Content Freedom Threatened
January 15, 2011
I am not sure if I agree that Apple’s App Store is a threat to Internet freedom. “Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales: App Stores a Clear and Present Danger” voices this concern. I know that walled gardens are in the future. Money flows when folks control the customer. Loss of control of the customer spells trouble at some point in a company’s future. I think it is easier to make money when one has a customer list and keeps it secret.
Content is a magnet, so in order to increase the “pull” of content, walls are a useful architectural consideration. In fact, walls are going up everywhere. Facebook is a big walled garden. Oracle’s database is a big walled garden. Even open source friendly companies are going to need a walled garden. Without walls, an smart 20 something can nuke a business intentionally or inadvertently. Facebook, for example, wants to reinvent or support the reinvention of enterprise applications as social apps and services within its walled garden. How do you think that will work as more Facebook users enter the workforce. Even companies “on top of Facebook” are likely to have some heart stopping moments.
Here’s a snippet I liked from the article about Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales:
The app store model is a more immediate threat to internet freedom than breaches of net neutrality. That’s the opinion of Wikipedia chief Jimmy Wales. According to Wales — who was quick to stress he was speaking in a purely personal capacity — set-ups such as the iTunes App Store can act as a “chokepoint that is very dangerous.” He said such it was time to ask if the model was “a threat to a diverse and open ecosystem” and made the argument that “we own [a] device, and we should control it.”
Walled gardens are not new. As the competitive arena heats in the warm financial gusts flowing across certain areas of the online ecosystem, old style information silos are going to be built inside these walls. The challenge will be choosing which garden is the one to make home.
Stephen E Arnold, January 15, 2011
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Wikileaks and Metadata
January 7, 2011
ITReseller’s “Working to Prevent Being the Next Wikileak? Don’t Forget the Metadata.” is worth a look. The write up calls attention to indexing as part of an organization’s buttoning up its document access procedures.
ITReseller says this about metadata:
A key part of the solution is metadata – data about data (or information about information) – and the technology needed to leverage it. When it comes to identifying sensitive data and protecting access to it, a number of types of metadata are relevant: user and group information, permissions information, access activity, and sensitive content indicators. A key benefit to leveraging metadata for preventing data loss is that it can be used to focus and accelerate the data classification process.. In many instances the ability to leverage metadata can speed up the process by up to 90 percent, providing a shortlist of where an organisation’s most sensitive data is, where it is most at risk, who has access to it and who shouldn’t. Each file and folder, and user or group, has many metadata elements associated with it at any given point in time – permissions, timestamps, location in the file system, etc. – and the constantly changing files and folders generate streams of metadata, especially when combined with access activity. These combined metadata streams become a torrent of critical metadata. To capture, analyze, store and understand so much metadata requires metadata framework technology specifically designed for this purpose.
Some good points here, but what raised our eyebrows was the thought that organizations have not yet figured out how to “index”. Automation is a wonderful thing; however, the uses of metadata are often anchored in humans. One can argue that humans need play no part in indexing or metadata.
We don’t agree. Maybe organizations will take a fresh look at adding trained staff to tackle metadata. By closing in house libraries, many organizations lost the expertise needed to deal with some of the indexing issues touched upon in the article.
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2011
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The Facebook – Goldman Sachs Tie Up
January 5, 2011
The pundits are on the move. The cattle prod was the deal between Facebook and Goldman Sachs. Sure, a Russian outfit had its beak in the bird bath, but the real action was Goldman’s alleged $450 million. You can read “What Everyone Seems to Miss In Facebook’s Private or Public Debate…” and learn the real secret behind the deal: Accountability to its customers. Okay. The Reuters’ take is that the New York Times’s analysis is wrong headed. Interpretation of SEC rules, guidelines, and letters is a tricky even when the SEC tries to explain a point clearly. “Why Facebook Won’t go Public” makes the deal an exercise in fortune telling.
The view from Harrod’s Creek is different. Facebook is hot. Goldman Sachs wants a piece of the action and to be in a position of control or at least to have a shot at control. The reason for the deal is money. Mr. Zuckerberg and his band of Xooglers understand Goldman Sachs’ magic when it comes to money.
Customer care, SEC prose, and other explanations of the deal are groupthink. Why make more of the deal than it is: A deal about money for Facebookers and Goldman Sachs. What about the other investors? Maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, January 5, 2011
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Buzzword Advice for LinkedIn Users
January 5, 2011
I know that quite a few professionals are excited about LinkedIn.com, the “real” social network for job seekers. But my heavens, advice from a real journalist about buzzwords. Computerworld commands, “Don’t Abuse These Buzzwords on LinkedIn.” Computerworld never uses buzzwords, do they? No, no, never.
