Business Lessons from the Yahoo Stumbles
May 18, 2012
An amazing insider view of Yahoo’s path to self-destruction was recently published on InformationWeek’s site. The article, “Three Lessons from Yahoo’s Meltdown, From an Insider,” is a business school case study gold mine and offers insights on what caused the big company’s setbacks.
The article, written by a former Yahoo exec who was laid off, gives three important lessons in business: “Don’t deny your strengths—even when others do,” “Beware belonging to a club,” and “When it’s no longer time to persevere, don’t.” The article expands on the statements:
“You have to work hard to identify your competencies, especially those that differentiate you from others. You have to brutally honest about yourself, your team, and your organization: You can’t allow others to define you, especially if they work in a nearby segment or industry. Never get too insular, but look instead to other industries, companies, or regions outside your own neighborhood.
And when staying the course isn’t working after a decent interval, admit it.”
These simple lessons leave much for CEOs and board members to take away, as well as small tech startups. Beware of the path Yahoo has taken and do not forget the business school basics.
Andrea Hayden, May 18, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
AOL Mistakes Outlined in Painful Detail
May 15, 2012
Starboard Value, who owns over 5% of AOL‘s stock, has some constructive criticism of the company and its CEO Tim Armstrong. Business Insider shares Starboard’s excellent analysis, helpfully annotated by reporter Jay Yarow, in “Huge AOL Shareholder: Here’s Everything Tim Armstrong is Doing Wrong.”
This is a very thorough, data-laden 43 slides that begins with who Starboard is, why it is involved with AOL, and why it is concerned. The core problem: display advertising losses. The first mistake the slideshow emphasizes is AOL’s plethora of brands and sales reps. The Huffington Post‘s tumble from profitability since AOL bought it features prominently here.
The biggest criticism, however, is reserved for Patch, AOL’s collection of local Web sites. This division, the presentation asserts, is responsible for the lion’s share of display ad losses. Starboard lays out the reasons they feel Patch is irredeemable:
“*Patch is a high cost business model that is not scalable.
*Local advertisers want direct response ads that have an attractive measurable ROI, which we believe Patch ads do not provide.
*National advertisers do not appear to value hyper-local advertising any more than they value broad-based display advertising because there is no evidence that proves it is more effective.
* As a result, we believe that the vast majority of Patch ad slots are filled with remnant AOL ad inventory, which could be used on any other AOL property.
* Even if Patch were to achieve its targeted revenue model, the business would still be highly unprofitable on its current cost structure.”
The presentation elaborates on each of these points, then follows up by insisting AOL take action on Patch and on display losses in general. Naturally, they also insist that the election of their nominees to the Board will help the situation.
There is much, much more information in the slideshow. Starboard Value is an investment company that focuses on helping to boost underperforming companies. They pride themselves on operating from a deep understanding businesses and markets. Created in 2001 through a spin-off from Ramius LLC, the company makes its home in New York.
Cynthia Murrell, May 15, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Carnegie Mellon Finds Crowdsourcing Can Aid Productivity
May 14, 2012
ScienceDaily reports on research from Carnegie Mellon University in “Picking the Brains of Strangers Helps Make Sense of Online Information.” The study found that building on the work of others does, in fact, improve the quality of one’s own work. That concept has been around at least since ancient Greece, but crowdsourcing on the Web brings it to a new level. Aniket Kittur, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, is quoted as saying:
“Collectively, people spend more than 70 billion hours a year trying to make sense of information they have gathered online. Yet in most cases, when someone finishes a project, that work is essentially lost, benefitting no one else and perhaps even being forgotten by that person. If we could somehow share those efforts, however, all of us might learn faster.”
Wasted effort is certainly something to be avoided, especially in today’s culture. The study had subjects (Microsoft employees, in fact) make knowledge maps of certain online information. Sometimes they had to create the map from scratch, sometimes work with one that someone else had made, and sometimes with one that four people had worked on previously. It should be no surprise that those who got a head start through the work of others produced higher quality work.
See the write up for more specifics from the study, including observations on eye movements and forming mental models. Very informative.
Crowdsourcing is a wonderful tool—when it makes sense. We remain on the fence about asking crowds for information about brain surgery. Seems imprudent.
