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• Mammals may not get to cool climates in time

  Holy Kaw!

  16 May 2012 | 12:09 pm

  Nine percent of the Western Hemisphere’s mammals—and up to 40 percent in some regions—may not be able to outpace climate change. “I think it’s important to point out that in the past when climates have changed—between glacial and interglacial periods when species ranges contracted and expanded—the landscape wasn’t covered with agricultural fields, four-lane highways and parking lots, so species could move much more freely across the landscape,” says Joshua Lawler, associate professor of environmental and forest sciences at University of…

• The Facebook IPO Timeline

  Mashable!

  Stephanie Buck

  16 May 2012 | 12:32 pm

  If the Facebook IPO were a real person, we certainly wouldn’t blame it for posting braggy status updates. This infographic, created by our friends at mbaonline.com, imagines the road leading up to the decade’s most-anticipated initial public offering, as if it were documented on its own Facebook Timeline. As a Facebook user, give yourself a pat on the back for helping the company make it this far. You are one of 900 million, and you spend an average of 20 minutes per day surfing the network. That means Facebook’s usership logs 16,000 years of combined time on the platform…

• Startup Swingers: Swapping Founders to Generate Fresh Ideas

  ReadWriteWeb

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Remember "swinging"? Two people in a committed relationship go to a party with a bunch of other people in committed relationships. They all separate, find new partners for the evening and get jiggy. It may sound lurid and gross, but it’s the cool new thing for startup founders. Swapping Ideas, Not Spouses First, let’s be clear. We’re not talking about sex. We’re talking about Founder Swap, a June 1 event in New York where teams from six different startups will get together, trade partners for a day and go home with an injection of fresh ideas. The tagline? “Like Wife Swap but for…

• Beyond the IPO: Ten Implications of a Public Facebook

  Charlene Li

  Charlene Li

  8 May 2012 | 8:05 am

  By Susan Etlinger, Charlene Li and Rebecca Lieb The run-up to Facebook’s IPO reminds me a bit of a wedding: everyone’s attention is on the big day (expected to be Friday May 18), without much regard for the weeks, months and years afterward. Charlene Li, Rebecca Lieb, and I sat down to discuss some of the implications of a newly public Facebook: on shareholders, business and Facebook itself. — SE  (Cross-posted from altimetergroup.com.) Whether or not Facebook’s IPO ends up being one of the world’s largest (this Washington Post article places it 6th, between…

• Study: More Brits contact brands via social media

  SmartBrief on Social Media

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  Up to 18 million Web users in the U.K.  -More- 

• 

  Holy Kaw!

• Mammals may not get to cool climates in time

  16 May 2012 | 12:09 pm

  Nine percent of the Western Hemisphere’s mammals—and up to 40 percent in some regions—may not be able to outpace climate change. “I think it’s important to point out that in the past when climates have changed—between glacial and interglacial periods when species ranges contracted and expanded—the landscape wasn’t covered with agricultural fields, four-lane highways and parking lots, so species could move much more freely across the landscape,” says Joshua Lawler, associate professor of environmental and forest sciences at University of…

• Time of year matters for vitamin D risk

  16 May 2012 | 12:08 pm

  When considering a patient’s blood vitamin D levels, it may be best to consider a lower threshold for concern, as well as the time of year. "In evaluating health risk," the University of Washington researchers conclude, "season-specific targets for Vitamin D blood concentration may be more appropriate than a static target when evaluating patients health risk." Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• The (not so correct) anatomy of sea life

  16 May 2012 | 11:52 am

  Marine biology, scharine schiology. Pleated Jeans skips scientific facts for its series of sea life diagrams. Via Pleated Jeans. (H/T @laughingsquid) Laughing is good for you. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• The mechanics of eclipses [infographic]

  16 May 2012 | 9:11 am

  When the moon passes in front of sun, as viewed from Earth, the eclipse that occurs is visible from a narrow path on Earth that corresponds to the location of the moon's shadow. During a total solar eclipse, this path is known as the path of totality. WARNING: Never look directly at the sun during an eclipse with a telescope or your unaided eye. Severe eye damage can result and scientists use special filters to safely view the sun. Via Space. The view from space. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Clean air improves heart health, Olympics show

  16 May 2012 | 8:39 am

  Using the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a lab, researchers found evidence that even short-term reduction in air pollution exposure improves a person’s cardiovascular health. “Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and the Chinese government had proposed to reduce pollution levels to be comparable to other Olympic host cities,” says USC Professor Junfeng (Jim) Zhang. “We wanted to take advantage of such a huge intervention and look at what happens to people biologically.” Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Permalink |…

• 

  Mashable!

• The Facebook IPO Timeline

  Stephanie Buck

  16 May 2012 | 12:32 pm

  If the Facebook IPO were a real person, we certainly wouldn’t blame it for posting braggy status updates. This infographic, created by our friends at mbaonline.com, imagines the road leading up to the decade’s most-anticipated initial public offering, as if it were documented on its own Facebook Timeline. As a Facebook user, give yourself a pat on the back for helping the company make it this far. You are one of 900 million, and you spend an average of 20 minutes per day surfing the network. That means Facebook’s usership logs 16,000 years of combined time on the platform…

• Facebook Fans Get to Pick Bonus Levels in ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD’

  Chelsea Stark

  16 May 2012 | 12:06 pm

  Activision is polling fans via Facebook on which levels will be included as additional downloadable content on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is a rebuilt version of the classic games. It features seven levels from the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, released in 1999, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, which came out in 2000. Players will be able to skate all over classic levels such as “Warehouse” and “Mall” that have been rebuilt using the old maps. Starting Wednesday afternoon, fans will be asked to pick which of their favorite Tony…

• Facebook IPO Gets a Boost: 84 Million More Shares For Sale

  Joann Pan

  16 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  Just days away from launch, Facebook is continuing to make last-minute changes in its IPO plans. On Wednesday, Facebook announced that an extra 84 million shares will be added to its stock pool for sale. The extra shares will come entirely from insiders and early investors, according to the Associated Press. Facebook and its current stockholders will offer more than 421 million shares in the IPO. The company has raised the price range of its stocks to $34 to $38, up from $28 to $35. If the shares trade on the higher end, Facebook could raise $16 billion when it goes public. Some of the early…

• 18 Mashable Family Photos

  Jeremy Cabalona

  16 May 2012 | 10:47 am

  What does a family portrait look like when it represents a community of millions of people? For our photo challenge this week, Mashable readers sent us their photos, helping us to create a family portrait of our community. This past Sunday was Mother’s Day in the U.S. Sons and daughters found time to pick up the phone and call their moms, and many families enjoyed the day together. In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked you to show us a photo that represents family to you. At Mashable, we loved seeing your photos of family outings, newborn family members and canine best friends.

• Behind the Launch: A Promising, Yet Controversial Job Candidate

  Lauren Drell

  16 May 2012 | 10:31 am

  Discuss the show on Twitter: #BehindTheLaunch In Mashable‘s new video series, Behind the Launch, we’re taking cameras behind the scenes at Vungle, an in-app video advertising startup. Last week, we met the the founders and saw them bring on Colin Behr to head up business development. This week, they courted big-name startup investors, such as 500 Startups‘ Dave McClure, DFJ Esprit‘s Krishna Visvanathan and AOL Ventures‘ Adam Smith. But Vungle needs to focus more on the core — developing the product instead of fleshing out press releases and a website…

• 

  ReadWriteWeb

• Startup Swingers: Swapping Founders to Generate Fresh Ideas

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Remember "swinging"? Two people in a committed relationship go to a party with a bunch of other people in committed relationships. They all separate, find new partners for the evening and get jiggy. It may sound lurid and gross, but it’s the cool new thing for startup founders. Swapping Ideas, Not Spouses First, let’s be clear. We’re not talking about sex. We’re talking about Founder Swap, a June 1 event in New York where teams from six different startups will get together, trade partners for a day and go home with an injection of fresh ideas. The tagline? “Like Wife Swap but for…

• Google Goes Back to What It Does Well: Finding Things

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  Surprise! Google has completely transformed the way search works again. But this time, it's a kind of search that would have made the old Google proud. Today, starting with U.S., English-language users, Google unveils the Knowledge Graph. Search now looks at the words of your query and identifies the things in it. You're not just searching the Web anymore. You're searching the world. From Words to Things Most of Google users' queries are ambiguous. In the old Google, when you searched for "kings," Google didn't know whether you meant actual monarchs, the hockey team,…

• Read/Write Daily: Bionic Eyes That Can See Clearly

  16 May 2012 | 9:45 am

  Today's theme is improving on life. Nature did a pretty good job of engineering some hardy life forms. But now we're able to tinker with life ourselves. We're further along than you might think. Researchers have lifted the lid on turtle evolution, a perfect demonstration that technology is natural. But now we have our own genetic ideas. We're able to triple the physical endurance of mice in the lab. This paper shows that high-resolution prosthetic human eyes are possible! Here are slightly and greatly more accessible articles about these bionic eyes. We've also developed low-cost artificial…

