Keep them short.

Keep them simple.

Know what you are talking about.

Know your audience.

Use topics and subjects that are interesting and timely.

Have your own point of view…stop tiny biting someone else all the time.

If you do not follow this advice…fake it or Google and steal someone else’s “ish”.

The Internet is filled with secrets.  Who killed JFK, cheats & hacks, how to extend your penis size by 12 inches or discover your long lost lineage connecting you to the Royal Court of Louis XIV.  So it goes without saying when Google this week finally released it’s revenue sharing agreements with other Non-Google sites & properties a lot people attentively listened.

Google revealed that it’s partners get 68% of revenue for ads placed alongside articles/partner content.  For on-site complimentary partner search, Google offered it’s partners 51%.  These generous percentages have been in place between 2003 & 2005 respectively.  Financially impressive numbers flow along with the figures.  The numbers show hefty profits for Google to the tune of over $7 Billion dollars, which compliments the $15.7 Billion dollars it made off of it’s own sites and services.

Sharing this long held secret also showed that Google is starting to become more expressive & social in the way it deals with the outside world.  It is demystifying itself , it is moving away from a monolithic giant…slowly but surely.

I remember for a long time Agencies, especially Media Agencies saw Google as an industry killer.  I never shared that belief.  There are many reasons I did not believe this,  but for the purpose of this post I will stick to culture/outlook.  One reason I personally was not afraid of Google:  they were just to focused on building, on complete automation and it was a company that was driven & populated by Engineers immersed in an insular culture.   Google has always felt a little impersonal, this despite it’s best efforts to deliver increasingly more and more social tools, gadgets and platforms.  Additions like Youtube and the attempts to become more socially relevant through platforms like Wave have been big catalysts for change within Google (externally the jury is out on Wave).   With these changes have come new people and new ways of thinking.  These additions, are helping balance a culture born out of  automated ad systems and the cold an impersonal world of Search that was embedded deep into Google’s DNA.

As someone who deals with Google and watches Googles tact’s and movements very carefully, I think that this is a continuing sign of change @ Google.  A change that will make the company even stronger (not without growing pains).  A change that will empower a new relationship with Media Agencies and hopefully better services and functionality for consumers.

Only time will tell.

It’s now easier to check out your destination on Google maps. Previously only available through a separate application, now Google Earth is part of Google Maps – plugin download required. Handy bonus: find out which of your neighbours have rooftop pools and make friends.

If you’re on a bit of a budget or have a fear of flying, thanks to Google, you can now explore New York from the comfort of your living room. Admittedly, this 3D map is pretty cool, but I’d be even more impressed if you could swoop into the restaurants and check out the menus. Maybe that’s next.

The history of April Fools’ Day goes back a long ways. Some theories point to 1392 and Chaucer, but there are many others that speculate differently. Whatever the history, it is undeniable that pranks are increasingly moving online. TechCrunch is offering up a list of today’s digital pranks, and from the looks of it Google has a pretty good sense of humour.

A co-worker just passed this to me. the mashable article does a good job of explaining it all. Kudos for this project as its one of those 20% of your time projects. Google employees get 20% of their time to dedicate to whatever they want. Similar projects include Google news, Gmail and Google earth.

Familiar with Google street view, but don’t live in the good ol’ US of A? Be sad no more! Looks like Google have been driving around our fair city snapping photos along the way. You should check it out. Fire up http://maps.google.com and put in an address of interest, then look for the little orange guy above the zoom tools. If hes orange your in luck, not so lucky for people in Bowmanville where he is a lovely shade of grey (means they haven’t scoped out your neck of the woods).

Drag that little dude to a street on the map and you’ll get a nice street level view, complete with virtual roads overelaid on the image with arrows you can click to move down the street. Keyboard arrow control of “driving around” and “click and drag” to look around functionality.

Already are the links pouring in of places mid garbage strike from this past summer. Find a lucky snap from the Google van? Please post a link in the comments.

This looks pretty neat, and when I say neat it has the possibly being a gamechanger in how you can contribute and interact with web pages that you don’t have control over. You’ll need to grab the Google toolbar for Firefox to get the goods.

Read the article from the Google blog.

Get Google Sidewiki

TAXI recently got Googled…literally!  The lovely folks at Google dropped by our offices as part of the Google Campus program for a lunch and learn.  It broke all lunch n’ learn attendance records @ TAXI!  It also gave us the chance to lay the groundwork for closer collaboration with Google in the future.   After a great presentation, some yummy Mexican food and a constructive Q&A session most people left wanting more.  Have no fear as this was the start of an on-going series of collaboration sessions we will conduct.

We also had some cool swag handed out and a draw for a FREE YOUTUBE shirt…congratulations to Marcel Greaux our winner!

You can download their PowerPoint deck here.