It does appear, from looking at the search term referrers and other stats, that this little blog is being used as a reference or guide of sorts, which is definitely one of the main purposes for which I had hoped people would view it.  Still, I need to get back on the stick with updates.  There really is a lot more I wish to share.  I'm always open, as well, to discussing particular topics and answering questions, so feel free to pose a question or suggest a topic in comments.

More to come soon!

(Kliknij, by powiększyć.)

Artist page, May Beta 2008, originally uploaded by last.fm.

I can’t do it!  I don’t often say that. 

I just don’t get twitter. 

I feel like the twittermethis.com guy.

What is the point?

I have tried. 

I am following.

I am being followed.

Sorry twitter lovers – I don’t care when you’re at the bar.

Or in the car.

On the way to buy a donut.

Is that my problem – I don’t care?

I read that people have meaningful business taking place on twitter.

All in 140 characters or less.

@twittergods   please help me learn to tweet

@cougarmark

tweet tweet

(twitter has no wings at the moment.  twitter.com won't load right now.)

The Nielsen numbers, which track monthly unique visitors to social-networking sites, found that MySpace's growth from April 2007 to April 2008 was just 3 percent, and that Club Penguin's traffic shrank 7 percent. If Nielsen's numbers are accurate (which is always debatable with online metrics), that's not good for News Corp and Disney. In August, for example, the same methodology from Nielsen found that Club Penguin had grown 250 percent year-over-year and that MySpace was still growing at a healthy rate of 23 percent.

Nielsen: MySpace, Club Penguin growth static, LinkedIn soaring | The Social - CNET News.com

Down 7 percent, Eh?  Hmm.  Couldn't be because they now have proper virtual world competition from Buildabearville, Pirates Online, and other such domains suddenly seeing the SPARK that IS youth online media.  It's about this time last year anyway - when people suddenly moved from adult community buzz to youth oriented buzz, thanks to Barbiegirl's amazing winter stats. 

However, I must debate myself with the fact that kids are multitaskers.  I'd love to know from parents what they're range for paying sites.  Do they cash out for one safe experience? Or more? 

What is the average amount of paying subscriptions for tweens online?  Again - if they are multitaskers, do parents pay for more than one?  Or just one and the kids have to enjoy free experiences? 

But then I go back to the fact pre January/February 2008, people were pointing at the product-based "entrance fee with a stuffed animal purchase", and only post that time did people start buzzing with subscription based worlds.  Of course - that's a gut assumption from someone who does her best to read all the statements and articles out there, as well as stick her ear firmly to the railtrack and listen for signs of movement. 

There are quite a few subscription based worlds in the mix for this year.  How much are parents willing to purchase for web world activities?  And what's the next step, to help kids in the candy store get all that they want without ticking the parent (and their credit card) off?

Hmmm....

Did you know that soon you will be able to get custom web design, where freelancers can bid on outsourced projects?  You can outsource to India, Romania, Ukraine, or anywhere around the world!  That is right, all in one place!  www.vois.com is that place!  You can find freelance jobs, freelancers, post free projects.  Thousands of professional freelancers from around the globe will bid on the projects.  New freelance and outsourced jobs will be added daily.  A community for social sourcing will soon be ready!  It will be the most effective and affordable way for talented freelancers to connect with a worldwide community!

Google Friend Connect can help turn your website into more of a community space where users can comment and rate stories, add their own pictures and even see who else is participating on your website. When you come across a website with Friend Connect installed, you can sign in using your existing Google, Yahoo or AOL account information, and you can invite friends from your Facebook, GoogleTalk, LinkedIn accounts and more. Every time you come across a site with Google Friend Connect, you can sign in to that website's Friend Connect and all your information is right there waiting for you.

Google is looking to the next phase of social networking and the next phase of where I believe the internet is headed. Call it Web 2.5 or Web 3.0 if you wish. I think the internet is heading in the direction where every website you visit can be a part of your community. Rather than having to join proprietary networks like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to be a part of a community, it will more like being members of a big public university. You're all connected, in that you're all a part of the same University system, but you have different classes with different people, and you spend your free time differently too. But if you meet a new friend in class, you can invite them to be a part of one of your extra-curricular activities.

