Web 2.0 gains momentum in Europe

Here is an interesting release put out by Frost & Sullivan! I don't know for sure how much we in India have adopted blogs and bloggers, and with it, Web 2.0 tools, though we all love to use Web 2.0 as a buzzword at all conferences.

Have we understood Web 2.0 enough? Some folks have even gone on to tout Web 3.0 as the next big thing! Have enterprises and SMBs in India made enough use of Web 2.0? Have they received measurable benefits out of those tools?

Well, do have a look at Frost's take on Web 2.0 in Europe!

LONDON, UK: The year 2008 and economic downturn have changed the way companies are going about their daily business. In response to the current recession in Europe, businesses are seeking new ways to stay productive while significantly cutting costs with the help of Web 2.0 solutions.

From lower-cost versions of enterprise applications, to utilising cloud computing, ‘crowd sourcing’ business owners are taking advantage of what Web 2.0 has to offer.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan: Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses, finds that Web 2.0 will supplement both Web and Audio-web markets that were valued at $190 million in Europe in 2008 and are likely to grow to $860 million by the end of 2014.

“Web 2.0 solutions may be part of the cure for the recessionary headache that many European businesses are now experiencing; social networking sites, wikis, and blogs are just some of the more well-known examples of Web 2.0 technologies that can play an important role here,” says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Iwona Petruczynik.

“These solutions are becoming more prevalent in the European small and medium businesses (SMBs) arena, especially at a time like this, when workers are being forced to do more with less.”

There has been an increase in the usage of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 solutions like Blogger and WordPress. Until recently, they were primarily associated with consumer applications; however, currently, they are finding usage in more professional areas.

“As an interesting side note, social networking sites are gaining popularity in unexpected places, for instance, the world’s most popular online virtual reality, Second Life, was used by Sweden to open their ‘embassy’ in the virtual world to promote Sweden’s culture and image,” remarks Petruczynik. “In addition, Second Life is used in the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration, where the Ministry has a room, which a person can visit to find out what the Ministry is doing and even ask the Minister questions.”

However, experts are unable to agree on one definition of Web 2.0 and this becomes a challenge in defining its market size. Yet, it is unlikely that Web 2.0 will become a standalone market, as it is a set of technologies and ideas driving the development of existing products and services.

The full potential influence of Web 2.0 is only now playing out, as the concepts and technologies are finding their use in manufacturing, customer service, product development and sales.

Innovative modes of interaction among workers, enabled by Web 2.0, contribute to company cohesion and employee retention. Telecommuting staff too can collaborate with each other speedily and effortlessly, outside of the formal e-mail stream.

Despite the evident advantages, some businesses are apprehensive about fully embracing Web 2.0 tools. The popularity of companies’ in-house intranet and concerns about security and confidential information leaks are just a few examples of the restraints faced by the European Web 2.0 market.

Moreover, a culture of ‘busyness’ retards the adoption of Web 2.0. If employees are not seen working all the time, they are assumed to be inefficient and unprofessional, when, in fact, they could be conducting their business through utilising solutions such as blogs or social networking sites, like Twitter or LinkedIn.

In addition, Europe tends to be more conservative in accepting new solutions. Therefore, the adoption rate of Web 2.0 in Europe is lower than that in the United States.

“In Europe, there is a common misconception that a true deliverable is measured in how many kilograms of paper one produces and hands over to a client,” explains Petruczynik. “This belief is hindering the adoption of Web 2.0 solutions, as more end products are being delivered in the form of a wiki or a blog.”

Moreover, the security concerns that many chief information officers (CIOs) face are equally important. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), a programming technique used by Web 2.0 programmers, poses security risks that in the worst-case scenario include uploading malicious codes onto someone’s computer or hijacking an account.

According to the European Commission, small and medium businesses (SMBs) constitute 99 percent of all enterprises in Europe and provide almost 75 million jobs. With such significant market potential, Web 2.0 vendors should not have problems with deploying their solutions in the SMB sector.

“The best practice for those employing Web 2.0 solutions include creating and implementing clear and easy policies, describing how to use social media to avoid security risks, and leaks of confidential information, adapting their corporate culture to promote openness and collaboration, and educating employees on how to use Web 2.0 tools to become more productive and efficient,” concludes Petruczynik.

