WebProWorld

The term has become so common that most people don’t know that “blog” is a condensed version of “weblog.” It is not a new form of communication, by any means. People have been blogging since man began painting on cave walls, really; it’s just that the tools have changed and the definitions of writing styles have evolved a bit (but just a bit). When the Internet was still without its graphic interface, the World Wide Web, there were the bulletin boards and file-sharing services that allowed the distribution of text files.

Talk about Michael Jackson took the web by storm after the King of Pop’s death, and it’s back again as a new (or previously unreleased, rather) song from him has been released on the web. The song is called "This is It," and it’s from the upcoming Jackson film of the same name.

Google has launched what it refers to as a "fast and versatile new system-wide search experience" for Android. it’s called the Quick Search Box or QSB and it was announced for developers back in September. It appears on the home screen of Android devices.

Google has made it easier to insert Picasa Web Albums photos into Google Sites. They have added a photo option to the "insert menu."

In addition, users can upload photos directly to Picasa Web Albums from within Google Sites, using the "upload photo" tab in the insert dialog. It should be noted, however, that Google Apps users will not see the options, because Picasa Web Albums is not available in Google Apps.

Is there a connection between social media exposure and search behavior? A new study by GroupM Search and comScore titled, “The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and Consumption,” focuses on answering that question. The study found searchers who engage with social media, especially those exposed to a brand’s influenced social media, […]

comScore has released the results of a study on locally targeted online display ads in the US, which focused on four major markets: Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. In these areas, the results indicate that about 10% of all display ads are locally targeted.

"Locally targeted ads are an increasingly important component of the digital ad landscape because they represent a more efficient allocation of ad dollars," said comScore vice president Brian Jurutka. Here’s a look at some additional numbers:

Yahoo has given Yahoo Search Marketing advertisers the ability to have their ads shown in filtered searches. When Yahoo launched its new search results pages last month, they added the ability for users to filter results by site. Relevant ads are now appearing with these results.

Hulu has added a couple of new features to Hulu Labs. These are Hulu Desktop for Linux and Hulu Publisher Tools.

Reports indicate that another new e-reader is on the way, this time from Barnes & Noble.  The interesting thing – or at least the interesting thing that makes this development connect to the search industry – is that Barnes & Noble’s e-reader will supposedly use Android as its operating system.

Digg has launched a new kind of ad called "Digg Content Ads," which the company describes as widgets that contain previous Digg homepage stories that are relevant to the industry or company being advertised.

To illustrate how this works, Digg provides an example of Adobe testing the concept with banners that utilize popular government-technology stories from Digg’s archive. This is illustrated below: