Join the SEO Philippines Contest January 19, 2006
(Visited 7104 times)Since everyone’s buzzing about the v7ndotcom elursrebmem SEO contest, I thought it would be a great time to introduce our own little version of the contest. No we don’t have $7,000 or P7,000 to give away 
what we’re giving away is an almost new copy of:
The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture (hardbound) by John Battelle.
So what’s the contest all about?
We want to promote the SEO Philippines blog and increase the number of registered users and authors. Registration has been a little slow and posts have been slower. With this contest, I hope people start signing up and posting articles of interest to our members.
The contest is open to all registered SEO Philippines blog and mailing list members. If you win, and you’re not a member of both, I’m sorry, you’re disqualified.
How do I win the book?
We’re giving away the book to the first registered blog member to reach 50 posts. In case of a tie, we’ll refer to the post date/time stamps to determine who got to 50 first.
I will ship the book via courier to any point in the Philippines free of charge. Should someone from outside the Philippines win, he/she will have to pay for the shipping cost.
When does the contest start?
Now, ngayon, karon!
What do I do now?
Spread the news. Blog about it. If you know someone who’s been dying to read the book, tell them about the contest, or win it for them And while you’re at it, consider linking to the SEO Philippines blog too. Remember, we hope to raise awareness for our advocacy, and that is Kayang Kaya ng Pinoy ang Search Engine Marketing.
Read this review from Amazon.com:
If you pick your books by their popularity–how many and which other people are reading them–then know this about The Search: it’s probably on Bill Gates’ reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google, and its speculation on the larger cultural implications of a Web-connected world, it will likely receive attention from a variety of businesspeople, technology futurists, journalists, and interested observers of mid-2000s zeitgeist.
This ambitious book comes with a strong pedigree. Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our early perceptions of the wild world of the Internet. Battelle clearly drew from his experience and contacts in writing The Search. In addition to the sure-handed historical perspective and easy familiarity with such dot-com stalwarts as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite, he speckles his narrative with conversational asides from a cast of fascinating characters, such Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Yahoo’s, Jerry Yang and David Filo; key executives at Microsoft and different VC firms on the famed Sandhill road; and numerous other insiders, particularly at the company which currently sits atop the search world, Google.
The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book’s outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines’ current role as the “database of our intentions”–the repository of humanity’s curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires. Interesting though that beginning is, though, Battelle’s story really picks up speed when he starts dishing inside scoop on the darling business story of the decade, Google. To Battelle’s credit, though, he doesn’t stop just with historical retrospective: the final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products’ development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a “digital fantasy train”, he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives and quotes one early employee on the weightiness of Google’s potential impact: “Sometimes I feel like I am on a bridge, twenty thousand feet up in the air. If I look down I’m afraid I’ll fall. I don’t feel like I can think about all the implications.”
Some will shrug at such words; after all, similar hype has accompanied other technologies and other companies before. Many others, though, will search Battelle’s story for meaning–and fast. –Peter Han
Comments»
I saw this book the other day, when I visited Powerbooks. At Php 1200+, this little gem looks like it’s well worth its price. And if it’s for free, whoaaa!
If you just want to learn about the “technical” aspect of how the “search” came into be then this is the book for you. It features the personalities that have helped evolved the “search”. Groff of idealLabs is one significant figure that have helped in the evolution of what we call the search today. Dont expect to learn techniques on how to optimize your work for GOOGLE SE or something within that line. Its a “documentation” of the “SEARCH” evolution nothing more– yes possibly the anthropology of it all. But its a good read though
Why do I need the book, when I got you?