Google Plus: Sausage Fest!

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By now, almost everyone I know is aware of Google Plus (or Google+, I'm not sure which is the preferred method of writing it out in an SEO friendly way). Some of those that haven't yet signed up may be wondering what it's like. To them I would say that, it's like a slick version of Facebook with a fantastic idea called Circles which allows the user to group contacts so that he/she can express themselves selectively to those different groups. Oh, also, it's a total sausage fest.

Currently--and by that I mean 1:10 PDT on 7/13/2011--there are 947,996 people indexed by Google Plus according to findpeopleonplus.com. Of those users, a testosteronic 73.7% of them have a Y chromosome. That's right, dudes outnumber ladies on Google Plus by about 3:1, which is not a ratio of which Google should be particularly proud. Admittedly, findpeopleonplus.com is not affiliated with Google, Inc but it's one of the few services claiming to have access to this information.

Google is still scrambling to meet the voracious demand for invites and it's almost certain that that figure will be much closer to 50/50 as the weeks go on, however, with almost 1,000,000 users indexed by an impartial third party service, it might say something about Google Plus that such a small percentage of early adopters are female. What has caused this lopsided adoption pattern to date is difficult to know. Is Facebook particularly good at meeting the needs of its female users? Are male users disproportionately upset with Facebook? Did invites to Google Plus get sent to way more men than women? Are men just more likely to be interested in the newest social media product? Is Google Plus failing in some way to attract female users? Is it just a total fluke?

I don't have access to enough data to know for sure but I would imagine that the Googlers behind Plus are working on figuring out how to bring in more women presently. Until then, if you're a lonely fella looking for a date on Google Plus, you're probably better off sticking with your Match.com profile. 

PS: If you would like an invite to Google Plus, let me know!

Three Things for a Thursday

1) First of all, I recently joined Google+. If you're wondering what Google+ is, I will refer you to the incredibly witty webcomic, xkcd, which sums it up perfectly:

As soon as I'm allowed to invite people, I'll do my best to get my friends on. For now, it's a little lonely on Google+ but I must say, the Circles feature is really cool. Facebook, take a note!

2) Second of all, I saw this ad on Reddit today wherein a girl's boyfriend charms everyone at the table. I have to admit, I found myself charmed as well! See if it has the same effect on you!

Good advertising... it really makes you hate bad advertising, doesn't it? I'm looking at you, Ed-u-ca-tion Con-nec-tion!

3) Third of all, it's been over a month since I posted anything at all! I'm really slipping and Google seems to have noticed. MichaelBlock.org has fallen to a PR1! Oh, the shame! I've got to get back on the posting horse and ride. More posting will be coming more often, whether you like it or not!

PS: I'm totally ripping Petros & Money with the "Three Things Thursday" motif. Hope they don't mind!
PPS: If you didn't see my article on Google Search by Image in the Wpromote blog, please check it out.

Yahoo's Loss is Facebook's Gain

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Every football-loving American knows that that the best platform for fantasy football is Yahoo's. If you disagree and you use NFL.com's or ESPN.com's platform for your fantasy football, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Yahoo's interface is easier, its iPhone app is better and the pages load faster and without noisy, auto-play ads. In order to use Yahoo's fantasy football vehicle, though, you have to have a Yahoo ID. Well, that may not be the case next football season.

AllThingsD reports that Yahoo will soon begin to allow users to log in using their Facebook and (gasp!) Google accounts. Gizmodo's take on the situation is that Yahoo is simply giving up, waving the white flag in a similar manner that MySpace did years ago. Yahoo was long considered one of the biggest, strongest, most important and most relevant Internet companies in the world. It was one of the few companies to survive the Dot-Com Bubble of the late 90s and was still going strong years later. In the past few years, though, Google's dominance of the search space, Facebook's dominance of the social space and Microsoft's annexation of Yahoo's paid search platform left very little for Yahoo to capitalize on aside from their display network (which has also lost ground to Google's). The writing has been on the wall for some time and it seems that Yahoo's best days are officially in the rear-view mirror.

In my opinion, the big news isn't Yahoo's retreat; that was a long time coming. It's not even that Yahoo will allow accounts from its long time nemesis, Google, to log in, even if that does seem extraordinarily strange. The most interesting news is that Facebook logins will be able to be used to access Yahoo properties which will include recreational activities like fantasy football and more compulsory items like Yahoo email. Keep in mind that if you're using Facebook to log in to anything, that means that Facebook knows who you are while you're using what you're logged in to.

