QR codes come to Sydney

Over lunch today I was reading the Daily Telegraph when I came across an ad for QR (Quick Response) codes stating "I am the future" "Visit QRious.com.au" So I did. You should too.

This isn't the first sighting of QR codes in Australia, apparently there are t-shirts. I for one, can't wait for them to be a part of our daily media (unashamedly because it will give an excuse to update my mobile).

Stay tuned.

Skype 4.0

A Redesign at Skype
By BRAD STONE, NY Times

Skype, eBay’s Internet phone division, has always been something of a problem child for the e-commerce giant.

The service is growing like a weed, with 309 million registered users. It earned $126 million in the first quarter, exceeding what eBay and PayPal earned at similar age.

Yet considering eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype in 2005 and last year took a massive write-down on the acquisition, investors and industry observers still view Skype through the thick, dreary lens of disappointment.

Now eBay hopes to give them a new pair of glasses. Tuesday night the company will make available a test of a new version of the program, called Skype 4.0, which it says is the most dramatic redesign of the calling service in its short five-year history.

Josh Silverman, Skype’s president, says it was time to evolve Skype’s user interface. The service started out by offering free audio calls but has gradually added other kinds of communication, like video calls, file-sharing, and text chats. The main purpose of the upgrade, he said, is to bring all those modes together and make it easier to switch between them in a single conversation.

“If I were to sum it all up, that is what 4.0 is about: the next leap forward in integrated communications,” he said.

The full article can be found at: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/a-redesign-at-skype/index.html?th&emc=th

5 ways to ruin your industry reputation

Sean Cheyney from iMedia Connection discusses the top 5 ways to flush your industry reputation down the toilet:

1. Bash your competition regularly
2. Consistently over-promise and under-deliver
3. Be sneaky
4. Be a stalker
5. Too much information

Visit http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/19697.asp for the full article.

Top 221 Web Services API Services

Top 221 Web Services API Services

Websites that allow web services via API.

