Chapter 11: Super-Connectors and Predicting the Next Rock Star

Overall, I didn't really like this chapter. It was scattered and boring to me. Honestly, I felt like I learned absolutely nothing.
The first part felt like it went on and on about this Arctic Monkeys band when in the end his main point was the fact that they were on the forefront of Web2.0 and didn't even know it. He then starts talking about Super-Connectors and gives the example of Tila Tequila which if I am thinking right is that bi-sexual woman that was on that reality TV show searching for love. Supposedly she helped launch MySpace (didn't know that at all). It basically says that connecting with others has drastically changed whereas it used to be a rule of 150 and now that is completely out the window. He suggests if we follow the movements of great super-connectors we will know trends of the future. I'm not too sure about all that personally.
Tancer then starts talking about tracking movement through the internet as ways of predicting outcomes. He goes on and on about it but that is basically the main idea behind it. He goes into the band again and researching their online success and begins a discussion about the tipping point for what is driving the searches for these bands. Page 197 has a graph that shows it; the difference between search engines and social networking sites in terms of use for accessing the bands.

Epilogue: Who We Are and Why It Matters

So we’ve finally come to the end of the book, and I don’t know about you all, but after all that reading I’m still left with a few questions. Nevertheless, here is the chapter review.

Tancer gives some insight into his catalyst for writing this book. He is often intrigued by things that he has seen or heard and, as a lover of data, feels the urge to explore these topics further. Often a simple search will transform into a more in-depth analysis. Tancer references his foray into the world of Restless Leg Syndrome and poses a valid question about the correlation between media coverage and Internet searches. Does the media coverage of a new topic (like Restless Leg Syndrome) drive searches on the topic? I would venture to say yes. Information from news stories and commercials can cause users to respond online in a certain way. I’m sure that searches for “swine flu” have dramatically increased in the last few days.

Tancer also writes about how people have been bombarded with information from a variety of sources including the Internet, television, radio, and newspapers. This takes me back to the first day of MIS class when Dr. Lohrke showed that short video clip overrun with information. How we respond to information overload provides insight into what affects us. This is the key for corporate executives, many of whom are looking for innovative ways to gain new customers and keep old ones.

The Internet is changing how we experience the world. It seems as though we have gone from a nation of delayed gratification to one of instant gratification. We can be very impatient; we want what we want and we want it now. Gone are the days of sitting around the table reading the newspaper, writing letters to pen pals (this was popular a really long time ago but I’m sure all of us remember), and making friends the old-fashioned way. These tried-and-true ways of conducting day-to-day business and personal affairs are obsolete. Now practically everyone uses the Internet to catch up on the news, write emails, and “friend” each other on Facebook. Although come to think of it, it seems like even Facebook is past its prime.

So what does this all mean? Apparently, everything new quickly becomes old, courtesy of the Internet. Even when we think we have the most accurate and up-to-date information, a click of the refresh button quickly changes all that. Tancer concludes the book with this paramount statement: “If you want to understand the new connected world and how we choose to live in it, look no further than our Internet behavior; after all, we are what we click.”

Chapter 10 - Finding the Early Adopters

This chapter is centered around who the "early adopters" are. Off the cuff...I think the chapter missed the mark. I think it would have been more beneficial for the author to give suggestions on how new emerging sites could attract the "early adopters" in order to be successful in the future. It is true that if an emerging site does not have "early adopters" it will fail due to lack of market share.

During his review on how YouTube gained quick popularity, Tancer reviews the definition of "Clickstream analysis" = a report that provides the top sites visited before and after a domain. His explanation for YouTube gaining market share is due to the fact that early adopters were using email as a tool to spread the word about the new site.

Tancer then went on to explain which Claritas PRIZM segments formed the 'early adopters'. In summary it was the following three segments:
1) Bohemian Mix
2) Money and Brains
3) The Young Digerati
They are all young and trendsetting groups, so it is no surprise that they are the drivers behind making a website popular.

This chapter mentions many social networking and media sharing websites that I had never heard of. I am intrigued by some of them, and may take some time to check them out. For example: Veoh and Wikimedia Commons (both competitors of YouTube). As well as Stickam.com and Webcamnow.com, which appear to be webcam-based social networking sites.

The overall theme of this chapter is best summarized on page 184:
"As we build on our understanding of how Internet data can help us visualize the diffusion of new technology, robust models that identify the ebb and flow of behavioral segments' usage will revolutionize our ability to market and track the potential of new services that are brought into the marketplace"

Chapter 8: Data Rocks and the Television-Internet Connection

Tancer begins the chapter by recalling his time at The New York Search Engine Strategies Conference, what he believes to be the one of the most popular conferences of the year (I’m guessing there were not a lot of conferences that year). Tancer reveals a little about his childhood and his apparent thirst for data at such a young age. He references another author, John Bartelle, and “the database of intentions,” a collection of what a sample of Internet users are searching on each day. Bartelle provides his description of the database: “This information represents, in aggregate form, a place holder for the intentions of humankind—a massive database of desires, needs, wants, and likes that can be discovered, subpoenaed, archived, tracked, and exploited to all sorts of ends.” This is basically a convoluted way of saying that a simple Internet search can spawn endless possibilities.

Speaking of convoluted, todays searchers have begun to include more information in their Internet searches. Maybe this has to do with the fact that there are entirely too many search results for a term as simple as “handbag” (46,400,000 via Google). What years ago may have just been a search for “handbag” has now grown to a search for “Stephen Sprouse Louis Vuitton bag” (which yields only 616,000 hits via Google).

Tancer talks about effective product placement and how it has the ability to influence Internet searches (although I’m not entirely convinced that The Apprentice was a representative example since its ratings have been fairly low, but I digress). Maybe Tancer is attempting to use product placement to increase viewership of the show?
Another round of product placement was showcased during the “Google Pontiac” commercial. During this time, I noticed just how much Tancer loves data. A simple request to google Pontiac translated into a plethora of questions about the specificity of the search.

Tancer gets his first taste of the online streaming video phenomenon courtesy of the Golden Spruce. This encountered happened by chance, mainly because Tancer was befuddled by some search results. Further research into the search term revealed that while Internet users do follow directions fairly well, they are even more likely to follow the directions when there is some incentive (i.e. a chance to win $100,000 courtesy of Treasure Hunters).



Tidbits:
Tancer loves data
Data is the new black.
Tancer is a fan of acronyms.
NBC is getting a lot of product (or network) placement in this chapter.

Women Wrestlers and Arbitraging Financial Markets

Women wrestlers and arbitraging financial markets was interesting. I was hoping to hear more about Xena the warrior princess than Stacy Kibler (who by all looks shouldn’t be a professional wrestler). In the beginning of the chapter, the author attempts to predict the winner of DWTS2 by tracking the spike in Internet traffic. His research resulted in predicting Stacy Kibler would win, followed by Drew Lachey and then Jerry Rice. The actual results were Drew Lachey, Jerry Rice, and Stacy Kibler. Of course this through the author into a frenzy of trying to figure out what he did wrong. He concluded that by judging popular opinion, that was only half of the result as the judges provide the other half of the result. Second, a phone voter may not represent the same demographic than an internet voter. Tancer then concluded that he had to “weed” out some of the searches who were just looking for photos on unrelated DWTS sites such as “World of Wrestling.”

Tancer then goes on to arbitrage unemployment claims and real estate property values. With real estate property values, he gets bitten by the “Stacy Kibler coefficient.” Based upon internet activity, he predicted that homes sales were going to increase; actually, worried home owners were doing more searches concerned about the value of their home than people actually interested in buying homes.

Great quote on page 169 applicable to many things. “It has become very clear that the data is always right, but pitfalls exist in how we interpret it, from gleaning insight into search terms to knowing the difference between search intent and actual behavior.”

Book Review Criteria

1) Mention the name of the author and the book title on the first slide.
-Click: Unexpected Insights for Business and Life by Bill Tancer

2) What is the author's viewpoint and purpose?
pp. 102: at the click of a button, we can find out what our society is thinking and what they are interested in and WHY!".

3) What are the author's main points?


4) What kind of evidence does the author use to prove his points? Is he convincing?


5) What do you like or dislike about the book's writing style? Is it funny? Does it give you a sense of the place it's set? What is the author's/narrator's "voice" like?


6) Does the author have the necessary expertise to write the book?



7) What are the most appropriate criteria by which to judge the book? How successful do you think the author was in carrying out the overall purposes of the book?


8) Describe the setting of the book.



9) Describe the book's main characters.


10) Did you like the book?


11) What was your favorite part of the book?


12) Do you have a least favorite part of the book? If so, what was it?


13) Would you recommend this book to another person?


14) What type of person would like this book?


15) If you could change something in the book, what would it be?

Chapter 7 - Web Who.0

This chapter is all about Web 2.0 what is means for users and the internet in terms of definitions, changes, uses, etc. He defines Web 2.0 as " refers to those sites that allow users to generate their own content and share that content among other users" (page 120 second full paragraph on page). But I thought the most interesting way of putting it was what he said on page 120 at the very top "What changed was that, rather than circulating content created by content publishers, such as portals or the online versions of newspapers and magazines, in May 2005, we began circulating content created in dorm rooms, on webcams, in basements and home offices. A select number of internet users had become the content creaters."

Tancer goes on to discuss the Pareto Principle 80/20 rule and how that rule has become less useful in terms of who produces and consumes info in today's 2.0 world. And because the rule we are programmed to refer to is not accurate Jakob Neilsen created a new theory and rule. Neilson came up with the 1-9-90 rule which is that 90% of online users are "lurkers" who just use and look but do not add or edit content, 9% contribute occasionally, and only 1% are active contributors. So of course Tancer is interested and creates a study to test the rule with three sites: YouTube, Flickr, and Wikipedia. He finds it to be true but a bit of a sliding scale.

Then he gets into Facebook and creates his own page. After he gains over 1,000 friends of varying ages and backgrounds he starts to see what all you can gain/learn from Facebook and similar networks. I enjoyed the part about his friend Lauren's comments on facebook and the "stalking" aspect of it. This leads to Tancer asking when is all this information too much information?

I found it entertaining his discussion on TripAdvisor and the normalcy of knowing all about a place before you go there from reviews and comments because I do that. I don't know I actually learned anything from his discussion about it other than I just agreed I do it and I like it. I am a huge opentable.com girl. That topic lead into the topic of generational expectation gaps and the restaurant example of plate clearing expectations between a young contemporary and an older affluent suburbanite. So true I think.

Lastly he talks about the dying of paper newspapers and people's news gathering shifts from news outlets traditionally used to alternative sources like blogs. I am not convinced that newspapers are out though, I do agree they have been hurt by all this but I don't see them disappearing. We shall see..

Sorry this is more summary than thoughts but I thought this chapter covered many topics on Web 2.0 so it is important to note them for remembering later.