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April 9, 2008 - Spotting things you'll want to see today.

Much ado about Twitter
Among social networks Twitter is second only to Facebook as a favorite topic for industry blogs.  It is discussed far more frequently than third place Digg and almost twice as often as MySpace.  Twitter is a product built for speed, not comfort, and its basic parcel of communication remains a 140 (max) character text message perfect for mobile applications.  Blogging in Entrecard, Graham Langdon appreciates Twitter's features along with his prediction that it will eventually surpass Facebook.  Commercial applications are evolving and Josh Catone of ReadWriteWeb has already found a 'Powered by Twitter' logo suggesting a business model that may be here to stay.  Meanwhile, Twitter's legacy of 'what are you doing now?' has presented some barriers as the geekpreneur points out.  If Twitter's format stifles such orators as Barack Obama and Tony Blair is there any hope for the rest of us?
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With designers from Mars and users from Venus, you need to be down to Earth

In his post  "Bridging the Designer–User Gap", usability expert Jakob Nielsen savors for just a few seconds a world where designers and users live as one and communications flow with a natural ease. Quickly, however, he points to divides where views differ simply because designers are so heavily invested. Users often prefer the unexpected but Nielsen is willing to share some of his testing experience to show how you can anticipate and manage the difference between designer and user.
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Blogmarking

  Reading habits worth considering

Matt Cutts held a top-secret clearance from the Defense Department before becoming a top-engineer for Google, a surreptitious background that seems unlikely to create a productive blogger. But it did. Many search professionals follow Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO for a hint of the Google mindset, for Cutt's thoughts about technology and for the sense of humor that has made him something of a cult hero. Cutts wrote Google's family safe filter and now devotes himself to minimizing the effect of link spam on Google's rankings. He has been a worthy adversary for black hat practitioners but his blog shows an equal enthusiasm for helping web sites who seek recognition the old fashioned way.    His blog

Yahoo's Shine gets a mixed (but mostly down) reaction from the blogs

      A well polished product?

  • Shine’s partners and editors make all the big difference (Gadgetell)
  • It seems like a smart move for Yahoo - and a much-needed revenue stream (Marketing Pilgrim)
  • These sound like interesting, articulate, funny women! (Future Now)
  • I would not be surprised if companies like Victoria’s Secret or Forever 21 sponsor Shine (Pulse 2.0)

      A dull finish?

  • The problem is that this is born from a spreadsheet rather than a vision (Buzz Machine)
  • ...appears to have elicited a collective yawn from the marketing community (ClickZ)
  • Yahoo made a huge critical blunder today: they decided to compete with their customers (Jason Calacanis)
  • Shine feels so fluffy that for me, I can't see it becoming my daily start page (Susan Mernit)

In late March Yahoo launched a portal named 'Shine' and aimed it at women 25-54. Venerable media partners such as Hearst and Conde Nast will mix with plenty of user generated content (blogs encouraged) to give Yahoo a place to hang female targeted advertising. Bloggers have greeted Shine with some enthusiasm but with a fair amount of skepticism as well.
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Gatherings: CTIA Wireless - Las Vegas

40,000 people converged at the CTIA conference last week to catch up on the latest in mobile and wireless communications:

  • The Digital Design Blog was impressed with Yahoo's updated oneSearch
  • Jan Dawson felt the shadow of the iPhone on the show and the new mantra of 'openness'
  • Windows Mobile 6.1's promise of 'desktop grade' mobile browsing was previewed for eBrandz
  • mocoNews provided a "10 Coolest Things" list
  • Gigaom's Stacey Higginbotham reconsidered the use of car dedicated GPS in favor of her phone

Beyond YouTube: If you build it, will they watch?

The best (and perhaps only) way to expect a lengthy attention span from web users is to pop in a full length video. New services that shatter the 10 minute YouTube threshold are up and running from Veoh, Hulu, Netflix, Itunes as well as from television networks and ISP portals such as Comcast and Verizon. It is a bit of a crowded field, perhaps too crowded if the past be prologue. Blogging for Compete.com, Aniya Zaozerskaya views the current lineup and wonders where viewers will sit for the long term.
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Radar Screen: Yahoo's new advertising platform being unveiled

Yahoo! AMP! - Powering Up the Online Advertising Marketplace  (ineedhits)
Yahoo Frantically Developing New Ad System, AMP  (Silicon Alley Insider/Henry Blodget)
Yahoo! Announces AMP!, Now I Can Tell People What I Work On….  (Conversion Rater)
Yahoo’s “New” Ad Network Sounds a Lot Like AdSense  (Mashable/Adam Ostrow)
Yahoo! Reveals AMP Advertising Platform for Publisher  (PageTraffic Blog/Navneet Kaushal)
Yahoo's AMP: Panama or Panacea?   (Blognation/David Rodnitzky )
Yahoo Names Ad Network Platform, Signals Summer Rollout  (Clikz/Kate Kaye)

 
 

Off Topic: A beauty pageant for a loyal old friend

It might best be described to American audiences as an episode of 'Dromedary Idol'. 10,000 camels from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have headed to Abu Dhabi to put their best feet forward in the $9 million Mazayin Al Dhafra Camel Festival. The event is more than just a festive gathering in a part of the world where, before the advent of the petro dollar, survival was often dependent on the strength of these ships of the desert. Blogging in 'The Spitting Vessel', Durano Lawayan describes a cultural history that makes it easy to see why the beauty in these noble animals is still being celebrated.

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