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Google Vs. Spam

By: Abby Johnson

Did you realize that 1 million spam pages are created every hour? It’s a scary thought, but based on Blekko’s Spam Clock, it’s true. This growing problem of spam has been a hot topic lately, and some people are beginning to hold Google accountable for it.

The issue of spam and Google raises so many questions. For starters, should Google be held accountable for all the spam content, and should it being doing more to prevent it from getting into its search engine? On the other hand, is society too trusting of Google to provide accurate information?

There is also the issue of content farms and where they stand in this debate. Matt Cutts indicated in a blog post that Google would be taking a much stronger position against content farms in 2011. Demand Media’s CEO Richard Rosenblatt told Peter Kafka of AllThingsD that this resolution was not directed toward his network of sites.

Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media told WebProNews that spam is a very real problem and even called Google a “jealous god.” He went on to say that if Google were truly an “unbiased participant,” it would do a better job of incorporating the tools that could curate and mediate content, thus reducing the amount of spam.

So, who will get the victory: Google or Spam?

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New Opportunities for Advertisers on Twitter

By: Abby Johnson | Comment Now

The advertising community is all up in arms about a new self-serve Twitter ad platform. The only problem is that Twitter is not acknowledging that it is a new self-serve ad platform. So, what’s going on?

The truth is, only time will tell what it really is, but since nobody likes to wait, we’ll tell you what we know so far. ☺ It all got started when David Szetela interviewed with MedaiPost about a private beta opportunity he was experimenting with regarding Twitter advertising. Somehow in the course of the conversation, the term “self-serve” was derived, which sparked a lot of hype.

Last year, Twitter announced that it would be releasing a self-serve ad platform in 2011. Since that time, advertisers have been anxiously waiting. Szetela claims that the ad platform that he is testing is, essentially, self-serve, while Twitter says it is not.

Instead, the microblogging service said that Szetela is referring to an additional part of their Promoted Tweet service. Twitter said that it would still be releasing a real self-serve ad platform later this year.

Regardless of what it is technically called, there are some definite advertising opportunities on Twitter. Fortunately, Twitter is expected to open this beta experiment to more users in February, so stay tuned!

Social Media Then and Now

By: Abby Johnson | 4 Comments

How far back in history does social media go? According to Ted Ulle, the Senior Search Analyst for Converseon, it can be traced all the way back to the 1700′s before the United States was a free nation. And yes, he is being serious.

As he explains, when newspapers were printed in Philadelphia back then, they included blank spaces and pages. This blank space was intended to allow readers to write down their thoughts and opinions before they passed it on to other readers. Pretty social, huh?

Although intriguing to think about, it shouldn’t really be surprising that our ancestors were social. Humans are a social group of people and were intended to be that way from the beginning of time. As we look back, we can see how our social behaviors and techniques have changed over time.

Looking ahead in the future, our social techniques and behaviors will continue to change. However, as Ulle said, the principles of social media will always be the same.

Since social media and search are directly related, he believes that the two could actually come together and be known as one term. Do you agree?

Can Blekko Change the Search Game?

By: Abby Johnson | Comment Now

For a long time, Google, Yahoo, and the latest Microsoft offering (e.g. Live, Bing, etc.) were the three primary engines. However, many people in the search industry have said their goodbyes to Yahoo as a search engine. These people believe that the only 2 search engines are Google and Bing.

According to comScore’s September Search Share Report, Google owns 62.9 percent of the market followed by Yahoo with 19.2 percent and Microsoft sites with 12.5 percent. Based upon this knowledge, it is going to take a lot to pull some of Google’s share away.

New search engines pop up quite frequently, and some are even paraded as the “Google Killer.” Blekko is the newest search engine on the scene, and although it doesn’t claim to be a “Google Killer,” it does make some powerful claims.

Blekko is designed to eliminate spam by allowing users to search with its slashtag technology. These slashtags attach categories to queries to return higher quality search results. Rich Skrenta is the search engine’s CEO and co-founder and has also held this same title at both Topix and NewHoo (also known as The Open Directory Project or DMOZ). The search engine is also said to have many former Google and Yahoo engineers on board.

In addition, Blekko is supporting an open data model, which is something Google does not do. Users can see their backlinks, RSS information, and more, which is very beneficial for SEO purposes.

In this interview, Skrenta said, “Our goal is to be the #3 search engine.”

Although being the 3rd search engine will be a difficult feat to meet, Blekko is still receiving approximately 1 million searches per day, even after launching nearly 3 weeks ago. Could this attention be a result of initial hype, or could Blekko really become a competitive player in the search industry?