I have always struggled with work/life balance. And, ever since I caught the social media bug it just seems to be getting worse. While I find social media fun, and I enjoy the connections I'm making, it still feels like work sometimes.
One of my struggles is time management and getting over the feeling that I have to "read everything". Working on that over the next couple of months is going to be one of my biggest challenges.
How do you manage work/life balance? What tools do you use to not allow work to take over your life?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
SD Forum - Real Time Social Media Monitoring and Marketing
The SD Forum Semantic Web SIG held a forum on Real Time Social Media Monitoring and Marketing. It was a mixed bag of two companies that do social media monitoring (Techrigy/Alterian & Scout Labs) and one that's using blogs and other online social media to do marketing (BuzzLogic).
Most of the folks in the room were techies, although there also seemed to be a bunch of marketing folks there as well.
The presentation by Connie Bensen of Techrigy was disappointing. Her presentation seemed more pedestrian than it should have been for the audience in the room. She also seemed a bit nervous, which may be her natural presentation style. One of her most interesting slides (and not in a good way) was a set of two slides trying to show where the community manager fits into the cycle. The slides made absolutely no sense.
The second company to present was Scout Labs. They do social media monitoring. Top clients include Netflix and others. Margaret Francis and Jochen Frey were the two presenters. Francis is on the marketing side of things and Frey is the CTO. Margaret Francis did a fantastic job describing the social media platform and why especially an enterprise sized company should be using a platform like Scout Labs for monitoring. Her take on why folks like @comcastcares are doing customer service on platforms like Twitter was definitely interesting. They expect to monitor 100M in 2009. That's compared to 10M in 2008. They don't expect that same level of growth in 2010. The currently only monitor English language results.
The final presenter was Keith Kilpatrick of BuzzLogic who talked about how they are using online social media, and blogs specifically, for digital media and advertising for their clients. He shared information on how they are using Comscore and other ratings to determine where and how to advertise.
One topic that was covered by all three was the importance of listening before leaping. There are a ton of free tools out there to listen even before you have to pay. Alterian/Techrigy is a freemium model and Scout Labs allows you to do a 30-day trial.
Most of the folks in the room were techies, although there also seemed to be a bunch of marketing folks there as well.
The presentation by Connie Bensen of Techrigy was disappointing. Her presentation seemed more pedestrian than it should have been for the audience in the room. She also seemed a bit nervous, which may be her natural presentation style. One of her most interesting slides (and not in a good way) was a set of two slides trying to show where the community manager fits into the cycle. The slides made absolutely no sense.
The second company to present was Scout Labs. They do social media monitoring. Top clients include Netflix and others. Margaret Francis and Jochen Frey were the two presenters. Francis is on the marketing side of things and Frey is the CTO. Margaret Francis did a fantastic job describing the social media platform and why especially an enterprise sized company should be using a platform like Scout Labs for monitoring. Her take on why folks like @comcastcares are doing customer service on platforms like Twitter was definitely interesting. They expect to monitor 100M in 2009. That's compared to 10M in 2008. They don't expect that same level of growth in 2010. The currently only monitor English language results.
The final presenter was Keith Kilpatrick of BuzzLogic who talked about how they are using online social media, and blogs specifically, for digital media and advertising for their clients. He shared information on how they are using Comscore and other ratings to determine where and how to advertise.
One topic that was covered by all three was the importance of listening before leaping. There are a ton of free tools out there to listen even before you have to pay. Alterian/Techrigy is a freemium model and Scout Labs allows you to do a 30-day trial.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tweetup - Have you attended one?
Tweetups are the "in person" extension of Twitter relationships. I'm one of those people that is more social on Twitter and other forms of social media than I am in real life. I'm either an introverted extrovert or an extroverted introvert. Either way, I don't do well in large groups of people that I don't know.
I've been planning on going to a tweetup for the past several months, but they were either up in San Francisco or at an inconvenient time.
The first tweetup I attended was sponsored by Cadillac and featured a guest - Chris Brogan. The tweetup part of the event seemed under-advertised so it wound up being a fairly small group but with awesome food at the Sino Lounge at Santana Row in San Jose. There was plenty of time to get to know folks and it was relatively quiet and relaxed.
The second tweetup I attended couldn't have been more different. It was held at Rosie McCann's pub (again at Santana Row in San Jose) and was a loud, crowded affair. I didn't decide to go until the last minute. I talked to a few people I didn't know and then thankfully my introverted self was saved when someone I knew showed up. I talked with him and a few of his colleagues before calling it a night.
Two tweetups is not a large enough sample size for me to really base a solid opinion on whether or not the events are worthwhile. Hoping to attend more in the future.
The next Peninsula Facebook / Twitter Meetup is on Thursday, Nov. 5th at 7 pm at the Four Seasons in East Palo Alto.
I've been planning on going to a tweetup for the past several months, but they were either up in San Francisco or at an inconvenient time.
The first tweetup I attended was sponsored by Cadillac and featured a guest - Chris Brogan. The tweetup part of the event seemed under-advertised so it wound up being a fairly small group but with awesome food at the Sino Lounge at Santana Row in San Jose. There was plenty of time to get to know folks and it was relatively quiet and relaxed.
The second tweetup I attended couldn't have been more different. It was held at Rosie McCann's pub (again at Santana Row in San Jose) and was a loud, crowded affair. I didn't decide to go until the last minute. I talked to a few people I didn't know and then thankfully my introverted self was saved when someone I knew showed up. I talked with him and a few of his colleagues before calling it a night.
