TechAddress

OneRiot: Search What’s Hot

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:33:43 +0000

If California prosecutors have their way, Digg founder Kevin Rose could easily be found guilty of felony computer hacking for widely-reported actions he took yesterday.

Rose set up a Twitter account yesterday pretending to be his cold, which amazingly accrued during the previous 24 hours over 787 followers:

@kevinscold: hanging out w/@kevinrose, making his head hurt and nose stuffed up… hopefully he’ll take me to @digg tomorrow.

Funny, but is it legal? As both we and Techdirt’s Mike Masnick have explained over the last few month, a very dangerous precedent is being set in the trial of Lori Drew in the aftermath of teenage Megan Meier’s cyberbullying and subsequent suicide. Kevin’s actions in creating a fake Twitter profile for his recent cold mirror the actions Lori Drew is being accused of doing on MySpace.

Back in May I noted what a stretch it was to call the act of creating a fake profile on MySpace “accessing a protected system.”

Only in the biggest stretch in the sense of the word can you call MySpace a protected system, especially when what all Drew did was click on a very prominent sign-up button, and then enter false information for the personal data.

Mike Massnick noted that developments have occurred in the case yesterday:

While the judge in the case decided not to dismiss the case, he apparently has decided that evidence of Meier’s suicide will not be allowed in the case. This, at least, is a good decision. The lawsuit itself has nothing to do with the suicide, and allowing it to be used in front of a jury would likely lead to the same emotional response that resulted in the original charges being filed. Of course, with the case getting so much widespread publicity, you’d have to imagine that many jury members will already be familiar with what happened in the case.

The fact that so many potential jurors will already be familiar with the story is exactly the problem with the judge deciding to let stand the case, despite the strong reasons for dismissal. This means that even though said jurors will likely be instructed not to take the mitigating circumstances of Megan’s death into consideration, they will.

This will set an unfortunate precedent for the future. It’s important to note that Lori isn’t being prosecuted for what she did with the fake MySpace profile, only that she set one up.

I don’t think that realistically those of us that set up a joke profile like Kevin’s can expect prosecution for every frivolous act. On the other hand, it does set up the dangerous situation in which we’re all liable for criminal prosecution at any moment. By making innocuous actions criminal, it completely devalues and blinds law enforcement to actual online criminal behavior.

In an age where anyone’s free speech becomes illegal, only unpopular speech will be prosecuted. In other words - was harassing a young woman and taunting her to the levels of extreme emotional distress immoral and wrong? You’d be hard pressed to find someone to say no to that. Does that mean that the law should be perverted so that she can face justice by way of the legal system? I say no - the cost to all of us is simply too great.

We’ve all created fake profiles similar to what Kevin did yesterday, and if Lori Drew’s prosecutors have their way, we could all see headlines like the one above with our names in Kevin’s spot, and the convictions will be a lot more easy for prosecutors to achieve.

Source:Mashable!

This post is part of Mashable’s Startup Review series, which highlights great unsung startups. The series is made possible by Sun Startup Essentials.

Company Name

OneRiot

20-Word Description

This social search engine finds the pulse of the Web; results are based on what’s hot right now.

CEO’s Pitch

When you search with OneRiot, you’re finding the pulse of the Web. The OneRiot community - a group of more than 2 million people - share what’s important to them as they surf. They help us find the freshest stuff to read or watch in relation to any search query.

Mashable’s Take

OneRiot, the new face of what was known earlier this year as the social search service Me.dium, takes a much simpler approach to finding things of interest on the Web than its predecessor.

What was previously filled with interactive doodads that would allow users to share things via browser tools has been trimmed down. The service now consists of a search field, an AddtoAny page sharing widget, a shortcut to add OneRiot to your personal list of engines aboard your browser’s search box, and even more white space. (For eager social searchers, there are additional software add-ons for Firefox and IE 8 users.)

The company describes its purpose in the market quite well, saying, “Traditional search engines treat the Web like a library, often returning results from highly-referenced, dependable resources such as Wikipedia. While these results are undoubtedly authoritative, they do not necessarily reflect what people are talking about right now in relation to any particular topic.”

