Update: After some delay, Microsoft is reportedly now rolling out the new MSN home page design over the next couple weeks.

Original Article: MSN.com gets about 85 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone, according to Compete. That’s significantly more than AOL.com. So now that Microsoft has unveiled a redesign to it, it stands to reason that a lot of people are going to be affected by it. Microsoft calls the new design MSN’s most significant home page redesign in over a decade.

"Now is the time to clean up the mess on the Web — people need less clutter and less hassle to find what matters most to them," said Erik Jorgensen, corporate vice president, Microsoft. "Microsoft is uniquely invested in search, media experiences and technical innovation. Combining these assets to deliver our new MSN home page is a tremendous win for customers and advertisers."

What do you think of the new design? Share your opinions here.

The new design pays significant focus to local, Bing, social networks, and news. Coinciding with the announcement of the redesign was the unveiling of MSN Local Edition. This is a section of MSN that gives you local news, weather, sports, movies and events, restaurants, gas, traffic, a directory, lottery numbers, etc.

The Bing integration with the new MSN is deeper. It’s now used as the core search technology throughout the home page in areas like shopping, travel, and local. It is also used as a way to highlight hot topics, trends, and people.

There is a clean integration of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as Microsoft’s own Windows Live "What’s New," which aggregates up to 50 web activities from various places like Yelp, Flickr, Pandora, etc.

"Customers told us they want the latest information from their favorite sources, their friends and the breadth of the Web — and the new MSN home page delivers via a fresh new look and new features," Jorgensen said. "Today is an important transformation for MSN, and it’s just the beginning."

There is also an emphasis on de-cluttering the home page. Microsoft says there are 50% fewer links than on the previous version. Here’s what the whole thing looks like:

The design is not live on a wide scale yet. It will be rolling out gradually over the coming weeks. It is, however available as a preview here.

On a related note, Microsoft is finally launching MSN Music this week. The launch has been postponed since July.

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Yahoo Sports said today traffic to its site during the Winter Olympics has soared, beating out both NBCOlympics.com and ESPN.com.

According to comScore, Yahoo’s Winter Games coverage attracted 9.3 million unique visitors, more than NBC’s Olympics site (7.6 million unique visitors) and ESPN (8.4 million unique visitors). Yahoo Sports attracted over 17.5 million unique visitors over the week, more than double the visitors to its nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, NCBOlympics.com on MSN has generated more than 177.4 million page views, 414 percent more than the nearest competitor, according to comScore. NBC says visitors to its Olympic site spent more time and viewed more pages than visitors to Yahoo’s Olympic site.

On average, visitors to NBCOlympics.com spent 8.2 minutes per visit, 64 percent more than the five minute average for Yahoo users; and visitors to NBCOlympics.com on MSN averaged 27.5 pages per visit, more than seven times the 3.8 average pages per visitor for Yahoo.

While NBCOlympics.com leads in pages views and time spent, and Yahoo Sports leads in unique visitors, there is little doubt that the Winter Olympics have been good for both properties.
 

Yahoo Sports said today traffic to its site during the Winter Olympics has soared, beating out both NBCOlympics.com and ESPN.com.

According to comScore, Yahoo’s Winter Games coverage attracted 9.3 million unique visitors, more than NBC’s Olympics site (7.6 million unique visitors) and ESPN (8.4 million unique visitors). Yahoo Sports attracted over 17.5 million unique visitors over the week, more than double the visitors to its nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, NCBOlympics.com on MSN has generated more than 177.4 million page views, 414 percent more than the nearest competitor, according to comScore. NBC says visitors to its Olympic site spent more time and viewed more pages than visitors to Yahoo’s Olympic site.

On average, visitors to NBCOlympics.com spent 8.2 minutes per visit, 64 percent more than the five minute average for Yahoo users; and visitors to NBCOlympics.com on MSN averaged 27.5 pages per visit, more than seven times the 3.8 average pages per visitor for Yahoo.

