Curated Stories June 2, 2010

Now that it’s a possibility, allowing consumers to purchase goods directly through social media seems like a no brainer for retailers. But it doesn’t come free of cost.
As a new study from Omniture shows, mark…

Confession time: I have a really hard time getting started. There’s just something about those awkward first steps that makes me delay projects as long as I possibly can. For example, last month I finally f…

Is SEO Copywriting Just Good Copywriting?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing podcast with Brian Clark (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes
My gue…

Like the hot, dense state that characterized the Big Bang, the evolution of online branding has been fueled by its own explosion of transformational technology
MediaPost Publications, June 2, 2010 — I rece…

ATT’s cynical act via BuzzMachine: Again, Jarvis nails it.

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007.The far-reaching Gulf oil spill tragedy has left many people feeling powe…

Good summary

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Video excerpts of last night’s D8 interview with Steve Jobs have been trickling out at a steady pace. (An unofficial transcript from John Paczkowski is here.) A number of the excerpts are worth watching, i…

Plymouth, Michigan – Creating, developing and selling iPhone apps is one of the hottest entrepreneurial opportunities out there. By the latest count, there are 200,000 iPhone applications alone available for…

A little intellectual gymnastics – with possible real-world application to the commercial freelancing business….
So, I was clicking through a few links I found on a writer friend’s web site the other day,…

This series is supported by Bantam Live, a web-based collaboration workspace with “Social CRM” for small business teams. For more information visit BantamLive.com.A recent study conducted by the Universit…

Foursquare is one of those things people either love or hate, usually quite vocally either way.
Many people not playing the game get annoyed at the constant Twitter updates from Foursquare-playing friends, but…

Marshall McLuhan’s concept of “the medium is the message” hinted that the way you communicate is as much a message as what you’re saying or typing. And with that said, everyone knows a few people tha…

The EVO 4G is a great phone with the notable drawback of its short battery life. But apparently a lot of you don’t care judging by the comments on my full review. Fine by me. Even though it doesn’t have the bat…

There’s a whole bunch that’s new and improved with Scribe – our content optimization service that makes SEO copywriting simple. Plus, we’ve got a fantastic promotion that’s coming quickly to an end….

The story of how a 24-year-old named Nat Turner sold his startup to Google for $70 million starts three years ago at the University of Pennsylvania.
Back then, Nat and his friend Zach Weinberg, sophomores, were…

AdMob, the mobile advertising platform that was acquired by Google, just launched a new software development kit (SDK) for the iPad that will make it easier for developers to integrate AdMob/Google ads into the…

It is inevitable. Just as the sun rises every morning we find those little corners of the web that we like to call our own slowly becoming infested with the lowest of the low. Yes, I am talking about those irr…

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The serie…

We’ve shown you how to make your own Moleskine notebook, as well as suggested flat pens to keep it all together. If you’d like something a bit prettier, here’s…

Most of us pick up pencils and lose them without giving it a second thought. Pencils are a bit more interesting than you might, think, though. Here are a few not-so-frequently asked questions about everyone�…

The Google Reader team just added the ability to rename folders and tags in their popular newsreader. Unlike before, folders and tags can now be renamed easily…

They’re often no bigger than a small sentence, a phrase or even a single word.
But they have the power to stop forms being abandoned and visitors leaving; they can even improve what people…

That’s right…it’s called Smokescreen. In the future, everything will be rewritten into Javascript. (via df) Tags: Flash Javascript

One of the challenges with social media is simply keeping up with the latest changes, additions and disappearances. It seems that just when you are feeling a level of comfort with one tool, along comes another…

…you just have to rethink what “search” really means. Last night Jobs said he had no interest in search. I am quite certain what he meant is he has no interest in HTML, “traditional” search. But think about w…

Despite all the criticism that Mark Zuckerberg has taken for his actions in the past, there is one thing that nobody can contest: Zuckerberg is an extremely shrewd business person. He often thinks in terms of…

Ever think that Google’s homepage was just a little too sparse? If all of that white space bothers you, your prayers have been answered: Now you can customize your background on Google.com.You can now choose…

Steve Jobs, unfiltered, seems to be the most attractive interview in the tech world, bar none. That’s why his opening up at AllThingsD last night continues to make waves in the tech news world, as his every wor…

Facebook has a new chief technology officer, Bret Taylor. The FriendFeed co-founder and initial product manager of Google Maps came to Facebook with the $50 million acquisition of FriendFeed last year. He to…

A new web and iPhone app [iTunes link] called PHILO makes watching TV interactive by having users “tune in” to TV programs as if they were checking in to venues on Foursquare or Gowalla, then discuss show…

The “Voice of the Customer” series is supported by Toyota.