Maybe I went a bit overboard with my college analogy, but I think it works. Right now Google Friend Connect is only being rolled out to a select group of users, but before long, I expect this will be opened up to anyone interested.

Is it just me or has Muxtape.com been hacked?

Earlier this evening I was uploading songs to Muxtape when it stopped loading. Now whenever I go to each individual mix each song has been replaced by Aim (with stephen Jones) - Good disease [Babybird does a Prince thing]. I have emailed the Muxtape team but no reply yet. I can't see how this problem could just be my end but I can't find anybody else posting about it. Weird.

For those who don't know Muxtape is a mixtape-style site which allows users to upload songs. You can then give out the unique URL to your 'Muxtape' and other people can stream your mix.

More info at Muxtape.tumblr.com

My Muxtape.

Five years ago I threw myself into entrepreneurship, completely clueless to all it would entail. All I knew is, I had this killer idea that no one had ever heard of-at least, no one I knew. I knew that I could do it better than anyone else, why? Because it came from within and it was something I was passionate about.

Looking back five years I have come a long way, I am almost embarrassed at how little I knew, but grateful for all I have learned. The experience was a stepping stone for where I am now, but I am recognizing the process all over again.

1. The Epiphany/The idea
2. The plan/Networking
3. Action/Taking it to the people/Networking
4. Nurturing/Networking
5. Success/Networking

This list is oversimplified but it is successful entrepreneurship or business in a nutshell.

I am sure you noticed the common theme, networking!

• Networking isn't a technique, it is a state of being.

What do I mean?

Networking in it's obvious sense is fleeting.

In a recent conversation with Terry Bean, CNO of Networked Inc. and Founder of Motor City Connect I asked him to expand upon this.

"WCID4U is the new WIIFM- Networking now requires a whole new attitude. In the old days, people used to run around and tell folks who they were, what they did and how everyone could help them. That "What's in it for me" (WIIFM) mentality just doesn't cut it. Great networkers know they need to be interested prior to being interesting. They take a "What Can I Do For You" (WCID4U) approach. By taking the time to learn about how you can help others, and actually helping them, you will see your networking efforts provide you a significant ROI."

Networking in a true sense requires giving of your time and talents because you love what you do.

Most everyone is aware of the usual networking venues, the local chamber of commerce, the BNI's... but did you know that networking on-line can prove to be far more reaching when combined with local venues? Terry Bean adds:

"Some people swear that face to face networking is the only way to build quality relationships. Other folks have adapted to and have fully transitioned to the on-line model of networking. Why not do both? If you effectively use online networking tools, you can expand your reach and grow your contacts so much faster. Then, by actually taking the time to meet with, or at the very least converse with your new networking partners, you will be able to build those relationships at a much deeper level."

Five years ago I was not aware of on-line networking, in-fact the tools on-line today were not there five years ago, networking today is far more beneficial for business, if you take advantage of it. So with that I would like to add how the combination of local and on-line networking has benefited me and our business.

• Friendships
• Clients
• Awareness
• Education
• Business to Business
• Employment for family members
• Opportunity for empathy
• Entertainment
• Greater outreach
• More effective use of time
• Generated new ideas
• A new source of self worth
• Company growth

Is your networking giving you everything you hoped? Please share or ask questions, I'm listening.

Online travel podcasts hightlighting countries, cities, tourist attractions, accomodations and nightlife. Read on...

More details on Steven Spielberg’s upcoming ghost and UFO based social network, which we first wrote about in early March and followed up with additional details a week later. The site will reportedly be called “Rising” or “The Rising” (our understanding is that they have acquired both .com domain names), and the logo above and animated logo below are at least preliminary versions of the final.

Another example of the trends we see within the social network community (mySpace, bebo)

I'm kidding. Kinda. But I am still extremely jealous of everyone who got to attend the Mediabistro Circus and to hear this little gem from the former MySpace exec:

When it comes to the old model of disseminating media in a one-way stream, "There's some Uncle Milty shit going down right there."

Classic television reference! Hot! What I would not give to drop that in a meeting sometime. You see, even though my job description says I work with social media, there are times where I am personally frustrated by the general lack of understanding about how the process of how social media works. Social media is dependent upon multi-directional communication, that your audience gives back more than just personal data or content to exploit, but that they are engaged enough to help build the content and community that will bring them back.