While NBCOlympics.com leads in pages views and time spent, and Yahoo Sports leads in unique visitors, there is little doubt that the Winter Olympics have been good for both properties.
 

MSN Local Edition has struck content deals with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television.

Microsoft says the partnerships with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television will give MSN around 3,000 news video clips a week across 36 local media markets. The new video content will be available in January 2010.

Microsoft sees a big opportunity with local and video. Local online advertising is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2013. The company also notes that 62 percent of online adults have watched a video online and 35 percent have viewed a televsion show or movie online.

NBC Local Media will provide video clips from their "Locals Only" websites in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, Connecticut, and Miami.

Hearst Television will offer local video clips in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston,  Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY; Cincinnati, Des Moines, Ft. Smith, AR; Greensboro / Winston-Salem, NC; Greenville, SC; Honolulu, Jackson, MS; Kansas City, Lancaster / Harrisburg, PA; Louisville,  Manchester, NH; Milwaukee, Monterey, CA; New Orleans,  Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Portland, ME; Sacramento, and West Palm Beach.
 

Related Articles:

> Microsoft Unveils Big Redesign Of MSN

> Microsoft Partners With Advance Internet On Local Ad Deal

> Bing Gets More Mobile Features in The US

MSN Local Edition has struck content deals with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television.

Microsoft says the partnerships with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television will give MSN around 3,000 news video clips a week across 36 local media markets. The new video content will be available in January 2010.

Microsoft sees a big opportunity with local and video. Local online advertising is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2013. The company also notes that 62 percent of online adults have watched a video online and 35 percent have viewed a televsion show or movie online.

NBC Local Media will provide video clips from their "Locals Only" websites in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, Connecticut, and Miami.

Hearst Television will offer local video clips in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston,  Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY; Cincinnati, Des Moines, Ft. Smith, AR; Greensboro / Winston-Salem, NC; Greenville, SC; Honolulu, Jackson, MS; Kansas City, Lancaster / Harrisburg, PA; Louisville,  Manchester, NH; Milwaukee, Monterey, CA; New Orleans,  Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Portland, ME; Sacramento, and West Palm Beach.
 

Related Articles:

> Microsoft Unveils Big Redesign Of MSN

> Microsoft Partners With Advance Internet On Local Ad Deal

> Bing Gets More Mobile Features in The US

Bidding on keywords that are related to brands that are trademarked is a legally murky issue when it comes to infringement.

(Coverage of the SMX Eastconference will continue at WebProNews Videos.  Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

In the session "Trademarks & Paid Search: How Thing Have Changed?" the panel discussed the issue of keywords, trademarks and infringement.

Deborah Wilcox
Baker & Hostetler, LLP

Deborah Wilcox, Partner, Baker & Hostetler, LLP, said, "Trademarks are all about brands." Just because a word is in a dictionary does not mean that the word is free to use.

A generic keyword is not trademarked. Descriptive keywords are not yet strong enough for a trademark.

Establishing trademarks right is usually associated with who is using the mark first.

Infringement occurs when someone is using another’s mark that is likely to cause consumers confusion or to cause a mistake or to deceive as to source.

Is the sale or purchase of a trademarked keyword constitute use in commerce? If the ad that is triggered has the actual keyword in the title or text, then yes.

Trademark law is established to protect consumers from being misled in purchasing decisions.

 Courts apply multi factor test

•  strength of the trademark.
•  Similarities in goods and services
•  wrongful intent to trade off of goodwill
•  actual consumer confusion

With keyword triggered ads, how might there be confusion?

- Are all the users typing in a search term, looking for the trademark owner’s site?

- Are users able to distinguish among all the different ads they are served within the results, or are they duped into thinking all the sponsored links are official links.

Permitted use of trademark:
- Descriptive fair use of mark in ordinary dictionary sense… (talking about apple the fruit)

- to identify the authorized product (resellers and making things that are compatible with the brand)

- providing information (writing or blogging about a brand)

- comparative advertising (can be very subjective — for example when you compare your product by name to your competitors name/brand) — very tricky and subjective..

