The social phenomena of specialization is not a new - every human pursuit has a tendency to specialization it seems. It makes sense, really. Specialization allows for greater productivity, which is mutually beneficial for all those involved. It seems that social bookmarking and social networking sites are not to be left out in this tendency towards specialization.

Social bookmarking and social networking allow the user to interact with other users, and for the user to also contribute to the site. Over the past several years, generalized websites for these purposes have achieved great success. Now, specialized sites are popping up to “increase the productivity” of users. For example, the recent unveiling of Sphinn, the social bookmarking site for internet marketers, has been very well-received by the online community. And today, I learn that there is now a social networking site for people who like hip-hop. StreetCred is being endorsed by some big names in music, and even in beta has garnered some attention. There are many examples I could site, but these are some better examples of social networking / bookmarking that truly endeavor to fill a niche market.

Benefits of the specialization of Web 2.0

• Users will not have to sift through as much information they do not want
• Those submitting the information will reach the people who are looking for it much quicker
• Tighter social community based on shared interests and abilities
• The principle of comparative advantage would dictate that in fact users of the various social sites would indeed benefit from information being “produced” in “different places” by those who were especially in a position to produce it
• From a marketing perspective - the more places to market the better

Drawbacks of the Specialization of Web 2.0

• Encourages a myopic view by reducing the diversity of information the user sees

Some suggestions for good social bookmarking and social networking sites:

• Social bookmarking site with news about social bookmarking
• Social networking site for cowboys :)
• Social networking where you can list dance parties
• Social bookmarking site for spammers - maybe if we give them their own site, they won’t bother with the others… ?

Posted: September 20th, 2007 under Web 2.0, Internet Marketing.
Comments: 7

Google has unveiled a new interactive ad format, Gadget Ads.

Gadget ads – non-traditional ad units with interactive, rich media capabilities – not only enable advertisers to target audiences in a flexible and timely manner via regular updates within the ad unit, but also allow users to engage with ad content in a way static ads haven’t facilitated in the past.

These ads claim are meant to transcend rich media, and Google calls them “websites within websites”, and these will be used in the traditional method of advertising on AdSense publishers. Also, the “gadgets” will be available in the iGoogle gadgets directory. These will incorporate “data feeds, maps, images, audio, video, Flash, HTML or JavaScript in a single creative”.

I am surprised it took this long for Google to introduce a rich media ad format alternative, but I am sure that this new alternative will attract a lot (and bigger) business for Google AdWords. Aimed at larger corporations and no doubt at shorter term campaigns, in beta testing the results are apparently very positive.

For more information about Google Gadget Ads, here is the new home of Gadget Ads

In related news: Google has also introduced Google mobile ads. Pssht.

Posted: September 19th, 2007 under Internet Marketing.
Comments: 5

I recently wrote about my friend’s quest to get an Oink invitation. Well, her search got her an invite, and she managed to get one for me as well. Once I joined, I was surprised at the VERY strict rules and to be honest, I was nervous to do anything for about 4 weeks.

It’s crazy how many people want an invite to Oink… some people wait for years on waiting lists and apparently people pay for Oink invites (which is not allowed). With the number of great torrent sharing sites, why does everyone want an Oink invite? I was reminded of Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus:

Several years ago, a hot chef in Chicago decided to go out on his own and open his first restaurant. Realizing how competitive the market was, he did a neat thing. He never opened it to the public. He refused to accept reservations from strangers.

If you wanted to get into Les Nomades, you had to be a member. And how did you do that? Well, the first 500 people were given memberships because the chef knew them as regular customers at his old job, and he personally invited them. Then he told each member that they were welcome to sponsor other members. All they had to do was vouch for someone and he’d make them a member too.

So, what’s in it for the member to nominate someone else? Simple. They scored points with their friends as powerful sneezers because they could “get you in” to the hottest restaurant in town.

Of course, this wouldn’t have worked if the restaurant hadn’t been spectacular. But it was. And it was exclusive. But by allowing his members to do his marketing for him, by giving them an altruistic tool that increased their power as professional sneezers, the chef was able to get out of the way and let his customers sell for him.

And Oink and Demonoid, and other “coveted” torrent sharing site, require an invitation from a member. I like Oink for the obvious reasons (the colour scheme). Both, however, are very fast, but do require you to maintain a sharing ratio. So now, with my membership there, I am to sell my friends on these sites… and invite them to join? ;)

It really is a great idea though, making your site exclusive to ensure that your site will be absolutely popular. There are about 180,000 members on Oink, and generally half of them log in daily. This would not work with every type of website of course. Any site, however, where the market is already flooded, could make it very exclusive and require invitation only.

Posted: September 17th, 2007 under Internet Marketing.
Comments: 15

How do you get a Free Sunday Blog Review on my Pink Internet Marketing blog? Comment on my blog - and make it a good one. I will pick 5 blogs for a mini-review here every Sunday. Just my way of saying “Thanks for stopping by” and to encourage comments from other bloggers.

Revellian is a bloggers paradise! With tons of post about everything that is of interest to a blogger and web-savvy person, written by one of the wisest bloggers I have met. Be sure to check out this blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Another Pink SEO blog! This one, by the French SEO team. Find great information about web development, SEO, gadgets, and much more. So if you speak French, be sure to check out this blog about the internet and other geek interests.

The Marketing Technology Blog by Douglas Karr has lots and lots of posts on blogging, technology, web development, SEO and marketing. Very well written and informative, a great addition to your daily feeds.

Written by an American girl who has moved to Italy, Bleeding Espression has great photos and posts about the experiences that can be had in the beautiful country of Italy. You really get a slice of the culture and the architecture. And her dogs are just gorgeous! They don’t have dogs like that here.

The SEO Girl Blog is a new blog about search engine optimization. Learn about SEO techniques and terminology, and about a girl who loves to blog about them.

Posted: September 16th, 2007 under Sunday Reviews.
Comments: 6

Here is the story of the old laptop: There is this old laptop sitting in my basement. It’s been sitting there, doing nothing. I tried to turn it on a few months ago and it would not boot. I had to reinstall an operating system. Since I was using all my Windows XPs on computers already, I had to install Windows 98 just to get it up and running. It turns on and a window appears that says Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows 98 or something along those lines. HaHa! So that was not going to do. But as if I am spending money on another copy of Windows XP. I have always been a Microsoft girl (I am my father’s daughter). But I said: Hey, girl, why not try Linux? Feisty Fawn appealed to me the most because the windows wobble. And apparently it is very user friendly and easy to install (which is true).

It’s almost done installing… I am so excited I could burst. Say goodbye to 1998! Goodbye Microsoft! (gee, next thing you know I will be getting a mac, joking, I will never get a mac)

Posted: September 14th, 2007 under Personal.
Comments: 15

I was watching YouTube videos and now I am all rock and roll. I hope you enjoy. :)

Read more »

Posted: September 13th, 2007 under Personal, Random Stuff.
Comments: 3

First of all, it is important that this be done with the understanding that Yahoo! Answers is not a place for spamming, and this technique should not be used to help increase your backlink count, though it will of course. However, that being said, Yahoo! Answers is a great place for people wishing to promote their personal and business websites. By using the unique answers that only you possess as an expert, you can market your site to people who are specifically in need of the information on your site or in need of the services you provide.

Yahoo! Answers is a forum where people can ask, or answer, questions relating to various topics and these are all well organized and easy to browse through. By creating a user account with Yahoo! you can speak with people from around the world on topics that you yourself know best. For example, perhaps you are a real estate agent looking to grow your business by creating a website to show your contact information and listings. Why not answer questions relating to purchasing or selling a home? Make you answers thoughtful and concise, and be sure to include your “signature” at the bottom of the page with a link to your site. Now it is very important that you use moderation when answering questions. Do not answer any question that comes your way; be sure to respond to those who would specifically benefit from your particular expertise. This way, you build a good reputation for providing solid answers, as opposed to a reputation as a Yahoo! Answers spammer. Also, you want to select questions that are directly related to the content of your site, as then each person who reads that post will be a potential end user or customer.

It is important to always remember when trying to increase your exposure online: No matter what you do, there will be another company out there doing the same thing with greater resources. Yahoo! Answers is a place that larger corporations do not frequent which allows you to set yourself apart by showing a passion for your field and the subject matter of your website. Should your answers be well received, you will soon start seeing these question and answer posts in the search engine ranks.

N.B. This is not to be used to build links or help your search engine optimization. The links in Yahoo! Answers are all nofollow and they won’t help you in the Google SERPs. The pages will appear, however, in the Google search engine and will rank well for a short period of time. In addition, I have experienced several of my answers being adopted on other sites for inclusion for content, and these give me links.

I originally wrote this on April 9, 2007.

Posted: September 13th, 2007 under Internet Marketing.
Comments: none

I have found another blogger who is deserving of the Schmooze Award - Chase Richards at WriteNonsense. See my original Schmooze Award post the day Mike and I unleashed it on the blogosphere. Then we found out that this was to be the King Kong of blogging award memes. Congrats Chase on being a fabulously skilled schmoozer!

Posted: September 12th, 2007 under Blogging.
Comments: 4

I have been toying around with the idea of examining the cultural anthropology of Flickr, and I am not the first to consider the importance of Flickr as a mosaic of cultural information. While teaching a course on anthropology and photography at Hereford College, Kerim Friedman asked his students to use Flickr tags to come up with paper topics, but I plan on taking a different approach to a similar idea, as Friedman states:

Obviously, there are limits to such a project. Flickr is a virtual community, not a real one, and as such it not easy to place the photographs in the social context within which they were taken. People’s identities are often anonymous.

For my purposes, much as with my views on blogging culture, on plan on looking at Flickr as the primary social context. On another note, with the growing popularity of Flickr, it is not an unusual occurrence for major cities to have various forms of meet-ups for Flickr users - Flickr users interact with each other through pictures, creating a social bond. Friedman furthermore states:

Moreover, the Flickr community is both diverse, with members from all over the world, and at the same time restricted to a small class of people with digital cameras, broadband internet connections, and the desire to beta test geeky new web tools.

This may be the case, but generally inclusion in a cultural group relies on a series of “ifs”, usually this might hinge on location, religion or blood, but in this case, the bar for inclusion is set technologically and is entirely voluntary.

Read more »

Posted: September 11th, 2007 under Blogthropology.
Comments: 2

I spent a few hours in Google Book Search, searching, observing, trying to lay waste to the claim that there was no rhyme or reason to the ranking of book pages. Well, I found that of course they appear to rank this according to title tags and number of editions printed, but there seemed to be some missing ingredient, something affecting the ranking that was not apparent.

Now, I see that Google introduces My Library on Google Book Search. Users can add books to their personal Google Library, recommending the books so to say. Perhaps this is the missing factor to the ranking of books in Google Book Search?

I addition to this, you can share it with your friends, and people can subscribe to your My Library RSS feed, helping to promote the books that you are recommending. In Seth’s Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus, he says that it would be hard to engage in a viral marketing campaign for a book. But now we see that Google has found a way around this. Users can send these to their friends and family, and recommend these books for online purchase. They can even have them subscribe to the RSS feed? And Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the rest of them reap the rewards. Google must have made a lot of money from this. ;)

Posted: September 9th, 2007 under Google.
Comments: 2