Quick thoughts on the Google/AOL Deal

By Charlene Li

I'm on my way out the door for a few weeks of vacation (and I don't plan to blog or check work email!) but wanted to share a few quick thoughts about the supposed Google/AOL search deal.

- The deal doesn't change the overall industry much, with the exception that AOL now has the sweet deal of selling into Google directly. It's pretty much continuation of the status quo and AOL went with the safe, proven incumbent.

- I had a chance to talk with Sergey Brin at the Google Holiday dinner on Tuesday and he (as well as other executives) were tight lipped about any negotiations (surprise surprise). As the WSJ pointed out, Google charged into the talks once they got wind that Microsoft was trying to woo AOL away. I'm not surprised that Google upped the stakes by making an investment in AOL -- what's amazing to me is they thought it was worth $1 billion. I think losing AOL wasn't so much a financial issue as it was one of ego -- there was no way Google was going to let Microsoft beat it at anything as high profile as a major partnership.

- It appears the MSFT/AOL deal fell apart because they were TOO similar and had too many conflicts that couldn't be worked out. As I noted in a previous post, the deal made a great deal of sense on paper but any cooperation on the content front would have been a nightmare. Google/AOL is much cleaner and synergistic, as Google is happy to direct traffic to AOL content.

- Speaking of content, it’s not clear what AOL is getting in terms of preferred placement on Google search results. This is extremely important, as it will be the first time Google gives any sort of preferential treatment to content because of a business development deal, or, even worse in this case, because of an investment in the company. It brings up tremendous conflict of interest issues – is that AOL Madonna video in the search results because it’s the most relevant result or because it’s part of the AOL deal?

- And don’t count MSFT out yet because they (apparently) lost this deal. adCenter has a lot going for it and will be the foundation for the new Windows Live and Office Live offerings. The AOL deal would have been a tremendous validation of the product, but in the end, its performance will speak for itself.

Happy holidays, and I’ll catch you in the new year.

Yahoo! buys del.icio.us, puts tagging on the map

By Charlene Li

Yahoo! announced that it will purchase del.icio.us (posts by Yahoo! and del.icio.us give the details).

For those of you in the know, del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service that allows its users to “tag” Web pages with short notes and save them on a centralized service. I’ve been using del.icio.us off and on for the past few months and just this morning set up a linkblog for this blog. Little did I know…

The acquisition by Yahoo! is significant for much the same reason why it bought other social computing darlings, Flickr and Konfabulator – Yahoo! is laying the groundwork for its users to add, personalize, and contribute their content and votes to the Web.

A very significant point is that del.icio.us will be working closely with Yahoo! Search. This is important because tagging will key to creating better search. Today, search relevance is determined by the number of links between pages – the more links you have to a page, the more relevant you are. Tagging is another way of doing this – you can see it in action today on start-up tagging engines like Wink and Raw Sugar. Tags on Web pages provide an additional level of relevancy to that page, and Yahoo! will be in a prime position to leverage it.

But tagging in of itself isn’t enough – it’s also the reputation of the taggers that’s important. And here is where the rest of Yahoo! formidable assets come to play – with 191 million registered users, social networking in the form of Y! 360, and personalized Web experiments with MyWeb, Yahoo! has the suite to actually pull off a really cool social and personalized search service.

The key: making del.icio.us and tagging accessible to users. It took me a while to “get” del.icio.us, (and the URL still isn’t easy for me to type!) The key problem is this is not an interface that my mother – or for that matter, most of my techie friends – understands. (Dave Taylor put together a good primer on “What’s so cool about del.icio.us?” that’s a good intro – check out the last question where Dave asks Jeremy Zawodny if Yahoo! will buy del.icio.us).

For this reason, I’m thrilled that Yahoo! purchased del.icio.us and hopefully, will integrate it into its other services quickly. I’m also optimistic about the impact that social bookmarking and tagging will have on the search industry…look for Microsoft and Google to launch their own variations soon as well. But Yahoo!, with its millions of registered users AND an enthusiastic del.icio.us community (check on the comments on the announcement – they are universally ecstatic), Yahoo! will be setting the pace in this area.

