Yesterday Google launched a new feature that is sure to have hardcore Gmail users jumping for joy: Priority Inbox.

Priority inbox is your virtual mail clerk for managing your massive email overload. At the heart of the feature is a comprehensive algorithm that sifts through emails and replies to find important keywords, people you email the most and other important relays between you and others. All of this information is factored in to how Priority Inbox categorizes important email over non critical replies.

Besides the alogorithm, starred emails are grouped in to Priority Inbox. What Google hopes to accomplish with grouping starred emails with pre-sorted email is that users will be more diligent in grouping emails that need acting upon.

In your Gmail window, you should see a tab above inbox showing off the new menu item. If it doesn’t show up for you, don’t worry, the feature is being rolled out slowly to users throughout the week.

Priority Inbox Makes Users The Number One Priorirty

Priority Inbox is not new by any means, it was originally included in Gmail but was taken out before launch to undergo further refinement. While the feature was being tested internally, Google found users saved 16% of time checking emails.

The Official Google Blog further refines the purpose of Priority Inbox:. “Gmail has always been pretty good at filtering junk mail into the “spam” folder. But today, in addition to spam, people get a lot of mail that isn’t outright junk but isn’t very important–bologna, or “bacn.” So we’ve evolved Gmail’s filter to address this problem and extended it to not only classify outright spam, but also to help users separate this “bologna” from the important stuff. In a way, Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules.”

Bringing efficiency to email checking is Google’s next major step with Gmail and is a drastic step towards refining spam filters. Users who receive hundreds if not thousands of emails a day are the ones that will benefit the most from this new implementation in Gmail. Google estimates users who spend 13 hours per week on email will save a week’s worth of time after a year of using Priority Inbox.

However, the feature is considered Beta so Google Apps users won’t be able to take advantage of Priority Inbox unless their IT department configures beta features to be used.

As a Gmail user, I’m really excited Google is taking active steps in going above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to Spam filtering and instead focusing on filtering emails that are relevant to me and other Gmail users. Let me know what you think of this feature.

Via: PC World

Today Yahoo announced that all of its organic searches are powered by Bing, the search engine created by Microsoft as a direct competitor to Google. The switch is finalized from a deal hammered out between Yahoo and Microsoft over a year ago.

Now that Microsoft powers Yahoo’s searches, the software giant commands 28.1% of the search engine market which is contrasted by Google’s share of 65.8%. Yahoo’s Senior Vice President of Search Products gave his take on the switch:

Yahoo! Web, Image, and Video search experiences on both desktop and mobile devices are now powered by the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada (English), with more markets to come. The speed in which this was completed is a testament to the great work and partnership between a number of Yahoo! and Microsoft employees, the ranks of which are numerous.

While the backend has changed dramatically and Yahoo’s web development team didn’t need to step in, searches will start to look different. However, users are left asking one question; why should I continue to use Yahoo instead of Bing now that the two search engines are virtually the same? The answer comes down to preference, which brand do you trust more? Loyal Yahoo users may shy away from Microsoft’s new search engine but those who have been using Bing may not find Yahoo interesting enough to ‘switch’ to. If you’re an ad agency dealing with Yahoo, be prepared to switch over to Microsoft’s AdCenter this coming October. The ad platform is one of the last platforms to switch over to Microsoft’s solution.

Via: Search Engine Journal

Foursquare is more than just a simple check in service, it can be leveraged by businesses to promote their brand and connect with consumers.

Foursquare Marketing Campaigns

Don’t knock Foursquare as just your regular check in service, businesses are already using it to promote themselves; by having users check in to them.

Starbucks, one of the biggest Foursquare promoters created a special campaign just for its loyal customers. The coffee chain instituted a special that gave users who checked in to five different Starbucks a Barista badge. The badge gave Foursquare users access to promotions other customers couldn’t take advantage but the offers varied between locations.

However, the campaign fell flat on its face. While the coffee titan created the campaign on a company wide basis, not many outlets were informed of the offer or even what the Barista badge meant on Foursquare. This left Foursquare users looking at a dumb founded manager when they requested an offer that could only be unlocked by the badge. This shows poor management on Starbucks’ part on what could have been a great social media opportunity.