The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft, and the Center for the Future of Work at Carnegie Mellon University.
Cynthia Murrell, May 14, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Arnold Columns: Update May 2012
May 9, 2012
We have continued to produce Stephen E Arnold’s for-fee columns. Due to some minor health excitement involving Mr. Arnold, his monthly update about what and for whom he has been writing for money has been on hold. The content continued to flow. Here’s a run down by publication of the for fee columns submitted through May 8, 2012:
Enterprise Technology Management, IMI Publishing, London, UK. ETM publishes my Google column which originally appeared in KMWorld.
- January 2012, “Google Enterprise: The Berkeley Analysis.” The article discusses why a noted university chose Google’s apps, not Microsoft’s. The point is that price cutting is playing a major role in information technology decisions.
- February 2012, “Google Enterprise: Is There a Poison Apple in Paradise?” The column reviews the new version of the Google Search Appliance. The question becomes, “Could Apple pose an alternative to Google, an alternative Google is not anticipating?”
- March 2012, “Google Privacy and Enterprise Licensing.” This write up explores how recent revelations about Google’s approach to privacy may put barriers in place which could slow or block some Google enterprise license deals.
- April 2012, ”Google’s Cloud: Building and Threatening.” The essay considers that Google has been left in the starting blocks by Amazon’s cloud services. Google may catch up, but the pricing of cloud services, regardless of vendor, can be slippery to estimate.
- May 2012, “The Google Myth: Poetics and Glass.” The story considers Mr. Page’s role with Wall Street and Mr. Brin’s assignment to promote Google’s virtual reality “glasses.” Will these modern day Romulus and Remus billionaires continue to coexist in a positive relationship?
Information Today, Information Today, Inc. The Information Today column covers search-related topics for the an information specialist, competitive intelligence researcher or database publishing professionals.
- January 2012, “Augmented Reality: I’ll Be Back”. Autonomy, best known for enterprise search and content processing, has emerged as a leader in augmented reality or AR. The column discusses Aurasma, the company’s AR solution.
- February 2012, “By Jingo: Search Catchphrases 2012.” This article considers the role and implications of marketing phrases used by enterprise search vendors. The majority of the buzzwords have more to do with competitive jockeying than communication to an organization looking for a findability solution.
- March 2012, “Health and Medical Research: Drying Up the Bones.” Web-accessible, public medical information is tough to use. The essay looks at several services, including Quertle.
- April 2012, “Are Analytics the New Way to Search?” Most users don’t search particularly well. Some do not want to formulate search queries. The write up considers the question, “Can analytics deliver search results without asking the user to formulate a query?”
- May 2012, “Google and Microsoft: Interface Flipperoos.” The story points out that the new Google interface looks more like Excite 1996 than Google in 2007. Microsoft, on the other hand, looks almost exactly like Google.com’s interface in 2007. Are flips like this the new approach to search interface innovation?
KMWorld, Information Today, Inc. The column for KMWorld discusses enterprise information from the angle of semantic technology.
- January 2012, “Insight from the Information Tsunami.” The column discusses Microsoft SharePoint and BA Insight, a software complement to SharePoint designed to address some of the “issues” associated with Microsoft’s flagship content management system.
- February 2012, “Bitext: Engaging in the Semantic Arena.” The article profiles Madrid-based Bitext, a company emerging as a leader in the enterprise semantic market.
- March 2012, “Xyte and Insight into Online Behaviors.” The write talks about Xyte’s approach to market research and discloses some interesting findings about Facebook. These items suggest Facebook is a more potent online force than some believe.
- April 2012, “Consumerizing Knowledge Management.” The essay considers that analytics programs with training wheels deliver some benefits to enterprise users. However, acting on auto-generated reports without understanding the assumptions behind the report can lead to bad decisions.
- May 2012, “Big Data, Cows, and Cadastres.” The write up looks at specific business pay offs from the analysis of big data. The biggest benefits come from analysts who understand the data and the math behind a particular numerical recipe.
Online Magazine (published six times a year). Information Today, Inc. The features written for Online Magazine focus on open source search in the enterprise. For more than a year, Mr. Arnold’s column has explored a range of subjects related to open source search.
