Searching the Globe

In today's Search Insider, I use yesterday's historic events as a springboard into the International search sea. I first lay out the challenges to integrating a global search program and then (in true "solutions, not problems" fashion) outline resources available to navigate theses murky waters. Here's the blurb...

Global Search Integration: Yes We Can
Obama's inauguration got me thinking about how much work the U.S. has to do to improve its standing internationally -- and all the hurdles in its way. It's not unlike the laundry-list of challenges that search marketers face when trying to centrally manage global search programs from the States. Here are some of the key differences that make international search integration difficult.

The Privacy Lobby

(The privacy lobby, hmm -- sounds like something out of Eyes Wide Shut... the password is Fidelio.)

I just came across this piece in Media Post about a group of privacy advocates that recently met with Obama's FTC transition team to "urge that the government more aggressively regulate the online advertising industry."

One of those advocates, Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection at the Consumer Federation of America is referenced as saying, "her organization was concerned that some consumers could face tangible consequences due to behavioral targeting. For instance, she said, companies could potentially use information gleaned from tracking people online to make different offers to different people."

Stop the presses! Companies could use online data to show different offers to different people!?! We must get the word out! This could be catastrophic. Imagine if all those erectile dysfunction emails were only sent to older men. Of if ads for diapers were only shown to adults with young children. How infuriating would that be!?!

As folks who are hip to my Highly Targeted eBay experiment will know, I believe we need to focus less on protecting consumer's privacy and more on helping them profit from all the data that's available about them online. Rather than spook people with stories of big brother watching, let's show them the value their data offers to marketers such as, gasp... providing different offers to different people.

Search Reputation Management - Officially Top of Mind

As a native Chicagoan, I've been paying close attention to the scandal surrounding Governor Rod Blagojevich. For anyone that's been under a rock, the short story is that he stands accused of a number of wrongdoings -- the most recent of which is trying to "sell" Obama's Senate seat.

One of the people identified as a candidate for that seat is Jesse Jackson Jr. and I found it amusing that his biggest concern with being implicated in this scandal is the Google listings for his name. Here's the excerpt from the CNN story...

"And U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who was identified as 'Senate Candidate 5' in the criminal complaint, said he is trying to get 'my name back.'

'I'm fighting now for my character, and I'm also fighting for my life,' he said. 'This is about my children being able to Google their name in five years and there be nothing there associated with them that suggests anything wrong.'"

I thought it was extreme to say "Search is God" but apparently now it's a matter of life and death as well.
Zoiks!

The Long Tail is Alive and Well

I just read that Barack Obama raised $750 million for his campaign. That's a staggering amount of money but what's more incredible is that he did it the Google way -- a few bucks here and a few bucks there. In fact, Obama received contributions from over 3.95 million individuals. That makes the average campaign donation about $190.

Had Obama catered only to the "head" of the fundraising curve (ie, big donors or the Treasury's public financing) he'd have come nowhere close to these numbers. By diversifying his donor base and making it easy (and cool) to make donations of as little as $25 through social media plays like My.BarackObama.com and Facebook outreach, Obama showed an acute understanding of the power of the Long Tail.

So to all those that insist the Long Tail is dead, I say, don't ever try to run for office!

Googling the Next President

Tooled around with Google Insights a bit to see if query volume is a good barometer of voter intent. Check out the full post on the RM blog and stay tuned for the update tomorrow to see if the numbers hold up.

Update 11/5: Sure enough, Barack Obama can now add President of the United States to his title of King of Search Volume. So, Magic Obama 8 Ball, can we rely on Google Trends to help us gauge the sentiment of the nation?

The Debate - 140 Characters at a Time

Here's my tweet-coverage of last night's debate. Contrasting it against the first debate based on pure Twitter volume, I either paid a lot less attention or there were fewer sound bytes this time around.

