Seth Godin is Tribal

"Tribes" is the title of Seth Godin's new book on marketing and leadership. He has a great blog post about it here. Below is an excerpt:

Social media's growth in the last three years, though, gives marketers an inkling that there may be something else going on. Sure, they can run spam ads on Facebook, but they don't work. Social media, it turns out, isn't about aggregating audiences so you can yell at them about the junk you want to sell. Social media, in fact, is a basic human need, revealed digitally online. We want to be connected, to make a difference, to matter, to be missed. We want to belong, and yes, we want to be led.

This is another Seth Godin book that I will probably end up reading eventually. In the mean time, want the free Tribes ebook? Get it here.

The Newest Microceleb: Joe the Plumber

Last nights debate was kind of weird, right? In addition to usual problems of quibbling over statistics, there was a bizarre section where McCain and Obama started courting "Joe the Plumber". I thought this was a symbolic gesture, but today's headlines show that there is a real guy named Joe they were actually addressing.

Joe is apparently a plumber who hopes to buy his own plumbing company, and makes just over $250,000 a year. This number is important because Obama wants to raise taxes from 36% to 39% for anyone who makes over a quarter of a million annually. Joe's in this demographic, and he's not happy about it. He confronted Obama on a clip that showed up on youtube (above).

There's speculation about who Joe really is; he doesn't have a plumbing or contracting license, and he owes tax money. Daily Kos suspects that he's a relative of Charles Keating, and a GOP plant. He's also getting negative attention for making some latently racist comments about Obama tap-dancing "almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr."

On the other hand, many Americans are relating to Joe, who preaches that people should learn about the issues for themselves and ask tough questions. He's even inspired a line of "Joe for President" t-shirts.

Regardless, Joe has come to represent the fundamental difference between the tax policies of Mccain and Obama, and furthermore two interpretations of the American dream.

Facebook Ads Get Personal

We've written earlier on targeted facebook ads; but this is really taking it to a new level. People are apparently targeting individuals for advertising. For example, a hopeful media intern has set up facebook ads to target his potential employers. Even better, a dad has set up a facebook ad asking some girls to date his son. So embarrassing!

With advertising everyone can afford, it's turned into a fun new way to communicate. Revenue generation is now secondary. (Valleywag)

Almost Famous Online

This heifer is almost famous...

But we all want to be famous, because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be online invading blogs, discussion forums and creating original platforms of our own. To those of you who have a fan base, a faithful following of Twitterers or you accrue relentless postings on your own blog spanning passed two people hammering back at one another, congratulations—you’re a celebrity. But for those of you still not up on social media, limited to maintaining a handle on Twitter, having to search out people to follow, you're not quite there yet.

I’m not quite there yet. I NEED to be everywhere online and it takes a lot of reading, commenting, offering advice—invading spaces, kind of like Hitchcock’s “The Birds” only a let less bloody.

One thing for certain is online spaces can be entirely exhausting and your client begs the question, “Where should we be on the Web?” and “What’s in it for us?” A lot is at stake but social media fanatics can tell you strong ROI is just around the corner. What’s more—If you’re not online, how can your client be?

Does this mean you have to spend 4 hours on Twitter “@-ing” people? Probably. Does it mean you must look for opportunities on LinkedIn to comment on people’s ongoing questions of sound PR tactics or writing a news release for the first time? Probably. Does it mean you must be among the many commenters on a credible blogger’s latest post? Absolutely. Should you start a YouTube series based on blenders? No, that’s already been done.

How up are you on social media? The paparazzi is waiting at your company's front door.

3 Easy Ways To Fight Hunger

Today is Blog Action Day 2008 and bloggers all around the world are discussing Poverty today. More than ever, the internet has allowed people to come together and take action quickly and effectively. While "end world hunger" has become a cliche in many ways, the possibility of reaching such a goal is more in reach than ever. Here are 3 easy ways to fight hunger on Blog Action Day (or really any day):

1. The Hunger Site - Using click-on ads that generate revenue, The Hunger Site gives all its click-on ad money to international food organizations. Every click provides the equivalent of 1.1 cups of food.

2. AidToChildren.com - Similar to FreeRice.com, AidToChildren.com uses an addicting vocab quiz to donate money towards hunger relief organizations. Every 4 correct answers equals 1 cent, and 25 cents provides one meal.

3. FeedThemWithMusic.com - Go to the site and buy the song of the week or full album. Each song provides one meal and each album provides 10 meals. If you are a musician, donate a song to be used for the project and featured for download on the site.

The most important part about today is that everyone does something. It's only all together that a difference can be made.