I was surprised to see this public service advertisement from Google here on Banner Blindness.  I’m certainly not upset that Google is taking my ad inventory and using it to promote social welfare - this site isn’t really meant to make advertising revenue, but to find clients.  I wonder though: could Google be using the Chinese earthquake catastrophe to increase its goodwill with China and thus its search and advertising presence in China?  Serious investors are very cognizant of the fact that Baidu is a serious threat to the long term growth of Google.  Google has to take serious steps, such as raising money for Chinese disaster relief, in order to strategically position itself with Chinese communist leadership.  Baidu is a Chinese company, and therefore, the Chinese leaders want its nation to use a Chinese product - why send all the potential profits back to America?  Below is a screen shot of the Google Chinese disaster relief page:

There are also some additional resources on this page that are rather interesting - and of course they utilize Google products such as Google Maps (waring: link may take a long time to load as its in Chinese characters).  Google is having a hard time convincing the Chinese internet-going public to use its products.  Google is experiencing international growth headaches just as eBay has been facing them as well.  It seems like these types of international growth issues are the only “large scale” issues that I personally studied in college.  Google would be far better off purchasing Baidu instead of trying to compete with it; and eventually losing.  However, I think that Google is hesitant to purchase Baidu because they fear government intervention and losing billions to government interference.  Chinese communist leaders could determine that Google controls too much of the media in its country and reclaim Baidu, at Google’s expense.  China is still by far the fastest growing internet audience in the world and Google desperately needs them to switch from Baidu to Google.  Could this Chinese earthquake disaster be the stepping stone that Google needs in order to get the Communist leadership to assist it in gaining competitive advantage?  It certainly seems that way. aside from the fact that Google is “Doing no evil”.

The # 1 viewed YouTube video today is Chinese propoganda. Below are screen shots:

I have to admit, the video brings out some valid points about Tibet being part of China. However, I don’t want to get into a political debate about whether or not Tibet should be a free nation or part of China. I would rather discuss the marketing and public relation aspects of using YouTube to espouse political views. To make a YouTube video one of the most watched videos, it is 99% of the time, viewed on a popular website with lots of visitors, and it becomes one of the most watched videos of the day, and then people visit the most watched videos of the day, generating even more daily views. This video receive a majority of its views from this chinese website. This video refutes all the negative press that US Media puts out about China, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have watched this. This hurts the Bush administration’s position on China and Tibet - and I think that position is pro Tibet and passively against China, as the Lama was just recently given some sort of peace prize from Bush. In short, YouTube is becoming a PR nightmare for powerful organizations and governments.

The above video by Jeremiah Wright discusses why America hates Barack Obama. This video is great negative PR for the Hillary campaign to shove in the front of white American’s faces. I’m fairly confident you will see this video on television shortly. Rev. Wright says, “Hillary ain’t never been called a nigga, she aint neva been passed up by a taxi because of the color of her skin, etc….” This video (to most white people) will scare them into voting for Hillary, and worrying what it would be like to have a “Black” president as the head of the United States. So Barack, get this video removed ASAP before if damages your campaign with “White Americans”.

Social networks are a growing concern for privacy advocates, and anyone basically looking to avoid public humiliation. I have numerous friends and business associates that have had personally embarrassing situations arise as a result of social networks. These either come from embarrassing pictures, friends releasing secrets, or business contacts being raided. For example, recently a friend of mine who is getting married, had a former lover tag photos of herself (with my friends name) on facebook, and these photos showed up under his profile. His fiance was not happy, and it nearly ended their plans for marriage. Below, Elliot Spitzer, also is facing a similar situation. His personal troubles have only been enhanced now that his wife can see the face of this attractive young twenty-something. So be warned - social networks can create tremendous headaches for you personally and professionally. Advice to Spitzer’s former mistress - use this opportunity to promote yourself online through your MySpace page, a blog, and youtube to launch your music career. Also take on the name “Client #9″ or whatever code name Spitzer was using.