Author: Dana Oshiro

Aptly-named consumer trend blog TrendsSpotting just released its poll from more than 30 social media influencers. The market research presentation identifies six trends that will change social media in 2010. In accordance with Ustrategy co-founder Ravit Lichtenberg’s predictions, the experts believe that 2010 will be the year that social media ROI is effectively measured. The question is, how do you measure a dollar value from Tweets and status updates?

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I’ve been at the receiving end of enough agency pitches to understand that few public relations firms will promise a dollar or registration-based return for their time. In the words of one pro, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” In other words, PR can get eyeballs to your site, but it can’t guarantee revenue or members. That’s the job of a well-designed product. With social media, it’ll be interesting to see how return on investment will be measured. Below are some possibilities.

PROSPECTING: Connie Benson, Director of Social Media and Community Strategy for Alterian says, “Social media monitoring will provide insight across all channels, as well as making social media an active outbound marketing channel.” In this case Benson alludes to the idea that ROI on social media may entail leads generation. In other words, here social media ROI might be measured in the number of social media-based pitches against the number of deals closed.

STEWARDSHIP: Says President of New Marketing Labs Chris Brogan, “I see velvet rope networks where some kind of gating to keep out the commons will occur.” In the case of enterprise groups engaging in social media, this may mean establishing channel partnerships, enacting a service provider’s network and building self-moderating customer service programs. ROI in this case might correlate to return business via an enterprise-based social media channel.

ADVOCACY: Rosetta’s Adam Cohen exclaims, “Marketing programs [will] focus more on activating brand advocates than general customers.” Whether this is measured through click-thru sales on embedded brand badges or the number of clients you receive through an advocate’s promo code, advocacy ROI is easily measured.

Says Lichtenberg, “While the definition of ROI is evolving to better fit the world of relationships and networks, the ability to demonstrate ROI in hard numbers — not in followers or fans — will become a baseline business requirement in 2010.” If this is true, then many would argue that social media experts should have no problem measuring their retainer and hourly wage against a dollar value added. In reality though, there is more to social media than a simple dollar value, just as there is (hopefully) more to your company than making a sale.

We’ve only just scratched the surface on social media ROI and we know there are more models out there. If you’ve got a good method for measuring your programs, let us know in the comments below.

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As of today a federal appeals court is upholding the judgement to bar Microsoft from selling current versions of Word and Office. The question is, what does the patent actually entail? The original patent can be summarized as covering a “method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other.” With this broad an abstract, it appears that the patent could affect a lot more than simple word processing. But, as with all patents, the devil is in the details.

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As of Jan. 11, 2010, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft will no longer sell its flagship word processing products in their current format. In August, a Texas jury filed in favor of i4i Inc. finding that Word infringes on the Canadian company’s software patent.

Microsoft announced that it is already taking steps to remove the “little-used” infringing software feature from Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007.

The removal would make these versions of Word unable to open XML files for editing. An additional workaround may already be planned. In early August ZDNet UK’s Rupert Goodwins covered Microsoft’s patent for an SML Schema Document – a way of creating rich XML files so that word-processing applications recognize the file as a native document. Microsoft is also taking this opportunity to direct users to the beta versions of Word and Office 2010.

It’ll be interesting to see if this patent resurfaces to block additional consumer products or if the Word trial will be an isolated incident.

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In the competitive world of tech journalism and blogging, quality can sometimes take a backseat to speed. While most bloggers double check their drafts before having their work scrutinized by editors and audience members, mistakes do slip through the cracks. With text-to-speech programs, errors become glaringly apparent.

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Eight Interactive just launched its FeedMe Tech iPhone app. The service lets us listen to top tech news while running errands, walking the dog or cooking our holiday feasts. It’s a free application with feeds from 10 popular tech sites including Lifehacker, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb. At the moment users cannot add additional feeds; however, the application does record what you’ve read, where you’ve stopped reading and the posts you’d like to save. For now it’s a barebones application that displays how online content providers can better reach their audiences. However, because it transcribes every character, the service can sometimes offer comedic results.

iPhone app demo for FeedMe Tech. from 8Interactive on Vimeo.

