For the lost facebook souls

Facebook has a new layout and many are lost. I think the homepage tour helps navigation so here it goes: http://www.facebook.com/sitetour/homepage_tour.php

Strangely, Facebook never seems to please its networks members in each redesign. Also, the redesign is not a gradual one which results in the need of a map/tour!

5 weeks of Facebook Chat

5 weeks ago, Facebook discretely launched its real-time chat service. The concept of chat within social networking is a first (at least for the big networks I hold a profile in and my blabnet experiment). The idea, as Josh at Facebook puts it, is very simple immediacy: extending what has so far been messages, pokes and notification anytime you log-in, to real-conversation. Even friends' News-feeds will be incorporate in a real-time conversation as they happen.

from Facebook's blog post:
"The Wall and Inbox have been the primary ways to communicate, but when more immediacy is necessary—for example when making plans for lunch in half an hour"

I am particularly fascinated by the discrete way in which this new feature is being launched, unveiled slowly slowly in select network, without any need to download any applications or add-friends. The new Facebook Chat sits there...waiting quietly to "pull features of the site into the real- time Chat world", enhancing the Facebook experience.

Marketing makes the world go round.. tra la la la la!

I got the news yesterday.. [about time you think eh?] The University of Malta, in conjunction with the San Diego State University, is offering an MA in Integrated Marketing Communications. This full time course will be delivered over three semesters starting in September 2008. If you need any information just send an e-mail to info.imp@um.edu.mt :)

And now.. let's blab on something else.. but ever so closely related..

The Concept of Beauty!
No.. it doesn't necessarily mean.. aesthetics or having perfect bodies. Beauty means workability and simplicity at times, as Tom Peters wisely states. Why do we cling on to complicated, bureaucratic systems? Why is it that we think complicated stuff is pleasing and worthwhile.. when in fact we can make use of less crafty and fancy things which are nonetheless.. beautiful?

Case in point.. facebook. It's a cool social utility network programme.. of that we are sure.. well.. the majority of people seem to agree at least. It allows you to customise your personal profile with a variety of unheard of applications... [some of which are really lame.. but anyway..] and all sorts of bla bla bla. However, there is one thing which bothers me and the others quite a lot.. Why on Earth do we need to invite our friends to use the applications we so desperately want to apply? I mean.. can't our friends discover applications all on their own; by their lovely little [not so little, large.. you name it we have it] self? Adding insult to injury is the fact that some of these applications just don't work if invitations are not sent out... oh the grumbles and mutters! This nuisance has caused quite a 'stir' in the virtual facebook realm, i.e.: the creation of a group against the principle of inviting friends to use applications... Hope that makes enough noise..

What I want to say is that no matter how good your marketing strategy is.. if you don't have workable products/services to offer.. well.. that might cause some troubles. People are fed up of complicated things.. we live in a super fast world with super fast routines.. we don't have time to understand how things work.. we just want things to work.. and that's it, i.e.: if you're a customer. Customers.. let the others do the thinking for you! A product has to be excellent; it needs to work well.. and it's there that beauty lies..

Beauty has to generate Vision.. not Rants! We could accept Blabs! though :P

2007 Highlights

Below I would like to draw up my list of 2007 highlights of the local interactive and marketing worlds:

#1: Virtual Competitions
In 2007, XFM gave us The Virtual Model and Virtual Rock Star Competitions. The online audience had to vote for their favorite model or band. The winning model got a front page on Pink Magazine whilst the winning rock star got to record her own song, a photoshoot in London (and much more exposure locally). Bands/Artists had to post their home-made video. Some of user-generated content did get some good viewing (ex. Slur - 1,939 views; Drive - 1,249 views; Elisa - 2,141 views)

#2: You - syndrome
On a similar note, Vodafone (Malta) has come up with 'The Face of Vodafone' campaign. In this same year, UK's teen magazine Shout launched a campaign to search for a teen fashion model. The campaign was managed by Miller, the local distributors of Shout magazine.

