Krishwords

Oliver Ryan, blogging for Fortune magazine, points out to the optimism expressed by LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye about the future of LinkedIn in the Facebook dominated world. They are confident that they will dominate the business networking scene. As Steve O’ Hear and Jeremiah Owyang clearly point out, it is going to be much difficult than the optimism expressed by the people at LinkedIn. LinkedIn in a Facebook world is akin to a vertical search engine in this Google world. It is possible to survive but it is extremely difficult. As both Steve and Jeremiah correctly point out, it will only take a few filters to be developed by Facebook to enter into the market of LinkedIn. Does this mean it is the end of LinkedIn? Not necessarily. They just have to readjust their strategy. As JP says, every enterprise now is a platform. It should be open and inclusive. LinkedIn should open up its API strategy and also integrate tightly into the Facebook platform. It is time for LinkedIn to get their API strategy correct. From what I read in media, they seem to be working on it.

The “social climate” inside Facebook is much warmer than LinkedIn. I do agree that LinkedIn is just a good networking tool for business but they could still make the process of business networking much more interesting than what it is right now. I do not agree with people who claim that there is no need for LinkedIn in this Facebook world. I am a kinda person who would like to separate my social life from my business life. LinkedIn proves to be a valuable tool for people like me. By using Facebook as an app for my social life and LinkedIn for my business networking, I could establish a clear demarcation between these two worlds. Using the Seinfeld quote, I can ensure that these two worlds do not collide. Any talk about Facebook consuming LinkedIn is premature. However, it is vital for LinkedIn to re-adjust their strategy in this Facebook dominated world, to ensure that a vertical player like them can also survive along with a monster. The fate of LinkedIn is now linked in directly to their approach in the current world where every enterprise is a platform. In short, it is a case of open up, collaborate and survive.

Knowledge@Wharton says the era of software in a box is over

Experts at Wharton say the January 30 launch of the consumer versions of Microsoft’s flagship software may be among the last of its kind — a product sold for a flat fee in a shrink-wrapped box. Indeed, many wonder if the software business model that has made Microsoft so dominant for the last 20 years may begin to fade in the decade to come as new software business models — from open source to advertising supported — gain increasing traction.

We are already seeing the music industry and movie industry tumbling down from their boxed offerings. It is their inability (or refusal) to adopt to the newer models that led to the decline in sales and increase in privacy. Music industry has realized this to some extent but they have a long way to go from their desperate attempt to hang on to the dying DRM. Movie industry and Media are in the intermediate turbulent state now and they will eventually fall in line. If Microsoft doesn’t change their playbook totally, they are bound to go the IBM way. If they continue to hang on to their claim that there will be another release of Windows in a box, the time is not far away when we will tell our children that “there lived a mammoth called Microsoft which went down into a big hole due to its own weight….”. We have to wait and see how they are going to evolve their strategy.

Entertainment over broadband is slowly picking up in India. The broadband growth in India has been slow compared to many other countries. Off late, we are seeing some growth in this area. The recent announcement by BSNL about the increase in speed to 2 MBps for the same cost of 256 KBps is a good sign. The expectations are high for a surge in the growth of broadband in the next 2 years. Such optimistic projections have led to new Indian entertainment portals offering high bandwidth video contents to the public. The role played by Indya On Demand and Rajshri.com in this regard is truly phenomenal. Both these portals are offering wide range of contents including movies, TV shows, Events, Concerts, etc.

Indya On Demand offers free short clips to viewers and an option to buy the full episode at a reasonable price. Some of the contents offered by them includes Star Screen Awards 2007, The great Indian Laughter Challenge, episodes of Khichdi, etc.

The other entertainment portal Rajshri.com offers more than 3000 hours of video content. In fact, Sooraj R Barjatya’s movie Vivah became the first Indian movie to premier on the internet. They have recently added the episodes of Malgudi Days and Fauji. Their offerings also includes Mahabharat, Movie Songs, Movie Scenes, Full Movies, Short Films, Documentaries, Concerts, etc. Their business model includes a free streaming option and a very affordable download option. You can view most of their contents for free from their site. The quality of streaming video is pretty amazing too. You can download a full movie starting from $4.99. They have a wide ranging selection of movies from Chitchor and Amar Akbar Anthony to Phir Hera Pheri. They even have some amazing documentaries like Jawarharlal Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny”, a documentary on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, etc.

I am pretty convinced that these portals have disruptive potential and it may end up killing DVDs, VCDs and Video Cassettes (are they still being sold?) and go directly into the living room of the “Digital Homes”. These kinda business models may even wipe out the video piracy. We just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Robert Young writes on GigaOM about how Google aims to serve as an “OS” for advertising

From where I sit, the answer to this vexing question lies in one’s ability to foresee what Google is planning from a product development perspective. If you read through all the announcements and analyses about their recent deals and initiatives, it becomes clear that a common vision unites them all. Simply put, Google is building what is essentially an operating system (”OS”) for advertising… one that will work across all media.

Technorati Tags: Business Model, Advertising, Google, Ads, Online, Video, Audio, Radio

Wired News reports

According to internal documents provided to Wired News and interviews with key executives, Gannett, the publisher of USA Today as well as 90 other American daily newspapers, will begin crowdsourcing many of its newsgathering functions. Starting Friday, Gannett newsrooms were rechristened “information centers,” and instead of being organized into separate metro, state or sports departments, staff will now work within one of seven desks with names like “data,” “digital” and “community conversation.”

The initiative emphasizes four goals: Prioritize local news over national news; publish more user-generated content; become 24-7 news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more; and finally, use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features.

Technorati Tags: Newspapers, USA Today, Gannett, Crowdsourcing, Citizen Journalism

CNET.com reports that Google is going to share revenues with content producers. They have signed up the creators of “The Diet Coke & Menthos Experiment” Video

The search company has agreed to turn over most advertising revenue generated by the latest video from Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, creators of “The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment,” according to Peter Chane, a senior product manager for Google Video.

The second part of the video is exclusively available on Google Videos. You can watch their new video below.

Today, Brightcove launched a new service, where anyone can post their video content online and make money. The content owners can create their own channel and share their contents. They can build a community and share the ad revenue with Brightcove. These disruptive technologies are going to help the long tail of artists to push their content to the public. This democratization of media is going to break the hold of the traditional media companies and their tight control on the content delivered to the public. Kudos to Google and Brightcove for their efforts.

Technorati Tags: Google, Brightcove, Online Video, Diet Coke, Menthos, Revenue Sharing, Long Tail, Music, Artist, Content Publisher, Advertisement