For instance, if you search the term BlackBerry through Google and do the same with One Riot, Google is likely to display things to do with BlackBerry in a general sense. If there are things of immediate popularity, Google may show them as news headlines, but for the most part, the top 10 or 20 results are quite standard issue. The same may be the case with the industry’s #2, #3, and #4 engines as well. Meanwhile, OneRiot emphasizes links of currency and measured popularity.

It wouldn’t be fitting to call it a news search service, per se, because its scope is broader than news alone. But it’s very much about everything new. The best description I can provide is perhaps one of a search agent that’s well invested in trend spotting. And let’s face it, a good amount of user movement on the Web is based on that premise. So why not look for specific pages that are catching the attention of a large number of people in a given period of time?

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Trendrr Makes Graphs That Move With Time | The Startup Review

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:30:24 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Company Name

Trendrr

20-Word Description

Trendrr tracks consumption trends across leading social media and e-commerce sites. Users can track, compare and share graphs easily for free.

CEO’s Pitch:

Trendrr is a service that tracks and graphs consumption trends and activity across the digital spectrum, including social networks, blogs, torrents, Amazon, Craigslist, Twitter, Google, MySpace and leading video sites. The platform allows users to track dynamic data trends over time; compare and mash up data using a virtual scratch pad, and share findings via embed codes, links and easy data exporting.

Designed as a dynamic service for individuals who want to track trends for free with an enterprise level solution for businesses, Trendrr captures and illustrates accurate, real-time market intelligence in an easy to use, digestible format.

Mashable’s Take

If you want to track trends on the Web, you might watch some of the meme watchers. Techmeme, for instance. Or you might venture over to Technorati to see what’s happening in the wide world of blogs. Perhaps Google Trends is your de facto keyword catcher. Well, if you’re searching for something a bit more analytical and multi-faceted in looking at the whos, whats, wheres and whens of online movements past and present, Trendrr is something that you might well find useful.

There isn’t immense depth to what Trendrr can provide its users. This isn’t a news reading engine molded through graphical flow charts. It’s more a mix-and-mash utility, pulling information relevant to activity on social networks, blogs, torrent traffic, Amazon, Craigslist, Twitter, Google, and numerous video sites, and displaying said data in a visual fashion.

Want to track sales of a certain music album? You can. Twitter users, headline-making politicians, and most anyone or anything else you might think of is also possible to put up on its own grid, to be parsed and prodded by anyone who happens to pay it attention. You can interact with Trendrr graphs whether you’ve assembled them yourself or are simply audience to another user’s work. Drag the graph into the TrendrrScratchpad to be compared with another, post comments, vote for items you like, and embed finished products on webpages or social bookmarking and social news sites like Delicious, Digg, and Reddit.

What is particularly appealing about Trendrr is that the relevance of data within a graph does not end with the publishing date. Data continues to arrive. For instance, a Trendrr graph created in late March 2008 with a focus on Google News stories having to do with the names “barack obama,” “john mccain,” and “hillary clinton,” has progressed into the present day. If you’re in search of a long-term, automated guide to specific subject matter, Trendrr just so happens to be a near ideal solution. Again, it’s not hard on specifics insofar as news stories are concerned. But for a good number of users it’ll do the job.

Track Trademark Trends With CiSense (The Startup Review)

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:34:36 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Paying bills collectively with friends is common, but keeping track of such matters, particularly for recurring charges or moments of extensive cost write-ups (vacations, for example), can be a taxing process in and of itself. You might do it by way of the age-old paper-and-pencil routine. Or through a spreadsheet king like Microsoft Excel. But if in the case that you reside somewhere in the middle and need a quick and simple application to get the job done, a utility by the name of Shareabill may come handy.

It keeps everything sorted. And it’s as much calculator as organizer. You note who is responsible for what and how much they must pay, and as each party billed presents you with money to pay charges to your credit card or recompense for past cash transactions, Shareabill sorts it out until all t’s are crossed and i’s dotted. Furthermore, if there is a discrepancy with a charge that still requires discussion, messages can be posted to help bring clarity to such a situation. (For those “Who said they’d pay for the extra round at the bar last night?” moments.)

There’s really nothing too complex to Shareabill. It sports a sensible design, we think. You might prefer something a bit simpler and more amenable to free-form assembly of bills, but it’s easy enough that it will presumably cause little or no trouble for most users.

