Why isn’t there a better way to categorize friends in Twitter?

I have to confess, I fiend for the Twit, I love Twitter, I can’t get enough of it!
That being the case, I have to ask myself ,what is that important on Twitter that I have to have it on a PermaTab on my Firefox browser?
It reminds me of watching MTV. I mean the old school MTV that actually played videos all day.There was something so hypnotic and addictive about sitting through those 25 shitty videos, to see that 1 kick ass Beastie Boys video. But even that got old really fast.

Twitter is the same to me, because half the stuff that is tweeted, I don’t really care about. Either, because it’s not relevant or because it is some abstract reference to an inside joke between friends that I just don’t get or care to get.
But this brings me to my point, We need to have a better way to organize our followers and friends.

I really hope with all the wonderful apps. on deck for Twitter, that someone can develop a way to categorize friends and followers. Possibly, something like Twitter channels or stations, based on interests. Or, If we had the option to group friends and followers by tag based categories and sub categories. Anything to allow us to tame the crazy beast, that’s taking over my life.

With the popularity of Twitter growing ,this is going to be become more and more of a need.

How to use the New MSN Ad Intellegence PPC Tool like a Pro

A look at MSN Ad Center- Ad Intelligence Excel plug in.

Now that the MSN Ad Intelligence Excel Plug in has been out for about 3 months, and I’ve had a chance to use all of its features, attended a webinar and read all possible documentation on it; I decided to put together a quick start guide for those interested in adding a new and useful tool to their PPC bag of tricks. OR for those who have downloaded it already and are wondering “what the hell do all of those colorful little buttons do?”

This will be a 3 part series of posts. In the first, we will cover all of the buttons on the Excel toolbar and what they do. The second will discuss various uses for each of the buttons/features and a more detailed analysis of algorithms’ and techniques used by MSN to gather the data for this toolbar. The third will discuss various uses and combination uses with Google Adwords editor.

Keyword Extraction
Extracts commonly used keywords from a given website address, which allows the user to see what keywords are in popular use on that site. Great for competitive analysis and finding new keywords.

Keyword Suggestion
Enables quick generation of a large list of relevant keywords from an initial list of Keywords entered. Works something like the Google Suggestions or Yahoo.

Campaign Association
An algorithm option under Keyword Suggestion. Keywords are suggested based on association and on competition/ advertiser’s keyword bidding behavior.
Another great option to find new, niche keywords.

Contained
An algorithm option under Keyword Suggestion above. Keywords are suggested based on past user searches that contained those keywords.

Similar
An algorithm option under Keyword Suggestion above. Keywords are suggested, which are similar in context to other keywords used on the World Wide Web.

Search Buzz
Returns the top keywords by vertical market, for the given time period. Two keyword trend research options are offered Date Ranges available: past 1, 10, 30 or 60 day period or a custom range

Monthly Traffic
Allows the user to look at monthly historical and future, forecasted query counts for the given keywords. Date ranges available: past data for 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 month period forecasted for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months

Daily Traffic
Provides the user with daily query counts for the given keywords. Date ranges available: past data for 1, 7, 10, 30 or 60 day period — or you may specify a time period.

Keyword Categorization
Input keywords, then the algorithm suggests a category based on the Microsoft Contextual Taxonomy.

Geographic
Provides location information of searchers for specific keywords (user can specify country, state or city) about the input keywords within a set time period. Date ranges available : past data for 1, 7, 10, 30 or 60 day period — or you may specify a time period.

Demographic
Provides demographic information on searchers (by gender, age group) about the given keywords within a set time period. Great research tool to use for a PPC Demographic targeting tests. Date ranges available : past data for 1, 7, 10, 30 or 60 day period — or you may specify a time period

Advanced
This feature allows users to set the algorithm parameters for the features to suit their preferences, algorithm or needs.

Options
This feature allows users to change general settings, KSP server settings and algorithm Settings, to suit their preferences or needs.

Monetization
This feature allows users to gather KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Monetization Information for the selected keywords. This feature has two sub-features: Monetization and Vertical KPIs as described below. Date ranges available: past day, week or 30 day period.

Monetization KPI
An option under monetization above. This feature provides KPI information about clicks, impressions, position, click through rate, cost per click, and match type within a date range. Date ranges available: past day, week or 30 day period.

Vertical
An option under Monetization above. This feature returns KPI Monetization Information for selected verticals and keywords within a date range. Date ranges available: past day, week or 30 day period.

