May 2012
9 posts
3 tags
Facebook: A Ship Lost in the Dark of Night
Facebook went public a week and a half ago. The IPO, thought by many to be the grandaddy of them all instead was a dud, as the stock barely rose on the first day of trading and actually fell an additional ten percent on the second day. After that, came allegations that investors had hung the company out to dry by selling the stock off prior to open because they felt like the social network did...
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The Loss of Competitive Intellectual Advantage
There used to be a time in human society when intellectuality and knowledge were commodities. Back in those ages, knowledge was held by the teachers in society who entertained those who wanted to learn more. For the most part, the rest of society didn’t really need to know much anyway out of the day-to-day tasks of managing their lives and building up a civilization.
With those who had...
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The Yellow Pages are Done: It's All in Social...
A couple of months ago I walked into a shopping center and saw a pay phone. It seemed awkwardly out of place, like a relic in the wrong era. In a day where our mobile phones can play games, pay for items and buy coupons on Yelp, this pay phone could only push numbers and call people.
Attached to this pay phone was a copy of the yellow pages. The yellow pages hung off the phone booth, lonely as...
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Thoughts on the Facebook IPO (Take Two)
It was quite a week for Mark Zuckerberg. He had a birthday, got married, and oh - his company went public at a valuation of $104 billion dollars.
The debut of Facebook was rather interesting. Depending on how you think about it, the introduction of Facebook on the NASDAQ was either a dud or perfectly timed. Closing up 23 cents can be viewed either as a perfect valuation or signaling that...
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Social ROI: The Beast in the Room
If there were a business buzzword hall of fame, I have no doubt that the phrase “Return on Investment” (ROI) would be one of the initial inductees.
Social Media ROI was a topic of great discussion last week at the Ragan Conference. As has been the case with social media, ROI has been a huge topic for the past three to five years. The question at the end of the day is always what ROI...
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Cisco-Ragan: A Reminder That Social Media is...
I had the pleasure of sitting down this week at the Cisco/Ragan Social Media Summit in San Jose. The opportunity afforded me the luxury of sitting in front of luminaries like Mark Ragan and Brian Solis as well as social media strategists from Scottrade, Lawyers.com, IBM, Southern California Edison and Neiman Marcus.
As someone who has geeked out and engaged in the space for three years now, a...
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Who You Know, What You Know
Yahoo, the technology-content-search company everyone has come to enjoy piling on these recent weeks careened further into illegitimacy this week as recently installed CEO Scott Thompson was exposed for not having the computer science degree he claims to have, but only having a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration with Accounting from his Alma Mater. In the process, this has...
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“Can you make the Facebook button display more likes? We want it to look like...”
– (via clientsfromhell)
Social Tip: Even if you want to take your social media presence by making it look like you matter, it still won’t make a difference in the end when people land on your page.
Engage, make your audience care about what you do, and the rest will follow. Success never...
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Dear [Social Media] Graduate,
Congratulations. You’ve reached graduation.
As you tweet your way into your cap and gown, snap photos on your smartphone and capture each moment from the commencement speaker to the tossing of the caps, you inch closer and closer to the real world. When the gowns finally land on the ground, you will have been welcomed in.
You’ve been told all your life that this degree wrapped in a...
April 2012
9 posts
2 tags
Social Media: Accelerating The Referral
I’m often asked by non-social media professional friends about social media. With social media news taking over the world on a daily basis, it seems like a reasonable thing to ask. The question I get the most is how social media is particularly useful, especially since there seems to be so much noise about who is acquiring who and what the bubble seems to be, the point of the industry.
For...
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Branding Needs to be Simple
On Monday, Adobe decided to come out with Creative Suite 6, a part of their powerful lineup of media creation products. For those in the creative industry, this a big move because it finally gives users the ability to access Adobe Software in the cloud. The move is definitely a game changer for the future.
I glanced upon the price offerings today, and I am overwhelmed. If you look at the image...
5 tags
Social Media Analysis Should Tell a Story
Social media metrics are a key part of every social media strategy and campaign. I swear by them, and if you’re in the industry, so should you. Running metrics is like telling a story, with each engagement, activity, and moment of impact told in the form of a story.
