The Google Blacklist - words blocked by Google

(Mashable Samuel Axon) -

Some folks at the Hacker publication 2600 decided to compile a list of words that are restricted by Google Instant.

Except in extreme and special cases, Google () is known for anything but censorship, but as we’ve said before, there are some terms the web giant’s new instant search feature won’t work with.

We understand Google’s intentions; the team over there is trying to make sure that no one sees pornographic or violent results they might find disturbing unless they really mean to search for them. When asked about this feature a few weeks ago, Google’s Johanna Wright said the restrictions are in place to protect children.

But Google has opened itself up to a potential PR problem, because some of these omissions will be at best bewildering and at worst offensive to particularly sensitive (or progressive) users who don’t understand how Google Instant actually works.

For example, “bisexual” and “lesbian” are among the restricted words. Type them in to Google and the instant search will immediately stop delivering new results. You have to hit enter to confirm, yes, you really do want to know about something in some way related to bisexuals or lesbians.

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Why Did Google Block These Words?

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You can still search for these terms. The issue is that when you type them, Google Instant stops reporting results on the fly, and you must hit “enter” to see results.

That happens because Google Instant doesn’t just use what you’ve typed to display results. It reads data collected over the years about previous users’ searches to predict what you’re going to type. It’s the same algorithm that handles auto-complete, or the Google Suggest pop-ups in the old, not-so-instant Google search. Google searches only display for the exact text that you’ve typed after you’ve hit enter.

When results fail to appear after you’ve typed “lesbian” or “butt,” it’s not because the results are being censored. Google is struggling to prevent the text of offensive searches users have made in the past (there have been other controversies on this subject before) from jumping up in front of you when you’re looking for something innocuous.

Since countless users may have followed the word lesbian with “porn,” generating results inappropriate for children, Google’s algorithm has decided not to immediately throw 20 links to lesbian porn sites in your face when you type “lesbian,” even if that’s the most common search based on the algorithmic data.

When we contacted Google for comment, we received this statement from a spokesperson:

“There are a number of reasons you may not be seeing search queries for a particular topic. Among other things, we apply a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, and hate speech. It’s important to note that removing queries from Autocomplete is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases.

In search, we get more than one billion searches each day. Because of this, we take an algorithmic approach to removals, and just like our search algorithms, these are imperfect. We will continue to work to improve our approach to removals in Autocomplete, and are listening carefully to feedback from our users.

Our algorithms look not only at specific words, but compound queries based on those words, and across all languages. So, for example, if there’s a bad word in Russian, we may remove a compound word including the transliteration of the Russian word into English. We also look at the search results themselves for given queries. So, for example, if the results for a particular query seem pornographic, our algorithms may remove that query from Autocomplete, even if the query itself wouldn’t otherwise violate our policies. This system is neither perfect nor instantaneous, and we will continue to work to make it better.”

Google’s highly effective SafeSearch algorithm still applies to instant search results. SafeSearch can filter out potentially offensive search results quite effectively after a user has hit “enter” — the first page of results for “lesbian” with moderate safe search enabled is completely innocuous — and it works for searches in progress too.

Google’s current implementation is far from perfect — the company rep admitted that. If nothing else, we’d like to see Google manually re-enter safe suggestions for some common terms that have been restricted because they’re sometimes connected with sexual, violent or hateful results.

The rep told us that Google is working on improving the system, but wouldn’t give us any specifics about future changes. In the meantime, check out the complete list at 2600 if you’re curious.

How Facebook users interact with Brands

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum and Mashable.com

While much of finding what works for your business on social media sites is a process of trial and error, recent stats from e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget (which recently acquired social CRM platform CoTweet) shed some light on how the Facebook population uses the site, and specifically, how it interacts with brands.

First, the good news: Based on its study of 1,500 Facebook users, ExactTarget concluded that 38% of online U.S. consumers “Like” (formerly “Fan”) a brand on the social networking site. And the average fan Likes nine different brands, giving you plenty of opportunity to find your way into potential customers’ news feeds.

