Not only will this be the 15th post you read about Google Buzz today, but if you're connected to one of our writers, you'll potentially end up seeing it 4 times because it will appear in your Reader, Twitter stream, (maybe) Facebook news feed, and now all up in your Google Buzz. No, I don't blame you for not wanting to see this post 5 times. I don't even want to see this post 5 times.
Libby and I have initial thoughts.
Erin: i don't think i like buzz Libby: i don't like buzz. no context. Erin: it's TOO much. i already follow these people. it's just repeat content. it's google friendfeed. skip it. Libby: right! no, it's friendfeed plus the awkwardness of watching people you don't know comment on friends' FB statuses. why didn't google realize that friendfeed sucks for a reason? if i want tweets i go to twitter. if i want fb i go to the book. if i want flickr, usually people cross post it on FB. otherwise i arrive there because i'm searching for something.
This is not a new conversation for us. Maybe not for you either. Social aggregation is intended to make life easier, but it lacks context. In the land of 140 characters, you can expect conversations and shared items to be short, fun and drunk. On Facebook, you'll receive updates of photo albums along side Farmville invites that won't go away. In Reader, you get fresh content from marketing blogs and LOLcats from Alicia. Bringing all of this together doesn't simplify life; it actually makes me think harder when I try to skim through headlines and keep getting tripped up trying to identify where things came from.
Maybe groups/folders/tags will help, maybe not. Currently I'm telling Buzz to buzz off. (Libby wrote that, blame her.)
I thought that everyone seemed to be playing it a little safe in Superbowl Ad-land this year. I found most of the ads to be rather forgettable, but here are my thoughts on the rest.
The Tebow Spot: Like I said, Mrs. Tebow doesn't have a future in Hollywood. That being said, overall that was a lot of hype for something so lame. And the production of the whole thing...little too much Apple and E-Harmony in there. It seemed to rely very heavily on the URL call to action at the end. However, no search terms about that spot made it into the Google search trends or Bing xRank, which means that either everyone remembered that URL and went straight there, or the spot was pretty ineffective, relative to other spots (more about those below).
The Beer Advertising Monopoly: Anheuser-Busch is the ONLY beer advertiser in the Superbowl? And honestly have to say that I was a little disappointed in the overall beer ads. Beer ads used to literally run the Superbowl - what is up with them now? I think Budweiser is taking the horses a bit far now, and personally, of the beer ads, I only liked BudLight's T-Pain Spot:
The Car Spots (and lack there of): I really expected more form the American car makers, but the Dodge spot was good. I found most of the spots pretty lame for Hyundai and Kia, but I think VW did a great job making a classic Superbowl spot. They took an idea so simple that everyone, from age 6 to age 90 can understand, and turned it into a spot. SlugBug. I liked it.
The Google Spot: A first for the search engine, and it was definitely cute. Once again, points for being a very simple quick-get idea. I think most people can relate to it. But I find it interesting that this was loaded onto YouTube back in November, so obviously not made just for the Superbowl. Last-second media buy discount, or strategic move?
The Internets Since people kept talking about social media and the Superbowl, I expected stronger calls to action driving to websites, social media, and texting in spots, but really didn't see too much. However, some naturals prevailed in search as usual. Dockers seemed to take the cake for most search terms on Google, and Bud and GoDaddy appeared to win on Bing. Most notable is that there was no mention of the Focus on the Family spot, or those Intel spots that were hell-bent on getting you to go submit a moment to their microsite. That means if there is a load of traffic, it is coming from direct entry of the URL, or it just isn't popular enough to get on those trends lists. Once all the buzz around spots happens over the next few days, I think we'll have some more info to report on.
Overall trend = No Pants I couldn't really figure out why there were so many spots with guys not wearing pants? Dockers, Coke and Careebuilder.... Did anyone else find it funny that Careerbuilder.com's "Casual Friday" was played back-to-back with the Dockers "Men Without Pants" spot?
Funniest that I didn't talk about above: Snickers
Worst that barely deserve a mention: Sketchers and FloTV.
The Rest: If you missed them, want a chance to see them all again, or just need some commenting material, check them out in Hulu's sweet little widget, below:
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.
Welcome to our first of many weekly recaps, where we'll harness the rumblings of the interwebs into one post for your reading pleasure.
ON THE WEBS: In case you were under a rock and/or wasted all week (it's ok if you were!)
We got a new President on Tuesday! Google searches took a nosedive while we watched his speech, and a lot of us were watching online. J9 talked about Facebook/CNN connect and how awesome it was. To bring the federal government into 2009, the new administration overhauled whitehouse.gov at exactly 12:01pm--and it looks rll good.
