Twitter Blog: May The Tweets Be With You

Twitter Blog: May The Tweets Be With You
The ecosystem growing around Twitter is something we very much believe in nourishing and supporting. There are lots of really awesome services and applications out there like TweetDeck, TweetMeme, Tweetie, BackTweets, Tweetboard, and others that we absolutely love as do many users. However, as the ecosystem grows there is also the possibility that confusing and potentially damaging projects could emerge.

Morgan Stanley hired for Razorfish sale

A Financial Times report said Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) tapped Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to find a potential buyer for Razorfish, its digital agency, in a deal that could be worth around $600 million to $700 million.

Microsoft gained Razorfish -- which designed the logo for new search function Bing -- when it paid $6 billion for digital marketing agent aQuantive Inc. after losing out to Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the acquisition of online ad provider DoubleClick Inc. in 2007. Last year, online ad networks were being gobbled up in an online M&A binge tracked by our sister blog Dealscape.

FT: Morgan Stanley hired for Razorfish sale

follow friday test

Here is a list of people to follow on follow friday from people that i follow and follow me.

Tired of those laundry lists? These are reccomendations, not just retweets..

Here were the instructions:

come up with a list of people you recommend for follow friday.

make a list of people you really interact with and a short blurb about why u follow them.

140 chars.. per description max.

@steveplunkett #followfriday test - http://twitter.com/steveplunkett/status/2339785288

I follow @kimsherrell because she is an intelligent person who adds value to your twitter stream.

I follow @cyandle because he is my twitter homie.. #seo #ppc

I follow @zerbetron because she's got that Boom Boom Pow and she is a fellow webmaster chair dancer.

I follow @melyssatweeting because she has a good brain.

I follow @jackleblond because he's a good man, no b.s. yet open minded, good sense of humor and sometimes he even posts some cool recipes.

I follow @mandaotto because she is real and smart, and an amazing artist.

I follow @martinbowling because he has a great sense of humor, he's quite intelligent and crafty.

I follow @lookadoo because she is a great friend, a good voice of reason and wisdom.

I follow @mosquitohawk because he has a good sense of humor and an interesting viewpoint.

I follow @dannysullivan because he is the walter cronkite of SEO.

I follow @blueyedmuse because she is smart, funny and tweets good stuff.

@zerbetron #followfriday

#followfriday For the best in geekery & nerddom, I recommend @geekgirldvia. She's smart, funny, & knows enough about BSG to be dangerous!

#followfriday A nerd in search of love? Worry not! @geeksdreamgirl helps nerds & geeks find their perfect match. Super nice and lots of fun

Interested in SEO & Social Media? Follow @cyandle. Great guy and he's always got fun and exciting things to say. He rocks! #followfriday

If you do SEO, & you're not following @steveplunkett, you should get your head checked! He's an SEO Jedi Master. #followfriday

@MichelleRobbins is a SEO smarty-pants, BSG nerd, super smart cookie & all around nice gal. I love her tweets & you will too! #followfriday

@lookadoo #followfriday

Learn all you need about Online Reputation Management & best practices in online marketing from @andybeal. His training classes kick it!

Get blogging, WordPress, SEO & many tech tips from @DazzlinDonna. Donna's stream is like tapping into a business marketing coach!

Just received my autographed copy of "What Success Takes" by @garrettpierson! I had the honor of reviewing his book, changed my approach!

I am in debt to @pageoneresults for 2 hours of his SEO consulting time! I'm wiser & now broke! "Web Standards" should be his middle name.

Friendship & geekship combined, @professor is the genius behind @Blogsville. Don't miss out on this blogging lineup!

@GlobalFusion is more than a specialist in Spanish SEO, he's a thought leader. Admire his wisdom, approach & ethics in SEO.

I've learned a lot about using Social Meda sites from @BrentCsutoras. He knows the insides of StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg! Add SEO, too!

The Social Media Queen is @TheNanny612! Don't tell, but I have a #girlcrush on her!

Obsessed w/the science of search, @SEOdojo speaks to SEO geeks & wannabe-gurus! Reading his newsletter is on my TO DO list!

One of the youngest & earliest prodigies I've followed is @PluginID. He knows how to make money blogging & will show you how, too!

I started reading Barbara Rozgonyi @wiredprworks before Twitter. She's become a friend and PR mentor!

If I had children, I would homeschool using Montessori lessons by @loribourne. I met her on SEOmoz & the friendship optimized from there!

Forget music! I tune in to the latest in search marketing on @WebmasterRadio @BrascoAtWMR is more than a radio genius! <3>

Get the latest analysis in search from @BruceClayInc by listening to @SEMSynergy every Wed! They translate SEO into understandable tidbits.

@Remarkablogger shares blogging, tech & SEO tips. His insights convinced me to learn Thesis, so here I am with a new theme to learn!

@martinbowling #followfriday

@oilman cause he always has some wild adventure

@persianwiki providing a great look at what's really happening on the streets of iran

@oncee IT Manager in Charleston, WV always tweets awesomely helpful info

@jordankasteler has awesome insight to using social media in creative and new ways

@davesnyder it's BIG DAVE nuff said :)

@rfr an incredible gifted designer, he <3's>

@mandaotto #followfriday

@graywolf

a great go-to for all things seo

@tonyadam

all around great yahoo guy

@cshel

another very smart seo gal

@shanatweeting

great social media expert

@mosquitohawk #followfriday

#1

I follow @RavenJon because he has an awesome SEO toolset (@RavenTools) & is an all around nice guy with sharp spidy sense.

#2

I follow the hip @JoannaLord because she's witty, has great taste in music & is a great contributor of social media & search knowledge.

#3

I follow the brilliant @steveplunkett because when he talks SEO tactics, you better be taking notes. Where does he get those great tidbits?

#4

I follow @jrcornthwait - He's king in the land of HTML emails (& has good taste in food, design & isn't afraid to call it like he sees it).

#5

I follow @carondelet of the Brute Squad because there's always something to be said for someone who can exchange obscure movie lines w/ you.

#6

I follow @lookadoo because she cares. I also can't wait to meet her in person at some future conference. Smart, motivated & entrepreneurial.

@melyssatweeting #followfriday

@VegasWill

A great follow. Tweets all signal and no noise.

@FoundByPat

Super Dad. Really relevant tweets. Exceptional wit.

@StevePlunkett

Everything’s bigger in Texas – including his brain and the strength of his tweets – fun follow.

@cyandle #followfriday

@sspencer - his presentations always provide so much information for the audience...

@rustybrick - one of the top bloggers in the IM industry..

@dannysullivan - the father of seo; and always keeps his tweeple up-to-date..

@copyblogger - one of the top bloggers in the IM industry..

@oilman - always willing to help out other when it comes to learning new IM stuff i.e. paid links..

@StoneyD - always provides in depth posts regarding IM checklists..

@katemorris - great at PPC...

@yoast - always on top with his wordpress plugins..

@TheMadHat - can make a mean bacon explosion..

@streko - king of the porkroll..

@melanienathan - she knows her linkbuilding..

@davidmihm - great at teaching us local search..

@theGypsy - great at keeping us up-to-date on patent info..

@shanatweeting - even though she's a mega phillies fan you can tolerate her.. :)

@professor - great at development work..

@davesnyder - knows his social media...and likes to cuddle from what i hear..

@graywolf - if i need a mean cake he could do it..

@Pamela_Lund - if you need custom USB flash drives she can hook u up..

@sugarrae - knows her affilaite marketing stuff..

@BrentCsutoras - knows his social media...

@andybeal - great online reputation mgt expert..

@brianchappell - knows his social media & online reputation mgt..

@yummyman - great at teaching us local search..

@lookadoo - a great all around person to follow..

