XING AG has purchased New York-based socialmedian Inc., a leading innovator in the social news industry. socialmedian.com allows you to get the news filtered by your social networks. Socialmedian originally debuted earlier this year grown very rapidly.

Socialmedian is a good fit for XING, a leading global online social network. Socialmedian’s founder and CEO, Jason Goldberg, will join XING in Hamburg, Germany in the newly created position of Vice President XING Applications Platform.

Over 6.5 million business professionals, managers, and experts use XING to keep track of information and updates in their social networks. Working with socialmedian, XING plans to launch several new innovations, including offering XING members custom filtered news.

Socialmedian delivers the news, filtered by your network. socialmedian’s mission is to help people discover the news and information they need to succeed at their jobs, pursue their passions and stay informed about the world around them. Since launching in August, socialmedian users have created more than 2500 topical news networks, ranging from iPhone to campaign 2008 to the global financial crisis, aggregating newsfeeds and user feeds from more than 19.000 sources with 800 new stories added every minute. The NY-based company was founded by former Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg and is currently backed by Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive and leading angel investors including Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman and Allen Morgan of the Mayfield Fund. For more information, please visit www.socialmedian.com.

XING is the leading network for business contacts in Europe. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools. With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, XING AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals. By focusing on the target group ‘business people worldwide’, the company is able to offer tailored features, thereby making networking and contact management simpler. Besides Headquarters in Hamburg, XING AG is also represented with offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Beijing. For more information about XING, go to www.XING.com.

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Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks

Winner: Netlog
Runner-up: Platinum Lounge

Embeddable Widgets

Winner:

Qoof
Runner-up: Sprout

Blog Plugins

Winner: ShareThis
Runner-up: AddThis

Social News

Winner: Help a Reporter Out
Runner-up: Hubdub

Social Networking Applications

Winner: Aritition
Runner-up: Digsby

Social Bookmarking

Winner: Diigo
Runner-up: ShareThis

Search & Social Search

Winner: Scour

Runner-up: Artiklz

Sports & Fitness

Winner: Gyminee
Runner-up: FitFiend

Photo Sharing

Winner: ipernity
Runner-up: TinyPic

Video Sharing

Winner: ffwd
Runner-up: YouTube

Start Pages

Winner: Google
Runner-up: iGoogle

Places & Events

Winner: Doodle

Runner-up: Muchmor

Travel

Winner: SpottedByLocals
Runner-up: GeckoGo

Music

Winner: Noisetrade
Runner-up: Last.fm

Social Shopping

Winner: Pikaba
Runner-up: A Full Cup

Fashion

Winner: Coolspotters
Runner-up: Polyvore

Celebrity & Gossip

Winner: Oh No They Didn’t

Runner-up: BollyScoops

Mobile Applications

Winner: Evernote
Runner-up: MocoSpace

Dating & Romance

Winner: Zoosk
Runner-up: DateHookup

Wiki

Winner: Encyclopedia Dramatica
Runner-up: WikiHow

Politics

Winner: Politics4All
Runner-up: CreateDebate

How-to

Winner: A Full Cup

Runner-up: College Cram

Environmental

Winner: Ecomii
Runner-up: Gazelle

Non-Profit Causes

Winner: Stop Political Calls
Runner-up: SocialVibe

Online Games

Winner: Playfish
Runner-up: Power Pets

Niche Social Networks

Winner: The Star Tracker
Runner-up: Wadja

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As you might recall, I covered the top 10 PR blunders of 2007, a big hit. (Lots of people search every day for PR blunders, by the way.) So, without further delay, I present to you the top ten public relations (PR) blunders of 2008, as compiled by Fineman PR. Special thanks goes to Aaron Carvell of Fineman PR for sending me this year’s list.

1. AIG (American International Group) All-Expense-Paid Retreats … Paid By the Taxpayers of the United States
A few days days after getting an uprecedented $85 billion federal bailout package from the United States Government, AIG, American International Group Inc. dropped nearly half a million dollars on an executive retreat to the posh St. Regis resort, complete with “spa treatments, banquets and golf outings,” according to the Associated Press. Read more about it here or here.

2. AP to Detroit Three Automakers: “old way of doing business just won’t fly.”
General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli and Ford CEO Alan Mulally flew to Washington in separate corporate jets to ask Congress for $25 billion … without a turnaround plan. PR Week reported that “it made the Big Three appear out of touch, and evoked memories of the AIG retreat controversy.” The Los Angeles Times reported that “their first attempt was a lemon.” So when the execs made their second foray to Washington to further plead their case, they drove there in hybrid vehicles … and made sure everyone knew it. But Meredith Vieira on Today was unimpressed. “They should have carpooled,” she said. Later on, the big 3 automaker CEOs realized their mistakes, actually put together plans for getting a loan from the US Government, and drove themselves from Detroit to Washington.

3. Department of Veterans Affairs says “Shhh!” To Veterans’ Problems
In this day of digital justice, it is surprising that federal officials still believe their emails are kept private, as when messages between top officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs indicated secrets were being kept about appallingly high suicide attempt rates among veterans. According to the Associated Press, Dr. Ira Katz, top-ranking VA mental health official, emailed colleagues that “12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while … under [Veterans Affairs] treatment.” Katz wasn’t pushing for reform but hiding data from CBS News, even beginning the email with a “Shh!” Everett A. Chasen, chief communications officer for the VA, wrote that “I don’t want to give CBS any more numbers on veterans [sic] suicides or attempts than they already have – it will only lead to more questions.” Emails get leaked in most organizations, but the true Blunder is the Department’s disregard for veterans’ wellbeing. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, told CBS News “this is disgraceful … a crime against our nation, our nation’s veterans. [V.A. officials] do not want to come to grips with the reality, with the truth.”

4. David Letterman asks John McCain, “do you need a ride to the airport?”
Presidential candidate Senator John McCain cancelled his thirteenth appearance on the David Letterman show (CBS’ Late Night with David Letterman. John McCain said that he was “suspending his campaign” and “racing to the airport” to tackle the financial crisis. However, halfway through the David Letterman show, David Letterman learned that John McCain was a blocks away … sitting down with another CVS television personality, Katie Couric. David Letterman got a live feed of the interview and, joined by stand-in guest Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, remarked at John McCain’s expense. John McCain’s response, when he did make it onto Late Night a couple weeks later, was apt but unapologetic: “I screwed up.” Well, at least he admitted that he screwed up, right?

5. Nike Just Blew It
When self-described “good, solid” marathoner and elementary school teacher Arien O’Connell unexpectedly clocked the fastest time in October’s San Francisco Women’s Marathon, besting her personal record by over 12 minutes, race sponsor Nike had a golden opportunity to support those who “just do it.” However, Nike only checked times of those in the allegedly “elite” front-running pack; by the time Arien O’Connell realized she had been fastest, all places had been awarded and Nike would not recognize her victory. Later that week, pressured Nike recanted its initial stance, declaring O’Connell “a winner” but not the winner. C.W. Nevius of the San Francisco Chronicle lamented the tepid ending to “what could have been a lovely Cinderella story.” Only after competitor Reebok stepped up to award O’Connell free shoes for a year and a $2,500 donation for her classroom did O’Connell receive her “first place overall” trophy. Nike blew it.

6. Merck & Company and Schering-Plough Corporation: Profits with Side Effects
Prescription for a Blunder: market cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia with a memorable $100 million plus advertising campaign. Withhold study results showing that the combo doesn’t work as claimed … for 21 months. Watch the drugs pull $5.2 billion in revenue in 2007 alone. Side effects, though, may include widespread consumer backlash, around 140 civil class-action lawsuits, and the unwelcome attentions of Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of 35 state attorneys general, according to the Associated Press. Makers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. allegedly didn’t release the results due to internal scientific concerns. Matthew Herper of Forbes reported there were “reasons to doubt the result [of the study].” Under pressure, Merck and Schering-Plough pulled their quirky “Food and Family” ads, but dwindling investor confidence still pushed Merck stock down to Vioxx-era levels. Martha Rosenberg of AlterNet.com opined, “Merck is repeating its mistakes … It’s getting tough to find any Merck drug that can hold up to scrutiny.”

7. Mark Penn: Spinning Out of Control
Mark Penn found himself dropped from the chief strategist role in Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign when The Wall Street Journal exposed Penn’s work on behalf of the government of Colombia, a client for whom Penn was also involved in arranging passage of a controversial trade bill opposed by, among others, Clinton herself. Penn was removed from the helm, although his polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, continued to provide services to the campaign. He ultimately admitted to an “error in judgment,” but how many of those can one person convincingly admit to? Penn’s other unbelievable missteps throughout the year, including praising McCain attack ads and demeaning Clinton supporters, calling them “downscale voters,” earn him a seat among serial PR blunderers. Jason Linkins of The Huffington Post called Penn “dumber than previously realized” and a “despised, incompetent … microtrending ninnybot.”

8. Senior Barack Obama Campaigner Makes “a Monster” of a Slip
Sometimes a simple goof can be a major gaffe if committed by an insider. For example, Samantha Power, senior foreign policy advisor to presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, called Senator Hillary Clinton “a monster” in a March interview with UK newspaper The Scotsman, then realized her error and immediately tried to withdraw her comment, claiming “that is off the record.” However, in the dustup to follow, blogger Michael Goldstein of MondayMorningMediaQuarterback.com noted that “you can’t do it. There is no off the record.” Many journalists agree, including Gerri Peev, the Scotsman reporter who interviewed Power, who noted that journalists are “not in the business to self-censor … [they are] in the business to print the truth.”

9. “Absolut Mistake,” says PR Week
Swedish vodka-maker Absolut is famed for its clever, well-executed advertising campaigns, but the company hasn’t realized it’s a small world after all. According to PR Week, ads for the Mexican market from the company’s “Absolut World” campaign showing the western U.S. as Mexican territory “courted animosity” and “stirred up negative sentiment from … [those] who complain about the porous U.S. border” after appearing on U.S. blogs. Absolut pulled the offending ads and proffered a public apology on its corporate blogs, but competitor Skyy Vodka capitalized on the situation. According to Ken Wheaton’s Advertising Age blog, Skyy did “what a marketer should do in a situation like this, [taking] advantage of a competitor’s headache” by distributing a humorous press release in which it touts Skyy’s U.S. origins and production. Smart opportunistic marketing … with a twist.

10. Hut, Two, Three, Four, Berkeley Rants Against Our Corps
Berkeley, California, has been known for an anti-establishment atmosphere, one in which free speech and independent thought are held dear. But when the Berkeley City Council denounced local Marine Corps recruiters as “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” and “sales people known to lie to and seduce minors,” it incited yet another nationally covered culture clash depicting Berkeley’s leadership as hopelessly out of touch. Although individual members of the Council did admit that they may have acted rashly, no apology was ever issued. According to Peter Schrag of the Sacramento Bee, the incident demonstrated “that you can be within shouting distance of one of the world’s great educational institutions and still be terminally stupid.”

Every year, San Francisco-based Fineman PR puts together their PR Blunders List as a reminder that public relations is critical to businesses and organizations. Selections are limited to Americans, American companies or offenses that occurred in America. Selections are limited to avoidable acts or omissions that caused adverse publicity; image damage was done to self, company, society or others; and acts that were widely reported in 2008.

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BrightTalk is hosting a Conversational Marketing Summit asked me to present. At 3:00pm Pacific Time on November 24th, 2008 I talked about Social Media and Search and how your search engine marketing efforts can benefit from social media marketing.

I’ve embedded my presentation right here so you can watch it. If you’re reading this after the event, then you can still be able to view the presentation.

