Today's column was originally published in MediaPost and continues in the extended entry.
THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA launched its long-awaited strike. How will this event affect
marketers, search engines, and consumers' online media behavior? SEMCO, the
union for search engine marketing columnists, hasn't quite caught on, so I'm
remaining on the job to answer these questions and more.
Most consumers aren't going to care about the WGA strike, and they're not going to notice it anytime soon. Google's Hot Trends showed no mention of the strike or the WGA Friday, Saturday (when the strike was announced), or Sunday. On Monday November 5, the term "writers strike" finally made an appearance at number 52 at "medium hotness," or a mere two bars out of five, well behind other entries that day including references to Food Network star Giada de Laurentiis expecting a baby girl, Google's Android mobile platform announcement, and the shooting of a rare albino deer in Minnesota. As much as Americans love TV, our patience quickly tires of labor disputes unless they're mediated by Oprah, Dr. Phil, or Kim Kardashian (an aside: a colleague came in here while I was Googling Kardashian's name to check the spelling, leading me to wonder whether my colleague or Google is my greater privacy concern).
Here are some predictions of what should happen with search and online media if this strike lasts a few months:
Blogging from the launch of
Aside #2: When I visited the site (click the thumbnail for a full image), Jell-o's sponsoring. I've also seen ads for Delta and Toyota. Still, Jell-o strikes me as especially wholesome. Do they know their brand is being associated with sea creature puppets in heat?