If you're short on cash, don't fret as we're giving discounts to independents and students. Email us at summits@readwriteweb.com to take advantage of the discount.

What's So Special About the Summit?

What if Chris Dixon and John Borthwick were sitting at the same table as you, ready to have a real conversation about what's next for the real-time Web? Would you like to sit across from Marshall Kirkpatrick and Richard MacManus and have a straight-shooting conversation about real-time online media? If so, then the ReadWriteWeb Real-Time Web Summit is for you. And thanks to its unconference format, the day will be like participating in a think tank - you and a group of tech luminaries collaborating on the future of the Web.

That's the nature of ReadWriteWeb summits - straight talking, collegial settings where individuals who are striving to move an industry forward, sit down and create the future. Everyone learns. Everyone advances. You leave feeling energized and full of "next'.

Who Will be There?

Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about some of the amazing attendees that you will get to meet and discuss issues with face-to-face. ]]> http://readwrite.com/2010/06/08/40_off_the_real-_40_off_the_real-time_web_summit_june_11_nyc_for_the_next_24_hourstime_web_summit_june_11_nyc_for_th http://readwrite.com/2010/06/08/40_off_the_real-_40_off_the_real-time_web_summit_june_11_nyc_for_the_next_24_hourstime_web_summit_june_11_nyc_for_th RWW Real-Time Web Summit, NYC 2010 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:15:00 -0700 Elyssa Pallai In the spirit of all things being not equal, ReadWriteWeb is offering a deep discount to independents, freelancers and individual consultants for the ReadWriteWeb Real-Time Web Summit, June 11 in New York City. Simply email independents@readwriteweb.com to take advantage of the discount. Richard MacManus is packing his bags in New Zealand as we speak in anticipation of meeting you in New York!

As we plan our week in New York for the conference and Internet Week, we're looking at the attributes of the real-time Web that independents - including entrepreneurs, consultants and freelancers - should know about. Here are five use cases for the real-time Web that demonstrate its relevance for independents like yourself.

1. Real-time technologies change the user experience

As the Web goes real-time, the World Wide Wait just isn't going to cut it. Users will come to expect everything right now, and served up via instant notification. It will be interesting to see how this impacts users' desires to actually visit websites. Or will we become so used to instant transfer of knowledge and notifications that it will change the very nature of how we use the Web?

2. Real-time technology enhances collaboration and crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing will become possible on a mass scale. Instead of you and four other collaborators to get the job done, try thousands. Imagine Mechanical Turk on steroids and think of all the work you can get done, right now, with other people.

3. Customers provide feedback in real time

This phenomenon is happening now. Launch a product online and immediately you will you have five DMs in your inbox with suggestions or reports of bugs. The world becomes your test market, and iteration of your product happens in real time.

4. Conventions for real-time design are being defined now

Real-time experience conventions are being created as new real-time services pop up all over the Web. It's important to make note of what is working and what isn't and imagine ways we can improve the experience.

5. Real-Time technologies need to be in your development plans

As users come to expect information in real-time, real-time technologies need to be on your development and enhancement register. Discussion needs to happen now so we can understand how real-time might change your service delivery experience.

The Summit is an Unconference

Because it's an unconference, you're going to get tons of networking and business value from the summit. Along with the help of a professional moderator, you and your peers will make the agenda and sit alongside industry luminaries such as John Borthwick, Chris Dixon and Marshall Kirkpatrick to discuss, debate and shape what comes next for the real-time Web. It's like your own private think-tank.

That's the nature of ReadWriteWeb summits - straight-talking, collegial settings where you get to create the future. Everyone learns. Everyone advances. You leave feeling energized and full of "next"!

It turns out our readers are even smarter and more interesting than we thought. We couldn't pick just five and instead ended up with seven winners. Read on to find out who made the cut.

Deriving value from the real-time Web and its applications is the theme of the Real-Time Web Summit. We have an excellent mix of guests attending the unconference, including students, industry experts and real-time zealots from around the world. If you're new to unconferences, it's a format where attendees - with the help of a professional moderator - shape the conference sessions. We'll then discuss, debate and create the future of the real-time Web together. And yes, there will also be speed-geeking from some killer, cutting-edge companies that are exploring the value proposition of the real-time Web.

