However, there are times, that you think your need to hold a meeting. But, on the other hand, your questions could also be answered through a few back and forth emails (which isn’t efficient or respectful of people’s time). Essentially, you’re stuck in a dilemma, because it’s the middle ground. This is the type of situation a stand-up meeting is perfect for.

The stand-up meeting is simple:

• Send a meeting invite to 1 to 2 people (no more than 3 total people, otherwise you lose people’s attention).
• The meeting invite should have “stand-up meeting at X” in the location field for the invite.
• Stand-up meetings can be anywhere, except a conference room. Never a conference room. They can be at someone’s desk, in the hallway, or even just a walking together with someone.
• The meeting can only last for 15 minutes (or less).

Try it out yourself. Take stand-up meetings for a test drive. Today, when you think about, “I really need to make sure I briefly talk to this person about X”, send them a stand-up invite. It’s a great communication technique for quick, snippet, conversations. People can make the mistake of hiding behind email, it’s easier that way. But it doesn’t make it right. Don’t forget the value of face-to-face conversation. Stand-up meetings are cheap and short. They’re good for mini-brainstorm sessions, clarification or status updates.

Do you do this? What do you think? Any other meeting tips you have to share? I hope this helps you.
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7 days after the launch of Facebook Places, I do not think it will replace foursquare. Not yet. A quick scan of my Newsfeed tells me, the majority of my own friends aren’t rushing to check-in and share their location everywhere they go.

As a web consultant, naturally, I wanted to just observe first- use it myself, then form my own opinion(s). Personally, my own circle of friends are still turning to foursquare for real-time location updates even after the launch of Facebook Places (it’s too soon to form conclusions). Here are my initial observations:

• Because users do not have an expectation that Facebook is a source for real-time social networking, FB Places isn’t being used the same as foursquare, therefore not replacing it. Not yet. FB will have to redesign it’s mobile application interface and website to make it easier to find location information if they want more people to use Places.




• Foursquare is inherently a real-time platform. Think about it: users have the expectation when they open the app, the information they’re seeing about their friends is real-time. Foursquare highlights data about your friends over minutes and a few hours. That’s a big difference in utility and usage when compared to Facebook. “Top News” on FB can be delayed by over 20+HRS in showing you updates.

The fact is, location-based social networking is still foreign concept to most. 84% have not even heard of foursquare, Gowalla or Brightkite. And FB Places is only on the iPhone and Touch devices. This means, this 500 million other people on Facebook, like my mom, aren’t going understand how to use this feature right away. It’s going to take time.

The initial launch of Facebook Places could have been annouced as BETA, because the features set is lean. But that’s the point. They have made it simple and easy for everyone to first understand. While most people might not initially use it, they’re introducing the concept. Let people get comfortable and socialized with it. Then, over time, I believe they’ll draw perpetual attention as they release new features and enhancements. Make no doubt there’s big plans for how to draw more people into finding value with using FB Places. It will be fun to see how things shake out.

Until then, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a bit annoyed having to check-in two places now What do you think? Are you using it? What are your thoughts? Share them, good and bad.
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Think about your favorite big brands or companies. Do you like them enough to visit their blog daily or read their latest Tweet? Possible, but not likely. Or let’s just say your name is Jane, and you run a small plumbing business. Do you think any of her customers care to read her blog daily or write a comment on her Facebook page? Not likely. Just because you exist, doesn’t mean people will interact with you on these social tools.

The “Jay Leno rule of Social Media”
It’s not about just you. I believe you earn the right, then- you can talk about you. There’s a great metaphor that explains what I mean by this. Steve Rubel shares (Edelman, Director of Insights) his thoughts about the “Jay Leno Rule of Social Media”. It’s simple, time-tested, familiar to all of us, and it’s effective. He says:

“If you think about it, the celebrity slots on The Tonight Show are pretty formulaic: guest walks on; guest engages/yucks it up with Jay about broad human interest topics (life stories, current affairs, etc.); guest promotes his/her book, movie, TV show, event, shows a clip, etc.; guest moves down the couch; rise, repeat, wash. It struck me that this is a great model for any company hoping to build relationships through social media.

…if you want to get people to care about what you’re selling, you have first to get them engaged by being informative and/or entertaining. You need to get us interested in what you have to say beyond your domain. Such pathways to engagement include stories, humor, links to interesting information, ideas, questions and participating in other discussions. Then, once you get us hooked, it’s easier talk about what you want to sell us. We’ll be more receptive.”

So what should you do?
Follow the “4:1 Rule”.

Be relevant. Follow the “4:1 Rule”.
If you want to generate activity with your social efforts, it takes hard work, passion and consistency. And given my earlier thesis, “if you build it, they won’t come,” you must give them reasons to show up and why they should come back for more.

You must be relevant and interesting. As a general rule of thumb, your updates and content in the channels should follow the “4:1 Rule”. This means, for every 1 social object* that is about you, there needs to be 4 things not about you. These should be social objects, that are one of the following:

• informative
• inspirational
• entertaining
• engaging
• re(markable); definition for this word

* Social Objects are things like photos, Tweets, blog posts, audio/podcast clips, videos, status updates. Social objects ideally are inherently social. Meaning, when they consume it, people naturally will want to make a comment, reply, “Like” it, or share it with others.

The 4:1 Rule gives you criteria to follow. By following this rule, it can help you get activity or engagement with your social efforts. More importantly, it ensures you “earn the right” (social currency) to talk about what you’re selling.

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I believe whatever it takes for you to stay organized, do that. Just because there is a new digital calendar app on your iPad or BlackBerry, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best thing for you to use. Filofax 6-ring binder inserts can work just as well as the fancy touchscreen iCal app on your iPhone. Pick your discipline of choice. Do what works for you.

Personally, I like to switch-up my organization systems once every two months, just to keep things fresh. Sometimes just having a new organization system, makes it fun to actually stay organized (yes, i’m that pathetic, it is fun for me). So what do I do to stay organized? Listed below, are a few systems I like to follow. Some of these I made-up, some of them I learned. Hopefully sharing these with you helps you.

The Post-it Note System
This organization technique is visual and interactive. There is one requirement though: a large desk. Here is how it works: grab a pack of Post-it notes. When you think of 1 task that you need to complete, write it down on a Post-it. Then organize them into 3 rows, which will serve as categories:

“Must Do Today”
“Can Wait”
“Not Time-Sensitive”

When you sit down at your desk, scan your Post-its and decide which you’d like to tackle. When you pick one, grab it- and place it in front of you. Do nothing else but this one thing in front of you. I like to put the Post-it note, with the current task, on my computer monitor or laptop. This way if I get distracted, what I should be completing, is right in front of me. Then, when you’re done, comes the fun part. Take the Post-it and toss it in the trash. There is this ’small warm-fuzzy feeling’ of accomplishment and gratification when you throw it in the trashcan. And it’s really addicting when you get on a roll.

The Day-by-Day Notebook Checklist System
My friend Neal taught me this technique. It’s a good way to scan and plan your current week’s tasks. It’s best if you start this system on Sunday nights or first thing Monday morning. Here is how it works: open your notebook to a clean page. Write down headings for everyday of the week (”Monday, Tuesday, etc”). Under each day, write down the “must do” tasks just for that day. Your tasks for any given day shouldn’t exceed more than 6 tasks. And some tasks are allowed to be “start X” or “begin Y”. Often, there are times when you need to start and make progress that day, but not finish actually the task. I find the Day-by-Day Notebook system is really helpful when you want to see in a given week the things you’ll be working on and when.

Moleskine Journals
Many people swear by their Moleskine journals. They can be used in many ways. I have a very specific function for why I carry mine around. There are several things that are classified as “living lists” or on-going “running” lists. For example, I keep a list of blog post ideas and topics. This is something I will keep adding to time after time. I also keep a running list of video blog ideas, music/songs I want to download, and personal at-home tasks or errands to run. I don’t neceissarily open my Moleskine everyday, but it’s a great for my reference and when I “time quilt” (described below).

Time Quilting
This phrase and technique was created by Chris Brogan. It’s about accepting that you will rarely get long periods or blocks of time to sit down and do what you need to do. However, when you have ten minutes here and there, “time quilting” is when you take small steps forward when you can sneak the time-in where you can. When you start re-thinking about the little scraps of time, 5-minutes you get here and there, it can often be enough time to write a blog post, reply to an email or move a side-project along. What are the best places to time quilt? For me, they are at the airport, in-between meetings, doctor office waiting rooms, coffee shops, after lunch or while waiting for your food, subways and taxi’s. Often, I find that things I put in my Moleskine are the things I will start and stop with the time quilts that open-up for me.

The Beginning, Middle and the End System
This organization system is designed to control your focus, and allows you to avoid interruptions and distractions (depending on your job, this system may not be possible for you to follow). Here is how it works: when you get into work, spend the beginning part of your day doing all the small, little, 1-off tasks you need to complete. Meaning, all the emails you can rapid-fire respond to, forward, or delete …take care of that. Call and leave phone messages right away, and do that quickly. Send the meeting invites, and take care of just the tasks that take less than 10-minutes to complete. Then during the hours after “the beginning” (usually around 10AM), tackle the long-form tasks that you need to do. Turn-off all notifications and alerts, don’t check Twitter or Facebook or your cell phone. Then, when you reach the middle of the day, turn-on and activate all the notification systems and programs on your computer again and resume the smaller 10-minute tasks you need to complete. After that, early afternoon should be the time you focus again on the long-form tasks you need to do. Finally, the end of your day brings you back to the short, snippet, quick tasks you need to complete.

Close It, Exit It, Hide It, Turn It
Sometimes you just absolutely have to get that 1 thing done. There are many temptations that can get in the way since your computer allows you to do many other things than what you need to do. When this happens, one technique is to just shut-it-all-down. Meaning, turn over your cell phone so you can’t see the screen, close Facebook, turn-off Twitter, minimize the Outlook “inbox” and just have in front of you a window a blank email draft (or close Outlook all together), exit out of AIM, close gMail and iTunes. This ensures NO notifications or alerts are distracting you from completing your task. You then will have your undivided attention on the 1 thing you need to get done.

What do you think about my systems and techniques? What do *you* do to stay organized? Everyone has their methods to their madness. Share it with me in the comments.
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Here is the set of criteria resulting from the research:

In the report (on page #8), Digital Evolution Group is cited in regards to criteria #8, “Solicit A Call to Action”. While it might be the obvious, we believe this discipline is important when it comes to Facebook marketing. The idea is to eventually sell more of one’s product. Period. Simple calls to action that transition users from engagement to purchase are the ultimate “final step” you want your targets to take. This is why we brainstorm, develop, and lead projects like the Gordmans ‘welcome tab’ FB coupon. When brainstorming ideas of your own, don’t over-think the simple, direct, easy tactics. Encourage users to ‘click here’ or ‘press the Like button’ or ‘purchase this online’. You must make it obvious, by design, for users to do what you want them to do.

Here is the full Altimeter report:

How many kinds of information are being fired at you today? This is from a book I’m reading on my iPad called, “Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.” This quote really jumped out at me. It surprises you doesn’t it?

My friend Neal, shared with me an iPhone/Blackberry /Android/Palm app that I love, called Stitcher. This app lets you listen to podcasts on-demand (no syncing or downloading required). What’s really slick about this app is you can sequence the order in which you want the podcasts/radio shows to continuously play. Essentially, you can piece together a custom playlist. Then, at anytime, you can pause, fast-forward, rewind, and jump to any of the Podcasts you’d like. If you like NPR as much as I do, they have many of their programs broken-out by segments. For example, I have the business segment on my favorites- which I typically I miss in the morning, because it’s only on at 8:50AM.

