Ah, weekend! Time to put up the Christmas tree, play with the kids or just hang back.

Thumbnailing Copyrighted Images = Fair Use

In the case of Perfect 10 Inc. vs. Google, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that showing thumbnails or copyrighted images can be fair use.

The justices ruled that a larger public interest in searching for information — or, in this case, images of partially clad women — amounted to a "transformative use" that trumped Perfect 10’s copyright claims.  […]

“… it’s really not a matter IF the mobile phone will become the dominant internet platform any more but WHEN…” - Yahoo! analyst Russell Beattie

With 15 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers accessing news and information via the mobile browser, mobile search represents a huge growth opportunity for SEO’s. The Kelsey Group recently revealed that nearly half of mobile users will be looking for a mobile phone with better Internet capability when they make their next mobile phone purchase.

I came across the Neilson Net Ratings for the top U.S. social networking sites. It shows that MySpace had 49.5 million unique visitors in October 2007, growing 19 percent over October 2006. While their growth percentage lags behind Facebook’s 125% and LinkedIn’s 189%, MySpace is still the giant, with an 80% overall market share.

This week I look at MySpace, by the numbers:

The Beginning:

As anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock is well aware, tomorrow is Black Friday, which isn’t nearly as dire it sounds.

“Black Friday” actually refers to the day on the books when the ink turns black (positive).

With that in mind, one can’t help but have visions of cash registers dancing in their head. This, of course, has ramifications for marketers in general, be they online or offline or any mix of the two.

There are tricks of the trade and tips and all sorts of advice that can be proferred up, but call me Scrooge — I ain’t sharing.

In 1989 Bryce Courtenay published The Power Of One, a novel I read and was young enough to be able to dismiss as relatively inconsequential, certainly by no means as ineffably good as THE GREATEST NOVEL EVER.

I like to think I’m older now, at least the graying hair informs me of such with daily reminders. Along the way, the power of one has become ever more intriguing. Not because it’s a great novel but because it’s a novel perspective.

While Reddit is often compared to Digg, the two sites have some key differences. Reddit has a simple interface and no advertising. Reddit rankings are based on an absolute vote (+1 for hot / -1 for cold), meaning a negative vote decreases a story’s overall vote count as well as the ‘karma score’ for the user who submitted the URL. I for one love this simplicity.

This week I look at Reddit, by the numbers:

The Beginning:

* Reddit was founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005, then 22-year-old graduates of the University of Virginia.

Office Depot’s announcement of new mobile marketing services caught my attention today. These new services include the launch of a mobile store locator, RSS feeds, text message coupons and offers, and mobile sweepstakes capabilities.

I doubt anyone’s getting exited about Office Depot RSS feeds on their mobile device and I’m not alone. According to Steve Levy, President of Market Research in Eastern Canada for IPSOS Reid, 27% of Canadian marketers agree that mobile marketing will be very important in the future with 9% indicating they are practicing it now.

Professionally, LinkedIn is my main social network. It provides for a more focused business networking environment than most social media sites. It’s a great tool, especially for finding people, references, job postings and business opportunities. Additional benefits I’ve discovered include; the ability to talk about your professional self, link to your other Google-friendly web content and customize your profile URL. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather a potential employer/client find my LinkedIn profile on Google, before any others of me!

This week, I’m taking a look at LinkedIn, by the numbers:

The Beginning:

Google and Yahoo didn’t have much of a presence at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment conference in San Francisco last week, but their startup competitors and much smaller rival AOL all did.

While Google and Yahoo have been pursuing mobile search and advertising, they’ve met resistance from mobile operators in the U.S. “Some are concerned about Google and Yahoo being stronger competitors, that they will become in effect the dumb pipe that the ISPs became,” said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Research and Opus Research. “I think that’s a valid fear. On a personal note, I just love that quote!