The Oracle Mix Blog

Earlier last week, we passed the 45,000 user mark on Mix. This time around, it only took ten days to add another 1,000 members -- not bad!

A major milestone will be for Mix to reach 100,000 users. At the current growth rate, it might take another year to get there. On the other hand, we saw a huge spike in registrations last year leading up to and during OpenWorld '08 and hope to experience similar growth this year (we're also planning to do a lot more outreach and member communications now that more of the basic functionality is in place).

So, instead of our small team trying to make some lucky guesses we thought it'd be interesting to do a little experiment in crowd wisdom and hear from Mix members when they think the big 100K will happen.

Just log into Mix and leave a comment with your best guess here: When will Oracle Mix reach 100,000 registered members?

Note this is just for fun for now. If there's enough participation maybe we can make it a contest with some goodies for the winners.

Back in January, we asked: Groups on Mix: What's missing? We reached out to 85 of our group owners, listened to your comments and came up with this summary: Feedback from our group owners

A number of these feature requests have been delivered since then (e.g. content embedding) or are still being worked on (e.g. improved search, ability to notify all group members).

Now we want to get back to hearing what you have on your collective wish list as we head towards Oracle OpenWorld 2009 and beyond.

Do you manage a group on Oracle Mix? If so, please join our newly formed group: Oracle Mix group owners

We will discuss new feature ideas and share successful examples of how Mix is being used for events, campaigns or in other contexts.

As group admins, you are often much closer to what our members experience on Mix than we are. So we'd like to make sure that you have all the tools and know-how available to build and support striving communities.

We're also thinking about doing a weekly chat. Details can be discussed on Mix.

A while ago, we added the "hot groups" tab. Based on our secret algorithm, we show you which groups are up and coming on Mix at any given time.

Here are the five groups of the week:

• Oracle SOA Suite -- All about SOA Suite: BPEL, ESB, Mediator, Rules, EDN, CEP, WSM, Adapters, ...(826 members)
• ORACLE PARTNERNETWORK (OPN) -- The Oracle PartnerNetwork Group is dedicated to the interests of the OPN Community. The objective of this group is to provide OPN members with a forum where they can connect with other OPN members and share information and experiences; to provide an interactive communications channel with... (266 members)
• E-Business Suite -- Group dedicated to discussing issues, sharing ideas and communicating about the Oracle E-Business Suite (1618 members)
• SUN / Oracle Public Sector (8 members)
• Oracle Certification -- This group is for all holding Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), Oracle Certified Expert (OCE), Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), and Oracle Certified Master (OCM) credentials, as well as those pursuing their certification. A forum to share exam preparation tips, study materials, practice... (465 members)

View the complete list here: Oracle Mix hot groups

As is fitting for a title like this, we're making "group of the week" a once-weekly recurring feature on this blog. Each Wednesday, we'll take the five hottest group. To keep things a little more fluid, if a group was listed the week prior it will have to make room for the next runner-up.

• APAC Demantra Partners -- This is a forum where anyone across Asia Pacific who is associated the Demantra applications ecosystem can freely communicate, share ideas and experiences, and ask for additional information from Oracle about Demantra - the product, Oracle’s Go-to-Market strategies, or any associated area’s. (57 members)
• DBA -- Oracle Database Administration. For all Oracle DBA's, experienced or not, gigabyte or petabyte ;-) It's an open group, you don't need to be invited to join. (1,579 members)
• Application Integration Architecture (AIA) -- If you have the passion for solving business process integration challenges and are interested in being a part of the exciting world that is AIA, join this group to learn, interact and experience AIA! This is a great place for ... - understanding AIA architecture, infrastructure, methodology... (509 members)
• Oracle Development Tools User Group -- ODTUG is an independent, not-for-profit global organization providing education, support, advocacy, and networking opportunities for all developers, using a variety of technologies, that work on Oracle Databases. Our annual conference, ODTUG Kaleidoscope, is considered the premier conference for... (237 members)
• Oracle Technology Network (OTN) -- For members and admirers of Oracle Technology Network community. (1,021 members)

View the complete list here: Oracle Mix hot groups

Check out these five fine groups that made our list this week:

• PT 8.50 Beta -- This group is exclusively for the 8.50 customer beta program participants to share ideas, trouble shoot issues and post information that may be helpful to other customers. (17 members)
• DBA -- Oracle Database Administration. For all Oracle DBA's, experienced or not, gigabyte or petabyte ;-) It's an open group, you don't need to be invited to join. (1609 members)
• ORACLE PARTNERNETWORK (OPN) -- The Oracle PartnerNetwork Group is dedicated to the interests of the OPN Community. The objective of this group is to provide OPN members with a forum where they can connect with other OPN members and share information and experiences; to provide an interactive communications channel with... (278 members)
• Quick DBA tips -- Here is to share handy tips/note for DBAs (286 members)
• PeopleTools -- PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools. Covering the PeopleSoft technology stack, developer tools, PeopleCode, BI tools and integration technology. A group for developers and infrastructure analysts. (278 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

Once again, our five groups of the week. Enjoy!