Agree with the pundits. McCain took the first half hour. Then his odd mannerisms and negative attacks overshadowed it. 10:12 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

Methinks McCain overdid the post-game handshake there. 9:32 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

Finally a "my friends" drop. 9:28 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

Accountability and Transparency. Who needs them more -- politics or marketing? 9:26 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

Obama almost said Maverick activity but caught himself and went with Cavalier. Kick save and a beauty. 9:16 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

McCain seems to be winning the CNN sentiment-o-meter. 9:11 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

@schmogel, I say, I say that's cockammamie! 9:08 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry in reply to schmogel

Nice. McCain just said bresh of freth air. 9:05 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

I like the word repudiate. Might even prompt me to get http://goodwordbadword.com/ going. 8:34 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

This sentiment meter on CNN is too distracting 8:22 PM Oct 15th from TwitterBerry

Who Needs CNN...

... when you can get full Presidential debate coverage via Twitter? Here's Friday night's Tweetstream from the folks I follow and me:

davidberkowitz wonder what % of tweets election.twitter.com is covering - don't think a new post a second will cover it. hooked on this far more than tv 10:13 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterFox

schmogel Screw pork barrel spending on DNA research on bears, palin asked for DNA research on seals. Very different, smarter allocation of tax $ 10:08 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

schmogel Who to watch afterwards? Let's start with MSNBC. 10:02 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

bmorrissey cindy's pant suit is alarming. 09:38 PM September 26, 2008 from web

aarongoldman Obama's really gotta do something about that spittle on his bottom lip. 09:34 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

brysonmeunier mccain blinks like he's in a sandstorm 09:34 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterFox

schmogel If I am keeping score correctly, Obama doesn't "get" A lot of things. He just doesn't understand. 09:33 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

bmorrissey interesting strategy (tactic?) of obama to agree w mccain and give him credit frequently. 09:31 PM September 26, 2008 from web

aarongoldman Why is McCain taking notes with a Sharpie? Is his eyesight that bad? 09:30 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

aarongoldman McCain sure is well traveled. Nary a country has been mentioned that he hasn't been to. 09:23 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

schmogel Q: how do you see Russia? A: I see Russia from my backyard. Forshadowing if the use the same questions for VPs 09:20 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

brysonmeunier how can someone who says my friends so often be so rude. obama could stand to be a little more rude, however 09:18 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterFox

maxkalehoff The sentiment meter on CNN was offensive, distracting and belittling, so I watched the presidential debates on PBS instead. 09:17 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

brysonmeunier wondering if mccain is doing soduku, but think his scribbling is intentionally distracting anyway. 09:13 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterFox

schmogel 2nd Bingo of the night. Straight talk, maverick, mother of soldier, weapons of mass destruction, can't tolerate 4 more years. I'm the bi ... ... 09:08 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

bmorrissey the league of democracies sounds like the elks club, only w countries. 09:04 PM September 26, 2008 from web

aarongoldman @schmogel, Is that an upgrade? 09:01 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry in reply to schmogel

aarongoldman My bracelet is bigger than yours! 09:00 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

schmogel @aarongoldman. Now McCain is going to link himself to Reagan. 09:00 PM September 26, 2008 from txt in reply to aarongoldman

davidberkowitz really would love a commercial break during the debate. what if a candidate has to go to the bathroom? 08:58 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterFox

aarongoldman Is it Pah-kistan or Paa-kistan? 08:54 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

aarongoldman Obama keeps linking McCain to Bush. Almost robotic. 08:52 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

aarongoldman McCain says Obama would've "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory." Gotta give it up for good verbiage. 08:51 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

schmogel I know A lot of people who don't know the difference between a tactic and a strategy. Glad to see it crosses industries. 08:47 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

aarongoldman @unsavory, McCain just accused Obama of not knowing the difference between a strategy and a tactic. We should invite him to our next offsite 08:47 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry in reply to unsavory

aarongoldman Second time McCain said he's not "Ms. Congeniality." Awkward mental picture. 08:44 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

aarongoldman Did Obama just say "orgy of spending?" Loving the soundbytes! 08:38 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

