YouTube Registration Act in South Korea

According to a new regulation, YouTube users in South Korea are required to provide their identification information before they are allowed to post videos and other content on the media sharing site.  The public has responded that Google, who owns YouTube, is compromising its user’s freedom of speech on the Internet.  This follows right after last week’s incident of China blocking access of YouTube to its citizens, leading us to wonder if more governments will try to regulate content on the Internet, for social or political reasons.

South Korea which has the highest number of broadband connections per capita may have reasons to justify their new regulation.  In the country where 75% of households are connected to the Internet on broadband, cyberviolence (from harassment to online death-threats) is on the Internet are on the rise.There have been dozens of people indicted on charges of criminal contempt or slander for writing or spreading malicious online insults about victims.  Many victims of cyberviolence have lost their jobs, some even their lives, due to internet users marking them as pubic enemies.

“The idea is to make people feel more responsible for what they are posting on the Net,” said Oh Sang Kyoon, a director at the Ministry of Information and Communications. “Victims cannot live a normal life. They quit jobs and run away from society. They even flee the country. It’s like lynching victims in a ‘people’s court on the Web.’”

Google Setting its Sights on Twitter?

Industry observers believe that despite Google’s claim that it is “unlikely to buy anything (acquisition) in the short term partly because prices are still high”, there are a few good reasons for Google to acquire Twitter

• Twitter is fast becoming an important communications channel on the Internet.  It’s uptake rate surpasses many of its social media peers.
• An acquisition of Twitter will allow Google to tap into an estimated 4.5 million users (and growing!) and integrate its PPC program, Adwords.
• With the current economic situation, many companies are holding back on spending and the general lack of interest is causing Twitter’s valuation to drop.  Making it cheaper for Google to acquire it now.
• Most importantly, Twitter seems to be the frontrunner for social-based real time search.  An area where Google has been unable to make significant headway

If you can’t beat em, eat em up!

Google, WPP to Research Effectiveness of Online Ads

Google and WPP are coming together to study the effects online advertising has on a company’s sales and it’s brand in general.  Results from this study, lasting a period of 3 years, will be able to shed some light on “how ads in traditional and digital media work together to influence consumer choices”.

Besides attempting to prove the value of online advertising and convince business owners to more actively include it in their marketing mix, this study will also seek to allay fears of “traditional” markerters, some who often feel threatened by new media.

When Facebook Surpasses Google

Talk about the dominant web property 2 years ago and you would probably have thought of Google first.  As seen from the graph above, Facebook is slowly but surely catching up on the search giant.  There has been talk of Facebook surpassing Google and “killing it” in the process.  While I think that Google and Facebook offer  very different products, Google’s share of the search market may indeed be diminished by social-based, real-time search solutions.

It may be a good time to start thinking about how marketing on the Internet will be a totally different ballgame.  Facebook doesn’t even have to surpass Google in terms of usage, it can come close enough to convince marketers to take it seriously as an online communications channel.  I see a future where savvy internet marketers will employ real-time search marketing to go head-to-head with well-budgeted online advertisers.