The online marketing virtual conference mashup

Can't find an event of interest... why not create your own. With a ton of fine user-generated media on the web it has to be simple to locate speakers on hot topics that have appeared at events around the world (search youtube, blip.tv, ustream, qik etc...) Do you need to know more about online marketing, the new media, web2.0 and social media? Well here's a nifty virtual conference that's been put together for your enjoyment. Sit back in your office chair, grab a coffee and enjoy the event.. no travel, no hotels, no lost luggage, no security lineup hassles etc... what a great idea!
Enter the event here

More video from Whatleydude in Finland from his social media recap

James is still editing some of the hundreds of video clips that he captured while in Helsinki... enjoy! Nice to see you back blogging again James!



Adventures in Finland 1: The Arrival from James Whatley on Vimeo.

Ping your message!

http://ping.fm/v/AAGnQ - "James Whatley. Thank you for sharing details of the Ping my message Via SpinVox and Ping FM. This is way cool."

This message was updated via Ping.fm... what is this about??? See here for details on the voice to text social networking service!

TwitPic extends your photos to Twitter

Oh man these fantastic mobile, social networking apps just keep on coming... enter TwitPic. The service extends the functionality to the mobile Twitter user by providing a gateway where photos are posted via mobile, a web UI, or via their API. Post a picture and your Twitter feed is updated with details. See more at http://twitpic.com/ TitPic is natively supported by twhirl, twitter mobile, Twitterific and others. I've tested the app and the UI is a bit clunky so as of yet I'd say its likely not terribly useful for me - heck, I can do this via Shozu anyway but maybe it will evolve.

Coming Down from the Nokia OpenLab08 High

We'll I'm back from a whirl-wind journey to Finland where myself, along with about 3 dozen other bloggers, new media technologists, early adopters of mobile technology and social media technology gurus, where we had a chance to discuss the what, where, when and why of mobile, particularly with respect to our social networks. I have to admit, like many others in attendance, I'm still trying to process fully what transpired! Made up of several "workshops", one of which I facilitated, we shared our tales and thoughts on the likely direction that social networking will take, and in particular, the role that the mobile web will play as things evolve. There were no correct answers, there were no stupid comments, there were no misfits, etc... there was simply a group of cool people sharing their stories and offering up insights from their own special corner of the social web or geo-social web as I like to call it! This might sound a bit abstract and you may wonder, what the hell was Glenn doing there and what is he talking about? Well, that's how Nokia (sponsor of the event, via their WomWorld extension) likes to roll, that's how they like to get a glimpse of future technologies and the role that the company's solutions will play as the mobile web expands it's reach.

Obviously, with me being the "Geo" guy, I was providing insight into my thoughts on the geo-social web and other location-aware solutions that users take advantage of to expand their networks and share their experiences. If anything, the event not only enabled us to brainstorm, but we also had a chance to take part in a very interesting social networking test where a group of 35 people were introduced to each other, provided with a mobile device (Nokia E71 in this case) and told to have at er... setting us free in Helsinki to collaborate, socialize and communicate via whatever means we could. At the end of the day, the group Wiki, Twitter, Jaiku, Flickr, Qik, and Ovi proved invaluable in bringing us closer together and enabled us to have a much different experience had these mobille technologies not existed. If this is all too much for you to think about at the moment (I know it's been a load for me as I try to recoup), I can relate... I'm still absorbing a ton of material and media. I have to say thanks to Peter Batty for planting a seed in my head last week and reminding me how combining future location location focused applications more with current location focused applications is where we are headed... I couldn't stop thinking about this and now couldn't agree more! I also couldn't help to wonder while we were there, how crucial the latest social networking tools were to us all to help us enjoy the event and communicate with each other... indeed if we could build on the geo-social web experience we could have benefited even more - there's opportunity a plenty in that space in my mind!

Thanks to the team in Helsinki (along with WOMWORLD and 100Heads) for getting us together and for sharing some media with us via Ovi Share... Nice Job! And a big thanks to my 3 dozen+ new friends who have greatly expanded my social network and given me much to think about regarding the Geo-Social Network and the possibilities that it brings to our lives.

The OpenLab08 Group (Image Credit NokiaOpenLab08 on Ovi)

Enough of that for now... maybe take a load off and test your Geographical skills in this contest from Nokia called the Mapsters... have fun - you just might win a new Nokia 6110 Navigator! I just got a score of 69,900 on first try, can you beat that... I'm sure you can! Oh, and please, don't forget about thegreenthing! I'm doing my green thing by not watering my lawn every day like my entire neighborhood. Instead, once a week by hand and I have grass just as green as anyone else... go figure that one! More to come soon...

Some additional resources to consider include:

• Ovi Share Channel
• WomWorld on Jaiku or me on Jaiku
• Twitter
• NokiaOpenLab08 Flickr
• my Qik
• OpenLab on qik
• OpenLab Official website
• OpenLab Wiki
• James Whatley video on Join The Community

Blogs, comment, and Vlogs from attendees:

• Goodby Helsinki (Gypsibandito)
• Phil Campbell's closing comments
• Nokia Openlab 08 (Mickipedia)
• OpenLab Part 1 (Steve Lawson)
• NokiaOpenLAb08 in Review - Nick Bouton
  
• OpenLab 2 - Geo-Location workshop (Steve Lawson)
  
• NokiaOpenLab08 qiks
  

The Hierarchy of Communication?

What's the hierarchy of your lines of communication? Personally I'd have to admit that it depends on who I'm communicating with and what the purpose of it is.

In general I might have to go with:
Face-to-face
Call
Email
TXT
Social
IM
Other...

A great discussion over at the Outsidr

Location-Aware voice marks via Geograffiti

Here's a cool new social networking apps that enables you to leave voice marks anywhere you want.. a slick app for exchanging location-aware tags using a simple phone number to leave your marks. See http://www.geograffiti.com/

location-aware social networking application, whereyougonnabe updated

Looks like Peter and crew have just released a new update for the location-aware social networking application, whereyougonnabe. Some key new features in this release include:
- WYTV, a new animated map display inspired by the cool Twittervision, but using data from whereyougonnabe. This displays an interesting mix of activities from your friends and public activities from other users. You can click through on friends' activities to see more details.


- Calendar synchronization now uses Google Local Search, based on the context of which city you've told us you're in. So if you're in Denver, CO and you put a location of "1100 Broadway" or "Apple Store" on an activity in your calendar that week, it will find a suitable location in Denver.
- We now support display of distances in kilometers as well as miles, a request we have had from several users. If your home is in the US or UK the default setting is miles, elsewhere it is km. You can change your preference on the settings page.
- The experience for new users is improved - when you add the application you can immediately view data from your friends, or public activities from other users, without having to enter any data. Users just need to tell us their home location before creating their own activities.
- Various small usability improvements and bug fixes.


See http://apps.facebook.com/whereyougonnabe/

Ping all your social networking apps at once

Another suggestion for you new iPhone users... Ping (Beta) enables users to "ping" all of their social networking apps from one place... supports all the major apps like blogger, facebook, myspace, linkedin, and many more. There's a mobile Ping also at m.ping.fm or for iPhone users see "i.ping.fm. The company maintains a blog, there's also an API available so you can have ping users connect to your app - Peter, you see this? See ping.fm or check out the team blog

Dopplr adds new functionality for users via Twitter, SMS

Dopplr has today announced an updated (Copenhagen) that provides additional functionality for users to share their trips. Now users can update trips via SMS, email and by Twitter using a special direct message functionality. User profiles also have more options that enable the user to limit what info is shared with others. Nice stuff... the mobile updates are a must so this is a treat and may get me actually using it more. See www.dopplr.com
See also the Dopplr blog for detailed info

Spatial Networking WhereYouGonnaBe to include Twitter, Facebook, and Google Calendar integration

Looks like Peter and the gang at SpatialNetworking have a new release in the works to include facebook and Twitter integration...