The news that presents a challenge to businesses looking to benefit from Facebook, however, is that just because someone has Liked you doesn’t mean they’re ready to see your promotional messages. Citing an earlier study, ExactTarget reports that 70% of consumers don’t think becoming a fan equates to opting in to marketing.

Fortunately, ExactTarget didn’t stop there, and did some research into what motivates users to Like companies on Facebook. The results offer some insight into what you can do as a business to keep the fans you accumulate engaged and not hitting the “hide” button in their news feeds. Here’s the breakdown of why users might “Like” your brand, illustrated by the percentage of respondents who said that they use Facebook for the listed activity:

• 40% to receive discounts and promotions
• 39% to show my support for the company to others
• 36% to get a “freebie”
• 34% to stay informed about the activities of the company
• 33% to get updates on future products
• 30% to get updates on upcoming sales
• 29% for fun or entertainment
• 25% to get access to exclusive content
• 22% someone recommended it to me
• 21% to learn more about the company
• 13% for education about company topics
• 13% to interact

On the surface, some of these findings seem to conflict with the idea of users being resistant to marketing messages. But the real takeaway is that users like brands for a wide variety of reasons, and the mix of content you post to your Facebook Page should reflect that.

There’s a bit more to it than that, however, if you dive further into some of ExactTarget’s findings relating to demographics and usage patterns. For instance, 65% of Facebook users only access the site when they’re not at work or school – typically meaning early morning or evening. That means that if you’re making social media only a part of a 9 to 5 work day, you might be missing out on connecting with consumers during the times they’re likely to be online.

There are also differences in how men and women use the site, with women indicating that their primary focus on the site is on maintaining relationships (by a margin of 63% to 54%), implying that they have less time for engaging with businesses.

Hopefully, by combining some of these broader findings with your own analytics and anecdotal successes and failures, you can refine your strategy to grow both your fan base and your levels of engagement.

(CNET) -- For Stanford University student Feross Aboukhadijeh, what started off as a bet fueled by youthful ambition and technical bravado, ended up an Internet hit and quite possibly a job.

Last week, Aboukhadijeh, 19, was just an ordinary, albeit talented, college student as he tested out Google Instant, the Web giant's new predictive search results feature. He was immediatelyimpressed on its debut Wednesday but also inspired. To his roommate, he said, "I bet you I can build YouTube Instant in an hour." And his roommate took him up on the bet.

Aboukhadijeh didn't quite make the hour deadline, but three hours later, YouTube Instant was born. The site lets people search the enormous YouTube video database in real time.

He spent a couple more hours Thursday sprucing up the user interface. And before going to sleep that night, he posted his work to his Facebook page.

"When I woke up Friday morning there was craziness," he said.

By "craziness," Aboukhadijeh means countless e-mails congratulating him, a bevy of interview requests, a server flooded with Web traffic, the creation of a Wikipedia entry in his name, and -- perhaps most notably -- a job offer from YouTube CEO Chad Hurley via Twitter.

Unsure just how seriously to take the tweeted job offer, Aboukhadijeh replied along the lines of "Is this a for-real offer?" Hurley then e-mailed him to set up a meeting, which is scheduled for Monday at YouTube's San Bruno, Calif., headquarters, Aboukhadijeh said.

YouTube officials didn't respond to an e-mail request sent Friday from CNET seeking confirmation of the job offer or meeting.

Aboukhadijeh is just finishing up a summer internship with Facebook, but he doesn't see how that would prohibit his taking a job at YouTube, which is owned by Google.

"I'd like to finish college," he added, which he agreed could pose the bigger problem.

Much like Google Instant, YouTube Instant lets people type in what they're looking for, and the engine guesses what that video is. By design, it plays the video immediately. However, based on feedback, Aboukhadijeh said he's working on play and pause features, among other improvements.

"It's not as useful as Google Instant if you know exactly what you're looking for, since you're shown distracting YouTube videos on the way to your destination," Aboukhadijeh told All Thing Digital's Peter Kafka. "But I think this is perfect for many Internet users."

He built the site using the YouTube API but scraped YouTube search suggestions after Google blocked his server for making too many repeated requests to the search suggestion endpoint. Aboukhadijeh ended up re-writing the site to instead query YouTube directly for search suggestions, "eliminating the round-trip to my server," he said.

Aboukhadijeh, who is from Sacramento, California, said he's been blown away by how quickly his tool went viral and is grateful for all the supportive feedback.

"I'm amazed and humbled by all the attention it's received. So thank you," he said.

But imitation is the highest form of flattery, and it appears he's got that, too. TechCrunch on Saturday pointed to Alabama-based developer Michael Hart, who, inspired by Aboukhadijeh, used jQuery and the Google Maps API to build Google Maps Instant. And the same blogger later pointed to an all-encompassing Instantise page that gives a home to the evidently quickly growing number of sites with instant, predictive search results.

Instantise was reportedly designed by Scottish engineer Tam Denholm, TechCrunch said.

Aboukhadijeh is a majoring in computer science, but his technical expertise has been developing over many years.

Around age 5, when his parents bought a new microwave oven, he took the manual and learned how to turn on the child lock, something his parents never learned to do. That knowledge came in handy when he was old enough to get grounded -- he would lock it up and use it as a bargaining chip.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/14/cnet.youtube.instant.creator/index.html

Twitters Rebirth

By: Adam Ostrow of Mashable

Twitter has announced that it’s rolling out a new version of its web interface. Some users will start seeing the new look as soon as tonight, though the company says on its blog that it “will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks.”

News of the company’s plan to integrate multimedia into the stream leaked out earlier this afternoon, but we’ve now learned that the redesign goes much further than that, with an interface that resembles that of a far more sophisticated web app (as well as Twitter’s recently released iPad app).

The multimedia partnerships we hinted at earlier today extend to 16 different companies:DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi,Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.

Much has been made in recent months of Twitter’s move into areas previously owned by third-party applications. Today’s announcement will no doubt renew such discussion, with many of the best features of Twitter clients like Tweetie, Seesmic Desktop, and TweetDeck now becoming a part of the default Twitter interface. As we also pointed out earlier this afternoon, it also makes Twitter feel a bit more like Facebook.

Twitter CEO Evan Williams prefaced his announcement by mentioning that Twitter.com is already far and away the most popular way for accessing the microblogging service, commanding 78% of unique users (which the company defines as “Of all the people who logged into their Twitter account during the month, what percentage did so via each service.”). Combined with Twitter’s growing need to serve up impressions to advertisers, it’s certainly no surprise that the company is now looking to keep people more engaged on its website.

Stay tuned to Mashable for additional coverage and analysis of the new interface. In the meantime, check out Twitter’s video demo and some early screenshots:

http://mashable.com/2010/09/14/new-twitter-web-interface/

Growing Appreciation for PR on Madison Ave.

Aggregated from: NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/business/media/09adco.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

By STUART ELLIOTT

THE recently acquisitive MDC Partners is at it again, with a deal that is indicative of the growing recognition along Madison Avenue of how much more interested marketers are becoming in using public relations to reach consumers.

Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners in New York, which is owned by MDC, is acquiring a majority stake in Kwittken & Company, a public relations agency in New York with annual revenue approaching $10 million and clients like Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, McGraw-Hill and Thomson Reuters.

The acquisition is costing MDC an estimated $10 million to $15 million. Kwittken will become an operating unit of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal, the second-largest MDC agency after Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Additional information about the deal is to be announced on Thursday by executives of Kwittken and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal.

The transaction is the third in five months for MDC involving a public relations agency; the others were Sloane & Company in New York, in April; and Allison & Partners in San Francisco, in May. And it is the sixth deal over all for MDC since last September.

None of the six agencies in which MDC has bought majority stakes specialize in traditional ad tasks like creating television commercials. Rather, their specialties, in addition to public relations, include social media, database marketing, experiential marketing and analytics.

