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

Deck from McDonald's 12/24 Presentation

Process and evolution of digital display advertising

View more presentations from aporges.

Google to acquire Groupon?

Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that is localized to more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America. The company offers one "Groupon" per day in each of the markets it serves. The Groupon works as an assurance contract using ThePoint's platform: if a certain number of people sign up for the offer, then the deal becomes available to all; if the predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the deal that day. This reduces risk for retailers, who can treat the coupons as quality discounts as well as sales promotions tools. Groupon has seen enourmous growth this year, and was a recent hot topic after being featured as one of Oprah's favorite things (Although, I cant imagine Oprah has used a coupon of any kind since the Reagan Era..). Their rather simple, yet brilliant business model, combined with Groupon's choke-hold on the online localized retail market, has made them a target for all of the major major players in the tech game including Yahoo and Google.

After Marissa Mayer, One of Google's first 20 employee's and most recently the head of Google Search, was put in charge of location and local services, it was widely believed that Google was going to be making a move into the location-based social networking space (think Foursquare or Facebook Places - click for me info). The question everyone asked -Why move one of the most powerful players at Google to head up an emerging, small, and recently reorganized area of the tech giant? After news came out in the last few weeks ago that Google offered CEO Andrew Mason close to $6 Billion to acquire Groupon, the Mayer move seemed to make more sense. "A $5+ billion purchase - even for Google - is not something to be taken lightly, and it would make perfect sense to put Mayer - who is still only 35 years old - in charge of what many believe to be the next big thing." With 700 million global monthly unique users, Google can achieve a wider distribution of the 40,000 merchants that Groupon has lined up that are waiting to get thier deals listed. Will Groupon accept what would be the third richest acquisition in history? For now, the world will have to wait and see.

UPDATE:

Late last week, Groupon rejected Google takeover bid, and Bloomberg is claiming they know why. The social deal leader is betting it can keep increasing its valuation after walking away from a deep-pocketed suitor. As the story of Yahoo demonstrates, it's a strategy fraught with risk, but - as Facebook shows -great potential, too.

Thoughts and resources:

• Did Google put Marissa Mayer in charge of local because of Groupon? http://bit.ly/eJf1Af
• Try Groupon yourself: http://www.groupon.com/

Mobile Market Share Update

Research in Motion (Blackberry) and Apple continue to trade body blows in the smartphone market, according to Comscore's latest Global Smartphone report. RIM(Blackberry) accounts for 37.3% of the U.S. smartphone market with the iPhone in second with a 24.3% share. Google's Android platform gained by 6.5% percentage points to over a flat Apple to reach a 21.4% share. ComScore notes that the rising smartphone market is lifting all boats and boosting mobile content usage across all platforms.

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2010
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+

Share (%) of Smartphone Subs
June -10 Sept. 10 Point Change
Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
RIM 40.1% 37.3% 2.8
Apple 24.3% 24.3% 0.0
Google 14.9% 21.4% 6.5
Microsoft 12.8% 10.0% 2.8
Palm 4.7% 4.2% -0.5
Source: comScore MobiLens

-Cynthia Turner

Projection Mapping Becoming More Mainstream

"3D projection mapping has recently emerged as one of the coolest forms of advertising, with big companies like Nokia, Samsung, and BMW projecting beautiful 3D video displays on buildings around the world and sharing their campaigns on the web."

3D projection mapping, according to Wikipedia, is "any method of mapping three-dimensional points to a two-mentionable plane." Using this technique, video artists are able to match videos to buildings that they are projecting on and create cool 3D effects, making it look as though buildings are crumbling, changing their shape and more. It is really amazing. Check out the following clip as an example of phenomenal things that can be done using this technique."

Mapping during 600 years anniversary of the astrological tower clock situated at Old Town Square in center of Prague:

thoughts and resources:

• Agency behind this project: http://www.seeper.com/
• A view of the Prague astrological tower clock durring the day: http://bit.ly/dxMSYA

Astronaut Checks In to Foursquare From Outerspace

Today, Expedition 25 Commander Douglas H. Wheelcock became the first human to ever use a location-based service from space. Doug checked in using Foursquare from the International Space Station and unlocked the new NASA Explorer Badge, and is on his way to obtaining the most elusive mayorship on Foursqaure.

In the near future, explorers on earth who visit space-related places can also unlock the badge while learning about NASA history and the space program. Get started by following the NASA Foursquare page.

NASA Explorer Badge:

Social Media Maven Gary Vaynerchuk's Advice For Scaredy Cat Corporations

"On Wednesday night Wine Library TV's Gary Vaynerchuk stopped by Fast Company headquarters for a panel discussion about online influence. In this clip he explains how he moved more bottles than uber-wine critic Robert Parker, how he took the NHL from 500 Twitter followers to 500,000, and how caring more than your competitors is the most effective weapon in building influence on the internet"

A few of his statements really stuck with me, most notably "You always hear that content is king(in regards to social media). If content is King, then Context is about to become God."

How McDonald's Uses Twitter

"Rick Wion, Director of Social Media for McDonald's Corp, discusses why the company uses Twitter, how it staffs it and how it deals with the legal hoops. The following clip was filmed durring the National Restaurant Association's Marketing Executives fall gathering Oct. 14 in Scottsdale, Ariz."

When Display Advertising Goes Wrong

Microsoft Bing 'Friends' Facebook

In a news conference today at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Bing and Facebook announced that they will be partnering to provide Bing with a search experience where your Facebook network helps inform your every query.

"Lets say your searching for Toyota Prius. Not only will you get the standard news and product links, there'll be a module near the top of your search that includes any Prius activity among your Facebook friends - articles they've liked, comments they've made, etc."

Expect huge privacy concerns with this new innovation..

Search Share Shakeup

Google continues to dominate search traffic with 72% of all U.S. searches, but Microsoft Bing is making serious headway. According to the latest research from Experian Hitwise that tracks September Internet traffic, searches powered by Bing account for 23% of searches, with Yahoo commanding 14% of searches.

-Cynthia Turner

Social Media Revolution

Thanks Kerry!

Google's new "Instant Search" may have major effects for advertisers

Meet the new Google search. Typing out the full search query and hitting "enter" are things of the past. While it may not sound like a very exciting change, Google Instant is actually the largest change to the search giant in over a decade, and with it may come major changes for search engine marketers. On the new Google Instant, "search results and suggestions continually update as Google attempts to predict queries from the very first character entered in the search box. This is a major change in search technology and Google predicts this will save users more than 350 million hours a year, or two to five seconds per search, on average."

Now that you have the basics- CLICK HERE to jump over to Google, and complete a basic search before you read on.

So... did you stop to look at the screen, take a sip of your coffee, or sneeze while you were typing? My guess is you did, and if your brief pause was 3 seconds or longer, each of the paid listings on the top and right hand side of the page were considered, by Google's standards, impressions to the advertisers serving those ads.

Why this is bad: Increase in impressions = lower click through rate = negative impact on historical calculation of quality score = increase in the associated cost-per-click = higher costs without a higher return.

• In essence, there will be more total searches compiled. Many of our clients will have to pay more to compete in the search space, especially when bidding on more higher traffic keywords.

With Google Instant only a week or two old, we are forced to anticipate the impact of the engine's change and adjust our strategy accordingly. Stronger calls to action and page titles will be extremely important as there will be a much shorter time for searchers to view and interact with the results page.

Thought and resources:

• Putting paid search aside- Is the increase in brand exposure a good thing, even if for a second while the query is being typed?
• With this release, don't be surprised if Google AdWords give us an "average exposure time" metric.

Checking In with Facebook Places

Facebook Positions Itself for Future Growth

In recent months, Facebook has moved to position itself as more than just a way for its users to interact with other people and brands, but now also as a venue for users to interact with and discuss places and activities.

Community Pages

The first addition we have seen is Community Pages, and Facebook is calling them “the best collection of shared knowledge on a topic”. Think Wikipedia, minus the user editing capabilities. Facebook populates the walls of these pages by pulling posts from other user’s profiles that contain the particular term that the Community Page is based on. We can help them collect other information to add to our client's Community Page by submitting website URL's and Wikipedia page links (if applicable). Facebook is also currently inviting users to apply to add content to these pages later on. From what I have read, Facebook intends to eventually allow users to upload their photos to the page. At this point, though, it seems like Communities have a long way to go before they feel anything like an actual community.

Facebook Places:

Much like Foursquare, a Facebook Places page shows FB users a map of where the Place is located, a list of friends who are currently checked in at the Place (if any), and a Friend Activity stream of other friends who have visited the Place in the past. By claiming your FB Place, you can manage your Place’s address, contact information, business hours, profile picture, admins and other settings. Right now, Facebook Place pages exists completely independent of the Facebook Fan page that we’re using to engage and connect with our business’s followers.

I am getting word that we will be able to merge Fan Page listings with Facebook Place pages at a later date. There’s quite a hefty claiming process to set the stage for the eventual merger, but once it’s done, the new Place Page as your business’s identity on Facebook. You will eventually have one page that users can interact with and check in at.

Thoughts and resources:

• One of the issues I can see Community Pages facing in the future is when a product/brand/place/interest does not have a unique name. Facebook may populate the community page with recents posts pertaining to another topic of the same name.

Loyalty 2.0

Over the course of the last few months, my rants on the subject of social media have become something of a norm on the blog. Much of my enthusiasm is invoked by what I see as unlimited potential for brands to benefit from these emerging platforms. As an advertiser, I believe we have the most opportunity to reach consumers through location-based social networks (LBS) like Foursquare, Gowalla, and the newly released Facebook Places.

Initially, I wasn’t sure that platforms like 4sq would ever be utilized outside of metropolitan cities. As LBS have evolved, it has become evident that I was way off with my initial evaluation. I was looking at these applications as a consumer, when I should have been looking for the opportunities in location-based services as an advertiser.

Having joined 4sq early in its early stages, the infrastructure was not yet in place outside of cities like New York or San Francisco. Each of these LBS platforms are rendered useless unless they are adopted by the masses. The sub shop around the corner.. The bookstore a block over.. Until a user creates each of them as a venue in the LBS platform, we don’t have the ability to check-in there.

Initially it was just a game. A fun way to see where my friends were, and what bars/restaurants were “trending” with the most active users currently checked in. Then, in an instance, everything changed.

One day I was checking in to a burger joint when a notification in the platform jumped out at me, “Local Special Nearby” -My light bulb moment. Remember the days when you would need 9 whole punches on a frequent buyer card to receive your 10^th sub free at your local sub shop? The ability to leverage location based social networks will take loyalty programs to new heights. If Facebook socialized the internet, Foursquare will socialize loyalty.

A few of the creative ways retailers have leveraged location-based social networks:

• Miss Shirley's in Baltimore has seen a 427% increase in the number of check-in's at the restaurant since they have offered to let their Foursquare "mayor" jump to the head of the line. http://bit.ly/a0kHc4
• A Princeton, New Jersey mall offers a free, close up parking spot to the Foursquare mayor: http://bit.ly/awmYV3

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!