As we’ve written before, listening to your customers can revolutionize your business.
Easy enough to grasp. But how do you actually get st…

This is a Guest Post by Dee Barizo, a loyal SEJ reader who sent this in and is very relevant to something I preach in terms of influence and linking, becoming an expert in your field. Enjoy.
I think one of the…

When it comes to tech news, Steve Jobs “is all over it,” to use the phrase the Apple CEO employed in an e-mail explaining his company’s investigation of suicides at the Chinese factory making iPhones. Ye…

Just because AdMob is now officially a part of Google doesn’t mean the company isn’t planning big things for Apple’s iPad. AdMob announced today that it is expanding its iPhone OS SDK to support iPad nat…

You can sum up the most frustrating thing about being an Apple customer in three little words: “Connect to iTunes.” More »

Apple – IPad – Ma…

Verizon Wireless has begun testing iPads with a view to supporting them on its service, even as ATT bins its previous unlimited iPad data deal in favor or a new capped deal.Boy Genius Report claims, “Accordi…

A young woman discovers in college that she is driven by a burning desire to succeed. She starts a business, struggles, goes through some lean years.
Eventually her hard work begins to pay off. She has a good…

In Steve Jobs’ wide ranging interview at the D8 conference last night, he tossed out a few whoppers that we just couldn’t let go.See Also:Blind Spots: Here’s What The Biggest Tech Companies Suck AtSteve Jobs At…

Despite the fact that most Facebook applications have had a tough couple months, there are still a few shining stars on the Facebook Platform. While most of those “shining stars” happen to have larger mark…

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important sources of traffic nowadays, and absolutely all web masters and site owners employ a few tactics to gain better positions on Google Search and other se…

The e-book pricing wars are heating up with Barnes Noble throwing in a $50 gift card with its Nook eBook Reader.

PC World – Who’s got the safest operating system? Apple, Google, Microsoft? According to one security expert, what really matters is who’s using the OS.

In his interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the D8 conference (transcribed by All Things Digital and Engadget), Steve Jobs raised the hopes of media executives everywhere — including, no doubt,…

Courtesy ЕленАндреа on Flickr

When you’ve got a steady flow of freelance work coming in the door, one of the biggest temptations is to take your foot off the gas pedal and stop…

John Battelle’s Searchblog has an interesting post up about whether or not the iPad can be categorized as a disappointment. He begins with a mea culpa; while he predicted earlier this year that the iPad would m…

With ATTs announcement today that it is rolling out new data plans next week for the iPhone and other smart phones, many customers have been thinking about which data plan is right for them in light of the new…

If you’re an amateur photographer, if you like to watch videos on your Mac, or even if you’re a gamer, you should consider calibrating your display. You can use OS X’s built-in calibration tools, or an external…

Last Wednesday, Disney quietly began promoting a new social ticket sales application through the company’s Toy Story page. The application prompts you to invite your friends to the movies when you purchase y…

This is completely off topic…. but then again it’s not….
An hour ago I just launched a new eBook on my photography blog – it’s called Transcending Travel and is a guide to Travel Photography.
Every t…

The AP Stylebook caused a bit of an uproar back in April when they announced, via Twitter:
Responding to reader input, we are changing Web site to website. This appears on Stylebook Online today and in the 20…

Video: Jason talks about marketing at Forbes.com
Topics include social media, how much to share, saying no, and more.