“On the other hand, Web 2.0 vendors should help in creating supportive policies, providing seamless integration with existing advanced corporate communication tools, and offering a variety of ‘a la carte’ Web 2.0 technologies.”

Quite an eye opener! Since I've been on my own!!

Ever since I left CIOL and have been on my own, here in India, it has been quite an eye-opening experience!

First, and well, isn't it always so -- I've come face to face again with real friends! Those who really have best interests for me at heart, and those who care a lot about the technology industry!

As for the rest of the experience, oh well, just let it be! Those things happen, and well, will keep on happening, irrespective!

Interestingly, some folks have tried to tag along with me, for reasons best known to them! I don't claim to have a winning formula. However, let such people be cautioned that my path could be quite a difficult one -- they may face subjects that won't be that easy to fathom, and will require lot of hard work on their part.

However, the best thing that's happened is: all of a sudden, I've been inundated with a variety of requests -- especially for blogs on a variety of topics. I have managed to roll out some of them, and as for the others, I can't commit as yet! What is evidently clear is that there is a crying need for information, portals or web sites that deal in-depth, that dig deep, rather than focus more on the surface. That's encouraging!

The nature of other requests are quite interesting -- starting from helping with finding jobs, to selling stuff, career counselling, building PR, and so on!

Another nice thing -- and although I've always enjoyed this freedom right through my career -- I can now pick and choose the stories and topics I'd like to do!

Another revelation -- I am simply overwhelmed and humbled by the variety and the number of folks -- from different parts of India and the world -- who have approached me for various activities. I am trying to do some of those!

Friends, if you have the self belief and confidence to go on your own -- do give it a try! It is always better to fail while making an honest attempt to succeed, rather than fail without even making any sort of attempt! The experience will make you sronger, and hopefully, tolerant and better!

Celebrating World Press Freedom Day!

May 3 happens to be the World Press Freedom Day. It is annually observed to inform the international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental.

Like most fellow bloggers, I wholeheartedly support the freedom of the press. Like most of my fellow bloggers, I too am a member of Bloggers Unite!

We do get to hear a lot of news about journalists being badly treated, captured, even killed, in the line of action. Such things need to stop. If folks try to curtail the freedom of expression, what's the fun left in reporting? Or for that matter, blogging?

One main reason that blogs have become popular is that bloggers have more or less expressed their opinions freely. Now, they say, there should be a code of conduct for bloggers!

Why? If you don't like someone's blog, simply don't read it! Not everything written about everything else in this world would be rosy!! At least, learn to appreciate the written word. Writing itself isn't an easy job, and engaging text, quite a task!

On our part, definitely, the press, we also need to be careful sometimes not to step on someone else's shoes! Not that the press enjoys doing this, deliberately!

I've seen on many occasions, why fellow members of the press have had to go overboard! And, they have valid reasons for doing so! They were simply provoked! I personally don't believe anyone ever has the intention of giving someone else a bad name through the press. That's not what press and journalism's all about! Is it?

Curtailing bloggers' rights, and suppressing freedom of speech and press is similar to censorship. That should not happen! Otherwise, how will you, the reader, get to know the inside stuff on a whole lot of things happening around the world?

As the famous BeeGees song goes: "Its only words and words are all I have, to take your heart away..."

Please respect and applaud the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression! The world needs it!!

Came across the Fake IPL Player blog!

I didn't even knew such a blog existed, till now! Perhaps, you too should have a look.

It does not matter whether the characters, as the blog says, are fictitious. It does not matter whether the blog posts are authentic! Mann, this blogger is extremely creative! The blogger really has a way with words and knows how to capture the audience.

If this blogger is to be believed, then the gossips mentioned in the blog are really entertaining. I've been laughing and laughing!! Can't stop myself! Hey blogger, way to go mann! You should be in the creative writing/advertising business. And well, carry your pseudonym! You'd make a really great career! Best of luck! Now, let me read the Fake IPL Player blog some more!

Keep track of popular content with PostRank Discovery engine

For those of you using PostRank to keep track of the most popular content on your respective sites or blogs, here's another useful tool -- the PostRank Discovery engine.

