MarketingPilgrim's Joe Hart has yet another moneymaking suggestion for cash-burning Twitter. He starts by saying the oft-referred to Twitter subscription program, in which companies pay for the right to be followed on the microblogging service, is a good idea, but it misses Twitter's "full potential completely." Twitter, Hart says, is a protocol, and protocols control the flow of information. As such, it's a service that can be integrated into just about anything. Companies like Google and Microsoft that have become masters of information control "have built insurmountable wealth." One problem for marketers is that Twitter requires URLs to fit within …

Technology infrastructure stands to benefit from Barack Obama's $819 billion economic stimulus plan: A total of $37 billion will be spent on the digitization of health records, a smarter power grid and high-speed Web connections. As The Economist points out, the U.S. isn't alone in betting on technology to help revive its economy: Britain and other rich countries will also include large doses of tech spending in their economic stimulus plans. The idea behind "broadband for all" is that boosting broadband infrastructure will help economies in much the same way that railways and highways did in the 1930s. This is …

"The signs are everywhere" that online advertising is in for some tough times, Tech Crunch's Erick Schonfeld says, especially the display market. Bellwether Yahoo this week reported a 2% decline in display ad revenues, while another major publisher, The New York Times, reported even worse declines. The problem, of course, is a glut of display inventory. As Schonfeld says, the problem is so bad that Web sites are now actually showing fewer ads per page to reduce ad clutter and to keep ad rates from falling further. Meanwhile, comScore, in its 2008 Digital Year in Review, says that even though …

Google has revealed more plans for its "GDrive" online storage service, VentureBeat reports. A product and category description was found earlier today by blogger Brian Ussery in a piece of code found in the Google Pack software bundle. Put together, the two descriptions read: "GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents. GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device -- be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone." Photos and documents, sure, but music? Google hasn't touched music before. Could GDrive be the ultimate way …

Mark Zuckerberg was spotted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland wearing a tie, which is unusual for him, to commemorate Facebook's "intense" year. Why intense? According to blogger Robert Scoble, 2009 "is Facebook's make or break year," because this is the year the social networking giant either becomes one of the Web's most respected brands, or "the wheels come off of the train and everything goes wrong." In his interview with Zuckerberg, Scoble reveals that Facebook is now fixated on studying "sentiment behavior." If a user is having a bad day, for example, Facebook wants to be able …

Is search a natural monopoly? Maybe not. Silicon Alley Insider points to the latest comScore figures showing that Yahoo's query share in the U.S. market has actually stabilized at around 20.5% over the last nine months. Of course, this is only the U.S. market, and comScore is just one measurement service, but the news is encouraging for Yahoo, nevertheless. SAI's Henry Blodget expressed surprise that stabilization occurred in the 20% range and not 10 or 15. This certainly doesn't mean that Yahoo is ready to mount a comeback in search. However, if Yahoo were able to claw back search …

Google may have posted solid fourth quarter earnings, but the Web giant still isn't recession proof, said company executives speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We are seeing certain companies slow down their advertising spend, at the same time we are seeing smaller companies continue to spend because they rely on the online world for their instant revenue," said Nikesh Arora, Google's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations in a Bloomberg Television interview. Arora said Google isn't "recession-proof" but is resilient to the economic downturn, and has no plans for hiring or salary freezes. However, …