Bloggers should take note that FeedMe Tech reveals every grammatical error and misplaced comma. Couple this with the fact that the program’s default voice is set to depressed British robot and you’ll realize that a poorly written article offers an experience a bit like being in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In the spirit of spending more time with family members, I, for one, welcome our depressed robot overlords.

To create a custom-branded FeedMe application contact Eight Interactive. To try FeedMe Tech download it here.

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Not long ago it was considered revolutionary to do all of your holiday shopping from your computer. Amazon and other companies on ReadWriteWeb’s List of Geek Shopping Sites make it possible for busy (and lazy) consumers to avoid the department store lines and shopping malls. After looking at what’s in store for 2010, we may find our shopping experience transformed even further.

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Early this month ReadWriteWeb spoke to Boxee’s VP of marketing Andrew Kippen about the company’s recent beta release. While Boxee has gained ground with mainstream audiences, Kippen believes that internet television has some exciting prospects in store for 2010.

Kippen pointed us towards Utvee – a community that encourages members to tag products in TV shows and movies. In exchange for community credits, members identify actors, tag their clothing and offer product details and links to related shopping sites. Essentially Utvee offers video publishers a chance to further monetize their content by creating inline sales referrals. Rather than linking to the cheesy CW t-shirts that a show like Gossip Girl might currently offer, the network can cut its merchandise distribution costs and gain referrals on high-end fashion sales by leveraging the looks already featured in the series.

While the referrals currently exist in sidebar ads and store pages, we’re likely to see a much smoother integration in the new year. In addition to fashion and other types of product placements, there’s plenty of opportunity for inline music purchases and even story arc-related content. There may even be a point where news stories offer links to relevant literature. When you look at PayPal’s recent announcement for IPTV payment integration, it’s easy to imagine a number of possibilities. While it’s natural that users will be able to purchase pay-per-view movies and channels through their television sets, there’s no reason why retail products can’t also become a part of that ecosystem.

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Holidays can be a tough time for those of us with startup companies. While the rest of the world is carving turkeys, lighting Menorahs and singing carols, we’re sneaking moments away from family to check our messages. You’ve created your vacation responses, forwarded your phone to voice mail and emailed your emergency contacts to clients. But a good business person makes sure services run smoothly, even during the holidays. Twilio may be one company that can help.

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Twilio is a web-service API that allows businesses to build their own customizable phones services and communications apps. Hosted on Amazon Web Services, Twilio’s infrastructure grows depending on customer demand. The company’s per-call pricing model is affordable and after watching CEO Jeff Lawson demo the service, we were surprised to see how user-friendly it truly is. At this week’sSF New Tech Event, Lawson was given 5 minutes to set up a conference call. After 10 lines of code he had a call-in number, mute settings, admin prompts and more than 50 members of the audience calling in during his live demo. After seeing the audience respond to the service, we realized that Twilio would be a great for putting your company on holiday autopilot.

Twilio offers a variety of usages including notifications, phone polls, call forwarding, voice transcription and triaging. If a client needs a reminder during the holidays you can automate a message and pre-program it to call them on a specific date. If you want to remain available in case of an emergency, you can forward a list of pre-determined numbers to your mobile while leaving the rest in voicemail. And if you’re looking to create a simple directory, you can use Twilio to create a list of people, options or customer service contacts.

In late September ReadWriteWeb covered Buzzeromatic’s latest Twilio-based door application. In this case, users can grant timed building access to visitors by programming the door buzzer with a password. Rather than waiting for deliveries, Twilio ensures that you’re warm at home when deliveries arrive to your building entryway.

At this early stage, we know we’re just scratching the surface on all of Twilio’s capabilities. If you’ve hacked together a cool application or holiday game plan using Twilio or a similar service, let us know in the comments below.

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In 2006, Y Combinator founder Paul Graham wrote an essay entitled, “How to Be Silicon Valley.” He argues that a tech hub must have nerds and people with money. At the time, he proposed that Boulder and Portland would be the next tech hubs and indeed both have thrived. Nevertheless, as seed funds and incubators become more common, new tech centers are springing up in some of the most unlikely places. ReadWriteWeb caught up with two mentorship groups to find out the advantages of launching outside of the tech epicenter of Silicon Valley.

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Bootup Labs

After moving from the Valley, Vancouver-based entrepreneurs Boris Mann and Danny Robinson looked for a way to continue working with startups. The duo launched Bootup Labs to fix the Northern tech ecosystem and pass some of their lessons on to budding entrepreneurs. The group accepts 6 companies per program cycle for two annual cycles. Companies receive 8 months of mentorship, free office space, administrative/legal services and a $100,000 dollar covertible line of credit. In exchange for mentorship and funding, Bootup takes 5% equity from your company. If you choose to use the entire line of credit, they will receive an additional 10%. By attracting a star-studded cast of program mentors including Guy Kawasaki, NowPublic CEO Len Brody, and investor and writer Paul Kedrosky, Mann and Robinson ensure that their program’s 12 annual spots are highly coveted.

Says Mann, “I asked Flickr founder Stewart Butterfield why he decided to stay in Vancouver and build his new startup Tiny Speck. He answered that he loves living here. Being a place where people love to live is hard to replicate. We have the nerds, we think it’s easier for us to bring more nerds here because of immigration rules (vs. the US) AND because people love it. [We’ve got] mountains, ocean and it’s one of the most livable cities in the world.“

Bootup Labs’ choices for its January cycle include event-based community Zedmo, lifestream aggregator Statusly, location-based gaming development service Compass Engine, relevancy-based web surfing aid ReadFu, online farmer’s market Foodtree and enterprise storefront platform Blast Ramp.

Difference Engine

Launched this year by Jon Bradford, Difference Engine is based in the North East of England. The group offers applicants £20,000 pounds of investment capital and a 16 week program in business development in exchange for an 8% equity stake. As of January, Difference Engine will welcome 10 teams per cycle, with 2 program cycles per year.

When asked why Bradford believes his program can create the basis for a good tech community he replied, “The North East of England is home to The Sage Group – one of the largest software company in the UK.  As with many other parts of Europe it is not the lack of technical expertise but the lack of pre seed capital and support which reduces the opportunities for young entrepreneurs.  Whilst there is increasing activity with angel investors, it is still less mature that the US market…The Difference Engine provides mentors the opportunity to “get up close and personal” with teams over an extended period of time [and] mentors may ultimately invest in these businesses.”

According to Bradford, one of the advantages of starting a company is Europe is the fact that developers learn to build platforms and businesses with multi-language capabilities. This attention to global markets places European and Asian companies at a potential advantage to their US-based competitors. Difference Engine’s group’s first intake will be in February 2010, to apply for the inaugural program entrepreneurs can submit ideas via the Difference Engine application form.

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Twitter client developers will be pleased to note that popular light blogging platform Tumblr now supports a Tweetie and Twitterific compatible API. In a recent blog post, the company explains how the API will help Twitter clients support Tumblr. While the release allows for similar posting and reading capabilities to last week’s WordPress API announcement, it’s a coup for those looking to Twitter to become the open messaging standard.

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In response to today’s Tumblr announcement, RSS pioneer and blogger Dave Winer writes, “Conventional wisdom says that open standards are created by endless deliberations among experts and big tech companies, and those sometimes gain traction, but this is how it usually happens. Someone goes first. No one thinks of it as an open standard. Then someone clones it. All of a sudden people get ideas. Inspired, someone goes third. At this point it’s inevitable that there will be a fourth and fifth and so on.”

Last week ReadWriteWeb suggested that a publish/subscribe standard was already beginning to take shape with both the WordPress API and Twitter/Feedburner integration. As of today, we may be one step closer to a web where content feeds are standardized and portable across a variety of platforms and services.

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