Kobe Does His Part, Now NBA Bettors Wait On LeBron
The NBA, the people that gamble on the NBA, and the millions of people that watch the NBA are all rooting for one thing, a Kobe versus LeBron finals. Kobe did his part, and now it is up to Lebron to get his team to the finals.
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Texas House Calls For Study On Expanded Gambling
The House of Representatives in Texas have asked for an extensive study to be completed to figure out whether or not expanded gambling could be beneficial in the state.
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Largest Casino In Carson Valley, Nevada, Sold
The largest casino-hotel in Carson Valley, Nevada, the Carson Valley inn, is being sold to one of the most recognized thoroughbred owner in the country, Mike Pegram, and a family that already owns other casinos.
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Casino Gambling May Continue At Tropicana Under Icahn’s Rule
Carl Icahn put a bid in that was supposed to be the minimum for the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, but it now looks as though Icahn will win the right to purchase the casino with that bid.
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Integration – The Key to Google as a Social Network
Google has or is working on pretty much all of the main ingredients for a really great social network. The problem (in my opinion) is that they are scattered and not integrated as well as they could be. Do you particiapte in any of Google’s social projects? Tell us which ones.
Gmail
A while back when Gmail turned five years old, Google said that the coming five years would see more radical changes for Gmail than ever. Given the social nature of the web today, changes for the more social are the next logical step(s). Here are some rather social things (as I discussed here) that you can already do with Gmail.
– send messages to friends
– keep conversations with multiple friends together
– embed videos/rich media in emails/chat messages
– send messages to people beyond the Gmail wall
– use search operators to bring up all photos /other media from any past messages
– Account holders have profile pages with their picture
– Creating a Google account essentially gives you an account to a much broader range of products in Google itself that allow for sharing things with friends (such as Docs, Reader, and Bookmarks)
Google Wave
Google Wave is a little confusing at first glance, but Jordan Golson at GigaOm sums it up well as a combination of email, instant messaging, and a real-time wiki. MarketingShift calls it the closest thing Google has to Facebook. Google calls it "a personal communication and collaboration tool" with the current incarnation being a "very early form."
This thing was made by the creators of Google Maps. It’s going to be interesting to see where it goes. It has received a lukewarm response thus far, but we’ll see what happens.
Google Friend Connect
Google Friend Conect is Google’s way of connecting users through other sites that aren’t owned by Google. It comes equipped with gadgets such as a Q&A gadget, and an event gadget that lets you coordinate events with friends, something you can do with Google Calendar also, by the way.
Web Elements – Conversation Element
Besides announcing Google Wave at the Google Developer Conference this Week, the company also announced Web Elements, which we discussed here. The Google Social Web Blog looks at one element in particular – the conversation element, which is powered by Google Friend Connect. It lets your visitors post comments restricted to just your site or participate in a global conversation based on topic of interest. That is interesting. Google explains:
A global conversation takes place on several web sites simultaneously and will have a "Global conversation" label underneath the title. When visitors post to a global conversation on a specific topic, such as mandolins (as shown in the image below), the post not only shows up on the site where they posted it, but it also on any site that chooses to embed a Conversation element on mandolins, now or in the future. So now your visitors can talk about mandolins with others interested in the same topic, no matter what site they’re on.
Google Reader
Google Reader, which of course allows users to subscribe to blogs and content sites by way or RSS feeds, has gotten a lot more social this year. They added a commenting feature, and a "friends and trends" feature.
More recently, they have pointed out the ability to create and share custom feed bundles with friends. This is an intersting way to share content.
YouTube
YouTube is often thought of as a video site, and it happens to also be the 2nd largest search engine. I think people often forget that it’s also a social network. Google continues to add social elements to this as well. For one, they’ve been testing realtime updates. They are also finally tying YouTube accounts to Google accounts. Makes sense doesn’t it?
Real Time Search
Google Co-founder Larry Page made it pretty clear that we’re going be seeing some more in the way of real-time search coming from Google. Well, that’s one of (not the only one, granted) the big appeals to Twitter. We don’t know what is going to come of this yet as far as Google’s concerned, but you can expect something.
Photo via Loic Le Meur
iGoogle and the Google Profile
I think these two elements are the real keys to integration of social activity through Google. If Google and users want to tie all of Google’s social elements together, I think it’s going to be through their iGoogle page and through their Google Profile. One appealing thing about both of these, is that neither one has to be limited to only Google’s social elements.
Google has a tremendous advantage with iGoogle, because it is designed to be the home page, and no doubt many people (myself included) use it as the home page in their browser (not just for Google).
