Category: Media/Tech Business Models

More on Facebook Public Data and Google Implications

You know, I just realized I suggested that Facebook do exactly what it's doing. Read this post from back in June, deconstructing an article in Wired about the emerging Facebook v. Google battle. In it I say: I think it's a major strategic mistake to not offer [as much…

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You know, I just realized I suggested that Facebook do exactly what it’s doing. Read this post from back in June, deconstructing an article in Wired about the emerging Facebook v. Google battle. In it I say:

I think it’s a major strategic mistake to not offer [as much information on Facebook as possible] to Google (and anyone else that wants to crawl it.) In fact, I’d argue that the right thing to do is to make just about everything possible available to Google to crawl, then sit back and watch while Google struggles with whether or not to “organize it and make it universally available.” A regular damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario, that….

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This is the Facebook Step We Expected: Default Public

This is a big deal. Facebook is taking the final step to become more like Twitter. Thanks to RWW for pointing it out. I've been traveling and had not had a chance to read the new privacy settings, which state: …we'll be recommending that you make available to everyone a…

This is a big deal. Facebook is taking the final step to become more like Twitter. Thanks to RWW for pointing it out. I’ve been traveling and had not had a chance to read the new privacy settings, which state:

…we’ll be recommending that you make available to everyone a limited set of information that helps people find and connect with you, information like “About Me” and where you work or go to school…. This information is name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, friend list, and Pages….

The blog post explaining the changes amounts to a massive act of “burying the lead”, to use a journalistic phrase. The lead is “the core of the story.” To me, the fact that your status updates and other info will now be public is a pretty big story. But Facebook leads with this:

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Twitter is .. Developing

Twitter is rolling a ton of features and announcements this week, coinciding both with Le Web in Paris and its own ongoing development as a platform. A roundup: – Twitter is opening up its "firehose" of tweets to all comers "in early 2010". This is a very big deal….

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Twitter is rolling a ton of features and announcements this week, coinciding both with Le Web in Paris and its own ongoing development as a platform. A roundup:

– Twitter is opening up its “firehose” of tweets to all comers “in early 2010”. This is a very big deal. Before, developers had limited access to the Twitterverse. This means the ecosystem has tons more oxygen to work with.

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Google Wants Your Small Biz To Barcode Itself

Google has launched a "Favorite Places" program to jumpstart its local search business. I like the moxy, but the ecosystem is lacking a clear dose of "Why Should I Do This," at least from the point of view of the business. Or the customer, for that matter. The program…

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Google has launched a “Favorite Places” program to jumpstart its local search business. I like the moxy, but the ecosystem is lacking a clear dose of “Why Should I Do This,” at least from the point of view of the business. Or the customer, for that matter. The program has the same “Church lady dancing to rap” feeling that marks nearly all of Google’s socially-driven products.  

If Google is serious about this space, they best buy Foursquare, pronto, and let the folks there take over.

2 Comments on Google Wants Your Small Biz To Barcode Itself

AT&T Takes a Step In the Right Direction

AT&T today released an iPhone app that reports wireless issues. It’s called Mark the Spot. Very cool. This is a step toward the crowdsourced, conversational, map-driven go to market strategy I outlined here….this app was not done by AT&T marketing, but rather labs, I was told, though that is not…

Screen shot 2009-12-07 at 11.18.26 AM.pngAT&T today released an iPhone app that reports wireless issues. It’s called Mark the Spot. Very cool. This is a step toward the crowdsourced, conversational, map-driven go to market strategy I outlined here….this app was not done by AT&T marketing, but rather labs, I was told, though that is not totally confirmed.

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Google Embraces Twitter, Some More. In a Non Facebook Kinda Way.

From the Google Social Web Blog (I have to admit it's hard for me to see those four words together without busting out a silly grin): Today, we're bringing Twitter and Friend Connect even closer together. Now you can join one of over nine million Google Friend Connect sites…

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From the Google Social Web Blog (I have to admit it’s hard for me to see those four words together without busting out a silly grin):

Today, we’re bringing Twitter and Friend Connect even closer together. Now you can join one of over nine million Google Friend Connect sites using your Twitter login. Once signed in, your Twitter profile will be automatically linked and you can tweet your new site membership, share discussions from the comments gadget, and invite your friends via Twitter.

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What Are The Conversion Rates for Google’s “First Click Free”?

Google today announced a new policy in its ongoing attempt to reach detente with an increasingly querulous publishing industry. (For background, read Mashable’s piece).   A key piece of the new policy has to do with changes to Google’s “First Click Free” program. From Google’s announcement: One way we overcome…

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Google today announced a new policy in its ongoing attempt to reach detente with an increasingly querulous publishing industry. (For background, read Mashable’s piece).  

A key piece of the new policy has to do with changes to Google’s “First Click Free” program. From Google’s announcement:

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I Have A Kindle Now. But I Won’t Read A Book On It. Discuss.

I had a birthday a few weeks ago and to mark the occasion, my wife bought me a Kindle.   OK, yes, I’m a pretty digital guy, and despite writing my 1992 Berkeley Master’s thesis on “The Future of Print in the Age of Interactivity” – a thesis that celebrated…

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I had a birthday a few weeks ago and to mark the occasion, my wife bought me a Kindle.  

OK, yes, I’m a pretty digital guy, and despite writing my 1992 Berkeley Master’s thesis on “The Future of Print in the Age of Interactivity” – a thesis that celebrated the rise of a digital tablet fed by a world wide network – I didn’t run out and buy a Kindle as soon as they came on the market. In fact, I was rather suspicious of the device, with its cultish clan of devotees and its somewhat insidious approach to purchases (Whispernet is free – just use it to buy stuff!). I actively demurred my wife’s consistent implorations to buy one – much to her frustration as a card-carrying member of the aforementioned cult.

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I Love It When…

You imagine something out loud in a book, and then it starts to happen…. I am sure many of you have heard of RedLaser, but I hadn't until today. I love it! Here's the text from my blog post, written in 2004 (pre iPhone, so I used a Treo…) which…

You imagine something out loud in a book, and then it starts to happen….

I am sure many of you have heard of RedLaser, but I hadn’t until today. I love it!

Here’s the text from my blog post, written in 2004 (pre iPhone, so I used a Treo…) which I rewrote into the book:

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Hey Mr. Murdoch: It Doesn’t Have to Be Black and White

Sheesh. Just give Google summary text and headlines to index (like the WSJ does now). Then do your best to convert would be readers to your paid model. That's it. What's the big deal? The rest is bluster….

Sheesh. Just give Google summary text and headlines to index (like the WSJ does now). Then do your best to convert would be readers to your paid model. That’s it. What’s the big deal?

The rest is bluster.

6 Comments on Hey Mr. Murdoch: It Doesn’t Have to Be Black and White