Actually, writer Angela West is reporting on a list compiled by LinkedIn of the ten most overused terms in 2011 LinkedIn profiles. “Creative” is number one, and “effective,” “motivated,” and “innovative” also feature prominently. West admits that a couple of the entries, like “problem solving” and “dynamic” can be used effectively in certain situations. The write up summarizes:
Most of the terms on the list fail because they are too general. Remember that your LinkedIn profile is your opportunity to showcase yourself as a unique snowflake, not to blend in with the rest of the job-seeking hordes. Be specific about what you can do, make sure to fill out your LinkedIn profile as thoroughly as possible, and let the hiring gods take care of the rest.
Not bad advice. However, it isn’t any smarter to reject these terms out of hand just because they are popular; some are popular for a reason. Users could find themselves unwittingly opting out of potential employers’ keyword searches if they avoid all the buzzwords. Here at Beyond Search we are too busy to hunt for “real” jobs like “real” consultants. Also, we try to use as many buzzwords as possible. A “real” consultant told us search engine optimization, fancy talk, and building online relationships is the next best thing to a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and a 1,200 calorie cherry on top.
Cynthia Murrell, January 5, 2012
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Social Media in 2011: Some Wild and Crazy Prognostications
January 1, 2011
Let me be upfront. I am not a social media type of goose. I know that most affluent people under the age of 35 comprise an important social media demographic. I know that most of the outfits that pay me money to dog work don not use social media in some obvious places; namely, customer support or whatever buzzword a 25 year old marketing whiz crafts between sips of a Starbuck’s latte. (More information about organizations limited use of social media for customer feedback is here.)
The article “10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011” is quite interesting. I find the 10 reasons a good collection of prognostications. (I do like that word from a Greek root that means foreknowing.) I want to comment on one of the predictions. I am pretty much okay with the other nine, but I have reservations about Number 6, ROI Will Be Redefined.
Image source: http://www.cantrip.org/stupidity.html
Frankly, baloney. The economy is in a tough financial weather system. Many search and content processing companies are struggling to keep their lights on. What available cash these outfits have is often spent running from funding source to funding source looking for an infusion of capital. There’s a lot of cash available for investment, but there are not many search vendors able to match the type of funding that Aster Data at $38 million and Palantir at $90 million have been able to snag in 2010.
The reason. Old fashioned ROI. One does not redefine ROI because people are communicating in old and somewhat refreshing new ways. ROI is, as I recall from my brain numbing days at a blue chip consulting firm, the ratio of income produced by an asset divided by its investment cost.
That’s an algorithm, a numerical recipe. One can invent a new recipe, but the old recipe is just a mathematical sequence, and it is not likely to go away next year or anytime in the next couple of years. I have no doubt that those who live by clinging to the latest online trend will manipulate the words “return on investment” and the acronym “ROI” into some wild and crazy, hip notion.
But social media is not going to get Microsoft or the MBA professors to toss out the ratio that every student, no matter how addled, to memorize. Social media delivers benefits and some of these benefits can be quantified. But change ROI? Baloney.
Stephen E Arnold, January 1, 2011
Freebie just like the comments about social media changing what’s baked into an Excel formula.
Facebook Productivity Tip
December 31, 2010
Listen up, Facebook users. Bogged down by the number of links shared by your Facebook friends? Well fret no more, TheLikeWall is here in an effort to save you time. Simply visit the website and login with the same details used for your Facebook account. The Like Wall will take tally of all the links your Facebook friends are sharing and rank them by the reactions other people have already recorded. So the most popular links are seated at the top of the list, allowing the less important ones to fall to the fray, thus saving you countless hours by knowing what isn’t worth looking at. There is not much to this… literally. Visit the website for yourself and see.
This service sounds useful enough. I’m afraid I cannot report I have conducted any tests or offer a proper review; I don’t have a Facebook account. My personal solution to wasting less time on Facebook is to never visit Facebook, but that’s just me.
Sarah Rogers, December 31, 2010
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Does Audience Size Matter in Digital Media?
December 27, 2010
“CBS Audience Five Times Bigger Than Facebook” reports that despite the social network’s internet dominance, that plain old ordinary television still has a much wider viewership. My favorite snippet from the article: “If Facebook was measured as a TV network, it would be comparable in size to PBS. PBS? Yes.”
But don’t relegate FB to the margins just yet. PBS, and CBS, and even ABC and HBO do not have the targeting that social networking does. Television ads are still passive, business to customer one-way interactions that DVRs have started to make obsolete. Even product placement within shows is still throwing it at the wall and seeing what sticks. Facebook, on the other hand, is built around targeted ads and interactions that pull rather than push. Facebook is hipper, sleeker, and infinitely more personalized than television. Five times bigger, sure. Five times more successful? No way.
Alice Wasielewski, December 27, 2010
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Facebook and Its New Trend Report for 2010
December 24, 2010
Short honk: At this time of year, trends appear in many articles. Poobahs, pundits, and pontificators relish the opportunity to identify the Top 10, 100 Biggest, and 500 Products. My recollection of making these lists is that some are generated by running a query against logs or other data sources. Others are just made up by a group having lunch together. Either way, the lists are quite popular and some companies just keep a permanent list of “top” somethings alive year round.
