Today, we sit glued in front of computer screens or, if we’re away from the desk, our mobile device is surely on. And rather than passively watching what happens when the unknown powder is mixed with the volatile liquid, we now have the opportunity every day to be a part of some newfangled online social experiment. You get to be one of the test subjects whenever a “beta version” of software or an app is released—it is the testing phase of development process. No goggles or lab coats required.

But not everything goes beta before it goes live. And sites like Facebook and Twitter are constantly rolling out new features or tweaking the platform. At Oneupweb, our team of digital marketing wizards are tracking, monitoring and analyzing all the new developments in the digital landscape—what will explode next?

Now here’s a little experiment you can try in the comfort of your own home that won’t require a fire extinguisher: whenever you’re ready, search for the “Oscars”, in Google (a current “Hot Topic”). You may have to scroll down a little depending on the dimensions of your browser window. Do you see the scrolling box of results? What about the big gorilla?

Well, when Google announced this new feature—real-time results—back in December 2009, we had a few questions. The basic idea is this: tweets, and current updates from Facebook, blogs, and websites will be integrated into the standard search results as they happen. But will people notice the real-time results and, more importantly, are these results getting clicks?

We rolled up our sleeves and headed to the Oneupweb laboratory. We were going to put the real-time results under the microscope, or rather, eye tracker.

Search is a key element of online marketing today. So it only makes sense for businesses to stay abreast of changes in the search landscape. And Google, Bing, Yahoo! and a variety of start-ups are getting into the real-time game. This is an online experiment that will have a huge impact on the future of search. Keep your eyes peeled—you don’t want to be caught off guard when real-time explodes.

But what about the gorillas? If you want to find out, download the free report, Search Gone Wild: An Eye Tracking Study On Google’s Real-Time Results.

Enter neuromarketing.

Neuromarketing is the study of neurological responses to marketing messages. While still in an early stage of development, neuromarketing studies are currently being conducted and their findings are being used for online marketing campaigns.

Now, there is some controversy over neuromarketing, but as of yet, there is still no way to pipe advertisements directly into people’s brains—so don’t worry. Current neuromarketing techniques include eye tracking, galvanic skin response and a variety of brain wave measurements.

Oneupweb has been conducting eye tracking studies for many years now. One of the most recent whitepapers is a study of search on social networking sites. The study was conducted by analyzing a subject’s eye movement while searching.

It’s 2010 and technology is changing the marketing landscape—innovators rejoice!

It’s pretty cool, actually. The eye tracking system traces your gaze as you navigate a website.

Check this out:

But what does it all mean? That’s what we want to find out, and in order to do so, we need your help. As Albert Szent-Gyoergi, a Hungarian scientist, said: “Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.”

It only requires approximately 15 to 30 minutes of surfing the internet in an ergonomically designed chair. And your participation is kept strictly confidential. Simple, huh?

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the study.

Otherwise, sign-up today using the link below. It’s a Doodle, we promise.

The results might surprise you.

Oneupweb recently conducted an eye tracking study on social media, and after digging through a stack of heat maps, one thing is pretty clear — search is going social.

Back in the day, search was restricted to search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. (Okay, if we want to talk about way back in the day, search actually took place in the pages of a Yellow Book. But that’s way too 1989.) People wanted to search for a product, a service, a business, an answer, whatever. So they would go to a search engine, type their search into the search bar, and then they would see a bunch of results. Someone did an eye tracking study that determined that people actually viewed those results first in the top left-hand side of the screen, progressively moving down and a little bit to the right (just like we read books). And so then it was decided that the best place for a brand to be on these search results was at the very top.

But something changed. And social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter had everything to do with it. People started to use social media sites like they were going out of style (and they’re not, actually.). They used them to connect with friends, make new friends, check out what ex-boyfriends were up to, post pictures, share videos, and on and on and on. They started searching for things within those sites. And then brands jumped on board, setting up profiles and buying paid advertising to try to target people on social media. And people are interacting with these advertisements just like they do on search engines, right?

Wrong. Here are a few things we found in our study that might surprise you:

• Scan paths do not follow the order of search result positions. Often, sponsored ads were looked at before the third or fourth result.
• 65 percent of study participants engaged with sponsored ads within the first 10 seconds of their search.
• There is not a significant difference in gaze fixation duration across the first four results or sponsored ads on both Facebook and YouTube. Check out the heat map below. It shows normal viewing behavior recorded on Facebook. Areas of high gaze intensity are shown in red.

And while Twitter does not currently offer paid advertising, we did find that 50 percent of study participants were satisfied with their brand search on Twitter. Many like that they could find the most current opinions about a product.

And there we have it. People are going to social networking sites to be social. This means they are entering searches with a different frame of mind than when they are on actual search engines. Their behavior is different, and it’s important for marketers to understand why. Download our new Eye Tracking study on social media to find out more.

But is it accomplishing what you want? Are people seeing what you want them to when they first enter your site? Are they focusing on the items you feel are the most important? And are they clicking where you want them to click?

At Oneupweb, we recently began offering a service that can actually answer all of these questions and more – Eye Tracking. It allows us to observe the physiological movements of the human eye, analyze the psychological implications of those movements, and make adjustments to website design, usability and site features accordingly.

In other words, you can literally look at your website through the eyes of your typical visitor and see exactly what they see. And then you can use this information to refine and create the best website possible. And it doesn’t just end with websites. Eye Tracking can be used with other forms of communication, including landing pages, ads, email, video, graphics and print ads.

I, for one, can’t wait to see what it can do for Public Relations. I’m curious to know if I’m putting out the best release possible – one that garners the attention I want and inspires writers and editors to contact me and/or write a story. Do I have the important information where they are most likely to look? And what about images – Where is the best spot to place them in a release? Eye Tracking can tell me this, and more.

But how, exactly, does it work? Download our new Eye Tracking Survival Guide to find out. We created this guide as a starting place to explain Eye Tracking and define the terminology you’ll need to know about.