the Web Chef's e-Bytes

New Article in Wisconsin Technology Network - Conferences are brought to life with social computing tools

I've written another article for the Buzz Networks column that is published by Wisconsin Technology Network. The new article "Conferences are brought to life with social computing tools" describes the ways that web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into your meeting strategies to engage and connect with attendees.

Paul J Gibler

Web Tidbits - Web 2.0, Photo Sharing

I've been remiss in posting to this blog. 

Here are a couple of links to articles and resources that I thing you'll find interesting.

State of the Blogosphere - Technorati, Day 1 of their 5 part series on the status of blogs.  Today's report covers "Who are the Bloggers?", with the next 4 days expanding on the topic.  Among the findings are that North American bloggers are 57% male, 59% above 38 years old and 74% college graduates (yeah!  I fit in).

Beyond Blogs - Business Week writers and bloggers Heather Green and Stephen Baker refresh their popular 2005 cover story "Blogs Will Change Your Business" with "Beyond Blogs", a refreshing look at some of the many tools of social computing that are having an impact within the enterprise and among consumers.

Photo Sharing Sites - Looking for photo sharing sites beyond Flickr?  Check out this listing and evaluation on Photography Bay of 45 sites.

Slides on Conference Engagement Using Web 2.0 Tools

Earlier this week I was one of the keynote presenters at the 2nd annual National Conference on University and College Conference Centers. The topic of my talk was what Fortune magazine is calling Conference 2.0. For these Conference Centers being able to add value to their University clients as well as for outside users of their centers is something that is being sought. The use of web 2.0 tools like social network groups on LinkedIn, Photo Sharing on Flickr, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts etc. are all part of creating engagement among conference attendess and making meeting planners happy.  As Seth Godin says, you don't want your attendees to say "I flew all the way here for this".

The slides that I used at the presentation were posted on SlideShare and are available here for your reference.

Buzz Networks:conference engagement with social computing tools

View SlideShare presentation (tags: social computing conference tools)

Web Tidbits - Web 2.0 Miscellaneous

Strategy & Business has a new article "Web 2.0 Profiting from the Threat" that makes some interesting points.  In the article they reference recent Booz Allen & Hamilton research that found 50% of internet users visit a social media site.  They had 3 summary suggestions for businesses to keep in mind as their strategies evolve:

1. Businesses are no longer in charge of their message
2. Marketing channels are fragmenting
3. Web 2.0 is magnifying customer complaints

For each of these items case studies are supplied.

For more Web 2.0 coverage, you might want to take a look at the series of articles I've written for Wisconsin Technology Network under the Buzz Networks column with a series of 13 articles on a wide range of Web 2.0 topics - podcasts, social networks, RSS feeds, wikis, blogs, etc.

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I offer presentations and consulting services on Web 2.0 techniques.  I'd be happy to speak to your group and/or talk to you about your organization's needs for enhancing your web strategies.  Give me a call at 608 255 4092 or e-mail me for more information.

Paul Gibler
the Web Chef

Big Brother Internet Surveillance to Increase?

In yet another example of Government run amuck, the Justice Department is investigating instituting requirements that video and photo sharing sites maintain records about who has uploaded content to their sites for a two year period.  This requirement is being pursued according to CNET because the government feels it would be valuable in investigating terrorism, child pornography and other crimes.

This "data retention" concept has been pursued by the Bush Justice Department for a number of months.  According to CNET "Internet service providers typically discard any log file that's no longer required for business reasons such as network monitoring, fraud prevention or billing disputes".

Privacy experts are alarmed that this government intrusion is yet another step in government access to a full range of private information that could be used in a politically and personally harmful manner.

