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Google Releases Top 2008 Search Results - "Fastest Rising"
2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist - the spirit of the times. After a year of a primaries, debates, Summer Games in Beijing, conventions, hurricane Ike, recession, presidential election, and bailouts, Google shows us what was on the minds of Americans in their searches.
Some the searches that I found myself looking up this year that made the list were jeremiah wright, sarah palin, hockey mom, joe the plumber, william ayers and lipstick pig. As you might be able to tell, I'm a political junkie.
Google defines "Fastest rising" as the most popular searches conducted for the first 11 months of 2008 and ranked them based on how much their frequency increased compared to 2007.
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Global Results Fastest Rising
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Google.com (US) Fastest Rising
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Google News (US) Fastest Rising
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Google Image Search (US) Fastest Rising
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Google Book Search (US) Fastest Rising
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Top Sources for Political News
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Campaign Buzzwords
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Our First Christmas Tree in Our New Office
Check out our Christmas Tree below. We have been in our office eleven months now and love it. Over the past year we have had several clients stop by and visit us. Some as close as Houston and others from Northern California.
That was fast to get indexed on "gn 63 nfl patch"
I posted a blog about searching for what the GN 63 meant on all of the NFL jerseys today at half-time of the Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns. After the game I find my blog article already indexed with Google and it ranks #7 for gn 63 nfl patch.
See below where my blog article already ranks #7 in the SERP below. That's fast to get indexed. I hadn't even pinged the search engines of the new article yet.
Anyway, thought it was cool to see it indexed so fast. Don't see that too often. Back to helping my 12 year old study for his Social Studies test on Tuesday.
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How-to For Naming Your Blog
How to name your blog?!? Elliot Back looked at the names of 33,800 blogs to see what are the top 10 most frequently used words. His blog article has a lot of rather interesting details from his informal analysis.
Naming your blog is easy, but can be difficult if your wanting it to be found. Why is this? Well one common problem bloggers have while they are writing their blog is that they assume the potential visitor has already found their blog article, so they wright all about the blog, but they don't explain the blog using keywords that the potential visitor would type in to find the blog in the search engines.
If you are having problems trying to determine which keywords you should use, you can use several free tools like Goggles Suggest and Overtures Keyword Inventory or use a commercial program like Trellian's Keyword Discovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com) which is priced reasonable. These tools can help you pick keywords for your blogs that are gems instead of playing the guessing game.
Blogs are a strong tool for social media and company's trying to promote new products, special offerings, success stories and more if they are updated frequently and named correctly. This is why it is so important on learning How to Name Your Blog.
If you're wanting people to find your blog and you're blogging about a specific topic - say, tattoos - then make sure you put the word "tattoo" in the name of your blog. This may seem obvious but sometimes we forgot.
If you used a name like "Betty Sue's Art for the Skin," you have a blog name that is interesting but people wouldn't find you if they were searching for blogs on tattoos. So give your blog name some thought, especially if you're wanting your blog to bring you more business opportunities. Think like someone searching for what you're offering, not someone who's already found you.
So check out Elliott's article - you might get some ideas.
Paris Hilton Stars in Anti Drunk Driving Ad in Seventeen Magazine
Socialite also wonders when she will reach her sexual peak.
The consummate party girl has seen the light (make that police lights) and now she wants to warn others of the dangers of drinking and driving. Paris Hilton is featured in a full page public service announcement in Seventeen Magazine telling readers, “All it takes is one drink to mess with the way you drive - it clouds your judgment and slows your reflexes. Don't take any chances. It just isn't worth it.”
Those certainly are important words of advice though one can’t help but think they would carry more weight if Hilton actually embraced them. She didn’t set a model example after being arrested for a California DUI last September. She was stopped in Los Angeles for speeding and driving erratically in the early hours of the morning. In the ensuing days she made numerous attempts to trivialize the event.
Claiming she had had only one margarita at a charity event party, Hilton said later that, “I hadn't eaten all day. I was really hungry. I was driving fast because I needed a burger.”
Clouded judgement indeed.
In an interview with Seventeen Magazine the star of the television show ‘Simple Life’ went on to say that she has not reached her sexual peak. Hilton was quoted as saying, “I think you like sex when you're in your thirties. That's what someone told me. We'll see.” That will provide great insight for the teenage readers.
And since Hilton is 25 years old that means we’ll have plenty of future events and quotes to write about.
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TalkBMC Introductory Video Blog Test
Meet Ynema Mangum, host of TalkBMC, in the TalkingPortraits.com production studio. Now - PLEASE - note this is just a fun test. There are not 1000 TalkBMC podcast shows and there is no such thing as April 32, 2006 - (wink wink ...) -- so with that, enjoy the test.
