Google Aims to Ease Cloud User Experience
Google has redone the Google Docs Help Forum. It has added a few features to improve the ease with which users can obtain info, and increase the overall user experience. New features include:
Holiday Shoppers Searching For Free Shipping Deals
While online holiday shopping remains popular one of the key promotions retailers use to grab customers attention is free shipping.Hitwise has an interesting analysis of consumer searches for the term "free shipping" during this holiday season.
Facebook Offers A Look Into Usage Stats
Facebook has updated its user statistics, which show that its total number of users is up to 140 million. Half of them are outside of college (which is significant considering the network’s roots), and the fastest growing demographic is 25 and older.
Embedded Video Woes and Google Reader
Ever had trouble getting your embedded videos to show up in Google Reader? You’re not alone. Apparently your site has to be on a whitelist for it to work for you. For example, YouTube videos work, because YouTube is on the list. WordPress videos don’t, because Wordpress is not on the list. Somebody complained about the problem in a Google Groups post, and was met with a response from a Google Reader Engineeer, Mihai Parparita:
Digital Music Sales Up
The decline in U.S. CD sales led to a decrease in overall music demand by 2 percent in the third quarter, according to the NPD Group.The overall drop off in music purchases includes CDs, digital music downloads, and P2P file sharing sites.
Report: Online Retailers Moving In Right Direction
The news may be a little hard to believe today – the Dow has closed down about 221 points – but a fresh report from Compete says that online retailers aren’t having such a bad holiday season. In fact, thanks to a charge led by Amazon, the latest unique visitor stats are pulling ahead of the levels set in 2007.
Google Continues to Take Other Languages More Seriously
About a month ago, Google announced some things it was doing that would improve the way sites rank across different language versions of its search engine, in an effort that would clearly make Google more useful on a global scale. In what seems to be a continuation of this tradition, Google has announced a couple more language-based improvements to its products.
Gamers Sticking With XP, Searching For Wii
Go to a retailer like Target early some morning, and you’ll likely find a group of non-employees waiting to be let in. When the doors open, a race to the electronics department ensues, and the cashiers get busy. So since gamers are so willing to spend money, two new reports take a look at where their interests lie.
How Google Detects Click Fraud
Even as we approach the end of 2008, click fraud is still something that needs to be dealt with in the search engine advertising industry. Google takes a number of precautions to keep it under control though.
Online Video To Play Larger Role For Marketers
More marketers and advertisers will embrace online video in 2009, according to a new survey by PermissionTV.The survey found that online video will be a top priority for digital marketing budgets and also indicated a strong preference among marketers for increased interactivity in online video capabilities to help promote their brands.More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) identified online video as a main focus of their 2009 digital marketing campaigns, versus social media campaigns (41%), search (34%) and podcasts/webcasts (32%).