Its creators describe a feature in development that will prove useful for those seeking to climb out of the hole that is the IOU. If you’re in the situation that you need to recoup multi-party borrowings intelligently without exchanging cash with the same persons again and again as you run through an extensive history of past dues, Shareabill promises to offer a feature called Debt Shuffle. It is in beta now and closed for testing, however. For the time being, only Shareabill’s standard provisions - a standard desktop browser-based solution and mobile site - are accessible.

Source:Mashable!

This past weekend, much of the Mashable team descended on Las Vegas for the second annual BlogWorldExpo. The conference, which brings together hundreds of bloggers and the companies that provide services to them (platform providers, widget makers, and ad networks) is a combination of dozens of discussion panels, exhibiting companies, and of course, parties.

Along the way, much was gleamed about the current state of the blogosphere and social media, and where it all might be heading in the months and years ahead. The official BlogWorldExpo site has tons of links to coverage around the Web, but here were the major trends spotted by Team Mashable:

Users Own The Comments, Not Bloggers

By my count, at least a half dozen companies at BWE either provided a commenting system for bloggers or attempted to organize comments in a more meaningful way. The main premise behind these companies – which include Disqus, JS-Kit, and SezWho – is that users should own their comments. They provide commenters with a login that can be used across all of the blogs that use their system, and then an account where they can go to manage and track all of these comments in a central location.

As such, the argument goes that if you’re a blogger, using one of these systems should improve engagement because users are more likely to comment when they can own it. These services have been gaining a lot of momentum this year, and the space was further validated yesterday as Automattic acquired one of the top players – IntenseDebate – who was also in attendance at BWE.

Widgets Are Evolving Into Web Rings 2.0

Remember web rings from the Internet of the 1990s? They are making a comeback in a big way in the form of widgets. Numerous widget providers at BWE were offering publishers ways to improve their page views – either by syndicating their content elsewhere or by doing a better job of driving intrasite traffic.

For example, Widgetbox has a new network that allows you to place your blog into an interest channel – such as technology – and then install a widget that links to content from other members of that channel. Meanwhile, Lijit looks to increase page views by adding social search to blogs, while Outbrain looks to do the same by identify your blog’s best content and providing widgets that link to it. Of course, the issue with widgets is that they take up real estate on your blog – real estate that can otherwise be used for making money through ads. Which brings me to my next point …

Everyone is Launching an Ad Network

There are more options than ever for monetizating your blog, and it would seem that everyone with any sort of scale is trying to get a piece of the pie by launching their own advertising network. Some – like Buzzlogic and Technorati – are already live and accepting new publishers, while others are still under wraps and slated to launch within the next couple months. The basic premise of most of them is that they have a network that is large enough and has the critical mass necessary to serve advertisers, while having the data about users and blogs needed to target ads effectively.

With so many ad networks launching, consolidation would seem to be inevitable. Similar to how one of this year’s trends has been aggregating activities from the hundreds of social networks that have launched, perhaps one of next year’s will be aggregating and making sense of all of the ad networks.

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

One of the most popular posts in the history of this blog was one Pete penned in 2006: “If You Don’t Get MySpace, You’re a Lametard.” The same could probably be said these days for Twitter, at least if you’re a blogger or work in the social media space.

Aside from the fact that Twitter was being used by virtually everyone at the conference to document what was happening and to plan activities, we heard from a number of people and companies not in our immediate social circle that are using Twitter in productive ways. For example, in the “Creating Customer Loyalty with Social Media” panel, we heard from Tony Hsieh of Zappos, the online shoe company, and Frank Eliason of Comcast, the much-derided cable company, about how their respective companies are using Twitter to respond to customers and improve their customer relationships.

Blogs Are Increasingly Becoming Mainstream Media and Vice Versa

Coincidentally, Technorati released its “State of the Blogosphere 2008” report on Monday after BWE concluded. Many of the findings rang true with what we experienced at BWE, especially the assertion that “the lines are continuing to blur” in response to the question “what is a blog?”

There are many reasons for this. As you’ve probably noticed with the new Mashable design, while we still meet the generic definition of “a collection of stories posted in reverse-chronological order,” our blog is now complete with sections for different topics, our own job boards, and also includes coverage and ticketing for our events all around the country. This trend can be seen on blogs not just in the tech vertical, but all over the Web as blogs become small-to-midsized media companies in every sense of the term.

Additionally, at the same time that large blogs start to resemble mainstream media sites, the amount of blog posts is actually on the decline as so much conversation moves to services like Twitter and Frienfeed. At BWE, this was certainly the case, leading Louis Gray to ask “Q: Were there any good blog posts that covered the Blog World Expo panels? All those bloggers, and no “coverage”? Did I miss them?” which was quickly met with the following response from Robert Scoble: “The best coverage was live Tweets and conversations on FriendFeed. That’s what http://search.twitter.com and FriendFeed’s search is there for …”

So What Does It All Mean?

While one could easily conclude with the overdramatic “blogging is dead” as many big blogs transition towards media companies and many individual bloggers embrace microblogging over long-form text, I think the more accurate statement would be “opportunities abound for niche publishers.” One of the coolest things about BWE was meeting lots of bloggers that are finding success outside of the tech space – people who are using lots of the same tools that we are to build an audience and reach underserved niches.

In short, while it may not be the best time to start another broad tech, politics, or celebrity gossip blog, if you’re able to find a unique segment within a big vertical, there have never been more ways for finding an audience and building a brand that will resonate. And, once you’ve done that, there have never been more tools for helping make some money along the way. So blog on, and thanks to BlogWorldExpo and Las Vegas for a fantastic weekend

Source:Mashable!

Company Name

CiSense

20-Word Description

An Ajax-powered website that lets you use new trademark filing data for trend watching, competitive intelligence and brand strategy.

CEO’s Pitch

At CiSense, we’ve built an early warning reporting tool that enables you to simply and cost-effectively monitor new trademark filings. From a comprehensive trademark search tool that presents thorough and granular filing data, to automated watch lists, detailed reports, historical filings and portfolio analysis, CiSense is your crystal ball into new brands and products headed for the market.

Unlike run-of-the-mill trademark search services, we don’t just alert you to new trademark filings. We clearly present and analyze data so that you can keep an eye on your competitors, find new competitors, and identify emerging industry trends.

Mashable’s Take

Trademarks aren’t the coolest of topics to speak of when talking about great new inventions, whether they be Web-based or otherwise. But as we hear time and time again, they can be so very important to product, service, and brand development. They are part and parcel of the competitive structures of markets. And as CiSense describes, having the ability to watch what occurs in the field can help companies better adapt to outside movements, prepare for potential disturbances, or perhaps even get a more comprehensive view on what they themselves should work to build.

The feature that CiSense regards as the central aspect of its feature set is the Trademark Browser. It can be browsed freely or via a $175 premium, depending on the extent to which a user wishes to backtrack on trademarks filed in a particular category or subcategory. Also, to streamline the user’s role as observer of happenings within the trademark world, as made evident by the Trademark Browser, CiSense offers the option of an $89/year subscription for a Watch List. This is to keep tabs on a specific trademark, trademark owner, or some keyword through an automated weekly email service.

Of course, trademarking is not the be-all and end-all of business development and market analysis. Numerous other factors are at play. A close look at consumer habits is something that can provide insight into who wins and who doesn’t insofar as corporate strategy. But the information provided by the CiSense looking glass is one tool among several that is indeed important to have a well-rounded grasp of what may come. After all, the more you know is… the more you know, to put it plainly. And the price of admission to CiSense news feeds is worthwhile to most anyone needing to keep abreast of happenings in one sector or another.

Top 5 Online Dating Site Trends

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:30:17 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Lonely, horny, single or in a committed relationship with a lustful eye longingly gazing toward greener pastures? As long as there’s been an Internet, people have used it to get action — from the ancient days of IRC to today’s Twitter hookups. Here’s what you need to know about the newest trends in online dating sites.

1. More Hookups. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s online dating survey, the majority of actively dating Americans have tried to score online and approximately one out of three adults says they “know someone who has used a dating website.” Last year alone, more than 17 million people attempted to cyberflirt their way to a love connection. Online dating in a nutshell? More sites. More people. More opportunities to have that awkward, teeth-bumping first kiss.

2. Niche Markets. The US Census Bureau counts people. They tell us there are at least 92 million single Americans. The largest online pools of solo swimmers with naked left ring fingers hang out on Lavalife, Ok Cupid, Match.com, eHarmony, Plenty of Fish and Yahoo Personals. Keystroking your way through the virtual crowd, the chances of finding the right match often feels like a one-in-million shot. Sites like Bisexual Passions, Deaf Dates, MillionaireMatch.com, GreenFriends.com and the 100% free sci-fi dating site Trek Passions target very specific communities.

