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predictions for tech in 2010 - Marty Wetherall

enjoysthin.gs is a place to save and share things you enjoy. Just sign up with your usual and get started. Questions? View the tutorial video. - Marty Wetherall

A cool 360 degree camera technology and a cooler URL. - Marty Wetherall

facebook's updated privacy policy explained. - Marty Wetherall

verizon's impressive rollout and pr strategy for the droid. worked on me - Marty Wetherall

A look at the golden triangle of mobile, social, and real-time and a look ahead to a 3 screen world. - Marty Wetherall

banner blindness and other shocking revelations for those hopong to build a revenue model on advertisers and advertisers alike. - Marty Wetherall

IKEA engaged a rather outre advertising agency called Forsman and Bodenfors to create a rather special launch campaign. The agency created a Facebook profile for the store manager, Gordon Gustavsson. Over a two-week period, it uploaded images from of IKEA showrooms to his Facebook photo album. Then it put out word that the first person to tag their name to a product in the pictures, won it. Facebook being what it is, word got out and needy, enthusiastic Swedes begged for more pictures so that they could tag themselves to a new sofa, a new bed, or a new vase into which they could stick their plastic flowers or their dead grandparents' ashes. Before Facebook could take credit for its own wonderful ingenuity in creating the world's most needed Web site, thousands of Swedes were spreading pictures of IKEA showrooms all around the personal galaxy known as their profile pages. - Marty Wetherall

It’s not too often that legacy media learns a new mass communication tool along with its audience. But that’s exactly what’s going on now because of Google Wave. Although it’s still invitation only and in preview, the real-time wiki collaboration platform is being used by some media companies for community building, real-time discussion, crowdsourcing, collaboration both inside and outside the newsroom, and for cross publishing content. Google Wave (Google Wave) may seem familiar to older users of the Internet, who have been using the parts that make up the whole of the platform for years. Wave, however, brings those pieces together cohesively to allow users to share photos, embed videos, and converge other Google (Google) applications such as Google Maps (Google Maps) and Google Calendar to create customized blocks of user-editable content on the fly. Here are four ways that newsrooms are using Wave. - Marty Wetherall

In August we reported that a large number of Fortune 100 companies have embraced Twitter, but how well are they actually using it? A study released today (PDF) by Weber Shandwick says the answer is not very well, and that the majority of Fortune 100 companies don’t really get Twitter. Though 73 of 100 companies had at least one registered Twitter account (up from 54 reported in an unrelated study released in August), the majority of them weren’t using Twitter effectively to engage their followers, weren’t tweeting often, and didn’t display any personality in their tweets, according to the study. One major result of this ineffective use seems to be low engagement from followers. Out of the 540 total Twitter accounts registered by Fortune 100 companies, 50 percent of the accounts had fewer than 500 followers and another 15 percent weren’t being used at all. - Marty Wetherall

Most companies fail to realize Twitter's full potential as a market engagement platform. While 73% of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts, effectiveness based on level of activity, interaction and engagement were off the mark. Brand-squatted accounts, as reported last week in Ad Age, remains an issue for many companies. For those that are on board, many more are largely tepid accounts with limited activity and interactivity (76% of accounts tweet infrequently). Even more telling is how companies apply currently traditional marketing practices to this new media channel - Marty Wetherall

When it comes to applications, the Android ecosystem is pretty different from that other far more controlled alternative. Sure, the Android Market may not have 100,000 options just yet. But it does offer plenty of powerful programs -- somewhere around 10,000 total -- and, in a refreshing twist, it lets you decide what apps you want, instead of frequently censoring selections for you. We've compiled a list of 10 top-notch Android apps to help get you going with your Android experience. These are all highly ranked programs that'll be strong starting points as you work to make the most of your new Droid device. After all, the much-discussed turn-by-turn GPS navigation system isn't the only thing out there. - Marty Wetherall

ABC is introducing a new feature aimed at encouraging viewers who stream their favorite shows online to make the experience more social. This Saturday (Nov. 4), the network will launch ABC Social: Episode Commentary on ABC.com. The new tool allows Web viewers to add their two cents by commenting on the show in an adjacent window to the left of the site’s video viewer. Users can log in to this feature using their Facebook accounts and can instantly share their personal commentary with their Facebook friend circles if they so choose. - Marty Wetherall

Inspired and informed by a fun, little book called Designing Gestural Interfaces, I compiled a very brief and an entirely incomplete history of gestural interfaces in order to help us remember where we're coming from and where we haven't gone yet. By Tali Krakowsky - Marty Wetherall

So much for the first generation of big Facebook/MySpace social application startups. Slide and RockYou both got huge valuations in venture rounds. But a new generation of application developers has taken center stage and are racking up big revenues and their own eye popping valuations: Zynga, Playfish and Playdom. All three own popular social games on Facebook and MySpace. Zyngas Farmville has 61 million monthly users. Playfishs Pet Society has 21 million monthly users on Facebook. And Playdom has 16+ million monthly users of Mobsters on MySpace and Facebook Combined. These three companies may be generating as much as $300 million annually on sales of virtual goods. Need a shotgun to do that next job on Mobsters? No problem. Pay with a credit card, paypal, or your mobile phone and its all yours. And people are obviously very willing to buy these virtual goods. Nothing new there. - Marty Wetherall

There is a lot of chatter about TweetMemes rather robust growth to over 18 million unique monthly visitors on Compete.com. That puts them ahead of well known sites like LinkedIn and gmail.com with 15 million and 9 million visitors, respectively, on the service). In fact, Tweetmeme currently sits as the 68th largest site on the Internet, according to Compete. What does TweetMeme do? They offer other sites a retweet button that makes it easy for readers to send story links to Twitter. We use it on all our sites, you can see it on the top right of this post. They also have analytics around tweets sent via the service, and a home page that shows the most retweeted Tweets at any given time. It competes with Digg, TechMeme, Google News and other news aggregators to show breaking news. But is TweetMeme really so big? The short answer is no. - Marty Wetherall

I get the 8020 rule. I get the 1% Rule. But what about those other 19%? It dawned on me that the gold is in the other 19%. Assume a web site content business (or social network, or bookmarking service, or something else along those lines) that incorporates user generated content (or user interaction) as a core part of it. Apply the 1% Rule. Youve got your active users these are the folks that are going to create content just because. In some communities Im part of that 1% and when I think about why I participate as actively as I do I always have some non-standard rationale or motivation. Now apply the 8020 rule. 80% of the users are the site are simply going to be fly bys. They wont engage deeply they are merely skimming / scanning content. Its nice to have them, but they are the consumers, not the contributors. That leaves 19%. This is the golden segment. If you can figure out how to engage these folks, you win. - Marty Wetherall

Chad Ochocincos Twittering has repeatedly gotten him into trouble with the NFL, but hes nonetheless embraced his online fans, launching an iPhone app and hatching plans to fly Twitter users to games. Now the irrepressible Cincinnati Bengals receiver is indulging his love of Twitter (Twitter) yet further: he claims to be launching a Twitter-based news network with Motorola. Hes branding it the Ochocinco News Network (OCNN) with the slogan, If I break it, you might as well believe it. - Marty Wetherall

EVERYWHERE you look these days, businesses are selling subscriptions. Cable television, Internet and cellphone services are sold that way. So are business software, office printing and car rentals like Zipcars. For a business model that was used by publishers of periodicals back in the 17th century, subscriptions seem as functional and popular as ever for a variety of goods and services. Marketers like them for good reason: Convince someone to take a subscription, and the revenue flows in for months to come. It is amazing how inertia takes over, says Peter S. Fader. Anyone who has signed up for a gym membership that is paid for but not used understands the genius behind subscriptions. There is another reason that marketers use them: When a product has built-in obsolescence, like new versions of software or a magazine with a short newsstand life, subscriptions extend the ownership period. It removes the impedance to upgrading, says Erica Mina Okada. - Marty Wetherall

Mobile advertising promises to be a huge growth area. The Kelsey Group, a market research firm, projects that the mobile advertising market will balloon from $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013. There is no doubt that mobile advertising will be much bigger in four years, perhaps even ten to 20 times bigger than it is today. Where will all of that mobile ad money go to? Here I think the Kelsey group is more on target. It projects that mobile search will go from 24 percent of the total mobile ad market last year to 73 percent of the much larger pie in 2013, according to a recent research note put out by Citi analyst Mark Mahaney. Display ads are projected to go from 13 percent of the total to 18 percent, while SMS ads will decline as a percentage from 63 percent to 9 percent (see charts). So once again it looks like search is going to be the big winner. No wonder Google is so focused on mobile search as one of its major sources of growth. - Marty Wetherall

Integrate brand advertising seamlessly into video content, transforming it into an interactive experience for viewers to engage with. Engage users in a creative way; connect with your target audience, leaving a positive and meaningful impression. Measure engagement and control your campaign's success rate with ease, using a powerful platform to generate detailed time-based reports. - Marty Wetherall

There has been an explosion of startup companies that place "sponsored tweets" into Twitter feeds and split the ad revenue with Twitterers. The first one to sell ads into Twitter feeds, Magpie, says its network now reaches more than 15 million followers. And Mediabistro.com is now giving job advertisers the option of putting their ad in the @mediabistro Twitter feed for a fee of $97. Those considering advertising on Twitter feeds or running ads in their feed often struggle with deciding which service is right for them. There are dangers and pitfalls of running advertisements on your Twitter stream, such as potentially turning off loyal followers. To help you grapple with this thorny issue, I've put together a rundown of some of the major Twitter ad networks. After talking to some of the folks who run these networks -- as well some Twitter fans -- I also developed eight tips to help you get the most out of sponsored tweets. - Marty Wetherall