This was produced in the TalkingPortraits.com studio, then pushed over to Audioblog.com, which provides a very nice video podcasting publishing service. From there I was able to remotely publish directly to the Plone SimpleBlog via the Blog API written by Quintagroup. Looks like you can remove the 'Audioblog.com' text in the video player if you pay the corporate rate - and rebrand it with your own name. Nice feature.
Tom
Interview with Nick Carr on Enterprise Leadership
If you're into Enterprise IT trends and issues, then check out my interview with Nick Carr over at Enterprise Leadership.
Nick created quite a stir in the IT industry with his book Does IT Matter? I've done 30+ interviews with CIOs over the last nine months, and his name and book come up practically every interview some way or another. So we figured it was time to have a one-on-one conversation with him.
I really enjoyed the conversation and the range of topics we covered. He's very different over the phone than I imagined from reading his blog - Rough Type.
There are a number of links to his previous articles and books in the show notes of the podcast.
Let me know what you think.
Tom
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The RSS Blog - RSS News and Trends - Worth your Time
Looking for a single place to visit (or pull an RSS feed) that gives you the straight stuff on RSS news and trends? Here's one that's been around that I just found - special thanks to Marjolein Hoekstra for this find.
The RSS Blog by Randy Charles Morin blogs about RSS, OPML and the XML platform. It's now a daily read for me.
Tom
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My Car Hugs a Rug
Who would have thought? In Austin recently we had a 100-degree (F) day - hottest ever on record for that date in April. Two days earlier I'd had the driveway treated to help preserve the asphalt. The stuff they put on it is sticky, and the heat didn't help matters.
Problem is, when I finally drove my car into the garage after three days with it sitting on the street, the tires stuck to the green outdoor carpet on the garage floor. I felt a tug. I backed up and then felt the car just stop. What a mess! Had to laugh at myself on this one. What else could I do? Took me two hours to cut the carpet out.
Tom
Life is a Conversation
Life is a conversation
with what
is happening.
In that conversation
we create
how we are
going to be.
KBB
As said in the Cluetrain Manifesto, the new marketing perspective is all about 'markets of conversation.' Are you a consumer being fed by mass marketing, or are you a person wanting to have a conversation with entities that market your products and services? How do you want your relationships to be with your clients and customers?
Tom
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Blog Growth Still Heating Up
Every quarter David Sifry from Technorati updates his metrics on the growth of blogs. Here's the bottom line:
The blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago.
New blog creation continues to grow. Technorati currently tracks over 75,000 new weblogs created every day, which means that on average, a new weblog is created every second of every day - and 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created. That's an increase both in absolute and relative terms over just 3 months ago, when only 50.5% or 13.7 million blogs were active. In other words, even though there's a reasonable amount of tire-kicking going on, blogging continues to grow as a habitual activity.
In addition to that, about 3.9 million bloggers update their blogs at least weekly. Here's a chart of the number of new blogs created each day, from January 2004 to April 2006:
My sense is that blogging is going to continue heating up for the next year at least and probably for some time to come. We're just now seeing blogs from professionals who are not part of the computer industry. This will continue to evolve with more businesses and more professionals. And just think about MySpace.com with hundreds of thousands of young adults learning how to blog. Did you know that MySpace.com is the third most trafficked site on the Internet? It's a city of bloggers learning how to use technology to communicate in a social computing environment.
I speak with people about blogging every week. I'm starting to encounter more people who have heard of blogs and I'm spending less time explaining the benefits of using a blog in one's business. My information isn't as exact as Sifry's, but I know what I'm seeing and it's that blogs are coming into the mainstream.
If you're thinking of joining the throngs, check out this article: 10 Best Designed Blogs. Scroll down to see the author's useful insights on what to consider as you create a blog for your business.
Tom
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Curious How the Various Internet Maps Compare?
One of my 'must reads' each day is TechCrunch.com. I listen to this blog's author, Michael Arrington, when he appears on the Gillmor Gang. If you're curious about keeping up with all the new Internet business ideas that are getting some airplay in Silicon Valley then you'll want to stay in tune with Arrington's blog.
Here is a snippet from an article on "Comparing the Mapping Services":
... As popular as Google is, it is not the most well trafficked map service. It is virtually tied with Yahoo Maps (and the new Yahoo Maps beta product which we reviewed here). ComScore says that Google Maps had 19.1 million unique visitors in March, whereas Yahoo had 20 million. Both were dwarfed by Mapquest, with a whopping 46.4 million unique visitors in March, more than Yahoo and Google combined.
