The Value of Social Media

What is the value of social media sites to business? “Social media provides a remarkable insight to brands – providing the flexibility to see changes in the marketplace, the nimbleness to adjust to trends and the relationship with consumers that fosters long term loyalty.” Read why it’s important for businesses need to get on board now and ride the waves to come…

http://biznik.com/articles/whats-after-facebook-and-twitter?utm_source=article_reviews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_review_87

Christmas Cards and Postcards for the Hip and Famous

http://www.zazzle.com/joyful_holiday_postcard-239082027909253405
http://www.zazzle.com/joyful_holiday_postcard-239082027909253405
Looking for something different to send as a Holiday Greeting Card?

Whether you’re a Biz or a human– take a look at this–

we think it’s “le dernier cri” in  Holiday and Christmas cards

and more like it at:

www.zazzle.com/modernartposters*

(based in Melbourne, Au; their stuff looks like it comes from NYC, strictly downtown; the best parts of downtown)

iSnack2.0? I say call it iSpreadIt2.0 - the viral spread. #vegefail

If I hear the word ‘viral’ again I may have to consciously go and contract a virus so that I may curl up and die. Ok, perhaps I’m being slightly melodramatic….

Everyone I speak to wants their video to ‘go viral’. Back in my day, you’d ask the cute girl’s best friend if she wanted to ‘go steady’ with you. Now the kid in the playground SMS’s their friend a message saying how much they like the cute girl. The kid knows full well that the ‘friend’ can’t keep a secret and has a ‘quick finger’ (aka a postmodern big mouth). The apparent friend then forwards the message to their friend and so on. Before you know it the kid is now ‘going viral’ with the cute girl. They never meet behind the school playground for a pash – how eek! They might contract a virus! Instead they link up on facebook and announce that they are now in a relationship with each other – and all without even saying a word to each other.

How the hell does the above anecdote relate to Kraft and their naming of the new Vegemite as iSnack2.0 you may well ask? Well, it doesn’t entirely……

(A quick note to those non-Australians reading this: Vegemite is the black tar spread that Aussies love to lather on their toast for breakfast. Most non-Australians tend to want to throw up or have other similar reactions to its taste. But for generation after generation, it has been a staple, so much so that everyone in Australia knows it happy little jingle, ‘We’re happy little Vegemites, as bright as bright can be, we all enjoy our Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea’)

So Kraft ran a competition to decide on the name of their new spread that basically combines Vegemite and cheese in the same jar. (Brilliant – why has anyone thought of this earlier? Nothing like a bit of processed cheese mixed in with Vegemite. I’m already drooling.) Out of some 40,000 entries they chose the new name iSnack2.0.

Within hours Twitter and the usual social media suspects were inundated with disgusted responses to the name. Some commentators claimed it was a conscious decision to get free publicity. Either way, I hate it too – the whole iPod name ripoff has gone waaay too far. It’s not even like the product is a snack – it’s a spread. That’s why I’m calling for it to be renamed iSpreadIt2.0 – it’s a spread, and it’s gone viral. Or more simply:

iSpreadIt2.0 – the world’s first viral spread.

In digital media, it’s always got to be ‘the world’s first’.

Which actually leads me to finally make a point – the apparent ‘viral’ phenomenon is nothing more than the overuse of a word. If you truly want something to go viral, follow a couple of simple rules:

1. Make great content.
2. Make content that people will react to – either in a positive or negative way. The key factor is to provoke a reaction. People share information when it provokes a strong emotional response in them.
3. Stop trying to make something viral. Make something great and then use the broad range of new tools such as social media and online video networks to spread your content.
4. Forget one-off gimmick videos: If you really want to create a message that will stay in people’s minds for longer than the one second it takes to click away from your content – start thinking about engaging episodic content.
5. Don’t limit yourself to one platform or type of medium – blogs, video, websites are all packages of information – try combining them to tell your message. Investigate other ideas such as ARG’s, games, microsites, augmented reality or a combination of all of them etc.
6. Don’t forget about the real world – the best way to make a long lasting message is to make content that reflects and engages people in the real world.

And who knows, you may well be the world’s next great online viral, sounds charming doesn’t it? And if all else fails, at least you’ll have made something you’re proud of.

Calling in reinforcements

Every once in a while, I go through a bit of a blogging slump.

There just doesn’t seem to be much going on, and I don’t feel I write well enough to turn the daily mundane into the readable love story to life that some bloggers are able to.

I stand in awe of writers like Stephanie with her simple elegance and DeeDee with her ability to turn a trip to church into a comedy routine.

And so, I turn for help.  For Christmas last year, Dave got me No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog.  The name alone made me laugh out loud. Because, seriously, I would never write a post about what I had for lunch.

That’s what Twitter is for!

The problem?  The majority of the ideas listed, while wonderful, would stand out like a sore thumb on my blog.  I have used a couple of the ideas already (Only A Matter of Time & How Funky Is Your Chicken?) but the rest might seem like they are coming out of left field.

That’s why I thought I would write a preface post saying that, in the future, I will be using the ideas from this book.  I’ll even create a nifty category for them, too, and reference the page numbers and all.  Or something.

Consider yourself warned.

All Friends Together....

The new Meols Park Play Area was officially opened by the Mayor and Mayoress of Wirral, accompanied by the Mayor & Mayoress of Knowsley on 6th September 2009 during our Celebration Day.
The Liverpool Band China Crisis have been very supportive of our cause and were the ’surprise guests’ in the music marquee on the day.
“Eddie and Gary of China Crisis first met at St Kevin’s school in Kirkby, Liverpool, so it was fitting that the Mayor and Mayoress of Knowsley should attend.”

Continue Posting

I am back. It felt really good to take some days off with writing. For sure there are always things to tell, but in the state I am with all my projects, I still have to keep information in secret, because of strategic reasons. To permanently having in mind “what can I write and what can I not write yet” exhausted me a lot lately, because an important part of having fun in writing is just to let out whatever appears in mind – without thinking too much about it. Once it becomes too left brain oriented it takes a lot of time and becomes an effort – well, so far I am doing this blog mainly for fun – and as we all know, once fun becomes effort it just sucks. After this little break I am again on the fun side so I hope you continue stopping by to enjoy my articles.

During this writing break, I dedicated time to do some edits and changes on all my websites. Igi’s TV now has a new Banner (I took my face off :p) and also permanent links to general Ticketmaster categories; btw. this blog has as well (have a look at the right menu – Igi’s Ticket Connection). So far you can just purchase tickets in the U.S. but soon there will be ticket services also for all important countries in Europe.

Furthermore, I set up a bunch of new Twitter accounts. Besides the Twitter account that supports this blog (Twitter.com/IgiFischer) which I have already since a while, I also made an account just for Igi’s TV. Recently my focus is pretty much on Ticket services (as a test for my main project), so I also set up TicketpalUS @ Twitter, even some more TicketPal domains (for various countries) – but so far only Ticketpal US is tweeting. There are even other accounts already in starting position, but they are dedicated to further projects – well, I let you know once these projects become recent. All in all, I think I currently have about 10 Twitter accounts.

Well, so far these were the most important news regarding my internal affairs. From today on, I will continue posting Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Well, see you then in two days

Find similar articles at Igi’s Internal Affairs

Wird Twitter am Wahlsonntag abgeschaltet? Und Störhaftung?

Twitter soll angeblich am Wahltag (27.Sept) um 15  Uhr abgeschaltet werden.

Kann das sein? Gibt es da nicht gesetzliche Probleme?

Beim Twittern bekam ich einen Tip
@ http://twitter.com/loui09)
Nach Störhaftung googlen.

Damit habe ich begonnen, das beste Ergebnis ist bisher Folgende:

Das Amtsgericht München entschied im Juni 2008: Ein Blog-Betreiber müsse die Kommentare der Nutzer nicht prüfen, bevor er diese einstellt (Az.:142 C 6791/08). Er komme seiner Sorgfaltspflicht nach, wenn er diese regelmäßig und effektiv überprüfe. Zu einer Vorabzensur aller Beiträge sei er nicht verpflichtet. Andernfalls würde das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung in unangemessener Weise eingeschränkt.

http://internet.magnus.de/recht/artikel/aktuelle-urteile-zur-stoerhaftung.2.html

Außerdem ein Hinweis in folgendem Abschnitt:

Das Europäische Parlament diskutierte über Regeln für Blogs und verabschiedete im September 2008 eine Resolution zu Weblogs. Darin betonten die Europaabgeordneten: Blogger tragen erheblich zur Meinungsvielfalt bei. Sie riefen auf, diese Medienpluralität zu sichern. Statt neuer Gesetze sollten Redaktionsstatute dafür sorgen, dass sich Blogger an die existierenden Regeln des Presse- und Medienrechtes halten.

http://internet.magnus.de/recht/artikel/aktuelle-urteile-zur-stoerhaftung.3.html

Für diese Information Danke an http://internet.magnus.de/

Wer kann mir zum Verstädnis weiterhelfen oder weiß mehr über den geplanten shutdown von Twitter???

ich verwende den Hash Tag #störhaftung

Two for one

There is a duality involved in being me.
Two lives lived at once by the one and same person.That is a constant for me and now, I’ve possibly made it the same for Vargar. Like some kind of stupid, irreversible, two for one deal.

I don’t mean like all those freaks on twitter. I mean, there’s a constant struggle of being me, and who I am to those around me.

I’m supposed to be the golden child of the family. The caring one. But I haven’t spoken to my father, the Alpha, about Vargr. I don’t know how to and now, it seems worse because time has elapsed. So not very golden of me.

I’m supposed to be a responsible Breukelen pack wolf. But my actions could be considered the opposite of that.

Perhaps there is a duality in all of us really. I mean, I know people who would say they are a different type of person when in their work environment, then when at home. It’s what’s required of them. It’s just how it is.

But for me it’s a little more involved than that. For a few days each month, I’m asked, to accept, major differences in me. Differences that are driven by a powerful force within me, that doesn’t want to listen or adhere to the human side of me.

This is the thought that runs through my head as I gear up for another lunar week, fast approaching and I find myself in the company and bed of my pack partner Conall Wakely, again, on most nights. With my mind wondering occasionally to a boy called Paris and the mugger Vargar who I bit.

There is a security in knowing who you are.
There is an unshakable certainty if you have the self-belief and the knowledge to accept all there is about you.

I grew up a werewolf. I always knew I was a werewolf. My loving parents explained it to me as soon as I could speak. So it got ingrained me, and I grew up knowing with certainty that this is what I am. So when my first shift took place, I understood why it was happening to me.

But what I am, does it make me who I am? I think that’s debatable, after all, Vargr mugged me. Is a criminal, a mugger but that doesn’t help me figure out any less who he is, his name or who he is as a person.

I have nothing to go on, other than he was in my neighborhood and he didn’t know I was a werewolf. Otherwise, I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t have picked on me. Still, maybe he thought he’d risk it. No, I’m pretty sure he’s just a criminal who saw a prize catch in the chance to rip me off.

It’s not like the police record would necessarily have him on file either. I mean mugging, seems petty and small time doesn’t it? Doesn’t mean he’s been caught before.

So that’s all I have to go on. I mean, it was dark, and I didn’t get a good look at him and there was nothing distinguishing about him. I remember the direction he ran off in. But there’s nothing around there to indicate where he would have gone or why. I have no trail on Vargr’s where-abouts, no clue as to who he is.

So how can I prepare him for who he might become, or more correctly, what – a Lycan.

