Blonde 2.0

My New Blog

2007-07-15T10:11:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I finally bought my own domain and moved my blog over there.

I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to during this past week due to all the technicalities of moving my blog, so please forgive me.

Visit me from now on at:

my new blog address.

Thanks!

I'd like to send out a special thank you to my friend Liat Adir who created my new, fabulous logo.

Technorati tags: blog, blogging, blonde 2.0, ayelet noff, wordpress, liat adir

Jeff Pulver's Facebook Social Networking Party

2007-07-13T10:34:00.001-07:00

Last night I attended Jeff Pulver's Facebook Social Networking Party. This was Jeff's real-time social networking "experiment", bringing together all his friends from Facebook who are in Israel and giving us a chance to get to know each other.

We all wore stickers with our usernames and I finally got a chance to meet many of my Facebook friends offline which was a real treat.

This was a great idea and I hope the first in a series of such events. I've already heard rumors of a few more such "experimental" networking events being planned by other people. We are all involved in so many different networks, so it's nice to get the chance to meet our contacts offline as well.

Here are some pics from the event:

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, facebook, social networking, israel, party

Building Your Brand Through Social Tools

2007-07-10T03:20:00.001-07:00

With the growing power that social networks are gaining, we’re seeing a lot of companies and figures leverage the popularity of these networks to gain exposure for their brands. Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John Edwards have all been vigorously spreading their campaign messages on Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Friendster and Second Life. Many companies such as: Apple, Joost, Nike, Adidas, Nikon, Nintendo, just to name a few, have also been using the different social networks to “speak” to and understand their customers.

Yet many marketers just don’t realize how to use the enormous potential of these social tools correctly. Twitter, MySpace, etc. all constitute channels that marketers can use to communicate with, and better understand their customers’ needs. Yet instead, many marketers view these platforms not as a way to better understand their customers by interacting with them, but as a means of reaching their target audience and spamming them to death with dull content. Whether you are a public figure or a company, here are a few tips on how to market and build your brand correctly using social tools:

1) Create a profile

It’s important to have a profile on a few of the most popular social networks out there. Profiles allow you to share information about your brand, with the rest of the world. Remember to be genuine and open. The more genuine your profile, the more it will appeal to people. Also, the more customizable the profile, the better. Customization allows you to add backgrounds and color schemes that match your brand.

2) Network

Become an active member of the community. Connect with other members. Go through different profiles and see who interests you. Add them as contacts, send them messages, and leave comments on their content. You should also start/join groups, participate in forums and chats that relate to your brand. This will show everyone that you’re really a part of the community, and not just there to promote your brand. Remember to engage in conversation with the people in your community and not “sell” to them. Talk TO them, not AT them. Make sure you read comments that have been left on your profile and react to them. Never be rude to someone even if that person disagrees with your views. Turn debates into something positive.

3) Keep it fresh

In order to get users to remember your brand, you’ll need to actively update your profile, upload pictures, videos, blog posts. Be creative! This will spark a continued interest in your brand and keep people coming back for more. Keep your profile interesting and fresh.

4) Widgets

If you create an exportable widget with content related to your brand, you are encouraging people to place the widget on their profiles or sites, allowing them to expand the recognition of your brand. It’s always better to have a widget which will add some value to those who place it on their own pages, like the MyBlogLog widget for example.

5) Promotion

Promote your various profiles on your main site and offer RSS feeds for them

Simply placing your profiles on every social network isn’t enough. You have to do some PR for them through strategic tagging, linking, and having others point to them, in order to spark the viral potential of your brand.

In conclusion, social networks provide a powerful tool for you to engage with the world. We are living in an age that marketers could only dream of. Never has there been a better time to spread your message to the public. Make sure you do it right.

Thanks to Mandy for the pic.

Technorati tags: branding, social tools, social networks, community, barack obama, hilary clinton, john edwards, twitter, myspace, youtube, friendster, second life, apple, joost, nike, adidas, nikon, nintendo, videos, blog, widget, mybloglog, promotion, rss, tagging

Social Networking in Plain English

2007-07-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

The guys at CommonCraft have created this great video explaining in plain english what social networks are all about:

Technorati tags: social networks, commoncraft, video, instructional, youtube

Too Much Publicity Is Bad Publicity

2007-07-07T16:19:00.001-07:00

Peter Himler wrote a very interesting post about how marketing campaigns can reach a saturation point where they begin working against the business goal,rather than advancing it. He used the iPhone campaign as an example:

"...we're left with the iPhone's pre-release paid TV spots that permeate "The Daily Show," and elsewhere....With all the free, gushing attention, why continue to run the ads? In my opinion, the ongoing paid campaign could produce a public backlash. I mean who on this planet has not reached an iPhone saturation point?"

This is so true. It made me think of all those Mc Donalds and Coca Cola commercials I am so sick of watching. After watching those ads so many times, I don't have the desire to run out and get a hamburger and coke when I see them, but rather to change the channel. For marketers, it is as important to know how to run an effective, aggressive promotional campaign, as it is to know when to scale back a little on advertising.

Another interesting post I read is Jason Linkins' article which talks about how non-traditional news sources stood out in their iPhone coverage.

He writes:

" One remarkable example was Justine, from Justin.tv, who hit the Mall of America armed with a camera on her hat and a pursebound Sony VAIO. She was bringing on-the-scene reports via blogging and vlogging, uploading photos to Flickr, and connecting with Twitter users for comments and assistance. That's one person, fully mobile, operating across four platforms in near instantaneous fashion, and connecting to and with the people on the scene in a way the mainstream news cannot."

Its amazing to see how news is covered on the internet these days in real time, in a way that was never possible before. I've previously written a related post regarding the coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings by students and staff.

Speaking of web 2.0 coverage, I'd like to thank Steve Rhodes for the above pic which he took in front of the San Francisco Apple store the night before the iPhone launch. Steve has a lot of amazing pics from that day on his flickr.

Technorati tags: publicity, promotion, peter himler, saturation, marketing, iphone, advertising, mcdonalds, coca cola, jason linkins, web 2.0, justin.tv, blogging, vlogging, flickr, twitter, steve rhodes

iPhone Hysteria

2007-07-06T02:08:00.001-07:00

The industry and media hyped up the iPhone like no other gadget in modern history. Last week, when the product hit the shelves, shoppers ran to purchase and stood in lines for hours. Frankly, I must say I am a bit puzzled.

As Aner Ravon writes:

The iPhone is supposed to change the industry, yet it uses yesterday’s technology.

1. EDGE is a different name for horrible browsing experience. The only equivalent I can think of is a scooter engine trying to pull a Rolls Royce.

2. Side-loading only? You mean I need to connect my phone to the PC again? wasn’t it all about mobility?

3. Camera without zooming? Are we back in 2003 and nobody told me?

Jeff Pulver adds:

When I heard that in the United States in order to use an Apple iPhone I also had to be a subscriber to AT&T Wireless, I said No! It is not that T-Mobile has the best coverage (or the best service) but in principal, I am not in favor of any vendor whose device is locked into a certain service provider. What ever happened to my freedom of choice? I hope AT&T is paying Apple enough money to cover all of the sales they are losing from customers who have relationships on other carrier networks who would have also purchased the device if the AT&T phone service wasn’t a requirement.

What's your take on the iPhone? Regardless of all the criticism, I must say that Steve Jobs and Apple have done an amazing job in marketing their product, so hats off to them for that.

Thanks to Andy for the pic.

Technorati tags: iphone, aner ravon, jeff pulver, apple, at&t, t-mobile, steve jobs

Best Web 2.0 Toolbars

2007-07-05T11:56:00.001-07:00

Looking for ways to enhance your web 2.0 experience and simplify your life? Here's another great video by Michael Faneca I found this week on 5min regarding the best Web 2.0 toolbars:

Technorati tags: web 2.0, toolbars, 5min, instructional, video, michael faneca

Spam Commenting on Blogger

2007-07-03T21:32:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I received the following comment on my blog:

"Hi, Added a new value add to my blog this weekend - a news widget from www.widgetmate.com. I always wanted to show latest news for my keywords in my sidebar. It was very easy with this widget. Just a small copy paste and it was done. Great indeed."

This comment was posted under my WeFi Makes Connections Easy post and has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. Tip to the people who are trying to market this product: If you're going to market something. Do it right. Adding spam comments to posts that have nothing to do with your product, and sending the exact same email to my inbox a day later is not the way you want to go.

Blogger doesn't offer an option to detect spam comments. The only options you have are to add a captcha to prevent automated spam or to moderate the comments, but I find that this takes away from the value of an instant response and I don't want to resort to this solution. I think Blogger could do better. The least it could do is see if similar comments were posted to a particular blog multiple times, or use the Akismet model.

I did a little research on the topic and found that other bloggers have also received similar comments from Widgetmate. It's remarkable to me how big Google which is supposedly such an active spam fighter can be defeated by some small time spammers that are using cheap marketing technics to promote their latest product.

I am interested to hear from you guys if you also received the same post.

Thanks to Naomi for this pic.

Technorati tags: commenting, blogging, blogger, widgetmate, widget, marketing, spam, akismet, google

Blogosphere Festivities

2007-07-03T04:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I attended the Blogference, an international bloggers conference featuring different seminars and panels on topics such as: How to become a successful blogger, new tools and applications for bloggers, legal implications that concern blogs, how to become a podcasting pro, how to produce low-budget internet TV shows, and blogging ethics. Hosting the seminars were some of the most prominent figures in the blogosphere, such as: Om Malik, Kent Nichols & Douglas Sarine, creators of Ask A Ninja, Jessica Ann Coen, formerly from Gawker and now http://www.jessicacoen.com, Justin Kownacki, producer, director, and creator of Something to be desired, Andrew Baron, creator and producer of Rocketboom, Anton Nossik, CBO of SUP Company (a partner of SixApart for LiveJournal project), and more.

