BING: Because It Needs Google

Google and Bing have been at it for years with the latter (supposedly) poised to eat out of the former's leadership. But, never had they reached very heated temperatures until an interesting turn of events recently. A few hours' back, Google claimed Bing uses their search results! Backed by a string of evidences from an intricate sting operation (details of which are here), coupled with a PR move that stung as well, Google published on their own blog their findings of what might just be the start of an epic battle with Bing.

So, how did Google do it? They came up with a number of "synthetic queries" or queries that users would least likely use. For each synthetic query, they assigned a top search result that returned a link totally unrelated to the query. One such example would be "hiybbprqag" which, when Googled, would return (at least, during the sting operation) what appears below:

Try Googling for it now, though, and it'd return an awful lot of news and blogs fanning the coals of this war (this includes what might just be the new definition of the query, according to Stephen Colbert). But, I digress. At any rate, again, the query would return a link to the Wiltern seating chart. So, what happens when you Google (harhar!) the query on Bing?

Surprise, surprise.

Of course, Bing was not going out without a fight. A little subtlety goes a long way and it could not get any subtle, if not passive-aggressive, than this. But certainly, subtle was not going to make this exciting. But, throw in a war in Twitter and you've got something entirely worth following. Oh, how wonderful to pore over raging emotions bottled up in 140 characters or less.

Dare I ask what's happening?

(Almost) Certified Digital Marketer

So today I finally graduated from the rather schizophrenic diploma program I'm taking under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) and Ateneo Center for Continuing Education (CCE). I say schizophrenic as it manages to identify itself with two names: the IMMAP-Ateneo CCE Digital Marketing Diploma Program and the IMMAP-Ateneo CCE Certified Digital Marketer Program. But, as Juliet would put it, "what's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". (And, no, I am not going to apologize for such a cheesy line, thank you very much.)

---

By this point in time, I'm pretty sure that my classmates have had their blog posts up and ready (and I am very much ready to bet half my cerebellum that some of them have had their blog posts prepared a week before) and me being the competitive ass person that I am, I just need to make sure that I've got mine up and running as well albeit only a budget of 10 pesos' worth of Globe Tattoo surfing allocated for this.

It's not that I'm saying it's unworthy of preparation or it's mundane. Coming from a person who (almost) teared up and cried when he saw his name in the tribute video below, trust me, it's not.

Admittedly, I've always secretly prided myself with the fact that I was in this course, dabbling with brands and rubbing elbows with industry leaders. Why shouldn't I? With 10,000 hours (I exaggerate, of course) of my life dedicated to this alone, it would be utterly hypocritical of me to say that I didn't enjoy it one bit. Because, I did...
...not just because of the training, the knowledge, and the skills that the program has given me, but also because of the relationships I managed to form with my classmates who never failed to impress me and inspire me to be more than what I thought I could be.
With that, I am very much grateful

2011 Predictions: On Social Media (or how consumers will be by the end of the year)

What does 2011 hold for the lot of us digital marketers? The presentation which follows takes us through a narrative of how consumers are most likely to define themselves in 2011..

7 '11 Social Media Predictions (or how we will be defined by the end of the year)

View more presentations from Aviel "Acee" Charles Vitangcol.

...and, with that, how are we then called to respond?

---

My own presentation got me thinking (talk about narcissism), if this was a deck reported to clients from different industries and had to come up with a major business decision based on this, how would they react?

1. "Have the virtual goods department work triple shifts this year! I want my brand stamped on every virtual crop, shop, and lot out there!" Worth over $7B globally, the social gaming industry has had it made thanks to consumers who take their gaming seriously. And why not when it addresses most of their social media needs in one go! It feeds them what they want (hyper personalization) when they want it (rewards prioritization) in a manner that contributes to their online persona (digital reinvention). Consumer don't just plant virtual crops, they make sure that their plot looks and feels complacent to their identity. They don't wait out the minutes to have another round, rather they pull out time just because they need to get ahead of the game. What are you doing about it? (Still not convinced? Head over here and here. UPDATE: You may also read up on why consumers get hooked to games - in this case, Angry Birds - from a neuroscience POV here.)
2. "...but make sure to put a social slant in there somewhere. Maybe a call against child labor or overworked farmers or something." Remember that time your Facebook wall was filled with images of Sailormoon, Daimos, and Little Lulu in support for the fight against child abuse? Turned out, it worked after all. The social slant might just have been thrown into the mix (as rumored) but it managed to get people talking (and donating) in 2010 - the year when other social good campaigns have either fizzled or boomed. The start of the year bore witness to Pepsi's Refresh Everything campaign. It was also the year when celebrities "died" and Google sold Chrome the social good way. Of all three (not including Pepsi as they seem to have a niche audience compared to all other campaigns, though you can read on more about why the campaign made waves here), I'd have to say that it was Google's Chrome for a Cause that managed to clamber into the consumers' consciousness. (The Facebook cartoon character profile was somehow immeasurable and celebrities were revived largely by a huge sum from a single donor.) What happened? Consumers want to help (digital activism) in the easiest way they could possibly do it (rewards prioritization). The Facebook profile picture change became a meme because it was fairly simple: you change your profile picture and post a status about it. Chrome for a Cause had it way easier: you download an extension and open tabs. The celebrity deaths? They just wouldn't be bothered by something mainstream (mainstream aversion). After all, these celebrities are rich enough to pay their way into reviving themselves.

---

Want to read more on what other social media sites are saying about the future of digital? Click here for Mashable's roundup.

+This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

2010 Year in Review: Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife

...because 2010's about to end and YouTube's up and about with Rewind, their year in review release.


Further commentaries in the near future. Watch this space!
*This post is based on press releases by YouTube. For more insights and drill downs on the matter, visit their respective year in review posts (or any variation of said phrase) in the following links: YouTube Rewind.+This post is part of the 2010 Year in Review series, a week-long series of blog posts dedicated to reviewing what the world was up to in 2010 in terms of social media and... other things. I'll get back to you on that by the end of this week.

2010 Year in Review: Don't Stop the Pop

2010 was a year of pure, unadulterated crazy and we bore witness to artists donning animal byproducts, doing bongs, and auto-tuning bed intruders. But, more than that, it was a year that got us singing and dancing along a lot of beats, the Top 25 of which DJ Earworm rolled into one awesome mashup.




Further commentaries in the near future. Watch this space!


*This post is based on press releases by Billboard and MTV. For more insights and drill downs on the matter, visit their respective year in review posts (or any variation of said phrase) in the following links: Billboard Best of 2010 and MTV Stories of 2010.+This post is part of the 2010 Year in Review series, a week-long series of blog posts dedicated to reviewing what the world was up to in 2010 in terms of social media and... other things. I'll get back to you on that by the end of this week.