SocialTimes.com

Is Plinky a Smarter Twitter? Posted: 30 Jan 2009 11:15 AM PST Plinky is a new service that operates a bit like Twitter, but instead of asking what you’re doing right now Plinky asks you a different question every day. Sounds intriguing? It certainly adds some dynamics to the concept of microblogging Twitter ushered in a few years ago. After registering your Plinky account, you can go right ahead and answer the day’s prompted question. For me, it was “Share where you’d fly for the weekend if your best friend had a helicopter.” You can choose to answer this prompt or you can skip to the next one. Some prompts are pretty basic, such as the one I received today. Others are more conclusive, and have multiple parts to answer. And depending on the context of a given prompt, Plinky will incorporate other media (maps, photos, etc.) into users’ answers. If you’d like to use Plinky as yet another launching pad for content you’d like to spread across the web, you can do so. Actually, that’s the point of Plinky–to easily create comprehensive content and redistribute i elsewhere. So far you can do this automatically with a handful of supported services like Wordpress and Tumblr. There’s also an embed code available for manual “redistribution.” And Plinky has also added Twitter and Facebook Connect support, though these are case-by-case options that are available to you regarding individual prompts. Overall Plinky is pretty easy to use, and its concept is quite reminiscent of a feature from a Six Apart blogging platform Vox promotes every day. Plinky founder Jason Shellen may be familiar with this, as he worked at Six Apart for a short while last year. But Vox encouraged users to create new posts by posing a new daily question. From there, you could easily see what other Vox users within and outside of your Vox neighborhood have written in response to the daily question. Shellen’s use of the daily prompt puts this feature into a microblogging format and elegantly creates content around it with minimal effort from the users. The interesting part of such a format is the fact that you can follow users, or follow prompts. It’s a new way of creating and following content within a microblogging platform, and remains lighthearted and fun. I imagine incorporating some type of revenue-model into Plinky’s format could include indirect market research or sponsored prompts, among other options that aren’t readily available to other microblogging platforms. What Plinky is missing, however, is a non-prompted option for sharing one’s thoughts or simply creating content. Perhaps this was a very intentional way in which to differentiate Plinky from similar services, but I think further integration with other platforms (i.e. email) and especially mobile devices will make Plinky more fun and more accessible to end users. Below is a video interview Robert Scoble did with Plinky.

New Austin Incubator Seeks Startups for Summer Program Posted: 30 Jan 2009 10:19 AM PST Despite the dismal outlook of the economy and the changed landscape of venture capital funding for web-based companies, a new technology incubator program called Capital Factory is launching in Austin this week. Founded by local entrepreneurs Joshua Baer, Same Decker and Bryan Menell, the new incubator program is currently accepting applications for its first 10-week summer program. Beginning on May 22nd, the summer program for the chosen 10 startups ends in August with a live-streamed presentation from participants, so investors and others interested in the startups can see the culmination of Capital Factory’s first run at an incubator program. There’s the expected emphasis on mentorship with the Capital Factory, but there’s also some cash rewards as well. Participating startups can receive up to $20,000 and office space, along with some basic IT infrastructure options and recruiting support, among other things. And Austin is a good city for an incubator program focused on technology, as there’s already an established community of successful entrepreneurs and ready access to other necessary resources for the startup environment. Lucky for the Capital Factory, the deadline for accepting applications is shortly after SXSW, which is also based in Austin. But is now a good time to start an incubator program? I’ve spoken with a number of incubator program directors since the market took a turn for the worse a few months ago and the overall hope for many of these programs is to weather the storm and focus on funding quality companies. Now’s the time to invest, right? While competition is lower and a focus on a solid business model means more promising returns on investments to incubators such as Capital Factory, the text books all point to such encouraging outlooks for the startup environment. That includes Capital Factory’s own focus on capital-effecient startups that can weather the storm and come out ahead as well. Founder Joshua Baer is the Founder and CEO of OtherInbox and has a killer combo of technical, business and legal experience that he’ll be sharing as a Capital Factory mentor as well. Sam Decker is the Chief Marketing Offer at Bazaarvice and has authored two books on word-of-mouth marketing, while Bryan Menell is a current adviser for Moximity, MomenumSI and Socialware, and has his own experience launching startups including Fusion Learning Systems. Click here for more info on Capital Factory and applying for this year’s summer program.