Wired Magazine ran an article yesterday called “What Your Klout Score Really Means” and in my eyes,...
6 tags
Instagram, Facebook and Internet Boredom
The dust has finally settled on the Facebook/Instagram merger. A week later, many are still asking why this acquisition ever happened, and the answers number in the many. Whether you believe its the competition from Pinterest, the defense against Google or just Zuckerberg being Zuckerberg and hustling as CEO, the reasons could be endless. All I know is that there’s a party cooking in this...
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How Politicians Can Use Social Media for 2012
The American political system is an unfortunate sprint to the finish every four years. Politicians never stop campaigning for a coveted spot in their community, state, city or country.
I was lucky enough several years ago to help run a campaign by a dear friend, Chad Greer for District 9 City Council in San Jose, California. Social media in 2010 was much different than now - the networks were...
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What You Post on Social Media Is Impacting
Last night, I was working on my website Socialize With Us, and was looking to use my Macbook’s webcam to shoot some video podcasts. Unfortunately, as someone who has grown up with a lazy eye (Ptosis), I have to deal with one eye being bigger than the other. Nonetheless, because my Facebook community is generally supportive, I posed a question. It was risky, but this is the screenshot:
...
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What Gregg Williams Can Teach You About Social...
If you follow the world of American football, no doubt you’ve been following the New Orleans Saints and their bounty controversy. While rough play is a part of the Football pastime, to pay for the reckless injury of someone is way out of line. Additionally, to speak of taking someone out of a game as Gregg Williams did (Video NSFW), borders on the line of practically wanting to murder.
...
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The Agony and the Ecstasy of Social Media
The market for social media valuation is hot in Silicon Valley these days. Instagram, the photo sharing app that everyone came to love, just sold for $1 billion dollars to Facebook despite having zero revenue and zero monetization. My buddy Robert Caruso talks more about the photo aspect of this over on his blog, and looks at the acquisition of Instagram from a competition perspective with...
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Socialize With Us: Bringing Social Media Pros...
If you know me, I’m a man of many different projects. Perhaps its merely a Silicon Valley thing, where nobody just works one job and one job only, but I like putting on many hats.
Several months ago, Morgan Barnhart approached me with an idea. She and I are both social media advisors to multiple companies and wanted to bring together social media professionals for the good of sourcing...
March 2012
8 posts
2 tags
Twitter at 6: A Happy Belated Birthday
Here’s to another six years - with less Fail Whales and more success stories. Connecting people, closer than ever!
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The Agony and the Ecstasy of Facebook EdgeRank
One of the oddities of using Facebook is the EdgeRank platform. For marketers, this is a welcome technology because it gives the ability for content to go viral. Even if something was posted last month, and there is a comment today, friends of the poster will be notified of the event happening, giving potential new life for content.
For individual users, the existence of EdgeRank can be an...
3 tags
Social Media for Employment Good
I’ve seen a lot of articles lately about employers and their social media policies. There’s this, this, this and this - and if you read them all, the pattern is pretty simple: run for the hills, close your social media accounts and set your social media profiles to private.
I’ve heard this concern from many people regarding their social media presence in regards to finding a...
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Social Media: Quit Perpetuating a Race to the...
Having observed the process of finding a job, consulting and seeing the general sentiment out there, there’s a clear problem of how people view social media. The problem is that its become a race to the bottom, and its not just the consumer to blame - its also the vendors.
From a consumer end, social media has always been free. Starting a Twitter, Facebook or YouTube account are all...
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Social Media: It needs to be Attention Grabbing
Back before being on social media was considered cool, the act of getting your brand on social media was an act of attention. Adopting a new technology in itself would get you the talk of the town. “How will you use this to get more people to come to your store?” people asked. The answer then was one of uncertainty, but now that everyone and their mother has a Facebook profile page and that...
7 tags
Restaurants and Retailers - Pay Attention to...
I found myself dining at a relatively well-known locale in Pasadena, California, several days back. As I am custom to do, I checked in on Foursquare to add to my total and to check whether the restaurant had any deals that I could also take part in. Like the few restaurants that do engage in deals, this one did. When the waitress came back around to take our orders, I inquired regarding the...
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Questioned Social Virality
By now, I am sure you have seen, heard, talked to or argued with someone about the validity of KONY 2012, the campaign against Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the center of attention for Invisible Children, a non-profit organization looking to save the abducted kids who go into the army and become child soldiers and sex slaves.
You can go here, here, here, and...
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Social Sit-Down With: Jeremy Holmes
Everyday I run into awesome people on social media and everything from social media strategy to management and analytics. Starting today, I’m running a series on interviews and chats with social media dudes and dudettes all around the country and wherever I can find them. Today I sit down with Jeremy Holmes, social media dude at FROGBOX, a moving company that uses sustainable boxes. Read...
February 2012
12 posts
2 tags
One Does Not Simply Do Social Media
There is a reason why you see more self appointed social media “experts” than programming whizzes: social media from the eyes of many, is simple to do. The assertion is made often that there is nothing difficult about writing a status update or posting something viral. After all, if someone with some ad money and a bunny can get it done, why can’t the average joe off the...
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[Infographic]: How Should You Target Your...
Lately, we’ve seen a lot of images catering to individual social media users and what networks they ought to post their statuses should they want to say something but not be punished. The image looks a little like this:
I thought, this is a perfect example of targeting. Targeting, in a world of extra noise and meaningless chatter, helps with messaging because the message reaches those...
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Social Media for Business, Explained
Lately, we’ve seen the photo that looks at social media for the consumer, and what social network does what. Today, we’ve taken that social graphic and changed it around, and it looks like social media from the point of view of a business. What exactly is a business owner thinking when they put out that tweet?
Now you know!
Laugh along with me in the comments section below or send...
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Some Thoughts on ACTA, SOPA, PIPA
Let me begin by saying that our politicians don’t understand the Internet. Let me also follow that up by saying that it’s okay that people in general don’t understand technology. It’s complicated. Roundabout. Crazy. Time-consuming. In a world of noise, we certainly don’t need more sometimes, especially if we’re a doctor trying to focus or a lawyer trying to get...
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9 Months, 9 Thoughts on Social Collaboration
In the world of enterprise, social collaboration is becoming a big thing. More companies want to get their employees into the social media game by having them sign up for collaborative platforms such as Salesforce, Cisco Quad, and other homemade platforms. Social collaboration promises employees the benefits of working within a team, being social about what they are getting done, and getting...
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7 Things I Love About Social Media
Its Valentine’s Day, and I’m doing a post on love. No, I’m not giving tips or telling you about the person I love, but I’m talking social media.
I’ve learned a lot about social media in the past year. Here are 10 things I’ve come to love about it.
1. Follow Friday One of the best things about social media is Follow Friday. Its the day your Twitter stream...
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Pinterest: Social Branding for Businesses
On Wednesday, I discussed the rise of social scrapbooking and social sharing. Pinterest, and how scrapbooking and sharing is the next level of personal relationships. While Pinterest can be used by individuals, brands can and should definitely take into the phenomenon as well. Why? See my three reasons:
1. Humans are visual
This one is as much obvious. Men and women when looking at another...
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Pinterest: Social Scrapbooking on Overdrive (Part...
The name still barely makes any sense to me, but the concept has hit me in full throttle. Say hello to Pinterest, the social media scrapbooking tool that has taken over the world by storm, and created a new addiction.
Pinterest has been around since late-2011. Boiled down to its simplest parts, the website is a digital scrapbook of photos, laden in everything from infographics to meme-based...
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Thoughts on the Facebook IPO
Last week was a big week for Facebook. On Wednesday, they filed their papers for an Initial Public Offering slated for May, and predicted to be one of the biggest technology IPOs ever. On Saturday, the company celebrated 8 years in business.
The story of Facebook is a pretty folksy one, having been told once by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself, and again in an Oscar-winning film,...
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The Social Media "Bunny Effect"
A bunny named Brownie has 5,427 likes on Facebook and a conversational reach of 2,421 individuals talking. Can’t believe it? Believe it. Then continue reading.
Longtime friend and Facebook ads employee Jinghao Yan is no social media dude, but is very inquisitive and successful when it comes to applying to social media in his daily life. With 313 subscribers and a treasure trove of great...