Two tweetups is not a large enough sample size for me to really base a solid opinion on whether or not the events are worthwhile. Hoping to attend more in the future.
The next Peninsula Facebook / Twitter Meetup is on Thursday, Nov. 5th at 7 pm at the Four Seasons in East Palo Alto.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Brand Loyalty
I follow a lot of folks on Twitter who talk about branding, and I worrying about branding quite a bit at work too. For our non-profit's brand, it's more about visibility than loyalty.
For consumer brands, building that brand loyalty is key to repeat customers. There's only one brand that I'm absolutely devoted to and that's Rubbermaid. On Friday night, I went to multiple stores looking for Rubbermaid containers and that was after doing several web searches to see who might have Rubbermaid on sale.
Sterlite, at least in the home organization market, is probably Rubbermaid's biggest competitor and while I do have some Sterlite in my apartment, I'll never buy it again. I find it cheap and unusable. I can't tell you how many pieces of Sterlite I've had either break or buckle.
Rubbermaid isn't perfect and I've broken a couple of lids (mostly due to my own fault of dropping something heavy on top of the Rubbermaid lid).
What brands are you loyal to and what are you doing to support those brands?
Other great ideas on branding:
For consumer brands, building that brand loyalty is key to repeat customers. There's only one brand that I'm absolutely devoted to and that's Rubbermaid. On Friday night, I went to multiple stores looking for Rubbermaid containers and that was after doing several web searches to see who might have Rubbermaid on sale.
Sterlite, at least in the home organization market, is probably Rubbermaid's biggest competitor and while I do have some Sterlite in my apartment, I'll never buy it again. I find it cheap and unusable. I can't tell you how many pieces of Sterlite I've had either break or buckle.
Rubbermaid isn't perfect and I've broken a couple of lids (mostly due to my own fault of dropping something heavy on top of the Rubbermaid lid).
What brands are you loyal to and what are you doing to support those brands?
Other great ideas on branding:
- Chris Brogran - The multi-branded human
- Hajj Flemings - What is Your Message to the World: Personal Branding [video]
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Why I have a hard time writing ...
I used to be a writer. In high school and college, I wrote a lot. After college, I did two internships that were heavily focused on writing. The second one burnt me out, and made me change my career to more of a marketing role. Ever since, I've had a hard time writing in any style. At work, my writing projects take way too long to get completed because I am so self-critical.
I'm hoping this month by forcing myself to write every day I can start to break out of the shell. Not many people reading this blog, so I'm hoping I can turn off the self-critical side of my brain and actually get something done.
I'm hoping this month by forcing myself to write every day I can start to break out of the shell. Not many people reading this blog, so I'm hoping I can turn off the self-critical side of my brain and actually get something done.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Interesting links on Twitter lists
Blogs and articles about lists
Listorious Lists
- Twitter blog: Soon to Launch: Lists
- 5 Ways to Use Twitter's New List Feature for Marketers
- The Emerging Twitter Lists Arms Race
- 8 Twitter Lists Nonprofits should create
- 10 Twitter Lists You Should Follow
- Twitter Lists No Substitute for Community
- Twitter Lists - I'm not Down
- Spam Arrives in Twitter Lists
- 6.5 Million Twitter Lists Created So Far
- The Twittering Masses Get Lists
- 6 Ways to Look at Twitter Lists
- Twitter Lists 101: Etiquette and Strategies
- 6 Ways I Use Twitter Lists
Listorious Lists
- Nonprofit Technology list by Rebecca Leaman
Thursday, October 29, 2009
You Don't Say ... a blog by Danny Brown
Another great blog by Danny Brown about how much we use the same
examples of Comcast / Dell / Zappos and how we need to get away from
that. Even though I am totally guilty of using those examples (and
those of Ford (@scottmonty) and others, I totally agree with what he
has to say. I made a couple of comments on the blog.
examples of Comcast / Dell / Zappos and how we need to get away from
that. Even though I am totally guilty of using those examples (and
those of Ford (@scottmonty) and others, I totally agree with what he
has to say. I made a couple of comments on the blog.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Questions for Prospective Director of Social Media
A short blog post asking what questions would you ask a Director of Social Media. I commented on the blog about the question I think is the most important.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Social Media Reading - 102709
- Mapping Your Way Through Social Media - Great presentation on how to get started making a social map.
- Social Media Is Not (Just) Twitter & Facebook
- Google Social Search
- LunaWeb: Google Social Search - Video preview
- Google Custom Search - Official web site with explanation of how to set up a custom search
- Deleted Tweets Finally Deleted from Twitter Search
- Weekends and Afternoons Show the Highest Twitter CTRs
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
Monday, October 26, 2009
Social Media Reading - 102609
- Turning Good Intentions into Action: Hollywood vs. Google - Discussion about whether or not TV's iParticipate project actually generated any actual volunteerism.
