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. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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Most Topular Stories
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Do aliens go invisible by 'going green'?
Holy Kaw!9 Feb 2012 | 11:24 am -
Fabled Google Drive Won't Be Another Dropbox
ReadWriteWeb9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 amThe 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,… -
Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]
Mashable!9 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amMass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking… -
Permission To Fail
Logic+Emotion9 Feb 2012 | 10:15 amI love my job. Seriously. The skeptical among you may read this as shameless corporate cheer-leading, or a PR ploy (given I work at a PR firm). It's not. You have to understand that I work for a very unique company—in fact, it's been the most unique career experience in my life. A sixty year old company—technically family owned (not public) with over four thousand employees globally and the CEO of the company wears the last name of the founder, his father. Which brings me to the video above. I had the opportunity to interview our CEO, Richard Edelman on the topic of trust as it relates to… -
“Trends and Innovations in Mobile Accessories” Research Report
trendsspotting blog1 Feb 2012 | 8:03 amWe are happy to announce the release of a new TrendsSpotting research report uncovering major trends in Mobile Accessories. Based on exploration of over 2000 new accessories released since 2011 + CES 2012 and a market analysis of major market trends characterizing this growing market, TrendsSpotting has identified about 150 recently released products that reflect new emerging trends in mobile accessories. The innovations analyzed in this report are profiled according to …
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Holy Kaw!
-
Do aliens go invisible by 'going green'?
9 Feb 2012 | 11:24 amAs 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. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Mysterious sounds reported around the world
9 Feb 2012 | 11:23 amPeople 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 amAs 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 amAs 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 » -
How to battle negativity
9 Feb 2012 | 11:17 amHow often have you gotten together with a group from work who can’t say enough great things about the boss and all your wonderful colleagues? When was the last time you hunkered down over a cup of coffee with a friend and discussed how great your day was? If you can’t remember, you’re not alone, since, as Jeff Haden at Inc. explains, the research shows we humans appear to be wired for negativity. Sound like a challenge? If you’re ready to buck the trend, Haden also offers a number of tips for swimming against the tide. - One trick is to take on a difficult task,…
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ReadWriteWeb
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Fabled Google Drive Won't Be Another Dropbox
9 Feb 2012 | 11:00 amThe 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 amSometimes 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 amThe 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 amSenate 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… -
Keep Track of your AWS Expenses With Cloudyn
9 Feb 2012 | 9:02 amWith the number of individual Amazon Web Services now seemingly approaching infinity, it makes sense for third parties to get into the act of trying to keep track of what you are actually spending and whether you have over-provisioned your services. Enter Cloudyn.com, an Israeli based company that announced its services this week. Sponsor The idea is to have a dashboard similar to what you see below (mine isn't very interesting, sorry, I have taken down all of my machines at the moment) where you can track your projected annual costs, which accounts you have on AWS and what your running…
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Mashable!
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Mass Effect 3 Gets iPad Version with Action-Packed ‘Infiltrator’ [PREVIEW]
9 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amMass Effect 3 is coming to an iPad near you in the form of Mass Effect Infiltrator, an iOS game aimed at expanding the game’s narrative and give players some mobile combat. Infiltrator isn’t a direct port of the latest Mass Effect game. Unlike its big brother, a sci-fi role-playing game known for its first-person shooter gameplay and massive, branching story-lines, Infiltrator is all about fighting. Mashable got a demo of the game played on an iPad and hooked up to a television at an EA showcase. The story follows a soldier called Randall Ezno as he travels the universe tracking… -
WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning to Be Arraigned Feb. 23
9 Feb 2012 | 11:24 amU.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and war reports to WikiLeaks, will be arraigned before a military judge at Fort Meade, Maryland on Feb. 23, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Some of the 22 charges against Manning include aiding the enemy, disclosing classified information to a person not authorized to receive it, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy, and violating Army computer use rules. The charge of aiding the enemy potentially carries the death penalty, but… -
5 Essential Spreadsheets for Social Media Analytics
9 Feb 2012 | 11:13 amAnn Smarty is a search marketer and full-time web entrepreneur. Ann blogs on search and social media tools. Her newest project, My Blog Guest, is a free platform for guest bloggers and blog owners. Follow Ann on Twitter @seosmarty. Social media analytics and tracking can be very time-consuming and expensive. You’ll find quite a few smart social media monitoring tools, but what if you can’t afford them? That’s why many social media marketers and power users are in constant search of free, efficient alternatives. Here, we’ll share a few ready-made spreadsheets you can… -
Google: No, We’re Not Launching Retail Stores Yet
9 Feb 2012 | 10:55 amGoogle planned to open its first-ever public store at its European headquarters in Dublin, if you believed a rumor reported by Bloomberg. But according to a company spokesperson, no plans are definite right now. A Google planning application for an expansion of its Dublin office indicated plans for an employee swimming pool, a restaurant and a store. But Google says the company doesn’t have plans to get into the retail business right now. “We already have an online store selling things like Google T-shirts and pens,” a Google spokesperson told Mashable. “We have the… -
H&M Has the Most-Followed Brand Page on Google+
9 Feb 2012 | 10:44 amFashion retailer H&M has beat out heavyweights Pepsi, Starbucks and Coca-Cola to become the most-followed brand on Google+. In a testament to the network’s viability as a marketing vehicle, Google, the former number one on Google+, is now number 13. Following H&M is Samsung USA, Pepsi, Starbucks and Burberry. The rest of the top 10, compiled by Simply Measured and based on the number of “circlers” for each brand in early February, is below. The full list, which is based on Interbrand’s Top 100 Brands, is available here. Simply Measured’s report, which…
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Logic+Emotion
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Permission To Fail
9 Feb 2012 | 10:15 amI love my job. Seriously. The skeptical among you may read this as shameless corporate cheer-leading, or a PR ploy (given I work at a PR firm). It's not. You have to understand that I work for a very unique company—in fact, it's been the most unique career experience in my life. A sixty year old company—technically family owned (not public) with over four thousand employees globally and the CEO of the company wears the last name of the founder, his father. Which brings me to the video above. I had the opportunity to interview our CEO, Richard Edelman on the topic of trust as it relates to… -
Will The Real Social Business Experts Please Stand Up?
