Outsourcing Expertise: eBay and Google Expert Networks Coming Down the Pipeline

Image from TechCruch

We spend a lot of time talking about ways we can best manage our time. And when there’s a lot on our plates, the dream is just to get someone to take care of business for us. Fortunately, we looked at ways to do just that: there are a lot of small-scale outsourcing options available, connecting people that have surplus time with people that have a deficit.

This has always been one of the promises of the web: connecting people that wouldn’t otherwise be connected. And while the time crunch issue has been addressed, some major players have identified an opportunity to make a different kind of valuable link: connecting experts with those that need expertise. Both Google and eBay are rolling out services that promise to link up people that know something with people that want to know something.

These services share something in common with Elance, which we talked about before, but each aims to carve out a specific, special niche when it comes to connecting specialists with those who need their help.

eBay opened the salvo with SecretGuru. Currently in beta and available only in the UK, SecretGuru is an attempt to bring a curatorial eye to selling expertise. Unlike Elance, which allows almost anyone to ply their services, SecretGuru is highly selective about which experts it offers. It wants to create “memorable experiences,” from specialized cooking classes to learning to make shoes to personal style advice.
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Our Mobile And Social Media Future: Talking To The Experts

What A Backstreet Boy, A Tech Journalist, A Social Media CEO, and A Facebook Employee Say About The Future Of Mobile And Social Media

From left to right: Me, Backstreet Boy AJ McLean, Mashable’s Andrea Smith, Duracell Powermat CEO Ron Rabinowitz, and Facebook’s Kevin Knight

I recently had the chance to chair a phenomenal panel in New York City where I was able to talk with a wide variety of entrepreneurs, business professionals, and social media experts about where we are today with mobile and social media and what’s coming in the future. While this event wasn’t televised, I was able to get some great quotes and invaluable content from the panelists to share with you today.

How a Backstreet Boy uses social media to connect with his fans

The most interesting panelist had to be Backstreet Boy AJ McLean, who has a major social presence on Twitter, Socialcam and Instagram. Using social media, AJ has created Internet memes like #booomb videos on Socialcam, and has cultivated a huge online audience almost 20 years after the band he was originally known for rose to fame.

While the Backstreet Boys are still recording and selling millions of albums, AJ has created a strong brand for himself as Mr. Skulleeroz (pronounced “Skull-e-rose”) on social media channels. What’s his secret? According to AJ:

Someone like myself who’s in the music industry, we’re not always that accessible to our fans and to the media except when we do [things like] a press event. [With social media you] get a direct contact and get an immediate response. That’s something that I’ve never seen before… It just brings my fans, my personal fans and the Backstreet Boys fans, closer to us as people. Bringing them into our homes, our everyday life. Not just backstage or onstage, but like ‘come take a ride with me down the street to the 7-11.

You don’t have to be a Backstreet Boy to see the value in what AJ is saying. No matter what your business or brand, social media and video allow you to connect with people when you can’t be there in person. If you can get even a few hundred views on an online video, the time you take to make it is immediately more valuable than trying to meet with those same hundred people in person. If you can get a few thousand views, you’re suddenly an online content producer capable of monetizing your content because your online audience is now suddenly as valuable as your real-world audience.

Read the rest of this post on AT&T Networking Exchange to hear some great quotes from the CEO of Socialcam, a journalist from Mashable, and a Facebook employee!