Apologies for the delay in commenting on the talks we heard at London’s Internet World, but at last the opportunity has arisen to jot down some perceived wisdom and pass it on.

The speakers we enjoyed listening to - who had real news and views to impart - were Ashley Friedlein (CEO of E-consultancy.com) and Loic Le Meur. Most of the other talks I listened to (days 2 and 3 – didn’t make day 1) were imparting news we already knew rather than anything new or interesting – ideal for those with limited knowledge about the current social media and Web2.0 infatuation - or discovering online.

Loic gave a good summary on the evolution and future of blogging. It’s almost old hat now having been around for a good four years. These ‘web diaries’, he claimed, are most popular in the Latin countries (and Asian) where there is precedent for passionate outbursts – and instead of rioting in the streets, some people now raise awareness via blogging!

He accredits Blogging’s success to:
Feeding the ego of the writer – with fame and for a few; fortune.
Geography is irrelevant – you can blog from anywhere and have the same impact.
Reality exposure – it becomes difficult to be credible if you Photoshop images (example: Reuters’ image of smoking dark black clouds over Lebanon) when someone out there can show you have manipulated the photos.
Many passionate individuals who want to write down their knowledge or share their news. Often the creation is more fun than the watching/reading.

His four blogging trends were:
1. Escape your friends. So much noise out there that we now seek anonymity where we can’t be disturbed by ‘contacts’.
2. Stay with your best friends and get closer to them. E.g. dopplr.com and twitter.com. Don’t accept every contact/approach as a friend. Be intimate with your audience.
3. Video. People say TV sucks, so now we have TIVO, Youtube, Joost, blinkx etc. Our pc screens will look like this soon (Ashely had the same idea – see our notes on his talk following)

4. It’s a cultural change. No office is needed, no boss, it’s about entreprenurship, we can Skype, don’t need to wear a tie, Croc footwear ok, small hierarchy, we are global citizens, more personal, no offline, no distance, no download costs, share with open source, launch in beta and get real testing so you don’t fail, and it’s al NOW.

One of the most interesting aspects was what he LEFT OUT: corporate blogging. He touched on it only at the end of his talk when answering a question from ‘Ms Stunned By Omission’ in the audience. He recommended what we say here at iConcertina – if you don’t have something to say or the time to say it, DON’T BLOG, but all corporations should still have a blogging strategy – e.g. work out your key influencers and work out your policy on how to respond to and monitor the online buzz.

Loic also said the spamblogs will fall by the wayside as people will only look to the influencers and more comment registration and validation is built in to the blogging process. We say thanks to our spam blockers in the mean time…

Ashley focused on ‘atomisation’ and the plethora of cool APIs, widget and gadgets out there to bring this vision to us. Remember that Tom Cruise film where he stands in the centre of the room and directs digital content around the room to where he wants it on another screen? That time has arrived – it is here – NOW.
So:
1. Understand your own network.
2. Make self useful and available to your network.
3. Engage with network.
In his generous spirit he revealed his current clutch of favourite tools to help us on our way
1. Improve your Google search “related:[www.yourdomainname.com]”.
2. Alexa.com.
3. Weblog.
4. Feedaggregator.
5. Backlink.
6. Atlas sitefinder.
7. Feedraider.com.
8. Snipperoo.com.
9. Widgetbox.com.
10. Blidget.com.
11. Www59.rockyou.com/choose_widget.php.
12. Programmablewebb.com.
His challenge was ‘Customer is in control – so what are YOU going to do about it?’.

Richard Gale of Playboy UK did a fantastic case study of their new social networking site, PlayboyModel.co.uk (built by our sister company, rareface.com) and how it helps them find “beautiful but not naked” women. He revealed real lows - surprisingly, despite what you see on MySpace, many users aren’t html sophisticated so don’t know how to create links in profiles; there are lots of cheats out there, etc - and real highs - build cost recouped by month 2 with premium SMS; his £25 Gumtree ad drove lots of traffic to the site; and they’ll be able to use the content for syndication, broadcast and mobile offerings. It was great to have such an honest and open talk. There were loads of people queuing to talk to him and the rareface team at the end of the talk.

Rebecca Jennings from Forrester Research showed how the long tail is becoming the thick tail as more niche sites come online to address niche needs and this is where the immediate opportunity is! Google have made the link king – and this is what Ashley also stressed in his talk. They obviously agree with the book ‘Tipping Point’ as endemic WOM is akin to links these days.

