Pay Per Click Advertising and SEO » Twitter

Twitter benefits from traffic boost thanks to Google deal

Matt Thomas — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:00:36 +0000

2010 seems as though it’s to be a year of collaboration and co-operation amongst the big players on the web. After seeing positive deals between Microsoft and Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft and Yahoo and Nectar the first evidence of positive results has arisen from the Twitter/Google deal.

Social networking site Twitter has seen its web traffic increase by 9% since their agreement with Google was implemented at the end of 2009. This deal allowed Google to index tweets into their main search engine allowing separate user ‘tweets’ to come up in a regular Google search.

This increase was measured between December 2009 and January 2010 by ComScore, one of the leading players in web traffic analysis, who found that the number of unique visitors to Twitters site had seen a fairly significant increase over that short period.

Google began integrating Tweets into its main search engine results on December 7th 2009 in the view of making them more ‘real-time’. This has evidently been a fruitful endeavour for Twitter as their number of unique visitors has hit an all time high of 21.79 million in January this trumps their previous best of 21.25 million in July of 2009.

The exact terms of the deal, as per usual, were not disclosed but it is thought that Google must have had to pay a fairly substantial amount to Twitter for allowing the index of its tweets.

In keeping with the theme of collaboration Myspace and Facebook updates are set to be indexed into Google in the very near future as deals were struck by each of the respective companies in late 2009.

As each of these internet fat cats vie to be the biggest and the best these co-operations can only be positive for us as internet users as they are sure to improve our web experience, it will be interesting to see who pairs up next.

Google take on Twitter

andy.russell — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:00:33 +0000

Google have announced that they are going to use their Gmail service to take on Twitter by adding a ‘status update’ capability to it. Much like the popular social networking site Twitter, Google is attempting to provide the ever increasing users of their e-mailing service with the ability to give up to the minute updates on whatever it is they are doing in their lives at the precise moment.

The service will be known as Google Buzz and it has already been added to the Gmail service. As well as being able to share status updates users will be able to share web links, videos and photos with their friends, which sounds very much like an amalgamation of both Facebook and Twitter services.

During the course of this week, Gmail users will be able to see a tab labelled “Buzz” appearing under their inbox. Any contacts already stored will be added to an “auto follow” list meaning that without even a click of the mouse users will already be ‘following’ their contacts.

Google Buzz product manager Todd Jackson has described the service as “like an entirely new world inside of Gmail.” The service has indeed appeared to have made the experience of checking an email slightly more entertaining, but for people already on Twitter or people that wish to stay well clear of any such service it may be somewhat of a hindrance.

The question will surely be asked, what does Google Buzz offer that Twitter doesn’t? Well Todd Jackson explained that they had listened to the complaints made by users of other similar sites and acted accordingly whilst creating Buzz.

You are able to post items publicly or choose whether you want the entire world to see them, it is also apparently much easier to share privately and to post to custom groups.

It would seem that Google are not happy having the most popular search engine on the internet or the most popular map/globe viewing program they are evidently intent on taking on the social networking giants and it will be interesting to see how they fair.

Buzz will also be available on Google’s android phones and iPhones.

Twitter Commercial Accounts

James Oliver — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:17:20 +0000

In an interview with the BBC, Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone has expanded on his plans to offer Twitter commercial accounts. The commercial accounts will apparently offer an ‘additional layer of access’ which allows you to learn a little more about your Twitter account, as well as some kind of analytics package to help you leverage the social network in the best possible way to maximise the effectiveness of your social networking activities.

Stone was at pains to point out that Twitter has no plans to move to an overall payment mode, “Twitter will always be free to everyone whether it’s commercial or personal.” The changes will simply be about giving heavy users the opportunity and information to become the best twitterers they can be.

Business accounts are, of course, just one side of the Twitter monetisation strategy. The other, and probably much more lucrative, side being the tie in deals they recently signed with Google and Bing.

Opera to be Composed on Twitter

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:00:19 +0000

Ever since micro blogging site, Twitter, really took off this year it seems that practically all brands, businesses and celebrities have been trying their best to outdo one another when it comes to finding new ways to exploit the vast numbers the site attracts. However, I don’t think that anyone really expected an age old institution like the Royal opera House to come up with probably the most innovative use of the site yet.

The London opera venue, one of the most famous in the world, has invited the public to submit tweets that will make up the lyrics of a new libretto, excerpts of which are to be performed next month. The music is being written by the composer Helen Porter.

So far, only the first scene of the experimental work has been completed, it features a man named William who has somehow been kidnapped by birds. New contributions to the project are still welcome.

Alison Duthie, head of ROH2, had this to say, “It’s the people’s opera and the perfect way for everyone to become involved with the inventiveness of opera as the ultimate form of storytelling.”

