bobangus.com » social networks

Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 2-1-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:34:36 +0000

Demo 08 was held this week in Palm Desert, CA. For those that do not know about DEMO, it is the high powered gathering where startups can demo to venture capitalists, press, and other influential technology elite.

Since my fortunes are used for mundane things like a mortgage and not angel funding, I simply watched the demonstrations online. Here are some of the companies that I will be doing further research on or using this year:

MOLI – Moli provides a powerful social networking platform that allows you to present yourself in different ways to different people. Namely, you can have your business side completely separate from your 4am debaucheries, “OMG, I can’t believe I did that” side.

Seesmic – Any TechCrunch fanboy knows that Michael Arrington loves Seesmic. They offer video communication and community with a Twitter approach. I am going to have clean up my office if my videocam is going to come out of storage.

Review2Buy – Have you ever been about to buy something at a retail store and wished you had access to your favorite shopping comparison site or coupon/deals site? Am I overpaying? Is this model the one that will breakdown after a week? Review2Buy answers those questions.

atlaspost.com – atlaspost enhances blogs by adding the elements of a geography-based social network. Bloggers can geo-tag their posts and can identify readers and content with common locations… and likely common interests and experiences.

VisibleMeasures – As Web video ads gain momentum, tools to manage and measure video advertising are in demand. Believe it or not, measurement remains a difficult sell for technology vendors to the advertising industry. The old world brand marketing, big agency and media buy approach still rules the budget. The focus is on frequency and reach metrics and not sales. I hope this helps to finally break that down.

StandoutJobs - There are many sites that help the job seeker network and promote themselves in a social network. StandoutJobs targets the companies that are recruiting and provides the latest social media tools necessary to attract the right hires.

There are many, many more exceptional small companies from DEMO this year and previous years that you should check out. I highly recommend bookmarking DEMO to keep in the loop on emerging markets and technologies.

Image of the Week

Concept art by Tyler West for Electronic Arts’ Godfather video game. For more incredible video game concept art, see the annual collections from IntoThePixel.com.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-18-2008

Bob Angus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:20:24 +0000

Woo hoo! We made it to the weekend. Have a great time this weekend and, if weather permitting, I highly recommend getting away from your computer. Personally, I am attempting to break out of my current running plateau by making a big push and seeing where it takes me.

If you are not lucky enough to break free from the keyboard, then here are a few gems worth reading.

The Philosophy of Social Markers

Hugh MacLeod is a edgy cartoonist and marketing philosopher. His blog, Gapingvoid, is a fresh read for anyone tired of the same how to make money online blogs. You must subscribe.

This week Hugh posted a thought-provoking discussion on how we humans interact through “social objects” and how good marketers can use “social markers” to initiate and engage our audience on a personal level. Here is the definition of social objects in an excerpt from the social marker – the “social object” on steroids.

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

The Crunchies

Tonight Michael Arrington of TechCrunch announced the winners of the Crunchies 2007. More coverage elsewhere across the blogosphere.

My personal favorite is Zazzle, who won for Best Business Model. While I can probably debate the business model point, there is no doubt that Zazzle has successfully harnessed the complex American psyche of fierce expression of our desired individuality through rampant consumption.

Image of the Week

In a country known for great food, my wife and I came across a Chinese restaurant in Siena while on our honeymoon in Italy. Needless to say, we did not eat there.

My wife has edited the original picture using Photoshop’s film grain filter (all settings dialed down to 0) to give this picture a painted feel. This version of the image has been blown up and now hangs in our bedroom.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

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Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-11-2008

Bob Angus — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:00:28 +0000

More on Twitter

Sam Harrelson mentions my Twitter post in his daily Affiliate Fortune Cookie podcast and provides some great insight on how he uses Twitter as a communication tool. My takeaway from his recommendations are that Twitter spam and self-promoting broadcasts are the same unwanted communication as the telemarketer that calls you during dinner. Do not do it.

I have also ventured across several other great posts and examples of companies using Twitter to market their products.

Eirik Solheim at eirikso.com provides solid Twitter tips that he has learned in his early days of using Twitter.
Allen Stern at CenterNetworks questions Twitter’s business model, but mentions that companies like IconFactory are using the Twitter APIs to drive revenues.
Check woot and Amazon Gold Box Deals via Twitter or read about it on Read/Write Web.

