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Fashion Icon Turned Business Mogul on Swimming With the Sharks

BY Lena L. WestTue Mar 29, 2011

Daymond John and I talk about the history of the FUBU brand, what it meant for hip-hop and fashion at large, his books... and what social media has done for the brands in his empire.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

ATTENTION: This Guy Knows His Stuff

BY Lena L. WestFri Sep 10, 2010

I've known Jim Kukral ever since I met him at BlogWorld a few years ago; and I can easily say that I've been a fan ever since. The world of internet marketing (read: making money online) can, at times, be a thinly veiled popularity contest. In the years that I've known Jim, I've never gotten that vibe from him. So, when he told me he was writing a book...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Have You BAM'ed Your Company?

BY Lena L. WestThu Dec 17, 2009

With the exception of companies like Zappos, the term "good customer service" is almost a laughable oxymoron these days. Companies continue to get it wrong over and over and over. Even in an era of self-service (here's to never having to answer the "paper or plastic question again), there seems to be something missing. (Ya think?)READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Leading in Social Media Monetization

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 19, 2009

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.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

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

BY Lena L. WestThu Oct 22, 2009

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!)READ»

BLOGS | Comment

The Facebook Era

BY Lena L. WestThu Oct 1, 2009

What seems like eons ago (but in reality was a few months ago), I interviewed Clara Shih, the author of The Facebook Era and the creator of the Facebook application, Faceconnector (formerly Faceforce), which helps people connect with their Salesforce contacts on Facebook to build better relationships with customers, influencers and people who happen to like you!READ»

BLOGS | Comment

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

BY Lena L. WestTue Sep 15, 2009

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 Oct. 10.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Helping Companies Take on "the Cloud"

BY Lena L. WestTue Sep 15, 2009

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

SOCIAL NETWORKING | Comment

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

BY Kit EatonThu Aug 13, 2009

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 ...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Biz Stone Advance Video re: Twitter Hack

BY Lena L. WestThu Aug 13, 2009

“We spent a lot of 2008 catching up with a lot of the popularity of Twitter, the unexpected popularity--getting there technically so that we were stable, and along comes this massive attack. You know, we learned. We worked behind the scenes with folks from Google and other companies to figure out how to stop the attacks and how to better deal with them in the future.”READ»

BLOGS | Comment

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

BY Lena L. WestWed Jul 15, 2009

Debate is a healthy part of life. It's an understatement to say that people won't always agree. And, as I've mentioned in a previous blog post, my interest is always piqued by companies and organizations that use social media tools in innovative ways. Which is why, when I read about OurBlook.com, I was intrigued...READ»

TWITTER TV | Comment

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

BY Kit EatonWed Jul 15, 2009

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 ...READ»

CAMBRIDGE WHO | Comment

Customizing Your Cambridge Connect Profile Page

BY Cambridge Who's WhoMon Apr 20, 2009

Now that you can navigate through Cambridge Who’s Who Connect, personalize your profile page to make the most of this valuable resource.READ»

BLOGS | Comment

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

BY Lena L. WestWed Apr 15, 2009

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. Which is why, a few weeks ago...READ»

HDTV | Comment

Samsung's New HDTVs Are Model Skinny and Widget Powered

BY Kit EatonFri Mar 27, 2009

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 ...READ»

METRIC | Comment

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

BY Sara D. AndersonMon Mar 23, 2009

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. We’ve all seen a ...READ»

ONLINE COMMUNITIES | Comment

Real-Time Communications Means Real Talk

BY Lena L. WestThu Jan 15, 2009

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 ...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

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

BY Lena L. WestThu Dec 18, 2008

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 ...READ»

BLOGS | Comment

Much Ado About Convergence

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 13, 2008

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. READ»

LENA WEST | Comment

Consider the Source

BY Lena L. WestThu Nov 6, 2008

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 ...READ»