Social Shopping? June 18, 2008

so again, like the twitter incident, i am the last to know about everything.  yesterday, i was sent a link to http://www.iliketotallyloveit.com.  this website is the product (imho) of somebody over reaching.

the idea of social networking is still very new to some who do not work with the internet intimately everyday.  the idea of posting an idea and having hundreds of strangers read it and then make comments on it is absurd to some.  however, the rest of us, paticularly in the blogging arena are completely ok with sharing, whether it be a link to youtube which illustrates our water birth (see below) or just our own thoughts about things.

however, the idea of social shopping is something that i do not wish to explore.  the reason that i shop online is to avoid other people, especially those with opinions.  additionally, if i need to post a t-shirt that i have found [sidebar] as you will notice this website is full of expensive brand new vintage looking t-shirts that are going to be worn onlly by the hipsters that use this website on their mac laptops on a park bench in which they rode their fixed gear bike to.  [end sidebar] for a bunch of strangers to critisize, then i probably shouldnt be buying it anyway.  if i am that concerned with what other people think of the crap that i buy, i have much bigger problems.

However, from a merchant point of vision, social shopping could be a blessing, if your product doesnt suck that is.

Your Walled Garden June 13, 2008

this is what confuses me, the internet is free, no?  So why on earth would i pay somebody for their information, especially if i am looking to buy something.  for instance, there are websites that make you login in before you can find information about their product.

On the other hand, right now i am loving user created content.  this company, FlipKey is awesome.  they allow a widget (for free) that allows user created content for vacation rentals.  kind of like trip adviser, but cooler.  it may seem as though i am glossing over the subject but i have been talking about this all day, user created content and how awesome it is and so on and so forth, and 2 margaritas and 5 hours later, i dont know if i have yet to sell anybody on it yet.

google maps June 12, 2008

Does it get much cooler than this? User created maps that are searchable bring interactivity on the web to a whole new level.  Perfect for vacation rental companies, property managers and realtors.  its free (even better) and you dont get bent over by web companies and their over priced static “interactive maps” which are obsolete within 2 months of you paying through the nose for them anyway.

twitter

so apparently i am behind, i guess the entire world has signed up for twitter except for me.  this takes big brother to a whole new level, however this is just another way to promote yourself online.  love it. and its not as juvinile as facebook or myspace, thank god, no more real estate agents on myspace trying to be my “friend”.