(I found this as part of another larger story about Facebook)

While costly, risky, and foreign to brands, the biggest missed opportunity for brands in social networks is to become part of the community, interact and build real relationships. Although we should expect interaction rates and viral spread to increase with engagement ads, brands should wait and see how these ads CTR perform. For those brands that are ready to forgo the risk, and pursue ‘Engagement Ads’ they should:

• Be community themed: Ads created by the brand will succeed if the content is first focused on the needs of the community.
• Rely on new interaction activities: The rules of the game have changed, the goal is to increase interaction within the community –not pull them offsite.
• Approach with an Integrated Mix: Facebook offers many tools, ‘Engagement Ads’ shouldn’t go it alone, instead increase chances of success by involving other tools.
• Change how they measure success: Brands must also change they way the measure success with these interactive ads, rather than weigh success solely on page views or referral traffic.

What Facebook's New Engagement Advertising Means to Brands

Published 04 September 2008 - 0 comments

In a riff on "If you build it, they will come", many online services are seeing their paid subscriptions increase when they add storage AND make it easy to use.  The real key is making it easy to use. 

Google sells extra space to use with Picasa, and Google Docs.  Online networks like Ning and Multiply offer lots for free, then you can remove ads and store lots more content if you pay a small subscription fee.

Multiply.com recently released a mass upload utility which has resulted in lots of additional uploads and many more subscribers thumbnail ID images have suddenly started showing the 'P' icon which designates premium subscribers.

Many social networks expected to monetize in other ways, but any revenue will do.  So what if that big social network is just a front for a nice online storage business.

The next wave in storage is online, and the shift is happening now.

Published 03 September 2008 - 0 comments

NPR's show, On the Media, had the founder and CEO of CafePress on this weekend.  CafePress, is the place where you can upload your own designs for T-shirts, hats, posters, etc.  According to the CEO, GW Bush shirts were more popular than John Kerry in the past election cycle and we all know what happened there. 

The CEO felt that T-shirt sales was an indicator of the enthusiasm of supporters.  If that's an indicator, John McCain is in deep trouble.  Obama shirts are outselling McCain by a huge margin.  Some might attribute this to the younger supporters for Obama, but the Bush anecdote puts that somewhat in question.

And in this election we can also judge by the number of 'friends' each candidate has in the SocialSphere.  (copyright, and trademark hereby relinquished)

According to TechCrunch, McCain is way behind Obama on both MySpace and Facebook. 

In an attempt to shore up it's position in the online world the McCain campaign just relaunched it's online presence with a full private community.  Better late than never?  I'm not sure.

One thing is for sure.  The first clue that Sarah Palin would be the VP came when someone made extensive edits to her Wikipedia page a day before the announcement.

See More here - TechCrunch - McCainSpace Relaunches

	McCain	Obama	% Diff
Facebook	226,000	1,400,000	625%
MySpace	66,665	467,800	700%

Published 03 September 2008 - 0 comments

It was hinted at when World of Warcraft spawned a raft of so-called 'gold farmers' who played the game solely so they could earn gold to sell to other players.  Then a whole WoW gold economy sprouted.  Blizzard, the makers of WoW, took steps to kill this and the trading of other in-game goods like weapons, but the implications were very clear.  Real people will spend real money on virtual goods.  Some players were selling whole accounts for over $500 on eBay, until Blizzard squashed the practice.  They were content with making $14.95/month per player.  This was a very stupid move, IMO, but I digress.

Next came virtual worlds like Maple Story where the game and the play were free, but the goods cost money.  Want to move ahead faster?  Buy some credits.  Want to finish this quest faster?  Buy the xyz spell for 10 credits.  As far as I know they are rolling in read dough.

Second Life is another virtual world with a real economy.  SL will sell you a nice spot in their new development, or even on a new planet or space station.  SL also lets players resell goods and real estate.  Now we're talking!  This has spawned a serious economy, but it's less compelling than in the gaming communities which have 10 times the revenue potential.

Well, Facebook got into the real virtual economy game with digital gifts a little while back.  Now it seems they are selling at a $35 million dollar run rate.  I kid you not.

The bottom line, literally, is that online viritual economies are a growing business.  And they are not limited only to virtual worlds, or even social networks, they apply to all online communities.

"Time is money" as Ben Franklin said.  If you can spend a few bucks instead of a few hours, there will always be some people who value their time highly enough to reach for their wallets.

See these posts for more.

Lightspeed Venture Partners Blog - Facebook Virtual Economy

CNET Weighs In



Is the virtual economy is the future of our real economy?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Published 03 September 2008 - 0 comments

A day after Google launched its Chrome browser, the blogoshpere is abuzz with inImplications of this major release.

Chrome Provides Entry Point for "The Google Social Network"

Google is certainly interested in Social Networking.  They released the Open Social API as a way to level the playing field and allow you and your profile to be free to join multiple networks, etc.  Facebook and MySpace represent closed networks.  Chrome could be a backdoor that allows Google to create a defactor social network.  Facebook has already shown us how this could work.  Starting around June, when you are logged into Facebook, you can see friends who are also logged on and you can easily chat with them, all from within the browser.  Google could easily allow you to do the same across your whole online experience.  Then they can leverage this into a defacto network by using the implicit social graph represented by who your have sent and received Gmail messages to or from. 

