Internet users can ask questions at Chinese website QiHoo. These are first automatically interpreted and if possible answered. If there is no satisfying answer, the user can ask the community (cw).

In the supply driven economy collecting answers and information was important. In the new economy, answering questions is important. Whoever manages to interpret questions the right way, and answer them, in the end will win the consumer's sympathy. Google owes its success to this, although it still has problems interpreting questions. Even Google is still at the start. Maybe it's time for Google Community?

Fitna, Dutch politician Geert Wilders's film about the Koran, is announced in English, while the language spoken in the film is Dutch (fi). The Dutch politician apparently realizes that the whole world is looking at him, and this is how he anticipates that.

As the virtual world matures, and we connect to a worldwide network of 6.6 billion people, it shouldn't surprise us that this will lead to conflicts. All cultures with their own convictions built up in thousands of years, and passed on from generation to generation, all of a sudden are confronted with each other. We will (have to) fight the confrontation over the years to come. The Danish cartoons were only the beginning. With more than 3 billion people connected through mobile phones at the moment (growing rapidly), this video from about the most leveled-out culture in the world, where everything seems ok, where you can say everything you like, might cause a huge shock wave. Finally (after a couple of decades) there will be peace like never before. We will then live in the era of Pamper Planet.

For the development of the current version of Erwinvanlun.com 1.5 I have enjoyed working with Lodewijk Schutte. Unfortunately he has too many projects at the moment, forcing him to end our collaboration. For this reason, I am looking for a talented, freelance ExpressionEngine programmer. Maybe you?

You might have seen that Mensmerk.nl, the Dutch origin of this website, has been nominated for the category best design (and best marketing) for the Dutch Bloggies (the prizes for the best weblogs in the Netherlands). I am very proud of that. However, I have 1001 other ideas I would love to research and implement. Think of video, voice, chat, flash animations, web 2.0, etc. etc. etc. Time however is my biggest problem. Are you looking for a fun (practice) assignment and do you want to go nuts? Let me know and contact me directly! I am looking forward to hear from you!

There is no deadline for this call. Only when this posting has been removed from the homepage (under the heading 'looking for'), then I have enough ongoing projects.

Yesterday night we had the first jury meeting for the SpinAwards, the interactive prizes in the Netherlands, for the category 'best website'. 83 entries had been submitted, and we each had gone over them individually. This night we had to come to a joint nomination. Everyone using their own laptop (80% of which Apples), lead by Kirian Cousin and Stephan Fellinger, we started working. It was a lot of work, but we managed to decide on the nomination. To be continued. In the picture a moment is captured in which the members of the jury were standing together (you can see me in the window )

Google starts a trial project giving out free voice mail numbers to the homeless in San Francisco. This voice mail number can be used as a call-back number for job applications, or for doctors and hospitals to keep in touch with their patient. If the project proves to be a success, Google wants to spread this service to other American cities (dc, Dutch). What a great example of socially responsible business. This is the brand coming out in its purest form. In this process the burden between manufacturer and consumer completely disappears, working transparently is second nature, and the brand more or less integrates in society. To operate responsibly, these brands make sure everyone benefits, and they use their core competences to help the weakest people in society. Socially responsible business is not about 'look how green we are', and then follow a new trend the next year. That is just responding to a societal (media) trend. No, socially responsible business is about the long term process of change in organizations, which after all is the only survival process. Google gives a great example here.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Mensmerk.nl, the Dutch origin of this website, had already made it to the long list (top 10) for the Dutch Bloggies, the prizes for web logs in the Netherlands. Meanwhile I have made it to the shortlist (top 5) in the marketing as well as the design categories. Exciting...

