Google Product Search Gains Barcode Scanning Ability
Star Trek fans and recession-conscious shoppers take heed: Google Product Search for mobile is going all next-generation. Barcode scanning has been integrated into the product search homepage such that users of Android devices can easily find more info on many UPC-bearing items.
Google Launches Google News Redesign
Google has given Google News a bit of a makeover today. Some areas, particularly the section pages have gotten a lot more visual flare.
150,000 Facebook Spoofs
At least 200,000 websites designed to spoof social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter exist on the Web and are growing, according to research by Websense Security Labs. Most of them, about 150,000 target Facebook users.
With the aim of phishing for information, spreading viruses and malware, propagating spam, or avoiding email filters, the phony domains piggyback on the popularity of social networks and depend especially upon unsophisticated or unaware users to further cybercriminal agendas.
Smartphone Users Recalling More Mobile Ads
More than a third (38%) of U.S. mobile phone users remember seeing advertising on their cell phones in the first quarter of 2009, with smartphone owners recalling 59 percent of mobile advertising according to a new study by GfK Technology conducted on behalf of social networking service Brightkite.
For smartphone users, the top format is mobile advertising, while for regular phone users, it is SMS. The report found an increase in the types of mobile advertising formats that consumers are noticing.
Google Aims to Improve Health-Related Searches
Google is researching how users of the search engine search the web when someone they know is sick. Google calls this a temporary experiment, but one that people might find interesting.
This experiment will trigger a poll question on a small percentage of random health-related searches. In cases where these occur, users will see see boxes like these in their search results:
Gmail Really Wants You to Switch Email Providers
Gmail will now let you import email and contacts from other email providers like Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL (and a bunch more. Full list at the bottom of the article). This means that if you have an old account that you’d like to merge into your Gmail account, you can do so.
It also means (and this is what Google is pushing for) that users of other services can easily start new Gmail accounts without abandoning everything they have built up with another provider. Google is making the switch more enticing.
Good Mobile Marketing Isn’t an Advertisement
Murdok recently conducted an interview with Mike Wehrs, President and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association. This is an organization that "provides an industry forum to meet, discuss, plan and work cooperatively to resolve key industry issues." Wehrs talks with Abby Johnson the growth in mobile marketing, and its benefits. Do you utilize mobile marketing? Tell us a little bit about your strategies.
Wall Street Journal Gives Employees Social Media Rules
We’ve seen newspaper publishers forbid employees from accessing social networks before. The Wall Street Journal is not restricting access, but they are restricting how social networks are used by their employees.
Women Prefer Blogs/Facebook To Twitter
Women keep their personal lives and business lives very separate when it comes to social media, according to the 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage, and Compass Partners. While women consider blogs great sources of information, especially regarding purchases, the vast majority of women use social networks solely for keeping in touch with family and friends.
Half Respond To Display Ads By Searching
For the longest time, hardcore ROI-focused PPCers saw little to convince them of the benefits of traditional branding online. Rampant ad blindness among consumers and lack of data to support “awareness” arguments* led many to maintain trimmer, search-focused budgets with measurable results.