The Top 10 Internet Moments of the Decade

(Source: The Age)

What are the most influential internet moments of the decade?

The Webby Awards are happening again and they’re reviewing the noughties decade with their top 10 of internet moments.

Here’s the list:

1. Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)
2. The launch of Google AdWords (2000)
3. The launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)
4. The shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)
5. Google's initial public offering (2004)
6. The online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)
7. Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)
8. Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)
9. The use of the internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)
10. The use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)

What are you thoughts? What would you add or delete?

My initial response was, why the demise of Napster?

I would have thought that Napster was the start of something?

It was the first peer-to-peer software program that put a big dent in the music industry. It also was the forerunner to other P2P software that has attacked other industries, for instance Skype, BitTorrent…

For more check out the Book Rapper issue Leaderful and the rise of the Decentralized organization – we discuss Napster in that Book Rapper issue.

The other one that I would add to the list was April 28, 2003.

Any guess as to what happened then?

It was an Apple moment…

It was the opening of the Apple iTunes store and the music industry was never the same again. Napster probably cracked the golden egg and Apple seized the opportunity to lay their own golden egg.

For more check out The Great Business Gestalt and the rise of Web 2.0 – in this Book Rapper issue we give a case study of how Apple ‘saved’ the music industry. Or at least, created Music Industry 2.0.

My Big Social Media Mistake

I’ve been making a big mistake around Social Media.

I’ve been posting a few blog entries. I’ve been doing Facebook. Started on Twitter. Added slideshows and book reviews on LinkedIn. Even said “I like it” on StumbleUpon.

I’ve been playing the social media game but doing it all completely wrong. I realised what I was doing wrong at a breakfast seminar this week. Rob Hartnett of Business Performance International was presenting. And, so was Jasmine Batra of Arrow Internet Marketing.

What was I doing wrong? I was treating all these social media things as separate things to do. No wonder I couldn’t keep up. My To Do List read like a social media nightmare. Update Facebook, add Twitter, post a blog, link to this, add to that…

That’s not building a Web 2.0 campaign, that’s building a brick wall. One brick, then the next one…

The web is about connection. Everything’s linked and joined together. It’s all digital code and that means it’s all synchronized as well. That means you can update many things at once if you just work smart.

So I clicked over to Slideshare where my slideshows are and updated Facebook and Twitter with two clicks. How easy was that?

My lesson: look for connections and short cuts. Automate!

Now let’s see… can I post this blog to Blogger, update Facebook, Linked In and Twitter all at once? I’ll let you know how I get on.

That’s my big Social Media mistake. What’s yours?

Join the Microblog set - Start Tweetering, I just did...

In our previous RAP, We Blog, we looked at the whole blogging thing.
As part of this, in our Book Rapper Context, we outlined the path of the web: From websites to blogs and to microblogs.

The easiest way to describe this progression is to say: The web just got faster!

Historically, this acceleration parallels the shift from static single photography to motion pictures. From 'moving pictures' we get the word 'movie', as compared to 'still' photography.
The key here is that when you show a progression of still photos at the right speed you get the appearance of movement.
As Marshall McLuhan would have said, you also get a new medium with a new message. So it is with blogs and microblogs.

Websites started the self-publishing phenomenon. Blogs have accelerated this push because they make it even easier to publish - It's now DIY and adult-proof.

Now, Facebook and Twitter, probably the best known microblogs have come along. They're even faster.
Twitter is pure microblog - 140 characters to say your piece. That's it. No more.
Facebook has the same 'What are you doing right now?' microblog features, plus plenty of others. It's more of a place to hang out in current time whereas Twitter is the message.

The big question about the web is: What's the right speed?
The right speed for movies is 24 frames per second. Any slower and you don't get smooth flowing pictures and the brain doesn't relax and enjoy the movie.

• What's the right speed for your website?
• For your blog?
• For your microblog?
• What are we measuring with this speed?
• Is it the number of times you post new material?

Love to hear your thoughts.

If you want more on Twittering, there's a great introductory article on The Age. It's called Tweet and Greet and it's by Lucy Atkins (February 21, 2009).
The article has inspired me to write this post AND to join Twitter. Rather than watch the action, it's time to join the microblog set and start twittering...
Look out for 'bookrapper' on Twitter. (http://twitter.com/bookrapper)