cnet news reports about some patents that Amazon has filed in the not so distant past that point to a way or them to deliver an e-book with the traditional book. By putting together ad supported e-books and bundling them at little or no additional cost to the reader Amazon moves a step closer to changing the way people read in the future.

The Kindle and other e-readers require a paradigm shift for those who are not inclined to try new technology just because it is new. Just like people who say that they always want to open a newspaper and get ink on their hands, there are folks who feel that reading one book at a time is just fine and there is no need to carry a library in their pocket. Those pesky traditionalists are the folks that Amazon needs to introduce to the e-book concept in a way that gently nudges them to a new behavior that they wouldn’t otherwise try on their own.

Amazon Technologies, a subsidiary of Amazon, filed for a patent (”Method and system for access to electronic version of a physical work based on user ownership of the physical work”) in December 2006. It was approved last month and makes it possible for buyers of a physical book to have an e-book bundled with it.

But two additional patents, filed a year later by Amazon employees (and not yet approved), are the more interesting ones: these, according to MediaPost, “clearly note that Amazon would insert advertisements throughout the e-books, from the beginning to the end, between chapters or following every 10 pages, as well as in the margins.”

I have to admit that I really don’t care if ads are inserted in books because I have developed such severe ad blindness that I might not even blink. Imagine the day though when the ad is actually part of the story, like product placement in the movies. That’s when the real fun begins.

So do you think having an ad in your book is too much? Have you made the switch yet or are you going to be OK with having a few trees die for your reading enjoyment? Now that wasn’t fair was it?

Comments

If you’re at all into publishing (totally!), you know that BookExpo America ended yesterday. The book trade fair isn’t just a great place to work on your foreign rights deals—it’s also a good place for hinting at your potentially earth-shattering business moves. Like Google last week, according to the NYT:

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Can Google take on the acknowledged leader of online book sales? They’ve got a few things in their favor so far:

• Google says they’ll let publishers set their own prices (and with Amazon selling <$10 e-versions of $26 hardbacks, publishers are sure to jump at the chance—however, readers may not be quite as happy to comply. Also, Google reserved the right to adjust “exorbitant” prices.).
• The deal will be completely separate from their Book Search settlement.
• Google’s already established Book Search Mobile, offering 1.5 million e-texts to the Sony e-Reader, biggest competitor to Amazon’s Kindle—as well as mobile phones. A new deal would make text available to those devices as well as Internet browsers.
• Google has some experience charging for content—such as paid downloads from Google Video. However, most of these ventures haven’t been viable in the long-term.

What do you think? Are you interested in buying eBooks? Does Google have a shot to take on another Goliath?

Comments

You remember in college when you had a large circle of male and female buddies and everything was awesome until two of the buddies started dating and then it just got weird? Well, Facebook and MySpace are looking to mimic that phenomenon online.

We’ll start with Facebook’s news because it’s less stupid. Match.com is expected to announce its Little Black Book widget for Facebook users on Thursday, which will allow the lonelier of users to connect with both available Facebook users and Match.com members.

If you’re too shy to even do online dating yourself, Match.com also introduced Match My Friends, which allows your friends and family to set things in motion for you via a profile they make.

Can you picture it? A profile from Mom goes like this: My son William is the sweetest boy, and so handsome, don’t you think? (Though I’ve tried to tell him all that gunk in his hair will make him go bald like his Uncle Maury.) He’s studying to be an accountant, just like his father, which means he’ll be a good bread-winner. Word to the wise, though, puppets and mannequins scare him, always have. And his feet turn inward, so dancing’s not the best activity.

Meanwhile, MySpace is living up to the classiness Rupert Murdoch and Fox bring to all of their endeavors. The king of social networks has brought former "seduction society" member and author Neil Strauss on board to produce a series of short videos based on Strauss’ dating guide "The Rules of the Game."

The effort is cross-promotional as both MySpace and Strauss’ publisher HarperCollins are both owned my News Corp. And the videos also bring in some old Fox personalities the MySpace generation has probably never heard of. David Faustino, who played Bud in "Married With Children," and Corin Nemec of the short-lived early Nineties series "Parker Lewis Can’t Lose" will be acting out "The Rules of the Game" in the videos.

