The government is now looking into monitoring social networking sites, with a view to using the information gathered to tackle crime gangs and terrorists.

Critics are attacking the idea on the basis that tracking the sensitive personal information stored on social networking sites amounts to an infringement of privacy. Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said the plans constituted the 'most expensive snooper's charter in history'.

This is the latest of a series of news stories about privacy issues with sites such as Facebook. The site ran into trouble in February, when the terms were changed, explaining that Facebook would store personal information, including photographs and messages of users, even when they had unsubscribed from the site.

As a result of an onslaught of negative feedback, along with a heated media debate about the ownership of user generated content, the terms were subsequently changed back again.

Compare the Meerkat, we salute you.  This contemporary web marketing campaign has perfectly demonstrated the potential for crossover from TV to online advertising, with the charismatic meerkat Aleksandr Orlov persuading viewers of his TV ad to ‘compare the meerkat’ on his website.

Once there, visitors are able to find all kinds of meerkats, such as, ‘scuba diving meerkat in Rio’, and then compare that particular meerkat to other kinds of meerkat, thus pleasingly mirroring the main site, Compare the Market.

Although this may have been intended primarily as a brand awareness campaign, in fact 21% of Compare the Meerkat viewers went on to visit Compare the Market, causing visits to the main site to soar by 86% in January, according to Hitwise.

This terribly modern online marketing campaign has also capitalised on the booming social media market, replicating the meerkat persona with over 200,000 fans on Facebook and over 5,000 followers on Twitter for the most enthusiastic Orlov fans (including atomic).

‘Twittering’ used to be the poetic sound of little birds in the garden in springtime.

These days, we’ve all lost interest in the birds and logged on to do our own ‘twittering’ on microblogging site Twitter.com.

Whether you love or hate Twitter, it’s hard to deny the momentum it is gathering, with users snowballing to 55 million as of February 2009. It’s the blogging site for busy people.

What is Twitter, anyway?

To all those Twit-free surfers out there, Twitter is a website which allows you to update the world on your every move, within the space of 140 characters, from getting trapped in a lift (Stephen Fry) to giving birth at home (Erykah Badu).

When you write a message it’s called a ‘tweet’ and will be sent to all your ‘followers’. And you can communicate with, and keep track of, all those you are ‘following’. Sign up and your mum will know what you’re having for tea, and your mates will know when you’re leaving for the party.

In addition, Twitter Search allows you to find out what twitterers are tweeting about in relation to your chosen subject.

Crucially (in atomic’s view), as a Twitter user you can follow the day-to-day actions, irritations and words of wisdom of some very famous people. The success of Twitter has been heavily influenced by celebrities such as Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry, both of whom recently extolled the virtues of the site on TV.

How could Twitter possibly make any money?

The question on everyone’s lips is: how will Twitter capitalise on their success? They could take a leaf out of their Japanese sister site and start to offer advertising. They could also charge companies to connect with their customers (perhaps on a ‘pay-per-tweet’ basis!).

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said recently  that businesses were using Twitter to engage with consumers, and that introducing a fee for corporate use could be one way of monetising the service.

One thing’s for certain – the old Google mindset of ‘get users first – monetize them later’, is certainly easier when you’re talking about a search engine rather than facilitating the odd ‘tweet’.

Behavioural targeting – a potential fit for Twitter

The behavioral targeting model would suggest that whilst users engage in regular twittering, they are simultaneously giving away some quite personal - and arguably targetable – information about themselves, their actions and interests.

Could Twitter leverage this information to deliver highly targeted ads to users? When Stephen Fry is next stuck in a lift – will he be served a free trial to a ‘brain trainer’ iPhone game? Or perhaps this level of advanced targeting will prove just a little too spooky, even for a hyperintelligent, gadget loving national treasure in a lift.

How do we know that ‘cupcakes’ was the most searched-for recipe of 2008? Because, at the end of the year, Google is kind enough to give us a round-up of all the world’s most popular search terms.

Looking down the various ‘top 10s’ can give you a real glimpse into the zeitgeist - the spirit of the times. Here are some of the highlights from Google's round-up of 2008.

Top ten searched-for terms in the UK:

   1. facebook
   2. bbc
   3. youtube
   4. ebay
   5. games
   6. news
   7. hotmail
   8. bebo
   9. yahoo
  10. jobs

Fastest rising in the UK:

   1. iplayer
   2. facebook
   3. iphone
   4. youtube
   5. yahoo mail
   6. large hadron collider
   7. obama
   8. friv
   9. jogos
  10. wiki

Fastest rising globally:

   1. sarah palin
   2. beijing 2008
   3. facebook login
   4. tuenti
   5. heath ledger
   6. obama
   7. nasza klasa
   8. wer kennt wen
   9. euro 2008
  10. jonas brothers

While we credit the readers of this blog with being fully aware of the sites in the first list, a few of those in the second and third might need a little explaining.

large hadron collider: Remember back in September ‘08, when (if you believed the hype) we were all about to be swallowed up by an man-made black hole? Well, the LHC, the world's most powerful atom-smasher, was to blame. Now, due to an electrical fault, this mammoth project won't be ready to go ahead until spring '09.

friv: a free online games site, showing the most popular games on the homepage and removing the least popular when new ones come along.

jogos: another games site - 'jogos' is Portuguese for 'game'.

tuenti: a Madrid-based social networking site which has been referred to as 'the Spanish Facebook'.

nasza klasa: the Polish Facebook (yes, another one)

wer kennt wen: the German Facebook (zzzzzzzzz)

jonas brothers: an American boyband who became famous after starring in Disney movie 'Camp Rock'.

