‘Cross The Breeze

I don’t understand Technorati, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. Here and there I see people thinking the same as I do. Why didn’t Technorati come up with that feature? Why hasn’t Technorati improved that part of the process? Hell, why hasn’t Technorati changes virtually anything but the design during the last 2 years? Alright, they did add Authority, but not too much science behind that is there?

I don’t understand Technorati. They have the first mover advantage, but I’m thinking bloggers mainly stick to it because it is Technorati. It’s what they know since the beginning and everyone refers to it. You can wonder how long that’s going to last though. They also have nearly every blog on their system so they own the place, isn’t that a good start to do good - better - best?

Now I don’t know much of programming, APIs, … and that sort of stuff so maybe all of what I’m going to write here might not be possible, but these are just a few ideas of what I think Technorati should be working on today:

• Blog claim: Make this a real blog claim, so more than just a URL claim. Many WordPress.com or Typepad users have more than one url. One given by the service (or even more) and maybe their own domain. How difficult can it be to claim both URLs as being one and the same blog. Now I have 2 authority ranks, one for each URL, instead of something combined. Plus, I see links from myself to myself… like I wanted that.
• Extended profile: Create the possibility for bloggers to add additional data to their profile, to their claimed blogs. This information can be very useful to build a real and meaningful authority ranking. Like the blog feeds for instance, on many occasions there are more feeds for the same blog. But also the Twitter feed for instance or other useful social network data. Some information can be linked to a blog’s authority, some to a blogger’s authority rank.
• Use the APIs: Considering a blogger would add this data (and I’m pretty sure they will add it), work with it. Use the APIs of other services like Bloglines, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, … whatever to capture data that belong to the claimed URLs and Feeds. How many times was blog saved in Delicious or Digg, did it ever come up on Techmeme, how many Bloglines readers does it have, … This will give Technorati some data from which something called authority makes sense.
• Create categories: Across the globe people are creating several blogger hotlists: top 150 on Marketing, top 100 blogs of Belgium, etc etc. That’s all good, but most of the time the list you want doesn’t exist. I want the Top 15 in Belgium on cars, where do I go? If I had to put in my home country with my profile, that would solve one part. And introduce categories. Now I hear you, everyone will put themselves in so many categories that it doesn’t make sense anymore… well, only allow a few categories then (2 or 3) forcing people to be specific.
• Technorati Pro: I worked in the cinema industry for 7 years and one service that always proved to be great was IMDB Pro. I guess, most of you here know IMDB and you have to admit that the public service is already a good information source on movies. IMDB Pro will offer at least double the amount of information. Nothing interesting for me now, but when in cinema it was very useful. Technorati should be able to do the same. General information on trends and authority as the public service it is now, using some of the information I mentioned before. And then add a Pro service that would allow every user to do a lot more specific & personal queries and comparisons on blogs, introduce improved brandtracking etc. Not every company needs or can afford Buzzlogic or other, there’s an opportunity for Technorati here.

Finally, before anybody starts commenting on this. Many bloggers find this focus on authority and ranking useless. Especially the bigger they are, the less they claim it’s interesting. First of all, I don’t buy it. Second, it’s not for the bloggers themselves that we should fix this ranking issue. It’s the people and companies that want to work with bloggers that need this kind of data. Tracking conversations about your brand and jumping in where needed is one thing, but if you want to be a bit more proactive in your approach you need to know where to go.

Overall, authority and influence measurement fascinates me and I can only applaud several exercises being done by Forrester’s Peter Kim, Edelman’s David Brain (and team), … hopefully Technorati innovates in this spaces.

Feel free to chime in. And get it to Technorati for me please. I know emailing them doesn’t help. The thing is: I want Technorati to be great, it’ll serve me well. I just don’t think it is great anymore. David?

Technorati Tags: technorati, innovation, request, pro, categories, api, claims, profile, influence, authority, ranking, edelman, forrester

If you’re blogging yourself and you’ve tried to convince others to join the blogosphere as well, you will most certainly be familiar with that sentence. I could never do that; I have no idea where you find the time to write all that stuff; I don’t know how you come up with these things you’re writing about; etc etc

Rohit Bhargava has just written a great post about this ’struggle’, giving some good tips to people that are hesitating to start up their own blog just because of the reasons I mentioned earlier. I’m very much aware blogging will never be something everyone will get into themselves, but the tips from Rohit are quite good and refer to very recognizable situations. Must read.

Also remember that the benefits from blogging are much bigger than you might initially think. I never thought I would get to know so many new people when I started. I never thought that my blog would also become my own digital archive. I never thought I would learn that much through the conversations and shared efforts. Still in doubt? Read the tips and don’t ever be afraid to ask any blogger for support or an early look at what it is your cooking.

