0 comment(s) First Cricket Game on YouTube – A social media experiment to find the feasibility of TV like Advertising model for YouTube

Ahem… finally investing 10 days - staying back after office hours, including 2 sleepless nights, messing up with 96 videos, the first playable Cricket game on Youtube is ready for beta release.

How to play?
1. It’s a game of 2 overs. You need to score your maximum runs.
2. When a ball is delivered, it pauses for a while and gives you an option to click on buttons labeled – A,B C, D…
3. You click a button and guess your hit. Add the hits manually to your total score and remember it.
4. At the end of each hit, it displays a button and clicking on it takes you to the next ball.
5. At the end of 2nd over, you can share your score by writing it in the video itself.

Since the game is based on streaming of YouTube videos, you might find the UI a bit glitchy.



Now, apart from the game, the real motive behind this personal project was to find the feasibility of a TV-like advertising model where multiple advertisers can bid for time slots within youtube videos.

Currently YouTube offers the following advertising options:-
1. Create your own brand channel
2. Sponsor a brand channel
3. Participatory video Ads that are shown on homepage
4. Contextual Google Ads and banner Ads

YouTube statistics show that around 5.8 billion video clips are watched each month, with average time spent per person is 54 seconds. Complete report

While watching a YouTube video, the full attention is within the dimensions of the video player which need to be leveraged by giving advertisers a TV like platform to buy time slots within a YouTube video and unlike TV, viewer can interact with the Ad and ROI can be correlated directly with the video views.

I shared the same hypothesis to Shishir Mehrotra, Director of YouTube monetization to find the feasibility of following advertising options using YouTube Annotations feature:-

1. Advertisers can buy time slots for FOURS and SIXES. You can find “Your Ad Here” links. It let you compose a message where advertisers can inquire for a time slot. e.g. Castrol can bid for the FOURS as it is a four-stroke engine oil (just for demo purpose)
2. A secret link can be shared with the advertisers, which will enable them to write their copy, brand name right on the video on the exact timeline.
3. After 1st over there is a drink break and advertisers can buy that space to play a video ad (maximum 10 sec).

Note: current YouTube policies do not allow any commercial activity of your videos. Thus, the pointers mentioned above are just a proof of concept. But, YouTube partner channels can join the project.


Now, various other possible advertising options could be derived from the same:-
1. In-video advertising - “A 10 seconds time slot within most viewed videos on YouTube”. Tell me how it sounds?? So, there is a possibility of media buying on youtube.
e.g. Branding of a condom brand within a videos tagged as sex related (which generally get high views), of course with a message for safe sex, where multiple advertisers bid for the same time slot. Kiwi and Cherry Blossom shoe polish brand can bid for a time slot in a highly viewed video of Charlie Chaplin for a scene of “polishing a shoe”.

2. Integrating Google AdSense with YouTube Annotations feature, a revenue sharing model for video publishers where advertisers bid and buy time slots dynamically based upon the tags and description of the video.

3. Improvement of YouTube annotations feature might enable you to integrate images, videos in future.

Let’s see how the face of online video advertising changes!

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2 comment(s) Why lkadvani.in AdSense Ads is Nonsense?

You can find him anywhere. Like in mythology we say "Aakashvani", it's now "(Ad)vani". Recently noticed that the ads found place into porn blogs too.

(image source: http://blinking-eyes.blogspot.com)

Currently the lkadvani.in ads seem like slap on your face. But, one fundamental thing to note is - electing Indian Prime Minister is different from US presidential poll. So, instead of bugging an internet user from Indian demographics by showing the damn ads of promoting L. K. Advani as brand, what they could have done is - tracing your locality from your IP and showing you the respective BJP candidate for the nearest constituency, showing manifesto for local development and then asking to vote, thus promoting BJP as brand. Tackling the most common issue during elections - of not knowing "who is the candidate in your constituency?". Ultimately, if BJP gets majority, L. K Advani's dream too will be fulfilled.