You can see in the screenshot, my favorites playlist has a variety of topics on it. However, I was a frustrated to find that the catalog of podcasts is not the same as the iTunes store. I wish it was integrated (which might not be possible). In retrospect, there are great shows on Stitcher that you can’t find on iTunes. Here are other shows on my favorites you can’t see on the screenshot:

• Stuff You Missed in History Class
• Chris Pirillo
• The Wall Street Journal Report
• ESPN Radio: SportsBeat with Mike Tirico
• NPR: Fresh Air Podcast
• PRI: Whad’Ya Know?
• NPR: Car Talk Podcast
• Mac Tips Daily!
• Techcrunch Headlines

If you like podcasts, or listen to news segments frequently, check out this app. You can download “Stitcher” in the iPhone app store for free. It has a 4.5 start rating. Go to the Stitcher website to download it for Blackberry, Android, and Palm.
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We developed the default tab that appears when you go to the Gordmans Facebook page. When customers fill out the form that appears, we send them a 20% off coupon via email with a barcode they can use at any store (the email has a dynamic expiration date that is generated and the system checks for duplicate records in the DB to deny multiple sign-ups). What is really slick about this automated process we developed, is the system stores the customer information into a segmented email list within Exact Target, the email platform the brand utilizes for their email communications.

The free 20% coupon is what we call a “give to get” tactic. Users must provide their email address to receive the 20% coupon and agree to receive email updates with other special offers and discounts. A recent study found that customers are most likely to provide their email address in exchange for a discount or promotion.

This feature we’ve developed is also aligned with the larger shift that is happening online, which is the convergence of 1-to-1 marketing. By creating strategies and tactics in which you combine email and social media, your digital efforts work together and complement each other rather than being disjointed.

We believe within social channels like Facebook, you must make clear calls to action, this specific one for Gordmans being focused on transitioning to commerce. After all, your time and efforts invested in these social channels is ultimately aimed to sell more product (or services).

I’m really proud of the team that put this project together and wanted to share this with you. You grab your own free coupon on the Gordmans Facebook page.
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A client recently told me they were concerned they didn’t want to “clutter” their Tweet stream. They were concerned they didn’t want to Tweet too much.

My thoughts? No one reads all your Tweets.

Twitter is a communication tool.
…not a publishing platform.

Twitter is for holding conversations.
…and to have real dialogue and interactions without physical time and space constraints.

In the early years of Twitter (2006-’08), people actually read ALL the Tweets from the people they followed. Twitter was new, fun and only the geeky early adopters were experimenting with it. Today, the average person follows 100+ or 1000+ of people. To physically read and consume the Tweets from that many people is impossible. And more importantly, it doesn’t happen.

Twitter is like gigantic gushing stream or river of many things…
It’s filled with link referrals, pictures, thoughts, opinions, and conversations (look at this- click this- read this- watch this video-). This tool has evolved to this incredibly fast moving “river” of content. People do not consume all of it. Instead, it’s people jump-in-and-out of “the river”.

If no one reads all your Tweets, what should you do?
The more you communicate and appear within Twitter river of content, the better. On a day-to-day basis, people log-in and log-out of Twitter using multiple types of tools and at different times. People will open Twitter when they’re at work, check the latest Tweets, then their @replies, and log-out. Some people will turn their phone on, launch an application, read their Tweets and @replies and then log-out.

My point is, Twitter is flooded with content, what people see come through on their stream is dependent upon the time of day. Your followers will not see everything you post. The more you Tweet, your chance of being “noticed” in the huge river of Tweets increases.

@replies are the “email” of Twitter
Recently, I blogged about a study that found the first thing people do when they sit down at a computer is check their email. In the same respect, the 1 thing everyone checks when they login to Twitter is their @replies. People do want to know if anyone is talking to them. If you or your company had unlimited time and resources, I would tell you to Tweet as many relevant @reply interactions or DMs with as many people as you possibly could. As a general rule of thumb, when you login to Twitter, spend as much time as you can to @reply and interact. Twitter is worthless if you aren’t able to augment existing relationships or create real interactions with people of like interests. While you can use Twitter as another publishing platform, its biggest value is having real interactions through @replies with real people.

Time of day DOES matter.
The chances of anyone consuming your Tweets after 5PM on a weekday or over the weekend are less likely to happen than if you send a Tweet between 9AM to 5PM on a weekday. In my client work experience with Twitter and my own personal usage, there are more interactions and greater chance for consumption that occur Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. As a general rule of thumb, if your Tweet isn’t dependent upon time, or in response to a specific Tweet- you should tweet between 9AM to 5PM on a weekday. If you’re too busy to Tweet 9AM to 5PM, use a tool like Hootsuite that allows you to schedule your Tweets.

Twitter sucks if your friends suck.
Twitter is only as valuable as the people you choose to follow. If the people you follow provide value, then Twitter is a valuable resource you’ll keep using. You’ll keep coming back to it for more. Tweets also need to be timely, relevant, and/or provide some kind of value.

The next time you’re sitting in front of the open-ended prompt that reads, “What’s happening?” you should dismiss the notion that everyone is actually reading everything you’re Tweeting. They’re not.

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I believe 15-minutes is all you need to catch-up on everything that’s going on with your friends on Facebook. What is the secret? Two words…

Friend Lists.

If you take the time to setup and configure personalized Friend Lists, your daily dose of Facebook will be forever easier (and you can thank me later ). You’ll find yourself spending less time sorting through the mess of friends, fan pages and co-workers that junk up your FB homepage Newsfeed. Friend Lists make it greatly easier to consume Facebook.

What is a Friend List? It’s simple. It is a customized list in which you choose how to sort and customize. You can have up to 100 Friend Lists with a maximum of 1,000 people per lists. As an example, I’ve taken a screenshot of my lists setup for my account (see image below on the right).