Entrecard

Entrecard is red hot right now. On the surface, it is yet another social network for bloggers to drive traffic by swapping links. If traffic is Entrecard’s only benefit, it will die out within 4-6 months. However, it is becoming its own financial economy. Here are two great posts on how Entrecard is driving for success:

Darren Rowse has an informative interview with Entrecard founder, Graham Langdon.
Bloggingmix discusses why Entrecard is Winning Over Blogrush.

You are not on Facebook?!

I have my ups and downs with social networking, but I enjoy the connections and believe in its business value. However, many businesses have knowingly ignored or rejected social networking. Here are the biggest objections to social networking and how you can overcome those objections when you come across a social networking naysayer.

Image of the Week

This landscape picture was taken from a hilltop outside of Cortona, Italy by me on my honeymoon.

Check out other pictures and images on my Flickr photos.

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Using Twitter as an Effective Business Tool

Bob Angus — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:05:23 +0000

I have missed the Twitter train for long enough. One of my January objectives is to make Twitter an effective part of my suite of business tools. Until now, the extent of my tweets have been random oddities through my Facebook profile, like “Teaching my kid to appreciate the Ramones.” I want to use Twitter as a communication tool to add value to my business relationships and improve results through those connections.

I have bookmarked a ton of posts related to Twitter and how to it can be used to help develop business connections. Of those posts, I highly recommend reading Caroline Middlebrook’s Big Juicy Twitter Guide. In particular, Section 2 delves into the benefits that Twitter can deliver for your business.

It is well known that the more contact you make with a customer, the more likely you are to make a sale. These days it is much more ‘in vogue’ to sell by not selling, rather than doing the hard-push sales pitch. Twitter is a way of doing that. With Twitter you can chat to people in a friendly way and give them nudges and hints about what you’re doing in your world. Look at the benefits:

It reminds them that you exist

It shows them that you are human

It allows you to mention new offers immediately

It allows you to form a more casual relationship

Also, Dan Zarrella just did a guest post on Read/Write Web called 10 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Social News Profile. More than just trying to boost the size of your connections (which is something that anyone can game), the article offers several valuable tips that increase the value of those relationships. The most important… Ask questions. While Dan focuses on asking questions as a form of “Twitter-jacking,” I see the questions as the core to relationship building. Find out what your customers and connections want by asking. Then give it to them.

There is much to learn about Twitter. If you have a post that you have found insightful or if you want to let me know what your favorite Ramones song is, give me a tweet.

Yet Another Social Media Profile… But It’s Google

Bob Angus — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:15:20 +0000

Yesterday I created a new profile that may eventually help to plug me in to the social network of the future. I created Bob’s Google Profile – not to be confused with my Orkut profile. Google has recently deployed and stealthily launched several new features that hint at their long-term social network strategy and that targets Facebook.

Welcome to Google Profile

Google Profile is barebones at this point. I posted my picture, linked to BobAngus.com and added a brief about Bob description. I could not add my favorite music, movies, or munchies. Check it out on the Help page or the Googlesystem blog.

Sepideh Saremi at Searchviews posted on this topic yesterday. She pointed out something very powerful about Google’s social network strategy. They want to approach social media through the email inbox. This tack makes a lot of sense because email remains the primary communication tool. Google Profile is perfectly in line with my Gmail account and my Google Reader.

In addition to technologies like OpenID, OAuth, and others, I am keeping an eye on what Google Profile is doing here. I think that they more than anyone can create a ubiquitous profile by leveraging their email position. And the timing could not be better. I am quickly heading toward profile and login chaos. I have over 30 different profiles across various social networks, blog networks, forums, and social bookmarking services.

Social Media Fatigue

Do not get me wrong. I am not complaining. I recognize that I am not the normal social media user. I love trying out the latest offering. I also rely heavily on these networks and social bookmarking services to grow readership of this blog and other sites. And most importantly, I have a lot of fun. However, I have moments when I am less than diligent in updating my social media world, which can quickly make me appear stale.

