Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

Do you see anything wrong with this HTML code for the Alexa Global Top 500?

All of their links are going to http.com instead of the proper address.

As 2006 comes to a close, a number of major search providers have released their top search queries. Even though the results may be heavily doctored, they’re still valuable insights into the PPC industry.

Yahoo: Britney Spears, WWE, Shakira, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, American Idol, Beyonce Knowles, Chris Brown, Pamela Anderson, Lindsay Lohan

Google: bebo , myspace, world cup, metacafe, radioblog, wikipedia, video, rebelde, mininova, wiki

Lycos: Poker, MySpace, RuneScape, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Pokemon, WWE, Golf, Spyware, Britney Spears

MSN Live: Ronaldinho, Shakira, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Harry Potter, Eminem, Pamela Anderson, Hilary Duff, Rebelde, Angelina Jolie

AOL: Weather, Dictionary, Dogs, American Idol, Maps, Cars, Games, Tattoo, Horoscopes, Lyrics

You can view the Top 10 Searches of 2006 spreadsheet on Google Docs, if you’d like. The data came from the following sources: Yahoo, Google, Lycos, MSN, and AOL.

Initial observation shows that searches are primarily dominated by celebrity terms, and that AOL’s searches are corrupted by their “AOL Keyword” search system. Google’s are likewise corrupted by what I suspect is manual filtering to produce tailored techie terms. Yahoo, MSN Live, and Lycos share 50% of their terms with others’ top terms, while Google and AOL come in last at 20% and 10% respectively, an indication of poor search quality.

I had a thought today about an awesome cellular application. Imagine taking Cingular’s cellular services and coupling them with your Facebook account. The idea would be to automatically synchronize in real-time streaming mode your facebook contacts to your phone. So, at any given time, you could automatically have all your friends’ latest phone numbers, their current profile photo, email addresses, etc.

There are three considerations to worry about here: Cooperation, Privacy, and Delivery/Integration.

Cooperation first, the Facebook API does not currently let a developer get a user’s phone number, mobile number, or email address. Cingular would have to come up with a special API licensing agreement with Facebook that would entitle them to this functionality, signing a strict non-disclosure and privacy agreement.

Privacy second, when Facebook adds new features, its users often become upset about perceived violations of their personal data. Were Cingular or another network and Facebook to work together, users should all be notified and allowed to opt out.

Delivery third, batch or manual synchronization won’t cut it. Cingular would need to install a resident process on the OS of its phones to listen for FacebookUpdateConnections and push out new content when Facebook updates. It can be done with batching and polling on the server backend, but to users it has to appear fresh and lively.

Suddenly this would be a big cross-licensing win for both companies, as users flock to the cellular provider so they can run Facebook on their mobiles, and cellular users start signing up for Facebook accounts to automatically manage their contacts. It’s a great use of the publish/subscribe model for the wireless and social networking world!