This week: An International Web 2.0 Special!
In this week's Wrap-Up, I'm going to focus on international (read: non-US) Web 2.0 activities. The US and San Francisco in particular will always be the center of Web Technology business, but it's good to take notice of the rest of the world every now and then too.
When it comes to broadband and wireless technologies, Korea is far ahead of the rest of the world. Check out these figures from Chief Executive magazine (April 2004):
"Of the nearly 16 million Korean households, 78 percent now have a broadband connection—or more than four times the home broadband penetration rate of North America."
Not only is broadband penetration high, but the speeds are very fast ("on average four times faster" than in the US) and broadband services are well-used by Korean people.
One of my Korean readers, Taewoo Danny Kim, pointed out some popular Korean web services in a recent comment on Read/Write Web. He mentioned Cyworld (a social networking site - good write-up here), bugsmusic (a music streaming service) and Ohmynews (the world's premier citizen journalism website). Of Cyworld, Danny said it's extremely popular with Korean teenagers and is superior to the likes of Orkut and Friendster "when it comes to UI and the range of functions provided".
Other Korea Web 2.0 links:
- Danny's blog, which I understand is the equivalent
of Read/Write Web in the Korean language, in terms
of its focus on Web 2.0.
- Broadband:
Lessons from South Korea
- Wired: Seoul of a
New Machine
- TechDirt: Korea,
The Test Bed
- Marc
Canter: "I'm becoming a Korea-phile."
As I mentioned this week, it's my goal to live and work in Silicon Valley. But if I can't work there, maybe I'll head over to Vancouver in Canada. It seems to be a hotbed for innovative Webheads and in particular Web 2.0 people. Roland Tanglao, Boris Mann, Will Pate, Richard Eriksson, Kris Krug and all the other fine folks from companies like Bryght and Raincity Studios.
Judging by all the great posts on Urban Vancouver, this is one happening place. It must be if Marc's over there doing business!
I recently came across an interesting post by Toni Sant from the little country of Malta (just off the coast of Italy). Its population is not much over 400,000 - yet according to Toni the Internet is helping to "re-map" the country:
"Although Malta is a tiny nation dominated by majority rule, embodied in the major political parties and the Roman Catholic church, a small digital community is about to embark on a path of social change which potentially has a much larger effect than any other effort the same social network could attempt without the benefit of the electronic networks of digital telecommunications."
Toni goes on to specifically mention Web 2.0 and "the power and potential of the read/write applications" that are enabling Malta citizens to express themselves and work towards social change.
The movie business has helped New Zealand become known as MiddleEarth, but in terms of Web Technology we're more like BackwaterEarth. Nevertheless there are pockets of innovation down here. A company called Eurekster is making Web 2.0 products from Christchurch (home of the Peter Jackson of programmers, Phil Pearson). Eurekster is a kind of social networking search engine. It bills itself as "the first truly democratic search engine platform" - take that Google!
Eurekster is one of many companies around the world exploring the personalized search frontier, like Findory and PubSub. It has links with Friendster and is generally doing very well for itself for a little kiwi company. Go you good things!
I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour of Web 2.0 in the international community. I didn't even mention India, China, Britain, or the other countries I wanted to talk about. But never fear, I will aim to write more of these kinds of posts - even when I'm living and working in The Valley ;-)
That's a wrap for another week!
Congrats to fellow Wellington boy Michael Campbell for winning the U.S. Open in golf today! A huuuge achievement! And I love this quote from him afterwards:
"I thought before the round started, nobody's really taking any special notice of me. Just a quiet kiwi hanging around, there and thereabouts. If I play well, I could win this thing. Here's a message to people back home in New Zealand: 'If I can win a tournament like this, so can you!'"
OK, I admit - it's great to be a kiwi :-)
For some reason, three of my favourite blogs posted self-referential reflection posts at pretty much the same time. An excuse for me to pay homage to them (and some other blogs I enjoy). In no particular order:
a) PaidContent.org is the most professional blog that I know of and I've been an admirer for a while now. Rafat and Staci have a knack of getting to the nitty gritty of each story and the coverage of new media is second to none. I also admire the network Rafat has built (and continues to expand) and all the sponsors he has! PaidContent is celebrating 3 years this week, so congrats! Rafat says "I still believe, as I believed it back then, that the weblog publishing tools have enabled the rise of the individual journalist-entrepreneur, away from the shackles of underpaid, under-utilized, under-appreciated jobs with formal media companies."
Amen to that!
b) Another blog I admire is Om Maliks's Broadband Blog. To be honest, a lot of the topics he covers aren't really in my interest areas (telecommunications, broadband). But the way he writes and the sheer quantity of quality, topic-focused posts he pumps out is amazing. He's just posted a request for feedback from his readers - it's noteworthy that more than a few commenters said they want the long-form posts to continue. As another blogger who tends to favour the long-form posts (I simply can't stop myself - and I suspect Om is the same), that's good to hear.
I particularly enjoyed comment #2, which I'm going to paste here - because it's an excellent reminder of the type of blogger I aspire to be.
"You are differentiated by relaying important developments *AND* providing insightful, compact analysis backed up where possible with factoids. Too many blogs out there are mere ìrepeaters.î
Yours is one of a handful of blogs I follow closely. But I scan the feed and donít look at the categories.
Thlinking is fine, but long form provides more to chew on.
Do more ìpicture buildingî, pulling together a series of seemingly disparate pieces of information to reveal something hitherto unrecognized. Youíre good at that.
If you must expand, then look more at applications and services that are only now possible because of ubiquitous broadband into the home and small biz.
Donít loose your irreverence.
NB: I am a poor model for the world."
c) Chris Anderson's The Long Tail blog is one I follow because of the ideas, but also because it's a great example of using a blog as a precursor to a book. Chris is celebrating the 6-month anniversary of his blog and says:
"It's been hugely fun so far, and very encouraging as an experiment in sharing book research, thinking and some writing (or at least phrasing) in public. Thanks to the extraordinary quality of the comments, emails and other feedback I've received on my posts, I think the book is going to be far better thought-through than I could have made it myself."
d) Some other blogs that I follow, which I think are worthy of more attention:
Joshua Porter's blog about interface design - we have very complimentary ideas about Web 2.0.
Mathemagenic, Lilia Efimova's blog about Knowledge Management. The thing I admire about Lilia is how she continues to write creative and poetic posts, while staying focused on her niche of KM.
Susan Mernit is a constant source of inspiration about new media topics, and manages to mix in personal stories and life observations too.
Andy Baio's waxy.org is a blog I wish was updated much more often ;-) But luckily for us, there's a continuous stream of Waxy Links to follow.
Erik Benson's blog has always been thought-provoking. As with waxy, I only wish he published more long-form posts these days. But he's busy doing real work with The Robot Co-op (and excellent work it is too!).
Andrew Chen is a blogger I've become good friends with over the past year. I keep berating him to post more often, because his writings on cyber-ethical themes (in particular) are well worth reading. But like Erik, Andrew's too busy in the real world. :-)
Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger whose social software posts are thoughtful and an excellent counterpoint to the more American-centric blogs that I usually follow. The tech world needs more international bloggers (hey, that's me too!).
There are loads of other bloggers that I follow keenly and I've probably missed out at least 3-4 obvious ones, but it's getting (very) late and it's time for me to get some sleep.
Jupitermedia analyst David Card thinks AOL is preparing for a big fattie splash into the RSS pool. He says:
1. The new version of MyAOL is "essentially an RSS reader", albeit not as slick as how Apple does RSS in its Safari browser.
2. "AOL has a deal with Feedster to provide 7 million user-selectable feeds." (what a coup for Feedster!)
3. "Future plans include integrating feed lists into IM ñ think RSS playlists that incorporate presence. Think Buddyfeeds." Intriguing... sounds like a mix between AIM, Live Journal and Webjay!
David then makes a big splash of his own, by stating:
"Shockingly, AOL is positioned to be the leader in RSS among the big portals, search engines, and Internet media companies. Gasp."
He's suggesting that AOL will usurp Yahoo, Google and Microsoft (and Jeeves/Bloglines?). I think he's talking in terms of sheer quantity of RSS users. Indeed David says that AOL could "teach a lot of mainstream users to use it [RSS]".
I don't really have an opinion on this, because here in New Zealand we don't have AOL. Still, I do know that AOL is right up there with Yahoo in terms of catering to "mainstream" users. So if they're about to promote RSS on their portal, well that's big news.
But interesting to read Susan Mernit's viewpoint (Susan used to be an AOL executive):
"I share Card's skepticism...AOL is gonna have to pull more than one rabbit out of the hat to make a quick turnaround work."
On 31 March 2005 a Google US patent was made public that reveals interesting data on how they rank your website. Patent number 20050071741 was actually filed on 30 September 2003, but it was only made public at the end of March. Darren Yates did some analysis on it - some of his observations (mixed with my own):
- How long the domain name has been running is a factor in good ranking. The longer the better, probably because it's an indicator of reliability.
- Links are analysed by Google with a focus on historical data. In Darren's words: "Google records the discovery of a link, link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the link life span."
- "fast link acquisition" is being targeted by Google. Darren said: "fewer but better quality links will benefit you more and they will be much more likely to be over the long-term which is good too."
Nick Finck put it nicely over at Digital Web: high-ranking sites will be "less of a link farm, less of a re-blog, less of a link exchange, less of a faux landing page."
- Click-throughs count: "sites are rewarded for good CTR with a raise in ranking. Similar to how Adwords works."