In an article titled Sick, Single and Seeking Same, Newsweek’s Julie Scelfo announced Prescription4Love.com “is becoming a go-to spot online where singletons who also happen to have diseases from hepatitis to herpes to irritable bowel syndrome can find love and companionship without having to worry about the big reveal.” Traffic on these sites is low, but that’s the point. Theoretically, the reduced-size dating pool increases your probability of meeting someone who shares your interests.

3. Tasting Different Flavors. Successful sites like Jewish singles’ JDate and unmarried African Americans’ BlackPeopleMeet.com prove ethnic-specific dating sites have a market. AsianEuro.com and others are following their lead. Additionally, interracial dates sites are booming. IvoryandEbonyLove claims they’re “dedicated to helping black and white singles make a love connection online.” CocoaButterlove.com (wait for it, wait for it: think yellow butter + brown cocoa) does the same for Asian Americans and African Americans.

4. The Rise of Non-Date Dating Sites. Facebook is as much of a dating site as it is a social network. The SuperPoke application allows users to virtually kiss, poke, cuddle and shower with each other. When Mashable asked readers “Which social network is most likely to get you laid?” Facebook got approximately 800 votes, coming in second to MySpace and ahead of Friendster, Bebo, YouTube and Xanga.

5. Online Again, Offline Again. Many offline communities such as high school and university alumni groups have an increasing number of online sites linking constituents. Reunion.com, Classmates.com and others have features that let you specify your dating preferences. Also, many couples who meet offline often use the Internet to “Google stalk” and find out additional information about their partners.

With so many options, you might be one Skype call or DSL line away from your next online dating adventure. Are you feeling lucky?

Twanna A. Hines is a a sex, dating and relationships writer in New York. She blogs at FunkyBrownChick.com.

Image via Flickr/Daylight

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Get Buzzed on FriendFeed With FFHolic

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:30:24 +0000

Source:Mashable!

I’m sorry, I can’t help it - I’m a sucker for mashups. Which is why I have to bring the latest one to your attention: Tumbltape.

It’s exactly how it sounds: a Muxtape for Tumblr. Just when you thought Muxtape was gone for good, it has inspired John Zanussi and Adam Gotterer to catch on the music sharing wave and create Tumbltape, which takes the latest songs (aka - audio files) from each user’s tumblelog and creates a playlist.

When new songs are added, your Tumbltape playlist is automatically updated. Plus, you can choose to let Tumbltape figure out the artist and track names based on the text from your post, or you can type in the artists and track titles yourself. Simple as that.

Secretly I am wondering how long this will last, but if the Tumblr community loves it and Muxtape users pick up on the service it will certainly be hard to shut down, at least until the RIAA finds out about it.

Source:Mashable!

Have you been wondering how many rooms on FriendFeed are private? Do you know how many active and public users there are? Are you curious as to whether people “comment” or “like” more?

Do you even care?

For those people who have fallen head over heels for FriendFeed and have been searching for a way to see “what’s popular,” I introduce to you FFHolic. The site, which just launched yesterday, is a place where FriendFeed fanatics can check out what the latest buzz is.

Visitors can search through ‘most liked entries and videos,’ ‘most commented entries and videos,’ and ‘most popular users.’ The idea seems to be taken blatantly from Twitterholic, but unlike its “light” rival FFHolic provides more than just lists of names. It gives insight to popular trends on the rapidly growing social network and serves as a makeshift database for statistics on usage.

The site itself is pretty raw at this point — still in Beta stage — and there’s not much to look at. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it improves and becomes the natural meeting site for FriendFeedaholics Anonymous.

