What is Media Literacy? Media literacy is the ability to bring critical thinking skills and about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content. In our world of multi-tasking, commercialism, globalization and interactivity, media literacy isn't about having the right answers - it's about asking the right questions. (Source: Jane Tallim) Photo credit: lumingopereira Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Community Information Hubs - Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information.
• How Social Media Is Changing College Admission - Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20.
• Visualization and Search - Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today.
• Technology as Philosophy - Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.
• LearnTrends - Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week.
• Pay Attention! - ...attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve.
• Rough Week for Higher Education - Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and thoroughly corrupt.

If you are into understanding how technology improvements are shaping new and different paradigms in the way we conceive and experience education, this weekly digest provides you a good set of pointers, facts and resources to make sense of the challenges that awaits our society in a not-so-distant future. Here all the details:


eLearning Resources and News learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends by George Siemens


Analysis of Emerging Trends Affecting the Use of Technology in Education Becta has published a new report Analysis of emerging trends affecting the use of technology in education. The report does not contain anything significantly new, but provides a good overview of current trends in information technology (in particular, multimedia habits, mobile technologies, parental encouragement of educational use of tools, and growth of TV on demand). Growing awareness of trends impacting education is important. More attention is being paid to trends today than was only a few years ago (Horizon Report was an early initiative in trend analysis). We are now getting to the point where trends analysis needs to lead to the creation of future scenarios. Developing a futures thinking mindset would serve educators well (the future is about future thinking?).




Community Information Hubs Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information. I subscribe to several local blogs, news sites, and related information. In networks, local information teeters on the brink of generating global conversation. All it takes is one unique conversation, violation of rights, a novel happening and suddenly global attention floods local scenes (high attention status is fleeting, however, and disappears as soon as the next novelty attracts the attention of online participants). In spite of following local information sources, I do find that I miss much of the mundane local conversation (gossip?). Given the global decline of newspapers, what can we expect from community hubs? MediaShift suggests: “There’s no shortage of quality information. The issue is recognizing the type of information that people need expanded access to and finding a trustworthy mechanism for delivering it.” A list of suggestions for information hubs then follows. All of which could be achieved through distributed means... and none of which require a central site. It’s here that I’m finding some personal dissatisfaction with information interaction. The notion of object-centered sociability suggests that it is objects that lead to socialization. I would like to turn it around and offer the view that online and community conversations are socially-centered information artifacts. They do not exist prior to the conversation and interaction. Information, in a socially centered view, is a by product of learning that emerges through socialization, rather than an artifact that centers socialization.




How Social Media Is Changing College Admission Media and advertising are obviously intertwined. Attention draws marketing schemes. There is value in watching how the PR industry has moved from centralized controlled messages in mainstream media to decentralized messages on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. College and university admissions are also taking note. At University of Manitoba, for example, our PR department is actively involved with: News blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, and other tools. And they subscribe to Google alerts on “University of Manitoba” (which is how they will find out about this post... I was recently interviewed by our student newspaper on Facebook and our handbook of emerging technologies because the editor discovered references on Google Alerts. It does make me wonder about how effectively our organizations are designed to handle and understand information flows when external tools do a better job of connecting people on a campus than internal tools and procedures). The intent with PR and marketing to connect with prospective students in various forums and various tools. Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20. How social media is changing college admission (.pdf) demonstrates the significant use of blogs, wikis, social networking services, and other tool by universities / colleges. In most categories use is significantly higher than by Fortune and Inc. 500 companies. The discussion on how admissions departments use social networking and web search (p12) as part of the admissions process is interesting... and something that younger learners need to be aware of. (via Academica Group). UPDATE: For some reason, the paper has now been moved. Member only access…




Visualization and Search Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today. When Google first appeared, it introduced new expectations of search. Instead of categorical Yahoo Search or only marginally effective Lycos search results, users now expected fast and relevant responses to queries. And so things have stayed. I’m sure Google has been very aggressive in improving search results behind the scenes, but my experience of searching is almost identical to what it was in early 2000. Search innovation has been limited. This is partly due to the sheer complexity of language and matching results to sometimes undeclared intentions. While Berners Lee appears on the scene occasionally to declare the need for the semantic web, he soon fades and for most of us, search continues as it was. When Google purchased Trendalyzer, there was an expectation that search would now become more visual - providing not just the results, but an indication of patterns, trends, and related factors. Not much has happened since then. At least, not much that I’ve experienced in my search habits. WolframAlpha is now receiving attention (though it hasn’t launched) as a tool to assist in making sense of complex data. And Google has revived lagging search innovation by adding public data to its results (only American states / counties to date). Other novel declarations of new search engines (cuil and a9 come to mind) haven’t made much of an impact. Perhaps Google has attained Microsoft status: finding it difficult to innovate and having grown so prominent that those who are innovating are unable to compete.




Technology as Philosophy Technology is not neutral. We don’t apply it to our teaching in a “plug in and use” approach. Technology is philosophy. Tools embed views and influence action. Google permits access to information (when not blocked). Blogs and wikis permit openness and information sharing. It’s not much of a surprise then that we see the creators and advocates of emerging technologies to desire to exert their influence into traditional establishments and problems. I’m starting to see the field of technology as a quasi-religious system based on assumptions of progress, constant change, individualism, distrust/disdain for established structures of society, and hope for an every expanding brighter future. As any system of this nature, the will to power is strong. The desire to re-create society on the premise that drives the technology field forward is natural. In Iraq with Web 2.0 Luminaries: The idea is to use the brains of this small collective to give ideas to Iraqi government officials, companies and users that will help it rebuild. Iraq is short on the mojo that widespread internet can bring and the fast-track economic jolt that entrepreneurs feed on. Who knows that stuff better than a contingent of internet goombahs heavy on the Google juice and includes the guy who thought up Twitter? When stories like this appear, it should cause educators to stop spouting silly things like “technology is neutral”. Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.




LearnTrends Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week. Any experimentation with teaching and learning that challenges assumptions of courses and conferences is intriguing. Jay reflects on the event: “Our goal was honest dialog among as many members as possible. No commercials. No presentations. Few or no slides. Often, we threw three or four great people into an online fishbowl and let the conversation go where it would.”




