Perhaps Google’s stiffest competition in the immediate future is not Bing and Yahoo, but rather it’s Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Just as we no longer search for the news (24 of the top 25 newspapers have shown record declines in circulation) in the future we will no longer search for products and services rather they will find us via social media.   Google has made billions by being the masters of the search world.  As these new social media players look for potential revenue streams, monetizing search will certainly bubble to the forefront for the executives.

This will occur on two main fronts a) consumers searching for products and services b) companies searching within the millions of conversations and meta data to garner relevant and real-time customer feedback as well as potential leads and sales.  One of the most powerful items about Twitter is the ability for companies to go to search.twitter.com and put in relevant brand or product terms and being able to have insight into what is being said about their product or service.  This is one of the main drivers behind why Facebook has been adjusting some of their platform to be more in sync with Twitter.  Facebook understands there is “gold” in these conversations.   

Speaking of adjustments.  Google has made advancements in their search algorithm over the years as well as adjustments to other products.  However, for the past few years they haven’t been pushed hard by any major competitor and they haven’t made many MAJOR adjustments to their core business.  You can’t blame them, why fix something that isn’t broken.  As a result they’ve also been able to supply the world with many free tools that we use in our day-to-day lives.  However, as a result, search hasn’t advanced as much as it could have if there was a more competitive environment.   Also, people care more about what their friend thinks than what an algorithm does and that is where social media has a potential advantage on Google in the future.  However Google is looking to close that gap as evidenced by some of their adjustments:

Google Wave:  This is Google’s collaboration tool to combat Twitter and Facebook – some have dubbed it 21st Century e-mail.  Computer World’s Sharon Gaudin titled in article “Google’s Wave could prove a threat to Facebook, Twitter.”  This same article quotes analyst Rob Enderle, “Thus Google, with its marketing clout and good name, may have a good shot at disrupting the likes of Facebook and Twitter, “This represents a displacement threat for everybody,” Enderle said. “Everybody in this space — Twitter, Facebook and MySpace — is nervous at the moment. If they’re not nervous, then they’re missing the memo. The market hasn’t settled and when it’s not settled, then something like Wave could come in and make headway.”  

My take: The biggest hurdle here is that it may be too bleeding edge for the masses.  If they make it easiest enough to use for Mom & Dad to adopt than they have a home run on their hands.  That is what has been one of Facebook’s biggest successes – the mass adoption by older generations.  

Google SearchWiki:  In Google’s words SearchWiki is a way for you to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results. With just a single click you can move the results you prefer to the top or add a new site. You can also write notes attached to a particular site and remove results that you don’t feel belong.   My take:  Too much burden placed on the user to supply relevant input that can easily be leveraged by other searches. I believe you also need a Gmail account for this to show up.  Also, hardly anyone knows this exists.  The beauty of a tool like Facebook Connect is that it easily resolves a problem (people don’t want to have to enter logins/personal information for various sites) with limited effort on the user’s part.     

Google Hot Trends:  Similar in concept to top Trending Topics on Twitter this functionality or box shows up whenever you type in a search term that is one of the top searched on items in the past few hours. “Trends is all based on a different kind of tweet. Instead of the 140 character tweet, it’s the 20 to 25 character tweet, the keyword search. And those come in much faster than tweets do. In our view, that’s the highest fidelity information for trending topics,” said RJ Pittman, director of product management for consumer search properties at Google.  

My take:  Yahoo had a similar, less robust concept with Yahoo Buzz several years ago.  I just find it interesting that Google is perceived (whether it is true or false – I’d argue false) by the public as following Twitter (no pun intended) with this offering.  Great article by Danny Sullivan can be found here 

Google Sidewiki:  In Google’s Words, “Google Sidewiki allows you to contribute helpful information next to any Web page. Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page. Instead of displaying the most recent entries first, we rank Sidewiki entries using an algorithm that promotes the most useful, high-quality entries. It takes into account feedback from you and other users, previous entries made by the same author and many other signals we developed.  More information on Google Sidewiki  

My take:  This is a game changer.  There are other companies that have been trying to tackle these “layers” on sites, but with Google now in the game it signals that Google is really getting serious about social.  Websites aren’t going to like this loss of control, but it should be a big win for the user if done properly.  To make it truly social it should allow the user to highlight or bring to the front specific individuals that they trust.       Look for social media companies to get more search oriented and look for Google to continue to get more social.