I especially enjoyed Om Malik's seminar where he gave us all a few good tips on how to create an interesting and popular blog. He discussed the importance of updating your blog on a daily basis, writing about topics which you feel passionationately about, and replying to those who comment on your blog. Om told us that he spends at least 20% of his day going over comments left on his blog and replying to them. And here's another little tip for you: He mentioned that any individuals trying to catch his attention would be wise to send him a personal mail, explaining to him in a short paragraph what their company's activity is and showing him that they are regular readers of his blogs and not just trying to "score a point".

Later that evening, iDrink held a cocktail party for the Blogference attendees and others involved in the internet industry in Israel.

Here are some pics from the Blogference

(taken by Niv Calderon)

Blogference mania

Om Malik

Douglas Sarine, Ask A Ninja

Kent Nichols, Ask A Ninja

Pics from idrink

idrinkers

Om & Lior Katz from Wishood

The Twitter shirt

Technorati tags: blogference, blogosphere, podcasting, blogging, internet tv, om malik, ask a ninja, jessica coen, something to be desired, rocketboom, idrink, wishood, twitter, israel

WeFi Makes Connections Easy

2007-06-27T12:18:00.001-07:00

For all those of you who spend a great deal of time outside the house trying to find and connect to open wireless networks, this is the post for you. WeFi is a free PC application which facilitates the process of finding and connecting to WiFi hotspots in any location. It has recently announced the opening of its public beta.

After you install the WeFi client, you will easily be able to find and connect to WiFi hotspots in your area. You will be able to see the signal strength of the networks, and also skip over the closed (secure) networks.

WeFi also adds an interesting social element to its application. The idea is this: When a user discovers an open network, he is then encouraged to share this spot with the community by marking his location on a map. Top mappers are recognized for their contribution to the community. The client then reports back to WeFi, which then shares the open access point with other WeFi users. The more users contribute, the more knowledge WeFi's system gains, which also helps to continuously improve the application. Another cool feature is that the map and also the client displays the location of other WeFi users, so you can easily locate your friends.

I believe WeFi provides a real advantage for travelers who can easily see ahead of time where there are hotspots in any location and adjust their plans accordingly.

WeFi will soon announce Twitter support that will allow WeFi users to automatically let their friends know via Twitter where they are located and the name of the network they are connected to. Currently WeFi only works with Windows XP, but Vista and Mac versions are coming out soon. Those of you who spend a great deal of time outside, surfing the net, should definitely give WeFi a try.

Technorati tags: wefi, social, wireless, network, community, wifi, web 2.0, twitter, windows xp, vista, mac

Today's Show

2007-06-25T10:44:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who tuned in today to see my live interview with Chris Brogan on blogTV. We had a few technical issues, but overall it went great! A special thanks to Chris for giving us all a few tips on what it takes to be a great podcaster and answering our questions.

Technorati tags: internet tv, chris brogan, blogtv, podcasting

Today's Interview With Chris Brogan

2007-06-25T09:03:00.001-07:00

I hope you'll all tune in to today's show at 12pm EST. For any of you who would like to chat with us during the show, you can do so, by tuning in to the show's site.

Thanks. "See" you all there!

Technorati tags: chris brogan, internet tv, podcasting, blonde 2.0 show, chat, blogtv

My Interview with Chris Brogan

2007-06-24T09:05:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, Monday, June 25th, at 12pm EST, I will be doing a live interview with Chris Brogan, co-founder of Podcamp and also community developer for Network2.tv and Video on the Net. During the interview I will be asking Chris various questions about podcasting, why one should podcast, and how can one become a successful podcaster. Anyone who's looking for a few podcasting tips and an understanding of the podcasting industry should definitely tune in. You can watch the interview here below on the blogtv live player. Hope that you'll all tune in.

Technorati tags: chris brogan, internet tv, podcamp, network2.tv, video on the net, podcasting, instructional, blogtv

How to Promote Your Podcasts

2007-06-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

For all you podcasters out there, I found a great video on SuTree which gives a few simple but often ignored tips on how to promote your podcasts and increase their exposure:

Technorati tags: podcasting, sutree, google, promotion, instructional, video

Why Facebook IS Better

2007-06-22T09:41:00.001-07:00

I have to say this: Facebook is simply AMAZING! I believe there are various different reasons for why it's so impressive and has gained so much popularity:

1) Facebook allows you to easily create a rich and well maintained profile. Friends can easily find you, connect, and invite you to use their favorite applications.

2) Facebook makes it easy to find your friends from the past and present (and not just the techy friends you have on Digg).

3) Facebook's interface is so simple and easy to use .You are guided through each activity, every step of the way.

4) Facebook offers you such great applications. There are more than 800 new services -- from photo slideshows to online file storage.

Here are some of my favorites:

1) My Flickr - allows you to share your Flickr pics, so go ahead, show yourself on facebook.

2) Digg - allows you to show your recent diggs, so show everyone how active you are!

3) Delicious - allows you to show your recent bookmarks on Delicious, so do share your links.

4) Twitter - allows you to update your Twitter right from Facebook, so let everyone know what you’re doing now.

5) iLike - allows you to post the concerts you’re going to (or want to go to) and add music to your profile, so let everyone know what type of music you enjoy.

6) Meebo - allows your Facebook friends to chat with you, so chat with them and get to know them better.

7) Free gifts - allows you to send free gifts to your friends, so why not show your love?

8) SuperPoke! - allows you to pinch, hug, tickle, or throw sheep at your Facebook friends. Admit it. You've always wanted to throw sheep at someone :-)

9) (Fluff) Friends - allows you to adopt a pet and have him say different things. For those of us who live in an apartment and can’t have a pet, this offers a good solution.

10) YouTube Skins - by Slide allows you to add your favorite YouTube videos to your profile and customize them, so share your favorites!

11) Movies – by Flixster allows you to let your friends know which movies you’ve seen and share reviews with them. This provides a great way to pick your movies.

12) Feeds - by Alloyfish allows you to share all your favorite RSS feeds with your Facebook buddies. A great way to share your favorite readings with others.

By offering a platform that lets anyone build online services that operate within its site, Facebook has made a very smart move. According to the Wall Street Journal:

"All the activity has helped Facebook grow to 27 million active users from 24 million before the platform launch, with more than half using at least one of the new services....Facebook can nurture an ecosystem of developers who can create services far faster than Facebook could build them on its own."

According to Wikipedia, Facebook is one of the most visited sites on the net today, ranked between top 10–20 most visited websites as of June 2007, and is the number one site for photos in the US, ahead of sites such as Flickr, with over 8.5 million photos uploaded daily. It is also the seventh most visited site in the US.

This comes as no surprise to me. Facebook has done an amazing job in keeping its users active and its interface nice and neat. If you are a company or an individual that's trying to increase your exposure, and have a nice, interactive application to offer, I highly suggest that you consider offering it through Facebook. According to the same Wall Street Journal article mentioned above, iLike is receiving more revenue from Facebook than from iLike.com by displaying ads and getting commissions for selling songs and concert tickets via Facebook.

I would be happy to hear from you guys what your favorite applications on Facebook are. For now, I'll say goodbye. I'm going to check out some more applications myself now. One can never grow tired of this site :-)

Technorati tags: facebook, social network, community, Digg, flickr, delicious, twitter, ilike, meebo, youtube, slide, flixster, alloyfish, rss feeds, wall street journal, wikipedia

Trying out the New BlogTV Live Player

2007-06-21T05:13:00.001-07:00

Checking out the new blogtv embedded client together with Chris Brogan.

Technorati tags: blogtv, internet tv, chris brogan, blonde 2.0

You Digg?

2007-06-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

Ever tried to explain to your non-geeky friends what Digg is all about and how to use it? This cool video I found on 5min , created by Michael Faneca, may be helpful.

Technorati tags: digg, 5min, video, instructional, web 2.0, social bookmarking

Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride

2007-06-19T03:50:00.001-07:00

Kent has tagged me in the "happy songs" tagging game. The idea is that now I need to name one song which always lifts my spirits when I hear it...so hear goes....after thinking about this for a while, at the risk of appearing extrmemly cheesy..I will have to say that even though it's not one of my top favorites, I find Matthew Wilder's song Break My Stride utterly uplifting everytime I hear it. If you sing this song to yourself each day, you'll feel like you can conquer the world Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride.

So c'mon everyone, sing with me, you'll notice the effect in no time:

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

Nobody's gonna slow me down,

oh no! I got to keep on moving

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

I'm running and I won't touch ground,

oh no! I got to keep on moving....

Check out Matthew Wilder's pic above. I am beginning to have second doubts about this post (but hey, I am the one who said that you should open up to your community, so don't say I didn't stick to my philosophy :-)).

I am going to tag: Jeff Pulver, Chris Brogan, Deborah Schultz, Yaniv Golan , Kfir Pravda , Jesse Chenard, and Diogenes

Technorati tags: kent newsome, music, songs, matthew wilder, break my stride, community, collaborative playlist

BlogTV's New Live Player

2007-06-17T14:07:00.001-07:00

BlogTV has just released its new new live embeddable player. The new player enables broadcasters to showcase their live shows on any web page that is located outside the blogTV site. So for instance, if you are a blogger, you can broadcast directly from your own blog. How cool is that? Another great feature is the co-host split screen view. Whenbroadcasting, the player shows a live video stream of the show's host and co-host, accompanied with the live chat feed.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the first 10 people who got access to this amazing new product, and was very impressed. By letting users showcase their broadcasts directly from their blogs, I believe blogtv has really tuned into the Web 2.0 community's needs and has proven itself as a fierce competitor in the personal broadband broadcasting arena.

Technorati tags: blogtv, internet tv, broadcasting, blogging, web 2.0, personal broadband broadcasting

Why Are Players Leaving WOW?

2007-06-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

I don't usually cover WOW and other multiplayer games on my blog, but since this game is after all a community, I found the latest news regarding the fact that many US players are leaving to be an interesting story.

Warcraft Realms reports that the overall number of players online at any given time has been dropping since the latest expansion of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released. In May, the average number of US players online during primetime again fell to just over 380,000 players, while the number of EU players online increased to nearly 400,000.

