The Facebook Privacy Issue...

Group Info

Name:	Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!
Type:	Business - Consumer Groups
Description:	. . . . . . . . . . (CNN did a story on this group! See below.) Matt in New York already knows what his girlfriend got him for Christmas... Why? Because a new Facebook feature automatically shares books, movies, or gifts you buy online with everyone you know on Facebook. Without your consent, it pops up in your News Feed--a huge invasion of privacy. (See demo below.) CAN YOU SIGN THE PETITION TO FACEBOOK TODAY? THEN INVITE FRIENDS TO THIS GROUP! Petition: "Facebook must respect my privacy. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites—or let companies use my name to endorse their products—without my explicit permission." Sign here: http://civ.moveon.org/facebookprivacy/?rc=fb_privacy Then, tell your friends about this group. A lot of us love Facebook—but they need to take privacy seriously. Facebook encourages companies to get "word-of-mouth promotion for your business" to "millions" by using the new Beacon feature that makes this happen. But the rights of Facebook users get left behind. Facebook says its users can "opt out" of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed. And even if you do "opt out" for purchases on one site, it doesn't apply to purchases on another site—you have to keep opting out over and over again. The obvious solution is to switch to an "opt in" policy, like most other applications on Facebook. In 2006, when Facebook users protested policies that violated privacy, Facebook's founder admitted, "We really messed this one up...we didn't build in the proper privacy controls right away." The problem got fixed. (Link below.) SEND A SIGNAL TO FACEBOOK TODAY BY SIGNING THE PETITION! Then tell your friends about this group. The petition is here: http://civ.moveon.org/facebookprivacy/?rc=fb_privacy

Social Networks and Blogs

Today I've looked at the various social networks that I signed up for, such as Facebook, MySpace, Mixx, LinkedIn, Winksite, Twitter, and docstoc, and the differences in these networks with regard to "engagement of users."

MySpace have "Tom" that is an automatic "friend" once you sign up, but that you can delete if you so wish. If you choose to keep "Tom", you will receive an email once in a while, but it's not as if you're bombarded with messages. If I want to "Cancel Account", I can do so in Account Settings.

Facebook have all their applications, third party applications, users, friends, groups, networks, but no "Facebook" intervention or active "engagement" via email or bulletins. In Account, I have the option to "Deactivate" my account.

Mixx have a statement on the "Your Mixx" that says: "Sorry, there's no recent activity from ............... You should bug them about this!" The goal is then for users to engage other users. You can also vote for and against users. Mixx have their blog and feedback but no option to cancel, delete, or deactivate an account.

LinkedIn show a "Profile Completeness" that encourages users to input more details, similar to a resume, about themselves. There's the "Get Recommended" option where users can give recommendations for each other, but the LinkedIn team don't actively coax users to participate. In searching, I didn't see an option to delete, cancel, or deactivate the LinkedIn Account.

Winksite's Founder is quite active in contacting users with assistance when signing up. What appears to be a random user may make contact (as in my case) to nudge you to make use of mobile web -- "If you're not going mobile, you're standing still." Under the section My Account, I have the option to "Delete Account."

Twitter have those involved in social media that start "following" and before you know it you've got a tail of "Followers". If you're not "Twittering", what use is this? Likewise, to interact, you should "Follow" others on the site. I am highly interested in Twitter, but find keeping up time-wise not fair to other users, so I deleted my account.

Docstoc have a team that engage users via email about the documents they may need. Jason Nazar, the Founder, is also actively available for questions. They then encourage users to upload documents too. Docstoc have recently added the ability to add your Facebook and LinkedIn Profiles to your Profile page. I didn't see an option in Settings or Profile to be able to delete, cancel, or deactivate the Account.

(If I've left anything out here, please let me know)

So, what do think works best?

• The Facebook approach where users aren't contacted by the Facebook team but engage through affiliations and interests?
• The MySpace approach that uses Tom as a kickstart and then users go from there creating their Space according to purpose and interest?
• The Mixx approach of getting users to vote/rate each other in effect through content with a blog and feedback for engagement?
• The LinkedIn approach of profile detail, connections, and recommendations without direct engagement?
• The Winksite personal touch?
• The Twitter approach through social media "engagers" and Followers?
• The docstoc approach through personal/professional contact and relevant content?

It depends on the user doesn't it? Some users will be put off by certain approaches depending on their characters and style. Others may be more flexible to a wide range of approaches. Some may not have the time to be "personally engaged" and prefer a more indirect relationship with the social network team.

Blogs

With the opening up of Facebook and other sites where users can interact in specific discussion groups and add applications, it does raise the question on whether only a handful of mainline blogs will remain while all other discussion (ie. users that would usually blog or setup their own blogs) will continue through the social network environment like Facebook and Myspace. Some may submit their blogs (as one can now do in Facebook) but others may opt to close their blogs and just join discussion groups where the audience is.

Facebook Summing their Ads?

Last weeks we heard that Facebook is working on these three areas:

1. Social Ads (ads targeted based on member profile data and spread virally)
2. Beacon (messages in feeds), and
3. Insight (marketing data that goes deep into social demographics and pyschographics)

So this morning I thought I'd take a look at my Facebook pages to see what Ads pop up --

1. Are they targeted to my member profile?
2. Are they of more appeal to others in my network?
3. Are they relevant to my network at all?
4. In comparison, how appealing are the Ads in the groups I belong to?

To assess the Ads and my questions (for those who cannot see my entire profile), you will need to know some information:

1. I have a dog and have her in my Facebook Album, and have added the Trojan Pet application
2. I don't watch TV much but have the Movie application on my profile
3. My networks are USC and LA, but I've added some friends in the London and Manchester University network -- few UK or SA in relation to US.
4. My profile is set as "Single" and interested in "Friendship" (ie. not dating)
5. I have added the Causes (Charity) application
6. I live in the UK

Here are my findings (I may represent a sample of a population who feel this way too):

PROFILE PAGE ADS


























www.facebook.com

EDIT PROFILE, INBOX, AND MY QUESTIONS ADS

www.facebook.com

How effectively do these Ads target my profile?

Facebook, second and third (possibly more) parties share information on profiles. Users will not know what information they possess, but targeted ads are a clue. And this collection of ads shows me as a user that the information the targets are based on (if profile specific) is weak. The ads targeted at groups, such as Neuroscience Rocks or JoVE, are more appropriate to the audience - but that's a no-brainer.

Pet Owner or Trojan Pet Application

So the choice is made to target a user through the fact that they own a pet (in album) or have added the pet application. Is it sufficient to throw a puppy Eukanuba ad at them? The answer is "no". The reason is because our minds filter out irrelevant material daily. What would be more appropriate? An ad with something eye-catching related to the specific breed that that user owns.

TV Movies DVD

I've made it clear before in my "interests" on Facebook that I don't watch TV much -- so that includes "Desperate Housewives". To me, this ad is just a desperate attempt to throw something more gunky at me. Since I have the iRead and Art application, perhaps a DVD documentary on the lives of one of my authors or artists would be more appropriate.

Relationship Status

Gumtree: "Can't find a decent man?"
Facebook Flyer: "Rent a date for charity?"

Is this form of targeted advertising about dating on a profile fair game or appropriate? Do you think it appeals to the user ie. me -- you're targeting this at me I presume? This puts me off Facebook. On the otherhand, Gumtree and Charities are appealing to me for different reasons -- have you found out those reasons Facebook so that you can help "advertisers" target better and me find useful information -- I enjoy research remember?

Courses & I love Nerds

I've done a distance learning course in the UK before through ifs, so you're right there...I have an interest in distance learning. Would I do just any distance learning course? No. So how do you assess which type of distance learning course (since I've recently graduated from USC too) is worth bringing to my attention, and how do you best do this?

"I love Nerds" -- yes, I enjoy technology, so I may add this application just to see what it entails. But it depends who created the application doesn't it? Because I give them full rights then to see my profile and all those associated with my profile.