- User behavior is monitored. No surprise there, but this includes seasonal rankings (e.g. ski websites) and "bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes, deletions or additions".
- That old Web 1.0 staple, stickyness, still counts: "Clicks away from your site back to the search results are also monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors there longer."
- The two extremes of website updates are discouraged - mass updates and very few updates: "Mass updates of hundreds of files will see you pop up on the radar. On the other hand, few or small updates to your site could see your rankings slide - unless your CTR is good."
- Spam indicators according to Google include changing the focus of multiple pages at once and a spike in the number of topics.
(RM says: does this mean topic-focused blogs are rewarded in Google Page Rank as well as blogosphere attention? Sounds like it...)
- Other, more SEO-focused (search engine optimisation), spam indicators include keyword density changes and the reputation of your host's IP address.
Darren's final bit of advice is to "grow your site as organically as possible", which is definitely something bloggers can relate to. This patent application seems to target spammers, which is great news.
However I do find it odd that, according to Darren, Google wants us to make our websites "more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a while". [I believe he's referring to section 0092, User Behavior, in the Patent] In the blogosphere, the only 'sticky' thing is a user's RSS Aggregator! Of all the blogs I follow, I only regularly visit the actual websites of a small percentage of them. The rest I read in Bloglines or Rojo, only clicking through occasionally for the comments (this includes for excerpt-only feeds, which I'm more likely to pass over than click through on). Joshua's been writing some excellent posts on this topic lately.
Mind you... because this patent was filed way back in September 2003 (before RSS Aggregators became popular), it's likely that Google have updated their site ranking methods since then - to accomodate RSS reading and other Web 2.0 activities such as API access to web content. Google is usually more than one step ahead of anything they release publically(!), so I'd be surprised if they haven't already accounted for 'off-site browsing' (i.e. RSS aggregation and web services) in their site ranking algorithms. I hope so. Hmmm, do you think they have?
Ok, this morning's post was silly. Now here's a serious one. I will go to San Francisco this October, for two reasons. Firstly to attend the Web 2.0 Conference (why should I miss out on all the fun!). Secondly to get a job in America, so my family and I can live there.
I'd made up my mind before I read Steve Jobs' Commencement address to Stanford University, but his inspiring words sealed the deal. It's time I quit complaining and started really working towards my dream. As Steve Jobs said:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Now that Web 2.0 is all the rage and whole websites are being devoted to it, I feel it's time to get my due as being the first blogger in this space. Therefore from now on, I'd like you all to refer to me as the "Father of Web 2.0" whenever you link to me.
Now, I realise that I am not actually the father of Web 2.0 - it was probably Tim O'Reilly or John Battelle who coined the term. But the Internet never lets the truth stand in the way of a good meme. So I see no reason why y'all shouldn't start referring to me as The Father of Web 2.0... you know, around the blogosphere.
Here are some examples of how you could slip this into your blogs:
- "Richard MacManus, considered by many to be the Father of Web 2.0..."
- "An interesting conversation has been brewing over at Read/Write Web, home of the Father of Web 2.0..."
- "Richard MacManus, widely hailed as the Father of Web 2.0..."
Indeed it seems Google already recognizes me as the Father of Web 2.0. Nevertheless I could use your help to spread the meme even further. ;-)
This post by Matt Webb is worth pondering for those of us who are far away from all the Web 2.0 action. Matt wrote that "The Web is San Francisco circa 2001, writ large." He explained:
"The Web's been coasting since 2001. It consists of that which started in SF and happened to adapt to the larger ecosystem, and that's it. But since 2001, there are millions and millions more people online--and they're pretty much uncatered for. They have no native services."
He then highlighted some opportunities that exist for "native services" - for example in the huge new market that is China:
"Don't make the mistake of thinking they're just the long tail. The mass market is as differentiated along as many axes as any other market, including our own geek market. And don't think that we'll know what they want without working with them.
Actually, don't even think of them as "them": I never realised I was a "them" until I went to California."
It's still my dream to go to San Francisco, because it's the center of the world as far as Web business goes. So I really should be there. Nevertheless, Matt's post reminded me that there's a whole world of opportunity on the Web - if you keep your eyes and mind open.
John Battelle's posted details of the second Web 2.0 Conference, to be held in San Francisco on October 5-7. This is something I'd really really love to attend, but it's looking like the travel costs are going to be prohibitive - for a po' kiwi looking to become self-employed this year. Sometimes I really really hate living in New Zealand - no jobs, no conferences, no respect. Anyway, enough pissing and moaning :-) Here are the conference details:
"The program for the sophomore edition of Web 2.0 is inspired by the simple observation that while last year was all about declaring the web as a platform for new and innovative business models, this year it's all about showing what can be done on that platform, and uncovering the innovative companies, ideas, and models from which all of us can learn. I'm (loosley) focusing on three areas that are truly taking off in 2005: Media & Entertainment, Communications (ie, the Web goes mobile and swallows telecom along the way), and the Web as OS."
p.s. John's looking for input, so go and contact him.
