Archive for January, 2008

I am a child of the 80’s. Play some New Order, Yes, or Van Halen and you’ve got my attention. And yes, I’ll even admit that I like the power ballads, especially from Journey. I mean, really, who didn’t grow up in the 80’s and slow dance to “Open Arms?” That song was standard homecoming and prom material. Well, couple my love of 80’s music and internet marketing and this has to be one of the best stories to come out of the age of YouTube. Hattip to ClassicVinylRecord.com The Story The Zoo was a rock band in the Philippines that liked to upload video of their performances to…

As a search engine addict, and a search engine marketer, I’ve been fascinated with the evolution of the search engine ever since I started marketing online, well over a decade ago. One search engine always attracts my attention, especially over the past two years, with great innovation and features. And no, it isn’t Google. It’s Ask.com. Multimedia is Content Ask got people talking early last year with its breakthrough 3-D interface. I was able to enjoy this interface to the fullest a few weeks ago when my child was doing a school report on Glenn Miller. From the Ask search results, we were able to listen to his recordings,…

There has been a proliferation of articles about using social media and how marketers see this as a vast new land of opportunity. Unfortunately, the majority of stories also feature how marketers fail miserably at establishing trust in these social media spaces, and most of that has to do with the attitude of the advertisers. Too many times, marketer’s feel as through social media has been created for their benefit, when in reality it is a group of people with similar interests who joined into a community. A community where marketers are free to participate, but not free to overtly sell, that isn’t part of the social contract. Users in…

Being intimately familiar with WebKinz World, I have been fascinated with the development of this network, mainly for the standpoint of the marketing. My familiarity? Our household is directly in the target market and I searched everywhere for a pink pony WebKinz for Christmas. In all of the hoopla that surrounds social media marketing, the virtual world of Webkinz has quietly slipped into being the fastest growing social network online. The reason why it’s been so quiet? The target audience is 7-12 year olds. Ask most parents, and they are probably familiar with the virtual pet phenomenon, at least they will be familiar with being asked to buy the Webkinz.…

This thought provoking article by Jennifer Laycock (Are Your Social Networking Connections Hurting YOUR Reputation?) brings to mind the saying of my grandmother’s: ” You are known by the company you keep.” While some may dispense with this as old-fashioned advice in the new socially-networked world. I find it to be true now more than ever. Privacy not invaded, but given away I’ve done many presentations to parents about social networking and what teens are doing online. Many are frightfully uninformed. The largest danger is the thinking that social profiles are private, when they are just the opposite. Public profiles, for teens and young adults, can be a vast repository of…