Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 11/20 – 11/24

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including a recent court ruling that protects bloggers, forum owners and publishers from comments or content contributed from people other than themselves, Google stock surpasses the $500 mark, a new site featuring animated Flash movies launches and popular video blogger ZeFrank gives his tips for enduring the Thanksgiving family gathering.

• Bloggers, Forum Owners and Publishers Protected from the Actions of Others – MSNBC reports that the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that bloggers and participants in Internet bulletin board groups cannot be sued for posting defamatory statements made by others. This is good news for forum owners, bloggers who have comments enable or anyone else who provides the opportunity for others outside their control to publish comments and opinions on their site. It is the old “the son shall not suffer the sins of the father” rule. “Subjecting Internet service providers and users to defamation liability would tend to chill online speech,” today’s unanimous ruling said.

• Google Stock Surpasses $500 Mark – Shares of Google stock passed $500 for the first time after profit almost doubled in the last quarter reports Bloomberg. Analysts predicted the stock may gain another 20 percent. If you recall, when Google went public in August 2004, stock was offered at $85 a share. reaching $506.43 yesterday, they join six other companies whose shares trade above that level. So if someone would have invested, let’s say, $100,000 initially, they would have acquired about 1,176 shares of Google stock that would now be worth $595,562, a profit of $495,562. Not bad for a two year investment.

• Animated Short Film Site Launches – If you enjoy short animated Flash films, AniBoom may have just what you are looking for. Although the site has been live since late September, they officially launch today and in doing so are holding a content for the most highly rated films. $25,000 goes to the winner and five additional $5,000 prizes to runner-ups. Aniboom describes itself as a “cross-media, cross-platform animation content project.”

• ZeFrank’s on Thanksgiving – Because of the three day work week (for most) due to the Thanksgiving holiday, news was short as well but I leave you with ZeFrank’s tips on how to handle the annual Thanksgiving gatherings with the family.