The Facebook Memology 2010 report is different. Since I don’t use Facebook myself, I enjoy reading about what’s popular in the social, member-centric walled garden that appears to be the principal conceptual hook for Facebook and its users.
The workings of Facebook users is as hard for me to figure as my deducing the purpose of the Antikythera mechanism.
You can see the Facebook Memology 2010 report at this link. What I found fascinating about the list of top items was that some of them made absolutely zero sense to me. This addled goose had absolutely no idea what “HMU” references. The write up explains that the HMU acronym means “hit me up.” Okay. The article explains that the number nine trend “airplanes” is from a popular tune from a group called B.o.B.
With more than 650 million people as members, Facebook is an important online destination and service. The look into the “minds” and “needs” of Facebook users is like my trying to figure out how the rusted Antikythera operated. If Facebook creates a search engine based on Web sites cited by Facebook users, the index will be an interesting one for me to use.
Stephen E Arnold, December 24, 2010
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Two Interesting Signs for Google in 2011
December 20, 2010
I am perched in an airport ready to head south. Way south for some work and relaxation. In the secure area of the terminal, I noted two news stories that the poobahs see as unrelated events. Some pundits may sense these events which I shall document are connected but “real” journalists often leave dots as Donne-like islands. I am enjoy connecting dots, a privilege for those over 65 and mostly unemployed and ignored like other senior citizens.
Dot one: “Mark Zuckerberg’s Beijing Adventure.” The story in Gawker points out that Facebook’s wizard is going to visit Baidu, the number one search system in China. My take: If these two outfits find common ground, the relationship will have some repercussions for the Google. A Facebook – Baidu chat is interesting to me.
Dot two: “Google TV Faces Delays as CES Turns into a No-Show for New Products.” This story makes clear that Google’s TV play is not ready for prime time. Great dot, and you can see one possible reason by reading the draft chapter for a monograph I am sitting on until the TV dust settles. Google needed technology from a company with pretty good tie ups in the media world. The deal did not happen, and it is one reason why other services are scoring lay ups and the Google is tossing in shots from the parking lot. Here’s the link and the info is offered as is in rough draft form. Google has made a series of significant investments in rich media and, well, the linked story provides some color on the “no show” angle.
How does a 66 year old connect these two. Straightedge, pencil and an infinitely Euclidean long line pointing to Trouble Lane in Orangeburg, SC, not a place many Googlers want to be in 2011. I don’t recall Orangeburg as a hot bed of social and rich media activity for Google. Maybe I am wrong? Heading out.
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2010
Freebie unlike this airplane ticket
Yolink from TigerLogic
December 16, 2010
TigerLogic offers a number of data and content solutions. The company (originally named Blyth Holdings, then Omnis Technology, and then Raining Data) uses proprietary methods to normalize data. The company refers to its method as Pick Universal Data Model (Pick UDM). The Pick UDM is a component across the XDMS and MDMS product lines. The approach looks similar to those used by other XML-centric transformation and access methods.
The company’s newest product is a Facebook user’s solution to the problem of aggregating FB content in one display. PostPost, a real-time Facebook newspaper, described this way on the TigerLogic Web site:
PostPost enables users to quickly skim relevant passages of text shared by their Facebook friends and sort shared content by type. To access PostPost, users simply login using Facebook Connect, and in a matter of seconds, all shared links, pictures, videos, articles from their Facebook friends will populate the front page of their personal paper.
You can see a video and obtain more information at www.postpost.com.
We learned about the firm’s Yolink product this summer. Yolink extracts information from behind links and inside documents. On the Yolink Web site, you can see examples of outputs from the system. The content sources includes Craigslist, Google Patent Search, and Wikipedia.
Wikipedia included this comment sourced from CNet.com:
Yolink searches within the pages of your engine’s results to find your search terms in context. Go beyond the links. Search Web pages and discover information conventional search tools may have never revealed. In addition to mining content on a webpage, yolink will mine all of the links on that page for information relevant to your search. Yolink highlights information in the context of its original Web page and on the right side of your browser. Eliminating the need to bounce between multiple windows. Share your findings effortlessly by clicking on the save and share link. An email message containing your valuable information and the original Web page address is instantly created and ready to send, or save in folders for future use. Go beyond conventional search and find commands. Yolink allows you to search lengthy reference manuals, PDFs, legal documents, contracts, and news sites quickly and effortlessly. Yolink is especially helpful with a multi-word search, because it can extract all of the relevant content surrounding any of your search terms and display it all at once.”
Yolink is a unit of TigerLogic. The company develops software and solutions for creating and improving software applications. In addition to Yolink, the company offers XML Data Management Servers (XDMS), Multidimensional Database Management Systems (MDMS) and Rapid Application Development (RAD) software tools.
We think that the emergence of Facebook centric content aggregation tools is an interesting development. Search without navigating to a FB page is part of the “search without search” shift some vendors are advocating.
Stephen E Arnold, December 16, 2010
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