del.icio.us tags 02.11.07

Digital Influence in Asia

• John Bell is still in Asia and has been posting throughout his trip if you want to check out his posts at Digital Influence Mapping Project or John Bell's Other Blog, although he reports today that random acts of Chinese censorship are preventing him from posting to the latter of the two (the first is TypePad and the second is Vox -- you explain the logic). I particularly liked his post from yesterday about the inadequacy of tools being used to assess influence among bloggers in Asia, in part because of my frustration with the open source tools available here in the U.S.

I'm posting a picture of JB from his trip that I swiped
from his blog because I miss him.
Plus, he's got the Great Wall behind him.

• Last Monday, The New York Times had a profile of "China's hottest Internet company" and its president, Pony Ma. The company is making the government nervous because, with its access to 100 million users, they have the capacity to start a political or economic revolution.
• Elsewhere in Asia, on Thursday the BBC had a piece about young people in India using the Internet for worship.

Web Metrics

• Movers 2.0 tracks the popularity of Web 2.0 sites, using Alexa rankings. The Compete snapshot shouldn't be so many layers down, nor should the blog search, but I'm still a fan of the one stop shop style.
  

Politics

• With his announcement yesterday that he was officially joining the race, Barack Obama ("Barry" is what the Post says he went by back in high school) also launched his campaign web site. It looks like it has most of the features featured on Edwards' site, with a better presentation (less chaotic). I don't know why, but I actually feel a little depressed that the use of social media has become so run of the mill. I mean, you can use the toys, but do you know the rules of the game? Pete Cashmore at Mashable says the folks at the campaign might, in fact, not know. The opportunity to mark your own territory -- for self expression -- just aren't there. "In other words," says Cashmore, "it's Obama's space, not yours."
• From the February 19 issue of Newsweek, Jonathan Darman wonders if the real John Edwards has finally stood up.
  

Research

• Jupiter says that 22 percent of teens are watching online video once a week or more. And these kids are more active online overall -- and more socially influential.
• comScore breaks the generations down according to their views on cell phones. It's official. I'm old. Give me a phone that rings and takes messages and leave me alone.

Digital Advocacy

• Change.org launched on Wednesday as a social network for "social causes". Global warming is the most popular "change" people want to see right now (as it is for Richard Branson) although Amnesty International is the most popular nonprofit, demonstrating how important good branding is. As with all social networks, Change.org will be judged by who joins up and, without a critical mass just yet, that's hard to determine.
• The 2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference takes place April 4-6 here in DC. I'll talk to John about going . . .

Toys

• Is Memory Miner "a key transformative moment in the evolution of photography" or just really f*cking cool? (Thanks to Josh Spear for giving me something new to drool over.)
• Instant messaging provides about as much appeal to me as chewing tinfoil -- but Meebo makes it easier for those people who apparently have an urge to be instantly accessible to their friends, family, co-workers and ladies who want to show you a good time.
• Online Education Database has a post from this past Tuesday about the Top 25 Web 2.0 search engines. I don't really know what I am going to use it for, but retrievr, which allows you to search by "sketch" or uploaded image, could be hours of fun. This is one of the results from me using that picture of John from up there.

John Bell in a remake of "Big".

Other Stuff

• I don't need your stinkin' money, but these people do. Take a gamble on folks with ideas and no credit via Prosper.
• Mommy bloggers are bringing down Matt and Meredith's and Diane's numbers.
• Jon Pack Approves or Disapproves. I approve. (Thanks, Jason.)
• Media Geek thinks cassette tapes could be making a retro cool comeback.