consultaglobal

There is a lot of interest in the market about UGC, User Generated Content. Blogging is one way of enabling users to deliver online content and WordPress is really handy. My blog taps into that trend as well as some other, let’s see…

Consultaglobal’s blog is a mashup. Those of you already familiar with this might have noticed that, in addition to text, there are pictures, links to external podcasts (when relevant to the subject I’m blogging about) as well as videos from YouTube. Additionally, Platial (the map box you see in the right column) mingles Google Maps with people’s input, such as pinheads and location information on innovation events in my case. SnapShots is the feature that displays a thumbnail version of a website when hovering the cursor over a link. I really think that’s cool.

Viral distribution is now called “superdistribution” by some. Perhaps this is a more benign term without “infectious” connotations :-) Nonetheless, the beauty about social networking is that people share things relevant to them and form very dynamic communities of interest. As an example, you can share your “consultaglobal bookmark” with other people, just click on the “bookmark” button in the right column to pick and choose what bookmark sharing service you might like to use. You might have already heard of Del.icio.ius and Digg, to name a couple.

At the point of writing this blog, current analytics show just about 3,300 hits and my ball park estimate is that these past few days consultaglobal has been attracting 150 daily visitors on average (including direct visits to this blog and RSS readers). This kind of information helps me look for and write about subjects that happen to be relevant to our informal community. I get my source newsfeed thanks to Yahoo Pipes, a mashup tool helping me aggregate news on innovation from various sources, such as: Google News, Findory, BusinessWeek, Slideshare, Feedburner, etc. Then I blog about what catches my interest coupled with stuff that appears to be worth sharing.

Speaking of which, the picture I’m showing here also displays a couple of ways for visitors to provide input and/or feedback, making this a more collaborative and bidirectional experience. There is a simple form at the very bottom of every blog for you to share your thoughts and I would like to take this chance to thank those of you who have already done so. In case you did not notice, you can also contribute by helping populate the info on “innovation events” when clicking on the map box in the right column.

This is not captured in the picture, but you will see the Box.Net widget (a black box) in the right column. I use this for file sharing. I often upload files (e.g. presentations) making them available for download by anyone interested. Just in case you happen to check, my Box.Net is empty at the time of writing this blog. The blue box right above it is about JotSpot, a wiki where I share stuff with just a few people (restricted access). By the way, JotSpot was bought out by Google not long ago.

Social networking is one other really fascinating side of this. Some of you have already contacted me via Linkedin after clicking on the button I posted on the right column. This a professional networking site which keeps my online contact list. So far, I have added contacts from Europe and the U.S. thanks to this blue button.

You might have also noticed the Skype button showing a phone icon. This one delivers presence information and a click-to-call feature, provided you had Skype installed in your PC. If I was around we can talk, otherwise you can leave a voice mail. Interestingly enough, Skype can also provide public phone numbers (e.g. a real number you can dial on your phone). So, feel free to call +1 312 233 COGL or +1 312 233 2645.

There are different ways and/or delivery mechanisms for you to get the latest on this blog. Obviously, the first one is going to http://consultaglobal.wordpress.com/. The next most popular distribution method is the RSS feed (Real Simple Sindication). Some of you use Firefox and have already clicked on the RSS icon shown in the address bar. Alternatively, you can also click on “Subscribe in a reader” in the right column. This will take you to Feedburner’s service (another company acquired by Google). RSS readers usually make it easy to see the most recent headlines, so you can decide whether to click and visit my blog (or not). Feedburner can also send you an email if that happened to be your choice, just click on “Subscribe by email“. I almost forget that last week I managed to put a widget together. If you happened to have Springwidgets running in your PC, you can get the one for consultaglobal. Hope you like it.

Let’s see, what else am I playing with? And the answer is: Mobile blogging!!! It works both ways, I can use M.WordPress to create a text blog from my phone, and you can use Buzme to get my blog on your phone. The button for Buzme is also shown on the right column. There is more, I downloaded Shozu in my phone (an over the air download for those of you interested in that stuff) and I can add the pictures I take with my phone to my blog on the fly.

Now I figure your next question is… do you need to be a technical person to do any of this? The answer is actually “not a all” and, by the way, these are user friendly Web 2.0 services. You can do all of that from an internet browser such as Firefox (or Explorer if you choose) and it gets better… they are also free (unless you required premium features). No application needs to be downloaded, installed (and eventually updated and upgraded) in your PC (with the only exception of Shozu for your phone), you just need to get yourself broadband internet access whether wireline (e.g. cable, dsl) or wireless (e.g. 3G) and a subject motivating enough to keep you going.

Why blogging? I think everyone has a different reason and some strong motivation behind it… mostly because this stuff requires time. If you paid attention to the time stamp in my blogs, you would then realize I do this either before or after office hours. In my case, my background in industrial design drives a personal interest in anything about innovation. This is also a good way of sharing my research notes with everyone, keeping an online notebook with search capabilities. It has already been more than 15 years since I published my last paper on product design (”tempus fugit” :-( ) and I am now working on a book which might see the light sometime next year.

Cheers,

José de Francisco Lopez. Chicago, 14 June 07

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This blog’s Long Tail:

• Congratulations WordPress Team
• Consultaglobal featured as “blog of the minute”
• Web strategies that cater to customers
• Mashup tools
• Mobile blogging
  
• Mashup tools, now mobile
• Mobile blogging (2)
• Mobile blogging (3)
• Mobile blogging (4)