Google News Timeline Helping To Connect The Dots

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 8, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Have you taken a look at what Google has in their product / service pipeline?

Google Labs provide users with the ability to test new search applications.  Here is a nifty tool that may interest competitive intelligence researchers and analysts.

Google News Timeline is an application that plots search results of news on a dateline.  News content may come in the form of articles and video clips.  Figure 1 illustrates Google News Timeline for the query: Kraft + Cadbury.

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Figure 1: Plotting Results For News Search, “Kraft” + Cadbury
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

The timeline that is provided can be navigated by clicking on the arrows located on the top left and right hands side of the page and as well as the Window sidebar.

Although the application is in the beta testing phase, it could be useful in profiling competitors’ past, present and future strategic initiatives.  By having the ability to view important strategic intelligence on a timeline, analysts can be able to anticipate a specific strategic move and how it will be implemented.

In the case of Kraft, researchers can discover that on December 19, 2009, Kraft hired an acquisition expert from Heineken.  By profiling, Jean-François van Boxmeer, competitors of Kraft can have an idea of his strategies that was used in the past and what could be put into place for the Cadbury acquisition.

Google News Timeline is available at newstimeline.googlelabs.com

Using YouTube To Promote Your Region and Economic Development Agency

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 5, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Investment Attraction and Social Media Marketing
. 0 Comments

Below is a best practice example of how to use a social media marketing tool such as YouTube, to promote two items at one time.

In the video, “Michigan Gives You the Upper Hand”, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is able to market: 1) the state as THE place for investment opportunities and 2) themselves as facilitators in getting companies to invest.

Using testimonials by CEOs, MEDC drives home the message that they are will equipped with the incentive tools,  services and skills to address investors’ key location factors inquiries.

Does your economic development agency have a video or channel on YouTube for investment attraction purposes? Is it effective? Let us know and we will mention you and the video or the channel in a future blog post.  Please email the link to Ian at ian@intelegia.com.

Website Monitoring Using Google Reader

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 3, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Here is a quick tip for those who are interested in setting up a website monitoring system.

There are plenty of website monitoring services on the web however; some come with a cost.

Thanks to Google, internet users can now be alerted whether content has been modified on a webpage.  All that is needed is a valid Google Reader account.

Once logged in,  be sure to follow these 4 steps.

Step 1: Select or highlight the address of the website or webpage that you wish to track.  (In this case example, we have selected, The Northern Lights Mining Network Facebook Fan Page.)

Step 2: Copy the hyperlink - http://www.facebook.com/NLMNpage

Step 3: In your Google Reader account, click on the “Add a subscription” button highlighted in yellow in Figure 1:

Figure 1:Google Reader - Adding a subscription
Click On Image To Enlarge

Step 4: Click on the “Add a subscription” button and paste the url of the page that you wish to monitor.  Figure 2 illustrates this procedure.

Figure 2: Adding The URL Of The Website That Will Be Tracked
Click On Image To Enlarge

Step 5: Click on the “Add button” to place the site as one of your subscriptions as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Viewing Subscriptions and Associated Alerts
Click On Image To Enlarge

Once new content appears on the Facebook Fan Page, the subscription feed is updated where the most recent content is posted  on top as highlighted in yellow in Figure 4.

Figure 4: New Content Displayed On Google Reader

Needless to say, this application can be used efficiently to monitor social networks for economic development.

Learn more internet tools for economic intelligence gathering at Intelegia’s seminar, “Economic Intelligence For Foreign Direct Investment Attraction”

Intelligence “R” US: Innovative Economic Development Practices in Mauricie, Québec

Published
by
Isabelle Poirier
on February 1, 2010
in Author-Isabelle Poirier, Economic Development, Economic Intelligence, Investment Attraction and Social Media Marketing
. 2 Comments

New economic development practices in a region is not the result of a sole leader. Changing the economic landscape of a region will be the work of individuals who collectively engage into innovative economic development practices.

Last week, I had the opportunity with my colleague Aicha Habiby to conduct the seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“.  Sixteen participants representing different sub-regions in the Mauricie Region gathered in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Canada.