I particularly liked Rebecca’s graph on the three sophistication levels for eCommerce sites:
Content Merchandise Service
Sophisticated Contextual Individual Personal
Mainstream Interactive Target and segment FAQ, languages
Basic Static No up/cross sell Phone

We listened to Claudio Struzzo from Ikea hoping to hear some insight into their activities particularly their new online shop but sadly nothing was revealed. She did showcase some good Web 2.0 case studies; e.g. Coke & Menthos’ different reactions earlier this year and stressed that online brands must maintain their credibility and deliver their vision as an integrated campaign (online, mobile, email, press, TV, radio, direct mail, pr, outdoor and in store)

I didn’t’ catch the name of the guy who presented the 12.30 – 1 pm talk on Thursday, but it was great – he did it without slides and it was just as interesting as almost eveyone elses! I was obviously suffering from Powerpoint fatigue by then. The talk made me laugh – he said we’d be forgiven if we thought all you needed for Web2.0 site was:
1. Rounded text.
2. Large fonts.
3. Bright colours.
4. Silly name.
5. Founder blog.
Of course the concept is king and trust is paramount – the other stuff joins you on the bandwagon!

Caroline Vogt of MSN Research & MTV spoke on their new research on global youth’s uptake – there weren’t really any surprises here. Their extensive study of 20 or so countries revealed:
1. Yes, kids are talking the language and know and use words like; burn, mp3, download, surf, Ipod, Google it (for search), texting, MSN (for instant message) – and that brand names have turned into generic terms.
2. They like using “stuff” (not “technology” – as to them it’s just normal) to improve their status, keep in touch, own a device and make them look good. It also helps youth relax, fill time, energise themselves, learn, feel safe, solve puzzles.
3. Girls like/Boys like:
a. Girls like people, phones and music.
b. Boys like devices and offerings.
4. Perception by age:
a. 10 – 13 year olds see the stuff as another toy, entertainment, provider of information.
b. 14 – 17 year olds use the stuff for self discovery, building their identity, friendship, information, parental distancing – they are too young to hang out ‘outside’ so do so online
c. 17 – 20 year olds use the stuff for entertainment, to pursue hobbies, to research and learn
5. The order of preference of this stuff is: Email, TV, Mobile, IM, MP3, SN, Gaming…
6. Browsing habits:
a. ¼ return to their 9 favourite sites and follow a few links.
b. 2/3 return to some of their favourites site and follow navigation links.
c. The rest navigate by links/search.
7. The youth communicate in order of preference; Face-to-face, mobile, landline, text, IM and then email.
This youth generation is the ‘me generation’. They are selfish, they want it NOW and expect it to be FREE – especially if it is online.

The chap from Snowdog Records revealed a nice list of who to think about including on your social media campaign hit list. I add the caveat that first of all make sure they are appropriate for your message and audience! His list included: Myspace, Flickr, Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, Snaplive, 7digital, Photobucket, Lastfm, Use of email, sms, seo, blogs, forums, rss etc.

Alistair Mitchell of Huddle.net made a point of saying that it is not “if companies should?” but “when companies should?” convert to using Software As A Service (SAAS) – hosted content providers. Their examples were BP’s move of 1/3 of its employees off the LAN to access the internet by pc only, and Google providing Gmail accounts to 65,000 Arizona university students rather than the university’s own mail server.

Mark Simpson of Maxymiser chastised their client, LoveFilm, for not being adventurous enough with testing the range of various content prior to going live with it (the example was a simple range of copy lines). They predictably and gave commonsensical recommendations that sites should be/have:
1. Test and test again.
2. Have only a few clear ‘calls to action’.
3. An uncluttered home page.
4. Relevant images in the right places.
5. Breadcrumbs for clear navigation.
6. Segmented landing pages – so browsers get what they want immediately.
7. Keep it short and simple.

Andrew Hatton of Oxfam and Jamie Turner of Postcode Anywhere’s best bits were reinforcing the obvious: make forms easy and relevant for people to fill in. When they cut out non-essential elements in online form-filling their ROI soared!

We bumped into some friends, made new ones that we chatted up in the queues or sat next to at the seminars, we didn’t visit many stands – and managed to duck most of the people handing out stuff. I wonder how many of those poor cactuses made it home.

We listened to a few other presentations, but the above are my collective nuggets of Internet World 2007.

Bring on Internet World 2008!

Ashley Friedlein, blog, Internet World, Loic Le Meur, marketing

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February 2012

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