British broadcaster BBC sells programs through iTunes. Hit series like Little Britain, Spooks en Torchwood can be bought through the British iTunes store. One episode costs 1,89 pound Sterling (2,50 Euros) (bc, Dutch). Thus BBC slowly changes from broadcaster to production company. Programming the night of the media consumer will get less applicable - that task is taken over by home entertainment coaching brands. In the long run, the government will determine what content is distributed to its citizens, for free (to every world citizen in fact), based on tax money. Paid content however will soon only be applicable for commercial parties who will make very high quality (interactive) content, the basis for the experience economy.

Related trends

• De-nationalizing
• Experiences

Social network Hyves collects several e-mail addresses per member. Sometimes an e-mail address needs to be confirmed explicitly, sometimes a different mechanism is used (hy). Thus brands don't only remember one e-mail address per individual, but all contact possibilities. Besides, through the brand memory they unlock the collective memories of individual and brand, in which all communication is saved. So that if an e-mail address disappears, the dialogue can still continue.

Dutch zoo Blijdorp has started a test in which visitors can pay wireless through their mobile phone, and can also get information in the park. It works through the so-called NFC protocol, the Near Field Protocol. Freely translated: a service that only works when you come close (am, Dutch). People are freed of complicated things like physical money, or sorting through information. We have not been designed for that, although we have been trained in it. Soon we will enter the terrain, we get a question directly on our ear plug (which by that time we always carry) if we do want to continue, as we have to pay an entrance fee. We only have to say yes and just keep going. We then get real-time information about things to do, where the crowds are and where not, and the latest news on our favorite animals. What I mean to say: even mobile payment is just an intermediate phase.

Do you want to take your future in your own hands? Do you want to be completely informed about the latest trends? Do you want to communicate that more and more? Do you work correctly? Can you write quick and without mistakes? And maybe do you have your own blog already that costs a lot of time, but doesn't bring you much yet? Then it might be time for us to start working together!

Online fashion retailer WeLikeFashion opens a physical store in Amsterdam. The users have specifically asked the brand for this (mb, Dutch). A brand only exists in our minds. 'Online brands' or 'offline brands' only exist in marketers' literature. We still have to get used to that idea. In this era physical chains start online shops with a complete range and 24/7 service, while online chains start physical stores where they can offer the full sensorial experience. In the end we will just talk about 'retail' again; full online presence will then be completely normal.

Oil company Shell in an advertising campaign promotes its new movie clearing the air that can be seen online, can be explored interactively, and can be ordered as a DVD (for free). Its availability is promoted through a TV advertising campaign (mb, Dutch). The time in which brands were limited to 30 second commercials is behind us, although not many brands make use of these video possibilities. Shell realizes that it can get more messages across when the contact moment is so much longer. This is not a dialogue yet, but it is definitely a 'brand world'.

Related trends

• Brand worlds

Dutch telecoms operator Hi puts your friends, and their current activities, on a Google Map. By sending text messages Hi can directly determine the location (based on information of the cell masts, the CellID), and what you are doing there is, thanks to a connection with Hyves, automatically inserted into the 'WhoWhatWhere' field in the user's Hyves profile (mf, Dutch). Thus communication slowly becomes realtime. Now we still have to explicitly pass information, soon we will give our friends permission to see where we are, what we are doing, who we are talking to, and what our plans are. Only with our permission of course. Thus the virtual world more and more becomes a reflection of the real world.

Ellen is European energy supplier EON's new chatbot. Ellen is shown as a real woman. For every subject Ellen has a new picture. For example, for the subject 'moving' she is carrying moving boxes, and on the rates page she is holding a calculator. Your own question history is shown so you can look up earlier questions and answers. Ellen doesn't just cover the customer service pages: she appears at different pages on the website (cb).

Thus brand agents slowly come to life. Now as an extra on the website, soon Ellen will be the main person to turn to with your questions. Especially for low interest products people come around with their question, want a quick answer, and then want to leave again. When visiting brands with a symbolic function (like fashion brands), you might stick around and explore a little bit, to get some inspiration maybe, or meet fun people or even your friends. Even then a (virtual) specialist will always be present to answer any questions.