k.b.skobac.com

Saying Goodbye To Things You Love

2012-01-24T10:22:00.001-05:00

One of the challenges of being a web early adopter is the likelihood that a lot of services you fall in love with will ultimately disappear. New start-ups are launching exciting digital products for us to fawn over every day, and many of us web obsessed rush to try them as soon as possible. The ones we like we invest a ton of time in, way before there's any chance of knowing if anyone else will be interested enough to join along and help propel the start-up to become a viable company.

On a good day we become obsessed with the start-up, preach about it to everyone we know, and then take some credit for it's success as it builds towards greatness. But often times the start-ups we love don't make it. Not enough people end up seeing the value in the product and the product shuts down, or the company's ambitions of their own success get usurped by a high priced suitor that strips it down for parts. Either way the outcome is the same: the product we love disappears from us.

This last week I've had to say goodbye to a number of products I've really enjoyed over the last few years, all for different reasons. News aggregator Summify was acquired and neutered by Twitter. Online photo editor Picnik was shuttered by its owner Google. And Plancast CEO Mark Hendrickson announced he will be giving up on the pursuit of his two year old social event sharing product after it failed to gain enough traction on the web.

While saying goodbye to Summify and Picnik is tough, both are in a popular space and have strong competitors that will serve as worthy replacements. Plancast, however, is by far and away the best social event sharing site I've ever come across. It's attractive, incredibly easy to use, and has powerful integration built in to other event platforms like Meetup, EventBrite and Facebook that helps make event sharing effortless. Whereas the old stalwart event planning site Upcoming.com was painful to populate, Plancast is a pleasure to use and explore. It's one of the products I can't really understand why enough people found compelling enough to use, and one that I'll really miss when it's gone.

The good news about being a web early adopter, though, is that for every start-up heartbreak there's a new start-up to take it's place. I wake up every day now excited to play with Path, I'm testing out Buffer to power my social publishing, and I've just signed up for News.Me to replace the hole that Summify will be leaving in my day. And I can't wait to preach to you about all of them.

Excited About Quarterly Co, a Subscription Service for Wonderful Things

2012-01-04T08:58:00.002-05:00

One of the new web services I'm super excited about heading into the new year is Quarterly Co, a "subscription service for wonderful things". Basically you subscribe to a person of your choice, and that person sends you an actual package in the mail every quarter with an interesting object(s) of their choice.

Of course these aren't random people with nothing to lose; the curators that Quarterly has brought on board are all tastemakers of some sort that make finding interesting things the basis of their reputation. People like Josh Rubin from Coolhunting, Tina Roth Eisenberg from Swissmiss Studio, or the famous Maria Popova of Brainpickings. I've chosen Alexis Madrigal, tech writer at The Atlantic.

So every 3 months you can expect to get something interesting in the mail that reflects their taste, perspective and interest. It's a brief moment in time to turn away from the rapid information stream on Twitter (partially populated by these same people) and enjoy a tangible thing hand selected by someone you admire. It remains to be seen whether any of us feels the object we receive is worth the $25 per quarter, but I imagine the surprise gift and the ensuing conversation will leave me very content.

Let me know if you've subscribed to anyone in the comments below, and stay tuned in March for an update on what I get in the mail.

Welcome CharitySub, "Simple Collective Giving"

2012-01-02T00:14:00.000-05:00

At midnight last night a few of my friends launched CharitySub, a website to power simple collective giving. Their focus is on ease, impact and understanding. You "subscribe" by committing to donate $5 each month to charity (or an extra $1 if you're willing to be a benefactor of the site- which I highly encourage). Then each month they choose a cause and send simple but rich information in the form of key facts and documentary videos 3 different charities you could support that are working for that cause. You can digest as much or as little information as you want, and then simply select which of the three charities will get your $5 dollars that month.

It's as simple as that. As the community of charitable donors grows, so will the site. You can expect to see visualizations of your contributions to causes, how many people you recruit to the community, how your money is being used to help the charities and more. CharitySub's mix of story telling, gamification and goodwill should be a powerful motivator for people to sign up as part of their 2012 New Year's resolutions.

CharitySub's first cause is childhood obesity, an issue I know is important to many people I know. Your first $5 could go towards one of 3 great charities that are helping to end this cause. I'm really proud of Alexis, Amy, Brian & Jim for launching a great resource, and I look forward to being a part of it.

NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX ... Facebook? [My Ad Age Article]

2011-12-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

I had the following article published on Ad Age last week. I'm publishing it here for the few people who read my blog only, and to have a record for the future [direct link].

NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX ... Facebook?
The Real Opportunity For Content Is Web Series, Which Can Benefit From Facebook's Engagement

By: Kevin Skobac
Published: December 21, 2011

As Facebook continues to grow its user base worldwide, entertainment companies are increasingly trying to find ways to use the platform as a new form of TV channel with unprecedented reach. Both major TV networks and Hollywood film studios have previously allowed people to watch their content via their Facebook pages, including paid video trials such as Warner Brothers renting its "Dark Knight" film from its ultra-successful "Batman" franchise for Facebook credits.

Unfortunately, for WB and others, no early tests of traditional companies pushing their content on Facebook have registered any real success. Audiences simply don't seem interested in watching long-form, lean-back content wrapped in a Facebook environment (though augmenting traditional TV with a second-screen social context is another discussion).

But new Web-only entertainment creators can succeed where big media failed. Here's why: they're producing video content that differs significantly from the classic TV model. First, each "episode" is typically much shorter, commanding less of a singularly focused, lean-back experience. Second, outside of the normal broadcast schedule, users aren't trained to "tune in" or remember when the next episode will be ready for viewing. Facebook can help content creators meet these challenges in ways that would drive more interest, engagement and repeat viewership.

Push notification systems
Typically, Web-only video series are discovered via recommendations through press or friends, but then suffer steep drop-off in eyeballs for the 2nd episode. This occurs typically via both standalone Web sites as well as YouTube. Hundreds of millions of people, on the other hand, return to Facebook every day. Video series can take advantage of news feed posts, event invites, and top-bar notifications to inform viewers every time a new episode or piece of content is released. In this manner, shows will be able to command much more repeat tune-in than typical Web fare. Shows can also easily fill in the time between episodes with goodies like extra footage and cast interviews in the same tuned delivery system that new episodes flow through to keep viewers interested during down time.

Personalization capabilities
Facebook has an immense amount of user data accessible through its APIs that have been leveraged in interesting ways within content. Advertisers and musicians have already been pushing the boundaries of personalized experiences in exciting ways (see: "The Wilderness Downtown" or "Take This Lollipop"), but original content producers have, for the most part, not taken advantage of the opportunity until recently. AOL's new Facebook-only show "AIM High" launched with a unique feature that allows viewers to login with Facebook Connect to view a more personalized version of each episode. After connecting, viewers may notice their own faces on posters in the school setting, or even find themselves running for high school class president directly within the plot of the show. While these personalized elements are superficial so far, it's easy to imagine future shows with much deeper integration. For example, a show could find a way to turn the viewer's friends into the suspects of a mystery, driving much more engagement and viewer loyalty.

Parallel conversation streams
Newer short-form content series like "AIM High" also seem to benefit more from integrated comments than long-form content can. With episodes no longer than 5-10 minutes, the plot of "AIM High" is always in flux, leaving room for speculation and discussion. The comment box isn't just a place to voice love or hate for the show, rather it becomes a real-time discussion of what's taking place and what could happen next. Facebook's commenting system also allows discussion to take place both on the show page and within people's news feeds, providing more seamless conversation both when viewers are watching the show and afterwards. 3rd party apps like GetGlue and IntoNow are starting to provide this parallel conversation stream via a second screen, but no companies in this space have yet been able to tie the discussion as close to the content as a Facebook-viewing platform can.

As all content consumption becomes hyper-connected and on-demand, even the major TV networks are quickly noticing the need to evolve in order to meet consumer wants. It may not be as easy for them as it is for digital pure-plays like YouTube, Hulu and Yahoo! (all of which announced a full slate of Web-only shows during this year's television up-front), but they have to be as vigilant in breaking through. Everyone is experimenting with the most effective way to attract and keep audiences for this new form of content. Facebook, with its unmatched notification system, personalization capabilities and conversation tools, could be just the solution everyone is looking for.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Skobac is senior digital strategist at SS+K, an integrated marketing and communications agency specializing in creative social engagement.