@pearsonified - thesis king..

@bbille - always willing to help a brother out..

@pageoneresults - sphinn's worst nightmare..

@JoannaLord - knows her PPC..

@wiep - master link baiter..

@GymJunkies - can pump u up..

@steveplunkett - mad IM scientist..

@martinbowling - great at development work..

@SmokinManBBQ - it always tastes better when the smokinman' cooks it..

@itcn - can develop some great stuff..

@styletime - great at designs and wordpress..

Twitter Blog: Down Time Rescheduled

"A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran)."

Twitter Blog: Down Time Rescheduled

A new Top 100 Alternative Search Engines list!

"While conducting the research and search engine checking I did while compiling this very eclectic list of search engines, directories, tools and stuff related, I realized that there are some very competitive trends in a few directions. The most prominent of those seems to be the effort to create the most artificially intelligent NLP, or Natural Language Process, that can be utilized in a search engine. More and more search engines are looking for ways to create search engines that “understand,” context, synonyms, meanings, inverted phrases, and more…and well, most of them have been pretty successful at it."

A new Top 100 Alternative Search Engines list! « AltSearchEngines

How Vans got off on the right foot

"Vans has long been the footwear of choice for skateboarders, but it didn't start that way. Kai Ryssdal visits the company's Southern California headquarters and talks with author Doug Palladini about how the shoes caught on."

How Vans got off on the right foot Marketplace From American Public Media

Microsoft Experimenting With Bing Ad Placement, Formats

"Learning algorithms in Microsoft's new search engine Bing aim to retrain consumers to think of paid search and display ads as another topic category that helps them find answers to questions. But as consumers warm up to Bing, the technology built into the site may take a bit longer to influence performance."

MediaPost Publications Microsoft Experimenting With Bing Ad Placement, Formats 06/10/2009

Air France Crash Raises Questions About Domain Name Registration

"As investigators seek to unravel the fate of Air France flight 447, there’s been speculation online about an unusual domain name registration made some two years prior to this week’s plane crash, flight447.com.
The mystery of the Air France flight that disappeared this week deepened after news agencies on Wednesday confirmed a previous Air France flight from Buenos Aires to Paris was the target of a bomb threat just days before. That plane was inspected and arrived without incident."

Air France Crash Raises Questions About Domain Name Registration (Updated) Threat Level Wired.com

How to Measure SEO Effectively: 7 Tactics

"Once you adopt search-engine optimization best practices for your website, it can take weeks before the changes are indexed by search engines. Then you have to measure their impact. How can you tell if a lift in performance is due to your SEO, or the result of another marketing campaign?"

MarketingSherpa: How to Measure SEO Effectively: 7 Tactics

Sergey Brin On Newspapers, Breaking “Page’s Law” & Bing As Name Of Microsoft’s New Search Engine

"Google cofounder Sergey Brin turned up at a session for the press at the Google I/O event today and took questions on Google’s relations with newspapers, cited hopes of breaking “Page’s Law” of software sluggishness and even one about what he thought about the expected name of Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. Below, a summary of his remarks, along with some video"

Sergey Brin On Newspapers, Breaking “Page’s Law” & Bing As Name Of Microsoft’s New Search Engine

Local Search Ranking Factors

"Much has happened in the world of Local Search since last year's edition of the Local Search Ranking Factors was published. We've seen a major quantitative study of Google Maps, detailed interviews with the heads of both Google Maps and Yahoo Local, the launch of a number of new portals, and just in the last few weeks, Google's introduction of the Local 10-pack for generic keywords."
Local Search Ranking Factors Google & Yahoo Local SEO Best Practices

Part 3: How to Hire an SEO (types, titles) and SEO Salaries

"An In House SEO is much more involved in office politics than a contracted SEO, since that’s where they are all the time. The In House SEO needs to be successful at penetrating cross-functional teams, educating those teams, and getting them to buy-in to SEO and fully implement it. Here are some qualities to look for in your In House SEO:"

Part 3: How to Hire an SEO (types, titles) and SEO Salaries

Mysterious virus strikes FBI

"The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service were forced to shut down parts of their computer networks after a mystery virus struck the law-enforcement agencies Thursday, according to an Associated Press report."

