http://www.clappingtrees.com Using social media such as blogs, wikis, bookmarks and networks for business and education in Asia Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:04:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en AN ONLINE FRIEND ON FACEBOOK has just invited me to become a fan of "IPad Market Research - Test And Keep on Facebook". I went to the page and saw: The text reads: You are invited to test a new Apple iPad! Because of the big hype around the iPad, several companies ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2010/02/ipad-researchtest-and-keep-scams/ A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! I'm in the midst of a really important and urgent project. So, taking a break now. http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2010/01/hiatus/ IS FACEBOOK TURNING INTO A CRIME BUSTER'S FRIEND? A man saw a photo of himself posted on the city Police Department's Facebook fan site in connection with a robbery he didn't commit. He went to the police station to correct the problem, and the information he gave police led to the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/10/facebook-the-new-tool-for-crime-busters/ Summary: 1. Structured Web (a.k.a. Structured / Linked Data) 2. Real-Time Web 3. Personalization 4. Mobile Web & Augmented Reality 5. Internet of Things http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/09/top-5-web-trends-in-2009-readwriteweb/ FACEBOOK HAS REPLACED FOX INTERACTIVE, owners of increasingly untrendy MySpace, at position 5 in ComScore's MediaMatrix Top 50 U.S. Web Properties list. The top 4 is still the same as last year (see 2008 chart below) : Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, said ReadWriteWeb. Top 10 U.S. Sites, July 2009; source: comScore Top ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/08/facebook-enters-top-5-web-properties-for-first-time/ "The more valuable your comments, the more it reflects on your ability and your character." — Chris Brogan THE WORD "SOCIAL" in social media says it all. When one participates in SOCIAL media, you're supposed to be "social" — be sociable or at the very least, "human". Being human means having a face, a ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/08/social-media-some-people-just-dont-get-it-grrrr/ THE BRANDS MOST ENGAGED IN SOCIAL MEDIA are also experiencing higher financial success rates than those of their non-engaged peers, according to a new study released by enterprise wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group. ReadWriteWeb reports: To determine this relationship, the study focused on 100 companies from the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands survey and the various social ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/07/correlation-between-social-media-and-financial-success/ TWITTER IS NOT POPULAR AMONG TEENAGERS according to a report from analyst firm Morgan Stanley AND a survey by research group Participatory Marketing Network (PMN). The retention rate of Twitter is also much lower than that of social networks like Facebook and MySpace during their explosive growth phases, says a Nielsen ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/07/teens-not-into-twitter-morgan-stanley-and-pmn-survey/ "...SOCIAL MEDIA IS FREE, until the community manager headcount came in." - Brian Wallace of Blackberry David Armano observed in his blog at Harvard Business Today "a fundamental truth to social media that many organizations underestimate -- being social means having real live people who actively participate in your initiatives.  It's difficult ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/06/debunking-social-media-myths/ ACCORDING TO THOR MULLER, there are 13 things that (supposedly) will get you kicked off Facebook (thanks, Jean :)) : You didn't use your real name. Facebook will find you and spit you out. You joined too many groups. (The maximum limit is 200 groups per user.) You posted too many messages on a wall ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/06/13-reasons-your-facebook-account-will-be-disabled/ 28% OF TWITTERERS ARE GAY, 5% mostly gay, 12% mostly straight and 54% straight, according to Bruce Wagner's "Are You Gay?" twtpoll: IN CONTRAST, 9% (not 28% as above) are gay, 3% are mostly gay, 6% are bisexual, 19% mostly straight, 61% straight and 2% others, according to a similar poll by Dave Munger on ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/05/how-gay-is-twitter-vs-cognitive-daily/ HAD A PLEASANT SURPRISE just now. Received this email message from the Slideshare Team: Hi jktan, We've noticed that your slideshow on SlideShare has been getting a LOT of views in the last 24 hours. Great job ... you must be doing something right. ;-) Why don't you tweet or blog this? Use ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/04/best-of-slidesharenet/ DOES ONE NEED TO DO ANYTHING before attending a conference? Chris Brogan listed 27 Things to Do Before a Conference (thanks, Keven). Here's a compact rewrite of the tasks in terms of the tools involved (Google, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.): 1. Event schedule : Research - Note what you want to see and get ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/03/27-things-to-do-before-a-conference/ [Reposting because my blog "died" this morning and was "resurrected" this afternoon without the last two posts.] SOME OF THE KEY BEST PRACTICES as presented in the latest Nielsen Norman Group report, ”Intranet Design Annual 2009: Year’s Ten Best Intranets“, are: Company and industry news Integrating internal and external information sources Editorial control of ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/03/nielsen-best-practices-of-top-intranets/ [Reposting because my blog "died" this morning and was "resurrected" this afternoon without the last two posts.] FOUND THIS INTERESTING LINK ON a Facebook friend’s profile when I was about to post a birthday greeting to her. I agree with the author, Dan York, who wrote: The only reason I visit a ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/03/5-ways-we-consume-info-in-web-20-world/ "... ALL MEDIA IS SOCIAL AND ALL SOCIAL IS MEDIA," wrote Edelman Digital director Steve Rubel in his Micro Persuasion blog this month ("All Media is Social, All Social is Media") and last October ("Ethical Social Media Marketing"). In the February 2009 post, Rubel commented: "Yet many, particularly in PR, still treat ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/02/ethical-social-media-marketing/ NOW THAT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING has become the in-thing, it's useful to revisit the concept of "Permission Marketing" probably first introduced by Seth Godin in his book, "Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends Into Customers". As quoted by William Taylor in Fast Company: The biggest problem with mass-market advertising, Godin ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/permission-marketing-revisited-authority7/ “What kind of vicious game is being played here, and who are the sinners and who the sinned against?” - Postman and Weingartner, "Pursuing Relevance: where is the problem?" HOW DID INSTITUTIONS DESIGNED FOR LEARNING become so widely hated by people who love learning? It's been almost two years (spring 2007) ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/a-vision-of-students-today-what-teachers-must-do/ DO YOU KNOW THAT the default friend feed settings on Facebook is "full on stalker mode"? Are you sick of receiving invitations, gifts, pokes, etc. from other people (especially complete strangers)? See Happy Slip's Facebook Fever parody below: Do you know that you can turn some (if not all) the notifications ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/7-things-to-turn-off-in-facebook/ IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR (2008), my blog was supposed to be "ESTJ - The Guardians": AND NOW (JANUARY 2009), my blog is supposed to be "INTJ - The Scientists": SEE ALSO: Willowspillow's "My Alternate Personality". http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/what-type-is-my-blog/ ACCORDING TO READWRITEWEB.COM (RWW), the top 10 profitable (or very close to profitability today) enterprise Web products for 2008 are: Amazon Web Services (AWS): Amazon, which began as a bookseller, has generated such enthusiasm and loyalty in the developer community. Platforms will do well in 2009, though not many will. ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/top-10-enterprise-web-products-of-2008/ I'M RELUCTANT TO ADMIT THIS, but it's true: I love to hang out in Facebook nowadays. I'm normally inactive on social networking sites, and I've quitted social networks when many strangers tried to add me as friends. However, I enjoy using Facebook and I'm fascinated by it for at least seven reasons: Business. When Facebook crossed the 100 million member ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2009/01/7-reasons-to-use-facebook/ THE RECENT FINANCIAL CRISIS is "hyperlink" crisis, said BG George Yeo in a speech at the Global Governance Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore on 5 December 2008. Opportunities and problems can arise when the world is linked so closely together: "When we talk about globalisation, we are talking about the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/12/financial-crisis-is-a-hyperlink-crisis-bg-yeo/ GLOBAL WHITE POPULATION is expected to plummet from a high water mark of 27.86% in 1950 to a single digit (9.76%) by 2060, according to this video (3:56 mins) by the National Policy Institute (NPI), a think tank based in Augusta, Georgia in the United States. Blacks or sub-saharan Africans, ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/12/a-demographic-winter-for-whites-worldwide/ TROUBLING TIMES AHEAD. The Tribune Co., the second largest US newspaper publisher in terms of revenue and the third in terms of circulation, filed for bankruptcy Monday in the