- Facebook Launches Live Counts & Stats for Sharing Widget
- YouTube: Today, Animals Take Center Stage on the Homepage
Webinars and Conferences
- Smart Social Media Strategies for Nonprofit Groups - 11/5 - 2 PM Eastern - $95 / $165
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- New Findings: Adolescents and Digital Advertising
- Court case shows limits of anonymous blogging
- 10 of the best social media tools for entrepreneurs
- You Gotta Know When to Fold Em
- As Media Market Shrinks, PR Passes Up Reporters, Pitches Directly to Consumers
- For the Content Hungry: Eat the Media Blog
- Proof that Social Media is Killing Print Magazines
Labels:
advertising,
Facebook,
public relations,
social media,
volunteermatch,
YouTube
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Social Media Reading - 102509
- How Social Media Can Actually Work
- Internet Speeds and Costs Around the World - Great infographic
- Forget Twentysomethings; Let Carol Brady Teach You Social Media
- Some Thoughts on Twitter vs. Facebook Status Updates
- Manage your tasks with Google
- How I Use Google Reader without going insane
- Guide to Facebook's News and Live Feeds
- Web search in a post-Twitter world
- Twitter Finally Removing Deleted Tweets from Search Results
- Younger employees help senior executives unlock social media mystery
- The blogosphere is as real as the public in public opinion
- How to avoid missing the best days of your life, part 1
- 10 Twitter Tools for Nonprofits, Social Entrepreneurs and Activists
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Social Media Reading - 102409
- 5 Theses on Social Media Healthcare - A great presentation from Lee Aase from Health Camp Minnesota
- Overnight Success 3 - No Excuses - Video blog by Chris Brogram about making your business successful
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- The biggest difference between Twitter and Facebook - A post by Robert Scoble
- Is Google / Microsoft / Twitter in the news business?
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Social Media Reading - 101909
- Giving Groups a Stronger Voice - Facebook changes functionality of groups
- Do speakers need to weave social into their presentations? - How to integrate the backchannel discussions into your presentation (including taking questions via Twitter)
Tips and Tricks
- Optimize your Site for the Mobile Web
- 8 tips for raising funds online - Report from the #tools4npo session from the Blogworld Expo 09
What Else I'm Reading
Sunday, October 18, 2009
PublicMediaCamp
An un-conference in DC brought together by PBS and NPR to discuss public broadcasting and its relationship with local communities.
Blog Posts
- We Love DC: Public Media Camp
- COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere
- Programmable Web: COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere
- NPR: Examples of Cope [slideshare presentation]
- Nina Keim: Public Media Camp - Day 1
- NPR's API and Open Data (Public Media Camp DC 2009)
- Treasure Trove of Tools
- Shane Guiter: PublicmediaCamp Day 1 Wrap Up
Presentations
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Twitter Lists
10/17/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
- Wild Apricot: Twitter Lists 101
- Marketing Monster: Part 2: Twitter Lists: Developers and Applications
Social Media Reading - 101709
- Foursquare available everywhere "within weeks"
- Save your reputation in 48 hours? You might not even have four - Great article with examples from the UK about how quickly things can go viral and how you have to be able to respond to a crisis.
- Email marketing stats round up - Mostly data from the UK but still good benchmarks
- Beats and Tweets: Journalistic Guidelines for the Facebook Era
What Else I'm Reading
- Only Connect - Should Broadband Access be a Right
- Gourmet Editor Ruth Reich: Print Magazines are Toast
- An Ad Agency Getting it Right - How Mullen is combining traditional advertising and social media
Blogworld Expo 09
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Social Media Reading - 101509
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Social Media Reading - 101409
- Social Media Strategy: National Association of Dental Plans - Jeff Hurt (@jeffhurt) discusses how the NADP is using social media to communicate with its members.
- Workshop Grantee Best Practices: National Public Radio
- Survey: Do small businesses use social networking - Citibank survey shows that 63% of those surveyed don't find social networking helpful
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- LinkedIn Reaches 50 million users
- LinkedIn Blog: LinkedIn: 50 million professionals worldwide
- Mashable: LinkedIn Surpasses 50 Million Users
- Bloomberg buys Business Week
- Financial Times: Bloomberg scoops up Business Week
- Detroit News: Bloomberg plans to take over BusinessWeek magazine
- Business Week: Bloomberg Wins Bidding for BusinessWeek
- Mashable: Bloomberg Acquires BusinessWeek for Less Than $5 Million
- New Technorati
- Technorati Blog: A Totally New Technorati.com & Technorati Media Rising
- TechCrunch: The New Technorati
- TechCrunch: Technorati Raises Another $2 Million in Venture Capital
- JoeTrippi.com: Technorati relaunches site with revamped blog rankings, new content
- LouisGray.com: Technorati Roars Back to Life After Self-Imposed Slumber
- Doc Searls Weblog: Technorati tweaking
- Regular Geek: Is It Too Little Too Late for Technorati?
- Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps - Includes White House and Ramstein Air Base in Germany
- Average Internet User Now Spends 68 Hours Per Month Online
- Facebook to go live on XBox Later This Month
Labels:
bloomberg,
business week,
Linkedin,
social media strategy,
technorati
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Social Media Reading - 101309
Tips and Tricks
- 5 Great (and Free) Tools for Online Reputation Monitoring - includes SocialMention, Google Alerts and others
- Social Media Dos and Don'ts - An interview with SAP's executive vice president
What Else I'm Reading
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Social Media Reading - 101009
- The Difference between Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding
- Why Apple & Google Win - And Your Company Doesn't - Great little graphics to show the ease of Apple & Google's products and asks the question about how much information you're asking your potential customers to provide.
What Else I'm Reading
America's Giving Challenge - LInks
Main Links:
10/11/09
- We Can Move Mountains - Matt Damon talks about the America's Giving Challenge
- Rock Your Cause - America's Giving Challenge PSA [video] - YouTube video from MTV
10/7/09
Friday, October 9, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100909
- Social Media Alignment Map - Interesting way of looking at social media alignment and whether your organization should get involved in social media
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- Alert: Vulnerability Discovered in Adobe Acrobat and Reader - Problems are with new version 9.1.3
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100809
What Else I'm Reading
- (How Much) Does Google Need Twitter?
- Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About
- Sears Holdings Corporation: A silent giant in social media - Use of social media by Sears and its varied brands. I've actually thought about applying for the open social media position at Land's End. Love the Land's End brand and love Sear's, but the job is based in Dodgeville, WI and I have no interest moving back to the frozen tundra.
- "Wait, what? I don't get this whole Drew Carey thing" - Drew explains why he's selling the @drew name.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100709
- Twitter vs. Facebook vs. Myspace - Infographic by number of unique visitors by month
- Twitter Adds Nonprofits to Suggested Users List
Tips and Tricks
- Facebook is the Most Valuable Source of Traffic [Stats]
- Great Conversation about Facebook Fan Pages - Kyle Lacy fan page
What Else I'm Reading
- Twitter Launches a Very Unofficial Twitter App Directory
- Sitting with @Scobleizer and @Jesse as part of a Big Silicon Valley Day - Discussion about social networking applications with @louisgray, @scobleizer and @jesse
- The 15 Largest Restaurant Pages on Facebook
- Should Twitter Buy Oneforty?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100509
- More on Google Wave
- AppsLab: Google Wave, the Aftermath
- BetaNews: Sitting Out Google Wave
- Business Week: Will Google's Wave Replace E-maail--and Facebook?
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- Vonage Does What Google Can't - Vonage gets approval for an app on the iPhone
Labels:
email management,
Facebook,
google voice,
google wave,
vonage
FTC Announces New Rules for Bloggers
10/9/09
10/8/09
10/6/09
- WegoHealth: Health Activists Respond: New FTC Regulations for Bloggers
- Washington Post - Post Tech: FTC Wants to Clarify: Bloggers Probably Won't Get Dinged $11,000
- Kyle Lacy: 11,000 Reasons to Listen to the FTC
- Advertising Age: Why the FTC's Guidelines Are a Case of Government Gone Wild
10/8/09
- Marketing Pilgrim: FTC Confirms Bloggers Need Not Fear the $11,000 Fines
- Des Walsh dot Com: Why I'm Complying With the FTC Regime for Bloggers Even Though I Don't Have
- Fast Company: FTC Responds to Blogger Fears: "That $11,000 Fine is Not True"
- Abraham Harrison: Abraham Harrison welcomes new FTC ruling
- The Blade: FTC to Bloggers "That $11,000 Fine is Not True"
10/6/09
- SiliconAngle: The Dangerous Perceptions of the New FTC Rules Explained [Part One]
- Forrester Blog: The End of Marketer-Blogger Relationships?
- Blog Maverick: Am I in Trouble with the FTC Because of IHOP?
- THR, Esq: How will new FTC Guidelines Impact Endorsements and Product Placement?
- Social Media Business Council: Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit
- WebProNews: Potential FTC Fines Raise Big Blogging Questions
- Technologizer: The FTC Goes After Bloggers (Say, What's a Blogger, Anyhow?)
- Whitney Hoffman: The New FTC Guidelines on Endorsements by Bloggers
10/5/09
- FTC: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
- FTC Press Release: FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials
- TechCrunch: FTC Values Sponsored Conversations at $11,000 Apiece
- BrianSolis.com (PR 2.0): FTC Values Sponsored Posts at $11,000 Apiece - Includes update from FTC
- New York Times: Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure
- Mashable: FTC to Fine Bloggers up to $11,000 for Not Disclosing Payments
- LouisGray.com: Why I don't Think the FTC's Rules on Disclosure Will Have Much Effect
- BuzzMachine: FTC regulates our speech
- Washington Post: FTC: Bloggers, Research Studies Must Cite Ties to Advertisers
- Ars Technica: More transparency coming to blog reviews under new FTC rules
- She Scribes: New FTC Ruling
- Media Bistro: FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Payments or Face $11k Fine
- Cnet News: Yes, new FTC guidelines extend to Facebook fan pages
- National Journal: FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Product Ties
- Matt Cutts: Disclosure
- ReadWriteWeb: FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Freebies or Face $11,000 Fine
- King5: FTC: Bloggers must disclose payments for reviews
- Advertising Age: FTC Cracks Down on Blogger Payola, Celebrity Tweets
- SiliconValley.com: FTC: Bloggers must disclose payments for reviews
- Wired: FTC Tells Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100409
Tips and Tricks
- Get Your Email Answered - Chris Brogan gets over 600 emails a day and gives people some tips on how to your email answered from someone like him that could also be applied to all communications.
What Else I'm Reading
- The Numbers Just Don't Add Up - Too many reports with too many numbers that don't necessarily say anything worthwhile.
- 66% of Companies Do Not Use Customer Feedback from Social Media to Improve Products
- Improving Google's Search Quality
- A good Example of a Bad Facebook Strategy - Questioning why Expedia is not capitalizing on Facebook's value
Labels:
Facebook,
google,
social media measurement,
statistics
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100309
- Wikitude
- Social Media Drives Increased Email Use - People who are heavy users of social media actually use email more not less than those that don't use social media.
- Women Rule Social Media - Sites like LinkedIn and YouTube are equal. Sites like FriendFeed, Twitter, and Myspace are dominated by women. Only Digg has more men then women.
- Brian Solis (PR 2.0): Revealing the People Defining Social Networks
- Mashable: Women Rule the Social Web
Tips and Tricks
- Using the Social Web to Make Local Impact - How Livestrong is using the social web, including Facebook, Twitter and others for things like Livestrong day and other programs.
What Else I'm Reading
- Twitter Boosts Social Entrepreneurs - Twitter added a bunch of the "giants" in social entrepreneurship to their list of "suggested users".
