Twitter goes to Japan but can it make any money?

Twitter is going places. People are still talking about it and now it is launching in Japan. Interestingly, the Japanese service has ads, which Twitter has been experimenting with.

The Japanese site is a partnership between Twitter and Digital Garage, and it is Twitter in Japanese but with display ads.

Techcrunch reports that that there is already a Japanese buzz around Twitter with people using the English version, so it could be huge.

What's most interesting though is the ads. Twitter has been like Facebook in its early days -- ad free -- but as the service grows it will have to pay for itself and people will want to make money out of it.

The Twitter blog calls the ads "commercial experimentation" and, at launch, visitors to Twitter.jp will see media from two clients. One is a new book about Twitter being released in Japan, another is an automotive news service built on Twitter and sponsored by Toyota.

That isn't the only ad experimentation going on. Techcrunch again the other day reported that following a major outage users were spotting ads in their Twitter stream during the service difficulties.

Clearly developers were playing around and broke it, revealing what the wizard was up to... OK rubbish metaphor, the wizard was testing ads, suggesting a rollout is on the way. Japan is only more confirmation of that. It's always Japan, don't ask me why.

Like Facebook, Twitter looks like it is about to grow up. Will it be snapped up at the same time? Good question. There must be a lot of people looking it over, but as they do they are asking themselves on question at the same time -- can it go the distance/does it have a future?

It's a good one. Don't know the answer, but am quite enjoying this renewed interest in it.

We are at, as Rory Cellan-Jones on the BBC blogged the other day, at the tipping point. I mean we must be, because he was talking about it on the Today programme.

I think he was right when he said that Twitter is not really going to spread in the way Facebook does. It won't, it's different. I don't know how different it is, but clearly its appeal to geeks and the so-called digerati is strong.

It will be interesting to see what happens next advertising and all.

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Twitter as an early stage warning system for brands?

Interesting piece about how brands in the US are starting to use Twitter to monitor customer chatter and respond immediately. Are there any companies here in the UK doing that I wonder?

I doubt it somehow, but it is something that they will have to wake up to. Michael Arrington was writing on Techcrunch about problems with internet access firm Comcast. He was getting annoyed as we all do and started Twittering about it.

For a tech firm monitoring Twitter seems like a no-brainer. Key word filtering allows people to track conversations with relevant words using Tweetscan.

"Within 20 minutes of my first Twitter message I got a call from a Comcast executive in Philadelphia who wanted to know how he could help. He said he monitors Twitter and blogs to get an understanding of what people are saying about Comcast, and so he saw the discussion break out around my messages."

The conversation related in Comcast sending out a team out to fix my connection and apologise. OK, it helps that he runs a well-known technology blog, no doubt about it, and it is more than likely that the person who first got in touch knew that, still it points the way forward "as an excellent early warning system to flag possible brand implosions".

You really do have to watch those brand implosions, but he is right as Twitter is the pre-blog chatter. It is where people talk before maybe they go off and blog.

Like now. Ben Ayers Twitted about this, I read it, responded and have blogged on Brand Republic. Bingo.

Everyone knows how infuriating it is dealing with similar firms to Comcast in the UK, like my bete noir Virgin Media, which has the worst customer service in the history of the entire frakking world. Amoeba's had better customer contact centres, I swear to god.

Comcast is not the only firm at it. Dell is using it and apparently has a few people monitoring it.

There are others outside of the tech space. Southwest Airlines is doing things, using it to make announcements.

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Downing Street Twitter makes Guardian frontpage

If you were still wondering about Twitter, check out the front page of today's Guardian -- it has the Prime Minister's Twitter as Downing Street Twitter's from America.

It is not as the paper points out the most "illuminating" to begin with but it has got better. Well, it is a learning curve.

Partly it has improved as it gets more chatty ("The minor whirlwhind continues with the PM now chatting with Hillary Clinton. I'll try to post a photo of The Residence later"), which is what it should be. It should be a conversation and not as some have already pointed out an RSS feed (that said I'm looking at a number of news feeds on my Twitter page -- although granted these can overwhelm you ,including BR's own...).

Maybe an indication of how far it has got to go. The Downing street Twitter feed has 1,384 when the Guardian went to press and that has now risen by 148 to just over 1,500 (but hey it went up by five in a matter of minutes).