latest blow to the struggling newspaper industry -- according to AFP, as reported on Google News. The media giant is ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/12/us-newspaper-industry-struggles-for-survival/ ARE YOU MALAY, a Millennial (born between 1978 and 2000), and a New Media expert, entrepreneur, innovator, researcher, practitioner or student? Why not join this new media group for Singapore Malays set up by Hazman Aziz? The group exists as a platform for discussion, advocacy and action to uplift, improve, and ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/11/generation-we-for-singapore-malays/ SOME 93% OF TEENS USE THE INTERNET in 2007 (compared to 87% in 2005), and more than ever are treating it as a venue for social interaction – sharing creations, telling stories, and interacting with others. According to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 64% of online teens ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/11/teen-usage-of-social-media-2007-vs-2005/ IN 2008, the growth rates in Internet users among the top 10 emerging markets in the world (China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, and Saudi Arabia) will surpass those of the top 10 developed markets (U.S., Japan, Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Korea, and Australia), said Mary ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/11/top-10-emerging-markets-to-surpass-developed-markets/ "EVERYTHING WE DO TODAY is now significantly impacted by 2.0 ideas. This applied to product development, marketing, customer service, operations, line of business, finance, communications, human resources, and just about everything else. How then do we start understanding the axes of opportunity and being applying to our organizations?" Over ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/11/how-to-survive-and-thrive-in-business-20/ FOUND A REALLY PRACTICAL MARKETING site maintained by Mr Mark Nagurski who had just posted a great comment on my post, "Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008". Among the many useful tips is a post entitled "8 reasons why interviews will spice up your content". The eight benefits cited are: Interviews can ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/11/8-reasons-to-use-interviews-and-case-studies/ INDIVIDUALS AND YOUNG STARTUPS in the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) industry can soon apply for S$50,000 grants from the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) to develop their ideas and projects towards commercialisation. The Media Development Authority (MDA) plans to support 100-150 projects yearly, announced Deputy CEO Michael Yap at the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/10/50k-idm-grants-now-available-from-sitf/ "MORE THAN 85 PERCENT of the world's online population (875 million) has used the Internet to make a purchase - increasing the market for online shopping by 40 percent in the past two years..." according to a Nielsen Global Online Survey reported early this year. How do these Internet users select ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/10/over-85-percent-shopped-online-worldwide/ MAJORITY OF CORPORATE and professional bloggers have seen a positive impact as a result of their blog, according to Technorati's latest State of the Blogosphere report published on Sept 22. Half are better known in their industry, and one in four have used their blog as a resume enhancement. Fewer ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/10/technorati%e2%80%99s-state-of-the-blogosphere-2008/ WHAT IMPACT DO YOUTUBE and other social media have on human behavior today? Check out this 55-min video presentation at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008, produced by Dr Michael Wesch and his anthropology students.  More info at MediatedCultures.net. VIDEO NOTES BY DR WESCH: 0:00 Introduction, YouTube's Big Numbers 2:00 Numa Numa and ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/09/anthropological-intro-youtube/ GOOGLE's NEW CHROME BROWSER, launched yesterday, promised to be faster, safer and smarter than other browsers. Key features include an Omnibox (where one can type in a website's address or any search term), a Privacy mode (which ensures that traces of an Internet session are erased the moment one exits ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/09/keso-understanding-google-chrome/ From BEYOND SG, a blog shared with Harold Fock, Singapore's Minister of Foreign Affairs BG George Yeo wrote: I was reminded by Ephraim that today is the second anniversary of my first blog posting two years ago. It seemed such a long time ago. Blogging and Facebook have become a part of my routine now. They ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/09/bg-yeo-on-new-media-and-politics/ ONLY 21 PERCENT OF the executives surveyed by McKinsey this year (2008) said they are satisfied overall with Web 2.0 tools, while 22 percent voiced clear dissatisfaction. By contrast, over half the executives surveyed by McKinsey last year (2007) said they were pleased with the results of their investments in ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/08/mckinsey-how-businesses-are-using-web-20-one-year-later/ SOCIAL MEDIA CLUB posted a great recap on the feedback it received via its blog and Twitter account. Among the ethical issues in Social Media raised were: Privacy & Reputation: The digital reputation of people, especially those who have not opted in to that discussion (or "Conversation"). (Vijay Goel, M.D.) Truth & ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/08/the-biggest-ethical-issues-in-social-media-today/ GLAD TO FIND THIS SET of diagrams put together by Dion Hinhcliffe, one of my favorite Web 2.0 analysts. If a picture says a thousand words, then 92+ diagrams say.... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/07/dion-hinchcliffes-web-20-diagrams/ ACCORDING TO USABILITY GURU Jakob Nielsen (Alertbox June 9, 2008), the differences between print/TV and Web can be summarized as lean-back vs lean-forward: Print/TV is a passive medium. While reading publications or watching TV, readers/viewers want to be entertained. They are in relaxation mode and vegging out; they don't want to make choices. People expect you to construct ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/06/writing-style-for-print-vs-web/ STUDENTS, DO YOU GO ONLINE while attending a face-to-face (f2f) class? Where do you surf and what do you use? So far, has going online helped or hindered you (the learner), other learners and/or the instructor? What happens when your phones have Internet access too? Most likely, your class is NOT ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/06/going-online-in-a-f2f-class-help-or-distraction/ YOU'RE PROBABLY LEADING Singapore's transition to a fully wired and mobile nation... if you are a teenager. According to a survey by PEW Internet & American Life Project in 2005 (the numbers must be significantly higher today): 87% (21 million) of U.S. teens aged 12-17 use the internet (online teens), up ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/05/if-you-are-12-17-years-old/ "In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action." - Jakob Nielsen FOR SOME TIME I'VE BEEN WONDERING: What're the best ways to encourage comments on one's blog? And not just any ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/techniques-plugins-to-encouraging-comments/ "Study history, not the media. The truth is not to be found in a television broadcast." - Chris D. Nebe, director-producer-screenwriter of the "Mysterious China" documentary series which showcases the epic cultural heritage of China FRANKLY, I DON'T KNOW what to make out of the Tibetan protests. I've not spent significant ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/truth-not-found-in-tv-broadcast/ SAD NEWS INDEED: At the recent olympic torch relay in Paris, pro-Tibetan protesters attacked a wheelchair-bound girl (an ex-paralympian fencer) who carried the olympic torch, with a blind boy pushing the wheelchair from behind. The good news: They didn't succeed. Thanks to YouTube, I can see what happened: Reminds me of ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/tibetan-protest-strike-with-hatred-journey-to-dark-side-is-complete/ HAVE THE TOP 20 POSTS CHANGED in Tomorrow.sg and Ping.sg this year, when compared with those of last year? Are "sex", "money" and "controversies" still top reads? . As of today, the Top 20 (most read) posts in Ping.sg (2008) are (tags appended in the list below are my comments): v1.80 is Here: ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/top-posts-in-pingsg-tomorrowsg-one-year-later/ WILL SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISTS CHANGE the face of politics in Singapore in one or two years' time? Will the US Elections voting patterns correlate closely with the subscription, viewership and interaction patterns on YouChoose 08 (on YouTube) and other social media such as Facebook? Last month (March 25), in a report ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/will-social-media-change-singapore-politics/ WHAT ARE THE 25 SITES WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IN 2007? According to Time magazine, they are (in alphabetical order): Amazon.com - a great place to shop for virtually anything (Zappos.com) BBC.co.uk - World news, sports, radio, articles and audio in 33 languages (PBS.org) CitySearch.com - find the right restuarants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/times-25-sites-we-cant-live-without-in-2007/ “...for love is stronger than death, passion fiercer than the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.” -- Song of Songs, 8:6-7 THESE DAYS, THE WORDS "Love is stronger than Death" keep coming to mind. Four reasons: ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/04/love-is-stronger-than-death-in-memory-of-jpii/ WILL PING.SG FOUNDER Uzyn Chua become the next "Kevin Rose" (Digg.com founder) in Asia? When I gave a talk on Web 2.0 & Its Business Impacts at COM1, NUS last month, I cited various real-life examples of how the blogosphere “chatter” could affect a company’s corporate image positively or negatively. Also ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/03/uzyn-the-next-kevin-rose/ GAVE A TALK ON WEB 2.0 & Its Business Impacts for the Computer & Information Science Alumni Association at COM1, NUS last month. Cited various real-life examples of how the blogosphere "chatter" could affect a company's corporate image positively or negatively. Also discussed briefly the people (how they get younger ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/03/web-20-talk-at-cisaa-nus/ A HEARTWARMING MOVIE on the volunteers of the upcoming Olympics 2008 in Beijing, China -- thanks to Kevin Liu! The English translation is rather funny though. :-p By the way, the interface of the YouKu.com site looks very like YouTube.com! In the spirit of Web 2.0 and open-source, let's hope YouTube ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/03/a-chinese-youtube-movie/ LOOKING FOR WIFI HOTSPOTS IN SINGAPORE? Do you know that there's three quick and easy ways? 1. If you have online access: Search online in the Wireless@SG - Coverage Areas section of the Infocomm123.sg portal. 2. If you are online AND looking for WiFi spots in a specific area: Search ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/02/wifi-wifi-everywhere/ LATEST ALERT from usability guru Jakob Nielsen: A list of 10 usability violations that are both particularly egregious (conspicuously bad or offensive) and often seen in a wide variety of applications: Non-Standard GUI Controls 1.a. Looking Like a GUI Control Without Being One Inconsistency No Perceived Affordance 3.a. Tiny Click Targets No Feedback 4.a. Out to Lunch ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/02/top-10-application-design-mistakes/ DO YOU HATE PUBLIC SPEAKING? Whether your answer is "Yes" or "No", I think you would enjoy this cute video as much as I do. ;-) HERE ARE SOME PRACTICAL TIPS from a very interesting girl called June (a.k.a. princessgx on YouTube): http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/02/public-speaking-rant-and-tips/ IF YOU ARE ANYBODY OF IMPORTANCE, looks like it's high-time you set up a channel in YouTube. As Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins has written recently on Mashable: First, the American presidential candidates, then (reportedly) the outgoing Australian Prime Minister. Then the Queen of British Empire. Now the Japanese Prime Minister. It seems now ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/01/youtube-us-presidents-uk-queen-now-jap-pm/ FYI: THAT WAS NOT ME. Some Internet scammer started spoofing my NUS email address (blanked out below) while send out some crappy marketing messages. And I received one of them last night: I'm continually amazed by how low (or high) spiritually one can get! However, this shall be as far as ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2008/01/scammer-spoofing-my-email-address/ A BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND A JOYFUL NEW YEAR TO YOU! CWNews: Instead of the familiar scene of the Baby Jesus laid in a manger, the Vatican's Nativity scene this year will show the infant Jesus in a home that also includes his father's workshop. No reason has been given for the change. Does ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/12/christmas-begins-with-work/ GOOGLE'S NEWLY UNVEILED OpenSocial, "a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites", has been adopted rapidly by social networks such as Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING. Here's a summary of a post with a ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/11/6-essential-things-to-know-about-googles-opensocial/ JUST FOR THE RECORD: According to ReadWriteWeb, starting last Monday (17 September), Google Presentations is ready for use. Therefore, Google Docs users can now: Create and keep presentations in one place on the web that's accessible anytime, from any Internet connected computer. Manage, update and share presentations with colleagues by sending them ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/09/ready-for-google-presentations/ WHAT WILL A BLOGGER DO when s/he gets an amazing offer to do a joint research project with an overseas professor AND joins a management council in her estate AND works almost full-time around the same time? S/he could choose to spill it all, complete with names, juicy bits, rumors, ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/09/taking-a-break/ THANKS TO A G1:1 MESSAGE FROM YISHAY MOR, a researcher with London Knowledge Lab, I got this special chance to read a very focused and balanced review of one of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) machines -- by SG, a 12-year-old! He wrote like an adult (and many say, ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/08/great-olpc-review-by-a-12-year-old/ READING LEGAL ANDREW'S LATEST POST on Facebook has just gotten me worried. He wrote (summarized): "...have you bothered to read Facebook’s Terms of Service (”TOS”) or Privacy Policy? What legal relationship have you agreed to? Who has access to your data and personal details? I waded through their terms and policies. ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/08/8-legal-things-to-know-about-facebook/ MARGE SIMPSON DECIDES TO GOOGLE HERSELF and finds something shocking in the backyard of her house. ;-) Another fun Simpson video: After this video ends, choose the fourth video from the left: "World of Warcraft in the Simpsons". http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/08/simpsons-video-why-we-should-google-ourselves/ TEDFOX AND COBALT PALADIN SUGGESTED that we try using map.gov.sg instead of StreetDirectory.com. So, I decided to try looking for "Rochester Park" on map.gov.sg AND StreetDirectory.com and found that: I cannot simply enter "Rochester Park". I must enter a block number. So, I plucked a number from the air: "9". After x ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/08/can-mapgovsg-replace-streetdirectorycom/ I FEEL VERY PERPLEXED READING this report in The Straits Times (H2) this morning: "A district court yesterday ruled that Virtual Map (Singapore)'s online maps on StreetDirectory.com had breached the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) copyright. The judge also ordered the company to destroy or deliver up all infringing material." I've been referring ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/08/is-this-the-end-of-streetdirectorycom/ HOW IMPORTANT ARE SOCIAL MEDIA and how widespread is the usage of social media among educational institutions and commercial organizations? Two recent studies by Dr Nora Barnes and Eric Mattson, as reported on Robin Good's site, suggest that: The Inc. 500 companies know far more about social media than one might ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/educators-more-social-media-savvy-than-business/ MY RESULTS: You are Yoda . Wise and all knowing you are…yes. Tall, dark, and handsome? Not so much I'd say. . Which Star Wars character are you? Click here to take the Star Wars Personality Test (Update: Link does not seem to be there anymore.) Photo credit: CC license by Orange Beard (metrojp). http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/i-am-yoda/ "NOT ANOTHER TWITTER CLONE!" was my response when I heard of Jaiku and more recently Pownce. Thanks to Google search, I managed to find the results of a Jaiku, Pownce or Twitter poll and read a really useful review on all three by Grace at the bottom of all the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/twitter-jaiku-or-pownce/ LAST THURSDAY, AT THE GEEK TERMINAL CAFE, I announced to all present at the BNI Crescendo meeting, "I am an Internet Coach. I am also the one who started the 'R-C-G fire' at Geek Terminal." "R" is for "Renaissance". On June 11, I suggested to the leader of BNI Renaissance, to ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/how-i-started-the-r-c-g-fire-at-geek-terminal/ THANKS TO WEB 2.0 AND CHILLYCRAPS, I managed to follow this morning much of what had happened at the Ping.sg's first anniversary celebration at the Geek Terminal yesterday afternoon on 07/07/2007 -- even though I couldn't be there at all. ;-) First, I read Chillycraps' Pinging Party post and found the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/a-video-guide-to-the-pingsg-celebration-by-an-absentee/ "... ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD (OLPC)... it's about eliminating poverty," said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman emeritus of MIT Media Laboratory and chairman of the OLPC project, while giving a keynote presentation at NetEvents Press Summit last December. He continued: "And that's the reason we do it, that's why everybody who's involved ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/07/can-olpc-eliminate-poverty/ FOUND 50 GREAT TIPS ON WRITING just now while browsing a few sites: Fried Beef's Tech, then LifeHacker.Org, then to the archived version on Poynter Online (a publication of a school for journalists) and then to the recently posted Fifty Writing Tools: Quick List (May 2007). So, here they are, ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/50-writing-tips-from-school-for-journalists/ SOMEONE IN TEXAS, DALLAS has been trying to hack my K2 account since 7am this morning (and s/he is still trying), according to messages from the K2 Community Forums: A quick check on the IP address (70.86.138.114) suggests that this hacker is located in Texas, Dallas (USA) -- more specifically, along ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/texan-hacker-trying-to-crack-my-account/ JUST WHO'S SCAMMING? 33-year-old Ewen Chia, dubbed the #1 Affiliate Marketer at the World Internet Mega Summit last month, was featured in The Sunday Times' Invest section (page 24) on April 29 2007: Curiously, another Internet marketer 23-year-old Adam Wong apparently listed six telltale signs on Ewen Chia's website (in ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/scamming-ewen-chia-adam-wong-both-or-neither/ ONE MYTH STARTED BY A "GURU" during the WIMS 2007 seminar was: Google does not index the blogs on Google Blogger! To prove this point, the speaker said he had scanned through the Top 100 blogs on Technorati and found that not a single one came from Blogger. This is definitely ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/no-bloggercom-blog-in-technorati-top-100/ DO INTERNET MARKETERS MAKE MORE MONEY on the Internet or off the Internet? This is one of the many questions that came to mind at the end of the recent World Internet Mega Summit (WIMS 2007) at the Singapore Expo. My ex-boss, now a corporate client, had given me a ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/internet-marketing-successes-or-scams/ ABOUT TWO MONTHS AFTER STARTING the Asia Social Media directory, map and network, the percentage of Asian visitors (excluding Singaporeans) to my site has now jumped from less than 5 % in March to almost 20%. For example, the Geo Locations for this blog in March were: And the Geo Locations ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/asia-social-media-projects-2-months-later/ GOOGLE HAS BOUGHT FEEDBURNER apparently for $100m, according to Techcrunch some time ago and confirmed by recent news on various sites. So far, by early June 2007 alone, Google has made at least nine acquisitions (see Wikipedia's entry): January: Xunlei, a Chinese P2P file-sharing network that allows users to download music ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/google-buys-again-feedburner-at-100m/ ACCORDING TO TWEETVOLUME, recently announced by Biz Stone, many Japanese seem to love Twitter: A Japanese IT journalist confirms this in an online article in April, Twitter booms in Japan / Twitter from Skype. Nobi has been seeing more and more early adopters getting on board with Twitter. He wrote: "I also ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/06/influential-japanese-love-twitter/ MAYBE I SHOULD BE REJOICING, but I'm not. I'm in fact rather dismayed that a number of Internet marketers have been compiling and re-compiling lists of blogs that apparently use DoFollow and therefore have been linking to my blog just because I had announced earlier that I used the DoFollow ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/05/stop-linking-to-me-d-listers/ RECENTLY, CHINESE BLOGGER KESO published an interesting series of articles discussing Baidu.com (百度) and four of its competitors: Google China, Sina, Tencent QQ, & Alibaba. This has made me very curious: What's so great about Baidu? According to a New York Times report in September 2006 (quoting Bloomberg stats), Baidu is ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/05/baidu-its-competitors-in-china/ A WEBCAM WILL BE TRANSMITTING LIVE happenings of an upcoming flea mart at Far East Plaza from 11am to 8pm this coming Sunday (6 May), according to organizer APLink. "Visitors to the Ping.sg website will be able to see what is going on at the fair and chat online with the ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/05/live-coverage-of-flea-mart-on-pingsg/ AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO, I'm glad to be Chinese and bilingual. （看了这影片，我庆幸自己是双语皆通的华人。） Chinese version （中文版）: English version （英文版）: "Did You Know? Shift Happens - Globalization & the Information Age" 《你知道吗？环球与资讯的转变》 Created by: Karl Fisch (apparently a high school teacher/admin in the USA) Modified by: Scott McLeod; Content remixed from: David Warlick, Thomas Friedman ("The World is ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/05/did-you-know/ IS THIS NORMALLY DONE? I received an email message a few days ago from someone who calls himself/herself "DMOZ Editor", asking for a sample/test username and password + access code to the courses on my elearning portal. The message was as follows: From: DMOZ Editor <xxx.dmoz@gmail.com> Date: Apr 28, 2007 9:05 AM Subject: ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/05/do-dmoz-editors-ask-for-your-site-password/ I'VE JUST CREATED a bilingual blog on Baidu Spaces «百度空间» called «拍掌丛林» (hehe "ClappingTrees" as usual, not literal translation though ) and using "descendent of DongShan" «东山后裔» for my pen name. My experience with Baidu had been such a breeze. So many beautiful templates to choose from. Modules which are ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/my-chinese-blog-on-baidu-%c2%ab%e7%99%be%e5%ba%a6%c2%bb/ JAPANESE ARE READING BLOGS more than Americans, Koreans, British, and French, according to survey results announced by Japan’s premier international PR consultancy Edelman and reported in the Blog Herald in late March. The poll conducted by StrategyOne over 1,000 Japanese, with accompanying studies conducted in different countries, showed that: In ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/japanese-loves-to-read-blogs/ I WAS TAGGED BY CHRISTY of Christy's Coffee Break to this "Gotta Get Goals" meme. Christy is a warm and friendly lady who also maintains a cool blog called "A Hint of Poetry". Check out her sites! Now, my 9otta 9et 9oals (aka "9 Worthy 9oals Before I Expire") are: Complete ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/tagged-9-worthy-goals-before-i-expire/ SOME PEOPLE STILL DON'T GET IT: Web 2.0 is about "We" -- "us", "our", and "ours" (the wisdom of many) -- and NOT about "I", as in the word "Idol", -- "me", "my", and "mine" (the uber-coolness of a select few). Perhaps two of Kathy Sierra's excellent graphs below (modified ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/web-20-is-about-we-not-i/ HELP! THIS IS JUST A FRACTION of the spam messages that are suddenly flooding my mailbox from 4.53pm, shortly after my previous post on the Top Posts in Ping.sg & Tomorrow.sg: http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/spammers-attacking-my-mailboxhost/ A QUICK REVIEW of the Top 20 posts in Tomorrow.sg and Ping.sg this year seems to reveal a lot about the things/subjects that occupy the minds/hearts of the readers in these two communities. (Tags appended in the lists below are mine.).As of today,the Top 20 (most read) posts in Ping.sg ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/top-posts-in-pingsg-tomorrowsg-reveal-that/ LIKE TSTAR, I'M ALL TIED UP -- lots of work and non-work waiting for me to do right now. So, this is just a very short post: To thank all who came for the meetup last night, to thank fellow pingster Ebie from Essential Brew for giving us two free ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/thanks-for-the-meetup-bombe-company/ HERE'S A FUNNY VIDEO REPLY to the excellent point that Estee (Geek Goddess) has been making while giving feedback on Nexus 2007 in her blog and later on the Nexus wiki: "Very disappointing at Nexus today. Lo and behold, as always at events of such nature, girls are totally under ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/a-video-reply-to-geek-goddess-lament/ I HAVE A "SECRET" BLOG SINCE 2003 which I've hardly publicized over the years. I don't even ping any Web services such as Pingomatic or Technorati or Ping.sg. There are a few reasons (be forewarned): I'm a rather private and introspective person, which may come as a surprise to certain people. ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/my-secret-blog-a-garden-where-my-feelings-flow/ WHICH ARE THE TOP BLOGS IN ASIA? How does one measure the success of a blog? In China, Ya.IYee came up with a list of “Top 40 Chinese blogs” based on stats given by RSS reader Zhuaxia抓虾 (apparently most popular in mainland China right now, with around 30% or 60,000+ users). In ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/top-blogs-in-china-malaysia-philippines/ THIS MORNING, I'M LAUNCHING the Asia Social Media Directory -- a strictly non-partisan and non-competitive wiki-based (and so community-managed) directory. This directory has been modeled after Rambling Librarian's Singapore Social Media Directory AND enhanced with a Frappr map, a Recent Readers log and more concise writeups. (More interesting widgets coming ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/introducing-asia-social-media-directory/ AS OF 10 MARCH 2007, although Asian Internet penetration is only 10.7% of total Asian population (compared to 25% for the rest of the world), Asian Internet users already comprises 35.8% of world internet population, according to Internet World Stats (based on data compiled from World Gazetteer, Nielsen/NetRatings, ITU, and ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/over-50-internet-users-to-be-asians-soon/ PING.SG'S RANKING IS ABOVE TOMORROW.SG -- according to Alexa. AND Ping.sg is among the top 100,000 sites now! ;-) I know that Ping.sg is NOT competing with Tomorrow.sg. And I know that Alexa statistics are based on the visits of people who have installed and are using Alexa toolbar. Still, out ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/04/alexa-ranking-pingsg-above-tomorrowsg/ NINE TYPES OF BLOGGERS (slightly adapted from Collis' 9 Essential Posts Every Blogger Should Know About, thanks, Lucas): Speedlinker: Roundups, Comments, Trackbacks, etc of interesting posts. E.g. Problogger.com Quoter: Blockquoting an interesting point of view, extract or news snippet and add a short bit of opinion and sourcing information. E.g. Susan Mernet's ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/03/9-types-of-blog-posts-which-ones-are-yours/ ONE GREAT IDEA that I took away from Nexus 2007 is what Nathan Torkington (O’Reilly) calls Continous Partial Attention. Not that the phenomenon is new, but because it describes succinctly what I've been (and still am) experiencing. Finally, I can name it. This is a new design challenge in this age ... http://www.clappingtrees.com/archives/2007/03/saying-no-to-say-yes-web-of-mass-distraction-ii/