Archive for 2009

#w2s 2009: Top 50 Web 2.0 Summit Tweets

October 23, 2009

The fifth year of the Web 2.0 Summit was held in San Francisco over the last several days.

This year the Web 2.0 conference theme was Web Squared.

About the 2009 Web 2.0 Summit:

We believe that nothing is going to get better if the world collectively hides under its desk. It’s time for the Web to step up and step into its role as a platform for positive change—be it in our economy, our culture, or our society.

Last year we focused on where the Web met the world. This year, the Web is the world. And we’ve got a lot of work to do.

Entire industries are in the process of painful rebirth—finance and energy, to be sure, but also information technology, media and communications, healthcare, retail—nearly every major sector, in every major region of the world. And while these changes have been ongoing for more than a decade, the global financial crisis has accelerated and clarified this shift. It’s the end of one era, and the beginning of another.

At the center of both the destruction and creation is the World Wide Web. For this year, we are focusing on demonstrating proofs: showing how the founding principles of Web 2.0 have been put into practice to address the world’s most pressing problems.

Although I wasn’t able to attend in person this year, I have captured all of the Tweets that came out of the conference and posted the Top 50 Twitter Tweets (in no particular order) I found most insightful below.

RT typos – can’t edit multiple Tweets?

RT@Ross I have to say that Sean Parker’s preso was at first too basic and then made leaps beyond reason #w2s

RT@kajbouic Well, they sure do own the behaviour RT @fzanni RT Sean Parker: “Google doesn’t own Networks, they own Info Services.” #w2s

RT@marcedavis Teen Panel at #w2s love Facebook cuz?”that’s where their friends are.”

RT@lwaldal Why pay if I can get it somewhere else for free? (teens on panel) #w2s

RT@alparker To teen panel at #w2s Q: “If Bing paid you to search, would you use it?” A: “Oh, yeah!!!” But would advertisers continue to?

RT@ptoboley Hurrah for Twitter! RT @RodCrawford: Teens don’t use Twitter #w2s #web2 – …because it requires thinking.

RT@mtanne: teens: “if Facebook charged $0.99 a month I would go back to MySpace” #w2s

@benphoster Teen Panel at Web 2.0: Not a single kid could name the company behind Bing #w2s Maybe that’s good for MSFT.

RT@LorenDavie Kids: would rather text than talk. Maybe you should drop the phone part, manufacturers. #w2s

RT@samj putting high school kids on the stage at #w2s is either incredibly insightful or idiotic. which is it? SF kids not stat sample

@sradick: “when you search on Google, do you see any ads on Google?” – Teens answer “Nope” #w2s

@sradick “The iPhone can’t do picture messaging – like, isn’t this supposed to be sophisicated?” – teen at #w2s

@sradick: Teens pay for CDs & music, but only for artists they “want to support” #w2s | All about Trust & Engagement – !ndeed

Have the television viewing habits of teens decoupled from regular televised programming?

RT@kristathomas Social networks as still more walled gardens. -TBL @ #w2s

RT @mtanne: Sergey Brin says we can use Chrome for Mac by going to http://bit.ly/DUqUc pre-beta. #Chrome #w2s

RT @moyalynne: Berners-Lee – “Semantic Web is not about adding meaning – it’s about where you’ve already got meaning” #w2s

RT@ginablaber Berners-Lee: it’s most important to just get data out there. put yr data out there, & let people link to it. linked data #w2s

RT@jhagel @fzanni: Tim Berners-Lee: the original idea back in 1990 was creating together. That was lost for some time #w2s

RT@moyalynne The idea that links can break is key to scalability of the Web. “404 the most important invention on the Web” #w2s

RT@dberlind Sir Tim Berners-Lee @ #w2s: One of the gating factors for the whole world of Web apps to take of is trust.