Once you setup these lists, you’re able to quickly digest a TON of information in a few minutes about specific types of friends just by clicking the filters on the left. Here are some of my favorite lists I use:

“Bloggers/Influencers”
I created this list to segment people who have influence online (in my opinion). These friends are typically content creators and publish frequently. They have a huge following and community online. For me, it’s nice to have them in 1 bucket for consumption to see what they’re publishing.

“Favorite Fan Pages”
This is a great way to pull-out and segment Fan Pages so you just get updates from all the Fan Pages you really care about (since we’re all guilty of clicking “like” to more companies and businesses than we actually want to follow).

“Kansas City Fan Pages”
I find this useful and relevant based on when I’m in the mode of “looking for something to do in my city”. Particularly, I find myself looking at this on Thursday and Fridays when making weekend plans.

“Circle of Trust”
This is where I start first everyday. It is a small group of about 30′ish people who I really care to read their status updates and posts. If I only have 5-minutes to check Facebook because I’m busy, this is the only Friend List I look at.

I also have these lists which I use:

“Family”
“Work”
“People I Don’t Know”
“High School Friends”
“Phi Delta Theta”
“Online/Internet Friends”
“Clients”

iPhone App

Friend Lists will appear on your iPhone as well! (comes in handy when you only have a few minutes to catch-up via mobile). Just tap the button in the top right. The FB app will pull-in and display all your Friend Lists. How cool is that!?

Send a Message to Friend Lists

You can send messages to all the people you’ve put in a Friend List. This is extremely helpful, because essentially it’s a way to create “groups” for Facebook messaging. Note: the maximum number of recipients you can send is 20, so you will not be able to send a message to any Friend List that contains over 20 people. When you send a message to a Friend List, the message will show all the recipients’ names, but the title of your Friend List will never be visible to other members of Facebook (incase you’ve got them categorized as “people that annoy me” ) .

Send Event and Group Invites with Friend Lists

On any Group or Event page, you can type in any Friend List name and they all will be invited. Another great “group” feature to send to multiple people easily.

Now go get started! I promise, once you take the time to setup Friend Lists, your life on Facebook will be changed for the better (dramatic yes, but I speak the truth …promise!)

Here is how you create a friend list:

Click “Friends” on the left menu. Then click the “Create New List” button (top right).

1. Type the name of your list and press enter.
2. Add friends to the list by typing their names into the “Add to List” field or by clicking them from the list.
3. Select “Create List” to save your changes (*this is important, it’s easy to forget to click save*)

Still confused? Facebook has an entire FAQ help section you can reference.

BONUS TIP: I’ve really been digging a website called www.itstrending.com which tells you the videos, images, and news that’s being shared the most on Facebook. Check it out.

Hopefully this walk-through helps you! If you’ve got other Facebook time-saver times, share them with me in the comments. Do you use Friend Lists already? What categories are you using for your friends?
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However, most businesses know they need to learn how to social media effectively. Many try it, jump-in, and learn the tools without a game plan. In fact, a recent study found 52% of social marketers are operating “without a game plan.”

All that said, there are 3 things I believe businesses and people need to keep in mind, in order to put them in a position for success: passion, consistency and hard work.

Passion
The internet is such a rapidly evolving space. Things shift in weeks and months not years. You must have a passion for this stuff to keep up. Sure you can fake it, but having an inherent desire helps.

Consistency
There is a rule in branding that can be applied when using social media: “Consistency facilitates recognition”. While social media allows you to experiment and try things, your business and personal brand needs to be mindful of all communication. Everything you do communicates a message. The collective set of topics you write about or publish communicates an holistic message. Make sure your efforts are strategic, aligned, and consistent- this will ensure your desire of how you want to be perceived is a reality (this applies to both businesses and individuals).

Hard Work
Showing up is step #1. Working hard at this stuff is step #2. Being actively aware and practicing in the social space takes time. This means just dedicating hours to be a practitioner and understand the space. Malcolm Gladwell tells us it takes 10,000 hours of performing a specific task to be successful.

Social media is green field, moving and changing daily. There are great analysts, who are great resources to keep up with it all. You should follow people like Jeremiah Owyang from the Altimeter Group (formerly Forrester), who are aggregating emerging models and presenting best practices.

There is no single right answer, strategy or tactic for any substantive length of time.

It takes passion, consistency, and hard work to keep doing it right.
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Think about that.

More than half of people who sit down at their computer- the first thing they do is check their email. What’s my point? While social media is all the rage in the news, business magazines and conferences, e-mail still is relevant.

If 58% of people start their day by checking their email, as a business, you should be there …in front of their face …consistently.

I’ll be the first to admit, I drink the Kool-Aid. I’m a social media evangelist. I’m in love with this stuff. With a strategy, +good execution and lots of hard work, social media can do powerful things for people and businesses. However, from a digital marketing perspective, this statistic reminds us there is more to this online ecosystem than the all-mighty shiny objects like Facebook and Twitter.

The bottom-line?

Make sure you have effective e-mail strategies and tactics in place. E-mail is easy to measure. There is no questionable ROI when you talk about email. You can measure it. Your customers either opened the email or they didn’t. They clicked-through or they didn’t. The purchased something or they didn’t. And the best part about all this? The tools to measure and track this are not hard to put in place. Many advanced techniques and testing strategies exist like A/B testing, multivariate, and segmentation.

So before you invest in a social strategy, make sure you reflect on all your digital strategies. The pie chart tells you the sequence to follow on what to consider:

• First, do you have effective email tactics in place?
• What about search engine optimization and PPC?
• Then after that …what about social media? Facebook, Twitter, etc. etc.

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Today is officially Social Media Day!

[using my loud voice] HEY THANKS SOCIAL MEDIA!

A day like today, is a perfect time to step-back and think about why these tools are useful? Why have they changed the way we communicate?

