Yellow Pages for Twitter: Where’s your listing? August 7, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, brand, commerce, online identity, search marketing, social media ,As someone involved in what I reluctantly term ‘online reputation management’, I carry out a regular search for my own name, and those used by my customers, and I was interested recently to come across my name in relation to twitter, but with the accompanying description of ‘Chef’. *
Now, I use the phrase ‘word chef’ to describe what I do rewriting online profiles, and include the phrase in my Twitter Profile’s brief description, so this was not a huge surprise, but I was surprised to find myself in a ‘Directory of Twitter Chefs‘ when I first came across Twellow.com in July.
I claimed my entry by just entering my twitter password, and then could add various social media profiles, add myself to directory categories that fit my activities, and was also able to find other people in twitter with activities and interests like mine (or, importantly, quite unlike mine).
I was placed into the ‘chef’ category because the word appeared in my twitter description and matched the taxonomy of the search categories. I’d advise you to check that you’re in the most appropriate categories - and have a browse for other twitter members in various categories.
There is also a powerful search facility, which can either be directory-wide, or can focus on a specific ‘vertical’ - so you can find all of the Internet Marketing geeks with Tokyo in their profile, for example. It’s one thing to be able to search for what people are tweeting about, but it’s also very useful to know who the people on twitter are.
Simple and powerful idea
The site is a property of IEntry, known mainly for its advertising sites, but for now, there are few ads appearing on Twellow. I’m sure it doesn’t take too much imagination to see how they might monetize a Twitter Directory, although at present, those with the most followers, default to top of the page, with a filter to swap to showing those with the most recent twitter updates.
So - are you categorised correctly? Go to Twellow now and check your entry! I was amazed to see that in the Geeks Category, Robert Scoble hasn’t yet claimed his profile!
* I will be looking at some tools for monitoring online conversations later this month - make sure you are subscribed to the Digital Biographer RSS feed, or follow me on Twitter.
How to get to Page 1 on Google in 24 hours - and get paid for it. July 27, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, authors, commerce, knol, search marketing, share, social media ,
The Google Knol I created on the 24th of July entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ was already appearing on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following, just a day later.
I have updated the title within Knol from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still a pretty impressive result for content that I created and put online only the day before.
And Google say they’ll pay me from any adsense revenue the page generates. This is part of the reason why I was interested in Google Knol from December last year when it was first announced. We’ll see how it develops, but it looks like a fairly effective way to share your knowledge, get good search positions, and also perhaps make some money. Until someone pinches your content… (to be fair, Google allow content to have three copyright models - the two popular Creative Commons licence types, and one of ‘All rights reserved’.
You may be interested to joing a Ning-powered discussion group that I created when first hearing about Google Knol, and which is now beginning to gain members and become active: Knol Roll on Google Knol .
PS: You may also want to see Search Success for details of getting yourself to Page 1 on Google.
Google Knol arrives: Fountain of Knowledge, or Spurious Source? July 25, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : authors, commerce, googlicious, knol, search marketing, share ,
I first wrote about Google Knol when the topic was first aired in December 2007 on Google’s Blog, in my article “Knol is on a Roll: Google’s new economy for online authors?“.
A knol is a term Google had created for a ‘unit of knowledge’ and the announcement created a great deal of interest and speculation, as much for the lack of details as for the excitement at what it might evolve into. Many commentators called it ‘Google’s Wikipedia killer’ but as I said then, that was simply a lazy and incorrect generalisation - but there was little very specific information. And today, many commentators are again likening Knol to Wikipedia - see related links below.
Today, Google has announced its public beta of Google Knol, defining a knol as “Knols are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects.” So from today, you can start to add your knol, or knowledge. This is a beta version, so of course there are rough edges, and Google will be looking to get feedback on many aspects and issues. (I for one found that I could not log at all in using Firefox on my Mac, but have had no problems with Camino or Safari.)
Some positive features are what Google calls ‘moderated collaboration.’ “Any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public.” Nice.
Google, why I can’t verify my identity?
However, one issue that seems a very basic oversight is that ‘Name Verification’ (so you can verify that you, as an author, are who you say you are) is only available for those based in the USA. The systems available for those Knol authors in the USA are via Phone or Credit Card checks. Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but there are telephone directories and credit cards used all over the world, Google. The raised credibility that Google cites arising from verifying yourself is therefore, at present, reserved exclusively for you only if you live in the USA.
