Marketing 2.0

Why this "Internet thing" is just starting

I subscribe to Seth Godin's weblog and frequently find good postings there. Here's an example. Seth lists the top 10 reasons why the Internet is just starting to click after 10 years. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Penetration. There are 50 times as many people using the Net as there were then. 50x is a multiple you don't see every day.

2. Bandwidth. It's easy to forget how horrible modem surfing was. The prevalence of high bandwidth connectivity means that surfing is far more natural, more frequent and that the experience is better as well.

3. Tools. You can launch most any online service with almost no custom programming. Changethis.com demonstrated to me how straightforward this has become. It also means that finding the world's greatest programmer is no longer a critical component for most services.

To read the full article click on the link below.

Link: Seth's Blog: Why this "Internet thing" is just starting.

More podcasting resources

I just found a complete overview of podcasting at Wikipedia. They offer a complete explanation of the technology along with links to software tools, hosting resources, blogs and stations. I found this courtesy of ResearchBuzz, an excellent blog focused on search engines, databases and information resources. Check them both out.

Podcasting Tools

Have you discovered podcasting yet? What is it? Podcasting is a new web-based communication technology that's getting a lot of buzz lately. Essentially, it's audio content recorded in familiar digital formats like MP3. What's new here is the delivery method. The content is delivered via an RSS feed, just like text postings from blogs. So now, you can send or receive audio content via an RSS subscription tag. That pretty much taps out my limited expertise but I've discovered a great resource portal for Podacasting courtesy of Robin Good's blog. Take a tour and learn more. I'm interested in hearing how you might use this new tool for corporate communications.

Link: Podcasting Tools.

Most popular blogs of 2004

BlogPulse has published lots of interesting statistics on blogs in 2004. They include top blogs cited, top blog posts, people, new sources, etc. By visiting their site, you'll get a nice overview of blog activity. Just the sort of light reading we need during the holidays.

Link: Intelliseek's BlogPulse: 2004 Year in Review.

Firefox Add-Ons

Now that Firefox has been released all sorts of cool things are happening. Launch parties are taking place all over the world. Extensions and add-ons are being offered by independent developers. Welcome to the world of open-source programs.

Link: Add-ons Extend Firefox Growth.

Firefox is here

Finally, we have a good alternative to Internet Explorer. The security flaws in IE have been well documented. It runs slower than a dead dog. It reflects the typical Microsoft strategy:

• Gain a dominant market position
• Terminate all product development efforts
• Send the cash over to Bill's house in a dump truck each month

Now we have Firefox . It's fast, it's free and it's reputed to be more secure than IE. While I have been happily using Safari for some time, I downloaded Firefox and took it for a spin. It is very fast and so far, seems to function with more sites than Safari. Even my blog host, TypePad works better with the fox.

Clink on the link and give it a try.

Design With Emotion: Volvo Shows The Way - RG News

Thanks to Robin Good for finding and highlighting this terrific Volvo web site. It's a great example of creating a customer experience around the brand. What's unusual is to do this within the web medium.

Believe me, this is a unique site and well worth the visit. I especially enjoyed clicking through the magazine (Las Magasinet). The drive-in movie is just too cool. Follow the link to see what Robin has to say and then head to the Volvo V50 site to experience it for yourself.

Design With Emotion: Volvo Shows The Way - RG News

Put RSS Feeds On Your Web Page

If you have a traditional web site and want to add RSS feeds, here is a good article from Research Buzz on how to do it. They will refer you to a provider at http://www.bigbold.com/rssdigest/. If you are already operating a blog, you should have RSS capability through your service provider. If you don't, pay a visit to TypePad. (I'm not their official spokesperson!).

While you are checking this out, bookmark or subscribe to the Research Buzz site. It's a good resource.

Put RSS Feeds On Your Web Page -- ResearchBuzz, September 20, 2004

Marketing Focus :: Absolut Cool

Good article from Business 2.0 on the use of elaborate, Flash-animated websites. Are they valuable in helping to build a brand? The key example cited is Absolut vodka. Here's my favorite quote from the article, "Content is still king," Mayes says. "If you've got nothing to say, but use a ton of Flash, you're just polishing a turd."

Business 2.0 :: Online Article :: Marketing Focus :: Absolut Cool

Need a Job? How about a Date? Networking Services Want to Help - Knowledge@Wharton

Here is a good article from Wharton on the phenomenon of social networking. These networks are attracting a lot of venture capital and like weblogs, are transitioning from social applications like dating services to business uses. There's good analysis here on the business models and possible applications for corporate networking and sales teams.

Need a Job? How about a Date? Networking Services Want to Help - Knowledge@Wharton