When it comes to advertising today, things have changed. In some ways it’s due to social media. Searching for “I Love Zappos” yields 2,000,000 results. Searching for “I Love Dow Chemical Company” yields 3, according to Bob Garfield and Doug Levy at the SXSW panel titled “Cant’ Buy Me Likes”. Thanks to their presentation, this number is sure to go way up as people discuss it (such as this blog). By contrast, searching for “I Love Satan” yields 293,000. It’s not a good thing to be loved less than the prince of darkness. What has happened? Why is it that billion dollar ad branding campaigns get usurped…

You can mark it down as “they just don’t get me.” There was really no chance that they would, anyway, but that doesn’t change the fact that the panel at SXSW on Reddit was a debacle. Then again, did anyone think it wouldn’t be? The panel consisted of Slate’s Farhad Manjoo, Gawker’s Adrian Chen and Skepchick’s Rebecca Watson. They aren’t fans of the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet” and it showed. Those who expected it to be a discussion about a Reddit culture that is growing in prominence and maturing in form were disappointed. Those who knew that it would be a not-so-veiled bash session…

Last year, SXSW was relatively laid back. We had a couple of executives there, but for the most part it was our search and social team that was in attendance, catching tidbits of information here or there but really we were there to meet with some people outside of our core business in the automotive industry. Then, something happened. Matt Cutts from Google and Duane Forrester of Bing dropped a bombshell on the audience. They both declared that quality was moving up in he search algorithms, that quantity was going to be a bad thing, and that spammers would be roughed up in the coming weeks. The result…

It was once a quaint music festival. Today, it’s arguably the most important tech, music, and film gathering in existence. It’s a big party. It’s a place where movers and shakers move and shake. It’s SXSW and it’s going to be huge once again. If you’re going to SXSWi, we want to hear from you. Sure, the music and film parts are important, too, but it’s the interactive portion of SXSW that truly interests us. This is where the likes of Google and Facebook engage with their users. It’s the venue where politicians can share a stage with startup giants. Something big has been coming out of SXSW every year for…

Some people go to SXSW to see the latest and greatest in interactive, music, and film. Others go to see the tastemakers and trendsetters of each industry in person in ways that are only possible once a year in Austin. For many, they go because SXSW has some of the best geek parties of the year all within a week. That’s the premise behind this infographic. The #SXSW Party Guide is everything you need to know. Click to enlarge. Via: Hasai…

The parties. The entertainment. The latest and greatest in geek, music, film, and more geek. That’s what happens every year as thousands descend on Austin, Texas, for the annual SXSW Festival. If you’re going, the excitement is probably already building. If you’re not going, do you regret it already? Fear not. This infographic by TimeRazor recaps the events that took place last year and prepares you for what’s in store this year. There will be plenty of coverage to allow people to experience it without going, though it probably won’t be as exciting. We’ll be covering it this year. We’ll send pictures….

Music, movies, and tech. That’s what the nearly-finished SXSW convention offers to its participants every year for what seems like a month. Austin watches thousands of people descend into the heart of the city every year and the results are always unpredictable. One thing that stays constant is the fact that it makes a lot of money for a lot of people and businesses. The yearly mecca of everything entertainment sees millions of dollars exchanged. With so much going on, how can the economy of the event be visualized? Thankfully, our friends at RetailMeNot have put together a large and comprehensive…

Update: The most recent word from AllThingsD is that the product does not exist in any form other than in the lab. Google is saying there is no product to launch tonight or any night soon. With Google, it’s hard to tell what’s fact and what’s a smokescreen – if the product is real and not ready for primetime, it is unlikely that Google would want it known before it arrives. They have simply been burnt too many times by the hype machine and their most successful launches have simply “happened” without anticipation or rumor. There has been much speculation about Google’s next entry into the social web and…

This year, the popular South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas, returns to celebrate its monumental 25th anniversary. What started as a music festival has now transformed into a comprehensive meet-up for music-lovers, cinephiles and web entrepreneurs alike. Here’s a look at SXSW by the numbers, courtesy of our friends at GetSatisfaction and Infographic Design. Click to enlarge. …