Laura Covington, Associate General Counsel, Global Brand and Trademarks, Yahoo, said Yahoo’s trademark policy is premised on fair use. Competitors cannot bid on trademarked terms.

4 ways to raise trademark related questions from yahoo with search marketing:

Trademark complaint
Counterfeit complaint
False and misleading complaint
Copyright DMCA

Microsoft Trademark policy:

Limited range of advertisers that can bid on trademarked terms:
Resellers, information sites and dictionary terms.

Google’s Trademark Policy:

Google will launch a limited investigation. If the investigation fids infringement, they will take the trademark out of the ad, but leave the ad up.
 

WebProNews reporter Mike McDonald contributed to this article from SMX East.

Microsoft has launched a new website, "H1N1 Response Center," which provides people with up to date relevant content and allows them to monitor symptoms and get advice using an H1N1 self-service tool.

The H1N1 Response Center’s self-assessment tool is licensed from medical and public health experts at Emory University. The service helps people determine if their symptoms could be caused by the H1N1 flu virus and provides recommendations about what they can do next.

"By providing an at-home tool that can help users evaluate whether they need to see a provider before they head to the hospital, we can encourage those who are severely ill or at risk for serious illness to contact their doctor, and reassure everyone else that it is safe and prudent to recover at home," said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, professor of emergency medicine and an associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine.

"This will reduce the number of people needlessly exposed to H1N1 influenza in crowded clinic and ER waiting rooms, and allow doctors and nurses to focus their attention on those who need them most."

People who decide to seek medical attention can connect their self-assessment results with Microsoft Health Vault, which stores personal health information online.

Google has introduced related services such as its Flu Trends which provides information on the latest flu activity and an iPhone app for swine flu called "Outbreaks Near Me."
 

The expected growth rate for IT employment of 3 percent per year is more than three times the rate of growth of total employment and a solid indicator that investing in IT will contribute to economic recovery and growth, according to a new study by Microsoft and IDC.

"In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer
CEO of Microsoft

"Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace."

Global IT spending will create 5.8 million new jobs between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013.

Spending on software is growing faster than spending on IT overall at 4.8 percent a year between 2008 and 2013, compared with 3.3 percent for all IT spending. During 2009, total IT employment in 52 countries dropped a fraction of a percentage point, while software-related employment grew 4 percent.

The IT market will create more than 75,000 new businesses over the next four years. Most of the new companies will be small and locally owned.

"Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen transformative power in how investments in IT innovations foster economic growth," said Robert D. Atkinson, Ph.D., founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

"Continued innovation and investment in information technology will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new businesses."

Microsoft has introduced a new service in beta on MSN called "My Health Info" that helps people manage their health information on the Web.

My Health Info offers users a number of tools and widgets to upload, organize and monitor health information stored in their personal Microsoft HealthVault accounts. The service allows users to research medical issues, read health news, receive advice from medical experts, learn about nutrition, and monitor health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

MSN has also launched a swine flu information center on its health and fitness homepage. Microsoft says it is working with health information providers such as Harvard Medical School and the MayoClinic.com to offer people data about prevention from getting the virus, access risk factors, and find out where to get vaccinations in their local area when they become available.

Other highlights of My Health Info include:

• Customize their page with tools such as allergy, medicine and blood pressure trackers, a lab results bank, body mass index calculators, vaccination information and more
• Use information from personal health devices such as heart-rate monitors and pedometers
• Access profiles of multiple family members at one time, allowing caregivers to more easily manage not only their information, but their family’s as well
• Stay informed by receiving the latest in health news from sources they trust

It’s worth noting that Google has similar service in beta called Google Health. Getting consumers to look for information on such services will not be the challenge, convincing them to put their personal health information online is another matter.

Microsoft has partnered with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and Western Union on a series of online public service announcements (PSAs) aimed at protecting consumers from a number of scams.

"Unfortunately, many scammers who would exploit a homeowner in danger of foreclosure or a person struggling with credit card debt will try to misuse the Internet to connect with their victims," said Nancy Anderson, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Microsoft.

