What do I see on Twitter...

Below is what I see when I log into Twitter -


They are promoting some Election 2008 - I guess they are aggregating tweets that are talking about or around the elections. Seems interesting and I wonder if we will see some monetization on these lines...

I mean I can't think why they would do this unless they were testing how it works. What do they get by being a topic specific content aggregator?

Welcome to YoVille...

As if we needed another version of SecondLife in the virtual world...

YoVille which is being promoted as an app on Facebook is one more version of a virtual world (It isn't like SecondLife - it's more like Google Lively or Habbo Hotel but I say SecondLife because that is the market leader in virtual worlds). I always believe that you won't have too many adopters who will move from their current preferences (of an existing product) unless you are actually offering them something better.

Sure Facebook has its own fan base and sure enough those people are enough to seed YoVille but I don't think they will ever beat SecondLife at its game (not that I am saying they are looking to do that).

The biggest advantage a YoVille will have over SecondLife is that Facebook is not limited to members from only one or two countries. They are way more global than SecondLife (or Orkut or MySpace for that matter) and this might give YoVille first mover advantage in many countries.

Anyway it would be interesting to see how this space (virtual worlds) expands in the coming months and years.

Been to Facebook lately?

The new version of Facebook has a tab for 'Status Updates'. Before the new look, Facebook did allow you to have a status message but it wasn't this prominent (though lots of people used it). Also there was never a way to comment directly to a status message of somebody.

It got me thinking if Facebook did this looking at the popularity of Twitter. I mean status updates is like microblogging and everyone can see it and also 'reply' to it.

Innovations on the web

Was watching 'DOWNLOAD: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INTERNET : Search Wars' today and couldn't help but realize that most innovations that have come out on the web and become BIG have been simple ideas.

I mean it's not earth shattering to want a give users better searches. Just as it is not earth shattering to rank sites higher which have more recommendations (in bound links). Also it is not something out of this world to match keywords with relevant advertisements.

I think the same would apply to most of the internet innovations. I mean it's easy to see how people would love to upload and share videos or even just want to watch random ones. It's easy to see how people would like to upload pictures and share them. It's easy to see how people would like to have online diaries etc.

It's just a matter of being sure that you have something that offers value to others and that it can be a money churning machine. And with advertisers moving more and more advertising revenue to the internet, I think worry about revenues is secondary if you have advertising avenues on your invention.

AdLeads - a cost-per-lead online ad marketplace

Pontiflex has launch a CPL based ad marketplace.

Users can run direct response and display advertising based campaigns, while paying for CPLs instead of clicks and impressions.

Demo of AdLeads

Bad User Experience

I logged onto IBNLive a little while ago to get an update on the blast and guess what I get - a page that promotes their new product (in.com). So I waited for a little while thinking the page will re-direct soon but it didn't. It just stayed the same way and I had to figure out the link (Skip to IBNLive.com) to that took me to the site. 

For me this is just bad user experience (even though later I realized that it does re-direct but it does after a long time). Either the skip link should be larger (or they should have a button) or it should redirect faster. If it has to redirect faster obviously one worry is that how will people actually end up taking an action like 'sign up'. But I think if just in.com were to be highlighted some more with emphasis on 'integrated email platform with news, music, video and gaming', I think lots of users might have gone directly to in.com and registered. 

Anyway I think I was just a little pissed off because I was looking for important information and the site put a barrier in my way. Most people wouldn't be so upset about something like this but I just think that this promotion of their leads to a negative user experience. 

Google Chrome

Despite saying I will not switch over anytime soon, I think I have hehe.

The browser is much more faster. Some things do work a little differently in Chrome but over all it's quite good.

:)

Google Phone Search

Google Phone Search - Voice Search for Hyderabad and Delhi, India

Google Phone Search is a new pilot service making local business information, movie times and real time flight status accessible from any phone.

Google Phone Search gives you the power of Google Search while you are on the go. This service is completely free of charge, bringing you the information you need, right when you need it the most. It can be reached from any phone number - landline or mobile in Hyderabad and Delhi.

Once you find the information you're looking for, you can:

• Get the information sent to you for free via SMS
• Have the information read to you
  

To give you the information you need quickly and efficiently, we are using a combination of advanced speech recognition technology and local experts - ensuring that you always find the best answers to your questions in the fastest way possible.

Full article at - http://labs.google.co.in/phonesearch/index.html

Didn't know Google had this and honestly I am waiting for it to be launched for Mumbai because I don't understand what this service is.

I wonder if it's the same as Just Dial or something else. Meaning I don't understand if it is people searching on a machine and giving you answers or whether it is some program understanding your need and replying in a totally automated manner (though I think I am being too futuristic).

Or whether it is search as you would do on the web and then just that you get the snippets you want, in the manner you want them.

Google Chrome

I just love how anything Google comes out with becomes if not a super hit, then at least the talk of town for a while. So many people are talking about Google Chrome (am surprised I never heard about Google launching it's own browser).

While Chrome does look a little more sleek, and does seem faster, I am content with Firefox right now. Of course I have barely browsed on Chrome but it will take a while for me to shift browsers if at all.

It's early days. Let's see if Chrome can work any magic. Firefox, Opera, Safari have hardly knocked off IEs lead and I don't know if Chrome would either. The only way any new browser starts getting used by the masses is if the browser would come pre-installed on a PC.