A couple of weeks ago I took a look at some examples of how brands collect and leverage Tweeted feedback – which has a positive effect: This creates favorable social media context around the brand (and thus makes it “friendlier”); This engages users to promote the company social media profiles (by adding them to friends, sharing, etc) This makes the brand more trust-worthy (as Twitter testimonials are easier confirmed and verified). One of the best scenarios you may want to apply (in case you decide to take advantage of social media reviews) is a semi-controlled ones: You track Twitter mentions and add them to your Twitter favorites (by “starring them”) You grab your Twitter favorites RSS feed and make it public at your site. This way you have the full control over what is being shared with your visitors.

Sheara Goldenthal pinged me with a question yesterday about why the Google Keyword Tool shows different search volume data for the same keyword phrase, when she is logged in versus not logged into her AdWords account. It is a great..

Aaron Goldman is an accomplished digital marketer that I know through MediaPost’s Search Insider Summit conference. He reached out to me while writing his new book, “Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google”, and asked if I’d like to contribute

Google is in the beta testing stages of what they are calling “sponsored map icons” which will appear on Google Maps. These icons will show specific brand icons on the maps instead of just the generic ones and as of right now this new feature is starting with HSBC, Target, Bank of America, and Public Storage.

Back in April Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced he was stepping down and leaving the company. Today, Tech Crunch confirmed that they have hired Matt Williams, long time Amazon executive, has his replacement.

Posted by randfish It’s been a wild few weeks at the mozplex. Today wrapped up the amazing mozinar with our half-day tools training just in time to launch the new version of SEOmoz.

Today Apple launched Ping. You can get the full story on ClickZ who covered the announcement.

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps “Sponsored Map Icons” Test Comes To U.S. Google Maps is now testing “sponsored map icons” in the United States

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web….

Google Maps is now testing “sponsored map icons” in the United States. This was first tested back in March in the Australian version of Google Maps. The sponsored map icons are basically company logo enhanced points of interest icons.