In the face of the recently launched paywall access for both the Times and Sunday Times by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, there are rumours running amok across the internet that Google’s very own paid news content system "Newspass" is about to be launched.
The beta version is currently being trialled in Italy, but many major publishers worldwide believe it will be launched by the end of the year.
With subscription figures for The Times & Sunday Times yet to be disclosed by News International, publishers are looking for a saviour to bring in substantial revenue streams for their own news content.
So, could Google have the answer with Newspass?
The official line from Google at present is:
"We’ve consistently said we’re talking with news publishers about ways we can work together, including whether we can help them with technology to power any subscription services they may be thinking of building. Our aim, as with all Google products, is to reach as broad a global audience as possible. We have nothing specific to announce at this time."
If it does get the go-ahead though, Newspass will be a one-click payment system, which would give users access to a significant amount of news content through just the click of a mouse
Newspass will work through the use of a single login, which would not only make it incredibly simple to access news from a multitude of different sources, but which would also make making and managing payments very straightforward.
It is likely that users would be able to access news by clicking on a paywall icon situated next to the content, and users would be taken to Google Checkout to complete the purchase.
Participating publishers would be able to specify the type of payments they would accept - with subscriptions and single payments both a possibility.
With the issue of free news content vs. paid news content still very contencous with users, publishers are hoping that Google’s Newspass could provide the paid news subscription solution … only time will tell!
Google changes display of maps results
Google has changed the display of the OneBox, the single local search/Google Places result showing up on the main search page. First covered by Google Places expert blogger Mike Blumenthal, the OneBox map result has minor changes - however these could have a major impact on your Google search referrals. The main change that could have an impact on business owner's website visits is that clicking on the OneBox result now takes you to the Google Places page rather than directly to the website.
Other changes include the "More info" link being renamed to "Place page", reviews not showing unless they meet certain criteria, and a Maps balloon/marker showing near the business name outside of the map. It remains to be seen if this change will be beneficial to webmasters and local businesses.
"Old Spice Guy" = Social + Search proves a powerful attraction
Well you must have seen this advert by now:
With such a strong image and humour, it has natural social currency built in from the start, especially appealing to women with them showing their friends on their laptop or iPad.
Interestingly this ad was first launched at the SuperBowl in January 2010 - as you can see in the searches in Google Search Insights below with a huge jump (up 1 million searches worldwide) in February 2010.
More insterestingly it seems as if the growth peaked in April and now in July we are in the third wave of popularity as more and more people hear of it.
April peaked at 2.7 million searches for "old spice" alone and now looking at July this will beat even that high.
What is also interesting is the searches for "old spice" is 60% higher than "after shave", showing that they have beaten the product category - the first time they have managed to out-pace the "head" term. With this level of interest it is now starting to challenge other major spending men's grooming brands such as "Lynx" which is being caught up by "old spice" in the last month.
Now it will be interesting to see the stats on sales over this period and see if it is translating into real revenues for this brand, but either way Old Spice certainly has people's attention.
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