Is the future of search engines going to be contextual search?

In other words, in the old days, if you wanted to do something—navigate to the restaurant where you’ve got a dinner reservation—you might open a web browser and search for its address. But in the post-search world of context—in which our… Continue Reading

Whenever your friends tell you viewership numbers for House of Cards or Orange is the New Black, uh, they’re lying to your face

This is a good lesson in the context I reference in the title of this blog: Netflix is all the rage in certain friend groups/socioeconomic sectors as “Oh, is (such-and-such) streaming?” But here’s the important thing to remember: Netflix is a subscriber-based… Continue Reading

The two “next big things” for tech are the mobile space and data. As such, is Facebook about to overtake Google?

You can certainly make a case that the Internet/tech world is shifting a bit. Mobile is “the next big thing,” and that space hurts Google — phrased simply, there’s less space for ads; phrased in a more complicated way, Google does know what… Continue Reading

I’ve unfriended people on Facebook. I’ve most assuredly been unfriended on there. Now here’s some research on why all this happens.

Ten years ago, no one knew what the concept of “un-friending” someone was, save for possibly not calling them or texting them back. Now it’s a fairly common part of the linguistic world in which we live, and it happens… Continue Reading

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Can you make money (revenue) off social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc? And if you can’t, will social someday become a fad?

Let’s start with a couple of basics: Facebook and Twitter, the two behemoths in the general social media space right now (I’d classify Instagram as Facebook, and I might include YouTube as the third behemoth), are now both public companies.… Continue Reading

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Can the Brand Arc, via ZOO and Google, help marketers better understand how to tell their story?

ZOO is an “agency for agencies,” or, said another way — it’s a custom solution for those trying to market/advertise across Google and YouTube. It’s run (essentially) by this guy Eric Solomon, who got a PhD in psychology (a good field… Continue Reading

Is Google going to have problems with search advertising as more people shift to mobile?

You’ve probably heard this by now, but if not: Google’s Q1 estimates were under the expectations, which doesn’t often happen with them. Income/profit was $3.45 billion (yes, a number that indicates you’re struggling) and revenue was $12.2 billion once you take out… Continue Reading

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“Remember that I’m doing you a favor:” The Maddie Yates YouTube suicide note

Maddie Yates, a high school student in Louisville, KY, posted a video to YouTube on Monday around 6pm. It was, essentially, a suicide note; she killed herself minutes later, apparently. In the “world of social media” (which makes me sound… Continue Reading