Here is a peek at the latest FriendFeed commentary around FFHolic.com:

User FFHolic.com said: “FFHolic.com is publicly launched for beta. We still have hundreds of things to do. During our beta launch please report any problem you experience. And of course your ideas…”

Showing the most popular people just reinforces the “contest” mentality. As you have data at your disposal to activity per user (comments/likes, etc.) wouldn’t it make more sense to also show most active individuals and show correlations between popularity and activity? - Louis Gray

How many servers are you guys running? The search page keeps crashing under load I assume. - Jim McCusker

the layout is all screwed up now - the right side content is filling up the page and squishing the left side users list… - Steve Isaacs

+1 Louis. I agree - Kyle Lacy

Plus it looks lousy on a 1024×768 screen. - Sean McGee

Your FF Badge is rather long on the width side - Outsanity

@Louis Gray: That’s a great idea thank you. - FFHolic.com

@Jim McCusker: We are working on that problem. Thank you. - FFHolic.com

You can follow the Mashable staff who actively use FriendFeed here:

* Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins

* Sean P. Aune

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Social Networking Trends from Coast to Coast

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:31:08 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Residents of Massachusetts and California led the nation in googling the term “social networking” during the last 12 months according to Google Insights for Search, a new search analysis tool.

Launched on August 6, Google Insights for Search is a free service that allows users to track the popularity of phrases and words that have been typed into Google’s search engine from 2004 until the present day. The resource enables users to sort data by country, sub-region, time and industry. The application also includes heat maps that display the geographic location of where terms are most popular, the top searches related to a term or phrase, and the fastest rising searches.

As of August 8, Massachusetts and California each had a search volume index or SVI of 100 for regional interest in social networking, tops in the nation for the past 12 months. The term “search volume index” or SVI is a measurement that reflects how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. Rounding out the top ten were New York (SVI=96), the District of Columbia (96), Washington (88), Maryland (86), Illinois (84), Georgia (80), New Jersey (80) and Utah (80).

(click to enlarge)

Nationwide, the top three related searches to social networking were “social networking sites,” “social networking site,” and “social network.” The fastest rising searches were “social networking trends,” “social networking tools,” and “social networking scripts.”

By city, Google searches for the term “social networking” was highest in Pleasanton (SVI=100), a suburb of San Francisco. Close behind were New York (92), San Francisco (91), Austin (76), Washington (76), Los Angeles (73), Boston (71), Reston (69), Chicago (66) and Atlanta (63).

(click to enlarge)

Also of interest: How search volumes for the term “social networking” have changed over time. After periods of relatively minimal interest for the term in 2004 and 2005, search volumes took off in first quarter 2006 and peaked in November, 2007. After a sharp dip in December, 2007, search volumes have shown steady upward growth throughout the first half of 2008.

(click to enlarge)

Google cautions that the results show the likelihood of users in a particular area to Google search a term on a relative basis. In this case, just because a particular city, say Minneapolis, didn’t rank in the top ten, it could mean Minneapolis residents don’t use Google to search for social networking information (maybe Yahoo? MSN?). They may also use a different phrase or term to search for social networking information (social media? Facebook?).

Another caveat: I suspect Google hasn’t worked out all the bugs in the data just yet, but they’re not letting on. Case in point: On August 7, I used Google Insights for Search to track regional interest by state for the term “social networking” in the last 12 months On August 8, just 24 hours later, I ran the same search, and the results were significantly different.

Why the big differences in the ranking and the scores, especially if the results captured data from the last 12 months? Small sample size? Data glitch? Human error? Maybe it was an issue at my end with my Internet connection. Perhaps I misunderstood something? A difference of one day shouldn’t make that much of an impact in the rankings, right? My suspicion is that Google launched this application only a day or so before and they’re still tinkering with its algorithms and ranking systems. The designers should get a pass on this one, but we should be on the lookout for similar inconsistencies in the future. If a year or even six months from now, we’re seeing the same kind of significant fluctuations in day to day results for the same search over a one year period or longer, it may be time to raise some red flags.

New York Leads Nation in Googling “Facebook”

(click to enlarge)

The application was also used to track Google search statistics for leading social networking brands in the last 12 months. At a state level, Google searches for the brand “Facebook” were highest in New York, Arkansas and Connecticut. At a city level, searches were highest in New York City, Sterling and Milpitas.

California Leads Nation in Googling “YouTube”

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At a state level, Google searches for the brand “YouTube” were highest in California, Virginia and Hawaii in the last 12 months. At a metro level, searches were highest in Milpitas, Sterling and Los Angeles.

