Tag Archives: Google

The Cookie Monster

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March 16, 2012

Not all cookies are bad… some are healthy and should part of a balanced web experience diet, but that subjective opinion may be worth nothing come 26th May.

A little while back in Autumn 2011, What’s Hot commented on the EU ePrivacy Directive, being implemented here by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office  (ICO), and how websites/publishers would need to comply with rules on web behaviour data usage.

Here in the UK, the Institute For Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has responded to the Government’s ‘call for evidence’ (i.e. are website publishers complying?) for this new Data Protection Regulation, with a statement that asks that, whilst updating the law on data protection in light of the progress in digital technology is sensible, it does not think a new European-wide Regulation is necessary. They argue that the current proposals do not seem to strike a fair balance between the rights of the individual to ensure that their personal data is protected, and the rights of businesses to engage with consumers.

Indeed, eConsultancy just this week has reported on the situation with a survey among 700 marketers that echoes the concerns of the IPA, particularly from a business perspective.   “This will KILL online sales” screams one concerned media owner, and in a more barbed response, one states “It’s a travesty of an orchestra, conducted by Terry F***witt.  They fail to discriminate between bad stuff (multi-site/advertising/targeting) stuff and good stuff (me using Clicktale or analytics to help user experience, form pre-population etc.”

In essence, whilst highlighting the use of cookies to users  it is a positive move, What’s Hot thinks that the potential need for each site to gain permission from users is going to damage the user experience, not to mention ad revenues. And we haven’t actually seen much consumer facing education work yet on just what cookies are!

Currently the AdChoices logo is running on any ads that are retargeting users using their historical data, which is a certain level of compliance. However the eConsultancy survey has highlighted that just 54% of publishers have carried out a cookie audit in preparation for the deadline.  They’d better get their skates on or risk a not insignificant fine if the full weight of the EU’s powers are exercised despite the lobbying.

The full report is due May 26th…get your retargeting campaigns in quick just in case!

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This House Proposes…

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March 16, 2012

One of the more entertaining recent developments from Google YouTube is the ‘Versus’ series, a forum where celebrities debate various global issues. The series of debates is streamed live on YouTube, then discussed and debated in the Google+ page comment section. 

The first debate, titled “It’s time to end the war on drugs: Agree or Disagree” was clearly something that resonated with many celebs. The two sides of the debate – in simple terms – consisted of one side arguing that the war on drugs has failed, and needs to be scrapped to save the billions in wasted cash, and the counter that the war on drugs is working and just needs to be improved or modified.

The former group consisted of some impressive names, including businessman Sir Richard Branson, comedian and presenter Russell Brand and controversial journalist Johan Hari, as well as a large gang of hard hitting and high profile names. Arguing against them was a smaller group of similarly impressive brains, such as former MET commissioner Lord Blair and US lawyer and political commentator Eliot Spitzer.

Google collaborated with Intelligence2 to provide people with multiple avenues to participate and watch the event, giving Google the opportunity to showcase its ‘Hangout’ feature on its social network. This is the feature which has also been used recently during public interviews with President Obama and David Beckham, and gives the public the opportunity to engage and ask questions. Adding to the excitement, YouTube’s Live feature was also used so people could watch the debate and follow its progress.

Finally, we ‘ordinary people’ were asked to vote on which side of the argument they were persuaded by after the live show, through the YouTube channel. After voting, people were directed to the Google+ page to continue the debate and spark discussions.

Google’s official line is that forum is a way “for Web users anywhere to have a share of voice, and for that voice to be heard by the world.” What’s Hot thinks that the use of multiple social media to channel users through a content funnel from YouTube to Google+ is an effective way of making content more engaging and efficient. The results from the war on drugs debate have proven that the system is pretty successful, with lots of discussions sparked and votes made on the day.

Anything that gets people talking and debating can only be a good thing – it’s rare that the public actually gets a share of the voice when it comes to big issues today. Of course, this is essentially a commercial move by Google to get people signed up to its new services, but it could actually help make changes for the better.

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Google Wallet – Can a phone now burn a hole in your pocket?

