Back in ’91at Rice University, I had fun participating in the most elaborate scavenger hunt ever: The Hunt. My team, “Kitten Up a Tree”, won the whole thing (I think I remember contributing to a Rebus puzzle…) although we don’t get a picture in the linked article
I can only imagine how utterly insane The Hunt would be if the organizers had the Internet and SmartPhones to add to the puzzles…
So Google is suing facebook over a “smear campaign”…
Facebook allegedly hired PR firm Burson-Marsteller to push negative stories about Google in the press, according to reports.
The argument is pretty classic — what Google sees as a smear campaign, facebook sees as a public service. Their response is that the public needs to be made aware (some more. again) of privacy concerns arising from the collection and use of their personal information.
The sad fact is, that while people are quick to click Gmail’s “Create Account” button, very few actually read though the Terms of Service as they are legally swearing by that action. So, boo hoo that you agreed to share your personal info with the world in return for free phone calls and a terrabyte of email storage. You got what you paid for; there is no such thing as a free lunch.
If facebook paid a PR agency to shine a spotlight on this issue, that was probably money well spent. As I tell one of my clients, it’s only a smear if it’s a lie.
But doesn’t facebook collect a lot of the same information, and suffer from similar privacy issues? The panes of this glass house are looking pretty muddy…
http://www.nma.co.uk/3026387.article?cmpid=NMAE09&cmptype=newsletter&email=true
Referral generator application Spreadable caught quite a bit of buzz over the last year… Killer Startups wrote a glowing review of their digital word-of-mouth widget; the ReadWriteBiz blogged about Spreadable; Digital Plunge wrote a rave review of Spreadable in a Digital Marketing Spotlight, and there’s no doubt the statistics looked great!:
So, how successful was Spreadable for the Grasshopper Group? According to Jonathan Kay, those Spreadable leads converted to customers at a rate of 20 percent! That’s quite an accomplishment when you consider that Grasshopper was converting between 1-2 percent of relevant organic search traffic.
A client recently (last week, recently) signed up for an account on Spreadable.com, eager to take advantage of those kind of numbers. But, over the weekend, Spreadable closed its doors! In an email to customers who had already signed up for the service, the Spreadable Team said that all current customers would be refunded fully, and also “We’ll be writing a case study about the experience which will be published in the next few weeks to help other entrepreneurs learn from our experience.”
I’ll look forward to reading that case study — what caused this abrupt end to a successful endeavor? And, in the meantime, I’ll reminisce about other Apps-that-used-to-be. Like Google Wave *sniff* there isn’t even anything left to link to.
We’ve had a full version of the RosettaStone language-learning software ever since my brother used it to learn Swahili for a research project he conducted in Kenya. I took Spanish all through junior high and high school plus a semester in college, but I’m still on a very VERY limited level of communication.
You would think that the copy of the RosettaStone that I already own would have encouraged me to aprenda el Español…except it didn’t. That translation of “learn spanish”? — came from the nifty little translation tool Babel Fish. I didn’t remember how to say “learn” in Spanish, but I didn’t have to! Babel Fish also lets you translate entire webpages — check out Metro-SEO’s landing page en Español. The problem with these online tools is that I don’t really have the information in my brain, even if it is at my fingertips. I’m like a child with a calculator who hasn’t learned to add. What happens when a Spanish-speaking customer calls? If I’m using translation tools to misrepresent my company’s skills or knowledge, then I’m doing a disservice to those site visitors.
But, today I came across an online demo for RosettaStone…could the planets align? Will this interactive online language game encourage me to learn more, and help me communicate better in Spanish, the way 7 years and countless books and dvds hasn’t? I hope so; because after Spanish, I need to learn Danish…but the story behind that will have to wait for another blog post.
Lately, I’ve become more and more enamored with Google Alerts. Google Alerts isn’t a new tool; it’s tried and true, and like other Google tools, it’s free. To quote those who know:
Monitor the Web for interesting new content
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you’ll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
Guess what I use it for, though…monitoring my clients web presence. Literally. If anyone says anything online about one of Metro-SEO’s customers, I receive notice in my inbox. I stay on top of news about my clients; often that leads to fresh content for social media and link strength. Clients appreciate the attention, too — win-win!
It’s a super-intuitive tool, too. I appreciate the common-sense settings to let you control the frequency of the alerts and how broad you cast your net to catch the information.
Granted, monitoring a common phrase or name can generate quite a list to skim through with each alert. So be careful with these settings, or try to be more specific with your search terms.
If you aren’t already using Google Alerts to stay on top of your company( or your competition, or your favorite celebrity)’s online presence, I encourage you to give it a try!