For a preview of the in-depth type of discussions that are going to take place, check out our seven winners below. For some of them we're only showing an excerpt as some responses were very long. You can find the full comments here.

If your comment doesn't appear here, don't fret as we're offering significant discounts to students and independents. If you fall into those categories, email students@readwriteweb.com or independents@readwriteweb.com to receive the discount.

The Winners

Some readers asked how the real-time Web can pave the way for increases productivity and value.

"... Activity stream standards (for example, limits on data size) and protocols like pubsubhubbub make it possible for thousands of co's to filter/index the emergent web since it's no longer necessary to conduct sweep/index terabytes of data to get that view. Computationally intensive activities like natural language processing can be used on these focused streams of small-format data to reveal insights into the web that were previously impossible. That's what our company does and something we're keen to discuss." Bill Fischer

"... What's the next generation of the real-time web look like when it no longer has to deal with the constraints of last generation broadband? What else can we do now that we have a network that essentially serves as a communitywide LAN? A network where capacity is nearly limitless? A network where latency is near zero?... So how do we now take advantage of this new capacity to create a new class of real-time web experiences?" Geoff Daily

Commenters also explored the definition of the real-time Web and its impact on user experiences.

"Web 3.0 has three core nuances: one it's everywhere, literally everywhere, it's always up to date, it goes out if it's way to allow and foster creative contribution and collaboration. This natural progression is apparent; first there were consumers, then there were users, now we are entering the realm of CO-CREATORS!" Evan Schoepke

"1) No more need to use FriendFeed or Google Wave or IM clients from 1999 telling you that someone is typing just to get a real-time rush because everything.. EVERYTHING will be real-time.

2) You won't even remember those Geocities-ish "web pages" saying "Last Updated on" because in the real-time web, web sites.. will update... themselves.

3) Google will acquire Woopra. And "creators" will immediately become "spectators." Someone call Forrester quick because, ladies and gents, we may need a new version of the Technographics ladder." Esteban Contreras

Some talked about the possibilities of collaboration on steroids...

"Jim Hendler and Tim Berners-Lee are asking how we can use the web to solve some of man's most pressing problems. For example, can we use the web to find a cure for cancer?...Google wave and other collaboration tools are great for small groups. In the not too distant future we will have web tools that enable real-time collaboration amongst many thousands of people. We'll be able to share resources as never before." Graham

"What I've seen through collective use/following of a hashtag or sharing in an experience together through a chat room and/or live video stream is testimony to the fact that experiences shared in groups, in the moment, have significantly more impact than reading a recap and posting a comment after the fact. Immersion in the 'now' is quite powerful..." Georgy

...And some looked on the disruptive nature of new technologies.

"My suspicions about social networks is that they won't last for much longer. In the long term they constitute an emotional immaturity that won't benefit us in the long run - people eventually get tired of privacy issues and the neediness that inspires when you go an hour without friendship affirmations. I see/hear people becoming weary of the toll it takes to dig through the nonsense in pursuit of the (semi) valuable information." Tara S.

If your comment is above, please email elyssa@readwriteweb.com so we can register you! We look forward to seeing you at the event.

The ReadWriteWeb Real-Time Web Summit - will take place on June 11 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. Register here.

If you're a student and would like to participate, please email us at students@readwriteweb.com.

What's an Unconference?

It's simple: With the help of a professional facilitator, Kaliya Hamlin, you and everyone attending the conference create an agenda in real-time on the day of the event. This ensures that what's covered is important, timely, and exactly what you want to talk about. To see the power of the unconference format in action, check out this video of session pitching at the recent ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit:

Watch live video from ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 on Justin.tv

The rest of the day is spent debating and discussing the issues. Notetakers record the sessions throughout, and we record video when possible.

We can assure you that by the end of the day you'll have made new contacts, participated in some ground-breaking discussions, and (if you were brave enough) worked side-by-side with people you admire.

We hope to see you there.

Today we're giving away five free tickets to our readers who have the most interesting thoughts about the real-time Web. Let us know your comments, concerns, predictions and premonitions in the comments below!

Commenters, among other really interesting discussion points, asked for stats to back up statements. In Harvard Business Review Magazine this month I stumbled across a rather depressing recent study [PDF download], which, on the bright side confirms that looks have little to do with pay scale, ability to secure a leadership role, or smarts. However, on the dark side, it showed gender still very much does matter.

Findings of the study show women's transcendence to leadership roles has not occurred, inequality remains entrenched in terms of pay, career advancement, as well as career satisfaction. Shockingly, study respondents weren't just any other Joanne or Joe Schmo in the workforce. The study tracked the smartest and brightest grad students from elite MBA programs, around the world, from 1996 to 2007. These are motivated and talented men and women.

In the words of Harvard Business Review, "Pipeline's Broken Promise, examines the past two decades in which leaders have counted on parity in education, women's accelerated movement into the labor force, and company-implemented diversity and inclusion programs to yield a robust talent pipeline where women are poised to make rapid gains to the top. "

The survey took into account experience, time since MBA, first post-MBA job level, industry and global region of work at the time of survey, and found that:

• Men were twice as likely as women to be at the CEO/senior executive level.
• Men's pay out paced women's.
• Men significantly outpaced women moving up the career ladder when starting out in similar level roles.

These findings are not specific to any industry, including technology. Even I was shocked looking across this Microsoft org chart. For some reason seeing things in list format made the differential of men to women in Microsoft management even more striking. Note this isn't for lack of women candidates as women make up almost half (49.9% in October 2009) of the workforce - no, we aren't leaving work to have babies either!

I am stereotypical myself. I personally have clawed my way all the way to middle management after 20 years working in the tech industry, while men younger than I hold more senior roles. Is this simply because I am a woman? These findings would say, "Well, yes." So what is it about men and women? Will there ever be a time where women aren't looked on as women in the tech industry, but just as smart people with skills that fit a certain role, best?

I personally know a lot of extremely smart women, all of whom that have had to go out on their own to make it above the glass ceiling. So is it just men in management holding us back?

I find this study pertinent, not just to my own work experience, but also as we are a month away from the Mobile Summit in San Francisco on May 7. Looking to encourage a stronger female presence, we felt compelled to get out and ask women and men alike the following questions so please take the survey - it is just three questions.

Your thoughts and comments please.

Also see these related articles on other websites from Clay Shirky, Jeanne of Feministing, danah boyd and Gina Trapani, which have some interesting comments and counterpoints on why the glass ceiling still exists.

Photo by Faakhir Rizvi.

Boulder is the home of Blue Mountain cards, one of the first successful online greeting cards websites. In the 1990s, Fortune 1,000 tech companies popped up all over the Western prairie between Boulder and Denver. Since then, Boulder's creative, crunchy, beautiful mountain environment has nurtured a self-supporting startup tech ecosystem.

We already wrote about Boulder in our Never Mind the Valley series, and recently had the chance to visit the city and lunch with four of the region's startups. Here is what we found.

Community Support

The Boulder startup community, continues to be a supportive, passionate community with talented individuals, inspired ideas that is affecting change politically and economically in the United States. Lunching with four startups that Micah Baldwin organized was like lunching with a family. The group we talked with share office space, mentor each other and talk proudly of each others ideas and accomplishments.

The Underground Rail Road

Attracting talent is foundational to any startup environment. Eric Marcoullier, co-founder of Gnip described the "underground railroad" of transients that have made their way from Silicon Valley to Boulder. "Weekly I would get emails asking about what Boulder was like. Eventually I just started telling people to come here, visit and ask the locals themselves," he said. Venture capitalists have also made their way from busy Silicon Valley to the Boulder Valley.

Affecting Change - The Startup Visa Act

Once you have the foundation of talented motivated individuals, ideas flow. Brad Feld of TechStars took the idea for a national startup visa bill and made it a reality. TechStars receives proposals from all over the world. Startups based in foreign countries come on tourist visas with great ideas - and potential jobs are being sent home with them. The startup bill seeks to change this. The bill will enable companies that do not have U.S. citizen or resident status, but who have blessed by at least $100,000 in VC investment, to start their companies in the United States.

Measuring Outcomes

The four thought-provoking, pioneering startups we met with had had nothing but positive things to say about TechStars and starting a business in Boulder. Each had a unique story; two of them were locals and all of them men.

Gnip

Eric Marcoullier, co-founder of Gnip, launched two years ago with the unique idea of providing data collection and analysis of social signals across multiple social websites to help companies improve their product and service experience. The Gnip platform and service bridges the gap between the data APIs between large companies and multiple social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Post Rank. ReadWriteWeb has covered Gnip extensively. Since its launch, Gnip has changed its technology strategy and will be re-launching soon.

Everlater

Natty Zola and Nate Abbott spent one year sleeping on couches as they traveled across five continents before they came up with the concept for Everlater. Everlater allows travelers to easily record and share their travel experiences through Twitter and Facebook. The platform allows users to use data from across multiple photo sharing sites. People can also publish their travel "scrapbooks". An algorithm lays out the book automatically so you don't have to. For hopeless photo organizers like me, this is a godsend!

Next Big Sound

Alex White, co-founder Next Big Sound, provides cultural analytics specifically to music companies. Music professionals can track how fans interact with their music, or music from many musicians across sites such as MySpace and LastFM. It is currently developing a premium service.

Graphic.ly

Micah Baldwin is not only social hub-connector extraordinaire, but also works for the uniquely cool comic book community Graphic.ly. Graphic.ly, which is currently in private beta, hopes to open opportunities for comic book creators, publishers and enthusiasts that are currently suffering under a one distributor model - as well as reawaken America's and the world's love for online comics. Members can both purchase and discuss comic books on Graphic.ly.

Ties to the Universities

Startup's ties with Colorado universities are immature, but starting to materialize. The morning of our lunch someone from the Colorado startup community (who we promised not to name) had met with the University of Colorado. As the individual put it, "Universities are turning out graduates prepped for a traditional computer science career at the likes of Lockheed Martin. We don't need MBAs - we need coders." The local Universities are overlooking careers in startups that are based - literally - around the corner or down from "The Hill" as a viable career option. An exception, University of Colorado Law School is has been offering startups free legal advice in exchange for student experience.

Judging from the close-knit group of entrepreneurs we saw, Boulder has matured significantly since the dot-com boom and bust. The only thing lacking at lunch was more estrogen.

This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon!

How Your Brand Can Succeed in the New Web

With Brian Solis. "Engage is the new book by Brian Solis that will debut at SXSW. Representing the third book on new media and its impact on society, culture and communication. Engage will help anyone not only understand the changes in the media landscape but also how to lead it. Brian Solis will be joined by a special guest to discuss the new book and answer questions followed by a book signing."

The Future of Influence

"The ability to share online has allowed consumers to control and filter the Web. For brands and publishers, tapping into Influence is critical to social media's future. What is influence and how is it measured? Leading voices in social media from multiple backgrounds will define the value of influence, discuss best practices, and predict future impact. Data will be shared! This panel is sponsored by ShareThis." With Tim Schigel, Paul Berry, Dave Knox, Mike John-Baptiste, Shiv Singh.

Extending Your Brand? There's an App for That

"For many, brand extension into the digital realm means a Web site, a banner ad, a viral campaign. But applications can extend conversations and perceptions of a brand, as well as add to discussions and ideas in compelling new ways. How can applications help your brand and idea be more authentic, genuine, user friendly, and just plain old fun? Learn from the folks that are making it happen. This panel is sponsored by Microsoft Silverlight."

The Human Experience

With Gary Vaynerchuk. The content of this presentation has not been announced, but knowing Gary and his successful track record in growing business through the use of social media, this one is not to be missed.

Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

With Douglas Rushkoff. "Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other's values."

I Don't Trust You One Stinking Bit

"What gives people confidence on the Web? Bringing together experts in social capital and online trust, we help you build the company your users can love and call their own." With Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data

Clay Shirky hasn't announced the content of his presentation yet. He "divides his time between consulting, teaching, and writing on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. His consulting practice is focused on the rise of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, Web services, and wireless networks that provide alternatives to the wired client/server infrastructure that characterizes the Web."

