This is Tomorrow

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25 Jul 2011

Forget your social start up - Twitter and Facebook have got it sewn up
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via wallblog.co.uk

So says Silicon Valley guru Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, who was one of the first investors in Facebook. The theory is that the twin pillars of social are now so strong that it is almost impossible for anyone to come up with a start up to challenge them. So all those social start ups are a waste of time and won't be getting any of Roger McName's cash.

I think this is an over-generalisation, but it is something that I have been thinking for several months now. It seems the only way for a social start up to make any money is simply by being bought by Facebook. Take location-based services. FourSquare had a big head start and loads of media coverage, but Facebook Places seems to have taken the wind out of its sails (in the UK at least).

Also Twitter and Facebook are so ingrained in our lives now that they won't be disappearing in a MySpace/Friends Reunited style.

The gaping flaw with McNamee's theory is that he has a downer on Google. It is early days for Google+, but it clearly has the potential to develop into a mainstream social platform.

Besides, if you passionately disagree with him, it is worth noting that he doesn't always get it right. As WallBlog reports

'Worth noting that McNamee is also a former Palm investor and once said of the Palm Pre: “You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

http://wallblog.co.uk/2011/07/25/social-is-over-says-top-silicon-valley-inves...
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5 Apr 2011

Might branded Twitter pages be a waste of time?
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via sutrodigital.com

There are strong rumours today that Twitter is about to start offering brands Facebook style pages, where in addition to their tweets they can host video, give followers offers and add other types of media.
On one level this seems like a no brainer for Twitter. Branded Facebook pages have become hugely successful and large brands without them are now the exception rather than the rule.
Secondly Twitter is constantly looking for revenue sources that don’t impede too greatly on its core offering and branded pages would tick this box too.
While we don’t really know too much about the pages at present there are some fairly hefty obstacles that Twitter will have to go to to make them work
1 The pages will be inevitably be hosted as Twitter.com web pages. As a large percentage of Twitter users never visit the .com pages instead using third party apps like Tweetdeck or using smartphone apps, it is likely that the branded pages could simply pass them by.
2 One of the best things about Twitter is that it is easy to use. Users follow brands for many of things that they in theory could deliver via a full page eg offers, customer service etc. By adding dedicated pages this will complicate Twitter’s core service for brands which will make it less user-friendly.
3 Twitter doesn’t seem to be making much progress on its existing commercial offerings like promoted tweets or promoted accounts. Call me cynical but I think the company is doing just about enough now to hint that it could make serious pots of money for whoever decides to buy the service this year.
So while I am intrigued by what Twitter will offer brands, I can’t see the pages rivalling branded Facebook pages for a long time yet.
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21 Sep 2010

A few Twitter alternatives...
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via en.wikipedia.org

So Twitter is apparently being hacked by Russians Australians who do odd things with a mouse. If you are too scared to visit the Twitter home page, and it really is fascinating viewing this afternoon, why not take a look at these micro blogging alternatives

1 Plurk - Very smart micro blogging system, puts your posts in a timeline. Deserves to be more popular.

2 Posterous - Proper blogging system that is almost as easy as using Twitter. The downside is that one of the key ways you get people to read your posts is via the site automatically pinging Twitter when you post.

3 Tumblr - Rival to Posterous, but not quite as intuitive and better for words than images.

4 Google Buzz - Google's micro blogging system. Use it quick before it goes the same way as Google Wave.

5 Dailybooth - This is like Twitter, but is more image focused. You upload an image and add a comment

There's also 12 Seconds (updates via video), Jaiku (very like Twitter) and some no mark site called Facebook
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12 Aug 2010

Do men and women use Twitter in different ways?
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via shinyshiny.tv

Laura, who is guest posting on Shiny Shiny this week, has come up with a very interesting article about whether men and women use Twitter in different ways? She has analysed her friends' tweets and spotted a few trends, namely that men are more likely to post tweets with links in and they are more comfortable plugging their own content.

The story is here http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2010/08/do_men_and_wome_1.html
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17 Sep 2009

Twitter and Facebook on your radio - I want one
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via techdigest.tv

Now you can check out your tweets and updates on a radio - genius idea http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/09/pure_adds_twitt.html
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11 Sep 2009

Facebook introduces Twitter style @ reply facility in status updates
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via techdigest.tv

It'll be hash tags next http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/09/facebook_introd.html
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10 Jul 2009

Seesmic's web browser app - it makes Twitter look like email
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via mashable.com

I have been waiting for ages for a decent browser based Twitter app, and lo and behold Seesmic have launched one today. Mashable have done a fairly sizeable review here http://mashable.com/2009/07/10/seesmic-web/ but my twopennyworth is I like the very clever way they have made it looks like email (ulp). No, it really does works well with the Tweeter on the right (minus thumb pic) and then the message stretched across Gmail styleee. It sounds much better than it sounds.

Not sure how much I'll use it as I have Tweetdeck installed on every PC I have and Tweetie on my iPhone, but good to have it as an option.
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10 Jul 2009

Bing gets more visitors than Twitter in June shocker
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via techdigest.tv

Yep I was surprised this too http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/DigitalPM/News/919125/Bing-bigger-Twitter-i...
But take it with a huge pinch of salt for how many people using Twitter is anyone's guess. Web tracking agencies only gauge people using the Twitter.com and not using apps like Tweetie., Tweetdeck and Seesmic. Also a lot of site tracking companies don't include people using the web at work or at college, which is a huge chunk to ignore.
Also, if you haven't changed your IE home page you are getting BIng by stealth anyhow.
Yet as Paul at TechDigest reports here http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/07/bing_gets_more.html is is gaining momentum but has a long way to go before it catches up with Google.
Anna at Shiny Shiny did a quick comparison of the two search engines here http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2009/07/bing_-_why_you.html
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9 Jul 2009

Our survey says - Twitter users more interested in sex and coffee than Facebook devotees
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via adage.com

There's a great feature on Ad Age http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=137792 about what your favourite social network says about you. It features the results of a survey by Anderson Analytics and is designed to help brands identify users' surfing habits and interests.
Lots of the stuff we know - people spend a lot of time on their chosen site, nearly 10% stay logged in all day long etc, but there's some other really interesting stuff, mainly about brands.
"When asked if seeing a brand on a social network makes them feel positive or negative about that brand, an almost-equal 17% said positive and 19% said negative. The other 64% were neutral or didn't care. When asked if they would like more communications from brands, 45% were neutral, while 20% said yes and 35% said no."
Which kind of fits what I thought in that the vast majority of SN users don't care too much about brands on SNs. They will interact with them though if the concept and the application grabs their attention.
The stuff about Twitter users is priceless. Apparently if you use Twitter you drink loads of coffee, are entrepreneurial (no surprise there as the vast majority of early Twitter users were from the start up community) and are interested in news and new things. Best of all you are more likely to interested in sex than the average Facebook user - aah so that's what all those Tweet-Ups are about.
Anyway check it out - it's an interesting read.
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8 Jul 2009

Future of blogging becoming a very hot topic. Has Twitter killed it?
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via mashable.com

Really interesting to see this post http://mashable.com/2009/07/07/future-of-blogging/ from Edelman SVP Steve Rubel on Mashable about the future of blogging.
I have been thinking about this for a few weeks now and am going to add my twopennyworth shortly.
For what it's worth I don't think that Twitter will kill blogging. It has shaped blogging in that many posts are much shorter now, however I see Twitter as a mini personalised RSS feed shooting me all the blog posts I need to read.
Also I think it is a very dull person who can condense their thoughts into 140 charactars, and even a duller world where no one has more than a few words to say about each topic.
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