Brad J. Ward is an online communciations coordinator at Butler University. Though he hails from a small academic institution, he's unveiled a whale of a problem going on at Facebook )read, don't skim, for the exciting conclusion(. As high school seniors across the country are being accepted into Universities for the Fall 2009 semester, groups for 2013 grads are popping up on the popular social network. There's just one problem.

comScore's November 2008 search engine rankings are out and Google remains at the top, gaining on its share while AOL is the only other one to make gains, albeit slight, month-over-month. November's searches were down 3% from October, likely due to the elections being held at the beginning of the month. But unfortunately, the decline corresponds with online retail sales for the month . By the way,

If your business is global, then you likely have many documents in foreign languages. In order to help employees find documents in languages other than their first, Google has enabled cross-language searching for enterprise customers using the Google Search Appliance . Queries will be passed through a translation engine which will enable search in several languages. Users can choose the document to be returned to them in any of the available languages.

Instead of suing or shunning YouTube, Universal Music, the largest recording company in the U.S., is making tens of millions of dollars from music videos, according to CNET . They have a revenue-sharing agreement with YouTube for the ads the online video network has increasingly been displaying . And it's working. Universal's YouTube channel is the most-watched channel in YouTube history at 3 billion views, with artists like U2 and the Black Eyed Peas.

YouTube has enabled HD viewing following the recent format change to a wider layout for videos. In case you're HD unaware, high def videos require a widescreen format for optimal viewing. That's why all the fancy pants LCD HD tvs are widescreen. YouTube was prepping for HD videos online with the format change. Just click "watch in HD" under an HD-enabled video and it will automatically play in HD. You can also visit the new HD videos section to browse HD videos.

Google has launched visually optimized search results that are designed to fit the screens of the iPhone and G1 mobile devices. With the new look, users shouldn't have to zoom in or scroll side to side. The update was previously released on the iPhone , but only when you manually went to Google.com in the Safari browser. Now, for the iPhone, the new results page will appear when you use the default Google search box in the Safari browser. For the G1,

If you want to enable word-of-mouth marketing and social media marketing in the form of bookmarking, then adding SocialTwist's "Tell a Friend" button is a great way to do it. The reason I like SocialTwist's button is because it has a call to action "Tell a Friend." I know there are others, usually they include the word "Share." But I think "Tell a Friend" is more specific and concrete. Plus, users can, in fact, share what they've found on social sites Facebook, LinkedIn,

It's no secret that reviews and ratings can affect a customer's purchasing decision , and today, Nielsen Online has released data showing just how powerful those reviews can be. 81% of online holiday shoppers read a product review at some point during the shopping process.

Online coupons are hot, and they've become even hotter in a tight economy . It's no surprise to see two announcements today regarding the expansion of online coupons. Even more, these expansions are focused on social media and local search, which are also trends in the online marketing space. First up, Coupons.com has launched a Facebook application. Once installed, users can print coupons directly from their Facebook page and also share coupons with friends. Second, Local.

So you've heard about all of this landing page testing you're supposed to be doing and are delighted that Google offers a free testing tool - Website Optimizer. Still, you're not sure how to proceed, got stuck in your test setup or maybe don't know what the heck you're doing in the first place. Have no fear, the new Google Website Optimizer help forum has arrived. Popular questions will be pushed to the forefront, based on votes by the users.

Wifi-enabled mobile devices such as the iPhone , iPod Touch, G1 , and Blackberry Bold are driving the increase in accessing the mobile web via Wifi, according to new data released by Admob. Last month, mobile web requests via Wifi represented 8% of all mobile web requests. 19% of all mobile web requests were made by Wifi-enabled devices, up from just 9% in August. Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch dominates the field of total Wifi requests at 78%. In fact,

Just two and half months after releasing Version 6.5 , Google has launched the new version of AdWords Editor. Version 7.0 is now available for Windows and Mac. Be sure to back up your work before you upgrade. You can import your work into 7.0 once it's been deleted. Here's what to expect with the new version: First page bid estimates : AdWords Editor now uses first page bid estimates for your keywords. Minimum cost-per-click )CPC( bids are no longer used.

One of our readers, Marc Jones, asked me to update a blog post that I wrote back on March 19, 2007, entitled, " Yahoo! Finance Market Share 52 times Bigger than Google Finance ." Well, 'tis the season. So, Marc, here's an update from Matt Tatham of Hitwise : Business Information Sites Nov-08 Rank Website Domain Market Share 1 Yahoo! Finance finance.yahoo.com 29.63% 2 MSN Money moneycentral.msn.com 10.24% 3 CNN Money money.cnn.com 9.02% 4 Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com 3.

Following recent launches in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, AOL's advertising network, Platform-A, now reaches more than 160 million internet users in Europe. Platform-A was already reaching users in France, Germany, and the UK. According to comScore, Platform-A is ranked No. 1 in Finland, France, Norway and the UK; No. 2 in Denmark and Germany; No. 3 in the Netherlands and Sweden. Platform-A has consistently ranked as #1 in the United States.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I know you're busy and all, watching online videos between 9-5 during the week. It's a pleasure that you took the time to stop by when you could be watching vids of cute cats and dancing humans. At least, that's what you're likely to do according to Nielsen Online. 65% of online video viewers conduct their viewing during business hours. That would be 9-5 weekdays. 51% also engage in the habit during the weekends.

Live Search general manager Brad Goldberg is leaving Microsoft. His next venture will be heading up the online business at Peak6 investment company. Microsoft is promoting from within to replace Goldberg. Mike Nichols will fill the role next. Nichols has held roles with search engineering and strategic partnerships. Recently, Microsoft has added a couple of Yahoo's and promoted Yusuf Mehdi to senior vice president of online audience business.

Yahoo! will begin anonymizing the data it collects after just 90 days, according to a statement released by the company. The data includes search logs, page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks. "In our world of customized online services, responsible use of data is critical to establishing and maintaining user trust," said Anne Toth, Yahoo!'s Vice President of Policy and Head of Privacy.

If you are looking for corporate Christmas gift ideas )or Hanukkah gift ideas(, let me recommend 10 business books, search engine marketing books and search engine optimization books )that you may also want to give yourself as a present(. And unlike the typical book reviews, you can decide which business, SEM or SEO books are worth buying and wrapping up for the holidays by checking out the video interviews with the authors below,

Following quite closely in the footsteps of AOL's Bebo , Yahoo! has unveiled a new version of their email inbox, which incorporates social media. Starting with a limited beta release, Yahoo is opening Mail up to third-party applications such as Flixter, Wordpress, and Xoopit. Continuing on the theme of opening up products, Yahoo also announced advancements in the following products: My Yahoo! - Starting today, My Yahoo!

It's been a popular year for answers sites as well as adding answers to existing sites and now real estate search engine Zillow is getting in on the action. Their new feature, Zillow Advice, provides a much needed answers niche for an industry going through much upheaval. "In today's changing and unprecedented housing market, homeowners, buyers and sellers are hungry for advice and information," said Rich Barton, CEO and co-founder of Zillow.com.