"By harnessing the reach that Bing holds with consumers and the expertise of organizations like the FTC, USPIS and Western Union, we believe this program can help fight back against scams by reminding consumers to exercise their street smarts online right at the time they need it most."

The PSAs will appear on Bing and focus on scams related to mortgage foreclosure, credit repair schemes and lottery scams. The PSAs for each topic will be triggered by keyword search terms entered on Bing, such as "foreclosure rescue," "fix my credit," and "money transfer."

Users who click on the sponsored ad will be directed to a landing page with advice on avoiding scams and information about how to report a scam if they have been victimized. Landing pages on credit repair and mortgage foreclosure scams are hosted by the FTC. A landing page on lottery scams is hosted by Microsoft.

In 2008, the FTC received more than 234,000 complaints about fraud where the consumer was contacted via the Internet. The average payment amount for each complaint was $440.

In July Americans went online searching for information about green initiatives related to automotive transportation driven by the launch of the federal "Cash for Clunkers" program, with visitations to green sites growing 15 percent in July to 17.5 million visitors, according to comScore.

Auto manufacturer sites saw growth as well, jumping 14 percent to 27.1 million visitors, representing a high for the category in the past year. General Motors lead the category with 7 million visitors (up 20%). Toyota landed in the second position with 6.9 million (up 46%) and also ranked second among the top gaining properties in July. Ford ranked third with 6.2 million (up12%), followed by Honda with 4 million (up 23%) and Chrysler with 3.1 million (up 20%).

"The ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program contributed largely to the growth of Green sites and Auto Manufacturer sites in July," said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president.

"The combination of owning a more fuel-efficient car while receiving a cash-back bonus really sparked the interest of many Americans, who were prompted to visit these sites to gather information on the program and ultimately determine whether it was something from which they might benefit."

Visits to toy sites saw a surge during the month attracting 18.6 million visitors, representing a 14 percent increase over June. Toy R Us led the category with 6.6 million visitors, followed by LEGO with 2.9 million and Disney Shopping with 1.6 million.

Visits to teen related sites also saw a spike in growth, with the category up 10 percent to 29.7 million during the month. Alloy Digital Network was the most popular attracting 11.6 million visitors (up 15%). Zwinky had 6.8 million visitors (up13%), followed by myYearbook with 5 million visitors (up 8%) and Nickelodeon Teens with 3.2 million visitors.

Google sites remained the most visited property in July with nearly 158 million visitors, followed closely by Yahoo sites with 156.5 million visitors and Microsoft sites with 129 million visitors. Facebook moved up again in the rankings to the number 5 spot, making its highest-ever ranking. Answers site climbed 5 spots to #26 with 28.4 million visitors. Gorilla Nation moved up 4 spots to #31, while Twitter moved up the rankings to the #42 position with 20.1 million visitors.

AOL’s Platform-A led the July Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of all Americans online. Yahoo Network ranked second, reaching 88 percent of the population, while ValueClick Networks ranked third with 83 percent reach.

Yahoo sites and Microsoft Media Network each climbed one spot grabbing the #5 and #9 positions, respectively. Google climbed two spots to the #8 position with a reach of 77 percent.

A new Internet addiction center has opened in Fall City, Washington, that claims it is the first of its kind in the U.S.

The center called reStart is a 45-day program costing $14,500 and is located near Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. reStart says its program is specifically designed to help Internet and video game addicts overcome their dependence on gaming, gambling, chatting, texting and other aspects of Internet addiction.

The center was co-founded by Cosette Rae, MSW, and Hilarie Cash, PhD.

According to reStart, current research indicates that anywhere from 6-10 percent of the online population is dependent on the Internet. Among gamers, those playing MMOGs (like World of Warcraft) appear to be addicted at much higher levels.

reStart argues that the United States has been slow to recognize the problem of Internet addiction and its program is part of the process of drawing attention to the issue.

