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• Romance survey [infographic]

  Holy Kaw!

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:02 pm

  Via Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Jimmy Kimmel Live - s10 | e15 - Wed, Feb 8, 2012

  Hulu - Popular videos today

  9 Feb 2012 | 5:13 am

  Actor Nathan Fillion; actor Josh Hutcherson; Far East Movement performs.Add this to your queueAdded: Thu Feb 09 13:13:18 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 40:22Closed captions available.

• Are You Set Up to Share or to Fail?

  Mark Ramsey Media LLC

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am

  Although I quote my friend Seth Godin regularly, I rarely repost his thoughts in their entirety.  Today I am going to make an exception for a post which is, in every way, exceptional: Horizontal marketing isn’t a new idea.  But it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be…

• CSS3: Fading Colors (A Quick Introduction)

  Mitch Canter is [studionashvegas]

  admin

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:28 am

  Posted in DesignIt’s the little things, I’ve noticed, that really make a website design pop.  The layout may be good, the content may be worth reading, but it’s small, minor details that take a good design and turn it into a great one.  With the advent of CSS3 and HTML5, those details become even easier to bring in.  No longer do designers and coders have to “hack” in their favorite flourishes, but we can now simply enter one or two lines of code and get exactly what we need. CSS3, for example, has a lot of animated characteristics built right in.  Everything…

• ‘Online Applications ONLY’: A ‘Lose-Lose’ Proposition for All!

  Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

  Skip Freeman

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  In last week’s posting (Corporate America: Your Hiring Processes are Branded as “Broken”!) I pointed out the tremendous disconnect that exists today between job seekers and the companies that seek to hire them because of certain current hiring processes in corporate America. In this week’s posting I am going to examine one of those processes that contributes mightily to this disconnect—the “online applications ONLY” job application requirement imposed by some hiring companies. It’s a process that usually results in a “lose-lose” proposition for both hiring companies and…

• 

  Holy Kaw!

• Romance survey [infographic]

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:02 pm

  Via Hotels.com. Infographics to put you in the mood. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Do aliens go invisible by 'going green'?

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:24 am

  As we discover more and more planets around other stars, the Fermi Paradox is becoming, well, more paradoxical. The Fermi Paradox simply asks the question "where are they?" Our Milky Way galaxy is so big and so old -- and we are estimated to be accompanied by at least 100 billion planets -- that aliens should have visited us by now. Instead, when we peruse the heavens, we are faced with the Great Silence, which is one of the biggest challenges to modern astronomy. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink | Leave a…

• Mysterious sounds reported around the world

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:23 am

  People around the world have reported hearing strange sounds from the skies over the past month. Sometimes they describe it as a hum or low rumble; other times it’s a whine, thump, or even a melody. Often the sounds have been recorded and posted online, fueling rumors and conspiracy theories. One blogger wrote, "either the world is ending, aliens are landing or everyone is getting hoaxed. Or, possibly, there’s an actual scientific explanation for the mass amount of YouTube videos capturing bizarre sounds that are being heard around the globe. Are we witnessing the beginning of a…

• Costa Concordia: an ecological time bomb

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:21 am

  As workers begin to extract the half-million gallons of fuel in the shipwrecked cruise liner, locals are worried that their pristine waters are in danger. Reporting by Rossella Lorenzi. Written and produced by Rossella Lorenzi and Martin Berman. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

• Inside Syria's capitol: nervously normal

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:18 am

  As the violence in Syria continues to escalate, Syrian citizens are arming themselves to resist their oppressive regime. For days, Homs, the third-largest city in Syria, has endured shelling, tanks and attacks by heavy weaponry. Syrian protestors react with more violence against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, resulting in all-out war zones in some residential neighborhoods. Full story at Discovery News. More news from Discovery Communications. Permalink | Leave a comment  »

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  Hulu - Popular videos today

• Jimmy Kimmel Live - s10 | e15 - Wed, Feb 8, 2012

  9 Feb 2012 | 5:13 am

  Actor Nathan Fillion; actor Josh Hutcherson; Far East Movement performs.Add this to your queueAdded: Thu Feb 09 13:13:18 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 40:22Closed captions available.

• Are You There, Chelsea? - s1 | e5 - The Gynecologist

  8 Feb 2012 | 9:12 pm

  Chelsea gets quite the surprise when she romances her sister Sloane's gynecologist.Add this to your queueAdded: Thu Feb 09 05:12:21 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 21:51Closed captions available.

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - s13 | e13 - Father's Shadow

  8 Feb 2012 | 6:17 pm

  Benson puts herself in the line of fire when the son of a TV producer takes hostages and demands the release of his father.Add this to your queueAdded: Thu Feb 09 02:17:18 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 43:44Closed captions available.

• CollegeHumor Sketches - Every Michael Bay Movie in Under a Minute

  8 Feb 2012 | 11:19 am

  Plot optional. Add this to your queueAdded: Wed Feb 08 19:19:15 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 00:53

• Modern Family - s3 | e14 - Me? Jealous?

  8 Feb 2012 | 9:13 am

  Claire thinks Phil's new business partner is blatantly inappropriate.Add this to your queueAdded: Wed Feb 08 17:13:08 UTC 2012Air date: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 UTC 2012Duration: 21:14Closed captions available.

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  Mark Ramsey Media LLC

• Are You Set Up to Share or to Fail?

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am

  Although I quote my friend Seth Godin regularly, I rarely repost his thoughts in their entirety.  Today I am going to make an exception for a post which is, in every way, exceptional: Horizontal marketing isn’t a new idea.  But it is the new reality for just about every organization. Vertical marketing means the marketer (the one with money) is in charge. Vertical marketing starts at the top and involves running ads, sending out direct mail and pushing hype through the media. Your money, your plans, your control. It might not work, but generally the worst outcome is that you will be…

• What a Radio Brand is Now

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  7 Feb 2012 | 6:21 am

  Is your radio brand nothing more than the sound emanating from the speakers produced by your tower? Or is it something much more? Well, in 2012 and beyond it can be a LOT more. But understanding this requires a new way to think about what a radio brand is and how to leverage it across platforms. It begins with a definition, because if we don’t understand what we are then we can’t possibly realize our fullest potential. I boil down my definition in this short video.  Watch: Please upgrade your browser Prefer audio?  Try this: Download mp3 (You can subscribe to all the MRM video…

• How to Be Like Mark

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  5 Feb 2012 | 3:55 pm

  Zuckerberg, that is.  Founder and CEO of Facebook. Fast Company has a great piece on leadership lessons from Zuckerberg, and here is a sampling: 1. Have A Strong Personal Philosophy “We don’t build services in order to make money,” says Zuckerberg, “we make money in order to build better services. Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission–to make the world open and more connected.” What is your goal?  Is it only to make money by any means necessary?  Or is it something deeper, something significant,…

• Like Moths to Radio’s Flame

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  3 Feb 2012 | 3:48 pm

  What’s the best way to defend radio’s audience from those who steal away attention and usage and ad dollars? Here’s one strategy from my friend David Bujnowski of Coburn Ventures (where I am a research fellow). In the “old days”, service providers could trap their audience who either didn’t know or didn’t care what their alternatives were. Today, with hyperpersonalization running rampant, consumers have a choice of a million different service providers.  The customers can’t be held captive any longer.  We are free to choose and we’re…

• Pandora, Personalization, and Radio’s Competitive Future

  mramsey1@ix.netcom.com (Mark Ramsey)

  2 Feb 2012 | 5:00 am

  Recently I was interviewed by Olivia Collette for Sparksheet, a business-to-business blog on media, content and marketing.  Olivia has allowed me to share the audio of that interview with you, so here it is. Some of the questions we covered: Is Pandora “radio” or not? Is “radio” today a service, an experience, or a medium? (My answer:  It’s an “experience”) What’s one sentence that can define radio for the future?  And what can we do because of that? What’s the difference between “retention” tactics and…

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  Mitch Canter is [studionashvegas]

• CSS3: Fading Colors (A Quick Introduction)

  admin

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:28 am

  Posted in DesignIt’s the little things, I’ve noticed, that really make a website design pop.  The layout may be good, the content may be worth reading, but it’s small, minor details that take a good design and turn it into a great one.  With the advent of CSS3 and HTML5, those details become even easier to bring in.  No longer do designers and coders have to “hack” in their favorite flourishes, but we can now simply enter one or two lines of code and get exactly what we need. CSS3, for example, has a lot of animated characteristics built right in.  Everything…

• Freshly Pressed: A Wild New Plugin Appears! Custom Classes

  admin

  8 Feb 2012 | 4:51 pm

  Posted in PluginsFrom time to time I like to surf through the repository and try out new plugins.  It keeps me in the know and I’m able to share those plugins with you.  So, here’s what I found as I was surfing this fine Wednesday: Custom Classes Justin Tadlock is a man synonymous with great plugins, and his latest one is fantastic, as always.  Two boxes show up in your post screen.  Both allow you to add custom classes to pages; the boxes allow you to specify both “post classes” and “body classes”.  If you are unfamiliar with their usage, body_class…

• Creating a Custom URL Shortener

  admin

  7 Feb 2012 | 9:42 am

  Posted in TutorialIf you’ve come to this site by way of Twitter or Facebook, you may have noticed that the short link for all of these posts isn’t your typical URL.  I recently purchased snv.me to shorten all of the links to my blog posts and site, and (after some extensive research) found a way to hook it into my site using bit.ly’s pro service (now open to everyone!) Find a Domain You’d think this would be the easy part, but you may be mistaken.  Finding a good top-level domain (TLD) that  matches your current site may or may not be difficult, but it depends on…

• Adding Featured Images to a WordPress Post or RSS Feed

  admin

  6 Feb 2012 | 7:35 am

  Posted in TutorialEvery post on this blog has a “featured image” – the last few have been screenshots of my blog for the various tutorials I’ve been writing or a photo of the BlogWorld banner to talk about my speaking acceptance, but the one thing that always bothered me was that any time you used a featured image it wouldn’t show up (by default) in your theme or RSS feed.  Featured images make inserting graphics dummy-proof; the size is set automatically and all you have to do is hit upload – it takes care of all of the re-sizing for you. Setting Up…

• Speaking At BlogWorldNY 2012 (#bweny)

  admin

  3 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pm

  Posted in BlogWorldExpoI got the fantastic news today: I’ll be speaking at BlogWorldNY later this year (June 5-7). Topic: Responsive Web Design: One Website to Rule Them All… I’ll be talking about what responsive web design is, and why it’s beneficial to make your site or blog responsive.  If you’ve never been, BlogWorld is, by far, one of the best conferences on either coast.  I hope to be going to both this year, same as last, and I can guarantee it’ll be worth every second spent. Make sure to Join me at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in New York…

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  Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

• ‘Online Applications ONLY’: A ‘Lose-Lose’ Proposition for All!

