November 2007 - Posts

• How Facebook Ruined Christmas -- and Why Telcos Should Care

  The front page of today’s Washington Post states, “the merging of social networking and online advertising combines two of the most powerful forces on the Internet today”.  Facebook -- with its eye popping $15 billion valuation -- is at the epicenter of this nascent, yet massive, opportunity. Every major company in the world should be playing close attention – especially incumbent telecom carriers whose core business is supposedly about “connecting people” and whose legacy leadership in “directory advertising” has almost completely vanished. At least one global telecom carrier, British Telecom, is paying attention and has already taken steps with BT Tradespace to elegantly blend “socially networked groups of people” with “small business advertisers looking for customers”. As important as it is to learn from the positive lessons taught by FaceBook – it is equally important to learn from the negative lessons as well. This is especially true as Facebook continues to struggle with personal privacy issues associated with its recent Beacon Service, a core element of the Facebook advertising system. In one case, Facebook Beacon accidentally ruined Christmas for Sean and Shannon Lane when the service automatically revealed Sean’s purchase of a diamond ring to his wife Shannon – which was intended to be a surprise…ooops! Like all things which have the potential to be massively disruptive, “getting it absolutely right” will take patience and investment. I am confident Facebook will be focused enough to fix the privacy issues associated with Beacon. I also suspect that innovative carriers such as BT who exercise the same patience and investment will also eventually get things right, thereby creating significant value for themselves and their customers at the intersection between social networks and business advertising.  Time will tell if i am right or wrong. Posted Friday, November 30, 2007 9:55 AM from Matt Howard | 1 Comments

• Death of the Phone Bill?

  Receiving a phone bill in the mail – much like death and taxes – has become a virtual certainty for billions of people all across the world.   But I think things are changing – and I think fewer and fewer people will be getting phone bills in the coming years.   How could this happen, you ask? What type of force could be so powerful to actually kill off telecom billing systems?   The answer is a $600 billion behemoth called the global advertising spend coupled with the emergence of the “conversational web”.   While traditional Telecom networks are monetized via subscription and usage based billing -- the web has evolved into a killer platform where a wide variety of services (including communication services) are capable of being subsidized by advertisers.    A recent study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) shows that a typical consumer internet user spends 47% o their time online looking at content, 33% of their time communicating, and 15% of their time shopping. These statistics show that “communications” are becoming increasingly contextual to the web itself. Whether I am shopping online, reading news, or looking at my friends on Facebook – I am now able to use the exact same interface to reach out and communicate with folks.   As Doc Searls famously said in the Clue Train Manifesto, “The web is about markets. All markets are conversations.” Who needs a phone bill when communications services, subsidized by advertising, are proliferating on the web and on mobile devices. Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007 8:38 PM from Matt Howard | 0 Comments

• Small Business Sales Increase Thanks to Innovative Service from BT

  Incumbent phone companies such as BT are helping small businesses grow faster. Check out this press release highlighting recent growth at Hedgepig Gifts, a UK based online retailer that sells unusual gifts. According to Lynn Hill, owner of Hedgepig gifts, much of the growth is attributed to BT’s latest flagship product, BT Tradespace. BT Tradespace is a simple way for small business owners, like Hedgepig, to promote themselves on the web so they can attract more customers, sell more things, and manage important business relationships -- with no IT expertise required. Ms. Hill states, "BT Tradespace is far more than just a shop front for your business. It is a synergy of both conventional and social media tools that creates a bustling marketplace where traders can interact with their customers and build trust through comments, reviews and ratings". Tradespace is the latest example of how incumbent telcos such as BT are using software on the web to redefine existing relationships with small business customers. If you’re a Telco manager and you want to learn more – check out SMBLive. Posted Monday, November 12, 2007 7:01 AM from Matt Howard | 0 Comments

• Check out the New BT Tradespace -- The Future is Bright and We're Just Getting Started!

  After an amazing effort by an amazing group of people -- we're finally there!!!!   This morning at approx 7:00am GMT (2:00am EST), together with our great partners at BT (Ivan and Lian), we lifted the curtains on the next phase of BT Tradespace....   "a simple way for small business owners to promote themselves on the web so they can attract more customers, sell more things, and manage important business relationships -- with no IT expertise required."   While it’s not quite perfect (we’re still working through a few things) it definitely is an incredible rapid and innovative achievement.   Special thanks to the folks who led the charge: Andy Grant, PM Extraordinaire Rahshia Sawyer, James Stolpe, Brian Scates, Richard and Linda at LBi, and the entire design team Mark Heaney and the TS dev team Nadeem and the TSC dev team All the rest at SMBLive and Mural It is amazing what can be accomplished working together.   The future is bright for Tradespace – and we’re just getting started!! Posted Thursday, November 08, 2007 10:10 AM from Matt Howard | 1 Comments