 |
|
Premier Expo Passes for the upcoming Web 2.0 Conference & Expo are SOLD OUT! Early bird registration ends today, December 31 ($199 for Members and $299 for Non-Members). Starting Jan. 1, regular registration pricing will be in effect ($299 for Members and $399 for Non-Members). FREE Expo Only passes are still available but we will need to cut those off at some point. Hope to see you there. Don't miss it. Register here. Labels: web 2.0, WebGuild
 Yahoo's Chief Performance Officer (CPO), Steve Souders, is moving to Google starting next week and will be a speaker on "Creating High-Performance Websites" at our Web 2.0 Conference on Jan. 29. Sounders, who has been with Yahoo since 2000 was responsible for developing a set of best practices for making web sites faster. He worked on the YSlow Firefox (Firebug) extension, as well as the official Developer Network, and the User Interface blogs. He is also the author of a book titled - you guessed it - High Performance Web Sites. Labels: GOOG, Google, websites, Yahoo, YHOO
In the U.S., more and more people are turning to the internet to find information and resources. In a study conducted by the Pew Internet Group, they found that people are consulting the internet more than experts or family members on common problems such as illness, finances, taxes, and careers. 58% of those surveyed said they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other place) to get help. - 58% of those who had recently experienced one of those problems said they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other place) to get help.
- 53% said they turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers or financial experts.
- 45% said they sought out friends and family members for advice and help.
- 36% said they consulted newspapers and magazines.
- 34% said they directly contacted a government office or agency.
- 16% said they consulted television and radio.
- 13% said they went to the public library.
Labels: internet
Here are the top ten WebGuild videos of 2007. 1. Usability 2.0 - Google, Yahoo, and Netflix
2. Web 2.0 2006 - AJAX: Creating a Rich User Experiences3. Web 2.0 2006 - Keynote: Marissa Mayer, VP, User Experience & Search Products, Google4. Web 2.0 2006 - Keynote: Ram Shriram, Founding Member, Google & Safa Rashtchy, Managing Director, Piper Jaffray5. Web 2.0 2006 - Ad Trends6. Searchnomics 2007 - Keynote: Marissa Mayer, VP, User Experience & Search Products, Google7. Future of Online Advertising8. Next Generation of Social Networking9. Searchnomics 2007 - Keynote: Bill Tancer, General Manager, Global Research, Hitwise10. OpenSocialView more videos. Labels: Searchnomics, web 2.0
Baidu, the top search engine in China, reported that Shawn Wang, CFO, Baidu.com, was killed in an accident on December 27, 2007. "We are all completely shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news," said Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and CEO, in a statement that described Wang as a "tremendous leader" and "wonderful friend." The company did not provide details of the fatal accident, except to say that it took place "in China during the Christmas holiday vacation." Wang had helped guide the company through its 2005 IPO on the Nasdaq. A new CFO has not been named yet. Labels: Google, Search
If you'll be travelling by air in 2008 be sure to review the new rules for carrying batteries on airplanes. The new battery rules are here at TSA's website. On new rule is that you are NOT allowed to pack lithium batteries in your *checked* luggage, though you *are* allowed to have them in carry on baggage in clear plastic bags. It's also a good idea to review the 3-1-1 rule here at TSA:
3-1-1 for carry-ons = 3 ounce bottle or less (by volume) ; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin.
