Posts filed under 'Web 2.0'
Posted July 9th, 2007 by admin
Colin Smith is a “Do Everything Social Web” guy. He participates in the coolest social networks, belongs to the most cutting edge communities and utilizes the newest services in web. A day in the life of Colin goes like this:
7:00AM: Wakes up and gets ready for work. He logs on to Pownce , MySpace, Facebook and Wallop to see if he has received any messages or files from his friends.
8:00AM: Orders his breakfast at Diningin to pick up on his way to the office. While riding the bus he uses his iPhone to check The New York Times for the day’s headlines, peruses through his unread mail and updates his Twitter status to “heading to the office…sunny day finally!”
8:45AM: Upon arriving at the office he realizes that he forgot to pick up his laundry. He logs on to Domystuff to outsource doing his laundry to someone else. He also hires a dog walker to walk Victor, his French bulldog at noon.
12:00PM: After a long morning of calls and meetings Colin decides to switch it up to CampusFood for his favorite chicken parmesan sub from a pizzeria near his apartment.
3:00PM: Colin catches a break and decides to explore his new neighborhood at FatDoor. He learns about his neighbors’ dog club, finds a golf partner one block from his apartment and joins a peer mentoring volunteer group in the nearby middle school.
6:30PM: Colin realizes he’ll be late to his friend’s birthday party at his favorite bar in town. He decides to buy him and his friends a round of birthday cocktails at BuyYourFriendaDrink. His friend receives a text message moments later with a message saying, “Happy B-Day…working a bit late but will be there by 8 PM”. The text includes a drink code that validates his free drinks at the bar.
Colin is an example of the millions of innovators and early adapters that are integrating their everyday activities with the services and novelties of the social web. I predict that at this pace it will take less than five years for the social web to connect people with every service across all industries.
Posted June 28th, 2007 by Kevin
Last week, Digital Influence Group Chairman, Larry Weber, celebrated the release of his new book, Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business, with a launch party at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass. Drawing on his three decades of experience, Larry provides a roadmap for all marketers looking to harness the power of the social web to enhance brand awareness and create effective customer communities. The early reviews are in and here is what people are saying about the book:
• “The Social Web is an intriguing but scary place for marketers,” said Josh Bernoff, Vice President at Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell, an upcoming book on business strategy and social technologies. “Marketing to the Social Web is the guide you need to enter this world with confidence. Let Larry Weber take your hand and show you around – you’ll profit from it.”
• “Larry has brought pragmatic and useful recommendations to help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age. I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them.” – David Kenny, Chairman and CEO, Digitas Inc.
• “Where’s the allure of social 2.0? Brands can talk…customers talk louder! Digital influence has arrived.” – Jeff Taylor, CEO, Eons and Founder of Monster.com.
• “Larry Weber provides a simple and effective roadmap of the new customer information highway. Marketing to the Social Web is a valuable tool that will give everyone the confidence and know-how to compete in this fast-growing marketplace of ideas.” – Steve Harris, Vice President, Global Communications, General Motors Corporation.
Of course, in the spirit of the social web, we want to hear reviews from some of the lucky few who were able to get their hands on a copy of the book already. We’re happy to answer questions and will keep you updated on the progress of the book as more news becomes available.
If you’re interested in learning more or purchasing a copy, please visit the books site here.
Posted June 25th, 2007 by admin
Web 1.0 was the ‘static’ web, where one could merely READ online content from all over the world. With the advent of Web 2.0, users can now READ and WRITE (i.e. publish) their own content for others to see and discuss. Many have already announced the arrival of Web 3.0 and are anticipating Web 4.0. Here’s a little daydreaming, brainstorming and ‘googling’ I did about where the web is going. Please feel free to add your views and insights.
• The 3D Web. Second Life (SL) made popular a whole new dimension on the Internet. The whole computing technology is headed toward 3-dimensioning everything. What we now know as the Desktop, will be replaced with a whole 3D “Office” which we can navigate much like in SL. We will have the files and folders in drawers that we can customize and design to our taste (or lack of it!). Techniques like the recently announced Microsoft Surface will add more actual physical movement to enhance the 3D experience. Holograms are not that far either.
• Faster, Better Browsing. Even web browsing is going 3D. The trends we can spot on the Net are creating browsers that recognize more than just keywords.
• More Customization. We can easily spot the trend of customizing everything: from iGoogle, through Facebook applications, to mashups - the Internet is one big buffet of widgets. Soon enough, we’ll be able to build our own software too, even if we know nothing about programming. As consumers, we will control what we want to see, how we want to see it and who we want to talk to about it.
• Anytime, Anyplace, and for Free? We will have Internet access from pretty much anywhere. That is almost certain. WiMAX is very close to being a reality today and before we know it we will be able to use every spare second connected to the Web. Will Internet access ever become free? Maybe not. Cheaper – for sure. But its omnipresence means that people will rely on the Internet as their primary source of information in much greater numbers. Moreover, projects like One Laptop per Child will make the use of computers available even in the underdeveloped regions of the world.
• Online Alter Ego. What started as a ‘nickname’ in a chat-room, or an anonymous e-mail address, now is a profile on the social networking sites and soon will turn into a whole persona. A single unique identification will ease navigate through all profiles and customized content (an early example of this is OpenID). The persona will live, work and thrive online.
• Regulation. Yes, the Internet is facing many problems in terms of regulation. But as the anonymous dimension of participating on the web is being eradicated, the fact that the web is not a world without consequences will kick in. In fact, the trend has already gone into the other extreme and caused a lot of controversy with maps and web cameras everywhere. While privacy is a hot issue, our tolerance to having our every moment exposed to the public has increased dramatically in the last few years. Now it’s almost standard to have your image up on the web for others to see. Copyright is another burning issue that will need to be addressed in this line.
• So how will marketing follow? In his new book, Marketing to the Social Web, Larry Weber argues that “the Web is rapidly becoming the most important marketing medium.” The Internet is growing where television fails –in bringing people together, Weber, a social media guru and my employer, adds. In fact, most TV ads now include an invitation to visit a web site.
• Marketing in the new World Wide Web will only work as a dialogue, and only under the consumer’s terms. The book is a comprehensive guide for marketers and how they need to “communicate with customers, rather than at them,” a must-read for anyone who plans to stick around during the next stage of the Web.
Posted May 17th, 2007 by Scott
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post “Virtual World, Virtual Technology” which talked about some interesting advances in technology happening inside Second Life (SL). I want to bring back something I wrote in that post:
“I feel this virtual event is only the beginning. I certainly won’t be surprised when we see virtual job fairs, home shows, auto shows, etc. Especially as we make the push into Web 3.0….”
Well it’s only been two weeks since I wrote that, and yes the first virtual job fair is currently taking place in SL (can’t say I’m surprised). The event is being hosted by TMP Worldwide and has given SL goers and job seekers the ability to meet with recruiters and hiring managers from some of the leading global brands. Companies who are showing a presence at the event include: eBay, HP, Microsoft, Sodexho, T-Mobile, and Verizon. I’m looking forward to reading insights from bloggers and companies who participated in the event.
Seeing as how I predicted job fairs coming to second life (sorry Char Lyn), maybe I should try my luck with the lottery?
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