OpenSocial developers have just gained access to a whole new platform: iGoogle. iGoogle is the startpage for millions of users across the web. While it isn’t as robust as Facebook, the ability to distribute your application through more channels is always a good thing. The applications also include a canvas view that provides more space for applications in contrast to the standard widget-sized currently provided.

The canvas feature is a drastic change for start pages overall as widgets have become the standard. For me this means that we are witnessing the convergence of social applications as widgets. Once two distinct entities, widgets and social applications had separate roles. Now, widgets and social applications are rapidly becoming more ubiquitous and distribution channels are becoming more streamlined.

This means that developers can now reach more people with less effort. The only problem remaining is that lack of viral channels on iGoogle. A while back I contacted Tariq Krim, CEO of Netvibes, to suggest that they add social features to their startpage. At the time he didn’t understand my suggestion (could have been lost in translation) but in a matter of months, Netvibes enabled the sharing of startpage widgets across their platform.

Erick Schonfeld suggests that iGoogle may slowly become its own social network. That’s due to today’s addition of friend updates to the iGoogle homepage. The web is rapidly becoming more social and while all of these standards and features are a complete mess, soon enough much of this will hopefully become more straightforward and slowly we will see the centralization of social identity management on the web. For now, developers have another platform to play with. Check out the video below to learn more.

An interesting thing has been going on around Silicon Valley recently: the creation and funding of businesses with no business model. It’s a great model for those that are fortunate enough to get funding. Just ask Max Levchin how it feels to close funding at a $500 million valuation. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the same track record and the best way to make money is actually through offering a product or service that you charge for.

So the title of this post may be misleading because Six Apart was already making money. What the acquisition of Apperceptive highlights is that helping corporations navigate the social media and social technology space is extremely valuable. It’s also a straight-forward way to generating revenue. Back in March I said, “Don’t Make Your Product Free. Charge for it!“.

This morning I was watching a video on how to make money online by Vinicius Manhaes Teles. I find it healthy that there are people discussing how to make money. Frequently we discuss this as “monetization” and while monetization on the web typically requires ad networks, quick eyeballs aren’t as valuable as new clients. I’m going off tangent here because the real story is about how Six Apart has acquired a new company. You can read more about that via Anil Dash. I definitely recommend checking out the following video though:

One of the biggest problems with MySpace applications has been the lack of viral distribution. Facebook launched with no restrictions and the only platform to come close to Facebook in regards to application growth is hi5. Unfortunately MySpace did not build in many viral channels as to avoid a backlash by users to due spammy applications.

According to one MySpace developer (who I found thanks to Justin Smith), the first viral channels will be opening later this week or early next week. Max Newbould announced that MySpace would be adding notifications by April 30th. This may be the first step toward MySpace becoming a viable platform competitor to Facebook.

As of now, no other platforms have had as transformative an impact as Facebook. Many have predicted that MySpace would be the social platform to change that trend. Following a substantially less buzzed about platform launch (in comparison to Facebook), many have been disappointed. A number of developers I have spoken with suggested that MySpace and the other platforms were not a huge priority because no viral channels had been implemented that would distance the leaders from the rest.

The new updates are likely to change all that. While this will be the first viral channel that MySpace adds, it won’t be the last. Over the coming months we will see the platform adjust to user and developer feedback. As such we are still very early in the social networking site platform wars. The upcoming notification by MySpace is just one step along the way but it could be a game changing addition.

Charles Hudson wrote an interesting post about how social networking advertising will be harder than we think. He suggests the largest challenge for social networks is that most consumer decisions on the site take place through the referral of friends. Back in November I proclaimed that social networks will become the new television. If that’s the case, why is advertising so challenging on social networks but not as challenging for the telvision.

Current Monetization Models
News alert: television advertising is in decline. Where are companies advertising budgets moving to? Online of course! So if advertising money is going away from the television and social networks are the new television, why aren’t the large social networks making a ton of money? The primary reason is because online advertising is focused on conversion. If I sell skis and advertise my ski company online where am I going to advertise? If I had an unlimited budget this is how I would spend my money:

1. Google - Honestly nothing beats it. John Battelle called it the database of intentions and that’s why they are number one. Typing a keyword into a search box is currently the most accurate measure of intention on the web if not in the world.
2. Facebook - Wow! Has Facebook already become the number two location for advertising? Not really but the reason I would spend my money here second is because Facebook’s conversions are known for having high conversion rates (based on my conversation with a number of people I have spoken to that have launched campaigns on the site).

   If I know the demographics and interests of the individuals I’m targeting, I’m highly likely to find people that are interested in my product. While they may not intend to purchase the product right then these people are your target demographic.

3. Banner Campaigns - Next up comes banner campaigns. As far as I’m concerned, untargeted banner campaigns are practically useless. They drive random people to your site. While some advertising solutions providers such as Advertising.com provide multiple channels to advertise to, this form of advertising is still relatively untargeted.

So somehow Facebook ranks second but I agree with Charles Hudson that large social networks won’t monetize effectively? Yes. The long-tail of advertising has a steep drop off at the beginning. Any tool that can measure intention will always be at the top. Facebook will be able to monetize better than they currently are but it will never be a Google until your friends can give you results in under a second (as Erik Nordlander said in the comments on Thursday).

How to Monetize Social Networks
So how will social networks ever make money? Honestly, the large ones will find it extremely difficult to monetize effectively until they become the creators of niche content. What do I mean? On large social networks the media is currently the users. I am, you are, we are all media. The only problem is that there is only so much money you can make off of individuals. Media is still king but it needs to be compelling content and also centered around a topic that has material relevance if it is going to be effectively monetized.

Ultimately, effectively monetizing these sites is straightforward:

1. Create content around a given niche topic.
2. Attract other users to the site that are interested in that content.
3. Get them in your network.
4. Advertise to them about related brands and services.

It’s that simple! The problem with the larger social networks is that they are too disparate. Many of the people have different interests. In theory you could try to sift through user profiles to determine what they are interested in (as Facebook does). Alternatively you could rely on the groups that they join (that have been created by other users). The only problem with both situations is that you are relying on user generated content which has proven time and time again that the majority of the content is crap.

Without having some form of editorial control or management of what is being discussed or defining discussions, it is impossible to automatically determine the type of people that are participating in various conversations across your site.

Who are the Winners?
As we will see the real winners will be niche networks. This is an easy thing to assert following Ning’s $500 million valuation. I could dissect the pro and cons of the Ning business model but I will save that for another day. Ultimately, the combination of valuable niche content and networks around that content will build the most effective way at monetizing social networks. Do you foresee another successful model for social network monetization? Who do you think will become the real winners?

I know it may seem odd to say, but the other day I had a meeting with some very interesting people and when I was introduced to new faces I was introduced as a blogger. At first I was taken back by this introduction. I had never really considered myself a blogger, I always thought myself a PR flack who happens to blog.

Then it dawned on me; being called a blogger is not like being called a writer, there is a slight difference. A blogger isn’t a job unto itself like a writer, a blogger is more like a modifier, you do something else and you also blog.

I know plenty of writers; writers for papers, books magazines, heck I even know a guy who writes instruction manuals for electronics. All of these people consider writing their profession. I, coming from the PR/Marketing world, have always considered writing as a tool. I write because it is the most effective channel for getting my message out.

I guess that is why I never really considered myself a blogger. I never really considered a blog more than a tool for getting my message out to as many people who would read it. The more I thought about it I started to think this is what all bloggers really were.

How many bloggers do you know actually make a living off of their blog. Very few, it’s like being in a band. Sure there are some bands out there that make a living playing music, but most of us do it as a passion not a profession.

In that sense I am a blogger. I am someone who writes because he has a passion for PR/Marketing and social media. My profession will always be PR/Marketing but my passion could be considered blogging. Are you a blogger?

I mean are you a real blogger? Are you someone who writes because you have a passion for what you are writing about or are you a writer who happens to publish on a blog? There is a major difference and I wonder how many each type there is out there. Let me know what you are.

Fred Wilson seems to think so. According to him, “The blogging revolution is the adult social network whereas Facebook style social networking is for teens and college kids.” This is just a generalized assertion with no statistical backing. Do adults comprise the majority of the bloggers? In this country they represent the majority of the population but I’m not so sure that they represent the majority of bloggers.

For most bloggers, writing is a self-centered activity. People write about their daily activities, their thoughts on life, and why their boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with them. People definitely write about other issues but I would guess that most bloggers are not as connected as Fred would imagine. I started thinking about this for a little bit and honestly at a certain point are social networks really necessary? It’s an extremely useful tool for those looking to build their network but how about those that aren’t?

According to Facebook the average number of users on the site are connected to 100 people. Does the novelty of social networks eventually wear out? How long can we collect contacts a network without getting overwhelmed by the noise? My Salesforce account and LinkedIn account are both two places where I’m free from the noise. Facebook on the other hand keeps me up to date on the happenings of 1,000 of my closest friends.

Do you think blogging is for adults? How frequently do you login to Facebook and other social networks?

Earlier this week I had the fortune to speak with Charlene Li, one of the premier though leaders in the area of social computing and is a leading analyst at Forrester Research. Practically every conference I go to, Charlene is always one of the speakers there. I spoke to Charlene about her new book, Groundswell, winning in a world transformed by social technologies, which I actually had a chance to read. The book gives in depth analysis and research about new social technologies and how they are effecting businesses.