These tools facilitate the notion of what is called, ambient intimacy. Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible. The advent of the internet, laptops and mobile phones with internet access make it even easier for us to “plug-in” to consume this information and use the social media tools. For example, on a daily basis:

• Facebook helps me see what my friends are thinking, doing, projects they’re working on and what they did this weekend.

• Twitter tells me what websites to check out and the opinions people have about news and current events.

• Flickr lets me see the latest family photos or pics from a recent trip. And it also shows me their latest haircut.

• YouTube makes me laugh, get inspired, or want to take action just by watching snippets and consuming quick- bite sized videos.

• Friendfeed tells me their activity stream of my friends online, what they’re looking at, and what they’re reading.

What does social media help us do? @leisa summarizes it well; It helps us get to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances. It makes us feel closer to people we care for but in whose lives we’re not able to participate as closely as we’d like. Knowing these details creates intimacy (It also saves a lot of time when you finally do get to catch-up with these people in real life!).

Personal Life
When people have asked the ways social media has helped me personally- I point out that social media has the potential to significantly augment (not destroy or lessen) existing relationships you have with friends and family. However, like anything else- moderation is key, and you must understand how to integrate it appropriately. Once you do, it’s powerful stuff.

Businesses and Companies
For businesses, many are realizing there’s more than just a direct sale that can occur through the channels of social media. The path or continuum leading up to a sale, has many reassurance points along the way. Utilizing social media tools to serve as touchpoints on this path to the sale, that are non-commercial, is an effective way to accomplish things like trust, loyalty, awareness and building a relationship.

So take a moment today to say “thanks, social media”. These technologies can enhance peoples behavior for the better. How has it helped you? Share with me any success stories you have in using it. What do you like best about social media?
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All that said, the teaser trailer for the “The Social Network“, a movie about Mark and Facebook looks sounds pretty damn interesting (note: I am biased because I’m a geek). Watch the trailer and let me know what you think? It’s incredible to think the story about the creation of a website is compelling enough to make a major motion picture about it. It’s a sign of the times, right?

At the beginning of 2010, the company I work for (Digital Evolution Group) led the design, development of the website to celebrate Hallmark’s 100 Year birthday. On the website, we created a feature called Share Your Hallmark Moment, that allows users to share with others the meaningful moments in which Hallmark helped. Fast-forward to this month, we just launched this same feature on the Hallmark Facebook page. You should check it out.

Personally, it’s been fun working with the Facebook platform in the past couple of months (the recent updates certainly keep things interesting). There is some pretty fun Facebook projects I’m working on for clients right now, that I’ll be sharing with you soon!

Social media is self-taught for most. Your friends do it. So you just start doing it. And the idea of being “classically” trained of understanding online communication is foreign. In an age in which Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address live on YouTube, and a Twitpic posted to Twitter about the plane crashing into the Hudson River gets 100,000+ views in minutes, there’s no denying that social media has become an intregal part of our daily lives.

I think we should teach kids about social media and online communication in school. And not just in college, I think it should be taught in grade school.

Think about it- we teach kids how to structure essay papers in school. How often do you find yourself writing essay papers? When’s the last time you cranked out a 5-page essay?

Now compare that to how many times you’ve written a status update in the past week. Or commented on a blog. Or posted a review for a product on a website. These shortened forms of communication (limited # of characters) exist everywhere; Facebook, Twitter, commenting on blogs, internal company intranets. Status updates are ubiquitous, everyone knows what they are and what to do when they see one.

Furthermore, it’s not uncommon for kids to be using tools like Facebook and Twitter at a young age. Shouldn’t we be teaching them communication techniques for these “shortened” form of communications? There are effective ways to communication in limited words. We should practice this in school, we should be teaching this.

Now, I’m not saying we should teach kids how to Twitpic photos on an iPhone, or how to write happy birthday on their friend’s Facebook walls. What I am saying, is that we should teach kids about online communication.

For example, everyone should understand what “flaming” or “flamebait” is. It’s a basic online social interaction (just check most YouTube comments). Understanding how anonymity and context make all the difference in online communication. It’s fundamental. There are many other online social behaviors like trolling, sockpuppetry and leechers that people should know and understand.

• We should be teaching kids and college students email communication techniques.
• We should be teaching kids and college students how to blog.
• We should be teaching everyone the basics of online privacy and intellectual property.

So what do you think? I think I’m right. Do you think I’m wrong? Should schools be teaching this? What is your take on this? Make a comment.

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>> You can read the full article here, on the LJWorld website.

“Every page is your homepage.”

This basic design principle I believe in (so does the company I work for). And that quote couldn’t be more dead-on. Why? More and more customers are going straight to specific pages of your website than your homepage. Just think of this real-world scenario:

1.) What’s the first thing most people do when they open their web browser? They search. Which means they go to Google or Bing.

2.) Then, they type and search for what they are looking for. And they get really specific. They don’t type things like just “BP”. They’re smart enough to search things like “BP oil spill“, because that’s what they’re looking for.

3.) Where do they land after they click-through on Google? If it’s a well designed website, they’re likely looking at the exact page they wanted, but it may not be your homepage.

So what happens next?

This is where the principle, “Every page is your homepage” comes in. And this is what I’ve recently noticed the New York Times does so well on its website. Take a look at the screenshot I took (below). This is an article I read after searching for something on Google. When you take your mouse and scroll down to the bottom of the page, a box with a link to a related article in that category appears (but only when you’re on the bottom).

What they’re doing here is simple, easy, and it’s smart.

The NYT design team has done a great job in designing a feature that takes into account the users behavior and effectively positions the related link at the bottom of the page to keep the user engaged, in hopes they continue to browse for more articles on the website (if you want to see this in action for yourself, click on this article and scroll-down).

Designing every page of your website to work just as hard as your homepage isn’t easy. But make sure you don’t overlook your interior pages. It’s arguable more important than your homepage. Does your website work this hard? How are you making every page your homepage? Share your tips in the comments if you got ‘em
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There have been recent Facebook privacy settings updates (more here), and I have a rant to get off my chest about this topic, RE: privacy. Some people who are furious about these changes, are even threatening to quit using the social network altogether (which makes me wonder if these same people, walk into other businesses that provide free services, and demand things be changed too, or else).

Given Facebook’s successes, reputation and track record, I believe as a company, they are working to provide features and functionality to be of best value to its users. At the same time, and more importantly, like any other business, they need to make a profit, so they are trying things to accomplish just that.

Some argue, then why aren’t they “listening to their customers?” I want to point out, Facebook has listened to it’s users when they complain. They have a history of it …for example; it’s the reason why you don’t see Facebook Beacon in existence today. Remember that feature when it launched? And it isn’t if they are hiding anything. They’re still listening. Zuckerberg recently shared with the Washington Post, “Sometimes we move too fast — and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding.”

Do you remember when FB Newsfeed first launched? People hated it. Our “privacy” was invaded. We could suddenly track everything everyone did on FB. Fast-forward to today. No one thinks twice about it. We love it. FB is better because of it. They created this to better the website product, not because users demanding it.

Society, people, the masses, have all grown accustomed to sharing our lives with more people and “in public” as the technology has allowed it. FB is one of the front-runner’s leading and defining this shift …and I believe we are better because of it. I’ve connected with relatives, clients, friends on an on-going basis, enjoying real interactions with real people. My life is truly augmented because of it, not diminished. I think Facebook is awesome.

The customer doesn’t always know what he or she needs. And their ideas aren’t always right. Sometimes you have to illustrate and/or push it to them (e.g. advent of Newsfeed). Sometimes you have to show them why what you’ve created is valuable and why you should like it. This may be uncomfortable to think about, but do you remember when cellphones, email, Smartphones, and Twitter were first released? …those were all received with a strong degree of resistance from the masses too.

“Privacy the new hot pink. Out of style.” (@jowyang)

Do you agree with this? Have you quit Facebook yourself? (…or are people who do that just stupid) Are you concerned about privacy when using Facebook?

**UPDATE**
Here’s Facebook’s official blog post from Mark about the new privacy controls. They also posted a preview of the new very stupid simple controls to view and manage your privacy settings.

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After receiving a client’s out of office message, I started thinking …if there was an emergency, and I did need to get a hold of them- their work email would not be the best way to reach them. Let’s say they were relaxing on the beach, or on a golf course, or on a boat in Hawaii- the last thing they’d be checking on vaca is their work email. And if they did check their email, I’d likely be on the bottom of their backlogged email.

…so then I thought, what would be the best way to get a hold of someone when email isn’t an option? Not all people are willing to give away their cell phone number. How can I improve my own out of office message so it’s actually helpful? I started thinking about the things people do check when they’re not in the office …people do update and check things like Facebook and Twitter (and there are tools like AwayFind.com, that can notify you by SMS, IM or DM).

Here is my new out of office message I’ve been using, that’s been working great:

I will be out of the office, Friday May 14 (out of town, on-site with a client). If you need immediate assistance please follow this sequence if you need to get a hold of me:

1.) Send me a Twitter @reply to @ramseym or DM. If we’re friends on Facebook you can also message me there.

2.) Call my cell phone.

3.) If you cannot get a hold of me following #1 or #2, and need immediate assistance, call the office at 913-498-9988 and ask to speak with Bethany Kemper or Curt McMillan. They’re great people and will take care of you and ensure you’re directed to the correct person to help resolve any issues or concerns.

Like I said, it’s been working brilliantly! So what do you think? Does this make you re-think your own auto-response message? Will you change it? Do you have any of your own tips or tricks on how you change-up your “out of office” message from the normal canned response? Share it with me + everyone in the comments.

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Here’s what it looked like on my iPhone:

Starbucks is certainly a brand that’s smart and what’s being classed by analysts as an “early adopter brand“. Their latest marketing promotion is integrated on two of the most popular location-based social networking websites Brightkite and Foursquare (I’m not sure why Gowalla was not apart of the campaign). Location-based social networking is about to change a lot of peoples lives …especially when it’s launched later this year on Facebook (i’m betting on it). It’s yet another exciting privacy shift that the masses will have to adjust to. It’s coming, and in a BIG way. And I love it.

“Privacy the new hot pink. Out of style.”
(@jowyang)

Do you agree? What do you think? Are you scared? Will you start sharing your location with your updates? Are you already using services like Foursquare or Gowalla? Do you like it?
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My thesis?

There is a need for unverified information.

In an era in which, Perez Hilton, Gawker, MacRumors, Techmeme, and many other unverified information niche websites exist, clearly there is a thirst for “publish first, check the sources later” information. After all, we Americans love our gossip. Furthermore, there is a back and forth debate between bloggers and journalists about verifying your information (the j-school golden rule, “check the source”).

Take for example, local blog, Tony’s Kansas City (Tony Botello). It averages about 28k+ unique visits a month, and has a higher than most blog post to comments ratio. He’s created a platform the other news organizations in the community do not have. It’s a platform to publish both verified and “rumor” news. Tony can discuss the things traditional media haven’t verified yet. He can even play “Eminem” and say thing things everyone is thinking and talking about but no news organization would dare to report it. Even @KrisKetz, a local TV news reporter/anchor has gone on record saying he, and others in the traditional news community are often influenced or lead to stories from Tony’s blog. One could argue, if you want a truly “breaking” news story in Kansas City, you’ll likely find it on Tony’s blog first not KMBC’s website.

