Keeping up with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will be easier with Yahoo's Mobile site, m.yahoo.com/olympics. Although it doesn't have video, Yahoo's mobile site has still photos, live results and a complete schedule of all the events. The site also has blogs, commentary from experts, and a robust search function which will allow users to search by sport or athlete.
With big name sponsors like Visa and Samsung, kudos to Yahoo for their innovative approach to provide users what they need.
(Businesses; are you convinced yet that you NEED a robust website to compete in today's web & mobile savvy world?)
A whole new networking site from Google for it's Gmail users who can share updates, photos and videos.
You know why Google needed to launch the BUZZ……it needs to hold its own against Facebook & Twitter.
Gmail has over 176 million users according to a market research study conducted by comScore. So that's a ready audience. Buzz provides a "built-in circle of friends" which is basically a group that Google selects based on who you communicate with most frequently using Gmail and Gchat.
Meanwhile as I was writing this blog; Twitter was aflutter with both positive and negative comments about Buzz.
So will Buzz give Facebook a run for its money? Lets wait and watch…..
Fed up with its lack of success and progress in the Social Media space, Google recently hired social media evangelists such as Chris Messina, Will Norris, and former Plaxo executive Joseph Smarr to lead a new "Social Web Team".
Is Google unsuccessful in the Social landscape because the giant itself doesn't have it's own social media strategy?
Google's social web products like Orkut, Google Friend Connect, OpenSocial, Google Profiles, and even Google Wave haven't had much acceptance on the social front. None of these products have resonated with the public or the developers that architect the social-networking technologies. Coupled with the shutting down of acquisitions DodgeBall and Jaiku due to budget cuts, Google suffered another social-media blow when its attempt to acquire Yelp failed.
Google's biggest and probably only success in social networking is YouTube. However, the core of it as well as its initial base of mainstream popularity preceded the Google buyout.
Other than that, what exactly has Google contributed to social networking?
So what will the big dogs Messina, Norris and Smarr do for Google? Hopefully a focus, new product ideas, and a way to take on Facebook???
Here's some new functionality soon to be found in Twitter – ability to view someone's profile without visiting their profile page. As the name suggests, Hovercards is a floating card which appears when you hover the pointer over a username or an avatar. Hovercards provides you the benefit of viewing information about a twitter user which helps you decide whether you want to interact with them further or not.
So, if you hover your mouse over a person’s name on a tweet in your timeline, the person's profile information, location, and whether you follow them or not appears in a hover card. There's also an option to follow, block, mention, or report someone right from within the hover card.
(Image credit: Twitter blog)
Twitter announced that "One way we've found these cards to be useful is to find out more about retweeted people and follow them right there. You can also see more information with an expanded view of the card."
I know that I will like this feature because sometimes I just want to see the person's profile and location without wanting to open a new browser window. And sometimes I just want to unfollow someone without going to their page to "unfollow" them.
In typical Twitter fashion, Hovercards will be rolled out in phases. I didn't see it available on my profile today so I assume I'm not in their "inner circle", lol. But hopefully soon……….
Engadget's blog is now allowing comments again, only two days after Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky, announced that things had gotten out of hand and they were going to stop commenting until things settled down.
Well, it appears that things have settled down fairly quickly. Or rather Engadget has found a solution to their problem of getting a lot of "ugly, threatening, and spam" comments.
Topolsky announced on Thursday (Feb 4th) that they have made changes to keep "comments clean and comfortable for everyone who wants to join in the discussion — not just the loudest of the bunch."
Basically, readers of Engadget will now have the option of switching off the comments functionality and Engadget has deployed tools to allow their editors to moderate the comments more "effectively and efficienty".
They've also outlined a lot of ground rules for users. They want comments to be "reasonably polite" and lighthearted where possible. Of course anyone taking personal potshots at others including their editors will not be allowed and that they would delete any comments that were racist, sexist, or obscene.
Hmmm…but even if they allowed "unfiltered" comments, shouldn't Engadget have been doing some of that already? They could have implemented some automated monitoring to delete racial or obscene comments even if they didn't have a team of people monitoring comments.
But anyway, a blog is again a blog on Engadget. So have it and go comment on their site. Be sure to be "lighthearted" too when commenting on their site or Joshua Topolsky may get mad…..
What's blogging without comments? A blog means two-way dialog; one person posts, several comment, right?
Well, Engadget, a technology blog has stopped allowing comments on their blog because they felt that the tone of the comments had "really gotten out of hand."
Engadget editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky said in an announcement that "We know you like to have your fun, voice your opinions, and argue over your favorite gear, but over the past few days the tone in comments has really gotten out of hand,…."
Topolsky went on to say that what is supposed to a fun environment for their users and editors had become mean, ugly, and in some situations, threatening which was "just not acceptable".
And it ended with something to the effect of "everyone cool down" and that Engadget will allow comments on their blog again when they feel that things have settled down some.
Websites which allow unfiltered comments from users is a very common problem faced by many sites including most of the newspaper and television blog sites.
This "unfiltered" commentary is a growing concern for most of us who like to play in the online networks. Should all comments be monitored? Should websites which serve as an informational source be setting up a whole "comment management" team?
