Search Engine News

It's Really. Freakin. Hot.

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:18 GMT

I dunno if you believe in global warming. But it's MAY 25TH fergoodness sakes. Look at the outside temp indicator on my car. Which is parked IN THE SHADE.

Can Yahoo Get the Search Monkey Off Its Back?

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:55 GMT

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Yahoo's Search Monkey is released today. Not a moment too soon. My one word summary of what Yahoo needs to do to win: Open. Nothing new there, this is the rallying cry of Yahoo's senior leaders. But perhaps I should add another word: Open faster.

Today Search Monkey, where developers can take Yahoo results and rejigger 'em, opens to the world. It's a good idea. But it's not enough.

I think Yahoo should be far more radical. Yahoo should let folks play behind the curtain. It's one thing to give folks a feed of results and let them mash it up. It's quite a different thing to let folks play with the machinery that produces the results.

No. Way. In. Hell....will Google ever let you do that.

Which is why Yahoo should.

Yep, Yahoo should open the entire works to the world. Let anyone tune the way results are proffered. Now that's open.

Boing Boing, Google, China, Art, Commerce

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:28 GMT

BBtv has a thought-provoking piece on some guerilla art with regard to Google and its China policy. I've written extensively on the background (for more, here). if you want to get to the good stuff quickly (I understand folks are busy,) the piece is long-ish, head to 4.45 min or so.

Discussion can be found here.

Copenda a People Search Engine for Love!

Thu, 15 May 2008 19:28 GMT

You're not going to believe this one…

Copenda is a people search engine that allows people to search for new friends in social networks and dating web sites. Our algorithms crawl semi-structured data from social networks and dating sites such as Myspace, Bebo, Facebook, hi5, friendster, plentyoffish and more.

More people are using the web to meet new people and communicate with their friends. The main places people use to meet new friends or look for dating are social networks and online dating sites.

One of the major problems in meeting new people in social networks is that users need to scan and dive deeply into the profiles to initiate a connection for relationships or dating. Although many users use social networks for dating purposes, the social network user experience is not suited for this purpose. Online dating sites, on the other hand, are designed for this purpose but suffer from low status among the younger generation.

Currently, the only options to perform a cross-site profile search are limited to:

* Google regular text searches. Drawback: these are not suitable for people search, because users cannot filter the search results by gender, age, location, etc.

* Emerging white pages people searches. Drawback: the user must know the name or the email of the desired person in advance, which is not suitable for dating proposes or even when the user just wants to meet new friends with similar interests.

Copenda uniquely integrates an innovative user interface with dating site features such as personality search and social network features such as ranking, comments and tagging.

The new version includes many upgrades, some of them are unique:

* The graphic design was improved to emphasize that Copenda is a search engine - social people search engine.

* Contact me - One of our coolest and unique upcoming feature,the new “Contact me” feature will enable you to contact social networks profiles directly from Copenda without leaving Copenda.The massage will be sent via Copenda from your social network account. Any response from the user who got the massage will be delivered to your social network inbox.

* My Copenda - A personal area in copenda. user will be able to edit personal data, view and manage their favorite profiles,add their social network and dating profiles,invite friends and much more.

* Claim my profile - users will be able to manually add their social network profiles to our search engine and associate existing profiles with their Copenda profile. After claiming their profiles users will be able to manage them and get notifications when other users add comments to any of their profiles. You wont be able to test this feature unless your location is in the US.

* New filter option - Many of you asked us to add the ability to have search results only from your favorite social networks or dating sites. We added a new filter option which will enable you to have profiles in the search results only from your favorite social networks or dating sites.

* Cool people - a new area in the profile page which will show pictures of people in the same area

* Invite my friends - users will be able to invite their Friends to Copenda - the list of friends can entered manually ,
imported from their favourite web mail provider or imported from their favorite social network. Invitation will be sent via email or via their favourite social network.

* Public search API's including mobile support (returning links tomobile version of the indexed sites).

So, I tried a search…

…and there she was - Natasha!

I just happen to live in Faber, VA so…

If she responds, I'll update this post. We shall see. Thanks, Copenda! (Yes, I'm married)

Copenda, it's more than just love - it's a new way to find and meet people on the Internet.

Taguchi Sucks for Landing Page Testing

Thu, 15 May 2008 19:23 GMT

In the world of landing page testing there are two common mathematical approaches: A-B Split testing, and parametric Multivariate testing. A subset of Multivariate testing is known as "Design of Experiments" (DoE) and is also called "fractional factorial". A common fractional factorial approach is called the "Taguchi Method".

Some online marketers consider A-B Split testing to be kind of wimpy, and endow fractional factorial methods with an almost mythical quality.

