The Connections Show Conversation

A few weeks ago I had a recorded Skype conversation with Stan Relihan, the host of The Connections Show on The Podcast Network. The episode has now gone live and can be found here.

The Connections Show examines how to use social networking tools to build a business network. Stan is an executive recruiter and I think I can safely say he is Australia's foremost Linkedin user. He asked me to explain Twitter and to discuss how I use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.

Please feel free to leave a comment on the show blog, and If you think the conversation is interesting enough to share with others, please go ahead and digg the episode from the show blog.

I hope you enjoy listening to the show, I enjoyed the conversation with Stan. Like me, he is enthusiastic about social media.

Time To Bash New Media, Again

Is it just me or has there been more than the usual amount of new social media bashing going on in old media lately?

Earlier this week Steven Lewis and Laurel Papworth wrote posts about the ridiculous SMH article, Facebook labelled a $5b waste of time. Steven asserted that this article brought into play his "favourite media ploy: the nonsense statistic"

Laurel maintained that "They HATE us. With a passion. Every article about blogs, wikis, Facebook, MySpace and social networks is one about stalkers, paedophiles, time-wasters at work, mis-information, and- God help us - poor grammar/spellingz?"

In addition, there has been more than the usual amount of Second Life bashing going on lately. This post outlines the string of articles that have appeared recently in publications such as Forbes, the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The question is: why is this happening now? Could it be that old media is beginning to feel more than a little threatened by new social media, and that people feel compelled to criticise what they can't understand?

Could it also be that most brands entering SL (or rather those advising brands) are approaching the Second Life community in an inappropriate way. Surely it's a bit early to be declaring the brand experiments in virtual worlds to be a bust. I'm sure the brands that have experimented with social media have learned a lot from the experiences they have already had - others are being left behind by not participating.

Haven't we seen this kind of thing before? I seem to remember that the first time around there were some ups and downs, but in time things began to work out pretty well for a lot of people (and brands) who began working with (what was then) new media and stuck with it.

Are We Always One Tweet Of Separation From Apple?

I had an interesting brand experience today. It began when I phoned the shop where I'm buying a new 17" Apple MacBook Pro. I was disappointed to find out that the non-standard computer I had ordered two weeks ago had not yet been built as promised. Apparently it will take at least another week.

Naturally I was fairly disappointed with this turn of events, and vented a little on Twitter, as a lot of twitterers tend to do in these situations. It was then that I realised that out of my 260 odd Twitter followers, I wasn't aware of anyone who said that they worked at Apple. Considering that there are a few enthusiastic Microsoft Twitterers, this seemed fairly strange.

Somewhat provocatively, I decided to try and find someone, anyone from Apple via Twitter, to see if I could connect to them. I asked my existing Twitter friends if anyone knew someone from Apple on Twitter.

Within half an hour I received a notification that my twitter was being followed by a guy who then tweeted that he hoped he could help me. It turned out that he worked for Apple. A bad experience had eventually turned into a good one because someone from the company was prepared to engage with me. The mere fact that he was prepared to communicate with me in that way made me feel more positive towards the company.

He mentioned that many people from Apple are not actually allowed to "be Apple" on the internet; that is, they are not supposed to let a lot of people know they are Apple employees. Apple does of course monitor the web to see what people (and employees?) are saying about Apple, but it appears that they won't allow most employees to respond for various reasons.

What do you think about this? As far as social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Second Life etc) is concerned, do you think this is a good policy to have? In general, do you think that companies are missing the boat by not being fully engaged with social media, and with the millions of their customers using it?

What Is Your Social Media Content Worth?

During the past couple of days I've been thinking a lot about what C.C. Chapman said in his passionate Managing the Gray podcast episode Is New Media Selling itself Short.

Amongst other thoughts, he suggests that many new media content producers may be selling themselves short. He thinks that if people are serious about monetising their work (and sure, many people don't want to at all, apart from adding value to their personal brand), it's time to start thinking bigger and more seriously about what it's worth.

If I'm understanding him correctly, he is suggesting that people should be careful that they don't get taken advantage of by some big companies with a LOT of money to spend. He suggests that people should think hard about what their work is worth and not just accept anything they are offered.

I think C.C. has a very good point here. I think that some companies know the real value of some of this content, especially content with sizeable and/or desirable niche audiences. I agree that there is a risk of people being taken advantage of just because it's new media. These are uncharted waters, but I'm sure some companies know they can get a pretty good deal for their marketing dollar at the moment.

I will say that C.C. is speaking from a different environment than we have in Australia. I'm sure the social media landscape is more developed in the U.S. Having said that, it is often a global audience, and coincidently, he does mention and Australian example. I noticed the same example myself. On Twitter, Cameron Reilly from thepodcastnetwork recently mentioned that a high end glossy magazine asked him to write a major article for them for free!

What are your thoughts? In general, do you think that people producing social media content such as blogs and podcasts should take anything they can get at this stage because they are lucky to get anything at all? Is a very small amount better than nothing, even it you think it's worth more? Is it time right to start thinking bigger?

Is Facebook Going To Be Useful for Business?

Over the past few months the use of Facebook has exploded in Australia. I don't know about you but just about everybody in my current workplace seems to be using it now. Admittedly, it's an interactive agency so you'd expect people to be using different online social media tools on a regular basis. I'd be surprised and disappointed if people weren't. I think social media is going to become increasingly important to many campaigns in one form or another, so it will be essential for people to know how it operates.

The high uptake of Facebook here has now started to attract the attention of the traditional mass media. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend (Better than the real thing: virtual freindships thrive despite bans, Weekend Edition July 21-22) focused on reports that Facebook is being banned in some workplaces during work hours. The article also mentions that there has been an 850% rise in membership since the end of last year, going from 24,000 to 200,000 Australian users in less than 9 months.

The question is: how can Facebook be used effectively in interactive marketing and business communications. It seems to me that banner ads might be one of the least interesting and effective methods of marketing within networks such as Facebook. There are already many Facebook groups based around businesses, and people are also using Facebook to organise various social, business and networking events.

It strikes me that there might be some really great opportunities for brands to engage and converse with people in meaningful and unintrusive ways. Let me be clear, I'm NOT suggesting that brands go in and try to add as many 'friends' as possible, or use fake profiles and fake comments to try and gain positive results - they won't.

It remains to be seen how Facebook will evolve, but it's going to be an interesting ride. Have you seen any effective uses for Facebook recently, beyond turning people into zombies, vampires and virtual food fighting?

Is The iPhone A Game Changer?

So I've been thinking about the iPhone a little more since my first post about it, The Apple (2G) iPhone Hype.

It hasn't been released in Australia yet of course, and God (Steve Jobs) only knows when it will be, but from what I've been reading and hearing, iPhones seem to be selling like hotcakes in the U.S. What's more, the iPhone also seems to be living up to all the hype. Apart from a few activation problems, people seem to be loving their new iPhones.

I'm thinking that if I had an iPhone now, among other things I'd most probably be using PocketTweets for Twitter on my iPhone. I'd be visiting social networking sites like Facebook regularly, and I'd be downloading and listening to my favourite podcasts. I'm thinking that if I want to do things like this, many others do too.

I was listening to Mitch Joel's latest episode (#59) of his Six Pixels of Separation podcast the other day. He pointed out that from a marketing perspective, because iPhones are selling like hotcakes and because around one hundred million iPods have already been sold, this is going to be a game changer, and we need to be paying attention to it.

I think Mitch is absolutely correct. A lot of people are starting to listen to podcasts (including video) about everything under the sun. A lot of people are using social networking sites. A lot of people are beginning to use services like Twitter, which can be updated from mobile phones, web or IM...and now, a lot of people are starting to buy iPhones.

I'm sure I don't need to point out that large numbers of people will now be be able to do all these things and more with one device. In addition, I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before we see a mobile based social network really take off. Things are starting to get really interesting in the mobile space.

What do you think? Is this a game changer, or do you think it won't make much of an impact?

Does The Dove Evolution Success Mean Agency Evolution As Well?

I just want to say a few words about the fact that the Dove Evolution viral video has won both the Cyber and Film Grand Prix awards in Cannes this year (that's the advertising awards, not the film festival awards). I know this was a few weeks ago now, but I was on an unconnected holiday when the news broke.

I think this marks a significant turning point for the industry, and not just because it's a viral video that has achieved acceptance and success at Cannes. After all, Droga5 won the Grand Prix in the Cyber category last year with their Still Free viral campaign, so two years in a row could be considered to be a trend.

Much of the discussion, even in new marketing circles, seems to have been centered around the fact that this is a breakthrough piece mostly because it is not a traditional 30 sec tv spot. True to form, author of Life After the 30 Second Spot Joseph Jaffe provocatively commented on his blog:

"Dove's Evolution wins both Cyber and Film Grand Prix. Consider this the first day of the new era of creativity. Ding Dong traditional creatives, you are well and truly dead."

However, what is just as significant (if not more so) is the concept itself, which is so markedly different from anything else out there in the beauty products category. When have you ever seen an ad in this category actually attempt to make women feel good about their own body image by acknowledging the constructed nature of images in popular media?

Now let me illustrate the clear impact of this success story within the industry by sharing an experience with you. I have been in a number of group situations in which this video has been shown to agency professionals as part of a general showcase of new work, and also informally in day-to-day agency situations.

The fact that this video has been shown and discussed is a good thing, but from the various comments and discussions it became clear that many of the men in the room just did not 'get it'. This includes many of the creatives who deal with pop cultural ideas on a daily basis. Many of the men just didn't understand why this campaign has been so popular with women, and just didn't think it was a great campaign, or didn't want to acknowledge that it was. Most of the women in the room had a very different view. It is telling that in this country at least, in many agencies (both traditional and digital) around 80%-90% of creatives are still men. It's hard to believe in this day and age I know, but there it is.

Although both the writer and art directors for the Evolution campaign were men (UPDATE: please see the comments for a correction to this), there was clearly a healthy new approach at play here, and a very successful one. It's great that the Cannes jury has been quick to acknowledge and reward this different approach. There is nothing that starts to change old school, boys' club agency thinking faster than the lure of big awards - sad but true.

Since the awards, a few questions have been asked about the quality of digital work in this country, as there was only one bronze award given out in the Cyber category this year. Many reasons have been cited for this turn of events, from the current digital skills shortage, to inadequate broadband infrastructure, to conservative clients still thinking interactive is just an 'add on' to more traditional work. While there may be truth to these assertions, could it be that old school attitudes and conceptual thinking are also playing a major role in the lack of recent success as well?

What are your thoughts?

PodCamp Is Coming To Australia

...but which city will host the first PodCamp Australia?

Jared Madden and Adam Purcell have taken it upon themselves to bring the PodCamp concept to Australia. The first PodCamp was held in Boston only last year, so this is still a very new concept. Jared and Adam have launched a stake your interest website, so go ahead and cast your vote for your favoured host city. At the time of writing, Perth was well in the lead as the post popular place to host the event. I voted for Sydney.

On a side note, I've noticed on Twitter that people have been having a few problems with their confirmation emails ending up in spam folders. This happened to me as well, so when you register, watch out for that. The subject line is "Welcome to the podcamp notification service".

Please note, Podcamp is not just for podcasters, it's also for podcast listeners, bloggers, marketing professionals, and anyone interested or curious about New Media. See you there, it should be a lot of fun.

Are You Powncing?

Well, this is my inevitable post about the new social network Pownce. As many of you may know, I'm quite a big fan of Twitter. I've avoided using Jaiku for some reason, but I seem to have dived straight into Pownce.

I've only been using if since Sunday, and I like it so far. I'm not sure how much I'll use it yet (social media overload and all that), but as a social networking tool, it seems to be off to a flying start. It's very easy to build up Pownce friends – I woke up this morning with a bunch of new invites from interesting people (quite a few were from Twitter mind you).

On Pownce you can send files, messages, links and events. You are able to communicate through the site or via a desktop application. Unlike Twitter, at the moment there is no SMS fuctionality, but I dare say that might be added in time. There is already a Pownce Facebook application.

Apparently Pownce was conceived by Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, Kevin Rose (founder of digg) and Shawn Allen, in that order according to the site.

Like Gmail and Joost before it, Pownce is cunningly working on an invite-only system at the moment, which has created a bit of mystery and an I don't want to be left out mentality amongst social media junkies. People want what they can't have.

Oh, and If you are looking for an invite, sorry, I don't have any left. When you are invited to join, you get 6 invites to give others. I asked my Twitter friends if anyone had one to give me and was inundated with invites. In turn, I gave mine away on a first–come–first–served basis on Twitter.

It's not surprising that invitations are currently spreading like wildfire though online social media channels - everyone seems to be talking about it and asking for invites.

Are you using Pownce already? If you are, what do you think of it so far. How does it compare to Twitter or Jaiku for you? If you want an invite and are not sure how to get one, I suggest you leave comments on a few blogs and ask around. Do a search and follow the trial, invites are not that difficult to come by.

iPhone And Surface Multi-Smudge Technology

Here are a couple of healthy spoofs about the Apple iPhone and Microsoft Surface, with their much hpyed multi-touch technology.


I like a joke as much as the next person, but really, I'm keen to give both products a try. On the face of it, they both seem to offer some great possibilities for the future.

On a side note, it's good to see that the first iPhone sold (bought by Johnny Vulkan and Spike Lee) is currently being auctioned for charity.

via Diablogue

Tracking Your Online Conversations

Thanks to C.C Chapman I've discovered coComment. I've only just started using it, but so far it seems really useful for keeping track of online conversations on blogs and in other social media.

Being able to centralise online conversations definitely saves time. It also enhances the conversations because you don't lose track of any comments you've made, and it makes it possible to respond quickly to comments if you want to.

As soon as I saw this tool I thought, great, I need to use this, it will help me, and it is.

The Most Valuable Podcasts

On Twitter today I mentioned that I'd say a few words about some of the great new media, new marketing podcasts I've been listening to lately. I think this is a good time for this post, as Fly-Over Marketing has been conducting a Most Valuable Podcast contest and it's down to the final two in the poll: Inside PR vs American Copywriter.

These are my current favourites (in no particular order). Do give them a listen if you haven't already. They are full of great insights and opinions, and they're all free to subscribe. Just do a search in the iTunes Store or on the web, they are not difficult to find.

• Six Pixels of Separation
• Across the Sound
• Managing the Gray
• For Immediate Release
• Inside PR
• New Comm Road
• Pr Junction

Can you recommend any great podcasts that are not on my current list. Do you have a podcast you'd like to plug? Please go ahead, I'd be really interested to listen, and I'm sure others would as well.

Hilary Clinton Campaigning On YouTube 2

This is Hilary Clinton's first follow-up to her Pick my Campaign Song YouTube video. So far the YouTube experiment seems to be working out quite well for her. I'm sure other politicians are watching closely. It's still very early days for this kind of political campaigning.

As I've said before, I'm sure we'll start to see a lot more of this kind of campaigning as the election draws nearer, and not just on YouTube. I see that Barack Obama also has YouTube, MySpace and Facebook profiles. At present, Obama has nearly 79,000 Facebook supporters.

On a side note, I was also quite impressed that when the Vote Different viral took off, there was no overreaction or negative reaction from the Clinton camp (as far as I know). They let it run its course without intervention, and now they are doing something positive to try and engage with the YouTube community in their own way.

Hilary Clinton Campaigning On YouTube

Hilary Clinton has enlisted the help of the YouTube community to help choose her campaign song. The video directs people to hilaryclinton.com to cast a vote for 1 of 9 songs.

Not surprisingly, it seems that politicians are starting to embrace online social media more and more in order to engage with voters. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of this kind of thing in the coming months. It was not long ago that I noticed Barack Obama and John Edwards twittering.

via Diablogue

Breaking Up Is Easy To Do

The Break Up

This is a refreshing (and somewhat surprising) approach from Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, which focuses on the relationship between the traditional advertiser and the consumer. There's also a blog that goes with it, Bring the love back.

"We don't talk anymore. You do all the talking...It's not exactly a dialogue."

"You're saying you love me, but you're not behaving like you love me, it's not genuine."

"I've changed, and you haven't. We don't hang out in the same places anymore. You're not even listening are you?"

All great stuff and great to see a brand like Microsoft saying it at last.

What do you think of this ad? Like it?

via Logic + Emotion

Using Twitter For Marketing Part 4: Campaigns

Part 3: The Public Eye
Part 2: Events
Part 1: Intro

Okay, I'm going to wrap up this series with this post. I think I've said more than enough about Twitter for the time being. There's no doubt in my mind that services such as Twitter can be used successfully for marketing purposes in a number of different ways. There's also no doubt in my mind that Twitter can be highly addictive!

I think Twitter could be used in campaigns to add a new level of engagement. I'm not talking about just sending out one way tweets (many followers but no friends) trying to spruik products. I'm talking about integrating it with other content to form a closer connection between audience and brand. Such a campaign could involve working with Twitter and Second Life, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, a blog, a microsite, an event, long form content, an existing reality tv program, you name it.

This kind of approach is already beginning to be used, but not with Twitter yet (as far as I'm aware). Coca-Cola and new marketing company Crayon a have recently launched the Virtual Thirst promotion within Second Life. They are taking entries for a competition involving ideas for a virtual vending machine. Entries can be submitted via Second Life, Youtube, MySpace or email. I've noticed that Coca-Cola (no doubt on the advice of Crayon), have responded well to some initial criticism about the competition prize with a YouTube video from one of the Coca-Cola marketers, and in turn, a video response has been submitted back. My point here is that Twitter could just as easily be a part of the marketing mix in this kind of new marketing campaign, as it offers another avenue for engagement, and a new means of interaction and communication.

On another note, I've seen numerous mentions of brands on Twitter. Even as I write this I can see a Tweet from one of my Twitter friends that simply states "Crimes against humanity part 5: Sony Ericsson Phones" and the next tweet, "care to elaborate?". I've seen mentions of everything from iPods to pizza odered on the web. People seem to like talking about the products and services they use (and don't like to use), especially mobile phones and related services. It seems to me that there is an opportunity for certain brands to engage and respond in an unintrusive way by Twittering.

I'm not talking about having a brand presence that screams "we're here so love us", and I'm not suggesting that brands go chasing down potential followers in order to attract as much attention as possible. Some brands (and their agencies) seem to have taken this approach to both MySpace and Second Life and at best it can be annoying, at worst it can seriously backfire. What I'm talking about is having a presence, but listening, learning, responding and engaging with each community in an appropriate way.

If you have any other ideas for how twitter could be used for marketing, or would just like to comment on what has been said, please do leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you about Twitter.

Using Twitter For Marketing Part 3: The Public Eye

Continued from Part 2: Events

I think twitter could be used by people in the public eye to interact and engage with their audiences in meaningful ways.

To an extent, the use of Twitter by people in the public eye has already begun. As my Twitter friend Cheryl commented in Part 2, Henry Rollins has been twittering. It may seem strange to some that Henry Rollins is one of the first celebrities to experiment with Twitter, but it's not really that surprising considering he's a spoken word artist and singer/songwriter. His tweets seem to range from plugging tour dates to one liners such as "Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on", to linking to his Letter to Laura Bush video on YouTube.

I think Twitter and other services like it hold a number of possibilities for musicians, actors, directors, authors. comedians and other people in the arts and entertainment. For instance, they could Twitter during promotional and concert tours, or during the making of albums and films. This could of course be achieved without giving away too much personal information. It would be up to them how much they revealed about themselves and their lives.

Twittering would allow these people to connect directly with their fans on a daily basis. This already happens to a certain extent with websites and blogs published by celebrities, but this could be a much more immediate, intimate and direct engagement. Can you imagine how many followers some pop and film stars would get if they began to twitter from their mobile phones? Do you think people would be interested in following their favourite Idol contestants during the show? It would add a whole new level of engagement to a reality show such as this.

For the premiere of its new tv show Drive in the U.S., Fox recently offered a live Twitter by Greg Yaitanes, the show's director. I see that the director's commentary had close to 900 followers. While not huge in relation to the show's audience numbers, this is still significant given that it was an experimental first attempt and Twitter hasn't gone mainstream.

On the political front, I've also noticed that both Barack Obama and John Edwards are twittering. It's doubtful that Obama's tweets are from him personally, but rather from staff. I don't think there is anything wrong with this, but Edwards makes it clear by stating whether the tweet is "from staff" or from him. I think you have to give full disclosure in a medium like this, or you run the risk of people feeling cheated if they get the wrong impression.

I do think there is a good case for politicians using Twitter. Again, it's a good way for them to communicate directly with voters, and for their followers to ask them questions and keep up with the issues. When I 'added' both these politicians, I was impressed at the speed at which they befriended me. One of my American Twitter friends (can't remember who sorry) said they sent a direct message asking a question and received an immediate answer from the politician's staff. This level of attention and engagement should be commended.

In these days of increasing media fragmentation, I think politicians need to have all bases covered, and that includes honest and open social media engagement. This is going to become increasingly important if they want to reach those people who spend much more time online than they do consuming tv, print and radio. That's already a lot of people, and If you are reading this, you are most probably one of them.

4th and final part to follow...

Using Twitter For Marketing Part 2: Events

Continued from Part 1: Intro

I think Twitter offers some excellent opportunities for use during live events, during both short and long term fixtures. The longer the event, the more the Twitter conversation for the event could develop and evolve.

This idea of using Twitter for events is not a new one. At the South by Southwest conference earlier in the year, two 60 inch screens were placed in conference hallways, streaming tweets to the participants. Reportedly, many conference-goers started to keep tabs on each other, and helped each other keep up with the best things going on at the conference. Panelists and speakers also mentioned the service. This helped create the buzz that has now spread far and wide, all the way to Australia and New Zealand in fact.

It strikes me that this kind of process could be repeated at other events around the world. Twitter, and other services like it, could be used to engage a group of people in conversations at specific events. It could also be used by people who can't be at the event but want to get an impression of what's going on there. Incidently, I've noticed that MIX07 in Las Vegas has a Twitter profile with around 300 'friends' and 'followers'. It'll be interesting to get people's impressions from that event.

At twittered events, organisers could notify participants of particular features, promotions and important announcements. This could certainly apply for many different kinds of events, not just conferences. Being from sydney, I can imagine what it might have been like during the huge, multi-venue, multi-day phenomenon that is the Olympic Games. Will we see twittering at Beijing in 2008? It could also be fun and useful at events such as cricket and football matches, or at any other significant sporting events for that matter. A Twitter timeline, or animated Twitter map could also be displayed on screens at events, although that might just be asking for trouble at some sporting events.

Here in Oz, Australian Fashion week is in full swing at the moment. I've noticed that News.com.au (News Limited) has started twittering for this event. The Fashion and Style editor is the twitterer. The ozFashionWeek profile doesn't actually have much of a following at present, but it's not being significantly promoted as far as I can ascertain (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). It might have been a last minute inclusion. I did find one feed and a link on the site here, under the title Hot Goss.

At this early stage, I'd say they might want to give a bit of an explanation of what Twitter does, if they really want people to join-up and follow the action. It's unlikely that many people visiting that page would already know what it's all about. I think we have to remember that there has been a tipping point for Twitter amongst bloggers and some social networkers, but it hasn't gone mainstream quite yet, not by a long shot. That's being pretty critical though, at least someone at News has had to foresight to give it a go at this stage - huge points for that. It's the first experiment of its kind here as far as I know (again, please correct me if I'm wrong), and experimentation should be encouraged and commended as far as I'm concerned.

Twitter could also be used at large music festivals such as The Big Day Out and Good Vibrations, or at any other festival for that matter. The possibilities for using this kind of service in locations where reasonable numbers of people gather are numerous. I'm sure we'll start to see much more of it. If Twittter doesn't survive, no doubt there will be a service with similar features that does emerge, survive and thrive.

If anyone knows of any current or past examples of Twitter being used during an event, please leave a comment, I'd love to know about it.

Part 3 to follow..

Coke Launches Second Life Promo

With the help of new marketing company Crayon and design shop Millions of us, Coke has launched a Second Life promotion, Virtual Thirst.

They are running a competition to design a Second Life vending machine that dispenses "not Coca-Cola, but the ESSENCE of Coca-Cola: refreshment, joy, unity, experience". The winning concept will be built by SL developers from Millions of Us. Entries will be accepted through Second Life, YouTube and MySpace.

It'll be interesting to see how this new promotion is received by Second Life inhabitants, and the YouTube and MySpace communities. I'm sure many people will be watching this one closely.

Brandchannel Readers Choice - Top 10

The results of the annual BrandChannel's Reader's Choice Awards are in. As you can see, Google owns 2 of the top 3 places.

4 out of the top 10 are less that 10 years old, and it's certainly no coincidence that 4 out of the top 5 companies have digital media, technology and the web at their core. Rounding out the top 10 globally are: Nokia, Skype, Ikea, Coca-Cola, Toyota.

It's also difficult to see how Apple could be nudged from the top few in the coming year, with the iphone hitting the market. Then again, the number 3 spot is held by a company that only began in 2005, so I'll keep and open mind. It's possible that a company that hasn't even started up yet could be in the top 5 next year! Google would probably buy it though.