When Forbes.com suggested — as did I – that facebook was going after LinkedIn with its redesign focus on work history, LinkedIn was quick to respond:
In social networking, as in life, context matters. Most people do not want to mix their professional lives with their personal lives, and that’s why there is plenty of room for more than one social platform. At LinkedIn, we are singularly focused on building the platform for professionals to get the insights and connections that help them be more productive and successful in their careers. And, 85 million people and counting have joined LinkedIn to get the benefits of a professional network on a massive scale.
From Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill’s latest column LinkedIn Isn’t Scared of Facebook’s New Profile Pages.
I’m underwhelmed by the latest facebook revamp. After watching the recent 60 Minutes interview with Mark Zuckerberg, I was interested to see what the new changes would mean for Metro-SEO and our clients. Conclusion: not much. The layout has changed…a little. My FBFriends now have visible pictures on my profile. My education and employment are more prominently displayed. But the actual CHANGES…really, aren’t much. But, the ones I’ve noticed, I don’t much care for.
One bothersome recent addition is the fact that although Metro-SEO (and many MANY other companies) have created their own FB Business Pages, facebook hasn’t honored them — choosing instead to create new, empty pages.
Metro-SEO FB Page vs. the FB Page for Metro-SEO now displayed on my personal profile.
Why? I tried to change this (to point to our official Page instead of Facebook’s crappy reinventing the wheel version) but no luck so far. I’m sure I will roll up my sleeves and figure it out, but my point remains…why? Oh, don’t bother pointing out the obvious: facebook isn’t trying to beat Google (as Lesley Stahl tried to get Zuckerberg to say) — why would they? I’m sure they get plenty of traffic from Google, because facebook pages rank just fine in the search engine — it seems to me they’re trying to take on LinkedIn instead. With a concerted effort, perhaps they will get a larger slice of the professional market. But Metro-SEO will definitely still recommend keeping Professional and Personal profiles separate.
You’ve heard the phrase “Don’t shoot the messenger” – ”Shooting the messenger” is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the (blameless) bearer of bad news. In my past lives as grad student, QA analyst, and editor I was frequently the bearer of bad news…but didn’t always take that bullet myself. Even if the bad news is TRUE, there are always other things to blame for that bad news instead of paying attention to the problem highlighted. I’ve witnessed: “shooting the horse” (blaming the test); “substituting a burro” (changing the test rules to show a better result); and, “attacking the coachman because the wheel came off the horse drawn carriage” (testing ‘broke’ the product’). None of these excuses or explanations focus on the real problem being highlighted with the product under scrutiny.
That’s why Google’s reaction to a recent NYT article was so refreshing. The article highlighted a designer eyewear website, DecorMyEyes.com, that consistently ranks high in Google organic search results despite (and the author intuited because of) thousands of customer complaints on popular review websites linking to that website. In less than a week after the New York Times article was published, Google announced an algorithmic change to prevent high ranking for websites giving poor customer experience. This DESPITE the fact that, according to the Google blog, “the terrible merchant in the story wasn’t really ranking because of links from customer complaint websites”.
Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue. That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google’s search results.
This is why Google is winning the hearts and minds of its users: it doesn’t ignore bad news, or try to dismiss reports of poor performance by picking holes in the reports. Instead, it looks at the problems highlighted and finds a way to improve its product. And, continuous improvement to its product is why Google is the victor in the Search Engine war right now.
As you may (or may not) know, I have a long and complicated history with Ask.com…
I’m an avid reader, and one of my favorite authors is P.G. Wodehouse. I’m such a fan that I was active on the alt.fan.wodehouse message board (username: Sally Fairmile), and even a member of The Wodehouse Society (here’s photographic evidence from one of the Wodehouse Society conventions!). So, yeah, big P.G. Wodehouse fan! Wodehouse (or Plum, as he is nicknamed) wrote many novels and short stories — some of the best known feature Bertie Wooster and his ‘gentleman’s personal gentleman’, Jeeves.
In early 1999, I was living in Berkeley, CA, working as a QA analyst at U.C. Berkeley. The Internet was just hitting its commercial stride; “Search” was still fairly new to most people. I can remember helping my cousins look for used motorcycle parts on the Web, and thinking, “People shouldn’t have to know Boolean logic to find what they’re looking for.” But, they did, until Natural Language Search came along…with Ask Jeeves.
Ask Jeeves? Surely, it couldn’t refer to the same Jeeves I was familiar with? It was! The idea of this new Search Engine was to write your question — in plain English — and have the best answer delivered straight to you. Brilliant; I was smitten. A little more digging revealed that the company was in Emeryville, CA — practically next door! On a whim, I picked up the phone and asked if they were hiring (you know, just out of curiosity). The response: “We sure are; bring us your resume.”
