Google Continues to Energize 2010

By Steve Retka:

Google has refused to allow itself to be pushed out of the limelight in 2010. The media storm started in January when Google surprisingly aired a commercial during the Superbowl, and gained even more steam with the successful launch of its social network Google Buzz on February 9th. The very next day Google raised eyebrows with its announcement that it would offer ultrahigh-speed Internet access in some communities to test the possibilities of faster broadband networks in the United States.

And it appears as though the storm is about to surge again, because on February 18th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given Google subsidiary Google Energy the thumbs-up to buy and sell electricity in bulk like any other utility company.

Now before we hail Google as the next great empire of our generation, we need to take a step back and really examine the repercussions of this latest weapon in Google’s already potent arsenal.

Does this mean that Google is going to be our new power company? Not necessarily. Many large corporations have done the same thing Google is doing, with the intention being on better regulating their own energy consumption. Google has many data centers, and the immediate impact will focus solely on better controlling them.

So while the FERC decision isn’t too shocking by itself, the real news is based on what Google Representative Niki Fenwick said about Google Energy in January in regards to its pursuit of energy access:

“We don’t have any concrete plans. We want the ability to buy and sell electricity in case it becomes part of our portfolio.”

This is what makes this story important. No, Google isn’t going to be controlling our power anytime soon...however, Google hasn’t outright denied that it’s a possiblity. It will be very interesting to see where the search engine giant goes from here, and to see if 2010 continues to be a big year for Google.

Torches and Tweets

By Steve Retka:

Between Shaun White’s high-flying acrobatics and the U.S. finally beating our neighbors to the north after 50 years, it’s been difficult to peel our attention away from our television sets. However, there have been some pretty impressive steps taken by NBC and the Olympians themselves to take Winter Olympic coverage to the Internet and social networking sites. And with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver coming to a close in less than a week, it may be a good time to look at these online developments.

The reason why these social media developments are so interesting is that these are the first Winter Olympics since Twitter was launched in 2006. And because social media (especially Twitter) has become so popular in our culture over the past couple of years, it was obvious the social network would have an impact on how we view the Olympics this year.

As expected, The massive hype surrounding these games have caused a huge spike in interest in following the competitors’ Twitter accounts, and one trend that has plagued athletes in the past has been false accounts being created in their name. Both NBC and Twitter have solved this by tracking and sorting all of the official Olympic Twitter accounts on a verified page.

Additionally, NBC created a visual Twitter tracker so fans can see which Olympic topics have been the most popular. Based on Twitter’s existing visual tracker, this version categorizes the topics by the specific sport (speed skating, snowboarding, etc.) with more specific topics and trends listed under them. Also, users can view how the different topics change and fluctuate over time.

All of these developments just go to show that there has been a greater focus on the individual athlete as opposed to nations as a whole with the 2010 Olympics than in the past. Whether it’s Apolo Ohno becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history or what fellow American speed-skater Chad Hedrick has planned for his day, the personal lives of these Olympic athlete’s seem to be taking the gold medal in the minds of social media users.

What the Buzz is All About

By: Steve Retka

Facebook had barely blown out the candles from its 6th birthday before it received an unwanted gift: a new social networking competitor from an Internet giant.

On February 9th, Google threw its hat into the social media ring with the launch of Google Buzz. It’s designed to work with Google’s e-mail service Gmail, and allows Gmail users the ability to share thoughts and multimedia, update their status, follow others, even link in feeds from other social media sites.

But the biggest news isn’t that Google is trying to contend with current social media titans like Facebook and Twitter...but that it’s succeeding.

That’s because in its first 56 hours alone, Google Buzz had amassed over 9 million posts and comments. That works out to about 160,000 posts and comments per hour.

With Facebook and Twitter in obvious panic mode over these staggering numbers, let’s take a quick look at why Google may have a huge hit on its hands.

First and foremost, Google Buzz is linked directly to Google’s existing Gmail service. The genius of this move is that not only does this make it easier for new users to join, but taps into enormous audience that already uses Gmail, which currently exceeds 38 million unique users. Combine that with the resolved privacy issues, and it’s not all that surprising that Google Buzz has enjoyed the early success that it’s had.

So will Google Buzz extend Google’s online empire into the ever-changing landscape of social media? It may be too early to tell yet, but most signs point towards Google continuing to create quite a buzz with its latest Internet innovation.

6 Years Old and On Top of the World

By: Steve Retka

Facebook, which has become the gold standard for social networking sites, turned six years old yesterday. And while its creators and other business minds alike will continue to ponder where the online juggernaut will go in the future, I think we should take this opportunity to look back and admire how far it has already come.

It only took the networking website a couple of years to dominate the social lives of many around the world. It’s become the primary way of keeping in touch with friends far away, updating the masses with what we’re up to at any given moment, and defining whether or not our relationships are “facebook official”.

Yes, Facebook has redefined issues of privacy and what’s socially acceptable. And while there have been some morally ambiguous actions made possible by the social network, like the Missouri woman who had her family picture stolen from Facebook and used as advertising in the Czech Republic, it has done a lot of good as well.

I was lucky enough to witness the positive power of Facebook firsthand. I was attending school in Fargo during the massive flooding that hit much of North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota in the spring of 2009. There was a huge turnout of volunteers to help sandbag, but many were unable to be put to use since no one knew where to send them all. It was becoming an organizational and logistical nightmare. However, a local radio host I knew wrote in his Facebook status that he was going to a friend’s house the next morning to sandbag and included the specific address. The next day, nearly 200 people showed up to this one person’s house to help out.

For me, this became my defining moment when I knew that this Internet titan had the potential for even greater things. There’s no telling what other feats this social network will achieve, but for now we can all agree that Facebook has done pretty well for itself these past six years.

A Rose By Any Other Name...

By: Steve Retka

The recent launch announcement of Apple’s new touchpad sent the blogosphere abuzz with commentary...sort of...

But it wasn’t the 10-inch touchscreen or lightweight, half-inch thick dimensions that got people talking. It wasn’t the 1GHz processor or its ability to run existing apps from the popular iPhone either.

You see, before Apple CEO Steve Jobs could even finish his presentation on the newest addition to the budding technology medium of touchpads, he sent the Internet atwitter with the announcement of the new product’s name...the iPad.

Yes, the iPad. While it sounds like a bad pun from a late-night TV host, the iPad is indeed what Apple decided to call their $500-700 technological achieve. Naturally, this reduced adults all across the various social networks to giggling like 3rd graders while making jokes about certain personal hygiene products.

In fact, the iPad’s name alone garnered so much attention that the word “iTampon” shot up towards the top of Twitter’s Trends list, becoming the third most-talked about trend the day the product was announced.

Now that a week has passed since the iPad announcement sent bloggers into a whirlwind of laughs and snickers, the only thing that’s clear about this product is that it’s getting more than an ample amount of attention. A google search for “iPad” brings in 31.1 million page hits, with reactions and debates ranging from hateful mocking to christening the iPad as the defining technological advancement of our generation. And while it’s doubtful that it will fit into either of these extremes, it certainly proved the power of a product’s name.

Steve is a contributing writer for the Daily Axioms blog. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Broadcasting/Journalism and Public Relations from North Dakota State University, and is currently interning at Axiom Marketing Communications.