Top Sites Visited as of 8-7-2010 #Plancast #LinkedIn

Top Sites Visited as of 8-7-2010
Originally uploaded by @Admore

Was looking at the icon shortcuts on the Google start page.

In order the sites are...
1. Twitter
2. Gist
3. Plancast
4. Google Latitude
5. Twitter Search
6. Wall Street Journal
7. Foursquare
8. LinkedIn

Plancast has moved up a lot in the past few weeks. Seems that a few of the people that I follow on it have added a bunch of events recently. The more my contacts use Plancast, the more valuable it becomes. It's my understanding that Facebook events are exported to Plancast. This is good for several reasons. The first is that it brings non Facebook users, but still contacts, in to the event game. The second reason is bringing a more curated calendar of events to ones attention. Past experience on Facebook included the creation of too many events. Part of the problem with that is email and time management becomes challenging. As I recall, people would indicate they were going to a Facebook event and not make it for whatever reason. It seems that if some says they are in on Plancast they are really going. This is good because if you want to meet someone face-to-face at an event, a "Count Me in" it is highly probably the person will show up.

Plancast is a relatively new service.
Questions:
1. Have you taken a look at it or are you already using it?
2. Do you see the sharing of events as important?

It's been a long time since LinkedIn has made the home screen. This might actually be the first time. LinkedIn has made some changes recently. Perhaps they are not new but that they came to my attention. It is now possible to follow people that one is not connected to directly. If there is a shared group between both people, you can follow updates of not direct contacts. This enables one to follow smart and perhaps influential people that only connect with people they know or have worked with. Here's where it gets interesting. If the smart person you are following posts to LinkedIn, it's my understanding that you can comment on their thought, comment or post. This engagement may lead to a discussion and from there... all things are possible.

Another interesting part of LinkedIn is the Groups. Recently I've joined a few groups that have active questions and discussions. One such group is the one for Marketing Over Coffee.

Questions:
1. Are you actively using LinkedIn?
2. Are you getting more value out of it than before?
3. What changes have you liked or disliked?

Plancast: Idea For Monetizing

Plancast is a website that allows for a person, or entity, to create, broadcast and invite people to come to an event.
Currently, most users are individuals. It seems that many have only entered a few events here and there. People enter events that might be fun to have others tag along.


What would be really interesting is if professional sports teams created their own Plancast Channels. The channel could include preseason and regular season games with home an road dates included. A sport like football has a lot of fans that will travel to other places to see their team play. Lots of Chicago Bears fans come to Ford Field in Detroit when they Play the Detroit Lions. For traveling Bears fans it would be intriguing to see if any of their friends were also planning to travel to Detroit for the game.


If a fan saw a friend had already indicated they were going to a game on the road, another fan could click the “count me in” button for the event. When they do that it might trigger a pop up where that person would be offered the opportunity to buy a ticket. An advanced feature might even allow for the buyer to get a seat as close as possible to their friends seat.


When first thinking about how Plancast and a sports league might integrate, the  National Hockey League (NHL) was the first. Could definitely see the Detroit Red Wings creating a channel for their fans to participate. Fans that are attending a game can spread the event to their contacts (Sell more tickets etc). This information distribution can be done via Facebook, Twitter and email.


Lets say that a local university is doing a get together at a sporting event. The alumni association might use the teams Plancast Event Channel to invite people. Those that want to RSVP can buy a ticket right there in the Plancast Event Channel.


Meetup is a way for people to organize their own events and classes. People use Meetup to organize things like floor hockey, photography or knitting. Some hosts charge fees to cover the costs incurred running the event. It would be great if Plancast had a partnership with Meetup to distribute group events and to create revenue for hosts and venues.



Below is the note card that was where the first thoughts went.




*This post was not diagrammed out in advance. It was spell checked, but it was not printed, edited and revised. It was edited a little bit. Errors may remain.