- February 2012, “Open Source Search: Clarity with Lucid Works.” The feature discusses Lucid Imagination’s newest release of Lucid Works Enterprise 2.0.
- April 22012, “Open Source: Fascinating Uncertainty.” The feature takes a look at some of the jockeying which takes place in the open source world involving “foundations.”
If you are a public relations person, an azure chip consultant, or an unemployed middle school teacher, Mr. Arnold does not accept story suggestions for these for fee writings. His policy is to contact people with regard to a question or issue. Mr. Arnold is not a journalist. In a previous life, he indexed medieval sermons in Latin. He does not understand “real” journalism, marketing, public relations, investment bankers, private equity firm owners, and sales people.
These articles are available from the publishers who purchased work for hire. At some point, Mr. Arnold’s staff may post versions of some of the essays on one of the reference Web sites Mr. Arnold operates. For copies of these articles, please, contact the publishers. For a briefing on one of the topics addressed in Mr. Arnold’s for fee writings, please, contact us at seaky2000 at yahoo dot com.
Donald C. Anderson, May 9, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
No Big Deal: Beyond Search Passes 8,000 Articles
May 6, 2012
Beyond Search began in January 2008. I wanted to find a way to keep track of the most interesting news which I had been placing in my Overflight system. You can see some of the Overflight functionality at www.arnoldit.com/trax or www.arnoldit.com/taxonomy. A few days ago, Beyond Search passed the 8,000 post mark. You can search the archive of content using either the site search system, provided by Blossom.com, or the Google Custom Search Engine which indexes site content plus the links Beyond Search editors include in stories. Blossom is the search box at the top of the page. The CSE is labeled “Google.”
You can use the content to track a leading vendor; for example, enter the query “Autonomy” in the site specific search box and you see the events which we consider significant. You can also get my personal views on online products and services. Just run a query for “mysteries of online.” You can use the categories to limit a display to indexed content. No index is perfect, but you can look at a result set for a hot topic like “indexing” with a mouse click or two.
Now about the content.
First, I am not running a news operation. In fact, I don’t do news. Neither my editorial team nor I are real journalists. I am supposed to know about medieval religious sermons in Latin. The writers are mostly librarians or researchers who have been trained to produce the equivalent of a debate note card. I learned how to prepare 5×8 inch note cards when I returned to the US from Brazil and entered a wonderful American high school. Let’s see. That was in 1957 or 1958. In short, I have been doing one thing as my core research method for more than 50 years. Do you think I am going to change because a PR maven, an unemployed middle school teacher, an English major turned search expert or a Panda wants me to? In case you don’t know the answer, the answer is, “No.”
Second, we run sponsored content. We use Google AdSense. We run ads for companies who want to get a message in front of my two or three readers. I wish I knew what the business model for Beyond Search is, but the content continues to flow, seven days a week, year round. When I was in intensive care in January for more than a week, the content flowed. I know one of the editors smuggled my laptop into the hospital lock up where I was. We kept publishing. Those working on the blog just kept on going. My writing was given an extra cycle of editing because I was, quite literally close to being a gone goose. Keep in mind that the only difference between a note card content object and sponsored content is that the subject of the write up gets a chance to provide input to an editor. The ironic or cynical comments remain. If I get fascinated with a topic, I write about it or get one of the editors to produce content objects on the subject. So you will find certain topics get covered and then dropped, it is because I lose interest. You want news? Find a real journalist. Examples of what I follow and then drop range from European search systems to ways to federate the text and numeric data associated with building a fungible product like a personal computer.
Third, I am usually biased, often incorrect, and completely indifferent to the hottest trends that azure chip consultants pump out to sell consulting work. If you read the content in Beyond Search or any of the blogs which we produce, you have the obligation to think about what we present and make your own judgment about its usefulness, accuracy, or appropriateness for your particular situation.
Fourth, I use the content in Beyond Search for my columns in Enterprise Technology Management magazine, Online magazine, Information Today (a library oriented tabloid), KMWorld (an enterprise information tabloid), and Searcher magazine (a specialist publication for people who know how to use the old fashioned Dialog and Lexis systems). The content in my for fee articles is closer to the type of reports I prepare for my one or two clients. I am not a great writer. I try to look at popular or emerging technical trends and put them into the frame of my experience. If you want stories that reinforce received wisdom, you will find Beyond Search inappropriate for your needs. In my for fee columns, I knit together a number of items of information and interpret those items in a business context. The for fee columns, therefore, go beyond what is in the free blog.
