Articles of the Day
PayPerPost Beefs Up Disclosure Policies - PayPerPost, a controversial business that pays bloggers to post about advertisers’ products, is now requiring writers to include a small graphical button that denotes a post is being sponsored. CEO and founder Ted Murphy said the move marked the “next step” in the service’s efforts at full disclosure.
Google Search Personalization And You - Web searchers may not have noticed, but search marketers did. It was more than a “Google Dance” this time when the search leader integrated personalized search into natural results last Friday, said Nick Wilson, CEO of social media firm Clickinfluence; it was “cataclysmic.” Personalized search isn’t merely a new search service, it’s now the default. So now, everything you do using Google’s services contributes to results that are increasingly just for you. The implications for search marketers are vast, particularly in the field of search optimization. It will take experimentation to get it right; social media optimization is key.
Linden Lab’s “State of the Virtual World” - Second Life, the virtual world that’s built by its users, has released census data. Key metrics have long been available for the site’s home page, but the release of more granular figures last week suggests the site is trying to open up to the ad community a little more. The top five countries represented in Second Life are the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, and the Netherlands. Interestingly, Linden Lab, the game’s creator, has also published the age and gender data that residents provide when they sign up.
Yahoo’s Pipes Clog But Impress - Yahoo Pipes, a new service for bringing disparate data streams together to a single Web site, launched last Wednesday. Maybe the positive reviews backfired, as the site “clogged” the following day due to demand. Yahoo spokespeople said the Pipes launch was intended for testing by a small pool of developers; big-time press and blogger coverage resulted in an unexpected swarm.
Why Would Google Bother With Video Games? - Marketers, pundits and analysts have wondered why Google would even take an interest in Adscape Media, a company specializing in dynamic in-game advertising. Compared to Google’s other media ambitions, in-game is small potatoes, so is this simply a contest of pride between Big G and Micrsoft? Microsoft has Massive, the biggest in-game advertising company. Google and Adscape would be closed out of the Xbox market, but the Sony’s PlayStation 3, Nintendo’s Wii, and the Internet-expected to be the future of the entire industry-are other options.
Google In Copyright Gaffe - Google again has found itself in an awkward situation stemming from copyright infringement but, this time, the allegations aren’t related to video-sharing site YouTube. Rather, Google apparently sold pay-per-click ads to other Web companies that are accused of inducing consumers to download copyrighted films, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal. And, beyond just selling keywords through the usual automated AdWords platform, Google seems to have sent its sales force out to personally help the companies.
Lionsgate Films On iTunes; Starts With 150-Plus Titles - Lionsgate and Apple finally have an agreement to put the studio’s films on iTunes. The arrangement starts today; more than 150 titles, including Dirty Dancing, will go up this month. That brings iTunes’ movie library past 400—still a far cry from the numbers available on some other sites, including newly launched Wal-Mart download beta with a 3,000-plus libray. Lionsgate was one of the launch studios for that service, which has full coverage from the majors. Apple’s iTunes launched with Disney.
Viacom Circumvents YouTube, Making MTV Networks’ Video Available To All Others - It’s round two in Viacom’s war against YouTube, as the media conglomerate will make videos from all MTV-owned sites available for download to all internet users over the next few months, CNET reported. Over the coming months, individuals will be able to grab videos from nearly all MTV-owned sites and post them on their own blogs or websites, reducing the need to go to YouTube. The move is part of a strategy to bring Viacom’s websites up to “Web 2.0” standards, Mika Salmi, MTV Networks president of global digital media, told Reuters.
Veoh Relaunches Powerful Video Sharing Service - P2P and web video sharing service Veoh will relaunch Tuesday with some important new features and a new look. Starting this week, all users of Veoh will be offered video recommendations using an algorithm developed by Ted Dunning, developer of MusicMatch (now Yahoo!Music). Pro users can charge viewers to rent or own DVD quality videos downloaded through the P2P Veoh player. Pro users can have their videos automatically cross-posted to YouTube, Google Video and MySpace Video and automatically transcoded to QuickTime for iPod viewing.
MySpace Offers Tools to Block Video Clips - MySpace, the News Corporation’s online social network, said yesterday that it was offering free software tools to let media companies block the uploading of unauthorized video clips, expanding on an earlier program to block unauthorized music. MySpace has licensed technology developed by a Silicon Valley company, Audible Magic, that helps identify the digital audio signature in a video file. Videos with audio tracks that match those in its database will be blocked, the company said.