Continuing Education

2011-12-04T15:25:00.001-05:00

One of my goals for 2011 was to put more effort into continuing my education. After graduating and transitioning to the work force it gets a lot harder to feel like you're learning and getting to grow mentally in directions beyond what your job dictates. However, living in New York City, I am lucky that there are a lot of ways to take classes and attend lectures for relatively minimal money. Here are 5 local ways I "get back in the classroom" (and one bonus on-line resource):

Ignite Sessions

http://www.ignitenyc.org

Ignite is a unique event where you learn a little bit about a lot of things through a rapid-fire series of short lectures. Speakers can apply to present on anything, and typically the collection of chosen lectures varies widely from technology, to the arts to society. Each speaker is given 5 minutes to present a coordinated talk along with 20 slides that turn on their own every 15 seconds. The structured nature of the event keeps the audience entertained whether the topic is NASA research, samurai swords, or anything else. Events are usually around $10. You can view all of the past Ignite NYC talks here: http://www.youtube.com/user/IgniteNYC#g/u

Creative Mornings

http://creativemornings.com

Creative Mornings are "a monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types". Each monthly event is usually about :30 minute breakfast, :30 minute lecture and :30 minute Q+A discussion session. Past speakers have been writers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and more. They take place on Friday mornings from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and have been sponsored, so attendance is free (and sign-up fills up fast). You can view all of the past Creative Mornings lectures here:

http://vimeo.com/creativemornings/videos

General Assembly

http://generalassemb.ly

By day, General Assembly is a co-working space where teams of people can rent desk space and share collective office resources. By night, General Assembly is a an educational campus that hosts classes to help teach new technology, business and marketing skills. Classes usually cost around $25 per hour and are taught by employees from small start-up companies to Google employees. This year I took classes on Gamification, API Programming and Website Wireframing. Unfortunately, the classes have been a bit hit or miss because they're sometimes taught by smart people who aren't good teachers. However, I'm optimistic and will continue to try more.

TEDxBrooklyn

http://tedxbrooklyn.com

TEDx is an offshoot of the popular global TED conference, though on a local level. The organizers of TEDxBrooklyn put together an annual all-day event mixing talks from local business leaders and artists with curated videos of the global TED conference. This year's event was held at Brooklyn Bowl, and the topic was "redefining better". Highlights included motivational speaker Jullien Gordon, Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson, Gotham Greens founder Viraj Puri and several music & art performances. The event cost $100 for the full day, including lunch. The event wasn't perfect, but I expect that the quality will improve each year as the founders gain more experience.

140 Characters Conference
http://140conf.com

140 is actually a series of conferences throughout the year that covers a number of topics. This year I attended the tentpole #140conf , a 2-day event discussing how social media effects business and people, and #140edu , a 1-day event discussing how social media can improve education. The first event was a series of short :10 - :15 minute presentations and panel discussions, and was very interesting in the same way that Ignite typically is. The edu event was a more classic format, with fewer + longer presentations, and wasn't nearly as interesting. I would make my decisions to attend future events based on the format and the costs- which varied from $1.40 to $140 per event (discounts to frequent attendees).

Next year, in addition to attending conferences and classes, I'm also committing to taking some online courses. One site I'm really excited about is Codecademy. The site is basically a collection of "gamified" courses on web programming. Courses are broken down into small incremental assignments, and motivation is driven by badges and level completions. Codecademy seems like an powerful, free, way to learn new subjects, one I'm very excited to spend more time with. I'll update everyone soon on how it goes.

So what are the ways you learn? And what are your other 2012 goals?

Facebook Fights Back At Google, Twitter and Tumblr With Four New Features

2011-09-14T21:18:00.000-04:00

Facebook made 4 platform changes this week that aggressively compete with some of the most popular functionality on Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr:

Smart Friends Lists
Facebook will now start creating intelligent friend lists for users to help facilitate sharing and filtering based on likely interests + need states. Facebook is starting everyone off with Work, School, Family and City lists, but the intelligence will start recommending people to you as you create your own custom lists as well. This is a major attempt by Facebook to show that they can do lists better than Google, who launched Circles as the main attraction of Google+.

Subscribe to a Person
Until now, Facebook relationships were always a mutual connection between two users. However, users now have the option to allow others to "subscribe" to them, without actually "friending" them. This new asynchronous dynamic gives personalities the ability to broadcast public information to anyone who's interested while still preserving their personal relationships. This means public figures no longer need to manage profiles AND pages for themselves (though pages are still the solution for brands and products that will build more robust content). Allowing asynchronous relationships is a major departure from Facebook's policy to date, and is a direct attack on Twitter.

Facebook to Twitter sync
Though Facebook pages have had the option of syndicating their content out to Twitter for a while, soon users will also be able to link their Facebook accounts to their Twitter accounts. Facebook is hoping that its users will have less reason to hop over to Twitter, while at the same time send more traffic from Twitter into Facebook.

View Page Post Shares
Starting today when you view a post on a Facebook page you will be able to see how many "shares" it has, in addition to 'likes' and 'comments'. When you click the "shares" button you will see a list of people who shared that post to their own page, and any public comments on their re-post. This isn't a major feature, but it makes sharing feel much more like Tumblr's popular "reblog" feature.

All of these changes will likely be appreciated by Facebook users, and will likely help stem much of the criticism Facebook's gotten as of late. It will be interesting to see how Google, Twitter and Tumblr respond to Facebook's new functionality.

An update on Google+ for Brands

2011-08-30T12:36:00.000-04:00

Below is a draft of an updated POV on Google+ I've drafted for the perspective of brand marketing opportunities. Thoughts, suggestions or critiques are welcome.

Now that Google+ is nearly two months old, I wanted to provide an update on how Google’s ambitious new social project is doing, what new features + functionality have been added to the product since launch, and how these new elements impact the outlook for brands. Despite entering a competitive landscape, Google+ has received intense attention from Google users, media and brands. In just a few shorts weeks over 25 million people have been estimated to have tried out the network. Google has met the enthusiasm with a barrage of developments that hint to the potential of Google+ moving forward.

A more powerful +1 button for publishers
When initially launched, Google’s +1 button for publishers had an ambiguous purpose. Consumers clicking the button could potentially improve a site’s search ranking, but there was no direct connection to Google+. Now when users click the +1 button they will not only affect the page-rank of the site, but will also have the opportunity to share the web-page directly to their Google+ stream. Google+ users will also see which of their friends have clicked a +1 button right next to the button on sites. The behavior will be very similar to clicking the Facebook ‘like’ button, both in it’s on-site representation and by displaying a photo and descriptive text snippet in a user’s feed. This will give users much more reason to click +1 buttons on content around the web.

Considering both the SEO and social amplification power of the new +1 button, all brands and publishers should be preparing to include +1 buttons on their sites prominently. There are a few steps website managers need to take to maximize the benefit:

Update the +1 button code on their sites to display the in-line social graph info

Include the proper HTML mark-up on your web-pages to specify which pictures and copy are auto-generated when users share to Google+ from the +1 button on your site

Extended reach through massive Gmail community
When Google+ launched many people were surprised to find that it had no connection to Gmail. Now, however, Google has taken the first steps towards integrating with the popular email client by integrating Google+ updates into the new Gmail people widget. When looking at an email in Gmail, your contacts most recent public Google+ post will be visible in the sidebar along with their other profile information. This extends the reach of Google+ status updates way beyond the Google+ user-base out to the millions of people who use Gmail daily, making Google+ content sharing much more attractive to brands.

A more social YouTube experience with Google+ Hangouts
From the beginning, Google+ users have been able to load YouTube videos inside Hangouts (group video chats). Additionally, now when watching a video on YouTube users are invited to launch the video inside a Google+ Hangout to share the viewing experience with up to 10 friends. Like the Gmail integration, this exposure on one of Google’s most popular properties will help boost awareness of Google+. This is also a potentially valuable Call-To-Action for brands to promote on their YouTube channels: not just to watch a brand spot, but to invite friends to watch, enjoy and discuss along with one another.

Increased time spent inside Google+ through games
Google+’s biggest advancement so far may be the launch of Google+ Games. The games platform is very similar to Facebook’s, focusing on casual social games like Bejeweled that challenge friends to beat each other’s high scores and more. Google noticeably kept games alerts from infiltrating the regular Google+ feed; rather it’s information streams are kept on a separate feed users see when playing games. While less integrated, games will still ensure that users spend more time inside Google+ and return to the network more often. They could also be a potential way for brands to offer engaging experiences to users, once the developer platform is opened to all.

