Remember what the slaves whispered in the ear of the Roman conquerors: 'Fame is fleeting.'
Friday, December 18, 2009
YouTube keeps video makers rolling in dough - USATODAY.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
Will Foursquare Turn You Into a Yes Man?
I finally took the plunge. After giving it several months of thought—well, avoiding it for several months is a little more accurate—I decided to turn my personal privacy settings down a notch and sign up for Foursquare, the new social networking tool that allows you to tell your friends exactly where you are at any given time.
After looking up a few of my favorite Minnesota places, I was overwhelmed with a Jim Carrey-esque “Yes Man” attitude. For those of you who have not yet seen the film, Carrey leaves his life of nay-saying and starts saying “yes” to every opportunity presented to him. Much like the character, I saw a tip listed at one of my new favorite breakfast spots:
“Arrive early. Line up behind someone who's almost done. Come hungry. Enjoy the taste of those hash browns for the rest of the day!”
Good idea! Yes! Next time I go I’ll order hash browns. From there I stumbled to places I haven’t been, but have heard about.
“#5 pizza. Red wine. This is all you need to know.”
I might not know what a #5 pizza is, but I can tell you I want to go get it right now.
Where most applications encourage you to stay home, all curled up adding comments to blogs, updating Twitter or adding discussions on Facebook, Foursquare encourages people to take their social networking to the real world. I'm not sure what it is, but I’m so eager to go out, visit new places, and tell my friends all about it. (And of course I can’t wait to be major of something.)
Is this the new bridge that connects online conversations to real life places? Or is this application one step too far in the destruction of personal privacy? Facebook started by encouraging you to update your friends on your life, Twitter encouraged you to make new friends by revealing information to strangers, and now Foursquare is encouraging you to post your exact location on the world wide web.
If you’re on Foursquare, are you as eager to get to be “mayor” as I am, or is this something you have just to have without frequent updates? If you haven’t signed up yet, what’s holding you back? I’m ready to get started by exploring new places and taking recommendations from my new Foursquare friends, but am I alone? Or is Foursquare well on its way to stimulating the economy by turning stay-at-home online enthusiasts into adventurous "Yes Men" ready to hit the town?
After looking up a few of my favorite Minnesota places, I was overwhelmed with a Jim Carrey-esque “Yes Man” attitude. For those of you who have not yet seen the film, Carrey leaves his life of nay-saying and starts saying “yes” to every opportunity presented to him. Much like the character, I saw a tip listed at one of my new favorite breakfast spots:
“Arrive early. Line up behind someone who's almost done. Come hungry. Enjoy the taste of those hash browns for the rest of the day!”
Good idea! Yes! Next time I go I’ll order hash browns. From there I stumbled to places I haven’t been, but have heard about.
“#5 pizza. Red wine. This is all you need to know.”
I might not know what a #5 pizza is, but I can tell you I want to go get it right now.
Where most applications encourage you to stay home, all curled up adding comments to blogs, updating Twitter or adding discussions on Facebook, Foursquare encourages people to take their social networking to the real world. I'm not sure what it is, but I’m so eager to go out, visit new places, and tell my friends all about it. (And of course I can’t wait to be major of something.)
Is this the new bridge that connects online conversations to real life places? Or is this application one step too far in the destruction of personal privacy? Facebook started by encouraging you to update your friends on your life, Twitter encouraged you to make new friends by revealing information to strangers, and now Foursquare is encouraging you to post your exact location on the world wide web.
If you’re on Foursquare, are you as eager to get to be “mayor” as I am, or is this something you have just to have without frequent updates? If you haven’t signed up yet, what’s holding you back? I’m ready to get started by exploring new places and taking recommendations from my new Foursquare friends, but am I alone? Or is Foursquare well on its way to stimulating the economy by turning stay-at-home online enthusiasts into adventurous "Yes Men" ready to hit the town?
Labels:
foursquare,
privacy,
social media
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Is Facebook Lactose Intolerant?
If you haven’t had a chance to yet, now might be a good time to read up on Facebook’s updated Promotions Guidelines. Most of it is pretty straight forward. You are fully and solely responsible and liable for your promotion. Check. The promotion must be true and accurate, and cannot mislead, deceive or otherwise misrepresent the prize. Sounds good. You may not publicize or administer a promotion on Facebook if the promotion’s objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, dairy, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline. Come again?
I think most of us can understand why Facebook doesn’t want promotions for tobacco, gasoline or firearms, but dairy? Sure, some people might lower their cholesterol if they lay off the cheese or lose a few pounds if they cut out the ice cream, but there’s no telling how Facebook came to include dairy in their list of promotional no-nos. Are they just doing their part in helping control the obesity crisis or is there some other aspect of this new restrictive policy that they aren’t telling us?
As the dairy industry continues to decline, they, if anybody, could benefit from a little social media promotion. Now, the guidelines aren’t preventing the dairy industry from having fan pages or groups, but to be banned from offering contests and promotions is pretty hindering. Consider the money the dairy industry is spending to increase consumption in this down market, from all the ads for Wisconsin cheese or California milk, why wouldn’t Facebook want a piece of the revenue?
What do you think? Are there any theories that might explain why Facebook has taken such a bold stance against America’s favorite cookie companion? Why is dairy suddenly blacklisted from connecting with Facebook’s over 200 million users via a contest or sweepstakes? And so I have to ask: Is Facebook in fact lactose intolerant?
I think most of us can understand why Facebook doesn’t want promotions for tobacco, gasoline or firearms, but dairy? Sure, some people might lower their cholesterol if they lay off the cheese or lose a few pounds if they cut out the ice cream, but there’s no telling how Facebook came to include dairy in their list of promotional no-nos. Are they just doing their part in helping control the obesity crisis or is there some other aspect of this new restrictive policy that they aren’t telling us?
As the dairy industry continues to decline, they, if anybody, could benefit from a little social media promotion. Now, the guidelines aren’t preventing the dairy industry from having fan pages or groups, but to be banned from offering contests and promotions is pretty hindering. Consider the money the dairy industry is spending to increase consumption in this down market, from all the ads for Wisconsin cheese or California milk, why wouldn’t Facebook want a piece of the revenue?
What do you think? Are there any theories that might explain why Facebook has taken such a bold stance against America’s favorite cookie companion? Why is dairy suddenly blacklisted from connecting with Facebook’s over 200 million users via a contest or sweepstakes? And so I have to ask: Is Facebook in fact lactose intolerant?
Labels:
ban,
dairy,
facebook,
promotion,
social media
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hi, My Name is Heidi
As some of you may have heard, Tim is no longer working with Axiom and has moved on to other opportunities. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that I’m excited to be teaming up with Mike and Sara to bring you our take on the latest happenings in social media. My name is Heidi Bobier, otherwise known as @hbobier in the Twitterverse. If you’re wondering, it’s pronounced BO-beer, and yes, I do get that question often.
I may be new to Axiom, but I’m no stranger to social media. To work in public relations, you have to go where the public is. At the dawn of 2010, that means I spend a lot of my time online. On blogs. On Twitter. On YouTube. Heck, even on Facebook.
Feel free to say “hello,” and let me know if there is anything you’re just dying to know about me. Otherwise, stay tuned as we tackle the latest in social media news and even make some news ourselves!
The good news is that I’m excited to be teaming up with Mike and Sara to bring you our take on the latest happenings in social media. My name is Heidi Bobier, otherwise known as @hbobier in the Twitterverse. If you’re wondering, it’s pronounced BO-beer, and yes, I do get that question often.
I may be new to Axiom, but I’m no stranger to social media. To work in public relations, you have to go where the public is. At the dawn of 2010, that means I spend a lot of my time online. On blogs. On Twitter. On YouTube. Heck, even on Facebook.
Feel free to say “hello,” and let me know if there is anything you’re just dying to know about me. Otherwise, stay tuned as we tackle the latest in social media news and even make some news ourselves!
Labels:
social media
Detroit's admen cope with tough times - Dec. 7, 2009
Think you have it bad? You could be living in Detroit!
Michael Ferrara
Principal
Axiom Marketing Communications
3800 American Blvd. W Ste. 1275
Minneapolis, MN 55431
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)