Daydreaming of the Future of Web Technologies: A Google Matrix?

Yeah, I have been reading every blog I can to get a glimpse of the future.  Tech Crunch, Engadget, & even news aggregators are my friend in this journey to discover future trends and lifestyle changes caused by tech advancements.   I’ve saw Yahoo and Microsoft making moves as Google shadows Apple with a team of tech guru’s.  Yahoo is interested in Geo-Tagging or knowing where users are located by GPS.  Sounds normal until you mix the fact that advertising runs most the web and social networking has an undeniable force in future technologies.  With this said, your friends have the ability to track you if you want or you can walk into the local Wal-mart and instantly know what’s on sale.  Or even walk into a restaurant and your cell phone recieves a message about the poor rating of that shop.  This leads us to Microsoft (their best friend since short merger contract developed).  Microsoft has been exploring a “bar code-like” software program that links your cell phone camera to recognize Microsofts custom bar code.  The code is a 2d, weird looking image, and when scanned, it pulls details about the code.

So now imagine a cereal box that has this code above the original UPC.  You scan it with your phone and the nutritional facts are displayed on your iPhone.  A current program is educational related, whereas students can tag things on an adventure of learning with help of sponsored schools.  This tagging may be interesting in the future, if everyone embraces the MS code.

See the Tags within the Advert?

Bill Gates has also been eyeing Google Map functions such as StreetView, but they allow search of an object within the 360 images of a specific location.  This allows a person to get information about the location, building, business, and more, just from clicking on it within the “Street View” map.  With all these features, we are looking at the Matrix movie even more closer as it mirrors some future trends.  If every item has data attached to it, then knowledge of items will be much more availabe, businesses will have to try harder to satisfy consumers, and could lead to many more devices or software to encourage this growth.

We have a large part of society that loves learning new info and others who love the visual side of things.  This drives video game makers to push the boundaries and web companies to eye every device that displays data.  Google has played in every arena and becoming successful in establishing a new browser (chrome), a new smartphone with Apps Technology, and social networking tool (Google Wave) …plus many more that’s just sitting in their vault waiting to compete.  Apple is a solid company, but faces it’s toughest challenges yet.  They picked on Microsoft when they were doing bad, now have a swarm of people trying to off the giant.  Verizon vs ATT is not any help, Google is mad they reject a great App, and Microsoft is on every playing field it created.

Watch out Apple!  I read an article of Steve Jobs getting upset, even calling Adobe, lazy.  This is the future, the battle of the tech/info giants as well as the devices/connections that support them.  We’ll see how long it is before we live in a Google Matrix, tagging every item we know to receive instant search results for product description, support, or rating.  Have fun!

******* VIEW MICROSOFT TAG :  Video & ways to create your own!

2010 The Year of Social Media & Networking for Everyone!

Social networking has grown up… into its adolescent years, as 2009 claims victorious for major sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  The cultural impact of Twitter is undeniable, with mentions on many sitcoms, talk shows, and now even used in News articles.  The digital connection between friends and family on facebook is huge, creating interest by businesses, consumer electronics industry, and cell phone users.

Personally,  I have been tracking the progress intensely in the last year and love the capabilities of using social networking.  It’s great for business, generating leads, finding similar business owners, and viewing the current gossip from your target market.  We now can hear your conscious thinking as many are addicted to sending status updates throughout the day.  Last March, celebrities created this obsession, empowering users to detail their own life through text.  So what’s next?  Well, have you checked your blackberry or iPhone lately?  Your phone address book could instantly become updated with your friends facebook page or twitter account.  Depending on your phone or the app installed, your phone will be become more engaged into social networking.  Smartphones are growing to connect each person with the web, especially through apps, whether iPhone, Blackberry, or the new Android phones powered by Google.  Apple and Google are battling in an App War and Microsoft is in the mix, but probably glad someone is helping to destroy Apple.  If this is even possible, Google & Microsoft have a good grip on 2010, from cellular markets to software & electronics.  I can’t wait to see the competition, it brings users more features & benefits!

As Google Search starts to include Tweets & Facebook pages within search engine results, SEO has changed greatly. The mysterious formula to get high rankings has changed from a few variables that were manipulated before, into a complex understanding of each webpage.  No more meta tags! The Google bot reads a page, locating what famous sites are linking you, so having a twitter page actually helps.  Listing your Twitter feed (widget) on your front page is a great idea.  What else helps your rank?  The bot reads your “alt tags” for images or even links, as this helps identify the content.  If your website has relevant material about your industry, services, or products, then it will appear to be valuable in the search engine.  The age of a website was once considered important, but nowadays, we aim for real-time results, like status updates and the newest news break.   Try searching Google and clicking “show options” and find sites updated in the last week, year, etc or limit the number of shopping sites, news sites, etc.  This is what users are playing with, so keep this in mind when establishing yourself online.

Social networking is powerful. It’s a invitation for conversation, not only because the fad of having an online profile is growing, but because its convenient and fast.  When the trend dies down, we will start worrying about privacy and creating more closed networks, but for now, it’s fun!  It’s actually putting the social in the networking, as I can’t get enough of nerdy friends to make convo & learn quicker.  I find social networking much better than sending faxes, email, postal mail, or even in person, convincing a secretary to let me talk to the big man.  Now, I just find their twitter account and send a joke, proposal, & my contact info within 140 characters, yea, I’m getting that good!  The big man probably has a few dozen of tweets a day, but since I’m in the tech industry, most likely he’s infactuated with the growth as well.  Use it, don’t abuse it, twitter and facebook are now very effective.

Back to social media.  What’s the difference? Well, networking refers to just having a friends list. It doesn’tmatter from where, even though websites are currently in the lead, cell phones may have an unknown competitive advantage.  Just joining is fun, but when you add content to your network, then you’re speaking social media.  This includes pics, video, web links, and other things stored as files on your computer.  Sharing these is important to many social sites.  Just think of Youtube, the same design on every page, but entire site is created by user’s upload of videos. They are automatically created into a super site, this is called user generated content.  We have seem to forget the term Web2.0 which was commonly used to describe this, but find some graphic designers using it as a term for adding 3d or reflection to button images.

