Stay ahead of the game with a solid focus by working on the following:

• Develop a detailed Web Strategy for the coming two years
• Find socio-centric approaches to your online strategy - that is, create online social relevance for your brand, product or business
• Think Creatively. Necessity is the mother of invention. Looking back through history, one can see that business innovation expands as the economy contracts.
• Enable your website and campaigns for Web 2.0 technologies, by harnessing Social Media and Social Networking Platform traffic
• Devise a Search Engine Optimisation Strategy to maximise your online business potential, particularly if revenue is directly or indirectly generated through your website
• Develop a Facebook App, Viral Flash Game or Viral Video to spread through Social Media and Social Networking channels
• Stay in touch with your audience - develop a strong mailing list, and work on your online marketing techniques
• Implement a Corporate Blog to communicate with your audience, grow your online presence and keep your website current
• Build site stickiness by regularly adding content, such as Videos, Podcasts or Blog Posts
• Keep your web content up-to-date - this encourages return visits from both Search Engines and customers
• Regularly review your Web Strategy - in challenging times, remaining dynamic with your online strategy will give you an edge over competitors

With some serious implications on the horizon for corporate strategy this year, it is a good time to build a strong web strategy to enable your online assets to weather the storm.

Though many companies are implementing cutbacks, and tightening the purse-strings, now is a crucial time to plan ahead. eMarketer - even in the face of recession - is still predicting an 8.9% worldwide growth in online ad spend this year, from 23.6 billion to $25.7 billion. We expect to see Facebook really tapping some of that cash this year, with its’ vamped advertising engine. Can it become a contender to Google’s stranglehold? Doubtful. But the model is a very potent one.

Our prediction for 2009 online is an increasing trend towards the trends we have seen in 2008

• Social Media and Social Networking sites (like Facebook, Friendster and LinkedIn) will increase their foothold in the online environment;
• Integrating Social Network features and Relationship Knowledge into communications is a trend in the making
• Search Engines love Blogs (particularly Google) which begs corporations to step up and set up set their Corporate Blogs up as a means of interacting with their users
• Search engine balance of power shakeup this year, as Yahoo teeters on the verge of takeover, and Google loses its’ shine as the Golden-Search-Engine-Who-Can-Do-No-Wrong, and Social Media/Networking sites vy for position
• Massive increases in location-specific internet usage, thanks to the extraordinary technology that is Google Maps for Mobile
• New Social Media sites will spring up to challenge the existing megaliths like DIGG, Technorati and del.icio.us which are increasingly becoming victims of SEO SPAM;
• 3G phone-enabled applications, sites and services will experience massive growth in 2009
• Online Video to go mainstream. Broadband speeds worldwide are increasing massively, and set to do so in Australia, as are computer CPU speeds. Finally technology is catching up to the 1997 utopian dream of ‘multimedia’. Use of video will become far more widespread.
• Google, Yahoo, MSN, Apple and Facebook APIs which companies can plug their technologies into.
• Cloud Computing technologies for SMEs and large enterprise looking to
• Emerging online ecosystems of Development APIs will become more and more integrated with each other, and with mobile technologies.

Just two weeks ago, Web 2.0’s darling - Facebook - reached 130 million users. And over 4 Million in Australia.

Facebook now has over 140 million users. That’s a growth of an incredible 7 users every second for the worlds’ largest social networking website…an unprecedented achievement on the web. We created this little app to show just how fast this growth actually is!

And with those numbers, not surprisingly there are other staggering statistics:

• 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 700 million photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 4 million videos uploaded each month
• More than 19 million active user groups exist on the site
• More than 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
• More than 95% of Facebook members have used at least one application built on Facebook Platform

Thinking outside the box with web 2.0 technology can lead to some truly interesting ideas.

The team at Botanicalls have come up with an ingenious use for Twitter. Their invention “is a system that was developed to allow plants to place phone calls for human help”. Their DIY Twitter watering project uses moisture probes to allow your plant to tweet you a message when it needs a drink.

So, the US has a new President. And one that is well aware of the potential of Web 2.0.

By targeting Gen-Y through the use of new Social Media platforms like Facebook, mySpace, youTube and Twitter, Obama has succeeded in effectively spreading support for his campaign across the Internet.

Make no mistake - Web 2.0, Social Media and Social Networking are a very real force in the world of PR. Harness those forces, and you will see very real results.

Obama has done just that. From social networking to his blog to his Fight the Smears campaign, Obama has made his Web 2.0 presence known. He has over 1.5 million friends on MySpace and Facebook, and he currently has over 45,000 followers on Twitter. This personal activity in social networks allows him to quickly get the word out across multiple platforms.

Obama has spent millions on his online campaign - from generating revenue indirectly by working out conversion ratios using GoogleAdwords, to sending campaign movements via SMS, and drumming up community support in online communities.

Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook, knows a thing or two about social networking, and has been heading up Obama’s campaign. Obama’s wooing of the social networking whiz may not have made headlines at the time, but it’s been a major factor in Obama’s success.

On Oct. 21, for example, Obama raked in more than 84 million views for his YouTube videos while McCain posted 22 million, according to TechPresident, a site that charts Web 2.0 election statistics. Over the past six months, 13,702 Meetup members have used the site to organize offline groups and events to support Obama, while 1,472 members are using it to rally around McCain.

For the seven days ending Oct. 22, Obama was mentioned 10, 291 times in the blogosphere, according to Technorati - which tracks blogs - compared to 3,924 mentions for McCain.

And Hitwise - which tracks Web traffic - noted that Obama was pulling in 67% of all Web traffic directed to presidential candidate sites while McCain was pulling in 32% of that traffic.

Obama has also continued to dominate on Facebook, with 2 million Facebook supporters on Oct. 9, compared McCain’s 564,000 for McCain. The Democratic candidate also leads on MySpace, with 749,000 supporters as of Wednesday compared to McCain’s 190,000.

What is Android?

It’s the new operating system for mobile phones, funded by Google and set to revolutionise the phone industry.

Heard the same thing about the iPhone a few months ago? Well, let it be known that this operating system is a serious contender for best phone OS available.

What is Android?

- This exciting new mobile-phone software wasn’t created by Google and isn’t owned by it, though its development was largely funded by Google via a body known as the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). This loose confederation of tech firms includes handset makers, mobile-phone networks and Google.

- The OHA allows phone makers to run Android on a suitable handset, without charge. Several have signed up, including Samsung, LG and Motorola. T-Mobile is the first UK-based mobile network to join. Others may soon follow.

- Android is less demanding of a phone’s hardware than traditional smartphone software such as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and runs quickly, making its rivals seem sluggish by comparison.

- As Android is open source, anyone can create programs for it. These are available to download to the phone from the online Android Market. Many are free; others must be paid for via Google’s payment. system. Innovative new programs include ShopSavvy, whereby you scan a product’s barcode with the phone’s camera and it checks for the best online price, then shows you the nearest store on a map.

- Android’s open-source approach also means that a handset maker or mobile network could hobble its version of the software by removing features such as a phone’s ability to make free calls over the internet.

- As the software is self-policed by an online community of fans, Android raises security concerns. That said, this already works well for Linux, the computer-based operating system upon which it is based, and the Firefox web browser.

- Despite Android’s multimedia pretensions, it cannot yet play videos in either Apple’s QuickTime or Adobe’s Flash format – both popular on websites. Google has at least fixed this problem for fans of YouTube, which uses Flash.

Ok, so this post is not strictly about Web 2.0. In fact, it’s more likely about Web 3.0 …. it’s about when the web truly upgrades to a new version - portable internet

After using and testing the iPhone in its’ factory release format, we decided that the iPhone will redefine the Internet and Web 2.0 Apps as we currently know them. So we decided to Jailbreak an iPhone to see what else might be instore for the future. And rest assured there’s plenty in store!

Here’s how you can Jailbreak your iPhone for some added functionality.

SHIFT Interactive is a Web 2.0 design agency in Sydney Australia. We specialise in harnessing what the Version 2 web technology provides including:

• Viral marketing Sydney Australia
• Flash Games Sydney Australia
• Corporate Blogging Sydney Australia
• Viral Video Campaigns Sydney Australia
• Web 2.0 Sydney Australia
• Social Media Sydney Australia
• Social Networking Sydney Australia

Viral Video is bursting onto the Australian Web 2.0 scene in Sydney with the same pace that enthusiasm for the concept of ‘multimedia’ bloomed onto the scene back in the 90’s. The difference now is that so-called multimedia is actually happening…

Use a viral video to launch a product, or a marketing campaign, and reach a massive potential target market which would remain untapped using conventional, offline marketing mechanisms. The beauty of the web is that the is no broadcast cost - if you’ve produced a viral video, you can launch that across the net with a variety of tools, and using a variety of social media and social networking sites, at no cost. Once the video is completed, load it into a number of sites using Web 2.0 tools, and it will snowball.

Web 2.0 has lots of potential. Here’s a good example of the video web 2.0 convergence which is increasing in use on a daily basis.

Kinda like youTube, but you can cue up a list of videos, which will then loop eternally, until you set up another playlist. You can also integrate the camera on your computer to host your own show, or upload your own videos…we like this tool, for sure!!

And then you can embed it back on your website. Here’s our channel using ‘Web 2.0′ as a our theme: