The State of Wikipedia

Wikipedia just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Today, The English Wikipedia now stands at 3.5+ million articles(up from 500K in 2005), and more than 17 million across all languages.

Each individual Amazon.com visitor is worth $189, almost 8X more than Google at $24 per unique visitor, nearly 50X that of Facebook at $4.

Business Insider: http://bit.ly/hBA394

Checking In with Facebook Places

The Geosocial Universe in 2010

For a larger view, click here: http://bit.ly/bVGAWZ

The State of the Internet:

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

-Thanks Matt E.

UPDATE: Google Getting Visual Boost

Update: From my May 5th post on the leading minds in the field of data visualization (http://bit.ly/aH6MFJ)

Less than 6 months after leaving IBM's visual communications lab to create Flowing Media inc, Mark Wattenberg and Fernanda B Viegas announced this week that they were snatched up by Google to lead a new visualization group within the search giant. I am extremely excited to follow their progress with the "playgrounds of data" Google has collected.

Look for the visualization duo to impact Google in ways we could have never imagined. I personally, am keeping my fingers crossed for a Google Analytics upgrade!

Google aquires Metaweb to Improve Search

Over the course of the last few years, search engines have been moving to provide users with more relevant results by adopting third party data. This week, Google aquired "semantic web and real world database company Metaweb, a move the company says will help them improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone."

See below for an interesting clip that breaks down how Metaweb will change the way you search:

Thoughts and resources:

• Another third party may be entering the search space - Foursquare in talks with major search engines: http://bit.ly/cLC2aN

Digital Couponing- Key to Starbucks Online Success

Starbucks has surpassed 10 million fans on Facebook, notes Mediapost - passing Coke as the most popular corporate brand on the social network. The coffee chain has added scores of followers by launching promotions such as coupons for free pastries that can be redeemed at local stores.

-Cynthia Turner

MUST SEE: A Race Across the Internet

Google Chrome strikes again with this incredibly creative, interactive viral video/trivia game/Rube Goldberg machine/Google service showcase.. Honestly, there aren't enough slashes or adjectives for me to really describe it. You must experience this for yourself:

• http://bit.ly/Googly1

Thoughts and resources:

• As with any type of advertising, i suppose, we are trained to wear blinders. When I came across A Race Across the Internet, my eyes lit up. Chrome's ad is so brilliant because is engages by allowing users to participate in the storyline, while at the same time spurring our competitive human nature to help deliver the brands message.
• This ad was created by BBH: http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/
• I have a prize for the first person that's beats my time of 2:21 on their first try! Email me with a screen shot! UPDATE: Congrats to Betsy King in the Cleveland office, killing it with a time of 1:46!

Google poised to take on Facebook

Rumors are swirling this week about the potential of Google releasing a Facebook competitor. Sources say Google's "Mobile Me" will utilize (micro-blogging, twitter-like Google service)Google Buzz, but still strive for a first class, full social networking platform. As it stands, Google will have an uphill battle, trailing Facebook by 400 million + users. The questions remains, what will Google Me offer to bridge the seemingly insurmountable gap? I have a few ideas..

1. More privacy options, first and foremost.
2. The ability to integrate and leverage a myriad of Google's other platforms. Platforms that a Facebook wouldn't have access to: Google Search at the core to enable the transition and sharing of information. Buzz, combined with Google Maps/Latitude to offer location-based services on the go. Google Me could leverage Google Talk and Google Voice to offer a skype-like communication tool. Me could tap into Google owned Picassa or YouTube to seamlessly upload media to the social network.
3. An open app platform modeled after Google's Android

Another Facebook- yeah.. wont work. Google has the infrastructure in place to offer some really interesting features that other social networks can not. They will need to differentiate themselves, and get it right the first time for users to adopt Google Me.

Thoughts and resources:

• As an advertiser, I am extremely excited about the targeting possibilities. Google has perfected the search engine marketing model through AdWords- I cant wait to see what granular levels of targeting Google offers us through Google Me.
• TechCrunch thinks that Google needs to clone Facebook to be successful. This article also brings up some valid points about how Google shouldn't try to tie the service to other Google products for the wrong reasons: http://tcrn.ch/aRMkvT

Browse the web as if your at the 2010 World Cup

Had to have a little fun with this.. Let's go USA!!

• http://bit.ly/c8L6ER

Foursquare Backlash

Location-based social network Foursquare has learned that certain locations illicit harsh responses. The Chinese government has blocked access to the service across the country after users began utilizing Foursquare to "check in" to Tiananmen Square and leave "sensitive comments" on the TS page for others to see, reports China-based Techblog86. Anyone who did manage to sneak in before the ban automatically received the "Swarm" and "Player Please" badges.

The Latest From Apple's Mobile Ad Platform

The much anticipated iAd platform is ready to roll out on July 1 on iPhone 3Gs or better and second or third generation iPod Touch models running on the new iOS 4 platform. Apple has already lined up $60 million in commitments from leading brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Target, Turner Broadcasting, Nissan, Unilever and Disney. With its new multitasking capabilities, iAd apps will allow users to engage with an ad within individual apps while watching videos or playing games and built-in ecommerce functionality will enable direct purchases of merchandise.

Brazilian Scented Banner Ad

SCENTED BANNER NATURA KAIAK from Black Mamba on Vimeo.

The Marmarati Social Media Experiment

View more presentations from We Are Social .

Explaining Search Engine Marketing to Your Great Grandfather

I recently had an interesting conversation with my 94 year old grandfather. He spent more half of the last century in the advertising industry and is ecstatic that I followed in his footsteps. But, in reality, he doesn't even own a computer, let alone understand how advertisers are utilizing the digital space to reach consumers. I attempted to explain, and he pretended to understand. One thing lead to another and we began to discuss how search engine marketing worked. I used storefronts on a New York City block to describe the process. Thought I would share this to mark a week when we brought two other Stern client's SEM efforts in-house.

I explained to my grandpa that search engine marketing takes place in an electronic marketplace and refers to the placement and location of retailers in a new age market. SEM seeks to increase the visibility of the butcher, tailor, pharmacy, etc.

The heaviest oncoming traffic runs in one direction passing a series of stores. The first store on the closest corner, a butcher, is naturally the first to come into view for those passing by and therefore gets not only the most attention, but also the most business. Because of the butcher’s excellent location, it will have the highest monthly rent. The tailor next door, and each subsequent store on the block will have slightly lower monthly rents due to the fact that they receive less exposure, and therefore less business.

Thoughts and Resources:

• Figured I would completely lose him if I attempted to explain how the relevance of the website in relation to the searched term plays into the equation..
• Google's face lift: http://bit.ly/NewGoog
• More information and a history of search: http://bit.ly/SEMwiki

Google Chrome Viral Campaign

With its newest release of Chrome, Google wanted to show us how fast it is rather than just tell us how fast it is. To do that, they made a Rube Goldberg-ian video showing how fast web pages load in Chrome. And yes, its awesome.

This extremely creative viral video has 1.5 million+ YouTube views in less than 7 days:

• http://bit.ly/GoogViral

Thoughts and resources:

• Making the Google Chrome Speed Tests: http://bit.ly/GoogMakingOf
• Convinced? Make the switch like I did at Google.com/Chrome

All Roads lead to..

When researching data visualization for this week’s blog posts, all roads seemed to lead to the two co-founders of Flowing Media inc, Fernanda B. Viégas and Mark Wattenberg. To put it bluntly, these two are absolute geniuses and THE leading minds in this field.

Flowing Media Inc offers design, strategy and development services, with an emphasis on media and other consumer-facing industries: http://flowingmedia.com/

Before forming Flowing Media in 2010, Fernanda and Mark’s collaborative website, http://hint.fm/, housed many of their projects.

Fernanda B. Viégas

Co- Creator of Flowing Media In, Fernanda B. Viégas is a research scientist and computational designer whose work focuses on the collaborative side of visualization exploring storytelling, collective sensemaking, and online identity.

• Follow Fernanda on Twitter : http://twitter.com/viegasf
• Fernanda’s website: http://fernandaviegas.com/index.html

Mark Wattenberg

Martin Wattenberg is a computer scientist and artist. He founded and managed IBM's Visual Communication Lab, exploring new forms of visualization and how they can enable better collaboration. Wattenberg is known for his visualization-based artwork, which has been exhibited in venues such as the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Museum of Modern Art.

• Follow Mark on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wattenberg
• Mark Wattenberg’s website: http://www.bewitched.com/
• Mark interviewed in The Economist: http://bit.ly/MarkEconomist

Twitter No Longer Operating in the Red

Microblogging service Twitter took a step towards crushing the 'when are you going to get a business model?' question yesterday, introducing ads in the form of Google-style "Promoted Tweets" to appear among search results. The ads are based on keywords, with Twitter charging clients per thousand impressions. Best Buy, Bravo, Starbucks and Virgin America are among 10 initial advertisers to test the service.

Meet iAd

The internet is buzzing about the unveiling of Apple's 4.0 iPhone operating system. The next generation iPhone OS is expected to support multitasking (the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously), as well as feature an integrated geo-targeted mobile banner ad solution for the first time. Apple, which lost out to Google in a bidding war for AdMob last fall, purchased mobile ad company Quattro Wireless for $275 million in January and has been working on developing a working iPhone ad platform for advertisers.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, criticizing existing current rich media and search-based mobile ad solutions, said the key to iAd's success will be the ability to serve actionable ads without having to leave the app you're using. The iAd platform will also allow advertisers to find out where users are and supply ads relevant to their current location. Apple will sell and host the ads which can appear as mini-applications that offer free content such as movie trailers, casual games or wallpapers - while developers will retain 60% of the revenue generated.