Travel, Phones, Cameras, Clothing...
If you introduced links to access or a means to make travel booking through Trainline, BA, Virgin, and the like depending on country and provider, that will be useful. Would I buy a phone or camera as a result of the Facebook ad? Not as it's currently presented to me -- nor clothing.

eFax, skinny jeans, and TV Licences...

I found this amusing in terms of profile targeting. Do many people use eFax? What are the stats compared to email in the UK vs US? I'm not in favor of fax whether e or otherwise. As for skinny jeans and diets, etc -- I'm not interested in that at all.

Why the TV Licence ad? Just because I'm UK? No licences are required for TV's in the US. I have a Licence for my UK TV, but seldom use it, so is it worth having the Licence for the TV? You can watch DVDs and Videos without needing a Licence.

Skype, Be, O2 and Apple Iphone...

Those are more applicable generally. For Skype and Iphone -- what's new? For Be and O2, what's the comparison?

To specifically answer my questions 1-4:

1. Are they targeted to my member profile? No
2. Are they of more appeal to others in my network? Maybe
3. Are they relevant to my network at all? Not really -- more UK than US
4. In comparison, how appealing are the Ads in the groups I belong to? Neuroscience Rocks and joVE have Starbucks ads, SIGN UP FOR docstoc have a XMAS Wishlist, Richard P Feynman Fan Club have Ugg Boots Sale -- more appealing. But even more appealing for the Richard P Feynman Club would be Feynman books for sale and upcoming lectures or events at Caltech.

As a user, when adding a group, I've thought how useful it would be if Facebook gave me the option to say why I'm adding the group -- and the same with leaving it. We see notices all the time of people adding and leaving groups, but never know why. From a Profile perspective, this is a useful piece of intelligence about the user. And it takes two prompt questions from Facebook -- Why are you joining? Why are you leaving?

Once Facebook make changes with Social Ads, Beacon, and Insight...we will be able to compare. Besides "adding applications", giving input on books and interests and inviting friends -- Facebook doesn't appear to ask the user to give targeted feedback in terms of their profiles that I know of. What's the challenge in engaging the user to assist second/third/more parties better?
The Farmers in Facebook will give you one perspective -- "they're not getting paid for it."

The Facebook Sum of Social Ads

According to TechCrunch's Eric Schonfeld in liveblog from New York City, Facebook is announcing three things:

1. Social Ads (ads targeted based on member profile data and spread virally)

2. Beacon (messages in feeds), and

3. Insight (marketing data that goes deep into social demographics and pyschographics

which Facebook will provide to advertisers in an aggregated, anonymous way). These three things together make up Facebook Ads.

Social Actions + Content = Social Ads

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide

Caroline Middlebrook has produced "The Big Juicy Twitter Guide" on her blog that answers a number of questions, some of which include:

1. How does Twitter work as a mobile communication tool?
2. Is socializing with Twitter business or personal?
3. How can Twitter be used for marketing?
4. What are the platform-specific Twitter tools?
5. How can Twitter promotion go viral?

Now that Google have unveiled their groundbreaking mobile strategy - Android - allowing operators, handset makers and application developers to innovate together, how will Twitter evolve?

RBS Launches World's First Virtual Careers Recruitment Event in Second Life

iMedia Connection UK recently published an article by Catriona Campbell titled, "Second Life: What value can it add beyond PR and marketing?"

Catriona cites two specific examples that I've quoted below:

Example One – RBS Virtual Careers Recruitment Event

"RBS, the world's fourth largest financial services group, was also on the ad:tech panel, and Sion Mooney, channel development manager in the resourcing division of RBS Group HR attended. He talked exclusively about RBS launching the world's first Virtual Careers Event in Second Life on 16 October. Why? Because beyond the PR value, Second Life is allowing RBS' careers team to connect with people in geographic locations that they would otherwise have had to reach by more traditional and expensive means, such going on the road with a recruitment fair.

In the Second Life environment, candidates can pose questions to the virtual careers advisers, meet current RBS employees and see a mocked-up version of where they would be working, without having to leave their homes. Recruitment is incredibly expensive, and Sion revealed that just one successful hire would more than pay for the whole Second Life project.

