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A few months back, I wrote a post linking to an AP story that suggested that some domain name registrars were using search queries to snatch up domain names that were about to be purchased. It seems that the suspicions discussed in the story were founded.

Earlier this evening, a story on Digg declared that Network Solutions was registering any domain name that was users searched for using their link to the WHOIS database. The comments provided copious examples of this practice, none of which are really appropriate to repeat here. I read the methodology described in the original linked post, and tried to duplicate it myself.

See how it turned out, and why you should be careful, after the jump…

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Microsoft’s $240 million purchase for a 1.6% equity stake in Facebook had everyone buzzing recently (read more). While that’s a lot of money to you and I, it’s probably a drop in the bucket for Microsoft and well worth keeping Google out of the picture (if you’re Microsoft anyway). Microsoft had already struck a deal with Facebook (in 2006) to sell display ads on Facebook. With the new deal, Microsoft has also won the rights to sell ads on international versions of Facebook through 2011. While the international advertising spend online isn’t as high as the US, it’s not insignificant either. Research firm eMarketer reports that advertisers plan to spend $900 million advertising on social-networking sites in the U.S., compared with $335 million overseas. So Microsoft also stands to gain some piece of that pie.

While the deal represents a nice infusion of capital to invest in technology and people, it’s a double-edge sword on the people side. The Wall Street Journal expects the deal to raise the valuation on Facebook stock options, which may make it more difficult to recruit new key talent. Given that Facebook wants to double their workforce in the next year, how much of a hurdle will this turn out to be?

Like everything, branding evolves. It’s generally an improvement, but it does mean some pretty big changes for the organization’s marketing. In ancient times (10 years ago), the website’s rebranding could largely be an afterthought to print materials.

But today, consider how many of your constituents view your website versus how many will see your business card. How many will get an email from or you, and how often, versus how many times they see your letterhead?

A lot of Beaconfire’s work is done concurrently with branding firms. Sometimes, we’re given a completed branding document, other times, we’re doing our work at the same time as the organization is being rebranded. In any case, there are some common issues we run often run into on branding guidelines that branding firms should be aware of:

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Last month, the New York  Times shut down their TimesSelect section, opening the firewall to most of their archives and making their columnists free range again. The times called it a noble experiment, but one that ultimately proved detrimental to their health - the money they raised selling premium subscriptions was vastly outweighed by the traffic they lost to their higher ad revenue sections.

With the Times throwing in the towel on paid content online, what does this mean for the rest of the web? Are there other ways to monotize the web that your non-profit should be thinking about? And should you consider a paid firewall section, despite even the Times’s decision to fold?

All this, and more, below the fold…

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Convio is the latest of the nonprofit software providers to go public (or at least to register to go public). They filed their application with the SEC on August 30th and will likely go public with offering around the end of the year. How will this change the lives of their customers? Only time will tell… Here’s where you can read more:

Convio press release

Blog posting on Allan Benamer’s Nonprofit Tech Blog

John Brian has has been blogging quite a bit lately about Facebook. I have my own Facebook account that seems to occupy a lot of my “free” time. But for me, it’s not a mission-driven pursuit; I’m just doing it to learn about the technology and what it can and can’t do

How do you get to the bottom of what it will cost your organization to run an effective social networking campaign?

FrogLoop (powered by Care2) has put together an ROI calculator for organizations thinking about getting involved with social networking (Facebook, MySpace).  Formatted like an online mortgage calculator, you type in information about how you plan on staffing these efforts and what kind of membership you hope to gain, and the calculator gives you the resulting revenues and costs.

I’m sure it’s not perfect, but the kinds of questions it asks you are exactly the sort of questions that need to be asked (and often are not) before jumping in with both feet.

Is It Worth It? An ROI Calculator for Social Network Campaigns

I was recently asked why an agency that touches all aspects of the Web Industry would be a better value than a specialty group. This person was looking for a document management system and thought that a group that specializes in document management would be better able to help select one.

The difference is in the knowledge that informs the final recommendation. An agency that touches upon all Web Industry aspects can leverage subject matter experts in each field â?? broadening the field of possibilities.

Illustration of the birds-eye view approach to making the best business decisions for clients.