Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Great Search Payola

Not long ago I predicted search companies would tie the searcher into the revenue stream. After all, if someone is making a buck from my interest and eyeballs, shouldn’t I be entitled to a cut? Today Microsoft announced CashBack, a program clearly designed to lure consumers away from Google to Microsoft’s Live Search. The upshot is, if you use Live Search and end up buying the product (online) from a participating retailer you’ll get a kickback, er…I mean rebate. While this program is tied directly to purchase, it’s only a matter of time before someone (probably Google) figures out how to include you and me in the revenue stream based on our search behavior. In the meantime, maybe Microsoft could increase their share of search by make it more fun to type “msn” than “google.”

The Expanding Social Graph

There are several sites now that provide a wealth of how-to information, including Howcast and Instructables. Far and away my favorite is Howcast, which blends professionally produced content with content from semi-professional enthusiasts. These sites provide an opportunity for marketers to reach influencers, especially for companies in this space (e.g. improvement retailers.) In addition to great how-to instruction, these sites provide a means for collaboration via social networking, allowing users to build profiles and find colleagues with similar interests. Sites like these for DIY enthusiasts and other sites like Pandora and iLike for music enthusiasts provide a new dimension to social networking by enabling people to expand their social graph to people with similar interests. Like a virtual Meetup, users will be able to connect and collaborate without meeting face-to-face. I’m looking forward to following this trend and being a part of it.