Monday, January 26, 2009

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.

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Sunday, January 04, 2009

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.

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