• Social CRM Applications -- Community for Social CRM applications (163 members)
• Oracle Development Tools User Group -- ODTUG is an independent, not-for-profit global organization providing education, support, advocacy, and networking opportunities for all developers, using a variety of technologies, that work on Oracle Databases. Our annual conference, ODTUG Kaleidoscope, is considered the premier conference for... (248 members)
• E-Business Suite -- Group dedicated to discussing issues, sharing ideas and communicating about the Oracle E-Business Suite (1652 members)
• Real Application Clusters (RAC) -- Here is to share handy tips/note for DBAs (235 members)
• Oracle Application Express (APEX) -- For all things regards Oracle Application Express (APEX). (485 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

It's been a while, but here once again are the groups of the week:

• Apple Users -- Just a place for Oracle Mix users who update their mix-profile on a mac... (41 members)
• BIWA - Business Intelligence, Warehousing, and Analytics -- This group supports discussion of ideas related to Oracle Business Intelligence, Warehousing, and Analytics (BIWA), associated with the IOUG BIWA SIG (www.oraclebiwa.org). (102 members)
• Beehive -- People working with or interested in Oracle's new Beehive Collaboration solution. (1652 members)
• Bloggers -- A group for people who maintain, or contribute to, blogs with material relevant to things Oracle. (180 members)
• Content Management -- A group to discuss Oracle Content Management (257 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

Our groups of the week below.

We have members from all across the world, so we're excited to see non-English groups popping up. Also, if you're headed to Oracle OpenWorld next week, make sure to check out that group as well.

• ORACLE PARTNERNETWORK (OPN) -- The Oracle PartnerNetwork Group is dedicated to the interests of the OPN Community. The objective of this group is to provide OPN members with a forum where they can connect with other OPN members and share information and experiences; to provide an interactive communications channel with... (305 members)
• Comunidad de Assistants: Tutorías -- Aquí Nacha explica..... (16 members)
• PeopleTools Strategy -- This area will be used as a discussion and idea/suggestion gathering area, with the goal to consolidate similar enhancement suggestions, with a weighting based on polls. These enhancements will be discussed in a session during OpenWorld, but the group will continue. Remember to add "Tags" to... (35 members)
• Oracle OpenWorld -- Open forum to discuss Oracle OpenWorld with other attendees, partners, Oracle employees and event staff. (861 members)
• PeopleSoft -- Everything about PeopleSoft related Tools, PSadmin etc. (473 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

We're trying to get a better idea of how people are using Slideshare to share their Oracle-related work (presentations and other documents).

About:

SlideShare is a business media site for sharing presentations, documents and pdfs. SlideShare features a vibrant professional community that regularly comments, favorites and downloads content. Content also spreads virally through blogs and social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter. Individuals & organizations upload documents to SlideShare to share ideas, connect with others, and generate leads for their businesses. Anyone can view presentations & documents on topics that interest them. The site is growing rapidly with over 17 million monthly visitors.

Are you on Slideshare? Do you know of any good examples of people or organizations in and around Oracle using the site? Or do you have any favorite groups or people we should follow?

There are currently only a handful of groups related to Oracle on Slideshare and most of them only have a few members. Would you find an official Oracle group to be useful?

Let us know in the comments, thanks!

And once again, here are our groups of the week for this final week before Oracle OpenWorld 2009.

• Apple Users -- Just a place for Oracle Mix users who update their mix-profile on a mac... (44 members)
• BIWA - Business Intelligence, Warehousing, and Analytics -- This group supports discussion of ideas related to Oracle Business Intelligence, Warehousing, and Analytics (BIWA), associated with the IOUG BIWA SIG (www.oraclebiwa.org). (105 members)
• Beehive -- People working with or interested in Oracle's new Beehive Collaboration solution. (103 members)
• Bloggers -- A group for people who maintain, or contribute to, blogs with material relevant to things Oracle. (182 members)
• Content Management -- A group to discuss Oracle Content Management (258 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

This year at Oracle OpenWorld 2009, we'll offer live video streaming for the first time. You'll be able to watch a good chunk of live programming from Oracle OpenWorld, including major keynotes, Q&A with OTN Heavy Hitters, special editions of TechCast, technical keynotes and sessions and much more.

You can find the full schedule here: OpenWorld Live

Monday through Wednesday from 12 noon to 12.30pm, we'll be doing a 30-minute live show from the OTN lounge. Our goal is to get you impressions from the ground and give you unfiltered insights from the people who know: bloggers, analysts, Oracle ACEs etc.

We've set up a wiki page where you can help us create the programming:

• Let us know what you'd like to see (people, topics, formats, swag etc.), and we'll try to make it happen.
• Create your own video programming on Youtube and we'll include it in our stream.

Of course, you can also give feedback in the comments below or ping us via Twitter at @oraclemix.

And finally, here's where you can watch OpenWorld Live:

• OpenWorld home page on Oracle.com
• Facebook
• Livestream

Thanks, hope you can join us!

As you all know, we launched an alpha version of the social schedule builder for Oracle Openworld 2009 a couple of days before the event kicked off.

The basic premise was the idea that we could add value by combining the publicly available schedule information with the social graph on Oracle Mix. By allowing Mix members to share which of the many hundreds of sessions they find interesting or plan to attend they might help their friends and colleagues make better scheduling decisions (and hence have a better experience at OpenWorld).

Due to the challenges we encountered during the integration with Oracle Mix and the time it took to push this live, not all of the cool features we had available (e.g. mobile interface and others) were activated, and some of our Mix members had trouble accessing the application at all.

We've already talked to some of you who got a chance to try out this new feature in person but wanted to take the opportunity to ask all of our alpha testers to leave a comment here on our blog to tell us what you thought.

• How did it work?
• Did you find it useful?
• Would you like to see something like this next year?
• What other ideas to you have that could improve the scheduling experience?

Thanks to everyone who spent the time giving this feature a shot despite the fact we were only to release it last minute. We appreciate your effort very much and would like to reward you with an even better release at one of our upoming events (e.g. OpenWorld 2010).

I'm noticing the usual suspects are showing up too often on this list. Maybe we need to calibrate our algorithm a bit...

• Enterprise Manager Desktop Widgets -- "Widgets" are downloadable Rich Internet Applications that exposes EM Grid Control functionality on the desktop. This group is for you to provide feedback and vote on a series of widgets that we are building or should build. (18 members)
• E-Business Suite -- Group dedicated to discussing issues, sharing ideas and communicating about the Oracle E-Business Suite (1,717 members)
• PeopleTools -- PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools. Covering the PeopleSoft technology stack, developer tools, PeopleCode, BI tools and integration technology. A group for developers and infrastructure analysts. (392 members)
• PeopleSoft -- Everything about PeopleSoft related Tools, PSadmin etc. (488 members)
• DBA -- Oracle Database Administration. For all Oracle DBA's, experienced or not, gigabyte or petabyte ;-) It's an open group, you don't need to be invited to join. (1,678 members)

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

As I'm sure you know by now, we're back from Oracle OpenWorld 2009 and are now focusing our attention on Mix yet once again.

Over the coming 100 days, we'd like to give Mix a major push. This includes (but probably won't be limited to) the following:

• Rolling out several ready-to-go features which we didn't get a chance to deploy in time for OpenWorld
• Implementing a few important infrastructure changes (we'll talk about those in more detail later)
• Cleaning up our backlog of bugfixes and minor improvements
• Revamping our feedback management process
• Updating the Mix roadmap as we head into 2010 (and get started on implementing the first few iterations)

Especially with regard to this last piece, we'd like ask for your help. Following our efforts earlier this year to solicit input from our key group admins, we want you to tell us where you want us to take Mix in the next year.

When Mix launched in 2007, it didn't come fully baked. It was a prototype of something potentially much bigger, but the feature set we've managed to implement since then is still lacking behind what most people expect from a social network today (Facebook, LinkedIn and Xing being prominent sites Mix is commonly being compared to).

So with that, why don't you tell us where you want Mix to be headed? What's your biggest gripe? Where do you see the most promising usecases? We'll figure out a way to capture and organize this feedback in a more structure way, but for now please go ahead an leave us a comment here. If you've already made a feature request or posted an idea for improvement on Mix, please make sure you link to it so people can follow up.

Thank you, and enjoy your weekend!

It's Wednesday, time to check out these trending groups on Mix:

• R12COE -- Center of Expertise for Oracle Consulting (57 members)
• External OCSCOE -- Center of Expertise for Oracle Consulting : This group is customer facing and is used for interacting with customers (51 members)
• Development Tools -- Are you a developer, or user of development tools such as PL/SQL, ApplicationExpress (ApEx), java or other languages and tools (even third-party, like PHP, Perl, ColdFusion, Ruby, Rails, TOAD, ER/Studio, ERwin, MySQL, etc)? If so, this is your place to hang out. Join other developers to exchange... (1,241 members)
• Google Wave Users -- This group aims to connect users of Google Wave (http://wave.google.com). The idea is to help each other get invites, share resources and discuss any interesting use cases you discover. (9 members)
• Enterprise Manager -- This is a group for Oracle Enterprise Manager product series. Grid Control (EMGC), Plug-ins and extensibility, Database Control, Application Server Control, etc. (245 members)

Want to see your group on this weekly list? Just invite a few more people and get people talking. Our algorithm will pick up your activity and move you up on the hot list.

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups

Maybe you've heard about it. There's a new thing from Google called Google Wave.

According to Wikipedia:

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. It is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It has a strong collaborative and real-time focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, robust spelling/grammar checking, automated translation between 40 languages, and numerous other extensions.voiiterytr Initially released only to developers, a "preview release" of Google Wave was extended to nearly 1 million users beginning September 30, 2009, with the initial 100,000 users each allowed to invite up to twenty additional users.

Since we're always up for trying out new things, we've joined this wave created by the AppsLab. If you're lucky and already have your Wave account, feel free to join us as we try to figure out how this new tool fits in with everything else.

We've also started a new group of Google Wave Users which you're invited to join as well (at 9 members since we launched it few days ago, it already made it on today's hot groups list).

This morning we found that Twitter had enabled their new list feature for the @oraclemix account.

Thinking of the obvious, I quickly created the "Oracle" list of currently 23 official Oracle Twitter accounts (btw, that's quite a jump from where we were three months ago).

From A to O, here they are:

• @AgilePLM
• @magazineoracle
• @oracle
• @Oracle_EM
• @OracleArgentina
• @OracleBlogs
• @oraclecert
• @oraclecrm
• @oracledatabase
• @OracleEvents
• @OracleFS
• @oraclehcm
• @OracleHealthSci
• @oracleidm
• @oraclemiddle
• @oraclemix
• @oracleopenworld
• @oraclepartners
• @oracleprofit
• @OracleRetail
• @oracletechnet
• @oracleutilities
• @oraclewebcenter

Here's the list. Let us know what other useful things you could see us doing with lists. Thanks!

Our weekly metrics update below. We've added the number of times the @oraclemix account has been added to various Twitter lists.

Registered Mix users (weekly growth)

52,550 (+0.6%)

Active users (percent of total)

Last 30 days: 5,096 (9.7%)
Last 60 days: 8,714 (16.6%)
Last 90 days: 11,864 (22.6%)

Traffic (30-day)

Visits: 11,602
Page views: 58,891

Twitter

Followers: 2,580
List mentions: 41

User-generated content (30-day)

New ideas: 17
New questions: 34
New comments: 175

Groups

There are currently 1,293 Mix groups (requires login).

Every Wednesday, we take a look at the five "hottest groups" on Mix. Here they are:

• DBA -- Oracle Database Administration. For all Oracle DBA's, experienced or not, gigabyte or petabyte ;-) It's an open group, you don't need to be invited to join. (1714 members)
• Oracle Certification -- This group is for all holding Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), Oracle Certified Expert (OCE), Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), and Oracle Certified Master (OCM) credentials, as well as those pursuing their certification. A forum to share exam preparation tips, study materials, practice... (549 members)
• E-Business Suite -- Group dedicated to discussing issues, sharing ideas and communicating about the Oracle E-Business Suite (1,739 members)
• PeopleTools -- PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools. Covering the PeopleSoft technology stack, developer tools, PeopleCode, BI tools and integration technology. A group for developers and infrastructure analysts. (410 members)
• PeopleSoft -- Everything about PeopleSoft related Tools, PSadmin etc. (502 members)

Our algorithm looks at growth rate and group activity. Just get those two going for the positive and your group will show up here in no time.

To view the complete list, go here: Oracle Mix hot groups