The session demonstrated that Second Life is not the money pit that some brands have reportedly experienced, so long as a sales strategy is applied at the early conception phase. While it remains in the early adopters curve it won't work for everyone, but the platform is ripe for brands wishing to attract a youthful and experimental audience."

Example Two – STA Travel

"Craig Hepburn, Global Webmaster for STA Travel, told the audience how he had invested only tens of thousands of pounds in Second Life (a fraction of what some brands have spent), but by taking a sales-led strategic approach the investment has already paid for itself.

The student travel brand is using Second Life to build a social sales channel around a community of people who enjoy travelling and talking to each other about where they have been. The virtual environment that they've created allows users to place bookings through an avatar (they employ a real person in Second Life to take bookings and give advice) and on the Second Life STA island, which incorporates dorms for students, Lonely Planet travel guides and video footage and posters of recommended destinations.

Because STA Travel is a student brand, the Second Life virtual world works really well for them. Their customers love it, and they are already making money through a multitude of round the world bookings made in Second Life.

The audience was so impressed that a representative from a TV production company suggested that virtual worlds might translate well to an internet TV experience for a brand like STA. This is exactly the kind of question that needed to be asked, as investment in virtual worlds should be not considered as a standalone project or experiment, but rather should be consolidated with the brand's overall sales, marketing and PR objectives."

Source: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/17099.asp

docstoc give iPod touch to users...

...that upload the most professional documents each week!

Social Networks as Ad Platforms – How appealing is that to society?

With Microsoft’s $240m investment in a 1.6 percent stake of Facebook for advertising and growth opportunity purposes, I do wonder what form this will take.

Recent notable changes to Facebook include applications (among others), such as iRead, iLike and Flixster where users can upload the books, music, and movies they enjoy to rate, review, and discuss with others. A book I am currently reading didn’t feature on iRead’s selection, so I was able to upload it from Amazon.com. Sharing such interests is still a digestible form of promotion while partaking in social network.

However, if Facebook opt for a similar incentive model introduced on MySpace, such as Vivasearch (or the like), it may be detrimental to the quality of the network. Users appear to sign up with organizations like Vivasearch to earn profit by adding “friends” on MySpace.

The concept is similar to the IndieClick model where media/marketing professionals “work with advertisers and agencies to deliver relevant and targeted messaging to our discerning audience of more than twenty-eight million 16-34 year old “Influencers” and tastemakers.”

What this could smack of, depending on delivery, are those pyramid-type schemes.

In a recent study (discussed more in-depth further on) IBM interviewed executives about challenges in new content and distribution strategies. Here are the results:

Source: IBM Global Business Services - "Navigating the media divide"

Back in June 2007, FOOA (Future of Online Advertising), featured an article on “Deciphering trends in online advertising.” IndieClick is the topic of discussion in this article, but what I found of interest are:

• Things that affect the landscape of online advertising (Digital Rights Management, disintegration of content from platform, consolidation of major players, remnant players expanding into premium markets, new forms of media, new hardware)
• Audience’s acceptance of new forms of advertising
• Advances in ad-serving technology
• Flight of talent from print and television
• Online advertising metrics

After posting Google’s Terms and Conditions to Biz Blog Review, I wondered how Google (if they had got the Facebook stake instead of Microsoft) would have approached this ad platform or “landscape”. A comparison of Microsoft-Google approaches may give us an idea of two different Facebook user social experiences/experiments in advertising.

On visiting the IBM site, I discovered the article “The fight ahead on media’s main streets” produced in February 2007 highlighting how user-generated content and open distribution platforms are shaking up the media industry:

“A new media world has arrived. Pioneered by teens and gadget-savvy professionals, it has quickly spread into virtually every consumer segment, and started to encroach on traditional media. The number of unique visitors to MySpace.com has now surpassed the 50 million mark – something akin to the number of U.S. households that tune into the Super Bowl.¹ Every day, consumers around the world watch about 100 million videos on YouTube – putting that number in context, the top 15 British primetime television shows combined attract about 100 million viewers, as do the top 4 U.S. shows.²

To examine the inherent tension between new and traditional media and explore future industry scenarios, we conducted a comprehensive study that included interviews with leaders of media companies and an in-depth analysis of the factors that are shaping the industry outlook” – IBM.

