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State of the Internet

Krystyl Baldwin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:11:11 +0000

Ever wonder how people are using the internet? Who is using it the most? Thanks to Jesse Thomas, we not have that answer!

By September 2009, there were 1.73 Billion internet users worldwide! Are you as shocked as we are? Check out the video statistics below, and let us know your thoughts!

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

The Tastys

Krystyl Baldwin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:11:27 +0000

By: Krystyl Baldwin

The 2009 Tasty Awards are coming to San Francisco January 14. Featuring some of the best culinary and fashion arts of 2009 from television, film and the web.

Realizing that food, drink, fashion and design are all a dominate factor in video and television viewership, they did not have an award for their own achievements until 2008 at the New Media Tastemakers Summit.

The Tasty awards will showcase some of 2009′s best achievements in food, wine, and style programming. Online, televised, mobile or cinema, celebrity or self proclaimed, everyone has an opportunity to win.

Hosted by food and travel television star Zane Lamprey, the show features a star-studded lineup of food and fashion TV celebrities.

Winners of the Tasty will be announced on January 14, 2010 at an exclusive red carpet awards show in San Francisco at the Sundance Kabuki. Select portions of the show will be filmed for a televised broadcast to be aired in February 2010 to millions of households.

For more information, visit http://www.tastyawards.com.

To purchase tickets, visit http://tastyawards-2010.eventbrite.com

The Future of the Social Web

Brian Solis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:19:30 +0000

From PR 2.0

Source: Shutterstock

Prior to leaving Forrester to join Altimeter Group, Jeremiah Owyang, along with Josh Bernoff, Cynthia N. Pflaum, and Emily Bowen, published a report that attempted to bring the future of the Social Web into focus. If we viewed the content of his research as a social object, the conversations that would transpire could in fact expedite the development and implementation of the most valuable predictions and observations contained within.

The first part of the report observes the state of the Social Web and summarizes its direction:

Today’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them — transforming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step by step from separate social sites into a shared social experience. Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and CRM systems; eventually this will result in empowered communities defining the next generation of products.

In the report, Forrester documents the evolution and direction of the Social Web in several distinct stages:

1. The era of social relations – Starting with AOL and others in the mid-1990s, this era witnessed the connection of people through simple profiles and friending features that served as the foundation for online conversations through connections.

2. The era of social functionality – Evolving from friending to platforms that supported social interaction through applications and infrastructure, facilitating communities through relationships locked within the confines of a particular network.

As I’ve said before, social networks are jockeying to become our individual online OS – a Social OS essentially. Facebook released its Facebook Connect infrastructure to allow us to traverse the social web with our Facebook identity and relationships in tow, bridging our updates back to the Facebook News Feed to share with our social graph. This is a monumental furtherance as it starts to demonstrate the power of an interconnected activity and profile stream and network that makes the Social Web a much smaller place.

However, what we really need is a “Facebook Connect” within every site, not confined to or benefiting any one network. This will create the segue-way to the era of social colonization as predicted by Forrester.

This need is of particular, perhaps even consequential, interest to brands as they will spend an insurmountable amount of time, resources, and money trying to engage in noteworthy conversions across multiple networks of interest.

3. The era of social colonization – Deemed as the next stage of social evolution, which will emerge as soon as this year, tools such as OpenID and Facebook connect will enable individuals to freely journey from network to network. Forrester believes that we will be able to do so with our social graph in tact, but I believe that the initial phase of social colonization will make a general identity portable between networks. The portability of corresponding data, social objects, and friendships we maintain in each network becomes the Holy Grail.

For consumers, surfing the Web is no longer a lonely experience. Forrester foresees the release of new browsers and frictionless, uncomplicated technologies that allow people to truly surf the Web with friends or see what they’re doing in real-time.

Like we’re already witnessing or hearing (depending on your status on the invitation list), Google Wave represents the ability to centralize and aggregate user activities and collaboration across the Web and across multiple platforms.

Forrester also observes that this era of colonization will leverage the recommendations of peers within the communities where individuals are active. Brands can capitalize on this behavior by instilling and engendering advocacy through direct engagement, blogger relations in the magic middle, and also via sponsored conversations.

This will serve as the bridge to social context.

4. The era of social context – Starting in 2010, social networks and sites will recognize the preferences of users, but more significantly, they will also recognize personal identities and relationships to customize the experience based on preference and behavior.

While this technology already powers, at varying levels, dedicated networks such as Trusted Opinion and Yelp, this functionality will be inherent to future networks using technology similar to Baynote to leverage the Wisdom of the Crowds as it inspires the personalization of content for each individual. Baynotes believes that the Web, and sites in particular, can learn from collective intelligence to improve the experience based on the behavior of crowds over individuals.

In the near future, much of the content will be automated, but will still rely on the explicit express of individuals to improve the experience. As Forrester notes, “Portable IDs mean you’ll be able to flip a switch to tell Nike you’re a woman who runs 12 miles a week and immediately see the shoes that are best for you — along with input from experiences of your running buddies.”