Now let’s talk the future!  Social networking sites are gearing up to empower web developers.  Learning how to develop websites and Apps is now becoming complicated, but rewarding.  I guarantee if you start to learn how to develop an Android App today, then you’ll be investing into a profitable skill.  Apps are selling like crazy, from $2 – $10, or even free, if you’re trying to get your brand name out there.  Now imagining starting a Android Twitter account, posting links of what you learn & search online, then selling your apps to the twitter audience.  You could even manage your updates on Facebook and ask twitter to join you there.  You can tweet from facebook or myspace now, or even check these on your cell phone 24hrs a day.  This is the marketing effect of social media.  Now each social networking site has a developer section to share ways to make the site even better.  Nerds are frantically helping spawn this episode of social developer fever… and i like it!  Try using the Facebook FBML, a new language as easy as HTML to let user login to your site & display their info.  Twitter API looks good with php, curl, etc, and myspace is coming along in recent months to open up to coders.

There is too much going on, yes, sad to say. Every tech junkie is battling to become the next standard platform or help out to get recognition.  Large corporations are the ones making the big moves. The little guys are smart… as well as have a chance for fame, but probably will sell out to the big guys for the right amount of money, yea, I would too!  The skill of forming strategies and being innovative is the vital key, not the silly websites & software we’re addicted too, knowing how to create this at any minute (with available resources).  Things will change so rapidly, that some developers are not willing to ride this rodeo.   Something new could crumble your new online startup or shatter the dreamy project your worked on.   Being “able to learn, quickly” is the asset most valuable.  The goal should include becoming a “trendy nerd,” not just an inventor, and I guarantee you will survive, lol  don’t take me so literal

Google wave has came and went, or has it? It’s not popular, for sure, but it’s innovation is remarkable and ahead of it’s time.  To put it short and sweet, Google wave is Microsoft Word empowered status updates, with amazing social networking capabilities.  And if you know MS Word, formatting your text as well as integrating web elements is lovely to a designer.  I’m not sure if Google will manage to keep interest in this as I would imagine MS would simply find ways in networking its word processor files.  The key at innovation is making sure everyone catches on quickly, look at twitter & facebook lingering for years.  That’s why I like viral marketing, causing a reaction that forces users to tell more users and spread over social networks.  A great web idea in 2010 can not be overlooked as more of the public is online, waiting to be entertained & empowered.  For developers, I suggest learning ways to create social networks, link devices, compliment life & our daily routines.  Make sure you have a great graphic designer to appeal with simplicity and a programmer that can allow users to have fun, share, store, & read in different languages.  And most of all, marketing & advertising.  You can spend all your money on Google ads, or you can just “shine online”.  Attract the attention of noisemakers and large fanbases, such as media sites, high traffic blogs, or groups and organizations.   Things that are trending in the news and humanitarian will always catch someone attention.

As everyone is linked to the web now through cell phones, netbooks, pc’s, video games, and more, the tech revolution begins. It starts with social networking, leads to social media, and will end with a cultural impact that allows devices and its data to become involved within our every move.  I feel we just aim to become virtual, we love doing everything we already do, but with a device.  We can even do more at a faster rate. I just worry how will it effect us socially as a cultural impact, sounds cute, but could bring more than we bargained.  For now, have fun, tweet, post, and share your media.  With the recession, social media kept us entertained, there is a God!

Try these sites for 2010:

http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/

http://analytics.google.com

Buzzom.com

Mashable.com

Facebook.com/developers

Ning.com

Look out for these hot products in 2010:

3D HDTV Big Screens for $2000-8000, with 3d glasses costing $50-$100

Nintendo Wii with Netflix on demand

Android Apps

Google Nexus Phone

Microsoft Word finally gets a new release!

ADOBE

Facebook complimentary sites

100 Twitter Tools to Use Before 2010 – Great Resource Guide!

TWITTER’s Impact Continues…

Some social media networks are known as major time drainers for procrastinating students, butTwitter can also be used for school work, valuable networking, job searches and project management.

Here are 100 great Twitter tips, tools and tutorials for serious college students who want to turn their Internet time into something valuable.

Finding People

These tools will help you find the right people to follow, whether you want to hook up with industry insiders, people who can help you with your research, companies you’d like to intern with, or other professors and students.

1. Who Should I Follow?: This service will recommend interesting people for you to follow based on any username you type in.
2. Just Tweet It: With this service, you can find other Tweeters with similar interests as you.
3. Mr.Tweet: Mr. Tweet can also point out influential Tweeters you should be following.
4. WeFollow: Type in keywords to find people who’ve tagged themselves in this directory.
5. FriendOrFollow: Find out who’s not following you back with FriendOrFollow.
6. Twubble: Expand your follow bubble with Twubble.
7. Nearby Tweets: When you need a reference or contact who lives in your city, use this service to find them on Twitter.
8. Twitterator: With Twitterator, you can bulk-follow complete lists of people.
9. SocialToo: Sync follower lists with other social media sites like Facebook.
10. TweepSearch: Use this tool to search users’ bios when you’re looking for specific people to follow.
11. DoesFollow: Find out if certain people are following each other to help friends make connections.

Research

Use these tips and tools for job searches, finding experts to cite in your papers, and to learn more about the topics you’re discussing in class.

1. twitority: Get authority-based Twitter search here.
2. Twitter for Research: Why and How to Do It, Including Case Studies: Learn how to use Twitter for historical research and which tools to use.
3. Monitter: Monitter uses your keywords to find relevant tweets.
4. TweetMeme: TweetMeme is sort of like Digg and is helpful if you want to search popular links that are being tweeted.
5. Tweetag: Tag-Based Search for Twitter: This guide will show you how to use Tweetag to find information based on tags.
6. How to Use Twitter for Information Mining: This guide can help you gather information on companies, individuals and topics.
7. @trendingtopics: Follow Twitter’s trending topics feed to get frequent updates on breaking news.
8. Twitscoop: This service lets you “search and follow what’s buzzing on Twitter in real-time,” great for keeping up with trending topics.
9. Twitter search: Type in a keyword to find out how it’s being discussed on Twitter in real-time.
10. TweetVolume: Here you can enter words and phrases to see how often they pop up on Twitter, and where.
11. How to Search Twitter – The Advanced Guide: Discover how to do a word-level, person-related, location-specific, date-specific or resource search on Twitter.
12. 7 ‘Secret’ Ways to Use Twitter Search: This article will help you become a more efficient researcher and tune out the “chit-chat.”
13. Tweetbeep: Set up alerts so that you know when something or someone is being tweeted about.