Here we go again…..another new platform for us to play on: www.buzz.com by AT&T. Buzz.com allows people to find out the best local businesses using recommendations from friends and family.
David Krantz, president and chief executive of AT&T Interactive, says that "through Yellow Pages, AT&T already had a wealth of information about local businesses and a large local advertising business.But the company realized it could attract more visitors and more advertisers if it could make its local business searches "deeper and more relevant."
So on buzz.com, a user looking for a carpet cleaner or xyz product company in Orlando could poll friends and family on the site to find the best option. Buzz.com will also be able to suggest experts on that topic based on user "favorites" and comments.
Boy is the data from buzz.com going to be completely skewed or what? I mean, this will not be "neutral" data; it'll be emotional based on personal preferences and uses. And "expert" recommendations? Come on, everyone's an expert these days!
Buzz.com is currently in "alpha" testing phase with about 500 AT&T employees testing buzz.com. Buzz.com will go public in a few months and then we'll be playing on that platform too, for you.
Alterian company's 7th annual survey in which 1,068 marketing professionals around the world were surveyed, found that two-thirds are planning a social media marketing investment within the next 12 months.
Over 67% of those surveyed identified Social Media as either "critical to success" or "increasingly important" and about 40% said they would spend about 1/5th of their traditional direct marketing budget for social media activities.
This makes a lot of sense right?
Social media provides direct, instant, global access to hundreds of thousands of people. So it makes me wonder when I hear people tell me that they are still relying on the yellow pages for their leads or when people give me "we're a local company" as their reason for not engaging in social networks.
Come on folks. Lets get real here.. Social media marketing is not just important to the viability and long-term success of your company, it is becoming IMPERATIVE.
Stay in front of your customers and prospects and remain in business or else……(you fill in the blanks).
I normally won't touch religious or political stories to blog about but man this I gotta share.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for the 44th World Day of Communications told his priests to become more web and social network savvy. He said "The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts…." The theme of the upcoming May 16th event is "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word".
Doesn't that sound totally like a business conference that you may have attended?
His Holiness goes on to say ""Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word."
Man! Not only that, the Vatican recently launched the "Pope2you" portal, offering a Facebook app, iPhone app, YouTube channel, and Papal videos.
So your boss not quite on the Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogging bandwagon? Ask him or her to read what THE POPE has to say. I'm sure he'll / she'll come around quickly.
Listen to the Pope, not just for world peace messages but also for increasing your reach and spreading your message using social networks!
So has Twitter reached its peak? I don't think so.
I agree that Twitter can be intrusive and I also know that some posts can be quite annoying. However, in my opinion too many people tweet without really engaging people. That's where they are missing the boat in terms of leveraging real-time networking opportunities in Twitter.
Twitter and Facebook have different usage criteria. I know that if I were to post a message on my Facebook status 10 times an hour, I'd be out of friends quickly. So in the video when it was mentioned that "Facebook is better" again, I felt that the perspective shared was not really business-focused.
For businesses, really Twitter is about creating "curiosity" through tweets and an interesting bio which can lead to a discussion, an investigation, a contact, and eventually a business transaction.
Remember the equation: Quality + Quantity
Quality means posting tweets that are insightful and engage readers where possible. 70% of these tweets should be focused on sharing business information and expertise in your field. 30% of the tweets can be exchanging personal messages, commenting on topics that may not necessarily be exactly in your field of expertise, and in general, just networking online to build a network of well-wishers.
Quantity means building "influence" through the followers that you build. These followers are the folks who will engage with you off and on to create extended visibility for you and your brand.
So what Twitter does better than Facebook is providing that "volume" influence which on Facebook is a bit more time-consuming and a bit limiting unless you are a brand like Starbucks or Pepsi / Coke.
So tweet away with heartfelt dedication cause tweeting ain't dead yet!
Social Media Blog: Engadget Comments Back on
February 5th, 2010Engadget's blog is now allowing comments again, only two days after Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky, announced that things had gotten out of hand and they were going to stop commenting until things settled down.
Well, it appears that things have settled down fairly quickly. Or rather Engadget has found a solution to their problem of getting a lot of "ugly, threatening, and spam" comments.
Topolsky announced on Thursday (Feb 4th) that they have made changes to keep "comments clean and comfortable for everyone who wants to join in the discussion — not just the loudest of the bunch."
Basically, readers of Engadget will now have the option of switching off the comments functionality and Engadget has deployed tools to allow their editors to moderate the comments more "effectively and efficienty".
They've also outlined a lot of ground rules for users. They want comments to be "reasonably polite" and lighthearted where possible. Of course anyone taking personal potshots at others including their editors will not be allowed and that they would delete any comments that were racist, sexist, or obscene.
Hmmm…but even if they allowed "unfiltered" comments, shouldn't Engadget have been doing some of that already? They could have implemented some automated monitoring to delete racial or obscene comments even if they didn't have a team of people monitoring comments.
But anyway, a blog is again a blog on Engadget. So have it and go comment on their site. Be sure to be "lighthearted" too when commenting on their site or Joshua Topolsky may get mad…..
Tags: Blog_Comments, Blogging, Engadget
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