Patricio Robles

Whither celebrity endorsements?

In this tough economic environment, it's no surprise that big brands are thinking more carefully about celebrity endorsements.

After all, celebrity endorsements don't come cheap, they don't always deliver and, as we've seen recently, sometimes celebrities' bad decisions put them at odds with the values of the brands they're paid millions to represent.

by Patricio Robles 18 February 2009 09:53am 0 comments

Some charges against Pirate Bay tossed in copyright mega-case

Pirate Bay, the Swedish website known for hosting one of the largest indexes of pirated BitTorrent files, is embroiled in perhaps the copyright battle of the century.

Unlike many websites that engage in or facilitate alleged the sharing and downloaded of pirated content, The Pirate Bay has managed to stay in business since 2004 despite its visibility. And as record labels and studios see it, Pirate Bay is a business, complete with management and investors.

by Patricio Robles 17 February 2009 17:13pm 2 comments

How to lose respect and redirect users

Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, is one of the best-selling self-help books ever published.

One might suspect that Justin.tv, an online video startup based in California, is writing its own book, How to Lose Respect and Redirect Users, after it was discovered that the company is redirecting its users to porn sites when they search for certain keywords.

by Patricio Robles 17 February 2009 09:32am 2 comments

How to avoid deadbeat clients

I responded to a post on the Econsultancy forums the other day which dealt with an issue most of us have had the misfortune of dealing with at some time or another: deadbeat clients who haven't paid their bills.

In tough economic times, businesses and contractors providing services to others need to be extra vigilant about deadbeat clients because there are simply more of them out there.

by Patricio Robles 17 February 2009 08:50am 6 comments

Reports: ITV looking to end friendship with Friends Reunited

In December 2005, ITV purchased social networking pioneer Friends Reunited for £120m plus an earn-out of £55m. At the time, Friends Reunited had 46m registered users, an impressive number that made the husband-and-wife creation one of the largest social networks in the world.

As competing social networks like Bebo and Facebook gained prominence, Friends Reunited stuck to a subscription model. And despite losses in users and traffic, the service pulled in £22m in 2007, making up a hefty chunk of ITV's online revenue.

by Patricio Robles 16 February 2009 16:30pm 1 comment

LinkedIn's traffic grows rapidly but is its value dropping?

With the global economy still in a tailspin and waves of layoffs still hitting major industries, it's no surprise that websites catering to professionals and job-seekers are increasingly popular.

After all, business and jobs become far more important when business is harder to build and jobs are harder to come by.

by Patricio Robles 16 February 2009 09:47am 3 comments

Seth Godin: 5 tips for better online surveys

One of the reasons I often find Seth Godin's advice to be useful is that it's usually so simple.

When it comes to online surveys, Seth has a few common sense tips that seem obvious but, not surprisingly, are usually not implemented. I felt they were worth posting here, along with several suggestions of my own.

by Patricio Robles 16 February 2009 12:40pm 5 comments

Is Google testing SearchWiki with AdWords?

Late last year, Google unveiled SearchWiki, a new set of features that enable Google users to re-rank, delete and comment on results that appear on Google search.

A Google spokesperson stated that SearchWiki is "a new way to empower users" and to let them add their "personal touch to our algorithms."

by Patricio Robles 16 February 2009 10:01am 1 comment

How Twitter can make money from commercial accounts

In recent posts, I've discussed Twitter and the ways companies are attempting to use it to drive business.

As much as I think Twitter is one of the more interesting social media platforms out there, I'm admittedly skeptical about its ability to charge fees, especially when it comes to commercial accounts.

by Patricio Robles 13 February 2009 12:08pm 3 comments

Kiss your duplicate content worries away

Duplicate content is one of those SEO issues that can be a real pain to deal with. While Google says it doesn't 'penalize' duplicate content unless the duplicate content is clearly the result of malicious behavior, that doesn't stop webmasters and SEOs from worrying about it.