Not only does the book provide a thorough overview of the current state of social technologies and their impact but it also discusses how businesses can adapt to them. Charlene emphasizes in the book and in my discussion with her that the focus should not be on the individual technologies that shape the social web (and the groundswell) but instead on the relationships. If you know who your customers are you can target them and join the conversation using any social technology.

Charlene provides valuable data for anybody looking to get a through overview on how to adapt in this rapidly changing environment. While the book focuses heavily on larger corporations, there are also many lessons for small organizations to learn from this book. While your company shouldn’t dedicate all its’ resources to social technology and social media, these tools are extremely powerful and valuable and should not be overlooked.

Listen to my podcast with Charlene to learn how to embrace, interact with and energize the groundswell.

 

 Charlene Li - Groundswell Interview [23:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This morning following me posting one of my articles, my internet suddenly shut off. I later learned that it was because a payment I had made over the phone had not been processed. In between me not having internet access and tweeting it via my mobile phone, @comcastcares asked me if I had my issue resolved. While it wasn’t instantaneous, it was really quick. Previously, in order to receive the phone you would have to pick up the phone and call customer service to get some help.

What Comcast has done is extremely simple but transformational. They are proactively engaging frustrated clients. This model is not new but what happened with me on Twitter painted a funny picture in my head. Imagine sitting in front of your brand new plasma TV, the installation people finish mounting it, turn on the TV and everything works. Once the installation team walks out the door you start using the television and realize that you can’t change the channels because there’s a lock on the cable box.

After yelling a few expletives you proceed to try getting things to work. Within moments your phone rings and it’s a technical support person there to walk you through resolving your problem. “How did you know I had a problem,” you ask the technical support representative. “Your girlfriend just told her friend on Twitter that she was enjoying watching you figure out how to make your new television work.”

Your girlfriend (or significant other) smiles as you glance over and the tech support rep proceeds to walk you through the process of configuring your television. This is only one example of the future of support. Social technology is changine the way that brands interact with us, not just the way we interact with them. This began with blogs but new social technologies are making it it easier for us to have a personal relationship with our brands.

Over the coming years as social information makes parts of our lives more public, brands will have the opportunity to have more substantial bonds with their clients. While we thought the digital world would distance us from brands since we wouldn’t necessarily have a face to face interaction, we are actually being brought closer thanks to these new social technologies. Do you have any examples of improved brand interaction thanks to these new technologies?

The battle for the desktop internet browser has raged on in the 90s and returned at the beginning of this decade with the launch of Firefox. That was the last desktop web centric application battle that we witnessed. When Adobe Air launched last year, many were predicting the future integration of desktop applications and web based services. Honestly, that’s like saying that something big will come out of this thing they call “the internet”. We know something will happen but we don’t know what it will be.

Well it appears as though the first battle has begun for desktop based applications that integrate with web services. Mike Arrington calls it “The Twitter/Friendfeed Desktop Client Arms Race.” Both services are extremely early but yesterday when AlertThingy launched with FriendFeed integration I figured it would truly be the end of Twhirl. That shows how much I know.

Within days, Twhirl added FriendFeed support and Twhirl is back in the lead again. I could cover all of the minute adjustments made by both these applications but considering that this is sure to be constantly evolving over the coming months, I’ll stay away from writing about it too much. One thing that I will say is that FriendFeed has now made its way onto my desktop. Even though I haven’t been a huge fan of FriendFeed, having alerts showing up on my desktop makes a lot of sense.

Do you use FriendFeed? If not, check out the new Twhirl application. It looks promising.

Last night OpenSocial applications went live on Orkut starting in India. Given that India is one of the most popular networks on Orkut, this is pretty big news. In contrast to Facebook which had overloaded profiles thanks to the influx of over 20,000 new applications, Orkut is limiting users to adding up to 25 applications to their profile. “In the coming weeks” Orkut applications will be going live worldwide.

Orkut was one of the only remaining social platforms to not go live. This means that you can now develop applications for Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, hi5 and Orkut. These social networks comprise the largest demographic base. There are other platforms that are also leveraging the OpenSocial standard but for now these are the largest of the pack. Facebook continues to lead the way with the most rapid user adoption and the existence of large ad networks that can drive users at launch time.

OpenSocial is still in the early stages and there is much development that still needs to be done. It is an unproven platform but based on the feedback received from early users, it has made it substantially easier to port applications across multiple networks and has reduced overall development time. As of yet, I have no details on the viral channels available to Orkut developers but should have an update later today.