John Battelle's SearchblogThoughts on the intersection of search, media, technology, and more.Google China: Congress Wakes Up- January 26, 2006 I'm still thinking about this, but this is an interesting development. Yahoo and Microsoft can go into China no problem, but once Google does, then the US Congress gets into the act....http://battellemedia.com/archives/002268.php Yahoo: All About My- January 26, 2006 Om reports from a Yahoo retreat (I wanted to go, but had a school board meeting, sounds like it was really interesting!). My contention is that forget search, because Yahoo has something better than that. My.Yahoo.Com is no longer a portal page, but instead an &8220;attention page&8221; which can be and should be leveraged to become the aggregator site for complicated digital life. I consider search the interface for all this, in fact. Om also notes that Yahoo's new Chief Product Officer, Ash...http://battellemedia.com/archives/002267.php HumpDay- January 26, 2006 Long week here in Searchblog land. And much, much happening. Here's my roundup. I am working on longer posts on GoogleChina and Nexidia (an interesting phonetic search company) but running out of steam for today. FM, the company we're building so that creating Searchblog-like sites is easier, is taking a lot of time right now, but I expect that to slow a bit later in the month. Meanwhile.... Andy finds an odd Googlebug. Seems to push IE users to download Google Desktop. More here. Slate has fun.http://battellemedia.com/archives/002266.php Pontiac Says: Google Proves It- January 26, 2006 GM says Google Pontiac. Perhaps the first time a major (and I mean really major) marketer has used search marketing so directly in a television campaign. From the MediaPost coverage: Television ads often stimulate Internet search behavior by increasing brand awareness or sparking curiosity, as often demonstrated by Hitwise. But this GM spot was significant because it ended with an unusual call to action: "Don't take our word for it. Google Pontiac and discover for yourself." And the...http://battellemedia.com/archives/002264.php Here Comes Google China- January 25, 2006 As reported earlier, Google decided to go into China a while ago. I spoke to Sergey about this very question a year ago, and he expressed his reservations and his thinking - on balance, Google in China, even if it's playing by the Chinese government's rules, is a good thing. Weds, Google will make it official (Seattle PI). They're in - they're not standing up to the Chinese government. (Apparently, the DOJ and Wall St., Google can say no to. China....not so much.) The site will be google.cn...http://battellemedia.com/archives/002263.php |