Who exactly this benefits isn’t entirely clear, but it should be fun to watch.
 

Since I’m an optimist I try to imagine they do it mainly to encourage innovation and better solutions to the world’s problems both on and offline. Even if that’s not the whole story, it’s very feel good. It infuses a sense of fun and open-mindedness since they are always a bit quirky are aimed a broad age and range of people.

Contests can be a good way to get things done and you don’t have to fly people to company headquarters either. Guy Kawasaki got his book cover designed by running a contest.

Here is a list of some Google contests (feel free to fill me in on any I’ve missed):

• Google Highly Open Participation Contest
• Doodle 4 Google competition
• Google Moon Contest
• Build Your Campus in 3D Competition!
• Google Desktop Gadget Contest

Here’s another Google contest for college students who want to assist local businesses about online marketing. It’s called the Online Marketing Challenge.

Here are some details for the Online Marketing Challenge:

• It was developed with college professors around the world
• Students get $200 worth of free advertising dollars to spend on a campaign
• Groups of students find local businesses to run an internet marketing strategy
• Starts in February 2008 and participants run the campaign on a three week timeframe

If you teach a college course (this makes me want to actually) this is a great way to give students practical experience on Google’s dime. The contest winners get a trip to the Googleplex and get to meet the developers of Google AdWords. Probably some swag too. No cash, but a bit of fun.

Comments

The book, in all its silver- and moonstone-covered beauty, was actually bought at auction, and the proceeds will go to The Children’s Voice charity.  So, although crazy amounts of money have been thrown around in the eBusiness industry, and we’ve never been afraid to make fun of bad decisions, it’s hard to call this one.

Unfortunately, it’s also impossible to call it a brilliant business move.  Amazon has put up numerous photos of the book if you’d like to “ooh” and “awe” at it.  There’s also a review of one of the stories within, and by Amazon’s reckoning, it was quite good.  That’s as close as any average reader will get to the book, though – pictures, reviews, and discussion threads are all Amazon plans to offer.

This has left a lot of people (see those discussion threads) with a sort of “what about the rest of us?” feeling.  Granted, Amazon’s showing more of The Tales of Beedle the Bard than a private collector could be expected to, and J.K. Rowling’s own restrictions are to fault for the lack of wide distribution, but, well . . . we want our fiction.

At the same time, Amazon wants its PR – that’s the only reason we can think of that might be behind the purchase of this book.  And, as the existence of this article proves, the company’s getting it.

What’s interesting to me though is the reaction we see from our readers. Some are vehemently opposed to what they consider Google strong arm tactics and then there are those of you who think Google is performing a service to the internet community by cracking down on paid links.

What Do You Think About Paid Links?

As such, I wanted to post some of the more interesting comments we’ve received to the issue so far and basically ask for some more feedback from WebProNews readers on the subject.

Are paid links a necessary evil? Are they necessary at all? Is Google taking a proper stance when they say ‘NO’, or should they maybe try to find some middle ground? Keep in mind, Google has created the ‘link economy’ with it’s algorithmic emphasis on links=quality… so is Google really serving the ‘greater good’ or just looking out for number one here?

» Natural Products Says:

Great interview. Seems like big brother is putting the hammer down on paid links. Thanks for the video.

» Submitted by Bill Inman

Google decided to become a dictator a long time ago. Trying to control every aspect of our web sites, where we now spend more time worrying about what Google is going to do with our web site, than we do trying to design a site that will best serve the needs of our potential customers.

Google created the whole issue of "links" which has resulted in all the silly link pages everyone created, and now thew paid links.

My advice to Google is to get out of the role, and the opinion, that the world should revolve around them, and controling everything about our web sites.

Google is a good idea gone mad!