• Why the iPad Works for Writing

  16 May 2012 | 8:02 am

  When the first iPad launched in 2010, critics were quick to lampoon the device for being geared too heavily toward content consumption. The criticisms weren't entirely without merit, especially considering that the first-generation iPad didn't even have a camera, and external media slots are still nowhere to be found.  Over time, the iPad has evolved into something that's much more creation-friendly. It still doesn't compare to a desktop or laptop computer for many things, but it's great for quite a few others. Writing is one of them.  I happen to write things for a living, but the…

• The Truth About Why Yahoo's CEO Got Fired

  16 May 2012 | 7:02 am

  What's the takeaway from Yahoo's recent CEO fiasco? Don't lie on your corporate bio, for one, and make sure no one else has lied on your behalf. But the real lesson has nothing to do with falsified credentials. Sure, the world will remember Scott Thompson as the Yahoo CEO who got fired over a fake computer science degree, but the context is crucial: A battle with Yahoo shareholder Dan Loeb for control of the company. If not for Loeb, we may never have found out about Thompson's juiced resume, and he might still be CEO. The real lesson is: Beware the activist investor. Four months…

• 

  Charlene Li

• Beyond the IPO: Ten Implications of a Public Facebook

  Charlene Li

  8 May 2012 | 8:05 am

  By Susan Etlinger, Charlene Li and Rebecca Lieb The run-up to Facebook’s IPO reminds me a bit of a wedding: everyone’s attention is on the big day (expected to be Friday May 18), without much regard for the weeks, months and years afterward. Charlene Li, Rebecca Lieb, and I sat down to discuss some of the implications of a newly public Facebook: on shareholders, business and Facebook itself. — SE  (Cross-posted from altimetergroup.com.) Whether or not Facebook’s IPO ends up being one of the world’s largest (this Washington Post article places it 6th, between…

• Webinar: A Foundation For Mobile Business

  Charlene Li

  20 Mar 2012 | 10:46 am

  Now for a word on mobile in the enterprise. Altimeter’s mobile analyst, Chris Silva, is working on a report that explores how managers on the business-side – not the IT – side of the organization are increasingly leading the charge to bring mobility to their workforce. A key challenge is how to build the control and security foundation for a mobile business strategy. Chris and I will be hosting an open, no-cost webinar on Wed March 28th at 10am PT/1pm ET that will discuss the key elements of the mobile control layer, its importance, and how both the technologies and leadership…

• Report: Making The Business Case For Enterprise Social Networks

  Charlene Li

  22 Feb 2012 | 1:58 am

  In 2011, the US hit a milestone — more than half of all adults visit social networking sites at least once a month. But when it comes to using social-networking technologies inside organizations, many business leaders are at a loss to understand what value can be created from Facebook-like status updates within the enterprise. Some organizations have deployed social-networking features with an initial enthusiastic reception, only to see these early efforts wither to just a few stalwart participants. The problem: Most companies approach enterprise social networks as a technology deployment…

• New Report: “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers”

  Charlene Li

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:16 am

  When it comes to shopping, I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone. Some apps are actually helpful, letting me explore products or buy something immediate. But the vast majority of the retailer apps litter my screens, sitting unused after an initial, disappointing whirl. My frustration is reflected in the findings of my colleague Chris Silva‘s new report, entitled “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers“. Of particular value is that Chris pivots the report around two major strategies retails can use when it comes to mobile: Enrich: These strategies are…

• Jerry Yang’s departure signals a New Day for Yahoo!, the passing of an era for Tech

  Charlene Li

  17 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm

  My first reaction to the news that Jerry Yang is leaving Yahoo! was that this was the passing of an era. I first met Jerry in 1994 when he was still a PhD student at Stanford, before he and David Filo left to run Yahoo! full time. Through bubbles and two economic downturns, Jerry has always been omnipresent in Silicon Valley. But all good things come to pass. With the arrival of Scott Thompson as the new CEO of Yahoo!, it makes sense that Scott be given a clean slate upon which to write the future of Yahoo!. This is very much the norm for incoming CEOs, where founders are asked to take a…

• 

  SmartBrief on Social Media

• Study: More Brits contact brands via social media

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  Up to 18 million Web users in the U.K.  -More- 

• Developer plans to build underwater hotel in Dubai

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  A hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will guarantee an ocean view to every guest -- because the hotel itself will built on -More- Bloomberg Government Marketing Analyst Bloomberg

• We still like Facebook, Ford exec says:

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  Facebook is a "growing and critical part" of Ford's marketing, says Matt VanDyke, the automaker's director of marketing commu -More- 7 Whiteboard Sessions for every social strategist. Learn how to implement & scale a social program across your enterprise company with this 36-page framework by Spredfast by delivering good customer experience, adopting social media company-wide, gaining insight into your social customer, & showing an ROI on social. Download 7 Whiteboard Sessions.

• Does your company archive its social media activities?

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

   -More- 

• Analysis: Google+ needs to leverage search to catch Facebook

  16 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  If Google can harness an "integrated socially enhanced search engine," it has a shot of activating all those inorganically gr -More- 

• 

  TechCrunch

• Viacom Gives Up Fight Against Time Warner Cable, Adds Channels to TWC iPad App

  Ryan Lawler

  16 May 2012 | 12:35 pm

  Customers of Time Warner Cable have some reason to rejoice today, as the cable company has gotten the go-ahead to add channels like MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central to its live streaming iPad app. The addition comes after the channels’ owner Viacom has settled its differences and resolved litigation with Time Warner Cable. The legal fight erupted last year, after Time Warner Cable released its iPad app, which lets subscribers stream live shows to tablets inside their homes. While many networks grumbled about the app, Viacom was most vocal in rejecting the app, taking its distribution…

• How Many Daily Downloads Does It Take To Reach The Top Of The App Store?

  Frederic Lardinois

  16 May 2012 | 12:01 pm

  It’s hard to underestimate how important ranking in Apple’s top 25 in the iTunes store is for mobile app developers. After all, the top 25 is probably the single most important app discovery mechanism for most iOS users. But how many downloads does it take to rank in the top 25? Mobile app store analytics firm Distimo today published some interesting data that answers just this question. Turns out, in the U.S. store, the answer currently is about 38,400 daily downloads for free iPhone apps and 3,530 for paid iPhone apps. To rank in the top 25 per category, of course, takes…

• Third Pivot’s The Charm? Events Site Ravn Becomes Flash Sales Site Touch Of Modern

  Ingrid Lunden

  16 May 2012 | 11:34 am

  No one ever called a limit on the number pivots a company can do, right? So here’s the latest at a company we’ve been watching for a while now. RAVN, an event planning and sharing app that itself was the product of a pivot from the developers behind “experiences marketplace” Skyara, has sent a letter out to its users telling them that the app is getting shut down at the end of this month. In RAVN’s place, the founders are starting up yet another business — their third — also loosely based around events but with a decidedly more commercial bent: a…

• This Won’t End Well: Toyota Connects With Nintendo DS For In-Car Navigation Interface

  John Biggs

  16 May 2012 | 11:31 am

  For some inexplicable reason, Nintendo and Toyota have teamed up to turn the Nintendo DS into a navigational remote control, thereby allowing drivers (although I hope passengers do most of the fiddling) to set their routes using their game consoles. The service, called Kuruma de DS lets you see map and destination info as well as tour information as you drive through town. The service slightly gamifies the experience by adding a POI saving option. The compatible Toyota Smart Navi system costs about $3,000 while the game itself costs $92 – quite a bit of cash to simulate the map screens…

• Forrester: 32.1 Million U.S. Households Now Access Online Video On Their TVs

  Frederic Lardinois

  16 May 2012 | 11:04 am

  Almost 115 million households in the U.S. currently own at least one TV set and 36 million own four or more. That’s a huge market and as Apple, Google and Microsoft try to wrestle more of this business away from the traditional content and hardware players, the old-school cable and satellite providers now suddenly have to content with this new group of challengers that, until now, barely registered on their radars. According to Forrester analyst James McQuivey, it’s Microsoft that’s winning this platform war so far. Why? Microsoft, MCquivey argues, currently has a massive…

• 

  Logic+Emotion

• Social Business: Where It's Been & Where It's Going

  David Armano

  6 May 2012 | 11:56 am

  "Chasing the past, I stumbled into the future". - T A Sachs I've always been a firm believer that in order to look to the future, we must look back to and fully grasp the past (and the present). Having had several recent engaging conversations with smart people who I respect, I've picked up a hint of exhaustion around usage of the word "social". Could it be that some who saw the "change" coming years ago are weary of having carried that torch for so many years as we move into the heavy lifting? It's natural to want to move to the next thing—but I'm convinced that today we are largely still…

• Own The Data, Own The Future

  David Armano

  14 Apr 2012 | 9:15 am

  Now that some of the dust is settling around Facebook's massive acquisition of Instagram this past week, we can all take a step back and think about the bigger picture. Yes, Facebook understands the critical role mobile will play in how billions of people interact and communicate but they also understand that interactions, engagement, consumption or whatever you want to call it generates one thing. Data. Facebook wants it. Google wants it. And all businesses will want to understand it. There is huge, big business to be built around all kinds of data. Targeted marketing is the first salvo and…

• Thoughts on the Future of Social-Digital Agency Services

  David Armano

  7 Apr 2012 | 10:29 am

  *The above does not reflect actual or estimated market share Now is as good a time as any to be thinking about the future of digital (and social) as defined by those of us who provide services or even products around these. If you work for any agency or consultancy—this article is relevant for you. If you're on the "client side" consider it relevant as well as ultimately it is your business model and needs which dictate the market conditions that affect your partners, vendors and professional service providers. I'm writing this piece from the perspective of having worked at several digital…

• Thoughts On Altimeter's Digital Influence Report

  David Armano

  21 Mar 2012 | 10:13 am

  Altimeter's most recent report titled "The Rise of Digital Influence" revolves around the theory and practice of "digital influence". A trend that will not die despite the industry's counter movement against platforms such as Klout and the scores of imitators which have subsequently followed. (Full disclosure, I was interviewed in depth for the report). Altimeter rightfully begins the analysis of "digital influence" by calling out the distinction from how we view influence traditionally and offering a brief definition:"Traditional influence is defined as the act, power, or capacity of causing…

• Klout Targets Agencies Via "March Madness" Competition

  David Armano

  20 Mar 2012 | 8:33 am

  Klout has dialed up their marketing efforts, this time placing agency individuals in a March Madness bracket style competition they are calling "Agency Insanity".  Critics will scoff at it as another attempt to get individuals to pump up scores, but in actuality the effort is a straight forward marketing initiative aimed at raising awareness, generating buzz and getting Klout to show up in people's social streams. A while back, Klout's founder Joe Fernandez and I discussed something like this as part of a brand initiative and it's interesting to see it in action under a different context.

