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Sincere regards,

Sanjay Dalal
CEO & Founder
Ogoing Inc.

Ogoing Inc. is an Irvine Chamber of Commerce Member

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Small Business Social Network
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Search, Social and Mobile- pre Eyefortravel thoughts via eHotelier

I am speaking this year at Eyefortravel May 18-19 in Singapore

I have put together some pre-conference predictions for 2011 (based on by full 2011 predictions). They were picked up and published in a post on eHotelier along side predictions from Robert Bailey of Abacus and (Professor) Timothy O'Neil-Dunne of LUTE technologies (and so much more). Check out the full text here.

My predictions are:

• Search changes (again); Search already changed forever in 2010. There is more to come in 2011, especially in the measure of authority. The old measure of inbound links will be enhanced with input from social networks, context and location, expert advice, preference matching and more. Search marketing will have to change to encompass content, social, information syndication and data mining. All suppliers and all OTAs will need to ensure that their SEO experts and agents are on top of this change. In addition to the changes in authority, search will change in how results are displayed;
• Social media will challenge search and retail: the parallel rises of social media, customers asking more complicated (and open) questions online and consumers willingness to discuss and share everything openly and freely will drive through 2011 a change the way the industry attracts and retains customers. The traffic numbers of Facebook, Twitter, foursquare etc are all but unprecedented. But it is not their rise that is the story. The story is the consumer behaviour behind the rise of these products. Pick your metaphor - consumers have opened the kimono, dropped their pants or invited everyone in to their lives. Nothing is sacred. Everything can and will be shared. Marketing channels will need to be adjusted. Communications techniques changed. Customer care models and response times adjusted. Even sales channels will need to be reworked. Get ready for social search, book and buy; and
• Mobile becomes a distinction without meaning: iPhone did for the smart phones what diet coke did for soda. It created a category, lifted other categories with it and made people buy more of everything around it. The consequence is that people are using their phones (and now tablets) while they are on the move and as a replacement for laptops. Mobile no longer means mobile. By that I mean people will sit in meetings, on couches as home, at the desk...anywhere...everywhere...expecting to be connected. Not caring if a device is called a phone, tablet or netbook. Just caring that it gets them the content or experience they want. The result is device platform discussions will move from "which product is this built for" to "is this compatible for all displays". Much like we now say that a site has to be web ready rather than differentiating between its readiness on FireFox, Chrome, Safari, opera and IE. The type of the device and whether or not it is mobile is now irrelevant. Mobile/PC/Tablet will be the different "browsers" of 2011. All code will need to be written in preparation for this.
  

For a reminder of my thoughts on last year's Eyefortravel check out this post.

Editing, the Richness of Content, and the Current Limits of Web and Social Media

Editors matter.

The March 28-April 4, 2011, edition of the struggling news magazine Newsweek—which I admittedly have not read in years— provides some of the finest articles I have read in many months, illustrates the limits of online and social media, and shows why editors matter.

There is great benefit from both edited and unedited media and I don’t believe they have to be seen in dichotomous choices for the future of media. But I believe those who argue they don’t need to edited media doom themselves to narrowness and ignorance.

If I relied only on the links I receive daily from colleagues on Facebook, my news alerts for topics of interest, or digital listings of stories, I would miss the most important contribution of edited media—the service editors provide by reviewing and thinking about the world and putting journalists to work to provide a coordinated understanding of the available information. This week’s Newsweek epitomises that reality.

Although I often have my attention drawn to information and stories of interest from my social media, the pattern of stories and information sent to me would not have led me to Bill Emmott’s Newsweek story on the impact of disasters on politics, economics, and national psychology or Paul Theroux’s explanation of how Japan’s history has shaped its culture and how the generous global response to the earthquake and tsunami is forcing it to confront the fact that it is not alone and isolated in the face of geographical and physical constraints.

Had I relied on to the multiple news websites I peruse weekly, the ways they are presented and the ways that I search for news on them would not have led me to Newsweek’s fascinating story of the nuclear disaster at an Idaho test station in 1961 that may have been the result of a murder-suicide, its account of why a London murder has led to a boycott of Coca-Cola, or its account of why political ignorance in America is higher than that in European countries.

My point here is not that we should all be rushing out to subscribe to Newsweek (My apologies to Sydney Harmon, Barry Diller and Tina Brown), but that the functions of editors matter. Having someone look at the world and see ways that it fits together, have editors coordinate and incentive talented writers, and having editors create a collection of stories and information continues to produce value.

Those who believe that news, information, and understanding of the world can come through a disaggregated and uncoordinated flow of information and stories, much of which is not prepared by professional writers on a regular basis, miss the entire reason for the success of edited media over the past 300 years.

