Digital Interactif

Just got the iPhone..

After avoiding the intense urge to get an iPhone for the past several months, I've finally caved. This thing is awesome!(and yes...I am blogging from the iPhone via the TypePad app)

One small yawn for Yanks; One giant leap for Froggies

Monabanq, a subsidiary of 3 Suisses International Group and Groupe Cetelem, is a French bank that exists completely online and allows customers to manage all of their affairs through the Monabanq website.  Though this is a huge "yawn" for an American, this type of service is practically unheard of in France.  An interesting feature of this online bank is that they utilize Skype so that communications with the banking agents is free, essentially creating a cost-free operation.   

Whereas the typical French bank closes at 5pm on weekdays, Monabanq is geared towards the typical Internet user/full-time worker and offers live support until 10pm at night.   

The website itself offers a great interactive video that serves as a tutorial for new users.  If you want to test out your french skills, check it out.

Monabanq's main benefits include:

• No more paperwork : Digital copies of all your paper work
• No more mail : Interface for scanning and sending your documents to Monabanq via the Internet.
• No more pens : Electronic signature allows you to fill out bank requests without leaving your home.
• No more transfer delays (sort of...) : Transfer large sums of money in only 2-24 hours
• No more trips to the bank : Cash checks online (check must be sent to bank by mail though.  Once received, the account is credited to the date when the online form was initially filled out

Many of these features already exist in the American banking world but they are truly unheard of in France.  I lived in France for a year and learned to deal with a Bank (Banque Populaire) that closed it's doors for 2 hours during lunch time and closed at 12pm on Saturdays...I guess they never realized the beauty of running "lunch time" errands.  To see this type of change occurring within the French banking services industry is encouraging.  Hopefully, this level of consideration for customer service will spread like wild fire over there as the Internet forces the hand of traditional operating hours.   

Procruiting - Recruiting 3.0?

Dean Whitney has an interesting post about how recruiters advertise job opportunities on social networks such as Facebook and LinkdIn.  The Internet's affect on the recruiting process is beginning to come to light, but we still have a lot to learn about employee/employer behavior in a recruiting 2.0 environment. Nevermind the old story about employers "googling" prospective candidates - today, we face a world in which candidates are "facebooking" a prospective employer's employees to see what type of people work there. 

I recently came across a great example of how the Internet can affect the recruiting process at WebInno XIV.  Oncero, a Boston-based Internet start-up, operates a social network geared towards connecting employers with qualified job seekers through the trusted contacts shared by the users.  Essentially, employees post their company's open positions on the site and Oncero tracks how the positions are shared within the community.  When a position is filled, all the Oncero members involved in a the referral process receive a fraction of the employee referral bonus offered by the employer.

How it works:

1. my company has a $2,000 referral bonus and I post a job opening for a Marketing Associate position on Oncero.
2. Oncero-user "Bob", who is already happily employed, spots my posted job opening and sends it to his unemployed friend "Sam". 
3. "Sam" applies for the Marketing Associate position through Oncero and gets it! 
4. 90 days after "Sam" is hired, I receive $2,000 referral bonus, a percentage of which goes to "Bob" because he helped locate "Sam". 

Oncero is an outstanding idea because it brings the benefits of social networking and word-of-mouth/viral marketing to the recruiting process and then injects it with steroids by offering a monetary incentive to take action. 

Oncero is currently invitation-only.  If you would like an invite, leave a comment below and I will send you one.

Hulu let the dogs out!

Pardon the pun but I couldn't help myself. 

I received my invitation to Hulu's website last night and I am very impressed. Hulu is a video site that has signed content deals with major studios(MGM, Sony), television networks(NBC, Fox), and 15 Cable Channels(such as FX, SciFi, USA). 

Unlike Joost, Hulu actually has shows that I want to watch!  Hulu features full length episodes of TV series such as The Office, Arrested Development, Family Guy, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, SNL, Chuck, The A-Team, Airwolf, Scrubs, and the movies Blue Brothers and Conan the Barbarian among others.

Hulu creates new channels of distribution for TV Shows.  The best feature I have come across so far is that the site allows you to embed the videos on your own site.  Not only can you embed full episodes, but you can also create customized clips from shows and embed them as well.  It is very easy to create a clip. 

FAMILY GUY CLIP: This joke from Family Guy about Ringo Star is hilarious:

FULL OFFICE EPISODE: And it you have the time, watch the most recent episode of The Office (word has it that until the writers strike is over, there will be no more new episodes of The Office):

Advertising revenue generated from this content will strengthen the arguments underlying the Writers Strike.  It blows my mind that the studios would open up this site while negotiating with the Writers Union over online advertising profit made from television content posted online.  Though the ads in these shows are minimal, they go wherever the clips go.  eCRM for each video likely runs $40 - $120 for sponsorship.  Therefore, if a given video receives 100,000 views, Hulu stands to generate, at a minimum, $4,000 in ad revenue from sponsorship deals.  Considering that these videos can now go anywhere on the web, this estimate may be too low.  Regardless, this revenue source will grow at a near exponential rate in the next couple of years and this definitely supports the Writers on strike in Hollywood right now. 

Now THAT is a funky monkey

The English chocolate maker, Cadbury, has recently produced the video found below.  They are featuring the video on their own branded video website, Glass and Half Full Productions, and it is easily found on youtube. 

I was surprised that there is no "embed video" link on the Glass and Half Full Productions site itself.  It's common sense: if you are going to release a viral video, it should be embeddable from the companies site in addition to third party sites. 

Anyways, I can't criticize the blokes too much...the video is just too funny: