Google Still the Top Search Property Worldwide in 2009

Latest data from comScore are showing familiar trends in the global search market once again, except for one peculiar point. Interestingly, while Google retains its lead among the search properties worldwide, Microsoft’s search market share seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds. Of course, Yahoo still got the lowest percentage change in search market for 2009 among these three major search engines.

Here are the highlights of comScore’s study on the global search market growth:

• total searches worldwide is at 131 billion representing a 46% increase from 2008; this is equivalent to 4 billion search conducted worldwide daily
• the U.S. search market remains the biggest with 22.7 billion searches in 2009, representing 17% of all the global searches made;
• China ranks second with 13.3 billion searches and followed by Japan with 9.2 billion and the U.K. with 6.2 billion searches.
• Google got 87.8 billion searches which is a 58% increase from 2008, followed by Yahoo with 9.4 billion searches and 13% increase from 2009; while the biggest surprise is Microsoft on the fourth place with 4.1 billion searches – a big 70% leap from 2008 search market data.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/

Bing Maps Leaves Beta, New Features Added

Microsoft has just announced that its Bing Maps service is finally leaving the beta state. And as it prepares to become a full-pledged Microsoft geo-mapping service, Bing has brought some new stuff with it.

These new features aims to give users better experience while using Bing Maps. Perhaps equal to how good Google Maps is or even better?

Here are the new features of Bing Maps:

• improved speed and performance of the default page load time
• improved speed of routing driving directions
• updated user interface to make features and maps more discoverable
• map legends are now easier to use
• addition of Vancouver and Whistler to the Bing Map database

Bing Maps also promises more new applications to be added on a regular basis. For starters, two new apps were just released. One is an application for tweaking the map appearance and can be used for customization while the second app helps you find local events by overlaying activities on a Bing map.

And finally, to kick off Bing’s becoming a full-blown web service Microsoft is holding the Bing Maps Challenge, where you can have a chance to win $100 gift card. Good luck!

Content Can Now Go Viral More Easily with Facebook

Over the past year or so, Facebook has made a number of moves, which bring more Twitter-like functionality to the social network. Some question why Facebook would want to become more like Twitter given that it is much more dominant in the social media space, but Facebook sees the growing-popularity of Twitter, and likely wants to make sure it offers everything users want, to keep them around for the long haul.

The latest Twitter-like feature to come to Facebook is the "share" button, which is pretty much Facebook's answer to Twitter's "retweet." The feature was rolled out over the weekend, and appears as a text link on posts in your news feed that stem from links ("share" is currently not an option for regular status updates, photo uploads, etc.).

Just click "share" and you are presented with a pop-up window that allows you to share the link, and says "Via username" (although you can remove this):

Just like that, you have passed the link on to your own friends, which may or may not include a variety of people who aren't friends of the original poster. This in effect makes Facebook an even more valuable tool for content publishers. It will help content go viral, spreading through new audienceses.

source: http://www.webpronews.com/

Google Gets 72% of Searches in December 2009 (Hitwise)

Following up Nielsen search market share data, Hitwise has also released their search metrics for December 2009. And just like Nielsen’s stats, Google is also leading the pack, getting 72.5% of all searches conducted in the U.S. during the said period. This is equivalent to 1% growth rate from November 2009.

All the three other search engines trailing Google from behind suffered a decrease in searches. Yahoo got 14.83%, down from 15.93%, Bing got 8.92% from 9.34% and Ask.com got 2.54% from 2.65%.

In addition, the Hitwise report also pointed out that Google has been driving more traffic to key U.S. industries while Bing’s stat showed the biggest leap in terms of driving traffic to these key industry categories. Specifically Google has been sending the most traffic to Automotive, Shopping and Travel Categories. While Bing is good at sending traffic to all four categories and Yahoo in the Shopping category.

Hitwise also note, through a post on its official blog that although Bing suffered minor loss in searches during the said period, it is however showing signs of success rate.

In October 2009, BIng’s success rate was well below the competition with a success rate just north of 70%. That rate has been steadily increasing, and now Bing is showing a success rate over 75%. There is one caveat when reading these numbers; search success rate is often influenced by the complexity of the search. Traditionally, portal search engines tend to have more simple navigational and brand related queries in their top searches which are easier to resolve then searches for information.

There you go. That will probably end our year-end coverage of search market happenings in 2009. Although, Compete.com is yet to release its own data for December. Google obviously still is the king of search all through out 2009.

Will there be any change in search trend this year? That we will have to wait and see.

source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com

New Facebook Feature Combats Dodgy Friend Requests

Facebook is testing out a new feature that lets you identify strangers who attempt to friend you, according to a report published today by the Inside Facebook blog. Facebook confirmed it’s testing the feature in an email to Mashable.

Ever encountered someone who just can’t take the hint, “I don’t know you, so, no, I do not want to be your friend,” and attempts to friend you over and over again despite numerous rejections? Or have you been spammed by a fake Facebook profile whose friendship you carelessly accepted?

Well, Facebook () has the remedy for all of these ills: A new function called “Mark You Don’t Know.” Now, after choosing “ignore” when you receive a friend request, Facebook gives you the option to report said person as a stranger. Check out the screenshots below (here’s hoping Mashable’s Samuel Axon doesn’t get blocked for kindly taking part in this demonstration):

The new feature will likely be a great help to the site and its members, given that it has been a target recently for both phishing attempts and spam. Still, it does seem to be sending mixed messages in the wake of the launch of new privacy features and founder Mark Zuckerberg’s proclamation that sharing is the new “social norm.”

It remains to be seen just how well this new feature will function. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments.

source: http://mashable.com

Google Launches the DoubleClick Ad Exchange

Finally after acquiring Double Click for a whooping $3.1 billion, Google will now try to regain what they’ve invested in the company. The Official Google Blog has just announced the launch of the Double Click Ad Exchange – a real-time marketplace to buy and sell display advertising.

The DoubleClick Ad Exchange hopes to achieve what Google AdWords and Google AdSense have achieved so far. With it, Google hopes to create more open display ad ecosystem for everyone. The ecosystem we’re talking about here consists of Ad Exchange Sellers and Buyers, Google AdWords Advertisers and Google AdSense Publishers.

The DoubleClick Ad Exchange would benefit these four players, and so Google said. For Ad Exchange Buyers, the display ad marketplace will give them access to more websites and ad spaces, as well as bid for ad space in real-time. For Ad Exchange Sellers this program would mean more advertisers and more revenues for their ad spaces. Google AdWords advertisers are also to benefit from the DoubleClick Ad Exchange through easy access to the many websites in the Ad Exchange in addition to the websites in Google’s Content Network. While Google AdSense publishers will have their ad spaces exposed to more certified ad networks in the Ad Exchange. Both AdWords and AdSense members can enjoy the DoubleClick Ad Exchange through their respective interfaces and don’t need them to get through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

So, if you’re a Google AdSense publisher you can check out how the DoubleClick Ad Exchange will affect you at the Inside AdSense blog. If you’re a Google AdWords advertiser, this is the link that you would want to check out.

Other details about the DoubleClick Ad Exchange are enumerated on this PDF file and also at the Double Click Blog.

source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/

Google Fast Flip Goes Mainstream

Update 2: Google has now placed Fast Flip at the bottom of Google News.

Update: Google announced that it now has 2 dozen more publishers representing over 50 publications on board the Google Fast Flip train (which is still in experiment status). New sources include Tribune Co. newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, McClatchy Company newspapers such as the Miami Herald and the Kansas City Star, the Huffington Post, Popular Science, Reuters, Public Radio International, POLITICO and U.S. News & World Report.

Original Article: For being nothing more than a "labs" project for Google, Fast Flip has received an overwhelming amount of attention as well as criticism. In case you have been under a rock, Fast Flip is a lab Google launched, that has been talked about before under its codename, "Flipper."

What it does is let you "flip" through news articles on the web, as you would do with a magazine. In Google's words, "Fast Flip is a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles. Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers."



Google partnered with the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, ProPublica, and Newsweek to launch the lab. According to Google, partners will share revenue earned from contextual ads shown with articles. Google says that encouraging readers to read more news is "part of the solution" to the woes of the publishing industry, though the company does acknowledge that there is "no magic bullet."