Media Companies Ask Google to Favor Their Content Over Blogs

Nat Ives reports in AdAge that a number of major media companies have asked Google to give it favorable positioning over blogs...

Many publishers resent the criteria Google uses to pick top results, starting with the original PageRank formula that depended on how many links a page got. But crumbling ad revenue is lending their push more urgency; this is no time to show up on the third page of Google search results. And as publishers renew efforts to sell some content online, moreover, they're newly upset that Google's algorithm penalizes paid content.

"You should not have a system," one content executive said, "where those who are essentially parasites off the true producers of content benefit disproportionately."

What year is this? I thought it was 2009. But when I read this I felt like it was 2004 all over again. Although there may be two sides to this story, the way that AdAge is reporting it, there are number of major flaws with the media's argument here...

First, the lines between media and blogs have been obliterated. What's TechCrunch or Engadget? Sure they are blogs but they run ads. So are they social media or media? To me, we don't have zebras and elephants anymore. They have mated and we're all one species.

Second, corporations are now creating their own media. Some are calling this trend content marketing. Take a look at what Intel or Wal-Mart (a client) are doing. So should Google not favor their content either? I will eat my hat if that happens.

Finally, there's no greater friend to media companies than Google and bloggers. Witness, for example how Google is partnering with Life Magazine. Google has found a way to unlock the value in old content. These media companies need Google to help it monetize in an age where digital advertising as it stands now is not working. Further, in a world where links rule, the media companies need bloggers as well for traffic, credibility and more. Take a look at this recent data from Technorati.

A neutral Google is a good Google. They should continue to deliver an algorithm that rewards the highest quality sources that have earned a following, interest and links from other sources. If the media companies don't want Google to favor bloggers, why not just stop linking to them or use no follow tag? That may over time, erode their Google Juice. However, I suspect most realize it's too late to put the genie back in the bottle.

This argument will die on the vine I suspect. That's the way it should be.

links for 2009-03-18

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  46% of the Digg Front Page is Controlled by 50 Websites | Soshable | Social Media Blog
  (tags: digg stats)
  
  
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  Use Technology To Spend Less Time Working - Forbes.com
  
  
  "You can manage your day more efficiently by choosing the right mix of online services."
  
  
  (tags: productivity lifehacks blego)
  
  
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  All That Twitters May Not Be Gold, Analysts Say - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com
  
  
  "monetizing Twitter 'would be difficult at best and likely unsuccessful.'"
  
  
  (tags: twitter monetization microblogging)
  
  
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  Jurors' Twitter posts worry trial lawyers - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com
  
  
  "Dozens of jurors send Twitter messages from courthouses across country"
  
  
  (tags: twitter CitizenJournalism law)
  
  
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  Mashable’s Weekly Web Events and Social Media Conference Guide
  
  
  Good list of upcoming events. I will be speaking at three of these.
  
  
  (tags: conferences events 2009 socialmedia)
  
  

Twitter is Peaking

Twitter traffic data from comScore (via TechCrunch)

I have been active Twitter user since January 2007. And it's been remarkable just how much it has changed since.

In the last six months, Twitter has gone nuclear. There are three reasons why and I explore them in this post. However, they also point to why Twitter is about to jump the shark and we should begin asking ourselves what's "the next big thing."

As long as Twitter maintains a following I feel every business should join it and converse with their customers - just as I said a year ago. Still, it's always important for everyone to see the big picture. That's why predicting a market top is something I thoroughly enjoy doing. In part, it's what I am paid to do - think about what's next. This disicipline keeps me and others like Robert Scoble like from getting stale.

In December 2006 when Evan Williams first showed me Twitter in the back of a cab in Seattle, I thought it was going nowhere. But after I played with it, I got hooked. My early fascination with Twitter began because, like now, I was scanning the horizon for what's next. I sensed that in late 2006 that blogging was cresting. Twitter replaced it for me and, later, millions. Now the same can be said about RSS, which many of the early adopters who first embraced it have also now ceremoniously dumped. (More on RSS in a subsequent post.)

