“Pogo-sticking” isn’t just your 5-year-old hopping around your driveway on a spring-loaded toy. In fact, it has a much less cuddly connotation for searchers. That’s because pogo-sticking in search engine lingo is when users jump back and forth between the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and websites looking for the right information. Pogo-sticking behavior is an indication of user dissatisfaction, as the longer a person goes down the pages and back to the SERP, the more it shows that the user is having difficulty finding what they’re looking for.
Ask.com began efforts to minimize pogo-sticking behavior years ago when it implemented the binoculars feature, allowing searchers to preview the landing pages. This feature reduces search times by allowing users to see if the site information is relevant to their needs without having to click on it.
Google is now looking to cut back on pogo-sticking with a new search option that will alter results to more easily facilitate searching information related to a specific result. Google’s new “Get More” option will appear once a user hits the back button from a webpage to the SERP, helping guide searchers towards results similar to the one initially selected that may better suit their needs.
For those of you who can’t wait to Tweet about everything from what you had for breakfast to the new pen you bought, Microsoft wants to incorporate your broadcasting obsession into your workplace. Microsoft Office Labs has been experimenting with a new microblogging application they’re calling OfficeTalk, which mirrors Twitter’s ability to create individual profiles, read and respond to messages, and post original content.
In a test involving 10,000 users posting daily messages, Microsoft Office Labs discovered that OfficeTalk participants successfully used the application towards professional (vs social) means. The test led Microsoft to believe that the application could in fact be used in the office to increase productivity and efficiency by easing collaboration and rapid communication.
If you’ve ever checked your iPhone for the nearest Starbucks or used your Blackberry to find the best Thai restaurant within 5 miles, you’re not alone. Google’s Director of Mobile Advertising, Diana Pouliot, recently announced that one-third of all Google mobile web searches are somehow related to the user’s location.
This revelation has led Google down yet another path on it’s never-ending quest to dominate everything anyone could ever want to know about. Google is highlighting the growing importance of mobile location-based searches by increasing efforts to optimize advertising platforms. Some analysts forsee spending via mobile searches with “local-intent” to reach up to $4 billion by 2015. Last year’s estimates only hit about $34 million.
Yahoo is also working on attracting mobile environment-based participation from large companies with various locations and/or franchises that traditionally advertise through regional newspapers and radio stations.
Have you spent many sleepless nights agonizing over the lack of sitelink, product extension, and comparison options for your Google Pay Per Click (PPC) ads? Well you can finally slumber peacefully, my friend: The Powers that Be have heard your pleas, and Google has answered them.
Each of the new PPC features will boost exposure and direct traffic to sites using Google advertising tools in several different ways. The sitelinks option allows up to 10 sitelinks per ad unit, which will ease navigation and connect searchers with timely deals.
The product extensions option catches a shopper’s eye by displaying specific product images above descriptions and prices. This drives direct sales through the vendor’’s Google Merchant Center account.
And finally, the comparison ads list several relevant offers in highly competitive markets, enabling customers to compare deals.
You may have used Yelp to check out what others are saying about a restaurant, write about your experience at a particular spa, or search for a good veterinarian, but who’s reviewing Yelp?
A federal court judge will, thanks to a class-action lawsuit filed by two California law-firms. The ten businesses involved in the case have accused Yelp, an online user review and local search directory, of unfair business practices and extorting small businesses. They claim that Yelp has manipulated the visibility of their business reviews and offered to hide negative reviews if they each purchased $300-monthly “advertising contracts” with the site.
Yelp maintains its innocence, insisting that the businesses suing the company don’t understand how Yelp works. Yelps says it uses an automated program to filter reviews and only removes those which may be inappropriate or fraudulent. Conversely, it allows businesses to pick a top featured review and directly address negative reviews through the site.
