Michael Arrington or @TechCrunch (his screen id for twitter)

announce this morning just shortly after ten Tech Crunch’s article on the widespread talk of a new platform called, “OpenSocial” finally came out of the works and into the hands of tech enthusiasts. Moving forward the platform will offer developers that chance to make social platforms like web communities more innovative and user friendly by streamlining the basis in which they are built on and the applications that will become standard so that it is easier to understand and built them the added bonus is this will lower the cost of development time for these platforms.

“There are many websites implementing OpenSocial, including Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.” –google

How will this effect small, medium and large businesses? Agencies will be able to build the initial functionality platform at a lower cost so aesthetics and unique traits can be implemented. This will hopefully not just increase how many random niche communities their are, but will give them the opportunity to truly offer the web community something more valuable then just another friends list.
For more information visit:

http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/

Tech Crunch’s post by Michael Arrington:

“Two weeks ago there were reports that Yahoo was planning to join Google’s OpenSocial application platform. A day later we heard that the final decision had been made, but it wouldn’t be announced for a while, probably in April.

Well, they beat that projection by a week. Today Yahoo announced their support for the platform. But they are also, along with Google and MySpace, forming a new non-profit organization called the OpenSocial Foundation. It is modeled after the OpenID Foundation. The goal, they say, is that by placing the assets into a new non-profit, they’ll be able to say they will maintain absolute neutrality while keeping a straight face.

Developers and website owners are also being pointed to the OpenSocial Foundation website for current specifications and links to other resources.

Engineers from all three founding entities will work on the project, they say. All specifications are available under a creative commons copyright license. Also an open source reference implementation called Shindig is being created and developed as a project in the Apache Software Foundation incubator.

The press release for this is here. We will also be on a briefing call later this morning with our live notes.”

“When Alibaba went public last November and raised a stunning $1.5 billion — the biggest Internet IPO since Google’s — it also raised eyebrows around the world. But probably not those of founder Jack Ma, who back in 1999 recognized that China’s 42 million small and medium-size companies (the vast majority of businesses in the country) just might create some opportunities for e-commerce. Alibaba provides a point-and-click system for suppliers to get online and connect with distributors and consumers all over the world. The Chinese site today boasts 16 million users, and the English iteration has 9 million. Watch out, eBay.” –Fast Company Magazine

So who is Alibaba? What do they offer consumers:

Access the world’s largest online import-export marketplace. Find exactly what you need.

• More than 3,600,000 members in more than 200 countries and regions!
• Millions of product and supplier listings!
• More than 30 industry categories and over 5,000 product categories!

In a changing world with an up and coming technology market and stressed economy what does all of this information mean to tech savviest, marketers, pr people and the like? A lot actually, well if your one of those people that likes your job and likes to make money while fire starting your industry to ensure many years of future success. Think about it. Where do BIG corporations come from? Starting small or daddy’s business, and how do those little businesses grow? Businesses grow from management respecting their employees, employees caring for consumers needs, people having brand awareness and brand loyalty. To get customers foots walking through a businesses door they need to know you exist via word of mouth a great public relations team like, Risdall Mckinney PR, putting out press releases and inserting your name in great tv spots and magazine ads. It also comes from Marketing teams like, Risdall Marketing Group, helping your company determine a strategy, brand yourself, and get your name out to the public with radio spots, search engine marketing, social media campaigns, web site redesigns, brand management, and ensuring that your customer’s experience is not only unique but also something that makes them want to return time and time again.

Again I bet your wondering where does all of that fit into a trade industry full of suits and stock markets? EVERYTHING. Business is full circle. If you do well they do well. Not only that, but naming a company like Alibaba as one of the top 10 companies not only in the United States of America, but in the world is needless to say a huge achievement. Their name was on the list with big tech names and clothing lines like Google, apples, Nike, Nintendo and so forth. So whether you want to invest your money, always put 110% in at your job, or check out another innovative company. I was intregued to find out about Alibaba, what they do and how they are impacting the worlds trade market and industries everywhere.

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The following information is from Alibaba.com:

Company Overview

About Alibaba.com

Alibaba.com (HKSE:1688), a member of the Alibaba Group of companies, is one of the world’s premier e-commerce brands and the number one online marketplace for global and domestic China trade. We provide an efficient, trusted platform connecting small and medium-sized buyers and suppliers from around the world. Our international marketplace (www.alibaba.com) focuses on global importers and exporters and our China marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) focuses on suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China. Together our marketplaces form a community of more than 24 million registered users from over 200 countries and regions.

Our operational headquarters is based in Hangzhou in eastern China. We have field sales and marketing offices in more than 30 cities in China, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United States. The company had more than 4,400 full-time employees as of June 30, 2007.

Jack Ma, our lead founder and chairman, and 18 other founders launched Alibaba.com in his Hangzhou apartment in 1999. Originally, Alibaba.com operated as a bulletin board service for businesses to post buy and sell trade leads, and later became a vibrant marketplace for small and medium enterprises around the world to identify potential trading partners and interact with each other to conduct business online. Alibaba.com listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 6, 2007 and is the flagship business of the Alibaba Group.

Awards & Honors

…Ok….so it was a Twitter marriage proposal but still.

Congrats to Max Kiesler and Emily Chang.

Chris Avenir, an 18 year old college student, created a study group on Facebook for a Chemistry class. 147 students used the group to consult each other on homework problems. The professor found out about the group, deemed it cheating and called for expulsion. Avenir was sent to the misconduct board where they determined that he would get a 0 for the homework portion of the class and not be expelled. He will still pass the course due to high scores in the other portions of the class.

What are your thoughts on this? No answers were directly passed through the group, but was it cheating?

Their are many ways people find the daily news, sports, weather, pre-organized free online tv, other random facts that interest them like (music, favorite artists, hobbies ect.) As the internet develops as a major media outlet I can’t help but wonder where this fact serving outlet will lead us. Eight years ago the majority of the online population was still using dial-up, about four years ago social networks (like facebook) became mainstream, and today we have a full gamut of networks that can provide us with any kind of information our hearts desire –provided your willing to spend some time with your other buddy Google… searching for it.

To keep up with social media, social networking sites, bloggers, microbloggers, and the techno-savvy elite today’s professional almost NEEDS to spend 15 minutes a day exercising web knowledge and running through the tubes in search of new ideas or reading what other professionals have to say about the industry that your in. Their are many places that offer this information practically on a silver platter for your web searching enjoyment such as mashable, technorati, digg, reddit or you could just join a popular social site that interests you– when someone puts out a feed about an interesting site. Check it out and when that site refers to another site you have never heard of– well you get the picture.

I personally do just that, spend a minimum of 15 minutes a day trying to find information that will teach me something new about search engine marketing, organic searches, online media, blogs relating to business, micro bloggers– or interesting people on twitter, and social networking sites that are trying to think outside of the 2 wire framed box. Today I found a blog in Boston (which is where the title of this article comes in) the post was by Media Nation. I have attached a link to their site below and the article (in case the page was to move ever). The post discusses a couple of top news papers reaching out to their consumers (readers) to directly interact with them. Thats the great thing about online isn’t it? It’s not static, not only does the environment change daily, but so can the content. Once you receive your daily newspaper the press has been edited and until the editor’s response for the next issue comes out you can run out of pages to read. Interesting post at the very least, hope you enjoy:
The following information is thanks to: Media Nation called: The Boston Daily Blogger

More twitterific news:

This post comes to you thanks to:

http://www.costpernews.com/2007/08/20/twitter-will-make-you-famous/

Twitter Will Make You Famous

… or at least recognizable.

My Twitter / Facebook friend Ben Yoskovitz has a great post about climbing to the top of the info-chain and how to stay there.

Words to live by if you’re a marketer….

Micro-Media Steps To The Fore

And this is where the value of micro-media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) comes to the forefront. Micro-media is the perfect tool for staying in tune with all of your network. It?s a great tool for information gathering and sharing quickly. It?s perfect for catching waves of conversations and trends, so you can see what comes to the top.

Found this post on: TechnoMarketer

In this increasingly digital world, the skills that traditional communications professionals bring to the table are often taken for granted and/or cast aside. This is a huge mistake for companies to make as there seems to be a growing shortage of people who can think about marketing communications strategy and get it done. Digital workers often jump to the tactics instead of considering the full scope of how consumers live their lives (it’s not all online). Traditional marketers often, certainly not always, see the broader landscape of the full marketing communications spectrum.Enter the reign of the tradigitalist. This person could have arrived at this title in a couple of ways. Let’s look at these:

1. The digital native with a passion for marketing. This person is a digital native, gets what is happening, understands the power of social media and emerging technology, yet places value on the total communications spectrum. Traditional PR, TV, print, radio, outdoor, WOM, etc. can all play into the mix to reach the potential customer in the most effective way. They understand that a pure-play digital approach is *very* rarely the best way to go. I find myself in this category.
2. The digital immigrant who sees the potential. This person comes from a traditional marketing communications, PR or advertising background, but sees that digital is the way of the future. They also know the power of traditional marketing and use their depth and breadth of marketing strategy knowhow to shape campaigns using the best options.

One of the things that working in a company with such a strong traditional communications practice has shown me is the value of people who bring traditional marketing knowledge to the table and how excited they can be about the digital future. I personally make sure to keep up on what is happening across all forms of marketing communications for just this reason and I am leaning on these people to broaden my marketing acumen on the traditional side. I am returning the favor on the digital side.

Are you a tradigitalist? Do you know one? Shouldn’t we all be tradigitalists?

……it is a CAKE!  The owner of Pink Cake Box in NJ made it for her husband.  I have made a shaped cake or 2 in my day, but this is BEYOND impressive.