Social for Distribution

I trust editors less and less. I trust programmers less and less. I've taken control of my own programming, and read fewer reviews than I ever have before.

A big part of this is trusting services like Flixster, and to a lesser degree my social graph on Facebook, and the public consensus on Twitter to filter out all the different media that exists in the world.

Social is a new discovery model. Whether it's a high score on a casual game, or a quick snippit comment from a friend, this has changed the way that I discover content.

As Facebook makes the OpenGraph available on any device with an Internet connection, there is going to be a new battle. Service providers will become dumb pipes, and will have to find innovative ways to build applications and new experiences for the Web 3.0 age.

I'm wondering what services are making great use of the new social discovery model and can make the OpenGraph a key part of the user experience.

The Changing Online Landscape in your Home

It's become clear that home is turning into a new battle. As platforms like Android and Microsoft seek to be a part of your in-home experience, it's become clear that there are few ways to manage it easily.

One thing that I've been thinking about a lot has been the idea of a configuration tool for your devices. There are services that make it easy to find and install updates, but few to manage your services similar to the online interface from boxee.net, an interesting new project in the digital home space that lets you turn any PC into part of your digital home.

As profiles evolve on the web, the web will become infinitely more useful in managing the services which include content, communities, and communication tools like mail and messaging. But devices still have a ways to go before the advent of a broadband data connection will make them behave more like a PC.

My predictions are:
1) Devices will have logins that will let you register them right when you purchase them
2) Setup will only require setting up the data connection
3) Communities and other settings will come from applications like Mail, Social Networks, and your ISP to be relevant as soon as you turn on the power.

The Participatory Election

Media is about getting together, establishing a relationship, and aligning your goals. An example of this was the Obama election campaign where the team did an amazing job of bringing the candidate closer to his voters, mobilizing them in ways we've never before seen.

So now comes Gavin Newsom emerging as a challenger to former EBay CEO Meg Whitman. What is untraditional about this approach is that Gavin broke the news to his Twitter followers and Facebook fans in addition to announcing via traditional media. It is an aggressive mood in this challenging economy. Says Newsom, "It's Official - running for Gov. of CA. Wanted you to be the first to know. Need your help."

This is a sign that everyone is seeking some semblance of control. The era of "Spin Journalism" has led to numerous misstatements in the past, and elections are no exception, often employing Spin Doctors as key communications officials. Newsom is capitalizing on his popularity challenging many of the fragmented ideologies that have divided the state of California, and has been using social media to establish a new type of rapport with his constituents that we did not see before Obama.

The rise of Twitter and Facebook has been impressive to watch. The growth of both services in engaging users, establishing relationships, and becoming platforms for messages has helped the popularity rise rapidly. What is different is that while Facebook has a suite of tools targeted towards brands, including celebrities, to build relationships with large followings, Twitter has actually enabled some to create relationships, conversation, and dialog within its growing community.

In this election for California's Gubernatorial race, I fully expect that new tools will be used to collect feedback from voters, mobilize them throughout the process, and engage individuals, especially the new class of Millenials who are empowered, idealogical, and are not too shy to voice their opinions with the tools and platforms that have evolved from blogging, MySpace, YouTube, and now Facebook and Twitter.

For a look at a post from powerhouse bloggers at TechCrunch, take a look at this link.
http://bit.ly/8LojF

How my profile changes everything

It's true. I have a profile. I've been an avid user of social media over the past decade as new tools have come out to help me stay connected with people. The profile that I have helps me stay connected with people from elementary school through my working professional life today.
My profile has different meaning depending on who is looking at it, who is following it, and who is interacting with it. Brands have a difficult time distinguishing from my preferences as a professional and as an individual. I use multiple email addresses which establish my identity.
The Media world has not figured out the way to deliver targeted messages to me which compel me to respond. Perhaps new places like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook will give them the right engine to fine tune their messaging. Until then, it will have to rely on me finding offers related to me as an individual and interacting with the ones that make sense.

Participation and Web 3.0

Media is changing today because of new technologies which allow people to participate with one another. There are plans to allow users to access programming in new ways from their phones, televisions, and PCs.

YouTube and other sites such as the social networks of MySpace and Facebook highlighted new ways for campaigns to reach and mobilize young voters, allow them to voice their sentiments about the current issues, and spotlight new ways for traditional broadcast journalists to take pulses of the current issues. This allowed pollsters to hit the target issues more focused than ever before.

Tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Meebo, along with web widgets from companies like ClearSpring and Gigya allow medias to push updates frequently and interact with audiences of customers and partners. New platforms from companies such as Lithium Networks help brands virtually test market new products without having to invest in a full product development cycle prior to releasing products.

Participation will highlight several issues, among the key ones will be identity. Standards are required in order to make sure that a users identity is consistent across sites requiring login. Competition will be fierce, but the standards that win in the online world will most likely be used to help media companies and service providers tailor their services to individuals instead of households. Currently, the target services include OpenID, OAuth, Facebook Connect, MySpace ID, Passport,and Google FriendConnect. Each has a set of challenges but eventually will most likely coexist with one another and allow users to ultimately choose their service.

Rules for BD in an Online World

Today's world of BD is pretty cluttered. I've decided to document my history of successfully managing partnerships for the long-term in today's connected world.

In this blog, I'll start to talk about the partnerships, prioritizing them, identifying potential decision makers, and creating long-term growth opportunities.

In my world, I've worked with media companies, technology companies, startups and corporations, mobile companies, and Internet companies. I've created messaging that goes back to the core values of a product or service and gone out to evangelize it, trying to bring innovation to the world.

Stay tuned for more as I get ready to write more about my life journey of becoming a BD guy in the Valley and what has and hasn't worked for me.

Too many messaging options flying around....

I am an avid messager. I message through IM. I message on Mail. I message through Social Networks. I message on my mobile phone. I've just now realized how difficult it is to have a single thread of communication with friends.
Today, my voicemail buzzes. My phone buzzes. The message light comes on. I have no way to manage all of this or centralize this view.

I have started to realize that the options for things to viewing messages is as important as creating a message, sending the message, receiving the message, and then the cycle starts again.

With this new era of messaging, I can now send video messages, but I still need a single box to view it. Without thinking about the business model, I think that there has to be a way to centralize private messaging between individuals without broadcasting out unforeseen information to the public.