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Wowd…Real-Time Search?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 15, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

The ability to collect information on Web 2.0 is a definite advantage to competitive intelligence researchers.  Lately, Google has been improving their capabilities to provide real-time search results as a part of the tool’s broad set of web results.   Google’s efforts has not scared off tools such as LeapFish, Collecta or Addictomatic from the real-time search market.

Wowd is another player in the market that intends to carve out their own space in the industry.

The search application positions itself as a way to “Discover what’s popular right now”.  Here is a look at what Wowd offers on the web. (Wowd also provides a downloadable application.)

The tool is divided into three distinct parts.

1 - Hot List

Wowd provides real-time results from the top stories on the web.  Figure 1 presents the top results on the web on February 14th, 2010.

Figure 1: Wowd’s Hot List

2 - Search

The search option allows users to retrieve the most relevant hits on social networking platforms.  Figure 2 illustrates the results given for the query, “Toyota Prius”.

Figure 2: Real-Time Results For “Toyota Prius”

Search results are updated constantly and can be sorted by what is available in real-time, “Best now” and what is available on the web, “Best all time”.

The functionalities that are common to both parts of Wowd are:

  • Sharing Content
  • Reporting Content As Inappropriate
  • Tagging Content
  • Filtering Content By Keyword
  • Filtering Content By Sources

The functionalities are available with each listed result as highlighted in yellow in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Wowd’s Content Functionalities

3 - My Pages

The “My Pages” option allows users to add pages to the Wowd application to be indexed.  This option is solely available through the downloadable version.

Wowd is available at www.wowd.com

Seeking to expand your knowledge of internet search tools?  Learn more at Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies“.

SiloBreaker : A Cool Way To Read and Analyse News

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 12, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Here is tool that may influence the way that you search for and use news.

SiloBreaker is a content aggregator application that delivers more than a list of headlines and associated hyperlinks.  The application collects news, blogs, research, audio, video and other digital media content from global news sources.

Search results are divided into four main categories:

  1. 360° Search
  2. Network
  3. Hot Spots
  4. Trends

360° Search

Results from 360° Search provides user with a broad collection of relevant hits.  As seen in Figure 1, the top headlines for the keyword search, “Molson Brewery”, are listed under the “Top Stories” heading.

Figure 1: Top Headlines For The Keyword Search, “Molson Brewery”

Results for a query on an individual include details such as  i) Name, ii) Title, iii) Organization, iv) Date of Birth, v) Place of Birth, vi) Nationality, and a link to a vii) Fact Sheet.   Figure 2 presents the information that SiloBreaker has for Bill Gates of Microsoft.

Figure 2: Profile of Bill Gates

Network

This particular search allow users to discover relationships amongst individuals and/or companies.   In addition, this tool identifies key themes that have common threads amongst results. Figure 3 illustrates the network that Kraft Foods may have according to SiloBreaker.

Figure 3:Network Mapping For Kraft Foods

As users place their mouse on a specific “keyphrase”, a window appears with a listing of the relevant news articles.  Figure 4 presents the screen shot of what occurs when a mouse is placed on the word, “Takeover”.

Figure 4::Network Mapping For Kraft Foods With Associated News Articles

Hot Spots

The Hot Spots section of SiloBreaker allows users to see where the keyword(s) appears in the press around the globe on a local, regional and national level.  Figure 5 is the Hot Spots map for the company query, “Yahoo”.

Figure 5:  Hot Spots Mapping For Appearances Of News Articles Regarding Yahoo

Users can specify how far back in the news archives that the number of articles should be mapped.

Trends

This type of query provide details on what media sources are covering within a period of time.  Figure 6 provides a look at the coverage the car, Toyota Prius, is getting over the past 30 days in comparison to Honda’s Insight and Toyota’s Vitz.

Figure 6: Trends Comparison Chart For Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Toyota Vitz

SiloBreaker is an intelligent product.  As a keyword is entered, the tool will offer users the ability to distinguish what is being sought (i.e.  company information versus information on individuals).   Figure 7 presents the drop-down menu when the keyword, “bell” is entered.

Figure 7: Drop-Down Menu For The Possible Queries, “Bell”

By selecting the correct description  (i.e.,  [City], [Company], [Person], [Publication]) along with keywords, users are able to obtain the most relevant information on the site.

SiloBreaker is available at www.silobreaker.com

SODIL Lanaudière On Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 10, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Social Media Marketing
. 3 Comments

The topic of this blog is based upon a posting on the Linkedin group, Economic Development Professionals, specifically in the “discussions” section of the group.

A group member brought to our attention a Twitter feed that offers trilingual tweets.

Figure 1 is a screen shot of SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page.

Figure 1: SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page

SODIL Lanaudière is the agency that encourages the development of the Lanaudière (Quebec, Canada) business communities by assisting the region’s SMEs with their projects directly.

The SODIL tweets are made available in French, English and Spanish.  The images in Figure 2, 3 and 4 illustrates the trilingual tweets.

Figure 2: French Tweet

Figure 3: English Tweet

Figure 4: Spanish Tweet

Having the ability to post in more that one language is a benefit and most importantly, it can be a competitive advantage.  Communicating with existing or potential stakeholders of a region in a language that they feel the most comfortable in is a critical aspect in marketing.

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“