Everytime I open a browser window, i start from my iGoogle page. And why not? It’s got access to my email, chat, Twitter, Facebook, task list, and everything else I want, all on a customizable basis thanks to Google’s directory of gadgets that can be added to preference – and that directory keeps growing. Most of Google’s products have gadgets. If you want to bring together your social Google experience to one home base, this is the most likely place that is going to happen.
Then of course, you have the Google Profile, the page that really ties your Google experience together from the backend. This is what you log in to every time you use a Google service, regardless of which you actually log in from (there may be exceptions). You can add any links to this page that you want (and I suspect that there will be a lot more customization options available in the future). Recently
Google made some big moves with the profile. For one, you can now create a vanity URL with it, based on your Google account name. Second, they started adding profiles right into regular Google searches for names. Considering that Google is the largest search engine in the world by a very large margin, that’s going to give those profiles some pretty significant exposure.
Advertising and Revenue Models
Revenue models and social networks don’t always go hand in hand. Some of course have yet to really even launch a viable one, but that has not been a problem for Google. Google has one of the best revenue models on the web (though there has certainly been a lot of talk that there is more to be done with YouTube), but Google has no problem with putting AdWords ads anywhere it feels like. Consider their foray into "interest-based" advertising, and you have to wonder if they’d ever consider displaying ads on iGoogle…or the profile. iGoogle being the starting point for the user (in many cases), and the profile being outsiders’ gateway to finding friends.
Conclusion
Basically, my point to all of this (and has been for some time) is that Google is building a social network right under us. Many Google users will find themselves social network users without even realizing it, and Google will have to be included in the conversation of top social networks. And Google is a beast to compete with, I’m sure others will tell you. Google has not had great success with every product it launches, but if the company can find the right way to integrate everything, it’s going to be quite a force (or even more so than it already is).
What are your thought on Google as a social network? We would love to hear them.
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Yahoo 360 Finally Going Away
There has been talk about Yahoo 360 closing down as far back as 2007, but only now is it truly official. They’ve set a date – July 13 is the day that Yahoo 360 will be no more.
Yahoo has been easing the transition for users to switch to their "new profiles," and is now requesting users move into their new profile by no later than July 12. Yahoo Community Manager Melissa Daniels at the 360 Blog writes:
While we know that many of you have faithfully used this service over the past few years, our goal has been to find a way to unify your social experience and connections across all of Yahoo! and anywhere you travel across the Web. So, while we’re sad to say that we will no longer be supporting Yahoo! 360°, we’re excited about this larger plan and hope you’ll transition over and be a part of it, too.
We also want to reiterate our commitment to preserving your blog content. We have been working to make sure we put the right mechanisms in place so that you can move your content and minimize disruption. It is with this thought in mind that we’re happy to introduce a new blogging feature that has already been integrated into your profile.
Melissa goes on to answer questions like:
- Why is Yahoo 360 closing?
- It’s been almost two years since you first announced 360 was closing—why shut it down now?
- What is going to happen to my blog?
- First you shut down Mash, now you shut down 360—why should I give profiles a shot?
- What about customization and photos? On 360 I can change the look and feel and upload multiple photos—can I do this with profiles?
…so if you want the answers to any of these, check this post. In addition, there is a FAQ page here.
Yahoo says the new profiles do not have all the features and functionality that 360 profiles do, but they’re looking forward to incorporating new ways of expression in to them.
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FiOS, Twitter, and TV
While Twitter is working hard to dispel rumors that they’ll be making a reality Twitter TV show, Verizon engineers have been working hard combining Twitter with their FiOS TV.
FiOS is Verizon’s new fiber-optic television system that just might help everyone say goodbye to the cable guy a whole lot sooner. Verizon’s FiOS TV boasts the “best picture quality around,” more than 100 HD channels, over 500 all digital channels, and “room-shaking Dolby 5.1 surround sound.” But now Verizon is hoping to make the FiOS viewing experience even better by bringing the show’s audience right into your very living room. At least, via Twitter, anyway.
Twitter users already do a lot of twittering about their favorite (or hated) shows, but most of the twittering takes place after the show. What Verizon’s FiOS Twitter marriage hopes to accomplish is to bring the twittering live to the same screen as the show through a “Twitter widget.” With the widget, viewers could select tweets about the current channel, show, or movie, and then jump into the conversation themselves. Even if you’re home alone, this experience might make you feel like you’re at a huge party where everyone is discussing the show.
One issue that is unclear is how user/viewers will tweet. Will Verizon issue a special keyboard designed to interact with FiOS equipment? Or will mobile devices be used? The first option seems more likely, since it’s already quite possible, albeit inconvenient, to watch a program while tweeting via laptop. It would be surprising if Verizon did not already have something in the works that would enable to user/viewers to use only their FiOS TV and a keyboard (or similar device) to share tweets.