The below chart shows the decline in player activity in the US & EU combined:

Still, after the decline, there are 8,000,000 active primetime players, which is astounding. I am amazed by how extremely popular this game is, how people spend their hard earned cash on WOW characters on ebay, and how many countless hours users spend daily playing this game. Blizzard has done an amazing job making their product as addictive as possible and making it appealing to users of all ages. I must add that even though I am not really into multiplayer gaming, the visuals are simply breathtaking.

The answer to why US players are leaving may be because as one player comments:

"IMO BC isn't anything special or really new.
Yes, there's new content, and new instances, blah blah blah. But when it comes down to it, there hasn't been a lot of real 'changes' to the game. I think a lot people want to see something NEW. Something that hasn't been done in WoW before. If you think about it, all WoW is, is a grinding game that repeats itself. You grind to hit the next lvl cap, then you grind to get the best gear, which entails rep and instance grinding - only so that you can run raids and grind those instances for even better gear. One day you might have all the gear and gold you need. Finally an expansion comes out, and you do it all over again.
There's gotta be something new Blizzard can add that would actually be DIFFERENT then what we've been doing since day one. I've never had as much fun as I did when I first started playing WoW. Once I got used to that, it was the same thing at 60, and now in BC."

So perhaps this is the reason. Perhaps once players reach 70, they feel they have conquered the game. What do you think?

Thanks to Beketchai for this pic.

Technorati tags: wow, world of warcraft, multiplayer games, the burning crusade, gaming, ebay, blizzard

Why We Should Care About Web 2.0

2007-06-14T05:40:00.001-07:00

A while back, my friend Stii asked me how I would define Web 2.0. My answer to him was this: "Web 2.0 to me, is the democratization of content." Meaning: We the users now hold the remote control of information. We decide what content we want to see and share with others. Oftentime web 2.0 platforms also develop according to how we the users end up using them.

Throughout time humans have always liked to interact and share with one another. Web 2.0 is only a digital extension of that desire. Web 2.0 communities are for us today what tribal or village communities used to be for our ancestors. They represent a place where we can make new connections, share details of our lives with them, and discuss topics that matter to us.

Our Web 2.0 communities have also gained a good deal of power in the last few years. Politicians and brands are now using these platforms to speak to and interact with us. See my post entitled Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You, But What Social Media Can Do for You.

No longer does traditional media decide for us what information we want to read about and when. We write about the news we fancy on our blogs, bookmark the links that matter to us, and record history with our cell phones to place it on video sites such as YouTube.

With Web 2.0, we have taken the freedom of speech amendement to its maximum. We must remember however, that as easy as it is to upload content that we do want to see, it's just as easy for us to stumble upon content that we don't want to see. That's the downside of democracy. But still a small price to pay for freedom.

Thanks to Brian Solis for this pic.

Technorati tags: web 2.0, stii, community, democracy, content, information, connections, branding, media, news, blogs, social tools, youtube, freedom of speech

Tips For Increasing Internet TV Viewership

2007-06-11T09:52:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, my friends Jeff Pulver and Kfir Pravda broadcasted two short live shows from TLV and Frankfurt airports on blogTV, en route to PodCamp in Stockholm. However, since not many viewers tuned in, this made them think about the different means of increasing internet TV viewership. Here are the tips that Kfir points out as crucial:

1. Announce your show early enough, through blogs (such as mine :-)), Twitter and such.
2. Define a concrete topic for each show, so people would know what they are getting.
3. Find hosts that have good chemistry, so nonscripted situations will flow and be as funny as the rehearsed ones.

Kfir and Jeff will continue to broadcast throughout the week with various interesting & creative people from PodCamp, so tune in.

Technorati tags: internet tv, viewership, jeff pulver, kfir pravda, blogtv, podcamp, tips, broadcasting, blogs, twitter

Yedda Integrates Its Service With Twitter

2007-06-11T04:56:00.001-07:00

Yedda, the knowledge sharing community, has just integrated their service with Twitter. To me, this is a great combination. Now I can let my Twitter friends know when I ask a question, when I answer a question, when I give a "thumbs up" to an answer, etc. I can decide which of my actions on Yedda I choose to share with my Twitter buddies. So now I basically have a bigger pool of people who can give me relevant answers to all my questions and who are probably interested in many of the topics that I am interested in. Check out my Twitter profile to see how it's all displayed.

I also believe that through the questions I ask and answer, my Twitter contacts will get to know me even better than they already do. I must admit that I am not one of the "I just ate X" kind of twitterers. I am still having a bit of a hard time recording stuff like what I just had for lunch. That's why to me this integration between Yedda and Twitter adds another dimension to my own personal Twitter experience.

Many other sites such as MyBlogLog (which displays your latest Twitter updates) and FaceBook (which allows you to update your Twitter status right on it) have also integrated their services with Twitter. I believe that Twitter is one of those simple applications that allows for so many different variations of usage, it's amazing. People are using Twitter in such creative ways that probably not even its founders dreamt about when they came out with this product. Check this out: http://twitter.com/laundryroom

Getting back to Yedda, for all those of you who haven't yet checked this community out, you definitely should. Yedda is a great place to ask and answer questions that relate to topics that interest you. Questions are answered by other users so there is no charge involved, and from personal experience I can tell you that I have usually received great answers to most of my questions. Each user specifies his tags of interest and only receives content based on that information. So I am not bothered with questions about topics that don't interest me at all.

I applaud this new integration between two such great services. As I see it, we now have a blend of a knowledge community hungry for information with people who love to twitt. Not a bad combination.

Technorati tags: yedda, twitter, interests, friends, mybloglog, facebook, obvious, community, knowledge, information

Jeff Pulver's Party

2007-06-08T18:14:00.001-07:00

Last night I attended Jeff Pulver's annual summer party in Tel Aviv. It was absolutely amazing. Imagine 1800 geeks networking with large volumes of alcohol flowing in their blood streams. I bet that many partnerships were made yesterday. Amongst the massive crowd I managed to find some of my online friends that I haven't yet met in person. I also bumped into many old faces from the industry, who I always enjoy seeing.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Jeff for his dedication to the Israeli hi-tech industry and also for throwing us the best parties :-)

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, summer, party, israel, tel aviv, hi tech, networking

Chris Brogan's Show

2007-06-07T03:11:00.001-07:00

Chris Brogan, co-founder of Podcamp and community developer for Network2.tv and Video on the Net, has uploaded his new (very interesting) show on blogtv. Here he explains to companies how to use the new media community tools available today in order to spread their message out.

Chris talks about the importance of every business to have its own blog. He says that not only organizations should hold blogs, but also indiviuals within these organizations should promote themselves and create their own personal brand. After all its individuals who make up the organization. He speaks about the fact that In the future there will be a lot of value in people as a brand.

When asked how to make the blog more relevant, Chris emphasizes the importance of always showing faces and names on your blog - make the blog as personable as possible. This is important for the community. Make sure commenting is allowed on your blog. This allows you to interact with your readers. Adding photo sites such as flickr and any other rich media is also a great way to build a relationship with your readers.

When asked how to get the information out to people, Chris discusses the relevance of offering RSS Feeds. By allowing your readers to subscribe to your feed, you can get all the information you want to convey out to people and they don't need to remember to go back to your site.

Chris also points out that attention tools such as Twitter and Jaiku are great ways of promoting your blog posts or any other rich media you've created. He also speaks about the importance of branding yourself on virtual worlds such as second life and using podcasting platforms such as blogtv or ustream to deliver your message. Video hosting sites, such as youtube for example, also present an interesting platform to send out your information.

This show is filled with great tips on how to use all these new social tools we have to brand ourselves as individuals and as companies. A must see for anyone trying to use new social tools effectively.

Technorati tags: chris brogan, podcamp, network2, video on the net, blogtv, media tools, social tools, community, blog, flickr, rss feeds, twitter, jaiku, promotion, branding, second life, podcasting, ustream.tv, video, youtube

I'm Diggin' Poetry 2.0

2007-06-06T12:19:00.001-07:00

After reading my Love is the Killer App post, my friend Gil Rimon was inspired to write some poetry 2.0. Here's his latest masterpiece:

How to twit a lady

You don't have to be beautiful
To get her to read
Your most meaninglessly nothingful
Recent Blogger feed.

You don't have to be super geek
So she stumbles upon
The boring pictures of your cat getting sick
After licking Poupon.

You don't have to be rich
You don't have to be wit
You don't need to be a leech
You just got to twit.

You don't have to be a rapper
You don't need to be Slim Shady
You just have to learn from Daddy
How to twit a lady.

Bravo Gil! I do think it's great that people are writing poetry and songs about our web 2.0 culture. I welcome all of you to get inspired and comment back with some creative pieces of your own.

Technorati tags: poetry, web 2.0, gil rimon, poetry 2.0, twitter, blogger, stumbleupon, culture

Love is the Killer App

2007-06-03T05:01:00.001-07:00

A song entitled Love Two Point Oh has been uploaded to YouTube by johnnyOnline. In this song, Johnny aggregates his affections in a tale of unrequited love told through the medium of Web 2.0 services. There are references to Digg, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, del.icio.us and the Digg key. Mashable writes: "A full understanding of the lyrics probably means you need to go outside more often. " I guess they are referring to me and you :-)

Songs written about love in the Web 2.0 generation - I love it!

If you've got any interesting Web 2.0 love stories of your own to share, please do. I'd love to read them and do a follow up post on love in our Web 2.0 generation.

Johnny has also created his own version of the song On Broadway by the Drifters - changing the title to On YouTube. Keep it up Johnny. Soon you'll have enough songs to come out with an album entitled: Songs from a Web 2.0 Age.

Technorati tags: love2.0, youtube, johnnyonline, web2.0, digg, myspace, facebook, delicious, mashable, love, music

Question For Today: How Do You Choose Your Online Friends?

2007-06-01T06:58:00.001-07:00

Following up on my Blogs VS Social Networks discussion, I ask you: How do you choose your online friends? Do you check out their profiles, get to know them a little and only then make them a connection, or do you automatically add anyone just by looking at their pic?

