Google has been taking market share from Yahoo!, the second most popular search engine according to Nielsen NetRatings (PDF format), so Yahoo! has fired their first salvo at Google. This week, Yahoo! introduced a new search utility, called the Search Assistant, to help guide visitors through a search (see image below). In essence, the Search Assistant is a drop-down menu that appears below the search bar on the Yahoo! home page whenever a user types in search terms (aka search query). The purpose of this utility is to improve the search results by either:

• Adding words to the search query. This functionality narrows the search results into a more targeted set.

• Suggesting alternate search terms. This functionality shifts the search results to related terms that may be lesser known, yet more relevant to the search query.

This tool could potentially have a significant impact on the search engine world. Why?

1. The Search Assistant will increase searches to well targeted sites. Most search queries are composed of only two to three terms. By adding terms to the existing query, the results will shift to sites that match more terms and are more focused.

2. The Search Assistant will improve the quality of search results. Since search engines are often used as the starting point to conduct online research on a specific topic, users may not be aware of industry-related terms. By introducing the user to related terms, the utility improves the quality of the results.

3. The Search Assistant will “level” the search engine marketing field. Webmasters are often focused on improving results for terms that receive significant traffic. By displaying results for lesser known terms, the search engine traffic will “shift” to lesser known sites, and in turn it will force webmasters of sites that have more generic terms to also optimize for more targeted terms.

4. The Search Assistant will eventually attract more visitors. Google beat out Yahoo! because of their clean search results page AND more relevant search results. Since search results pages virtually follow the same design, the improved search results will renew interest in Yahoo!.

Conclusion

According to internal tests, Yahoo! has discovered that 61% of users were more successful in their search when they used the Search Assistant. While that’s impressive by any measure, Yahoo! still lags in developing a competitive search engine spider (or, program that the search engine sends to collect information about each website). Google has one of the best spiders around, so if Yahoo! wants to regain market share it will have to focus their developers on that effort next.

Behavioral Research gets to work on some pretty exciting projects. Here’s a sneak peak of our in-world User Experience testing.

1. We study how users search for islands …

Click:

2. We test what users think they can do…

Click:

3. We test user expectations…

Click:

We’ve discovered some amazing things. Marketing in world is not just about design. It’s about optimization with your target audience in mind.

Keeping up on the pace of the ever-evolving Internet is no small task, so I wanted to do my part by sharing a few new tagging sites that I’ve recently learned about. I’m sure most of you know about del.icio.us (bookmark URLs; write tags; other people can browse through your bookmarks) and Digg (bookmark URLs; other other people can browse through your bookmarks and ‘digg’ it too; bookmarks are sorted by topic). Here’s some others that are starting to get popular:
= Furl.net (not .com)- described as ‘An easier way to save and share your online discoveries’. It’s like another Digg or del.icio.us but the homepage is very bland, which puts me off some but the site is a part of Looksmart.com, so it’s understandable.

= Simpy.com – yet another site tagging/bookmarking app but looking through their customer reviews. It seems that they could be serious competition for del.icio.us because of the other features being offering.

= reddit.com – similar to Furl.net and others where you get to post what’s new and popular, but different in the way that, based on user votes, items get dropped or raised on the list of ‘cool’.

= MyWeb.Yahoo.com – Yahoo!’s beta version of site tagging. For me, not very interesting and isn’t at all different than what the other sites are doing. As a Yahoo! fan, I’m disappointed.

= Blogmemes.com – offering the Hispanic community a way to promote and share links, stories, videos and other ways to share culture. In other words, a Spanish version of site tagging which I think is an interesting spin on things.

= ma.gnolia.com – tries to differentiate itself but is really just another site tagging app – although it is prettier than some I’ve seen.

= Stumbleupon.com – keeps track of your preferences as you search the internet, recommending similar sites to the one that you’re on. In other words, they use the search display advertising algorithm for web browsing.

= Technorati.com – Scours the web for blog posts and entries about social media items. It’s like getting your water cooler gossip fix without leaving your desk.

= Newsvine.com – An instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment. It is people actively submitting articles from online news sites about the things that they are reading/interested in/ talking about/etc. Like Technorati, but with real articles instead of blogs.

Now that you’ve been brought up to speed on tags, try out the services and tell us what you think!

For almost every native New Yorker who was around when 9/11 occurred (and the aftermath) there is an unspoken bond of anguish and immense sorrow that never seems to diminish somehow as the years pass.

I’m one of those native New Yorkers. Every year I find myself tearing up when the TV specials come on and have the change the channel. I still can’t find the courage to see any of the films that have come out since because I don’t think I can sit and watch it happen all over again. The one thought that I keep coming back to is – there are thousands of people that I will never meet, never smile at and never get to know now, gone in the blink of an eye.

This year, I ran across an article about a Second Life event that commemorates that fateful day and was curious enough to overcome my aversions (at least for a little while) and check it out. According to the article, the sim opened at the time when the first plane struck. I logged in and teleported.

Names of those lost from each of the buildings and planes, as well as the service men and women who lost their lives, are etched on a wall, which is surrounded by water on three sides. Pictures of those lost (at least I’m hoping that’s what it is) are collaged and displayed in a separate area.

No buildings are shown, which I think makes it even more significant. People came in and out; some returning for a second or third visit. Flowers, signs of ‘We will not forget’ and more are scattered around the base. No one talked very much. And periodically, a soft rain would fall.

It was beautiful in the ways that only Second Life can be.

Remembering 9/11, we will never forget.

For the CSI fans out there – good news, now you can become a part of the CSI intrigue by gathering clues and solving mysteries, in Second Life that is! That’s right – the makers of CSI: New York will be developing a storyline, in the fall, where a murderer escapes into Second Life where you, the general public and obsessed fans can take part in the investigation and help to solve the mystery.

This is a great way, I think, for the show to use an emerging media to include their audience in an amazing interactive experience. It seems that ideas like this are one of many ways that marketers are creatively capturing the imagination and eyeballs.

Take for example the ingenious marketing of several TV shows (Heroes, Lost, etc.) where a trail of clues to random websites that lead to other websites, emails, and even text messages are left for the fans that are loyal and brilliant enough to figure them out. They uncover hidden storylines, plots and much more.

And the same is being done for movies, check out for instance this interesting post on mentalfloss.com that talks about the upcoming movie by J.J. Abrams that has no name – but yet is being advertised. This is the type of immersive marketing that I can see as the next wave of the future. It’s not just a combination of website, email, direct mail, and (does this even exist anymore?) telemarketing. It is a full on experience and I for one cannot wait to ride that wave.

Much has been written in the last four months about the economic impact of Second Life  in publications like the New York Times and CNN. To some degree, the initial shock of hearing people pay $200 in real U.S. dollars for a virtual home (albeit one that doesn’t really exist) has worn off. However, the real world impact of Second Life so far has been limited to advertising and economics. Socially and culturally, though, Second Life has not had as much of an effect. No real-world friendships have been lost because of a heated dispute between avatars.

As The Wall Street Journal revealed in its August 10 issue, this is all about to change.

 
(Source: The Wall Street Journal Online)

The Journal article “Is This Man Cheating on His Wife” focuses on a 53 year-old man, Ric Hoogestraat, who created his own male avatar named Dutch Hoorenbeek. He soon meets another female avatar and established a close Second Life friendship … then relationship, and subsequently a marriage with avatar Tenaj Jackalope, who is controlled in real life by Janet Spielman. As Hoogestraat spent more and more time in Second Life and his avatar spent more and more time with Jackalope, he spent less time with his real life wife, Sue Hoogestraat.

As one might imagine, the real life wife became jealous, and Sue Hoogestraat’s children are quoted as saying that the real life marriage is “beyond repair.” According to family law experts and marital counselors, though, the Hoogestraats’ deteriorating marriage is not an isolated case. The article cites that an increasing number of marriages are crumbling because of “virtual infidelity.” This begs the question, if virtual marriages are causing real life marriage trouble, are the virtual marriages all that virtual?

