Social butterfly. Social security. Soc…
Social butterfly. Social security. Social drinking. Social smoker. Social sciences. Social distortion. Let’s talk social for a minute because it’s one of the key drivers in all things related to tech, media, and advertising. First off, let’s touch on this Wedbush report I got in my inbox today that says we’ve entered a brand new phase of business on this planet — ” The Second Internet, aka The Social Internet”. I think Wedbush Securities’ analysts make some good sense in this breakdown:
§ Our New Framework is THE SECOND INTERNET, aka THE SOCIAL INTERNET
· One Million B.C. – 1993: The Offline World, moved slowly, major winners included Walmart.
· 1994 – 2009: The First Internet, moved much faster than The Offline World, major winners included Amazon and notably few of the winners from The Offline World.
· 2010 – ????: The Second Internet, moves much faster than First Internet, is much bigger than the First Internet, and surprisingly few of the winners from the First Internet.
You guys know how I’ve been citing the app/smartphone/tablet revolution for years as being the biggest growth market in the history of our planet. The Social Internet is a big driver of these accelerating revolutions. Then again, is the social revolution the chicken to the app/smartphone/tablet revolution’s egg? Or is it the other way around? As investors, it doesn’t matter which marketplace revolution begat the other. We just want to profit off our knowledge that it the revolutions are indeed happening in front of our eyes.
You need to be on top of this concept of the Social Internet, because its implications for your stocks is huge. Just today,Google’s rolling out its latest social concept — the new +1 search result feature.
Now when you Google “Cody Willard Fired”, which is according to Google’s suggestions is the most popular search with my name in it since I quit my job as a TV anchor, you can hit a button that will let your Google contacts know that you read the truth about what happened to me. Conversely, you could +1 one of the articles that outright lie and say I did get fired.
You direct it, though, not Google. And that’s a big deal. It’s another way for us to communicate to our peers what we think is important. And it enables consumers to more easily promote the products and content and information that they love and hate, and that will impact every company on the planet. And by launching this +1 technology, Google has finally done with Buzz and its other stupid copy-cat social forays so far haven’t done — innovate and actually get a foothold into social. Will we be soon be +1′ing our favorite Android Apps too? Yes.
Microsoft, Google, Apple and Research in Motion et al are going to be increasingly trying to get you into their “Social Internet” and to use their existing critical mass to build in more social features to everything they do. Google’s made an impressive step here with +1, but look for all these companies to figure out ways to battle/utilize Facebook and the current winners in the Social Internet like Twitter and LinkedIn.
And as a parting comment, I have just have to ask, what is up with naming this new social feature “+1″? Did Google get that name from someone at Microsoft or what? Stupid job of branding, calling this thing “+1″ and telling me I “+1′d” this result? Whatever they call it though, it’s a positive for Google to roll up its sleeves and finally join the Social Internet, and I wouldn’t count Google out as being one of the big winners of that Social Internet.