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Stop watching online you're ruining TV damn you

Preppy teen drama 'Gossip Girl' has been pulled from the web in the US as too many people are watching it online. That is apparently a problem for the CW network, which is worried that its web popularity will stop viewers watching it on TV - where people are supposed to watch it, damn it. Don't those pesky kids know anything?

This is, of course, among other things, all ironical as the show is named after an eponymous blogger - Gossip Girl.

I mean to stick some stuff in here about life imitating art or some such crap, but you get the idea.

The drama, a sort of cross between 'The O.C.' and 'Mean Girls' although really if you want to go back a lot further it is a carbon copy of Whit Stillman's 1990 film 'Metropolitan', which was about these preppy partying kids…

I digress, the show has been a massive hit online. Even ITV is getting its act together on this one and showing it on the web and last week signed Perez Hilton to write a column on its 'Gossip Girl' page where you can watch it online and preview forthcoming episodes.

But the show like everything else has been hit by the writers strike and has a long hiatus and so as it returns CW wants to ensure that the numbers are high and will not show it online until at least a week after it has aired on TV.

It's reverse hype or at least executives at CW, and the two parents of this young network CBS and Warner Brothers, are hoping so. They want the kids who have been downloading it on iTunes where it is hugely popular to sit in front of those old fashioned 40 inch flats screens and pay attention.



It's kind of odd, and has the feel of King Canute about it, as mostly we read about hyping things on the web, but the fear is that if no one watches the show on TV then the numbers will go through the floor and no numbers means no show period, no matter how many people are watching it on their laptop.

It is an important battle as the show pulls in a highly attractive youth audience. If this move fails and no one tunes in then this will be a short run for the second series of 'Gossip Girl', which will be a huge blow for network television as it will confirm it is struggling very hard to pull that youth audience away from the web.

It is important in other ways for the CW network as it tries to establish itself as America's fifth broadcast network after the big four. Its only a couple of years old essential after CBS and Warner merged their UPN and WB networks in 2006.

It could in all seriousness be a tipping point as the battle to retain the digital generation is lost.

Variety reports that for now, the decision to stop streaming new segments of 'Gossip Girl' applies only to the five episodes slated to air beginning Monday.

"This is an experiment," said Paul McGuire, exec VP of network communications for the C-Dub. "We need to grow the ratings for the show and we want to see if this helps move the needle."

While CW's plans might frustrate the average screenager or twentysomething viewer the more geeky out there will be on BitTorrent sharing their favourite shows with their friends.

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IAB launches overview of UGC/social media and advertising

The Interactive Advertising Bureau in the US has released a major report ahead of a conference on user generated content and social media advertising. It kicks off with a claim that shows how radically the online landscape has changed this last two years when it says that if you're not on a social networking site then you're not on the internet -- and that is as true for advertisers as it for consumers.

Its 'User Generated Content and Social Networks Advertising Overview’ looks at all areas of the one thing everyone wants to know how to crack. These last few weeks, it has been Twitter again and it will be interesting to see where that goes and how it develops and grows.

The report puts social media sites like Twitter at the centre of the user generated content, which began almost a decade ago with Open Diary. The first blogs became tipping points for this social media ground swell where "social networking is the ultimate manifestation of user generated content, and as such, holds more potential for growth than any other form of content on the web today".

Part of that is down to how it changes the dynamics of web relationships (to a degree) and puts content creation into the hands of the many rather than the few because of the proliferation of cheap, quality and easy to use technology.

However, the report is right when it says that while this has led to a growth in content from individuals and groups, what it hasn't done is filtered through to brands and agencies whose fears and unanswered questions keep them from taking full advantage of this changing dynamic.

And there is a lot to take advantage of. In 2006 UGC sites attracted 69m users in the US alone, and in 2007 generated $1bn in advertising revenue. That is just the thin end of the wedge. By 2011, UGC sites are projected to attract 101m users in the US and earn $4.3bn in ad revenue. Still, obstacles remain that prevent advertisers from taking advantage of this dynamic new medium. In the UK as well the numbers are good, such is the fervour and interest in social networking.