- Twitter Co-Founder: We Started it For the Giggles
Friday, October 2, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100209
- Google Wave
- Mashable: Video: Google Wave Gets Explained [video]
- John Haydon: WTF is Google Wave? All explained in the animated video [video]
- Jesse Newhart: Why You Havent' Got Your Google Wave Invite Yet
- Netzticker: Google Wave strandet an der Hypeküste [German]
- The point you're missing about Google Wave
- Look Out! Google Wave has Turbulence
- Google Wave Overview
- Los Angeles Times: How Google Wave could transform journalism
- JungleG: What has Google Wave Done to Us?
- Zeigen: The actual real genuine reason you don't have a Google Wave invite yet
- SocialWayne: How are you using Google Wave? The comments talk.
- Jordan Terrell: Google Wave = Social Networking Crack
- How to Build a Facebook community (14 "levers" you need to be pulling)
- Getting started with Twitter
- 6 Twitter tips for journalists
- 8 ways to use social media in the newsroom
- 3 Great Social Media Policies - With almost every corporation and organization publishing social media policies, these are three good ones: IBM, Intel & Kodak
What Else I'm Reading
- Twitter's New User Lists
- Twitter Geolocation
- Can Social Media Take a CBS Anchor 3000 Miles?
- Why You need to share your story
Labels:
cbs,
Facebook,
google wave,
ibm,
intel,
journalism,
kodak,
social media,
social media policies
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Social Media Reading - 100109
- Google Wave Invites Are Out
- ReadWriteWeb: Geeks Try Google Wave, Have Mixed Feelings
- Mashable: How to: Get Started with Google Wave
- Steve Rubel: Google Wave 1.0 = RSS, the Sequel. In Other Words DoA... for Now
- LifeHacker: Google Wave First Look
- Mashable: Want a Google Wave Invite? There's a Website for That
- Scobleizer: Google Wave crashes on beach of overhype
- ShoutMeLoud: How to Add Twitter to Google Wave: TwitterWave
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Social Media Reading - 093009
What Else I'm Reading
- Local Politicians Use Social Media to Connect with Photos - Mentions the decline in local journalism as a reason why more politicians are using social media.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092909
- Are You Cherishing the Wrong Trophy - Jay writes that relying on followers / fans is a poor measurement for social media. And, I agree with him.
What Else I'm Reading
- Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on its survey regarding compensation for non-profit executives
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092709
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- CNN Gives Tips on Trustworthy Tweeting with Mashable's Ben Parr [video]
- 11 Quick Tips to Enhance Your Facebook Fan Page - Great ideas ranging from the easy to use to those that require more work. Includes examples on how other non-profits are implementing each tip.
- How to Level Up
What Else I'm Reading
- 13 Tips to Get Found Online: How to Achieve Free Organic SEO
- Social Media Ad Spend on the Rise
- Report Reveals: 15 Best Practices of Social Media Implemented by the Top 100 Brands
- How to know if your social media agency is jerking you around - They focus on the "cool marketing" instead of where your customers are. Great ideas in the comments that Facebook is a tactic - not a strategy. If your agency is pitching Facebook as a strategy, they're doing it wrong.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092609 Part Two
- Ad Spending on Social Networks Doubles - Entertainment leads the way in growing online ad dollars. Most of spending happening on Facebook.
Tips and Tricks
- Social Media Primer for Business [slides]
What Else I'm Reading
- Should Facebook Remove Subject Lines from Messages
- Poll: Firefox Smacks Down Google Chrome in Reader Vote
- Google Adds a Small But Useful Feature - Anchor Links to Search Results
- Judge Rules Against Gmail User After Bank Screws Up
- A New Search Engine for Finding Similar Web Sites
- Why Twitter Is not Like Facebook
- Post-NEA, Could W.H. Lawyers' Warning Put Engagement on Ice?
Social Media Reading - 092609
- More on Twitter's New Funding
- NY Times: Twitter Confirms New Funding
Tips and Tricks
- Three Simple But Powerful Ways Nonprofits Can Use LinkedIn
- Multiple RSS Feeds on Multiple Facebook Pages
- 11 Powerful Twitter Tips
What Else I'm Reading
Friday, September 25, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092509
- More on the Google Frame
- Mashable: Study: Time Spent on Social Networks Has Tripled
- Twitter raises a bunch of money in new round of funding
- Twitter blog: New Twitter Funding
- Mashable: Twitter Funding Confirmed, Amount Dubbed "Significant"
Tips and Tricks
- How to get more followers on Twitter - Great ideas! This is not one of those spammy MLM posts, but actual ideas on how to do it right.
What Else I'm Reading
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092409
Tips and Tricks
- Facebook for Non-profits [slideshare] - Presented by Blackbaud and Common Knowledge
- Andy's Answers: Early Warning signs of a social media crisis
What Else I'm Reading
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092309
- Google Announces Google Sidewiki API
- Google Blog: Help and learn from others as you browse the web: Google Sidewiki
- Legends of Aerocles: The Dangers of Google Sidewiki: Complete Brand Invasion
- Introducing Google Sidewiki [video]
- Rick Klau blog: First Post on Sidewiki
- BuzzMachine: Google Sidewiki: Danger
- oneforty launched
- Mashable: Twitter Gets an Unofficial App Store
- TechCrunch: Twitter Needs an App Store, Oneforty Provides One
- ZDNet: oneforty launches online storefront for booming Twitter app market
- Mass High Tech: Twitter startup launched by 'Pistachio' with funding
- ReadWrite Start: @Pistachio Launches OneForty, Twitter's App Store: 140 Beta Invites
- Twitter Worm Spreading through DMs
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092209
- Google announces on Google developer blog that Google Wave will only run on Google Chrome or on Internet Explorer with the Google frame added
- Mashable: Google Invents a New Way to Kill Internet Explorer
- Mashable: Google's Plan to Kill Internet Explorer? Google Wave
- Google Chromium Blog: Introducing Google Chrome Frame
- 19% of tweets mentions brands
Tips and Tricks
Webinars and Conferences
- Planning and Running Your First Experiment in Website Optimizer - Webinar - 9/24/09 11 am Pacific - Free
- Real-Time Web Summit - Mountain View, CA - October 15 at 9 am - $195
What Else I'm Reading
- Redskin Player Deletes Twitter Account After Mocking Fans - Robert Henson posted a tweet criticizing fans, offered an apology and then deleted his Twitter account.
