Friday, March 28, 2008

Facebook recommendations

Wow.

Here's what I have learned so far... it's really tough to maintain a decent blog. Lots of developments all over the place, and I have been quiet. Where do people find time to do this?

grrr.

Anyway. Let's pick up with Facebook's linkedIn.com rip-off new-toy.

I hate to say it.. but it's brilliant. LinkedIn always gave me..... on a good day... maybe one person who I had at least heard of (PS. I don't really imagine the President of a PR firm I declined an offer from becoming a professional connection).

The Facebook version..... Rocking. Mind you... there's lot's of people I wouldn't want to reconnect with that are offered (ex-girlfriends who are now married to the guy that replaced me.... you needn't to apply)... but at least I will say this:

The results I am getting are people I have definitely met in person... more than once.... and I think it's awesome.

Great work to the Facebook developer team.

Now... go find a way to Monetize the site, and I'll be even more impressed.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

AOL Buying Bebo?

There's a rumor circulating that AOL has bought Bebo... and it's backed by some pretty compelling evidence.

I really like the move on AOL's part. Instead of overpaying for a social network at the absolute peak of their hype, they're buying an up and comer, and have the potential to bring it to the masses.

Why do I think this works? Simple.

Nick O'Neill wrote a great piece on how e-mail was going to end up being the social network of choice. It's well worth the read if you have a few minutes. But, with so many people on so many different e-mail platforms... it's written from a very long tail perspective. On the other hand... if AOL can somehow integrate their new network into AIM, which apparently has 50% of the IM market, it's a complete homerun.

Should be an exciting task for Platform A's new CEO.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Hug of the titans?

Three days ago I wrote about the irony of Google Gears/Apps running on the Windows Mobile platform.

Well... yesterday, Apple thickened the plot pretty substantially.

To sum up:

Apple's iPhone now integrates with Microsoft Exchange to work in enterprises.

Microsoft is a sworn enemy of Google... who's Gears announcement and Google Docs compete with Microsoft Exchange... but also work on Microsoft Mobile

At the same time, Google also has lots of functionality on the iPhone.... which now also works with Microsoft.

Is it me... or is Apple playing both sides of the fence here?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Haven't we been here before?

I'm not sure if this is true for anyone else, but when I first started being a web user, AOL was my first destination. It was a portal as well as a content provider, so I could get news, sports, etc and also be an active part of community 1.0- Message Boards.

Eventually, I started venturing out (in those days... we called it 'surfing') to find communities and news sites that were more specific to my particular tastes.

Now, with Social Networks being the rage... I think we're starting the see the same thing happening, as niche sites are jumping onto the bandwagon and building more niche audiences.

Travel: Yeah, we've got that one covered
Finance: Absolutely not a problem
Even Steven Speilberg is rumored to be jumping into the fray.

The real question for me is whether or not these sites work as compliments to the Facebook's of the world.... or whether the ultimate end up taking traffic away, leaving Facebook as a still powerful online property... but one that, like AOL, becomes more of a distant memory.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Clash of the Titans

The past few days have brought out one of the best versions of the old "Anything you can do, I can do better" than anything in recent memory.

We've got battles raging on the health care front, the document sharing front, and now... the mobile front.

Of course, I'm talking about Microsoft Vs. Google.

I want to focus on the latter battle slightly, because the irony is pretty thick: Google just made it possible to run Google Apps off line through Google Gears on mobile devices running... wait for it.... Windows Mobile.

Odd, huh?