» Submitted by Dave Robinson

I think Google’s stance on the whole link debate is fair and honest. The reason for linking being seen as a measure of a sites importance has it’s roots in academia where peer reviewed papers would reference other works of note. Google wasn’t playing some game, it created a system that rewarded hard work. Now this has been circumvented it’s only right that Google tries to address this.

IMHO

» Submitted by SEO book Uk

There us a way to get even with google just pull adsense from your sites if 1 Million website pulled adsense for just a day google would notice a drop in revenue and will think twice before make webmaster angry again

» Submitted by David Jenkins

I’m all for the demise of paid links having spent over seven years building an information site that has never paid for a link and never will.

I am delighted that Google is taking this stance and would be glad to see "content is God" dominating the search results again.

» Submitted by Jim

In reference to Google’s insistence that they are a private company and can do what ever they want. Les we forget, the power of Google is granted by the web users and masters. Currently web masters are the biggest users of the Google browser. It is web masters pages posting Google adds, and Google searches that built Google’s popularity. The foundation of Google rest with the web master, combined we propelled Google to the top, and combined we can kick the feet out from under it. Change you adds to Yahoo, Change your search engines. In short, stop using Google, and Google shall fall.

» Submitted by Nicole on Tue, 12/11/2007 – 14:53.

As a small business web-site owner, AND as an in-house SEO writer for a large company, I frankly am happy that Google is downgrading paid-link sites that pass on link juice. When wearing my small biz hat, I can’t afford to buy paid links and it gives bigger companies an advantage I can’t yet afford. I think Google is indeed living up to their ‘do no evil’ company motto by doing this.

» Submitted by Kevin Hillman

People that support Google in any way just further the scam. Every link on any Google site is there because Google was paid to place the link there. They just like to make every site conform to their heavy handed rules. They want to own the entire internet and will crush any website they don’t agree with.

Do you agree or disagree with the above comments? Are paid links just part of business, or are they something evil when they influence search results?

Add your thoughts here…

Watch the video, and read the article where our readers above commented.

Focusing your site specifically for contextual ads will often result in higher search engine rankings because of the added targeting effort. This panel will look at various optimization and utilitarian methods of engineering a site specifically for contextual based advertising.

Moderator:

• Detlev Johnson

Speakers:

• Matt Daimler, Founder, The Guru Group LLC.
• Jaan Janes, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Pulse360.
• Aaron Wall, Author, SEO Book.

The panel kicks off with the first speaker from the panel, Jaan Janes – Senior Vice President, Business Development, Pulse 360. Jaan discusses about his company Pulse 360 and what they do.

Its all about relevancy, for which he shows examples:

• Good examples: Examples of his company
• Bad examples: Some of Google’s deeds.

How important are your ads? Many sites have irrelevant and far too many ads which affects other sites. Buttons, banners widgets end up only being clutter.

Tips for Sponsored Links:

• Shows Ads: Big companies have ads that are clean and no-nonsense (WSJ, USA Today, MSNBC).
• Audience First. Don’t be vague, your ads should be based on both audience and general topics.
• Experiment & tinker around. Mess with color and have fun with experimentation.
• Experiment with ad placements & types. Place it in different areas and see the size etc.
• Bottom of the page means bottom of the barrel. Avoid sponsored links!

Jaan plugs in a new Vertical Adnetwork.

Second speaker of the discussion is Aaron Wall, Author, SEO Book.

Difference between Optimization & Overkill

• Based on format it can be useless to the user.
• Create authority and monetize backfill content
• Avoid floating advertisements left at top in content area
• Site has to sell itself
• If you try too hard ads cost you links
• Perception of quality during SE reviews
• Careful with navigation

Short Tail Sites

• A few spots up in the organic SERPs can make a difference in earnings
• Infest in SEO
• Your site should be easy to link to
• Effective site design
• Wait to monetize
• Support featured content

Long Tail Sites

• Core pages must be clutter-free
• Blog readers do not click many ads
• Incorporate ad channels to find out where the money is
• Site structure
• Link equity push at top earning sections
• Less link equity at lower earning sections
• In cases of popular articles, link deep internally
• Delete advertisements from very poor performers. If things look better, put them back
• If you engage in link baiting, do not fear from adding links to successful pages

