Search: Vertical
The Future of Search: Will Fragmented Search Mean Death by a Thousand Shards for GooHoo?
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Written By Noah Mallin | June 18, 2008 | Share This
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So I’m stalking this girl who rejected me in high school and Google just isn’t delivering the detailed, timely information I need to stake out her current place of residence and/or job. What’s a mentally imbalanced loner to do?
This morning my colleague Ruth Nightengale, Vice President of Account Management at Reprise Media, sent me a blog post by Marci Albomer at the New York Times. Well Marci, you’re now on the shortlist to get your own dedicated shrine in my apartment thanks to drawing my attention to pipl.com. Pipl bills itself as “The most comprehensive people search on the web” and claims to trawl the “Deep Web.” The Deep Web is not the part of the web where Foucault discussion groups live (though it can be), rather it’s the equivalent to dark matter on the net, great gobs of unindexed material that the search engines don’t see. You’ve also got to love the testimonial banner on the top of pipl’s homepage. That’s gonna come back to haunt somebody at the trial…
2008 Searchviews Predictions
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | December 21, 2007 | Share This
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In yesterday’s post, we outlined what happened in search and social media in 2007, and why it mattered. Today we’re looking to the year ahead, and making some industry predictions for 2008.
Topline? Searchviews predicts that 2008 will be the year that:
- The concept of paying for online content ceases to exist
- “Open” platforms and a free social graph become more meaningful concepts - with implications for mobile and government
- Mobile Internet will have a big impact on content and its distribution
- Search gets truly social and smaller engines get a chance to shine
- Privacy becomes a much bigger concern
Here’s the breakdown:
The concept of paying for online content ceases to exist
- The success of the NYTimes’ dismantling of TimesSelect means Rupert Murdoch & Co. get smart and go free with the WSJ this year - and everyone else will have to follow suit.
- YouTube will stop getting sued and start signing huge video advertising deals.
- But: The music industry will continue to be heavy-handed and litigious rather than figure out how to effectively monetize music online – Notably, we predict that the music industry will go after the excellent Hype Machine, instead of recognizing how valuable it is as a promotional aggregator.
“Open” networks and a free social graph become actionable and meaningful concepts - with implications for mobile and government
- All new web services will be expected to have an open API.
- Remaining US wireless networks will open up, too. By the end of the year, we’ll hear some announcements of the industry shifting considerably to allow users to use any phone on any network.
- U.S. citizens will get better access to government records online.
- Government officials will start to adopt social networking/blogging as new point of communication with constituents. In other words, social networking and blogging won’t just be an election gimmick anymore, but a real point of communication between politicians and people (but, watch out - we also predict that at least one politician will suffer serious online backlash by ignoring search & social media best practices).
Mobile Internet will have a big impact on content and its distribution
- As mobile browsing/Internet access becomes more prevalent, microblog formats (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) in aggregate will exceed Blogger in users.
- Content will get shorter.
- RSS adoption will start to hit the mainstream
- GPS capabilities (a la Google Mobile Maps) will be critical to mobile’s impact - especially for locally-focused social media sites.
Search gets truly social and smaller engines get a chance to shine
- Ask.com will pick up steam, and IAC will buy vertical engines to blow it out – watch out, Live.com!
- Yahoo’s Kickstart will fold and they will quit trying to build social networks from the ground up – they will finally figure out personalized Yahoo start pages have the beginnings of social network profiles and just let people link to each other that way.
- Similarly, Google will get its social network act together, leveraging iGoogle and Google Profiles to do it. Dare we hope for the end of Orkut?
- Myspace will lose ground to Facebook, becoming lost in the wind like Friendster. Or…
- Facebook will acquired outright by Google or Yahoo. Or…
- Facebook will make a really big mistake (compromising user privacy in an unforgivable way) and see a mass user-exodus.
- Veoh.com will gain heavy exposure for video sharing and become a competitor to YouTube.
- Facebook Beacon will get more sophisticated and start to monetize.
- Niche social networks will emerge as big players, and engines (specifically Yahoo) go on a spending spree. Niches to look out for: moms, pets, shopping, and healthcare.
Privacy becomes a much bigger concern
- Consolidation will occur in the people search space (e.g., ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, Spock, etc.).
- Pipl.com will freak people out.
- Companies will be expected to prioritize user fears/the illusion of privacy above the value of data they’re collecting.
