You might like Meet-O-Matic,. a very simple, easy-to-use, no log-in required, automated meeting scheduler. It’s an excellent example of how a single-use device (e.g., a digital camera) can trump a multi-use device with lots of bells and whistles (e.g., a cameraphone—or Microsoft Outlook).
How mistaken emails can hurt politicians as well as you
6/29/2005 by
Errant e-mail post from assemblyman calls his voters ‘idiots’. Participating in the Yahoo group Brewster10509, a Yahoo group focusing on his district’s issues, Assemblyman Willis Stephens, R-Southeast, accidentally mailed the entire group this note:
“I’m “on” 10509 to monitor what is going on in Brewster. I do not post anymore. Just watching the idiots pontificate. Keeping informed is important and it also gives me a window to what GB (a reference to Ball [political opponent]) and some of his supporters are thinking.”
Microsoft’s ad campaign about their new operating system allegedly preventing people from doing dumb things when typing ‘reply all’ is clearly aimed at folks like this.
Cheater's Guide to LinkedIn Version 0.1
6/26/2005 by
Venture capitalist and multipreneur Christian Mayaud has posted his CHEATER’S GUIDE TO LINKEDIN v 0.1, which is getting wide readership in the LinkedIn user community. As he writes,
This is a HOW post, not a WHY post.
Some people choose to be “promiscuous” LinkedIn users, and Christian acknowledges he has made that decision for strategic reasons. Others (like me) are much more selective in their linking behavior—in my case because I already spend way too much time online.
If you choose to follow Christian’s path, which has placed him as one of the top 3 most connected LinkedIn users for quite a while, these are the keys to the kingdom.
Seeking CEO, Virtual Handshake Enterprises
6/26/2005 by
Seeking CEO, Virtual Handshake Enterprises
Summary
Would you like to take the key leadership role in a unique, fast-growing training, consulting, and information products company?
The Virtual Handshake ( www.TheVirtualHandshake.com ) is the leading resource guide to the social software industry. We run a popular blog, directory and wiki of the major social software companies, a Reader’s Guide, and many other resources for users of online networks/social software. We have several different revenue streams:
+ sales of our book
+ public speaking
+ webinars
+ consulting
+ affiliate programs (coming soon),
+ and more to come.
Your Responsibilities
+ Market the book, The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online
+ Promote our website
+Sell projects to clients for consulting services in social software.
+ Recruit and manage associated consultants.
+ Build strategic partnerships
+ Organize webinars and other events related to online networks/social software
+ Recruit bloggers and writers for other future publications from the Virtual Handshake Enterprises
+ Identify and initiate new revenue streams.
This is a position for someone interested in rolling up his/her sleeves, executing existing assignments, and building a major company from our unique base. You will report to David Teten, Co-Author, The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online and Chairman of The Virtual Handshake Enterprises.
The Company
The Virtual Handshake Enterprises is an early-stage company whose key assets are the TheVirtualHandshake.com website, blog, book, directory, and associated infrastructure. The Company is currently a virtual company based out of Manhattan.
Compensation
You will be paid generously based on a percentage of revenues that you generate. There is no guaranteed base. If you are seeking stability and certainty, this is not the job for you. If you want to make your mark as a leader in one of the fastest growing areas in the software industry, then let’s talk.
Qualifications
+ Proven experience in entrepreneurial startup situation.
+ Significant management experience. Currently, we have no full-time staff, but over time we expect you to build a core team.
+ Strong sales, marketing, and communications “street-fighter” skills.
+ Extensive experience delivering services to professional services clients.
+ Expertise in social software and internet marketing. Value experience in internet community management. Please note that expertise in social software is very different than simply being a heavy user of LinkedIn, OpenBC, or another major online social network
+ Experience in strategy consulting, investment banking, or private equity is highly valued.
Include in resume
+ Your ideas on what revenue streams you would generate for The Virtual Handshake Enterprises based on the current assets of the company. In other words, what is your business plan?
+ Writing sample (essay or other material that you have written for any purpose)
+ Confirmation you are legally eligible to work in the USA.
+ Recent salary history and expectations (including bonuses).
+ Location. We have a strong bias towards basing this position in New York.
How to Apply
Contact via e-mail only; do not call. Save your resume in Microsoft Word format with the name “Last Name_First Name_Year.doc”, e.g., “Gerstner_Louis_2005.doc”. Please include all of the information that we request above, or we will not be able to consider your application. Please write “Virtual Handshake CEO” and your name in the subject line of your email. For example, write “Virtual Handshake CEO-Gerstner Louis”. Mail resume to Resumes(at)Teten.com
Legality of Linking
6/22/2005 by
In his latest blog, New York Times columnist David Pogue asks, What’s Wrong With Linking?:
Every now and then, I get an e-mail message from someone, asking permission to link to my personal Web site.I always grant it, of course. Isnt everyone with a Web site hoping for as many visitors as possible?
So I guess what I dont get is: Why would anyone ask permission? Would anyone deny permission?
