Social networks

Facebook | will people share their pictures, thoughts and information with commercial interests?

Colin Henderson

Further to my earlier post, I just came across this, which i should have seen yesterday. FBML – Facebook Markup Language What keeps you up at night? The thing that worries me the most is how to maintain attention, when everyone and their dog is going after the same space. The answer cannot be in old style ad bombardment. Surely it lies more in relevance to the user. If I come in, then my relevance is different than Williams, or Rons, or Trents or James, or whomeever. At that point I actually don’t care about them … at that point … Continue reading Facebook | will people share their pictures, thoughts and information with commercial interests?

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BarcampToronto | disruption

Colin Henderson

Attending BarCampToronto at UofT. First session was on disruption. Speaker (Norm Young) and engineer withWestern Avionics, and with a technology and academic background, spoke of books by Christensen and Raynor. The example he used was Linux, but I wanted to relate it to P2P Lending. Using Linux he noted that before it reached the steady state line, its performance was inadequate, and during that disruptive period, he had to work hard to make it work. Now Linux is offerred by Dell, and while its early to call mainstream its getting close. P2P lending is as Linux was. It requires hard … Continue reading BarcampToronto | disruption

Social networks6 Comments

Could FaceBook risk becoming another AOL?

Colin Henderson

I have been trying to digest the implications of FaceBooks announcement yesterday about becoming the “social operating system” for the Internet, to quote 23-year-old chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. When I looked closer at FaceBooks new positioning today, they have portrayed everything as an application, groups, photo’s, events, and now, LendingClub, as reported earlier. Then I was reading Brad Stones review of FaceBooks plans, and this little quote leapt off the page at me. Facebook hopes that thousands of outside companies will eventually build features for its site. One inevitable drawback is that Facebook pages will no longer all look the … Continue reading Could FaceBook risk becoming another AOL?

Social Lending14 Comments

Social lending goes red hot, as FaceBook enters the space with “LendingClub”

Colin Henderson

After last weeks entre into the space by Virgin, now FaceBook get into the game. Hat tip – Wiseclerk What’s this all about? By working together, Lending Club members can borrow money at a better rate than they could from a bank, or invest in a pool of loans that carry higher rates than savings accounts. Loans have a 3-year duration. It seems to operate on a similar method to Zopa, where the risk assessment is taken on by LendingClub. How It Works It’s simple. Borrowers apply online and get instant qualification. Their loan applications get listed and selected by … Continue reading Social lending goes red hot, as FaceBook enters the space with “LendingClub”

AI

Credit cards are still very vulnerable online

Colin Henderson

This post amazed me, and when I followed some of the suggestions, I was successful. It is essential that Banks, and credit card companies follow through with enhancements such as “Verified by Visa “. But more so, this article points to the need for online vigilance for card numbers that are available online. This will result in the usual, ‘is it Visa’s job our [the Bank’s] job’, but the need is so clear, surely that can be sorted out. It would be simple for companies like Visa, MasterCard, and Discover to take a list of the most common 8-digit prefixes, … Continue reading Credit cards are still very vulnerable online

AI

Huggies or ….? How will Robert know ….

Colin Henderson

Robert asks some provocative questions here (nice to see him back on his game). A lot of money moves from my wallet to somewhere else. Now, I know how to use Google, right? Google monetizes the last click in a complex chain. But how am I, or Maryam, going to be influenced on our choices? Say, for instance, diapers? I just did a search for diapers on Google and found only one brand name I recognize: Huggies. How did that damn name get hammered into my brain? Advertising. Source: Scobleizer This synopsises (huh!) the perennial argument. Big bang advertising or … Continue reading Huggies or ….? How will Robert know ….

AI2 Comments

WordPress grows beyond 1 million blogs

Colin Henderson

WordPress, the service I use, has gone over 1 million blogs. When I set up with them, in Jan 2006, there were about 300K if I recall. 1,002,584 blogs on WordPress.com. WordPress does everything well, but the main thing I like is the constant iterative improvement. Yes they have the best comment spam filter system of anyone, bar none, but the improvements are continuous ( I have had 11K spams in that 17 month interval). A few months ago they operationalised domain mapping, which allowed me to use thebankwatch.com for this WP hosted blog, even though the real underlying address … Continue reading WordPress grows beyond 1 million blogs

Business Models, Profitability

Community ROI – a sensible view

Colin Henderson

Will Pate and colleagues have put together a good summary, researched online, of metrics that could be developed into something. I think the term ROI is a stretch for some of these items, and have said so before, but the concept of new metrics to respond to this space is highly valid.

Some examples that I liked:

– Community users remain customers 50% longer than non-community users. (AT&T, 2002)
– Community users spend 54% more than non-community users (EBay, 2006)
– 56% percent of online community members log in once a day or more (Annenberg, 2007)
– Customers report good experiences in forums more than twice as often as they do via calls or mail. (Jupiter, 2006)

For the full list, go to Wills post here. Continue reading Community ROI – a sensible view

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Connecting the dots ….. security advisories, Dell, and Linux

Colin Henderson

Its funny how sometimes the dots just get connected. As i was smiling to myself on seeing this latest note in my feeds about Microsofts latest security advisory, I saw this right after at Engadget.

There’s still no press release but those three Dell’s running Ubuntu are just minutes away from donning their direct-sales wings according to Dell’s official Direct2Dell site.

Source: Engadget

My posting has been spotty over the last two weeks, as I accustomed myelf to a non windows world for the first time, since Win 3.1 appeared. It has been very smooth, and if you are buying a Dell, my advice is to not hesitiate. Reasons – no hard drive churning, no virus worries, laptop (Thinkpad X60s) feels like it just got a turbocharger & no crashes.

For those who appreciate such things, take a look ….
Continue reading Connecting the dots ….. security advisories, Dell, and Linux

AI1 Comment

Transaction hijacking – cheaper alternatives, at point of purchase

Colin Henderson

This article is about Google, but the underlying thread is intersting, and relevant for Banks. Just when you thought it would be great when customers could locate your bank/service/product using search, after your mammoth efforts at sucessful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) up pops a little helper to suggest your offer might not be the best.

Thats the promise of new technology from Autonomy, and inferred by Google.

Autonomy, the UK-based search company is also developing technology for “transaction hijacking”, which monitors when internet surfers are about to make a purchase online, and can suggest cheaper alternatives. Although such monitoring could raise privacy issues, Google stresses that the iGoogle and personalisation services are optional.

This just reminds me, that one approach, such as SEO, is never enough. Constant innovation within the internet space, and improvements to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to incorporate online and especially email, is essential to ensure your customers want to think of you. I am not talking about spamming here. I am thinking of being proactive and appropriately re-active with customers at those moments of truth, to turn them into yourBank advocates. Continue reading Transaction hijacking – cheaper alternatives, at point of purchase