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October 7, 2011

Google Wallet is the latest of the Near Field Communication (or NFC) systems to hit the digital world, perhaps signalling the end for the humble leather wallet. With the application, money and cards can be loaded onto your handset, allowing items to be paid for with a quick swipe of the phone without hanging around in long queues. The consumer can also be rewarded with the latest offers. No more holding onto paper vouchers and remembering to use them when in store. So why Google Wallet? Or more to the point… Why NFC at all?

 

Essentially the NFC system is a tool for convenience. The idea is undoubtedly exciting. The problem is seeing to what extent the benefits outweigh the dangers of keeping all your financial information in one, digital space. It may be convenient to skip queues, forget about vouchers, and transfer money at a click, but it may seem less convenient if your phone is lost or stolen, or perhaps if a merchant asks for cash – you thought you didn’t need your wallet anymore. Google rebuff the security argument by claiming that the digital wallet is in fact safer than the physical equivalent. The system is protected by a pin and secured with encryption, whereas a wallet’s only protection is often just a person’s trouser pocket. What if the phone is stolen you may ask? Well not everyone has the software to completely wipe their phone’s memory. This means you will still have to cancel your bank cards, even though you will still have them at home!

 

For any technology to become part of daily life, first and foremost it needs to be a better system than what is currently available. For NFC to make a truly social impact it must stay safe and simple. There is little argument against the simplicity of the technology. If you don’t mind syncing your bank accounts to the software then the tool appears easy to use. The interface is almost self explanatory, enter your pin, choose an account, transfer to another person/merchant’s account by holding your phone close to reader, and you’re done. The system will then also sync any relevant offers ensuring you have the best possible deal. All good then…

 

Well there are significant drawbacks that come with the Google Wallet compatibility. The problem is that this makes for a pretty extensive list:

  1. Model – For the time being the app is only available on the Nexus S 4G.
  2. Cards – The only cards taken currently are most Citi® PayPass™ eligible MasterCard® credit cards and the Google Prepaid Card.
  3. Merchants – Although many large corporations will take the system on, it will take a long time for the NFC readers to become universal and readily available.
  4. Battery – The handset must be on to complete the transaction.
  5. Digital – As with all apps there is the threat of malicious applications extracting data.

 

Google ‘Wallet’ is certainly a revolutionary tool in mobile purchasing, although not necessarily a major step forward. The system has some flaws and incompatibilities which detract from the obvious benefits of the application, until these are addressed then Google’s attempt at NFC may hit too many stumbling blocks. The recent law suit with their nearest competitor PayPal may not have tarnished their reputation much, but with a more integrated system PayPal may still reap the rewards. 

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Like a Virgin

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September 23, 2011

This week Google finally publicly opened Google+ to all users after launching a private beta version in late June.  After an initial buzz online about how Google was stepping up it’s challenge for a piece of Facebook’s territory, this is clearly not a Facebook replacement. Despite initial predictions, it is not a stand alone social network. It’s more of a bolt-on for users already locked into the Google product.

Time will only tell but for now Google have rolled out some compelling additions to the platform including integration with Google documents, shared sketchpad, public video casts and now the ability to share video broadcast on Android (chat roulette?).

It is very early days for the platform. The main incentive for developers to use Google’s API (free +1 code) is to make the content on their site more sharable (and to be seen as innovative). However, as with all new things, the commercial model (most likely in the form of advertising revenue) will follow, with the +1 functionality being incorporated into perhaps the creative within the Google display network.

The first manifestation of this will be found within Adwords, Google has quoted that since the implementation of the +1 button, it has been installed on over one million websites resulting in over a billion global impressions per day.

The potential impact on digital advertising is huge with this additional data being accessible. Let’s assume that the people you have added to your ‘circle’ are your friends – chances are that they are of a similar demographic to you. Google can now see not only your ‘likes’, but that of your social circle too, and they can use the information gathered on your friend to better target you.

Currently it only takes one friend from your Google+ circle to have clicked +1 on a site to dramatically influence the search engine results you see. Clearly this brings a whole new element to organic search.

As we speak,  What’s Hot can only assume that the darker sides of search engine optimisation are working on exploiting Google+ to influence search engine results. Malicious code has already been written and implemented, and is now “in the wild”. As with everything Google, the SEO community will act as a crowd sourced unpaid beta test group and it could be 6 months before any clear use or direction is found for the platform.

That said, it would only take one brilliant idea to make it the next big thing. In summary, watch this space.

