Visions of ‘08, Vol 4

With ‘08 hard upon us (less than 8 hours, per my analogue-clock-widget), I’ll look at one more set of predictions about weblife for the year ahead. They come from USAToday, an operation that, far more than many of its peers, “gets” the whole 2.0 world. (But then one of the big pieces of USAT news for ‘07 was its need to layoff 60 people, which may show us exactly how much a newspaper’s “getting” 2.0 is doing for the bottom line.)

Its piece is by Marco Della Cava, “Get Real,” is about all sorts of social trendishments. But among its 2.0 points:

1. People will begin to turn away from the amateur opinionations of web 2.0: Says Marshal Cohen of NPD Group: “The average person may well be shouting ‘I want a say,’ but that’s created an absence of legitimacy on the web. [In '08] “We’ll listen to those we deem worth listening to, because we’re tired of all the noise out there.”

2. Now that we of the Glucosamine/Chondroitin generation have joined social networks like Facebook, these operations will become venues for intergenerational communication. Says Peter Sealey of The Sausalito Group: “Adults will turn to these sites to ask three questions of their loved ones: How are you? Where are you? And what are you doing?” he says. “The conversation on these social networking sites will flow between kids, parents and seniors.”

Which permits a segue into one of my favorite recent e-mail pass-alongs from a Friend of a Certain Age (which is to say, mine). Facebook for old people.

Enjoy. See you on the other side. Of the New Year, I mean.

Visions of ‘08, Vol 3

Wired magazine has published its obligatory view-of-’08-through-beer-goggles. Its Top 10 Startups to Watch in ‘08 include. . .well, several companies that aren’t startups at all. Some around since 2005. Go figure.

Setting that aside, here’s a short list of what the Wired crowd will be watching. I’ve included only those I hadn’t heard of previously, figuring my ignorance is a good low bar to set for others.

As a public service, I’ve done the descriptive math that seems to apply so well to 2.0fferings for the year ahead.

Dash: GPS + online traffic reports

Fon: Boingo + home broadband + {neoMarxism/144} + {Univision/2}

Spock: Ego-surfing + social network scrapery - federal privacy legislation

Visions of ‘08, Vol 2

Today’s prognostication for the year ahead is near and dear to my heart: A warning that all the video people are watching on the web (along with music, phone calls and other bandwidth-sucking activities) will soon slow the Internet to a crawl.

The prediction appears in Harvard public policy lecturer Emily Kamarck’s op-ed in the Boston Globe.

False apocalypse?

Another reason to boycott web video?

Or a wise warning that the Internet free ride may have to end? Which is to say, someone [and we always know who that "someone" is] will have to pay for the new infrastructure needed to keep things moving along so you can exercise your god-given right to watch Battlestar Galactica ruruns on Hulu?

We’ll find out, maybe, in ‘08.

[n.b.: The home page of today's Boston.com, home of the Globe, includes a particularly well-done, if terribly earnest, Globe-produced video.]

Visions of ‘08, Vol 1

As the invitable year-that-was rundowns appear all over the web, a few forward-leaning folks are peering ahead into the HypeMurk of ‘08.

As a public service–and, to be honest, to prevent me from having to make a list of my own that could be held against me 365 days hence–I’ll do quick rundowns on the ‘08 look-aheads so you don’t have to read them at all.

Today’s entry: Facebook is so Last Year, by  Bobbi Johnson of The Guardian. His 5 picks for signicant sites in ‘08 include:

Etsy.com  Ebay + the local handcrafters guild

Dopplr: Facebook  + meetup for frequent flyers

Seesmic: YouTube returned to its roots (!) + . . .French President Nicolas Sarkozy?

My prediction for ‘08 lists: Many will include entries best described with the following formula: Sum= ‘07 hit + {pop culture phenomenon not yet monetized on the web  + VC investment - market uncertainty}

But I have never been good at math.

User-generated litigation

The inherent fairness of wisdom-of-the-crowds ratings matters very little when applied to things like recipes, R&B songs, videos, restaurants or blog entries (Digg this entry, folks, please!).

When public opinions are gathered about lawyers, however, things get a little stickier.

Witness Browne v. Avvo, Inc.

Avvo is a web 2.0 site that invites users to rank lawyers. Browne is John Henry Browne, a Seattle attorney who was ranked by Avvo. I’m guessing you know where this story is headed.

Bottom line: Browne’s class-action suit against Avvo’s CEO and 25 “John Does” was thrown out. Frankly I don’t want to get into much detail here, because I don’t need Browne or any individual so situated to sue my puny butt. But read David Ardia’s summary of the Browne v. Avvo on the website of the Citizen Media Law Project for all the details.

I will, however, share this one ripe bit of commentary from U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik, who granted the defendants’ dismissal of the suit:

[P]laintiffs Browne and Wenokur want to make a federal case out of the number [[the rating published by Avvo--cs]] assigned to them because (a) it could harm their reputation, (b) it could cost them customers/fees, or (c) it could mislead the lawyer-hiring public into retaining poor lawyers or bypassing better lawyers. To the extent that their lawsuit has focused a spotlight on how ludicrous the rating of attorneys (and judges) has become, more power to them. To the extent that they seek to prevent the dissemination of opinions regarding attorneys and judges, however, the First Amendment precludes their cause of action.

If there’s been a more astute observation about the practice of aggregating public opinion to provide consumer guidance, I’ve yet to read it. It’s a dumb practice. And it’s pointless to fight it.

[Conflict-of-interest note: CMLP's David Ardia is a former attorney for my ex-employer, the Washington Post. On several occasions he managed to keep stories I edited on the proper side of the law.]

2.0ffice-Seeker Winners and Losers

The website techPresident, which is devoted to following the digital deeds and misdeeds of presidential candidates, has a good end-of-year roundup of hits and misses. A few highlights:

• Best use of blog: Mike Huckabee, for being both effective and funny.
• Best 2.0 feature use: Ron Paul’s unsettling real-time reporting of donor information.
• Best use of mobile technology: Who knew Barak Obama Twittered?

In the Web Dirty Tricks category– a category which I just made up, and in which techPresident is not a participant–I particularly enjoy this great Ron Paul trick: Punch www.mittromney.org in your browser to visit the site of the former Massachusetts governor.

Or not.

That link redirects you to www.ronpaul2008.com.

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