  Skip Freeman

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  In last week’s posting (Corporate America: Your Hiring Processes are Branded as “Broken”!) I pointed out the tremendous disconnect that exists today between job seekers and the companies that seek to hire them because of certain current hiring processes in corporate America. In this week’s posting I am going to examine one of those processes that contributes mightily to this disconnect—the “online applications ONLY” job application requirement imposed by some hiring companies. It’s a process that usually results in a “lose-lose” proposition for both hiring companies and…

• Are You Using The Right Words For Your Brand?

  Roger Parker

  8 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  Are you using the right words to build your personal brand in your resume, marketing materials, and social media updates? Often, there’s a disconnect, or gap, between the words used in resumes, marketing materials, & day-to-day social marketing, and the personal brand an individual is trying to build. Personal brand building is impossible if you’re not using the right words! To make sure that you’re using the right words, I’d like to share a free online tool you can use to visually display the contents of your resume, marketing materials, and social media marketing…

• Interview Rejection To Selection

  Elinor Stutz

  8 Feb 2012 | 2:30 am

  People unfamiliar with sales techniques usually become depressed by interview rejection and then lose momentum for continuing in their search for employment. From a typical salesperson’s perspective, rejections are not necessarily bad particularly when used as valuable learning lessons. BUT the seasoned sales professional, with a smile on her face, will mentally say, NEXT! Early in my sales career, I learned that it was necessary to make 100 sales calls in order to make 10 sales. It was not motivating to learn I only had a 10% chance for making a sale. We were then told, the more…

• 3 Ways To Implement Your Personal Brand Offline

  Heather Huhman

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  For most professionals, personal branding thrives online. Through juggling social media profiles, managing reputation, creating content, and securing our sites, we may forget that personal branding can also be done in person – and can be just as effective, if not more so. Attending an industry event, association meeting, or even a professional cocktail hour in your city can be a great and easy way to transition the brand you’ve created online into the real world. Consider below three ways to implement your brand in person once you’re there: Keep The Conversation Going. Since you’re…

• 20 Questions Smart Employees Ask Themselves

  Nance Rosen

  7 Feb 2012 | 2:30 am

  These 20 questions cover five key areas that are critical to your accurately evaluating how well you’re doing at work. Your answers (or score) predict whether you’re likely to be promoted, fired or kept simmering in the same spot for years to come. Score each question on a scale of 1-10 (10 = AWESOME). Add up your total score in each category. If you are totally awesome, you’ll have a total of 200 points. If you score below 30 points in any category, it’s time to take remedial action. Job mastery How well do I? 1. Exhibit expertise of the particular knowledge and skills that make me a…

• 

  Lifehacker

• How to Deal with an Asshole Parker [Video]

  Adam Dachis

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pm

  You finally find a spot in a packed parking lot and somebody's parked over the line so you can't fit. Or you've been waiting for someone to leave the lot and somebody pulls in to steal your claimed space. There are plenty of ways to be an asshole parker in this world, but few good ways to deal with them. Here's the best way to handle the situation. More »

• Ask and Answer Questions About Getting Rid of Old Junk [Help Yourself]

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am

• Quirky Scribe Is a Lapdesk That Can Carry Your Laptop, Textbooks, and Pens [Stuff We Like]

  Adam Dachis

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 am

  More »

• The Best Virtual Assistant for Android [Video]

  Alan Henry

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  There are a number of apps for Android that all advertise that they can be your personal assistant. None of them are perfect, and all of them have their quirks, issues, and especially their limitations. Even so, we think that Vlingo is your best bet for a well-rounded personal assistant for Android. More »

• How Can I Talk to My Phone in Public Without Looking Like a Jerk/Creep/Weirdo? [Video]

  Melanie Pinola

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 am

• 

  Mashable!

• LinkedIn Hits 150 Million Members

  Todd Wasserman

  9 Feb 2012 | 1:26 pm

  LinkedIn on Thursday announced it has 150 million members in its network, a 20 million increase over November. The figure was disclosed in a press release the company issued Thursday announcing its fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results. The company posted revenues of $167.7 million, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160 million for Q4. Earnings were $0.06 cents per share, which was on target. LinkedIn’s stock was up more than 5% in after-hours trading. The Q4 revenue figure was a 105% jump over the same period in 2010. Revenues for full-year 2011 was $522.2 million, a 115%…

• FarmVille Toys Are Coming: Zynga and Hasbro Sign Licensing Deal

  Christina Warren

  9 Feb 2012 | 1:14 pm

  If Angry Birds and Cut the Rope can have toys, why can’t FarmVille? Social gaming juggernaut Zynga is teaming up with toy maker Hasbro to create a “wide range of toys and gaming experiences” based on Zynga properties and brands, a release read. The first products are expected to hit the market in Fall 2012. The agreement gives Hasbro license to develop and distribute an array of products in various toy and game categories for Zynga’s various properties. The companies will also be able to co-brand merchandise, which could potentially lead to digital product tie-ins. The…

• Hipstamatic Releases Lens for New York Fashion Week

  Lauren Indvik

  9 Feb 2012 | 1:02 pm

  In conjunction with New York Fashion Week, iPhone photography app Hipstamatic has released a cool-toned lens (i.e., filter) designed to capture the aesthetic of classic American beauty. The lens was developed in partnership with fashion photographer Chiun-Kai Shih, whose work has appeared in GQ, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, among other well-recognized publications. This is the second lens Hipstamatic has developed with Shih to commemorate NYFW. Last year, the pair released a lens called “Chunky,” which gives images a highly saturated, hazy glow. A spokesperson for Hipstamatic…

• Apple Hit With 250,000 Signatures Protesting Labor Conditions in China

  Kate Freeman

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:46 pm

  Fair-labor organizers delivered 250,000 signatures to Apple stores in six cities around the world on Thursday in protest of the company’s working conditions in China. Apple’s main factory, Foxconn, has faced numerous accusations of providing an inhumane work environment to Chinese workers. “It’s hard to hear tales of people jumping off buildings and using their hands until they can’t anymore,” said senior organizer of Change.org William Winters, who delivered a stack of petitions to the San Francisco Apple store on Stockton Street. The rest of the 250,000…

• Live LOLz: Cheezburger Plans Grammy Awards Memes in Real Time

  Brian Anthony Hernandez

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:35 pm

  I Can Has Cheezburger plans to turn the 54th Grammy Awards into a laughing matter by giving viewers an outlet to write funny captions for red carpet and ceremony photos. The “Live LOLing” event starts Sunday at 4 p.m. PT when Cheezburger’s ROFLrazzi site, Twitter profile and Facebook page will begin publishing Grammy images with humorous captions — in lolcat meme format. People can click “Recaption This” to plop their own witty text on the photos. Participants can then share their creations on their social networks. Cheezburger editor in chief Emily Huh…

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  TechCrunch

• Click And Mortar: Zynga Signs Deal With Hasbro For Real-World Toys and Games

  Eric Eldon

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:30 pm

  Mobile app developer Rovio has famously turned its Angry Birds game into a popular toy franchise, but most other new-fangled gaming companies haven’t spent much energy going this route. But now social gaming leader Zynga is, per a big licensing deal with Hasbro. The long-time toy and board game maker is paying Zynga to turn games like FarmVille, CityVille, and its other hit titles into real world products. Details on what this will look like are scant in the press release, so I’m left guessing what this is going to mean. Fluffy pink FarmVille tractors? Lego-style CityVille…

• Music Labels’ Joint Venture, VEVO, Shows Pirated NFL Game At Sundance

  Jason Kincaid

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:04 pm

  Over the last decade the major music labels — and their trade organization, the Recording Industry Association of America — have established a repeated pattern of attacking consumers in the name of squelching illegal file-sharing. Piracy, they claim, has been the industry’s undoing, accounting for an over 50% drop in sales since 1999 (the industry likes to discount the impact of legal per-song music downloads via services like iTunes, and the myriad other changes facilitated by the rise of high-speed Internet connections). Their efforts to combat piracy are often draconian: threatening…

• You Can Buy Me Love, But Please Don’t Buy Me Gadgets

  Jordan Crook

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:52 am

  Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and the majority of us are likely scrambling to find that special gift. (The rest of us, meanwhile, are cursing couples.) A Valentine’s Day gift is usually more important than others because it’s a one-on-one situation, unlike Christmas or birthdays. Just one gift, to just one person — and it better be good. With that in mind, I’d like to address an article out of AllThingsD this morning that sourced information from PriceGrabber’s Valentine’s Day Dashboard Report. The report took information from February 4…

• The Google+ Platform Roadmap From Director Of Engineering David Glazer

  Josh Constine

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:49 am

  It won’t stop with Google Search Plus Your World. When asked if we should expect more integrations of Google+ into Google products, G+ director of engineering David Glazer said at today’s Inside Social Apps 2012 conference, ”Yes, where it’s good for the user. I think there’s more places to make people happy by showing them content they care about.” At the first major speaking engagement about its social network, Glazer also discussed user acquisition, monetization, and support for brands. Regarding Google+ expanding into more Google properties,…

• AT&T, Google Among The Biggest Online Advertisers — comScore

  Anthony Ha

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:47 am

  As part of its 2012 US Digital Future in Focus whitepaper, comScore looked at the online ad landscape and found a mix of old and new names. The report includes a list of the top 10 display advertisers in the United States (all of this data is US-only), as measured by impressions. AT&T topped the list, as it has in previous years, but there’s a newcomer — Google, which delivered 40.4 billion ads for products like Chrome, Google Offers, and Google+. Large brand advertising on the Internet is growing in general, comScore says. To quantify that, it measured the number of advertisers…

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  Techmeme

• Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx review (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:45 pm

  Nilay Patel / The Verge: Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx review  —  THE DROID RAZR GETS A LITTLE THICKER AND A LOT LONGER-LASTING  —  Reviewing the Droid RAZR Maxx presents an interesting challenge: in many ways it's the exact same device as the Droid RAZR, which was introduced just a few short months ago.