Thanks to Trinity for this pic.

Technorati tags: blogs, social networks, online, friends, connections, community

Blogs VS Social Networks II

2007-05-31T07:33:00.001-07:00

Since some readers have challenged my stance on social networks and their effectiveness in creating friendships, I will repeat here what I have written in my comment to Adi:

"I agree that through blogging I have made many good friends. However, I don't agree that you cannot make an equal amount of friends on social networks. You simply need to invest more in it. Read people's profiles, learn about them, get to know them by contacting them, commenting on their posts, etc. I think that perhaps people are just not used to making the same kind of effort on the social networks as they make when reading blogs."

Kfir writes on his blog:
"I believe that social networks are as good as the way you use them. There are so many of them out there, and every one has its own angle. But I am just one guy, and don’t have a lot of time to spare on maintaining all those profiles (I need to work sometime…). So sometimes I am adding people to my network even if they are far from being friends."

I believe that one of the reasons that people feel they are not making the same deep connections on social networks as they are through blogging is because they simply don't invest enough time and effort in getting to know the people in their community. When you enter someone's blog, you make a conscious effort to sit and read what he has to say, even if it takes a little while. If you spent the same amount of time on social networks, reading people's posts, getting to know them, writing to them, I can promise you that you'll make some good connections after all.

I think that a great problem many social networks are facing now is an over saturation of social networks that are very much the same. I have written about this previously in my post I am Thinking of Opening a Startup. Many people feel a constant need to get on every social network out there, not investing enough time and effort on their profiles nor on getting to know others in their community, even if they are listed as their friends. Then all you have is a bunch of online communities filled with people, but no good content or interaction. This is why I believe that those networks that will be the most unique and do the best job in encouraging their users to really get more active and involved, will outlast the others.

The last issue I want to discuss is this: We as humans are not capable of handling the amount of online frienships that we hold. Can you imagine maintaining a good, close level of friendship with all your online friends constantly? It is impossible and I am not telling you to go ahead and do that. However, there are people here and there that will grab your attention, just by skimming through their profile page, you will find bits and pieces that really interest you. You will see that if you invest a little more into those relationships, you may find yourself with a few good new buddies who probably also happen to blog but out of all the millions of blogs out there, never got around to reading yours yet. In the end, making connections is very fulfilling no matter where it takes place. I have met many interesting people through blogging and also through my social networks. I refuse to favor one over the other. I love both. Is that so wrong?

Thanks again to babybluebbw for the pic.

Technorati tags: blogs, social networks, friends, connections, kfir pravda, adi avnit, startups, community, web2.0

Blogs VS Social Networks

2007-05-29T18:02:00.001-07:00

My friend Kent just wrote a very interesting post on Blogs VS Social Networks. He discusses Jay Neely's belief that the difference between social networks and blogs is that one is for your friends and the other is for your audience. Jay also writes:

"The key difference is that one group already knows you (it's easy to replace "friends" with "coworkers", "family", "neighbors", etc)."

In his post, Kent disagrees with Jay, saying:

"Jay says bloggers write for their audience. Clearly some do, like Guy Kawasaki, the folks at Mashable and other bloggers with one foot remaining in the old media pool. But lots of other bloggers are writing not merely to have a soapbox, but for the multi-way conversations that are a central part of the blogging experience. Robert Scoble is the best example of a popular blogger who, it seems to me, approaches blogging from this perspective. Doc Searls is another."

He adds:

"...the community that develops via cross-blogging is so much more meaningful than merely adding a few hundred "friends" to the botton of your butt ugly MySpace page. When I visit MySpace I see very little that looks like a real community. Mostly, I see a gallery of bad web design."

Kent, I agree. Partly.

I agree with you that when I write on my blog, I don't feel like I am writing for an "audience". I feel like I am writing for my readers. It's a personal thing for me and I enjoy talking to and interacting my readers.

Regarding blogging vs social networks, I have made as many good friends from blogging (you, for example) as I have from being on the different social networks. I don't think my friends on the social networks know me better than those I met through my blog. If anything, those who read my writings probably have a better sense of my beliefs and values. My readers are making much more of an effort to get to know me than simply clicking on a button that says "add as friend". However some people on the various social networks have made a real effort to get to know me and those are the people that I have made strong connections with. I believe that through both tools I have made close, personal relationships with very interesting people. I think making those connections is more dependent on the individuals themselves than the tool presented.

Thanks to babybluebbw for the pic.

Technorati tags: kent newsome, blog, social network, jay neely, community, guy kawaski, mashable, robert scoble, doc searls, myspace, friends

Internet Censorship In Israel?

2007-05-28T11:20:00.001-07:00

A law proposal by politician Amnon Cohen, from the ultra-orthodox political party shas, that is supposedly meant to protect kids from the dangers of pornography, violence and gambling sites has passed the primary voting stage in the Israeli Knesset .

The proposed law requires that Internet Service Providers (ISP's) block adult content-based sites (sexual, gambling and violence) from children. As a means to verify one’s age, ISP's will require some biometric means of identification for adults, in addition to a personal password. The current law proposal does not specifically state which sites will be blocked, nor which technology will be used by the ISP's for this sort of identification.

Even though this proposal is utterly ridiculous and almost impossible economically and technologically to enforce, it is still very scary and raises many questions. Will the government now tell me which sites I can visit? Who are these people who will now sit in their high chairs and decide what content is considered violent and what content not? WIll ISP’s in Israel now hold a white list of every user’s personal information? If a news site covers stories about violent happenings in the world, will it now be censored? And if now these types of sites are censored, what sites will be next? Perhaps anti-religious ones?

Jonathan Klinger writes:

"The real question will be who decides which websites should be blocked. Is NRG (a popular Israeli news website) a site that has sexual content because it hosts the NRG sexy column, where one can possibly spot a nipple or two? Or perhaps it is a site that mainly deals with violence because it contains reportings on war, casualties, knife stabbings, and deaths? No matter how we look at it, our society is violent, and every news website deals with violence."

Gadi Shimshon adds:

"Nothing in this new law proposal protects the children of Israel. It is a product culminating from technological ignorance, over-righteousness, and political power play."

Parents everywhere (not just in Israel) should be aware of what their children are doing and educate them about these issues. It is not the government's job to decide how these issues will be dealt with in every household. I doubt that this law will be able to get the majority of votes in the Knesset in order to pass, however, this proposal should serve as a warning and people should react and take action. The power to protect the freedom of content lies in our hands. In less than two weeks time the government takes the proposal to the next stage.

The above banner was created in protest of the proposed law. It shows the face of Amnon Cohen and reads: "My brother, your big brother has arrived… come meet your new educator”.

Technorati tags: israel, censorship, law, amnon cohen, children, violence, news, jonathan klinger, gadi shimshon, freedom of speech, cyber activism, internet, politics

I Love MyBlogLog

2007-05-26T17:16:00.001-07:00

I must say i have always loved MyBlogLog. When I recommend to startups to create not only a branded widget, but a useful one that site owners would actually want to put it on their site, this is the kind of widget I am talking about. The MyBlogLog widget provides a great way for you to know who's visited your blog, learn more about them, and read their blogs as well. Oftentime you find that people who stop by your blog usually have excellent taste :-) and seem to write pretty nice blogs themselves as well. I have met many interesting bloggers and found some excellent readings by clicking on their faces.

Now MyBlogLog has introduced the new tagging feature that allows users to add tags to each of the communities, thereby allowing for better findings of content you're looking for. So for instance, if you know social media is one of your topics of interest, you can check out all those tagged with social media. It's a great way to find new readings and also connect with bloggers who have similar interests to yours. MyBlogLog has also asked users to tag spam blogs as “Schmoe” which is also a nice way of filtering the system from spammers.

Once a tag is added to your community, other users can vote it up or down. This determines its size in the cloud. You can also permanently remove any tag you don't fancy. Currently tags are imported from Del.icio.us and Technorati. Other sources will be added over time.

I applaud Yahoo for finally upgrading MyBlogLog as they have promised. I understand other changes, including a redesign, are also coming up soon. Really looking forward to that.

Technorati tags: mybloglog, startups, widget, blogs, tags, social media, community, web 2.0, delicious, technorati, yahoo

Which Are Your Favorite Blogs & Why?

2007-05-25T05:47:00.001-07:00

Since Jeff Pulver has started a new "Question of the Day" post, I will also add my own question for today: Which blogs are your favorite to read, and why? I personally enjoy reading the blogs of those people who not only tell you about the latest social network or software and how to use it, but rather actually have something to say about it. Bloggers like Kent Newsome, Jeff Pulver, and Robert Scoble, not only tell you about the latest product or development, but they state their opinions, add some context to all these developments we're seeing around us, and often talk about the whole web 2.0 culture and its influence on our daily lives. Makes for a much more interesting reading than just hearing about "the latest whatever".

Who are your favorites?

Thanks to xiaoxia for the pic.

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, kent newsome, robert scoble, blog, web2.0

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, But What Social Media Can Do For You

2007-05-23T05:14:00.001-07:00

In the last few months we've seen more and more politicians embrace the world of online social media and use it to engage with their voters and gain visibility for themselves. Barack Obama can be found on Twitter and Friendster, while John Edwards is also twittering and on Second Life. Hilary Clinton, who can also be found on many social networks, has followed in the footsteps of Tony Blair and turned to the YouTube community to help her choose her campaign song.

Finally politicians are beginning to understand the importance of these social networks.

