widgets

Leading in Social Media Monetization

Lena L. West — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:23:38 -0500

There are not many people I sit around thinking about meeting. It's not that I have a super-elevated opinion of myself. It's more than I'm your average (or not so average) jaded New Yorker who has seen things and met some people. A lot of things and a lot of people.

But, as stalker-ish as it might sound ever since I started working in IT more than a decade ago, I've wanted to meet Anu Shukla.

Authors + Social Media = Tribes...and Tribes Sell Books

Lena L. West — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:43:30 -0400

Sure, attention is rapidly moving online, but truth is, having a traditional printed book still remains one of the most effective credibility-building tools out there.

Challenge is, whether you self-publish or go with a traditional publisher, the marketing is on you. (C'mon, you know it's the truth!)

So, my business pal, @JonathanFields wanted to wake other authors up to the need to step up and take control -- 'cause that's what he's all about.

The Facebook Era

Lena L. West — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:06:02 -0400

What seems like eons ago (but in reality was a few months ago), I interviewed Clara Shih (@clarashih), the author of The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff. and the cr

Social New, Now & Next: The Baltimore Marathon on "Social Media Steroids"

Lena L. West — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:43:14 -0400

I'm always interested in organizations that are taking the use of social media to the next level. And, Corrigan Sports qualifies. They plan to use some latest social media hotness, R2iSMASH, to showcase the Baltimore Marathon on October 10.

R2iSMASH, was created by R2integrated, and the technical explanation of it is:

Helping Companies Take on "the Cloud"

Lena L. West — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:39:15 -0400

More and more companies are diving into cloud computing, but there are security, quality and scalability concerns. That's where Sonoa Systems comes in.

If you're not like The Rolling Stones and you DO want people on your cloud, listen in as I have a techy-ish convo with Chet Kapoor, CEO, and Scott Regan, SVP of Marketing, of Sonoa Systems. (Hey, I got my start as a geek! What can I say?)

Will Everything Be Wired to a Social Net? Even Google's Doing It

Kit Eaton — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:42:40 -0400

You've got to credit Google for trying to be the one-stop shop for everything online: It just grabbed hold of the craze for social networking, and built it right into Google users' homepages. Will everything soon be social networked-up?

Biz Stone Advance Video re: Twitter Hack

Lena L. West — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:03:35 -0400

Alas, poor Twitter. The service that we all know and love suffered a Fail Whale of 'orculean' proportions for two hours last week on August 6, 2009, due to a denial of service attack. We were all a little annoyed (read: lost without Twitter), but if you're anything like me, you're just glad Twitter's back up and running. After all, the world hearts Twitter.

Social New, Now & Next: OurBlook Gets Their Social Debate On

Lena L. West — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:09:48 -0400

Debate is a healthy part of life. It's an understatement to say that people won't always agree.

Twitter and Facebook Come to FiOS TV, but Verizon's Still Just a Widget Wannabe

Kit Eaton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:23:31 -0400

Verizon's just added something to FiOS that's either a blessing or a curse for Twitter addicts--a live feed of your Twitter account that'll appear on your TV over the show you're watching, part of a new Widget Bazaar that also includes a Facebook app.

Customizing Your Cambridge Connect Profile Page

Cambridge Who's Who — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:53:50 -0400

If you look at various profile pages on Cambridge Who's Who Connect, you may
notice that the color scheme and information are different from your page or
the Cambridge Who’s Who Connect homepage. That’s because our members have
customized them with their own themes, including a different layout, choice of
colors and additional information. Want to customize your page to display your
interests and personality? Let’s get going.

Social New, Now & Next: Scitable's Social Science

Lena L. West — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:09:22 -0400

I'm always interested in how companies that don't have an obvious connection with social media are using these tools to create online destinations that work for them and work for their market.

To feed my curiosity, I've started a whenever-I-feel-like-it interview series about such companies.

Samsung's New HDTVs Are Model Skinny and Widget Powered

Kit Eaton — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:02:42 -0400

HDTVs have become so commonplace, retailers such as Best Buy think they're necessities and not luxuries. For consumer-electronics companies to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, they need novelty. To that end, look at what Samsung's doing with its latest batch of televisions. The new Series 7 sets are being sold with two key features: They're ultra-thin thanks to some clever lighting designs, and they'll come with on-screen Net-connected widgets.

