Web 3.0 is (probably) being built as we speak
Is consolidation the road to Web 3.0?
I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that I believe the “Web 3.0″ revolution will be ushered in by Social Hybrids. We are starting to see large Web 2.0 companies getting eaten up by the larger Internet powerhouses — AOL/Bebo, eBay/StumbleUpon, Yahoo/del.icio.us, etc — but there hasn’t been a true consolidation of web properties that combines social media with social networking.
Are we seeing the Genesis of it now? Read more
If Digg Won’t Listen to its Users, We Will
The Digg Town Hall Meetings so far have been like bad sex in a bad relationship. There’s too much time in between causing a buildup that has to be released. When the climax finally comes, it’s too short and completely disappointing.
Mashable.com, who hosted a live blog with the help of The Drill Down crew, put it very eloquently when they summarized the event:
If you were to sum up what we learned from Digg Townhall #02, I would have to say it was… er… well… Jay Adelson really, REALLY loves Vernors Ginger Soda.
They keep saying it’s coming. The changes are coming. Listening to the community is coming. In the meantime, the promotion algorithm seems to be in a regular state of flux — sometimes active members can’t hit the homepage with 200 diggs, other times they’re hitting 10+ times in a day.
Startups End Down - Bring Sexy back to Geeky
Read Mashable. Techcrunch. Any of the websites that follow startups. Trends emerge. Hopes are high. Hope is lost. Startup rises. Startup ends down. The question is, “why?”
Instead of going into any of the dozens of high-potential startups that we looked at from 2007 that aren’t going to make it through 2008, let’s explore one general theme. Startups aren’t as sexy as they once were. I’m not talking about sexy, as in porn or meeting “friends” online. The sexy that I’m referring to is the kind of website that you read about, try out, and say:
“Wow. I really need to use this.” Read more
Hybrids: The Potential Web 3.0
What is Web 3.0? What would you like it to be? Please express your opinions in the comments below.
Over the past several weeks, I have been privy to many projects in different stages of development. One thing that seems to hold true for many of them is that the developers’ idea of “the next big thing” is a hybrid of sorts.
Some are leaning towards social media mixed with social networking. Most of the social media sites have tried to head in this direction to some extent. All have fallen short. Most notably, the Digg changes a few months ago have turned from an attempt to socialize social media (with shouts and other features) into an unfair way to game the system. The results have been disastrous. Read more
The Breakfast Club (2009)
Before anyone jumps on me for writing a post that isn’t about social media, please read it all the way through. Then you can jump on me all you want!
In 1985, John Hughes wrote and directed The Breakfast Club. It helped push the careers of five rising stars to achieve relative success. These members of The Brat Pack were quoted, emulated, and launched into the yearly playing schedule on TBS 23 years after the film was made.
In this era of unoriginality in Hollywood, they really should considered making a new version that takes everything about the movie a little closer to the edge. Why? Read more
Name that Nerd
Everyone knows a nerd or two. Do you know the top nerds in the world, and by top, I mean the people who took visionary nerdiness, elbow grease, and luck and translated it all into billion dollar companies? Below, you will find 15 faces (nine singles, 3 doubles). Most readers will be able to name 3 or 4. Real techies can name 5-10. If you can name more, you are a true guru. All 15? Well, there’s a special place for you. Read more
Social Blade: A Tool That Disects the Front Page of Digg
Have you ever wondered how many diggs it took to get a particular story to the front page of Digg? Are you the type who refreshes often, checks buries, looks at users, monitors the time it takes to get there, checks… everything? If you are a “diggologist,” here’s the perfect tool for you:
Raw Digg data. Just the facts. It keeps track of just about every aspect of all the stories that hit the digg front page. Some of the most important and interesting pieces of data are: number of diggs when it hit, number of recorded buries when it hit, comments when it hit, Diggs per hour, and information about the submitter. All of this data, consolidated on a sortable database-style interface, allows you to filter by users or time period. Read more
Linkjacking is Good, Bad, and Ugly
Linkjacking means different things to different people. Many see it as using the content on one site as the bait to get viewers to pass through your site, or even stay there and explore without going on to the primary content. Most of the time, there will be tidbits or summary information about the primary story accompanied by an interesting image or bit of photoshop magic that takes up most of the page.
To many, including Urban Dictionary, a true “linkjacking” requires that a person from the website doing the linkjacking also submits the story to an aggregator such as Reddit or Digg to drive traffic. I believe that websites and blogs that have a strong enough following to be able to “assume” someone will submit the story are also linkjacking, even if they are not the one’s doing the submitting.
The idea is to generate traffic from social media sites and even the search engines without having to write a ton of original content or do the research. Here is an example of a website that I like a lot, Engadget, which is notorious for linkjacking: Read more
What Failed: The Digg Algorithm or the Digg Users?
It took around 600 Diggs to get the story Super Bowl XLII Champions New York Giants promoted to the front page. Are the recent changes in the algorithm the reason? More importantly, is this a case where the algorithm was doing the “right thing” but was overpowered by the sheer bulk of Diggs?
It took 34 minutes for the story to be promoted from upcoming. During that time, the Ajaxonomy Bury Recorder showed it to have 17 buries (which means it had a lot more than that). That could be a reason for it taking so many, but let’s explore further. This is a screenshot of the Upcoming 45 seconds after it hit the front page. Read more
12 Signs that You May Be a Social Media Addict
There are many social media addicts in this world. You see it every day on Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon. Even Propeller, Mixx, and Newsvine have their share. What you may or may not know is whether or not you are one of them.
It’s often tough to recognize. Perhaps the joy of seeing your first story on the front page of the site was enough to set you off. Maybe it’s a desire to promote your point of view, a political candidate, even your own blog or business. For some, it’s something that passes the time (until too much time has passed). Read these signs below and seek immediate help if 3 or more apply to you. Read more
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