e-Business 2.0 emerges alongside Web 2.0

Web 2.0 has changed the way we think about the Web; whether you believe that Web 2.0 is a valid name or just some coined term by Tim O'Reilly used to define the "newer" websites that function as web-applications.  According to Tim O'Reilly's article, "What is Web 2.0?" the difference between the initial Web and Web 2.0 lies within the following example:
   

Web 1.0		Web 2.0
DoubleClick	-->	Google AdSense
Ofoto	-->	Flickr
Akamai	-->	BitTorrent
mp3.com	-->	Napster
Britannica Online	-->	Wikipedia
personal websites	-->	blogging
evite	-->	upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation	-->	search engine optimization
page views	-->	cost per click
screen scraping	-->	web services
publishing	-->	participation
content management systems	-->	wikis
directories (taxonomy)	-->	tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness	-->	syndication

Tim goes on to explain that Web 2.0 is thought to be a core set of principles and practices that tie together one or many groups of websites.  These websites contain these sets of principles and stem from the core at  various degrees of distance.  The image below shows a "meme map" of Web 2.0 that was developed at a brainstorming session during FOO Camp, a conference at O'Reilly Media. It's stated that the image below is very much a work in progress, but shows the many ideas that radiate out from the Web 2.0 core.

As we can see, Web 2.0 has truly emerged as a new set of features and functionality that encompasses modern websites as compared to the websites of the past (Web 1.0).  Some popular technologies that are utilized by Web 2.0 websites include: Blogs/Weblogs, Podcasts, Video Streaming, RSS feeds, Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, Tagging, and other forms of communication and social web-based tools.

But with the birth of Web 2.0, emerges the beginning of e-Business 2.0. 

What is e-Business 2.0?  In the simplest terms, it is the concept that e-Business processes have changed vastly over the last few years and are delivering a new core set of practices and functionality- practices used by some of the larger and more successful corporations of today.  Because the Web has emerged into what's now being referred to as Web 2.0, members are requiring greater functionality to keep them active within websites; customers are requesting more advanced features and capabilities for product ordering, account management and customer support; and website owners require more advanced functionality to control, monitor, manage and statistically track their users and customers in one centralized environment.

Because of these requirements and expectations, technologically advanced systems are considered necessary to control/manage Web 2.0 technologies.  Such examples include Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Content Management Systems (CMS), sales automation systems, proposal-automation tools, automated submission processes (products, RSS feeds, sitemaps), Customer Support Systems, e-Newsletter Systems, Blogging Systems, Online Payment Solutions with invoicing capabilities, and much more. 

These core set of systems are necessary to manage and maintain websites that utilize Web 2.0 features.  They are generally easier to access by larger corporations and are frequently more difficult for the smaller business to incorporate into their websites and back-end administrative systems. 

Although it is developing, e-Business 2.0 is still in the beginning stages and I predict it will not be available to the masses for at least another five to ten years.  Many Web Development companies that target the smaller business find it difficult to offer these solutions in a cost-effective manner and this is why my company, Hudson Horizons, is focusing all of our attention into developing e-Business 2.0 solutions for the small business.   We successfully provide e-Business 2.0 solutions in an affordable manner for our clients, and our focus is to continue and offer advanced solutions that help our clients manage the growing needs for offering Web 2.0 features to their customer and members.

Moving into the future, I foresee Web 3.0 becoming a hot topic of discussion- as Web 2.0 is today- but not for at least another ten years.  And with this I predict a following of e-Business 3.0 solutions to successfully manage these new breeds of websites.  Yes, these may just be coined terms, but I think it's a great way to easily categorize the features of the Web and allow Web professions to straightforwardly discuss and analyze the Web in an effective manner.  I'm excited to see where Web 2.0 takes us!

Google announces union between AdSense and Maps

Last week, Google unveiled plans to incorporate the functions of AdSense and Maps, its advertisement application and navigation application respectively. According to Greg Sterling, who attended the conference during which these plans were discussed, no official date was ascertained as to when the combine efforts of AdSense and Maps will go public. But a fusion like this is sure to excite and benefit e-Marketers and Internet browsers alike.

AdSense, originally developed as an extensive website crawler, filters the content on e-Business websites to find and offer relevant ads e-Marketers can include and profit from whenever a browser clicks on them. Google is confident that the advertisement links AdSense provides are “so well-matched, in fact, that…readers will actually find them useful.”

For browsers, the merger between AdSense and Maps essentially means that any search results for a given location will be accompanied by mini-advertisements sponsored by local businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, or retail stores. The ads will appear when a specific push-pin is hovered over; this allows e-Marketers to receive a shared profit if the link is visited. Of course, any interested e-Business would have to pay an initial fee for the ad before profiting from it.

This screen shot was acquired from the above linked article. It illustrates what Maps searches would look like with sponsored advertisements by AdSense.

As far as application relationships go, this is a smart match on Google’s part— not only will this make browsing a neighborhood for restaurants easier, it will create seemingly limitless opportunities for e-Businesses to expand their advertisement potential. The genius of integrating AdSense and Maps is that it conveniently joins browser and e-Business by allowing both parties to mutually benefit. If these plans take off successfully, e-Marketers will have another legitimate prospect for publicity and sales in the online world.

Moving towards a cleaner Internet

On Monday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that they are working with BBN Technologies Inc. to manage the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI), a "clean slate project" intended to test the possibility of recreating the Internet from scratch. Referred to as an “experimental research network,” GENI will require significant funding of up to $10 million over the next four years which will be supplied by the NSF.

So why all the renovation?

When the Internet was initially developed nearly forty years ago, it was not designed with E-Bay, MySpace, or personal blogs in mind. But for many Internet users today, these things are the quintessence of online activities; they represent the ever-growing virtual connection between buyers, sellers, friends and clients.

Many of us have witnessed— if not reaped— the boundless benefits of the Internet, but not without the occasional detriments. I am referring to dangers such as privacy invasion, identity theft, and account hacking.

A main focus of the clean slate projects is to eliminate technological flaws such as these. As stated on the GENI homepage, the organization strives to “invent and demonstrate a global communications network and related services that is qualitatively better than today's Internet.”

In an interesting MSNBC article concerning this matter, several researchers were said to believe that redesigning the Internet would be the “only way to truly address security, mobility and other challenges that have cropped up since [its] birth in 1969.” Ultimately, these renovations would involve “replacing networking equipment and rewriting software on computers,” among other things.

What do clean slate projects mean for people and businesses that are just now acclimating to the current Internet? Nothing too drastic… the NSF maintains that any newly-designed network will co-exist alongside today’s Internet until users are ready to make the switch. MSNBC reporter Anick Jesdanun states that “individuals and businesses [can] gradually [migrate] over as they need more advanced applications.” This is a comforting concept, but I can’t help but wonder if a delayed transition would be as futile as refusing to buy a cell phone or upgrade from vintage vinyl to compact discs.

Still, the theorized advantages of clean slate projects are impressive. For example, GENI hopes to approach the concept of wireless connections in a whole new way, aiming to “provide connectivity without the high cost of fixed wireline infrastructure.” GENI researchers assert the need to “rethink what support is needed for the mobile host” in order to improve it in the future. Limitless wireless connections could significantly enhance the capabilities of online businesses as well as individual users.

For the most part, this shift represents yet another attempt to better our existence through innovative restoration. With careful consideration to what consumers want and need in order to thrive on the Internet, the efforts of GENI could very well be a huge success. If a “cleaner” Internet does eventually emerge, one can only hope that through user-friendly mechanisms and helpful applications it would continue to encourage individuals and companies to explore and expand their role in the age of virtual interaction.

The Future of Social Networking Websites - Target Niche Groups

From virtual communities that allow members to upload and share their media to social content websites that permit users to tag and communicate their favorite blogs, articles and websites with one another, social networking websites are popping up everywhere we turn.