- Five Companies that Fix their Story to Inspire Service - Zappos, Whole Foods and others are mentioned
- What's a "Certified Social Media Specialist"? - New certification that seems pretty bogus
- Gelato: Social Media Meets Online Dating
- How Doctors are Using Social Media - Love the idea of a rise in physician-only social networking. Doctors need a safe place that they can talk to each other online.
Labels:
certified social media specialist,
gelato,
nfl,
picasa,
redskins,
twitter,
whole foods,
zappos
Monday, September 21, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092109
- The NonProfit Times - What's all the Chirping - Examples of non-profits using Twitter to help build relationships and raise money online
- FirstGiving - Tweet, tweet - Recap of NonProfit Times article
- How 20 popular websites looked when they launched
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Social Media Reading - 092009
- More on Net Neutrality
- Olivier Blanchard - Basics of Social Media ROI [presentation] - Great set of slides on defining social media costs and how to establish ROI
- Google Docs to be Indexed - If you publish your Google doc on a public web site, Google search engines will now begin crawling and indexing the document
- Google blog: Published docs will be crawlable soon
- JoeTrippi.com: Google docs soon to be found in search engines
- More on Project Retweet
Tips and Tricks
- A Day in the Life of an IT Manager: Staying Connected - Great tips on how to manage your time and information resources.
What Else I'm Reading
- My Top Ten Favorite Google Products
- Facebook: The Most Searched for Term on the Web - Beats out Twitter, porn, Bible, sex and news
- Is the Internet Melting Our Brains?
Labels:
fcc,
google,
net neutrality,
social media,
time management
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091909 Part Two
- Foursquare: will it be bigger than Twitter
- PRSA recently posted a guest post about millennial staffers. While there was disagreement on Twitter and the blog regarding the blog, what really stirred up debate was when the guest blogger posted a comment on the blog and then deleted the comment. People felt the comment was self-serving and promotional and didn't really answer the previous comments on the blog. The deletion of the comment stirred up more controversy than the blog itself.
Social Media Reading - 091909
- FCC to Announce New Net Neutrality Rules
- JoeTrippi.com: FCC to roll out new net neutrality rules
- Google: Net Neutrality Timeline
- Wired: FCC Expected to Announce Support of Net Neutrality Monday
- Mashable: Victory: FCC to Mandate Net Neutrality for the Web
- More on Google, Apple and the FCC
- Brainstorm Tech: What did Apple and Google talk about for three weeks in July
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
- Our online lives slowly leak away - Thoughts about what we store online and how to keep track of that data for the future.
- RIP Facebook Beacon
- Amazon creates own house brand of consumer electronics
- Small Business Does Not Us Social Media Yet
Labels:
amazon,
apple,
facebook beacon,
fcc,
google,
net neutrality
Friday, September 18, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091809
- Are Fans and Followers Really Useless Numbers - yes!
- 21 Must-Follow Tips for Optimizing Time Spent in Social Media - Great ideas ... especially for those of us who have information overload problems.
What Else I'm Reading
- Remember the AT&T Ads About the Future? You Will
- The sad truth about today's Internet population
- More information about Apple rejecting Google iPhone applications
- CNNMoney: Google spills the beans on Apple
- GigaOm: Apple Rejected Google Apps Because They Were Better
- Apple Insider: Apple fires back at Google over Voice app rejection claim
- Google Public Policy Blog: Our complete letter to the FCC regarding Google Voice for iPhone
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091709
- Seesmic Desktop Releases Version 0.6
- Loic le Meur Blog: Facebook Pages in Seesmic Desktop 0.6
- Mashable: Seesmic Desktop Adds Full Facebook Fan Page Support
- TechCrunch: Seesmic Desktop Continues to Grow, Adds Facebook Fan Pages, Yfrog Integration and More
- GigaOm: Seesmic Releases New Features for Its Desktop App
- Inside Facebook: Seesmic: The Largest Desktop App to Make Facebook More Useful
- ReadWriteWeb: Seesmic Updates Desktop App: Now With More Facebook
- The Next Web: Deep Facebook Fan Page Integration Comes to Seesmic Desktop
- CNET: New Seesmic Desktop Supports Facebook Fan Pages
- Facebook: Facebook Platform
- Chart of the Day: The Internet is Finally, Primarily a Content Platform - "Users spend 88% more time consuming content on the Internet each month in 2009 (7 hours) than they did in 2003 (3 hours, 42 minutes).
- Seesmic and Tweetdeck: Two Ways to Immerse Yourself in Social Nets
What Else I'm ReadiPublish Postng
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The problem with non - my take
In a recent blog, Seth Godin said some things that have caused quite a stir on Twitter and with those that work for and with non-profits. In his blog post, The problem with non, he talks about how non-profits are resistant to change.
