Google Knowledge Graph

16 May

Internet Marketing SEOGoogle made public today the Knowledge Graph revamp of their search results, essentially the semantic search I wrote about before.  I had a brief conversation at Internet Week NYC today about the idea of semantic search and I believe that it still needs some work. Google is shifting away from a  strictly keyword-based model of search to a more human version of finding information.  While the concept of making search more intuitive or adjust better to the way people use language, it has some draw backs.

About.com Director of Research, Laura Salant noted at Internet Week on Wednesday some significant research findings on how people use search.  She noted that 50% of searches are  “answer me” which she explained as “what is the capital of Washington”. 25 percent of searches are “inspire me” oriented those that fulfill a passion or a hobby. Finally, she noted 25 percent of searches are “educate me” which, for example, could be the answer to an ongoing health issue.

Many people using Google to search for an answer or item tend to type in keywords because that’s what we’ve grown accustom to.  People searching for questions or long-tail keywords typically find what they’re looking for or it could be a question they’re embarrassed to ask their friends on a social media platform.

Another draw back is that Google will be providing the basic information within is search results page, making the need to click-through to a website disappear.  Of course, Google is only providing basic information but it looks eerily similar to that right-hand bar on Wikipedia.

For now, this still seems as though it’s a neat tool for a 5th grade book report.  Until Google finds a way to integrate social and enrich the Knowledge Graph to go beyond basic stats, it will only have a limited capabilities.

Google Semantic Search – Skepticism

14 May
Internet Week NYC - Jonah Peretti and Jon Steinberg

Internet Week NYC – Jonah Peretti and Jon Steinberg

The Google semantic search initiative is quite interesting and I’m sure part of a much broader conversation on SEO vs social optimization at least from a content perspective. It’s also a really hot topic in internet nerd land; it’s like the Willie Wonka Chocolate Factory but with computers and gadgets.

What I’ve been finding is that many companies highly involved in the digital space,  have begun rolling pack SEO efforts or halting them all together.  SEO is keyword driven, a process, and works best with evergreen content and not with recent content, that’s where social comes in.

Historically, people would ask a question or search for information on Google.   Now, they’re crowd sourcing within their personal social networks, listening to their friends’ advice, and then MAYBE Googling a product or term and purchasing.  The conversation happens on Facebook, but Google gets all the credit because it’s trackable.  Facebook is gearing up for a new app store, better search features, and I assume a killer mobile strategy.  So, Google is trying to make search relevant and associated with a “friend” experience or conversation.  To date, they’ve failed and may continue to fail because Facebook and Twitter don’t necessarily play nice with Google.

So, where does this leave everything, you ask? Though Google is trying to increase its “relevancy” in search it has yet to be able to include the social component which is on the verge, if not already happening, of making Google irrelevant.  To use the CNet article example, its great the a search for Lake Tahoe will yield the location, altitude, temp., and salt content but, no one really cares about that unless they’re doing a 5th grade book report.  My (non-researched) guess is that 8/10 times someone is searches for Lake Tahoe it’s because they want to visit so for them relevancy would be reviews/recommendations from their friends, avg. hotel/flight price.  Needless to say, I’m curious and skeptical to see how sophisticated Google’s revamp will be and if really changes anything.  Rankings, perhaps.  Audience use, probably not.

One thing is clear, Google is struggling to compete with or draw parallels to Facebook’s product.  Jonah Peretti  co-founder of Huffington Post and BuzzFeed noted in an Internet Week panel, “people are using search to ask embarrassing questions or search for unsavory information that they wouldn’t feel comfortable asking their friends on Facebook.”

Its is an interesting time in Internet nerd land and no one will know if Google will make it in a world of social networking.

What do you think? Is semantic search cool, lame, or meh?

