A Fuller View

Microsoft closed its acquisition of enterprise search company FAST last Friday. This deal was originally announced back in January.

Had to comment with some initial views and thoughts on the recent roll-out of the “second” search box on some Google results. My initial view is that this could be good for user experience but bad for publishers and potentially even advertisers. Here’s the official Google blog post on this new feature. Search Insider has some good points and so does AdViking that are worth reviewing as well.

I know some publishers and will try to work with them and the AdViking team to see if we can get some real data on what (if any) impact this “search within a search” box is having. If I were an enterprise search vendor (such as FAST or Endeca) or a large publisher who had recently spent time/money etc on site search (especially in ecommerce or travel) this might really piss me off. Apparently site can opt out of this functionality.

I would like to get comments and feedback on metrics we should be trying to track and also any anecdotal info related to this functionality.

Below are some screen grabs of the 2dn search box on The Times Online.

There is a great post over on sister site AdViking that give some insight into MSFT’s enterprise search strategy and how FAST fits in, well worth a read - Microsoft and FAST: Bill Gates at the SharePoint Conference.

The first Monday in March - this makes me very happy that it is finally March. This means we have finally turned the corner on winter here in northern Europe and start to really look-forward to spring! And then summer…

Some random links to check out today - Monday, March 3:

• Tim Harford has an interesting piece on why email is a good way to communicate but also helps drive the need for more face time. I would agree with his analysis.
• Over on AdViking you can read a nice recap of Fast Forward and hear how Simon B is getting religious about SEARCH!
• I might have to rethink quiting Twitter and give it another serious go…
• The coming Search Duopoly on GS - worth a quick read.

Btw - I am flying out to Seattle today for work and a visit to the HQ of my current employer. Might be a sparse week for posts… I am also using TripIt for the 1st time, this site totally rocks (thanks Simon B)! More on that later - for sure.
And here is today’s Google logo… Nice one.

I am not anti-Google. I love Google. However, I do think we need a variety of search engines and stronger alternatives to Google. So, thanks to Alt Seatch Engines and The New Media Journal I am reproducing this list of alternatives search engines below. Why not try one out?!

This PR about a display click rates from Starcom and others is very interesting. I will have to try to get a copy of the full study and report. Looks like the über clickers (or should be call them super clickers?) are distorting reality… Not sure this is good news for online advertising. My initial thought is we will likely need and see wider studies on general “conversion attribution” of online advertising - ie, you need a solid mix of ads (including display) as this helps drive conversion on your search both paid and natural, etc… Quoting directly from the PR:

Starcom, Tacoda and comScore’s “Natural Born Clickers” findings suggest “the click is dead” as go-to measurement of effectiveness for brand-building display advertising campaigns

The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.

Well, its only the middle of the work week and there has been a lot of interesting stories and posts already. More stuff than I can keep up with. Here are some of the tidbits I think are interesting…

No, Google Won’t Buy the NYT. But Google.Org Could - I like this mini-post form John Battle’s search blog. I completely agree, lets put and keep the best news organizations in a trust. Living in the UK you sort of take it for granted, but I gotta say the BBC rocks and papers like The Irish Times and The Guardian also very cool and not run to make a profit for share holders.

Search Stocks & The Stock Crash: GOOG, YHOO & MSFT - this post is over on SEL. My opinion is all 3 of the majors are solid. I’ve got to think ad dollar$ continue to go into search during a down turn year, but that probably display gets hurt… This means Google could fair a bit better overall but they still have to finish the DoubleClick deal and they are still way over valued. I would sell GOOG short, hold YHOO or buy if it dips under $17 and buy MSFT all the way its cheap :-). Disclaimer: do NOT trust my stock tips. This is just fun.

The parent company of WordPress - Automattic - secures B round funding - this report from the NYT. Great news. I love WordPress! Related to this is a post by Greg Sterling - Harnessing Blogs for Local - this one has got me thinking about new micro-publishing mash-up business ideas… More on that after a few more beers.

Enteprise search provider Endeca closed funding from SAP and Intel - this over on TC. This interesting in light of the MSFT FAST deal and the Sun MySQL deal. Doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but lets see what happens with Endeca. I keep wondering when will someone do a “redhat” version of open source Lucene?