The PostRank Discovery engine enables everyone to:
* discover the most timely, relevant, and engaging content online.
* search and segment content by specific topic areas and interesting and influential publishers.
* create, share, and subscribe to the the best curated and auto-updated reading lists.

Best of luck to those who wish to use this service from PostRank.

Technorati Attention Index: Top 50 media sites bloggers link!

This is actually taken from Technorati, and isn't an original post.

Technorati recently tried to determine the influence of mainstream media sites in the blogosphere. The result: the Technorati Attention Index. Given below are the top sites with highest number of blogs linking to them in the past 30 days. These will be updated every month by Technorati.

1. YouTube
2. New York Times
3. BBC News
4. CNN.com
5. MSN
6. guardian.co.uk
7. Washington Post
8. Yahoo! News
9. Reuters
10. Los Angeles Times
11. Telegraph.co.uk
12. MSNBC
13. The Wall Street Journal
14. Time
15. Wired
16. USA Today
17. boston.com
18. FOX News
19. Daily Mail
20. ESPN
21. CBS News
22. Financial Times
23. Forbes
24. San Francisco Chronicle
25. Chicago Tribune
26. The White House
27. New York Post
28. New York Daily News
29. International Herald Tribune
30. PBS
31. Salon.com
32. BusinessWeek
33. Slate
34. Newsweek
35. New York Magazine
36. Economist.com
37. CBC.ca
38. San Francisco Examiner
39. MarketWatch
40. Chicago Sun-Times
41. US News & World Report
42. Houston Chronicle
43. Yahoo! Sports
44. Entertainment Weekly
45. Seattle Times
46. E! Online
47. People
48. Science Daily
49. Style.com
50. The Christian Science Monitor

Don't focus on beauty, focus on function: Adam Lasnik, Google

The Google India Searchmasters 2009, held today at RMZ Infinity on Old Madras Road presented an excellent opportunity to interact with Googlers and learn more their work.

The gathering of webmasters, bloggers, and other search engine optimization (SEO) specialists made the event memorable. It is rare to find so many Googlers in India interacting with this community, but then, this conference aimed to change that! And it did!!

Presenters ranged from Adam Lasnik, Google's first Search Evangelist, Koti Ivaturi, Strategist in Google's Search Quality Team, Dr. Rajat Mukherjee, Group Product Manager who is working on Google's Custom Search platform, Ankit Gupta, who is working on making mobile products discoverable and accessible, to Deepak Kumar from the Google Analytics team, who also works on Google's Website Optimizer.

The photo shows Google's Adam Lasnik making his presentation!

Of course, there were Vivaik Bharadwaaj, manager of Google's Search Quality Evaluation team in India and Korea, and product manager, Alok Goel. Both were responsible for putting together this event in India, for the first time ever! Kudos, guys!

Bharadwaaj set the tone, stating Google's desire to build a strong relationship with the Indian webmasters' community. He touched upon some of Google's India specific initiatives, such as Orkut, India Corporate Blog, Google Bus (which has just been launched in Tamil Nadu), Transliteration Tool, Mobile Search, Onscreen Keyboard, Webmasters' Forum, and now, Searchmasters!

Speaking on Webmaster Central and Best Practices, Adam Lasnik highlighted three areas for best practices: discovery, accessibility and promotion. Google's guiding principles are fairness, effectiveness and stability. Google's tools and blogs are its two key resources.

How to get good links?
Commenting on good links, he said those were essentially from trustworthy, relevant and from choosy resources. These links are similar to votes that are given consciously.

There are ways your website can get good links. First, create a notable site with original and compelling content. [Wow, I just did a check on Google for my other blog, and received a whopping 4,950 results! Hope I am on the right track!] Next, participate thoughtfully in communities. Also, make your page easy to share and link to.

"Don't focus on beauty, focus on function," Lasnik advised. "Content is really the foundation." Be original, by having your own information and commentary. Make that content compelling, especially the kind that people would be willing to share with others. Also, make that content accessible.

Website accessibility tips and tricks
First, make sure that your web page or website is accessible to both users and to Google. Ensure that all of the pages load and that users can navigate the site successfully. There is a need to ensure that everyone can see what's available on each page. Most importantly, everyone should be able to understand the content provided.

