Meet the New Ask.com

We've known that Ask has been working on a new version of Ask.com for months, but now it's here. Ask is placing new emphasis on the Q&A side of search, and is injecting the Q&A experience directly into the main search experience, which is what SVP of Product Management Tony Gentile tells WebProNews, sets the new Ask apart from other Q&A sites.

He says they've taken a hybrid approach, utilizing existing partnerships and new technology that's been refined over the last six to nine months, to build a new social Q&A experience that's built directly into Ask's search capabilities. When Ask doesn't immediately give you an answer (or the right answer), you can simply ask "the community."

We asked Gentile to tell us a little about who this community is. Initially, he says, they are using their existing employee base across IAC companies in a private beta. These employees are encouraged to invite their own families and friends to participate. Some journalists have been invited as well. Eventually this will expand. He says they will also implement technologies like Facebook Connect, Twitter, LinkedIn, OAuth, etc. to get users to bring in people from their own networks.

Also as a result of the social media aspect, he says profiles can lend credibility to answers. For example, if you answer a question and your LinkedIn profile is attached to it, that can show your experience in a field related to a question you have answered.

This is where the new Ask.com comes in as a potentially useful tool for businesses. Businesses may want to answer questions about products, and even create relationships with potential customers. An interesting nugget Gentile shared is that in analyzing the questions Ask receives, the majority of them are either related to "how do I spend my time?" or "how do I spend my money?"

Ask has the ability to work at the local level, as well. Gentile says they have the ability to analyze questions of both an implicit and an explicit local nature. For example, if someone asks, "what's the best burrito shop in San Francisco?", that's clearly a local question, and they can route it accordingly to people in and who have visited San Francisco.

Another type of local question, however, is something like "who's a babysitter I can trust?" That's also a local question, but it doesn't name a specific city. Ask says it has the ability to figure it out, and again, route accordingly. It calls upon signals in the user profiles. If a user gives permission, they will use location.

Here are the main features of the new Ask.com (as described by the company):

- Proprietary semantic search technologies: Finds the most relevant, quality answers across the Web, and displays them at the top of the page. No click-throughs required.

- The largest Q&A database on the Web: More than 500 million questions and answers indexed, and the ability to quickly extract Q&A pairs from hundreds of thousands of sources.

- Ask.com community: Leverages proprietary search categorization to route questions and solicit high-quality answers from community members based on their interests and areas of knowledge.

- New user interface: Improved UI makes it easy to ask and answer questions, highlights advancing and trending questions from the Ask community throughout the site.

"Ask's heritage has always been about answering questions – in fact, more people associate Ask with answering questions than any other brand in the world," says Ask.com U.S. President Doug Leeds. "As users continue to embrace the social Web, now is the perfect time to extend Ask’s technology beyond finding pages that have answers to finding people who do as well.  With 87 million monthly users and more than a decade of Q&A experience, Ask.com is uniquely positioned to answer the long tail of questions that are impossible for search engines alone to address."

It's worth noting that Google purchased Aardvark not too long ago, which also calls upon a community to answer questions, but the company's plans for the service are still somewhat unclear. It remains to be seen if that will become fully integrated with the search engine.

"As the Web becomes more conversational in nature, consumer expectations and the Web’s ability to meet those expectations are changing rapidly.  It has become natural for people to ask questions and receive answers online, and algorithmic search alone can only take that proposition so far,” says Allen Weiner, Research VP, Media Industry, Gartner Research.  "There is a huge market opportunity for companies who can get this right." source: webpronews.com

Android Market Sales Commence In Korea

South Korea has a reputation for being home to some of most ardent smartphone users in existence, and Android devices are supposed to be among the world's most advanced smartphones.  It never made much sense, then, that Koreans were only allowed to access free Android apps, and Google's now (mostly) corrected the oversight.

Tim Bray announced on the Android Developers Blog, "As of today, Android Market is open for business to application buyers in the Republic of Korea. . . .  We welcome the people of Korea, acknowledged everywhere as one of the world's most-wired societies, to the world of Android."

There's only one small problem.  Bray also wrote, "We hope that this will make the outstanding Android devices now available in that nation even more useful and fun."  And Matt Brian reported that Android games remain off-limits in Korea due to complications with a rating system.