(click to enlarge)

Oregon Leads Nation in Googling “Twitter”

(click to enlarge)

At a state level, Google searches for the brand “Twitter” were highest in Oregon, California and Washington in the last 12 months. Clearly, the Pacific North West and the West Coast love Twitter. At a city level, searches were highest in San Francisco, Austin and San Jose.

(click to enlarge)

California Leads Nation in Googling “Mashable”

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At a state level, Google searches for the brand “Mashable” were highest in California, New York and Texas in the last 12 months. Beyond these three states, search volume was not sufficient enough to show results. At a city level, searches were highest in San Francisco and New York. Search volume was not high enough to get results from any other cities.

(click to enlarge)

Insights for Search: A New Data Frontier

These findings illustrate that Google Insights for Search is an amazing new application for social networking pros of all stripes. While not without its quirks, the tool is quite literally a mind reader that allows researchers to peer into the brains and online activity patterns of Google users.

While the tool was designed to help online marketers create more and better AdWords marketing campaigns, I suspect the resource will be deployed for so much more. It will be used for everything from environmental scans to trend spotting to brand tracking and countless other applications that Google hasn’t yet planned or maybe ever imagined. Perhaps this is a stretch, but the new database (which is updated daily) has seismic implications for the forecasting of consumer behavior and business investment. It could completely revolutionize the way economists measure and track personal and corporate spending intentions.

Currently, the gathering of intention data is done by written or phone surveys which are fraught with issues. Sample sizes may be low or not truly representative. People or organizations conducting the surveys may be biased. Those being surveyed may be less than honest or complete in their responses.

Not here. Users want something. Users search for that something in Google. Google delivers information on that something. That’s it. It’s pure. No messy survey gets in the way. No agenda. No ego. Google never blinks. For better or worse, Google captures it all from hundreds of millions of users all over the world, countless times a day. No survey can do that.

Experimenting with this tool, I feel like an ADD kid again. I’m tinkering with different keywords and phrase combinations like some digital Rubik’s cube, and going wild playing with the different geographic, time, and industry filters. On a whim (and strictly out of professional curiosity of course), I checked which U.S. state led the nation in googling the term “sex” during the last 30 days. Answer: South Dakota. For the term “Britney”: Louisiana. The term “Obama”: District of Columbia. The word “carpet”: Colorado. The phrase “air conditioning”: Arizona. The word “babysitter”: Ohio. I’ve barely started, and my head is already spinning with ideas on how this data can be used in business plans, Powerpoint presentations, sales pitches, brainstorming sessions, concept testing or for just plain fun.

Not to sound ungrateful or greedy, but I’m already preparing a wish list of upgrades for Google Insights for Search 2.0. How about including a filter for time, not just for dates? In the last 30 days, the tool revealed that Phoenix led the nation in googling the term “pizza.” That’s great, but could you add another filter which identifies search volumes for specific times (3-4 pm? 7-8pm ? 10-11pm), particular days (Friday? Saturday) or even exact dates (March 14, 2008) for a word or phrase? Could you take the data that’s currently available in the Google Web History for individual users, and aggregate and publish the data for all Google users? This would allow researchers to scan search volumes by the different types of Google searches, say, Web, images, news, products, sponsored links, video, maps, blogs, and books?

Could you arrange a meeting with the YouTube folks down the hall and create a comparable “YouTube Insights for Search” application that provides comparable search volume data for YouTube searches? And while you’re at it, why not spring for lunch and invite the Facebook and Twitter suits to the Googleplex? While you’re chowing down, explore the feasibility of creating a “Facebook Insights for Search” and/or “Twitter Insights for Search” that provides a database of Facebook and Twitter search volumes and activity patterns, also broken by location, date, times and location. I can already hear the thunder of privacy advocates banging their war drums, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead, but the point is that Google Insights for Search is a flawed but still spectacular new research tool for business and Web analysts everywhere. The resource has countless applications in not only social networking, but in virtually all industries, products, and services. Look for more detailed articles and tutorials on how to fully tap this resource and take your online research and forecasting skills to the next level.

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Web Hosting? What Web Hosting?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:54:49 +0000

Source:Mashable!
The folks over at Royal Pingdom have discovered an interesting trend: Google Trends shows that the number of searches for both “web hosting” and “hosting” has decreased quite rapidly in the past few years.
This could be for any number of reasons, as they’ve noticed in the post: change of terminology, or people using sources […]

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