It helps when users are able to bookmark their favorite pages and also share pages with others. They should also be able to transact appropriately on the website as well. "The most important thing here is TEXT," stressed Lasnik. "Your core content and navigation should be in text," he advised.

Lasnik further provided some tips for testing accessibility. One, access your site with different browsers -- a golden tip, most webmasters generally overlook! Next, make sure that you not only browse the website but also transact! Also, have your colleagues explore and complete specific tasks on your website. "Ensure that people and search engines understand what your web pages are all about," he added.

Moving on to page titles, he advised the webmasters to create title tags that are brief, descriptive and compelling. Good titles are specific to the page. You can also consider adding the organization's name. However, care should be taken that the title tags are phrase based, and not a sentence!

Those of you who aren't doing it yet: make the most of your website's images! "Use Alt text, and use descriptive filenames," said Lasnik. Describe the image appropriately in plain text as well. A key note: be kind to other web users and optimize your images!

Some next steps
It is important that searchmasters and webmasters make their web pages discoverable. "Ensure that your site has an HTML sitemap. Add an XML sitemap as well," advised Lasnik.

Next, help users to access and understand your content. Create descriptive and distinct title tags. Annote all images with appropriate Alt text, and all media, with thoughtful surrounding text.

Touching on keyword density, he said that was not something Google really looked at! He added that keyword stuffing actually violated webmaster guidelines. According to Wikipedia, keyword stuffing is considered to be an unethical search engine optimization (SEO) technique. It occurs when a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tags or in content.

Tackling copied content from your sites
Most bloggers and leading Web sites are plagued with their content being copied by others on to other web sites or even blogs. In fact, I myself spend some time on the Web searching for copied content from my blogs. Well, there's really nothing much I can do about that!

When posed this question, Lasnik referred to bloggers and web sites making use of the DMCA or The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

As per Wikipedia, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as Digital Rights Management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works and it also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

Google Webmaster tools -- see your site like Google sees it!
Koti Ivaturi drew everyone's attention to Google's Webmaster Help Forum. He urged Webmasters to use these tools so that they can see their own sites as Google does!

He referred to the sitemap tools as well, which provide links to tools and code snippets that allow you to generate sitemap files. Google has recently added the Webmaster Help Forum, a new platform.

In the next post, I will discuss the salient points needed to design your site for mobile phones. In fact, Google seems to have a great solution, using the GWT (Google Web transcoder!

Cut the chirp! Get Filttr, with Twitter!

How many of you, like me, are on Twitter? Possibly, everyone! How many of you feel there is an overdose of information on Twitter? Again, possibly, everyone!

So, here's a chance to cut the chirp and get to the relevant! I guess, that's what Filttr sets out to achieve!

According to the Filttr site, its amazingly intelligent birds fetch you, the user, only those tweets that are relevant for you.

Interestingly, I could not sign up, as the "NEXT" link on the sign-up page refused to work. Maybe, it is a beta flaw or something. Hence, I was unable to test the system. I will surely try again later, so nothing much to report otherwise!

Nevertheless, more power to micro blogging!

PS: Later, I was able to email Filttr, and get a response as well. And yes, the site did work. Thanks Swaroop!

Twingly helps searching blogs!

After a long list of web search engines, and then music search engines, now we have blog search engines as well. Well, I am referring to Twingly! Try it!

First up, I am always thrilled to see my blog and posts featuring high on search engines. So, it was no different this time! My first attempt -- semicon -- threw up a lot of my current blog posts from my award winning blog (some more of shameless, self promotion, ;) ok!).

Some of the blog posts that showed up on page one, as per TwinglyRanks, were:

1. Reviewing global/Indian semicon industry in 2008 -- top posts! Well, this was also the top or first search result for semicon!
2. Semicon outlook 2009: Global market could be down 7pc or more.
3. Top 10 captivating moments in Indian semicon during 2008.

I was particularly pleased to see the third post (above) figuring in the search results. Tells me, Indian semiconductor industry is still in good health and attracting interest from all over!

