blending the mix

Now ANOTHER studio has decided to switch formats.

When is either dual-format going to arrive or one side concede to the other?

These are my links for January 4th:

• Tapio by Alex de Carvalho -

This whole Scoble thing is incredible, but maybe the following from the Plaxo blog gives us some insight into at least why ONE of the guilty parties wants to get into Facebook:

At Plaxo, we believe strongly that users should have ownership, control, and portability of their profiles and friends list. No service you use should claim your data as their own and keep it trapped in their "walled garden". We will continue to publish tools and articles here and on our blog to empower users and support a truly open social web.

But why the HELL would Scoble sacrifice his own reputation and Facebook account, let’s not forget, he has 5000 friends didn’t you know for someone else? He HAS to be cooking something up with Plaxo. Or at least he was.

What makes this whole thing even more interesting is that the bbc report today that 2008 will be the year of cyber-theft on Social Networks.

So what do you NOT do if you are a growing social network? Find ways to hack into someone else’s social network.

So what do you ABSOLUTELY NOT DO if you are a growing social network? Find ways to hack into someone else’s social network, and not say anything.

In fact, the more I think about what Plaxo have done. the more angry I get.

Tags: scoble, plaxo, facebook

cheers Steve

Unfortunately, due to work issues I am not going to be able to make the Widgety Goodness event tomorrow and I am gutted.

Not just because I cannot make it but because I got the £199 ticket for FREE from the Facebook Group.

If anybody would like my free ticket, please send me an email at paul (dot) fabretti @ gmail (dot) com and I will try and be as quick as I can (although Emmeline tells me that she will handle the transfer).

I attended Inbox-Outbox this year to keep track of everything that was happening in the world of email marketing. Short of giving you a full run-down of everything that was said, I have put down some of my thoughts and most interesting observations.

After the unfortunate collapsing into deliriousness of conference keynote speaker Sara Radicati, the first session started earlier than expected with Dave Evans, Senior Compliance Partner of the ICO. Dave’s session covered Developments in Data Protection and Email Legislation. So here goes…

According to the ICO, the protection of our personal details is now the British Public’s 2nd most important worry.

What are your current biggest worries?

Table 1: British Public’s most prominent concerns2006 vs 2007

So who would have thought that the protection of personal details remained so important, yet people willingly give this sort of stuff out willy-nilly on social network sites?!

What concerns the same people most about their personal details?

Table 2: British Public’s most serious data protection concerns

So what are the main reasons for these concerns - why do marketers get it wrong?

• Out of date consents - people have changed their preferences
• Old lists - just simply old data doing the same old rounds
• Failing to act on opt-outs
• Un-related sells. Horoscope subscribers being sold insurance does NOT work

And what are the implications?

• Watchdog effect - press and tv always eager to pounce on a good story
• Increased customer caution - registration with TPS and MPS are at all-time highs
• The gap between "spam" and marketing messages is narrowing
• People will simply bin what they consider to be spam

Tips on how to get it right:

• Don’t surprise people
• Be open about your intentions
• Don’t lead people to think you are hiding something
• Make complaining and unsubscribing easy - better to have an uninterested person drop out than waste your time.

Interesting : Of the 100k complaints, the ICO receive each year, 33% are regarding email.

So what are the new developments?

A revised EU framework of:

• Enforcement
• Security
• Breach notification (forced disclosure to authorities and public of security breaches)

Bluetooth Legislation:

• Currently, there is currently no legislation in place governing the use of bluetooth (opportunity or a disaster waiting to happen??)

Social Networks:

• Current legislation covers most Social Networks, although US-based Facebook (whose approach to privacy and data capture is very different to most other networks) is meeting with the ICO to ensure that all UK data protection and privacy issues are addressed.
• A precedent has been set though with eBay.co.uk considering itself to be governed under UK law.
• Dave has promised to keep me updated with all these changes to ensure we, as an agency are working within the (new) guidelines.

Thanks again to my new best friend Paul Walsh (!), I have been lucky enough to get tickets to the Widgety Goodness event in Brighton on the 6th December.

I love the whole community-feeling surrounding the publicity of the event (the Facebook Group, the blog as well as the after-event community) and hope that this is going to be indicative of the type of discussions taking place at the event itself.

There are lots of great things coming out of the British Isles at the moment and I look forward to seeing more of what others are doing to further this reputation. With people like Will, Fergus and Mike there (amongst many, many others) I am sure it will be a great event.

And if anyone needs to know, my t-shirt is an L!!

I thought I’d post this classic to bring a smile to your faces…

(and it means I get to use Windows Live Writer!)

An attendee at one of our seminars asked the question - "what’s next?" Somebody else asked "what does the Google OpenSocial mean for Facebook?"

Its very easy to assume that because of Google’s size, it would decimate Facebook, but I am not so sure.

Facebook opened its developer platform as part of a growth strategy. It had first mover advantage - no social network had opened itself up in this way. Google on the other hand has merely provided other social networks (or the developers for those networks) with the tools to provide additional communication features between already existing and established networks.

Would you now start using LinkedIn more because you were able to, say, integrate a Google Reader app into the system? Likely not. You already use LinkedIn as it is. Facebook has built itself on applications.

The upshot? Facebook and OpenSocial will live happily together for at least…ooh 6 months, until something else comes along!

Tags: kmp, social network marketing, facebook, f8, open social

Paul Walsh posted last week that he is going to add all BIMA members with blogs to the BIMA blogroll. I/we aren’t members of the BIMA (this needs addressing ASAP by the way Paul!) but it got me thinking abotu the whole blogroll thing.

2 years ago when I started blogging, Scoble, Rubel, Arrington and O’Reilly were "the web". We were all sniffing for links (and I guess some recognition too!), so the adding of a blogging A-lister to your blogroll at least gave you a chance (however small!) of getting a link back. Yeah right.

So, with Paul having sparked the process off, I am going to re-write my blogroll and I am looking for recommendations and suggestions as to who I should put in.

My recent BIMA debate on Facebook introduced me to some great people like Damien, Robin and subsequently, Alexia, Elly, James, Tom, Steve and a multitude of others I simply do not have the time to list.

So who would you recommend and why?

Tags: blogroll, blendingthemix, bima