What is Cloud Computing?
via bub.blicio.us
New Affiliate Summit Social Network Could Actually Be Useful
If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I’m a chronic social networker. I jump on things like Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, FriendFeed, Seesmic, etc and often call them the “next big thing.”
I know it’s annoying, but sometimes I do get it right (like with Twitter).
So, I’m particularly excited to see the new Affiliate Summit network being moved to Ning…
New Affiliate Summit Social Network | Affiliate Summit Blog: “Affiliate Summit has launched a new social network for conference attendees on Ning.
Based on a poll, as well as feedback on Twitter and directly to us, Ning was the clear favorite over the previous social network technology from Confabb.”
If you’ve never played with Ning, you really should. It beats forum software like phpBB etc hands down and offers a number of options for integration with things like your blog feed or Twitter or Flickr.
And I’m especially excited about the Summit’s move to Ning because the previous Confabb system was atrocious from a usability standpoint.
This time around for the ASE Boston show, I really think we can derive some benefits from this iteration of the social network.
Head over and sign up. You just might like it (and find it profitable).
Twitter Track
I’ve been arguing that Twitter users should abandon desktop clients (until Twhirl gets their xmpp gateway going) and use GTalk for Twitter. Not only is the GTalk gateway real time, but there are a few key benefits that enhance the Twitter experience.
Here’s a great post from @tw3nty3ight about how he uses Track and GTalk for Twitter in a similar fashion that I do (on the desktop and on the BlackBerry):
Tw3nty3ight.com: How I Get The Most Out Of Twitter: “There is a very useful Twitter command that is overlooked by many. The TRACK command is the most underused command on twitter. In order for me to be notified of someone mentioning anything pertaining to myself I simply utilize this feature. There are two main ways to use this command, text (SMS) or IM with Google Talk. “
I follow around 1500 people. Watching that kind of a stream all day would render Twitter pretty useless for my needs. So, with the device updates setting on IM, I’m able to “turn on” just the 50 or so people that I’m really interested in following and use Track for my name or topics I want to hear about to catch the rest.
Give it a go if you need to cut the signal-to-noise ratio.
Pressroom Theme for Wordpress
FathomSEO has a nice new clean Wordpress theme geared towards businesses that need a pressroom design:
Social Media Pressroom Theme WordPress, Social Media Newsroom Template: Theme Name: Media Pressroom
Description: A clean, minimalist theme designed for use as a media pressroom.
Author: Fathom SEO, which offers search engine optimization and other online marketing services.
Author URL: http://www.fathomseo.com
View a live demo of this theme.
The simplicity and focus on social media is really compelling.
It’s increasingly clear that companies need to be approachable beyond just a “Contact Us” form. The integration of social media (networks, video, Twitter) present on the theme is a nice touch and positive step towards PR2.0.
Todd Crawford’s New Blog
Affiliate Marketing Legend award winner and all around good guy Todd Crawford has a new blog…
Todd always has a unique perspective on things going back to his days with CJ, so definitely tune in and subscribe.
Selling on eBay with Video
vzaar is a year old service that allows for eBay sellers to incorporate video into their auctions (example in the video above).
vzaar :: About: “vzaar is an accredited eBay developer and approved video supplier for eBay sellers and the host of thousands of videos for thousands of eBay sellers. Built by eBay users for eBay users, vzaar enhances the eBay experience for both buyers and sellers. vzaar is a free service for casual sellers, with premium features available for more frequent users and PowerSellers.”
While I’m not sure that the service will catch on like wildfire, it certainly is compelling for sellers of products that are looking to give a more three dimensional representation of the object up for auction or for sellers looking to stand out above the pack in a crowded niche.
Duncan Riley posts about vzaar on his new (and subscription worthy) blog Inquisitr giving some details about pricing.
Market Like a Dandelion
I’m a huge Cory Dotorow
So, when I read this, I immediately thought of the affiliate community and the lessons we could learn by thinking of our content production in terms of dandelions instead of our typical mammalian (reproduction and production are very costly and should be protected) point of view…
Locus Online Features: Cory Doctorow: Think Like a Dandelion: I know this for a fact. I review a lot of books on Boing Boing, and whenever I do, I link to the Amazon page for the book, using my ‘affiliate ID’ in the URL. If you follow one of those links and buy the book, I get a commission — about eight percent. I can use Amazon’s reporting tool to tell exactly how many people click on my links, and how many of them shell out money for the book, and here’s the thing: when I link to a book that’s out soon, available now for pre-order, I reliably get less than ten percent of the purchases I get when I link to books that are available for sale now. Nine out of ten Boing Boing readers who buy books based on my reviews don’t want to pre-order a title and wait for it to show up later.
The net is an unending NOW of moments and distractions and wonderments and puzzlements and rages. Asking someone riding its currents to undertake some kind of complex dance before she can hand you her money is a losing proposition. User-interface designers speak of how every additional click between thought and deed lops a huge number of seeds out of the running for germination.
Head over to the link above and read the whole piece. It’s short and good, but worth your time to think on how you can improve your own marketing efforts by taking the dandelion approach.
Disqus Video Comments
Although I’m not particularly crazy about doing video comments myself, my fingers are crossed that Disqus integrates them soon:
Disqus Adding Video Comments; Will People Use Them?: “We’ve now learned that Disqus, a third-party commenting system, will be rolling out its own video commenting feature, likely later this week.”
I don’t necessarily see video comments catching on like wildfire, but they do provide an outlet for those among us who’d rather just hit record on the webcam and fire away. On my Mac, it’s incredibly easy to do quick and nice looking video and most modern computers are now shipping with high quality integrated webcams.
This isn’t a “game changer” feature, but it will be a nice addition.
BTW, if you’re not using Disqus on your blog, you’re really missing out. I’ve written about Disqus here many times and Scott Jangro has done a series of excellent posts about the comment solution as well.
Can You Be Anonymous on the Web?
GeekCast 17 was literally epic in terms of length. Jim Kukral, Lisa Picarille, Shawn Collins and myself went just over 100 minutes this week.
Despite the length, I think it’s one of our best podcasts yet. We covered everything from the recent Marky Zarc disturbance in the force to Brightkite to Twitter to Hulu.com to politics.
You can subscribe to the podcast to receive it weekly in your iTunes or podcatcher over at GeekCast.fm.
Get a .Me Domain
Montenegro is opening up its coveted .me domain to the public today.
I’m sure the good stuff will go quickly, but there’s lots of interesting combinations to be had for blogs and sites…
.Me Domains Now Available to the Public - AppScout: “In 2006, Montenegro was assigned its own domain name extension: .me. Like Tuvalu and Djibouti, sheer coincidence has given the small European nation a potentially high-demand extension. Says EnCirca president, Thomas Barrett of .me, ‘[It] offers real personalization of domains. For instance, why not register follow.me for the born leader? Or perhaps, listento.me for the incessant blogger? EnCirca is excited to be part of this strategic campaign and we applaud Montenegro for making the most of their virtual resources.’”
I’ve always wanted to really get into domaining. Seems like a fascinating business.
–UPDATE–
Turns out I jumped the gun a little (the title of the AppScout post didn’t help).
Trust points out the timeline:
May 6 - May 20, 2008: General Sunrise
May 20 - June 6, 2008: Quiet Period
June 6 - June 26, 2008: Land Rush
June 26 - July 17, 2008: Quiet Period
July 17, 2008: Open Registration
Looks like you’re paying to play in the initial land rush if you pay the $98 for 2 years now (like I did… d’oh!).
