the Web Chef's e-Bytes

Web Tidbits - Miscellaneous

Sorry for not posting for awhile.  I'm ready to get back in the blogging saddle...

Here are a few web tidbits and sites for your pleasure and exploration.

Wiki of obsolete skills - A to Z contributions of skills we no longer need.  A - Adjusting rabbit ears on top of a tv, Z - zmodem to transfer a file.  Perusing the list brought back some memories like eight tracks, formatting a floppy or rewinding an audio-casette using a Bic pen.

BusinessWeek talks about the TED conference introduction of Kluster (beta), a social network for product invention and creation.  The concept is that through the "wisdom of crowds" ideas will be converted into protottypes and solutions.  Also referenced in the article is Inkling, a Chicago based company that is creating a "prediction market platform" for generating results from groups.

Meanwhile Information Week, showcases the start-up HiveLive, a Boulder based enterprise social networking vendor that markets LiveConnect "a user-configurable building block for networking with people and sharing information.  Hives can incorporate forums, polls, blogs, wikis, and more."

Web Tidbits - Social Networks, Wikis

One year old Citizendium is hunting for a piece of the content pie seeking to be a reliable alternative to Wikipedia through the use of expert contributors.  According to the Financial Times they still have a ways to go given that the site only has 3,300 articles (compared to Wikipedias 2 million in English alone) and is growing at 14 new ones a day.  With the viral and network effects of the Internet the projections for the site are positive according to the founder Larry Sanger.

In the social networking space, Google announced the launch of OpenSocial, a consortium described by the Financial Times as "The technology that Google unveiled will let developers spread applications across any of the social networks that adopt it, removing the need to rewrite them for each one".  CNet is reporting that there are 26 companies that have joined the consortium including Google's Orkut (popular in Latin America), Hi5, LinkedIn, Friendster, Plaxo, Ning, Beebo, Oracle, Salesforce.com, etc.

For more on social networks see my article "The expanding world of social networks" on Wisconsin Technology Network.

Web Tidbits - Keys to Success Online, Etsy, Jellyfish

Business Week has put together an online exclusive called "The Keys to Online Success".   The series of articles includes everything from case studies on small business use of Web 2.0 tools to coverage of Podcasting to an online video on best practices for online businesses.

Catching up on my reading, I found an article in Business Week reviewing Etsy, an online marketplace for arts and crafts.  According to the article, the site doesn't use an auction model, but collects a .20 listing fee and 3.5% commission.

Madison-based Jellyfish, a comparison shopping site with a twist has been acquired by Microsoft according to the Capital Times.  The deal was apparently worth $50 million and for those of us that live in and love Madison, Microsoft will reportedly keep the company in town.  ZDNet's blogger Mary Jo Foley on Microsoft reports that it fits nicely with their focus on shopping results.

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

New Column in Wisconsin Technology Network -

I've written a new column for the monthly Buzz Networks series in Wisconsin Technology Network.  The article, "Outflanking the Google, Yahoo, MSN Juggernaut" discusses some of the latest trends in the search engine world.

Taking it Beyond the Article
One trend referenced is the growth of vertical search engines that focus on a particular technology or discipline.  One of the latest ones that I've come across is called Balihoo, a vertical search engine for advertising media.  In other vertical search news, Blinkx, a video search tool referenced in my article is going for an IPO according to Business 2.0 Next Net.  Another new search engine that I've come across is local search engine Oddpath, that appears to have content tagged for geographic search.

Web Tidbits - Wikis, Web 2.0

ReadWrite Web has a great posting called the World of Wikis.  The article explains the history of wikis, offers suggestions on what they can be used for and provides links to wiki creation tools.  For another resource on wikis see my recent article in Wisconsin Technology Network "Joining the wiki waki world".

In other recent news McKinsey research released on March 22nd "How Businesses are Using Web 2.0" and reported by Business Week finds that large corporations are wary to invest in web 2.0 technologies.  The research found that of common web 2.0 technologies that well under 50% planned to invest in them.  Among the findings of those using or planning to use specific tools were the following:

• Social Networking - 37%
• RSS - 35%
• Podcasts - 35%
• Wikis - 33%
• Blogs - 32%
• Mashups - 21%

The disheartening results were attribued to fear and lack of familiarity with the technologies.  Not to surprisingly smaller more entrepreneurial companies were found to be more conversant and willing to adopt these new technologies.

Web Tidbits - Wikipedia Alternative and Digital Media Report

AdFreak announced that Citizendium, the citizen's compendium and a new competitor to Wikipedia has launched.  According to AdFreak the service will be different then Wikipedia in that "articles will be signed and experts identified".

MIT Advertising Lab reports that Avenue A/Razorfish has released its 2007 Digital Media Report.  You can register to download the 150 page free report on their website.

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.

Web Tidbits - Wiki Novel

eWeek reports that Penguin Books is using wiki technology and soliciting authors and contributors for the development of a new book "A Million Penguins".  The wiki will be online for around 6 weeks.  As it says at the wiki site "Can a collective create a believable fictional voice?" 

So how are they doing in this quest?  When I visited the site, I found that the home page I was viewing had last been updated February 20, 2007 and that there had been 126,462 visitors.

Why not join the contributors?.

This wiki was being powered by MediaWiki.

If you'd like to learn more about wikis, see my article "Join the Wiki Waki World" in Wisconsin Technology Network.

People Powered Search

Information Week announced that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has plans to launch a new wiki-based search engine.  The people powered search engine, which had been referred to as Wikiasari in the article (a name that will not become the public one when finally launhced), will offer the benefits of highly relevant content based on the collective power of crowds.  The open source technology supporting the initiative should provide a leg up for this new search initiative.

For more information on wikis, see my article "Joining the Wiki Waki World" in Wisconsin Technology Network.