Page Optimization tools

• Analytics is your friend
• Definitely mix up keyword usage
• Page with more content matches more keywords
• Experiment with an array of terms
• www.quintura.com
• Use Goolge adWords’ tool which tells what page it is relevant to
• tools.seobook.com/yahoo-keywords/

Advanced Tips For Optimizing Contextual Ads

• Filter ads
• Ads can be turned off by members
• Use ad inclusion based on ads
• Link Building
• Purchase links that are associated with best earning pages
• Syndicate your content and link deep to best pages
• Own the best keywords
• Build a second page to get a double listing
• Build authoritative documents or
• Spin out sites
• Build your own product
• Plug for SEO Book

The last speaker of the panel is Matt Daimler, Founder, The Guru Group LLC. Matt shows an Airline seating. He pulls out a 2001 Page which features AdSense. Apparently, they ran 100-200 per day and not the usual 100-200 ads they did per month.

Targets:

"View Bids" tool to find what the CPC buyers needed. After which include content or keywords based on those.

1. Networks use content of page to show ads
2. Only 1 Google Ad per page allowed, no wide skyscraper, so far.

Impressions over last 5 years:

• 1 Wide Sky – Shows some increase
• 2004-2006: A new design was introduced. For the contextual ads, new content and navigation were introduced. The aim was to try and get desired ads into the site.

Goals:

• Repeat keywords
• Wide sky was available in 800×600 resolution
• Ad was located right in the centre of website activity

Challenge:

As the site was created with just 1 Google advertisement per page, the design structure had usurped all the available tables which resulted in low keyword density. In the case of 1 Wide Sky, 1 Sky, 1 Half Banner, the impressions mushroomed. After tripling the impressions the CTR and CPM dropped by 80%.

Matt pulls out a list of 8 Advertisers and CPC.

Level 1 Publisher gets Level 1 Advertiser

Level 2 gets the middle and Level 3 gets the bottom

When more ad units were added, the CPC changed. All these levels dropped while level 3 received quite a few PSA’s.

Diversification was needed:

• The team incorporated a direct advertiser in lieu of Google ad Blocks. After signing up some leading advertisers, it even appeared in Google and in Direct.
• AdSense & Overall Daily Revenue
• Based on the graph, Google ads lessened while different ads showed up.

Disadvantage:

• Adsense impressions and revenue fell. The impressions were too ahead while also including too many adverts.
• In 2006, the company did a redesign.

Goals:

• The site was upgraded to CSS
• In the site was added, more features, a menu, new content etc
• Incorporated a more sucessful Google ad types (med rectangle)
• Ensured that at least 1 full ad was in 800×600
• Ensured that wide sky was seen in a 1024×768
• Experiments with link units, integrated into Navigation. This was successful and has remained so.

Matt shows a graph about AdSense Impressions

• Results showed an increase of 5x the number of impressions.
• CTR fell about 20-30%
• eCPM fell minutely.

Comments

Tag:

Tongue firmly in cheek Greg cites supporters of his claim that use of a social media press release is, well, useless.

There are always two sides to a story and any defendant in this justice system is innocent until proven guilty.  Brian Solis of PR 2.0 stepped up to the plate as Defense Attorney.

Here’s what he had to say:

I propose for those who cast stones without New Media experience, that they are not punished at all.stop pretending to know what you’re talking about when you haven’t even experimented with the very things you bury without experience or intelligence.

Theory doesn’t count here. Especially when we’re already proving otherwise.
You’re opinion will only count when, as they say in anthropology, you’ve "gone native" and come back to tell the story.

If you wish to plead a case in front of your peers, then please call forth witnesses who have credible and legitimate experience in the field you’re spotlighting. Just because you refer to bloggers or "social" experts doesn’t mean they’re experienced in PR or Social Media Releases. Not one person you called to testify has ever releases one, so all of their testimony should be stricken from the record.

Good point.

The SMR grew out of journalists’ irritation with PR spin on a story.  A journalist will always prefer ‘"just the facts, Jack.." After all, they are journalists.  It’s their job to write the story.