Meanwhile, Verizon may also be working on a similar widget for Facebook users, but of course it would most likely work a bit differently. Regardless, it’s obvious that one thing is certain: social media is changing just about every media in which we interact and receive information.
With the same flavor of disclaimer that Twitter uses to clear up TV show rumors, they also add, “Some Hollywood folks are developing something that leverages Twitter and they are extremely enthusiastic as evidenced by all the media hubbub yesterday and today. We have little to do with their efforts but we wish them success.”
Could this be a vague reference to Verizon’s plans? Most likely, yes; but Verizon may not be the only company attempting to bring Twitter to TV. Meanwhile, stay tuned…
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Study Looks at What Works for Building Email Lists
Some interesting research conducted by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club was released this week, looking at the list growth tactics for identifying the most effective and fastest growing approaches to building email lists.
Perhaps the most intriguing finding from the research is that the fastest growing list growth tactic is subscribing via text messages. The report indicates that the best way to grow email subscriber lists is to collect customers’ email addresses during times of high engagement – at the point of sale, during online shopping and in-store via text messaging. These onsite list growth tactics rated as much as 60% higher than offline methods such as list rental and mass advertising, according to the report.
"There is no silver bullet, and no one tactic that will provide meaningful list growth," says Tamara Gielen, founder of The Email Marketers Club. "Successful list growth strategies employ multiple tactics to drive new subscriptions and compel subscribers to register because of the value of the communication itself."
Nuggets of wisdom from Gielen can also be found on Twitter:
The research looked at the past performance as well as future plans from 351 email marketers around the world. Some highlights include:
- Onsite registration is the best performing list growth tactic, followed by capturing information through inbound call centers, at the point of sale and through social sharing.
- The worst performing list growth tactics include outbound call center attempts to collect email information, list rental, email append and offline advertising.
- B-to-B marketers are more successful in driving new subscriptions with incentivized registration, while B-to-C marketers find non-incentivized subscriptions most effective.
- Mobile capture, or allowing customers to subscribe to emails via mobile phones, will increase faster than any other list growth tactic in 2009 – more than 500 percent.
- Enabling subscribers to share email content with their social networks is expected to increase more than 348 percent in 2009.
- One-third of all email marketers rarely or never evaluate the performance of their list growth sources.
"The best performing list growth tactics are built on gathering subscriber data rather than hunting for it," says Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy. "Whether you are a B-to-B or a B-to-C marketer, the best way to grow your subscriber list is to collect information during customer-initiated interactions."
Your email list is one of your most valuable assets. The audience is targeted and loyal. For more tips on getting the most out of your email list, read my article here.
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"Classifieds" Searches Gaining Over "Auctions"
eBay supporters may not love the latest graph released by Hitwise. Data collected over the course of almost three years indicates that searches for the word "auctions" are losing out in terms of quantity when compared to searches for "classifieds."
"Auctions" managed to stay on top from the start of Bill Tancer’s graph up until March of 2007 or so. Then, as Tancer notes, a bit of a tussle ensued.
Tancer writes, "Summer 2008 marked the first sustain lead in ‘classifieds’ v. ‘auctions’ searches. During the last months of 2008, however, ‘auctions’ regained the lead, signaling the utility of auctions for holiday gift buying. 2009 however, has been the year of the ‘classifieds’ as the economic downturn has fueled our desire to save money by buying second-hand goods."
And if the economy doesn’t get back on its feet soon, it seems reasonable to assume that sites like Craigslist will get even more of an edge over eBay and its sort.
One last note, for whatever it’s worth: since June of 2006 (about the time Tancer’s graph of search terms begins), eBay’s stock has lost roughly 43 percent of its value.
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A Twitter App Just for the World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is now underway, and Twitter is pointing out a Twitter app called PokerRoad Nation, which aggregates tweets from professional players.
With PokerRoad Nation, users can filter the tweets to see updates from specific WSOP players or from specific events. There are over 50 events, and thousands of players (pros and amateurs).
"When you’re trying to follow an event like a poker tournament where thousands of people might be playing at hundreds of tables, a tool like this let’s you see what’s going on through the players’ eyes," says Jason Goldman on the Twitter Blog. "It’s a whole new way of seeing the game."
PokerRoad Nation was created by poker professional Joe Sebok, who is also an avid Twitter user. Along with poker pro Barry Greenstein, Sebok also runs PokerRoad.com, which features a blog, audio, and video content.
Looking at PokerRoad Nation, I can’t help but be reminded of when poker superstar Phil (Poker Brat) Hellmuth was drunk tweeting a while back. I wonder how much drunken tweeting we’ll see throughout this WSOP.
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