More predictions for 2008? Add them to our comments below, or give us a shoutout on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/searchviews.
AOL Launches Investing Site with Financial Search Engine
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | November 29, 2007 | Share This
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AOL launched a slick new money and finance site yesterday, implementing Relegence, a financial search engine it purchased last year to totally overhaul the old AOL Money. Search Engine Land reports:
Roughly a year ago, AOL acquired Relegence a search technology company that offers real-time information and data feeds on a subscription basis to Wall Street professionals. Now AOL is bringing the fruits of that acquisition to a newly redesigned Money & Finance site intended to go head to head with Yahoo Finance, which is the current market leader…
Beyond the financial information, however, this is a great news service that can deliver alerts on subjects or companies via RSS or email. And AOL intends to use the underlying Relegence technology on other properties.
More from the AOL press release:
The site’s real-time streaming company news is provided by Relegence, which was acquired by AOL in 2006, and is the market’s leading financial news and information search engine. With Relegence-powered real-time market-moving news and information, AOL(R) Money & Finance now offers the fastest and most comprehensive intelligence about North American equities, giving users access to more than 3,000 news and information sources including national and regional print coverage, trade publications, government sources and blogs in a customizable interface.
It will be interesting to see how Relegence will change other sections of AOL, though obviously the initial implementation in finance makes the most sense.
In other biz tech news this week, NASDAQ launched its Internet Index, but apparently they deemed Microsoft and News Corp not worthy of it - majorly dissing MSN and MySpace, respectively. From Read/Write Web:
The leading companies include Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, IAC/InterActiveCorp. It also includes international companies, like Baidu and Sohu from China. As Josh noted earlier today though, curiously absent are sites like Microsoft and News Corp. - who control some of the most popular properties on the Internet (MSN/Live and MySpace/FIM respectively). These companies many not be only Internet companies, but their impact on the web is undeniably enormous.
Take heart, Ballmer and Murdoch: Maybe it’s a work in progress.
Libraries Reject Google Book Search
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | October 22, 2007 | Share This
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The New York Times today reported that some libraries are not signing on with Google’s Book Search project because of the engine’s restrictions limiting access to the books it digitizes, including asking libraries to make “the material unavailable to other commercial search services.”
Though Google scans books for free, some libraries are choosing instead to scan their collections with the Open Content Alliance, ensuring free and open access to the books scanned - at a cost of about $30 per book. Started in 2005 by Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, the Open Content Alliance counts Yahoo and Microsoft as members, though the latter now also has a restriction similar to Google’s for non-academic users.
Google has always said aims to index all the world’s knowledge, which certainly fits the aims of the lofty book scanning project. However, the company also purports that its motto is “don’t be evil”… and it’s certainly a bit shifty to put up walls to book access. Mashable notes:
It seems that a public, open index like the Open Content Alliance promotes would ultimately give users the most choice. Nonetheless, Google is certainly helping bring lots of important content online by digitizing books for free. However, by participating in the Open Content Alliance, Google would both be improving book search for everyone, while also bringing more content into its index (and, likely generating more profits). Let’s hope the company has a change of heart.
Yahoo! “Passionista” Study Makes Case for Social Media, Search
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | September 26, 2007 | Share This
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Yahoo and MediaVest just released their findings from a joint a study about consumers they’re calling “passionistas,” or people defined as “highly-engaged consumers…much more likely than typical consumers to create and share content online about their passions and the brands associated with them.”
Their catch-phrase is just a titch gimmicky (no more -ista endings, please!) but according to their study, these consumers spend six times more time at topically interesting sites than the typical user, visit such sites three times more often, and are more likely to try new brands related to their interests. From the press release:
Passionistas seek relevant and timely information, including ads that look and feel like content, email subscriptions and RSS feeds, and customized suggestions from vendors like Amazon or Netflix. They hold their brands to a high standard – and expect intelligent advertising, new approaches and authenticity. These consumers are more likely than average to remix content as a way to play with a brand, using online tools that make it increasingly easy for them to create movies, songs or slideshows to share with their friends.
That’s a compelling case for why social media marketing works, especially as the study also notes that these consumers are also 52% more likely to be brand evangelists. Combine that with the study’s finding that “passionistas” also search a whopping 184% more frequently than their dispassionate counterparts, and you have a case for tightly integrating search and social media marketing efforts - first to reach these users and then to converse with them.