I spend way too much of my time explaining to people that at least when applied to landing page optimization fractional factorial methods are a really bad idea. Despite this, the illusion persists that this kind of testing is somehow state-of-the-art, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

For a lot more detail (30 pages worth), download the whitepaper - "The Truth About Taguchi".

Testing is composed of two important activities:

- Deciding what to test and coming up with good ideas
- Finding the best solution among your tested alternatives

People claim to get really good results with fractional factorial multivariate testing, and they credit this to the method that they use to analyze the data.

In reality, the improved conversion rates are the results of the great ideas for new landing page elements that go into the test. If all of your alternative landing pages designs are better then the original, it does not really matter what method you use to confirm that. Fractional factorial approaches may actually miss the best version of the landing page in your test and often lead you to a sub-optimal answer.

There is a huge mismatch between the original environment in which fractional factorial testing was developed and how it is usually applied to landing page optimization. It was basically transplanted to online marketing because it is relatively easy for a non-mathematical audience to understand, and not because of its appropriateness or fitness for the task.

The principal drawbacks of fractional factorial methods are:

Very small test sizes
Restrictive & inflexible test designs
Less accurate estimation of individual variable contributions
Drawing the wrong conclusions
Inability to consider context and variable interactions

Despite misinformation to the contrary, fractional factorial methods do not offer any speed advantage over full factorial data-collection approaches (such as those available in the free Google Website Optimizer tool) if you are simply planning to understand the impact of the individual variables in the test (a so-called "main effects" analysis).

If you plan on using parametric (i.e. "model building" )approaches for landing page testing you should always use full factorial data collection regardless of the subsequent analysis you plan to do. It greatly simplifies your test design, and produces better estimates of the main effects.

All parametric methods (including fractional factorial) are also outclassed by newer non-parametric testing methods such as the SiteTuners TuningEngine, which can be licensed to run your own tests in-house and have the following advantages:

Very large test sizes (1,000-10,000 times larger with the same data rate)
Much faster data collection (on the same data rate)
More accurate results (consider variable interactions)
Flexible test construction
No knowledge of statistics required

Hopefully this will set the record straight. If you still have an issue with this, and insist on proclaiming the superiority of fractional factorial methods, tell your statistician to call us and I will have my Chief Scientist beat them up properly.

Yahoo Starting To Geo Target Vistors?

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:51 GMT

There is a discussion at WebmasterWorld forums about Yahoo sending visitors to country specific versions of their homepage.

So if you try and go to Yahoo.com from England or Germany you end up at the country specific version of the Yahoo homepage. Google has been doing this for a long time, interesting that it has taken this long for Yahoo to catch on and drive local traffic to their many country specific sites.

Could this help international search numbers?

Yahoo Responds To Icahn

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:58 GMT

Yahoo's Chairman of the Board Roy Bostock fired back a reply, on behalf of the beleaguered board members Carl Icahn has been trying to replace, stating Icahn had a "significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal".

Icahn had sent an open letter to the board informing them of his intended proxy fight, Kevin Newcombe reported earlier today.

Bostock's letter read:

Dear Mr. Icahn:

We are in receipt of your letter with regard to your intention to seek control of Yahoo!'s board of directors.

Unfortunately, your letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal. A fair-minded review of the factual record leads to one conclusion: that Yahoo!'s ten-member board, comprised of nine independent directors along with Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang, remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo! stockholders.

Conversely, we do not believe it is in the best interests of Yahoo! stockholders to allow you and your hand-picked nominees to take control of Yahoo! for the express purpose of trying to force a sale of Yahoo! to a formerly interested buyer who has publicly stated that they have moved on. Please may I remind you that there is currently no acquisition offer on the table from that company or any other party. That said, we have been crystal clear in our stance that we have been and remain willing to consider any proposal from any party including Microsoft if it offers our stockholders full and certain value.

From the beginning of the process with Microsoft, Yahoo!'s independent directors focused on one central goal: how best to maximize stockholder value. At all times directing this process, Yahoo!'s independent directors carefully considered Microsoft's initial unsolicited proposal, which was at the time valued at $31 per share. After considering input from its financial advisers the board unanimously concluded that Microsoft's proposal significantly undervalued Yahoo! and was, therefore, not in the best interests of the company or our stockholders. While we rejected this offer publicly on February 11, 2008, we could not have been more clear in that communication and in every subsequent communication, both public and private, that we were and are willing to enter into any transaction that would maximize value for stockholders and provide them certainty of value.

