Micro Persuasion

Twitterholic added a couple of neat features.

First, they now sort Twitter users by when they joined.

They also now sort Twitter users by location. So, for example, you can now see who has the most followers among San Franciscans or New Yorkers.

In addition, you can also sort Twitter users by the number of updates or by how many they follow.

Finally, you can combine these. So now it's easy to find out who in New York has been on Twitter the longest. In addition, you can also now track the overall top 100 list via RSS. Here's the feed.

One of the key themes we'll see emerge this year is an evolution in user interface design and information architecture. It seems to happen every year.

In 2008 we saw the news feed and real-time web rise. In addition, we watched as social networking became more deeply embedded into an array of experiences, like news sites. Over the break I had a chance to update my XBox 360 to the new experience and I was knocked over by the design and new social networking features (note: Microsoft is an Edelman client).

What's next or 2009? I am not sure, but I do agree that context will become increasingly an important theme. Read Write Web has a great post summarizing where context is heading.

For an early taste of things to come, check out Visual Wikipedia. They're really on to something. The site, which is unaffiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation, layers on a ton of context around Wikipedia articles. It gets you thinking about what search and/or news delivery might look like one day.

For example, check out this article on Web 2.0. It's a reproduced page from the main Wikipedia site but it also includes an awesome map that points users to other relevant entries.

That's not all though. At the bottom of each page Visual Wikipedia pulls up videos from YouTube, as well as links to other services that offer additional context - Google, Yahoo News and Google Maps, to name three. This is the kind of context I wish that Mahalo would provide. When you couple their human-powered curation with contextual features, the result is something bigger.

In 2009 I am sure we'll see more experimentation with user interface design. It will be interesting to see which new models emerge and stick but I like where Visual Wikipedia is going.

• twitter moms: the influential moms network Moms who Twitter, federated and ready for ads. (tags: twitter moms net Networking blogs)
• 12 Changes For 2009 | Success Begins Today Great list. (tags: 2009 lifehacks)
• FT Techfeed - FriendFeed A Friendfeed Room managed by reporters in the Financial Times San Francisco bureau. It welcomes comments and conversation. (tags: FriendFeed Journalism financialtimes Newspapers)
• blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: Sponsored Links on reddit Reddit starts integrating sponsored links next to the content. (tags: reddit socialbookmarking advertising)
• Youngest Blogger - Top 100 World's Youngest Bloggers The top 100 world's youngest bloggers - by one count. (tags: Blogs kids)
• Tagging Strategies For Successful Social Bookmarking | Social Media Explorer (tags: delicious tagging socialbookmarking)
• The Ultra-Mega 2009 conference list--80+ events to note - Susan Mernit's Blog (tags: events conferences 2009)

Two digital publishing sites have quietly started rolling out electronic books that can be viewed just using a web browser.

Random House is now offering several full length books for free on Scribd. The choices include The Surgeon, a 2002 novel by bestselling author Tess Gerritsen. What's also significant here is that Gerritsen is making the book available as a DRM-free PDF download.

Meanwhile Zinio, a site that offers digital magazines and textbooks, is expanding into mass-market books. Zinio has opened a digital bookstore that features a handful of titles. These include technology tomes like Social Media Marketing in an Hour a Day.

It's great to see the publishing industry experimenting with new formats. I personally think that book publishing is primed to see the same kind of disruption that the music business saw earlier the decade. This is why I am a fan of sites like Safari Books Online.

As mobile devices become more sophisticated, many consumers will aspire to do more in their browsers. This includes, for some, reading books. I think this will lead to a lot of experimentation with different business models. Two that come to mind are a-la-carte pricing for specific chapters and/or books that are free and supported through advertising.

Scribd, which has seen strong growth this year, and Zinio won't be alone. Google could start monetizing out of print books or even current bestsellers in a manner similar to what it has done with magazines. In addition, I would be highly surprised if by year's end the Amazon Kindle wasn't just a gadget but a platform that operates on many devices, including most mobile phones. They will increasingly face pressure from the iPhone.

It's early going and electronic reading is not for everyone. However, millennials and their younger sibings expect all media to be searchable and available in chunks. So this is why I am bullish about ebooks and think they will have a breakout year in 2009.

One of my hopes for 2009 is that we'll see greater innovation in the social media search space - both free and premium. I have a bunch that I am trying out now: SM2, Zuula, Blogscope.net and Wikio and others. What follows is a first look at a new site called WhosTalkin that launched its public beta yesterday after seven months of development. (Hat tip to adthinktank.com)

WhosTalking is a metasearch engine that in one place aggregates results from the major free tools for scanning blogs and blog comments, news sites, social networks, video hubs, image, forum and tag sites. It rolls up results from over 60 sites, such as BackType, Technorati, IceRocket, Google Blog Search, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, Twitter, Board Reader and many more.

The site has a nice interface that displays results using frames. Just click on the navigational links on the left hand side and they show up on the right. The quality of the results, I find, is hit or miss depending on the source. For example, Bloglines and Backtype results feel very fresh. However, Twitter search results are lacking compared to what you get from search.twitter.com.

In addition, there are two other major limitations. First, you can't view all results in a single view, even by channel (e.g. blogs, social networks, etc.). The other is that you can't save searches or generate RSS feeds - at least yet. These and other services are forthcoming for paid subscribers. There is also a URL API for developers.

At first glance, I am excited about WhosTalkin. There was a ton of innovation in the social media search space in the middle part of the decade. Then it seems like a lot of people talk their eye off the ball once Google Blog Search launched and when Twitter bought Summize.

Given that WhosTalking is pulling results from other sites, I expect they can improve the quality of results rather quickly. Although you have to wonder how the other sites will feel about having their data scraped.

Still, given the way the landscape continues to expand, I think an aggregated approach like this one is the right way to go. And this is a good first effort. If WhosTalkin can improve the timeliness and relevance across all the engines they crawl, then it could become a serious player since they leverage everyone else's databases.

• Employment Report: Total PR Jobs Up 4.2%, Advertising Down 2.1% - mediabistro.com: PRNewser (tags: PR careers Stats Advertising 2008)
• Twitter Means Business: About Twitter Means Business "Twitter Means Business" is a field guide for companies seeking to master the service by a top U.S. technology journalist, Julio Ojeda-Zapata (tags: twitter books)
• Israeli Consulate's Twitter Presser, Today at 1 PM Eastern - mediabistro.com: PRNewser The Israeli Consulate of New York answered questions about the conflict with Gaza via Twitter. (tags: PR twitter pressconferences)
• Blogs Can Ease Customer Communication - eMarketer "Blogs have long had an avid following, but corporations are finding that blogs can be a secret sauce to building solid relationships with their customers." (tags: customerexperience CustomerService Blogs Stats emarketer)
• 6 New Web Technologies of 2008 You Need to Use Now (tags: identity lifestreaming firefox googlechrome Browsers locationbasedservices)

The following is also my January 5th column for AdAge.com.

When I first started blogging five years ago, I was big into writing new year prediction posts. Many bloggers continue this fine tradition. I stopped when I realized that no one would go back and fact check me. More importantly, they were based on gut feelings, not numbers.

With that, sometime this year I resolved instead to form observations using data. The numbers then lead me to insights and directional trends. I prefer to talk about trends rather than predictions because they're based firmly on currents. Much of my focus on this blog over the past 18 months has been on trends. It's my job to study them.

Enter Google Insights for Search - which launched earlier this year. It's the closest thing we have to a global time capsule.

Often overlooked, there's so much you can learn from digging into aggregate query data. Given its huge share and the prevalence of search in our lives, Google actually knows more about us than our own mothers. Everyday we confide in it. We share what we think, hope and fear. The data is absolutely invaluable and the archive goes back five years.

With that in mind, using Google Insights I crunched some data and spotted three Internet trends. These are simply thought-starters as we start the new year (all figures are US only).

• We're growing comfortable with social networks - Not surprisingly, social network related searches grew 178% in 2008. Historically, however, the top searches in the category have reflected privacy concerns. This year was no different. The top keywords included "hide friends" (#7) and "hide comments"(#8). However, search volume on these keywords actually declined in 2008. This, perhaps, is the biggest indicator that as a nation we're becoming more comfortable living on social networks.
• Blogging maybe making a comeback - Searches related to blogging resources and services posted 64% growth in 2004. Then they basically flat-lined the next three years. However, in 2008 they climbed 24%. It's highly likely that in both years this was fueled by the election. But my gut is that something deeper maybe going on here. Perhaps some see blogs as a powerful personal branding tool that can help them weather the recession. Searches for the keywords "personal brand" are also up significantly.




• The recession drove consumers to shop online - Perhaps surprisingly, shopping related searches grew 50% year over year in the fourth quarter. Between 2004 and 2007 search volume typically reached the same apex in December. This year was different. Consumers were also looking for deals. Coupon related searches grew 61% in the fourth quarter. If consumers continue to find deals online, then the trend could stick.

Insights without data is useless and, of course, Google is just one indicator. However, it's the best tool that we have and a good way to gauge where the wind will blow in 2009. It will be fun to watch to see how this all evolves and to see if any of this is right.

