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DLD 2011: The Internet Is Becoming More Social, Local, and Mobile

28 Jan. 2011 | Author: Ute De Mitri | german

From the 23rd to the 25th of January, not only the grandees of the market showed up to the DLD (Digital Life Design) conference, sponsored by Burda publishing. Start-ups as well as investors also paid a visit in order to discuss their future plans and visions. The owners of the internet services are optimistic and agree: offline is out, online is becoming more and more mobile, and the social interactions will influence every aspect.

Three days filled to the rim with dissertations, discussions, and interviews. A lot was said, but we would like to provide a small summary of what we believe to be the most important points about the development of internet services, location based services (LBS), as well as social media:

Generation Cloud 2

Marc Benioff, CEO of the software company Salesforce.com believes that business application has to work like Facebook. The first Cloud-Generation was heavily influenced by Google and Amazon and has adapted its purchasing behavior accordingly. The Cloud Generation 2 is now up for bat and is influenced by Facebook, Groupon and Co. They are mobile, efficient, and their lives, work, and the communication between all people will be affected.

Wisdom of Friends

Facebook manager Dan Rose believes that the online world is in the middle of a drastic change: “We are moving from a network of information to a social network, from the wisdom of masses to the wisdom of friends.” And since games are the main trend makers, according to Rose, the companies that provide their games on Facebook should be supported more strongly. The developers of digital games like Farmville understood one important aspect, namely that virtual experiences can be combined with social media. You build a farm, and the more friends that support you in the process, the more success you’ll have.

Advertising

Facebook makes money through advertising. Even though interactive communication is made possible by the internet, online advertising has remained virtually unchanged for quite some time. Facebook uses the communication potential to create “social ads”, according to Rose. Advertisements with your friends’ names in them will probably get a bit more attention. Because users register, Facebook can directly contact them and make advertising more and more specific.

Local and Social

Dennis Crowley, the founder of the geotagging- and check-in service Foursquare, as well as Andrew Mason, the CEO of the coupon portal Groupon, both companies with comet-like growth, both expressed themselves similarly in an interview. Foursquare should make life easier and simpler for its users, according to Crowley. Users check-in, let their friends know where they are, and rate the location. But for the past few months, the company has been working together with other firms and creating local based tips for the display, and this with success. As to whether or not there is supposed to be a German version of the service in cooperation with the Deutsche Telekom (we report), Crowley did not reveal. But this isn’t very surprising, seeing as how he wasn’t asked.

Andrew Mason sees his deal portal as a helpful resource for consumers to discover interesting businesses or deals. But Groupon is also a platform for local e-commerce, in which stores can reach out to their potential customers within the vicinity. And Groupon makes money on every coupon created. This is a business model which really works! The current development of the company displays this perfectly (we report). And Mason confirmed that there are current discussions with banks about a release into the stock market.

One thing is certainly clear for Crowley and Mason: despite their success, they cannot afford themselves to become to euphoric and be satisfied with what they have done so far: they will need to focus on furthering development for their companies if they want to remain successful.

Online and Mobile

René Schuster, chief executive from Telefónica O2, believes that mobile internet will revolutionize the web. The app stores are mega-trends. Everyday, new applications are being developed. The components that mobile devices are attaining with the most modern technologies such as close range communication devices, which allow for Bluetooth, or the wireless transfer of data, open up completely new fields. Payments via mobile device may put the major credit card companies out of business in the next five years.

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, sees this potential as well. The future will not solely revolve around apps but also devices and their possibilities. Devices that do not support internet or networked communication are no longer interesting. Google especially wants to concentration on the individual needs of the consumer, namely to be online and to be linked up. The technology that the company has developed in the past few years should help Google make this vision a reality. And not only in the USA: the international search engine giant is impressed with the growing demand for Google in Europe, and especially in Germany, and now plans to hire 1,000 new employees in Europe this year. At least 100 should come from Germany. And another bit of new information for Germany: towards the end of the event, Marissa Mayer, the to-go girl for location based services, announced the nearby launch of Google Hotpot in Germany. The official launch should be in February, and the location based service should be available in a number of new countries.

DLD 2011: The Internet Is Becoming More Social, Local, and Mobile
Posted in Events, Social Media, Web Communities, World Wide Web, Local Search, New Search Machine Interest, Search Technologies, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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