So why is it that news organizations are not embracing the “publish first, check the sources later” mantra? I mean, after all, aren’t they the ones running the TV commercials that say “breaking news” and flying around in helicopters telling you they are “your fastest news source”? I bet if I was sitting next to @KrisKetz, @sarahjclark, @whitneymathews, @kcklo63, @ellynangelotti or any other classically trained newsy, they would likely tell you the reason why they don’t “publish first, check the sources later” is because they must maintain their credibility and public trust (otherwise all is lost). Yet, in retrospect, you can point to last year’s Iranian protests, where mainstream news had no choice but to run publish first and broadcast the YouTube videos or Twitter messages they were seeing come through like everyone else. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear any cries or outrage from the public when CNN and The Huffington Post were doing this? The public had no issues when reporters provided the disclaimer they didn’t know the source, and it was just found on YouTube.

I’m an eternal optimist. So perhaps there’s a way both bloggers and journalists can publish and provide a disclaimer they haven’t verified sources for the story? During the Free State Social conference, I came up with an impromptu idea of creating a universal “badge” system that would be used for both bloggers and online news organizations. Essentially, this would provide a visual way for both bloggers and journalists to indicate if a story has been verified to the reader. It would require that standards and conventions in the meaning of each badge would be community and industry defined. The point of the badge is for reader to quickly know if the story has been verified. This system could be multi-tiered to indicate the degree credibility for the information cited (keep in mind, my idea of a “verification badge system” isn’t anything new or unfamiliar to many of us. Twitter.com user accounts and eBay both have verification systems in place already that are successful).

So what do you think? Is there a need for unverified information? Would you rather your local news organizations embrace the publish first approach? Is my “badge system” a stupid idea? Or does it provide the news a “comfortable” way to publish rumor news?

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.
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Let’s say you take it a step further, magazine websites could aggregated Tweet @replies in real-time to the articles. Imagine clicking a tab on an article, labeled “Tweet Comments”. Or make it even easier for readers to submit their @Tweet responses online by giving them an open text box to comment, and upon submit, the website would send the @Tweet reply and automatically insert the #reference code into their Tweet for them.

Now that would be cool. What do you think?
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I’ve noticed that BMW, Toyota or Lexus car manufacturers are able to sustain compelling designs for much longer periods of time than all other car makers (e.g. Ford, Dodge). Take for instance a Toyota Camry or the BMW 3-Series. These car models last keep their same general design for at least 5 years before doing a wholesale redesign. Each year, the modifications to German or Japanese car models are to just “tweak” minor components of their design (e.g. headlights, or an edge here and there, but generally the overall design stays the same).

That said, my question is; How do Japanese and German automakers create longer lasting, aesthetically compelling and relevant exterior design, more so than all other manufacturers?

They manage to keep relevant with their designs for a sustained period of time much longer than all other car makers (in my opinion). I’m really intrigued to understand why and how this works. When I see a 7-10 year-old-BMW or Toyota drive-by, it’s still generally a great looking car. Yet, the Ford or Chrysler seem to change their car designs very frequently and drastically- and the older models just don’t hold the same compelling design they did when first released.

Why does this happen? How do car makers make sustainable, relevant, desired designed cars from the aesthetics perspective? What principles of design are they following when they design a car? Why is it a 10-year old Toyota designed car looks better and more compelling than a 10-year old Ford?

What I’m really most interested in is learning from the sustainable design techniques that are being employed when car manufacturers are drafting the design of a car. Are there basic tenets or principles of design they use that could potentially be applied to other industries, like website design?

Anyone know the answer? It would certainly relieve some tension If you don’t know the answer, or don’t have a good guess- considering sharing your favorite design tips, rules, fundamentals or tenets applicable to your industry. Is there a basic construct you follow every execution when designing? If so, what?

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NFL Draft

Somewhere in between watching the emotional reactions of the families and players, to hearing the coaches excitement in their voices speaking on their newest draft pick…

…I started thinking about what a galvanizing event the NFL Draft is for a team.

Think about it. So much faith and motivation is behind this 1 person being selected for the team. This underlying “hope” that this 1 person will change things, and make things better.

It’s incredible to think about the high value that is placed on 1 person.

I started extrapolating these thoughts…

• Do businesses understand the total effect of 1 person? 1 human; not software, not a system. How a new hire can effect not only their everyday business but shape the culture? Leaders within businesses could also learn something from the NFL in the sense that the “socialization” of adding a new hire is important, so the entire team feels comfortable and confident of how they fit in.

• I also started thinking about how 1 person does have the power to change any team in my life. I’m on several teams already; the company I work for is a team, I play on an indoor recreational soccer team, the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party steering committee is a team …all these teams are in my life.

The NFL draft reminded me that 1 person can make a difference on any team or organization. And the selection of a team member shouldn’t ever be taken lightly or undervalued. The same is true about integrating and socializing a new team member in your life. What’s your take?

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What I mean to say is the iPad product launch will propel the socialization of a tablet computer to critical mass.

Keep in mind, there are other tablets, besides the iPad, that will be released soon. HP, MSI, Asus and the JooJoo (which looks awesome) are a few of the many companies that will be launching tablet computers.

Conceptually, it’s hard for the common person to understand why they would need one. It seems excessive, and a more of a luxury. This is because the device sits in that unfamiliar middle ground of it’s “not a phone” but it’s not your “computer”, but it’s supposed to be everything in between (which is even hard to think about). However, the tablet computer could be the perfect device between an eReader and laptop.

I believe that these tablet computers will create a need for consumers that wasn’t there before. You don’t think you need it- until it’s illustrated exactly how you need to have this device in your life (take for instance what “tone up” shoes have done for the shoe industry, it’s created an entirely new niche market).

I’ve blogged before that there are many practical uses for this type of device we have yet to discover that would make our lives easier. Take for example; graphic designers showing their portfolio at a coffee shop meeting, real-estate agents working with clients using it to show photos and their properties, photographers showcasing their portfolios, or people who need to give a 1-on-1 presentations at table in casual settings. Recently, after watching the guided tours of the iPad, I thought of the idea of using a tablet computer propped up, to run photo slide shows at a wedding guest sign-in table. How cool would that be?

