Digital News Roundup: Jan. 15, 2010

How did Google rank these tweets? This week, we learned a bit more about the engine’s methodology.

In this week’s Digital News roundup we bring you the latest on what’s behind Google’s real-time search, research on the social relationship between brands and consumers and an exciting announcement about Social Media Week 2010.

How Google Ranks Tweets

A Wednesday article in Technology Review magazine dives into how Google ranks “tweets,” as the engine now aggregates real-time data (such as breaking news articles, blog posts and comments) in its results pages. Google Fellow Amit Singhal, who led development of real-time search, said the engine takes reputation into account.

Say for example 1,000 people follow User A, who in turn follows User B. Even though User B may have just one follower, Google will deem them valuable since his follower is followed widely. That said, Singhal affirms that Google’s system is “definitely” more than a popularity contest. “One user following another in social media is analogous to one page linking to another on the Web,” he said. Group SEO Director Mike Dobbs explores the ramifications of real-time tweets in a recent post on something he calls “doorway tweets.”

Vitaminwater Announces its Newest Flavor, As Created by Facebook Fans

This week Vitaminwater announced its newest flavor – a black cherry and lime concoction that was crowdsourced via the brand’s Facebook page. The competition let fans take part in nearly all stages of the product development: they chose the flavor (via “buzz” about the different flavors online), designed the packaging (through an app) and even named the product. The Vitaminwater Facebook page has more than 1 million fans,

A number of marketers have used social media put crowdsourcing to work for their brands. Some examples include Threadless Tees, Dell’s Ideastorm and rock band OAR, which recently crowdsourced a song via submissions from their Twitter followers.

7 Ways to Conquer Natural Search When Google & Bing Face Off in 2010

Our very own Mike Dobbs – Group Director of SEO – contributed an article for Search Engine Land this week that outlines the biggest shifts and turns SEOs can expect as the two engines go head-to-head this year.  According to Mike, paid search will face its share of opportunities and challenges, yet the crux of the one-on-one match-up between Google and Bing will be on the algorithmic side.

Will Bing really solve the more complex nature of users’ search intent? Will the partnership truly create a strong and viable competitor to Google? With so many questions on the minds of digital marketers, Mike’s seven recommendations for approaching the natural search landscape are a must-read for search marketers.

Study: What’s Motivating the Social Relationship Between Consumers and Companies?

New findings this week from a Popular Media Study explore what’s motivating connections between brands and consumers in online spaces. The survey separates consumers into two categories: max connections (those key influential users with 500+ connections) and daily users.

Though most of the findings correlate with past studies, MarketingSherpa notes a few “exceptional aspects.” For example, consumers are very strongly motivated to get an exclusive or first-look at new products or features – in fact, this motivation is about as strong as the desire for beneficial pricing.

We explore this topic our Social Marketing Playbook, where we note that insider status is often a huge value-add for consumers interacting with brands online.

360i at Social Media Week 2010

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be serving as official Communications Partner for Social Media Week 2010. In this capacity we’ll be bringing you the latest news as the event takes shape and live blogging the weeklong conference when it kicks off on Feb. 1.  You can follow our updates on the SMW blog and on Twitter @smwnyc and @socialmediaweek.

Oh yeah, and if anyone cares: Tom Hanks is now a card-carrying member of the Twitterati. Also, he’s referring to himself as “Hanx.”

Which stories this week piqued your interest most? Let us know in the comments below.