• 

  Collective Thoughts

• Master Bruce Wayne: Business’s Best Potential Superheroes

  Kristina

  2 May 2012 | 6:40 am

  Most readers associate the name “Bruce Wayne” with Batman, the masked vigilante who has fought crime in comic books, TV shows and movies for over 70 years. Another side of the character, one that does not get as much attention as his rope-swinging, villain-punching alter ego, is the effort he puts forth with his “Wayne Foundation”, the charitable trust he established with his family’s fortune. Several real-life billionaires, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and the late Steve Jobs, have also endeavored to give away much of their fortunes to charitable causes, setting the…

• Personal Privacy, Social Media and You

  Brian Wallace

  27 Apr 2012 | 6:58 am

  Today’s prevailing attitude about the free exchange information across multiple platforms and applications, known to many as Web 2.0 design, is causing users to take a hard look at what constitutes personal privacy. There are many pieces of information people use to conduct daily business on the Internet that shouldn’t be publicly shared, such as credit card information or Social Security numbers. Many are also concerned with the unintended consequences of content shared on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. As these concerns show no signs of disappearing, they have become a…

• My Dirty Valentine

  Kristina

  8 Feb 2012 | 10:50 am

  Valentine’s day can be awful for a respectable single – bring on the mushy lovers and the despair of the singleton articles, let’s get it over with. This is why I particularly love Keeping It Kleen’s new infographic – it is hilarious, disgusting, and someone finally thought outside of the box on this one. If you are single, it will make you happy that you don’t have a boyfriend who doesn’t brush his teeth, or a girlfriend who wears the same underwear two days in a row. If you are attached, I suggest you invest in some powerful hand sanitizer. © 2012…

• History of the Businessmen [Infographic]

  Kristina

  30 Jan 2012 | 2:40 pm

  What do cavemen, William Shakespear, Christopher Columbus, and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They were all shrewd businessmen in their time. Whether they were carving sticks, promoting plays, or trying to get funding to sail the world – these men have set the stage for where business is today, and where it will go. Business MBA’s new infographic does a wonderful job of putting these great men and their skills in order, and giving us an idea of where Generation Y will take us next. From: Business MBA

• Where Did Google Make Their Money In 2011?

  Kristina

  23 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am

  The number is out there, Google made 37.9 billion dollars last year. About 96 percent of this came from advertising. WordStream’s impressive new infographic explores which keywords were the most popular and whose ads made the search engine so much money. © WordStream, a Google AdWords partner company.

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  The Social Customer Manifesto

• Turning fans into advocates

  Christopher Carfi

  9 May 2012 | 1:41 pm

  There are some great conversations happening over at the Advanced Social Media Strategies for PR, Marketing and Corporate Communications event at Cisco today. In particular, wanted to give a shout out to our CEO Sean O’Driscoll, who is presenting today on the topic of Turning Fans into Advocates. Check out Sean’s deck, embedded below. Turn fans into advocates through influencer engagement View more presentations from Ant’s Eye View

• It’s no game…

  Christopher Carfi

  19 Apr 2012 | 11:43 am

    This one should be a lot of fun. Sean O’Driscoll will be presenting with the folks over at Badgeville on the topic of engagement and gameification in a webinar on April 25th at 10:30 PT. (Register here.) The quick agenda: How to use the Journey to the Engaged Enterprise as a benchmark for your external and internal social engagement plans Critical milestones at each stage of the Journey, and common obstacles that can prevent you from reaching them Why the principles of Badgeville’s Behavior Platform are critical to driving the kind of successful, sustainable customer and…

• The Social Engagement Journey event, April 23

  Christopher Carfi

  19 Apr 2012 | 10:29 am

    REGISTER NOW Sean O’Driscoll, our fearless leader at Ant’s Eye View, is keynoting an event next Monday here in the Bay Area. Here’s the description: “Becoming a fully engaged enterprise in today’s social world isn’t about creating a “social media strategy.” It is a journey defined by stages of operational maturity, milestones, and ultimately, a destination. The successful journey requires practitioner experience, pragmatism – and perseverance. But the payoff is immense. The fully engaged enterprise discovers on this journey that customers again trust…

• The Hunger Peeps

  Christopher Carfi

  8 Apr 2012 | 7:30 pm

    Katniss Everpeep volunteers as tribute.   Katniss Everpeep startles the judges.   Katniss Everpeep cuts down a Tracker Jacker nest.   Katniss Everpeep destroys the supply pile.   Katniss Everpeep avenges Rue.   Katniss Everpeep buries Rue in flowers.   Katniss Everpeep and Peepa are crowned victorious.  

• No, you can’t control your own data, says the travel industry

  Christopher Carfi

  7 Apr 2012 | 10:16 am

    A big thanks to Jennifer Cobb for the link to this New York Times article entitled “Swatting Down Startups That Help Consumers.” The gist is that there are a raft of startups that act on the behalf of customers in interacting with big brands (These kinds of services can be thought of as “fourth party” services.) Some examples: Customer-benefitting booking engines for car rentals Airline milage program points aggregators (think Mint.com, but for points) Airline seat watchers that automatically rebook you to a better seat when one opens up A number of brands…

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  Techipedia | Tamar Weinberg

• The New Model: How Google+ “Gets” Content

  Guest Author

  15 May 2012 | 6:25 am

  This is a guest post by Joel Harrison. The way content is shared today changes online marketing, putting content to the forefront of what users, companies, brands and products are about. Google+ has just won the People’s Choice award for social media at The Webby Awards presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This may come as a surprise, since Google+ isn’t as popular as was first expected. It’s trying to reverse that situation though and bind everything together into a huge social network, always faithful to its mission ‘to organize the world’s…

• How to Build Better [Business] Habits

  Guest Author

  8 May 2012 | 6:47 am

  This is a guest post from Christopher Wallace. It’s 2 p.m. on a Wednesday and that fully loaded triple-decker sandwich from the nearby deli has you wondering how long you can get away with catching some z’s under your desk, or if that drawing-eyes-on-your-eyelids thing really works. Whether or not you plowed down a big meal or have the mid-week blues, those last few hours of the work day or week can be some of the most unproductive. So how do you pick yourself up and get back into the swing of things? The answer is in creating good habits. While taking a swig of an energy drink…

• How to Make Your Facebook Ads Convert

  Guest Author

  1 May 2012 | 6:45 am

  This is a guest post from Craig Robinson. Getting proper return on investment for Facebook advertising can be tricky. First, you need to create an ad that attracts clicks, which usually is the easy part, and then you need a decent percentage of the people clicking through to be potential customers. The last thing is a bit harder to control but has a huge impact on the end result. When the wrong people click, your conversion goes down and you have to pay Facebook for nothing. There are, however, a few tips you can follow that might increase your performance. If your Facebook-advertising…

• Web Lead Tracking Explained: How to Get High Quality Leads with the Internet

  Guest Author

  24 Apr 2012 | 6:39 am

  This is a guest post from Brad Shorr.  A lot of entrepreneurs and midsize firms say they “get a lot of web leads.” However, when asked if they know the source of the leads, they have only a vague idea – and sometimes, no idea at all. How can you tell where to direct your marketing efforts if you don’t know where your leads are coming from? You can’t. This post will talk about how to set up lead tracking on your site, take the guesswork out of your marketing, and help you get more, high quality leads. Phone Conversions A lot phone inquires are never even identified as web leads!

• How to Create a Video Marketing Strategy for Your Business

  Guest Author

  17 Apr 2012 | 6:41 am

  This is a guest post from Neil Davidson. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of video people watch on the Internet. Any forward thinking business will do well to take note and use video to their advantage. But where do you start? Surely, video marketing must be really expensive, time consuming, and technical? Actually, none of those concerns are necessarily worth the worry. The growth of affordable, digital technology means that anyone can make a video and put it online, instantly widening their audience base beyond anything we could have imagined 10 years ago.

