Owning the Internet.

Gartner, Inc. defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as "a concept that describes how the Internet will expand as physical items such as consumer devices and physical assets are connected to the Internet." The general definition of IoT is always expanding, since technology is always expanding. Everyday, companies become more familiar with mobile and some of the newer services offered to Internet users.

An avenue not normally considered buzz-worthy around this time of year is the digital world. Marketing departments typically pursue the most popular option: the Super Bowl.

The Value of a $4 Million Super Bowl Ad

Research from the Digiday article linked above shows that the price of a standard 30-second article could buy much more in the digital world. The hefty tag of $4,000,000 could buy prolonged exposure on Twitter, Hulu, and many other websites. With so many of today's consumers being active Internet users, this advertising provides vital exposure to brands that want to be more productive online.

Not every company tries to make a big splash during the most-viewed athletic event in the nation. Those that do are thrust into the spotlight, hoping to pull off something that will stick in viewers' heads long-term. Chrysler's "Halftime in America" commercial last year, with Clint Eastwood narrating the return of a once-failing automobile manufacturer, stimulated quite a bit of buzz around the brand. Volkswagen usually has memorable spots, ranging from a domesticated dog trying to chase one of their cars instead of a mailman to a little boy trying to emulate Darth Vader by using The Force.

Chrysler's commercial from last year lasted 2 minutes and 1 second, much longer than the standard timeslot mentioned earlier. The ad cost Chrysler an estimated $14 million, an amount that could essentially take over all of the available ad space in the relevant digital world for at least a few days.

So what's the big deal?

It's already been established that the modern consumer spends a fair amount of time online. While not every social media user or online shopper is looking to purchase a car, there are ways to put even just a small fraction of that sum of money to use effectively.

Above all else, the objective of whatever is done should be to make your actions relevant. If a company tries throwing their slogan around the Twittersphere or Tumblr, most users will write it off instantly. Even normal consumers don't want to feel like they're being sold to. It usually comes off as condescending and a little degrading. A short hashtag or current idea that would encourage responses from any Internet user could be considered most effective. The company itself may try to sell its image through the use of whichever approach they decide to use, but it's important to let the online community do the rest.

A preemptive approach to pursuing the online market is by listening to whatever research is available. If 35% of your customers are active Twitter users, but only 12% use Instagram, it'd be wise to stray away from focusing on broadening your presence on the latter.

Some companies become too aggressive when using a new online campaign. On highly-frequented sites like ESPN and YouTube, there might be ads that rollover and start playing videos or displaying extra content, even if the user accidentally scrolled over the area for as little as a second. This is a very passive form of harassment. People enjoy the Internet because of all of the freedoms it allows, and having an idea or image forced upon you in that way is just uncomfortable.

The last important aspect to remember when initiating a high-dollar online campaign is that you have to have something to say. If you are just trying to increase brand recognition, there are definitely ways to do that. Word-of-mouth communication spreads fastest online, so having a short and simple message that can really halt the short attention spans of today's savvy consumers is vital to moving any kind of product.

If you're going to own the Internet for any extended period of time, you might as well make sure people remember it.

Breaking through the advertising Glass ceiling.

Many of us have seen the video of Google's Project Glass. For those that haven't, here it is.

Pretty nifty. It takes everything we ever wanted in a smart phone and condensed them into a techie-hipster style pair of glasses. While it isn't available for purchase yet, it will be. The folks at Google are both smart enough and wealthy enough to make sure a cool product like this is ready for production before the buzz around it wears out.

But what comes next? Mass production of a concept like this?

The idea of interactive holograms isn't new by any means, but it is a much more realistic idea now. Pattie Maes revealed at a TED Talk some technology that provides user-friendly interface for operating a phone system from just around your neck. A few years from now, bigger companies like Google could make even bigger strides in developing the technology that just may challenge the tangibility of space.

How Google Glass Could Change Advertising

With innovation comes opportunity. Mashable did a brief write-up about the possibilities created by the introduction of Google's Project Glass. While noting that Project Glass coordinators won't be having any of companies trying to advertise on their experimental platform, writer Todd Wasserman points out that the web browser wasn't supposed to initially be a breakthrough for advertising.

Is it just a matter of time? One could argue either way.

On one hand, consumers often hesitate to consistently use products that try to manipulate or sell their brand to them. Twitter faced a decent uproar recently due to their adding banner ads to the top of users' home screens, something many users found aesthetically displeasing. Sure enough, the site fixed the problem and all was well.

On the other hand, the technology giant with a brand big enough to draw more advertising revenue than most companies can even dream of should hardly scoff at the opportunity to capitalize on that very fact. Partnerships are nice to have. Google may not need any partners, but in an economy as down as ours is expected to be in the near future, their partnering with smaller firms and companies could mean more for the rest of us than for them.

With programs like AdWords and Analytics, Google has done plenty to foray outside of the search engine label that has so limited sites like Bing and Yahoo!. They know the appeal for companies of advertising on large platforms, as Project Glass projects to be.

So until those techie-hipster glasses finally come out, the rest of us will publicly sweat the debate regarding whether Google will choose to protect the purity of their flashy eyewear or promote the very processes that have made them so much money from the start.

Commence freaking out.

Quora moves beyond questions.

In recent years, many sources of knowledge have emerged to respond to the wild curiosities of the millennials. Wikipedia, though seen as unreliable, has the widest public variety of information available free of charge. While anyone can edit the pages, that leaves them open to being supercharged with specific information from experts anywhere. Information posted without sources is usually taken down soon after it is put up.

Another recognizable name from the past few years is ChaCha, a service that responds to specific questions that users submit via both Internet and text messaging. Using it is free, with the exception of advertisements that fill the time between question and answer. For a generation so used to instant gratification for any matter, this was a short-lived revelation.

Then there's Quora. Currently sitting at 36th on the list of top free reference apps in the iTunes App Store after more than a year since its initial release (September 29th, 2011), it's clear users are satisfied with the way it works. The New York Times even named it one of the next multi-billion dollar startups.

So what gives?

Internet users want more than just information these days. They want interaction. Quora uses the quality resources it has in its great writing talent to appease the curiosity of users. It would only make sense for them to incorporate something very common: blogs.

Quora's Introduction of Blogs

There is slight concern over whether or not the addition of blogging will dilute the effectiveness the company has with its most important service: answering questions.

I'd like to attempt to answer that question, though. Quite simply, it won't. Internet users are smart enough to separate content based on its purpose. They know that a blog won't fulfill their wondering mind as much as the direct questioning they already planned on doing. However, if there is time to read at all, users will enjoy the material presented to them.

With most of their traffic being questions about personal interests, Quora has a strong advantage in how they can structure their blogs. It isn't hard to track how often information on different subjects is requested. It will be easier for them to create material that users will enjoy without requesting for it to actually be written about. Though they don't have a way to directly monetize their blogging platform yet, Quora might have just set themselves apart from most of their competition, while finding new competitors at the same time.

Get Connected.

Social media is an everchanging form of communication. In its primitive stages, blogs like Xanga existed to give Internet users a way of expressing their thoughts to whomever decided to read them. Not long after, Myspace and Facebook occupied the space that most social butterflies unknowingly needed to be filled. Though the former may have fallen off a bit in terms of both usage and popularity, Facebook has become as much of a cornerstone in Internet conversation as Google. While the curious mind will say "Let me Google that really quick!", the social mind will suggest "Find me on Facebook!"

To keep it as simple as possible, Facebook is social media.

This isn't to limit the idea of social media to only the networking giant, but to suggest that recognition of one idea brings about concurrent recognition of the other.

When the average person thinks of basketball, they think of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Baseball? New York Yankees.

Football? Dallas Cowboys.

There's a metaphorical poster-boy for every major concept. As long as the brain continues to operate under the idea of association, this will always hold true.

Many platforms of social media have emerged since Facebook gained in popularity. Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Tumblr, GetGlue, and many others offer users very unique and specialized experiences, ranging from location-sharing to virtual window shopping. However, over and done with are the days of competition between these various brands of social media. You can post onto Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter from GetGlue. Pinterest has a share option that links to Facebook and Twitter, as well. At this point in time, you can even link your Myspace and Facebook together.

There isn't some secret crusade by the social media heavyweights to increase the reliance on their brands by their users. Those in charge have just come to realize that, as much as their users are loyal to them, an Internet user takes pride in having freedom of opinion. They want the ability to hold membership with a variety of social networks, even if just to have the ability to do so. Whether they exercise this ability is irrelevant.

As various brands in social media pave the way in doing so, their users mirror them by linking one account to another and providing even more evidence supporting the importance of feasibility in the usage of their services. After all, people only ever want to do one thing.

Get connected.