Google's Latest News And 18 Minutes With A 'Data Detective'

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Google made some news in the last few weeks that we hope you’re paying attention to. We briefly comment on Google Instant and Priority Inbox below but if you're short on time, go directly to the embedded video on data visualization. (The player shows 21 minutes but the last three minutes are a commercial.)

With summer 2010 ending this week, we expect to be back at it posting more frequent, shorter posts. That's the plan.
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Are You 'Spying' On Your Web Site Users?

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You may have left work Friday thinking that you knew what this workweek would bring. But our guess is that a Saturday report by The Wall Street Journal will reset priorities for Web marketing teams at many companies, including some mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) firms.

“Marketers are spying on Internet users,” said the Journal in an extensive report on its investigation of Internet tracking technology used by the 50 most popular U.S. Web sites plus WSJ.com.
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And Now For A Splash Of Cold Water About Venturing Onto Other Domains

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We consistently urge you to consider sharing your content and even limited functionality on other domains, primarily but not exclusively social networking sites. We’ve seen the effectiveness of content syndication and we stand by the recommendation.

But now seems like a good time to call your attention to the range of possibilities when venturing onto other domains. If you print and mail marketing pieces, if you advertise, if you send emails—heck, if you count on wholesalers to support a marketing campaign, you’re already familiar with the surprises/disappointments that can happen when you rely on others to deliver your message.
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Evolving Away From Site Tours And Toward ‘Likeable Objects’

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What are you doing to prepare for changes taking place online today that affect Web content?

Despite the fact that content is the value underlying much of the social media phenomenon, the discussion about social media has largely dealt with other issues—the practices, the practitioners, the policies, the enabling technologies. Content is my first love and I’m guilty, too, for having given it short-shrift in recent posts.

The sharing of Web content has sweeping implications for the development, delivery and analytic resources you invest in your firm’s content portfolio—Marketing and non-Marketing text, images and especially charts and graphs, video, audio. And it has direct bearing on how you build out your Web site, especially those of you who are working on redesigns.
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Marketing Executives' Focus on Social Media ROI Should Lift The Role Of Analytics

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There’s a lot of promise in research released yesterday by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and Anderson Analytics. MENG is a national group representing senior marketing executives from across industries. Until the revolution when digital marketers claim their rightful place as eCMOs or some such, these are the people who green-light online plans. (At this point, I should say that I’m a MENG member, agitating on your behalf from the inside.)
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