Watch any news or talk show yesterday not dedicated exclusively to finance and you'd think the US economy was going gangbusters. All anyone could talk about was the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a new high. I noticed one graphic on CNN boasting that $10,000 invested in March 2009 would be worth $22,000 today. It certainly made for an engaging soundbite. Like investors, marketers are continually faced with soundbite metrics. And like any good investor, a good marketer knows that soundbite metrics rarely tell the whole story.
The Future of Hollywood Marketing: A Random 19 Year Old's Tweets
While folding laundry tonight in front of the TV* I caught an ad out of the corner of my eye. It was for an upcoming movie called Broken City. The film didn't seem like anything special. What got my attention was the big Twitter logo that kept popping up. I rewound the DVR to take a closer look, then fired up my computer to check out who this @ryleeann12 is - film critic, Hollywood insiders, paid studio shill, something like that, right? Turns out she's a random 19 year old girl. And apparently we're supposed to care about her opinion.
Do Something, Help People, Feel Better
In the days following Sept 11, 2001, I was a basket case. I couldn't even have a conversation with my family without blowing up at them for no reason. A few days later they opened up a donation center near my apartment in Jersey City. My wife suggested that I go to the Home Depot and pick up some supplies to donate. She must have sensed something in me, because as soon as I got in the car I felt better. I felt better with each block I drove. I felt better with each shovel, pick ax, face mask, and pair for work gloves I put in my cart. I felt better when I was checking out. I felt better when other people started giving me things they bought so I could bring it to the donation center. And sweet damn! did I feel better when I dropped it off and, amid mountains of bottled water and energy bars, I heard a worker say "this is priority stuff, bring it right to the boat."
Weekly Psyched - Sept 28, 2012
Sometimes life gets in the way. I would have preferred to be sharing awesome things with you last week instead of dealing missed deadlines, trying to get my refrigerator warranty honored, or a dozen other things. But no, that wasn't possible because sometimes life gets in the way. But Weekly Psyched is back this week by popular demand. I hope the wait was worth it, and be sure to share the things that are exciting you these past two weeks too.
According to Google, Tim Tebow is the Face of the Jets
Ask any New York Jets fan who is the face of the franchise and you'll probably hear names like the legendary Joe Namath, current quarterback Mark Sanchez, controversial coach Rex Ryan, or longtime owner Leon Hess. But if you ask Google's Knowledge Graph, the face of the 52 year old franchise is first year backup quarterback Tim Tebow.
A Google search for the phrase [New York Jets] returns the expected organic search results highlighting recent scores, news articles, and the official team website. Off on the right are the Knowledge Graph results and, as you can see in the magnified area of the image, the often maligned (bordering on hated) second-stringer is the first player listed. All other players, including the starting quarterback, Super Bowl MVP, and all-world cornerback, fall below the man who has taken about 20 snaps through the season's first three weeks.
This is significantly different from Knowledge Graph results of other NFL teams. In almost all situations, the first player listed is the starting quarterback. When its not QB1, it's typically another superstar such as Ray Lewis and Arian Foster. So why Tebow and not the other 52 more logical Jets? To answer that we need to understand what is the Knowledge Graph.
Knowledge Graph is, according to Google, the first view into search of the future. In the past search has mainly been about matching search queries to keywords found on webpages. Google and other search engines have long been looking for ways to better understand what you might mean (when you search for [bass], are you interested in the fish, the guitar, or the clothing company?) and return the relevant structured data with the search results. In the blog post introducting Knowledge Graph, Google describes it as:
The AdWords Keyword Analysis Tool gives us insight into what people are thinking when they think of the Jets right now. [Tim Tebow] is receiving over six times as many searches as four other notable Jets. That's a loud, blaring, undeniable signal to Google that Tim Tebow has an incredible relationship to the Jets.
That begs the question, is Knowledge Graph correct? As a longtime, long suffering Jets fan, I want to say no. When I think of the Jets, I think of Hall of Famer Curtis Martin, the New York Sack Exchange, and other highlights. I definitely don't think of Tim Tebow. BUT - taking my emotion out of it, I understand why the results are ranked this way. The majority of searchers are not Jets fans. They're people who want to read about the cluster@&$% that is the Tebow-Sanchez experiment. And Google's priority is getting people to the information they want quickly and accurately. So kudos to Google for finding yet another way to get us that information and proving, yet again, why they are the only search engine that really matters.
A Google search for the phrase [New York Jets] returns the expected organic search results highlighting recent scores, news articles, and the official team website. Off on the right are the Knowledge Graph results and, as you can see in the magnified area of the image, the often maligned (bordering on hated) second-stringer is the first player listed. All other players, including the starting quarterback, Super Bowl MVP, and all-world cornerback, fall below the man who has taken about 20 snaps through the season's first three weeks.
This is significantly different from Knowledge Graph results of other NFL teams. In almost all situations, the first player listed is the starting quarterback. When its not QB1, it's typically another superstar such as Ray Lewis and Arian Foster. So why Tebow and not the other 52 more logical Jets? To answer that we need to understand what is the Knowledge Graph.
Knowledge Graph is, according to Google, the first view into search of the future. In the past search has mainly been about matching search queries to keywords found on webpages. Google and other search engines have long been looking for ways to better understand what you might mean (when you search for [bass], are you interested in the fish, the guitar, or the clothing company?) and return the relevant structured data with the search results. In the blog post introducting Knowledge Graph, Google describes it as:
an intelligent model—in geek-speak, a “graph”—that understands real-world entities and their relationships to one another: things, not strings.Think about that for a second: "their relationships to one another." Google isn't saying that these are the most historically accurate results or anything like that. They're just saying that, for this moment in time, Datapoint A has a relationship to Datapoint B.
The AdWords Keyword Analysis Tool gives us insight into what people are thinking when they think of the Jets right now. [Tim Tebow] is receiving over six times as many searches as four other notable Jets. That's a loud, blaring, undeniable signal to Google that Tim Tebow has an incredible relationship to the Jets.
That begs the question, is Knowledge Graph correct? As a longtime, long suffering Jets fan, I want to say no. When I think of the Jets, I think of Hall of Famer Curtis Martin, the New York Sack Exchange, and other highlights. I definitely don't think of Tim Tebow. BUT - taking my emotion out of it, I understand why the results are ranked this way. The majority of searchers are not Jets fans. They're people who want to read about the cluster@&$% that is the Tebow-Sanchez experiment. And Google's priority is getting people to the information they want quickly and accurately. So kudos to Google for finding yet another way to get us that information and proving, yet again, why they are the only search engine that really matters.
Weekly Psyched - Sept 14, 2012
This week's Weekly Psyched is an eclectic mix of change, discovery, and conformity.
New Beginnings
Yesterday a colleague of thirteen years moves on to a new position at a new company. Throughout my career, she's been a constant source of guidance and friendship. I'm psyched for her, and also for the promise of new beginnings that it gives to all of us.
New Beginnings
Yesterday a colleague of thirteen years moves on to a new position at a new company. Throughout my career, she's been a constant source of guidance and friendship. I'm psyched for her, and also for the promise of new beginnings that it gives to all of us.
Weekly Psyched - Sept 7, 2012
This week I'm psyched about potential - the things that are not quite there yet, but might become huge in the future. Some of these are closer to realization than others, but they are all great ideas with great people behind them. How about you? What future greatness (or current awesomeness) are you psyched about this week?