The record of our efforts to engage Microsoft in meaningful discussions is unequivocal. Following receipt of Microsoft's proposal on January 31, our board of directors has met over twenty times to review Microsoft's proposal and Yahoo!'s other strategic alternatives. Throughout this process our board kept an open mind and an open ear. Our independent directors met with several of our largest stockholders to solicit their views and to make it clear that Yahoo!'s independent board is fully committed to maximizing stockholder value. In addition, at the direction of our board, our management team met with many of our investors to provide insight into Yahoo!'s strategy and views on value.

Our board's openness also extended to Microsoft. Without reciting all of the contacts between us and between our advisers, the senior-most management of Yahoo! and Microsoft and the companies' respective financial advisers spoke on numerous occasions and met in person seven times. During those meetings, Yahoo! discussed its strategic objectives in search and display advertising monetization, its perspectives on operating strategy and integration in a transaction with Microsoft, its perspectives on transaction synergies, and other non-price deal terms. Because certainty of closing is a critical issue, we sought to understand Microsoft's thinking with regard to the regulatory issues associated with a potential transaction. In fact, at the board's direction, our lawyers on March 28 asked for additional information in this regard, information which was never forthcoming.

On April 15th, a meeting was held at Yahoo!'s request. At that meeting, which included our respective financial advisors, we made clear, once again, that we were open to a transaction with Microsoft. During those discussions, Yahoo! made a detailed presentation of its strategic and financial plan, its thoughts on integration and its view with respect to the potential synergies that could be achieved in a transaction, essentially laying the foundation for Microsoft to understand--and respond to--our board's conclusion that Microsoft's offer substantially undervalued the company. Following that meeting we also provided to Microsoft a list of key non-price deal terms that our board believed were critical items to be addressed in a deal to provide reasonable protections for our stockholders.

Throughout this period, Microsoft continued to state that it would not raise its offer, and even suggested that it could lower it.

Despite this failure by Microsoft to respond in any substantive way to any of Yahoo!'s requests, on May 2nd, the same day we first learned of Microsoft's apparent willingness to increase its proposal to $33 (although this oral "offer" was never delivered in writing and did not include details of a cash/stock mix), our board determined to continue discussions, instructing Jerry Yang to indicate to Microsoft that we would be prepared to enter into a transaction that valued Yahoo! at $37 per share and that provided reasonable certainty of value and certainty of closing. This was communicated to Microsoft in-person at a meeting in Seattle on May 3rd. With Microsoft's offer at $33 and Yahoo!'s counter-proposal at $37, Microsoft elected, within hours, to walk away from the negotiating table and informed us that they were "moving on," having never engaged further on price or any of the key non-price deal terms.

In short, Yahoo!'s board was at every point in this process prepared to enter into a transaction with Microsoft that would maximize stockholder value--and included certainty of value and closing. What Yahoo!'s independent board refused to do was to allow control of this company to be acquired for less than its full value.

That brings us to today. Our business is performing well as evidenced by our first quarter results. As we have publicly stated, our board continues to actively and expeditiously explore strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value. None of the alternatives we are considering would preclude us from entering into a transaction with Microsoft or any other party.

We continue to believe that Yahoo!'s current board has the independence, the knowledge, and the commitment to navigate the Company through the rapidly changing Internet environment and to deliver value for Yahoo! and its stockholders.

We look forward to a productive dialogue.

Very truly yours,

Roy Bostock

Chairman of the Board

Yahoo responds to Icahn’s Letter

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:55 GMT

There you have it, Yahoo Board's Chairman Roy Bostock responding to Icahn's letter to the Yahoo board nominating 10 members of the Icahn's proposed Yahoo Board Members. In the said letter Bostock reiterated Yahoo Board's stand that the current members of the Board remain the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo! stockholders.

Bostock then recounts the events that transpired the past months between Microsoft and Yahoo, to clarify the matter to Mr. Icahn who might have misinterpreted the facts and led him to push through with his own proxy bid. (more…)

Songza: The music search engine & internet jukebox.

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:23 GMT

I've played around with a lot of different music sites, and they've always left me slightly dissatisfied - they don't have the (odd, very odd) tunes that I like, or I have to listen to their selection based on a few of mine, or the interface is poor. Finally however (thanks to lo-fi librarian) I've discovered Songza: The music search engine & internet jukebox. Just look for the tunes that interest you, and it pulls them from a wide range of resources and plays them. Just those. The full version. And you can save them into a play list if you register (free). The only disadvantage is that you can't download them, although there's a link to buy them, or watch videos if they're available.

As you'd expect, there's the social element, in that you can subscribe to an RSS feed, or share songs with friends. Songza will also create a webpage that you can share with people (though I don't really like the orange/brown colour scheme). You can take a look at mine if you so desire, though I warn you, it's a very ... strange collection!

Facebook Puts the Breaks on Google Friend Connect

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:03 GMT

Facebook was onboard with Google's new Friend Connect - until they looked a little closer at how the technology works. Then they suspended Google's access to Facebook.

On the Facebook Developer's blog post “Thoughts on Privacy” it says:

“We’ve found that it [Google Friend Connect] redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.”

Now the post doesn't come out and say their thoughts are not random musings, but an announcement that they are “suspending Google Friend Connect's access to Facebook user information” until they come into compliance. In other words, the application passes information from your Facebook profile to other sites without your knowledge.

As far as we know Google hasn't responded but Facebook says, “We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.” In the post, Facebook said they didn't know what they were agreeing to and that there was never a formal partnership.

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Facebook can’t Stomach Beer Pong

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:06 GMT

Ahhh. The time killing game of beer pong. For those of you who have never played beer pong (or have so severely lost that you no longer remember playing), this is truly a game of whit and fortitude.

All you need to play is a ping pong ball, plenty of beer, and a few cups. Team up, take turns throwing the ping pong ball at your opponents cups (filled with beer of course), and every time you land in the cup the opposing team drinks the beer.

As a favorite game among techies, it was no surprise to hear that the staff from CollegeHumor would be challenging the staff from Facebook to a little beer pong.

What was a surprise is that according to a recent Valleywag article, Facebook was quick to put the breaks on because according to a tipster “Facebook's PR and Legal dept said they can't participate. I guess that's what its like working in corporate America as opposed to a fun Internet company.”

It seems the idea of wasted staff stumbling to cars to drive home from a company sponsored event after a beer pong lashing by the CollegeHumor folks, was too much to take for Facebook's legal & PR reps.

While I can empathize with their concerns, I can't help wondering if this is just a cover-up for an embarrassingly poor field of Facebook beer pong athletes. I mean, what else could explain the PR department thinking chickening out of a beer pong challenge would look better in the eyes of their users?

I suppose we should just take them at their word, but I can't help but wonder.

In the mean time, I might just kill a little time with a beer pong Facebook app, or just bide my time until I run into Mark Zuckerberg, in a bar, next to a ping pong table.

Social Media Evil: Lori Drew and the Dark Side of MySpace

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:05 GMT

The U.S. government charged a mother who allegedly used MySpace in a deadly hoax that drove her daughter's 13-year-old classmate (pictured here) to suicide with conspiracy.

Missouri resident Lori Drew, after her daughter's schoolgirl fights with neighbor Megan Meier, 13, created a fake MySpace account to pose as a boy and flirt with Meier. When Drew began using her online identity to taunt Meier, the girl hanged herself.

The boy Megan had been corresponding with on MySpace unexpectedly began calling her a fat slut. He wrote "the world would be a better place without you." It turns out he was a hoax created by the mother of a former friend.

Drew was indicted today for conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to inflict emotional distress. She faces 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty.

"Any adult who uses the internet or a social gathering website to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences," Los Angeles federal prosecutor Thomas O'Brien, who brought the charges, said in a statement.

The case was filed in California, where MySpace is headquartered.

The suit goes a long way toward establishing and enforcing the boundaries of acceptable and illegal behavior on the Internet in general and social media sites in specific.

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 15, 2008

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:00 GMT

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web....

Billboard Liberation Front at Google (Video)

Thu, 15 May 2008 15:43 GMT

The Boing Boing blog joined the Billboard Liberation Front and the Monochrom group to erect a "great firewall of China" near the Google headquarters company sign in Mountan View, California. Their work starts at minute 5:

One commenter at Boing Boing nicknamed Netsharc argues that he agrees with the protest idea but found the video too "self-congratulatory," asking why China "is China represented with those farmers' hats anyway". Another commenter argued, "It's campy, sure, but it's a parody after all."

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Billboard Liberation Front at Google (Video) | Comments]

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Yahoo’s Monkey Opens Up, I Mean SearchMonkey

Thu, 15 May 2008 15:42 GMT

Three weeks after announcing SearchMonkey and opening it up for a limited preview, Yahoo has finally made the Yahoo search results development platform open to all. To refresh our memories, Yahoo search monkey as an open ecosystem has three components:

Site owners share structured data with Yahoo!, using semantic markup (microformats, RDF), standardized XML feeds, APIs (OpenSearch or other web services), and page extraction.

Third party developers build SearchMonkey applications.

Consumers customize their search experience.

And like I said in our previous coverage, SearchMonkey is similar to Yahoo Pipes for Yahoo's search results page. Adding to what we already know, the Yahoo search blog added that we can build two types of applications using SearchMonkey - enhanced search results and Infobars. (more…)