Technorati Tags: blogging, tips, tricks, ogilvy, blog, writing

• Alpha version of FUILauncher released for Windows Mobile - Download Squad
  Flash developer Jason Jaegers set about to create an iPhone-inspired (but not duplicated) program launcher for Windows Mobile. A few weeks ago he posted some pretty pictures, and this weekend he released the first public alpha for download.
  (tags: flash interface mobile windows iphone inspiration)
• Inside the Insiders: Kip Kniskern of LiveSide - istartedsomething
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  (tags: liveside windowslive fan mvp microsoft inside interview kipkniskern)
• How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life
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• Behind Microsoft’s Popfly
  Popfly, Microsoft’s mashup tool for non-programmers, stands to tap a ripe market for the software giant. The man behind the idea, John Montgomery, group program manager for Popfly, discusses his thinking on the concept with eWEEK Senior Editor Darryl K. T
  (tags: microsoft popfly mashup development web internet api software silverlight)
• Bink.nu | Microsoft Works to become a free, ad-funded product
  Microsoft’s next version of its small-business/home productivity suite, due imminently, will be free and ad-funded.
  (tags: microsoft works office free advertising google productivity)

A few days ago a new hotlist with marketing blogs was launched in beta. After Mack’s Top 25 Marketing Blogs which is the classic with 66 weeks of ‘history’ we got Todd And’s Power 150 that was recently ‘acquired’ by AdAge. Everytime I added the whole OPML to my feedreader and everytime I kept a few after the ‘testperiod’, blogs I hadn’t heard about before but that were a good read. There are many marketing related blogs in my reader and I do have my own favorites.

So last week the M20 was launched by Peter Kim. Pete is an analyst of Forrester Research and he started this list as he wanted to list up marketing voices from the client side. No consultants, agency folks, … but marketing representatives.

“So I’m starting a list to highlight the most popular blogs written by client-side marketing professionals. These are people who are doing their brands a favor by engaging customers and prospects in conversation.”

So I sent my blog to Pete and I was actually amazed that I made it to the beta version of the list. I’ve downloaded the OPML as usual and added it to my reader. It was also grea to see 5 blogs from fellow Microsoft colleagues and 4 from fellow Belgians on 31 blogs in the list. And I already got connected (again) to someone because of the list, good to talk to you Tamara.

Here is the list (more on how the listing is made can be found here):

1. Listen Up! :: 63. John Porcaro, Group Manager - Online Communications, Microsoft.
2. ExperienceCurve :: 61. Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager, Nokia.
3. Strategic Public Relations :: 55. Kevin Dugan, Director of Marketing Communications, FRCH Design.
4. Todd And - The Power To Connect :: 48. Todd Andrlik, Director of Marketing and PR, Leopardo Construction.
5. Marketing Nirvana :: 46. Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist, LinkedIn.
6. Decker Marketing :: 44. Sam Decker, VP Marketing, Bazaarvoice.
7. Flooring The Consumer :: Technorati authority = 39. Authored by CB Whittemore, Director of In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber.
8. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: 31. Eric Kintz, VP Marketing, Digital Photography & Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard.
9. cgm :: 31. Pete Blackshaw, CMO, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
10. Bernaisesource :: 28. Dan Greenfield, VP Corporate Communications, Earthlink.
11. Cross The Breeze :: 27. Kris Hoet, Marketing Communications Manager, Microsoft.
12. Churbuck.com :: 148. David Churbuck, VP Global Web Marketing, Lenovo.
13. Masiguy :: 162. Tim Jackson, Brand Manager, Masi Bicycles.
14. AttentionMax :: 153. Max Kalehoff, VP Marketing, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
15. Emerson Process Experts :: 130. Jim Cahill, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerson Process Management.
16. BeRelevant! :: 23. Tamara Gielen, Email Marketing Manager - Belgium, eBay.
17. Brandopia :: 22. Geert Desager, Trade Marketing Manager, Microsoft.
18. Buzz Marketing For Technology :: 21. Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field & Interactive Marketing, BearingPoint.
19. Community Group Therapy :: 21. Sean O’Driscoll, General Manager of Community Support and MVP, Microsoft.
20. The Client Side :: 21. Michael Seaton, Director - Digital Marketing, Scotiabank.
21. “Turbo” Todd Watson :: 20. Todd Watson, IBM software group - web marketing, IBM.
22. John Dragoon’s Blog :: 20. John Dragoon, CMO, Novell.
23. The HP LaserJet Blog :: 20. Vince Ferraro, VP of Worldwide Marketing - LaserJet BU, HP.
24. The Changing Face of Media :: 20. Scott Berg, Worldwide Media Director, HP.
25. Marketing Monster :: 19. Michael Morton, Marketing Specialist, Lampo Group.
26. Bad idea, indeed :: 18. Philippe Deltenre, Business Development & Strategy Manager, Microsoft.
27. The Innovative Marketer :: 18. Steve Gershik, Director of Marketing Innovation, Eloqua.
28. Sony Electronics Blog :: 17. Rick Clancy, Head of US Corporate Communications, Sony.
29. John Heald’s Blog :: 16. John Heald, Cruise Director, Carnival.
30. The Kristasphere :: 16. Krista Summit, Web Marketing Strategist, Lenovo.
31. Randy’s Journal :: 15. Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing.

