• Ross Fadner, Nov 24, 2008, 11:46 AM
  • Microsoft To Rebrand Live Search TechCrunch/GigaOm Microsoft is once again rebranding its search engine, TechCrunch says, citing a Microsoft source. The software giant plans to rename Windows Live Search sometime early next year, and "Kumo", a Japanese word meaning "cloud" or "spider" is apparently the frontrunner, according to the blog LiveSide. Microsoft recently purchased the Kumo.com domain name.

    According to TechCrunch, very few people inside Microsoft are privy to the pending change, and "Kumo" has not been confirmed, although a source claims that a final decision about the new name has been made.

    Michael Arrington wonders why Microsoft would go to the trouble of rebranding its search engine again? After all, he says, Live.com now has several different services under its umbrella, including a recently expanded social network. According to company insiders, Live.com is evolving more into a social network and cloud-based computing services portal, while search "belongs somewhere else, and it definitely needs a fresh start."

    So what about "Kumo?" GigaOm's Om Malik doesn't think much of the new name. He writes: "It is taking a bit of self-control on my part to not be mean-spirited about this rumored effort. If true, it would be yet another sign of Microsoft's bumbling efforts when it comes to search." Read the whole story...
  • Facebook And Twitter Fail To Reach Deal D: All Things Digital Kara Swisher reports that Facebook a few weeks ago nearly bought Twitter for $500 million in stock. The question of a Facebook-Twitter union came up at the Web 2.0 Summit a few weeks ago, and apparently, this was right when the companies were at the tail end of discussions. The talks have now ended, Swisher says, citing unnamed sources from both companies.

    Apparently, the deal broke down over price as well as integration and cost concerns, but Twitter investors and execs also felt that the startup should now narrow its focus to generating revenues, of which there are currently none. "It's more about timing," said the Twitter source. "There is a strong feeling that there is still an opportunity -- even with the economic downturn -- to blow this thing out."

    Too bad, says Swisher, as combining the world's fastest growing social network with the world's best known microblogging service "is actually a natural fit," especially now that Twitter has surpassed Facebook in innovating the "status update." According to Facebook sources, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was getting frustrated by all the press Twitter was getting for cornering a market that should have belonged to Facebook. Read the whole story...
  • The End For Banners? Mediaweek Will a recession finally kill off the banner ad? Mediaweek's Mike Shields thinks it might. In the midst of a recession, advertisers cut back on brand spending, moving instead to performance based ads, which is bad news for the banner. As Shields says, "Whether traditional banner ads, skyscrapers or 350x200 rich media units, Web ads are eminently ignorable, and rarely move one to laugh or cry." In fact, some industry experts claim that image-based ads are ripe for a rethink.

    "There is still a school of thought that it is a low-impact ad environment," said eMarketer analyst David Hallerman. "With money tightening, people say, 'How effective is it?'" According to media buyer Greg March, digital group director at Wieden+Kennedy, the answer is "Not very": "Internet ads are small and out of the way," he said. "Advertisers want to deliver impact, and I don't think the impact for these ads is always that strong."

    Others, like Vivek Shah, group digital president at Time Inc., think it's more of a question of brand versus direct response. "In times like this, the balance can tilt towards direct. That's a challenge for traditional content sites that rely on display ads." Jim Spanfeller, CEO of Forbes.com, thinks that the rise of ad networks has put the focus back on performance-based banner ads. He believes that that sort of thinking "devalues brand advertising." Read the whole story...
  • LinkedIn CEO: Everything's Rosy Here San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle sits down with LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye to discuss the professional social network's fortunes in 2008. At last count, LinkedIn was the fourth largest social networking site, behind MySpace, Facebook and Classmates.com. It is also the fourth fastest growing social network, according to the Chronicle report, behind Twitter, Tagged.com and Ning, with membership of 30 million. The private company is expected to rake in $100 million in ad revenue in 2008, up from $10 million at the end of 2006. In June, LinkedIn raised new capital valuing the firm at $1 billion.

    "What's most gratifying is seeing the success that people are having on the network," Nye says in a lengthy interview. "There are just amazing stories about people making money, finding opportunities, getting advice, avoiding disasters from reference checking, reconnecting with important people in their lives, getting introductions, getting access."

    Meanwhile, Nye announced that LinkedIn raised yet another round of venture capital financing, following the round in June valuing the company at $1 billion. In total for the year, LinkedIn has raised $75.7 million. Nye claims that the company's financial position is strong from having raised this money. "We actually never touched the series C money and then we went and raised more money," he said. "We also have a very strong revenue stream. Our revenues this year are up well over 100% over last year." Lastly, Nye pointed out that a professional network like LinkedIn's becomes much more important in a recessionary period than people realize. Read the whole story...
  • UGC: The Craigslist Of Web Video Fortune Fortune's Richard Siklos wonders whether the "You" in YouTube is slowly dissolving. Big media companies are increasingly selling their "video wares" on the Google video site, which used to more prominently feature user-generated videos. Nowadays, it pays to put your video on YouTube's front page or buy placement on the site's search engine, the Web's second largest.

    Recent deals with CBS and MGM Studios underscore YouTube's push to play catch-up to the amount of professional video available on sites like Hulu. Google is obviously pursuing this route because advertisers have proven to be more interested in professionally produced Web video. This way, advertisers can be certain of when and where their ads will appear. User-generated videos can guarantee neither of these things.

    Moreover, Siklos claims that big media will put more full-length content online for two reasons: one, streaming content is actually harder to steal, and two, more viewers are moving to the Web, anyway, "and it's a zero-sum game." Meanwhile, user-generated content isn't going to go away, but as a business opportunity, it's probably closer to Craigslist (i.e. small margins) than it is to say. As Siklos says, "for the most part (UGC is) a cultural phenomenon, not a commercial one." Read the whole story...
  • Reactions To Google's SearchWiki Forbes.com Read the whole story...
  • Cloud Wars BusinessWeek Read the whole story...
  • American Youth Trail In Worldwide Internet Use Reuters Read the whole story...