So if you live anywhere outside the USA, do not send to know for whom Google knols, it does not knol for thee. (Apologies for that play on words to John Donne)
This is not the sort of even-handed approach you’d expect from a global player like Google - and the fact that there is no mention of OpenID or even Google’s own identity systems like Google Checkout or Adsense strikes me as a missed opportunity, even for a beta-stage development. The fact that one can share revenue with Google by electing whether or not to show Google Adsense Adverts on one’s Knol content makes this a very strange omission, and I fear, one that may open Knol up to a lot of spam entries or gaming.
I managed to log in and add a Knol to Google this morning entitled ‘How to read Russian in 75 Minutes‘ (I’ve proved that this works in a 75-minute lecture in 2005, by the way) but at present, my Knol on Reading Russian only appears in a search when I am logged in with a Google login (the login I use for Gmail, Google Reader etc), but it the knol is reachable with a link, whether or not I am logged in.
However, the range of ‘Featured Knols’ as samples that appeared on my screen today had me speechless - they covered Diabetes, Lung Cancer, Toilet Clogs and Tooth pain. Wow. Maybe that’s Google’s way of encouraging you to add better content - or at least, to add more cheerful and uplifting content!
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- Google Knol Opens Its Doors, Challenges Wikipedia [Google Knol]
- Knol: Google Takes on Wikipedia
- The Difference Between Google Knol & Wikipedia Encyclopedia
UPDATE: The Google Knol I created yesterday entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ is on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following. I have updated the title from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still pretty impressive.
Online Reputation Management: I spy a bandwagon. July 21, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, brand, commerce, googlicious ,When individuals and companies working as web designers, web programmers, in public relations and search optimisation experts all begin to start dropping the same buzzwords and approach into their promotional material, you know there’s a bandwagon rolling…
The latest big bandwagon is Online Reputation Management which now appears in the famous ‘Web 2.0 Buzzword Bingo’. It’s popping up in hundreds of blogs highlighting how ‘if you Google Company X, the first page is full of people dumping on them‘ and invariably points to the author, or their associates as the expert who can fix the problem, and make this bad coverage disappear. A search in Google for the term ‘online reputation management’ finds over 4.6 million entries, and the sponsored ads are full of phrases like ‘Remove Bad Information’, ‘Fight Negative Publicity’ and ‘Defend Your Reputation’.
The organic listings within that search contain content from many seasoned Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ad Search Engine Marketing (SEM) experts and there are a few respected and familiar names I recognise there like Lee Odden and Andy Beal, who has also written ‘Radically Transparent‘. However, there are also a lot of links to those who are clearly doing their best to game Google’s search results, and offer to do the same for you, in a fairly cynical ‘digital dirty laundry cleaner’ approach.
Now, that’s a fair enough business model, and good luck to those seeking to take advantage of a new opportunity… (more…)
Less red tape and more red carpets for Europe’s Entrepreneurs? July 18, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, commerce, e-government, startup ,
Image via WikipediaSocietas Privata Europaea (SPE) is a proposed EU-wide company type designed specifically for small to medium sized companies to operate in EU member countries, which could be enacted as soon as 2009. This is a core part of the Small Business Act for Europe, which the European Commission unveiled at the end of June, based on ten guiding principles and proposing policy actions for both the Commission and Member States.
Here are some of the headlines in what is being planned:
- An SPE formation should be effected within 7 days.
- A cap on obtaining business licences and permits of one month.
- Lower VAT for services supplied locally.
- SMEs can set up their company in the same form, no matter if they do business in their own Member State or in another.
- Cut the administrative burden by 25% by 2012.
The press release begins with the wonderful phrase “a step towards a Europe of entrepreneurs, with less red tape and more red carpet for Europe’s 23 million SMEs“. [English Version] [Dutch Version] A set of Frequently Asked Questions also helps to explain the benefits of this initiative.
The lawyers, accountants, international tax experts, company formation outfits and administrative bureaucrats will hate this, as they have long grown fat from the cumbersome and often antiquated legislation and regulations that small businesses are forced to deal with, often irrespective of their size, and the necessity to follow separate, complex, and expensive company formation rules and registrations in each country. I would not be too surprised to see attempts from these types of organisations to slow down and undermine this initiative, as it of course lessens their role, and reduces the number of intermediaries involved when a company expands and works in more than one country.