The Young and the Digital

With Craig Watkins. "In 2006, S. Craig Watkins participated in the MacArthur Foundation's well-funded digital media initiative alongside a select team of scholars and tech experts. The goal was simple: to understand young people's emphatic embrace of social and mobile media. Watkins went on to build a small research team that skillfully collected over 500 surveys and conducted 350 in-depth interviews with young adults, parents, and educators."

Design and Usability, The UX of Mobile

"The term 'user experience' used to be an afterthought in mobile application design. The iPhone changed all that and has set a new benchmark for user experience on mobile devices. This panel will serve as a primer for anyone interested in learning how to apply UX principles to the creation of applications for iPhone, Android, and mobile websites." With Barbara Ballard, Tom Limongello, Scott Jenson.

The Ten Commandments of User Experience

"User experience is the result of your interactions with a product or service, specifically how it's delivered and its related artifacts according to the design. In this presentation we will explain how following the 10 commandments can boost your project's ease of use, appeal, conversion rates, and more." With Raina Van Cleave, Nick Finck.

Persuasive Design: Encouraging Your Users To Do What You Want Them To!

"So you've designed a great product, fixed a stack of usability problems and spent a fortune on marketing. The only problem is, people aren't using it. In this session you will learn how to get your users to do what you want them to through good design, human psychology and a touch of mind control." With Andy Budd.

My Three-Year Old Is My Usability Expert

"Children are perfect testers for the innate usability of visual structures. Learn how neuroscience and cognitive psychology research can make your designs and interfaces more intuitive." With Dave Stanton.

Can the Real-Time Web Be Realized?

"The emergence of the real-time Web enables an unprecedented level of user engagement and dynamic content online. However, the rapidly growing audience puts new, complex demands on the architecture of the Web as we know it. This panel will discuss what is needed to make the real-time Web achievable." With Scott Raymond, Brett Slatkin, Dare Obasanjo, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Jack Moffitt.

Time + Social + Location. What's Next In Mobile Experiences?

"As more devices become location aware, social uses will continue to evolve beyond just who and what,to WHEN. Adding the temporal dimension creates new opportunities for social interaction. Learn about ways to leverage and use technology to add features at the intersection of temporal, social, and location." With Naveen Selvadurai, Josh Babetski, Greg Cypes.

ActivityStrea.ms: Is It Getting Streamy In Here?

"From Facebook's newsfeed to Twitter's relentless real-time updates, the metaphor of the "stream" has taken social networking beyond blog posts and on to rich social activities. Learn about ActivityStrea.ms - the open format adopted by Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live - and how it's fundamentally changing the social Web." With Chris Messina.

HTML5: Tales from the Development Trenches

"HTML5 is coming. Originally called "Web applications 1.0", it brings new semantics, JavaScript APIs for drag and drop, offline storage, generating images, plugin-free video and form validation. It's upset semantic Web advocates, accessibility evangelists and baffled developers. Cut through the crap: learn what it is and what it does."

What Are Analytics? A Guide To Practical Data

"Analytics are often a confusing and convoluted mess, but that doesn't mean that they have to be. The Guide to Practical Data will help ensure you're reaching your full analytical potential. Learn how to analyze public and proprietary data to accelerate the success of any initiative." With Margaret Francis, Blake Robinson.

Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for marketers and Web strategists. If you've got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin!

Reduce

Simply by automating the collection of content, Toyota minimizes the number of people, time and level of effort required to run a highly engaging website. No one is needed to create content, no complicated workflow and approval process - no manual push to live. The content is published for the most part by fans and nay-sayers of Toyota alike. This means Toyota staff can concentrate on curation, conversation and engagement.

Reuse

The entire site, from front to back, is reusing existing resources. The hardware, software and interface design is developed and delivered by Tweetmeme. The platform existed - Toyota is just tweaked existing data to deliver relevant, real-time content to the press, its customers, its employees - and let's not forget the competition.