RT @hetavs@davemcclure: Sean Parker: “Friendster lost due to infrastructure probs, but MySpace lost to Facebook due to CAMPUS WARFARE.” #w2s

Web 2.0 Summit 2009 http://bit.ly/Web2_0Videosabout 3 hours ago from bit.ly

RT@jwoolson what is most exciting to you on web right now – Berners-Lee: HTML5, GeoLocation, move from web pages to mobile and apps. #w2s

RT@mworrell @mager “A set of connected social networks will defeat a lone, unconnected one.” Sir Tim Berners-Lee @ #w2s (via @dberlind)

RT@rlavigne42 @stumm :17 cents of every dollar in health care spent on billing. –Aneesh Chopra #w2s A simply astonishing number.

RT@yago1 “Only 20-25% of humanity actually uses the Web at all.” Tim Berners-Lee #w2s (via RT @rww)

RT @the_standard VentureBeat has a #w2s photo gallery. http://bit.ly/Av9IU

Pretty cool free video chat and video messaging http://bit.ly/Tokboxabout 3 hours ago from bit.ly

KoolAid Alert! “We’re moving from information economy to social economy.” – Sheryl Sandberg #w2s

RT @katiemoffat @thenextwomen: Cool! via @LATimesNystrom “The very 1st website can be found here” http://j.mp/TIqiI re #w2s @timoreilly

RT @onlythoughtwork @web2summit: “HTML5 is a computing platform” – @timberners_lee #w2s !mportant Web 2.0

What problem couldn’t you solve if spent 8 hours a day of concentrated effort focused on solving it?

RT @onlythoughtwork Location is THE input to rule them all. Location has the potential to change all outputs #mobile #life #quotes

Great idea from #w2s: What associations does an audience have with your brand? http://bit.ly/BrandAssociat…

Advice To Marketers: Advertising Accountability: http://wp.me/p4KvI-eAabout 4 hours ago from WordPress.com

RT@BertVanKets @makerbot @doucet: $750 DIY 3D printer @makerbot explained and demonstrated (video) http://bit.ly/3omyls #w2s

RT@psael HP @Web2Summit: 2.3 billion magazines are shipped to newstands & never read; HP answers with print-on-demand service @MagCloud #w2s

RT @andrescatalan What Do Teens Want? Their Moms Off #Facebook http://bit.ly/2gdbkC #w2s (via @alexiatsotsis)

@timberners_lee is on Twitter.

RT @moyalynne Tim Armstrong / AOL drops teaser about significant shift in their tech emerging next few months around content creation #w2s

RT @simeons Brin: excited by hardware (Moore’s Law persisting). #Google is about figuring out what we can do with what the HW can do. #w2s

RT @web2summit Google founder sergey brinn @ #w2s: “Please forgive Chrome for Mac if it crashes, it is not even in the beta stage yet.”

RT @shawncunningham #w2s I just asked Sergei Brin “where is chrome for mac?” – apparently u can download a dev alpha version, he’s not happy

RT @dberlind Goog Sergey Brin #w2s: “They [the AP, Murdoch] are conflating Google with change [in their complaints that Google is stealing]”

WordPress Listens to Their Customer Audience

October 22, 2009

Several months ago WordPress announced the introduction of their own url shortening service under the WP.me branded domain.

At the time, I congratulated the WordPress staff on their blog while also asking when or if I could ever Tweet WordPress blog posts directly to my Twitter account.

The Official WordPress blog approves or disapproves comments and my suggestion went – for what seemed like an eternity – without being published.

Then within the last week or two, WordPress announced their new Publicize feature which Tweets WordPress blog posts directly to Twitter accounts.

I thought – unbelievable, Are you kidding me WordPress?!

As a consultant I am used to sharing strategies and techniques for growing businesses with my clients, but I provide them because my clients reciprocate by paying my fees.

Sharing ideas freely on the web is a requisite for participating in web culture yet not giving credit where credit is due is what keeps additional ideas from flowing and then multiplying.

This morning I woke up thinking about the above process and how I was going to write about how my suggestion had been perpetually embargoed in an approval que at WordPress while they went ahead and launched their Publicize to Twitter service.

To my surprise, my comment and suggestion were actually published several weeks ago while also being acknowledged by Automattic’s User Engagement head @Wordpress –  Heather.

Wordpress Listens to Their Customer Audience

Wordpress Listens to Their Customer Audience

Congratulations WordPress… you not only listen to your customer audience, you also act on that which you have heard.

Google Adwords Professional Status Post Mortem

October 21, 2009

I received the following email today from Google regarding the expiration of my Google Adwords Professional status.

Email Notice

Email Notice

We are writing to alert you that your Company’s Qualified status in the Google Advertising Professionals Program has lapsed. This has happened for one of the following reasons:

At least one required exam for a Professional associated with your program has expired

Your spend for client accounts has dropped below the 90-day requirement

Log into your Google Advertising Professionals account here to learn more.

Your Company account pages at the Google Advertising Professionals Program site have also been updated to reflect this information. Please log into your account to learn more about how you can correct this problem as soon as possible.

Your authorization to use the Qualified logo has been revoked, and you may not link to it or use it in your promotional materials until you have regained your Qualified status.

To learn more about program qualification requirements, please visit the Help Center.

Sincerely,

Google Advertising Professionals Team

You have received this email because you are an Administrator of a Company account in the Google Advertising Professionals program. As such, we send you alerts and notifications when critical events take place that require your attention.

_________________________________________________________________________

Indeed, my Google Adwords Company summary page has had my portion of its account’s history scraped, however the number of days since I created my first Adwords account and my 90 managed spend data are still visible.

As I wrote about previously, I actually created my first Adwords account in March of 2002. I don’t know why this isn’t correct within my account’s data.

Qualified Status

Qualified Status

As mentioned in their email, Google has disabled the link to the Professional status badge I previously linked to.

For those of you keeping track – Google does this on the 30th day after an individual’s status expires.

Adwords Professional Lapse

Adwords Professional Lapse

I was one of the first 25 people in the world to pass the Google Adwords Professional Exam – a long time ago.

When the Adwords Professional program was launched, there was no mention of having to retake an exam every two years to remain qualified.

Being asked to retake their exam isn’t unreasonable – its just inconvenient.

I am not sure when or if Google ever officially announced Adwords Professionals had to take an exam every two years to remain qualified but for those of you who weren’t aware of this requirement – in addition to the Google Adwords minimum spend requirements – you do.

Yes, I did receive notice from Google in My Client Center account about my Adwords Professional status expiring – fourteen days before it expired!

Adwords Pro Messages

Adwords Pro Messages

Maybe its just me, but I need more than 14 days advance notice to plan for, schedule, take and pass a test – particularly one I hadn’t planned on taking.

How about this Google Advertising Professionals team: Can Adwords Professionals get 30 days notice prior to an Adwords Professional status lapsing instead of fourteen?

I am sure a majority of the other 1,000+ Google Advertising Professionals in the world would second and ratify my motion.

This would surely help those of us who spend all of our time managing Google Adwords accounts instead of spending our time taking tests to prove we know how to manage Adwords accounts.

At Least Yahoo Is Trying…

October 20, 2009

A search for Google on Yahoo produces rather interesting results.

Yes, the top result is an ad for Google from Google.

However, the next result although innovative is quite biased in nature:

“You could go to Google. Or get straight to your answers here.”

Yahoo Google

Yahoo Google

Apparently navigational search ie., “google” is alive and well at Yahoo.com.

To Yahoo’s credit, a search for advertising in their “search here” box does produce a top sponsored listing result for Yahoo Search Marketing.

Yahoo Advertising Search

Yahoo Advertising Search

Yet curiously, organic search results for Yahoo marketing are nowhere to be found while Microsoft Advertising appears fourth in Yahoo’s search results.

Doesn’t Yahoo’s absence from their own search results for advertising mean Yahoo is in need of some help with their site’s own Search Engine Optimization?

Internet Ad Revenues First Half 2009

October 19, 2009

The Internet Advertising Bureau has released its internet advertising ad revenue report for the first half of 2009.

Search And Display Ads 1/2 2009

Search And Display Ads 1/2 2009

As could be expected, Search Advertising saw the largest increase in spend while Classifieds and E-Mail experienced the largest decreases.

Content Network Rich Media To Include Ads By Google Notice

October 18, 2009

The Google Content Network (Google’s AdSense partner websites) has begun to affix “Ads by Google” attribution messages on rich media ads.

The Ads by Google attribution is unobtrusive to rich media advertisements but still gives users clear notice if they want to learn more about online advertising at the moment they’re looking at the ad.

Content Network Rich Media Ads

Content Network Rich Media Ads

This new Ads by Google notice shows up as a small “i” (for “information”) icon overlay in the bottom right-hand corner of ads, and expands if the user hovers over it. Just like with regulart Google Content Network ads, users who click on the “Ads by Google” label will be taken to a page where they can learn more about Google’s advertising practices.

Google has added these new notices to their content network partner’s rich media ads to comply with the Federal Trade Commission’s recommended principles for online advertising.

Superpages Promoting Google and Yahoo Paid Search

October 17, 2009

While logging into my Superpages.com account I noticed a promotion for paid search products from both Google and Yahoo.

SuperPages Google Yahoo Ads

SuperPages Google Yahoo Ads

Although I am highly certain there are significant benefits available to advertisers who use Superpages to place Google and Yahoo advertisements in their behalf, I not as certain what benefits beyond a percentage of advertising spend Superpages.com will receive for sharing their advertisers with Google and Yahoo.

Authorized Adwords Reseller

Authorized Adwords Reseller

Top 50 Web Properties

October 16, 2009

comScore has released its September 2009 Top 50 Web Properties list by unique visitors.

From comScore:

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in September with 165 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 160 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 133 million visitors. Facebook.com held its #5 ranking  with 95 million visitors, while ESPN climbed 9 spots to #30.

Top 50 Web Properties

Top 50 Web Properties

I wonder how many of the top 50 web properties and their ad generated revenues it would take to match and surpass Google’s advertising revenues?

Google Editions: More Inventory For Google Adwords?

October 15, 2009

From the 61st Frankfurt Book Fair, the Associated Press reports Google plans to enter the eBook market with its new service Google Editions.

Clarifying their earlier announcements regarding Editions, Google will only offer books submitted and approved by the copyright holders.

The books bought through Google Editions can be read on any device with a web browser including smart phones, laptops, netbooks and personal computers.

Google plans to make their ebook inventory available through resellers while hosting the content on their servers to make the books searchable.

Ultimately Google plans to make books available from anywhere on any device.

Once Google Editions has been launched, look for Google Adwords to continue to appear in book searches like they do now at Google Books if not on the right rail of every page regardless of which device is being used to read the book.

Google Adwords Google Books

Google Adwords Google Books

An IP Question For The Associated Press

October 14, 2009

Today I read an Associated Press article on Crain’s New York Business site about the Wall Street Journal overtaking USA Today as the top circulated newspaper in America.

I thought the article was interesting and decided to Tweet it for others to see.

Only after I Tweeted the article’s link – did I notice the following Associated Press claim:

©Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Does my Tweeting their article violate the terms of their copyright claim?

Does Tweeting or Retweeting an Associated Press article constitute “broadcast” or “redistributed” material?

Does adding a url shortening link to an article’s original page address qualify as being “rewritten”?

If so, shouldn’t the Associated Press modify their copyright claim to include Tweet or ReTweet like my example below?

©Copyright 2009 Tim Cohn. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed, tweeted or retweeted.

Or are Tweet related copyright claims unnecessary?

I am not an IP attorney, however if you are an IP Attorney – feel free to tackle this question.