A social networking website is defined as a community of individuals that share common relationships and connect to one another through various social interests and close-knit bonds. Some of todays most popular social networking website brands are MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Technorati, Digg, Delicious, Orkut, Xanga, Yahoo 360, Webshots, and Classmates.com. These sites all have different features and functionality but they share one common goal " that is to create a large community of members that possess common social interests and relationships.

However, as the Internet continues to bring more competition, it will be increasingly difficult for future social networking websites to compete with the big dogs and make a name in the world of social networking. I believe that weve only touched the surface of social networking on the Internet and predict the next ten years to bring some innovative and exciting new ideas that will further shape the Internet as we see it today.

Nevertheless, in order for future social networking websites to become a success, they must adapt and change with the times. With all the competition that is already present, I believe all future social sites must focus on targeting a niche group of people rather than aiming for everyone, like many of the social websites online today. In my opinion, there are too many MySpace, Digg and Delicious types of sites alreadyin competition(literally thousands). In order to make a future social networking website a success, it must not replicate what these sites have already done but focus on targeting specific niche groups of people instead. By targeting niche groups, future social networking websites will become more of a resource and less of impracticality for their members.

No.1 Industries is a company who is already doing this to a T. They have created a few social networking websites that target specific niche groups of people. Here are some of their already flourishing communities " No.1 Artist, No.1 Band and No.1 Talent.

Lets take No.1 Artist for example. Their focus is to provide a social network for artists that allow them to interact with other artists, sell their artwork off their portfolio, gain more exposure in the art industry and just have fun. It makes more sense for an artist to signup for No.1 Artist than it does for them to signup as a member of MySpace because in the end, they will receive better targeted exposure. I spoke to a representative of No.1 Industries yesterday and they are in the stages of launching three more social networking sites within the next 6 months.

By focusing on a niche, it will be easier for social websites to launch features for their community that provide resources and exposure for their members rather than just trying to target a wide range of individuals. By targeting everyone, it will just be replicating what has already beendone. By targeting specific niche groups, it will be creating value and providing essential benefits for the members of their social network.

Videoblogging (Vlog) - The Next Internet Craze

Ok, so by now we all know what a blog is and many of us run and operate a blog of our very own. But have you heard of a vlog? If not, no worries, its something that has been around for less than one year. A vlog, or video blog, is a weblog which uses video as its primary presentation format. It is primarily a medium for distributing video content. Vlog posts are usually accompanied by text, images, and additional meta data to provide a context or overview for the video. Vlogs or videoblogs are created by vloggers or videobloggers, while the act itself is referred to as vlogging or videoblogging.

So as you can see, its a branch off of a blog but instead of writing content like Im doing now, users present their information through some type of video format. This new version of blogging is intriguing to many because users find it more interesting than reading through pages of content. They would rather spend 10 minutes watching a video of someone rather than read an article. I myself like both blogs and vlogs. To me it depends on the topic that is being depicted. If the topic is how to bake chocolate chip cookies (mmmm), then Id rather watch a vblog of someone actually making the cookies and talking me through it. However, if its a topic on how Google just launched their new news archive search, then I would rather read a blog then have to watch and listen to someone talk about it for 10 minutes.

If you are interested in making your own vlog, then Freevlog explains how to videoblog for free and Feevlog explains how to videoblog for a fee. Also, Typepad and Blip.tv are simple turnkey solutions to consider. If youre interested in watching and commenting on other peoples vlog works, then you can subscribe to FireAnt or Mefeedia.

Im very interested to see where vlogging takes us. Im quite sure in the next year or two we will see a few vlogs become famous because of their content. Weve seen it happen with blogging. Many sites such as Fark, TechCrunch, BoingBoing, Gizmodo, and PopSugar are already or on track to make millions of dollars through their blogs. Its a new advertising medium for companies and vlogging now adds a whole new sphere (vlogosphere) to this element.

Internet Video Traffic is Souring

As the Internet continues to expand, video is taking hold and is responsible for the newest explosion in online traffic. Whether its an online news website like MSN, a sports website like ESPN or simply an email from your friends, video is a likely candidate for viewing content online. Its almost not considered fun anymore unless there is some type of video involved in your online experience.