 

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Live and Tell

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September 23, 2011

On Monday 19th September, Twitter was buzzing with updates from (appropriately enough) the Social Media Marketing conference in London.
Hosted by Our Social Times (@oursocialtimes), the day was filled with all manner of goodies: the latest social media case studies; examples of advertisers learning from when they got it wrong; interesting panel debates; a showcase of the latest monitoring and management tools; and John Morter explaining how he beat the Xfactor using social media to get Rage Against The Machine the coveted Christmas No.1 spot.
The day kicked off with a panel debate around the future of social networks: has Facebook reached its peak, should YouTube be considered as a social network, and is Google + worth using? Most people agreed that Facebook is still evolving and is keeping up with its users’ changing needs. With the recent introduction to “Friend lists” – allowing users to choose what content goes to what groups, and F-commerce taking a popular turn, it’s clear that Facebook is still at the heart of social. Google + seems to be excelling at video and perhaps we will see a linkup between Google + hangouts and YouTube in the near future.
Although we were promised details on Social ROI – the first question from any Marketing Director these days is something about ROI from social commerce – there seemed to be a lack of hard metrics. Apart from saying they were “good”, attendees were left without anything to take away, and it was made clear that there is still no magic formula for measuring ROI from social.
Online retailer Brand Alley was at least able to share its findings on working out the value of a fan, saying that an exclusive sale on their f-commerce (Facebook shop) site made them £10,000 revenue from a total fanbase (i.e., “Like”-ers) of 30,000. Exclusive items on Facebook shops perhaps may lead the way to getting users comfortable with f-commerce. This will only continue to grow.
It’s now said that 27% of all PPC activity is being directed to Facebook pages, so Social PPC and SEO have never been as important as they are now. Discussions here were around Marcus Taylor’s fascinating experiments to find out whether a Facebook Like and a Google +1 affect the Google ranking. In short, a Google +1 will directly affect the rank, whereas a Facebook like will only indirectly affect it through traffic. A nice little trick by Google giving its own social network the upper hand!
The day was really worthwhile, I could go on in much greater detail about each speaker and the debates around their topics but I’m limited by space on this blog! For more details and slides at the SMM conference click here , or contact digital@the7stars.co.uk

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DEVIL IN DISGUISE

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August 19, 2011

Facebook and Google have pushed a huge growth in their advertising options. Both offer behaviourally-targeted options to engage with customers – but how can you compare the two? What’s Hot takes a look at the pros and cons of running campaigns with these two behemoths of the web.

Targeting – Google obviously has a more established advertising model than Facebook, having built its entire business around the development of the ‘pay per click’ approach. Google Display Network operates around a robust pricing model that moves with demand, seasonality etc, but not with the wild, often unexplained swings that Facebook’s CPCs do.

Facebook on the other hand uses profile information to target consumers with relevant ads. While Facebook is limited to its own (admittedly vast) network, it offers highly targeted display advertising opportunities, based on profile data and user habits. This way, it can serve messages that have ‘social currency’ among Facebook users. Google’s raft of social launches, most recently Google +, show it is desperate to move into this space.

Data – Facebook is also sticky – it wants people to hang around, rather than directing them elsewhere to other sites as Google does. Via its API Facebook Connect, it is taking Facebook outside of its network and collecting data from user habits on these sites to add into its rich database.

However, Google’s insights into our browsing habits add a unique degree of contextual relevance to any placements across its network.  Google is still learning and is making both search and display network results more relevant, with a truly semantic web as the end goal.

So which platform will have the edge in the future, or can they both happy co-exist?

Big egos – not to mention competition commissions – might prevent there ever being a Google/Facebook merger, but both will define the future web.  The next few years will see the two circling as they seek to compete with, or aggregate each other’s data. 

Each wants to dominate the web experience from first to last click, whether information gathering, paying a bill or claiming a geo-located deal in a restaurant. We’ve seen Google toying with real-time Twitter results in its results pages, and Facebook partnering with Bing to bring internal search capability to Facebook. 

The big play for both is clearly mobile/tablet. With new Geo-location services such as Foursquare, both companies reacted with products of their own. Google’s ambitions with Android, not to mention its recent acquisition of Motorola, shows its intentions, and this will no doubt have implications for advertisers.

