I came across an interesting post by Gregg Stewart on Search Engine Watch last Oct. 12. The growth of directory assistance (DA) services has spawned a new a new sub-category: voice search.

According to Stewart, voice search enables users to access name-based information and/or category-based listings in much the same way as printed White and Yellow Pages, all supported via advertiser sponsorship as opposed to user charges.

There have been a number of these offerings over the years (HelloYellow, 800-411-Metro, etc.), but to date, none were successful at attracting user and advertiser acceptance, the article stated. With today’s mobile-enabled consumer, however, we’ve crossed the first hurdle. We now have users. Lots of them.

The Kelsey Group estimates there will be nearly 270 million calls in 2007 to ad-sponsored/free DA, the vast majority from mobile users. From now until 2012, ad sponsored DA is expected to have a 50 percent compounded annual growth rate and will be the leading DA source by 2012.

Even now, a few companies have already fielded products to attract users and establish a market share. Some of these large players include Jingle Networks (Free411), AT&T (800YellowPages), and even Google with their own GOOG-411.

These providers have a similar offering: users access listings for a category and are then required to listen to a brief, 15-second audio ad from the advertiser before receiving the request information/listing.

Voice search, while not a new concept, is beginning to see a perfect storm of opportunity; users are lining up because of mobile search needs, advertisers are seeking new measurable manners of gaining sales leads, and there’s backing by major brands such as Google and AT&T, Stewart writes. While many mobile opportunities are still in the distant future, voice search represents an opportunity in the here and now.

Apart from Yellowpages.com’s new iPhone/iPod Touch-optimized search application, Yellowpages.com has made searching for local businesses on mobile devices even easier, with other new applications made specifically for those who like to take their local searches on the go.

They’ve created a free, downloadable mobile application for 20 AT&T handsets. This enhancement allows consumers to search easily for whatever they want local restaurants, ATMs, gas stations, airports, etc., and to save their favorite listings and locations for quicker access in the future.

The new auto-complete feature makes the search process For example, if a user has previously searched for “pizza,” the next time he or she types a “p” in the search field, the term “pizza” will automatically be prompted.

Consumers can also get maps and driving directions, in addition to options optimized for bicycling and walking. Users whose mobile devices are GPS-enabled can search near their GPS position, map their location and get driving directions from where they are .

Consumers can go to www.yellowpages.com/mobile and consult the drop-down menu to determine whether their AT&T handset is compatible. The application is free and can be downloaded in just minutes.

These new wireless applications join other successful wireless local search applications rolled out recently:
YP411
Consumers can send a text message to YP411 (97411) containing a business name or business type, along with a ZIP code or city and state, to receive up to three local listings returned in text message form. Consumers can initiate a phone call from the message or, on enabled phones, follow a Web link to see more information, such as maps and driving directions.
Optimized WAP Browser
Wireless users who type the www.yellowpages.com URL directly into their browsers will access a version of YELLOWPAGES.COM designed for wireless viewing. This means no text jumbling, access to legible maps and no irrelevant content, such as news headlines.
Send to Mobile
Internet users can send search results from YELLOWPAGES.COM to their wireless phones in the form of a text message, including driving directions.

These new applications are just a few of the recent initiatives that YellowPages.com has introduced to make it easier for people to conduct mobile searches, which is considered to be one of the fastest-growing categories in the local search arena. As I have mentioned before, The Kelsey Group’s U.S. Mobile Forecast estimates that the number of mobile Internet users will jump from 37.9 million in 2007 to more than 97 million in the next four years.

Forbes magazine called it the $15 million dollar question: Could top social networking site Facebook actually make money?

Facebook executives have revealed how they hope to answer that question with a new advertising platform that will let marketers track where the 50 million Facebook members go online and what they buy.

The goal? To keep track of all this activity so that advertisers send the most “appropriate” ads to consumers and, more importantly, sell more products and services. The company announced a new platform, called Facebook Ads, at the Ad:Tech conference in New York last month. It consists of three parts: “Social Ads,” “Targeting” and “Insights.”

Social Ads are little ads that will be attached to news feeds. They will show up on the news feeds that users and their friends subscribe to. Advertisers can bid for the right to place their ads on the feeds used by people with the specific preferences that they want to reach.

The social networking giant already listed 12 corporations including Blockbuster, CBS, JPMorgan Chase, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony Pictures Television and Verizon Wireless that have already signed up for Facebook Ads.

Facebook has a self-service ad targeting page where advertisers can find all sorts of specifics that members have already saved in their online profiles: movie preferences, age, gender, marital status, relationships, jobs, college choices, and favorites activities.

Another ad-oriented feature, which they call Facebook Beacon, will let third-party sites put a link to Facebook at the end of a transaction so consumers can let all their friends know what they’re buying.

Although established companies see Facebook Ads as a way to tap into the youth market, the new ad system has already sparked privacy concerns. I wrote earlier on users reaction but since then a petition has been formed for the removal of Facebook Beacon.

Some analysts have predicted that the new system will be intrusive and a threat to privacy, because Facebook users are not only unaware of the information transmission, but also are unable to block it from being transmitted. Facebook executives, however, insist that users will be able to control what advertisers know about them and their friends.

Last week, during the Kelsey Group’s well-attended Interactive Local Media 2007 conference in Los Angeles, SearchEngineWatch.com announced that the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) launched a new mobile section to its Local Search Guide.

The Local Search Guide (located on the web at www.localsearchguide.org) provides information on Internet Yellow Pages, search engines, search tools, vertical directories, and now profiles local mobile tools.

It was first launched in the last quarter of 2004. The Guide’s new mobile section will include profiles of companies including Medio, JumpTap and Call Genie that provide mobile tools, voice-based search, and free directory assistance.

The Yellow Pages started with print, moved online, and now we’re going mobile, said Stephanie Hobbs, VP of Communications for the Yellow Pages Association. Hobbs explained that the YPA started thinking about mobile search about six months ago. In order to track interest, it decided to poll visitors to its Local Search Guide.

According to its home page poll, 66% of visitors are using mobile phones to search for local information. Of these voters, 37% say they use free directory assistance, 17% most often use SMS/text messaging and 12% say they use downloadable mobile search applications to find local information. An additional 34% report not using mobile search because the experience is frustrating.

People on the go are really looking for information and they want it right now, Hobbs said. When it was first launched, Local Search Guide only featured about 100 business profiles but, with the addition of the mobile section, about 20 more have been added. Through this new section, she added, the YPA is attempting to broaden the mobile experience for consumers everywhere.

With 55 million active users using Facebook in the last 30 days, (more than the entire paid newspaper circulation in the U.S.), and these users doubling every 6 months, Facebook is a social media phenomena. 50% of its users visit the site daily, and monthly there are over 70 billion page views.

What has driven the incredible growth of the site is viral expansion according to Chamath Palihapitiya, VP of Product Marketing and Operations for Facebook who addressed a crowd of 650 people representing over 21 different countries at the 2007 Kelsey ILM:Conference this past week in Los Angeles. This is because Facebook provides an environment of trust, safety and accuracy. But is this truly what social network sites provide?

In his November 12 article Guy Dixon, of vnunet.com indicated that one in four social network users are posting information that leaves them at risk of identity fraud. Younger users are the worst offenders with more than a quarter of 18-24 year olds posting information about other people without securing their consent. Your date of birth and your address is all a criminal needs to set up a credit card in your name.

Recently Facebook came under attack by users because of its new marketing program that tracks users purchases and publicizes them for their friends to see. (I feel sorry for the guy who purchased a cheaper engagement ring in time for Christmas through Overstock.com since now his girlfriend knows).

But one of the most troubling stories I have come across is one that was published by ABC News. It is a story of a St. Louis mother who set up a fake profile on myspace. She disguised herself as a 16 year old boy and carried on a relationship with a young 13 year old girl (Megan) whom her daughter had had trouble with at school. The relationship went on for about a month and ended in the Megan’s suicide. According to Megan’s mother the postings drove her daughter to suicide. Things were said like: the world would be a better place without you.

Perhaps eager national advertisers wanting to reach the young crowd shouldn’t be so anxious to wade into this uncharted territory of social media marketing. While fringe groups are necessary to advancement in our society, a client’s national brand and reputation associated with a story of a gang member’s confessions on a social networking site is hard to bounce back from.

Sit tight, we have a ways to go before social networking sites can provide trust, safety and accuracy and value for advertisers. This part of the internet is the wildest of the Wild West.