Interesting use of Facebook – Toy Story 3 lets you pre-order tickets – http://bit.ly/csMqCn (via @mashable)

Smart – An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Influence Persuasion – http://bit.ly/cduz1E (via @SEOmoz)

Noa Gafni is a social media consultant with a focus on women and Gen Y. She authors Webutantes, a blog about Internet trends impacting women.Location-based services (LBS) on mobile phones are engaging a growin…

In the past few weeks Facebook has been publicly criticized over privacy policies; however, when Google invades people’s privacy, the offenses don’t receive the same level of scrutiny or public outrage.
Un…

Nielsen, the ratings and measurement company, has just announced the sale of something it is calling its App Playbook, built after surveying over 4,200 people who had downloaded a mobile application in the prec…

As long-time readers know, I often rant against social media marketers who focus too much on the tools and technologies (especially when those tools or technologies might be commonly believed to be the “next…

BuzzMedia has continued its shopping spree this year with the acquisition of three new content sites.
Among the acquisitions were two blogs: “urban lifestyle” blog Concrete Loop and music blog Gorilla vs B…

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second, that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can’t think of what…

Being a CEO of a company is, as one CEO recently told me with a certain amount of exasperation and exhaustion, “a 24-hour-a-day, 7 days-a-week job.” It’s all-consuming, all-encompassing, and in many ways when i…

…and I mean that. Watching Jobs work his way through nearly 90 minutes of interview and audience questions, I really felt, for the first time, a sense of how strongly the guy feels for his work and his produc…

There have been complaints now and again about this concept of “page view journalism” — the idea that in this digital era, reporters will only take on stories that will drive lots of page views. Tom Foremski…

Great web dev chrome extensions: res test, xml tree, jscript tester etc – http://bit.ly/dlNImO (via @konigi)

Part of Foursquare’s appeal is the mystery, the sense of flying blind when you’re trying to earn a badge or mayorship. No one really knows how many times you must check into a location to become mayor.Well…

The recent uptick in content site acquisition continues with the acquisition of sports gossip blog The Big Lead by the Fantasy Sports Ventures for “low seven figures.”
The Big Lead pitches itself as a more…

Guest post by Ben Johnson
When internet became popular, we heard people made millions online. When social media become popular, we heard it’s a new way of meeting people, establishing your cr…

At some point or another every kid has dreamt of living in something like the Swiss Family Robinson’s tree house; even fictional children like Bart Simpson. I think I could have settled for going to school th…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is introducing a collection of community data sets today in an event at the National Academy of Sciences (webcast).

According to the HHS, the program is “a publ…

In my previous few articles, I’ve explored the potential impact of sensors on the Internet. Soon there will be a trillion sensors connected to the Web, which will result in an explosion of online data. How will…

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a lot of interesting things to say tonight at the D8 Conference. But to me, one of the most interesting topics he talked about was only brought up by a question from the audience: Apple…

With Rupert Murdoch’s The Times of London going behind a paywall, we’re already seeing some of their writers bailing out. A bunch of folks sent over the news that the writer of the Times’ legal blog, Tim Kevan…

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the sixth question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This one is related to something very near and dear to me.

Photo courtes…

If you’re starting out as an entrepreneur or a freelancer or a project manager, the most important choice you’ll make is: what to do? As in the answer to the question, “what do you do?”Some questions to help yo…

I love reading books about advertising.
I read one about the famous and super-smart ad man David Ogilvy.
Sitting in a presentation, he noticed the presenter had taped notes on the back of each board to remind…

In Michigan where unemployment is nearly 15%, auto workers and executives alike continue to lose their jobs and homes every day. They are our family, friends and neighbors. As business professors at Kettering U…

Why can some companies take advantage of any change the market brings (Apple), while others struggle with the even the smallest internal or market-necessitated modification (GM)? Chances are your company has su…

As we saw with our look at the top WordPress, Blogger and Typepad blogs recently, my friends at Postrank have been busy crunching some numbers. Their engagement comparison tool allows you to com…

I’ve already explained my rationale why you should embrace the use and reuse of your content – authorized or not. There are benefits here on multiple fronts, especially since it’s something you’re not…

Fresh off an announcement of a strategic investment from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, mobile payments platform Boku is taking its mobile strategy one step further by launching an in-app mobile billing library…

