Chrome Releases Extensions, Including Brizzly (Both are Awesome)

Google Chrome has released their "Chrome Extensions" library with nearly 400 functional extensions... and, just like the browser, the extensions are light weight, functional and great looking (the icons animate, have gloss, and so forth). From installation to interaction, the extensions continue to separate Chrome from Firefox in speed and experience. Of course the inventory of Firefox extensions is large, but Chrome will get get there and the initial launch has content from Gmail, Bit.ly, Google Tasks / Calendar, eBay, Brizzly, etc.

For Twitter and Facebook fans, try the Brizzly extension. You can easily post and read content within the window. The user experience replicates that on Brizzly.com (such as inline media)... all from a lightweight extension atop the browser:

Facebook Fan Pages Now Available for Google Search / SEO

A relatively major announcement came out at the end of today's Google Search Event - Marissa Mayer announced that Google will receive real-time access from Facebook Fan Page updates:

“Facebook will be providing us with a feed of updates from public profile pages, also known as Facebook pages,” says Mayer (more on TechCrunch).

This is a significant move for:

- Google, who receives unique and valuable real-time content... that is tied to branded search terms - Brands, who should see increased traffic to their fan pages... and consequently be able to attract larger audiences (ie 'fans') - Facebook, who should see an increase in their SEO traffic much like the vanity URLs they recently introduced

For brands and marketers, this means that Facebook updates should be crafted in ways that are conscious of consumers both on-Facebook (ie their fans) and off-Facebook (conducting searches on Google).... just as they do while crafting blog titles, Twitter posts, and so forth.

It is also worth noting that this is a continued SEO effort by Facebook: vanity URLs, widgets, badges, etc. Certainly there are other compelling reasons (product, strategy, etc) behind these products... but SEO must be one of them!

Google Acquires AppJet (Creators of Etherpad) - Congratulations!

Dogpatch Labs resident Appjet - makers of the the collaborative, realtime document editor EtherPad - has been acquired by Google. As announced on their blog, AppJet will be joining the Google Wave team and "the EtherPad team will continue its work on realtime collaboration." Congratulations to the entire team!

Etherpad is a unique product and an engineering feat: it allows "really real-time" collaboration where users can create, edit and converse in documents at the same time. The applications are obvious and range from education to note taking (several Dogpatch Labs events were covered via Etherpad) to product planning (used during the Rails Rumble competition).

The fit within Google - and particularly with Wave - is natural: according to Techcrunch, "The two products share some overlapping features, but AppJet has built technology that can be deployed behind company firewalls. If Google ever decides to roll out Wave as an enterprise product, which seems logical, this technology and the team’s experience could prove valuable."

The Etherpad team is excellent and comprised of a cluster of ex-Googlers: CEO Aaron Iba, CTO J.D. Zamfirescu, and COO Daniel Clemens. They are sharp, savvy, hard working (an understatement) and highly collaborative with other entrepreneurs. They will be missed around Dogpatch Labs - but they will certainly add great value to Google and the Wave product.

a comment on TechCrunch's initial article... from another Dogpatch Labs resident:

More coverage: TechCrunch: Confirmed: Google Acquires AppJet, The Maker Of EtherPad Venturebeat: Google acquires AppJet. Maybe Wave will become usable now GigaOm: Google Buys EtherPad Maker for Google Wave

Wendy's Real Time: An Interactive, Social Ad Campaign About Bacon

Wendy's has been advertising their new Bacon Deluxe burger which features four strips of Applewood bacon:

So unless you love bacon, why is this interesting? Because Wendy's has been promoting the burger heavily in an interactive campaign that runs on prominent websites like ESPN and Gizmodo - and concurrent to a large television campaign... and that the campaign is billed as "Wendy's Real Time" - a play on the real time web and their focus on "real burger" taste.

The takeaway (which I moved up from the bottom of the post) is that this is a unique and interesting swing at real time advertising / branding... but it is too dynamic and too big. The interactions and user experience would be greatly simplified if they integrated with Twitter's OAuth and also with Facebook Connect. Why ask people to leave Wendys.com to post, interact, etc. Make it simple up front and then push the data both directions: on Wendys.com and on Twitter / Facebook (both of which have clear benefits).

Below is a screenshot of an expansion leaderboard ad that features the burger and invites you to "view Wendy's real time":

The leaderboard retracts into a traditional size, but it is also matched by a skyscraper with similar messaging:

The ad takes you to the "real time" experience - which is a mix of Twitter updates, user photos and videos, Wendy's messaging, etc. It is cooler than it is effective (or even decipherable) - content is dynamic and constantly moving, but much of it is neither about Wendy's nor bacon.

When you click on a post, it expands the Twitter message and displays the user's Twitter information (allowing you to follow him / her).

The video experience is easier to digest and the incentives for posting are more clear: hamburgers for a year. By posting videos of your Wendy's experience, you are eligible for the contest. The UI is slick and this content clearly be reusable for other campaigns (such as on Facebook).

Finally, Wendy's encourages you to Talk Bacon with their Twitter account (@urBaconMeCrazy).

Following the Bay Bridge Opening On Brizzly, Twitter

Minutes ago, the Bay Bridge re-opened and I was able to follow in real-time through Brizzly (and their in-stream multimedia) and @hnshah's Twitter / Twitpic stream (who for some reason wanted to be the first across!):

Facebook's New "Best Of" News Feed

Because the "real time web" can be overwhelmingly active and noisy, Facebook has decided to simplify the newsfeed with a new "Best Of" feed that summarizes the "most interesting" activity from your network's last twenty-four hours. Billed as the "News Feed", there is also an opportunity to then toggle to the "Live Feed", which is the real-time, chronological version of your stream. According to Facebook, they differ by:

News Feed When you log into Facebook, you'll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the "News Feed" view. News Feed picks stories that we think you'll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed Once you've caught up on what you missed, you can click through to "Live Feed" to see what's happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you'll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking "Edit Options" at the bottom of the home page.

This is very clearly a move towards filtering and representing activity / relevancy... which is challenging because: 1. the real-time web is, by definition, chronological, thus creating an interesting user-experience challenge / opportunity 2. defining "what is most interesting" is also challenging. Facebook has many data points: comments, likes, shares, etc... all of which will mature / improve over time It will be interesting to note the ongoing value of being within the "News Feed" versus the "Live Feed" and what it means for the engagement, readership and so on of a piece of content. If dramatically higher (as I would expect), this will change marketing behaviors and potentially force page owners to focus to particular posts within a day (as opposed to numerous).

Facebook of course made this announcement through their Facebook Page:

'Facebook News' - It's Already Being Delivered on & through Facebook

Facebook has become my newsreader. It is a merging of:

- social news (both of and from my friends) - major news sources (a fan of Washington Post, New York Times, etc) - industry news (your network tends to share circles around particular topics, from tech to sports to pop culture) - breaking news (whether on Twitter or Facebook, news moves quickly and often through the real time web. Today alone, dozens of posts about the Dow breaking 10,000, the rumored Playfish / EA acquisition, and so forth)

Now that Facebook has moved beyond social sharing and continues to grow ahead of Twitter, tools need to open up both on *and* off Facebook.com to allow for better management, commentary and finding of articles and news.

I once spent several hours setting up my Google RSS reader... and haven't logged in to check it for months.... because the content all exists in some format within Facebook. The Google Reader toolset however, doesn't and the sharing / commentary functionality would help news-hubs on Facebook that are relevant to my network, their activity (sharing, reading, commenting, etc) and across Facebook's much-larger network. The "Facebook Notes" feature is partially there, but imagine Facebook News (news.facebook.com) that merges content and commentary across friends, fan pages (like the New York Times) and public content. And while people spend time 'grouping' their friends, it is done on a person or geographical basis - more important though would be on a content basis: social, applications, news, sports, etc.

Meanwhile, news sources like HuffingtonPost should continue to do the reverse by innovating atop of Facebook Connect. And by adding a social layer to their content, HuffingtonPost itself becomes stickier and they see an increase in traffic from the integration.

There are also mobile implications here since the Facebook App should at least allow for improved sharing (such as email a note / URL - perhaps blog it, share it directly, etc). I am regularly within the feed - either on my iPhone or computer - and find myself wanting to share that content and open a private discussion around it. On mobile, the only current option is to comment and like:

Facebook Introduces In-Feed Tagging (ie @username)

Facebook continues to roll out new features. Today, you can now tag friends directly in your Facebook feed (and through posts) with the '@' symbol that is so common on Twitter. You will notice it when entering content into your feed:

- Facebook alerts you with an eye-catching graphic that you can link to friends using the '@' sign

- Once you have typed '@', your friend list auto-fills much like when writing an email or tagging a friend - Once you select a friend, his / her name is automatically hyperlinked (creating a more Twitter-like experience)

- Friends who are tagged get a notification and are driven back to Facebook

- Facebook and your newsfeed / post all benefit from increased attention and engagement

Facebook's official blog post is here.

Blue Bottle Cafe & Restaurants using Twitter & Facebook

If you live in San Francisco and love coffee, you likely know about Blue Bottle Cafe - it is arguably the best coffee in the city, has a rabid fanbase and was made famous by the New York Times piece, "At last, a $20,000 cup of coffee". Blue Bottle has started dipping its toes in social media - and why not? On any given morning, half of the shop is seen huddling over a mobile device or laptop.

It is an interesting example because social media is a natural, ideal fit for restaurants (great imagery, food is often social, and people talk about their experiences). It is also interesting because:

- Blue Bottle has a newly started presence on both Twitter and Facebook

- Facebook is about 3x as popular as Twitter: 600 fans vs. 200 followers

- Blue Bottle routinely posts to Twitter, including great photos and interesting updates... but they have not yet posted to the Facebook stream (despite having 3x the fans and Facebook being better suited for visual posts / sharing)

- Blue Bottle Cafe is actively being talked about on both Twitter and Facebook (on Twitter, there are dozens of mentions each day)

Blue Bottle is clearly experimenting with social media and, as an onlooker and a fan of their coffee / food, I find it both interesting and helpful. If I were a restaurateur, I would be watching closely and experimenting on my own. Both Twitter and Facebook are effective ways to showcase new menu items, specials / sales and interact with customers.

Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and other large chains have found success through social media (and are among the best social marketers)... local shops are starting to figure it out as well. And as mobile continues to play a growing, important role both in restaurant discovery and communication, there will be a stronger opportunity to engage with customers.