Through the analysis, IBM identify four business models co-existing – Traditional media (The Walt Disney Company), Walled communities (NTT DoCoMo), Content hyper-syndication (BBC with My BBC interactive media service), New platform aggregation (YouTube, MySpace, Second Life) – with a blur of the models over time as media companies experiment into 2010.

While the revenue of new media channels is expected to reach US$55 billion in 2006 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23 percent to 2010, traditional channels are expected to generate US$455 billion in revenue in 2006 with a CAGR of 6 percent.

The study shows the drivers of change and the catalysts of the conflict between new media and traditional channels to be:

• Device and access rollout
• Multichannel content innovation
• New consumer behavior and roles
• Faster revenue to attention alignment

According to IBM – available bandwidth, interactive media possibilities, falling prices of sophisticated media editing and recording equipment and software – “have put the tools of the trade within reach of almost any aspiring talent or wannabee. The result is a blurring and merging of the roles of producer and consumer, or a “prosumer,” as coined by Alvin Toffler.”

And what happens when media companies start experimenting with the role of the “prosumer” (producer + consumer) as “prosumermoter” (producer + consumer + promoter)?

One aspect may be the review of industry standards. IBM report:

“Government policy affects consumer pricing for access and content, piracy rules and their enforcement, network usage and competitive neutrality, business conditions for entrepreneurs, just to name a few areas. In addition, as telecommunications and media industry boundaries blur, companies are often subject to two sets of regulators, instead of one. For the foreseeable future, regulation remains a critical factor that can accelerate or derail new initiatives or strategies.”

In this analysis, IBM identifies options and provides ten recommendations for industry:

• Put consumers at the center of your business and boardroom.
• Convert consumer data into competitive advantage.
• Give control to get share.
• Deliver experiences, not just content.
• Leverage virtual worlds.
• Innovate business models.
• Invest in interactive, measurable advertising services and platforms
• Redefine partnerships, while mitigating fallout.
• Shift investment from traditional business to new models.
• Create a flexible business design.

In a society where consumers want to create unconstrained by distributors’ conditional access controls, IBM suggests industry incumbents should review the timing and completeness of response to “prosumers” (and partners), offering opportunity for growth and experience instead of conflict.

BT's Fon Wi-Fi for Everyone?

If you're signed up for BT Broadband Options, you can opt in to join the Wi-Fi community and share in the hotspots. Option 1 and 2 isn't unlimited, but Option 3 is. The line rental is the standard £11/month with £7.95/month Option 3 charge (April cost). These are London, UK, hotspots:

How does it work?

"Membership of the BT FON Wi-Fi community is included with BT Total Broadband. All you need to do is say I'M IN. Then your BT home hub is automatically set up to become part of the BT FON network. This means that other members of the community can securely log on to their own Broadband account when they are in range of your hub's Wi-Fi signal In return for this, you can log on to your Total Broadband account whenever you are in range of either another member of the BT FON community's Wi-Fi signal or BT Openzones" -- beta.bt.com

And there's a support forum:

And, you can tell a friend:

"Don't keep BT FON to yourself. Get your friends to take part. The more people who join BT FON, the more places we can get Wi-Fi out of the home. Add their email addresses below to invite them to take part."

The snag with these options and communities is that they're local, and Option 3 is really required to experience the full benefit worth the cost. International travelers may not be included and may find the experience costly (that's if temporary opt-ins eventually exist). If BT partnered with broadband providers in other countries for international hotspot "collaboration-sharing", that would be beneficial. Currently, it's not necessarily a model that works for everyone.

MIXX is Public and US Local!

Today Mixx went public for business and have also explained on their blog that they're currently US local:

"Rest assured that we are working on the international angle, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready to go! In the meantime, if you hear anything about a Greta von Magnusson and a can of spray paint, please give us a call."

