This clip from the office is great. And if you don't find this funny, then you clearly aren't as geeky as I am:
Live Streaming Heidi Klum's Halloween Party with Modelinia & Facebook
Tonight, everyone has the opportunity to spend Halloween with Heidi Klum thanks to Modelinia's live stream of the party on their Facebook fan page.
TechCrunch covered the live stream and provided a great overview of the event and how to join:
You can find the live stream on Modelinia’s Facebook page starting at 9 PM PT tonight. The streaming itself is being handled by Livestream, who will run it through 11:30 PM, we’re told. Klum’s Facebook fan page along with Modelinia’s page have nearly 700,000 fans, so if you do watch this, you definitely won’t be alone. And there’s a chat widget running next to the stream to talk with others watching it.
To participate, become a fan of Modelinia on Facebook and watch the live stream there - or below:
What You Missed in Yesterday's Tech News (Lots of Activity)
I wrote this on Twitter and Facebook last night - but yesterday was a very full day of news across a variety of tech space: mobile, social media, advertising, gadgets, etc. Here are a few of the important and interesting headlines from a very active day (articles are on the clickthrough):
Facebook's Platform Changes - D-Day For Facebook App Developers (TechCrunch) - First Screenshots of Facebook Platform Changes (InsideFacebook) - Our Complete Rundown of Facebook’s Massive Platform Changes (InsideFacebook)
Google's Musical Announcement - Making search more musical (The Official Google Blog)
Droid is a Week Away - Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week (Verizon) - Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) (Engadget)
iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T? - Apple predicted to sacrifice ‘sweetheart’ AT&T deal for Verizon (AppleInsider)
Google Announces Turn by Turn Navigation - Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 (The Official Google Blog) - Google’s New Mobile App Cuts GPS Nav Companies At The Knees (TechCrunch)
Brizzly Adds Facebook Integration - Brizzly Gets A New Coat: Facebook (TechCrunch)
Pandora Also Adds Facebook Integration - Share Pandora with Your Friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond (Pandora)
Unbranded Research Poll Ads on Facebook
This is the first time I have seen an unbranded "research" ad on Facebook that uses their new interactive platform (polling, events, etc). Below is a screenshot of an unbranded "research poll" about car insurance and consumer purchase habits. The ad unit clearly uses the same infrastructure and format as the branded poll units (see samples here) but, unlike the others, this is aimed at collecting data rather than promoting a brand or fan page. This too is interesting because, as part of branded campaigns, the polls are usually aimed at capturing attention rather than consumer behavior data - for instance, Saw VI polls were somewhat outlandish and bizarre... such that you were driven to participate and see how others vote. Facebook has a note below the poll that this data can be shared anonymously - but because there is no brand associated with the unit and because the header says "Sponsored", it is still a strange interaction (I took the poll specifically to see what brand would pop up upon completion). Once the poll is answered, it collapses and thanks you for "participating in [the] research poll". In contrast, after voting in a branded poll unit, it displays the popular vote and which friends participated.
The Research Poll - which appears in the same 'premium' location as other units
Upon completion of the poll, you are thanked for participating... a different experience than with branded units
The Rise of New Media, Our Entitled Voices & Chuck Klosterman
In his newest book, Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman (my favorite current author) tackles reality, perception and voice. In describing the theme of the book, Klosterman says: "most of the core questions dwell on the way media perception constructs a fake reality that ends up becoming more meaningful than whatever actually happened."
His first essay Something Instead of Nothing concludes with a fitting description of "New Media", it's rise, and our voices / roles within it:
I fear that most contemporary people are answering questions not beacuse they're flattered by the attention; they're answering questions because they feel as though they *deserve* to be asked. About everything. Their opinions are special, so they are entitled to a public forum. Their voice is supposed to be heard, lest tehir life become empty.
This, in one paragraph (minus technology), explains the rise of New Media.