In short, Google wants to become more social, Facebook more relevant as navigation. Let battle commence!

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CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE

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August 19, 2011

On Monday, Google announced it had bought Motorola development division Mobility for a staggering £7.7 billion. The deal comes seven months after Motorola split the business into two; Mobility that develops and manufactures mobile phones, and Motorola Solutions that covers wider technologies for corporate customers and government.

As a result of the acquisition Google will own all 17,000 technology patents that Motorola currently has the rights to. Essentially, this means that if another mobile system wants to use that technology they have to pay Google for the right to do so.

Recently Microsoft has been openly critical of Google and the handsets that use Android as an operating system – particularly HTC – as these handsets use Microsoft’s patent technology and therefore pays Microsoft every time an Android phone is sold.

So where does this purchase and associated legal issues, leave the rest of the mobile phone market? Apple, Blackberry and Microsoft have huge advantages in this space, as all own proprietary handset and operating systems. Android, despite its rapid growth, is an open source platform (used by handsets such as HTC and Samsung) and had been at a disadvantage for not owning a handset (and patents) to accompany the operating system to escalate it to the ‘iconic’ status that the iphone has attained. This could well now change.

Google intends to run Motorola as a separate business and to ‘Supercharge Android’ (according to Larry Page, Google CEO), whilst still keeping it as an open platform for other handsets to use. With the Motorola patents, mobile handset technology, Android operating system and the highest smartphone penetration in the UK, it like Google will be providing Apple with some serious competition! This could even reduce market domination by the iPhone – providing Google gets the handsets right.

The move really has has also shaken up the mobile industry and rumours are spreading about Microsoft acquiring Nokia for its patents and technology and Google looking at buying Blackberry for the addition penetration in the UK market. However, from where What’s Hot is standing Google has got an opportunity to dominate the market in the next year or so even without acquiring Blackberry. Exciting times ahead for the global mobile market indeed.

 

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The Masterplan

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July 25, 2011

Even if you haven’t received an invite yet, chances are you might have heard about Google’s latest (and perhaps final) attempt at social, Google+.

Orkut, Wave, Buzz…nope not the names of the Beckham’s next offspring, but the behemoth’s previous and spectacular failures in capturing the ‘social media’ glory that Facebook has basked in, but which continues to elude Google.

So Google+ is up and running and has already made significant headway among the intrigued, no doubt social media-driven set. Numbers suggest that 10m worldwide are now moving in new ‘circles’ – the shape reference here is to one of the lead functions in Google+ that allows you to cluster your friends into specific groups, or ‘circles’. You can then choose to notify any or all ‘circles’ with your status updates, photo uploads etc. Basically, Google + gives you the ability to ensure your mother doesn’t see the photo of your drunken misdemeanours meant only for friends.

Whether the new circles are vicious or virtuous ones remains to be seen, but this would certainly seem to be the last throw of the social dice for Google. They appear to have ditched the early Twitter love-in (with Twitter incidentally now in bed with Microsoft/Bing).

But with Facebook experiencing a certain amount of backlash and a definite levelling-out of new user growth (certainly in Europe), not to mention a wild increase in advertising costs, might Google gain some traction at last in the social space? Success in social integrated with its market-crushing dominance in search could spell even more impressive revenues going forward, particularly coupled with its success in mobile via Android.

Social media god Brian Solis used an interesting phrase, saying that Facebook and Google+ are attempting to become Social Operating Systems. So in the same way that we rely on Windows or Mac OS to organise our computing lives, Facebook and Google + want to do the same with our social lives. And of course, he’s spotted the way things are going. The cultivation of our social and interest graphs, the apps that further personalise the experience, and those that plug into other applications such as web sites, documents, collaboration tools etc, essentially do create a social OS.

In the long run, Solis believes that Facebook and Google will compete as a Social OS for all you do online (Google OS is already doing this in the cloud). Think about it. From grouping and coordinating work or activity streams, housing email, hosting phone or video chats to managing geo-location, Google and Facebook are already on a significant collision course.

One thing is for sure, social networks will always innovate. The question is: does Google really have social in its DNA? In the end we are the best judge of what works for us as users. Google+ certainly offers early advantages, but this is a long journey. Much of the success of any network will come from anticipating our future needs and developing ahead of the curve. It’s going to be an interesting race to watch.

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