Coming back to Twingly, it is a blog search engine featuring a spam-free, faceted, social search for the global blogosphere. The site claims that without any marketing, Twingly currently serves 25M+ search results per month, most through its API. Also, the Twingly Blogstream is used by 50 newspapers, magazines and TV channels in eight countries to get more attention from bloggers, generating 200M+ monthly widget views.

What I liked about Twingly is that the search results also link the user straight to my blog's RSS feeds! Somehow, it also throws up a blog profile for my blog. So, I imagine, it is the same for all of the other blogs. You can also get your search results as widget for your blog!

There are some other features like microblog search, ping your blog, etc. If you join, you can also create email alerts for blog updates.

However, adding the widgets is not so easy! For instance, my profile page shows options for three widgets -- Recent posts, Most linked posts, and Recent linking posts. However, instead of embedding easily into Blogger or Wordpress, the site asks you to add codes on to your blog's HTML page, which can be a challenge! And well, this made me NOT add the widget. Well, Twingly's worth a try!

To all of my Chinese friends from all over the world -- Kung Hei Fat Choy :) 恭喜發財

Print your blogs and make money!

Bloggers, especially those, who are just joining the blogosphere, there is a tool, which allows other people to print your blog!

Blog2Print has been around for a while, I believe. However, this site allows bloggers to have their blogs printed and convert those into 'blog books.' As of now, the Blog2Print supports Blogger and Wordpress blogging platforms.

According to the site, a 20-page softcover Blog Book is just $14.95, and a hardcover is $24.95. Extra pages can be added for only 35 cents (per page, I guess).

As a user, you can choose the blog book's cover and the images, as well as the number and the order of blog posts. The site allows you to edit the book, and add/remove comments, and add/remove pictures.

Blog2Print also allows bloggers to sell their own blogs. A blogger would need to add Blog2Print to his/her blog. Each time a blog book blog is bought, the blogger gets to receive 20 percent of the sales of the books sold from his/her blog.

Well folks, here's your chance to make some money! Write super blog posts having unique, relevant content. Soon, you'd be laughing all the way to the bank ;)

Online vs. Print: Who rules?

It is funny! Print, which ruled, and well, still rules, is now under some threat from online. However, in India, have no fear! We are a developing nation, and a very high number people do turn to the morning newspaper for their news.

Imagine, if the same people started browsing their mobile phones for their morning news! Unthinkable, for now!

Now, translate this into a scenario within a media company. Most media are now on the Web, and daily, and even hourly updates are given for! You also have social media to cope with. Well, what do print publications do? Naturally, ply their trade online!

What, if some people in editorial teams are reluctant to move to online? Are they still living in denial? Are they scared of having to do too much work? Probably both! It is NOT easy to maintain a daily Web site. Why, even maintaining a blog is a very tough task!

It has been noticed that those reluctant to change still brandish the print vs. online story. Print is bigger, and online, hey, it's of no consequence, since we are a bigger brand, they say! It is their ignorance, inexperience or folly, or all!

Cross media is now standard! Those who don't want to embrace it will be overtaken by it! Once written online, a story is circulated all over the Web. Imagine waiting 15 days or a month for a magazine to run the same stories!

I tasted cross media way back in 1996, when I first started work at Global Sources. We had to do print + online + CD-ROMs. Teams were divided thus, as were the events. Editorial teams were developed to contribute for various verticals -- electronics, telecom, components and computers.

Later, the bureaus went even better. Teams started becoming cross functional. The chap from electronics soon became equally adept with telecom and computers. Those who triumphed over components went on to establish themselves.

All this while -- cross media has remained unchanged!

Understand the power of cross media, friends. Don't hold on to your horse -- I have a bigger brand, and so, I am bigger! If you can't update your site and wait for others to seed your stories for generating traffic, you are asking for trouble!

Circulation levels of technology magazines have gone down than what they used to be. The reason -- Internet's much more faster! Even faster than electronic media, some would contend!

I do come across folks who still think that print rules, and that their print brand is bigger than a sister or any other online brand! Sure, it does, mate! However, print is no longer like what it used to be!

Consider this: good bloggers do get invited first to industry events today! Why? Their blogs are more authoritative and influence the social media! Blogs are also used for research. There's a huge blogosphere out there. Can't get funnier than this!