Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Search Engine Market Share

On June 4th, BING (Microsoft’s new search engine) overtook Yahoo! in the latest stats from Statcounter. In my last post I made the brazen prediction that it wouldn’t last, I didn’t realize their victory would last approximately 24 hours. Sure enough, the spike was just a spike and even with the new, search engine smell and plastic wrap BING didn’t have what it took to sustain a market share over Yahoo!

Maybe they need to start an ad campaign called “BING vs GOOGLE” with a goofy, balding man playing Google and a young, hip kid playing BING. Oh wait…

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Search Engine Market Share

StatCounter Global Stats reported something interesting today. Microsoft in it’s Vista-bug-filled glory has wanted to overtake Yahoo! as a search engine for quite some time. Now, it appears they have done it…at least temporarily. A sharp spike in the use of BING put them in front yesterday by a narrow margin. Maybe it’s because the millions of people trying to find my blog finally realized it ranks higher on Bing than other sites? Maybe…

My bet? (and by bet I mean, random guess) It won’t last.

Microsoft may be back up there within 6 months or so, but this has happened before with Browsers (FireFox 3, Chrome, etc) when they launch new versions as well as search engines of the past. BING has some great features, but only time will tell if this trend is legit. If they would have renamed Microsoft Live Search they would have seen an identical spike. When the novelty wears off in a month or two, lets check the numbers again.

Lebron James hit a pretty incredible, game-winning shot a few weeks ago. A nice three pointer as time expired to beat the Magic in Cleveland. How many people saw that happen? You could check the ratings, you could ask me (not recommended), or you could ask Twitter.

By ask, I mean search (sorry, I forgot for a second there that I was the only one that tries to talk to Twitter).

The screenshot above was taken about 10 minutes after the shot, yet still, every 15 seconds or so, 2000-3000 people were writing tweets about it’s awesomeness. This pace continued for another full 10 minutes! That is tens of thousands of tweets about one single event in the short minutes that followed. Incredible.

So, why am I telling you this, and what does it mean.

I am telling you because what if your brand could get 1/1000 of that buzz. It means that Twitter is perfect for viral shenanegans, and now is the time to give it a ‘Twirl’.

Let me suggest three things you can do to really make your time on Twitter the most effective.

1) When people you follow ask questions, respond.
Making simple, personal connections like that is one of the key benefits of Twitter. I have seen these interractions blossom many times over into great partnershps and deals. Not only that, but when you ask a question, they will be more likely to respond to you as well. Do just get up on your soap-box and tweet till the cows come home. Make it a conversation.

2) Use Twitter Search (search.twitter.com)
Twitter search is extremely underused and undervalued. Yet, here is a tool that lets you find pinpoint trends and topics that your prospective customers and clients could be talking about. Do you sell bikes? See who is tweeting about the upcoming Tour de France, respond to their tweets, and instantly, a targeted relationship is born.

3) Use Twitter Software
I use Seesmic Desktop, others use Twirl or online products like HootSuite. These are all free and there for the taking. These let you quickly perform Twitter searches, continue those searches in real-time, post from your desktop without having to sign in, and much more. For the 15 minutes they take to download and get the hang of, they will save you many times that in wasted effort.

May I suggest one more thing (guess what, I’m going to even if you just silently said, ‘No Gregg, just shut up already!’)…

There are really two ways to approach Twitter. You can approach it for website traffic, or for relationships. If you approach is for traffic you will likely end up with so many followers that you have no REAL relationships with any of them. If you approach it for relationships, you will still get traffic, but not enough to really matter. Decide that early and up front and stick to it. If you need to, create two Twitter accounts so that you can attack both time. I see folks trying to manage both, and it’s possible, but much easier if the two strategies are not mixed.

Ok, I’m done…let me just put this soap box away real quick…