Professional communicators are not used to this. Journalists are used to telling their stories, informing the public and filtering any direct response through a letter to the editor or ombudsman (if they work at a place lucky enough to have them.) Professional marketers are used to sending out a message and measuring the success of that message through sales.

But that's not the end game of social media. Social media forces professional communicators to reconsider the way we do our jobs, the success of social media is dependent upon some level of audience trust; trust that they are engaged enough, loyal enough, interested enough to participate. And that requires transparency, the willingness to expect public feedback and criticism, to communicate honestly to your audience, to admit faults and lack of omniscience. To put content out there and trust the fact that you won't have complete control over how/where/when/why it's consumed or used.

That goes against what most professional communicators have been trained for.

In the past few years I have worked for/with a number of companies/organizations that have expressed an interest in using social media for marketing purposes.

I have yet to work at a place that does it well.

This is primarily because of lack of trust, and a general lack of understanding about the multidirectional communication that is the bedrock of social media's success. It's not just communications professionals though, some of the hard-core IT/Web geeks I know aren't necessarily plugged into social networking on a contextual level.

I don't think we will see traditional communications organizations truly adapt to social media and use it to the best of its potential until current media professionals retire.

Gold really breaks down why:

"The Internet generation has grown up sharing their lives," he said. "They're aware of privacy, they're aware that anything they say can be used against them, but they somehow don't mind. Their lives are more scheduled and structured than ever before," making them the model for using social media to connect more, quicker, and better than older generations. "They're so limited in time, social media lets them efficiently connect."

This is by no means an exact list but it's certainly a WIP. I need everyone's help in compiling this though!

There is no order. <-----truer words have never been spoken?

Christopher Carfi 

JD Lasica

Brian Solis

Phil Gomes

Nathan Gilliatt

Lena West

Linda Zimmer

Sally Falkow

John Hingley

Peter Shankman

Charlene Li

Jeremiah Owyang

Shel Israel

Robert Scoble

Rohit Bhargava

Chris Brogan

Mack Collier

Scott Monty

Christina Kerley

Mike Sansone

Toby Bloomberg

B.L. Ochman

Greg Verdino

Mitch Joel

Josh Bernoff

Jackie Huba

Ben McConnell

Valeria Maltoni

David Armano

* Seth Godin

*Jason Breed

For the uninitiated, internet social networks are communities of disparate individuals using websites to create and share interests, ideas and information.  These websites exploit multimedia communications to provide users with access to content rich in detail and variety.  Well-established internet social networks include Facebook (http://www.facebook.com), Bebo (http://www.bebo.com) and MySpace (http://www.myspace.com).  They are regarded as attracting mostly younger users and perhaps inevitably some content is a little too rich for mainstream tastes. However, reports of the demographics served and participating can be surprising – according to Forrester Research, Facebook users have ‘aged’ over the past year with the number of users aged 35 or over, increasing from 36% in August 2006 to 45% in August 2007.   Nevertheless, internet social networks arguably offer an unprecedented scale and speed of information sharing⁴.  Content is not usually subject to formal peer or editor review, but this need not diminish its value, especially when human experiences, which can provide vital context for information, are being shared.  

Patients with chronic diseases have an enormous capacity to care for self-care and mutual support.  Many associations, such as the National Kidney Federation (http://www.kidney.org.uk/), include user-lead internet discussion and information-sharing forums.  Other internet social networks including Daily Strength (http://dailystrength.org/) cater for many different conditions within a single social network.  Some of these networks use cutting edge web 2.0 technology.  The American Cancer Network has recently opened a virtual health and education facility which caters for the ten million virtual inhabitants of the ‘Second Life’ world and their ‘actual’ alter-egos (http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/131/63/23).

Internet social networking also offers new information sharing opportunities for clinicians.  A recent BMJ article highlighted the benefits of social networking in scientific discovery⁵.  Social networks can also benefit those involved in health service improvement.  Clinicians across the NHS are striving to improve services, often in isolation from colleagues who face the same challenges in other organisations.  Internet social networking offers the opportunity for such individuals to collaborate rather than to work in isolation, often reinventing wheels and repeating mistakes.  The Sermo social network (http://www.sermo.com/) offers such a service for American clinicians and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement is currently developing and testing a purpose-built Internet social network to serve users within its organisation and as a pilot for an existing defined clinical community of practice.