Foursquare Promotions & Deals

But there have been brands that have successfully used Foursquare to create some awesome marketing campaigns such as lifestyle brand Diesel. The company launched one of the most elaborate social media marketing campaigns the fashion industry has seen; “Be Stupid.” The Ad was combined with a special one day event at Diesel’s flagship New York store as part of the company’s experimental organic social media campaign. During the one day event, users who checked in to Foursquare within a three-city block radius were alerted a promotion available directly from the store. When those users checked in to the store, they were treated to special printed tees; a great marketing tool for Diesel considering four people within the first hour of the campaign took advantage of the Foursquare offer and dozens more walked in.

Foursquare Business Tools

If your business is interested in using Foursquare to generate buzz without generating a marketing plan from an ad agency, the company has tools you can leverage. Their services for business allow them to create specials for Mayors (those who check in the most to a venue in the past two months), multiple checkin specials (which Starbucks implemented, albeit on an unsuccessful scale), frequency based specials and wildcard specials which require staff to see you’ve met certain conditions to receive an offer i.e. “show us your swarm badge and you’ll get a discount on this product.”

If you do implement Foursquare specials for your businesses, remember some basic etiquette. If you add tips to your venue, avoid making them sound spammy. The purpose of tips for a venue is to turn on new users to what’s hot or any deals. Even more important is alerting your staff to Foursquare specials. If Starbucks has taught us anything, you can’t rely on word of mouth for your employees to automatically know about the latest and greatest in social media offers. Make a graphic to detail what each badge means and what special is associated with it. Chances are a lot of your customers will show you their badges on Foursquare’s mobile App or website automatically matching up a badge with its corresponding offer is critical to good customer service.

Are you already using Foursquare to promote your brand or business? Let me know what tips or practices you’d recommend.

Chris Anderson of Wired made the audacious claim that the web is dead. While such a bold claim can’t go unchecked, Anderson’s proposal of the Web’s death is an interesting write up to how we should view the Internet and to an extension, the web.

Anderson makes his point through rethinking how the web is viewed. Typically, we’d like to think of the web as the Internet, content delivered to us, the design aspects of a website, graphic design etc. Anderson says the web, sites you visit, the actual HTML content that helps power the Internet will die as developers move towards closed platforms and use the Internet to deliver data to smartphone based apps. While it may seem like an Escher-esque concept, Anderson makes an interesting point, but he is right about the move to a closed model of content delivery:

“It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen). The fact that it’s easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend. Producers and consumers agree: The Web is not the culmination of the digital revolution.”

From Anderson’s perspective, the Web will soon be a shell of its former self, an engine to toss bits back and forth, bits that have no real meaning or represent anything worth consuming. The evidence to support Chris’ claims? A chart of data consumption estimates from Cisco showing HTML traffic on a sharp decline contrasted by a rise in video traffic. However, traffic delivered from sites such as YouTube (which are very much apart of the HTML category) are lumped in with the broader category of video traffic which encompasses Skype video calls and Netflix streaming content (which aren’t apart of the HTML category. This error causes excess growth and excess decline to be factored in to Wired’s graph which power their bold claim of the web’s death.

The shift Anderson is seeing comes from developers wanting more options. The web, and to an extent the browser promised a future of web Apps that would eventually replace desktop Apps. Both platforms failed to promise the options mobile Applications would give developers (location awareness, augmented reality) but those features are already making their way back from mobile devices to the browser. These environments are in a constant tug of war for developers but in no ways an indicator on the web’s death.

While content delivery is moving towards easier to use mobile applications and closed systems, I don’t believe Wired’s claims of the web’s death are viable. Not when it’s been backed by a Orwellian like future for the web being reduced to a dumb pipe that tosses useless bits around.

VIa: Gawker

Google unveiled a feature for Chrome that sends links within the browser to an Android phone and new enhanced voice commands for the mobile operating system.

