Fireside chats with Internet thinkers

by Josh Bernoff

Here are five video conversations with thought leaders in the Boston area, hosted by yours truly. These are a "fireside chat" format -- a coproduction of MITX, a local group that promotes Innovation and Technology activity in Boston, and WBZ-TV, the local CBS channel. (Fair warning, you'll have to wait through a local car ad first.) Just in case you thought all the innovation happened on the West Coast.

Interviews include (I've linked each one to their video below):

• Jeffrey Rayport, former Harvard Business School professor, longtime strategic thinker about the Internet, and CEO of Marketspace LLC, a unit of the Monitor Group.

"[Companies] are orchestrating a portfolio if you will of interfaces or touch points, which they use to orchestrate interactions to manage relationships with customers and markets."

• Sarah Fay, President of Isobar, a unit of the big ad agency Aegis that includes Carat Fusion, iProspect, and Molecular.

"When you put yourself out there with your brand in a place where it can be talked about by the consumer it is a brave move. . . .the fact that you’re willing to put yourself front and center and have them participate with you and talk to each other about you shows confidence and shows trust in your customers and your consumers."

• Henry Jenkins, head of the Comparative Media Studies Department at MIT, chronicler of the fan phenomenon, and author of books like "Convergence Culture."

"Well it is no longer about loss of control; they [media companies] lost control a long time ago. I and any other fan can do with their media anything [we] want and [in] as publicly a way as we want at the present time. There’s very little they can do to stop us as a group."

• Hilmi Ozguc, CEO of Maven Networks, a company whose software powers many of the most interesting video sites on the Web.

"[U]ltimately direct to consumer channels from the big content companies will coexist with secondary distribution through intermediaries. It’s smart business."

• Larry Weber, CEO of W2 Group, master PR expert, and author of the forthcoming "Marketing to the Social Web."

"Just for some context Josh, I believe we’re sort of in [Web] 4.0."

I had a blast talking to these people, hope you enjoy the interviews.

Tags: MITX, Jeffrey Rayport, Marketspace, Sarah Fay, Isobar, Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, Hilmi Ozguc, Maven, Larry Weber, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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Why I love the new Gmail ads

by Josh Bernoff

While reading the Wall St. Journal online I was irresistably attracted to something unusual on the side of the screen -- an ad for Gmail in the form of a YouTube widget. This had to get clicked on for several reasons:

• I've hardly ever seen a YouTube widget as an ad on a regular media site.
• It looked like it would be really silly.

And clicking paid off -- it was really silly. But in its own Google fashion, it told the story -- some nice features that Gmail has. And it also told another story, since it appears to have been made by a bunch of engineers with a video camera and leftover office supplies -- that there are real people working at Gmail and they're trying to make a good product.

In his book "All Marketers Are Liars" Seth Godin talks about how marketers need to tell an authentic story that stands out. Bingo. Google marshalled all its assets -- YouTube, authenticity, actual product features -- to tell a compelling story. Microsoft couldn't tell this story -- it wouldn't seem authentic. Apple would never let its engineers look this amateurish. Way to go, Google, on embracing your own image to sell your product.

Tags: YouTube, Gmail, Google, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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Audible Magic copyright checking at YouTube -- what took so long?

by Josh Bernoff

I've been talking occasionally with Audible Magic's CEO, Vance Ikezoye, for about four years now. The company makes software for identifying copyrighted content, and it has a track record. Which is why, as The San Jose Mercury News reported and TechCrunch blogged, it's going to be the new YouTube copyright checking system.

Audible Magic started out making software that CD duplicators use to verify the copyright status of discs they're about to manufacture. If you go to a duplicator and ask them make 10,000 CDs, they're going to first run it through AM's Replicheck software to make sure you've got the rights to your content. This works because AM has two key advantages.

1. Every significant music distributor (and now film and video, too) sends its content to AM to be logged into the database. So AM's database is always up to date with millions and millions of files to compare.
2. AM has (and has continually improved) "fingerprinting" technology that can recognize that content, even if you ripped it at a different bit rate, removed the first ten seconds, or recorded it off a jukebox at a bar.

Now Vance is smart, so once his company invented this they looked for other places to make use of it. They make an appliance that universities can use to detect and shut down file sharing. And lately, user-generated content sites have been licensing it, especially as AM begins to check for image and video, not just audio. Strangely, few of the companies will go on the record about where their checking comes from.

It's no surprise that YouTube will be using Audible Magic. It's one of two solutions -- GraceNote is the other -- that are ready now. They're not perfect, but there's nothing better out there. What's mystifying is why YouTube announced in September it would have checking in place by year-end, then missed its own deadline, and only now has figured out that duplicating the seven years of software development and content relationships at Audible Magic isn't easy.

Presumably, media companies will now have a choice about whether to allow their content to appear on YouTube or not. Most of them should allow it -- and take a cut of advertising. But if Google and YouTube want to keep working with media companies, this is what it will take to solve the copyright puzzle.

Let's get on with it.

Tags: YouTube, copyrights, Viacom, Google, Audible Magic, Gracenote, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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Transitioning this blog into Groundswell

by Charlene Li

I've decided to combine this blog with the Groundswell book blog that we announced in January. This means that Josh Bernoff will be a contributing author on this blog. I will still continue to write about topics that are unrelated to the book, but as you can imagine, the book is a primary focus of my efforts these days. There were several reasons for this:

• It's hard enough writing for one blog. Imagine writing for two! But the bigger problem was I wasn't coming up with anything original for Groundswell that I wasn't already writing about on my own blog. That's because the topics and the audience are pretty much the same. Doh -- why couldn't I have figured this out sooner?!?
• Josh is writing great stuff. I think the readers of this blog would really enjoy Josh's insights -- and he will have plenty of them as he is dedicated full-time to research for the book. Also, because some of you read Groundswell blog, it didn't make sense to split the audience and make you have to visit two blogs to read content on the same topics. So we're importing the posts from "Groundswell" and will eventually redirect the URL and feed from Groundswell to this blog.
• You are a great audience. You have been an invaluable resource -- one that I turn to again and again for input, ideas, and inspiration. In order for this book to be successful, we need you. It was going to be impossible to bring such a great audience to the Groundswell blog -- so we decided to bring Groundswell to you.

As always, please send me or Josh via email your suggestions and thoughts -- we'd love to hear from you.

Can Google apps compete with Microsoft? Yes, but only if . . .

[Cross-posted from the Groundswell blog by Josh Bernoff]

In today's Google apps announcement and all the hype about the Google Microsoft battle most people seem to be underemphasizing a central question -- how people use apps offline. For example, this paragraph appeared near the end of the article in the Wall St. Journal.

Trade-offs with such services can include less-sophisticated functions, issues with the security of data stored outside a corporation, and the inability to easily work on documents when there is no Internet connection, such as on a plane.

Forrester's own analysis concentrates on the context in which Google apps make sense -- certainly not for most big corporations -- and the low price. But put as simply as possible, how can any app package compete with Office if it doesn't work offline? My colleague Oliver Young points out that 25% of corporate PCs are laptops, which can go lots of places where Internet access isn't available.

Solving the copyright puzzle

by Josh Bernoff

The issue of copyrights on the net is subject to more polemics than any other issue I can think of. We have lawyers, saber-rattling, big media companies clashing with big Internet companies -- what could be more newsworthy? The story so far:

• Today. Viacom said YouTube's policy to make copyright checking available only to its partners amounts to blackmail.
• Last week. Belgian courts ruled Google couldn't use copyrighted newspaper article summaries without permission.
• Previously. Viacom sent Google/YouTube 100,000 takedown notices and said it was negotiating in bad faith. NBC Universal's new CEO Jeff Zucker piled on.

Can't we all just get along? Obviously not. Forrester's own James McQuivey called it "a temporary setback" but I, in one of my less enlightened moods, declared that "YouTube is goin' down."

Is there a way out of this mess?

In the end, the Internet works because it can be indexed automatically. This is what makes Google work -- it's what makes everything from RSS to Technorati work. Those indexes drive traffic. The original owners of that content need the traffic. They just don't want to give up all their rights.

The solution here has to be a technical solution, because that's all that scales up. I can see a few ways out:

• Indexing sites need to read and make copies of things. This can't be illegal or the whole Internet indexing structure collapses. So let's agree that it isn't.
• Links are legal. Are excerpts legal? This is a fair use argument that Google has tried to live within, for example, in the way it shows small excerpts from book searches. But in general, beyond these excerpts, content owners need to be able to opt out -- it's their content. There should be a flag you can set on pages that indicates they can't be snipped.
• Automated video and audio copyright checking is here. I spoke with Audible Magic about this technology over three years ago -- now it's pretty mature, and Gracenote does it too. Any site featuring hosted rich media that wants to work with media companies won't get far without these technologies. Myspace has already figured this out.

In the end, the Net can't move forward unless this problem gets solved. Feel free to comment if you have a solution in mind, or can point me to one. But if it's more polemical arguments, do us all a favor and don't bother.

Tags: YouTube, copyrights, Viacom, Google, Audible Magic, Gracenote, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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Barack Obama, Pontiac, and energizing the base

by Josh Bernoff

Have a good look at Barack Obama's website. Forget whether you agree with his politics or if you agree he ought to be the Democratic nominee for president. Just ask yourself -- what can I learn from this?

(For the record, I'm not a supporter of any candidate right now -- I'm just observing community strategy.)

Pork board vs. Lactivist: everybody wins

by Josh Bernoff

Postscript to the story about The Lactivist, Jennifer Laycock who was asked to stop selling a T-shirt featuring the slogan "The Other White Milk" by a lawyer for the National Pork Board.

The National Pork Board recognized it made a mistake and reversed course instantly. You don't mess with motherhood! Because of its corporate structure the Pork Board can't donate to charities but its employees are now supporting Jennifer's charity, a human milk bank in Ohio. Which is why she was selling the shirts in the first place.

And Laycock, who "respects copyrights" according to her latest blog post, will no longer sell the infringing T-shirt. Her substitute is shown here.

Is there a lesson? Sure. First, everything you do is now public. Every customer support call. Every lawyer's letter. Every sleeping cable guy.

Second, you can make amends if you move quickly. Kudos to the Pork Board for doing so. Now that Laycock isn't in the crosshairs anymore, she's unlikely to try to make this any bigger.

Tags: PR, breastfeeding, lactivist, National Pork Board, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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How I use Google Docs & Spreadsheets

It struck me today that I'm a frequent user of Google Docs & Spreadsheets and I've encountered enough skepticism about the products that I thought I'd post on how this product has impacted my work and personal life.

If you're like me, you often find yourself emailing around Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. Yes, we have Sharepoint in the office which is supposed to keep us from doing this, but what about those circumstances when you have to share documents outside of the organization? So here are a few examples of how I've used Google Docs & Spreadsheets (note that for privacy and confidentiality reason, I'm not at liberty to share most of them):

- Summer camp planning. As any parent of school-aged kids can attest, coordinating summer camps with the parents of all of my kids' friends drives me into the ground every spring. I've always kept a spreadsheet to track all of the options, links, registrations, etc., but this year I went even more geek -- I published it on Google spreadsheets and sent the link around to all of the parents. While no other parents have done the same yet, several have accessed my sheet and asked about past camp experiences, and coordinated specific weeks of camp. It's definitely reduced the number of emails I have had to send around.

- Tracking spreadsheets for my manager. I'm frequently asked by my manager to provide an update on how much client work I've done each quarter. I used to keep this on a spreadsheet on my hard drive and then email her a copy whenever she needed it. No more -- I now update it online and she can access it whenever she needs to. The key advantage to me: I don't have to be logged into the corporate network to access the file, something that's a huge convenience to me when I'm on the road or working from home.

- Jam playlist. Forrester recently had an all-company offsite and one of the highlights is an after-hours music jam lead by one of our analysts, Merv Adrian (I play keyboards and miscellaneous percussion instruments).  This year we decided to be more organized and create a playlist so that fellow musicians could suggest songs, learn lyrics, and practice beforehand. What started out as a flurry of emails with song suggestions dwindled to reminders to add suggestions/vote for song online.

- Prop list. My daughter participates in children's theater and I act as the prop mistress for the shows. I have to coordinate with a co-prop mistress, director, assistant director, set designer, costume designer, and producer. The worst is figuring out if anyone's found that pitchford for Scene 1. To keep track of what props are needed and who's gotten what, I've posted the prop list online. (So if anyone has an old lute that they can lend, let me know!)

- Bank of Mom. My husband and I encourage our kids to save by giving them a 10% interest rate -- monthly. Believe me, it's a huge incentive! I kept track of their savings in a spreadsheet, but was always getting asked how much money they had in their accounts at the most inconvenient times -- like at the store. Since it's a pretty straight forward spreadsheet, I can easily access it on my Blackberry.

These are just a few of the ways I've used Google Docs & Spreadsheets. And this is where the real opportunity is -- I created these originally online with the intention of sharing or accessing them online from the start. 

So the big question is, how much of a threat is this to Microsoft and the new Office 2007 franchise? There are sharing features built into Office 2007, but they are still very much enterprise focused. And Google's products lack power -- I hate making tables in Google Docs and sorting in Google spreadsheets is poor. And don't even attempt to try making pivot tables! So Docs & Spreadsheets today is aimed at the consumer market with very basic document and spreadsheet needs.

But what about the long term? Google has historically made its mark by entering at the low end of the market and moving up -- and this will be no different. Enterprises won't throw out Office anytime soon, nor can I ever imagine giving up my Office tools either. But as I use Google Docs & Spreadsheets for more and more of my daily computing needs, I see it stealing away computing share from Microsoft.

And therein lies Google's strategy -- they don't want to replace Office today, they just want to be an alternative. And once they establish a beachhead, it will be a matter of time -- granted, years -- before they will have a product that can truly hold a candle to Office 2007. But that time will come and Microsoft had better get it's cross-collaborative game for Office in gear.

Pork board vs. breastfeeding moms: No contest

by Josh Bernoff
I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I had to weigh in on this one simply because it's such a mismatch.

Jennifer Laycock, a mom and blogger in Ohio, is a "Lactivist" -- that is, a mother who wants to support and promote breastfeeding. I know a litte bit about this -- I've been helping out La Leche League, an international organization that promotes breastfeeding because it's better for babies.

To raise money, Jennifer made a promotional T-shirt for "The Other White Milk." I'd like to show you a-picture but I can't find one. Why? Because the National Pork Board sent her a cease and desist letter because they felt she was infringing their slogan, "The Other White Meat."