I include this excerpt because it speaks to questions I hear daily: Why do people blog? Why do people post so frequently to Twitter and Facebook? What do people have to say that is important? Now I do not entirely agree with Klosterman because, as he notes, technology does play a significant role in enabling the conversation and, equally importantly, connecting our voices (through relationships, experiences, relevancy, etc). As such, I believe that 'connectedness' is as much of a motivator as ego.
Facebook's New "Activity" Measurement
Ala LinkedIn and other popular services that encourage users to become more engaged and active, Facebook appears to have rolled out a new "activity" measurement for users. While other sites also help users advance through new features and relationships, Facebook's measurement is unique because it is public. For instance, the below unit appears in my suggested panel and lets me know how "active" a particular friend is. It then encourages me (very interesting!) to "write on her wall" or do other activities to make her more active.
It's a brilliant idea because Facebook, better than anyone, knows that social encouragement and activity are what drive long-term user engagement and usage.
Facebook's New "Best Of" News Feed
Because the "real time web" can be overwhelmingly active and noisy, Facebook has decided to simplify the newsfeed with a new "Best Of" feed that summarizes the "most interesting" activity from your network's last twenty-four hours. Billed as the "News Feed", there is also an opportunity to then toggle to the "Live Feed", which is the real-time, chronological version of your stream. According to Facebook, they differ by:
News Feed When you log into Facebook, you'll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the "News Feed" view. News Feed picks stories that we think you'll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.
Live Feed Once you've caught up on what you missed, you can click through to "Live Feed" to see what's happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you'll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking "Edit Options" at the bottom of the home page.
This is very clearly a move towards filtering and representing activity / relevancy... which is challenging because: 1. the real-time web is, by definition, chronological, thus creating an interesting user-experience challenge / opportunity 2. defining "what is most interesting" is also challenging. Facebook has many data points: comments, likes, shares, etc... all of which will mature / improve over time It will be interesting to note the ongoing value of being within the "News Feed" versus the "Live Feed" and what it means for the engagement, readership and so on of a piece of content. If dramatically higher (as I would expect), this will change marketing behaviors and potentially force page owners to focus to particular posts within a day (as opposed to numerous).
Facebook of course made this announcement through their Facebook Page:
Google Wave Meetup at Dogpatch Labs Tomorrow Night
There will be a Google Wave meetup at Dogpatch Labs on Pier 38 this Thursday evening. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP either on meetup.com at http://www.meetup.com/sfgwmg/calendar/11463087/ or via email to Mark Condon with Twilio at mcondon @ twilio.com
Google Wave Meetup Agenda
6:30-7:00pm Refreshments and networking
7:00-7:15pm Introduction, Announcements, Lightning Talks "Using Wave 101"
7:15-8:30pm Presentations How to get a (free) Google Wave invitation? Tell us why you should get one and you may get it - Three invitations to be given away!
Do you have a great idea for Google Wave platform but in need of technical skills to build it? Come and pitch to the meetup group, find developers to collaborate!
Army of robots and pocketful of gadgets from the Wave sample gallery
8:30-9:00pm Discussion
Thanks to Twilio, DogPatch Labs and O'Reilly for supporting the meetup.
iTunes Now Displays Top In App Purchases: Rock Band App Example
Last week, Apple announced In App Purchasing for free applications to Sell content, subscriptions and digital services.
Now, if you browse iTune's Top Grossing applications, you will notice that they also display the most popular In App Purchases. The example below is from Electronic Art's Rock Band, the highest grossing app on iTunes. The game itself is relatively new (notice just ~200 user reviews) and costs $9.99 per download. Just below the purchase button though is a banner to view "Top In App Purchases" - which displays the highest grossing $0.99 Rock Band tracks.
While this is a small example (Rock Band itself is new enough that the purchasing habits / offerings are light), but it is clear that Apple is trying to promote the same behaviors that are becoming so popular - and profitable - on Facebook: in-app / in-game micro transactions.
