Welcome To
Street Buzz
The Webmaster's Gossip Section

What's new? What's hot? What's changing on the Net? Who is going where? Who is doing what? (and to whom?) You all know how much mail I get a day, right? Here I'll share a few of the latest. (As of the writing of this - August 16, 1999)

New Cash To Read Email Program
To Be Launched By Webtwister September 1, 1999

Just found out about this one last night. They'll be starting it September 1, 1999 - but you can start signing up to it now. Pays $.05/email you receive/read - $.02/email your referrals receive/read - and $.02/email referred merchants send. Now, I'm a merchant, and after reviewing it I know I'll be using it for some of my future ad campaigns. It's been well designed and thought out for highly targetted advertising! Check it out...

Boom or Bust?
What's Happening To All Them Net Stocks?

Are you one them out there wondering why your Net stocks are crashing? What's going on out there anyway? A few consultants are suggesting "It ain't over yet! Be prepared for rocky rides into the next 6 months!" Better cruise on over to the MotleyFool and keep informed. Oh, and register with them to get your free "13 steps to Investing Foolishly" while your at it! *G*

A Few Jacobytes
From Inconocast Newsletter - 'cuz I love their sense of humor!

<*> Love in the Jaco ruins. A certain Greg fesses up to Jaco that he wants to see more pictures of Michelle DesMarais in future issues. Says our lovestruck reader: "Who is she and what does she do at NextCard? Has she ever mentioned that she's looking to meet a hedge fund manager?" Hmmmmm, Jaco recommends you hedge your bets!

<*> Meanwhile back at the downunder ranch, it looks like the Aussies are inexorably moving towards a "Goods and Services Tax" (slated to be implemented in July 2000). Because it's hard to charge GST on items bought over the Net, Jaco's amateur analyst predicts "a marketing boom for businesses outside Australia as Aussies realize they can dodge the GST and save money by shopping outside of Oz on the Net." To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee, "You call that a rumor, mate?"

Side note from me: Hey, us up here in Canada want to know if our GST came from OZ? If so... ummmmm, can we give it back?

New Bugs?
Not Going To List Them - But Check These Links Out For Details

http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?3097

http://www.zdnn.com/a/zdnn061099/2273505/

A Few Stats

Forgot to keep my "source" links when I copied these. Sorry... next update will include source info, ok? Just thought you may be interested in the following:
 

Between 1995 and 1998 the Internet economy grew by 174.5 percent, compared with a worldwide economic growth rate of 3.8 percent during the same period. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product grew 2.8 percent during that time.

While AOL dominates, there are more than 6,000 local ISPs serving some 13 million consumers, according to a Dec. 1998 ZD Market Intelligence estimate. Last year, ISP revenues reached nearly $8 billion says IDC. The bulk, $4.7 billion, were derived from consumer access fees. Corporations kicked in another $2.9 billion.

A recent survey by Opinion Research discovered that online shopping escapades start more tongues wagging than either movies or restaurants. The average U.S. adult online shopper now tells about 12 other people including family, friends, relatives and co-workers about their online shopping experiences.
 

Search Engine Briefs Alta Vista is going through growing pains with their sale to CMGI and many recent upgrades.  You may see a longer lag time between submitting your site and seeing it in the directory than usual.

I heard through the grapevine Infoseek was not indexing for a short period about a month ago. This has resulted in a backlog which means slower indexing probably through the end of August.

GoTo has recently partnered with Netscape which should result in more traffic through GoTo.

ProMoteur - Submit your URLs to over 1500 French speaking and International Search engines and directories.  Comes with dual language support and both French and English versions are available.

Bits And Bytes
Should We Start Our Own On-Line Glossary Here At WebGuide?

Ok, maybe it's been done already, but I was thinking the other day when I tripped across the latest buzz words for the latest marketing craze - "viral marketing" - and wondered how many of you out there are familiar with some of the strange terms being passed around on the net today.

For example, viral marketing refers to the "alert a friend" concept. Like receiving those new Lottery Tickets where a friend enters a free ticket on your behalf and you receive the email telling you of the gift. Never got one yet? Ok, just write to me and I'll go over there in a couple weeks to send you all one, ok? *G* Hugh sent me the first one.

How many other words confuse you? Want me to begin building our own on-line glossary here for them? Let me know.

That's all for this update!

I haven't put as much in here as I wanted to - mainly because this one took the longest, setting up the templates and such. I hope you've enjoyed our first WebGuide Journal OnLine. Remember, the more friends you refer to it, the likelier it will be for me to keep it operational. I'll be tracking this one closely.

Meanwhile - See Y'All At The Hog Roast!

Ooops! Forgot to mention, the Hog has been ordered and can feed up to 255 people! The stuffing sounds positively delicious! If you want to know more about attending or need directions write to Brian@time4me.com (it's at his house) and is going ahead this Labour Day Weekend!! Yippeee!! I finally get a vacation!!!

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