7 Feb 2012 | 10:23 amStop what you're doing and check out this thread (on Google Plus of all places) started by Francine Hardaway. She started it off with a simple question. "Who are the best experts in social business?"What followed was a robust discussion on what social business is, isn't and who's driving the agenda forward in the space both in thought and action. If you're interested in the emerging definition of social business (aka the convergence of enterprise 2.0 and social media) I highly recommend you taking a look. Some of my favorite thoughts:"the thread that social business is not the same as social… -
People, Places & Events
3 Feb 2012 | 11:01 amA few significant events happening over the next few months—here's where I'll be: Chicago: February 6th, Social Media Club, An Interview With Richard EdelmanOur I'll be interviewing Richard Edelman our CEO in our new office space as we host the Chicago Social Media Club. We will be discussing this Year's Trust Barometer findings. If you can't make it to Chicago, we will be live streaming video the interview at 5:00 CST. London & New York: February 13-16, Social Media Week Our London office is hosting a panel titled "Social Business In Action". A topic I'm very passionate about—then… -
How To Be A Social Media Self-Righteous Jerk
1 Feb 2012 | 4:28 pmThe scale above shows the many stages one has to go through in order to become a bona fide self-righteous jerk in social media. Still, there are many people who aspire to reach this peak, but fall short in executing against it. Given this observation, I thought it would be worthwhile to piece together a few best practices which will ensure your status as a social media self-righteous jerk (or SMSRJ). In no particular order: 1. Join The Klout GestapoAll social media SMSRJ's know that Klout is simply evil incarnate and requires a organized force to take on this evil axis of influence wherever… -
Launching a Social Command Center (Without The Center)
27 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am"Social command centers" are all the rage today and it's not without some merit. Many organizations now find themselves in a real-time business environment where news travels faster than sound, and information is set free. As a result, some forward thinking companies have put "monitoring" in place either in-house or in combination with partners. This isn't enough. And to make matters worse, I've seen companies make the classic mistake of buying a tool BEFORE putting any thought into the design that goes into effective monitoring and response, forgetting the 3P's (People, Process, Platforms).
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trendsspotting blog
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“Trends and Innovations in Mobile Accessories” Research Report
1 Feb 2012 | 8:03 amWe are happy to announce the release of a new TrendsSpotting research report uncovering major trends in Mobile Accessories. Based on exploration of over 2000 new accessories released since 2011 + CES 2012 and a market analysis of major market trends characterizing this growing market, TrendsSpotting has identified about 150 recently released products that reflect new emerging trends in mobile accessories. The innovations analyzed in this report are profiled according to … -
LEADING DIGITAL WOMEN PREDICT 2012
11 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pmFor the last five years TrendsSpotting trends research company has published prediction reports covering trends in tech, mobile and social media, suggested by leading technology and business experts. TrendsSpotting’s Influencers Prediction Reports 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 are read by thousands of readers and are used by leading companies to plan their future (viewership at Slideshare/TrendsSpotting). As TrendsSpotting is involved in re-placing the role of women in the digital world (see us at Microsoft’s Women Think Next and WIFT), we have decided that this year we will dedicate this… -
Emerging market for mobile health products
9 Nov 2011 | 3:15 amIn the past year, products using mobile devices to monitor health conditions are becoming more popular with the first ones now getting accepted by the Food and Drug Administration. Among health care apps entering the market are blood pressure monitoring cuffs, CT-scan viewers, and pocket ultrasound machines. The market is still at its first steps but rapid growth is expected: according to mobile market consultancy research2guidance, by 2015 30 percent of the world’s smartphone users will be using mobile health products, up from 5 percent today. The big promise for consumers are… -
2020 Predictions -Model for Future Innovations
14 Oct 2011 | 2:12 amBased on the concept of “The Internet of Things” TrendsSpotting has developed a working model for NPD. ”The ANA Model” was developed and implemented while working with tech companies, and allows us to predict future products and services. The “ANA Model” identifies the process where data is collected from reported “Actions”, then delivered to predefined monitor systems or professionals by “Notifications”. The outcomes can “Alert” people through a visualized system. Few daily activities are presented to reflect the… -
How crowdsourcing games help solve scientific problems: Review of current projects
6 Oct 2011 | 7:09 amIt has been shown that the human capacity has still important advantages over computers. Scientists have learned to use crowd sourcing tools to improve their research. To achieve cooperation, they present models of the problems in a game like display and challenge the partipants to find solutions. Scientists in Carnegie Mellon University (look up Luis von Ahn) were the first to use human brains to help them solve problems associated with searching for images on the web (computers are not very good at distinguishing images from each other using visual cues). This lead to the development…
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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
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5 Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned from People’s Chatting Nicknames
9 Feb 2012 | 11:07 amA Guest Post by Rahil Muzafar Social Media Marketing is easy for those who understand the nitty-gritty of sociology and human’s need to share anything substantial, with their loved ones. Everybody likes to share, even the people who appear to be a little unsociable have this underlying desire to let somebody in on what’s going around in their lives. Any social media marketing campaign that manages to trigger this desire is sure to make it big. Sharing is made extremely easy by all those social networks out there, all you need to know is exactly why, when, and what people want to share… -
Be a Good Newbie!
