Google News, Inside.

Search Tips 101: Area Code Locator

Jonathan Dingman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:46:40 +0000

Google search has a lot of potential that never gets tapped.

Today’s article for the Search Tips 101 column is how to use Google Search to look up area codes.

Is the example that Google has provided to use the functionality.

This is a quick and easy way to use Google to get the information you need.

More details at http://www.google.com/help/features.html#area.

Competitive Analysis

Both Yahoo! and Live.com provide this service.

Yahoo! Results
Live.com Results

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Search Tips 101: Area Code Locator

Yahoo! Offers Comprehensive People Search

Jonathan Dingman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:14:32 +0000

Something I hadn’t ever noticed before is that Yahoo! offers very comprehensive “people search.” I say that in loosely and in the context of helping a visitor that is searching, find exactly what they are looking for.

Here are a couple sample queries. First, my name, “jonathan dingman“

So this search displays other results above the LinkedIn result, but none the less, it’s still clearly displayed with the correct data. How often this data is updated, that I have no idea.

Let’s try another query though. How about my close friend “brett petersel“

So this time, Brett’s LinkedIn profile shows up as the first hit.

Of course actual linking plays a role in where it is displayed in the search results, as you can clearly see in the first screen shot and the second screen shot.

But what I find extremely useful is the bottom line fact that Yahoo! even uses public LinkedIn information as part of their search results.

This is an area where I can see Google has plenty of room for growth, “people searching” as I want to call it.

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Yahoo! Offers Comprehensive People Search

Yahoo! Search Joins Twitter

Jonathan Dingman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:06:23 +0000

Hey Google, are you listening? Why aren’t you on Twitter yet?

Companies are slowly but surely becoming more and more transparent to consumers (which is definitely a good thing).

Yahoo!’s Twitter (@YSearchFE)
My Twitter (@dingman)

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Yahoo! Search Joins Twitter

Yahoo! Loves YouTube

Jonathan Dingman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:24:45 +0000

As we already know, Google loves to include YouTube videos in the search results whenever ~~possible~~ it seems relevant. But something I noticed today, Yahoo! is also doing that.

Here is a quick look at how Yahoo! is doing it.

I want to think that Yahoo! would be sending traffic to their own properties, since their video platform has nearly 500 Dilbert related videos, but apparently Yahoo! likes YouTube’s content more than their own.

Update: After reviewing Yahoo!’s video platform a bit further, they really don’t have that much content. It syndicates out to a number of other networks, including YouTube.

Good job Yahoo!, way to send traffic to your competition ;)

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Yahoo! Loves YouTube

Stanford Chooses Yahoo! over Google

Jonathan Dingman — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:10:03 +0000

In the latest breaking news about Stanford, Google, and Yahoo!, Stanford has opted to utilize Yahoo!’s Zimbra to power the university’s web-based email and calendar interface, according to a report released yesterday. Zimbra was acquired by Yahoo! in September 2007 for USD$350 million in cash.

This is a pretty low blow to Google because of the founders’ close ties to Stanford University.

But what is the reason stated for making the switch? “Zimbra was selected because the technology allows access to e-mail, calendar and contact lists from a single, unified web interface…“

As far as I know, Google offers its Google Apps product for each of these and they even made it really easy for companies (or organizations) to utilize it on their own domain.

I’m interested to see what kind of reaction Google will have to this bit of news.

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Tags: zimbra, yahoo, google, stanford

Stanford Chooses Yahoo! over Google

Keyword Search on Facebook

Jonathan Dingman — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:47:49 +0000

By now, everyone should know what Facebook is. If you don’t, welcome to 2008. http://www.facebook.com/

That aside, Facebook is becoming a larger and larger player in the online industry for social networking and community. By nature, whenever you get a database or website with the mass amount of users that Facebook or MySpace has, search becomes a serious feature.

Search on Facebook has become a widely used feature of Facebook.

Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, in the early days of search engines, were very apt to rank when webmasters used a lot of the same or similar keywords within the body of the page, also termed keyword stuffing.

