Internet

I just launched a new business. By and large it lives on the Web. When you think of a web (at least when I do), I see little fragile yet resilient strands of gossamer threads interconnected in a blessed pattern. Blessed because who the heck could ever come up with a concept like that? Seriously. When I think about my new business and how to make it grow I consider where it lives, inside a Web. So, how to make it grow? Go viral.

Viral is an exponential experience that has the power to turn something tiny into something huge. And while viral has a kind of creepy connotation, in the world of consumer goods the hope that your idea will find a life of it's own and spread is a good hope. In fact, it's a hopeful hope (now I'm sounding silly, but you get the picture).

How does something go viral? Well, if we all knew how to do it we'd all be doing it, at least in my business. Yes, you can attach your concept to influencers who will spread the word. Or, you can make your content so funny or so ghastly that people just can't wait to share. Whatever the formula, or lack there of, going viral is key. So, here we are with a hope in our heart and a ton of great marketing triggers in our fingers, ready to take our message to the streets. Going viral might just mean going for it. LOL!
 

This week New York Magazine's cover reads: "00's The World Did Not End." Unfortunately, for some it did, but that's another story. In reading the article I was taken by a piece further in - "Ten Long Years Ago." I am quoting now, "To travel back in time to 1999, you have to start by shedding a few things, as though you're going through airport security. No iPod. No Smartphone. No YouTube. No Facebook. No Twitter. In 1999, the Internet was shiny-new and just out the box, and we still believed that its greatest utility was to deliver dog food to our door and packs of gum and cigarettes to us by hand."

Yep, that was us. Where did we lose our innocence? Yet another story altogether, I suppose...

So, as I sit on the eve of launching a business that will use the Internet as its hub, I have to thank this wacky new world. I have friends my age that get all up in arms about the "Big Brother" aspect of our social universe, and honestly I can't blame them for feeling a little freaked. But Big Bro, he's here to stay, so best make him your pal. All this to say 2010, bring it on. Enough of the 00s. And yes, we did survive and many of us thrived.

Oh, and if you were wondering, my guilty pleasure is rifling through the pages of New York Magazine. I love the photos! I love the kooky stories! I love the "finds"! It's all there. Check it out...

Predictions are always tricky and often dangerous. But in our business, we make it our job to predict the latest and greatest trends and tools in the social media arena. Granted, we may have some missteps along the way, but why should that stop us?

So, here it is folks, the new up-and-coming social media space – TUMBLR! Although it may not be the newest platform, it is definitely the one with the greatest potential – the new “Twitter”, if you will. Tumblr has everything you could want in a social media platform: bookmarks to easily grab content from the Internet and post to your site, a popular iPhone application, audio posts, and the option for tons of free themes to personalize your space. It’s essentially Facebook, Twitter and MySpace all-in-one.

This hybrid of popular social media outlets allows Tumblr enthusiasts to ‘reblog’ each other’s posts (in much the same way that retweets distribute content on Twitter), monitor ‘Tumbularity’ (follower scoring system), pull content from those they follow (similar to Facebook and Twitter), and broadcast a ‘Tumblelog’ (essentially a blog). Using Tumblr has been described as ‘lifestreaming,’ and with all these features it is easy to see why.

Over 7 million users worldwide have jumped on this band-wagon including Katy Perry, John Legend, and Josh Groban. Tumblr is near the tipping point – all it will take is a few news/tv/celebrity mentions to catch fire.

You heard it HERE first, now go out and become part of the next big thing!
 

Source: raincoastermedia.com

RotorBlog is a blog founded by Maris Dagis in 2006 that focuses on social networks and online communications. Dagis (from Riga, Latvia—now that is a country I’d like to visit!) started this blog to provide the LATEST in Web 2.0 news and startup reviews (according to his blog). The blog reaches 160k readers a month (are you one of them?). It’s a great resource for anyone that uses the Internet to communicate, which sounds like a crazy understatement since WHO, honestly, doesn’t use the Internet to communicate these days… But, be that as it may, this is a fab place to stay up on what's trending now. So check it out!