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Facebook Take Location Sharing Into The Mainstream

By Andrew Redfern @ 17th September 2010 3:18 pm blinkx

Social networking site Facebook has launched its location-sharing service Facebook Places in the UK. The service allows Facebook users to “check in” at various locations, including bars, shops, leisure centres, restaurants, and other public places. Once checked in, users can view which of their Facebook friends are checked in at the same place, or have checked in there in the past.

Facebook Places also allows users to view which of their friends have checked into places nearby, as well as attractions and points of interest close to where they have checked in. Once a user has checked in, this will be posted on their news feed, as well as on the Recent Activity section of that specific location’s Places page.

Facebook has designed the Places software so that existing location-sharing services, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Yelp, can be fully integrated into the Places app.

Speaking at the UK launch of Facebook Places, product manager Michael Sharon said: “We realised that this is something that people do every single day, telling their friends where they are. The natural thing is to build a product that takes advantage of this and makes it easier, more convenient and more social for them to do what they’re already doing.”

Hit Search Director Andrew Redfern commented “Facebook Places will align millions of mobile users with willing businesses looking to promote themselves. The revenue generating opportunities of the having your userbase interacting with your brand at a local level are fascinating.

I feel that Facebook Places will be a roaring success if it manages to get over the obvious privacy questions that will arise in the coming weeks. What this space its going to be an exciting few weeks.”

Having been released in the US last month, Facebook Places is now being rolled-out to UK users over the weekend, with a European roll-out planned for the coming months.

Facebook Places can be accessed using the Facebook for iPhone app, or by visiting the mobile version of the Facebook website through other smartphones. Facebook plans to roll out apps for different phone models, such as Blackberry and Android, in the near future.

2009 Predictions Reviewed – Video Search Predictions

By Andrew Redfern @ 21st December 2009 11:41 am blinkx

Its that time of year again (were did 2009 go?); for marketing teams to review just how accurate their predictions for 2009 had been. This post will focus on tour predictions for the Video Search market place – which has seen rapid growth throughout 2009.

Hit Search 2009 Video Search Predictions – Blinkx to raise its profile with high profile partnerships; will gain more market share ion the video search market

Prediction Correct – Blinkx went partner crazy in 2009 adding an astonishing 140 partners in a six month spell which brings the total partnership total to over 650. These partnerships have rockets Blinkx to the fore of the video search marketplace and saw its video streams in the UK and US grew by 177%.

As a result its meant that Blinkx moved into the all-important Nielsen’s Top 10 Video Sites along with Video Engine heavy weights of YouTube, Hulu, and Yahoo!

Blinkx in fact recently partnered with WWF to bring users viewers footage from the Copenhagen climate summit and also with large volume players including NBC Digital Media, the Meredith Corporation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

These partnerships along with the Blinkx ad platform (AdHoc) meant that gross profits were up 88% to $8.5m from the first half of 2009. Its unique Ad Platform also was a finalist in the Search Engine Watch Awards; providing all-in a good year for Blinkx.

Google, Yahoo, Bing Take The “Blind” Search Engine Challange

By Andrew Redfern @ 10th August 2009 11:15 am blinkx

Each of us have our favourite, we are by and large mostly Google devotees. But are we right to be? are we loyal to the best search engine or do we stick with them out of loyalty. There has been a general view within the industry is that users are not as discerning as they would like to think. Google has become what “Hoover” became to the vacuum industry and this will only serve to reinforce the idea that to search on the we, means: to “Google”.
So with a scientist cap on, the people at fejus.com. have created: http://blindsearch.fejus.com/ .
Try now and search for something, it doesn’t matter what it is, you will receive the results from Yahoo, Bing ( soon to be the same) and Google ( fanfare please!). All branding is removed and the results are split into three columns.

I voted twice for the result which I favoured, by searching “HitSearch” I was presented with three different search results. At this point it would be nice to tell you the reader, that Google was hammered by Bing and that all the years we have been hoodwinked.

Well not quite..but almost:

Google: 44%, Bing: 33%, Yahoo: 23%. When you compare this against the 80% market share of Google and paltry 5% for Bing, Bing may very well be one to look out for in the future!

Video Search Engine Pushing Car Video Content

By Andrew Redfern @ 26th June 2009 2:06 pm blinkx

Video Search Engine, blinkx today announced new partnerships with Automotive Rhythms, Live Car Shows, CarDataVideo, and Bumper2Bumpertv.

Hundreds of new car and auto-related videos have been made available at www.blinkx.com. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will also place contextually relevant advertising against these videos, and share resulting advertising revenue with the partners.

