Trip sharing site Dopplr sends out first annual report on my travel habits: way cool!

Dopplr rocks!  The free service allows you to publish and share your travels with others, get input from people who have also been there (hotels, restaurants etc) and maybe meet with people in your network that are also be close-by. I have been using it for some time now (albeit not nearly enough) and it is become very valuable, indeed. I have met some very nice people this way, while reconnecting with others that are in my network but have been 'dormant'.

So today, the Dopplr people topped it all by sending me a free report with some very juicy morsels of information about my travel habits and history (see some excerpts below). These numbers are even scarier than I thought since I did not even share all trips with Dopplr, during 2008, but still - great intel to have. Keep it up, guys!

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New video: shifting values and the future of advertising and marketing

Image by gleonhard via Flickr

Just uploaded this new video via Tubemogul (adds it automatically to a dozen or so sites). My favorite video platform is still Blip.tv btw, because the quality is great and it allows downloads via iTunes (so you can watch my videos on your iPod while you're driving;). My Youtube page is here, if you are using Youtube (who isn't?) 

The topic of this video: Shifting values and the Future of Advertising: In an inter-connected and broadband-powered world, pedigree, age, gender, location and cash matters less and less, and reputation, creativity, trust and MERIT matter more. What will this do to Advertising and Marketing?

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The rise of Professional Amateurs: UGC, crowdsourcing, meta-content ... life!

Amateurs that crank out work / content / value that is equal to, or even better than professionals. Think iStockphoto, Innocentive, Wikipedia, Amazon reviews, youtube.... This is a major trend and a big chunk of my new book, The End of Control. This trend relates to Crowdsourcing, UGC aka user-generated context, meta-content, ambient awareness etc. A recent Nokia study says 25% of all content, in 3 years, will be user-generated - I would double that, within 5 years. A short illustration below.

A book you must read: "Crowdsourcing" by Jeff Howe

If you are in the 'content' and / or media business, Jeff Howe's new book 'Crowdsourcing' is a must read, because it describes a powerful trend that will change the way we do business: because of the fact that we are all connected now, at all times (well... just about), it is no longer just authorized insiders, professionals, employees or otherwise paid workers in large firms that can solve large problems or contribute to complex projects. Now, the world can be your talent (as Don Tapscott is putting it, in Wikinomics, years ago), and companies like Procter & Gamble are busy sourcing ideas and solutions from anyone that wants to take a crack at it, via platforms such as InnoCentive or YourEncore.

Here is Jeff Howe's definition of Crowdsourcing:  "The White Paper Version: Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. The Soundbyte Version: The application of Open Source principles to fields outside of software." Jeff's blog is here, btw (a Wired blog). Some nuggets from the book (quoted):

• Labor can often be organized more efficiently in the context of community than it can be in the context of a corporation
• Crowdsourcing has the capacity to form a sort of perfect meritocracy... Gone are pedigree, race, gender, age and qualification
• When this demographic (the digital natives) reaches adulthood, they will bring behaviors and attitudes honed through 1000s of hours in front of a computer, constructing their own experience and working collaboratively in various online communities

Some related books:  The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Raymond), The Wealth of Networks (Benkler), Wikinomics (Tapscott). Read away...

The Cloud and the Crowd: Our Future

I have been busy reading 2 great books (yes... those long flights without Internet connections are perfect for that) that have become a strong influence on my recent work: Crowd-Sourcing by Jeff Howe, and The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler. I realized mid-way through my reading that both cloud computing (i.e. the fact that everything we need that can be digitized - such as software, media, searches, bookmarks, databases etc - will be stored in the network rather than on devices and machines that we carry around) and crowd-sourcing (i.e. the drastically decentralized way of sourcing content, ideas, co-workers, collaborators and actual production via that very same network) will pretty much be impacting everything else we do, in the very near future. See below. And smile.

The mission for future problem solving: pooling our cognitive surplus (read Clay Shirky)

Clay Shirky hits the nail on the head with the statement, below - not much more I can add. Read his newest book "Here comes Everybody". Image via Flickr (Will Lion & B Tal)

OpenAd.net: Protect your Ideas (funny video on owning ideas)

I saw a presentation on the OpenAd network at Picnic - very impressive, and I shall investigate it some more - the idea of crowd-sourcing ideas for advertising campaigns really has legs, imho.   In the meantime, here is a funny video that the OpenAd people have produced for marketing purposes - nice stuff!

The increasing trend towards Decentralization - every page is 'Home' now (comment on Guy Kawasaki)

Guy Kawasaki (one of the smartest guys that feed my RSS inbox) has a great nugget in this blog post:

"Every page is now a home page, each of which will have a wider reach, a lasting shelf life, and the ability to attract a new audience like never before. To capitalize on this, ensure that every page has a strong, clear global navigation scheme and related content that is visibly promoted.... Remember, every page can be accessed in any conceivable manner and in any conceivable order—you can’t design properties to control user flow anymore"

This is indeed crucial and very much documents the global trend towards decentralization. Search, RSS, add-this & share-this widgets, deep-linking, digg, furl, and soon maybe the new socialme search etc have fueled this trend tremendously. People now come into web properties from all different directions, and quite a few don't come through the front-door anymore. The bottom line is that we don't control entry or exit any longer - we only 'control' the merit that we offer (or not).

I already commented on this blog post earlier... read more, here

Interesting book, video trailer, and Wired feature on Crowd-Sourcing

"Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. Look for the book by Jeff Howe, the man responsible for identifying the term, this August...."   I just ordered the book; review to follow.  Check out the blog here - a fantastic resource! Wired covers it here.

Highlights:In just the last few years the influx of talented amateurs armed with inexpensive, high-resolution digital cameras has upended the economics of stock photography. Five years ago, a professional-quality image was still a scarce resource. No more. This isn't to say the market for high-end photographs has disappeared...he company [istockphoto] is in the midst of transforming its business, from one reliant exclusively on professionals to one that is at least equally reliant on amateurs...And photography may well be just the beginning. iStock itself is doing a burgeoning business in the sale of stock video footage, and the crowd is also making commercials, collaborating on TV scripts, and recording and distributing their own music...."