SEO Consultant - Shimon Sandler » Blog Archive » Leveraging User-Generated Content: "According to Forrester Research, User-generated content (UGC) is being created by approximately one-quarter of online consumers. In my opinion, UGC can be used as an SEO tactic, and can take the form of product reviews, discussion boards, comments on blogs, etc.
Besides being a way for big brands to engage with their consumers, UGC can also add relevant content to a webpage, thereby optimizing the content for Search."
SEO Consultant - Shimon Sandler » Blog Archive » Leveraging User-Generated Content
Media Life Magazine
Online Retail Will Hit The Wall: "A new forecast from JupiterResearch predicts a slowing in the growth of online retail sales and an eventual plateauing at between 10 to 15 percent of total sales.
“Even though sales online may plateau at 10 to 15 percent, the influence is so much greater than that,” says Patti Freeman Evans, a senior analyst of the retail industry at JupiterResearch.
“We expect continued eyeballs and growth in the amount of research people are doing, and that is a very fertile pool for advertisers."
World Screen - Home
Harris Report: YouTube Users Watch Less TV
LINK: "According to Harris Interactive, about 32 percent of frequent YouTube users are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend online.
Of the frequent YouTube users, 66 percent claim they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube, including other websites (36 percent), time spent watching TV (32 percent), email and other online social networking (20 percent), work/homework (19 percent), playing video games (15 percent), watching DVDs (12 percent) and even spending time with friends and family in person (12 percent).
The report notes that 42 percent of online U.S. adults have watched a video on the Google-owned site. And 14 percent of those respondents said they visited the site frequently."
"We know from some of our other data on teens that YouTube is just as popular with them as it is with young adults," says Aongus Burke, the senior research manager at Harris Interactive's Media & Entertainment Practice."
At AlwaysOn, talking 'bout the IM generation | CNET News.com
At AlwaysOn, talking 'bout the IM generation | CNET News.com: "The Internet is 'the way they're going to express themselves, the way they're going to communicate, the way they're going to buy things, the way they're going to share things with their friends, and so on,' Verba said. 'I think it's really a generational shift. It's hard for us to think that way.'"
Forward Thinkers Push Reverse Product Placement: "Homer Simpson's drink of choice, Duff Beer, doesn't exist in the real world. Imagine if it did. That's the idea behind reverse product placement. While traditional product placement refers to integrating a real brand into a fictional environment, an idea that's gaining traction is to create a fictional brand in a fictional environment and then release it into the real world."
Boing Boing: Sweden to be first country with official embassy in Second Life
Boing Boing: Sweden to be first country with official embassy in Second Life
When saying "Uncle!" is never enough. The SL blitz just keeps chugging right along.
Small screens, new programs - International Herald Tribune
Small screens, new programs - International Herald Tribune: "Advertising — which most agree will have to be the prime source of revenue for Internet TV — faces hurdles. These include the lack of an industry standard for pricing Internet video ads as well as the questions of where, when and how to show ads."
A great, fast read on the immediate challenges facing online video and its many start ups. Notably, Joost is mentioned.
Tolkien's Middle-earth expands in online game - Yahoo! News
Tolkien's Middle-earth expands in online game - Yahoo! News: "Game publishers Turbine Inc. and Midway Games Inc. (NYSE:MWY - news) will on Thursday unveil details of the highly-anticipated massively multiplayer online game, 'The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar' with a launch date of April 24.
"
Mitchum Man
Mitchum Man
The deodorant brand is trying to one up the body shaver brand by replacing the dude in a bathrobe (see ShaveEverywhere.com) with a pretty lady who takes it (not all) off for you.
AP Wire | 01/24/2007 | Text message novel published in Finland
AP Wire | 01/24/2007 | Text message novel published in Finland: "'The Last Messages' tells the story of a fictitious information-technology executive in Finland who resigns from his job and travels throughout Europe and India, keeping in touch with his friends and relatives only through text messages.
His messages, and the replies - roughly 1,000 altogether - are listed in chronological order in the 332-page novel written by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala. The texts are rife with grammatical errors and abbreviations commonly used in regular SMS traffic."
Wired News: CIA Gets in Your Face(book)
Wired News: CIA Gets in Your Face(book): "Since December 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency has been using Facebook.com, the popular social networking site, to recruit potential employees into its National Clandestine Service. It marks the first time the CIA has ventured into social networking to hire new personnel.
The CIA's Facebook page (login required) provides an overview of what the NCS is looking for in a recruit, along with a 30-second promotional YouTube video aimed at potential college-aged applicants. U.S. citizens with a GPA above 3.0 can apply."
Consumers Not Keen on Ad-Supported Video on Web, Mobile: "Consumer interest in long- and short-form programming leans more toward free and all-you-can-eat subscription models than ad-supported or a la carte. That's according to 'Programming for the Three Screens,' a report published this week by JupiterResearch.
