As companies continue to join the ranks of Facebook – realizing that Facebook 2011 = web 1997 – they’re continually bumping into the question of whether or not they need a more robust fan page or do they put more money into their site. After all, 33% of all Internet traffic in the US is on Facebook. Shouldn’t I be where my customers are? Also, if my customers are moving to...
It has been a while since I posted about the Corporate Social Graph and felt it was time for an update with a focus on transparency. The overarching premise of the CSG is that online businesses are expected to behave more like individuals and that they need to inhabit social outposts on the Internet (abiding to the established behaviors of that venue), in the end building a social graph for that...
Businesses don’t shape business any longer. Users do. I’m of course referring to the online world and am sure this will extend the tangible world. Some would argue this has always been the way, with businesses putting things out and then users dictating what is popular. Today’s paradigm is a little different with businesses following users examples. Examples are: Users on...
I was recently having a conversation with a client about digital signage and how this could be used in different types of venues. Everything from retail to hotels could easily find a clever usage for this technology as it is. We then started to talk about the potential of digital signage as the “anchor” for location based services. In brief, these are marketing efforts provided by...
I have been talking about the Internet as the delivery mechanism for entertainment, information and communication. I now also think of these as the core of the Corporate Social Graph (CSG). But I also I recently realized that I had left out one of, if not the most important elements that the Internet affords, which is interaction. When I talk about interaction within this context, I’m...
I have been writing about the corporate social graph since February and have discussed its impact on search and how to move towards accurately measuring it. One of the main issues with the developing a CSG is its impact on brand equity. For those of you keeping score the focus of the CSG is to have companies create as much interaction utilizing Internet technologies and Web 2.0 venues. This...
There has been a lot of great conversation about the discovery vs. search and the challenges that discovery creates. Discovery in regards to search is exactly what you would think it is. Search is looking and finding something specific while discovery is an unexpected find. People do this all the time when surfing the web. They start with a goal in mind and then end up at Zombo (make sure the...
A couple of months ago, Hayden Sutherland of Ideal Interface contacted me in regards to the potential of the corporate social graph; a concept we had come up separately and had been thinking about. After several emails, Hayden presented me with some questions to get my opinion on the details surrounding the corporate social graph. He posted the Q&A on his site and I wanted to share them on...
For those of you keeping score, my first four posts focused on the kinds of relationships businesses can have with their clients online. These relationships in my mind went from the as shallow as possible to as deep as possible. We started with the concept of findability and the fact that the Internet is a purely on demand medium and then went on to recommendation which is arguably one of the...
I was recently talking with Matt Garton of Travel Connexxions about Search Engine Marketing and usability. We discussed niche search engines and the push toward improved usability with Ask leading the way. Currently when you search on an item the results will bring back sites, blogs, images, videos and news. This is more thorough for the user but tends to dilute the focus of SEM, which is to...