PARTNER News

Friday, December 31

What are you doing to let your customer plan spontaneity?

I love this term.. irrational as it may be.



"Planned Spontaneity"



It may sound like "getting around to procrastinating" or "busy on my day off" but I think it points to a desire most of us share. We want to be spontaneous, can't really plan it, but can use these new tools to "organize on the fly"



Have you tried "planned spontaneity?"

Amplify’d from www.customerthink.com

For consumers, knowing where they are and what’s / who’s around them is the key to planned spontaneity.  That’s about to get a whole lot easier, as geo-location becomes a key feature of social networks and web apps from existing providers adding location information:

  • Geomium takes data from local review sites and combines it with social information to not only allow users to both see which of their friends are nearby, but also to find nearby event and venue information and deals.
  • LikeOurselves lets individuals quickly create a mobile group and locate members within 20 miles of their location, enabling on the fly meetups
  • FastSociety is a New York-based startup aimed at simplifying communication between friends on-the-go. The service is SMS-based, and groups last between 3 hours and 3 days, increasing the spontaneous nature of the offering.
Read more at www.customerthink.com
 

Monday, December 27

Is @Quora Going to Out @Amplify Amplify.com? (post by @Scobleizer)

I'm a fan of #amplify. I'm using it more than my blog to post content and love the discussions here.



I'm also trying other products to share what I find.



#quora is getting rave reviews in the tech community and I have seen this group lead the way in blogging, social media and other trends (of course "tech" would be one of them).



My own experience with @quora is OK.. but I don't see it as that much of a breakthrough.



Have you used Quora?



What are the differences?

Amplify’d from scobleizer.com

@Scobleizer I believe @quora is the future of blogging.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneShervin Pishevar
shervin

First, it learned from Twitter. Ask your users a question and they’ll answer it.

Second, they learned from Facebook. Build a news feed that brings new items to you.

Third, they learned from the best social networks. You follow people you like. But then they twisted it. You can follow topics. Or you can follow questions in addition to following people. This is great for new users who might not know anyone. They can follow topics.

Fourth, they learned from blogs about how to do great SEO. I’ve started seeing Quora show up on Google.

Fifth, they learned from FriendFeed, Digg, and other systems that let you vote up things. If you watch a question that has a lot of engagement you’ll even see votes roll in live. It’s very addictive.

Sixth, they brought the live “engagement display” that Google Wave had: it shows who is answering a question WHILE they are answering it.

Seventh, it has a great search engine for you to find things you are interested in.

Read more at scobleizer.com
 

Sunday, December 26

Who says we can't have more friends? (thanks @geoffliving)

I haven't read the source and admit I'm uneducated on Dunbar's assumption that our brains can only handle 150 relationships.



No matter how he comes up with that number.. he didn't include all the tools we have today.



Let's stipulate that we are using a new defination of friendship. There are limits to how many people we can spend time with in person.. but so what?



When I get a tweet from a Twitter friend I talk to every day who says "I hope we get to meet some day" I'm a bit confused.



"Didn't we meet last year?"



"No, I mean "in person"



"Yes, that would be nice.. but would be be closer friends?"

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com


Put simply, our minds are not designed to allow us to have more than a very limited number of people in our social world. The emotional and psychological investments that a close relationship requires are considerable, and the emotional capital we have available is limited.


Indeed, no matter what Facebook allows us to do, I have found that most of us can maintain only around 150 meaningful relationships, online and off — what has become known as Dunbar’s number. Yes, you can “friend” 500, 1,000, even 5,000 people with your Facebook page, but all save the core 150 are mere voyeurs looking into your daily life — a fact incorporated into the new social networking site Path, which limits the number of friends you can have to 50.

Read more at www.nytimes.com
 

Is @tomfriedman learning to love the war?

I don't always agree with Thomas Friedman, but always find his stories to be compelling reason to think about the world a bit differently.



What is our mission in Afghanistan?



Reading the lead quote in my clip, (from Greg Mortenson) I have to wonder if this is might be a positive outcome beyond any politics.