There are a couple parts of his blog that I agree with:
There are other parts of his blog that I disagree with:
There are a couple parts of his blog that I agree with:
- Too many non-profits aren't willing to take the leap from the traditional to the new. If the donations are coming in - even if they have slowed down - they aren't willing to risk those donations to go find new ones. But, for many non-profits this means that they are not engaging younger activists, volunteers and donors and have a donor population that is just going to continue to age.
There are other parts of his blog that I disagree with:
- Not all non-profits should crowdsource their social media efforts. While crowdsourcing works for some groups, it can backfire on others.
- Social media is not free. Some of the tools may be free, the resources that it takes to write the messages and get them online are not.
- I see interactions with non-profits that blow me away on a regular basis.
Other people's responses:
- CauseWired communications: Why Seth Godin is Wrong
- Beth's Blog: Seth Godin's Non Post About Nonprofits: Deers in the Headlights
- Chronicle of Philanthropy: Followers and Friends Not the Only Measure of Nonprofit Success Online
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091509
Webinars and Conferences
- Boston Email Fundraising Bootcamp - $125 - October 7, 2009 - Boston, Massachusetts
What Else I'm Reading
- YouTube Races to be #1 ... on Facebook - YouTube is trying to be the first page with 1M fans on Facebook. If they make it, they are going to let fans choose which non-profit videos are featured on their site.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091409
- Facebook Launches @Mentions in Status Updates
- Mashable - How to: Facebook status Tagging
- Google Launches Fast Flip
- What Google Understands About the Future of News and Publishing that Publishers Do Not - Packaging is king
- NY Times - Google Releases News-Reading Service
- Google blog - Read news fast with Google Fast Flip
- Little Things: Facebook Friend Notifications Transition to HTML
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091309
Webinars and Conferences
- Twitter for Nonprofits - Slideshare presentation
What Else I'm Reading
- 5 Ways Banks are Using Social Media - Community building and customer service are two of the top ways banks are using social media.
- Mobile Marketing Done Right
- The People's Republic of Google
Labels:
banks,
Facebook,
mobile marketing,
social media,
twitter
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091209
Webinars and Conferences
What Else I'm Reading
- To Mobile or Not to Mobile: Digital Strategies for Marketers - 9/15/2009 - 11:00 AM Pacific
What Else I'm Reading
- Get People to Your Website - Great ideas. Reinforcing the ideas that you need to have an easy to remember web address listed on every thing that your organization produces.
- Semper Fi Link or Die
- Is Facebook Like Google, or More Like Yahoo?
- Is Facebook leaking notes?
- YouTube Fame Lands Graffiti Artist in Jail
Friday, September 11, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091109
- All for Good Releases Facebook Application
- Crucial Requirements for Campaign Landing Pages - Great ideas on how to make your campaign landing pages mesh with your email campaigns.
- Virtual SRM Findings: Social Click Through Rates for Facebook are Highest on Tuesdays - Wednesday is only slightly lower than on Tuesday
What Else I'm Reading
- Wilson hires professional tweeter - Joe Wilson (made infamous by shouting at the President) has hired a new media strategist to tweet on his behalf and reach out to bloggers
- 7 Reasons Why I Love Seesmic
- The Obamas' Choice for the Day of Service: Habitat for Humanity
Labels:
click through rates,
Facebook,
habitat for humanity,
joe wilson,
seesmic,
twitter
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Social Media Reading - 091009
- Twitter Announces New TOS; Opens door for Advertising
- Official Twitter Blog: Twitter's New Terms of Service
- Reuters: Twitter expands rules to allow advertising
- Mashable: Twitter Changes TOS, Opens the Door for Ads
- Silicon Valley Business Journal: New Twitter rules allow advertising
- Facebook Releases Facebook Lite
- Facebook Introduces Ability to Tag Friends in Status Updates (Similar to Twitter Mentions)
Labels:
Facebook,
Facebook Lite,
terms of service,
twitter
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090909
Tips and Tricks
Webinars and Conferences
- Business Marketing Association: September Product Marketing Roundtable - 9/17/09 8:30 AM - $30
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090809
- 10 Reasons Why Brands Fail at Twitter - This is a really great list, especially about listening and responding when appropriate.
What Else I'm Reading
Monday, September 7, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090709 Part Two
- Should Your Organization "Go Google"? - Examination of whether or not your organization should switch to Google Apps
Webinars and Conferences
- Boston Media Makers
Social Media Reading - 090709
- Don't Take This the Wrong Way - A must read post on the difference between criticism and feedback and how your organizations social media policy should respond to both.
What Else I'm Reading
- McKinsey's Web 2.0 survey: What do execs know
- Report Reveals: 15 Best Practices of Social Media Implemented by Top 100 Brands
- Twitter Fever: 5 Red Hot Twitter Trends to Track
- Stats: Young People are Flocking to Twitter
- WordPress Enters Real-Time: 7.5 Million Blogs Reach Twitter Speed
- Life Recorders May Be This Century's Wrist Watch
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090609
Tips and Tricks
What Else I'm Reading
What Else I'm Reading
- Want 5,000 More Facebook Friends? That'll Be $654.30 - Silicon Alley Insider explores some of the different pricing schemes for things like Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Digg recommends, etc.
- Walmart Classifieds - Walmart creates a very Craigslist-like classifieds system on the Oodle platform.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090509 Part Two
- Worldwide Facebook Mobile Usage up 300% in Last 12 Months - Facebook for iPhone has 12 million active monthly users; Facebook for Blackberry has 9 million active monthly users
- The First Twitter Class - DePaul University is offering a class on how to use Twitter to its journalism students
- City, neighbors encounter Facebook challenge - More staff than expected is causing parking problems at Stanford Research Center and in surrounding residential neighborhoods
What Else I'm Reading
- Rules of the Pool
- What is Google Doing For You? - A short, but informative, list of the tools that Google offers non-profits for free.
- Can a School Library be Replaced by E-Readers? Apparently, it Can - Cushing Academy is spending $500,000 to eliminate its library and replace it with digital e-readers and a more friendly laptop environment
- Google Wave: 5 Ways it Could Change the Web
- Map Wars: How Google, Microsoft and Yahoo Deal With Bridge Closure - Interesting look at how the big three mapping programs are noting (or noting the Bay Bridge closure). Comments show that this might be a Bay Area phenomenon and not happening with other bridges.
Labels:
depaul university,
facebook facebook mobile,
google,
google wave,
library,
maps,
twitter,
yahoo
Social Media Reading - 090509
- Amazon Apologizes to Kindle Users for Deleting 1984
- Reuters: Amazon offers to replace deleted copies of 1984
- NY Times: Amazon.com Offers to Replace Copies of Orwell Book
- Cnet: Amazon apologizes for deleting Kindle e-books
- Want better digital strategy, ban seven dirty words - Matt Dickman has a great idea on how you can get people talk strategy on social media instead of talking about tactics - don't let them talk about the seven top platforms.
What Else I'm Reading
- There's no social media revolution - Paul Seaman breaks down some of the most talked about social media by big business case studies.
- Where does brand fit in your marketing - In a down economy should you worry more or less about your brand?
- Fox's Fringe "Twitter on TV" Experiment Irks Fans - Instead of doing something with a split screen and then showing the tweets along the bottom or something like that, Fox put the tweets from cast/crew right on top of the video. This is a cool idea but the implementation was flawed.
- The Future of Search and Search Engine Optimization
- 5 Key Questions When Selecting a Social Media Firm - Great questions to get the conversation started with looking at a firm to work with your company on social media.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090309
Webinars and Conferences
- Social Media Classes for Nonprofits: Seattle - October, 2009 - 3 Classes - $39 for one/$90 for mini-series - Seattle, Washington
- From Zero to Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community - Webinar - 9/17/09
#chats
- #SMMetric - Wednesdays at 1 PM Eastern - Social Media Monitoring
What Else I'm Reading
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090209
What Else I'm Reading
- 5 Ways to Attract and Empower Your Crowd - Interesting ideas on how to begin to crowdsource.
- Boost nonprofit web traffic - Steve Thomas says that the first question you should ask if someone offers to boost your web site traffic is why?
Why I Started This Blog
About 4 months ago, I started actively tweeting. It was during the NTC NTEN 09 conference, and just like I expected I became hooked.
But, there are limitations to the 140 character format, so I decided I wanted to start blogging about the social media world and what I was reading. This was two months ago, and my initial goal was to post a blog every day. I specifically didn't plan on any original content and just wanted to make comments about other people's content.
My goal for the month of September is to still blog every day, and do around 20+ "Social Media Reading" blogs per month and at least 10 original posts this month. It's a challenging goal, but one that's achievable.
But, there are limitations to the 140 character format, so I decided I wanted to start blogging about the social media world and what I was reading. This was two months ago, and my initial goal was to post a blog every day. I specifically didn't plan on any original content and just wanted to make comments about other people's content.
My goal for the month of September is to still blog every day, and do around 20+ "Social Media Reading" blogs per month and at least 10 original posts this month. It's a challenging goal, but one that's achievable.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Social Media Reading - 090109
- Pandora One Releases Upgrade
- Pandora Blog - Pandora One Gets an Upgrade: Desktop App 2.0
- Mashable - Pandora One Gets An Update to Desktop App 2.0
- Gmail Crashes
- Official Gmail Blog - More on today's Gmail issue
- Mashable - Google: Gmail Outage Was Our Bad
- Yeeaauuh! - 10 Hilarious Twitter Reactions to Gmail Going Down
Webinars and Conferences
- An Evening with Shel Israel in Twitterville - Hosted by SNCR - Palo Alto, California - $10 - 9/8 5:30 PM
What Else I'm Reading
- Twitter and health care - can a tweet a day keep the doctor away
- Lost: Regional Networks removed from Facebook
- Ebay Sells Skype to Private Investors
- ComputerWorld - Report: eBay to sell Skype to group of private investors
Labels:
ebay,
Facebook,
regional networks,
skype,
twitter,
Twitterville
Monday, August 31, 2009
Social Media Reading - 083109
- A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2009 - Great list and Jeremiah promises to keep it updated.
What Else I'm Reading
Gravity Summit
News
- CNN: Hammer Tweets - MC Hammer talks about Tweeting and being a social media enthusiast [video]
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Social Media Reading - 083009
- Why Don't Teens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them - Turns out, Teens do tweet. They tweet more than the average population. TechCrunch asked 10,000 teens about their opinions about Twitter and why they do or don't use it.
What Else I'm Reading
- TV Ads vs. Social Media
- The Future of Engagement: Social Media and Cause Marketing by @scottyhendo - Information about the pledge to end hunger and the Share Our Strength campaign
- Quitters - An article examining subscriber churn on Facebook and whether or not people should make a big deal out of people leaving.
- How Does Cause Related Marketing Work?
- Community Can Be SO Powerful
- Does Social Networking Impair Learning?
Labels:
cause marketing,
Facebook,
social media,
twitter
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