Why David Byrne, Arcade Fire, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are Psycho Marketers, Q'uest-ce que c'est?

Sara D. Anderson — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:22:40 -0400

After David Byrne and Brian Eno self-released their album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today last August, they generated profits equivalent to a label advance. How? Software marketing, of course.

Real-Time Communications Means Real Talk

Lena L. West — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:08:14 -0500

This is my first full week back from being on holiday for the past month. Ahhh, good old R&R....

Yesterday, I spent half the day leading two roundtable discussions at the Real-Time Communications Conference, where Steve Etzler and Team BDI packed the house again. See my blog post about his prior event, Convergence 2008.

Here are some good outtakes:

What Proposition 8 Shows Us About Having Your Own Social Media Turf

Lena L. West — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:50:17 -0500

This post is an idea-stem from an excellent post that was written by Michael Mace in the Rubicon blog network.

When consulting with clients and while delivering presentations about social media, I often mention the imperative that local businesses have to leverage social media as well as - or better than - national brands. I often use Yelp.com as an example of a tool they can use to do this.

Much Ado About Convergence

Lena L. West — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:25:03 -0500

Who knew there was so much to say about convergence? Steve Etzler, the founder of the conference and career fair producer Business Development Institute (BDI), did.

Consider the Source

Lena L. West — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:59:45 -0500

I wrote a post for the Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix blog today and in it, I talk about how agency types have “predicted” a slow down in brand spending on emerging media.

I won’t repeat the whole post here, but you can read it as a bit of background for this post, if you like.

Gasp! Ads Do Work After All!

Lena L. West — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:50:27 -0400

The folks at Razorfish conducted a survey of 1,000 "connected consumers".

Most say they don't mind ads on social networking sites so much so that 40% of them had actually purchased a product or service after being prompted by an ad within a social network.

Nielsen Online says that youth groups see far less online "clutter" (read: ads), which makes sense, because they aren't as equipped to whip out a credit card and make a purchase.

Abusing Social Media

Caroline Waxler — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:45:54 -0400

Thanks for nothing, Web 2.0. With each sexy bit of social media that catches fire with users, lame companies get another fresh opportunity to pretend they know how to connect with customers without understanding what they're doing. No business is abandoning traditional advertising in favor of these gimmicky, halfhearted efforts. They're just abandoning any self-respect they once possessed. Whee!

Consumers are Weary of the Okey-Doke

Lena L. West — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:42:07 -0400

In reading Max Kalehoff's OnlineSpin about how online transparency might affect brand building, I got on my soapbox a bit and wanted to share it with my FC readers. Here's what I had to say:

"I don’t think it’s a matter of whether companies will need to publicize their GOOD deeds. The question is: what will they do to address their BAD deeds? Since, in many cases, negative information that’s communicated about a brand tends to trump good information.

Good News for Video Marketers - Bad News for Privacy?

Lena L. West — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:25:30 -0400

Let's face it, everyone and their mother has a video on YouTube.

That's a good thing - user generated content is mainly what's fueled the rapid growth of social media - and it's also pretty much the bain of a video marketer's existence.

With all those videos, if you're someone who markets your brand with online video - specifically through YouTube - how do you:

- make sure that your video gets found

- determine what SPECIFICALLY about your video grabs people's attention?

Conference Hopping

Lena L. West — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:54:13 -0400

Is it just me or are there conferences going on EVERYWHERE?

There's OMMA, Web 2.0 NY and IZEAFest this month and ESM and MarketingProfs next month to name a few.

A Fresh Approach to Forecasting...

Lena L. West — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:54:13 -0400

Corporate forecasting is, at best a labor of love and at worst, boring...or usually incorrect.

The folks over at Inking, Inc. have developed prediction market software, called Inkling Markets, that allows companies to tap into the wisdom of the crowds and as a result make their forecasting more on-target.

I sat down (via phone) with Inkling, Inc.'s CEO, Adam Siegel to chat with him about why more and more companies are using prediction markets, what the benefits are for doing so and the future of prediction markets (pun intended).

"A Microphone Called a Blog..."

Lena L. West — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:22:06 -0400

That's how Josh Bernoff of Forrester and Groundswell co-authoring acclaim, describes the shift in attention that brands have to make now that social media is becoming more and more mainstream and, according to the latest research, growing faster than any other medium.