R&R Partners: Build the Brand, Protect the Brand

Google released two small, but significant updates this week that I believe a lot of people could have easily missed. One is the Google Sidewiki, which is a new widget for the Google Toolbar that allows users to post and share comments publically on any website. This is great for users, and might be a little scary for webmasters and marketers that are sensitive to UGC. However, I think we can embrace the Sidewiki: think of it as a free 24-hour focus group for your website. I dig that.

Another noteworthy update to the Google search engine is the “Jump to” search snippet, thought to be a direct response to Bing’s Instant Answers feature. It’s a relatively small tweak that may make anchor tagging popular again in website development. “Jump to” now appears underneath the title of the websites that return in a search result, followed by direct links to important sections of that page.

In other news, Twitter gained a rumored $100 million in funding from a group of five investors. Speculators now say that the micro-blogging site is worth close to $1 billion.

I’ve been seeing more reports that teens are ditching Facebook, or at least carefully monitoring their privacy settings, to avoid their parents. Check out the Ad Age article which is the first one that I’ve seen reporting numbers on this phenomenon.

Mashable

SNEAK PEEK: Twitter’s Upcoming Retweet Feature [Pic]

Social Media Policies from 80+ Organizations

Google Tweaks Search Snippets, Fires Back at Bing

STATS: Has Twitter’s Growth Peaked?

Ad Age

Want Responses? Try SMS-Based Calls to Action

Marketers: Think About Fitting in Before Breaking Through

School’s Out: Are Students Taking a Pass on Facebook?

Are Your Ads Being Used to Drive Consumers to Ad-Free Services?

Microsoft Wants to Help Marketers Manage Messy Social Media

How Brands Can Build A Successful App Strategy

Who’s Watching Online Video, and What They’re Watching

Media Post

Study Finds Social Nets ‘Realistically’ Near Top Of 2010 Media Buying Plans

TechCrunch

Pandora: From Near-Death to Profitability in a Year

Google Hits Back At AT&T Over New Google Voice FCC Complaint

Let’s Kill The CPM

Anchors Away! Google Now Has Search Results Within Search Results

Fast Company

Report: Nine scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter

Verizon May Cancel Plans for Palm Pre

Wall Street Journal

Online High Schools Test Students’ Social Skills

Facebook Sets Deal to Provide Ad Data to Nielsen

Yahoo Sets Ad Campaign to Lure Back Web Users

Blogs & Other News Sources

Optimizing for the YouTube Search Engine

Employee Personal Brands: Who Is Your Human?

Google Fits Web With Meta Comments Engine: The Wiki That Goes Everywhere

Twitter Snags “Significant” Investment

Mobile Net Neutrality Moves to Policy Forefront

Intel Tries Anew To Built Its Smarts Into TVs