I have this friend who is the ultimate pragmatist. He (initials DS) shall remain nameless, but his tendency to scoff at anything remotely resembling hype, I’ve found, is a somewhat universal trait, especially among engineers and technologists. So, of course, the minute I mentioned blogging, Second Life, Facebook, Twitter, or FriendFeed he immediately wanted me to skip my tendency to lobby him like a typical marketer or sales person and get right to the business case. “What’s in it for me as a person,” he wanted to know, “and what’s in it More»

Labels: Community Marketing, consultants, hype, internet bubble, markering ROI, metrics, social media

eBay announced the launch of a new services for sellers and developers. The services expand the reach for sellers with a new platform, new APIs and a new way for to get in front of eBay sellers.
The new platform initiatives are significant in that they enable developers even more opportunities to make more money with eBay. The program gives developers access to all the data that eBay’s existing online app for medium- and large-scale retailers. EBay estimates that their developer program currently has 70,000 members who have created approximately 12,000 live applications.
“We’re announcing opening More»

Labels: API, Community Marketing, developers, eBay, online services

Starbucks has turned to social media to improve their products, image and reputation. The company has created a sort of interactive suggestion box to solicit feedback from customers, employees and partners. The site an elaborate production and it is hosted at SaleForce.com. They could have achieved the same thing by using simple community building and rating software instead of the current expensive solution. Starbucks’ problems are associated with its core business and I am not sure even the best social media technologies will solve them. The stock has taken a deep dive from $47 to new lows of $17 More»

Labels: Community Marketing, crowdsourcing, social media

I’ve been scouring around quite a bit online to identify some of the top trends in corporate websites. These sites have traditionally been nothing more than brochure-ware displaying static content like mission statements, and product and contact info. In reality, not a whole lot has changed. While the Web has evolved at internet speed from the early days of Web 1.0 to 2.0, corporate sites have remained relatively the same and many are in danger of becoming relics of the past. We were going to have an event on “The New Corporate Website” which we decided to slate for another More»

Labels: Community Marketing, eBay, mashups, Social Networking, social networks, web 2.0, websites

The video of the October event on the Next Generation of Social Networking featuring Socialzr, RockYou, and Appfuels is now available. If you missed the event or simply want a re-cap, check it out to hear what the panelists had to say on this hot topic.

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Labels: Community Marketing, Gruuve, social media, Social Networking, web 2.0, Web Apps