“Google, known for its all-purpose Web search engine, is adding features to its separate service for shoppers, Google Product Search, that, among other things, will make it easier for users to look for soft goods like clothes – a fast-growing area in the $140 billion U.S. e-commerce market.” – WSJ, November 4 2010

European Union (EU) antitrust authorities allege Google discriminates against rivals in its search results and claims that G even bars some sites from using competitive  ad services with its AdSense contracts.   Specific allegations are that Google makes it difficult for advertisiers to move data live search terms from AdWords to other services.   Wouldn’t you know, these accusations started fro

m an antitrust suit of several companies – one of which is Microsoft.

Google says it’s always tried to “do the right thing” for its competitors. But “there’s always going to be room for improvement, and so we’ll be working with the commission to address any concerns.”

For those unfamiliar with Groupon, they offer consumers deep discounts online for local businesses such as restaurants and salons, with the deal working for everyone if a minimum number of its subscribers sign up for the offer. Groupon takes a cut, typically 50% of revenue from each deal.

Groupon’s Chief Executive Andrew Mason created a site called The Point in 2007 that organized collective action around social or charitable causes. It failed to turn a profit, so Mason retooled it to focus on daily deals for local services. And so Groupon was born. It’s now two years old (or should we say two years young)….

Earlier in 2010, Groupon rolled out personalized deals that target offers to users based on gender, ZIP code and purchasing history. So, Groupon can now serve multiple deals in each market, preventing a business from being overwhelmed by thousands of new customers. This opens up the queue for local merchants eager to participate in a Groupon promotion. The company accepts one promotion for every seven submitted.

Recently, Comscore reported on Groupon’s traffic growth and the question was – “Will Traffic Drop Off”?   Guess we know the answer to that question.

There’s more – - Groupon agreed to have its deals featured on eBay and joined a service Yahoo rolled out that aggregates daily deals from multiple providers, including many of Groupon’s rivals. Acquisitions followed, with three Asian daily deal sites and a California-based technology firm. “Attention Silicon Valley! – We’re HERE!”.

So Groupon remains (for now) independent, but look for an IPO soon. Their originally reported revenues were $400 million, now recalibrated closer to $500 million.

If you’d like to learn more about how better leveraging social media for your business, please contact a CarbonFoot Interactive Digital Marketing Specialist.

The CLOUD

The air was still. Silent.
All but the constant drum of “MS..MS..MS..”
Beyond the horizon, however, a small CLOUD appears.
An APParition

Thin and solitary.

A lonesome spirit in the BIG BLUE.

Suddenly, the winds of change blow gently across my keyboard.
A tingle travels down my spine, disrupting my MEMORY.
Where was I? Time warps.
Something stirs in the air.

An approaching CLOUD
Massive and thunderous in APPearance.

In the streets, DRIVERS stop and stare.
Others gather from near and far, sensing something wonderful in the air.
A gentle rain begins to fall.

The HARD WARE and tear of our grounded existence begins to wash away.
We feel lighter, untethered, carefree, ethereal.

The rain falls harder but the CLOUD defies Mother nature’S laws.
It grows in size. APPearing to become more substantial.

We connect with it somehow – this strange CLOUD gathering substance and sustenance from those it has FREEd from their earth-bound tethers.

We have been changed.
Our CONNECTions to each other have grown stronger.

I pause to take a breath of fresh air and look around me to see a better world.
And so I WAVE goodbye to all those with whom I am now CONNECTed. And they WAVE back.

Wave is Google’s new collaborative, universal messaging platform. It is an open source system allowing developers to build collaborative ‘WAVE” communication objects. So, that means you can connect with communication and collaboration systems like email systems, VoIP, IM, photo-sharing, use WAVE as a platform for building blogging sites, discussion groups, build wiki-like sites, and use WAVEs to collaboratively edit documents.  It includes a set of extension APIs allowing you to build games collaboratively inside ‘a wave’ ,  connect with Twitter, Facebook, etc.  It’s about integration into workflows and appears to that ‘ubiquitous‘ collaboration platform talked about often.  The list goes on, but it’s beauty lies in the ability of each of these apps to interact cross-platform seamlessly.    And, it’s all done in the browser. It’s quite remarkable.
wave.google.com (sign-up to become one of the first 100,000 to beta test it)
code.google.com/apis/wave – API documentation
www.waveprotocol.org – whitepapers and protocol

Check out the demo..

Search Engine News Blog | CarbonFoot

Find the latest news on the major top-tier search engines as well as second or third-tier search engines right here. But let’s face it – the majority of our blog posts will cover Google.

That said – the re-launch of Microsoft’s former LIVE.com search engine in it’s new incarnation – BING , may begin to change the landscape for market share of searches and thus our coverage of not just Google, but Yahoo! Search and Microsofts’ Bing. For now, we’re sticking with the 80:20 rule – or pretty close to that. According to a Wall Street Journal report from June 23, 2009 – As reported by market research group comScore Inc. (SCOR) last week – Google still outruns them all by a mile wiht about 75% of paid clicks, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) in second place with approximately 20% and Microsoft a little under 5% share of U.S. paid clicks.

There are other reports that claim Google’s share is even larger but that was months ago and in terms of the changing search engine marketing world – that equates to eons, but it was TechCrunch that quoted a January 2009 Comscore’s qSearch report that a whopping 90% of searches are conducted on Google published on TechCrunch (see full article: Google Gobbles Up 90% of Search Engine Searches

And so the news continues….

We welcome your comments!

- CarbonFoot Interactive

PS – Don’t forget to check out CarbonFoot’s: Search Engine Marketing Blog that delivers the latest trends, tools and technology on digital marketing. Keep up-to-date with online marketing news. Subscribe today!