Thirty-seven percent of consumers with high-speed Internet access have an interest in watching either long or short form TV programming online, the report states. Roughly half the group looks for full-length TV programs rather than clips, additional footage and live broadcasts. "
Why tech leaders think Second Life could be a gold mine. - Jan. 22, 2007
Why tech leaders think Second Life could be a gold mine. - Jan. 22, 2007: "By early January more than 3,000 IBM employees had acquired their own avatars, and about 300 were routinely conducting company business inside Second Life. 'The 3-D Internet may at first appear to be eye candy,' Palmisano writes in an e-mail interview, 'but don't get hung up on how frivolous some of its initial uses may seem.' He calls 3-D realms such as Second Life the 'next phase of the Internet's evolution' and says they may have 'the same level of impact' as the first Web explosion."
Madison Avenue Calling - New York Times
Madison Avenue Calling - New York Times: "Cellular phone carriers like Verizon, Sprint and Cingular, now the new AT&T, are beginning to test and roll out advertising on mobile phone screens, and by next year, cellphone advertising is likely to be more common.
In exchange, the companies say, their subscribers will enjoy improved mobile Internet services and content provided free or at reduced prices. Other companies like Virgin Mobile USA and Amp’d Mobile are taking the idea a step further, rewarding customers for viewing ads by lowering their cellphone bills."
Advertising Age
Advertising Age - ONLINE VIDEO AD EFFECTIVENESS VARIES WIDELY: "The top-performing ads can lead to a 37.8% lift in ad awareness while the bottom-performing ads barely registered any increase. And creating that online-ad awareness is the first step to moving the needle on other kinds of metrics, including message association, brand favorability and purchase intent."
Digital music sales doubled in 2006 - Yahoo! News
Digital music sales doubled in 2006 - Yahoo! News: "Global digital music sales almost doubled in 2006 to around $2 billion, or around 10 percent of all sales, but failed to compensate for an overall decline in sales of CDs, the global music industry trade body said Wednesday."
MediaPost Publications - This Joost In: Venice Project Drops Cover, Changes Name - 01/16/2007
MediaPost Publications - This Joost In: Venice Project Drops Cover, Changes Name - 01/16/2007: "THE VENICE PROJECT, THE CODENAME for a new venture by the founders of Skype and Kazaa that has been promising to transform the way people watch TV over the Internet, has changed its name to Joost, and is going public on its plans and intentions. 'Joost is a new way to watch TV, free of the schedules and restrictions that come with traditional television,' the start-up's founders write on a new Web site launched this morning. 'Combining the best of TV with the best of the internet, Joost gives you more control and freedom than ever before - control over what you watch, and freedom to watch it whenever you like. We're providing a platform for the best television content on the planet - a platform that will bring you the biggest and best shows from the TV studios, as well as the specialist programs created by professionals and enthusiasts. It's all overlaid with a raft of nifty features that help you find the shows you love, watch and chat with friends, and even create your own TV channels.'
"
MediaPost Publications - When It Rains It Pours: Nielsen To Issue Six Streams Of Commercial Ratings Data - 01/15/2007
MediaPost Publications - When It Rains It Pours: Nielsen To Issue Six Streams Of Commercial Ratings Data - 01/15/2007: "MADISON AVENUE HAS LONG DESIRED TV commercial ratings data. It's now about to have its wish fulfilled - six-fold. Nielsen tomorrow is expected to announce a new plan that will provide six separate streams of data to advertisers, agencies, TV outlets. According to the plan, the new, multiple streams of average commercial minutes ratings data will be released beginning in May and Nielsen's clients will have until the end of August to evaluate them before a decision is made on how and whether they should become the official ratings currency for the new TV season beginning in September 2007."
IBM, Circuit City go prospecting in virtual world | CNET News.com: "IBM has clearly decided to put a major emphasis on virtual worlds and the potential such environments offer it and its many partners. It has around 1,000 employees who are spending some time in Second Life, and according to its metaverse evangelist, Ian Hughes, IBM has three employees who are doing nothing but working on Second Life projects."
Once a global player such as IBM gets involved it becomes awfully hard for marketing services agencies' interactive groups to compete. Heck, IBM's got one thousand employees trolling SL to master the environment. Most agencies don't even have a thousand employees! Ack!
eMarketer.com - Useless Information: "The findings indicate that organizations are simply failing to keep up with the volume of information produced by technological innovation. In fact, 59% of the managers said that because of poor distribution, they miss information that might be valuable to their jobs 'almost every day.' Although they know the information exists somewhere in the company, they cannot find it."
BBC NEWS | Americas | Taser launches 'stylish' stun gun: "US stun gun maker Taser is unveiling a sleeker version of its controversial weapon aimed at safety and fashion conscious members of the public.
Available in pink, blue, silver and black, the gun fits into a handbag like a mobile phone. It will be launched at a Las Vegas electronics fair on Monday."
Mmmm ... it even matches your iPod Nano!
Gadgets freed of binding cables | Chicago Tribune: "A technology called `eCoupled' that powers gadgets ranging from electric razors to iPods just by placing them on a countertop or into a slot on a car's dashboard will be introduced Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas."
Watch a demo video here.