In a social media environment, when you are engaging with your public directly, facts and bullet points may not be the best presentation of your  content.

And some bloggers probably won’t want it that way either. 

Our profession is called public relations.  Make relaitonships with the people you are engaging with. and when you’ve figured out who you are talking to, and what they want from you, you can craft your content in the format best suited for that individual.

Comments

Tag:

Bonnie Brown was working as massage therapist at Google from 1999 to 2004. Before that, she ran a private school for 10 years. Now, Bonnie is traveling and also wrote a book called Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google. I met up with her on Google Talk (the transcript below has spellchecking and punctuation added).

Hi Bonnie!

Good morning.

Where are you at the moment? Are you doing interviews all week for your book?

I’m in Nevada entertaining family and friends for the holidays. It’s been a very busy week interviewing and setting up interviews for the coming weeks.

Did you find a publisher for the book yet?

Decided to publish it myself for now.

Ah… do you want to use some online service for that or…?

I have speaking engagements coming up, so it looks like I have a venue to sell the book through my website and at book signings.

I want to go back to the beginning of your work for Google. That was in 1999 right?

Correct.

At the time, did any of your friends actually know about the company?

No, and I had never heard of Google

Did you check out their site to prepare for the job interview? Like, try a search on google.com….?

No, frankly I was pretty computer illiterate!

Did you have a computer at the time?

Yes.

Your job started out as part-time, 10 hours a week. What did you do the other time?

I had a massage business in Silicon Valley that was just starting out. I had private clients and did massage for other businesses.

Were many of your clients from tech startups back then?

I did massage for Tibco. But mostly trade shows, parties, random small business. But a lot of my clients were in the tech business.

You mentioned before that massaging the Google employees was a bit different. They are all very geeky, I suppose. What was that like?

Well, first of all, they are socially shy for the most part. They are very involved with their work so not a lot of time for interpersonal relationships. For those reasons, they told me they lacked touch in their lives and really enjoyed massage because they felt something that was missing.

Plus, they suffered from the stressed associated with working on a computer all day (and night). They had wrist, neck and back problems.

I see. The massage you are doing is them lying face down on a bed, right?

Yes, they start face down on a massage table with a place for their face that is comfortable. Then the flip over and I work on their head neck and limbs from that angle. They are draped the whole time with sheets.

Sometimes being “socially shy” or let’s say unaware of certain social etiquette can lead to unwanted rudeness… did this ever happen to you at Google?

“One time an engineer explained to me that they see no need for small talk, so if they never look at me then they could avoid that.”

I had a hard time adjusting to some not looking me in the eyes.

One time an engineer explained to me that they see no need for small talk, so if they never look at me then they could avoid that.

That’s interesting. I’ve met many engineers/ developers who also frown on small talk. Did you talk a lot with them during massages though? Or does it depend on the client?

Yes, many of the Googlers fell asleep because their workload was so intense that when they finally stopped for a break, they just shut down.

Heh.

But at first, when they were nervous about the whole thing, they talked to get to know me and build trust.

Were they ever starting tech talk, and you had to stop them half-way through?

Actually, I learned a lot from them about the search engine, science, life from their perspective and loved talking with them. They were really intelligent and though I had a hard time understanding some of what they were expressing, I felt like I grew a lot from my experience with them.

OK. So in the beginning, there were like 40 employees with you, right? Did you massage all of them, like Sergey Brin, Larry Page…?

Yes, mostly all of them. Sergey and Larry included.

Did they sometimes seek your perspective too? Like ask for advice?

Well, considering the age difference, yes, they did consider my life experiences valuable and I think I taught them also.

When the company grew, did you swich to a full-time job with Google?

It was never a set, full time experience, because I was a contractor. I set my own hours, but the demand grew so great that I was working 5 days a week at the end.

And then someday the employees had to pay a fee for the formerly free massages for them, right? To cut down on demand…?

