Everything we've written in December, 2008
Online Marketing • Social Media
Web 3.0?
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 29th, 2008
Read Write Web (RWW) posted earlier today that ZigTag (a somewhat intelligent social bookmarking service) is now live to the public. ZigTag knows the meanings behind your tags. In other words, if you tag something NY it knows it’s the same as New York, New_York, or New+York.
For those of you just catching up, a tag is a word or group of words that allows you to quickly identify content. Tags are now a part of Web 2.0 which allows users to quickly siphon through a large amount of information to find exactly what he or she is looking for.
Towards the end of their article, RWW posed the question:
Is this really Web 3.0?
I don’t think so. Web 3.0 is supposed to be all about the intelligent web. Dictionary.com defines intelligence as:
A capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
RWW suggested that Web 3.0 could quite possibly be a system that knows what we would tag something and would actually tag it for us. As soon people start talking about computers thinking on their own, it makes me think of “The Terminator” and artificial intelligence. We’re definitely not there yet. But it gets me thinking - why does there need to be such a drastic change from Web 2.0 to 3.0? Will the next shift be a quantum leap or a glacial shift? Will it be Terminator, or self identifying tags?
Web 2.0, summed up, was all about social media. While some of the greatest minds online are saying Web 2.0 has already come and gone, the larger question is: are we looking at Web 3.0 or are we in some later release of Web 2.0 - say Web 2.200.1?
Whatever the case may be, in the near future we’ll see social media continue to be integrated within all aspects of our online lives in everything from searching to buying. And, whenever it does come, social media will still be the foundation of Web 3.0 - which is why you should be building your online community (ie: like Google) now if you haven’t already.
Bookmark this article!
AgencyThink • Social Media • Trends
Writing print’s obituary?
posted by McKenna @ December 24th, 2008
At a recent company meeting, a coworker stressed that all of us, every employee of Avicom, must become skilled in video and social and online media. Not just in using it for personal use, but supporting it in a meaningful way for our clients. He said we must build our individual skill sets to include video, multimedia, Web and social media – and whatever else might be coming down the pike.
And all I could think was: Really? We must? Who says?
Most of my background is in newspaper reporting and copywriting for printed marketing materials. These skills have served me pretty well in my career. So I felt a little chagrined that I was being told to abandon my hard-earned experience to chase emerging technologies and ways of communicating. I kind of resented the assumption that print has less value – or none at all – just because new technologies are changing how we communicate.
But in the end, it’s not my coworker’s opinion that counts. I want to hear from clients: How do you plan to use print and online media or video in 2009? Are you changing your media mix in the face of new technologies? In your marketing efforts, is print dead?
Bookmark this article!
Social Media
Social giving
posted by McKenna @ December 23rd, 2008
This year, technology is making it easier than ever to donate to our favorite charities. For example, residents of Columbus, Ohio, don’t even have to drop a few coins in the red kettle – they can just text the word “kettle” to the Salvation Army, and the phone carrier adds $5 to the texter’s phone bill.
Wow.
The economy’s in a slump, jobs are on the line and charitable giving has taken a hit. But that doesn’t mean we have to strike charitable donations from our lists this year.
Here are three great ways to make a difference and donate wisely:
- Around this office, when a coworker needs help, we are often quick to ask how we can help – with food, money, even certificates for massages. I wish I had known about Lotsahelpinghands.com the last time we needed to set up a meal chain for a coworker in crisis. It would have made coordinating our efforts that much easier.
- Charity Navigator has a holiday gift guide that helps you choose the best charity for your buck. It also rates charities to let you know which ones are the most fiscally responsible.
- Charity Choice lets you give someone a gift card that allows them to choose which charity to donate the money to.
Bookmark this article!
Social Media
…the future of breaking news
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 22nd, 2008
This past weekend, word of a Denver plane crash was first reported through a tweet sent by a software engineer before he managed to escape the burning wreckage. The tweet read:
Holy ******* **** I wasbjust in a plane crash!
No seriously, this is a true story.
Mike Wilson, otherwise known as 2drinksbehind in the Twitterverse, updated his followers through his Twitter stream, keeping them up-to-date on how the situation unfolded.
So long, news agencies.
Social media is evolving in the best way possible — people giving information to other people. Raw and unfiltered. Would you want an account from a reporter standing next to the wreckage on what he or she thinks happened or a report straight from someone experiencing the situation first hand?
Yeah, I thought so.
Just another reason why I use Twitter and social media to get my news.
Bookmark this article!
Online Marketing
What recession?
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 15th, 2008
I ran across a story on VentureBeat.com that stated:
NetShelter Technology Media is announcing today that it’s raised $11.1 million in a first round of funding as the nine-year-old ad network for tech properties seeks to expand the reach of its 150 technology content web sites.
Wow.
$11.1 million.
If you thought the recession is hindering the evolution of the web, think again. Times are getting tough for a lot of companies, but the online community is thriving. Money, and lots of it, is still being invested.
