by Kenneth Yeung on February 8, 2010
Last Friday, Social Media Week in San Francisco reached its conclusion with a packed house at 111 Minna Gallery for the closing party hosted by Social Media Club, Mashable and Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.
As part of your ticket purchase, guests were treated with two drinks and plenty of mingling and networking they could handle. But showing that we’re more than tech geeks, the closing party was also a fundraiser to help benefit the work done by Internet solution company NetSquared towards helping educate non-profit companies on how to use social media technologies.
Here are some photos from the closing party:
Biz360’s Maria Ogneva & Ryan Kuder
Violet Blue, Ben Metcalfe & Cathy Brooks
A representative from NetSquared tells the crowd about their efforts helping non-profits.
The crowd at 111 Minna celebrating Social Media Week
Claire Chang, Rachel Polish & Gregarious Narain
Derek Overbey, Brett Petersel, Adrian Chan, Claire Chang & Tina Hui
You can’t really tell, but Chris Heuer is spinning the tunes on stage
Brian Remmel, Kristie Wells, Derek Overbey, Tina Hui, Anthony Grant, Claire Chang, Bernadette Balla, Brett Petersel, Gregarious Narain, Adrian Chan, Maria Ogneva & Chris Heuer
by julieblaustein on February 8, 2010
By Julie Blaustein
Wednesday, February 3rd I attended the kickoff of Motally’s moChats. Motally plans to hold a moChat the 1st. Wednesday of every month at their cozy headquarters in SOMA. MoChats are casual talks designed to share insights about successful mobile development and optimizing mobile sites and apps through analytics. Analytics is what Motally provides, not only for mobile devices on the iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms but also for the Apple iPad.
Pizza and drinks, including adult beverages, were served while sitting around a projector and chatting about Motally. Many features were discussed including the 2-way communications, user statistics such as unique users, page views, top referrers, top devices etc. Also discussed was their search tracking feature. When someone does an internal search on a mobile website, the website publisher can track what happens after the search to determine whether an action took place. For example, say an individual searches for pizza on a mobile website and then later makes a phone call to place an order. This is the type of data that is captured by Motally’s analytics and is particularly useful for sites that have strong search functionality. In fact, Yelp, the local search and review site is one of its customers. Other clients include Fandango, IAC , Portable Zoo, and Verve Wireless.
Connect with Motally on Twitter at and keep up with them and all the excitement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 15-18th or if you are in Barcelona, Motally will be at RIM’s App Planet in Hall 7, booth 7B26. You can also join them at the next Motally moChat on Wednesday, March 3rd.
The Motally Team at the AppShowcase/Buzzworthy Event.
by Kristen Nicole on February 5, 2010
Search is where it’s at on Facebook. Moving even further away from display ads, Microsoft has announced it will no longer be selling them on the Facebook site at all. The move was accompanied by the announcement that Microsoft will also be using Bing as the default for web search on Facebook on a global scale, pushing beyond the current U.S. restrictions outlined by their existing partnership.
Microsoft has said in a blog post that the decision to stop selling display ads on Facebook was a mutual decision, and that Microsoft would like to focus on the aspects of Facebook advertising that make sense. As Microsoft has already shared its plans to expand its current Bing offering on Facebook, it appars as though search may have a lot to do with the monetization of Facebook and related advertising options.
Right now Microsoft Bing is still rolling out new features on a regular basis, seeking additional adoption from web users and mobile users alike. Upon launch, Bing was already rather inclusive as far as features go, with a multimedia approach to search that also leveraged the social web more directly than Google. Incorporating Twitter and Facebook into their long term search plans indicates Microsoft’s hopes around the social web as they pertain to its own investment in Facebook.
Bing’s search results on Facebook, however, are pretty dismal. Going along with Facebook’s simple format for displaying information, it’s difficult to even tell that it’s a Bing search. Unlike the vibrancy of Bing’s main search portal, Bing results on Facebook are merely a series of links. That’s archaic compared to most search engine’s increasing ability to better contextualize search data. This is particularly notable as far as Bing is concerned, as its move towards contextual search results is one way in which Microsoft could be looking to out-do Google.
This process of contextualizing search data has been an ideal attached to the potential of social networking platforms, with Facebook leading the race. As Facebook continues to open up its platform towards more default public sharing, Microsoft’s Bing is leveraging that publicly-shared information to provide more relative search results in some cases. Tying search into more aspects of our actual Facebook experience can be another way in which an improved Bing presence on the social network could be used to Microsoft’s advantage.
The old tactic of becoming a default tool across as many partnering services as possible is one that Microsoft is now able to better employ on web-related platforms, particularly Facebook. With the social network claiming over 375 million users now, accessing those users on such a large scale could be a major benefit for Microsoft Bing.
by Kristen Nicole on February 4, 2010
WeeWorld gets more mobile with a new iPhone app. It lets you customize your WeeMee on the go. You can then use your new avatar for caller ID purposes, even on other people’s iPhones (your friends, of course–who else would have your phone number?). From there, you can also use your avatar for social networks like Facebook, where WeeWorld also has an app. As far as other social media outlets go, you’ve pretty much always been able to use your WeeWorld avatar for the likes of AIM chat. The same goes for the new mobile avatar creation app.
With the new iPhone app, WeeWorld is taking its virtual environments one step closer to the mobile realm. Having incorporated itself into a wider-range virtual world and porting that to other platforms such as Facebook, WeeWorld has been rather calculated in its strategy towards expansion. Having a greater mobile presence indicates that WeeWorld is seeking better engagement and interactivity with new and existing users. I, for one, would love to see more ways in which to interact with my virtual environments through my mobile device.
While there aren’t many direct ways in which the new WeeWorld avatar creator can interact with the WeeWorld’s online virtual world, the new iPhone app is certainly a step in the right direction. Given the growing presence virtual environments have on our every day social interactions, even something less involved such as an avatar can have a great impact on the mobile and associated web-based markets.
Virtual goods, for one, present an opportunity for WeeWorld to increase visibility and revenue by offering an iPhone app such as this, especially if the economy around purchasing accessories for an avatar grows through WeeWorld’s mobile presence. Tying this in with other socially-driven platforms and marketplaces is a good way for WeeWorld to segment and re-aggregate a good portion of its existing and upcoming options around its virtual environments.
Especially with the upcoming release of the Apple iPad, WeeWorld could have even more chances to combine its mobile and web-based efforts. As the iPad will have a greater focus on web activity and mobile browsers, the opportunity for Facebook apps to increase their mobile options may be achieved with the iPad and similar devices. For those, such as WeWorld, that already have iPhone apps, the potential behind the iPad is even greater for mobile access and interfacing options with its users.
