Yikes the knives are out and Signor MySpace had better watch out for the stiletto of spam at it’s throat.

Via Read/Write and Techcrunch we learn that MySpace is set to launch a 3rd party developer platform. Given their track record of blocking widgets on personal pages we can all sleep soundly knowing Facebook will live to see another day. ‘Bring on the virtual poop.’ goes the battle cry from the turrets of Castle Zukerberg.

Marshall Kirkpatrick at Read/Write makes some very good points, notably that Facebook has not garnered such rapid user numbers just by opening up it’s platform.

‘I have said before and I’ll say again that the rise of Facebook has been in spite of the opening of the Facebook platform, if anything. It’s a result of the maturing demographics of social networking services, a backlash against the wretched user experience of the poorly designed and spam ridden MySpace and the power of syndication represented by the Facebook wall.’ Read the rest of this entry »

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Vainly trawling Google for any further viral leakage on ‘appvertising’ I stumbled across this report from the Graphing Social Patterns Conference in San Jose which is currently taking place:

Seth Goldstein (inventor of Food Fight on Facebook):

‘Advertising = Appvertising.

Facebook could provide the promise of personalized advertising because advert is tied to social data.

Facebook will provide new models of advertising that weren’t possible until now.

You can ask questions across applications that can reach hundreds of thousands of people.

Need to build advertising specifically for social networks.

I was shocked how Facebook users provided information about themselves.

In our Food Fight application people earn virtual money by answering questions and then they can pay for food to throw. We found many would pay 20 times more for throwing “poop.”

Can you make a business from throwing “poop?” People want to do things they can’t do in real life. I don’t do it and I don’t think it is sustainable. But the engagement levels are out of control.’

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Last day at FOWA and Eric Rodenbeck of Stamen gave an understated and blistering demo of their data visualization work for Trulia. He was kind enough to explain his trilby wearing, adamant that he started wearing one before Ryan Carson, further confirming my suspicions that this hat stuff is some signifier of a secret pixel mixing coven.

Eric wants to see ‘data visualization as a medium’ , like painting or sculpture. I’m already looking for a trilby on ebay (I have a big head, not deformed, just bigger than average) . Data visualization is an art form if done to the Stamen standard, and work we are inspired by at Fat Man.

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I’m going to be at the Future of Web Applications conference next week trying to describe ‘appvertising’ to unsuspecting technologists, contemplating a week without a mobile phone owing to the arcane working methods of a certain mobile operator and generally breakdance to the thrum of start-up ideas in my head, really it’s got a very catchy tempo..

I’m proposing a drink one evening for anyone who fancies digesting the day over beer n’nuts and a general get-to-know-you. If you’re attending and want to get together, get in touch, skype: adampfd.

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Om Malik, the man who would be Bond’s next villain has a great article about Google attempting to turn widgets into ads and it’s inherent dangers.

’I give you voice over internet protocol Mr. Bond ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…. (strokes pussy), ha, ha, ha, ha…’

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Posted in Appvertising, New Business Model, Uncategorized, Viral Marketing, Web Apps, Widget Marketing | No Comments »      

I did a little research into ‘appvertising’ and discovered this crazy guy talking about ‘killer appvertising’ way back in January 2006, when You Tube was but a suckling infant at the breast of Mother Web.

He does use the phrase ‘advertisers need to make it as easy as urination’ which if I hadn’t just credited, I would have happily deployed at some conference I’m yet to be invited to speak at.

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Posted in Appvertising, Travel, Viral Marketing, Web Apps, Widget Marketing | 1 Comment »      

What began as MySpace rival Tagworld became swallowed by the voracious Viacom and is now Flux the bodily fluid betwixt the sweaty bodies dancing to that Gossip track and wearing spandex at a house party in a house everyone’s got a key to.

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Google Custom Search - what’s it all about? Alex Iskold over at Read Write explains it pretty succinctly:

“You can think of Google Custom Search as a filter over the main Google search engine. This is a bit of a simplification, but a good way to initially wrap your heads around the concept. By creating a filter, CSE allows its users to restrict search results to particular sites that match URL patterns or keywords.”

(layer upon layer… )

The blogosphere is slowly waking up to this Google release, now 9 months old - but where I believe it is of particular interest is in the digital marketing environment - the tool that enables, ‘appvertising’.

Yup, I made up a word, not so made up that you can’t get a sense of what it means, but currently if you search for ‘appvertising’ on Google you get 3 references to the Appalachian Mountain range and the wikipedia entry is mine, all mine, to bastardise as I see fit.

Appvertising: branded web application

There is a real danger I may take myself far too seriously with this whole word invention thing so feel free to look at the pictures instead, all of which bear little relation to the article.

The untapped power of appvertising is best illustrated by another of my fictional examples:

TopShop create a custom search engine for fashion, indexing the best blogs and review sites, forums, Flickr groups etc.

(fop… )

By letting the Google API do the heavy lifting they are creating a sticky destination site for young girls eager to view the latest fashions, nothing like looking at the latest frock, shoe or wondering at Kate Moss’s boyfriend’s sallow appearance to prompt you to do a little lite shopping online - which as we all know - is not like spending real money in real shops - it’s sort of virtual money that really comes out of your bank account, but without the guilt.

Create a slick and innovative user experience using the Ajax Search API, retain an editorial team to add new sites to the index and maintain the existing ones and you’ve got a totally unique branded proposition.

The happy interactive marriage of Google and Pete Doherty, ah, only in my nightmares…

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Om Malik, the man who would be Bond’s next villain has a great article about Google attempting to turn widgets into ads and it’s inherent dangers.

 ’I give you voice over internet protocol Mr. Bond ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…. (strokes pussy), ha, ha, ha, ha…’

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Appvertising, New Business Model, Viral Marketing, Web Apps, Widget Marketing | No Comments »