Web 2.0 Summit - 2010

Ron Conway, "The Crystal Ball"

     Ron Conway decided to introduce us to up and coming entrepreneurs that he has invested in because he is certain that they are the future. In fact, his exact words about these people were, "the companies that were invested in, that have three entrepreneurs today, are the Twitter's, Facebook's, and Google's in four years from now". He coined these businesses, that he is certain are the future, as the "Crystal Ball". His reason for this presentation was simply to introduce us to these new businesses and, in my opinion, to promote these businesses as well. After he introduced these businesses he allowed for each one to give a 30 second pitch about their new business.
     I think this sort of presentation can specifically help businesses who are trying to "one-up" their competition and get ahead of the game. This allows for current businesses to invest in these new entrepreneurs, which would be a risk, and hope that it pays off in the future. The other side of this, however, is that current business will have a new competition which apparently is well planned for the future. After seeing this presentation, it will be very interesting to see how these companies fare in the future!


 Susan Wojcicki, "The Perfect Ad"


     Susan informed us of valuable information about customer shopping. According to her studies, 42% of shoppers research products, online, before buying them. Also, only 3% of shoppers actually buy products online. This means that for most shoppers who buy their products in the stores, nearly half of them will do research online before actually making the purchase. Because of this information, Google has re-engineered their search engine so that shoppers can look up products and find out which stores nearby have them in stock. Their main goal here, as Susan mentions, is to merge together the online and offline stream. The reason I think this is a great idea is because I am definitely a customer who does online research before purchasing. And after I research, I usually go to a variety of websites, of the stores I think carry the product, and look up or call the company to see if it's in stock. However, with Google I would be able to save much time and find the closest store that is carrying the product I want. However, Google didn't stop there. They also made it so that shoppers can access this same information using their mobile devices and even in magazines with the "Google Ad". So, in conclusion, Google has once again showed why it is the number once search engine to use!

Microsoft Lync & Cisco Webex

   Microsoft Lync is a very efficient software that will be very useful, both professionally (business use) and personally. Businesses today are continually shifting into the virtual technology with VoIP and video conferencing. Microsoft Lync is just the next step. This program will be a great utility for employees to work together and have meetings without being in the same location. Lync allows the employees to collaborate and individually edit the same project from wherever they are in the world. Lync also allows for business meetings to take place at any time, without the worry of having everyone in the same room; employees will see the same thing (presentation), at the same time, and also be able to see and converse with each other in real time. I truly believe that this tool, that Lync has created, will be a key aspect to every businesses in the near future. It will also be easier on the employees so that they don't have to schedule to be at the same place at the same time, in order to have a meeting / presentation.
   However, Lync also allows for personal use! Everything said before can be used for personal use, such as in school for a group project, but it also allows for instant messaging and video chat. This could be used between a two friends, or a group of friends, for any reason and also for family members to keep in touch.

   Cisco Webex is a similar software to Microsoft Lync. However, I consider this software to be more associated with business use. Like Lync, Webex allows for employees to converse and see the same thing without being in the same room; it seems to have all the same business features that Lync has. During a presentation using Webex, you can, at any time, give control to another member in the presentation. I think this is a great feature because in presentations / meetings you usually don't just listen to the ideas of one person. This allows for everyone to give their input and show their own ideas. This program doesn't, however, seem to have as many personal uses as does Lync. Cisco Webex seems to be mainly focusing on business use and because of that I think it will probably be the better tool to use in a business. But, I don't think it would be fair to judge until I have had experience using both of them!