The big little thing that drives Women crazy? This must be Pinterest!

Pinterest…It looks like something you cannot miss these days.
More so then Google+ Pinterest attract tons of new users who are active users of the (social) platform. For those who don’t know Pinterest, Pinterest is an online Pinboard on which you can “pin” and share stuff you like. With the linking to Facebook and Twitter, and the social aspect added by Pinterest self, this is an alternative way to share stuff you like. The difference from the Facebook  channel is you “pin” interesting stuff from around the web to the board, instead of telling what you like in a status-update. (Pinterest skips the 2 step Like function of Facebook, making things easier). But the integration of Pinterest on your Facebook Timeline makes this a winner!

Privacy, who cares? You better make a verb of the word privacy

Reading yet another ‘what knows Facebook about you’ – story just made me wondering…who realy cares about his privacy? And better yet, who truly knows the meaning of privacy, and is this notion of ‘privacy’ still relevant in the 21th century.

But first things first…what is privacy? I don’t want to take the dictionary a tell you a unique definition. For most people privacy starts where personal freedom ends. You want to be in control, and want to share people The stuff you want to share.

Apparently in the digital era there seems to be a double problem, because most people only see this definition as a definition of privacy…but there is a second approach to privacy: who owns your ‘data’? Because what you share on digital platforms isn’t yours anymore most of the time. The platforms own it, like Facebook keeps track of all your data, updates, photo’s,…. Most people don’t know this, few people care about it, but some people make a fuzz out of it. As the video bellow shows, Facebook knows a lot about you…but that doesn’t need to be a problem, what Facebook does with this data is the real question. They use it make personnal one-2-one advertising possible through Facebook Ads, and probably they will sell your date to who is willing to pay.

CircleMe to join myself!

We had MySpace, Netlog, Hyves, … sorry, they are all still up and running social platform but once they were really hot, now not anymore (or at least less hot than they used to be, or only hot in very limited geographical areas or with special interest groups). The war of the social platform…for the moment won by Facebook (as you know: If Facebook was a country it with be the 3rd country in the world), but maybe the war on platforms is moving away from its true value. Facebook will remain big and in business for at least a couple of years. Google+ is growing, but still doesn’t touch Facebook knees! So it’s time to rethink te platform war, and come up with something else…location based (was one), social commerce (was another), … and now we have CircleMe (yet another).

CircleMe uses your Facebook (f.i.) as its data platform and don’t focus on you(r status updates) or your friends, but focus on your interests and likes in different categories. This way you get an overview on what you’re interested in….and then who shares these interests with you! It’s another way of connecting people! A 360 circle of you are, what you do, what you love doing, … seems to be the new approach for social networking! Look at the Facebook Timeline (even WordPress installed a Timeline theme – maybe should look into that! )….

CircleMe should take this up a notch, as I understand it, because CircleMe works with your interests, likes, … to find connections that have a similar circle/interest. So basically you’re looking for yourself! Again interesting to see where this will take us…but a nice example on semantic and executing web use!

Be shure to check this introduction movies on how it works and the basic philosophy behind CircleMe.

You can sign up for an invitation to the beta version here!
Once you’re in and have a profile, you can share your CircleMe through your Facebook. So CircleMe uses a different approach than Facebook and rather collaborates then battles for the platform! To be continued….

Facebook 2.0 or 3.0

Facebook finally made the jump….skipping the tradition, dumping the classic Facebook feel and copy…for a whole new Facebook experience! A lot of small changes were made in the last couple of days (like the list popping up), and with the F8-conference yesterday a lot of new stuff was to be expected (and unofficially announced).  Rumours said it was gonna be big….and yes it’s a huge transformation! Introduction of the timeline, and Social Apps integration…a whole new Facebook experience is going live on september 30th.

So is this Facebook 2.0….probably better Facebook 3.0. Facebook shows your life as a timeline to who you views your profile….I tested it this morning in the developer center, and wow it is cool (but apparently Facebook has taken it off-line again….sad, and I didn’t even take a screen..but we wait until the end of september for the full live version – only 7 days to go). With the app integration we can see who’s doing what, listening to which song and watching his new pictures, sport achievements, …. Bottom line, Facebook wants us to share more and more. this way we can create intense personal connections with our different networks….

But is the real goal Facebook has in mind….probably yes, BUT what’s in it for Facebook. Easy the more we share, the more data they have on us, the better they can create our full profile. And a good profile can be sold to advertisers, other third-party companies, …. for big hard money! Facebook will use this data silo to generate new executing tools who help you in creating a more personal approach…Facebook will do your thinking!

Since Google launched Google+, Facebook stepped up a notch integrating the stuff that Google+ introduced….So is Google+ dead already? They try hard, getting your attention, on the Google+ going Live.  But since almost 800 million users are already on Facebook, it will be hard for Google to be a real competition. The only way out is a full integration of all the online Google App-stuff with the Google+….and then it might get interesting for education and business to get social through Google+!

Exciting Times!

The App – business model

Amazon to launch its app-store on march 22nd….it’s been a while but again Amazon is adapting to the new generation of business modelling entering a cloudy and mobile app-world. 

But why change a winning team….when everybody says, never change a winning team! The future of  new mobile and cloud era forces Amazon to take action. App’s are the future is this era, so the time was right after the big 2: Google and Apple (through iTunes) for Amazon to adapt to the app era. Why? Easy…it’s the business model (stupid!), so let’s take a closer look at the business model of a digital business where the app-store takes a central role!

This image points out a clear role for the app store…central in the business model between business, developer and customer.  The app-store serves as a central hub where network effects plays connecting customer value to app. On the revenue part, it’s easy the app store is the middleman containing the data and money flows (look at iTunes, who keep everything very close and gains a lot of money and data).

What’s in it for Amazon….easy Amazon’s web store will focus on web apps, who are accessible to the cloud on any device. Buy once, use everywhere. That’s the future of app….not only accessible through one device but accessible through multi devices, and adapts to the device. This is a weak point regarding the Apple strategy….I can’t access my iPad Apps through my iPhone and vice versa. I’ve got to buy them both, because they run locally. The web App is stored in the cloud, and can be accessed in an adopted format on every device…and that’s when it starts to get interesting for companies like Amazon. The app has proven it’s effect, and the app stores becomes the central service point, because everything can be made into an app, and this means business if you can reach a lot of potential customers like Amazon. It adds to the already connecting and sharing strategy of Amazon, and make Amazon available everywhere on any device…that’s a good business model in the mobile and cloud era!

Why Google won’t launch Circles

There was a big buzz and fuzz on Google launching a competitor to Facebook…Circles. But probably Google won’t enter a new social platform in the market. Why not? It already tried….twice: Orkut and Buzz.
Orkut, already launched in January 2004, is embraced by Brazilians and nowadays also people of India use Orkut often (more than 100 mio users in 2011). But Orkut was no match to Zuckerberg’s Facebook. Especially in the US where Orkut had a solid base in 2004, the market share was soon taken over by Facebook.
Buzz was the second attempt from Google to enter the social network play field. Launched in 2010, it was integrated in Google mail system GMail. Through the Buzz tool people could share pictures, videos, status messages, …. but apparently it isn’t a big success. Have you used it? Share your experiences with Google Buzz through the comment section!

Off course Circles is only the rumour, but it spreads the news on how Google is aiming to shift into a higher gear regarding social networking. Especially because more people spent time on Facebook or any other social network or microblogging site. Which means advertising budgets are moving there as well! 

Google will therefore probably incorporate more social features into the Google products, and hopefully attracting more users to their platforms. Rumours are that Google focusses on the current ’Group’ hype on sharing messages and movies (probably through YouTube).

 Maybe they use GoogleMe….or maybe Circles ….or maybe they stick to Buzz. But a big launch of a new social network is probably not to be expected!

SxSWi – A social round up…[updated]

…for those who aren’t attending (like myself)….(but I have got  to get there next time) but are following the social media buzz! I’ve been addicted to the Twitters and blogs of many people just to keep up with SxSWi! And I must say thank you to everybody who’s tweeting and sharing out there. On the other hand side, maybe it’s time for a small round-up of the major trends and talks on SxSWi (from a social buzz perspective).

• Mobile is the future! For shure….I’ve been doing a lot on this recently, and apparently I’m not alone. SxSWi buzz sends out a  lot of mobile signals. Location services will be huge….and it will be a part of our mobile life! Look on how Google is going to integrate location services on his apps!
• Social marketing is the core….yes a good product is still the keystone, but social media are more than just media. Social media are becoming the core of your marketing! Engagement rules!
• Groups are hot….the social buying and being part of a group is one of the hypes of 2011. Different platforms want your attention (like GroupMe, Yobongo, Beluga or Fast Society)
  Facebook annouces iFive the competitor for GroupOn
• The iPAD2 is embraced….and sold out!
• TED is going public with all his talks.
• Google Circles…Maybe tomorrow or the day after!

How to mobil-e/ize?

It’s a hot topic….mobile….I’ve been writing about it already (you find my former posts on the bottom of this post), and now at SXSWi we see it happening. The buzz was out, and now it’s time to set things in motion….it’s time to MOBILizE!

We see numbers of mobile devices and mobile access to the flat world grow every day….predictions of 2014 (were mobile takes over desktop, will be sooner for western countries, worldwide 2014 is expected).

At SXWSi Googles head of Mobile and Geolocation, Marissa Mayer, talked about Google’s strategy for the mobile future.  Geolocation will be one of the keystone to match the digital world with the physical world through the mobile device.  Google’s figures on the mobile use show this shift, with 40% of all map uses are already mobile, and the HotPot app where you connect to your network through Google maps. Google is adding the location app on almost all of its services….Location, Location, Location = future of mobile web!
India is even considering to make geolocation mandatory as part of the mobile device/world….what are they saying about privacy?!
But then again, we’re all using Foursquares or Gowalla…so Google is just integrating their existing services….hopefully the pioneers of geolocation will survive!

Another milestone will be the use of the digital mobile wallet, already hot in Japan and Hongkong, but not yet in western countries. But again we see a shift happening….2011 will probably be a turning point in the use of mobile payment. Thank you NFC (near field communication) and the fact that financial and other western companies are ready….now it’s up to the customer to embrace this technology (besides SMS payment off course)!

To make shure you are MOBILizE, I’ve added a list with the 10 companies/apps you will make you ready for the mobile future (at this point). My guess is that we’ll see new apps/companies entering the mobile playing field….this is the connected future where digital (and flat) world meet the real world.

My older posts on mobile:

• Cloud 4 mobile
• Mobile will boost earlier than 2014
• Mobile World in numbers
• Digital Europe in numbers

Mobile in the education section:

• Mobile Future
• Mobile retail

Cloud 4 Mobile

Apple is feeding the rumours again for the cloud based version of iTunes….off course this is bound to happen one day, since the mobile era will need a cloud version of iTunes (f.i.).  Google is integrated the Google Cloud Connection to Microsoft Office, the re-launch of Google Wave…

Examples enough to show the mobile future is near, because in this mobile future we’re always connected, sync and in touch but those mobile devices need to have access to the same information, music, documents, …. thanks to these cloud applications this is possible and easy. Apple taking it one step further with the vertical integration through software and hardware, but once they opened up the cloud version of iTunes this means (hopefully) full access to iTunes from any device!

For businesses this is also a major step, because businesses can be run anytime, anywhere! SAP already delivers this service to his customers….just to give an idea on what this means for your business I have added a small video (not as a commercial to SAP but to give some insight on how a business is run in the mobile clouded era!). And if you think this is only for the few big multinationals out there, think again….through small (sometime) free apps (think Google Apps & Docs) even a small of medium enterprise can be run through cloud and mobile technology (and save money….less IT costs!)

Re-thinking Privacy in the Flat & Social World

I read an interesting article on the flat world web on the end of the Facebook empire.  It was a personal protest on how Facebook changed their setting again….the like button (revisited), the revamped comment section and the continuous selling of our personal data. Is this a major problem, and will this be the end of Facebook? The last…I don’t think so, the first….probably yes if you think off-line or in a web 1.0!

I agree to the fact that our privacy, as we know it, is not what it used to be 10 years ago. But was does privacy mean? If you look into a basic dictionary you’ll probably find definitions like secret, seclusion, free from unsanctioned intrusion….but once we put it out on the web, it’s out there: no more secrets, no more seclusion! But still we think the flat world is like the extension from our living room. Once you close the drapes and the door everything is private….and this of course is a wrong idea. You can close the connection, but what you did in the flat world, stays in the flat world….It’s like your actions in the real world, they really have happened!

So what’s the fuzz about….the fact that you don’t own your personal data, that’s the real issue! We need a social web, where we can own our data! And if we own our data we can remove, replace, …. erase them! But we need to understand this is something different from being seen on the web.
 But this idea is something different from privacy in my opinion! And most people are mixing those. I would like your input on this idea? Please comment through the comment section, and start a debate….

A small anecdote to round this post up:
I remember a small exercise my wife did in het classroom (sixth graders – 17 year olds), were she just opened a regular Facebook page of a student looking through all the personal pictures, posts and comments. All the students were stunned by the fact this was so easy, but they weren’t aware this was possible. We need to educated them on the use of Internet, and possible privacy settings….they just put their life on the net. I don’t think this is a problem, the problem is they don’t manage this content (and don’t own it all the time….) Education can be the key, in addition to a more social web (but this need to be sort out on a flat world government level)

To be continued….