Another coincidence with the recent Varun Gandhi incident is that L.K. Advani's facebook page has a powered by "RSS Connect" tag.

I hope this is not Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which is considered as as reactionary group of Hindu fanatics with Fascist tendencies.

Let me try if anyone from BJP or Congress is reading this (are they listening to the online buzz)? Mark your presence with a comment below if you are listening to.

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0 comment(s) Do you know the correlation between SPAM & orkut demographics?

Recently Symantec released stats of SPAM messages which says the top 3 regions of origin are - US (25%), Brazil (9%) and India (5%). (Download PDF Report)

Now, if you analyze the orkut demographics, the top 3 source of traffic are - Brazil (49.64%), US (20.82%) and India (17.14%). (orkut demographics)

 Pretty interesting, isn't it! So, what's your take on this?

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2 comment(s) Tzomet Sfarim Bookstore Targets Avid Facebook Users

"Disconnect for a while. Read a book."

This is how a recent print ad of Tzomet Sfarim Bookstore targets the avid facebook users to go offline and read a book. Pretty simple and clever! (More details)

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1 comment(s) Stand UP Take ACTION Orkut Community, RSS, App & Youtube Game

You know me as a professional blogger and a social media evangelist.
So, while driving the United Nations Millennium Campaign across social media, I have successfully accomplished some exclusive tie-ups and work to spread the words through social media. Rahul Bansal and Divyansh Sharma helped me a lot in the process:-

1. Exclusive orkut community:- http://orkut.com/endpoverty This exclusive public URL community page can be accessed without even logging into orkut. To participate, of course you need to join the community.

2. RSS feed for the community:- By default orkut does not provide RSS feed for an orkut community. But, we have developed an online service that provides an RSS feed for any orkut community. You can track the activities of the above exclusive community without logging into orkut, by subscribing to http://orkutfeeds.com/endpoverty2015 in your Feed Reader.

3. An orkut app is coming soon. (check unreleased preview)

4. Youtube video Game:- youtube game built using the video annotation feature based on a pacman kind of game where poverty monster is chasing you and you need to click on the goal buttons for level up before the poverty monster eats you. Similar to 8 UN MDG (Millennium Development Goals) this game has 8 levels and failing in a level it educate you about the Goal in details.


(Do not cheat by rewinding the video)

5. Blog badge:- Bloggers and site owners can put the following blog badge on their sidebar to spread the words to their site visitors.

<a href="http://www.orkut.co.in/Community.aspx?cmm=47234928"><img src="http://standagainstpoverty.org/files/badge_orkut_1_0.gif" alt="badge_orkut.gif" title="EndPoverty2015 on orkut" width="200" height="50" border="0" /></a>

Thus, requesting all readers to take action to help eradicate poverty on 17-19 Oct and register your count at http://standagainstpoverty.org/
Also, this is an appeal to other similar causes, campaigns to unite and join this cause.
Together we can make a difference.

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0 comment(s) orkut Demographics: India Slips To 3rd Slot Again

Following table shows the orkut demographics for past few months.

Some points to note:-
1. India which overtook US for the 2nd position in May 2008 has slipped to the 3rd slot again.
2. US has increased 2.47% from Aug to Sept to reclaim the 2nd position.
3. Canada out of the race in Aug, Australia being the new entrant.

What may be the reasons for this?

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2 comment(s) A Comprehensive List Of Alternative Twitter IM Bots

Twitter IM bot twitter@twitter.com, which enables you to send tweets right from your Gtalk, Yahoo Messenger .etc. is facing downtime due to heavy usage and the current status shows - "Offline. Working on additional capacity."
Lets find out some alternatives that work in this crisis period.

Tweeting through IM includes two steps - LISTEN and RESPOND.