This was a subject of some controversy for many years, and the details still haven’t all been ironed out, especially internationally.
Some of the legal issues involved include:
- Defamation (e.g., Googlebombing with defamatory anchor text)
- Copyright infringement
- Trademark infringement and dilution
It becomes even more complicated when you talk about “framing” (presenting another site’s content framed within a presentation page you control), “deep linking” (linking directly to a specific page on a site that ordinarily must be navigated to), and “inlining” (displaying text or images from another site seamlessly within your page).
Fortunately, the U.S. courts have ruled very clearly that hyperlinking, in and of itself, does not constitute any kind of copyright violation. In the 2000 case of Ticketmaster Corp. v. Tickets.com, Inc., the court ruled:
Further, hyperlinking does not itself involve a violation of the Copyright Act (whatever it may do for other claims) since no copying is involved. The customer is automatically transferred to the particular genuine web page of the original author. There is no deception in what is happening. This is analogous to using a library’s card index to get reference to particular items, albeit faster and more efficiently.
So for the general public, no permission is required to create a textual link to any other publicly available site. Even the use of trademarked names within the links, so long as they are linking to the owner of the trademark, constitutes fair use. And the owner of a public website cannot, generally, deny permission to anyone else to link to them with a text link using reasonable, non-defamatory text.
However, as ruled in Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Universal Tel-A-Talk Inc., the same is not true of using a company’s trademarked logo. Playboy argued, and the court agreed, that the use of the logo might confuse visitors to the site by implying that Playboy somehow endorsed or sponsored the site.
Also, if you enter into any kind of contractual obligation with a site, such as becoming a registered user or affiliate, then the contract may specify the terms and conditions under which you can link to the site. Some companies have attempted to put linking restrictions in the terms of use agreement for their public websites, generally intended to prevent deep-linking. This hasn’t yet been tested in court — a lawsuit between Ticketmaster and Microsoft over this issue was settled confidentially out-of-court.
For more on this issue, there’s a great overview at FindLaw and an extensive bibliography/webliography created by Stefan Bechtold.
Yet another reason to be careful about your public online image
6/22/2005 by
From MediaBistro’s FishBowl LA:
At least once a week, the NYT Styles section prints an article that raises the same question within the inquisitive minds of readers coast to coast. “Is [quirky social habit identified in the article] a genuine trend, or did the writer just get the idea from some guy/girl he/she knows from [fancy liberal arts college that wait-listed me]?” To explore this question, Fishbowl decided to juxtapose a recent article with an internet-aided reconstruction of the writer’s social milieu. The results are interesting. Forget “follow the money.” Follow the Friendster!
Regardless of your view of this story, there are clearly a few lessons:
1) Use pseudonyms whenever possible.
2) Be very careful around journalists.
3) Monitor your online image.
Via Gawker
Marketing and Media Opportunities in Social Networking and Online Communities
6/21/2005 by
I had the chance to participate in the IRTS Foundation‘s panel last night on: “Marketing and Media Opportunities in Social Networking and Online Communities”. Other panelists:
Manon Bone, Director, Sales, Friendster
Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder and CEO, MEETUP
Cem Sertoglu, Co-Founder and Former CEO, SelectMinds
Laurel Touby, Founder, CEO, & Cyberhostess, Mediabistro.com
Moderator
Jack Myers, Editor, Publisher, Jack Myers Report and MediaVillage.com
My notes:
Bone: friendster revenue is ad driven, not membership driven.
heiferman: Meetup has few ads. We get money from our users: $19 per month per group. For that $, you’re buying an easy way to find others.
Touby: mediabistro is a community for media professionals. Tv, books. No one is a direct competitor to them. Now have blogs, e.g. Tvnewser.com . only word of mouth marketing.
350,000 users today.
Sertoglu. Corp. Alumni like their former coworkers, even if they dislike their firm.
Teten: gave overview of social software industry structure.
Myers. How get ad agencies excited about social networking?
Heiferman. we don’t want them!
myers. myspace secret sparkle deodorant deal. When teen girls checked out the musicians who had signed up as brand promoters , they were invited to sign up to enter contest for new ipod. 30,000 did it.
myers. What’s the problem if a needle company Advertises to a meetup of knitters?
heiferman. 100000 people go to a meetup every month….there’s huge market potential.
cem. 80 companies run formal organized communities for their alums, many of them served by SelectMinds, which is an ASP. (DT: that’s a tiny percentage of the total market.)
Teten. The future is bottom up , ‘open source’ marketing, not top down. What if marketing materials were published with a Creative Commons license,
encouraging, rather than prohibiting, derivative works?
Social software facilitates the participation of the market; people communicate/market to one another, instead of receiving a top down message. E.g., george masters’ ipod ad.
Jerky Pictures and Sound Are History. Videoconferencing Is All Grown Up
6/17/2005 by
The NY Times reports: Jerky Pictures and Sound Are History. Videoconferencing Is All Grown Up (although they should say that’s only for people with good quality equipment and a fast connection.)