Google and Microsoft Eyeing Job Search
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | May 9, 2007 | Share This
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Both Google and Microsoft are reportedly looking into job search sites. Last week, there was some speculation that Google had its eye on SimplyHired, and then today, Microsoft announced its purchased of a minority equity stake in CareerBuilder.
For Microsoft, the alliance with CareerBuilder is an extension of their existing business relationship. From the press release,
“The relationship between Microsoft and CareerBuilder began in January 2004 when CareerBuilder became the exclusive job search engine for the MSN Careers channel in the U.S. CareerBuilder’s monthly traffic grew by nearly 10 million unique visitors from 2003 to 2004 with MSN contributing a significant portion of the increased traffic…The new agreement is also performance-based with financial payments driven by the quality and quantity of traffic delivered. The new agreement provides for an extension to 2013, whereby CareerBuilder will pay MSN up to $443 million over the course of seven years to serve as the exclusive job search engine on the MSN Careers channel.”
The Google/SimplyHired deal, on the other hand, is a rumored full acquisition. As alarm:clock writes,
“Simply Hired almost seems like it was built to be acquired by Google. Its angels are GOOG angels, its based in Mountain View, it targets the long tail and landed a MySpace deal, and Google doesn’t have a job search tool.”
The suggestion that Google’s mere lack of a job search tool implicates their intent to buy is a little weak. As VCRatings points out, SimplyHired doesn’t fit with Google’s other recent acquisitions,
“Google has acquired a lot of companies in the past six years and a grand total of two were focused on search. This is something Google does best and doesn’t need to go outside the Googleplex for in all but the most bleeding edge of cases.”
Green Advertising Moves Online for Earth Day
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | April 23, 2007 | Share This
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What’s the value of being green? For online publishers, it’s the advertising revenue, says the New York Times. In article today on newly-launched environmental websites, the NYT writes,
“Buoyed by the breakaway success of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the film documentary of Al Gore’s environmental lecture, publishers like The Washington Post, National Geographic and others are increasing their offerings of “green” content, hoping to attract readers and advertising revenues from manufacturers and retailers who are suddenly walking the earth-friendly path.”
Sprig.com and Green.NationalGeographic.com are two new sites launched in honor of Earth Day by the Washington Post and National Geographic, respectively. Sprig.com is a DailyCandy-esq recommendation site targeting environmentally-conscious women, while Green.NationalGeographic.com is a spin off of TheGreenGuide.com. Representatives from both publications report a high degree of interest from advertisers, thanks to the increasing brand value of sustainability.
Last week, however, Fast Company turned a critical eye on the green marketing trend,
“Vanity Fair is doing it. The Week is doing it. Even Wal-Mart is doing it. Everyone is going green. So, here’s a riddle for you: When is green no longer green? Answer: When it’s a green marketing machine. Just like organic, someone obviously got the memo that green is the trend du jour. And many companies jumped on the bandwagon because green wasn’t just good business practice, but it made dollars and cents.”
They call out Wal-mart as the worst offender of fake-greenvertising (though, I’d place the “Earth Day Edition” of MTV’s Pimp My Ride as a close runner up).
Fast Company argues that as more advertisers use environmental branding, consumers find it increasingly difficult to differentiate a green package from a green product. Likewise for search - as “green” terms become more competitive, will higher-ranking spots go to companies with green ad messaging, but not necessarily green practices? For example, should Diesel’s tongue-in-cheek “Global Warming Ready” campaign have a higher quality score on “Global Warming” than non-profits like Greenpeace?
Ultimately I have to concur with the FC article’s conclusion - “One thing I can say for sure is that this whole green campaign is getting people talking. People who wouldn’t normally know what global warming is are now talking about melting glaciers and changing weather patterns. Green has cache. It has mass-market appeal. And it has people excited.” Like Google’s melting Earth Day logo, publishers can have an indirect impact by using their visibility to inform consumers on which brands do or don’t deserve the “green” label. What’s more, if Sprig.com and Green.NationalGeographic.com start churning out advertising dollars, you can bet that other major publications will launch their own environmentally-conscious vertical sites. More sites = more awareness, and more awareness generates greater demand for green products from retailers not already on board. Though the CPCs for sites already bidding on green terms might suffer, it’s a small price to pay for more earth-conscious consumers.
Look Out Google, Here Comes Kevin Federline
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | March 20, 2007 | Share This
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After his debut on YouTube with Nationwide’s “life comes at you fast” commercial, Kevin Federline is evidently extending his online prowess to search. No, really though - at Searchwithkevin.com, fans have the opportunity to win Federline goods (and dates) by using his branded search engine.
