Recent News Feed Items

What better way to get back from your Labor Day weekend break than to hear about more Google legal concerns. This time there is a mix of the old and the new as an old nemesis shows up in Texas while the online travel industry has some questions about Google proposed purchase of ITA Software. By the way, Google is hiring law related talent so this is a “growth” area for the search giant .

Apple says that more than one million users joined their new music-focused social network Ping in the 48 hours following its launch. I find that hard to believe. I do believe that people will flock like seagulls on a chip bag to a hot new social media site even though they can’t keep up with the ones they’re already on.

In a recent survey about holiday shopping, 64% of the people said they’ll be spending less on everyone this holiday season, so that means marketers will have to work a little harder to make sure it’s their company that gets the cash and not their competitor. The trick is paying attention to how and why people are spending and customizing your marketing efforts to match.

I used to be a keyword research freak.
Seriously! If you found me at one of the big conferences in the early 2000s you would have likely heard me discussing the importance of keyword research. “Keyword research is the most important aspect of SEO,” I would say. “Target the wrong keywords and it won’t matter if you are #1 on Google or not.”
Yeah, I took it seriously.

Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com has something to say about Google’s disrespect for people’s privacy and they’re saying it at one of the busiest intersections in the world.

Is anyone surprised that AOL renewed its search deal with Google?
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong was one of the executives that negotiated the deal the first time around–albeit while “playing” for Google at the time.

Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s foray into the world of social networks with the iTunes centric Ping service. Maybe I am experiencing some social network fatigue, but despite this probably being a good idea, I am not sure just how people will jump in even if the “water is fine”.

If you search Google Maps right now, you’ll see little gray generic icons beside the names of businesses to denote their field. Dollar signs for banks, fork and spoon for an eatery, a tiny shopping bag for stores and something that looks like a snail shell for art galleries. (??)

There is one thing about research and statistics. No matter how obvious the findings there is still that moment of relief that comes from some form of validation of even the most obvious conclusions. eMarketer has highlighted a study done by the Pew Research Center from May of this year that verifies what many would see as obvious.