PARTNER News

Saturday, October 30

The Future Of Facebook - Forbes.com


I love checking in with #Foursquare, but do I need a strategy?

This @Mashable post scares me.



Strategy to get badges and such?



The advice is great, but the tone makes me wonder if people are taking the way to serious.



As @Foursquare grows, it's fun to see who else is on. At @Blogworld (#BWE10) there were so many users that you could always find a bunch of friends at any party or venue.. making for some serendipitous fun.



Geo tagging and checking in will be more than a fad.. but what about these badge games?

Amplify’d from mashable.com
Strategy

In order to truly excel in a Foursquare power user category, it can be beneficial to define your strategy. Chris Radzinski decided to focus his efforts on badges.

Read more at mashable.com
 

Thursday, October 28

Old School Doesn't Think @Groupon Can Work (via @LoriRTaylor)

I don't know who this Rice guy is, or what research he did to support his claims, but I was shocked to see a post questioning the #groupon model without interviews from them, businesses using social coupons or someone with an idea of how social media is changing the world.



My limited knowledge of @Groupon is that it ROCKS. I've only talked to 4 of the businesses that I redeemed a coupon at, not much of a sample... but all four of them had more business AFTER the promotion.



The article claims that with half to 4/5's of businesses reporting profits from the promotion itself that Groupon model looks shaky.



Has anyone involved with this ever run a business?



I did ask one local business owner if he was going to use Groupon again. He said "I doubt it. The boost in word of mouth from this has made a permanent improvement in my business and I don't have the capacity"



What other promotion vehicle is doing that today?

Amplify’d from www.technologyreview.com

"If things continue the way they are, I would be very surprised if it's sustainable," says Utpal Dholakia, an associate professor of management at Rice University, who led the study. He surveyed 150 businesses that had run promotions through Groupon between summer 2009 and summer 2010. Although the majority of Groupon's business customers said they were satisfied with their promotion, Dholakia found that about a third hadn't turned a profit as a result of offering a deal, and just under half said they would not repeat the experiment. He argues that the problems experienced by these firms mean that changes need to be made if such social promotions are going to survive in the long term.

Read more at www.technologyreview.com
 

I caught @joelcomm doing something very bad

We know that old media's motive is to keep our eyeball glued to the ads.



New media may get ad revenue (like @JoelComm taught us in "The Adsense Code" but I hold that it's just one of many motives from sharing news online.



What's your ulterior motive?

Amplify’d from joelcomm.com

I NEVER watch television news. I NEVER buy a newspaper.

But I happened to be in front of a television the other day while waiting on my car at an oil change shop.

The local news was on, so I watched out of the corner of my eye while checking my email on my iPhone.

What I heard solidified my decision to tune out television news.

Read more at joelcomm.com
 

Saturday, October 23

New Flash @BrianSolis is alive

I loved the headline Brian used to talk about Twitter stats.. but thought I'd try to create my own here.. (sort of a market test.. I've already retweeted his version)



And this topic cries out for a little more discussion. Just what Amplify.com is great at. So take a look at all the stats from Edison report and Brian's take on them.. and let's have add our thoughts here.



My take.. Twitter is getting to be very well known, but clearly not as ubiquitous a Facebook or BREATHING.



What do you think? Will everyone tweet? Does Twitter work if you just log in once a week? (I know better than to suggest anyone use it as much as me :)



What would it be like all your friends were accessible by Twitter the way they are by phone?


Friday, October 22

See how real-time comments work on WordPress blog with @livefyre

We just put LiveFyre on http://ProfitableSocialMedia.com to use their real-time chat/comments while with talk to their CEO on the Social Media Radio show.



Storify will be there with another way to assemble stories from social media and of course we have @Egoldstein, CEO of Amplify.com



Great discussion.. VERY SOCIAL and new technologies to make your time on social media more profitable.



Tonight at 7pm Pacific http://budurl.com/btrw

Amplify’d from profitablesocialmedia.com

Burt HermanBurt Herman (@Burt Herman) is the CEO of Storify.com. He is an entrepreneurial journalist. 

Jordan Kretchmer

Jordan Kretchmer (@jkretch), Founder and CEO of Livefyre background is in product development and brand strategy. At 17, he started his full-time career designing web applications for brands ranging from Subaru to Match.com to Pepsi to MINI Cooper. He spent nine years in the advertising industry, and where he managed the digital development teams.

imageEric Goldstein (@eGoldstein) is the CEO and founder of Amplify.com where he says “conversation is king”. He’s been on the show a couple of times and when I talked to the other guys, I realized how these all are working on the same goal.

And please TWEET, Share and LIKE this announcement, The more we grow, the more our your grow. Let’s all tell the story of Profitable Social Media together!

Read more at profitablesocialmedia.com
 

The Steve Jobs Fairy Tale iPad Delusion

The iPad is GREAT. I love it, it's a big hit and million are selling.



Steve dreams of taking over all computing with the device.. Pundits tell us that it's a "game changer" and "new category".. not quite.



It's either a large phone, or a small laptop.. We've been trying for tablets for 20 years and the touch screen are finally good enough, the processers fast enough and let's give Apple credit.. them made a good leap forward with the iPad.



But a year from now, will they have 90% market share? Will we stop buying laptops, desktops or phones?

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com
TABLETS04JPG

This week, Verizon Wireless said on Nov. 11 it will start selling Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab—a 7-inch tablet that runs on Google Inc.'s Android software. Next year, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. plans to release its 7-inch PlayBook.

On an Apple conference call this week, Mr. Jobs said 7-inch devices were too small to create great tablet applications. "Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the seven-inch bandwagon with an orphan product," said Mr. Jobs.

TABLETS02JPG

Many analysts seem to agree. "It's a false statement to say developers are not interested in the Android platform," said Jeff Orr, an analyst for ABI Research.

Morgan Stanley estimates that about 13 million Apple tablets will be sold this year, out of 15 million total tablet sales world-wide.

For 2011, Morgan Stanley estimates that Apple's number will rise to 30 million, while non-Apple tablets will skyrocket to 20 million.

TABLETS03JPG

Mike Willsey, the director of marketing for Verizon Wireless, said the iPad and Samsung tablet are both very good. "I think the consumers will tell us why they want one or the other," he said.

Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com
 

Like @edlovesumo says.. Share Your Story on Social Media

My co-host on SOCIAL MEDIA RADIO connected me with Storify.com's people which led to our guests on tonight's show.



We'll be talking about networking and storytelling with 3 startups in the social media space. Ed's leaving on a trip, but not before using Storify.com to put together notes from an even today.. networking all the way.



Learn how these can make for more Profitable Social Media on our next show



http://BlogTalkRadio.com/warren

Amplify’d from storify.com


Storify

Dot A

Online Media and Social Networking - a Marketing Must!






Dot A





Edward Philipp

ÜT: 33.801982,-118.013219






TeleSeminars - Free Resource Blog at TeleSeminarWebFolk.com CoFounder of TeleSeminarNation.com





12
total views






Read more at storify.com
 

Thursday, October 21

Can the Paper Control the Conversation

Washington Post editors are working on damage control and @Mashable wants us to take a poll on what the "should" do.



Guess what. Reader of the new media's "big media" want old media to be more open. The "they should" choice won the poll.



The 20th Century was unique in history. Mankind got the technology to speak to a mass audience about mass production products that could be distributed globally. Before this, people talked to people, did business with neighbors, most never traveled far and for the most part consumed what was produced locally.



Mass communications had one flaw.. it was mostly one-way. So companies with the biggest printing presses, most powerful transmitters and biggest budgets won.



To fill the papers with entertainment to keep readers looking at the ads, publishers employed writers and reporters. They gave them free reign over what they wrote because the market would read great content more than blather about the advertisers, but the goal was always to deliver those ads.



We had a couple of generations of "journalists" and some very smart people in that "profession" telling themselves, and us, that we needed them to watch out for us with "integrity"



We forgot that they were the filler material and lauded them. And why not, they were smart, they were writing about important issues and they had the audience.



Once the Internet grew to it's promise of no central control, the need for these aggregators was gone. People could talk to people, in mass or in private, whenever and wherever they desire.



I don't worry about #Mashable getting too big and trying to reign in the conversation. It's got the new media mentality. They started the conversation, and now I went a different way. Their popularity comes from adding real value in the aggregation, not control of information.



But the dinosaurs are standing in the tar pit. They are very wealthy dinosaurs, and they have huge infrastructures to keep them from sinking.. It's going to take a while for it to crumble



How long will it be till we stop caring about their editorial policies?

Amplify’d from mashable.com

The Memo

As a result, the following memo was sent to staff by Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti, who is no longer on Twitter after offering his thoughts on more spending for health care:

This week, some Post staffers responded to outside critics via our main
Twitter account. At issue was a controversial piece we’d published online. The intent in replying was to defend the decision to publish the piece, but it was misguided both in describing our rationale for publishing the piece and as a matter of practice. It shouldn’t have been sent.

Even as we encourage everyone in the newsroom to embrace social media and relevant tools, it is absolutely vital to remember that the purpose of these Post branded accounts is to use them as a platform to promote news, bring in user generated content and increase audience engagement with Post content. No branded Post accounts should be used to answer critics and speak on behalf of the Post, just as you should follow our normal journalistic guidelines in not using your personal social media accounts to speak on behalf of the Post.

Perhaps it would be useful to think of the issue this way: when we write a story, our readers are free to respond and we provide them a venue to do so. We sometimes engage them in a private verbal conversation, but once we enter a debate personally through social media, this would be equivalent to allowing a reader to write a letter to the editor–and then publishing a rebuttal by the reporter. It’s something we don’t do. Please feel free to flag Marcus, Liz and me when you see something out there that you think deserves a response from the Post. As we routinely do, we will work with Kris Coratti and her team to respond when appropriate.

News
See more at mashable.com
 

Wednesday, October 20

#hashable invades my privacy. Will I like this?

I got an invite to look at #hashable. The tweet said



" the way you are you'll pick it up quickly and run with it"



Wos..such flattery. I feel for it and clicked on the link.



Just before the new window opened, I saw another tweet from @hashable.. Oh great, a BOT... but I was already on my way.



Once at the site, I saw a log in screen but not a word about what the site was there for. Being the curios reporter of new apps that I am, I threw caution to the wind and put in my Twitter handle.



Logged in via Twitter and got another screen that wanted my email address, a bunch of data from LinkedIN and my ZIP CODE (???)



Then a 3rd screen wanted me to add some people I''ve never heard of, with an option to share that on Twitter. Under that, a list of Twitter friends already connected to me there.



I clicked through, but wait.. a POP UP asking me if I wanted to share my good fortune with the Twitterverse.



Finally, a home page with all sorts of goodies like all the other social media sites. Starting to look interesting.



Is it based on hashtags?



Is there a video, a demo, and option to not share this with all of you?



There it was.. the "How it Works" link that would tell me what I signed up for. I've share some of it below.



Hey, a nifty tool to let me put in two handles and have them both get a tweet. Just like I do every day with EVERY Twitter client out there. Who knows.. that might be useful, but here's why I didn't stick around to try it.



"We'll follow up"



If my friends don't enjoy the message from a service (not me).. they get another message!



My guess is that all the two people I intro have to do is JOIN #hashable..



But I can't confirm.. I've already disconnected from this one.

Amplify’d from hashable.com


There is a simple tool on the hashable.com homepage that can help you make introductions. You can use the tool to make an introduction through twitter or email. Using our integrated address book, you'll be able to easily search your twitter or email contacts and find people you'd like to connect. (Warning: this is highly addictive!)

We'll follow up


Hashable also follows up with your friends a few days later (via email or twitter) to see if they connected. Hashable will notify you once we hear from your friends.

Read more at hashable.com
 

Amplify what I Storify.. Spreading a good idea quickly

take a look at the kitten below.



She knows.



This is my first entry from STORIFY.COM .. in Alpha testing now, and a lot of fun.

Amplify’d from storify.com
Dot A

Every time I think I can't possibly share more on the web, a new tool comes along and make it even easier to show you more of the good stuff.

Today, my co-host @EdLoveSumo tweeted a link to Storify. I watched the video and thought "yeah.. I've seen this before" I checked my email and sure enough.. I was on the waiting list. I let Ed know and a few minutes later, I heard from Storify.

Let's see if this works as good as good as I think it will  
Read story

Read more at storify.com
 

“How do you find the time to use social media?”

My guest post on ThoughtLeadershipLeverage.com



We're writing "Profitable Social Media" for those who ask this question.. the ones who haven't recognized that conversations with people and relationships are the heart of business and how we all get things done.



What do you say when a friend asks “How do you find the time to use social media?”

Thought Leadership Leverage

“How do you find the time to use social media?”

Getting Into the Conversations of Customers

At first glance, the conversations fragments you see online look like a waste of time. People talking about TV shows, sports, the weather and what they ate for breakfast. According to the studies we’ve seen on Twitter, 4 out of 5 people never get past setting up an account and wondering what to do next.

Read more at thoughtleadershipleverage.com
 

Monday, October 18

Facebook Kills a Company.. Then Brings Them Back to Life

LOLapps needs Facebook to survive.. but for two days, Facebook cut them off.



Now back up, it make us wonder.. Can Facebook protect your personal data and still provide all the personalization we have come to love?

