How to be an online also-ran

I'm looking for a new dishwasher and some patio furniture. It's that time of the year when the bargains are on so I thought I'd pop into the David Jones website.

What a disappointment.

In this day and age where store inventory records are digitised and could easily be made available in an online environment, DJ's effort of providing a simple catalogue, downloadable via PDF, is just appalling.

What planet are these guys on?

Perhaps they, along with the equally inept Myer, believe that the Internet will never be a big deal. I'm not sure the good folk at Amazon or ebay would agree, but I guess they're making more coin then I am.

But seriously folks, what are they thinking?

Social networking for the pre-net gen-ers

Plenty of people of my vintage have yet to experiment with social networking sites. Amongst my friends there appears to be a very low adoption rate when it comes to Facebook, MySpace, and micro-blogging platforms such as Jaiku and Twitter. Why is this so?

For many life is simply too busy to be bothered with yet another "thing" to put into the schedule. As an example, a friend of mine has two kids and an already very well developed social network and she sees very little benefit in contributing to a social networking site. Would she enjoy more social outings as a result of a membership to an SNS? I doubt that would be possible.

My friend is far from an orphan. People of my age have grown up without SNS's as a support mechanism for their social activities. Put simply, they don't need the Internet or a bunch of overly-viral platform applications to keep their long-established friendships in tact.

So why would anyone pre-net gen want to participate? There are a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it's to understand. It's easy to knock what we don't understand. By participating we get the opportunity to make an informed assessment on what all the fuss is about.

Secondly, we may just pick up a really useful tip that has a real-world payoff. Whether or not the rumours are as good as they sound - and there are plenty of doubters - there are plenty of musicians and bands who are now rich and famous as a result of being picked up by a talent scout straight off MySpace (or YouTube, or Facebook, or...).

Finally, participation alters the way we interact with technology. The thinking that brought us to this point in our lives is not going to help us understand the thinking with which the net-generation (read here the world's future decision makers) will use to make choices about their own and our planet's future.

If all we have to lose is a few minutes of our day - and that's all it takes to maintain a SNS profile - it's a small price to pay for understanding and future proofing our minds.

The Internet pain in the arse

I've bought a new wireless Internet gateway to go with my snappy new Macbook Pro. Can't be unhappier! The net is flaky and only occasionally fast. I'm not sure if it's the computer or the wireless device. Either way I'm not having fun!

Blogs helping business paticipate in conversation

Neat looking article found at Sage. Could be worth a look at some later date.

My new computer

I've finally done it - I'm now the proud owner of a new Apple Macbook Pro. It's fast and so cool. Sitting watching TV, surfing the net, and feeling pretty damned chuffed with myself. Next thing is to find a coffee lounge with wireless Internet and start showing off my sexy new toy!

Social Advertising Network, SocialMedia » Blog Archive » mixing-business-with-pleasure-online-let-the-corporate-social-networking-experiment-begin

Social Advertising Network, SocialMedia » Blog Archive » mixing-business-with-pleasure-online-let-the-corporate-social-networking-experiment-begin

Stars, Stripes, and Social Media - Business Website - Internet Customers

Stars, Stripes, and Social Media - Business Website - Internet Customers: "The analogy should be clear. Social media--blogs, text messaging, video, and social networking--are the legs of your online strategy. Your Web site is the belly of the beast, where you convert visitors into customers."

Is Yuwie.com a Glimpse into Future of Online Business?

I wrote about this last semester wondering when people would begin to want a share in the revenue that was produced in part as a result of contributions being made to social networking sites. It's been noted that a small percentage of power users produce a large percentage of traffic, and therefore revenue for social networking sites and the initiative by Yuwie.com to share revenues with users makes perfect sense.

Is Yuwie.com a Glimpse into Future of Online Business?: "Yuwie’s business model is based upon two core tenants: 1) End-user participation is free – no sign-up fees or subscription fees are required, and 2) Yuwie currently distributes well over half of the site’s advertising revenue back to participating end-users. Not only are Yuwie’s end-users paid for the traffic generated for their own personal page, but also for the traffic generated by friends they refer to the site, in addition to traffic generated from their friends’ subsequent referrals (for up to ten (10) layers or generations of personal referrals)."

Taking residence in virtual worlds | Australian IT

Taking residence in virtual worlds | Australian IT: "Rather than be tied up with the web 2.0, which he believes has a specific look and collaborative function, Robertson is more concerned with web-enabling technology and providing access. 'Web 2.0 normally implies two things. It's based on online democracy and collaboration, and uses AJAX-style technology to give a heavy graphical user interface client feel, even though you're still in a lightweight browser. 'That's the implication, but we're doing things like data sovereignty and workplace democracy and taking that type of approach, which isn't classical web 2.0 but still trying to meet the same objectives.'"