But official brand accounts are still missing (for the most part)
The most notable development about Google+ so far, though, may be that Google still hasn’t made any announcements about how brands will exist on the network. Google has actually gone out of their way to remove brand pages that pop up, or work with brands to transition their pages to a representative employee. So far the only hint that brand pages are coming soon, besides Google’s continuous promise, has been the launch of the Ford Motor Company test account. Ford notes that the profile is an early test of Google+ business accounts, and is experimenting with a number of Google+ features like Hangouts. Despite the early access Ford doesn’t appear to have any special features or functionality on their page yet. However, many additions like Google Analytics and advertising integration are expected to come, and may already exist on the back-end. Google will presumably also look at adding other features like brand directories, enterprise level moderation tools, integration with Google Places and more.

One last new Google+ feature that could be related to Google’s plans for businesses is the addition of “verified name” tags. Though the certification process is unclear, Google has begun tagging profiles of some celebrities (such as actress Alyssa Milano) and media personalities with a “verified name” designation. This certification could be used in the future to make sure users know which brand profiles are official, for trust and privacy purposes.

Though Google+ is boasting some big usage numbers so far, it’s important to remember that we are still in the very early days for the fledgling network. As Google continues integrating Google+ into its other properties and release new functionality I expect both Google+ and the other products to benefit from cross-promotion and powerful social functionality. It’s also important to note, however, that the competition is not standing still. Facebook just recently announced new privacy features that replicate Google+ circle functionality, and Twitter is quickly making photo sharing a bigger part of its web product. Social media is evolving faster than ever right now, and brands need to continue to pay attention closely to developments to identify the best ways to provide value and engage with their audiences.

How Foursquare is Growing Up

2011-08-24T09:49:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of development for two of my favorite social platforms, Twitter and Foursquare. Both have launched or announced several features that I believe are a significant step up for the services. At their origins, and despite their expansive 3rd party developer community, both Twitter and Foursquare felt like singularly focused products that could own only a certain portion of my attention and effort. As they continue to evolve, however, it is becoming clear how they each could continue to provide more value, generate more interest and connect people on a deeper level than before. In this post I will cover Foursquare's recent developments, and in another I'll dive deeper into Twitter.

Foursquare
The biggest critique of Foursquare when I tried to convince friends to use it was that they had no interest in letting people know where they are and having any serendipitous meetings. I could understand that, but always felt it was a shortsighted look at the value of location data. Now foursquare is building on-top of its check-in platform in in a number of interesting ways:

Activity tray
While in itself not all that interesting, Foursquare's activity tray has paved the way for a deeper social experience within the app. Now when a friend comments on a check-in, interacts with a tip you've left somewhere, or checks in to the same place as you Foursquare alerts you in a drop-down tray in the app. In addition, Foursquare is starting to provide interesting notifications such as a "matchmaker" like functionality, where Foursquare alerts you that a friend has added a "to-do" at a location you've been meaning to try as well, and suggests you go together.

In-line photos
To generate more conversation Foursquare turned to the most popular aspect of any social network- photos. You've been able to snap a picture at a check-in for a while, but now your friends photos show up in the main newsfeed along with the check-in info. This makes the newsfeed view a lot more interesting to browse and incentivizes people to take more photos.

Lists
Though this is only a site feature for now, users and brands can create rich categorical lists of places they recommend. Foursquare will even recommend list topics for you based on your check-in history, suggest places to add to those lists, and provide community pictures to go along with the list. Friends can collaborate on lists together, too. Lists are a great way to filter your check-ins into actual top recommendations for friends, put together itineraries, and more (pro tip: see my lists of Top NYC Pizza Places and Top NYC Coffee Spots and leave me suggestions).

Partner recommendations
Foursquare launched the Explore tab a few months ago to make place recommendations for you based on your check-in history. Now the Explore tab includes nearby, relevant recommendations for you from partners such as Groupon, Living Social and more. Leveraging Foursquare's interest graph to improve a 3rd party experience is a powerful opportunity. This feature shows the potential value in recording 2,000 life check-ins over the last few years.

Event check-ins
Now when you check-in to a movie, concert or sports game you can actually go one level deeper and check-in to the actual piece of content, such as a film. Foursquare has partnered with media properties for these libraries, and the integration includes filling the new micro-locations with reviews and stats to help people make decisions on their activities. This puts Foursquare in direct competition with another one of my favorite apps, GetGlue.

All of these features combined have turned Foursquare from a singular experience into a robust social platform that users can spend time interacting with friends through, regardless of whether they can actually meet them in person. In my own experience since these features I'm definitely seeing friends engage with Foursquare content much more- including adding more photos, commenting on more check-ins, and looking at lists. I'm also finding that the Explore tab is becoming more interesting as it starts to recommend me places to go and corresponding deals that I can buy from 3rd party sites.

In addition to being great for users, many of these features are excellent for brands. Photos and lists in particular make brand offerings richer and more compelling, advancing the way brands can create value despite the incongruity of them not being a traditional Foursquare users. As a marketer, I'm excited to think about new ways to use Foursquare to create interesting engagement programs.

So what do you think- has Foursquare's new features increased your use of the platform? Have any of them in particular stood out? What else are you looking for Foursquare to bring to the table?

My POV on Google+

2011-07-10T11:23:00.007-04:00

This post is my formal POV on Google+. I encourage feedback, suggestions and comments. This isn't meant to be all of the reasons you should actually like and use Google+ (that's coming soon), or tips / tricks. It's purely a run-down and analysis for agency purposes.

Overview
After months of speculation, Google finally unveiled its secret “social” weapon in the form of Google+, a full fledged, feature-rich social network. The reveal has been anxiously anticipated, mostly due to Google’s prior failures in the social space (e.g. Google Wave, Google Buzz and Google Hotpot) and Facebook’s fearsome globe-dominating success. In just a week of beta-testing it’s become clear not only that Google+ is a serious challenge to the current kings of social media, but also that consumers are starved for a real alternative to the current offerings. Experts have been lauding it, early users have been spending hours engaging and people who weren’t invited are clamoring to get in. What follows is an overview and early analysis of Google+’s most significant features & functionality:

Unique Features
Google+ was designed to answer specific concerns about existing social products, and also to break ground on new forms of interaction. Google has extracted the best of Twitter, Facebook and smaller successes like FriendFeed, but at the same time mixed in a healthy dose of innovation. While there are many significant features included in Google+, these four may be the most significant:

Circles
This is Google’s slick method of creating lists of people to follow and/or share with. Circles allow you to publish content to specific people, and filter your view of the social stream to reduce noise. Like with Twitter, following on Google+ is asynchronous; users can allow anyone to follow them without having to follow someone back or give up control of which content they share to whom. By taking this approach, Google is allowing granular control while also aggressively going after Twitter’s domain of public broadcast and celebrity voyeurism, rather than Facebook’s private relationships. Google+’s asynchronous follow, as well as lesser features like its Spark news integration, ensure that new users can enjoy Google+ and participate regardless of whether they have any friends in the service or plan on sharing any content of their own.

RealTime
Almost everything in Google+ happens in real-time, giving users a continuous feeling of community activity. Replies on content appear immediately without screen refresh. When posts start to receive new comments they pop back to the top of the feed. Also, a persistent top-bar alert notification now sits above Gmail, Google Reader and Google Docs, immediately alerting Google users when someone interacts with their content or a discussion in which they’re involved in. These three features help produce unparalleled levels of engagement by repeatedly drawing users back into the network to participate in threads, rather than allowing content to disappear into the stream. The robust conversation being generated on posts is already leading several technology influencers to announce that they’re transitioning their blogs to a Google+ stream.

Hangouts
Hangouts is essentially a group video chat product that makes Skype look non-social by comparison. Hangouts can be opened to the public and support up to 10 people in a room at once. The screen dynamically focuses on whoever is speaking, and as soon as someone leaves a room a new person can join. In this way Hangouts becomes a killer group social feature and has a lot of potential to be utilized creatively. Also, by launching Hangouts days before Facebook announced a Skype partnership, Google made Facebook look outdated and unimaginative for the first time.

Takeout
Right from the start Google is providing tools for any Google+ users to export all of their personal data. Though a minor functionality, this commitment to personal data ownership sets a stake in the ground for Google’s philosophy as it pertains to a critical aspect of social media as compared to competing social properties. Ideally, Takeout will pressure other social networks to match Google+’s offering by giving their users more control and ownership of their own information.

