Web 2.0 Round 3

OpenWine Consortium
by Paul Tincknell

At the start of April I became member #711 of the OpenWine Consortium, a Facebook or MySpace for the wine industry. I haven’t joined a social network before, mostly because I couldn’t see how it would be anything but a time sink for already few hours in the day - as well as another thing keeping me chained to the PC. But joining the OpenWine Consortium did make sense for me, and really shows the true evolution of the Web 2.0 revolution. Giant social networks won’t likely go away soon, but I foresee more topic-specific networks being created and populated as the real future trend. The next true step will allow social networks to cross link to each other, e.g., my identity on OWC could populate other specific social networks of my choosing - say one on jazz, for example (another major interest of mine). Rather than me signing up for dozens of “walled gardens”, i.e., exclusive social networks, I sign up once and select those that I want to be a part of. That would really open up new communication and networking, allowing diverse topics (wine and jazz) and industries (wine and music) to cross pollinate and cross market by using those persons specifically interested and knowledgeable about both topics.

If you are in the wine industry, check out the OWC at www.openwineconsortium.org. Looks like the start of a good community.

Web 2.0 Round 2

Round 2 - a new experiment for T&T in playing with Web 2.0 … A few days ago an article popped up on a blog we read that mentioned the phenomena of social networking colliding with ecommerce in a venture call Zlio.com. Curious, we ventured forth to explore the site and, somewhat impressed that someone had literally taken all of the effort out of online retail, dived in and created our very own Wine Book Nook.

Zlio is really just an affiliate program for online suppliers to market through with a dash of “web 2.0″ tossed in. Each “store” has its own RSS feed, customers can rate stores, and there is some basic Amazon.com-type interactivity such as “I own it” and “Add to wish list” functions.

What we find interesting in the experience is the debut of a new marketing channel. Having people build virtual stores around other businesses’ products through another business’ services is an innovative idea. Sure, eBay kind of does that, and Amazon.com kind of does that too, but Zlio completely takes the concept and runs with it. There isn’t any risk or downside except to Zlio - the whole idea tanks or another competitor out does them - but for the merchants supplying the goods, and the people building the stores, there is none. The merchants build market presence and, just possibly, market share. People pocket some money for managing a template-driven website. If it works, Zlio makes money from the two ends coming together.

Our experimental Wine Book Nook is mostly to test the idea and have some fun; we don’t anticipate selling enough books through it to have us retire from our day jobs here at Tincknell & Tincknell. We love books (and we obviously love wine), and some of those in our “store” we have read and some we haven’t. If you do test it out, either joining the Zlio community with your own store or buying something through ours or one of the myriad other stores there, send us an email (link in the footer below) and let us know how it goes. Maybe there will be a Zlino.com in the future matching wineries with budding wine merchants in another social ecommerce network.

Favorite Wine

What Is Your Favorite Wine?
Paul Tincknell, February 25, 2008

Anyone who works in the wine industry - from the waiter to winemaker - gets asked that question. Often, the answer entails the usual song and dance of with what, when, who with, how much, etc. But to me, the answer is simple:

Any wine that expresses the hand of the winemaker, the soil of the vineyard, and the soul of the grape.

If you missed the Wall Street Journal’s “Open That Bottle Night” this last Saturday (February 23), then make sure to make an occasion and pop open one of those goodies and enjoy. Life is too short to save the best for last.

T&T and Web 2.0

Welcome to T&T’s new blog. Yes,’tis true, we have joined the vast and endless pundits that must have their own forum. But our “What’s New” page has always been our soapbox for our own blather; over the last decade we’ve pontificated on topics from packaging to prognosticating about the future. The blog format, however, allows us to do it easier, faster, more frequently, and on a more diverse range of topics - even beyond wine into subjects just as near and dear to our hearts such as music, technology, literature, etc. So hello Web 2.0 and the 21st century - another blog has joined the blogosphere.