The upcoming lunar cycle, will bring about the first lot of symptoms in his body, if I infected him with my bite. From what information I can gather, it takes roughly two lunar cycles before a shift will kick in for a Lycan. Before they go full moon furry.

Being born a werewolf, it’s a little different. The body has to adjust to grow into it’s form, so shape shifting usually hits us around puberty. Like getting through puberty itself isn’t enough to deal with and high school on top of all that…Sheesh.

So Vargar can expect to feel all manner of odd next week. But that still doesn’t help me find out where he is, or who he is. I mean, it’s unlikely this guy would go to a hospital to check himself out and if he did, well let’s just say it’d be a bad move.

Werewolves don’t really need healthcare most of the time, but when we do require medical treatment, we don’t just go to normal hospitals or clinics for obvious reasons.

Besides, the symptoms that Vargr is likely to experience, which will feel quite extreme in itself, wouldn’t be something he alone couldn’t get through, if he knew how to remain calm and not fight them.

If he knew what to expect, and had someone with him, to help his transition.

Which would be my responsibility to do if I was going to be responsible Breukelen werewolf and try and make things as right as can be, considering what’s happened already.

Estate agents, what's your social networking policy?

Estate agents need to consider their social networking policy

Many estate agents around the UK will have to, at one point or another, decide their social networking policy to determine whether they want their staff to have full access to social networking, limited access or no access at all. Should estate agents (knowing that their business is a social one) allow their workforce full access so to unlimited usage of Facebook and Twitter or should estate agents run a dictatorship where social networking is banned to out of office hours?

Businesses are currently split on the issue.

Some estate agents see social networking as a distraction from work where people whittle away countless hours and it offers no leads whatsoever. The extreme view believes that social networking is a teenage fad that is alien world to them, phrases such as ‘tagging’ or ‘tweets’ will never be used in the workplace.

The estate agents on the fence allow their staff members limited access to social networking. Many of estate agents in this category choose to only allow employees access to social networking between 1pm and 2pm or in their lunch break. These estate agents see social networking as something that they shouldn’t ban but it’s still a disturbance to their work and it still doesn’t provide any leads.

Lastly, some estate agents embrace social networking with open arms and open internet browsers. They see that social networking will benefit their estate agency in three ways. It raises staff morale, bonds staff members closer by giving them an extra platform on which to socialise and communicate, and it provides leads by having an increased online presence.

What it boils down to is… trust in people. Estate agents need to clearly think about how much they trust people to have the option of procrastination but still choose to work. Do you think they’ll use social networking as a platform in which to create more and more business by networking online or will staff members use the time so that it is counterproductive to the business? Let Resource Techniques know your views, contact us on our Facebook profile or Twitter profile!

Resource Techniques is a company that specialises in IT services for estate agents and property professionals. We provide the latest website design for estate agents, estate agent software and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services. Do not accept any website designer, demand an industry specialist!

The Beat Goes On

Today, we celebrate the imminent launch of the greatest new method for building your Twitter following.

Yesterday, I covered the controversial suspension of many Twitter accounts promoting a method of growing your twitter followers.  In the aftermath, it was discovered that Twitter was acting in response to a spiteful blogger whom launched complaints against the Twitter Rocket name infringing on copyrights.  As for the product and the team who designed it, they handled the matter with the greatest aplomb.

Product designer Ashley Morgan acted quickly and coolly to turn the situation to the favor of those using and promoting the method.  He has announced the launch of the new method which will focus on the strengths of the old method while removing its weaknesses.  This has me particularly excited since I recently began promoting the product which is the only legitimate method I have been able to find on the net.  Now I can offer not only the greatest method of growing your Twitter following, but a heavily revised, superior version.

Be sure to get in today so you can launch your following as soon as the new product officially launches on 28 September 2009!  I’ll be there with you!

