S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Subscribe
Get the next ClickZ Today newsletter delivered to your inbox!

October 18, 2009 - October 24, 2009

October 22, 2009

Anatomy of a Content Sweatshop (link buffet)

The Answer Factory: Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell An in-depth look at the content factory that is Demand Media, and the complex search and ad data analysis that underlies its business.

Craigslist Isn't Liable for Erotic Services Ads--Dart v. Craigslist (Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog)

Controversial Amp App Gets Dumped By Pepsi (AdAge)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Which Blogosphere Does This Year's Technorati Report Reflect?

Last year, we reported that around 50 percent of bloggers have ads on their blogs. So, how could that number have dropped to 28 percent this year?

Well, according to Technorati, the publisher of the second-annual "State of the Blogosphere" report, the pool of respondents to this year's survey of bloggers is much bigger than last year, arguably producing findings that are more representative of the blogosphere.

Indeed, last year's survey included just 1,400 participants, while this year's included 2,900, according to Technorati VP of Marketing Jennifer McLean, whom I spoke with earlier today.

I'm sure some scientific statisticians have smoke coming out of their ears right now, but I think it's worth mentioning the disparity between the two reports since we did cover last year's numbers.

"Before we simply had a higher concentration of serious bloggers," McLean told me. This year, lots more so-called "hobbyist" bloggers - the ones who write blogs just for the hell of it and don't collect any ad revenue from them - took the survey. So, essentially, the ad-supported concentration was diluted this time around.

Here are a few other numbers from this year's (arguably) more accurate poll. Of those bloggers running ads:
- Around 40 percent run display and Google AdSense-type text ads (listed in the report as "search" ads).
- 36 percent include affiliate marketing links.
- 8 percent feature rich media ads or paid blog posts.
- The mean annual amount of ad revenue generated is around $42,500.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Real-Time Search Results vs. Real-Time Data Collection?

While much of the focus of yesterday's dueling announcements from Google and Microsoft that each search engine would be including real-time Twitter feeds in its search results dealt with the potential benefits to users, I think that's just a side-effect of the deal.

It would seem to me that the bigger benefit here is that the data from Twitter's so-called "firehose" of all current Tweets would be a boon to each search engine's organic search efforts, allowing them to create new algorithms that recognize trending topics more quickly, identify large-scale linking habits, and otherwise improve their overall search results, outside of any Twitter results.

Will this change people's Twitter habits? Well, there are already plenty of Twitter spammers out there, but this will only serve to encourage them more. Now that these spammers can potentially affect all search results, instead of just Twitter results, they will likely redouble their efforts.

For the non-spammers, this may lead them to think twice before posting something to Twitter, now that it will be more likely that their Tweet will appear in search results on Google or Bing, instead of fading into the obscurity of their Twitter stream.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 21, 2009

Bing Gets Closer to Real-Time with Twitter, Facebook Deals

Microsoft's Bing just got a little bit closer to delivering real-time search results through a pair of data deals with Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Dr. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's Online Services Division, told the crowd that Bing will begin offering a real-time index of Tweets, tools for filtering Twitter search results, and the top Tweets on a topic.

The beta of Bing Twitter search is only available in the U.S.

A search on Bing Twitter will bring up the most recent Tweets on the search topic, as well as top links shared on Twitter about the topic.

Tweets can be sorted by time, or by a Bing-defined "best match," which will include factors like the Tweeter's popularity, "interestingness" of the Tweet, and "other indicators of quality and trustworthiness," according to a Microsoft spokesperson.

Bing Twitter will also include a listing of the hottest topics on Twitter, along with the top links shared on Twitter about those topics.

Details on the Facebook partnership are less clear. Dr. Lu said that the deal is coming, but a spokesperson would only say that a "global partnership with Facebook that will bring public Facebook status updates to Bing search results" will be available "at a later date."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yanks' Posada Endorses Bloomberg in Web Ad

Chances are, if you're in NYC, you've spotted a lot of ads for Mike Bloomberg online in recent months. As part of the multimedia ad onslaught to re-elect the mayor for a third term, his campaign has placed ads on Facebook and across ad networks like Google's AdSense.

Lately, I've seen ads for Bloomie in online ad and Internet biz trade pub RSS feeds. But today I saw an extra special, extra-targeted ad for the mayor featuring Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. The ad turned up in my news reader in an uncharacteristic Silicon Alley Insider post about last night's Yankees/Angels game umpiring mishaps.

Was this creative part of the business audience-targeted buy, the baseball audience-targeted buy, or both? It's not clear. And frankly, the multiple attempts I've made to reach the campaign in the past months have been futile.

Still, despite my dismay as a die-hard Mets fan that our biggest adversaries -- Phillies and Yankees -- are close to making the World Series, I can't help but appreciate it when my online advertising, politics and baseball worlds collide.

You've gotta wonder, though, will the Posada ad be a liability, dissuading Mets fans from voting for Bloomberg? Or worse -- and I'm only half-serious on both these points -- all those Yanks fans angered by Posada's hapless base running last night?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube to Stream Live U2 Gig

Rock band U2 has announced that its concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California on Sunday will be streamed live via YouTube. The gig will be broadcast live via the site to users in 16 countries, including the U.K., the U.S., Australia and Japan, with portions of content remaining available after the event itself.

The opportunities for brands to get involved with the event aren't exactly clear, but a YouTube spokesperson told me that banner ads will be served next to the live content, with in-stream and overlay ads being sold against the archive content. Users will also be encouraged to make donations to Bono's RED charity from the dedicated YouTube page.

YouTube hosted its own "YouTube Live" event back in November '08, from which it streamed live performances from artists such as Akon, will.i.am and Katy Perry. In addition, the Google-owned site announced a deal last week with U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, through which the majority of its content will be available to stream on demand via the site in the U.K.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 19, 2009

Google Acquisitions Likely to Target Mobile, Display Ads

Google Acquisitions Expected To Target Mobile, Display Ads Analysts believe revenue-generating companies are most likely targets. (Investor's Business Daily)

Twitter is Launching Its Own 'Fledgling' Wine Label (SF Weekly)

Cool Ad: "Dead Space" Roadblock Execution on GameTrailers.com (Banner Blog)

TV Industry Seeks Game Plan for Twitter (LA Times)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

See More Posts From:

Today | This Week | This Month