Search Engine and Social Media news round-up: June 20th 2010

Seeking a break from World Cup madness? Well, I promise that none of the news items in this week’s round-up is football related.

Apart from the second one that is.

YouTube makes video editing simpler 

YouTube has brought out a new online video editor which should make your YouTube clips shorter and sweeter.

The video content uploading site has long been targeted by those in the search engine optimisation industry; an acknowledgement of how big the video content market has become.

Using the new editor could help you:

•Trim the start and the end of your clips more easily
•’Mash-up’ videos by seamlessly adding one video to the end of another video
•Provide a soundtrack for your footage through choosing one of the thousands of songs available on the video editor’s AudioSwap library

Best of all, you don’t need to install any extra software to take advantage of these new facilities. 

Appropriately enough, there’s a YouTube clip talking you through the merits of the new video editor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YsQ6f125GY&feature=player_embedded 

What links Lionel Messi with Wayne Rooney?

Having watched the opening two rounds of the World Cup you would think that there is little in common between Argie footballer Lionel ‘Leo’ Messi and England’s Wayne Rooney.

Messi has won wave reviews for his early performances while ‘Wazza’ has yet to put his shooting boots on.

But, according to The Official Google Blog, there is more in common between these two sportsmen than just a bulging pay packet.

Apparently, research has shown that people who tap the name ‘Messi’ into a search engine are most likely to tap in the names ‘Rooney’, ‘Drogba’, ‘Torres’ or ‘Ronaldo’ next.

Popularity is the connection – these players are the most talked about footballers on Planet Football and are all seen as talisman figures for their country’s supporters.

Club connections also influence search-engine behaviour. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba might be sworn enemies during this summer of football but are likely to figure on consecutive searches as they both play for Chelsea.

There’s more information on how the branches of football search trees spread out on Google Insights for Search – it’s also a useful tool for your business or product.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

Have you got a Google search story to share?

Search engine optimisation is all about making sure that when potential customers tap in a word or phrase relevant to your market they find what you are offering.

But, just sometimes, a search engine leads you up some pretty interesting alleys, side-streets and cul-de-sacs. Sometimes, these can be miles away from the place you want to find but can make for a pretty interesting journey.

These ‘one thing leads to another’ searches are the inspiration behind Google Seach Stories – a place on YouTube where contributors can upload video content of a “silly, inspiring, true or imagined” nature.

 Much of the content (‘How To Get Married’, ‘Valentines Night’) seems to be of a romantic nature. 

Inevitably, some famous people have contributed content. Woody and Buzz from Toy Story weren’t slow to upload a story about one of their internet search sequences (wonder how much their Pixar puppet masters charged for that). 

But it’s all pretty inspiring stuff and makes me think of a friend who was looking for gig listings at a Brighton pub called The Free Butt and, to his horror, found rather more than he bargained for.

But that’s another story for another time.

Have a good week.

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