9 Feb 2012 | 5:40 amA Guest Post by Rosemary O’Neill Last week, I wrote about how to be an upstanding citizen of the Twitter and LinkedIn worlds. But what if you’re venturing farther into untested waters? What if you’re pointing your canoe toward some of the newer and less-traveled areas of the web? When a new social tool arrives on your map, it is even more important to mind your manners, especially if there are natives who have been there for a while already. Pinterest, Google+, Quora, Tumblr, EmpireAvenue and others were populated with early adopters and beta testers long before the rest of the… -
Can You Find Success Following a Firing?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amOne of the most challenging situations a person can find themselves in is trying to secure a new job after they’ve been terminated from a previous position. While there is hope of locating employment following a termination, the odds are definitely lessened for such individuals, who must fight through the stigma of being removed from a company. The bottom line is resiliency and the ability to best explain away why you were let go. For those individuals who have to deal with such a situation, keep several things in mind: Deal with reality – It is never easy when the pink slip arrives and… -
Five Delegation Thinking Traps that Trip Almost Everyone Who Wants to Scale Up
7 Feb 2012 | 5:39 amScaling Up Requires Pushing Down Lower-Level Tasks In the companies I worked with and for, product development schedules were cyclical, with seriously tight deadlines at certain times of the year and a more relaxing pace when those deadline had been achieved. To even out this ebb and flow of deliverables, we would hire freelancers, off-sire staff, and development groups. Even the most entry-level full-time people were managing and influencing the performance of someone else. The ability to influence another person’s performance in positive ways affected how quickly employees could grow… -
Does Your Business Style Connect or Make People Cringe?
6 Feb 2012 | 5:43 amGet Serious Attention In Amanda Valenti’s recent guest post here about Common Writing Mistakes, she made many important points that I encourage small businesses to take to heart. If spelling, grammar, and homophones are not your strong suites, find someone who can edit what you write. It IS worth it because Amanda is absolutely correct – these types of errors will cost you visitors and business. There is something more serious you must be aware of as well and that is what kind of image you are presenting to the world. Specifically, what you consider acceptable regarding profanity,…
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louisgray.com
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Dice.com: Louis Gray on Google and Job Hunting
7 Feb 2012 | 10:53 amLast 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 amA +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 amBy 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 amLast 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 amAs 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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Social Media Explorer
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Boosting the Content Quality on Your Blog or Website
9 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amEditor’s Note: This is a guest post written by Samantha Peters, an avid blogger who writes about social media, digital marketing, and online communications. When we talk about blogs and websites these days we often use phrases like “SEO,” “page rank,” and “web statistics.” We pay close attention to our click-throughs, our inbound links, and the way we incorporate advertisers. In short, we approach our sites from a marketing angle and take every opportunity we can to increase and maximize our exposure. Amidst all this positioning, many bloggers and site managers overlook the… -
In Social Media, The Fine Line Between Nimble And Fickle
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amA study by The Center For Marketing Research declared, “blogging declines as new media rules.” Based on results of a survey sent to the Inc 500, the article states, “there is clearly a shift in how these nimble companies are communicating.” If it is true that blogging is on the decline, then I’d say these companies are more fickle than nimble. Throwing over — or not starting a blog because it’s easier to use Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest is short-sighted and risky. A blog may be an “old” form of social media but it has five benefits that the newer platforms can’t touch. -
What Happened To Saying Something Nice?
8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amSocial media has certainly given the power back to the consumer. But sometimes the consumer doesn’t do nice things with that power. While it could be a matter of perception (the overwhelming sentiment of most brands in online conversational analysis is positive), it certainly seems like the only time we take note of brand mentions online is when someone is whining or bitching about them. AT&T is one brand that gets unnecessarily beaten about its head and face a lot online. I’ve never quite understood this, perhaps because I’m A) Practical in nature and understand… -
Get Out of Your Own Way: 5 Excuses Marketers Use to Avoid Social Media ROI
7 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amYou see it everywhere. Management teams and marketers desperately want to understand how social media is delivering to the bottom line. Marketers are getting tons of pressure from their management teams and are desperate for a way to prove their strategies are working. With so many chomping at the bit to get at true return on investment (ROI), how has it remained so elusive? Has social media become the marketing channel that we know we need to have, but can’t demonstrate why? What if Social Media ROI was really simple, but we let a bunch of excuses get in our way of measuring it? -
Empowering Your Employees With Social Media
6 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amEditor’s Note: This is a guest post by Emily Eldridge, Senior Vice President of Pure. It’s tempting to think that employees’ online discussions about your company should be curbed. Most company policies in the modern workplace exist to protect us from lawsuits – and to ostensibly protect employees from themselves. While it’s understandable to want control over our corporate image, this fear dimishes our employees’ ability to communicate. A stronger approach is to empower our staff to be brand advocates. Advocate for Your Employees Companies should decide whether their…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople 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
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe 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
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq 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
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI 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
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe 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…
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Social Business Advisor: Social CRM and Enterprise 2.0
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Do Organizations Need a Chief Collaboration Officer?
