You may have noticed a number of changes to the way Google are operating lately. One of the biggest changes has been towards deeper and more focused location integration in the Chrome browser, the Chrome OS, and throughout the Chromium projects on which they are based.
One of the latest experimental features is an option called “Experimental location features”, which allows the Chrome browser to run “experimental extensions to the geolocation feature.”
There is a wider trend throughout the Internet for more focused localisation services, as a way both to improve the user experience and make more money for advertisers along the way – or is that the other way round. This new feature “Includes using operating system location APIs (where available), and sending additional local network configuration data to the Google location service to provide higher accuracy positioning.”
Google are certainly not alone in their collection of location based user data for advertising purposes. While companies like Skyhook Wireless and Localeze specialise in collecting this sort of specific location-based information, increasingly the big names like Google, Facebook, and Apple are deciding to buckle down and write the code themselves.
Google already has 9 million active users of their Latitude location service, Google maps included on all Android and Apple phones, and most of the online population using their search engine. It is no surprise then that Google already has access to a large enough user pool to continue experimenting with tighter and deeper localisation-based advertising and search integration.
Just how deep will the rabbit hole go you ask. Well – some commentators are already talking about “Contextual discovery”, where users get results without searching. Tech-enhanced brainwashing driven by advertising dollars OR the evolution of more advanced search tools to assist human users. Hmm – maybe both.
We’ve been pushing Foursquare (and other location based services) before as the 
Last week one of the Dutch commercial cable channels happily reported it’s new studio show “Beat De Mol” opened with an average of 550,000 viewers. The dirty secret however of cable TV is audience numbers are often pitifully small, with many programs drawing under a few 100,000 viewers. Even though a Belgian newspaper reported in the same week that YouTube with it’s 500,000,000 users generates a staggering 35 hours of video footage every single minute (!) drawing only a few 100,000 viewers weekly is not a challenge for a select group of YouTube creators. 
First and foremost, the top YouTubers have honed their craft over the past three or four years, building large and loyal audiences. Many of the top stars fall in the general entertainment category, doing offbeat skits. The most successful heavily incorporate audience interaction.
He’s done over a 100 thus far and the effect has been nothing short of Viral Nirvana. A mashup of traditional media, YouTube and Twitter. SInce Old Spice front man Isaiah Mustafa started talking back to the social media world during the last 48 hours, the campaign has become one of the most talked-about of the year. 
Last week we executed an excellent example of a promotion through Facebook that didn’t ask for a huge budget to be effective. The promotion, developed for Taste of Amsterdam, ran for little more than a week exclusively on Facebook and aimed to generate awareness for 