New Yorker editor David Remnick on charging for online content: I was going to be damned if I was going to train 18-year-olds, 20-year-olds, 25-year-olds, that this is like water that comes out of the sink. —…

One of the most frequent questions I am asked as a public relations practitioner and as someone who talks frequently with entrepreneurs and small business owners is: “Why should a start-up like mine use PR?…

The AP Stylebook has released its new social media guidelines, including the official change from “Web site” to “website” (a move first reported back in April) and 41 other definitions, use cases and r…

Yesterday at the D8 conference in Los Angeles, Steve Jobs laid out his vision of what’s to come. While Apple’s CEO went in-depth on a plethora of interesting subjects (e.g. Adobe Flash, the lost iPhone, i…

Your blog is not your job (unless it is). Twitter is not your job (unless someone’s paying you to tweet). Facebook isn’t your job.
These are just communications tools. We use them. We use them to make medi…

I had lunch yesterday with a friend I hadn’t seen in 13 years. It’s amazing how, with some people, you can just pick up where you left off. I am glad we’ve reconnected and look forward to…

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Exclusive: Google Buys Invite Media — Google has indeed bought ad technology start-up Invite Media, Ive confirmed with multiple sources. — As I wrote last month, Invite is…

Apple chief Steve Jobs during his time at the D8 conference claimed that ATT was making a more substantial upgrade to its 3G network in the near term. He answered during the QA portion that things should get b…

Although I couldn’t be there in person, I was hanging on every refresh of the liveblogs from Steve Jobs’ interview tonight at the D8 conference. (Kudos to Engadget and AllThingsD for the coverage!) If you h…

It’s easy to make a claim that ATT is effectively cutting the quality of its 3G service, but that’s the gist of what it announced last night via a press release. The timing of this release is odd as it co…

News Corp, chief Rupert Murdoch is at D:All Things Digital this week, and took a moment during his opening presentation to give us a run-down on his attempt to make cash out of the iPad app gold rush.The boss…

Reports that ATT is to end its unlimited data plan for iPhone users are true — but existing customers won’t be affected, the giant US network rushed to let customers know today.Writing on its Facebook page,…

Steve Jobs yesterday appeared onstage at the D8: All Things Digital conference, hosted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Jobs talked about Apple’s rivalry with other companies, Flash on the iPad, the infamou…

A lot of people think personal branding is only useful for celebrities. But anyone can benefit from it to articulate their strengths, differentiate their unique value and leave a lasting impres…

When you’re trying to sell an idea, you have as easy time of it, it seems, compared to trying to get it done. Why is that? Probably because you have way more ideas than you can ever hope to get done, and com…

Theres a very important line at the beginning of the movie The Godfather II.

Just after Michael Corleone, The Godfather (played by Al Pacino) gets shot at, he sits down his brother Tom Hagan and talks abo…

Why do so many companies struggle with Digital Marketing, the Internet and the mobile platform?

If this Blog has done anything over the years, it has grappled with the question above. At a macro level… at a…

Picture taken from a desert safari in Dubai
We’ve talked about a lot of topics around the Social CRM and Enterprise 2.0 space and I think it’s about time we get a bit deeper into both of these areas and exp…

Given that hundreds upon millions of consumers are using social media
to connect, communicate and consume online, it’s no surprise that B2C
businesses, including many of the world’s top consumer brands, have
tu…

A rough guide to engaging social media Letting go of old media baggage is key to understanding and embracing social media. So says self-confessed. …

There is a lot of talk about getting your B2B company ready for social media, but once you understand and make the internal changes, make sure you look at your logo to see if it is ready for social media. This…

In Engage!, I review the important catalysts and methodologies defining the new era of Social CRM or sCRM. In the discussion, I also introduce the idea of SRM (social relationship management), a new concept th…

“The State of Mobile Apps” via Nielsen: There’s an app for that” is Apple’s catch phrase to promote the literally thousands of applications that can be downloaded to an iPhone. Whether you want to check t…

Producing relevant content is important for site optimisation, both for pure SEO benefit and to improve the user experience and drive conversion.
This post looks at how you can make the most of four types of we…

This post is part 2 on Social Media Marketing Best Practices from IMS Minneapolis. The first post featured Brad Smith from Best Buy who offered insights into their social media principles, guidelines and lear…