1. activeRenderer : Outline publishing for Radio UserLand : http://www.activerenderer.com/outlines/aR/api.html
2. AOL Instant Messenger : Instant messaging chat service : http://developer.aim.com/
3. Amazon A9 OpenSearch : Search services : http://a9.com/-/opensearch/
4. Amazon Alexa : Search : http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_2 API
5. Amazon : Online retailer : http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_2 API
6. Amazon Queue Service : Internet-based queuing service : http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_fe_l_1 API
7. Amazon S3 : Online storage services : http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-7232640-5 API
8. AmphetaRate : News aggregator : http://amphetarate.newsfairy.com/api.php
9. AOL Music Now : Music playlist management : http://aol.musicnow.com/media/developer/index.htm
10. AOL Presence : Online presence service : http://developer.aim.com/presenceMain.jsp
11. ArcWeb : Mapping and GIS services : http://www.esri.com/software/arcwebservices/index. API
12. Backpack : Online information manager : http://www.backpackit.com/api/
13. Basecamp : Project collaboration service : http://www.basecamphq.com/api/
14. BBC : Multimedia archive database : http://www0.rdthdo.bbc.co.uk/services/
15. Betfair : Online betting exchange : http://bdp.betfair.com/developers.php
16. Bible Lookup : Bible lookup service : http://www.francisshanahan.com/TheHolyBible.asmx
17. Blogger : Blogging services : http://code.blogspot.com/
18. Bloglines : Online feed aggregator : http://www.bloglines.com/services/
19. Blogmarks : Social bookmarking : http://dev.blogmarks.net/wiki/DeveloperDocs
20. Blogwise : Blog and feed search service : http://www.blogwise.com/api/
21. Box.net : Online file storage : http://dev.box.net/developer-introduction
22. Bunchball : Multiplayer game platform : http://www.bunchball.com/devnet/
23. BuzzGame : Search based game : http://buzz.research.yahoo.com/dm/info/api.html
24. Buzznet : Photo sharing : http://www.buzznet.com/developers/
25. Cafe Press : Customized retail product service : http://api.cafepress.com/
26. CafeSpot : Social guide to cafes : http://cafespot.net/api/v1/
27. Cdyne : Data delivery services : http://www.cdyne.com/developers/overview.aspx
28. Civic Footprint : Political geography lookup for Illinois : http://www.civicfootprint.org/about/api
29. CommonTimes : Community based media distribution : http://blog.commonbits.org/2005/07/build_you_own_n API
30. cPath : Medical database lookup : http://cbio.mskcc.org/cpath/webservice.do?cmd=help
31. Creative Commons : Licensing engine integration : http://api.creativecommons.org/docs/
32. Cypress Golf : Golf reservations system : http://www.golffacility.com/api/crmteetimeapi.asmx
33. Data On Call : Fax services : http://www.dataoncall.com/web-fax-api/index.jsp?en API
34. del.icio.us : Social bookmarking : http://del.icio.us/doc/api
35. Digital Podcast : Podcast search : http://digitalpodcast.com/podcastsearchservice/
36. Dropcash : Fundraising tools : http://www.dropcash.com/doc/api.php
37. durl.us : URL shortening service : http://durl.us/
38. EasyUtil : Recommendation service : http://www.easyutil.com/index.html
39. eBay : Online auction marketplace : http://developer.ebay.com/
40. ecommstats : Web analytics : http://www.ecommstats.com/services/docs/
41. NCBI Entrez : Life sciences search services : http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static API
42. eSideWalk : Community networking site : http://www.esidewalk.com/eswapi.aspx
43. ESV Bible Lookup : Bible lookup service : http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/services/api/
44. EVDB : Events database : http://api.evdb.com/
45. ExactTarget : Email delivery services : http://developer.exacttarget.com/
46. FedEx : Package shipping : http://www.fedex.com/mx_english/ebusiness/globalde API
47. FeedBurner : Blog promotion tracking service : http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/developers
48. FeedFlow : Feed monitoring service : http://feedflow.com/api/
49. FeedMap : Blog geo-coding : http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/Services/
50. Findory : Personalized news aggregation : http://www.findory.com/help/api
51. Flickr : Photo sharing service : http://www.flickr.com/services/
52. Freedb / CDDB : Online CD catalog service : http://www.freedb.org/modules.php?name=Sections&so API
53. geocoder : Geocoding services for US : http://geocoder.us/help/
54. geocoder.ca : Geocoding services for Canada : http://geocoder.ca/?api=1
55. GeoNames : Geographic name and postal code lookup : http://www.geonames.org/export/
56. Gigablast : Search service : http://www.gigablast.com/searchfeed.html
57. Google Search : Search services : http://www.google.com/apis/
58. Google AdSense : Advertising management : http://code.google.com/apis/adsense/
59. Google AdWords : Search advertising : http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/
60. Google Ajax Search : Web search components : http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/
61. Google Calendar : Calendar service : http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/calendar.html
62. Google Desktop Search : Search tools : http://desktop.google.com/developer.html
63. Google Homepage : Portal gadgets : http://www.google.com/apis/homepage
64. Google Maps : Mapping services : http://www.google.com/apis/maps/
65. Google Talk : Chat application : http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html
66. GraphMagic : Graph and chart services : http://www.graphmagic.com/
67. Grouper Video : Video sharing service : http://grouper.com/api/
68. Gtalkr : Flash chat wrapper for Gtalk : http://www.gtalkr.com/extensions/
69. hon.jp : Japanese eBook service : http://hon.jp/doc/about_rest.html
70. hostip.info : IP lookup : http://www.hostip.info/use.html
71. HotOrNot : Dating rating site : http://dev.hotornot.com/wiki/Main_Page
72. indeed : Job search services : http://www.indeed.com/jsp/apiinfo.jsp
73. Interfax : Fax services : http://www.interfax.net/en/dev/
74. Internet Archive : Non-profit Internet library : http://www.archive.org/help/contrib-advanced.php
75. ISBNdb : Books database : http://isbndb.com/account/dev/api/
76. iShareMaps On Demand : UK Postcode Geocoder : http://www.isharemaps.com/products/isharemaps_on_d API
77. Jots : Social bookmarking : http://www.jots.com/pages/xmlrpc_api.html
78. JotSpot : Wiki-style collaboration tools : http://developer.jot.com/WikiHome/DevDocToc
79. Kayak : Travel search service : http://developer.kayak.com/
80. King County Buses : Transit tracking service : http://www.its.washington.edu/its_ws.html
81. Kratia : Democratic search engine : http://www.kratia.com/api.php
82. Last.fm : Music playlist management : http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices/
83. linkaGoGo : Social bookmarking service : http://www.linkagogo.com/rest_api.htmlhttp://www.l API
84. LiveJournal : Blogging software : http://www.livejournal.com/developer/
85. Living Stones : Bible lookup service : http://www.lstones.com/webservices.php
86. Library of Congress SRW : Information database search : http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/
87. Ma.gnolia : Social bookmarking service : http://ma.gnolia.com/support/api
88. Macromedia News Aggregator : Data access service : http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mxna/Developers.cfm
89. Microsoft MapPoint : Mapping services : http://msdn.microsoft.com/mappoint/
90. Mappr : Photo mapping : http://www.mappr.com/about/api.phtml
91. MapQuest : Online mapping service : http://www.mapquest.com/features/main.adp?page=dev API
92. Amazon Mechanical Turk : Request services of humans : http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/002-1526240-5 API
93. Microsoft MSDN : Technical reference library : http://services.msdn.microsoft.com/ContentServices API
94. Mint : Web site metrics and reporting : http://www.shauninman.com/plete/2005/10/mint-intro API
95. Moreover : News delivery : http://w.moreover.com/site/products/oem/search_api API
96. Movil : SMS messaging : http://www.movil.be/?s=developer_zone
97. Microsoft MSN Messenger : Chat and messaging : http://msdn.microsoft.com/msn/msnmessenger/
98. Microsoft MSN Search : Internet search : http://search.msn.com/developer/
99. Microsoft MSN Spaces : Blog services : http://msdn.microsoft.com/msn/msnspaces/
100. NASA : Satellite mapping images : http://wms.jpl.nasa.gov/
101. Naver : Korean search engine : http://openapi.naver.com/
102. Nearby.org.uk : Geocoding service for UK : http://www.nearby.org.uk/api/convert-help.php
103. NetAccounts : Online accounting service : http://www.netaccounts.com.au/developers/
104. NewsGator : Feed aggregation : http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/api/default.aspx
105. NewsIsFree : Online news aggregation : http://www.newsisfree.com/webservice.php
106. Ning : Service creation playground : http://developerdocumentation.ning.com/
107. NOAA Weather Service : Weather forecast database : http://www.nws.noaa.gov/forecasts/xml/
108. Numbler : Online spreadsheet service : http://numbler.com/apidoc
109. OnlyWire : Social bookmarklet service : http://www.onlywire.com/index?api
110. Ontok : Geocode any US address : http://www.ontok.com/geocode/restapi
111. Ontok Wikipedia : Encyclopedia data access : http://www.ontok.com/wiki/index.php/Wikipedia
