Marketing Pilgrim

Facebook is borrowing $100 million to accommodate growth on the site. The money, from venture loan firm TriplePoint, brings the amount raised to around $350 million.

The site has grown quickly and needs around 50,000 more servers to handle the load. Facebook has over 70 million active users and around 109 million monthly visitors.

According to Business Week, Google and Microsoft need a lot of server space. Google has at least a million servers and adds 500,000 per year. Microsoft is adding 200,000 servers per year.

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Yesterday MySpace announced that you can use your MySpace profile on other sites. Not to be outdone, today Facebook announced their version. It’s called Facebook Connect and it’s a good sign that data portability is catching on. Especially because Facebook usually doesn’t follow suit when it comes to sharing data (unless it’s for advertising).

Facebook Connect was announced on the company’s developer blog.

Privacy is a big concern as it always is with social networks. Free means you give up personal information so you can be on the site. If you change your mind, getting the information off could be tricky. Also, each site has its own privacy policies.

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Each time you sign up for a new site you create a profile which is unique to that site. You’ve got to upload a picture and fill everything out. It’s a pain to keep up with it all, which is why I haven’t yet added my picture to my Digg or LinkedIn profile.

MySpace has launched the Data Availability initiative which can make MySpace your home base for profiles. With this new initiative you’ll be able to integrate elements of your MySpace profile on partner sites that so far include Twitter, eBay, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and Photobucket.

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Another Google exec has decided to leave Google to join Facebook. This time it’s Elliot Schrage, vp of global communications and public affairs. He’ll become the vp of communications and public policy at Facebook. He was at Google for two years.

The funny part is how quickly he got on Facebook and started sharing the news. Like the COO hire, this is a strategic hire for Facebook as they try to follow in Google’s stock price footsteps. If enough early stage Google employees go to Facebook they just might be able to recreate that early Google startup feel.

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I feel like I’m trying to sell something, but it’s true. Google is running a promotion to encourage people to try Google TV Ads. Details below…

Google TV Ads is out of beta after almost a year. As part of Google AdWords, you can run and track the results of television ads. At first glance the two concepts seem incongruent - online advertising and tv ads.

However, people watch tv and then go online to search, edit Wikipedia articles, go to web sites, and yes, buy products. An iProspect study said 37% of TV watchers go to search engines based on what they see in an ad. It’s also important because your online marketing and offline marketing campaigns should complement each other.

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In recent interview with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt spoke out about his biggest concerns. Most pressing issue is the possible merger of Microsoft and Yahoo - which could happen as early as next week. Then there’s the problem of how to make money off YouTube – which is costing the company millions a year in hosting costs.

First, the tale of good (Google) and evil (Microsoft) and the fight over struggling Yahoo. In the interview, Schmidt talks up Yahoo’s strengths and warns about Microsoft’s evilness.

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If you read Marketing Pilgrim, or if you read online marketing blogs, you’ve probably heard of Twitter. It’s the rage at tech conferences and in certain communities. Outside of these circles, almost no one has heard of it. But while it may not have reached critical mass, the growth is pretty impressive.

I’ve noticed that people either haven’t heard of Twitter, have a mad crush on it, or HATE it. I asked a room full of paid search managers if they tweet, and one did. Out of the total number of people I work with (most of us do SEO or PPC) my guess is there are about 5 people on Twitter.

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An Google vanity search launched a movie idea for a filmmaker named Jim Killeen. He searched Google on his name to see what came up. This was two years ago and Killeen’s life was feeling empty. He was 38 and single. So after taking interest in the other Jim Killeen’s of the world, he decided to contact them and make a movie about what he learned.

He put everything on the line to make documentary about his journey which is now showing on YouTube and called, “Google Me The Movie.” Killeen doesn’t say how much he spent traveling and filming the documentary, only that he almost went bankrupt doing it. Making money doesn’t seem to be the point anyway.

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Google AdWords advertisers who want to show ads on mobile phones had just one choice - text ads. Now they can also run banner ads - or as Google calls them “mobile image ads.” They are like regular banner ads but smaller.

All of the mobile image ads are keyword-targeted. You pay only when someone clicks on the ad (unlike many others that charge per impression or how many times your ad is viewed). There are four sizes of banners to choose from: (305 x 64), (215 x 34), (192 x 53), (167 x 30). The ads display the URL that they go to and the links must go to a mobile web page.

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Yodle, a company that focuses on local internet advertising, has been accepted as an authorized reseller of Google AdWords(tm). The program is to help companies focus on paid search for small businesses.

According to a Nielsen survey, 74% of people said they use search engines to find local business. Yet, only 3% of local marketing budgets are spent online. When it comes to paid search, it’s somewhat easy to start, but difficult to manage. If you don’t manage it well, your turning on the faucet and letting money run out.

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Happy Earth Day everyone. It’s time to plant some trees so you can unload any liberal guilt you may be carrying around. Here are some things you can do to show you’re green:

Earth Day For Google Fans
Donate to a nonprofit that focuses on environmental issues and Google Checkout will put you on a Google Map. You’ll get your own marker and they’ll show that you’re connected to friends who also donate.

Get yourself on another Google map by sharing an idea or what you’re going to do to help the earth. It’s a little easier if you live on a commune (because you can get other people to help!):

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Blog software company Six Apart acquired creative agency Apperceptive, a company that built blogs for sites such as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, BoingBoing, and iVillage. Now they’re launching an advertising network for blogs. They are also venturing into design, programming, and blog marketing services.

As an ad network, Six Apart is competing with Federated Media Publishing, Glam, Blogads, and others. Here’s how it will work - they will get advertisers, bloggers put the ads up, and the two share revenue (not sure what the payouts are like, but I believe it’s typical to get 20-30%). Six Apart is working with Adify to provide back end support so bloggers can see their payouts and manage their account.

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