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The State of the Collaboration Union
The State of the Union was last Tuesday. And the more you watched, the more it felt like hope and whatever loose change was left was slipping away. And not for the reasons you think.
I tuned in last Tuesday to the State of the Union. As a voting individual in this great nation, I take interest in the politics and policies enacted by those that I elect to office. The event is usually a festive...
January 2012
13 posts
3 tags
Facebook Timeline: 5 Simple Things to Get Started
For those of us who adopted early back in September, Facebook Timeline has become a normal part of our social media lives. Its sleek look, historical approach and cover photo feature has made for really cool and creative looks to our social media presences.
This coming week looks to be a big one for Facebook. In addition to its highly anticipated IPO filing, also comes the rollout of Timeline....
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The Social Media Football Team
So its been set. Giants versus Patriots for the 46th rendition of the American Holiday known as Super Bowl Sunday, where advertising for thirty seconds shoots into the millions, halftime causes utility companies to go crazy and more junk food is eaten than any other time of the year. In the tradition of America, this is as American as it gets.
From a top down perspective, social media is also...
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The Beauty of Blogging: Part 4 of 4 -...
One of the big trends in social media today is collaboration. Cisco is doing it with Cisco Quad, Salesforce with their platform and Zoho with their comprehensive platform, among many others. Collaboration offers the opportunity for shared value and the ability to team up and have multiple voices.
Blogging platforms today offer a bevy of social media tools, and some offer the ability to...
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The Beauty of Blogging: Part 3 of 4 - Social Media
Blogging has come a long way since the Drudge Report days of the Clinton administration. The added experience of plugins and content options also comes now with social media functionality. This Tumblr blog for example, gives the option of being able to post to Twitter, Facebook as well as emailing and photo replying as well as asking questions.
We’ve discussed the issues of being fearful...
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The Beauty of Blogging: Part 2 of 4 -...
We’ve all been there before: Upon surfing the Internet and looking for the next best thing, we stumble upon a beautiful website. The buttons mesh well with the design, the graphics are smooth. Your mouth drools and your eyes can only stare at the site, and before you know it, it’s been three hours.
That’s customization.
Customization is the art of creating a brand so sleek and so different that...
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The Beauty of Blogging: Part 1 of 4 - The Costs
Blogging, to diverge from Altimeter’s Jeremiah Owyang, is not dead, but rather alive, and is more alive than ever. Far from its infant days of static webpages, blogs provide not only a news source for people looking for an alternative form of media, but also looking to provide a piece of their own mind.
The action of blogging however, requires a lot on the time, energy and money of an...
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How "How I Met Your Mother" Translates to Social...
Social media is a generalized platform about friends, the things we go through with them, and the lessons we get out of it. We see each other when happy, sad, mad, angry and at our best, in addition to our worst. Most of all, it helps us stay connected.
The CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” (HIMYM) is what social media would probably be on the TV, played out in real life instead...
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Inorganic Social Search
Imagine for a moment that your social media experience was like going to a club. A club, as you well know, is sometimes a random set of individuals that meet up, and as a result, one does not know who they will run into.
At a club usually, the most social of the individual is the one that is most recognized. This person is often networking and getting to know others, making the connection and...
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BundlePost Updates, Makes Content Management Even...
For those of us who don’t spend all day on the Internet scouring for content, there is without a doubt, a challenge in the hunt for content, posting that content to the necessary feeds and engaging with our audience. Content management alone, can take up the entire day, from finding the right content, reading about it, choosing what to say in the tweet and so forth, leaving no time for the...
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Social Fear
Several days ago, MG Siegler wrote an interesting blog post on the deactivation of comments in blogs, asserting that that 99.9% of comments are pretty off the mark anyway, and that if you truly want to get your own voice, get your own blog, and then earn the voice.
I beg to differ.
Social media and blogging come in very hand-in-hand. Both are facilities of discussion, and blogging for one has...
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3 Questions: What's Your Mobile Strategy?
People are texting all over the world today, and smartphones are crazy in popularity. As a business owner, seeing people with mobile phones in your store or giving people the power to use your website when they are not at their computer is a big deal. But do you need a mobile strategy? Why have one? Consider the questions below:
1. Do your customers check in? Checking in is a popular thing to...