112. Openomy : Online file system : http://documentation.openomy.com/index.php/Main_Pa API
113. OpenStrands : Music recommendation and discovery : http://www.musicstrands.com/openstrands/overview.v API
114. OpenStreetMap : Open source mapping : http://www.openstreetmap.org/wiki/index.php/REST
115. Orb : Digital media access : http://www.orb.com/download/api/
116. PartySync : Messaging services : http://group.partysync.com/cgi-bin/developer.cgi
117. Pathfinder : Air cargo tracking service : http://www.pathfinder-xml.com/
118. PayPal : Online payments : https://developer.paypal.com/
119. Performancing : Blog management : http://performancing.com/metrics/handbook/api
120. Pixagogo : Online photo services : http://www.pixagogo.com/Tools/api/apihelp.aspx
121. Plaxo : Address book management : http://www.plaxo.com/api
122. Plazes : Location discovery service : http://www.codeplaze.com/
123. Prodigem : File sharing via BitTorrent : http://torrentocracy.com/mediawiki/index.php/Prodi API
124. PubSub : Blog and feed search : http://www.pubsub.com/REST/
125. Pushpin : Mapping service : http://www.pushpin.com/index_le.html
126. Qurl : URL redirection services : http://qurl.com/help_automate.php
127. Raw Sugar : Web directory service : http://www.rawsugar.com/doc/api
128. Remember the Milk : Personal information management : http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/api/
129. Rhapsody : Online music services : http://webservices.rhapsody.com/
130. Rrove : Bookmarking for locations : http://www.rrove.com/apidoc
131. sabifoo : IM to RSS conversion service : http://www.sabifoo.com/help
132. O’Reilly Safari : Book search : http://safari.oreilly.com/affiliates/?p=web_servic API
133. Salesforce.com : CRM services : http://www.sforce.com/
134. Scribble : Link manager : http://www.artypapers.com/scribble/login.php
135. SecondLife : Virtual world : http://secondlife.com/developers/mapapi/
136. SeqHound : Bioinformatics research database : http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcg API
137. Serence Klip : Desktop gadgets : http://www.serence.com/provider.php?page=guides_be API
138. Shadows : Social bookmarking and community : http://www.shadows.com/features/site/help/api.htm
139. Shopping.com : Online retail shopping : https://parc.shopping.com/welcome
140. Simpy : Social bookmarking : http://www.simpy.com/simpy/service/
141. Skype : VoIP software : http://share.skype.com/share/developer_blog/
142. SmartTravelDeals : Travel offer publishing and search : http://www.smarttraveldeals.com/webservice/service API
143. SmashFly : Job board posting service : http://services.smashfly.com/simplepostservice/pos API
144. smsBug : SMS messaging services : http://www.smsbug.com/api/webservice.asmx
145. Smugmug : Photo sharing service : http://www.smugmug.com/hack/APIs
146. soundtoys : Visual artists works repository : http://soundtoys.net/contribute/api
147. Sparklines : Graph generation service : http://bitworking.org/projects/sparklines/
148. SplogSpot : Database of spam blogs : http://splogspot.com/pages/api_help
149. Spongecell : Online calendar service : http://spongecell.com/api_info
150. Spraci : Events and clubs database : http://www.spraci.com/api/
151. SRC Demographics : Demographic reference data : http://belay.extendthereach.com/api/
152. Microsoft start.com : Portal service : http://start.com/developer/
153. StrikeIron : Web services marketplace : http://www.strikeiron.com/StrikeIronServices.aspx
154. Streamload : Online media storage : http://mediamax.streamload.com/webservices/
155. Syndic8 : News feed aggregation services : http://www.syndic8.com/web_services/
156. Tagalag : Email tagging : http://www.tagalag.com/tools.html#api
157. TagFinder : Tag extraction service : http://zingosoft.com/tagfinder.htm
158. tagthe.net : Tag recommendation service : http://tagthe.net/fordevelopers
159. TagTooga : Tag based Internet directory : http://www.tagtooga.com/tapp/db.exe?c=pg&f=rest-ap API
160. TagWorld : Social web services : http://tagworld.com/-/widgets/WidgetSubmit.aspx
161. Tagyu : Tag recommendation service : http://tagyu.com/tools/rest
162. Tailrank : Blog search and news aggregation service : http://tailrank.com/api
163. Talis : Library 2.0 reference services : http://www.talis.com/tdn/platform
164. Technorati : Blog search services : http://developers.technorati.com/wiki
165. Telcontar : Location-based services : http://www.telcontar.com/products/dds/dds_webservi API
166. Textamerica : Moblogs : http://textamerica.com/api.aspx
167. Topicalizer : Document analysis service : http://www.topicalizer.com/api/
168. Trekmail : Messaging services : http://w2.trekmail.com/stories/storyReader$46
169. Trynt : Term extraction service : http://www.trynt.com/api/
170. Tunelog : Music metadata management : http://tunelog.com/api/
171. TypeKey : Authentication Framework : http://www.sixapart.com/typekey/api
172. TypePad : Blog management : http://www.sixapart.com/pronet/docs/typepad_atom_a API
173. unAPI : Proposal for web clipboard : http://unapi.info/
174. Upcoming.org : Collaborative event calendar : http://upcoming.org/services/api/
175. UPS : Package shipping : http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/bussol/offering/t API
176. UrbanDictionary : Slang dictionary lookup : http://www.urbandictionary.com/api.php
177. UrlTrends : Link tracking and search optimization : http://www.urltrends.com/apidocs/
178. US Postal Service : Package shipping and postage : http://www.usps.com/webtools/
179. Vast : Structured web search : http://www.vast.com/contact/api.htm
180. Vazu : SMS messaging service : https://www.vazu.com/api/index.php
181. Microsoft Virtual Earth : Mapping services : http://www.viavirtualearth.com
182. voo2do : Task management : http://voo2do.com/help/api
183. W3Counter : Web site metrics tools : http://www.w3counter.com/features/api/
184. Wayfaring : Map creation and sharing service : http://www.wayfaring.com/help/published/Wayfaring+ API
185. WeatherBug : Weather forecast services : http://api.weatherbug.com/api/
186. WebJay : Music playlist management : http://webjay.org/api/help
187. Webride : Attaches discussions to any site : http://webride.org/developers/api
188. Where.com Mobile : Photo sharing from phones : http://www.where.com/api/
189. Where’s Tim Web Service : Location tracking : http://www.timhibbard.com/webservices/engraphgps/e API
190. Wiggle : Wireless network mapping : http://wigle.net/wiki/index.cgi?API
191. Windows Live Expo : Online classifieds service : http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url= API
192. Wordtracker : Search engine optimization services : http://www.wordtracker.com/api.html
193. WSRelater : Recommendation engine : http://www.aggregateknowledge.com/recengine/Welcom API
194. Yahoo Search : Search services : http://developer.yahoo.net/
195. Yahoo Ads : Online ad management : http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/af/yws.php
196. Yahoo Audio Search : Music search services : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/audio/
197. Yahoo Geocoding : Geocoding services : http://developer.yahoo.net/maps/rest/V1/geocode.ht API
198. Yahoo Image Search : Image search services : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/image/V1/imageSe API
199. Yahoo Konfabulator : Desktop gadgets : http://www.konfabulator.com/workshop
200. Yahoo Local Search : Local search service : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/local/
201. Yahoo Map Image : Map image creation service : http://developer.yahoo.net/maps/rest/V1/mapImage.h API
202. Yahoo Maps : Mapping services : http://developer.yahoo.net/maps/
203. Yahoo Music Engine : Desktop music player : http://plugins.yme.music.yahoo.com/
204. Yahoo Related Suggestions : Search suggestion service : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/web/V1/relatedSu API
205. Yahoo Shopping : Shopping services : http://developer.yahoo.net/shopping/
206. Yahoo Term Extraction : Contextual search service : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/content/V1/termE API
207. Yahoo Traffic : Traffic data and routing : http://developer.yahoo.net/traffic/index.html
208. Yahoo Travel : Online travel services : http://developer.yahoo.net/travel/
209. Yahoo Video Search : Video search : http://developer.yahoo.net/search/video/V1/videoSe API
210. YouTube : Video sharing and search : http://www.youtube.com/dev
211. ZeeMaps : Embedded maps and international geocoding : http://www.zeesource.net/maps/geocoding.do
212. ZipCodes : Zip code lookup service : http://www.jasongaylord.com/webservices/zipcodes.a API
213. ZoomClouds : Tag cloud service : http://clouds.zoomblog.com/archivo/2006/02/27/zoom API
214. ZoomIn : Australian mapping service : http://developer.zoomin.com.au/
215. Zoto : Photo sharing service : http://www.zoto.com/zapi
216. Zvents : Local events search and community : http://www.zvents.com/welcome/developers
217. 23 : Photo sharing service : http://www.23hq.com/doc/api/
218. 2ndSite : Online billing software : http://www.secondsite.biz/deck/blog/article/API-ve API
219. 30 Boxes : Calendar service : http://30boxes.com/api/
220. 411Sync : SMS, WAP, and email messaging : http://www.411sync.com/cgi-bin/developer.cgi
221. 43Things : Social goal setting : http://www.43things.com/about/view/web_service_api