It's 2009, and our search results still look like this:
Cuil tried to serve up search results more suited to the way Digital Natives process information: splashed all across the page, all media forms at once. But one major problem I had with Cuil was that it was overwhelming, a huge smorgasbord of information shoved in front of us:
Then in June came Kosmix's redesign to horizontal search. Similar to Cuil, Kosmix draws listings from sites across the web, not necessarily those with the best SEO. But Kosmix's killer edge is how it categorizes the information into quick overviews, Wikipedia entries, audio, video, blogs, opinion/discussion, news...basically everything Google makes you travel to a separate page to find. After trying a few searches, I was in love:
Another great Kosmix feature is how it integrates shopping and product reviews. Showing the actual product for sale makes much more sense than relying on the text "Shop ____ at Amazon.com!" over on Googs:
I'm not as familiar with Yahoo Glue, but it seems to be a similar concept:
I think Glue will probably appeal to Yahoo's current user base, but for me, Yahoo is back with AOL in the land of dial-up. I'm sticking with the cool new kid in town.
None of the new sites rival Google when searching more obscure terms, but for gaining a broader understanding of people and issues, Kosmix is definitely where I plan to head in 2009. Of course, old habits die hard. I'll keep you posted on how many of my searches actually take place on an alternative search site, rather than in the search bar of my Chrome browser. Stay tuned!
Google, just when I think I love you to the max, you go and fail on me in a big way. A blog I follow called "Mashable!" pointed out a majorly offensive ad fail from Google Ads which recently popped up in several online news stories about the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yikes.
I've never heard of getting an online degree in terrorism, so I'm pretty sure that this is a keyword match ad and if it were a story about kittens, we might see "get your degree in kittens online." However, this is where the keyword match feature in these online ads goes from funny to fail in 0.3 seconds.
I know Yaybia ladies are avid Gmail users, so I'm curious as to what everyone thinks about the new themes. While I have no problems changing the colors of my Gmail, I think some of the graphical themes could be a little much. While I thouroughly enjoy the "candy" theme, I feel it might be a distraction when sending out my resume and cover letter...
Anyone know who makes up these themes? And can you tell me what they were thinking when creating the "Bus Stop" one?
I haven't been to Ask.com (or Ask Jeeves as I once knew it) in a looooooooooooong time (I'm gonna say since 2005?), but in the course of my tasks today, I ended up there. What I saw made me want to venture to one of my favorite sites/time wasters on the internet: Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. It shows you what a website looked like on a certain date. Here is a rough timeline for Ask.com that I created from their archives:
Notice the obvious progression towards basically a copy of everyone's favorite Search Engine, whose clean, simple homepage hasn't really changed much at all in the last 10 years:
I kinda miss Jeeves....
Here are some more website evolution favs. Any other websites whose evolution from conception to today that interest you?
I would like to give an A+ to whoever is buying Google AdWords for JCrew right now. While reading an email about Obama in Gmail, I found this ad on the side:
When you click the link, you are brought to this page:
Thank you JCrew. With all the buzz around gorgeous Michelle Obama's outfits, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Google Washing? Kind of sounds dirty. Well, actually it is, but not in the way you think.
With the web’s presence being all-encompassing in the world of media relations and brand management, Google has become the spy scope for companies to check out the conversations going on about their brand. It can be kind of scary to type a Google search about your company and see a big dirty mark come up in the search returns. “I HATE BRAND X” (Wal-Mart knows what I’m talking about…) This is where Google washing enters. Wikipedia’s “Google bomb” entry has described Google washing as: “the use of media manipulation to change the perception of a term, or push out competition from search engine results pages.”
Branding (like was just discussed with rather heated passion by the fabulous Libby and Erin) is still a very important staple of companies. Branding also matters a lot to public relations professionals. Public relations is not just about typing up press releases and feverishly pitching them to the media world. A large part of our job is brand management. What are people saying about the brand? How can we spark good conversation about the brand? How can we even get people to BEGIN talking about the brand? And Google is a big part of this.
When a company Googles their brand, the last thing they want to see is a negative hit in the “Golden Triangle” of the search. While your first hit may be your own website, if the next few are “I hate Brand X” sites or blog posts, you may be in some trouble. Normally, this would be a public relations job. We would say, “OK, Let’s get going and start building good press, good conversations, and bring the brand back up in the good graces of Google searchers everywhere,” because that’s our job, and (hopefully) we are good at it. However, a new service is offering a shortcut option for many companies, and some are biting the bait. This new service is called “Online Reputation Management.”
Basically what some of these services do is pile on new materials to bury the old and “dirty” search terms, therefore cleansing your Google search of all the negativity. Sort of like fung shui for Google, I suppose. The problem is this: you didn’t get RID of this negative buzz, you just buried it and are now hoping it will not resurface. Personally, I feel that’s a lazy way of dealing with negative brand associations. Andy Beal, a marketing consultant quoted in a Business Week article, puts it perfectly: “They're not necessarily interested in trying to fix the problem. They just want to make sure that other people can't find it.” Web 2.0 has become all about conversations. If brands don’t engage in conversations there isn’t much they can do to improve their image. Companies might find that some of the negative buzz they address may spark new ideas to make the brand more exciting than it was before. But if they let reputation management services do their thing, they may just be burying those ideas along with the negative buzz.