 AOL's announcement that it will no longer be supporting the Netscape Navigator browser come Feb. 1 officially signals the end of an era. Many industry experts have considered the browser dead for several years now. The company which acquired Netscape Communications in 1999 has decided "it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox" in light of the "gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer". The Mozilla Firefox browser is an open source browser Netscape released in 2000 and in 2003, spun off as an independent unit, the Mozilla Foundation. Firefox has been gaining in popularity over the years giving Microsoft's Internet Explorer some competition. According to data from internet metrics firm Net Applications, as of November 2007, IE accounted for 77.35% of the browser market, Firefox and Netscape had 16.01% and 0.6%, respectively. Labels: web browsers
It's pretty much a standard practice online to require users to provide some information about themselves prior to gaining access to "free" content. The price of this free content is clearly your personal info. If your site runs third party ads, the business rationale is generally to learn more about your users so you can serve them more targeted ads for which you can charge advertisers a premium. For other sites like enterprise sites, the motivation is for lead generation so you can seek your sales guys on them once they have registered. The problem with these forms is that users loathe them; they just want the info - not straddled with a catch to get the information. Depending on the site, the form may be longer than others' and there may be more required info than others'.  So, do most people just opt not to complete these forms? Are there many lost opportunities for business for these sites? Probably. Because registration forms are not standardized and because the usability of such forms may vary from site to site, many users may choose to forego the promised content altogether. I, myself, have signed up if I deem the information valuable enough; however, there are many users who wouldn't bother. And, don't state that it will take 30 seconds when in fact it takes 5 minutes. This is a cost-benefit analysis that each site needs to determine for itself based on its users, the actual time it takes to register, and the value of the reward for registering. Sites which offer the same content as elsewhere or for which similar content can be found from other sources online like news sites, should not be forcing users to register to read the news. They simply lose readership and annoy users. Sites like NYTimes and WSJ which require users to not only register but in the case of WSJ, complete a four page form and pay for the content, when you can get the same thing on CNN.com for instance, are missing the boat here. And then of course, there is the degree of personal information some sites may request. NYTimes asks what is your annual household income and guess what - it's a required field; although, you can choose not to say. I wonder how many people really do say! The other usability issue that can arise is once a user is signed in, how quickly does the system time out forcing users to re-signin. This can get tiresome. If users do signup, however, then they have basically opted-in or self-selected, thereby, making them more likely to remain a loyal user. It is the ones who choose not to register that sites need to figure out where they might have failed in converting them, considering, they got them as far as the registration form. So, in summary if you are considering adding a registration form:-Figure out your cost-benefit analysis -Keep forms short -Refrain from too many required fields -Don't ask for too personal info -Don't mislead users on the form completion time -Make your forms usable -Be mindful of short system timeouts -No more hurdles. Once the user has completed the form, give them what they are looking for! Labels: websites
In December 2005, Google invested $1 Billion for 5% of AOL as part of a search and advertising partnership. The terms also gave Google the right to force Time Warner, parent of AOL, to conduct an AOL IPO or buy AOL's stake back at "fair market value" as of July 1, 2008. Beginning on July 1, 2008, we will have certain rights to require HoldCo to register the HoldCo interests held by us for sale in a public offering. If we exercise this right, Time Warner will have the right to purchase our interests for cash or shares of Time Warner stock based on an appraised fair market value of our equity interest in HoldCo in lieu of conducting an initial public offering.
At the time of the investment, AOL was valued at $20 billion. Industry sources estimate AOL’s valuation to be approximately $10-$15 billion today (same as Facebook’s paper value). If that is correct, it represents a realized loss of $500 million for Google on its investment. However, Google is probably in no hurry to dispose of the investment, especially when Google's search deal with AOL is still generating revenue. I would assume by July 2008, sufficient cash would have flowed through to Google to make up for the paper loss. More importantly the deal has enabled Google to lock up valuable search and search ad market share on a huge property. What is that worth? We all know what Microsoft paid Facebook for a taste of that. It also puts Google is a position of strength when it comes to renegotiating the deal if the current valuation holds. I would also assume that Time Warner would be happy to sell more of AOL to Google because it puts more money in their coffers. An AOL break-up or IPO would be likely if Google wanted to sell its stake – which does not make sense because it puts a large chunk of search and search ads market share up for grabs. However, a senior officer of AOL told me that some layoffs are still pending and that many AOL employees are praying for an IPO so that they can start feeling Googley. Labels: Google, Online Advertising, Search
Wal-Mart's decision to offer businesses search marketing services is a good sign that internet marketing is now fully in the small business mainstream. I'm not as skeptical as many SEO's who have commented online, suggesting Wal-Mart can't do SEO and SEM well. Quality search marketing is mostly a function of basic technical knowledge, basic principles of search, common sense, and quality analytics which Google now provides at no charge. Most SEO and SEM functions can be taught and outsourced, though it will be interesting to see how Wal Mart approaches the education of the thousands of specialists they could need to meet demand for these services. Although it's extremely unlikely that any big players will switch from internal projects or even outsourced high-end firms, this entry by Wal-Mart could threaten the huge number of mom and pop SEO/SEM shops by scooping up business that would otherwise go to them, especially if there are any Wal-Mart special deals with Google, Yahoo, and MSN to provide Pay Per Click or other forms of advertising at discounted rates. Also, if there is a money back guarantee it could cinch a lot of small businesses away from local "experts", many of whom have very questionable SEO and SEM skills anyway. So, would you trust Wal-Mart to provide your small business SEM? Labels: Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization
 There is virtually nothing you can't do online and now that even includes taking a cyber puff. While patrons of French bars, restaurants, and nightclubs may no longer be able to smoke in these establishments come Jan. 1, smokers can now get their smoke-on online. Complete with entertaining videos, support group, and information, European tobacconeer, Altadis, has created a social networking site called Le Lab. But don't get your smoking jacket on just yet, Le Lab is an internal only website to rally the company's brand managers in the face of France's increased smoking ban. Labels: web 2.0, websites
Google Search dominated the online search market in November according to a report by Nielson Online. Google grew its share of the U.S. online search market to 57.7% with 4.25 billion searches in November from October's 55.5%. Yahoo came in second with 1.32 billion searches and a decreased market share of 17.9% from 18.8% in the previous month. Microsoft Live was third with about 880 million searches and a decreased market share of 12% from 13.8% in October. AOL was number four with approximately 332 million searches accounting for a 4.5% share. Labels: AOL, GOOG, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, YHOO
 E-tailers came out ahead of traditional offline retailers this holiday season. The rumblings about a possible recession, high gas prices, housing market crisis, and high credit card debts have negatively impacted holiday sales this year. Offline retailers felt the pinch and are reporting a small increase of 2.4%, whereas, online sales were up 22.4% from the 2006 holiday shopping season according to the MasterCard SpendingPulse. comScore is also reporting that online retail sales increased 19% over a year ago, hitting a record $26.2 billion from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21. Labels: eCommerce
 Japan's top mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo is reportedly teaming up with Google to offer search and email on the company's handsets. Users will soon be able to access Google search, email, scehduling and photo-saving through NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode Internet network. The company is also looking at using Google's free OS for mobile devices to create the next gen handset which could result in a host of new services being rolled out by the two giants as early as mid '08. Labels: GOOG, Google, Mobile, Mobile Search, mobile web
In a survey of U.S. PC users who were asked if they had heard about online, browser-based office productivity applications, it turns out that 73% had never heard of them. The remainder had heard of online office tools such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets, gOffice which allows you to create Word docs on your iPhone, Zoho, etc. and tried them.  Labels: Google Docs, iPhone, web 2.0
Early bird registration for the upcoming Web 2.0 Conference & Expo ends in 5 days on December 31st, 2007. The cost is $199 for members, $299 for non-members, and Expo Only passes are FREE. On Jan 1, ticket prices will go up. Don't miss your chance to take advantage of this offer and to attend this cutting-edge Conference. Register here. Labels: web 2.0, WebGuild
Flickr has been my favorite Web 2.0 application for some time, and I think it's for a very good reason: Flickr is a fundamentally enabling application. Initially, I just used the (superb) photo uploader to send all my vacation and family pix online for easy storage. That soon evolved into better labelling, categorizing, and searching for photos, as well as the ability to share them with friends and family, even restricting access as needed. Flickr makes all this fairly easy, and as such sets what I'd say is *the* critical Web 2.0 guideline - make it simple! My favorite feature of Flickr has come about fairly recently. It is the ability to connect your blog to Flickr and then quickly post Flickr photos to your blog along with a blog post for the photo that you can write from within Flickr - i.e. you don't have to do a separate blog logon and blogging session to get the job done. This really rocks because, again, it is *simple*. Sure, it's not a big deal to copy images and upload them separately to blogs, but I think with each step comes a cost in terms of your time and more importantly your motivation to get the job done. Flickr makes it almost seamless to upload, categorize, and blog an image in the matter of a few minutes. That's beautiful, and that is a Web 2.0 standard I'd love to see everywhere. Labels: web 2.0, Yahoo
 The WebGuild's Web 2.0 Conference & Expo is coming up on January 29. The conference focuses on how to apply Web 2.0 technologies to business with reps from more than 50 leading companies in attendance. If your company would like to participate in the Conference, here are three ways to do that:1) Panels - speaking (limited spots). Selected companies will be paired with an industry giant in their respective space. No cost to participate. 2) Showcase companies (limited spots) - each company gets 10 mins - 5 to present & 5 for Q&A. No cost to participate. 3) Expo - $2500, includes table, electricity, internet access, free to distribute material. Why would you want to showcase your company?-Expected audience size: 1000 -20 big time VCs already signed up (VCs focused on web companies) and more coming -Opportunity to get in front of a highly targeted group of web professionals Labels: web 2.0, WebGuild
Here is yet another company's attempt at defining Web 2.0 for us. This one comes complements of Nokia. Labels: web 2.0
 Google Adwords which allows you to place ads on Google SERP pages has renamed the feature formerly known as "site targeting" to " placement targeting". Whereas, site targeting allowed advertisers to target entire websites, placement targeting AdWords ads can now appear on precise subsections or positions on sites in addition to an entire website, select web pages, or a particular page position. Here's how you can create your own placement-targeted ad:- Login and click Placement-Targeted. Log into your Adwords account, and from the 'Online Campaigns' table on the 'Campaign Summary' page, click 'placement-targeted' at the top right in the 'Create a new campaign' section.
- Create new placement-targeted campaign. Follow the five-step setup wizard to create a campaign and from the 'Target ad' step, list URLs of websites where you would like your ad to appear. You can also search for placements that match the themes and topics you'd like to target.
That's it. This now allows you to place ads on any sites you choose that is running Google Adsense. Labels: Adsense, GOOG, Google
 Mozilla is doing its part to weave a good experience for users online. Mozilla Labs introduced " Weave" a couple of days ago. Weave will "focus on finding ways to enhance the Firefox user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences". The basic organizing principles around this idea are to provide a set of Mozilla-hosted online services, use freely available open standards-based tools, allow users to control and customize whether and how their data should be shared with their family, their friends, and third-parties, and provide privacy mechanisms like client-side encryption and access rights. Labels: user experience, websites
Not super surprising that the web is the newest hangout for teens. According to a study " Teens & Social Media" conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project "some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treating it as a venue for social interaction – a place where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others." What is interesting, however, are the trends being reported on teens' usage patterns online. The use of social media – from blogging to online social networking to creation of all kinds of digital material – is central to many teenagers' lives.39% of of teens online between the ages of 12-17 share photos, videos, and stories online and approximately 30% either work on a webpage or blog for someone or have their own, up roughly 20% from 2004. The number of teen bloggers nearly doubled from 2004 to 2006 with girls dominating the blogospere at 35% versus 20% of online teen boys. This could be attributed to girls tending to be a little more communicative and expressive than boys. A whopping 55% have created a MySpace or Facebook profile and there is evidence to suggest a direct correlation between teens with social networking profiles and blogging. Many of these teens also tend to be bloggers, read blogs, and comment on blogs. 57% of online teens watch videos online but boys trump girls in watching and posting videos online. Although photos and videos are an important part of teens' lives online, most reported restricting access to their photos and the majority report receiving comments on their photos and videos. Communications patterns for teens are shifting for "multi-channel teens – those teens who use the internet, instant messaging, text messaging a cell phone, and social networking sites" to cell phones, IM apps, and social networks. And, compared to adults, teens are least likely to use email as a means of communicating, opting instead for texting, IM, and social networks to keep in touch with friends. This data validates what we've all been seeing which is the growing popularity and demand for Web 2.0 phenomena such as user-generated content in the form of blogs, photos, and videos, and for social networking communities.  Labels: social media, Social Networking, social networks, Youtube
 I was at an Apple store yesterday - this one was newly refurbished - and was struck by how kool and high tech it is. The store is kinda easy on the eye, open, and new-age design much like Apple products (iPhone, Mac, iPod, etc.). Hit the closest available Mac to surf online - the graphical picture quality is next to none. And, if you have some, get your kids started early by dropping them off at the kiddie Mac play area complete with miniature sized everything. There are built-in plasmas on the wall telling you who is the next customer being served and offering up tips on how to use your Apple products along with definitions of terms like Wi-Fi and bandwidth, etc. There are store clerks everywhere. I made the mistake of pausing a few times and was instantly approached each time by a clerk offering their assistance. No need to checkout your purchases at the cashier, clerks on the floor come out-fitted with electronic POS devices. Got a Mac because it looks cool but have no idea how to use it, a friend of mine mentioned he was getting his friend a one- to two-hour lesson for Christmas with an in-store Apple "genius". Ok, I wouldn't consider myself a die-hard Apple fan - I have a Mac collecting dust - but I do like Apple products and their product and UI designs and experience (on- and offline) are good. Not perfect but good. Where else can you get this?! The Apple Online Store is equally cutting-edge. The UI is clean, clear, streamlined, and seemingly simple. It is Web 2.0-esque with the use of gradients and radial-edged corners. It is wide-screen, utilizes a lot of white, displays a lot of content which is well organized and clearly labeled. The scale of images is not overly large or small. The online store site is clearly identified at the top left with a store-specific search (separate from the general site search), contact tel, and online chat. The company has had a stellar year and with their recent release of Mac OS X Leopard, they sold 2 million copies in the first weekend. Fresh on the rumor circuit is that Apple has sold nearly 5 million iPhones since its debut in June, half of their '07 and '08 goal. Apple is also currently embroiled in a controversial case against Harvard student, Nicholas M. Ciarelli's web site, Think Secret, which reports on leaked insider info about Apple's product plans. They have reportedly come to an undisclosed settlement which, in essence, means the site will be shut down. Nonetheless, they keep pushing the edge on product and UI designs and I look forward to what's to come from them in the new year. Labels: Apple, usability 2.0, user experience, web 2.0, websites
|
|
DiggIt
Del.icio.us
Stumble It!
