How to take advantage of web 2.0

In the late 90’s there was the great “Dot-Com” boom and a lot of people invested their entire lives savings, thinking they would become web-millionaire. After the bubble burst people became weary about the Internet, online business and eventually losing all creditability with end users.
Now “web 2.0” has changed all that and more and more people are taking advantage of “web 2.0” and all that it has to offer. So you ask! What is web 2.0? The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. So how can developers take advantage of web 2.0? Here are 10 ways you can;

1). Encourage Social Contributions With Individual Benefit.
2). Make Content Editable Whenever Possible.
3). Encourage Unintended Uses.
4). Provide Continuous, Interactive User Experiences.
5). Make Your Sure Your Site Offers Its Content as Feeds and/or Web services.
6). Let Users Establish and Build On Their Reputations.
7). Allow Low-Friction Enrichment of Your Information.
8). Give Users the Right To Remix.
9). Reuse Other Services Aggressively.
10). Reuse Other Services Aggressively.

These are just ten good ways to utilize the power of Web 2.0, you can create better, more flexible, richer, online software that is engaging and that communities can be built upon and thrive.

Blogging for business

Nowadays people are looking for creative ways to market their products and services. One of these creative ways would be blogging, now you ask, “What is a blog?” Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. How does this affect the way we market our products? Blogs help you to maintain the personable connection with potential customers, to keep your customers informed about your business and products/services. I believe this truly helps businesses to reach other potential customers, and in this day and age, more of a necessity, because we all know how competitive the world has become. Majority of people are Internet savvy and prefer to resort to online information to hear about new products or services. So if you have a product, service or just need to vent…then start up a blog! Some of the most popular blogging sites would include…wordpress.com and blogger.com. Also be sure to check out the video blogging!

Advertising and New Media

At times we as humans like to sit back and let our minds go. Usually we dream about the possibilities, and now with this thing called new media being an emerging cutting edge technology, and it’s versatility in the way we interact and communicate in today’s society. This allows for those possibilities to be manifested into reality. Some examples would be news, entertainment, radio, film, television and the world wide net to name a few. With this new technology, entrepreneurs, advertisers and people in general, being highly creative will transform the future. As we know technology changes everything, but what about advertising and how it’s evolved with new media technology.
Let’s take the Tom Cruise movie Minority report, based in the future the movie shows how technology could be implemented with advertising mediums to connect with the global masses. 2007 is the year of digital signage (is a form of out-of-home advertising in which content and messages displayed on an electronic screen). This has opened up opportunities for all walks of life and not to mention the possibilities for these types of systems. Some of these could include bar code scanning, loyalty card swiping, e-coupons and retinal memory scanning (when the consumer walks by the ad, the ad would respond with the consumers name, via eye scan). Now that’s only one example of advertising and new media, what about the Internet and video. Let’s take youtube for an example, it allows users to upload videos of themselves, giving them the opportunity to reach stardom online.
I was reading an article by new media BC and they claim that the new media industry in Canada alone will be worth 65 billion dollars by the year 2010. And because of new media, creations of newfound wealth will be accumulated and so will jobs that never existed before, with high demand. This will be what as known as the digital society.

Diversity

Diversity is a way of life and it’s all around us. As time has continued to move forward, we become a lot more diverse. Take me for an example, my ethnic background is French-Irish but raised in a west indie household. My stepfather, who has raised me since I was 6 months old, was born in Kingston Jamaica. So as you can imagine I love Jamaican food. Great Stuff! But on the other hand a lot of my friends growing up were Asian and to top it off I grew up in Toronto, were diversity is a way of life.

So as you may guess I’m a very diverse person that loves to learn about people and their ways of life. Which brings me to my point; I believe by being diverse it allows us as indivuals to be a lot more creative with our ideas and entrepreneurial endeavors. We all know knowledge is power and the more we learn, we continue to create and make a better world.

I also believe it helps us become better and well rounded people. Giving us an idea of how other people live and have lived. In essence I encourage you to learn from other people and explore, you’d be surprised on what might come out of it. Might help with your next big idea or venture.

Dedication

How does it apply to us? Are you a dedicated person? Dedication can be translated into many different meanings. One can be dedicated to his wife, but not his work or vice-versa. But does dedication define ones character, who we are or what we become. What is the difference between dedication and obsession and because one is obsessed does that mean he or she is dedicated. I believe that one who is dedicated in what they love will prosper in the end. Like that saying  “you have to work hard to succeed” and when one is dedicated to hard work, most likely they will succeed.

Dedication, I believe can define ones character, If one is a dedicated person then they are propably not quitters, which implies ones strength. But usually if one gives up very easy then their character is defined as weak or a quiter.

I also believe that most of us are dedicated to many aspects of our lives, to relationships, our jobs, school and fitness to name a few. Do you think that different generations look at dedication differently. I believe that todays generation is a lot more dedicated to themselves then anyone else. Meaning that in the past, one was dedicated to the “man” let’s say. Where as now a days people consider themselves individuals and would be more likely to start their own business then to work for the man. I think you should be dedicated to yourself only if you don’t hurt others along the way.

Commercialism

Well finally! Break is here and Christmas is near. You figure that would be nice “break”
But the reality is I’m working through my break finishing up projects and then I still have to finish up shopping for Christmas. Do you ever notice how Christmas never really feels like Christmas? I think it’s about commercialism, I came across this ad that expressed the “culture of commercialism” and it asked the question ‘are we immune to it’? What do you think? Are we? Do compelling marketing ads and brands easily influence you? Think about the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and do you ever notice how most people can tell you about brands. Ads are apart of our life and not only do they influence us, they talk to our conscious and our subconscious fears and desires.