Thank you, Mixx!

What's Twitter's Success? More answers for Jeff Jarvis

Jemima Kiss of MediaGuardian interviewed Ev Williams, Founder of Twitter, to understand its success. Williams explains that even his mother doesn't understand the tool! But, it's taken on a life of its own...

And Williams sold Blogger to Google. So, what's in store for Twitter? Google...or teaming up with others like docstoc.com where users can share ideas, comment on documents, or refer a friend to needy information at the right time?

What's Twitter?
Group Text Messaging or Micro-Blogging
How's the tool evolving?
It's in its infancy to become a functional, personal tool - "Users need a critical mass of friends, and then the real conversations begin."
What's the attraction?
"Dedicated users share ideas, ask questions, suggest meetings and post useful links and stories...charming details of day-to-day lives that would otherwise be lost."
What are these "shared ideas..." called?
Tweets
How old is Twitter?
17 months
How many users Tweet?
350,000
What's Twitter's goal?
To grow the core service because of the practical benefits of socializing

Users can Tweet all friends to tell them what time they'll be at an event. Williams says that Woot.com started using Twitter to inform followers of bargains before they sold out. Mainstream news sites use Twitter for automated distribution of links to news stories and TV channels like MTV are experimenting with giving stars their own Twitter channel during music video awards...a way of reaching fans. Other uses of Twitter? A real-time sports result tool for race results such as Nascar...

What lies ahead for Twitter's success?

• The 140 character limit is an advantage in a time when we're bombarded by information
• The development of a group feature for browsing users' history
• The monetizing of the service with branded channels for companies like Woot

Exploring Twitter... Twit Wiki Communities...Williams concludes that, "Rather than attach advertising to a personal communication channel, we want to make it a benefit so that there are people or entities you want to follow. We think those things have potential, so as the userbase grows we'll flesh out which of those things work and the business model and revenue will fit in."

Yahoo!'s Mash getting the Bash?

They're not the only one - "The Assumptions That Yahoo Mash And Other Social Networks Make About You."

Google Docs Beta competes with docstoc.com_Fragmentation or Spice of Life?

Talk about duplication and fragmentation on the web or talk about spice of life...depends on who's doing the talking! Google's just launched Google Doc Beta. How does that compete with docstoc's 9,457 and counting docs? This is getting interesting...
And -- today -- it looks as if docstoc have just opened up their Beta some more!

What's different about Google's Doc Beta? We'll have to take a look and see...

The major difference is what you see and feel when you login to each site and also what each site has to offer the user in terms of community sharing.

Here's what you see when you login to Google Doc Beta:

In contrast, this is what you see before and when you login to docstoc Beta:

Can you see and feel the difference?

Where docstoc offer users the ability to add comments, Google are offering the user to discuss documents real time:Both sites may succeed equally well, from two different cultural standpoints -- Google's interface and approach to the user appear from a "individualistic standpoint" (or just a different view of collectivity?). You have your "account" almost like an Email Outlook account and share from there where you can access all things Google including your gmail. docstoc appear to approach the user from a more "collective standpoint". Each user's account looks like a rolodex or business card feature with button to LinkedIn too.

These networks have different mindsets to engaging users in sharing documents and tools, and engaging other networks. The question is: Will users want everything under one Google roof?

What is "duplication or fragmentation" from a third party business offering perspective may be the "spice of life" from a user perspective.

Facebook and social networks...viable for mobile critical mass communication?

The WSJ recently announced that, "Microsoft is in talks to buy a minority stake in the popular social-networking Web site Facebook Inc., a sign of a new urgency by the software giant to jump-start its online business at a time when Google is widening its lead in the fast-growing Internet-advertising business."

Today, John Gray who manages online media campaigns for enlighten.com, says social media is not just for kids! According to Gray, "Over the past few years, social networks have emerged catering specifically to older, more educated, and often more affluent audiences. Like the social sites most marketers are familiar with, this next generation social networking site for older generations offers both traditional and unique ad customization options, and a new avenue through which to reach baby boomers and busy moms."