It was a busy day :-) Needless to say that because this course was computer based and we were more than happy to provide this training as a team. All participants agreed to start slowly but surely embraced social media tools to improve their regional investment attraction strategy and place their region on the radar of investors and site selectors. The process included achieving the following goals:

  • Establishing their “web identity” on social networks
  • Putting into place an information monitoring system
  • Improving their web researching skills by learning advanced research techniques using web 1.0 tools and sources, social media applications and real-time search engines
  • Generating “Intelligence” using specific analysis frameworks for investment attraction
  • Nurturing their virtual and real life communities by sharing information and knowledge
  • Being aware of key success factors and best practices for their future communication strategy

For quite awhile,  investment attraction techniques have included taking advantage of the web 1.0 however; it was just the beginning.  By tapping into the new applications on the internet,  the participants can now efficiently benchmark their region, target leads and promote their region.

If you want to know more about economic development opportunities in Mauricie, you can get in touch “within a click” with the following professionals:

At the end of the day, interesting opportunities are just one click or one phone call away from you… It’s yours to discover :-)

Real-Time Searching With Scoopler

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 29, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

Here is a tool for individuals who are big fans of real-time search engines and the information that can gathered by them.

Scoopler allows users to search for content by subject that is available on Web 2.0 and social networking sites.  Some of the subject categories on the tool are:

  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • Sports
  • World & Business
  • Science
  • Gaming
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle

Figure 1 illustrates the index page of  Scoopler.

Figure 1: Index Page Of Scoopler

Once keywords are entered, the pages of results are divided into two parts: 1) Popular Shares and 2) Live Posts.   Figure 2 presents the first page of results for the keyword, “Kraft”.

Figure 2: Results For The Keyword, “Kraft”

1) Popular Shares - Located on the left hand side of the page, results from videos, links and images are provided to users.

2) Live Posts - Located on the right hand side of the page, Twitter results are furnished.

Two features that are available through Scoopler are the ability of share results with others and having the opportunity to have a peek at the results without visiting the full page with the information.

Scoopler is available at www.scoopler.com

Learn about more internet research tools in Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies“

The Use Of Testimonials In YouTube Clips For Investment Attraction

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 27, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Investment Attraction and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 0 Comments

What makes a good YouTube clip for investment attraction purposes?

1. A concise message with all the key locational factors that site selectors and or investors are primarily concerned about?

2. Footage of the existing land opportunities and transportation infrastructure in the region?

3. Testimonials from existing investors about the positive aspects of investing in the region?

All three elements are needed however; testimonials can go a long way in regards of putting a region on the map for investment attraction.

The following clip is from the Niagara Economic Development Corporation, the agency responsible for activities to advance the economic prosperity of the Niagara (Ontario) community.

The key elements of the video are:

  1. The various companies from an array of sectors that has selected Niagara to do business.
  2. How companies have built links within the business community and universities in the region.
  3. The level of government assistance offered to investing companies.

Through the use of testimonials to promote Niagara, the YouTube clip can effectively grab the attention of potential investors and site selectors.

Are seeking to improve your region’s investment retention or attraction strategy?  Attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“.

Competitive Intelligence Research With Thoora

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 25, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Web 2.0 Search
. 1 Comment

News search tools are rapidly changing.  With the advent of Web 2.0 platforms such as blogs,  Facebook and Twitter, news and analysis can be available within a matter of clicks from various search tools.  A tool such as Thoora aggregates popular news content and provides a couple of other value added features.

The results from Thoora are broken down into three distinct sections.

1. Current Popular Stories

In this section, users have access to the relevant articles based on the keywords that are entered.  Figure 1 illustrates the results for the keywords, “Kraft” and “Cadbury”.

Figure 1: News Results For Kraft and Cadbury on Thoora

Along with initial results, the tool gives users access to links to related articles and blog posts.  Results can be sorted by time period (i.e., 24 hours, 2 days, 1 week)

2.  Search Stats

This section provides information regarding search queries for the keywords for news and blogs postings for the past seven days.  Figure 2 presents a look at the search stats for “Kraft” and “Cadbury” by category breakdown.

Figure 2: Search Stats For Kraft and Cadbury

3. Twitter Results

The third section of Thoora contains results from Twitter feeds.  Figure 3 below shows the results for both keywords on the popular social network tool.

Figure 3: Results From Twitter For The Keywords, Kraft and Cadbury

Thoora, a real time search engine, allows competitive intelligence researchers to conduct a news and Twitter feeds in one place on the web.

Thoora is available at www.thoora.com

Need to improve your online researching skills?  Attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies“

Searching For Articles With Digg

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 22, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

Here is a tool that will come in handy when searching for articles and/or blog posts.

Digg is a social networking tool in which individuals can share content (i.e., news, videos and images) with others.  It can serve as an efficient avenue to promote content.  The index page of Digg is seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Digg’s Index Page
Click On Image To Enlarge

Conducting a keyword search is straightforward however; users may sort results by:

  • Best Match
  • Most Dugg (Articles or posts that have the most votes)
  • Newest First (Most Recent)

Figure 2 illustrates the first page of results for the keyword, “economic development 2.0″ sorted by “Most Dugg”.

Figure 2 Results For The Keyword, “economic development 2.0″ Sorted By “Most Dugg”
Click On Image To Enlarge

As with other good search tools, Digg offers advanced search options.  Below is a list of the options.

  • +b : Including “+b” at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to posted items that have received negative votes or “buries“.
  • +p :Including “+p” at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to posted items that have been promoted by Digg.
  • +np :Including “+np” at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to posted items that have not been promoted by Digg.
  • +u : Including “+u” at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to upcoming storing on Digg.
  • -d : Including “-d” at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to items in specific domains.
  • site: Including “site:” and a website address at the end of the entered keywords permits users to have access to items from a specific website.

Digg is available at www.digg.com

Are you looking to improve your internet researching skills, consider attending Intelegia’s seminar, ” Advanced Business Intelligence Gathering Approaches”

SeeClickFix: A Possible Economic Development Application?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 20, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

Here is a web application that we happened to notice on the City of Evanston’s Facebook Fan Page.

SeeClickFix is a tool that “encourages residents to become citizens by participating in taking care of and improving their neighborhoods“.  In short, the application is a platform to post concerns about the communities that they live in.  Figure 1 illustrates the SeeClickFix page for the City of Toronto.

Figure 1: City of Toronto’s SeeClickFix Page

As shown in Figure 1, the main issues that are posted on the page are:

  1. Maintenance destroying park
  2. Dead tree branches
  3. Tree Removal

Located on the righthand side of the page is a list of locations in and around Toronto that citizens are free to post their concerns about where they live.

By using the same model as SeeClickFix, would there be a need to have an identical application for an economic development agency?  The agency would be able to open it up to citizens and other stakeholders of  the city or region to measure their needs.  On the other hand, would agencies be ready to manage any reconstructive feedback (be it positive or negative)?

SeeClickFix is available at www.seeclickfix.com

Would your economic development agency be willing to use a tool such as SeeClickFix?  Tell us!!!

Searching For Regional News With Newslink

Published
by
Ian Smith
on January 18, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Competitive & Internet Intelligence
. 0 Comments

Here is a great reference for those who are new to competitive intelligence research and individuals wish to have access to regional news sources from around the globe.

Newslink provides access to 20 000 media links in a web-directory format.  Figure 1shows a screen shot of the index page of the Newslink website.

Figure  1: Newslink Website Index Page

Using Newslink comes in handy when researchers are not familiar with the locations that they are investigating.  Of course, conducting a search with Google News may work however; it may not be too efficient depending on the number of the keywords entered.

By using a mouse, users can access publications such as news dailies, business magazines and specialty newspapers.   A key advantage to accessing the publications via Newslink is the ability to use the internal search engine of the publications to find past articles in the archives.

Newslink is available at www.newslink.org