Google could either leverage this as a private entry point, which would diminish interest and growth.  OR they could combine it with Open Social to provide a completely open network where all social networks have to play on the same level playing field.  I expect them to do the latter.  Google has shown a definite orientation towards openness.  Besides, it only further expands their advertising reach.

Chrome will be used on the Android Open Mobile Phone Platform

This provides even more of a threat to Microsoft.  The so-called Smartphone has been a faithful extension of the Windows experience, and there is the problem.  Smartphones are not so smart, or easy, or fun, or useful.  Apple has shown what's possible by leaping far ahead.  So far Android is yet to be seen, but the early leaked info looks so-so. Let's hope the reality exceeds the early info.

With Chrome as the browser, Google could be right there with Apple.  Apple would represent the private platform.  Google would represent the open platform. 

Chrome Could Enhance Google's Ad Targeting

By owning the whole browser experience, Google could offer unprecedented targeted search results.  If anyone can, it's Google.  We could all be dead before Microsoft's Live search comes alive.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.  Do you think Chrome is the beginning of the end for Microsoft?  Will Google force the future of Social Networking to be open?  Will Google take over the whole web?  Let us know what you think.

Published 03 September 2008 - 0 comments

Today Google released its new web browser.  It was announce on the Official Google Blog yesterday.  It's called Chrome and it's based on the Firefox open-source.  This is major news, not just hype.



As browser-based apps become more important, it's important that Google has the ability to control the browser environment more completely.  I would have expected them to collaborate with Firefox, but they seem to be taking a side step.  I'm not sure if this semi-independence is important to them, or just a necessity of working with an Open-Source organization.  Google will be contributing its code back to the Firefox community, so it's possible that Google will mainly be reworking certain key elements of the architecture. 

Part of the purpose is to isolate each tab.  This is important for enhanced fault tolerance.  Today, if one tab crashes, it takes the whole browser down with it.  Also it's not multi-threaded, and the garbage collection (release of resources used) when a tab is closed is not thorough.  If you leave the browser open for days, it eventually uses more and more memory.  Internet Explorer is the worst.  Firefox is much better.  Chrome is supposed to be even better.

Google has been working on this project since 2006, so it's no minor flash in the pan.

Some are calling this the beginning of the Google OS. Also known as 'the Windows killer'.  I agree.  As the trend for apps to move to the web continues, the Browser is the key.  This kind of speculation was all over the press about 5 years ago.  Then it totally died down.  Well, it's official now.  Apple has Safari, and Google now has Chrome. 

I can only hope that Google will fully support the openness of its code and that this will become Firefox or, more likely, it will become the successor to Firefox.  Otherwise we are looking at a balkanization of the browser world and that will mean development of web sites will become much more difficult since web innovators will have to test on each of the main browsers to enable broad adoption. 

TechCrunch's Take

ZD Net - Chrome is friendly to Firefox

CNET Article - Google Steps on Firefox
 
Google Blog Article - A Fresh Take on the Browser

PC World Article - with Screen Shots

** Official Google Chrome Web Page **
 

Sample Screenshot from the Google Chrome web page before it got slammed.

The Google Chrome "Comic Book" describes Chrome.

 

Published 02 September 2008 - 0 comments

This just in - Yahoo has decided to pull the plug on Yahoo Mash. 

From CNET yesterday - - -

Yahoo Mash: When getting social isn't enough

Let's hope Yahoo has finally learned that the maxim "If you build it, they will come" simply does not apply to a social network.

The Silicon Valley mainstay and onetime Microsoft shopping-spree target is quietly shutting down Yahoo Mash, its latest foray into creating a general-interest social network like a Facebook or MySpace.

It's the latest social-networking failure for Yahoo, which was unable to get its earlier "Yahoo 360" network off the ground, and once attempted to purchase Facebook, only to have its billion-dollar offer turned down.

Mash was cute, with a slick interface, and Yahoo already had the advantage of millions of registered users to roll right into it. But its failure to catch on is indicative of a bigger truth in the social-networking world: a new player in this saturated market has to offer something legitimately new and useful.

Yes, really. And let it be a lesson to any other would-be Facebook killers.

Critics of social networks say they're nothing but gimmicky fads, pointing to the popularity of silly Facebook applications and the flashy glitter text that adorns many teenagers' MySpace profiles. That just isn't true: if you look at the two biggest social-networking success stories, Facebook and MySpace, each one has served a distinct utility since its debut.

Read the full article here ...

Published 30 August 2008 - 0 comments

The NY Times reported that Amazon is acquiring Shelfari, the social network for book lovers. This is a little surprising in that Amazon has a pretty good user-community already.  I'm not sure what Shelfari brings to Amazon, though I'm sure it won't hurt.  According to Compete.com Shelfari has over 170,000 unique visitors a month. 

In Feb 2007 Amazon invested $1 million in Shelfari's Series A round.

NY Times Article

Shelfari's Web Site

Compete.com Stats for Shelfari versus LibraryThing

Published 26 August 2008 - 0 comments

(from eMarketer.com)

Social Networks Get Down to Business

AUGUST 18, 2008

Think of them as digital water coolers—surrounded by thousands of workers engaged in serious business conversations.

Do business and socializing mix?

Apparently so. As the number of business users of social networks continues to increase, advertising expenditures will rise, too. In the US this year, advertisers will spend $40 million to reach a business audience on online social networks, and that is just the beginning. According to eMarketer projections, that ad spending will reach $210 million in 2012.

(Read the Full Article at eMarketer.com)

Published 22 August 2008 - 0 comments