So far, many of the reports about Second Life and other worlds have focused on the economic, marketing, and social opportunities of these worlds. Not much has been written about the potentially negative consequences of these worlds. The possibility of a world that doesn’t even exist to cause a marriage rift seems incredible. Then again, many other fast growing forms of technology have come with their own set of undesirable side effects. As great a tool as the internet is, a slew of problems have come with it as a result of the enormous inappropriate and sometimes dangerous content that is available to anyone. However, the obvious benefits far outweigh any possible negatives.

It will be interesting to see how much the culture of virtual worlds affect the real world. It presents amazing possibilities for social interaction; never has it been easier to interact side by side with someone who is on the other side of the country, much less the other side of the world. Companies can now hold real business meetings in virtual conference rooms.

Given that some analysts say that this current growth is only the beginning of the boom, we can expect even greater potential for more virtual world, and in turn real world, opportunities. However, one question that may be asked down the road is “Do virtual world opportunities enhance or take away from the real world?”

If you ask Sue Hoogerstraat, the answer is probably the latter. If the marriage does end up in divorce, her husband may have effectively traded his real world wife for a virtual one. “The other life is so wonderful; it’s better than real life. Nobody gets fat, nobody gets gray. The other person that’s left can’t compete with that,” said Sue Hoogerstraat.

Sue brings up an interesting point. Many analysts have said that the main reason people choose to get into virtual worlds is because it is an escape. As a result, more and more people are spending 12 to 14 hours in virtual worlds. When people spend the majority of their day in these worlds, it can be easily argued that they are investing more time and energy in their virtual life than they are in the real life. Whether it’s because people are dissatisfied with their real lives or because worlds like Second Life provide a new alternative to reality.

I think that as the popularity of virtual worlds increase, so will the side effects; with virtual marriages and friendships coming at the expense of real world ones. It is likely that in the present and future that for most users, these worlds will become a powerful medium of social interaction that opens up all kinds of doors and opportunities. As the Hoogestraats remind us, for more than a few, virtual worlds have the potential to present a variety of real life problems. Even so, it’s hard to argue that the positives don’t outweigh the negatives. 

Three months ago, I had no idea what a virtual world was, much less what Second Life was. Now after logging in and creating an avatar for now too many worlds than it seems I can even count, I am convinced that I have learned more about business and virtual worlds in this internship than I learned in an entire semester of high school biology. It’s been quite a change.

On the one hand, the concept still seems strange. Why spend real dollars on items inside a world that doesn’t even exist? It seems very backward. One other surprising aspect is how fact these worlds have grown. Two years ago, many of these worlds hardly even existed. Now, many worlds have more than a million users.

Second Life, arguably the biggest out of all the worlds, has a population of over 8 million. While many of Second Life’s users have more than one avatar - the number of unique users in Second Life is closer to 2 to 3 million, rather than 8 - anyway you cut it Second Life’s user base growth is incredible. Perhaps even more incredible is the fact that more than 50 companies have launched projects in-world as advertising ventures, even though there is still relatively little research that has been done on the advertising potential of these worlds.

This in itself is interesting to me. Why would companies like Coca-Cola and Nike, which can (and does) advertise in any medium that it so chooses, decide to invest in a world that’s still a relatively unknown entity? It at first seems like a gamble. I think one reason is because five to ten years from now companies don’t want to look back and realize they missed the boat on something big. As a result, lots of companies have gambled and established presences in-world. This has in turn helped these worlds grow, which may very well make it a worthwhile investment for the dozens of companies that have gotten in.

I’ll be very interested to see how virtual worlds progress in the coming years. Some still predict that worlds like Second Life are simply a passing fad and that soon the supply of these numerous worlds will outweigh the demand. Others say these virtual worlds will become what the Internet was in the 1990’s, and we may see people worried more about their virtual worlds than their real ones. (Who needs expensive beach front property when the market in Second Life is far cheaper?)

Realistically, I think the future lies somewhere in the middle. I don’t think we’re going to see virtual worlds become as big as the internet, but neither will they simply fade away and be forgotten in the next six months. Virtual worlds will play a significant role in social culture, but not as extreme a role as some analysts have predicted. It may be that a few of these smaller worlds fold or merge with larger worlds, but I think overall we will see different worlds that target different types of audiences.