Here are all the details of the Conversational Marketing Summit:

WHAT:Conversational Marketing Summit hosted by BrightTALK™
At this online summit, experts will share information on trends in social media marketing, answer questions, and offer strategies and tips to business professionals. Among the topics the speakers will address are corporate blogging, search, social networking, mobile marketing, email marketing, and how to use Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter to start the conversation. BrightTALK hosts live webcast summits each week around themes that matter to business professionals.

WHEN:Monday and Tuesday, November 24-25, 2008
WHO: Presenters at the Conversational Marketing Summit include:
Bill Hartzer, search engine marketing manager at Vizion Interactive
Brad Hanks, master instructor at Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers; CEO of Brad Hanks Seminars
Chris Kenton, CEO of SocialRep
Dave Evans, CEO of Digital Voodoo
Edward Weatherall, managing director at Concept Ltd
Ian Lurie, president of Portent Interactive
James Miller, vice president, technology industry at BrightTALK
Jerry Hart, principal and vice president of sales and marketing for Power to be Found
Jennifer Carole, director of the worldwide teen lab at Alcatel-Lucent
Jennifer Jacobson, author of 42 Rules of Social Media for Business
Kate Brodock, principal at The Other Side Group
Laura Lowell, author of 42 Rules of Marketing; principal of Impact Marketing Group
Linda Pophal, owner and CEO of Strategic Communications
Loren McDonald, vice president of industry relations at Silverpop
Malcolm Friedberg, marketing automation expert
Mary Lou Roberts, instructor at Harvard Extension Program; author at DIY-Marketing
Michael Kurtzman managing director of mobile advertising at Sybase 365
Rajiv Parikh, CEO of Position2
Sundeep Kapur, online marketing strategist at www.emailyogi.com and NCR Corporation
Will Schnabel, vice president of international markets at Silverpop

WHERE:The Conversational Marketing Summit is available on brighttalk.com.

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The Mashable Open Web Awards is the only multilingual (i.e., in several languages) international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 different categories.

This year, Mashable is partnering with over 100 blog partners. For extra security, they’re using Poll Daddy. You might want to also note that they’ve extended the period of voting: you can vote from until Sunday, November 30th 11:59 pm PST. So, if you will do all us a favor, please use the following to vote for the Open Web Awards.

Of course, as an official blog partner I would like to thank the following sponsors of the Open Web Awards:

Platinum Partner

PartnerUp brings small business and social networking together to create a community where entrepreneurs find the people, resources and information to grow their businesses.

Gold Sponsors

iStockphoto is the world’s leading image market and a revenue-sharing social network. Browse 3.5 million images and videos starting at $1 or become a contributor.

With Quintura’s advanced visual-based search and analytics solution, content publishers can increase site usage while creating new ad revenues opportunities

Prize Sponsor

Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products, most of which are produced within 24 hours.

There are a lot of nominees this year, and I have to mention that I am amazed by some of the nominees that made it into the competition this year, like this one? HUH? Here’s a screen capture of the favorite Start Page for India:

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1. Search Engine Rankings are Dead. Bruce Clay recently declared that search engine rankings are dead. Pretty soon companies won’t be going to Google to check their rankings for their top 3 most important keywords. They won’t have a need to keep paying for search engine rank checking programs and services that will “check your rankings” every 5 hours. The software developers who write and update those scripts will soon be out of a job. By giving the SEO industry a financial bailout, those who will soon be out of a job will be able to get trained on how to create content. And it will keep them out of the unemployment line.

2. Barack Obama was elected because of Social Media Marketing Barack Obama successfully used social media marketing to get elected. He’s all behind social media and hasn’t spent a dime on Search Engine Optimization. Barack Obama needs to help SEOs with a bailout because everything seems to be leaning more towards marketing in the social arena..and more SEOs need to start to understand marketing in this new social media economy.

3. It helps the Online Retailers indirectly. Bailing out the SEO industry is really an efficient way of directing fiscal stimulus towards the online retailers who really need the cash. Giving money to SEOs will help them be more efficient and will help get better search engine rankings for their clients, the online retailers.