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  chrisbrogan.com

• Create a Setting and Connect With Emotions

  ceb

  13 May 2012 | 10:26 pm

  I recently moved the delivery time of my beloved newsletter to be Sunday morning (well, that’s when it launches here, though my New Zealander and Australian friends all get it on Monday). In the process, I talked to people about sharing this information over breakfast, and with a “second cup of coffee” sometimes. I basically set a scene in the reader’s head that we were having a personal chat over breakfast. Ask yourself this: in trying to reach others for whatever your goal may be, is it facts or emotions that will win them over? Which do you think plays the bigger…

• Nobody Reads Agency Blogs- Or Why You Need Skin in the Game

  ceb

  7 May 2012 | 6:57 am

  Thanks to Jason Falls, I just read this post about how many marketing agencies are closing down their blogs and tweeting and Facebooking instead. “Nobody reads agency blogs, and there are so many out there it’s impossible for people to keep up anyway,” said Sam Weston, director of communications at digital agency Huge. Nobody Reads ANY Blogs- If They’re Boring I’ll tell you without even having to look why nobody reads a blog: because it’s boring. Because it’s poorly written. Because it’s utterly self-referential. Nobody has time to read junk. Why would you?

• Constraints

  ceb

  5 May 2012 | 9:43 am

  I was at a live performance the other night where Jacq sang and played with Girish, and I had a great conversation with Reggie, the drummer for the night. (I am SO sorry that I don’t know your last name, Reggie.) We talked about the fact that his typical drum kit for events is usually like 30 or so pieces, but that he decided to go minimal for the event. He had a kick drum, a snare, a tom, two cymbals, and a cowbell. What Reggie said was something like this, “I really enjoy this, because it means I really have to use what I have to get the expression I’m aiming for. I…

• Pattern Break

  ceb

  2 May 2012 | 9:17 pm

  When you wake up in the morning, you check your emails, probably from your phone. First thing. Yes? Why? There’s no good answer to why. Even brain surgeons can wait until they’ve done other things before checking in on the world outside of your immediate proximity. So why do you do it? Because it’s a habit, a pattern. Do you read the top tech and marketing blogs? Why? Why do you read this blog? Because you’re subscribed? Are you getting something from it? If no, then why are you still doing it? Twitter and Facebook are hugely pattern-driven. They thrive off the same…

• Where Should You Put Your Content?

  ceb

  30 Apr 2012 | 7:44 am

  I’ve been asked by subscribers of my personal newsletter how I decide what goes on my blog and what goes into my newsletter. I think the answer differs depending on your strategy, but I’m more than happy to tell you how I view it. I put information that sells on my blog, and information that nurtures in my newsletter. Information that Sells My job, because people seem confused these days as to what exactly it is I do or am selling, is to help mid-sized to larger companies build business (revenue and growth) by improving their use of the human digital channel (social media, email…

• 

  Social Media Explorer

• Introducing The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing

  Jason Falls

  16 May 2012 | 10:20 am

  If you joined DJ Waldow and me today for our 22-minute webinar on five secrets to email marketing, you learned that one of the secrets was that he and I have written a book. I’m proud to tell all of you that The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing is now available for pre-order on Amazon and will be in your local book stores late this summer. This is my second book (thanks to all of you who have supported No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing) but DJ’s first. And if you know both me and DJ, you know he’s truly the subject…

• Social Media Sucks for Businesses and Here’s Why

  Adam Helweh

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Let’s just get straight to the point… social media sucks. Plain and simple. For years it’s been “business as usual” and then suddenly everyone is bouncing around words like “social”, “engage”, “community” and all kinds of other blather. Some of the biggest companies in the world such as Ford, Starbucks, Dell, American Express and many others have fallen for the trap. I’m here to warn you before you do anything stupid. Social media sucks and here’s a few reasons why … Social media shifts the limelight from…

• Choosing and Weaving Social Within a Multichannel Marketing Program

  Jason Falls

  15 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Editor’s Note: Today’s post is of the guest variety and offered up by my friends Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston. Their new book, Marketing in the Round, is out and available. They are smart. It is good. Pay attention. The world of marketing in small and large businesses is a siloed one. Companies have ad campaigns, PR plans, social media strategies, and websites built independently and bolted together in a haphazard manner. It’s surprising how rarely these disciplines work together to achieve corporate objectives like establishing a second vertical for a product, or…

• The Irony Of Measuring Marketing Now

  Jason Falls

  14 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  I once provided counsel for a company that had little confidence in social media marketing. It begrudgingly decided it would hire a consultant, go through some strategic exercises and probably prove that social media was bullshit and it would be better off sticking with its traditional guns. The brand’s insistence with my work, as is with most clients I’ve dealt with, was that we measure everything as infinitely as possible. Skeptics are like that. They want to know how many clicks, how many re-tweets, how many milliseconds the time-on-site number increases each month, even if…

• How To Engage In Online Forums For Your Brand

  Jason Falls

  11 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Editor’s Note: In light of our recent affirmation that forums and message boards are a bountiful home for consumer interaction and engagement around brands and products, I thought it appropriate to invite some solid expertise here to help advise us on how to proceed in exploring online forums for marketing purposes. Today’s guest post is by the person I regard as the foremost expert on managing online forums in the U.S., if not the world, Patrick O’Keefe. I regularly find myself in the position of having to defend online forums, without actually wanting to be put into that…

• 

  Brian Solis

• The Fallacy of Information Overload

  Brian Solis

  15 May 2012 | 6:50 am

  Some of you know me through my work in studying how social media and disruptive technology impact business and culture. Others have worked with me in translating insights into action and change within the enterprise.  Every now and then, I share another side of myself that evokes the aspiring social scientist in me as I explore how all of this is affecting us as individuals and human beings. Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about whether or not the social media bubble will finally burst. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, this all has to be too much right? More…

• Music, Film, TV: How social media changed the entertainment experience

  Brian Solis

  10 May 2012 | 7:56 am

  Social media is more than a digital water cooler for TV and movies. The global conversation that takes place around events and the experiences people share based on what they watch teaches us about consumer preferences. More importantly, their activity influences behavior. Behavior counts for everything. Studying it is just the beginning of course. In order to understand and eventually steer behavior, we must translate activity into insights and in turn, translate insights into actionable strategies and programs. The Hollywood Reporter recently published an exclusive poll about social media…

• The future of TV is more than social, it’s a multi-screen experience that needs design

  Brian Solis

  7 May 2012 | 11:19 am

  The future of television is much more than social; much in the same way that the future of media is too, more than social. Social is a fabric; it connects the individual nodes that make up the human network. But, social however, is not a means to an end. And, as such, the same is true about the working theories driving Social TV. Understanding the role social plays in how viewers connect with programs and other people is essential to defining the future of television. Over the years, I’ve written much about my vision for the long overdue convergence of not only web and TV, but also how the…

• The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business

  Brian Solis

  2 May 2012 | 9:17 am

  I’ve been a long-time supporter of MediaTemple’s (MT)Residence program along with Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many others whom I respect. I wanted to share my “7 questions to answer to become a social business” with you here.. Social Media is pervasive and is becoming the new normal in corporate marketing. Brands who get this right are starting to build their own media networks rich with customer connections numbering in the millions. Right now, Coca-Cola has over 34 million fans on Facebook, but they’re hardly alone. Disney follows just behind with 29 million…

• Do Customers Really Matter to Your Business? Prove it.

  Brian Solis

  30 Apr 2012 | 8:21 am

  Frank Eliason and I have known each other for many years. We’ve shared the stage on many occasions, he’s made an appearance on Revolution, and most importantly, I’m proud to call him a personal friend. Frank has championed the adaption and transformation of customer service during his time at Comcast and at CITI. Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, he’s certainly bullish on where service needs to be as a function and a philosophy versus where it is today. In fact, he’s gone so far as to call out social media customer service as being a…

• 

  Bazaarvoice Blog

• 10 things you didn’t know about online consumers

  Ian Greenleigh

  15 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Note: This post originally ran on  iStrategy Blog , and is republished here with permission.  Online consumers love to share their opinions with each other on the things they buy. Savvy shoppers have always turned to this public feedback for guidance, but since more and more word of mouth data has been digitized, archived, and analyzed, companies are now able to rely on it for their own guidance. In the last year alone, our research has distilled tens of millions of consumer data points into a strikingly clear picture of today’s consumers. Here are ten of the most interesting things…

• Technology is child’s play (how toys, consumers, and marketers are connecting)

  Haylie Rudy

  9 May 2012 | 11:07 am

  The playroom we all live in I have a sister who is much younger than me.  I remember practicing my killer basketball skills on the courts in middle school when I received news that I needed to rush to the hospital to welcome baby Ellie into the world.   Ellie and I have been able to grow close over the years. I like to think I’m not the terrorizing, bossy older sister, but rather more like a caring aunt or even second, “cool” Mom. Ellie is now in middle school herself, obsessed with her iPhone and constantly documenting every moment of her life via Instagram.  Last weekend at a…

• Five ways to change your “relationship status” with influencers

  Ian Greenleigh

  3 May 2012 | 7:18 am

  The topic of influencers usually focuses on tools more than strategies. Klout, for instance, is not a strategy, it’s a tool that tends to dominate any discussion of influencer discovery and outreach. In this post, let’s talk about strategies that work. Relationships are at the heart of any effective influencer strategy. People like engaging with people they know and like. Relationships take time, effort and trust. And relationships of this kind can be just like other human relationships— active or passive, close or distant, substantive or superficial, straightforward or messy, fair or…

• How to get more out of the Facebook content boom

  Warren Colbert

  1 May 2012 | 7:20 am

  From search to social Close to 1/5th of total time spent online is spent on Facebook. This is a huge shift from the composition of web activity eight years ago when Facebook first began. Back then, it was a search-focused web. Most content creation and consumption happened on siloed web pages and search functioned as a bridge to this content. Google became synonymous with “search” and built an empire that dominated the web. Search is not dead Let me be clear, this is not a “search is dead” post. Search is far from dead, and phrases like that are overly simplistic at best. It’s not…

• The new window shopping: how to build brands by photo sharing

  Carrie Griffiths

  25 Apr 2012 | 7:56 am

  Before digital photography, I remember the excitement of getting my pictures developed the moment I returned home from a great trip or event. It was all about the anticipation, the hopes that I’d captured a specific moment, face, or place. Conversely, I also recall the instant gratification of my parents’ Polaroid: watching the photo coming out of the camera, waving it in the air to “dry,” and watching the magic of film appear right before my eyes. The romance of waiting for film to develop may have faded. But like Polaroids, today’s photo trends in digital, mobile, and social offer…

• 

  Web Strategy by Jeremiah

• Keynote: Three Future Trends of Social Business (Slides)

  jeremiah_owyang

  16 May 2012 | 8:33 am

  I’m presenting here at Webcom in Montreal, sharing the State and Future of Social BUsiness. In fact, I think the Cluetrain as we know it, while right for many years, needs modification to represent how the social web is changing. I took the first three theses of the mainfesto and translated it to represent how I see advertising integrating with social as well as optimization and Social Performance software. The three trends that I see impacting the social business space include (but are not limited to): Trend 1: Corporate Websites Reborn. I asset that corporate websites as we know them…

• Video: Scaling your Social Business

  jeremiah_owyang

  13 May 2012 | 6:34 pm

  A few days before the hectic 2012 SXSW storm (my analysis here), The Dachis Group hosted the Social Business Summit (catch one in your city) with some of the world’s top brands to discuss social business.   Kicking off the day, I shared Altimeter’s research on how advanced companies are scaling their programs –and avoiding programs that will slow them down.  A few key points we iterated: Being prepared in advanced with: the proper policies, teams, roles, and education programs. These are the foundation needed to build a Center of Excellence. Advanced corporations have…

• People on the Move in the Social Business Industry, May 11, 2012

  jeremiah_owyang

  11 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Both the submissions on this job announcement board, as well as available social media positions at corporations continue to pour in. In this continued digest of job changes, I like to salute those that continue to join the industry in roles focused on social media, see the archives, which I’ve been tracking since Q4, 2007. People on the Move in the Social Business Industry: Although I’m a few months behind this, first of all, congrats to Mia Dand (twitter, linkedin) is Director, Global Social Media at Symantec, focused on building and leading social media strategy for…

• A New Category Defined: Social Performance Software

  jeremiah_owyang

  4 May 2012 | 6:32 am

  A new software category has emerged to bring performance marketing to social channels. After interviewing over 10 software companies and 10 agencies, a new trend has emerged that will change the social business landscape. What is this trend? The marketing performance techniques to refine TV, Radio, SEO and other marketing mediums are now moving to the social space.   Read my definitive post on Mashable to learn how this impacts not only brands, but also Facebook and my long term predictions on how this will play out. Market Needs Companies are struggling to scale to keep up with all the…

• Podcast: Why The Term “Social Media Agency of Record” Will Dissolve

  jeremiah_owyang

  30 Apr 2012 | 7:08 pm

  I’m honored to be a guest on Mitch Joel‘s famed podcast, Six Pixels of Separation, to discuss my latest post that’s caught the Industry’s attention how Social Media Agencies are Turning to Ads. Mitch invited me on the podcast to discuss this further. One of the assertions I make is the term “Social Media Agency of Record” (aka SMaoR) will eventually go by the wayside, as those pure play agencies are starting to move into advertising (starting with social ads), digital, interactive, and more. My take? We’ll just have a broader focus as social becomes…

• 

   louisgray.com

• The "Archive" Button Can be Your In Box's Best Friend

  30 Apr 2012 | 2:39 pm

  You practically can't open your RSS reader or spend a day on a social network of your choice without running into complaints about email. Nobody likes it. Everybody says they have too much of it. People gloat over mass deletions of unread items, or sporting a full in box four or five figures deep. Some people take vacations from it or swear they'll pound through their to-read list in what could be an eventually futile journey toward the improbable in box zero. But for many of those people, it's likely the impenetrable in box is symptomatic of something else - the inability to make a decision…

• Private Companies, Stock Splits and Taxes

  14 Apr 2012 | 11:33 pm

  From 2001 to 2009, I worked at a private company in various roles, from marketing manager to director. Over my eight years there, I gained stock options from my hire date in January of 2001, to my last option grant in the fall of 2008. In addition, I purchased stock as an individual in 2005 and 2006. While we filed to go public in 2007, we eventually had to withdraw this plan, and the company never did see those options become public. Last fall, after I joined Google, the company was finally acquired, for cash. I was given some payout from my time there, and separate investing, but due to…

• Measuring Up at Life's Checkpoints

  8 Apr 2012 | 11:36 pm

  According to my blog history, I turned 30 years old five years ago. So that correspondingly means that today marked my hitting 35. When I got the somewhat congratulatory call from a high school best friend this morning, I asked what in the world could possibly be different at 35 than 34, aside from being qualified to run for president. He quickly said that when you hit 35, your back goes out... you become incontinent... so yeah, not great stuff.Any time life passes an arbitrary number, it becomes second nature to do a self-evaluation and compare where you are against life goals, or where…

• Writing for Social, Defending for Court

  30 Mar 2012 | 10:39 am

  Earlier this month, I had an interesting experience, being asked to participate in a deposition, taking questions from a legal team as part of an ongoing case. While I’ll skip the details out of deference for confidentiality, there were aspects of the morning that serve as a reminder for those of us who participate online that often, content we post is permanent, and it can be discovered and used for means far beyond those we originally intended.For those unfamiliar with the process of a deposition, it’s essentially when an individual is called as part of a fact-finding mission, to bring…

• Fitbit: Virtual Badges Influence Real Behavior

  9 Mar 2012 | 5:27 pm

  I am not going on a diet - and I have no interest in going to the gym, even if Google makes it incredibly easy to eat healthy on campus, and gym membership is free with equipment abundant. It's just not me. But despite this clear disinterest in my making any kind of physical life change, I have been wearing a Fitbit the last week, obsessively counting my steps, climbing the stairs and tracking how many miles I make on foot. I've even been wearing the lightweight tracker at night to see how long and how well I sleep - working to optimize that as well.So why would I resort to such silliness?

• 

  Metrica

• In social media we trust

  Catherine Cooke

  16 May 2012 | 7:56 am

  Recent findings have shown that public confidence in both paid-for and traditional media is declining, but our trust in social media is on the up. Why are consumers choosing to trust social media sites over traditional press, and what can be done by companies to use social media to increase trust in their brand? Why has trust in traditional owned and paid media declined? The uncovering of the phone-hacking scandal last year has been a key factor in the public’s decline in trust in traditional media. A YouGov survey at the time the story broke found that 58% of UK adults said that the…

• Humans are driving the social media machine

  Amy Samson

  15 May 2012 | 2:06 am

  The more I look at social media, the more I believe that it is a reflection, albeit a little distorted at times, of our own humanity. It shows what inspires and motivates as well as what outrages us – and as we use it more and more to express our emotions, we see the impacts of this expression in the real world. As I was reading through the April Gorkana Charity Barometer, it really hit me how much of this month’s social media coverage was driven by the outpouring of human emotion in response to events both big and small. The death of Claire Squires was a prime example of how a small…

• The PR and Social Media Cheat Sheet #036

  Adam Layton

  11 May 2012 | 3:44 am

  If you work in PR and are interested in the latest thinking on media monitoring, PR planning, media analysis and social media measurement, these are the must read stories from the last week. This week’s top PR and social media picks:  Firstly, RIP Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Darling of all twenty to thirtysomething, arrested development, media manboys. Like me. …and much in the same vein, Goldie Lookin Chain rapper Rhys Hutchings was voted in as Labour councillor in Newport. Can social media make journalism better? Top tweeters revealed their favourite follows to The Guardian.

• Automotive Brands Move Up a Gear in Creative Pinterest Engagement

  Anna Dorywalska

  10 May 2012 | 1:49 am

  Social media’s latest darling, Pinterest, has been generating increasing levels of buzz recently and chances are you have heard about this fast growing network already. Now that consumers are familiar with the concept, the marketing industry is asking: How can we use it (and make money from it)? There are people who think Pinterest hype is going to die down. There are also those who are excited about the possibilities the portal brings. I’m in the latter group.  Even if Pinterest is not for everyone (hey, Twitter is not for everyone either), it offers a wide range of opportunities to…

• Eco-Fashion to the fore in April’s Retail Barometer #GorkanaBarometer

  Paul Kennedy

  9 May 2012 | 5:05 am

  Eco-fashion was a key topic in the retail barometer this month with three High St giants doing their bit for charity in the community. TK Maxx launched ‘Give up clothes for good’ – a major clothes collection drive at their stores, as did M&S with their East London launch for ‘Schwopping’ and H&M with ‘Conscious Collection’. H&M’s CEO Karl Johan Persson was frequently quoted and the new range was well received on Twitter: “Sustainable fashion hits the high street. H&M goes green with their new #hmconscious collection. Love this…#summer“ and…

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  Mike's Lifestream

• The digital lives of American moms. Pinterest is their most frequented site.

