Browsed by
Category: Web 2.0

The Web 2.0 Paradox

The Web 2.0 Paradox

As readers know, I’ve been testing Twitter.  It’s fun, but for me the jury is still out. One of the things I’m noticing is the preponderance of New Media Gurus inhabiting Twitter.  And inevitably, many feel the need to constantly evangelize on the issues of Web 2.0.  News flash: if you have to talk in broad terms about Web 2.0, Social Networking or Social Media, you’ve probably already missed the boat.  This is not some abstract concept that is coming…

Read More Read More

Epic Post – How to Monitor Social Media for Free

Epic Post – How to Monitor Social Media for Free

Okay, we all know that social networks are out there and that we should be making use of them.  But how do you monitor what’s going on in the vast ecosystem of Twitterverses, MySpaceDoms and FacebookVilles? David Churbuck has been doing just that for Lenovo for the past two years and he’s sharing the lessons learned in this post: “Try to Detect It” which I consider a must read for any web marketing pro or business owner/senior manager. Free: yup….

Read More Read More

Thoughts after a week of Twitter

Thoughts after a week of Twitter

After slapping Twitter around for the past year, I thought it was about time for me to shut my mouth and actually try it. So after a week, here are my initial impressions. First off, communications through Twitter are by their nature somewhat superfluous. I’ve really only had one discussion that’s actually meant anything. My impression is that it’s basically the Internet equivalent of the CB Radio. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. The means of communication is totally…

Read More Read More

Niche Social Networking is Networking that Works

Niche Social Networking is Networking that Works

I’ve been saying for over a year that there is a limit to the places I want to network with people, and I’m going to go one step further right now: there are a whole lot of people out there I am not interested in networking with. There, I said it. It’s not that I hate people, it’s just that for the most part I have little interest in the generic style networking that’s offered by Facebook, and in my…

Read More Read More

Chris Anderson on the Long Tail

Chris Anderson on the Long Tail

Wired Editor Chris Anderson discusses the Long Tail. From the video notes: “Everything is measurable now,” said Anderson, comparing charts of sales over time of a hit music album with a niche album. The hit declined steeply, the niche album kept its legs. The “long tail” of innumerable tiny-sellers is populated by old hits as well as new and old niche items. That’s the time dimension. For the first time in history, archives have a business model. Old stuff is…

Read More Read More

Value for the Few

Value for the Few

Mukund Mohan had a great post hitting on the comment by Jason Calacanis: “An absolute idiot with 10-20M users can make a ton of money. So, get to tens of millions of users and forget about money.” Mukund points out that while Linked In has the 10 million users Jason mentions, but it provides very little value to most of the members. I’d even go one further in saying that many of us see it as a total drag. I…

Read More Read More

Another Post on the NameMedia Launches

Another Post on the NameMedia Launches

Tom Willmot of EdgeDesigns, one of our team lead developers posts on the launches of www.hotcars.com and www.dreamwheels.com last week. He succinctly sums up the niche social networks for those not familiar: A niche social network is simply a social network aimed squarely at a niche interest, be it wine or geeks. You take the classic social network components: user profiles, friends lists, user messaging, forums and groups; and then you tailor the experience towards your intended niche. Throw in…

Read More Read More

Launches this week…

Launches this week…

I’ve had a couple sites go live this week – first, some niche websites with NameMedia, Hotcars.com and Dreamwheels.com as well as Cats.com (I didn’t work as much on that one, it was in the hands of the talented Matt Busby and David Rodal).  These come on the tails of the launches on March 1 of Biking.com, Cycling.com, Boating.com, Yachting.com and Mommy.com.  I was lucky enough to work with Eugene Bernstein, Tom Willmot, Joe Hoyle, Peter Kuhn and Neema Dhakal…

Read More Read More

Excessive Email and Texting a Sign of Mental Illness

Excessive Email and Texting a Sign of Mental Illness

Okay, as a forum administrator, my initial response was to say “Well, gee, of course it is…” but then I realized that not everyone else might recognize this. News.com.au is reporting that an article in the current American Journal of Psychiatry “has found addiction to text messaging and emailing could be another form of mental illness.” Any of us who have suffered the slings and arrows of an online community malcontent know what it’s like. You get email after email…

Read More Read More