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| Interview: TimeXchange Opens its Mobile Platform to Become More Social Posted: 16 Jan 2009 04:40 AM PST
Thanks to open platforms and more importantly, the Apple Application Store, TimeXchange is seeing a great deal of growth and adoption as its service is made even easier to use. Today, the company announces that it’s opening its mobile platform for the purpose of encouraging developers to build even more applications that will further benefit end users and take TimeXchange to the next realm as a social utility for time-sharing and project management. Below is an interview with Jim Figliulo of TimeXchange. Kristen Nicole of Social Times: Tell me a little about TimeXchange and its evolution since launching over 2 years ago. One thing that has changed thanks to user feedback is the amount of tools we gave to the “administrator” role. We started by focusing on the individual “worker” but as they started submitting their time to their “clients” and “administrators” we started hearing from those “clients” and “administrators” so we decided to build those features. Since then we have seen more and more companies standardize on TimeXchange. Jim Figliulo: We knew all along that we had to have a mobile solution at some point, but we weren’t sure which direction to take. When the Apple’s App Store presented itself we thought that would be a good place to start. We released a very basic time entry app and it exploded to the #1 time entry app in the Apple’s app store. We knew we were on the right track. Kristen Nicole: What developments at TimeXchange led you to decide to open your mobile platform for development? Jim Figliulo: Easy. After the success of the iPhone app we started getting piles of different feature requests and requests for apps on different devices - weren’t sure where to begin. At the same time developers were approaching us with their ideas and proposals. Then we decided to try something completely different, why not let all the mobile developers out there work on and own their own apps that talk to TimeXchange? The developers get to be creative and monetize their own app while having an established site/platform behind their app and an existing member base to work with.
Jim Figliulo: That is a good question, seeing that project collaboration is naturally social. Perhaps the new mobile apps will take advantage of our “my contacts” section of the site to better build their “real” business network. TimeXchange keeps track of every project you work on, no matter what your role is, and automatically keeps track of everyone you worked on that project with. Perhaps an app allowing you to build a project and invite people to join right from your mobile device… And, as with most networks, the more people that join the better we are. Our thinking is that by having all these different apps to pick from our members will be able to pick the ones that best fit them and then tell their friends about us and we can continue to grow and improve our service. Kristen Nicole: What types of applications are you hoping to see as a result of your new open platform? Jim Figliulo: We’re hoping to see some real creativity. We are so excited about new ideas because, let’s face it, time entry isn’t the most exciting thing to talk about, but a good deal of us out there have to do it. Requests from members range from expense tracking and task management, to industry-specific time-sheet applications for legal, construction, staffing, pet-sitting, babysitting, tutors/education, and more. Additionally, further opportunities for custom development include language localization, various currencies, and corporate branding. Some cartage companies are asking for GPS apps so they can keep track of drivers and enter time simultaneously. I could go on and on… Kristen Nicole: Any plans to open your web platform as well? Jim Figliulo: We don’t have any plans to do that yet but we will see where the marketplace takes us. We see ourselves as the “cloud.” People/companies can choose their input method, then TimeXchange takes that data and routes it to the right people then outputs clean correct data into any back-end system you prefer. We are a cross-organizational and an agnostic site/platform. Another analogy that people have been using to differentiate us from our competitors is that TimeXchange is the “internet” and the others are “intranets.” Our competitors are enterprise based and closed to the outside, TimeXchange doesn’t care who or what programs you work with. Kristen Nicole: What are the next steps for TimeXchange? Jim Figliulo: We have announced a Basecamp integration that will be available later this month and a Spanish translation of the site will be coming out soon as well. There is a new release of the site at least once a month so stayed tuned and please keep that feedback coming - its the only way we get better.. |
| Is Google Reader Distorting My Knowledge? Posted: 15 Jan 2009 09:17 PM PST
The more important think that I’ve realized is that I spend my time searching for tiny tidbits of information so that I can share it with others (while elaborating on those tiny tidbits) and this is not a unique habit. All news can essentially be boiled down to one sentence per story (frequently called the “lead”). My personal infatuation with these tidbits of knowledge have ultimately distorted the depth of my knowledge. I can tell you a hell of a lot about Facebook and social media but rarely can I tell you deep insight beyond that which I’ve deduced from my own logic. Ultimately all of this information collected from tiny tidbits which occasionally even includes a research report (although quite rarely), is compiled and available for rapid recall. Why do I do this and is it making me smarter? Well the reason I do it this way is that my traffic moves up as I (as well as Kristen and others) post more information and traffic spikes arise from more effectively constructed articles or detailed insight with statistics. Unfortunately though, deep insight developed through research doesn’t pay the bills in the short-run (although in the long-run it can). As such we continue to re-tweet, re-post, and rewrite the same content from one to another only increasing the bubble illustrated in the video below. My only question is whether or not this new form of content consumption completely distorts our perception of the world, or is this the path to maximizing “knowledge”? Just wondering!
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| Live iPhone Bowling with Social iBowl Updates Posted: 15 Jan 2009 04:12 PM PST
This is a big step in the right direction for SGN’s iPhone-specific games, as Apple’s platform doesn’t provide an inherent social network for connecting users across various applications, including games. Because of this missing component on Apple’s platform, we’ve been waiting for SGN to release an update that could provide a more social means for interacting with other users on some level. And SGN isn’t slowing down, either. The game developer has full intentions of expanding its gaming empire through mobile games designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch. With updates or other popular games like iBaseball, iBasketball and SGN Golf, SGN has a pretty good handle on the iPhone gaming market. There’s also an increasing amount of overlap between SGN’s existing applications like (fluff)friends on Facebook that’s making its way to the iPhone, merely enabling SGN’s ability to grow its platform across networks and devices. With options like Facebook Connect and other platforms, it’s companies like SGN that continue to make cross-device gaming experiences as seamless as possible for end users, increasing SGN’s potential to further corner the gaming market and provide a powerful method of distribution for content and advertising. |
| Old Fogies Taking Over Social Networks? Posted: 15 Jan 2009 02:40 PM PST
What’s this really mean, and who should pay attention? Developers of social networks, for one. We’ve seen a number of social networks designed for more mature adults emerge in the past few years, offering a direct reflection of the rise in adults flocking to online social networks. Few of these, however, have gained major traction. And those existing networks like Facebook, which already have a great deal of teens using their sites, have managed to attract adults in the 18-24 range and beyond. Marketers are also ones that should be paying attention to the changing demographics of online social networks, especially as more advertisers find new ways in which to create adds and generate leads via these sites. I think engagement is important for adults as well as teens when it comes to brand advertisements on social networks, though some types of applications and ads just won’t be as effective. Harking back to my comment about few dedicated adult networks gaining traction in the past year, it’s important to note that the majority of social network activity is still very reliant on the young adult and teen demographic. So when it’s all said and done, the higher percentage of teens using social networks still have the most influence when it comes to decisions made around social networking and its greater, cultural potential. According to Pew, professional networking is important to adults, in addition to personal use of social networking. This indicates that adults are entering the online social networking realm with different objectives in mind than their teenage counterparts. Pew goes on to report that 60% of adult social network users restrict access to their profiles, with 58% of adult social network users restricting access to only certain content within their profiles. Nothing wrong with that, and the ability to set up such privacy settings to enable custom sharing within a network is probably why Facebook has become so popular across a very broad range of users, spanning the age barriers among other demographics. |
| iLike Launches With Google Friend Connect Posted: 15 Jan 2009 11:56 AM PST
This particular implementation of Google Friend Connect makes the iLike music gadget an easily-added application on just about any website out there. Using Friend Connect also allows a publisher’s site to become instantaneously “social” as any Google user can simply use their credentials to participate in the collaborative creation of a site-specific music playlist. iLike has always been one to push the social route, having a growing presence through its standalone website and through third party applications residing on networks like Facebook. And the more readily iLike can leverage platforms that make it easier and more accessible for end users and site visitors to join in on the fun, the further iLike will be able to push its services. |
| Lookery Moves to Ad Optimization with Universal Ad Tags Posted: 15 Jan 2009 11:28 AM PST After selling its ad network to AdKnowldge last year, Lookery has been focused on pushing other tools for improving the overall business of publishing ads across the web. The latest in its feature set is the Lookery Ad Controller, which features the Universal Ad Tag. This means that publishers can now push ad content out to multiple networks on a more automated basis, while still retaining control. It works by allowing publishers to create a Universal Ad Tag within Lookery, then add third-party ad tags and publishers can then determine how Lookery should rotate between the ad tags. Drop the Universal Ad Tag code on your site, and Lookery takes care of the rest. The ultimate goal, according to Lookery, is to provide a great deal more control placed in the hands of the ad publishers, who are collecting the necessary data that determines the success and future implementations of a given marketing campaign. From there, optimizing ads becomes less tedious and far easier to manage. That doesn’t mean that Lookery won’t be finding some way to make this data useful for itself, and perhaps useful to other ad networks. Lookery has always been in the business of collecting data for others’ research purposes, and I tend to think that this is where the majority of such companies’ value lies. To that end, Lookery has mentioned that it will be continuing to build out its Ad Controller in order to become dually beneficial to both ends of the advertising spectrum. This type of data can only help in the end, enabling Lookery to offer improved features to publishers usingits service. |
