Marketing Pilgrim

Quick, you’re lost somewhere in France, it’s cold, dark, and all you have is your smartphone, a signal flair, CB radio, map, flashlight, French/English dictionary, and some french fries.

What do you do?

OK, first, eat the french fries–you look hungry.

Then throw all that other stuff in a trash can, because all you need is your phone and Twitter!

Two new Twitter services are rolling out, both will help you–should you ever find yourself in this scenario.

First, Twitter has added a French version of the web site. The fact that the Twitter team will be in Paris for Le Web is purely coincidental!

Second, Twitter is rolling out a new API that will bring location awareness to the popular microblogging service:

Speaking at a Nesta panel this morning in London, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone stated that long-rumored premium corporate accounts for the most popular microblogging service will come by year’s end.

Although business accounts have long been a source of speculation for the site’s monetization plans, it’s not true that all business accounts will be charged for using the service. Instead, the premium accounts will feature additional analytics data and enhanced features.

Back in August, they said they were in the first phases of rolling out these accounts.

Also on the panel, celebritwit Stephen Fry criticized the move. According to Clickz:

He . . . said he didn’t intend to be “anti-commercial,” but that if Twitter becomes “annoying to users” and there was “a sense of being guided by a big corporate brother,” the company risks alienating its user base.

In a word: branding. As a brand, both through their own efforts and through sheer luck, Google has been able to position itself as the #1 online brand in the US according to Forrester Research. Others among the top ten, including Yahoo, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft, have generated some of the same emotional responses from their fans.

The top ten brands (note that respondents selected two from a list):

Since 2007, MySpace suffered a precipitous fall in brand favoritism. Yahoo and eBay also suffered. Amazon saw sufficient growth to move from distant third to nearly tied for second; Google grew significantly in its #1 spot. Facebook and YouTube (and what the crap, Sony?) joined the list. Interestingly, both Microsoft and Apple saw small growth over that time.

It’s going to be a whole year before consumers get their hands on Google’s Chrome OS, but developers were given early access to the project, so they can prepare for the launch.

There’s not much "marketing" in this announcement, but it’s Google and it’s big, so we thought you’d like to know about it.

Those with a passing interest will find the video below to sufficient to explain what’s coming:

Those that want more details can head over to TechCrunch.

Those that want to the details from the perspective of a Google employee should head to Matt Cutts’ blog.

That’s all!

AdSense publishers, I have some startling news for you:

Some of the ads displayed on your site are not that contextually relevant!

I know some of you are now saying, “well, duh!” but even Google is starting to admit that it’s showing some ads–when perhaps it shouldn’t.

OK, so Google didn’t actually admit that–at least not explicitly. It did, however, start testing a new “Featured Ad” format that will highlight AdSense ads that are more relevant than others.

Here’s an example:

A pretty little star, and a “Featured Ad” rollover is being tested on a small batch of AdSense ads. According to Google:

While I just read this over at All Things Digital I am still scratching my head (which means I am typing with just one hand, so if this reads slow you’ll know why). AOL tends to be in the news in the past year or so more about whether the business will survive and how will it look when it is pushed out of the Time Warner nest officially in December. Why today would be any different I don’t know but the news from AOL is how they are asking for 2,500, or one third of their work force, to volunteer for a layoff.

AOL, which has already told investors that it will spend up to $200 million firing a good chunk of its staff, has now told its employees. It is looking for “up to 2,500 volunteers,” CEO Tim Armstrong told his staff today. That’s a third of the company’s payroll.