I was browsing through Facebook last week and noticed this photo of Mat Mann.

So from what I can see, they’re keyword stuffing in order to get higher in the search results?

Not quite. As of right now, Facebook does not offer search functionality for photos. But when they do, they are going to have an amazing index and database of searchable photos. I would even hunch as much to say that it would be comparable to that of Flickr.

Should you be prepping your photos with a ton of keywords so when Facebook does come out, you’re all ready? Certainly not. Just like Google or Yahoo! improved its search algorithm, so will Facebook.

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Keyword Search on Facebook

Yahoo! Uses Wordpress, Google Uses Blogger

Jonathan Dingman — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:28:43 +0000

Something I have noticed more and more lately is what software powers corporate blogs. Sure, I understand that eBay is using Wordpress, that CNN is using Wordpress, even that the MozillaZine Weblogs are powered by Movable Type. That’s cool, I understand all that.

But something I don’t understand is why Yahoo! is using Wordpress. Yahoo! announced the release of Yahoo! 360 over three years ago.

Here are some of the features that Yahoo! 360 features,

Blogs — Create a blog, post entries or pictures from mobile devices, view friends’ blog entries at Yahoo! 360, My Yahoo!, Yahoo!’s Mobile Internet service or through any RSS reader
Photo sharing — Share Yahoo! Photos content and upload new photos from mobile devices
Easy communication — Send and receive instant messages via Yahoo! Messenger and see when friends are online right from the Yahoo! 360 “My Friends” page
“Blasts” — Share a quick idea, a cool website or ask for a recommendation with the Yahoo! 360 “blast” feature
Yahoo! contact management — Easily manage contracts and stay in touch with friends, thanks to a centralized list of all Yahoo! Messenger, Groups and Address Book contacts
Community building — Search for people with similar interests from across the Yahoo! 360 network
Content sharing — Share photos, reviews, LAUNCHcast Radio stations, groups and more quickly and easily
Recommendations — Recommend favorite books, movies, TV shows and restaurants to friends and associates
“My Friends” page — Stay up to speed with the latest blogs, photos and comments from friends all in one central location

The first thing mentioned about the features offered is a blog service.

So this is the question I have you: why is Yahoo! using Wordpress on a number of their properties when they already own a blogging service?

It actually seems like Yahoo! 360 would help make their corporate blogs more interactive and help get their users involved. But alas, they have chosen to use Wordpress over their own product.

Let’s take a look at Google now.

Looking at all of the corporate Google blogs you can see that they are all using Blogger. Blogger was acquired back in 2002 by Google.

Google made a wise decision in purchasing Blogger as it has helped them retain a lot more information and make things more accessible on a global basis.

Yahoo! still needs to wake up and figure out what on earth they are going to do about their competitor’s property, Blogger.

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Yahoo! Uses Wordpress, Google Uses Blogger

Facebook to Sell Out? Certainly Not.

Jonathan Dingman — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:52:19 +0000

In late 2006, there were some fees flying around the rumor mill of Google looking to acquire Facebook. So what has come of those rumors? Absolutely nothing.

Some rumors come true, like the YouTube acquisition rumor. While others remain extinct.

What would Facebook be today if Facebook had decided to sell to either potential buyer of Google or Yahoo!? It would be a lot less, I feel.

Facebook came out as a strong player [and competitor] in the industry mid-2007, when they started their own strategy of acquiring other companies.

This bold statement by Facebook was something not to be looked at lightly, but to be taken very seriously as Mark Zuckerberg was not ready to give up his baby, at least not for anything less than USD$2bn — which now would be a bargain, comparing it to Microsoft’s 5% stake in Facebook. That 5% stake values Facebook at USD$15bn [Internet] dollars.

So does Facebook have a solid future ahead? I believe they do. I believe that Facebook has a very solid future, despite any social media or social networking changes that may occur in the next five years.

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Facebook to Sell Out? Certainly Not.