Case of the Mondays!

What a crazy Monday yesterday, I missed my 6am flight got a standby to LAX and got axed for my standby so American Airlines put me on coupon flight on United Airlines which then sat in Taxi Mode for 1.5 hours!!!

Got to my meeting 2 hours late...luckily Jeff (CEO of Reunion.com) was really cool about it and was very hospitable to myself and my partner at his office.

I have meetings with Studio411 and TVGuide today and those meetings should be very interesting.

SocialURL is growing

Some images of our new office studio space for SocialURL and VIABUZZ. Our neighbors are all very talented people in graphic arts, designers, video production people, podcasters, painters, fashion designers...


It's been the most exciting 5 weeks watching SocialURL grow. We have since brought on two new white label clients including URECHO and GENBB. Both are very unique in their own and we will soon have press releases around the newest addition to the family of social networks powered by SocialURL.

David Vs. Goliath

Its been 5 weeks now since SocialURL has launched and 1 week since i walked away from my day gig to do this full time...the notion of David Vs. Goliath hits me everyday now that i'm not supported by a corporation.

I bring this up because today i went to one of my favorite stat sites on the web called "www.alexaholic.com" ( a site that allows you to enter competing domains showing you traffic ranks from each in a nifty graph via feeds from Alexa.com) only to find out that it was shut down by big company Alexa/Amazon.

Ok, granted it's not the best idea having a business from someone elses business- but what is the web if not just that? Look at Google, Yahoo, and all these major companies that became what they are now because they advertise other people's business voluntarily through search and then put ads around the results. Alexa/Amazon needs to take a closer look at their own company and see what is going on...what was the last innovative thing either of them have created? Something to think about there...

In any case, the people have risen and are mad! 363 Diggs to date and growing...I think what it shows is big company's are threatened and the only way around it is to sue or taken down creativity and innovation. To that end i say that is F'd up! I wish Ron Hornbaker the best and hope that David in this case prevails...

SocialURL loves the underdogs! Long live StatsAholic.com!

Social.com Fell Victim to Social Engineering in the Biggest Theft Since Sex.com

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Social.com our Infatuation with Domains

If you came from the webworld and worked in our industry you'd know that a domain could make or break you just as much as whether or not you have a good CEO with any vision.

My partners and I have been recently infatuated with this domain Social.com which is up for bidding at Sedo.com. We were imagining all the wondrous things we could do with such a domain...then it hit us...its going to be $100K + down the drain right off the bat!

Imagine the practical ways that all those funds could be going towards on SocialURL.com? Marketing, Research & Development...guess we'll just have to wait to it goes up for auction the next time around when we have a few hundred thousand to spare...

Social Media Monetization

Product Placement in Consumer-Generated Videos

ClickZ writes: "Entertainment Media Works, a media firm specializing in product placement, plans to enable "plinking," or product linking, in consumer-generated media. Early plans include revenue shares for content creators. Plinking is the process of adding a product or service link to a visible object or image in a video. When deployed, it will have an interface for users to upload and tag video. Users will freeze a single frame and define an area where the product is located. It can be any product from an iPod to particular jacket or pair of jeans. Once tagged, the item will be clickable throughout the runtime of the video, and will link to an e-commerce page."

The best part: " Under EMW's plans, content viewers and user communities will be able to take existing video and add links for a piece of the revenue share."

There are questions. Would YouTube allow others to plink (nice buzzword, btw) the videos on its servers without getting a cut? Could plinks turn into a horrible automated spam tool that will ruin the videos? But the idea is a very bright one, regardless.

Original Post: http://adverlab.blogspot.com/2006/10/product-placement-in-consumer.html

It's not the Numbers that Matter with Social Media

There has been a meme floating about social media circles that the measurement of value of new media is not in how many you get to listen to your message, but rather who it is that listens to your message. A podcast that’s listened to by a handful of C-level executives is of more value to a supplier of that business, than one that’s listened to by hundreds on the shop floor. A political blog that’s reaches a single individual in a position to create change is of more value than one that hits thousands of the unwashed masses. A vidcast about better techniques in washing that hits a thousand of the unwashed masses is better value than if it hit a million sparkling clean folk.

You get the idea. Matching your message to the person you most want to hear that message, or to a person best suited to amplify your message, is where the value lies. It’s not how many you know - it’s who you know.

But there’s something even more valuable than having your message heard. That’s having your message acted upon. I will take having my words sway one individual to action over landing upon a million deaf ears any day.

When you set words to the screen, speak into the mike or step in front of the camera - you have a moment of opportunity to reach someone. A chance to make a difference in their life.

Sometimes that difference is small. You gave them a chuckle on an otherwise dreary day. You sent them into a moment of quiet reflection and thought. You convince them to click a link or to take a look at something or to register for some new service.

Sometimes the difference is huge. Your words cause someone to change the course of their life. Inspire someone to take a leap. Propel them out of their chair and out into the streets to bring about an actual change in their own life and the life of others.

In most cases the changes are elusive and near impossible to track. Someone quotes your words at a dinner party. Someone is humming a podsafe tune you introduced them to on the subway ride to work. Someone stays up late into the night reading a book purchased on the strength of your recommendation.

