Open up your mind and say, ahh...

I ask with sincerity, is your business antisocial? Take a moment before you respond. I understand you may have Facebook and Twitter presences. Your business may broadcast on Youtube. Perhaps your executives are blogging. If you’re among the more sophisticated organizations, the team is probably subscribing to elaborate monitoring services to listen more effectively. And, with all of the social objects produced inside the organization, it’s come to the point where a content management system or social media management system is necessary to scale.

Social networks usher in a era of transparency and authenticity and these two elements represent the hallmark of your corporate social media program. You are walking the two-way street and you’re already successfully building a community rich with the 3F’s (friends, fans, and followers). How can your business possibly be antisocial?

Antisocial is defined as anything that goes against the laws and customs of society. Facebook, Twitter, and social networks of all shapes, sizes, and focus, are thriving societies in their own right. Each produce a unique culture, one that you’re more than familiar with. You are after all a citizen of one or more social networks before you’re a corporate citizen. At a minimum, you as an individual contribute to the culture of each of the societies to which you belong. These are your networks and as a result, you create a personal egosystem. You are at the center of your experiences and as such, the information that finds you, the information you share, and the people with whom you connect are yours to define. These actions contribute to the lifestyle and value of the network and you take pride in the relationships, community and stature you earn.

But when we take a step back to examine many of the leading business examples in social media, it’s clear that many are in actuality, illustrations of traditional marketing masquerading as genuine engagement. Are brands acting as good citizens? Are they contributing to the customs of society or are they taking away from the experience?

If you were to run a quick study of your social activities or those of your favorite brands, you may find that marketing at communities rather than investing in their usefulness is clear and present. Contests, polls, promotions, news releases, and events are balanced by impassive updates or questions.  The activity that fills the space between marketing updates are questionable or unconvincing reinforcements of why people are compelled to connect in the first place. The missing value of why people should stay connected creates a void that only expands with every day that passes.

While brands engage with customers in social networks, customers walk away with an experience that is the ultimate judgement of value. Here we are presented with an incredible opportunity to strengthen customers ties. We’re given a well of insight to put into action. We’re presented with a stage to show brand empathy and earn relevance through our actions and words. Are we embracing the opportunities before us or in the end, does our investment equate to traditional marketing in a new interactive design?

The reality is that a significant percent of businesses run social media from the marketing department. According to my Altimeter colleague Jeremiah Owyang, almost 50% of brands he surveyed house social media in marketing. Another 30-40% place social in corporate communications. In these cases, social media is relegated to just that, a function of marketing. Any other corporate approaches to social media are most likely siloed within other business units and as a result, the customer is not offered a holistic brand experience.

New media channels represent a new highway for driving messages and brand stories to desired audiences. But what many fail to realize is that the social consumer represents an intelligent audience with an audience of audiences. They are in control of their experiences and while they may connect with their favorite brands in their network of choice today, without providing value or a constructive engagement, attention spans will wander. Much like banner blindness in digital advertising, individuals will eventually tune-out to their favorite brands that fail to demonstrate relevance in their social stream. What’s worse is that eventually they may take the unfortunate action of an unfollow or unlike as they realize that they are in control of curating the quality of their stream. With one click, they will bid farewell to the brands, even those they love, if they don’t introduce value. This is a harsh reality that Andrew Blakeley recently attempted to spotlight. Of the 40 brands he followed on Facebook, only one gave him a reason why he should

The question is, do you know what your customers want from you? It’s an important question to ask. If you’re not contributing to the value of these digital societies, you may unintentionally take away from it.

With all of the excitement around creating a social business, we can only benefit from knowing how to improve the experiences of existing and prospective customers. Otherwise we may be talking more than we really are listening.

It starts with knowing the “why.” Why would a customer Like or Follow your brand today and tomorrow? This “why” should be front in center of all that you do taking into account that customers may expect different approaches from you. Some may need customer service. Others are looking for promotions and deals. Certain individuals prefer access to exclusive content or information. Many are looking for insight, leadership or occasional entertainment.  Whatever the reasons are, it’s time to know what your customers want and design social programming around a meaningful engagement.

While each network boasts a unique culture, your organization too is home to a distinct culture that defines the brand. The corporate culture should adapt to coalesce with the way of life in each network. Business units should work together under a common goal of earning customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. This is about earning relevance. This is about demonstrating why someone should connect with you not just today, but every day. Give people a reason. Give people something to talk about…something to think about. Give people purpose, sustenance, and direction. This is not about engagement, but being engaging! In the process, you’ll find that becoming a social business is a function of design, collaboration, and reinforcement, but ultimately it’s a measure of how customers view your brand within these digital societies.