• HOW TO 2008: How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media (tags: mashable socialmedia tutorials 2008)
• Tweetree - Birds in a tree. Tweetree puts your Twitter stream in a tree so you can see the posts people are replying to in context (tags: Mashups twitter)
• Prototype - The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print - NYTimes.com Interesting story about how the comic syndicators are adapting to the drying up of print. (tags: Newspapers comics tangiblemedia Trends)
• Safari Tips and Tricks: Safari Keyboard Shortcuts I have switched to Safari as my default browser. These are a great set of handy shortcuts. (tags: Safari keyboardshortcuts)
• 2009 Will Be The Year of the Uber Blog Seems to make sense. This is why I like sites like Alltop and Popurls. They mitigate the attention crash. (tags: aggregation attentioncrash Blogs Trends predictions)
• Safari Dial - Speed dial for Safari SafariDial.com allows you to create a simple home page from which you can access 9 of your favorite sites. (tags: Safari lifehacks)
• socialmedia » A-Z of social media Key terms in social media and social networking (tags: Web2.0 SocialNetworking Reference glossary Wikis socialmedia)
• The WorkLife Monitor A great blog on work/life balance by a local reporter. (tags: newvoices blogs careers workplace balance)

• Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom: 5 Ways to Be Productive Between Christmas and New Years (tags: workplace holidays)
• TweetGrid Creates a real-time Twitter dashboard. (tags: twitter Tools Search API mashup)
• Sitckyscreen Seriously thinking about making this my home page. Great, simple tool. (tags: simplicity notes lifehacks)
• The World in 2009: forecasting the year ahead | The Economist The Economist's annual collection of predictions for the year ahead. (tags: 2009 Economist trends politics business global predictions)

Twice this week when I searched for a blogger's name and some other related keywords, I noticed that Google is running a little thumbnail alongside the first links. I have verified that this is not an experiment but rather a new mini feature. When I logged out of my account I was able to replicate it.

You should be able to see this for yourself on the following searches: Gigaom papers and Luis Suarez.

It appears to be in effect for WordPress blogs. See updates at the end of this post.

LATER:: If your blog is on Wordpress, then you get a thumbnail. This can also be found in a search for Scobleizer. Also, try Googling Jeff Jarvis or Kevin Mason blog and you will get the same result.

EVEN LATER:: There are further updates in the comments. Matt Cutts from Google notes this is a bug. Meanwhile, the images are popping up for some TypePad and Blogger blogs as well.

Mark Evans is asking whether the big Web 2.0 blogs will face tough times next year...

Robert Scoble wrote in the comments that the action is moving out of blogs into social networks and that this will challenge the bigs.

I think the big Web 2.0 blog franchises will remain strong in 2009. I do expect their editorial slants to change with the times. Beyond that, here are three things to watch ...

• First, to Robert’s comments, blogs vs. social networks is not a zero sum game. Social networks and search will help all of us filter out the noise and hone in on the signal. Some of this signal will be blog content. Other times soc nets will serve as a lens onto traditional media.
• Second, expect to see these sites diversify their revenue streams beyond advertising and events. Research is a good area and one that probably leaves other, older companies exposed on price. GigaOm is already publishing solid white papers. Databases are another potential source of revenue. CrunchBase may have unlocked value.
• Finally could there be a demand for subscription blogs? In other words, maybe there’s a premium
  version of TechCrunch that is for VCs and reasonably priced.

A couple of Twitter-related gems from my feed reader tonight...

First, Mike Elgan has set up a site called Twitter on Crack that auto-refreshes your personal Twitter page every 15 seconds. If I recall Twitter used to do this on its own, but now it doesn't.

I avoid running any more desktop apps than I need to, so I skip TweetDeck and the like. Now, however, when I want to swim in Tweets, I find this site is the ideal solution.

Meanwhile, down south, Rex Hammock has a Christmas Eve tale about how two companies - EyeFi and Griffin Technologies - were using Twitter to respond to customer inquires over the holiday. The use of Twitter as a customer service venue is definitely a key trend to watch.