8 Feb 2012 | 4:06 pmMore organizations are starting to deploy new collaborative tools and strategies as a core part of their business evolution to connect and engage employees. It’s becoming increasingly difficult (especially at large companies) to oversee these initiatives as typically there isn’t a role devoted to collaboration. Usually collaboration falls on the shoulders of employees with an existing full plate of things that need to get done (such as the CIO). So is it about time for organizations to create the role of the CCO (chief collaboration officer)? In 2010 Morten Hansen and Scott… -
Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Pt 4: Financial Impact, Future Changes, and Lessons Learned
6 Feb 2012 | 12:08 amThis is the fourth and final post in a series of posts on how the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (The Foundation), is implementing emergent collaboration strategies and technologies within its organization. You can read part 1 on Business Drivers, part 2 on Organizational and Culture shifts, and part 3 on Technology Adoption and Operational Impact. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention, care, and treatment programs. The Foundation, currently working in 17… -
Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Pt 3: Technology Adoption and Operational Impact
3 Feb 2012 | 12:08 amThis is the third in a series of posts on how the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (The Foundation), is implementing emergent collaboration strategies and technologies within its organization. You can read part 1 on Business Drivers and part 2 on organizational and culture shifts. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention, care, and treatment programs. The Foundation, currently working in 17 countries, was founded in 1988 and experienced significant growth… -
Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Pt 2: Culture and Organizational Structure Shifts
1 Feb 2012 | 12:08 amThe first part of this case study on the Glaser Foundation discussing business can be found here. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention, care, and treatment programs. The Foundation, currently working in 17 countries, was founded in 1988 and experienced significant growth in the last five years, with its employee base increasing from 200 employees in 2006 to over 1,500 in 2011. This was due in part to increased funding from new global health initiatives, such as the… -
Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Pt 1: Business Drivers
30 Jan 2012 | 12:08 amThis is the first in a series of posts on how the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (The Foundation), is implementing emergent collaboration strategies and technologies within its organization. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention, care, and treatment programs. The Foundation, currently working in 17 countries, was founded in 1988 and experienced significant growth in the last five years, with its employee base increasing from 200 employees in 2006 to over…
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Dan Zarrella
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[Infographic] How to Get More Clicks on Twitter
24 Jan 2012 | 9:18 pmI’ve often said that the best use of Twitter is as a broadcast medium. You should be creating a ton of interesting content and sharing it with your followers. To that end I’ve done a bunch of research on how to optimize the clickthrough rate (CTR) of the links you’re tweeting. For the purposes of this data, I’ve calculated CTR as the number of clicks on a tweeted link divided by the number of followers the account had when it tweeted that link. Below is an infographic presenting some of my past findings as well as some entirely new data I’ve found about… -
[Infographic] What are the Best Times to Blog?
22 Jan 2012 | 10:54 pmOne of the most popular webinars I’ve ever worked on, The Science of Timing was also one of my favorite. If you haven’t seen it, go check out the on-demand recording now. In it, I present data I’ve collected over three years about the effect timing has on a variety of online marketing activities, including blogging. Below is an infographic that represents a collection of the three most important stats I have about when to publish blog posts. In the webinar, I also make the point that my results are based on huge aggregates of thousands, millions, or even in some cases,… -
[Infographic] The 2012 Republican Candidates by the Twitter Numbers
17 Jan 2012 | 9:59 pmI’ve studied the relationship between Twitter success and politics before, and since this year is a big year in elections, I figured I’d do it again. This time I looked at how the 4 front-running republican presidential candidates are doing on Twitter. I analyzed the obvious numbers, followers, retweets and mentions, but I also looked at a few of my favorite, deeper metrics: retweets-per-follower, link-percentage and reply-percentage. I also looked at Twitter “penetration” in two upcoming primary states: South Carolina and Florida. Notice anything that surprises you in… -
[Infographic] How To Use Contra-Competitive Timing for More ReTweets, Likes, Comments and Clicks
16 Jan 2012 | 11:44 pmOne of the most interesting patterns I’ve found while studying social media and marketing data is what I call in my book “contra-competitive timing.” I’ve found in numerous cases that the most successful times and days to publish new content are off-peak times. It’s like when you’re at a noisy party and it’s hard to hear the person talking to you 2 feet away, but suddenly you say something awkward and the room quiets down. Now everyone can hear you. The same is true with the internet. When there is less other noise to compete with (ie fewer Tweets,… -
[New Data] What Percentage of your Tweets Should be Links or Replies
10 Jan 2012 | 9:25 pmIf you like myth busting social media data like this, be sure to buy my newest book, Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness. One of the social media questions I’m most interested in is about whether Twitter is best suited for conversation or broadcasting. To many people’s surprise, I generally find myself on the broadcast side, and most of the data I’ve analyzed seems to back me up. Just yesterday, I started a little informal Twitter poll and found that respondents were pretty evenly split between broadcasting and conversation. This time, I looked at more than 100k…
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Soshable | Social Media Blog
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8 Years of Facebook Has Our Heads Spinning
7 Feb 2012 | 4:00 pmFacebook celebrated its 8th birthday this month. How much has it changed? How much has it changed us? Are we all a little more batty now that Facebook has become a prominent part of so many of our lives, giving us insights into friends and family that we never had before and offering a venue through which we can exclaim the nuances of our lives for the world (or simply our world) to see? This fun and somewhat creepy video by Daniel Koren, a NY based musician, touches a little too close to the truth for most to bear. Search your feelings. You know it to be true. -
The Advantage of Google’s New Search Plus Your World: Indexing Your Content Faster
7 Feb 2012 | 12:39 pmA Google+ update sent out by internet entrepreneur and FamilyLink.com founder Paul Allen hints there may be another reason to keep an eye on the recently launched Search Plus Your World. According to the post, Google looks to be indexing web content faster for users who are logged in to its social network than those who are not. Allen says that while signed into the site, his post was indexed and already displayed in the search results within less than a minute. This was versus about 20 minutes for the post to appear for users who were not logged in. Google’s new Search Plus Your World… -
Is Social Media Bringing the World Together or Pulling Us Apart?
