My Profile - Kin Lane - Social Media Squad

The Social Media Squad was one of my "as I am going to bed thoughts". These are usually thoughts that enter in my head before I am going to bed and I lay there for hours unable to go to sleep.

After spending several hours digesting my daily fill of 200+ blogs I pulled the reports on tags I use and the patterns across what I notice out there in the blogosphere. I really came across some strong patterns in social media marketing that I wanted to explore further.

Something that really helps me pursue an idea is to breathe real life into the project so I take it seriously, and hopefully others will to. So with this in mind I set up 10 web sites and one parent site to encompass them all using the Original Web Solutions architecture. My goal is to help flush out the current state of the social networking market to:

• Establish requirements for better designed and positioned social network platforms.
• Create programs and environments to encourage “pro-users” and developers to creates tools, add-ons, widgets, etc.
• Influence and direct media and industry leader perspectives
• Understand, influence and direct usage of social networking platforms by individuals, businesses and government
  

I am establishing this by building a database to house, develop and evolve research on:

• Social Networking Platforms – Overview, usage, ranking, features, API definition and more.
• Social Networking Tools – Browser add-ons, toolbars, widgets, and mobile interfaces.
• Social Networking Press & Discussions – Blogs, News, Whitepapers and Discussion
• Social Network Case Studies – Personal, Hobbyist, Small Business, Enterprise, Non Profit, and Government / Municipal
• Industry / Sector Reports
  

There are several Social Networking areas I am conducting this research on:

• Wikis
• Social Networking Sites
• Blogs
• Social Bookmarking
• Forums
• Image & Photo Sharing
• Videos Development, Sharing & V-Logging
• Audio & Podcasting
• RSS & XML Syndication
• Widget and Gadgets
• Browser Toolbars & Add-Ons
• QA Sites
• APIs
• Virtual Environments
• Product and Service Reviews
• Product and Service Networks
  

My primary goal is to get past the hype and produce a clear snapshot of the industry and produce case studies and reports across all areas and business sectors for use in social networking application development and really establish what the next steps in social networking are and possibly influence where the industry is going.

Stay tuned for more as I find more time for my research and get other parties involved.

My Profile - Kin Lane - Google Apps

I really feel Google has the best grasp of the Internet and where it is going of all the big Internet companies. They are definitely in danger of falling into the same rut that Microsoft is in currently, however with the right approach I think they can avoid it.

I have recently made the switch to use Google Online Apps for most of my daily operations, this is after 10+ years of dedicated Microsoft Office and other Microsoft tools.

They just work for me! What can I say.

The core applications that I depend on daily are:

• Gmail
• Google Notebook
• Google Reader
• Google Home Page
• Google Calendar
• Google News
• Google Docs
  

Other applications I use but not on a daily basis:

• Adsense
• Analytics
• Googlebase
• Blogger
• Bookmarks
• Orkut
• Picasa
• Web History
  
• Google Maps
• Google Blog Search
• Youtube
  

A couple of core services I am workinPublish Postg into the core architecture of my daily work are:

• GData
• OpenSocial
• Google Code
• Android
  

These are three areas that I think are very "disruptive" and huge potential in what I offer to my clients as well as for how the Internet operates in general. I haveyet to realize the full potential of these areas as well as the rest of the world.

More to come!

Original Web Solutions - Components

These are 53 of our components that Original Web Solutions offers on its custom architecture. We have spun some off for clients to create some pretty custom solutions. However these are the ones we work with the most and provide to our basic customers.

I will work to flush out a page detailing each component and what they offer.

Ad Network Affiliates Attractions Blog Campaigns Case Study Classified Ads Components Contacts Coupon Customers Daily Specials Directory Directory Local Donations Email List Events Exhibits

Fan Club FAQ Gallery Glossary Image Gallery Jobs Meetings Menu MP3 Manager My Account News Newsletter Orders Payments Portfolio Press Room Product Googlebase Products

Properties Reviews Services Site Manager Sites Slideshows Solutions Songs Specials Staff Surveys Testimonials Tests Traffic Analytics Video Clip Web Applications

Original Web Solutions - Solutions

After running Original Web Solutions for a few years we had built many applications for different clients. We started seeing a pattern and looking to stick with our basic mantra of offering simple web site solutions to small businesses and non profit organizations at a low price, we came up with these 14 "Web Solutions".

Not all of them full got productized for public consumption, and would be what I consider a very "last generation" web site offering. However their core concepts and design are still very practical for the small business.