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Customer Service and Social Media

20 Oct

Should social media and customer service should be integrated. Here is a story why, complete with an example of bad social media practices by Verizon:

I am moving to the Big Apple and need to cancel all of my utilities.  I was able to cancel each one online, yay!  Well, every one except Verizon wireless internet.  I thought that maybe I had overlooked or couldn’t find the right part of their website to do that so, I contacted their online chat support.  Yay. Well, not so yay.  She referred me to a 1-800 number.  Okay, fine.  24 minutes after trying to talk to an automated woman who wanted to know everything short of the age my first tooth fell out, I finally reached Monique.

My call lasted 21 minutes. Monique asked for my name, address, account number and phone number. She typed all of my info in while laughing with her co-workers in the background.  Then she said, “Okay, Ma’am, could I have your account number?”  “Monique,” I replied, “I already gave it to you. Twice.”  She puts me on hold.  Comes back.  “Could you tell me your name again?” Puts me on hold. Comes back and said, “Okay, you’re all set.”

What was I all set with? She explained she had set my accounts (plural) to cancel.  “No, I only want internet canceled. Is it canceled for the 28th? Should I call back and talk to someone else?”She responded that she was in the process of cancelling both my internet and cell phone accounts and wasn’t sure how to set a specific date to cancel.  My head hurt.  I only needed the internet cancelled.

I took to Twitter where the incompetence of Verizon ensued.  Read the frustrating and unprofessional exchange below with six, yes, SIX Verizon reps.

Read the whole thing:   Verizon social media fail

Here’s a sneak peek of how it ends:bad examples of social mediaClassy Verizon. Really classy. Verizon: Despite their Twitter name is not supportive and despite their Twitter description doesn’t handle Internet help. I didn’t need a specialist.  I needed to cancel my account.  It should not be that difficult.  Did I eventually get my Internet account cancelled? Yes.  However, because of this experience, I’m also looking for a new cell phone service provider.

I’ve spoken to an online chat representative, an automated machine, Monique, six people @verizonsupport on Twitter, and now they want me to contact different Verizon Twitter account when I didn’t reach out to this one in the first place?  What is the definition of crazy again?

Facebook News Feed Update

16 Sep

Facebook recently ‘upgraded’ some of its news feed features by implementing a lists option, subscriptions, a ‘top’ news feed and a real-time news feed.

Jennifer Starkey | Facebook ListsLists:  This feature allows you to segment your friends into various lists and only see posts from those people. Facebook has automatically placed your friends into lists based on their profile information and mine, linking commonalities. Lists are optional, and thank goodness because assigning each one of your friends to a list could be quite time-consuming.

Subscribe Button: In an effort to give users more control of the frequency that they see their friends’ posts, Facebook implemented the subscribe button.  According to Facebook the button will now allow users to:

  • Choose what you see from people in News Feed
  • Hear from people, even if you’re not friends
  • Let people hear from you, even if you’re not friends

Catch that last one? Don’t get too freaked out, you are able to choose whether you’d like people you’re not friends with to subscribe to your posts.  The problem here, is going through your friends and changing all of your settings.   Read more on the new Facebook subscribe button.

News and real-time feed: In the image below you will see my news feed in the middle and on the side.  The right-side bar is an auto update and the middle section posts stories that Facebook (and I by my list and subscription settings) deem appropriate.  The cool thing about the real-time feed is that you can view the photo, event, video, or comment chain just by hovering over the update.  What does this mean for your business page? See below!

All of this wreaks of Facebook’s attempt to capitalize on Google+’s ‘circles’ feature and Twitter’s ‘real-time’ communication.  But, will it work?  Recently Facebook updates have become a long line of failed attempts.  Facebook Places failed.  So did Facebook’s attempt at Groupon with their own ‘Deals’ application. But, what does all of this mean for your business? Will your posts show up in the middle sections? As a real-time feed? It’s uncertain at this point since subscriptions are not able to be altered for pages.  From what I’ve seen, posts from pages will show up in the big feed when they’re often commented on or recommended with the ‘like’ button.

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