Twitter | Justin Levy

Google News Should Integrate Twitter Search

July 27, 2009 By Justin Levy 3 Comments

One of the primary websites that I check throughout the day is Google News. I have been in love with this website as a source of news since it was released several years ago. It allows me to quickly see what’s going on in the world and if a particular story interests me, I can view several other news sources who have also reported on it. This is great for someone like me who likes to consume lots of information from as many different sources as possible.

Over the years they have continued to add tweaks to it such as being able to move around what sections appear where, adding in local news and more. Recently Google added the ability to view YouTube videos for news stories.

This is fantastic because Google is integrating different forms of media. They’re allowing me to consume the news in a format that I want. I might not have time to read a full length article from the New York Times but I might have a couple minutes to watch a video posted by the Associated Press on the same topic. By integrating YouTube, this means that I stay on the Google News page longer and am more likely to consume more information.

It serves as my central dashboard to news. A lot of people choose to use Google Reader for this feature. I use Google Reader for everything else but for mainstream news I turn to Google News.

I’m always thinking of what’s next. I’m never happy with anything in its current form, even if it is serving my needs. I like shiny. I like new. I like tweaking. So, what should be next for Google News? I think Google should integrate Twitter Searches for the news stories. For example, I should be able to read the articles regarding President Obama‘s push for health care, watch associated YouTube videos, and then also see what others are saying about it.

Of course, this is a lot harder to manage then just adding in a YouTube feed. Google would have to control for different topics, each in their own separate searches which are always changing based on the news day. They would also have to have controls in place to filter spammers and inappropriate language/phrases.

There are other features that I could picture being part of Google News such as a section for blog content and the addition of Facebook Connect but I think Twitter would be the next most logical integration. Will it happen? If Google ever buys Twitter then I think we’ll see some variation of this concept. Why? Because Twitter has become an extremely powerful search engine and that itself is very attractive to Google. If they don’t buy Twitter? Who knows. It will be interesting to see if Google News starts becoming more social like Google Reader has been becoming over recent weeks.

Do you use Google News? Would this be a feature you think would be useful? What other features would you like to see integrated into Google News?

Filed Under: Google, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: Google, Social Media, Twitter

Wading Through the Noise on Twitter

May 2, 2009 By Justin Levy 7 Comments

One of the reasons why we all love Twitter is the ability to have instantaneous one-on-one conversations with like-minded folks. Until recently Twitter was like a closed community to marketing and tech geeks but as more businesses, celebrities and mainstream media pick up on it, Twitter is seeing growth of mind-blowing rates. Unique visitors grew from 7.9 million in February 2009 to 14 million in March 2009. So, as Twitter becomes more mainstream, how do you wade through all of the noise and find people to follow and interact with who provide value to you or your business?

First, remember that Twitter is 100% opt-in. Only those people that you choose to follow will show up in your stream. If you don’t find value in that interaction, there is no rule saying that you must follow anyone.

Second, use Twellow and Twitter Grader to search the bios of Twitter users. You can use these services to search for people with similar careers, interests, etc. Of course, Twitter does not standardize the bio area so it is based on whatever users type in. Therefore make sure you search different variations, especially if you’re searching job titles. For instance, a search for “Director of Marketing” will yield different results than a search for “Dir. of Marketing”, “Dir. of Mkt” or any other similar searches.

Third, use Twitter Search to find conversations that are taking place around subjects that interest you. From there you can see who is talking about those subjects and what else they generally have to say. Interested? Follow them and start engaging. Want to really become a pro? Try using Advanced Search…

These tools will help you to find those people or businesses that are talking about subjects that are interesting to you. But remember that it’s up to ensure that you’re engaging in meaningful conversations.

What other ways do you use to find people to follow on Twitter?

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Filed Under: Social Media, Social Media Strategy, Twitter Tagged With: Social Media, Social Media Strategy, Twitter

Lunch with the Pirates – Episode 1 – Welcome to Pirates TV

April 14, 2009 By Justin Levy 5 Comments

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Episode #1 – Wednesday, April 8, 2009
(Episode Length: 22 minutes, 21 seconds)

Intro

You can join us live every Wednesday at 12p ET (9a PT) over at New Marketing TV which gets hijacked and changed to Pirates TV.
To interact with us, you can catch up with us on Twitter: @justinlevy or @crbrowning. Also, make sure to tag your questions, comments or feedback with #piratestv.
Lunch with the Pirates is jumping on board with all of the other live broadcasts. Some of our friends include: HubSpot TV, Permission TV and Blue Sky Factory TV. It is so easy to start and cheap to start a “TV show” nowadays but, are there companies that shouldn’t start a live online broadcast?

Pirate Marketing Moves

Skittles - Was it just a publicity stunt to get conversation going? Colin doesn’t think so. Colin believes that Skittles was turning the conversation over to their customers. Thoughts?
iRoadTrip – The first iRoadTrip saw the team travel through the heartland of America to visit with true American innovators. Next trips include an iRoadTrip sustainable innovations and education. Disclosure: This is a New Marketing Labs project…

What’s in the Spyglass?

New Beta FriendFeed – Is it Twitter or is it Facebook? I tend to think that it looks similar to the new version of Facebook. This is very interesting because there were a lot of conversations around Facebook ripping off FriendFeed when they first released the “Like” feature. However, this beta version of FriendFeed looks very similar to the Facebook stream.

…and with that concludes our first episode. We actually recorded a few more minutes but realized that the camera stopped taping. Oh well, we’ll keep improving each week, we promise

We know what we liked and what we want to improve upon but now we want to hear from you. What did you think? What can we do better? Did you find the topics interesting?

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