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I'm going to Disneyland! (yeeeeeaaaaaaah, say my three kids).

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:05 AM
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Why No One Comments on Google News

TechDirt comments on the NYT's story on the fact that pretty much no one is commenting on Google News stories, despite Google's attempts to get folks to do so. Why is that, we wonder? Why, given that Google News is one of the largest, most successful, most important drivers of news reading in the world, why won't we engage in a conversation around it?

It's simple, really, and it goes to the heart of what Google is not good at: Community. Look at the comment threads on Digg, for example, or Ars Technica, or Boing Boing. Why are there such long, boisterous comment threads? Because we know that the news we are reading there was driven by human beings, and when we respond, those human beings are paying attention, and want to be part of the conversation. But Google News is driven entirely by a computer algorithm. There is no explicit community. No one goes there to engage in community. Even if one can argue, as one can with web search, that the News algorithm is derived from community actions, it is not subservient to them, as is Digg's. In short, there are no stakeholders in the Google News community. It's not a place people go to be social.

Once again, Google has shown its Achilles heel - computers are great at generating smart results, and terrible as proxies for community. This is also reflected in the company's approach to policy around new community features like those at Google Reader, an asberger's of sorts when it comes to understanding how people want to connect.

Update: Many of you noted in comments that Google News Comments are only for those in the stories. This is true, and I should have mentioned it. Clearly this would be different if anyone could comment. Even so, I think, it proves the point - folks who are in news stories do not see Google News as a place to connect to *their* story.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:25 AM
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2007 Predictions, How Did I Do?

Related:

2007 Predictions

2006 Predictions

2006 How I Did

2005 Predictions
2005 How I Did

2004 Predictions
2004 How I Did

Well, the time has come to review my predictions of a year ago. Overall, I think I did pretty well, but I've had to interpret a few liberally to give myself extra credit in a few cases. (Scoble has graded me here...). And away we go:

#1: "Thanks to Google's dominance in search and media and a complacent DOJ, Microsoft will buy a better position in online media."

While I suggested that Microsoft might buy AOL - I did not predict it'd buy aQuantive or invest in Facebook. But both moves are, in essence, Microsoft buying a better position in online media, so I'd give myself a "pretty much nailed it" on this one. I also said...

1. (a) If Microsoft does not buy AOL, Yahoo will, and failing that, AOL will go public, but the IPO will receive a lukewarm review.

AOL did not go public, but it made major moves to prepare that part of its business that can/should be public - it's advertising platform, for an offering. It bought Tacoda and several other advertising businesses, renamed its offering Platform A, and put Dave Morgan in charge. Watch for it to go public or be sold in early 2008.

#2: "A major media outlet will predict that the "Web 2.0" bubble has burst or deflated seriously. The prediction will be wrong."

Well, a search for "Web 2 bubble" sure gets a ton of major media hits - The Atlantic, The WSJ, and many many more. But none said the bubble had burst. Instead, they suggested it would go out with...a whimper. I think I got this one wrong.

#3: "Google will integrate YouTube into its main services." I think I get a nailed it here (see how the Youtube Ninja is integrated into results?). In retrospect, seems very obvious, but there was debate about this in 2006.

#4: "Related to this, Google Video Ads will dissappoint until Q4 2007." This is another nailed it. Across the industry, everyone is asking where the profits are with Google's video strategy. Google did roll out its answer (see here), but no one knows if it's working, and many claim it is not. I also wrote:

"Because advertisers in video have all sorts of structural reasons to not want to work the way Google wants them to work. Until the Fall of 07, when these differences will be worked out, and Google will have a slam dunk quarter in a form of advertising outside of text ads for the first time in its history."

This prediction remains to be seen, when Google reports its earnings next month. We'll see, but I'm guessing it will NOT be a slam dunk.

#5: "Yahoo will not regain its luster, but will take the steps necessary to do so by the end of the year." I think I got this right. Yahoo's board parted ways with Terry, and the company consolidated operations under Sue Decker. I think the company is poised to do well in 2008 if it can navigate its way between the big guns of Microsoft and Google.

#6: "eBay will have a major change in executive leadership." I saw Meg at Web 2 this past October, and she mentioned that she was the longest running non founder still in a CEO role. It made me wonder when eBay was going to take the plunge and get a new CEO. Not that I am anti-Meg, I think she's great. But it became very evident this year the company needs a new directon. While "a major change" did not occur this year (you can argue that perhaps Zennstrom leaving Skype was major), I still believe it's a matter of timing, and the other shoe will drop very soon here. Net net: Didn't nail it, but didn't blow it either.

#7: "Amazon will continue to push beyond ecommerce into web services, the market will punish it for doing so, and by the end of the year Bezos will be forced to defend his investments as his stock takes a hit for those services' failing to find traction." I think I got the first part right, and the second wrong. The market has rewarded Amazon for its strategy, and while Bezos has been vigorously defending his play, it turns out folks generally agree with it.