As is often said, new technologies don’t solve all our problems; they just create a better set of problems.  It would be a great shame if recent events stigmatised a new technology before we’ve even begun to realise its full potential.  Information security and productivity are of vital importance to the NHS, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Simon Watson                 

Dr Donal O’Donoghue

Dr Mark Greenhalgh (Programme Director, Health Information and Intelligence Portal and Underlying Systems, Department of Health / GP, Essex)

1  Facebook banned by Health Trust. BBC News online 5^th September 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6980736.stm)

2 Facebook addicts costing businesses £123m each day in lost productivity. Daily Mail 6^th September 2007

3 Facebook ban for 'half of all staff'. Daily Telegraph 24^th August 2007

4 Kelly,K. We are the Web. Wired Magazine, 13(8) 2005 (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html)

5 Cohen, D. Facebook for scientists?. BMJ  2007;335:401

What I've seen so far suggests that Balaya has some interesting new ways of integrating the social media experience in ways that improve things for bloggers, users and advertisers.

I've written about Balaya before, and suspect I will be again...

Between at home creativity that members share, and online creativity from members creating amazing rooms, they never cease to amaze me.

Even when getting a haircut, Xiv's are thinking of Xivio! Now don't go off and shave your head PUHLEASE! Specific is an adult that was giving himself a hair cut anyway. But again, something I found that showed how many are thinking about Xivio when they arent logged in!

I've long ago kicked the habit of social networking like crazy. Sure, I do have Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, etc. but it has been a while since I joined a new social network. Yesterday I received an instant message from my cousin inviting me to join PerfSpot. So I did.

I'm not really amazed with PerSpot. I rather think it's far from "perf". For some reason, It reminds me so much of Myspace and Tagged.

Sure, it has the basics - photo albums, blogs, music, videos and ability to add a gajillion friends. It even has an instant messaging function. But, nothing new there.

So WHAT makes PerfSpot "perf"?

Uhm... ooh there's a fly on the wall!

A new report was published from IDC titled The Hyperconnected: Here They Come!: A Global Look at the Exploding ‘Culture of Connectivity’ and Its Impact on the Enterprise which explores trends in information sharing and connectivity in people’s daily lives.

The result of a worldwide study of 2,400 working adults from various industries spanning 17 countries, the research indicates that 16% of the information workforce is already “Hyperconnected”, and may be joined by another 36% more very soon. The study’s cluster analysis identified 4 profiles of technology users.

-The Hyperconnected person uses a minimum of 7 devices for work and 9 connectivity applications. The lines between business and personal use is blurred.

-The Increasingly Connected use 4 devices and 6 applications, they tend to use applications such as blogs and wikis but are less apt to be social networking.

-The Passive Online use fewer devices but are experimenting with application such as IM.

-The Barebones Users use email, desktop access to the Web.

Some interesting findings about the Hyperconnected from the report:

• The boundary between work and personal connectivity for the hyperconnected is almost nonexistent. Two-thirds use text or instant messaging for both work and personal use. More than a third use social networking for both.
• The country with the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents was China.
• They are found in all industries, but are above the average in banking and high tech industries
• They can be any age, although 60% are under 35, only 7% over 55
• They would take their laptop out before their wallet or even mobile phone if they had to leave their house for 24 hours
• They tend to work for companies who are also early adopters.
• 59% of hyperconnected respondents companies use online communities or social networks to reach their customers
• 36% of hyperconnected respondents companies use outbound video podcasts to reach customers
• A fourth of hyperconnected respondent companies use blogs and wikis to communicate with customers.

“It won’t be possible to ignore this new level of connectivity. Businesses can either embrace it and manage it carefully or, stand-by as it enters their enterprise, in a confusion of disconnected deployments that squander the productivity and competitive advantage Hyperconnectivity could otherwise bring.”

FriendFeed is a solution to this problem. I first learned about FriendFeed from this article on LifeHacker. FriendFeed is a free service to aggregate all of your social networking activities -- blogging, Flickr, YouTube, delicious, etc. -- in one place. Before I found out about FriendFeed, I was trying to keep up with everything through links on my iGoogle page and RSS feeds in my Google Reader, which was labor-intensive.

