Marketing Pilgrim

I tried really hard to figure out how to “fluff-up” this announcement. After all, Microsoft went to the trouble to pre-brief me, but I just can’t say it any better than I can show it.

So here goes.

MSN is going from this:

To this:

Yes, one of the most popular destinations on the web–600 million monthly users no less–is getting a face-lift. Here are some of the key things to note:

1. There’s a new MSN logo to go with the redesign.
2. There are 50% fewer links on the page.
3. The Bing search box is better integrated, because MSN already drives 45% of searches to Bing–something this design will take further advantage of.
4. You can view and update Twitter and Facebook.

Local mobile search is heating up. The powerful combination of GPS location and user input creates a golden opportunity for accurate, local, useful information to break out in a big way. As more and more GPS-enabled smartphones come on the market, more and more search engines and apps want to know just where you are and just what you’re looking for.

The New York Times looks at another new local mobile app entering the marketplace. Although the GPS integration varies among the present offerings, we already have apps from local opinion sites like Yelp and Citysearch doing well in this area, as well as more specialized search engines and apps. Google and Microsoft already have local business listings as well. Is there room for Loopt’s new local-mobile app, Pulse, launching today?

Dear World:

Google is advertising in your countries.

Duh.

Turkey has recently determined that Google owes them $47M US (71M Turkish lira) in back taxes on advertising sold in Turkey. The government maintains that because Google sells advertising in Turkey and maintains an office and registered subsidiary in the country.

Google, on the other hand, points out that “it runs its ad network operations from Ireland and thus is not obliged to pay taxes in Turkey merely because it owns a subsidiary there.” The suit recognizes that bills and checks (or should I say cheques?) for such advertising are addressed from/to the company’s European headquarters in Dublin.

Says TechCrunch:

The title says it all. Twitter has offered its list function and now there are widgets to go with it. Widgets and you; perfect together. This is a good thing for folks looking to add more and more to their blogs. Considering how many blogs look these days it may require ditching something else that makes your blog cool because there is only so much room for stuff and things on your blog unless of course you are concentrating on that silly content idea. Here’s the gist of it though as described by TechCrunch.

OK, you’re either going to love this new Google search feature, or think it’s the ugliest thing since, I don’t know, the last ugly thing you hated!

Ready?

Here we go:

Yes, Google is revolutionizing search with the addition of "Page previews" to your advanced search options.

Wait! This just in.

I’ve been reporting on this type of technology for almost 6 years now? Oh yeah, that’s right.

Anyway, if you really can’t be bothered to click-through and see if a site is right for you, you can enable the not-so-new preview option.

Thoughts?

In recent interviews, I’ve talked about the future of online reputation management. In that future, I see a desensitizing towards negative content found online by employers, parents, and schools. In essence, as more and more of us post content online, any embarrassing photo or rude remark will be brushed off, as we learn that we live in a transparent world. As the current generation of 18-24 year olds enter management, they will be more forgiving–having lived through that same era.

Anyway, I expected this transformation of standards to take place slowly and organically. Well, that may change now that two sophomore girls are suing their school district for unfairly disciplining them for risqué photos they posted to MySpace.

The Huffington Post picks up the story: