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Personalization of search results has long been a point of great interest and contention in the search world. The battle has raged on, particularly regarding Google’s personalization efforts, about privacy for the Google user and how it will affect the search engine optimization industry. One of the ways that Google’s personalization efforts have been ‘limited’ is that the only people that have any personalization measures applied to them were those who were logged into their Google account. That was the case at least until last Friday when Google announced that their personalization efforts now apply to everyone regardless of whether you have a Google account or not. cnet reports Google keeps a history of your Web searches for up to 180 days, using what it says is an anonymous cookie in your browser to track your search queries and the results you most frequently click on. For several years it has allowed those with Google accounts to receive customized search results based on that history, but now even those without Google accounts will receive tailored results based on a history of their search activity, Google said in a blog post late Friday. So what’s the big deal? Well, if you are an SEO practitioner it means that your job gets a bit harder but this should be no surprise since this change has been happening for years now. What makes this one different is that it now applied to all searches. What is going to make privacy watchdogs antsy is the fact that is an opt-out program. Sure, Google made a nice video and explained this process in their blog but the overwhelming majority of Google users don’t even know Google has a blog and don’t care. Also, they don’t pay attention to this kind of stuff so opting out is a nice PR move but not likely to be widely adopted. So as to limit the confusion here is Google’s chart on how this whole thing shakes out. Please excuse the quality of the image. Hope Google finds exactly what you are looking for! Don’t forget to opt-out if you’re creeped out!

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Google Search Gets Personal With Everyone

A few days ago my father emailed me the above video. It’s from a project called the The Fun Theory . The Fun Theory is basically a group that is using various crowd sourcing techniques to help brainstorm ideas that make common everyday tasks fun–in an effort to change people’s behavior for the better. It can be for the betterment of the environment, your neighborhood, or yourself. I like the concept because they ask one of the most important questions, that is often times left out of the equation, “is it fun?” Before I started my own business, I was the IT guy at a real estate company. One of my tasks while there, was to develop an internal lead management system that we could use to evaluate incoming leads. The primary person responsible for using this system was a woman that had just returned to work after suffering the tragic loss of her teenage daughter in a car accident. From experience I knew that data entry is a very dismal task even for someone that hadn’t suffered a devastating life change. Therefore, I decided to code this system a little bit differently. After she had input a new lead into the system, the application would literally tell her a joke. All of the jokes were very corny and most were scraped from stupid websites, but despite that it worked! She loved the system, and it ended up being one of the tasks she would complete first during her day. The system was not only functional, but also fun. OK so don’t worry, despite the fact that I have already admitted to being a hippie. I am not going to force you to sing kum bi ya and hold hands. No, I have not forgotten, this is a marketing blog and we need to talk about money. Is fun profitable? I don’t have any numbers to support this theory (give me a break I am a snarky blogger, not a scientist), but I am willing to bet that fun can be extremely profitable! Let’s take a look at a few examples: Google Image Labeler – This is a cool little game , developed by Google, where the user is paired up with another and both must try to guess the same tags of an image shown. It’s incredibility addicting, and if you are as geeky as I am, fun too! However, “fun” isn’t the function. Every time you add a tag to the image you are inadvertently helping Google tag and organize all of the images in its index, thus improving Google’s Image Search feature. Funny USB Drives – You know those little key chain sized USB drives? Well, some companies have started to develop them in the shape of all sorts of things. Take a look at this one and tell me that isn’t fun! Disney – In this example “fun” is the function! Pretty much everything that Disney does is entertainment centered. When “fun” is the function, the rules change a bit because we aren’t marketing the product through a fun experience, rather we are creating a fun experience only. Volkswagen – So the most obvious example of fun from Volkswagen would be its classic Beetle . If you talk to anyone that owns one of those they will tell you that they absolutely love it. But if you want a more recent example of how Volkswagen is using fun, go back to The Fun Theory that we discussed above and you will notice that Volkswagen is the project’s chief sponsor. Um, why would Volkswagen sponsor a silly project like that? Because, it helps them continue their brand as the feel good, fun loving company that hippies love! And, because it gets them exposure! Remember when I said that my dad sent me that video? Well, when I say video, I mean it! He didn’t send me the YouTube link. He sent me a 7MB video file, attached!! He took the time to figure out how to do that (I have no idea who taught him) because he wanted to make damn sure I got it! That type of brand exposure is extremely powerful! All of the above are examples of Experience Marketing ( via ). Experience Marketing is a tactic that puts the consumers’ experience at the forefront of the design and development process. For folks that dabble in Experience Marketing, function isn’t the only end use. Details such as aesthetics, design, and concept also play a crucial role. These products are meant to be “experienced” just as much (if not more) as they are meant to be “used”. So, if you want to try out Experience Marketing for yourself, take a look at your products and ask yourself, “are they fun?”

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Cup of Joe: Naughty USB Drives, Mickey Mouse, & Volkswagen all Teach a Lesson in Fun!

How do you share files on Twitter? Growing your followers means you will move beyond the people that you personally know. I’ve met scores of people on Twitter that I will never meet in real life. I also don’t have personal contact information for many of the people I know on Twitter either. So how do you send someone a file online without their email address? Surprisingly, there are at least nine different sites that can answer that question for you. From presentations to mp3s to documents to zip files and anything else, they can now be sent via Twitter. This really opens up the use of Twitter from a simple communication tool to a new way to share large amounts of information. I sat down with my co-workers and created a wish list of qualities that we as marketing people want in a Twitter file sharing tool. Of course, all the apps have to be free, easy-to-use and require no downloadable client. Beyond that, we wanted to be able to: * store at least 15 mb of data * share multiple file types: mp3, doc, ppt, zip, pictures, videos * public and private tweets * use OAuth so you don’t have to create a new account * have it self-delete after a certain amount time * share across multiple platforms The evaluation method was simple. I visited each site and registered. After my profile loaded, I took a screenshot of the interface and then spent about ten minutes looking around the site. A decent site should be able to explain itself in that time. After using the application, I rated each site against my wish list. Tweetcube Tweetcube allows you to upload zip, rar, pdf, jpg, png, gif, mp3 and txt files. Or at least it says it says it does. I could only get to step two and wasn’t able to upload anything. According to Tweetcube, you can upload as many 10 mb files as you want, and after 30 days they get deleted. Or you could if it worked. Ten megabytes seems to be the lower end of the uploading spectrum anyway. PROS: You can upload up to 10 mb, uses Twitter OAuth so you don’t have to create an account. CONS: It doesn’t work. Tried several times over two days to use the site. At first it wouldn’t let me login. After I got past that, I was never able to upload a file. RATING: Thumbsdown Tweetmojo Tweetmojo allows you to share videos, photos, files and tweets of up to 1400 characters long. There is no mention of upper size limit on file sharing and a tweet to their Twitter account didn’t get a reply. I tried uploading a 36 MB pdf and after waiting 10 minutes, nothing happened. It didn’t give me any indication that the file is being uploaded, so I don’t know if I didn’t wait long enough or if it never tried to upload the file. The Twitter OAuth didn’t work either so I could never log in to post anything to Twitter. There is also a timeline so you can see what other people have uploaded from the site. Tweetmojo does allow you to record your own video and post it from the site by using the Viddler video recorder. That is, if the sign in feature worked. PROS: Allows you to upload any file type and you can record you own videos from the site. Nice feature that allows you to add long posts without having to upload a file. CONS: It didn’t work. I was able to upload smaller photo files and record a video, but could never sign in to Twitter to use it. RATING: Thumbsdown Twitt Twi.tt gives you the ability to upload pictures, videos, documents, audio and create a poll. The screen is divided into tabs so you can select from which area you want to upload. Under each tab is a selection of options, such as upload from computer, get from website, capture from webcam or post by email. Most of the these options aren’t available yet but there is a message that it should “be added in just a few days.” You can choose between posting your file to Twitter or just putting it in the Twi.tt public timeline. There is no mention of file size or how your files are hosted on their system or for how long. PROS: Hurray, it works! There doesn’t appear to be a file size limit and a 29 MB file uploaded just fine. CONS: Most of the site’s features don’t work yet. It’s unclear what happened to your uploads after you share them. RATING: Thumbsdown TwitFS TwitFS offers a free non-account version, which is pretty good. You can upload up to 100 MB at once, you can share videos, audio, pictures and documents, and you can publish to Twitter, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, message boards and send via email. You can also store your file for 30 days, send a direct message to an individual or message everyone in your tweetstream. Once uploaded, your file gets its own page and you can share the url or embed it in another program. If you register with TwitFS, you can upload a file up to 250 MB, a file manager, a direct link to the file, parallel downloads and unlimited file storage. For a small fee starting at $0.99, you get up to 2.5 GB maximum file size. PROS: It does everything we could want from a file sharing site. It’s worth registering with the site for added features. CONS: Um….can’t find any. RATING: Thumbsup Filetwt Filetwt is another simple site. You enter your Twitter username and password, enter a 114 character message and upload a file up to 20 MB. The file then goes out on your public Twitter stream. The site creates a TinyURL that links back to a page where you can download the file. It works basically the same as Filesocial, but not as well. It also offers the ability to sign up for an account, which allows you to send private tweets, better storage and allows for creating a friend list to send files to. The friend list isn’t a complete list of your Twitter followers. PROS: Easy to use and share files with a simple one step process. CONS: You don’t get a link to your file unless you go to your Twitter stream and find the tweet. The registered version doesn’t pull in all your friends and doesn’t give you the option to add friends that are missing. RATING: Thumbsdown FileSocial FileSocial is the prettiest site of the file sharing tools. You can upload any file up to 50 MB and post it to your public Twitter timeline. The file is stored on their servers for an unknown amount of time. FileSocial sends out a message to your Twitter stream with a TinyURL. People can view your file, download it or leave a message on it. It also opens the file without having to download it. There is also a downloadable client that allows you to drag and drop files you want to share. PROS: Easy tool that allows you to share any type of file on Twitter. CONS: FileSocial only allows you to post to Twitter. You can take that URL and share it on other sites or post in an email, but you can’t do that directly from the site. RATING: Thumbsup TwitDoc TwitDoc uses the Twitter OAuth to log you into their account. You can upload up videos up to 25MB, documents up to 15MB and photos up to 10MB. I’m not sure why they are using different file sizes for each type of file. Once you’ve uploaded your file and sent your tweet, you get a TinyURL, which links to a page where you file is. It’s a simple site that gives you the ability to share files quickly and easily. There is also a downloadable client that allows you to use the site’s features from your desktop. PROS: Easy to use single function site. CONS: There is no list of all the files you upload. You can’t control the files once they are uploaded if you don’t have the URL. It doesn’t handle audio files. RATING: Thumbsdown Acamin Acamin is designed with a nod to the academic community. That doesn’t mean it’s limited to that field. You can post files to your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account. I tried adding a picture and was given a series of error messages before finally being told that my image was posted to my Twitter account. When I clicked on the URL to link back to the image, I got a “This file is not available!” error message. According to the icons on the page, you can attach a file to an email, publish it online, get the code to embed your file and convert it to a pdf. PROS: The ability to publish files on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as being able to convert documents to a pdf file. CONS: It doesn’t work. I counted at least six error messages before the site attempted to send the file, then got another error message after posting. RATING: Thumbsdown Conclusion TwitFS did the best by ultimately having the best features. It’s simple to use, accepts the largest files and allows you to share the file across multiple networks. Best of all, it works without any problems. FileSocial is also recommended for it’s ability to view the files without having to download them. © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . 8 Twitter Apps That Make It Easy To Share Files

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8 Twitter Apps That Make It Easy To Share Files

Google continues to play around in the lab trying to come up with something to create a better end user experiment. They sure seem busy over there in Mountain View because it doesn’t seem that there’s a day that goes by without some new service being announced. Today, it’s the Google labs offering called Image Swirl which is a different way to help group images in a search so they can be more readily sifted through. I think it’s pretty neat. Doesn’t set the world on fire but it’s neat. The Official Google blog proclaims Back in 2001, to give people a new, quicker way to find images, we launched Image Search. When you do a search for [eiffel tower] you’ll find an array of images of the tower in the daytime, in black and white, at sunset and more. With Similar Images, which recently graduated from Google Labs, you can click “Find similar images” to narrow your search to, say, pictures of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Today, we’ve launched an experimental feature in Labs called Google Image Swirl, which builds on new computer vision research to cluster similar images into representative groups in a fun, exploratory interface. A fun, exploratory interface? Sounds like some kind of alien probe in a not so pleasant area but hey it’s engineers talking here, right? Here’s the initial page you encounter when doing an image search in Swirl. Then you can further break down your images to see them like this Image Swirl expands on technologies developed for Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition to discern how images should be grouped together and build hierarchies out of these groups. Each thumbnail on the initial results page represents an algorithmically-determined representative group of images with similar appearance and meaning. These aren’t just the most relevant images — they are the most relevant groups of images. So it’s neat but it’s not anything that will change the face of search. Hasn’t Google done enough of that already?