Pay Attention! How do you handle students / colleagues who are actively handling email, twittering, facebooking, and whatever-else-ing while you are conducting a class or attending a meeting? Some educators adopt a “it’s the student’s choice” attitude, while others require learners to be present. Howard Rheingold posits attention as a form of literacy: I want my students to learn that attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve. The technological extension of our minds and brains by chips and nets has granted great power to billions of people, but even in the early years of always-on, it is clear to even technology enthusiasts like me that this power will certainly mislead, mesmerize and distract those who haven’t learned - were never taught - how to exert some degree of mental control over our use of laptop, handheld, earbudded media. Related: PR 2.0 tackles attention from the perspective of the consumer, suggesting advertisers / organizations follow the eyeballs and “compete for attention where and when it’s captivated.”




Rough Week for Higher Education General Motors is now the new standard insult to organizations that need to innovate, but don’t. Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and “thoroughly corrupt”. Harsh. Ivory Tower: Crumbling from Within quotes a presentation by Jeff Sandefer (who is highly biased as the founder of an business school to counter traditional universities): “the bureaucratic “pedagogy of arrogance” may soon collapse, much like the General Motors and even the former Soviet Union” (insert joke here about how effective business schools were at preventing economic collapse in late 2008). We then hear of David Wiley (slightly misquoted) declaring universities will be irrelevant by 2020. Each era of history creates its knowledge institutions to reflect how information (in that era) is created, disseminated, shared, and re-created. History has given us libraries, monasteries, universities, and research labs. What does the future hold for knowledge institutions when the information cycle is under the control of individuals and amateurs? I don’t agree fully with the harsh assessment in the articles linked above - universities appear to be awakening to the changed reality - but our current challenge is that we have no alternative to move toward. We know what we don’t want universities to be. We don’t yet have thought leadership on what they should become.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on May 1st 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits: Analysis of Emerging Trends Affecting the Use of Technology in Education - vacuum3d Community Information Hubs - Tatiana53 Technology as Philosophy - Anatoly Tiplyashin Pay Attention! - Dmitriy Shironosov Rough Week for Higher Education - Ana Blazic

What is Media Literacy? Media literacy is the ability to bring critical thinking skills and about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content. In our world of multi-tasking, commercialism, globalization and interactivity, media literacy isn't about having the right answers - it's about asking the right questions. (Source: Jane Tallim) Photo credit: lumingopereira Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Community Information Hubs - Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information.
• How Social Media Is Changing College Admission - Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20.
• Visualization and Search - Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today.
• Technology as Philosophy - Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.
• LearnTrends - Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week.
• Pay Attention! - ...attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve.
• Rough Week for Higher Education - Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and thoroughly corrupt.

If you are into understanding how technology improvements are shaping new and different paradigms in the way we conceive and experience education, this weekly digest provides you a good set of pointers, facts and resources to make sense of the challenges that awaits our society in a not-so-distant future. Here all the details:


eLearning Resources and News learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends by George Siemens


Analysis of Emerging Trends Affecting the Use of Technology in Education Becta has published a new report Analysis of emerging trends affecting the use of technology in education. The report does not contain anything significantly new, but provides a good overview of current trends in information technology (in particular, multimedia habits, mobile technologies, parental encouragement of educational use of tools, and growth of TV on demand). Growing awareness of trends impacting education is important. More attention is being paid to trends today than was only a few years ago (Horizon Report was an early initiative in trend analysis). We are now getting to the point where trends analysis needs to lead to the creation of future scenarios. Developing a futures thinking mindset would serve educators well (the future is about future thinking?).




Community Information Hubs Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information. I subscribe to several local blogs, news sites, and related information. In networks, local information teeters on the brink of generating global conversation. All it takes is one unique conversation, violation of rights, a novel happening and suddenly global attention floods local scenes (high attention status is fleeting, however, and disappears as soon as the next novelty attracts the attention of online participants). In spite of following local information sources, I do find that I miss much of the mundane local conversation (gossip?). Given the global decline of newspapers, what can we expect from community hubs? MediaShift suggests: “There’s no shortage of quality information. The issue is recognizing the type of information that people need expanded access to and finding a trustworthy mechanism for delivering it.” A list of suggestions for information hubs then follows. All of which could be achieved through distributed means... and none of which require a central site. It’s here that I’m finding some personal dissatisfaction with information interaction. The notion of object-centered sociability suggests that it is objects that lead to socialization. I would like to turn it around and offer the view that online and community conversations are socially-centered information artifacts. They do not exist prior to the conversation and interaction. Information, in a socially centered view, is a by product of learning that emerges through socialization, rather than an artifact that centers socialization.




How Social Media Is Changing College Admission Media and advertising are obviously intertwined. Attention draws marketing schemes. There is value in watching how the PR industry has moved from centralized controlled messages in mainstream media to decentralized messages on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. College and university admissions are also taking note. At University of Manitoba, for example, our PR department is actively involved with: News blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, and other tools. And they subscribe to Google alerts on “University of Manitoba” (which is how they will find out about this post... I was recently interviewed by our student newspaper on Facebook and our handbook of emerging technologies because the editor discovered references on Google Alerts. It does make me wonder about how effectively our organizations are designed to handle and understand information flows when external tools do a better job of connecting people on a campus than internal tools and procedures). The intent with PR and marketing to connect with prospective students in various forums and various tools. Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20. How social media is changing college admission (.pdf) demonstrates the significant use of blogs, wikis, social networking services, and other tool by universities / colleges. In most categories use is significantly higher than by Fortune and Inc. 500 companies. The discussion on how admissions departments use social networking and web search (p12) as part of the admissions process is interesting... and something that younger learners need to be aware of. (via Academica Group). UPDATE: For some reason, the paper has now been moved. Member only access…




Visualization and Search Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today. When Google first appeared, it introduced new expectations of search. Instead of categorical Yahoo Search or only marginally effective Lycos search results, users now expected fast and relevant responses to queries. And so things have stayed. I’m sure Google has been very aggressive in improving search results behind the scenes, but my experience of searching is almost identical to what it was in early 2000. Search innovation has been limited. This is partly due to the sheer complexity of language and matching results to sometimes undeclared intentions. While Berners Lee appears on the scene occasionally to declare the need for the semantic web, he soon fades and for most of us, search continues as it was. When Google purchased Trendalyzer, there was an expectation that search would now become more visual - providing not just the results, but an indication of patterns, trends, and related factors. Not much has happened since then. At least, not much that I’ve experienced in my search habits. WolframAlpha is now receiving attention (though it hasn’t launched) as a tool to assist in making sense of complex data. And Google has revived lagging search innovation by adding public data to its results (only American states / counties to date). Other novel declarations of new search engines (cuil and a9 come to mind) haven’t made much of an impact. Perhaps Google has attained Microsoft status: finding it difficult to innovate and having grown so prominent that those who are innovating are unable to compete.




Technology as Philosophy Technology is not neutral. We don’t apply it to our teaching in a “plug in and use” approach. Technology is philosophy. Tools embed views and influence action. Google permits access to information (when not blocked). Blogs and wikis permit openness and information sharing. It’s not much of a surprise then that we see the creators and advocates of emerging technologies to desire to exert their influence into traditional establishments and problems. I’m starting to see the field of technology as a quasi-religious system based on assumptions of progress, constant change, individualism, distrust/disdain for established structures of society, and hope for an every expanding brighter future. As any system of this nature, the will to power is strong. The desire to re-create society on the premise that drives the technology field forward is natural. In Iraq with Web 2.0 Luminaries: The idea is to use the brains of this small collective to give ideas to Iraqi government officials, companies and users that will help it rebuild. Iraq is short on the mojo that widespread internet can bring and the fast-track economic jolt that entrepreneurs feed on. Who knows that stuff better than a contingent of internet goombahs heavy on the Google juice and includes the guy who thought up Twitter? When stories like this appear, it should cause educators to stop spouting silly things like “technology is neutral”. Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.




LearnTrends Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week. Any experimentation with teaching and learning that challenges assumptions of courses and conferences is intriguing. Jay reflects on the event: “Our goal was honest dialog among as many members as possible. No commercials. No presentations. Few or no slides. Often, we threw three or four great people into an online fishbowl and let the conversation go where it would.”




Pay Attention! How do you handle students / colleagues who are actively handling email, twittering, facebooking, and whatever-else-ing while you are conducting a class or attending a meeting? Some educators adopt a “it’s the student’s choice” attitude, while others require learners to be present. Howard Rheingold posits attention as a form of literacy: I want my students to learn that attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve. The technological extension of our minds and brains by chips and nets has granted great power to billions of people, but even in the early years of always-on, it is clear to even technology enthusiasts like me that this power will certainly mislead, mesmerize and distract those who haven’t learned - were never taught - how to exert some degree of mental control over our use of laptop, handheld, earbudded media. Related: PR 2.0 tackles attention from the perspective of the consumer, suggesting advertisers / organizations follow the eyeballs and “compete for attention where and when it’s captivated.”




Rough Week for Higher Education General Motors is now the new standard insult to organizations that need to innovate, but don’t. Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and “thoroughly corrupt”. Harsh. Ivory Tower: Crumbling from Within quotes a presentation by Jeff Sandefer (who is highly biased as the founder of an business school to counter traditional universities): “the bureaucratic “pedagogy of arrogance” may soon collapse, much like the General Motors and even the former Soviet Union” (insert joke here about how effective business schools were at preventing economic collapse in late 2008). We then hear of David Wiley (slightly misquoted) declaring universities will be irrelevant by 2020. Each era of history creates its knowledge institutions to reflect how information (in that era) is created, disseminated, shared, and re-created. History has given us libraries, monasteries, universities, and research labs. What does the future hold for knowledge institutions when the information cycle is under the control of individuals and amateurs? I don’t agree fully with the harsh assessment in the articles linked above - universities appear to be awakening to the changed reality - but our current challenge is that we have no alternative to move toward. We know what we don’t want universities to be. We don’t yet have thought leadership on what they should become.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on May 1st 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits: Analysis of Emerging Trends Affecting the Use of Technology in Education - vacuum3d Community Information Hubs - Tatiana53 Technology as Philosophy - Anatoly Tiplyashin Pay Attention! - Dmitriy Shironosov Rough Week for Higher Education - Ana Blazic

What is Media Literacy? Media literacy is the ability to bring critical thinking skills and about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content. In our world of multi-tasking, commercialism, globalization and interactivity, media literacy isn't about having the right answers - it's about asking the right questions. (Source: Jane Tallim) Photo credit: lumingopereira Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Community Information Hubs - Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information.
• How Social Media Is Changing College Admission - Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20.
• Visualization and Search - Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today.
• Technology as Philosophy - Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.
• LearnTrends - Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week.
• Pay Attention! - ...attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve.
• Rough Week for Higher Education - Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and thoroughly corrupt.

If you are into understanding how technology improvements are shaping new and different paradigms in the way we conceive and experience education, this weekly digest provides you a good set of pointers, facts and resources to make sense of the challenges that awaits our society in a not-so-distant future. Here all the details:

What is Media Literacy? Media literacy is the ability to bring critical thinking skills and about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content. In our world of multi-tasking, commercialism, globalization and interactivity, media literacy isn't about having the right answers - it's about asking the right questions. (Source: Jane Tallim) Photo credit: lumingopereira Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Community Information Hubs - Finding relevant information about a local community is challenging in a sea of global information.
• How Social Media Is Changing College Admission - Instead of marketing to 100,000 students at once (mainstream media model) they now focus on connecting to groups of 10-20.
• Visualization and Search - Searching and finding useful information really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is today.
• Technology as Philosophy - Technology is a philosophy and we MUST understand what it embodies, discuss its future impact, and explore what we are becoming.
• LearnTrends - Jay Cross hosted a 24-hour learn-a-thon this week.
• Pay Attention! - ...attention is a skill that must be learned, shaped, practiced; this skill must evolve if we are to evolve.
• Rough Week for Higher Education - Established institutions like higher education are increasingly targeted as bloated, inefficient, and thoroughly corrupt.

If you are into understanding how technology improvements are shaping new and different paradigms in the way we conceive and experience education, this weekly digest provides you a good set of pointers, facts and resources to make sense of the challenges that awaits our society in a not-so-distant future. Here all the details:

Google recently invited people to make short movies about their Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome Shorts features a collection of short films about the browser. Below are some of the best of Google Chrome short videos we enjoyed.

Google and Motion Theory craft the first video for Chrome’s arrival.

The video game shows simplicity of Chrome’s clean user interface

Internet is full of nooks and crannies hiding technological mischief.

