TheWayoftheWeb

Content and Digital Marketing Specialists

social networking

Is it location, location, location for Web 2.0?

By

NB: The following post assumes that you don’t mind anyone with a web browser being able to track your every move…

Now that social networking has reached everyone, there are plenty of people banking on the next way to improve on online networks

And it seems the next step is to further integrate your online persona with your real-life location. It’s fine hooking up with a new friend on the other side of the planet due to your shared love of Japanese animation or vintage cars, but it’s also handy to find someone with the same interest that lives in the next street and comes round for an evening of DVD watching, or can help you change your rear axle.

There’s a whole range of location services springing up. But some have better value than others.

For instance, I’ve been playing with radiusIM today. It’s a social Instant Messaging service, which combines an MSN Messenger like function (And interacts with AOL, MSN, Yahoo and GTalk messaging), with a map displaying the whereabouts of your friends, and the nearest people to you on the service.

The problem with radiusIM is that is doesn’t really have a clear function. There’s not enough detail to initiate flirting with strangers of the opposite sex, there’s no way to build groups around a local area, and the one other function, the ability to track where your friends are currently located, falls down due to the fact the locations have to be defined manually by a user. So for my friends to spot me walking to the pub, I’ve got to log in and move my location every few minutes…

A fat better idea is the mobile application Oops I’m Late! I’ve yet to test it thoroughly, but it’s got a winning idea. Set an appointment in your mobile calendar, and if you’re running late, it automatically notifies the contacts you’ve selected, and gives an estimated time of arrival etc… So you can let your colleagues know to delay their meeting, and save your family from wondering if you’ve forgotten the shopping etc, without having to remember to text every single one of them. Perfect for people who travel a lot and can’t use a mobile while they drive or ride their motorcycle…Or to put it another way “Revolutionary, disruptive technology that is designed to keep your common courtesy quota up”

As with anything it’s those ideas which can be explained in a single sentence which work. And with location tracking, it’s those services which don’t involve manual input, and can utilise mobile phones which will show the great benefits.

You can never predict web users precisely

By

Whenever you design a web application or service, a big part of your job is to try and define how it will serve your consumers. Even if it’s something which is totally customisable and designed to be individual to every user, you still need to work out how people will interact with it to set it up…

And there is a great example on www.flip.com. It’s a social networking/slide show type site from Teen Vogue and publishers Conde Nast.

So how will they respond to the fact some girls have grouped together to create their own magazine and publish it on flip? Check it out, here.

The right way would be to take a look, and maybe publicise the fact it’s happening. Use it as a great example of interaction to build their community, and perhaps use it to find new writing talent and ideas.

The wrong way would be to try to stop it, and see it start somewhere else.

And speaking as the Editor of an independant online magazine, it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out…

Don’t forget users once they’re signed up

By

Maybe it’s a sign I’m getting bored with hearing Social Networking talk, considering the main players have been the same for a fairly long time now. But I was surprised by how unfriendly Facebook can be to it’s users.

I’ve got a couple of accounts, and one was used to spread the word about something of interest to a particular group of hobbyists. I belonged to a number of suitable groups, and left some wall messages, which included a website link, but was written so that it was clear that no-one had to actually visit the website to take part.

I’m presuming this was the post that was removed by the Management, but in the official emails that told me I could be banned, deleted or hung, drawn and quartered, no-one thought to tell me what the offending post was.

It’s not useful being told not to do something, but having to try and guess what that thing is.

Don’t fall into the ‘new customer trap’. Even once you’ve got them into your site, don’t annoy them. Because they will bugger off, believe me.

A brave new world….or was it? Internetworld 2007

By

I attended the first day of the Internetworld event at Earls Court yesterday, but wasn’t able to blog last night as I was watching Chelsea football club crash out of the Champions League semi-final!

It did make me realise the time is right to move to a newer mobile phone, with web access, and the ability to blog without a PC, bearing in mind I decided to travel light for once. One of the presentations was by Russ Shaw from O2, covering convergence, and although I don’t really care too much about the fact they’ve bought the Millenium Dome, I was quite interested in things like the pay-per-clip LootAtMe, the online SIM back-up and the ability to share any pics and videos at My Bluebook. Although everything is currently sent via MMS, the facility is coming this year to instantly share via a simple option, which should increase the 25,000 user group (I think I’ve got the figure right).

There were plenty of seminars by the likes of Yahoo etc, and most were OK., if not revolutionary. Lots of talk about social networking and convergence. Examples like Myspace, Flickr and Youtube. Not exactly startling, but the occasional interesting point emerged in each 30 minute presentation.

Probably my favourite even of the day was “Five things web copy commissioners should know about social media” by Catherine Toole from Sticky Content. Appropriately for someone creating engaging online editorial, Catherine was fairly engaging herself, and for once, acknowledged some of the problems facing companies who are starting to embrace web 2.0 (People actually still use that term?) and social networking.
Catherine was followed by Liz O’Donnell from LinkedIn, explaining how to use social networking for selfish reasons…i.e. to help you as an individual find jobs/employees/companies etc. Again it was nice not to just here someone explaining that social networking is a growth area, and then pimping their product in isolation.

Sadly work means I couldn’t go today or tomorrow, but I think it was definitely worth visiting, just to meet some fellow geeks, watch Catherine and Liz’s presentations, and have the chance to be inspired in real life. I know some of the presentations are being taped to be put on the internetworld site, so I’ll post when they appear.

Myspace’s new news site

By

I’m in two minds over the new Myspace news site. On the one hand, there are some major clangers, including the fact it’s not even linked to the main Myspace site! And there’s no incentive to participate, and build a profile etc.

And on the other hand it’s not very good.

There’s a more details synopsis of the flaws in the launch on Medialoper .

I’ve seen major corporations take a stab at the social network thing and miss the point before, but when you’ve got an audience as big as Myspace’s it takes quite a lot to completely louse it up. So I still think that in 6 months to a year, I’d still bet on it being a major site for news aggregation, and many of the issues will have been tweaked and changed.

Then again, the original Myspace social network is still as clunky and flawed as ever, as it trundles on, populated by unsigned bands and hopeful glamour models.

Incidentally, if you were considering hitching your trailer to the long caravan behind the social bandwagon, it’s worth looking at the following diagram, from Yahoo’s Head of Technology Development…

Start growing your business today Contact Us