Top Spiky Keywords
Returns the keywords whose trends are sudden and spiking (i.e. not overall popularity, but demonstrate flashing and surging popularity). Similar to Google Trends , but still has a long way to go. Date Ranges available: past 1, 10, 30 or 60 day period or a custom range.

Top Frequent Keywords
Displays the keyword trends for the overall most popular keywords. Date ranges available: past day, week or 30 day period.

Keyword Wizard
The Keyword Wizard button assists users in implementing all applicable features available. Wizard through the program in order to set up a working keyword profile.

This tool would be a lot more useful if MSN could manage to scrape up a little more than 10% market search share. Because the reality of it is, not only does MSN hardly provide enough traffic, but the traffic they do provide is extremely inconsistent.

It fluctuates week to week with no rhyme or reason. Their interface is constantly running at the speed of molasses. And their customer service is practically nonexistent, and that’s with a dedicated rep. Now, with all that said and out of the way, I like the tool. It’s genius is that it integrates right with excel. Granted, MSN tool looks much cooler than Google Adwords Editor. But, Adwords Editor is sooo much more useful in day to day PPC management and development than the MSN tool.

Although used in combination, they add a powerful tool to your PPC war chest. (And if anyone from Google Adwords Editor Team or MSN Ad Intelligence team is reading, why not steal the others idea and develop a tool that incorporates the great research and historical data features in the MSN tool, with the practical and useful features for creating, editing and manipulating Google Adwords account data with Adwords Editor. ; )

 

13 things you could be doing with RSS, that you probably aren’t!

Slicing, Dicing and Splicing RSS like an Iron Chef

RSS is my friend, without it I could never stay current with the 200+ feeds I subscribe to. But besides just aggregating feeds from my favorite blogs, I have found several other cool uses for my RSS reader, which allow me to save both time and money.

The RSS reader is a great place to find new content. From ideas for linkbait to images for your blog post. With the right feeds and settings the possibilities are endless ,but in the meantime, here are a lucky 13 to keep you busy.

1 –

Here is a RSS mashup on Yahoo Pipes that makes your boring old Digg RSS feed into a SUPER Digg rss feed. It adds category information, submitter information (with a link to the users page), Digg count, number of comments, etc..

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=_Dj0DgMi3BGIx3_Sp2IyXQ

2 –

Here is a Yahoo Pipes mash up that works with Digg, Delicous, Reddit and slahdot. With this one you can filter and search by keyword, user profiles , and tags.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=GGZDQ1e32xGMXWKzXqIxGw

3-

This pipe enables you to monitor what the world is saying about your brand, company, product or url. It checks Google Blogs, Technorati, IceRocket, Blog Pulse, Yahoo News, MSN News and Google News

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipes.popular?page

4-

Here is a simple Yahoo and Google News mashup , which allows you to filter and customize the feeds.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=1nWYbWm82xGjQylL00qv

5-

The idea behind this mash-up is to find questions that aren’t getting answered on Yahoo Answers and also helps you filter the results to make finding new content easier and faster.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=8rNEOVjd2xGieN8Vdrq02Q

6-

Combine your facebook status with blog feeds, news searches, twitter, last.fm flickr and youtube.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=7Jqm__RE3BGGJIWUyjUFzw

7-

A combination of New Yorker, New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair feeds. This pipe also allows for customization of all the results.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=1qj9XFW32xGgtAairuymrA

 

8-

To create a mashup for ANY RSS feed, check out this tutorial on building a really easy RSS filter with Yahoo Pipes.

http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2007/08/a_simple_yahoo_pipes.html

9-

Get notified of the BEST deals before the sell out.

Subscribe to a category on craigslist, ebay or other time sensitive shopping sites to find great deals first. Subscribe to specific items for sale or categories to find GREAT deals on everything from clothes, to electronics. I personally have used this to buy some IKEA furniture for about 75% off, a 24″ ViewSonic Flat Panel Monitor and several other items. Saving over $1k!!

Heres a link to an RSS Craigslist Search Script to filter your feed results.

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/001440.html

Here is a RSS / Yahoo pipes app called Craigslist price watcher.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=9gMLgKK52xG6PNm8jwtvUw

10-

Finds deals from all major deal sites in US… Fetches deals simultaneously by running parallel threads… Sorts deals based on publication date of the deal (latest first)… Usage: Enter one word (e.g., dell) or an Exact Phrase (e.g., Core Duo) per filter

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=_E8FgV_42xGWa5pfZVUMqA

11-

Webpage-to-RSS Pipe generates RSS from any webpage which doesn’t have native syndication. It utilizes a data mining service called Feedity ( http://www.feedity.com ) to dynamically build the RSS, and then only return unique items. This pipe accepts the URL of the source webpage for which the feed is to be rendered, and it returns a valid RSS for reuse in other pipes. This pipe is designed to be used as a modular sub-pipe in your own pipeline. Clone and reuse!

