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Is Google’s New Social Service a +1?

Google launched +1 today, basically its answer to Facebook’s Like button. When you click on a “+1” icon displayed on a URL, it shows up in Google search results when you are signed in. And if you have social connections within the Google empire (e.g., Gmail contacts) you will see which of your connections has +1’d the URL. While I am digesting the possibilities I thought it might be helpful to summarize some initial reads on the +1:

Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button – Danny Sullivan

Google did say that if someone does a +1 on a web page, then that will show up to others who find that page in search results. That’s going to be a huge bribe, in my view, for getting wide adoption of these buttons on web sites.

Now Google Social Search will gain +1 recommendations, content that people are explicitly recommending using Google’s +1 buttons. Google Social Search remains, but in addition to the first two items below, it now gains a third feature:

Show content created by those in your social network
Show content shared by those in your social network
Show content recommended by those in your Google +1 network
Social search signals, including the new +1 recommendations, will also continue to influence the first two things below plus power the new, third option:

Influence the ranking of results, causing you to see things others might not, based on your social connections
Influence the look of results, showing names of those in your social network who created, shared or now recommend a link
Influence the look of results, showing an aggregate number of +1s from all people, not just your social network, for some links

What’s +1 mean for Facebook? A very good chance that Facebook’s seeming monopoly on how people “like” pages will be over.

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The Social CRM Iceberg

I just stumbled onto a post (thanks Twitter!) from 2009 by Ross Mayfield, Co-Founder of SocialText, called The Social C.R.M. Iceberg.  It’s a long piece but Mayfield’s insights and anecdotes about how social engagement is empowering organizations is worth the time for any of you who are pondering your company’s social strategies.

Some excerpts to whet your appetite:

Greg Oxton from the Consortium for Service Innovation (CSI) shared with me a model for understanding how engaged enterprises really are:

  • 1% of customer conversations are assimilated as organizational knowledge
  • 9% of customer conversations touch the organization, but no learning occurs
  • 90% of customer conversations never touch the organization

But before you leap into reinventing your processes for transformative value, step back. You can’t collaborate with your customers before you learn to collaborate with your employees. In the spectrum of risk taking, its best to deploy from the inside-out.

In larger organizations such as Intel, if you measure it, you will find people spending a day a week searching for people and information. This isn’t just a search problem, its a sharing problem.

Have you ever asked a question on Twitter?

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Local Offer Network Gets $1.5 Million

If you can’t be a major destination site such as Groupon or LivingSocial, the deal exchange space appears to represent the largest revenue opportunity for deals companies. Exchanges, which take commissions from originating publishers for placing deals in additional publications,…

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Sensis Moves to Digital for Growth

Sensis, facing an increasingly competitive environment, today announced a new plan to define the business as a provider of digital solutions to small businesses. "The explosion of technology and advertising channels, and the popularity of digital devices, has created a…

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CityGrid Partners With CBS Local

CityGrid, the local content and advertising network announced today its plans to team up with CBS Local Digital Media. The new partnership gives local businesses the opportunity to be featured across CBS' television and radio websites in major markets, thus…

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ILM East: Video Excerpts

We've posted short video clips from the Q&A portions of some of the sessions from our recent ILM East conference in Boston. You can check them out by going to the original posts: Here you can see Yipit's Jim Moran…

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Newspapers Going Private-Label Route for Deals

McClatchy Newspapers surprised everyone last July when it opted to let the fox into the chicken coop by signing up with Groupon for local deals. At the time, McClatchy Interactive head Chris Hendricks saw it as a net plus for…

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WTOP (FM) Takes Over the Top Billing Station

According to the most recent estimates, WTOP (FM), the all news station in Washington, D.C., was the highest billing station in 2010. BIA/Kelsey estimates the station billed more than $57 million, providing news and information to its local market in…

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YPG Sells Trader Business

Canada's Yellow Media announced today that it has sold its Trader Corp. vertical media business to the private equity firm Apax Partners for C$745 million. The deal lets YPG focus on transforming its core directories business and the cash helps improve the…

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This Week in Social Local Media

We had a big week at ILM East. The conference got under way with David Weinberger focusing on the use of social media by local businesses. In the post, Rick follows the keynote by Weinberger, the author and the senior researcher at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University. Gail Goodman CEO at Constant Contact kicked off the second day with a call for the industry to collaborate.

I did some live blogging at ILM East when Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz spoke about the ticket-selling service riding social media to about $500 million in sales this year.

We also gave details on ILM East panels from hyperlocal to Hotpot to mobile group-buying from Monster Offers.

Here’s what we uncovered this week out there in the socialsphere:

What We Know That You Should Know Too
Lisa Barone gets with Gregg Stewart, Dilip Venkatachari, Ryan Fritzky and Andrew Lovasz to discuss local and social. She packs the post full of stats and useful tidbits. The group shares numbers and insights such as nearly half of people searching on social networks select a local business based on consumer ratings and reviews.

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ILM East: Deal a Day Scales but Needs More Targeting

Brian Costello, GM and VP, Digital Media and The RedPlum Network, Valassis Communications; Jere Doyle, founder, president and CEO, Prospectiv; and James Green, chief marketing officer, Travidia took on the topic of "Deal Universe: The Big Picture for Coupons and…

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