’m just one person and enough people still use Ask.com that the search engine has unveiled a database of 300 million Q&A pairs for searchers in the US and UK.

The result is a Q&A database that is fine-tuned to give consumers the best answer, the first time, every time through streamlined, localized, concise results to their questions. For example, the question "How do I train a puppy?" yields in-depth answers with step-by-step instructions from a series of diverse and authoritative sources across the web – giving Ask.com searchers a selection of options and resources they can use to take action. Ask.com’s unique Q&A results also are injected and blended into standard web search results pages.

Chris Gatewood is one of those rare breads–he gets social media and happens to be an attorney. That normally becomes like oil and water when you throw in the topic of online reputation management, as many attorneys favor the cease and desist approach.

Not Chris, and in this brief video interview, he chats with RWW’s Jolie O’Dell about reputation management. Grab your morning coffee and enjoy!