As I have written before, no community has ever had staying power. Twitter right now is poised to fall victim to the same trend. Let's take a look at three reasons why Twitter has witnessed incredible growth, all of which point to why the service is peaking right now. (Note: Many of you will disagree. Daniel Terdiman today wrote that at SXSW, Twitter was the new Twitter.)

1) Celebs Flocked to Twitter - Just six months ago, the list of the top 100 users on Twitter read like a who's who of geeks. That's what made it a draw, for many, initially. Now, however, the list looks like People or US Magazine. Twitter is losing it's geek creds as celebs flock to the service.

Historically, as the geeks go, so goes social media. I believe that the Founding Fathers and Mothers of Twitter - people who gave the service it's wings, will soon tire of it and seek the next shiny object. Already, Dave Winer is playing with Jaiku. Scoble is deep into Friendfeed. I am finding a lot more value these days in both Friendfeed and Facebook, which leads me to my next point.

2) Twitter is Disorganized - Twitter attracted a following because it's disorganized. Since replies are not threaded, celebs and corporations do not feel they have to respond to every Tweet. It's a tree in the forrest thing. There are no comments to moderate. And this makes it more attractive than blogging.

However, what was once "a feature" could begin to be seen as "a bug" and lead us to seek more organization. As Jeff Jarvis explains in his book What Would Google Do, other services like Facebook and Google provide elegant organization. This is something Friendfeed does well too. It's also a big reason why Tweetdeck is succeeding. Twitter would be wise to acquire Tweetdeck now before someone else does, especially as it adds more social tentacles.

3) Twitter is a Mile Wide but an Inch Deep - Brevity rules on Twitter. And this has encouraged time-starved celebrities and corporate types to jump into Twitter much more so than blogging. It also supports anonymity. You can be "a corporation" on Twitter, which you really can't do with a blog. Here people want to see the faces.

However, as Twitter grows and people begin to crave reading Tweets from personalities and others they trust, I wonder if they will want a deeper relationship - one with less anonymity. This is something other services, notably Friendfeed and Facebook, do well. You can use either to create a community around all your stuff, not just 140-character tweets. Also, I suspect they will want to weed signal from noise. Right now that's tough to do.

So you heard it here first, folks. Twitter is peaking. Now I believe Twitter can get through "the dip" that stares them in the face, but it will need to adapt by: keeping its core users intact, remaining attractive to corporations and celebs and by becoming more organized. Search will help with the latter, but expect a battle as Facebook and Friendfeed both make a concerted push to become the place for all your social stuff.

links for 2009-03-17

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  9 Best Practices for Getting Press Coverage
  (tags: pr twitter blogs blego tips)
  
  
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  Seattle P-I to publish last edition Tuesday
  
  
  Hard copy paper folds but the beat goes online.
  
  
  (tags: journalism newspapers trends tangiblemedia)
  
  
• 
  
  Journalism.org- The State of the News Media 2009
  
  
  The State of the News Media 2009 is the sixth edition of our annual report on the health and status of American journalism.
  
  
  (tags: journalism media stats 2009 newspapers television)
  
  
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  WeFollow: A User Powered Twitter Directory
  (tags: directory wefollow twitter)
  
  
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  Daily News Habit Doubles Among U.S. Mobile Users
  
  
  "The number of people who access news and information daily on their mobile phones doubled from 10.8 million in January, 2008 to 22.4 million in January, 2009."
  
  
  (tags: stats mobile media journalism comscore 2009)
  
  
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  Web Apps index - Go2web20
  
  
  Orli Yakuel is back with a terrific resource.
  
  
  (tags: web2.0 socialmedia community directory)
  
  
• 
  
  Despite Recession, More Than 50% of Marketers Increase Spending on Social Media - ReadWriteWeb
  
  
  Forrester: social media plans factor big, but budgets remain abysmally small for the level that's required to make an impact.
  
  
  (tags: stats socialmedia marketing forrester budgets ROI)
  
  

Google Makes Submitting News Comments a Little Easier

Google has added a link on the Google News home page that encourages sources quoted in stories to submit comments. The link directs people to a form to fill out. Previously, this was all done via email.

In addition, they have also added a bit more detail into which comments go up on Google News and why. This includes the following video, which the team added last week to YouTube.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell the entire process still remains slow because it's mired in human authorization.