One of the best parts of summer is sitting outside on a warm night, glass of wine in hand (or bar of dark chocolate, whatever your pleasure), good company by your side and nothing but brilliant sparkly stars above you. If you’ve ever had the good fortune of spotting a shooting star, you’ve witnessed an amazing display of light and cosmic energy.

You always hear people talking about the relative insignificance of the human race in the grand scheme of the universe. That feeling is never more reinforced than when you start to explore astronomy and what really lies beyond our galaxy.

Whether you’re a stargazer who can only point out the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, or whether you much prefer calling it Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the following 10 mobile apps can help you in your stargazing pursuits.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, sololos

Now that Apple has unveiled iOS 5, the media frenzy surrounding the next version of the iPhone is back with a vengeance.

We’ve written extensively about the yet-to-be-announced device already (proof here, here, here, here, here and here), but we’re not the only ones. There’s a cult-like fascination with Apple product rumors, and that fascination turns into an obsession when it comes to iPhones.

Today’s flurry of iPhone rumors started with a Boy Genius Report story claiming that the iPhone 5 will be a radical departure from the iPhone 4. BGR‘s source told the publication to “expect a radical new case design for the upcoming iPhone,” and that an event to announce the device could come in August.

This report is a departure from the intelligence we’ve gathered thus far on the device. We’ve been told to expect something that looks similar to the iPhone 4, but faster (thanks to the Apple A5 processor) and with a better camera. We’re not the only media outlet that was skeptical of BGR‘s report.

It didn’t take long until Bloomberg decided to publish a report of its own on the iPhone 5, complete with its own set of anonymous source. According to its sources, the iPhone 5 will be introduced in September, have an 8-megapixel camera and include the A5 processor. Bloomberg says that the September release date is meant to coincide with the release of iOS 5.

To put the cherry on top though, Bloomberg also added some juicy tidbits about the iPad 3. Specifically, the news outlet reports that the next-generation tablet will have a one-third higher screen resolution and a “more responsive touchscreen.” Bloomberg also resurfaced old rumors of a cheaper version of the iPhone.

While we think Bloomberg‘s report is accurate, we want to stress this point: only Steve Jobs knows what Apple is planning to do next. Besides, these reports fail to address rumors about the next iPhone having a brushed metal back, NFC technology or a wider screen. We’re much more interested in finding out more about those rumors.

Don’t expect the iPhone 5 rumor mill to to quiet down anytime soon; it’s just getting started.

Online video service Hulu is considering a potential sale after an unknown bidder made an offer for the company, according to several reports.

None of the reports could confirm the identity of the buyer, though CNBC’s Jolua Boorstin says the buy is not Google. It’s also unclear how advanced the talks are, and as WSJ reports, Hulu hasn’t even determined if it wants to sell.

The problem for Hulu is that it is heavily dependent on content from Walt Disney (which owns ABC), News Corp. (which owns Fox) and NBCUniversal (which is a subsidiary of Comcast and GE). Each of these companies have an equity stake in Hulu and will have to approve any sale. If even one of these three partners didn’t approve and decided to pull its content from Hulu, it would dramatically affect the value of the online video website.

Hulu has been trying to appease its network overlords with new deals and its Hulu Plus premium subscription option, but it’s also expanding its roster of original programming with several Hulu-exclusive shows.

The company was reportedly preparing for a $2 billion IPO last year, but has pulled back due to concerns about its deals with the networks. Hulu is the second largest video website in the world behind YouTube.

Our bet is that Hulu decides to remain independent, at least for now. There are too many logistical nightmares with any sale, and the company is better off with an IPO, thanks to LinkedIn.

Real-time Facebook newspaper-style aggregator PostPost relaunched Tuesday as Postano. The core of what made PostPost great still exists, but with Postano, parent company TigerLogic is adding more sources and focusing its target audience.

PostPost turned the Facebook newsfeed into a manageable collection of links, photos and videos. Think of it as Flipboard for the web browser. Other companies like Paper.li have launched similar products, but part of what made us like PostPost was its use of jQuery Masonry to display post types, its ability to organize stories by category, and the ability to customize who you see in the feed.

With Postano, TigerLogic is moving away from users who want to see their newsfeed more cleanly (though that is still an option), and is shifting its focus to brands, businesses and community managers that need a way to aggregate social content in real time, in a way that can be branded and embedded on their own sites.

Check out this video to see Postano in action:

Setting up Postano is easy. Sign in with Facebook, choose what content and what Facebook pages you want to add to your Postano, and add in your personal newsfeed, a specific Facebook page, a fan page you monitor yourself, and feeds from Twitter, YouTube, Google Reader, Google Alerts, or RSS.

Even better for brands, Postano lets users style their Postano to match their own designs. Everything from fonts, header colors, basic theme colors, custom backgrounds to logos and headers can be customized.

So brands can create their own Flipboard-esque streams of selected content that is then visible on the web or embeddable on their own sites. For companies that have a hard time aggregating the various social channels from their clients or their multiple accounts, this is a great way to put everything in one place.

Postano also lets brands control exactly what is posted on their pages. Posts to Facebook can be restricted to the page or page owner only, and certain sources of content can be removed on a case-by-case basis or blocked completely (to prevent Foursquare checkins showing up all over pages, say).

The Google News and Google Alerts feature actually has to be approved by the Postano admin before it is posted, which is great for brands that want to set a Google Alert for their name, but might not want to publish every update that hits the wire in real time. Brands can also make certain posts “sticky” and keep them at the top of the page. The Postano team told us they have plans to make Tumblr and WordPress integration even better.

Postano is free for users or brands that want TigerLogic to host their Postano at your-name-postano.com. For users that want the ability to embed a Postano as an iframe on their own websites, pricing starts at $10 a month.

Citing a slow economy, newspaper chain Gannett on Tuesday announced it was cutting 700 positions, about 2% of its total workforce.

In a memo obtained by Gannett Blog, Bob Dickey, Gannett US community publishing unit president, blamed an economic recovery that “is not happening as quickly or favorably as we had hoped and continues to impact our U.S. community media organizations.” Dickey highlighted weakness in the real estate sector, slow job creation and less demand for autos as challenges to the organization. “National advertising remains soft and with many of our local advertisers reducing their overall budgets, we need to take further steps to align our costs with the current revenue trends,” Dickey wrote in the memo.

Kantar Media this month reported that the overall advertising market grew 4.4% in the first quarter compared to 5.1% in Q1 2009. Ad revenues for local newspapers fell 1.1% in the quarter, and the segment had declined for 22 consecutive quarters. Revenues for national newspapers fell 7.5%, Kantar reported. Meanwhile, Internet display advertising revenues rose 14.6% for the quarter, buoyed by — among other factors — strong demand by automakers.

Though Gannett’s digital business is growing, the increase isn’t happening fast enough to offset print declines. In the first quarter, Gannett’s revenues from traditional publishing fell 6.2%, to $929.8 million. Digital revenues rose 12.4% to $251.3 million, representing about 20% of the company’s operating revenues.

The move comes after Gannett CEO Craig Dubow received $9.4 million, including a $1.75 million cash bonus in 2010, and Chief Operating Officer Gracia Martore got $8.2 million with a cash bonus of $1.25 million. Those bonuses were awarded partially for cost cutting, which included layoffs, according to a shareholders proxy report filed in March.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, fotosipsak

Here’s the biggest secret of social media: if you don’t like people very much, it won’t work very well.

I did an interview for a magazine recently, where the first (not the second or subsequent question) was how one might automate all their social media usage and save time. Can you imagine? The very first question, rewritten by me, would have read: “How does one take this very human medium and robotize it the way we’ve done that with all the other communications methods in our life?”

I’m not some kind of kumbaya, let’s-hug-the-whales guy, but at the same time, if you’re thinking that social media’s going to bring prosperity to your business, and yet your first thoughts are on how to mechanize it, you might be looking at the wrong tool. The purpose of the toolset is to provide a way to communicate in a more directed way, to communicate in a more narrowly defined way, to be able to respond in two-way modes instead of use the single direction modes that came before. It’s not that we have to be all love all the time, and it’s not that we shouldn’t intend to use the tools for business. But we have to think about their usage and how to keep the best parts working.

Automation Isn’t Wrong

Before we go too far, automation isn’t wrong. Using tools to better perform your tasks isn’t wrong. Rather, the goal is that you use these tools in service of better serving your buyers. Listening tools are awesome. Scheduling tweets isn’t evil, provided you’re mixing it in with organic tweets (see also: you’re doing it wrong).

But at the end of it all, the goal is that you’re using the tools to better connect with people.