Now when you can match your message to your optimal listener and spark them into action … then you’ve really won the day.

Buzz Word of the Week: Social Media!!!

Everywhere i've been turning seems to me that the progression of social networking and media have converged literally over night...and rebranded itself as "Social Media"!

So i naturally went out and bought SocialMediaVC.com and SocialMediaVentures.com - what great new corporate names for what we're about to do with SocialURL!

Also had some great conversations with potential business partners including Southern Californias' own TVGuide/ Gemstar

Honorable mentions in SocialURL history today go out to the "Le" brothers...you know who you are, Qui Vuong our Sr. Advisor, Abum.com, IcPin.com, Xgenerators.com, Oplove.org for helping us out and for believing in us.

News Alert: Viacom sleighs the dragon Youtube

Buzznet Hits Sweet Spot
according to Mashable today...

"Along with Imeem, the other growth spurt we were alerted to recently was that of Buzznet, a site that we’ve labeled in the past (unfairly) as a Flickr-type photo sharing platform. We were reminded of this steep upward incline today by Hitwise, which points out that Buzznet and Imeem are the fastest growing social networks right now.

Imeem, in fact, ranks 6th in terms of market share, while another site we unfairly overlook - BlackPlanet - is in 4th place. Buzznet grew 148.4%, while Imeem grew 145.7% from January to February 2007. Hoverspot and Bebo are also seeing strong growth. (Remember that all these stats are for the US market - hence Friendster, Orkut and other international successes are less well represented.)

We already told you why Imeem was growing: a nice, open media sharing platform and heavy usage of their widgets on MySpace. Allegations about copyrighted content (by, uh, me - oops!) almost broke that MySpace link, but a music licensing deal between Imeem and Snocap seems to have put them back in the good books.

A source I spoke to a few weeks ago said that Buzznet’s sudden, almost vertical, growth was also attributed to MySpace - some kind of profile tool, perhaps. I haven’t been able to nail down exactly what the service was, but a quick search of MySpace reveals masses of content linking back to Buzznet.

If that’s the case, MySpace isn’t really losing market share - instead, it’s expanding its influence as many of the other social networks come to rely on it. The secret now is to figure out how to embrace and even monetize that flourishing ecosystem, rather than shutting it down.

Movers and Shakers in Web 2.0

Imeem is at the top and TagWorld is at the bottom...whatever happened to TagWorld anyway??? Imeem recently partnered up with SnoCap which i know TagWorld should have done a while back. Insider tip off tells me that TagWorld is now going around and offering their blog technology to music labels. They aren't quite clear as to which direction they are going and if I can guess they haven't really thought of a strategy either...seems like desperate measures to stay afloat.

For all you SocialURL lovers - make sure you visit movers20.esnips.com and recommend us on that hot list!!!

SleazeWatch: The Simple Stink of Pay Per Post

ValleyWag SleazeWatch today had a dramatic article about how Pay Per Post is a big manipulative stink. In some way trying to prove that its some sort of MLM scheme to get the masses buying in. I don't believe consumers are as worried as he is about their own naivity. On the other hand, unprofessional posters aren't going to post about something they don't believe in and at the end of the day its all going to be measurable no matter how crafty a writer may think he or she is.

Adventures In Social Networking

A few days back SocialURL was mentioned on Mashable and we were getting double the traffic and member registration just from his post alone. I had the idea of incorporating a dedicated blog provided by Mashable on Social Networking and Social Media. I believe as SocialURL grows we'll have a much greater possibility of educating our members on the state of online social networking.

My partner and I also have been brewing the idea of offering something that no other social networks are currently giving away and we look forward to being the first.

On another note, domain name social.com will soon be up for auction- how cool would it be if that was our domain?!

Social Badges Now Live!

One of the most successful tools that Facebook has that other social networks are missing are "Badges"!

We felt that same way so we created Social Badges for all the citizens of SU (SocialURL)...take a look


Get your own social badge

We can't wait to see this spread throughout the web!

Enjoy,

Social "URL"

Let the Socializing begin...

What started as a late night idea 60 days ago has now taken flight...Socialurl.com was recognized on Mashable.com as a prime contendor to other competing social network aggregators. Visitors and members alike seem to really like the idea of managing their MySpace, Bebo and Facebook in one place. Beyond the technology jargon of open API's and OpenID's users simply are buying in on the marketed concept from SocialURL.

I think its the simple fact that we fashioned a site that not only serves a niche purpose but is also marketed right in the sense of design and intuitive familiarity to our target demographic age group.

The site is in alpha currently and has had a surge of visitors who are in the majority of southern california socialites. Ethnicity seems to be skewed a bit right now with mostly asian americans and we are targeting for a much more diversified group of people.

A friend of mine (one of the founders of Myspace) recently suggested SocialURL should just focus on marketing to the asian american population. Although, that is an interesting suggestion, i didn't feel that it is fair to corner SocialURL at this point in the game towards a single demographic. The technology and its application is for all citizens of the web who belong to more than 1 social network online.