DISQUS

This is a great post and great insight to startup companies with great products that are interested in landing big companies. A company needs to be able to google you or your executive team and say these guys know what they are doing.

Our goal is to create campaigns that not only engage a brand's fans, but also allow those fans to create products for a brand. The products then are immediately available through on-demand printing from Zazzle creating a revenue share opportunity between us and our clients. Our goal is for the product sales to pay for the setup cost for our clients. So our clients get all the benefits of an interactive campaign, but at the end we write them a check versus sending them a bill.

Our current campaigns include:
http://www.sikids.com
http://interactivedaysandiego.com/contest.php
http://www.active.com/images/eteamz/snapshotz-e...

I don't think it is the big brands fault entirely. I think almost all of social media is tailored to consumers. As social media companies come up with creative ways for consumers to engage with brands without being intrusive, they will have a big opportunity on their hands. These are the business models I expect to evolve in the down market out of both need and necessity.

I need to see the hottest technology launches at DEMO 09 so i can get out of my Purple Haze.

This is very true and adopting or ignoring this mentality can make or break a bad economy. If a company can find a way to survive a bad economy, then they most likely will grow with a great economy and have the benefit of few competitors. Sometimes a whatever it takes attitude is necessary.

This is a shame. this is why we launched a positive t-shirt competition at Collar Free and have now put all our politcal t-shirts on Zazzle for ondemand printing. http://www.zazzle.com/collarfree*

We are seeing this trend with a Obama vs McCain t-shirt competition we launched. We get a ton of support and great designs for Obama and only 5 designs have been submitted for McCain. I think this is a major indication and issue for younger voters. http://www.collarfree.com/ContestProfile.aspx?id=4

Hey Jake. Thanks for the mention! Also here is a 20% discount for your readers at Collarfree.com. Coupon code: "CommunityGuy". Lego rocks!

It seems unfocused how the title states Social Web, but immediately drills in on Social Media which is a subsect of this. Social Media will have a hard time remaining democratic because everyone has an agenda in the media or a cause that they are biased to in the media. In the whole Social Web it is vibrant and well and alot of companies who harness this will really create strong product loyalty and development. We are seeing it in the clothing space with my company and I think alot of product companies are going to make some amazing things happen in the next few years by democratizing development. Customers get more involved and companies make what people want, not what they think the people want. In media on the other hand, it will always be a losing battle.

Stuart - It's interesting reading you blog post about our panel discussion after the fact. Although the panel seemed to weave in and out you moderation help keep focus and run a great panel. We received compliments all day about the success of our panel. Thanks alot.

As we grow our business things change and obstacles are faced, but as mentioned above identifying key metrics and then asking for alot of feedback from experts has been our key to growth and initial success.