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) recently released a series of research findings from the first comprehensive study examining both the growth and marketing power of online social networks. The study was conducted in partnership with Isobar and Carat USA. It incorporated feedback from approximately 3,000 U.S. Internet users, as well as MySpace clients for in-depth case studies. Results from the study, show the following:

Social networks have caused a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with media. 70%+ of Americans 15-34 are actively using social networks
Brands such as adidas and Electronic Arts attributed more than 70% of their marketing ROI to the "Momentum Effect" a new metric coined by Marketing Evolution, quantifying the "pass along" power consumer-to-consumer communication.
40%+ of social networkers said they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products that they like
28% said at some point a friend has recommended a brand or product to them.
U.S. social networkers chose interacting on sites such as MySpace as their favorite activity online or offline, ahead of television viewing and on par with cell phone usage.
Social networkers spend on average more than seven hours per week on social networking sites. More than 31% of online social networkers claim they spend more time on the Web in general after starting to use a social network. They were also more inclined to engage in other entertainment media and activities including listening to music, playing games and talking on the cell phone.
Social networkers use the sites not just to improve their online lives, but also to make their offline lives richer and more exciting. 48% said they are having more fun in life in general and 45% said their lives are more exciting as a result of spending time networking online.

So there you have it. The marketing power of social media is growing at an extremely fast rate. Many brands have already figured it out and are using these social channels to talk to and understand their customers. See these examples:

What about your brand? Have you figured it out yet? If you haven't yet started using these tools to interact with and expose your brand to the world, you'll soon be left out in the cold. This is an amazing time for marketers to spread their word out there in an original and creative manner. Embrace these new tools and use them. Remember though that each of these channels constitutes a community. Do not just try to "sell" your product. Be unique, offer something different, and listen to what those in the community have to say.

Technorati tags: social media, social network, barack obama, john edwards, hilary clinton, twitter, tony blair, youtube, fim, isobar, carat, myspace, adidas, ea, marketing evolution, brand, web, nintendo, nike, wrike

Explore The World

2007-05-20T14:23:00.001-07:00

Between working, blogging, twittering, and IM'ing all day, we tend to forget that there's a beautiful offline world out there for us to explore. In the last few days I was reminded why we should travel more often.

This week, after finally admitting to myself that I was a webaholic, my boyfriend and I decided to spontaneously organize a trip to the Galilee and the Golan Heights. We slept in wooden cottages in the middle the woods, water rafted in the Jordan River, and visited the Golan Heights wineries (amongst other activities). The sites were simply spectacular and the people so friendly. They live their lives in a completely different rhythm, more relaxed and stress-free. I can also understand why. When you wake up every day to such magnificent views and the sounds of birds chirping, you just can't help it.

I have posted my pics from the trip on flickr. I invite you all to check 'em out :-)

The world is a beautiful place, so go, explore it! You don't need to travel to a far away destination. Sometimes the most beautiful place can be just a few hours drive away.

You're still there?

Technorati tags: blogging, twitter, im, webaholic, galilee, golan heights, jordan river, flickr

Off For A Week...

2007-05-13T09:42:00.001-07:00

I will be away this week so I won't be posting. I know it will be hard, but try to survive without my posts for a few days :-)

To all my readers - Have a wonderful week!

Bullard Thinks All Bloggers Are Wackos

2007-05-11T16:56:00.001-07:00

See this pic? This is how David Bullard views us, the bloggers. Bullard, one of South Africa’s most reputable print journalists, writes a weekly column for the Sunday Times (which has a readership of well over 1m people). He has recently written an article, insulting all bloggers and portraying them as pathetic human beings who have very little to say and couldn't ever get a job in journalism, even if they tried.

Bullard writes:

"Most blog sites are....cobbled together by people who wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of getting a job in journalism, mainly because they have very little to say. It’s rather sad how many people think the tedious minutiae of their lives will be of any interest to anyone else. It’s even sadder when someone reads them....

Many bloggers prefer to remain anonymous and with good reason. The content of their sites is so moronic that even their best friends would disown them if they knew they were the authors."

As if this wasn't insulting enough, he continues to say:

"I do, however, object to some anonymous, scrofulous nerd pumping meaningless drivel into cyberspace at all hours of the day and night simply because he can’t find a girl to sleep with him. These are the sort of wackos who gun down their fellow students at university."

This last paragraph just shocked me. How could a renowned journalist make such a ludicrous and hateful statement? And based on what evidence does Bullard decide that "many bloggers prefer to remain anonymous"? I myself don't blog anonymously and frankly, I think it is safe to say, that the majority of blogs out there are not anonymous. Also, why does Bullard assume that we all want jobs in journalism? The bloggers I know blog because they enjoy it and want to do it. Not because it's the only thing they can get paid to do.

I completely agree with Vinny Lingham who writes:

"This is exactly the mentality that is leading to the decline of offline print as a source of information, because the people entrenched in the offline world are so resistant to change, they cannot keep up with the times.

If I had to paraphrase what Bullard is saying, then basically Michael Arrington, Om Malik, Robert Scoble, Jeremy Zawodny, Danny Sullivan & Matt Cutts wouldn’t ever get hired by a print publication - (like hell) - but even more to the point, why would they want to write for a bunch of anally retentive middle to late aged complacent publications that are in a declining market. Most of the CEO’s and editors of these publications are hoping to retire before they go bust and Web 2.0 becomes and entrenched way of life - and this is probably one of the biggest drivers of their resistance to change - with maybe the exception of Rupert Murdoch."

It seems that a day after his article was published, Bullard started a blog of his own, continuing the debate regarding his article and posting a response, therefore, I am not quite sure whether his overall strategy was just to degrade us or to create a buzz for his own new blog.

In response to Bullard's attack, Vincent Maher and Louis-Marc have issued a public challenge to Bullard and four other newspaper columnists of his choice to a public writing contest. Let's see if Bullard accepts. He may not want to engage with wackos like us who can't get laid.

Check out this clip showing him arrogantly bragging about the attention that he's received due to his article:

Thanks to Vincent Maher for the pic.

Technorati tags: david bullard, blog, sunday times, vinny lingham, michael arrington, om malik, robert scoble, jeremy zawodny, danny sullivan, matt cutts, web 2.0, rupert murdoch, vincent maher

Show Yourself to the World

2007-05-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

Recently I had an interesting conversation with a blogging friend of mine about the gradual obliteration of borders between our personal and professional lives online. Most of us who are active web users (aka geeks) have accounts on Flickr, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. We use these networks as a way to present ourselves & our interests to the world, and to also connect with others, both for personal and professional reasons.

When I upload pics to flickr, I upload pics of myself from different networking parties, but I also upload pics of me, just hanging out, or traveling to exotic locations. When I twitter, I twitter about the last post on my blog or about an interesting article I just read on Mashable, but I also twitter about the last episode of Lost that I just watched or my plans for this weekend. When I stumble, I stumble pages that I think may be interesting for my fellow stumblers, but I also stumble pages that are just interesting to me personally. There is no separation between the professional me and the personal me. Flickr is not only a platform to let other professionals know what networking parties I've last been to, but it's also a way for me to record and share pictures of my life. Twitter is not only a means of exposing people to my blog, but rather, its also a way for me to record important events in my and my contacts personal lives - almost like a public diary.

I know that some of my fellow bloggers try to keep a certain facade online. They try to control their image by only presenting their professional side to the world. They won't tell you on their profile what their real favorite movies are or show you pictures of where they went on their last vacation. I believe they act like this partly out of fear of what other professionals may think. My friend was telling me a story about someone who didn't get hired for a job because the company saw that he posted pictures of himself in a bathing suit on flickr. C'mon...is this sad or what? If you're an excellent marketer who can do your job well, why should the fact that you posted a pic of yourself at the beach make any difference? If anything, it only shows that you are a human being who's active on social networks and also, apart from working, actually has a life.

I do think that this conservative way of thinking is fading out slowly but surely, and that companies understand these days that people who are involved in all these networks provide a valuable asset to them.

Just to clarify, I am not saying that you should now go and start posting pics of yourself wasted at the last Christmas party, but I am saying, don't be afraid to show the world who you are. Not just the you during office hours, but the whole you. If a company doesn't want to hire you based on that, you're probably better off without them.

Thanks to Darwin Bell for this beautiful pic.

Technorati tags: web, blogging, flickr, twitter, digg, stumbleupon, networking, mashable, lost, social networks, darwin bell

Different Types of Twitterers

2007-05-07T09:54:00.001-07:00

In the world of Twittering, I have come across different types of Twitterers:

1) The overzealous twitterer - this twitterer lets you know exactly what he's doing at any particular moment - no matter how mundane his life may be. Messages such as: "Eating a great sandwich" or "driving in my car" are characteristic of this type of user.

2) The networking twitterer - this twitterer only posts messages which show everyone else how well connected he is. Messages such as: "Just attended the latest Joost party" or "just came back from a meeting with Mike Arrington" are characteristic of this type of user. He'll then send you to his Flickr account where you can view all the latest pics he just shot with his super cool friends.

3) The self promoting twitterer - this type of twitterer only twitters about the latest post on his blog or the latest post that somebody else wrote about him. Messages containing a link back to his blog or to blogs that talk about his blog are typical for this kind of user.

4) The weatherman twitterer - this twitterer always has to let you know what the weather is like in his area. Messages such as: "Such a hot and humid day out here" or "think it might rain soon", characterize this type.

5) The TwittyTunes twitterer - Ever since he found out about TwittyTunes, this twitterer needs to let you know what music he's listening to at every single minute of the day. You'll be able to recognize this type very easily. His messages usually start with "I'm listenin' to...."

And then there are the rest of us twitterers, who I guess are a mix of all these types put together. So for everybody out there, just wanted to let you all know (and of course I will link to this post on Twitter as well): On this very hot and humid day in Tel Aviv, just came back from a meeting with Kfir Pravda, eating a great chicken sandwich, listenin' to Amy Winehouse, and I may go pee soon.

Technorati tags: twitter, joost, michael arrington, flickr, blog, twittytunes, kfir pravda, amy winehouse

An Update to "A Peak Into the Future of TV"

2007-05-03T17:04:00.001-07:00

TechCrunch posted today that a new study by Motorola has found that 45% of Europeans now watch television online. Motorola's Karl Elliot told the BBC: "“Viewers across Europe are no longer satisfied with fitting into schedules dictated by broadcasters and are turning to the choice and flexibility offered by TV over the internet....We are witnessing a nation of citizen schedulers who are in control of their entertainment, allowing them to watch what they want, how and when they want it.”