#3: PM discusses budget online
This was the year in which the Prime Minister (of Malta) discussed politics through an online forum. The budget2008 website has been given a lot of attention in all media. Politics apart, I believe this was a highlight (especially because we did it before The Queen posted her first video on YouTube!). This gets me to the second highlight:

#4: Facebook Malta
The local acknowledgment of online channels also results in a number of important people having their own facebook profile. Apart from the music artists such as Ira, Wintermoods and Salt (my band), a number of MPs also have their own facebook profile. 13,753 have joined the Malta network and that still excludes me and a couple of other lazy people who still plan to join later.

#5: Lamp-post advertising!
In the past 3 years, FacesDisplays introduced bus-shelter advertising in Malta. In 2007, our lamp-posts are also holding promotional banners, similar to the Chogm ones. Brands who have started using the service include Rocs & Inglott, KFC, Burger King & SG Solutions (Apple)

#6: Juice, You and ME
The list of free magazines continued to grow. In March Juice Magazine hit households. The magazine's 160,000 copies are printed in Milan by In-Print. Maltapost also continued to invest in its Direct Marketing services through Mailbox magazine published by 26thFrame. Design magazine ME got its online space at medesignmag.com. Health & Beauty magazine, You, also launched in 2007. The magazine is distributed with The Sunday Times.

#7: 2 Covers, 1 magazine
Tune-in also came up with a first for the local publishing industry. To promote 89.7 Bay's Abel and Elinor, Tune-in published 2 versions of the magazine on the same Sunday. Readers could choose between getting Abel or Elinor on the front page. My household got Elinor!

#8: Shu!
Exit launched Shu! store. The store design was in the creative hands of Chris Briffa Architects. In 2006, Exit and Chris Briffa have also worked together on the 2-22 wine bar, also situated in Valletta.

#9: New / Revamped websites in 2007
I surely did not come across all the local websites which were launched or revamped in 2007, but here are some I know of, and have also blabbed about: GO.com.mt, Timesofmalta.com, Di-ve.com, klikk.com.mt & Kiwilicious.com

#10: I started blogging
And finally, in 2007 we also launched our mini-project which is still at its early stages...and started blabbing on this blog.

Flock

From Shawn Harding's post dated Nov. 3:

"It is my sincere pleasure to announce the release of Flock version 1.0. The Social Web Browser is now available to download from www.flock.com. This event marks a significant milestone for our company. When I arrived at Flock one year ago, the primary goal I set for the company was to transform us from a great idea company into a world-class innovation and execution company."

Flock incorporates Facebook, Youtube and all the other Social networks. Seems browsing is becoming ever more social!

Google just can't help it...Google OpenSocial! (Part1)

Google has to have a share of the attention being drawn upon Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook. True, Google has Orkut, its own SNS, but that is not enough!

Google has over this past week launched Google OpenSocial which is an easy to use API based on Java and HTML allowing the development of third-party applications for sites such as Hi5 and LinkedIn. The good news (for Google) is that MySpace is also adopting Google OpenSocial, allowing the serving of third-party applications to its 200 million accounts.

Google OpenSocial is also good news for third-party developers such as Slide which were also present at the OpenSocial Campfire. Slide is basically a widget network serving widgets to 134 million unique viewers a month.

Below is my (very) simple Slide widget featuring a number of companies involved in the OpenSocial project.

Marketers and big brands may advertise and get their brands across using widget networks such as Slide's. Marketers will definitely seek to make good use of this extended network of widgets and applications, yet what about lonely $15 billion worth Facebook which managed to get a mention on today's Sunday Times of Malta and is currently the hot topic on the most popular marketing blogs and websites (the latter being far more important to 24 yr. old CEO Mark Elliot Zuckerberg)?

OpenSocial is definitely more attractive than Facebook's FBML (Facebook MarkUp Language), a mark-up language used to develop widgets but which restricts these applications to run only on Facebook. Should Facebook join the crowd?