I’m also including a few thoughts from my colleague, Chloe Stromberg, who is an active del.icio.us user and resident social computing guru:

Other media companies are still mulling over their position with social media, meanwhile Yahoo has quickly and assertively snapped up another key player in the social computing space.  This means that 1) the ingredient technologies that make up social media (RSS, tagging, search, etc) will work more seamlessly together; and 2) that social computing is being taken to the masses by a company that knows UI, marketing, and has a trusted relationship with valuable consumers.

For marketers, Yahoo’s decisive acquisitions in the social marketing space mean that social marketing is destined to move out of the experimental stage and become a more stable part of the marketing mix.

Another interesting point here is about timing -- the speed of technology adoption.  Social marketing technologies have their roots in the birth of the Internet (we’ve mentioned Firefly, PointCast, etc).  It may be that after *10 years*, consumers are actually catching on, and really getting some of the principles of what the Internet can do that other communication forms can’t.  This is like 3rd wave social computing, personalization, customization -- and Yahoo has been involved all along.  It’s just, finally, this time, it may be ready for prime time.

Syndicate conference discount

By Charlene Li

If you’re still on the fence about going to the Syndicate Conference next week, here’s a discount code to get you 30% off. I’ll be moderating a session on Corporate Blogging (more details below).

To receive your exclusive 30% discount, please enter priority code SPKDEC when you register at http://www.syndicateconference.com/live/38/register.

This offer/discount is valid for new registrations only and must be redeemed/noted at time of initial registration. No refunds or credits will be issued for a discount after the initial registration. This offer cannot be duplicated, redeemed for cash, or used in conjunction with any other offer.

I’m also particularly interested in a panel on Wednesday morning, “Compound Feeds, Micro-content, and the Future of Syndication”, which will be moderated by the always-engaging Marc Cantor and feature panelists from Technorati, Six Apart, and Pub Sub.

Corporate Blogging

12/14/2005, 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Moderator:

Charlene Li, Principal Analyst, Devices, Media, and Marketing, Forrester Research, Inc.

Speakers:

Greg Reinacker, CTO & Founder, NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

Jeremy Zawodny, Technology Development Group, Yahoo! Inc.

Jodi Baumann, Senior Manager, Corporate Public Relations, Network Appliance.

David Geller, President & CEO, WhatCounts, Inc.

Blogging - it's fast, cheap and effective. Customers are coming to expect it. Marketing should love it, so why aren't more corporations doing it? Probably because senior management is uncertain and the legal department is scared. Even if you get permission, who should write the blog and what should they say? And should you really let anyone comment on your corporate blog? Learn how to get through these roadblocks and develop best practices from veteran corporate bloggers.

Yahoo! Answers life’s questions

By Charlene Li

Yahoo! Answers launched today at answers.yahoo.com. The service allows users to 1) ask questions; 2) answer them; and 3) discover and browse through all of the answered questions that others have posed.

Here are a few great examples of the helpful (and the esoteric) Q&A taking place.

-         What’s the best microphone or headset for recording a podcast?

-         Where is a good place to live in or near San Jose, CA?

-         Why doesn’t Hello Kitty have a mouth?

The service is free, and even more importantly, is really easy to use. Questions are grouped into categories, there’s a search to find more answers, and best of all, there’s a reputation/feedback system built in.

Compare this to Google Answers or specialty sites like Guru.com – both of these sites are paid services, which makes it a lot more cumbersome to use and also raises the stakes for both the asker and the answerer. By keeping it free, Yahoo! keeps it light but also pretty darn useful. Also, the universe expands tremendously with Yahoo’s service – Google says it has something like 500 pre-vetted answerers while Guru.com serves as an intro to freelancers.

How will Yahoo! benefit? Well, I don’t think they were leaving much money on the table by foregoing the ability to charge. In fact, there’s probably quite a bit more opportunity in the form of advertising, especially since advertisers could potentially buy ad inventory in specific categories or target ads by specific keywords.

Two other ways Yahoo! benefits: 1) It encourages users to become active, participating Yahoo! community members; and 2) it creates new content that can be indexed and searched by Yahoo! (as well as other search engines).

One key area to watch: local advice. This has the potential of causing a huge dent in start-ups like Insider’s Guide or Judy’s Book, primarily because it’s so easy to use and doesn’t require forming a formal social network. I fully expect Yahoo! to integrate Answers into Yahoo! Local in the near future.

Windows Live Local debuts – get ready for cool bird’s eye views

By Charlene Li

I just got out of a briefing with Erik Jorgensen, GM of Microsoft’s new Search & Mapping group. MSFT announced that it will launch Windows Live Local at local.live.com tomorrow (slated to go live at 9am PST). I’ve included a few screenshots  to MSFT provided, but you’ll be able to try it out soon enough.

A key and much anticipated feature will be the bird’s eye view, which is in addition to satellite (which MSFT calls Aerial) views and regular road maps. The screenshots I’ve included are for the Coit Tower in San Francisco – you can see that there’s a great deal more detail in the bird’s eye view. (Note: this feature will be available to only about 25% of the US population).

Why is that bird’s eye view important? Here’s one example – I recently had to find an apartment building in a large complex – the street address only took me to the corner of the complex. Satellite maps from Google didn’t provide enough resolution, and also showed me the tops of very similar-looking buidings.

I ended up driving around the 40+ apartment buildings looking for one specific place – with an irate kid in the back seat. The person I was visiting could have browsed to the bird’s eye view of her apartment, label it with a “pushpin” on the service, and then send it to me as a link via email.

There are a few other improvements over Virtual Earth (virtualearth.com will redirect to local.live.com). A key one is full integration of directions into the service. Right click on any location – even without typing in the address – and you’ll get direction to/from that place. Another interesting feature that’s not in the official press release is the ability to share mapping within MSN Messenger. When you invite someone into the service, you can both interact within the map and local search. Trying to find a good place for lunch? Do a search for “sushi”, agree on a place, and then use the bird’s eye view to agree on a specific meeting place.

How does this service compare to the Google and Yahoo! mapping and local services? Google has road and satellite imagery and Yahoo! has only road maps. Yahoo! has more user-generated content that aids decision making while Google has more robust Web spidering – Windows Live Local is still behind in those areas. But for certain circumstances, I can foresee myself switching over to this new service to utilize the bird’s eye view – it’s much more than nice-to-have eye candy. The question will be if people will stay and switch their mapping and local preferences over to Microsoft…I suspect that this new offering is a definite step in that direction.

Update: I pulled the press release as I didn't realize that it hadn't crossed the wire. When it does, I'll post it again.

Update: Here's the press release.

New Windows Live Local Service Delivers State-of-the-Art Advances for
Web-Based Mapping and Local Search

Service offers unique bird’s-eye exploration of U.S. cities with
one-of-a-kind tools.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 8, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today introduced a beta
version of Windows Live™ Local, an online local search and mapping service
that combines unique bird’s-eye imagery with advanced driving directions,
Yellow Pages and other local search tools. Powered by Virtual Earth™ mapping
and location platform, these features give users useful new ways to map and
find directions to various locations and better visualize their surroundings
from multiple aerial vantage points.

“We believe Windows Live Local sets a new standard for what people can do
with maps, directions and local search,” said Christopher Payne, corporate
vice president of MSN Search at Microsoft. “The combination of immersive
aerial imagery, customizable map annotations, innovative driving directions
and the ability to share local search information with others gives users an
incredibly powerful and easy way to find what they want and get where they
want to go.”

