Eric Pender » Facebook

SEO is Dead. Long Live SEO!

Eric Pender — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:02:48 +0000

It has been a while since there the requisite “SEO is dead” conversation. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the longevity of search. Let’s face it, my career revolves around the product offerings from roughly three main companies (and one of those companies controls a 70%+ market-share).

While Google is nowhere near going out of business, the search industry is seeing a significant challenger in social media. Numerous start-ups have sought to capture the social web. A few have already seen significant traction, a la Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter. Social sites are now starting to drive more referral traffic to some major sites than traditional search engines. Crowdsourced traffic is surpassing algorithmic traffic (in a few select cases).

So what does this mean for search marketers, particularly SEOs? First, I think it means that the search engines will have more external factors to consider when ranking pages. Many of the SEO bloggers who acknowledge this point refer to it as the catalyst for the demise of SEO. But we have seen this before. In the past few years, external linking has increase in importance to drive traffic and rankings. But SEOs have been able to adapt and find ways to gain quality links.

Still, I feel as though keyword targeting will eventually become less and less important, as SEOs will have less and less control over targeting specific keywords. Search marketers will need to take a more holistic view of their campaigns, as they realize that they have less and less direct control over the factors that are used to rank sites in the search engines.

With this, content and architecture will increase in importance. Yes, these factors are important already, as SEOs know. But big companies still do not embrace best practices, opting instead for Flashy, easy to manage sites that present significant issues for search.

As external ranking factors become more important, specifically pertaining to social media, companies will need to make it as easy as possible for lay users to share sites with friends, family, coworkers, etc. Strategically, search marketers who can harness social media to direct traffic to landing pages where users can perform a desired action will find success.

While marketers grasp with the decreasing ability to control keyword rankings, content will become more important. Latent semantic indexing (LSI) will gain prominence as search engines try to develop more information about the domain and what the domain’s content is about on an aggregate level.

Social media will change search, but it will not not be the demise of search. The fundamentals will still be to create great content with site architecture that allows content to be easy to find, easy to share.

Analyzing Employment Data with Facebook Lexicon

Eric Pender — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:02:03 +0000

While I was browsing through Facebook this evening, I came across a new feature I hadn’t seen before called Facebook Lexicon. I’m not sure how I missed this, apparently it’s been around since April 2008.

Given that January saw more layoff in the United States than we have seen in decades, I decided to do a comparative search with Facebook Lexicon for the terms “laid off” and “hired.”

Results of the queries "laid off" and "hired" in Facebook Lexicon.

The results are certainly not surprising. In 2008, hirings appeared to increase steadily from April till mid-June, when many new graduates are hitting the job market. After June, hirings appear to decrease on a steady basis through the end of the year.

Mentions of layoff stayed generally low throughout the early portion of 2008. Then right around late September and early October it appears that layoffs started to significantly increase. This is not surprising.

What is surprising, however, is that it appears that mentions of hiring are not terribly far off from where they were this time in 2008. Certainly layoffs are much higher than last year, but at least it appears that companies are still hiring.

Facebook Virus Hits Critical Mass

Eric Pender — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:27:00 +0000

I’ve seen quite a bit of Facebook spam and viruses lately, and apparently, so has everyone else (see here).

It’s kind of an interesting dynamic that’s at play here. The virus is embeded into videos. Then, a user gets a message from a friend that basically tries to get them to click on the video.

Most savvy internet users are accustomed to these kinds of online advances as being malicious. The interesting dynamic at play here, however, is that Facebook is a social medium. A friend posts something, it goes to your news feed, and you click on it. There is a level of trust that is inherent. Unfortunately, that trust has been subverted by this virus.

Living in a World of Hyperbole

Eric Pender — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Just about every day, I am reminded in one way or another that we live in a world of hyperbole. Overstatement. Smoke and mirrors.

Companies are obsessed with “The Brand.” Building it, preserving it, growing it.

But you can’t build The Brand until you have The Product. The Service.

Putting lipstick on the pig? Hell, we’ve bought the pig a new wardrobe, sent it to the nail salon, and posted it’s beauty shots on Facebook.

Consumers look past the beauty shots. Instead, they go to grainy videos of the real product that someone posted on YouTube.

Even if the bulk of consumers aren’t reading that hands-on review that some guy threw up on his blog shortly after your product launched, the mainstream reporter convering the beat in your industry certainly is reading. So is that investment analyst. So is your boss. Wait, what’s that you say? Your boss is more concerned about the message that is going out than he is about the messages that are coming in? If that’s the case, you got big problems my friend.

Keep this in mind: a brand that is built around a shoddy product or service is called a bubble. And bubbles burst.

If your view of reputation management is to squash what’s being said about you, then you’re only working to delay the inevitable. The truth will emerge. So what are you going to do about it? The companies that succeed are the ones that join the conversation.

It’s like that party you go to, the one with the girl or guy who’s well dressed and attractive. Only to find out that when you strike up conversation, all they talk about is himself or herself. No substance. No exchange of ideas. Just a one-sided affair of one person talking at another person. We’ve all been there, and we all know it’s a short conversation.

What’s the point? The point is we need to quit with the hyperbole. We can’t stand hyperbolic people, why do companies think we like hyperbolic brands? If you’re the best, fine, tell me about it. But if you’re not the best, what, do you think I’m not going to find out? Even if I buy your product, don’t you realize that if I end up unhappy, I’m going to tell all of my friends?

Build a decent product and tell me it’s a decent product, then I’ll probably be willing to give you another chance. But build an awful prodcut and tell me it’s great? Well, in that case, I’m writing a blog post about it, digging relevant articles on Digg, and reviewing it on Yelp.

Eric Pender on Twitter

Eric Pender — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:11:00 +0000

This weekend, I finally caved in and signed up for Twitter.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Twitter, or have heard of it but don’t really know what it is, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging website. The motto of the service is to have people answer the question “what are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. These short messages, or tweets, are then posted on your Twitter page. You can also view the tweets of friends that you are following. But the most interesting thing about Twitter is the ability to use the service when you aren’t at your desk and sitting in front of your computer. Users can post updates through Twitter by updating at the website or text message from their phone, and can receive updates about what their friends are doing by text message, email, RSS and instant message.

I’m still trying to get accustomed to how I really want to use Twitter. I’m working on figuring out the balance of what to post and what not to post. It’s the balance of posting enough so that my posts are worth following, but no so often that they’re irrelevant and boring. I’m also trying to work out how this fits in with the other social networking sites that I utilize, specifically Facebook and LinkedIn. I figured that any more than two social networks, one for personal networking and one for professional networking, starts to exceed my social networking saturation point (I use Digg to discover notable articles, but I consider myself a passive user). However Twitter appears to work for me because it is very simple, has good reach, and integrates well with my Facebook account. My Twitter updates automatically update my Facebook status and also get posted in the side bar of The Pender Code.

So why does Twitter matter? It matters because it makes the next logical step in connecting social networking and the mobile interface. Twitter isn’t notable for what it is, but rather for what it adds to the social networking marketplace. It’s less notable for being a social networking service as it is for taking social networking to the mobile platform. Even if you don’t have an internet enabled phone, you can still use Twitter to network with those privileged members of your social graph, whether they’re online at the moment or not.

If you’re interested in extending your social networking to the mobile platform, I suggest giving Twitter a try (be sure to add me to your friend list, too!). I’m not saying you’ll fall in love with Twitter, but if you appreciate how technology enables you to stay connected in new ways, it may be an exciting new thing to check out.

Michigan State President Simon Responds to Cedar Fest Riot

Eric Pender — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon posted a statement today on her blog reacting to the disturbances of Cedar Fest from this past weekend.

Particularly interesting from President Simon’s statement are the references to how social media and the Internet played a part in orchestrating the event. For all the students who fail to recognize how an event such as this impacts the image of Michigan State University across the state and across the globe, President Simon’s remarks are most poignant when quoted at length:

“The scenes of rioting and violence in the media and on the internet will be the only introduction for many across the state and around the country to East Lansing and MSU. It may also be the introduction that prospective employers have to future job applicants, which is another use for the technology employed by those who encouraged the weekend’s events. Social networks such as Facebook and You Tube are increasingly used by human resource professionals to check the backgrounds and behaviors of potential employees. The repercussions for some attendees of Cedar Fest may not come today or tomorrow, but may be felt in the not too distant future when they embark on their first job search after graduation.“

I know first hand that employers use the Internet to learn about prospective employees including social networking sites and site that feature user-submitted content. I know, because I’ve used them myself for that very purpose. Your online reputation is just as important as your offline reputation, in some cases it is more important. Why do I need to know what your references say about you when I can go online and find out what YOU say about you?

Your degree is only worth as much as the school representing it. And that school is only as good as the students who have come through, and those that are at the school at the time. A degree is not merely a document proclaiming the consummation of the academic program you participated in. It is a living document that changes with age. Don’t believe me? What if your school closed it’s doors tomorrow? No more classes, no more research, no more alumni. Your degree, over time, would become worthless. The circumstances that are related to your school over time affect the perception of your degree, and thus, the perception of you as an individual.

President Simon’s statement also indicates that such social networking sites may be used to by the East Lansing police department to identify students engaging in illegal activity during Cedar Fest and making further arrests. ”A meeting was held…,” Ms. Simon’s post states, “…to begin the process of using technology to identify others who may be arrested subsequently.”

“The reckless behavior of the individuals who set in motion…the unlawful activity that occurred at ‘Cedar Fest’ will have consequences,” Ms. Simon’s statement says, indicating that the individual that used Facebook to organize the event may face charges from the university.

I’ve tried to find as much decent video of Cedar Fest as I could. Below are a few clips I think are worth posting. The first clip appears to be the b-roll of WLNS footage of Cedar Fest.

This second one is probably the best footage that I’ve found. I just wish they didn’t have the musical overlay.

I’m still looking for the URL for the Facebook event for Cedar Fest. If you have the URL, or even just screenshots, please send them along.

At Michigan State, Yet Another Riot…

Eric Pender — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:21:00 +0000

On Saturday night, Michigan State University police arrested 52 people in connection with Cedar Fest, 28 of them students of the university.

Police used a total of 64 nonlethal grenades (smoke, flash-bang and stingball) and 13 rounds of tear gas to contain the crowd of more than 3,000.

The East Lansing Police Department has already formally declared Saturday nights’ event a riot. The story is on the home page of CNN (see article here). Michigan State has suffered yet another black eye, although I’m not certain whether this one should fall on the shoulders of the students or the East Lansing police department.

This will only serve to drive more of a wedge between the city of East Lansing and the students of Michigan State. It will probably draw more support for the East Village redevelopment project being planned for the Cedar Village area. This project is expected to create more expensive housing in the area, possibly outside of students budgets, and thereby displacing them from the area. East Lansing mayor Vic Loomis has said that he will seek monetary compensation for damages from those who where arrested in the event. Stiff words from a man whose city’s economy depends on the university next door.

From various comments I’ve read around the web about Cedar Fest, it seems clear that many current students don’t understand the negative effects an event like this has on a university. This school, the one that you will represent when you go into the work place, and the one that represents you when you put Michigan State University on your resume, now carries the stigma of the “school where the riots happen.” It’s novel when you’re a student, it’s a disgrace when you’re an alumni. And it seems like it only takes one negative event to displace the effects of ten positive ones.

Yet it’s too early for me to place blame on the students and others that attended Cedar Fest. To be sure, the East Lansing police department has a reputation for overreacting to large gatherings in their jurisdiction. We hope that the lessons of 1999, 2003 and 2005 have been learned. Perhaps they have not.

Also interesting is how social networking site Facebook seems to have played a part in this as well. Various articles report that a Cedar Fest group or event was posted on Facebook and that at least 6,000 people indicated that they would attend (see here and here) I’m curious if there will be any fallout from this to the tune of discussion about blocking social networking sites on campus. I doubt such action would be taken. Certainly resurrecting a 1986 party where 85 people were arrested and 33 were injured is no small feat.

Does anyone have any info on the 1986 Cedar Fest? Was it just a bunch of drunken debauchery, or was it a more organized affair? Does anyone have the URL to the Facebook event page for Cedar Fest? Also, if anyone who was there has any first-hand accounts, I’m interested to hear them.

It’s about simplicity, stupid!

Eric Pender — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:34:00 +0000

Alright, he goes my first techno-rant.

I’m tired about hearing how a new site entering into a market needs to bring more features to the marketplace. Features are great, but simplicity is paramount. Case in point: just about everything Apple does. They don’t necessarily add features, they just take existing features and make them really easy to use.

This isn’t to say that they don’t add features, they do. But many times these features are really things that have already existed. Apple just simplifies them and makes them easy to use.

Facebook and MySpace worked the same way. It’s hard to say that Facebook’s surge to prominence was brought about by a delivery of new features. Rather, they found success through a streamlined, clean and polished user interface that was aesthetically appealing and functional. Only after they succeeded on UI did they open up the platform to outside developers.

Am I saying that you shouldn’t go to market with a bunch of new features? No, I’m only saying that another option is to have a few unique features and make them work really really well.

Why does this work? Well, let’s take a look at why having a ton of complex features doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because complexity doesn’t make sense to the masses. ACID music production software is great for professionals. But Garage Band is successful because it brings music production to the masses. Same thing happened with the iPod. The iPod was successful because it very simply integrated what the other players in the market never could. Apple integrated the device to the computer, the computer to the music marketplace, and thus the device to the marketplace. The interface wasn’t difficult, you just plugged it in and it worked. That’s what companies should be trying for.

Make it simple, make it accessible to the masses. Then, after you’ve established simplicity, you can introduce complexity.