blending the mix

Steve Rubel reports that the page view is now dead. With the increased use of Ajax, updating only the dynamic content, page refreshes (and therefore their views) are no longer relevant.

Nielson are now measuring visit duration instead, but how does this address the matter of tabbed browsing? As soon as a new tab is opened, metrics start measuring the amount of time a user is on the website.

But, imagine (as I do) you open IE7 or Firefox with 3 tabs (Google Reader, BBC News and Facebook for example) the clock will start running even though on ALL 3 tabs at the same time, even though only one is "live".

With IE7 now bringing tabbed browsing to the mainstream how can metrics address this apparent shortfall in accuracy?

Maybe it already does, so if someone knows how this is being treated, please let me know!

Tags: ajax, firefox, ie7, nielson, metrics

84%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Are you addicted to blogging? My guess, if you have found my blog, the answer is a resounding yes (it can take some finding) but find out for yourself!

Thanks Steve for the heads-up..

Something David Brain mentioned to me in a post the other week got me thinking about people’s motivations to blog (or not) and how these reasons  may explain the recent slow growth in the blogosphere (surprisingly for some, not so for many others!).

So why do YOU blog? Do you blog for recognition, does your work throw up interesting things to write about that others would benefit from knowing, or do you look for things to write about?

I would be very keen to hear why existing bloggers do what they do and hope then to pick out something of relevance to see how we can encourage non-bloggers to feel included.

Tags: blogs, blogging, david brain, sixtysecondview, blendingthemix

Just a short post to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to Hugh. I have long admired (and often pestered) Hugh and drawn inspiration from his work. His support means the world to me.

Also, thanks to Adam, Jesse, Sean, Rachel and Bogdan for their support - the linkedIn public profile is now amended! Thanks guys.

Tags: gapingvoid, hugh macleod, unemployment, paul fabretti

thanks enzo for the image

Steve Clayton (via David Brain) gave me the heads up on this fantastic presentation by Ian Thomas of Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions’ team (link HERE to the slideshow presentation if the embedded script doesn’t work!) It is as succinct an example of what this new online environment is all about as you will ever see - IMHO!

Tags: web2.0, microsoft, blogging, digital, advertising, slideshow, presentation

I AM ANGRY!

Rachel at behindthebuzz has a great story from yesbutnoybutyes about an approach Scaramouch received by the agency representing Anheuser-Busch (the Budweiser people).

To cut a long story short, they made a lame movie that they wanted to take viral. They "scoured" 1500 blogs on the net (although Technorati currently track 73 million blogs so how much scouring they did is a bit of a mystery!) and decided to select yesbutnobutyes as one of the lucky few.

The agency needed only 150 people to get the ball rolling. Viral? eh? Surely the whole objective behind viral is to put something out there and let it grow freely. If you have scoured 1500 blogs, why not send something to all of them? Why should there be a limit to how many people get seeded? Does that mean they have a limit on how many people they want to see the movie too?!

What REALLY takes the piss though is that the agency weren’t happy to let the blogger run whatever type of post he wanted (embedded movie, screenshot, text posting or any other) they insisted that it was a banner ad. A bloody banner ad and run it for 2 months!

Do they have ANY idea what they are doing? Don’t answer that!

On this particular site, a skyscraper for the period would cost $1600 for two months - yet all the agency were offering was a $50 Amazon e-voucher. How pathetic.

I am starting to get angry now! (Just like Mr. Balmer above!!)

How DARE people who CLEARLY don’t understand the changing online environment make such derogatory offers. If they understood blogging - they wouldn’t make these types of approaches. when will they learn?

Tags: Blogging, Amazon, agency, web2.0, blogs

I noticed today that I could add a Search History feature to my Google tool bar (assuming I had the tool bar installed and was using the page-rank feature) and was quite surprised by what I saw.

More often than not the history feature of my browser is used when I have forgotten to bookmark something or remembered something later in the day. To add Gmail style total searchability to my browser history is a fantastic feature and one which (when it needs to be used) I could realistically use more and more as a search tool for things I am interested in…but therein lies the problem - well for Google anyway.