Thus began my first real taste of the DotCom era. I dropped off my resume, and was called within a week to set up an interview. Since it was only my second job interview ever, I asked about the dress code, and was told “No sweat pants”…ohhhkaay. I studied up for that interview — checked out Askjeeves.com and went in for an interview armed with questions…and critiques! (like I said, only my 2nd ever job interview :p). Whether they appreciated my frank assessment of the product, or whether they were hiring all comers, I don’t know…but I was offered a job on the spot. Ahhh…the DotCom days were good!
My work at Ask Jeeves was the foundation for how I approach SEO today. My job then, in a nutshell, was to look at a website and say, “What is the Question for which this website is the very best Answer? And, what other ways can that Question be phrased?”. Each Editor (or ‘Jeeviant’) had their own specialty. It was our job to stay on top of the new and upcoming websites related to our specialty, and choose the very best ones to present as Answers. I loved that job!
Of course, all good things must come to an end. Under the influence of venture capitalists, Ask Jeeves grew too big, too fast. That upstart Search Engine with the odd name, ‘Google’, was growing stronger. Senior management didn’t see how the Editorial model could scale as the web grew. I was recruited away (see: DotCom) by Nielsen-NetRatings before the layoffs began, so I harbored no hard-feelings towards the company. And, because of my love of All Things Jeeves and the fact I still had friends working there, I kept close tabs on the company.
I started working for Ask Jeeves again in 2003, and (other than the name) everything had changed. I didn’t expect to come back to the same ‘Beer Fridays’, but I also didn’t expect it to be so…beige. Not just the decor, the whole attitude was much more Corporate. It had to be, I guess, because Ask Jeeves now had offices on both coasts and around the world! But, the spirit was gone. It wasn’t too much of a shock, then, when it was announced that Ask Jeeves was being purchased by IAC. Heck, that could’ve been cool — IAC owns some neat companies like Match.com, CitySearch, Evite — but then they did away with Jeeves in 2005.
My literary, fan-girl, heart broke a little bit when Ask Jeeves became Ask.com, but I worked there until early 2008. As Ash pointed out, it hadn’t been the great gig I remembered from way-back for a long time…but loyalty, habit, intertia, whatever kept me returning to the website as a user even after I was no longer an employee. I loved its Smart Answers feature — for conversions, distances, time, weather, etc. the Answer to your Questions was immediately displayed. Then last week they did away with that only remaining cool feature. I noticed, too, that there is no longer any background shading to differentiate paid advertisements from the organic search results. Shady (no pun intended).
That was it; I dumped Ask.com. And, a week later I read the news that IAC has done the same thing. CEO Barry Diller has ceded the Search war to Google, and says Ask.com will focus more on Q&A:
The new Ask.com Q&A platform also provides answers to questions asked using natural language. The answers are provided from links to relevant Web sites, and also from hand-crafted answers from members of an Ask.com community.
Hey — that model sounds familiar! Ask.com UK has returned to the Ask Jeeves brand. Will the US unfreeze Jeeves from his carbonite and do the same?
This is a kickstart to get my Dad’s article on Particle Surface Area noticed. What? You’ve had enough Physical Chemistry news? Nonsense! It impacts your life in more ways than you think.
Consider this from the article:
The overwhelming majority of manufactured industrial products and increasingly those for health-care purposes involve, either in the final state or at some stage of their production, suspensions of particulate materials or emulsion droplets dispersed often at high volume fraction. One only has to look at the vast array of cosmetics, personal care, pharmaceuticals and other health-care products to recognize the importance of adequate dispersion. In decorative cosmetics for example, its importance to application properties and color is significant; the dispersion of colored organic/inorganic pigments and dyes affects brightness and gloss. In sunscreens, the quality of the dispersion not only affects the formulation aesthetics but also the performance (e.g. SPF factor)12. And, increasingly, with the advent of Active Pharmaceutical Active Ingredients (APIs) possessing poor overall solubility, optimal dispersion is necessary for maximizing bioavailability and uniformity of dose.
Translation: we take for granted that our sunscreen will have the advertised SPF; that our makeup will appear the advertised shade; that two pills from the same bottle will have the same strength…but it’s all dependent on Particle Surface Area.
I absorb <*rimshot*> a lot from my Dad’s work with pharmaceutical formulations. Ash and I got to test the new face scrubs and sunscreens, and now I get to give something back by getting some exposure for his article. Because although he’s a genius with PChem, I’m the one with 15+ years on the Web, and a business (and blog) to prove it. :)
Submitting scientific articles online is difficult, because many databases are peer-reviewed and have stringent application processes. It’s much easier to be included in directories and industry resources for other industries. For example, to get a Realtor a profile on an industry directory like Zillow, the website “takes your word for it”, so to speak. I’ve submitted Xigonanotools.com (the site where that new article is buried) to Scirus, and I’m on the hunt for more resources which list new scientific articles– please chime in on the comments if you have more suggestions!