Marketers want “to find firms that can deliver performance,” said Miles S. Nadal, chairman and chief executive at MDC, which is based in Toronto, and public relations agencies are excelling in “understanding the changing dynamics of the marketplace,” as what happens with a campaign in social media and earned media has become as important as its presence in paid media and owned media.

As a result, Mr. Nadal said, “we love the P.R. space — social, blogging, crisis management, events.”

Although public relations was not immune to the downturn in marketing communications last year, the industry has been rebounding faster than it did during its last slump in the wake of the dot-com bust, the trade publication Advertising Age reported.

“P.R. is taking on a higher strategic importance based on its unique role in amplifying a brand’s message in today’s digitally focused, social media world,” said Lori Senecal, president and chief executive at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal.

Kwittken and her agency got to know each other, Ms. Senecal said, when they teamed up to work on a project for WGSN, a fashion trend forecaster in London. “It went successfully,” she recalled, “so we thought, ‘There’s something more here.’ ”

Kwittken will join operating units of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal that also include Dotglu, for digital and customer relationship marketing; Lime P.R. and Promotion, which works primarily on consumer brands; and Media Kitchen, which offers media services like planning, buying and search-engine marketing.

Kwittken’s services include brand management, reputation management and issues management. The agency was opened in 2005 by Aaron Kwittken and Jason Schlossberg, who had worked together at what is now Euro RSCG Magnet in New York, part of the Euro RSCG Worldwide unit of Havas.

“I really missed being part of a larger organization,” Mr. Kwittken said, “and I’m looking forward to being part of one so like-minded,” in that Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal “is an agency that values public relations and invests in it.”

The 22 employees of Kwittken will remain with the agency, said Mr. Kwittken, 39, who continues as chief executive and managing partner. Mr. Schlossberg, 37, continues as president and partner, and both he and Mr. Kwittken will have minority ownership stakes in the agency. Mr. Kwittken will report to Ms. Senecal.

MDC and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal have been busy lately in adding to the services offered by the agency to clients, which include BMW of North America, Church’s Chicken, Coca-Cola, Mohegan Sun, the Pinnacle Foods Group andWeight Watchers International.

Adrenalina, an MDC agency specializing in marketing to Hispanic consumers, was recently merged with Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal. So, too, were two MDC agencies in Atlanta: Fletcher Martin and TrendCore, which gave Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal an Atlanta office, its first outside New York since 2006, when an office in San Francisco was closed after nine years.

Last fall, MDC described plans to spend $100 million on acquisitions in the coming 12 to 18 months. “Already, we’ve spent $75 million,” Mr. Nadal said, “and we’ve got lots more planned.”

Although “nobody knows what’ll happen in the short term,” Mr. Nadal said, referring to the economy, “we’re going to be in a continued slow recovery.” He wants MDC to be prepared to take advantage of the “consistent spending of a lot of marketers,” he added, even if others are cutting budgets.

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Google Instant - search as you go technology

Something new with Google? The search giant announced today at a San Fransisco conference its new searching protocol, "Google Instant," i.e. search as you type.

In essence, this series of random Google logos over the past few days were not so random. They were, in fact, hints towards today's major unavailing of Google next big move. The search as you type function predicts what it is that you are looking for by generating top searched results as you key.

Go to Google and try it out. Think of a word, then begin to type. Like magic, or perhaps serious engineering, your search word will appear in a drop-down menu; depending on your search criteria, as it supposedly will not encourage adult-themed searches. However, anything else goes, and quite faster than most other modern engines. If you type in the name of a band, off to the left it will give you suggestions for similar artists.

All seems well with Google's new toy, but think about what effect this will have on SEO. All those codes for nothing. All those countless hours of making your intern post key messages.

For now, it seems to be a fan favorite.