Mobile Social Networks Help the Mobile Industry Overall Posted: 30 Jan 2009 09:35 AM PST Some web trends do eventually translate into mobile web usage.  According to a comScore report this week, the use of mobile social networking is driving mobile Internet usage in Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK).  In November, 34% of mobile phone owners in Western Europe that visited social networking sites accessed social media, but not other mobile web content.  That means that a good portion of the 12.1 million mobile users in Western Europe are using their mobile web access just for social networking purposes. Compared to other applications for accessing mobile web pages, social network mobile access grew at a much faster rate, clocking in at 152% increase between November 2007 and November 2008.  As far as the Western Europe countries go, the UK has the highest penetration of mobile social networking, at 9%. So what’s it all mean? Perhaps we’re seeing the mobile divide beginning to close. The increase in mobile web usage overall seems to be positively correlated with the increase in mobile social networking.  All those social networking applications must be starting to really pay off.  Between these socially-oriented applications giving users mobile access while on the go, and an overall improvement with mobile devices in the past two years alone, there seems to be an intensely growing trend towards mobile social networking overall.  It’s simply easier to do. And the trend is good for most parties involved.  Even before popular devices like the iPhone emerged, many web-based social networks were seeking ways in which to offer mobile integration through SMS and mobile web browsing.  Aside from offering on-the-go access to end users, many of these social networks also realized the global potential of offering mobile social networking, as it broadens the pool of potential users.  Increased mobile web usage also encourages the mobile device market to make even more compatible phones that are geared for supporting social networking applications.  This goes for the mobile network providers as well.  Over the past year we’ve seen an especially dedicated effort to partner with social networks and mobile device manufacturers in order to offer an enticing package deal to consumers that desire mobile web browsing. While comScore did not go into detail about the causation of the growing trend, I believe all the factors above could have contributed in one way or another to encourage mobile web usage.  And whatever the direct causes for such growth may be, it’s an interesting yet expected trend in the mobile world.  I’m sure only see this growth increase over the next year, in Western Europe, the US and beyond.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of The Social Times in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: The Social Times, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

SocialTimes.com

Buddy Media Expands App-Vertisements to the Windy City Posted: 28 Jan 2009 09:21 AM PST Earlier this week Buddy Media revealed a Facebook app it powers for Hollywood.com, displaying how its “app-vertisments” can not only engage users and garner market research for the entertainment industry, but offer a direct advertising option within a social network that benefits both Hollywood.com and Buddy Media as well.   With the success its multifaceted company has seen in the past year alone, it doesn’t really come as a surprise to see that Budd Media is opening an office in Chicago.  With Alicia Driskill as the Midwest Sales Director, it looks like Buddy Media’s Chicago office will be focused on advertising sales.  Driskill has over ten years of experience with digital media, previously working with TVGuide.com, also in the Midwest region, as well as prior work at Comcast networks and a number of other marketing agencies.  It’s a good move for Buddy Media, as Chicago is known for its advertising economy.  With an office already in New York, Buddy Media says that the new office will help the company keep up with demand.  Buddy Media is actually reporting a 138% increase in revenue from Q3 2008 to Q4 of the same year, thanks to its app-vertisement strategies.  And simply watching Buddy Media over the past year or so, it’s evident that Buddy Media is looking to corner the market on such integrated social media tactics.  Buddy Media not only has an army of Facebook apps, but it has a growing network of apps it powers for other brands.  To provide more value to clients and entice a few more brands to use its service, Buddy Media began to flesh out its advertising and analytics capabilities, growing its potential for effective social media marketing all the while.  It remains to be seen how well such app-vertisiements will hold up when it’s all said and done, especially given the increased efficiency of integration options such as Facebook Connect versus an all-out application.  But as we’ve seen with others like SGN, the network within a network approach can be quite fruitful for advertising purposes, and Buddy Media has been perfecting this method from early on.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of The Social Times in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: The Social Times, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

SocialTimes.com

LivingSocial Adds TV via Hulu, Supports Facebook Connect Posted: 27 Jan 2009 03:35 PM PST LivingSocial, the social discovery tool for sharing your favorite media items, has just added a couple of new features that make its user experience a little better. For starters, LivingSocial has added TV to its growing categories for media sharing and recommendations, broadening your options further than just books (which LivingSocial started out with), dining, movies, music, beer and more. Yes, LivingSocial had a beer category before it had a TV category, but it may have been worth the wait. The use of a Hulu application allows you to view television episodes within a tiny pop-up, meaning you don’t have to navigate away from LivingSocial in order to see a particular episode. This may be highly encouraging for some users, as it allows them to watch an episode and offer their ratings and reviews immediately instead of LivingSocial having to rely on users that have already seen a particular show in order to offer their ratings and reviews. This feature really opens up the immediacy of on-demand media in relation to social recommendations, so hopefully this will relate to beneficial contributions for LivingSocial’s database. In regards to further spreading ratings, reviews and recommendations around the web and across mobile devices, LivingSocial already has a number of Facebook, Bebo and hi5 applications, as well as an iPhone application. But the other new feature LivingSocial is announcing today is the inclusion of Facebook Connect which makes it significantly easier to login and share information to your Facebook friends. For personal reasons I prefer simply using Facebook Connect, as the LivingSocial applications are all separate based on the category. But from a practical standpoint, LivingSocial is likely hopeful about the new Facebook Connect integration as it allows easier social content flow between the two sites. This was a major concern for LivingSocial after Facebook made changes to user profile formats resulting in a “placement predicament” for applications such as their own. In all, the recently funded LivingSocial is making some good feature updates that are clearly taking the user experience into consideration while also appearing to be good business moves for development and growth purposes, as LivingSocial is all about sharing, organizing and recommending media in a very social sense.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of The Social Times in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: The Social Times, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