7 Feb 2012 | 3:30 amEvery few months I take a serious look at my chosen profession and wonder if it’s really a tool for good or if it’s real “use” is to promote the negative in the world. There are many examples of good happening through social media whether through revolutions that weren’t possible a few years ago from oppressive regimes or the simple connection of people with others who they need to meet. I normally come to the same conclusion every time: Social media is neutral Most who use it are indifferent Some use it for good Some use it for bad. My final disposition at the… -
Changing The World With Social Media
7 Feb 2012 | 2:29 amThese days hysteria about social media has reached fever pitch. All signs are pointing to social media being the printing press of the 21st century. And like Gutenberg’s 15th century printing press, social media is a revolutionary tool will thousands of applications, many of which we probably haven’t even discovered yet. They often say that an innovation’s best uses are discovered accidentally. One can only imagine where this implication will lead us in the decades ahead. Whether you’re spearheading an online marketing company or are simply looking to find out what… -
Statistics of How Consumers Choose Businesses
5 Feb 2012 | 9:56 amThe numbers are rising on businesses using Social Media to their advantage and rightfully so, since 97% of customers will purchase from your business based on a review they find on the product they are looking for, even more so the review is through people they trust, hence why social networks work. Using Social Media as a form to communicate with customers does leave businesses open for negative sentiment and this has to be the biggest worry or response as to why businesses have yet to figure social media as a part of their Marketing strategies. However, people are not always going to be…
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Social Media Marketing
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Foursquare in Context
29 Jan 2012 | 8:11 pmIf you're a regular user of services like Twitter or Foursquare, you've undoubtedly been met with skeptics and naysayers who wonder aloud, "Why would I want to tell anyone what I'm having for lunch?" or "Why would I care if someone is having a ham sandwich?"Fair enough, but the inquisitors fail to take into account the all-important factor in any conversation, whether it's in person or online: context.Context is what allows us to make sense of much of the world around us. "He's so bad!" could have two very different meanings, depending on the the rest of the conversation surrounding it. With… -
Social Media and Travel
26 Jan 2012 | 9:37 pmIf you're like me, you spend a good deal of time on the road. Whether it's at an airport, on a train or in a car, you're mobile and your digital life is mobile too.The pervasiveness of tablets and smartphones (in addition to the already ubiquitous laptop) is growing daily. Just this week, Apple announced that it sold 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads in the fourth quarter of 2011 alone. It means that more of us are doing things on the web (or mobile web, as the case may be) while we're on the go, and there are certain things those of us in the digital world look for when we travel -… -
Revealing a New Ford in a New Way
13 Dec 2011 | 6:00 pmFord Motor Company has been at the forefront of social media for some time. The Fiesta Movement, the Explorer reveal on Facebook, Doug the Spokespuppet, Ford Social (formerly known as The Ford Story) and being the first brand on Google+ all stand as examples of Ford's success that spans from clever campaigns to a daily commitment to engage.Ford played a significant part in how the automotive industry thinks about social media (and in some cases how large companies think about social media) and now, as we near the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), at Ford we have an… -
Infographic: 5 Companies That Are Rocking Social Media
29 Nov 2011 | 8:47 amThis infographic was created by Voltier Digital, a content marketing agency based in Florida, specializing on the creation and promotion of impactful content marketing campaigns for businesses of all sizes.We all know the usual names of companies that are doing well in social media. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the lesser-knowns and why they've had success, either on an ongoing basis or with some one-off efforts that stood out.And since infographics are all the rage, what better way to look at them? Of course, for SEO purposes, I've listed them here as… -
Twitter Business Guide
7 Oct 2011 | 8:53 pmI was recently introduced to a compact guidebook for businesses trying to get a sense of Twitter. The microblogging site that allows you to update in no more than 140 characters at at time is deceptively complex and nuanced - especially for a newcomer.This short guide, entitled Twitter Business Guide: Communication and Marketing was written by Jean-Christophe Barré and Dr. Andreas Schroeter and in just 32 pages covers some of the things that may be keeping you and your business away from this platform. For someone who is new to Twitter, this e-book will prove a helpful compass as you…
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Technosailor.com
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TUTORIAL: Using WordPress’Ajax API
8 Feb 2012 | 9:46 amWordPress has tons of APIs to do tons of things. It really does. One of the cool ones that I’ve been using a lot lately, has been around for a bit. It’s the Ajax API. Sure, you could write your own Ajaxy thing but why do that when WordPress lets you do it all very simply. This tutorial will show you how to replicate the functionality that is presented in the “Like” button at Facebook. It assumes that you have WordPress set to require users to be logged in to take such actions. It wouldn’t make much sense for someone to not be logged in for such functionality. -
Blackouts, Boycotts and Regressing From Progress
30 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pmA couple of weeks ago, the United States, and in fact, the world saw the internet grow up. Namely, through the use of blackouts – a previously unused tactic of protest and grassroots organizing – we saw the evil Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and it’s evil twin Protect IP (PIPA) anti-piracy legislation fail in what seemed like an instant. Back in December, it became clear that Congress would hearken to their corporate sugar daddys and shove these two pieces of legislation through the Congress without so much as a minimal amount of input from the technology world that would… -
Congratulations, Internet. We Won the Day.