Mysterious virus strikes FBI Tech News on ZDNet

- see what happens with social media.. the FBI joins and now they have virus... hmmmmm

Let's Fix #followfriday Please

"I remember when Follow Friday (aka #followfriday) first started making its way around Twitter in January by @micah (Thanks to the Twitterers today for helping me remember it was Micah Baldwin). I thought it was a great idea at the time, as it is often hard to understand where you need to go to find new valuable people to follow on Twitter. If I really enjoy following X Twitterer and X Twitterer suggests I follow Y&Z Twitterer, I just might listen and click through and check 'em out."

A digital girl, the blog. By Julia Roy: Let's Fix #followfriday Please

HASHTAGS - Steal This Idea: Google Reader & Twitter Hashtags

"Your collection of tweets about an event becomes your own executive summary, bringing you up to speed with what was important.
Having those collections of quotes and info-points available at all times, searchable, is a valuable source of reference.
You do know Twitter Search spans the last 30 days only, right?"

Steal This Idea: Google Reader & Twitter Hashtags Search Engine People Toronto

The Social Data Revolution(s)

"In 2009, more data will be generated by individuals than in the entire history of mankind through 2008. Information overload is more serious than ever. What are the implications for marketing?"

The Social Data Revolution(s) - Now, New, Next - HarvardBusiness.org

Google Values MySpace Deal At $75 Million/Year Or Less

"The last $75 million payment on the $900 million Google/News Corp. search advertising deal will be paid to News Corp. a year from now. That deal has accounted for about a third of News Corp.’s online revenue from MySpace and some of its smaller Internet sites, and the looming end of that particular gravy train is causing more than a little consternation for new Digital Media chief Jonathan Miller and his new MySpace exec team."

Source: Google Values MySpace Deal At $75 Million/Year Or Less

Learning, and Profiting, from Online Friendships

"A question: If you have 347 followers on the Twitter microblogging service, what are the chances that they'll click on the same online ad you clicked on last night? Advertisers are dying to know. Or, say you and a colleague exchange e-mails on a Saturday night. Can managers assume that you have a tight working relationship? Researchers at IBM and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are investigating."
Learning, and Profiting, from Online Friendships - BusinessWeek

Yahoo eyes acquisitions, social media

"Yahoo Inc is looking to buy companies that will allow it to become a bigger player in social networking and revamp its family of products, Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh said on Wednesday.
'It's a good time to be buying now,' he told the Reuters Global Technology Summit, pointing to valuations that have come down from levels six to nine months ago."

Yahoo eyes acquisitions, social media Technology Internet Reuters

Android 'a revolution'

"Android, Google's mobile operating system, doesn't generate revenue for the company, and likely never will--at least in the direct sense. But Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, thinks Google and the world will benefit from any device created with the intent of getting more people onto the Internet, and isn't shy about explaining why the open-source approach chosen for Android holds the most promise of reaching that goal."

Google's Rubin: Android 'a revolution' Digital Media - CNET News

The Next Frontier In Search Marketing

"It may be hard to believe for tech types like us, but in 2008 newspaper advertising still consumed almost $35 billion of U.S. advertising spending while TV took in double that amount. If I were a CMO, would I be spending so much on avenues that are so wishy-washy, unmeasurable and downright ineffective?"
The Next Frontier In Search Marketing - Forbes.com

How many search keywords can I target per page?

"I'm sometimes asked this question, usually by someone savvy in search marketing. After all, it's expensive to create and optimize pages for search, so you'd want to amortize that investment over as many keywords as possible right? Actually, no. The number of organic search keywords I recommend you target per page is one.
Surprised? A lot of people are, and I admit to perhaps being more extreme than some on this issue. Still, I will stick to this advice because I think it's the right way to approach the problem, even if you end up compromising later."