What Do People Want to Do With Their Lives?

Thanks flowing data for this nice piece of work using 43 things

Cheers!

Posted Jun 17, 2008 to Data Sources, Visualization by Nathan / 3 responses

43 Things is a goal-setting community where people set goals, cheer each other on, and connect with others who are trying to achieve the same thing. Even if you're not setting goals yourself, it's still interesting and often amusing to see what others have set out to do e.g. go skinny dipping, have a one night stand, and be myself.

Visualizing Goals

I finally got a chance to play around with the 43 Things API and RSS feeds the other day. It was more an exercise than anything else, but the result turned out better than I thought they would - especially since I was making it while watching the Lakers versus Celtics game.

The visualization shows the most recently set goals on 43 Things. Each bubble is a goal. Bigger bubbles represent more people trying to achieve a goal, and when you click on a bubble, the goal is shown. Goals are updated every hour or so.

In-Game Ads are ok

Thanks to Media Week for this article:

IGA: Most Gamers Cool With In-Game Ads
Ads pack more wallop for brands than ads appearing in traditional media
June 17, 2008
-By Mike Shields

The vast majority of gamers are fine with seeing ads placed within video games, and those ads pack more wallop for brands than ads appearing in traditional media, according to comprehensive new study released by top vendor IGA Worldwide.

IGA, which works with game publishers such as EA and Activision to insert both permanent and rotation ads within video games played via an Internet connection, last year tapped Nielsen BASES and Nielsen Games to conduct a in-depth six month examination of the impact of in-game advertising using traditional brand effectiveness measures such as awareness and recall.

The report, Consumers’ Experience with In-Game Content & Brand Impact of In-Game Advertising Study, includes responses from nearly 1,300 gamers surveyed using IGA’s proprietary software while playing games in their homes, with participation from the advertisers Taco Bell, Jeep and Wrigley.

The report found that 82 percent of respondents found games to be just as enjoyable if ads were present. Of the respondents that claimed to most opinionated on the subject, 70 percent said that ads made them feel better about the brands involved.

In fact, the brands that participated enjoyed a litany of encouraging results, says IGA. The survey found that advertisers running in-game ad campaigns saw an average of 44 percent increase in recall when compared to awareness prior to their exposure in the game. In addition, participating brands enjoyed an average 33 percent increase in positive brand attribute association.

According to IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend, the research confirms many of the commonly made assumptions about the in-game ad industry. “Gamers like in game ads when done in a contextually relevant way and there is no arguing that,” he said.

But whether or not in-game ads are accepted is one thing. What’ crucial as the medium seeks more acceptance from top brands is whether they work. To ensure the study could that, Chris Morf, IGA’s director of corporate development said it was important that IGA examined campaigns in multiple games for multiple brands, rather than presenting a single case study. Plus, because the matched survey data with real game play, IGA was able to drill down to see the drop off in effectiveness for ads that received minimal exposure during actual games vs ads that received a large amount of impressions.

