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If there was ever a group of people that have to sacrifice in ways that I simply cannot imagine it’s the men and women of the US Armed Forces and in this case the United States Marine Corps (Semper Fi). These folks have volunteered to do a job that most of us would not do but ranks as one of the most important jobs any person could do. They make incredible sacrifices so we can complain about how rich people manipulate the Internet for more riches. Makes this all seem kind of insignificant doesn’t it? Now, the Marines have to abide by the order which bans all social networking sites from Marine networks which cuts off one of the few ways they can even feel like they still have a home.
Battle Lines Become Clearer Among Biggest Internet Players
posted on August 3, 2009
Maybe everyone was waiting for the Microhoo giddiness to be over. Maybe everyone had enough of hearing about the whole deal. Whatever it is there appears to be a more clearly defined landscape emerging as to who is going after what amongst the largest Internet players in the world. One thing for sure is that as the next phase of the Internet Age starts to unfold there is going to be some serious ‘contact’. It’s the corporate version of training camp opening up and preparations are being made to knock the snot out of the competition.
AP May Now Stand for ‘Always Pay’
posted on August 3, 2009
As if there wasn’t enough change on the Internet these days the Associated Press (AP) is now putting together a program that will cost anyone who uses anything that they publish a minimum of $12.50. While that may seem a bit much it gets even worse when you discover that that price is for using just 5 words or less of their material! We touched on the subject recently and this update suggests that things may be getting really weird since desperation rarely yields good results.
Mashable gives the lowdown on how this is shaping up and while pictures are worth a thousand words it may be best to look at this rate scale before we move on
Bingahoo Not a Slam Dunk for More Ad Dollars
posted on July 31, 2009
We know that the ink from Steve Ballmer’s huge pen is barely dry on the documents that christen the new era (or error) of the online marketing industry but inquiring minds want to know whether the masses are on board. In this case, the masses are advertisers who are going to need to gather intelligence regarding the true potential impact of how they allocate search ad spend in the future. This new kid on the block is not even out of the ‘corporate offspring’ nursery unit and polls are taking place as to whether advertisers intend to spend more money with the Baby Micro-Yahooy. ClickZ offers its take
[Advertisers] When asked, in light of the outsourcing agreement, “will you increase your search spend with Microsoft/Yahoo?”, 63 percent said they would not. “No” votes were cast by 169 out of a total 267 respondents.
Will the Wall Street Journal Take a Real Shot at Social Media?
posted on July 31, 2009
As I like to do when a post involves some ‘creative thinking’ I am warning you on this one. TechCrunch is ‘reporting’ the Wall Street Journal’s possible attempt at creating a social community (WSJ Connnect) that could compete with the LinkedIn set. I realize that outside of the Microsoft-Yahoo nuptials there has been little to discuss in the online marketing space as of late. With that in mind, since the TechCrunch piece includes the following it seems that it has to be taken with a grain of salt.
WSJ Connect is still in the planning/conceptual stages, says one source, but there is “strong interest” to move the project forward. Importantly, it would leverage the WSJ brand but would be a separate property and unencumbered by the need for a paid subscription to the newspaper.
The World According to Google
posted on July 30, 2009
I knew I should have done something to trademark a saying I use all the time with SMB owners and marketers that “It’s a Google world and we’re just allowed to live in it.” Ad Age today echoes a similar sentiment in a headline about the fact that Google is not only a dominant player in the US but can be even more dominating around the world.
As we have noted recently, it’s not all of the world that has decided to bow at the feet of the search engine leader. China likes Google but nearly as much as Baidu. The chart below from comScore shows that if there is even a soft spot in the Google plot for world domination via search it is in some Asian countries. As for the rest of the planet well take a look.
AOL Takes Its Lumps in the Last Quarter
posted on July 30, 2009
With all of news of the new mega Micro-bing-ahoo uber, super, partner / merger (insert your pet name here) in the past 24 hours, AOL tried to sneak one by us. Since are never ones to let someone try to skip past us with news it’s only fair that AOL get its moment in the spotlight. Trouble is this spotlight is one that most like to avoid.The Baltimore Business Journal reports that the soon to be cast away spin off of Time Warner had a rough go in the 2nd quarter
Advertising sales at AOL fell 21 percent last quarter, and parent company Time Warner Inc. said it is still on track to spin off the AOL unit this year.
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