Some who commented on this TechCrunch article argued that they do not believe this could be such a high percentage. In any case, whether it's 45% or even a bit less, the message is still clear - people are saying: I want my internet tv! If you've been following my blog for a while, this must not come as a surprise to you.

Jeff Pulver has recently written a very interesting article entitled: "Internet TV may pose threat to Cable Companies by Decade's End". In it, he writes:

"In the near future, I expect cable companies may start to suffer a similar parallel fate as the wireline phone companies. This eventually will mean billions of dollars of revenue loss without any notion of being able to replace the lost revenue. And I expect we will start to see this trend happen first in the 16-24 year old demographic.

How does this happen? It happens because there is a portion of the existing 16-24 generation which does not watch traditional broadcast TV and they are not watching Cable TV. What they are watching is TV content on the internet. And when these kids leave home and go off to college, they are not signing up for cable TV service in their dorm rooms. Instead they are continuing to watch their favorite TV shows thanks to BitTorrent or are going online to the network websites to catch up with a missed show or in some cases they are also going to iTunes and purchasing the shows to watch on their video iPods and computers."

Kfir Pravda also warns the cable companies:

"It seems to me that these industries are kind of dinosaurs, looking at the meteor coming and thinking that everything will be ok. Just like some of the big production companies, missing the fact that people create good content for a fraction of the money they are spending."

Lastly, Jim Johnson points out that:

"Michael Eisner has a teen drama airing on MySpace. The BBC recently launched iPlayer. NBC, NewsCorp, and Comcast have signed an agreement to provide shows online. The BBC is the latest European network to provide online programming."

Need more proof?

Technorati tags: techcrunch, tv, motorola, bbc, internet, internet tv, jeff pulver, cable, bittorrent, itunes, ipod, kfir pravda, jim johnson, michael eisner, myspace, iplayer, nbc, newscorp, comcast

The Digg Revolt - An Important Event for Web 2.0

2007-05-02T12:37:00.001-07:00

In the last 24 hours, Digg users showed Kevin Rose and the rest of those guys over at Digg exactly who's boss.

The story started two days ago. Boing Boing writer Cory Doctorow blogged about how he had received a legal threat from the AACS licensing authority regarding publishing an encryption key for HD DVDs on a class blog using Google's Blogger. He removed the material, and then wrote a follow-up post pointing to Spread this number, which listed the number and explained its significance.

That site became a very popular story on Digg on April 30, but then it was removed by the Digg team. This action made CJ Millisock very angry. He made a copy of the "Spread this number" page and resubmitted it to Digg as "Spread This Number Again".

That story got what appears to be a record number of 15,492 Diggs. Then again the story was removed by the Digg team. Millisock's Digg account was also deleted. You can read all about it here: How I got banned from Digg.

When this happened, Digg users went wild. They started resubmitting the story over and over, filling the Digg homepage with all their entries. The Digg team kept deleting stories and accounts.

Digg's CEO Jay Adelson then posted his response to the riot, saying:

"We’ve been notified by the owners of this intellectual property that they believe the posting of the encryption key infringes their intellectual property rights. In order to respect these rights and to comply with the law, we have removed postings of the key that have been brought to our attention.

Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of the intellectual property holders and consortiums, in order for Digg to survive, it must abide by the law. Digg’s Terms of Use, and the terms of use of most popular sites, are required by law to include policies against the infringement of intellectual property. This helps protect Digg from claims of infringement and being shut down due to the posting of infringing material by others."

This response got Digg users even more fired up and they kept resubmitting the story, until finally (with no choice left) about 12 hours ago, Kevin Rose surrendered and posted the following message on the Digg blog:

"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

Rose and the rest of the Digg team made a huge mistake, in my opinion, when they started censoring their community, deleting stories, and banning users. Around the blogosphere, you can find many comments all saying the same thing: Rose has "sold out" and betrayed the people who made him rich in the first place - his users. Obviously this was a story that the users were interested in, and yet it was censored.

Of course I understand Rose's fear of getting sued, but the Digg team could have handled the whole situation differently. They could have for example, posted an entry in their blog showing a copy of the legal threat they received, pointing the anger in the right direction. Also, explain to me, other than deleting the messages, why in addition, did they need to ban all those users?

If you've read my earlier posts you probably know that I am a big believer in the democracy of web 2.0, and its inevitable that if the Digg team or any other web 2.0 site team for that matter, starts to censor people and take away their freedoms, the community will fight back. Digg was built by its users, and provides a platform for them to decide what news items they are interested in. The minute authority starts to dictate for them which stories are "news worthy" and which stories are not, it no longer provides a worthwhile platform and they will move elsewhere.

Lastly, Mashable points out: "If Digg does get sued (and it’s likely), they can get every member to donate a few dollars to the legal fund. Digg users could also significantly affect the coverage of the story on the Internet and in the press, even swaying popular opinion." This may have been true before this whole scandal came out. Now, after the way Digg has handled this whole ordeal, I don't see its users supporting it in the same manner as before.

Technorati tags: digg, kevin rose, boing boing, cory doctorow, blog, AACS, encryption, HD DVD, blogger, spread this number, cj millisock, jay adelson, intellectual property, blogosphere, web 2.0, news, mashable

A Peak Into the Future of TV

2007-04-30T17:44:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday I attended the Garage Geeks event entitled "A peak into the future of TV". Amongst the speakers were the amazing Jeff Pulver, who spoke about how easy it is for each of us to create our own internet TV channel these days using the free, technological platforms which are already available to us, and Amit Or, co-founder of InLive, who embedded live graphs into his powerpoint presentation that were the result of us calling InLive’s IVR system in real time.

The event itself took place in a real garage and the atmosphere was just surreal. As Gil Rosen writes in his blog: "It’s a real junky (but funky) garage, in a real industrial zone, with very little space, plastic chairs, no real food, coffee or toilets but it GOD DAMN WORKED! Something about the surreal surroundings made it feel like we are are actually talking about a real revolution (which it is)".

Gil is right. There is a real revolution emerging right before our eyes which will change the way we have viewed and defined TV till now. I believe that within a few years time, we will see the internet establish itself as the leader of all media and that more and more services and technologies will be offered to those watching and those who want to be watched. All I can say is: Watch out broadcast TV - times are a-changin' and you're going down.

Check out Jeff's presentation below (The film needed to be split into two parts due to YouTube's limits):

Technorati tags: tv, garage geeks, jeff pulver, internet, technology, amit or, inlive, gil rosen, revolution, broadcasting, youtube

Twitter Away...

2007-04-27T18:13:00.001-07:00

When I was first introduced to Twitter, I was a bit overwhelmed. Was I supposed to start recording every event in my life now? Do I want to record the fact that I just ate a chicken salad? And if I do, does anyone care? But then I realized that this is the beauty of Twitter. Yes, people actually care.

Twitter is a great way to stay informed about what your friends are up to even if you haven't talked to them in a long time. It's also great for all those networking parties where you need to make small talk with various people and you don't know where to start off. If you know who will be at the event, you can check out their twitter page the day before and surprise them by knowing what they did last night, what conferences they just attended, or even when was the last time they had the flu.

I also think it can be useful for oneself, sort of like a diary, to look back at and remember what you did on a particular day.

The real beauty of Twitter is in its simplicity of use. It's easy, it's fast, it doesn't require a large attention span. Just type in anything - your thoughts, the event you just attended, the post you just wrote, the movie you just saw. Everyone has their own style of using Twitter.

Twitter allows you to learn little details about the daily lives of your online friends that you wouldn't otherwise know. For instance, I would have never imagined that Kent spent his evening dining twelve nine year old girls (sorry Kent, it was just too funny :-)). At the same time, I can let my online friends know a little about my own daily activities, stuff they wouldn't find out from reading my blog posts or looking at my digg links.

In conclusion, much to my surprise, I really like and enjoy Twitter. Everyone has their own way of using Twitter, so find your own. I recommend it to all of you. Oh, and make sure to add me as a contact!

Technorati tags: twitter, networking, kent newsome, blog, digg

What's in a name?

2007-04-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

Today I tried YoName , a service that allows you to find users on all the following social networks: MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, FaceBook, Friendster, Match, and Xanga.

Its homepage looks like a typical search engine start page. You can search for someone by their user-name or email address. I entered my name, and although I am registered on most of these networks, the search came back with only one result. Therefore results don't seem to be that accurate. Search results typically include the user photo, location and age, as well as a link to the public URL of the respective social network. If YoName can’t find an exact match, they will show all similar matches.

What YoName doesn't mention is the fact that if you search for someone by his/her email address it will send an email notification to that person letting them know someone is searching for them. Kinda creepy no? First of all, why don't they mention this anywhere? Second, I understand that YoName is using this technic to let everyone know about its service, but does this really act as an incentive for me to go and search for someone knowing that this person will receive such an email? Granted, the email doesn't specify who was searching, but still. Is this the kind of email you want to wake up to?

YoName which launched about a week ago, has received much coverage. Much more than it expected probably. The service was down for a little while this week as servers could not keep up with the large volume of traffic. Matt Dusig, the CEO of YoName commented: "We just launched the service 1 week ago and have been a victim of our own success. A great problem to have... but yes, we don't have enough servers yet. We'll take care of solving that problem on right away".

YoName is targeting the social network aggregator crowd. The most useful place for YoName would seem to be within a social network aggregating service, so you can find the users you want to add to your centralized profile location. YoName won’t offer you updates on information and you can’t save searches.

Some questions I still have:

1) How does YoName plan to make a profit off of this?

2) When can we expect accurate search results?

4) Does YoName plan to add all of the other social networks as well?

Technorati tags: yoname, myspace, linkedin, digg, facebook, friendster, match, xanga, social networks, search, matt dusig

Pulver's Live Internet TV Show

2007-04-23T08:50:00.001-07:00

Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan invite you to watch their live TV show later today at 12 PM EST (9am PST / 1700 GST / 1800 CET / 1900 Tel Aviv). To watch, please visit the show page on Ustream.tv.

Jeff & Chris urge you all to call in with any comments or questions you have regarding internet tv (The call-in number will be announced during the show).