Unless I am using Google Reader, I tend to visit mostly the same sites time and again - never really venturing far from the beaten path - that is what I have my delicious bookmarks for. Is this typical behaviour for a regular, experienced web user?

If so - Google, where are the ads in History? Even if it isn’t typical behaviour, Google - where are the ads?

In placing its PPC ads on conventional search, as we all know, Google tries to match search terms with the most relevant sponsored ad. If a PPC ad is especially relevant it is clicked on - obvious. But Google is still having to second guess the motivations and level of interest in the search term.

With history, you have a proven level of interest.

Take the examples in my image (above). I have searched for my blog (http://blendingthemix.com by the way!!), web analytics (several times) as well as a web design company. In a short space of time, I have proven a (repeated) interest in analytics, web design and blogging. There’s no mistaking that I am interested in those terms. So why are there no ads served? Is it because it is a first report? No. Is it because it is in Beta? No.

Google History is an Ad Serving system with one MEGA benefit - proof of search.

If Google History latches onto the fact that each recorded activity (or frequently recorded activity) IS PROOF of a heightened level of interest in a topic then they have opened up an absolute goldmine.

Tags: google, google history, googlehistory, blendingthemix, PPC

Further to my post about most members of the public simply not getting blogging Steve Hodson seems to have a good take on it too, although Robert Scoble seems to think something bigger is at play…something we all possess but which seems to find a perfect outlet in our writing.

Just what IS Google playing at.

With over 10 years to catch up on Paypal and Worldpay, does Google think that it can dominate payment systems too?

OR like with its office suites of products, is it just ensuring it has a presence in the field to build its experience?

Search domination is one thing, but in the other fields such as word processing (google docs), shopping search (froogle), email (Gmail - although to a lesser extent), news and images - they are way behind everyone else. Do they honestly believe they have the capability to catch-up, match, then beat microsoft, kelkoo, yahoo, bbc and flickr anytime soon or is there a matter of pride at stake here?

Why are they doing it?

It is crucial for Google to have a presence in other markets or else its virtual monopoly is wasted. And this is the crucial point by UK Consumer Marketing Chief, Obi Felton:

"The starting point is our core products,"

By offering a payments service too, Google is the conduit for the shop search, product search and now the payment.

With 75% dominance of UK search that is an awful lot of shops and products people are searching for - and it makes perfect sense. You wouldn’t take your car to a drive-through car wash and have to drive elsewhere to the next stage would you?

Interesting too is that user’s trust in Google is such that almost 60% of users who didn’t find what they wanted first time round in tests, thought they had typed the search query incorrectly.

So, all in all, it is quite a move for Google…using its trustworthy name to enter a new market rather than trading-off its technological expertise and capabilities. My only question is this:

What happens to Google’s reputation when fraudsters attack it as much as Paypal is attacked now? Is their search reliability and credibility likely to be affected too?

Tags: paypal, google, googlecheckout, gmail, flickr, google checkout, internet, yahoo

Vic Keegan of the guardian reports that for all its pomp and fuss, blogging just isn’t breaking into the mainstream as expected (or as much as facebook or myspace have for example).

I’d written about this a while ago arriving at the conclusion that this was because the growth of the blogoshpere was being powered by the technologists behind and associated with the tech industries themselves.

One such case in question is techmeme. Look at the sister sites section…I’ve seen more content in a blank email. Where is comedy meme, car meme, soccer meme? At least digg has got the right idea - opening up channels to non-tech topics.

The very people pushing the growth of the blogosphere are the people who have designed and contributed to its conception, with several notable "non-tech" leaders carving out a niches for themselves (Steve Rubel springs to mind).

I strongly believe that the reason the blogosphere’s growth is slowing is more to do with the perception that it is run by techies FOR techies.

As a newbie, what do you choose…feedburner, newsgator, google reader? With posts, do you sphere it, delicious it, add to technorati favourites (what’s technorati most will ask?), stumble it, digg it…how about "fuck it" I can’t be bothered.

Yes, the barriers to entry are short and sweet, but isn’t it about time, it all stopped getting so damn confusing.

Tags: blogging, digg, guardian, internet, micropersuasion, rss, technorati