bmorrissey well, didn't expect orgies to come up in the discussion. 08:38 PM September 26, 2008 from web

schmogel BINGO. Off shore drilling, war in Iraq, free space, pork barrel spending, main street. Bonus for google. 08:38 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

worleygirl It's killing me that I'm not watching the debates live. Just seeing tweets. As soon as the boy's in bed, I'm on. 08:36 PM September 26, 2008 from web

bmorrissey somewhere, drill, baby, drill is being chanted. that somewhere is not the upper west side. 08:34 PM September 26, 2008 from web

aarongoldman Did Obama just say "Google for government?" 08:32 PM September 26, 2008 from TwitterBerry

schmogel @jeffmarshall. Yes. Botox. He knows HD is not forgiving. Perhaps he should have bleached his teeth too. Look your best losing. 08:31 PM September 26, 2008 from txt in reply to jeffmarshall

jeffmarshall How about we answer the questions candidates? 08:30 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

worleygirl Interesting...regular twitterstream is much more Obamalicious while #debate08 tagged tweets are more McCainy. 08:18 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

bmorrissey love the split screen. essential for debate viewing. i hope interactive tv of the future will let me choose always-on for split screen. 08:17 PM September 26, 2008 from web

jeffmarshall I'm putting $$ on the possibility that McCain Botoxed his forehead 08:11 PM September 26, 2008 from txt

bmorrissey love the politician hand shake with the one hand on the forearm. disarming when it's done to me by some ad exec. 08:03 PM September 26, 2008 from web

President Unplugged

Lee Gomes of the WSJ is my new muse.

After reading his misguided rant against the Long Tail (which inspired Tuesday's post) I decided to see what other topics he had weighed in on.

Sure enough, I found some good fodder in his July 30th piece -- Note to Next President: Avoid Computers.

Think Different

Gomes argues that the president of the U.S. should not spend more than 20 minutes per day on a computer. "The severe time rationing is necessary because a computer, far from making you more productive, instead loads you down with things to do, and it's important for the machine to know who is boss."

After all, "Does anyone who spends all day in front of a PC, forging a river of data posing as information, have any time to think?"

So what does Gomes propose the leader of the free world do during his 20 minute daily allotment? "The president could use his computer time any way he wished: a favorite blog, YouTube videos, a mind-clearing game of Spider Solitaire. "

Gee, Lee, if that's how you spend your time online, no wonder you think computers make you less productive.

Carbon Copies, er... Footprint

Gomes goes on to posit that "the president wouldn't need to worry about his email inbox; a staff would be standing by ready to handle it. Memos, position papers, summaries of newspaper reports and all the rest, would be delivered via printouts, since words on printed paper appear to have more of an impact than words on a flickering screen."

Besides the obvious environmental concerns with printing out all the email the president gets on a daily basis (I'm sure Al Gore would have a field day with that one), I'm not convinced a computer illiterate president would be equipped to run the world's technological superpower.

Series of Tubes

How could the president possibly set policy on issues like net neutrality, digital copyright, cookie privacy or anti-competitive monopoly without an understanding of how the web works and what the difference is between an OS and an ISP or a portal and a search engine.

And beyond those issues that touch those of us in the digital marketing and media world, how could a tech neophyte be an effective commander-in-chief of an armed forces that conducts most its communications and warfare deployment electronically?

Do We Really Want our President ROTFLMAO?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting the president forgo meetings with heads of state in lieu of email or IM chat. ("Hey Putin - Georgia War? WTF! When R U going to pull out? LMK.")

But again, I go back to the pendulum analogy. We need a president that can speak the language of technology without being tied to it. With the constant innovation in the space, I don't think 20 minutes a day is going to cut it.

Heck, that's not even enough time to watch the videos on YouTube making fun of you.

Update 12/15: Behold the issue with politicians not understanding how to use technology... Apparently, the McCain/Palin campaign sold off Blackberries without erasing contacts and emails.