web 2.0

Jump in, the water is hot.  We don’t just surf the internet anymore, we dive deep, immersing ourselves in information, interaction and community. Here are some staggering statistics that show how many people spend a majority of their time on the internet.

• there are 2 billion Google searches a day (source)
• there are 78 million YouTube videos online (source)
• over 100 million YouTube videos are viewed per day
• 346 million people globally read Blogs daily (source)
• 77% of active internet users read Blogs
• Facebook has 175 million users from 170 countries (source)
• Facebook users have an average of 120 friends
• the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users are 35 years old & older

The old economy may be drying up, but the new economy is awash in opportunities. Need a lifeboat? Give us call.

Almost every business benefits by using photos to help tell their story. Increasingly, businesses are turning to Flickr as the perfect channel for serving their pictures. Read the rest of this entry »

Not too long ago, we railed against the limited functionality of Facebook Pages for business. But all that is in the past. Facebook Pages now look and behave like Profile Pages, enabling true two-way interaction with your customers and fans. Read the rest of this entry »

Malls, mixed-use developments, shopping centers - call them what you will, they dot the landscape of America.

Many of the larger developments have websites. For the most part, they’re pretty awful. So, when we were asked to produce a new website for North Hills, a mixed-use development in Raleigh, NC, our goal was to help bring the category into a Web 2.0 world.

Two months after the launch, we have every reason to feel we’ve achieved. Stats are great, everything works, and best of all, a continuing content stream is beginning to bloom. It’s interesting stuff, too - stories, bios, pictures and video.

So here’s a checklist of things we think a contemporary mall or mixed-use website needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Brilliant piece from McKinsey:

“Six ways to make Web 2.0 work”

http://tinyurl.com/afouxt

Our roads and bridges may be crumbling in America, but our information infrastructure is growing like kudzu. One of the most interesting new developments is the expansion of advertising opportunities on Facebook. Read the rest of this entry »

Both MySpace and Facebook have beefed up their offerings for advertisers. Today, we’ll talk a little about M/S because it has the more robust interface. Read the rest of this entry »

There are thousands of social portals on the internet, from massively mainstream to fantastically fringe. But lately, three social networks have emerged as must-haves for business people in a Web 2.0 world. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re always finding new sites that inform or inspire us. Now it’s time to share. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you capitalize the word “Internet?” And when does a proper name become a common noun?

This is an issue of some importance to all online copywriters. It’s bothered us for some time that Internet remains a proper noun – after all, we don’t capitalize Cable or Water or Electricity. But, like the Internet, they are all piped to the house by a utility. Read the rest of this entry »