The introduction of SiteSearch could cause a problem for sites that sell advertising space because the impressions they are promising may not be generated if fewer people are using the search functions on the site. Also problematic is that sites will lose the ability to capture people in their own site search with features such as; you may also like, or related products or stories that show up when using a site’s internal search function. All in all, for Google, this is great because increasing numbers of ads will be served whereas for the advertisers whose site Google is navigating will be losing ad impressions and in turn dollars.

Morpheus just recently partnered with Green Dimes this past holiday season and in lieu of corporate gifts we purchased memberships to their service for our business contacts. The basic rundown of their service is that once you sign up they will reach out on your behalf and opt you out of 90% of your junk mail and plant 5 trees in your name (they provide a clean user interface to manage catalogs you do want to receive and automatically keep subscriptions to magazines). Encouraging consumers to “give a dime and shop online” was obviously in-line with our company message, but additionally we felt that empowering the consumer to opt out of unsolicited mailers would only provide those advertisers with a mailing base that actually wanted to receive their deliverables, again in-line with our marketing strategy for our clients. So, I was really surprised when I got an email from Green Dimes bringing up an issue they are facing with the DMA (Direct Marketing Association):

“The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) continues to be a thorn in our side. They refer to companies like ours as “third party suppression” services and sent a scathing letter to DMA members on November 30, 2007. This letter urged all of their members to ignore our requests, which thankfully hasn’t happened. They rant on about how they’ve been protecting this industry for 36 years and tout their new service, which made it even HARDER for consumers to get off of lists. These people have no interest in consumer rights. They are paid by their members, work for their members and will do anything possible to make sure it is difficult for anyone championing consumer rights to succeed. Please visit http://www.greendimes.com/user/petition and sign the petition. We need your voice to affect change.”

I not only encourage you join Green Dimes as a member, but to sign their petition or at least support it through the authority you have as a marketer.

But most importantly… Give a dime and shop online!!!

(Currently Green Dimes has over 80,000 members, have stopped over 3.5 million tons of junk mail and have planted/saved over 700,000 trees)

Tumblr is another way to blog essentially, however in their help section they say, “to make a simple analogy: If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks.” They actually are listed in wikipedia and they describe this as, “a blog that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts.”

What is great about tumblr and the reason I wanted to share it with everyone is the ease in which you can blog, and the amount of functions available to you!

You can click any of the following options and it customizes how you can effectively execute your post,:
Text
Photo
Quote
Link
Chat
Audio
Video

The coolest thing that I found on Tumblr is under Account Extras.
You obviously have the option to bookmarklet this, so you can easily access this.
You can also add them to your address book as:
w8sac3me@tumblr.com
After you do this you are then able to post text, pictures, MP3’s or videos from your cell phone. You can only send videos though if your phone is Vimeo enabled. The subject line in your phone can act as a place for you to write a caption for anything you upload.

You can also browse your blog from your phone by adding /mobile to your blog URL.

MY FAVORITE part of this is that you can download a widget for this so that you can write in your widget and just hit post to Tumblr!

And for all of us Instant Messenger fans you can also add TumblrBot to your buddy list and this allows you to post straight from your instant messenger

Tumblr also allows you to add “Followers” to your blog, which essentially means the people who have added you their friend list and are following the updates of your blog .

The mobile internet? Maybe. Perhaps…

I believe that the opportunity to create a “mobile internet” that functions effectively and is able to adequately meet the needs of endusers is possible, but difficult. My greatest reservation is that the minimum bid costs are so high that the only players in the game are the same old names, Verizon and AT&T. In my opinion this limits the true ability to foster innovation and will only further contribute to the monopoly of information aggregation. But I digress.

I look forward to seeing who will reign supreme in this battle for the next frontier, and I can’t wait to create stimulating content to be presented on new platforms. Because the new mobile net user will be looking for a totally different experience then what is currently being offered.

My name is Eric and I work with emerging technologies here at Morpheus Media.

The following post is written by me, and is only a reflection of my personal beliefs as I have colleagues here who will argue several of the points I am about to draw out for you.

That being said, I am a very busy man these days (my boss is probably reading this with you right now ☺) but, there are a few blogs I try to make time for everyday. One of them is Doc Searls Weblog.

Anybody involved in social media will know who he is. For anyone that is not familiar with the Good Doc I suggest taking some time and going through some of his previous posts. Beyond being an industry icon, Searls has great vision and an inviting writing style. He often eloquently navigates complex subject matters with ease and grace. You will be better for reading his thoughts, I promise.

That being said, in his latest post entitled “The only real social networks are personal ones” (he is completely wrong).

Okay, not completely wrong, but a little off the mark in my opinion. Searls references a question presented by Jeremiah Owyang “Should Brands Join or Build Their Own Social Network?”

Searls provides several thoughtful insights into social network structures. He suggests that branding and social networking are somewhat incompatible for him. In attempting to answer Owyang’s original question, Searls puts forth that “I’m not sure social networks are “built” and that it “Seems to me they’re more organic than structural”.

It was these two statements that caused me to take pause and reflect.

If “words have meanings” and they do, then Searls is missing the point of the potential role marketers can play in social networks.

I contest that an individual does not have multiple social networks as Searls eludes, simply multiple platforms from which to connect to their singular social network. If two people are connected through Facebook, but not lets say Twitter, then do they cease being networked upon alternating platforms? I say no.

This brings me to my biggest gripe. A person’s social network grows organically and cannot be built. To a degree this is true. But only in the way a backyard garden cannot be built, but most grow organically on its own. However, a little constructive help from a seasoned green thumb will help foster a more productive piece of real estate. This my friend sounds like the work of a Brand Manager, perhaps one steeped in online protocols and possessing a strong
understanding of social media.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this question, only a difference of opinion. So I invite you to spend a minute and read his post and arrive at your opinion, which by-the-way, should sound something like mine.