Recycle

Instead of building from scratch, Toyota is recycling an existing idea and repurposing it for its own needs. As such, the solution was most likely delivered in a quarter of the time (or less) that it would have taken Toyota to build a similar solution. And even if Toyota tried to create the experience from scratch, it most likely couldn't replicate the Tweetmeme model as it also gained the brains, years of research and development and data management skills of Tweetmeme.

Management is RELATIVELY happy as the solution is inexpensive, quick to market, and from a development perspective, generally risk free as it is a proven solution that Tweetmeme will continue to evolve. The data geeks are happy because they have a new toy to play with, while the marketing team is thrilled because they have a platform to view real-time what customers are saying, and respond accordingly.

These app posts aren't about listing the "best" iPhone apps in a given category. That's because deciding which app is best for you really depends on your requirements. For example, if you are looking to a government agency to help you find the nearest library, you're not interested in an application that allows you to calculate mortgage rates - even if we recommended it. So what we're doing is showing examples of available functionality.

Government agencies around the world are notorious for delivering less-than-optimal website experiences. This is often due to a government agency, rather than citizens, driving website requirements.

There are other factors, such as legislation, that demand transparency and leads to the publishing of multiple documents that the majority of people could care less about. As a result, government domains have bloated to unbelievable sizes, and some governments such as those in the U.K. and New Zealand have adopted consolidation policies.

Based on this example, we have to admit we were expecting that governments would simply port their same, less-than-optimal website experiences to the mobile Web. However, we were able to uncover a few intriguing mobile government apps that are, to our delight, useful and usable!

Reporting an Issue to Government

GoRequest is a location-aware iPhone application that allows a person to log an issue with their local government. The app is free and submits issues directly into the issue tracking system. The user experience is top notch - simple and task oriented. Unfortunately, it is only available in 22 cities so far in the U.S.

For the lucky ones that live in these enlightened locations, you are able to select from a list of potential issues as broad as Road Kill (Dead Animal on Roadway), Graffiti, Accidental Spills, Illegal Dumping, Abandoned Vehicles, Police Non-Emergency, Ice Removal From Gutters and more. Once you have selected the issue, you can enter a description and take a photo of, for example, the dead animal. The application detects your location automatically.

America's Most Wanted

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched, of course, an app for its Most Wanted list. The app lists the Top Ten Most Wanted, the Most Wanted Terrorists as well as a list of top missing kids.

If you have information about one of the Most Wanted, you can submit a tip to the FBI. The app also provides links to FBI Tweets and its YouTube and Facebook pages. Unfortunately there is no sharing functionality incorporated into the app. The application was built by NIC, which is a provider of outsourced eGovernment portals.

Government Data On Steroids

NYC Way is a great example of application developers taking all the open government data they can find and turning it into something useful - although we question the usability. NYC Way was pointed out to us by Adam Greenfield on his recent visit to Wellington.

The best way to describe this app is that it's an application portal to 32 useful applications that offer New York City-specific location-based services. You can use it to locate the nearest free Wi-Fi, coffee shop or restroom, report an issue to city officials, or learn safety tips. Although the user experience as a portal is something to be desired, the functionality and helpful data available is truly mind boggling - a Swiss Army knife for finding your way around New York City. This app portal has benefits for locals and tourists alike.

The Saving Grace?

There is still the risk that government agencies will approach mobile much like they have approached the Web. Fortunately, the constraints - such as cost of development, screen size, functionality and file size - that are inherent in developing for the iPhone and other smartphones may be the saving grace that forces agencies to think twice about users' real needs.

You can read more ReadWriteWeb coverage of the iPhone here, and the mobile Web here. And don't forget you can download the RWW iPhone application here.

Do you have a favorite government app on your smartphone? Are small, regional agencies better at creating user-friendly apps, or do federal agencies do it best? Let us know in the comments!

Building photo credit: Ivan Petrov

1: Just Build It: You don't need anyone's approval and in fact, you probably won't get it, so don't even try.

2: Iterate: Build, release and iterate. Make a list of the features you want to create over the next six months and get going! For small companies, once a week; for larger companies, maybe twice a month.

3: Hire Your Boss: Make sure you hire people that you would want to work for, who challenge you and you can learn from.

4: Demand Excellence: Ensure staff are committed to and understand your vision. Passionate, committed staff have a tendency to rub off on people. There is nothing like a new junior developer who runs circles around everyone to get people hyped up and raise the bar! Stay involved in the hiring process as long as you possibly can.

5: Raising Money: The higher your evaluation is, the more equity you have to work with. Beg, borrow and steal. Be creative about finding ways to cut costs. For example, tell the bar you are having a "birthday party" instead of a corporate event (which they would charge you $5,000 for). Rent servers, don't buy them. Don't just take the cash, make sure your investors can add value. Stick with angel investment. Venture capital mean board meetings, which is a huge sap on time and resources.

6: Hack the Press: Hit up the lower-end bloggers at your favorite tech blog. They have just as much opportunity to write about your product as any other blogger on the team. Attend the after-event parties. The same crowd that attends the events also goes to the parties, but the parties are free.

7: Invest in Advisors: Give away a small amount of stock to advisors (which they can vest after a few years) who you can call on in a pickle or for general advice as issues arise. Set the ground rules so you and the advisor know how much time you have access to.

8: Connect With the Community: Hold a live town hall where you can collect feedback and get advice from your users.

9: Leverage Your User Base to Spread the Word: Facebook notifications is a great example of how to do this.

10: Analyze Your Traffic: Pay attention to how people are using your site, and then learn and evolve. Use Google Analytics to understand and track traffic sources and entrance and exit paths.

Photo credit: althecat

Luckily the Web offers many ways to gather information on a topic and the conversation around that particular topic or product, in real-time. In fact we are spoiled, even overwhelmed, with free listening tools.

If you're just starting out using the Web as a research and analysis tool to find out about your customers' needs and wants and have never used a search service to do this, a great place to start is Twitter Search as it is instantly gratifying! However, fair warning: these tools are addictive. If you are ready to take the plunge, read on.

Search Your Product, Service or Topic Using Twitter Search

Most of us know how to use Twitter to follow, tweet, retweet, @reply and direct message our friends and colleagues. However, not many of us employ Twitter as a research tool. Here is how:

1. Go to search.twitter.com
2. Type in keywords in relation to your product, service or topic. For example: ReadWriteWeb, RWW, @RWW, #RWW.
3. Read the conversation.

Yes, it really is that easy to locate people that are talking about your product or market of interest. These tweets can be really very positive, but also so revealing it hurts. But don't take them personally, take action and you will be rewarded.

Use Hashtags

You may see that people are talking about a topic using a particular hashtag. That's twitter-speak for a pound sign followed by a word. Twitters use them to identify tweets that have a similar topic. For example, when I search for RWW on Twitter search, it gives me results for all the people that have tweeted using #RWW.

Where do hashtags come from? People and companies just make them up so they can easily follow particular conversations. Hashtags are basically a hack for the search system to easily find everything on a particular subject. I am not sure if a ReadWriteWeb staff member was the first person to use the #RWW hashtag, but I know it is out there and being used, so it is one of the things I search for when listening to what people are saying.

Here's a real-world example of how hashtags can be used to instantly identify and solve problems. We just launched the ReadWriteWeb iPhone Application . Within minutes of tweeting about the application and sharing the download link, we were able to identify a few bugs right off the bat that our developer Nicolas Toopia was able to resolve.

Progressing to a Desktop Application For Market Monitoring

Once you are comfortable searching for your product or service, you may want to progress to monitoring your market using a desktop Twitter application. Desktop applications make it easier to monitor your product as you can create many custom filtered conversation streams and watch them all at once, as opposed to watching one stream at a time on twitter.com. For example I use TweetDeck. It allows me to easily set up several streams that I want to monitor. Other desktop clients like Seesmic Desktop and PeopleBrowsr offer similar options.

