Every so often I stumble on a new tool that makes my life easier (how nice those moments are.) Hopefully this is another one of them. I just found a nifty Firefox Add-On called ScribeFire: Fire up your blogging. It basically lets you post to a number of popular blog formats, including a custom wordpress install like this one, right from within your browser. So, here is my first post (hopefully of many) using ScribeFire. Enjoy.
Distributed content on the web is nothing new. RSS feeds, widgets and other embeddable content (videos, images, slideshows, etc…) have been popping up in blogs, personalized homepages, and social networking profile pages for several years. As marketers however, this illustrates a major point that needs to be considered. People are off your site, much more than they are on it. We can’t expect people to come to us for information, we need to be where they are.
Technologies such as RSS are basic tools to address this, but recently Chip showed me an app that allows anyone to create dynamic flash widgets sprouts that can be embedded throughout the web. The technology is called Sprout Builder, and after trying it out I was amazed at how easy the interface was to use. As my friend Mike Gowan once said, “Any simpleton could do this!” It took me about 20 minutes to build a simple EPInteractiv sprout that was fed via RSS, a Google Calendar, and a set of photos.
When you get a moment, check it out. Thank TechCrunch for the beta signup.
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This is a follow up to a previous post, but the DataPortability Workgroup has gained some momentum in the past week or so garnering support across the web. This video was just released and does a good job explaining the importance of the DataPortability movement.But why does this matter to marketing folks? Well, for one it means that there a fewer barriers to creating a one on one dialog with our audiences. We have created countless websites where users had to set up accounts and spend time coping over personal info that they have already filled out 100 times before. This sort of standard will help us eliminate the need for our customers to re-enter a lot of information, making it more likely that they will utilize whatever personalization features our sites may offer. In addition, it allows us to create social networking components to a site without having to create a whole social networking architecture. A standardized data platform will allow us to spend less time building the foundation, and more time building functionality that leverages data in a more useful and engaging customer experience.
And speaking as a consumer myself… if I don’t have to fill out another user id / password creation form again it will be too soon.
Tune in to our live internet TV station! (This is a test of Mogulus Studio - Live Internet Video Broadcasting)
We’ll have some fun with this technology for sure. You can edit the video feed on the fly with predetermined storyboards composed of YouTube clips, recorded video and yes… live video.
More to come on this.
Over the past few years we have seen a huge rise in the amount of information people are sharing on the web. Social Networks, photo sharing websites, blogs, etc… have all provided mechanisms for us to share information with ease. Unfortunately, the management of all our information and relationships still exists in silos. You have to update your blog, your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook profile, your Flickr account, Etc. You have relationships with friends, family, and co-workers that overlap in a Venn diagram that resembles the third symbol from Zoso. Frankly, managing this mess takes too much darn time.
Tools to help manage your social graph are popping up, but what the world needs is a set of standards that puts structure around the sharing of data. RSS is not enough. We need standards for describing relationships, authentication, identity, messaging, and more. We have talked at our shop about this time and time again but I recently came across the website Dataportability.org that is dedicated to Standardized Data Portability. The site lists a number of standards movements with links to some helpful resources and initiatives.
These sorts of initiatives will help us as consumers and as marketers. I’d encourage everyone to check them out.
UPDATE - For anyone that has followed Scoble’s temporary exile from Facebook, he announced today that Facebook has joined the Dataportability.org Workgroup. The optimist in me in rejoicing. The pessimist says “Big deal… tell me when I can export my data.”
No game of buzzword bingo would be complete without the term “Web 2.0.” However, as much of a cliche as it may be, it is one of the most important terms that a corporate marketer should understand. So while the web is chock-full of definitions for this term, the following article illustrates an interpretation designed specifically for the corporate marketer.
So, lets get to it. Web 2.0 means one thing, “accessibility.” Accessibility in this regards comes in 3 varieties:
1. Making yourself accessible to others.
2. Making your audience accessible to you.
3. Making your audience accessible to each other.
Simple enough right? It is basically what the web was designed to do in the first place. The recent movement and buzz around the term has just been a refocus on the web’s original intent. So lets dive into each a little deeper and see how each of these concepts manifest themselves as marketing tactics and strategies.
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I found this video on YouTube a while back, and wanted to get it posted. So many times, we hear the term Web 2.0, and so many times we associate it to a particular flavor of design, technology, or user gen content. Web 2.0 is much more than that as this video does a pretty good job at showing.
I’ve spent the past six months of my time at home being a web user.
Before that, I was a web creator, reading books and blogs, and catching up with current development trends. I decided to take a step back and study myself, hopefully, as an everyday user.
I’m saying ‘user’, I think, as it applies to a normal person, not a developer. Developers look at structure, technology, design, opinions with which to agree or disagree with, ‘cool stuff’… And Details.
I found that I had a pattern developing as a user, while out of my usual mode of interactive thought. I’d check my email. If there were no emails, I’d think ‘well, that’s no good’, and move on. Then, I’d check my MySpace and Facebook profiles. Again, if there was nothing new there, I’d move on to my RSS reader to check for updated news and blog posts. I caught myself being a Lurker. A Lurker is someone who simply looks, moves on, all while using up precious bandwidth. Perhaps my brain was empty.
I remember preaching the Web 2.0 Gospels a year ago. A place where everyone will interact, and generate free content.
Now, I’d probably say, anyone who’s interested enough to participate will feed the 2.0 machine. Those people are doing the work for the Lurkers. But as a developer, I ask myself, is that enough?
Hey, Lurkers need love. They need to feel informed, wanted, and have their anxieties washed away.
I’d like to take my experience as a Lurker and make content for other Lurkers. A writing style for passive people. Bring some smiles to some faces as they skim copy. Make them stop at certain important keywords and become educated or entertained. Wipe away the Lorem Ipsum.
I want to be a de-Lurking engineer.
Lorem Ipsum.
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I consider myself fairly jaded when it comes to Professional Development systems and books. Too often these methodologies get in the way and become more of a burden then an aide. That said, I’ve had Merlin Mann’s articles on Inbox Zero over at 43 Folders on my to read list for quite a while but (ironically) I never got around to reading it. Lucky for all of us, Google recently had him give a talk on Inbox Zero and they’re willing to share. Below is his talk. Don’t be turned off by the hour length, it’s really only 25 minutes with a 35 minute question and answer section.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=973149761529535925&hl=en
I received an HTML email today inviting me to attend a Second Life Marketing Conference. My question is, why should I have to fly to NY to attend? Can I not just have my avatar attend for me at a virtual conference center? If you actually are interested, you can sign up here.