Erik Qualman is the author of Socialnomics which has made the Amazon #1 Best Seller List.  Click here to order Socialnomics.

Google a lansat 18 gadgeturi pentru a creste interactivitatea iGoogle. Cu ajutorul acestora, utilizatorii pot de exemplu sa joace jocuri multiplayer, sa isi impartaseasca filmulete, liste to-do si alte lucruri. Managerii produsului iGoogle au afirmat pentru presa ca serviciul se va focusa de acum inainte pe conectarea utilizatorilor.

Se spune ca iGoogle ar putea deveni un „social hub” al Goolge. Totusi, nu de mult Google Reader a primit si el niste functii sociale in plus. Apropo, inca nu exista un gagdet Google Reader pentru iGoogle (au un widget care preia feed-urile, dar un gadget care sa „lege” functiile sociale din amblele ar fi cel putin interesant).

For the first time in history, paid search is beginning to stagnate. So in a seemingly accepting move towards a more varied and user focused network, Google have took a rather subtle step forward with the new Show options… tool.

Growing up in the era of forums and rich media, in my mind, the announcement of Google’s new show more function is a huge step for the social world and the biggest move for Google since street view. A step closer to into “show more”, reveals the huge potential of this tool.

Videos

Never has the creation of regular and positive video content been so necessary. Given top spot at the top of the show options section, likely due to Google’s ownership of the video powerhouse Youtube, it is a huge step forward from the odd video appearing in search listings and a more flexible addition to the link to videos at the top of the screen. It adds another layer of advertising for willing bidders also, maintaining the traditional PPC side panel whilst displaying the videos available.

Coca Cola search › Web›Videos › Past 24 hours

With the new show options… tool, comes new flexibility. Filtering by time allows new video into the usually impenetrable world of the Youtube top 10. This time typing in iPhone might show a more candid/amateur review instead of the big publisher video which traditionally dominate the ratings on site like Youtube and Google or Yahoo video.

this tool and the further advancement of Universal search.

Reviews

For industries such as the electronics industry, where consumers may research for up to 7 hours for more expensive items, the reviewing tool is indeed a potential marketing star and so far is one which hasn’t been fully exploited. Creating copy for this tool seems an essential next step for retailers dependant on affiliate reviews and forums.

Whilst this tool represents a huge opportunity for retailers, if ignored it could work out costly. In organic search, affiliates have capitalised on search friendly content in favour of shorter term paid search strategies. For an example of affiliate success, try typing “mobile broadband” into google, revealing one of the more expensive terms to buy on the web. Who is no.1 in the rankings, a broadband provider, retailer. No, an affiliate with a sound understanding of SEO. If you are one of the etailers paying £5-£10 a pop for this term, then consider some organic budget next financial year. Reviews, is a great way of bumping up your search friendliness with tonnes of keywords packed into a small space on your page. It will also get some traffic from like-minded consumers.

Forums

The increasing exposure of forums throughout the web and the influence on the decision making process is profound. Forums should however be treated with great caution if you are representing a plc with a decent level of exposure. Embracing forums is very much a part of becoming socially accepted within the online community, but with that comes the need for a more transparent approach. Or the increased scrutiny of your company through tools such as show options… will tear you and your business reputation to shreds.

Money Saving Expert - Consumer Revenge

Where there is opportunity for some real exposure, forums also present a difficult battle to fight. Traditionally forums have been linked with consumer revenge and in effect act as a megaphone for the voice of the public vs. the corporate machine. According to Hitwise, the UK’s biggest social forums in April 09 were BBC [0.7% market share] and Money Saving Expert [0.61%] promoting free and open discussion and seemingly a common theme. The public voice. This free and open discussion cannot be stifled, as cloaking identity, impersonation, over moderation and a lack of transparency can lead to a bitter aftertaste for big corporations attempting to be social.

In summary, if harnessed correctly this is a potentially great viral tool. It opens up web 2.0 and social media to the smaller players with the time selection functions and gives more prominence to the consumer voice. One which if embraced in a transparent manner will sort the men from the boys in the social world.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Διάβασα μόλις στο TechCrunch, (via Nylon, thanks Nikos), το post του Μichael Arrington ‘Is this the future of Search“, το οποίο συνοδεύεται από ένα εντυπωσιακό video, που νομίζω ότι όλοι ασχολείστε με το SEO πρέπει να δείτε… και να προβληματιστείτε.

