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Picture This! Photographers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google

cgseo — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:33:10 +0000

Poor Google. It takes two steps forward, one step back when trying to make progress with its book settlement. FT.com reports a new group of content creators are not happy with the proposed deal: photographers. They’ve filed a new class action lawsuit, because they were, apparently, left out of the one filed by the authors and publishers. Photographers and illustrators were not allowed to join the existing class action suit, and have opted to file their own case…"Google is scanning in books and publications with visual images, which impedes the rights of the copyright holders of those images. We are seeking compensation for that," said James McGuire, founding partner of the New York office of law firm Mishcon de Reya, who is leading the case. Google was this close to getting approval for its $125M book settlement but this new lawsuit could re-open the can of worms for the search engine. While you may ask yourself, why did the photographers wait this long to file their action–I know I’m asking–apparently their intent is not to "crash the party" or influence the ruling in the existing class action. The class action consists of American Society of Media Photographers, Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, and the Professional Photographers of America. Knowing a thing or two about photography , I can tell you that it’s hard to make a living as a photographer–which is why I don’t–so I’m sure any settlement will go a long way to buying new memory cards or the latest strobe.

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Picture This! Photographers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google

Can Kevin Rose Get Digg Out of the Hole Dug By Departing CEO?

cgseo — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:35:07 +0000

Does anyone really care about Digg anymore? It seems like I’ve asked that question before and now it appears that Digg’s original founder is asking himself that same question. I’m guessing he didn’t like the answer, because CEO Jay Adelson is out the door and Kevin Rose will once again assume the reigns of the social bookmarking site. If you go by Adelson’s internal email… Got some news. After five years, forty million users, and an amazing ride, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of Dig…The entrepreneurial calling is strong… …you get the picture that he’s just ready to move on to something new. Whether you buy that or not will depend on whether you believe Digg is still a fresh and exciting company or mature and boring. Personally, I think it has the potential to be both at this point, so I’m not inclined to believe Adelson’s motives. I’m more inclined to believe that the “entrepreneurial calling” was more like a megaphone placed to the side of his head with Rose shouting, “get out, get out, get out!” Indeed, both the New York Times and TechCrunch seem to support the theory that all wasn’t well at Digg HQ. People with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous because of its sensitivity, said Mr. Adelson’s departure was partly due to frustration among the venture capitalists who have invested $40 million in the company but have yet to see a return. And.. …one ominous conversation I had with Kevin Rose a couple of months later stuck with me. “One of us will leave the company,” he told me, venting some frustration he had with Jay… With a new design and new ads close to launch, this is a critical time for Digg. If I were a betting man, my money would not be on any huge comeback from the company. I believe Digg’s had its day and simply didn’t stay current enough. The way we share news has changed (Twitter, Facebook), the way we get traffic to our web sites has changed (Twitter, Facebook), and we’ve changed our focus from quick-hit, transient traffic, to long-term engaged audiences (Twitter, Facebook). The next few months will either prove me right or wrong.

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Can Kevin Rose Get Digg Out of the Hole Dug By Departing CEO?

Twitter TwiesTweaking Homepage

cgseo — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:21:14 +0000

Alright, so the title was lame. It’s been a long time since I even considered overusing the “Tw” that has made Twitter talk funny and incredibly annoying at the same time. Twitter must be really big because this bit of news is about their homepage redesign and not about numbers of Twitter accounts etc. The Twitter blog tells us about this curious new approach by the world leader in character efficiency (how quickly that could slide into deficiency). Gee, you would think that Twitter is trying to make their site experience better so the third party app crowd might consider visiting the mothership. Wouldn’t that help those revenue generation efforts if more users were on the Twitter site to see those pretty ads etc? Anyway, here’s the scoop With the new design, we’re intentionally featuring more dynamic content on the front page, revealing a sample of who’s here, what folks are tweeting about, and the big topics that they’re discussing. The homepage now features a set of algorithmically-selected top tweets that automatically appear every few seconds. It also highlights a random sampling of suggested sources; hover over any of them to see a profile summary and their latest tweet. Trending topics now scroll across the page, allowing us to present a large set of trends using little page real estate. Hovering over some of these trends will show a description explaining why the keyword is (or has recently been) popular. Here’s a picture. That’s cool. Twitter has to get more people to come to the site v depending on those third party access apps. If they are going to be selling advertising (I said if!) they want as many active Twitter users using the site thus being in front of those ……. Well, you get the picture. It appears as if Twitter wants to rid itself of the reputation of being a place where desperate people share the mundane activities of their lives with relative strangers. It wants to play with the big kids now. All of our recent changes embrace the notion that Twitter is not just for status updates anymore. It’s a network where information is exchanged and consumed at a rapid clip every second of the day. With so much being shared, we know that there’s something of value for everyone. People who internalize the value of Twitter understand the power of this simple medium. I find this interesting but not earth shattering. Twitter is obviously trying to rally the troops to make sure that whatever revenue plans they have up their sleeves has the best chance to succeed in a huge fashion. Who wouldn’t? So are you interested in this new homepage format? What else would you suggest to Twitter to make using the Twitter site for access more appealing? Let’em know. You never know who may be listening.

