October 21, 2004

Targeted Filtered Advertising

Dave Morgan introduces a simple but profound concept for internet advertisers in ClickZ today. Put consumers first in determining how to serve advertising. Why target advertising when it can be filtered. I ask Dave to take this a step further to social networks as a platform to filter advertising -- a socially networked advertising model as the basis of filtering. We just need to think way outside the box of relevancy, clutter, personalized offers and privacy that Dave suggests. Although they are a good start -- the consumer still doesn't drive the experience.

October 18, 2004

Web 2.0 Presentations

.... can be found here. John Batalle points us to this one on search.

October 14, 2004

Kiosk Marketing by Yahoo Local

Search Engine Jounral reports that Yahoo Local is putting its product in the thick of it to kick off marketing efforts by placing kiosks on the streets of New York:
Early next week, NYC Transit users will get first hand glimpse of a cleaver marketing tactic from Yahoo. Yahoo plans to install bus stop kiosks featuring Yahoo Local-Search in order to test user’s responses in one of the densest urban environments in the US. The first kiosk will be installed at W. 42nd ST and Eighth Avenue. A search for a cybercafe on 8th Avenue NYC produced a lengthy list of all cybercafes in the five boroughs including the first reference, a short two blocks from the epicenter of my search, W.42nd and 8th.

UniGoog

Google's Desktop Search has arrived. Great overviews by Danny Sullivan and John Battelle. Kottke has even grander thoughts.

October 13, 2004

Rojo

Keep and eye on this space (more http://www.rojonetworks.com/and Rojo Blog here) (via Allen Searls).
Rojo is a free, web-based service dedicated to helping information consumers efficiently discover, organize, read, and share dynamic content—such as online news and weblogs. Rojo enables users to easily search and subscribe to feeds (sometimes called RSS or Atom feeds) published by online content sites, blogs, discussion boards, and various corporations. Rojo helps users identify what content is most useful for them personally and Rojo's community-building features enable users to easily share relevant content with friends and colleagues. Rojo also offers services for publishers and bloggers to help them harness the emerging world of feeds.



October 11, 2004

More Podcasting

Marc Eisenstadt of Get Real has a very good overview of the who, what, where and when of Podcasting.

October 06, 2004

Jeff Javis is blogging the heck out of Web 2.0 and in doing so previews Idea Lab's new search engine Snap. Also see Web 2.0's coverage.

Update: BoingBoing smacks Snap for a pitiful linking policy.

Torrent Casting

In the same vein as podcasting, Slashdot discusses the reality of creating your own television network via bittorrent, a popular method of p2p file sharing. More here and here.

October 05, 2004

Feedster's complete Web 2.o coverage.
Blog marketing explosion ... (well, "explosion" might be pushing it).

Podcasting

Imagine a world where portable audio blogs existed. Where you could take an audio clip from your blog world and listen to it on your way to work, at the gym and on the plane. Portable, time-shifted radio programming that you control. Because you want control. You need control to fit everything into your life. But not only do you listen. You participate. You create. The next thing you know there's a blogosphere of audio programming that you control what you listen to, when you listen to it and what you contribute. And it's not broadcasting. It's narrowcasting to and from your realm of passion. Just like blogs.

But it's already here. Thanks to Adam Curry and others, via podcasting, we citizens are creating our own programming, we are downloading it, and listening to it on our iPods on our way to work, at the gym, and on the plane.

Jeff Jarvis and Doc Searls have much more... (too much to quote, so I encourage you to read it all).

October 04, 2004

The More Things Remain the Same

Doc Searls digs up a long lost classic from 1995 (this is essentially pre-commercial web or just when just a few were entering the game, folks). How true it is today:
  1. The Internet is the ultimate base medium -- it will either undermine or support all other media. Think of the Internet as a phone system, a postal service, a library, a distribution hub and a yellow pages -- all in one. Only, unlike all those traditional institutions, nobody controls it. Anybody can participate in any of those roles.
  2. On the Internet, all communications are personal. The "mailto" link on every working Web site goes to an individual. If a site lacks that link, or if nobody responds to a mailing across that link, the site is virtually dead.
  3. Communication = conversation. Markets are conversations, whether they consist of one person or ten million people. Marcom needs to take advantage of this fact, both within the company, and between the company and the conversations that constitute its markets. **
  4. A company's "Intranet" connections should equal or exceed its Internet connections. Without groupware you get gropeware. Whether you use Notes, Groupwise, Collabra or POEMs (Plain Old E-Mails)... you need to make, and use, your internal connections. In fact, your company will be no more effective than its collaborative platform. Making that platform work should be everybody's -- especially marcom's -- job.
  5. Customers are the best sources of useful information -- and the most abundant. Now they're good for a lot more than money.
  6. There is no strength in isolation. Ivory towers are the last refuge of the clueless.
  7. Relationships matter. More sales are becoming marriages, and fewer are one-night stands.
  8. Service is everything. If you can't service your customers, they'll find suppliers who will.
  9. Branding requires substance as well as style. If you can't walk your talk, nobody will follow your lead or listen to what you say.
  10. There is no market for messages. In fact, there never was, but now the customer is in a position to say so.
  11. Logic and reason sit on the mental board of directors, but emotions cast the deciding votes. This is why share of heart matters more than share of market and even share of mind.
  12. The purpose of marketing communications is not just to tell & sell but to learn & earn. Every company needs to learn from customers and to earn their interest and loyalty. If they don't, they'll talk to nobody and sell nothing.
  13. There is no market for secrecy. Customers rarely demand that companies keep secrets. But they always demand more information. Don't hide it.
  14. Your "position" is a fact, not a statement. And the only fact you can't change is where you come from. This is the one thing you can't lie about, and the first thing people want to know about you.
  15. Marketing should be as simple as a handshake. Your marketing should answer the same questions people ask strangers when they meet for the first time:
    • Who are you?
    • Where do you come from?
    • What do you do?
    • What are you doing here?
    • Where do you live?
    • Who are you with?
    • Where are you going?
    If your answers to any of these questions are unclear, or if you can only explain them at length, you're not making sense. This helps: one or two word answers work best.
  16. Information isn't data -- it's the communicable form of knowledge. Derived form the verb to form, information literally changes what we know. The goal of a communications strategy therefore is to inform and to become informed. It must work both ways -- an exchange that makes a difference for both parties.
  17. Competition is necessary to a marketplace, but not sufficient. Customers want choices; and every product choice results from many people, and many companies, adding their goods together, not just opposing each other. The next time you hear a story about the U.S. versus Japan (or Mexico, or Germany...), look inside your PC. On average you'll see labeled products from up to 13 different countries. Peace at work.
  18. Conversation isn't win/lose or even win/win. It's play/play. Think of marketplaces as homes and communities, not just as ball courts and battlefields. The press loves sports and war metaphors for a good reason: stories are about conflict and struggle. No story starts with "happily ever after." This is why the press' job is to make trouble, often where there isn't any. Really, they can't help it. But the truth is usually much more complex, much less dramatic and rarely as conclusive as the stories told by the press. Just remember: if a customer loves your company and buys your product, that doesn't mean he's taking your side. If you think he is, you may end up fighting your wars alone.
  19. Honesty is the only policy. "If you can fake that, you've got it made," George Burns says. Unfortunately, most of us can't. It's very hard to fake one side of a conversation. And truth is a lot easier to maintain than a lie.
Much more here and in Doc's post.