ScrappyReading: online identities; trust & bonding; innovation and web 2.0
It’s been a good month and four days since my most recent edition of ScrappyReading. I’m not sure how I was able to read and read and read so much on my trusty Google Reader without writing about it. Well, it’s Friday and I’m ready to take a shot. Here are three ScrappyReading ideas for small business owners and consultants for keeping up to date on some of the latest trends of interest to entrepreneurs.
Online Identities
There is a lot of interest in how you manage what anyone can read about you online. This leads to the question of how someone knows something posted with your name is really related to you. Is there a way to verify that you really wrote the a comment on someone’s blog that has your name on it? OpenID has developed an authentication process by which sites using their authentication protocol could allow you to verify that “it’s really you.” OpenID “is not a trust system. Trust requires identity first.” And, OpenID is attempting to build the necessary standards and processes to make this happen. ClaimID is a site that leverages the OpenID project and enables you (for FREE) to actually build your online profile and be able to authenticate your identity to participating OpenID websites. Through ClaimID, the authentication links to a personal profile that you create and manage. Here’s an update on the direction of the ClaimID.
Trust & Bonding
Beyond identity, many shoppers on the web (and those who are afraid to do so) wonder how to protect themselves from the exposure of fraudulent sellers. buySAFE is stepping in to this space. They provide bonding to sellers so that buyers can “shop with confidence” as the blog ComparisonEngines.com notes in THE BUYSAFE REVOLUTION - 2007. If you’re running a small business and selling on the web, buySAFE is for you. It is a very economical (1 percent of the transaction) way for your customers and potential customers to shop without worrying about whether they trust you. With buySAFE bonding the transaction, the buyer is protected and can shop without fear.
Innovation & Web 2.0
Few people have time to do a lot of research about the latest and greatest in innovative websites and technologies. Read/Write Web blog notes that Amazon.com is a place to look if you want to see many of the latest and greatest features (all those buzzwords like tags and Ajax) in action. In his article, The New Face of Amazon - Tags, Ajax, Plogs, & Wikis, Alex Iskold examines how Amazon uses these technologies and gives his assessment regarding their value to shoppers at Amazon. The article is wonderful because you can look at the Amazon site as you’re reading the article to get a great idea of how the technology has been implemented.
All is well.