David Recordon at O’Reilly Radar had a great post this morning on this subject at Battling Social Network Fatigue … By Going Open. I agree that it is easy for the internet marketer, blogger or technology guru to become tired of all the services available. However, I estimate that the average person is likely to only focus their time on 1 or 2 large platforms, like Facebook or MySpace, and maybe another niche network. Regardless, the concern is very valid.

Beside fatigue, I am also seriously hesitant to proactively invite all my friends to every single network. My contacts are valuable relationships that I do not want to compromise. As a result of not spamming my entire contact list when I join each new service, there is some level of fracture across my networks. Updated: I just read a related discussion on Sitepoint’s blog.

Guess what I am going to do next to address fatigue and fracture? Yes, I am going to test some social network aggregator services like Spokeo, Plaxo Pulse, FriendFeed… which likely requires me to create yet another profile.

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I Built My Own Social Network in 1 Hour

Bob Angus — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:38:18 +0000

If you are into first person shooter video games like Halo, Doom, or Quake, you have to join Shoot First. Shoot First is social networking for FPS game fans that I built using Ning. As part of Ning’s free service, I easily created a full-featured social network and customized it to look the way I desired. I like to think of their platform as doing to social networking what Google’s Blogspot did for blogging… but with much more flexibility.

Yes, it took me only 60 minutes to use Ning’s wizard-based platform to create a basic social network. Here’s the time line:

Draft a quick marketing plan (15 minutes)
Do some basic keyword research (10 minutes)
Create my Ning account (1 minute)
Create the Shoot First using the 4 step wizard (10 minutes)
Grab some images, videos and content to add to the site (15 minutes)
Update the site (5 minutes)
Update my personal profile (3 minutes)
Behold my own social network (1 minute)

I found Ning incredibly easy to setup, comparable to Wordpress or Blogspot for blogging. Less than 20 minutes of the setup time was actually using the Ning interface to modify my site. It contains all of the fundamental social networking features – user profiles, groups, invitations, discussion boards, and blogging. Plus, they offer services that allow direct integration in with Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. However, the services offered are not quite as polished as a Facebook or MySpace. For example, the invitation process does not allow folks to import names from existing contact lists like Yahoo, AIM, Hotmail or gmail.

From the standpoint of managing a social network, I have control over the site with moderation tools and adult content filtering. More importantly, I also have a lot of power to customize. Ning makes it easy to do a complete overhaul of the template UIs using CSS. Additionally, I can plug in my own external widgets and tap into their developer community for custom services that others have built.

For anyone who wants to monetize their social network, they have to pay the $19.95 per month fee from their a la carte menu of premium services. Ouch. Worse yet, you have to pay for that service if you want to remove their Google AdSense ads. I can understand that Ning needs its own revenue, but this is too much. Nobody serious can make the math work by posting Google AdSense ad blocks like Ning suggests. Or if your social network becomes big enough to use an ad network or sell your own ad space, then you probably have the resources and technical ability to build the site yourself.

Unfortunately, the other premium services that are available through Ning for Businesses also offer little value for the price. For example, the ability to use your own domain name is a nice option for anyone who wants to build their own brand and does not want Ning as part of the domain name. However, paying $4.95/month for simple domain control (and the site is still hosted by Ning) is way too expensive.

Overall, I give Ning an B grade from my first impressions. The platform shows a lot of potential and I will keep building out Shoot First to see how the community develops. If you are big into Facebook and have dreams of creating your own social network, then I definitely recommend giving Ning a shot. If you want to build your own community for the purpose of making money online through affiliate marketing or placing your own ads, then you may want to wait and see how the business services and advertising flexibility evolve.

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MySpace Opens the Door to Developers

Bob Angus — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:16:18 +0000

MySpace is set to formally announce their open application interface, MySpace Platform, sometime next week. This programming platform enables developers to create applications using a set of APIs that tie directly into MySpace’s social networking infrastructure. For more info, check out Techcrunch’s comments.

One key element that MySpace got right in their developer program is allowing developers to monetize their apps by controlling their own advertising. Until now, the online marketing community has primarily focused on social media optimization and driving traffic to their websites. Now with the ability to create direct revenue streams that tap into the massive social networking population, I can see entrepreneurial developers creating applications that are similar to what has come out of affiliate marketing web services.