Recent winners are displayed prominently on the sidebar, alongside a clock that counts the seconds to the next winning search. The site’s directions on How to Win encourage users to “make searchwithkevin.com your primary search engine” and “tell all your friends”. Searchwithkevin.com is the brain child of PRODEGE, ” the first socially-conscious search engine.” Originally a search portal that used search to raise money for non-profit organizations, PRODEGE recently expanded their offerings to include fan contests within celebrity-branded sites. They’ve built custom engines for Wynonna Judd, the Coachella Festival and Meat Loaf, among others.
Threadwatch questions, “does creating a novelty or branded search portal make it more accessible/desirable to any segments of the population? Ultimately the people want the best results…” Okay, I’m pretty sure K-fed isn’t going to make an enormous dent in Google’s market share, but as a promotional vehicle for Federline’s album, it’s a novel idea. I find it especially interesting that Federline’s search engine is powered by Yahoo - is this something Yahoo will include in their future “Brand Universe“?
AskCity Rolls Up Local Search into a Small World
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | November 28, 2006 | Share This
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Yesterday Barry Diller announced that the IAC will soon release a massive local media site called AskCity.com. AskCity will essentially be a conglomeration of Ask.com, CitySearch, Evite, Ticketmaster, and all of the other ticketing, reviewing, map-tastic assets in IAC’s portfolio.
Says Diller, “It integrates maps, integrates events, integrates all of these different attributes that we have got in the best thing you will be able to use in a city to do things.” (was that a sentence?) Essentially, this is part of an extended project to turn Ask.com into a more powerful search service. Following the release of AskCity, Ask.com will undergo a major homepage redesign and technology update.
Though Ask is notoriously considered “behind” its larger Search competitors, this update could give it a competitive edge in the growing local search market. The IAC is known for its focus on existing technology rather than on new acquisitions, thus, AskCity is the first major product to come from IAC’s purchase of Jeeves over a year ago. Last year we blogged about the Jeeves’ acquisition, noting that Ask’s search technology could nicely tie together IAC’s various local properties. Now it looks like AskCity may be the product of such a search overlay, creating one of the largest (and most promising) mashups on the web.
The IAC hasn’t yet released the details of the new technology. But, given the hype and development time behind AskCity, I can tell you that it had better be one heck of a map.
Related Articles:
- And Then There Were Four
- Diller Kicks off SES with New Ask.com
- Local Searchers Don’t Go To Local Sites
Ready for Takeoff: Farecast Is Now Live Nationwide
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Written By Reprise Media | August 21, 2006 | Share This
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Farecast, the very buzzworthy beta site that predicts airline fares based on an algorithm that analyzes historical trends, has brought 55 new airports under its wing today, says Silicon Beat. Covering nearly all major US markets, Farecast’s predictive technology can now be used by flyers who favor airports like Los Angeles International, both Chicago airports and all three major hubs serving New York City.
The site previously dealt only with flights originating in Boston or its hometown, Seattle, but New Yorkers like us were champing at the bit to try it out for ourselves. Last week, when we asked Farecast’s Mike Fridgen, VP Marketing & Product, how soon they’d be rolling out our way, he played it close to the vest: “Our stated timeline for getting out to the rest of the country is by the end of the year.” So getting to play around on Farecast by the end of the month was a very pleasant surprise.
When we talked to Fridgen today, he told us that scaling the product out to 57 airports “wasn’t too difficult” compared to the challenge of making sure the predictive algorithm would work as well with so much more data. He told us that Farecast was about 75 percent accurate for its original Boston and Seattle flights, and that “accuracy for these new airports is very close to that. It’ll be interesting to see if our simulation” matches up with what consumers experience live on the site.
Farecast is also pretty excited about its new RSS feature, a nifty tool which allows users to keep track of price fluctuations for specific trips. Fore instance, if your search for “JFK to LAX” flights yields some steep fares today, you can subscribe to a feed that notifies you whenever the price goes up or down, and offers Farecast’s predictions as well.
For Farecast’s next major release (a ways down the flightpath), Fridgen hopes that users will get functionality that allows them to search all flights heading to or from a metropolitan area, accessing info from multiple nearby airports instead of just one at a time. In the meantime, we’re happy to input three or four different searches if it means getting the best deal.