#8: " There will be a brief, somewhat irrational spurt of acquisitions related to "content", in particular independent media sites with good demographics and a decent audience profile. I say irrational because by the end of the year, it will be clear why those sites were independent in the first place." I think this is right, save the word "acquisitions". There was a lot of noise in this market this year, a lot of independent media companies who tried to get sold, or wanted to be sold, or were looked at hard as acquisition targets. But save the odd Wallstrip deal, it was not to be. Why? Because the second part of my prediction also came true: Those with the money to buy realized they could not justify the prices that independent media creators wanted paid. Look for more predictions on where this is all going in my 2008 post.

#9: "Speaking of the content business, it will face a major test as two forces converge to undermine the pageview model: Ajax, on the one hand, and ad blockers on the other. Both will be addressed with alarm and alacrity by industry efforts." I think I got this wrong. It is taking way longer than I thought it would for this issue to bubble up as a major problem.

#10: "Blog 2.0" will become a reality. By this I mean that Version 1.0 blogsites, of which I think Searchblog is a good example, will begin to look dated and fade in comparison to sites that employ better approaches to content management, navigation, intelligent widgets and web services, etc." I think this is definitely happening. First, Searchblog looks totally dated. And second, if you look at second order blogs like Mashable, or Ars, or MamaPop, you see that directionally, blogs are maturing into real publishing platforms.

#11: "One major Internet player will really screw up the privacy/trust issue, in a way bigger than even AOL did last year." Oh boy, thanks for making me look like a genius, Facebook!

#12: "The Google founders will find themselves the subject of at least one major "takedown" piece in the mainstream media." I think I got this wrong. I am stunned, honestly, that it has not happened, but then, Facebook took a lot of the focus away from Google, and the media may have shelved its traditional takedown approach due to its fascination with Mark Z. Also, the Google Guys have been very, very good at deflecting possible wealth-realted criticism by offering up a Greener Google angle to the story.

#13: "Mobile will finally be plugged into the web in a way that makes sense for the average user and a major mobile innovation - the kind that makes us all say - Jeez that was obvious - will occur." As I said earlier to Facebook: Thanks Apple, for making me look smart.

#14: "Lastly, I will begin work on my second book." OK, well, I have begun work. But not nearly as much as I want to do. Not even close. But I did outline some important ideas here and here and in an as yet unfinished proposal but...I hope to have more time to report and write this coming year.

Well, that's it. To summarize, of the 14, I got ten or so mostly right, a few sorta right and sorta wrong, and at least two totally wrong. Not a bad scorecard. Here's how I did in 2006, 2005, and 2004.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:47 AM
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Chronicle Profile

Thanks, Sam, for taking the time to get to know me!

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:22 AM
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Merry Christmas!

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:53 PM
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In 2008, Keep an Eye on Hadoop

Worth a read.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:36 AM
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Smart Politician: Stand Up for Bloggers

Ars has the story:

It's not every day that a senator takes to the floor to defend "Internet blogs and other Web-based forms of media," but Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has done just that in his recent push to pass a Freedom of Information Act reform bill he has coauthored with two Republicans.

The Senate passed the OPEN Government Act last week (which builds on previous reform attempts), and the House followed suit on Tuesday of this week. The reforms in the bill make it easier for bloggers and other Internet journalists to make FOIA requests without paying fees, and they strengthen deadlines for agencies to respond to requests. Contractors who work for the federal government are now explicitly covered by FOIA rules, and a new FOIA Ombudsman will help resolve disputes outside of court. The legislation awaits President Bush's pen.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:10 AM
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Travel Heats Up Again

Mike has the news on Kayak merging with Sidestep and raising tons of dough. I'll be looking at Kango over the weekend, which recently relaunched.

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:59 AM
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ScobleShow Is Up

You can find it here!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:52 AM
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Dog Bites Man

Emailed to me this AM:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (December 20, 2007) – Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) today welcomed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's clearance of its planned acquisition of DoubleClick Inc., a premier provider of display ad serving technology and services. Google announced in April 2007 a definitive agreement to acquire the company for $3.1 billion in cash from San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman along with JMI Equity and management.

"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion, and we are confident that this deal will deliver more relevant ads for consumers, more choices for advertisers, and more opportunities for website publishers."

The acquisition was approved earlier this year by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and was recommended for approval by one of three Brazilian regulatory agencies. Google cannot close the acquisition until the European Commission, which is still examining the transaction, grants clearance of the deal.

In its clearance opinion released today, the FTC explicitly rejected any current or potential competition concerns. Google and DoubleClick are complementary businesses and do not compete with each other. Google's current business primarily involves the selling of text-based ads, while DoubleClick's core business is delivering and reporting on display ads. DoubleClick does not buy ads, sell ads, or buy or sell advertising space. Rather, it provides technology to enable advertisers and publishers to deliver ads once they have agreed to terms, and to provide advertisers and publishers statistics relating to those ads.

The FTC's opinion also noted the robust competition in the online ad serving space, and Google's acquisition of DoubleClick is just one of several recent transactions that underscore this strong competition. In recent months, several major transactions in the online advertising space were announced, including Yahoo's acquisition of Right Media; AOL's acquisition of ADTECH AG and TACODA; WPP Group's acquisition of 24/7 Real Media; and Microsoft's $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive and acquisition of AdECN Inc.