Social Networks and Portals discussed include:

Eons.com
BOOMj.com
lavalifePRIME
sisterwoman.com
CafeMom
MothersClick

When we think in terms of internet-advertising business, the future is "mobile." And social networks have a dynamic role to play. Revenue Science issued a press release on Sept 24, with headline: REVENUE SCIENCE FIRST TO DEPLOY MOBILE BEHAVIORAL TARGETING IN JAPAN. According to Revenue Science, Japan's advanced user adoption and homogenous network infrastructure make for an ideal entry.

Whether this "model of mobile critical mass communication" translates elsewhere depends on a number of factors (among others):

• infrastructure & investment
  
• network consistency
• culture (sub-culture)
  
• translatable "globile-viral-mobile-experience"

On Wednesday, I attended the ad:tech London '07 Digital Consumer Panel Forum and listened to John Baker, Managing Partner of Ogilvy One, discuss the Unilever case study. He said that brands work when they're entertaining, useful, and sexy. Did I get that right, John?

And his views tie in with an article I read in Wired titled: "How Mobile Phones Conquered Japan." Xeni Jardin writes that mobiles shaped Japan's culture (and can shape other cultures). From the article, I picked out some words used as "shapers" - here they are:

• state of wireless closeness - zone of intimacy - relationships
• territory machines - transformers of space - personal room
• integrator of virtual and physical realms - tools of sustenance
• portable pedestrian - history, legend, culture, stranger link - vivid experience

Ogilvy One use 360 degree brand marketing and as a "non-marketer" (?) I'm intrigued at the fun involved and the outreach. With mobile, the potential of using layers of social networks (and more Google?) to mass communicate is immense.

Those in Telecom who have studied the statistics on mobile users around the globe are aware of infrastructures, networks, and cultures. Marketers have opportunities to share in collaboration on multi-social media levels to learn what is best for their brand.

Links of Interest:

USC Marshall CTM 6th Annual Global Mobility Roundtable 2007: The Adoption of Mobile Phones in Emerging Markets: Global Diffusion and the Rural Challenge by Kas Kalba, Kalba International Inc.

Ingenta Connect: European Journal of Information Systems - Perceived critical mass and the adoption of communication technology by Van Slyke and Ilie, et al

PwC's David Phillips response to Social Media and CR

On 3 Sept 07, I asked David Phillips, PwC's senior corporate reporting leader in Assurance Practice, a question on the PwC corporate reporting blog:

David,

Do you think that industry will eventually expect standards in social media as it impacts their products and services? I've posted a writeup on http://bizblogreview.blogspot.com.

David's response:
Fiona, I think you pose an interesting question. I think the promotion of products and services through the social media is at an early stage of its evolution, as is normally the case industry and society are happy for it to evolve as no one has been badly damaged. As with most things I am sure a point will come when industry may try to impose some form of standards (clearly at the moment some companies impose their own standards for accreditation) to ensure that individuals are not mislead and damaged by the irresponsible actions of a few.

Facebook-Google Debate-Debacle Spark Innovation for Social Networks

While some insiders know all...some users are non-the-wiser...some of us may read and observe...while others couldn't be bothered...

Nov 5 is the start of Google "100" according to Arrington of techcrunch. What does this mean?

The gist is that Google had a secret meeting (naturally because of trade secrets) to discuss (among other things) allowing third parties to push and pull data in and out of Google and non-Google applications using application program interfaces (APIs). This poses a challenge to Facebook who haven't allowed third parties the same amount of scope.

Entrepreneur - David Recordon - gives an example of this on his LiveJournal blog: "It is disappointing hearing stories from developers who see F8 as a very one sided platform; you're allowed to put your data in but not take it out. I'm waiting for the first application which adds all of your Facebook friend's email addresses to your Gmail contacts, just as Facebook is so happy to suck them out via their "invite your friends" feature."