My plan is to keep the information stream flowing and free. If you have a comment to make about the point of view or the information in a content object (my word for article or story), use the comments section of the blog. If you write me with spam, silly news releases, and baloney I did not specifically request—be advised: I may write about what I call “desperation marketing.” Don’t like the term? Well, I do, and it is accurate. The facile notion of “pivoting” a company is mostly marketing baloney. I don’t like baloney.
For more information about the editorial policies or how to contact us to get access to our two or three readers, navigate to the About page.
Stephen E Arnold, May 6, 2012
Sponsored by Stephen E Arnold
Google Drive Finally Released
May 6, 2012
The long-awaited online storage service from the mighty Google has finally arrived.
Last week, Google Drive was released after years of speculation about the product. Many wonder what the holdup was. A recent write-up on Mercury News asks the question many are begging to be answered: “O’Brien: Now That Google Drive Has Landed, I Ask: ‘What Took So Long?’”
The article speculates on Google and fast cycle development. We ponder how startups such as Dropbox and Sugarsync with similar services beat Google to the punch. Chris Sacca, who worked at Google as head of special initiatives from 2003 to 2007, became one of Silicon Valley’s most influential early stage investors. Sacca comments in the article:
“I didn’t invest in @dropbox because I’d been using GDrive at Google since ’04 and assumed would publicly launch any day. Whoops,” Sacca tweeted. “In the end, my lesson learned again and again? Never count on a big company beating a startup. Never.”
However, Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president for Chrome and Apps, comments that the delay can be attributed to waiting for mainstream users to embrace these types of services. “We felt less urgency about getting something out the door than about getting the experience right,” Pichai said.
Does the release of Google Drive mean hardworking startups will be damaged? The answer may lie in innovations to come.
Andrea Hayden, May 6, 2012
Sponsored by Ikanow
Amazon: The Important Number
April 27, 2012
Short honk: I don’t want to dampen the flames of excitement about Amazon’s financial report. You can get lots of happiness. Just navigate to “Amazon’s Q1 2012: Revenue Up 34 Percent To $13.2B, Net Income Down 35 Percent.” I learned:
Amazon just reported earnings for the first quarter of 2012. Net sales increased 34% to $13.18 billion in the first quarter, compared with $9.86 billion in first quarter 2011. Net income decreased 35% to $130 million in the first quarter, or $0.28 per diluted share, compared with net income of $201 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, in first quarter 2011. The company beat Wall Street expectations; analysts expected a profit of $0.07 per share on revenue of $12.9 billion for the quarter.
I want to capture what I think is the important number. Amazon’s costs continue to rise. The company is in a race to invest and buy market share. But it has to convert these gains to big money because the cost of the infrastructure, the new staff, legal hassles, and “inventing” gizmos are going up and fast.
One of the secrets of online is that investments in technology really do not flatten out. Only more big money makes the online business work. Amazon is in a race against costs. Exciting. Neither Amazon nor Google is immune to the online cost rash.
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Fake Reviews a Growing and Tenacious Problem in Social Media
April 20, 2012
Ah, sentiment and lies. Next Gen Market Research blogger Tom H. C. Anderson interviewed data mining expert Bing Liu in anticipation of his day-before workshop for the Sentiment Analysis Symposium in New York City early next month. He has titled his interview, “Practical Sentiment Analysis and Lies.” Interesting.
Professor Liu teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in the Computer Science Department. His work on text analytics and detecting online ratings fraud was recently featured in the New York Times. Anderson posed Liu with questions on the upcoming workshop as well as on his work in general.
The words that caught my eye were in Liu’s response to the issue of detecting fake reviews:
“Social media is here to stay. Its content is also being used more and more in applications.
Something has to be done to ensure the integrity of this valuable source of information before it becomes full of fake opinions, lies and deceptive information. After all, there are strong motivations for businesses and individuals to post fake reviews for profit and fame. It is also easy and cheap to do so. Writing fake reviews has already become a very cheap way of marketing and product promotion.”
