I’m sort of over this whole social media thing. Not to the tools mind you but more the notion – less the doing and more the obnoxious selling (whoring) of the idea. For the last few years I’ve watched social media explode globally and people who initially sneered at the idea of posting your whereabouts or activities, now happily share links and post photos via Twitpic.

But the one thing that hasn’t progressed in that time is the marketing of social media. I’m still seeing the same examples used in the same presentations. The same “edgy” PR and Marketing companies are still going through the same needlessly salacious powerpoints talking about how you NEED to be a part of the social media landscape.

I’m not saying it isn’t effective, but it’s effective in all the wrong ways. Now everyone wants a Facebook page regardless of whether they have a community to build around or even a message to impart.

Twitter is overrun with accounts that only push out the most disingenuous content (we’ve update our app, we’re playing at this club, etc) and it’s tough to distinguish the spammers from the lazy and ill-informed.

Marketers – we’re the ones out there pushing its virtues, therefore it’s up to us to police its use.

There’s of course the other side other coin, where companies know they should participate in social media, but are like an overly cautious child staring down at the water from the high-diving board. They’ve seen all these horror stories about companies being pilloried on Twitter and had their reputations blogged into the ground and now they’re terrified that one false step will crush their brand forever.

They don’t want to take chances and that falls on us as well.

Can we get past the “how sexy is social media” thing and treat it as another effective and powerful communication tool? Some people are already doing this, or more accurately have been doing this from the start. But way too many are out there flogging this in all the wrong ways. Splashy statistics are great. So are in your face graphics, but let’s try and make sure these companies know what the hell it is they’re doing.

And while we're at it, can we move past the cash-grab that is the Social Media boot camp? Seriously?

As you have may have read, Google’s Android has now officially outsold Apple’s iPhone in the US and how they did it is no secret – volume. They licensed their software across a bunch of platforms enabling them to appear on brands as varied as LG, Samsung, Motorola and HTC. No magic, just good business.

De ja vu all over again.

But didn't Apple go through this once already? When companies like IBM and Apple were hung up on hardware, some tiny company called Microsoft snuck through the backdoor on a different model entirely – software.

This is the way Apple has always done things. They create the content – like an operating system – and then insist the only way to deliver it is from one of their machines (fair enough). And when you create such a smooth interface people will clearly flock to it. But you’re only ever going to hit a certain percentage of the market. And while counting the giant piles of iPod generated money, Apple seems to be okay with this.

Control = total user experience

There’s no doubt that for most people, Apple produces a seamless experience from start to finish on the iPhone. I buy apps from their store, I load songs via their software and surf the web on their browser.

There will always be people who want the simple one-stop shopping experience where everything is right in front of them.  But it's safe to say people are becoming more and more comfortable with technology every day. There is an ever-growing sect of people craving something more expandable, more open and customizable (for proof just look at the thriving jailbreaking community).

Apple even recognized that with the iPad launch (and iPhone 4.0 software) allowing users the ability to customize their background. I doubt this means we'll start seeing lot's of customization for any of their products, it's no secret that the one thing Apple insists on is total and utter control.

What do you think? Is Apple's business style an outmoded one or is Android simply flooding the market on the backs of generic carriers?



There are a lot of really exciting, interesting things happening with technology right now, but watching this feels like the future. Once you understand how it works it's pretty straight forward, but none-the-less, this is fantastic and it's safe to say a company like GE is clearly embracing new technology.

Just because I'm so excited about this, here are a few more examples.

If you want a refreshing alternate take to the MacBreak iPad swoon, check out Corey Doctorow's take on BoingBoing.



Google vs. Apple seems like an unlikely feud. One is a cloud-based search giant and open-source evangelist. The other an extremely closed off, locked-down product based inventor of cool. But as mentioned in this New York Times article, with two companies this massive, it was only a matter of time before they started treading into mutual turf and someone got their toes stepped on. In this case it was Apple who apparently got really pissed about Google’s audacity to enter the mobile phone market.

But as odd as that rivalry is, a less talked about but equally important one exists between Google and Facebook.

For me these seemed like two disparate companies aiming to achieve two different things with two different audiences. But peeling back the layers it's easy to see that they're actually after the exact same thing - your data.

As the social web has proven over the last few years we base so many of our choices on what our friends and contemporaries make. So when we want to know who had a good experience with a roofer or a plumber we ask our Facebook or Twitter friends for advice.

This makes social search the new Holy Grail of the search engine wars. In a perfect future Google would love to produce the exact search results you queried as well as what 5, 10 or all of your online friends suggest, recommend or have had dealings with.

What spooks Google (one would guess) is most of this information exists in the walled garden of Facebook (and other closed sites) and is inaccessible. Facebook knows it and is desperate to leverage it.

Again, this usually means good things for us. We have probably three of the most innovative and important techonolgy companies trying so hard to be first. First to deliver a must have product or service. And no matter who gets there first, we win (unless Apple gets there first, in which case that service or product will cost a small fortune).

Next year I have to go.