Why I Officially Hate Black Friday

Over the past couple weeks I have been debating whether or not to endure the Black Friday crowds with the ultimate goal of obtaining a Desktop PC with dual monitors for a really good price. Wal-Mart had a decent $398 desktop doorbuster but I debated whether or not NewEgg.com was the way to go, personally and publicly at WickedFire.

After much deliberation, I decided that a few extra bucks wasn’t worth the suffering of Black Friday crowds and purchased everything at NewEgg for a pretty ridiculous price. But, it was the Black Friday news I heard today which truly vindicated my decision:

In Long Island, a man was trampled to DEATH at the opening of the Wal-Mart Black Friday Sale as reported by the New York Daily News among others. I was disgusted and sickened at reading this… it truly made my stomach churn. The problem starts with Wal-Mart.

Apparently, Wal-Mart did not organize any type of lines or system for letting people in the door. The crowd piled up in front of the entrance and when the doors swung open they literally ripped them off the hinges and the mob flooded aggressively into the store like vampires yearning blood. A man in his 30s was knocked over and trampled, gasping for air as he tried to get up. I’m sure more details will emerge but its been hours since he was pronounced dead.

It seems to me that the Wal-Mart in Long Island probably wanted some cool publicity pictures of big crowds and a sea of people running into the store to fuel the never-ending buzz machine. They sacrificed sanity, humanity, logic, decency, civilization and the life of at least one man. A pregnant woman was also knocked over and her health - along with the baby - has been called into question as well.

For me, it starts with Wal-Mart. I know a lot of people who will NEVER shop at Wal-Mart unless they are practically forced to and I think this is my start of the same sentiments. I planned on going to a Wal-Mart in my area but… going into ANY Wal-Mart on ANY day from now on… I’ll have this in the back of my mind.

Then there is the people involved in this. The customers. I know the economy is bad but are you really that money hungry that you’ll save a few bucks on account of someone losing their life? I’m sure nobody expected him to die but give me a break… WHERE IS YOUR DECENCY. I feel truly sorry for the state of humanity today.

It’s weird how when you’re little it seems like old people are “old-timers” who “remember back in the day” but I echo their feelings as I get older. I think that even since I’ve grown up, our culture (at least in America) as faced a downward spiral of morality and ethics, holding nothing sacred but money, sex appeal and celebrity status. This, in my opinion, is just another bullet point in that ever growing encyclopedia of moral decay.

But I found myself wondering, “What If I Had Been At That Wal-Mart Today?” Once you’re in the throngs of the crowd, its hard to stop and help someone up. In fact, you’d probably be knocked over yourself and perhaps trampled to death as well. It was the mob mentality that caused the crime but I’m sure there are a few key people to blame… who knows, maybe not. I’ve been in huge crowds at concerts and sporting venues and felt the pressure of a persistent crowd pushing forward and sometimes its impossible to pinpoint a single person or persons who are causing the trouble.

Regardless of who is to blame, how sad is it that Black Friday follows Thanksgiving? We spend a complete day to remind ourselves what we should be thankful for and then the following day it is all seemingly disregarded.

I woke up early on Black Friday ONCE, getting to BestBuy at about 5am for a 6am open a few years ago if I remember correctly. We were probably 1,000 people back in a single file line that wrapped around the huge warehouse. It was painfully obvious I’d have to get there at 1am or 2am to make standing in line worth it. And now, as I realize, nothing is worth it.

I’m happy to say that I’ll never consider standing in line for a Black Friday event again. I just won’t do it. I won’t support this mob mentality that would go the lengths of killing someone for a few dollars off. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it was the money saving motives that made it happen - and it is fully and completely to blame.

Instead, I’ll stick to online deals and perhaps even try out some Cyber Monday stuff. Or *gasp* maybe I’ll work a little harder during the year so that a couple hundred extra dollars isn’t that important come the Holiday Gift Giving Season.

To wrap things up, I’ll share with you what I purchased from NewEgg:

I chose the $449 Desktop PC over a $299 computer because the processor speed was just a whole lot sicker. While I was purchasing for price I was also looking at value, and the CyberpowerPC (hopefully) will still be relevant and working fine in 3 years down the line. And hopefully, it’ll be in use by an employee (fingers crossed) and not myself.