My main point about the iPad product launch, is that this will be the event that thrusts the introduction and socialization of this type of device to critical mass. For some people, when they see this device, there will be moments in which they say things like, “i never thought about that, i could really benefit from using one of these”. Make no mistake, it will take time for this process to occur and it’ll require some great marketing to illustrate to others why they need this device.

Personally, I can’t wait to physically hold it- touch it- and use the iPad, I want to put it through my own tests. And for the record, I would still camp out for this device. I want one.

What do you think? What was your reaction to the iPad? Do you want to buy a tablet computer? Tell me your thoughts.
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It’s exciting to help lead part of the effort Timberland has dedicated itself to (and I’m not just saying that because they’re my client). They’re doing incredible things, like planting 1 million+ trees around the world, and drastic things like banning the use of bottled water (by their CEO) at all their corporate offices.

Personally, since I’ve started this project, I’ve learned so much and started to take steps of my own: I now use a reusable water bottle at work and at home, I use reusable grocery sacks, I’ve convinced our office to not buy styrofoam cups or plates, I even created an Earth Day video blog last year to get the good word out.

FYI: if you’re wondering what the term “Earthkeeper” means, it’s a person who cares about the environment. Timberland describes Earthkeepers as people who do small things- like recycling, biking instead of driving, and using energy-efficient light bulbs. Earthkeepers are also people who do BIG super cool things like replanting eroded areas or retrofitting their engines to run on bio fuel.

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“If at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.”

This quote, is there for a very personal reason. It’s a motto that I strongly believe in because several things I’ve experienced or accomplished in life, at first- were just crazy thoughts or seemingly unattainable notions. Tonight, when I watched this interview, I couldn’t help imagine what it was like for K.R. Sridhar, and his team when they first set goals and expectations for his company, Bloom Energy. Even now, with as much progress as they’ve made with the technology, some of his predictions sound 100%, completely, and utterly absurd.

I even found myself laughing out loud at some of the things Sridhar spoke of, it sounded so unbelievable.

But I love it.

His challenging aspirations to change the energy industry had me captivated and motivated just listening to him.

So what is it? This company is a startup, that has developed the “Bloom Box”, a fuel cell technology that provides clean electricity. Google, Bank of America, and Wal-Mart are already testing the devices. Over $400 million has been invested and their goal is to have this device sitting in your backyard, powering your house.

Sridhar who used to work for NASA, and is someone who refuses to live with the results of other people’s thinking. He’s blazing his own trail and redefining everything you know.

Do yourself a favor and watch the segment. You’ll enjoy it.

Let me know your comments, what do you think about this? Did this get your attention?

Even if 150 friendships is all the ‘ol noggin can hold, I don’t think that means you have to limit the social circle of friends you have. This doesn’t mean you should start deleting friends and limiting who you’re connected with online. One of the benefits of social media is while we might be physically limited in managing the number of friends we have in our head, using tools like Facebook, we can stay ambiently connected to everyone else. Furthermore, as situations are relevant and of interest to us, we can then choose to interact with friends.

This notion, is what’s called “ambient intimacy“, I’ve discussed before on my blog. Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible.

For example:

• Facebook helps me see what my friends are thinking, doing, projects they’re working on and what they did this weekend.

• Twitter tells me what websites to check out and the opinions people have about news and current events.

• Flickr lets me see the latest family photos or pics from a recent trip. And it also shows me their latest haircut.

• Friendfeed tells me their activity stream of my friends online, what they’re looking at, what they’re reading and videos they’ve favorited on YouTube.

So while, yes Robin Dunbar, the professor of Anthropology at Oxford is probably right, 150 friends is the max for your brain, utilizing tools like Facebook and Twitter allows you to “feel closer to people we care for but in whose lives we’re not able to participate as closely as we’d like. Knowing these details creates intimacy (via @leisa).

And the best part about all this is …we don’t have to store it in that ‘ol noggin resting between our shoulders. After all, I have a hard enough time remembering to pick up my dry cleaning.
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(BTW, I never thought I’d ever write the phrase in a blog post, “Gates vs. Seacrest” …which come to think of it- would make for an awesome pay-per-view boxing fight).

In this unscientific comparison for online influence, I first wanted to establish and compare # of followers:

Bill Gates has 477,645 followers.
Ryan Seacrest has 2,952,473 followers.

As you can see, by measurement of pure followers, Seacrest easily overpowers Gates by 2,474,828 followers. You could say based on these numbers, the perceived reach and influence is much greater for Ryan Seacrest.

Measurement Methodology
My next step was to reviewed both Twitter streams to find a Tweet, older than 7 days, with a bit.ly URL, paired with verbiage from Gates or Seacrest that was along the lines of “i created this, and I want you to check it out by clicking the bit.ly link”. My intent was to find an older Tweet that isn’t active (so the numbers are fairly static), and the Tweet must be persuasive with a clear please “click my link” call-to-action.

Bill Gates:

Ryan Seacrest:

Initial thoughts: case closed?

Seacrest had 15,181 more click-throughs than Gates. My point is proven! Right? Bill Gates who arguably has more influence offline than Ryan Seacrest, has less infleunce online. Case closed?

This was the first comparison of many. When I performed other comparisons of bit.ly URLs between the two, the results were much different…

Bill Gates:

Ryan Seacrest:

What’s going on here?

The more links I tested and compared, I noticed that even with Ryan Seacrest’s 2,474,828 more followers …his click-through numbers weren’t that much more significant than Bill Gates (who has only 400,000+ followers). Most of the link comparisons placed them fairly comparable in terms of numbers.

• Does this mean followers counts don’t matter? (some people say to ignore #followers)
• What’s the right messaging/ communication for a conversion click?
• Does the time of day matter in which these tweets are being sent?
• Is there be a better “quality” or high signal to noise ratio for Gate’s followers?

What’s your opinion? What are your thoughts on online influence? What’s going on here between Gates and Seacrest? Make a comment.
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