In addition to Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and Mapquest, two others, Ask Maps and Microsoft Windows Live Local, also have compelling offerings.
We looked at all five of the current map services and examined their features and performance.
See the article for a feature-by-feature comparison chart.
Tom
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CIO of British Telecom Tells IT All
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Sinclair Stockman, CIO
of a global telecommunications company - BT UK (British Telecom). See
http://www.enterpriseleadership.org/listen/podcast-stockman.
I was quite impressed with the scope of Stockman's knowledge, the way he imbues his staff with a 'can do-will do' attitude, and his vision for what's around the corner in global communications.
Just thought you might enjoy hearing him talk. I sure did.
Tom
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Psychiatrist's New Podcast: Shrinkpod.com
I have the pleasure and honor to announce the release of a new Podcast show created under my coaching for Dr. Michael Blumenfield, Professor of Psychiatry at New York Medical College. You can find it at www.shrinkpod.com.
In his first podcast, Dr. Blumenfield interviews Dr. Susan Kemker, an expert on the psychiatric aspects of pregnancy. Dr. Kemker discusses depression and bipolar depression during pregnancy as well as potential problems of the use of antidepressants and mood stabilizers taken during pregnancy.
Tune into the show, subscribe to the RSS feed and enjoy.
Tom
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Makeover at The New York Times
Isn't this interesting! The New York Times is
changing their website to make it better reflect the needs of
contemporary readers and look less like their traditional
newspaper.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/03/new-york-times-redesign/
The New York Times launched a redesigned website a few minutes ago. Many of the changes are subtle, but they've added a few new features which I really appreciate. First, they now have a dedicated area of the site to show video clips. And more importantly, they have a "most popular" area that includes most emailed, most blogged, and most searched articles. I like the direction The Times is going - and I also note that they are now experimenting with linking to blog posts directly from articles.
Some of the changes and new features you'll see are a refreshed look, streamlined navigation, expanded use of video and other multimedia, and better ways to see what other readers are looking at, searching for and talking about.
How long before they display blog content directly within NYTimes.com, perhaps via blogburst?
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Food for thought if you believe adding lots of content is important to a website. It is important from a search engine perspective, but remember, sites are intended for human readers. It's easy to overwhelm someone with too many choices and too many paths.
Providing this kind of summary information (most popular, most emailed, most blogged, and most searched articles) is a good next step for those of us with a lot of material on our websites. Let's consider that our responsibility to the readers goes beyond just piling more subject matter into the site, whether it comes from contributors, visitors or ourselves. We need to help each reader figure out where to insert themselves into the volume of text that is blossoming so rapidly at sites with blogs and user-generated content.
Tom
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Deb Radcliff and Computer Security
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SXSW - Beyond Taxonomies - Is this like Pigeon English?
First session of the day - Beyond Taxonomies. This panel has a blog at http://www.beyondfolksonomies.com/wordpress
One of the motivations for this panel is to encourage people is to
participate in using and creating folksonomies for content at websites you visit.
Pretty heated discuss right out of the gate on what exactly does the word 'folksonomies' mean? How useful are these things like del.icio.us tags, technorati tags and tag clouds - really to people? Good question. But are rigid structures really all that helpful too?
How do we move beyond this issue of everyone tags that are related but named differently -- a big problem with free for all tagging mechanisms.
A new tool to explore is at www.attentiontrust.org - it can optionally monitor and record where you spend your time on the web and stores it into an OPML file. I've been meaning to check this out after hearing so much about this effort from the Gillmor Gang podcasts. (make mental note to test).
Great session with a lot of user participation.
SXSW audio made a fatal error. They had the speakers use a headset. It worked great for the guys but the women didn't wear them. The used a headset for the audience to ask questions and all you could hear was a thunder of popping Ps. Cheap PC heads don't make good microphones for this kind of panel sessions use. I hope they didn't this in all the sessions.
Tom
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WMFAWC - The what my friends are watching Channel
This perspective from Bradley Horowitz's blog has my attention. If you've been wondering exactly what the media world will be like soon, read on. It's not about ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox telling you what to watch. It's about you participating in the creation of content in various ways and sharing with others who have your same interests in what you read and watch across all media channels (radio, TV, satellite, the Internet and so forth).