The mission of the program is helping people, addicted to video games and the Internet, find balance, and reconnect to the real world. The program includes individual and group therapy, life-skills coaching, cooperative living, physical and nutritional education, mindfulness training, skill building and 12-step meetings. 

The American Psychiatric Association currently does not have a listing for Internet addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The possibility of Internet addiction making it into the manual will not happen until its next update in 2012.
 

Advance Internet, which runs news and information websites in alliance with more than 30 newspapers has entered into an agreement with Microsoft that will allow its sales staff to sell ads on the Microsoft Media Network on the local level.

Under the agreement Advance Internet’s sales force will offer behavioral targeting and audience extension capabilities to its local advertisers on the Microsoft Media Network.

Brian Handly
General Manager
Pubcenter, Microsoft

"We have the number one local news and information sites in each of our markets," said Peter Weinberger, president of Advance Internet.

"According to Media Audit, five of our sites rank in the top 10 of newspaper affiliated sites based on local penetration of adults 18+. Now through our agreement with Microsoft, we will be able to serve our advertisers with even better online marketing solutions."

Advance Internet will become a certified reseller of the Microsoft Media Network, offering local advertisers access to 76 percent of the online population. Advance says the deal will significantly increase its reach in all of its local markets.

The two companies have also signed a content agreement, and Advanced Internet will become a certified reseller of Microsoft’s search products.

"The local perspective that Advance Internet offers will be incredibly helpful as we develop our reseller efforts," said Brian Handly, general manager, PubCenter, Microsoft.

"We are excited to expand Content and Search Ads into Advance Internet’s portfolio of regional Web sites."

Advance Internet, which runs news and information websites in alliance with more than 30 newspapers has entered into an agreement with Microsoft that will allow its sales staff to sell ads on the Microsoft Media Network on the local level.

Under the agreement Advance Internet’s sales force will offer behavioral targeting and audience extension capabilities to its local advertisers on the Microsoft Media Network.

Brian Handly
General Manager
Pubcenter, Microsoft

"We have the number one local news and information sites in each of our markets," said Peter Weinberger, president of Advance Internet.

"According to Media Audit, five of our sites rank in the top 10 of newspaper affiliated sites based on local penetration of adults 18+. Now through our agreement with Microsoft, we will be able to serve our advertisers with even better online marketing solutions."

Advance Internet will become a certified reseller of the Microsoft Media Network, offering local advertisers access to 76 percent of the online population. Advance says the deal will significantly increase its reach in all of its local markets.

The two companies have also signed a content agreement, and Advanced Internet will become a certified reseller of Microsoft’s search products.

"The local perspective that Advance Internet offers will be incredibly helpful as we develop our reseller efforts," said Brian Handly, general manager, PubCenter, Microsoft.

"We are excited to expand Content and Search Ads into Advance Internet’s portfolio of regional Web sites."

More than 157 million U.S. Internet users viewed online video during the month of June, the largest audience recorded for a single month, according to a new report from comScore.

The rise in video viewing is mainly due to important news stories during June, including Michael Jackson’s death and the Iranian elections, which generated significant gains particularly at major media properties such as Viacom Digital (includes MTV), Microsoft sites (includes MSNBC) and Turner Network (includes CNN).

In June, Google sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property with 7.6 billion videos viewed, with YouTube accounting for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.  Viacom Digital ranked second with 774 million videos (4% of the online video market) followed by Microsoft sites with 696 million (3.6%) and Blinkx with 623 million videos viewed (3.2%).

In June, Tremor Media ranked as the top video ad network with a potential reach of 74.4 million viewers, or 47.4 percent of the total viewing audience. Yume Video Network landed in the second spot with a potential reach of 66.5 million viewers (42.3%) followed by Broadband Enterprises Video Network with 64.1 million viewers (40.8%).

The majority (81.2%) of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video during the month with the average online viewer watching 453 minutes of video, or nearly 7.6 hours.

The average visitor to Hulu watched 10.1 videos, totaling more than an hour of videos per visitor. The length of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.