In order to reduce the noise, clutter and meaningless posts, I have decided not cover or post anything in 2007 related to:
- Yahoo
- YouTube
- MySpace
- Digg
- Microsoft
- Apple
- News Corp
- Any newly launched services already discussed else where in BlogLand
The reason for this is that I am getting so tired so read the same old story over and over again all over the blogoshpere. Really. How interesting is it to read that Google launched a new service 50 times the same day? Or about which company will acquire Facebook. Vista this and Vista that. Zune here and Ipod there. Alexa this and Digg that? Put a couple of these companies to John Lennon’s "Give Peace A Chance" and you”ll get the spirit in which I am writing this 
Although I do not believe in New Year resolutions (I’m Jewish) I will try to be more selective about what I am writing from now on, less clutter and try to be more original rather that mirroring all the noise out there.
Disclaimer. I will only write about any of the above if the have anything directly to do with my business or changed something dramatically in my or other peoples life…
Digg it?
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Digg, Facebook, Google, MySpace, Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube
Following Brad Garlinghouse’s “leaked” Memo to WSJ also known as “The Peanut Butter Manifesto” a few questions come to my mind:
- Will this trigger a real change in Yahoo?
- Is this just a personal agenda?
- Will his or Semel’s head roll?
- Is this just a storm in a glass, that will eventually fade out accomplishing nothing..?
- How should Yahoo or any other company react to this type of “outing”?
Regardless of the answers, it is an emberresment for Terry Semel and Yahoo’s management team. Anyway, I would not say that the problems pointed out by Brad are unique for Yahoo. They could could just as well be applied to other companies like AOL and probably soon Google as well. It is difficult to grow fast, become big and maintain the passion and innovation. And buying innovative, passionate companies does not mean that you can buy and maintain the passion. It will often fade after the deal. That is just the natural order of things…
The Personal Bee is yet another news website, getting ready for launch of its aunch of its do-it-yourself news service. According to the company it self it is:
“a social media company that believe that the combination of RSS, smart analytics, and user collaboration will lead to a better way for you to find news on the topics you care most about”.
Hm, what does that really mean? It means that, users create and organize portals around topics like Headline News, Web 2.0 or Travel, Technolgy and Wine, for instance. Readers can then themselves subscribe to various existing “bees”, and can also create their own feeds around specific topics, keeping their portal private or letting others subscribe ( I guess that it is here that the company becomes a “social media company “). All the information is aggregated by the company’s software from various sites and blogs, but relies on portal owners, or “beekeepers,” to act as editors – vetting information as they go.
In general this is not really something new and the online news space is already getting very crowded. However, letting other portal owners act as editors is a very intersting idea. It reminds me of a discussion I had some time ago with the former editor of the San Francisco Chronicle John Oppedahl. He also believed that the news media as we know it is about to change, but the overflow of information is just too big handle. John meant that the need for news editors will be grow even stronger, and that we more than ever will need somebody to skim it all out for us, or make sense of it all.
I personally believe that the days of the big portals our counted and the direction we are moving towards are very rich personal, edited portals (not a la My Yahoo etc though) where we can share parts of the content or all of it with others.
Anyway, Personal Bee is plans to generate revenue through advertising, and is backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures . As a side note I can just say, that the future for online advertising looks very bright…(if anyone every doubted that).
New York Times has a good write up about how user generated content and how it is changing the media landscape. The article’s conclusion, is that most amateurs are just happy for having their clips posted on sites for everybody to see. However, more and more media companies are offering prices or even paying for user generated content. Even Yahoo is said to have signalized that it is moving away from creating its on content in favor of user generated material – and are willing to pay for it.
So what is so compelling about user-created material?
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It is cheap
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It taps into the social aspect of interactive media
But while user-generated materials can attract a lot of attention and drive a lot of traffic to sites like Myspace , the article points out that so far it has not been regarded as a winning format for major advertisers. Myspace is adding up to a million registered users a week, but has attracted little advertising reveune relative to its audience.
