It has been a very busy few days in the online world. The news about ASK's metamorphosis is probably the largest story of the week. Here are some other stories that have been making news this week.
- Google Analytics Releases Benchmarking - Google Analytics continues to improve their service offering as they recently announced a beta version of industry benchmarking and a data-sharing settings page. Industry benchmarking is a commonly requested new service that enables customers to see how their site data compares to sites in any available industry vertical.
- Following the release of industry benchmarking, Google Analytics also announced the integration of audio ad tracking. We have been hearing about this for a number of weeks now and Google has delivered.
- Omniture announced a strategic alliance with Baidu - According to the official press release:
"This strategic partnership with Omniture will enable Baidu.com advertisers to increase the performance of their online campaigns,” said Haoyu Shen, Baidu.com's vice president of business operations. “By integrating our search metrics with Omniture, we believe online marketers will not only be able to measure campaigns but also improve conversion by making the end-to-end search experience more relevant. Companies tapping the Chinese market should now be able to reach Baidu.com customers more easily.” - Omniture Announced the release of Test&Target to help optimize conversions - at the annual Omniture Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, Omniture announced that the technologies of TouchClarity and Offermatica have been combined into a single solution and will be marketed as Omniture Test&Target™. Marketers have been looking for a toolkit of testing and targeting solutions. Test&Target will include A/B testing, multivariate testing (MVT), segment-based targeting and one-to-one behavioral targeting to optimize conversion for each customer interaction. Cool stuff.
- DIGG for sale? - According to TechCrunch, both Google and Microsoft are preparing bids to acquire user generated news site DIGG.
- AOL launched Open Aim 2.0 - According to Adotas, Open Aim 2.0 is "a product that allows developers to access the AIM instant messaging network faster and integrate AIM into their sites and applications in customizable ways." The goal for this product is to help facilitate online conversations and to provide developers with the tools and flexibility they need to build innovative and meaningful applications around instant messaging.
- Yahoo Announced another indexing update
- Facebook Hired Top Google Exec as COO - Sheryl Sandberg was named Facebook's new Chief Operating Officer. According to Forbes:
With Sandberg's hiring, effective March 24, Facebook fills a void created last summer when it reassigned its previous chief operating officer, Owen Van Natta, to chief revenue officer. Van Natta left Facebook last month.
I'm still reeling over the news about ASK. The next 7-10 days should be interesting for them as reports persist that Barry Diller may be out as CEO of IAC.Labels: news stories of the week |