19 Jan 2012 | 12:05 pmToday, I feel like a proud poppa. I don’t want to get too celebratory and put out some kind of aura that our battle against SOPA and PIPA are over. In fact, neither are over. But I’ll get to that in a minute, because yesterday was AMAZING! Yesterday, we saw the Internet come of age. We’ve seen the trend. The Internet has played a crucial role in the Arab Spring, political activism and fundraising as seen in the Obama election campaign in 2008, news reporting as seen in the incident of the US Airways jet in the Hudson River. We’ve seen a definite maturation process on… -
Open Letter to Congressman Lamar Smith Regarding SOPA Championing
18 Jan 2012 | 11:55 amAn email sent to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who insists on pushing the SOPA bill through committee. Dear Mr. Smith- This is an open letter which will be published online, and promoted on Facebook, Twitter and other networks. As a Texas resident, I find it egregious that you have decided to sell out so uniformly to the entertainment industry. It is so transparent, in fact, that federal records show that your biggest donor are from the holding company for Clear Channel and your biggest campaign contributions come from the entertainment industry itself. -
Your Fiefdom Doesn’t Matter (Or Get your Head out of Your Regional Startup Ass)
5 Jan 2012 | 12:58 pmPhoto used under Creative Commons. Taken by Fellowship of the Rich There’s this thing called Protectionism. Protectionism is largely a political word used to describe the retreat to self-isolationism for the sake of preserving well-being. It was a word tossed around in late 2008 and 2009 after the market crash when the international community joined together to try to stave off a global economic failure. There were some who believed the United States had their own issues and shouldn’t be worrying about bailing out Europe. This mentality still exists, for better or for worse. But…
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Janet Fouts - Social Media Coach
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Social Media Doesn’t Make Sales – People Do
8 Feb 2012 | 10:40 amThere’s a deep, dark secret that the social media marketers don’t want you to know. It doesn’t matter what your social media strategy is unless it includes what you expect the prospect to do after they find you through social media. You can have the biggest following on Twitter and Facebook and Google+, the best videos on Youtube and a constant flow of repins on Pinterest and still not make a single sale. Whaaat? I know, social media is what I do, and I love it, but in the end it’s a tool. Just one of the tools you should have as part of your online marketing. -
#TakeBackthePink – @Komenforthecure’s social media nightmare
4 Feb 2012 | 10:59 amI doubt you could have missed it by now, but just in case; Tuesday evening the story broke that the Susan G Komen fund pulled support from Planned Parenthood across the US. Rumors abound as to why they did it.Some say it was politically motivated. Komen says it was because their policies changed and because Planned Parenthood is under investigation. After a couple of days of sticking their head in the sand and hoping it would all blow over, Nancy Brinker, the founder of Susan G. Komen made this announcement: “We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned… -
Are Google+ Business Pages Replacing Facebook Pages?
19 Jan 2012 | 4:22 pmI speak a lot about Google+ as a tool for business. In fact I’ve just written a book called “Google+ for Business Tweet” and I’m presenting a second Focus.com Roundtable in February. So you might think my position would be that Google+ is the be-all end-all social media network for business and people should be pitching their blogs and Facebook pages out the window in favor of Google+. And there you’d be mistaken. Here’s the thing. Google+ is a social network with huge potential for businesses, but it’s best value is as an individual user, not a… -
Am I participating in the SOPA strike? You betcha!
17 Jan 2012 | 11:16 pmOn January 18 websites all over the net will go dark from 8AM to 8 PM, and this will be one of them. Why? Well for one, because I still can. One of the most powerful things about the internet is that it is largely not controlled by government. Sure, I’m against piracy, but not if it means DNS filtering that could actually penalize lawful businesses. Not if it means messing with the Domain Name System and push users towards unreliable, less secure DNS servers just to avoid frivolous lawsuits, block “suspicions Foreign websites”, and squash the entrepreneurial spirit of the… -
How are you going to change the world in 2012?
3 Jan 2012 | 11:13 pmMaddie Grant threw down a glove challenging a number of people to participate in a meme answering the question “How are you going to change the world in 2012?” It’s a great question. I love the chaos theory metaphor called the butterfly effect. The idea is that a small, relatively insignificant act can created marked and sometimes unexpected change. The flap of a butterfly’s wing can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. Small business that we are at Tatu Digital Media, we have been fortunate to impact corporations and individuals and show them how to be…
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Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image
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The Death Of The Unconference
9 Feb 2012 | 8:23 amDoes 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
7 Feb 2012 | 1:04 pmYour 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
7 Feb 2012 | 6:51 amIf 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
5 Feb 2012 | 11:30 amCTRL 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
5 Feb 2012 | 10:41 amEpisode #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…
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Common Craft - Common Craft - Our Product is Explanation
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New Video: Copyright and Creative Commons
7 Feb 2012 | 10:04 amToday 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
3 Feb 2012 | 10:07 amThis 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
26 Jan 2012 | 11:09 amThis 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
23 Jan 2012 | 11:24 amIt’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
16 Jan 2012 | 12:45 pmThis 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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Social Media Clubhouse
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When Objects Go Social
9 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amObjects now become kind of chatterbox and the world shifts as an huge connected information system” Yes we must now consider objects as a real part of social movement, even if social genuinely means « interaction between two human beings », they can enter the game of socialization…How far, when, for which uses/features? Future will tell… 2020: 20 Billions of connected objets; which ones, which services behind and for which uses? What might we face in organizations, skills, value chains and industries? read more -
Deep Lessons About Shallow Conclusions
8 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amTo my great chagrin, I find I am as guilty as anyone of drawing shallow conclusions about the role and value or social media in a marketing plan. I read this article in Ad Age about an Australian study whose research proved that no more than 1% of fans actually engage with brands on Facebook. In other words, fans may "like" your page, but it's pretty meaningless, because they don't talk about you. So, I concluded, why spend a lot of time on Facebook, especially if you are a small business with limited resources. And I wrote that on Google+, home of the serious conversation. read more -
The Evolution of Super Bowl Advertising
7 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amEveryone loves the Super Bowl. Even if you’re not crazy about watching football, you can stick around the watch clever advertising at its best. But you probably noticed that Super Bowl XLVI was a little different from its predecessors. Social media helped brands change the rules of Super Bowl ads. On average, a 30 second spot during the game of the year put a company back about $3.5 million so it makes sense that they would want to get as much value as possible from this enormous expense. This year, brands came up with creative tactics to get plenty of bang for their buck(s). -
Three Creative Ways of Using Google+ Hangouts
6 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amThere are so many shiny new toys in the social media sphere…sometimes we can’t keep up. Google has a tendency to test out new ideas (remember Google Buzz?) and this time around they have spun out Google Plus Hangouts. It’s an opportunity for individuals or businesses to utilize this virtual “hangout” to communicate with others in their community or business via video. The only disadvantage that appears right away is the restriction of 10 people per hangout. However, when it comes to meetings and having the chance to build a deeper relationship among community members sometimes fewer… -
Social Media Clubhouse Newsletter (01/3/12)
3 Feb 2012 | 11:01 amFEBRUARY BOOK CLUB: THE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST We're proud to feature great titles in 2012 with monthly reviews and complimentary webinars hosting some of the social media industry's most innovative authors. We received a lot of great feedback last year and want to thank you for supporting the Book Club, our publishing partners and the authors. read more
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FaceReviews: Facebook Applications Reviews and Facebook News
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Facebook IPO Filing Coming Wednesday
31 Jan 2012 | 9:31 pmWhat a long time coming this has been. It appears that Facebook is going to file for its IPO on Wednesday. According to IFR It is looking like they are starting with raising approximately $5 billion in this offering. Indications are that they are going to start small and then move up with 5 Billion ($5B) Facebook is expected to file to raise $5bn in a preliminary IPO prospectus on Wednesday morning, which while less than anticipated could be increased to satisfy investor demand, according to sources close to the deal. Previous reports had put it seeking ~ $10 billion, so this initial 5… -
XGames Fail over DQ of Skier for Wearing Sarah Burke Armband
29 Jan 2012 | 5:24 pmXGames simply refuses to talk about the specific circumstances and reasons for why they chose to disqualify Womens Skier X Final participant Langely McNeal. According to what we have heard it was over the fact that she was wearing a tribute band to Sarah Burke. I am stunned by this on several levels. It appears to be the weakest DQ that I can ever remember and they are trying to silence controversy surrounding the decision. It all feels very hypocritical to me. Now they keep making bad social media decisons on top of an original bad event decision by simply trying to silence the issue and… -
7 Tech Trends to Watch for in 2012
4 Jan 2012 | 12:14 amWhats Next in Tech for 2012? This is a question that I have been kicking around with some of my peers for the past month or so. There are many trends occurring in the mobile space, in the social space and in the commerce space that are fundamentally changing how consumers and users interact, share and complete transactions. One thing to keep in mind is how both Apple IOS and Android are rapidly gaining in the number of handsets activated daily. As more and more consumers upgrade to smart phones and as technology costs drop, opportunity rises in the ways that new use cases can have huge… -
iPhone Drinking Game: Where’s Cuppy?
18 Jun 2011 | 9:33 amNew iPhone Social Game: Where’s Cuppy? The game is fun and simple. Download the iPhone app and snap a pic of you and your friends with you plastic red cup. Simple. Stupid. Pointless and Fun as hell. So grab a Sharpie marker… draw Cuppy’s face on the Cup and start taking pics. The photos of Cuppy can be shared on Twitter and Facebook. There are leader boards for 9 Categories of Cuppy Photos. The pics are funny and this game is a great icebreaker at parties, the beach, the dorm, bars and while playing beer pong. There is also a cool map that shows all the places that Cuppy has… -
Win this Cool Guitar on Plixi from Patrick Stump
1 Apr 2011 | 11:53 amCheck out this Cool Guitar Giveaway on Plixi. It looks like a photo contest where you upload a photo with the hashtag #patrickstump to Plixi.com Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy has a new solo EP called Truant Wave. So upload your photo of you in your spotlight showing what you do best to be entered to win this Stump-O-Matic guitar. You can see all the cool photos that have been entered in this live photo stream here: www.plixi.com/live/patrickstump Details of the photo contest are here: Share this on:
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SheGeeksSheGeeks | SheGeeks
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Brisk and Stars Wars Join Forces For BriskSaber Gaming App
13 Jan 2012 | 10:36 amYou can now find Brisk Iced Tea in a galaxy both far far away and as close as your iPhone or Android device. I’m talking about the BriskSaber game that is making a splash in the App Store and Android Market. In preparation for Stars Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3-D, Brisk joins forces with LucasFilms to put a modern and techie spin on classic Star Wars action and fun that’s hard to resist. Price: FreeDownload: iOS App Store | Android Marketplace Since its January 3rd debut, Brisksaber has amassed 520 reviews in the App Store rating it an incredible 4.5 star out of 5! -
The Next Generation RAZR: Motorola Droid RAZR Review
13 Jan 2012 | 7:26 amThe Motorola RAZR was a mobile icon during my early teen years. Just about everyone I knew had one. It was surprisingly thin for a phone! The screen was impressive and it could do one thing very well that all of my friends love: transfer ringtones via bluetooth. Fast forward to today and the Motorola RAZR doesn’t compare to my iPhone 4. So, I was skeptical and intrigued when Motorola announced a successor; the Motorola Droid RAZR. With the help of Verizon’s 4G LTE network, could the Droid RAZR recapture the swagger and appeal of the original RAZR? The Look & Feel Though the… -
How To Get The New Facebook Timeline Look Right Now
16 Dec 2011 | 7:49 pmFacebook Timeline is a drastic departure from the currently tired look of your Facebook profile. Announced at Facebook’s F8 conference in October, don’t be too quick dismiss Facebook Timeline as yet another new redesign from Facebook. It’s a complete departure from Facebook’s past! If you’re not afraid of change, here’s how you can get Facebook Timeline right now. If you don’t want to wait, you can get Facebook Timeline right now by visiting: Facebook.com/Timeline. In the bottom right corner of the page, you’ll see a green button with the… -
The Life of an Instagrapher: GE, Jet Engines, and Instagram
9 Dec 2011 | 1:47 pmAre you a frequent Instagram user? Would you like a free trip to a world-class GE jet engine facility in the UK to take pictures and send them to Instagram? If you answered yes, then great because you only have 3 days left to enter GE’s Instagrapher contest to make this wish come true! “For our next Instagram photo shoot, we’re going to a world-class GE jet engine facility in the UK to capture some amazing technology. Help us decide who the photographer should be. Because it could be you.” Get your iPhones ready and load up Instagram to begin entering the contest. But… -
Finding Great Content on Twitter Gets Easier With #newnewTwitter Redesign
8 Dec 2011 | 7:00 pmTwitter’s got a brand new look and not just a tweak here and there. Trending as the #newnewTwitter, it’s a fresh with a simplified and streamlined design, most of the changes center around getting the best content as quickly as possible. The redesign doesn’t stop at your desktop either. Twitter’s iPhone app, Android apps, and mobile website have received the new makeover too. Facebook, take notes! Readers, let’s take a look at what’s new, shall we? The new design may seem very different at first, but honestly it’s not. Mainly, a lot of things have…
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Mike's Lifestream
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Social Media Report: January 2012.
8 Feb 2012 | 6:44 amTweet via socialbakers.com 30m Facebook users in UK 50% of which are 18-34 Burberry, Sony Ericsson and Dove are the top 3 brands by number of fans -
Check in with Air China. Simple but effective campaign that got results.
7 Feb 2012 | 2:29 pmTweet via youtube.com -
How to: Get More Clicks on Twitter
7 Feb 2012 | 2:19 pmTweet via socialmouths.com -
The Internet Identity Crisis | Adweek
7 Feb 2012 | 2:15 pm -
Daily chart: Facebook by numbers | The Economist
7 Feb 2012 | 9:21 am
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shesgotclients.com
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4 Set it and Forget it Ways to Build Your List
9 Feb 2012 | 7:25 amBuilding a list of ideal prospects is key to growing your income because the people on your list are the ones who will become your clients and customers. And it’s important to stay in touch with and nurture that list once you begin building it. But many people get stuck at square one: which is, how do I build my list in the first place? The truth is, there are hundreds of ways, but today I want to give you a few methods that are “set it and forget it”…because list-building should be something that is going on 24-7 in your business. Here are four simple strategies you… -
How to Formulate a Rockin’ Social Media Strategy
2 Feb 2012 | 4:20 pmIn this week’s video tip I’m sharing 5 questions to ask to formulate a rockin’ social media strategy. Social media is still hot, but one of the biggest mistakes I see over and over with entrepreneurs is that they have NO strategy. And no strategy means wasted time, wasted effort, and worst of all–lots of missed opportunities. To avoid that, start smart: here are 5 questions you can ask yourself to begin with: 1) What would you like to accomplish? Build your reputation, get more speaking gigs, connect with more JV partners, some combination of all of the above? 2) What… -
Email Marketing With a Purpose
29 Jan 2012 | 12:02 pmThis is a guest post by Jesse Langley. Email marketing isn’t cut and dried. You don’t just offer something in exchange for an email address and then never follow through. You also don’t over-deliver and essentially just start spamming your subscribers. Seth Godin wrote an entire book on permission marketing, and it’s well worth a read. The basics, though, hinge on the fact that when your subscribers hit the button that submits their email address, it’s for a reason. They agreed to sign up for your updates and your promotions. Unlike a retail store, you don’t have goods to… -
5 Failproof Tips to a Kick-Butt Preview Call
26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 amOne of the absolute best ways to launch a new product, program or service is to hold what’s known as a “preview call”–a content-rich call “previewing” your upcoming offering and enticing your listeners to invest with you. Initially, your job is to get as many people as possible to show up on the call–but that’s just the start. Once you’ve got their attention, there are several very specific AND strategic things you can do to ensure your call brings in the maximum number of sales. Where do you begin? It all starts with telling your story. -
The 5 Characteristics of Your Juiciest, Most Ideal Clients
19 Jan 2012 | 6:30 amIn marketing, business owners hear over and over that they should only be working with their best, most ideal clients. It sounds great in theory…and the word “ideal” sure sounds nice. But what does it really mean? Depending on what kind of business you are in, the answer can vary of course. But when you really get down to it, some common characteristics apply–whether you’re in dog grooming or high-end fashion design. It’s really a matter of upstream versus downstream. Take a look at these 5 characteristics and see if you know what I mean by that: 1) They…