In contrast to all of Google+’s innovative features, something that’s missing may be its most significant asset of all as it builds its userbase: no syndication tools to and from other services. Whereas many people connect Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin together so one status message can be shared to all networks, Google+ is designed for everyone to only contribute fresh purposeful content to the community. While this might limit some people’s usage, it also ensures that people are not just seeing a duplicate experience to their Facebook or Twitter feed, and thus have more reason to stay and engage with everything that is shared. This is one feature of Google+ that very well may change soon when Google+ gets a public API, but for now it’s having a huge impact on how people use the service.

Importance
Even with its early success, Google+ has a major uphill battle. Facebook recently reached 750 million users and is the number one social platform in most countries world-wide. Twitter has slowly become a communication channel for the masses, playing important roles in national revolutions and government elections alike. Some people are skeptical the world needs another social network, especially considering that much of Facebook’s benefit derives from the network effect of everyone having joined it. However, there are many reasons why Google+’s success is incredibly important for both users and Google alike:

Identity
Though Facebook’s focus on real identities instead of anonymous handles changed the course of Internet history for the better, the way it’s handled identity rights has been questionable. Facebook is trying to aggregate as much user information as possible, but is shaky on what users can do with their data. As Facebook Connect becomes the log-in system for sites across the web, more personal information is consolidated under one roof. There needs to be another major competitor in the personal identity space, if only to keep Facebook honest and push them to think about users.

Search
Prior to Facebook’s ascent, all search engines had access to the public data. Point of differentiation was left to quality of ranking algorithm and ease of use. Facebook’s exclusive deal with Bing for access to much of its data has set off a distressing trend of companies choosing which search engines will have access to their users public data. Now the best search engine might not have access to the most important data, and in the end only consumers lose out. Google+, and the corresponding ‘+1’ buttons, are Google’s chance to secure its own fate as social data and social content becomes more integral to search. But more importantly, Google+ could put pressure on the social players to make their data publicly indexable for the benefit of all.

Product
While Google+ is a product on its own, it will also become a layer on-top of Google’s other offerings. This new social layer will help many of Google+’s legacy products, which have sometimes remained runner-ups despite competitive technology, achieve new standards of success. First up is Picasa, which now has powerful social sharing and people-tagging features that make Facebook’s inferior photo product so addictive to users. Picasa’s superior photo storage and organization will likely force Facebook to improve its own offering, and also could take market share from sites like Flickr. Google+ is likely to drive similar game-changing improvements in products like Google Places (it’s Yelp competitor) and more.

Businesses
Though the first iteration of Google+ is only a consumer offering, it’s likely to create or impact many brand marketing opportunities. Right from the start, clever brands have launched personal profiles and started exploring Google+ with consumers through realtime feeds and Hangout conversations. However, Google is actively deleting personal profiles created by brands, and promises significant business-centric offerings soon.

Google is expected to provide businesses unique profiles that links to other Google business offerings, including robust analytics and advertising opportunities. Limited testing of these offerings will be opened to a few select partners, including MTV and Ford. If early Google+ consumer usage is a sign, brands will need to think hard about how they provide a unique experience in Google+ that will be more conversational and community focused than any other social network before it. Google+’s newsfeed and group video chat capabilities are intentionally optimized for engagement more-so than syndication, and lack of integration with Twitter and Facebook status helps reinforce that brands will want to create original content, rather than just replicate their other hubs.

In addition to presence within Google+, the Google+ social data is likely to improve targeting options for Google’s other ad products, such as Adwords or display media. Google will soon have more information about their users, more registered profiles and more social data to enhance behavior and contextual targeting. It will also give advertisers more opportunities to connect with brands through advertising and content across multiple platforms.

Conclusion
While there’s a lot to be excited about with Google+, it’s important to remember the beta has only been open a few weeks. As more people are let into the service, and as Google makes optimizations and additions to the network, all of this is likely to change. However, Google+ is already proving to be a significant new offering for Google as well as social media users, consumers and brands alike. Whether or not it dethrones the current kings of social, it will absolutely improve many of Google’s products and force competitors like Facebook and Twitter to innovate quickly to bring more value to the consumer. Google+ is ultimately a major win for users of all services, and reminds us that social media as a whole is still in its infantcy. It will be very important for businesses to pay attention to and explore in the coming months.

Without an Obvious Vanity Layer, is Google +1 Doomed?

2011-06-02T10:33:00.001-04:00

A few months ago Google kicked off an ambitious project to build a social authority graph that competes with Facebook's powerful web of 'likes'. The project, called '+1', is essentially a button that would sit next to any web link and allow people to plus-up the value of that content. That endorsement will appear for your friends in Google search results, and ultimately could help influence Google's search ranking overall. The project began with +1 buttons appearing next to links on Google's search results, and starting this week the +1 buttons are now rolling out to websites to sit next to the usual collection social sharing buttons.

Google +1 is an enticing offer- your endorsement of websites could directly impact on one of the largest and most influential sites on the web. Clearly with this potential website owners will desperately want their readers and fans to take action (anything to improve search ranking). However, as it currently stands I'm actually fairly skeptical that Google +1 will be very popular at all. It seems to be missing the main driving force for social endorsement- the potential for immediate return satisfaction.

Part of what makes content sharing on Facebook and Twitter so popular is because it can deliver immediate ego gratification. On Twitter you can get @replies, ReTweets and even click counts (if you use bit.ly). On Facebook you can get 'likes' and comments. These all add up to an ego boost that fuels people's interest in sharing better and better content. Not to say that it's the only reason people share- but it certainly helps fuel it.

If this is immediate gratification is so important, where is the ego boost, or vanity layer for Google +1? The likelihood that my friends do a Google search that I might have impacted doesn't seem all that common, and even if they do, there isn't an easy way for them to thank me for the help. And there isn't an easy way for them to see a list of sites I'm endorsing to respond to without visiting my Google Profile (which virtually no one looks at yet). Without these critical aspects of return value from sharing, Google +1 seems like something content owners will want but content consumers won't care about. And without that alignment on interests it doesn't seem like to succeed.

So Google, what will you do to improve the fortunes of Google +1?

50 iPhone App Recommendations for Newbies

2011-05-30T22:38:00.001-04:00

Now that Verizon is selling iPhones, a whole bunch of my friends + coworkers have recently made the switch to iOS for the first time. That means a lot of "what are the best apps I should download first?" questions coming in! Now that Blippy is on the verge of getting shut down, I thought it might be helpful to write out a quick list of iPhone apps that I recommend. For the most part I've left a quick note about each app's purpose. Some of these might be a bit unusual, but I'm recommending them because I really like them at the moment or I think they have real potential. Some of them also require subscriptions to other services, though I've tried to minimize that. I've also left games off this list because they're fairly subjective and the best ones are usually reviewed heavily in the app store. Last but not least, a lot of these have very comparable alternative options, but these are the ones I've been drawn to for one reason or another. With that said, here's my list- what do you think? Which do you agree or disagree with? What would you change? What are your questions? [view the full list on the post page]

SOCIAL APPS

Facebook - the official app for Facebook
Twitter - the official app for Twitter
Linkedin - the official app for Linkedin
Foursquare - share and discover local places you visit
Hashable - to log new biz contacts
Plancast - view info on events to attend
Posterous (or Tumblr) - easy on the go blogging
Meebo - for AIM or Google Chat
Whatsapp - free international text messaging (to app users)

FOOD

Yelp - view restaurant recommendations
Menupages - view restaurant menus
OpenTable - make restaurant reservations
Fooducate - search food health facts by barcode
Foodspotting - share pictures of dishes you eat

MUSIC

Pandora - free music streaming
SoundTracking (or Shazam) - identify music you're hearing
Vevo - play music videos

NEWS

Reeder - read Google Reader RSS feeds (offline too)
Instapaper - read webpages saved for later (offline too)
Newser - catch up on breaking news quickly
NYTimes - read NYTimes.com articles on the go

PHOTOGRAPHY

Instagram - snap and share stylized photos to social networks
Snapture - advanced camera features like continuous shooting
PS Express - on the go photo editing
Photosynth (or 360) - capture complete 360 degree panoramas
Flickr - upload and view photos to Flickr

SPORTS

Sportacular - follow sports games and scores
WatchESPN - stream ESPN live anywhere (if a member)

ENTERTAINMENT

Netflix - stream movies and TV shows (if a member)
IMDB - look up information on movies and TV shows
Fandango - buy movie tickets from your phone
IntoNow - identify TV shows by a few seconds of audio
GetGlue - share and discuss movies and TV you're watching

