DISQUS

@mitch I tried to disagree with you on the "think smaller" point but, you know, you're right. I've been doing some talks lately on how to thrive in this downturn and the "think smaller" principle correlates with my "do only what you know" advice.

I think people have gotten a bit over extended in terms of trying to do things they aren't really best at and it's better to focus on what you do best and let things grow from there.

-Peter

p.s. twin tech link for those how need it: http://twintech3.eventbrite.com

There's a hung ground swell here in DC around transparency in government and the excitement is reaching a crescendo now that Obama has secured the Presidency. DC is about to lead the world in this area and is sooo needed - soo exciting!

Thanks for the kind words, Jimmy. Being the talented developer that you are, the question is...what will you be entering?

P

Wow. This is the best post I've read in recent memory. Nice work, Sam. I really like this as a philosophy at this current moment. I've been asked to speak at a few upcoming conferences on "using digital marketing to weather a downturn" and I'm def going to integrate this point of view.

p

I watched that vid in its entirety the other day...awesome some. look for his vid from the keynote at Blog World Expo...you'll like that too

You're the man Brent. Thanks for the link love...and now i finally get to see the presentation that stole all the people from my talk! :P

I think the Facebook Connect will be the most highly targeted advertising network the world has seen. When i travel across the web, facebook will serve me ads based on a) my social graph b) a the context of the site i'm on.

If I'm a brand like...Corona, I'd use connect to serve ads to M/F 21+ who are reading blogs/pubs that focus on entertainment/going out. Couple that with hyperlocal geo targeting and you've got the recipe for successful digital marketing.

Peter
http://www.istrategylabs.com

The new Lexicon app is 'pretty cool' but incredibly restrictive - especially since you can only choose from 17 topics to track.

The really value in this tool will be when any word can be tracked and displayed long with sentiment. As an interactive & brand strategist i'm excited by the possibility of monitoring mentions of my clients branded keywords in facebook and seeing a) how they trend and b) what the sentiment around them is.

Once Facebook ads a last layer to them mix - integration with their social ads platform - we'll be able to see in near real time the effect of social ads on sentiment around brands.

enough about your social media experiences nick. lets talk about me....

Concerns over tagged content would be easily remedied by allowing the brand page admin to approve a tag on any piece of content first before it becomes associated with the brand via their page.

Additionally, this would be a major boon to brands looking for user generated content to use in their campaigns....and a simple disclaimer that reads "by tagging this, you give us the right to use it however we like". That could be hairy...but interesting!

Oh, and I just realized I wrote about a "branded tagging" methodology back in 2006...not related to facebook but could be interesting to read nonetheless: http://www.advercation.com/2006/08/15/branded-t...

Note: NVTC just sent out their email and the RSVPs bumped from about 155 to 220, so it seems there will certainly be a few folks from that crowd to get to know at the party.

As always, thanks for your continued leadership in the DC Tech space - you were missed at Lunch 2.0 today...I equated you to a "profligate father" of the group since you were absent!

@justin as you know I USED TO talk about the need for a more formal organization for our "InnoVerse" here in the greater dc area that would help solidify our voice, program events, and manage the communications about our efforts........it was a nice thought, but looking at how this 'scene' has evolved over the past couple years, it's not necessary. We have an un-organization which is very vivacious. There is a place for more formal groups like the NVTC, which i'll be joining, but i don't think we need to create another one.

We have a wide diversity of events, and perhaps have one of the richest tech cultures in the country. Which other cities can say they've hosted all of the above?: StartupWeekend, Facebook Developers Garage, Refresh, a BarCamp (and a 2nd coming soon), WidgetDevCamp, a chapter of Social Media Club, MobileMonday meetups, Lunch 2.0, Internet Advocacy Roundtable, and sooooo many more - oh and those were all within the last year basically. I'd venture to guess that San Fran, Austin, and New York are the only cities that have this kind of diversity in their technoculture.

Viva La DC!

This is a very timely and needed conference. My clients will be very interested to listen in on the conversations that go on during this event, and I'm sure those who go will learn a tremendous amount.

I wish Gordan and the SocialCash guys well...they certainly know how to generate revenue online, so if any app dev next helps from someone, turning to them is not a bad idea.

Quick question though, i came across www.myofferpal.com when i was checking my 'honest box' messages in facebook, and i noticed they were powering the social currency monetization system in that app. Any difference between them and SocialCash?

You really are the #1 douche bag.

Let's see if wikipedians let my external links edit to this post stay:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douche

I'll be in NYC from 4/25 to 4/30 actually....so yeah...i'm going to take you up on that!

Drinks on Jesse?

All Twitter rules are subjective to the person who makes them and will only really apply to that person. Everyone uses the tool differently. Here are some of my rules:

1) Auto-posting new blog posts to twitter via the Wordpress My Tweets plugin is an essential method for me to keep my friends up to date on what i'm doing. I encourage everyone to do so. It's definitely okay.

2) Promoting events your sponsoring, organizing etc. are cool. People want and need to know this stuff.

3 Following 1000s of people just to get follow backs is SPAM. It's not okay. It sucks.

I think everything you need is here: http://www.hi5networks.com/developer/

Nay, i won't say they're doomed either. Their MSFT investment will give them funds for a few good years of innovation. They have the time, money and talent to create a lasting business. This will go one of three ways:

1) They will get it right by 'selectively' opening up their walled garden. There are things within that network that people don't want to come out (indexed by google) and other things that they certainly do (Social activity RSS feeds etc.). This will have to be driven by users themselves or Beacon will look like a small blunder in hindsight.

2) They will get it wrong, and will end up like Friendster, with a growing international user base, and a dying US one.

3) They will, through no fault of their own, become entirely irrelevant. The future of social networking is one where services 'login to us' and we present a face to whomever/whatever is requesting OUR data...we'll have many faces to choose from (professional, friend based, artist based, party animal based, etc.). The technology is being build now (openID, OAUTH, Open Social etc.) and once it's ready, we may not need to visit 'places' online like facebook. Facebook will visit us if we let them. Weird though i know.

I agree with your assessment, Nick. My two mobile social networks are incredibly important to my social and professional life:

1) I use the Facebook App on my Blackberry. I mostly use it to upload pictures I take with my handset. This process is both for my network of 700+ friends on facebook to see what i'm doing in near real time, as well as acts as a way for me to capture a history of my life.

2) I use twitter's IM notification function and pipe that into Google Talk on my Blackberry. This method gives me real-time twitter updates and allows me to 'chat' back to other twitterers. Gtalk on the blackberry also queues up all tweets and lets me read them in sequence later. I follow about 300 people...and read almost every tweet ever day using this methodology.

The "future" isn't mobile though. TODAY is mobile.

I recently spoke at Media Future Now here in DC and my talk focused on how Social Media is effecting the publishing business. On that panel with me was Jim Brady of the Washingtonpost.com - a pub that definitely 'gets it' with regard to using social media to engage an audience more deeply (and yes, sell more ads). A video of my introduction to the panel is posted to the Facebook Power Users group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7854726274) and is titled "The Rise of Social Media".

I'll post a viddler link here shortly.

Peter

http://www.twitter.com/corbett3000

Nick, I'm building an application for my client (who shall remain nameless) that focuses on fleshing partner of teh 18-24 year old demo's social graph. The app will advertised to this audience via Socialmedia.com, but also through a network of brand embassadors on 300 college campuses nation wide. This client is fortunate enough to have an opt-in email list of 350k college students as well, which it sends monthly newsletters to and within which the application install will be promoted.

Pizza box toppers are not a new use of media, but it is certainly an interesting one.

A tactic that application developers could be looking to employ should be google ppc advertising. I don't know that i've seen people doing that with their apps yet and it makes a lot of sense due to the reach google has.

Twitter is many many things.

Certainly it's primarily a community. It is also a medium.

It's actually also a massive human search engine - I ask a question and my community of friends responds.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see how they monetize this thing....perhaps they already are (market research?).

Follow me here: http://www.twitter.com/corbett

@Mark: I'm the one who said i'm using Facebook Pages as focus groups. Simply, the pages function as a mechanism to get direct feedback from consumers who are passionate about that brand.