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=NlNQKdO62xGAq1ZgZoQMOQ

12-

Track the latest Stumbles on StumbleUpon. Use your RSS reader to track your friends or those you are a fan of on StumbleUpon. Simply find stumblers whom are active and share the same interests and subscribe. This allows you to always stay ahead of the curve in the never ending pursuit of quality content.

13-

Don’t find a mashup, filter or feed you like? Go ahead and create your own. Check out Yahoo pipes and either start one from scratch or build onto an existing one.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/

Proof that the Goverment is manipulating and watching user behavior in the Online Social Media Space!

“Watch out Uncle Spam is watching what your up to on Social Media!”

 

Check out this PowerPoint presentation I found on Google. It is entitled – Social Media -2007 Web Managers Workshop- by: The World Bank-US Government

It was presented to conference of Government webmasters and IT professionals earlier this year.

The presentation starts off friendly enough: “To encourage All Govt. Staff to use RSS readers to more easily monitor Government Properties online.”

Then it starts taking a darker turn when the Government starts to express how very scared they really are of the power of social media. So scared in fact , that they are providing their employees with tips on Social Media Optimization or better said Social Media Manipulation. How to’s on inserting themselves into the social “conversation” to manipulate and drown out any content they deem inappropriate. I believe they are walking a very fine line by encouraging employees to consciously and artificially drown the social space with propaganda. And they should be put on blast on all Social Media spaces to make sure to out the Government moles placed there solely to bury content or vote down videos on Youtube.

According the The World Bank and US Government Presentation :

“A Successful Social Conversation is:

 

· Authenticity

· Passion

· Trusting Staff ( Accidental Spokesperson)

· Putting Spin on Hold ”

 

· Putting Spin on Hold???, WTF, Is this one of the rules or pillars I missed?

And the presentation even goes on to encourage Government employees to submit videos to YouTube, and edit Wikipedia. Yes that’s right you read that right , the presentation put together by the Govt. and World Bank , encourages its employees to post videos to YouTube and edit Wikipedia on Govt. and taxpayer time.  I’m damm sure they are not going to post anti government messages. (Remember the article where the Govt. was outed for editing wiki?) I mean for a corporation to do this, even though its a bit slimy I can deal, but for the Government to instruct its webmasters to purposely subvert the will of the people in the social space is BULLSHIT! 

I mean shit, here it is, plain as day, the government sanctioning the manipulation of OUR social space.

Now, some might think it a leap to go from encouraging edits on Wiki to sanctioning manipulation.

Well I am one of the ones that say no its is not such a big leap, because how many of you think these Govt. employees are going to go back and post videos on the casualties of war in Iraq, or documentaries about the suicide rate of Iraq veterans when back home(which happens to be about 80-120 /week), or submit an article to Digg about how General Patrues and the surge are working out dandy. No, they are going to post videos purposely designed and fabricated to drown out the other videos, posts and content the administration doesn’t like.

They are going to post Pro Government propaganda and pollute our bandwidth with the worst kind of spam, Government Spam!

I mean the presentation even highlights how the social media apace is causing them to lose control of their image. (See slide 21)

It’s not like I didn’t know that Big Brother was watching us, but I just gives me such an icky feeling to read it and see it detailed like this.

Also pay close attention to the slides detailing where the government employees should go to monitor the opinions, posts, videos, podcasts, and profiles related to this administration and The World Bank.

Technoratti, Google Blog, Delicous, Wiki, etc….

Look familiar, yes I’m there everyday, for hours sometimes. If this PPT is available publicly, imagine what’s being done covertly to track and subvert anti government posts, videos, etc. And what’s being done to gather and monitor those found to be associated with anything even remotely anti government or against the grain of their message.

Look at slide # 23- 29 it upset them just to have the holes in Paul Wolfowitz socks written about. So imagine what levels they are willing to go to artificially insert them selves into our social space to drown out more serious messages about the statistics and reports our Government is not telling us about. What this presentation is purporting they do, goes at the very core of the beauty of the social space. This is the worst kind of Spam, Uncle Spam!!