I believe that the combination of semantic and collective intelligence systems will improve the content and overall interaction within sites and social networks over time.

5. The era of social commerce – In 2011 – 2012, social networks will eclipse corporate Web sites and CRM systems. Forrester believes that communities will become a driving force for innovation and as such, companies will be forced to formally cater to communities, signifying the trading of power towards connected customers.

The Dawn of SRM

While Forrester predicts the era of Social Commerce, the future of the social Web as I see it, starts to embrace a corporate philosophy and supporting infrastructure that migrates away from CRM and even sCRM to one of Social Relationship Management or SRM. This will usher in the fifth era as observed by Forrester. And, SRM is also acutely cognizant of and in harmony with VRM (Vendor Relationship Management). Championed by Doc Searls, Chris Carfi, among others, VRM is the opposite of CRM, capsizing the concept of talking at or marketing to customers and shifting the balance of power in relationships from vendors to consumers. As such, systems are created to empower consumer participation and sentiment and improve products and services with every engagement.

While some believe that relationships aren’t technically manageable, in the world of business and a vibrant and influential social Web, it is not a question. And for all intents and purposes, they’re still personable.

The Social Web is distributing influence beyond the customer landscape, allocating authority amongst stakeholders, prospects, advocates, decision makers, and peers. SRM recognizes that whether someone recommended a product, purchased a product, or simply recognized it publicly, in the end, each makes an impact on behavior at varying levels.

Therefore customers are now merely part of a larger equation that also balances vendors, experts, partners, and other authorities. In the realm of SRM, influence is distributed and it is recognizes wherever and however it takes shape.

SRM is a doctrine aligned with a humanized business strategy and supporting technology infrastructure and platform. SRM recognizes that all people, no matter what system they use, are equal. It represents a wider scope of active listening and participation across the full spectrum of influence mapped to specific department representatives within the organization using various lenses for which to identify individuals where and how they interact.

From Adoption to Sophistication, No Social Network is an Island

Forrester recognizes that the past five years of Social Media evolution have focused on growth and adoption, but anticipates that the next stage of advancement is dedicated to improving social functionality. I would also add personalization and portability. The biggest opportunity for the expansion of social networks is to build bridges between these isolated islands to deliver a more fulfilling, meaningful and productive experience. As I see it, we will start to see a the social web not as a collection of distributed islands, but as one greater collective better known as a human network – a contextual and relationship-based network that consists of like-minded individuals no matter where their profile resides.

In the near-term, the future of the Social Web starts with our online identity.

Whereas in Social Media, content is still king, in the business of social networking, data is its currency. I believe that everything starts with empowering the individual with the ability to host one secure profile/identify online that would serve existing and emerging social networks across the Web. OpenID, for example, provides central and protect login credentials for users, connecting identities to other third-part networks including Google, PayPal, AOL, MySpace, among others. Perhaps the future lies with making data mobile while still providing value to the economics of social networks. DataPortability.org is working with some of the most renowned networks to enable users to bring their identity, friends, conversations, files and histories with them, without having to manually add them to each new service. Each of the services we choose to use can draw on this information relevant to the context within each network. As our experiences and connections accumulate and change corresponding data, this information will update on other sites and services if permitted, without having to revisit others to re-enter or re-create it.

The future of the Social Web must begin with data portability to accelerate proliferation throughout Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation adoption system. The lack of it might serve as either the “chasm” that hinders mainstream adoption or the monopolization of user data by a few dominant players.

How do you envision the future of the Social Web?

Connect with Brian Solis on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Posterous, or Facebook
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The Top 10 Ways to Monetize Twitter

Brian Solis — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:12:13 +0000

Sourced from PR 2.0

When it comes to savvy, proven, and incredibly successful tech investors, Ron Conway is among the top of the list. He has a gift or an uncanny sense of shrewdness, or a fusion of both, to identify real opportunities that will transform into successful exits and also fuel and inspire aggressive innovation in the process.

At the Real-Time Stream event in Redwood City, California organized by TechCrunch, industry pioneers and pundits discussed the state and future of the Real-Time Web also referred to as the “now” Web.

To help entrepreneurs, startups, and industry leaders monetize this tremendous opportunity, Ron Conway offered his vision for the Top 10 ways to profit from Twitter and the real-time Web:

10. Lead generation
9. Coupons
8. Analytics, analyzing the data
7. Enterprise CRM
6. Payments
5. Commerce
4. User-authentication, verifying accounts
3. Syndication of new ads
2. Advertising – Context and display ads
1. Acquiring followers

According to Conway, if you add these up, initial estimates equate to roughly $5 billion. In comparison to traditional monetization in search, Google earns about $20 billion in ads per year.

To view additional pictures from the Real-Time Stream event, please visit my album on Flickr.

To see pictures from the 4th annual TechCrunch August Capital summer party, please visit this album on Flickr.

