Do you sometimes feel like you need to be a geek inside a NASA control room in order to follow what's going on with online advertising and marketing business? If you do, you're not alone, says OMMA Global New York opening keynoter Fred Wilson, the Union Square Ventures partner who just rattled off a dizzying array of radical digital marketing platforms that are shaking up the world as we know it. But fear not, says Wilson, "There's light at the end of the tunnel, because this is a good thing." The dizzying array of digital change is a …

Fred Wilson is big on native monetization systems. Picking up the theme that the banner is a bygone ad format, the Union Square Ventures founder points to the development of ad systems in recent years that have been tailored to the kind of Web service or content they're on. That means search ads on Google, "Likes" on Facebook and promoted tweets on Twitter. Because these formats are specifically built to fit with the functionality of their sites, they deliver higher performance than traditional display ads. And things are only going to get more fragmented and more challenging for marketers. …

Wake up, marketers! It’s the fourth quarter, which brings new opportunities to leverage Wikia’s rich and various communities (not to be confused with Wikipedia’s) for your benefit! So said Jimmy Wales -- Chairman Emeritus, Wikimedia Foundation and its ad-friendly arm Wikia -- to conclude his morning keynote at OMMA Global. We’re “pushing on the ability to target,” Wales said, continuing his quick elevator pitch. “We see the ways the community interacts.” If a marketer wants to reach the really super geeky, super influencers, for example, there’s one message for them, explains Wales. If you’re trying to reach Moms, there’s most …

That's the way OMMA Global New York opening keynoter Jimmy Wales stated the difference between what Wikipedia does and the rest of online publishing. "We're not commercial, really for the same reasons why libraries, national arts, and churches aren't," he said, suggesting that the goal with Wikipedia was to give every single person on the planet a free encyclopedia. In fact, he calls it, "a temple of the mind." And since we know that most minds cannot tolerate advertising agencies in their temples, Wales said that's why he spun off Wikia, to create the same kind of passionate, community-driven …

Wake up, marketers! It's the fourth quarter, which brings new opportunities to leverage Wikipedia's rich and various communities for your benfit! So said Jimmy Wales, Chairman Emeritus, Wikimedia Foundation and Wikia, to conclude his morning keynote at OMMA Global. We're, "pushing on ability to target," Wales said, continuing on with his quick elevator pitch. "We see the ways the community interacts." If a marketer wants to reach the really super geeky, super influencers, for example, there's one message for them, explains Wales. If you're trying to reach you Mom, there's obviously another message for that. "We trying to do more …

Wikipedia and Wikia founder Jimmy Wales knows something about the creation of user-generated content. Discussing his work as head of free Web hosting service Wikia, Wales emphasizes that giving users control to create authentic content is a key to having a successful online community. He differentiates Wikia from companies SEO-driven companies like Demand Media where people are just writing what they're told based on popular keywords instead of topics they're really passionate about. Wikia also encourages users to promote their content through other social media and generate critical feedback and brand conversations. Among the stats he rattled off, the …

That's what Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales noted during his opening keynote at OMMA Global in New York. Running through various Wikia user stats, Wales cut to their penetration of smart phone users. The stat under that banner, simply said, "yes." So Wales asked Wikia's stats team to explain that number. "'Yes' is not a stat," he said. "The answer is they all have smartphones. 100%." Wales also sought to differentiate Wikia from some other Web-based-media-come-latelys, especially Demand Media, which Wales said "pays people to write content, but they pay them very badly." As a result, Wales charged …

It’s the first day of OMMA Global –- the first half-hour, really -- and MC Matt Straz, CEO of Namely, is talking about the Web; his belief that it could actually be even more hyped than it already is; and his bold prediction that the Web’s next phase (for marketers in particular) will be all about blending the advertising and “content” experience. Forget about channels, says Straz. “What really matters now … is what you’re saying … and who you’re saying it to.” (Just call it "hyperconnectivity" -- this OMMA Global's theme.) What was once basically a red and white …

OMMA Global 2011 gets underway with Namely CEO Matt Straz taking up the conferences' "Hyperconnected" theme by discussing the blending of the right and left sides of the page—that is, advertising and content. The companies creating a more seamless combination of those traditioanally separate elements are the ones being rewarded, like Facebook and Twitter. "You need to create ontent so compelling creates hyperconnectivity, and breaks down barrier between left and right side of the page," said Straz. "What really matters now to people is what you're saying to who and who you're it saying to. The when and where …

Well this is just weird. Somehow I doubt that armed conflict will be replaced by catty Twitter tit-for-tats, but one can always hope. At the very least, the psychological/propaganda element of modern warfare is heading in an interesting direction. Back in WWII (and up through more recent wars) this kind of stuff used to happen over the broadcast airwaves: Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, Lord Haw Haw, etc.