ISM Signpost #24
*** Face Value
*** Search Me?
*** Location, Location, Location
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+++ On my radar +++
Social search for Web 3.0 launches
Radar Networks, a Silicon Valley start-up that sits halfway between Facebook and Google by combining social networking with intelligent search, is due to launch its first product, Twine.
Its founder Nova Spivack describes Twine as a “semantic graph” and says it will be one of the first examples of Web 3.0. Users will have their own home page, like Facebook where they can connect with friends and crucially create a ‘twine’ of information on something that interests them that could include text, images and video that the member creates themselves or pulls in.
The site’s underlying database allows Twine to interpret the information you put into it. It automatically categorises data, applying a set of relevant tags, following links to pull in related information. It’s like having a dedicated virtual librarian who can organise seemingly chaotic information into a useful structured form.
Like Google’s search engine, Twine provides a handy service to its users and then systematically harvests intelligence from those users to continuously improve the service.
Twine is founded on the concept of the semantic web, the idea that machines can be taught to understand the meaning of language. For example, a semantic web search engine would understand the difference between John F Kennedy the person, and John F Kennedy, the airport.
While Google provides relevant results to keyword searches, it doesn’t really understand what it’s being asked for. However, consumers have learnt to tailor their search habits to get the information they need.
Twine’s founder, Spivack has downplayed suggestions that Twine is a Google killer. He told one blogger: “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information. And our mission is to organize your information. Your information is really the most important information in the world. It’s the other 90% of the information that Google isn’t indexing really. I think that Google is doing a wonderful job of crawling the web. And in fact it’s something that we plan to leverage. Certainly I don’t think that it would make a lot of sense for any company today to directly compete with Google. And in fact, there’s lots of opportunity in areas that Google isn’t really strong at. And this is one of them.”
Twine will launch to the general public early next year and is currently in private beta testing. No doubt, it will include search advertising opportunities and in the long term, Twine will tap into the site’s insight on its users to develop a custom advertising system for highly personalised ads and product recommendations. Watch this space.
+++ Face value +++
Microsoft snaps up darling of social scene – FacebookIn a fiercely contested battle with Google, Microsoft has snatched a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240 million, valuing the social networking site of the moment at $15 billion.
Although Facebook is yet to make any profits, its collection of detailed user information from hobbies, to favourite music and location could be used to place highly targeted advertising, a seductive opportunity for Microsoft.
Google and Microsoft were also keen to build a closer relationship with Facebook because it is increasingly being chosen as a home page by internet users, coming up automatically when they log on to their computers, something that has traditionally been a strong point for Google’s search page and Microsoft’s MSN.com.
The deal cements an existing relationship between the two companies that allows Microsoft to broker display ads on Facebook’s US site until 2011. Microsoft, as the “exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for Facebook” will now be able to sell ads on Facebook’s international sites.
However, the companies have not revealed if their partnership includes search advertising as well as display advertising. If not, Google and others could seek a separate deal to sell search advertising for Facebook.
Similarly, Facebook has not yet added a web search application to its interface, another opportunity that all the major search engines would want for themselves.
Inevitably, the deal has raised questions over whether Microsoft has overpaid for a piece of social networking action. Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1bn last year, but its takeover bid was rejected. However, Microsoft’s stake in Facebook represents a crucial morale-boosting victory for the company’s online unit, which has fought hard and lost against Google in a string of deals including AOL and DoubleClick and failed to keep up with Google’s search dominance.
Facebook will be using Microsoft’s cash injection to expand from around 300 employees today to 700 in a year’s time and invest in new services. Additionally, the social networking site is poised to launch a new advertising system of its own that enables advertisers to visit an automated website to place targeted ads on Facebook and other websites. (See Signpost 23).
Next month, Facebook is launching its first office into Europe in London, headed by Blake Chandlee, former commercial director, Yahoo. It is also working on translating its website into non-English languages.
The number of unique Facebook users in the UK has now surpassed those of MySpace, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, the internet research group. Nielsen said more than 6.5m Britons – 20 per cent of all internet users – visited the Facebook site during August, compared with 6.4m visiting rival MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.+++ Search me? +++
Consumers don’t trust search advertising
Only 34% of consumers trust search advertising, according to a global study from Nielsen of over 26,000 internet users worldwide. Other online advertising such as brand websites or subscribed emails was more likely to be trusted with 60% consumers trusting brand websites and 49% trusting ‘emails I sign up for.’
However banner ads and text ads on mobiles were felt to be even less trustworthy. Just 26% consumers trusted banners and 18% trusted mobile text ads.
Unsurprisingly, consumer recommendation was deemed to be the most credible form of advertising, favoured by 78% of those surveyed. This was closely followed by newspaper ads (63%) and consumer opinions posted online (61%).
+++ Location, location, location +++
News International invests in property search
Rupert Murdoch’s News International, publisher of The Sun and The Times newspapers has invested in a new property search engine owned by Globrix, an unlisted company. Globrix is launching a property search engine modelled on a news aggregation business.
Other existing property search engines like Rightmove charge estate agents to market their houses online, but Globrix plans to adopt a similar model to Google by gathering together as many properties online as possible and making money through advertising.
The site will use “spider” search engine technology to guide customers to properties that fit their criteria. News International also owns 50% of a website called Propertyfinder. At least one other website, Zoomf.com, approaches searches in a similar way.
SIGNPOST is published monthly by Internet Search Management Ltd.
The opinions expressed are those of the Editor and not necessarily those of Internet Search Management Ltd.
All material Copyright 2007 Internet Search Management Ltd. All rights reserved.
ENDS