However, the European entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow will love this - and it is in the long-term interests of every member nation in Europe to support this type of initiative. This is how one creates the jobs of tomorrow. It is a sad fact that long-term enlightened thinking has not always been a strong point for politicians and entrenched vested interests in Europe, so it is up to enterepreneurs across Europe to applaud, support and spread the word about this initiative.
Google, IBM, Microsoft, VeriSign, and Yahoo! on Board at OpenID February 7, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, commerce, online identity, share, social media ,A formal announcement has been made today that Yahoo!, Microsoft, Verisign, Google and IBM will all join the OpenID Foundation as Board Members.
What exactly is OpenID? The way they put it at MyOpenID, which is one of many OpenID providers, is simple and compelling: “Start using the last username and password you’ll ever need. Signing up with myOpenID gets you:
- Secure control of your digital identity
- Easy sign-in on enabled sites
- Account activity reports
- Ability to manage multiple personas for different sites, and a whole lot more!”
I think we all find it very useful to be able to just need to remember one sign-in for many different web sites - and it’s also useful to be able to control the level of information and detail that people can see associated with a ‘persona’ - I can choose to have different information and types of information available for my different social and business ‘personas’. It also means that you can more easily update your details, and not worry that dozens of different sites have what might be out-of-date information.
Yahoo enabled openID a few weeks ago, as reported at TheNextWeb Blog, and with this announcement, OpenID seems to be close to becoming the global industry standard for online identity, where a single sign-on will allow access to entirely separate resources, and it should also increase the security of one’s personal identity, and lessen the scope for phishing and ID theft. The OpenID announcement is rightfully bullish about the progress thats been made.
Last year, OpenID grew by leaps and bounds both as a technology and as a community. At the beginning of 2006, there were fewer than 20-million OpenID enabled URLs and less than 500 websites where they could be used. Today there are over a quarter of a billion OpenIDs and well over 10,000 websites to accept them.
At the same time, they also acknolwedge that although Yahoo!’s implentation was a good start, there is still a job to do to make OpenID “clear and comprehensible to those who aren’t geeks.”
So, is OpenID clear?
Meet Robert Scoble & Werner Vogels in Amsterdam at The Next Web Conference 2008 January 3, 2008
Posted by David Petherick in : Conferences, authors, awards, blonging, commerce, social media ,Speakers are being confirmed daily for 2008’s European Web 2.0 Event: The Next Web, and include Robert Scoble, Tech Geek Blogger & Author of ‘Naked Conversations‘, Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon, and Gil Penchina, CEO at Wikia.
Now in its third year, the Amsterdam event’s focus this April is on quality content, and extensive networking opportunities. Organisers anticipate at least 700 web savvies, internet influentials, and industry journalists from over 20 countries will be in Amsterdam, to be inspired, have fun and do business. This year, attending The Next Web Conference gets you free entrance to BrightLive (European version of Nextfest).
Knol is on a Roll: Google’s new economy for online authors? December 15, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Uncategorized, authors, commerce, googlicious, knol, search marketing, social media ,Google. They keep doing this. Coming up with a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events beyond the realm of normal expectations…
So, here is the next Black Swan from Google:- a highly improbable event that is unpredictable, will have massive impact, and which, after it has happened, we’ll all pretend we could have seen it coming. This is Google Knol - encouraging people to contribute knowledge.
Many mainstream media observers see this as Google’s a direct challenge to Wikipedia - a vandal-proof version - but this is a very blinkered viewpoint, and rather too easy for hack journalists to regurgitate: Google launches Wikipedia rival. I’m surprised the ‘For whom Google knols…‘ headline has not been coined yet. Oops, it just has been.
No, too simplistic. Knol is, and it is not a Wikipedia rival, because it is something different - it is, typically for Google, a whole new ball game. Authors will share revenue from the Ads that surround their content - but what content is found is likely to be that which is most popular, with content also measured by reader review. Unlike a Wiki, where the author is invisible (and often multiple) in a Knol, the identity of the author, is central to the authority of the content, with the author’s affiliation being cited in an early Google mockup.
From The Official Google Blog: Encouraging people to contribute knowledge
“The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors — but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest.
A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read. The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions. Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors. We hope that knols will include the opinions and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the line. Anyone will be free to write. For many topics, there will likely be competing knols on the same subject. Competition of ideas is a good thing.”
