Guy Kawasaki, who is a big fan of Adjix, touted our virtues when he gave the keynote speech at last week's Search Engine Strategies conference in NYC. Although he mentioned Adjix several times, the best segment is from 22:20 - 24:30.
http://adjix.com/423y
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Data Migration
First, let me apologize for today's downtime. I cannot make any excuses and I take full responsibility for today's service interruption. While the Adjix service was down, we executed our fallback plan which enables adjix.com and ad.vu links to continue to redirect users properly. This plan uses Amazon's servers to serve up Adjix links, directly, forgoing ads and link click data collection.
We've collected a lot of data since we launched last August and we've begun implementing a data migration plan. Today was the first, big, step. You should notice that the Adjix website is more responsive, now. However, due to the massive size of the data, we've decided to bring Adjix back on line while we continue to migrate and archive the detailed link click (hit) data. The archiving process will take some time (days or longer) and you'll noticed that your link click details are not available, however, your link click totals should be correct.
I appreciate the messages that have been sent to us and thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Joe Moreno
President
Adjix
We've collected a lot of data since we launched last August and we've begun implementing a data migration plan. Today was the first, big, step. You should notice that the Adjix website is more responsive, now. However, due to the massive size of the data, we've decided to bring Adjix back on line while we continue to migrate and archive the detailed link click (hit) data. The archiving process will take some time (days or longer) and you'll noticed that your link click details are not available, however, your link click totals should be correct.
I appreciate the messages that have been sent to us and thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Joe Moreno
President
Adjix
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Adjix2Twitter Embed Ads
We introduced a new advertising format today specifically designed to pay Twitter users who embed an ad at the end of their Twitter tweets. Payment is based on the number of followers that a Twitter user has and how much an advertiser is willing to pay for an embedded ad. We anticipate the payout from this new format will eclipse our current link shrinking ad program.
The new ad format, called Embed Ads, embeds an optional ad directly into a tweet - at the end. The ad is separated from the tweet by a blank line and the word "Ad:" - the former only shows up in SMS text messages (screen shot).
A short video demonstration of Adjix2Twitter used with Embed Ads is available here: http://adjix.com/ddew
Advertiser Info
Adjix allows advertisers to create two different types of ad campaigns. One ad campaign, called the Embed Ad Campaign, allows ads to run inside Twitter tweets. The other ad campaign which Adjix has offered since its launch in August 2008 is called the Link Shrink Ad Campaign and it allows ads to be attached to shortened (shrunk) links.
1. Advertisers can target all Twitter users or only certain Twitter users to run their ads. For example, an advertiser might only target Twitter users in certain cities or Twitter users who tweet about specific interests.
2. An advertiser may set an embargo frequency meaning that once a Twitter user embeds a specific ad, they can't rerun that same ad until the embargo time period has passed. However, the ad will be available to other Twitter users.
Advertisers can create simple Adjix Embed ad campaigns by logging into their Adjix Advertiser Account. Funds added to an advertiser's account can be used for either the Twitter Embed ad campaign or the Link Shrink ad campaign.
Advertisers set the price they are willing to pay for a Twitter user to tweet their ad. The price they set for their ad is multiplied by the number of followers of the Twitter user tweeting their ad. For example, an Advertiser who sets their ad's price at $0.001/Twitter-follower ($1 CPM) would pay $5 each time a Twitter user, with 5,000 followers, tweeted their ad. Advertisers get to see the contents of each tweet when their ad is embedded.
Twitter User (Linker) Info
Adjix users using Adjix2Twitter (also called Linkers on the Adjix website since they're usually including a link in their tweets) are presented the highest paying ads, first. However, not all Twitter users qualify for every ad - there are several reasons for this:
1. Some Twitter users may be excluded by advertisers based on region or content. (It doesn't make sense for a local, N.Y. pizzeria to have their ads run by a Twitter user who lives in Japan and tweets in Kanji).
2. Some Twitter users may encounter ads that are embargoed meaning that once they send out an ad they may have to wait a period of time before they can resend it. However, during the embargo period, the ad will be available to other qualified Twitter users.
3. A Twitter user with many followers may be beyond the budget of an advertiser. For example, a Twitter user with 100,000 followers would not have an opportunity to run an ad from an advertiser paying $1 CPM if the advertiser has less than $100 remaining in their Adjix advertiser account.
Twitter users earn revenue from Adjix based on the ad price set by the advertiser multiplied by the number of followers that Twitter user has. For example, if a Twitter user, with 1,000 followers sends out a tweet with an ad with a pays out $0.0005/follower ($0.50 CPM) then that Twitter user would earn $0.50 for that tweet. Earnings from links and earnings from Embed Ads are tracked separately in each Linker's account.
Installing the Adjix2Twitter Web Browser Bookmarklet/Plug-in
You'll need to log into your Adjix Linker account in order to get your customized Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet. The Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet (sometimes referred to as a plug-in) can be dragged and dropped on your web browser's toolbar in Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. It also works in Internet Explorer, but, you may need to right-click on it to save it instead of dragging and dropping it on your toolbar.
Here's a short video demonstrating how to install your Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet (plug-in) for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer :
http://adjix.com/g869
Is there really enough room in a tweet for an ad?
Yes! Damon Cortesi, from TweetStats, was kind enough to share some private stats with me regarding the average length of a tweet. For example, Guy Kawasaki [*See disclaimer below], who has sent out close to 20,000 tweets since joining Twitter in August 2007, averages about 35 tweets/day.
Damon tells me that Guy's average tweet length is about 71 characters long or, just about half of the allowable 140 character limit.
The main Twitter account used by the NY Times, which seems to be the leading news organization that "gets it" when it comes to Twitter, also averages about 70 characters per tweet. The NY Times sends out about 40 tweets/day for a total of nearly 30,000 tweets sent, since they joined Twitter almost two years ago.
While these two Twitter "power users" only represent a small sample, it's clear that most tweets don't come close to maxing out the 140 character limit. This unused space is the perfect place for an ad. With Adjix2Twitter Embed Ads, Twitter users can see exactly what the ad will say, how much it will pay out, and whether it will fit inside their tweet before it's sent.
Advertising Opportunities Abound
We see many possible uses for Adjix Embed Ads; but, at the top of the list are news organizations. Currently, newspapers and magazines receive a large chunk of their revenue not from paying subscribers but, rather, from advertising. Now, a news organization can tweet out a headline with a link to the full text of the article followed by an Adjix Embed Ad, all in a single tweet.
Do we really need more ads?
Ads are like rainy days - no one likes them but we need a little from time to time.
Over the past decade, as the cost of delivering timely, relevant, content became cheaper, people have been less willing to pay for it. This has created many challenges in the publishing world as this industry tries to reinvent themselves since more and more people now get their news online than from print. I often joke that a newspaper is a hard copy printout of the Internet with yesterday's news. Newspapers who now think of themselves as online news outlets that happen to publish a newspaper have a much better chance of surviving compared to companies who simply think of themselves as a newspaper that happens to have a website.
Expectations
Adjix is venturing into new territory with our Embed Ads. As we stick our toe into the water, we anticipate new opportunities and challenges. Do not hesitate to contact me with your comments or questions.
Cheers,
Joe Moreno
President
Adjix
6965 El Camino Real
Suite 105-530
Carlsbad, CA 92009
j.moreno+embed@adjix.com
760.444.4721
http://www.adjix.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/adjix
* Disclaimer: Many people have asked Guy Kawasaki what his interest is in Adjix. As Guy has mentioned several times (and, for the record) he has no interest in Adjix other than he's an avid user of Adjix2Twitter. When Adjix launched, we were very fortunate that he tweeted about our launch and new features. He has blogged about us a couple times here and here. Last week, he reiterated his love for Adjix when a security issue was discovered. Obviously, we're very thankful for his attention. Guy is a true enabler of entrepreneurs.
The new ad format, called Embed Ads, embeds an optional ad directly into a tweet - at the end. The ad is separated from the tweet by a blank line and the word "Ad:" - the former only shows up in SMS text messages (screen shot).
A short video demonstration of Adjix2Twitter used with Embed Ads is available here: http://adjix.com/ddew
Advertiser Info
Adjix allows advertisers to create two different types of ad campaigns. One ad campaign, called the Embed Ad Campaign, allows ads to run inside Twitter tweets. The other ad campaign which Adjix has offered since its launch in August 2008 is called the Link Shrink Ad Campaign and it allows ads to be attached to shortened (shrunk) links.
1. Advertisers can target all Twitter users or only certain Twitter users to run their ads. For example, an advertiser might only target Twitter users in certain cities or Twitter users who tweet about specific interests.
2. An advertiser may set an embargo frequency meaning that once a Twitter user embeds a specific ad, they can't rerun that same ad until the embargo time period has passed. However, the ad will be available to other Twitter users.
Advertisers can create simple Adjix Embed ad campaigns by logging into their Adjix Advertiser Account. Funds added to an advertiser's account can be used for either the Twitter Embed ad campaign or the Link Shrink ad campaign.
Advertisers set the price they are willing to pay for a Twitter user to tweet their ad. The price they set for their ad is multiplied by the number of followers of the Twitter user tweeting their ad. For example, an Advertiser who sets their ad's price at $0.001/Twitter-follower ($1 CPM) would pay $5 each time a Twitter user, with 5,000 followers, tweeted their ad. Advertisers get to see the contents of each tweet when their ad is embedded.
Twitter User (Linker) Info
Adjix users using Adjix2Twitter (also called Linkers on the Adjix website since they're usually including a link in their tweets) are presented the highest paying ads, first. However, not all Twitter users qualify for every ad - there are several reasons for this:
1. Some Twitter users may be excluded by advertisers based on region or content. (It doesn't make sense for a local, N.Y. pizzeria to have their ads run by a Twitter user who lives in Japan and tweets in Kanji).
2. Some Twitter users may encounter ads that are embargoed meaning that once they send out an ad they may have to wait a period of time before they can resend it. However, during the embargo period, the ad will be available to other qualified Twitter users.
3. A Twitter user with many followers may be beyond the budget of an advertiser. For example, a Twitter user with 100,000 followers would not have an opportunity to run an ad from an advertiser paying $1 CPM if the advertiser has less than $100 remaining in their Adjix advertiser account.
Twitter users earn revenue from Adjix based on the ad price set by the advertiser multiplied by the number of followers that Twitter user has. For example, if a Twitter user, with 1,000 followers sends out a tweet with an ad with a pays out $0.0005/follower ($0.50 CPM) then that Twitter user would earn $0.50 for that tweet. Earnings from links and earnings from Embed Ads are tracked separately in each Linker's account.
Installing the Adjix2Twitter Web Browser Bookmarklet/Plug-in
You'll need to log into your Adjix Linker account in order to get your customized Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet. The Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet (sometimes referred to as a plug-in) can be dragged and dropped on your web browser's toolbar in Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. It also works in Internet Explorer, but, you may need to right-click on it to save it instead of dragging and dropping it on your toolbar.
Here's a short video demonstrating how to install your Adjix2Twitter Bookmarklet (plug-in) for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer :
http://adjix.com/g869
Is there really enough room in a tweet for an ad?
Yes! Damon Cortesi, from TweetStats, was kind enough to share some private stats with me regarding the average length of a tweet. For example, Guy Kawasaki [*See disclaimer below], who has sent out close to 20,000 tweets since joining Twitter in August 2007, averages about 35 tweets/day.
Damon tells me that Guy's average tweet length is about 71 characters long or, just about half of the allowable 140 character limit.
The main Twitter account used by the NY Times, which seems to be the leading news organization that "gets it" when it comes to Twitter, also averages about 70 characters per tweet. The NY Times sends out about 40 tweets/day for a total of nearly 30,000 tweets sent, since they joined Twitter almost two years ago.
While these two Twitter "power users" only represent a small sample, it's clear that most tweets don't come close to maxing out the 140 character limit. This unused space is the perfect place for an ad. With Adjix2Twitter Embed Ads, Twitter users can see exactly what the ad will say, how much it will pay out, and whether it will fit inside their tweet before it's sent.
Advertising Opportunities Abound
We see many possible uses for Adjix Embed Ads; but, at the top of the list are news organizations. Currently, newspapers and magazines receive a large chunk of their revenue not from paying subscribers but, rather, from advertising. Now, a news organization can tweet out a headline with a link to the full text of the article followed by an Adjix Embed Ad, all in a single tweet.
Do we really need more ads?
Ads are like rainy days - no one likes them but we need a little from time to time.
Over the past decade, as the cost of delivering timely, relevant, content became cheaper, people have been less willing to pay for it. This has created many challenges in the publishing world as this industry tries to reinvent themselves since more and more people now get their news online than from print. I often joke that a newspaper is a hard copy printout of the Internet with yesterday's news. Newspapers who now think of themselves as online news outlets that happen to publish a newspaper have a much better chance of surviving compared to companies who simply think of themselves as a newspaper that happens to have a website.
Expectations
Adjix is venturing into new territory with our Embed Ads. As we stick our toe into the water, we anticipate new opportunities and challenges. Do not hesitate to contact me with your comments or questions.
Cheers,
Joe Moreno
President
Adjix
6965 El Camino Real
Suite 105-530
Carlsbad, CA 92009
j.moreno+embed@adjix.com
760.444.4721
http://www.adjix.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/adjix
* Disclaimer: Many people have asked Guy Kawasaki what his interest is in Adjix. As Guy has mentioned several times (and, for the record) he has no interest in Adjix other than he's an avid user of Adjix2Twitter. When Adjix launched, we were very fortunate that he tweeted about our launch and new features. He has blogged about us a couple times here and here. Last week, he reiterated his love for Adjix when a security issue was discovered. Obviously, we're very thankful for his attention. Guy is a true enabler of entrepreneurs.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Too Much Online Advertising
Sometimes, websites go a little too far with their online ads - to the point that you can't find the content you're looking for; or even sort the content from the ads.
A couple months ago, my wife and I visited my family, back on Long Island, for the Holidays. We had dinner at the Maine Maid Inn, in Jericho, NY, which was built in 1789. This afternoon, my mother and sister contacted me to tell me they had heard that the restaurant had closed down. But, they couldn't find any information about it.
My first stop was the leading Long Island newspaper, Newsday. I ran a search for the Maine Maid Inn and I was surprised that I couldn't find anything about it. So, I turned to the best place to get real time information, online: Twitter.
Here is what I found (click image to enlarge):
Hey, wait, there was an article published online by Newsday. Why didn't I find it? Well, I did, but didn't know it.
Can you find the article here? (click image to enlarge)
I'm sure, now that you know the search results I was looking for are really on that web page, you can see the article at the very bottom of the page. Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't very obvious. Should the Favorite Inns Guide, The Match, and the latest Newsday corrections really be the Top Results? Of course not.
Obviously, well placed ads are the key to getting results - unless you simply intend to bombard your viewers with as many ads as possible. There are more than half a dozen ads on that Newsday web page - I'm sure six, well placed ads, could be more than ten times as effective.
Twitter Search
If you search for most anything on Twitter you'll find what people are saying about it right now - and what they ever said about it. Next time you're watching a significant event, live, on T.V., do some searches on Twitter - you'll be amazed.
Update 3.1.2009
I just read this article about Newsday - they will probably end free access to current news articles on their web site. I just don't think they get it.
Cheers,
Joe
A couple months ago, my wife and I visited my family, back on Long Island, for the Holidays. We had dinner at the Maine Maid Inn, in Jericho, NY, which was built in 1789. This afternoon, my mother and sister contacted me to tell me they had heard that the restaurant had closed down. But, they couldn't find any information about it.
My first stop was the leading Long Island newspaper, Newsday. I ran a search for the Maine Maid Inn and I was surprised that I couldn't find anything about it. So, I turned to the best place to get real time information, online: Twitter.
Here is what I found (click image to enlarge):
Hey, wait, there was an article published online by Newsday. Why didn't I find it? Well, I did, but didn't know it.Can you find the article here? (click image to enlarge)
I'm sure, now that you know the search results I was looking for are really on that web page, you can see the article at the very bottom of the page. Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't very obvious. Should the Favorite Inns Guide, The Match, and the latest Newsday corrections really be the Top Results? Of course not.Obviously, well placed ads are the key to getting results - unless you simply intend to bombard your viewers with as many ads as possible. There are more than half a dozen ads on that Newsday web page - I'm sure six, well placed ads, could be more than ten times as effective.
Twitter Search
If you search for most anything on Twitter you'll find what people are saying about it right now - and what they ever said about it. Next time you're watching a significant event, live, on T.V., do some searches on Twitter - you'll be amazed.
Update 3.1.2009
I just read this article about Newsday - they will probably end free access to current news articles on their web site. I just don't think they get it.
Cheers,
Joe
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Security Hole Found, Fixed, and Deployed
Just before 10 am PST, today, a security hole was discovered, by chance, in Adjix2Twitter by Sam Nguyen which allowed him to post this tweet to Guy Kawasaki's Twitter timeline. I'd never heard of Sam or his company before today - he is the CTO at InsideWork which "infuses business innovation with biblical insight".
Since Twitter is about as real-time as it gets, the following happened within an hour of the problem being discovered by Sam:
1. I saw the tweet as soon as it was sent and I immediately reviewed the logs to discover that Guy hadn't posted it from his own Adjix account.
2. NEENZ, who is Alltop's Chief Evangelist, DM'd me about the tweet and called Guy.
3. A number of Guy's followers @'d him regarding the tweet - and many also RT'd it, seemingly "in the blind".
4. Twenty minutes after Sam discovered the problem he sent an e-mail to me outlining what he had done and I called him to get the details.
5. Guy, who was in a meeting when this happened, called me after the meeting to find out what was going on and what he needed to do.
6. Guy disavowed the tweet and proclaimed his love for Adjix.
Security Hole Details
While no one likes bugs, the one that Sam found was reproducible which makes it easier to fix.
To reproduce the problem, someone only needed to attempt to "reshrink" an Adjix link using Adjix2Twitter. Adjix2Twitter prevents an Adjix link from being "reshrunk" again and simply returns the original link. The problem was that the Twitter credentials associated with the original link were being used to post to Twitter. No Twitter user info and no Adjix user info was compromised or exposed. Exploiting this security hole only made it possible to post to someone else's Twitter account and it happened exactly once.
To fix this problem, our servers now ensure that the Linker's credentials of the user who clicked on the Adjix2Twitter bookmarklet are used and not the credentials associated with the link.
The Adjix2Twitter fix went live at 12:15 pm, about two hours after Sam first discovered the problem. All is well.
Cheers,
Joe
Since Twitter is about as real-time as it gets, the following happened within an hour of the problem being discovered by Sam:
1. I saw the tweet as soon as it was sent and I immediately reviewed the logs to discover that Guy hadn't posted it from his own Adjix account.
2. NEENZ, who is Alltop's Chief Evangelist, DM'd me about the tweet and called Guy.
3. A number of Guy's followers @'d him regarding the tweet - and many also RT'd it, seemingly "in the blind".
4. Twenty minutes after Sam discovered the problem he sent an e-mail to me outlining what he had done and I called him to get the details.
5. Guy, who was in a meeting when this happened, called me after the meeting to find out what was going on and what he needed to do.
6. Guy disavowed the tweet and proclaimed his love for Adjix.
Security Hole Details
While no one likes bugs, the one that Sam found was reproducible which makes it easier to fix.
To reproduce the problem, someone only needed to attempt to "reshrink" an Adjix link using Adjix2Twitter. Adjix2Twitter prevents an Adjix link from being "reshrunk" again and simply returns the original link. The problem was that the Twitter credentials associated with the original link were being used to post to Twitter. No Twitter user info and no Adjix user info was compromised or exposed. Exploiting this security hole only made it possible to post to someone else's Twitter account and it happened exactly once.
To fix this problem, our servers now ensure that the Linker's credentials of the user who clicked on the Adjix2Twitter bookmarklet are used and not the credentials associated with the link.
The Adjix2Twitter fix went live at 12:15 pm, about two hours after Sam first discovered the problem. All is well.
Cheers,
Joe
Mysterious Clicks
Last Friday I was talking on the phone to an old buddy, Andy, from high school. I wanted to show him a web page on the Adjix website so I created an Adjix link (redirect) to it and gave it to him over the phone. He manually typed the link into his web browser without any problems.
After we got off the phone I checked my Adjix link stats and noticed that there were two clicks on the newly created link. One link click was registered about 40 seconds after it was created which was obviously Andy typing it into his web browser. But, about 15 minutes later, while we were still on the phone, there was a second click from this IP address: 150.70.84.43
Who is 150.70.84.43?
This IP address is registered to Japan Network Information Center. This strikes me as a little odd since I live in San Diego and Andy lives in L.A. The only other useful thing I can tell you about this link click is that its user agent was Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1).
How did someone or, more likely, some bot, find out about my link within 20 minutes of it being created? I don't know. My best guess is that maybe Andy has some spyware on his Windows computer.
I'd love to hear you thoughts on this. Tweet them to me @Adjix or via e-mail: MysteryClick@adjix.com
Cheers,
Joe
After we got off the phone I checked my Adjix link stats and noticed that there were two clicks on the newly created link. One link click was registered about 40 seconds after it was created which was obviously Andy typing it into his web browser. But, about 15 minutes later, while we were still on the phone, there was a second click from this IP address: 150.70.84.43
Who is 150.70.84.43?
This IP address is registered to Japan Network Information Center. This strikes me as a little odd since I live in San Diego and Andy lives in L.A. The only other useful thing I can tell you about this link click is that its user agent was Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1).
How did someone or, more likely, some bot, find out about my link within 20 minutes of it being created? I don't know. My best guess is that maybe Andy has some spyware on his Windows computer.
I'd love to hear you thoughts on this. Tweet them to me @Adjix or via e-mail: MysteryClick@adjix.com
Cheers,
Joe
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Social Bookmarking Support Integrated into Adjix
We're happy to announce that social bookmarking for all major social networks has now been integrated directly into Adjix. When shrinking a link or posting a tweet you now have the ability to bookmark the link and "Tell a Friend" using:
Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Gmail, Yahoo! mail, Google Talk, MSN, AOL Instant Messenger, Blogger, WordPress, Delicious, StumbleUpon, BuzzUp, Reddit, Slasdot, and more.
After shrinking a link through the Adjix website, simply mouse over the text field with the shorten link and choose how you'd like to bookmark your link or spread the word.
When using Adjix2Twitter, your tweet link is automatically feed into the social bookmarking widget. From there you can edit it before bookmarking it or sending it on its way.
Please don't hesitate to let us know what you think of the Tell a Friend widget.
Cheers,
Joe
Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Gmail, Yahoo! mail, Google Talk, MSN, AOL Instant Messenger, Blogger, WordPress, Delicious, StumbleUpon, BuzzUp, Reddit, Slasdot, and more.
After shrinking a link through the Adjix website, simply mouse over the text field with the shorten link and choose how you'd like to bookmark your link or spread the word.
click to enlarge
When using Adjix2Twitter, your tweet link is automatically feed into the social bookmarking widget. From there you can edit it before bookmarking it or sending it on its way.
click to enlarge
Please don't hesitate to let us know what you think of the Tell a Friend widget.
Cheers,
Joe
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