Marketing Blog - Google Docs has over 1 million users on campuses worldwide

Google Apps is rapidly gaining momentum in education. We now have more than a million people on campuses worldwide actively using Google's suite of email, calendar and docs to share information and study. This makes perfect sense. Schools have always been a proving ground for innovative ideas. And as we prepare for the new school year, we are happy to welcome more than a dozen universities across the U.S., joining the thousands of other schools that have already embraced cloud computing in education. Here are the new additions:

• Collin County Community College District
• Francis Marion University
• George Washington University
• Indiana University
• Kean University
• Kent State University
• Kishwaukee College
• Loyola Marymount University
• Montgomery County Community College
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• University of Florida
• University of San Diego
• University of Virginia

This is really just the beginning. As we continue working to make it easier to communicate and collaborate online, we are going to meet with some of the top technology experts -- the students themselves. For the entire month of September, we are heading "App to School" by embarking on a cross-country bus tour to visit campuses, listen to students and learn more about how cloud computing is helping education. Please check out our Enterprise blog for more info.

Marketing Blog - Cuil - The New Search Engine - Everyone's Talking About

If you read the news today you could not have missed it. Cuil, pronounced "Cool" the new search engine. I myself, am slightly unimpressed mostly with the layout and the results so far.

Like Google, Cuil starts out with a very nondescript front page where you enter your search term, though Cuil sports a black background to differentiate it from Google right up front. That's where the differences start, and it gets better from there.

Rather than displaying search results in the plain-Jane text that Google does, Cuil brings back a very nice looking and well organized multi-column page including a thumbnail of a header, portrait or graphic from that link's page. Well, sometimes it does but it's not always accurate. On a search for my name, Cuil associated a picture of James Mitchell Ashley (can't say I've sported a suit like that in some time) and a cowboy dude from what looks like an album cover. Obviously Cuil has some perfecting to do but I like where it's going.

What else is different about Cuil? They say they don't analyze their users, they analyze web pages, ranking them for relevancy, inter-relationships and coherency, not just popularity. (Hmm...I'm not a search algorithm expert but that could mean just about anything.) They also say Cuil searches 3x the web pages as Google and 10x more than Microsoft Live Search. Cuil also organizes results into tabs. I've often wonder why Google couldn't distinguish the difference between Fender guitars and fender benders.

Look Ma, no advertising. No signs of that yet in Cuil's search results but you'd have to guess that's in Cuil's future as usage builds up. I've only just tried Cuil so I don't have much hands on experience with it to say whether I like or hate it yet.

One more thing. Cuil lists a general council on their exec team. Not that I want to get any nasty-grams from some lawyer but I always question when startups have full time legal council. Seems to me there's usually two reasons: either there's lots of business contracts to work on, or you're expecting enough IP disputes or litigation from competitors (Google?) that it's better to start stocking up the war chest early. Don't know if I'm right but that's what make sense to me.

Let me know what you think of Cuil, if you use it, think its a waste or like what you see.

Submitted by Mitchell Ashley on Mon, 07/28/2008 - 2:07pm.

Marketing Blog - Marketing Technology - Artificial Intellegence versus Expert systems

What is the difference between Artificial Intelligence systems and Expert systems?

The difference between artificial intelligence systems and expert systems is that is expert systems are built on artificial intelligence technologies. Expert systems are good for discrete, highly structured decisions. Expert systems are knowledge-intensive computer programs that capture the expertise of a human in limited domains of knowledge. Artificial intelligence systems are systems designed to behave like humans, with the ability to learn languages, accomplish physical tasks, use a perceptual apparatus, and emulate human expertise and decision-making. This is much broader than the limited scope of expert systems.

In marketing this is an important distinction because some companies are making complex decisions in order to position and target a particular product. There needs to be a clear distinction between the decision making software and what is included on not included within the decision making framework.

Marketing Blog - Goodbye to Randy Pausch, he inspired many....

Goodbye to Randy Pausch, a great teacher

7/26/2008 10:25:00 AM

Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and a good friend of Google, passed away last night. In addition to being recognized as a pioneer in virtual reality research, he became widely known as a gifted teacher and a mentor to many. Millions of people saw his inspiring "Last Lecture" on YouTube. Read more about Randy and his contributions on our Research Blog.

Posted by Kevin McCurley, Research Scientist

Marketing Blog - Google Operators

Today my blog entry will be a quick very useful guide.

http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

Here is a link the the Google guide for advanced operators. If you are a webmaster and looking for a great list of all the helpful search terms in Google, then here it is!

Wii Fit underwear girl: A marketing hoax?

A girl in her underwear plays Wii Fit

read more | digg story

Honda's online success VS Coke

Honda had over 16,600,000 searches in June on google alone!

Honda also has in total over 42,ooo channel views on YouTube on the Honda Channel

In a YouTube Search for Honda there are over 160,000 different possible video links.

Check out this Honda YouTube video from Spike TV:  Watch Video

This video Honda Video has received over 203 comments to date.

Honda, Honda, Honda.

But how else is Honda in the social media world...

www.honda-tech.com

www.hondacivicforum.com

www.hondaforums.com

www.superhonda.com

These are just to name a few and the first I found in my google search for Honda Forums

What does all this mean?  It gives you an idea of the enthusiasts for the brand.  It can show us how successful brands are followed like a religion.  It can show us the power of brand and how it carries on into the social world and is part of the consumer's free time.

Okay so you might be thinking your low cost product could never become so popular or achieve the kind of online success of Honda.  After all the money we spend on a car it makes since that it would be part of our identities.

Let's look at Coke...

Coke was searched on Google 1,500,000 times in June.

If you search for Coke on YouTube there are over 47,500 results.  These are all user submitted.

One of the most popular themes at quick glance is Coke plus Mentos.

Coke however has a different search experience.  Although there is the Coke Fan Club there is negative data as well.  See: www.killercoke.org

Clearly the point here is that people will care about your brand and product if the marketers do their jobs and create a strong brand image in the marketplace.  It is important as marketers never to assume people the level of care about a product due to cost.  The cost does not define the brand.