How many search keywords can I target per page? - Search Engine Guide Blog

Google Rolls Out Maps Ad Unit

"Google is giving geo map developers a new option to earn revenue from their Google Maps API implementation. Dubbed Maps Ad Unit, this new Google Maps feature is part of the AdSense for Maps portfolio, which allows developers to overlay AdSense units over a Google Map which they have embedded on their sites."

Google Rolls Out Maps Ad Unit

Hackers 'destroy' flight sim site

"Flight simulator site Avsim has been 'destroyed' by malicious hackers.
The site, which launched in 1996, covered all aspects of flight simulation, although its main focus was on Microsoft's Flight Simulator."
BBC NEWS Technology Hackers 'destroy' flight sim site

Google Updates Its Blog Search Algorithm

"In an email conversation, Google’s Jeremy Hylton — head of the search quality group in Google’s New York office — explained how the changes impact the “clusters” of stories that appear on the blog search home page.
“We’re doing a better job of choosing the blog posts to include in clusters,” Hylton says. “We’re also working on changes to expand the number of posts we consider for clustering.”
One of the algorithmic changes is aimed at making sure the home page clusters reward the freshest and most authoritative blog content. Within any cluster, Google wants to find the posts that people are talking about the most."

SearchEngineLand.com

Google Wonder Wheel?

"Google's Searchology event was held May 12; as usual, the company rolled out a few interesting new features that you may or may not use and that may or may not impact how you tailor your Web site and content for Google."
MediaPost Publications What's A Wonder Wheel? 05/15/2009


- actually the wonderwheel is the coolest thing... still doing all my testing.. but i think it gives insight into lots of things that no one has figured out yet... (or at least anyone who is going to blog about it.. i'm not..)

2009 Web Marketing Awards Preview

Learn more about the web's premier web design competition

read more | digg story

30+ More Non-Google SEO “How to” Online Marketing Resources for 2009

"Shopping search engines or shopping comparison sites like BizRate, Shopping.com or NexTag seemingly exist for ages, some lost steam along the way like Kelkoo did. According to Google Trends their traffic peaked around the Christmas season of 2007. Nonetheless you still can’t ignore them in ecommerce no matter what you sell. Sadly there are only few resources dealing with optimization for shopping search, some of those there are stem from several years ago. They were published as early as 2003 or 2004. They’re still valid though so I included them."
30+ More Non-Google SEO “How to” Online Marketing Resources for 2009 SEOptimise

Twitter Still Headed To The Moon With 17 Million U.S. Visitors In April

"Looking at Twitter’s visitor growth charts every month is like watching a rocket go to the moon. ComScore released its U.S. numbers for April, 2009 today and it shows Twitter reaching 17 million unique visitors in the U.S. during the month, an 83 percent increase from March when Twitter had 9.3 million domestic visitors. While Twitter nearly doubled its audience in April, its monthly growth rate did temper down from the 131 percent growth in March."

Twitter Still Headed To The Moon With 17 Million U.S. Visitors In April

Smashing Optimization Silos

"A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the often-prophesied friction-free online advertising ecosystem, the one where efficiency would equal ever-increasing value of inventory. While improvements in targeting technology have progressed rapidly, the value of display inventory has steadily, and steeply, declined overall. Indeed, so much so that it's become commonplace on the conference circuit to hear speculation on a permanent depression in display pricing, even for ostensibly 'targeted' inventory."
MediaPost Publications Smashing Optimization Silos 05/13/2009

How To Optimize For Conversion In Organic Search Results

"In the past, SEO success was measured by rankings of target keywords; then the focus moved to traffic; today we have moved into the bottom-line era: organic traffic should be measured by its impact on revenue. This post is based on a presentation delivered at eMetrics San Jose 2009. It is about ways to integrate and improve SEO and website usability (using web analytics) and create a synergy that will improve the conversion rates of websites."

