Here at Social Media Library, our team of researchers spend all day and night locked up in a dungeon, often without food, water or access to the latest hair care products, scouring the web for the best blogs to add to our database. Coolest On The Web is our regular collection of the best things we find online, whether it be start-ups, blogs, social networks, initiatives, anything worth bookmarking or even something that wastes five minutes at lunchtime.
1. Flattr
Flatter is a new initiative that intends to help bloggers and content creators monetise their work. I have often thought that the highest barrier to donations is not the money itself, but the hassle to set up a Paypal account, the lack of control of the money we would be donating and the continuous dissonance cognitive in regards to the amount and frequency of donations.
With Flattr you still have to decide how many points to give, but there is a flat rate you set, presumably a limited amount of clicks to “show love” and the reassurance of the same method across all your donations.
Musicians, developers, bloggers and writers are going to love it. Adoption from the other side of the equation is not that clear and will depend on the implementation of the company. So far, so good. Make sure you watch the video and sign up for the beta.
2. Sploder
Whilst the idea behind it is far from new (Little Big Planet being the first example that springs to mind), non-technical applications to build videogames is always a good call.
In Sploder you can create Flash-based videogames, both platforms and shooters (although I much prefer the former ), display walls, scatter power ups and weapons, sprinkle some enemies and hazards and build some platforms. Once done you can play your videogame, get the embedding code and email it or post it t your social media sites. Truly awesome.
My name in Sploder is Xavieriza and I still haven’t got any friends 
Sploder
Ever had any awkward moments buying lingerie for your girlfriend? Starting to compare your partner with the sales assistant while realising that puts you between a rock and hard place? Have you gone three times to the same store to exchange sizes? Well, I have.
This site is ideal for us guys, and not (only) because you get to see some cute models, but because Knickerpicker will help you buy your girlfriend a present at the ease of a few clicks. Also kudos to the site for including all sorts of model shapes.
4. Thinglink
Thinglink is…a social network for things. How about that? The aim of the site is to incorporate non-human elements for our social network. I understand most people do relate to things, so in all fairness we include these as facilitators of our social relations and as part of our personal branding online. Either that or I have misunderstood the whole concept.
Thinglink
About The Author
Xavi Izaguirre
Xavier Izaguirre joined Social Media Library in November 2009 working as part of the Research Team. Prior to joining Social Media Library, Xavier completed a Masters Degree in Marketing and Communications at Westminster University, London. An active user of Social Media platforms, Xavier is very passionate about new trends in communication and Social Media Marketing contributing towards a number of online campaigns within the Educational Sector.
Follow Xavier on Twitter at @Xavi_izaguirre
Will Buzz Take Off Or Fail To Launch? Reaction To Google’s Social Network, Analysed
It has now been one week of (somewhat forced) mass adoption of Google Buzz as part of our Social Media repertoire. And a large collection of mixed feelings from the early adopters have sprung up within the social media sphere. Sure, I could collaborate to the noise with my thoughts, but I thought I might as well settle for an analysis of Buzz.
Trendistic Shows High Penetration on Twitter
Watching the data from Trendistic, it’s easy to spot that Twitter went literally abuzz with the product, with a peak of over 2% of tweets including the hashtag #buzz when this went live on Monday. Since then, #Buzz has been levelling off to a more standard 0.2% of tweets.
However, its ability to remain as a trending topic (normally, if your topic takes 0.1% share of total Tweets, it trends) speaks great volumes of its penetration. This high power of penetration based on earned media and WOM confirms how much people anticipate Google products.
Buzz Lightyear Made It Home But Will Google Buzz?
Social Mention Reveals Negative
Social Mention data seems to ratify the strength and reach of the Buzz announcement. When it comes to sentiment analysis, Buzz receives a bit of a blow. Social Mention values a ratio of 3:1 positive to negative. While this may seem a somewhat positive figure, the remarkable bias of this tool towards positive outcome lead us to think that, overall, Buzz hasn’t been liked.
So much for statistical data. If we look deeper for the quality of comments from Social Media influencers we will also discover a wealth of clashing arguments.
When resorting to (actual) experts I always like to make a distinction between the older digerati and the younger social media analysts. While the former seem to have a sixth sense to know what is going to take off, the latter are very enthusiast and have comprehensive ways of analysing new tools, trying them until they master them before airing opinions.
Among the digerati I always like to consult the ‘Rubel Index’ and ‘Scoble index’. In a nutshell, listen to what these guys say. Not only because they greatly influence early adopters’ opinion but also because I believe they can see the future pretty clearly. And here is what they’ve got to say.
Rubel says
“…. you would naturally assume that I would love Google Buzz. Well, I just got it in my Gmail today and my first take is that it’s Google Wave Light. Is the technology great? Sure. However, it’s way too complex for the masses. It doesn’t organize social information, it makes it even more of a mess…Like it or hate it Facebook offers what Jeff Jarvis calls “elegant organization.” Twitter, while less organized, is equally simple. Google Buzz is only a service a mother could love – maybe Sergey Brin’s mother. It’s the Anti-Friendfeed. Here are five things wrong with it…
1) I can’t easily find my content within Gmail. I have to go to my profile page to find it
2) I can’t easily hide the items from my inbox. This requires a filtering hack that mere mortals do not know even exists
3) Noise, noise and more noise – there are no lists like in Twitter or a news feed in Facebook that tells you the “top stories” or even “Best of Day” feature that Friendfeed had. A way to organize social content? A productivity tool? Hardly
4) It slows down Gmail somewhat – what happened to Google’s mission to speed up the web?
5) Finally, it shows in some ways Google is losing their focus. They’re getting too big and therefore launch half-baked products that take them away from their core. They are feeling the heat from Facebook and Twitter instead of remaining true to their mission to organize the world’s information.”
Robert Scoble has decided to take some time before finally today accusing Buzz of being an unusable (for most people) bad copy of FriendFeed. His comments align well with Rubel’s.
The Social Media Machines: Mashable and Techcrunch
On Monday, Mashable published a throrough article where they surprised the slightly disappointed community with hands down praise for Buzz. The nature of this article was to smooth the security concerns by announcing Google’s revamping of the unpopular auto-follow feature and enabling a “Kill Buzz” option. I foresee this article will change a few attitudes and give Buzz a second chance.
“It has dropped a nuclear bomb whose fallout will permanently alter the social media landscape. I could never have predicted that it would become so popular so fast when I first learned about it“, says Ben Parr, responsible for the article.
Techcrunch is also sure Buzz is in for some success. Techcrunch positions Buzz as “the stepping stone that we, flawed consumers needed before we are ready for Google Wave”.
And The Rest…
The third entity to ask would be the remaining Internet connoisseurs. Not so insightful like Steve Rubel and not so geeky as Techcrunch they all tend to look down on Buzz and extend the criticism to Google for becoming “the Microsoft of XXI”. The Guardian, which seems to literally hate the tool have done a great job of interviewing seasoned industry watchers, who all criticize one or more sins of the new applications, even after Google security tweakings.
Conclusion
Integrating Buzz in Gmail was slightly Microsoftian, but a good move overall, considering you can deactivate it if you are so inclined to do so. Now 175 million users may start buzzing, On the other hand I see the tool as easier and more convenient than Twitter. If new figures from Twitter data show us anything, it is that the least tech savvy can be bothered to adapt to Twitter lingo and etiquette.
I believe Buzz will be used and will see great improvements, in the shape of extensions, from the developing community soon.
Twitter or Facebook killer? Absolutely not. Facebook allows a huge level of interaction and has been crawling through the Internet through Facebook Connect, making the Internet less vast and obscure. And Twitter fans are too hooked up to give up. The truth is that once you know how to leverage the real power of Twitter and its (over 2,000) applications, possibilities are endless…looks more like a foursome.
About The Author
Xavi Izaguirre
Xavier Izaguirre joined Social Media Library in November 2009 working as part of the Research Team. Prior to joining Social Media Library, Xavier completed a Masters Degree in Marketing and Communications at Westminster University, London. An active user of Social Media platforms, Xavier is very passionate about new trends in communication and Social Media Marketing contributing towards a number of online campaigns within the Educational Sector.
Follow Xavier on Twitter at @Xavi_izaguirre