Chrome To Phone

“Chrome to Phone”, a feature that has been available since early May in beta form has been officially released today. As detailed in the above video, setup is extremely easy and integrates nicely with your Google account. As Mashable reports, the extension available for Chrome, takes the link of any webpage within the browser and pushes it your Android phone while maintaing the original website design without conforming into a mobile optimized format. Google engineer Dave Burke revealed the new Chrome extension as something “built in his spare time.” Besides pushing web links and web sites the feature can send maps, currently selected text, YouTube videos and phone numbers to your Android phone. However, the feature is only available on version 2.2 or later. The extension is very simple to use; by clicking the mobile icon in Chrome, the data is automatically sent to your phone. Pushing the same data between and Android phone to a Chrome browser on your desktop is not available as the feature only works one way.

Google also released the source code for the extension which should entice developers to create a similar extension for other browsers such as Safari, Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Enhanced Voice Commands For Android Phones

The above video shows how awesome Android’s voice command function is. The feature allows you to search for a local business by reciting the name and calling the location for you. Messages such as texts and emails can be sent out by merely saying “send message to [person] [message].” By saying “drive to (location” your Android powered phone with the Voice Action App installed will open up Google Maps and show you a route to your destination. The voice command features extends to other third party and the list of supported Apps will increase.

Via: Engadget

Utilizing the Internet for charity is nothing new, but they’re evolving. The latest involves a Tweeting bike and an ambitious trek across the US.

Precious, The Bike

Precious, marketed as a bike with brains is part of a journey that not only raises money for Livestrong and Team Fatty but combines Social Media and wit to engage followers that rivals anything an ad agency can do. The bike, outfitted with an onboard computer, does more than send out simple status updates littered with spec data. Instead, Precious has a mind of its own. The bike analyzes its surrounding conditions, sends the data to its website which includes very detailed information on the status of the bike and its rider, Janeen McCrae. Precious has enough sensors to determine its location, direction, outer temperature, humidity, speed, pedal rotation and how steep it has to climb. All of this is controlled by a custom built device from the teams at Breakfast. The data is sent to Twitter and is then parsed to show a more graphical incorporated into the website design for Precious’ site. A representation of the bike is displayed via an elaborate Flash design.

How Precious Works

While the Bike has a personality of its own, a lot of it comes from its rider. According to Breakfasts’ account director and partner, Michael Lipton:

“Most of the tweets are coming from the ‘brain’ that we built — that is, the rider has written a couple of hundred tweets that we’ve stored, each tweet has its own specific set of parameters that must be met. For example, if she’s going down hill for 30 minutes straight in 90 degree heat, she may have set a tweet that says something like ‘coasting is easy but somehow I’m still sweaty.’ Once that tweet is used, it is removed from the pool and can’t be reused, so if she hits that same criteria again a different message would be sent.”

Precious is one of the smartest bikes out there and is shaping up to be a great campaign for Livestrong/Team Fatty. Precious’ rider, Jenny, maintains her own Blog about the cross country trip. You can donate for the cause at Team Fatty’s website.

Via: Mashable

HTML5 is one of the newest web technologies and is being readily embraced—but what does it mean for journalists and writers?

What HTML5 Means For Writers

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding HTML5, especially in regards to HTML5 overtaking flash design for video playback and animation. This is sure to put a tough decision on any ad agency. While Adobe’s Flash and the newly released HTML5 specification compete head to head in both functionality and mindshare, coders and web designers are readily implementing the newest version of HTML. People who write online don’t think about the design process and offload that to the designer. However, HTML5 is shaping up to be a vital tool for them. Martin Belam has a great write up on what HTML5 can do for journalists which introduces them to how it works in relation to their content. If you’re a journalist or Blogger who tends to shy away from coding and instead offload HTML and CSS duties to a contracted designer or website design company, this is the time to embrace it in the form of HTML5.

Incorporating HTML5 Into Website Design

One of the best tools HTML5 offers is article structure which is vital for any writer to clearly show what they’re trying to convey. The “section” tag will allow you to divide up your content on criteria such as tutorials, reviews or news items. Writers can utilize the “aside” tag to identify related content.Factoring  in time and dates to your writing is another important aspect journalists can take advantage of in HTML5 using the “time” tag. A close comparison is the data detectors employed in Mac OS X which recognize time and dates. However, the time tag will be implemented into your CMS in due time.

Another interesting tag to use under HTML5 is the “details” tag, which allows you to insert relevant information that can be collapsed or opened by the reader. This tag could encompass information such as relevant dates, in depth location or directions. The “mark” tag makes your content stand out. The “wbr” tag can be used in place of the break tag when a word break is needed instead of forcing line breaks.

Making HTML5 Writing And SEO Friendly

In addition, HTML5 is SEO friendly and easy to use which is important for any writer looking to promote their work and have it show up in relevant search results. HTML5′s XML-like structure makes it easier for search engines to index. You can also improve your ranking with the “article”, “aside,” “header” and “section” tags. You can also compliment your content with video and identify it appropriately with the new video tag and search engine friendly wording.

Are you a writer or journalist utilizing HTML5? Let us know your experience!

Tom Sullivan over at Turbo Social Media reviews the importance of having a custom landing page in Facebook. This ability to customize is known as FBML, or Facebook Mark-up Language (a nice little spin of “HTML” … see the connection?). DigitalEYE can create an FBML page for you to give your company personality, capture leads, engage with your audience and manage campaigns to strategically grow your fans.

View DigitalEYE’s FBML page here and the page of yours truly here.

“A couple of weeks ago I touched on the importance of custom, branded Facebook page in an article about how to make you business standout with social media. I want to revisit that topic and elaborate on it in more detail.

Your Facebook landing page is also known as your “welcome” page. It is the first thing people see when they come to your Fan page (for the first time). Your Facebook Fan page is likely the second most important piece of real estate online for your business, after your website. You need it to reflect that same uniqueness and creativity that your website does. Just like you website should be geared toward generating leads, your Facebook landing page also should be geared toward generating leads, or getting people to “like” your business. Here are some reasons why your business needs to have a custom Facebook landing page:

1) A custom Facebook landing page shows your business’ personality. Facebook has a pretty generic look as it is. A custom landing page is your business’ one opportunity to really give people an idea of what you’re all about. Show some pizzazz and creativity. Create that “wow” factor. Utilize video and a stylish design to brand your business and make you stand out from your competition.

2) A custom Facebook landing page allows you to capture leads. Along with branding, this should be your goal. While a “like” is valuable because it gives you an open platform to get in front of your Fans, and email address from an opt-in is even more valuable, and it should be treated as such. Someone who opts in for your services or offer on your Facebook page is just as valuable as someone who does so on your website. The best part is that you now have two lead generating machines: your website and your custom Fan page.

3) Your custom Fan page allows you to engage with your audience more. If a person goes to your Fan page and the first thing they see is your wall they are much less inclined to engage with you or comment than if the go to your landing page first. The reason is that your landing page can tell them exactly what you want them to do. You’re landing page can list an offer that is more enticing because it is bright and colorful, it can point directly to the “like” button requesting that they become a Fan, or it can use video to excite viewers or encourage them to interact with your business.”

Written By Brian Solis February 22, 2010 http://www.briansolis.com

What follows is the entire version of my recent post on Mashable, “The Maturation of Social Media ROI“

Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine ROI for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasn’t necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didn’t yet exist. And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue.

The debate over ROI inspired certain brands to cannonball into popular social networks to join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards and established authorities unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.

But that was then and this is now.

In 2010, we enter into a new era of social media marketing, one based on information, rationalization, and resolve.

Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics.

Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernizing business practices, improving products and services, and effectively competing for the future.

ROI: The Return on Ignorance

Where the “I” in ROI represents return on investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement.

Adaptations included:

Return on engagement – the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.

Return on participation – the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.

Return on involvement – similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.

Return on attention – In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.

Return on trust – A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.

But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution.

For many businesses, the case for new metrics cannot arise until we have an intrinsic understanding of how social media engagement affects us at every level. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance.

ROI: Return on Investment

Sometimes we simply need ROI to signify a meaningful return on investment.

In 2010, Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. Where that money goes and from where it’s borrowed varies by department and by company usually tied to where champions reside internally today.

In many cases however, new programs are introduced without an integrated strategy. Money is allocated from existing programs, and if we’re going to take it away from something, we should therefore determine whether or not we’re justified in doing so.

According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84 percent of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI.

Source: eMarketer

In 2010, executives are demanding scrutiny, evaluation, and interpretation. Even though new media is transforming organizations from the inside out, what is constant nevertheless, is the need to apply performance indicators to our work.

The Business of Social Media

The CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation, regardless of the allure and seduction of social media.

MarketingProfs recently published a study performed by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club that revealed the true expectation of chief marketing officers. Bottom line, they want measurable results from social media.

Elusiveness continues to prevail however. The study found that the exact impact of social media tactics evade the grasp of CMOs.

- 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter

-50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn or industry blogs

More specifically however, roughly 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook.

I believe this is the direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the ability to know what it is we want to measure before we engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our goals and objectives.

We first answer,

What is it we want to change, improve, accomplish, incite, etc.?

Doing so will allow us to establish goals and objectives that specifically tie activity to:

- Sales

- Registrations

- Referrals

- Links (the currency of the social web)

- Votes

- Reduction in costs and processes

- Decrease in customer issues

- Lead generation

- Conversion

- Reduced sale cycles

- Inbound activity

Customer Insight

Among the responses received from CMOs, customer ratings and reviews rose to the top of marketing activities that deliver tangible ROI insight. In 2009, 80% of respondents reported that customer stories and product suggestions shape products and services. As a result, brands earn the trust and loyalty of their customers for listening and responding – as long as they are made aware of their role and rewarded for it.

In 2010, CMOs will review opportunities for user-generated content sources to involve customers and advocates with many reporting…

- a 400% increase in use of Twitter comments to inform decisions about products and services

- a 59% increase in the use of customer ratings and reviews

- a 24% increase in use of social media for pre-sales Q&A

The Socialization of Monetization

Social media metrics will increasingly tie to revenue in 2010. To what extent seems to vary according to CMOs.

- 80% predict upwards of 5%

- 15% optimistically hope for 5-10%

In 2009, those companies that aligned social media investments with revenue estimate:

- 5% or less revenue tied to social in 2009 foresee an increase of an additional 5% in 2010

- 6-10% of revenue stemming from social is expected to increase more than 10%

- Those with greater revenues resulting from social engagement expect an escalation of revenue derived from social at 20%

Companies such as Dell are not only tracking the impact of Social Media on revenue, but expanding lessons learned across the entire organization. According to Dell’s Lionel Menchaca:

Our @DellOutlet is now close to 1.5 million followers on Twitter, and back in June we indicated that @DellOutlet earned $3 million in revenue from Twitter. Today it’s not just Dell Outlet having success connecting with customers on Twitter. In total, Dell’s global reach on Twitter has resulted in more than $6.5 million in revenue. In fact our Brazilian and Canadian accounts are growing rapidly too – and it was Canadian tweeters who asked to make sure Dell Canada came online to Twitter. Dell Canada responded because the team heard our customers. In less than a year,@DellnoBrasil has already generated nearly $800,000 in product revenues. Similarly,@DellHomeSalesCA has surpassed $150,000 and is increasing at notable pace.

The Forecast for Metrics in 2010

Earlier we mentioned generic forms of Social Media metrics. The survey revealed that indeed, many CMOs, 89%, tracked the impact of social media by traffic, pageviews, and the size of their social graph or communities. However, 2010 is the year that social media graduates from experimentation to strategic implementation with direct ties to specific measurable performance indicators.

In 2010, CMOs will seek to establish a connection between social media and P&L business goals. The study documents the adoption of three metrics:

- 333% surge in tracking revenue

- 174% escalation in monitoring conversion

- 150% increase in measuring average order value

A Call To Action

Among the most effective forms of any marketing initiative is the integration of a call to action. It is how I define influence as it gives us the ability to inspire activity and measure it – as designed. As stated earlier, revenue is only one form of metrics we can introduce, but defining the “R” in ROI is where we need to focus as it relates to our business goals and performance indicators specifically. Even though much of social media is free, we do know the cost of engagement as it relates to employees, time, equipment, and opportunity cost (what they’re not focusing on or accomplishing while engaging in social media). Tying those costs to the results will reveal a formula for assessing the “I” as investment.

When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future.

Connect with Brian Solis: Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google Buzz, Facebook
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