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Archive for the 'Web 2.0' Category
The De-Optimization of Search Engines
Search engines have been resilient and successful applications Internet has had. Consumers, businesses and marketers
have been glued to them making them the melting pot of Internet and marketing. But search engines have big problems.
Though they use logical ‘signatures’ of good content like number of incoming links, they cant differentiate good content from ‘cooked up’ material. Take a look at this video. The maker of this video claims that he was able to get some junk rank in the first page for target keywords. There are a ton of ‘search engine optimizers’ who ‘exchange links’ or create links that manipulate search results. If you optimize your website or content for keywords just because you want to attract business, I am not sure if you the search results are being optimized in the process.
That’s not too encouraging for search engines. There’s a good proverb in Telugu. “Pulini choosi nakka vaata pettukunnatlu” It teases a fox that tries to look like a tiger by having scars to copy tiger’s stripes. The difference between a fox and a tiger is DNA. But a search engine can’t differentiate the DNA. It reads a fox and puts it in the search results for “Tiger” because the fox has stripes, those incoming links, the keyword density etc., on its back. That probably explains why the research shows that 50% of search engine queries don’t end successfully.
But that’s good news for entrepreneurs. Discovery of content is still a problem yet to be solved. Digg, StumbleUpon and other websites have come up to solve this problem and there are opportunities out there to solve it.
Podcasts-What do you want to learn today?
It’s the best thing to happen to me. I am not a voracious reader. But I like to learn by listening to others. Podcasts have become a new and predominant source of learning for me. But it is still new for many in India. A podcast is audio posted on the web- of conferences, interviews, academic classes, or tutorials. Most podcasts are informal, not so professionally produced. An occasional barking of a dog or ringing of a cell phone are acceptable. Just like in our day-to-day conversations. Such informality means lower costs because you don’t need professional equipment to produce it and more people can podcast. If you have a computer with a microphone or just a handheld device that can record, you are ready to podcast.
The cost of podcasting classes to a university, which conducts classes anyway, is near zero. But what is the benefit to a student who does not have access to such school? She can sit at home and listen to classes she so desperately wants to attend. It makes a difference between having a life you want and none. This has great implications for countries like India where quality education is scarce. Podcasts help you replicate high quality classes in every corner of the country - often with no cost at all because someone has already produced them elsewhere.
Podcasts can time shift events for you. You can listen to classes or conferences you missed when you want to. If you commute for a couple of hours, you can shift them to your commute time, making it productive. Not just that, you can also ‘geo-shift’ events. If you can’t be in Delhi at a TiE event, you can listen to them when it’s podcasted. But a podcast can’t let you press flesh. You can’t meet new people or meet other friends who attended the event. So can you not join the alumni associations of the university you heard lessons from. But that’s ok. If you can acquire competency, network will follow.
There is every kind of podcast if you have patience to search for it. You can learn Investing, English, Biology, Music, Cooking, Entrepreneurship or whatever you are interested in. Learning is on the net is democratized, again. We are living through great times.
A few good podcasts:
