Replacing the internet in 2020

Engadgets blog just launched a story via Slashdot  about a japanese plan on replacing the internet by 2020.

“Apparently, Japan’s minister of communications has big plans for the current iteration of the internet — namely, to stamp it out of existence by 2020. According to reports, Yoshihide Suga — the country’s communications minister — has announced that the Japanese government is hard at work on a newer, faster, stronger, and generally better looking internet. According to Suga, the new network will deliver more reliable data transfers at higher speeds, be more resistant to viruses and crashes, and will be 60 percent more charming. The ministry hopes that in setting a timeframe and outlining goals for the system, the country’s technology industry will be able to have a hand in developing global standards while gaining leverage for themselves in the new market.
” via Engadget

Nimby planning

The word Nimby seems to accelerate its meanings these days, so I will hereby join the choir and extent its reach to the planning sphere. So I’ll introduce the concept of Nimby planning. Everybody working with advertising know the  situations in which  co-workers or clients agree fully on the strategy. They nood at the insights on the need for a digital strategy or a creative media plan. You feel that the meeting was beneficial and that we all moved a step further into a bright future. You sleep well that night.

Next morning the “nimpy” feel steps in. You get a call; “Ohh we just talked about the strategy for next year and about blogging we don’t think we have the ressources. And by the way the creative outdoor campaign; It’s really great, but can we get the same reach as TV gave us last year?, and the thing about activation the social networks; our chief of sales says trade won’t accept it”

Ten days later you take last years strategy and copy paste it to 2008. That’s really a nimpy feel. We all know what’s right; but not in my backyard (or with my marketing budget) . Nobody ever get fired for recommending TV. (But they will in the future!)

So this is Nimpy planning. Here is wikipedias explanation of NIMBY:

NIMBY (an acronym of Not In My Back Yard) describes the phenomenon in which

residents designate a development as inappropriate or unwanted for their local area, even if the development is clearly a benefit for many.

NIMBY and its derivative terms NIMBYism, NIMBYs, and NIMBYists, refer implicitly to debates of development generally or a specific case, and as such their use is inherently contentious. Also, it is a relatively recent term, the first printed usage of which the Oxford English Dictionary identifies as being in 1980 in the Christian Science Monitor, and the nuances of which are still disputed. The term is usually applied to opponents by advocates of a development, implying that those opposing the debated development, or at least their viewpoint in such regards, is narrow, selfish, myopic, hypocritical or otherwise limited.

Join the public conversation

This morning I posted about how the social networks are challenging IM or SMS. Just wanted to stress an interesting point about this. If you watch conversation posted on comments, logs, walls or so, a lot of the conversation is actually quite personal. It seems as the personal conversation is going fra private to public. Even in the networks offering both a private mail option and a comment wall a lot of the conversation is held in the public sphere. This is really interesting.

IMs are very private and difined by privacy and the lack of disruptive elements. Here we see a tendency toward wanting the conversation to be public as if the content of conversation is being a part of the users creating their identity. If this is really the reason for taking conversation fra IM to social networks then IM haven’t got the weapons to fight back because they service is born and bread in the private sphere.

What will this mean for interacting with the users? Will marketing in the conversation be an option? Or is the public conversation a no go for marketers?

Hatch and Bloom - New ideas and design agency

Some of the most talented people I know just broke free and started their own agency. It’s all very new but they already landed a client and seem to address the business with a refreshing enthusiams and energy. I had the honour of spending half a year with them at designit some years ago, and hope that they’ll succeed in their new agency. Wish them all the best. Here’s their “launch” video.

Reminds me a bit of Apple “think different”, but anyway I like it.

Visit their blog

or their site (not ready yet)

Social networks challenging IM?

A while ago I was going crazy cause some of my friends really got into the myspace thing, which in it self isn’t a bad thing. I’m there too - but mostly to figure out what is happening there. But they started sending messages to me on my comment-board. Which is ok as long as it is just comments, pictures or fun. But the comments started taking form as appointments and so. - and for a while I missed all the fun because I still rely on my cell as the place to contact me if going out for drinks or coffee. So I was going mad, cause I had no intention of starting to check my myspace once a day (or more). I’m more the visitor of the month there.

So I started thinking a bit more about this tendency. Could the social network challenge the cell texting or the Instant Messenging? Many of the networks are different cause it isn’t real time interaction, but with the major networks applying services as “online status”, IM-functions and so in to their sphere will this be the new way to have direct interaction with your friends in the future? Myspace has its myspaceIM and facebook just launched an application to integrate twitter into their service.

Three days ago imediaconnection published an article about this phenomenon taking off. John Gray VP of interactive marketing at Enlighten started the discussion. No conclusions, cause it doesn’t seem to affect the IM numbers - not yet. But he raised this issue as a trend to watch. Read his view here.

And it is an importante discussion, cause in reaching the teens IM has become an important player. John says here:

According to Pew Internet & American Life Project, 75 percent of all online teens use IM to communicate, making it a popular choice for media planners and buyers eager to target this influential consumer group. Marketers know platforms like AOL’s AIM have some of the highest conversion rates in the business. Consequently, they have made IM placements an integral part of their youth-centric campaigns.

So I’ll try to watch this trend and post some conclusions as soon as they appear.