While the FTC's opinion reaffirmed the law by noting that privacy concerns played no role in its merger review, Schmidt reiterated the company's commitment to user privacy.

"For us, privacy does not begin or end with our purchase of DoubleClick," Schmidt said. "We have been protecting our users' privacy since our inception, and will continue to innovate in how we safeguard their information and maintain their trust."

For more, see Danny's coverage here. Apparently the FTC gives a shout out to the Database of Intentions. Cool!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:37 AM
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Scoble On My Predictions

Robert says I did pretty well. You are too kind, my man - I still think there's time for eBay to change senior management (they did fire Zennstrom...and I think I can make a case for #8 as well...). But thanks! My review of 2007 is coming, as are my 08 predictions. I had a nice chat with Robert today, he'll be putting it up online soon.

• Posted by John Battelle at 12:42 PM
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Is YouTube Profitable?

Mark Glaser asks. My answer: It doesn't matter. What matters is that Google owns the most important distribution network for video on the planet. The rest will follow.

• Posted by John Battelle at 12:35 PM
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Google R&D;: Not So Much

Google has long argued that its approach to R&D includes the "20 % time" its engineers are encouraged to take for side projects. Gary has a list of top R&D spenders this year, and Google makes the list, but is way down on it (#79), lower than Valley middle fry like Sun and NEC.

• Posted by John Battelle at 12:32 PM
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There Is More Here

And I suggest, regardless of politics, we all focus and really think about this.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:02 PM
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A Brief Interview With Chris Sacca

I've enjoyed my professional relationship with Chris Sacca, who is leaving Google to pursue a career in investing. When I heard of his move, I pinged him in email, and the resulting dialog can be found below, verbatim, despite the fact that Google PR was cc'd on the thread. Thanks for your time, Chris, and good luck!

Why leave, and why why now?

A few reasons. First, I feel like the wireless team I built is in great shape and poised for some amazing achievements. I am proud of what the team accomplished this year and it makes me smile to see Verizon and AT&T fighting over which is more open than the other. Hard to say more about that without triggering the anti-collusion rules of the FCC around the 700MHz auction. That said, though I love Google and my colleagues here, I vested this Fall and it occurred to me how much I miss working in small, entrepreneurial environments.

It's refreshing to hear "I vested" as part of an answer – even with PR listening. It's such a powerful force. You also won a Founders Award while at Google. What for, and how much was it for?

I was part of a team negotiators that won one of the first Founders Awards at Google recognizing us for what the hundreds of millions of dollars of cost savings we had achieved in scaling Google's infrastructure. There are a lot of unsung heroes in that part of Google's business whose names are not well-known, but whose impact is humbling. I won't say exactly how big the award was, but I will say I am very grateful to the Larry and Sergey for their generosity. :)

I bet!
So as you leave Google, what do you think the best part of working there was? What is your greatest accomplishment? And, what frustrated you about the company?

I deeply admire how Eric, Larry, and Sergey are trying to build a 100-year company. Google encourages team leaders and entrepreneurs to take actions that traditional public companies, who are being managed quarter by quarter, would never be able to take. This allows Googlers to forget about short-term distractions and instead focus on accomplishing deep and fundamental changes to an industry or space. It's not fluff. I saw it every day and it was inspiring.

The wireless spectrum and openness stuff makes me smile. To see an informal, unchartered team come together over this past year and already catalyze some dramatic change in the US wireless ecosystem leaves me feeling good. Though I was hopeful about the impact we would have, I must admit that even I didn't expect Verizon and AT&T to be publicly feuding over claims they are the most open carrier. That said, I am most proud that it was entirely a team effort and there are some very strong Googlers who will carry the torch in my absence.

The one thing I began to miss at Google as it grows was the ability to be a generalist within the company. In a startup, it is easy and encouraged for folks to wear multiple hats. I used to buy data centers and fiber, manage an acquisition, work on Google Talk, pitch an access partner, receive a dignitary and give a speech about the future of media all in the same week. As a company gets bigger, inevitably, it begins to organize itself vertically and employees are pushed to specialize. As I focused my efforts almost exclusively around wireless, I began to miss the excitement and learning that comes with having touchpoints across the entire company on many different teams. One of the reasons I have enjoyed working with my portfolio companies like Photobucket, Twitter, and Auctomatic so much is that it reminds me of those early Google days.

So what are you interested in when it comes to investing? What
gets your attention?

I think there is still a lot of opportunity in consumer web. Despite the fascinating number of funded teams in the space, it seems that many entrepreneurs can't get outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber long enough to identify problems that millions of users need solved. For instance, I loved the Photobucket investment because there was so much attention on flickr, many investors were essentially ignoring Photobucket despite its traffic being 3-4x larger.

Beyond that, I think we are starting to see the U.S. mobile industry wake-up and go open. As much as the iPhone frustrates those of us who have been fighting for user choice and unfettered distribution when it comes to mobile apps, I do think we need to give Apple some credit for getting American consumers excited to use their devices to access the broader Internet. This hunger for more utility, combined with increasing openness creates so much opportunity for sharp teams to build apps that users want.