SHOPPING

PayPal - send people payments via your phone
Mint - keep track of your bank accounts on the go
Shopsavvy (or Google Shopper) - look up product costs and reviews via barcode
Groupon - purchase and redeem neighborhood deals on the go
Square - pay without credit card at (some) neighborhood shops

TRAVEL

Mapquest - hands free driving directions
Tripit - keep track of your plane, hotel and car reservations
Google Earth - search across a virtual earth
GateGuru - look up restaurants in airports
Hipmunk - look up flight times on the go

UTILITIES

Weather Channel - look up the weather report
Google - mobile search (by voice) and links to Google apps
Mobile Mouse - control your mac trackpad by phone (w/ plug-in)
QuickMark - scan QR codes
Box.Net - 5 GB of free cloud file storage
DropBox - sync files between cloud, computer and phone
Evernote - record and sync multimedia notes, has built in OCR

Square Hits New York City

2011-05-28T08:38:00.003-04:00

One reason I've been jealous of San Francisco lately is because for the last year they've been able to make purchases in many business with new mobile payment startup Square. Square is a simple credit card payment system powered by a dongle that anyone can plug in to their smart phone or iPad. Square will send you a dongle for completely free, in exchange for taking a 2.75% cut from purchase made by the Square unit. This is a relatively low transaction fee for the seller, and for the shopper it's a more helpful purchase experience. After your first purchase from a Square register, the system remembers you credit card and pulls up your information automatically- including your email and cell phone, where you can receive digital receipts that include a list of the items you purchased and a map showing exactly where you bought from. Square is so simple to set up and use that I've even got one for the rare time someone wants to pay me back for something by credit card.

Up until now I haven't seen any stores in New York City using Square (though nothing was stopping them). But this week Square announced a brand new product and Manhattan was one of its launch markets. The new program is called Card Case, and it's a very cool. Now sellers can set up a product menu via Square, and shoppers can register digital credit cards with vendors. After a shopper has paid via the Square system once at a particular merchant with their credit card, they can link to that merchant permanently. Then in the future you can see what the merchant is selling that day, and pay at that the store without ever pulling your credit card. The virtual cards are kept in the new Square iPhone app in a wallet-like screen. With this a physical store merchant can now feature sale items, manage customer loyalty and more in a completely connected relationship powered by Square. You can see what the Card Case looks like in my pictures above.

I love the idea of Square. I love that it shows me all of the transactions I've made at a vendor over time, and easily lets me see what they were. I love that I get digital receipts instead of wasted paper. Now I love that I don't even have to take my credit card out of my wallet to pay at places I go often. And I'm really excited that my favorite coffee shop in New York City, Everyman Espresso, is one of the launch partners for Square Card Case. Before this, Everyman didn't even take credit cards- so clearly they see value in the system for themselves, as well as customers.

Keep your eye out for Square payment options soon, and let me know what you think.

Using Storify to Capture my Social Media Community's Reaction to the News about Osama Bin Laden's Death

2011-05-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

As is the trend with breaking news stories in the last three-to-four years, each one seems to top the next in how social media was used to cover, spread and react to the event. Last night's news about Osama Bin Laden finally being killed began and ended on Twitter. From a Pakastani man documenting the raid in real time, to the first unofficial news of the story being leaked well before the President addressed the nation, to four thousand tweets-per-second being published about the news, television and newspapers took a back seat to social media once again.

Another pattern of breaking news is use of new tools to help us capture and share the story each time. Last night some news outlets harnessed a powerful new curation tool Storify to pull together people's reactions to the news in one easily consumable timeline. Storify enables "authors" to combine original content with social media curation to tell a story through the eyes of many. I think this is just the beginning of us all following big historical events through quickly curated Storify timelines.

Here's my own coverage of last night's news, as told through my social media community. I've broken down into a few sections: raw reactions & discussion, an overview of how people used different social media platforms to share & celebrate the news, and some interesting longer-form blog articles about how social media played its part in spreading the news.

View the story "My Twitter Community Reacts to the News of Osama Bin Laden's Death" on Storify]

SS+K Launches our Foursquare Mayorshup (Mayor Mashup) on Foursquare Day

2011-04-16T16:44:00.002-04:00

Even since before I ever arrived at SS+K, there's always been a battle for "mayor" of the office on Foursquare. But this year, with a few more obsessive Foursquare users joining the team, what was once was a playful game has become obsessive competition. Now it's not enough to be mayor of SS+K, we're competing for mayor of everything- the kitchen, the cafe, the conference rooms, and various other key office spots. It almost feels like we have to get to work earlier just to walk around the office claiming all of our territory.

About a week ago some of us were talking about how the office Foursquare competition has started to feel a lot like a game of Risk, which people clearly controlling or conquering portions of the office map. We needed a system to keep track of who controlled what, a leader board for our office. So that weekend I put together a rough-and-tumble version of an SS+K Foursquare Mayor Mashup, relying heavily on the use of pre-existing social plug-ins. Here's what it looked like:

The version I hacked together helped show who was controlling which office location, but it didn't really convey the feeling of civilization-conquering competition that is taking place. So on Thursday afternoon a few of us talked about how we could build something a little more interesting in the spirit of upcoming Foursquare Day. And in a hurried 24 hours, with the help of our friends at Firefall Pro, we pushed out version one of the official SS+K Mayorshup (say goodbye to "mayor mashup").

We're pretty excited about our SS+K Mayorshup. For one, it helps convey just how much we love Foursquare. But also, this is just the beginning. We have a lot of cool ideas for what can be done on top of the Foursquare platform. And while you can expect a much more polished and interactive version of our Mayorshup to come soon, we hope to be launching some even more exciting things beyond our own office game of global domination as well. In the mean time, enjoy our Mayorshup and have a great Foursquare Day!

2 New Tools for the Social Media and Cloud Lifers: Memolane and Greplin

2011-03-14T09:57:00.002-04:00

When I left college in 2004 I took with me 3 hard drives that had over a terabyte of movies, music, documents and more. All of the content I had created or saved was a file on one of those hard drives amongst thousands of disorganized folders. It took Google Desktop to ultimately deliver a search product strong enough to help me find anything I wanted amidst the horde of files.

Fast forward to today, where those hard drives with thousands of files sit dusty on my shelf. It's not because I've replaced them with files on my latest computer, it's because, for the most part, I no longer have use for files on a computer at all. Now thanks to my obsession with social media, and my aggressive transition to everything "cloud", all of my documents are scattered across thousands of websites. Microsoft Office and Outlook have been replaced by Google Docs and Gmail. My photos and videos sit on Flickr and YouTube. In fact, tens of thousands of pieces of content are scattered across way too many social sites and web applications- so much so that it's getting impossible to remember exactly where I put any single thing, let alone find it again.

Enter Memolane and Greplin, two products to save the social media and cloud computing obsessed. Memolane and Greplin share the noble purposes of helping you rediscover the content you have spread around the web, though each focus on a different subset of content and solve it in different ways:

Memolane links up to all of your social networks (11 so far, and any RSS feed) and visualizes your activity in a really cool interactive timeline. It allows you to view all of your photos, status messages, location check-ins and more organized day-by-day. With Memolane you can do a basic search of your activity, but more impressively you can travel to any point in your social media history view a beautiful timeline and view what your experience was as told by your foursquare + Flickr + YouTube + Twitter + Facebook activity (and more) at that moment. Memolane uses all sorts of meta data to put the timeline together, and even successfully managed to import and accurately assign photo's I'd taken in 2002 and uploaded to Flickr years later.

Greplin connects to the top few social networks, but focuses more on cloud computing sites like Gmail, Google Docs and Dropbox. You can't browse your documents visually, but you can instantly search across all of your sites to find anything you need. Greplin returns search results really fast and organizes them by message, event, people and file to help you find what you're looking for more easily. Greplin is a freemium service, meaning some of the accounts it links to come free, but others (like Google Business Apps and Evernote) are paid additions. Greplin isn't as sexy as Memolane, but it's incredibly powerful and useful as working in the cloud becomes more common.

While Memolane and Greplin tackle similar problems, they each focus on a different set of content and help you rediscover it in different ways. Since I am putting more and more content online each day, I expect to use both of these services often. Have you tried them yet? If so, what do you think? What features do you think they need to be more helpful, or what are other services that are helping you organize your cloud life?