Apart from ego-surfing i.e. checking for any tweet targeted to you, Listen helps in tracking trend of keywords and topics of your interest. To listen through IM, you need the following earplugs:-

1. iNezha - Add inezhabot@gmail.com in your Gtalk contact which let you read any RSS feed right in your IM chat window. Update the notification frequency to 1 minute.

2. IM Feeds - Similar to iNezha, you can add imfeeds@gmail.com as a Gtalk buddy which notifies you whenever a subscribed feed updates.

After you are done with any of the above, search for any tweet that mentions your name or any keyword you want to monitor using search.twitter.com and subscribe to the RSS feed in your IM. Some other twitter search e.g. tweetscan have advantage over the default search as they display the originator of the tweet too in the RSS. E.g. RSS feed for any tweet that mentions my name is - http://tweetscan.com/rss.php?s=%40fundubytes

Now, it notifies you with any updates for your chosen feeds at regular intervals. The second part is to respond to them by blowing these horns:-

1. Excla.im - A jabber bot that allows you to update your twitter status by verifying your twitter account and adding tweet@excla.im as your Gtalk buddy.

2. IMified - A very powerful tool that does much more than mere updating your twitter status. To send tweets, you need to add imified@imified.com in your friend list and add the Twitter widget in your account settings.

3. twitt'd - You can send (also receive) tweets by adding twittd@jabber.org as your Gtalk buddy and verifying your twitter credentials. Tweets sent by twittd are displayed as being sent by web interface.

4. Ping.fm - Sign-up for a ping.fm account and integrate your twitter profile. Add pingdotfm@gmail.com as friend and update your twitter status by sending a message starting with @tt

5. TwitterIM - msn@twittermsn.com and TwitterIM for Windows Live Messenger and ICQ respectievely seem to be broken since quite some time.

6.SMSgupshup (India only) - This is a bit tricky. First sign-up for SMSgupshup and create an SMS group. Integrate your Gtalk account and add webaroosms@gmail.com as a Gtalk buddy. Now, you can send message to this SMS group right from your gtalk.
The next step is, sign-up for twitterfeed and add your twitter account and RSS feed for the SMS group. E.g. RSS feed for my SMS group is http://www.smsgupshup.com/feeds/fundubytes
Now, whenever you update your SMS group your twitter status automatically gets updated, though there are some limitations like only 8 SMS/hr and twitterfeed minimum update frequency is 30 min.

Apart from the above IM bots, there are some other options too:-

1. Yahoo Messenger Twitter Sync Plugin - This synchronizes your Yahoo Messenger status message with your twitter status.

2. Jabber Twitter Bridge - Java application to update Twitter with Jabber's status (Gtalk).

3. Twit4Live - A Messenger Plus! Live Script that adds twitter interaction to Windows Live Messenger. Interact with Twitter from Windows Live Messenger.

4. Twitter plugin for Pidgin - Pidgin is a multi-protocol IM client where users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks. Along with the twitter plugin, use the character count plugin for Pidgin that displays the character count of the current message in a Pidgin chat window.

Now, if you liked this story retweet it! or  reply @fundubytes.

Also read:  Find who ditched your or un followed you on Twitter

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1 comment(s) Google Chrome Firefox Theme For Windows, Linux And Mac OS X

Recently launched Google open-source browser, Google Chrome has got much appreciation for its looks.
Now, Firefox addicts like me have got a reason to flaunt it with Chromifox - an experimental Firefox 3 theme inspired by bright and soft blue Google Chrome.

Since, Google Chrome is not available for Linux and Mac OS yet, you can use it as an alternate till the release. Download Chromifox

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7 comment(s) Tyroo Migrated Ad Network To New Platform Without Any Prior Official Notification

December, 2007:
I was looking for advertising programmes that can be run along with Google AdSense, when I interacted with Sidharth Shukla from Tyroo and discussed its compatibility issues with Google Ads. Also, while googling I noticed Tyroo being bad-mouthed by few blogs.