Create Custom Filtered Views of the Conversation

Setting up canned searches: You can set up a canned search so you can watch the ongoing stream of conversation around your product or service. Use the search function of your desktop client and search for your favorite search terms. TweetDeck, for instance, immediately sets up a conversation stream in a column for you to view. In one stream I have created a canned search for @RWW. This allows me to continuously watch what people are saying about ReadWriteWeb, what they are tweeting and retweeting and answer any questions or issues someone may have.

Setting up groups: I have also set up a group list of the RWW team by simply selecting their @names from a list so I can see only what the RWW team is saying on Twitter. This is another function that sits at the very top of the screen in Tweetdeck. You can also follow Twitter Lists in TweetDeck.

Building Community and Learning from the Twittersphere

The true power of Twitter is realized when you start to use search, groups and conversation tools to build community, networks and identify expertise around your product, service or learn about a particular topic of interest. Let's say I am really interested in dressage riding (which I am). I go to search.twitter.com and use keywords to find people that are talking about dressage, or I go to a list service like Listorious. I may follow both the list someone has created on Listorious, as well as create my own lists and perhaps a canned search for various words in my Twitter client. Tracking all of these conversations, I can very quickly get up to speed on top dressage tweeters. When I am feeling brave, I can engage in the conversation. If I am active enough, I will slowly build relationships and useful networks, possibly around the globe.

Warning: These services are addictive!

Once you become a Twitter addict, and you get used to customer and market information in real-time, you will find it very difficult to go back to your old ways of marketing. In the future, I'll discuss how to use more listening and analysis tools such as notification tools. However, once you get started and realize how easy all of this listening, information gathering and engagement is, I have no doubt you will start searching for and discovering new tools on your own.

Photo credit: Jean Scheijen

Take real-time, for instance. The next generation of search, aggregation, notification and findability services are being developed using real-time technologies that enable users and machines to receive real-time updates. In a recent post, Robert Scoble said he would be better off curating news than actually attending the Apple launch! What? If you aren't thinking about how real time, along with social networks, mobile and location-based services fits in your marketing plan, you're missing an opportunity.

Google's Great, But Facebook Rocks

In a recent post, ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick asked "Why is Google afraid of Facebook?" The answer is because social networking sites have become a key link in the search and information sharing value chain. You would have to be hiding out in a dark hole not to understand social media and the effect it has had on marketing the past couple of years - but surpass search? Oh, right, now I get it: These sites are an important information source for everyone. Importantly, friends' recommendations are key.

Mobile is Better

Google's VP of product development recently stated that, "with all the capabilities these phones that are coming out have - like GPS, cameras - we think there is the potential to actually make this mobile Web better than the PC Web." That is a profound statement for marketing managers. A mobile phone experience better than the web? If you haven't bought yourself a smart phone like iPhone or Android, we suggest you go out and grab one. Mobile applications are proliferating like rabbits. What would be better than to be first to market and offer your customers an exceptional product experience while on the go.

Perfect product placement

Location-based services mean the ability to market right outside your front door is happening now. ReadWriteWeb's Frederic Lardinois reported in June 2009 that 1 in 3 smart phone owners use location based services. Take this simple example. You're in Vail, you just finished 8 hours on the mountain and now you're looking for the perfect apres ski location. You're walking down the Mall, you take your iPhone out of your pocket and ta-da! Buy one-get-one-free margaritas at Las Margaritas. You're standing right outside. Perfect product placement. And now you can talk about the restaurant and broadcast it immediately to all your friends.

If you aren't listening to the conversation, you better start. There are numerous listening applications available to get you started in your pursuit to join the conversation and get a handle on positive as well as negative feedback on your product or brand. A simple saved search in Twitter can go along way.

All these trends have a profound impact on how we market to our website guests at ReadWriteWeb. Not only do we have to understand search engine optimization, but the opportunities offered by social media marketing, the new capabilities and possibilities offered by mobile, geolocation, augmented reality and real-time notification and information sharing. One seems to becoming just as important as the next.

If you don't understand these technology trends as a marketer, you better get out while the getting is good. Enabled by technology, 2010 is already a watershed year for new ways to reach your customers.

Want to know more about the real-time Web? Read ReadWriteWeb's report, The Real-Time Web and its Future.

Photo by Clix.