Forbes.com has paired with Cisco in the launch of a social network geared towards business professionals. The AnswerNetwork , launched in beta, is "Forbes.com's first online social network designed for the person-to-person exchange of knowledge and expertise among business executives, friends and relatives seeking to share and obtain specific knowledge," according to a press release. Also, users will get credits for responding to questions. A spokesperson told me Cisco,

With Mother's Day coming up, a search for "mother" in my personal e-mail inbox turned up these marketing pitches. Some come from the usual suspects, while others aren't so ususal.

Thank DoubleClick for this nifty tool: a widget that calculates the value of a widget . Google's Ari Paparo, previously DoubleClick's VP, advertiser products, brought it to marketers' attention yesterday at IAB's digital video leadership forum. He participated on the panel, "Format Wars No More." When asked if brands will start tracking mentions on Twitter, Ning, and other social applications, Paparo pointed out that tracking is fairly easy to do.

How long will online video ads, on a CPM basis, cost more than television ads? "It's driven by a dearth of quality produced video online," said Nick Johnson, NBC's VP, national sales, Internet and broadband. "It's a marketplace supply and demand story," said Johnson, speaking at the IAB's Digital Video conference today in NYC. He said the costs will likely remain higher, for now, as long as consumers respond better to online video ads than television ads.

The Web Analytics Association )WAA( elected its 2008/2009 board of directors. Those with board positions are listed here . Last year there was an effort to enact a changeover of directors , and it looks like it happened again without much of a push. About half of the board is new, and several of the incumbents are sophomore directors. The new and fresh members in power is a good thing as it means new and fresh ideas for the WAA.

With the dust settling around Microsoft's abortive bid for Yahoo, one thing's quickly becoming clear: The self-destruction of this particular takeover attempt is not the end of Yahoo's odyssey but merely a mid-way point. Analyst and blogger speculation this morning has anticipated a variety of outcomes for Yahoo, including a deal with News Corp )though talks have reportedly "cooled"(, an acquisition of ValueClick, and even a late third act consummation with Microsoft.

I had a blast at the Kelsey conference in Seattle last week. In addition to news coverage from the event, here are a few tidbits I found interesting: SubPrime Auto Loan Lead Gen Potential Cars.com founder and CEO Mitch Golub suggested there's room for a new vertical in the local auto lead generation space: subprime auto loans. Because, according to Golub, 50 percent of car buyers don't qualify for prime loans, "I guess that's another vertical to be developed.

In conjunction with finalizing its Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines , the Interactive Advertising Bureau has unveiled a compliance program à la TRUSTe. The new guidelines were proposed a month ago , and nothing in those original guidelines has changed following a comment period. According to the IAB press release, "The IAB suggests that compliant member sites post the compliance seal in their online media kit as well as in their print versions.

Microsoft today withdrew its bid to acquire Yahoo, opting against raising its offer $5 billion more or pursuing a hostile takeover. Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer, in a letter to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, said he was concerned that Yahoo would take actions that would make the company undesirable to Microsoft. Of particular concern: Yahoo's decision to test Google's search ads on its own results pages, and the possibility that Yahoo would work more closely with Google on paid search.

Microsoft and Yahoo continue to negotiate heavily through the medium of the Wall Street Journal, forcing reporters Kevin Delaney, Matthew Karnitschnig, and Robert Guth into spastic repetition of the word "could." Microsoft could announce it's backing out of the deal, we heard yesterday. The word this morning is it's leaning toward going hostile as early as today, but "could change tack." Meanwhile, Yahoo could announce an expansion of its Google search ad trial by next week .

To help monetize its substantial U.S. readership, Times Online has set up an ad-sales office in New York, reports NMA.co.uk. The office will work closely with News Corps's recently acquired Wall Street Journal, and offer cross-selling advertising opportunities across both publications in recognition of the demographic overlap of their readerships.

Small and mid-tier businesses have long gravitated towards direct response marketing like yellow pages ads and dedicated phone numbers on late night cable ads. Startup Mixpo hopes they'll want the same action-oriented approach when it comes to Web video. Online video advertising "is going to start going in that direction," suggested MixPo President and CEO Anupam Gupta.

Google lined up nearly 70 artists, fashion designers, and other creative types to contribute art work for iGoogle pages. The move appears to be just another sign that Google is working to make its site a destination. Marissa Mayer, Google VP, search products, unveiled iGoogle Artist Themes at a reception Thursday night in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, a few blocks away from Google's NY headquarters. Notable contributors include artist Dale Chihuly, U.K. rock band Coldplay,

Media executives at "The New Kings of Media" breakfast in NYC debated the future of user-generated content, including who will pay for the stuff. John Rose, managing director of the Boston Consulting Group, had an interesting theory. He sees UCG heading into two directions: public and private content. In most cases, content developed and viewed by the public will have to be ad supported, he said,

As expected , Google has begun offering TV ad production and placement services to all AdWords advertisers. The public launch indicates the company has partially resolved the inventory problems that plagued the program in its early months, though it's still only pushing ads to customers of its DISH and Astound cable partners. Google's demo, viewable here , shows how advertisers can choose programs and networks, fix day parts, secure production services, and schedule campaigns.

A day after Senator Barack Obama denounced his former pastor and his statements, a search for "rev. wright" brought up these sponsored results: The first to appear comes from PreachingSermonsToday.com. The site says it has over 300 sermons for sale, including the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s " The Audacity to Hope " speech. It's available as a Word file for $4.95. Another paid link, labeled " The Audacity of Hate ,

IAC's media and advertising revenues enjoyed a Q1 boost thanks to the company's renewed ad partnership with Google. Ask.com improved both its revenue per query and overall revenues during the period, "even excluding the benefits of the renewed contract." However it's clear from IAC's statement that the company's buddy up in Mountain View deserves much credit for its solid search performance, especially considering total queries were down.

Curbed Network, an urban real estate blog, takes possession of Gawker Media's Gridskipper travel blog tomorrow. On the phone with Curbed president Lockhart Steele today, he mentioned Gridskipper will go into "quasi-hibernation" until it relaunches before Memorial Day. )Steele is Gawker's former managing editor, while Gawker's Nick Denton has a stake in Curbed.( Count on Gridskipper, billed as "the urban travel guide," to pare back its coverage of smaller cities such as Austin,

The MET in NY has a special exhibit right now Jeff Koons on the Roof , which possibly I can see a glimmer of from the roof of my building. Possibly that's why Google's doodle of the day is inspired by the work of the same artist. Google has collaborated with almost 70 artists to create iGoogle art themes. Artists, designers, rock stars, pop stars, dancers, and athletes are involved: Jeff Koons, Dale Chihuly, Coldplay, Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana,

Shouldn't marketing be more than just going through the motions? Over coffee the other day, one of the top e-mail consultants in the country told me about a surprise revelation from a client, one of the major broadband providers in the country. She's charged with an e-mail retention program aimed at the telco's broadband subscribers. So naturally you'd think that the more subscribers who re-upped their annual contracts, the better the program was performing, right?