DISQUS

Robert I think this is a joke--a delayed April 1st spoof. There is no way CBS would shift this audience in this way. Gosh when will spoofs and parodies end. We need to be more discerning. LOL

Yes Robert you hit it again. I too am a simpleton. Elitism runs ammuck.

Hey Robert: I caught one guy using the wordpress platform splogging my posts and collecting adsense dollars(one disugsting splog was about the recent death of my mother). I joined the forum at WP about the same splogger; their techs say there is really nothing they can do when someone uses their platform--but certainly they could make an agreement with WP users! WP don't like it either--read the vitriol. The WP forum on this is fervent. WP suggested to go after their hosts and stated that Google does not give a c**p! A string of code that catches sploggers would be smart. Hello Google PhDs! It's copyright infringement at its best and disgusting when the splogger is collecting ad revenue from venerable web behemoths like Google AdSense for it. Google is effectively geting revenue for stolen content; it must police those who sign-up at AdSense better and bind them up front. Then if they break the copyright law they can pull their advertising agreement. That should kill sploggers' motivation. WP also suggest victims pursue the advertisers. That'll get Google's attention!

We have reserved a sizeable room for the press at Plexus 2007 and a few leading bloggers will be invited as press. WE can't invite you Robert, since as a speaker interviewing yourself would be a conflict of interest. Besides you are too young to speak to yourself.

Hey Robert: I've been to the same museum. Caught a concert nearby too.If you are migrating out of Amsterdam try to visit Delft (ever hear of Delft blue? Great Dutch souvenir beyong clogs and red district memories!). Gorgeous,university-based little town centered around a deep stone canal and cobblestone roads. It's really great that you turn your occasional posts into Scoble GPS with invites. And tomorrow?

Robert: Yes I think they are. It's what is not mainstream that impresses me. They are developing a visual search engine for mobile devices and holographic computing in their labs. I can only imagine what I don't know. But to read the blogs and papers of their scientists is frankly like reading about bending time and space. Are they innovative in terms of responding quickly to consumer needs with mainstream services and platforms? Well they are a large business and are rather adept at withholding just enough innovation to monetize the "current release". Does Microsoft have to invent everything? Bill Gates talked a storm up about web platforms and web-based services long before anyone. Microsoft was too early and got jaded in my opinion. Timing is everything to be seen as innovative. I do like the philanthropic Bill though.

Paul: Indeed. Too many bloggers know that commenting on Robert's blog bumps their views and that's OK. Attention-getting vitriol is a tactic. To Momspeaks' disappointment, Robert and I have overcome this faceless provocatrice's intrusion whoever she/he may be. You can say anything including, "internet is porn", and risk no loss of reputation when you hide your name and face on your own blog. There is perhaps a hidden agenda here. This type of stealth blogger is what scares corporations from the realm. Identity is key right now and will separate the wheat from the chaff. I await mainstream vlogging.

Momspeaks: My point was Jeremy should be able to manage his business how he sees fit. We all have skeletons in our closet. Point taken though. Bad choice of words for a blogger in a rush. Much ado. Robert talks about transparency and indeed that is what the internet is about. I could not find you on your own blog? No name or for who you write. When a blogger hides and insults others was does that mean?
I must get some real work done now.

Hey Robert relax! I have always been supportive of you when your character was maligned. You have endured your share. I for one am not fond of character slinging. BUT I didn't think you were doing that though; you misread me too. I just don't like the way bloggers are hard on each other. I just read a very nasty post about Mike Arrington and his "behavior" at an NY event in the last few days. This is not transparency, is it? We should spend more time worrying about Bill Gates saying another bubble is coming. As you have. Lot's of people up here are excited about you coming. Not just Buzz. Plexus 2007 is going to be great.

Hey Robert: Impatica does some great stuff with Power Point too (your reference to SlideShare). Speaking of memes (a play on techmeme)-- I have heard equal bitching about the web 2.0 meme. I don't have the time to visit many places and bitch for attention. But let's get real, we need some shorthand language to define what the web is doing for all of us including lining our pockets!! How can anybody complain about two little numbers? Brace yourself 3.0 and 4.0 are coming. If software and platforms can define new iterations this way, why not trends?? Even Alvin Toffler wrote, "the third wave".

Good God! who cares. Jeremy is bright and onto something big. Founders are a special breed. Jeremy does not waste time. This is starting to smell like the envy you endure Robert. That's a good sign for Jeremy. We have him booked as speaker at Plexus 2007 this May and will have no concern if he fires yet 2 more VPs! In fact, we have produced an event just for him this February, Blogbuster (see brand revival dot net), in TO. He's authored a book, Blog Marketing, and operates one of the biggest blog networks in NA. Watch it grow. No kiss-ass here. Just facts.

Matthew: I concur. Mark is now motivated by TV advertising for his sports franchise. Disingenuous of him. Most of the content at YouTube is copyright safe and downright fun. Better than reality. It's real reality. I think Mark creates controversy to get press of the web kind. What those 2 young men have achieved at YouTube is outstanding. It would be foolish for Universal not to play--in fact I think they are at the bargaining table. The other lawsuit launched in July is one journalist about a video in the low six figures. The Google Belgium ruling ignores the fact that content can be blocked--these newspapers willl have to prove that they were ignorant of this simple string of code. Ya ambulance chasers smell blood--but the studios (music, broadcast and screen) and authors ponder whether lawsuits are short-sighted. Viral distribution is irrevocable. It's what the web is. Sharing. Collaborating. Cuban is going to yell himself out of credibility. Or should that be past-tense. We're between the shor-tail and the long-tail on this one. I call it the medium-tail.

Ask "if and when" the big business sector will adopt the 2.0 version of the web? Sun says they are the dot in 2.0 (actually Tim Berners-Lee created the dot and it is about public access) yet their products in use house a lot of non-dot data on the racks, databases,intranet, extranet--not internet, Hosted solutions, file access, user generated information...

Will they ever get beyond security issues? Control?

Disgusting. White crimes exist because there is no blood. Don't unclench your bite Robert. Ahhh see how transparency works--you just can't hide anymore so you might as well be nice.

Hey Don: Nice web services powered by Smugmug. I promise to look into it more. Sounds like you have great service there. Hope you find ways to get that to the masses. It's nice that it's not an advertising model. People are slowly learning that great things are worth $$ from the web--not just off the shelf. I cannot tell you how behind the photo shops are!! I have a client (a big retail chain--I am a markerter) that still has a guy hiding in a backroom printing photos at a snail's pace for a price per photo that is not competitive--and the customers have to doddle in the mall for an hour+ while they wait. SmugMug is a print service killer. Everybody these days in the photo print biz: grocers, Walmart, pharmacies. It is all so archaic. You just have to induce trial. I will celebrate you and SmugMug too.

Yes Don, some folks improve on others but why are you techies (I am not one) persistently fixated on who leads and who's got something better at the expense of another. There is so much room in the sandbox. Yahoo and Google are good. Microsoft and Apple are good. Tehnorati and Wiki are good. And not to tout oligopolies there's plenty of room for also rans. There is such an appetite. But I will tell you this: you have to reach the mainstream to succeed. You must end the esoteric edge. Adopt the user POV. At our web 2.0 conference (corproate audience) this May we will limit techie vitriol--for everyone's beneficial engagement and to actually galvanize them. It will be a lovefest not a hatefest so common in tech blogs. You see it's about resonating with one user. We cause self-destruction somewhat like the Republicans and Democrats cause America to be seen in the wrong light around the world day-by-day in their "conversations". Let's call on the carpet those who do wrong--this is the power of our beneficial transparency. But let's encourage everyone too. I am fan of every lab, every creator--they will empower our future. Remember almost all including Bill G. and Sergei B. started virtually alone. I don't think Sergei can even accept his own accomplishments in his persistent reference to "luck" for his success. C'mon guys let's celebrate and let's reach out to the non-techs, the masses of users yet to be born. Where your riches are. Graham is right to the extent that you have to give audiences something they want. Contrary to some bloggers cynical view it is not pornography and free videos they seek. Who have they been talking to? People want ease, speed, knowledge, help, functionality, ubiquity, pleasure... C'mon. Let's get real. Navel gazing won't generate revenue. Applaud Paul for believing in "three guys" and putting money behind them. There's plenty of room for all.

I do love to read your big picture take on all things soap related, Robert. Listen why don't you tell me what in web 2.0 (apps, ideas, services....)corporations can benefit from--Fortune 500 to less that 10 employees. A laundry list please--I want YOUR take. Let's get real with no froth and bring the worthy developers and ideologues to the stage, to the table, this May--face-to-face with real customers with deep wallets eager to get it and use it. I wait.

My word Robert! You do put up with a lot of nonsense from your visitors!! I hate to see blogs become outlets for character assassinations, "flaming" and the like under the guise of dmeocatization. Those of you who post comments should stick to the knitting (like web technology) and stop questioning Robert's motives, state-of-mind, yada yada. Some who post comments remind me of the cowards that flip me when I take a second more to skiddaddle at a red light. Come out of you protective basements--show yourself for all your virtues with a link to you, your name and your profile. Here is something that will probably piss you off. Robert manages THE most popular personal blog on the web. He is famous. His fame is not waning, it is gaining. It's not just clicks and comments--it's also buzz. Real conversation. I see his name everywhere on the web. I hear people drop his name persistenly. If this creates envy it's not his problem. But truly try not to let your weaknesses rise lest you lose your own veracity. Robert, I enjoy your blogs to the mth degree--I learn much from your POVs. And you do it with grace, honesty and style--and hilarity. I worry that blogging will descend into Hades where grace is non-existent, on satellite radio with Howard Stern. Democracy gone wild. Oh and while some of you start questioning my motives, I am a pure fan. Hope that does not get your knickers in a tasmanian knot. And please don't use valuable real estate on Robert's blog to vent your self-hatred. My daughter calls it "levelling". Look it up.

Hi again Robert. It was helpful to hear your comments about your desires for a small campy get-together. Well.. you and I don't know each other well--except for the fact that both you and Tara (and other folks you know) are speaking/performing at PLEXUS 2007 this coming May. I HEREBY commit Plexus to hosting such an event for like-minded folk during the evening of May 1 (Tuesday evening, which means everyone has to go to bed at a reasonable hour and under 3 mai tais, to perform well the next day). I will make you the Guest of Honor, and in fact, I ask you to guide the look, sound and feel and I/we will deliver--let's call it Robert's Camp at Plexus 2007. You see I can't produce that during the day to a corporate audience--a scientific/geek audience yes, but not corporate. But I trust that our customers of the last 10 years CEOs, VPs, Directors of corporations including tech cos won't acclimate to camp at this point. Surely some are closet campers. With the ambitious scope of this event I don't feel like gambling with our day hours--although we aim to make it a different, sensory experience. Our site does not show what we are cooking yet (not frnaks and beans). But for the "wandering aimlessly", let's do it a la FooCamp, BarCamp--we can even pitch tents or lie around on the floor... Your call. I count myself among those lying around--will be somewhat liberating to shed a little social decorum for some authenticity, some truth or dare... So I await your comments back--I did not email you this since you are happy to share this way--true to blogging. Perhaps all campees could pitch in in creating this evening. I await you creative insights.

wooaah! This is the equivalent of telcos listening in on our conversations--wait a minute didn't Bush legalize that? The PIPED act in Canada still protects.
Most of us will never garner the attention of surveillance--lest we raise our heads and say "peep".
Watch out Robert. Watch out OM. Why don't you two come up with an app named "Below Radar"?

The latrine is still a private place right?

Christopher: ahhhh the voice of reason. Web apps must be celebrated within their means! For now.

Kermit: it's just marketing as a root cause. The ol brand extension I posted earlier today. Many good brands die on execution. Googling everything does not bode well because they have attached themselves too strongly to product (search) rather than meaning. There's no stretch room. A new brand is required to win the hearts of these consumers. Yahoo on the other ahnd has broader emotional meaning. And MSN is been the original social enabler. See?

Good night everybody and thanks Robert for all the fun.
Tomorrow I'll get some real work done. So don't go posting something interesting that gets me all fired up again.

Robert, Trout and Ries were wrong. The mind is extremely complex--associating a brand if one thing is associating with little or nothing. You understood Trout and Ries well and they made a good buck with their theory. But they were wrong. The neuro-scientific fact is the reverse. Consumers have memories, a collection of interconnected thoughts called mental models( thoughts are themselves a collection of neurons)and many consumers share similar models. This is where the gold is. You must identify these thoughts/models and know the cues that elicit the right emotions and the right behavior--and its not a word. People are not simpletons--not stupid, they are very very complex. that's a beautiful thing. I'll bet MS and Google have yet to do this work--but it is the most reliable course to take. The rest is a crapshoot that lines the pockets of promoters and lazy marketers. I spend my time (when I am not immersed in conferencing in web 2.0) undoing their doings in executive seminars by explaining how the mind works and reacts. Everything changes after day. Aaarrrrgh! to those who still have not flamed their marshmellows over this useful fire-starter.

"YOUR POST:Branding. Microsoft doesn’t have a cool Web brand right now. In fact, the one that they had, MSN, is being thrown ..."

Robert, brands can have an expiration date but I assure you among its users MSN is a brand they won't soon part with--it is more than its technology. The constant pinging of multiple incoming instant messages in the ajoining room is testament! If they are rebranding or rolling up the brand, they better be careful lest they lose that immmense equity. My 17 year old just told me. "it's [the name] cold and unfriendly". Yikes.
About brand extensions:
When one brand is extremely successful their caretakers tend to stretch that brand to the point of snapping. Japanese corporations have put the same name on everything from cars to photocopiers and have effectively diluted and commoditized their brands. This can be very destructive because there is an emotional resonance with a brand--it is complex and deep. And stretching its meaning (key element) can dilute its strength. Google things are good. But too much Google will hurt. This I stake my experience on. It's not about techonology and functionality--it's about personal resonance. How you identify with a social network. I am so glad you brought up branding. Tech folks needs to pay close attention to the deepest human element. Good post Robert.

YOUR POST: "That probably will turn out to be the right decision in the long term, but in the short term Google has the better naming team — by far. Calling Google Maps “Google Maps?” Sheer brilliance! Who came up with the name “Windows Live Local?” Blllleeeeccchhh."

I think you've got here. Naming is very important. The use of public or common use language again commoditizes a brand. But Google Maps is effectively a product feature of its search engine. They search many a thing, text, maps--images on their way with both Microsoft and Google. Did you know Larry Zitnick at the Microsoft lab is developing an image search engine yet unnamed? Hopefully it will be called something new and fresh--perhaps another onomatapoeia like Yahoo or Google. How about Swissh or Swoosh or zippitydodade. Hey, Blllleeeeccchhh might even work in this world of counter cultures. Kudos for your 360 approach to a new launch.