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com
“The U.S. military has gone through a huge learning curve. They really get it. It’s all about building relationships from the ground up, listening more and serving the people of Afghanistan.”

I confess, I find it hard to come to Afghanistan and not ask: Why are we here? Who cares about the Taliban? Al Qaeda is gone. And if its leaders come back, well, that’s why God created cruise missiles.

But every time I start writing that column, something stills my hand. This week it was something very powerful. I watched Greg Mortenson, the famed author of “Three Cups of Tea,” open one of his schools for girls in this remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say, after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write, “Let’s just get out of here.”

Indeed, Mortenson’s efforts remind us what the essence of the “war on terrorism” is about. It’s about the war of ideas within Islam — a war between religious zealots who glorify martyrdom and want to keep Islam untouched by modernity and isolated from other faiths, with its women disempowered, and those who want to embrace modernity, open Islam to new ideas and empower Muslim women as much as men. America’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were, in part, an effort to create the space for the Muslim progressives to fight and win so that the real engine of change, something that takes nine months and 21 years to produce — a new generation — can be educated and raised differently.

See more at www.nytimes.com
 

"Is Social Media a Channel?" Personally, I'd go for Mac and Cheese

@jeffthesensei asked if what kind of meal I'd make..



I said I’d make macaroni and cheese.



As Barenaked Ladies said “If I had a million dollars, we wouldn’t have to eat Kraft dinners.. but we would”



There’s a point to my silly response. I would do what I want to do… same as your customers.



In the mass homogeneous world we grew up in in the 20th Century, we got one way communication en mass and were happy to hear from corporations.. or at least knew they weren’t listening if we had a gripe.



Now communication is two way.. the choice to listen is still there, but companies who choose to ignore customers can’t pretend customers are having conversations about them.



Old media was one way, early web sites were attempts to handles customers without a real conversation through automation. Retail puts real people on talking to customers, but communication chains are easily broken (at least until they embrace social media tools).



We call the tools “social media” and easily confuse the revolution is our ability to listen with the videos, chats, and nifty new technologies. When we embrace the opportunity to really listen, then use those conversation to satify our customers demands, they love buying from us.



“Listen and Love”.. it’s as simple as that.

Amplify’d from themountaintop.ca

  • Social Channel for customer acquisition: The most obvious and plentiful application of social media as companies look to establish foot prints in the big social networks. What’s the impact on customer acquisition? Well, for companies who are not inherently social, low. For those that are socially aligned, its impact is broad. Just look at how Ford has evolved itself to apply Social to build market share.

  • Social Channel for existing customers: Sadly, the most overlooked and highest potential application of social media is for existing customer communities. Why is it that we treat those most loyal to us the worst? The current impact is minimal in my mind, but the future potential of enabled customer communities is immense becoming a key source of driving product and service innovation for smart companies. This is a game changer.

  • Social Channel for partners: Is this even on the radar yet? My feeling is the impact will not be felt for quite a while. Feel free to enlighten me if you know more or have examples.

  • Social Channel for employees: Interestingly, many companies, especially B2B enterprise are just scratching the surface on this. The mother to internal social is the intranet of course; a channel with questionable impact. But, in the same way that social can rapidly evolve the business’ relationship with the customer, it can also do so with employees; the lifeblood of the enterprise. Again, the impact is minimal now, but as companies become more comfortable with social, my bet is game changer.









Read more at themountaintop.ca
 

Wednesday, December 22

How to Become a Thought Leader in Six Steps

Have you done the six steps?

Amplify’d from blogs.hbr.org

So how do you build a reputation as a singular expert — someone who doesn't just participate in the conversation, but drives it? In a word: leverage. No matter how brilliant and talented you are, you won't be sufficiently appreciated within your organization or by your customers until the broader public recognizes you. This outside reinforcement becomes an echo chamber that brings money and respect. How to get it? Follow these six steps to jump-start your thought leadership. Not all avenues will be open to you at the start, but most will in time.

1. Create a Robust Online Presence. Not everyone can immediately jump to international prominence (CNN probably won't book you as a talking head if you've never been on local TV). But everyone can start here, with an online beachhead. Blogs are particularly good because they showcase your knowledge — and search engines prize the frequent stream of fresh content. Most blogs are unloved and unread — but yours can be different with a little time and elbow grease. Good content is key, of course, but so is making friends (online and off) with other bloggers to create a virtuous, networked circle. Some of the best advice is from Chris Brogan, an otherwise unfamous guy who has been blogging for a decade, made himself a critical cog in the blogger world, and has turned it into big-time book contracts and bestsellers.

2. Flaunt High-Quality Affiliations. This one is often more about luck than anything else (I might be blogging this post from the White House if I'd been a high-ranking staffer for Barack Obama instead of for Howard Dean), but if you've got well-known connections, flaunt them and leverage them. Ivy League pedigree? Stint at McKinsey? Testimonial quotes from industry celebs? It's credibility by proxy.

3. Give Public Speeches. Given the terror that public speaking instills in most people, your street cred will automatically skyrocket when you take the stage. Start with Rotary and the local Chamber of Commerce, and work your way up to associations, conferences, and in-house gigs for major corporations (you can literally write them a letter, suggest a topic, and ask to be considered). Buy the National Trade and Professional Associations directory to find out who to contact, and double-dip the benefit by promoting your engagements relentlessly (showcasing your desirability to others), and recording everything so you can cross-post like a maniac on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Your goal is ubiquity.

4. Appear on TV. Make it a point to build relationships with TV producers — you can often follow them on Twitter and strike up a conversation. Cable news outlets are particularly good targets because they have so much airtime to fill. Create a media kit (with your bio, some writing you've done, and topics you can comment on) and send it over. And when breaking news hits, shoot producers an email offering to appear and listing the main points you'll make. If they're in enough of a rush to book guests, you may hit the jackpot.

5. Win Some Awards. It's chicken-and-egg: when you're famous enough, everyone wants to give you awards, because your name will be a "draw" for their events. But how do you get the awards you need to propel your thought leader momentum, early on? Chutzpah. Don't shy away from nominating yourself, or strong-arming colleagues into doing so for you. Identify the awards that matter in your industry, monitor the deadlines, and make it happen. Often, there are fewer nominations than you might think, and you can win by "default." There's even a service that lets you search for relevant awards to apply for.

6. Publish a Book. This is the hardest piece of the puzzle, especially since the publishing industry has been hiding under a rock and cowering since their "Black Wednesday" massacre in 2008. No one's willing to take a chance on authors without a sufficient "platform," so your job is to establish one through the methods above. The good news is that once you break through and get a contract, the world is your oyster: there is no more definitive proof of thought leadership than authoring a good book on your chosen subject. Trot out your sample copy, rinse, and repeat. The five previous steps have become infinitely easier now that you're a published author.

Read more at blogs.hbr.org
 

WSJ shares complete record of one man's life

How much do you want to share?

Amplify’d from blogs.wsj.com

But most of my life isn’t spent on the move. It’s spent online, which makes passive data collection ever easier. I don’t use any applications for logging computer use, but several services I rely on heavily return data about my usage. (That should be a standard feature, shouldn’t it?) If you’ve opted into Google Web History, it will tell you when you search:

See more at blogs.wsj.com
 

Tuesday, December 21

Don't let this happen.. Opt out of phone book delievery today

Harmful for the environment and costly to millions of small businesses that get conned into ads.



Let's do the phone companies, the landfills, hard working small business and our neighborhoods a favor..



OPT OUT NOW Find out how by entering your zip code at the link below:



http://yellowpagesoptout.com


Saturday, December 18

New media report on tornado using Storify (via @ryanjz)


Untitled

Amplify’d from sethgodin.typepad.com


What are you working on?





If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?


I hope so. If not, you're wasting away.


No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there's a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.


Hurry, go do that.











Email thisSubscribe to this feedShare on Facebook








Posted by Seth Godin on December 18, 2010 | Permalink











Read more at sethgodin.typepad.com
 

Thursday, December 16

Who Owns The Right to Filter Our News?

We grew up in the world of old media. They told us to trust what someone pulled from a wire service and printed on paper.



They preached that they had a high calling to report the truth objectively.



Now everyone has access to the source reports, they remind us that we still need the insight of a professional to sort it for us.



I think that's a myth. There are some great minds working for old media, but they are employees of corporations with agendas.



Do we need our news edited?

Amplify’d from www.lockergnome.com

The Associated Press and other newswire services provide news to small newspapers that do not have the staffing to cover the news themselves. But now questions are being asked as to whether or not companies such as the AP are needed any longer. With the Internet, just about anyone can syndicate the news. But some like Rupert Murdoch believe that all news belongs to those that cover it and should not be used by others for personal gain.

Put simply, syndication makes little sense in a world with URLs. When news outlets were segmented by geography, having live human beings sitting around in ten thousand separate markets deciding which stories to pull off the wire was a service. Now it’s just a cost.

There is another question that we must ask. Who owns the news? Does it belong only to the people who report it? I believe it belongs to all of us.

Read more at www.lockergnome.com
 

Read about me at About.me (with working link)

About.me is in beta and I'm giving it a try



http://about.me/WarrenWhitlock



Let me know what you see


Warren Whitlock


Speaker, Blogger and Marketing Strategist. Author of the first book on Twitter. "Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online"


Read more at warrenwhitlock.posterous.com
 

Read about me at About.me

About.me is in beta and I'm giving it a try

Amplify’d from about.me


Warren Whitlock


Speaker, Blogger and Marketing Strategist. Author of the first book on Twitter. "Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online"


Read more at about.me
 

Wednesday, December 15

Why would I ever stop doing this? via @megaRmease

It's Hammer time. LET DANCE!


Why does JCPenney spend so much on Facebook?

I read the bit about JCP putting up banner ads with like buttons and started wonders.



Supposing I had access to million of dollars to get millions of people into my thousand of store locations, and/or my online shopping site, would I set up a DESTINATION on Facebook?



The ordering on Facebook bit make sense.. it's like putting up a new store in a new town. "Go where the people are"



But what about the ads. A banner is luck to get one click. Would you use that to go to Facebook, or send people to your own site?

Amplify’d from mashable.com

JCPenney currently has 1.3 million fans on Facebook. The company moved closer to Facebook integration in October when it began running Facebook “like” buttons in its banner ads.

Read more at mashable.com
 

Tuesday, December 14

I'm a Rock Star! ... Thanks @JayBerkowitz

If you want to learn to promote better online, make a point to watch whatever Jay does.



This video is a bit cheesy, but it includes ME.. so I had to share it.



(see what he did there?)

InternetMarketingClub.org 1,000th Member Video!

Read more at www.internetmarketingclub.org
 

Hello Brasil... I got quoted on Folha.com :)

I'm going to have to reconsider the international market for "Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online"



When we wrote the book, we knew there would Twitter would grow, but always surprised to see attention in other languages.

Amplify’d from www1.folha.uol.com.br


Twitter 'prevê' tendências de consumo


Para Warren Whitlock, autor de "Twitter Revolution" ("A Revolução do Twitter", ainda sem versão no Brasil), "se você esperar que o comprador o procure, já perdeu grande parte da conversa".

See more at www1.folha.uol.com.br
 

What is the frequency of your thoughts? (via @StevenAitchison)

I was chatting with Steve Aitchison about what succeeds as we prepare for the biggest Self Improvement Online event of the year (http://su.pr/33PPGq)



I wound up on his blog and found this ladder.



If you want more success, start with the good energy in your thoughts


Why Writers Should Blog and Bloggers Should Write by @allison_boyer

Great post to start off the 12 days of Blogging series.



I'm just typing this.. I'll WRITE something later (as the post would say)

Amplify’d from www.aliventures.com
Read more at www.aliventures.com
Amplify’d from www.writingthoughts.com

Some bloggers don’t really write. They just type.


I’m sure there’s been times when I’ve been guilty of the latter. It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing posts as “content” – something to tap out fast in order to increase a bunch of statistics. More page hits. More comments. More readers.


But you know that bloggers who carry on like that won’t succeed. The blogs that you love aren’t the ones which churn out half-arsed content – they’re the ones where the words grab you and don’t let you go.

Read more at www.writingthoughts.com
 

Monday, December 13

How does Google rank locations?

Tags, boost, places, boost



Lot's of new terms to keep track of... so Google tells us how they rank results



Relevance – results that categorically match what has been searched



Prominence – results that are “well known, trusted” and show solid data from other sources on the web



Distance – results that are near your search criteria or known location


I'm still helping authors build a mailing list of readers

Someone asked me today if I thought anyone still reads email.



DUH!



My friend Dr. Joe Rubino, makes a very nice income from his mailing list.. as does a few hundred of my friends.



Email works best in markets that are hungry for more online information.. one of the larger being SELF IMPROVEMENT.



Five years ago, a few dozen online entrepreneurs teamed up to cross promote there offers online. You see, people who buy self help want more, but not always in the same niche. The cross promotion allows people to see what others are doing and sample their work.



This year, Joe joined the group.. and now dozens of the big marketers I've worked with are involved.



The promotion sign up page has a video invitation from Joe, and the usual hyped up sales copy you see online.. but don't be fooled.. this is not some scam. I know these folks and will be sharing this with my own readers on my prosperity web site mailing list.



If you aren't an online marketer, go one to the next message, but if you sell stuff online, click on this and get some free promotion for your own mailing list.

Amplify’d from selfimprovementgifts5.com
You know that the bigger your list the more money you can make from the subscribers on it.

And Giveaway Events are a PROVEN method of adding lots of subscribers very quickly!

This Self Improvement Gifts 5 Giveaway, with all the customizing work we’ve done behind the scenes, has some very UNIQUE bonuses and competitions that will draw HUGE interest and response. It will leave you wondering why everybody who runs similar Giveaways doesn’t hold their events this way.

Add to it, the drawing power of the BILLION DOLLAR Self-Improvement Niche and we will turbo-blast your list building FOR you!

And when you get your list into the 1,000’s, you will then have the ability to attract other JV Partners and engage in other list-building activities like launches, membership sites, Facebook marketing, adswaps, lead referral contests, and so many more income producing activities...













Reminder: The gifts for this event can be any ebook, audio/video, course, membership, training, reports, etc. that you own or have the giveaway rights to, related to the Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Self Help, Health & Wellness, Fitness, Diet and Nutrition, or Marketing Online** niche - including but not limited to topics on:
 
























  • Time Management


  • Self Esteem


  • Wealth & Abundance




  • Law of Attraction


  • Memory


  • Hypnosis


  • Meditation








  • Quit Smoking


  • Subliminal


  • Affirmations


  • Positive Thinking


  • Self-Help


  • Public Speaking


  • And many more!








** Graphics, templates, traffic generation, list building, blogging and related "marketing" products will also be acceptable Providing your gift Title & Description in our site are geared toward the self improvement and/or personal growth niche. 



Read more at selfimprovementgifts5.com
 

Employee Tweets, Posts and Company Social Media– Should Managers Care? | BNET


Sunday, December 12

Does This Headline Draw You In?

Tweets's are headlines... tags are too..



In fact, most everything we write in today's short message, give me the bullets world is what copywriters would refer to as the headline

John Caples , father of direct marketing copy, wrote, "Now, I spend hours on headlines—days if necessary."

Why the emphasis on headlines? "The headline selects the reader," said direct marketing guru 
Axel Andersson .

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy," wrote David Ogilvy . "When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar."

The late Mel Martin  was the world's slowest copywriter. He could spend two weeks on the teaser of an envelope. Yet his painstaking craftsmanship was responsible for turning Marty Edelston's Boardroom into a $150 million annual business.

Mel Martin's envelopes featured the USP of the book or newsletter Boardroom was selling. They were compelling. Three examples of irresistible Mel Martin teasers:

  • What Never to Eat on 
an Airplane.
  • What the IRS Doesn't Want You to Know.
  • The Two Most Forgotten Deductions On Any Tax Return.





100000



http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/photo/denny-hatch-headshot

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/416841/photo

 

Read more at www.targetmarketingmag.com
 

How much longer can the mega bookstore survive?

