David Dalka attends and reports business events and conferences to discover the future of business where technology, organizations and customer exeperience meet. Also serves as emcee, moderator and motivational business keynote speaker.
Microsoft (MSFT)
I heard some people say this will change the way we all surf the net. Well after trying it out last night, I like the tabs. What is the best thing about IE7 you ask? The favicon.ico works now in IE!!!
While the tabs make for a more efficient memory footprint, Firefox is still more efficient memory wise.
It has “feed intergration” all I see is that it allows you to view feeds more easily. I don’t see a storage feature that is in my face as has been described. Am I missing something?
Google Blogoscoped linked to posted video of Danny Sullivan’s interview of Eric Schmidt at SES and Danny also posted (link removed) full press conference transcript that Google posted – wish I would have known that this was out there – it would have been helpful to me and I’ve bookmarked the page – props to David Krane and his PR team Google for posting that including the retracted comment portion – in other words if you read this please read the whole thing! I would urge him to change the segmentation of this information however as this transcript was not sent out via the normal Google product promotion press release channels like email.
RustyBrick points out an article suggesting that Google has hit the “topping point“.
This includes Andy Hagan’s and Aaron Wall‘s recent 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006.
Steve Rubel is challenging marketers to think like Venture Capitalists.
MSN – Ramez Naam
Links – What do they mean?
Discovery – How do you find it?
Reputation – How important is this page?
Annotation – What is this page about?
Key Principal of Links
Short and Readable
Descriptive
Useful and Navigating
In a Useful Location, Font, Color, etc.
Build good content and they will come!
Ask – Kaushal Kurapati
A link is a vote of authorization of the page being linked too.
Ask Approach –
Search the index to collect & calculate global information
Break the index into communities
Collect & calculate local subject-specific information
Apply all pertinent links
– Be cautious of reciprocal links
– Become an authority on a subject
Google – Adam Lasnik
We want links that are useful for humans?
Do your links make sense?
Yahoo! Rajat Mukherjee
Let’s try to think beyond links.
Keywords, meta tags, links, new things are emerging
Ysearchblog.com
Answers.yahoo.com – social search is subjective opinions
Builder.search.yahoo.com – new search experiences
Myweb.yahoo.com
Siteexplorer.yahoo.com – look at your in links, meta data.
Help.yahoo.com/search
Search.yahoo.com – different signals will involve links
Rustybrick wrote an amazing post on the new SES API session – my PC was in dead battery mode and no plug available mode during this session. Please enjoy his post. He did mis Erynn B. Petersen’s of Microsoft because they accidently went to questions before she gave her speech, which was an awkward moment that she handled amazingly well. I had a nice chat with her afterwards, she is one of the people who really gets what this is all about and for that I appreciate her.
This is a great session that reminds me of how much search is like financial services, where there are a number of vendors that provide mission critical API’s – the fact that API’s are just starting to become transparent to the masses is a sign of how early in all of this we truly are.
After Eric Schmidt was interviewed by Danny Sullivan, he held a press conference.
But first Eric stopped in the restroom and shook my hand shortly thereafter without washing his hands per reports of an SES attendee (it’s weird learning things like that 2 days later).
Learnings from this experience: Bring your business card, ask a specific and short question or risk having the tough parts missed.
The most surprising thing to me is that he only really holds press conferences about once a quarter. Think about that one of the busiest, hectic and arguably most controversial companies of our time that generates more news in a week than many companies used to generate in a year only has a press conference once a quarter. I wonder what Don Tapscott would think? Hmm, I just checked and actually Eric was quoted on the sleeve of Don’s 2003 book, the Naked Corporation! Think of how much the world has changed in those three years. Wow!
Below is my summary of the finer points of this rapid fire interaction (wish I could type faster) – minus the one area where he retracted a statement after continued pushback. It was very odd because in one way I felt sorry for him for being pounded on in a harsh way and in another way I felt he wasn’t being fully forthright and maybe even somewhat evil… I guess I’m trying to get across that the scene was very tense, terse and emotional.
Reporter: Can you say more on partnerships, Google as the affiliated partner, etc.
Eric: Dmarc is going to go well. Viacom/MTV suggested that taking content and putting video advertising at the beginning. Finding a way to monetize them is the hard part. We are doing well in search and content. Radio is coming out soon. The other two are starting now.
Reporter: Can you discuss the economics…
Eric: The forward commitments are much, much larger.
Reporter: Regarding the Kinderstart lawsuit.
Eric: It’s probably is best that I not comment on that.
Reporter: The AOL thing, how can it be impossible to happen at Google?
Eric: We have very specific plans about it. I’d rather not divulge them. (awkward silence in the room)
Reporter: Many people, do not know the difference between paid and natural search. Could you do more?
Eric: Yes certainly we could although I think most people know. (I’d like to hear more elaboration on this issue as would the reporter that asked it)
Reporter: Can you update us on Adsense policy?
Eric: Sites sometimes don’t follow the guidelines due to third parties. We have been tightening our guidelines.