You'd think with the heat that the Justice Department has been under for their many unpopular positions and recent mass firings of a number of Federal Attorneys, that these types of initiatives would be put on the back burner.

e-Marketing Nibblets - At Home and At Work e-Stats

Business Week has compiled a nice visual representation with data from Forrester and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth that showcases some of the trends in at home and at work usage of the Internet.  At home data (from Forrester) includes 2005 and 2006 statistics on the number of people buying and downloading music files - 9.4 million (2006), those using social networking sites - 7.9 million (2006), those watching online video - 15.5 million (2006), receiving photos via e-mail - 48.7 million (2006) and using e-mail - 75.5 million (2006).  At Work data (from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) includes some similar data looking at the social networking tools that companies are using online video - 24%, social networking sites - 27%, and adds in message/bulletin boards - 33% and 3 Web 2.0 techniques - blogging - 19%, wikis - 17% and podcasting - 11%.

In the same synopsis of data they reference LinkedIn and IBM, with the IBM data stating that 20,000 IBM employees use wikis and 2500 publish internal blogs.

New File Sharing Service Launched - Izimi

The Financial Times announced the launch of Izimi, a new PC file sharing service with a twist.  The service allows users to post and serve videos or photos at their own sites without having to upload and use a photo sharing or video sharing site like Flickr or YouTube.  As the article says "its drawback is that the person sending the file mst leave their computer switched on and connected to the Internet".

One interesting application referenced in the article is as a tool for sharing large files that are to big to be sent via the Internet. 

Photo Sharing Sites with a Twist - Fliptrack

A new photo sharing site called Fliptrack has been launched.  The site has an interesting spin for this space in that it allows users to upload photographs and link them to one of over 100 licensed musical soundtracks (from holiday to golden oldies to contemporary) and have them displayed as a Flash slide show. 

As the press release I received from the company states "To create a mash-up at Fliptrack simply select a song, and then drag-and-drop digital photos onto the timeline.  A selection of quick start templates with pre-selected images makes it easy to get started, and built-in privacy controls place guidelines on who can view the final product.  Once complete, Fliptrack converts the creation into a flash-video for viewing as a musical photo montage or slide show."

Much like the video sharing site and Slideshare, the technology is set-up to allow for an embedded flash presentation like this one below.

Web Tidbits

Online Photo Sharing
Read/Write Web has a good story that compares photo sharing sites (Flickr, Webshots, Zoomr, Snapfish, Picasa, Photobucket, etc.) on a number of criteria, including tagging, feeds and print.  They quote June statistics from Hitbox showing that Photobucket had the largest market share.

Video Product Reviews
ClickZ announces the launch of Expotv a site for online video product reviews.  The one to 3 minute "videopinions" will be available on Expotv.com, but also will be syndicated to other video sharing sites like About.com, AOL Video and Google video.

Photo Sharing Sites - YouREP

I periodically receive press releases from different Web 2.0, e-marketing and/or e-business firms asking me to report on their site or their news.  If I think they are of interest, I'll report on them or use them as part of my background research.

Today I received an e-mail from the PR Manager at a photo sharing site called YouREP.  I thought I'd share what Janick their PR Manager had to say about the site for those of you interested in evaluating the site yourself and/or comparing it to other photo sharing sites.

"We have alot off feautures, I have never seen them combined in one single free photosharing site.

Feature list:
- 2GB storage space
- revenue sharing (50%)
- geotag your images
- make notes to your images
- upload up to 60 pictures at once with the zip upload
- personal homepage
- comments
- tags
- galleries
- favorite images
- star rating
- rotate your images
- exif data
- groups
- friendlist
- forums
- private messaging
- chatroom
- search
- folders
- hotlinking
- html/bb code collector
- explore by tags, location, groups
- Spy other users actions
- backup function, download all your images via a zip
- access levels for images: frontpage, public, friends only, private
- dynamic galleries: make galleries with rules for instance "must be in this folder"
- yOrganizer: edit properties off multiple pictures at once very easily(alot off ajax in this one)"

Thanks Janick for submitting the list of YouREP features.

For a review of other sites take a look at Read/Write Web's comparison table or CNET's Photo Sharing Comparison updated last October.  Unfortunately, YouREP didn't make either of thess lists.  Read/Write ranked Photobucket as their number one photosharing site.