AOL has released its top searches lists for 2007. What’s nice about the lists provided by AOL is that they feel much more "normal" and non-scrubbed for beautification than the lists provided by Yahoo/Google. It’s easy to tell how people use AOL – they type in what they are looking for in the search box as it’s one of the easiest things to find within the AOL program. Interesting that for general search – Google didn’t make the list – unless they scrubbed that out?

Here are some of the categories of interest:

General Search:

1. Weather
2. White Pages
3. Games
4. Dictionary
5. Music
6. CNN
7. Maps
8. American Idol
9. ESPN
10. WWE

News:

1. Chris Benoit
2. Phentermine
3. Pet Food Recall
4. Global Warming
5. Virginia Tech
6. Iraq
7. Juanita Bynum
8. Iran
9. Immigration
10. Don Imus

Gadgets:

1. iPhone
2. iPod
3. Wii
4. Computers
5. Cell Phones
6. Tracfone
7. XM Radio
8. GPS
9. PSP
10. Xbox

Shopping Brands:

1. Pottery Barn
2. Victoria’s Secret
3. Coach
4. Lane Bryant
5. Harley Davidson
6. Nike
7. Land’s End
8. Crocs
9. Banana Republic
10. Talbots

Find more stories about: 2007, AOL, Quick News

Earlier this week Google (GOOG) released the fastest rising search terms in the US. I have received the fastest rising search terms Globally from Google and there are some interesting conclusions to point out. The full chart is below with links where CN has coverage. We often forget in U.S. tech coverage that there’s a world beyond our coasts.

Some takeaways:

• The iPhone, Webkinz and YouTube are rising domestically and internationally
• Facebook is growing faster overseas which makes sense given their strategy
• eBuddy continues to be the leader in Web IM chat worldwide, while Meebo gets the most coverage stateside
• Everyone was interested in the Club Penguin deal – more in the U.S. but the World wondered whether it was worth $700 million
• MySpace big in U.S., Badoo, DailyMotion and Hi5 growing quicker overseas
• Kids worldwide like the Webkinz
• Only Americans care for Optimus Prime and deceased Playboy models

Find more stories about: 2007, Google, Quick News, search

Update: Corsin sent over a twitter, aim, skype, irc, and text sms that Matthew Ingram wrote about the same topic yesterday. His article is here. I guess I am not alone with my views or he is not alone with his views.

When have we gone too far? When Justin.tv launched, I started to ask myself this question and again looked at my 2007 prediction that we will spend more time offline than in 2006. First we had chats such ad MUDs where people used virtual worlds to chat with other people. I remember using it in college to talk with other buddies about girls we liked. There might have been something before this but this is the first I remember.

I also can think back to the days of calling into a BBS. Oh how much money I spent on several BBSs over short periods of time.

Then we moved to the world of IRC where chatting was a 24×7 process. Bots, fighting, takeovers, etc. and we learned more and more about people. Multiple networks showed up and now even include the Dateline NBC show on online fraud. Of course there was also AOL chat with thousands of rooms. I remember speaking with many people who would not go to sleep just to not lose their nicknames.

Then we moved to instant messaging. First one I remember hitting it big was ICQ. I had a very low number that seemed to get me some street cred when I gave it out. It was a good app as it brought people together in new ways. You could communicate with people directly without the channel crap. It was more secure.

Then AIM came along and owned the market for a time. And so and and so on. And don't forget the first webcam channels. Those were classic.

Then Geocities came around (and now MySpace) that let us have our own little space online. Today sites such as MySpace, YouTube and blogs allow us to create our own world where people can peek into our lives.

Cell phones now do pictures and video and get us the best shots of news events. YouTube made us all movie directors and brought us as close to live as we have ever been.

Now we have twitter. Pete calls twitter the ultimate cat blog application. If you use it for your personal life, I find many times there is just too much information. I don't care that you are walking your dog, or that you are putting up a new Boys II Men poster on your bedroom wall. If used effectively, twitter can be a good networking and group tool. But knowing that Jason just came back from a 30 minute walk is not necessary and just shows fan boy necessity.

Now I see UStream.tv has gone full steam ahead. What does it do? It let's you stream yourself using a webcam and a laptop and a wireless/wifi internet connection. So let me ask my question again… when have we gone too far? You can watch video blogger Robert Scoble walk around Web 2.0 Expo. I hope he remembers that he is live. Will people be reluctant to speak to him since every single word is being captured for all eternity? I know on my interviews, many of the interviewees ask to do a retake at least once during the interview. And will the Ron Popeil's of the world flood this new medium with every ginsu knife and rotisserie? How will spammers use this new medium or is it spammer-proof?

Why is there a need to be connected at every minute of every day. Michael Arrington took a day off and felt bad about it. Are we setting a new standard that you must be completely live 24×7 365 to be successful? Remember, we are the ones that moved (and accepted) the work day from 9-5 to 24×7. We started it, we have accepted it.

Maybe I am right and all of these live shows are just a fad and people will remember that not everything needs to be televised. Or maybe I am wrong and this is the new TV. Forget watching friends that is scripted… just watch xyz person and their live friends show every minute of every day. As hard as it is, sometimes it's nice to get out in the fresh air (or the NYC nor'easter we have here). There's my rant/thoughts/ramblings for today :) Feel free to bash.

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, Justin.tv, Ustream

I am always impressed when I read Jeremiah Owyang's blog but today's post is clearly a contender for Post of the Year. His post is titled, "The Many Forms of Web Marketing for the 2007 Web Strategist" and is about 8-10 printed pages in length. The post goes into great detail about corporate web strategy and while it is a must read for anyone in corporateland, it is just as much a must read for all of us. I am frankly shocked that this post did not make it to the Digg home page.

His summary begins with, "This document catalogs the many tools and tactics available for corporate web strategy in 2007. Even if your strategy or resource limitations restrict you from entering all spaces, awareness of the changes in our digital landscape are critical."

Great job Jeremiah!

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, marketing

Conference after conference, chat after chat, two topics seem to emerge in almost all of them. Those two topics are: mashups and wikis. And it's not just at conferences and in discussions, but it's also online. Yesterday I attended a session about mastering the mashup and the day before I listened to several CEOs discuss wiki products. I also met with WetPaint (interview posted tonight) who also make a wiki product.

While last year was all about the blog, in my opinion this year will be about the mashup and the wiki. So I see four options for an outcome:

• Wiki dominates
• Mashup dominates
• Both Wiki and Mashup dominate
• Neither dominates, its all about something else

Mashups

Why are mashups hot now? Mashups are like the frozen food aisle in the supermarket. You purchase a half-created meal, add fresh meat, some spices, your own sauce and you have a great meal. And mashups are the same thing. You take someone else's great product, slap your own "added-value" to it, and now you have created something even better than the original in many cases.

Seth from Meebo discussed that the companies who have been mashed from will want to see value this year, be it a subscription type fee or some ad revenue split. I agree with Seth and I think as more mashups become wildly popular, the mashed from companies will want more and more. It will be interesting to see how Google handles this with so many mashed up services generating from Google content and services.

I think we will see many productivity bashed mashups this year versus ones created for fun. While they most likely won't be called mashups, there will also be a trend for b2b mashups. I can see great value for intranets to use the mashup model with their suppliers and so forth.

Wikis

We know Wikis are hot. I know back in the day, a Wiki could have saved us from hundreds of hours of custom development for intranet content systems. Wiki products are the top talked about product category currently.

I think before Wikis can come out of the tech closet and really hit mainstream (like blogs are), we will need to see more user-friendly wiki products. Companies like Wetpaint are now creating more friendly wiki products. I think we can all admit that the MediaWiki software is not the easiest to use with all of its {}*&%$$ codes. WetPaint already has over 200,000+ sites created.

I would bet we will see other companies forming around the friendly-wiki. And while WetPaint is an ASP model, I am guessing the next big one will be a server install model which will work perfectly for an inhouse intranet.

Your Thoughts!

So which do you think will dominate? Will both dominate? Am I offbase and neither will and some other item will? Share your thoughts because I want to know!

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, mashup, wiki

Patricia will be attending DEMO 2007 on Thursday, but in advance of her posts, here are some of the companies that have announced launches at DEMO.

Magnify.net

Using Magnify.net, sites can search for videos based on unique interests and subject matter. Providing filtering and organization that works seamlessly with the major video hosts like YouTube, Google, and Revver, sites engages their visitors to discover, share, rate and rank videos. The result is peer-filtered content that is engaging and organized around a sites subject matter.

Jaman

Film fans can watch feature films via Jaman's player directly from their Mac or PC, or enjoy the viewing experience using a home theater system. Jaman incorporates community features including in-movie conversations, reviews, groups and "friending" providing a way for thousands of movie-goers to socialize on Jaman.

Attendio

Attendio keeps people "in the know" about the local events that match their interests. Attendio and its user community continually add relevant local events, reviews, and recommendations to their website and users calendars.

Bling Software

Bling Software enables companies to build and deliver the most visually stunning and data-rich applications ever available on the mobile handset. For the first time, consumers can enjoy dynamic mobile applications from Bling Software's early customers including Jay-Z, Barry Bonds, Ninja Mobile, The Onion, Amp'd Mobile and GoTV Networks.

Nexo

Nexo.com is the first web community to bring together the ease-of- use, security, personalization, and communications features that groups need to express themselves and manage a variety of online interactions. Nexo believes that every individual is part of at least one, if not several groups. Nexo makes it possible for these individuals to easily bring their groups online, empowering each individual to collaborate and communicate more openly and frequently with their already established communities," said Craig Jorasch, CEO of Nexo Systems, Inc.

Find more stories about: 2007, Bling, DEMO, Jaman, Magnify.net, Nexo, Quick News

Deloitte has released their predictions for 2007. They include: expanding social networks which will create a greater need for security and copyright protection technologies, while user-generated content from blogs, amateur filmmakers and others will both complement and threaten traditional media outlets. 

There are 3 reports, technology, telecommunications and media. I will only focus on technology and media. Nothing shocking in the reports but well worth the read — they provide PDFs of the report for offline reading. Here is an overview of the reports:

Technology

Social Networking Evolves — Social networks will continue to expand, creating a need for identification improvements, the ability to remove copyrighted material quickly, and making downloads as instantaneous as possible.

Tech Goes Green — Portable power needs will explode, with solutions including power-scavenging technologies that draw energy from around them — from body heat, ambient light, vibrations or movement — to provide supplementary battery charge.

Biometrics on the Cusp — With security continuing to be a concern, the use of biometric data (iris, fingerprint and palm geometry) for access control is on the rise.

Digital Storage Expansion Driven by Laws — Digital storage needs will be impacted by companies' legal obligations to keep years and petabytes worth of data, with costs passed onto the user.

Read the full technology predictions

Media

Consumer as Media Mogul — User-generated content is increasing. Blogs, amateur filmmakers and others are creating content that complements — or perhaps threatens — traditional media outlets. Smart media companies will serve up user-generated content as a powerful promotional vehicle and use it as an effective medium for scouting talent.

It's a New Media World After All — New media metrics are taking over, with old media metrics becoming a thing of the past. Development of comparable statistics will emerge, enabling companies, their customers and their investors to more accurately gauge performance.

DVD vs. VOD: No Clear Winner in Sight — Simultaneous availability of movies on DVD and VOD will make them closer competitors.

Read the full media predictions

Find more stories about: 2007, information technology, Quick News

1) Mobile will go nowhere. Cellphones are a horrible platform, and they’re just not compatible with how we use HTTP. Connections are slow and devices are incompatible. Mobile will go nowhere and I’m hoping in 2007 the industry finally buries this idea, or one standard finally wins out and becomes the norm. Even then, doing anything web-like on a cellphone is hell and only used when you’re bored.

2) Virb kills myspace. This is a big one, I know. They’ve got a great name (virb), and the design and programming talent to pull this off. People will leave MySpace in droves in 2007. MySpace is slow, covered in ads, spammy, and ugly. Virb will be sleek, sexy, fast, and more original. MySpace is going to be blindsided. They’ve been on top of the hill for too long and have failed to capitalize on that by making a decent website. Good riddance!

3) Mashable becomes the tech news norm. I’m predicting that this year, Pete will start to get more exclusives than Mike, and will leave his own companies off the promo list. This isn’t to say TechCrunch will fall off the map, I’m just predicting that Mashable will become more popular this year. Mike does a great job, I just think they’re pushing too many things in the wrong areas. CrunchGear ads on every TechCrunch post, dog social networks getting several mentions when no one really cares, etc.

4) The return of music. Now that Microsoft has decided to leave the playing field by putting all of it’s chips on a now-failing Zune, and record labels are starting to see the point of DRM free downloads, I think 2007 will be the start of us getting our musical freedom back. It may not be in a DRM free way, but I’m betting a very cool solution comes up this year. Something that will please the masses *and* the record labels.

5) Cell phone content opens up. Why are we paying $2.50 for a low quality piece of a song to use as a ringtone when you can buy the entire song on itunes for 99 cents? Oh yeah… greed. I forgot about that. Why do cellphone wallpapers cost $2.50? I’m betting a popular alternative to both of these appears and prices will drop, and in a lot of cases disappear. There should be free wallpaper sites available by WAP or something. Hell, I may make one myself. If I do, however, I sure won’t be using the .mobi TLD…

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, mashable

Alright, so Pete over at Mashable tagged me (I’m it!) to post some thoughts on what’s upcoming for 2007. I have tried to provide some different thoughts/ideas than Pete has already posted. First, I am honored to be one of the people that Pete tagged. I appreciate it and really have enjoyed the last few months more than I ever expected. And I, for one, am really looking forward to 2007. My thoughts here are general technology thoughts for 2007 and are not listed in any specific order. I think #5 might be the one to watch. Pete suggests tagging your pages with “mypredictions2007” to be watched across the blogosphere.

1. Web 2.0 will die

Ok, now before you click the X to close this site, let me explain. At some point, Web 2.0 ideas and thoughts will become the norm and we will no longer need to call sites and trends Web 2.0. And one day after that point (I am guessing mid-July), someone will begin the next “hot” term. And no, it won’t be Web 3.0 even though the NY Times believes it is.

2. YouTube will become a hated property

That’s right, you heard it here first. A site will be started called boycottyoutube.com to talk about how “You” created the content which allowed a few people to become ultra-rich and then the site immediately became a commercialized site. Mark Cuban has a good piece about this. Pete wrote a piece about Chevy as a new sponsor on YouTube.

3. There will be expansion and contraction in the Web space

I think we will see a heavy contraction in the Internet next year. Acquisitions and mergers will be sky-high as the number of good quality is too high. At the same time, those founders of those sites that are acquired begin new sites. Thereby expanding the market again.

4. The 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns will be broadcast

We are already seeing this with Scoble and RocketBoom working with John Edwards. Wasn’t Edwards a VP candidate in 2004? I think the candidates will use blogs, video and sites like YouTube to promote themselves over and over. And over. We will be bombarded with messaging in the second half of 2007 from the candidates and then we will see 2x more media from individuals who want to see their candidate win.

5. U.S. Presidential candidates will use Payperpost to win election

6. A new analytics and reporting core set of metrics will be agreed to

I can hope can’t I? Interaction Metrics will be the way of the future. Let the Page View die already. It did us well. I still would love to get a team together to create the next evolution of metrics. And yes, if we use them, the agencies will too. But if we are afraid, we will still be same-ole-same-ole in 2008.

7. Microsoft and Yahoo! will partner to beat Google

Yahoo! has the net… Microsoft has the apps… Yahoosoft will be able to compete (and win) with (against) Google.

8. Yahoo! will buy AOL

Just makes sense. I still have my first AOL email address from 1993.

9. Online time per user will drop by 10%

People will want to actually meet IRL with friends not just text, sms, aim, skype, facebook, myspace, youtube, etc. with each other. Sites like Meetup.com and Upcoming.org will grow exponentially.

10. Pricing for mobile devices will become manageable

In the U.S., data prices on mobile phones is still astronomical. In most of the world, prices for calls are high. I see a leveling as new players creatively disrupt the marketplace.

11. People will require payment for content

I am still always a bit taken when people are so willing to provide content to sites for free. Sure you get the hosting and so forth but I think there will be a collective response at some point in 2007 that individuals want some form of compensation for their hard work.

12. Large corporations will start to see true benefits to using the Web effectively

No, not just a fancy Flash home page. But using IM to communicate. Creating Wikis for employees to share information on how to solve problems. Allowing employees to be flexible in their schedules and projects so that they can build more productive tools.

13. Professionals will see the benefit of blogging

Lawyers, doctors, accountants, individual practitioners will see the benefits of blogging – the biggest benefit being that they can get closer to the customer and perhaps win over larger corporations.

14. The beginnings of full tv online

The ability to order TV channels from anywhere on an ala-carte manner. Order whatever you like, pay per channel and watch what you want. The major broadcasting stations will realize they need to do this to survive. Pay extra for no ads.

15. Misc

ABC News will fire Amanda Congdon – she will do a trip across America back to CT. Loren Feldman will replace her on ABC News but will be required to wear a tight tshirt.

Lastly, here are my tags – you are it!

• Stephanie Quilao
• Loren Feldman
• Jeremiah Owyang
• Hiten Shah
• Neil Patel

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, Social Networking, Web 2.0

I have met so many great people this year as I travel. I thought I would put together a list of people I would like to meet in 2007. Please do not be offended if you are not on the list, I want to meet you too! Drop me a line and let's hook up!

List sorted by first name.

1. Alex Bard
2. Amanda Congdon (sat next to)
3. Amber MacArthur
4. Andreas Schneider
5. Bill Gates
6. Giada DeLaurentiis
7. Gina Trapani
8. Hiten Shah
9. Jeremiah Owyang (met)
10. James Thomas
11. Jason Calacanis (met)
12. Loren Feldman (met)
13. Matt Cutts
14. Patricia Handschiegel
15. Pete Cashmore
16. Rachel Stevens
17. Ray King
18. Robert Scoble (met)
19. Seth Godin
20. Stephanie Quilao (met)
21. Steve Jobs
22. Steve Rubel
23. Tara Hunt (met)

Find more stories about: 2007, Insights, Interviews