The report shows how relevant UGC is at all levels, demonstrating why brands should care. It isn't all about geeks on Twitter and kids on Bebo. At the very sharp end of consumer interaction some of the most popular and successful (and obvious as well for that matter) UGC social media sites are review sites where consumers share their brand experiences, which is something that extends across about every area you can think of and is set to extend further still.

In October 2007 a Nielsen study found that consumer recommendations are the most trusted form of advertising around the world. Over three quarters of respondents from 47 markets across the world rated recommendations from consumers as a trusted form of advertising. Compare that to 63% for newspapers, 56% for TV and magazines, and 34% for search engine ads2. Review sites are frequently where consumers go to find those recommendations, making them an important place for marketers to have a voice.

The report looks at some of the biggest sites on the web for this kind of thing, namely electronics site CNet and automotive site Edmunds.com.

CNet and Edmunds are both a decade plus old and include a lot of content from professional editors, but alongside those are the consumer or user reviews that you'll find on any number of other sites like Amazon or Reviewcentre.com.

Another good example the IAB gives is Conde Nast's food and wine site Epicurious.com. According to CondeNet, of almost 100,000 recipes in Epicurious.com's database, 92% have ratings and/or comments. In addition to these reviews, over half of the recipes in the Epicurious database are user submitted.

These sites are good models as they're long established and they have already progressed a long way through the learning curve. They have established what is dubbed "user agreements" that ensures that the user reviews on the site are a high standard and don't contain any defamation, profanity, threats, illegal or inappropriate content.

That seems to work as Edmunds says that less than 1/10 of 1% of all user comments are deleted, and only a small percentage of those are for profane or derogatory language (most are the result of salespeople posing as customers).

So while review sites by nature foster an honest, consumer-led discussion about product and service experiences, they are not the “wild, wild west”. While advertisers cannot be guaranteed they won't be advertising alongside a negative comment about their brand, they can reasonably assume their ad will not sit next to profane or defamatory content.

On the blogging front the HuffingtonPost and Gawker network gets credit for showing where that particular side of social media can go and how blogs in particular could develop into news businesses combining professional salaried teams with UGC.

The change in the online landscape has had a major impact on where the ad dollar goes --- namely that the dollar is being spread among an increasing number of vertical sites.

The IAB cites Avenue A/Razorfish as saying that in 2007 adspend was distributed across 1,832 websites, more than double the 863 properties on which the agency purchased media in 2006. More importantly UGC sites, predominantly blogs and "owned and operated" sites, were playing an important role in niche ad networks such as Glam Media, iVillage's Sugar Network, and MarthaStewart's Lifestyle Network.

As AvenueA/Razorfish's 2008 Digital Outlook Report says: "One related area to watch closely is the growth of vertical ad networks. Martha Stewart Living's lifestyle network and Forbes' Audience Network are two recent examples of strong brands extending their reach by building out ad networks. It is a reasonable extension for brands and helps the smaller sites and blogs within a vertical network gain needed exposure with large advertisers. Look for more vertical ad networks in the year ahead."

What all that points to is the change in mindset that advertisers need to make and the issues that need to be thought about.

For instance, traditionally advertisers would take space, place it exactly where they wanted and have some control over the context. That is no longer the case and as the IAB puts it, "that lack of control can be a source of great anxiety for marketers. But it also represents an unrivalled opportunity.

"Advertising in UGC requires marketers to alter their approach. Instead of broadcasting one-way messages at their audiences, advertisers are compelled to engage in a conversation. Doing so carries risks, but failure to do so carries more."

And conversations can be risky and requires "those marketers to behave differently, or risk what can be very vocal disapproval from those consumers".

The IAB Leadership Forum on User-Generated Content and Social Media takes place in New York on June.

You can download 'User Generated Content and Social Media Advertising Overview' on the IAB.

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GTA a media event

It isn't just a game it's a media event -- at least that's that what I read. Some crazy Swedes are sleeping on the streets for two weeks outside their local video store, yes I'm talking about 'Grand Theft Auto IV'.

It doesn't come out until April 29, but already they're in tents. Come on it's weird. I know people who have pre-ordered it but that's reasonably normal behaviour.

If you have been living in an alternative universe where Pac Man is still the number one top seller then a quick recap.