At first it was free, but I was booked 6 months in advance. It was hard for the new people to get an appointment. So, they instituted a co-pay and it slowed it down for a very short time, but that didn’t last long.

As a joke, people were offering their options to get a spot on the calendar.

Heh. I bet with that workload and the type of work, you were able to arm-wrestle down most male employees of the company

I think I was very popular. I could always cut in line in the lunch room and no one complained.

What’s the Google cafeteria like? And with whom would you usually sit down together?

Charlie [Ayers] made incredible food. Organic and extremely healthy. Great soups that we could take home after work in a Chinese take out container! I never visited the grocery store in those days.

I ate with anybody and everybody.

So the co-founders sit down, and people take a seat next to them. But I suppose that was not like that anymore after a couple of years…?

“I had a guest for lunch and Sergey was at the next table. He got up right in the middle of eating and started doing push ups on the floor. He had some kind of bet going with the people at his table. My guest was pretty surprised.”

The CEO, Eric, Sergey and Larry all ate with the rest of us. I’ve had lunch with them all. It is very relaxed.

Once, I had a guest for lunch and Sergey was at the next table. He got up right in the middle of eating and started doing push ups on the floor. He had some kind of bet going with the people at his table. My guest was pretty surprised.

How were new employees introduced to others at the time? I mean, when there were just hundred or more around. Was there a formal introduction?

It’s hard for me to say. My position there was removed from the “teams.” I worked on everyone, but on a very individual basis.

They had a meeting every Friday where I believe most introductions took place. I was ALWAYS doing massage, so hardly ever could attend.

Did you have a computer at work where you could check out e.g. the intranet MOMA and the employee profile pages for everyone?

Yes. My office had a computer that showed the schedule for massage and the intranet.

Did the intranet news interest you? Or I suppose you were always busy anyway…

It was very interesting. I read when I could. Every now and then someone missed their appointment and I had a break.

Did the atmosphere and buzz change when new products or sites were about to be rolled out?

Yes. As you probably know, they go by an 80/20 rule there. 20% of their time is used for creating new ideas. There were so many interesting things going on all the time, it seemed like there was no lack of excitement.

Did you have your own 20% time?

Are you kidding? NO! My job needed no more creativity. It was very intuitive and I gave it my all.

I wanted to ask, what was the weirdest thing that happened during your work with Google over the years?

If you read the book, you’ll find out!

Heh, OK. Did you ever meet celebrities at Google?

Yes, I met Al Gore.

Oh yeah, and Ben Affleck.

In 2004, Google went public. You had some stock options from the beginning of your job right?

Yes, I was offered options on an ongoing basis throughout my work there.

At what point in time did you realize, I’m probably ending up a millionaire here thanks to these options?

Toward the middle of 2003, it started to look pretty promising. But I’m an optimist and I hoped for the moon right from the start.

It was you who pushed for options, I understand… in the beginning…

Yes, I asked for that in my contract.

During the build-up to the IPO, what was it like? The New York Times estimated Google produced as many as 1000 or more millionaires. Was that time in any way weird?

I talk a lot about the build up in Giigle. It was a very stressful time. The quiet period required by the SEC was painfully quiet.

Except for an interview by the co-founders with Playboy…

True, true. Everyone makes an error now and then.

A couple of months later, you left Google. Why?

My hands hurt.

Seriously, it was just time. The company inevitably would grow more “corporate” and the feeling of the start-up changed. I felt it was time to start something else.

Yeah, I heard today at Google there’s a bit of a distance between pre-IPO and post-IPO employees…

I can’t imagine how it could be otherwise.

Were there many people calling it quits a while after the IPO?

Yes, I believe most of the first 100 people left the company during the first year.

Did you have a party when you left?

I just took a nap.

Heh. What did you do after taking a break? You started writing the book?

I wrote a lot of the book while I still worked there. I moved to Nevada and then did some serious traveling.

In another interview, you mentioned you help people during your traveling, and that you started a foundation. What exactly do you do?

I have a private foundation that makes grants to different charible causes. It is a lot more gratifying to be able to do some hands on work rather than just writing a check.

