When I started openBC I just wanted the website to be free of advertising because I don’t like online ads. The longer we thought about it the clearer it has become that online ads do not fit with our business. In addition to ruining the flavour of the site alliances with advertising partners are problematic because of the advertisers demands for data so rather than have to balance privacy and advertising revenue we have decided to enshrine no advertising as a core principle of the site. This fits well with our new vision to be your passport to the right people at the right time.

I am also concerned that there should be standards of conduct for social software providers as there is so much data that would be advertisers might I know that the subscription services Google has have caused them some trouble regarding user privacy concerns especially with the message scanning features if Gmail. I ask myself often when I see ads on a social software sites: Is it only me who is seeing the ad or is the advertiser seeing me?

I believe that we need to set industry standards regarding privacy and of course openBC will continue to collect only money from services and under German law all user data is totally secure.

openBC's second university will be held this year in September on Mallorca with the main aim of bringing many of openBC's very important people together. This is a fabulous opportunity to spend some time with each other discussing the previous year and what the future will hold. It is also a weekend full of enjoyable activities filled with scrumptious mallorcan specialities.
We are all looking forward to spending a weekend together discussing a shared vision, openBC. Especially when the summer is coming to an end in many countries but will still be sizzling on the Balearic Islands!
Photos will be made available on the openBC flickr account - watch this space for post-event photos and stories!

Using Chinese haggling tactics, Wang Yong, brought down the price for a PSP for me from 2200 Yuan to 1750 Yuan. It involved lots of walking around, coming back, 2nd, 3rd and 4th time negotiating lots and in the end I got the latest high tech gadget: PSP Value Pack. After a few minutes I figured out how to setup the Wireless Network (you need firmware 2.0 to use the web browser) and now I can use openBC mobile on my PSP at 31,000 feet.

Thomas Powers, CEO of Ecademy recently visited us in Hamburg. We had excellent talks about the social software industry. He mentioned URL-Trends showing about 660.000 Links to openBC, 220.000 links to Ecademy and just a bit more for LinkedIN 237,000. This tally’s well wityh what we hear from many users about the activity level of openBC which they tell us is much higher than on other social software sites. So even though our 650.000+ users are less numerous than the 3,2 Million folks on LinkedIN it looks like we have more going on on the platform so thanks to all our users for deciding with you mice and making openBC the dynamic community it is. I think in the end you the user will decide which company’s will have sustainable business models.

Together with Dr. Songs and his company I-Zhung we invited business people from both our member bases to the first ever official openBC Event in Beijing. It was a tremendous success: with over 200 attendees and we heard many great success stories from people using openBC in China.

It’s my second trip to this emerging mega market and it is absolutely amazing to see skyscrapers being built 24/7 while legitimate shop fronts display the latest Prada, Dior, Hermes and Burberry fashions right in Wang Fu Jin the heart of Beijing. The raw entrepreneurial power creating this permeates the city.

The opportunities here are truly awesome and we will commit ourselves to this market and Chinese business professionals by building up our presence here. This trip we spent time with  great people, like Derek Ling, founder of Tianji.com and Dr. Xinyu Song from I-Zhung, who so impressed us that we have appointed him our country manager for China. - Dr. Song successfully built Roland Berger’s (the European McKinsey) operations in China and has created a fantastic publishing and training business that serves thousands of business people across the nation.

The openBC Oktoberfest is keeping everybody busy these days.  Preparations for the biggest openBC Event of all times are running at full speed. The expected 1200 openBC members have to be supplied with their wrist band (which will function as entrance ticket) and their vouchers.
This means: 3600 vouchers to sort, 1200 letters to fold, 1200 adresses to check, 1200 stamps to lick. 
For a single person it would take days to do that - but fortunately the whole team, from customer support to management, is helping.

We just hope that everything will work out, that everyone will find the Hippodrom alright and that no one will forget his ticket or vouchers. I'm sure the openBC Oktoberfest will be one kind of a party - only 4 weeks to go!

I have to say a big thank you to Holger Ritter of Boeing, who set up our corporate account for the broadband in the sky access by Boeing now offered on more and more flights from Lufthansa, SAS and others. I am writing this blog at 36,000 feet while travelling at 650 miles and hour. I am amazed at the speed of the link and Bill and I have been able to stay in contact with our peers, check our email and we made several skypeout calls (The audio quality with a head set was flawless).  It’s great piece of technology and worth the 29,95 EURO Flat fee for the whole flight. (I know this sounds like an add for them and its because I am so impressed!)

Sometimes I am not up with the latest trend: Last week I spent enough time on flickr to really understand it and all I can say is, great technology, great business concept no wonder Yahoo bought it. So we have created a company profile on Flickr and will continuously upload pictures about openBC (tag openBC). And don't forget to check out the photo page here on the openBLOG !

Please use flickr and tag your pictures!

Yesterday Franz Müntefering, a well-known German politician (chairman of the parliamentary group of Germany's Social Democratic Party) held a speech right in front of our office.

Half an hour before he entered the stage, they started playing rock music (which we couldn't help but listen to) and the last song, the song that accompanied Franz Müntefering on stage, was: "You can leave your hat on" by Joe Cocker.

Everyone in the office thought the same: Is he going to strip now? What a funny song to introduce a politician!

Business as usual on an ordinary crazy Thursday. Between making user happy and struggeling with the preparations of our big event in October (more than 1.200 members will celebrate the Oktoberfest in Munic - what a powerful networking event!) a nice inquiry from a journalist dropped into my email account on openBC.

Let´s see...he´s writing a story about brands and companies that earned the honor to be titled as "cult"...Levis, Jägermeister, AfriCola...well, sounds good to me(!)...and he wants us as an example of cult too. Even better!

All I am asking you - and of course myself - now: is openBC already cult? Did we already opened a door to the Hall of Fame? ;-)

Just coming back from a wonderful vacation in Spain with great weather, a phantastic time with my family and friends and marvelous food.

What is the special insight after such a holiday?

The day before vacation is the most productive day of the year. You get all priorities right, you get everything important done, you do first things first and you feel being overwhelmingly efficient. The question is, why cannot every normal working day be like that? Everybody would get more done in half the working time. Think about it!

The first openBC member’s event is rapidly approaching to be held at the world’s biggest beer festival where over 5 million litres of beer are drunk over 3 weeks.

openBC has reserved the top area of the Hippodrom tent where an excellent mixture of Bavarian tradition and international flair creates the perfect atmosphere for a networking party. And for those who are interested, the Hippodrom also has the highest "flirt factor" among the Oktoberfest tents!

We will be organising openBC polo-shirts for us all to wear, but do not worry we know you want to wear the traditional dress so after 18.30 we will let you change into your Tracht and Lederhosen!

If you have any feedback or helpful hints for those new to the Oktoberfest please feel free to tell all!

And remember, in the words of Benjamin Franklin "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

All I can say is let the networking commence and the beer flow!