Bonuslink: CK just made a list of all female marketing bloggers, yet another hotlist… or is that a hot list ;)

Technorati Tags: m20, peterkim, viralgarden, hotlist, marketing, blogs, power150

The update seems to be announced like ‘just another quick add on’, I hadn’t even heard of it from the Search team before via the internal communications (I work for Microsoft), but I think it’s quite interesting.

The update is related to image search, more specifically something that will help you find images containing faces, portraits or black&white images. Try these links to see them in action:

1. without the new features – jimi hendrix
2. with new face filtering on – jimi hendrix filter:face
3. with new portrait filtering on – jimi hendrix filter:portrait
4. with new black and white filtering on – jimi hendrix filter:bw

I did a few test myself on less known names (like my own, but you don’t want to see that) and results were still pretty good. Here’s a search on Ricky Gervais (filter:face). I wonder how they detect something like that.

Technorati Tags: live search, image search, windows live, microsoft, feature, release

A few days or even weeks ago I was tagged by Luc ‘Mindblob’ Debaisieux and Connie Reece for the ‘8 random things’ meme. The meme is sort of similar to one that went around end of last year called ‘5 things you probably don’t know about me’ which I wrote about in December.

So you know I like old school Ford Mustangs (or you don’t but it’s just a way to promote that other more obscure blog of mine) and that I used to play in a band etc etc. Now I thought I’d just add an image from the archives to that first ‘5 things’ list rather than to come up with another 3 items.

So that’s what I did, and it’s also the main reason why it took such a while before I could come back on this meme. This image is a scan of the photo in an old newspaper article and it took me a while to find that, but it seemed like my ideal answer to the tag.

For me it was quite clear for a while that Microsoft was taking the advertising business very seriously, but that was probably because the shift in focus we saw several months ago already. Also the re-org from MSN Sales to Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, was a clear sign that this is not just about banners on MSN anymore. All of this didn’t really catch on immediately though in business.

Today I noticed quite a few posts in my feed reader that show people do now see that shift as well, and the words of Steve Ballmer during the analyst meeting made sure everyone understands we are serious about this:

“We are hell-bent and determined to allocate the talent, the resources, the money, the innovation to absolutely become a powerhouse in the ad business”

Most of the post that are talking about this are a direct result of the analyst meeting, the development of Silverlight, the advertising agreement with Digg, the acquisitions of aQuantive and AdECN, the deal with Massive and EA Sports, … With these deals it’s clear we’re out of the ‘playing around’ phase into the ”we’re not f*cking around phase” - dixit John Batelle.

• » Multiple Microsoft search refreshes due over the 12 months | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com
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• Microsoft to Acquire AdECN, Inc.: Deal furthers Microsoft commitment to provide advertisers and publishers with a comprehensive search and display advertising platform.
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  (tags: advertising auction acquisition microsoft exchange platform adecn technology adcenter)
• Simplifying Mobile Search | Gear Digest
  Great review on mobile search comparing the offerings from Google, Yahoo and Live Search. And believe it or not but Live Search gets the best overall score.
  (tags: mobile search yahoo google livesearch windowslive review)

Just some Friday fun.

[Via Nancy]

When I met up again with Kevin Slavin in NYC last week, he told me about a new game they were creating for Discovery Channel which sounded very interesting. The game is part of Shark Week and I had a chance to play it for a few days and I must say it’s quite original.

Kevin got me interested in it when he told me that in the online game, you would have to navigate your own boat on a map whereas the sharks you need to find & research are not controlled by artificial intelligence or whatsoever, they are real sharks. The game is using live data from real sharks with GPS tracking (for research purposes) that are swimming in that area. I liked that approach.

When you set your boat’s waypoints the game continues while youre away as you can easily set up a trip for several hours. Whenever there’s a shark within range (like in the image above) you will get an email to warn you about that. That gives you 3 hours to log in and react.

You can request some information about the sharks you encounter, especially to see what data you have already collected and what not (see image above). If you need more research you get your crew ready to collect that.

There are several ways to collect data (some of which you have to buy) but the most effective in the beginning seems to be the 1-person dive. It says that comes with very high danger, but only one crew member has been injured so far ;)

Last but not least, when you collect data on each shark, for instance on habitat, you get a short info on what it is that you actually learned together with a short video of that. No long learning pieces in between, but easy to digest ‘clips’ that you do watch. That makes the game complete for me. It’s not just a fun game just to promote a tv show, it incorporates some content into it already.

Good stuff from the area/code crew!

Technorati Tags: sharks, areacode, playareacode, game, online, promotion, shark week, discovery channel, kevin slavin