The Buffalo Blog

Microsoft sends online advertisers back to the drawing board

A new sideswipe from Microsoft towards Google has been reported today. Apparently the new Internet Explorer (no 8) allows users to fly below the online targeting radar using an ‘InPrivate mode’.

 

This means that targeting services using cookies simply won’t work – every time an ‘InPrivate’ user visits a website they are effectively a new and unknown entity effectively destroying any possibility of targeting relevant online adverts. 

 

While this is great for those concerned about privacy it doesn’t bode well for those interested in free and diverse web content, for example ad-funded online TV. Advertisers won’t just pee their money into the wind - if they don’t know who they’re targeting they simply won’t invest. This means less content. 

 

Where to go from here then? Personally I don’t think that many people are worried about the brands they trust knowing a bit about them. Consider the infinitely helpful suggestions you get from Amazon whenever you log on…I would never consider deleting my Amazon cookies.

 

Companies could try and encourage the use of different browsers such as the open source Firefox, but this isn’t likely to crack the problem and certainly won’t win over the privacy advocates. So the onus has to be on making online ad targeting as ‘helpful’ and non-intrusive as possible. Only by making users go ‘Oh yeah – why didn’t I think of that’ rather than ‘Oh no – how do they know I like that?!” will online ad targeting ever be truly successful.

BEBO goes to Gliese 581c to break intergalactic PR boundaries

BEBO is breaking into new markets like never before. Rather than limit itself to Europe or even the Earth, it plans to build the social networking phenomenon Gliese 581c.

In a classic PR stunt, the networking site has announced plans to send 500 messages, to the nearest planet able to support which happens to be Gliese 581c, a mere 20.5 light years away.

Whether the market conditions are right for this hubris-laden move is yet to be ascertained. However, it is hoped that the iPhone will be well-established on the planet, vastly enhancing the chances of starting one or two BEBO communities, when the messages finally get there in 2029.

To sum up a rather ridiculous post I can only say it’s nice to see the old PR tactics are still going strong in this time of change – well done to the BEBO comms team.

“Sous-veillance” turns Big Brother on his head

Silicon reports on the growth of "Sous-veillance" this morning, a growing trend (apparently) in which techno-savvy busybodies can take videos of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and bring the government into line by posting them on YouTube. In a report by the European Information Society Group (Eurim), it laid out its vision of turning ‘Big Brother’ on its head so we can collectively scrutinise those in power with our camera phones.

This is hailed by the report as a major step in increasing citizen engagement but is it actually going to work?

While the report is well intentioned, the technical nous and equipment needed for angry citizens to upload their videos could be prohibitive. The trouble is that the people who do the majority of complaining about public services, and I’m making a sweeping statement here, are likely to be precisely the ones without the knowledge to get these videos online.

It’s also unlikely that the videos are actually going to have any affect on those in power. Unless someone catches Boris Johnson graffitiing a bendy bus, or something similarly sensational, these videos aren’t going to be top of the YouTube charts so won’t be seen and definitely won’t create the required angry mobs needed to start a political movement.

The verdict? This report is well intentioned but "Sous-veillance" is unlikely to take-off unless done on a local and very specific scale.

Mediaset sues Google

Interesting to see another big company dive into a costly YouTube copyright lawsuit without fully assessing the opportunities that may be at hand. Mediaset, an Italian media group is suing Google for 500m Euros for alleged "illegal commercial use" of copyrighted clips on YouTube.

While Buffalo in no way condones dodgy copyright dealings and thinks it’s wrong for others to benefit from other people’s hard work, Mediaset could really benefit from taking a more ‘laissez faire’ approach. In a similar vein to my previous post 'A word on music piracy' there are obvious unexplored avenues that could turn situation into a great opportunity.

As with most forms of Social and Web 2.0 media it can often be great marketing to simply let go of the message. Doing so in YouTube is likely to be the best policy. This doesn’t mean just giving in, rather attempting to turn a bad situation into something really profitable.

There are also numerous benefits to be had by doing this. For example: why doesn’t the company strike a deal with Google for instant click-through purchases where its clips are featured?

It’s also true that many YouTube users check out the latest trailers, view an episode of a programme or even listen to music before moving onto an actual legal and profitable purchase. In this sense the site becomes a showcase and ‘try before you buy’ mechanism, complementing rather than negatively affecting the company’s sales.

While the likely recompense for Mediaset, should they win the lawsuit, is large, the rewards could be much greater if they tried a more canny approach…

Cuil to cull Google?

News reports today on the launch of Cuil, a new search engine set up by a band of Google defectors, in a bid to challenge the domination of their former employer. Apparently Cuil boasts a page index three times the size of Google, but this unsurprisingly is denied by its big brother.

The first thing is that it’s great to see some kind of new life is still left in the search industry, where AltaVista, Ask, MSN, and Yahoo, while representing fair-sized companies, have still failed to capture a decent portion of the market. There has also been little sign of a challenge to the incumbent from these existing players – the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo deal, that could give it the scale and cash to mount a real challenge, continues to blow hot and cold.

However, while search mutineers obviously have the inside track on the invincible Google, it remains to be seen if they’ll ever be able to truly lock horns with such an established player. Technology and algorithms they may have, but Google grew up in a time where it was obviously far ahead of its rivals. At the time those customers demanding quality and relevant search results were there for the taking and Google took the opportunity.

Cuil is attempting to steal a march in what is a veritable monopoly in the search space. ‘Googling’ is well engrained in the mentality of today’s internet user and will be a hard habit to break – anybody fancy ‘Cuiling it’? So to have any chance of success Cuil needs to offer something substantially different and substantially better than Google – a mammoth task.

Whether a group of ex-Googlites have the scale, investment or the technical knowledge to do this still remains to be seen. For all we know they could be sitting on something that could blow the industry wide open, of they could just be another ‘me-too’.

What I will say, is that for an industry desperately needing some healthy competition, I wish Cuil all the luck in the world.

Bad Bloggers

Communication has taken a new turn in recent years.  The freedom to communicate with vast audiences has never been as great as it is today.  Businesses, governments and the public all have the access to platforms that allow them to speak to whoever they want, whether the audience like it or not!

There is now a growing trend of those who are now using these communication vehicles to undermine, belittle and in some cases attack other people.  These acts of libel are now creeping into the business sphere. Some online publications for example, have been experiencing high volumes of businesses posing to be rivals and posting pretentious, potentially damaging, blogs and opinion pieces. An example is IT Director, a respectable publication, that is now actually having to vet people who post articles or opinion pieces in order to ensure that they are actually the person who they claim to be.  This underhanded posting is clearly not cricket, however in such an unregulated arena as blogging who’s to stop them?

The media have highlighted the issue of detrimental communication backfiring on individuals.  The Times commented on how Tricia Walsh-Smith’s YouTube divorce campaign went against her when the settlement judge condemned her for humiliating her husband.  Of course the more these occurrences are brought into the legal limelight the more likely it is that bodies will attempt to regulate the social media landscape – this would be damaging for content and blogging in general.

If businesses are found to be misusing blogs, forums or various other new media communication tools then there should undoubtedly be heavy consequences. The problem is that without going down costly legal routes this is unlikely to happen. In the meantime social media users should band together and regulate for themselves. It is up to the reader to be vigilant and savvy enough to question supposedly independent pieces and to flag them up as soon as possible.  Businesses and individuals using these innovative forms of media simply to vent grudges or slander competition should be exposed for what they are doing.  Hopefully through this collective ‘policing’ of the new media landscape, social media can remain free from restrictive legislation without compromising the content.