Borders shareholders are trying to by much larger Barnes and Nobles.

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

In a Bind

Borders and Barnes & Noble are big but under pressure.


A major shareholder of Borders Group Inc. proposed that the bookseller acquire much bigger rival Barnes & Noble Inc., in a gamble to unite the two giant but struggling retailers at a time of major tumult in the book industry.

The past year has been rocky for Barnes & Noble. In November 2009, the company adopted a "poison pill" antitakeover defense after activist investor Ronald Burkle and his Yucaipa Cos. purchased nearly 20% of its stock. In August, the retailer put itself up for sale. Mr. Burkle launched a nasty proxy fight for board representation, a bid that was defeated in late September.

So far, Borders hasn't been part of the sales process for Barnes & Noble. The company hasn't signed confidentiality and standstill agreements, which all interested parties have been required to enter if they want access to Barnes & Noble's financial information to conduct due diligence, people familiar with the matter said. Because of Barnes & Noble's poison pill, it would be difficult for Borders to mount a hostile campaign.

[barnes-p1]
See more at www.wallstreetjournal.com
 

Web Ink Now: Attention employees: We have banned the telephone at work


Rolaids recalls 13 million packages - by John Atchison - Helium


Reason 427 Why I Live in Las Vegas


The Internet Marketing Handbook | SEOmoz


Friday, December 10

Dear Seth Godin; Ignore your audience at your own peril

Just to make sure I understood, I read Seth Godin's blog post 3 times.



Right up there at the top ... Seth suggests that you'd be CRAZY to read Twitter comments.



Then he repeats the OLD MEDIA strategy. and repeats it again, and again and again. .. like "if they don't get it, we just haven't said it enough"



We know this is Seth's thinking.. He doesn't even allow you in the conversation on his blog.



We are now in the era of REAL TIME conversation. When I read about someone reading tweets after a talk, I wonder "Why didn't you get access to the feed DURING the talk?"



Listen to your audience. What they say IS the message that's important to them. If human beings filter what you say, change it around and spread it in their own way.. treat them like partners in the conversation and respect(love) them.



They didn't "get it wrong".. they got their own message. If you want to serve them, listen and build from there frame of reference. Engage your audience, let them OWN the message, and they will help you spread your meme to the world.



Listen and Love.. it's as simple as that.

Amplify’d from sethgodin.typepad.com


You will be misunderstood





If you want to drive yourself crazy, read the live twitter comments of an audience after you give a talk, even if it's just to ten people.


You didn't say what they said you said.


You didn't mean what they said you meant.


Or read the comments on just about any blog post or video online. People who saw what you just saw or read what you just read completely misunderstood it. (Or else you did.)


We think direct written and verbal communication is clear and accurate and efficient. It is none of those. If the data rate of an HDMI cable is 340MHz, I'm guessing that the data rate of a speech is far, far lower. Yes, there's a huge amount of information communicated via your affect, your style and your confidence, but no, I don't think humans are so good at getting all the details.


Plan on being misunderstood. Repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself.











Email thisSubscribe to this feedShare on Facebook








Posted by Seth Godin on December 10, 2010 | Permalink











Read more at sethgodin.typepad.com
 

Thursday, December 9

Every Author Needs Facebook

Amplify’d from www.bestsellerauthors.com

After turning down thousands of Facebook friend invitations due to their cap on the number of connection one person can have, I finally put up my own page.

Now I get to write a message when someone send a friends request.. it’s got to be unique… if you cut and paste, Facebook will give you a spam warning. This would have been so much easier if I had not waited.

Read more at www.bestsellerauthors.com
 

Wednesday, December 8

Here's how you thank people who add value to your community (via @virtuosoblogger)

I just found a great post on http://BlogGoDown.com



I tweeted a reply to the #amplify post and went to the blog to leave a comment on the full article.



When I did, I got this page. Very cool.



I want to be in this community.

Amplify’d from www.bloggodown.com


Thank You for Being a Contributing Member of our Community

Blog Godown
See more at www.bloggodown.com
 

what I am showing author live right now

this is part of a webinar

Amplify’d from www.bestsellerauthors.com


Best Seller Roadmaps

If you qualify, you’ll receive

  • ntroduction: I call you to learn about you, your book and your business.

  • Success Assessment. I review your book, any existing marketing, proposals, online presence and information products you have now or are developing

  • Best Seller Roadmap Session. Once we have all the data and know your book and business, we set up a session to build your roadmap.  I will do these sessions myself and show you exactly what you need to do to be more successful with your book, online promotion and marketing. During this session, you can ask any question about publishing or marketing and I will share any resources you might need to get to the goals you have set.

  • Expert Promotion Checklist. Based on your specific needs, I outline a fast track checklist you can use to get results quick from your online and offline marketing.
  • Read more at www.bestsellerauthors.com
     

    Tuesday, December 7

    Ice Fishing for Neutrinos in Antartica

    This is a bit off the topics I usually #Amplify, but when else would I get to use that headline.



    Trillion of neutrinos are going through the Earth each day, and most of them miss us entirely

    Amplify’d from www.popsci.com

    Every December since 2004, engineers have flown to the South Pole to drill 8,000-foot-deep holes in the ice. The team lowers cables, each strung with 60 disco-ball-size light sensors, into the holes and let them freeze over. So far they have completed 79 such holes, set in a grid half a mile on each side, and plan to drill the final seven this month. The result will be the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a cube of ice packed with 5,320 sensors looking for cosmic particles.

    Detecting a neutrino, however, is a bit like trying to catch a flea with a fishing net—the particles are so small that trillions of them travel through Earth every second without even hitting an atom. So the researchers at IceCube employ a clever technique to spot indirect evidence of neutrinos.

    Once IceCube’s final seven strands of sensors are in place, it will detect 100 neutrinos a day, 14 times as many as the two-year-old French neutrino detector Antares. IceCube will not only help scientists identify the source of cosmic rays, dark matter and other objects that influence the universe’s evolution, it will produce unexpected discoveries, says Francis Halzen, the principal investigator on Ice Cube. From Galileo’s refracting spyglass to the Hubble Space Telescope, he notes, every time scientists turn a higher-fidelity tool to the cosmos, they find something new. “If IceCube observes separated pairs of particles, they might be supersymmetric, a new and very different type of matter,” Klein says. “That would be extremely exciting.”

    See more at www.popsci.com
     

    Isn't censorship of Wikileaks like closing the barn door after the cow gets out?

    I was curious enough to read just how many pages of #Wikileaks were indexed by #Bing and #Google, but does it really matter?



    As far as I can see, no one has accused @Wikileaks of breaking and entering or stealing the information. I don't think the coerced anyone to give them the info... so if it's a big deal to keep it secret, why aren't they trying to stop the leak?



    Most likely they are... applying heat to Wikileaks to make the most noise... but it seems like they have a misunderstanding of digital data... it's like a tattoo.. once it's up on the net, it out.



    If you don't want something repeated, don't say it. If you can't live with that policy and want to keep a secret, make sure you can trust the people you are telling your secret to.

    Amplify’d from www.readwriteweb.com

    Classified document publishing website Wikileaks has now been kicked off of Amazon, Paypal, its DNS server and its Swiss bank account - but it lives on, including across hundreds of mirrored sites and is the subject for widespread discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

    Facebook's response, from Andrew Noyes, the company's D.C. based Manager of Public Policy Communications: "The Wikileaks Facebook Page does not violate our content standards nor have we encountered any material posted on the page that violates our policies."

    That's notably different from what Twitter told us today. Twitter passed around a press statement this morning stating that it is not censoring Wikileaks from its "trending topics" section, but when we asked point blank about whether it will permit the Wikileaks account to remain online or whether it will be shut down, Twitter's Matt Graves told ReadWriteWeb, "We've got no additional comment beyond the statement."

    Every company online is likely considering how to relate to Wikileaks. Google, for example, appears to have indexed almost 1500 pages of the site, while Bing appears to have indexed only 10 pages of Wikileaks.ch.

    Read more at www.readwriteweb.com