• Who's Ready for the (Heaven Forbid) Social Networking Patent Wars? (Liz Gannes/AllThingsD)

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:25 pm

  Liz Gannes / AllThingsD: Who's Ready for the (Heaven Forbid) Social Networking Patent Wars?  —  Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.  —  Tech companies have recently ratcheted up their offensive use of intellectual property, especially in the mobile space — but not so much in social networking.

• Google, Microsoft Search Queries Grow In January While Yahoo Continues To Slide (Leena Rao/TechCrunch)

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:05 pm

  Leena Rao / TechCrunch: Google, Microsoft Search Queries Grow In January While Yahoo Continues To Slide  —  comScore has released its ‘explicit’ U.S. search data for January of this year and while Google and Microsoft Bring's search share continues to grow, Yahoo's share dropped both year over year and month over month.

• Microsoft unveils Office 15 Metro design look and feel (Tom Warren/The Verge)

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:50 am

  Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft unveils Office 15 Metro design look and feel  —  Microsoft revealed the finer details of its Windows 8 ARM edition today, but the company also revealed the look and feel of its next-generation Office experience.  The software giant casually revealed beta copies of Word, Excel …

• The Senate's SOPA Counterattack?: Cybersecurity the Undoing of Privacy (Jim Harper/Cato @ Liberty)

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:35 am

  Jim Harper / Cato @ Liberty: The Senate's SOPA Counterattack?:  Cybersecurity the Undoing of Privacy  —  The Daily Caller reports that Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) is planning another effort at Internet regulation—right on the heels of the SOPA/PIPA debacle.  The article seems calculated to insinuate that a follow …

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  Church Marketing Sucks

• Office Hours: Communication Volunteers & Church Social Media

  Justin Wise

  8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 am

  Every week I hold online office hours and answer questions from folks like you. This week we’ve got a question about communication volunteers and staff. I also take a look at the true meaning of social media and how churches can participate. Take a look and be sure to join me every Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. CST for online office hours! I’m setting up a creative team at our church to handle all the communication requirements. There are no staff on the team, just volunteers. Any advice on what to focus on most and what can wait until later? My answer: This is what I would do if I were…

• Churches Reaching Out With Pinterest

  Tim Schraeder

  6 Feb 2012 | 5:21 am

  Whether you’re crazy about pinning or think that it’s just a fad, there’s no denying that Pinterest is a new player on the social media scene. In January it beat YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study. One church is pioneering this new territory and has some insights to share on how churches can use Pinterest. Jake Johnson is the publishing and content manager for Mars Hills Church, Resurgence and PastorMark.tv. He oversees content strategy for all of Mars Hill’s online…

• Job Board: Director, Web & Media

  Chuck Scoggins

  3 Feb 2012 | 6:15 am

  Are you looking for a job in church communications? The CFCC Job Board has some listings that you might be interested in. Here are a few of the recent listings to the board: Hempfield United Methodist Church in Lancaster, Penn., is looking for a director of communications. Click here for details. Northview Church in Carmel, Ind., is looking for a web coordinator. Click here for details. Victory Highway Wesleyan Church in Painted Post, N.Y., is looking for a media designer. Click here for details. Is your church looking for a communications professional? Be sure to get your free listing on the…

• Lessons from Bible Billboards in Egypt

  Kevin D. Hendricks

  1 Feb 2012 | 6:09 am

  On Sunday my church had a visit from the general secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt, Ramez Atallah. His visit coincided with the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the Egyptian revolution. But rather than a typical discussion of passing out Bibles, he offered a lesson in marketing. In Egypt the Bible Society isn’t allowed to evangelize, so they advertise. They’re not allowed to give Bibles away, so they sell them. Atallah admitted he freely borrows from the business world, saying “If it works for Pizza Hut, it can work for us.” That includes using billboards and…

• Annual Report: We Need Your Help

  Drew Goodmanson

  31 Jan 2012 | 11:54 am

  We need your help. As an organization that has delivered thousands of breakthrough moments—those key sparks that frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ—we believe there is even more to be done.  We’ll get to that in a moment.  First, 2011 was a remarkable year and I want to celebrate what took place.  Last year included events such as the launch of Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication, Creative Missions, more CFCC meetups and the continuation of Cultivate.  I’d encourage you to read the 2011…

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  LifeChurch.tv : swerve

• Round Tables at LifeChurch.tv

  Craig Groeschel

  24 Jan 2012 | 5:35 am

  In order to help serve churches, we will be hosting several round tables this year. Here is information on the first two. ARC (Association of Related Churches) will be doing a one day Leadership Forum for all pastors and church leaders at LifeChurch.tv. Pastor Chris Hodges, Rick Bezet, Joe Champion, and I will be contributing. This round table is for those who are interested in church planting and for pastors interested in developing their leadership skills. The forums will be a great time of learning, sharing ideas and growing relationships in a dynamic setting. There will also be an…

• ACCEPTABLE PRIDE?

  Craig Groeschel

  19 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am

  We know God opposes the proud. But some forms of social media seem to have redefined what pride is and what it’s not. For example: Imagine if I stood before our church and told everyone, “Joe Smith said, ‘Craig you are the best preacher ever! Your sermons changed my life.’ And Jill Denny said, ‘I loved your book. Everyone should read it. You are the best author I’ve ever read!’ Not only that, but Mike Mitchell said, ‘Craig, Life Church is the best church in the world! No church is as good as Life Church.’” Chances are good most people would look at me funny and think I’m…

• Church Online Platform is Live

  Bobby Gruenewald

  9 Jan 2012 | 11:29 am

  I’m very excited to let you know… Church Online Platform has officially launched! This is the same technology that makes Church Online happen at LifeChurch.tv. What we’re making available to other churches for free is identical to what we’re using internally. We’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time. Ever since the early days of Church Online (or the Internet Campus as we called it back then), one of the most frequent questions we received was, “How can we develop something similar?” Through the partnership of a handful of like-minded…

• Free Platform Helps Any Church Launch an Online Ministry

  Bobby Gruenewald

  6 Dec 2011 | 5:06 am

  One of the most common questions we receive about Church Online is, “how can I start something similar at my church?” That’s why I’m excited to share this news about the Church Online Platform… If you’d like to stay in the loop as we near the launch date of January 9, just enter your email address at ChurchOnline.org. And if you know churches who might be interested, please share this post with them!

• The Imaginary Deadline

  Craig Groeschel

  6 Jul 2011 | 5:00 am

  For years I struggled with managing my time effectively. One tool I learned that dramatically increased my effectiveness is the “imaginary deadline.” If I’ve got a project without a deadline, it’s easy to procrastinate or work halfheartedly. When an assignment has a hard deadline, I start faster, work smarter and focus better. Instead of thinking, I need to have my sermon finished before I preach this weekend, I have a Wednesday-at-noon deadline. It’s not anyone else’s deadline. It’s mine. Rather than saying this video needs to be finished by next week, I complete all videos by…

• 

  Ron Edmondson

• The Way to Guarantee NO ONE Reads Your Blog Post

  Ron Edmondson

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

    People email me everyday about how to improve their blog, how to write more, or whether they should even start a blog. There are countless “experts” always telling us how to write better blogs and what to do to increase readership. I read some of them and some of them are helpful; maybe even all of them if I had time to implement all of their strategies.  Frankly, most days I do good just to get some thoughts out. (Typos and all.) Here’s my best advice: Start Writing! I guarantee you no one will read your blog if you never write it. No one! Not even you would bother…

• Structure Can Impede Progress

  Ron Edmondson

  9 Feb 2012 | 4:00 am

  Recently I received a question about a post entitled “7 Enemies of Organizational Health“. One of those “enemies” I listed as “structure”. The person’s question was, “Are you referring to micromanagement?” He went on to say that we need structure to prevent organizational chaos. I answered. Well, yes and no. Micromanagement is an impediment to organizational health, but really I simply meant structure. Let me attempt to explain. I do agree we need some structure, but not for structure sake, but for progress sake. And there is a difference.

• Five Minute Challenge: Persecuted Church

  Ron Edmondson

  8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  This week I’m at Moody Founder’s Week. It’s a Bible conference put on by Moody Bible Institute that I’ve come to for several years, especially since my son Nate is a student here. One of the underlying themes this year has the persecution of Christians around the world. I’ve read recently that Christians are under more persecution today than any time in church history. Then, my friend Tami Heim tweeted that she was praying for the Christians of Uzbekistan. I’ll be honest, I don’t know that I ever prayed for anyone in Uzbekistan. Then I followed the…

• 3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon

  Ron Edmondson

  8 Feb 2012 | 4:00 am

  This is a guest post by my friend Casey Graham. Casey is one of the most innovative church leaders I know. He is passionate about Kingdom building and helping those who desire to Kingdom build. I haven’t seen any project of Casey’s yet I can’t support. Here’s a word from Casey about a new project to help pastors: After talking to hundreds of preachers, we’ve found most preachers love preaching, but the grind of preparation can often become a pain. Here are three things we’ve seen. Here are 3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon: 1. Great preaching…

• 7 Enemies of Organizational Health

  Ron Edmondson

  7 Feb 2012 | 4:20 am

  I love organizational leadership. I especially love leading healthy organizations. I have been in both environments…healthy and non-healthy. I prefer healthy. If truth be told, I’ve probably been the leader in both extremes. Along the way, I’ve observed a few things which can be the enemy of organizational health. Here are 7 enemies of organizational health: Shortcuts – There are no shortcuts to creating a healthy organization. Success is not earned through a simple, easy-to-follow formula. It takes hard work, diligence and longevity. Satisfaction – Resting on…

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  WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson

• Christian Community Made Simple

  Pete Wilson

  9 Feb 2012 | 5:33 am

  A lot gets written about Christian community these days. How we build it and maintain it seems to be quite the popular topic. I don’t want to over simplify it, but look at Romans 12:15. ” Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” This statement may be simple, but it’s not easy is it? In fact, the reality is we quite often do the exact opposite. We mourn another’s joy (jealousy) and we rejoice when someone has reason to mourn (self-righteousness). And this is why “authentic community” may be a big buzzword in Christian circles, but…

• Love To Hate

  Pete Wilson

  8 Feb 2012 | 5:31 am

  Almost four years ago I wrote THIS post about my friend, Brad Johnson. The post included an open letter he had written to his church apologizing for the pain his affair had caused his church. Yesterday, while sitting in my office one of my colleagues asked me a question about “search terms.” They were wondering how people most often find my blog. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at such stats, but I was absolutely shocked to see that almost four years later “Brad Johnson Affair” is still one of the biggest search terms used on Google to find my blog.

