Posts

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Facebook Connect vs. Google Friend Connect, Redux

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the critical battle going on between various providers of online identity, the most notable being Facebook, Google and OpenID.  I asked the question:

"If you could use one login for all websites, which would you use?"

Although not statistically significant by any stretch of the imagination, the poll showed some interesting results.  Here they are:

The things that raised my eyebrows:

  • 28.8% – nearly a third of the respondents! – really, really liked having different credentials for every website
  • 30.8% said "OpenID" – although I have no way to back this up, I was stunned by how high this number was, as my gut is that OpenID is still much more of a techy thing than a general-populace thing
  • Facebook was about 11%, and Google almost twice that at about 19%, but both were still substantially below the "keep them all different" and OpenID responses
  • Once you get out of California, Facebook drops REALLY low (see the map above)

Again, more "anecdote" than "data," but interesting nonetheless.  Your take on the results?

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Customer, Meet Brand

Great post by Jennifer Leggio (aka Mediaphyter) on the pros and cons of customers and brands interacting by way of sponsored blog posts.

The money grafs (pun intended) from Jennifer:

"The questions:

  • Is sponsored blogging authentic?
  • Is it transparent?
  • Is it sustainable?

Authenticity: Why not? A person can do a sponsored
blog post without selling his or her soul just as a product reviewer
can be unbiased when he or she gets a free gadget to try out for a
while (or keep, depending on the reviewer, and that’s a whole other
debate). This is not an issue of integrity. People need to stop making
it one. Nowhere in any of the PayPerPost marketing info do I read “if
you sponsor a blogger you guarantee that blogger will sing your
praises.”

Transparency: Again, I say, why not? In the case of
blogger transparency, using Brogan as an example, he’s one of the most
transparent guys on the Internet even before he did this post. That did
not change with his sponsored post. You still saw the true author. In
the case of brand transparency, Kmart took a risk sponsoring Brogan to
do this post. I’m sure, behind the scenes, management had tough
conversations over what piece of their business might be exposed by
giving someone more intimate access. It’s the same thought process that
an enterprise tech company goes through before determining whether or
not it should send one of its products out for review.

Sustainability: Wait for it… YES. This is absolutely sustainable, and I think this is the most important question to answer."

Go read it.

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Ask Not What Your Customers Can Do For You…

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There are some solid points in this article.  Yet, the overall tone is
a bit offputting; a paean to the "customers are a resource to be mined"
mentality.  Customers need tools of independence and engagement, not a new form of servitude.  From HBS Working Knowledge:

"An organization’s best customers — measured in terms such as size, loyalty, or lifetime value — often are the most willing to go to work for it, whether that means referrals of new customers, ideas for new products or processes, or even help in the selection of its frontline employees.  Of greater significance than satisfaction or even the willingness to recommend the organization to others, these ‘ownership’ behaviors can make some customers more than a hundred times more valuable than others."

(A big thanks to Denise Ryan at Blue Marble Strategic Marketing for the pointer.)

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Evolving the Mona Lisa

Back in the day, when I worked at Andersen Consulting, I spent about the first decade of my career working on a whole host of emerging technologies, many of which were related to AI and genetic algorithms. Additionally, my grad school roommate Scott Neal Reilly implemented one of the first ever examples of genetic art on the web. Have always had a soft spot for these technologies.

So, a huge thanks to John Paczkowski over at AllThingsD for pointing to Genetic Programming: Evolution of the Mona Lisa. SO HOT! Go check it out.

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