Townsend believes that the results make clear the medium’s power as a branding vehicle. “One of the key things that for any new industry is to have research like this out there,” he said. “We’ve delivered results that are unheard of in traditional media. This is something that media buyers can take to decision makers and given them the comfort they need to start increasing budgets and frequencies.”

“We’re trying to reinforce in-game advertising as a premium medium,” he added.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/gaming/e3i8d91a7147083886bfb91a8ee5978c1a7

Six word memoir phenomenon

Creator of the online publisher SMITHMAG ( http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/) devised a project for people to write their memoirs - the catch is that is has to be confined to 6 words. The result has turned into a blogging phenomenon and online community. It is allowing people to be expressive and succinct and release their inner author. Moreover, the posts that people have contributed has been turned into a book. I think this is another great example where innovators are using the practice and technology behind blogging and turning it into a more interesting hybrid.

Check out the promo video here: http://www.vimeo.com/335019

Cheers,

Ads

Social Media's Role in a Media Plan

Thanks to Joe Marchese from OnlineSpin for these thoughts:

What role should social media play in a marketer's media plan? It's funny that something with the word "media" in its name isn't a shoe-in as a line item on most media plans. But the truth is that social media pulls more commonly from the "experimental" budgets (re: leftover or test) rather than the main "planned" media budget.

The even funnier thing is that this is both shocking and not surprising. It's shocking, given the reach and depth of connection social media offers, yet not surprising because no one has unlocked social media in a way that demonstrates return on marketing objectives, such as reasonable expected range of outcome at for set amount of resource allocation. If you are a brand or an agency, there is not much more you can do but test various methods and watch longingly as your potential brand advocates and customers participate in a media category without you. But it's not the end of the world, as long as your competitors don't figure out how to benefit from social media in a scalable manner before you.

Balancing the attractiveness of the social media opportunity and the cost-benefit analysis of current social media advertising methods leaves us back at the start. What role should social media play in your media plan? I will be moderating this topic at OMMA Social next week. And I can't believe my luck, as I am looking forward to finding at least a couple of answers, given the amazing panel I will be leading. The panel is titled "Media Plans: Additive or Core Ingredient? Putting Social Media in the Mix" (http://www.mediapost.com/ommasocial/index.cfm?ip=Agenda) consists of: Joe Marchese, president, SocialVibe.com (who I hear is very funny and good-looking) Augustine Fou, SVP, digital strategist, MRM Worldwide Greg Verdino, Chief Strategy Officer, Crayon David Berkowitz, director of emerging media and client s trategy, 360i Rich Gagnon, Chief Media Officer, Draft FCB Adam J. Broitman, director of emerging and creative strategy, Morpheus Media.

Since I will be moderating, I thought I would get a couple of my thoughts out now. No surprise, I think social media should be a core component of your marketing mix. But test first. Social media marketing should have to pass the same test any other business relationship would. Allocate a reasonable budget to various social media marketing initiatives and analyze the results.

Once you find results that are favorable, or even comparable to your other online or offline marketing activities, look to scale those efforts, and continue to monitor return. The cost of monitoring your return this closely might throw off your ROI in the short run, but as you scale your efforts, testing results will become a smaller component of cost.

A lot of marketers would claim to be doing this, but they are not. What is more common is allocating far less budget to social media and looking at it more like buying a lottery ticket. Meaning: they're pinning their hopes on something going viral (aka winning the lottery) and if it doesn't, at least the expense wasn't too high.

Every marketer looks at social media and wants "The Blair Witch Project" (low budget, cultural phenomenon). Instead, they end up with a string of social media tests that seem to suggest they can't drive ROI from social media marketing. Let me be clear: There is no such thing as "free media," free media is just media you achieve by spending your time and money on developing assets that reduce the amount of money you had to spend to "buy media."

Throwing money at social media doesn't work, either. Achieving success in social media requires commitments longer than many campaigns are scheduled to run. So don't spread your social media budget over some artificial timeline created by your media plan, but regard it as an "always on" component. You can always scale up and down at appropriate times, given business cycles or product releases. But keeping a consistent presence can allow you to reap the full benefits of social media.

5 Simple Ways to Start Tracking Word of Mouth Traffic

These tips are thanks to Endless Plain by Serengeti Communications:

Word-of-mouth traffic can be some of the best, most qualified visitors to your site. But, how do you actually know if you are getting traffic from word-of-mouth? PPC and SEO efforts are easy to track because you can segment out traffic based on the specific referrers or entry pages (PPC). You have to be a bit creative to find the word-of-mouth traffic.

1. Check out your direct traffic (no referrer)
2. Check out your branded keyword traffic
3. Check out the blogs
4. Check out the blogs and other conversations
5. Ask your customers
See the full article by Joy Brazelle for more detail:
http://endlessplain.com/2008/06/17/5-simple-ways-to-start-tracking-word-of-mouth-traffic/

Interesting stuff out there...

Thanks Melissa for these links:

HP & Gwen Stefani
Everyone has something to say. We all have this little voice in our heads that says, "Make something." And now, we all have the tools at our fingertips. We can be the author, the editor and the publisher. We can make amazing things. The "What do you have to say" campaign features great ideas and how-tos, from personalized tour books to professionally designed business materials.
http://h30393.www3.hp.com/printing/gwen.html
TV ad http://h30418.www3.hp.com/index.jsp?fr_story=048bd65106c9b4f93012b25ef39080eeb4781bfc&rf=bm

A pledge to reduce bottled water
http://www.filterforgood.com/

Microsoft Inspiration anyone (follow on from the break up)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knQKdhGmL8s

The intelligent first aid kit
http://www.intelligentfirstaid.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/2

50 bizarre social networks
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49296847,00.htm

iPods That Compose Their Own Music, Almost Here

Thank PSFK:

by Dave Pinter

What if instead of downloading music into your iPod, it could just compose a new piece of music for you. What if it sensed the time of day, season, location you were at, and activity you were doing and based the composition around those criteria?

It’s not so far off from happening. Create Digital Music recently speculated about the coming application of generative music in mobile devices. There are already a host of music composition applications and interfaces merging on the iPhone. Others like the soon to launch Mixtikl from Intermorphic will allow composition, performance, and remixing capabilities right from a mobile.

The next step is blending these applications with generative music tools and a loop library to allow the device to make it’s own music. Artists like Brian Eno have experimented with generative compositions before but have been limited by technology. Eno released an album called Generative Music 1 back in 1996 using early Koan software. Contrary to traditional music making, generative music is all about creatively setting up the parameters to allow for interesting results.

If generative music takes off, it might be sometime in the future that we all question how silly it was to classify music in things called genres.

Create Digital Music

RepairPal, It’s Like Google Health for Your Car

Thanks Techcruch for this post:

Going to the mechanic is like going to the doctor. When something needs to be fixed, for most people there is no easy way to tell if they are being charged the going rate or are being ripped off. Enter RepairPal, a new site launching publicly today where you can get price estimates for different parts and repair jobs for your car. You enter your car year, model, and mileage, and it spits out price ranges for your zip code. For instance, replacing the front brake pads on a BMW in New York City should cost between $158 and $310.

Not sure where to take your car? There is also a directory of 287,000 local mechanics, with each shop placed onto a Google Map. Members can rate each mechanic. Once a repair is completed, you can keep an online service record at RepairPal. It is kind of like keeping your electronic medical record at Google Health, but it’s for your car.

A lot of detailed information is included with each estimate, such as helpful tips, recommendations, and common problems related to that repair. Members can add their own comments and suggestions. But if you need to ask an expert a question, you can pay $9 to have a real mechanic answer your question online. All of these features are designed to help you keep your car healthy.

The startup raised an angel round in the “low millions” last November from James Currier, the founder of Tickle, Stan Chudnovsky, the former CEO of Tickle, Chris Michel from Affinity Labs, and a hedge fund.

The key to the site’s success will be the accuracy of its price estimates. Other sites, like Driverside, which we recently reviewed, also offer repair estimates. But int his case, whoever has the best data will win. DriverSide doesn’t even list the model of my car, much less the particular repairs I need estimates for. When I recently ran RepairPal through the paces with a real list of repairs (Front pads, front rotors, bracket sensor, air filter, spark plugs, fuel filter, marker filter, and oil service) it came up with estimates for all but two items for my model vehicle.

Now multiply 400 different car models X 80 different types of repairs X 17 different model years X 42,000 different zip codes and you get more than 10 billion permutations. It is really a number-crunching problem. The better the underlying data, the better the estimates. RepiarPal gets its pricing data from a variety of sources, including pricing surveys, expert input, car brand data, parts distribution data, labor time data, demographic data, econometric models, and proprietary algorithms. CEO and co-founder David Sturtz, who previously started his own hedge fund, Clear View Capital Management, says:

We want to provide critical information previously only available to mechanics. We can tell you whether to replace or fix your car. For advertisers, they can target by geography, brand of car, or problem. For dealers and local shops, we will send leads. In return, they will be reviewed and rated by members.

Sturtz still has some things he needs to fix himself. Right now, you cannot enter a list of repairs. Each on needs to be entered individually to get an estimate. (Sturtz says that is on his to-do list). And you also can’t get a quote from a mechanic through the site (that too will come later). But overall it is a solid site. The auto repair industry is a $150 billion industry in the U.S. and there are about one billion service visits a year, says Sturtz. All he’s doing is bringing some much-needed transparency to it.

minimize

CrunchBase Information

Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions

Every Australian living within the healthy weight range by 2010? Japan is certainly taking their health seriously... check this out thanks to The New York Times:

By NORIMITSU ONISHIPublished: June 13, 2008

AMAGASAKI, Japan — Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.

But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.

To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.

For the full article visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html?ex=1214280000&en=d468ccbc1f23d207&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Mini iPhone Projector - genius!

By Dan Gould - Thanks to PSFK Conference San Francisco for letting us in on this technology. Could this be the future saving grace in BMF meeting rooms?

Time for the daily iPhone post. This is a cool gadget that’s unfortunately only a concept design - at the moment. Honlai, the producers of a tiny LED projector have come up with a docking station projector for the first-gen iPhone. I could see this little device being very useful for presentations on the fly (or impromptu movies anywhere). Hopefully someone will get this into production right away.

http://www.psfk.com/2008/06/mini-iphone-projector.html

Doritos New Game

This post is thanks to Mathieson Typepad

DORITOS LAUNCHES ONLINE 'QUEST' CONTEST WITH MOUNTAIN DEW-FLAVORED TORTILLA CHIPS

On the heels of last year's X-13D name-the-flavor contest, Doritos is hoping you'll munch your way to their new online experience and down a bunch of Mountain Dew-flavored tortilla chips.

Actually, the taste is more limony- 7-UP with salt. But once you find out it's really Mountain Dew, you get it - not that you'll particularly want to. We are, after all, talking about lemon-Lime potato chips without the benefit of a caffeine kick.

But finding out that's Mountain Dew is the actual flavor takes a little work (or would of, if I didn't just tell you). The bags just say "The Quest: Guessing the flavor is just the beginning."

A URL on the package points you to Doritos' branded entertainment unit SnackStrong Productions, but really takes you to Doritos.com, which would be so much easier to enter.

And even then it would be a bad idea, because it's very hard to actually find a link to the Quest experience (it's really at doritosthequest.com, and the packaging should say that) - where you find out you can win up to $100,000 for proceeding in an online adventure where...oh it doesn't really matter. It seemed too involved.

The whole thing seems similar to the far more interesting "Indy Quest" Indiana Jones online adventure game.

Still - an interesting approach to engaging tweens and teens who make up the natural target for both Dew and Doritos (and there's 80's-style synergy here: Both Dew and Doritos are owned by Pepsi).

Kids, no doubt will dig in and see what it's all about.

That is, if they can find it.

http://mathieson.typepad.com/genwow/2008/06/doritos-launche.html

Making people pay for Digital Creative

Must We Give away Digital Creative Works?
by: John Caddell. Cheers to FutureLab for this post.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, spurred on by the recent Fran Ten podcast, this David Pogue post, and most recently a thoughtful post by Scott Goodson based on this column by economist Paul Krugman.
The upshot of Krugman's argument, referencing Esther Dyson's prediction from the early '90's, is that digital creative works will become free, and creative artists will have to make their money from "ancillary" projects, such as touring, personal appearances, licensing, etc.

If this turns out to be true (and the music industry is approaching this state right now), then it has a lot of negative ramifications for the future of creativity.

First off is the fairness question. Here is a simplified digital media value chain:

Digital distributors (i.e., ISPs like Comcast) make money through subscriptions
Directories and aggregators (like Google) make money through advertising
Creators make... nothing?

While the structure of technology allows this to happen, it's hard to look at this picture and see it as fair. I agree that DRM sucks, but is the solution "pay what you want"--a virtual tip jar?

Furthermore, if creating a work of art cannot in itself make money, it will then be difficult to invest much in that creation. While that may allow bloggers to continue (though I wouldn't turn down a few bucks for my work if that were possible), it doesn't bode well for musicians or moviemakers, and, soon, book authors.

If I can make money in personal appearances but not by writing, I will have to limit my writing time in order to, you know, pay the mortgage.

If a band can make money touring but not through selling CDs, they will be unlikely to spend much time in the recording studio, or to spend money on studio effects or gear. Perhaps they will instead simply tape their concerts and compile albums from the live sessions.

If a moviemaker cannot make money from her films because they are freely available on the web, she will have difficulty using any approach other than Dogme 95 in order to reduce costs. And do we want to see Dogme 95-style movies all the time?

The irony is that time put into making money takes away from time to create. Therefore, the output from our best artists is less. Is that progress?

Perhaps this is offset somewhat by the "long tail" of creators enabled by new technology. But I would trade 1000 bad "Nude" remixes for one new album by an artist I really like.

(Photo: pro-copying logo from piratbyran.org)

Original Post: http://shoptalkmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/06/must-we-give-away-digital-creative.html

The DO's and DONT's of URL promotions

This post is from iMediaConnection

By Aaron Goldman

Choosing a good domain name is only half a marketer's battle. Learn how your URL display can impact your brand for better, or worse.

I was excited to read Jeremiah Johnston's recent column on integrating domains into overall marketing strategy. URL selection and deployment is an oft-overlooked weapon in the marketing arsenal.
In his piece, Johnston focused on securing generic URLs to bolster a brand's position in the marketplace -- e.g., Russian Standard Vodka buying Vodka.com for a cool $3 million.

Supplementing YourBrandName.com with YourProduct.com, YourCategory.com or YourSlogan.com is definitely a sound approach.

However, choosing a good URL to support your brand is only the beginning. Effectively integrating a domain into your program requires careful promotional guidelines.
Too often I see marketers shell out top dollar for a premium domain name -- or worse, cop out with an obscure URL that no one will remember -- and bury it in all lower case at the bottom of an ad. It's quite rare to find a marketer giving his URL the attention it deserves by presenting it in an impactful way.

To illustrate my point, here are screen captures of the last frame of two different TV commercials. See the difference?

For more examples and the full article, visit: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/19544.asp

List of online communities, networks, etc for all ages

This is a great list of site that people at different life stages and ages are using online. Thanks to Web Strategy by Jeremiah for this great resource.

List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond 

Posted: 11 Jun 2008 02:28 PM CDT

I’m doing research around how different ages using social networks, communities, and virtual worlds by age, and will compile this list as it grows. I’m looking for established community sites that are mature enough to work with brands. There is already so much coverage on mainstream social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn that we forget about the other smaller niche networks.

First, understand technographics (how ages use social media) by accessing Forrester’s profile tool <http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html> , available for free. If you know the demographics for any of these, please leave a comment.

Youth
I’m primarily seeking communties that are under 18, beyond just MySpace.
Club Penguin, Disney <http://www.clubpenguin.com/>
8-12, Virtual World Stardolls <http://www.stardoll.com/en/>
Young Girls 10-17, Social Network, virtual dolls Barbie Girls <http://barbiegirls.com/homeMtl.html>
6-16, Virtual World WeeWorld <http://www.weeworld.com/>
Youth, Avatar based Social network Zookazoo <http://www.zookazoo.com/>
6-10 year olds, Virtual World Club Penguin, Disney <http://www.clubpenguin.com>>
8-12, Social network, virtual dolls Gaia <http://www.gaiaonline.com/>
Teens, Virtual World Habbo Hotel <http://www.habbo.com/>
European Youth, Virtual World Cyworld <http://www.cyworld.com>
South Korean youth, (and now global), virtual/social network Neopets <http://www.neopets.com/>
Youth, Virtual Pets Pixie Hollow, Disney <http://disney.go.com/fairies/pixiehollow/comingSoon.html>
Young Girls, Virtual Pet Teen Second Life <http://teen.secondlife.com/>
Teen, Virtual World Webkinz <http://www.webkinz.com/>
Youth, Virtual World Piczo <http://www.piczo.com/>
Teens, Social Network Shining Stars, by Russ <http://www.shiningstars.com/>
Youth, ‘name a star’
Puzzle Pirates <http://www.puzzlepirates.com/>
Youth, Gaming, Virtual World

50+
Now of course, boomers and retired are also going to be on lifestyle social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, but I’m seeking examples that are focused in on reaching these folks.

