Google Ad Placement Fail

What do you do when Gmail goes down? Mostly, I talked about it on Twitter, kept checking my Google reader for more articles, and chatted on iGoogle.

While going through my Reader, it seemed all my blogs are talking about it: AgencySpy, TechCrunch and Mashable... Mashable has some ideas for what to do while Gmail is down, but the funniest part of seeing their article when it popped up in my Google Reader was that they are supported by in-RSS-reader Google Ads.

FAIL:
The ad reads: Buying another expensive email server made me go Google.

The (Online) Tipping Point Part Two

A few weeks ago I tackled the first couple chapters of The Tipping Point and merged what I was reading to what I was absorbing online. I finally had time to knock out another hundred pages this weekend and here are some of my thoughts regarding The (Online) Tipping Point: Mavens. 

Mavens, as defined in the book, are information specialists.  They are people that we can rely on to connect us with new information about their specialty.  They know their specialty inside and out and are eager to share it with others.  Online mavens are much easier to identify than connectors and salesmen.  They are the bloggers, the social bookmarking obsessed, and the shared friends on Google Reader.

Bloggers: These mavens often collaborate with other mavens on the same topic to share their thoughts and insights with their readers.  We turn to our favorite bloggers because we trust their content, even if we have never met them.

Bookmarkers:  These mavens have built a tag cloud of specialty information from the sites that they visit regularly.  Labeling their specialty sites with keyword tags allows others to see which topics they are most familiar with. While social bookmarking sites are becoming more fragmented, the die hard users that are mavens are easy to spot.

Google Readers: I have about 15 people in my Google Reader shared feed.  I'm sure many of you do the same or have a similar RSS sharing application.  After a while, you'll begin to see that certain friends become notorious for sharing the most and best articles related to their specialty. Libby is the first to share the latest LOLcats (oh and media news!), Lindsay and Tyler know more about fashion than my brain can comprehend, and Lauren does her photo thing.  These are all off line specialties also, but they are amplified online.

Unlike connectors and salesmen, I think it's definitely possible to become a maven online but not in real life.  Someone could read every single blog/article about Twins Helmet Sundaes and make social connections and share their specialty information.  Their ability to spread their information would be limited though because of their lack of experience at being a maven off line.

Next up: Salesman and Stickiness. Hang in there. Or sit, that's cool too.

It's Time For Some Google Reader Campaigning!

I have been consistently drawn to CNN this week to watch the speeches at the Democratic National Convention (p.s. the Clintons ROCKED their speeches), but I was surprised to find politics creepin' in on my friend, Google Reader.


Apparently, now we can subscribe to shared items and reading lists from Barack Obama and John McCain. Now, obviously this piqued my interest. You mean Old Man River figured out what this "Internet" thing is? He knows that RSS isn't some disease? Doubtful. I don't feel out-of-line to assume that he had some 20 something (Amanda... did he set you up to this?) set up his "top feeds," but it's an interesting political marketing scheme nonetheless.

What I learned from looking through his favorite feeds:
1) This Conservative Christian worships the false god, Weber. (BBQ Bible? Sacrilege!)
2) The Drudge Report hasn't updated their site since they leaked the Monica Lewinsky story.
3) Jib Jab! Wowsers! Didn't expect that! I suppose he enjoyed the Time For Some Campaignin' video. (Perhaps he also snickers to himself while putting funny faces of his buddies, Pawlenty, Bush and Romney, in some of the other personalized vids.)
4) He gets his news from Fox. 'Nuff said. (Link omitted on purpose.)

As for Barack's page, nothing too strange:


My favorite part is that he has The Daily Show on his list. GO JON STEWART!

Overall, the idea is a good one. Google Reader lovers can feel tied to the candidates by reading "what they are reading." Hey, maybe McCain IS trying to get over his digicap, but knowing his technological illiteracy, I am sure he just makes one of his cronies gather information for him on "The Google."

Go '08AMA! (Said endorsement is the opinion of the author, NOT necessarily all of the Yaybies.)

Yaybia + Reader Mashup: Weekend Edition

Because my friends and coworkers insisted that I go to the bar on Friday instead of writing this post and taking a nap I couldn't write my Yaybia + Reader Mashup. But that's ok, now we have a weekend edition! Check it.

• Get that beer foam outta here! Just don't let a friend do it for you.
• A direct quote from a shared item "thursday was a rough night for everyone in advertising!"
• We turned to creative beef for some insights on how to understand our clients. We spent the week with chatty clients, demanding clients, and bustin' ass to snag the RFP clients. Maybe they should be buying the drinks!
• John Rash is in our brains. Well, ok maybe not, but he alludes to the Yaybia One Love One Heart idea.
• OMMA put out one of the best atricles I've read all month on search and recommendations. A must read.
• The NY Times interactive medal count map is sure to waste a solid 8 minutes. Well worth it.
• The Fallon Planning blog posted a nice overview of the new Facebook ads that allow user comments. 
• Brands on Twitter, yer doin' it wrong.
  

A quick look at what's coming up this week on Yaybia: state tourism battle and our back to school special. Stay tuned!

Yaybia + Google Reader Olympic Style.

Yaybia’s Flame Carrying Extreme Javelin Throwing Perfect Ten Olympic Blast!



Here are some of the top Olympic posts that have been popping up in our Google Reader feeds today. Check it!

• McDonald's launched an interactive game to go with their official Olympic partnership. I didn't have time to play with it much, but go find The Lost Ring!

• This week's Project Runway featured Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno during their Olympic opening ceremony attire challenge. Mixed feelings from the judges and Gawker. Whatever, if it involves Heidi Klum, sign me up.

• Not really feeling the TV or Internet to get your Olympics fix? How 'bout a video game! Sega dropped the official Beijing 2008 game for PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and mobile phones. I don't know if it will beat playing Nagano Games on N64 (I rocked at giant slalom!) but I'm sure it will give it a run for it's money, or should I say medals!

• Get up close and personal with the Beijing 2008 Torch! Great post about the design concept, relay lantern, and Olympic couldron. And no, it's not sponsored by Target.

Have more great Olympic news/posts/articles to share? We'd love to hear 'em. Comments or emails welcome!

Yaybia Mashup #2: iPhone, ICANN, Gossip Girl

A few weeks ago I posted the first Google Reader Yaybia mashup, and now I've got installment numero dos. These are some of the highlights that my fellow Yaybia-ers and our friends have been geekin' out about in Reader this week. Ready, break!

1. Congrats to Lauren on her first Yaybia post. She is gradually overcoming her digi-cap. Today she mastered blogging and the importance of including http:// in links.

2. We (well, Libby and I) accidentally/were forced to update our iPhones to the 2.0 firmware and we hate it. Bah, give us back our jailbroken phones. 2.0 doesn't have any customize options and crashes more than before. I was diggin' the Pandora app until it froze my phone and then put a screen shot image into my photos, wtf!? SKIP IT. Instead, we'll take 2.0 hacks and Macbook Touch?!?!

3. ICANNhazcheesburger is going to make the Internet explode. i iz in ur interwebs messin with ur dns!

4. Gossip Girl is back with sexy and shocking new ads promoting the new season. You know you love 'em.

5. Last but not least, Advergirl never ceases to bring us exactly what we want to read. She's so smart all the time I don't even understand how that's possible. Like us, she likes to SKIP IT and she's always giving us tips on how not to suck at life.

P.S. this is gross and yes please.