Three reasons why I'm so excited for Foursquare v.3 #4sq3

2011-03-09T09:37:00.001-05:00

Last night Foursquare launched the latest version of their iPhone app, Foursquare v3. This marks the third year in a row they're launching at SXSWi, the perfect stage for the Foursquare team to show off what they've been up to and why it's going to change everything. This year's refresh is an awesome overhaul, and really proves how hard the Foursquare team is working to make the platform into something immersive and valuable. Here are the top reasons why I'm so excited about the latest version of Foursquare application:

Powerful new personalized recommendations
Foursquare launched a new tab in the mobile app "Explore" that houses all kinds of recommendations for you. You can view trending places, pick a category or search for a topic in particular. What makes this more intriguing than just about any other recommendation engine I've seen though is that every recommendation comes with "reasons why" Foursquare is suggesting this place. It could be because your close friends keep going there, because there are a lot of new tips there, because you go to a whole bunch of places like it, or more. I immediately trust recommendations that are transparent, even when the reason given is "this place is totally different than you're usual" (which you might just see).

More compelling loyalty and rewards opportunities
Two big challenges with earlier versions of Foursquare were that deals were hard to find, and they usually only applied to the mayor. Both of these have been fixed, and then some. Now when you pull up nearby places you see an alert at the bottom of how many specials are close, and have the option to browse only those specials. There are also 6 new types of specials that businesses can offer, such as deals for friends that check-in together, regular customers, 'swarm deals' and more. This makes Foursquare even more capable as the backbone of business loyalty programs, and makes deals a lot more value to customers.

More interesting data and gaming metrics
Foursquare says the gaming mechanism is entirely rebuilt, with dozens of ways to earn points in ways that will encourage you to try and do more, such as points for returning to places you used to frequent, trying a new type of food or catching up with an old friend. You also see updates to your game ranking ranking every time you take an action, and the game is now always based on the "latest 7 days." I'm also really excited to see personal data being brought into the application. On your profile tab is now a section that shows your most explored categories, which you and your friends can visit to see what you are most likely an expert on.

These new features in Foursquare, along with their earlier additions of photos and commenting on check-ins, complete Foursquare's transition from novelty game to powerful platform. A lot of people have dropped off from using Foursquare after they tried it because they didn't see the value; this is Foursquare saying they heard you. Give it another try, spend some time exploring the features, see more of what makes mobile / geo social networking so interesting, and let me know what you think.

The Return of Appointment Television

2011-03-07T09:00:00.010-05:00

For many years, as DVR and online streaming have taken over a big portion of television consumption, we have increasingly said goodbye to the notion of "appointment television" (watching TV shows when they originally air on broadcast). There are a few exceptions of course, mainly sports and news, but for the most part at this point the tech savvy consider television something we can consume when and where we want.

Recently, however, I am noticing myself more interested in catching the initial broadcast (the appointment) of my favorite shows. And it's not because I can't get the video elsewhere, it's because increasingly the first view is a richer, more entertaining experience. Broadcast companies and brand partners are learning how to add unique value for those who participate in the original airing of a new show/episode airing. This is great for us because we are getting options for "premium experiences" if we choose, and great for them because they get more eyeballs on their most valuable asset: the live (mostly non-skippable) broadcast. So how is this transition back to appointment television happening? Here are a few ways:

1. Rewards
Broadcast companies are partnering with the rising crop of "entertainment check-in" companies like GetGlue and Miso to provide tangible ad intangible rewards for people who watch a show while it's airing and "check-in." The rewards so far have been anything from virtual badges to discounts on show memorabilia. Showtime, for example, not only rewards viewers with badges for popular shows like Californication, but also gives fans a chance to win free DVD's if they check-in at least 10 times during a live airing. Even Foursquare, which typically focuses on real-world locations, is getting in on the action. During the Super Bowl Foursquare and the NFL partnered to offer team memorabilia discounts to people who checked-in with their favorite team during the Super Bowl.

Even more interesting might be IntoNow, a newer entrant into the social TV app marketplace. IntoNow is actually able to check-in for viewers automatically based on the video it hears being played in the background. Their ability to recognize audio footprints isn't just a cool trick, it also helps verify that a user is really watching shows, rather than just checking in for the reward. IntoNow jumped quickly into the partnership game, linking up with MTV for the a promotion around the premiere of Jersey Shore.

2. Access
Another way shows are enhancing the viewing experience is launching additional content available through computer or iPad that is available during the show. One breakthrough example of this is from a surprising source: Grey's Anatomy. The Grey's Anatomy iPad app releases interactive content in real-time while the show is airing. The application uses Nielsen audio foot-printing to sync content with the show as it's airing. This type of second-screen experience is also starting to show up in theaters. Best Buy developed an iPhone app for movie Despicable Me that delivered special content to users on their iPhone during the movie, again triggered by audio cues.

The 2011 Oscars also pushed the boundaries of access to additional content through their iPad app Oscars Back Stage Pass. The Oscars app actually provided a before, during and after experience via second screen. Before the show the app delivered special interviews and behind-the-scenes clips. Once the Oscars started airing on TV the app enabled viewers to watch additional camera angles of the Red Carpet and from inside the awards theater. In addition to the iPad app, Oscars host James Franco actually live-tweeted from on stage. This gave viewers an unusual first-hand perspective right from on-stage. Content like Twitter streams can be viewed later on, but it's most compelling during the original viewing as it happens in real-time.

3. Community
The third, and perhaps most important, way live television is becoming more compelling is the rich social media driven community that builds around the broadcast. Increasingly television watchers are sitting in front of the TV with Twitter or Facebook loaded on another device in front of them. As the show progresses they are taking to social networks to voice their opinion and talk about the show with other fans. This experience is usually not even tied to the broadcast company, but shows are benefiting from this new real-time water cooler. This live community makes shows more fun to watch when they're happening, and can generate a feeling of "missing out" when you have to watch later. In fact, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone mentioned in a recent interview that Twitter is driving "let's watch it when it's on" behavior.

In addition to fans taking to the Internet themselves, some shows are beginning to experiment with leading the community conversation by having cast members live-tweet during the airing of new episodes. Fox show Fringe, for example, announces on their website which cast members will be tweeting during the next episode. Always Sunny in Philadelphia, on the other hand, doesn't have cast members tweeting but does host the real-time social conversation right on their own show community page during new episodes.

Conclusion
It's a surprising turnaround in a time when disaggregation and on-demand are transforming media, but 2011 just might be the return to appointment television. Incentivized by rewards, access and community viewers are starting to prioritize watching the original real-time broadcast for a better viewing experience. This trend is not only benefiting shows and fans, it also means big returns for brands. For one, live-viewing helps ensure viewership of commercial spots. What I hope to see, however, is smart brands finding ways to join relevant conversations and provide additive content as participants in the viewership experience. This could lead to a stronger, more valuable relationship with audiences down the line.

For additional thoughts on this topic, check out Ford's Social Media Director Scott Monty, who published a similar article about "Must See Twitter" while I was drafting this.

My Favorite Internet Things From 2010

2010-12-30T10:20:00.001-05:00

In honor of the new year, here are my favorite Internet things in 2010 and why they're so important. This isn't just list of what I use the most, this is a list of things that I think are hitting prime-time and changing the way we operate for the better. In no particular order:

Facebook's Open Social Graph: I still don't care much for Facebook but I think the open social graph is a fantastic development. Information streams and sharing on Facebook itself are too eclectic and unorganizable to be useful. Being able to add your social graph on top of third parties like CNN, ESPN and Netflix however unlocks filtered personalized information in a clear and actionable way that was previously very difficult because people didn't want to have to re-register and rebuild friends on every website. I know a lot of people fear Facebook's instant personalization but I think it's incredibly useful.

Flipboard: The Flipboard iPad application is incredibly transformative for social sharing, news publications and the iPad all at once. It is a beautiful way to interact with Twitter and Facebook and consume personalized news streams. It's a very clean + seamless + intuitive way to browse news in a way that no other publication has achieved yet. I'm not sold on it being a comprehensive reading solution (no two-way sync with Google Reader is a deal-breaker) but it's the most pleasurable way to read Twitter and Facebook by far and it single-handedly sells people on buying a tablet computer.

Foursquare: I used to think Foursquare was about serendipitous meetings with friends but now I realize that's just a very small beginning. Foursquare is all about signaling trusted parties that you are in a specific location, and triggering valuable localized + personalized + timely information. That might be the location of a nearby friend, a deal from a brand, history from a database, news from a publication or more. We are just beginning to see the possibilities of smart people creating valuable products on-top of simple location sharing. I also love what Foursquare has done with it's API's- with 3rd parties like Foodspotting and Instagram being able to pass all sorts of data to Foursquare the personal history archiving is really amazing as well.