Video Ads Uplifting (to Visitor Numbers and Search Queries)

cgseo — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:19:48 +0000

.Fox, Fox International Channels’ global online ad network, commissioned comScore to study the effectiveness of video ads on brand engagement in the UK last year. Four industries, four campaigns and 300 million impressions later, the results are in: video ads provide “significant uplift” to visitor numbers and advertiser search queries, as MediaPost reports . And by “significant,” we mean significant . Over a four-week period, the average uplift for the four campaigns after users viewed a video ad was a seven-fold increase in site visitors. Consumers were also three times as likely to search on brand terms or relevant generic terms after viewing a video ad. In the press release, comScore said: Confirming expectations and previous industry understanding, video was able to generate a more immediate impact in the first five exposures than display ads in terms of increases in site visitation and search queries; however, behavioural response for those exposed to display climbed steadily as the number of ad impressions increased. . . . The study underscores the fact that consumer search behaviour is positively impacted by the presence of display or video advertising — even in the face of minimal clicks. In each of the four campaigns, search activity increased significantly when consumers were exposed to these online ad formats, suggesting that the last click on a search ad should not be given 100 percent of the credit in attribution studies. So it looks like it’s another example of the principle we shall now call Avinash’s Wife (you know, like Occam’s Razor?): Giving all of the credit to the first click is “like giving all of the credit for marrying my wife to my first girlfriend.” The study also compared the results side-by-side with a print campaign. Compared to print, users were 28% more likely to visit the brand site if they’d seen the video ad, and almost twice as likely to search for the trademark. The study focused on sites in the Travel, Finance, Government and Utilities verticals and used comScore’s single-source panel methodology. A matched pair sample compared the habits of users exposed to the ads with a control group not exposed to the ads, controlling for behavioral and demographic differences. (Meaning: comScore used its panel of UK users and selected pairs of people roughly the same demographically and behaviorally. One person was exposed to the video ad; the other wasn’t. Then they compared the two groups’ behavior.) The study made sure that users in both groups visited the same sites, but the control group didn’t see the video ads. What do you think? Have you seen results from video ads—and how many exposures did it take? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Video Ads Uplifting (to Visitor Numbers and Search Queries)

Google + Sony + TV = 1997?

cgseo — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:25:07 +0000

Remember like 10 years ago when the “cool” thing to do was WebTV? A computer on your television set, with a keyboard and a mouse that worked (sometimes) with no wires ?! Okay, so it was never really that cool—maybe watching TV and computing simultaneously hadn’t been invented yet—and yet Google is partnering with Sony to bring the Internet back to the television. Right now there are a few set-top boxes that offer access to limited Internet content. Google & Sony’s box, with the Android OS, would allow users to access the full Internet, possibly with apps for popular sites like Twitter and Picasa, according to the New York Times . Google and Sony have already tapped Logitech to make some auxiliary devices, including a remote control with a mini keyboard. Isn’t it great? All the inconveniences of your other devices—the tiny keyboard on your phone, the constant distraction of the Internet and the mind-numbing power of the tube—combined into one ultimate time-wasting device. (YouTwitFace?) And before we all start begging that this is a joke and not seriously what Google’s planning to pursue next, apparently this project is several months under way. (But knowing the business world, that probably means they’re still in the paperwork stage, if they’ve even got that far.) (In case you were wondering, WebTV was purchased by Microsoft and eventually rebranded as MSN TV. While they continue to support existing customers, Microsoft finally gave up on selling the hardware last year.) What do you think? Are all things old new again? Or is this another money pit for companies that really don’t need it? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Google + Sony + TV = 1997?

