Archive for April, 2009

Editor's note: This is a guest post from Dawn M. Foster, a consultant, community manager, event organizer, blogger, podcaster, technology enthusiast, and business professional in Portland, OR. Dawn provides consulting services for companies wanting to engage with online communities and has more than 13 years of experience in business and technology.

I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to monitoring what people are saying and filtering it to find the most relevant information. My tool of choice for this activity is Yahoo Pipes.

I use Yahoo Pipes for my many projects and build Pipes for my clients to help find what people are saying about us, our industry, our competitors, and more, through smart filtering of blogs, news sources, Twitter, and other online sites. This approach has a number of uses both for businesses and individuals:

• Become more responsive by knowing when and where people are talking about you, your company and your products -- on blogs and Twitter.
• Use what people are saying about your company and your products to improve your products, marketing messages, web content, documentation, and other communications.
• Get insight into your competitors and keep up with important information about your industry.
• Tailor your online research to your specific needs and interest areas.

One technique that I use for monitoring and filtering takes a series of keywords from a CSV file and uses Yahoo Pipes to run each keyword through various searches. This technique can be very powerful when you search multiple services. I have a complex Yahoo Pipe that searches a dozen sources (Twitter, blogs, video, images, etc.) in a single pipe with one keyword list to maintain. In the example for this post, I've simplified the process to make it easier to understand the fundamentals of the technique by running the list of keywords only through Twitter search.

You can watch the screencast to see exactly how I created the demo pipe, and below the screencast, you can find links to the demo pipe and more information about the modules used in this example.

2 Minute Screencast Demo:

You can watch the embedded video above, but I recommend downloading the higher resolution Quicktime file (22 MB) or clicking the full screen toggle icon in the player to watch. The quality will be much better than the flash version embedded above.

Technical Details and More Information:

• The Demo Pipe. A copy of the Keyword CSV demo pipe - click "View Source" to see the modules.
• Fetch CSV Module. Enter the URL of the CSV file (make sure that it already exists in a publicly accessible location) along with information about column names and separation characters as needed.
• Loop module with URL Builder. Loops through each element in the CSV file and builds a search URL formatted for RSS output. In this case, we used Twitter search.
• Loop module with Fetch Feed. Loops through each URL built in the previous step and fetches the feed associated with the item.
• Sort Module. Sort by date in descending order to make sure things are sorted in a logical manner.
• Pipe Output. The final module in every Yahoo Pipe.

I have an entire series of free 2-minute Yahoo Pipes videos. I'm teaching a 2-hour Introduction to Yahoo Pipes course in Portland, OR, on May 7th if you want to learn more about Yahoo Pipes. You can also find me this weekend at Barcamp Portland, if you want to learn more about Fast Wonder and Yahoo Pipes.

Dawn Foster
Fast Wonder

We've been preparing for our colo move for the last several months. In fact, we're moving two colos at the same time. We expect to be completed prior to the end of May.

Since we'll be moving more than 600 servers that make up the 30+ sub-systems that drive Technorati, Blogcritics and AdEngage, there is a ton to coordinate. Our systems have been designed from the ground up with high availability and redundancy in mind. That being said, there are still a lot of moving parts and things don't always go quite as planned. We expect there will be planned outages of some systems and, unfortunately, there may be some unplanned outages as well. We'll keep you posted if things go bump in the night, but, rest assured, we'll keep your blog data safe. Our backup servers have already been moved successfully.

For the latest on the move or system status, please consult the Site status report in the right sidebar of our support site.

by Claudine Zap

Though the H1N1 flu (swine flu) hasn't been hugely damaging in the states, the bug has gone positively viral online, and some argue it's having a sickening effect on the public. Concerned citizens are logging on to track the flu through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and are being infected with worry.

Facebook groups for "swine flu" have over 15,000 members, and the social networking site recently added an application that tracks flu-related words in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Those who want to watch the global spread of the disease can check out Healthmap, which mashes up World Health Organization alerts, news reports, personal accounts, and Google Maps to track the worldwide route.

Instant reports are also being tweeted through Twitter, the microblogging site that allows users to post updates in 140 characters. Surely those who want to be in-the-know are searching for anything flu-related, but right now the levels of flu are so relatively low that some experts fear that Twitter's instant updates are doing more harm than good.

In other words, spreading information: good. Spreading panic and misinformation: not so good. Then again, there's Joe Biden. The vice president, in blurting out that he warned his family not to get on subways or airplanes for fear of the flu, has more influence over the panic button than all the social networks combined. Say it ain't so, Joe.

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That's right, we're going to be in Australia, Canada and of course the USA...

Seminars for Success are day-long seminars designed to help you improve your online marketing and get the most out of Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer. We've selected industry professionals from our Google Analytics Authorized Consultant network to teach these seminars in cities around the U.S.

Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training

Thursday, May 14 - Melbourne, Australia
Tuesday, May 26 - Toronto, Canada
Wednesday, May 27 - Phoenix, AZ

Walk away from day one with the knowledge to take actionable information out of Google Analytics and drive your business decisions. Day one topics include:

• Introduction to Web Analytics
• Common Interface Features
• Dashboard Reports & Customization
• Understanding Visitors
• Much, Much More…

Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation

Friday, May 15 - Melbourne, Australia
Wednesday, May 27 - Toronto, Canada
Thursday, May 28 - Phoenix, AZ

Day two takes you through Google Analytics configurations, best practices, filter set ups and advanced installs and implementations. Day two topics include:

• Profiles and Strategies
• Filters – Uses and Implementation
• Profile and Filter Combinations
• Goals & Funnels - Configuration & Setup
• And much, much more…

Landing Page Testing with Google Website Optimizer

Friday, May 29 - Phoenix, AZ

The Google Website Optimizer experts present this practical course taking you through the process of testing your site to improving your users’ experience and seeing your conversion rates soar. The course includes an overview of Website Optimizer, loads of testing best practices, and hands-on experience to better understand and run A/B and multivariate tests on your website and key landing pages.

Seats are limited, so register today!

• Melbourne Seminars for Success
• Toronto Seminars for Success
• Phoenix Seminars for Success

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

You never know what will happen, but you can position yourself for a smarter, more healthy response. A fact a day can help condition your brain for life’s little surprises, and office humor is a great source for a positive attitude.

The best preparation for uncertain events like the recent flu outbreak is current information from around the world. And what better way to deal with surprises than the TV show “Lost,” which always defies expectations?

If “Lost” is more than a TV show to you, you’ll fit right in here.

Crisis or no, keep up on health concerns around the world.

One way to recognize May Day: Funny things heard at work.

Online advice may be just the thing for your hairy troubles.

Frequent tips on the financial sector from a leading blog.

Daily doses of fun data can keep your brain happy.

Capture the fun of basketball through this bouncy blog.

Jay
My Yahoo! Editorial

Beta testing for the new AdWords interface has been expanded to an even larger number of advertisers. The new interface is now available to most active AdWords accounts in these languages:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Dutch
• Hebrew
  
• Simplified Chinese
• Japanese
• Brazilian Portuguese

We'll be adding more AdWords languages in the future.

If your account has been added to the beta test, you'll be directed to the new interface the next time you log in. The previous interface will still be available if you need it: during the beta you can switch back and forth using the "New Interface (Beta)" and "Previous Interface" links in the top corner of your account, next to your email address.

Have questions while using the new interface? The new interface microsite has videos and a how-to guide that will help you with the changes. For example:

I’ve spent a lot of time on airplanes in the past few weeks.  All that thinking about flights got me thinking about trying new things: new foods, new hotels, new smells in taxi cabs. That got me thinking about how we try new things in search.  And that reminded me of what we call it here when we try new things: flighting (which you may recall from Ramez Nam’s post earlier this month.) And that, my friends, is a play on words. 

This is how we do it: 

UX video is up

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/StefanIs/StefanIs005/

Enjoy,

Stefan Weitz, Director, Live Search

by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day's hottest searches.