The new service, located at http://local.live.com, contains a range of new
capabilities that will be exciting to search and mapping users. The most
visible of these features is a new 45-degree bird’s-eye view of major U.S.
cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Las
Vegas. Covering about a quarter of the U.S., these bird’s-eye images are
captured by Pictometry International Corp. via low-flying airplanes and then
integrated with road and satellite maps to simulate 360-degree panoramas
that can be viewed from four compass directions. On-screen navigational
tools and preview tiles enable navigation between directional views or
zooming in closer to a destination. Now people will be able to experience
what it’s like to be there, whether they are evaluating a new house to buy,
choosing the exact location to meet someone, or just taking a virtual
vacation. Over the next couple of years, Microsoft plans to continuously
update bird’s-eye, aerial, and road map data and imagery as well as local
listings and information.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Getting There

The new Windows Live Local service also gives users some great new ways to
identify where they want to go and map the best route to get there. First,
users will be able to point to anyplace on the map that interests them and
immediately calculate directions to it. Now, even if the user doesn’t know
the address or name of a place — such as a park, shopping mall, parking
garage or other spot that is hard to identify by address or name — he or she
can simply point, click and get directions to that location. In addition,
the new service provides a range of new driving direction capabilities,
including step-by-step directions using bird’s-eye or satellite views,
identification of construction areas along a specific route, and several
innovative print options such as print-only directions, the addition of
notes to printed directions, and thumbnail pictures of each turn in the
route. An updated version of Location Finder is also available in Windows
Live Local to help people using a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, Tablet PC or desktop
PC to easily position their current location as a starting point to their
search experience. The degree of accuracy is often within a few hundred feet
of a user’s actual location.

Additional Ways to Share; More Bird’s-Eye Views Planned

Today’s launch also offers users the ability to customize their maps by
adding their own user-created Pushpins, which can be annotated with useful
information about a location such as which corner of an intersection to
meet, the baseball field and time “Johnny’s” game will start, or the camping
site selected for the annual summer trip. Pushpins can be used to create
itineraries for a set of activities and in all cases can be easily shared
with others through e-mail, Web logs, MSN® Spaces or instant messages sent
with MSN Messenger.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

Syndicate Conf. breakfast, Dec. 14th

I’ll be at the Syndicate Conference on Wed. December 14^th and would like to host a breakfast for anyone who’s interested. Also attending will be my colleague, Chloe Stromberg, who has been leading research on the use of RSS, especially in the travel and auto industries.

We’ll have space for 10 people, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Email that you’d like to attend and I’ll send you the breakfast details.

And I’ll be on-site at Syndicate for most of the day, moderating a panel on Corporate Blogging at 2:15pm. Hope to see you there!

Update: Thanks for everyone's interest, but the breakfast is full and I've got a pretty long waiting list. Hopefully I'll be able to do something a bit more inclusive at the next confab. If you're at Syndicate, I hope we'll have a chance to catch up on Wednesday.

Google roundtable at Siliconvalley.com

This week I'm participating in an online discussion forum about all things Google with an illustrous group of panelists. It should be an interesting week! Here's a list of the people participating:

- Stephen Arnold is a technology consultant and author of six books, among them "The Google Legacy: How Google's Internet Search is Transforming Application Software" and "The Enterprise Search Report."

- John Battelle is one of the co-founders of Wired magazine and the founder and former chairman of Standard Media International, publisher of The Industry Standard and TheStandard.com. He is a columnist for Business 2.0 and the author of "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture."

- Michael Bazeley is the Internet reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and co-author of its Silicon Beat Web log.

- Nicholas Carr is an acclaimed business writer and speaker whose work centers on strategy, innovation, and technology. His 2004 book "Does IT Matter?" set off a worldwide debate about the role of computers in business, as did his follow up essay "The End of Corporate Computing." He is a former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review.

- Cindy Cohn is the legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation as well as its general counsel.

- Doug Edwards was Director of Consumer Marketing and Brand Management for Google from 1999 to 2005. 

