I read Is YouTube the Next Google? in Read/WriteWeb tonight (the title is somewhat misleading as YouTube is owned by Google so it’s not really the next Google, it is Google - but YouTube’s search is much different than Google’s textual search) and the post reminded me that, at times, I searched YouTube and was surprised how many of my typical search queries had user generated videos that existed and were tagged for that phrase or a related phase.

Earlier this year I had a client that ran an OCD clinic in London and wanted to create videos for Google Video Ads, and found several OCD videos in YouTube.   It worked for travel too - even in some details of places - perhaps even unfamilar hotels in a foriegn city that I might book a room in (if such were available); but it never went beyound that.

However, it appears that younger searches are using video search via services like YouTube almost as a replacement for Textual Search that Google normally provides.

True, Google has put Universal Search in place that includes videos and images into the mix, but at the end of the day what might emerge is textual search will eventually be replaced by visual and voice search (the new Google iPhone Voice Search was just released today in the iTunes store - though I can’t seem to find it yet and download it).

According to Read/WriteWeb

“….. he mentioned that his son accesses the web through YouTube. At first, I didn’t get it and thought Ian was making a joke. But then I realized he was not. Whenever his son needed any information, he would open up YouTube, type in the search term and then just watch the videos that showed up as matches. He never Googled anything; he never went to any other site; his entire web experience was confined to YouTube videos. It was rather puzzling.”

Since I have access to Comscore Media Metrix, I figured, if it’s really true that younger people are replacing textual search with video search, then the demographics profile of YouTube.com of October  07 compared to October 08 ought to show some marked differences - and they did!

October 2007  YouTube.com Demographics

Then I did the same thing for YouTube Demographics October 2008

Usage of YouTube by pre-adolescents 9-14 jumped by roughly 500% over that last year - kids between 2 and 11 years jumped up even more!

Now, you have to wonder - are kids of 2 years old using YouTube? I don’t know, but, somehow, ComScore thinks they are.   Hey, maybe we should call them “eKids” or “eToddlers”, and they probably aren’t as likely to use textual search as video search, or image search.

Also, notice the % Reach has gone up quite a bit, as well.  For example, % Reach is calculated as the the # of Unique Vistors (000) / Total Internet Audience for a Category - Comscore takes care of the Categorization and maintaining all of that is part of the hefty pricetag.

But ……. if YouTube is getting more youngsters searching on it - shouldn’t Google Textual Search get less, or at least, grow less fast, relative to Youtube?

Google Search Demographics - Comscore - October 2007

Again, I ran the same report for October 2008 and ….

And sure enough, there’s not nearly as much growth - for kids 9-14 there were 8,019,000 Uniques in October 2007 and 11,707,000 in 2008, an increase of 45% vs. the 497% growth of the use of YouTube for  the same age group.

Now, I didn’t look if there was differences in usage based on gender, but I’ve seen enough to be convinced that younger people, the future - is in video search and not so much textual search.

If that’s true, it has profound implications, as Search continues to evolve.

Further on in the Read/Write Web post Is YouTube the Next Google?

” … Ian said that his son frequently searches for episodes of Bakugan, which come up perfectly. Another likely search for a 9-year-old, Lance Wataru (a Pokemon character), works well, too. More specific searches, such as Donkey from Shrek, work even better.”

All I can say is ha, ha, ha …  so as more content is generated and placed online, search results for Video will get richer and richer and that can only mean textual searches days are numbered (but we don’t know the number yet).

In the RWW post it’s mentioned the main reason for textual search is hyperlinks work better - but that’s gradually being replaced by hyperlinking images

“…The main reason that text rules the web today is because of hyperlinks. Linking pages via text links is what makes the web possible. Hyperlinking videos would be a harder thing to do. Not impossible, of course, because you can link objects and insert text in videos, but it’s just not as elegant as text. Besides the linking issue, not everything would be an effective video. For example, a research paper could be made into a video but would not be as easy to follow as the text.

I agree, not everything is meant to be turned into video or audio content - and honestly, I bet if we took brain scans of searches using textual vs. voice search (ie: Google’s new iPhone Search applicaton with Audio Search) we’d find different centers of the brain being used in a textual search vs. an audio search - and we might as well extend that to video and image search as well.

And if we do that - we’ll see the queries themselves will differ in subtle ways, between what we’d write and what we’d say, when entering the same query to a Search Engine.

Is it far fetched to say the newer generation is evolving past textual search …. ?  I don’t think it’s that much of a strech.

I was pretty impressed with Eric Peterson’s last post on Web Analytics is Recession Proof?

Peterson made a good argument that we have to work harder to show value with the tools we have - even if we have to do it on our own time, and even if we’re not directly asked for it (see below):

“…My advice to to step-up and find the real value in your data, even if you have to conduct the analysis on your own in the wee hours. It’s not as if you can just stop generating reports (tempting as that may sound) but if you’re a good analyst, taking the time to figure out where the real opportunities to increase revenue are is the work you want to be doing anyway. Taking the initiative to make data-powered recommendations and presenting them is a good way to demonstrate your skills and commitment to the business (but don’t stop doing the job you’re being paid to do!)”

Interestingly, Eric has made a determination that

” …. Despite the conventional wisdom that dictates that brilliant analysts are safe when times are tough, I am getting more and more calls from brilliant analysts who are being laid off or being offered severance packages to walk away.”

“…. What if the folks you work for who profess a great love for data-driven decision making are really HIPPOs in their heart and when the real bloodletting begins are just as likely to look for savings in areas that can be easily cut (human resources, for example) as opposed to those that would require breaking contracts?”

Well, I’ve been doing this all along - almost any report can be made better.   Eric also quotes Dave Rhee, who is one of the moderators of the Web Analytics Association Web Analytics Message Board in saying…

“…My friend W. David Rhee just published a great response about the relationship between web analytics, sales, and marketing in a down economy.  To paraphrase Dave, if the bosses begin to panic, you don’t want to be in a situation where you appear to be an expendable marketing cost that can be cut.  It is far better to be focusing your analytical efforts on how the organization can be increasing profits, even if you have to fight to spend more time conducting analysis and less time generating reports.”

I want to add to this by seconding Dave’s point, let’s get our employers the amunation to make more money in this challanging envirnment rather than cutting costs.

In fact, I’m not really sure anything ought to be cut back in this “challanging economic enviornment” as much as it needs to be restructured.  In fact, there’s a strong argument to spend more .,.. but on the right things that implemented in the right way.

Anyway, there’s a lot more in Web Analytics is Recession Proof? than I covered, so it’s worth a close read.

Last week I was at Gary Vaynerchuk Videos from Motivational Meetup - 11-5-05 but I had a lot of extra footage, including a good bit of advice and insight from Dennis Mortensen, who is in charge of Yahoo! Analytics (formally IndexTools), is a friend and fellow Board Member at the Web Analytics Association.

But I was having a lot of trouble getting the videos up on this site - for some reason the files were too large and every time I tried uploading - it would go on forever, but I finally managed to get all 4 videos up here.

The first one, is the finish of Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk

The rest were more about questions and a conversation I had with Dennis Mortensen - here are those videos - they’re all full of information and worth viewing:

Have to admit, wish I sounded better on my videos - maybe no one likes the way they sound … can’t say that I could make it on the professional circuit as a speaker - though I wish I had the …. what do you call it …. presence that Gary Vaynerchuk has …. it’s as if, at any time of the day, Gary could give a speech, and it almost doesn’t matter what he is saying - it’ll sound good.

And look, Dennis has some pretty interesting things to say - stuff I should apply, too.

Reflecting on events this week that I attended; a dinner in Chinatown Monday night where I met Jeremy Wright of B5 Media and Missy Ward of Affiliate Summit fame.

And then, I met the same people, and more, last night, at Mashable’s Motivational Meetup (Gary Vaynerchuk Videos from Motivational Meetup - 11-5-05) - Gary Vaynerchuk, who’s event footage is now up on this site and CenterNetworks (Allen Stern).

Spoke to Jeremy Wright last night about the penalty Google imposed on most Know More Media blogs, including Webmetricsguru.com, before I bought it off the defunct KMM Network.

The traffic today isn’t terrible, between 200 to 300 visits a day, about the same as when I bought the domain with Sebastian Wenzel for our BlogSpeedWay.com network.

But I haven’t been able to get back to the 1000-20,000 visits a day I used to get, before last January, when the penalty was applied.

Jeremy mentioned he had success with a few KMM blogs he bought, using Google Webmaster Console, which turns out to be another name for Google Webmaster tools.

3 inclusion requests after cleaning up the blog, and no real response from Google, via the tool.

But here’s the thing … A conversation is usually 2 ways, and fully Duplex, meaning you make a request, you get a direct reply.

That’s also Web 2.0 and how this last Presidential Election was won by Barack Obama with a brilliant Social Media Strategy that acknowledged his followers and made them (us) feel heard and acknowledged.

Why doesn’t Google not hear and acknowledge me, not by sending me more automated bots via Webmaster Central, but answering my reconsideration requests with a human voice and face, so that I know I was heard.

Lately I’ve been on rants with companies that sell you on ideas they enable, but don’t actually embody, themselves.

Last month I mentioned ComScore, who sells expensive intelligence to corporations who want to spy on each other (competitive intelligence) running metering software that none of those same corporations will allow to run on their own networks due to privacy policies - pathetic, but true. No wonder the numbers are so far off from the same webstats, when available.

Then last week, Radian6, did, more or less, the same thing, and I wrote about it. It was cleared up when Radian6 talked back, had a conversation with me.

And now, Google,the most successful Web 2.0 Company if them all.

Wha!