Internet Trumps Print Directories in Britain - this post again fro Mr Sterling based on a neat report from UK based welovelocal. I Love it, lets recycle all those print directories! Save the trees.

Publishers’ vertical search can rival Google, says AOP forum - not sure I agree, but I have to say job well done to my buddy Simon Baptist who gave one of the presentations. My sources tell me he did a great job. Nice one!

This is a brief wrap-up of various news and stories for the past week. I’ve included a few comments.

• Sun is buying MySQL - interesting news indeed. MySQL is a big piece of the backend of many Web 2.0 applications and is here to stay as a mainstream database. Maybe Google buy Sun one of these days?
• Google acts fast with a MSFT smackdown move in the enterprise search space and there is more commnet on this here at CMS. This relates to the MSFT FAST deal from last week. Google is definitely being a bit cheeky on this sales effort. Apparently they are even offering a free spa day to customers?! See below, I think the person who sent this to me toke some poetic license on the last line…

Offer details To make it easy for you to switch, we’re offering existing enterprise search customers some exciting benefits when they replace their existing solution with a Google Search Appliance by March 31st, 2008. You can choose from one of the following options:

· FREE website search.

· FREE training.

· FREE jumpstart package.

· Spa Day at Googleplex – Alleviate all your worries and come enjoy a paid trip to sunny California, including round trip airfare, hotel, a gourmet lunch from our 5 star chefs, and, of course, one full hour of massage therapy. OK, we’re just kidding about this whole Spa Day at Google, but we know the recent events will only represent more work and stress for you. We’re here to help!

• Semantic Wave 2008 Report - free interesting report available to RWW readers. Worth getting this if you have time.
• More rumor mongering on MSFT YHOO - a good analysis of why this deal is not going to happen is here.
• Xobni launched its beta last week - thanks to my buddy at Razorshine for pointing me to this new app. I’ve got to get it next week when I move back to Outlook for my work emails.
• Newsgator is now apparently free - cool.
• Survey finds people are loosing trust in search results.

Last night I attended the mashup event here in London and the theme was ‘local.’ First off I applaud the organisers of the mashup events for continuing to put together these generally very good events. The mashup events are filling a useful niche in the London online business community. So, please keep organising the mashups… However, last night’s event was very much ‘local search 101′ and I didn’t find it particularly valuable (that’s my view anyway). What I did notice was the significant number of investor types lurking around. I’ve got to think there isn’t much room for any more local Web2.0 start-ups - at least not in the UK. There are too many. There is too much local UGC that’s just not user friendly (more on this in thread in a future post). So a note to Investors: before you invest anything in the local space, contact me first I’ve got some valuable insight to share (I mean sell you).

This post on the FFWD Blog gives a nice view of the future of Fast Search & Transfer under Microsoft ownership. What I found most interesting is from the FFWD blog post was the continued support of Linux based Fast customers (this is good news for customers with significant investment in both Fast & Linux):

The primary focus of the acquisition is toward bolstering SharePoint’s search capability. While the FAST team will be aligned to SharePoint development, the company will exist as a wholly-owned subsidiary. FAST will continue to service its existing markets, including sales to LINIX shops.

Also, apparently MSFT bought 10.1% of the shares in Fast on the open market:

Two of Fast’s largest owners, Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe Ltd., which make up 37% of the outstanding shares, have accepted Microsoft’s bid. Microsoft bought shares of Fast yesterday [=8 Jan 2008] and now holds a 10.1% share of the company. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Executives at the two companies said they couldn’t discuss details of their plans until that time. The deal, which requires a 90% acceptance rate from shareholders, is expected be completed in the second quarter.

You can see my initial comments on the MSFT FAST deal HERE.

btw - Fast’s big industry conference - which is really a great love fest for Fast customers - is definitely worth attending if it makes sense for your business. Details here on the FFWD site. I am sure there will be a lot of MSFT activity at this event.

This is piece by Nitin Karandikar on R/W Web is worth digging into - its pretty search techie but interesting. He also has a blog on search and semantic web that looks good as well.