DIGITAL. TRENDS. FUTURE.

11
Oct

Future Scenario True Skin: Is this our future?

The creative filmmaker Stephan Zlotescu analyzed todays technological developmemt as well as digital media trends and created a future scenario in his short movie “True Skin”.

The movies plays with technology trends like Google Glasses, Augmented Reality, 3D printing, 3D holograms, robotics, sensor technologies etc, but also reflects the social development of human society, e.g. the gap between rich and poor, the gap between connected and not connected.

One quote surprised me “Who wants to be 100% organic anymore? Nobody!”
But is this really our future?
Have a look at the movie yourself…

TRUE SKIN from H1 on Vimeo.

17
Sep

Kate’s topless pictures: Why Kate Middleton needs a new PR Manager!

The italian magazine Chi and french magazine Closer have published a series of topless picture of Kate Middleton the Duchess of Cambridge. Now Prince William and Kate Middleton are threatening to sue French magazine Closer for printing her topless pictures.

It seems that the PR Manager of Kate and William are not aware of the Streisand Effect. The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely. It is named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose attempt in 2003 to suppress photographs of her residence inadvertently generated further publicity.

Chi magazine, which is owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlluscon’s company Mondadori Group, which also publishes Closer, printed more topless pictures of Kate Middleton today. Thus, exactly these pictures are now spreading online rapidly, from Pinterest to Facebook to Flickr to Blogs….. the internet just does not forget.

03
Aug

Monster Inc., reinvent or die?

In the late nineties the recruiting industry had been turned upside down by the start of many online job-posting websites, including the launch of Monster.com. Over a decade later the online recruiting industry seems to reach a dead end. The former giant and market leader Monster Inc. is tumbling and the CEO Sal Iannuzzi does not give confidence to have a turnaround strategy in place. He even declared publicly to sell the whole or parts of the company in March this year (Source: Reuters).
In yesterdays investor call the company announced that the 2nd-Quarter profits have decreased 56%. The market cap has dropped below $800 million, I can still remember when Monster’s market cap was over $3 billion last year.

Such a change is always an opportunity, too. While the quarterly revenues of Monster Worldwide fell to $237 million, LinkedIn’s revenues are steadily growing and have reached $230 million at the same quarter.

From an outside perspective it looks sad to see that Monster Inc. is not able to reinvent itself and look forward rather than trying to protect old-thinking. It’s a bit like the music industry when peer2peer sharing, napster and later iTunes came along. They have time, money and smart people to change and lead into a successful future. But my feeling is that Sal Iannuzzi is lacking of a powerful vision and dynamic leadership. Two things which is needed to turn such a big “ship” around.

I don’t know who will be the future leader of online recruiting, but LinkedIn seems to be running the right path, as they are heavily investing in its product and technology. Furthermore LinkedIn has acquired Connected, Rapportive and Slideshare – all relevant building blocks to build a future proof company.

Although I have left RECOMY, I will keep watching the innovators in this market. As an entrepreneur I am especially looking at startUps like Identified, Jibe, Jobvite, BranchOut, BraveNewTalent or Talent.me.

03
Jul

New Social Network “Best of All Worlds” (BOAW) challenging facebook & co

Erik Wachtmeister, former founder of the exclusive social network “A Small World” is sending out private invitations for his latest online project.

Erik writes:

We are getting close to the launch of our new private online community.
Best of All Worlds in the coming weeks. I wanted to make sure you received your invitation.

Best of All Worlds - BOAW

As you may know, Louise and I founded aSmallWorld in early 2004, a pioneer in online communities. After we left the company several years ago, we began designing and building a new, useful and relevant social network – an alternative to what currently dominates social media.

We will launch Best of All Worlds (boaw.com) with an iPhone app in the coming weeks, followed shortly by a full web version.

Best of All Worlds will enable us to navigate and leverage the collective intelligence of the trusted and relevant few, rather than the wisdom of the crowd. It will be a fun and useful tool for our social and professional lives by providing trusted information among top influencers and connectors worldwide – in an intimate and private online environment.

20
Jun

Goodbye RECOMY

I want to inform you in advance that I will be leaving RECOMY later this summer.

Since we started working on the early concept in January 2011, I have had the privilege to found the company, develop a high-potential business plan and build a powerful technology platform. At the same time Social Recruiting has developed into a fast-growing market and a game-changer in the recruiting and talent industry. I’m proud of the recent accomplishments in our platform since launch in April 2012. I’m even more excited for the world to see all the amazing things we have coming. 

I’ve learned a lot in my time at RECOMY. I’m also grateful for the relationship with the team, business angels, mentors and our founding investor.

I’ve decided that now is a good time for me to leave RECOMY and focus on my passion, namely, building cool things with awesome people with unexpected results.

18
Jun

Facebook teams up with Olympic Games in London 2012

Facebook has announced a partnership with the Olympic Games in London 2012 at a press event at Facebook London today. The partnership is a big step on the way to monetize the social network and its fight against Google and Twitter. Although Facebook has 10 times more Page Views that YouTube, Facebook’s revenue is still only 10% of Google’s total revenue.

With the launch of “Explore London 2012” facebook has created a special landing page for all people interested in the olympic games. You can find an overview of all facebook fan pages of athletes, teams and sports and “like” them directly or jump to the fanpage to learn more.

Great move for Facebook.

23
Apr

Social Recruiting: Fish Where The Fish Are

I am often asked why Social Recruiting is important?
That’s why I’d like to summarize some the most important facts:
– People are spending more time on social media than on the open web.
– 1 out of 3 job seekers use social media for their job search.
– While 9 our of 10 active & passive job seekers have one or more social media profiles.
– Facebook is the leading social network, while new social platforms (Google+, Pinterest), regional (VK.com, Orkut, Mixi) and niche social platforms (LinkedIN, XING, Viadeo) are growing.

29
Feb

Timeline for Facebook Pages

Today Faceook introduced Timeline for Facebook Pages during their first FMC (Facebook Marketing Conference) in New York City.


Here are the core features facebook is presenting.

  • Brand your Page: Add a unique cover photo and showcase your most important news on your Page timeline.
  • Highlight what matters: Pin a new post to the top of your Page each week so people notice what’s important.
  • Manage everything in one place: See and respond to your recent activity and private messages right from the top of your Page.

With Timeline for Pages you don’t have the left navigation bar anymore so your famous Facebook Tabs get a new place.

The tabs of a facebook company pages will get more space. So your tab can be bigger than the normal 520px width. The full width of the new timeline for pages tabs are 850px (pixel). The width of the content area for the tab will be 790px.

Since today a few companies have already presented how timeline for pages will look like. Here are a few Examples: Olympic Games, Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola.

30
Jan

Send your Lego Man to space for $ 400 USD

Amazing. Two young boys send their Lego Man into near space with a $ 400,- USD construction. They used a balloon to send the Lego Man including a wide angel video camera almost 25 km into space.

Article by LA Times: Two Canadian high school students have successfully launched a Lego man almost 80,000 feet above sea level–high enough to capture video of the plastic toy hovering above the curvature of the Earth.

Now the results of their experiment have gone viral, racking up more than 600,000 views on YouTube in just two daysand inspiring the young engineers to make their small astronaut his own Facebook page–Lego Man in Space.

The Toronto Starreports that the two teens, Matthew Ho and Asad Muhammed, were inspired to do the project about a year and a half ago when Ho saw a YouTube video of MIT students who sent a balloon to near space. Ho wanted to see if he could do it too.

The friends spent four and a half months working on the project, mostly on Saturdays. In a video interview with the Star, they said the hardest part was making the parachute, which they decided to hand-sew, even though neither of them had any sewing experience.