I have visited many needy sights and helped by just loving people and showing human compassion. I am able to help financially for the basic necessities, food, water and shelter.

I am a lover of the Bible and have had the exciting opportunity to help with the discovery of Biblical Relics.
Noah’s Ark. The Ark of the Covenant. Mt. Sinai.

These days, do you still keep up with news about Google?

“When I first worked at Google, there was no stress in my life, so I took flying lessons to create some.”

Yes, I am on an X-Googler’s site and the pilots at Google site.

What’s the pilots at Google site?

There are a number of pilots at Google. Eric Schmidt is a pilot. They have a mailing list where flying adventures and info is shared. I love flying!

Wow. So you got a pilots license? Since when?

When I first worked at Google, there was no stress in my life, so I took flying lessons to create some.

And now, of course, Google got their own jet….

Of course…

… and their own landing place shared over at NASA I heard!

Everyone loves Google!

Some human rights groups have criticized Google in the past though, what do you make of this?

If you knew how socially responsible the founders are, there would be no room for criticism.

What of Google’s tools do you use today, if any?

Google maps, finance, email, this, umm…calendar…

I try all the new stuff.

Did you also try your hands at Blogger.com?

Of Course. That’s where I saw that lovely picture.

Which one?

Where I was discussed in a way that stabbed my vanity.

Do you perhaps refer to a forum comment made on Google Blogoscoped by James…

Probably, it’s all becoming foggy lately…

What other websites do you check out regularly? Where’s that Ex-Googlers site, by the way?

It’s an email set up for ex-googlers that is invitation only.

I read the news on Google and keep up with my investments on Google’s terrific finance site. I read sites about my favorite topic, eschatology.

What is eschatology?

The study of end times.

On this mailing list for Ex-Googlers, is there a lot of nostalgia, or criticism of today’s Google? Or what is being talked about there?

It’s kind of like a support group. SWS was difficult to maneuver alone.

They do talk some about today’s Google and they remember the good ol’ days.

What’s SWS?

Sudden Wealth Syndrome. Don’t laugh, it’s a serious issue.

What are the symptoms?

Not fitting in. Having no one to play with. Feeling unuseful. Guilt.

Have you actually heard of Ex-Googlers re-applying for a job at Google?

I have not.

So how do you “treat” SWS?

I give. That helps. And just knowing others are experiencing the same feelings, makes you feel a little less nuts.

Did you find yourself having a lot of new “friends” after 2005? That’s when you were able to sell stock right?

Luckily, I have always been rich with friends. But sadly, some people have a hard time adjusting to you when they perceive that you are suddenly wealthy.

I have new business “opportunities” often.

I see. Bonnie, anything else you’d like to share with us? Anything I should have asked you?

I appreciate your interest and it was fun typing with you.

One more question… What is Google’s best-kept secret?

If there is one, it is best kept.

Comment …

I thought that was a great idea and with so many smart marketers reading Online Marketing Blog, I’d like to invite you to share a few of your favorite books on the subjects of marketing online, social media and new media public relations.

I’ll start with the list I sent Rohit which includes a few books that are several years old but most are fairly new or soon to be released:

• The Long Tail - Chris Anderson
• Join the Conversation - Joseph Jaffe
• The New Influencers – Paul Gillin
• The Search – John Battelle
• The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott
• Now is Gone – Geoff Livingston & Brian Solis
• Do It Wrong Quickly, How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules – Mike Moran
• Search Engine Marketing Inc – Bill Hunt, Mike Moran
• The Corporate Blogging Book – Debbie Weil
• Waiting for Your Cat to Bark – Jeff & Bryan Eisenberg
• The Eyes Have It – Kevin Lee & Steve Baldwin
• Lead Generation for the Complex Sale – Brian J. Carroll
• Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch
• Seth Godin’s “Meatball Sundae – Is Your Marketing Out of Synch?” is scheduled for release in December

You can find and order or pre-order all of these books at Amazon or BN.com.

Do you have a recommended reading list of books for better online marketing and PR? Please share in the comments.

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