• A Moment In Time

  Pete Wilson

  7 Feb 2012 | 5:06 am

  I’m not clueless. I know time is flying by. I know I’m going to blink and they’ll be off dating, studying for college finals and climbing the career ladder. So when they invite me into their world, their world of imagination, adventure and excitement, I don’t walk, I run into it. These pictures may just seem like a dreary day in the woods swinging on tree vines but look a little closer.   We were dodging arrows. We were swinging over boiling lava and man eating crocodiles. We rescued a few princesses. Fought a few bad guys. It was a good day. They don’t know…

• Madonna, Tom Brady, The Super Bowl & Me

  Pete Wilson

  6 Feb 2012 | 6:02 am

  Hope you guys had fun watching the game last night, or at least had fun watching the commercials. I was really looking forward to watching the halftime show with Madonna, but, unfortunately, missed the whole thing. We had committed to two different parties and used halftime to shuttle to the next one. Several of my friends said she did an amazing job. Somehow the pop icon, whose now 53, had no wardrobe malfunctions and avoided controversy on almost every level. Maybe 30 years in the business has taught her a thing or two. I still can’t help feeling sorry for Madonna or really any other…

• Just In Time For The Superbowl

  Pete Wilson

  3 Feb 2012 | 5:32 am

  Okay, so this may not be the best way for me to invest $36 but I’m not going to lie: I want the Porta-Pizza oven really BAD. I’m all about pizza and I’m all about multi-tasking. This 12V portable oven and pizzeria plugs right into your dashboard. High and low settings for cooking and warming. Unique heating elements cook from top to bottom. Built-in fold out carry handle. Easy to clean and maintain. Fine freeway dining. You want one don’t you?

• 

  Perry Noble | Leadership, Vision & CreativityPerry Noble | Leadership, Vision & Creativity

• You Cannot Go To The Next Level If…

  perry

  9 Feb 2012 | 4:41 am

  One of the things I always hear in regards to leadership is that we should always desire to “go to the next level!”  However, there are several things that will hold us back from doing this.  Reality is that you and I cannot go to the next level if… You absolutely are in love with the way things are You are increasingly obsessed with the people who hate and criticize you the most.  (Here are 7 difference between a coach and a critic, PART ONE & PART TWO & PART THREE) You are not hungry for wisdom. (Proverbs 4:5-7) You are not willing to make uncomfortable…

• Seven Ways You Can Make Your Marriage AWESOME!

  perry

  8 Feb 2012 | 4:28 am

  #1 – Stop Fighting IN IT and Start Fighting For It – as long as you see your spouse as the enemy your home will always be a battlefield, and EVERYONE loses when you fight with each other and not for one another. #2 – Stop Asking God To Fix Your Spouse And Ask Him To Fix You – no one in any marriage is perfect…and when we stop pointing out all of our spouses perceived inadequacies it really does make us a much better person to be around.  (Psalm 139:23-24 is a GREAT prayer to pray when asking God to show you your very own “opportunities for improvement.”) #3 – Ask For…

• A Letter From Pastor P To NewSpring Church

  perry

  7 Feb 2012 | 4:07 am

  Howdy NewSpring Church, SEVEN things I want to share with you today… #1 – This past Sunday was an AMAZING conclusion to our “All In” series as we saw 296 people stand and publicly acknowledge that they had repented of their sins and trusted Jesus as their Savior!  I’m still so excited I can’t see straight…we literally had someone receive Christ at every campus during every service! #2 – A HUGE thank you to everyone who went all out to bring people this past Sunday…it impacted a lot of lives.  AND…for the ones who invited and the…

• Overwhelmed??

  Perry

  6 Feb 2012 | 4:42 am

  I saw a report on Fox News yesterday that said that antidepressant medicine sales have increased in America 400% in the last 20 years!!!  We are, by far, the wealthiest and most blessed nation on the planet… AND…the most depressed and overwhelmed! On Sunday, February 12 (THIS COMING SUNDAY) we are beginning a brand new series based out of the book of Daniel entitled, “Overwhelmed!” In it we are going to take a hard look at what the Scriptures say about worry, fear, anxiety and depression…and I am going to be sharing more of my three year battle with depression…

• The Goal Of A Leader…

  perry

  2 Feb 2012 | 4:58 am

  Just some thoughts I’ve been thinking lately… The goal of a leader isn’t to keep people happy but to keep people moving, which often times makes them not happy! The goal of a leader isn’t to get something out of people but rather to invest in them! The goal of a leader isn’t to DO all of the work, but to DELEGATE the work to the right people who can do it better than them anyway. The goal of a leader isn’t to merely identify problems but rather to initiate the solution to the problems. The goal of a leader isn’t to declare what he is against but…

• 

  ChurchCrunch

• Seattle Library Allows Porn on Computers Despite Complaints

  Eric Dye

  9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pm

  A Seattle woman was visiting her local library with her children, when she noticed a man viewing pornography on the library computers. The Seattle mother didn’t ask the librarian to remove the man from the library or even have him kicked-off the computers. No, she simply asked if the man could be relocated to a more discreet location. The librarian refused. Seattle Public Library spokeswoman Andra Addison said, “We’re a library, so we facilitate access to constitutionally protected information. We don’t tell people what they can view and check out.”…

• Study Likens Tweeting Urges to Smoking & Drinking

  Eric Dye

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am

  This from Geek O System: A recent experiment headed by Wilhelm Hofmann of Chicago University’s Booth Business School shows that urges to tweet are extremely hard to resist, harder to resist than urges to drink, or smoke, for example. The study involved 205 people between the ages of 18 and 85 in the German city of Würtzburg. The participants were given Blackberrys and questioned seven times over the course of a 14 hour day, for seven consecutive days, about their desires. They were to report any desire they were currently experiencing, any desire they’d experienced in the past 30…

• Vintage Computer Ads from the 1950′s

  Eric Dye

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 am

  Can you believe the size of these things! These reminded me of the computers they would show in the old Disney movies. We’ve come a long way in 50+ years! If you thought these were interesting, you should take a look at the vintage computer ads from the 1940′s. [via Vintage Ad Browser] You just finished reading "Vintage Computer Ads from the 1950′s" on ChurchMag! Feel free to comment on it! We use the Standard Theme for our blog platform!

• What To Do with Multimedia By-Products?

  Paul Clifford

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am

  I’ve been thinking about by-products. You know that when you do things there’s waste. When you cut down a tree for the wood, there’s sawdust left. When you wash your car, you have dirty water left. When you cook ground beef, you have fat left over. There’s a couple ways to deal with this fact. You can find a way to get rid of the waste and regard it as just a garbage, or you can find something useful to do with it. In the case of the dirty water from washing your car, you can use it to water your plants; it turns out they like dirt. When I was growing up, there was a…

• What Dr. Seuss Books Were Really About

  Eric Dye

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:47 am

  Having read all of these Dr. Seuss titles to my kids, I could quickly understand how these titles tell more explicitly what the books are about. There are a couple of things we can learn from this: Be mindful of what the media you are consuming is really saying. What are the books, TV shows and movies feeding us? Communicating the Gospel and Godly values doesn’t have to be dry and “in your face.” It can be done in a creative way. Just like Jesus did with His parables. Now, take a look at these Dr. Seuss titles and you’ll see what they are really about: See what I…

• 

  WSJ.com: Media & Marketing

• Chrysler's 'Halftime' Ad Stirs Divisions

  8 Feb 2012 | 8:05 pm

  An ad meant to bring Americans together instead stirred a television tempest with politicians and commentators squaring off against auto maker Chrysler over whether its commercial has political undertones.

• One News Corp. Hack Case Set to Go to Trial

  8 Feb 2012 | 7:04 pm

  News Corp.'s U.K. tabloid-newspaper unit has settled 54 of the 60 civil phone-hacking claims that victims had filed. A suit by singer Charlotte Church is the only one set to go to trial.

• Time Warner's Net Edges Higher

  8 Feb 2012 | 5:06 pm

  Time Warner reported a slight increase in fourth-quarter earnings as the TV, movie and publishing company continued to benefit from its efforts to monetize content more effectively. The company also announced a $4 billion stock buyback and an 11% dividend increase.

• Hot Covers! Weddings and Breakups

  8 Feb 2012 | 10:34 am

  Kardashians and others who owe their fame to reality TV accounted for about 40% of the covers of six major celebrity weeklies in 2011.

• How JetBlue Cracked Boston

  7 Feb 2012 | 9:09 pm

  JetBlue Airways has become the largest carrier at Boston's Logan International Airport, where it was once refused admission, a turnabout aided by its flexible strategy.

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  WSJ.com: Personal Technology

• Apple Tightens Up on Apps

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:42 am

  Apple is again frustrating legions of application developers by replicating its regime for mobile devices in the world of desktop software

• A 'Port' out of the Norm

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:40 am

  Walt Mossberg reviews a special flash drive that can transfer and stream files to popular mobile devices without standard USB ports.

• Fun With Studying

  8 Feb 2012 | 11:07 am

  The iBooks 2 app offers educational textbooks on the iPad that are, for now, focused on high-school students, writes Katherine Boehret.

• Need a Ride?

  6 Feb 2012 | 11:57 am

  New apps like Cabulous, Groundlink and Getaround let you easily book and pay for yellow cabs, stretch limousines and even neighbor's cars.

• iPad as Sous Chef

  6 Feb 2012 | 11:38 am

  Turn your magic slate into the ultimate cook's companion

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  Coca-Cola Conversations

• Steve plays the Coca-Cola Can Joe!

  Jamal Booker

  7 Feb 2012 | 7:37 am

  A unique musical instrument arrived in the mail for the Archives a few years back. While I would often pluck away at it, I always thought it would be interesting to see what it’d sound like in the hands of a true musician. Meet Steve Soltis, who also works with us at Coca-Cola. Steve has played the banjo for a number of years, and he agreed to have a go at the Can Joe for us. The original inventor of the Can Joe (also referred to as the canjo) was Herschel Brown of Jacksonville, North Carolina. Herschel Brown had the idea that sending Can Joes to troops serving in the military would allow…

• Coke, Sprite and Soul Train

  Jamal Booker

  6 Feb 2012 | 1:37 pm

  Did you know that The Coca-Cola Company was an inaugural sponsor of Soul Train? The show was a favorite of mine and a launching pad for many popular music groups over time. Coca-Cola also sponsored the first annual Soul Train Music Awards in 1987, and continued for many years. There are a number of pretty interesting Spirte Soul Train promotions in our collection, and we'd like to salute the show by sharing this 1991 Soul Train Sweepstakes Promotion.

• A Coke and a Wedding

  Phil Mooney

  3 Feb 2012 | 1:57 pm

  A few weeks ago, I was delighted to greet two collectors from China to our Atlanta Headquarters. Without question, these collectors were among the most enthusiastic fans of the brand that I have ever encountered. Their passion was to collect packaging for Coca-Cola from all over the world, particularly bottles and cans that were associated with unique events like the Olympics, the World Cup and the Shanghai Expo. One of the collectors, a man named Cheng Zhang, made his brand love part of his wedding celebration this past Fall. Guests who attended his wedding reception received special…

• Nature Study Card Artwork

  Ted Ryan

  26 Jan 2012 | 8:13 am

  We recently received a request for information about the "Nature Study Card" program that was introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 1929 and continued until 1933. The cards were part of the visual education method of teaching and were produced by Ernest R. Crandall, the acknowledged expert in that field. In addition to the illustration, each card had a brief description and interesting facts to stimulate memory and retention.  One of the advertising elements in support of the cards noted that the program had been fully endorsed by the Boy Scouts of America.  The series…

• Lawrence Wilbur Cowboy Painting

  Justine Fletcher

  19 Jan 2012 | 6:01 am

  One of the things I really enjoy about working in the archives is when we have new items to catalog - here is a painting that Ted just acquired. I did some research on the artist, Lawrence Wilbur and found out that he studied under N.C Wyeth, another artist who produced Coca-Cola images.  It may be hard to tell that some of the brush strokes are thick but you can see the colors are very vivid.  I wonder if that little girl is asking to pet the horse or for a sip of the Coca-Cola?

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  Ford Motor Company Newsroom

• Ford Names Jon Huntsman to Board of Directors

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  Ford Motor Company announced today the election of Jon M. Huntsman Jr. to the company’s Board of Directors effective immediately.

• Drive Your Way to the Summer X Games with Ford Focus ST Challenge

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  Ford Motor Company is giving fans of the new Focus ST a chance to put the upcoming high-performance hatchback to the test virtually and before it goes on sale in a competition that will send the winning driver to the ESPN summer X Games.

• Ford CFO Lewis Booth and Global Product Chief Derrick Kuzak to Retire; Veteran Executives Named as Successors

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  Ford Motor Company today announced that Lewis Booth, executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Global Product Development, have elected to retire effective April 1. Each has served the automaker for more than 30 years.

• Ford B-MAX erreicht Klassenbestwerte bei Verbrauch und CO2-Emissionen – dies gilt für Benzin- und Dieselmotoren

  9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 am

  KÖLN, 9. Februar 2012 – Der neue Ford B-MAX, der in Deutschland im Herbst auf den Markt kommt, überzeugt nicht nur als modernes und vielseitiges Multi-Activity Vehicle. Seine fortschrittlichen Benzin- und Dieselmotoren setzen außerdem Maßstäbe im Hinblick auf Effizienz, Kraftstoffverbrauch und CO2-Emissionen.

• Novo Ford B-MAX com Melhor Performance da Classe em Economia de Combustível e Emissões de CO2 no Motor Diesel e Gasolina

  9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 am

  LISBOA, Portugal, 9 de Fevereiro de 2012 – O novo Ford B-MAX – o versátil veículo multi-actividades que se estreia este ano – estabelece um novo standard na sua classe para a economia de combustível e emissões de CO2 com os mais recentes motores a gasolina e diesel da Ford.

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  TweetMeme

• Notes from the Outernet - JaredLeto.com

  9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 am

  RT @jaredleto: NOTES FROM THE OUTERNET PHOTO - JAPAN: self-portrait in tokyo - http://t.co/PJmbCo2m0 comments

• Daily Income Network - Home

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:55 am

  @babydee2fly We want to Hire YOU to Tweet at http://t.co/OWtJMyIG0 comments

• One Direction - MEGAMIND Pt 1 - YouTube

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:43 am

  One Direction - MEGAMIND Pt 11 comment

• One Direction - MEGAMIND coming soon! - YouTube

  9 Feb 2012 | 7:43 am

  One Direction - MEGAMIND coming soon!0 comments

• Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as In Paris (Explicit) - YouTube

  9 Feb 2012 | 7:03 am

  Jay-Z & Kanye West - Ni**as In Paris (Explicit)0 comments

• 

  TweetMeme

• Notes from the Outernet - JaredLeto.com

  9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 am

  RT @jaredleto: NOTES FROM THE OUTERNET PHOTO - JAPAN: self-portrait in tokyo - http://t.co/PJmbCo2m0 comments

• Daily Income Network - Home

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:55 am

  @babydee2fly We want to Hire YOU to Tweet at http://t.co/OWtJMyIG0 comments

• Apple to Announce iPad 3 First Week in March - John Paczkowski - Mobile - AllThingsD

  9 Feb 2012 | 4:31 am

  Apple’s not holding an event in February. But it is holding one in March — to launch its next iPad.Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements…0 comments

• WIN! Tour tickets to see McFly, The Wanted, JLS AND Twenty Twenty TODAY! | Maximum Pop!

  9 Feb 2012 | 3:44 am

  Hope you’ve got good cleaners. Today’s Comp of the Day is going to make your head explode. To celebrate our ludicrously dramatic Battle Of The Boyband Tours we’ve got a pair of tickets to the venue of your choice for the upcoming Twenty Twenty, The Wanted, JLS and McFly tours to give away. YES, ALL OF THEM! You can enter for one pair of tickets or if you’re greedy you can try for all…0 comments

• Twitter / nam woo hyun: 분명어제까지 ... 내사진이엇는데.....지나면 ...

  9 Feb 2012 | 1:53 am

  RT (at)wowwh きっと昨日まで...ネサジンこのオッのに.....後に終了だね。このように内因性の日は忘れられんだろう... http://t.co/Xn08LWof0 comments

• 

  Firefox - TweetMeme

• The death of Firefox | ExtremeTech

  9 Feb 2012 | 9:10 am

  Pc Tech News Daily The death of Firefox: It doesn't look good for Firefox: Almost every mon... http://t.co/XTD6oAuO http://t.co/nmFxwwlh0 comments

• Firefox Soon in Quechua for Digital Inclusion

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:57 am

  RT @TheNextWeb: Firefox will be translated into South American Quechua to promote digital inclusion http://t.co/vFQDFeSd by @abracarioca ...0 comments

• Twitter / I Love Typography: Finally dumping FireFox. O ...

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:42 am

  RT @ilovetypography: Finally dumping FireFox. Only tabs open (+one extension): 1.65 GB of memory! http://t.co/ldzn1WRH0 comments

• Why So Many Firefox Updates? Do I Really Need Them?

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:53 am

  Why So Many Firefox Updates? Do I Really Need Them? http://t.co/jQ63DW7z #dc #searchengines0 comments

• IE9 and Firefox 4 post top marks in Web browser power use comparison | Hand Crafts

  8 Feb 2012 | 11:39 pm

  IE9 and Firefox 4 post top marks in Web browser power use comparison http://t.co/cNiCiQq70 comments

• 

  @ProBlogger

• Is Perfectionism Stalling Your Productivity?

  Darren Rowse

  9 Feb 2012 | 12:04 pm

  We’ve all been there … You sit down to write a post. You get the opening line down, but half-way through the second sentence, you go back to tweak the first. A bit further on, you decide to chop up the paragraphs you’ve done so far and rearrange them … but on second thought, is that really the better option? In two minds, you “finish” the post, then spend a half-hour writing and rewriting the “ideal” headline. Finally, happy(ish!) your cursor hovers over the Publish button … but you just can’t press it. You decide to give it some…

• 6 Powerful Guest Post Tactics that No One’s Talking About

  Guest Blogger

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:05 am

  This guest post is by Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind. Guest posting is a hot topic amongst startup bloggers. It is one of the most widely-adopted blog promotion strategies in existence, and has been made perhaps even more popular by the success of “serial” guest posters such as Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. His “blitzkrieg” strategy may come across to some as a triumph of quantity over strategy, but nothing could be further from the truth. He understands the key concepts that we will be exploring in this post, and executes them in a highly effective manner. Whilst…

• How to Succinctly Report a Blog Issue to Tech Support

  Guest Blogger

  8 Feb 2012 | 6:07 am

  This guest post is by Matthew Setter of Malt Blue. How often do you find it happening to you? You discover an issue with your site, or one of your community members emails you to tell you about it, and soon you start to see tweets about it too. Maybe it’s as simple as an error message that detracts from the professional appearance of your site. Perhaps the contact form doesn’t send messages to your contact email address. Or is it that the whole site just displays as a blank page, otherwise known as the white page of death? You’re not a programmer, a software engineer or a seasoned…

• Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger: Part 2

  Guest Blogger

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:05 pm

  This guest post is by Devesh of WP Kube. A few months ago, I wrote a guest post here called How to Make Your Blog Load Faster than ProBlogger. Today, I’ll go into some more detailed advice to help you speed up your site even more. If you’re a blogger, you already know about the importance of blog loading speed, and the role it plays in search engine rank and marketing your blog. But if this is new territory for you, here are three quick reasons why you need to speed up your blog: Google includes website loading speed as an important metric in their ranking algorithm. If you want…

• How I Beat my Best Month Ever by Doing Something Good, Better [Case Study]

  Darren Rowse

  7 Feb 2012 | 6:04 am

  Mid-December 2010: on my photography site, we launched a new campaign—our first ever 12 Days of Christmas promotion. The result was my biggest month of earnings ever up to that point. The idea was simple: offer discounts on 12 products over the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I used a mix of my own ebooks and products from other photography sites with affiliate commissions. The result was massive. Not only did we see some great revenue generated, it created some lovely buzz on the site. Due to the success of the 2010 campaign, in mid-December 2011 we launched our second 12 Days of…

• 

  Chris Garrett on New Media

• When Should You Start Selling from Your Blog?

  Chris Garrett

  31 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pm

  How do you know when your audience is ready to buy from you? Should you wait to “monetize”? How big does your audience need to be? These are common questions and the answers have been debated over the years. I am going to share an answer I gave George from the Man Up Blog during his blog critique. George spent some time in the dating world, sometimes called the “pick up artist” niche. This is shy dudes learning to pick up the ladies mostly, but obviously the market caters to all genders and tastes. It’s pretty obvious what people want from dating advice, but…

• Why You Shouldn’t Drive Traffic

  Chris Garrett

  16 Jan 2012 | 7:58 pm

  In the first 7 days of this blogs life, 20,000 visitors checked it out. Sounds like a pretty nice result doesn’t it? I was super happy, but a little disappointed in one specific respect. Only 500 people subscribed. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved and nurtured those 500 subscribers and 500 subscribers in any time frame is not to be sniffed at! My problem was, how can you have 20,000 visitors check out my blog and only 500 of them want to stick around? The cause? I was “Driving” traffic … Big Lessons Learned I had been involved with a couple of successful blogs at…

• How to know what your audience really wants

  Chris Garrett

  23 Dec 2011 | 11:53 am

  Your audience does not want your content. Your audience probably does not want to hear from you at all. If you think that because your website looks great that people will want to visit it … think again. What do they really want? Your audience and potential customers know who they are and probably have a very good idea of their goals. At the very least they know their immediate needs. They are looking for answers to questions, advice, and resources that help people like them get the stuff people like them want. When someone seeks out and clicks on your content it is only as a means to…

• Finding and Communicating Your Value

  Chris Garrett

  5 Dec 2011 | 11:06 am

  Many bloggers don’t have a value problem. They have a great deal to share. I am sure you do – I have never met someone who doesn’t. Why then do people struggle to find an audience. Never mind an audience who knows, likes and trusts them – ANY audience? It’s weird but a lot of the time it is because you have SO much to offer, it’s hard to know who you are for and what specific benefit you provide. A lot of my coaching clients have this problem and, thankfully, there is a solution. The solution is simple, but it isn’t always easy. Check out Ryan…

• How to REALLY make money from a website

  Chris Garrett

  23 Nov 2011 | 3:08 pm

  As much as I tell people to seriously reconsider buying too much into the hardcore “Make Money Online” hype, I can not argue against its allure and the fact that, well, people DO make money online. The problem is, there are the usual caveats: It’s not fast. It’s not easy. You WILL encounter problems and tough challenges. You might not always enjoy it. These are challenges facing Roman who asked me for a blog critique. He has been building a site all about his experience of creating a website that makes money called “How this website makes money” (how meta).

• 

  ReadWriteWeb

• Hangout With the Scientists Looking for the God Particle

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:57 am

  Want to hang out with the people who run the CMS? No, not the content management system. The Compact Muon Solenoid. It's one of the two big detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. CERN physicist Dr. Albert De Roeck is hosting a Google+ Hangout tomorrow from inside the cavern where the experiment takes place, about 100 meters underneath Cessy, France. He'll explain the CMS experiment and take questions about the crazy frontiers of particle physics. Sponsor The CMS is one of the two general-purpose LHC experiments searching…

• Fabled Google Drive Won't Be Another Dropbox

  9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 am

  The Wall Street Journal has revived rumors about Google launching a cloud storage service called Drive. The comparison everybody wants to make is to Dropbox. The thinking is that Google will challenge everyone's favorite start-up by releasing a native desktop and mobile Drive app with the same syncing features Dropbox users know and love. Google Drive rumors have been around for many years, and they've always conformed to the understanding of "The Cloud" that has prevailed at the time. If it's not like Apple's iCloud, which is integrated into Apple's devices, then it must be like Dropbox,…

• [STUDY] 61% of Social Media Users Feel So Close To You

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 am

  Sometimes little things like a sweet comment on Facebook or a Twitter friend calling your tweet a "favorite" can really make a social networker bee's day. A new study from Pew finds that for the most part, adults are kind to each other on social media sites. In fact, 85% of adults say that most of the people they come across on social media are rather kind; only 5% say that people are "mostly unkind," which would imply rude or mean. An additional 5% say that it's all situational. On the whole, adults have positive experiences on social networking sites. A total 68% of SNS users had an…

• [Infographic] Mapping the Tools in the Mobile Development Ecosystem

  9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 am

  The mobile development ecosystem is a large, complicated space. There are innovative startups making tools for native and mobile Web apps along with large enterprise-grade companies that offer solutions from cloud support to frameworks and developer environments. For a mobile developer, it can be confusing to know where to turn and what to use to make the best app possible. Mobile "backend-as-a-service" startup Kinvey created a map for ReadWriteMobile to help developers understand the ecosystem. Kinvey brackets the mobile ecosystem between two primary pillars: the service providers and the…

• Harry Reid Wants a Bigger, Badder Version of SOPA/PIPA

  9 Feb 2012 | 9:30 am

  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., still licking wounds from last week's defeat of the Protect IP Act and its House counterpart the Stop Online Piracy Act, is reportedly working on an even more sinister, Internet-regulating bill. Few details have been publicly disclosed about the latest push by legislative Democrats to expand executive-branch authority over the Internet, but the Daily Caller has pieced together publicly-available clues suggesting that Reid's newest bill is even broader than President Barack Obama's cybersecurity proposal. Sponsor Released last May, Obama's proposal…

• 

  chrisbrogan.com

• Throw Away the Maps

  ceb

  6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 am

  People judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The…

• The Next Social Networks

  ceb

  5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 am

  The rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for…

• Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform

  ceb

  3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 am

  Jacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the…

• Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard

  ceb

  2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 am

  I had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the…

• Build Your Platform – Start

  ceb

  30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 am

  The following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…

• 

  Scobleizer

• Hacker News vs. Google+

  Robert Scoble

  5 Feb 2012 | 10:20 am

  I might as well have titled this “Hacker News vs Marketers.” Or “Hacker News vs Bloggers.” Or “jerks vs nice people.” But I never participate in Hacker News for a few reasons and I just was faced with these reasons again when I read the responses there to my blog post yesterday. 1. Programmers often have an attitude of “I can code, you can’t, so I am defacto better than you.” This often comes out in Hacker News comments. 2. Programmers love to bash people anonymously and then, in real life, they will come begging for PR for their companies…

• It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web

  Robert Scoble

  4 Feb 2012 | 5:02 pm

  The date was January 3, 2008. Facebook had kicked me off for running a script to try to save the common web. See, I worked with Plaxo to run a simple script. One that would have taken my contacts out of Facebook and put them back into the common web. The script did some very simple things: 1. It grabbed all my friends names. 2. It grabbed all their phone numbers. 3. It grabbed all their email addresses. 4. It gave me a simple CSV file with all that data so I could bring them back to Google, or Microsoft, or anywhere else I wanted to put them. Facebook’s answer was predictable. They shut…

• HTML 5 pushback in San Francisco? Best mobile app designers say yes

  Robert Scoble

  1 Feb 2012 | 3:39 pm

  The new Path? The one that won a Crunchie last night for great design? It’s not done in HTML 5. This morning I saw something new coming soon from Storify. Not done in HTML 5. This morning I visited Foodspotting, which just shipped hot new apps on iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Not done in HTML 5. More and more I’m hearing that designers and developers are ignoring HTML 5, especially for the high end of apps. Why? Well, Path’s founders told me it just isn’t possible to build a great user interface, the way they did it in HTML 5. Storify’s founder told me it…

• Why Facebook will be worth a half trillion by 2015: the mobile and open graph revenue it’s leaving on the table

  Robert Scoble

  1 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pm

  Lots of people think Facebook is overvalued, at about $100 billion (it just released their S1, announcing its IPO). But in talking with developers, like I did with Foodspotting’s founder, Alexa Andrzejewski, and in reading the S1 I see that Facebook has left most of the potential revenue on the table. That makes me think that the folks crying “overvalued” are nuts. Check that interview out, Foodspotting is one of the hottest San Francisco startups, aimed at people who are looking for better places to eat. Here it is from just this morning: See, Mark Zuckerberg is sandbagging…

• 2012 brings a pause in the disruption

  Robert Scoble

  31 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pm

  OK, I’ve been talking with hundreds of geeks from around the world this year at three conferences, CES, DLD, and World Economic Forum. I’m seeing a trend that is worth talking about. What is it? We’re seeing the end of one of the most disruptive ages in human history. I believe that we’re seeing a pause in the disruption. More on that a little later. Just think about all the changes humans have been asked to adopt in the past eight years. Most of us, back then, didn’t carry mobile computers in our pockets. If we did use tablets, like I did, they were expensive,…

• 

  Brian Solis

• Meet the Mother of All Processes

  Brian Solis

  8 Feb 2012 | 10:32 am

  Guest post by John M. Bernard, author of the new book, Business at the Speed of Now, and Chairman and Founder of Mass Ingenuity. Imagine going to work in one of Henry Ford’s factories a century ago, proud that management referred to you a “hand” or a “hammer” or maybe even a “wrench.” The labels reflected Ford’s emphasis on automation and management’s view of laborers as mere cogs in the machine. Screw this nut onto that bolt; weld this strap to that frame; do it over and over and over again until your brain froze with boredom. Of course, management needed workers to get the…

• 2011 Was the Year of the Mobile Consumer, What’s in Store for 2012? Value.