One of the top 150 US websites with over 15 million small businesses indexed and 25 million users a month, Yelp, like Google and Twitter, even has it’s own verb. Yelpers can yelp about anything from the local 7-Eleven to the specialty vintage clock retailer at the local antique mall.
There’s something to be said for instant gratification, and if you’re the sort who wants to know where you are without pausing to open a map app, one of the handful of changes to Google Maps for Android (version 4.1) has your name on it.
To turn your wallpaper into a live, real-time map that tracks your location, press and hold the home screen, choose Wallpaper, then pick Maps from the Live Wallpaper folder. Before setting the wallpaper, you’ll be able to choose satellite, terrain, or line map mode and whether you want to show traffic. While a little clunky and distracting depending on how cluttered your screen is, it’s neat that you can still manage to zoom in and out. The live wallpaper works for Android phones running 2.1 of the operating system and up.
There is something apt about a social networking website winning a popularity contest. According to industry data, Facebook overtook Google among US internet users last week, with more visits to its pages than to the search engine. It is a moment to consider the rapid growth of a site whose 400m-plus users outnumber the population of any single country except India and China.
Advertisers find Facebook appealing. It enables them to reach a mass audience, as television does, but with the extra benefit of much greater targeting. Consumer brands could easily extend their presence beyond the fan pages that already exist. Moreover, a social site provides consumers who visit for much longer than they would use a search engine. So increased advertising, and perhaps ways to allow users to shop through the site, should enable Facebook to move from positive cash flow to making profits.
There is something apt about a social networking website winning a popularity contest. According to industry data, Facebook overtook Google among US internet users last week, with more visits to its pages than to the search engine. It is a moment to consider the rapid growth of a site whose 400m-plus users outnumber the population of any single country except India and China.
Advertisers find Facebook appealing. It enables them to reach a mass audience, as television does, but with the extra benefit of much greater targeting. Consumer brands could easily extend their presence beyond the fan pages that already exist. Moreover, a social site provides consumers who visit for much longer than they would use a search engine. So increased advertising, and perhaps ways to allow users to shop through the site, should enable Facebook to move from positive cash flow to making profits.
Back when the Google Nexus One was announced, we were told it would be coming to Vodafone and Verizon Wireless. In a bit of a surprise move, Google announced that AT&T and Roger Wireless customers can now buy the SIM-unlocked Google Nexus One and get full 3G data functionality. This new model is only sold at the $529 unlocked price and there are no subsidized options available. With Motorola and AT&T rolling out the crippled Backflip device as the first Android device on AT&T I think this announcement comes at a perfect time and imagine many of my AT&T friends will be jumping on the Nexus One. I personally love my Nexus One and think Google selling 135,000 in 74 days is quite an achievement and believe these sales will now increase with a larger AT&T network supported.
It will be interesting to hear how many iPhone users will be picking up a Google Nexus One as they wait for a possible iPhone upgrade later this summer. This new model supports three 3G/UMTS bands (850/1900/2100 MHz) and four GSM radio frequencies (850/900/1800/1900 MHz).
Lokast allows you to discover, share music, videos,photos,contacts, and web links with others nearby. Extending on the notion of “Broadcast Networks”, Lokast turns devices into localized, high speed content servers that nearby users can “tune” into.
Finally an app that lets you transfer more than JUST your contact info and few images! LoKast lets you share just about everything on your iphone/iTouch!
- Search nearby for other users and media
-Share songs that other users can preview and then download
- Share Photos & Vidoes
- Share as many of your contacts as you desire
- Share web links
-Download featured content and share with other friends
Wow, and how about this one -
With Lokast Live, you can view Web links with others side-by-side, in real time – others just tune into your live LoKast and their browser follows the same web links that you are surfing.
* Broadcast music, images, vidoes, or your entire screen even when you are riding the subway
* At a stadium event/office building/out of service area and can’t get any reception? You can still send messages, photos,videos,and contact information to any active users nearby!
*Unlike other apps, you don’t have to worry about carrier networks to transfer content.