How To Optimize For Conversion In Organic Search Results

The Real Power of Twitter

"I've experienced something with Twitter that I don't hear many people talking about. The real power of Twitter isn't in easy mass-marketing, driving a few more links, Diggs, Stumbles, or Sphinns, or even in branding and making a name for yourself. The real power of Twitter is in transforming online connections into real-world relationships."

SEOmoz The Real Power of Twitter

Watching Twitter's #Fixreplies Firestorm

"What a fun morning I'm having on Twitter search, looking for tweets containing the hashtag #fixreplies. Oops, wait a minute ... since I logged onto the site, a minute and a half ago, 230 more replies have come in with that hashtag. Oops, make that 276. Now make that 326."

MediaPost Publications

Twitter taking the Social out of Social Discovery

"The most trending topic on twitter right now as I am writing this post is #fixreplies. It is shocking to me that after weeks of proclaiming that twitter is all about social discovery, we see the biggest Bonehead Decision that twitter could have made. There are posts from around the industry talking about Twitter putting a Muzzle on your friends."
Twitter taking the Social out of Social Discovery

Google Faces Class Action on Trademark Trouble

"In papers filed this week in federal court in the eastern district of Texas, software development company Firepond seeks class-action status on behalf of all Texas trademark holders whose names have been used to trigger search ads. Google has been hit with other trademark infringement lawsuits stemming from paid search, but this appears to mark the first time the company has faced a potential class-action suit about the issue."

MediaPost Publications Google Faces Class Action on Trademark Trouble 05/13/2009:

Google Searchology 2009: Search Options, Google Squared, Rich Snippets

"Google Search Options. Marissa Mayer referred to this as a handy “toolbelt” that lets you slice and dice your search results. You can do a search such as [cfl light bulb] and look above the search results for a “Show options…” link. Click on that to get a ton of useful ways to power search. You can see web results with images, like this:"

Google Searchology 2009: Search Options, Google Squared, Rich Snippets

Google Is A Scraper Site, Says National Association Of Realtors

"With support from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the Indianapolis Metropolitan Board of REALTORS® (MIBOR) has forced some of its members to stop allowing certain MLS listings to be crawled and indexed by Google because Google (and other search engines) is considered a “scraper” site.
This is the latest episode in a long-running battle over who controls home listings that are part of the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. Some of the affected real estate professionals plan to ask the NAR to change its opinion on search engines at its national convention this week."

Google Is A Scraper Site, Says National Association Of Realtors

Google Search Now Supports Microformats and Adds “Rich Snippets” to Search Results

"Today at Searchology, Google has launched a search results enhancement called “rich snippets” that uses meta data from web pages (from microformats such as hCard, hCalendar, and RDF) to display additional details (both content and meaning) about pages in the results. This initial launch supports reviews (with sites such as Yelp) and people (with sites such as LinkedIn). They will be adding more sites and categories over time."
Google Search Now Supports Microformats and Adds “Rich Snippets” to Search Results

Greece Bans Google Street View, Google Says ‘No, You Didn’t’

"Privacy is Greece’s main concern, just as it’s been with the other villages, towns, cities, national governments, and other organizations that have lined up against Google Street View. Greece’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) announced on Monday that it’s banned Google from taking photos in Greece, and that it wants more information about how long Google will store the images it takes and what Google will do to make sure residents know their privacy rights."

Greece Bans Google Street View, Google Says ‘No, You Didn’t’ - Search Engine Land

How To Optimize For Conversion In Organic Search Results

"In the past, SEO success was measured by rankings of target keywords; then the focus moved to traffic; today we have moved into the bottom-line era: organic traffic should be measured by its impact on revenue. This post is based on a presentation delivered at eMetrics San Jose 2009. It is about ways to integrate and improve SEO and website usability (using web analytics) and create a synergy that will improve the conversion rates of websites."