Google is offering an additional layer to third parties in accessing social networks that Facebook isn't offering. But in February, Business Week reported that Facebook (and Friendster and others) is "starting to let third-party developers build new features to attract more users-and profits." The new features involve opening up their API code.

Why is it beneficial for social networks to open up their code (API)?

1. to grow their user base—and build a sustainable business model—they need to attract third-party developers
2. it offers them the ability to harness innovation through creation and sharing of new applications
3. to allow more people to discover their site, which can translate into greater revenues since more viewers mean higher ad rates (branding and traffic)
4. to access audiences with specific interests
5. etc...

Who's in the running?

Google's orkut
Facebook
Friendster
LinkedIn
MySpace
Others...

We can observe and partake in these changes as November comes and goes - Google and all their competitor, collaborator, and partner innovations - these are exciting times we live in because we're given the opportunity to connect with others globally in dynamic ways.

Cisco says "People are in the center not computers"

"If the first wave of the Web Internet was largely defined by commerce and customer support (“find it, buy it, help it”), the second wave is more about rich collaboration (“find me, work with me”). The entrance of rich media and video into the equation shows how fast people-to-machine transactions are moving to people-to-people-to-contextual/real-time information types of interactions. People are in the center, not computers. And every device, fixed and mobile, is in play" - Alan S. Cohen, Vice President, Enterprise Solutions

Source: the_next_wave_of_the_business

Cisco on "The Next Wave of Business Internet" - they're surfing Second Life!

Here's the link - have a read:

The Next Wave of the Business Internet: The Human Network@Work

Post by Alan S. Cohen, Vice President, Enterprise Solutions

the_next_wave_of_the_business

The 4 Guiding Principles to the Human Network@Work according to Cohen:

1. The next wave of the business Internet is real-time, contextual, borderless and user-centric.

2. By its nature, it is about secure rich collaboration and unified communications, not just IP Telephony or email or IM, but also web conferencing (e.g., WebEx), mobility, and video collaboration (TelePresence).

3. It is open, not dictated by one vendor’s applications but a rich and diverse suite of capabilities from a very, very wide range of players from ERP to industry-specific.

4. It can be delivered and consumed in a variety of manners: implemented at your business by your own IT staff or a great experienced technology partner (e.g., Cisco UC), managed by a VAR (Cisco Smart Business Communications System) or delivered by a service provider (WebEx)

What does this mean for those less-tech-savvy-biz surfers?

Is the future of global commerce in virtual worlds?

Sandra Kearney, IBM’s head of 3D Development, in Second Life's second session of the Metanomics Conference responded to this question with the view that face to face is still the communication channel of preference but when not an option, virtual worlds provide an alternative.

techcrunch: if-a-conference-is-held-in-second-life-will-anyone-listen

"IBM is already holding meetings and doing other staff/ communications activities in Second Life, and others are including Cisco and Amazon are also using Second Life for business meetings. It won’t replace a top end teleconference setup, but it works as a more affordable alternative" reports techcrunch.com.

Metanomics Conference Video from techcrunch:

Kaywa's Feed2Mobile Beta - give it a try!

Eric Kintz of HP mentioned two mobile web mashups in his post unleashing HP Uncut:

"Two such services worth looking at are Kaywa's Feed2Mobile service (in beta) and Winksite. What makes these services interesting is they are examples of mobile web 2.0 mashups, where web content is automatically repurposed for mobile consumption. Such tools make it almost trivial to mobilize one's blog. And they provide nifty mobile hyperlinks to make the mobilized blog easily accessible from camera phones with the right scanner software. I first learned about Feed2Mobile from this interesting video by Elektrischer Reporter."

Here's a response from (correction HP's) Stephen Miller:

Fiona,

I took the liberty of mobilizing your blog with Feed2Mobile (anyone can do it - you just provide the feed url). Here's the link to the mobilized blog:

http://feed2mobile.kaywa.com/202182734

If you navigate there on your mobile phone, you'll get the mobilized version of the blog.

Feed2Mobile provides a QR code, which you can see if you navigate here using a PC Web Browser, and you can also see an emulation of the mobilized blog.

-Stephen Miller