Google Lunar X Prize

Google has announced $30M for the team to gets a Lunar Rover by 2014. Very cool! Summarized well by Jeff Foust

Bringing space travel closer (or one step before it – the rover) is exciting stuff for me, must be for Larry too!

Its interesting to note the high tech entrepreneurs role in commercializing space industry – Elon Musk with SpaceX and Paul Allen invested in SpaceShipOne of X Prize, Jeff Bezos with his Blue Origin, building a spaceship

Social Media Optimization And Growing Brands

This is part of the presentation on Social Media Optimization that I gave at BarCampBlock.

Social Media covers a set of technologies and online locations with common characteristics that affect brand perceptions:

1. Your customers talk among themselves, good or bad, affecting your brand perceptions.
- Happy customers should be encouraged to express their love for your brand and customer complains should be addresses openly.

2. Customers operate in trusted circles online and infleunce purchase decisions.
- Need presence and tracking of online communities and social networks.

3. Blogosphere has several influencers who have their own brands in areas of specialities.
- Update them with upcoming releases, court them as partners and help build your products.

Social Media Categories:

1. Digg, Reddit – Community Voted News Sites

2. Social Networks (Facebook, Orkut, Myspace, Hi5 etc)
- open sharing, peer influence is high, currently younger demographics is 60%

3. Second Life

4. Blogosphere
- Find blogs related to your brand and encourage articles and discussions
- Court influencers and partner to grow product and brand

5. Groups (Y groups, Google Groups)

6. Sites (review sites, supply chain, purchase sites)
- Monitor Comments and reviews.
- Honest scores high points to improve brands.