Exitlog | Leaving Impressions

.NET hasn’t quite lifted off as Microsoft takes another attack…

Adobe want to bring the power of the Internet to the desktop and they intend to do so with Apollo; released this week from its Adobe Labs website.

Apollo is the code name for a cross-platform runtime being developed by Adobe that allows developers to use their existing back-catalogue of skills to quickly build Internet applications users can install locally.

Apollo applications run as regular applications, just like any you might find on everyday users’ desktop – from games to office productivity apps. Firefox and IE are not required. These new applications don’t need web browser or even a shell to run. And when users aren’t connected to the Internet they still work. This may yet be another great advance. Adobe’s technology has even been tipped to threaten the popularity of Java and Microsoft’s .NET.

Microsoft does have its own strategy. They too want to give developers tools for building Web applications. But their strategy is about tying developers to using applications within the Windows desktop and development environment. This could be the weak point in the .NET plan.

Open source systems and other, paid-for, serious opportunities in the market are eroding the dominance of Windows. Apollo is cross platform and uses standard Internet development technologies such as Flash, HTML, JavaScript and AJAX. Ubiquity and code for all – Adobe wants to court developers with Apollo, but unlike .NET, without persuading them to choose their flavour of desktop.

One of the great strengths of Flash, acquired by Adobe from Macromedia last year, is its ubiquity. Flash enjoys a unique position in that for a proprietary format, it is an important, welcomed part of the web-based landscape. Windows may be prevalent, some would say pervasive, in homes and offices around the world, but it is not universal.

Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.

With a raft of big names seeking to jump on board the social networking bandwagon, Stephen Greene, digital marketer and career creative director, argues that such sites can work, but their impact tends to be short-lived.

Rupert Murdoch was willing to punt £313 million on MySpace. Now Google has stumped up £860 million in stock for YouTube. Pricey gamble for an uncertain return certainly entertaining at least.

Last year ITV spent £120m on Friends Reunited. This Web 1.5-ish social networking website had a great promise. Rekindling old friendships and hunting for your ex online had instant appeal. Users registered, boasted and lied to each other in their thousands. They also generated their own content, cheaply. For ITV they had a captive audience to attract much needed advertising.

Social networking websites helped change attitudes toward content. Sites have helped audiences take control of the production and distribution of their interests. This kind of networking can have other uses as well.

Friends Reunited has been used for everything from romance to revenge. Employers have even been rumoured to dig up the dirt on prospective candidates. But an advertisers dream? Not likely. Friends Reunited has had to diversify with dating and jobs. Some would argue unsuccessfully – you can tell by the ads that the site isn’t top drawer.

Watch Space 1999 on ITV4 on Sunday and the “sci-fi” is brought to you by 888.com. Internet gambling for those who probably wouldn’t have the left the house anyway. Tune in for Channel 4′s Hollyoakes or any of the hangover TV offerings on Sundays and the ads are likely to feature Rimmel London, 30-second spots for James Blunt and Christiano Ronaldo and his unlikely auto-prop, the Suzuki Swift.

When the content is as tightly controlled and audience-pitched as these examples, advertisers attach real value to reaching these viewers. Move on to MySpace and YouTube and the story improves. And the viewing figures are certainly higher than Space 1999. Social networking is evolving into entertainment.

The internet has changed the way we interact with communications. Waiting for the broadcast, appointment TV, newspapers and magazines have seen their importance decline as audience exercise greater choice. Entertainment networking, aligning ourselves with and sampling content of similar interests, is an extension of our desire to choose.

MySpace has 37 million visitors watching videos every month. YouTube has 16 million. A lot of the material is of dubious quality and relevance but it is pulling in viewers. Unauthorised copyrighted material can also be found. Technology and site editors are helping. So are the big names.

Sony BMG, Warner Music and the American broadcast networks CBS and NBC have signed deals with YouTube. The advertisers are getting excited. Where social networking was about the connection between registered users, MySpace and YouTube raise the stakes.

Visitors go to the sites and type in their interest. The resulting search serves them up a mixed bag. With music it could be everything from a well-known indie acoustic performance to thrash metal or Gothic revival. Artic Monkeys were rumoured to have used the site to launch their album, a claim they now refute. Still, hundreds of artists, from the unsigned to Snow Patrol and Justin Timberlake are on MySpace.

The videos available are equally as diverse. Visitors can be treated to everything from mobile phone videos, TV, P. Diddy’s latest video, skateboard tricks and softcore nudity. Fetish is well represented. If you like to watch a woman in tights and heels, legs and feet only, drive at speed, you’re in luck.

The advertising that accompanies the search results is targeted to the interest. Some advertisers even go further than content related and sponsored links. Toyota’s US operation is running a contest to compliment the launch of the new 2007 Yaris. Users are invited to submit their videos. The best will scoop a $5,000 prize. Like music, video is following in the sponsorship. For advertisers it is marketing decidedly on target.

Last year MySpace ranked higher than Google in page views. Still the number one search engine with 43.7 per cent of the market has the edge. Google will gross £3.25 billion in revenues this year, while MySpace will generate around £16 million. Friends Reunited membership is estimated at 15 million, but the number actually active on the site daily is far, far lower.

Social networking websites do work, but their impact tends to be short-lived, a fad sometimes. Success depends on the audiences sustained curiosity. Friends Reunited may have already seen its best days. The future of MySpace and YouTube might be brighter. Entertainment networking will only ever be as good as the audience figures it manages to retain and the content that keeps them there.

First published in Technology Weekly, 16 October 2006