I do not wish to be construed as saying that online and social media do not make enormous contributions to our communications ability, but until they mature to the point they can support regular oversight and thought about the world and compensate professionals for whom investigating and reporting developments is their primary employment, digital media will not be able to replace the contributions of well edited print media.

After a decade and a half of digital media it is clear that we are able to move news and information to those platforms, but we are nowhere near the point we can shut off the presses without a great deal of loss of oversight and understanding about the world around our lives.

Small Business Innovation News Stories

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Receives U.S. DOD Small Business Innovation Research ...

PR Newswire (press release) - ‎Mar 21, 2011‎

... announced today that it has received a US Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research Grant to test the feasibility of delivering DNA vaccines by intradermal electroporation simultaneously to two or more spatially distinct sites on the ...

Inovio Pharma gets US DOD SBIR award

Pharmaceutical Business Review

Inovio receives DNA vaccine delivery grant

In-PharmaTechnologist.com

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Receives US DOD Small Business Innovation Research ...

SunHerald.com (press release)

MFRTech (press release)

Kentucky awards grants to Bexion, 13 others

Bizjournals.com - ‎Mar 25, 2011‎

The program matches federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants awarded to Kentucky companies or companies willing to relocate to Kentucky. The awards supplement more than $8.7 million in federal funding ...

Matching SBIR-STTR Grants for Kentucky High-Tech Small Businesses

MFRTech (press release)

Madison's success in turning technology into business lures conference

Wisconsin State Journal - ‎Mar 23, 2011‎

Lithium ion batteries, the size of large button cell batteries, are being tested at Silatronix, 3587 Anderson St. Grants from the Small Business Innovation Research program have helped the company develop its novel compound, designed to make big ...

EOIR Technologies Wins Multi-Camera Real-Time Feature Recognition, Extraction ...

PR Newswire (press release) - ‎Mar 23, 2011‎

Through their focus on innovation and excellence, EOIR contributes to ensuring that the United States is the most technically sophisticated military and intelligence organization in the world. Understanding the client's mission is core to the EOIR ...

SBIR program could get boost

Bizjournals.com - ‎Mar 25, 2011‎

Small businesses could get a bigger share of federal research dollars under legislation that appears headed for passage in the Senate. The bill reauthorizes the Small Business Innovation Research program and would open the program to small businesses ...

Bills authorizes more R&D funding

Portland Business Journal

Lucigen Gets $226K SBIR Grant from NIH

GenomeWeb Daily News - ‎Mar 22, 2011‎

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Wisconsin biotech firm Lucigen said on Monday it has received a $226401 Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop genomic tools for use ...

Lucigen awarded National Institutes of Health grant

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This Week in Small Business: Radiation, Inflation and Regulation

New York Times (blog) - Gene Marks - ‎Mar 21, 2011‎

The New York Times' Robb Mandelbaum reports that the new 1099 rules may not be that bad for small businesses. An inventor says the currently discussed Patent Reform Act will hurt small businesses. Harry Reid pleads to keep the Small Business Innovation ...

New Research & Development Grant for Small Business Innovation

is4profit - ‎18 hours ago‎

“Nearly two thirds of all commercial innovations originate in small companies and we need to nurture and encourage this vital source of exciting new innovations.” “Small companies may under-invest in innovation because of the high degree of risk and ...

Technology grant workshops to he held

Lewiston Sun Journal - ‎Mar 25, 2011‎

MTI Phase O SBIR/STTR Grants of up to $5000 are offered to foster and support competitive federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) proposal submissions. Funds can be used for direct costs associated ...

Rare Opportunity to Learn About Innovation, Commercialization and Growing your ...

Business Wire (press release)

Innovation act will encourage job growth

Fremont Tribune - ‎Mar 22, 2011‎

We advanced the Business Innovation Act on March 16. This Act would provide competitive grants for private sector research at Nebraska institutions, offer technical assistance in new product development and testing, and help expand small business and ...

Check out Ogoing Small Business Social Network - Driving Small Business Forward with the latest social media innovations:
http://www.ogoing.com

Source: Google news

From Egypt To The Classroom. When Is Our Revolution?

by Steven W. Anderson

It has been an interesting past few weeks around the world. First the govenerment in Tunisia was brought down. Then a similar situation in Egypt. And now people are taking to the streets in Bahrain, Iran and other places. For whatever the reason the people in these countries were upset with their government and protest to the point where they brought down governments, some that had been in place for 30+ years.

Now, I am not a political expert. I don't know each situation and why the people where unhappy. I have some knowledge but I don't want to speculate. But I do know that there is one common thread in each of these situations that is worth taking a look at.

Social Media

On Sunday 60 Minutes profiled the man credited with starting the revolution in Egypt. Wael Ghorim works for Google and started a Facebook page for Egyptians to post their experiences with police. And it is from that Facebook page and from Twitter posts organize protests that topiled a government. It was a great interview and you can watch it below.



The events in Tunisia, Iran, Bahrain, and other places and trace their beginnings to the use of social media by the residents in those countries. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites allowed residents to organize in non-traditional ways to get their message out. Many of the governments don't know how to handle these new voices, so they knee-jerk react, send out the military to quiet the crowds. But they just get louder and louder and larger and larger. And in the case of Egypt and Iran, they attempted to keep control by shutting down Internet traffic for several days.

Any of this sound familiar?

Leadership is afraid of a new medium and how powerful it is. So they put up blocks, downplay it's effectiveness, and bury their heads in the proverbial sand.

When is our revolution in education when it comes to Social Media and the use of these tools in the classroom? Think about how powerful it could be if students in a high school social studies class in Nebraska could look at the Facebook page started by Wael. But, they can't because the district feels Facebook is a time suck, provides no educational value and they block it.

Or what about being able to look at the Tweets organizing the protests and have a discussion about why the people in these places feel the way they do and how their situations compare to those locally and nationally.

Those of us who know the power of Social Media and the value it can provide to learning are, sometimes, seen in the same way as many of the organizers of these revolutions. We are disruptive. We want to destroy the current system. Really? We just want change. We understand how these tools can be used to enhance, change and ultimately make learning better for students.

Maybe it is wrong of me to compare these events in these countries where many of the citizens have been mistreated for many, many years. But again, isn't the same true for our kids? Sitting in rows, drill and kill, teaching in isolation. Maybe that is mistreatment....

What do you think? When is our education revolution? Are their parallels? Or are the situations different? Leave some comments below.

Five C's of Multimedia Mastery

by John T. Spencer

"You know Ed Hardy t-shirts are just really bad tattoo art with a Bedazzler," a student comments.

Minutes later, a kid says. "Did you know that they used to have a haircutter that you could attach to your vacuum?  I saw it on YouTube.  It's hilarious."

"You know that you can watch Alf reruns on YouTube?" another kid says.

Later that day, when students hear a Ray LaMontagne song, a kid recognizes his voice.  "Hey, that's the white guy who sang the song 'Crazy.'  I saw it on my friend's myspace." (Apparently myspace is still pretty popular with low-income youth).

My students piece together pop culture in a never-ending collage.  I tell a kid that something isn't her fault and five people are quoting "Stewie, it's not your fault," from Family Guy. I mention North Korea and students show me a Facebook fan page for their dictator.  When I taught the American Revolution, I had a student show me a Social Media Guide to the Revolution, showing how it would look with Paul Revere on Twitter.

My students have a ton of information. Nothing shocking there.  They piece together shards of satire from television, converse about it on Facebook, create their own parodies with cell phones and then post them on YouTube.  They ping pong back and forth between facts.  And yet . . .

My students arrive in my class with almost no critical thinking.  The tools they've used to access information have made them brilliant collage artists and pop culture snobs, however they have rarely ventured beyond entertainment.  True, they can find satire and yes, they can reference a decent joke.  However, most of them fail to use information for anything more than a joke or a conversation point.

So, for the love of all things alliterated, I'm tossing out 5 C's of Multimedia Mastery:

Context: I want students to understand the context of information.  Yes, it's neat that they can quote an obscure line from Alf.  However, do they understand the context of the eighties?  Do they get what it was like to be in the waning years of the Cold War?  I want them to use media to find the context, to understand the space.  As they approach a video or a website, I want them to think about the sense of space and time that have been chipped away by media.

Creativity: I want my students to use media for creative purposes.  By this, I don't simply mean piecing together other people's work, either.  I want them to write original blog posts, create and share concept maps, record their own podcasts and spend some time creating decent video. If media is supposed to be democratic and social, I want my students to get beyond entertainment and start using a medium to compose something original.

Critical Thinking:  I want students to think critically about the information online.  This means they need to learn to ask deeper inquiry questions, analyze the bias of a source, differentiate between fact and opinion and make connections that aren't instantly noticeable.  It also means they need to critique the medium itself.

Civics:  The revolution in Tunisia was essentially a social media revolution. The same is true of the protests in Iran. Sadly, our schools often block the very media that helped launch democracy in other nations? I want my students to use media to express their social voice and to engage in a civic dialog.  I want them to question whether Twitter is right for keeping WikiLeaks' account information private.  It's a powerful thing when students use media to access public files, ask questions to public leaders and speak out for what they believe.

Conversation:  I want students to understand that there is a social element to social media and that the best way for them to have a holistic, contextual understanding of their world is through real-life conversations.  Kids come to media (even social media) with a sense that it's not real.  I want them to recover the human side of it.  How can they engage in media in a way that broadens worldviews and helps them to see that there are multiple perspectives?

The BOOT in Travel Weekly - first on social then on search

The BOOT has appeared in a couple of Travel Weekly (Australia) online news pieces that might interest you.

Back in December they reported on my comments on social media at the ATEC conference (for my top five social media tips see here)

A week ago they carried by comments on how search is changing. For more on that see my predictions for 2011.

2011 Predictions: The BOOT on which trends live and which ones die in 2011

I loved 2010. So much happened in online travel that I have cricks in my neck from looking left and right, from scanning an RSS news feed on one side, tweets and r-tweets on the other, conference presentations filled with announcements, press releases filling up my inbox, posts to the left of me, news to the right...here we are stuck in the middle of the most exciting online industry in the world.

Don't slow down, 2011 is already here. The Boot has six predictions for 2010. Three things will live and thrive and three things will wither and die:

2011 - three things will thrive

1. Social lives: the parallel rises of social media, the open ended question and consumers willingness to discuss and share everything openly and freely will in 20011 continue to change the way the industry attracts and retains customers. The traffic numbers of Facebook, Twitter, foursquare etc are all but unprecedented. But it is not their rise that is the story. The story is the consumer behaviour behind the rise of these products. Pick your metaphor - consumers have opened the kimono, dropped their pants or invited everyone in to their lives. Nothing is sacred. Everything can and will be shared. In 2011 the online travel industry will continue to adjust marketing channels and communications techniques to match this trend. Five tips on how to do that are here.

2. Search lives: but not as you know it. Search has changed forever especially the measure of authority. The display changes we have seen in Google and Bing in 2010 are a precursor to the profound changes I expect to see in the measure of authority for content/sites in search in 2011.
The old measure of inbound links will be enhanced with input from social networks, context and location, expert advice, preference matching and more. Search marketing will have to change to encompass content, social, information syndication and data mining. I am predicting there will be as many six factors that drive authority in search.

In addition to the changes in authority, search will change in how results are displayed. Results will become multi-destinational and multi-dimensional.

3. Data lives: In 2010 the Economist introduced me to the yottabyte as a indicator of how much data is being collected every day on everything (yottabyte = 2 to the power of 80 bytes or 1000 Zettabyte). The online travel industry following suit - collecting data on a scale unimaginable five years ago and the quantity is rising exponentially by the day. The access to this level of data and the open and honest nature of this data gives the industry the chance to profile and market to consumers at a level of detail down to and below the level of the individual. In 2011 that data will be put to use. My EveryYou concept will take even further hold in online travel (more on EveryYou here). More and more you will hear of activities in online travel to develop specific and targeted recommendations of one based on the unique combination of desires, needs and interests of each individual at any moment in time. Micro-targeting at scale.

2011 - three things will die

1. Convergence dies: For the first decade and half of online travel and the last fifteen years of communications technology, the non-stop talk was around convergence. That devices would merge. That our phones, computers, TVs, game consoles, printers, fridges and more would all come together in one device. The opposite is true. Convergence is dead. Devices are becoming (at the same time) more specialised, more capable and more connected. As a result, in 2011 we will give up on the idea of convergence of devices and instead adopt a concept of multiple devices supporting a communications ecosystem. Activities will start on one device, continue on another and conclude on a third. Each device in the chain will have a main purpose different from the other but will be able to support activities spread across other devices. Our different devices will remain with separate functions (content creation devices, gaming and entertainment devices, communications devices) but each will connect and share with the other in a common network.

2. Mobile dies: Sure mobile is everywhere. Sure I ate humble pie and admitted that 2009 was the year of the mobile. But in 2011 the mobile/tablet/PC debate will change from building for devices to building for display preferences. Device distinction as a designator for what is or is not built will die. Device platform discussions will move from “which product is this built for” to “is this compatible for all displays”.

Much like we now say that a site has to be web ready rather than differentiating between its readiness on FireFox, Chrome, Safari, opera and IE. The type of the device and whether or not it is mobile is now irrelevant. Mobile/PC/Tablet will be the different “browsers” of 2011. All code will need to be written in preparation for this.

(OK that is not the death of mobile - more like the enlightenment or complete ubiquity of mobile - but you get the gist)

3. BAR dies: Best Available Rate has been a staple of the online travel industry since 2002. In response to the absolute transparency of the Internet, chain and independent hotels guaranteed common prices across each distribution channel. In 2011 we have reached a point where through a combination of dramatically improved IP address targeting, growth in closed user groups, private sale sites, group coupon sites and more there will be a myriad of ways in which hotels will put deals out there that are different to their BAR. Get ready for a move to a world of more and more targeting, more and more yield management and a wider variety of prices for the same property and product.

Close your tray tables and turn off your electronic devices. We are in for an amazing and 2011 and the BOOT is here to cover it for you.

If you are interested here are my 2010 predictions

Thanks to 1suisse1 for the image via flickr

Private Social Networking for Business

When a business uses public social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Plaxo, and social networking media services, it realizes many benefits: Promotion & marketing of business brand, finding new prospects, creating fan base, entering new markets, offering incentives & coupons, capturing customer feedback and defending the business brand!

What is Private Social Networking, and How can Private Social Networks help the Business?

Private Social Networks - PSNs provide the core features & functionality of Public Social Networks... Making new connections, creating & sharing of profiles, sharing of information, ideas & feedback, collaboration, learning & networking, and promoting the business brand. However there is one significant difference: PSNs are completely private; meaning, only the business & its users have access to private social networking and the exclusive business community!



Five Benefits of PSNs - Private Social Networks: This is the way to go!

1. Deeper Relationships - PSNs allow businesses to build longer-lasting, deeper, profitable relationships with the constituents. Importantly, the private community is engaged and is always connected with "what's going on". PSN members connect, share ideas, ask questions & learn more from the experts. Customers share useful information & valuable feedback openly, and frequently. This creates greater goodwill and builds considerable member & customer loyalty. PSNs help businesses retain, manage, engage & grow the customer base (and reduce customer churn). PSNs help grow partner channels, and make them even more productive.

2. Collaborative Culture - PSNs help build a thriving company culture that transforms the organization into an interactive, engaging community that begins to share ideas, make new connections, collaborate, and leverage expertise rapidly and frequently. As more users use PSNs, more ideas get generated & shared, more collaboration & group coordination begins to happen, more projects get managed on time, and more issues get tracked & resolved. In short, a collaborative organizational culture emerges when a company uses PSN.

3. Exclusivity - Exclusivity is key to Private Social Networking. A Private Social Network is exclusive to only the invited users and business community. Customers, partners & members are aware that they belong to an exclusive private community, and will love to be part of it! Outside users (including competition) have no access to the PSN.

4. Privacy & Security - On a PSN, the organization controls & manages access to all users of the network. There is complete privacy of the user information since the PSN is under business' management. PSNs are completely secured. Outside users cannot simply get into a PSN. Finally, all shared information by the members of a PSN remains private within the community.

5. Business Branding - A business is able to manage & maintain its brand on a PSN with ease. PSNs offer many customization options - logos, banners, network names, modules, messaging, workflow & more. A business is able to fine-tune & customize a PSN such that it becomes an extension of its brand or website.

Best of all, the competition has no idea, nor access to an organization's private social network. Hence, the competition cannot benefit from the PSN.

Finally, PSN - Private Social Networks can be selectively public, and can help the business build & promote the business brand on major public social networks.

Learn more about Private Social Networking and Private Social Networks - PSNs:

oGoing - Leading provider of Private Social Networks & Social Networking Solutions for Business.

Attend our weekly webinar on the key benefits of Private Social Networks & the pitfalls of Public Social Networks. Go here to register & attend.

Learn more about oGoing here: http://www.ogoing.com/

About oGoing - oGoing is the leading provider of private social networks & exclusive social networking solution for business community & organizations.

Tnooz Post: Authority and Page Rank in Google is changing, are you ready?

New Tnooz post live titled "Is travel ready for the Google Page Rank overhaul?". In the post I discuss Google Places and speculate on what it means for new elements in the page rank alogrithm including the tastegraph, sociograph, memegraph, expertgraph, genomegraph, contextgraph and a lot of other made up words new media concepts. Read the full post here.

Social Media Marketing Solution for Small Business

Introducing oGoing Small Business Social Media Marketing Solution. OGoing is pleased to announce the all new, innovative Social Media Marketing solution that will have an immediate impact on the Business Topline - Growth in Sales!

oGoing Small Business Social Media Marketing Solution contains:

1. Social Media Strategic Marketing Plan & Campaign to jump start your sales! Now!
2. Creation of business profiles on major social networks including Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon, Craigslist, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr & Facebook. Creation of private online business community to manage and grow your loyal customer base.
3. Complete branding & design of the business profiles, making your online business brand customer-friendly, and ready for business.
4. Daily, Bi-Weekly or Weekly social media promotions, messages, updates & online marketing of your business products, services, launches, events, news, coupons, discounts & latest offers on these social networks, and your private community.
5. Generation & management of new leads, prospects and customers from the combined Social Media Strategic Marketing Plan & Campaign Execution. Tracking and Analysis of what's happening with your business brand and what people are saying about you.
6. Extensive Reports on the Social Media Marketing plan, campaign activities, what's working, what's going on regarding your business brand, changes and optimized solutions.
7. Training & Complete Support to maximize profits from all your social media marketing & social networking communities

The oGoing Social Media Marketing Solution is guaranteed to grow your business! Now!!

Here's something even more exciting:

The oGoing Small Business Social Media Marketing Solution is available now for only $99 a month (with a one-time $199 setup fee). This is our introductory offer, and will not last forever.

We are confident that you won't find a better solution elsewhere to get your business going on social networking & social media. (And did I mention you get complete support!) OGoing guarantees to grow your business using online social media & social networking!

Contact oGoing today to get started... Call 949-288-6880 or Toll-Free 888-856-8881, and ask about the oGoing Small Business Social Media Marketing Solution.

OGoing is a leading social media marketing solution company, that has launched new business innovation with OGoing Private Social Networks for business.

Sincere regards,
Sanjay Dalal
CEO & Founder, oGoing Inc.
http://www.ogoing.com/enterprise

Five Benefits of Private Social Networks

There are many benefits when a business uses public social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace & emerging social media services! Here are just a few advantages: Promote & market business brand, find new prospects, create fan base, enter new markets, offer incentives & coupons, capture customer feedback and defend business brand!

What are Private Social Networks for Business? And what are some of the key benefits...

Private Social Networks - PSNs provide the core features & functionality of Public Social Networks... Making new connections, creating & sharing of profiles, sharing of information, ideas & feedback, collaboration, learning & networking, and promoting your brand. However there is one significant difference: PSNs are completely private; meaning, only the business & its population have access to the private business community!



Five Benefits of PSNs - Private Social Networks: This is the way to go!

1. Exclusivity - Exclusivity is key to Private Social Network. A Private Social Network is exclusive to only the invited users and business community. Customers, partners & members are aware that they belong to an exclusive private community, and will love to be part of it! No outsiders have access to the PSN.

2. Privacy & Security - On a PSN, the organization controls & manages access to all users of the network. There is complete privacy of the user information since the PSN is under business' management. PSNs are completely secured. Outside users cannot simply get into a PSN. Finally, all shared information by the members of a PSN remains private within the community.

3. Business Branding - A business is able to manage & maintain its brand on a PSN with ease. PSNs offer many customization options - logos, banners, network names, modules, messaging, workflow & more. A business is able to fine-tune & customize a PSN such that it becomes an extension of its brand or website.

4. Deeper Relationships - PSNs allow businesses to build longer-lasting, deeper, profitable relationships with the constituents. Importantly, the private community is engaged and is always connected with "what's going on". Users now connect & learn more about their business colleagues. Members share useful information & valuable feedback openly, and frequently. This creates greater goodwill and builds considerable member & customer loyalty. PSNs help businesses retain, manage, engage & grow the customer base (and reduce customer churn). PSNs help grow partner channels, and make them even more productive.

5. Collaborative Culture - PSNs help build a thriving company culture that transforms the organization into an interactive, engaging community that begins to share ideas, make new connections, collaborate, and leverage expertise rapidly and frequently. As more users use PSNs, more ideas get generated & shared, more collaboration & group coordination begins to happen, more projects get managed on time, and more issues get tracked & resolved. In short, a collaborative organizational culture emerges when a company uses PSN.

Best of all, your competition has no idea or no access to your private social network. Hence, your competition cannot have any advantage from your PSN.

Finally, PSN - Private Social Networks can be selectively public, and can help your business build & promote your brand on the major public social networks.

Want to learn more about innovations in Private Social Networks - PSNs?

Take a look at oGoing - Leading provider of Private Social Networks & Social Networking Solutions for Business.

Learn more about oGoing here: http://www.ogoing.com

Stories from TRAVELtech: contemplating the parallel inter-verse

I was at TRAVELtech last week wondering if there is a parallel universe on the internet (inter-verse) that I am not part of. In the Internet that I live in the following rules apply:

• Search: Not all my searches start on Google;
• Starting: Portals are not a starting point but might be a destination (ie Yahoo Finance);
• Creating: I am creating more and more content very day – but writing less and less on my blog;
• Reading: Newspaper sites are fading from view in favour of RSS and news aggregators; and
• Accessing: I am accessing the internet all over place – via my computer, my Apple TV, my Xbox, my blackberry and more.

