Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 1/29 – 2/2

A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including YouTube’s future plans to share ad revenues with original posters of videos, Serph, a tool that helps you find what other people are saying on the web right now is open for beta testing, Yahoo! announces Brand Universe – a collection of 100 or so entertainment micro-sites, build good traffic and links with StumbleUpon, and finally, Digg scraps Top Diggers list in reaction to reports that top Diggers are being approached to submit stories for money.

Monday

• First Sign of YouTube Sharing Ad Revenues - Jennifer Slegg had predicted it and now follows up with a post confirming that is is happening – YouTube is working on ways to share ad revenue with those who upload videos. YouTube founder Chad Hurley confirmed to the BBC that his team was working on a revenue-sharing mechanism that would “reward creativity.” According to the BBC, the system would be rolled out in a couple of months, he said, and use a mixture of adverts, including short clips shown ahead of the actual film. Jennifer reminds us that there are other video sites that have offered various models of revenue sharing, but none with the massive number of eyeballs that YouTube can offer.

Tuesday

• Serph’s Up and Open For Beta Testing - Cameron Olthuis and Neil Patel’s company have developed Serph, a tool that helps you find what other people are saying on the web right now. As of yesterday they have officially gone from a closed beta to a more “open” beta. If you are interested in trying Serph, they are now letting people in. The idea behind Serph is that it allows you to track and monitor buzz as it happens in real time. The results are gathered from blog search engines, social media websites, social news websites and social bookmarking websites and include Technorati, Flickr, Yahoo Answers, YouTube, Digg, and Delicious just to name a few.

Wednesday

• Yahoo! To Build 100 Entertainment Micro-Sites – The New York Times reports that Yahoo! is planning to build 100 or so entertainment “brands” this year whose main purpose would be to pull together content from Yahoo’s sprawling array of online properties. The project is called “Brand Universe” with intentions to create online destinations that will draw large audiences around individual movies, television shows, bands, celebrities, games and other types of entertainment. The first such site is the Nintendo Wii with six to follow focused on Harry Potter, video games Halo and the Sims, television shows The Office and Lost, and Transformers.

Thursday

• Build Super Traffic and Links With StumbleUpon – Loren Baker explains how StumbleUpon is good a long term traffic builder for blogs, online businesses, and Web 2.0 services. He makes the following statement: “I make it a point to submit what I feel are some of the more original posts here at Search Engine Journal to StumbleUpon and let their members decide on the value of the posts. Usually, such submittals to StumbleUpon result in 400-1,000 referrals. On occasion, the referrals hit the 2,000 or 4,000 mark, over the course of a couple of days, depending upon the voting by SU members.” Where it can be frowned on to submit your own stories to Digg, it seems to be an acceptable practice at StumbleUpon. However I would add that unless you are submitting good content, you are not going to see the numbers Loren has.

Friday

• Kevin Rose Takes Away Power from Top Diggers – Heard it from Andy Beal first that Digg is scrapping the Top Diggers list, believing the move will take away the perception that just a few hundred Diggers control the majority of submissions each day. Andy goes on to say, “While Rose suggests Digg will introduce new ways to connect it’s users, this might certainly alienate the very users that have helped grow Digg. Whenever you take away a level of status, or prestige, from your loyalist supporters, you risk them finding a new place to reside.” This move is obviously in reaction to reports that top Diggers are being approached to submit stories for money.