1Mby1M Deal Radar: Camp Bow Wow, Boulder

What do the Champagne houses Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, and Bollinger; the printer of the Declaration of Independence; and the German steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG have in common? At one time, all were run by widows who took over the business after their husband died. It’s a path that many women have followed across the centuries, back through the Industrial Revolution, medieval Europe, the Roman and Sumerian empires, and perhaps even further. Today’s Deal Radar is the story of one woman entrepreneur, Heidi Ganahl, who found herself in a somewhat different situation: Her husband was killed in a small plane crash just as they were getting started on a business together. Ganahl went on to carry out their idea and found Camp Bow Wow, a dog boarding service, and Home Buddies, its in-home pet care component. >>>

Twitter Needs To Accelerate Monetization

I haven’t said all that much on Twitter thus far. The hype machine on the Internet, meanwhile, does constantly spew stuff about the microblogging service. But I will start covering Twitter once a quarter as part of our Tech Stocks coverage, alongside a few other private companies, including Facebook.

Facebook has more than 500 million users, while Twitter has nearly 200 million registered accounts. The social Web is a trend and a way of interacting that will drive the next decade of the evolution of the Internet. Facebook has become the biggest player in the social networking era, and Twitter is moving up in terms of the number of users. However, there is much the company can do for its monetization strategy. >>>

Top 10 Vertical And Local Web Trends For The Decade

I have long been a fan of the verticalization trend on the Web. It led me to define one of the most referenced frameworks for Web 3.0.

It has become increasingly possible to reach people in faraway places using the Web. And it has also become possible to hyper-target, and access and offer highly localized, specialized, and verticalized services. Both trends will continue, but to make money, the verticalization and localization trends look more promising to me, although cases like Facebook and Groupon speak to the contrary. Let’s put it this way: there will be a few large, global players. But there will be millions of smaller, niche, localized and/or verticalized businesses that will continue to open up entrepreneurial opportunities around the world. The latter is directly in line with our One Million by One Million work, and a trend that powers our mission for the next decade. Also relevant is my Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS) formula. In particular, niche e-commerce is a vibrant trend that will continue to grow. Sub-trends like group-buying and daily deals will be layered on top of any niche to create more traction. Let’s take a look at the top 10 trends driving the vertical and local Web. >>>

Top 10 Social Web Trends For The Decade

How do you achieve that delicate balance between the old and the new and find both depth and lightness – depth that moves at an emotional and spiritual level, lightness that moves us forward?

From Top 10 Tech Trends For The Decade:

Over 500 million people on Facebook indicates a massive shift in how consumers and businesses are viewing the social media movement. Perhaps underappreciated is the fact that everyone now is a brand. Even individuals with hundreds, if not thousands of “friends” are incessantly playing to an audience. Social games, mobile social, social apps, social news, crowd sourcing – all reinforce the trend. A tremendous amount time is being wasted on social networks, but at the same time, seriously productive and valuable work is also being done, leveraging the trend. All told, the social Web will drive the next decade’s evolution of the Internet. Personalization and privacy issues remain TBD.

Let’s take a look next at the Top 10 Social Web Trends For The Decade. >>>

Top 10 Tech Trends For The Decade

2010 is drawing to a close. Mark Zuckerberg has just been named Time’s Person of the Year. We’ve been covering various tech companies and entrepreneurs since 2005, and this year, here is a quick synthesis of what look like the major trends from where I sit: >>>

1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2010: Hireplug, India

Hireplug is a SaaS recruitment technology company whose products are designed to help companies to recruit talented candidates from employees’ social networks and boost employee referrals in the process. Hireplug has two components – hireplug.com and the Facebook app We Are Hiring. >>>

1Mby1M Deal Radar 2010: i-Jet Media, Silicon Valley, California

i-Jet Media is a social games publisher and social media distribution network. Within the framework of cooperation with social games developers, i-Jet Media examines their games, markets, elaborates on, and adapts games, integrates applications, and provides technical support for users in many world languages. >>>

1Mby1M Deal Radar 2010: Empathica, Georgia, Ontario

Over the next few weeks Deal Radar will feature companies that have been successful in creating and using Facebook applications as part of of their business model. Empathica is a company that has used Facebook in its efforts to automate the measurement and management of customer loyalty and thereby prevent customer defection. The company’s mission is to help businesses build an intimate relationship with their most important stakeholder – the customer. >>>