Three presentations at TRAVELtech reminded me that many people online who do not adhere to these rules and therefore exist in a parallel inter-verse:

• Mark Higginson of Neilsen Online reminded me that a third of Internet users do not use social networks. For these users (and there are a lot of them) the Internet is not a place for inspiration or interaction. It is a functional place. A place to consume content, check details and make purchases. A place to do things and find things out, not to engage, share and...well... just hang out;
• Rohan Lund of Yahoo!7 says that Yahoo! is continuing to expand world-wide as a place for people to start on the Internet. That the portal is still as strong and steady starting point on the Internet for hundreds of millions of users; and
• Warren Livingstone (founder of the Fanatics) proved that the secret to community was tents more than tweets. That communities did not need social media that much to grow and foster.
  

The obvious question upon re-discovering the parallel inter-verse is whether or not it is a place in itself or is it just a staging area. Is it a place where newer users start their internet experience – only to soon progress to the "real" Internet or do these users stay in the functional and controlled parallel inter-verse that is about more than outcomes that experience?

The reason why this is important to think about is that if the parallel inter-verse is a permanent place rather than a staging area then online travel companies need to plan for a different future. I keep talking about a future for online travel around moving from transaction engines to recommendation engines. Around helping consumers move from answering closed questions ("how much for a hotel in Melbourne?") to open ones ("where do I go next?"). A future where some combination of the tastegraph and sociograph combine to make online social interaction as (if not more) rewarding than off. If the functionally focused parallel inter-verse is a permanent place then there is more than one future. A long term functional internet means product people spending time on retail efficiency and on site content products rather than recommendations and syndication. It means more off-line marketing and brand based marketing. It will mean more in website design and less in apps, social media and under the hood data work. My guess is the parallel inter-verse is temporary. That functional only internet use will fade away to be replaced by rules like my rules. What do you think? Is there a parallel inter-verse (or I am making stuff up) and do we have to rewrite the future of the online travel business to take account?

BTW - thanks to Brianam on Flickr for the photo. The context behind the sign (which he says is real) is that Universe St was closed and traffic was being diverted to Rainbow st.

Tnooz: 5 tips for launching a social media strategy

My largest post ever is now live in four parts over at Tnooz. 2,500 words on "5 steps for a travel supplier looking to launch a social media strategy". 5 steps in four parts. Here they are with links to the individual pieces

Step 1 - Decide who you want to talk to and what you want to say

Step 2 - Start monitoring social media. Make it a customer service and marketing priority

Step 3 - Collect data - all of it

Step 4 - Craft product and content plans

Step 5 - Start saying and stick to it

Critical to this analysis is that it is not until Step 5 that full blown social media content creation is recommended.

TripAdvisor Sessions: talking tastegraph and sociograph with TripAdvisor Product VP Adam Medros

In part 1 of my interview with TripAdvisor VP of Product Adam Medros we talked through the launch of the TripAdvisor Trip Friends product and the challenges/benefits of living in a Facebook world.

In this part 2 we review the sociograph vs the tastegraph as a means for recommending. Recommendation through the sociograph means drawing advice and responses from those in the same social network as a user. The tastegraph refers to basing recommendations and search results on the preferences of and feedback from people who like the same things as the user regardless of the existence or not of a social connection.

I asked Medros what he thought about these two trends and whether or not he thought the tastegraph was a better recommendation process than the sociograph. Here is what he had to say

Medros of TripAdvisor: When we talk recommendations at TripAdvisor we talk about a hierarchy of advice. The top of the hierarchy is the wisdom of friends and this is what Trip Friends enables. Trip Friends does more than allowing you to ask your friends, it lets you know which friends to ask. At the other end of the hierarchy is what TripAdvisor has been doing for 10 years – wisdom of crowds. [The crowd providing] A broader set of advice and opinions than available from a transaction provider. In the middle there is the tastegraph – we call it “people like me”. Where you can filter down the recommendations and wisdom of friends through “people like you” filters. The tastegraph is better than wisdom of crowd but not as good as wisdom of friends.

There are three approaches to collecting data for recommendation engines. Two don’t work.

1. Give to Get: Asking consumers to do a survey of who they are and use the results of the survey to show recommendations. It doesn't work and no one does it;
2. Black box: Take all of the click steam data – put it into the "black box" and produce an answer for the consumer. Does not work. No matter how much consumers tell you they want recommendations this way, they (the consumers) do not believe the results when they come out. This method is easier for a transaction site that has only transaction data to rely on. But for research site consumers are all over the site for many different reasons. Too noisy to trust the click data; and
3. People Like Me and Finger Printing: Try to finger print a hotel or travel experience by asking people to choose similar experiences. The best version of this is, "If you like this hotel in city X you will like hotel Z in city Y".

Almost all of these approaches have a scale component. The wisdom of friends needs the scale of a billion pins from the Cities I've Visited app. People like me need scale to aggregate up the different finger print characteristics.

