My article titled “The Optimistic Marketer’s Guide to Recession Success“  was selected as a post on BigThink.com.  Check it out at:

http://bigthink.com/robwalker/the-optimistic-marketers-guide-to-recession-success

Thanks for checking it out!

#IranElection on Twitter

I have been glued to Twitter all weekend.  Following the developments in Iran through the #IranElections tag.  It’s a bizarre mix of voyeurism, social consciousness and a real sense that I am witnessing an event in real time with the participants and spectators all mashed together.  Switching over to CNN to get their analysis only reveals that they are doing the exact same thing — following the events on Twitter.

The whole situation reminds me of watching the first Gulf War unfold on CNN.  At that time the war provided CNN the content that positioned them as the leader in world news.  Fast forward alomost 20 years and now it’s CNN that has been sidelined by the upstart Twitter.  Its too early to see how this will effect Twitter in the long run (let alone how it will effect Iran — which we ‘re praying for)  but here are some observations from a marketing perspective:

• Expect Twitter to get a lot of street cred for their part in this world event.  They will be herolded as a leading tool for getting news out of Iran.  Twitter will look to position itself as a platform for news.
• Twitter was used by both the rebels and the establishment.  The rebels used Twitter to broadcast to the world and to each other vital information — I watched as the rebels first identified which Embassies where taking wounded.   The Establishment used Twitter to broadcast false information intended to confuse the rebels.  This very serious case illustrates just how important verifying Twitter accounts is. Expect Twitter to start charging for verified accounts soon.
• A young girl named Neda was killed on Saturday.  Unedited video was spread through Twitter posts.  She quickly became an icon for the movement.  Twitter was used as a real time diseminator of the events — an unedited uneditorialized blast of information.  We’re entering a new world where newspapers are being replaced with this kind of real world data blasts.  I’m not sure how this will unfold but be aware the the audiences perception of information will be changing.
• I’ve maintained that Twitter is interesting but didn’t have the legs to make it a mainstream tool like Facebook.  Depending on how Twitter leverages the momentum garnered over this weekend they may be able to break out of being just a media darling novelty and become a tool to reach a mainstream audience — I think a lot would have to happen to get there.  But there is a chance.  Keep an eye on how Twitter uses this event to shape their identity.

The events in Iran over this weekend have been incredible.  I’m in awe that I’m seeing a real time world event unfold in 140 characters bursts.  The amount of posts is increadable.  Every second there are hundreds of new Tweets.  My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Iran.

The Google Killers

There are some interesting things happening in the search space that won’t affect marketers immediately but will eventually change the way we search online.  And changing the way we search will have profound effects on Search marketing.

Google makes over $20B a year selling ads in search results.  Each time you search Google for “Tennis Rackets” the engine will list what the Google algorithm believes is the best results then list a bunch of text ads down the right side.  Now if the search results provided exactly what you were looking for there would never be a need to click on the ads — and if you don’t click on the ads Google doesn’t make money.  Therefore, Google makes money on ads that are compelling only because the actual search results didn’t return what the searcher was looking for!

Google doesn’t make this obvious.  They play a precarious game of providing just enough quality in their returns but not enough to make the ads useless. Google is not interested in making the perfect search engine — if it did it would not have a revenue stream.

But here comes the competition.  If Google is not going to improve the competition will.  The question is will they be good enough to unseat the reining king.  It’s happened before.  Remember Alta Vista?  Here are some new engines to check out:

BING.com – this is Microsoft’s new “Decision Engine”.  It looks like a reskinned MSN to me.  What’s important here is the concept of “Decision Engine”.  This new take on search sets a new bar for Google to meet.

Hunch.com – Go check this out right now!  This new engine is actually bringing the “Decision Engine” concept to reality.   Tell the engine about yourself and get personalized results.

Wolfram Alpha – If your looking for facts this engine servers them up.  Most of my searches are looking for data points.  Something that Google is absolutely terrible at.  From now on I’m using Wolfram when I need to know the population of Ohio or how large the moon is.

This post was a bit different than normal.  There is no immediate opportunity for marketers.  But keep and eye on this space.  Search is starting to change and when it does Search Marketing will also radically change.