Wisdom of the crowd – democracy of social networks
Google Rocks!
I know the title of this post is a mouthful, but I was struggling to actually come up with a title that justly headlines the content of this post. I need to warn you that this is by far the most technical post I’ve ever made on my blog. I must admit, I have my reservations about this particular post. I don’t expect this to be the bumper hit like my Tips for Social Networking post last month that attracted 17,000 views within 3 hours of posting. Anyway, it’s worth a try – don’t you reckon?
Well! This post is about introducing you to a mathematical beauty that has been known to science pretty much since the days of binary. I’ll spare you the jargonificaiton – what I’m trying to get at is the mathematical explaination behind the growth of companies like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn.
It’s called the Viral Expansion Loop, something I remember studying in my Math majoring days but only recently the concept was reignited by a business contact Dave Wild, from Smith & Wild who passed me a couple of articles on Forbes and Fast Company. Dave, this post is because of you – You’ve reignited my passion in this area even though it has been inside my head all this while, albeit dormant.
Now the Viral Expansion Loop (VEL) is not the same as Viral Marketing – quite different actually, both in concept and delivery. Viral Expantion Loop is what explains how a variant of the flu virus turns from an “interesting mutation” to an epidemic and then progresses along to become a pandemic. Read the rest of this entry »
Social Media for businesses: top 10 tips
Social media, as I have mentioned in many of my previous posts, is no longer something reserved for the teen space. Over the past 18 months, social media has grown into a phenomenon that will either have a positive or negetive impact on your business (depending on how you use it).
To understand social media, you need to first understand the transition of the world wide web. You have probably heard the term “Web 2.0″ – well in reality does it mean that the internet is in it’s second version? Not quite.
It’s more like the internet has moved onto it’s next level of influence.
You see, all this while the internet has been known to be the information super-highway. You type in a question in Google and out comes the answer. Very two dimensional, very mechanical not to mention how it can be manipulated for personal gain.
Enter Web 2.0 – Now you type a question, when you find the answer, you share it with your friends – your social community. The more answers are shared, the more powerful the community. Web 2.0 has not just given birth to a new era in social interaction, but it has also opened opportunities for taking the web to one level further. Read the rest of this entry »
Sentiment Analysis for social engineering
Sentimentality - A bunch of smileys sourced from Google Images.
Many of my readers may find this post rather confusing but I will try my best to keep it simple.
Sentiment analysis is a very new field that has emerged out of the Semantic Web or Web 3.0 as some refer to it. You’ve heard of Web 2.0 but what is Web 3.0?
There are several high level definitions on Google for Semantic Web – but here’s my definition of the semantic web in common English.
Semantic web is a new era in the life of the world wide web where the internet is no longer used as the information super highway or the social hangout space, it will now become an intelligent medium that translates, elaborates, communicates and most importantly moderates all your social interactions with anything via the web.
Remember the popular “the Machine is using us” video put together by social anthropologist Michael Wesch? Well that described how the web has evolved from being 1 dimensional (content only) to 2 dimensional (form Vs content) and now it’s about to become 3 dimensional (form, content and MEANING). Read the rest of this entry »
The imminent death of the OS
Got this from Google, like always.
The operating system as we know it is coming closer to extinction.
There was a time in computing when the operating system governed what and how you can use software on a PC or Mac. Microsoft for one has made it’s billions by selling the Windows Operating System, and by producing good quality software (Like MS Word) it made sure the revenue streams remained open for generations to come as it kept improving (or sometimes degrading, e.g. Vista) its operating system.
If you want something like Outlook, you have to use the Windows OS, if you want something like Keynote, you have to be on a Mac and so on. Software, for the last 2 decades has depended on the OS to be accessible by the end users. Read the rest of this entry »
Latest Facebook Traffic Statistics
$10 to anyone who can explain the equation in this graphic. I'll pay using PayPal
Found some interesting traffic stats for Facebook
More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older
More than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
More than 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day
More than 8 million users become fans of Pages each day Read the rest of this entry »
Where to next with the Twitter phenomenon?
Here’s something interesting.