  Brian Solis

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:10 am

  Chris Silva, my colleague at Altimeter Group, released a useful report today that I wanted to share with you here. Mobile is important and I believe you know this. However, when we consider mobile, we often think about the experience when and where it begins. But, we often miss the opportunity to lead a more meaningful journey as it may travel from small screen to larger screens across laptops, desktops and beyond. And along the way, we must now determine our role in this journey to provide information, shape decisions, and influence behavior. In Chris’ report, he reminds us that 2011…

• Season 2 Finale: How Yamaha invests in new customer experiences

  Brian Solis

  3 Feb 2012 | 10:52 am

  This is it…the Season Finale! And, what a way to end Season 2 of (R)evolution…. In this episode, Yamaha shares what is by far the most expansive view of disruptive technology’s impact on business infrastructure and culture on the show to date. What you’ll see is a genuine discussion with Jeff Hawley and Rick Williams of Yamaha explore how an already successful business is exploring new opportunities to better define the customer experience before, during and after transactions. It comes down to workflow. Nowadays, it either works for you or works against you. Here,…

• Smartphones, Tablets, PCs, The Devices People Use to Discover Information in Social Media (and when)

  Brian Solis

  2 Feb 2012 | 3:13 pm

  My friends over at bit.ly published an interesting graph that reveals the devices as well as the days/times that people use different devices and how and when they consume information. As you can imagine, it’s across the board, but as you can see, there are waves that every device follows, except the desktop. Desktops are of course the devices that we can assume people use during work hours. As such, they are most heavily used on weekdays before noon. Interestingly enough, phone traffic peaks at about the same times, but not to similar effects. What’s also telling is that tablets…

• What’s Love Got to Do with It? The 3P’s of Identity

  Brian Solis

  2 Feb 2012 | 6:16 am

  Guest post by Allison Cerra, author of Identity Shift With the 2012 Presidential election looming, there’s no shortage of polls to help narrow the field of candidates. I find a recent one from Fox News to be particularly fascinating. Among other questions, Republican primary voters were asked which Republican presidential candidate is most likeable and which they would most trust with a nuclear weapon. While Newt Gingrich scored at the top of the heap in earning the trust vote, he scored only marginally well on the likeability scale. The topic was discussed on the network’s “Fox &…

• 

  Social Media Mom

• The History and Evolution of the Businessman

  socialmediamom

  30 Jan 2012 | 2:15 pm

  Reading time: < 1 minute Sometimes it is hard to imagine a time before the internet and social networks - even as new as they are. These avenues of communication have completely changed the course of business, and thus, the businessman. Business MBA recently launched an infographic that takes us back to a time when prehistoric man made survival his business, we meet the poets of the renaissance, the discoverers of new worlds, and eventually a generation with the world at their fingertips who has proven to be unlike any other. From: Business MBA

• Win Free Tickets To ABC’s, The Revolution

  Kristina Carpenter

  25 Jan 2012 | 6:39 am

  Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes If you are a fan of Ty Pennington, or of daytime talk shows, or of living a better life – this is your chance to be front and center. ABC is offering free tickets to be a part of their new show’s live studio audience. This is a wonderful opportunity. I am very impressed with the entire premise of the show. Here on Social Media Mom, we often talk about living a better and more balanced life, which is the idea behind The Revolution. When it comes to style, adventure, health, and fitness – The Revolution is doing its part to make people happy…

• A Guide To Travel Therapy Jobs

  socialmediamom

  18 Jan 2012 | 10:15 am

  Reading time: < 1 minute Many of us spend our lives looking for that dream job, and in this economy, we are forced to take what we can get. This is part of the reason Onward Healthcare's new infographic resonated with me. It is always reassuring to see industries that help job creation. This particular career track is interesting because: you can live comfortably off of it, you have the resources to help others, and you get to travel the country. Check out the following infographic for more information on this career, and let us know if you know anyone in this field or are interested in…

• Faces iMake App. Stimulates Creativity

  socialmediamom

  16 Jan 2012 | 7:36 am

  Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes The new app. for your iPhone and iPad, is an award winning activity for  your kids. Your child will take everyday objects and make faces out of them.  It helps your child to be more creative and stimulates right brain activity. The application was created by children’s book author, Hanoch Piven, and  is loved by parents just as much as kids. Many parents have called it  addicting, and say it even makes them feel they are being more creative. The game is easy and intuitive for your children, and has been said to be very helpful to children with…

• Apple To Apples: Tech vs. Fruit

  Kristina Carpenter

  11 Jan 2012 | 8:41 am

  Reading time: < 1 minute I came across a great infographic, by MBA Online, that I thought was so clever. This was a very interesting way of getting cool stats on America's favorite technology, and Russia's favorite fruit. It should also be no surprise that most of our apples, and all of our Apples come from China. I hope this brings some joy to your wednesday! Created by: MBA Online

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  PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations

• Open Letter to Havas CEO David Jones

  Todd Defren

  8 Feb 2012 | 8:12 am

  Hi Mr. Jones.  I caught your MSNBC interview this morning with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski re: your new book, Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business is Better Business.  You made some excellent points re: how transparency, authenticity and speed will win the day for corporations; about how companies who expect to do well must increasingly expect to do good, as it is becomes ever easier for consumers to suss out egregious behavior and punish bad actors (from un-friending to public humiliation). This is all well-worn territory for Social Media geeks, of course, but it’s always good…

• Facebook IPO is Good for Everybody

  Todd Defren

  6 Feb 2012 | 6:35 am

  Depending on who you ask, the Facebook IPO will result in boundless glory or is destined to be remembered as the final pinprick in an impending burst of the current tech bubble. For my part, whereas in the past I likened Facebook to previous Walled Garden successes like AOL (the AOL of the early 90′s, not the AOL of today – which is a SHIFT client!), in the past 18 months or so I’ve only been impressed by Facebook’s ability to embed itself across the larger, open expanses of the Web. It “rides alongside” us as we surf, versus dictating how and where we experience the…

• Susan G. Komen PR Disaster: Lessons Learned

  Todd Defren

  3 Feb 2012 | 11:27 am

  Wow. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that. I was out sick. And wow, what a crazy time to sit on the sidelines… Facebook IPO. Hello!  More on that in a future post. Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood.  Sheesh! Let’s talk about that! (Caveat:  I am a Blue State progressive; whose mother died of breast cancer; who marched on Washington as a college student in support of women’s rights; and whose dear-departed grandmother spoke with horror of the days prior to Roe v. Wade. Got all that?  You’ve been warned.) Just as I started…

• It’s the End of the Web as We Know It … or, Speed Kills

  Todd Defren

  23 Jan 2012 | 9:46 am

  Those of you who follow me on other social nets like Twitter or Facebook know that I am pretty opinionated when it comes to politics.  Suffice to say that I am a card-carrying member of the “Liberal Coastal Elites.”  (I try not to over-indulge or bore folks with it; and I certainly can play nice with my right-leaning friends.) I bring it all up only as a segue to the fact that I am a big fan of Andrew Sullivan’s Dish blog.  Sullivan’s one of the big dogs in blogging; he’s been freshly-empowered by his move to the Daily Beast to experiment…

• Thoughts on a Twitterversary

  Todd Defren

  19 Jan 2012 | 7:18 am

  Let’s take a ramble. One of those automated spambots on Twitter informed me that today was my 5–year anniversary of microblogging.  Wow.  Five years.  Really? What was I up to five years ago? I was living in Boston, in-between my family’s quinquennial moves to San Francisco.  My brain was on fire, as I’d hit upon a worthy successor to the Social Media News Release concept and was just a couple of weeks away from debuting the Social Media Newsroom template. As I look back, 2007 was a prolific time for the entire Social Media industry.  It was not only the year Twitter…

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  Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

• The Death Of The Unconference

  Mitch Joel

  9 Feb 2012 | 8:23 am

  Does anyone remember the unconference? There was hope for collaboration and self-organizing groups, but it seems to have gone the way of the corporate spin machine. I was a massive proponent of the unconference movement (I still am!), but that word has been used so poorly by so many groups that it seems to have all but disappeared. In short: calling your conference an "unconference" just to sound young, hip and with it, actually makes you sound old, out-of-touch and stupid. This past month, I've seen a handful of events that are billing themselves as unconferences when, in reality,…

• How To Get Started As A Business Leader

  Mitch Joel

  7 Feb 2012 | 1:04 pm

  Your life and your success is not obvious. It's not a given. It's not a direct path. I often say that the best careers in marketing (specifically the ones that have a digital/new media slant) are very squiggly. They involve everything from stumbling through university and very crappy jobs to bad choices and decisions that were driven by financial debt instead of personal opportunity. Every year, I do my best to attend the TED conference. A couple of years ago, the name Chris Sacca was bandied around as someone who everyone wanted to not only meet, but hang out with. He was (and still is) a…

• Digital Tumbleweeds And Virtual Crickets

  Mitch Joel

  7 Feb 2012 | 6:51 am

  If you publish online get ready for a lesson in humility. Brands quit publishing content for the exact same reason that many individuals stop publishing content: the brutal reality that nobody cares. As someone who creates and publishes a lot of content online (roughly six Blog posts and one audio Podcast every week), there is both a certain humility and instant humiliation that comes along with the process. The cream rises to the top. Even in a world where two hundred billion videos get viewed every month, the cream still does rise to the top (as the saying goes). It's just that we seem to…

• CTRL AT DEL - The Business Book

  Mitch Joel

  5 Feb 2012 | 11:30 am

  CTRL ALT DEL is the title of my second business book. It will be published in Spring 2013. Following is the official press release and some media mention of the pending project... BUSINESS PLUS To Publish CTRL ALT DEL by Mitch Joel Author of the best-selling business book, Six Pixels of Separation, and President of award-winning Digital Marketing agency, Twist Image, signs with Business Plus for the release of his sophomore book. NEW YORK, February 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Business Plus, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing (Hachette Book Group USA), has announced it will publish CTRL ALT…

• Madison Avenue And Mountain View Collide For The Future Of Marketing

  Mitch Joel

  5 Feb 2012 | 10:41 am

  Episode #291 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. This is also episode #20.20 of Across The Sound. Joseph Jaffe is widely regarded as one of the top Marketing Bloggers (Jaffe Juice) and Podcasters (both Jaffe Juice in audio and Jaffe Juice TV in video). He is the author of three excellent books (Life After The 30-Second Spot, Join The Conversation and Flip The Funnel). A long-time friend (and one of the main inspirations behind the Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast), we've decided to hold monthly conversations, debates and…

• 

  Common Craft - Common Craft - Our Product is Explanation

• New Video: Copyright and Creative Commons

  leelefever

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:04 am

  Today we’re announcing a new video: Copyright and Creative Commons - Explained by Common Craft.   Watch it now. One of the exciting things about having Common Craft members is working with them on ideas for future video titles. We provide them tools for suggesting and voting on future titles and this idea came directly from the members. Yaay! About the video: This video tells the story of a photographer who learns the basics of copyright law and creative commons licensing. Her story highlights the role each can play in helping creators protect and share their work.  It teaches:   •…

• This Week in Love: PEMCO Commercials

  leelefever

  3 Feb 2012 | 10:07 am

  This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter.  This Week in Love: PEMCO Commercials It's not often that we're prepared to come out and say that we love a series of insurance commercials, but these are near and dear to our hearts. They're commercials for Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance (with DNA Seattle) and part of a campaign called "We're A Little Different. A Lot Like You." Why we love them: Wherever you're from, you know the things that make that region unique.  You know how people think and what…

• This Week in Love: Radiolab Podcast

  leelefever

  26 Jan 2012 | 11:09 am

  This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter.  This Week in Love:  The Radiolab Podcast Over the last couple of years, podcasts have become a big part of our lives.  We work from home and end up sharing our listening habits, for better or for worse.  We've discovered a number of podcasts that we love.  We play them while working (especially doing creative work), cooking dinner, working out, etc. They've become among our most frequently used types of media and we listen through iTunes and Stitcher…

• 5 Trends Behind the Growing Shift to Video Explanations

  leelefever

  23 Jan 2012 | 11:24 am

  It’s easy to look back at Internet history and spot the points of major change. A famous example is the Web 2.0 era which spawned products like Twitter, Facebook and other lasting features of the Web. Some would say we're in the cloud era now, with nearly everything we do on computers being moved to off-site servers.  Within these big, tectonic shifts are smaller shifts that also make a difference.  YouTube was a big shift that kicked off online video in 2005 and in the years since, we’ve seen the growth of viral videos and myriad artistic expressions in video form. How did we survive…

• Guest Post: What Communicators Can Learn from a Highsticking Penalty

  leelefever

  16 Jan 2012 | 12:45 pm

  This is a guest post by friend of Common Craft, Darren Barefoot. He's a writermarketerCanadian and a big hockey fan. During a hockey game in March, 2010, Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara drove Montreal Canadians forward Max Pacioretty into the stanchion that separates the player's benches. Nearly a year later, it still looks like a brutal hit as Pacioretty 's head bounced off the corner of the boards. Chara received a five-minute penalty and ejected from the game. Pacioretty was sent to the hospital. The next day, Mike Murphy, the NHL's vice-president of hockey operations released a…

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  Christopher S. Penn : Awaken Your Superhero

• Get the first cup on the table as fast as possible

  Christopher S Penn

  9 Feb 2012 | 5:41 am

  This morning, John Wall and I were discussing the merits and drawbacks of the diner in which we do Marketing Over Coffee each week. One of the hallmarks of good service at a restaurant is that things initially happen at a rapid pace. You get seated quickly and your first order of drinks or appetizers is taken quickly. If you run a tight shop with great service, you get that first cup of coffee/drink/appetizer on the table as soon as possible. Why? Because up until the point that goods and services are actually delivered, it’s really easy for the customer to walk out. There’s no…

• Twitter favorites power tips

  Christopher S Penn

  8 Feb 2012 | 3:07 am

  When I first started working with Blue Sky Factory, I noticed something peculiar about the company’s Twitter favorites. It wasn’t actual favorite tweets at all – it was instead a collection of praise the company had received online. This was the brainchild of DJ Waldow, the community manager, and what started effectively as a content management system (because Twitter doesn’t provide search outside of a 2 week window) has become one of my favorite sales and marketing tools. Here’s why this is powerful. In many ways, it’s just like recommendations on…

• Performance Based Social Media at Social Fresh East

  Christopher S Penn

  7 Feb 2012 | 9:12 am

  I have the pleasure of speaking to the Social Fresh East crowd today. For those interested, here’s the slides that I’m speaking about. If you enjoyed this, please click here and share it with your network! Want to read more like this from Christopher Penn? If so, please subscribe right now! Click here to read my blog on Google Currents on your mobile! Marketing White Belt Basics for Digital Marketers is now on Amazon & B&N Watch me speak: Attend virtually! I recommend: for Twitter audience building. Related posts: Social+Email Integration from Social Fresh Charlotte Social Media…

• Build your base to build your momentum

  Christopher S Penn

  7 Feb 2012 | 5:29 am

  One of the most important lessons I teach to my students in the social media course I teach is that it’s vitally important to build your social base. We have so many platforms on which to market that if we try to be everywhere all the time, we’ll effectively not be anywhere. This is especially true if you are budget or resource constrained and trying to make social media work for you. How do you choose a social base? Look around at all of the social networks and figure out which one you are most comfortable working in. For some people, the way Facebook works is ideal for them.

• When was the last time you were your customer?

  Christopher S Penn

  6 Feb 2012 | 3:52 am

  When was the last time you were your customer? You say you’ve got social media strategy. You say you’ve got great service. You say you’re customer-focused, customer-centric, and the customer is always right. When was the last time you tested it out? If you manage business for more than a sole proprietorship, then give your business a service test. Set up a list of a few tasks and go test out your sales and service teams. Call them up anonymously or set up a fake email account and try your internal processes out. If you work at a small business where you’d be recognized…

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   louisgray.com

• Dice.com: Louis Gray on Google and Job Hunting

  7 Feb 2012 | 10:53 am

  Last fall, shortly after I joined Google, Michelle Greenlee contacted me for a quick interview about the Google hiring experience, and what tech-savvy job seekers can do to leverage the influence of social media to influence hiring managers. The story was finally posted this morning.The biggest take-away is probably my last note in an answer to her final question: "The world is becoming social and the new world of business and hiring can find great candidates through how you present yourself online."See: Dice.com: Louis Gray on Google and Job Hunting/via My Google+ Profile.More:…

• 50 Things a +1 Can Mean

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:15 am

  A +1 is simple. It’s one of the easiest ways on the web to take an action that endorses the content and says you saw something. But it can mean many different things. That’s the beauty of +1. You can +1 things you like. You can +1 bad news. You can +1 things you love. You can +1 casual status updates or items that change the world.Often, we get asked what it means to +1. Here are some ideas. We’d love to see yours./via The Google+ Page (Which I maintain)1. A +1 can say you agree with the post.2. A +1 can say your photo is beautiful.3. A +1 can say your joke was funny.4. A +1 can mean…

• Two Numbers: 1 and 90 Million

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:10 am

  By now, you all have seen the dual bits of news today - first that Google+ has achieved 90 million users with at least one new feature every single day, over 1 million businesses and brand pages, and sign in of 60% daily, 80% weekly.Also, earlier today, Google was (for the 3rd time) named the best place to work by Fortune Magazine (see http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/snapshots/1.html). We're working on making Google+ the best place to be for you so you can be just as proud about these numbers and this news. To stay on top of all this great stuff,…

• Daria Musk Visits Google+ for Live Performance

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:08 am

  Last Monday, I had the great pleasure of meeting Daria Musk and interviewing her on stage, to learn more about her story and rise from relative obscurity to becoming a Google+ sensation. As I told the Google+ team, assembled in the private concert, in my introduction, Daria epitomizes the community here as well as anyone I know.She is fully invested in this platform, is tireless, upbeat, and to boot, is incredibly talented. I'd heard her sing in many a hangout, but to hear her sing live at Google was transformative. Nothing beats a live performance by an artist with passion, energy…

• 10 Great Ways to Get Discovered on Google+

  7 Feb 2012 | 12:04 am

  As social networks evolve, so to do your circles. Even in the few months since our launch, you’ve probably added a lot of people to your circles who you didn’t know before - people who share common interests, or came by recommendation of a trusted friend or expert. Some people have rocketed their way to high visibility, added to hundreds of thousands of circles, by virtue of their actions on Google+. So while I can’t promise you the big numbers, here are ten ways you can get found on Google+, and examples to boot.1. Embrace the Community While Doing Something Unique and Creative.Daria…

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• Interview with Casey Fenton, CEO of CouchSurfing at DLD 2012

  Ayelet Noff

  9 Feb 2012 | 6:59 am

    The DLD 2012 conference in Munich was a great place to mingle and network with social media super stars and online entrepreneurs.  At the conference I had the opportunity to speak with Casey Fenton, CEO and Co-founder of CouchSurfing, who sat with me and discussed his company’s completely unique business model. The idea of CouchSurfing was fueled by Casey’s own experiences while traveling the world.  Casey found  that by networking with people all over the world, he could rely on their hospitality and vice versa. CouchSurfing is a community, and as such it focuses on…

• My Interview with Robert Scoble at DLD 2012

  Ayelet Noff

  31 Jan 2012 | 9:06 am

  This year’s DLD conference in Munich Germany was great.  With all the amazing speakers and great networking opportunities, I barely had a minute to rest.  However, amid all the excitement, I was able to take a moment and sit down with my good friend and tech superstar, Robert Scoble.     Watch my interview with Robert where he discusses what he likes best about this year’s DLD conference.   Don’t miss Robert showing off his fancy new shirt!    

• Stop SOPA! Support SOBA!

  Jonah Balfour

  19 Jan 2012 | 6:53 am

  With the Internet revolt over SOPA and PIPA in full swing, we at Blonde 2.0 could not stand idly by and let this critical moment in the history of the Internet pass with adding our voice to those defending free expression on the web. We have decided to take action, and to that end we are responding to SOPA and PIPA with a proposed legislative initiative of our own: the Stop Online Boredom Act (SOBA). This is a new law that calls for harsh punishment for those responsible for mindless, boring content that is posted to the Internet. After all, if SOPA passes, everyone will be so terrified of…

• The Golden Age of Gaming Addiction

  Shahar Goldfinger

  17 Jan 2012 | 5:34 am

  How I feel about being a gamer in our society up until the past year can be summed up in 2 words:  It sucks. I started out gaming at the early age of 5, but soon enough most of my friends gamed in one form or another, it’s the most regular thing in the world, right? A kid playing around with videogames, back then it felt like the most natural thing in the world, but even then I felt like something was amiss.  I was always more dedicated, more emotional and more addicted (some would say) to gaming. My gaming addiction became clear around 11th grade.  It was obvious that gaming…

• A Wedding – Social Media Style

  Kevin Swaine

  5 Jan 2012 | 7:54 am

    In the time that I have been working in social media, I have seen how social media has been used to help launch a company, promote a product or even to help organize a protest. Last week I saw how social media directly impacted an event in my life by making the world that much smaller. This past Wednesday, I was lucky enough to marry the most incredible woman in the world, okay so you might think that I am a little biased but the facts are the facts! So a little background is that I come from Johannesburg, South Africa and she is from London in the UK so we have family and friends…