Modernista!'s siteless site

Advertising agency Modernista! recently launched a new site...sort of. Their new "site" is a navigation bar on the top left of the screen that functions as an aggregator, utilizing flickr, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, etc. to show their work and information about their clients.

In a marketing world where ad agencies are struggling to figure out where they fit in the web 2.0 space, Modernista! is showing that it gets it. Their culture is not confined to their site. Advertising is content, and it becomes part of the larger community once released. And if that means someone has a negative comment on your Cadillac ad, so be it, because conversation is a good thing.

The questions for me are:

• Can Modernista! deliver on a web 2.0 promise?
• What happens when clients (like Hummer), start seeing comments attacking their brand or product?

Twitter at a tipping point?

I recently started using Twitter after listening to countless blogs and friends praise the service. I resisted. Do I really need to know when my friends are eating a burrito? The answer is not really, but curiosity led me to join anyway and try it out. So far, I'm enjoying having an outlet to post those random thoughts that occur to me when the bus is stuck in traffic. I have integrated Twitter with my Facebook status (through TwitterSync), reducing the immense pressure of updating multiple statuses/Life Streaming. I also follow a few friends and prominent bloggers, giving me another outlet for information.

But Twitter seemed to have had its biggest moment last week, when the service went down during the MacWorld keynote address, upsetting influential bloggers and tech enthusiasts alike who were depending on Twitter to post and read updates. If there was any doubt that Twitter has arrived, the frustration at the outage seemed to put that to rest. In Twitter's defense, many reported the internet was slow that day with everyone tracking MacWorld. Twitter obviously has yet to hit the mainstream the way that Facebook has, but it's now established as an important communication tool for bloggers, journalists, marketers and self-promotion. In just the last few weeks, Twitter buzz has been picking up steam, with local news coverage and a write-up in the Times on political campaign reporting with the service.

Twitter seems to be at a tipping point. They have momentum, few competitors -- Jaiku was shut down and Pownce is struggling -- and the growing influence mobile technologies. Their biggest obstacle seems to be a perceived lack of stability, which is obviously a big one. If and when resolved, it will be interesting to see the role Twitter and other micro-blogging services begin playing in the lives of the next generation of adopters.

Related:

• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Marketers, Beginners and Business Owners (doshdosh)
• Can We Talk About Twitter for a Second? (louisgray)
• A Decentralized Twitter (Scripting News)

Site Review: hulu

When the hulu beta launched in early November, it was quickly embraced by anyone fortunate enough to receive a beta invite. Along with many others, I was skeptical about how two traditional media companies like NBC Universal and News Corp. would adapt their thinking to an online video model. But the overwhelmingly positive feedback led me to request an invitation to the site. It finally arrived last week and I've had a chance to take a look for myself.

Overall, I'm impressed by the hulu offering. Most were wondering how hulu would compete with YouTube. The answer is that they aren't. They have instead created a point of differentiation by focusing on premium content, while YouTube continues to be a hub of user-generated content. Some highlights:

• Content: With content from NBC and 15 other cable networks (including Bravo, E!, FX and USA) along with full-length movies from Sony, Fox, Universal and MGM, hulu has a very impressive breadth of content. Hulu includes both recent and off-the-air programming, such as 24, Arrested Development, Project Runway, and an old favorite, Airwolf. The Jerk and Sideways are a few of the movies that can be viewed on hulu.
• Ease and Simplicity: Hulu does not try to do too much here. The site is easy to use and search, and the look is clean and simple. The content is also arranged in a number of different ways, including popular, alphabetical, by studio and category (i.e. comedy). The player is intuitive, with quick load times and a crystal-clear picture.
• Advertising: Ads are served in a number of ways: banners that display alongside videos, text ads that overlay the bottom of the videos and in-video clips that play before, within and after videos. For every 30 seconds of video, the user sees two minutes of ads. This only applies to the shows and movies. The "clips" section doesn't not contain in-video ads. Overall, the ads are unobtrusive and are called out on the player progress bar when they are coming up.