  16 May 2012 | 2:07 am

  via simplyzesty.com

• Can Facebook Advertising Ever Beat Google?

  16 May 2012 | 2:02 am

  via mashable.com

• How to spot an Instagram junkie

  16 May 2012 | 1:52 am

  via dailyinfographic.com

• Facebook: Behind the IPO everyone is talking about

  16 May 2012 | 1:47 am

  via mbaonline.com

• The State of the Internet

  15 May 2012 | 7:51 am

  via onlineuniversities.com

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  FreshNetworks Blog

• The science of social media ROI

  Matt Rhodes

  15 May 2012 | 9:05 am

  TweetLast week I presented at a webinar as part of a series looking at the science of social, focusing on social media ROI and demystifying the confusion that surround it. The problem with social media ROI is that it is so easy to measure so many things that we become overwhelmed by measures. We think that everything is important and that everything is a measure of ROI. It isn’t. And it isn’t. Followers and Likes do not make ROI; moreover they stop us from thinking about the bigger business benefit of social. We need to measure different things for different reasons, not just…

• Twinteresting: why can’t we curate tweets?

  Hamid Sirhan

  15 May 2012 | 3:24 am

  Tweet It is no secret that Pinterest is a great way to share discoverable content. The “waterfall stream” format can really help rapid skimming of visual content. Take, for example, the ‘Pinterest for Facebook’,  Friendsheet, or Pinstagram, the Pinterest-style Instagram feed. People are finding ways to curate images from a variety of sources, but what about the ability to do this with items that are primarily textual, or links? Using favourites as a stopgap I use Twitter prolifically, but a lot of my usage focuses on finding new information – blog posts and news…

• Three simple ways B2B marketers can get value from LinkedIn

  Matt Rhodes

  10 May 2012 | 8:34 am

  TweetWhen thinking about social media and how to use it for your brand, our initial reaction is often to think about the channels we can use and the conversations we can have. But using social media does not necessarily mean having a channel or joining a conversation. There can often be as much value (and sometimes even more) from listening to what others are saying. For B2B brands LinkedIn is a great example of where social media can be used as much to listen and learn as to talk and engage. From ambassadors, to market information and even competitor research, here are three ways that…

• WalmartLabs – taking Big Data into retail

  Jon Stokes

  9 May 2012 | 8:16 am

  Tweet Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, acquired social media firm Kosmix just over a year ago, creating @WalmartLabs, with the intention to use this specialist R&D unit to define the future of commerce by merging social, mobile and retail. So far WalmartLabs has released two interesting developments using social: • ShopyCat – the gift recommendation engine This Facebook application uses your Facebook profile to suggest suitable products for you, based on the interests and hobbies of your friends. An interesting aspect of this approach is that the app will offer links…

• Facebook’s action links – new potential for branded apps

  John Shevlin

  3 May 2012 | 8:53 am

  TweetOn Wednesday Facebook launched action links: “a new way for people to interact with your timeline app directly from Facebook”. An action link is a customised link which sits alongside the classic “comment” and “like” options in open graph stories on the timeline, newsfeed and ticker. One of the examples of an action link, given by Facebook, is foursquare. When someone checks in, friends now have the option to “Save this Place” in addition to commenting and liking the story. Clicking “Save this Place” adds the location from Facebook, directly to your foursquare to-do…

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  Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning

• How to Hire Rock Stars

  Kevin Eikenberry

  16 May 2012 | 4:37 am

  I put this slide on the screen yesterday, while giving a talk on hiring strategies for Choice Hotels International Convention. . . If you want to hire rock stars, you can’t wait until you have an opening to start thinking about hiring.   Here’s an exercise to do today to help you implement this idea. [...]

• Leadership Lessons from Hamburger (Yes, Hamburger)

  Kevin Eikenberry

  14 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Perhaps this post will prove you can stretch a metaphor a long way (almost as far as a mother of six can stretch a pound of hamburger).  The reality is that I decided to see what I could come up with because this week is National Hamburger Week.  I spent some time thinking about hamburgers [...]

• Two Opportunities to Solve Your Biggest Leadership Challenges

  Kevin Eikenberry

  13 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  Are you a leader who . . . - Has challenges you aren’t quite sure how to solve? - Finds themselves frustrated with different aspects of your work? - Knows you can build your skills and make a bigger difference, but don’t know how? - Wants a promotion to a higher level of responsibility? - Has high expectations for yourself? [...]

• Why Leaders Should Celebrate Mothers Day

  Kevin Eikenberry

  13 May 2012 | 4:08 am

    It’s Mother’s Day in the United States – a day to set aside to thank, honor and remember our mothers.  As a leader, I hope you are doing those things for the mothers in your life, and after reading this post, I hope you do a little bit more. This post isn’t meant to [...]

• Linus, His Blanket, and Change

  Kevin Eikenberry

  11 May 2012 | 6:07 am

  In the last 10 days, I have spent time with three groups, totaling well over 500 people, talking about change – how to understand and lead it.  Change is an important topic for us today, as there is so much of it around us.  What I find in both my study, work, and through observation, is that we have [...]

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  Conversation Agent

• Most Marketers Still Not Making Data-Driven Decisions Surveys Find

  Valeria Maltoni

  16 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  How do large corporate marketers collect and use data? Are practices in marketing measurement and ROI changing? How about the integration of digital and traditional marketing? Has the excitement around big data brought about a shift in how marketers conduct their business? These are some of the topics for investigation in a recent study conducted by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association (NYAMA). The short answer: there is still a big gap between where organizations would like to be and where they actually are in…

• Answering Common Inquiries About Content

  Valeria Maltoni

  15 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  Three kinds of inquiries I receive regularly: write about us give us your content allow us to post Many of you find the contact form for consulting work. In that case, I'm happy to provide a quote and scope of work. If that's not what you're after, the quickest way to find out what is accepted for review and publication is by following the link to -- submit your question on the top menu. In all cases, the best outcomes come when the ask is appropriate. Note the term "pro" is part of the word. Making the ask Don't know how to ask? Here's how to write an email that stands out for your review.

• Why Experience is Key to Customer Loyalty

  Valeria Maltoni

  14 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  Whenever I travel, I'm reminded of the many amazing opportunities that come from being able to reach many parts of the world relatively easily. Let's face it, things can go wrong with the weather and with technology. It is how an airline -- or any company, for that matter -- handles customer fairness that will make a big difference to its bottom line. Will they have to discount fares more deeply so people will do business with them again next time? There is plenty of room left for improving customer experience in the travel industry -- airlines, hotels, car services, even airports, with a few…

• Business Lessons I Learned from my Mother

  Valeria Maltoni

  13 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  My mother was Miss Romagna. Her name is Anna Laura. I wanted to have her purple blue eyes and ready smile. She has the welcoming spirit of a woman always ahead of the times and comfortable in her own skin. In addition to being a mother of three (all girls), she has had multiple careers -- accounting, sales, public office, geriatric care, and beautician; some overlapping for years. Mother really gets communications -- the listening part especially -- the organization of work, along with the care of the individual.  Whether she negotiated credit rates or the recovery of the elderly, she made…

• Fair Pay, Participation Value, and The Intention Economy

  Valeria Maltoni

  12 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Do you know the pay scale for your industry? I'm not talking about the job wanted ads -- those may mislead you and take you down the generic path. You're not generic, you have specific skills, and you should be able to calculate market value. Just like with salary, where you don't have a cut and dry answer, interaction and involvement are not exactly the same thing. Community participation has highs and lows, and they may not follow the touted 1% route. How active are people online? Has it changed in the last couple of years? Marketers can optimize campaigns and programs only so far. Without…

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  theIdeaStudio (Customer Crossroads)

• This just in: [1] dealing with shopping bags; [2] world of apps and app data [3] upcoming webcast on mobile qualitative

  Susan Abbott

  25 Apr 2012 | 8:51 am

  [1] To bag or not to bag at checkout? In Toronto, where I live, the city has a bylaw that retailers must charge you 5 cents to give you a bag. But many retailers are using really cheap bags now, likely for environmental reasons. The result is you pay for a bag that is kind of horrible. Or can buy a re-usable bag for a buck or two. I was in a clothing chain called Laura yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised to be given a really nice re-usable bag for my 5 cent charge. Nice little loyalty initiative, and of course great free advertising. Positive experience. [2] World of apps and app data The…

• Which social network can get you business? LinkedIn is for B2B

  Susan Abbott

  17 Apr 2012 | 8:27 am

  I'm a big fan of the work of CB Whittemore (@CBWhittemore), who I have previously interviewed on this blog. When I was building my presentation "Hate Selling? Build Profile Instead", she kindly provided me with some compelling examples, and this wonderful quote: LinkedIn is for your professional network; Facebook is for your personal network; Twitter is where you find kindred spirits" Obviously, this is not the whole story, and she would be the first to tell you that Facebook can be a fantastic marketing resource for consumer-oriented businesses. Today, I'm talking B2B however, and just found…

• Instagram fan reaction to Facebook acquisition defines customer passion

  Susan Abbott

  11 Apr 2012 | 7:45 am

  I'd heard of Instagram, but wasn't a user. Listening to all the fan love in the last while following the Facebook purchase makes me wish I'd been there, though. The commentary makes interesting reading, and not just for what it says about Instagram, but also how Facebook has clearly becoming a big brother figure. Facebook becoming a walled garden David Meerman Scott on WebInkNow suggests that Facebook is following the long-discredited "walled garden" approach of the former AOL et al. It seems to me that the big social players – Google, Facebook, and Twitter – are building walled gardens…

• Reverse innovation: a story that's just getting started

  Susan Abbott

  27 Mar 2012 | 7:56 am

  We may finally solve our productivity issues by looking to emerging markets for ideas. [The government and any number of think tanks keep telling me I need to get my productivity up. Pretty much the pot calling the kettle black, but whatever, right?] I read a marvellous article about this recently, that describes a phenomenon called Reverse Innovation. Here's the definition: A reverse innovation is any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world. The innovators could be anywhere, it's where the customers are that is crucial to the distinction.  Author Chris Trimble, a professor…

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  custserv.gbwatch

• Customer Service is for Children, Too: Creating Customer Touchpoints Through Children

  Meikah

  24 Apr 2012 | 2:26 am

  One day my son went out with his classmates to Yellow Cab, a pizza parlor. They were in their pre-teens, aged 12. According to the story, they went in, seated themselves and waited for someone to get their orders. Nobody came. After some time, they waved their hands to get anyone’s attention. When finally a server came to them, one of them joked, “Ba’t di mo kami pinapansin, kuya?” (“What took you long to take our orders, big brother?”) To which the server quipped, “I was busy.” My son then intervened and said, “Sumbong kita sa manager…

• Customer Loyalty: What It Is and Why It Is Important [Infographic]

  Meikah

  16 Apr 2012 | 12:13 am

  A business would not exist without its customers. Therefore, keeping your customers satisfied is imperative to keeping them loyal. Today, businesses embrace an online presence, which allows customers to leave reviews and comments about them that are open to the public. For this reason, it is more important than ever to keep your customers satisfied. Customer service is an indicator of whether or not your customers will remain loyal. If you are able to satisfy your customers, they are likely to return and increase same-store sales. NBRI has created this infographic to explain what customer…

• The Test of Customer Service: The Holiday Customer Experience

  Meikah

  14 Dec 2011 | 11:14 pm

  Image Source Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams! So if you were to test an establishment’s customer service, this is the best time to do it. Is there grace under pressure? Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams! So if you were to test an establishment’s customer service, this is the best time to do it. Is there grace under pressure? I went to SM…

• B2C’s 7 Virtual Customer Service Tips

  Meikah

  27 Oct 2011 | 2:09 am

  As companies go online to expand business and reach customers, customer requirements, on other hand,  have become more demanding. There is now a competition between which company is timely at giving feedback to customers. Social media has made that possible. This is in fact good for customers. So, Business2Community, an independent online community focused on sharing the latest news surrounding social media among other things, comes up with seven virtual customer service tips. Over communication. Just like with your virtual workers, your clients cannot look over their cubicle wall to see if…

• How Not to Serve Your Customers

  Meikah

  26 Oct 2011 | 11:30 pm

  Image Source During the past month or so, I have observed quite a number of customer service faux pas. And I could only sigh and say, “this is not the way you treat your customer!” Thus this blog post is born. I want to list instances where you are not serving your customers. Let’s start. Choose the options for them Popular notion has it that if you do everything for your customers, they will feel like a king. And true enough, you often hear customers gushing about not lifting a finger, yet get the best service there is. However, this does not work all the time.

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  Ragsdale’s Eye on Service

• What’s Hot at TSW: Top Attended Sessions

  jragsdale

  9 May 2012 | 3:34 pm

  Today is the closing day of Technology Services World in Santa Clara, and I always find it enlightening to look at the top attended sessions of the event to see what topics are most interesting to members. No surprise, services technology, metrics, social media, and knowledge management proved to be popular topics. This is a [...]

• The coolest of the cool compete: TSIA Vision Award at Service Revolutions

  jragsdale

  9 May 2012 | 3:33 pm

  Every year at the Technology Services World Best Practices conference, the most innovative companies compete in live stage demonstrations at Service Revolutions to win the coveted TSIA Vision Award. Winners are selected by audience members who vote after each presentation. Introduced in 2010, the TSIA Vision Award recognizes game-changing ideas in technology services that advance [...]

• My First Book, Lessons Unlearned, Is Officially Launched!

  jragsdale

  9 May 2012 | 9:25 am

  This week I get to put a big check mark next to an item on my bucket list: become a published author.  This has been a dream of mine since childhood, and even though I’ve been publishing 300-400 pages of research reports every year since 2001, a book is different. And this week that dream [...]

• Workout Session: Proactive Channel Management

  jragsdale

  8 May 2012 | 3:29 pm

  Today at Technology Services World in Santa Clara, CA I co-hosted a “workout session” on proactive channel management, with my friend and longtime TSIA member, Tarik Mahmoud from Cisco. Over the last two decades, customer support interactions have evolved from phone to a variety of channels, including email, web chat, self-service, and now social media. Support [...]

• TSW Best Practices Opens with my Innovation Tour!

  jragsdale

  7 May 2012 | 3:10 pm

  TSIA’s Technology Services World Best Practice Conference kicked off today at the Santa Clara Conference Center. The conference opened at 12:45 with my Innovation Tour. The tour is a presentation of all the finalists in the Spring 2012 Recognized Innovator Awards, which are presented to partners of TSIA at our Spring and Fall conferences. Partners [...]

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  The Chief Happiness Officer

• Working time through the ages

  Alexander

  30 Apr 2012 | 6:39 am

  Wikipedia delivers again, this time with a great overview of working time – from the stone age to today. A few nuggets from the article: …early hunter-gatherer societies enjoyed more leisure time than is permitted by capitalist and agrarian societies;[5][6] For instance, one camp of !Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day.[7] Aggregated comparisons show that on average the working day was less than five hours.[5] … The automobile manufacturer, Henry Ford, was an ardent proponent of shorter work hours, which he introduced…

• Ed Diener’s FAQ on happiness is all kinds of awesome

  Alexander

  24 Apr 2012 | 5:07 am

  Often you Google one thing and end up with something else and that’s how i discovered that Ed Diener (one of the world’s leading researchers in positive psychology) has an FAQ on Subjective Well-Being and that it is awesome! It’s quite comprehensive (which is great) but it’s also nuanced and doesn’t try to give easy answers when there aren’t any. Here’s an example: Q: What is your advice to those who want to be happy? A: As I have said repeatedly, I have no simple, easy answer that will make everyone happy. Some people with serious problems need to…

• The brain likes surprises

  Alexander

  22 Apr 2012 | 11:49 pm

  According to research, we become a happier when good things happen to us (duh!) but the effect is even bigger when good things happen to us unexpectedly: Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scans to measure changes in human brain activity in response to a sequence of pleasurable stimuli. They used a computer-controlled device to squirt fruit juice or water into the mouths of 25 research participants. The patterns of the squirting were either predictable or unpredictable. The researchers found that the MRI scans showed a brain area…

• Weekend Woohoo

  Alexander

  20 Apr 2012 | 1:00 am

  I just found this video of a Disney World cast member (which is what they call employees) rocking out during a parade: That’s happiness at work right there :o) Also check out the comments on the video: This lady always dances her heart out every single time that parade passes through. Way to go Barbara! Lots of fun to work with her on Main Street. She out performed the parade performers! Get it girl!!! Do you ever do your job in a way that is worthy of filming and putting on YouTube?

• Vroooooom

  Alexander

  18 Apr 2012 | 10:42 am

  One problem with electric scooters is that they’re just too silent – other people have no idea you’re coming. Fortunately, you can fix that problem, advertise your business AND make people laugh at the same time. Here’s how: What would your company’s motor-sound be like?

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  Think customers: The 1to1 Blog

• The Social Education: Studying Social to Learn About Customers

  Anna Papachristos

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  During childhood, we learn in a group atmosphere. Just as we learned to socialize while also developing necessary life skills, businesses must now cultivate their social skills in order to learn how to best serve their customers. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog

• Building a Better Customer Experience Through the Cloud

  Mila D'Antonio

  16 May 2012 | 9:58 am

  Cloud computing in the past has been a controversial subject, with companies leery of putting proprietary data in the cloud. But with its promise to reduce costs, scale up, and provide real-time access to data, cloud computing is shedding its reputation and companies are increasingly migrating to this service. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog

• Bridging the Digital Marketing Gap

  Tom Hoffman

  15 May 2012 | 7:40 am

  A new study from PulsePoint on the digital marketing capabilities and shortcomings of companies finds that "overwhelming complexity" and a "lack of unified measurement" are the key stumbling blocks in aligning these efforts with consumers' multichannel behaviors. There's a growing body of research on this topic, most of which support this thesis that marketing leaders are, in fact, overcome by the difficulty of managing and coordinating marketing efforts across the flood of channels that customers use. They also struggle to measure the results, often because marketing efforts are siloed by…

• How Do I Know If I've Been Spiffed?