How To Optimize For Conversion In Organic Search Results - Search Engine Land

Top Ten reasons why you should enter 2009 WebAwards

Top Ten reasons why you should enter your website into the 2009 WebAwards

10) If you wait until after the May 31st deadline, you'll have to pay a late fee.

9) Your mom will be so proud of you when you win.

8) You will receive important benchmark data for your entire industry and where your site ranks in each of the seven judging criteria.

7) Think of the PR opportunities - industry publications, blogs, websites, by-lined articles, podcasts, press releases, interviews - the sky is the limit.

6) A best of industry plaque containing your award winning site will look great on the wall in your office.

5) The WebAward logo on your site is like receiving the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for Web development. Your clients and prospects will be impressed at your independent industry recognition.

4) If you don't win, we won't tell anyone - and you still get the feedback.

3) An inbound link from webaward.org will help your site's search engine rankings because you will surrounded by other top sites in your industry - something you just can't buy!

2) A Webaward looks impressive on your resume - just in case...

1) Winning a WebAward will help you keep more of your budget from the bean counters in Finance. They like measurable results and nothing demonstrates excellence better than winning a WebAward!

Winning accolades in the 2009 WebAwards - the Internet's premier award recognition program, is a great way to stand out from others in your industry. But you won't get anything if you don't enter! Time is running out so enter today!

Entering is easy. Simply create a nominator account or log into an existing account from past years. This password protected area will allow you to enter multiple sites, edit the information up to when the judging begins and receive updates, results and feedback on your entries throughout the competition.

Get WebAward insider tips on Webmaster Radio

WebmasterRadio.FM, the premier free, 24/7 Internet business radio network focused on the B2B marketplace is pleased to present a half hour interview with the president of the Web Marketing Association, Bill Rice and two judges of the annual WebAward, David Clarke and Steve Plunkett The interview provides the inside scoop on the 2009 WebAwards, its judges and scoring system with three experienced participants in the annual award competition, Bill Rice, David Clarke and Steve Plunkett. During the interview, Rice, Clarke and Plunkett outline what judges are looking for, how scoring of competing sites takes place and the benefits of participation for both competitors and judges.

The show will initially air on www.WebmasterRadio.fm on Wednesday May 13th at 5:00 pm EST and then be available online in the Specials channel.

Trade Show Drawings

In the last issue of Interactive Briefing, we made available a number of leading conferences in a drawing we held. By all accounts each of the conferences were extremely interesting and great networking opportunities. Here are the winners who received full conference passes.

ad:tech San Francisco - Carly Helgeson, Project Manager, The Clorox Company
Voices That Matter: Web Design Conference - Adam Kleinberg, CEO, Traction
DPAC III - Levi McConnell, Director of Interactive, PACE Advertising/WPP
Social Media Summit - Laura Buchanan, Organic Inc.

Look for more opportunities to attend top industry conferences by reading Interactive Briefing!

24-7 PressRelease.com

Our newest sponor, 24-7PressRelease.com has created a special offer for Interactive Briefing readers. Next time you have a news release you want posted to the Internet, go to www.24-7pressrelease.com, create an account and upload your release. Use the coupon code "webaward2009" to receive a $20 discount off our $89 package.

A special thanks to 24-7 Press Release for doing a great job distributing the Web Marketing Association's releases and for this special offer!

We still Need Your Help

We need your help in spreading the news about our WebAward call for entry to other Internet Professionals. The Web Marketing Association is a volunteer organization and our greatest marketing asset is you, our newsletter readers.

You can help by:

Emailing other professionals or site owners and ask them to participate in the WebAwards.

Blog about the WebAwards. Either on your blog or industry blogs, write about our call for entry or your experiences with the WebAwards. You can point them to our blog posting for the Call for Entry.