What's in a Name...Everything

Taste Tests: Store Brands vs. Name Brands
In CR's latest taste-off, store-brand foods were often at least as good.
By Consumer Reports
Hosted by Wallet Pop
http://www.walletpop.com/consumer-reports/article/taste-tests-store-brands-vs-name-brands

Courtesy Consumer Reports
Any smart supermarket shopper knows that buying store-brand products instead of big names can save big bucks. In our latest price study, filling a shopping cart with store brands saved us an average of 30 percent. If you spend $100 a week on groceries, those savings add up to more than $1,500 a year.
Yet some shoppers are still reluctant to try store-brand products. The top reasons from our recent nationally representative survey: "I prefer name brands," "The name brand tastes better," and "I don't know if store brands are as high in quality." Respondents 18 to 39 years old were particularly likely to question the quality of store brands.
[Scroll down to see the results of all 21 taste tests.]
Shoppers are quite leery of some categories. Although they'll snap up store-brand paper goods and plastics, at least half of our survey respondents rarely or never buy store-brand wine, pet food, soda, or soup. That may be especially true when the category includes a name-brand superstar such as Coca-Cola or Campbell's.
The message from our latest taste-off: Don't be reluctant to give any private-label product a try. In fact, our results may knock some of those iconic brands off their pedestals. Albertsons peanut butter was similar in quality to Skippy; Target's Market Pantry ketchup was as good as Heinz.
Overall, national brands won seven of the 21 matchups and store brands won three. For the rest, the store brand and name brand were of similar quality. A tie doesn't mean the taste was identical. Two products may be equally fresh and flavorful, with ingredients of similar quality, but taste very different because ingredients or seasonings differ. A case in point is ketchup. In Heinz, the spices stand out; Market Pantry is more tomatoey.
Although 17 percent of our survey respondents said that "name-brand foods are more nutritious," we found nutrition similar for most of the tested products. The most notable differences: Mott's applesauce has more sugar than Publix, Ore-Ida fries have more sodium than Jewel, and Kellogg's Froot Loops have 3 grams of fiber vs. 1 gram in Stop & Shop Fruit Swirls.
There's no reason store brands shouldn't hold their own against the big boys. After all, some of the same companies manufacture both. Among the big names that also make store-brand products: Sara Lee (baked goods), Reynolds (wraps, storage containers), 4C (bread crumbs, iced tea, soup mixes), McCormick (seasonings, extracts, sauces, gravies), Feit (lightbulbs), Manischewitz (frozen appetizers, soup mixes, side dishes), Joy Cone (ice cream cones), Stonewall Kitchen (gourmet condiments, specialty foods), and Royal Oak (charcoal).
MORE FROM CONSUMER REPORTS
• Best Deals at 10 Retail Chains
• Supermarket Savings Tips
• Money-Saving Tips
Two examples of a different type of store brand -- "second tier" brands, which may cost even less -- fared worse in our tests. We tasted second-tier Kroger Value Sandwich Singles Imitation Pasteurized Process Cheese Food and Shoppers Value creamy peanut butter, bought at Albertsons. Testers said the Kroger faux cheese is inferior to Kraft and regular Kroger singles. It's salty and chalky, with the artificial-butter aroma common in microwavable popcorn. The Shoppers Value peanut butter is so-so, with off-notes (raw-nut flavor) and a bit of bitterness, probably from peanut skins. Those flaws were noticeable even when the peanut butter was spread on bread. Many chains sell second-tier brands, including A&P (under the names Savings Plus and Smart Price), Safeway (Basic Red), Stop & Shop (Guaranteed Value), and Food Lion (Smart Option).
Bottom line
Almost any store-brand product is worth a try. There's little risk: Most grocers offer a money-back guarantee if their products don't meet your expectations. (National brands often give unsatisfied buyers coupons, but the process might take a while.) And there's plenty of opportunity for reward. "The secret's out," says Lisa Rider, vice president of retail consulting solutions for Nielsen, the marketing-information company. "Store brands are just as good. Store-brand buyers are no longer seen as cheapskates but as savvy shoppers."