As for the reason for the new show? Jeff says: "In the past few days I had seen others go live on Ustream.tv with just a laptop and a webcam and I wanted to see if I could make something of higher production value for our viewers."

The changes we are experiencing today in the media world are astounding and there's no turning back. In Jeff's words: "From a traditional media perspective, I could not fathom what the costs would have been for us to rent satellite time for us to broadcast our live Internet TV show into all of the locations where we had viewers....now anyone with a laptop, broadband access and a webcam can create their own live Internet TV show in a matter of minutes."

The first live call-in show was held April 18th and today will mark its second appearance. If for some reason, you cannot view it today, don't worry, there will be more to come. Make sure to check the show page for updates.

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, chris brogan, internet tv, ustream.tv, media

Blogs and cell phones coverage of Virginia Tech shootings

2007-04-19T08:59:00.001-07:00

As a follow up to my earlier post entitled "what does community mean to you?", it is interesting to see how social networking sites and blogs helped the Virginia Tech community communicate during the shootings. InformationWeek reported that day: "Virginia Tech students and staff reported on what appeared to be the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus as it unfolded, using blogs, social networking sites, podcasts, and cell phones to do it...A student captured the sound of several gunshots on campus."

You can see some of the blog entries posted during the time of the shooting on CollegeMedia.com, the website of the publisher of Virginia Tech's campus newspaper. Cybersoc.com has rounded up a few shocking first hand accounts from bloggers on the traumatic events, as well as Boing Boing which also has a roundup of first-hand coverage that includes Flickr photos of police cars on the scene.

Dan Gillmor from Center for Citizen Media Blog writes: "More and more major news stories will be amplified in this way. Spot news will be, in part, a citizen-captured phenomenon, and there’s no going back."

I think that news events being covered by citizens in this format is definitely the wave of the future and this will allow us all to further understand the power of these social tools and to record events in a more truthful and accurate manner.

Technorati tags: blogs, cell phones, virginia tech, shootings, community, social networking, informationweek, podcasts, collegemedia, cybersoc, boingboing, flickr, dan gillmor, center for citizen media, news

What does community mean to you?

2007-04-17T17:04:00.001-07:00

Since it was Holocaust Remembrance Day this week, I found myself thinking: Would the holocaust be possible in a time like today when we have the internet, online communities, and blogs? In an age of endless networking and community building, what do these communities really mean to us? How do we define a community today?

If a mass killing were to happen now, how would we all react? Would we reach out to those from our online communities who need our help? Would we take care of each other and write about it in our blogs, asking governments to take action? Would we digg and delicious our posts, giving them a common tag on technorati in hope that they reach the widest possible audience? Would we open a flickr account so we could share photos and upload a video to YouTube? In a social networking age like today, how would we deal?

When you enter an online community. you start building your profile, uploading videos and pictures, blogging, adding your favorite sites and widgets. You share little bits and pieces of yourself with your community hoping that members will be interested enough to go through the pieces, and also share a couple of their own. In any such network, you will probably make some connections. Certain people like to explore and learn about others before making them contacts, while others simply add contacts randomly. Some approve every request for a connection whereas others have certain criteria for approving a contact. Everyone's behavioral patterns are different.

You may start chatting, skyping, emailing, perhaps even meeting your connections in person. But how close do you feel to your online connections? If they need you, will you be there? What meaning do these connections take on for you? Given the large number of contacts that we each have in the various communities, is it even possible to form personal connections with everyone? Probably not, Just like in real life, you will most often make deeper connections with certain members than others. Are these connections that we can depend on?

I'd like to believe that community and sharing have not become empty words in our lexicon and that we're not using the word community only to define a business model that prevents churn. I can only hope that in an age where open communication has been made so easy, horrible tragedies like the Holocaust could not happen again. Hopefully we will never need to find out.

I would like to thank John Suler for the brilliant pic.

Technorati tags: holocaust, community, internet, blogs, digg, delicious, technorati, flickr, youtube, social networking, contacts, skyping, sharing, John Suler

The Bloggers Inquisition?

2007-04-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

There's been a lot of talk recently in the blogosphere regarding Tim O'Reilly's call for a "Blogger's Code of Conduct". O'Reilly wants us all to play nice now and put civility badges on our sites. Frankly I find this whole idea to be pretentious and disturbing. O'Reilly will decide what I can or cannot post on my blog? And if I don't place a badge on my blog, will I be called a "commie"?

I think that such a code of conduct misses the point of blogging, the internet, and human behavior in general. The whole idea of blogging is based on the notion that I as a blogger have the freedom to write my opinion, no matter what it should be, and that people have the right to react to my opinions. Isn't that what freedom of speech is all about? The minute we start regulating blogging behavior and adding rules and censorship to the blogosphere, we lose its most precious element of freedom.

Of course I am not saying that derogatory comments such as the death threats that were sent to Kathy Sierra should be ignored. However, don't we have the law to deal with these sorts of issues? Why do we need to add extra regulations specifically pertaining to the blogosphere?

I completely agree with Kent Newsome's words:

"Here’s an Idea: Just Be Nice

Rather than try to recreate the world, how about just apply the real world rules of common sense and courtesy to the blogosphere. Everyone interacts with other people all day every day in the real world, and we don’t need Tim O’Reilly to rewrite the Golden Rule for us."

I act as a civilized member of my online and offline community not because I put a badge on my forehead saying that I will do so, but because I just do. I don't need Tim O'Reilly or any other form of "higher authority" controlling what I do or say on my blog. This type of control scares me more than all the nasty comments I had read about.

Robert Scoble writes:

"I do find disquieting the social pressure to get on board with this program. Tim O’Reilly is a guy who really can affect one’s career online (and off, too). I do have to admit that I feel some pressure just to get on board here and that makes me feel very uneasy."

I find this picture very disturbing. Don't you?

Let us focus on writing good blogs, interacting in good and meaningful debate, and not on limiting our abilities to express our minds and our notions in a world that was meant to do just that.

Technorati tags: Tim O'Reilly, Blogger's Code of Conduct, badge, blogging, internet, law, freedom, blogosphere, Kathy Sierra, Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble

"I am thinking of opening a startup"

2007-04-11T15:59:00.001-07:00

It may be time for Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" to take its place in the Web 2.0 industry. It seems that we have been bombarded with yet another social networking site, yet another social bookmarking site, yet another video site, and yet no real differentiation or improvement of the user experience between the different services. I try to cover as many of the web 2.0 sites which I think are making a difference, but it seems the market has been saturated with similar sites, all offering the same services. Every person I've met recently has his own startup or is thinking of opening one. Perhaps it is time that we take a step back and reconsider new and innovative ideas that are not meant to add to the users' list of already available services, but to provide them with better and enhanced services than what is being offered today.

Technorati tags: startup, darwin, survival of fittest, web 2.0, video, social networking, social bookmarking, saturation, innovation

SuTree Launches Instructional Videos Site

2007-04-09T18:41:00.001-07:00

SuTree, a new Israeli startup which aggregates instructional "how to" videos, will announch its launch today.

SuTree videos are submitted and rated by users, and come mainly from sites like VideoJug and Metacafe.

All videos are nicely organized and there are many different topics to choose from such as: Health, Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Languages. There's a lot of good stuff there for students as well...wow, I wish I had these tools when I was back in high school. It's much more fun learning algebra or studying for the SAT's like this.

SuTree is targeting the same audience as 5min.com, but it has the advantage of containing videos from different communites. I also found SuTree to be clearer, better organized, and more pleasing to the eye in its design. However the big problem with SuTree is this: Even though the site calls itself a "knowledge community", it is missing the community. Users don't add profiles and don't connect with one another. This is a huge advantage that 5min.com has over it. If SuTree is to compete effectively in the instructional videos sector, it should definitely add the social aspect to its platform.

Technorati tags: sutree, israeli, startup, video, user generated, content, videojug, metacafe, instructional, tutorials, 5min, community, social

nPost's New Startup Job Board

2007-04-07T16:28:00.001-07:00

nPost.com , a leading technology experts interviews website, has recently launched a new job board specifically targeted towards individuals looking for positions in small to medium-sized startups. The board currently lists over 350 jobs from more than 50 different companies. Nathan Kaiser, the founder of nPost.com, says: "By focusing on this market, we hope to bring together startups with the type of individuals who want to help build, grow, and create something new and dynamic."

In addition to the job board, Nathan has conducted over 160 interviews with CEOs and entrepreneurs talking about their insights, goals, revenue models, funding, and hiring practices. nPost.com also holds networking events in Vancouver BC and soon will be holding such events in Seattle and Portland as well.

Even though design-wise the site could use a makeover, I found nPost.com to be a great resource for people seeking jobs in the startup industry, and for any entrepreneur looking to learn from the experience of some of the market's leading technology experts. I especially enjoyed the interviews conducted with Tim Westergren founder and CSO of Pandora, Michael Tanne founder and CEO of Wink, and Aaron Levie, founder and CEO of Box.net.

I think that nPost.com should consider adding more features to its site such as its own social network where members with similar job positions and professional skills could connect.

Technorati tags: npost, interviews, startup, jobs, boards, nathan kaiser, revenue models, funding, tim westergren, pandora, michael tanne, wink, aaron levie, box.net, social network

Network2: Internet TV of the people, by the people, for the people

2007-04-05T16:37:00.001-07:00

The user-generated video media landscape is changing quickly. While all of us enjoy seeing frat boys burping on one another or cute puppies who have special licking skills on YouTube every once in a while, Network2 offers those of us looking for higher quality, episodic programming on the web, an alternative.

Network2 which launched on October 16th, 2006, has created an internet TV guide of the best independently produced video shows on the web. Shows were picked based on their quality and originality. You can find over 500 web shows all aggregated into one site, add your own comments, rate the shows, and add tags to help users find what they're looking for.

Once you've found your favorite shows, you can create your own channel, share it with friends, create a widget on your site, and also load it into your video browser like FireAnt or iTunes, even into your portable media player. You can check out my channel widget on this blog. Just click on any of the shows and you will be redirected to the episode page.