1. Zodiac killer (Searches increased by 1,066%). A California woman has come forward to claim that the Zodiac killer was her dad. She says she knows because she played a part. (Insert scary music here.)
2. 300 workout (+206%). You don't have to be a Spartan to work out like one—or at the very least, get buffed like the "300" movie cast.
3. States with swine flu (+312%). Swine flu: probably coming to a state near you.
4. Airforce One flyover (+135%). By now everyone knows that a low-flying plane on a photo-op over Manhattan terrorized residents, leading to a White House apology. Question is, why did they need publicity shots when they could just make them up?
5. Tiramisu (+123). Whip up this Italian dessert and you'll impress the heck out of your friends.

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Since last year's DoubleClick acquisition, we've increased our focus on helping marketers and agencies use Google tools for all of their display advertising needs. DoubleClick Rich Media is the part of DoubleClick that provides the technology for the most technically advanced and engaging of these display ads, which are typically created by creative agencies for their brand-focused clients. To help make this process even easier and efficient, today we're launching DoubleClick Studio, our new rich media production and development tool.

To describe rich media, it helps to think about other ad formats that we're all familiar with, starting with the simplest: text ads. With just a few keystrokes, anyone can create simple messages in a standardized format, and place them on a site like Google.com in minutes. Then we have standard display ads, ads that usually include text with a visual such as a logo or a graphic. These can be in formats we're all familiar with like .jpg, .gif, .swf and more. Standard display ads can either be static or animated with tools like Flash. They typically have only one interaction, meaning that when you click on them, you'll be taken to a destination site. And then at the most complex level, from a design and interaction perspective, we have rich media ads. With rich media, you can have ads that expand when users click or roll over, for example, and there are extensive possibilities for interactive content, such as HD video or even the ability to click to make a phone call.

But making a rich media ad possible requires much more complex technology to ensure that all of the ad behaviors function properly, that all of the interactions can be measured, and to serve the ads onto web pages. Every piece of the canvas, from the video play button to the button that allows for expansion, requires coding in Flash that's made possible by a rich media technology provider like DoubleClick Rich Media. With all of this complexity, there's also a lot of room for error. So in addition to enabling the development of the ads, tools like DoubleClick Studio provide quality analysis and preview functionalities to make sure that the ads work the way they should.

Here is a graphic that represents some of the differences between types of online ads:

With DoubleClick Studio, we hope to make it easier for our existing users to produce rich media ads, and to expand the number of advertisers that can make these useful formats part of their marketing strategy. This is also a good thing for Internet users; rich media capabilities make advertising even more useful, letting a viewer interact with an ad and learn about a brand without having to leave the page they're on. And, advertisers have an expanded creative canvas within the ad itself, allowing for deeper, higher-quality content in the ad itself. At Google, we believe that ads at their best are useful information.

To read more about DoubleClick Studio, visit the DoubleClick blog.

Posted by Shamim Samadi and Ari Paparo, DoubleClick Rich Media Team

As part of the team that joined Google when it acquired Postini in 2007, one of my responsibilities has been finding ways to weave Postini's enterprise experience into Google's business offerings. Today, I'm excited to tell you about Google Apps Directory Sync, the latest improvement to Google Apps brought over from Google's Postini security and archiving services.

Google Apps Directory Sync lets businesses and schools with an LDAP user directory system like Microsoft Active Directory or Lotus Domino transition more quickly and smoothly to Google Apps. Instead of manually maintaining a separate user account directory in Google Apps, this utility lets Google Apps tap into an existing repository of user account information.

This new utility is a software component that helps maintain security by running behind the firewall and pushes directory information to Google Apps – including mailing lists, groups and user aliases – to match the organizational schema in the LDAP system.

This is a one-way operation, designed so data on the LDAP server is not updated or altered. The utility offers many of the customization settings, tests and simulations originally developed and refined for the Postini directory sync tool to give complex organizations the controls they need to manage their directories effectively.

Google Apps Directory Sync is now included at no additional cost with Google Apps Premier, Education and Partner Edition customers.

Posted by Navneet Goel, Google Enterprise Product Manager