The game created by Rockstar Games (surely the best name in video gaming) is the sequel to the 2001 'Grand Theft Auto III' and 'Grand Theft Auto Vice City' title, which was the biggest selling game on PlayStation 2. It beat all comers with its anarchic mix of driving and shooting in a world where gamers were free to explore at their own leisure if they did not fancy following the game's long and complex mission-based play.

It looked awesome. Even I played it and I hate games that largely involve driving, but the beauty of the title with its myriad of radio stations filled with talk and music, was its immersiveness. If you wanted to steal police cars (and who doesn't want to...oh wait just me then) and/or drag race in sports cars then you could. Or you could hold people up and do death defying jumps.



The latest incarnation for the Sony's PS3 and the Xbox 360 is on another level and already video-game analysts are forecasting that 'GTA IV' as it is known (which is confusing as there have been about seven GTA games in all) will be the biggest seller of 2008, selling millions of copies and outstripping previous versions that have sold 32m copies in the US alone.

The new game with its 16 multiplayer option has stunning looks and its own amusing game ads (for fictional products only…) complete with stores, bustling street life and Karl Lagerfeld as one of the DJs (he'll be playing some of his favourite tracks, which apparently include 'Too Much Love' by LCD Soundsystem), but best of all it looks like New York and apparently feels just the same in a digital vein.

The soundtrack, which was always one of the most fun things about the previous outings, will take things beyond the usual collection of 60s/70s/80s hits and showcase new music. You’ll also be able to download new music via Amazon.

I'm sure there are lots more, but whatever you do stay off the streets. Don't the Swedes have Amazon???

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Media drinks Kool-Aid with Obama

The story about the US media's bias in favour of Barack Obama won't go away, and now it has been accused again of displaying the worst kind of favouritism in decades. It is almost as if America's media is willing the story of an Obama victory to happen all at Hillary Clinton's expense.

It is a strange state of affairs and it isn't the first time the issue of bias against Hillary Clinton has been raised, with commentators making the point earlier in the campaign that misogyny is stronger than racism.

The US media has continually tried to write off one-time frontrunner Hillary Clinton and to push Obama and what he is perceived to embody: an American dream story of a young black man in the race for the ultimate goal of the White House.

The latest accusations of neutrality have been raised by Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, in an interview in the Financial Times today. The governor of the key state that votes next week has already endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Rendell said that the US media bias against the former first lady was "the worst [instance of favouritism] I have seen in my 31 years in politics".

He pointed again to the only media outlet that seems to be giving Hillary Clinton a fair crack of the whip was comedy show 'Saturday Night Live', which has reacted against the Barack media myopia that seems willing to overlook/gloss over his growing number of publicly exposed flaws.

"The media has drunk the Kool-Aid with Obama . . . they have fallen in love with the message and the messenger," said Rendell. "Clearly the producers of Saturday Night Live agree with that view."

Rendell singled out in the piece 24-hour news channel MSNBC for particular criticism and joking says that evening host Keith Olbermann "has to be on the Obama payroll" and that MSNBC was the "Obama campaign's official channel".

Olbermann isn't the only one though. Look at what is going on at NBC. An NBC anchorman congratulated an NBC reporter on air after he confessed he found it hard to remain objective covering Obama's campaign because his appeal was so "infectious".

On the right we already have Fox News, which makes no secret of its partisan coverage, and it seems the US liberal media is going the same way. There isn't, as Rendell says, any pretence to be objective, but rather the impression that it has bought Obama campaign message whole sale and is simply repeating it.
 

"They don't even pretend to be objective," said Rendell. "The media dislike the Clintons and harbour a lot of resentments against them."

All of the talk of bias has seen come at a crucial moment in the election. Hillary Clinton will win Pennsylvania handsomely, and Obama faces renewed scrutiny after his comments about "bitter" small-town Americans clinging "to guns or religion". Calamitous remarks.
 

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

More Twitter/Brand Republic Twitters

I blogged the other day about re-embracing Twitter. I'm trying and it seems to be working.

My appeal for followers (I'm hoping the Twitter cult thing doesn't end in a compound in the hills) has worked and although I didn't have many followers to begin with I have doubled the number. Result. Thankyou.