Reporter: Update on Microsoft…
Eric: General Counsel made some claims. We’ll see where it happens. Google is more efficient, more scientific, etc. We will get more – $12 Billion of a $500 Million industry.
Reporter: Can you discuss video pricing model and cultural trends.
Eric: We will use an Adwords model. Development of social networks as lifetime models eventually. Myspace, it’s of the scale of instant messaging.
Chris Sherman made introduction speech I cant stress enough that he did a really *amazing* job of planning the session and laying out the issues. Major props.
Social Search goes back to the first days of the Internet.
W3.org – first directory.
Directories were the first forms of social media. Spammers destroyed the first directories with spam.
Future – people will be getting these things right
Talent pool is volunteer and free. The scaling is happening due to people participating.
Types – Shared bookmarks (del.icio.us), tag engines (blogs and RSS) and collaborative directories (Wikipedia).
Types of social search – Personalized verticals and collaborative harvesters.
Popurls.com – combines all news sites like dig, reddit, etc in one place.
Scale and scope will be major, tagging, ambiguity of language, human laziness, lack of controlled vocabulary, and of course…idiots!!!
Spammers – new systems create new opportunities.
Chris Sherman is optimistic about social search but is concerned about some issues. Trust networks, increased personalization, etc are great opportunities
Grant Ryan , Eurester speaks:
Flew in from New Zealand and is tired!
Anyone can create their own search engine with Eurester.
Power to the people – socialization of the search technology. Spidering, Directories, Link Analysis, Swickis
Search engines have done everything to avoid
We are a printing press not a publisher. We can decide how it looks and how to make money. We have created 20,000 search engines.
Monetize the printing press the way you want to – chose what is best for your community.
Swikinomics – How can you create vertical search engines. You can own your own Swicki. Property rights are key to motivate people in any economic system.
Anyone can create a valuable asset based on their knowledge
Existing communities and brands can extend into web search to create valuable services
Anyone can organize information on the Internet and get paid for it.
Tim Mayer, Yahoo!
Launching a search builder today – builder.yahoosearch.com
Search breakthroughs come from untapped authorities and rich new sources of metadata.
Yahoo’s mission – “Enrich peoples’ lives by enabling them to find, use, share and expand all human knowledge.”
Obtain a critical mass or high-quality user generated experience.
Nils Pohlmann, Lead Program Manager, Windows Live Search
Live spaces – new release
Ideas.live.com beta release Windows Live Q&A
Windows Live Local – Maps with tags
Windows Live QnA – sign up as qna.live.com
Questions:
Are the demographics different than in a bookmarking versus answers?
Tim – Del.icio.us is tech influencers. Tails of the tags are more mainstream. Myweb are early adopters. The demographic is younger overall.
Subscribers for a tag, Answers, is about contribute valuable knowledge.
There was a question about paying for bookmarking actions and the panel was in agreement that they are leery of going this route.
Regarding Yahoo! – Tim – Builder.search.yahoo.com – create customized web search. Create customized search experience. Reputation and trust are important!
Lately, Google has been showing that is it participating in customer listening. This is good! I hope it continues.
Since I’ve started studying search engine marketing these past full months full time, I’ve been applying to Google – even with employee referrals of former co-workers and people I’ve met at Search Engine Strategies, etc. with out the applications executed in a way I consider appropriate – that is the politest way I can say it. I’d like to see that change, I’m presently seeking post-MBA level leadership roles within your Search Services/ Syndication, Advertising Sales, Marketing or other leading areas driving customer satisfaction and impacting revenue as you grow new product lines. Ideally I’d love to work within local, dMarc or mobile. I resubmitted (again) today for numerous post-MBA leadership positions.
So I launched nextgoogleceo.com which is a cute take of HR microsites (and discusses how next Microsoft is obsolete now that google is a common verb in our language), except that I’ve changed the wording a bit to demonstrate my increasingly dynamic understanding of both search and viral marketing and the future thereof. As soon as I hit send, I’m leaving for Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006 and look forward to meeting your wonderful business unit leaders speak once again.
I would of course invite aspiring competitors or “next google’s” to come up and talk to me about their ideas as well. I look forward to learning and adding to my large and growing list of amazing people that are making the Internet a special place.
I look forward to seeing all of my fabulous friends at SES San Jose. It’s going to be both great fun and great learning. It’s the 3rd or 4th time I’ll be seeing some of you and I feel like I’m going on a trip to visit family…that is because that is exactly what it is! I look forward to meeting many new folks to and learning many new and great things. Thank you and please travel safely. See you in San Jose!
I leave you with this parting thought: In the book, Creating Customer Evangelists, the chapters on Mark Cuban stand out in regards to the hiring of Matt Fitzgerald as Chief Marketing Maverick: “Instead of selecting a marketing person from the NBA or the sports industry, Mark consciously made a decision to hire someone from outside the industry,” Fitzgerald says. “He believed the NBA marketing community was too in-bred so [Cuban] was looking for a marketing person with a fresh perspective and ideas.”