When, I shared the links with Sidharth, got the following reply:-

Hi Rupesh,
Like i mentioned, there is nothing wrong with using Tyroo with Google ad sense. If there was i would not have the 2000+ publishers that i do.


Regarding the links you sent i cant seem to recall the exact problem with sourabh's account but yes its possible that we may have had a bad patch at that point,its equally possible that we could have got low quality placements resulting in low CTR's and revenues.


Jeba if you notice recommends Tyroo for Indian websites and at the end of the day there will always be blogs undermining Tyroo, i could produce over a 100 by the end of the day today for Google ad sense as well :-)


I really do appreciate your feedback, and we take it seriously rest assured and if the need warrants , adjustments along those lines are made.
Which is your site incidentally.


Thanks


Sidharth

Anyways, I thought of giving Tyroo a try and signed up for it.
Though I have monetized my blog, I use Firefox Adblock Plus addon to hide my own impressions and prevent any invalid click.

September, 2008:
Recently, while I was trying out Google Chrome, I noticed blank space at the leaderboard. Initially I thought it's a browser issues but later noticed the same result with all the browsers.

I logged into my Tyroo account and found zero impressions for past few days. Here is a snippet of the Tyroo report:-

When I contacted Sidharth in this context, Neeraj from Tyroo replied as under:-

Hi Rupesh

I am Neeraj managing the Tyroo publisher network. PFA excel for migration of publishers to new platform, wherein a new tags would be provided along with login to access reports with better metrics.

It took me a few minutes to figure out the meaning of the mail. Then, I noticed an excel sheet attached with the mail. I opened the excel sheet with curiosity and found it asking for basic details like name, email along with which tags to use etc for migration to the new platform. I replied back asking for clarification of few doubts and got their respective replies as follows:-

1. Is it mandatory for all publishers to fill up the excel sheet and send it back to you and that too only when a publisher complains about no ads being displayed?

it is important for the publisher to notice his site and the changes, we implemented this some time back and wanted to see who all comes back to us. You are early still many have to revert to us

2. First and foremost, Tyroo has all the details of a publisher those being asked in the excel sheet.

we do have for ‘n’ publishers

3. Again, what about the time period where no ads being displayed?

this was publishers conscious responsibility as he should let us know the changes he is noticing, the onus and the loss is for all the stake holders, be it advertiser or publisher or network

4. Isn't it responsibility of Tyroo to notify all publishers for any outage or modification in advance so that publishers are prepared for the forthcoming changes?

An excel is provided which requires information for migration, which happens in 24 hrs of replying

Now, that's such an irresponsible behavior from a company in which Yahoo has 35% stake. This experience justifies why Tyroo was bad-mouthed by blogs earlier.

Please support with your comments and help spread this message.

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3 comment(s) Google Suggest For Search; Guess Whose Business Card Got Affected?

After a long wait of 4 years, Google will finally be implementing Google suggest feature on the homepage, Google.com. Google suggest is an auto-complete for search which means as you type in the search box, related search keywords automatically appear below in a "drop-down menu" fashion. You can check out the feature at http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Wait, I am not discussing here how it will affect user experience or SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A simple question - Guess whose business card will be affected with this feature?

Heard of Matt Mullenweg, who is founding developer of popular blogging platform WordPress? His business card is pretty simple and great.

But, the inclusion of Google suggest in Google search has affected him. Also, with this feature, the "I'm feeling lucky" button is hidden.

Similarly, Kiruba Shankar, a prolific personality in Web 2.0, Blogging, Podcasting & Social Media in India has got Google cards as shown below:-

But, when you try with the new search,

Since, a picture says more than 1000 words, people might click on the image just above his website listing. So, for both of them it's time to change the business card. Yahoo too has instant search ajax functionality to the search. So, the only option left is Live Search. Here is a branding opportunity for Microsoft, any folk listening?

Do you know how Google affected funduBytes?

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