donloeb.com

this is great…google’s starting down the offline support path for all apps…and i mean every web app as this is an open source project…frankly, all i care about is that i can now use google reader high above jfk…

seriously - i can’t wait for this to work across g’s suite…

given that it’s memorial day and we have a lot to think about, this is going to be a relatively short post. but…i wanted to point out a couple of massive changes re how yahoo and facebook think about openness and monetization.

both are significant…but different. and, that’s on purpose as i’m not trying to make an apple to apples comparison between facebook and yahoo’s social apps. in fact, i’m not even including info about delicious, flickr, yahoo 360, mybloglog, upcoming, or yahoo groups…etc. etc. etc…

first off, yahoo decided to test adding “external/non-commercial links” to the frontpage. i’ve known for a while that they were contemplating this, but it looks like they’re doing it now (see mike’s post). this is fantastic for publishers of all sizes across the web - bloggers and others can now take advantage of the firehose that is yahoo.com.

while i applaud this move, yahoo should have done this a while ago. back in the mid-90s, they were focused on organizing the web and helping people find things as quickly and efficiently as possible. somewhere along the way, they forgot about that (except for yahoo search and my yahoo’s groundbreaking rss integration), and instead fell in love with their wonderful on-network margins. yahoo now realizes that enabling discovery (outside of search) is critical - users want to be delighted and they trust yahoo to bring them the best of the web. additionally, yahoo is focused on building an off-network ad network, complete with a suite of publisher services (search, mybloglog, flickr, delicious, etc.). and, traffic (via frontpage programming, rss on my yahoo, and search, etc.) is a necessary building block…

now, contrast this with facebook’s recent announcement re their social operating system. facebook is not only opening up to widgets, etc, but also encouraging developers to leverage facebook’s social graph, i.e., all of the relationships and data…and, it gets even better -> they are allowing developers to put ads directly on facebook web pages…all without revenue sharing. they realize that their core asset is their social graph / people platform. as such, they’re creating an ecosystem that is good for both end-users and developers.

but, what about facebook revenue? all they know is that what’s good for users is good for facebook and monetization will work itself out. besides the obvious benefits of a huge number of incremental pageviews across the facebook service and more rich data about those users, i also think they have a chance to add another type of advertising to their arsenal. facebook has a history of experimenting with application specific advertising and they clearly don’t feel tied to IAB ads. again, they want to create the right experience so that ads actually enhance the product…i.e., like their self-serve campus flyers and sponsored news items. so, what can facebook do with these all of these developers and new apps? well, not everyone is going to be as successful as iLike (congrats hadi!) and therefore can’t just rely on viral distribution. facebook can turn these developers into advertisers and promote their apps as sponsored news items or trial apps, etc. -> perfect for folks in need of distribution and most importantly, useful for facebook users…hmmm… perhaps a “cost per add” fee for all apps…this is very similar to what we’re doing with feed-powered ads and the feedburner ad network -> giving publishers tools and the ability to reach an audience full of opt-in users…

while in many ways this is a leap of faith for facebook, it’s absolutely the right strategic move. i just wish fox, yahoo, and others could do this…maybe they can…

congrats to dave m, james, dave f and the rest of the facebook team…

just playing with slide’s skinflix offering…yes, it’s simple and easy to replicate, but it’s all in the implementation…here’s the first 10 minutes of my wife’s doc - “the weather underground” - nice old skool tv…just perfect…my only request -> max, please change the name!

go here if you can’t see it in your rss reader, etc.

diego is psyched!

nuff said…

i’ve been a facebook user for quite some time (2004 perhaps?), but i only recently uploaded my address book and started to really use the product. what’s interesting is that as i look at profiles, i’m noticing a ton of recent activity, especially among the older set…it’s as if everyone somehow related to me is really digging in. yes, i just added some friends and it’s also a horrible sample as most of my friends are in the industry, but still…it appears that a bunch of “out of college” folks are just now starting to add a significant number of friends and they are also doing much more than simply creating networks -> they are uploading photos, sharing links, joining groups, updating their status, etc…

btw, a lot of my friends are joining this group (37k members) -> “Unlike 99.99% of the Facebook population, I was born in the 70s.” luckily, there’s one for those of us born in the 60s - ughh, only 270 members… :)

ok, so these are going to be pretty cool someday. i’ll admit that. plus, i don’t like to criticize first gen products - obviously, a ton of features get left on the cutting room floor…

but, for now, these simple user programmable gadgets are lacking one major thing…feeds.

it’s great to be able to update them from google, but why not have the option to input a feed and create a multi-function gadget…one with your logo, maybe a status update ala facebook or twitter, and a feed from a blog or a video service, etc….sort of a “branded gadget of me.” at feedburner, we do that via splicing delicious links and flickr photos into your main feed, but sometimes it’s nice to have things like status updates and video picks as something that’s separate from your main blog feed…

other little nits - the colors are locked down by the “publisher” and therefore don’t match the new themes and the widgets can’t be embedded on webpages….

in any event, they are still pretty neat…and, simple. i’m a huge fan of simple products :)

ps - nice new “igoogle” logo…