In response to this, Viacom’s chief executive, Tom Freston, is qouted saying, “It’s like inserting the advertising into a conversation between two people, and there are still a lot of questions about advertisers supporting user-created content.”
Still, I believe that there really is a good window of opportunity for user-generated content sites and networks over the coming two years, because at the end of the day, its one of the things that makes people tick’. We are all looking for a stage, for a little fame even if it is not on a American Idol format level, but rather amongs our own little circle of friends and peers.
It seems like Scoble have nothing better to do over at Microsoft today than inventing a new word (brrreeeport), then tag it and see what happens. BTW, the brrreeeport sounds extremely familiar to a certain bodily sound that Adam Curry happens to let loose in the Daily Source Code on a regular basis like a 30 second spot…sponsored by (oh you know by whoom..). The worst thing is that even I find myself writing a post on it..Is this the sad true state of the blogosphere today, or is it just what makes people tick’?
Looking at the more serious side of it (if there is any..) when I was running a blog campaign for Samsung Mobile’s Anyfilms.net some time ago, I noticed that Google Blog Search by far out numbered Technorati and the others in tracking the posts. Technorati turned out to be really disappointing as a reliable tracking tool (which was a pity since I really like their service). The big surprise however, was MSN Search tracking far more blogs with the tag “anyfilms” than the others (after Google of course).
Technorati Tags: Brrreeeport, Technorati, Google, MSN Search, Scoble, Microsoft, Tags, Search, Tracking, Blogs, Blogging, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, Samsung Mobile, Samsung, Mobile, Anyfilms, Video, Film, Movies
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Today I offically become the “Anyfilms blogger“, on behalf of Samsung Mobile for the Anyfilms.net project through my cooperation with Hyper Happen on Yahoo 360. On the Anyfilms blog on Yahoo 360, I will discuss the cross over between cell phones and movie technology, and the future of movie making in general. Check it out for yourself, come join me in the discussion and let me know what you think.
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Technorati Tags: Anyfilms.net, Anyfilms, Samsung , Samsung Moblie, Movies, Films, Mobile, Cell phones, Gadgets, Blogs, Yahoo, Yahoo 360, Hyper Happen, Media, Blogging
I have now passed my first year as a blogger and it has been an amazing year. This blog was born out of many requests that I got from working with various media agencies and start-ups on questions like: do you have any research on viral marketing? do you know of any company providing …? what media strategy do you suggest that we use on…? have your heard of..? We are looking to hire a talented person that..? What do you think of this business plan? Can you help us find investment for this new start-up? and many more. Instead of emailing ideas etc whenever it came up, I thought I just start a blog to share some of my experiences and know-how with my circle of contacts. However, I never dreamt of that it would turn into a business..
Here are some of the major take aways from my first year as a blogger.
- Build a fantastic business network & made new friends
- Helped companies in generating new business
- Launched Samsung Mobiles “Anyfilms.Net” blog campaign through my cooperation with Hyper Happen.
- Helped some talented people getting new jobs
- Adviced media agencies on blog strategies, viral marketing and what makes people tick’
- Connected people
- Inspired others to blog too
- Launched my company Mash Up Media – (MUM)
- Connected start-ups with Venture Capitalists & vice versa
- Made some money too
To sum up: I have learned a lot, got in touch with so many new and interesting people, helped other people with promoting their businesses and skills. If there is one thing I can say is that blogging is good for you and your business whatever you might be doing, just remember the famous line “Anything that you say, can and will be used against you…” so think twice before you post. BTW, stay tuned later over the next couple of days for a new blogging announcement.
Technorati Tags: Maxthon, Internet, Media, Blogs, We Media, Citizen Media, Citizen Journalism, Advertising, Anyfilms, Samsung Mobile, Business Developent, Blogvertising, Online Media, Hyper Happen, Networking, Mashups, Mashup Media
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