Insights into Social Media

Bing
By now you've probably heard that Microsoft has pulled out all the stops to go head-to-head with Google on search. Is Bing better than Google search? Many folks think so. But when people don't know the difference between a browser and a search engine, the question is will they switch? Time will tell.

Google Chrome OS
A few weeks ago Google baffled the world by announcing a lightweight open-source operating system initially optimized to run on netbooks. There's bound to be confusion here between Google's other open-source OS, Android. The product isn't out yet, but speculation has run wild on the Internet. One thing is for sure though: Google will rely more on data than humans for the design.

Adobe Flash Catalyst
Flash Catalyst is a tool for creating rich interactive rapid prototypes without coding. Currently in beta, the software has the potential to break away from the pack with its seamless integration with other Adobe products like Photoshop and Flash. We see this being a powerful tool for both our internal teams and our client's in-house teams.

TweetMeme
Have you come across a "retweet" button lately? They're cropping up everywhere from blogs to news sites to b2b corporate sites. TweetMeme is the service behind this. As you've probably guessed the button publishes the link to your Twitter account. All the links are then totaled and categorized on TweetMeme.com. As Twitter continues to gain momentum as a viable business tool, this service has huge potential for helping your content reach the right audience.

Tinker is a service for brands and events that aggregates Tweets around key words. Whether you’re a retailer having a holiday sale or a company hosting a conference, Tinker promises to be a powerful way to create some gravity around your event. 

They claim to be able to filter out Tweets that include negative comments or mention of competitors — though I've seen some slip through (it is a beta, after all). 

We think this service has some promise, and we’re interested to see if it will catch on and where it will go.

Today’s New York Observer has a profile of Plastic Logic, a new company developing what they hope to be a "Kindle killer": A portable device tailored to the needs of magazines and newspapers as well as books. I am never one to naysay any innovation that gets people reading more, and Plastic Logic seems to have some good ideas as to creating a more ideal reading experience. Hell, I might even buy one! 

All of that is well and good, but one statement in the article really struck me as an embodiment of why most attempts to "modernize" the mass media are doomed to fail...

A few years ago, blogs emerged as a disruptive business-communications channel that allowed customers to get past the brand veneer, and get closer to the humans who run the company. While the lead developers for a software company might have published without corporate interference, it was always assumed that many executive blogs had teams of lawyers and publicists running them through a strainer before going live. And while not ideal, the latter scenario has been mostly accepted.