What might make it to the top in ’09? We’re hedging our bets on hip social arena ‘Twitter’ which has enjoyed a good dose of publicity lately, payday loan, debt, discount voucher and UK holiday sites for the strapped-for-cash, and some fun escapism while we all try to forget our troubles. Lady Gaga, anyone?

In October, Google got well and truly onto the Youtube bandwagon, introducing click-to-buy ads to the site which are intended to be directly related to the Youtube video being watched.

The ads, which are placed beneath the video, are intended to entice the targeted Youtube audience to click and buy products such as sound tracks and video games connected to the clip they have just watched.

‘Just as YouTube users can share, favorite, comment on, and respond to videos quickly and easily,’ said Google, ‘now users can click-to-buy products -- like songs and video games -- related to the content they're watching on the site.’

Online video advertising has seen a significant development recently. TV pop-up ads are being tested by ITV chiefs with a focus on the potential of online advertising.

The technique, invented by US company Keystream, is called ‘automatically placed overlay advertising’. It puts an advertiser’s logo into the film when a lull in the action coincides with an expanse of open space such as sky or a blank wall.

The viewer can click on the logo if they want to know more about the product, otherwise it fades out of the picture.

Infuriating?

Concerns have been voiced about the danger of putting off viewers with such obvious, unrelated advertising. What do you think? email us at news@atom42.co.uk

Opportunities in online marketing have never been so great or so diverse. In June 2008, 70% of UK population was online, according to Internetworldstats.com, and while we are there, the UK population is now spending more than ever online.

The figures say it all - in July 2008, 17p in every £1 was spent online in the UK, and growth in UK online spending for November 2008 saw an increase of 26% on October 2008, according to IMRG. It is therefore in an advertiser’s best interests to approach this vast online audience from every possible angle.

It is hugely important to be aware of how differently people are now using the internet. Social media sites are booming and online competition from competitors in all industries is rocketing. Advertisers must make the effort to interact with users at all stages of their purchase, whether they began by asking a question on a forum or by searching for product-related information and reviews, as well as making the effort to learn from their feedback where possible.

Businesses need to look further afield than paid ads.

Many people think online marketing is virtually synonymous with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search advertising. However, more and more companies are now discovering that an integrated online marketing strategy be far more rewarding than only using PPC ads in terms of increasing revenue and acquiring new business.

The range of online marketing opportunities most businesses should now be looking into include PPC search as well as other areas of online advertising, email, natural search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, site content and usability.

It almost goes without saying that, once set up, every one of these areas must regularly tracked and analysed, as it is the findings gleaned from this analysis which should be used to inform the entire online advertising strategy.

How you can benefit from an integrated online marketing strategy

Not every potential marketing field will be appropriate for every business. However, a good online marketing company will pick and choose a number of avenues, and use the information from tracking each one to improve the performance of the entire campaign.

Different areas will contribute in different ways to building and refining the overall structure of an integrated online marketing strategy, and the more methods you employ to attract and convert visitors, the more effective each one will become.

Here are some examples:

1) PPC Search can inform your language and terminology

Analysing which keywords lead to conversions in your PPC campaign can be a useful way to inform your thinking on the type of keywords you use in your content and anchor text links. It can also give you an idea of where to target online ad placements and email campaigns.

2) Forums and Blogs can aid Communication and Product development

Comments left on social forums and blogs about your company or your competitors could give you an idea about ways you could improve what you are offering to people on your site, and how you could improve its usability. These forums allow for a unique insight into your target market, and arguably reflect some of the most honest and passionate feedback a company can receive.

3) Analytics Packages can aid web design

Tracking goal funnels effectively in your Analytics package can inform you as to what needs to be altered on your website by telling you at what point your customers are dropping off in significant numbers.

4) PR can help your SEO

By including anchor text links on your own online press releases and articles, you can help your own search engine optimisation at the same time as boosting awareness about your products or services.
There are many more possible examples, but the top-line take out is that an integrated approach is worth more than the sum of its parts.

You will also be widening your reach...

In addition to the benefits of making use of all the information available to you to create an integrated online marketing strategy, you will also be reaching a far wider section of your intended audience by branching into so many different areas, leading to a greater potential for acquiring new business.

In conclusion, you'll enjoy better results from a balanced, holistic online marketing strategy than by focusing all your attention on just one area – or by viewing the increasingly disparate divisions of the online world as isolated units.