Flash meets Web 2.0

May 5th, 2008

Today MSNBC launched a few new components including Spectra, and immersive visual newsreader experience that merges the news spectrum and the color spectrum into an expansive news viewing experience. With comprehensive live news coverage, striking design, complete customization, dynamic browsing, human body interaction and many other unique features Spectra is one of the coolest information visualization experiences I’ve seen. Check it out!

Open source ad network

May 1st, 2008

OpenX is a free ad server for web publishers manage online advertising. It allows you to control your ad inventory, when and where ads appear, select ads based on page properties like keywords, meta and content, and select based on visitor attibutes like where they are from and other user data. Ads can come from every possible source including Google Adsense, Ad exchanges etc., and include all kinds of formats such as banners, Flash and rich media (Eyeblaster, TangoZebra etc.).

Google recently launched its own tool for managing ads called Google Ad Manager. What makes OpenX different is that you can install it on your own server, Google’s product is hosted. The PHP based OpenX is free and Open Source. You keep your user data for yourself.

Visible Measures offers powerful solution to measure video engagement

May 1st, 2008

The market for Internet video is exploding. Research firm eMarketer projects that by 2011 more than 85% of the U.S. Internet population will consume Internet video, up from roughly 63% in 2006. The last time this kind of viewership growth occurred in a new medium was when the television was first introduced in the early 1950s.

Last night I was on the MITX Technology Awards judging panel and got to see Visible Measures present VisibleSuite, their end-to-end solution for measuring the behavior of the Internet video audience. I saw Matt Cutler and Rishi Dean first unveil VisibleSuite at the DEMO 08 conference in Palm Desert, CA. The Demo conference is great; Continue reading »

Web 2.0 brand partnerships

April 30th, 2008

Originally posted on Network World.

Web 2.0 applications leverage social media and open technology to  deliver rich user experiences. The most successful Web 2.0 solutions solve problems in unique ways. Commonly these are simple often free solutions.Consumers are trying to avoid marketers Too often marketers try to add social media tools to advertising, create viral games or other marketing content intended to entertain consumers. Consumers are looking for tools and applications that solve problems; that are useful. Here are some examples:

  • Flickr: With almost 10,000,000 registered users Flickr is an image/video hosting website, web services suite and an online community platform. It was one of the earliest Web 2.0 applications and one of the most popular social photo sharing sites (Alexa Rank 39). Flickr offers its service free for up to 100MB of uploads per month and unlimited uploads for pro users; the account cost $25 per month. Flickr was purchased by Yahoo in March of 2005.
    Continue reading »

Handy Google agency product guide

April 29th, 2008

This two-pager is a great cheat sheet of Google products and services.


Read this doc on Scribd: Google Agency Product Guide

Morgan Stanley Internet Trends - Social networking app’s taking over

April 28th, 2008

Morgan Stanley’s Internet Trends report from last month takes a big turn from previous reports - the focus is nearly 100% on social applications and how they are taking over the Internet.

 

15 Web Resources for SEO

April 27th, 2008

Here’s a list of handy resources if you are interested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

  1. O’Reilly PDF guide to SEO is O’Reilly’s definitive guide
  2. Google Toolbar to measure a site’s PageRank
  3. Alexa Toolbar Measure a site’s performance in comparison to other sites
  4. Overture Inventory Key word popularity
  5. Google Analytics Measure site’s performance – eg, top pages, search terms, etc
  6. Opentracker Google alternative with additional features
  7. SubmitExpress.com Free tool to submit site multiple search engines
  8. SEO Watch SEO tips and information site
  9. SEO Book SEO training program
  10. Search Marketing Gurus SEO news, reviews and interviews
  11. SEO Moz SEO professional community
  12. SEO Buzz Box SEO news blog
  13. Search Engine Roundtable SEO marketing discussion forum
  14. ClickPress Submit press releases to major media and search sites
  15. PR Leap Submit press releases with rich media (audio, video, slideshows)

This is a quick list; there’s much more. Do you have any favorites? I’ll keep adding to the list any good recommendations.

Web 2.0 & Social Media at Bentley College

April 25th, 2008

I had the opportunity to run a workshop on Web 2.0 and Social Media at for the graduate Marketing Promotion and Communication class at Bentley in Waltham, MA yesterday. This was my first time on the Bentley campus, on a warm and sunny Spring afternoon, beautiful college.

The first part of the course was all about Web 2.0, what it is, technology, we looked at all kinds of sites and services and the second part we talked about social media identity.

Bentley Class

Continue reading »