FriendFeed does the work of aggregation for you. You can add all of your social networking services very easily using the simple interface. FriendFeed currently supports 35 services, including RSS feeds from blogs and practically everything else. The only service I couldn't get to work was my Amazon wishlist, but I suspect that was an issue on Amazon's end, and it wasn't critical anyway. It doesn't support 43 Things and its relatives, and I was too lazy to add the hundreds of RSS feeds available from there. But everything else I participate in is on FriendFeed.

I use FriendFeed primarily to track my own web activities. I pull in the RSS feed to my Google Reader so I can remember what I bookmarked, blogged about and Twittered. This satisfies my obsessive need to see everything in one place, but more importantly, it helps me make use of my social networking activities. For instance, if I'm bookmarking, blogging and Twittering about a particular project I'm working on, I can see all of it in one place in my FriendFeed. I can add notes in the form of comments or mark something particularly important as something I "like."

What I don't use FriendFeed for is its primary purpose: tracking the online activities of my friends. That isn't entirely true -- I track my husband's activities. He also has a lot of social networking presence, and everything he posts is of high interest and relevance to me. FriendFeed enables me to see all his stuff in one place, instead of having to check numerous sites or RSS feeds. But I'm sure that if I used FriendFeed to track more people than him, it would become overwhelming and meaningless, kind of like when someone overuses Twitter.

One interesting feature on FriendFeed that I have yet to take advantage of is the imaginary friend feature. This enables you to set up a profile for a friend who isn't using the service -- or for a friend that you have created -- and track various things on behalf of that friend. If I were researching a particular organization or topic, I might use this service to track disparate resources in one place. For example, the company I work for has a few blogs, a Flickr presence and a wiki. It would be easier to track all of those through a FriendFeed imaginary friend than keep track of them separately.

FriendFeed has a few flaws. For example, I would love the ability to tag items shared in FriendFeed. But in helping me keep on top of all my online activities and social networks where I participate, and retain a little bit of control in this new world, it does the job.

If you like, come follow me on FriendFeed.

Already several special interest groups have been established and hundreds of members from around the world have joined.

Dear Readers, I hark back to William Blake. (I hope some of you have been interested enough to read my essay on why Blake is so important to me.) One of his mythological characters, Enitharmon, is a woman who weaves the fibers that produce the material world. (Sounds like quantum physics to me.) Her partner, Los, is imagination. Enitharmon gives form to what Los imagines. Together, these are the forces that create the universe we can perceive.

"Research suggesting that women bring different skills and strengths - such as strong social and communication skills - to the work environment, complementing those offered by men."
Diversity Milkround Website

Anyway, I was thinking about this and I came up with this concept of "social trust".  Because social media does allow you to engage with people you don't know, typically sharing a common interest, you have a starting point for dialogue.  But is that enough social trust?  I would say possibly not and I have done the following to build my social trust online:

• A personal website
• Twitter
• This blog
• LinkedIn profile

It just seems that having a cluster of online information about you gives you authenticity and develops trust with people who don't really know you.

The only thing is, I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that it leaves me vulnerable - can someone use this information to take advantage of me in some way? 

Seth Godin is a renowned speaker. Keynoting this summer at the IABC 2008 International Conference, Seth joins Shel Holtz today at Noon ET (click to listen), for an exclusive interview about his upcoming appearance in June.

Among other things, Godin is author of ten books that have been bestsellers around the world, including The New York Times business book bestseller list. Godin is also a contributing editor at Fast Company, holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called "the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week.

His latest book, Purple Cow, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. It's all about how companies can transform themselves by becoming remarkable.

Social Networking is replacing the need for face to face contact and its market is expanding gradually. According to IDC estimates, unified communications will be a $17 billion market globally in 2011, accounting for a growth of 38% compounded annually from 2007 onwards.

Due to fast development we are observing changes like substitution of email by IM, hard copy resumes to social resumes. It is cost saving option for companies and also provide easy way to communicate with people of same interest and explore interest of other.

However social networking faces some challenges also like management in virtual environment and it cant be denied that co location brings about more engagement