I came across a post on Izea’s blog talking about their latest release to their PayPerPost platform. Here’s what Ted (IZEA’s CEO) said:

When SocialSpark launched we adjusted its margins to create a model that would be profitable for the company. The model works and provides a clear path for the future. Meanwhile, PPP has been canceling out what we’ve gained in contribution from SocialSpark. Today we are adjusting the margins in PPP to match that of SocialSpark. Both systems will now have a 50/50 split between IZEA and the blogger, recognizing the value each of us brings to the table.

It’s also interesting to see that they also announced that they will be closing the doors on Zookoda, a service designed for bloggers to send out daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly into their visitors inbox citing the fact that it wasn’t economically viable to keep it running. This has sparked a spate of comments from regular users who frankly will be left out in the cold. Izea (who were called PayPerPost back then) acquired Zookoda in April 07 citing they were “confident Zookoda’s capabilities will be of great help to our family of PayPerPost bloggers.” There is no doubt the service is a great help to bloggers but there may have been a shift in Izea’s outlook and priorities.

I suspect that these moves are a sign that Izea’s honeymoon period is over and time has come to focus on their key deliverables. I’ve always maintained that there was too much focus on bloggers and not enough on advertisers and this probably is a move to address that failing. It is a shame about Zookoda however, as Izea seem to be treating this as a cost centre rather than an asset that can produce positive contribution by strengthening their blogger base.

On those lines, it’s interesting to see Izea handle online campaigns for Ford, Kmart and Sears, particularly with Chris Brogan doing a sponsored post for Kmart and the subsequent flash fire that generated. The one thing I can say, is that whether you’re selling baby shower gifts or balloons over the internet, user-generated content is here to stay and it’s only getting more prevalent.

Well, the bottom line is that Microsoft’s search engines consistently returns worse results than Google. Don’t believe me? Try it for a few days. You’ll find yourself switching back to Google when you REALLY need to find something. The problem that Microsoft faces is not one of getting people to try their product, the problem is that their search technology is inferior to Google, and at the end of the day, that’s all punters care around. You may attract a small segment of bargain hunters with this strategy, but as soon as you remove the incentive, you will lose them to other schemes like Homepage Friends, who pay hard cash if you search through them (using Yahoo! incidentally)

What do others think? Well, nobody really seems really convinced, with some parties actually finding the attempt hilarious. Begging people to use your products is no way to increase their confidence and it’s practically impossible to “earn” anything of value.

Once again, the search engine war is all about relevance, and until Microsoft get that into their head, they’re just going to keep pumping money into it for nothing. What a waste!

My mate Carlo just sent me a link to a website you can use to analyze your backlinks. Analyze Backlinks, as the site is so aptly called, let you specify a URL, and comes back with a list of pages that reference the URL.

Using it is simple, just pop the URL in the text box specified, select the options you want, click Begin and just sit back comfortably in your massage chair (if you have one that is). Within a few instants it will come back with up to 1000 URLs that point at your page. I would have preferred getting some sort of indication as to the quality of the links, but it’s a good way to start.

What are you waiting for, Analyze your Backlinks now.

I had 2 blogs that got smacked [PR suddenly dropped to 0]. I cleaned one up and applied for reconsideration. (You know, keep one as a control and all that).

Well .. the one what I applied for reconsideration is still 0 … the other has gone up to a 2 !!

Sometimes I wonder if the blogs that got smacked HAVE got smacked because of paid advertising. The two blogs of mine that got smacked (compared to the ones that didn’t) suffered from a disproportion of outgoing links over incoming links and had thematic inconsistency issues [That's dealing with topics that are unrelated, like family affairs, followed by drug treatment centers, followed by a post about gadgets, followed by food]. Also, post regularity was much lower haphazard than the blogs that weren’t hit. (3-4 posts on one day, none on other days)

Personally I’m not convinced that this is solely because of paid posted OR that it’s an automated process looking for “markers” on blogs.

The one thing that I do suspect is that Google has realised that it’s algorithm needed tweaking. The nature of blogs gives them an artificially inflated PR score compared to other CMS/Static websites (lots of cross-linking, lots of regular new content, rapid establishment of backlinks/site graphs). I personally think that they have adjusted this (albeit too aggressively initially) and what we’re seeing is more readjustment …

But hey .. who know?

Would love to know your thoughts ..

I think it’s a shame that Microsoft lag so far behind when it comes to innovation. They are probably the richest software development organisation by far, yet they seem to struggle to come up with technology their clients can use. They have a consistent track record of announcing products, setting the market’s expectations and failing to deliver while other companies continue to sparkle in the same marketplace. I personally thing that this is the reason Microsoft will succumb to Google in the long run. Google has shown that they can deliver new and exciting products and continually surprises me with their ability to innovate and bring new offerings to market.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a market analyst so don’t really know what’s behind all the machinations that these companies live by. I’m but a humble user who makes use of these technologies. But, at the end of the day, it’s the common user that needs to be persuaded to part with their hard-earned dollars, to give eyeball time to their websites and to “market” their products through his experiences and anecdotes. So, they are the ones who have to be ultimately impressed. And Google has always pulled through. Whether I’m reading email, searching for plasma mounts or monitising my website, Google is my partner of choice for the simple reason that I know they can deliver.

P.S. Photo by delicategenius

1. ensuring open connections
2. promoting data portability
3. enhancing support for industry standards
4. fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

This is a significant change the stance they had in the past where they had surrounded themselves with boundaries of patents, trade secrets and a downright stubbornness to accept the fact that they were only one piece of the jigsaw the makes up the IT industry.

The announcement seems to have been welcomed by a number of parties, though others remain extremely skeptical. One suspicious party is the EU, which released a statement shortly after which in essence calls for Microsoft to prove their words before they consider dropping any anti-trust charges against them.

What does it mean for the consumer? Time will tell; depending on how Microsoft take this forward and whether the industry accepts they are doing enough. I think it is a strategic step in the right direction. Interoperability is unavoidable and any player trying to build a walled garden is really just investing in door hardware and concrete to lock themselves into a short organisational life cycle.

I poked around their site a bit, and as their site name says, they are into selling tickets for a number of different events. They sell tickets for sports, theatre or concerts, but their 200% guarantee applies to all the different ranges of tickets they sell.

The only thing I don’t like about the site is that they could have done a lot more to make the site a bit more attractive. For example, the Van Halen page offers tickets for this legendary band, put some artwork, photos or pictures would make the page so much more fun to use and attract more traffic to me. Still, that’s only my opinion. What do you think?

Anyway, it’s nice to see Google rise up to the challenge, a response in this arean has been long overdue. Google didn’t need to invest in Facebook the way Microsoft did, as they have a great story of their own to bring to play. The big question is, will this API be simply a technology move, or will Google center it’s advancement around it’s users ?

• No Registration
• No Initialisation
• No Download
• All your friends in one IM

Sounds too good to be true? Well, further digging indicated that this isn’t really something that Facebook was producing, but rather an application that lives under FaceBook (yeah, another one). So what the blurb doesn’t mention is that you need to Activate this plugin, Pester everyone you know to use it and still be only limited to those of your friends who choose to activate this plugin amongst the plethora of application available on Facebook.

The discussion around this subject focuses around the fact that there are already a number of different ways to communicate with your friends on Facebook, so no USP here.? Also, MySpace tried this in the past, but with limited success. It’s also been noted that this is further proof that Facebook is a platform rather than a medium. Personally, I’m sceptical as to how much traction this application will achieve, but I’ll try it out and keep you posted.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there’s already a number of IM applications for Facebook, but they all revolve around external IM networks, rather than one built specifically for Facebook.

I’m sure this will be subject to refinement as I can see some fringe cases where your mobile phone can get stolen and while the insurance doesn’t explicitly cover the phone (unless you add their additional insurance) you can still claim for the data downloaded onto the phone. It would also be interesting to see what sort of proof they would expect you to provide in the event of a claim. If the item gets stolen or fried it would be pretty difficult to come up with a conclusive list of what was on the item and exactly that moment in time.

Still, it’s nice to see an insurance company making inroads into the digital world. It sets the standard for other companies and can only means more protection for consumers (or maybe just higher premiums). I would be interested to see how this compares with other countries. Does your home insurance cover data?