Marcel Media's Blog

Many niche social networking sites have arisen in the past months. After LinkedIn was valued at $1 billion, moreover, business professional social networks have become increasingly popular. TalkBizNow.com is one of the sites that boasts being a full service professional site. This includes an array of digital tools such as webinar capabilities, instant messaging, blogging, a calendar function and file storing. LinkedIn’s new competition, TalkBizNow, says it hopes to get 3 million users within the first six months.

What gives TalkBizNow a possible edge against LinkedIn? While TalkBizNow offers similar features as LinkedIn in that it brings business contacts together, TalkBizNow goes one step further. Not only can contacts keep in touch, but users can do business with each other on the site, too (either within one company or within business-to-business). Nevertheless, LinkedIn remains the top business professional social networking site. Will users stay loyal to LinkedIn, or will TalkBizNow take over?

Online advertisement has changed drastically throughout the years. Online ads are becoming more and more personal, so much that things like customized ads have become largely popular among businesses. Internet provider, AT&T is considering observing the online behaviors and activities of its users to help understand their reactions to ads. This can help businesses track what users do when they go online, and can capitalize by advertising on websites users frequently visit. Although AT&T has not created the software or tools that would enable them to monitor its customers’ activities, they report that they have their customers’ best interest in mind.

While this can be beneficial to businesses and marketers, users may be turned off to AT&T’s services, as they can feel like their privacy is being compromised. AT&T, however, is aware of this issue and reports that having one’s Internet activity monitored would be completely optional.

Although Mobile web browsing is becoming increasingly popular, it is important to note that the majority of users do not own a Smartphone. This deters users from receiving email, and calls for less user-friendly web browsing. However, BlueWhaleMail is a new application that allows users without Smartphone capabilities to experience aspects of the web such as social networking, without logging on.

Users without Smarphones can now social network on the go through the BlueWhaleMail application. Users simply download the application, and have access to sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. It works similar to a text message in that when a Facebook friend updates their status or profile, users are notified through their cellular phone. Users can then respond to these updates through the application. There is a larger emphasis on being able to go on Facebook through phones from manufacturers such as Nokia and SonyEricsson, as users can download the application through Facebook’s website. The emphasis placed on social networks through mobile phones is just one way in which social media is becoming more and more prominent in everyday life.

Insights for Search is the new Google tool introduced this week that is said to track how popular several; phrases are within users’ Google searches. Insights for Search can differentiate between similar terms, but different products. For example, one could filter a search for ‘apple’ by excluding the product, and only including the fruit. The tool can also give an in-depth look at where (geographically) certain phrases are searched the most, say, across states, regions, or even neighborhoods. Additionally, one can see at what times throughout the day a keyword becomes popular.

Insights for Search is an addition of Google Trends, which can track what keywords users are searching. Insights for Search is positioned for success both with advertisers as well as business owners who want to track their websites.

Social Networking site Friendster has not been able to keep up with big names like Myspace or Facebook. However, recent news shows that ex Google employee, Richard Kimber has become the CEO for Friendster. IDG Ventures has also invested $20 million worth of funding. Although these recent plays by Friendster give it momentum for a possible comeback in the social networking industry, its tactics are a bit different in terms of who Friendster is targeting.

Although Facebook and Myspace are the leaders in social networking in the United States, such is not the case in Asia, where Friendster takes the reign. For instance, Friendster is the number one social networking site in Singapore. Kimber plans on continuing Friendster’s work on targeting the Asian-Pacific region, and may have success in doing so.

The rise of Wikipedia has greatly influenced the search engine industry. When users perform searches, the top results usually include a Wikipedia article on the searched subject. However, Google has announced their new implementation of Knol, a website much like Wikipedia.

Wikipedia prides itself of its reliance on users to generate content on the site. One problem that can result in this, however, is the lack of credibility that can be associated with such articles. Nevertheless, the articles that are created and edited are still moderated. What makes Knol better that can potentially outdo Wikipedia? Knol will depend on more reliable sources for its articles. For example, the original creator will be the only one who can make edits to the article. Additionally, Knol verifies user identity with more scrutiny than Wikipedia, making misuse of the site less likely.

Reports on the new search engine site, Cuil surfaced this week, boasting great potential. Cuil has positioned itself as a possible threat to Google. But what does Cuil have to offer? For one, Cuil is the product of ex Google workers, Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier (along with co-founder Tom Costello). The team has the experience of working with a large-scale search engine company, has an idea of what kind of improvements Google could use and could implement them to Cuil.

Cuil’s technology is supposed to be innovative as well. Cauil categorizes the results of a search by related pages, creating different categories of topics, facilitating refined searches. Its emphasis on searching based on page content also helps place importance on its privacy policies. Because the searches are based on page content, user click history becomes irrelevant. Like Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset, Cuil has great possibilities. However, will it hold up to the Google enterprise?

Microsoft remains persistent in its attempts to compete with Google and Yahoo. Its newest tactic involves social networking giant, Facebook. Although Microsoft has already invested a reported $240 million on Facebook, it plans to expand its presence on the site by incorporating LiveSearch.

Both companies are likely to benefit from this negotiation, as social networking sites like Myspace and Bebo are already partnered with Google (Myspace) and Yahoo (Bebo). Additionally, Microsoft will have exposure to a larger audience, allowing for more traffic. Furthermore, having a search engine on Facebook would deter from users navigating away from Facebook to search other information. It appears Microsoft is making its way towards gaining an audience with its partnership with HP in June, and its prospective deal with Facebook.

Although Myspace remains the social networking site with the largest audience, recent reports show that Facebook has experienced more growth. The reports state that Facebook had 37.4 million unique visitors in June, rising about 34% from last year. On the other hand, Myspace only saw a 3% increase in the last year. While there is still growth on Myspace’s side, Facebook’s growth may be a sign for Myspace to step up their innovation.

Nevertheless, reports show that as a whole, social networking sites are becoming more and more prominent. Professional networking site, LinkedIn, has more than doubled their audience in the last year. One can only assume that social networking will continue to grow in the coming years, even months.

Yahoo has introduced a new web service platform, which attempts to raise competition for search engine giant, Google. Build Your Own Search Service (BOSS), will give web developers access to Yahoo’s search technology. Sources also state, “sites and services will be able to combine Yahoo’s search results with their own data sources and control both the ranking and the presentation of search results on their sites”.

How can this change the search engine industry, and how will Yahoo! benefit? Yahoo will enable smaller search engines to make a larger splash in the industry, thus opening the opportunity for more competition. Yahoo will benefit through ads. In exchange for using BOSS, the search engines will be required to run Yahoo ads on search results pages. Will Yahoo’s attempts make a difference in Google’s dominance? Only the future will determine the power of BOSS.