Interactive
My Virtual Superbowl Party
What a great day for the New Orleans Saints and social media. And I had a blast. I was pretty pumped for this great match-up I had predicted early in the season – New Orleans Saints versus Indianapolis Colts. A few thousand people were at my party, some I knew, most I didn’t until yesterday. And it didn’t cost me more than a few beers and pretzels. My party was online and it was better than sitting in a bar next to some obnoxious over-served Vikings fan with a grudge. It was me, a roaring fire in the fireplace, a laptop, the aforementioned beverage and snacks, an amused wife, and a few thousand acquaintances from #SB44.
Insights from 2009’s Top Search Terms
It’s quite interesting to see what’s on the minds of Americans. Actually, it’s quite interesting to have readily accessible and inexpensive (free) tools, such as Google Trends, to see what’s on the minds of Americans. Why should we care? Trend spotting and observing the mindset of our fellow human beings helps us gauge the mood of the country which can affect the tonality of our advertising messaging.
We can develop better campaigns, products and services addressing those things that are deemed ‘hot’ and drop those that are ‘not.’ From a personal standpoint, viewing these search trends help us gauge our own sense of priorities in relation to others’. So what were these search terms that shaped our behavior in 2009? Read on and help me project the top searches for 2010. Continue reading
We absolutely know what you were thinking about this past year?
What do the Iran election, Michael Jackson, Google Wave, Harry Potter, American Idol, the Superbowl and #musicmonday have in common?
What we heard at the HighEdWeb Summit `09
We’ve just returned from the annual HighEdWeb conference in Milwaukee. You may have caught the online buzz around the conference as both ‘harsh tagging’ and ‘tweckling’ became new verbs thanks to a rather unfortunate key note speaker. Key take away from that experience is that you need to really analyze your audience and figure out a way to incorporate your audience’s social tendencies. Two of the best blogs on the topic are found on Dave’s Whiteboard and another is The Great Keynote Revolt of 2009. That said, this conference is a tremendous grassroots gathering organized by a board of volunteers from a broad range of colleges and universities. About 400 people attended, the vast majority of whom work in an academic setting, supporting and building a broad range of online tools, applications and sites.
No More Textbooks in Schools?
Quite possibly, Yes! And why not? The latest personal technology rage is Amazon’s Kindle, a portable electronic reader that replaces the typical hardcover or paperback book by wirelessly downloading books and select newspapers. Currently a consumer product, the Kindle’s surface area is similar to the standard hardcover book yet the depth is no larger than a pencil. It provides a great alternative for someone who doesn’t want to lug a heavy book through the airport; needs to conserve on space during their morning commute; or to download a new book on a whim no matter where they are. And the current cost of downloads is cheaper than the real book itself.
Now think about the significance of distributing a single Kindle – a digital textbook – to each student throughout an entire school or school district instead of stacks of hardcover textbooks. The benefits are huge and the applications are limitless.
MotoSocial Media
You know Social Media has come of age when major brands shift their product development focus to harness the power of social media. 
Motorola, in a mobile device product doldrum for the past couple of years is unveiling their latest entry in the smartphone universe, Cliq. But the big news is that product development objectives were first and foremost to make social networking a seamless if not endless experience on the Cliq. Based on Google’s Android platform, Cliq continuously receives feeds from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace so you can more easily stay in touch with your BFF. The big difference is that iPhone and others rely on Apps in which you must often exit in order to answer phone calls, change tunes on your iPod feature or access other Apps, and then re-launch the App. Cliq keeps you connected.
