Traders get into Social Networking

Nowadays, Bears and Bulls are busy setting up profiles on social networks. Don't panic... we are not talking about the animals here. These are the bears and bulls of a stock exchange, or in simple words, these are the stock traders.

Traders are networking with community members to keep themselves up-to-date with stock-related information. They are also brandishing members with stock tips, setting up their own blogs and podcasts. Making full use of the flourishing Internet marketing brigade, they are keeping their customers informed about latest happenings with the help of techno-savvy sources like blog posts.

A few online social networks have created special features to suit the functionality of traders. These features strive to connect traders with shared stock interests. In fact, many network owners believe that more than finding investors, these networks are being used for challenging customers to be more effective as traders.

The World Wide Web is actually entangling people from across the world, irrespective of their personal and professional tendencies. With stock exchanges also establishing a prominent presence in the online networking community, one simply wonders what to expect next.

Glamorous Search Engine for Women

The most popular women's network, Glam Media has come up with a vertical search engine meant for women-oriented content. The publishing network, with more than 350 sites and blogs, will now have all its media outlets covered in this new engine.

The search engine will have a feature called 'Intelligent Search' which will crawl content from lifestyle, fashion and celebrity websites and return results that are most relevant to the search query typed in by a user. The engine's search algorithm will index pages on the basis of the content's relevance, timeliness and editorial analysis.

Women of the world will be eagerly awaiting the launch of this 'glamorised' search engine. Because, they will know where to look for when it comes to their favourite topics – fashion, movies and gossip!

Search Engines press the Panic Button

Privacy issues are getting on to the nerves of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com. The concern over the large amount of personal data gathered and stored by search engines is constantly on the rise in the online marketplace. Increasing pressure from general public and regulatory agencies have driven these sites into pressing the panic button.

The whole debate heated up in the US in November 2006 when certain advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission to keep a tab on consumer profiling by online marketing firms. In due course, it was discovered that the privacy policies of these websites are still wanting in a number of areas.

As a consequence, Microsoft recently announced that it would make all personal data on search queries anonymous within a span of 18 months. Yahoo and Ask.com are also working towards limiting the use of a user's search history. In fact, the latter will give users the option of not retaining their Web searches.

Search industry bigwig Google has been at the forefront of this ire. It is working towards shortening the life span of cookies, and plans to make search queries anonymous after 18 to 24 months.

Although search query data has helped advertisers in improving upon their strategies, it is time the user's right to privacy was given due respect. Search engines, pull up your socks... users are indeed getting smarter!

Search Engines press the Panic Button

Privacy issues are getting on to the nerves of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com. The concern over the large amount of personal data gathered and stored by search engines is constantly on the rise in the online marketplace. Increasing pressure from general public and regulatory agencies have driven these sites into pressing the panic button.

The whole debate heated up in the US in November 2006 when certain advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission to keep a tab on consumer profiling by online marketing firms. In due course, it was discovered that the privacy policies of these websites are still wanting in a number of areas.

As a consequence, Microsoft recently announced that it would make all personal data on search queries anonymous within a span of 18 months. Yahoo and Ask.com are also working towards limiting the use of a user's search history. In fact, the latter will give users the option of not retaining their Web searches.

Search industry bigwig Google has been at the forefront of this ire. It is working towards shortening the life span of cookies, and plans to make search queries anonymous after 18 to 24 months.

Although search query data has helped advertisers in improving upon their strategies, it is time the user's right to privacy was given due respect. Search engines, pull up your socks... users are indeed getting smarter!