From a social media standpoint, hulu goes through the usual checklist of allowing comments, sharing, RSS feeds and playlists. However, hulu knows what it is -- a hub for professionally produced content. Hulu is for networks and studios to make sure their content is controlled by them online (not YouTube) and monetized however possible.

In addition to the more traditional approach of banners and in-video ads, hulu also allows embedding. By allowing users to embed videos to their personal sites and blogs, the ads running in the videos can live outside of the hulu experience. When the ads are updated in those videos by the advertisers at Hulu, they also update on all the sites that the video has been placed on. In addition to the syndication agreements with AOL, MSN, Comcast, etc., advertisers have a number of avenues to reach their target.

The site is still in beta, but there are a few things that can be improved, and probably will.

• Advertisers: They need more of them, or need to create more variation with the in-video ads. Most episodes I have watched have the same ads play three times within the twenty two minutes I spent watching the shows. Yes, there are fewer ads overall, but too much frequency of the same ad will hurt the advertiser.
• Content: Yes, it's extensive, but I want more. Like the Daily Show archive, I want even the obscure SNL episodes.
• Search: I definitely had problems finding specific clips I was looking for, only to stumble across them without the help of search.

I'm looking forward to seeing how hulu evolves in the next few months, and how advertisers react. If you haven't already, go to hulu and request an invite. There may be some episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D. that you missed the first time around.

Site Review: tourfilter

When I initially heard about tourfilter, I rolled my eyes at another music site in a niche populated by Pandora, last.fm, iLike, Pitchfork, Metafilter, Elbo.ws and any number of excellent sites. I was interested to see what tourfilter could offer that the other sites couldn't. Upon my first visit, I knew the answer: a simple interface that cuts the clutter and makes tracking your favorite bands easy.

tourfilter is essentially an aggregator, pulling local club listings and music news from the web and allowing users to search that information. The interface follows a similar model to craigslist and del.icio.us, including only the information you need. Users input the bands they want to track and are served upcoming concert dates, music suggestions and access to users with similar tastes each time they log in. Bands with upcoming shows are called out at the top of your page, along with links to mp3s and band news from the web. And users control the bands that are listed. Even if your band only has one follower, it's on tourfilter.

Your upcoming concerts can be tracked with an RSS feed or be imported into your calendar (Google or iCal). Since my life pretty much runs through both of these items, this is probably my favorite feature.

If you are tired of hearing about a concert the day after you missed it, catch them the next time around with tourfilter.

Checking in on VBS.TV

Last week's NYTimes.com article on VBS.TV, launched earlier this year, prompted me to check back in with a site that I was already a big fan of. If you didn't know about it already, VBS.TV was created by the publishers of Vice Magazine and funded by Viacom's MTV. Vice Magazine opened its doors in 1994 and has steadily gained a following from urban dwellers, hipsters, and hipsters-in-training. Its gritty photography and not-always-pc content led to an expansion to to the U.S., Europe and Australia from its Montreal birthplace. Most importantly, the articles and unique journalistic style have been what defined the magazine.

VBS.TV adapts that style to feature excellent original content that continues to grow. One of the Vice's earliest projects, "Heavy Metal in Baghdad", documented the only heavy metal band in Iraq and unexpectedly was invited to the Toronto Film Festival. Vice correspondents are deployed anywhere from Bolivia to the Congo to the Indianapolis 500 and bring back television with the unique Vice edge that you won't find anywhere else. Regular content includes "Americana", "Epic Later'd" and "The Cute Show", along with more multi-part documentaries covering the Israeli/Palestinian crisis and tracing the role of cocaine in Bolivia's culture.

VBS is still developing a community, with embed, comments and blogs all part of the site. However, there aren't a lot of commenters at this point, and most of the blogs are "coming soon". Content is obviously the priority, so it will be interesting to see what type of community develops around VBS. With everyone grasping for their share of online video, it's refreshing to see content that evolves the format, rather than forcing the TV model into a new medium.

Related: Vive Cool City (from Josh Spear)