The United Kingdom’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has produced a generic Twitter strategy for all government departments, despite the risk of “criticism of jumping on the bandwagon” and “pointless content”
Did you know?
When people working in the Empire State Building twittered that they were craving ice cream delivery, New York local chain Tasti D Lite was there to listen and meet their need. When electronics buyers look for good deals, the Dell Outlet Twitter account helps them save money with exclusive coupons. When Houston’s coffee drinkers decide where to get their daily dose, many choose Coffee Groundz, which lets them order via Twitter.
Is that crazy or what? Full marks to companies that are proactive in spotting such opportunities and being there at the right place at the right time. Read the rest of this entry »
7 mistakes to avoid on Twitter
Found this one on Google. Nice eh?
It seems like all of a sudden, everyone is talking about Twitter.
For businesses that find out about Twitter from a news story or an article in your favourite business magazine, there’s almost a sense of urgency about getting onto Twitter and using it for growing your business.
How many of you know that if you find out about the latest technology through the news, then it’s already too late – everyone has already caught onto it and the “ship has left the harbour”.
Never mind. Let’s talk about Twitter. While many businesses I know are on Twitter, but only a handful are doing it right. Read the rest of this entry »
How much of your business is in the cloud?
Cloud Computing Information Super Highway
Hello readers…what a month this has been. I must admit, this month has actually been busier than any other “June” in the last 7 years of my business history. I guess it’s a good thing – I’m not complaining… Anyway, but before I shoot off on a tangent, let me bring your focus onto something that you as a business need to be thinking about going forward.
I am certain that most of you (one of my 8,000 odd readers) would have come across the term “Cloud Computing” – well if you havent then here you go – Cloud Computing.
Here’s how our corporate website defines it
http://www.genesisweb.co.nz/genesis+interactive/content/What+is+cloud+computing/58
Here’s how I personally define it – The central nervous system of the operating system of 2017. Read the rest of this entry »
The Internet is about to CHANGE in a big way
This article will surely raise some questions for you. But no matter what, please remain calm
To innovate or not to innovate?
The other day while driving back from a meeting across the shore, I had one of those “flashes”. I happen to get these flashes quite often and it is these that are responsible for some of the most innovative “stuff” we have come up with at Genesis Interactive.
This blog post is not about all the past flashes so I’ll get straight into it now.
The flash: We have this plethora of online “channels” around us; social networking sites, blogging platforms, microblogging platforms, email systems, online softwrae, webpages etc. It seems like we have reached a point in history where innovation exhaustion is inevitable. Here’s what I mean. If you are someone like me, you will have a massive online footprint. Google yourself and you will quickly find out what the “online world” knows about you, your past, your present and God knows what else.
Who is going to consolidate all this informaiton, all this data? How is this going to be done? When?
You have one login for Google services, another for Acrobat; then comes the multiple logins for social media sites, twitter, facebook, myspace, bebo, LinkedIn and so on…Keeping all these logins the same is a major risk making you vulnerable to identity thefts – guess or crack one login and you’ve got access to virtually the life of a person.
Notice I mention these social media platforms in lower cases – signifying that there is nothing “unique” about these names to be considered a Proper Noun. Read the rest of this entry »
Cyber Terrorism: MSN.co.nz Hacked
While I am not surprised, the msn.co.nz website has been hacked by a global hacker team that goes by the name of Peace Crew.
The hacker group have also hacked other high profile websites, according to the BBC. Earlier this year, the US Army website, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s website were hacked by the group. The group replaced pages with white space and a photograph of a boy throwing stones at an Israeli tank in Gaza.
The hacked sites also carried pictures of the Israeli, American and British flags with a red line through them.
No prizes for guessing the religious agenda of this group.
On this particular occasion, msn.co.nz, which usually displays news stories now shows a photograph of Microsoft (ex) boss Bill Gates with pie on his face. The photograph was taken after French anarchist Paul Godin hurled a pie at Billy in April, 1998.
Apparently all the MSN.co.nz sub domains are also unreachable.
A Google Search revealed msn.co.nz in the following state:
What happens when you search msn.co.nz on Google.co.nz
But if you go to www.msn.co.nz you will see this
The current "Hacked" state of www.msn.co.nz
Apparently the NZ Herald tried contacting MSN but the receptionist said “No one’s here to comment”. Typical Microsoft.
Here’s the actual screenshot
Did you want some proof - click to view full size.
Conficker – A Problem Made in China
On April 1st, 2009 the world will see the most sophisticted Malware of all times. If you thought the Y2K was a bug, then this one should remind you of “Eight Legged Freaks”. This one is bad….really bad.
Beware of this new Malware.
The conficker worm is believed to have originated in China and there is speculation amid developers that this is the same worm that breached the Pentagon firewalls some 9 months ago.
When last we checked, about a week ago, Conficker had already spread to 9 million PCs, with little sign of slowing. Now it has infected at least 10 million PCs and experts believe there may be up to 350 million vulnerable computers out there.
On Wednesday, Conficker will run an update where its latest version will be automatically downloaded to cause further damage. Here’s a quick list of things you need to know about conficker before it affects your computer. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s for lunch today?
I don't know these people. They too, probably spend $4k/yr on lunch and coffee.
This morning I took the liberty of doing a little research along the 50meter or so walk from where I park to the office. In this short distance there are a number of cafés and as I ordered my coffee, I ask the Barista how many coffees a day would her regulars have? “2 – 3” was the reply. After finishing my coffee I decided to ask the same question in a few other cafés along my walk, I also asked how much they would spend on food. I even plucked up the courage to ask the same question of a few professional looking people walking up the street with coffee in hand. I don’t think I have to tell you the type of, ‘are you a freak,’ looks that I got as a result.
Hardly scientific I know but enough for my purpose. Here’s what I discovered with my little survey;
On average inner city workers will purchase 2 coffees per day and spend approximately $10 on food. Now let’s do some maths. When you minus leave and public holidays we work around 46 weeks per year or approximately 230 days. A flat white coffee costs around $3.80 per cup, times that by two and that’s $7.60 per day. Wow! That’s $1,748 a year on ‘coffee!’ Add to that the $2,300 we spend on something to eat and you have a total of… $4,048 dollars.
That’s $4k per year that’s going in the top end, dropping out the bottom-line and providing no investment value in the middle. In accounting terms I believe that’s called a deficit. Read the rest of this entry »
The DIE in DYI of Online Business
I got this from Google - So no credits to me.
Here in New Zealand we are world renowned for our innovation and DYI number 8 wire resourcefulness. On one hand it has helped us to become world leaders in many areas as we are forced to think outside the box and often without the investment capital available to us that say our American counterparts may have.
On the other hand it hamstrings us because it is a point of pride within our culture. No where is this more prevalent than in business. If there is one thing that most business people I know are guilty of it’s inventing processes, forms and especially excel spreadsheets. God… So many excels. Another area is our own bloody mindedness to create our own websites simply because Office or Publisher came pre-loaded on your PC and well you just couldn’t see the value of investing in a website when you could Do-It-Yourself.
So let me ask you… How much revenue have you potentially lost from online business because you did it yourself? You see I can almost guarantee that you know very little about search engine optimization, code structure, content structure or navigation principles. I’d be surprised if your website is customer focused and whether you even know how many visitors you have actually had at your website if any at all.
Now I’m sorry to bruise you like that but I see it all the time and my first thought is always, that in trying to save money their efforts have cost them money in lost potential earnings.
You see doing business online is simple but it’s not easy… and it’s not getting any easier to keep up with what’s happening with online technology.
This is perhaps the one very good reason for you to stop DYI’ing it online and get profession help when it comes to creating your online presence. As web 2.0 technologies become more available and affordable to business you may find yourself in the position where your self reliance is costing you your very business and livelihood.
Those who recognise that professional help is an investment in their business and that online technologies can in fact help your business to grow, be more product and give you a competitive edge will begin to emerge… but they won’t be John or Jill your local competitors, they’ll be Stephen and Saline from half way around the world.
On the local front will be the competitor who has taken on automated tools to empower his sales force like CRM and sales force automation tools which enable his team to make deals faster and more cost effectively. Deal with client interactions more efficiently and build real high value customer relationships.
In this environment that’s what it’s all about… The reality is the investment in these tools is a cost saving formula for many businesses. And if you treat the online environment as a division of your business with the same care that you’d take with a physical branch then you’ll be building something positive.
So the next time you feel the inclination to DYI it in your business stop and honestly ask yourself the question… Is the money I save going to cost me?
Visitor to Customer – The Magic of Human Interaction
6 billion people, over 8 billion web pages – Now what are you doing to differentiate your online presence from the rest of the crowd?
No matter how fancy or techy your website looks, ultimately it’s being used by humans. And humans relate better to humans that they ever will to “behind the scenes” technology (no matter how cool you make it).
In one of my previous articles warning business owners of the danger of ignoring the importance of the Human Element, I talked about how the Human Element is what makes a company’s online presence “real”.
You see the web is a very 2-dimensional space and when you have a product or service offering that competes in a “red ocean” market, you need every bit of personality to help you differentiate – afterall, who you are makes a big difference when it comes to people buying your products or services. Read the rest of this entry »
Find, Win, Keep & Grow high value customers online
Find-Win-Keep-Grow is a simple yet powerful business concept I learnt from Eugene Moreau years ago. Eugene, who is currently part of our newly formed advisory board has played a vital role in helping us solidify our core business strategy in 2009. All he did was drive our attention and focus to this simple 4-step strategic model.
Find-Win-Keep-Grow is not a marketing concept; in fact it is such a concept, that once understood can unleash a spirit of excellence like you have never experienced before. This concept will force you to think beyond the norm and dissect your business model from the eyes of a customer.
Everyone is my customer
Recently I was involved in a consulting gig for developing an enterprise level practice management solution for the health sector. During the discussion, after having spent a good deal of time doing the whole system analysis and needs assessment, a question was thrown on the floor – “Who are your end customers”.
While in this instance, the guys had a pretty good understanding of who that was, so often I come across businesses with brilliant ideas and innovative concepts that fail to understand, let alone define their target market.
Testing customer loyalty for Microsoft products – A Social Experiment
I dont know what or how Bill Gates did it, but 85% of the world business market still uses Microsoft products for the day to day running of their business.
Over the years, Microsoft products have become the very name certain tasks are described – For instance, a presentation is now called a powerpoint presentation, a spreadsheet is automatically assumed to have an .xls extension and a document is by default believed to be a “word document” – Now this must be some voodoo magic – I have never seen such following for a product – Or is it a following? Read the rest of this entry »
Software as a Service – Change is imminent
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is receiving a lot of attention in analysts’ briefings and technology trade press articles. In the past year, SaaS has emerged from its pioneering group of start-ups and medium-sized vendors to be embraced, albeit awkwardly, by software giants including Oracle and SAP.
Much of the attention SaaS has garnered in recent months has focused on the new business model that on-demand software enables. However, some veteran technologists who’ve adopted SaaS for their own livelihood, and analysts as well, say that the phenomenon might well be the catalyst for a far wider-ranging discussion on software development for the next generation.
The highly interactive Web 2.0 model and iterative development have dovetailed to force even the most traditional programmers to at least consider the end of lengthy development cycles.
Software as a Service develpment companies are now perfectly positioned to provide all business software applications delivered via the clooud – no software to download, no risk of piracy, and no risk of hard drive failures. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Ways To Cut Your Telecommunications Bill
This article is all about making sure the truth about VoIP is no longer hidden and that you will see how a well constructed VoIP system can save you thousands every year.
Broadband services have become so essential to everyday life that even the recession hasn’t forced most consumers and businesses to give them up. Most broadband subscribers have no idea whether or not their telco/ISP is giving them the best deal for both data and voice services.
So with everyone looking for ways to cut back on monthly spending, there’s no better time than now to turn the screws on business phone bills.
Keep in mind that the telecommunications industry profits from price obfuscation. Every carrier offers a range of plans with confusing names and rules. Few customers understand when “free” minutes begin and end or under what circumstances they’ll incur toll charges. Most businesses have no idea how many peak minutes they actually use in a typical month, and carriers don’t offer warning systems to tell us when we’ve exceeded our monthly allotments.