Pew Internet: Social Networking and Teens: "More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
The survey also finds that older teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these sites. For girls, social networking sites are primarily places to reinforce pre-existing friendships; for boys, the networks also provide opportunities for flirting and making new friends."
As we've seen with videogaming, today's teens become our most coveted 24-39 year old target in roughly five-or-six years (y'know, 24 minus 18?) as they take their habits with them into adulthood.
eMarketer.com - E-Commerce Hits All-Time High in 2006: "E-commerce revenues for one year over $100 billion?
Yup.
That's what happened last year, 2006.
A barrier has been broken.
Maybe, finally, people will forget all about that little bubble burst around the turn of the century and admit that e-commerce is for real — and it is going to just keep growing. Almost anyone who sells anything should be selling (at least part of what they sell) online."
NFL SuperAd Contest on YouTube
"Help the NFL decide which pitch would make the best Super Bowl commercial ever. Seriously. Voting ends this Sunday at 11:59 EST. Watch the 12 finalists at YouTube and then vote for your favorite at http://nfl.com/superad/vote"
CBS: Serious Web Users Bond With Prime-Time Shows: "According to CBS, a rapidly growing “fully connected” segment of the TV universe--which they define as users that both access the Internet via a broadband connection and have also purchased a digital television--is the group most likely to watch the top broadcast shows. This group, which CBS claims has grown from 22 percent of the population to 30 percent this year, is also more likely to be heavily engaged in their favorite shows, visiting network Web sites and even streaming shows on the Web."
Techcrunch » Blog Archive » AdBrite Makes Brilliant Video Product: "Adbrite has created an embeddable video player similar to YouTube, Photobucket, etc. (see video below using their player). If we choose to show a video on TechCrunch, we can use this embeddable player, and at our option it will include Adbrite ads and our logo as a watermark. "
MediaPost Publications - CBS: Viewers Not Aware Of Online Programs - 01/05/2007: "ONLY 56% OF U.S. TELEVISION viewers are aware that they can stream network TV shows over the Internet, according to survey findings released Thursday by CBS Research. Of those not aware, 62% said they would choose to watch at least one of the 33 available programs for viewing on the Internet in the future. Based on this data, CBS concluded: 'It is clear that the potential for network program distribution over the Internet is just beginning to be tapped.' The survey also found that as people become more connected to digital media, the more engaged they become in prime-time TV programming. And of those unaware of the 2009 deadline for broadcasters to switch to full digital transmission, 40% said they planned to upgrade to a digital TV set before then."
E-paper devices for the commuter crowd | CNET News.com: "One group being targeted by e-paper gadget makers is urban commuters, who could download newspapers with the devices. Other potential user groups are schools, which could use the readers to replace schoolbooks, and professionals, who could use them in the field.
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NPR : High-Definition Opera Hits Movie Theaters: "The Metropolitan Opera has broadcast radio performances for generations. Saturday, the Met beamed a live performance in high definition to movie theaters around the world."
2006 Ads: The Ones We Remembered
The Web continues to eat into consumers’ television time. The 30-second spot has been challenged by viral campaigns, but that doesn’t mean every company should try it. Blogs, co-creation, and YouTube all spell change for the industry — it’s just not clear what that change should be.
Avis is expected to offer in-car Wi-Fi hot spot by March - Technology & Media - International Herald Tribune: "Autonet Mobile, a start-up wireless technology company based in San Francisco, is expected to announce soon that it has reached an agreement with Avis Rent A Car System to provide an optional wireless access point — better known as a Wi-Fi hot spot — to Avis customers by March. For $10.95 a day, Avis will issue motorists a notebook-size portable device that plugs into a car's power supply and delivers a high-speed Internet connection to passengers."
Machinima's Coen Brothers? - 12/29/2006: "World of Warcraft's 7 million registered users provide a responsive audience for creators of machinima - short films created using the graphics from video games - and Dementia-Myndflame Studios is one of the up-and-coming machinima producers that has just begun entering the world of ad-supported video.
An operation composed of two brothers - D.W. Hackleman does the video, and Clint does the audio - Dementia-Myndflame's first video, 'Zinwrath,' has garnered 1.5 million streams, and their second effort, 'Super Snacks: Illegal Danish,' topped 3 million streams."
eMarketer.com - eMarketer's 10 Key Predictions for 2007: "What to watch for in 2007....
* Online Ad Spending Will Hit $20 Billion
* Some Money and Lots of Hype for Online Video Advertising
* Social Networks Are Set for a $1 Billion Windfall
* Downloadable Games Will Get Hotter
* Thirty-Seven Million Strong: A 'Minority' Bigger than Canada
* Mobile TV Arrives
* US B2C E-Commerce Will Cruise Past $200 Billion
* The Retail Power of Word-of-Mouth
* Broadband Services Will Matter as Much as Speed
* DVRs Pump Up TV Viewing
"
Web 2.0 Magazine: Top 100 Web 2.0 Sites: "Here you are the most interesting web 2.0 site all over the internet, please if you have more sites add them to the comments"
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