Internet Users Spend Majority Of Time With Content Sites

By Mike Sachoff - Thu, 09/17/2009 - 09:47 for WebPro News

Despite social media

Content sites continue to grab the attention of the majority of Internet users, up from 34 percent of total time spent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2009, a 24 percent increase, according to a new report by the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The OPA has released a six-year analysis of its Internet Activity Index (IAI), a monthly gauge of time spent with commerce, communications, community, content and search. The analysis found Internet users are spending significant time with community sites (social media), it's coming at the expense of their time spent with communication sites whose main functions are email and instant messaging.

"In the six years that the IAI has reported on how consumers are spending their time online, we have seen some significant shifts, most notably the emergence of Community," said Pam Horan, president of theOPA.

"While Community has grown, data from the IAI proves that Content is still king; these sites continue to be a place where consumers spend the majority of their online time and provide an environment for brand marketers to reach and engage with consumers."

The percentage of time spent online with websites providing news, information and entertainment (content sites), has grown even in the wake of community sites like Facebook. Communication sites offering email and IM have decreased in the share of online time spent due to the ability to conduct these activities elsewhere.

"In 2008, we introduced the Community category based on the emergence and popularity of sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn," continued Horan.

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Google Releases Instant Messaging API

By Chris Crum - Fri, 09/04/2009 - 12:04

Apps Can Exchange Messages with Google Talk/Wave

Google has announced the release of a new API for building Talk bots on top of Google App Engine, Google's product that lets developers create and host web apps on the Google infrastructure. 

Google has released version 1.2.5 of the App Engine software developer kit (SDK) for Python and Java. This happens to be the company's first simultaneous release for both. The API includes XMPP (also referred to as Jabber) support, which is an open standard for instant messaging. This comes in the form of the XMPP API for both SDKs. 

"Like the other APIs that App Engine provides for developers, XMPP is built on the same powerful infrastructure that serves other Google products," says Google on the App Engine Blog. "In this case, we take advantage of the servers that run Google Talk. This new API allows your app to exchange messages with users on any XMPP-based network, including (but not limited to!) Google Talk."

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Tips for found in real time searches

Thursday, September 03, 2009 - For WebPro News

You've Got to Stay in the Now 

Real-time search is still an emerging concept. At this point, using a real-time search engine will bring you results by time/date. This doesn't always cater to relevancy, which is why there is still a lot of work to be done in this field.

So, if real-time results are based upon time/date, and the user's query, it stands to reason that time and those queries are the most important components in getting your content found in these types of searches. 

1. Use Keywords 

This seems obvious, but use keywords in not only your content, but in your titles, and your updates. If you're writing an article, you have to consider what people are going to include in their updates if they share it on a social network, whether this be Facebook, Twitter, or anything else. 

More often than not, they are going to include the title. If the right keywords are in the title, then those keywords are also more likely to appear in any ensuing tweets, Facebook updates, etc. If someone searches for those keywords, they will be more likely to find your content in a real-time search. 

The same goes for your own Tweets/status updates. Even if you are not sharing an article, if you want your update to be found, use relevant keywords. Again, obvious, but true. 

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eBay Sells Skype, Which is Worth $2.75 Billion

By Chris Crum - Tue, 09/01/2009 - 10:06 from WebPro News

Will Retain Approximately 35% Stake

Update: The announcement has been made. Some details from the press release:

eBay signed a definitive agreement to sell its Skype in a deal valuing the business at $2.75 billion. The buyer, who will control an approximately 65 percent stake, is an investor group led by Silver Lake and includes Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. eBay is expected to receive approximately $1.9 billion in cash upon the completion of the sale and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million. The company will retain an approximately 35 percent equity investment in Skype. The transaction, which is not subject to a financing condition, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009. 

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Google Launches New Features for Sites

By Chris Crum - Wed, 09/02/2009 - 14:47 for WebPro News

Gives Site Owners More Control

Google has introduced some new features to Google Sites, the company's web site creation and publishing app. The new features were made to make it easier for users to copy their site, and use more options to search and announce updates.

Google Sites now allows users to copy entire sites. You can do this by simply going to "Manage Site," then "General," and "Copy Site."

The "recent announcement" gadget received an upgrade, which gives users control over how much text is shown in the post summary. You can show full post content, and/or a thumbnail of the first photo in the post.

Users also now have more control over the search box. If you go to "Manage Site," "Site Layout," and "Configure Search," you can configure search across multiple site, so you can unify them.

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