I’ve had the pleasure of immersing myself in great literature and podcasts recently. This is mostly due to the many hours on the plane: reading books with eyes open, listening to podcasts with eyes closed. I’d like to share three things I’ve read recently.

“Everything we do, every new technology we make is either an extension of a fear or a desire,” Margaret Atwood, Beyond Faith and Reason Podcast with Bill Moyers.

“The great thing about broadcast is that it can bring one show to millions of people with unmatched efficiency, but it can’t do the opposite, bring millions of shows to one person each, yet that is exactly what the internet does so well,” Chris Anderson, The Long Tail.

“I write mainly for artists, fellow-artists and follow-artists. However, I could never explain adequately to certain students in my literature classes, the aspects of good reading– the fact that you read an artist’s book not with your heart (the heart is a remarkably stupid reader), and not with your brain alone, but with your brain and spine. “Ladies and gentlemen, the tingle in the spine really tells you what the author felt and wished you to feel,” Vladmir Nabokov.

*Image of a young Vladmir Nabokov: Citation.

Ernest & Young on Facebook with an integrated channel. Check it out.

I appreciated the Ad Age article, “Marketing Reality Check,” yet have a different perspective on the subject matter. I don’t think it matters that the mainstream population understand the technology that makes their lives easier: they don’t need to know how streaming works, the way an XML feed delivers content or the web 2.0 revolution to appreciate a faster internet, or a more convenient and personal media experience.

I think statistics about consumer awareness are somewhat pointless with new media. However, research that reveals the way in which attitudes and behaviors have changed as a result of new media is far more interesting.

I take issue with one key point in this article: “While marketing prognosticators and technophiles rush into the future, raving about the next big content delivery system or ad model, the fact is most Americans — notably adults with steady incomes — still get their content the old-fashioned way.” Let’s look at the old fashion newspaper. Newspapers are branching out to grow their web business to include new channels like video, streaming and podcasting. Content is changing too. These ‘old-fashion,’ resources are forming partnerships with bloggers and citizen journalists to evolve their content. Dan Gilmore’s project documents this at http://citmedia.org.

There are many other ways people are influenced without their direct understanding:

· John Doe may claim to have never read a blog but it’s more than likely he is reading a reporter whose story idea emerged from one.

· Search engines haven’t just changed how people find information; they also have impacted how people structure their thoughts.

· The decentralized internet, emphasizing an individual’s point of presence online, has created second lives and online identities.

· The abundance of perspectives—citizen journalist, seasoned reporter or Myspace user—provides waves of insights.

New media has changed the way people receive their information and contribute their world. Even if the impacts aren’t observed at the level of the individual, they are influenced media outlets, who in turn influence the people like ‘Jean Bretzlauf’ referenced in this article.

You may have heard of Eons—the Myspace of the fifty plus crowd. Check it out. Here’s an interview with the founder on NPR.

Here’s what I like about the site:

• The intuitive registration process
• The use of boxes, colors and circles to create space
• The branding of their search tool as “Cranky”
• This site exemplifies great usability principles (design & copy)

Eons obviously serves many seniors for whom death is a concern. It offers them access to millions of obituaries online. Nestled in this great obituary community is a thriving revenue model. While browsing the obituaries, you can buy and send gifts!

The cool thing is how obituaries are used to create community. They even have a three step process to upload photos. It’s a great application of web 2.0 to the baby bomber + crowd.

On a personal note, my 78 year old grandmother sent her first email to me today. Her email was brief, thoughtful and attentive: unlike the hundreds of hurried emails I receive each week. I think I’ll invite her to create a profile on Eons. That will be the true test the site!

1. What web sites serve as a model as you market and develop Esnips?

eSnips started as an extension of a web research tool developed by Netsnippets (a company also founded by Yael Elish, our CEO, and Alon Elish, our CTO). Netsnippets (www.netsnippets.com) is an online information management tool, used for effectively conducting online research. Some of our cooler toolbar features (such as snipping and capturing) evolved directly from Netsnippets. But the focus of eSnips is completely different as it aims to be the one place for all our user’s sharing needs, so we looked to other social sharing sites for inspiration. For example, when we launched our “social” version introducing tags in March 2006, we looked at sites such as Flickr, blogs, and even delicious for inspiration.

2. At what point did you realize that the Esnips concept was going to be successful?

I think this was at the point where we started noticing the variety of original content that members were posting in their public folders on eSnips. Creative endeavors that I enjoyed were the jewelry, graphic arts, original music (with some great chill-out creations) and even customized Harleys and souped-up Barbies.

3. There are some many products and services emerging daily. It’s hard to grab someone’s attention. How did you cut through the clutter and find the people who love Esnips?

Being located in Israel, it has been a bit of a challenge to reach users worldwide. Several things have helped us. First, people who love eSnips tend to tell their friends about it. We’ve had quite a lot of friends referring friends or other members of their community to eSnips. Second, we came to the attention of both TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/21/checking-out-esnips/) and Mashable (http://mashable.com/2006/03/22/esnips-bookmarking-and-media-sharing/) at about the same time in March 2006, which helped us reach a new audience. Third, we’ve attracted communities such as artists and karaoke singers with spotlight weeks that place them, along with their creations, on our home pages. Such efforts usually bring like-minded people to share on eSnips.

4. Does Esnips create a different kind of community than that which currently exists online?

eSnips uniqueness is that it allows you to create endless online “environments” that reflect your many facets. Many of our users create different folders for their different sharing needs: sharing photos with friend and families, sharing business files with colleagues, and sharing their hobbies and collections with the world. The same member can participate in an active Karaoke community on one hand and an artists’ community on the other. The focus is not just on the photo that you posted, but also on you and the rest of your interests. It’s a different focus that the one at the vertical sharing sites such as Flickr and YouTube, where the file itself is at the center of attention.

5. What are your top 3 favorite sites on the internet?

Although it’s not a site, I love looking at Second Life and what they’re doing. The entire concept of a “virtual life” is fascinating, and they’re constantly innovating with what a virtual life can include. On the other side of the spectrum, I enjoy the New York Times site not just as an extension of the newspaper, but as a barometer of what the mainstream is interested in. I also enjoy the LinkedIn concept as it explores the “six degrees of separation” theory. In between I read a few blogs and waste time on the content sharing sites.

6. What analogies have you used to express the Esnips concept to people who are not web 2.0 savvy?

To show express the breadth of the original creative content posted on eSnips I’ve often used the “street fair” analogy. Real fairs have artists, musicians, petitioners all vying for your attention in a few city blocks, and this is really similar to browsing eSnips public folders. To introduce new users to eSnips I’ve used the analogy of a house to express the different eSnips environments that each user can create. As in a house, you have your completely private folders/rooms, like your bedroom and bathroom, where you keep stuff but don’t share it. You have your semi-public folders/rooms where you invite your friends and family to socialize and discuss your interests, like your living room and kitchen. Finally, you have your completely public folders/rooms for anyone to see and visit, like your front porch. The analogy of a house really drives home the point that you need diverse sharing environments as most of us share different things with different groups of people.

7. How have the experiences working with a pre web 2.0 sites like genealogy.com had an impact on the way you approach Esnips marketing?

So much has changed since I worked on marketing Genealogy.com. My goal at Genealogy.com was to “capture” as many users as possible so that we could email them in order to involve them in genealogy products and sell them CDs and boxed software! The focus was on both advertising (online and offline) and creating features that users would want to register for. Partnerships with leading offline genealogy sources such as Ellis Island were also a major focus. With eSnips the progress in online advertising technology, especially search engine marketing, give me so much freedom in deciding who to target and when. The desire to create an online sharing community is stronger with eSnips, whereas with Genealogy it was more a one-on-one relationship. One thing that hasn’t really changed is the pull of user generated content. I know this is a buzzword for the web 2.0 sites, but in Genealogy there’s nothing more important than YOUR family tree. Sharing your tree and research with others was mostly beneficial as you could find long-lost cousins researching obscure branches of your tree. Current technology (including digital photography and broadband) has really made all this sharing much easier, truly bringing the user’s content to the foreground.