Google doesn’t want 2 way conversations, they just tell the rules, something happens and your in the Gulog, they throw the key away.

Here’s my point, and I haven’t even gotten to gotten to Gary’s rant with Howard Stern, today - why can’t Google start having 2 way conversations?

Why won’t Google acknowledge me or my reconsideration request, so that I know my concerns were addressed?

Just a thought, but you’d think, by now, Google would be acting Web 2.0 by just talking to me.

And it’s not like Matt Cutts is easy to reach, these days.

I don’t know, the wholething is frustrating, and, as usual, people who talk the talk, often don’t walk the walk.

Note: I wrote this post on the subway while heading towards DUMBO, Brooklyn, for an Art Opening.  I am finding, I can compose and post my work while commuting, and even, while walking, and my last post was done entirely while walking to work this morning.

Of course, I don’t recommend doing that kind of writing all the time, but feel good that it’s there for me, when I want it.

I see Facebook as the AIG of Web 2.0 - too big to fail - yet Facebook is running out of money, just like AIG did and Marketing Piligrim asks is Facebook Headed for Financial Ruin? According to TechCrunch:

“… Facebook’s growth, thanks to all these user-created translated versions of the site, has probably exceeded even their own internal projections. And running this engine isn’t cheap.

The company is likely spending well over a $1 million per month on electricity alone, say experts we’ve spoken with. Bandwidth is likely another $500,000 or more per month on top of that. The company has earmarked $100 million to buy 50,000 servers this year and next. And sources say they’ve been buying one NetApp 3070 storage system per week just to keep up with all this user generated content. At up to $2 million each, that adds up quickly - we’ve heard estimates that they may have spent as much as $30 million this year alone with the company. And the icing on the cake - earmark another $15 million per year in office and datacenter rent payments.

And don’t forget those human assets. With 750 employees and growing, Facebook is spending at least another $10 million per month on payroll.

It costs a couple of hundred million dollars a year just to keep the lights on at Facebook. But the real problem is keeping up with growth, particularly storage needs. Add another $100 million or more per year for capital expenditures, and you’ve got a company that’s doing exactly the opposite of printing money.”

But that’s my point - Facebook is too much a part of what is happening today to be left to fail - so I’m not worried about Facebook falling on it’s face - I’m more worried about the rest of the world falling into a financial depression, and what that is going to look like and be like, to live though.

I do think Facebook will need to become more profitable, though - and that means developing stuff people will buy more of - and at that, in an environment when people are spending less and less.

Interesting article by Saul Hansell of the New York Times about collecting and harvesting web data to sell to interested third parties - Forget Taxes - This Plumber Wants to Sell Your Data; here’s an excerpt from the article

Last week, Akamai agreed to buy Acerno, a three-year old advertising network that draws data about what people shop for from more than 400 online stores. (I wrote about some of the privacy implications of Acerno’s existing business last week.)

But the bigger question is what does it mean that Akamai, one of the most important Internet companies that most people have never heard of, wants to collect data about people?

As best as I can tell, Akamai’s plan move doesn’t have the profound implications for privacy that the efforts by Internet service providers to monitor their customers’ Web surfing do. Unlike I.S.P.’s, Akamai doesn’t automatically know who Web surfers are and it doesn’t see every click they make. But Akamai does see a lot of clicks, and it works with companies that do know who users are, so there are potentially a lot of implications for both privacy and the advertising business.

Akamai gets paid by companies to make their Web sites appear on the screens of their users faster. It places copies of the largest files, like photos and videos, on thousands of servers spread all over the world to speed delivery. Akamai is the leader in these content delivery networks, but it has a lot of competition putting pressure on prices and creating an incentive to find new sources of revenue.

So, doesn’t everyone want your data?  Who doesn’t want it?

I guess, as long as Akamai doesn’t combine the data, it’s not violating any privacy rules - but if it enables someone else combining the data it wants to collect, it’s their problem, not Akamai’s.

Do you agree with that?   My feeling - if I’m around an alcoholic and I put out some booze, but I say … don’t drink this, it’s not good for you …. and the alcoholic drinks it anyway - is it all their fault?  I don’t think so.

Occasionally I read the Web Analytics Message Board that was created by Eric Peterson and now which the Web Analytics Association helps run and sponsor - I probably don’t read it enough (though I get the information by my RSS feeds and email); the post was about HitWise’s Search Intelligence tool, but I was more interested in what Michael Feiner had to say about Comscore and Nielsen and  I was struck by this Paradox:

“…..On their own admission Hitwise has a very small At Work panel, less than 1%. This, by the way, is a problem for the panel measurement companies as well (no matter what they say). The big corporates are very sensitive about being measured.”

All I can say is … ha, ha, ha ……  no one but the “big corporates” can afford ComScore or Nielsen - it’s so expensive - running into several hundred thousand dollars a year for a basic contract … and with new offerings by ComScore for Video, Segmentation, Audience Engagement, Advertising, etc - while all great info, dials up the price tag significantly.