Amplify’d from venturebeat.com

The incident raises a number of issues. Try as it might, Facebook is finding that protecting privacy is easier said than done, since it must enforce its policies among more than 550,000 apps. Also, for companies such as LOLapps, the bans can come as complete surprises. LOLapps users were completely in the dark, as the apps just vanished from Facebook with no explanation. They worried that their accounts might have been permanently deleted, even though they had poured many hours into cultivating their characters.

Now it has restored them and LOLapps fans can begin playing their games again. According to AppData, LOLapps has more than 16 million monthly active users playing games such as Critter Island (pictured). But the San Francisco-based company said it has more than 150 million users if you consider all of the users who have created quizzes and personalized gift apps. Those apps show up as created by the individuals, not by LOLapps. But LOLapps can make money from those apps.

Read more at venturebeat.com
 

Thursday, October 14

Skype adds Facebook. Do you want Skype updating your news feed?

Skype 5.0 is out.

Amplify’d from blogs.skype.com

With Facebook integration, you can:

  • see your Facebook News Feed in Skype

  • post status updates that can be synced with your Skype mood message

  • comment and like friends’ updates and wall posts

  • call and SMS your Facebook friends on their mobile phones and landlines

  • make a free Skype-to-Skype call if your Facebook friend is also a Skype contact

Video calling accounted for approximately 40% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes in the first half of this year, and with the new version of Skype, you’ll receive a free trial of group video calling in beta. We’ve added a dynamic group video calling view, which it easy to follow who’s talking by moving the focus to the person speaking on the call – try it out!

See more at blogs.skype.com
 

Wednesday, October 13

Better Blogging with Photos (via @hockley at @Blogworld)

Amplify’d from www.blogworld.com

You’ve heard the tips from various sources about how photos can be used to liven up your blog posts. Whether they’re supporting material for a text post or standing on their own as content, photos and other graphics give a bit of pop to the otherwise mostly-textual web.

  • Before shooting: Don’t obsess about camera gear. 99% of the cameras are better than 99% of the photographers. Whether you have a point-and-shoot, a fancy DSLR, or a camera phone, you have what you need to get started creating images. Since you’re here reading the BlogWorld blog, I suspect that you’re amongst the digitally-savvy… your iPhone or Android smartphone probably has a camera capable of great images.
  • When shooting: Fill the fame. Get close so that your subject fills most of the viewfinder. There’s an old photo adage that says when you think you’re close enough, get closer. For photos embedded into blog posts this is even more true – you’ll want your subject to take up all of the screen real estate that it can.
  • When embedding: Bigger is better. You went to the effort to create a nice photograph; don’t lessen the impact by only showing a 100 pixel thumbnail. There’s a reason why Flickr’s “small” size is 240 pixels – I consider that the minimum for effective use in a blog post.
  • When inviting engagement: Instead of just posting a photo as supporting material on your blog or Facebook page, put up an interesting picture and ask readers to come up with a caption. Folks can invent some hilarious captions and you’re sure to get a variety of responses. You can do it as a contest with a prize or not… either way you’ll get people talking about your article and picture.

Aaron Hockley is a photographer and blogger who has been involved with social media since 2002. He attends and speaks at various new media conferences and is often quoted and consulted on the use of social media by the photography industry. Follow along with Aaron on Twitter ( @hockley) or keep up with his latest musings at Picture Pundit. He can be reached by email at aaron@hockleyphoto.com.

See more at www.blogworld.com
 

Tuesday, October 12

Seth Godin’s Secret to Selling Books

The video below has a quick interview with best selling author Seth Godin.



As usual, Seth has many great ideas about what it takes to be a success today.

Amplify’d from www.bestsellerauthors.com

Online Promotion Strategies for Authors

The last question was important for any author. Seth was asked about the secret to marketing books. After reminding us that the best ideas come from “getting busy and doing it” and working past all the crappy ideas till only the good one is left. Seth gave specific advice about marketing your book.

The time to start is 18 months before your book comes out. If you wait till one week before, I have no advice for you


Read more at www.bestsellerauthors.com
 

Saturday, October 9

Anyone who is making money online has done this. (via @CoachDonnaWard)

You have to know who your target market is and is not.



You have to know who you want to do business with and who wants to do business with you. Where is their pain, frustration, and how can you solve this for them.

Amplify’d from www.donnalaward.com

Virtually anyone can make money online, but most people won’t.

Without a clear understanding of your market and what you have to offer, you may slow down the successes of your business rather online or brick and mortar.

When you know who your targeted market it and what motivates them:


  • You may come across as someone interested in your prospective client’s needs.

  • You will be prepared when opportunity presents itself.

  • You won’t appear desperate, because you will be more prepared to let go of a potential or existing client when the fit is incompatible.

Read more at www.donnalaward.com