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Google Image Swirl in Labs Now

As far as Internet business goes it would be hard to imagine someone having a worse year than Sanford Wallace. Who you ask? Mr. Wallace is the Spam King who had a judgment made against him last year in a suit filed by MySpace for $234 million. Now add Facebook to the list of people who basically own Mr. Sanford, Facebook. Just so you know, while I say he is having a bad year it doesn’t mean I am not thrilled to see this kind of Internet low-life get what he deserves. Mashable tells a little more about Mr. Wallace and how deep he is into this now. Today Facebook reported they’ve been awarded $711 million in damages by a San Jose, CA court against Sanford Wallace, the notorious “Spam King” that MySpace also successfully went after last year to the tune of a $234 million judgment. That’s some serious cash. Of course, they don’t expect to see that kind of money from Mr. Wallace (probably a case of not being able to get blood from a stone). All Facebook needs to do is to continue to send the message that they are not going to roll over and play dead when the spammers come to town. I say good for them and I hope they keep at it. Facebook’s blog tells the rest of the story because this is not the first time this has happened. This isn’t the first time we’ve gone to court to battle spam. Last November, we also told you about our first victory—an $873 million judgment made against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital for sending sleazy messages to people on Facebook. This was the largest judgment ever for an action brought under CAN-SPAM. We continue to work on collecting as much as possible from Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue (likely far less than the full amount) and have hired a firm to help with this. We’re hopeful that this kind of persistent pressure will act as a deterrent against those attempting to trick and annoy people on Facebook. At the end of their post the Facebook team states that they will “continue to bring spammers to justice.” While I understand the desire to clean things up this image of a Facebook super hero approach to the spam issue is too much for even the most zealous Facebook supporter to not chuckle at. But hey, it sure beats them rolling over and just allowing their product to get all junked up. Keep it up, Facebook.

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Facebook Continues to Can Spam

For many people, real time is the holy grail of search—and an area that the popular microblogging service Twitter has soundly beaten all the search engines on. Google’s struggling with it, and Bing’s last foray, in partnership with Twitter, was disappointing . But they’re not about to make that mistake again. Bing says if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. They’re partnering with Twitter to bring real time to searches. Bing describes the search engine: A real-time index of the Tweets that match your search queries in results. This feature makes it easier to follow what’s going on by reducing the amount of duplicates, spam, and adult content. Giving you the option to rank tweets either by most recent or by “best match,” where we consider a Tweeter’s popularity, interestingness of the tweet, and other indicators of quality and trustworthiness. Providing the top links shared on Twitter around your specific search query by showcasing a few of the most relevant tweets. Additionally, Bing automatically expands those small URLs (like bit.ly) to enable you to understand what people are tweeting about. Instead of showing standard search result captions, we select 2 top tweets to give users a glimpse of the sentiment around the shared link. And to see it in action (or you can use it here ): Interestingly, this comes at the same time as other real time search developments from Google . However, real-time indexing and actually accessing the real time information in Twitter can be two vastly different things. Bing wisely highlights the benefits this real time search info, using personal examples from their staff, most notably “Sean Suchter (my boss) and I avoided a closed freeway on a rainy Seattle day and made our flight home” and “Eric Scheel (principle program manager on the team) a photo-gear junkie, keeps up on early product reviews and owners’ tweets, which helped him decide on his next purchase” (although clearly non-RT search could do that). For now, the Twitter-enhanced results reside at http://www.bing.com/twitter , but they may be fully integrated with all SERPs later. A partnership with Facebook is also slated to be announced today. What do you think? Is this what you’re looking for in real time search? Will you use it? Do you want it on your regular SERPs, or do you like using it separately?

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Bing Goes Real Time with Twitter