This IDC study examines the social platforms market for the period from 2007 to 2009. Revenue and market share of the leading vendors are provided for 2009.

Interestingly, the revenue growth, totaling over $369M, is being compared against the starting point of zero (0) for some of these companies. So growth in the 100’s of percent is only expected.  My readership has grown by these same types of numbers if I use null as the starting point.

I was also cautious of how they defined and perceived social software.  I found this answer in another article from IBM Press.

IDC characterizes social platform software as “promoting transparent and authentic two-way dialogue that is open, synchronous, and unstructured.”

Without reading the full $3,000 report for IDC, it seems some of the software solutions listed would not fit into my personal definitions or were not inclusive by any means of the possible choices.  I tend to think there are many that would fit this definition, even those built in house by companies over the years.

Three vendors accounted for 55.8% of the market total, yet saw a decline of .3% in 2009 from 2008.  I would attribute it to the simple matter of demand versus early adopters.  Companies as a whole are not quick on the addition of such social software in the enterprises.  A hesitation is generally made as many see it as a time waster for employees as they compare it to public facing social networks.  Growth numbers for deployment are simply attributed to the groundbreaking movement of this new area of enterprise needs versus existence of any such product.

Interestingly, depending on how you wish to split the numbers, Telligent stated this in their copy of the press release:

According to the IDC study, the three top vendors – Telligent, IBM and Communispace – accounted for 29 percent of the total market in 2009

Yet in others, Microsoft, IBM and Cisco were the top three worldwide leaders.  All of this material was regurgitated across multiple sites from the press release push.  It would be nice to see what software packages from each vendor were included.  I found that IBM only included Lotus Connections and LotusLive Connections, not Quickr, Domino or Sametime.

So does this number and information push your organization to deploy social software solutions to your employees or does it have no bearing in your decision process?

• Does anyone care if I was in a swarm, visited Mount Rushmore or can administer CPR?
• Do we have to get jackets or sashes that we attach these digital badges to?
• Do you visit the pages of your friends to see what badges they have, or do you use some client just to see where they check in and have no clue what they earned?
• Can I get free services, coupons or discounts for having specific badges?  This isn’t mayorship, just an icon.

I begin to feel we reached a peak in the desire to achieve such things and are looking for true value in the services we are using.  Badges inherently were built for kids as a sign of learning and have now turned into a game with no winner.  Each time you get close to having all of the possible badges, new ones are announced.  The game never ends.

It becomes like a RPG that adds levels every time someone conquers all there is.  I have a badge for all of the sites giving out badges.  But it wouldn’t be appropriate.

While I could begin listing sites I have recently discovered value in, let me first make my quick list of what catches my attention:

• Does the site offer an informative About page?  How hard is it to give me some actual information, even if you have a closed beta.  Tempt me.  Draw me in.  Give me a want to apply for the beta, wait it out and then dive in
• Do you make signing up for the beta easy?  Most sites are good at this with a large box asking for your email address with some follow-up email
• Do you show me samples of what the UI might look like or screenshots of your dream look?  I know it isn’t finished.  Hence the beta tag.  I do not like not knowing what your idea of the site I am about to use will look like.  If you are so early in beta you haven’t gotten that far, let me know.
• Provide me a way to get in contact for press/blogging/podcasts to get visibility for your site and ask questions.  If you are not ready, that is fine, just give a way to let me ask.  Most of the time I want to have some early talks to blog or podcast about your site.  I know screencasts may not be possible due to the beta, but some early talks might be.
• Provide a good feedback system or link to one that is made for that purpose.  Some new btea sites make this mistake while others invest in GetSatisfaction (as an example).  An email black hole does not leave any type of impression a user wants.  I need to now you take feedback serious and will comment, reply and note if the suggestion was helpful or even already in the works.
• Have someone assigned to work the forums/feedback in a reasonable time.  Too often I go to sites to read if someone had the same issue to find that questions have gone unanswered for months.  Not even a tag that is has been considered.
• Update a simple screenshot or two as the beta progresses
• Involve your highly active beta users in small group forums/discussions
• Think superusers to allow you to manage/monitor without investing in more employees (Foursquare did this and fell flat after the first rollout)
• Post reasonable updates via a blog or newsletter.  Keep my interest.
• Make the launch exciting and bring in comments and highlights profiles of your top users.  This makes users want to be involved.

I think that is a good summary and high end of what I look for.  If you are building one of these launches, maybe some of those will help.  I enjoy testing the sites, finding ones to enter into my workflow and hopefully promoting you along the way.

We are sorry to notify you that Twones is closing from 9 July 2010.

The engineering team, founders and technology are now a part of
shuffler.fm (http://blog.shuffler.fm) which will launch in a few
months.

I can imagine the ability to find music in so many places on the web today pretty much means the demise of many of these type of start-ups.  Can one really survive and make a living with the large scale music systems like iTunes blazing a path to devices?  Streaming free music content is always a choice, but even independent artists are making a living with sites like Magnatune.

I think one thing missing, even as Twones added sharing to Twitter, Facebook and more, was the ability to have your friends installing a toolbar into their browser and also sharing every song they find with you.  Not to mention proper tagging of the music itself.

Toolbars are often looked upon as evil or privacy issues sending who knows what data to the web.  I am in no way saying Twones did this, just the opinion of many people is that toolbars used to be spyware or hook into ad type networks.

I hope the new venture for the people behind Twones takes off called Shuffler.fm

Foursquare is trying the game approach coupled with specials from advertisers that show based on your location.  The ads are tiny, in the upper right as green icons, but it is monetization.  Gaming the system to be mayor is harder than before.  As I stay mayor or a location, do I really gain anything?  Has anyone made business connections?  Has anyone gained followers you can reach by being mayor? Does the number of tokens I receive get me business?

Google Latitude just shows where you are.  Plain and simple. It works across Google Maps on all the platforms and makes no promise to do anything more for you.  I appreciate the simplicity, but know Google has much more planned around Google Ads based on my location soon enough.

Brightkite, one of my longtime favorites, offers a linking of pictures, posts and comments around a place.  But, they seemingly have gotten lost in all the Foursquare buzz recently.  The service is running strong, but I wait for the monetization to kick in as well.

It goes on from there. The point I am getting at (lengthy as I sit down at World Cup with time to think) is how all of these benefit me.  What have I gained by sharing my location?  Is the effort put into broadcasting my location measurable with any return?  or does it drive revenue for the location service itself to sell ads based on the number of subscribers geographically?

So I am asking the location services, new and old.  Show me yours (plan to assist me) and I will continue to show you mine.

As a beta tester, your job will be to ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics. Economics? Skydiving? Relationships? Mexican Restaurants? It’s up to you. You’ll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product. Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people

Facebook is quite apparently looking for free writers to begin filling in pages of information on any topic.  To be a beta tester they want you to also submit a writing sample on pre-listed questions with links to external sources included.

Before we can give you exclusive beta access, we’d like you to submit one great sample question and answer. We’re looking for evidence that you can write clearly and authoritatively on familiar subject matter.  Where relevant, cite and link to third-party sources such as Wikipedia.

What this means, is as you browse these topics, your profile grows in areas of interest and Facebook finely tuns targeted marketing towards you.  As you fill in topics, they begin to build a table of your knowledge as well.  It is a confusing matrix of information they will learn about you.

I would hesitate submitting for this opportunity, even with the promise that the top writers get invited to the Facebook offices to meet the team.  They make no mention of monetization towards you, nor how the data will be used.  They make no promises to you that you own the content you create.  It looks as if they claim the content as well.  So work for free, input tons of your knowledge for free and let them make advertising dollars from your work.  A perfect plan.

Mahalo, I know, pays the writers for this very same type of content. (No I am not writing for them so no disclosure necessary).  While they own the content, you do get benefit and the content creation is not linked to your profile inside of the largest social network.

Major sponsors of the event are Sony with their 3D TV initiative, a local cellular carrier (MTN) and Budweiser beer. None of them have been pushing any activity over social media channels.  Signs at the sites and around cities only pointed you to SMS codes.  By sending in a keyword you could get a prize, coupon or information only.  No one was pushing presence on Facebook, Twitter, location services or anything else we know in the social media world.

I am not saying this is bad in any way at all.  Just a difference in how we interact.  I was pleasantly surprised to see many places already listed on Foursquare and tons of people checked in.  But can you guess what some investigation found?  Those large amounts checking in were not from South Africa.  Sure, by mere percentage you would think there would be more non-locals due to the draw.  But I am also talking about local malls, shops, restaurants and a few other places we have visited.  It just is not something they do.  SMS and calls are the mainstay.  pre-paid phones are common.

Are we way beyond the curve in what we expect of business and individuals?  It seems to me the word is carried out quite well without it.  Everyone knows where everything is (locals we constantly ask for help and direction) without having to be engulfed in social media.  Products are still displayed prominently on billboards, radio and signs on transportation.  No one says check-in here or be our fan on Facebook.

Once I get back from World Cup 2010, I might adjust how I think about the way I interact.  Not saying cutting back, but how I can communicate more effectively with all the channels I reach all of you through.  I welcome you thoughts and suggestions and also from my new friends and readers I meet while in the amazing South Africa.

There is no quality control in making, duplicating and creating locations.  This is derived from individuals not wasting the time to correctly search and match a location, to network failures that don’t show results with prompts to create even more.  Seriously, do you really, really think no one has even been to that airport and checked in?  No one?

Then we move into the micro-location placements.  I read an article where Denny, of Foursquare, was paraphrased in saying that it is part of the fun when referring to creating these new micro-locations.

A micro-location (by my new definition) is small places within large check in points.  For example gates at an airport.  I can buy in the to the idea of doing that after you check into the airport itself due to the airport size and letting people know exactly where you sit.  However, which of the 5 airport listings did you get back in your result and how many variations of the gate are there now?  Shouldn’t “gate A7 at Stl” be matched and forced somehow into a single listing of “STL – gate A7″ and the other “A7 gate at Lambert” and maybe “Lambert gate A7″.  Oh the list goes on.  So much more.

A location service basing monetization needs controls of the data itself before moving ahead.  How can you guarantee people are using the one where you offer the free drinks or discounts?  What if two exist?  Who won?  How do I advertise?  How do I track results?

This adds to the overall complexity in the sheer number of location services fighting to be on top.  Or to get purchased and sucked into some major network.  I still use the service, for no other reason that people look there to find people.  However, I am losing value in the visits myself as the user base grows.  Even being a Level 1 Super User has me spending far too much time cleaning up others mistakes to simplify my later check-in experience.

I was surprised to see the compact look and feel of The Social Media Marketing Book when it arrived.  It was also outside the normal form from O’Reilly books normal look and feel.  It was longer and wider than the usual arrival.  Strangely, it was fitting for Dan. At a mere 225 pages of actual content, you would guess that there would not be enough tips and tricks that you could learn from.  A huge mistake.  Each of the 11 chapters runs through the same format as much as possible:

• Introduction
• History
• Takeaway Tips

The rest of the sections depend on the topic itself for that chapter.  He walks through each major area of social networking, from blogging, media, microblogging, bookmarking, news and more.  Each one was in such a readable format I actually spent an evening devouring the entire book.  Screenshots of sites and examples are laid out appropriately for each major section.

ROI and metrics are the Holy Grail of what social media experts try to sell you.  Dan leaves this towards the end and hits you over the head with it.  Are you converting visitors?  Are you tracking what catches their eye when following links or visiting?  How do you read all of these metric sites?  He ends the section with goal setting and software to choose from.

While nothing in the book itself was profound, it was a refresher for the seasoned veteran and a nugget finder for the entry to mid-level person. If you want to get your hands on this book, you can follow my Amazon affiliate links in the review.

Buy and read the Amazon reviews here for The Social Media Marketing Book

• Identify top 3 community characteristics
• Express characteristics through four elements
• Identify elements’ activity flow
• Structure to promote characteristics and activity flow
• See the structure with interaction and content

Activity flow can be split between the type of person visiting the site.  From Savvy to Newbie, you have alternate flows that give everyone an excellent experience with the same end result.  Creating your profile on a site is a great example.  Savvy open straight to edit.  Newbie gets a walkthrough with the reasons for each step.

Cultivation of the user community involves seeding and much personal care for it to flourish and survive.  If you can not validate the content versus the reader engagement, you cannot find the common threads that bring it together.

I am revisiting each of my sites the past coutple weeks since Social Fresh and evaluating where I need to make changes to spur more growth.  Design changes have begun.  Feature addition and removals and a structured content posting routine.

I plan on revisiting this topic with an update in how it helped.