Stop wasting my time, Web 2.0...

When BusinessWeek and Forbes start publishing "Web 2.0" and "hot" in the same sentence, you're bound to find Katie Couric doing the nightly news. Hmmm?

SF Chronicle covers the real Web 2.0 companies that aren't getting the respect they deserve. One of the companies listed is Vyew, a Connector Group friend. When I think about the impact of Web 2.0, there's no comparison - Vyew is inherently worth more than the poster-child for Web 2.0, MySpace. I know I'm not that fancy investment banker that your sister's best friend thinks is "sooo hot", but I know a thing or two about value. But the value I'm talking about is true, life-giving value. Here's how my brain's working on this: coffee is more valuable than Coke. Coffee comes from trees (or plants, not sure)...it's natural, and many agree that it has natural properties that are not bad (and might even be good). Coke is made in a factory and is devoid of anything nutritional. Coffee makes people's brains work better (some will dispute that, but those people are hateful, mean people who abuse children), while Coke rots your teeth. So, in PatWorld, I rest my case - coffee is inherently more valuable than Coke.

So, using that same logic, here's a comparison of MySpace and Vyew in terms of effect on US GDP:

MySpace = ($4 billion) [the parenthesis means "negative"...I add that for the liberal arts majors]...I mean, all you have to do is check out the "space" for Kristin from Laguna Beach (dude, I've never seen that show...I mean, maybe it was on in the background or something), and you're easily forgiven for giving the next seven hours of your life to MySpace. That waste of time is killing your productivity, driving down profits at your company, and ultimately robbing me of my rightful windfall of Social Security benefits.

Vyew = +$900M...honestly, you can collaborate with others with this thing after playing around with it for about 6 minutes. And once someone else sees it, they start using it, and since viral is as viral does, it just spawns for people who like efficiency. So you all have better meetings, don't have to travel to meetings, and don't need to download any lame software that Chip the IT guy has to upgrade for you. You've saved yourself time, your company money, and you get Web 2.0 cred.

So, Vyew wins, and ultimately, whatever Web 2.0 really is, it better have some real value, or people will just stop caring.

Other Connector Group friends listed:

• imeem (the BEST online community tool): ok, so I just nailed MySpace (and boy are they hurting), but I didn't nail the category. The difference is that MySpace is all about hoping you see a hot chick online and then you connect online with her and you masturbate. So, that was fun. With imeem, however, you're actually getting value by finding like-minded users. And the overall IQ of users on imeem is about 7,000 points higher than MySpace (that's just an average, my angry readers - I KNOW you have a space, and I think it's wonderful, just like you).
• meebo: saves time, easy to use, nothing to think about. Isn't that what this is all supposed to be about?

Insert me with your influence

In a very poorly worded description of a recent study, BIGresearch lays out what they found in terms of what/who influences buying decisions on a variety of consumer categories:

Electronics
1. Word of mouth
2. Read Article on product
3. TV/Broadcast
4. Newspaper Inserts
5. Internet Advertising

Groceries
1. Coupons
2. Newspaper inserts
3. Word of mouth
4. In-store promotions
5. TV/Broadcast

When I was working for a large Internet/media company (which rhymes with "Bay-Oh-El"), people talked about how we needed to find a way to replace the newspaper insert as a form of communicating about products. I used to blow this off as bullshit - who reads those dumb insersts anyway, right? Well, apparently a lot of people do. But word of mouth...now, there's an idea...

Cocoa Designs in SF Chronicle

Ariella Toeman, founder of Cocoa Designs, makes the most delicious chocolate concoctions - she was part of our first Showcase event and was a huge hit. Today, she's featured in an article in the SF Chronicle article about artisan chocolatiers:

San Franciscan Ariella Toeman's Cocoa Nuts marry her classic French training with her fondness for nuts in the form of dragees -- nuts roasted and caramelized, then dipped and coated in dark or milk chocolate.

Ariella has also developed a way to combat your chocoholic tendencies, which is also how she plans to eventually rule the world by luring you into her web of chocolate delights.

And, by the way, did you know that Americans spend almost $16 billion / year on chocolate? I'm responsible for about $3 billion of that, so who are these other chocolate freaks?