(image) Over the long weekend, the world digested last week’s Google+ moves, considered the future of policy on the Internet (really!), and took time to Think Big Thoughts. A good weekend’s worth of links for you, so to them:

A Whole Lot of Nothing (KK) A meditation on what makes us … us. It’s the information – or perhaps better put, that which is not nothing. I know it’s the start of the week, but it’s a short read.

Our Google+ Conundrum (Searchblog) A continuance of thinking out loud about recent changes to Google’s search index.

Russia: The Revolution Will Be Tweeted and Facebooked and YouTubed (Time) Things may not change quickly, but it’s quite obvious now something is rotten in Russia.

Scarcity Is A Shitty Business Model (AVC) Amen, Fred.

Goodbye remote control: PrimeSense shows off post-Kinect TV motion-sensing system (video) (VB) Just neat stuff, coming to your living room shortly.

Obama Opposes Parts of 2 Antipiracy Bills (NYT) Good news for us.

The President’s Challenge (ORR) I love this short meditation on the challenge Obama gave our industry after the news above broke.

Wikipedia Shutting Down For 24 Hours To Protest SOPA Piracy Bill (PC) I like the sentiment, but agree with others who say shutting down a global site for this issue is a bit much. Better to use your platform to fight it in more continuous ways.

The Illusion of Precision: the Future of Media Measurement (AdAge) As much as he points out the problem, he does not offer any solutions.

Twitter is adding 11 new accounts per second and could pass 500 million in February, says report (TNW) What matters is active users, but this is a pretty good sign given all the G+ hoopla.

We’ve Become A Nation Of Phone Starers (TC) I can’t imagine this UI is a long term winner.

Why I Started PandoDaily (PandoDaily) Sarah explains why she’s doing it. I’ve been there, a few times. Congrats to her. Now fix your RSS feed!

What Might A Facebook Search Engine Look Like? (Searchblog) More musings.

Generation Flux: Beth Comstock (FC) I’m a fan.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already have more than a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

(image) It’s just the second week of the year, but it feels like a sprint, no? Lots of news to get to, here are the links:

Why brands will lose if they ignore Google+ (iM) Worth reviewing if you are a marketer….

Lockdown: The Coming War On General-Purpose Computing (BB) Long piece from a smart dude.

Making Holes in Our Heart (KK) The Technium advances.

Google Kenya accused of illegally scouring rival’s database, stealing customers (Verge) Google has since admitted the practice and is investigating – appears to be a local group acting without authority from the mothership.

Compete To Death, or Cooperate to Compete? (Searchblog) My longish take on the Google Facebook Twitter imbroglio this week.

News Corp.’s Jon Miller talks about ‘channelization’ of the Web (LAT) Always like to hear what is on Miller’s mind.

Can Reddit Turn Its Popularity into a Big Business? (DD) This is the big question, but Reddit is on a tear for sure.

Steve Ballmer Reboots (BBW) Could be a very good year for MSFT.

Digital Brand Advertising to Pass DR in 2012 (DD) This is a big deal!

Article: Opportunities Abound as Ad Support Increases Role in Mobile Content Delivery (EM) Mobile is just about to figure it out, I sense.

Murdoch on MySpace: ‘We Screwed Up in Every Way Possible’ (Wired) Oh I dunno. They could done worse, I’m sure….

Google Responds: No,That’s Not How Facebook Deal Went Down (Oh, And I Say: The Search Paradigm Is Broken) (Searchblog) And more, where I weigh in with some thoughts on search being broken. More on that soon.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already more than a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

The past couple of days have brought a minor storm around Google’s integration of Google+ into the search index, as well as my final predictions and a smattering of news from CES (it doesn’t sound like the world’s getting set on fire over in Vegas this year). To the links:

They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil (RWW) Well at least one place likes the new integration.

Search, Plus Your World, As Long As It’s Our World (Searchblog) My take, which I hope is balanced. Also, see Twitter Statement on Google+ Integration with Google Search.

Predictions 2012 #7: Shooting From The Hip (Searchblog) And more of my stuff..

Predictions 2012 #6: “The Corporation” Becomes A Central Societal Question Mark (Searchblog) And more, I promise this ends soon…

Predictions 2012: The Roundup (Searchblog) There, the last of it. All my predictions in one place.

Under-Promise. Over-Deliver. And Your Brand’s Fans Will Talk (FC) Good advice for social media.

The Rise of Media Quants (AdWeek) Interview with author of a new book skeptical of targeted advertising.