Post our link on your Facebook Wall and/or LinkedIn profile. It let's your friends and colleagues know you're a leader in the online marketing community. When you see a post, let everyone one know you like it.

Tell others within your organization. It is difficult to maintain contact with past participants via email. People change responsibilities, email addresses change and companies merge. Make sure the correct people within your organization, including offices in other cities know about the WebAwards. The more awards your organization wins, the more recognition you will receive.

There are only a few weeks left to enter, but with your help we can have the most successful WebAward competition ever!

Bill Rice
President
Web Marketing Association

Open Letter To Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Brian Cuban has some logicial opinions about FaceBook Spreading hate speech.

read more | digg story

Google integrating Twitter?

Twitter-like functionality into search product...

read more | digg story

Should Search Engines Refer Searchers to Other Search Engines?

"Do you have a favorite search engine? Is there a particular reason why you use the search engine that you do?
Do you use more than one search engine regularly? Have you switched from using one search engine regularly to another one?
If you ran a search engine, you would probably want to understand why people shift from one search engine to another, either temporarily or permanently. And you might be interested in seeing if you can identify why and when these shifts take place, and a way to predict when such a changeover might happen."
SEO by the SEA

SEMPO Partners With Yellow Pages Publisher Yellowbook

"SEMPO announced an educational partnership this morning with yellow pages publisher Yellow Book, a division of the UK based Yell. According to the press release put out, the SEMPO Institute “will be providing distance learning education for Yellowbook’s media consultant sales team.”"


SEMPO Partners With Yellow Pages Publisher Yellowbook


- great so those pushy phonebook sales people are now selling links? Google???

Google: We're good for journalism

"Google is under attack for profiting from content produced by newspaper executives, magazine publishers, and The Associated Press, but the company's Marissa Mayer on Wednesday sought to convince the U.S. Senate that Google adds to journalism, too.
The most recent attack, by Forbes.com Chief Executive Jim Spanfeller, decried 'the parasitical nature of its business model' and asserted that Google makes about $60 million a year directing people to the Forbes site."

Digital Media - CNET News

Cybercriminals promoting malware-friendly search engines

"The cybercriminals behind the ongoing blackhat search engine optimization attacks hijacking swine flu related queries in order to serve scareware, have re-introduced an old social engineering tactic - the use of fake and malware friendly search engines."

Zero Day | ZDNet.com

MySpace Suicide Case Sparks Dubious Laws

"There's no question that the Megan Meier tragedy left many people outraged. But this widespread indignation has also spurred some very questionable legal and policy decisions."

MediaPost Publications - Cyberbulling Law

Award winning websites - WebAwards 2009

"Website awards are a great way to recognize talented individual and team efforts in outstanding Website development and generate internet marketing exposure for the award winning Web site. The international WebAward Competition is the premier Web site award program available today."

Award winning websites - WebAwards 2009

Facebook’s E-mail Censorship is Legally Dubious, Experts Say

"The Pirate Bay released new Facebook features last month, the popular social networking site took evasive action, blocking its members from distributing file-sharing links through its service.
Now legal experts say Facebook may have gone too far, blocking not only links to torrents published publicly on member profile pages, but also examining private messages that might contain them, and blocking those as well."


Epicenter

YouTube River Diverted Into The Google Social Ocean As Well

"It’s pretty obvious that Google is getting ready to fully cast its social net over its web properties. It’s been doing things like tweaking the developer’s side of iGoogle to be much more social, separating your contacts from Gmail to be used for all of Google, and overhauling and promoting Google Profiles."
Tech Crunch

Google: American phenomenon and antitrust target

"Google is more than a fabulously successful company -- it is a cultural phenomenon facing increasing U.S. government scrutiny despite its chief executive's campaign support for President Barack Obama.
The No. 1 Internet search company and provider of text-based search ads is finding size attracts attention from antitrust enforcers still party to a settlement with personal computer operating system giant Microsoft Corp."

Technology | Reuters