Fuzzy Content

Reading this site and many other blogs, we certainly get enough daily bread of what to do with social networks. Over the past six months, we have seen SN (that’s what the cool kids call it) expand on integration. What’s next for these little bundles of joy is certainly unknown, but through this whole time, the SNs that have held their own are the ones providing the most value.

Web 1.0 didn’t necessarily fail, but it wasn’t built for communication. But more importantly, it wasn’t built for anarchy. The level of control a site owner had on the content in his or her domain was controlled. Webmaster doesn’t like content…webmaster takes down content.

Now, the Web is finally realizing its own name. It’s a web of communication, relevance, and user ownership. Page references are a thing of the past, where content containers have taken its place. Syndication and taxonomy define not only how content interacts on your domain, but now where it is seen by the user. Where do social networks come in?

They have become the communication vehicle for content relevance. Content relevance used to be a one-to-one relationship. I find information I desperately need…and it ends there. Now, relevance adds a third party: Me, the information, and all my friends.  In the past, if I found something that I thought “johnny” would like, I emailed him the link. Now, he sees what I do on social sites and joins in (if it’s relevant).

That is why social networks work. Action has become communication, which is filtered by relevance. It just doesn’t get easier than that.

I had a chance to attend SXSW earlier this month in Austin. The leaders of the Web converge every year on this conference, and it’s an opportunity to rub shoulders with these giants.

I took particular interest in the sessions that were discussing the direction and uses of the Web’s place on mobile devices. I’ve been a user of the Web on my treo, but that certainly doesn’t make me an expert.

I wasn’t alone. Surprisingly, my Web brethren see this as early on as well. During one particular session, a couple of questions were asked on the usage of the Web on their mobile device and the crowd’s reaction was sparing.

This is going to sound odd, but that question was asked to the wrong people. Although we are the most Web-savvy, in my opinion, we aren’t necessarily the ideal end users. As I walk across college campuses, through airports, and talk with my brothers (high school aged, college bound), I recognize that these are the people that rely on Mobile Web.

For teens and college students, MoSoSo (or Mobile Social Networking Software) like dodgeball and sociallight are becoming addictive applications on their cell phones. Beyond texting, it allows you to find friends. It allows you to see where people are in relation to you. Most importantly, it provides a constant connection between you and your friends. For these cell phone users, mobile Web means controllable communication. It’s opt-in, it’s instant, and it’s constant.

For the heavy travelers, common applications and communication are a plus (like email and chat), but local information must be accessible. Directions (I use GoogleMaps), local restaurants and activities, and flight status are the most common that I see. On the road, these people want to feel like they are not outsiders. The Mobile Web allows the same world of information a computer provides, but no tie to the laptop.

That’s the thing about Mobile Web. Although it’s not here for all of us yet, it’s here for a large demographic. Here are the handful of concepts Mobile Web must provide:

• Quick. For services on the Web, it must download fast. I can’t wait for a 300Kb page to load when all I care about is clickthrough navigation.
• Constant. Like dodgeball or twitter, it’s always on. I don’t need to keep logging in or refreshing. It is as much part of my phone as the phone itself.
• Convenient. I won’t think I need a service until I actually need it. If it is a pain to log in or register or download, it’s not a convenient service.
• Relevant. Location-based information is the most relevant for cell phone users. If I am at a conference, I want to see the schedule and nightlife (thank you sxsw.mobi). If I am looking for a restaurant, I better be able to punch in a zipcode or be picked up by GPS.
• Singular. A one-stop shop for all relevant services would be great, but that’s a world that is pretty far away. I want GoogleMaps to do one thing and Dodgeball to do another.
• Cheap or Free. Per-use service is only beneficial when it is unsuccessful, if that makes sense. If I love texting, I don’t want to pay for every message. One-time or monthly fees that are reasonable make me use services.

It’s still early on in Mobile Web, which brings opportunity. In three years, a cell phone is more a part of communication for people than computers…let’s find the right applications.

You may have caught this in University Business, but on Saturday, February 4th, Oklahoma Wesleyan University began auctioning off a year of tuition, including room and board, on the online auction giant, eBay.

Although this is admittedly to gain publicity for the institution, don’t write this off too quickly. Text messaging, IM, mall advertising, and counselor posters all fall under the same category…Be where students are. Now eBay puts college tuition in the same place.

I doubt this is the new way to pay for college, but I’d be surprised to see OWU as the last institution to do this. We, at Fuzzy, believe that college recruiting is guerilla marketing. We also believe that we (as higher education folks) no longer set all the rules. We play on a field that requires us to catch the attention of students, parents, and other key audiences. This is a great example of not playing by the traditional rules.
Follow the 7-day auction. As of this post (2/6 @ 11:30 CST), the top bid sits at $16,100.

Social content on the internet has reached a blistering pace. My head spins, but my eyes twinkle at the possibilities. For example:

For all of you who enjoy regular podcasts, you now have your favorites. I listen to about 4 or 5 podcasters on a regular basis. Some have daily podcasts, but others are for less frequent. For those everyday podcasts, I find it hard to catch up. But a service has been out there for a few months that caught my eye. Pluggd has Hear Here, which allows you to search podcasts for appropriate content. So, let’s say you are listening to Chris Pirillo, but find his hour-long daily program too much. You just want to know more about the new ChaCha search engine. Type in ChaCha, or “search engine” and it will show you where in the hour-long program that may be discussed. Brilliant! I’m not supporting their service, but if you use it and like it, let me know.

How does this relate to you? It is now more important than ever to expand your walls of the .edu site. If there are no services that push people to your site (besides standard Google searches), you are missing the boat. Your podcasts, blogs, and events need to be found in aggregators, microformat searches, and blog searches.

It’s a crowded marketplace…your content needs to rise to the top.

I’m not the organizer, I’m just passing the news along

After a great turnout last year, we are trying to organize another installation of the SXSWi Higher Ed Meetup! Location and exact time are still to be determined, so we would like to get an idea of how many might attend.

RSVP for this event at http://upcoming.org/event/136826.

See you all in March!

Chip Diffendaffer
University of Denver

I ran across this article today on the Wired blog and just had to discuss.

As much as the next guy, I hate the term “Web 2.0″. It seems like everything these days is Web 2.0. When did it get here? Is it already here? If it were in a lineup, how would I pick it out? Did I invent it?

But that’s not enough…everyone is looking at the next big thing. Web 3.0 converges technologies. Web 4.0 is extensible markups great equalizer. Web 5.0 allows my dog to finally use the computer by barking signals and getting treats.

I rarely rant, but I just want people to use the Web the way they want to. For instance, I recently switched my personal site over to WordPress. And lo and behold, I’m on the road and need to update a page. With the trusty Blazer Web browser on my phone, I login, edit the page, and publish…just like that. I expected that I could do it…I did it…and I sat back and was marveled by it. That, my friends, is the Web.

I was talking to an admissions person at the school I work at. We were discussing student chat sessions using things like Chat University. It got me thinking why dont we do this with audio, like a confernce call? I have been using Skype for alot of my personal communication recently at home. I have a mic, the Skype client and a buddy (on my buddy list).

A little background for those of you who might not know about Skype:
It is like instant messanger but with audio. You have a buddy list and you click a person and start a chat. It literally has the same interface as an IM program. All you need to do it get a mic. Nothing special just a cheap one.

Anyways, so from here Skype has a thing called a Skypecast. You can have a free online confernce call or chat. You simply set it up on the site and then people can join in to the chat. Exactly like the old school chat sessions but with audio. I think it would be a bit more personal than simply a chat box. I am trying to run with this from here. There is new version of Skype coming out soon this will have stronger integration with Skypecast. It is currently in Beta.

Here are two articles with further info about the Beta and Skypecast integration
Skype 3.0 Beta - A Bloggers Paradise
First Look At Skype 3.0 Beta
You can also record the chats and make podcasts. And hey that is a buzzword so I’m sure you can sell someone on it

-Matt Herzberger

What made Fonzy cool was his lack of effort to be cool. But he didn’t wake up in the morning and say, “Today, I am going to be as cool as I can be.”

• Flickr is cool. What makes Flickr cool is that millions of people contribute photos and share stories because they want to, not just because they can.
• iPods are cool. They have revolutionized the way that music is listened to, downloaded, categorized, and used.
• Tagging is cool. Information on the Web is no longer a series of islands. Now, content can be syndicated, bookmarked, and searched through del.icio.us, newsgator, and technorati.

What makes these cool is the fact that they have been embraced. It’s not a matter of how fantastically structured the technology is. Who cares how Flickr does what it does. It’s more cool to see what the people do with Flickr. It’s more cool that Web sites embrace microformats and RSS.

I ran across this quote from Gerry McGovern. It’s not earth-shattering by any means, but it defines what cool is.

“I embrace technology. I love it. I’m surrounded by it. What I have to keep reminding myself is that it’s not about the technology itself; it is about what we can do with the technology.”

Cool is a reflection of what people do, or say, or how they act. They determine success. They determine what’s relevant, and important. They determine what’s cool.