Tag Archives: community

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Warning – this article contains mostly links to pages in portuguese.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the current state of the Web is the proficiency of the marketing professionals you come across in the market. You might be reading all sorts of interesting articles from renowned writers from across the Globe that are definitely relevant in a globalized social world – but most of the times you needn’t go further. That was my outcome when I attended the Upload 2010 Conference in Portugal.

The Upload Conference began in 2009, courtesy of the conjoint efforts of active Portuguese professionals – Virginia Coutinho, Vanessa Quitério, Bruno Ribeiro and Bruno Amaral. They envisioned a space where social and web aficionados could argue and discuss the current state of the web. They never had the pretension of teaching in an absolute fashion about the web – they know that we are all still learning. The conference included speakers such as Armando Alves, who showed the audience that “shiny things” like Augmented Reality are not considered strategy, and Paulo Querido, who described his vision on a future “liquid” web. Being exclusively composed by Portuguese speakers, the audience had a clear vision on the state of the current know-how amongst the web marketing professionals in Portugal, leading to the conclusion that, while the global marketing strategies for the digital world might apply on a worldwide scale, there are local nuances that should be discussed in each country. Throw in a Twitter Wall during the conferences at the event and you had a very social approach and a fabulous conference that was important in the Portuguese web marketing landscape.

The 2010 conference had a different vibe to it. Not only did it have a different audience from the first – more mature – but it also had two versions. One was more generic and included Portuguese speakers like Rodrigo Saraiva and Sara Batalha, who covered matters such as Social Media ROI and the under explored motherload that are consumer generated videos. The second one, a pro version, had speakers such as Brian Solis and Carlos Merigo. Listening to a Brian Solis lecture is a very insightful experience – more than depositing knowledge, his lecture clearly had intent on shifting the audience’s mindset. With a sociological approach to Social Media and the Web, Brian demonstrated and explained how there is a change of communication priorities; instead of a focus on the relationships of the consumer, we should actually focus on the interest graph that he shares with his peers.

There is another aspect on the conference that is as interesting as the lectures themselves – the aura of the 2010 Upload conference. 2010 was the year of the Social screw-up’s for the Portuguese market – almost every brand did the common mistake on Facebook, such as disregarding the Social Network’s rules or not worrying about an effective community management strategy. As more and more brands join Social Networks and shift investment to the online world, the lack of know-how or experience in dealing in such an environment led to a silent crash – not a noticeable one for most people, but one that those who work in the area inevitably felt. From lack of crisis management to pure negligence, Facebook pages and profiles were created for brands without a strategy, taking a more “see as it goes” approach. This was clearly felt at the Upload 2010, where the audience anticipated more knowledge on effective social media management and the speakers themselves had a more toned down speech on web strategy – it’s less about the wonderlands of the social media landscape and more on how to manage the resources found in the motherland.

Definitely an inspiring event – all I can say is a big kudos to the organization and i promise that, in 2011, I’m so there!

Forrester Research has been working on a study that provides some really interesting statistics around how people share content found on the web. OK, the results could be a bit biased since it was done in partnership with ShareThis, one of the biggest tools out there to share things online:

    – Email is still primary channel for sharing – 69% of adults cite email as the primary source of sharing information
    – 84% of people still use the traditional cut and paste method to share a URL or information
    – Though the primary motivation for sharing differs, 81% of adults claim that they share to help others – believing that a person will benefit from the information they share
    – Sharing increases site traffic 2x, thus increasing ad dollars or revenue for publishers
    – Men are more likely to share recommendations and videos than women; 77 percent of adult males and 74 of younger males shared news and web links
    – Women are more likely to share products or ideas they like via easy or direct sharing methods (ie texting)

Full Press Release here.

  • Once in a while we have to lookup stats to search for specific data. Thanks Nationmaster, for sharing the goods.
  • Don’t throw away your obsolete charts to the recycle bin. Swivel is a community that appreciates and shares them.
  • Rating websites at Ok or Ko can be fun, but eventualy you’ll get bored. Trust me.
  • Ever wanted to know what a webpage is truely about with a simple glimpse? Here’s instant Tag Clouding device for you.
  • Download and read the many MIT Media research Theses available and learn from the students.
  • Time for fun! Visit the Funky Forest, an interactive ecosystem where children create trees with their body and then divert the water flowing from the waterfall to the trees to keep them alive.
  • adobe-post.jpg
    A couple of hours ago I was at my friend’s house testing Mosh on his N95, and we just wanted to keep going, installing all sorts of themes and applications like the inclinometer for your car or a divx player. It was a downloading frenzy and it was fun.

    Mosh really surprised me, I visited it months ago but I just didn’t find the time or the “drive” to give it a run (I don’t own a Nokia). So, the opportunity came naturally.

    This is Nokia’s fans and developers community (Beta) open for all who wish to register. All content available for download is free.

    Contributors really participate in this network; I counted 15.608 themes, ring tones, wallpapers and widgets. Users also experiment, with a grand total of 30.261.665 downloads – and counting. They also give ratings and other feedback on all sorts of issues.

    Nokia is truly listening to its consumers and has now this huge virtual-commune-lab at its disposal, with a tremendous amount of valuable marketing intelligence that needs to be processed in order to build better applications and cell phones most consumers want.

    And now for something completely different: have you seen Adobe’s wonderful playing cards animation? If not, you should. I guess more than anyone, the toolmakers know their tools.

    balloons1.jpg

    Edgard and I are happy kids today. We’ve been raving for month about the ruined potential of the Facebook Pages as a marketing tool, because of its rigid structure (hard to match a brand’s look and feel), lack of openness (all the elements had to be developed as Facebook apps) and interactivity (no user upload allowed), a paradox for a social platform!

    Every time we came up with an idea that would be fun and useful for both the consumers and one of our client, it would either be impossible to develop because of the technical constraints, or way too expensive, since we would have to develop numerous Facebook applications for a single page. So we eventually gave up on the idea.

    Until this morning, when I noticed an Update in my Facebook inbox:


    Facebook Pages have some new features available for you:

    1. User Photo Uploads
    Now, your fans will be able to upload photos to your Facebook Page…if you let them. Go to your Facebook Page and Edit on the Photos box to turn on this feature. All New Pages will have this feature pre-enabled upon creation.

    2. Dynamic Content in the Profile Box
    You can now replace the main picture on your Facebook Page with dynamic content using either the Flash or FBML applications. Just install either of these applicaitons (find them at www.facebook.com/facebookpages and then select the flash/fbml option when you choose to edit your profile picture.) (…)

    Wow. All of the issues we had encountered, solved after one message. Your fans can upload pictures on your page, imagine all the possibilities… And no more need to develop Facebook applications using their proprietary language that only few master. And you can have Flash content!!! Dear dear you-know-who-you-are client, Edgard and I are back in the Facebook game, watch your inbox…