So I'm taking a brain break this afternoon and surfing for concert tickets (the spending freeze is making me lust after entertainment). I clicked on the "email to friend" link for Metro Station next Monday (anybody? anybody?) and instead of an email form, this pops up:
WTF?!
What do you think? 1) IT is playing an amazing joke 2) The Epic nightclub website detected I was behind a work firewall and decided to strike some terror into my heart 3) Fail Tuesday continues
Google- creepy though your power may be, you are my hero. What some are considering to be a hoax (it's not), Google has announced Mail Goggles!
Mail Goggles A series of simple math questions required to be answered properly before sending any e-mail messages in case you are in an "altered state of mind"
AKA, Google's way of making sure you don't send that drunken tearful e-mail to your ex, or that seemingly sexy, slurred love note meant for your boyfriend to your dad.
The default setting activates this feature late nights and weekends, but for those who prefer inebriation at more unconventional times, you can set the feature to activate whenever you want. To activate it in Gmail, go to Settings, then Labs.
I see at least 1 potential problem: If I can send immaculate, grammatical correct texts to my mom while wasted in a dark bar, then I can probably answer 4x3=? over e-mail. However, that pause necessary to answer those questions may cause me to think twice before sending.
But, I don't care. I think it's fun. There must be more information out there regarding this tool out there, but alas work calls. What do ya'll think?
Libby existed, barely. OtherYaybies did not. Sadly, no page on the entire Internet knew what Yaybia was. Google's blast from the past to celebrate their 10th birthday is only available for a few more weeks, so Google your favorite cultural phenomena while you still can!
My picks: 9/11, Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus, the company you work for...seriously, don't try this unless you have at least an hour to kill, because it's addicting.
Oh yeah, and Gov. Sarah Palin? She had been mayor of Wasilla for five years at this point, but Google didn't give two shits. Interesting.
Happy Friday! How ‘bout a contest, yeah? Hokay So, I’m going to list my favorite brands that have been used as verbs. Then, in the comments you’ll list your faves. Those of you that have the most/best/interesting brand verbs will be awarded with a beer (and or other happy hour beverage of choice) paid for by yours truly. Said contest will run from now (Friday September 12th at 5:24pm until next Friday the 19th at the time that I start drinking (usually 3pm-ish). If you are participating from outside of Minneapolis (which I hope you are!) we’ll work it out ok. IOUs, send your friend a drink, FedEx? It’ll happen I swear.
Here goes, Erin’s Faves:
I TBS’d It – watching the second half of a movie on TBS and then watching the first half when they replay it immediately after.
Just Google It – searching for any information online.
Mapquest it First – Number of people using Mapquest: approx 7. Number of people saying Mapquest when they are really using Google Maps: approx 7 million.
I watched it on TIVO – Did you really? Or are you watching it on your DVR? That’s what I thought.
Ok ready break!
*Honorable mentions are available for brand name/tag line integration. Example: At the cabin my dad took me and Libby to a bar called What the Heck. Before getting out of the car he turns to us and says, “Wisconsin, more bars in more places.” But no, I will not be buying him beers, only you!
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.
Many recent posts have been tagged teamed by Erin and Libby. This is no exception. Check it!
If you’ve ever paid attention to the Shared Items links over there on the right, you know that we’re addicted to our Google Readers. Personally, I subscribe to over 120 RSS feeds, but I know that can be overwhelming for those who might be just starting to overcome their digi-cap and venture into the world of RSS aggregators. I thought I'd give you a rundown of some of my most-shared blogs so you too can obsessively follow news of the ad world, technology, the interwebs, and LOLCats.
1) Advergirl. If I could only read one ad blog, this would be it. Advergirl offers less commentary on ads than someone like Copyranter (who is hilarious, btw) but she gives her readers a window into the world of agency life. She offers clear, thoughtful insight into social media and online marketing. Most notably, I referred to her series for young professionals dozens of times as I was sending out resumes and interviewing for my first agency job. Thanks Advergirl!
3) View from the Bottom. The Girl Riot describes herself as one of “the adstar wannabes climbing the corporate ladder…as yet uncorrupted, somewhat uncouth, and utterly unrestrained.” She chronicles her first year as a copywriter and her thoughts on social media. Bonus points for using the phrase Digital Natives!
4) Newly Corporate. It’s good to know we’re not alone when facing awkward first career experiences and life after college . Email? Jabber? Are meetings ever on time?! Ahh!
Google Reader takes seconds to set up and is worth trying solely for its “suggested feeds” feature. And don’t forget to add all the YaybiawritersasGooglefriends so we can all keep sharing.
The writers of Yaybia are the most intelligent, creative, and passionate young women in Minneapolis advertising. Yaybia is our thoughts, frustrations, musings, questions, and opinions about our industry.
DISCLAIMER: Said opinions are OURS, not those of the companies we work for. We're not representing those companies, or their clients, or anyone but ourselves. Interested in contacting one or all of us? Yaybia [at] gmail [dot] com. <3
