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Search Neutrality?

posted on December 28, 2009

As expected it looks like this week may be a bit light in the news department. That’s fine. Everyone needs a break from time to time. So as I am looking around this morning I come across an op-ed piece in the New York Times that is written by Adam Raff, a co-founder of Foundem, an Internet technology company.

From what I can gather, Mr. Raff is upset that his site was banned from Google’s index. There is no explanation as to why this happened so I am not going to assume anything although an article from eConsultancy looks at his plight and we get some insight as to why Google is so ‘mean’ to him. As a result, Mr. Raff contends that Google simply is too powerful and that the government should be considering a ‘search neutrality’ platform that falls in line with the ‘net neutrality’ platform. Here is a bit of his concern:

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Merry Christmas!

posted on December 25, 2009

I’d like to be among the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

I’m not sure what Christmas means to you, but here’s what it means to me.

Thanks Linus, I couldn’t have said it any better! :-)

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Tracking Santa Claus for Christmas

posted on December 24, 2009

Santa Claus Update: If you’ve not visited the NORAD Santa Tracker, you should head on over there. Google Maps is providing live tracking of Santa Claus–who’s currently in Ireland:

You can also track Santa via Twitter!

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As we’ve done for many years, it’s time to forget about marketing and focus on the whereabouts of Santa Claus (aka Father Christmas).

Fortunately, NORAD and Google make it easy to track Santa Claus each year, and this Christmas is no exception.

What to do next? Head over to the official Santa Tracking site, test out the new mobile Santa tracker, or just go play in the snow with your kids! :-)

Merry Christmas!

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And the Online Shopping Winner Is…

posted on December 23, 2009

I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath all holiday season to find out which of the made-up online shopping holidays would be the winner—Cyber Monday for the first time ever? Green Monday again? Brown Monday? Purplish-Blue-Like-a-Bruise Monday?

Sadly, none of the above. Nope, it was some no name: Tuesday, December 15. Coming from behind, that all-but-forgotten day of the week topped the online revenue charts for the first time with $913M in sales. That’s right, nearly one billion dollars in revenue online in one day—and yes, that would be the record for the most online spending in a single day, ever.

2009 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2008
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore, Inc

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Facebook Set to Pass MySpace Revenue Ahead of Schedule

posted on December 23, 2009

Facebook has drubbed MySpace on almost all fronts—in the media, with users, in growth, in traffic—except ad revenue. But expect that to change next year, according to eMarketer: “It will surpass its former rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010, when marketers worldwide will spend $605 million on Facebook versus $385 million on MySpace.”

The projections for next year show MySpace on a downward trend, falling from $490M worldwide this year to $385M next year. Facebook on the other hand is still climbing: from from $435M this year to over $600M next year.

Meanwhile, overall social network ad spending is going up. eMarketer predicts 7.1% growth for total ad spend next year, bringing the total to almost $1.3B. Although they initially expected 2009 to see a downturn in revenue, now the stats show 3.9% growth over last year.

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Celebrity Death and Misfortune May Help Advertisers

posted on December 23, 2009

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is finally coming to an end. As is always a very popular practice the media likes to take us on a stroll down Memory Lane but make sure we take a brief turn onto Morbid Court. Why? Because it is important to recap what celebrities either died or train-wrecked their lives in the past year. I admit that I read these lists more often than I should and often have the “I didn’t know they died!” moments which do literally nothing to make life better. They just happen.

So why not look at how advertisers may have or could have benefited from celebrity news that range from death to sordid trysts to you name it? Search Engine Watch has spoken to Blogads CEO Henry Copeland and came away with this

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MyBlogLog to Become NoBlogLog?

posted on December 23, 2009

I don’t quite ever remember a social network that I at first so loved, and then ultimately, so hated. Fortunately, the bad taste left in my mouth by MyBlogLog will likely go away at the beginning of the year–according to rumors that Yahoo will shutter the service.

MyBlogLog had so much potential as a network that connected bloggers with their readers. So much, in fact, that Yahoo bought the company back in January 2007. The ink was barely dry on the contract when the service simply started sucking: