davidambrose

Caroline McCarthy does a wonderful job detailing the overall trend at tonight’s New York Advertising Meetup at Googleplex East: “Old media’s not dead, it just has to be Google-ized.” Over the course of an hour, Google executives from radio, print, search and agency relations discussed (read: pitched) their online and offline products to the Madison Avenue audience.

Granted the event was hosted on their turf, Google did have a right to pitch their products and talk up why a YouTube campaign may return the greatest ROI of all online initiatives. Sure, there were some blanketing statements like the one I just listed, but I couldn’t help think about spaces outside the dominant Google; of things that Google has yet to touch.

What about mobile? Yes, Google makes great mobile applications like Maps, Search and Reader but what about advertising? “None of us know what the [mobile] monetization models could be,” Derek Kuhl, Head of Agency Relations, admitted. In the US, search is king, expected to hit $1.4 billion in revenue by 2012 although three in ten mobile users recall seeing mobile advertising. Ouch.

Above: A pamphlet with a QR Code in the Google logo. Text reads, “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. – Gore Vidal. ‘I hope it is the same half!’ Print Ads TGIAF at Hemisphere (Google’s NYC cafeteria) 1/31/08″

In the most subtlest of ways, Google introduced a comprehensive (what marketer’s like to call, “integrated”) mobile advertising initiative via a soon-to-be-announced product for Newspaper Print Ads: QR Codes. Already available and widely popular/useful in Japan, QR Codes will work in tandem with Google’s offline advertisements in newspapers. (Wait, I thought print was tanking?) Similar to a bar code on a cereal box, QR Codes are compact enough to store valuable information (think a website address or coupon). For Google, this means taking a text ad that was placed in print, utilize the corresponding QR Code and draw the reader to another destination.

This may seem menial in comparison to Android efforts, but Google’s foray (at least in the US) into mobile advertising via QR Codes changes the dynamic completely. As the sales and engineering teams test the product internally, expect the industry to steadily roll-out awareness programs and updated software for leading smartphones and the iPhone.

P.S. I also asked Kuhl if he or any other panel speakers had any update about Twitter-competitor Jaiku and (I guess) the answer was expected: “I don’t have any updates except that we acquired it.”

Update: Dan Frommer at Silicon Alley Insider points to Google’s Print Ads barcode information website.

Last week, Gartner released a report titled “Three Potential Pitfalls of Corporate Social Networking” highlighting that social networking utilities and functionalities aren’t a mature enough technology to make it a definitive business element. The four page, $195 report warns corporate America that “little evidence [exists] that social networking will be as beneficial for businesses as other Web-based communications technology, such as instant messaging.” Woah. That’s a bold statement there, Gartner! Maybe I’m wrong, but all forms of SNS are taking off and creating new perspectives for businesses.

Like Suw Charman did on Corante, I’m going to have to break this down…this time, from the perspective of someone fresh out of college who used SNS each day and also uses SNS to conduct research today in the corporate world.

When you’re dealing with a multi-national company with hundreds of offices, communication between employees can sometimes get muffled. A corporate intranet provides valuable but basic information about an individual (think age/sex/location in the hey-day of AOL chatrooms). Shared virtual workspaces can only offer so much connectivity between someone in New York City and Sydney. In the end, we all want robust, interactive and intimate (yet private) ways to communicate with someone the world over. This takes us to Gartner’s primary misnomer: value comes from connections and NOT content.

Put it this way: if a tree falls in a forest when no one is around, did the tree really fall? In terms of SNS application, the tree represents content; I’m not going to know it exists unless someone tells me about it. I’m going to know about it because an inevitable connection exists. Suw says it best: “The content is very important, but the connections are what distinguish a social network from a broadcast network. Without those connections, there isn’t a network, there’s just lots of people creating content.”

I can’t stress enough that how you interact offline (think cultivating friendships, exchanging ideas and knowledge sharing) is the means to a near-ideal setting for online interaction via a SNS.

Blogs and online journals, where communication shifted from a one-way paradigm to that of many-to-many, were/continue to be a disrupted force in major media. Wikis have reshaped the age-old mentality of closed information sharing.

I use Facebook because it best represents my offline connections. It just so happens that my friends push excellent content my way, whether that means upcoming parties or insightful personal notes. In the case of Facebook (or any other SNS for that matter), content is the by-product of the connection.

Great news today coming out of eMarketer regarding SNS (Social Networking Services) and ad spend. According to the report, Social Network Marketing: Ad Spending and Usage, “social network ad spending is expected to grow by 81%, to $2.2 billion in 2008 from $1.2 billion this year” and “spending [in the US] is projected to rise to $1.6 million in 2008, from $920 million in 2007.”

A large portion of the spend is coming from deals between the two largest SNS properties: Microsoft/Facebook and Google/MySpace.

I’d be interested to see what details and best practices are mentioned for targeted ad spend on SNS within the report. Neither I or famed SNS researcher, danah boyd, have seen relevant evidence to track eyeballs into actions.

Last night, Google announced a new service called “knol,” part Wikipedia and part Mahalo. According to Udi Manber on The Official Google Blog, a “knol” or “unit of knowledge” was designed to act as retainer of authoritative information from trusted authors. Manber goes on to say:

“The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors — but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content.”

Google’s approach to collaborative knowledge sharing is interesting and somewhat different to Wikipedia. (Remember, Wikipedia writers (largely) remain anonymous and open until proven named.) The idea of a completely open, authoritative and relevant information directory has consequences outside of what was originally intended, especially coming from the “pure” and “do-good” Google. Om Malik believes this is a further, definitive step toward a Google monopoly:

“Whether it will be successful or not, remains to be seen. Now if you think about it, knol despite its fancy name is nothing but a classic move by a quasi-monopolist who wants to ensure that they keep getting the raw material (in this case content on knols) for free, so that they can keep selling it at a premium. I stopped believing in Google’s “do no evil” ethos a long time ago….”

But for what it’s worth, the Google kingdom has been righteous and beneficial to many, especially those of the academy. (Think IT support and generous/intuitive email systems across campuses.) Imagine what will happen within the hierarchy of information at a university with the advancement of knols. Students and professors can continue the conversation from the classroom to the knol and then collaborate with others the world over. The knol architecture (as seen here) will offer a robust learning experience that creates a unique social dynamic.

Wikipedia will still be Wikipedia but the knol will become academia’s new best friend.