Google – Coming To Theatres Near You

August 27th, 2010

In the battle for Internet glory, Google and Facebook have been neck-and-neck throughout 2010. And the rivalry to outdo each other has branched off from new product and service offerings to…..movies.

In October, The Social Network, the story of Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg, will hit theatres. Just two months before Facebook’s big movie launch, Groundswell Productions and producer Michael London announced they have bought the film rights for the 2009 book Googled: The End of the Internet As We Know It, by Ken Auletta. The book is to be used as a blueprint for the feature film, which, according to a Deadline interview with London is about “two young guys [Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin] who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them.” Sound familiar?

Reading the Deadline interview is like reading the exact story behind The Social Network. Just change a few details here and there, and voila! There you have a brand new movie.

Much of the current talk about the movie is questioning how a movie about a company with the tagline “Do No Evil” can amount to a blockbuster. You can at least admit that part of The Social Network’s allure (although I have to say that it still hasn’t made my list of movies to see in 2010) is that it has a very boundary-pushing story behind it. I’m not sure that Google’s story has that same sexiness about it.

Overall, it seems that the main aim of seeing the Do No Evil story in neon lights is simply an effort to keep up with the Johnsons. I’m not sure that a movie with motives like this could ever become a raging success.

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Insights: Comparison of Old and New Social Network Maps (XKCD vs Flowtown)

August 24th, 2010

XKCD created a map of online communities in 2007. Fast forward to 2010, Flowtown created a followup called The 2010 Social Networking Map. The following is a breakdown of the changes as well as some general insights for now and the future.

 

OLD (2007):

 

NEW (2010):

 

INSIGHTS

Changes from Spring 2007 to Summer 2010

  • Yahoo has changed substantially. Yahoo has moved a step down to now being comprised of defunct social networks (Mash, 360, Kickstart) as well as a step up to having it’s own sizeable area just north of Facebook. Flickr (a property of Yahoo) is now it’s own area. Noticeably missing Delicious.
  • AOL isn’t it’s own area anymore. It’s predicted that AOL & Windows Live will join Yahoo (see: Receding Glaciers of AOL & Windows Live). Bebo has been defined as a sizeable area, while AIM has been relegated to the tundra.
  • Facebook & Myspace have switched places. Facebook has grown from being on the subcontinent of Myspace to being the main nation. Myspace is now the Former Kingdom of Myspace with the Lake of Myspace Bands & a note that says ‘Not all users are active’.
  • Youtube emerges. The Gulf of Youtube has emerged as a fully formed separate island, which is a part of the Empire of Google.
  • Google expands drastically. Google’s Volcano Fortress has grown to be the Empire of Google and the Rising Island of Google Buzz. They have seemingly come out of nowhere to have information gathering outposts everywhere. It makes me think what are they doing with all the information they’re gathering.
    • Their many Information Gathering Outposts are off of: Youtube, Twitter, Orkut, between Facebook & Yahoo, Bebo, Wikipedia
  • Livejournal is still around and relatively the same size.
  • Orkut, Friendster sustain size. Orkut and Friendster are still around and possibly a little bit larger, but nothing in comparison to how large their subcontinent mate Facebook has grown
  • Digg & Stumbleupon grow, become relative. Digg has grown and separated from other islands to be on it’s own, off of the Stumbleupon Sea (which was previously a small island). Interesting that they’re near Twitter since sharing of both services’ links are done largely through Twitter.
  • Wikis explode onto the scene. The Wikipedia Project has grown to become the United Territories of Wikimedia. Gone are Engadget & MIT in place of all “Wiki” named properties (Wikisource, Wikileaks, Marvel wiki, Reference wiki, Science wiki, Wiktionary, Wikicity, En.Wikipedia, Fr.Wikipedia, Pl.Wikipedia) & Citizendium.
  • Flickr grows. It’s not surprising that Flickr has grown in size as it has revamped it’s interface, added integrated sharing to Twitter & Facebook, has a custom URL shortener and is considered the default photo sharing social network by most. Not really too sure why Flickr is in between the social games and blogging area, as Flickr has no sort of social gaming aspect.
  • Tools as social networks? I wouldn’t have necessarily included Tweetdeck as it’s a tool that doesn’t sign up users separately unlike fellow 3rd party app Twitpic, which provides a photo platform. If that were the case I would have included Hootsuite, Seesmic and Cotweet as well.

GONE:

  • WOW (World of Warcraft), Second Life, Classmates.com, Reunion.com, Faceparty, Cyworld, OK Cupid, Piczo, Broadcaster, Lineage, Runescape, Deviant Art, Reddit, Fark, Spaaarta, IRC isles, Sulawesi, Boing Boing, Technorati, Xanga, Huffington Post, Delicious, Something Awful, 2channel, 4chan, Your Base, Yahoo Games, Engadget, MIT

NEW:

  • Twitter (along with it’s own subnations – Foursquare, Twitpic, Tweetdeck, Digsby), Ebay, Habbo, Hi5, LinkedIn, Xing, Live Jasmin, Adult Friendfinder, Youporn, Chemistry, Match, Blogster, Tumblr, Wordpress, Blogspot, Bing, Pandora, Imeem, LOL Cats

REORGANIZED:

  • Music
    • Pandora, Last.fm, Imeem.  
    • Noticeably missing: Blip.fm
  • Blogging (formerly The Blogipelago)
    • Tumblr, Wordpress, Livejournal, Blogspot, Flixster, Blogster.
    • Noticably missing: Blogger, Typepad
  • Dating (new)
    • Match, Eharmony, Chemistry.
    • Noticeably missing: OK Cupid (gone) – Eharmony was moved.
  • Porn (new)
    • Live Jasmin, Adult Friendfinder, Youporn.
    • Noticeably missing: Xtube

NOTICEABLY MISSING:

  • Mixx, Tagged, Gowalla, Google Chat, Skype, Posterous, 12seconds, Twitvideo, XBOX Live, Plaxo, Blip.fm, Blogger, Typepad, Xtube

PAY ATTENTION TO:

  • Apple. Volcanic Island of Iphone Apps. Remember, Google started as a volcanic island and now they’re an Empire with many outposts, a large island of Youtube & a rising island of Google Buzz. Next to come?: Empire of Apple, Island of LaLa, Sea of iTunes, etc
  • Social Gaming. Habbo & Hi5 came out of nowhere. I would have put Farmville Valley closer to Habbo & Hi5 as they’re all social games networks. I figure Zynga would have warranted it’s own area (possibly inside & outside of Facebook separated by a dashed line) considering it’s properties of Farmville, Mafia Wars etc are extremely popular and used often.
  • Google. They have grown in social to become an empire with many outposts. Google Me (Google’s potential social network) will be coming in some form as Google continues to buy up web properties to enhance their empire – gaming companies, shopping companies etc.
  • Foursquare / LBS. Not Foursquare specifically but Location Based Services. Facebook Places has just launched which will definitely normalize these new services to the general masses and cause adoption rate to climb substantially.

 

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New Tech Obsession: Skitch

August 23rd, 2010

In a collaborative environment, the ability to easily share and provide feedback on files and ideas is essential. And while it’s still in beta, Skitch is a webservice that turns out to be the perfect solution for these needs.

Skitch was created by the folks at plasq.com, a company dedicated to creating fun, inspiring computer interfaces and experiences, such as the popular photo app Comic Life. Skitch allows you to take a screenshot of an application or website, write or draw directly on the screenshot and then share it with others.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to point out a specific section of a website to one of your co-workers. Rather than emailing the URL and writing “Look in between paragraph 2 and the right hand column on the upper left….” Skitch users can simply take a screenshot, make a circle around the area they want to draw attention to and scribble, “Yo, check this out.”

Everyone who signs up for Skitch also gets a separate web page, on which they can upload all images or screenshots. Your webpage includes one-step buttons to embed the files on blogs or other websites.

The best way to describe the service is like PhotoShop plus Preview combined. If you’ve ever been in a situation in which you have been wishing for a simpler, easier way to share images and ideas online, then Skitch is definitely for you.

Follow Skitch on Twitter and try out the service yourself.

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Facebook Places Puts The Pressure On Foursquare, Google Maps

August 19th, 2010

2010 has been a big year for Facebook. Thanks to the introduction of an open graphAPI and the ability to “Like” almost anything on the web (not to mention a new movie coming out this fall), the social media giant has proved that it has the drive and the capacity to rule the digital landscape as we know it. And this week, Facebook launched a new location-based service that challenges the niche markets of startups like Foursquare, as well as the Maps arm of corporations like Google.

Facebook Places is a service that allows users to “check in” to restaurants, bars, retail stores and other local hotspots to share their location with friends. There are three main goals behind the introduction of Places, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

1. Share where you are in a social way
2. See who is around you
3. Discover cool new places to visit in the future

When a user checks in to a specific location, the update appears on the Place page for that venue, and is posted to the person’s own wall. One interesting aspect of the service, which we haven’t seen in other location-based offerings, is that Places allows you to check your friends in to the location you’re at, as well. However, if you aren’t into the idea of other people checking in for you, you can tweak your privacy settings to opt out of this entirely. Facebook put up a post on it’s blog with more details on the service.

Now that the service is live, the big question is how this is going to impact brands that exist on the platform of social location-based offerings. As opposed to the small niche services, the advantage for Facebook is that it maintains a database of more than 500 million loyal users who are familiar with the brand and how it works. Will people who check into Facebook Places still feel the need to check into Foursquare, as well?

And as a challenger of Google Maps, Facebook’s social component has the draw that no stand-alone map can live up to. While Google Maps aims to provide as much information about a place as possible, it doesn’t have the capability of also telling users who is there.

The verdict is out as to whether Facebook Places means the end of Foursquare and Gowalla as we know them, or if it will simply force these startups to look at other options to differentiate their product. Regardless, the introduction of Places is just one more way that Facebook is proving its place as leader in the social web.

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The Jersey Shore Phenomenon

August 5th, 2010

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, there is no question that you’ve seen, heard about or become enthralled with the phenomenon that is ‘Jersey Shore.’ The season two premiere episode raked in 5.3 MILLION viewers – nearly a 300% increase from the premiere of season one, and 10% more viewers than the first season’s grand finale. Ranked MTV’s best season premiere rating in more than seven years, you can’t deny that ‘Jersey Shore’ has become some sort of a national obsession. What is it about this TV show that helps it score stellar ratings every week?

There’s no doubt that ‘Jersey Shore’ has rounded up a cast of characters who have such distinctive and all-encompassing personalities that it rivals any crew ‘The Real World’ has ever produced. There is Snooki, the five-foot tall, bouffant-boasting guidette; “The Situation,” a self-absorbed, unrealistically tan macho-man; Pauly-D, an aspiring DJ who spends more time on his hair than getting a good night’s sleep. Each of these individuals is such a stretch on the normal people we interact with every day, that it’s a thrill just to see how such a personality operates. Separately, they are all complete train wrecks. And when they come together as a whole, it is an explosion of catastrophes that no one could ever predict.

Part of the reason we love reality-TV so much is, in part, because it is so FAR from reality for 95% of America. How many people do you know who live in a world in which gym-tan-laundry is a daily activity? Watching the outrageousness of the events in these people’s lives and asking ourselves, “are these real, living human beings?” is what keeps us coming back for more. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle in which there are a handful of missing pieces but you keep coming back to try and figure out how to complete it, anyway. No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to find a way for everything to logically come together. And unlike the traditional reality television show, which is primarily drama-based, ‘Jersey Shore’ has turned out to be more of a comedy. The encounters, interactions and relationships are truly more hysterical than they are realistic.

This real-life look into the lives of eight ridiculously blinged-out young adults has turned into a media phenomenon, regardless of whether you watch the show for a laugh, a self-esteem boost, or just to keep up on lunch-time gossip.

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The Process of Creating a Brand Identity

August 4th, 2010

The brand identity is a great asset in a company’s communications that reflects the mood and the values of the enterprise. This is why creating a good visual identity is a long process that involves distinctive steps.

Clients

Creating a brand identity starts with good communication between the client and the designer to get a precise idea of the client’s needs. Some clients may be aware of that and will pay attention to every detail. Others prefer to trust the skills of the graphic designer, giving the designer a lot of freedom, which is always great for creativity.

Info

Before starting a design it’s important to get all the print and web specifics. This is the best way to save time on the last step (preparing files for print/web).

Ideas

When coming up with ideas drawing on paper is faster. Usually the company name and function helps when getting a first round of ideas. What is the company message? How do they position themselves? Where will the design go? The notes from the brief with the client should drive the research.

Remember, different themes are possible. The identity can describe the name or product (Apple), be a typographic logo (Chanel), can relate to values such as victory (Nike) or be a detail from the history of the brand (McDonalds arch).

Propose 2-3 concepts

One important tip for a graphic designer is to not show something you don’t like, because it will difficult to defend work that you’re not 100% happy with.  Show the design you feel you would recommend at the end. It will have more impact.

Refine the identity

When the brand elements have been decided it’s now time to refine details and prepare the files for the different materials. An efficient brand identity requires a guidelines document. This compiles the colors and font information plus some samples layouts to show the use of brand elements.

Keep samples of your work

Get screen captures if you design for the web or printed samples of business cards, flyers, and brochures. These assets will always need to be in a designer’s portfolio.

Creating a brand identity needs time and creativity but also a good comprehension of your client needs. Always be receptive to the comments and don’t hesitate to affirm your recommendations.

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Group Shopping Equals Big Deals

July 30th, 2010

Living in an expensive city can be a strain on the wallet. There are so many things to do, see and explore that require you to break out the big dough to participate. However, new digital coupon services are helping many people score fantastic deals at places they normally wouldn’t be able to afford.

A few of our favorites places to find those deep discounts are listed here:

Groupon: Groupon is one of the most widely used daily deal websites, active in a large handful of cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In May 2010, the site was valued at more than $1 billion and has been noted as maintaining “the most successful [coupon website] execution to date.” Every day, Groupon features a different product or service available at a deep discount. Log on to the site and click “BUY” if you’re interested in the deal. If the minimum number of people sign up, your card will be charged and you’ll receive a link to print the Groupon. Otherwise, the deal is canceled and you aren’t charged.

PROS: Groupon’s reach and popularity has given it the ability to secure bigger and better deals than some of the smaller sites. The site just launched Personalized Deals, so that the deals that you see are tailored to include your special interests.

CONS: If the minimum number of buyers isn’t reached, there will be no groupon for you.

Yipit: Yipit is another website that is available to deal seekers across the U.S. (with a European arm coming soon). The site takes on the bargain-searching legwork for you by scouring the web for discounts and deals that are specific to your interests and location. You can even connect your Yipit account to Foursquare so that the service sorts out deals by the proximity to places you’ve visited on the mobile check-in app. How cool is that?

PROS: Yipit has placed itself as the leader in completely personalizing the information it provides to you.

CONS: A new company, Yipit isn’t yet available in as many cities as some competitor coupon sites.

LivingSocial: LivingSocial stakes its platform on helping small businesses utilize social media to keep in touch with their customers. And it’s not a bad pitch for those mom-and-pop shops that don’t have the marketing budget to advertise to the local community. The site currently operates in more than 50 U.S. markets and has recently introduced its London site. To get a deal, you simply have to visit the website and select “Buy Now.” No minimum number of buyers is required.

PROS: When a user purchases a deal and three of his friends make the same purchase, the user gets the deal for free.

CONS: The deals that you receive in your Inbox aren’t personalized to your specific interests.

8Coupons: Rather than focusing on the single best deal of the day, 8Coupons provides users with the top eight deals in their neighborhood. Steering away from the group buying approach, this site focuses on providing you with a variety of amazing offers for a wide variety of products and services. This is a great place to find the best deals from major chains to specialty stores. Less like a group buying platform, 8coupons is more of a deal aggregator that offers up a handful of discounts and delivers them directly to your inbox.

PROS: Wide variety in the number and breadth of deals that you can view or purchase at any given time. Participating is also simple; 8coupons directs you right to the provider’s website where you can print out the coupon.

CONS: Again, this site does not send you deals that are specifically in line with your hobbies or interests, so you may be getting a bunch of offers that you aren’t really interested in.

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Meet Up on Meetup

July 27th, 2010

Digital innovation has made it possible for us to do or see anything we desire with the simple click of a mouse. This phenomenon has been written about numerous times, especially citing the impact that technology has had on the public. The facts support the case that the power of seeing and talking to people face-to-face is something that can never be replaced, no matter how advanced the technology.

Therein comes Meetup.com, a technology that bridges the gap between making connections online and in real-life. Meetup.com is the world’s largest network of local social groups. The site is currently boasting 6 million monthly visitors and 7.2 million members. Whether you are trying to connect with others who have similar interests, orwould like to enhance your community presence by creating a group of your own, Meetup can help you turn virtual contacts into real-life connections.

Members can search for groups by interest or zip code, build networks of contacts, and promote their groups to others in the area. And once you have a meetup scheduled, you can keep track of the event in real-time through 3rd party applications such as Rendezvous, Snapup, or Meetapp. Many of these applications also lets you locate directions to your meetup and upload photos of the event. The desktop app Big First Name easily allows group organizers to print name badges through imported names and avatars.