Study Breaks

Twitter isn’t just about research and assignments. These tips and tools will show you how to use Twitter for break time, too.

1. Foamee: Keep track of who owes you beer and coffee with this tool.
2. Cursebird: Track curse words on Twitter and see how many times people say the “f” word and other fun swear words.
3. LoveTweet!: Find love poems, break-up stories and more.
4. Tweetwasters: Use this tool to manage your wasted time on Twitter.
5. InnerTwitter: InnerTwitter lets you know when it’s time to get back to work and focus on what’s in front of you.

Discussion and Collaboration

When you have to meet with project group members, study for a test with classmates, talk with a professor, or tweet from club meetings, use these collaboration tools and tips.

1. Share files: Services like FileSocial and FileTwt let you share files publicly or privately.
2. Screenr: Create screencasts for your followers with Screenr.
3. 30+ More Ways to Create Twitter Groups: This guide will show you how to make the most of Twitter groups.
4. Share videos and photos: For school projects and presentations, share videos and photos via Twitter.
5. GroupTweet: Set up private communication with group members using this tool.
6. StrawPoll: It’s easier to collect data from groups of people when you use a poll like this one.
7. Twitzer: When you need to explain something in greater detail, use this app to type in more than 140 characters.
8. TweetCube: Share files — including videos and images — with TweetCube.
9. twonvo: Twonvo is helpful for following conversations: retweets are displayed like Facebook’s threads.
10. Phweet: Phweet is like conference calling for Twitter friends.
11. tweetparty: Group messaging is made possible by tweetparty, which lets you create subgroups too.

Building Relationships

Here you’ll learn all about using Twitter to build quality relationships for school and your career.

1. Don’t spam: Spamming means tweeting every time something pops into your head. Edit your tweets so that you’re only contributing when it matters, not whenever you’re bored.
2. Tweeple Card: Make a business card for Twitter with this tool.
3. twtcard: Send surprise greeting cards to network with people or send invitations to study groups.
4. Retweet: Retweet others’ comments, and they’ll be more likely to do the same for you.
5. Share your knowledge: Let others know you’re available for homework help or to share tips and insight into your passions.
6. Follow Friday: Look for new users to follow on Fridays, when your other friends will hashtag some of their favorites. Highlight your followers too to spread the love.
7. Edit your follow list: The people you follow and your followers can influence what others think about you, so be careful who you network with.
8. Tweet about things besides you: You’ll be known as a more valuable follow if you tweet news stories and about things besides yourself.
9. Become an expert on your community: Whether it’s your dorm or your city, be the one others turn to for help navigating and finding things to do in your area.
10. 8 Things to Consider Before Using Twitter Lists: Before you start listing, read this article to learn about its benefits and downfalls.
11. Use direct messaging: For more private conversations, reach out to someone via direct message.

Career

Twitter is a great career resource too, so make use of these tools and tips when researching companies, finding internships and setting up interviews.

1. twibs: Find businesses to follow with Twibs.
2. Twitter JobSearch: Type in the job you want and let this service find it for you on Twitter.
3. Set up two different accounts: Set up a business account and a separate one for goofing off with your friends: you don’t want your future employers to see what you tweet about parties and late nights.
4. Keep an eye on the competition: Get to know the habits and resumes of people vying for similar jobs as you.
5. Know how to pitch yourself: Don’t just talk about how great you are: pitch your skills in the form of tips for others.
6. Organize a tweetup: Schedule a meet-up or mixer to meet contacts in real-life.
7. Turn Twitter Friends into Real Friends: Learn how to network so that your Twitter relationships result in something concrete.
8. Getting In Front of High Profile People: Copyblogger shares tips for getting on the radar of the tweeters who matter.
9. 10 Networking Tips for Tweeters: Emma Merkas’ tips include standing out from the crowd and being social in real life.
10. Tweetmondo: Look for business contacts in your area or an area of your choosing with Tweetmondo.

Organization

Keep your Twitter experience streamlined and in control with these tools and tips.

1. Twitblocker: When you need Twitter for school and work purposes, block out all the social noise with this tool.
2. Lists: Create lists to organize discussions and groups.
3. Desktop: Use a desktop app so that you can view, filter and organize your Twitter feeds without having to log on.
4. 10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets: Learn about the tools and tips that can save you room on Twitter.
5. 20 Ways to Filter Your Tweets: Learn how to filter tweets by keyword, links, groups, or favorites to stay better organized.
6. TwitKit: TwitKit is a Firefox app that creates a Twitter sidebar for your browser.
7. MyTweeple: Check tweets, hide followers, review people’s stats and reevaluate your follow list with this tool.
8. twuffer: Schedule tweets to share later with twuffer.
9. Twply: Have @replies forwarded to your inbox so you never miss a shout out.
10. Ping.fm: Ping.fm is another tool for syncing FB, Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM and more.
11. 10 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists: Sarah Evan’s article shows you 10 ways you can use lists to organize Twitter.

Assignments

Check out this list to find ways to use Twitter for project management, assignment tracking and more.

1. bkkeepr: Track your reading lists here.
2. TwitterNotes: Take, save and tag notes on Twitter with this app.
3. Twittercal: Sync Twitter and your Google calendar so that you’re reminded of deadlines and exam dates.
4. Twitly: Separate your Twitter follows into different lists and groups, which is especially helpful if you want to separate different classmates, people you’re following for different research papers, or general follows.
5. How to use Twitter as a project management tool: Study groups and clubs will get tips on using Twitter effectively here.
6. Remember The Milk: The Twitter version of this task manager can also remind you of upcoming assignments, study groups and more.
7. Read the news: Subscribe to niche and general news feeds for supplementary learning materials.
8. Ask questions: Use Twitter as a study help tool, and ask questions when you can’t get ahold of your professor.
9. Take notes: Take notes from a club meeting or class to save for later, get feedback from others in the community, or share with a friend.

Tutorials and Guides

Turn to these tutorials and guides for in-depth explanations for setting up Twitter, finding people, and more.

1. The Ultimate Guide to Everything Twitter: Start out with this guide to learn about Twitter memes, relationships, apps and more.
2. HOW TO: Do Good on Twitter: This guide will show you how to find nonprofit groups and get your own club on Twitter.
3. Treating Twitter as an Investment: Making Twitter work for you takes time. Read this article to find out why it’s worth it.
4. Twitter for Academia: This guide is written for professors but can also be helpful for students wanting tips for using Twitter for discussion, research and real-life experience.
5. @TwiTuts: Follow this feed to get constant Twitter tutorials and tips.
6. Make the Most of Your 140 Twitter Characters: TutWow can help you say more with less.
7. 3 Ways to Recognize Bots and Spammers on Twitter: Don’t waste your time following worthless auto-spammers.
8. Top Twitter Tools Exposed: If you don’t know which tools to start with, watch this video.
9. Twitter Tutorial: 5 Desktop Apps: This is kind of a goofy video, but it can help you figure out how to pick a desktop application for Twitter.
10. How to use Twitter on the go: Use Twitter on your mobile phone after watching this video.

Miscellaneous Tools

From selling your stuff on Twitter to making Twitter easier to find, check out these tools.

1. Twitpay: If you have PayPal, you can raise money for causes or sell your stuff with TwitPay.
2. twitition: Create, sign and share petitions with this tool.
3. TwitterFone: Send messages to Twitter with your voice when you use TwitterFone.
4. Xpenser: Use Xpenser to track your expenses and save money, even while you’re on Twiter.
5. Twitturl: This Firefox add-on lets you post the URL of the page you’re currently on to Twitter.
6. Twittonary: This dictionary of Twitter words and shorthand will keep you on track with tweeting pros.
7. Twitsig: Your tweets will show up as images when you use this tool.
8. Tweetminster: British politics are tracked on this live Twitter stream.
9. Twitlist: Sell and buy your stuff with Twitter and Craigslist with this mashup.

Thanks to Carol Brown, Accredited Online Colleges.

Google Voice partners with Verizon Wireless! Now what Apple?! As Microsoft organize’s its offensive with Yahoo! View the Tech Wars!

WHAT IS GOOGLE VOICE?

The Battle Continues, Google, MS, Apple, Yahoo, Gear up!

Okay, I’m a PC, and this is getting good, lol.  Yes, Microsoft has fell asleep at the wheel the last 3, maybe 5, years, with a sorry operating system and virtually all other software left untouched with minor upgrades.  I waited for major changes as I stuck with XP as long as I could and microsoft office made me an expert after messing with it for a day or two because it was similar to the previous version. Now Microsoft has toughened up and aggressively hopes to reestablish its tech mojo.  I guess they felt the attack on a growing industry that couldn’t really be predicted at times and Google’s empire is surely big now. That attack was led by Apple trying for marketshare and mocking Microsoft’s flaws in commercials aimed for the youth.  Apple has a high quality product, yet expensive, as Microsoft has the power to offer cheap products that are already a platform for many users, even businesses.

Apple’s iPhone has the most impact today, u notice it’s the center of many new technologies.  Apple App’s is the fast growing arena as the mobile industry’s smartphone taps the internet for extended functions.  AT&T and Apple’s long relationship has helped the iPhone find light.  Google nerds have attempted to add their new app, Google Voice, that would give users power to control phone function through one central number from Google.  Apple has rejected, or should we say “still reviewing” the app, as they feel the threat to their current vision in the mobile industry with AT&T.  This battle has continued for months with the FTC stepping in to investigate the fairness of this conflict.

Well today, Google wheeled and dealed with Verizon, announcing a partnership to launch Google phones for the Verizon Network, can you hear me yet? This deal includes the Google Android, Google Wave, and Google Voice wrapped up in the new cellular phones.  I think this is a good pair as both of these companies have shown tremendous innovation and skills in the tech industry.

We will see where this leads Microsoft as they have acquired a great chunk of Yahoo, making a great deal as well.  Microsoft and Yahoo threaten Google who all need to move quickly.  Yahoo announced millions of dollar set aside for advertising in upcoming months that should bring the attention back to them.  Microsoft is back in the mix with mobile operating systems and even more, a new operating system for PC’s, Windows 7.  If you purchase a computer this year with Vista, you should receive a free upgrade to Windows 7 as they try to establish their innovation again.  Students can purchase it for a very cheap price as well as other Microsoft products, just as Adobe does.  Look out for Adobe their gaining ground with their Design Programs, TweetDeck, Flash, and Acrobat which is on most computers.  Microsoft has talked alot and hasn’t really gave us nothing to be impressed with, but let’s watch closely when Oct. 22 bring Windows 7.  Well that sums up the techie news and a nice list of resources are below if you want great deals from these companies as they battle to bring low prices to consumers.  Who said capitalism is dead? lol

Thanks for visiting!

MOST RECENT NEWS:

• Verizon Backs Android New York Times
• Verizon Commits to Android Phones, Netbooks PC Magazine
• Verizon Wireless hops aboard the Android express San Francisco Chronicle
• How Verizon might ruin Android ZDNet (blog)

THE BATTLE HIGHLIGHTS from Each Company!

Google Lineup:

• Google Voice Learn about this controversy app from Google
• Google Android : Official Site of Android!

Microsoft:

• Windows 7 : Learn more about Windows 7 – Oct 22. Release Date
• MS Office 7 for Cheap :  This Link from Microsoft is for students. $59 thats 91% off, thanks MS.
• Microsoft Phone : New! Attempt at iPhone, idk, lol!
• MS Internet Explorer 8 : upgrade, it’s a little better than the last!
• Windows Live for Mobile :  Learn about this instant messenger everywhere now

Yahoo:

• Yahoo New Homepage for mobile :  Look at this from a computer & it’s try hard with mouseover, but links outside sites pretty nicely.
• Yahoo Celebrates ‘You’ In $100 Million Ad Campaign InformationWeek

Apple:

• Apple Tablet Rumors :  Check out the Apple tablet design from “guardian.co.uk”
• Apple iPod Touch :  Pretty cool mp3 player with great features!
• Apple Store : Buy all Apple Products from here!

Adobe:

CS4 Premium Student Edition : Without getting the student version, this product cost $1800 & includes many programs that are usually $200-$500 each.  That keeps alot of people from purchasing, although it’s an industry standard if you into graphic design or web development.  I searched for an affordable solution and finally came up with the most amazing deal at Amazon.

Student versions of CS4 is only $389.99 and yes, that’s for the complete package and this is real price.  So, I advise all my tech & design readers to jump on that deal whenever u can, maybe x-mas

click here for the Adobe lineup and Free Trials for 30 days

TweetDeck: If you learned how to use twitter, u need this program, like yesterday! Learn how to tweet in this blog site, search “follow friday”!

Adobe.com : If you need Acrobat Reader, Flash upgrade to see online vidz, then go here.

Thanks and Please Retweet to share this techie news!  :)

click to Retweet

Social Media’s impact continues, but expect big changes for 2010!

Facebook acquires FriendFeed.  Twitter launches new homepage design.

Myspace buys iLike. Google battles Microsoft and Apple. Social Media on the Rise!!

With all the news over the summer, much anticipated, social media is transforming.  With the celebrity craze over twitter and the more abundance of mobile device producing media content, online interaction is growing.  Even small business is eyeing the market and trying to connect with potential customers over the world wide web.  Some say, social media is a must have, especially for companies looking to brand with web users or target the youth that participate online.  The problem is, nobody really know how to and strategies are unknown or barely documented. You must find articles, visit some of the best social media sites, and even read blogs like this to get another aspect to make some anaylitical assumptions yourself.  It’s growing too fast! lol

Some claim to be social media guru’s and most aren’t, but some are.  The computer programmers and longtime web users who have created profiles for the last 5-10 years, has an edge over the rest.  I’ve seen some clever tricks when implementing social media.  The top social media sites offer API or you can say, a link to their database to allow webmaster to create some nifty sites.  I like twitterholic.com that organizes this data to rank users by region, its pretty good for networking too.  Other great sites like twitterfall.com or buzzom.com offer great features to search each tweet for keywords.

Facebook has API’s as well, with great apps like games, quizzes, or mini fan sites to engage users.  Best thing about these apps, is that anyone that learns the coding can do it, and great ones have a viral effect, reaching thousands.  In the news, facebook has acquired another social media site, FriendFeed.com, which offers a super connection between all your social media sites.  It allows one text message to simultaneous post on others like twitter and facebook, even blog rss feeds.  Friendfeed is similar to twitter but aggregates all into one, and facebook will enjoy using the 12 or so guys over there to enhance their search engine of status updates and more.  This merger signalled the beginning of the social media race to gather users into a market big enough to advertise.  It usually leads to big financial support from venture firms.  Twitter is huge, but looses money each year to operate, however, its impact could be great, which give it leverage in company value.  Facebook is rumored to start selling stocks, similar to how Google offered IPOs years ago that put them as one of the biggest companies online.  Facebook is gathering a strategy on how to use the money which is rumored to be in the billions.  Personally, I don’t think they know what to do with it, just like other companies that are trying to maintain their empire, but mostly collect money from advertising.

Google is great because it has its hand in every cookie jar there is.  I heard they were try to build cars as well, lol.  Google is competing with Yahoo who has just recieved a deal with Microsoft.  Microsoft want a peice of the action and looks to dominate shortly, in a smooth kinda way.  They launched Bing.com which is similar to Google search engine, then Google is making it Document Apps to compete with MS Word.  Google has even stepped on Apple’s toes by producing cell phones, the Android G1 Tmobile, and launching Google Voice, which allows users to have one phone number for all their lines and plenty of free features like texting & voicemail.  Apple’s best friend, AT&T, probably doesn’t like it, and this is why Apple has hesitated having it readily available to iPhone users.  Google has been so frustrated with this, the FCC has stepped in and demanded some answers from Apple.  Apple finally released a statement, saying they haven’t completely rejected the Google Voice App, but need to review as it will impact their services.

The race continues with these corporation seeking dominance in online social networks, whether online or mobile device.  Expect a big impact from Google as they have been at this for a while, have the funding, and research all day with eager nerds in labs, ready to takeover the world, well web, lol.  Google with offer the Google Wave social networking tool soon and Myspace has recently acquired iLike music applications company.  Not nothing big for myspace, but enough to make noise and let competition know they are innovative and have strategy too. And as the iPhones and new smartphones arise, we will be seeing a explosion from multiple industries.  The intersection will include companies from advertising, cellular service providers, news media sources, consumer electronic producers, computer giants, and a host of corporate brands who see this technology growing into something big.  In my dreams, I’ve seen Nokia laptops, HP phones, New Age Google Software, a Microsoft in every Car! just dreams, lol.  I’m riding the social media transformation like a wave and hope to get ahead of it, to not just surf the web, but to have a big boat to group all my friends together. *pun  Thanks for reading, more to come!

Social Media Site use Star Power, what’s next as Bing.com launches to compete with Google. Social Media Brainstorm.

Okay, Twitter blew up, in terms of new users and branding, beginning 2009.  By April, celebrities were competing to get 1 million users, CNN and Ashton Kutcher.  Well, Ashton now has over 2 million and other stars are climbing the ranks, such as Ellen Degeneres, Britney’s Back, and even Jimmy Fallon is engaging in the social media phenomenon.  You can check the rankings and even yours within your region at http://twitterholic.com and a great source to improve your account is at http://tweetgrader.com  Back on topic, Twitter has calmed down mid-June with many users leaving or reports showing that most new accounts do not make it past 10 tweets…ask oprah!  The star power was an advertising propaganda to increase the awareness or identity of their brand (Twitter).  It worked, but has it really?  Many entertainers and corporate companies know the power of technology, but not everyone is on board.  We maintain a life with many things that take up or time, who really has time to tweet a message?  If you choose the web for your leisure time, then you know mostly what I’m talking about.  Twitter is new media, and with this, it must be entertaining.  To a degree, it is, with friends and family and even celebs giving updates on their life in a wierd technological reality show. We are networked together and that is the great advantage.  We must find out “how” to take care of this advantage, to engage the ones who love it.  There are millions, and millions of dollars to be rewarded to winner!

This takes me to part 2 of my blog post.  Where are all the millions of dollars?  Twitter has the greatest idea of current times, but may only get venture capitalist monies or other investors who wanna piece of the pie.  The investors all bet on this pie, whereas in business terms it’s called leverage.  Facebook is the best to me, personally, as their solid interface and less confusing features makes it a blast.  The company is said to be worth billions (5-15).  Within the last year it has implemented its advertising attempts to raise some funds.  To tell the truth, it sucks, and rumor is they are working on 100 of millions of dollars each year, trying to stay away from debt.  Actually, they could sell at anytime, but like Twitter, wait to increase their leverage.  Facebook is preparing for an IPO (intial public offering- stock entry) that should raise billions as people want to invest in the company and its innovation.  Myspace is owned by FOX News or News Corp as they sold for a little under 1 billion.  Twitter is eyed by Google, but states it does not want to sell.  So what’s next?  I suggest they move fast as the tech era is moving in a quick direction.  To sum it up, we, the users, want more features to make our life more entertaining or aim for a virtual reality (artificial intelligence-like).  Until one single company can manage to defeat the best in the business, the trend of these computer technologies will continue.  Twitter lacks big profiles and adding of media content, facebook doesnt want you to change the colors, and myspace is praying the music fans stick with them.  When all this is offered as well as the next new web application on the social site, then maybe a new force will arise, knocking down the leverage that was gracefully and patiently created by the others.  My advice:  Sell Twitter, get your stock by February facebook, and myspace needs some restructuring in design(stop copying & create something amazing).  While we wait for the new guy, we watch others in the game(industry), like Google which will launch Google Wave to add something new to social networking & real time communication.  Anyone that has programming skills can get the API (partial coding to interact with social sites).  They can build their own twitter chat, rss feed lines, or have users log in with their account from another site.  With google so powerful, it will be hard to enter the market, but a good product is never denied by the user (viral marketing).  Thanks for reading and stay tuned to more social media takeover and critique.

New Era Approaching. Mobile Web Development and Social Networking.

We have so many favorite websites now! Depending on your style or what site you choose out of the bunch. You could be a web user who enjoys a site’s features or non web users that knows a handful of sites by memory, even if they never visited.  The population of internet users grows as the computer has now placed itself as a significant part of our lives, especially the youth.  The net is growing with more web devices readily available… from cellular companies, faster connections, and easier access with wi-fi or even 3g. Broadband wireless cards have became more popular with the price drops and more smartphones are acting like our home computers. This is all leading to a wave about to hit, mobile web development.

It seems simple to develop, if your thinking a small cell phone screen to view a web page, but actually a difficult task to perfect let alone perform, which everyone wanting to build to secure and dependable site for mobile carriers. The problem is every company in the cellular world is battling in being the best, offering different features to compete, being the first to have a better web experience, or just do not have the technology to offer all this. Web developers are struggling in finding a way to format their content for every phone. There is few sites that will show up on every phone the same way, although accomplishments have been made. An average website can be formatted for major browsers in recent times, but years ago it was more difficult.   Now with better software, we can test the major platforms of these built pages and how sites will show up, however we don’t know if this will stay around for long. There’s just a rapid growth and many formats developing from new technology.  Take Adobe for instance.  Their programs are hundreds of dollars, which performs functions within the graphic design industry.  To a fine artist, this will seem remarkable as many programs will be needed to perform all the “desired functions.”  From Photoshop with images, Illustrator to make a vector graphic, Flash to animated, to Dreamweaver, and the list goes on.  Speaking from growing up in poverty, this is an expensive field to enter.  However, you have the possibility of being the best with these tools.  They empower the user and make them near professional, well should i say able to produce on their own, great stuff.  Web development, even programming in general, is evolving, by sharing the knowledge and skill to anyone who wants it.  Sites are sharing information and linking codes to help developers become better, in API’s, better content management systems, and more.

To get back to the web development war, there’sh no true leader in popular mobile sites, as each day has potential of being an amazing site, that could steal the show(even affect the market). With knowledge and skill, this is the only obstacle in being the best of the mobile world.  Myspace, MTV, and ebay are developing some great content for mobile devices and have the money, power, and skills to do it. Average websites have grown to use coding that runs similar to code for software or databasing. The way to build is not just from this code as many web building software allows you to make a page with little skill, with simple features similar to Microsoft Word. These editors will make the average person interested in developing a website, personally, its kinda fun and takes less time to build. Joomla and AJAX or even others, have tried to set a standard in which I don’t see why not just use wordpress like this blog. Businesses want an easy way to update their sites and less confusion in the process. Thats why they stick to these techniques rather than get advanced in skill. I don’t blame them and I’ve seen it work wonders for companies from saving money to less time consumption.

For my future goals, I aim for perfection or atleast to better myself in the art of web development and online marketing. I started with web design or art rather, but then into business to make money, and then put the understanding of people in the mixed while learning how to do my own marketing & advertising. Now, luckily, it has all came together, with the social boom and computers. I work to find a way to connect people, look good, and provide benefit to keep the process ongoing. With mobile web, we look at a young market, school kids with cell phones and computer access. Developing the next big social networking site will require understanding of each mobile platform. Apple iphone’s are unique and probably the best market, with these consumers in a higher bracket of income and spend alot more time with other electronical devices. I think we could stick to the html for visual. I have been tempted plenty of times to pull up a website I just created, and view on my Tmobile Sidekick to see how it looks. Sometimes it’s crazy and distorted, other times it’s still aligned correctly, but not because I told it to do that. Its all about getting control and planning.