| Interview with Snaptu: Can New Mobile App Platforms Still Succeed? Posted: 15 Jan 2009 08:16 AM PST
Lior Tal of Snaptu: The current set of Snaptu apps is either based on partnerships with service/content providers such as ESPN, Accuweather, Seatwave, Mymovies etc. or based on open API services such as Google, Facebook or Twitter. The default set of applications can be set according to country, language, age etc., enabling the user to add other available apps from the catalog (since the apps are not actually downloaded into the device, there is no limit as to how many a user can add) Kristen Nicole: What types of mobile devices do you support? Lior Tal: Snaptu runs on approx. 500 java enabled devices (MIDP2.0, CLDC1.1) from all manufacturers. We recently added support for Blackberries (pearl/curve onward) and touch screens (incl. Samsung instinct). We are currently working on adapting the client to additional platforms. Kristen Nicole: What services do you provide for developers or content owners? Do you offer a series of tools for creating an application to work on your platform? Lior Tal: Snaptu is intended as an off-portal open platform which will enable third party developers (and eventually non-developers as well, though more limited ones) to develop and launch mobile apps. The main advantages in our technology, is the ability to develop the app once, while the system performs the adaptation to the various devices completely automatically. In a nutshell, our server-client architecture is designed and executed in such a way, that the application developer is agnostic to the device on which the app will be running. Adding an application to any Snaptu user is immediate (distribution can be controlled from the server), which makes it an amazing distribution channel for mobile services. We are currently conducting trials with several mobile VARs/Integrators which will use Snaptu as a platform for developing mobile apps based on leading online content providers. Once the SDK is mature enough, we will release it to selected developers, and eventually to the public. Kristen Nicole: Are the applications on your platform able to be used on other platforms or as standalone applications? Lior Tal: The thin client which resides on the mobile phone (about 90kb) provides access to any or all of Snaptu apps according to permissions provided by the server. This way, we launched a Picasa stand-alone client (http://www.phoload.com/software/210-picasa-photo-browser/view) which in essence is the same as the full Snaptu client. The decision whether to bundle apps into “portals” is business/marketing driven rather than a technology issue. Kristen Nicole: Could you expand on the benefits of having the applications run on a remote server? Lior Tal: Moblica’s technology was developed to overcome two major difficulties which content providers face when developing mobile internet solutions: providing excellent user experience on a wide variety of different mobile devices, while maintaining low development, maintenance and deployment costs. By moving functionality from the mobile device itself to the server side of the system, we circumvent the need to rely on the specifics of each device, empowering even the most basic phones with the resources of powerful servers. The result is having the ability to easily and rapidly develop engaging applications, which are easier to develop than mobile websites. Using this technology, when a user logs into the system with a new device which was unknown up to that point, the system maps its keys, learns its screens properties, and all our apps are adapted automatically to support it. Another interesting aspect of working server-side, is the ability to “mashup” service. For example, a user can post a news, movie review or pub information to Facebook, the local guide can “feed” the venue location into the journey planner – and these, without the various services having anything to do with each other. Kristen Nicole: Are all the applications free for mobile users? Lior Tal: That depends on the content/service origin. All services which are free online, are free on Snaptu. Services which require subscription may also require so here. We are soon introducing a premium content shop, which will enable users to purchase mobile content from leading publishers directly from Snaptu (single purchase or subscription). Kristen Nicole: Does Snaptu compete with Apple applications at all? Have you learned anything from Apple’s success? Lior Tal: One thing that the world learned from Apple in our space, is that user experience is the key to mass adoption of mobile services. Content providers must understand, that a service which was originally designed to the PC web’s environment, consistent of a large screen, pointing device and full keyboard, will result in poor user