Search & Social Weekly Wrap-Up 9/25

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We’re BACK!  It’s busy-busy-busy, over here, but the web won’t wait for anyone, so let’s just get right into it, shall we?  A lot has happened since the last weekly wrap-up, so here’s the best of it:

Google’s Fast Flip – the Jury is out

Jury is out for Google’s new Fast Flip product.  Essentially Google News on crack, Fast Flip features high definition screen shots of news and magazine articles with a handy “flip” feature to scroll through the stories…the front page anyways.  Just a few clicks and you’re directed to the source of the article.  While the product is a fun way to scroll through the news, and has people calling Google an innovator…again;  many agree it’s more of a toy than a useful way to read the news.  Publishers, however, have something to rejoice about from this new product as Google is actually sharing ad revenue with the content developers.  Will it be a success?  Time will tell.  If not, Google can always continue it’s conquest of products that are.

Meanwhile over at Yahoo!…

Continuing to lose ground in the search (and other) markets, Yahoo! will launch a $100M ad campaign starting September 28th in an attempt to regain some of its share.   “It’s Y!ou” is their new slogan, and is a branding effort focused on the recent changes to Yahoo! products that are more customizable and include more comprehensive integration with the social web.  Other tag lines you can expect to see include: “The Internet is under new management: Yours” and “The Internet has a new personality: Yours”.

Google: No-follow or else!

Mixx.com had reportedly been slapped with a Google penalty for not using the no-follow tag on external links.  This came out after Mixx added the tag to all links including its Popular Stories page much to the objection of the community there.  They’ve since removed the use of no-follow on MOST links from the Popular Stories page, but it’s use is still present even if seemingly random and few and far between.  This isn’t the first time Google has bullied a site into using no-follows on external links (with little to no editorial control) and it probably won’t be the last…

In similar news, Twitter has added the no-follow tag to its “trending topics” links while also adding robots.txt commands to disallow the indexing of most of its subdomains – mainly m.twitter.com which currently does not include use of the no-follow tag on external links.

Seth Godin’s new product ‘Brands In Public’ isn’t well received.

Seth Godin is causing a virtual uproar in the blogosphere with his new service brands in public “the UNOFFICIAL brand discussion” site.  Since Seth announced this new product a few days ago, people have called it everything from slightly shady to brandjacking.  The website acts as a one stop shop for online brand/reputation management and features feeds from a variety of sources covering virtual buzz on a number of popular brands.  The core objection, however, is the fact that (at it’s launch) pages have been pre-populated for a number of well established brands, and are only available to be managed for a fee of $400/month.  Seth promises companies who have these pre-populated pages may opt-out (to have the page removed) for no charge, but many believe that the damage is already done.

UPDATE: Seth announced today he is taking down the pre-populated pages. (all 200 of them)

Beware the twitter worm

A social virus is on the loose and it attacks your twitter account.  The twitter worm reportedly sends you a DM from one of your tweeps with the message: “rofl this you on here:” with a link that redirects you to a “dummy” login page.  Unsuspecting users who enter their information will soon have their account hijacked so the worm can further spread itself among the Tittersphere.  You have been warned.

Unofficial Twitter app store

Via mashable: OneForty.com is a twitter app store that features about 1300 3rd party tools and services along with screenshots, reviews, and the like.  With the continued rising in Twitter’s popularity and hundreds of new 3rd party apps & tools out there, this is a place that brings it all together. If you’re thinking “why didn’t I think of it first?”  right now, you’re not the only one.

The Lighter Side of Social Media

• Ebay GOLD: A man on listed his used car on Ebay for $500, but little did he know that the 1963 LeMans Tempest (a classic car) was worth much more (even in its rusted condition).  The final bid went for over $226,000.
• This is a VERY FUNNY (however inappropriate) video (NSFW…sort of) of a well done -spoof- music video…enjoy.
• Newspaper FAIL:  the editor should have known better than to run these stories in the same issue (let alone the same PAGE).
• And for your “awwwww” cravings here is the saddest dog alive.

SEE YOU NEXT FRIDAY!!!