Marketing Pilgrim

Google Maps uses has two features that have lived side by side for a while: local business listings and Street View. Although Google Maps would let you click through to Street View from a local business (or any address) listing, if you were searching for a business, the interface might make you jump back and forth between Street View, the results and the map.

But no more: Google is taking its local listings right into Street View now. The initial results look much the same, with the link for Street View—but now, when you go into Street View the local business listings and markers appear on the street-level photographs.

Even better: when you search for a business nearby, pins for the results appear on the street-level map, so you can see the nearest results from right in front of your location.

Yesterday, we went in search of Twittering teens, after the NYT couldn’t find any. Time and again we’ve heard statistics tell us that teens don’t tweet—or do they?

The Silicon Alley Insider took a look at comScore’s recent numbers and charted them. The chart says it “measures unique visitors relative to their presence on the Web as a whole”—meaning that if 16% of Internet users are teens, and 16% of Twitter users are teens, they’d be at 100.

For July, teens (well, teens and young adults) are at 120—meaning there is a higher percentage of Twitter users that are teens than Internet users that are teens. Also note that the 12-24 bracket is the only one on an upward trend since June.

O Canada, the home and native land of extremely threatening privacy watchdogs. Hm? What’s that? Canadians aren’t scary, they’re actually friendly and accommodating? Well, yes, that’s been my experience, but that can’t be the case now. You see, Facebook usually kicks and screams like a two-year-old rather than change its policies. But when the world’s second largest country (by total area) points out that the world’s most popular social network is breaking their privacy laws, apparently Facebook has to listen. You know, eventually.

Although Facebook announced new, more granular yet simpler privacy controls in July, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddard, said the company wasn’t doing enough. They set forth a number of areas of the privacy policy that need improvements, including:

• collecting users’ date of birth

Maybe this is the sign that we all needed to really feel that the momentum in the economy has shifted? According to a suit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina Google may be entering the mortgage quoting business. While Google itself is not part of the suit, it gets prominent mention according to the New York Times.

It appears that LendingTree, a leading online mortgage quote provider, has taken umbrage with the company, Mortech, that provides some of the power behind LendingTree’s service. As a result, Google gets to play as well.

We are winding down summer and it appears as if all of the newsmakers have gone on holiday or vacation or whatever you call it in your part of the world. So in order to keep you informed of the most important developments we have scoured the globe and found that Google Earth may unearthed one of the greatest legends of all time. The Loch Ness Monster! That’s right, Nessie!

C’mon. You know she’s real. She’s just very elusive. Fortunately, there is virtually nothing that escapes the eyes of Google. Check her out!

So what other mysteries can we turn to Google to solve? The origin of the universe? Time travel? How to open most small pieces of electronics packaged in those awful plastic things that cause harm to innocent consumers? What do you need from Google today? Ask and you shall receive ………

AdSense publishers listen-up!

Google just knocked down the walled garden and you’ll soon see ads from other ad networks competing for your AdSense ad space. The video below explains the change and the email to all AdSense publishers is copied below that.

Hi,

We’re writing to let you know about an upcoming update in your AdSense account designed to help you generate the maximum revenue from your ad units. You’ll soon be able to allow multiple ad networks to show on your pages, which means that advertisers from external Google-certified networks will be able to compete with AdWords advertisers for your ad space.