MySpace is not the first to venture into opening their platform. Facebook has had huge success in adding new and retaining members and attracting commercial dollars as direct result of their developer platform efforts. Of course, other social networks are joining the application bandwagon, namely Google. Google’s Orkut social network and iGoogle personal homepage service are announcing their APIs in early November. It will be very interesting to see how the big social networks continue to square off on this front.

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Digg-style Voting for Video Game Downloads

Bob Angus — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:39:55 +0000

I love to download and play a demo of the latest video games so that I can see what is worth buying. Besides demos, there are important post-release patches that I need and some amazing mods that extend the life of classic games like Doom and Half Life.

The problem is that the demo files are usually around 1GB in size. The Bioshock demo weighed in at 1.93GB (well worth it though). Plus, the official servers can be brutally slow. Try telling your kid that they can’t play on Club Penguin because Daddy is downloading the Hitman: Blood Money demo.

The solution for the download crazy gamer has been to slog it out for the better part of a day on official distribution sites. Or one can go to classic forum-based communities, where you have to weed through tons of listings and have to pray that you don’t spend 2 hours downloading a broken file… or worse.

Until now that is. FileRadar has melded the social voting model of Digg with the power of an open community for file distribution. I found FileRadar a few weeks ago thanks to a Techcrunch post and I’ve been hooked ever since. The result for me is less time downloading, less time searching, and the fun of giving my opinion to help the community. Plus, I love to see voting systems and social bookmarking concepts applied to a niche.

Here’s how it works. You, fellow gamers and other distribution sites submit links to the demo, mod or patch for a particular video game. Then that adoring, yet equally flame-ready community of video game fanatics votes up the game file content with a “blip”. Then for each link submission, the community votes on your individual download quality and can make comments.

To find the recently released free, full version of Far Cry from a quality source, all I had to do was check the “blips” and quality ratings and then start downloading. FileRadar also helps you find what you want through an array of great sorting options, classic search functions, and a series of leaderboards.

If you are interested in social voting and bookmarking and how to apply it to a niche, I definitely recommend seeing what FileRadar has done. If you want a World of Warcraft mod while you are there, then you are in the right spot.

Community love with MyBlogLog and BUMPzee

Bob Angus — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:56:06 +0000

I have been incredibly slow to build out my community connections and social bookmarking here on my blog. If you are going to have a successful blog, you must actively participate in a relevant, engaged community. So I’ve been joining everyone of the many social networking sites and social bookmarking services. Soon I will be updating the Marketing page with a complete list of these sites. For now, I am making several posts reviewing my favorites. First up are two popular communities for bloggers: MyBlogLog and BUMPzee.

Know what your visitors want with MyBlogLog

Yahoo’s recently acquired MyBlogLog is one of the most widely used community for bloggers. I have simply added their widget into the sidebar here and have done the basics within the account setup. The community participation is huge. I instantly had 5 truly relevant groups where I knew I would be a daily participant. However, MyBlogLog offers a lot more than just community. The biggest benefit is that I know what my visitors are interested in and where they went after leaving my site. Armed with that information, I can focus on making more posts on what you want to read. Great concept, huh?

My traffic numbers are getting a BUMP

BUMPzee takes a lot of what MyBlogLog does well in building communities and then adds the powerful element of social bookmarking. I’ve not only added the sidebar widget that shows who has visited bobangus.com recently, but I’ve added their “BUMP it” bookmarking widget for all of my posts. Plus, this bookmarking is perfectly integrated in with the sidebar widget by promoting the top bumped articles in addition to who has recently visited. BUMPzee is a the perfect blend of networking and relevant bookmarking.

Of course, my personal desire for the added traffic and the stickiness of participating in an active community (especially in affiliate marketing groups) is my biggest benefit. I just had my highest traffic day yesterday thanks to direct traffic from BUMPzee and getting 3 Bumps for my CJ Product User Group Post.

Join these communities and add me as a friend

I’ve already seen an instant boost in traffic coming from both Bumpzee and MyBlogLog, even though my number of connections is still pretty low. I really am looking forward to see what happens as I build out my friend lists. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you setup an account and take the extra steps of adding a ton of related tags, joining some related communities, and reaching out to make contacts. In fact, make sure to let me know who you are and I’ll add you to my connections.