• Artist Web Solution - Our simple web site solution meant for artists.
• Attorney Web Solution - Our simple attorney web site solution for lawyers and attorney offices.
• Dentist Web Solution - Our simple dentist office web site solution.
• E-Commerce Web Solution - Our custom e-commerce (product, shopping cart, order management) solution meant for small businesses.
• Event Web Solution - Our event web solution which we have the application, but never quite got the public site to sell it off the ground.
• Financial Web Solution - Our financial web solutions which is suffering the same fate as the event web solution and hasn't gotten the public site off the ground.
• Insurance Web Solution
• Medical Web Solution - Our medical office web site solution.
• Non Profit Web Solution - Our web site solution for non profit organizations.
• Northwest Music Box - Our music / band web site solution.
• Property Management Web Solution - Our property management web site solution.
• Restaurant Web Solution - Our restaurant web site solution.
• Retail Web Solution - Our retail store web site solution.
• Service Web Solution - Our service business web site solution.

Original Web Solutions - History

Original Web Solutions (OWS) was started by Ishbel (more commonly known as Ishi) and Kin Lane, a husband wife team located in beautiful Eugene, Oregon. They both worked for a non-profit web development organization prior to setting off o­n their own with Original Web Solutions in early 2000.

"We gained so much valuable experience and insight into the needs of "the little guy" from that".

What really inspired them to start OWS, was seeing the needs of many small, but important organizations around Oregon being overlooked due to the lack of funding and knew that they could provide an affordable web design service to both businesses and organizations.

Kin has had an interest in computer programming since childhood and started gaining real world job experience in high school when he was hired to work on the Cobol database used by 50% of the school districts in Oregon. Ishbel received a B.S. in Environmental Studieskin and Economics from the University of Oregon with hopes of doing something in Rural Economic Development.....but ended up falling into web design "and I love it!".

"I feel like the Internet is a tool that small businesses in rural areas can use to achieve a higher rate of success, by reaching beyond their local economies."

With Kin's in depth knowledge of programming and Ishi's management and design skills, OWS developed a way to provide small organizations and businesses with high tech web sites for a fraction of the cost. Original Web Solutions is now selling these management solutions and complimenting services to small businesses and non profits locally in Eugene, Oregon and throughout the United States.

With a deep understanding and experience in the programming, an often neglected side of web design, Original Web Solutions often partners with other design oriented firms to provide fully functional web sites with high end graphic design.

My Profile - Resume for Kin Lane

Kin Lane

POB 50411 Eugene, OR 97405
Email: kinlane@gmail.com
Website: www.kinlane.com
Phone: 541.913.2328

Career Objectives

I have been developing databases and web applications for the last 18 years, I am looking to take that experience in design, development, platform development, marketing, search engine optimization and communication and gain traction in the Web 2.0 space.

Though I have been doing more development historically, for the last 2-3 years I have been focusing more on management, marketing & communications, design and overall project management.

My current career objective is to continue polishing my skills as a Web 2.0 / Enterprise 2.0 / Social Media Consultant and help translate everything 2.0 to average individuals, business owners, nonprofit organizations, and schools.

Technologies Applied

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM)
User Interface Design / Documentation / Modeling
.Net / PHP / Ruby / Cold Fusion / Flex
HTML – XHTML – DHTML – Cold Fusion - JavaScript / AJAX
CSS – Photoshop - Macromedia Fireworks
Visual Studio 6.0 / 2003 – Macromedia Dreamweaver – Macromedia Fireworks / Flash
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 / 2005 / MySQL / PostgreSQL
API Development - XML - JSON - REST - SOAP
Active Server Directory Language – Internet Information Server (IIS) – Exchange 2000
Windows 2000 / Windows 2003 Server Platform

Work Experience (Last Five Years)

Palo Alto Software (www.paloalto.com ) – Eugene, OR 97401 9/20/2005 – Present
Original Web Solutions (www.originalwebsolutions.com ) - Eugene, OR 97405 - 1/1/2000 - Present
Gravitate Design Studios (www.gravitatedesign.com ) Vancouver, WA - 7/23/2004 – 7/1/2006
IDX (www.idxmanager.com / www.idxbroker.com ) - Eugene, OR 97401 - 6/1/2004 - 11/01/2004
Vihn.net (www.vihn.net ) - Eugene, OR 97408 8/20/2003 - 6/01/2004

Work Experience (Previous Career)

Tactical Marketing Ventures – Westminster, CO - 09/01/2002 – 12/20/2002
NetCorps (www.netcorps.org ) - Eugene, OR 97401 3/1/1999 - 12/31/2001
Pic Hitz Entertainment (www.pichitz.com) - Medford, OR / San Francisco, CA 2/15/1994 - 06/20/1998
Mt Rose Software - Cave Junction, OR 3/10/1989 - 9/20/1993

Education

You will find a formal education does not exist on my resume. Due to the nature of the job I had while still in high school, I felt I had what I needed to launch my career without continuing on to college. While I hold no degree, I am educated, skilled and experienced in a number of programming languages and have lead several development teams over my 18 year career.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain

References

Chad Barczak
Previous Manager @ Vihn.net
Current Owner @ IDX Broker
chad@idxbroker.com
http://www.idxbroker.com
541-510-6564

Byron Knapp
Hosting Provider Since 2000
541.953.1886
bhrk@kargo.net

Delray Davis
Current Programmer
541.729.9101
delray@paloalto.com

Andrew Levine
Yellow Emperor
Original Web Solutions Client for 6 years
(541) 485-6664
andy@yellowemperor.com

Top Blogs I Enjoy Daily

Techcrunch - http://www.techcrunch.com/
Read / Write Web - http://www.readwriteweb.com/
Ajaxian - http://ajaxian.com/
Mashable - http://mashable.com/

Personal Interests

Snowboarding, Travelling, Swimming, Hiking, Documenting Local Attractions

My Profile - Kin Lane - References

Here are a few people I have worked with, friends and clients that can tell you a little about me.

Chad Barczak
Previous Manager @ Vihn.net
Current Owner @ IDX Manager / Broker
chad@idxbroker.com
http://www.idxbroker.com
541-510-6564

Andrew Levine
Yellow Emperor
Original Web Solutions Client for 6 years
(541) 485-6664
andy@yellowemperor.com

Byron Knapp
Hosting Provider Since 2000
541.953.1886
bhrk@kargo.net

Delray Davis
Current Programmer
541.729.9101
delray@paloalto.com

Jeff Kast
President & co-founder IDX, Inc.
jeff@idxbroker.com
541-343-3912

Jon Pugh
Former Programmer and Friend
jon@originalwebsolutions.com
626-348-1187

My Profile - Kin Lane - Education

You will find a formal education does not exist on my resume. Due to the nature of the job I had while still in high school, I felt I had what I needed to launch my career without continuing on to college.

I graduated from Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction, Oregon in 1990. I continued working at Mt Rose Software for a few years until the business was dissolved by the owners for reasons out of my control.

I take pride in my ability to learn whatever is needed to tackle the project I am working on. I spend many hours each week reading programming language and technical manuals to achieve the level of education I feel I need to keep up with the current technologies. I have invested a great deal in my library of reference books so that I have all the information I need right at my fingertips.

In the business world, a great deal of emphasis is put on formal education. While I understand this position, I feel the knowledge I have acquired through experience is far more valuable than a degree.

While I hold no degree, I am educated, skilled and experienced in a number of programming languages. I bring a number of traditional and unique skills to each project I am involved with.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain

My Profile - Kin Lane - Google Reader OPML File

A huge part of my working day involves gathering information through Google Reader. I currently subscribe to 243 RSS feeds from blogs and other sources.

I read blogs in many different categories from Tech to Real Estate. You can view the OPML File for my Google RSS ReaPublish Postder here.

My Profile - Kin Lane - Eugene, Oregon

I grew up in Oregon so I have spent a lot of time here. After working a job for a while in Oregon I decided I wanted more, and I moved to San Francisco trying to escape the rural aspects of Oregon.

I have lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Michigan and New York for a short while. After all my travels I ended up back in Oregon, I couldn't have chosen a better town than Eugene.

Eugene isn't a bustling tech center of the world, though it is the home to the University of Oregon.

Living in Eugene is in my mind the perfect balance of work and living. There are bike trails everywhere, world-class skiing and snowboarding within a few hours, and the beautiful Oregon coast within an hours drive.

I choose to live here because I can walk or ride the bus to work with ease, my children can get an excellent education in very small, well-run schools, and just for the overall quality of life.

Sometimes I miss the hustle and bustle of the Silicon Valley or the Big City, however I remind myself that Seattle is a 5 hour drive and San Francisco is a 8 hour drive away.

If you haven't been to Eugene, you should come and visit and take in a concert, play or just drink coffee and enjoy the mellow people who live here.

My Profile - Kin Lane - Bio

I am a web programmer living in Eugene, Oregon with my wife and 2 children.

I began my career as a database application programmer way back in high school and have been at it ever since. For the last 10 years I have been building database driven web-application on primarily the Microsoft platform.

The last few years I have been working to get off the Microsoft Platform and doing work trying to build inroads using Rich Internet Applications and playing with Ruby, PHP, Flex 2.0 and other 3rd party applications that achieve similar goals.

I currently own a web application development company called Original Web Solutions with my wife Ishbel Lane. She pretty much runs the entire company and I stay behind the scenes running the "geeky" stuff.

I also work currently with Palo Alto Software the makers of a desktop business planning software called Business Plan Pro. I am the lead web developer there managing the system that run on the public web sites and internal administration systems.

I am a self-made technology entrepreneur with no formal college education or degree. Everything I have learned I have learned on my own steam and have been either owning my own business and a consultant for most of my adult life.

You will find more detail about me here at my web site http://www.kinlane.com.