Yesterday I spoke at Zappos Insights Live, an inaugural conference that offered a unique opportunity to learn about the spirit and culture of Zappos through a two-day immersion program.
To say it was brilliant would be an understatement. And, I believe this is just the beginning.
It’s incredibly clear that Tony Hsieh doesn’t just profess his belief in happiness and service; his entire organization lives and breathes it in everything they do.
At the Real-Time Stream Crunchup on Friday in Redwood City, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Erick Schonfeld hosted a panel of industry heavyweights who are either building solutions or defining how they’re used in the world of business communications and customer service.
The panel included:
- Porter Gale, Virgin America
- John Ham, Ustream
- Eric Marcoullier, Gnip
- Ross Mayfield, SocialText
- David Sacks, Yammer
- Max Ventilla, Aardvark
- Maynard Webb, LiveOps
- Tim Young, SocialCast
At the Real-Time Stream event in Redwood City, California organized by TechCrunch, industry pioneers and pundits discussed the state and future of the Real-Time Web also increasingly referred to as the “now” Web.
When it comes to search, the most notable comparison between traditional and real-time discovery is represented in the difference between human memory and consciousness. The experience of searching for relevant information is personified in the context of what you’re doing and not necessarily that of what you’re typing into the search box. And according to Edo Segal, Investor and founder of Relegance,”The Internet is more biology than technology.”
MySpace has been losing “face” over the course of the last year. With sliding traffic and attention as well as shifts in management and reductions in staff, MySpace is not only a place for friends, but also a place for skeptics.
According to a Compete.com, Facebook received 122,559,672 unique visits in June 2009 twice that of rival MySpace, which realized only 60,973,908 unique visitors. In year-over-year comparisons, Facebook volume skyrocketed with 248.17% while Myspace slightly recoiled, down 5.65%. The good news for both networks is that June represented positive growth over the previous month with Facebook visits growing by 8.45% and MySpace realizing a bump of 7.19%.
Forrester Research released its five year forecast that estimates interactive marketing spending from 2009 – 2014. Forrester predicts that interactive marketing in the US will near $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spend by 2014 and will include search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing.
More significantly however, overall advertising in traditional media will continue to decline in favor of less expensive, more effective interactive tools and services.
One of the more interesting, albeit not necessarily press-stopping, stories making the rounds in the blogosphere and Twitterverse currently is sure to make you scratch your head or raise your eyebrow in bewilderment.
Twitter officially applied to trademark “Tweet” on April 16, 2009 according to Robin Wauters at TechCrunch.
The confusion erupted when developers received the following email (h/t to Andy Beal)
While social and citizen media expand in influence and reach, we can’t ignore or neglect the prominence, credibility, and authority of traditional media – no matter how dearly we’re enamored with shiny new objects.
BurrellesLuce recently published its 2009 Top Media List for 2009, which includes newspapers, blogs, consumer magazines and social networks. I’ve included all but social networks below as the rankings are outdated and inaccurate. I’ll publish an updated list shortly.
While I was traveling in NY for InternetWeek and DC for the Vocus conference recently, Mark Olson sent a note inviting my thoughts on a post he was authoring on the subject of authenticity versus authority. I immediately replied, “I’m in.”
This is a subject that is garnering much of my attention and contemplation as they are among the key words that orbit the social media marketing universe and are in danger of spinning off course and into a black hole of obscurity.
In the eyes of imaginative and opportunistic advertisers and marketers, bloggers and online influencers are the new celebrities and athletes. Brands are showering them with endorsement deals rich with products, cash, trips, exclusive access to information, and VIP treatment each and every day, creating a new genre of star spokespersons.
The press release is over 100 years old and for the most part, its evolution was mostly stagnant for the majority of its lifespan. However, the press release has evolved more in the last decade than it has over the century thanks to the proliferation of the Internet and most notably, the Social Web. The tired and oft disregarded press release is finally tasting reinvention as it transforms to chase the new channels of influence as well as adapt to the rapidly shifting behavior of content discovery, consumption and sharing.
Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research firm focused on disruptive technology. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging technology on business, marketing, and culture. Solis is also globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. His new book, What's the Future of Business (WTF), explores the landscape of connected consumerism and how business and customer relationships unfold and flourish in four distinct moments of truth. His previous book, The End of Business as Usual, explores the emergence of Generation-C, a new generation of customers and employees and how businesses must adapt to reach them. Prior to End of Business, Solis released Engage, which is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to market, sell and service in the social web.
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