Many years ago, I lived next door to a guy named Wayne. Wayne had a pool. It was his pride and joy.
Trouble was, Wayne’s pool leaked. Slowly and persistently. We knew where the water was going, because the ar…

ElectricSteve writes “Most of the world’s beer has between 4% and 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). The strength of beer achieved by traditional fermentation brewing methods has limits, but a well-crafted beer that i…

The chief technology office of Health and Human Services, Todd Park, is fond of using the National Ocean and Oceanographic Association (NOAA) as a metaphor for the innovation that may be unlocked through releas…

We’ve all heard it: according to Hal Varian, statistics is the next sexy job. Five years ago, in What is Web 2.0, Tim O’Reilly said that “data is the next Intel Inside.” But what does that statement mean? Why…

With a new iPhone expected in a week, is ATT getting more aggressive with its data usage rates?

This spring, we’re seeing green shoots sprouting in the economy as well as in the ground. Customers are starting to buy and companies are beginning to think about growth instead of retrenchment. While we’re n…

Is the elevator pitch extinct? New York City VC Mark Peter Davis says it is. Writing on the Business Insider, Davis says that the scenario very rarely occurs when an entrepreneur has to deliver a blazing fast o…

I attended an inspiring forum recently, sponsored by Deloitte and the Insight Exchange and facilitated by Ross Dawson of Advanced Human Strategies on the Topic
“Getting Results From Crowdsourcing”.
It was…

The obvious, which is not so obvious, and the simple, which is not so simple.The Practical Cogitator, 1959TOKYO—Targeting Japan’s growing elderly population, General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immel…

Michael Leddy of Orange Crate Art came across this press release about a dolphin named Merlin who uses an iPad.

Last week, a young bottlenose dolphin named Merlin became the first of his species to join the gr…

Good list of techniques to ensure valuable business blog content – http://bit.ly/cNe114 (via @hubspot)

6 free powerful #socialmedia search engines – listening tools – http://bit.ly/9CbfTS (via @makeuseof)

Smart thinking around the adams theory of content value the future of paid content – http://bit.ly/cjb426

Good resource: Complete Beginner’s Guide to Design Research via UX Booth http://bit.ly/9IFfJf (via @ctomlin) #UX

Nielsen has released a new mobile application report and its findings showcase not only the increase in smartphone usage, but also what applications are most popular. For its report, Nielsen surveyed more than…

Image via Wikipedia

It seems that someone finally tapped the nest of mommybloggers and pointed them to my post last week. Ladies, hello! It seems, with all the comments I’ve buzzed up, I need to make a…

Think of any SEO task you need to do – SEJ Tools will take care of it. Today’s feature overview tackles competitor research as an example:
Identify Your Competitors
Research Assistant (powered by SEMRush)…

The Pulse News Reader, created by a pair of Stanford students, is the top paid app for the iPad.

While some of the gaming elements of Foursquare have dried up (point leaderboards), mayorships continue to be a hot item. And now there are not one, but two sites that help you better track mayorships at local…

The following is also my column in this week’s AdvertisingAge. (Photo of Michael Arrington by Thomas Hawk)
Next month marks the fifth anniversary of TechCrunch and the ascent of one of the web’s first pow…

When you insert a new micro-SIM into iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, you need to connect iPad to a computer running iTunes to make sure it has the latest 3G carrier bundle software installed. Without it, iPad may not be able…

Apple’s commercial success is based on a core philosophical function: to create order…

Apple has long focused on providing the best user experiences in the world. The original Mac team labored over making the computer hide the complexity of the software underneath in order to become the “Comput…

The Gowalla iPad app is beautiful. The experience on the iPad is fluid and gorgeous and is a cool showcase for the devices capabilities. The biggest difference is the appearance of the icons on the map. It show…

For e-commerce via social media to work, “You’ve got to spend money on advertising to make people aware that [your fan page] exists,” says Larry Chiagouris, …

Online T-shirt vendor Threadless has partnered with an artists’ community called Society6 to offer visual artists a new opportunity to make some cash.Threadless will select a limited number of Society6 artwo…