• DMOZ 2.0 is on the way in 2010. I don’t know who this blog belongs to, but it seems to have a lot of inside information about the forthcoming, upgraded version DMOZ (aka DMOZ 2.0).
• Malcolm Coles has a great write-up on the new Google layout. From the look of things, Local SEO will be crucial for all websites when this layout rolls out to all Google data centers.
• Black Friday boasts $595M in U.S. online holiday spending; Up 11% versus a year ago (via comScore)
• Some 19% of Americans will use their mobile devices for shopping this holiday season, according to a Deloitte survey.
• Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday showed a strong surge in online shopping searches, with searches for “Black Friday” up by more than 20%, year over year.

Enjoy!

1. comScore has now decided to charge for its State of the Union findings. If you’re not familiar with these, they are webinars hosted by co-founder Gian Fulgoni which walk you through the previous quarter. You glean such things as, ‘people are scared’ or ‘rich people aren’t spending as much’ or ‘people really like coupons now’ or ‘lower income brackets are concerned about their jobs’. You also get some really great insights into how eCommerce is tracking against the rest of the economy. Really the gist is people are poor and scared. So good call comScore! Twist the knife a little will with a $199 ticket for an hour of your smooth jazz.
2. My cell phone provider AT&T just called me and asked if they could lower my bill. Um, yeah, sure. Wait. WHAT? Turns out the texting tween got a little carried away and $90 dollars later I have a new best friend who moonlights as a customer service rep. Good job AT&T! Consider me a loyal customer until I forget about the kind gesture in approximately two months.
3. Speaking of AT&T my office mate suggested they start offering a ‘Buy Back Blackberry’ program so that us late adopters could get on this dang app bandwagon. Then they could garner additional goodwill by creating a secondary program to give away the unloved BlackBerry’s and entitle this one, punnily enough, as ‘Handouts for the Phoneless.

This Wednesday I hereby declare AT&T the winner of my own personal thoughts.

I had to sit back and laugh as I watched the momentum of her “marketing plan.” Working in this industry, you assume that you and your peers are the innovators of marketing efforts… that you are uniquely qualified to create new ways to connect and new ways to shamelessly promote. Social networking has turned that assumption on its head. This marketing revolution is not just being led by teenagers and early adopters, it is being led by fathers, business women and… believe it or not… your Mom.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, more than 65% of unique Facebook visitors in February of this year have children and more than 71% of users are over the age of 25. The Chief Household Officer (a.k.a. stay-at-home mom) down the street is using Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, as well as her own blog and friends’ blogs, to keep in touch with the world outside of diapers and playdates. More so, she is promoting her own passions and building her personal identity online.

Anecdotally, in my own Facebook “friend group,” it is not my industry peers driving the conversation. The most updates, innovations and comments are coming from a handful of women – stay-at-home and working mothers. In fact, when I called a friend recently (gasp!) on the telephone, she seemed downright irritated that I was unaware that her child was sick – based on her Facebook status updates.

A year ago, I remember telling friends that I would stay on MySpace because I was “too old for Facebook.” Well, I have had a baby since that declaration, and I have to tell you… I haven’t logged into my MySpace account in months. And I rarely sit at a computer and log in to my Facebook account. In fact, if not for Facebook’s iPhone app, which allows me to check my friends’ updates in mere seconds, all of my friends would think I had fallen off the face of the planet.

So my point is two-fold:

1. The Mom Brigade is driving the evolution of social networks. They are innovative, they are active, they are vocal, and they trust their peers.
2. Please, folks… be careful with what you post in your status updates. Your friends might think what color underwear you have on or the newest addition to your tattoo collection is quite fascinating, but your Mom is… quite literally… watching!

Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but it’s rainy outside, and it’s put me in a theatrical mood.

On to the meaty stuff!

Recently, comScore released findings from their June 2008 study, “Reaching Shoppers in a Down Economy”.

Insert ray of light, hope or at least a weapon to help fight your way to as close to victory as you can come.

The bottom line for marketers is that people are shopping less frequently (down 68%) and purporting to use coupons more often (up 59%). It’s really not rocket science –Consumers still want stuff –they just need a way not to feel threatened by it. So what can brands do? Obviously this question depends on who your brand is and what you’re willing to communicate to customers. If you’re comfortable with the obvious discount offer, then offer it. Build search campaigns around appropriate terms, partner with reputable coupon sites or utilize a combination of the above. If you’re a brand that’s always been part of this mix, make sure your organic search is built to capture the growing demand and continue to unearth new trends in the recent resurgence. Even if you err on the side of luxury, take heart: there are ways to communicate extended value to your loyal base and think about your holiday product assortment. Maybe this year we push the $1,200 handbag versus the $3,500 and shoot for increased volume; hey—at least it’s an idea.

No matter what your economic bracket is, doubt and insecurity linger. Retailers need to find a way to reassure shopper that their purchases are sound and wait for tomorrow to come. Perhaps all that relationship building will pay dividends when the tides turn.