Facebook Readying To Allow Users To Say Where Their Face Is

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:40:50 +0000

Facebook is going to be joining the frenzy to help everyone not only know what people are thinking but also where they are thinking it. As we move more toward a world of this total view of another’s life you can be sure that Facebook wants to be involved. With the rising popularity of Foursquare, Gowalla and other location based “services” it makes sense that Facebook be here. In the bigger picture, however, this is likely to be more about taking on Google for local advertising dollars. After all, money has to be made correct? The New York Times Bits section reports Starting next month, the more than 400 million Facebook users could begin seeing a new kind of status update flow through their news feed: the current locations of their friends. Facebook plans to take the wraps off a new location-based feature in late April at f8, the company’s yearly developer conference, according to several people briefed on the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss unannounced services. In preparation for the introduction, Facebook updated its privacy policy last November. The new policy states: “When you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post.” On reports like this where there is the “unauthorized” source that is talking about unannounced services I always have the picture of a clandestine meeting under a gas lamp picture. Two shadowy figures exchange a note and keep walking on a lonely street in the fog kinda thing. Then I wonder who these “sources” are, if they are really unauthorized or are they part of the new age of PR which is more about leaking information than announcing it. Officially Facebook is staying mum. Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the company wasn’t ready to discuss any possible location-based features. “We’re constantly experimenting with new things around here, but we don’t have any details to share right now,” she said in an e-mail message. It appears as if Facebook will remain friendly to the developer community on this one as well according to these “sources”. With estimates that 100 million users access Facebook daily via a mobile device (which represents 1 in 4 total Facebook users) this service is primed for quick adoption for those who like this kind of thing. As a result there is money to be made and allowing a business as usual attitude with the Facebook development community only makes sense. Of course there will be plenty of concern about security and privacy because Facebook has turned itself into the poster child for how not to do new things and thus open the door to criticism. Maybe this information “leak” is designed to let the air out of any arguments that this new offering will face. I admit, my inner ‘conspiracy theorist’ is strong today. So what do you think about this new, soon to be (we think), offering by Facebook? Of course, the details are sketchy but you must have an opinion on the general idea, right? Chime in. We’re listening but we’re not telling you from where .

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Facebook Readying To Allow Users To Say Where Their Face Is

Google Gets EU’s Attention Again for Street View Images

cgseo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:22:12 +0000

If Google hasn’t gotten the message by now then they never will. The European Union has a bee in its bonnet about all things Google. It almost feels like there is an issue du jour as of late. The threat of anti-trust inquiries is the latest to surface out of the regulatory body and just to show that they are paying attention to everything Google does there is some concern over the Google’s Street View again. The troubles are concerning how long Google keeps raw images in storage. These are the original photos taken that are then altered by blurring any potentially sensitive information like faces and license plate numbers. After this process is done then the photo is put into the Street View system. It’s how long the original images are kept that has the EU concerned. Yahoo! Finance reports European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company’s legal worries in Europe. Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, regulators also said in a letter to the company obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. In a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year is “legitimate and justified.” (I wonder if the people over at Yahoo don’t giggle a bit when they put these stories up but I digress.) Google has had a rough time with this service in Europe since its inception with Greece demanding they halt the picture taking , German authorities forcing the company to remove images from those who request it and the pitchfork and torch crowd in an English village that attempted to stop the Google Street View car from getting to its appointed rounds. So it appears that the EU has decided that Google may indeed be evil. While these initial salvos look like shots over the bow this could be laying the groundwork for bigger attacks. What is your reaction to putting Google under the microscope? Is it warranted? Is it about time? As these events keep happening there will likely more well defined pro v. anti Google camps. Where are you setting up your tent?

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Google Gets EU’s Attention Again for Street View Images