In addition to updating the popular Twitter and facebook service, it can also tie in to your Google calendar and import from TripIt and Doplr... cool. The tie in to Google Calendar is very powerful and something that users are going love! See video demo below (source: http://vimeo.com/1313233) - I can't wait for a mobile client!

See also www.spatialnetworking.com

http://www.whereyougonnabe.com/

whereyougonnabe July 2008 release overview from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

So many social apps, so little time!

Are you on social networking overload? Man, there';s just so many of em out there, which one to use... perhaps all! Then there's a matter of what app to use to update your social networking apps... Twhirl, Ping.fm, halo.....
What's your favorite and most used social app? More important, what's the coolest app to use to update to them all?

Twitter Goes over capacity again and again

Here we go again... Twitter is once again over capacity due to too much volume. The company has been slammed a fair bit lately and the constant slow through put and messages like this aren't going to help much. I guess I'll go over to Jaiku (www.jaiku.com) for now! Obviously this is due to the growing number of users that seek to have 5000+ freinds and followers etc... this problem is also going to hit facebook as well.

SkyLounge social networking for frequent flyers

An interesting app revealed today called SkyLounge. Create a profile and store your trips, then you can connect with other members that might be on a future flight that you'll be on. A number of groups are available to join so you can connect and schmooze with others that share similar interests. see www.skylounge.com
Think LinkeIn for the frequent traveler - See the Geo Technology Group!

Ping.fm Beta - posting to 14 social networks

Another new tool to help post to all your (well some of them) social networking services. Ping.FM from proficaltic enables users to register and post away. So far I'm not thrilled as I got my beta login but it doesn't seem to already recognize my existing profilactic username. I'll have to tinker around a bit more - see ping.fm

Twitter over capacity... oops!

Looks like Twitter has really caught on and too many people are tweeting this morning... OOPS! See www.twitter.com if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

hellotxt - update all your social networking apps

A quick tip on a nifty tool called Hellotxt. The app provides a simple online interface, enabling users to quickly update over all their social network apps (well, almost all of them) like jaiku, twitter, facebook, myspace, linkedin, pownce, etc... See http://hellotxt.com/

Connecting Dopplr to LinkedIn Contacts

Looks like Dopplr has added a LinkedIn Connectivity function. Recall Dopplr is a popular social networking app for frequent business travelers. Now you can invite your LinkedIn contacts to track and follow you while your on the road... makes sense. See also www.dopplr.com

MapMe.com - a new, Community mapping mashup

An interesting new social mapping community has popped up over at MapMe.com. Developed by a team from Down-Under, MapMe enables users to map and share their experiences via maps, video, textual comments and more. the application is powered via the Google Maps API. From teh developer team... MAPme.com can be used to create anything from travel guides for any entire country, or a detailed view of a specific street. The maps can be personal (and private if required) or community based (where content is moderated) or a complete free for all (where anyone can contribute). Hopefully these various map 'types' will give map creators enough flexibility to adjust the way that other people view and relate to the maps they create. Thanks to John McCann, developer, for the tip on another great app! To get rolling, simply create an account and start making a map - the create community map feature is way cool. See www.mapme.com

The Enterprise 2.0 market and increased collaboration

No huge surprise here but it looks like Web2.0 has infiltrated the enterprise, the goal - increase collaboration. Here's details from some recent research findings... According to recent research performed by AIIM of over 400 businesses, 44% of respondents said that Enterprise Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 technologies are “imperative” or of “significant importance” for their organization. Another 27% positioned Enterprise 2.0 technologies such as RSS, blogs and wikis to have an impact on business goals and success. For more on this see www.aiim.org