Microsoft will sell Kinect for Windows for $249.99 from February 1 (TNW) Wow, it didn’t take Microsoft long to make one of my predictions for 2012 (see #7) come that much closer to reality.

Network: The Secret Life of Your Personal Data, Animated (Brainpickings) Me likey big data visualizations.

Better Health Through Tech (DailyBuzzTech) I also like anything that uses tech to help us get healthier.

Scheming Intentions (TC) I agree with this piece – the web will be reborn (as I predicted last year) and apps have to get with the program.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already have about a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

(image) A little slow over the weekend, but the links that stood out are worthy of your quick consideration. CES starts today, I will be missing it for the first time in years. I can’t say I’m sad about it, though I do enjoy seeing all my industry pals. Send me a postcard, willya? To the links:

CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-Kept Secret (ATD) Curtain raiser from ATD.

What to expect from The Next Web’s coverage of CES 2012 (TNW) A full court press.

FTC asked to probe Facebook Timeline for privacy violations (ZDNet) By the same org that drove the last settlement between US Govt. and Facebook.

U.S. Government Threatens Free Speech With Calls for Twitter Censorship (EFF) I’m glad organizations like the EFF exist.

Information is holy; copying is a sacrament (1709) I am not making this up: The Swedish government just accredited a religion whose central tenet is the right to copy things.

The Great Tablet War of 2012 (FC) We thought it was going to happen last year, but that was just a slaughter.

Eight Top Internet Firms Back Alternative To SOPA (RWW) Well, OPEN is better than SOPA, but it ain’t great.

Millennial Media Files IPO, Marks Mobile Ad Sales Growth (ClickZ) This one should be interesting to see if it takes off.

Article: Do Social Media Postings Always Require a Brand Response? (EM) Yes.

CES Live: Global Gadget Biz To Be $1 Trillion In 2012 (Updated) (TT) That’s trillion with a “T”.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already have about a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

Did it take you a week to get back into the groove? It sure did take me that long. What with writing thousands of words predicting 2012 (and I’m not finished yet), reconnecting to the monster that is my book-in-progress, and working on various FM projects (among them, the upcoming Signal conference in San Francisco), I’m bushed, but feeling good about it. This Signal has a ton of my own stuff in in. Forgive me, but I figure hey, you won’t mind, you chose to read this newsletter right? To the links:

Facebook Business Cards Are Here: 200,000 Users Get Free Bundles (Mashable) This creeps me out.

The hot tech gig of 2022: Data scientist (Fortune) Actually, it’s super hot right now, especially for marketers.

Article: Social Campaigns Give Long-Term Boost to Brand Metrics (EM) What I can’t figure out is what kind of campaign they are talking about. Facebook only? Social in what way? Regardless, I find the results encouraging and in line with what we see at FM.

The Decline Of The Public Good (Reich) Reading this makes me mad, and is in line with what I wrote last Fall: What Role Government?

Predictions 2012 #3: The Facebook Ad Network (Searchblog) I’m certain this will happen, but I’ve been wrong before.

Predictions 2012 #4: Google’s Challenging Year (Searchblog) With all due respect to the company, because it does deserve respect.

Predictions 2012 #5: A Big Year for M&A (Searchblog) Due to the next piece…

The Internet Big Five By Product Strength (Searchblog) Where I break down the companies that collectively have become a character in my book.

Welcome to the Beginning of the End of the Fragmented Ad Tech World (AdAge) Looks like someone agrees with me that it’ll be a year of consolidation.

Twitter brand pages only have one chance to make an impression. Here are some tips.

Apple Hires Ad Vet Todd Teresi for iAd Revival (DD) This is really, really good news for Apple. I hope they let Todd really work his way. First real “media guy” I’ve seen Apple hire since they bought their ad network.

Confirmed: Yahoo Names PayPal Head Scott Thompson as New CEO A very interesting choice. I hope to be talking to Scott soon.

Data Darlings: Why New Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Has A Fighting Chance (FC) A good read on why he might be well positioned to succeed.

Infographic: Top 5 Brands by Facebook Engagement (DD) Funny thing, YouTube is number one. Yep, the video service that is #1 to Facebook’s #2. Interesting.

ComScore: Online Holiday Spending Up 15% (Reuters) Who doesn’t like double-digit growth?