Facebook already knows so much about you and, compared to Google, Microsoft and other ad delivery systems, it knows much, much more. Think about it, much fewer people have a Google profile than a Facebook profile; those that have both generally reveal much more about themselves in the latter compared to the former. Of course, it's easier for Facebook to know who you are if you're logged in to Facebook. Many of us log out as soon as we're done but as Facebook accounts become increasingly available as means of logging into other sites (in this case, Yahoo) Facebook's cache of knowledge becomes more and more valuable. Wpromote's CEO, Michael Mothner has suggested that with this knowledge, Facebook could engage in display advertising in direct competition with Google. Whereas Google focuses ads based on where you are, Facebook could focus ads based on who you are. Whereas Google might populate clothing ads on a fashion blog or concert ticket ads on a music site, Facebook might know that you posted an update saying that you love the Lakers, and post ads related to Laker tickets and merchandise as a result. 

If Mothner's theory is correct, then Facebook could very quickly dominate the display advertising landscape. If Facebook ads are better ads and better ads are more valuable, then it's an easy decision for website owners to choose to run ads powered by Facebook over ads powered by Google. Yahoo's decision to allow people to log in using their Facebook accounts could be a major step in the direction of display advertising dominance for Facebook. 

So, when you're deciding on whether to start Rashard Mendenhall or Peyton Hillis next year, don't be surprised if the ads on the page are eerily similar to things you've been thinking about buying... especially if you've mentioned it on Facebook!

Facebook Movie Trailer

The Facebook movie, titled The Social Network now has a trailer. It's a little low on visuals but the dialogue sounds like a cross between a horror flick and the movie Boiler Room. It's too early to tell if it's going to be good, but I'm betting that it's going to be a difficult sell to the American public. Keep in mind that Grown Ups  just made $41M this weekend. Maybe, the Mark Zuckerberg character should take a couple of shots to the groin once every twenty minutes to try and hold the viewer's attention. I know I'd pay $5 to see that. What's that? Movies cost how much now?!

See you on HBO, Zucks. [Valleywag]

Facebook to pull in over $1 billion in 2010

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I guess nobody told Facebook that we were in a recession because they are on pace to make over a billion dollars this year.

This just goes to show you that the old formula:

Good Product + Bulk Pageviews + Advertising = Revenue

Remember when people used to say that Facebook would never make money? Remember when they said that about YouTube? Twitter? Well, Facebook is already rolling in dough, despite being a place where people allegedly hate seeing ads. YouTube is the next big frontier for Google Ads and is already raking in dough. My guess is that as long as Twitter can stay a "Good Product" despite opposition from Google and Facebook, it will find it's way to big revenue as well. Of course, that's a big "if."

Just because it may take longer to get your product to catch on or to implement the best advertising system doesn't mean that it's any less viable to support your site on ads alone. Of course, just because it's possible doesn't make it easy, and that's the rub! [ReadWriteWeb]

Will Facebook make its next big move with email?

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Google vs. Apple vs. Microsoft and every other iteration. That's been the story of the last few months. Google and Apple hate Microsoft because they lead the way in desktop apps. Google and Microsoft hate Apple because they lead the way in mobile technology. Apple and Microsoft hate Google because Google is encroaching on their territory in both cases. That's the stripped down version, at least. They fight over way more: browsers, operating systems, online applications, search, and even slogans. Just yesterday, I was musing at how it seemed like "just yesterday" (which would be the day before yesterday, I guess, in this story) that it was Apple and Google vs. Microsoft and that was it. Microsoft was the big, bad behemoth and Apple and Google were the shining innovators looking to take down the old regime. "My! how things have changed," I thought to myself.

Well, as it turns out, if you pay close attention, this isn't a three-horse race.

The other player in this game is Facebook. Facebook? Yeah, Facebook, you know: the third most highly trafficked site on the Internet, the most pervasive social phenomenon of the day, the #1 destination for the nation's youth, young adults and young professionals. Sure, you may use Google to search for something or Wikipedia to find out more about it but it's Facebook that you'll hang out, communicate and interact. Well, as it turns out, Facebook is looking to take aim at Gmail and traditional email with the release of Project Titan. This full-featured email system could very well change the way that people look at email. Yeah, we were saying the same thing about Google Wave but the difficult of Google Wave is getting everyone on board. For the most part, all of my peers already are on board with Facebook. Integration of your online social space with email would only make Facebook that much more useful (rather than complicated, as is the current hurdle with Wave).

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch sums it up well, "Gmail killer? I don’t think so. But a strong product move nonetheless." No kidding!

Kudos to Facebook. They may be the dark horse but they are definitely a contender is what appears to be a true four-horse race. [TechCrunch]