It’s easy to create a meetup of your own if you can’t find a group that’s the right fit for your needs, or if you are looking to create an outlet for your business to expand its reach in the community. Mashable has created an excellent step-by-step guide on how to organize a successful meetup in order to establish yourself as an industry leader. Check it out here.

So whether you are interested in networking with others in the media world, or are looking to find a group of contacts who love French Bulldogs just as much as you, check out Meetup.com to broaden your world.

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Optimizing Your Twitter Presence

July 21st, 2010

As the world continues its transition to the digital space, the majority of companies have realized that social media is an essential piece of the marketing puzzle, Twitter being a key player. The site has experienced exponential growth over the past couple years, with 23.5 million unique visitors per month being reported in February 2010. While Twitter still has a long way to go to catch up to Facebook, it has proven itself as a powerful force in the world of real-time communications.

In order to take advantage of all it has to offer, we’ve come up with a key list of tools below:

Personalizing Your Presence

  • In addition to maintaining a wide database of pre-made Twitter wallpapers that you can simply select to install on your account, Twitbacks also allows you to customize a background of your own. This website specializes in helping you create backgrounds featuring a left-hand column that may include your social networks, links, photos, an extended bio, phone number and more.
  • MyTweetSpace is a user-friendly site that offers badges, fancy graphics and themes to help you personalize your Twitter presence. The standard backgrounds with badges are available for $5. In addition, the site offers backgrounds specifically customized for your business for a $79 fee.

Growing Your Account

  • Known as the “Twitter Yellow Pages,” Twellow allows you to search for people on Twitter in specific categories, such as: Real Estate, Green, Football, Teachers, Fashion Design, etc. You can also register yourself on the site and select the category, or categories, that you fit in best.
  • Nearby Tweets is a fun application that enables you to plug in your city, and see who is tweeting in your geographical area. While the standard public Twitter stream is bombarded with up to 12 million tweets per minute, Nearby Tweets gives you a microscopic view of who is saying what in your own community.

Platforms

Tweetdeck for desktop

  • Tweetdeck is a popular Twitter publishing application that is available in both desktop and mobile versions. Having just topped 15 million downloads as of July 2010, theservice sends out approximately 4 million tweets and status updates every day. The value in Tweetdeck comes in the ability to customize your personal Twitter experience by creating different columns, groups, scheduled tweets and searches.
  • Formerly Tweetlater.com, Social Oomph is a desktop-based application that is preferred by many due to the extensive number of features that it offers. The free version includes: scheduled tweets, keyword tracking, direct message inbox purging, extended Twitter profiles and the ability to save and reuse message drafts.

Analytics

  • Twitalyzer is a free service that provides a high-level overview of where you fall in the Twitter-scape and how you are making an impact. When you sign in using your Twitter account information, the site generates a report that shows you your impact, engagement, clout, retweet ratio, follower statistics, personality and more. Twitalyzer also provides a section with recommendations for you to create a bigger impact on the site.
  • TweetStats is a tool that allows you to take a broad look at how many tweets you are sending out monthly, daily and hourly, going back to the first tweet you sent during your first month on Twitter. Once you plug in your username, you will be provided with graphs and tweet clouds that offer an inside look into how you are using Twitter.

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Tips To Organize Your Business Processes

July 6th, 2010

Creating your business process involves a lot of trial and error, but, when done correctly it can be the key to your success. Small business owners and entrepreneurs have so much flexibility and freedom in shaping their business, that sometimes the process gets overlooked. Organizing your processes in a consistent, streamlined manner is essential to understanding how your company works and where you are capable of going in the future.

To begin creating successful processes, begin with tracking what each employee is doing and how long it’s taking to complete. Having a solid understanding of where time is being spent and on what will help you to plan out deadlines and estimates for the future. Take a look back at projects that didn’t fall within the average time you estimated for completion and ask why this happened. Were you working with a particularly demanding client? Did an employee come across a roadblock that might lead you to change your estimation for the future? These learning’s should be considered into new projects so that you can properly live up to your employee’s and your client’s expectations.

In addition to understanding how much time is being put into running your business, it’s helpful to create repeatable processes from success stories. Once you know what steps need to be taken to complete specific projects, write them down and implement this process for similar programs that come up in the future. The goal is to create a system that can be repeated again and again until you and your employees become efficient at it. Having repeatable processes in place eliminates the need to create a brand new plan-of-action for every new client and helps you to develop a sense of mastery over the work that you do.

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