  Ginger Conlon

  14 May 2012 | 4:18 pm

  With all this talk about customer trust and companies acting in customers' best interest, it got me thinking about spiffs--incentives that manufacturers provide dealers and retail salespeople to sell their wares over the competitor's. Spiffs are great for salespeople, not so great for customers. Salespeople motivated by a boost in their commission check or some other incentive may be more likely to sell what's good for them instead of what's best for the customer. Actually, I'd have to say highly likely. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit…

• Do Your Partners Squander Your Customer Experience Gains?

  Ginger Conlon

  11 May 2012 | 7:15 am

  You've worked hard to create a brand image and deliver on your brand promise. Then your organization partners with another company that turns about to be not so customer-centric or detail-oriented or what have you as your firm is. What to do? One option: Find a new partner. Another: Work with that partner to bring the company up to your standards. Neither option is an easy fix, but doing something, anything, is essential--before customers walk out the door and don't come back. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog

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  Leadership Consultant - Bill Hogg » Blog

• How To Assess Your Organizational Leaders And Their Capacity To Lead

  Bill Hogg

  15 May 2012 | 7:15 am

  This is the third in our series that looks at leadership capacity and its impact on organizational growth. The full series will be available for download as a white paper once it is completed. In our last article, we discussed the characteristics of transformational leadership that impact organizational growth Now we want to investigate how to effectively assess a leader’s capacity to lead their company. Rarely is a great leader born. Developing leadership capacity and the “must have” leadership characteristics does not happen by accident. Organizations cannot sit back and hope leaders…

• How to Deal with Your Worst Employee

  Bill Hogg

  1 May 2012 | 7:19 am

  If you are like many businesses, you may have a couple poor employees — consistently under-performing. Some would suggest that they need to be pruned in order for the business to remain healthy and grow. Philosophically I agree — however, before pruning ask yourself why they are under-performing. Here are a couple thoughts for consideration. Is it because they are a round peg in a square hole. Do they have all the character elements but yet still aren’t successful in their role. Maybe you need to consider a change in role to one where some of their strengths may have the…

• Decoding a Service Recovery

  Bill Hogg

  23 Apr 2012 | 7:41 am

  SurveyGizmo had a service outage this weekend. It inconvenienced their customers. As a result they built customer loyalty. On the surface that doesn’t make sense — but the manner in which they dealt with the situation demonstrated the character of their company and their commitment to service. You can see their communication here. My Perspective: SurveyGizmo did number of things right. Here are a few that jumped out in no particular order. Let me know if you see more. They communicated quickly and honestly. I didn’t even know there was a problem, but yet they communicated…

• Are Weekly Status Meetings a Waste?

  Bill Hogg

  17 Apr 2012 | 7:22 am

  Most of us have regularly scheduled meetings that were created to provide updates on something to someone. Initially they were intended to communicate, inform and move the business forward — but lately you have been wondering whether they are a valuable use of time. Some have degenerated into boring and unproductive time wasters — but they continue because they were once deemed important. One of the main reasons standing meetings degenerate is that they become common place and people tend not to prepare for a standing meeting as much as for a specific meeting that has been called…

• 10 Tips to Improve Your Customer Experience

  Bill Hogg

  12 Apr 2012 | 7:11 am

  Today, customers are no longer looking for great customer service — they want more. Today customers demand a great customer experience and will not settle for anything less. It is no longer good enough for companies to provide good customers service — rather, companies need to create memorable interactions with customers that help establish a loyal relationship and promote brand advocacy. Creating a memorable customer experience is based on the creation of an ideal experience that your customers would want to have throughout their relationship with your company. These interactions…

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  Scott McKain Viewpoint

• What the “Avengers” can teach us about business…

  Scott McKain

  14 May 2012 | 3:16 pm

  Frankly, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a movie about superheros or a new tech device you just have to own…ANY product or service that can attract over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in sales over its first couple of weeks in the marketplace can probably teach us something or two we could learn about improving our own organizations. So it is with the hit film, “The Avengers,” which over the weekend became only the eleventh movie in history to join the Billion Dollar Club of features earning that level of ticket sales. Here’s an astounding aspect — the movie is only…

• Too “good” to be true?

  Scott McKain

  10 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  My wife and I laughed about it — even though, I guess, when you really think about it, the story wasn’t funny. Perhaps, it was because it is just so darned strange. Did you see it? A guy, Marek Olszewski, breaks up in Poland with his girlfriend, Anna Maćkowiak…he just unexpectedly dumps her for another woman. However, as the story — published in print or online by FOX News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, MSN, New York Post, and New York Daily News (among others) — goes, poor Marek was having dental problems…and…

• A customer’s perception determines their evaluation of you…

  Scott McKain

  2 May 2012 | 9:22 am

  In a recent interview, New York Times columnist David Brooks remarked he was disappointed with President Obama — and with his own decision to vote for Obama in the election four years ago. Conversely, he also mentioned his good friend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, was excited by Obama, and happy in how he had cast his ballot. Interestingly — and this is NOT a political discussion, it is about how a customer/voter evaluates your performance — Brooks then explains his reason for dissatisfaction, and his friend’s justification for the opposite conclusion.

• Opening the Valve to a distinctive organization

  Scott McKain

  30 Apr 2012 | 4:10 am

  Seth Godin recently posted a link to the employee handbook of Valve — the company famous for video games such as “Left 4 Dead,” “Half Life,” “Day of Defeat,” and many others. Founded by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington in 1996, the handbook is so incredibly powerful it could be the source of hundreds of posts. Let’s start with this quote: “We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers. They watch us, sometimes very publicly, make mistakes. Sometimes they get angry with us. But…

• What are you doing to provide what people remember?

  Scott McKain

  27 Apr 2012 | 8:29 am

  Immediately after I finish a presentation — as I did yesterday in New York for Stop & Shop, for example — I receive comments on implementing the Ultimate Customer Experience ® and on creating organizational distinction. Give it a month, however, and people remember Taxi Terry, our small-town grocery store, and my wreck in a Hertz rental car. Why is that the case? The latest issue of Fast Company provides a great insight into this phenomenon. It’s from an interview with Steve Jobs relating an epiphany he had shortly after he and his kids watched the DVD of “Snow…

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  thinkJar

• The New Way to Segment For a 6x Greater Return

  Esteban Kolsky

  4 May 2012 | 5:59 am

  I have been thinking about this for some time (BTW, this is a short post – hope to ignite some discussion with this), would love to get your thoughts. Traditionally (as in most everybody I know in this world) we use financial metrics for customer segmentation, right? Either lifetime-spend, latest-spend, last-year-spend, or profitability, or what-not.  We may use other aspects of segmentation for marketing (like demographics, products purchased, support requested, etc.) depending on what someone in someplace decided it would help us find the “right” people to buy our product…

• Good For You, Lithium

  Esteban Kolsky

  3 May 2012 | 10:29 am

  It has been said that behind every successful man there is a powerful woman to support them. I’d like to revise that to say that behind every successful enterprise software company there is (at least) one nagging analyst egging them to do things right.  I’d like to think that I am that analyst for Lithium. Lithium kicked off their fifth annual (if badges are to be believed, this is my third time here) LiNC customer event in San Francisco today.  I am just getting started here, so will have more on what they are doing right (and wrong) and how well they communicated the message…

• Social for Customer Service: it’s About the Customers

  Esteban Kolsky

  30 Apr 2012 | 10:00 pm

  How can organization embrace social channels and technologies to improve customer service? I must’ve heard this question every day in the past 6-9 months. The intent was not how to do twitter, how to leverage Facebook, or should we use Klout scores for customer service – it was very specifically about how customer service departments can embrace it.  It was getting so ridiculous that together with my friends at Ciboodle we conducted a research report to answer those questions. We got nearly 400 responses (some of them very interesting) and you can get the report here if you want to read…

• CRM Idol 2012 – And So It Begins…

  Esteban Kolsky

  30 Apr 2012 | 4:00 am

  Starting today at 7 AM US-EDT CRM Idol 2012 (the second season) begins. The experience last year for all participants, in their words, was incredible. They learned amazing new things about their companies and products.  The discovered new ways to present their products to the market than they had ever before.  They found new ways to talk about their companies, the people in them, and their passions.  They encountered mentors and advisers that pointed them in directions they never expected to go before – and they found countless success along the way. Five of the companies that…

• KANA Acquires Trinicom; Enters SMB CRM Market

  Esteban Kolsky

  24 Apr 2012 | 7:15 am

  Today KANA announced it had acquired Trinicom a Nederlands cloud-based customer service provider.  According to the company, this move was to complete their offer for all company sizes and delivery models – from small to large enterprise, and from on-premise to cloud-based.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. On the surface, this may seem like a move by KANA to match Salesforce’s acquisition of Assistly (now Desk.com).  However, there is more to it that what seems. I had had discussions with  KANA prior to this  acquisition and my answer  when they asked whether it…