• The makings of a media mogul: Michael Arrington of TechCrunch » By Elias Bizannes » article » Liako.Biz Great and well-researched piece. Shows what's possible today in any sector, not just Web 2.0 blogs. (tags: Blogs media Web2.0 TechCrunch CaseStudies)
• Obama’s Zen State, Well, It’s Hawaiian - NYTimes.com "The mood of Mr. Obama... embodies the Aloha Spirit, a peaceful state of mind and a friendly attitude of acceptance of a variety of ideas and cultures." (tags: obama zen lifehacks)
• MediaPost - The Digital Future Through The Looking Glass "Adults who said that the children in their households spend too much time using the Internet reached 25% of respondents, an increase for the third year in a row and the highest percentage yet reported." (tags: usc Stats digitalfuture families trends 2008 children)
• Why I Write Detailed, In-Depth Posts And am I glad he does because these are great. (tags: writing blogging adamsinger PR)
• Newsweek's 1997 Gadget Shopping List: Merry Christmas Past! I had the original Palm. One of my all-time favorite gadgets. (Note Palm is an Edelman client) (tags: Gadgets retro)
• Slideshows: Inside Eli Manning’s Automated Condo Amazing how understated it is when you think what it could be (tags: cribs Sports Football)

One of my fondest memories of 2008 was meeting Luis Suarez from IBM. We both spoke at the Next08 conference together in Hamburg. (I will be returning to Germany in 2009 for the Next09 event.)

Luis' story is amazing. First, he lives in the Canary Islands and he's a social computing evangelist/knowledge management specialist for IBM. Until recently, he reported to managers in the Netherlands and the US. Now he is reporting locally to folks at IBM in Spain, but he still works at home.

What's notable here is that Luis during the year has been on a quest to eliminate all business email. According to his latest status report, he's down to about 20-40 a day. He wrote about his experience in the New York Times earlier this year. I also interviewed Luis on the subject last month via Skype as part of an Edelman Change event that we held for clients, which you can view below or here.

So how is Luis doing it? By pushing more of his communication into social networks and wikis - both internal and external and relying more on IM. Luis is an inspiration. So do you think this is part of a broader trend? Is your email down this year? I think mine is down slightly and I am wondering if we're all starting to live like Luis and what the broader ramifications might be for internal communications.

These days, it invariably comes up in virtually every client or prospect conversation. I call it TQ - short for "the question." A lot of people want to know: "How can we be like Barack?"

Companies and NGOs are eager for insights into the President Elect's magical marketing formula. They're hungry to study the campaign and apply his methods for building connections through social networks and a broader groundswell of support.

A new book coming out next month breaks the incoming President's approach down into an easy to read format. The book, entitled Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign, is available for pre-order on Amazon. However, if you have a Safari Online account, you can already read online it there, which is what I did today. Snippets are available on Google Book Search. It's overall a quick read.

Barack, Inc. breaks down Obama's strategy to three simple phrases: Be Cool. Be Social. Be the Change. I loved these simple Haiku-like expressions so much that I clipped the graphic off their web site and saved it on my computer. I have it here so you can do the same.

Be Cool means zeroing in problems, developing practical solutions, all while remaining unflappable and undistracted. It explains how the Obama team always focused on its core goal.

Be Social is the part that will interest many of you. It covers how Team Obama cultivated a grassroots following, built MyBarackObama.com into a powerhouse, created outposts in every major social network, leveraged mobile marketing and turned CRM into what they call CMR (customer managed relationships).

Be the Change was easy for Obama. That was his entire platform. But the book explains what this means for businesses - creating a vision and taking on tough issues, both your own challenges and the globe's, in a forthright, authentic way. It also means creating an internal environment that supports multiple points of view, which Obama does well.

Whether you're an Obama fan or not, I recommend the book. It offers a great roadmap for how 21st Century organizations should be run, particularly in these challenging times.

• The Associated Press: Holiday season magnifies shoppers' frugality "The new consumer mantra for this coming year is: If I don't need it, I won't buy it." (tags: consumerism Trends 2008 austerity USA)
• MediaPost Publications - Precious Little Time - 12/24/2008 The median amount of time spent working is now at 46 hours per week. GenXers (ages 32-43) are working the most hours (55 each week). (tags: workplace stats attentioncrash attention media)
• Christmas presents? Let me check my e-mails first - Times Online Instead of switching off during the holiday season, owners of blackberries will check work messages before opening presents (tags: Trends Mobile families holidays UK)

There were a lot of web sites I really used actively this year - the entire Google network, Techmeme, Friendfeed, Facebook and, of course, Twitter. There's one though that stood out: Popurls. It's a site that people don't talk about enough and that's a shame because there's so much to tout here. Popurls rocked this year and it's my pick for the the best web site of 2008. (Disclaimer: the Popurls page features a link to my most recent blog post but I am not compensated by them in any way nor does Edelman, my employer, represent or currently work with them.)

Popurls calls itself "the dashboard for the latest web-buzz, a single page that encapsulates up-to-the-minute headlines from the most popular sites on the Internet." The site was created by Thomas Marban. What it basiscally does is aggregate web sites all in one place - digg, delicious, news sites, Techmeme, key blogs, media sites (Flickr, YouTube, etc) and much more. The great thing about it is that you can easily personalize it to your tastes. As you use it, the site gets smarter and shows you recommendations. You can view stats for the web site here.

So why am I nuts about Popurls? There are many reasons...

• It's a digital curator that helps mitigate the Attention Crash


• It underscores that the world is flat (Thomas is from Austria)


• Popurls added a ton of features this year: you can sign in with Open ID or your Google Account, sharing, a live view and a cluster view, a deep archive, a zeitgeist and much more. He seems to be adding features as fast as Gmail and Friendfeed.


• They're also on Friendfeed, Twitter, Facebook, mobile devices, the iPhone and even the Wii.


• Popurls Live - track it in real-time like Twittervision.


• And finally, killer search - complete with search feeds.

However, there's an even bigger story here that everyone is missing. Thomas Marban is making money.

Popurls has sponsors. More importantly, the site is represented by Federated Media. Together they have come up with some very clever, deep brand integrations. For example, Populrs and Intel created Popurls Blue for IT managers. It also debuted a partnership with Epson.

It's too bad that Popurls doesn't get the props it deserves from the tech blogging community. It's an important site. They had a banner year and it's easily one of my favorites overall. Congrats to Thomas on a great 2008 and I look forward to seeing more innovation from him in 2009. A next logical step for them would be an API.

As the year rolls to a close, several news organizations have added iPhone applications to the iTunes App Store. These include USA Today, NPR and Accuweather. Now throw in ABC News, which launched this morning.

The ABC News iPhone application features video clips from their national news programs, stories from the web site as well as local clips from affiliates in major cities. In addition, what's unique about the application is that they also have a tab for breaking news and local emergency alerts.

You can download the free application here (iTunes link)

• Pew Research Center: Internet Overtakes Newspapers as News Source "40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007" (tags: pew Journalism Trends media tangiblemedia Stats 2008 Newspapers)
• Social Media: 2009 conferences: Social media, tech, marketing (tags: events 2009 socialmedia Marketing conferences)
• Online v. print reading: which one makes us smarter? : Scientific American Blog "reading online may not be as rewarding – or effective – as the printed word" (tags: education tangiblemedia media research)
• Fresh Inc.: Arianna Huffington and Om Malick Share Their Tips on How to Blog (tags: ariannahuffington ommalik Blogs Tips)
• More Readers Are Picking Up Electronic Books - NYTimes.com (tags: books ebooks tangiblemedia Trends)
• MediaShift . Top 10 MediaShifting Stories of 2008 | PBS (tags: media trends 2008)
• Big Gains Among Top 30 Newspaper Web Sites (tags: Newspapers Stats)
• Blogging Helps LA Times Find Success Online - Search Engine Watch (SEW) (tags: newspapers LATimes blogs journalism)

Interesting discussion overnight between my friends Robert Scoble and MIke Arrington over whether Robert's personal brand diminished because of his love for Friendfeed. How refreshing and retro that this conversation is actually taking place via blogs instead of just on Twitter and Friendfeed, where I am sure it is also happening.

Arrington opines:

So Robert has spent 2,555 hours spent reading tens out thousands of mostly inane Twitter and Friendfeed messages, and has written a few thousand messages of his own. Meanwhile, we as a community lost the regularly entertaining and thoughtful posts of a great writer. Like I said, it’s time for an intervention.

I want Scobleizer back.

I have to agree with Mike here. I don't follow Scoble as much as I used to. And I am someone who has been reading Robert over five years now. In fact, one of my very first posts was about him. The reason I stopped tracking Santa Scoble was simple - I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter and Friendfeed. RSS is my addiction and I dip into these other streams and then dip out as I have time. I never miss a post in my reader.

In 2009 I think we're going to see a lot of the old guard return to their roots - their blogs. The reason is home field advantage. Why build build Twitter or Friendfeed's equity, when you can invest in the turf you spent so much time on? That said, there are tremendous advantages to doing all of the above.

Louis Gray, Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang all seem to have the right model. They do it all. How, I don't know but they do. I have been blogging more lately too. I missed writing long form. My roof has a leak and I am fixing it. Scoble should do the same and I bet he will.

I wrote a post on this earlier this year: Should You Rent or Buy Social Real Estate. The answer - both. But ask first which helps pay the bills. In my case it's my blog. Twitter and Friendfeed are steroids.

As personal branding becomes a weapon in a down economy, look for blogging to make a return run.