Nobody Goes to Facebook Anymore. It’s Too Crowded. (Mike) A good variant on what I’ve been writing about Facebook for years. See Only Connect: Facebook, From The Eyes of an Old Newbie

You are what you curate: why Pinterest is hawt (Giga) A well penned piece by Om.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already have about a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

Signal seekers, we’re back. It was nice to take a couple weeks off, but it’s time to dive into the world of links again. Let’s just get to them for now, shall we? We’re all busy, after all. We have that final swig of expiring egg nog to quaff, after all…

Beyond the Uncanny Valley (KK) Kevin really liked Rin Tin Tin.

Are we on information overload? (Salon) Interview with David Weinberger, who is a thoughtful dude.

Techmeme’s biggest stories of 2011, literally, as measured by height (TM) Surprisingly unsurprising.

For Consumers, Android Is More “Clopen” Than Open (ML) A very well argued post that says, in essence, Google is fumbling the ball with Android.

Bullshit (Marco) Short, to the point, worth a look. Our main tech companies, no wait, media companies, believe their own shit.

The Un-Internet (Wired) Dave Winer continues to rail at where things are going with regard to apps and such. And he thinks no matter what, the Internet will win. I agree.

Predictions 2012: #1 – On Twitter and Media (Searchblog) Twitter will become a full fledged media company in 2012.

Predictions 2012: #2 – Twitter As Free Radical, Swiss Bank, Arms Merchant…And Google Five Years Ago (Searchblog) And it will be a key element in the strategy of the “Internet Big Five.”

Google Bases a Campaign on Emotions, Not Terms (NYT) Given the kerfuffle around Google’s use of Unruly Marketing, this light touch profile of Google’s marketing efforts must have been welcome in the halls of the search giant.

What the Public Commons Is Missing (KK) More goodness from Kevin. “A tragedy of the commons occurs when members behave selfishly and deny the commons what is due.”

What’s Coming In 2012 (PC) Overview of a series on the site.

When Moms Shop, They’re Highly Digitized — and Not Just for Pencils and Wipes (AdAge) We knew this, but it’s good to see it in black and white.

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FM’s program of the day is our first ever Signal conference in San Francisco. Already have about half a dozen great speakers confirmed, more to come…

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

Finding Our Center: Marketing From 30,000 Feet For 2012, Federated Media Publishing’s acclaimed conference series will focus on clarity and comprehension. Digital marketing is well into its second decade, yet the most common refrain amongst its practitioners is one of confusion. A dizzying pace of innovation coupled with a lack of clear metrics, goals, and process has left most of us scrambling to prove what we know in our gut to be true: That joining the digital conversation is crucial to our brands, our customers, and ultimately, to the success of our businesses. Digital marketing may seem a kaleidoscope of startups, technology platforms, and conversational media, but it won’t always be so. A topography is emerging, one defined by both practice and process. It’s time to find our center as an industry. This year’s conference series will focus on identifying patterns across our digital landscape, from location services to programmatic buying, metrics and analytics to the management of marketing data. Signal 2012 will also focus on the fundamental shift in the role of marketing as a function inside the world’s largest corporations. The AMA defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” But the grandfather of modern business theory Peter Drucker puts it much more succinctly: “Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of business.” If this is the case, then why don’t all businesses place marketing at the center of their organization? At Federated Media Publishing, we believe the shift to digital augurs such a transformation, one that requires time, experimentation, careful measurement, and learning. The goal of our conference series is to curate and narrate the insights of this journey. Join us in 2012 as we pull back to “The Thirty Thousand Foot View.” Read on for the themes and cities for 2012′s Signal Series.

The Yin and Yang of Audience: Platforms and The Independent Web

San Francisco (March 21 @ the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio)

This conference will feature top executives from the key “dependent” platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google. These services are where audiences discover new content and services with which to engage. But it’s out on the “Independent Web” that people engage with unique, community-driven content. How can marketers capture the value of both sides of the web?

CM Summit: The 30,000-Foot View

New York (May 14-15 @ Skylight Soho)

Our annual Conversational Marketing Summit brings together brands, marketers, platforms, media, and content creators for two days of high-impact content, conversations, and insights.

The View from The Consumer

Detroit (July 11, 2012 @ the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel)

Our first ever Detroit conference will focus on brands and consumer insights as they relate to the new ecosystem of mobile, local, social and real time digital services. How are customers adapting to and consuming the web? What trends can we divine, and what new services do we need to be on the lookout for?

Mapping Marketing’s Technology and Data Flows

Chicago (September 11, 2012)

The promise of digital has always been the ability to understand how your marketing is working. That promise is starting to bear fruit through the mass of new data and tools now available. This event will help marketers identify and decode the processes, companies, and partnerships that must be leveraged in the new ecosystem of technology and data platforms.

