Partnerships - Social Media, page 4.

Last December at the LeWeb conference in Paris I sat in on an interesting panel discussion entitled Love in Motion: Why are Mobile Social Networks Booming?  The panelists, Antonio Vince Staybol of itsmy.com, Dr. KF Lai of BuzzCity and Ewan Spence of WuBud, talked about what mobile social networks are, who uses them and what they use them for, how mobile social networks are monetized as well as where they are going in the future. 

Did you know that there are 4 billion mobile phones in the world?  There are only 1 billion Internet users and 1 billion television sets so, as you can see, mobile is a huge force.  In fact,in many parts of the world mobile phones are the only screens and mobile is the only way for people to get on the Internet.  That's where mobile social networks come in.

Users of mobile social networks are different from regular social network users because, for many of them, mobile social networks are the only way they are able to access the Internet.  The mobile social networking platform is popular amongst truck drivers and cab drivers who are on the road a lot and far from their computers, as well as in countries like South Africa, India and Indonesia where many people just don't have personal computers or Internet.  Soldiers are also big users of mobile social networks.

At DLD I had the opportunity to speak with David Sifry about his new project, Offbeat Guides.  Offbeat Guides, which launched publicly in November, is the first company to create fully customizable travel guides.  Unlike many travel guides which were written over a year ago by a travel writer who quickly popped in and out of the city you will be visiting, Offbeat Guides are customized with the most up-to-date information written by locals and put together by travel editors and curators.  They are currently offering customizable guides for 30,000 of the most popular cities worldwide.

All you have to do is go to the Offbeat Guides website, enter your name, your destination, where you are coming from and, if you have accomodation, where you are staying.  Offbeat Guides will then compile all of the most relevant information, events, festivals, bands and more just for the specific days of your trip.  They even gather together information about the weather, currency exchange rates, location of your country's embassy and more.

Once your travel guide is complete you can preview it online, make changes and customize chapters.  You can then purchase a printed version for $24.95, a PDF version for $9.95 or view your travel guide online for free.

Last week at the DLD conference I had the opportunity to speak to Constantin Bjerke, founder of TheCrane.tv.  TheCrane.tv is a new online video magazine all about contemporary culture that is set to launch in March and plans to feature high caliber content on the topics of Culture, Art & Design, Fashion, Lifestyle, Travel, Ideas and "Green"/Ecology around the globe.  TheCrane.tv hopes to raise the bar for superior video content on the Web with what they are referring to as "Talent Generated Content."  Constantin describes Talent Generated Content by saying that all of the site's content "is produced by people that actually know what they're doing, both in terms of quality of the film and in terms of the content."  Creatives from around the world are invited to share their films, videos and animations on any of the forementioned topics.  TheCrane.tv is a unique magazine because it is completely video based.  You don't have to read articles but can simply "sit back and enjoy the ride" as Constantin puts it.

At DLD I had the opportunity to talk to Jeff Jarvis about his new book, What Would Google Do?  The book was released during the DLD conference in Munich last week.  In Jeff's words, the book is about how "we should figure out this rapidly changing world by looking at a company that has figured it out."  This company, of course, is Google.

In our interview, Jeff talks about his book, how we can apply the laws and lessons taught by Google to other industries and why Google has grown into such a success.  Jeff believes that a couple of things have led to Google's success.  For one, Google's understanding of the rapid changes in our world has given them an edge up on the competition.  Additionally, their development of a new form of business model which enables others to build what they want and to succeed has been a major factor in the growth and success of Google.  When others succeed, Google succeeds.

Jeff Jarvis is an American Journalist who blogs about news and media at BuzzMachine.com.  Over the years he has had experience working as a television critic, a professor, a media consultant as well as being the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly.  What Would Google Do? is Jeff's first book, but he is currently thinking about what his next book will cover.  I for one can't wait to find out!

Watch the video below to see our interview at DLD.

Last Thursday I attended Seedcamp Tel Aviv.  Seedcamp is an intensive week long event which is held in London in September and targeted towards young entrepreneurs and startups, organized by Executive Chairman & Founder Saul Klein and CEO Reshma Sohoni.  The purpose is to provide tips, mentoring, seed funding and world-class connections for the startups which are chosen out of all that apply.  Seedcamp also hosts mini day-long conferences, or "Mini Seedcamps", around the world including the one I attended in Tel Aviv and upcoming events in Paris, Warsaw, Slovenia and Berlin.  Seedcamp Tel Aviv was a mini version of London's Seedcamp that brought together 20 of the best Israeli startups in seed stage with successful entrepreneurs, developers and investors from Israel and Europe for a day of panel discussions, presentations and mentoring.

During the conference, a panel of investors and entrepreneurs including Gigi Levy of 888, Avichay Nissenbaum from Yedda, Saul Klein, Tal Barnoach, Eyal Magen of Gigya and Yizhar Shai of Canaan Partners offered up a few tips for startups looking for investors.  If you are a seed stage startup looking for funding, the following tips are essential for your success:

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