Twitter and Linked In announced yesterday that they are integrating their platforms so that LinkedIn users can "amplify" their status updates to the Twittersphere, and Twitter users could feed their updates (hashtagged #in) into the professional networking site. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone apparently referred to the match as a "perfect combination," like "peanut butter and chocolate." Image courtesy of PC World.

Putting aside the clear confusion Mr. Stone has over what makes a perfect combination — he is clearly not familiar with the stunning combination of pretzels and ice cream, or Speculoos and bananas — let's stop for a moment to really talk about integration. It seems every social web service these days is working on some big-deal partnership with another social web service. Why? Theoretically, integration is for users, so that they don't have to visit more than one site, or post to multiple platforms, in order to spread their message with the largest number of people.

But despite what you may read in the companies' quirky blog posts, integration is not just for users, just like Kix is not just for kids. Integration is first and foremost for the company's benefit; joining forces makes them bigger, stronger, and broadens their reach, which ultimately means more revenue from business or premium memberships, and often from ad revenues. No one really knows the true benefits of this new deal, however, since the financial details (just like those of Microsoft and Google last month) are undisclosed, reports the NY Times.

Call me crazy, but this is starting to make me think of Wal-Mart, the ultimate one-stop shop. Because isn't that what web services are trying to do? Combine forces to offer consumers everything they want in one place, and make themselves more money while doing it? And we all know what that has done to us. Bye bye neighborhood butcher, hello pre-packaged salami — with a side of crayons.

But that may be a little too far ahead to think about on a Tuesday. In the short term, heed this warning from PC World: Twitter and LinkedIn are two different animals. If you integrate the two accounts, be sure to make smart choices about what you
share across the services — what's perfectly acceptable on one
network may not work on the other.

You've probably already heard the news… after all, it IS No. 4 on Google Trends today, just under "katt williams arrested for burglary" and right above "brady smith."

Google is betting big on mobile advertising, having just acquired mobile ad firm AdMob for a cool $750 mil. It's one of their largest acquisitions to date, and fueled largely by the fact that mobile advertising is one of the fastest growing mediums, growing 30% annually, Google explains.

As I overheard in a panel at ad:tech NYC last week, "Mobile phones used to be phones that occasionally took crappy pictures, and now they're basically small computers that sometimes make phone calls."

With the new proliferation of these small, sophisticated devices, the reach of equally sophisticated ad units (both text-based and graphical) is going to increase. With more online searching, gaming, and messaging, ad inventory is skyrocketing.

AdMob apparently has served 1.5 billion mobile ads this year, up 540% from Sept 2007.

Overheard in a nearby office, chock full of startups, from a vociferous ad buyer: "Who the hell is AdMob? Why would Google want to buy them?" Deal with your jealousy, hon.

More from "The State of Search" panel at ad:tech NYC…

1. Google spent a ton of time on the function of presenting multiple types of content (i.e., Video, Images, News, Blogs) from
   one search query… and now it's pulling that principle over to paid search. See the blog for recent announcements about rich media options.
   
2. How did the recession and plunge in ad spend affect the search space? Certain sectors that
   were hit hard, like financial services and the auto industry, were big SEM
   spenders, so when they dropped out of the race (having no money left to spend!)
   it left the door open for new players. A recession is the best time for
   marketers — or rather, the smart ones — to step in and capture market share, panelists said.
   
3. More about PPC…learn a lesson from startups, they said. They have virtually
   no budget for marketing, yet they all have PPC campaigns. There's a reason for this! However, everyone, including the guy from Conde Nast Digital, agreed that it was best to stick with Google and to stay away from Facebook Ads because the keyword and targeting options are so limited.

With search advertising predicted to hit $21 billion by 2012, everyone is jumping at the bit to find out exactly how the industry is going to take form: new products, innovations, strategy, etc.

At "The State of Search" panel here at ad:tech NYC, panelists from Google, Conde Nast Digital, Newsforce, and SEMPO shared their thoughts on SEM.

Highlights!

Sara Holoubek from SEMPO, a nonprofit that serves the SEM industry shot us some stats from their research report.

• Senior marketing executives consider SEM a high business priority – over half of respondents said that they were "very involved" in SEM programs.
• The shift in marketing dollars to SEM is coming from (surprise surprise) print and direct mail.
• Recognizing the integrated nature of search, or intent, 79% of advertisers are coordinating SEM iwth other marketing tactics – only 7% are not doing so at all.
• 3 out of 5 marketers are willing to pay a premium for local targeting.
• Video and mobile are poised to take off, but respondents were split on their real interest in pushing a lot of dollars into these mediums.

Video and mobile were certainly hot topics. Jim Lecinski from Google explained that smartphones are increasing the volume of mobile search queries — up to 50 times more. Holoubek noted that it goes even beyond search, because smartphones are allowing marketers to not just "retrofit ads to fit a mobile screen" and instead use customer data (e.g., location) to offer useful information — partnered, of course, with a brand message.

Floating bits of wisdom from today's Media & Entertainment panels:

On creating customized content for online channels: "Is it expensive? Yes. Not huge, but way more in proportion to the revenues. It's get better though, as soon as it scales." – John Stinchcomb, Publisher at Conde Nast Digital

"How do you decide where to distribute…widgets, TV, websites, iPhone apps. That's easy: Just fill in the data where the consumer is." – Matthew de Ganon, Senior VP, weather.com, The Weather Channel (NBC Universal)

"How do you compete with free?" – Patrick Moorhead, Director of Emerging Media, Razorfish

"Don't just dive into mobile. Figure out your business goals first, then map your emerging media products and measure your investment based on that. Don't try to do everything." – Paul Jelinek, Senior VP, A&E