4. It will help the Internet stocks. Ultimately, it helps the Search Engine Optimization companies buy more links. I can’t believe I said that. But, we all know that lazy SEO companies buy links. By bailing out the SEO industry, you’re pumping more money into the internet. It will ultimately help those internet stocks go up.

5. It might be cheaper than the alternative of letting SEO companies fail. If any SEO company fails, then all of those snake oil SEO salesmen will be forced to move on to another industry: and then the government will spend lots of money hiring Federal Prosecutors to go after them. We all know that the FCC and the US Government is not doing much to prosecute all the rip-off SEO snake oil salesmen out there. Bail out the SEO industry and you’ll keep them in the SEO industry: they won’t move on to another industry where they the government will have to prosecute them.

6. Pumping money into the SEO industry will help the internet companies be more profitable. I said it before. By pumping money into the SEO industry the search engine optimization companies and SEO consultants will be able to make those internet companies more profitable. More profitable internet companies mean their stocks will go up.

I can envision a financial bailout that goes directly to the search engine optimization industry and those who work in the SEO industry, including search engine optimizers and the search engine optimization companies themselves. By pumping more money into the SEO industry, SEO companies will be able to hire more writers and web developers to create more content. By creating more content for clients the internet companies will do better: they will then be able to spend more money on paid search campaigns, which will ultimately not only help themselves (the online retailers and those companies that actually have web sites) but it will also help the search engines because they’re paying more for PPC ads.

So count me in on a strategically-oriented bail-out financial package that benefits the SEOs and SEO companies rather than giving money to the auto industry or any other industry that might beg for a financial bailout.

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The Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban has been charged today by the SEC with insider trading. Apparently Mark Cuban dumped his shares in Mamma.com right after he confidentially learned about a stock offering from the CEO of Mamma.com. This was back in 2004.

Immediately after I heard about Mark Cuban being accused of insider trading, I went on over to Twitter to see what people were saying about it. If you didn’t know, you can use the search.twitter.com site to search and find what people are saying about a particular topic. You can also search for your company name or even your name or another keyword. What you might want to do is use the RSS feed of the query to watch or monitor the search query if you need to watch that keyword. I often look for my name and my company’s name to see what they’re saying, if anything.

I also took a look at Google Trends and noticed that the top search phrase is mamma.com:

I am not sure when the last time I went to Mamma.com was, but apparently their traffic is on the rise. Here’s an interesting stat from Compete.com:

Compete.com shows that there were over 1 million people who visited Mamma.com last month; which is a lot less than Google’s 129 million visitors or even Yahoo’s 125 million. But, I suspect that although they’re rising last month (October 2008), this Mark Cuban Mamma.com Insider Trading scandal might be just what Mamma needs to get popular again.

I know that this may sound rather opportunistic of me to say, but sometimes getting mentioned in the news can be something that will bring a brand back into the limelight: and really, it wasn’t anything that Mamma.com actually did, it’s something that Mark Cuban did back in 2004.

Let’s take a look at the search results for Mark Cuban on Mamma.com. By comparing them to the Google search results for Mark Cuban, I see that they really aren’t that bad. Mark Cuban is owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, and I’m seeing search results for the Mavericks as well as his blog and also a page about his appearance on Dancing with the Stars. So perhaps I will start using Mamma.com again. What about you?

Is this additional publicity just what Mamma.com needs to jump start the search engine again?

Update Mark Cuban has issued a statement regarding this through his lawyer.

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Yatinoo, a trilingual (English, French, Arabic) web-based portal, community, and search engine, has launched their search engine today with new search engine technology. Yatinoo’s greatest asset is its focus on the Arabic, African and Asian regions as well as the Arabic, African and Asian people living outside the United States.

Yatinoo’s focus on the African, Asian, and Arabic regions is significant: approximately twenty percent of the 300 million U.S. population have direct African, Asian or Arabic background representing an additional target market of 60 million users only in the United States. Compared to larger competitors in the search engine market, Yatinoo offers tailor-made and highly targeted services that fit its users’ needs and suit their special “look and feel” requirements.