NetShelter Technology Media proves that it’s not all about the “up and coming” sites. They’ve been around for nine years and were still able to raise a boatload of cash.
Even in these tight situations, the web is thriving. Advertising online is one of the most cost effective ways to reach a huge number of people and there’s no time like the present to build an online presence for your brand.
Bookmark this article!
Recent News and Updates
Yammer vs. Twitter
posted by McKenna @ December 12th, 2008
A colleague and I recently argued over the best way to micro-blog. I had recently signed up for Yammer for work, but my friend claimed that Twitter was perfectly fine for both personal and professional use.
Then two coworkers looked at us like we were, well, pointlessly twittering and yammering. And I realized that our argument was relevant only if our coworkers – and our vendors, clients and bosses – knew what we were talking about.
In case you have been too busy updating your Facebook status working, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to send and read other users’ updates (a.k.a., tweets), which are text-based posts limited to 140 characters. It encompasses a huge audience: Twitter had a fivefold increase in visitors during September 2008, increasing its users to 5 million.
On the other hand, there’s Yammer – Twitter for the workplace. The company launched in September 2008, and more than 70,000 people have already signed up for accounts. Proponents like Yammer because it generally contains less frivolous information than Twitter, and can help coworkers keep up with important, ever-changing conversations.
So, what do you think: Is Yammer better for the office? Or is Twitter OK? If you have these accounts, how often do you update them? Or is all of this a moot point because both systems are useless?
Let us know what you think.
Bookmark this article!
Recent News and Updates
Corporate Blogging: The Sequel
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 11th, 2008
I noticed Greg just posted an entry about corporate blogging and how only 16% of online consumers trust corporate blogs. This topic has been heavily tweeted all day and has generated some excellent chatter.
I think it’s a good topic to cover, but is it really THAT surprising? Corporate blogs, as a whole, have fallen away from good blogging techniques. Even I have to slap my wrists on this one. For blogs to succeed, you must listen and give your readers what they want not something you think they want.
Read your comments. Provide feedback. Engage your readers. Provide them with a call to action.
Max Kalehoff wrote an excellent blog post in reply to Josh’s post I linked above. He defends corporate blogging by saying:
Blogs are a both a communications channel AND a medium. Their value are not proxied well by prompted survey questions among general consumer populations.
…and I couldn’t agree more.
What do you think? Do you trust corporate blogs? Did you like the content of this post? Do you want to see more like it? Let me know by commenting below.
Bookmark this article!
AgencyThink • Social Media
For Those About To Blog
posted by Greg Batiansila @ December 11th, 2008
I just read this post from Social Media genius Rohit Bargava about failing corporate blogs, and it makes me cringe a little.
Are we sucking?
I need your help. Let me know what you want an agency blog to look like. More creative? More insightful like insider stuff? Hear about how to be great at marketing? Whether if you roll four ones in Yahtzee if you should keep them and go for the Yahtzee or just reroll? I wanna know.
The goal all along has been to say: hey, we see this…this ad, this trend, this article and it’s interesting BECAUSE and Avicom can help you with it.
Do you mind the salesmanship? Let us know.
Bookmark this article!
Social Media
Microsoft is catching up with the future
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 3rd, 2008
The world is an ever changing, ever evolving place – even at Microsoft. Earlier today, Ina Fried, a writer for CNET, posted this article on how Microsoft is emerging into the social media market. In her article, Ina states:
Microsoft has started to roll out a series of changes, outlined in November, that give Windows Live a more social networking-like feel. Windows Live staples such as Spaces, Events, and the home page get a new look, while Microsoft is also putting special emphasis on group, profile, and photo pages.
These changes to Windows Live make it more manageable to grow a community around an already existing website and also allow its users to more easily make contacts and connect with others.
…and oh, did I mention you can also import your Facebook contacts?
Everyone recognizes that this is the future and Microsoft is taking its strides to change their design to mirror the “norm.” So what are you waiting for? Take heed and allow us to use our expertise to construct a community around your brand that will keep you at the forefront of this ever changing technology.
Bookmark this article!
Online Marketing • Trends
Video Is Getting The Love
posted by Greg Batiansila @ December 2nd, 2008
In these troubled times, where should you invest your marketing dollar? What gives you the most opportunities to touch the most people on the most platforms?
Consider this: YouTube’s audience in September jumped to 82 million unique viewers watching 53 billion videos.
That’s in one month. I’ll just let that stat sit there in its own space.
If you want something that sales can take on a jumpdrive, that your webteam can share on the web, that can be message-driven, shared virally, touch different demographics differently, figure video.
Every single video product we create for clients has always started out being for a single purpose, and then because of its quality, message and ability to reach audiences, has been used in a number of ways. Most recently, we created something for a client that was to be used at their anniversary get-together. When the video got a standing ovation at the anniversary, the client put the video on YouTube.
Smart, prudent marketing means being mindful of your audience and what they’re doing today.
Bookmark this article!
Bookmarks