It’s Friday again! (Wow that week went quick) It’s also already November, the cold is setting in, and Search & Social is starting to blend into one mashup of an industry. Here’s what happened this past week:
Google Updates this week (a small sample):
Let me take this time to apologize for featuring so much Google news on these wrap-ups…Its becoming a trend that can’t be helped. Here’s just a few:
- Google updated its search options by adding expanded snippets and image previews. You can activate these option by clicking on the “+Show Options” button at the top of your search and selecting either “images from the page” or “page previews” for the images and longer snippets, respectively.
- A new e-commerce search product for e-commerce sites is now available (just in time for the holidays). The product isn’t free, but seems to be a decent option for larger e-commerce sites looking to integrate an intelligent product search feature.
- Google Dashboard, another new product from Google is simply a snapshot of your use of select Google products. It shows current Gmail conversations, Google Alerts, Recent Google Docs, and more.
Twitter getting ready for Retweets
Twitter tested integration of Retweets this week. Not a “new” concept on twitter, it’s a feature that simply makes sense to add to the site. Retweets (quite simply copying another user’s tweet) have generally showed up as “RT” followed by @(the user) and their tweet. In screenshots of the recent test, however, the retweet will (instead) show up as an exact replication of the original user’s tweet in your follower’s feeds, avatar and all. The only difference will be an added “retweeted by @(username)”.
Digg experimenting with Digg Trends
Digg is experimenting with a new front page voting method they call Digg Trends. The application involves showing a trending story to a user that’s about to hit the front page. The user can see how long before the story hits and is given an opportunity to choose if it is front page “worthy”. This takes the voting mechanism to a whole new level for Digg, and time will tell if this becomes a full time feature.
Yahoo playing catch-up with Music & Real Time Search
In response to additions by Google and Bing in the social search arena, Yahoo! has announced testing their own real time search feature. With partner OneRiot (a real time search engine) Yahoo! hopes to be able to join in on the fun. They will be testing with other partners as well, according to reports.
Yahoo! reportedly tweaked it’s video search feature to allow users to more easily find music videos. The feature allows users to click on albums to find videos from a variety of sources for that specific album. This report comes just after Google released it’s new music search feature, although Yahoo! claims this is nothing new.
Myspace Traffic drop costs Parent Company $100 Million
The recent drops in traffic for Myspace.com has failed to satisfy requirements of an exclusive advertising contract with Google wired.com reports. The contract which depended upon a minimum traffic level, was done in 2006 for $900 Million which more than covered the $580 Million purchase price of Myspace.com by News Corp. Failure to reach the minimum level of traffic will cost News Corp. in the area of $100 Million according to sources.
The Lighter Side of Social Media
- Woman sues employer for losing her facebook friends.
- Teens sue their school after being punished for “racy” photos on Myspace.
- If Myspace and Facebook were combined, it would look something like this. TheOatmeal.com gives you: FaceSpace