experience if attempted to automatically be reformatted into a mobile solution. We believe that the entire process should be automatic, besides the design and decision on how the user interface and application flow should be. Kristen Nicole: Do you offer any monetization options for developers that have applications on your platform? Lior Tal: Our platform supports several options, which some are already implemented in applications. Similarly to web monetization, Snaptu apps provide integration to ad networks (impression or action), they enable transactions, some more mobile-specific channels such as click to call (using premium numbers) etc. Kristen Nicole: Can users create their own catalogs for apps? Lior Tal: Currently, we allow users to choose from our growing repository of available applications. We are constantly working on the development of additional ones, and should see some exciting new ones in the coming weeks. We added a feedback applications to hear which applications and features our users would like to see on Snaptu, and do our best to accommodate them. Kristen Nicole: Do you have any social components that would allow for recommendations and application sharing across Snaptu users? Lior Tal: If you open the menu, you’ll see the option to send Snaptu to a friend (using an SMS sent to the friend from our servers). We will deepen the integration into more social functions, which will enable sharing content and recommendations mobile to web and vice versa. |
| Should the Government Change its Rules on SocNet Archiving? Posted: 15 Jan 2009 06:33 AM PST
That’s a lot of records that need to be stored. And it’s quite difficult to store such records when you’re talking about activity across networks like MySpace and Facebook. Private messages sent between users, wall postings, status and mood updates…these are all things that change frequently on social networks, and they are things that quickly and easily convey attitudes amongst users. But they can’t be readily archived. Just think of your Facebook newsfeed, which can be completely renewed in less than a day’s time. But even in the face of such an obstacle, it’s evident that many networks and third parties are seeking a fluid and connected way in which to possibly save and archive a good portion of online interaction, even if that includes cross-network activity. JS-Kit, for example, gives you a single arena for certain cross-site activity with a centralized way in which to keep up with everything that’s going on. And I fully expect a day when your Facebook newsfeed will be far more accessible and able to be archived for internal and external purposes as well. It is the story of your life, you know. While I don’t think that the government’s desire to archive online activity will necessarily spur existing networks to make such consolations just yet, I’d much rather see cooperation, lenience and general understanding from the government level towards the capabilities and communication potential of online social networks than push-back and disdain. |
Kristen Nicole: How are you hoping that an open mobile platform will benefit your goals for making time-sharing more social?
Tonight I was working on a presentation that I’ll be making in a couple weeks. In the process of developing the presentation I went seeking for inspiration and went directly to Ted.com where I’ve found some of the best presentation videos on the web. One video that I stumbled upon was Alisa Miller who shares information about our 
When SGN’s iBowl game was 
Social networking isn’t just for the youngsters anymore. It’s for the young at heart. According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project 
Need a playlist for your website? iLike has just launched a social music gadget powered by Google Friend Connect to not only let you offer a playlist for your website, but allow site visitors to contribute to the playlist as well. It’s a unique way in which to let your site visitors become more engaged with the content being delivered via your website, and everyone loves music, right?
The iLike gadget that resides on a publisher’s website is simple enough, and reflects iLike’s minimalistic style. From the usability standpoint, site visitors can listen to songs in the playlist, view additional information about a given album, see related videos and be linked to additional information about the artist as well. From a distribution standpoint, the added ease of use for site publishers will ultimately be good for artists that have content available on iLike. Seeing as iLike also recently launched an 
This type of ad optimization is offered by a handful of other ad networks, but Lookery is promoting its free, lightweight version as an alternative to having an ad server. Given the increasing attention given to budget spending on marketing campaigns, avoiding an ad server could be beneficial to those publishers that operate on a cross-site basis for their material. And it looks as though the new Ad Controller is really geared towards those publishers that have multiple ads running across a number of sites, all of which need to be monitored and modified at the drop of a hat.
Israel-based 
Could the federal government be getting in the way of transparent communication between officials and the public? According to | You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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