Why wait? Web 2.0 is here to stay.

My colleague Tim and I recently attended an intensive one-day course in Montreal on the subject of social media marketing and Web 2.0. It was instructed by Mitch Joel, Owner of Twist Image (a digital media company in Montreal), and social media guru. I thought it was extremely well presented, and the content was a perfect mix of explanations and examples. I emerged at the end of the day feeling energized and excited to share all I had learned with my coworkers, not to mention, the rest of the world ;)

Web 2.0 seems to be all we’re hearing about these days - and rightly so. Mitch explained that this industry (marketing, advertising) has changed more in the last 2 years than it has in the last 20. He gave some startling statistics on web use – who is using it, how they are interacting with it, what they are doing and why. The hard numbers make it all very difficult to ignore, and hearing it inspired me to make a point of absorbing everything I can on the subject from here-on-in. Did you know that in 2006, Canadian online advertising exceeded $1 billion?! (IAB Canada)

Here's a brief list of things that I feel are definitive of the Web 2.0 concept, and what social media marketing is all about:

- Hands-on (user-generated content ie/YouTube, and virtual worlds ie/Second Life)
- Wikipedia
- Blogging
- Podcasting
- Wikis
- Syndication
- Tagging (ie/ Del.icio.us)
- Social Networking (ie/ facebook, MySpace, Linkedin)
- Viral Marketing
- Mobile devices

Participation, as opposed to push or pull, is the name of the game. Consumers want to feel a part of your brand, and so by allowing them to contribute by creating - they are helping to shape it. This also prevents your marketing campaign from fading into the background and from fading too quickly – if people are interacting with it you can be sure it lives on!

If there was ever a time that cookie-cutter approaches fail - it's now - today and tomorrow. We all must start to embrace Web 2.0 and make the necessary transition in the way we approach marketing our products and services.

Coffee Break for BSL staff

The BSL staff got a little treat this afternoon after our Controller, Don Austin, won a ‘Stress-Free Coffee Break’ from the good people over at 98.5 FM. So thanks for the mugs guys, it’s very much appreciated.

iPhone isn't as flashy as I'd hoped

Coming out of WWDC are reports that Apple has officially admitted that the Apple iPhone will not support Adobe's Flash plug-in in Safari.

Flash support has been a long unanswered question about the Apple iPhone. Steve Jobs had made comments early on that we might see Flash in iPhone according to David Pogue:

Markoff: “Flash [in the iPhone]?”
Jobs: “Well, you might see that.”

Of note, Jobs did say that Youtube support would be in the iPhone... but by sidestepping Flash altogether:

Jobs: “Yeah, YouTube—of course. But you don’t need to have Flash to show YouTube. All you need to do is deal with YouTube. And plus, we could get ‘em to up their video resolution at the same time, by using h.264 instead of the old codec.”

Funny; this ad tells us that the iPhone version of Safari provides "the real internet" and not a "watered down" version. For me, that includes a Flash plugin....MX at least.

Source: Mac Rumors

Web 2.0 - the other revolution

I held a couple of round-table discussions on Web 2.0 at the Marcom conference in Ottawa this past week. I spoke about Web 2.0. I began my discussion by defining the concept and talked about how Web 2.0 is both a set of tools and a change in attitude among consumers. We had a great discussions with some great folks in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Almost all of them are planning the next generation of their web presence to take into consideration the immense opportunities that Web 2.0 tools support.

I came away with as many questions as I had tried to answer in the conference. If the tools have changed, and end user attitudes have changed, what needs to change inside an organization to make the most of it? How do people and organizations move from considering their websites as a technical issue toward a platform for dialogue? Could this be the other Web 2.0 revolution?