The Web Uncovered

Online sales are up from last year through most of the holiday season. But it’s the largest Internet retailers that have been the big winners. One reason: Customers are more satisfied with their experiences with big e-commerce companies than with smaller services.
The 40 largest online-retail Web sites achieved their highest level of customer satisfaction during the 2009 holiday season, according to a survey by ForeSee Results, an e-commerce consulting firm. These companies averaged a satisfaction score of 79 on ForeSee’s index compared with a score of 74 in both 2008 and 2007.
But a similar survey of the 110 online retailers that ForeSee works with–which range from large to small–found that overall satisfaction dropped to a 73, compared with a 75 in 2008 and a 77 in 2007. The smallest companies took the biggest hits.
“The strong are getting stronger and the rest of the pack is getting weaker,” says Larry Freed, ForeSee’s chief executive.
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Holiday Cheer Spreads for E-Commerce Giants
December 30, 2009
by Ben Worthen
Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

If it seems like I am writing a lot about Google products, it is because I am.  Lately it seems like Google has become a factory of clever ideas trying to one-up and out maneuver their competition.  Whether it be Google Squared, (I’ll write about this when its up), set to take on Wolfram-Alpha, or Google Wave, which could end up revolutionizing group projects online, Google is always up to something.

This time it’s Google’s Web Elements.  For those of you who read my blog article on Google Friend Connect Social Bar, this is very closely related.  Simply put, rather than having to reinvent the wheel when you want to add basic functions to your website, you can get them pre-fabricated by Google.  This includes:  Calendar, Conversation, Maps, Custom Search, Video, Presentations, News, and Spreadsheets.  So This is how easy it is:  You want to add a calendar?  click on the calendar on the Web Elements page, type in the the size, links to content, whatever they ask.  Then Google prepares a custom javascript snippet that you can cut and paste into your code.  Couldn’t be any easier!  Check it out for yourself.

If you look to the right of this post you may notice a little box standing out.  This is the Google Friend Connect Social Bar.  While Google Connect thus far hasn’t proven to be much a useful tool, the Social Bar is an interesting concept.  Essentially this box allows you to see which of your contacts are visiting the same sites as you.  Also, it can reveal people who visit the same sites as you.  Essentially it can help you build a social network around the websites you use, which has a definite value added that other social networks have yet to address.  

Want to add the Social Bar to your website?  Google makes it rediculously easy.  You simply go to their Friend Connect page and edit the look of your Social Bar.  When you are done they give you custom javascript code, which you simply input in your website code, according to where you want it placed.  It doesn’t get much easier than that!  This is a great tool for those also working to build community around their website.  While it may not be the most useful tool at this point, the underlying technology is definitely something we will be seeing more of.

So for those of you who have a content-based website that you are marketing, you know that search technologies are important.  Not only are these technologies important to understand, but media consumers are increasingly looking at keyword searches and trends to determine legitimacy.  Showcasing your own searches, or searches for keywords related to your product or service, has been impossible.

Until Now.  Google has released Google Trends Gadget, which is available for free.  Still not sure how cool this is?  Imagine you are selling an over-the-counter flu remedy from your website.  When people visit your website, they can see how the search results have increased for the word “flu” at the beginning of the flu season.  Also, it allows for comparables.  The customizable aspect of the tool makes it easy to implement and use.  

The Takeaway:   In the new epoch of microblogging, the term “now” means less “this year” and more “the next fifteen minutes.”  Harness developing technologies to exploit this trend, especially those involved in search technology.

In the previous post regarding Marshall Mcluhan, we talked a bit about interactivity as a means of evaluating media.  As said, the internet is a tricky new world where interaction can be built in many new ways.  Traditional media outlets, like television, radio, and print, are very much a one-way conversation, with them the outlets feeding content to us, the media consumers.  the interesting thing to watch is when traditional media outlets begin exploring new media, and trying to figure out how to effectively choose and place content in new opportunitities.

I read one prime example of this on the Sublimal Pixels blog by Manny Marrero.  In his “Open Letter to Channel 10“, he fumes about his passionate disgust for how the local television network has botched their campaign on Twitter.  Not only does he admonish them for their flood of follow/unfollow moves in an attempt to bolster numbers, but he also calls them out on not utilizing the medium of Twitter.  Rather than creating a space to interact with their audience, the station simply feeds their newslines into posts, without responding or interacting with their “followers.”

The Takeaway:  Before you can effectively market on a specific platform, website, medium, etc., you must know what the experience is for their users.  Only after understanding the platform which you are working with can you adjust the message to fit the medium.  This includes making it cooler/hotter, or more less interactive.

A new technology that could change information distribution is gaining some serious recognition.  Developed by a small team of University of Chicago business students, Bump Technologies has created a Iphone aplication called “Bump,” which exchanges basic contact information instantly, when the two Apple devices “bump” into eachother.  Currently, it only works between two Iphones or Ipod Touch’s that have the application.  However, by creating a standard and implementing it, it could be revolutionary to mobile devices.

The Takeaway: While for now this a great tool for networking, this technology could be developed to bump larger pieces of information, and also create a seamless cross-platform standard to remotely exchange information.  Imagine I could bump my Ipod into your Blackberry, and then within 15 seconds you have a copy of my favorite Bob Marley track.  There is a lot of potential to take this technology and run with it.