Connect with me on:

Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

Read more from Brian Solis:

Blog: PR 2.0
Book: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Social Map: The Conversation Prism

Introducing the FriendFeed Team

Brian Solis — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:40:15 +0000

by Brian Solis

Thank you Louis Gray for the invitation to the FriendFeed event tonight. Every so often, FriendFeed hosts its TGIFF (Thank Goodness It’s FriendFeed) where they invite FF enthusiasts to the company’s HQ to eat, drink and discuss everything from the state of FriendFeed and its next iterations to Silicon Valley and the future of the Web.

Tonight, I spent time with the FriendFeed team as well as with good friends Louis Gray, Steve Gillmor, Jeremiah Owyang, and Steve Rubel.

Perhaps the event was best immortalized with this picture of the FriendFeed team:

Dan Hsiao, Casey Muller, Ana Yang, Jim Norris, Tudor Bosman, Bret Taylor, Paul Buchheit (with Camilla), Sanjeev Singh, Kevin Fox

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Louis Gray, Steve Rubel, Brian Solis, Jeremiah Owyang

Steve Gillmor and Jeremiah Owyang

Steve Rubel with a Kindle version my new book with Deirdre Breakenridge, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations”

For more pictures from TGIFF, please visit my album on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

Read more from Brian Solis:

Blog: PR 2.0
Book: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Social Map: The Conversation Prism

Amazon Puts Your Kindle Notes Online

Michelle Lentz — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:32:01 +0000

Yesterday, a new feature appeared in my Kindle account. Any notes or highlights I make in a book are now available online at http://kindle.amazon.com.

This is good, because it gives me a nice overview of what I’m doing in any particular book.

However, I can’t [yet?] share this information with friends. I’d love to be able to share my notes or highlighted portions. I wonder if it crosses into copyright issues. Amazon does have a habit of playing it safe.

As far as I can tell, these notes aren’t searchable from within my Kindle account either. If I’m looking for something in particular and I have a lot of notes to sift through, I need to search using the reliable old CTRL+F on my keyboard with Firefox.

Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Sites: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

Scr.im is the URL Shortener for Email

Brian Solis — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:19:55 +0000

by Brian Solis

Sharing your email address on the Web, Twitter, and Social Networks is a risky proposition. It’s almost guaranteed that spam bots will crawl the web and find it almost immediately – flooding your inbox and hampering productivity.

Scr.im is a new service that converts your email address into a short, safe, and customizable link to share anywhere on the Web.

Here’s mine: http://scr.im/solis

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

SXSW Driskill Flashmob: When Friends Converge & Create Memories

Brian Solis — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:37:49 +0000

words and pictures by Brian Solis

When we peer into the looking glass into what truly made SXSW Interactive a unique and successful culmination of culture and real life networking, we see something very different and exceptional.

The real story is the human network and the Social Economy that fosters the conversations that serve as its currency – on and offline.

SXSW is about the emotional and psychological connection between people and our investment in the personal traits that others find irresistible.

Relationships….RELATIONSHIPS…count for everything here, and they’re measured by the mutually beneficial rewards that all parties experience over time. We invest in each other and harvest the fruits of our collaboration and interconnection.

Nothing was more evident of this than the Flashmob party that stormed the Driskill, forever becoming a part of the SXSW legacy.

After the Diggnation party, Erica O’Grady, Jeremiah Owyang, Charlene Li, Chad Catacchio, Francisco Dao, and I opted for the the elegant and stylish decor that adorned the Driskill lobby bar to regroup and plan our next adventure. What we had yet to realize, was that the evening at the Driskill would unfold into our next adventure.

Overcome with contentment and the prompt attention for service, we decided to Tweet our location while also personally texting some of our close friends to join us. Almost immediately, tweets were flying, “headed to the Driskill.” As each person arrived, they too would tweet, “At the Driskill, it’s incredible.” They cycle continued for the duration of the evening.

Soon, hundreds of people crowded the spacious lounge, the staff called for reinforcements, and we celebrated friendship and The Human Network together, creating one of the most memorable nights in SXSW history.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Jolie O’Dell

Francine Hardaway

Justin Levy

Heather Meeker

Jessica Berlin

Laura Fitton aka Pistachio

Brian Solis

Shira Lazar

Brett Petersel and Rebecca Corliss

Randi Zuckerberg and Michelle Deforest

Leora Israel

Jessica Alter and Frank Gruber

Halcyon

Melody McCloskey

Andrew Mager

@NikoleZ

Megan McCarthy

Pete Cashmore

Jeff Dowd (The Dude) and Brian Solis

Cal Henderson

Tessa and Gregarious

Steve Garfield

Alexia Tsotsis and Kevin Rose

Lala, Lara Doucette and Brian Solis

Vanessa Camones

Chris Heuer and Leora Israel

Gary Vaynerchuk and Jen Consalvo

Michael Gruen Ilana Arazie