When we enter the last month of the year, it is always interesting to predict what will happen in the next year. Not only amusing, a successful prediction often lead to a good anticipation of important business decisions to make. In this post, we are going to look at some available predictions from several sources.

• On Internet Marketing : “Internet marketing continues to grow in importance for many marketing managers”, according to Ad Operations. Creative digital marketing agency Strange (www.strangecorp.com) has also published a report outlining next year’s key trends in online marketing. As more advertisers look to digital, Strange believes that keyword inflation will most likely continue at a high level, and foresees more negotiating over CPA (cost per action/acquisition) advertising. Key areas for expansion will be mobile advertising, local search/localized services and social media.
• On Internet and Social Media : Compassion In Politics published an interesting prediction. In it, they identified some key points like : crowd sourcing will be a huge social media trend for 2009, a renewed focus on technology efficiency and productivity, leveraging offline connection with online connection, mobile and iPhone will continue to see massive user and application growth, video driven communities that drive conversation will take off in social media, and monetization will prove to be huge as more startups have to confront budgetary and cost-cutting issues. The WPromoter agrees with them on at least one point, - which is the prevalence of online video. On the other hand, they put more emphasis on the rise of local search, the supremacy of creativity, a more personal web and user-generated content.
• On Mobile : Daniel Robinson of Vnunet.com mentioned that mobile services specialist Critical Path sees five top trends already developing: the emergence of the ‘real’ smartphone; the development of vertical ecosystems such as Nokia’s Ovi; the digital divide; the re-emergence of location-based services; and the economic outlook. The ‘big five’ handset makers are likely to survive, but the market could see the emergence of a ‘big eight’ instead, as Apple, Google and RIM increase their share at the expense of the current dominant players, according to Donald Dew, chief technology officer at Critical Path.

All in all, their predictions clearly highlight that 2009 will be a very exciting year indeed. Just reading their predictions will give you all the excitements, - let alone incorporating them into your business planning of the oncoming year.

To get a better picture of the predictions, I strongly encourage you to read their post which I cite below :

• Key Online and Internet Marketing Trends in 2009 Revealed by Strange
• Top Seven Social Media, Online Marketing, and Internet Trends for 2009.
• 5 Trends to Watch for in 2009 and How to Make Them Work for Your Business.
• Critical Paths highlights key mobile trends for 2009

At this point, it may not be necessary to explain what blogging is. You should know, you are reading one of them. Yet, corporate blogging is a whole different game to personal blogging. This blog is an example of corporate blogging.

Depending on the direction, corporate blogging is classified into 2 groups :

• Internal : Accessible only to employees, internal corporate blog is very similar to company bulletins or newsletters.
• External : Meant for public consumption, many times it involves PR efforts and soft-selling writings.

Focusing on external corporate blogging, let’s pose a question : Do my company needs a corporate blog ? There really is no easy way to answer this, but some issues you need to ponder are :

• The Nature of Your Product / Service : Is it something that requires a lot of information ? Is it something that can be used in many ways, - and thus, has interesting tips and tricks ? Is it something that needs a heavy PR strategy ?
• Your Company’s Ability to Blog : Contrary to popular belief, corporate blogs are NOT the place to dump your PR essays and press releases. The most successful corporate blogs are the ones who shares some interesting news and insights about their fields. If you’re not sure that you do have someone in your company that can write about interesting issues ASIDE of your product, - then maybe it’s best to forget about the idea.
• Consistency : I keep on stressing this. Interesting topics are not enough when you don’t have consistency. It is as true in the world of corporate blogging as in the personal one.
• Control Method : Corporate blogs need a supervising editorial team. The word “team” is defined loosely. It can consist of you only as the CEO, or maybe a specially-paid group of 6 people. The key point is, you have to have a feel as to what your writer posts about, - and develop some methods to have them stay in the company’s directions.

Those are issues at the very basic level. There are many dimensions that you need to at least be aware about before you decide to take the proverbial plunge. To help your research, the following references may be particularly helpful :

• Wikipedia page of Corporate Blogging
• Sitepoint’s List of 15 Good Corporate Blogs
• Jeremiah Owyang’s Essay on The Many Challenges of Corporate Blogging
• Practical Guide To Starting A Corporate Blog by Jason Falls

SInce the end of 2007, the mobile industry had reached 100 million subscribers via various MNO (Mobile Network Operator) and FWA (Fixed Wireless Access). However it believed that the number doesn’t respectfully correspond to the usage of today’s technology (HSDPA, mobile web), until a leading mobile browser maker, Opera, released reports that SouthEast Asia is leading in mobile web usage and growth.

It reported that Indonesia ranks first in SouthEast Asia (and second worldwide) in usage with almost 330% user growth and 827% page view growth in 2008. Followed by Malaysia with 462.6%  user growth and 474.5% page view growth. Obviously, more Indonesian mobile subscribers are using their phone to go online today.

In many of Southeast Asian countries the mobile Web exists not because it complements existing means of access, but rather because it replaces them. Page view growth and pages per user are an interesting metric to see how much people use Opera Mini to browse the Web. It is interesting to note that page views per user in Indonesia and the Philippines are significantly higher than the worldwide numbers. In fact page views grew more than 1120% in the Philippines this year.

The report geographic focus is on Southeast Asia, where we see Google as the dominant player in the search engine space and Friendster as the premier social-networking site, with hi5 coming in second. Nokia is dominant in the region, with brands like Sony Ericsson and Huawei competing for a distant second place. Here’s the highlight.

• Indonesia and Malaysia lead the way for mobile Web adoption, followed by Thailand and Brunei.
• Indonesia leads the top 9 countries in page views, with each user browsing 358 pages on average in October 2008, well above the global average.
• Growth rates are soaring: Malaysia leads the top 9 with 462.6% growth in users this year, followed by the Philippines (396.4% growth) and Indonesia (329.5% growth.
• In Southeast Asia, among mobile Web users, Google is the dominant player in the search engine space, with Yahoo and Live Search vying for second place.
• Friendster is the premier social-networking site in the region, with hi5 coming in second.
• Nokia is dominant in the region, with brands like Sony Ericsson and Huawei competing for a distant second place.

On top sites rank by Indonesian unique users, Facebook made a big jump entering the list this month. The report also predicted about Facebook beat Friendster in the near future, “It will be interesting to see if Facebook will affect the dominance of Friendster in Indonesia”. Here’s the complete top sites viewed via  mobile:

1. friendster.com
2. google.com
3. gamejump.com (back on the list)
4. facebook.com (new)
5. yahoo.com (back on the list)
6. waptrick.com (new)
7. peperonity.com (down from 4)
8. wikipedia.org (down from 5)
9. getjar.com (back on the list)
10. gratisindo.com (down from 6)

and here is the top handsets for October 2008 (which use the Opera Browser):

1. Nokia 6600
2. Nokia N70
3. Nokia 3230
4. Nokia 7610
5. Nokia N73
6. Nokia 6300
7. Sony Ericsson W200i
8. Nokia 5310
9. Sony Ericsson K750i
10. Sony Ericsson K510i

It seems (Indonesia) mobile industry really helps bridging the gap of internet infrastructure thus accelerates nation-wide internet penetration (at least Opera enjoys it). I wonder if Blackberry will be listed in top handsets list by the end of 2008, noted that all major GSM operators offers Blackberry with affordable monthly plan connection package.

These development gave new insight of opportunities in mobile web, conventional web and mobile application. Simply develop “m” as your subdomain will extend your audience to mobile web users. You don’t even have to develop a special java application to comply the web communication model, most recognized format for mobile web is XHTML which took an article of web standards. Have you xhtml-ized your site?

For me, I prefer desktop/notebook view, using Sony Ericsson G502 as modem (traveling) or  view directly via NetFront Browser (pre-installed) with HSDPA connection. Quite fast!

• Work whenever you want

• Work wherever you want

• Manage your own time schedule

In short, it promises to let you be your own boss.  It is only logical then that the adventurous folks move in that direction to try their hands on it.  The question is : should you follow their steps ?

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First, let’s take a look at your current professional position.  People have different motivations that drive them forward.  Some may value money, others may put doing something new above everything.  All are equally valid.  In the context of your current job, do you feel the need to change the direction you are taking now ?  What drives you on ?  Does your current job pay you enough ?  Or has it become a boring, business-as-usual set of tasks ?  If you feel any need to change at all ( whatever your motivation is ), then being a web freelancer may well work for you.
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Second, - and this is the harder question you need to deal with :  Do you have what it takes to be a succesful freelancer ? Since one of the essential factors of freelancing is self-management, do you have the required discipline, perseverance and consistency ? Discipline is required to deliver your job on schedule.  Perseverance is crucial as most of your beginning time will be spent on searching and applying for jobs ( which sometimes feel like they will never come ).  Similarly, consistency is needed for maintaining your online credibility via personal blogs, online resume, or participating in forums.

Of course, there are more useful traits you need to acquire, but I think those are the three that you must absolutely possess to be a successful web freelancer.  Be honest to yourself and examine those characteristics in you closely.
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That being said, it quickly become clear that being a freelancer is not for everyone.  Yet this is not to say that you should not try it.  On the contrary, I encourage you to have a go at it, if only for the experience.  Two of the most trusted and respected sites on the web where you can find freelance jobs are Brighthub and oDesk. I wish you the best of luck !

P.S. :  A good reference of how you should start your freelance career can be read here.

A couple of days ago, we discussed about the basics of RSS. While a lot of people know about it already, we still need to touch on some basic points to help those who don’t. Once we got on that, now I am going to suggest some ways to utilize RSS to help your business.

Here they are :

• Subscribe to feeds that you read often or daily

This is just a practice based on a common sense. By doing that, you’ll save huge chunks of time from your typically-busy day.

• Find some feeds from a field that’s relevant to your business, - and subscribe to them

If you are in the tech business, you should subscribe to TechCrunch, Mashable and other prominent tech blogs out there. If you’re into news, catch the feeds of CNN, New York Times, and the likes. It goes similar way in whatever field your business in.

At first glance, this is also a sensible practice. Yet many of us ( - including me back then ), missed doing this because they can’t see the point. Please refrain from doing the same mistake. It will help you heavily in staying abreast of the most recent development in your particular business field. It will help you catch the newest trend and fad in the way you never thought possible.

There are 2 ways of doing this :

· If you already knew what sites are relevant to your business, you can go to their URLs, and subscribe manually. The process is elaborated in the first post of the series.

· If you are not sure, then Google is your friend. Find the best sites there is, and subscribe to their feeds. Alternatively, you can go to Google Blogsearch, and search for your topic. On your result page, just click the “RSS” link under the “Subscribe” menu in the left side of the page. You will then be asked to enter your preference of Feed Reader, - and you’re done.

• The last point you really need to consider has something to do with your business online activities. Does your business have its own website / blog ? If yes, then by default it will provide an option for people to subscribe to its own RSS feed. In this sense, you are a feed publisher.

What I will recommend for a serious feed publisher is : signing up for a feed optimizer service. The most well-known ( and so far has proven to be reliable for me ) is Feedburner. Acquired by Google in 2007, you can sign up for their service for free. Once registered, you can optimize your feed by customizing it in such a way to fit your readers’ needs. For example, you can include a menu below each feed, where any reader can bookmark your post to social bookmarking sites like Delicious or Digg; - all without going to your site. There are many other features to browse and use. Bottom line : better publication for you and your business. Try it.

There you go. I don’t pretend to be an expert on this matter. That’s why I said I “offer” some suggestions. One thing I do know : RSS is a very powerful thing to use, - both for personal productivity purpose, and as a platform to help growing your business. Have fun !

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works – such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video – in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader“, “feed reader”, or “aggregator“, which can be web-based or desktop-based.

Quite a lengthy definition by itself. When simplified, RSS basically means a way to publish / send a content to the reader without requiring him / her to visit the source site. Hence the word “feed”. Think of it this way. If you’re a busy business person, but still need to keep yourself abreast of the latest updates from the news sites, you’d relish a way to have all the updates sent to you. It saves your worthy time.

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The way you do this is by using a feed aggregator / reader. It’s a small piece of software ( desktop or web-based ) that acts as as if it’s “pulling” all the contents you subscribe. For easiest adaptation, you can try the web-based Bloglines. All you have to do is signing-up and start to subscribe for your preferred feed. If you prefer a desktop application, Snarfer would be a good choice too. Download the software, install it, and there you go.

Next, is the part of subscribing to the feeds. Both Bloglines and Snarfer have their set of feeds that you can browse and pick. For most users, these are enough to start with. I myself only added less than ten feed to my selected ones in Snarfer. Don’t make the beginner mistake of subscribing too many though. If you do, it will be very easy to get yourself lost in thousands of unread contents on a daily basis. You wouldn’t want this to happen, as this may mean that a particularly useful news for your business gets lost in the pile. Be selective.

Also, chances are some regular sites that you frequent are not there in the default subscription list. This is the point where you have to go to the site itself and find its RSS link. For example, I really like to read The New Yorker. What I need to do is going to its site, and finding a link / icon / menu where it says something about “RSS / feed”. In this case it looks like this ( look for the right area where I made a red circle ) :

In most cases, any RSS link from any site will look similar to this. It may mention only the link text ( “RSS” ) or even maybe just the icon ( the orange RSS icon ). Familiarize yourself with the way they look. The rest is easy enough. All you have to do is clicking on it, they will give you some links where you can copy and paste to your feed reader. Give it a few minutes and you should start seeing their updates in your aggregator.

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To sum it up, RSS is a handy way to stay updated on important contents scattered all over the web without visiting the sites themselves. A powerful time-saver, it’s easy to use by some simple steps:

• Pick your choice of a reader.
• Sign-up for its service ( if web-based ), or install it ( if desktop-based ).
• Pick your choice from its default set of RSS feed.
• Add to your subscription by visiting the site you frequent, and copy/paste its RSS link to your reader.

That’s basically it. It is proven time and time again that RSS is a very powerful method to utilize the web to your advantage. Why not taking part and join the crowd ?

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P.S. :

ZDNet has a good video on the basics of RSS that you can view here.

Next, I will be talking on how to utilize RSS for your business. Stay tuned.

First of all, let’s take a look back as to what ICT is. According to Wikibooks, a collection of open-content textbooks in the Net, ICT stands for “information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes of this primer, as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.” These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony.”

By this definition, it is largely supposed that a lot of what ALL companies do must involve ICT in whatever degree. From simple filing systems to sophisticated e-commerce implementations, no business can afford to ignore ICT if they are to exist at all in today’s world.

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Reading TechCrunch post today, it is a bit frightening that in ICT field alone, there are about 18,885 layoffs in the world this week. This is closely related to the ongoing global financial crisis that is happening. It is saddening, - especially for us ICT professionals, because although it may sound morbid, yet the fact remains and cannot be denied : we are in a crisis.

One question begs to be answered, though. Should you, - as a business owner, blindly cut back your ICT spending and erased it from your next financial year’s budget projecting ? By all means no. This was clearly argued by Sol. E. Solomon of ZDNet Asia in his piece titled “Global Crisis Hits Asian Finance Tech”. Drawing on authoritative sources like Ben Watson ( managing director of project management company, PTS Consulting ) and Malcolm Lister (CA’s Asia-Pacific and Japan vice president of alliances and industry solutions ); it’s hard to ignore his systematic arguments.

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Lister clearly made the point when he stated that what the crisis means is that the global financial sector is heading into an increasingly regulated climate. Banks will be battling with a number of key issues, including issues related to governance, risk management and compliance (GRC). According to PTS Consulting’s Watson, three common traits will be heightened in terms of governance, risk management and compliance: - need for information to be shared in a transparent fashion; - need to manage information flows; and - need to provide an audit trail of information flow, and any subsequent approval or rejection of that information.

Further, “Ensuring the correct technology is in place to facilitate these requirements will be key, and IT departments’ interaction with the overall business will need to be as close as ever to understand these changing requirements and deliver upon them,” he said.

Granted, this may have some limited applications to banks and financial institutions only. But the lessons are clear : ICT has become an inseparable and indispensable part of whatever business you are in. You owe it to yourself to bear this fact in mind.

What you can do is maybe striking out any large-scale IT projects for immediate cost-savings. Yet you cannot just leave it altogether because ICT is a platform where your business must stand to rise itself above the crisis tide. To do otherwise is simply unwise.

NET is not affiliated with any of the software / application company. While I am helped by certain features of these programs, in no way I can guarantee that they will give the readers the same results. Always back-up your file before doing major changes to your computer.

I first heard a word about this useful Twitter tool from EverythingTwitter who wrote a blog post about it. Reading it, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got to the feature list. Later, I got nothing but positive confirmation when I visit its homepage and download the client myself.

First, it is ingenious in monetizing itself. When a lot of useful apps related to Twitter have met their demise, Tweety Bot cunningly inserted an advertisement in the bottom of their desktop client. This is great idea because it is building on the fact that Twitter is wildly popular today. Coupled with Tweety Bot’s main strength, - which is its set of features, I can see why this one could easily become one of the leading Twitter client out there. And yes, the excellent features make me love this app in spite of the ad. It is unobtrusive anyway, as it is located in the bottom row, as you can see in the following screenshot.

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What about the features ? It boasts an unprecedented set of abilities, as follows ( I quote from the site ) :

• Login To Twitter Remotely
• Get Updated Tweets Every Minute
• Reply To Friends From Your Desktop
• Get Direct Messages Every 5 Minutes
• Alert List For Special Friends
• Ignore List For Spammers Following You
• Built-in Direct Messaging From Your Desktop
• Manage Followers and Those Following From Your Desktop
• Tweet Threading For Following Individual Conversations

When you take time to read the list carefully, it quickly gets apparent where this small app’s strong point lies. It build on areas anybody haven’t thought about, - let alone building it. Like Ignore List for your unwanted follower ( most likely spammers ), for example.

This neat feature will let you create a list of Twitter users you would want to ignore. Of course you can do that by visiting the Twitter web, but how many clients have actually implement it in its execution ? Not even Twhirl did that, and Twhirl is currently the #1 favorite Twitter client. Go figure.

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It hasn’t finished there yet. One of my most relished features of this app is that it has the so-called Tweet Manager. What it basically does is letting you write a list of tweets, and put them on schedule to be automatically tweeted later.

It is similar to a lot of blog platforms’ auto-posting feature. Still, it drove me to an applause because the app proved its distinction : an originality of functions. Simply put, it takes you places no other Twitter clients could.

Try it. It’ll re-define what you think about Twitter.