The news came out on the Google Blog on the 13th Of December, with no major media announcement or fanfare. It just appeared, but it immediately was caught by my antennae, and by that of several commentators of note. Today, the mainstream media are picking this up, and there is a definite buzz in the blogosphere.
I think this is a very significant development, and I have set up a Ning Social Network to discuss Knol at http://knolroll.com - just don’t ask me where it will lead - but do join the network, and let’s find out for whom the bell knols…
Business Pages are FREE on Facebook. Here’s mine. Where’s yours? November 24, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : commerce, corporate blogs, facebook, search marketing, social media ,Facebook means business - for all kinds of businesses, small or large.
There are over 45 million people on facebook, and you can reach them as a business, and have them talking about you, talking with you, recommending you and buzzing about your products or services. Free. Or not.
Which will it be? Set up a free facebook page for your business today and start connecting with your customers.
Digital Biographer Business Page on Facebook
MyOffice: Groupware Tool launches on Facebook November 17, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : commerce, corporate blogs, facebook, social media ,A Facebook groupware tool has just been launched called MyOffice, which includes private discussion boards, file sharing, a schedule, and to-do lists you can share with a public or private group within Facebook.
The current MyOffice tools are pretty basic, but the three Columbia University students who created it are already responding to user feedback to improve and extend features. It’s very easy to use and seems to work well. Each project gets its own dashboard with a helpful activity stream that keeps you on top of the latest moves by team members.
This is the sort of application I have been expecting to see a lot more of since Facebook launched itself as a platform in May - something very simple but useful that lets one stop just poking around, and start collaborating with your network, and drawing in new partners and ideas to projects.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Facebook Brand Landgrab: Now Open for Ads 2.0 November 7, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : commerce, digital biographer, facebook, online identity, search marketing, social media ,I am now a product on facebook. A brand. Or rather, Digital Biographer is. See httv.biz/biographer/.
.
I have also created a page for myself as a writer (that’s a celebrity, I am pleased to hear).
As such, I can now have fans who can tune in to my messages, news, hear about events and more… quite apart from being able to target advertising very precisely to demographic and geographic groups.
Facebooks Ads are here (and Social Ads), and it’s quite staggeringly simple, and complex, in a layered sense.
Find out more at http://facebook.com/ads/ and see the announcement on the Facebook blog:
You now have a way to connect with products, businesses, bands, celebrities and more on Facebook.
Ads should be getting more relevant and more meaningful to you.
You now have the option to share actions you take on other sites with your friends on Facebook…… we noticed people wanted to connect with their favorite music, restaurants, and brands; but there was no good place for these types of affiliations to exist. Now, there is a place for them and you can become a fan of whatever pages you choose in order to interact with your passions in new ways. You can post reviews for a local restaurant, buy tickets to a new movie, or be the first to get a heads up about new promotions.
Ads will be getting more relevant and more interesting to you. Instead of random messages from advertisers, we’ve launched Social Ads. Social Ads provide advertisements alongside related actions your friends have taken on the site. These actions may be things like “Leah is now a fan of The Offspring” (if I added The Offspring to my music) or “Justin wrote a review for Sushi Hut” (If Justin wrote this review on the Sushi Hut page). These actions could then be paired with an ad that either The Offspring or Sushi Hut provides.
I can see a lot of ad agencies, ‘new media’ agencies and PR companies reaching for the phones now, asking how can we do this? Where do we start? Well, my number is 0845 658 9058, and I am preparing a 1PrecisePage™ download for release shortly.
The Barcelona Masterclass from Digital Biographer - “Brand New Friend“ from March 8-10, 2008 is the first event to be launched in Facebook as a Digital Biographer ‘brand’ event.
Facebook Retail Landgrab: Now Open for Business (3.0) October 30, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : commerce, corporate blogs, digital biographer, facebook, social media ,Facebook now has an even more useful application for Business - and a very simple one: you can now set up an online store to sell your business’ products or services to the 45 million+ people on Facebook.
Cleverly, it allows you to use the ecommerce solution you choose by simply allowing insertion of a payment button from your payment processor. There are 45 million Facebook users out there. I suggest you open up your retail space now - and do remember, this will also act as a name landgrab - I own the extension digitalbiographer - what should you own? The shop setup and rental is currently free…
- View the offerings at my FaceBook Digital Biographer Business Shop
- Create your own FaceBook Retail Outlet
- FaceBook For Business Club & Forum at Ecademy