And all the while - the basic accuracy for the “client” - the big corporations, is sabatoged by their own privacy policies.

You’d think the that there’d be some sort of “volentary” allowing of the Comscore and Nielsen clients on Corporate desktops, just so they information they feed back is “accurate” … but … that’s not to be.

So that makes me think the whole concept of using panel data, in the way it’s used, for whom it’s used for - while valuable (because there’s often no alternative) needs to be re-thought out.

For example, I know now that Comscore Video Metrix is using a combination method where a client can “tag” their own videos so that Comscore will more accurately count the traffic of the “client” …

That’s a good start, but won’t really scale well - since - …. hardly anyone else will do it AND ….. getting tags placed on pages is too much work, too much change control.

A better solution, but one that is totally unmentioned by any audience measurement service is to use sniffer technology such as Pion, made by Atomic Labs, which can be enginnered to work with Comscore and provide the data in a mannor that does not require tagging - and will be accurate.

So, instead of just charging Corporate Clients for all this money  - for the Panel data, suppliment it with Pion (give it away to the client and require it be installed as part of the contract) …… THEN …. the information coming to these “clients” will start to be more accurate.

It’s amazing to me that Comscore didn’t come up with this solution themselves - they put out all this expensive add ons - without really realizing that most clients are not even getting the full value out of the basic core functionality.

I just thought the whole situation was so full of paradox, I had to write a whole post on it - like the “blind leading the blind” kinda thing.

The Yahoo Message Board post on the Search Intelligence Tool also goes on to say that Comscore and Nielsen aren’t that bad, considering they have a limitation on how they collect and install the metering software:

“…The panel measurement companies have much greater control over their panel audience because they actually have significant information about these people (e.g. demographic data). Both comScore and Nielsen recruit their core panel prospects offline via telephone interviews (Random Digit Dial method or RDD). They supplement the RDD panel with cheaper online recruitment which is not as good “quality” panel but helps bolster panel sizes.

They will then use an enumeration survey to chart the US online population and will periodically weigh their panels to match the current US online population map.

These two constantly argue about the validity of each other’s recruitment methods but in general should have a smaller bias in terms of representing the US online population (vs Hitwise).

As I mentioned above as part of their recruitment process, comScore and Nielsen collect demographic data about their panel members. They then monitor these members’ online behavior on a 1-to-1 basis.”

Honestly, others have weighed in on which web audience measurement tool is the best and their problems, but I could not help laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing - your trying to sell “glasses” to the “blind” - if you can’t get accurate measurement of the Comscore or Nielsen client’s own traffic - how can you expect any of it to be that accurate?

Just a thought on this Sunday.

I was really exhausted by the 5 days I spent in Alexandria VA, just outside DC, at the Emetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, but it was overall a great conference and most of the familar faces were there - and easy to network with.

By the way, I’ve begun to think in terms of including my imagery with my Web Analytics posts - most people know that I’m an artist and it’s part of my own unique branding - and it’s something I do in my own way - where I think it fits - I’ve included my iphone paintings, in this case, to capture the feelings I had, a combination of excitement and exhaustion - in this newer medium, which, lately, I’m finding very satisfying to work in.

Thoughts and Feelings - IPhone Painting - Using Colors Application

Marshall Sponder 2008

For one thing, there was an entire Social Media Track at Emetrics this time, that’s never happened before and I attended about half of the sessions in that tract - which was about the best I could do given the competition with other sessions and speaking with people, that I’ll often opt to do, even ahead of attending a session.   Most of the sessions I covered are at Emetrics Summit.

I also live blogged most of the sessions I covered using my IPhone, but ran into a glitch with pre-created posts (to capture Marketing Notes and hyperlinks); I required network connectivity in order to edit posts I created beforehand, and most of the time, the session rooms did not have connectivity.  I find creative ways around that limitation, and overall, decided the day of carrying a laptop to conference sessions is effectively over - it’s no longer needed as the iPhone has all the neccessary functionality to live blog with.   Applications such as WordPress, will continue to improve and make laptops unnecessary for most conference work within the next year.

Getting back to the Social Media Track at Emetrics, it could have been a conference by itself - there was certainly enough content to qualify and in many cases, first class speakers who were doing leading edge social media analysis with an analytics bent.  There was a keynote on New York Times Web Analytics by James G. Robinson which suggested that, for a Newspaper like the NY Times, weekly reporting has become neccessary as information is coming in so quickly that monthly reporting no longer is sufficient -  there was a number of interesting metrics James came up with, I was familiar with some of it,  other things were actually quite illuminating, and I was very happy I attended his keynote.

However, Bill Glassman from The Gartner Group noted that we’re all looking for the next big thing and it felt as if the conference was looking for it too - perhaps the closest thing to that was Mobile Analytics - it seemed to be the new darling of both Emetrics and perhaps, Web Analytics in general.   It’s almost as if Mobile Analytics has “replaced” the focus on “Social Media” which is now becoming “absorbed” into the general consciousness of Web Analytics practitioners.

Omniture had an excellent presentation, as did Sebastian Wenzel from Lifetopia Corp, who also writes www.webanalyticsbook.com (the mobile metrics guide is somewhere on his site, but I can’t find it right at this moment - otherwise I’d provide the link for download).

There was also a great session on Measuring Virtual Worlds, with Dr. James Bower of Numedeon Incorporated, Jared Freedman of Code4Software and Matt Bostwick of A4R4 Media.  Between Matt, Jared and James, Brand Metrics were explained and detailed in a way I had not seen before, and I think we all “got it” - what branding really has become - which is “product branding” - it’s all about the product, not so much the brand.

I also had a great talk with Jennifer Veesenmeyer, a senior consultant for Stratigent, who I’ve seen and spoken to several times at other Emetrics Summits and some WAA Events.

Finally, I stayed one more day to attend a Board Meeting of the Web Analytics Association, whose Board I am part of. There’s only one place in my life where I can discuss and create strategy that drives business forward, and that’s on the Board of Directors of the Web Analytics Association.

For most of my life, I’ve been affected by the decisions made by others - and being on the Board of Directors has given me an experience of what it’s like to make decisions relevant to the organization and for me, that’s was a very rich and rewarding feeling - especially this last meeting - which was the best one, for me, since I joined the Board.

I’m liveblogging Emetrics Summit DC and this is a test of getting part of my post written from my laptop onto my 3G iPhone so I can take live notes.

Here’s the marketing notes for the session:

S01 Tuesday, 11:10 - 12:00
Social Network Analysis

Fred Türling, SHS Viveon AG

Internet based communities have been widely discussed since the arrival of the concept Web 2.0. So far, opportunities and risks of business models based on such user groups are not fully clear. Therefore a more fundamental understanding of community-based social structures is needed. How can web analytics and social network analytics help to analyze communities? Is it possible to create segments within the user base? How can we address attractive groups like multipliers and furthermore is it possible to describe special profiles like expert, salesperson, spreader, etc.? During the session Fred Türling will discuss these topics and show first results for two top forums and one collaboration network. Fred was invited over from Germany after his presentation was so well received at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit in Munich.

I spoke a lot with Fred after his session and he suggested many ideas. Mostly, without giving away too much information Fred’s company can produce a data cube model from search and customer data that can predict, with a high degree of confidence, if a free member will turn into a paid member, and how long that will take, andwhen it’s likely to happen.

But the same methodology can be applied to sales calls, to predictive analysis of search results, to name a few.

Anyway, like usual, I missed a few sessions but had meaningful conversations, instead.

In fact, interestingly, Fred’s company does analysis of how to identify meaningful conversations using predictive analysis,and he did share some general info, but the actual results, which sound like they are even more impressive, are confidental.

And here’s the notes for the session

I’ll be attending Emetrics Summit DC next week, a must for anyone that wants to maintain or increase their connections in the Web Analytics industry - I’ve attended every US based Emetrics since October 2006, about 6 months after starting this blog.

I just want to say this on the onset of what is turning out to be a very long post - Jim Sterne has done an EXCEPTIONAL JOB of rasing the bar, and adding new and better content at this Emetrics Summit.   One of the biggest problems larger conferences face is they tend to get old and stale after a few years - Jim has really outdone himself with this program - I can testify to that - and this conference, especially now, in a lousy economy, is probably the best investment anyone can make in their career - I’d suggest attending - it’s still not too late to register (up till Monday, October 20th, that is).

By the way, here’s a painting I did on my iPhone that contains many of the feelings and ideas I’m posting about - enjoy!

Thought I’d publish my itinerary - and any thoughts that come to my mind about it - tonight (I can still change what I attend - and often, I end up in a conversation with someone at the conference and don’t make it to all the sessions I planned - figuring the connecting with someone is the most important thing about being at a conference like this, but I will try to attend most of the sessions I list here).

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Having a seat on the current Board of Directors of the WAA, I make a special effort to attend community meetings at Emetrics and I enjoy meeting old and new friends at the WAA Reception afterwards - being at Emetrics has been an exceptionally rewarding experience for me.

And honestly, I don’t know what time I’ll end up going to bed Monday night - there’s usually people up pretty late …. talking about Analytics and the Economy, I’m sure.

I want to say that all of Tuesday, I’ll be focusing exclusively on the Social Media track - it seems to me that Jim Sterne has really honed in on Social Media, given the attendees more of what they’re interested in - updated content and, I think, has done an excellent job of putting this track together - along with the rest of the conference.

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Definitely, making the Jim Sterne keynote is a must, Jim is a wonderful speaker that brings the subject of Web Analytics alive - what could be a dull, arcane subject becomes very alive and interesting when he speaks about it.

11:10 - 12:00 Social Media Metrics - Beech

I’m attending Social Network Analysis - Fred Türling - that’s a must, even though Eric Peterson is also speaking at this time, and normally I’d go to that, I have directed the Social Media Committee at the WAA for some time, have started the ball rolling in defining Social Media Metrics, and therefore - Social Network Analysis is a must attend for me - if nothing else, to see what Fred has to say.    Here’s the Marketing notes from that session:

“…..S01 Tuesday, 11:10 - 12:00

Social Network Analysis

Fred Türling, SHS Viveon AG

Internet based communities have been widely discussed since the arrival of the concept Web 2.0. So far, opportunities and risks of business models based on such user groups are not fully clear. Therefore a more fundamental understanding of community-based social structures is needed. How can web analytics and social network analytics help to analyze communities? Is it possible to create segments within the user base? How can we address attractive groups like multipliers and furthermore is it possible to describe special profiles like expert, salesperson, spreader, etc.? During the session Fred Türling will discuss these topics and show first results for two top forums and one collaboration network. Fred was invited over from Germany after his presentation was so well received at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit in Munich.

12:00 - 1:05 Birds of a Feather Lunch - Upper Foyer, Lobby Level

1:05 - 1:55     Reputation Management in a Social Media World - Katie Delahaye Paine

Katie Paine is someone I’ve met a few times this year, first at the Social Media Roundtable in Toronto last May, then again, a few months ago in NYC for a tweetup dinner and speaking spot at Converseon’s Social Media Roundtable in NYC.    I also appeared with Katie on a panel at First Tuesday in Toronto when I was attending the first Social Media Roundtable.

Lately, I’ve needed a little lift - and I’m looking forward to getting some of that lift listening to Katie talk about Social Media PR and pick up some of the subtler points of what she’s been saying for a while about Semantic Analysis, Engagement, etc.  Here’s the Marketing Notes:

“…S02 Tuesday, 1:05 - 1:55

Reputation Management in a Social Media World

Katie Delahaye Paine, KDPaine Partners

Social media has turned communications on its head. HITS stand for How Idiots Track Success and even unique visitors no longer have credibility. What’s a communicator to do? Measure the true impact of social media on the business, on your reputation. A classically trained PR authority, Katie is back by popular demand to give you seven simple steps to measure your social media program in a credible, actionable way.

I’ll also attend Hitwise University - Plaza Ballroom at 3:20 - 4:20 as well as Social Media Metrics - Jason Burby between 4:20 - 5:05 - here’s the notes on Jason’s talk:

“…S03 Tuesday, 4:20 - 5:05Social Media Metrics

Jason Burby, ZAAZ
Ryan Turner, ZAAZ

Both brand perception and shopping have always had a social context. Three years ago we accessed the opinions of 5 friends in the consideration process, today we can access the opinions of 5 million fellow customers. Measurement on the social web presents analysts with new challenges: How do you measure word of mouth? Can you model the relationships between online research and offline purchase? What is the value of a comment on a blog post? A connection in a social network? A question in a support forum? A tag on YouTube? How does engagement affect lifetime customer value? Jason Burby and Ryan Turner of ZAAZ will present some insights from their experiences grappling with these issues, and they’ll put forward some ideas about where businesses need to focus as the social web grows in importance over the coming years.

I’ll also stay in the same room for the last session of the day on expanding your Online Community.

“..S04 Tuesday, 5:10 - 6:00

Followers, Friends, and Fans: Expanding Your Online Community

Jonathon D. Colman, The Nature Conservancy
Laura Lee Dooley, World Resources Institute
Beth Kanter, How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

If you aren’t on facebook, twitter, friendfeed, technorati, and delicious, should you be? And once you jump into social media, how do you track and measure success? Tips, tools and stories from the trenches from three people who focus on online engagement and have more links, friends and followers than some small countries have citizens.

Laura Lee on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I’ll also be at the reception Tuesday night - 6:00 - 7:30 eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit Reception

Wednesday, October 22nd.

I would not want to miss the New York Times Presentation (Keynote) by James G. Robinson, who directs Web Analytics at the NYT; in fact, there was an excellent presentation from the NYT at the last Emetrics Summit in San Francisco, one of the best, if not the best session I attended then - I definately will not miss this one.  Here’s the marketing notes on James Robinson’s keynote:

“…Web Analytics as a Value Driver Across Media

James G. Robinson, Director of Web Analytics, The New York Times - Wednesday, 9:00 - 9:50

A massively well-received presentation in both London and San Francisco, you’ll learn how The New York Times uses web analytics to grow both their print and online audiences, improve web engagement, and increase revenue and profit. The presentation will trace the development of the Times’ web analytics strategy which is mapped directly to value drivers for customer and the business. Learn how The New York Times:

• Integrates online and print data to better track and profile users
• Uses web data to make the print newspaper more profitable
• Shapes insights to flow through “the last mile” to senior management

Again, I find myself drawn to attend the Social Media Analytics Session(s) at Emetrics on Wedensday, including Making Marketing Analytics Work in a Web 2.0 World - Douglas Brooks; here’s the marketing notes on that one:

“..S05 Wednesday, 11:10 - 12:00

Making Marketing Analytics Work in a Web 2.0 World

Douglas Brooks, MMA

While research in the area of social networks is considered leading edge today, it will become required research for savvy brands in the very near future. As marketers continue to discover new sources of information that get them closer to their customers in near-real time, the need becomes even more critical for creative solutions combining new data sources with advanced analytics. Being ahead of the curve in this area will lead to valuable insights and a competitive advantage for those who establish the capability early. In his presentation, Doug Brooks will discuss how some industry leaders are using advanced analytics to translate actionable customer data into business results.

Attendees of this presentation will learn how marketers are using this new data and analytic tools to:

• Understand the impact of WOM/buzz on their brands
• Track for leading indicators and trends
• Inform innovation and product development
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of a brand, as well as those of competitor brands

After the Birds of a Feather Lunch - Upper Foyer, Lobby Level between 1:05- 1:55 PM, I’ll have my first real conflict in what I want to attend - my good friend, Gary Angel, will be on a panel on DIY SEM: Your Agency May Not Be the Best Resource - Gary Angel, Mark Ruzomberka, David Harrod = and that might be useful for me to attend as well - BUT … I also see myself at the Voice of the Customer Panel - John Fernandez, Lance Jones, Mark Brooks at the same exact time.   Honestly, I don’t really know for sure what I’ll end up attending - maybe I’ll try to split myself in two and go to both - or spend a few minutes going back and forth … not sure.

However, considering that I’m working on matching up Paid and Organic Search from the Analytics perspecting at Monster Worldwide, among the things I do  there, attending Gary’s session might make the most sense, so here’s the marketing notes from that session:

“…. A06 Wednesday, 1:05 - 1:55

DIY SEM: Your Agency May Not Be the Best Resource

Gary Angel, Semphonic
Mark Ruzomberka, Traffic.com
David Harrod, Traffic.com

Tracking the ROI on thousands of keywords seems overwhelming and managing them against business goals feels overwhelming. But outsourcing the task to an agency might not be your best move. Traffic.Com manages a significant ($1M annualized) search engine marketing program that is one of the primary drivers of traffic to their site. Facing competition from Google in their core business, Based on the optimization opportunities revealed by a Semphonic audit, Traffic opted to bring their program in-house and run it themselves. Mark Ruzomberka of Traffic.Com and Gary Angel of Semphonic will describe the process of an agency process review, outline the key decision-factors in bringing a PPC program in-house, and discuss Traffic.Com’s experience managing the program.  You’ll get a better understanding of how to audit your existing SEM program, how to identify the optimization strategies that make sense for your business, and some of the benefits and barriers to managing your own SEM program.

And Jim Sterne really makes it hard for me - he puts two equally interesting panels at the same time, again - I really need to clone myself (or get someone to go to the other session and take notes).    At 3:25 - 4:15  there’s Word of Mouth Marketing Metrics Panel - Gary Stein, Ann Green, Todd Parsons  AND Mobile Marketing Metrics - Michael Bayle   BOTH sound really interesting.

However, I know Todd Parsons fairly well, consider him a friend, use Buzzlogic on this blog - and honestly, I can’t not attend his session, so it’s Word of Mouth Marketing Metrics Panel here I come -

“….S07 Wednesday, 3:25 - 4:15

Word of Mouth Marketing Metrics Panel

Ann Green, Millward Brown
Todd Parsons, Buzzlogic

The voice of the customer is very valuable for learning what your customers think. But they are not just telling you what they think, they are talking to each other. The voice of the customer can also be a powerful outbound communication tool if you tap into it as a marketing instrument. How do you measure the impact you can have on the discussion about your products and services that happens in the wild? This panel describes their efforts to compute how receptive customers are to referral-based advertising in order to determine how much of their promotional budgets should be allocated and how to determine their return on that investment.

Actually Todd Parsons and Breanna Wigle of Military.com, a Monster Worldwide subsidary, were on my Social Media Metrics panel at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose - and the presentation that was put together - which I had a hand in (more to bring the parites together and then step out of it and let them do their work) was exceptional.   People where really happy about the panel I put together and I’m hoping to do it again at Search Engine Strategies Chicago in early December (haven’t heard back yet if that’s going to happen or not yet).  BTW, I still haven’t decided if I’m attending LeWeb03 08 in Paris, which is at the same time as the SES in Chicago.

Finally, on Wednesday late afternoon, I’ll attend Web 2.0 Metrics in Today’s B2B World - Joshua Sile.  Here’s the marketing notes on that session:

“…S08 Wednesday, 4:20 - 5:10

Web 2.0 Metrics in Today’s B2B World

Joshua Siler, Babcock & Jenkins

Based on real-world experience integrating traditional direct marketing with social media (with companies like Intel and Sterling Commerce), Joshua will deliver an overview of the data and analytic challenges involved in making social media accountable for driving revenue. He’ll explore Social Cultivation, the process of building long-term relationships with prospects, and how to manage the databases, analysis and business decisions involved in making social media work. Joshua will also provide overview of the successful business strategies and execution considerations, and follow with anecdotal examples of data workflow, analytic results and integration pitfalls.

I think the idea of “social cultivation” is something I want to explore, it has many applications in marketing of the future - and it just makes sense that you want to culitvate (be proactive) with your customers and friends.  It sounds like Joshua Siler will tell us, technically, how to set up and track the actual process of social cultivation - and this is entirely new to me, so I’m happy that he’s presenting at Emetics DC.

I’ll also attend the Wednesday late afternoon  Keynote: Joe Megibow, VP of Customer Experience and Online Marketing, Hotels.com - Plaza Ballroom and Web Analytics Wednesay following which is sponsored by Coremetrics (I used to work with the Coremetrics platform while at IBM, and Coremetrics bought IBM Surfaid, which I used quite a bit while at IBM).

Thursday, October 23rd

Of course, the Keynote with Kim Johnston, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing Operations, Symantec Corporation - Plaza Ballroom at 9:00 AM, I’ll attend. Here’s the marketing notes to that keynote:

“…The Big Picture – Global Marketing Metrics

Kim Johnston, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing Operations, Symantec Corporation - Thursday, 9:00 - 9:50

Marketing optimization did not come into being because of the Internet. People were managing large marketing budgets before the advent of clickthroughs, pageviews and the Submit button. Kim Johnston has been balancing the needs of the brand, the product lines and the sales organization at Symantec for more than a decade. Most recently she has delivered interactive customer engagements that have yield 4x the industry average in response rates. She will share how this software powerhouse manages marketing across four segments focused on selling to enterprises, governments, small and medium-sized businesses, and consumers worldwide.

And Jim Sterne has done it to me again, putting Search from Now On - Mike Grehan and Measuring Social Media and Video - Terry Cohen in the same timeslot, from 11:15 - 12:05, I’ll attend Terry Cohen’s session even though I’d ideally, like to attend both.  No doubt, Terry will probably mention Comscore’s new Video Metrix product, and infact, just tonight, I attended a New York meetup of the Web Analytics Meetup Group that discussed Video Metrix.  I’m sure she’ll also cover how Digitas measures video and downloadable media.   Sorry Mike Grehan, next time I promise to attend your session.

“…S09 Thursday, 11:15 - 12:05

Measuring Social Media & Video

Terry Cohen, Digitas

Social media, word of mouth marketing, consumer generated content, video and more have become increasingly proven tactics for building brand and driving purchase. Terry recounts front-line experiences tracking and optimizing the impact of these techniques. She’ll cover methodologies including brand impact research, social media monitoring , panel usage, web analytics, and video measurement and tracking.

And then we have a session on Measuring Virtual Worlds - I can’t miss that one either - for obvious reasons - for anyone who knows me and reads my blogs - I’m very much a part of what Code4Software is doing with Virtual World Metrics - and helped to bring that aspect into the Web Analytics realm, where I believe it belongs.  Therefore, you’ll find me at Measuring Virtual Worlds - Jim Bower, Jared Freedman, Matt Bostwick at 1:15 - 2:05 PM.  Here’s the marketing notes to that session:

“…S10 Thursday, 1:15 - 2:05

Measuring Virtual Worlds

Dr. James Bower, Numedeon Incorporated
Jared Freedman, Code4Software
Matt Bostwick, A4R4 Media

Did that avatar look at your in-world billboard? Are those two feathered creatures listening to your animate presentation? Did that amour-plated dinosaur just recommend your products to the business-suited butterfly? What is your return on investment when promoting your services in a virtual environment? What is the impact on the consumer when they can tour your yet-to-be-built hotel, take a test drive in the online version of your vehicle, or redeem real reward points for virtual commodities? What level of granularity can you capture? What tools might help? How do you integrate real world and the virtual behavior with online and call center interactions? These are just a few of the questions to be tackled by people who have been steeped in virtual worlds since they began.

Finally, I can also not miss the very last session with Sebastian Wensel, my business parnter and friend - we started www.blogspeedway.com as a new blog network focusing around verticals and which we want to be a home for Web Analytics practioners - and so you’ll find me at Mobile Analytics is Calling You - Sebastian Wenzel at 2:10 - 3:00 PM.  By the way, I’ve seen the deck t hat Sebastian has put together and it’s fantastic. Here’s the marketing notes to that session:

“..S11 Thursday, 2:10 - 3:00

Mobile Analyti