Building for web could be simple, with merely html code with colors, fonts, & pictures. Everyone should develop one if they have a site, atleast telling a visitor of a website that they need to view on a PC. I guess everyone want that perfection or doesn’t want to give a hint at a perfected version. I have came to the point of mobile web development that more web2.0 or interactivity by users should be implemented. Having comment boxes, uploading pictures, or even downloading is troublesome, with no guarantee on if it will even work on certain phones. As soon as comments or more functionality features across multiple phone types arises, we will see a growth. For now, we wait… as more web devices are owned by generation x. The tech era is here. The “what” in the future is known, but “how” will be the question. As I study more social interaction of mobile web development, I will report back to this blog with a more educated guess of the future in the mobile world.

Learn more about mobile web development below:

World Wide Web Consortium - Web Standards Learning Resource for Web Development

Summer Social Media Outlook for Online Marketers and Business!

 

 

 

Okay, now that the twitter wave has reached its max for the time being, we can now analyze all three major social networking sites as well as another on the rise.  

To determine the best one, you must analyze your own marketing strategy to reach your goals.  If you ran out of goals or ideas, then just keep reading and maybe one will come to you.  The web is growing, even though the skills of users are now widening, we must approach the world wide web with caution and understanding.  

 

There are users that will visit a site and can easily tell if the web development was difficult or is it composed of widgets, web apps, or other copy & paste code.  Others that visit is just viewing “how cool it looks”.  In the end, it will be about how much benefit they got out of your site or what could they gain from you, your product…. a rememberance is just as good at times.  Value to the customer is foremost and providing it well gives customer satisfaction that leads to free marketing, on & offline.  

As a web developer and entrepreneur myself, I find sites succeed when its interesting to find information, interactive to share the experience, and/or useful that would cause a revisit or whisper to a friend about “how cool” it is.  This leads us back to the topic as social networking sites that are succeeding are really basic and simple in design.  Myspace is loosing unique visitors each month, but has the most features to let a user customize their page.  For nerds or jocks this is great, but for regular folks it starts getting complicated.  Imagine each profile looking different with graphics and colors, it may cause users to only go to certain profiles, maybe because we can judgemental of the objects on the screen or maybe we are empowering ourself with selective content we like from others.  Anyhow, myspace is the most customizeable and loosing ground. Facebook is simple with a less colorful interface allowing everyone to view everyone equally.  Facebook is deep though, with alot of stuff to do from pics, videos, to comments. Now, twitter lets you change a background but basically is a text messaging service with some social networking qualities.  These social networking sites are huge, but their fate is how they handle the waves of users who flock to see the show.  

 

Ping.fm is a relatively new site that lets you connect the mentioned others and even update from one central site.  It has grown in popularity as we try to manage all in the (utility) satisfaction alotted by our time schedule.  Maybe myspace is slipping because we don’t have time for all that customized stuff or twitter is successful in recent months because it is relatively simple, hooked to mobile devices, and has reached mainstream media.  As the fad or trend of tweeting settles, we see how much value is really gained from being a new user.  We must find how this will help the advanced users on the web, who gather information such as social bookmarking, store photos or videos from their field of work, or use the web to store and access databases for a variety of people in there network(or buddy list).  

The gap in understanding the benefits of social networking is growing, just make sure your “in-the-know” and stay reading about the changes to become successful.  Even as I write this blog, I thought blogs would die out years ago, but actually a must have for businesses attracting web users.  We now have advantages of connecting these blogs with social networking sites as well.  

Ideally, we will have more simple way of viewing all the social media we submit online, all our friends who have web access, and possibly have fun while doing it.  The key in online business is to be a friend on these sites with your brand because web users will want to know about you, so let them.  A business should include a website, blog, and inclusion on social media sites that are trendy in which shares in the lifestyle of our current tech era.  If television is adding in computers to become attractive, so should you, with ads implying tech savvy.  Let them know you can chat, text, share info, and know who they are as well… all from the web.  This builds good business.  When we are promoting to web users we must find out if they are computer literate.  Have something special for advance users such as free widget or badge(pic&link) they can add on their social sites.  For basic users, keep it simple just like Microsoft when they added the START button in the bottom corner of the screen.  Nothing really starts unless you can get to it… but you can start and  find something from here.  This basic interface will satisfy those who are interested buy not computer knowledgeable.  Create your site and ads the same way.  The advance users will have friends on the web and share quickly and those without skills will find ways to empower themself by having options as the advanced users do.  

To conclude, the outlook is never certain but understanding how web users interact online and how you can create benefit to them, will lead to good experience in showing off your qualities or getting popular from word of mouth.  If your product and service is solid, then entering into the online world of social networking is your next move to increase sales and brand yourself globally.  Take care and thanks for reading.

Kres

 

Building an Online Network with Social Media Resources!

Social media branding …many have no clue of what to do, and I’m not saying this in a judgemental way, but we all just do the best we can. The future is here and jumping on the opportunity to use cheap resources from technological advances will help achieve success. Businesses are so wary of the tech era as many just stick to the basics of a website to use on marketing materials or display some of the brochure details for a convenient place on their website.

The other possibilities are endless as new gadgets and social networking sites are everchanging. The mobile phone is barely tapped as a place to advertise and we just found out some video games are pushing to get in the action with ad contracts. The future is here and someone must sort out the advertising world. Google dominates it and controls most of its direction while government and businesses would love to regulate it, with equal power or sayso in the market. US has kept a low profile on the internet world as Apple & Microsoft compete on the field, but other countries are calling for more control of web managment like domain names and regulations of what citizens can view. Sometimes the public network crosses the laws of a country, but maybe its up to the user to view. That is more political, so we must work with what we have. We have nothing defined clearly of what tommorow will bring or what really is the standards now. As we challenge to find what the future holds to become successful, we must find our resources which include free web services. This may all cost money later down the road, but the web aims to include everybody as it enters our phone, homes, cars, and other devices.