Google Chrome: Google did for browsers what it did for email, search and maps before- rewrite and redefine capability and expectations for the entire industry. The Chrome browser is a million times faster, lighter and more powerful than any browser before it and has sent waves of progress thru it's competiors. I am positive I save hours a week working and browsing on the web thanks to Google Chrome. I can't wait to see what Google does in 2011 in turning the browser even more into a fully featured OS (Google if you're reading this please send me a CR-48).

Quora: These guys managed to build a community where important people with fairly exclusive information feel motivated to share it. Because of Quora we are all learning things that we may never have thought we'd have access to. That's a pretty valuable creation. It's rapidly joining Twitter as the source for finding and sharing information for journalists, so though it's very niche now I'm sure it will grow significantly next year.

Groupon: The deals are great, sure, but the exciting impact is the larger influence Groupon is having on helping advance advertising from being about forcing impressions to offering real value. Groupon isn't the only way this is happening, but it's a big one. The deals space is now cluttered and competitive (and potentially overhyped) so it will be interesting to see what happens in 2011 but the lasting effect of consumers expecting value-driven reasons for trying a product is here to stay.

Google Docs: I've been an advocate for Google Docs for years, but the features Google launched for it in 2010 put it over the top. Completely real-time synchronized group editing, full document compatibility (at least with file storage), and mobile access all make Google Docs an incredibly powerful work/life tool that I use almost exclusively over Microsoft Office. It's just one of the many ways my computer experience is moving entirely to the cloud.

Streaming Music: In 2010 streaming music almost entirely replaced mp3's for me. Sites like Pandora and TheSixtyOne give me access to great music without having to deal with transferring files from device to device, hard-drive to hard-drive. They also enable me to discover more new music easier than ever before. The faster music moves to the cloud the better- I can't wait how Google and Apple enter the space this year with cloud-based music offerings (I wrote more about streaming music in an earlier post).

So that's my list, what do you think? What are your favorite Internet things from 2010 and why?

5 Great Sites for Listening to Music on the Web

2010-12-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

One of the things I've found harder and harder over the last ten years, and I know I'm not alone on this, is dealing with the many thousands of pieces of content I have on an increasing number of computers and hard drives. This has been the most difficult with music and photos, and only exacerbated by my move to Mac this year due to file and organization incompatibilities. So as hard as I try, and as much as I work to rebuild and refine my collections on each new computer, each transition more and more gets cut. In particular, I'm starting to realize it takes way too much effort than it's worth to maintain an up-to-date music collection.

But I do love music, and I love finding new music, so how am I replacing the thousands of MP3's I've collected? I'm becoming obsessed with the plethora of amazing places on the web to discover and stream music. The websites below comprise the current roster of music sources that I rely on daily. Each of them has a different model for music discovery and recommendation, and access to different sources of music. But they all have a mix of known and unknown, and they all provide a really enjoyable listening experience. So without further ado:

1) The Sixty One
My current favorite, a site I visit daily at home and at work. A great source for popular indie + independent music, and a beautiful site to boot. As songs play you get full-page photos, facts of the bands, and fan commentary displaying on the page. The community helps songs rise, so make sure to sign-up and vote. Don't forget to try out the different playlists available in the top-right corner.

2) We Are Hunted
Great site for listening to music that's popular on the web. They index all sorts of sites and social networks, and let you stream the 99 most popular songs in a variety of categories. The 'popular' category is usually pretty mainstream, but there are also tons of ways to discover new stuff. Try different things like visiting the 'app' section to listen to music being actively shared on Twitter.

3) Pandora
Pandora probably isn't new to anyone, but I couldn't leave it off the list. It's still the best streaming radio site ever invented. It's the most reliable way to get a full station of music you really like, on your computer or on the go via the killer mobile apps. If you use Pandora on Mac check out PandoraJam, which gives you a desktop app that sync's with last.fm and has other cool features you might want.

4) Hype Machine
These guys describe themselves as "Discover music blogs worth listening to", and that's the general idea. The front page is an aggregate of the most popular songs based on coverage from a curated list of music blogs. The music is very indie and lately seems to include too much techno remix, but it's still a great place to find new music and best of all it has a useful search engine.

5) Tumblr
This last one might be a surprise since Tumblr is so much more than just music, but right from the beginning one of the site's primary uses has been to share songs. Many Tumblr users post their favorite songs along with the rest of their creative output; the trick is to find the right Tumblr users to match your taste- both with music and other content. Here are a few of mine: Fred Wilson, Bijan, Tuneage.

Delicious, Foursquare, OneTrueFan and the Founders Dilemma

2010-12-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

This week two very interrelated tech news stories broke. The first: Yahoo may be closing Delicious; the second: Former MyBlogLog founder launched the public beta of his new product OneTrueFan. Why are these related? Delicious and MyBlogLog were two incredibly popular web 2.0 social products that were acquired by Yahoo! aggressively when their stock was rising. Both were poorly assimilated, rarely updated and for the most part left to squander to the dismay of their loyal fanbases. Oh and despite it all I've used and enjoyed both of these services almost to the bitter end, so this Yahoo's failure is personal.

While the founders of MyBlogLog and Delicious did very well financially through their acquisitions I imagine they were incredibly pained seeing their vision go mainly unrealized and their dedicated users left unfulfilled. Now years after web giants like Yahoo swallowed up hot startups we're seeing the founders try for success again with their ideas again. OneTrueFan is in a way MyBlogLog 2.0 - the founder's attempt to create independently what couldn't be done within Yahoo. It's the same story as Foursquare, which was launched by Dennis Crowley years after Google acquired his first company Dodgeball and drove it into the ground. Now Foursquare is one of the most popular mobile social networks around at the dismay of Google; will OneTrueFan achieve similar success?

I for one am happy to see founders go back and try to make a second run at their idea. It shows passion and dedication, and proves they really cared about the product, not just the money. It shows if you care about your product you need to think hard whether it can possibly achieve its potential when you have to play by someone else's rules. Personally I hope like Dennis Crowley before him Delicious founder Josh Schachter tries for round two with his dream with a new version of social bookmarking; I would be much happier using his product than the one Yahoo! is embarrassingly choking to death. I think there's a huge amount of potential to build upon Josh's original vision (and I know I'm not the only one).

In the mean time, I hope founders of great companies try to make it on their own, or at least look for better matches in their suiters. Those of us who come to love and rely on your great work want to see what you're cable of doing with your great idea.

(But then, part of me wonders if it sometimes takes the disappointments early on for success to happen. In other words, was Dodgeball too early for its time, was it destined to fail either way, and did the manor in which it failed drive Crowley to a new, better idea that he wouldn't have been capable of achieving otherwise? Or maybe it takes the added flexibility and confidence of having some money under your belt, as this article suggests.)

Let me introduce you to Recco

2010-12-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

My friend Joe hit a big milestone this weekend on a longtime personal project of his: he (and his partners) launched a company and published an iPhone app into the Apple app store. I'll get to the app in a second but first some words on the milestone. A lot of people talk about good ideas every day and never do anything about them. Joe and his friends stopped talking, got to work and made something*. I'm crazy impressed with their drive and ingenuity, and even a bit jealous of his ambition too. No matter what happens from here Joe and the guys should be really proud of what they've accomplished- I know I'm proud for them.

So on to Recco. The way I see it Recco was born out of the frustration of a generation of food recommendation sites that focus on aggregating the masses- both in content quantity and participation. While some are better than others, there's still this feeling like there's too much content and too many people to discover the best stuff. The Recco team saw a need to build an app that cuts the clutter and helps get to what you really want- giving and getting recommendations from your trusted friends of great places you should experience.

For those of you who use Foursquare or other mobile location apps the experience with Recco will be fairly intuitive. You open the app to view recco's around you, and you add recco's + tips as you want. Your credibility rises as people endorse your recommendation. It's pretty basic right now but this is just version one- I'm excited to see how the Recco team builds upon their platform to bring more powerful recommendation and discovery. Check out the Recco site to learn more and download Recco for iPhone, and start giving Recco a try.

And to the Recco team: it was exciting to be a part of your beta- congrats on launching, let me know how I can help moving forward, and I can't wait to see where you go from here!

*By the way, Seth Godin produces a lot of gems but the number one reason I read him every day is to remind myself I should keep trying to move from talk to make...