Twitter gets 55 million monthly visitors, it has raised $155 million in venture capital, and it has generated intense interest from Hollywood to Iran. But it hasnt earned much revenue and certainly no profit. Twitter's chief, Evan Williams, said it would fit his company's open strategy to let both Google and Microsoft search posts. Back-to-back deals on Wednesday to make the companys steady stream of posts available to Microsoft and Googles search engines may point to a potential new source of cash. How large, however, is not known. The terms of the deals were not disclosed and Evan Williams, Twitters chief executive, said in an interview that revenue was not the focus of the deals. Microsoft said it did not plan to put ads on its Twitter search service for now, and Google said ads might appear at a later date. - Marty Wetherall

Volkswagen of America is launching the newest-generation GTI exclusively on an iPhone app, a cost-efficient approach the automaker said is a first for the industry. How cost efficient? When the marketer introduced the GTI in 2006, it spent $60 million on a big-budget blitz with lots of network TV. By comparison, an executive familiar with the matter estimates the annual budget for mobile AOR services is $500,000. And while an iPhone-only strategy may seem limiting, consider this: In September, Apple reported there are more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide. By comparison, CBS' "NCIS," the most-watched show for week ending Oct. 18, reached 21 million viewers and commands an average price of $130,000 for a single 30-second spot. - Marty Wetherall

By all accounts, mobile advertising represents a new front in the industry. Although it represents only a small amount of spending now, mobile advertising spending will grow more than sevenfold in North America over the next few years, one study predicts. "It's where the action is right now," said Neal Burns , a University of Texas advertising professor and director of the school's Center for Brand Research. And because so many people constantly check their devices, there's an invaluable opportunity for marketers to interact with a potential customer. - Marty Wetherall

I posted the video of Mint CEO Aaron Patzer’s 45 minute presentation on building startups from the ground up. If you are an aspiring startup entrepreneur, you’ll want to watch that more than a few times. The candid disclosures and advice he gives is rarely seen in Silicon Valley. Some readers requested to see the presentation deck as well, so here it is. Patzer shows how he raised and spent money, and generated revenue, throughout the lifecycle of Mint, from the very beginning to the $170 million acquisition. He also showed historical slides from early presentations to investors and compares those to the actual results. - Marty Wetherall

Two new little Google Voice features just made their way into Gmail. A new option lets text messages sent to Google Voice show up as e-mail messages in Gmail. You can reply to messages from Gmail, too, which makes it a nice platform for carrying on a text message conversation. Also, there's a new Labs feature in Gmail that lets you play your Google Voice voicemail messages from inside the Gmail viewer. Previously, Gmail would send you the text transcript of your message, but if you wanted to play the audio file, it would open a new browser window to do so. - Marty Wetherall

EVERYWHERE you look these days, businesses are selling subscriptions. Cable television, Internet and cellphone services are sold that way. So are business software, office printing and car rentals like Zipcars. For a business model that was used by publishers of periodicals back in the 17th century, subscriptions seem as functional and popular as ever for a variety of goods and services. Periodicals themselves are suffering — Condé Nast announced last week that it was closing Gourmet and three other magazines — but not because there’s anything wrong with the practice of selling subscriptions. Marketers like them for good reason: Convince someone to take a subscription, and the revenue flows in for months to come. “It is amazing how inertia takes over,” says Peter S. Fader, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Anyone who has signed up for a gym membership that is paid for but not used understands the genius behind subscriptions. - Marty Wetherall

Last month Twitter raised a Series E infusion of capital rumored to be worth $100 million. This latest round took the company’s valuation to a reported $1 billion. At the time, I thought the amount absurd and very risky, because it’s unclear that the company has any monetization strategy that warrants this type of valuation. So I’ve been wondering what Insight Venture Partners , Institutional Venture Partners , Spark Capital Partners LLC , Benchmark Capital , Morgan Stanley , and T. Rowe Price -- Twitter’s Series E investors -- are thinking. Are they mindlessly looking for a brand-name play? Or are they just fools? My conclusion is they’re a lot smarter than we may think -- and so are Twitter’s founders. - Marty Wetherall

Can the so-called Twitter effect boost a movie's box-office performance faster than any traditional form of word-of-mouth? Not yet, say many top movie marketers and researchers, but the social networking platform's impact on a studio's media mix and campaign management has already taken shape. Witness Sony Pictures, one of the first studios to create branded Twitter pages for its films, which saw releases such as "District 9," "Julie & Julia" and "The Ugly Truth" open strong and maintain momentum by keeping the branded conversation around each film active and updating the films' followers on the microblogging site with exclusive content in the following weeks. The results? Grosses of $113 million, $90 million and $88 million, respectively, and counting. - Marty Wetherall