Political Twitter Manipulation

Matt Thomas — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:36:34 +0000

The debate surrounding the political ramifications of Twitter intensified last week when allegations that Russian hackers had launched a coordinated denial of service attack on Twitter and other social networking sites in order to silence a pro Georgian blogger came to light.

Twitter, already a political hot potato after site directors delayed site maintenance in order not to impede the work of reformist Iranian bloggers (some say at the urging of the US government), was the only site to actually succumb to the attack, with Facebook, et al. proving more resilient.

The attack, that security experts claim originated in Russia, was implemented via a massive botnet, or network of compromised computers, constantly sending requests to sites in order to impede legitimate traffic to the site.

At present there is no evidence, or even suggestion that the attack was in any way state-funded or organised, nor is there likely to be, as attacks like this are actually fairly basic and could easily have been the work of one individual with only a moderate level of skill. The attack has, however, raised questions about how this kind of political hacking may be deployed in the future to control the flow of information about a scandal, hamper the organisers of protests, or impede discourse in tight election races.

London – Twitter Capital of the World

Matt Thomas — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:57:59 +0000

Evan Williams, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, has pronounced London the Twitter capital of the world in an interview with BBC1’s Newsnight. The Microblogging site has become an international cause célèbre recently, though Williams claims that the site has been particularly popular in the UK with London emerging as the epicentre of this ‘Explosion’ in use of the site.

Williams also took the opportunity to hit out at the recent criticisms levelled at the site, responding to interviewer, Kirsty Wark’s suggestion that perhaps twitter created a false sense of community he stated,

‘It’s not false, it allows people to communicate and is no less false than using the phone.’

Clearly in the mood to fight his corner, Williams also responded to the comments of Archbishop Vincent Nichols of the Roman Catholic Church. Nichols had contended that twitter had a ‘dehumanising’ effect and hampered people’s social lives. Williams memorably branded these comments ‘Silly,’ going on to state that,

‘Anyone who says that isn’t really familiar with the service because it’s about humans connecting with each other. And often in ways that other ways couldn’t have. It’s the opposite of de-humanising.’

Oprah kicks Twitter to the Next Level

Matt Thomas — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:21:23 +0000

Due to her fairly low profile on this side of the Atlantic British people often don’t quite realise the huge impact that talk show host, publisher and entrepreneur, Oprah Winfrey has in the USA. To put it in perspective for Brits, she fronts the highest-rated talk show in American TV history and has done for almost 25 years, she can basically decide the top ten bestsellers list through her show’s literary segment and for a long time, she was the world’s only black billionaire.

She is, to put it mildly, very popular in the US.

When this lady does something publicly, people tend to take notice. This is why, depending on who you believe, Twitter now has between 500,000 and 1.2 million new users after a high profile (everything tshe does is high profile) endorsement from the undisputed queen of chat.

The deluge of soccer moms creating twitter accounts has left some old school Twitter fans cold however, apparently they feel that the cool factor has been disturbed, they’re also worried that the, admittedly frail, system won’t be able to cope. The latter fear so far appears to be un founded, it looks like the Twitter faithful are simply going have to learn to share.

Top Click Media, live on Twitter

Matt Thomas — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:12:01 +0000

Exciting news guys! Last week we finally launched our company Twitter page. From now on, me and the rest of the TCM blog team will be using the micro blogging site to keep the public updated with our first thoughts on all the breaking stories of the day before we expand on those thoughts in our official blog.

We’re certainly having a lot of fun playing with it and, from first indications, it would seem as if a decent number of the twit-o-sphere are enjoying reading it. By close of play on our first day we had more than two hundred followers, by the end of the week we had more than three hundred as people within the SEO & PPC industries followed us to find out more.

Anyway, if you fancy being the first to hear the latest news on the world of PPC and SEO as well as all the company news, then please feel free to follow us. We’d be happy to have you.

Twitter Population explodes

Matt Thomas — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:48:57 +0000

It won’t come a surprise to anyone to learn that Twitter usage is rising fast, though the sheer rate of the expansion of the site’s membership is still absolutely astounding. The micro blogging site’s membership rose to 9.3 million which represents a 131% rise on February, itself a growth month.

The growth of the social network in the early part of 2009 has been attributed to a huge growth in the public profile of the site, growth triggered, at least in part, by a huge number of celebrity endorsements. Celebrities running the full gamut from Steven Fry to MC Hammer have created profiles and what’s more maintained them religiously, documenting their every move or thought for their fans.

It seems that, as usual, celebrity culture has filtered down all the way to public’s level – as a Twitter account becomes the latest celebrity accessory, so too does it become a must have for all of us regular folks.

The scary thing about Twitter is that it still has a long way to go – it has nowhere near the adoption of Facebook or MySpace and many people still don’t even know what it is. As these people’s curiosity is piqued over the coming weeks and months it’s safe to assume we can expect more growth, perhaps even quicker than the current rate.

So why would Google want Twitter? (Part 2)

Matt Thomas — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:23:53 +0000

Of course, the charge against Twitter as a search engine is that it’s mainly short emotional responses to things, though that could also be a strength. If you want to find out hard facts then Google exists though if you want to get a general sense of how something is going down in society then Twitter is a godsend. It would take you hours of reading traditional blogs before you got half the range of opinions you would from five minutes of Twitter searching.

The next question is, who would want to search like this? Well, one example is brands, just think about the number of times that companies annoy you on a daily basis. If you’re a regular tweeter then the chances that you’ll blog about your displeasure, if you and several other people are doing the same thing then a pretty clear picture of that company’s public profile emerges. If you’re a market researcher or a PR consultant, Twitter you a click away from the best focus group ever. On a consumer level this system works for questions like, ‘Is the new Bond film any good?’ ‘What’s the new U2 album like?’

But what about the money, how will Google squeeze a profit out of their investment. Well, search engine marketing’s worked well so far. More of the same I guess.

So why would Google want Twitter?

Matt Thomas — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:23:23 +0000

These days we’re used to Google trying things that don’t quite have an obvious profit model. Stuff like Google Earth, their space exploration competition, the whole non-profit wing, to name but a few. Since rumours that Google were thinking about buying Twitter surfaced the blogs have been awash with comments of the ‘here they go again’ variety, denouncing the move as a vanity purchase, or an impulse buy.

This, to say the least, is not something we agree with. To us, Google buying Twitter makes perfect sense. It’s a very logical step for the number one search engine as that is basically what Twitter has become, a search engine.

Think about it. The vast usership of Twitter and the 140 character limit means that updates are frequent and usually relevant to what’s going on. If you want to find out about something that is happening right now, this minute, or even about to happen, you’re often better off with Twitter than you are with a traditional search engine or news site.

Google to acquire Twitter?

James Oliver — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:20:26 +0000

Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time. TechCrunch has it from two separate sources that they’re describing as ‘close to the negotiations,’ that Google are about to buy micro-blogging site Twitter. According to the normally reliable technology blog, the search engine giant in the latter stages of a deal that would see them take possession of one of the hottest properties on the Internet.

Unsurprisingly, the blog has no information about the amount of money that would change hands in any deal though it is thought that the price would be far in excess of their recent $250 million dollar valuation, with some analysts predicting figures as high as 1.5 billion or more.

Late last year Twitter turned down a buyout offer of half a billion from Facebook, though that offer was largely made up of Facebook stock which many believed to be valued unrealistically highly. Any Google offer would be much more concrete, probably made up of cash, combined with publicly valued shares in Google – a much more stable proposition.

If the rumours are true it’s a canny move by Twitter. Their public profile is probably never going to be as high again. If there was ever a time to quit while you’re ahead…

The Twitter Suggested Follow List

Matt Thomas — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:41:17 +0000

Even if not quite an overnight sensation, Twitter has certainly skyrocketed in popularity over the last few months. Inevitably, a site with this many new members suddenly signing on is going to attract the attention of people looking to publicise themselves and/or their companies. This is not something that Twitter is discouraging; in fact, they’re even adjusting the site to accommodate this type of user.

The biggest accommodation to the promotional twitter users is the Suggested Follow list. This is the list of 100 Twitter members that the site thinks are going to be relevant and useful to a significant number of its members. Right now the list includes such luminaries as Former Vice President Al Gore, Actress Felicia Day and the LA Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neil and Britney Spears, though it changes often.

Needless to say, being on this list greatly increases the publicity surrounding you and whatever you’re doing which is why it’s so useful to these users. However, it is a lot of power for one site to wield. The temptation to charge money must be huge. As Twitter develops you may see people demanding full transparency about the process and perhaps even accusing twitter of a ‘quid pro quo’ arrangement with at least some of the top 100.

Facebook Protestors get Organised

James Oliver — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:51:19 +0000

For a group of people who are supposed to be right at the vanguard of modernity, Facebook users aren’t half stuck in their ways. Every time the webmasters change so much as a hair on their beloved Facebook’s head they go into hysterics, suddenly ‘I hate Facebook’ groups are set up left, right and centre, by people apparently unaware of the irony of setting up Facebook groups to denounce Facebook and there’s a bit of a furore for a few weeks or so. Then, they promptly get over it.

A couple of weeks ago Facebook implemented a range of changes which included a Twitter style, real-time news feed. It’s this in particular that’s angered the Facebook faithful, it’s early days yet but it seems like this is the biggest backlash a Facebook change has ever encouraged.

So what does this all mean for Facebook?.. Well, nothing really. Sorry Facebook protestors, but unless a bunch of you are really angry enough to switch social networking sites then Mark Zuckerberg isn’t going to worry too much. Considering the level to which people now depend on Facebook to organise their lives, I’d say this is pretty unlikely.