Category: Site Related

CM Conversations: Evan Williams

Next up in the star lineup of conversants at the CM Summit this week is Evan Williams, the co-founder of Blogger, which Google acquired in 2003, and current co-founder of Twitter, which I've written about recently (TweetSense, anyone?). Evan's knack for conversational social media applications is obvious, but as…

Evan Williams2 Next up in the star lineup of conversants at the CM Summit this week is Evan Williams, the co-founder of Blogger, which Google acquired in 2003, and current co-founder of Twitter, which I’ve written about recently (TweetSense, anyone?).

Evan’s knack for conversational social media applications is obvious, but as Twitter settles into its place as a Web 2 favorite (and punching bag), one key question does remain – what’s the business model? How might Twitter work with marketers? With Blogger, Google saw a model – AdSense (and data, of course). Will lightening strike twice?

Rather than list additional questions here, I thought I’d just open this one up, knowing that Searchblog readers have *a lot* to ask Evan. So…have at it!

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CM Conversations: Joel Hyatt

Continuing my crowdsourcing of questions for one-on-one conversations at this week's CM Summit is Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current. Founded in 2005, Current is "the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience." The company has grown to nearly…

Joel Hyatt

Continuing my crowdsourcing of questions for one-on-one conversations at this week’s CM Summit is Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current. Founded in 2005, Current is “the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience.” The company has grown to nearly $64 million in revenues (2007) but has yet to hit profits, early this year it filed a public offering ($100 mm in proceeds), which has not completed due, one presumes, to market conditions. Still and all, a cable channel that counts more than 50mm potential viewers is a serious asset, and current.com, its online presence, is a vibrant community as well. It doesn’t hurt that the company courts a difficult to reach demographic – young, educated adults.

Current has been at the center of a lot of innovation in media, a recent example is “Hack the Debate“, a partnership with Twitter (co-founder Evan Williams will also be speaking at the CM Summit).

Current is an ambitious project, backed by serious players, including Al Gore, who serves as Chairman. Hyatt, who runs the company day to day, also serves on the board of HP and the Brookings Institute, and has been quite involved in politics, serving as National Finance Chair for the Democratic Party in 2000. Previous to Current, he co-founded and led Hyatt Legal Services, which provided low-cost services to middle and lower-income families.

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That Google/Wikipedia Post – Finally

Remember a couple months back when I promised you guys I'd post on this? Well, thanks to a deal with LookSmart, I finally got a chance to write it. It's over here. From it: But here's the rub: There's a critical difference between curation based on algorithm (Google News)…

Remember a couple months back when I promised you guys I’d post on this?

Well, thanks to a deal with LookSmart, I finally got a chance to write it. It’s over here. From it:

But here’s the rub: There’s a critical difference between curation based on algorithm (Google News) and curation based on human insight (Digg or Wikipedia) – and that difference can be summed up in one word: Voice. In short, sites that allow people to be part of the curation process have voice, and sites that are driven by algorithm, don’t.

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Update

I still plan on posting about the other main speakers at CM Summit next week – Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current, Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, and Gian Fulgoni, founder of Comscore – but some stuff has come up and I may not get to it till the weekend….

I still plan on posting about the other main speakers at CM Summit next week – Joel Hyatt, CEO of Current, Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, and Gian Fulgoni, founder of Comscore – but some stuff has come up and I may not get to it till the weekend. Posting will be light to non existent Friday as I take care of some personal stuff.

Back as soon as I can be. Meanwhile, try not to watch the markets and remember this too will pass. As did the good times.

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FM’s New Platform

Self promotion alert: Check out our totally revamped self service platform, unifying all FM inventory. We're supporting it with our own CM campaign, the Online Marketing Idea Exchange. ClickZ coverage here….

Self promotion alert: Check out our totally revamped self service platform, unifying all FM inventory. We’re supporting it with our own CM campaign, the Online Marketing Idea Exchange. ClickZ coverage here.

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CM Conversations: David Rosenblatt

Second up in my series of crowdsourcing the CM Summit conversations (first up was Laura Desmond) is David Rosenblatt, former CEO of Doubleclick, now a VP at Google. David is something of a DoubleClick lifer, having joined the company in 1997 and rising from tech lead to CEO of…

Speaker Rosenblatt Second up in my series of crowdsourcing the CM Summit conversations (first up was Laura Desmond) is David Rosenblatt, former CEO of Doubleclick, now a VP at Google. David is something of a DoubleClick lifer, having joined the company in 1997 and rising from tech lead to CEO of a company valued at more than $3 billion when sold to Google in 2007.

Readers of Searchblog will recall the industry charlie horse that the DBLCK deal caused – Microsoft lobbied mightily against it, US and European governments took their time approving it, everyone else went on a drunken ad network buying spree, and one could argue that the deal set the painful decline of Yahoo in motion – here was Google, taking square aim at Yahoo’s one remaining stronghold – display advertising.

It’s been so long since the deal was announced – a year and a half – it’s easy to forget it didn’t really get final approval till March of this year. The integration, in other words, is still in its first six months, and Rosenblatt took a portion of this summer off before rolling up his sleeves and getting back to work.

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CM Conversation: Laura Desmond, CEO Starcom MediaVest Group

FM's third CM Summit is just two weeks away (register here), and as I have in the past (and will with other speakers as well as folks I'll interview at Web 2), I turn to the collective intelligence of Searchblog readers to help me prepare. I'll be having conversations…

Speaker Desmond FM’s third CM Summit is just two weeks away (register here), and as I have in the past (and will with other speakers as well as folks I’ll interview at Web 2), I turn to the collective intelligence of Searchblog readers to help me prepare. I’ll be having conversations with Evan Williams (co-founder Twitter), Gian Fulgoni (founder Comscore), David Rosenblatt (CEO DoubleClick, now at Google) and many others.

But first up in terms of thinking out loud here is Laura Desmond, Chief Executive Officer, Starcom MediaVest Group, a unit of the Publicis Groupe. For those of you who might not follow the world of marketing too closely, SMG is one of the largest and most influential marketing services companies on the planet, its clients include Kraft, Allstate, Kellogg’s, Walt Disney, GM, Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, RIM (Blackberry), and on and on. The company collectively controls billions of dollars of marketing spend, including a significant chunk of the monies that fuel the Internet Economy.

In other words, Laura is one Very Important Person in the world of the web, even if you’ve never heard of her.

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The Web 2 Launch Pad: Deadline Is This Week, Submit Your Company!

It may seem like a long way off, but the Web 2 Summit is in less than six weeks – right after the general election. And this year's Launch Pad, where we honor six of the best companies in the space, will close its application process this Friday. (The…

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It may seem like a long way off, but the Web 2 Summit is in less than six weeks – right after the general election. And this year’s Launch Pad, where we honor six of the best companies in the space, will close its application process this Friday. (The original deadline was Weds, but it makes sense to give folks till the end of the week.)

Launch Pad is a bit different this year, and I’ve heard anecdotally that folks are not sure if they should be submitting their companies because A/ They think they have to be looking for funding or B/ their companies don’t match what we’re looking for in terms of industry. So to clarify:

A/ Launch Pad companies are reviewed and judged by leadings VCs (Khosla Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, NEA, Omidyar Network, Panorama Capital, and Sequoia Capital), but there is no requirement of a “funding need.” The goal is to honor six great private companies, not six great private companies who need funding.

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The Case for Local Conversation: Saving Corbet’s Hardware (Latest Open Forum Post)

(image credit Marin IJ) I've just posted my latest missive on the American Express Open Forum blog, where I Think Out Loud about my local hardware business, which just might be forced out of business. It's titled "Think Local, Act Conversational – It Just Might Save Your Business." From…

Corbets (image credit Marin IJ)

I’ve just posted my latest missive on the American Express Open Forum blog, where I Think Out Loud about my local hardware business, which just might be forced out of business. It’s titled “Think Local, Act Conversational – It Just Might Save Your Business.” From it:

Corbet’s Hardware is my neighborhood hardware store, it’s something of a local legend. Let’s see what happens when I put it into Google (I omitted the apostrophe, as most folks do).

Interesting. First up is a link from “zinsser.com”, which appears to be some kind of a shellac company (no, really, a company that makes shellac). Corbet’s probably carries their products – the Zinsser site lists its distributors – but man, what on earth is that doing being first? Clearly, Corbet’s has not exactly joined the conversation economy quite yet.

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The CM Summit Announces Speakers

…at least, some of them. I've been working on the program for the CM Summit next month, and it's turning from good work to fun work. I just got off the phone with a major brand (whose name I'll protect) who promised to pull no punches when it comes…

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…at least, some of them. I’ve been working on the program for the CM Summit next month, and it’s turning from good work to fun work. I just got off the phone with a major brand (whose name I’ll protect) who promised to pull no punches when it comes to the issue of measurement in digital media, for example. Join him and scores of other senior marketing execs at the CM Summit in San Francisco. And expect a few more surprises in the next couple of weeks….Register here!

Here’s the release.

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