Category: Web Industry

Categories: Web Industry Posted on

Tell Your Y2K Story –Ten Years Later

We’re just a few days from Y2K+10, ten years after the big scare of the whole world collapsing from a lapse in computer programming foresight. I remember it closely, I spent a few hours in the later part of Dec 1999 backing up data at the small business my wife was working at. We were able to download nearly all of her company’s (a very small office) data onto just over a dozen zip drives, remember those? Funny that we could fit nearly all the digital files onto those drives –perhaps, if Y2K fears were to happen, it’s better than uploading to the cloud. I also remember an army of Y2K consultants, and their concerns over liabilities, appear marketing how … Continue readingTell Your Y2K Story –Ten Years Later

Categories: Web Industry Posted on

Facebook Acquires Social Veterans in FriendFeed Deal

Update: CNN, Financial Times, NYT, and BusinessWeek captured my thoughts in their articles. Facebook makes a play and acquires Friendfeed, a sharing and aggregation tool that helps people find out what their friends are doing. Read Friendfeed’s announcement, and Facebook’s blog post. A few months ago the Facebook and Twitter deal fell apart, and Facebook knows it must open its community to the open web –not just behind a login in order to benefit from generating revenues through advertising and search advertising. This Friendfeed acquisition make sense as it’s primarily a buy of the talent and team –not so much the website itself. Why? This team of ex-googlers have roots in gmail and google maps, they know how to build scalable … Continue readingFacebook Acquires Social Veterans in FriendFeed Deal

Categories: Facebook Strategy, Privacy, Web Industry Posted on

Facebook’s Awkward Adolescence

Facebook is undergoing pubescenct changes in the next few years –from a private pre-teen to a public facing member of society —that’s what I told USA Today. Facebook initially made it’s promise to be a private community, but realizes it must now be more public to compete with the open web. Expect more awkwardness for the social network and it’s users’ over the coming years. What are the indicators that Facebook wants to grow up and be public? Previous settings allow members to allow their profile page to be public and therefore findable by search engines. Facebook launched Beacon in late 2007 that was it’s first gangly moment that resulted in public backlash as customer data was shared without users’ consent. Facebook … Continue readingFacebook’s Awkward Adolescence

Categories: Web Industry Posted on

Firing Your Clients –Even During a Recession

Sometimes, in a recession, the best way to increase profitability is to fire your own customers. I’ve been hearing from a few vendors and agencies, that they’re letting go of their least wanted clients. Why? During a recession, vendors are focused on being efficient with all resources, and in some cases, some clients are net negative in time, energy, resources, and morale. Some clients are net negative There’s a rule-of-thumb in the business realm that 20% of your customers will comprise of 80% of your total revenues. If that model is true, then likely the inverse holds truth: the bottom 20% of your clients account for 80% of all of your resource spend. This is exactly what I heard from … Continue readingFiring Your Clients –Even During a Recession

Categories: Challenges, Social Media, Web Industry Posted on

Adapting to Change on the Reef

Left Image: I was stunned by the diversity and co-existence of thousands of species at this tropical reef exhibit Change is coming, whether you like it or not. Jive software, a company I formerly cover slashed 1/3rd of it’s workforce (see update below), likely in response to it’s own VCs suggestion to slash costs to become cash flow positive in the now famous RIP Good Times preso. Cutting 33% closer to 20% of your body off to make sure you can still float in a few years is cutting very, very deep, no doubt customer service will be impacted, and a slow down in the product roadmap. (Update: I spoke to Sam Lawrence of Jive’s marketing last night, and learned … Continue readingAdapting to Change on the Reef

Categories: Challenges, Social Media, Web Industry Posted on

Four Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn

Most of my readers are interactive marketing professionals, they are experimenting, using, or living in the social media world –for some, it’s part of their very being and defines them professionally, and personally. Social Media (which has gained popularity in the last few years) has never stared down an economic downturn, My CEO sees at least three to four quarters of reduced technology spending, and Chris Kenton sees even a more dire situation. Four Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn Whether you’re a CEO of a social media company, a professional blogger, or a community manager at a large corporation, you’d better be able to answer the following questions: 1) Is social media usage going to … Continue readingFour Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn

Categories: Groundswell, Industry Index, Web Industry Posted on

List of Social Media Marketing Awards

Celebrating the hard work that companies invest in social media efforts is not only a way to feel good about our accomplishments, but also a way to learn from the successes of others. The following list of social media awards gives agencies, brands, vendors, and consultants their chance to strut their stuff. Please leave a comment if you know of other awards. I realize there are many awards for startups (like Demo or Techcrunch 50), but this is awards for successes that brands have done using social media List of Social Media Marketing Awards Forrester’s Groundswell Awards (I’m a judge) Society for New Communications Symposium and Awards Womma Awards If you like this list, then you should check out my … Continue readingList of Social Media Marketing Awards

Categories: Global Web, Social Media, Web Industry Posted on

Slideshare: Universal Mccann International Social Media Research

Universal Mccann International Social Media Research Wave 3 view presentation (tags: socialmedia research social media) It’s difficult to see the detailed text of this sldieshare, so I recommend clicking to the main site, then clicking the small button that says “Full” which will take you to the full screen view. Update: Thanks to Benedict’s comment, this report is now in PDF. I stumbled onto this large slide deck of global social media stats called the Universal Mccann International Social Media Research Wave 3. They break down usage of many different types of behaviors from creating to consuming blogs, rss, social networks, online videos, and uploading images. They provide a global viewpoint that you don’t see very often. While I don’t … Continue readingSlideshare: Universal Mccann International Social Media Research

Categories: Community Manager, Web Industry, Web Team Posted on

Scorecard: Should Startups Have Community Managers?

Marshall poses the question (and does analysis and conducts informal interviews) do startups need Community Managers? He points to my growing list of enterprise class companies who are adopting these roles, but we should also examine the startup. First of all, if you don’t know what a community manager is, start with these four tenants on my blog, or read the Forrester report (aimed towards corporate, not startups) how to staff for social computing. An excellent piece, but let’s step it up and look at the bigger question, for startups, corporations, or mid sized companies. The real question to ask is “Should companies engage customers and prospects in a collaborative nature online”. The answer? “it depends”. Marshall’s post gleans opinions … Continue readingScorecard: Should Startups Have Community Managers?

Categories: On the move, Social Media, Web Industry Posted on

People on the Move in the Social Media Industry: July 13, 2008

I’m starting this post series (see archives) to recognize and congratulate folks who get promoted, move, or accept new exciting positions. Please help me congratulate the following folks: Wishing Dawn Foster who is striking it out on her own and leaves Jive Software to start a consulting practice. I’ve met her before, and she’s a very strong performer on my panels, her consulting bio is on her site Shannon B starts as the Community Manager at Zeer.com a grocery review community that just made Time Magazine’s Top 50 Websites in 2008 list. Connie Bensen, a key fiture in the Community Manager space has now made a job move to Network Solutions, and writes the following thank you. Shel has more … Continue readingPeople on the Move in the Social Media Industry: July 13, 2008