Montreal Social Media

Rogers will definitely need some reputation management on their SERP… don’t mess with the geeks

The Story
Customers groan as Rogers sets iPhone prices from Reuters
Rogers announces iPhone 3G plans, unlimited data isn’t one of them from Engadget

The Customer’s Response
Fuck you Rogers | Screwing Canadian iPhone customers since 2008
Rogers Canada iPhone Data Plan Petition
The petition on Facebook

update: few days ago, the www.fuckyourogers.com site was redirected to RuinedIphone.com which is a little bit more politically correct.

How Canadian search industry is different than the American? According to Yahoo’s SEM National Director, Martin Byrne, Canadian companies might be missing the boat. We are way behind the States in SEM expenses. Byrne made a quick test to check how many paid results would show up for online banking services. While they are about 10 PPC ads in yahoo.com, there are about 5 sponsor results in yahoo.ca and even less when searching in French. These results show that Canadian companies don’t take all the opportunity available.

Eric Morris, Account Executive for Google Canada points out 3 main differences:
1- Canadians are very loyal to Google in comparison of other countries
2- We are facing a bilingual reality
3- the industry is much more developed in the States

According to Morris, US companies have already shifted budgets from traditional channels to internet marketing. While Canadian begin to use and understand all the possibilities of analytics, US companies focus on the next steps of search such as contextual targeting for mobile.

Last on the panel, Guillaume Bouchard from NVI presented a look a the landscape of the SEM in Province of Qubec. Guillaume said that online sales would probably be higher if debit payment was widely accepted because Quebecers use more debit than credit card payment which is not the case in the States. It seems that Quebec users trust their banks before 3rd party websites such as PayPal. Also good to know that Quebec online market is mainly owned by 3 actors: PowerCorp, Transcontinental and Quebecor.

I’m leaving today for SES Toronto ’08 with 6 of my colleagues. Guillaume will be presenting on the State of Search Marketing in Canada panel and I plan to cover some of the panels during the two days event. I know that Simon and Louis-Dominic from Adviso will also be there. I don’t know about other Montrealers (I think Mitch is presenting also). In fact, I didn’t get the chance to take a look at the speakers but I’ve already selected few panels that I might be covering:

-Universal & Blended Search
-The State of Search Marketing in Canada
-Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions
-What’s Different About B2B? Tailored Strategies
-Social Media Success
-Web 2.0 & Search Engines
-Giving Credit Where It’s Due: Which Campaign Sold What?

update: Some pictures from the SES Toronto Show, so far

Thanks for the people at PAN Communications who provided me a media pass for the whole event! More to come…

Wow this post is a entire copy and paste from a FB event, don’t know if I’ll make it but still… I definitely want to promote the event.

Montreal’s technology and creative communities are mobilizing against a new federal bill to restrict creators’ and consumers’ rights to use digital media.

On June 12th, 2008, Industry Minister Jim Prentice will introduce the amendment to the Canadian copyright act, commonly called “the Canadian DMCA”. The bill was crafted under pressure from American media cartels, and it’s expected to have a chilling effect on free expression and free speech in this country. It will restrict Canadians from freely using their computers and other devices to save, store, and play their legally-purchased media.

The Montreal Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada is holding an emergency action meeting to respond to the new bill. We’ll have information for citizens to learn more about the Canadian DMCA, and materials for writing and sending letters to MPs asking them to oppose the bill.

Come meet others in the Montreal area who want a balanced, fair copyright system that works for all Canadians. Facebook Event, Meeting at Station C this Thursday 6:00 PM.