The one negative here is that it runs Windows Vista 64-bit. The 64-bit version has compatibility problems not to mention I like XP a whole lot more, as most people do. So I am trying to figure out how I can just get a Windows XP 32-bit version on my box affordably. Yeah, I know I could get torrents but I try to do things the legal way. Thanks anyways.

Wrapping up… please be safe out there folks. No deal out there is worth dying for… or killing for… and it sounds ridiculous, but today that reality was felt. The holiday season should be about a lot more than a failing economy and shopping galore… it should be about people. Thoughts and prayers to the families affected by this event and shame on everyone who made today’s event the nightmare it became.

BREAKING NEWS: Google Search Wiki

This is too exciting not to post about. Google has completely altered the way search results by including a Wiki aspect that allows users to thumbs up/down rankings and comment on them as well. You’re probably asking yourself if today is April Fools Day… but it is not.

Here is some proof:

This is pure insanity. Apparently your “rankings” only affect your OWN future search results but I’m quite sure there are ways to implement/view across the board rankings. If the life of digg is any indication, there are going to be some SEEERRRRIOUUUUSSSS attempts to game the system. And let me tell ya… if I could… I would… there is just too much to gain.

Yahoo Buzz appears to be doing alright but this is a completely different monster. This is a Wiki that encompasses every single webpage on every single site and can use any possible search term as an entry. This is earth shattering stuff right here.

In the past there had been rumors that Google was in the market to buy Digg… perhaps they were just collecting enough research to do it themselves. If Google’s little experiment works and their expectedly long beta version of Search Wiki actually works… Google might do what many thought was impossible… and gobble a ton MORE market share for search.

What implications this will have on Affiliate Marketing remains to be seen. Remember how quickly Google Lively came and went? Yeah… you might not even remember what it is and for good reason. But Lively was out of the box weirdness… Search Wiki is real and I think, at some point, here to stay.

The question is can Google master a completely new algo that takes user rating and comments into play? However it plays out, you can guarantee that there are thousands of people following this every move, waiting to exploit any opportunities to push their own pages to the top of Google Search Wiki.

[Via TechCrunch, Google Blog]

YouTube Video Promotion, Adsense Style

Remember when Facebook launched their advertising platform? And then MySpace followed? Well get ready because another powerhouse - YouTube - is on the brink of unrolling an ad platform that will provide web marketers another opportunity to cash in. And, just like Facebook Ads, these platforms launch with minimal competition so the time to cash in is early on.

The Google Blog published this awesome development earlier today:

Today, we are excited to announce a way to do just that. YouTube Sponsored Videos is our new advertising program that enables all video creators — from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser — to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos. Anyone can use Sponsored Videos to make sure their videos find a larger audience, whether you’re a start-up band trying to break out with a new single, a film studio seeking to promote an exciting movie trailer, or even a first-time uploader trying to quickly build a following on the site.

You can sign up now at: https://ads.youtube.com/

YouTube has had a well publicized difficulty in turning a profit and the website, despite easily being the #1 destination on the web for videos, is still in the red. Actually, its one of the top destinations for any type of content. I have a feeling that this development will change that, especially if they’re able to take the ease and effectiveness of targeted contextual advertising to the video stage.

The question is, will the site become overrun with unrelated videos for various search terms from marketers who publish them solely for the purpose of generating traffic and revenue? Lets hope not. While your little brain is probably ticking with the question, “How Can I Profit From This,” remember that if YouTube ceases to be an effective medium for finding what you want, people will stop using it.

I don’t think that will happen but I know Internet Marketers worldwide will probably soon flock to YouTube wondering how they can turn a quick buck. Or quick thousand bucks or hundred thousand bucks. Its possible… just ask anyone who got in on the Facebook Ad launch.

I’m eager to see how this development plays into the advertising and marketing campaigns of myself and other fellow marketers and I hope it does big things for YouTube and Google as well. This is an exciting development.

[Via Google Blog]