What

Linked in is launching 10 applications from 8 companies that will let you collect information, share reading lists, communicate and collaborate and share documents with the people in your network.

The 10 Initial Applications are:

• Slide.com – Share your presentations with your network
• WordPress & BlogLink- Share your blog with your network
• Box.net – Filesharing
• Company Buzz – Shows the twitter activity associated with your company
• Slideshare and Google Presentation – Share presentations on your profile
• My Travel – See where people in your network will be
• Huddle Workspaces – Securely share info to collaborate on projects

BTW – I know that I only listed 9 – they say 10 apps in the video, but there are only 9 live on the site.  Perhaps one got delayed.

This is the “corporate” video from Linked-In.

What Does This Mean?

When I first heard the combination of applications on a social networking site, I had nightmares of the “app-spam” that plagues facebook.  BUT LinkedIn is smarter.  They are limiting the apps to partners and the initial apps are all relevant and useful and cool.  So first – congrats to LinkedIn on good execution.  I was a little surprised not to see twitter on that list – although perhaps that is coming.

I like how LinkedIn apps will help to aggregate my online life – someone can go to LinkedIn and use it more as a platform; see my blog, my travel plans, the books I recommend.  Essentially, this is a consolidation of my online feeds and activities; which makes it easier for people to learn about me and know what’s going on without visiting a ton of different sites (twitter, blog, etc).

Now, what does this mean.  The potential is actually pretty big. (now I’ll switch to more of a tech geek vs. marketer).  More and more b-to-b collaboration tools have been popping up recently (I must have seen at least 5 at DEMO), and many with a common trend – make online collaboration easier.  The LinkedIn apps definitely do that.  So, there is a genuine need in the marketplace for this kind of development, and using LinkedIn as the backbone certainly makes it easier.

What is really POWERFUL about this is the long-term potential.  Could LinkedIn become the new defacto platform for business collaboration?  A social network transforming into a platform for business operation and collaboration.

How about this…. Imagine LinkedIn creates an API where companies can use it to build upon their existing intranet structures.  That kind of sounds like the direction that the Huddle Workspaces App is headed.

Or what about if LinkedIn and other networks jumped on the dataportability bandwagon and you could share and move your data and info seamlessly across a variety of networks, including LinkedIn.  Consolidation of online communities is really useful… joining new sites (like Utterz or Plurk) simply means that my community and the places where I interact with them are increasingly fragmented.  Using some of the Mega-Social-Networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace to consolidate the data from these other tools into one place makes managing my online life much easier.

So, there is my 2 cents.  What do you think?  Agree?  Dissagree?

In aggregate, web surfers are exposed to 12% fewer display-ad impressions per page view than they were a year ago, according to ComScore AdMetrix data.

This is probably a good thing for both advertisers and consumers….. consumers face less clutter and harassment from ads, and advertisers have higher quality ads… wait – why is this good for advertisers?  Less clutter is actually better for advertisers.

Dynamic Logic has been looking at clutter for a while and has found it reduces the likelihood of a message getting through. Last year, a study conducted with Dynamic Logic, Starcom and DoubleClick found that a 15% increase in ads on a page results in about a 10% decline in click-through rate.

“We found clutter variables didn’t impact awareness messages as much but did affect lower-funnel metrics such as message association and purchase intent,” said Ken Mallon, senior VP-custom solutions, Dynamic Logic. “As you increase clutter, the message is less likely to be conveyed.”

Is the economy really to blame for this decrease? Who knows.  I think that advertisers are getting smarter about how they spend their online dollars, and as things like social media become less scary and unknown, more dollars are shifting into integrated campaigns with multiple touchpoints vs. display based advertising.

An AUDIENCE is not the same as TRAFFIC and here is why.

Traffic = Getting people to go to your site.  Pageviews.  Visits.  Often 1-time visitors.

Audience = People who actively read your content and engage with your blog.  Regularly.

The difference?  An audience is relevant to your content, these are your regular readers and commenters who are really interested in your blog and what you have to say.  Traffic often comes through one-time hits on sites like Digg or Stumbleupon and is often interested in

What is so bad about traffic?

• It can be a distraction to your regular readers.  The traffic you get may be an entirely different crowd from your regular readers.  Traffic comes from headlines often written by other people and may or may not be very closely related to your regular topics and audience.
• Traffic can crash your servers.
• You can spend TONS of time trying to get traffic and get none.
• Writing for traffic is hard.  Very few people are good at predicting what will actually get to the front page of Digg and noone really understands how to get Stumbled.  Write great content and it will come.
• Traffic is a one time hit.  Thats right.  Most people who have landed the elusive front page of Digg did not see a continuous increase in their traffic – just a one-time bump.

OK, so what can you do to build your readership and start making more ad revenue?

How to Build an Audience:

• Comment on other blogs – say something smart or interesting on another blog in your area.  If people like what you say, they’ll click through to your blog.
• Link to other blogs – Link love matters.  Link to other blogs so that 1) they’ll see you in their stats and know who you are, 2) you can gain readers and 3) you can show up in their trackbacks if they accept them.
• Submit your content to Niche sites – Don’t waste your time submitting to Digg – go for something more targeted.  When I started a photography blog we used photographyvoter – a Digg-like site for photography – which got us lots of relevant and interested traffic.  Look for relevant niche sites – you won’t get as much traffic, but the traffic that you get will be more meaningful.
• BlogRoll – Yes, these are less popular, but build a blog roll of other blogs in your area, and email the writers and tell them that you added them to your blogroll and let them know why.  They might link to you or think of you in a future post – plus link love can help your seo ratings.
• Twitter – Twitter is a great way to gain publicity for your blogs.  Your audience on twitter is probably already interested in what you are writing about, so tweeting your latest posts lets people know what you are writing about.  Just remember – give and take… tweet other stuff too or you’ll lose followers.
• Social Networks – Use your other social networks too – Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc – let people know what you are writing about.

The Point? Spend your time and energy building a meaningful audience.  There are no quick fixes or cheap tricks to build your online empire…. Sorry to dissappoint.

What do you think?  Share your audience building tips in the comments.

@geoffness in some creative meetings – no one sees eye to eye – you just have to leave it and come back at it later in the day or tomorrow.

@MattRissell I’m amazed at how much wisdom people over the age of 70 have… Even if they don’t know what Twitter is

Well…. you probably don’t.  The first time I went on twitter was over a year ago at the suggestion of Jeremy Pepper, I joined looked at the random crap in the timelines and just didn’t get it.  I re-joined a few months later, and was suddenly addicted to the wonderfulness that is twitter.  For those interested in joining the addiction, here is what you should know.

What

The easiest way to explain what twitter is is with this video from common craft:

Why?

Well, twitter is good for more than just random commentary on what people are eating and where they are…. Some of the best tweets and things about twitter include:

• Links to great articles… lots of people only link to their own stuff, but I tend to prefer those who just provide links to great stuff they are reading.
• News before the news… there was an earthquake in Cincinnati a few months ago.  It took the news about an hour to report on it (they have to get confirmations, etc).  I thought that maybe I had dreamed it (it happened in the middle of the night), but quickly logged in to twitter and found out what had happened.
• Humor… Lots of people will tweet something funny they find.
• Stay in the Know… Twitter is a great way to stay in the know on what is going on.  Scanning your stream every few hours will let you know what people are up to.
• Building Connections… You can “meet” people on twitter much faster than in real life.  It is a great way to find people with similar interests in your area or field.
• Asking for Help… When I was looking for an SEO firm I twittered, and got TONs of great recommendations. BUT be careful how often you use your social network for these things.
• Build an audience… more and more people are using twitter to build an audience for their blogs, their causes, their companies, whatever.  If you are using twitter for this purpose BE CAREFUL – you don’t want to be a dirty spammer.

How?

To get started go to twitter and create an account. These are the next steps:

1. Most people on twitter use their real names as their username (eg. I am @kristaneher) – using your real name will make it easier for people to find you.
2. Fill in your profile info – many people won’t follow you unless they know a little about who you are and why you might be interesting to them.
3. Upload a picture – I would recommend not changing your picture too often, as many people scan their twitter feeds looking for the pictures of the people they are interested in – so choose wisely
4. Start following people (see below for who to follow.  Don’t come out of the gate following hundreds of people you don’t know or have nothing in common with.

Who to Follow on Twitter

• Start with people you know!!! You probably already know at least a few people on twitter.  Start by following them (they will likely follow you back) and try @ ing them (sending a public message intended for them). For example @kristaneher – I just read your blog post and this is my first tweet…
• The twitter elite/popular – following these people will keep you “in the know” on the broader twitter community.  You can find a list of
• Do a tweetscan of terms that you are interested in…. it could be socialmedia, PR or groundhogs… you’ll find other people who have tweeted with that word…. this can be a great way to make initial connections with people who have similar interests.
• Look at who follows who – Once on twitter you’ll see on the right hand side who else that person follows.
• Look at who the people you know are talking to (or @ing).  This is a great way to expand your circle as you will probably have things in common with them as well.

HAVE FUN

Twitter is supposed to be a fun, social place, so don’t take it too seriously.  That being said, everything you say on twitter will be out there, on the net, potentially forever, so keep that in mind.

Have any other thoughts/tips/experiences on getting started with twitter???  Share them here!!!