- Paul Ford is an associate editor of Harper's magazine and author of its Weekly Review. In July 2002, he wrote "August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web," an extraordinarily prescient discussion of Google and its future.

- Gautam Godhwani is CEO of Simply Hired, a vertical search engine company. In his previous work, he co-founded the India Community Center in the Bay Area and was CEO and co-founder of AtWeb, an Internet company acquired by Netscape/AOL in 1998.- Charlene Li is a principal analyst at Forrester Research, where she examines the ways new technology will affect how companies deliver information, content and advertising, as well as how these changes will affect the businesses that provide these services.

- Om Malik is a senior writer at Business 2.0 magazine, with prior stints at Red Herring, Forbes, and Hambrecht & Quist Asia Pacific.

- Matt Mullenweg is the lead developer of WordPress, a semantic personal publishing platform.

- Gary Price is a librarian and information research consultant, editor of ResourceShelf and news editor at Search Engine Watch.

- Rich Skrenta is CEO and founder of Topix.net, a targeted news service and author of "The Secret Source of Google's Power," a seminal essay on the mythical Google operating system.

- David Vise is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Washington Post, where his beat focuses on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Time Warner/AOL. He is the author of “The Google Story.”

Why Microsoft’s classifieds service will be better than Google Base

Why Microsoft’s classifieds service will be better than Google Base

By Charlene Li

I spent some time a week ago with Microsoft discussing their new online classifieds service, code named “Fremont”, which is in internal testing now. While the news is out there, I thought I’d provide my take on how this differs from – and in my opinion, is better than -- Google Base. I do this with one HUGE caveat – both of these services are brand new and beta, with Fremont not even available yet.

First, a quick description of Fremont. It looks and acts like a classic online classifieds site. A list of linked categories is on the front page and users can browse or search through the listings. A key difference though is that the listings are turbo-charged – as the poster, you can control who can see them, from everyone to just a select group of people on your MSN Messenger buddy list. If you choose the latter, the next time one of your privileged buddies signs into Messenger, they’ll see a little alert that says you have a set of golf clubs for sale. The categories include the usual suspects – jobs, homes, apartments, cars, and one thing that caught my eye, tickets.

That’s because one of my favorite uses of Craig’s List is to find last minute event tickets to hot shows. I also sometimes find myself in that seller situation – and I would highly prefer to sell or even give away tickets I can’t use to friends than to strangers from Craig’s List. The same goes with clothing – I don’t want to go through the hassle of selling some of used but still very nice clothes online, but I wouldn’t mind organizing an online clothing swap with my girlfriends.

The Microsoft approach reminds me of what Tribe.Net was (is?) trying to do in their effort to socialize classifieds but with one major difference – Microsoft leverages the social network that already exists in a user’s buddy list and address book.

So I look at Fremont and I see a really nice service shaping up. The classifieds interface is familiar – each category has the expected search fields (number of bedrooms in housing, make and year in autos, etc.) and the opening page lays out all of the options in a simple manner similar to Craig’s List’s austere list of links.

Now compare that to Google Base. Honestly, can you imagine your average user trying to make heads or tails out of it? Don’t get me wrong – I love Google Base because of the audacious potential it represents in terms of creating new content for the Web. But in terms of a classifieds service, it will take a lot of application development to get it to the point where the average Joe will be able to use it.

One last point about Fremont – it’s being built on top of the new Windows Live platform, which has as one of its core tenants giving developers the ability to build their own applications. Now this is one of the potential benefits of Google Base as well, but I’d put my chips down in favor of Microsoft actually pulling this one off. Microsoft has a well supported developer network and has come a long way in winning their trust through efforts like Channel 9. Granted, that trust is far from universal but it’s a start.

And on a related note -- where is Yahoo's classified service in this discussion? While general merchandise categories are free, the key top categories (jobs, homes, and cars) are all paid rvices. As it is to be expected it will take a while for Yahoo! to come to grips with its legacy paid online classifieds business model, especially its HotJobs service.