Marketing and Communications Aren’t “Necessary Evils”

When I think about the people I’ve heard talking about social media as if it’s an automated road to wealth, I think they all have a fairly negative view of marketing and communications. They see sales as the ultimate department, the most important part of the process. And while I’d argue that neither marketing, nor communications, nor sales is the most important part of a business (the answer: customer service), I’d say that marketing and communications are very much an important part of the ecosystem of building relationships with your buyer.

But that thought in and of itself is worth considering: do you consider any part of your organization a “necessary evil?” If so, what does that say about the function those people serve? Do you think Corporate IT are a bunch of jerks who won’t let you have iPads? There are reasons for their decisions (most times). Do you think the legal department is the enemy? That’s because you haven’t found the best way to work with them yet.

The Best Secret Is One You Probably Know

Most folks who read chrisbrogan.com already know that being human is the goal. That’s the thing. The people who don’t care about people are reading blogs with posts that say “Dominate Your List!” So, it’s not that I told you something you don’t know.

Instead, this is kind of a “resist the pull to the dark side” post. Remember why you were drawn to social media. And look for ways to expand that secret power of yours into something that shows value to the others, so that they see your perspective on this.

It’s the best we can hope for, I think.

You?

Ben Crawford is the CEO of domain industry firm CentralNic. Prior to joining that firm in 2009, Crawford worked at various jobs which combined his love of sports with Internet technology, including serving as executive producer for IBM’s official Sydney Olympic Games website.

The final barrier to a new era for the Internet was lifted this morning, when the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) voted 13 to 3 in favor of introducing new top level domains (“TLDs”) to compete with .com, .net, .org and country codes like .ca and .mx.

The vote, held in Singapore before a thousand-strong audience of tech insiders and broadcast live online, was met with a standing ovation. A core deliverable of ICANN since its inception, new TLDs have been the subject of six years of intense debate contributing to ICANN’s bottom-up approach to policy making. As one board member put it, “every imaginable aspect has been examined six ways from Sunday.”

A hundred potential applicants have gone public over those years with their ambitions to acquire new top level domains. These range from cities like .paris and .nyc, to brands like .canon and .hitachi, to verticals like .gay and .ski. Hundreds more have kept their plans secret, particularly due to the uncertainty that previously clouded the topic.

Why the need for these new TLDs? ICANN’s mission includes introducing more consumer choice — a blessing for everyone frustrated with finding that the ideal domain name for their new project is unavailable at the existing extensions.

For trademark owners, acquiring their own TLD creates a completely brand-safe online zone free from phishing, domain spoofing, knock-off sites, counterfeiting, and the gamut of other damaging activities that plague the Internet. Plus, a .brand TLD gives marketers the choice of any domain they want ending with their trademark. No matter what name you come up with for your new product or promotion, with your own .brand, the domain is available.

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A More Equitable Internet

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On a global scale, the need for new TLDs derives from the drive for an altogether greater good — a more equitable Internet. Regional communities such as the Galicians in Spain, the Venetians in Italy and the Kurds in Iraq have been active in asserting their need for domains that reflect their languages and cultures.

Moreover, recent developments will permit new TLDs to be in characters other than ASCII text (the letters and numbers on English-language keyboards). These new top level domains will usher in a true globalization of the Internet, with URL support in Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and dozens of other scripts.

Supporting the view that the public wants new top level domains are the recent successes of “repurposed country codes” like .co (officially the TLD for Colombia, but sold as an abbreviation for “company”) and .me (officially for Montenegro, sold for “unique personal brands”) as well as new SLDs (second level domains) like us.org in the United States and .com.de, about to be launched in Germany.

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Opposition

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There are of course opponents to new TLDs. Complaints about the cost (an $185,000 application fee plus the cost of producing a 200-odd page application, plus the set-up and running costs) have been responded to by ICANN with the announcement of a $2 million grant program designated for applicants from developing countries. But the main objections actually come from major brands that already spend hundreds of thousands of dollars registering domains “defensively” to prevent others from using them, and which are concerned that a proliferation of new domains will cause these costs to escalate vastly with no added benefits.

ICANN has sought to mitigate this risk by introducing far more stringent protections for trademark owners than those that exist under the current generic TLDs, including a system that allows the rapid takedown of domains that abuse trademarks.

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The Process

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The timetable announced for the introduction of the new top level domains starts immediately with the preparation of complex application documents. As running a TLD involves taking responsibility for core infrastructure of the Internet, specialist technical providers are required to support each new TLD, and the applications must include comprehensive and fully-funded business plans and detailed policy documents governing the rules for usage of the new domains. The application window is between January and April 2012, and the applications are scrutinized by ICANN and then made public, so that objections from any quarter may be heard before the domain is granted.

The earliest we are likely to see one of these new TLDs in our search engine results is early 2013.

For new TLDs that are contested — for instance where multiple applicants apply for the same or similar domains — assuming all applications are of equal merit, the domain will be auctioned and sold to the highest bidder. As premium dot com domains occasionally sell for millions of dollars, we can expect these bidding wars to reach tens of millions of dollars. Toys ‘R’ Us paid $5.1 million for the domain toys.com in 2009. What does that mean for the value of .toys?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, enot-poloskun

It’s been a while since an airplane maker has rekindled the age old dream of New York to Tokyo flights in a few hours. But taking advantage of having the aerospace world currently camped out on its home turf, EADS, the parent company of Airbus, used the Paris airshow as the venue announce an idea it’s pondering for the latest Mach 4+ airliner.

Aimed at travelers who may need to travel half way around the world and back in a day, the concept being developed by EADS is called the Zero Emission Hypersonic Transport, or ZEHST. We’re not quite sure how the three different propulsion systems add up to zero emissions, but it is an interesting idea.

The 50-100 passenger airplane would take off from a runway using turbo fan jet engines like a normal airliner. Shortly after take off the sleek fuselage would be pulled into a steep climb where rocket engines would then push it along to Mach 2 and more than 100,000 feet. Once up to the proper speed and altitude, ramjet engines would then be used propel the ZEHST to over Mach 4 (~3,000 mph) allowing it to link any two cities in just a few hours or less.

Upon arriving near the destination, the ramjet engines would be shut down and the airplane would glide until it is flying slow enough and low enough to start up the turbo fan engines. It would then make an approach and land like a typical airliner.

If all this sounds like a dream, EADS acknowledges some of the technology is still in the development phase. But like any good dreamy idea, it is not promising anything soon. The company says such an airliner would not enter service until 2040.

Photos/Video: EADS

If you’ve always wanted to build a Burt Rutan designed aircraft, it’s about to get a lot easier. From the VariViggen to SpaceShipTwo, most of the most important designs to fly over Mojave during the past 35+ years will soon be available for just about anybody to build with Legos.

The project began two years ago as a collaboration between Burt Rutan’s son Jeff, and his grandson (Jeff’s nephew), Cole. When a then 10 year old Cole first saw WhiteKnightTwo in 2008, he wanted to build a lego version of the largest ever aircraft to come out of a Scaled Composites hangar. Using 3-D design software, Jeff worked out the plans to build a model out of Legos, but suggested they start with the smaller SpaceShipTwo to get started. They ended up building three of the next generation spacecraft, giving one to the famous designer for Christmas.

Jeff Rutan told the Experimental Aviation Association after successfully building SpaceShipTwo from Legos, they saw now reason to stop.

“Then we thought it would be cool to make a bunch of these” Jeff says, “and sell some plans books so other kids could build these with their own LEGOs.”

Now he has plans for 46 Rutan/Scaled Composites aircraft including a few variations on some popular designs and one or two that are the offspring or related to the Rutan/Scaled/Mojave community.

After more than three decades at the leading edge of aerospace design, Rutan recently retired from Scaled Composites, sold his pyramid home in Mojave, California and moved to Idaho. And while many in the industry can’t help to think that there will still be some new designs on the way, there is no doubt that his history of creative and unorthodox designs have left a indelible mark in the aerospace world.

Built entirely of single and double width Lego bricks, the models – especially the smaller ones – are instantly recognizable, albeit low-resolution versions of the smooth, composite full size aircraft they are based on. The plans for all 46 are made at 1/30 scale, providing a good comparison of the various sizes. According to the EAA, Jeff is still looking for a publisher for the plans, but hopes to have them available by next year.

In addition to the VariViggen and SpaceShipTwo, other classic Rutan designs available include several versions of the Long-EZ, the high flying Proteus, the around-the-world Voyager and perhaps his most interesting design, the Boomerang .pdf. Even the Firebird has been worked out in Lego form only weeks after the Scaled Composites design was announced to the public.

In honor of his contribution, Rutan will be honored at Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin next month. There are plans in place to have all of the Lego models on display at the EAA Museum during the show.

Photos: Jeff Rutan via EAA