Eons <http://www.eons.com/>
50+, Social Network BOOMj <http://www.boomj.com/>
50+, Social Network Tee Bee Dee <http://www.tbd.com/>
Boomers, Social Network There’s a larger list of Boomer sites <http://emersondirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/the-top-30-social-network-sites-for-baby-boomers/> , many I’ve not heard from.

Departed
Someone suggests this in the comments in Friendfeed, makes sense.
Legacy <http://www.legacy.com/NS/>
Respectance <http://respectance.com/>
Tributes.com
SweetMemoriesSite <http://www.SweetMemoriesSite.com>
ChristianMemorials <http://www.christianmemorials.com/>
PreciousMemoriesAndMore <http://www.preciousmemoriesandmore.com/> For what it’s worth, I hope this blog lives on past my time here.

Related Resources
Danah Boyd has a great PDF on Youth and Social Networks (PDF) <http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf>
Many reports (260) on Forrester site tagged youth <http://www.forrester.com/rb/search/results.jsp?N=0&Ntk=MainSearch&Ntx=mode+MatchAllPartial&Ntt=youth>

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog

Seminar at Cannes Lions 2008 "The Social Metropolis"

Newsletter from GoViral:

The Social Metropolis
The main theme of The Social Metropolis is Digital Brand Activation. In the following you will be introduced to how you do Digital Brand Activation and why you should be using a Digital Brand Activation approach.

What does Social Metropolis mean?
Media is democratizing – participation is taking over from more passive media forms. This leads to a greatly diversified and fragmented media place – one where it is harder to engage people.
Ultimately, the attention economy of the Social Metropolis is a zero-sum game. The attention somebody gets, someone else is denied.

One of the key challenges is to stay on top of the developments in the Social Metropolis. Just like a real city, the infrastructure develops all the time. Technology is the driver of all this, but it is also what will help us re-activate our brands in the social media world. Technology can help us reach the right people and measure our activities properly. Just think how well we have defined the traditional formats of mass marketing, and how much time we are spending, planning the right channels to get the desired outcome. The same consistent structure, quality, and insights are needed to achieve and maintain a high quality on your social media campaign plan, only the target can now be 1000 destinations instead of 10. The answer to this challenge is: The right mix of good content, the right technology and good media planning.

Social Citizen Activation
The framework for Social Citizen Activation regards Content, Activation and Attention; a) Content; we need to get content right in order for people to like it. b) Activation; we need professional and technologically aided distribution, if we are to succeed in reaching the right people c) Attention; mapping what we plan to do and measuring properly, what we achieved, allows us to receive feedback, benchmark our social media campaigns and gradually improve our activities. This is basically the three stages we take you through at GoViral – content evaluation, seeding and tracking with some spice and some insights to why these three phases are the right ones.

Digital Brand Activation
Bringing something to the table for users, in order to receive their support, requires a very different mind-set and set of tools than traditional advertising. There is a major difference between getting people to promote a social cause, and the interests of your company. Quite frankly, social epidemics are quite rare, especially for companies to instigate on purpose. The solution can be found in "big seed marketing" and "always on".

Big Seed: The central thesis of our book is that between the traditional mass marketing approach, and the newer influences such as viral marketing, is an important gap that marketers can capitalize on. Inspired by Duncan J. Watts, we propose an approach called 'Big Seed Marketing' that combines viral marketing tools with old fashioned mass media techniques in a new and creative way. Big seed means optimizing your content strategy and your distribution strategy to craft effective campaigns.

Always on: A central concept in marketing is the campaigns. All of marketing are set up today to plan and execute campaigns. 'Always on' addresses what happens when people are talking all the time, and you are only talking three months pr. year. For that, we have described the entire circle of marketing as a) search, b) review, c) buy and d) affect others. This circle covers the user's journey from potential customer to active brand advocate. 'Always on' invites the reader into a world, where people are discussing, reviewing and rating your product and brand all the time. A metropolis that never sleeps…
'Always on' means optimizing your online strategy to make sure you are present at all the main touch points of the consumer journey, that you have enough content available, and that you help the users get the best experience. This includes community building, easy access to help, services and guides, experiences and much more.

Nike Hyperdunk
The Nike Hyperdunk is the company's lightest and strongest basketball shoe ever. Weighing in at only 13 ounces, the Hyperdunk is 18% lighter than the average Nike Basket ball shoe, giving you better performance on the court and, apparently, allowing you to jump over speeding Aston Martins.
Nike produced two co-branded videos, featuring basket ball superstar Kobe Bryant jumping over a speeding Aston Martin and a pool of snakes, together with the Jackass crew.

Content. Activation. Attention.
The content of the video is great, because it just on the verge of unbelievable, but not crossing the line. Did he actually do it? Since the content is of such high quality, the activation phase is easier. People pass it on, if it is good enough. Companies still need to work professionally with placing the content in all the right channels, though. Attention is difficult to speculate about on this one, but having constructed the campaign with multiple clips, Nike managed to generate more than 7,5 mio. views over the first running weeks of the campaign, just on Youtube. More than 1,5 mio. additional views came from spoof videos or responses to the campaign. In addition, several of the spoof videos link to the original ones, creating a more vibrant user experience as well as better results for the campaign.

Did Kobe Bryant actually do the jumps or were they fabricated? Judge for yourself:

Aston Martin < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIWeEFV59d4>
Pool of Snakes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJZXyfLrpU&amp;feature=related>

Kind regards,
Pernille Hegnsholt
http://goviral.com/viralradar.php