In the consumer world, we are seeing a revolution in social technologies: blogs, wikis, video sharing, and so on. And some of the top properties, such as Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace, are becoming mega brands.

But there is another emerging trend: social media is making its way into the Corporate world.

I recently had a chance to talk to Reid Conrad, who is the cofounder and CEO of Near-Time. His company has a Web 2.0 platform geared mostly for corporate customers.

What are you hearing from business customers regarding Web 2.0? Is it becoming more of a priority? If so, why?

We are seeing businesses increasingly view Web 2.0 as their standard. They are quickly realizing the advantage of Web 2.0 capabilities over traditional, proprietary applications. I think the key to this has been the realization by businesses that they can deploy consumer platforms with unprecedented reach and flexibility.

Continue reading CEO Interview: Near-time brings Web 2.0 to Corporate America

CEO Interview: Near-time brings Web 2.0 to Corporate America originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This morning - 6:30 AM pacific - I talked to the CEO and co-founder of JotSpot, Joe Kraus. I think he hasn't had much time to sleep. You see, he just sold his company to Google , Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). In fact, he wrote about it on the Google blog.

Joe started his company about three years ago with a laser focus on developing a top-notch wiki product. Basically, a wiki allows for groups to collaborate on projects. In some cases, the projects can be enormous, such as with Wikipedia.

However, for the most part, wikis are still in the early stages, but with the Google deal, this should change quickly. Says Joe: "We wanted to bring wikis to the biggest audience possible."

Joe is an Internet veteran, having cofounded one of the early portals, Excite. He has taken his consumer knowledge and applied it to JotSpot; that is, the product is easy yet powerful.

It is no secret that Google is focusing much more on collaboration. There has been lots of evidence of this from things like Writely, Google Groups and the Google Spreadsheet.

I also think Google has ambitions for moving much more into the corporate space (but with a Web 2.0 approach.)

No doubt, in this deal, Google has validated the importance of wikis -- and other major companies, like Yahoo , Inc.(NASDAQ:YHOO) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will likely respond. In other words, startup wiki companies like Socialtext, Near-Time and others may be buyout bait.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

Google goes wiki, wiki, wiki originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Things have been kind of crazy in the dot-com world lately. Apparently, there have been mega offers for sites like Digg, Bebo, and YouTube. And, of course, MySpace snagged $900 million from Google.

But there also appears to be some inflation with domain name prices. John Gotts, a big-time domain name buyer, has committed $2.8 million for Wiki.com. Actually, wikis are pretty hot right now, especially with the success of Wikipedia, which I recently wrote about in Bloggingstocks.com.

Kind of crazy? Maybe not. Traffic is getting expensive. Portals like AOL.com and MSN know they can charge top dollar. The thing about a domain like wiki.com is that lots of people are likely to type it in. It can be a great advertising vehicle.

Part of Gotts' master plan is that there are tons of people that would love to have personal wikis. So, let's say I want my own. If the URL is Taulli.wiki.com, it's a lot easier for me to remember, right?

Actually, I did just that. And it took about 20 seconds to set up. Also, in the setup, they asked me for my zip code. That's pretty smart - given that the business model is based on advertising (in other words, there can be local ads).

The site uses a technology from MindTouch, which focuses on wikis for major corporations. Also, there are certainly lots of wiki systems on the market, such as Near-Time and Jot.

So, I interviewed brand expert Lynn Altman. She has a firm called Brandmaker Express and has a new book coming out, Brand It Yourself: The Fast, Focused Way to Marketplace Magic. According to her: "Frigidaire...Kleenex...and now the Wiki. Turning your product name into a generic descriptor (or vice versa) is one of the most coveted results a marketer could hope for. Thanks to improved browser technology and the likes of Google, the value of these descriptors intensifies. Today, we use the address bar as a navigation tool, knowing that the keywords we type in will lead us to what we seek. And unlike the bricks and mortar marketplace where consumers see brands next to one another on the shelves, the browser does the searching-and often the navigating-for you, and the higher up your homepage can come back on that list, the better. In this scenario, a generic website could become more valuable than a specific brand site. If a 'wiki' does indeed become a descriptor of this pumped up, next generation 'blog,' then to John Gotts' point he has made a very savvy business decision. Let's just hope that he gets his money's worth before something else becomes the new 'wiki'."

Would You Pay $2.8 Mil for Wiki.com? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.