Hopefully this will continue to grow. Funny thing is a lot of people are asking the same question: working out why it is we are Twittering and what we can do with it.

One of the other things it's useful for is as a traffic generator, which, not surprisingly, is why we have put Brand Republic on Twitter.

There is news going up on the site all the time. You might already be using our RSS feeds, but if you want to follow Brand Republic on Twitter we're there.

I'm really interested to hear of other things that people are doing on Twitter. I think there are lots of opportunities, particularly as we all start to look and think more about mobile and what we will do with it.

But any other applications and uses for Twitter people have heard of - let us know.

A reason to read the Independent?

Editors change at national newspapers now and again, but today's confirmation that The Observer editor Roger Alton is taking over from Simon Kelner at the Independent, after fevered (okay, not brow mopping exactly) speculation, could be much more significant. Maybe it will present many who dismiss the current paper with a reason to read it.
Media Guardian first broke the story on March 4, maybe some will find some symmetry in the fact that the announcement has come almost a month later.

The Independent's gain is Guardian Media Group's loss. The Observer, for my money, is the best Sunday newspaper out there by a mile, and I await with bated breath to see what he does at the Independent -- a paper that I think is desperately in need of a makeover.

As you've seen in the news this morning, Alton is to replace Simon Kelner, who has most agree shifted the paper away from news to views (particularly on the front page), and it is going to be very interesting to see how he reshapes the paper.

Even more so it will be interesting to see what a Sunday editor who has chased hard news and splashed it consistently on the front page of the Observer during his stint as editor, does with a daily. Hopefully, it will mark a change in agenda at the Independent.

His arrival comes at a pivotal time in the Indy and its sister Sunday paper's history as two Irish tycoons fight for control of holding company Independent News & Media. Owner Sir Tony O'Reilly is committed to keeping them as his publishing Crown Jewels. The appointment of Alton and the need to press the case for keeping the papers only underscores that.

On the other hand, like a Western vendetta, rival billionaire Denis O'Brien, who has built up a considerable stake in Independent News & Media, wants to dump the papers, which could see them close.

What happens next could well determine the fate of the Independent.

As a committed Guardian/Observer reader, it will be interesting to see how much Alton is allowed to shape them.

Will politics, for instance come, into play? Alton backed the war in Iraq and is a leftish hawk. Not so the Guardian and not so the Indy, but a wider expression of those combative politics could make for a more interesting political landscape.

I for one will be watching with interest.

Oddly, enough no story about his arrival in the Indy today although the Financial Times does carry the story. Seems like something to shout about.

Failure to Twitter

Even Number 10 is at it now. Twittering is what I am talking about and although I have signed up for it, I cannot quite work up the enthusiasm. I think I'm digitally deficient and wondering what to do about it.

I keep noticing people on Facebook twittering. Rory Sutherland is a good twitterer, but I guess we all knew that already.

I signed up for Twitter ages ago as various people enthused about it, but at the time I was quite keen on Facebook updates. Yes, you guessed, now I am less keen.

But Twitter remains and as ground swell behind it grows it deserves more attention. Some people have really got into it, pouring out streams of Twitter posts or status updates.

This has seen it adopted by social media influencers and that is having an impact as people are starting to monitor it in the same way that blogs, forums and websites have previously been monitored.

There's a service called Tweet Scan that lets you do that. Apparently, you know if someone is worth monitoring (or if someone is a Twitterer of influence) if they have over 1500 people following their "tweets" on Twitter.

That potential audience, particularly of influential people who have journalists, bloggers and other commentators following them, could have a huge impact. It is certainly a larger audience than those enjoyed by a lot of blogs.

As that is the cool thing about Twitter. It is easy to follow and much easier to digest than a phone. I keep meaning to put it on my phone.

This has led to some interesting experiments. The Online Journalism blog has recently tried a little experiment of using Twitter to do a live-review of the Clay Shirky book 'Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations'.

It was an interesting experiment and was done, as Paul Bradshaw says on his blog, because A) he could; B) to see how viral it would go; and C) to see how social you could make that most anti-social of activities: reading a book.

It's kind of no surprise, in a way, what he discovered. It turned into a conversation as does any piece of online content - or publishing full stop for that matter. It is all conversation, but the immediacy and the ease of Twitter makes that process even easier. It is almost all conversation: the short sentences, those little utterances.