I am also very interested in wireless infrastructure and equipment having focused on this space for the last couple of years. I am seeing a lot of innovation by great teams and already have a couple of projects that seem promising.

What gets my attention is when I find small teams that work well together and are comprised predominately of engineers. A long time ago, I wrote a blog post about how to pitch an idea to Google. It all still applies when working with me as an investor: http://www.whatisleft.org/lookie_here/2005/09/want_to_do_busi.html

With Nokia shrugging at the Android threat, JImmy doing the same
about knol, FB (privately) scoffing at Open Social - do you think
Google's losing its magic touch?

I think two things are in play here: First, how would you expect Nokia, FB, and Jimmy to react? No way those folks would throw in the towel or even concede any threat. Instead, in the grand tradition of technology, they wear a strong face, inspire their teams, users, and investors, and get back to the lab to continue innovating. Soon it will be each of their turns to launch the feature or do the 'Google killer' deal and so the cycle repeats.

In parallel, it has always fascinated me to see the press impose upon Google the expectation that everything the company does will be a smashing success. This despite the stated fact the company prefers to launch new projects early and often and see what catches on. Will Android, OpenSocial and Knol all change the world? Who knows. (Actually, I am pretty sure Android will ... but I digress.) The important thing is that Google keep empowering entrepreneurs to take chances and try new and creative approaches to solving problems. Failure at many of those ventures is inevitable, but the successes will be worth it all.

Thanks Chris!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:17 PM
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Yup, The Machine is Using Us

Paul notes that Google is using us for speech recognition via 800 GOOG 411. Yup, so was/is TellMe.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:47 PM
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Google Profiles: Watch This Space

As TC reported earlier, Google is rolling out Google Profiles. From the description:

A Google Profile is simply how you represent yourself on Google products — it lets you tell others a bit more about who you are and what you're all about. You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you'd like.

But the page that describes what it is doesn't let you set one up, odd. And it's apparently only available for Maps and Reader, for now.

One of these days, Google is going to *have* to get some branding blood into the company, because these names are simply...boring.

Anyway, what folks are saying is this might be a backdoor to competing with Facebook. And sure, if it takes off, it might be. But for now, it feels like more spaghetti against more walls. For now.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:33 PM
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Surface Coincidence

As far as I can tell, this is a holy grail - surfacing coincidence. Why? Because we all trust coincidence, be its very definition.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:26 PM
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Noted: NYT on GOOG v. MSFT

Google Gets Ready to Rumble With Microsoft

• Posted by John Battelle at 4:09 PM
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Jimmy Wales Responds

I pinged Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, about Google's competitive move this past week. I asked him his initial thoughts:

Sounds more like Yahoo Answers than Wikipedia to me. It is not a collaborative tool, it is a competitive tool.

"We hope that knols will include the opinions and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the line. Anyone will be free to write. For many topics, there will likely be competing knols on the same subject. Competition of ideas is a good thing."

Very different from a wiki, and not likely to generate much of quality.

Then I asked if he was surprised that Google did it. "I am surprised it took them so long. :)" was his response.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:53 AM
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Google Takes Aim at Wikipedia, Is Now Officially a Media Company

This one really blows me away. Everyone has noticed recently (over the past few years and in particular lately) how dominant Wikipedia is in Google results.

Well, I guess Google's noticed too, and decided it wants to own the second click, as well as the first. From the Times UK piece:

Google is launching a rival to Wikipedia, the world’s most popular online reference work.

The new user-generated Google website, dubbed “knol”, will be free to read and will invite “people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it”, Udi Manber, a Google engineer, said on an official company blog.

From the official blog post announcing know ("unit of knowledge"), written by Udi Manber, a fellow I have a lot of respect for (see my interview with him here):

Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.

The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors -- but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted.

ER, HELLO!? This is a direct response to Wikipedia, where the articles are written by a committee process with no attribution, and the main complaint is lack of authority or opaque bias. Wow. I guess that's how Google plans to compete.

What do you all think? Will it start to beat Wikipedia in organic listings? Or will it matter, as Google can simply one box it, like Yahoo does its owned and operated properties, and push folks to the pages where the margins are better for Google? The post addresses this:

At the discretion of the author, a knol may include ads. If an author chooses to include ads, Google will provide the author with substantial revenue share from the proceeds of those ads.

Question: Please define "substantial"?

And what about editing and community and such?

"Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors. We hope that knols will include the opinions and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the line. Anyone will be free to write. For many topics, there will likely be competing knols on the same subject. Competition of ideas is a good thing.

Knols will include strong community tools. People will be able to submit comments, questions, edits, additional content, and so on. Anyone will be able to rate a knol or write a review of it. Knols will also include references and links to additional information."

Huh. And what about ranking, how will knols rank compared to say, well, Wikipedia articles?

Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results. We are quite experienced with ranking web pages, and we feel confident that we will be up to the challenge. We are very excited by the potential to substantially increase the dissemination of knowledge.

We do not want to build a walled garden of content; we want to disseminate it as widely as possible. Google will not ask for any exclusivity on any of this content and will make that content available to any other search engine.

Wait a minute! You mean it won't just be the magic Google black box that ranks them? You mean HUMANS are going to get involved here?

Wow.

That's all I can say. Wow. (Head is shaking....firing off email to Udi!)

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:01 AM
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More GoogleClick News: Influential Congressman (Very Publicly) Asks a TON of Interesting Questions

From Cnet/Declan's blog:

A top Republican in the House of Representatives is demanding that Google answer a barrage of questions about privacy, some of which are related to the company's proposed purchase of the DoubleClick advertising firm.

Rep. Joe Barton, who has positioned himself as a privacy advocate and previously criticized the merger last month, complained in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt that the company had initially agreed to let his aides visit the so-called Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif. but then didn't confirm a date. Barton is the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has Internet regulation as one of its responsibilities.

Interesting to see what Barton wants to know about, his letter to Google outlining his requests about the company's information use and technology is very, very extensive. Snippets:

To help us better understand the privacy and consumer protection implications of this transaction, please respond to the following questions:

1. Please describe Google's retention policy with respect to the following data. Include in your response a description of the type of data retained (for example, URL, Internet Protocol [IP] address, date, time of connectivity); the length of time the data is retained; where the data is retained; who has access to the retained data; and how the data is removed, deleted, or anonymized once the retention period lapses.

a. Search queries on Google search;
b. Search queries on Google maps;
c. Search queries on Google news;
d. Search queries on Google images;
e. Email sent, received, or drafted on Gmail;
f. Information or data collected or retained through a website's use of Google Analytics;
g. Information or data collected or retained from an individual's use of Google Desktop Search, including the Google Desktop Search feature, Search Across Computers;
h. Google Maps for Mobile;
i. Google Web History Program for registered Google users/Google users with sign-in accounts;
j. Information or data collected or retained from an individual's use of Picasa;
k. Information or data collected or retained from an individual's use of Calendar;
l. Cookies.

2. Please explain how Google uses the information or data described in Question 1(a) - (l), including, but not limited to, the following uses: perfecting Google's search algorithm; operating Google's advertising programs such as AdWords and AdSense; and research or analysis of user activity on www.google.com.

... 5. In particular, please explain whether Google Maps directs advertisements to IP addresses based on that user's Google Maps search query history.

6. Please explain how and why information is combined or shared across platforms when consumers opt-in for personalized services and whether Google first requires consent prior to such information-sharing. (For instance, whether search query data is shared with or linked to a user's Gmail account.)

.... 11. In Google's privacy policy, "personal information" is defined as "information that you provide to us which personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, or billing information, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information by Google."

a. Please describe how Google interprets "reasonably linked."
b. Please explain in what circumstances Google links information
such that an individual can be identified.
c. Please explain whether Google considers an IP address to be "personal information."
d. Please explain whether technology exists to personally identify or determine the personal characteristics, including, but not limited to, name, email address, physical address or location, age, gender, or ethnicity of an Internet user based on that user's IP address.
e. Please explain whether Google is capable of identifying or determining personal characteristics, including, but not limited to, name, email address, physical address or location, age, gender, or ethnicity of an Internet user based on that user's IP address.

.... 20. If the merger of Google and DoubleClick is approved, please describe what use Google plans to make of the data retained and collected by DoubleClick (for example, data from DoubleClick's tracking cookies or DoubleClick click-stream data), and whether Google plans to combine or merge DoubleClick's data with data Google retains from individual search queries and other user activity on www.google.com.

a. If Google does not intend to merge or combine the data Google retains with the information or data retained or collected by DoubleClick, please describe the efficiencies of the Google-DoubleClick merger. (emphasis mine) b. If Google does not intend to merge or combine the data Google retains with the information or data retained or collected by DoubleClick, please explain how the information will be segregated.

...24. The House passed the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass (SPY ACT) in the current and prior two Congresses. The SPY ACT, H.R. 964, sponsored by Representatives Mary Bono and Adolphus Towns, mandates an opt-in privacy regime by prohibiting the collection of personal information from a computer without a user's notice and consent prior to the execution of any information collection program. H.R. 964 also demands that a user be able to easily remove or disable the information collection program. Please explain whether Google's applications are subject to H.R. 964's consent requirements. If the answer is no, please explain why these programs, which collect personal information, are not subject to the consent regime established by H.R. 964.

I for one and very, very happy Rep. Barton has laid this out, and very eager to see what response will be given.

Update: Henry speculates that this may be the work of MSFT.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:27 AM
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Google Zeitgeist 2007

Is now up. There are five categories, including the main one: Newsmakers, Showbiz, "All the Rage," and Top of Mind. At the bottom Google has decided to leverage what I am sure will be the significant interest in Zeitgeist to highlight some of its search functions like calculator and movie showtimes.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:14 AM
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Sacca Leaves Google

Chris Sacca, head of special projects at Google (the latest was around wireless spectrum policy), as left to pursue angel investing, VentureBeat reports.