Here is a snippet from
Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers
by Bradley Horowitz
I spoke a lot more about this in the Wired article. In the new paradigm of "programming" where there are a million things on at any instant, we're going to need some new and different models of directing our attention. In the transition from atoms-to-bits, scarcity-to-plenty, etc., instead of some cigar-puffing fat-cat at a studio or label "stoking the star-maker machinery behind the popular songs," we're going to have the ability to create dynamic affinity-based "channels." Instead of NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO, etc., which control scarce distribution across a throttled pipe … we're going to have WMFAWC, WMNAWC, TNYJLC and a whole lot more. (The what my friends are watching channel, The what my neighbors are watching channel, The New York Jewish Lesbian Channel, etc.) I expect we'll also have QTC (the Quentin Tarantino channel) but this won't be media he made (necessarily) but rather media he recommends or has watched / is watching. Everyone becomes a programmer without even trying, and that programming can be socialized, shared, distributed, etc.
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He makes some statements worth keeping in mind, but more to the point is his
WIRED article, The Super Network: Why Yahoo!
will be the center of the million-channel universe.
Who's to know if Yahoo will do this or, in truth, if all the powerhouses of the Internet will do this. Doesn't really matter with newer Web 2.0 mix-and-match Internet technology. And that's partly his point. You can pull together your mix of information and media channels and share it with like-minded people who trust your judgment. Yahoo does seem on a roll for now, as Bradley points out so well in his blog article.
What does this mean for your business website? Well, if all you have is static marketing information, you might start by seriously looking at a new architecture that supports RSS feeds and creating one or more business blogs.
Depending on the size of your business, developing a community around your business services and products is a good next step. Just do it in a way that doesn't lock people into you. Allow people to come and go and contribute or not without giving up their first-born child via 20 fields in a sign-up form. Focus more on creating compelling reasons for them to be reliant on the information flow from your business. Partner with others, contribute to the community, think less on total domination and more on the value of your presence and the legacy you are leaving.
Tom
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Megite - Next Generation Aggregator (or Memetracker)
Earlier this week I published a podcast interview with Matt Chen, founder of Megite. You'll find some good background on Matt and his vision in the podcast.
Megite is the newspaper for anyone interested in what's happening right now. It intelligently uncovers the most relevant items from auto-discovered news sites and weblogs. In some ways, it's like tech.memeorandum.com, but one difference is that Megite includes more areas beyond technology. That's a welcome relief.
Most intriquing is that Megite invites you to send your OPML file, and they create a personalized version for you (though to only a limited number of testers, due to server capacity at the moment). They respect and protect the privacy of their users.
To help you see how this might work, check out these demos created by utilizing OPML files on fairly popular bloggers ... well, heck, except for me, but it's my blog so I added it to the list:
4WebResults
Doc
Searls
Robert
Scoble
Zoli's
Blog
Newsome.org
Read/WriteWeb
Danny's
Raw
LaoBai's
Blog(Chinese)
Playin' with IT
(Chinese)
I'm getting some ideas about how to apply this concept to a B2B environment. Let's say you have a community site that focuses entirely on database administrators. Seems like you could create an OPML file of all news and blog feeds related to this 'area' of technology and make that available on your site to keep the community better informed with less effort.
Matt talks about his next phase of Megite that includes a personalization area where you could make online changes to your OPML file, and, I suppose, some manner of tinkering and filtering of the feeds to fine-tune the engine for your purpose/s.
On the one hand, I like reading blog and news feeds on a by-feed-name basis, the way I do in Bloglines, for example. Feels comfortable and linear, but I am finding it compelling to read feeds grouped by topic so I can see what the people I view as trusted authorities (from my perspective) have to say on a topic because they are in my OPML list of feeds.
This is all so new, I'm not sure I really fathom all the details here. I am enjoying see the evolution, though, of this technology.
Tom
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Stickam: Free Multimedia Player
Stickam adds multimedia content to your Web site
by Peter Cohen
Advanced Video Communications on Monday announced the release of Stickam, a free multimedia player that can easily be embedded in a Web site.
Stickam can be used to add video conferencing, streaming video, video blogging photos, music and more to a Web site. Stickam is activated by creating an account on the Stickam Web site then activating the code by copying it into your Web site using either JavaScript or HTML code. The Stickam player works on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.
Users are given a free account with 500MB of storage capacity — files can be up to 100MB for videos or 5MB for images. Stickam doesn't charge for bandwidth, either.
Stickam requires Macromedia Flash Player 7. It has been tested with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.
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This is one of those too-good-to-be-true, new, free web services -- but hey, maybe they will create income from ads ... we'll find out.
One thing for sure, if they are successful, they'll be sending a message to a number of Internet-based, service media delivery services that charge handsome monthly fees for doing the same thing.
Times change, guys ...
Tom
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