Google changed everything. Suddenly, everything became about search. You could find anything with Google.But this is changing. It is no longer about search. That takes time. Time to decide what you're looking for. Time to find the right key words. Time to filter the results.Instead, it's now about discovery. Where the content finds you.Where is this most prevalent? Your Facebook News Feed and your Twitter stream. And with the recent implementation of Facebook's Open Graph, content will come better recommended to us, with more relevance, drastically reducing the need for us to search.Eventually, everyone will have their own personalised Digg where the content is almost perfectly relevant, recommended from the people you want on the topics you want....

One of the things you pick up doing a business degree is how fucking awesome Google are. Used in nearly every human resource example possible, Google are constantly highlighted as the number one employer of choice. Pretty much of all time. So when you're told someone will be in touch from Google and you don't hear back after three weeks, even with a follow up email, it's a little disappointing. Especially when it comes from a brand you love. It's not enough to make me jump to Bing by any means, but a taint in a brand you love hurts the most. And on a complete side note, the fact I applied for a gig in their Sydney office, told my best mate about it, he applied, he's pretty much interviewed immediately, my application seems to get lost in bureaucracy, he soon after lands the gig and moves to Sydney next weekend has absolutely nothing to do with the bitterness of this post. ;]...

Sometimes it's the small things that make a real difference. And I'm not even talking about the remarkable stuff. That small something could be enough to motivate you, or de motivate you if it doesn't exist (see Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory). Can you imagine Google if you had to click on the text box every time you went to the homepage? Or the frustration someone has when they're shopping online, the page times out and they have to start again? Or even getting my morning coffee and not seeing a smile from the girl behind the counter? If you're not going to be remarkable, at least get the small stuff right. What small thing makes a difference to you? Good or bad, online or offline....

I love when brands show a fun side. Google does it a lot. Not only does it humanise them, but I think it shows the people who work for them are passionate. Here's one I recently discovered...

Currently a search on Google for pigs don't fly brings up my page as eighth. For pigs dont fly (without the apostrophe) I'm third.I know there are many lists and posts around for ways to maximise your SEO, but I was hoping my readers could give me one piece of practical advice each. How do I work towards a ranking of first?...

If one of today's marketers doesn't pull off a decent social media campaign soon they are going to kill, or at least hurt, this highly potential channel. This leaves tomorrow's marketers in a very bad place. Case in point is Fantastic Noodles Pimp My Kettle. I made a conscious decision last year to ensure my blog refrained from slamming campaigns as much as possible. But this is worth an exception. The official page comes up fourth on a Google search. Furthermore, the page is a Ning. Oh dear. Interestingly, of their 276 "members" the majority of them are from Adelaide. As Julian Cole pointed out to me, Clemenger BBDO, the agency behind this atrocity, is from Adelaide too. I hope these guys can sleep with themselves at night. Not only are there ethical issues here but you're really fucking up my career....

In an attempt to gain market share by Ninemsn over the almighty Google in the search engine market, the Secret Search campaign has been implemented. Every time you make a search you have a chance to win a prize. They range from juggling balls to cash to notebooks. It will work. Over the next three weeks I think they will see substantial increases in their section of the pie chart. But then the campaign will end and everyone one (myself included) will change their homepage back to Google....

Whilst Julian Cole, Simon Oboler and myself sat around discussing the recent increase in student bloggers, the conversation moved to website statistics. We jumped on each others Google Analytics and discovered something interesting. Jules' most popular post is Great Insight and Hot Women: JB's Underwear Girls. My top four most popular posts...

I find tools like Google Trends and the recently launched Facebook Lexicon interesting. They're cool for a about twenty seconds while you run some quick searches but I have to wonder how useful they are? Sure, it tells you how much buzz is being generated around your keyword search but you can't tell if it's good or bad. There's no context what so ever around the results therefore making these tools rather useless. Unless someone can think of a practical application for them?...