In the more near future, I think these worlds will only continue to grow, and more businesses will look to launch projects in-world. Virtually any analyst will tell you that these worlds are far from peaking. It makes sense for media companies to continue to research these worlds, because the demand for advertising will continue to grow, just as the number of users in these worlds. Perhaps the only question is just how much these worlds will grow. 

We all know that the current generation of children are going to have a different view of the world and the role of technology in our lives. My kids already want me to “rewind” the radio or anything not hooked up to a TiVo.

Now enter the newest phenomenon - part Gigapet, part Beanie Babies, part Second Life. They are called Webkinz and they are taking over the world.

What does Webkinz have to do with user experience and online marketing?

Unlike other stuffed animals, Webkinz come with a secret code that you enter online to unlock “a world where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!” And not only does it have it’s own currency system like Second Life, but it has a virtual world where kids can interact with each other.

I think Webkinz is interesting for various reasons. It’s not just a well masterminded plan to suck parents wallets’ dry with another collectable; the site itself is addicting for both kids and parents (my wife tries to earn KinzCash in order to buy more stuff for “Sparkles” room)

While there are lots of great marketing ideas that are pushing the growth of Webkinz, the point of this post is that these types of websites are changing the way even the youngest of kids expect to interact online. My daughter is almost 6 and is already part of an online community! She and my son (4) have also been using websites like Noggin.com and Playhouse Disney for the last couple of years. Not only do these sites have games, but they have tons of video content and rich interactivity.

These types of sites are changing the way the next generation will expect to interact with the web. I fully expect that in a couple years we are going to have a good laugh when they say “Daddy, what’s a web page?”

This week, the Behavioral Research Department says goodbye to our summer interns – CarterAllen and MetalStorm001. Both have played key roles in the success of our summer Virtual Worlds Research Program. Together, they have conducted research on marketing, branding and avatar behavior in a range of virtual worlds including:

• HiPiHi
• Doppelganger
• Habbo Hotel
• ToonTown 
• There.com
• Entropia
• Kaneva
• RuneScape
• Whyville
• And of course, Second Life

MetalStorm001 and CarterAllen have become so immersed with in-world experiences that I refer to them by their avatar names here. But just before I send them back to school and back to the realities that come with the real world, I wanted to ask them a few questions about their virtual world experiences so far. Here’s what they had to say.

What is your favorite virtual world and why?

CarterAllen: Kaneva was my favorite, mainly because they seemed to merge the real world with the virtual world. Many of these worlds, like RuneScape or Entropia, are so far out that they hardly seem possible, and these fantasy aspects are why they’re such a big draw for many users. However, Kaneva combined aspects of a virtual world like Second Life with aspects of a 2D social networking site like MySpace, and this made the world a sort of halfway point between the virtual world and the real world. It’s targeted specifically at users who are less interested in extensive fantasy worlds, but more interested in spending time online for social interaction.

MetalStorm001: I would choose There.com. There are several reasons. A)  There is a very large area of land to explore and many cool themes for islands and such. Such as an island designed to look like an alien planet and a city called Saja, which is located above the ground, floating in the sky. B) I like that in There.com, if you do not pay for the subscription, you can level up your skills to get awarded free stuff. That way, even if you don’t want to spend money on the game, you can still customize your avatar and have your own house. C) I also enjoy that there is always an activity being held somewhere in There.com pretty much all the time, all you have to do to find people is look for an activity in the activity bar. D) I also love that real bands come into the game to play in concerts that you can attend. E) I also like the ability to customize your avatar in many ways, from changing their appearance, to whatever you want them to wear, from goofy clown noses to cool t-shirts.

What is the most surprising thing you learned in your virtual worlds research this summer?

CarterAllen: The most surprising aspect for me is how fast these worlds are growing. For instance, Second Life has grown from 6 million avatars to 8 million avatars (a 25% increase) in the last two months. Yet, more than anything else, it almost boggles my mind that people are willing to spend their hard earned dollars on virtual items (land, houses, clothing, concerts) that don’t even really exist. More than $1.25 million real dollars are usually spent in world in Second Life on a day to day basis. This is proof more than anything else that virtual worlds are more than just a passing fad. 

MetalStorm001: First, I’m surprised that so many people take virtual worlds very seriously and spend a large portion of their time in world. Second, I’m amazed that the amount of custom made items is almost infinite… I mean, I have ridden on everything from a sports car to a giant floating Great White Shark! Thirdly, I learned that no two virtual worlds are the same, even though some strive for the same goal as their competitors.

Will you go in world after you leave this internship?

CarterAllen: Honestly, probably not. This is partly because I think if I picked up virtual world browsing as a habit, I don’t know how I’d ever get anything else done at college. The other part is that, while I’ve immensely enjoyed researching and learning about these worlds over the last three months, it’s still not something where I’ve then felt like, “Wow, this is something that I have to get into.” For me, the concept of a virtual world where people actually interact, much less spend money, is in itself almost surreal and challenges our traditional view of reality.

MetalStorm001: Yes, There.com is entertaining and I would like to continue playing after I leave my internship here at Spunlogic. Probably, because I have it on my computer and a couple of my friends play. If my friends didn’t play, I probably wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t know anybody and it’d be complete strangers online. I will also go into World of Warcraft after my internship, because I’m currently paying for that game and I find it very entertaining and fun to play.

What are your thoughts on the future of virtual worlds? How will they change or evolve?

CarterAllen: I think the evolution of virtual worlds over the next five years is going to be very interesting. Like most somewhat controversial issues, there are distinct positives and negatives that come with these booming virtual worlds. On the positive side, worlds like Second Life have created virtual meeting spaces for businesses. This never before has been possible. Two people from opposite ends of the world can now interact and hang out in the same club, side by side. The social networking possibilities are limitless. At the same time, virtual worlds may open up a new can of worms that even ten years ago we never could have envisioned. There was an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal about a man whose real-life marriage is on the ropes because of his Second Life relationship with another woman. I think it’s a given that virtual worlds are going to grow like wildfire in the next few years. Whether that’s such a good thing or not remains to be seen.

MetalStorm001: Virtual Worlds will never die. They provide us with an alternative with which to escape from reality and become someone other than ourselves. I think more companies will get in, even though a lot of companies are already in-world. People will always play, but if they keep making more virtual worlds, eventually there will be too many. There are already some that aren’t making it because there aren’t enough people going in them. With more and more virtual worlds popping up, they’re going to continue to run into that problem.  

So here is the story, I went searching for advertisements in the virtual world There.com the same way I do with most of the other worlds I’ve been assigned to find marketing and advertising in. My process is this: I go through the tutorial, I search the starting area, and then I talk to people to learn if anyone is aware of ads off the top of their heads. Then I navigate the rest of the world on my own in search of any signs of in-world branding.

Finding advertising in There.com took an especially long time since the world is actually quite large. However, as you’ll see, what I found in my exploration of the world is a blend of real advertising and user-generated product placement.

The Tower is a virtual world club where bands play and people come to listen, dance, and talk. This is just one example of a band that was playing in-world while I was researching.

I found a bunch of people wearing X-Games t-shirts and even came across X-Games-branded hoverboards. Are they holding their own version of the X-Games in There.com? Or, are they just using the game to promote them?

This was one of the arcades I came across. I did notice that the names on the video games were changed, likely to avoid copyright infringement.

Advertisements on benches are common in real life (or RL, as we say in virtual world speak). Apparently they’re also popular in There.com.

Yes, this is a Playstation 2 on top of the Television. The Sony logo on the side is missing (replaced by some illegible logo) - but it’s clear as day that’s what it is.

Again, changing the name slightly on the product, this can of “RAID” bug killer, has been modified to R.AID bug killer. (Oh, and just in case you were wondering … my avatar is wearing a fox costume and a jetpack … hey, an avatars gotta have some fun.)

It drives me crazy how much the product names/logos change in this world. But, hey, it’s still advertising a product. Here I am actually behind the counter of a bar looking at a Carona (Corona) sign.

There.com is a very large virtual space. In fact, as I was wrapping up my research I discovered that there were four or five other islands that I didn’t even know about.

Still, as I continued to explore I kept finding more and more examples of advertising in-world. And, since much of it was user-manufactured, there are real opportunities for the actual brands to come in with legitimate branding.