Some Grade-school Nostalgia This Weekend

2010-12-12T16:35:00.000-05:00

This weekend i've had a few throw-back moments that rekindled the joy of favorite things from my grade-school days.
First, Capcom released an iPhone app that lets you play old arcade games like the original Street Fighter 2. For me this is straight-up a flashback to grade school skating rink parties. I'm surprised how many of the special moves I remember after not playing an arcade game at least 15 years. I was so hooked on the game in the subway that I missed my stop.
Second was this short youtube film I came across about opening packs of baseball cards. Anyone who's visited my bedroom back in Cherry Hill knows how obsessed I was with baseball cards back in the day. I used to skip lunch all week and pocket the money so I could run to the card store Friday after school to buy more.
Anyway neither of these drives down memory lane will get me back into the hobbies for long but it was fun for the weekend.

[written on my iPhone at while biking at the gym]

Exploring the Third Place

2010-10-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

Today I spent about four hours aimlessly walking around SoHo and The Village enjoying the weather and exploring new spots. Along the way I managed to discover two pretty cool new coffee shops (at least new to me), and with the aid of Instagram on my iPhone I collected a mini photo-documentary of the people around me.

The Third Place

And of course the details on the coffee shops, both of which I recommend for different reasons:

Ground Support - an awesome hideaway in SoHo that lets you dodge the crowd for a quiet cup of coffee. there's plenty of room to sit at the indoor picnic benches, and free wifi, not much more you can ask for. I could easily see doing work here on weekends.
Third Rail Coffee - I've walked by this place a bunch of times but never gone in until now, which was a mistake. You can't come here for anything but coffee- it's got four small two-person tables, and nothing else. But as long as coffee is what you're there for, you're in for a treat. There are house blends of drip coffee and espresso, and then a variety of name favorites (Intelligentsia, Stumptown) and international imports on request.

8 Lessons I learned About the Future of Internet and Technology at TechCrunch Disrupt

2010-10-11T09:24:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I had a great opportunity to attend the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Over the course of 3 days I was front row for some phenomenally insightful speakers, thought-provoking panels and at least 50 startup exhibitions. The overarching topic was "disruptive technologies and industry trends." Here are 8 core lessons I learned:

1) Strive to achieve things that give people pride to be alive in this generation
This ambitious goal was born on the opening panel about “what makes an internet treasure” and resonates as the high bar we should all aspire to pursue with our work. Mark Pincus, founder of casual games developer Zynga (maker of pop culture hit Farmville), gave a poignant example of how this can be achieved even in unexpected places. Mark’s vision for Zynga is to make people’s daily lives have more meaning. He’s trying to achieve this by enabling people to build more meaningful relationships through gaming, teaching people how to accomplish goals, and turning entertainment into social action successes (Zynga’s fundraising effort for Haiti in Farmville raised millions of dollars).

2) Gaming mechanics are joining social functionality as a standard feature set
Today it’s almost universally expected that content sites contain certain baseline forms of social interaction: comments, voting, and sharing. Also, with the rapid deployment of Facebook & Twitter’s social graphs, we increasingly expect to see a social recommendation overlay of which content our friends recommend most. Now a further layer of interaction is set to become a standard: gaming mechanics. Mobile applications are rapidly playing catch-up to Foursquare by building reward and ranking systems into their products, but the trend doesn’t stop there: several start-ups are rolling out plug-ins that enable every site to integrate gaming mechanics quickly with a few lines of code. One such company, Badgeville, touts gaming mechanics as a way to incentivize critical behaviors, and develop a new level of funnel analytics.

3) Intelligent curation of content is more important than ever as the pace of content creation accelerates
Lots of companies are working on smart ways to filter and display the most valuable information from the stream. One pathway is giving users powerful curation tools. Datasift is a platform to filter Twitter content by very specific data points such as topic or authority. Storify lets users snag and combine all types of media from everywhere into one curated story page that updates everywhere it exists in real time. Another method is algorithmic creation of content. Tweetbeat develops robust news pages about topics & events displaying only the valuable Twitter content, complete with replayable timelines. And the winner of TechCrunch Disrupt, Qwiki, answers search queries with interactive audio/video compilations that feels right out of a futuristic Disney movie.

4) We will soon be making purchases and payments in very unexpected ways
Ecommerce is blowing up right now. The local deals space is so rich and so competitive that Groupon actually got on stage to seriously announce a dating service Grouspawn, which promises that anyone who uses a Groupon on a first date and then goes on to have a child with that person is eligible to win a full college scholarship for their kid. On the other end of the spectrum, Wildfire has built a robust self-service tool that enables brands to run Groupon-style deals and other contests right on their Facebook page. But perhaps the most exciting area of development is mobile payments: Square was on hand to tout its simple tool to turn iPhones/iPads into credit card reader. PayPal is enabling payments by tapping iPhones together. MobilePay launched an iPhone app that handles credit card payments and loyalty cards for stores. Gifi even lets you leave surprise cash gifts for friends at places you know they’ll check into on Foursquare.

5) It’s a golden era of technological breakthroughs, but what about the ramifications?
Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke inspiringly about the solutions Google and other innovative technology companies are solving. Cloud computing and ubiquitous connectivity provides nearly everyone with levels intelligence, memory and computation that once dictated power, disrupting countless economic models by leveling the playing field. Access to all this information is a source of joy because “satisfaction of one's curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life” (Dr. Linus Pauling). But as technology gets smarter, companies like Google and Linkedin are starting to grapple with a big question: in a future where you have all of the answers before you even look, what about the joy of serendipitous discovery? Schmidt says: “in the future we are never lost, but there was something fun about getting lost. What are the implications of all this intelligence and how small the world has become?”

6) As competing products reach feature parity, the skill is to design interaction
Walking through a startup showroom and reading the trades lately has made one thing incredibly clear: it’s hard to have a differentiating product on features alone. The first question every judges panel asked of startups was: could your competitor own this space just by adding features (anyone trying to compete with Foursquare really needs to think about this). Quora co-founder Charlie Cheever was challenged to answer how Quora would stay significant in the face of competition from Facebook Questions. Charlie’s answer was that Quora was specifically designed to elicit high quality information with its product, rather than large quantities of answers to masses of questions. They knew everyone could offer a Q/A service, so the skill was in the design of interaction. These words should ring true for Digg founder Kevin Rose, who’s desperately trying to save Digg from rapidly descending into irrelevancy because its product simply wasn’t designed well for interaction.

7) The big marking implication of mobile is ubiquitous connectivity increases access to moments of truth
Online advertising’s biggest impact has been its ability to have immediate and traceable impact when paired with ecommerce. Mobile advertising has unprecedented capability to connect marketing and consumers during similar moments of potential off-line purchase. The challenge is improving ROI by pairing the plethora of mobile ad inventory with consumer intent. Hyper-local search can do this; mobile display media however is still more often relying on an interception approach. The head of digital marketing for P&G said Gillette won’t pay to give a coupon to someone who was about to enter a store and buy their product at full price anyway. It sounds like to win over clients like P&G mobile marketers need to crack intent, change habits, and instigate referrals in real time.

8) Each era of Internet evolution is defined by the dominant form of intelligence
The popular model of the evolution of the web (e.g. 2.0) classifies generations by type of interaction (e.g. professional content vs. user generated content). A newer model focuses on type of intelligence that dictates classification + curation + discovery. In this model we’ve lived through three distinct generations of Internet evolution: the portal (curation by human editor), search (ranking by algorithm), and social (community recommendations). Each generation is capable of producing more relevant information, which is the key determinant of value, and ultimately how disruptive the information model is. Jeff Weiner, CEO of Linkedin, says the modern media company needs to incorporate expert curation, intelligent search, and social graphs to be successful. Venture Capitalist Peter Thiel says the entrepreneur trying to change the world should be thinking about what the next generation of the Internet could be powered by.

So what do you think? If you watched any of TechCrunch Disrupt, I am very interested in hearing what you took away from the conference. If you’re catching up by reading blogs like this, I’d love to hear what you think about the topics in general. Please share any thoughts.

I am loving Instagram Photo App for iPhone

2010-10-10T21:52:00.000-04:00

I'm quickly becoming addicted to a new photography application on my iPhone called Instagram. All you do is snap a picture, apply one of the many creative filters, and then easily share it to all of your favorite social sites. You can also geotag photos and check in to foursquare all in one shot. It's also got the underpinning of its own social network, letting you view, favorite, and comment on the most popular public photos. It combines the fun of Hipstamatic and the simplicity of Posterous, and it's free. I can't wait to see where the creators of Instagram take it next.

Instagram joins Hipstamatic, Pro HDR, and 360 Panorama in my folder of photo taking tools. You can see my reviews over at my Blippy page.