ZackBrandit being located in Belgium, is in the center of a cultural crossroad. The country has 3 official languages as well as Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and France as neighbors - each one with its own language, communication and entrepreneurial culture. Belgium developed Netlog, The Netherlands brought Hyves and the others introduced their own set of social networks and other media.

When Brian Solis, a prominent new media thought leader, introduced the Social Media Prism, most of the brands that were included were from US based start-ups. In the meantime new prisms were created for other countries such as Germany, Japan and China while international start-ups were added to the original one.

In February 2010, Brian Solis wrote a blog post about
the state of social media around the world where he uses a study by TrendStream to explain that although Facebook dominates the market in most countries, social media usage can vary from one place to another.

For a complete analysis I invite you to read Brian’s blogpost. What interests ZackBrandit the most is the evolution of the blogosphere. Projections of the research show us that in most western countries we mainly use social media to upload pictures and manage a social network profile. Only 10% of people who have internet access (average of 50% of the population) write their own blog. On the other hand, if we go to Asia or Latin America we notice that blogging has a predominant position; often much higher than social networking; yet, rates of internet access remains proportionally much lower (except for South Korea and Japan).

Most social media technologies originated in western countries; which also means they mature faster in western societies. Whereas Asian and Latin cultures, where life isn’t as fast-paced, show that online communication is also evolving at a slower speed.

At first glance this may not sound alarming, but we may expect a further decline of blogging in western countries and probably also in the rest of the world on the long run.

Larger and more influential social networks will start looking to expand beyond their virtual borders. It has already started with Facebook Connect, but with time we may anticipate much more interaction between the different existing platforms.

This also means that companies with a business model revolving around social shopping, affiliation and online marketing will start to see local and international shifts in their communication strategies. Thus, can we start talking about glocal online communication?

How does this influence ZackBrandit’s model?

Though we originally developed the Zilhouette and our affiliation model for bloggers, we value being active on different platforms. This of course demands a lot of energy; priorities must be established. When we decided to create ZackBrandit about 5 years ago, we expected to see Europe follow the US lead in social media. With time we realized that cultural and perceptional differences were telling us otherwise. This complexifies ZackBrandit’s model and its goal to push conversation forward.

So, where are we going to? What direction will social media take?
We can only guess, but we expect to see standards and interconnections popping-up.
Language remains a strong barrier; however automatic translation is also improving.
Server costs can be very expensive and partnerships to reduce them are also viable.
3D, virtual and augmented reality will become even more immersive. Today we connect to the internet; tomorrow the internet will connect with us.
Indeed, social media is still in its infancy…

Once in a while you hear things like blogs are passé or blogs are losing ground to new social media platforms such as micro-blogging like Technorati posted recently. Being addicted to blog reading, I had a hard time imagining such a thing and wanted to learn more about this perception. This is the reason why I decided to attend the largest bloggers event in the world, named of course Blogworld Expo!

First of all, though many thought leaders were present, I think we can safely say that the participants do not represent the general state of the American blogosphere; mostly because of the venue and the price tag. The majority was in attendance because of their professional backgrounds, and even if there were novice bloggers in attendance, they had a specific outline of their goals during their blogging time. 

I attended several keynote presentations and must say that most of them were of very high quality and sometimes extremely funny and captivating.  (Thank you Timothy Sykes!) 

It is impressive to see the energy created by these bloggers. Even though the main subject of the event was blogging, most attendees were on their laptops or iPhones tweeting non-stop one idea or expression after the other. This was happening so much that I still can’t tell if Twitter is about broadcasting or interacting.  Actually, the fact that Twitter was omnipresent during the event forced people to wonder if it was being misused. Because of this, a lot of buzz started regarding the state of the Blogosphere. This activity is growing rapidly; it’s is great news for the community! 

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to meet the guys from Blogcatalog, a blog directory where the ZackBrandit team is quite active. Great guys by the way! I was really surprised to hear that 60% of their members are located outside of the USA. 

To summarize, Blogworld was a cool and very well organized event. I discovered that monetization is a very strong theme for many bloggers (because more people are taking it to the professional level). There are blogs with millions of pageviews I’ve never heard of and mommy blogs (blogs written by mothers) that are very trendy. 

I also received some great feedback regarding the ZackBrandit platform, concept and ideas for further development. With this I also want to share with you that we are only a few days away from our afilliation launch!

Stay tuned and let me know if you also had the opportunity to visit Blogworld or if you know other social media events to attend.

Take care.

Today I read an interesting blog by Andrew Keen called "Blogging is dead, but long live the blog".  The synopsis of this blog is that those blogs that offer a portal for social interaction will "live long" while those that simply provide static (not interactive) information will die out.  I gave it some thought and I disagree...in a way...  Blogs are not dying and social networks are not only popular until the next one comes along unless they choose to be defeated.  I know a lot of people that were using one particular social network a lot for a long time, but now they have switched to another, stating that it is more attractive and user friendly.  Then, this social networking platform changed its layout and all of a sudden people started debating whether or not to leave this social network, but there isn't a better substitute for it yet.  The result?  They stay and await something better.

Zack and I have discussed the problem of "dying social networks and blogs".  My opinion is that social networks and blogs that appear to have few followers/members or  appear to be losing popularity are not dying.  Well, not if they choose to keep up with current internet trends, needs of their followers/members and embrace change.  Nothing can stay the same and remain interesting forever.  I sure am glad!  I would be quite bored, otherwise!  We all like to be comfortable with the way things are, however; once Brands, bloggers, social networks and non-profits/NGO's and MORE begin working together instead of independently of one another, I believe that we will see real, global change that will completely shift the way we way we view social media as it exists today.  Brand awareness will become brand empowerment meaning that consumers will actually be aware of their loyalty to brands/bloggers/social networks and this realization will have them seeking more from those entities.  Societies that currently struggle around the globe will be able to become self-sustaining much more quickly.  

Sound too good to be true?  No way. Zack and I have been working very hard and now we know exactly how to help everyone achieve the goals they want regarding these internet shifts while making a positive global impact.  Economical, societal and ecological balance in the world by utilizing what already exists on the internet and bringing it to the internet users,  by working smarter, not harder!   No matter what the size of your business, blog  or social network, you may find that Zack Brandit's incredible platform is just what you have been looking for.  As a consumer that enjoys simple, savvy shopping on the internet, ZackBrandit will very likely save you a lot of time and introduce you to some amazing products you have never heard of!  If you have more questions, I love meeting people and talking!  I would be happy to tell you more about it.

In the meantime, aren't you intrigued?  Want to be one of the first to try out the platform and see what it is all about and how YOU can benefit?  Beta testing coming VERY soon and you will be able to see exactly how ZackBrandit stands out from the rest and how you can benefit, no matter who you are!  If you would like to beta test, please comment on this blog with your email, LinkedIn or Facebook profile address and we will see if you are one of the fortunate ones to be chosen! 

Brands, bloggers, social networks, microbloggers, consumers - let me know by commenting below!

Volunteer to Beta Test and Be a Part of Cutting Edge Technology!