Many of you have probably heard of the website YouTube.com, it is a place for people to engage in new ways with video by sharing, commenting on, and viewing videos. YouTube originally started as a personal video sharing service back in February 2005, and has grown into an entertainment destination with people watching more than 70 million videos on the site daily. Everyone can watch videos on YouTube "both on YouTube.com and across the Internet. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.

This new revolution in the way people can interact online is vastly expanding the ways in which we communicate and share information with others online. Video is exploding on the Internet everywhere we turn. Even emails from our friends and family include videos that someone has posted somewhere on the Internet. The newest controversial Internet topic is the so-called video of President Bush to suffer a digitally manipulated assassination entitled "Death of a President". The UK's Channel 4 has produced a movie that opens with the assassination of President Bush by an anti-war sniper in front of a Chicago hotel. They have used special effects to use Bush's actual face. It seems to be a shockingly real film, and it is understandable causing outrage among many Americans.

Death of a President uses digital trickery, archive footage and actors. This drama, which recreates the national paranoia following the murder, will be screened this month at the Toronto Film Festival. Channel 4 hopes to sell the film to US broadcasters but same say that is impossible. So wait until it hits YouTube. For the moment, all we have is the picture of the scene and the initial news cast by NBC.

The number of Internet users watching video online grew an impressive 18 percent between October 2005 and March 2006. That's according to comScore's first ever analysis of U.S. Web users' online video viewing habits, drawn from its new Video Metrix service.
In March, U.S. Internet users initiated a total of 3.7 billion video content streams; and they watched an average 100 minutes of video content each during the month, compared with 85 minutes back in October.

Men initiated 52 percent of those streams, women 48 percent; splitting genders along roughly equal lines. But men spent far more time with the content, averaging two hours of viewing time during the month, compared with women's hour-and-twenty. Not surprisingly, males 18 to 34 were most engrossed with online video, averaging 140 minutes of video consumption.

But while certain demographic sets consume more video than others, the report's biggest surprise is that people from all ages and walks of life are eating it up, according to Erin Hunter, comsCore's EVP of media and entertainment.

"There are skews by age, but there isn't any group that's not doing it," she said. "It's not just college kids. It's also the older demographic, and clearly both males and females alike. In terms of content, we see entertainment and sports and news all with pretty strong rates of viewership."

So as we can see, the Internet is taking shape in a whole new light. Video is becoming a reality and has allowed millions of people to post video content online. So whats next? Are we going to be able to form our own online TV stations with streaming media? Instead of writing a blog, can you watch me in the comfort of my own home talk about the latest and greatest topics regarding e-Business? I sure hope so and it seems that the Internet is definitely heading this way. With the birth of TV reality shows a few years ago and the recent outpouring of bloggers everywhere, it seems like that would be the perfect combination -- Internet reality TV stations, made by people like you and me.

BPL - Broadband over Power Lines?

Ok, hear me out on this one. Im sitting at my computer in my home office last night, reading articles to help me come up with the next idea for The e-Business Resource blog and I came across an article written by Gary Beach, a publisher at CIO.com. His article talks about a new technology coined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) called BPL or Broadband over Power Lines. BPL is a terms that defines the ability to connect to the Web, via a high-speed Internet connection, through a standard power line. Does this means that you can plug your computer directly into a standard electrical outlet and connect to the Internet? Yes, exactly!

Interesting, I know. I was just as intrigued as you probably are, so I began to research the Internet for more information on this topic. I came across a slew of information about the future of running broadband over power lines directly to the home and office. This new plug and play technology, as they call it, is aimed to bridge the gap between home users who use dialup vs. those who use Cable and DSL to connect to the Internet. Currently, there are nearly two-thirds of U.S. households who use dialup connections or are not connected online at all this was an amazing statistic to me but if this is true then I agree there is definitely room for more players to compete with Cable and DSL Internet service providers.

Digital power lines are believed to carry data atbetween 500 kilobitsto 3 megabits per second, the same speed of DSL or Cable, if not better. The PBL technology works like this: First, the data is carried by the way of fiber optic or telephone lines to surpass the high voltage power lines. At that point the data is then streamed into an electrical power grid, which sends the data downstream onto medium-to-low voltage lines. Special devices will then relay and repackage the data because the signals will only make it so far on their own. The signals can then be accessed via a direct connection through their standard power lines that run to their house or via a wireless connection and finally, POOF directly to a standard electrical outlet in your home.

So it probably seems to be years away doesnt it? Actually, broadband over power lines (BPL) is currently used in Cincinnati and its surrounding areas to over 50,000 homes, to over 700 households in Manassas, Virginia, as a trial by EarthLink in Manhattan, New York and to increasingly more cities as time goes on. By the time you read this article there will be more cities developing the ability to install PBL directly to the homes in their area.

According to an article on internetnews.com, Google (Quote, Chart), Goldman Sachs and the Hearst Corporation have teamed up and invested $100 million in Current Communications Group, which is providing BPL in the Cincinnati area together with Midwest utility Cinergy. Current Communications, a Germantown, Md.-based company providing broadband over power lines (BPL), said the investment would offer consumers a faster alternative outlet for voice, video and data services.

So as we can see, the ways in which we connect to the Internet is constantly changing before our very eyes. What does BPL hold for our future? Since our electrical outlets will allow us to gain access to the Internet, does this mean our computer can now talk to our microwave or television? Can we simply brew a pot of coffee with the click of a mouse? Sounds like that could very well be possible. Only time will tell.

FCC Cleans Air Waves, is the Internet Next?

Ever since the inappropriate Janet Jackson incident, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has enacted new legislation to further advocate what is inappropriate for terrestrial radio. However, today I felt the FCC has crossed the line. Today I was driving home from a long day at the office, listening to a very famous radio station in the New York City, Z100. The song was a new release from the group Panic! At The Disco entitled, I write sins not tragedies. So what was the offensive lyric you ask that forced the Z100 to omit?

I chime in with a "haven't you people ever heard of closing a goddamn door?"

No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality.

So, what was the inappropriate or obscene word in this lyric? Goddamn!

Has the FCC added more words to the list of 7 dirty words?This list was made famous by thecomedian George Carlin:

• shit


• piss


• fuck


• cunt


• cocksucker


• motherfucker


• tits

Has the list been modified or has the FCC just become more observant of indency.In recent times it seems that indecency has exceeded these seven words into anything that the FCC seems inappropriate.

Please do not get me wrong, I believe and feel that these words should be left off the air, because there needs to be some type of regulation in place. However when did 'goddamn' become a bad word?Following the FCC?If you have been following the FCC over recent years it seems they have had a vendetta against certain radio personalities, more specifically Howard Stern who has been fined more then any other disk jockey in the history of radio. When Howard Sterns contract was up he left terrestrial radio and moved to Sirius Radio.Since the popularity of satellite radio has increased over the past year,there have been discussions and rumors that the FCC wants to impose indecency legislation against Cable and Satellite radio. However, these are not free services; therefore it will be very difficult for legislation to pass without public protest.But what about the Internet?In 1996, the Internet wasavailable for consumers only through dial-up services such as prodigy and later American Online. These services were expensive and utilized your primary phone line. However, broadband connections swept throughout most metropolitan areas in2000. In addition,many areas such as airports, coffee shops and universities began to offer freewireless hot spots. Today, the Internet is not only accessible almost everyone, butit is also free in some areas.Even though the majority of users pay for the Internet some now receive free Internet using wireless hot spots or in metropolitan projects that provide free broadband access. If this service is free and anyone can accessit, then can it be compared to that of public television?Could you wake up one day to find that your website has received a fine from the FCC for indecency? Currently this is neither likely nor legal in the United States, but as the idea of free Internet continues to grow, will the government eventually place the Internet under the same guidelines that holds any website hosted in the US accountablefor indecency?