Important though the issue might be, Liu admits that ratting out fake reviews is a huge challenge. Almost impossible to identify simply by reading them, misleading missives must be discovered through secondary information, like aggregate reviewer behavior and the physical origins of a post. Apparently, a reliable method has yet to be developed.
So, let this be a reminder of something my Dad used to tell me: now, perhaps more than ever, you can’t believe everything you read.
Cynthia Murrell, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
A Useful Discussion of Baidu
April 20, 2012
Knowledge is power, and when reading the article, The Google of China: The Secret of Baidu’s Runaway Search-Engine Success – TIME one realizes that Wang Zhan definitely used his wisdom to acquire knowledge since creating Baidu. It is no small wonder that this popular Chinese search engine is on top of the game.
“In applying the principle to his product design this means “putting the user experience first.” It follows the rule that all its products have to stay simple and easy for the consumer to use.
“It doesn’t cost anything for a person to switch from one search engine to another. If you do something wrong, the user can just leave in one instant,” Wang explains. “This is not like changing your telecom service provider, where you have to change phone numbers.”
American based providers could take a few notes from Mr. Zhan’s book of ‘search engine’ enlightenment. Utilizing updated technology daily, they still keep things simple and convenient for the user. The entire concept seems almost like the company would be in opposition against itself. However, with his plan of action, Zhan has managed to make Baidu the primary search engine in China. They really do not have any competition, unlike the over saturated markets in the US. The sited article provides us a useful discussion of Baidu.
Jennifer Shockley, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by TheTrendPoint.com
Microsoft Rolls Out Its Version of CloudSearch.
April 19, 2012
When Amazon publicized their big move with CloudSearch, no one was surprised that the technological behemoth Microsoft announced they’d be moving the Bing API into the Azure Marketplace. What exactly does this mean? The article, Microsoft’s answer to Amazon’s CloudSearch: Bing on Azure Marketplace | ZDNet gives us a little insight into what the future holds for Bing users.
“The Windows Azure marketplace is the site where Microsoft and third party vendors can sell (or offer for free) their data, apps and services.
Microsoft officials said the Bing API Marketplace transition will “begin in several weeks and take a few months to complete.” Via a post to the Bing Developer blog on April 12, officials did say that Microsoft plans to make the API available on a monthly subscription basis”
Microsoft’s effort to monetize ramping up API technology will probably lead quickly to success. The fees incurred have already been made public, as stated in the article Microsoft ends free Bing Search API, moves to paid service on Azure Marketplace. It seems they’ll be keeping things affordable so as not to overwhelm current Bing users, while providing faster, more efficient services.
“The company has released what it describes as “approximate” pricing for the service: $40 per 20,000 queries per month. Microsoft has not at this time said if there will be any introductory or free tier for low volume users. Though this rate compares favorably with Google’s search API pricing-$5 per 1000 queries—Google permits 100 queries per day for free. Microsoft’s translation API similarly has a free tier, allowing translation of 2 million characters per month without charge.”
There will be more competition for the premises crowd with Microsoft, Amazon and Google all three in the game. Though the basic services offered differ slightly, this will be a drastic change for Bing’s business users. They will eventually have to reconfigure their current systems to accommodate the Azure Cloud as stated in the article, Microsoft Got A Bright Idea From Amazon: Selling Search As A Service – Business Insider.
“Another bummer for developers who use Bing is that they will have to go back and rejigger their apps to use the cloud paid service”
Amazon may not have been the first to come up with the paid API idea. With the swiftness that Microsoft jumped into the ‘all in one’ provider revolution, one has to ponder how long the Azure API had been in the works. The article Microsoft to Begin Charging for Bing Search API Usage further explains and confirms the big moves taking place in API.
“This is sure to be a controversial move for some heavy users of the API, but it does show that Microsoft is going ‘all-in’ on Azure, consolidating its APIs under the product.”
There is no doubt this new API evolution will be causing some changes in the future. The smaller players like Searchblox will be required to work harder in order to compete in the upcoming API war. However, new opportunities will be arising for open source providers like Lucid Imagination, as the changes start to unfold.
Jennifer Shockley, April 19, 2012
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