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:54 AM
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Another GoogleClick Delay, But...

...it'll happen.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:50 PM
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FB to Google: Open This

From allfacebook, news that Facebook is going to export their platform to the whole web. More here.

In the next step of opening up Facebook Platform, Facebook is now making its platform architecture available as a model for other social sites. Facebook will even license the Facebook Platform methods and tags for use by other platforms, which means that the 100,000 developers currently building Facebook applications can make their applications available on other social sites with no extra work.

This is clearly a response to Google's Open Social. And it's not the only time I've noticed, in the past month, a market leader scoffing at Google.

Take for example this quote from Nokia on Android in the Times recently:

“We’ve seen an announcement,” Nokia’s chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Conceptually, we could have made that announcement a long time ago.”

I think it's interesting to see companies that might otherwise tremble at the Great Google shrug and say "we could do that."

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:25 PM
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Yahoo Does Bloggers A Bigup

Yahoo is launching a Wordpress plugin that allows WP bloggers (not me, I use Six Apart) to:

Find and recommend the content for blog posts by bringing it to the bloggers, rather than them having to copy and paste code.
Control the content by allowing webmasters to decide if the recommended content and UI are correct.
Enrich the experience on their sites by making them more streamlined, readable and inclusive of great content from Yahoo! sites including Yahoo! Autos, Yahoo! Finance, Flickr, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel and Yahoo! Web Search.

Shortcuts are part of Yahoo!’s long-term strategy to understand Web users’ intent and deliver the best results and experience no matter the content type or source....

ER...seems like there's a pretty significant bias toward Yahoo content, so far, but it's a start...

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:19 PM
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Meanwhile, Online Advertising is "Slowing"...

...to a tepid pace of only 29% next year. What a letdown.

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:43 PM
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65%: Google Nearly at Two Thirds, Hitwise Says

Infoweek:

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) accounted for more than six of 10 online searches in the United States in November, more than triple the amount of its closest rival Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), a Web metrics firm said Tuesday.

• Posted by John Battelle at 2:17 PM
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"Untracked Digital Alternatives"

I love this, which I found via IWantMedia:

Media Ad Spending Drying Up Quickly

Total measured advertising expenditures grew just 0.2% to $108.2 billion in the first nine months of the year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Television, radio and print media all took a hit. Increased spending on "untracked digital alternatives" contributed to the slowdown.

I got yer untracked alternatives right here, brother!

• Posted by John Battelle at 2:14 PM
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We Knew It Made Sense

Google is grammatical, er, in the sense that it makes sense. (thanks TechDirt)

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:01 PM
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Duct Tape Interview

John Jantsch, a small biz guru who is also part of the FM network, recently interviewed me. Listen here, if you dare!

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:25 PM
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An Idea About Language and The Internet

I'm reading a book as I prepare to start the real work on my next book. Called The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker (wikipedia), I'm finding it a fascinating read, if at times a bit too happy with itself. However, I chose it carefully, as I've been developing my own theories about the interplay of language, conversation, and the future of the Internet.

I have a longer post in me about my first revelation upon reading this work, but it'll take a full day to draft. However, for the record, it has to to with the idea of pidgin vs. creole, and the idea of search as pidgin, and the creole we all are creating, unawares, as we navigate the web.

Yeah, it's that kind of a post.

Just to let you hardcore readers know - the ones who came to read this site because of my Search meanderings - that I haven't entirely lost the thread.

Keep me honest, is all I ask.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:16 PM
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The Facebook Apology

...is apparently going over well. I never really thought the company was in danger, just that Beacon needs tuning, and in particular that users need a more obvious benefit to using it. More thinking to be done here...

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:14 PM
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Ask Eraser Launches

From SEL:

Ask.com has launched AskEraser, giving searchers the ability to search anonymously. Ask.com told us about this tool back in July, and six months later, it's now live for all searchers to use.

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:04 PM
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Long Awaited, YouTube Brings Revenue to Masses

We hope!

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:29 AM
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A Bit of Time Off

A buddy is turning 50 this week, and he's invited 120 of his closest pals to this place. It was a hard decision, but...I'm going! So blogging will be....light.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:31 AM
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Ask Says: We Got the "Real" Searches

It must not be easy for Ask to release its "reality snapshot of what people were truly looking to find over the past year" (according to the release) - look at what came in at #3.

Ask.com's Top Real Deal Searches of 2007

1. MySpace
2. Dictionary
3. Google
4. Themes
5. Area Codes
6. Cars
7. Weather
8. Games
9. Song Lyrics
10. Movies

More here.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:35 AM
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Will The Song Remain the Same?

Look, I've never been a big fan of reunion rock. But Led Zeppelin at Bonnaroo? YIPPEEEE!

(Previous Bonnaroo madness)

UPDATED: Shit, my very inside sources say this rumor is false. But Metallica is coming!