Casual auto enthusiasts and serious gear heads now have a one-stop shop for the latest car videos. From Automotive Rhythm’s urban automotive content and Live Car Shows’ car show coverage, to CarDataVideo and Bumper2Bumpertv’s expert car reviews, there’s sure to be something to get every car lover geared up.

“We’re delighted to offer this wealth of informative car-related content available to our viewers,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. “We’re positive countless users will enjoy ogling dream cars and researching future auto purchases.”

“We love transforming chance viewers into automotive fanatics and informed consumers,” said Automotive Rhythms President & Publisher, Kimatni Rawlins. “Likewise, we appreciate the opportunity presented to make our content discoverable to new audiences worldwide, which is why we’re so pleased to have our content available on blinkx.”

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has made more than 450 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date.

If you are interested in Online Marketing in the Travel Sector and want more information then contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click experts, on 0845 643 9289.

blinkx Makes Father’s Day Marketing Push

By Andrew Redfern @ 19th June 2009 10:37 am blinkx

Running out of gift ideas for your dad this year? Looking for some inspiration to get you in the mood? blinkx has created a Father’s Day video page sharing clips that will help you prepare for Father’s Day this Sunday, June 21.

Gifts for Dads: Whether you make one yourself or head out to the shops, these videos provide how to guides and shopping tips that will help you find a gift your dad will love this Father’s Day

Famous Dads: If you’re looking for some inspiration from the stars, check out clips of famous dads Barack Obama, Brad Pitt and David Beckham in action

Film Fathers: Looking for something to watch to get in the spirit? Watch scenes from Daddy Day Care, Indiana Jones and I Am Sam to kick off the weekend

Visit http://www.blinkx.com/topics/fathers-day to access the Father’s Day video page.

Are you interesting in generating more conversions through your company website?

Contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible.

blinkx Executive to Present at Digital Hollywood’s Advertising Conference

By Andrew Redfern @ 9th June 2009 5:31 pm blinkx

blinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, today announced that Senior Vice President of Business Development Federico Grosso will speak at Digital Hollywood’s Advertising 2.0 Conference, taking place at the IAC Building in New York City on Wednesday, June 10.

Grosso is scheduled to speak at 3:10 p.m. EDT on the panel titled, “Video Advertising: The Challenges with Scale and How New Consumer Habits Are Driving the Advertising Community to Innovate”.

A well-respected expert on both online advertising and digital media, Grosso has led his team to create long-term partnerships with global brands such as Reuters, MTV Networks, RealNetworks, Nokia, Microsoft and Shell. A digital media veteran with more than a decade of international experience, Grosso is well-qualified to offer unique insight into the world of online video advertising.

Since inception, blinkx has signed more than 530 media partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video content on the Web, fueling its reputation as one of the most intelligent search engines available today.

blinkx’s unrivaled contextual advertising platform for online video, blinkx AdHoc, is designed to enable blinkx’s media partners to place highly relevant advertising against their video content on the Web. blinkx’s AdHoc platform has revolutionized video advertising by matching compelling, customized, TV-style ads to audiences on the Video Web.

It is unique because it was built from the ground up to address rich media, resulting in more effective marketing for advertisers, higher monetization for content owners, and, most importantly, a useful, non-disruptive experience for users.

Would you like to know more about Video Search Engines? If so, contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible

blinkx Publishes Fox Sports Video Footage

By Andrew Redfern @ 28th May 2009 10:51 pm blinkx

blinkx, (LSE AIM: BLNX) the world’s largest video search engine, today announced a partnership with FOXSports.com on MSN, one of the Web’s leading sports sites. More sports news and clips than ever before are now available on www.blinkx.com.

Visitors to www.blinkx.com will now have easy access to nearly 1,000 sports video clips, including exclusive footage of top athletes and daily, up-to-the-minute sports updates with Fox Wire.

In total, FOXSports.com produces more than four hours per day of exclusive Web video content, all of which will now be discoverable via blinkx’s search engine.

“Sports video is in very high demand right now. Many sports fans get an itch for more footage of their favorite teams and athletes long after game season has passed,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. “We’re thrilled to partner with FOXSports.com, one of the world’s leading sports sites, and think many of our viewers will enjoy getting their sports fix with this premium content.”

“We are excited to extend our leading online sports video content to blinkx’s leading video search engine,” said Ed Bunnell, vice president of programming for FOX Sports Interactive. “blinkx has developed a very innovative way for us to expand our reach and we’re excited to give make our content easily discoverable to their users.”

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has made more than 530 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date.

Would you like to know more about online advertising? If so, contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible

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