How does commercialism affect us? It’s said that commercialism could distort our culture and that it contributes to the encouragement of environmental problems, because of over-packing and disposable goods. What do you think? I just gave you two examples, I’m sure the list is a little longer. What about the long term? If it were considered moderately, then ‘yes,’ it wouldn’t be so bad. But, overwhelming amounts over a long period of time could cause some serious damage to our environment. Look around natural disasters happening everyday……Commercialism? Waste. Buying what we want not what we need. One might start to think that our problems could be directly related to our materialism based on our commercialism, but in reality hasn’t been proven.

All in all, as much as I enjoy Christmas and what it truly stands for, the reality is commercialism promotes consumption as a way of life.

Marketing

Let’s talk about marketing, What is it? It attempts ‘to create or supply demand through output through profitable exchanges.’ So how does it affect us and the world we live in?
Look around! It’s everywhere from billboards to clothing and even more so with the Internet. Also consider how people shop on impulse because of brands. Most of the time it’s the ads that get you to spend your money. Why is that? Maybe it’s a formula or an art form, or it could be the big companies using subliminal messaging in their marketing strategies. Either way it gets the job done, by making people believe that they need whatever it is they’re marketing. Hence they can make the marketing more valuable then the product itself in some cases. This is why companies invest millions in marketing products and services, often exceeding the costs of production. There must be a method to their ‘madness,’ and I expect it’s the revenue generated, and supported by financial and market research.

The Internet is beautiful technology! How easy is it to market or promote products or even yourself? You have web sites, sites that are community oriented where you can display your visions and most of the time at the click of a button. Now lets look at the digital age and how marketing may also become a saturated market. I think that digital advertising will be everywhere and I mean everywhere! As in Europe and more technologically advanced countries, many are getting ads through mobile and even iTV (interactive television). Also technology allowing you to download information regarding a specific ad to your mobile phone, there are options such as e-coupons, announcements, and other e-advertising forms. We live in a generation of visual stimulants and as long as there’s marketing we’ll always have that stimulant, triggering the impulses of our wants and needs.

Inventing

So I thought it would be a good idea to talk about inventing, since I am a member of the BC inventor’s society. Once a Month we get together and discuss inventing and the processes that are involved. So Inventing, what is it? It is an object, patent, process or technique, which ‘displays an element of novelty.’ What is the difference between invention and innovation? An invention is merely theoretical, where as an innovation is an ‘invention that has put into practice.’ Inventor. What is that? It is ‘a person who creates or discovers new methods, means, or devices.’ This term has been reserved for those who have been granted a ‘patent.’
Entrepreneurship and an awareness of the demands of the changing marketplace are typical characteristics of successful inventors.

What every inventor must know!

1) Stay away from marketing companies that advertise late at night. Most likely they just want to break your pocket.
2) Keep good copies of your idea, someday you might need to prove that your idea is really yours.
3) Do your own patent searches. Done easily online.
4) Make a prototype, no need to be fancy in the beginning, white glue, cardboard. No matter the simplicity, just prove it works.
5) Have your invention evaluated by someone non-bias. Most likely someone professional not your mom.
6) Always stay current by reading about new product developments. You can look online.
7) Always network, especially with other inventor’s or join local inventor societies.
8) If your patent is looking promising then proceed by seeing a patent lawyer. Show him your results and take his advice.
9) Then hire the professionals to do the rest.
10) Remember even overnight successes take a while!

Now that you have the foundation of inventing, Use your newly found knowledge to create, explore, invent!!

Creativity and Deadlines

Well I’m sitting here trying to figure out the next topic for this week’s entry. Then I realized that I had a deadline for my project in my communications class and how my creativity is all over the place with this deadline. Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts. When one is given the freedom of creativity without restrictions or deadlines then that creativity seems, for me at least, to flow more smoothly. When one is restricted by time, then the creativity becomes impaired/pressured, but I’m not saying this is the case for everyone.

Why is this? Is it because of the stress that is directly related with deadlines. What’s with deadlines? Why are they so important? Is it because most are about the buck? Hence “Time is Money” Why can’t there be no limitations of time, especially when it comes down to creative aspirations? There’d be less stress in the world and people would be alot more creative. How important is creativity? Isn’t the world made up of one’s creativity? I believe that creativity is a big part of who we are and define whom we become and there shouldn’t be limits. Unfortunately we live in a commerce world, it’s about productivity and time limits.

At the same time deadlines could be a positive thing. They help create one to become more responsible and with deadlines there isn’t time for procrastination. So overall we become more efficient.
I guess where there is a negative, there always is a positive.

Success

Well, I just moved and was unpacking boxes on top of boxes. I came across a box with my junk in it and I found an inspirational poster that says “Success” comes to those who dare to stick their necks out! So I started thinking are most of us successful or do most of think that success is measured through materialism and how much money we obtain. Is success a state of mind? I believe that most of us think that you need to have things to be successful, because that is what society tells us. Do you think that you need success to find happiness? The Dali Lama says that ‘the true meaning of life is happiness. If this is true and you find that happiness then you’re much more likely to be generally happy, with or without material possessions.

So success, as an entrepreneur, measures up in my eyes in various levels. An example could be the initial idea, send then the process of taking it from paper through the developing stages. That to me is success! Even though you haven’t made money from the idea and it probably costs you more in the beginning, I think that this would be considered a success, because you took an idea and started the development process, you followed through.

‘The only place success comes before hard work is in the dictionary,’ – unknown.  This reminds me of another quote that leads us back to the ideas of combined success and happiness: ‘Work without a dream is drudgery, but a dream without work is a waste of time.’  Now the details are important, but I believe the most important aspect of success, and happiness is the idea that is truly one’s dream.