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SitePoint tribune |
Issue 420: October 30, 2008 News, Rants and Case Studies for Web Design Professionals |
Introduction
This week, I took some time to speak to social media strategist, Stephen Collins, in a short interview about Web 2.0 and social media. Darling of the microblogging world, Twitter, has had a fair amount of coverage in the media since it started not so long ago. Tribune co-editor, Brendon, mentioned the Britney example last week, and it doesn't stop there -- we jump into the SitePoint archives to see what's been said. Speaking of Twitter, did you know SitePoint has a Twitter account? You can keep up to date with all things SitePoint, by following sitepointdotcom. Finally, to start work on the next Web 2.0 killer app, you'll need a great design. I'll show you where you can find a fantastic web-based image editor, not unlike those big-ticket commercial versions -- and this one is free. Enjoy the reading!
Miles Burke
Find Out Why Your Visitors Are Leaving! If you're like most Website Owners, between 30-50% of
your visitors leave after just one page view!  Summary
Editor's PerspectiveInterview with Stephen CollinsStephen Collins is recognized as one of Australia's leading proponents of participatory culture, advising businesses and government on Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, and social networking. He has extensive consulting experience for a diverse client base across the public and private sectors. Stephen took time out from his hectic schedule to speak to us about Web 2.0 and social media. Hi Stephen. You recently co-presented a Web 2.0 university workshop in Australia. What is it about Web 2.0 that makes it special enough to gain the attention it's been receiving? Some people, especially those with old-school mindsets, think the whole revolution around Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 -- and it is a revolution -- is about all the great tools we can use. My view is that the tools themselves are the least important part of the package. What the 2.0 change is all about is people and culture, which is the message communicated by The Cluetrain Manifesto ten years ago. If you had one piece of advice for someone outside the web industry looking to embrace the ideas of Web 2.0, what would it be? Open up and go public. Empower people. Be human. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Be respectful. So, as a web freelancer or web company, what can we do to start embracing Web 2.0 ideas within our own businesses? Start off by reading or rereading The Cluetrain Manifesto and start practising what it preaches. Then, just embrace the 2.0 way of doing business. Do business this way. It can and does work. Maybe even sign and use something like the Company-Customer Pact. There are a bunch of other great books worth reading that any business looking to "go 2.0" (my goodness, that's a dorky phrase) should be putting on every employees' desk. In no particular order (just looking at my bookcase):
Much attention with Web 2.0 is given to social media. This is a dual-edged sword for companies though, isn't it? One minute, a company could be the flavor of the "social sphere" and the next, they could be on the outer. What can they do to avoid being on the wrong end? I think the notion of social media as a risk is false. It's only a risk if you go in underdone. You wouldn't make other business decisions without consideration, would you? Choose the right people to be the evangelists and mentors for your brand online. Empower them to engage in the conversation and make it a part of their everyday job -- not an additional task. Progressively give everyone in the business that wants to take part the skills they need and then let them fly! Brands that do this well have great success using social media. You'd be hard put to find a bad word from the community about Zappos, for example. And the mood around brands like Comcast and Dell is moving in a very positive direction since they've implemented good, well-planned social media approaches. Well-planned doesn't need to mean slow or corporate; it's about choosing the right channels and the right people, and letting them get on with it. I help many clients with a social media strategy. It shouldn't be done lightly and it does take some thinking. But you can't take your time with this -- your competitors have probably already spoken to me, or one of the other smart people who do work similar to mine. The Web is certainly changing. Do you believe those of us building web sites need to adapt our services, or will there still be clients looking for standard web sites in another five or ten years? The brochure web site will probably still be around in five years, but maybe not ten. At least, not in the developed world. Clients more and more are looking for full-service approaches: brand strategy, marketing, social media, communications, and the rest. The big agencies already do this, but I think that their product is not always as good as those delivered by smaller, boutique businesses. I think those of us operating small businesses in the web industry -- whether it's design, development, or strategy -- need to start teaming up in an informal way to compete with the big agencies. Better still if the agencies recognize that some of the boutique and specialist companies should be on their go-to list for expert advice. There's more than enough work for everyone, even in these odd economic times, but we should all be playing together more often and not trying to shut each other out. That's very 2.0 of me, isn't it? Thanks for your time Stephen. My pleasure Miles!
Enter the ultimate contest for XML developers
 SitePoint ArchivesMicroblogging with TwitterLead Blogger, Josh Catone, shows us that Twitter's previous downtime woes are no longer, in his blog post, Game Over. Twitter Wins. Josh also brings us 12 Ways to Get the Most Out of Twitter, a great post about memes, hashtags, pictures, Twitter-based research, and more. SitePoint Marketing Maestro, Shayne Tilley, recently gave us 15 Million Reasons Why Twitter Sucks … where he explains why you either love or hate the service. Josh Catone really has been busy on the Twitter trail, discussing the mashup for the US election that Twitter has created, in his post, Twitter Launches Election Mashup, Could Be So Much More. Lastly, Josh can also be found explaining how the microblogging service can be "used for good" in Twitter as a Tool for Social Change.
Site Spotlight: Sumo PaintIf all this talk of Web 2.0 makes you want to design the next big application, then you'll love this Site Spotlight. Free, web-based image editing software, SUMO Paint, will look remarkably familiar to those of you who currently use the commercial alternatives, which can cost way over $1,000 per license. You can try this software right now, by visiting this address. The software features layers, blending tools, brush, ink, and text tools, plenty of shape tools, and lots of filters. It's fast loading too! This software is perfect for those on a budget, or with only low-end image editing requirements (although, you can probably do everything else as well!). Have fun with it -- it's a great tool, and free!
FREE PDF: Adobe AIR For JavaScript Developers Test yourself on the contents of our latest Adobe AIR article, and grab yourself a PDF copy of the pocket guide, Adobe AIR For JavaScript Developers, absolutely FREE! This offer is available for a limited time, so get in quick! Download the AIR SDK and get started now. I trust you've found value in this week's edition of the SitePoint Tribune, and I thank you for reading. Until next time, have a great week!
Miles Burke
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Web 2.0 -- it's
just pretty colors, large text, and gradients, right? Maybe it's about
crazy domain names with missing vowels or completely fabricated business
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Regardless, there's a revolution happening here that we either need to
understand or else be left behind.
While we all wait patiently for CSS3 to be supported by the popular
browsers, you can take advantage of CSS3 features now by building web
applications within the Adobe AIR platform. Experience cross-platform
utopia with this look at the advanced CSS styles you can use.
No,
you can't really multi-thread in JavaScript, but James shows the
advantages of simulating a multi-threaded environment when dealing with
intensive code. Armed with the techniques in this article, the
possibilities for what you can achieve with JavaScript are limitless!
You know all of those tricky CSS layout techniques that
you've spent years mastering? Well, be prepared to abandon them all. OK,
maybe not immediately, but as Rachel and Kevin explain in this excerpt
from the forthcoming SitePoint title, Everything You Know About CSS is
Wrong!, the way we lay out pages is about to change forever...