It is not surprising that the idea to create Network2 originated with Jeff Pulver, who had made VoIP a household term and VON a force. Pulver along with Video-on-the-Net Alliance, has also recently petitioned the FCC to keep Internet video free of the kinds of content regulations that currently apply to broadcasting and cable services. See petition here.

I have to say that I am already hooked on some of the shows. My favorites so far: The Clip Show, which reviews the world of vloggers, sort of like the "Talk Soup" of Vlogging, WallStrip which mixes stock news and pop culture (highly recommended), Alive in Baghdad featuring citizen journalists covering the war with a camcorder, and Technorati's own show covering just about everything on the web and beyond.

For vloggers, Network2 gives the platform to show their talent to the world and gain publicity. Television and cable networks are already looking into these shows and who they want to sign up. As viewers, Network2 allows us to decide what we want to watch, when we want to watch it, and experience the amazing talent of these vloggers. Believe me, most of what I've watched on Network2 was much more entertaining and interesting than anything I've recently seen on TV.

I don't believe that Internet TV will kill broadcast network TV nor cable, just like TV didn’t kill radio or movies, but Network2 provides a more suitable product for the world we live in today. We the viewers now hold the remote control.

Network2 had recently held a contest where they asked people to create a clip that shows others "How to Watch Internet TV". I couldn't end this post without showing you this hilarious video created by Adam Swan displaying just how great Network2 is compared to regular TV.

Click To Play

Lastly, for those of you who are familiar with Network2, check out the new "look and feel" of the site.

Technorati tags: network2, internettv, usergenerated, video, youtube, widget, fireant, itunes, jeff pulver, VoIP, VON, Video on the Net Alliance, FCC, The Clip Show, vlogging, Talk Soup, WallStrip, Alive in Baghdad, Technorati, TV, cable, Adam Swan

Abusing The Democracy of Web 2.0

2007-04-02T18:18:00.001-07:00

Subvert and Profit which label themselves as "a new kind of black market" pay social network users to digg stories for advertisers who want to be spotted on Digg's homepage.

Digg users can now sign up and receive $0.50 for every digg they make. Advertisers pay $1 per Digg vote. Other services like Spike the Vote (which is now offline) and User/Submitter (which is still online but allegedly ceased operation), have tried this model before. Since this sort of manipulation of digg votes in exchange for money is in clear violation of Digg's terms and conditions, many of the users who were involved in these activities were banned from Digg. Subvert and Profit are pretty sure that they have programmed some terrific algorithms that will prevent their users from being tracked. Spike the Vote also believed that they had a bulletproof mechanism to cheat Digg, but in the end, their model didn't work, users got banned, and their domain name was sold on ebay for $1275 and donated to digg. It's nice to see that digg users are trying to fight back:

http://phillmidwinter.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/first-release-of-anti-usersubmittercom-application/

I find it quite sad that these blackmarket companies try to abuse the wonderful new age of Web 2.0 where democratization of content rules and users are able to share and recommend services and products which they actually like and enjoy. It is one thing to promote a product you use, like, and think can be useful to your community. It is another thing to digg a story for a product you don't even know just to get hard cold cash. If companies such as Subvert and Profit succeed in their mission, all such social networks will turn into "spam networks" which will eventually cause real users to lose interest and stop participating. What good will this bring the advertisers when such sites are only filled with paid users trying to make a fast buck and not even interested in the actual content?

We must remember that sites like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon, are not just sites. They are communities made up of people who feel secure enough to bond and share their favorites with one another. Once we lose this security, such networks will inevitably be subverted. Not by Subvert and Profit but by the real users themselves.

I posted a comment expressing my feelings on the matter on TechCrunch, and Ragnar Danneskjold, co-founder of Subvert and Profit replied the following:

"You’re forgetting two things:

- The majority of people are stupid. Thus, “democracy” propagates dumb content.

- Democratic web 2.0 sites are already rigged to a large extent, and most people don’t care

We’re not going to ruin anything."

I am glad that Mr. Danneskjold has such high regard for people. It is good to know that as a marketer, Mr. Danneskjold thinks of his target audience as stupid.

Will we as members of these social networks let Mr. Danneskjold and his legions overtake our communities?

Technorati tags: subvertandprofit, digg, socialnetworks, crowdsourcing, advertising, spikethevote, usersubmitter, cheating, ebay, phill midwinter, web 2.0, web, content, sharing, community, delicious, stumbleupon, network, techcrunch, ragnardanneskjold, marketing

Fooling Us A Day Early?

2007-03-31T19:00:00.001-07:00

Well this seems bizarre... TechCrunch has announced today that it has acquired Philip “Pud” Kaplan’s FuckedCompany.com in a stock for assets transaction.

FuckedCompany.com which features breaking stories on dot com company failures, was founded in April 2000, and at its peak was visited by 4 million unique users monthly. It was named “Site of the Year” in 2000 by both Yahoo and Rolling Stone. In 2004 as the startup economy was improving, the site had lost much of its public attention, but still maintained a loyal user base.

According to the announcement, Michael Arrington believes that the Web 2.0 bubble will soon burst and says that "with the combination of these two companies, we can now effectively cover a startup from the idea stage, through the hype and funding stage, and then cover its inevitable bankruptcy and liquidation as well."

Well, this sounds to me like a great April Fool's joke, let us of course not forget this classic:

http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

so happy April Fool's Day to you too Michael!

Technorati tags: techcrunch, philip kaplan, pud, fuckedcompany, yahoo, rolling stone, dot com, startup, michael arrington, web 2.0, bubble, internet, web, april fool, joke, funny, google, pigeonrank

Joost's first TV Commercial

2007-03-30T16:00:00.001-07:00

Not as thrilling as it should be...

Technorati tags: joost, commercial, web2.0, tv, video, youtube

BubblePly Announces its Open Platform Architecture

2007-03-30T09:44:00.001-07:00

Israeli company BubblePly which allows users on any video site to overlay images, text, and live links on video, has recently announced its open platform application. According to David Markowitz, one of the company's founders, the company has decided not to label themselves as a brand, but rather to become an open platform application, usuable on any video site.

BubblePly is not only a cool addition that users can integrate into videos for fun, but should also prove very useful for any company to promote itself or its products within the videos themselves. Since all videos uploaded are usually tagged, consider for instance, a car company that wants to promote itself in all videos tagged with the word "car" or a site that wants to promote itself in all videos tagged with the word "web2.0". The possibilities are endless. For a long time now it hasn't been determined how video sites will handle their overwhelming costs, and this sort of advertising could potentially be their salvation.

The Company which currently offers this service for free, has already partnered up with a few sites including Flix and others (which cannot be mentioned yet), and is currently looking to expand its network.

Copyright concerns are believed not to be an issue because the service doesn’t change the video itself, it just places a layer of data on top of it. Different sites have different rules of using the application, for instance, Flix only allows the person who uploaded the video to add plys whereas other sites allow anyone to add them.

Below you'll find an example of a video with plys created by the BubblePly team:

Technorati tags: plymedia, bubbleply, open platform architecture, israel, video, image, ply, text, live link, brand, application, promotion, web 2.0, advertising, flix, tapuz

Our Online Identities

2007-03-29T08:28:00.001-07:00

I have often pondered: Do we stray from our real identities when online? Do we become different due to the extended amount of freedom or anonymity we are given on the web? I suppose it depends on the person. However, in my experience I have found that my personality is exactly the same online as it is offline.

In today’s online social world, we become members of different communities. We make names for ourselves in these communities and contribute to them. We meet many friends around the world, share videos, stories, and pics from our lives. We invite these friends into our worlds because as humans we still share a need to bond with others even if it is only a virtual bond. People today lead lives dedicated more to their StumbleUpon networks or Warcraft guilds rather than to their real life families. Therefore what good would we be doing by deceiving our community? We are leading virtual lives today. Many of us spend more hours online each day than offline (I know I do), therefore we should cherish these new bonds we created. Perhaps the real question we should be asking ourselves is: “Do we stray from our real selves when we’re offline?”

Technorati tags: identity, net identity, flickr, web, freedom, anonymity, community, online community, social networks, stumbleupon, warcraft

YouTube Is Changing

2007-03-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

YouTube is introducing a new functionality to its platform, allowing users to group clips around specific categories.

Up to now, clips have been saved in what often seemed a random process -- usually arranged chronologically, but not always.

The new interface will allow users to organize clips according to specific categories. So, for example, music clips can be organized around artists or vacations can be organized around specific activities.

YouTube is becoming much more like Flickr-- allowing the users to organize content on their own. This is a smart move on their part as putting related videos together leads to more views and a phenomenon known as “YouTube addiction” - serve up enough related content, and viewers will just keep clicking and clicking and clicking. It will be interesting to see how this new functionality will change the face of YouTube.

Technorati tags: youtube, flickr, functionality, videos, usergenerated, web, web2.0

Shopping Web 2.0 Style

2007-03-28T14:25:00.001-07:00

What if our world was web2-ified?

Check out this amazing video made by my friend Lior Katz from Wishood:

Technorati tags: web, internet, ajax, youtube, pandora, web2.0, opensource, supermarket2.0, wishood, kinnernet, liorkatz

Bringing Traffic to Your Site

2007-03-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

There are many different ways a company can increase traffic to its site. In today's digitalized world online promotion possibilities are endless. Successful online marketing depends largely on your ability to identify those channels that provide the best opportunity to reach your target audience. Online social networks, forums, blogging, SEO are just some of the ways that you can increase your site's traffic.
Here's a list of 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-remarkably-effective-strategies-for-driving-traffic

Social Media Marketing is a great way to let people know about your site. Promoting your site on Digg or Delicious can increase your site's traffic by a few thousand visitors per day but be careful. These sites are community oriented and if you only get on the site to promote your business and don't contribute anything meaningful back to the community, the community will turn against you.
I am a big believer in the power of all these new online marketing strategies. I definitely feel that companies that will not take advantage of these new marketing strategies, will be at a great disadvantage to those that will.