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:24 AM
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Google Wins Key Fair Use Suit

Google has proven willing to use its lawyesr when needed, in this case involving Perfect Ten, I am happy with the result. Not because I'm all about thumbnails of nudes, though I find nothing wrong with 'em, but because anything that strengthens fair use is a good thing, I think.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:08 AM
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Another Bubble

Thanks to Kara who tipped me to this (I'm in it for all of .1 seconds):

• Posted by John Battelle at 5:01 AM
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A Morning Lecture at Berkeley: Facebook, Time to Find the Value for the Individual

If you've read The Search, you know that my fascination with media and technology flowered while an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, in the Anthropology department. From my first real book related post on Searchblog:

Back in the mid 80s I was an undergraduate in Cultural Antropology, and I had a class - taught by the late Jim Deetz,which focused on the idea of material culture - basically, interpreting the artifacts of everyday life. It took the tools of archaeology - usually taught only in the context of civilizations long dead - and merged them with the tools of Cultural Anthropology, which interpreted living cultures. He encouraged us to see all things modified by man as expressions of culture, and therefore as keys to understanding culture itself. I began to see language, writing, and most everyday things in a new light - as reflecting the culture which created them, and fraught with all kinds of intent, contreversies, politics, relationships. It was a way to pick up current culture and hold it in your hand, make sense of it, read it.

At the same time I was making extra money beta testing some software on a brand spanking new Mac, vintage 1984. Anthropology and technology merged, and I became convinced that the Mac represented mankind's most sophisticated and important artifact ever - a representation of the plastic mind made visible. (Yeah, college - exhaaaaale - wasn't it great!).

Anyway, today thanks to Professor Marti Hearst, I was invited back to Berkeley to lecture on search, media, and technology. And man, what a blast. Talking with 75 or so undergraduates (and a few grad students and others) for two hours helped me crystallize a few ideas that have been kicking around in my head lately.

As I started my talk (it'll be available as a podcast (scroll down) on the UC site soon), I asked everyone with a Facebook account to raise their hand. Nearly everyone did. Not a surprise.

I then went through some of my tried and true thinking on Web 2, search as interface, and the like. But I came back to the idea of economics, and how people make money on the Web. I was really surprised at how interested the students were in this topic. The class is called "Search Engines: Technology, Society, and Business" (how perfect is *that*?), and the students were pretty smart on how Google makes money via Adwords and Adsense. But when I asked about Facebook's new social ad platform, only a smattering of folks had even heard of it.

I was a bit surprised, given that this was Facebook's core audience, after all. So I outlined how it works, why it's an interesting and potentially important evolutionary step beyond search ads, and in particular I explained how Beacon works.

I then aired one of the questions about Facebook's platform that has been rattling around my head for a while: Will users of Facebook see the sharing of their purchase decisions across the web with Facebook friends as valuable?

For me, anyway, the key to social ads is this: do the ads *add value* to the lives of the people who interact with them? I think the jury is way, way out on this question when it comes the current rev of the Facebook system. So I asked the students this question: "How many of you are interested in telling your friends, via your newsfeed or in some other way, about purchases you make on the web?"

Not one hand went up.

I then rephrased the question. What if sharing your purchase decisions meant that, say, you got a $5 credit in your "Facebook bucks" account that you could spend at Amazon, or for ringtones, or whatever?

About a third of the hands went up. Interesting.

We then went into Q&A, and an older gentleman who was auditing the class asked about philanthropy. He observed that while folks might not want to share their crass consumer purchases, they might want to share information about how they donated to particular causes. Another student mentioned that she would see the value of sharing certain kinds of information, including purchases, with certain groups of friends, but not others.

In other words, it's clear that Facebook's current system is simply not granular enough, at least for my focus group of Berkeley students.

But it didn't stop there. I started to think about that gentleman's observation about philanthropy, as it relates to how major brands are now approaching their roles as marketers. Steve Hayden, the vice chairman of Ogilvy, a major ad agency, noted at the Conversational Marketing Summit that brands must stand for something - that they must in fact differentiate by adding value to the lives of customers who might otherwise buy a competing product. The classic case of this is the Dove campaign for real beauty.

I asked the class again, might you be open to sharing your purchases of brands if those brands were somehow aligned with your core values, and perhaps, through your purchase, those values were furthered or expressed? The class seemed quite supportive of the idea.

I think therein lies a very important lesson. If marketers want to succeed in the world of Facebook (ie, the world of Conversational Media), they need to add value to the lives of consumers via their marketing. So far, I am not certain Facebook's ad platform does that. But I'm willing to be that in the next few revisions, it will.

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:18 PM
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NO, Wait, *we* Own the Zeitgeist

I was at Berkeley today, lecturing to a room full of undergrads (I plan to write that up tonight, man, interesting...), so I was a bit behind in email, till I caught up tonight. And there in my in box was a press alert:

GOOGLE'S MARISSA MAYER TO ANNOUNCE FASTEST-RISING SEARCH TERMS FOR 2007 AND HOST GOOGLE TRENDS TUTORIAL

Every day millions of people use Google(TM) (NASDAQ: GOOG) search to find information, and a snapshot of these searches presents a revealing look into the ideas, opinions, preferences and interests of internet users across the globe. Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products & User Experience at Google, will host an interactive webcast to give reporters an early look at the fastest-rising searches conducted on Google.com in 2007. And, in time for end-of-year story planning, she will demonstrate how Google Trends(TM) can be used as a reporting tool to add color and even visual illustrations and elements.

Given that my book came about, in part, from the first ever annual zietgiest in 2001, I am interested to see what Marissa does. Of course, I am in staff meetings all day, so I cannot attend. Maybe one of you will, and tell us what happened in comments?

Update: Google announced on the Today show. Thanks, TC.

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:58 PM
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Yahoo's Top Trends

More to come, from Google in particular, but here are Yahoo's trends for 2007.

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:49 PM
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FM and Facebook

Sure, Facebook had a tough weekend, but it's still a phenomenon, and FM's found two extremely talented developers - the folks behind Graffiti Wall and Watercooler - to work with on Facebook's platform. Here's the release on FM's move into Facebook land, and here's the results of one of our first conversational marketing campaigns on Facebook (one of the results is pictured at left).

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:06 AM
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Welcome to the Scrutiny of the Masses, Facebook.

Ouch.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:05 PM
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FM and BabyCenter: An Appreciation

I don't use this space very often to talk about my "other" business, but as loyal readers know, that "other" business has become my passion, so much so that it has taken the best of my time away from Searchblog. I often say to folks that I started FM to create a model that would allow me - and hundreds like me - to write and publish full time. Well, two and a half years in, I'm proud to say that's true for scores of FM partners, but I'm not quite there at Searchblog. I have so much I want to write about, but so little time to actually write - as writing, of course, also requires reporting, reflection, and editing. And FM requires, well, full time focus.

But given that the last two posts have been about pals - Casey at Dell, and the team at Six Apart - I figured I may as well do a bit of log rolling with regard to the latest deal FM has consummated - our partnership with Tina Sharkey and her colleagues at BabyCenter.

The mainstream media world has woken up to the power of conversational media in the past six or so months, with nearly every major company announcing a blog and/or social media strategy. At FM, we knew this was coming, and we welcome it - it's a validation of the authors we work with - from Om and Mike to ProTrade and Graffiti. We're at more than 50 million uniques worldwide, which makes us a pretty big media company, if you want to look at it that way. But we don't, really. We focus on each of our authors, and the federations they are part of.

We started with a small technology federation, and our second federation was about parenting. Why? Well, besides the fact that I have three kids, one of our tech authors was a huge fan of Dooce, one of our anchor authors. And when we met Heather and Jon, we knew we had to figure out a way to make parenting our second federation.

As time went by, it became glaringly obvious that we were not alone in seeing the value of conversational media, in particular when it comes to an area that large media companies call "women's interest." Very large companies - from Martha Stewart to Conde Nast to Time Inc - were noodling their own social media plays. And while we were very proud of the voices in FM's network, it was clear that we needed a partner if we were going to take our support of parenting authors to the next level.

That's where Tina and BabyCenter came in. As I surveyed the landscape of possible partners, there was only one I saw as a perfect fit with our current authors. BabyCenter is not only the best (and largest) parenting resource on the web, Tina is one of the finest media execs I've worked with. It was a perfect match.

Together, FM and BabyCenter are integrating our authors' voices into BabyCenter, and bringing new voices into the family. From the point of view of marketers, we have scale, quality, and safety; from the point of view of readers, we have extraordinarily deep resources and singular voices; and from the point of view of authors, we now have a partnership that brings both new readers and new marketers to their respective sites.

I'm looking forward to more partnerships like this one, and to continuing to scale FM while maintaining our focus on supporting independent conversational media. How does this relate to search, you might ask? Well, to be honest, search is what proved the whole idea of conversational media in the first place. With search as the navigational interface to media, we all started finding voices we could connect with. And a new form of media was born. It's pretty cool, when you think about it.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:02 PM
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SixApart Sells Live Journal

It's an evening of news from friends, this time, Six Apart, a company I have a very soft spot for, given that four or five pals are senior execs or founders, has sold its Live Journal business to SUP, a Russian company that plans to go big in the blogging market in Russia. I know this will be great for SA, allowing it to focus on Typepad and MT. Congrats, SA team!

(the link is not live yet, but will be soon I am sure).

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:44 PM
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Dell Makes a Strong Move

After a long process that was referred to in this interview, Dell has chosen an agency partner, WPP, and together the two companies are going to start an entirely new agency. I've had the pleasure of speaking with Casey Jones, Dell's VP Marketing, as he's gone through this process, and I'm certain that this new agency will create all sorts of fascinating new models. Not only that, but it looks like the agency might be located here in the Bay area, which would be great for our media community. Congrats, WPP and Dell!

From PRWeek's coverage:

The controversial move, which is unprecedented in scope, will bring Dell's entire external marketing communications function under one profit and loss statement. WPP and Dell will create one agency, comprised of all marketing disciplines and staffed with professionals, at least initially, devoted full time to Dell. The agency and Dell will also co-invest in a significant analytics tool that will map the efficacy of all marketing disciplines against each other and provide measurement for marketing initiatives against business goals.

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:40 PM
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