A basic custom theme can be developed very easily – just create a graphic 250 pixels wide and 500 to 800 pixels tall.  Pick a regular (non custom) Twitter theme that is close to the background color that you are using and then adjust the colors accordingly.  Two examples can be found here:

http://twitter.com/openmk – my twitter page
http://twitter.com/coshrink- my friend Nancy Raulston’s page

Note that this background is optimized for people who use modern laptops and larger screen monitors, capable of browsing at resolutions better (higher) than 800 x 600.  It’s been tested – for example – on a 13″ wide Macbook.  It will look good on most Netbooks … since they use a high resolution to fit an entire page on a relatively small screen.  Where it won’t look good is on older machines/monitors where 800 x 600 is the default resolution … but fewer and fewer people are using this resolution, IMHO.

For a more elaborate background theme, create a visual 1600 wide x 1200 wide.  A background to use as a template exists at this location:

http://twitter.com/viewfromthebay

I had nothing to do with this background.  It just provides a nice template you can use to get started.  In most browsers you can right click to bring up a menu and then save background to save the background image.

In the virtual branded goods space called AdNectar. Most people don’t know that this is a vibrant market with Facebook alone making $75-$100M in revenues on virtual goods! To good resources on virtual branded goods are the blog Virtual Branded Goods and this article from October 2008 Business Week:

Links
Virtual Goods News
Lucrative Alternatives to Online Advertising Business Week, October 2008

Came across this entry just updated based on an original entry published May 2008:

1. ViperChill
2. CopyBlogger
3. Techipedia
4. Social Media Optimization
5. NowSourcing
6. Soshable
7. 10e20
8. SocialDesire
9. Collective Thoughts
10. ToprankBlog
11. WignutSEO
12. 97thFloor
13. SearchEnginePeople
14. BlogStorm
15. DoshDosh
16. IgniteSocialMedia
17. SearchEngineLand
18. CornwallSEO
19. SocialMediaTrader
20. SocialNewsWatch
21. SearchEngineGuide
22. Muhammad Saleem
23. ProNetAdvertising

Source
Sempahore Software Blog

Market research firm eMarketer released a report on Worldwide Online Social Networking Ad Spending today. In the report, Debra Aho Williamson, writes that “Worldwide, online social network ad spending is expected to grow by 81%, to $2.2 billion in 2008 from $1.2 billion this year.”

Williamson’s research also finds that “70% of all US teens visit social network sites on a monthly basis.” The value in social media isn’t just that people are gathering on a website, it’s about engagement. Instead of passive page views, people gather in communities to contribute to the communities in the form of commentary, content, hands-on interaction with widgets and applications etc. The more people contribute, the more engaged they are in any given community. So instead of reaching passive viewers who may or may not be ready to take action on any given advertisers message, with social media, there is the potential to reach more highly targeted, highly engaged audiences. These micro audiences are much more likely to take action on your messages. Imagine – for example – if your Dell or HP – and you can target only those people who are actively engaged in discussions about what computer they should by next … saving millions of dollars (and trees) that would otherwise be spent on more traditional strategies like cataloging.

Relevant Links
iMedia article that does a good job parsing the original research

In Seattle. The keynote speakers were very good as were the contributions from the 20-something application developers who obviously knew how to build applications that were engaging to their target audience. Below that the secondary sessions I could stand to attend were weak … mostly because they were very very tactical … focusing on things like how to build a better profile. I guess is this is because this is an issue for so many people and – in fact – many of the speakers were part of a cottage industry that has developed to help people and companies build better profile and fan pages on Facebook. This seems a bit unauthentic and is an anachronism that – I hope – will fade away over time as Facebook moves beyond its quirky UI to one that is streamlined, more discoverable, and easier to use.

Relevant Links
Web Community Forum site (show sponsor)

http://www.webcommunityforum.com/

Jeremiah Owyang’s keynote

http://webcommunityforum.com/2007/12/slides-from-jeremiah-owyangs-presentation/

and Jeremiah’s key takeaways

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/12/07/8-key-learnings-from-the-web-community-forum-two-days-of-facebook/

Lee Lorenzen Says Facebook is Worth $100 Billion–uh huh prove it. – Tris Hussey / blognation

http://ca.blognation.com/2007/12/06/lee-lorenzen-says-facebook-is-worth-100-billion-uh-huh-prove-it/

Zuckerberg Apologizes for the Mess that was Beacon Rollout – Nick ONeill / All Facebook (recomended)

http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/12/breaking-zuckerberg-apologizes-for-the-mess-that-was-beacon-rollout/

B2B Marketing – Facebook Tips and Tricks – Mari Smith / Why Facebook

http://whyfacebook.com/2007/12/07/b2b-marketing-facebook-tips-and-tricks/

According to Business Week, “most bloggers prefer mundane tidbits to deep thoughts, and backed by voice transcription and video sharing, the cell phone may soon be the tool of choice.

On average, there are only seven readers for each of the 12.5 million blogs on LiveJournal, one of the most popular services for hosting these online journals.

As part of this shift away from lengthy blog reflections that entail time behind a keyboard, cell phones are gaining traction as a key blogging tool. Popular services such as Microsoft’s Windows Live, Blogger, and Yahoo 360 began introducing mobile blogging features two years ago. These services allow users to post short notes and photos to their “moblogs” on the go, albeit from the discomfort of a cell-phone keypad.

But it wasn’t until more recently, with the overnight sensation known as Twitter, that the cell phone showed its potential to move to the fore of blogging. With Twitter, people share quick updates on their most mundane doings, often from a cell phone. If a growing number of bloggers are shying away from the citizen journalism and mass consumption that originally defined the medium, Twitter’s popularity shows how eager people are to share quotidian tidbits of life in real time.

With the connections between cell phones and wireless networks getting speedier, blogging companies also see potential for mobile video blogging. In the future …video and photos will become integral to blogging, says Andrew Anker, general manager of Six Apart’s consumer products division. After all, most of the time, bloggers may not have the time to write 1,000 words. But they can upload the visual equivalent via a camera-phone photo. “The writing-lots-of-words blogging will be a small amount of blogging,” says Anker. “When I’m in some place interesting and I have a quick thought or I see a funny sign and want to share it—when you think about blogging in the next five years, that will be blogging.”

Source
Business Week, June 4 2007

Eons.com takes MySpace-style social networking to the Boomers and Matures crowds. The social networking site from the founder of Monster.com even includes a death alert, so members know when online buds have kicked the meatspace bucket. The site boasts all the functionality of kids’ networking sites, including the chance to blog, join groups and meet people. So what’s Eons got that MySpace doesn’t? A Longevity Calculator, obit alerts, a group dedicated to Walking and a daily jigsaw puzzle to keep mature brains booking. Take that, Tila Tequila! Eons says life begins at 50 and claims that 22% of its new members are between 60 and 70 years old (Eons.com 8.06).

Implications
Social networking can mean a lot of things, but it isn’t a fad. Online connectivity is a must-have for many consumers, whether Millennials, Xers, Boomers or beyond. Social networking is evolving beyond hooking up (now it’s about marketing, too!). Consumers seek online connections that land them jobs, find them stuff and keep them entertained as time marches cruelly forward.

Sources

• Eons
• Iconculture

In today’s New York Times, in an article entitled “Someone to Watch Over Me (on a Google Map)”, Theodora Stites writes about the vast array of online social networks she belongs to.

” I log on to my Friendster, Facebook, MySpace and Nerve accounts to make sure the mail bars are rising with new friend requests, messages and testimonials.

I am obsessed with testimonials and solicit them incessantly. They are the ultimate social currency, public declarations of the intimacy status of a relationship. “I miss running around like crazy w/you in the AM and sneaking away to grab caffeine and gossip,” Kathleen commented on my MySpace for all to see. Often someone will write, “I just posted to say I love you.”

I click through the profiles of my friends to the profiles of their friends (and their friends of friends, and so on), always aware of the little bar at the top of each profile indicating my multiple connections. A girl I know from college is friends with my friend from college’s best friend from Minnesota. They met at camp in seventh grade. The boyfriend of my friend from work is friends with one of my friends from high school. I note the connections and remind myself to IM them later. On Facebook, I skip from profile to profile by clicking on the faces of posted pictures. I find a picture of my sister and her boyfriend, click on his face and jump right to his page.

Worth reading because Theodora represents the older end of the sprectrum of “Milleniums.”

Milleniums are Different
Researcher Brent Magid says no other group of consumers will have as profound an impact on the media business over the next 10 years as the Millennial Generation, 9- to 28-year-olds, and he told promotion and marketing executives that it is imperative that they find a way to get their messages across to this group.

Magid, president and CEO of Frank M. Magid Associates, told an audience at the annual Promax conference in New York City Wednesday that this group, which numbers 79 million, one million more than the Baby Boomers in this country, have grown up using multiple media platforms at the same time, and need to be marketed to differently than the older Boomers. Magid said Millennials consume 20 hours of media a day, but that is all done within seven hours of clock time.

“If you are going to be successful [marketing your products]” Magid said, “you must pay attention to this group,” which gets much of its information from word-of-mouth or from social networking sites on the Internet. Magid said 18 million 13-28 year olds use social-networking sites each day. But Magid warned that “the pot of gold is not necessarily [attained by] creating your own page on MySpace.com.”

Sources
Brand Week June 21, 2006*
New York Times Sunday Style Section July 9, 2006*

Related Links
What Makes Millennials Millennials
Get Ready – the Millennial are coming

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