• Gavin O'Malley, Mar 23, 2010, 3:32 PM
  • YouTube Scraps Real-Time Video-Sharing Feature NewTeeVee Despite all the Twitter-driven excitement over real-time updates, YouTube is having trouble tapping into the trend.

    The Google unit has therefore decided to scrap a relatively new feature that let visitors see (in "real-time") which videos friends were watching, and what they were saying about them.

    Originally, YouTube said the goal was to give users "another way to share and find videos on the site." But, according to paidContent, "It never gained much traction (and in fact was only ever available via an invite)."

    "The invitation-only feature never got a wide roll-out, and some users complained that it didn't really make using YouTube any different," adds CNet's Webware blog. "It basically performed the same function as an IM, e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook note sent by a friend on an interesting video."

    "As it turns out," writes TechCrunch, "RealTime didn't increase engagement and discovery as much as the other features that the site has been rolling out, like auto-sharing videos to Facebook and Twitter, and the improved YouTube friend finder."

    "We routinely test early products in TestTube to give the YouTube community a chance to try them out before retiring them, or rolling them out more broadly," the video sharing site said. "Some social features, like Auto-Share, gain a lot of interest and adoption within the YouTube community while others do not."

    So, "Instead of continuing to support the experimental feature, YouTube is instead throwing its weight behind other projects that could help increase engagement and viewing among its users," writes NewTeeVee. Read the whole story...
  • The Problem(s) With Amazon TechCrunch In this TechCrunch rant, Paul Carr tackles two equally pressing ecommerce issues at once: 1) Publishers' policy of delaying Kindle releases to protect hardback sales: "It's an idiotic move but it's one that many publishers feel forced into due to Amazon's policy of charging $9.99 for most popular Kindle titles," he writes.

    And 2), Amazon's policy of letting anyone review a book. "Amazon needs to -- immediately -- change its review policy so that only people who have actually bought a book are allowed to review it," argues Carr. "It's hard, in fact, to think of a downside to restricting reviews to actual purchasers of a particular title."

    Until now, Amazon has been able to ignore such complaints, but Apple's entrance into the market could make the bookseller more responsive. Read the whole story...
  • Test: Google Maps Featuring Hotel Prices Mashable Among "a small portion of users," Google is testing a new feature within Google Maps that displays specific hotel prices, reports Mashable. When these users search for hotels within a specific region, they then have the ability to check the prices of hotels that show up in search results -- based on the date and the number of nights they plan on staying.

    The data, according to Mashable, is based on advertised prices from sponsored results. "The prices are essentially ads, albeit useful ones," it notes. For now, Google is not changing its ranking system for hotels. Rather, the experiment is testing a new form of advertising that Google is suggesting might be helpful to users. If testing goes well, expect a broader rollout. Read the whole story...
  • Google: Third Of Mobile Searches Are Local Mobile Marketing Watch One third of all Google mobile searches pertain to some aspect of the searcher's local environment, according to Diana Pouliot, director of mobile advertising of Google, speaking at a Mobile Marketing & Advertising event in Las Vegas covered by Mobile Marketing Watch.

    At the same event, Paul Feng, Google's mobile-ads group product manager, expounded on Google's efforts to make the search giant's advertising reach as local as possible. "Building on the changing ad formats foreshadowed by Google in recent months, Feng suggested further tweaking of those formats in the near future -- changes that may even involve new forms of user interaction, including navigation," reported Mobile Marketing Watch. In recent months, Eric Schmidt and other Google brass have been similarly bullish on mobile and local services. Read the whole story...
  • Yahoo Wants Piece Of Local Ad Pie Forbes Yahoo's sales reps are zeroing in on marketers with big national footprints that tend to advertise in local newspapers, regional radio stations, and Web sites, reports Forbes. Those marketers include Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King, Pizza Hut, State Farm Insurance and Home Depot.

    "Yahoo's focus on local markets comes as Google is diving into the display world to grow beyond its core search business," notes Forbes. "Having launched a new ad exchange system similar to ones the stock market uses, Google is heating up the competition, adding more clients to its growing roster of display advertisers."

    Presently, national advertisers spend over $120 billion on advertising in local markets, according to Forbes. Still, only about 1% to 2% of marketers' budgets are going online, according to Lem Lloyd, Yahoo's vice president of channel sales for North America. Not surprising, Lloyd insists there is room for growth. Read the whole story...
  • Avast: Yahoo, Google Guilty Of Spreading Malware CNet Ad delivery platforms run by Yahoo, Fox, and Google are contributing to the spread of malware, according to Prague-based antivirus firm Avast. In a practice know as "malvertising," viruses and other malware were found to be lurking in ads on sites like nytimes.com and Drudge Report last year.

    Avast is now blaming ad delivery platforms like Yahoo's Yield Manager and Fox Audience Network's Fimserve.com, "and to a much smaller degree Google's DoubleClick," reports CNet's InSecurity Complex blog. "It's not just the small players but the ad servers connected with Google and Yahoo have been infected and served up bad ads," Lyle Frink, public relations manager for Avast, tells the blog. Read the whole story...