As a reminder, WebSolvers is moving on Wednesday, April 1. The new address is 4776 New Broad Street, Suite 100, Orlando FL 32814, in the Baldwin Park town center. As of April 2, new phone and fax numbers are: 407-722-7830 (Main Office Line) and 407-722-7831 (Fax).

We will be closing early on Tuesday, March 31 at 4:00 pm in order to facilitate the move. After spending Wednesday, April 1 installing furniture and equipment, we will re-open for normal business hours on Thursday, April 2nd.

Since our client Web sites are located at a data center off-site, we do not expect this move to affect any of our hosting capabilities or client Web sites in any way.

If you have questions or would like additional information about our move, please contact us at your convenience.

There's clearly not a cookie cutter approach that might work for all businesses. I think this statement is particularly true when I think about how a large corporation with a mass appeal and universal cult-like following (think Apple) approaches social media in contrast to a smaller, localized brand (think your local independent non-profit). Two very different sets of challenges and opportunities. For starters, it's more difficult for a smaller organization to build an engaging online community from scratch, establish critical mass, and sustain it. For Apple, not so much. At the same time, the stakes are higher for a more established brand.

So my approach to helping a client approach social media is encouraging them to learn about the various tools and business implications first and then consider their business in this context. One interesting thing to start with is reading this recent Business Week piece that provides a marketer/manager with a nice tour of the landscape; it's an update of the earlier 2005 cover story. I also think that actually joining Facebook (or something similar) is essential to learning how it might be used in a business. Sounds obvious, but I find many managers are interested in learning how to utilize the tool yet hesitant to join.

I also hear many times that people want to be the Facebook of x (where x=their industry, town, or market segment). While I think this is always an interesting thought, I think that the approach may (at times) be ambitious. Then again, a cruise through ning.com--a site that facilitates social networking communities--will reveal that even David Hasselhoff is building users at an alarming rate. As I live and breathe, users are joining HoffSpace (I couldn't make that name up if I tried) almost constantly with a membership base approaching 11,000..

I am also finding that people seem more likely to join a group within their existing social media application of choice (usually Facebook or Myspace) than they are to join something completely separate (like HoffSpace, for example). On the flip side, services like friendfeed help individuals manage multiple social media accounts in one place.

It is certainly much to consider, but the sense of urgency in the business community is certainly rising. Shifts in demographics beyond the college crowd is one major reason for this. Future user growth and platform enhancements will only make the trend more critical for businesses.

Fast forward almost three years and Dell has really turned the tables in many respects. An item in the Wall Street Journal tells a pretty cool story of Michael Dell getting the blogosphere to work for him in an effort to launch a new product. I think this is a very good example of social media coming full circle within a corporation.

Pandigital's making cooking fun again with an HDTV, cookbook, photo frame that's perfect for use in the kitchen.

It's a little pricey ($399.99) but I think it might be good enough for the birthday/christmas list. :)

Basically, the idea is to show a mirror image of a software concept or tool while the demonstrator narrates his/her actions. Check out this screencast demo from 37 Signals showing how one of their software tools works. It's a great alternative to simply creating a laundry list of bullet points and calling it a 'feature list.' Both tools have their use, but I love the simplicity of the screencast application. I got a kick out of Josh Hallett's screencast showing his frustration with finding information on a Web site. This example shows that screencasting isn't just for software demonstrations. The concept can be used to communicate in a way that words and pictures alone can't do.

There are lots of tools available to produce screencasts. It's worth considering when you have a communication objective that fits.

But things are slowing down on who will prevail as Toshiba becomes the latest supporter of Blu-ray (joining Wal-Mart, Netflix, Warner Brothers, and a number of others) to abandon HD technology.

While technology is always changing, it's still a little, well, frustrating, to me as a consumer. Not only does it mean that my husband will be "forced" to buy yet another DVD player, but it also means new DVDs, a number of gadgets, probably a PS3, and so on as HD begins its path towards extinction.

And if you're a Blu-ray supporter, don't think you're better off than those who may have been more hesitant as even current Blu-ray users will need to upgrade their players or have an obsolete product next year... You'd think I might be accustomed to constant changes in technology working in the web industry but I'm still wondering if our gift cards can wait for the dust to settle just a bit more! I guess I should keep in mind what I'm always explaining to clients when they ask why their new web site is not compatible with older browsers and vice versa! C'est technologie...

Personally, I think those in charge of business models at newspapers across the country screwed up years ago. They decided to give away everything we provide for free. So customers are left with two choices: 1) They can pay for a product that gets delivered to their door at a certain hour. 2) Or they can not pay for anything -- and go online to get most every single thing that was in the live paper, plus many more features, like this blog, at any moment they choose. And then we wonder why people choose the latter.

You can't really argue with Scott's logic about the way people consume their news. Jack Lail has a post along similar lines which leads us to believe that most people aren't getting their news from a newspaper anymore (according to Zogby's it's barely 12%. I was recently in a meeting with a prominent community leader who put this figure at 20% and told the audience to stop chasing 'the paper' for a story because no one's reading it anyway.

It reminds me of something I heard Michael Eisner, former Chairman of Disney, say at a time when Web distribution of entertainment was hitting a fever pitch. Basically, and I'm paraphrasing here, he indicated that his role was simply that of a talent aggregator. Consumers pay him to bring together writers, animators, actors, and production folks to produce great content. His Adam Smith-like warning was that if he doesn't get paid, he won't continue to do it.

It's no different in the newspaper business. Unless it develops a model to continue profiting from the aggregation of columnists and reporters, columnists and reporters will have to change and adapt. Matt Drudge, although in a sometimes questionable manner, has done so. We have also seen the onslaught of blog networks whereby writers get together to co-join blogs with the hope of sustaining.

I'm not suggesting that every reporter and columnist should be a blogger, because I don't think the economics necessarily work. But newspapers will certainly have to adapt by taking control of their strengths. Yeah, I can get the newspaper for free online...but I can't read it over coffee, take it on the plane, or clip something for someone in the same way. And, yes, I can go to ESPN.COM to check the score of the Magic game, but I can't read about the goings-on with the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation and the inner politics of getting the new arena built. Enough folks will pay the Orlando Sentinel to pay the Scott Maxwells of the world to help us understand the world around us. But the newspaper industry needs to continue to develop its proposition for doing so.

I was very impressed by the ability of the online system. You could really tell that the logistics had really been pondered. I think the user interface could use a bit of work in an effort to make things more intuitive, but it was certainly adequate.

The system allowed me to select various menu items, add special instructions to certain items (hold the onions, please), and used dynamic menus to present me with salad/site item choices. It also asked me what Make and Model of car I would be picking the order up in. What impressed me most was the ability to set my own pick-up time. Since I wanted to see the last 15 minutes of SportsCenter, I gave myself an extra 20 minutes by selecting my desired time from a drop-down selection.

I arrived a few minutes before the designated time. The attendant came out curb-side and, recognizing my car, asked if I was Matt! Pretty impressive. She took my card, came back with my receipt and order 1 minute prior to my requested pick-up time. Needless to say, I was very impressed.

My only complaint was that the "medium" steak I ordered was a bit on the rare side. I have to say that the convenience and ease of the online ordering system made up for any shortcomings in the order. I would definitely recommend it!