On the internet you can do things, but you need the tools.

What makes a good browser?

Read more about Fun, Google, Software, Tools

Post a Comment | Write Guest Article | Follow on Twitter
Copyright 2009. Quick Online Tips. All Rights Reserved.

Visible Measures, the online video tracking platform, has just published their list of the most watched viral videos of all time. The numbers are in and they’re astounding, so astounding that Visible Measures terms these 18 hits the 100 Million Views Club. You won’t see “100 million” on all the view counters on YouTube, however: that’s because the company tracks all the copies of the original video reposted to YouTube, plus other video sites too (it’s fair to say, however, that the vast majority of the views occurred on YouTube).

So which videos have accumulated more than 100 million views in total? The collection consists of 8 music videos, 4 movie trailers, 2 TV show clips, and 4 user created machinations.

Of course, worthy of mention is internet sensation Susan Boyle, coming in the number five spot with 186,000,000 million views in the less than a month.

The Top 5 Most Viewed Videos 1. 356,300,000 views: Crank Dat music video by Soldier Boy

2. 266,500,000 views: Twilight, the movie trailer

3. 230,200,000 views: Touch My Body music video by Mariah Carey

4. 196,500,000 views: Jeff Dunham - Achmed the Terrorist

5. 186,000,000 views: Susan Boyle of Britain’s Got Talent

Other Notable 100 Million Views Club Members 9. 172,500,000 views: Dark Knight, the movie trailer

11. 147,000,000 views: User generated video, Evolution of Dance

13. 136,000,000 views: User generated video, Charlie Bit My Finger…Again

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: video, views, viral, youtube

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Mixcloud

Quick Pitch: Mixcloud helps content creators promote their radio shows and podcasts, while helping listeners discover new radio content.

Genius Idea: Mixcloud is to audio as YouTube is to video. So, the idea is that DJs, broadcasters, and podcasters will have a platform to reach hungry music and audio content consumers. The private beta site offers a fresh take on music mixes that’s easy on the eyes and great for the ears, but you’ll have to wait until it enters public testing to take a proper look.

Mixcloud’s platform is beautiful and sleek for both listeners and content creators alike. The home page displays popular site mixes that can be filtered by genre, recent activity from the users you follow, featured content, and new additions.

For those aspiring audio stars, Mixcloud allows for up to 10 free radio shows, but doesn’t allow for individual tracks. Mixcloud’s intent on providing the best experience for both audiences, with the idea being that every content creator have a full show or mix, with track list, that listeners can appreciate in totality.

Listeners can browse the site for content, follow the artistically gifted content creators of their choosing, leave comments on track lists, and listen to complete mixes via media player in a new window.

We think Mixcloud is rocking the social music space and we look forward to seeing how they evolve the platform once it comes out of private beta.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: mixcloud, mixes, music, playlists, podcasts, tracks

Social media really has come of age. Not only are we doing our part to educate readers on how to track Swine Flu online and how to make sense of swine flu on Twitter, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) are also embracing and promoting the social web for information sharing and consumption.

The CDC’s social media arsenal includes widgets and buttons, a mobile-optimized CDC web site, online instructional videos, podcasts, eCards, Swine Flu specific news feeds, 3 Twitter accounts, Flickr images, and several social network profiles.

CDC Official Content

The CDC has their own online TV channel, where videos like this one can be seen and shared. They’ve also created two podcasts, one on handwashing and the other on Swine Flu symptoms, that you can listen or subscribe to.

Should you want to provide relevant CDC Swine Flu content to your readers, you can grab one of a number of widgets (also available in Spanish), each of which includes U.S. and International information on the spread of infections, preventive measures, symptoms to look out for, and things you can do to help. All of the content is updated by the CDC, which means your widget will stay current with dynamic content.

If that’s not enough, you can even opt to send an eCard, or display a button with an instructional message.

CDC’s Social Profiles

You can find the CDC pretty much everywhere online. Not only have they setup shop on YouTube, MySpace, and DailyStrength, but they’re also tweeting flu updates via @CDCFlu, interactive media news via @cdc_ehealth, and emergency status updates via @CDCemergency. The CDC is also on Flickr, or you can view their public health image library.

See also: HOW TO: Track Swine Flu Online

Reviews: Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: CDC, H1N1 flu, social media, swine flu, widgets

It’s official: the iPhone is becoming the battle ground for the slickest Twitter applications around.

Not too long along, we saw Tweetstack saunter into the ring and bring your TweetDeck columns to your phone. Now iPhone and desktop veteran, Twitterrific, from Iconfactory, has bulked up and shipped out “Twitterrific 2.0″. And, from the looks of it, this one will not disappoint.

So what’s new in Twitterrific 2.0? Multiple account support, filters for mentions, DMs, favorites, and marks (which are like personal favorites), trends, search by keyword, person, or location, saved searches, notes on users, retweet, conversations, custom shortcuts, the ability to follow/unfollow/block, expanded and condensed views, shrinkable text, and complete Twitter bios. Whoa, we’re out of breath just listing all that’s new, but we likey!

The app has been submitted to the iTunes App Store and is expected to be approved next week. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at what Twitterrific 2.0 includes, courtesy of Steve Hemmerstoffer.

Reviews: Twitter, Twitterrific

Tags: iphone, iphone app, twitter, twitterrific

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Small Business Owner Sues Google & Others Over ‘Android’ Name
  

  An Illinois small business owner is suing Google and 46 other companies because he says they’re infringing on his business name: Android Data. Forbes reports that the lawsuit was filed Tuesday, and seeks almost $100 million in damages from Google and all other companies in the Open Handset Alliance, which includes T-Mobile, Motorola, Toshiba, Sprint [...]

• Sorry, Tom Curley: Don’t Expect A Google Ranking Boost For The AP
  

  Apparently talks between Google and the Associated Press aren’t going well, or so says Forbes today, with AP chief executive Tom Curley threatening to take his content and play elsewhere. Where that will be is hard to say. Part of the AP’s original issue with Google was that AP’s own member publications [...]

• Google: I’ll One Up That Newcomer
  

  As I hinted to with the demo of Wolfram Alpha Google launched Google Profiles, that Google tends to release new features during or around the time a newcomer launches their product. This happened a couple days ago, when Google decided to launch Google Public Data during the big demo of one of the most [...]

• Beyond Keywords: Multi-Variable PPC Targeting
  

  Sometimes my colleagues ask me why I’m always requesting demos of new marketing technology. The answer is that I find major creative inspiration from the tools. As vendors compete in the marketplace, they’re forced to innovate to differentiate themselves from their competitors. For example, a few years ago, Yahoo developed “assists” in [...]

• Google Giving Away 250,000 Google Profile Business Cards
  

  Google has teamed up with iPrint.com to offer free Google Profile business cards to the first 10,000 people who claim them. Each person can get a set of 25 cards that shows the Google.com home page with his/her Google Profile URL underneath it in green. If you’re logged in to your Google account, you should see [...]

• Google Adds Search Box Inside Gmail
  

  The newest addition to Gmail Labs is an option that adds a Google search box to your Gmail inbox interface. When activated, the search box appears below the “Labels” section of the left navbar, like this:

  (Of course, there’s a drag and drop option in Gmail Labs, too, that will let you move the search box [...]

• Yahoo Analytics Now Available To Yahoo Advertisers
  

  Yahoo’s slow rollout of Yahoo Web Analytics continues with news today that its now available for free to certain Yahoo search and display advertisers. Here’s how Yahoo explains some of the benefits of its analytics tool in today’s announcement: “Yahoo! Web Analytics offers user insight that you’re not likely to find in other free analytics tools, including [...]

• Twitter Search (Finally) Available To All Users
  

  Much to the delight of users far and wide (such as our own @dannysullivan), Twitter has announced that Twitter Search is now available on all user account home pages. Not only that, but Twitter has also added a “Save This Search” feature that may prove popular, too. When logged in to your Twitter account, all users [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Spruce up your surveys: 70 colorful themes, Official Google Docs Blog
• The Man Who Made Gmail Says Real-Time Conversation is What’s Next, Read/Write Web

Business Issues

• Analyst: Why Google Will Soon Steal Share From Baidu In China, paidContent.org
• Google lobs $880,000 at health record lobby, The Register
• AP’s Curley Has Fightin’ Words For Google, Forbes
• Intelius Buys People Search Engine Spock, paidContent.org
• Yahoo execs see trimmed bonuses for trying year, MarketWatch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• WhitePages Bringing Their Mobile App To BlackBerry Devices, MobileCrunch
• 70 percent of Kindle owners over 40?, News.com
• Yell.com Threatening Drop in Google Rankings?, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• Most SEOs Use Interns For Link Building, Search Engine Roundtable
• Should Google Go The Rel=Follow Route? Opt In vs. Opt Out, Search Engine Roundtable

Paid Search & Contextual

• New AdWords interface more widely available, Inside AdWords
• Get Found in Your Own Neighborhood! 5 Ways to Increase Your Local PPC Performance, PPC Hero
• New rich media production tool from DoubleClick, AdWords Agency Blog
• Swine Flu Concern Helping With Google AdSense Revenue?, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• Flights – and Not the Late Kind!, Live Search
• Google Custom Search Cuts uTorrent Off, TorrentFreak
• Video: Harvard Law School Presentation about Wolfram|Alpha Now Archived and Available Online, ResourceShelf
• See Wolfram Alpha in Action: Our Screenshots, Read/Write Web
• The Robot Made Me Do It: Comparing Three New Cyborg Q&A Services, Read/Write Web
• The Secret behind the Computational Engine in Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram|Alpha Blog

SEM Industry

• SEO All-In-One For Dummies Debuts!, BruceClay.com
• Survey says…, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: May 1, 2009, Search Engine Roundtable

SEO & SEM

• 5 Ways To Persuade Your Clients To Spend More PPC Dollars, SEM Geek
• Does search marketing really matter? (SEM 101), Live Search Webmaster Center Blog
• Public Relations Activities That Affect SEO, Online Marketing Blog
• SEO Tip: NoIndex Or 503 Site Coming Soon Pages, Search Engine Roundtable
• Should I use nofollow in links to my disclaimer and privacy policy?, YouTube
• Should Search Engines Refer Searchers to Other Search Engines?, SEO By The Sea
• Video at #1 for “London Hotels” Search Term on Google Universal Search Results, LateRooms.com
• Whiteboard Friday - Dangers of Nofollow, SEOmoz

Social Media

• Is Twitter the next Second Life?, csmonitor.com
• Unauthorized Access: An Update on Security, Twitter Blog
• Judge Shuts Down NewWest.Net Twitter Feed from Yellowstone Club Trial, New West Blog
• President Obama’s New Twitter Feed, New York Times
• Twitter Employee Account Hijacked, InformationWeek
• What’s your social media personality?, Jennifer Slegg
• Why It’s a Terrible Idea to Unfollow Everyone on Twitter, Search Engine Journal

Video, Music & Image Search

• Hulu Blog Like minds, Hulu Blog
• Man uses YouTube to help deliver baby, News.com

Other Items

• Mowing with goats, Official Google Blog

Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• Google Maps Now Merging Competitors Business Listings
• 12 Steps for a DIY Site Review
• Six Hurdles to Clear When Exercising Your Brand In-House
• Influence of IP address in SEO

It’s Friday and you’ve probably already started celebrating the end of the work week and the start of the weekend. If you’re anything like us, though, figuring out what to do with all that free time can be a laborious process (ie. checking the paper, browsing online, asking friends).

Center’d, the Yelp-like site with event-planning tools, thinks that it can solve our weekend conundrums with a new local search service for quickly finding restaurants, attractions, events, and shopping based on your city and style.

The local search service works for members and non-members alike and is initiated when users select their city, choose a style, and pick a category. Styles try to satisfy your particular mood and include kid-friendly, romantic, group friendly, recession buster (ie. cheap), outdoors, and popular, to help you qualify your search for the perfect event or activity.

To power the search service, Center’d is running a custom built language processing program that analyzes conversations happening on site and off. Conversations are then categorized and indexed by activity to allow for proper filtering during the search process.

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend and don’t want to waste an hour or two, check out Center’d and let us know what you think in the comments.

More Weekend Resources from Mashable

- 5 Facebook and iPhone Gams for a Work-Free Weekend

- Social Media: Essential Weekend Reading

- 8 Great Sites For Ordering Food Online

- 21 iPhone Food Apps to Eat Your Heart Out

Tags: activities, center'd, Events, local search

Soren Gordhamer is the author of Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected. You can follow him on Twitter.

With Oprah showcasing Twitter recently to her millions of soccer moms, and other traditional media taking notice, I’m guessing that people who are not big users of technology, either your mom or relatives, have recently asked you like they have asked me, “What is the big deal about Twitter? Is it just a fad or is it really impacting how we interact and use the web? And if the latter, in what ways?”

Below are the three areas where Twitter, in its rise as the next great social media site, is I think beginning to dethrone (or at least impact) several of the major players and technologies in the game.

The Social Dethrone: MySpace

I want to take my network with me

Of course, people will continue to use MySpace, but due to its heavy graphics MySpace is part of the past generation of social networks more suitable for computers. With its simplicity and ease of use, Twitter could be the first “everywhere social network,” almost as simple to use via mobile as via a computer. This makes Twitter much more suitable for our “constantly connected age,” where people want to share and read content from their handheld on a street corner as easily as they can while sitting at their desk at home.

The social networks of our times are not limited to any one device, and Twitter’s rise is in part because it has met this need.

The Search Dethrone: Google

I want what is relevant today, not yesterday

Yes, I know, Google continues to grow, but Twitter is impacting search in two distinct ways: The first is that with the growth of social media, there are many more options for acquiring information. Want to find the best hosting service for your website? Sure, you can conduct a Google search, but now you can also quite easily ask your followers on Twitter for their suggestions. You can also conduct a keyword search on Twitter of a particular company and read what people have said about them, as well as a more general search on “webhosting” to read what people recommend or not.

Second, Google is excellent at providing the most relevant results over time, less helpful on current events happening right now. Twitter not only provides this, but also through the use hashtags allows a central place with which to comment and discuss these current events, something that one cannot do on Google. As information becomes more social, Twitter provides both a community and a much more effective means of finding emerging news and content than Google does.

The Communication Dethrone: Email

I want it to be short and public

Though few of us may have noticed it several years ago, it turns out there is a whole wealth of information people want to share for which email is not suitable. Had a great conversation with a friend? Come across a quote that you want to share? Found a really cool website? Going to visit San Francisco and wondering what events are happening . . . all these are not likely suitable as an email to friends or even a blog post, but perfect for a tweet. Indeed, some of us may even have asked ourselves, “What did people do with such information before Twitter?”

Email will not likely cease, but more people are realizing that much of the content they want to share fits in two categories: 1) it can be expressed in few words, and 2) it’s information that they are happy to make public. In this age of “open conversations” and the “free sharing of information” Twitter allows for the sharing of content – both that we create and that we find — much more than email.

Conclusion

To the extent that Twitter will begin to truly rule these areas is unknown, but I think it’s hard to argue that it is not already having an impact.

Twitter fits our time, but times change. Will people in the years to come want to live as constantly connected as they do today and prefer brief versus thorough content? Just how long will these interests last, and, thus Twitter continue to grow? No one knows, and no doubt there are “future Twitters” getting created in garages across the world that are trying to guess and address these future interests . . . but Twitter is clearly riding the waves of our time, and could have an even more significant impact on social networks, search, and communication than it does today. In this sense, the questions we get from non-techies about the role and importance of Twitter may just be beginning.

More Twitter resources from Mashable:

- The 7 Ways to Approach Twitter
- HOW TO: Build Your Thought Capital on Twitter
- The Twitter Followholic: An Epidemic
- Inside the Minds of Twitter Users
- 5 Ways to Get Your Questions Answered on Twitter

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Pablo631.

Reviews: Google, MySpace, Twitter

Tags: email, Google, myspace, social media, twitter

As we’ve mentioned on Mashable before, online collaboration tools are a great way to get work done as a group. But it’s not all work and no play, there are also some fun and creative tools that let groups get together and create art…or just doodles.

Today, we’ve chosen to highlight five great tools to turn drawing into a shared experience. These are tools that are perfect for collaborating on business designs or just making masterpieces with your friends.

Have another favorite to add? Tell us about it in the comments.

1. OMGPOP: Draw My Thing

OMGPOP (formerly iminlikewithyou) is host to a very popular group drawing game called Draw My Thing, which is another fun variation of Pictionary. Try to guess what the other user is drawing and chat with fellow guests.

2. Scriblink

Scriblink is an online business tool for collaborative whiteboard projects and drawings. Invite people to draw on the board and work together on design specs from afar. Two of its most useful features are image uploads, which makes it easy to circle important points on images, and VOIP conference calling from within the application. Another similar business drawing tool is Skrbl.

3. RateMyDrawings

RateMyDrawings allows artists to enter virtual drawing competitions using an online canvas and drawing tools. But one of the coolest things about it is DrawChat, which allows users to draw and chat about a drawing together and then publish it to the site. This is definitely a drawing website for the serious artist.

4. Graffiti Facebook Application

Graffiti is a popular Facebook application that allows you to draw, sketch, and doodle your way into your friends’ hearts. Although you can’t collaborate on individual drawings, you can do “doodle-to-doodle,” which allows you to reply to graffiti with your own drawing.

In addition, Graffiti allows you to see how the drawing was made with the playback feature and embed drawings on your blog.

5. Drawball

Drawball is a canvas…but with thousands of people drawing on all different sections of it. Users can draw anything, so long as they have ink (you get more ink by waiting). But users can also erase other drawings and add on to existing ones.

There are some fantastic works of art on Drawball as well, which DrawBall makes sure to protect so others can’t doodle over them. eHow has a great article on how to get started.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, blackred

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: art, collaborative, drawing, Lists

Quicken Online, from Intuit, is a Mint competitor that offers a free way to manage your bank accounts and bills. In an attempt to make money management on-the-run easier, Intuit today released an iPhone companion to the online experience called Quicken Online Mobile.

The app, available now in the iTunes store, provides an immediate glimpse at your finances, activity across all accounts, financial goals, on-the-go expense additions, and a super-useful feature: an ATM finder.

Quicken Online users will no doubt love that they now have fast access to real-time information on the state of their financial well-being right from their iPhone. The primary screen conveniently displays how much money you have left in your account, and whether or not you’re at risk of going into overdraft or having a low balance. You can also get a visual glimpse at what’s left in your accounts, new money coming in, and future bill payments.

Another cool feature is Quicken Online Mobile’s cash tracking system. So, you can use the app as a virtual wallet monitoring system. For each item purchased with cash, just input the amount, payee, category, and add it to “My Wallet.” If used regularly, you’ll have a better way of keeping track of miscellaneous purchases. Plus, since the app syncs with your online account, you can access and view all of that activity online.

Quicken’s Online Mobile is a pretty sophisticated offering that seems to beat out competitor apps in terms of feature set and functionality. Are you a Quicken Online user? Let us know what you think of the new iPhone app in the comments.

For more on Quicken Online Mobile, watch this video:

See also: 50+ Free iPhone Apps to Make You Richer

Disclosure: Intuit was previously a Mashable sponsor.

Reviews: Mashable, Mint

Tags: iphone app, Quicken, quicken online mobile

How much is your Twitter username worth? $300? $400? $1000?

With only a limited number of Twitter names available and many of the good ones already taken, it was perhaps inevitable that a market would spring up for Twitter username sales.

That was the thought that occurred to Craig Agranoff, one of the founders of the crowdsourcing site VOIS.com: today he’s launching an aftermarket for Twitter names at Tweexchange.com. (Incidentally, Agranoff claims to have hired a developer for the project through the VOIS service itself for under $1000.)

It’s an inevitable idea, and one that raises the question, “what am I buying?”, since the Twitter names are still owned by Twitter. But you might also wonder if the brands with the biggest wallets would make use of such a service: if you’re Walmart and your Twitter name is taken, you go direct to Twitter or the user who took it.

It’s more likely, then, that Tweexchange will become a market for individual’s names and generic terms. To do so, however, it’ll need to get enough attention to reach a critical mass of high quality usernames.

We just hope that putting a price on Twitter usernames doesn’t lead people to hoard thousands in the hope they might sell them later: alas, it seems this is exactly what might happen.

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: tweexchange, twitter

Need free business cards featuring your Google Profile? Google has partnered with iPrint.com and they are giving away 10000 sets of 25 Google profile business cards totally free to show off your profile.

Matt McGee says that people logged into their Google accounts can visit their profile and see the offer. However, I logged into my Google profile, but saw no offer. Moreover, the url which he posted turned 404. Firstly I thought that was because the offer is available in US only. But I realized my profile was not public as yet. So first create and update your  Google Profile, and see how to represent yourself on Google products to other Google users.

So I set up my public profile here

and then created a short display url.

And behold! On top of my profile was the offer

That link points to http://www.google.com/profiles/me/bizcards

And that page displays a sample business card like this

Each person can get 25 free business cards like this, with the Google home page, with your name in the search box and your Google Profile URL below in green. But remember this offer is available to U.S. continental street addresses only, so though my profile displayed the offer, I cannot use it.

Anyway for US people - after that you need to create a free iPrint.com account and confirm the information on the sample business card, fill in your shipping and email information and your personal Google profile business cards should come in 10-12 days!

Update: I checked what some people noticed -  if you add the trailing slash at the end of the url, it leads to 404 Profile Not Found (only after logging into your Google Account)

Use http://www.google.com/profiles/me/bizcards

and NOT http://www.google.com/profiles/me/bizcards/

Read more about Deals, Google

Post a Comment | Write Guest Article | Follow on Twitter
Copyright 2009. Quick Online Tips. All Rights Reserved.

Written by Kyle Reddoch

Have you ever wanted to disappear after committing some stupid faux pas? If it occurs in a professional context, it could be more than embarrassing - it could cost your business or hurt your career. You want visibility in your career. However, that visibility should be a positive one. The last thing you need is a gaffe - that is, doing something (mentioned in the meaning above) that would put you in the negative spotlight. Here are 10 things to beware of:

1. Misspelling someone’s name

A person’s name is one of the most important possessions - so make sure to spell it right. Nothing indicates a lack a professionalism more than misspelling a person’s name. When in doubt, ask. Most people won’t find your question annoying. In fact, they’ll be honored that you thought spelling their name was important enough to check directly.

A misspelling need not involve only a personal name, either. It might be a key term used in your organization, profession, or industry. A company’s name is also among these.

2. Mispronouncing a name

The same logic regarding spelling applies to pronunciation. As before, simple as the person directly. If you have to, make up a phonetic representation of the name and practice it with the person. Again, people won’t mind your taking up their time this way; they’ll be flattered that you care about saying their name correctly (as long as they don’t have to have the same conversation with you more that once).

3. Commenting on a personal/family photo

I once a man and a women, thought they were brother and sister, I managed to keep my mouth shut. They turned out to be father and daughter.

The mistake I avoided, however, can occur with photographs as well. If you see a personal or family photo on a person’s desk, avoid commenting on relationships. That young boy you though was a grandson could possibly just be a son. Similarly, if you know the photo is an earlier one of the person you’re meeting with, avoid comments like “You looked great back then.”

4. Asking about pregnancy

No matter how much the women looks like she’s showing, keep your mouth shut until she actually brings the subject up. If you ask, and the answer is “no”, you will have no graceful retreat. If you’re conducting an interview, you have also opened the door wide open to a discrimination lawsuit.

5. Asking about unseen/absent spouse

Suppose last year you were at a company get together and saw your co-worker and their spouse. This year, you only see the co-worker. As with the pregnancy situation, keep our mouth shut. Don’t be in the position; asking about the spouse only to be told. “We’re divorced.”

6. Referring improperly to your boss

The same errors in determining family relationships can apply to office ones also. If you’re planning to be away and want to refer callers to our boss, that’s perfectly fine. However, make sure that your boss is okay with these referrals. More important, make sure your voicemail greeting or e-mail auto-reply makes the relationship clear. Don’t just say. “If you have any questions, please contact Kyle Reddoch at (phone number or e-mail address).” Say instead, “…please contact my supervisor/boss, Kyle Reddoch…”

7. Failing to reset your voicemail or e-mail auto-reply

When you return from time away from work, undo any absence greeting or auto-replies you’ve setup. Few things make you look dumber than having a greeting that references your return to work date from three months ago. If you think you’re going to forget, try placing a note on your phone or computer monitor.

8. Leaving a departed employee in voicemail / or on the Web

Once an employee leaves your company, remove that person from voicemail and any online directories that you may have. Leaving a person in place can make the company look foolish. Also, you might create the opportunity for an unaware caller to still leave a message for that departed employee, leaving the message to get missed.

9. Correcting the boss

Correcting your boss will rarely endear you to that person. If he or she made a mistake, try to correct it in as low-profile a way as possible. Perhaps you can talk to your boss during a break? However, you may (and should) publicly correct the boss when the boss in wrong about being wrong. In that limited circumstance, public correction is okay.

10. Displaying disunity in public

If you have disagreements with another person or department, resolve them privately. Don’t air dirty laundry to outsiders. Doing so makes your whole organization look bad.

Kyle Reddoch is the Owner of The Everyday Web Expert, a full service web design firm located in Amarillo, TX. He is also a featured writer on many blogs. He loves every minute of his life with his wonderful wife and two kids at their home in Amarillo.

Samir Balwani is a social media marketer who helps businesses create effective web strategies. You can follow him on Twitter and get his newsletter.

Too many marketers these days confuse what social media is. They don’t understand the difference between the evolution of marketing and what simply works right now. Social media is not just Facebook, Twitter, or even blogging. Instead of thinking about the platform, you have to think about the foundation that makes it effective.

The disconnect occurs when deciding on a social media plan. Telling someone to create a “Facebook strategy” or that they should “leverage Twitter” doesn’t always make sense. Instead of creating a plan around the goals of the campaign some marketers allow the platforms available to dictate the strategy.

So what are fundamentals? There are a number of lessons to be learned, and many come from experience, but here are four that I keep top of mind.

1. Always listen

Far too many brands get so excited about social media that they just jump right in. They don’t take the time to see what’s going on before engaging.

These brands are similar to the guy at a party that yells about his awesome TV while everyone else is talking about cars.

Comcast does an amazing job of listening. Their team monitors Twitter for any mentions of the brand and quickly responds to the consumer. Micro-blogging allows them to continually keep track of what is occurring in their space and offers them a platform to respond.

Social media takes time, patience, and vigilance to see and understand what your consumers are talking about. If you do it right, your consumers will embrace you instead of ignoring you.

2. The brand is public

Whether you like it or not, your brand is in the social sphere, but are you? No longer do you have full control over your marketing message, or what people see.

Consider the latest Dominoes fiasco. Two employees and a video camera damaged a multi-million dollar brand. Consumers don’t differentiate between, employees, customer service, and the brand.

Recognizing that fact and being prepared to act can save you from a potentially embarrassing turn of events.

3. Don’t forget a personality

Ever had a friend with no personality? What makes you think a consumer will interact with a corporate brand with no personality?

Find a way to humanize your company, empower enthusiastic employees to speak for you. Let your consumers get to know what makes your brand special.

My favorite brand personality is Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos. His humor and style of writing builds the Zappos community, one friend at a time. However, the Zappos personality doesn’t end there. Each employee of the company, as well as their policies, convey how important every customer is and how dedicated they are to building a real relationship.

Invite your customers to join in the company culture, and show off your personality. The average person is so tired of marketers that having an honest ‘friend’ is a breath of fresh air. Use that trust to build a relationship, loyalty, and a connection.

4. Creativity wins

A marketer with an understanding of social media and the need for engagement online tends to think outside the box. They don’t see Facebook or blogging, instead they see vessels for a conversation. Because of that mindset they’re poised to be creative with their social strategy.

One of the best examples of creativity is the Burger King “Sacrifice a Friend” application. The campaign encouraged users to delete 10 Facebook friends and get a free Whopper. It was fun, controversial, and a great idea. Consumers were excited about it, and it generated a huge amount of buzz. In the end, over 233,906 friends were sacrificed.

As more people fight for a shortening attention span, being creative and thinking of new ways to connect online is a necessity for social media marketing. Being fun and exciting motivates consumers to talk and interact, and although being first does not always guarantee success, it sure helps.

The more prevalent social media grows, the more likely a brand is to copy what someone else has already done. In social media, past successes don’t guarantee future results. That’s why it’s so important to understand the fundamentals, so you can take a strategy and evolve it for your specific brand.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- Colonel Tribune: Chicago’s Unlikely Social Media Pioneer
- Why Big Brands Struggle With Social Media
- Facebook Shares Tips and Case Studies for Brand Marketers
- 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence
- 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, paradaybertoni

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: brands, Lists, social media, social media marketing

BuddyPress 1.0 is released and you can download this suite of WordPress plugins and themes, which promises to extend WordPress MU (multiuser) with a whole range of social networking features.

BuddyPress is a package built on top of WordPress which transforms it into a social network with profiles, friends, messaging, groups, and activity streams. The  BuddyPress plugins can be themed to match your own style.  All of the plugins can help you create a complete social network or you can use specific plugins to add special features to your blog network. It’s 100% GPL and Open Source.

You can test drive the BuddyPress demo site, which is powered by the latest version of the BuddyPress software. You can sign up and see how BuddyPress works. I signed up too and the demo application is amazing.

Download BuddyPress. BuddyPress 1.0 requires you have a functional running WordPress MU version 2.7.1 or greater. Read this setup guide to get started.

Read more about Blogging, WordPress

Post a Comment | Write Guest Article | Follow on Twitter
Copyright 2009. Quick Online Tips. All Rights Reserved.

CNET reports that the state of Minnesota has asked Internet service providers to block access to all gambling sites. The letter sent to the ISPs states that a federal law “requires upon notice by a law enforcement agency that you do not allow your systems to be used for the transmission of gambling information.”

The technical problem here is the fact that if you block one IP, you’re probably not blocking just one site, you’re blocking several, or even hundreds or thousands, many of which maybe have nothing to do with gambling.

There is also the question of whether these types of measures do more harm than good in terms of suppressing free speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment. This kind of content filtering at the ISP level contributes to the fragmentation of the Internet, making us all less and less connected. Furthermore, if courts continue to force ISPs - which are usually private corporations - to police the Internet, it might turn into a very ugly place where your private data is monitored and the choice of information you can obtain is severely limited. Yes, forcing ISPs to block gambling sites will probably stop most people in Minnesota from gambling online, but how much overall damage will it do?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Yakobchuk

Tags: gambling, minnesota