SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 06-11-2008 Part II
Abstract: 1. Google Maps Street View Celebrates One Year Anniversary, Debuts More Views, 2. Microsoft Testing Enterprise Social Network TownSquare, 3. New Hitwise Report Reveals Search Market Share Figures For May
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
9:46 pm on June 11, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Wednesday June 11, 2008
Google Maps Street View Celebrates One Year Anniversary, Debuts More Views
Google Maps Street View service is celebrating its first year anniversary of providing 360 degree street level views to its users with the announcement that it will expand to include 37 new areas, expanded coverage in 15 existing areas, along with the addition of 10 new parks and recreational areas. Over the past year, Google has also been working to deliver better image quality with better color and more consistent lighting. The face blurring technology that Google was testing in Manhattan has now been deployed for all imagery in Google Maps Street View, to better protect the privacy of bystanders.
Microsoft Testing Enterprise Social Network TownSquare
Microsoft is testing a prototype of a Facebook-style social network designed for companies internal use called TownSquare, which provides enterprise news feeds and other updates on employees by using Web services to query Microsoft SharePoint server for data. Users will be able to customize profiles and feeds, decide who gets to see what information about them and receive status notifications of colleagues' whereabouts and the projects on which they are working. TownSquare has reportedly been used by 8,000 Microsoft employees since its launch in January, with about 700 Microsoft employees using it daily.
New Hitwise Report Reveals Search Market Share Figures For May
According to figures from Web measurement firm Hitwise, Google has expanded its search market share in the US in May, accounting for 68.3 percent of searches conducted, up .39 percent from April, while Microsoft and Yahoo both lost search share. In the UK, where Google dominates with 87.3 percent of market share, Google saw a .39 percent drop in May.