SocialTimes.com

Workstreamer Gets Seed Funding to Help You Work Better Posted: 27 Jan 2009 04:03 AM PST Workstreamer, a new startup dealing with business-oriented social media networking, has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Austin Ventures.  As Workstreamer is currently in private beta for its alpha testing, there’s not too much first hand information we can provide.  But according to Workstreamer, the company will be combining social media, streaming information and professional networking for the purpose of “creating and capturing real-time work activity between individuals and businesses.” From the looks of it, Workstreamer will be looking to take professional social networking to the next level, with features that may resemble updating tools, imported RSS feeds, related news items, and a few networking options with other users.  Some of these features are already included in dedicated professional networks like LinkedIn, and Facebook has a number of existing social networking features and is heavily utilized for professional networking though this was not the site’s initial intent. Workstreamer founders Sam Huleatt and Ben Schippers have also noted that its service will aim to help users, groups and organizations improve their work-flow.  The site already has a handful of businesses taking advantage of Workstreamer’s private beta.  There are a number of workflow services out there hoping to improve a business’ workflow on some level, seeking efficiency between team members, individuals and organizations via an online mechanism but we’re unable to compare these services to Workstreamer at this time. Given the increased hopes and potential of professional online networks in times of economic turmoil, it’s a good time for Workstreamer to enter the market as many individuals turn to online tools to actually network and find new jobs or improve the jobs they already have.  While there’s no indication that Workstreamer could be used for finding new jobs, it could find its niche as an online service that makes one’s work life more efficient. The seed funding will go towards Workstreamer’s product development, as well as the launch of its commercial release of its main product.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of The Social Times in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: The Social Times, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

SocialTimes.com

Scrapblog Marketplace: Virtual Goods Make Great Memories Posted: 23 Jan 2009 03:04 PM PST Another web-based company is going the route of virtual goods. Scrapblog, the online tool for creating, sharing and printing scrapbooks online, is soft-launching the Scrapblog Marketplace this weekend with a full release scheduled for Monday. What does this marketplace provide? Additional digital content from companies and designers in the scrapbooking industry through a series of stores. Premium content will include things like specialized backgrounds, stickers, badges, and more. Users will need to purchase credits which can be redeemed in exchange for the extra goods. It makes sense for Scrapblog to start charging for more premium features and “accessories,” if you will, especially as this is how physical scrapbooking retailers make their money. Not only will this provide additional revenue for Scrapblog but it extends a wealth of features and montization options to end users, brands and designers. It’s a method that many have used in the past, from photo-editing and sharing sites like Picnik to virtual avatar services like Meez. I would even go so far as to say that the new Scrapblog Marketplace is akin to what we’ve seen from Animoto’s video-creation service, in that Scrapblog is now establishing an entire forum for designers and those already in the industry to provide their creativity in exchange for monetary rewards. The a la carte model that Scrapblog is going after here works with the principles of the long tail approach and also reflects the attitude we’ve seen a number of web-based services take in regards to a growing need for revenue without a heavy reliance on advertising. That doesn’t mean that advertising can’t be a factor in Scrapblog’s Marketplace, given Scrapblog’s promotion of popular companies’ content along with designers’ content for use in the Marketplace. This makes the Marketplace an opportunity for more engaging advertising, and I imagine some cross-service and cross-network potential for sharing an organic presence within the social media space is a somewhat attractive lure to many brands out there. Scrapblog already has a Facebook app connecting content from your Scrapblog account to be ported onto your Facebook profile. Align the new Marketplace with some of these cooperative applications and advertisers may find even more ways in which to insert their campaigns accordingly. But as I mentioned before, an established Marketplace for a prominent media-sharing site like Scrapblog could become a great platform for independent designers wishing to sell their work directly to Scrapblog users while earning revenue for their work. This doesn’t seem to be an option just yet, but as I imagine having a system similar to Minted could work well with the Scrapblog demographic it’s good to hear that Scrapblog is planning on a more open marketplace later on down the line.

Will hi5 Virtual Goods be the Real Billion Dollar Idea? Posted: 23 Jan 2009 06:31 AM PST hi5 entered into the virtual currency space late last year, and it seemed like an all around good move for the social network. Having now delved into the world of virtual gifting, enabling easier virtual exchange was achieved by the offering of hi5 Coins, which can be applied to a great number of things representing supply and demand through the network in this sense. So where does that leave hi5 in the grand scheme of social networks? VentureBeat seems to think that virtual gifting could be he jackpot for hi5. There are a few reasons why this could be the case. For starters, virtual gifting offers an opportunity to create some revenue and a business model beyond advertising. It seems like a no-brainer, given the necessity to create multiple streams of revenue for a good portion of web-based companies, along with the success of other virtual worlds and virtual gifting systems seen in the U.S. and in several Asian countries. What could be considered a web 2.0 social network in countries like China or Japan means that a service often comes at a premium, as the advertising market doesn’t sustain a web-based company as expected in the U.S.