A weekend in magnificent Terengganu.

We've been sparking all these fancy trips on 2009 Honda City FB for quite some time now. So far, the reactions are positive but how can we make this better? How can we improve the way users consume content? What's the difference between consuming the same content in one social media over the other? How do we enhance the appearance and/or innovate it to suit different environments? How is it different from consuming content from a non-digital environment to a digital one? How much do tactile senses influence the satisfaction of reading something by being able to hold/feel it? At what point do users become motivated enough to react to the content and/or take action? Hmm.

So many questions. Although we've just wrapped one social research (and a big one that is), but I'm already imagining the parameters for the next one ;) Hmm hmm.

New advertising models for content portals? Or new communication models for advertisers?

Content portals with social networking capabilities are essentially products of Web 2.0. Yet the business model remains traditional which is selling advertising space and sponsorship opportunities to targeted advertisers - the conventional pull strategy.

If content is king (and I'd consider applications as content too, just look at Facebook!), then these portals should be the holy grail to many marketers dream of easy-peasy branded content. Perhaps, these social media sites/content portals should re-look at their business strategies. No, nothing is broken and nothing needs to be fixed. But the question remains, if we've evolved from 1.0 web habits, shouldn't the business model do too? The opportunity I guess lies in repackaging and/or rewriting existing data to become knowledge that will serve a multitude of niche markets (think long tail). There is a huge difference between traditional advertising space in content portals (my brand, your space) versus branded content (your content, my space) in terms of the communication delivery and effects which should ultimately optimize both user and brand experience, creating win situations for both.

Example. (I hope I'm not being too hard sell, but you get the point)