"Anything with a halfway interesting story about how an upstart like Facebook will beat Google will get listened to if for no other reason than to argue about it." - Robert Scoble To test Robert's theory and to offer some belated support to his ...
I'll admit I sometimes forget certain website addresses. And sometimes I'll Google eBay rather than type 'ebay.com' into the address bar (apparently I'm not alone, it's the 3rd most popular search query in the US) Besides confirming that I'm lazy and have the memory o...
While I've only been involved in web development and SEO for three years, I've been participating in online communities since 2001. Over the last six years, it's been my privilege to help build and moderate a few online communities. I've learned a lot about the way people think and behave online and picked up a few helpful bits of information--and fortunately, I like...
Rand, how on earth do you expect me to complete any solid keyword research when you assign me a task that involves Facebook? Luckily, you asked me to review the most successful (and most useful, as they're not necessarily the same thing) Facebook applications. I'm one of those people who have shied away from adding applications to my Facebook account because I remember when Facebook was like a ren...
Yesterday, I received an email from Christ Bennett at 97th Floor, telling me about an awesome tool they were due to release tomorrow (now today, obviously), that lets you tell how many times a page you're currently viewing has been submitted to / voted upon at the four biggest social media services. However, far from being just a Firefox toolbar extension, the tool also shows up on Digg, Reddit, S...
I find myself in Montreal, Quebec this week, spending time with my old friend, Guillaume Bouchard of NVI and some new friends frmo an organization called Alliance numériQC (French only, sorry Anglophones). Guillaume and I got to chatting over dinner about the new version of Digg and the more prominent version of the social li...
Gary Price of ResourceShelf dropped me a line last week with some links to very cool content repositories on the web that have recently opened up or expanded. Browsing through a few of these got me thinking that the sheer amount of information available from non-profits, organizations and government entities could make for some very powerful viral mate...
While most of the search world is partying with Rebecca attending sessions at SES San Jose, some of us have been working away at our computers as though the biggest search function wasn't going on two states away. It's actually kind of awesome to be in such a quiet office, and it's equally pleasant not to have to pander to Rebecca's dislike of certain food groups when we ...
When I'm not furiously writing PHP here at SEOmoz, I built and now maintain the online music store TuneShout.com. It's a pretty small operation right now, but basically we let artists sign up themselves to give away and/or sell their music on our site, while we collect a small royalty. The site also have a large social component where artists' and...
When it comes to social media websites, the long tail theory breaks down a bit. We'd expect, in a standard long tail curve, that the pink area represented more demand and value overall than the blue area. However, the reverse is overwhelmingly the cas...
The blogosphere and the world of social media is, by and large, ruled by human emotion. As web developers, marketers and entrepreneurs seeking exposure, we can choose to embrace the passions that dominate the creation of links, or we can ignore them and give our competition a potential edge. In my experience there are a handful of emotions that dominate the desire to link or share conte...
With only a couple of exceptions, barely anyone has ever complained about receiving a lot of attention from social media. Occasionally, large social media communities, especially the one that rhymes with "pig", will take it upon themselves to pick on a website or an individual; however, aside from harassment, it's usually a good thing to have your content get popular in the social media ...
Inside the search marketing world, I still see many folks struggling to grasp the concept behind viral marketing, particularly when it comes to moving beyond the basic top 10 lists and iPhone helps destroy evil RIAA posts. So, I thought it would be valuable to take a look at some solid examples of well-thought-out, niche-relevant content that nails the viral marketing concept. Let'...
While Rand was out of town he received an email from a man named Darren Barefoot. Since Rand was up to his ears in meetings, presentations, and consultancies, he forwarded the email to me and asked me to take a look at it. The email subject was "Can You Spare 88 Seconds?" My first thought was, "Probably." (Really, 88 seconds is not m...