What is interesting about Yatinoo’s search engine is that this is a search solution that allows you to tailor your interest searches through a diverse range of formats, including web sites, images, audio, video, news, blogs and forums. Additionally, unlike other search engines, you can streamline your selections through Yatinoo’s ability to offer color images displayed in conjunction with the search results.

What I like to do with new search engines is take a direct look at their search results. For example, I did a search for search engine optimization at Yatinoo:

I guess I kind of expected Wikipedia’s SEO page to be the top search result. But, I did not expect a page about search engine optimisation to be at the top of the search results for search engine optimization. I know this is a subtle difference, but why mix different spellings?

Yatinoo is a trilingual (English, French, Arabic) Internet based portal, social networking community, and search engine offering various services, tools and content to an international audience which was developed and made available in the Middle East and North Africa region through the introduction of its media properties including Yatinoo.com, which was officially launched in October 2007. Yatinoo.com, in addition to its innovative search engine, email, weather and news, offers videos and mp3 streamings, ecards and forums. Yatinoo also offers specialized websites focusing on games, sports, and personalities in the African and Arabic world.

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The Business to Business (B2B) search engine Accoona has been acquired by the international B2B search engine Masterseek. Masterseek was founded in Denmark in 1999.

Accoona got a lot of press back in 2004 when it launched. I’m not sure if you remember, but President Bill Clinton was the speaker at the opening. Over the years, Accoona has been fairly successful in China, where Accoona has supplied the search function to both Sina.com and Sohu. Accoona has an exclusive partnership with China’s most widely-read daily newspaper, the China Daily News.

In 2006, Accoona was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 50 best websites.

In this latest deal, the Accoona search service and the Accoona domain names have now been sold to the Masterseek Corporation.

As a part of the deal, Accoona will be integrated with Masterseek and they will re-launch Accoona in a few weeks. Until they re-launch, a beta version is available at Accoona.com with a simple company search facility. After the re-launch, a new version will have “a significantly greater amount of company information and more varied search facilities.”

Accoona will initially be re-launched in the USA and China. In January, they plan on launching it throughout Europe in conjunction with the launch of a new expanded search functionality. With the acquisition of Accoona, Masterseek will fortify itself in its fight to become one of the largest B2B search engines in the world. The acquisition means that Masterseek will improve its company data and at the same time significantly increase the number of its users.

Masterseek provides free access to company profiles, products and services from more than 50 million companies in 75 countries.

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Ask.com, a web site that offers search for web sites, images, news, blogs, video, maps and directions, local search and shopping, launched their new “Election Poll Smart Answers” that gives you local polling information in just one click: and it’s a lot faster and easier than any other major search engine.

Ask.com Smart Answers are special search results placed at the top of the Ask.com search results page that have quick facts and links to authoritative content from highly respected sources.

To use the new one-click poll information, go to Ask.com and type in a question like “when do polls open?”

Then, all you need to do is click your state from the drop-down menu:

After clicking “Go”, Ask.com instantly shows the local poll hours and provides quick links to district poll locations and other voting information right on the first search results page.

According to Ask.com, this new Smart Answers feature is part of Ask.com’s mission to provide us with the best answer, the first time, every time. However, it appears that there are a “lot more clicks” required in order to actually find your polling place and where you have to vote. After going through the process on the Ask.com web site, I was then taken to the official State of Texas web site where I had to then perform an additional search at the State of Texas web site:

I hate to be cynical about all of the Ask.com new “one click” Smart Answers feature, but all that the Ask.com feature does is point you to your own state’s web site after you choose your state: that’s hardly “one click”. In fact, there are other helpful things that they could do that would make it easier, like actually recognizing your location and forwarding you directly to your state’s polling information.

What do you get when you use the Ask.com Smart Answers feature when you look to find your polling place and time?

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