The Web Uncovered

For those of you who missed it, there is a new website called WolframAlpha, which was prophesized to be the Google killer, launched last Thursday.  While the hype is mostly hot air, there are some important reasons why we should take note to this new service.   WolframAlpha is a computational engine.  What this means is that it is a database of billions of pieces of information, along with thousands of formulas and models to analyze this data.  Rather than having preprogrammed answers to quiries,... more

Twitter has become increasingly popular as a news source.  While microblogging is anything but content rich, it’s true value added is in its ability to be up to date by the minute.  While in most cases this is not very important to people, there are situations where by the minute is imperative.   There supposedly was a situation at the Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco where the world earthquake spiked as a keyword.  The staff was perplexed, until the earthquake shook their office less... more

Besides the tried-and-true recommendation or reference letter that runs about a page and is mailed (or, sometimes, emailed), there is now a new breed of recommendation “letter”: brief personal and professional endorsements on business and social networking sites such as LinkedIn.  What would a professional profile be without recommendations? One of the best ways an employer can understand what you are all about is from what others say about you.  A great feature of LinkedIn lies in your... more

As the different technologies online become decreasing tied to the youth or the Millenials, new demographics can both be focused on in marketing research, and targetted in content generation.  Social Media Marketing guru Scott Monty shares with his blog readers about the bourgening market of moms.  He says: There’s no question that so-called “mommy bloggers” are an interesting demographic. Recent statistics show that there are more than 36 million of them online, and they definitely... more

According to Hitwise, the past month’s paid search traffic is down 26% from the same time-frame last year.  Hitwise said, “This is no doubt a result of cutbacks in marketing spent due to the recession.”  This analysis, however, seems shallow at best.   The online marketing blog The Marketing Pilgrim suggests a less worrisome reason.  Perhaps companies are no longer paying for their own names for paid search traffic, when their organic traffic is high enough, and of course free.... more

Creating fake websites is a means towards several ends.  While some implementations are funny or catchy, some can be unethical and even illegal.   A Fake website is a website whole sole purpose is something other than what would seem to be the obvious.  One such example is the ever famous petsORfood.com, a website that pretends to sell unwanted pets for food, including species on the endangered species list.  It’s totally believable with its extensive online content, complete with order... more