This week: 9-to-5 Web 2.0, Google Maps is where it's at, Caught between two worlds, Web 2.0 spreading its wings, New apps on the block.
I found a couple of posts this week about using Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace - a worthy topic.
In the first, Peter Yared pointed out a disconnect between Web 2.0 in "the home" and how it's panning out "at work". Peter concluded:
"As more and more Web 2.0 applications deploy, pretty soon even the CEO will be saying "some random guy can get Google to work with Craigslist, and we can't get CRM to work with ERP?" Web 2.0 = SOA, and an enterprise's customers, employees and partners are going to expect it to happen ASAP."
In my experience a lot of internal corporate apps are desktop apps, rather than web apps. This is mainly because of the enhanced functionality developers can achieve with desktop apps. However, like Peter, I see no reason why organisations shouldn't start to take advantage of the interconnectivity and data reuse that web apps achieve via Web Standards and Web APIs. It's so much easier to get apps working together if they're all on the Web platform.
Also on the 'Web 2.0 in the workplace' theme, Marshall Kirkpatrick explained how he hooked up one of his customers with "persistent searches". Marshall set them up with a variety of topic-based RSS feeds and gave them a Furl account "so they can save and comment on the articles they find via the RSS feeds." This is an excellent way to introduce business people to the world of RSS and Web 2.0. Related to that, I wrote a post earlier this year which described how to set up topic-based RSS feeds.
Google Maps is everywhere. It's one of the hottest Web 2.0 apps around right now, alongside Flickr and del.icio.us. I don't claim to be an expert on Google Maps, but I feel I need to highlight it in my Web 2.0 Weekly Wrap-Up because of its popularity. Perhaps the reason it's so cool is because it's an ideal way for developers to show off their Web 2.0 chops. As Sanborn GIS and Mapping developer Dave Bouwman wrote:
"It's [Google Maps] a very "cool" implemention of Web 2.0 / AJAX technology. This is perhaps the most important factor re: the hacks. Many developers want to start working with AJAX, and Google Maps is the hot new demo."
Rather than attempt to summarise all the latest Google Maps trends, let me point you to two much more authoritative sources: Joshua Porter's post Google Maps Spawns Many Web 2.0 Interfaces and O'Reilly Radar's Google Maps Hacks at the Factory Tour and Google Maps and BBC Backstage.
Reader Seni Sangrujee emailed me this week with this dilemma:
"I'm currently building a web app to help people get together easier (collaborative
calendar, decentralized event planning instead of host-driven) It's still in beta, but
half of my beta testers want this app to go in a more Web 2.0 direction with full
read/write wiki-like editability, APIs to integrate with their blogs, iCal
interoperability, etc. The other half wants a different approach.
Here's a sample event to convey the concept and what I'm talking about: http://gefilter.com/7wEB3W
Unfortunately, I'm currently taking a hybrid Web 1.5 approach to try to accomodate
everyone :( Event Initiators are given the option on how open they want things to
be."
Seni's app is for event management and is called Gefilter Fish. He writes more about the Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 question here. Who can help Seni out?
I've noticed an upsurge in blog posts and indeed whole websites about Web 2.0 recently. Will Pate has set up a community blog entitled What's Web 2.0 - and he gave me kudos for "carrying the Web 2.0 torch" over the past year (thanks Will!). Also I noticed Keith Robinson's post about Web 2.0, which introduced the concept to all his Web Design readers.
This increasing coverage will get a wider variety of people drinking the Web 2.0 kool-aid. That's got to be good, if only because it'll drive eyeballs to my blog [that's a Web 2.0 joke - get it? :-)]
p.s. I'm thinking about changing my tagline to "The Father of Web 2.0", or perhaps "Web 2.0 El Papa" because of its literary connotations ;-) [ed: note to new readers, Richard has kind of a strange sense of humour... you'll get used to it]
In lieu of the Techie Post of the Week, I thought
I'd highlight some newbie Web 2.0 apps with 'Oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh / The right stuff':
YubNub: a command line for the Web OS - Jon Aquino's
Ruby on Rails app that lets you access any number of web apps from one screen
FeedLounge: new web-based RSS Aggregator -
AJAX-driven newsreader that promises desktop app-like functionality and trendy things
such as tagging.
Literary Machine - "The Literary Machine is a dynamic archive and an idea management tool aimed at creative thinking — built especially with the writer in mind."
ConnectViaBooks - seems to be a social networking tool revolving around books. (via)
Rojolicious - "closing the loop between Rojo and del.icio.us"
That's a wrap for another week!