Still, this development represents a big step forward for Android that's bound to make the mobile operating system significantly more appealing to consumers in Korea.  Its market share - and ability to generate revenue - should improve as a result.
 

eBay Launches Social Media Seller Initiative

eBay sellers who use Twitter and Facebook on a regular basis might soon receive a bit of recognition for their efforts. Something called the eBay Ink Social Media Seller program has launched, and while it's still very much in the early stages, it's not looking like a terrible idea.

Richard Brewer-Hay explained this afternoon on the eBay Ink blog, "We've been working on a program behind the scenes here at eBay that I'm hoping will help promote all of the great online sellers that are embracing social media tools as a way to augment their presence online, ultimately promoting their stores and sales."


The program's payoff: badges that are supposed "to drive traffic to their social media seller profiles and/or their ecommerce stores." Plus, at least at this point, a fair amount of publicity to split between not many folks.

You see, it seems that just six people (@ColderICE, @PowerSellingMom, @thesavvyseller, @galleriagifts, @auctionwally, and @katskloset) have been granted eBay Ink Social Media Seller status so far, meaning the label may be reserved for a fairly special set of individuals. Which would mean the badges could be of real value.

U.S. Launching Program To Detect Cyberattacks On Critical Infrastructure

The U.S. National Security Agency is launching a program called "Perfect Citizen" aimed at detecting cyberattacks on private companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear power plants.

Perfect Citizen would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would flag "unusual activity" signaling an impending cyberattack, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Defense contractor Raytheon recently was awarded with a classified contract for the first stage of the surveillance program valued up to $100 million.

Some industry and government officials with knowledge of the program view Perfect Citizen as overreaching by the NSA into domestic affairs, while other view it as a critical program to fight emerging security threats that only the NSA can manage.

"The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government...feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security," said one internal Raytheon email, the text of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal. "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."

A U.S. military official said the program was long overdue and would not be a violation of privacy.

U.S. intelligence officials have grown increasingly concerned about possible Chinese and Russian surveillance of computer systems that control the electric grid and other U.S. infrastructure.

"Because the program is still in the early stages, much remains to be worked out, such as which computer control systems will be monitored and how the data will be collected. NSA would likely start with the systems that have the most important security implications if attacked, such as electric, nuclear, and air-traffic-control systems," according to the Journal.

NSA chief General Keith Alexander head of the recently created US Cyber Command said in a speech that the role of the agency is to ""deter, detect and defend against emerging threats against our nation in cyberspace."

"All of us in government recognize that we cannot do this without the help of industry, academia and our allies," he said. "Securing cyberspace is a team sport."

Twitter Launches @earlybird Deals Feed

Twitter has introduced a new ecommerce feature called @earlybird which offers "special time-bound deals, sneak-peeks, and events."

"We partner with select advertisers and retweet offers that they have crafted only for the Twitter community," the company said.
"Our advertising partners determine the terms of the offer, including availability, amount, and price. As with other forms of advertising from Twitter, we are focused on bringing value to our users and will keep your interests in mind as we develop this program."

Twitter said it launched @earlybird because many users find the site timely and that it has relevant information. "We believe that surfacing deals through the @earlybird account will help you discover the best of those deals, as well as find and follow accounts that consistently provide exceptional value," Twitter said.

Twitter did not name any advertisers or brands but did say they would large brands initially focused on the U.S. market. The company said @earlybird will feature US-wide offers but it will consider location-based deals in the future.

2 Billion Add-Ons Downloaded by Firefox Users

Mozilla has served its 2 billionth Firefox Add-on download. The download rate has been increasing each year, but Firefox also faces increasing competition in the open source browser market.

This week Google actually took efforts to make Chrome more accessible, and introduced a new category of featured extensions.

Mozilla's milestone is certainly a significant one though, and there's no question that Firefox has been revolutionary in the web browser space.



"This exciting feat was made possible by the huge community of people who have made and used Firefox Add-ons since we launched in 2005," Mozilla says in its announcement. "Over the years, we remained dedicated to building features and products that make Firefox the world’s most customizable Web browser for consumers and developers."

Mozilla has put up a "Best of 2 Billion Firefox Add-ons" list based on feedback. There are 25 add-ons in the collection, with the top one being Adblock Plus.

Facebook Gets Into Customized Data Centers

It's always a big deal when a company like Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft begins to build another data center; the move proves that they've got a fair amount of cash on hand and are growing at an impressive rate. More significant, though, may be the idea of a company first getting into the DIY data center business, and Facebook appears to have reached that juncture.

