Marketing Pilgrim Published: "Facebook and One Trillion Pageviews" plus 2 more

Link to Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News & Opinion

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 04:19 AM PDT

No matter how you slice it one trillion is a big number. It's one of those milestone numbers (unless you are talking about the US debt which left little ol' one trillion in the dust long ago) that makes people stand up and notice.
Google's DoubleClick Ad Planner shows that Facebook hit this number in June of this year. Since the chart is in rank order of unique visitors so Facebook sits atop that category comfortably as well.

ReadWriteWeb tells us a bit more

According to this data, the site gets nearly 1,150 pageviews per visitor. That's an extremely sticky website. Yet it comes as little surprise considering how much time many users spend on Facebook doing things like clicking through photo galleries (each photo counts as a pageview), playing games like FarmVille and viewing other people's profiles.
The data released by DoubleClick does not include adult websites, ad networks and certain sites owned by Google.

This is one of those 'do with it as you will' stats in that it is impressive for sure but almost becomes a bit too big to manage. After all, you don't expect to get in front of everyone on Facebook as a marketer, just those that would have an interest in your product.
In the end though the number is impressive and Facebook has certainly set a very high bar for challengers like to Google+ to live up to.

Marketing Pilgrim's Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple CEO

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 05:57 PM PDT

It may not be news to you by now that Steve Jobs, one of the most iconic figures in business, has resigned from his post as CEO of Apple. He is being replaced by COO Tim Cook and will continue as Chairman of the Board, director and an Apple employee of the company.
Here is the letter that Jobs sent to the Board of Directors

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve

We don't know the exact reasons for this move but its not hard to guess considering Jobs' health issues of the past few years. As a result, there will be plenty of speculation and cold analysis of a company and an industry and ultimately a man's life. If you feel the need to speculate about what will happen to Apple's stock, the direction of the company, the future of the tech world or whatever else then go right ahead.
For now, I think I'll just pray for Steve Jobs and those closest to him. This can't be an easy time and despite all of the world's attempts to paint him as a super human he is still just like the rest of us.
Best wishes on whatever lies ahead, Mr. Jobs.

Tough Pill To Swallow? Google to Pay $500 Million in Drug Ad Sale Finding

Posted: 24 Aug 2011 12:37 PM PDT

Google is hoping that this one gets caught up in the news cycle real fast and flushed down the proverbial news john. It's not so much that the US Department of Justice is making Google pay $500 million for allowing advertising for online Canadian pharmacies to sell drugs illegally in the US. As with most things and Google, money is not the issue. They have plenty of that.
What does happen is that when people start to peel away the onion layers on this one the whole thing starts to stink real bad, real fast. Why? Well, it seems hard to believe that Google would be able to get away with what they did by just paying some cash to make it go away.
Here's how it played out according to the Wall Street Journal

Google Inc. reached a long-awaited $500 million legal settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to avoid prosecution on charges that it knowingly accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal ads from Canadian online pharmacies.
The ads resulted in the unlawful importation of prescription drugs, including controlled substances, into the U.S., potentially placing consumers at risk, the Justice Department said.
The criminal probe was one of the most serious faced by Google and had the potential to touch executives. If Google had bee prosecuted by the government by knowingly endangering U.S. consumers, it could have tainted the company's famous credo of "Do No Evil".
A criminal conviction can also disqualify a company from bidding on government contracts.

First, let's help the WSJ understand that Google's credo is not "Do No Evil" it's "Don't Be Evil". Many (including this writer) have been guilty of making the same mistake which makes it appear as if Google is playing to a very high standard. When you look at the idea of "don't be evil" vs "do no evil" it is much less stringent and has a fair amount of subjectivity built in so it can be maneuvered and massaged depending on the circumstances. In other words, it's very relative.
It appears that Google knowingly took Adwords payments from these pharmacies for many years. How can that be said? Well, if the article has it right, Google provided support and advice to these online pharmacies to help them with their campaigns and web presence from 2003 to 2009. So for six years Google was unaware that what they were doing was against the law? That's rich!
Google's response to the matter was:

"We banned the advertising of prescription drugs in the U.S. by Canadian pharmacies some time ago. However, it's obvious with hindsight that we shouldn't have allowed these ads on Google in the first place. Given the extensive coverage this settlement has already received, we won't be commenting further."

The Department of Justice's release goes into some detail as to how this all came down including this wonderful anecdote.

The investigation of Google had its origins in a separate, multimillion dollar financial fraud investigation unrelated to Google, the main target of which fled to Mexico. While a fugitive, he began to advertise the unlawful sale of drugs through Google's AdWords program. After being apprehended in Mexico and returned to the United States by the U.S. Secret Service, he began cooperating with law enforcement and provided information about his use of the AdWords program. During the ensuing investigation of Google, the government established a number of undercover websites for the purpose of advertising the unlawful sale of controlled and non-controlled substances through Google's AdWords program.

Bitter pill? Maybe so but this kind of business activity isn't anything that a company with any morals or ethics should be engaging in especially since it was quite obvious that this was on the wrong side of the law.
I wonder which Google employees were complicit in this? I would bet dollars to donuts that there were some sweet commissions paid to salespeople for those ads. Think they are getting hit for their activities?
Whatever the case, Google takes a huge black eye on this one and sets the table for some serious doubt as to just how upstanding they are as a corporate citizen as they are being more heavily scrutinized by federal regulators. All this for some profit? I've read somewhere where "Money is the root of all evil". Actually, that too is an incorrect statement because the actual quote is that "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil".
Seems to me that Google is having a serious affair with money so yes, logic follows that evil can't be too far behind.
Your thoughts?