They also constructed a lightweight Styrofoam box to carry three point-and-shoot cameras, a wide-angle video camera and a cellphone with a downloadable GPS app. They purchased a professional weather balloon for $85 online. The helium that would lift it up came from a party supply store. For launch, they put two mitten warmers in the Styrofoam box to keep the cameras working at that altitude. The whole project cost them about $400.

After the balloon was constructed, the two waited until weather conditions would ensure that the Lego man would land in Canada and not somewhere in the U.S. because they didn’t want to take their chances with U.S. Homeland Security, the Star reports.

Ho and Muhammed estimate that it took their balloon craft one hour and five minutes to climb 80,000 feet before it finally popped. The descent took a little more than 30 minutes.

Besides online notoriety, the two also received a congratulatory note from Lego.

03
Jan

Shaun Rein: The End of Cheap China

Back in 2006 I opened an office in China with my former company. It was an exciting time and I enjoyed working with our chinese team a lot. Nevertheless it was also very challenging and it was though to increase efficiency and results, especially working closely with our other teams in Munich, New York and Tokyo. For me China was always very fascinating and I felt that the country was shifting from a leader in production (“made in china”) to a powerhouse of creativity. Especially the speed of innovation and growth in digital media is amazing. Many startups I met grew from zero to 10 million users within weeks. China’s version of twitter “Weibo” has 250 million registered users. And Kai-Fu Lee’s Innovation Works is creating the Golden Age of IT in China.

Today I want to introduce you to my friend Shaun Rein (@shaunrein) who has just finished his book:
“The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends that will Disrupt the World”.

I asked him a few questions about his book.

What is the book about?
The main thrust of my book is to show that China no longer is a cheap place to do business anymore and what the implications for the rest of the world are. Labor and real estate costs are rising in the double digits which means manufacturers might need to relocate to markets like Indonesia and Vietnam or convert factories to sell into China rather than just export. The country is undergoing a huge economic shift away from relying on exports to consumption. The book tracks that change by interviewing Chinese to find out what they want, and giving advice on how to stay ahead of that change with marketing, product design, and sales strategies.

Why did you write the book?
When I read articles by much of the western media, I realize they are missing out on the great transformations taking place in China today and are often perpetuating outdated views of the country. I decided to write the book to dispel myths about the country and provide an action guide for western businesses on how to sell here.

For instance, whenever I talk to westerners, many assume that China is in an internet black hole because they hear Facebook and Twitter are blocked. That is not true — there is a very vibrant online community here. The average Chinese under the age of 30 spends 22 hours a week online vs 12 hours in the US. But instead of using Facebook, they use Chinese variants like Sina Weibo and Tencent’s QQ. In fact, because of the tight media control, younger Chinese turn to the internet more than counterparts in the west to get more trusted sources of info. The result is that western brands have to embrace digital marketing in China far more than most are. Typically large multinationals only spend 3% of the marketing budgets on the digital side when that number should be much higher.

What was the most exciting, most emotional and most surprising interview you did?
The most emotional interview I did were the series of ones I conducted with my now deceased grandmother-in-law Lili Li who was a famous movie star in the 1930s and came from a heavyweight political family. She battled against Jiang Jing (Mao Zedong’s 4th wife) and a member of the Gang of Four and their tyranny that caused the chaos of the Cultural Revolution and untold suffering throughout the nation. My interviews and her story are included in chapter three of the book. It was tough hearing of the pain and torture she and her family went through at the hands of Jiang Qing. Her husband was tortured to death. But it was also inspiring to see how a women stood up to tyranny and eventually helped conquer it.

How will the “Expensive China” influence Europe and Germany?
The rise of “Expensive China” has serious implications for Germany and Europe. Germany is actually well positioned to benefit from China’s rise. China actually buys more from Germany than it exports to it. Germany is a model in many ways for creating an economy system that is sustainable — it produces something the Chinese cannot do right now. Unfortunately, as the book shows, not all nations like the US are adjusting well to the new world order and China’s rise. America needs to stop trying to scapegoat America for all its economic ills and instead focus on adjusting its economy to be more competitive as Germany has.

Follow Shaun Rein on Twitter: @shaunrein
More infos about the Book here:
“The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends that will Disrupt the World”.

24
Nov

How to recruit a social media manager?

In this presentation I explain core qualities of a social media manager and explain three tips for your Social Recruiting strategy.

The speech was held Nov 21, 2011, at the Social Media Economy Days in Munich.

27
Oct

The end of Recruiting as you know it?

I am proud to be part of the game changers, the disrupters and the doers, a new bread of companies in the recruiting and job industry leveraging social media to change the online-job-posting and recruiting industry as you know it.

RECOMY has started with a simple idea and has now become a cutting edge web platform combining the power of several social networks. Katharina told me about her idea in mid 2010 and I was fascinated right from the start. We started working on the business plan in October 2010, found a family office who supported us, selected other team members and founded RECOMY AG in June 2011. Since then we have spent days and nights coding, building a unique user experience and talking to clients. RECOMY is ready to launch very soon and we are undertaking usage and scalability tests.

With a team of six we have done bootstrapping par excellence, thinking about our MVP and already solved many challenges on our startup journey.
Created in the heart of Europe we are looking forward to kick the ass of the market leaders, like Monster or CareerBuilder, and compete the US innovators, like BranchOut or Identified

We are launching soon – so stay tuned.

27
Oct

Success in Social Recruiting

Yesterday I hold the first official keynote as CEO of RECOMY about “Success in Social Recruiting”. I presented some insights in our development at RECOMY and showed and explained a lot of screenshots of our brand new social recruiting platform. For this public version I had to take most of these screenshots out (as you can understand) since we are not public, yet.

I also gave three tips on how be be successful in Social Recruiting:

  • 1. Build your Talent Community
  • 2. Activate your Network
  • 3. Track your Results

You can see the full presentation below.

26
Oct

Future of Mobile Health (mHealth)

I hold a keynote speech about the Future of Mobile Health. The impact of mobile media is fundamentally changing the health-, pharma and fitness industry. The goal of the impulse speech was to dive into todays trends, understand key-drivers and learn how to be prepared for the future.

The stethoscope was invented in 1816 and is still used in by doctors on a daily basis. Nevertheless technologies have improved or replaced many manual instruments and tools in medicine today. Especially Mobile Media is bringing medicine and healthcare to a completely new level.

People are using technology for permanent monitoring and logging of vital signs, while doctors are remotely supervising the health status of patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as Diabetes and Asthma, via their mobile device (e.g. smartphone or tablet). Cost of technology is lower than ever and consumer devices can be used for professional applications. Currently there are 17,000 mHealth applications in major app stores, 74% of them adhering to the paid business model. With the growing sophistication level of mHealth applications, 14% of the total market revenue in the next 5 years will come from application download revenues.

Here is my full presentation:

04
Oct

Apple introduces new iPhone 4S

Today the new CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, has presented the new iPhone 4S in Cupertino, California – USA. Apple has introduced a re-make of the iPhone 3G aswell – the iPhone 3GS – so they are strictly keeping in line with their strategy.

Apple iPhone 4S

The 4S will come in both black and white, starting at $199 for 16GB and $299 for the 32GB, but the big news is a new 64GB model coming in at a whopping $399. You’ll be able to pre-order this friday, October 7th, and it’ll start shipping on October 14th in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan. Oh, and Apple is welcoming Sprint to the family here in the States.

30
Sep

Green meets Digital: How digital trends are shaping a green future?

Today I hold a speech at a Business Breakfast of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) in Budapest, Hungary. The topic of my speech was “Green meets Digital: How digital trends are shaping a green future?”.

I started my talk with a couple of powerful questions:
– What is the power of my generation?
– What are the global challenges of my generation?
– Who is solving our challenges? CO2, Global Warming etc.?
– Is Greenwashing the solution?
– How many planets do we have?
– How many plans do we have?
– Do we have a Plan B?
– Are Mobile Antennas real „trees“?
– Or, will trees be the future Mobile Antennas?
– Can Mobile Media improve Energy Efficiency?
– How can Social Media disrupt „green“ markets?
– When will Carbon-Negative Cities be reality?
– How will Green Mobility look like?
– Can Bio-Led Trees be our future street lights?
– Is Nathan Myhrvold‘s Geo-Engineering the Plan B?

Digital is sustainable –
But can Sustainability be digital?

Find some answers in my presentation – below.

20
Sep

Web Visions 2015

Today I hold a speech at Advance Conference 2011 in Cologne. The topic “Web Visions 2015” was tackled by me, Isaac Wolkerstorfer , Ossi Urchs , Jörg Ruwe and moderated by Thomas Knüwer.

I published my presentation on slideshare to share it with the audience and you. Enjoy.

29
Aug

How Companies are using Social Media for Recruiting!

Social Media is becoming an essential part for every recruiting strategy. Companies are turning to Facebook, twitter and other social media platforms to find talent. Here is a well-done infographic about “Social Recruiting”.

Infographic Social Recruiting

06
Jul

Endemol’s BigBrother launches voting via Facebook Credits

Since the invention of paid-televoting and paid-short-messaging (SMS) the TV industry has creatively adapted or developed TV show formats to increase their revenues. Televoting is mainly used for decision making, opinion polling or game-shows. In the age of Facebook, where users spent most of their time on the social network, Endemol is introducing the first paid-online voting system via Facebook credits.

The consumer behavior is changing and is bridging the gap between TV and Web usage. TV Channels could not charge our TV audience for a “click”, that’s why the focus was on televoting as the major decision tool for BigBrother.

With over 600 million global Facebook users, of which are over 20 million in Germany, the social network is the place where consumers spend most of their time online. The usage of Facebook Fan-Pages or Facebook Apps have already lead to a new discipline for Marketeers. Social Media Marketing is now part of the modern Marketing Communication Mix.

In close teamwork with the Innovation Agency and Social Media Specialist, Ahead of Time, Endemol was working on new TV formats leveraging the power of social media. “With the introduction of Facebook Credits and the rise of other virtual currencies in social games such as Zynga’s farmville it was a logical step for us to develop a paid-voting system on Facebook”, says Monty Metzger, CEO of Ahead of Time.

Big Brother Paid Facebook Voting

“While we envisioned, inspired and strategically developed the concept, we collaborated for the technical development with one of the best App-Developer in Germany I can think of”, says Monty Metzger. PLAZZ Entertainment developed the Facebook Voting App for BigBrother Germany.

Jürgen Mayer, CEO of PLAZZ Entertainment, is convinced that the new Facebook Voting will be changing the TV industry and lead to new show formats, such as Televoting did in the nineties. “The technical development of innovative concepts like this is a challenge, but we did our best to deliver a high-quality user experience with a simple and attractive usability. And we are proud that we, as a german company, are setting new standards in the global entertainment industry”, says Jürgen Mayer.

The Facebook Voting App is integrated in the Fan-Page of Big Brother Germany at http://www.facebook.com/BigBrotherDeutschland

The Facebook Voting App is the first App that uses Facebook Credits for “non gaming” virtual goods. For the TV Channels this is a new revenue opportunity for the future. And virtual currency, like Facebook Credits, may become the standard for Social TV projects.

Endemol’s Facebook Voting App is just the beginning and there are already more ideas prepared for launch in the near future.

05
Jul

How mobile brings social to the masses with Ahead of Time founder, Monty Metzger

Monty Metzger, author and trend scout for the organization he founded, Ahead of Time, talks to Untether.tv about the impact of the highly personal mobile device, mobile social media trends and the predictive analytics being crunched behind the scenes.

UNTETHER.tv was the official broadcast partner for the recent Mobile Innovation Week 2010 and this is one of the sessions recorded while on location in Toronto.

Note: This video was recorded back in September 2010.