Marketing and Its Contents

Los Angeles (November 13, 2012 @ SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills)

“Content marketing” is the new black as brands become publishers, and media companies are testing new models for distribution. Join us as we try to make sense of such this crowded field through launches and lessons from innovative startups, brand case studies, and industry best practices.

There are any matter of things that are stifling innovation in our field, folks, but bad legislation tops the list this Christmas season. So give the Internet a gift, willya, and do something about it today? My gift back to you are a ton of well-culled links, just for your consumption. To them:

Freedom To Innovate (AVC) Fred makes the case that it’s time for us all to get involved in stopping really bad legislation. I’m in.

‘I Work For The Internet’ brings the web’s finest together to stop SOPA Here’s one of the sites devoted to the cause.

The Web’s Dangerous Click Addiction (DD) Yet another thing that is killing the web! “People that click on ads are losers,” an exec is quoted as saying in the piece.

On This Whole “Web Is Dead” Meme (Searchblog) Related, my take on why the “real” web matters.

Broadband vs. Internet (Doc) If this doesn’t get you mad, well….

Article: Most Facebook Users Don’t Understand Privacy Settings (EM) Oh, I’m utterly stunned.

Disruptions: Privacy Fades in Facebook Era (NYT) No it’s not. It’s being renegotiated. I hate headlines like this.

Domain Name Matters: Searchers Pick Brand Over Quality, Study Finds (SEL) It’snot just in domain names. It’s in all things. We’ve found that with our own content marketing recommendations at FM, those that have a trusted brand associated with them (like Intel) are clicked on more.

Book of Tens: Stats That Mattered for Media and Marketing in 2011 (AdAge) Actually, there are 14 of them, makes for some decent Powerpoint fodder.

The Web Beyond DR (DD) Video of a discussion about how to move past the click.

Is There A Business Model To Support Some Of The Great New Curation Tools? (PC) Yes there is. But I’m not telling you what it is in this forum. It’s not in this article.

Apple Makes Rare Compromise (WSJ) Rare coverage of Apple not Doing Everything Right.

Adults Now Spend More Time With Mobile Devices Than With Print Media (PCW) It’s Web 1.0 all over again. Lapping print, but not in marketing spend.

Top 7 Epic Tech Fails of 2011 (RWW) Because we all love failure.

Forget destinations. Your brand is everywhere and nowhere. (Paul Adams) The fellow behind much of Google’s social vision, now at Facebook, has been blogging up a storm along the themes I’ve endorsed for years. Good to see. Also good to see that he’s advising marketers to not only put their taproot in the soils of Facebook, if I’m reading this right…

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FM’s program of the day is our Nestle Toll House promotion across Foodbuzz and much of FM. Yummmmmm. Example here.

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).

Here’s your quick weekend links from Signal’s curation engine (that’d be me). Enjoy….

How Online Publishers Should Approach Mobile Ad Networks (With Caution) (AdAge) IAB exec warns that we need to think differently about the rise of mobile nets.

Is the Internet the “Paris” of the new millennium? (GigaOm) Interesting take on how the “rest of the world” is rushing to embrace Internet stars.

Big guns take aim at Web piracy (LAT) Interesting to remember the folks behind new Internet legislation include drug companies. There’s movement on this front, see next article…

The Good And The Bad Of The New OPEN Bill From Wyden And Issa (TechDirt) If you want to go deeper, go here.

Yvette Alberdingk Thijm: Technology Companies: The New Human Rights Players (HP) This is heading to a place where my book is camping – companies as key actors in our culture.

DNA: The next big hacking frontier (WP) Ability to not only “read” DNA, but “write” it has huge implications.

Mercury News interview: Andrew McLaughlin, VP at Tumblr, former Googler (Merc) This guy has landed at a lot of interesting places, including Google and the US Government. Now Tumblr.

Twitter As Discovery Platform: Redesign Adds Personalized Stories, Inline Media, Embeds (TC) More on the newnewTwitter.

19 Brands Get New Twitter Pages in Time For Holidays (CZ) Wonder how many it’ll be a year from now….

What marketers say about working online: McKinsey Global Survey results (NoBS) Good overview of fresh research from McKinsey.

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FM’s program of the day is our Best Buy promotion, seen here, among many other FM sites.

If it suits your information consumption goals, sign up for Signal’s email newsletter or RSS feed on the FM home page (upper right box).