Rich Miller reported yesterday, "Facebook has decided to begin building its own data centers, and may announce its first facility as soon as tomorrow. The fast-growing social network has previously leased server space from wholesale data center providers, but has grown to the point where the economics favor a shift to a custom-built infrastructure."

The facility Facebook's rumored to be behind is under right now construction and will cover 117,245 square feet in Prineville, Oregon. Unless some seriously innovative construction techniques and types of hardware are employed, it's sure to cost more than $100 million, and data centers often carry price tags along the lines of $500 million.

Then, when the construction's done, Miller writes that it will take about 35 people to staff the data center.

So Facebook does indeed seem to be making a major move. We'll try to relay more details as they become available.

UPDATE: Yep, it's official.

Twitter Earns Itself a Candy Heart Phrase

You know those candy hearts everybody has around Valentine's Day with the little sayings on them? Showing just how much of a stronghold Twitter actually has on pop culture, this year, one such saying that will appear on these candies is "Tweet me."

NECCO, the company that makes Sweethearts announced today that this (and "Text Me") were among the top user-generated choices for sayings to appear on the hearts this year. In the past, they have said things like "Fax me" and "Email me." Twitter hasn't exactly toppled email, but is "all the rage" right now to say the least.

I can't figure out if this is better marketing for NECCO or for Twitter. On the one hand, you will have the increased exposure of the tweeting culture to a wide candy-hungry audience (which will likely include some who have absolutely no idea what tweeting is referring to), and on the other, you will have a generation of Twitterers possibly considering Sweethearts over circus peanuts the next time they go to buy candy. I guess it's a win-win. Sweethearts are also coming in new colors and flavors.

"Sweethearts have long been America's favorite Valentine's Day candy for sharing a sweet sentiment with loved ones," said Jackie Hague, vice president of marketing at NECCO. "The new tastier flavors, vibrant colors and modern expressions will ensure that Sweethearts continue to delight people of all ages and help them say something sweet to those they care about."

"It's great that America chose 'Tweet Me' to be a new Sweethearts saying," said Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, Inc. "Twitter is a new way to communicate in 140 characters or less and Sweethearts have been helping people communicate using short phrases for decades."

There is also an iPhone App that works with a user's Twitter account and allows them to personalize up to five Sweethearts with up to 25-character messages on each. These digital Sweethearts can then be sent to prospective Valentines.
source: http://www.webpronews.com

Bing Makes Out Well In Search Spend Report

A little bit of data from the Efficient Frontier Q4 2009 Search Engine Performance Report has been made available, and it's completely un-shocking in that it shows search marketers are still more than happy to spend their money with Google. The interesting thing, though, is that Bing seems to have gained a little ground on the search giant.

To give credit where it's due: Nathania Johnson is the one who got an early look at Efficient Frontier's report (which is supposed to be released tomorrow). It's thanks to her, then, that we know Google's market share in terms of search advertising spending fell 1.0 percent on a year-over-year basis to 74.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's share stayed steady (at 20.4 percent), and Bing's increased by 1.0 percent (to 5.1 percent).

From Microsoft's perspective, that represents a move in the right direction, at least. And it's interesting, too, that Bing managed to draw revenue away from Google instead of its partner-to-be in Sunnyvale.

As for the future, Johnson wrote, "Bing is expected to grow 30% in 2010, giving them a 6-7% share of paid clicks." The outlook for the whole industry seems fairly bright, too, given that she stated, "SEM spend will grow 15-20% in 2010."

source: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/01/18/bing-makes-out-well-in-search-spend-report

Microsoft pulls Office from own online store

Microsoft has pulled almost every version of Office from its own online store to comply with a court order requiring it to remove custom XML technology from its popular Word software that starts on Monday.

As of mid-day, the only edition available from the Microsoft Store was Office Ultimate 2007, a $670 ‘full-version’ suite. All other Windows editions, as well as Office 2008 for Mac, were accompanied by the message: ‘This product is currently unavailable while we update versions on our site. We expect it to be available soon.

Microsoft confirmed that the disappearance of Office was related to the injunction that came out of a patent infringement case the company lost in 2009. ‘We’ve taken steps to comply with the court’s ruling and we’re introducing the revised software into the US market,” said Michael Croan, a senior marketing manager, in an e-mail.

In the meantime, Microsoft also told potential customers that they can download the free beta of Office 2010, the next-generation suite slated for a June release.

source: http://socialmedia.globalthoughtz.com

Facebook Founder on Privacy: Public is the New “Social Norm”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg claims that if Facebook was starting out now, sharing with everybody would be the starting point, rather than with a small group of friends. Is this more about reflecting social norms or changing them to help Facebook compete with Twitter?

The statement, made during a livestream of the Crunchies awards, hits on a hot button issue for Facebook: it recently notified users of privacy changes via a pop-up notification. While the message claimed that Facebook was displaying the message to give users more privacy controls, blindly clicking “next” was a way to make much of your data public. And in fact, some data like the Friends List has become more public without any settings changes by users.

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Zuckerberg: Sharing is the “Social Norm”

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Zuckerberg’s statement to interviewer Michael Arrington avoids any major “gotcha” quotes, subtly implying that Facebook’s move is a reaction to societal changes but carefully avoiding any mention of Twitter’s () role in those changes. The full quote, picked up in a very well-written post by Marshall Kirkpatrick this weekend, emphasizes “social norms” and “evolution”:

When I got started in my dorm room at Harvard, the question a lot of people asked was ‘why would I want to put any information on the Internet at all? Why would I want to have a website?’

And then in the last 5 or 6 years, blogging has taken off in a huge way and all these different services that have people sharing all this information. People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.

We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.

A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they’ve built, doing a privacy change – doing a privacy change for 350 million users is not the kind of thing that a lot of companies would do. But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner’s mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it.

Change was Inevitable

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Critics of Facebook’s move will probably find support: Facebook’s user base is notoriously resistive to change, and yet nearly every major change, with the exception of the failed Beacon project, has seen a huge surge in popularity for the company. Facebook users were certainly opposed to its expansion beyond colleges, but it’s hard to argue that the service has become less useful as a result.

So now Facebook () is becoming a catalyst of social change, a transition that’s likely to be somewhat painful for all of us. Twitter dramatically lowered the barriers to content creation, and thus sharing our day-to-day lives became effortless. But it was Facebook that took the trend mainstream, affecting 300 million+ people worldwide.

My take: Zuck is right, the change was inevitable. If Facebook hadn’t pushed this forward, Google () would have inevitably made our lives more public in its quest to make all the world’s information accessible (yes, that includes information about individuals). And if not Google, then Twitter … the trend started there and Twitter’s growth would have gradually defined the standard in sharing.

Public sharing as the default was unavoidable, but Facebook has pushed the trend forward faster than any of us might have expected. It’s a concept that will take some getting used to.

source: http://mashable.com/2010/01/10/facebook-founder-on-privacy/

Google To Introduce Click-to-Call (Billing) in Ads on Mobile Devices

Google sent out notification to its AdWords advertisers that this month “your location-specific business phone number will display alongside your destination url in ads that appear on high-end mobile devices. Users will be able to click-to-call your business just as easily as they click to visit your website. You’ll be charged for clicks to call, same as you are for clicks to visit your website.”

On most smartphones, phone numbers typically can be touched (or “clicked”) to initiate a telephone call. This “click to call” scenario already exists for Google organic local listings on smartphones. What Google is saying, simply, is that it will allow phone numbers to display in ads and will charge advertisers when calls are initiated accordingly.

This is a version, effectively, of “pay-per-phone call” but the cost per call is the same as a click — a bargain (generally speaking) for the advertisers to receive a “warm lead.”

source: http://searchengineland.com

Yahoo Southeast Asia Seals Deal With Friendster

Late yesterday, Yahoo Southeast Asia got what may be a big leg up in the social networking arena. Yahoo Southeast Asia established a partnership with Friendster that will see the two entities doing a great deal of cross-promotion in the near future.

Friendster has over 90 million registered users, and about 90 percent of its daily traffic comes from Southeast Asia, so the arrangement is a rather significant deal. Yahoo stands to benefit as Friendster is putting ads for Yahoo services all over users' homepages and profile pages. Then Yahoo will receive some additional exposure when Friendster incorporates its search results.

As for what Friendster gets out of the equation, a Friendster application has already been granted a spot on the Yahoo homepages in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Plus, Friendster users are supposed to obtain the option to link a Friendster account to a Yahoo account.




Both sides seem more than pleased about the arrangement. Ken Mandel, the vice president and managing director of Yahoo Southeast Asia, said in a statement, "Working together with Friendster ensures Yahoo! remains relevant to people by offering the best online content and experiences."

He then added, "This is a major milestone in the Yahoo! Open Strategy, our combined services will enrich the online environment allowing people to get more done faster and in a single place."