Personally, I feel we need to find the modern tools to communicate to people and relate. We can come online to showcase our brand or come online to communicate. Are you gonna use the web as a visual ad, a tool to talk to clients, a place to give stuff away, or a place to sell? The right answer is all of them. You must not forget business fundamentals which got you to figuring out, how to outscore other owners by learning this web stuff. You must provide benefit, you can’t give this away if you service is trash and you’re not better than your competition. You must communicate to the clients and most don’t wanna talk, lol. The web is great because it invites them to a warm lead. You are like a billboard if you design a nice site and tell about your product. When you ask… can I help you, or what are looking for? Then your giving service that can land you somewhere. If you can make a billboard turn into a sales rep then you would probably will impress someone.  Not only be a print ad, be social connection, and show how you relate, the basic selling techniques combined with the art of design & stragey.

So when creating an online site, make it creative with web apps that can let customers leave comments, ask question, or contact you as if your always there. In a sense, the web is 24/7, so you can act like you are. I use plugoo.com for alot of my communication. This is a free service that connects customers to your website to your instant messenger. You simply copy & paste the code where you want inside your site, it allows a interface for clients to chat. The good thing about this is most smartphones can run instant messenger. So a Tmobile Sidekick or Apple Iphone could easily receive messages and interact with clients like text messaging. They think I’m in front of my computer, but I’m shopping or watching the game. The point is use these tools that are out there, in internet land. Use Twitter to draw the tech crowd in, put it on your marketing materials and tweet your sales. Use facebook to attract family & college folks or myspace for the music crowd, these sites are part of our current lifestyle for some. This subculture of tech users will gladly remember you from the site.

The greatest thing about the growth of the internet is that local small towns are slow. Anyone from a small town knows they are misrepresented or have little online activities that are interesting from a local standpoint. As a big dreamer, I look at big cities and see what companies are more established online, this is really easy with small cities. It also gives me insight on how to conquer a smaller town from strategy or from merely seeing what hasn’t been applied similarly in smaller towns. Before the tech trends reach a local standpoint, any business owner or computer savvy person can win alot of free visitors/customers from these outlets. They will come back if your product and service is great, even with a friend. The online world is allowing everyone to receive information in a different way, make sure yours is out there, on the same social networks your customers are on. Find the groups, be a real person with a profile and promote casually. If you are not obnoxious or seem like your begging, then people will believe you and check out more of your business. The web is growing, find the other business people in your industry and listen to how they operate. You may find some good examples or meet a few people interested. Business to Business networking will help you relate, find deals, or know who has share in the market you’re in.

The web can help you network and brand faster than running around. Direct mailers are good for target marketing in local, but social marketing will attract users that are internet users, a good target to attract. With these computer having folks, you will most likely be spread to their network as well. Stay focussed on pleasing with great service and benefits. Being creative also shows your more than just another company. Good luck.

Social Media, Networking, Web 2.0? Learn more.

Social communities online have grown at a fast rate, most have created their own logic of what the future holds.  Social networking sites like myspace, facebook, bebo, hi5, and more… have structured a way to connect all your buddies, and I do mean all, fast and instantaneously. Social media sites, such as YouTube or Flickr, are user generated with content that builds itself with millions of pages. We love this reality television or photo gallery and this is why it has become so popular.

A few years back, web 2.0 was introduced, not the definition, just the term. Everyone was feeling the growing wave of social media coming, so the coined the term web 2.0. Some definitions include, the use of tags that users may label a video, pic, article, etc. Some graphic designers have claimed the word as well, as stated in Web 2.0 graphics that have the 3D look or reflection shine on bottom of an image.

Personally, I feel it is undefined at the moment, just because it is so broad and consist of more the one concepts… rather than concrete formats, processes, or even give a boundary of what Web 2.0 is. I stick to “user generated or interaction” while giving my theory, as a nerd, but the correct term would be social media, if relating to the user generated stuff. When we can give a proper name for the graphic designer’s images and label the social media processes, it will become the standard, then maybe we can get some where.

Well, now that twitter has came into play and Facebook is building a solid foundation, we can define more of the social media phenomenon. Social networking is linking up, social media is the content, and twitter is on a whole page of its own as a communication device mostly. By combining these tools, we may have created a new tech lifestyle which can be used by almost anyone. Twitter is social networking because you follow friends, but the real-time communication to a list of users is remarkable. In the web2.0 concept, we will end up building sites from a basic format, such as Youtube, where most pages are similar looking, but consist of new content posted by the user. It also has the social networking tool when you subscribe to the user’s content. Social networking is a must. It is what is starting the wave to crest over. Social media is growing as more communication devices are readily available with internet access, high connectivity rates, and the ability to create content easily. Most social media sites are allowing users to upload a video that has just be snapped by the cell phone.

The web is leaning toward a real time approach, where we can track and become entertained by what every person is doing. A real live Truman show, where status updates are showing the good side of someone’s life. It may help out psychologically or may not, we must study this as well. The real-time access to peoples lives or company’s messages will become more prevalent. Google has introduced a news site that is formated as a timeline, giving updates of news events happening in the world. This is a great resource and changes the business model of newspapers even more. The struggle to counter bloggers like me and online resources that supply almost an endless stream of information.

Technology is critical for every business, especially information gathers. Advertising is changing as well, with more views on websites than tv commercials seen in primetime. Google is on nearly every page and they would settle getting a penny for each time its clicked, with billions of pages across the net. Social media sites are looking to capitalize the same, but this is a difficult task to do. Some do not trust it, some have traditional marketing campaigns, and some may just not comprehend its benefits. The ones that do are getting these benefits or a taste of the tech era. You must learn, even if it’s from failure. They say you learn alot from failure, not saying fall flat on your face, but knowing what you did wrong while coming close to success can help with strategies in the future. With the social media craze, I suggest everyone join, look around, and get a feel for the future. Social networking is the new pen pal, with a pictorial rolodex. Twitter is like text messaging and Facebook is like a new yearbook of the modern world. Social media with photos, video, and content, is a remarkable accomplishment and entertaining way to be social for the computer literate. Think, sharing photos before would cost postage and prints or visits in person. We all enjoy these, so lets not get confused, lets just be happy and try to understand the technological wave before us.  The tech era is ever changing and will separate trends, the most current definition, or acceptance into our social life.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.