Ragan vs. Melcrum
Last week, Chicago-based Ragan Communications launched MyRagan.com, a free service aimed at communicators around the world that’s a mix of social network, knowledge and information resource.
It’s captured a lot of imaginations and got off to a cracking start. When I signed up last week, there were about 250 members. Today, that number is over 500.
Also last week, London-based research and training firm Melcrum announced The Communicators’ Network, described as a business-grade professional networking community, that will be launching in June:
Marketers Step Into Google FOG
It wasn’t too long ago that a possible Microsoft purchase of Yahoo would have spooked the living daylights out of everybody. Not anymore, not even close. Fear of Google, the FOG, rolls in so thick the folks enveloped within are looking to Microsoft for daylight.
Googlers Take A Crack At John McCain
Never mind the PBS crew – at a recent debate starring John McCain, neither Jim Lehrer nor Gwen Ifill served as the moderator. Instead, Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, filled that role. And this seems fitting, considering that the event took place at the Googleplex, in front of a crowd of around 700 Googlers.
NBC Enters YouTube Legal Battle
NBC Universal and Viacom have filed a friend of the court brief that opposes YouTube’s attempt to dismiss a copyright infringement case brought by Los Angeles News Service operator Robert Tur.
Blogger Anti-SLAPP Case Angers Munchkin Man
That "Left," the code-named blogger behind StockLemon.com (which is now CitronResearch)doesn’t have many friends in the financial world isn’t what’s important. What is important that Left becomes the first blogger to be protected by Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws, at least in California. And The Munchkin Man (to be discussed later) isn’t happy.
Windows Live Hotmail Goes Global
It’s being billed as “[t]he most significant upgrade for Hotmail since it pioneered the webmail industry in 1996,” and it’s here: Windows Live Hotmail is rolling out globally.
New users should get an account immediately; MSN Hotmail customers will be presented with the option of upgrading.
Google Patent Defines The Sandbox
If there were any doubt new sites may be spending some time alone on part of the playground, a recent Google patent application seems to define a place where new documents go in their index.
Microhoo Not Coming to Fruition
Om Malik and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the much talked about Microsoft/Yahoo rumors won’t come to fruition and that the talks are off.
RSS Mistakes
I’m listening to Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes talking to a group of the world’s top marketing executives in Cancun, Mexico. He’s running a panel on marketing ideas and strategies for big companies on the Internet. Also on the panel is the CMO of Siemens, the VP of Marketing for Symantec, the Director of Brand and Marketing Communications for DHL Express.
Do You Have a Fear of Google?
During his speech at the Forbes shindig I attended, Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer’s funniest remark was when he told us that the “Fear of Google” was so prevelent that it even had a three-letter acronymn: FOG.
Anyway, I’ve been hearing more and more about FOG all weekend as I talk with advertising and marketing executives from some of the world’s biggest companies. Here’s a few examples: