Written on July 9, 2009 by admin
Filed Under: marketing
Remember when Twitter first launched its sidebar ads? Only, Twitter told us all that they weren’t actually ads? Then, guess what, they magically started turning into real ads.
OK, so explain this mysterious “public service tweet” that’s started showing up on Twitter:
Actually, Biz Stone has explained it and he says it’s not an ad, just a way to help users upgrade to a browser that supposedly will ensure a “better Web experience on Twitter.”
Really? OK, I’ll buy that these are nothing more than a PSA, but I’ll also give it 6 months before ads start showing up in the exact same place–maybe even linked to the #hashtags you’ve clicked on. Oh wait, you didn’t realize that Twitter made #hashtags clickable, so it could track your interests? 
These types of ads work well on many free apps that Twitter users download to their desktops and, just like Google tests new ads placements before deciding if they should be fully released, I believe Twitter is testing the engagement levels of these ads messages.
See the original post here:
New Twitter “Ads” Appear? My Conspiracy Theory
Written on July 9, 2009 by admin
Filed Under: Advertising, marketing
Just last week the earliest of the early reports claimed that Bing had made some impact in the search engine arms race. Those numbers were met with a fair amount of skepticism due to the timing etc. Now Mashable reports that Compete.com has released US traffic stats that shows Bing is making some progress in more than just search.
So after a month, where are we? We knew that Bing was growing, but the numbers being released tonight tell a tale of success, as Bing is now the 13th most visited site on the web.
It doesn’t matter who you are or how down on Microsoft you can get that is not a bad start. Sure, much of the early success can be attributed to the $100 million in advertising etc but that’s why companies do those kinds of things, right? Microsoft must feel at least a little joy from seeing this kind of reaction out of the gate. After all, there were more than a handful of folks who felt that the whole Bing thing would be a ginormous fail but that appears to be just some of the usual Microsoft ‘nay saying’ at this point in time.
So early on, and with the obvious benefit of a ton of Bing buzz, Bing had more US visitors in June than Digg, Twitter and CNN. We all need to take a deep breath though before we anoint Bing a true success.
Where will the search decision engine be in the 4th quarter as the online holiday shopping season progresses (or doesn’t since this year already looks like it might be a dud)? Will the professed strengths of Bing really make an impact thus influencing search behavior which then turns into market share gain against Google and Yahoo? Those are the better questions but for now we’ll let Microsoft have a restrained celebration for this good start.
See the rest here:
Bing’s Got Some Zing
