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Google Top Searches 2007 vs Yahoo Top Ten: iPhone and Britney Spears No. 1

Published on December 5, 2007 in Anna Nicole Smith, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Club Penguin, Facebook, Fantasy Football, Fergie, Google, Google Inc., Google Top 10, Heroes, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, MySpace, Naruto, Paris Hilton, Rune Scape, SEO, TMZ, Top searches 2007, Transformer, WWE, Web 2.0, Web technology, Webkinz, Yahoo Top 10, YouTube, hot, iPhone, top keywords, web traffic and yahoo. 12 Comments

Hottest searches for 2007: Technology and entertainment. Britney Spears sure knows how to be in the news!

Check out the top search keywords for Google and Yahoo 2007.

Top Searches

Google fastest rising U.S. search terms for 2007:

1. iPhone: iPhone, the Apple mobile phone with music and video player and web browsing features tops the Google top searches 2007 list.
2. Webkinz: Webkinz is a stuffed animal that customers can register and play with online.
3. TMZ: A telepictures production and America Online joint venture that provides an inside look at the latest celebrity scandals.
4. Transformer toys: Transformers are highly flexible toys that shift shape, and became wildly popular from the 2007 hit movie transformers
5. YouTube: online video-sharing site
6. Club Penguin: Networking site for children
7. MySpace: Social networking site
8. Heroes: Heroes is an American science fiction serial drama television series created by Tim Kring on NBC.
9. Facebook: Social/business networking site
10. Anna Nicole Smith: Anna Nicole Smith was an American sex symbol, model, actress, celebrity, and spokeswoman.

Yahoo Top 10 Searches for 2007:

1. Britney Spears: An American pop music singer, songwriter, dancer actress and author.
2. WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events), and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales.
3. Paris Hilton: An American celebutante, businesswoman, singer, model, actress, author, and television personality.
4. Naruto: Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimotoanime adaptation. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in the village acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all.
5. Beyonce: An American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, actress, dancer, and fashion designer, the creative force and lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, the world’s best-selling female group of all time.
6. Lindsay Lohan: An American actress and pop music singer.
7. Rune Scape: The massive online adventure game by Jagex Ltd
8. Fantasy Football: A fantasy sports game in which participants (called “owners”) are arranged into a league.
9. Fergie: An American pop, hip hop, and R&B singer, songwriter, and actress.
10. Jessica Alba: An American actress, whose TV and film credits include Dark Angel, Honey, Sin City, Fantastic Four, Into the Blue, Idle Hands and 2007′s Good Luck Chuck.

OpenSocial: Google’s FaceBook

Published on October 30, 2007 in Business networking, Facebook, Friendster, Google, Google Inc., Linkedin, Open Social, OpenSocial, Orkut, Plaxo, Social graphs, Startup, XING, hi5 and social networking. 1 Comment

 OpenSocial
OpenSocial, Google’s open challenge to Facebook will launch this Thursday. OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, that will allow access to user data, graph for friends information, and Feeds to learn the latest activities. XING, Friendster, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Newsgator, hi5 and Ning would be be joining Google and Orkut. Developers from some key Facebook Companies such as Flikster, Rock You, Slide, and iLike to work would be behind the making of this new social/business networking site.

There is wide speculation that Google could win it’s way through this in a breeze, given that good partners are siding with Google and Google has both the resources and the experience to successfully streamline the network on all social networks from one control-center.

What this means for Google and users?

More power. If Google ends up becoming the leading networking site, it might become a one-stop platform for  users to associate with their online identity. More applications would increase searches and Google might also add ads to add to user interest, increasing ad searches as well.

Developers would jump to make one new site a day, but irrespective of whether this is a hype or not, increasing networking sites can take away a lot of time away from the average user, from adding a profile to actively networking… it’s a huge effort, only makes it worse when you have to redo the whole thing again and again. Tired of even thinking of yet another sign-up. Are you? After all the publicity, OpenSocial better be worth the noise!!

Is Online Social Networking Really Worth It?

Published on May 29, 2007 in BBC News, Facebook, Google Adsense, Jade Power, Law, MySpace, Rory Cellan-Jones, Web Security, cybercrime, eBay, ethics, media, networking, news, online dating sites, social networking and technology. 3 Comments

fackbook friends listThe simple answer is “that depends on if you are Internet savvy or not�, but for the millions who log on to sites such as MySpace, the answer could be harder than that. Just today, BBC reported two contradicting stories that’ll both lead you to wonder whether “social networking sites are getting out of control� and need to be revisited by our beloved lawyers.

The first story was about a 40-something reporter covering the big dollar business of social networking and ending up with 700 people claiming to be his friends, many of whom he never knew existed. The second did not end all that well, here a 14 year old, also from the UK, vanished from her home possibly with the 18 year old she met on a chat-room. In one instance we discuss the school boy mentality of judging the person based on how many friends he/she had, while on the other we are confronted with the reality that things could be different if there were restricted access for kids and teen to predators preying on such sites in anonymity.

On the one hand we have “freedom of speech,� while on the other “security�. Instincts tell me that when such choices are posed, we humans (as the self-preservationists that we are) would choose security, but not in this case. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace continue to grow exponentially, while new networking sites pop-up each day promising more options with less hassle to meet  others online. One common feature in all these sites is the protectionist attitude of the sites to protect the secrecy and identification of its users.

The issue that bothers me most is, if you honestly represent yourself on a networking site where you “want to� meet others, why not be forthcoming and have your true identity verified like on PayPal or Google Adsense. Have your bank account or social-security verified, other users need not get this information, but ensures nonetheless (to the site offering the service) that you are really who you claim to be.

Considering that not all networking sites are as big as Google or eBay (which owns PayPal) to spend on resources to collect and protect your information, the dilemma for the user then would be the security of such information floating on the Internet, but that is up to the user to decide and demand of such sites (that profit, millions if not billions).

If the sites can provide for the privacy of the user information, adding a system to verify the identity of its users should then be a matter of adding two more line items in the contact form and spending a few million on securing the site.

Ultimately the decision must be made as to what is of importance to us, the privacy of the shady stalker who will eventually kidnap your child and kill them or the lives of our, huh.. “not-so-bright� youth!

End of ramble.