Όπως θα δείτε και στο video, οι χρήστες μπορούν να παρεμβαίνουν στα οργανικά αποτελέσματα, να το στέλνουν στην πρώτη σελίδα ή να τα σβήνουν, να προσθέτουν σχόλια, να κρίνουν τα σχόλια (thumbs up/down), κτλ.

Όπως καταλαβαίνετε, αν τα αποτελέσματα επηρρεάζονται έστω και λίγο από αυτό το σύστημα, τότε μιλάμε για την πλέον αυτοκαταστροφική κίνηση εταιρείας, μιας και υιοθετεί η ίδια το Googlebombing. Ταυτόχρονα καταργείται το Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), καθώς δεν υπάρχει λόγος να παιδεύονται οι ειδικοί, καθώς τα αποτελέσματα θα επηρρεάζονται από την δημοφιλία/αποδοκιμασία των ίδιων των χρηστών.

Αν από την άλλη, οποιαδήποτε παρέμβαση του χρήστη στα αποτελέσματα του ‘δικού του Google’, δεν επιφέρει καμία αλλαγή στο Pagerank και στην κατάταξη της κάθε σελίδας, τότε μάλλον μιλάμε για ένα πολύ ωραίο marketing τρικ, για να προωθήσουμε το concept ‘η πρώτη social μηχανή αναζήτησης‘ και ταυτόχρονα να κλέψουμε και λίγο κόσμο από τα social content sites, τύπου Digg.

Θα έλεγα ότι προκύπτει και ένα τρίτο τεράστιο σενάριο, στο οποίο το Google θα φτιάχνει ένα τόσο εκτενές profiling του κάθε χρήστη (μέσω gmail, adsense, google reader, κτλ.) που χρησιμοποιώντας τις ψήφους του, θα τις συγκρίνει με αντίστοιχες ψήφους χρηστών με παρόμοια profiling, ώστε να φτιάχνει clusters στα οποία θα παράγει παντελώς διαφορετικά οργανικά αποτελέσματα για το ίδιο query. (I.e. διαφορετικά αποτελέσματα στο keyword ’sports’).

Αναμένεται πάντως με τρομακτικό ενδιαφέρον (ειδικά από τους SEO Experts).

Un ataque frontal a Facebook y su estrategia de aplicaciones sociales privadas para su entorno. Google pretende crear un entorno abierto para la generación de estas aplicaciones para diferentes entornos como MySpace, etc… Seguro que al final, pondrán anunción de adwords en los widgets porque de tontos no tienen ni un pelo.

Google lanza OpenSocial – vnunet.es
Google no para. El pasado viernes lanzó OpenSocial, un conjunto de APIs comunes para la creación de aplicaciones sociales en Internet, dirigido a la comunidad de desarrolladores y a los sitios web que deseen incorporar este tipo de aplicaciones.

Google’s OpenSocial launches Thursday and will be a set of 3 APIs that will allow interface with a stable of early partners in the project incluing Friendster and LinkedIn.   Unclear to me is if the big social network players – Myspace and Facebook – will shun this solution in favor of trying to keep most  of the balls in their courts.   Eyeballs that is.  

The really provocative challenge in Social Networks is whether to close them up and try to keep everybody inside your own network (Myspace’s approach), or to open them up somewhat and hope developers will create applications to interface with your users, but still try to keep everybody playing in your application environment by your rules (Facebook), or to open things up even more as Google will do on Thursday. 

Google seems to be everywhere these days.  The Google Phone or gPhone will be out soon and I predict the Google Phone will be a spectacular success.  They may even launch their own cellular carrier network and seem to be on a tear all over the online space.   

For Google Social the partners are big, important players including linkedIn, Plaxo, Friendster, Ning, and more, but absent are the two key players in the social place, Myspace and Facebook.  If Myspace and Facebook keep doing their own thing it is going to be hard to predict how all this will shake out.   Google historically has been a fabulous tech company but conspicuously failed with their “Orkut” social network which never took off in the USA though it remains popular in Brazil.    Will Google Social turn all this around?   I just don’t know, but will be sure to check it out when available, and hope to be able to develop a travel application for the new Google Social.

TechCrunch has details.