"As I twittered, other users chipped in with their responses, thoughts, and additions, like this, and this, and this. Others added leads based on the ideas mentioned, useful links and examples. And still others asked questions, which I then attempted to answer (”Does he acknowledge the role of bloggers in elevating the cases of missing persons who are traditionally given short shrift?” twittered Kim Pearson).

Updated: Tesco/Guardian and decision time for Carolyn McCall

Everyone's favourite newspaper chief executive, the Guardian Media Group’s Carolyn McCall, is in a bit of a tricky position. McCall is a non-exec on the board of Tesco, which is suing the Guardian over a series of stories about tax avoidance.

The Guardian has claimed Tesco has taken moves to avoid paying taxes by setting up offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. In a High Court writ the retailer is seeking special damages for "libel and malicious falsehood", citing complaints from customers.

If Tesco wins it could be a very expensive cheque that McCall, who was appointed a non-executive director of Tesco in March 2005, will have to write.

The question is how much longer can she sit on the Tesco board, which let’s face it must be a nice gig, with the possible burden of having to go to Tesco’s HQ in Cheshunt once in a while.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's executive director of corporate and legal affairs, said at the weekend that the retailer regretted the move, having failed to get the paper to back down - as it did when the Guardian had a first crack at this story last year, so the story goes.

The Tesco story has apparently caused ructions between McCall and Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger. The two have famously been close and by all accounts get on very well, which is the ideal relationship between chief executive and editor.

However, the two have been having words this time after the Guardian's first effort did not make it into print. The paper, however, continued to work on the story and eventually broke it in February, which has landed the paper with a legal tangle.

When it broke it sounded like a great story based on a long investigation, but if it unravels the price will be high. Still, the Guardian shows no sign of backing down and has accused Tesco of bullying and trying to stifle public debate.

In a statement the paper said: "This looks like a deliberate tactic by Britain's largest retailer to shut down perfectly legitimate inquiries into their methods of tax avoidance."

In a stock exchange announcement, Tesco said that it was not uncommon to use offshore companies for joint ventures with third parties.

Furthermore it pointed to other examples and claimed that the Guardian Media Group used a similar structure when it acquired Emap in partnership with private equity company Apax.

For the time being at least it appears that McCall is staying put at Tesco.

UPDATE: It's been a busy week for McCall one day you're drinking bubbly and being named winner of the 2008 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award and next you're resigning from the board of Britain's biggest retailer. Mixed fortunes indeed.

The battle lines are set and McCall clearly had no choice but to go. It is the Guardian that reports this morning that it is "understood" she resigned on Monday.

With McCall going it looks like no one is preparing to back down any time soon.

Tesco said earlier this week that it plans to use letters and emails from customers as evidence as it seeks damages".

The Daily Telegraph reported that within hours of The Guardian publishing its allegations, Tesco claims that it was contacted by customers.

One wrote: "Please find enclosed receipts for the drinks, etc for a cocktail party I am organising. I would have bought everything at Tesco, my nearest large supermarket, until I read of your policy of using the Cayman Islands to avoid paying tax in the UK. Instead I drove an extra half mile to Sainsbury's and bought everything there. My family will not shop at Tesco in future, which is no hardship as there are plenty of supermarkets in the... area. I am sure many others will feel the same way."

Another wrote: "Although we have shopped in Tesco Mold since its opening day we will no longer do so because of the company's tax evasion. None of our money will be going into offshore accounts. We hope to persuade our friends to follow our example."

Tesco said that attempts to reassure the former customer that the allegations were untrue were unsuccessful. The customer replied by sending Tesco a Guardian editorial printed the day after the original articles. "Below I have printed extracts from The Guardian. Do you have any appropriate counter-argument?" he wrote.

If they do I guess we'll see it soon enough. 

Google watch: Google makes job cuts

It isn't just the senior executives who are leaving Google, the internet firm says it plans to cut 300 staff from newly acquired DoubleClick and more in the future.That's 25% of US staff at DoubleClick who are going to lose their job. That seems like a lot out of a total US workforce of 1,200 (with another 300 around the world).

Out of a total 18,000-strong worldwide workforce it might only be 2%, but lay-offs in new media? At Google? Almost unheard of. Is this a sign of the slowing economy hitting Google? Is it watching the bottom line more closely?

I only say that as the news comes on the heels of last week's report that the growth in the number of US web users clicking on Google ads has begun to show signs of slowing down, with paid clickthroughs falling 3% in February.

At DoubleClick, those who are keeping their jobs are the ones that Google said "best fit with the company's business priorities" and the cuts are being made across the board and not targeting any specific DoubleClick department or job classification.

Google said in a statement: "As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in headcount at the acquired company."

The next round of cuts will apparently be made at the international division and if the scale is anything like the knife taken to the US business quite a few people could be losing their job.

As part of the integration of DoubleClick following the completion of the $3.1bn acquisition, Google is also selling off a search engine marketing business called Performics that came as part of the deal.

According to the Google blog, the search giant doesn't want to be in the SEM business. Phew. Some good news for people looking for a few breadcrumbs from the Google table.

"It's clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google's mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers. While we have not yet identified a buyer, we've received preliminary interest from a number of our current partners. Search Marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold."

I love the way that Google sells the idea of flogging off Performics without talking about the fact that it is a conflict of interest. One of the things that Performics does is advise sites on how to spend cash on advertising on Google raising questions of objectivity.

Performics basic job is to drive websites among the non-advertising results of searches, which is a sort after prized spot. It is also a business that Google has said it would not get into as it seeks to keep cash out of rankings. Paid rankings are only meant to appear in the "sponsored" links at the top.

All this as Google loses another top exec. Today it has been reported that Google's chief information officer Douglas Merrill is to join EMI he follows Sheryl Sandberg, Google's former vice-president of global online sales and operations, and Ethan Beard, who both joined Facebook.

Something up in the senior ranks?

The Murdochs and Obama

Poor Hillary Clinton has been under fire from Rupert Murdoch's New York Post throughout her Presidential bid, despite relations once being quite good, and now a clue has emerged why, as Elisabeth Murdoch is holding a fundraiser in London for Barack Obama.The Post has been bashing Clinton, recently taking great joy in hammering her over "mis-speaking" about a trip to Bosnia. The paper ran an article, datelined Sarajevo with the headline "Low blow lie".

The paper, which half-heartedly endorsed Obama in a lesser of two evils kind of way, told voters not to vote for Clinton in a unpleasant editorial back in January- saying her presidency would represent: "a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled years of the almost infinitely self-indulgent Clinton co-presidency. Does America really want to go through all that once again?"

It then presented Obama as the lesser of two evils, but warned its readers that: "For all his charisma and his eloquence, the rookie senator sorely lacks seasoning. Regarding national security, his worldview is beyond naive; America must defend itself against those sworn to destroy the nation.

"Again, we don't agree much with Obama on substantive issues. But many Democrats will."

You can tell it feels for those poor Democrats, but at least what the Post had to say about Obama is true enough: his worldview is scarily naive, but I guess if you say the hope enough you can brainwash even yourself.

Anyway, the New York Times reveals that Elisabeth Murdoch, who runs independent producer Shine, is holding a fundraiser at her London home this month for Obama.

Liz Murdoch is running the event with some London luvvies and other expats including Gwyneth Paltrow and David Blood, who runs an environmental investment fund with failed former Vice-President Al Gore.

Although apparently Matthew Freud has said that not much should be read into his wife's role as a host. "I don't think you can interpret the event as anything other than she is enthusiastic about Obama's campaign."

The odd thing is that across the rest of the Murdoch empire there are plenty of Clinton supporters, according to an analysis done by the NY Times.

Staff at News Corporation gave Clinton more than $100,000 in donations compared with about $80,000 for Obama.

Clinton supporters include James Murdoch, who contributed $3,450, although that was in 2006 when The NY Post endorsed her reelection in 2006 to the Senate, and Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp, who is a major fundraiser for Clinton.

Also Gary Ginsberg, Murdoch's chief spokesman, is a former assistant counsel in the Clinton administration.

But as the paper concludes, Murdoch is above all things a businessman and a pragmatist, a political scorpion at that, as his previous support for New Labour and Tony Blair has shown and his support is only worth the paper that people vote on.