en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/299733 Comments by mcfcforever http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/84589254#IDComment16618844 Having now done the Google challenge for the past few weeks I wonder whether their business is really sustainable for the long run. Who want's to put that much effort into managing an ad campaign, spending money on having a poorly placed ad, having no idea in many cases where a content focused ad was actually placed. I for one am glad when Google foul up as it encourages others to do better and puts off potential customers. What we need here is competition Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:57:51 +0000 http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/84589254#IDComment16618844 http://tobycole.tumblr.com/post/84854113#IDComment16618348 A broadcaster without content is dead in the water. Its interesting to see the differences between BBC and ITV in the UK - as funding declines for the ad revenue financed ITV they have few options other than to reduce content quality and quantity - next step further audience erosion and further ad revenue erosion. The better funded BBC continues to make quality content and has less financial pressure to cut back on this/ Digiatal convergance and social networking do seem to be the current driving forces in media but in the long term as internet usage becomes increasingly ubiquitous users will demand decent content otherwise we're all going to be left being entertained and informed by Twitter or Facebook. Given time content will return as king - but hopefully not the banal kind that ITV serves up. Worst football coverage ever and an obsession with light entertainment and really poor drama. Perhaps light entertainment is thus called because its light on entertainment. Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:47:02 +0000 http://tobycole.tumblr.com/post/84854113#IDComment16618348 http://emclbs.blogspot.com/2009/03/google-pushing-it-too-far.html#IDComment16618113 I think there is a major long term issue with this business model for both Google and original news content providers. We know (alas) that all contents free on the web - so ideas of asking people to pay is a nonsense. However if Google remove the source of funding of news publishers by reporoducing their copy and serving their own ads then this severely reduces the incentive for news creators. Some may see this as no problem at all but the reason the internet is as healthy as it is today in terms of content is because paid journalists research and analyse situations and provide thoughtful independent write-ups thereof. No disrespect to all the independent content producers out their on their blogs and twitters but you all need this well resourced journalism as a starting point to the great debates you fuel So i'm not convinced this is the efficient working of a free market - more like daylight robbery! Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:33:43 +0000 http://emclbs.blogspot.com/2009/03/google-pushing-it-too-far.html#IDComment16618113 http://sloanfellow.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-bubble-waiting-to-burst.html#IDComment16617901 I agree with Mr Wheeler - you have to have a bubble for a bubble to burst and I just don't see a swelling in market capital anywhere right now. If I were a betting man - I'd be less pessimistic than John - trouble is which horse to back. Perhaps I'll take another look at the form guide for Cheltenham - going will be soft but not as soft as the market for companies that depend on online advertising for a living. Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:22:14 +0000 http://sloanfellow.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-bubble-waiting-to-burst.html#IDComment16617901 http://lee218.blogspot.com/2009/03/korea-is-naverland.html#IDComment16185685 Baidu in China arrived after Google (it was a terrific investment for the VC wing of our group returning a 1000% ROI) and I think it wins because it properly understands both formal and informal useage of Chinese character input. I'm not sure an algorithm based primarily on linkages needs to adjust to local culture but it certainly does need to have some basic understanding of what input search terms actually mean. Wed, 4 Mar 2009 22:31:31 +0000 http://lee218.blogspot.com/2009/03/korea-is-naverland.html#IDComment16185685 http://utkuazman.tumblr.com/post/82559599#IDComment16018029 I disagree I think we will see some novel advertising models and platform s going mobile. Its inevitable! We're all going mobile the adoption rate of all kinds of handheld digital devices is phenomenal - statistics will soon show that every person on the planet owns 3 or more. I think the kind of adverts will be very different - much more action oriented, less display and highly personalized based on phone usage and location. Mobile ads might also increase further the rate of mobile take up with advertising revenue potentially driving down the cost of connection and device to the user Sun, 1 Mar 2009 22:05:56 +0000 http://utkuazman.tumblr.com/post/82559599#IDComment16018029 http://venkatesh.tumblr.com/post/82579639#IDComment16017409 I think theres some real processing power behind crowd sourcing for more than just media - although a neat idea by CNN there. Pictures are great but I find too much in the way of public opinions during news features are actually distracting. It seems easy enough to post up a problem or challenge you face on a big enough community site - maybe Tweeter it - and given a big enough audience the probability of picking up a solution, tips, insight or some sense of general balance of opinion is high. The real question is how efficient is crowd sourcing someone has to sift through responses/contributions and make selections or combine and compile. It would be interesting to draw up a short list of the required conditions to make crowdsourcing effective Sun, 1 Mar 2009 21:52:31 +0000 http://venkatesh.tumblr.com/post/82579639#IDComment16017409 http://nycfoods.blogspot.com/2009/02/visualizing-data.html#IDComment15679008 When data is presented as a complex 3d shape its sometimes difficult to interpret what its telling the user. I agree with visualizations as being helpful but as they become increasingly complex there needs to be more guidance to the user on how to interpret what they're seeing - otherwise to many these visualizations might as well be brightly coloured interesting rock formations! Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:45:30 +0000 http://nycfoods.blogspot.com/2009/02/visualizing-data.html#IDComment15679008 http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/80516521#IDComment15678928 Interesting dilemma in that Google hold out that they are better than just measuring clicks but are supporting customers by detection of invalid clicks whilst advertiser's site web analytics are prone to estimation error. Can't site logs owned by the advertiser clearly show how many users came to the landing page from a Google Ad click. Then Google's billing should show a number less than or equal to this, More helpfully they could provide more information on their bill about invalid clicks. Given the complex way in which Google Ads works a better customer interface to build trust and transparency would appear to add value to their current model, as it reinforces the idea that people are getting what they pay for. As content providers find more effective ways to compete against Googles paid search model - Google may need to be more communicative with its customers about how it does things. Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:40:56 +0000 http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/80516521#IDComment15678928 http://johnwheeler.tumblr.com/post/80453836#IDComment15678392 Shall we take bets on whether this will be a commercially viable product or just a high tech entertainment gimmick. Its about time the joystick came back as a proper user computer interface!! Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:08:29 +0000 http://johnwheeler.tumblr.com/post/80453836#IDComment15678392 http://cwandell.tumblr.com/post/74822656#IDComment15678086 To me its just yet more internet noise - its only really appealing to people who have vast amounts of time and need to know everything first. No proper analysis just something (important or entirely banal) has happened and perhaps a reaction. To me its better to follow a few interesting blogs (I could recommend some but that s just self-promotion) and a few trusted news services if you want to be well informed. What's the real value of finding out about a disaster first - you can't undo it - or do tweeters feel the need to express themselves earlier and more frequently than the rest of the human race. I wouldn't invest!! Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:52:15 +0000 http://cwandell.tumblr.com/post/74822656#IDComment15678086 http://andysloanlbs.blogspot.com/2009/02/internet-makes-one-p-of-marketing.html#IDComment15677960 The fact that online retail is becoming more popular is sure to shift the P but not elimnate it from the marketing mix. In fact I think the distribution part of the internet shopping experience is becoming an increasingly important part of the competitive mix - who can get the products to you fastest and at the lowest shipping cost. I agree with the other commenters - an offline shopping experience has features that online shopping experiences can't replicate. Online shopping to me still requires some greater sense of pre-shopping decision to be made with the internet then used to fine tune the actual final buying decision. I wouldn't go onlne just to browse for books, DVDs or music that I might like I'd go to buy specific items that I already had pretty complete knowledge about. I think a lot of shoppers shopping off-line have very limited pre-thought about what they're going to buy and therefore impulse and experimentation are stronger elements of the shpopping experience. Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:45:10 +0000 http://andysloanlbs.blogspot.com/2009/02/internet-makes-one-p-of-marketing.html#IDComment15677960 http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/78475107#IDComment15273104 I am also a BA/Amex user (never ever forget to settle the bill in full - they will come for one of your limbs) and would be interested if you can post the outcome of their investigations into the missing miles. I have never received credit for shopping with the card other than through the regular Amex scheme. As far as I know this is a very haphazardly administered scheme but fortunately it cuts both ways. Frequently on the actual BA miles earned from actually flying with BA, you can get credited more than once, get refunded more miles than you were due. If you fly reasonably frequently you can supplement your BA miles earned on your Amex with an On Business account. You get corporate air miles on top of personal ones. There are 5 of us on our On Business account and we normally rack up enough emails every yeasr for 2 transatlantic and 1 Asia Pac trip in Club World - not bad considering we racked up the same on our Amex scheme too and got two companion vouchers a year. Keep spending - we'll turn this economy around somehow!! Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:27:00 +0000 http://paulanderson.tumblr.com/post/78475107#IDComment15273104 http://venkatesh.tumblr.com/post/76946114#IDComment15272832 How do people see location baseed social networks working. I can see the advantage of having services promoted for businesses or organisations that suit a persons profile but beyond that? The idea of meeting up with "like-minded" or "common interest" individuals because they happen to be in the locality seems very odd to me. Often social networks are weak connection networks thriving on the relative anonymity of the members of the network and influenced heavily by some "power networkers". They're not dependent on locality or face to face meetings. I really question the value of knowing someones location - unless your involved in security or espionage!! Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:13:18 +0000 http://venkatesh.tumblr.com/post/76946114#IDComment15272832 http://andysloanlbs.blogspot.com/2009/02/retail-banking-and-internet.html#IDComment15272611 I haven't set foot in my bank in more than 5 years - I can control every transaction from home or business. The only downside is its Lloyds and anymore bad news from HBOS and it may sink into the banking mire - should we panic and start another run on a bank - always makes for good TV (or Twitter) Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:01:04 +0000 http://andysloanlbs.blogspot.com/2009/02/retail-banking-and-internet.html#IDComment15272611 http://michalbohanes.tumblr.com/post/78268861#IDComment15272550 Nothing lasts forever - we've seen technology giants come and go before. As Googles power/influence increases over search more tensions will appear with users (even though they're not charged) and content providers. Whilst Google has huge market share in Europe and the US, in other places such as China alternative search engines (Baidu) represent much stronger competitors. I think you do have to admire the way Google operates, they are watchful, they look at and act on emerging trends and reinvent and expand their offering frequently - that seems like reasonable defence tactics for a large incumbent. Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:56:45 +0000 http://michalbohanes.tumblr.com/post/78268861#IDComment15272550 http://convergencetrend.tumblr.com/post/78318566#IDComment15272376 I think many of the traditional functions of ad agencies are now being done elsewhere. As recession bites the advertising markets and the search for ROI on marketing intensifies lead generation is becoming big business. Strangely this growth area is one where ad-agencies seem unable or unwilling to supply the content/creative for and the publisher sites hosting webcast/partnerzone or whitepaper campaigns to generate the sales leads are providing this. Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:46:20 +0000 http://convergencetrend.tumblr.com/post/78318566#IDComment15272376 http://kahramon.tumblr.com/post/78360215#IDComment15272174 If everyone lived in poverty such would be the fight for survival -our basic human instinct - that numerous incentives would appear from numerous sources to numerous individuals to break out (collective farming, bartering & trade). Darwin's 200th birthday last week - evolution is driven by motivations to adapt, improve, survive, thrive.... A useful contribution to helping end poverty is for society to stop wasting money on Valtentine's DAyon overpriced cards, chocolates, flowers and restaurant meals - contribute the equivalent to sustainability projects in poorer countries and then do something useful and thoughtful for the people you love in oder to give them a more meaningful token of ones affection. That said, I'm not sure my wife and children really enjoyed the meal I burned for them! Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:34:00 +0000 http://kahramon.tumblr.com/post/78360215#IDComment15272174 http://bloggettaveneta.blogspot.com/2009/02/trying-on-clothes-online-as-good-as-in.html#IDComment15272003 I don't think the issue of physical optimism is restricted to female clothes shoppers - most men are similarly fallable believing themselve to be much closer in appearance to an Armani model than the guy who's allergic to the gym and prepares to work out in abar. I think some clothing retailers (my experience is only UK) - like Next - have reasonably cost effective ways of allowing returns of unsuitable clothing. With a large high street presence its easy to drop clothes back at a local store. This may seem like defeating the object of shopping online but the major advantage of trying the clothes on at ones leisure and in the comfort of ones own home, without the attention of an either fawning or insulting shop assistant remains. I for one dislike clothes shopping due to the strange and intimidating behaviour of clothes shop employees! Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:21:50 +0000 http://bloggettaveneta.blogspot.com/2009/02/trying-on-clothes-online-as-good-as-in.html#IDComment15272003 http://mcfcforever.tumblr.com/post/74888929#IDComment15270353 Just to add something on the comments regarding monopoly. Whilst agreeing its not an out and out monopoly the degree to which Google has signficant influence over the search market appears tome not to be dissimilar to the sort of monopolistic influence Microsoft ran into trouble with with Internet Explorer. In that case there were also other operating systems and other browsers available to consumers but Microsoft still fell foul of EU competition law - so why not Google too??? Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:24:27 +0000 http://mcfcforever.tumblr.com/post/74888929#IDComment15270353