The proportion of Internet users participating in social media will inevitably begin to level out over the next couple of years. However, the volume of social media usage among participants will grow rapidly.

Why? In 2008 many users became active creators on the web and contibuted content to Facebook, MySpace, Bebo et al. However, it has been very much a distinct operation: log onto the website; participate; log off.

2009 will change this. In part this will be due to increased federation. Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect mean you will be able to be social on web sites that have been resolutely stuck in 1999. When browsing in a news web site, you may be able to discuss the article with online Facebook friends. Social media will be all over the web, not as “share this” links but as interactive tools driven by a single login.

But the key driver of growth will be mobile: Mobile 2.0, as it were. Smartphones are now the norm. Blackberry drove a generation of business people who were permanently connected to their email, communicating on the train or, yuk, on the toilet. (Yes, I’ve witnessed Blackberry usage at public urinals. Some people can be too connected).

Text messaging is even more pervasive, with millions of messages sent every day, particularly in Europe where SMS is effectively free. It’s convenient. It’s easy to use. It’s affordable.

The mobile phone is the logical place for social media, even more than the web. I’m an early adopter, and the incredible ability to make a short video at an event or upload a photograph, there and then, directly from a client application, is powerful. The iPhone is trailblazing with an easy to use and consistent interface, and clever third party developers.

Once we can access our social networks effectively on a mobile phone, so we can take them everywhere. Microblogging, as seen on Twitter, is an amazing tool: effectively zero cost SMS to groups of friends or business colleagues. On a mobile, why text when you can Twitter, given proper integration with the phone’s user interface rather than access through an inadequate and slow WAP site?

The iPhone has proved that YouTube is perfectly usable on the small screen. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many find it easier to keep up with Facebook during downtime on their mobile. Qik is making it easy to stream live video from events using a mobile. Yes, live outside broadcasts, albeit rough and ready. 12seconds makes it easy to capture the moment with an audiovisual slideshow.

This blog post has been written on my mobile. Just because at this time it’s more convenient (and, again, because there is a dedicated Wordpress application to make writing offline easy).

2009 will be the year of Mobile 2.0. In 2009 we will be more social than ever, everywhere.

Most of our team will be around that day to demonstrate  how any business can benefit from using social media. One striking example is Dell computers who published an article yesterday on how Twitter made them $1 million dollar. Social media at it’s best!

The only challenge we face on the 21st of January is how to present a talk on social media in 3 minutes! Any ideas?

Hope to see you there. For more info on joining the Inverness Chamber of Commerce or signing up for the lunch please contact Paula Nicol. Details below:

Paula Nicol
Tel: 01463 718131
Email: paula@inverness-chamber.co.uk
Web: www.inverness-chamber.co.uk

It is believed over 2 million computers have been infected by the virus. Around 10,000 web sites have been compromised - visiting them could infect a PC  with the virus.

All users of Internet Explorer - 5, 6, 7 and 8 - should apply the patch when available.

We also recommend that in the meantime IE users immediately discontinue its use and switch to a different web browser such as Firefox:  Find it at http://getfirefox.com/.

Read more:

Microsoft Issues Emergency Security Patch For IE - PC World.

How Can Facebook Crack its Advertising Problem?.

“It turns out that Google can accurately estimate current flu levels one to two weeks faster than any other professional report”.

Crowds predict better than professionals: Google predicts the next flu.

The biggest benefit is that it allows Twitter users to come together on other websites too - discussing content and ideas. Read more on how Google is rapidly turning the whole web into Web 2.0.

Official Google Blog: @Twitter: Welcome to Google Friend Connect.

The Ecademy flaw was revealed on his blog and appears to have included private messages sent to the support team by members. Walsh also alleges that he has received messages between the management team discussing salaries and a “pyramid” business structure.

Ecademy started nearly a decade ago and has often been criticised for its complicated and difficult to navigate site which has not changed much, except to add new features, since its launch. Ecademy has also been critisised for its business model which charges users to build any kind of meaningful network using the service. Other practices seem unusual: for example users can automatically and repeatedly invite their contacts to join Ecademy in an attempt to build their network. Users are encouraged to email everyone who visits their profile, resulting in a deluge of unresearched and irrelevent messages for many, something other social networks put measures in place to prevent.

These days, a network based purely on numbers seems odd: LinkedIn ,for example, specifically enables direct connections in addition to chance encounters, increasing the odds for members. Mass emailing is prevented by design. While some have found Ecademy successful, doubt has been cast over the number of genuine connections made by paying members, especially those outside London and unable to attend Ecademy networking events.

I personally was a member almost from the start, but gave it up (several times) after it became apparent that while there were opportunities to network, the site didn’t readily support business - certainly as compared to other networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, all of which have delivered direct business, as well as business intelligence.

What are your experiences of Ecademy? Do let us know!

ecademy makes tens of thousands of email conversations available online - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist.

The IWF specifically tracks illegal material on the Internet and helps UK ISPs block access to it. Most Internet users unsurprisingly agree that censorship of child pornography is an important and valuable role of the IWF and does not constitute censroship of the Internet as many of us would hope to avoid.

The controversy this time raged around censorship of Wikipedia - one of the most used social media sites on the Internet. This was not an obscure, shady offshore porn site: this is a mainstream site used as an information and research tool by millions. The encylopedia is the biggest in the world and consists of content researched, uploaded and edited by the users of Wikipedia themselves. The offending image, censored by the IWF but defended by Wikipedia, was an album cover from the mid 1970s. Under current UK legal definitions it would appear that this image does constitute child pornography. Many have argued, however, that is it wrong to censor a tool which mearly reports what has been, there is artistic freedom to consider, you cannot change history and no legal action over the album cover has ever been taken.

The band’s rhythm guitarist Rudolf Shenker has since said “Looking at that picture today makes me cringe. It was done in the worst possible taste. Back then I was too immature to see that. Shame on me — I should have done everything in my power to stop it”.  Perhaps there’s not much artistic freedom to defend.

This view of this as unnecessary censorship is rebuffed in a well written article by legal director Struan Robertson in the Financial Times. Read more here. What do you think?

FT.com / Technology / Digital Business - Was it right to censor a Wikipedia page?.

Read more and try it for free at:

Official Google Blog: Google Chrome BETA.