My Take

I see the value in having access to friends to complement the crowd content on TripAdvisor. This is also a very good implementation by TripAdvisor. That said I feel that the path to recommendations is through the tastegraph/people like me approach more than the sociograph. I have lots of friends, close friends, that have very different interests to me and whose recommendations I won't take.

The first time I used Trip Friends it took a few clicks more than I expected to get logged in and up and running. Once in, I found the product easy to use and easy to integrate into a search. But looking down the list of friends connected for the destination I was interested in (Hong Kong) I was not convinced that any of them knew any more than I did. The one friend I do have that lives and grew up in Hong Kong did not have that in her profile so was missed.

I think the "like button" is going to rule the world one day. By that I mean that tools and products to allow content consumers (online or off) to positively or negatively vote for an item or content (including Facebook, Digg, StumbledUpon and more) will drive the future of content and transactional consumption. But I think this is more likely to happen in a "people like me" or tastegraph environment than an environment driven by "what do my friends think".

Now to you - tastegraph or sociograph - which one will rule?

TripAdvisor Sessions: Talking to TripAdvisor VP Adam Medros about Trip Friends and living in a Facebook world

It has taken me a while to type it up but I wanted to share with you my interview with TripAdvisor Product Vice President Adam Medros on their (now not so new) Trip Friends feature that allows review and destination surfing on TripAdvisor to be combined with Facebook social search features.

If you have not come across the Trip Friends product yet, it allows you to connect your TripAdvisor search to your Facebook network. Practical results are an ability to see who in your network may live, have visited or have knowledge about a destination. This data comes from Facebook friend's profiles and Cities I've Visited "pins". Targeted questions can be asked and answered combining the mass crowd input of Tripadvisor's UGC information and the sociograph responses of a user's Facebook friends (for more on the product see the Tnooz review).

The BOOT is full of stories from me about the evolution of online travel from a transactional activity to a recommendation and inspiration service. You will have seen my interviews with various inspiration and discovery start-up CEOs (Triporati, Joobili, Tripbase, LikeCube) as well as my general posts on the Travel Discovery & Inspiration sector. In part 1 of my discussion with Medros of Expedia's TripAdvisor we discussed discovery, inspiration, product development, lead generation and having to live in a world ruled by Facebook (part 2 here). Here are the details of the discussion

BOOT: How long did it take to build the feature?

Medros of TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor does weekly releases covering 10 or 12 different projects at any one time. We have a building and launching mentality. It helps that we are a content company, not not transactional based as transactional sites need to be much slower and more careful in their launches. This feature took 5 months of work. Some was working through the detail of how it would work – some rewriting code as Facebook changed their feed. 2 weeks before launch we had to rewrite the private messaging functionally because of changes on the Facebook side.

BOOT: What are the future plans for the feature?

Medros of TripAdvisor:There are a couple directions we want to take the product

1. Big Picture – pushing on working more closely with partners in the industry to talk to travellers and users that helps plan a better trip to add advice from experts to advice from Facebook friends;
   
2. Mobile - We re-launched our mobile site in Dec 2009. Want to add this feature to that platform. Currently getting more than 2 million users a month on mobile; and
   
3. Network effect – expanding the buckets of things consumers can share with each other.

BOOT: What is like being tied to Facebook? Must be hard and challenging to give up so much control to them?

Medros of TripAdvisor: Without a doubt (a challenge to be tied to the Facebook experience). The benefits are clear but also a number of dependencies we have to manage:

1. General dependency: What would we do if Facebook build their own travel Q&A product? We can't worry about it as we can't stop something like that happening and it would go against public claims by Facebook to be independent;
2. API dependencies: Facebook have a tendency to change features and the API often. For example app notification went away and was never replaced; and
   
3. Downtime dependency: What happens if the Facebook API has downtime? Figuring out how to message to users when there is latency coming from not you.

Despite this we need Facebook. We tried to build a version of Trip Friends on our own a few years ago – did not take off because consumers did not want to maintain another social network.

BOOT: Do you think Facebook is or will become a place for consumers to do transactions?

Medros of TripAdvisor: Facebook (the platform) is ready but users do not think that way just yet. Have yet to see any real interest in transacting on Facebook other than within games. Good innovators dilemma. Is like the early days of Google. Both Facebook and Google are going to get closer and closer to the lead generation side of marketing through delivering people to sites that can transact.

BOOT: Any thoughts on letting hotels participate - to get involved like they can in responding to reviews?

Medros of TripAdvisor: Starting to think about that. TripAdvisor serves two sides of the trip equation. The user side of recommending and the industry side as well. Hoteliers should be able to contribute to trip planning experience. As long as users know the bias of the advice. There is room for us to take this functionality and add advice from experts as well as friends.

In part 2 I talk to Medros about the differences between the sociograph and the tastegraph.

What are your early impressions?