Bing May Be Good, But Not Good Enough…Not Yet

I recently used the blind search test whereby you search for a term and the site spits out results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo without telling you which search engine provided each set of results. It then asks you which one provides the better results. Surprisingly, for most of my searches I chose Bing. So I decided to switch my default browser in Firefox from Google to Bing and see if I like it better. Bing didn’t last long.

The next day I saw a job posting that seemed interesting and I wanted to learn more about the position. Unfortunately the listing was posted by a recruiter and I always avoid going through recruiters (it’s much better to speak to the company directly). So I do what I typically do. I copy two sentences from the posting and put it in quotes to find the exact job posting elsewhere, hopefully with the name of the real company.

Bing – 0 results

Google – 2 results

Google had picked up the job postings on two other job boards, one of which had the company’s real name and not that of the recruiter. It seems to me that Bing is a pretty good search engine but Google indexes more sites more often (this is just a guess based on my experience). I switched back to Google for now. I’ll check back in a couple months and do some more tests.

Man, that was a boring post. Sorry about that.

If Twitter Won’t Monetize Tweets, Someone Else Will

Many users have developed  a significant following on Twitter. We should expect many of them to want to cash in on their new <cough> “popularity”. Company sponsored tweets were inevitable. The debate over sponsored tweets is gaining some steam. Some arguments are just ridiculous and here is why.

I’m amazed by how many people think Twitter will save the world. I was recently watching a stream from Jeff Pulver’s 140 Character Conference where one of the presenters criticized the potential of the Twitter community. Not only did the crowd boo, but someone from behind the camera actually said, “He’s crazy. We’re going to cure cancer!” This is what many Twitterers believe. They actually think they’re changing the world by retweeting funny links or getting an @ mention from Rainn Wilson.

Let’s be clear about this. Twitter has become an incredible source of public conversation. It has many uses, especially for marketers, and should be seen as such. The collective information that is gained from Twitter is where the value is for the world. The individual pieces of that collective is usually mindless drivel. It’s sort of like a Monet. Zoom in and you can see random little strokes of color. Move far enough back and take all the strokes together and you get a masterpiece.

Regarding sponsored tweets, many feel that sponsored tweets sullies the Twittering world. Some feel that sponsored tweets should be required to disclose that the following tweet was paid for by <insert company here>. These people want to regulate social media conversation similar to the way print publications all put the word ADVERTISEMENT on top of a sponsored article. The argument for this is that now readers will be able to decipher quality content from advertisement.

Where do I even begin with this ridiculous argument. What some are talking about regulating is freedom of speech. Tweets are not made by a company or part of any profitable exchange of information. Tweets are words you scream out your digital window. That’s it. The idea that any requirement or regulation can be put on them is preposterous.

Furthermore, this debate goes to the heart of the ridiculousness surrounding Twitter. Popular TV and radio personalities make lots of money and are very influential. Popular Twitter personalities, if that’s all they have under their belt for being noteworthy, are not at all influential and are probably not making a dime off their social media addiction.

Companies such as Izea, TweetROI, adcause, and Twittad are trying to take advantage of this opportunity gap in Twitter marketing. I commend them. Forget about what the Twitter-crazy social media addicts are saying about sponsored tweets ruining Twitter. Twitter will be ruined if we don’t allow these companies free reign. If Twitter REALLY wants to keep tweets ad-free than it will allow ads to show up on Twitter pages and pay people for the traffic they give the site. Otherwise, don’t complain.