URL’s to Presentation:

Your document is publicly viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dqs5h9k_104dk9gcn

Or Check out where I found it.

www.usa.gov/webcontent/documents/Social_media_government_web_managers.ppt

Here is another presentation as well which has some interesting .gov link stats, and discusses Social Media, but not as dark and Orwellian as the previous. This one is focusing more on how the Govt. wants to use Social Media and the web to deliver personalized content.

usaservices.gov/ppts/BevFeb2007.ppt

If you want to try and cool experiment , go to Google, limit your search to file type ppt, and search for a subject. You’ll be astonished by what you find sometimes. And they same goes with other file types.

I guess someone should have told the webmaster of USA.Gov to use disallow if he didn’t want Google to crawl it!!

10 Cool + New Apps on Google’s New OpenSocial

 

FunWall

Author: Slide

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Leave videos, edited images, and interactive notes on your friends’ walls.

 

Moodget

Author: LabPixies Ltd.

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Share your feelings with your friends using this fun, social gadget.

 

BuckDrop

Author: E-junkie

APIs used:

OpenSocial

E-junkie allows you to send and receive funds via Google Checkout and PayPal.

 

FotoFlexer Live

Author: FotoFlexer

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Allows you to import images from popular online photo albums and edit pictures.

 

Visual Bookshelf

Author: Hungry Machine

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Build a virtual bookshelf on your profile. Review books, see what your friends are reading and who else is reading a given book.

 

Flixster

Author: Flixster

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Flixster allows you to rate and share movies with your friends.

 

Emote

Author: RockYou

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Show the world how you’re feeling through Emote.

 

My Music

Author: Qloud

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Play your iTunes music and create playlists.

 

Fan Site

Author: Protrade

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Root for your favorite team with your friends and get the latest sports news.

 

Songs iLike

Author: iLike

APIs used:

OpenSocial

Create playlists and listen to your friends’ songs on iLike.

Big ups to TheLabPixies for making kick ass widgets and social apps.

And for more examples of OpenSocial Apps check out:

http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/examples.html

Here is the Google OpenSocial developers Guide. Chock full of good stuff.

http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/docs/javascript/index.html

Great Yahoo Pipes Tutorial!

Here are couple great Yahoo Pipes tutorials. I’ve been playing with Yahoo Pipes for a while now. I give Anil Dash’s great post back in Feb credit for that!!  Anyhow here are several of the tutorials I have found useful.

VP Dick Cheney- first interview after revalation that Obama is his Cousin(Video)

This is funny stuff! Dick Cheney talking about his wifes revelation that he is related to Barak Obama. Priceless expression.

read more | digg story

Google giving out Cannabis? ( Yes for this is for real)

Google is going green with its online store and by selling good ole Cannabis products. From hoodies to footies, Google store has all your hemp needs. Check out the flix below! I dont know how far they want to take this whole Hippie Dippie All you need is live schtict, but they are even selling pens called Summer of Love Wide Body Pens  I think they’re supposed to get you off. Possibly dipped in a secret formula Google’s been conjuring up @ Google Labs

I wonder if they take showers @ Google and if the female Googlers let their leg and armpit hairs grow naturally. I can see it nowthough  , Matt with a Pyrex Two Hiter Bong , Phish on his laptop blaring.
Marisa Mayer dancing across the desks, flailing her arms around, hair flying freely in the cool Google breeze. Is that what they want us to believe? That Serge and Larry and Eric are sitting outside on the lawn in a circle , passing a doobie and  chaning OM. Yeah right!

This is a 25 billion dollar empire, I hardly think this is the case. So , why then, why they trying to run this cheap elemntary type game on us,

read more | digg story

Radiohead Inrainbows “revolutionary” album launch, starts with a snag!Their Download Site Crashed

Well there it is. The much heralded Inrainbows release by Radiohead, has started with a big snag. The Radiohead, Inrainbows.com download site ,  has crashed. Yep! That’s right on the first day of their launch, the first day people are supposed to start downloading the new album, for whatever price they choose, is down. I have been trying for over 3 hours and nothing. I got in once and time out.  The funny thing is in a comment at SEOBook , eoghano  , predicted just that.  And honestly, I balked at it, thinking how would Radiohead allow that to happen. But they did.  Now the question is this. Will this serve as PR for Radiohead and continue the buzz created by their “name the price” album download? or will people get turned off and just “F” the whole process and just download it for free! Either way Ill play the game and continue to try!

Seth Godin Video Interview on Web 2.0 ( Great Stuff )

Honestly, I love Seth Godin. I strongly suggest everyone view this interview. A very rare in detail interview covering a brief history of Online Marketing , and the internet’s transformation into Web 2.0.

He also posits on the future evolutions of the web and where Social Media is headed. He discusses everything from Digg, Reddit, Blogs, Squidoo and more.. ENJOY!

Big ups to Seth Godin.