Data Mining for Dummies - The Twitter Version

Advertising Age had an interesting article a couple of days ago in which smarter than most Simon Dumenco takes on Twitter’s new terms of service. We all recognize the big brotherness of the medium, or the exposure in exposing yourself through micro blogging and tweet for alls, but for whatever reason people have been mostly benign about the incredibly intrusive new TOS as defined, double-talked and redefined by Twitter founder Biz Stone.

Image by surfstyle via Flickr

There was a general hue and cry and threat to boycott Facebook earlier this year when they changed their TOS to include the fact that they basically owned your content, comments and images.  So loud was the backlash that they eventually relented and changed it back.  Yet everyone seems vaguely lulled into accepting Twitter’s ownership of what you say and what you do.

You shouldn’t be that calm – here’s why.  While Facebook had some smarmy schemes for trying to use your images or to drive revenue through advertising, Twitter’s new TOS is a lot more subversive, if not dangerous to your privacy.  The long range potential for you to get screwed out of your ideas or semi-private information should make you even more hesitant to post anything sensitive, timely or proprietary on Twitter- unless you’ve already staked a claim to it.

Crowdsourcing, or the notion of seeking wisdom from the masses is a concept that is at the epicenter of emerging ideas, technology and data mining.  Twitter is likely uninterested in what you ate for breakfast, or the fact that you think Kanye West is an ass driven by the need for publicity.  What interests them more are your ideas, concepts and thoughts on technology, pharma and politics, which are endlessly marketable and potentially monetized (apologies for marketing speak here).  Did you really think the service was free or without a visible business plan because people are in the habit of investing tens of millions of dollars so that you can kill time at work?

I’m not suggesting that you stop using the service, but in addition to thinking twice before posting links to pictures of you gone wild, I would suggest that you think long and hard before revealing anything that could potentially sabotage your chances of generating income, while increasing the coffers and brain trust of companies like Twitter.

Rachel, who believes firmly in sharing- but never ever giving away the farm

Like what you’ve read? Need a marketing, pop culture column, fun speaker or snappy sound bite? write to me at rachelblogs@gmail.com

Social Media and the Courts: CTC2009

Keynote speaker, Ari Shapiro, NPR Justice Correspondent, did a great job making the case for the use of social media like Twitter, blogs and Facebook by the courts.  You can hear for yourself how (Twitter to announce new court opinions) and why (public interest and transparency) courts should make use of these new technologies.  The video replay is already available on the CTC 2009 Blog through the NCSC CTC Conference Video Streams.

The program, The Role of Social Networking Tools for the Courts, continued the social networking topic.  The speakers, both from LexisNexis, Christine O’Clock and Travis Olson, started with the basics by defining and describing three of these new technologies, blogs, Twitter and Facebook.  But first they dealt with the why.  They cited a number of reasons: people trust the more personal word of mouth information, people are already talking about the court, awareness in order to avoid pitfalls, traditional media is being replaced by social media and engagement for the development of better relationships with the legal community and the public.

Blogs can bring new audiences for court information resulting in a better understanding of the courts by the public.  Blogs are not as static as a website and can be updated quickly and frequently and can put a more personal face on the court.  The Las Vegas Clark County blog was presented as good example of a court blog.

Twitter was described a great way to listen to the world around you.  It allows for the broadcast of real time announcements and can be used to drive awareness to other sites and tools.  They liked the way the Superior Court of Fulton County Georgia(@FultonCourtInfo) had announcements and real time information on Twitter that linked to the court blog and website.  A search for CTC tweets brought up the tweets of law librarian richards1000 who was recognized for his contributions in the legal Twitter sphere.

Facebook can present the courts perspective, discuss and listen.  New Jersey courts are on Facebook where they have links to news, photos from court events, announcements and links to Youtube videos.

The program concluded with a discussion of how social technology can be implemented for judges, court administration, PR offices and Clerks of Court.  All should make awareness and self education the first step.  It is a good practice to monitor the technolgies for discussions of court cases or issues.  Judges’ awareness allows the specific mention of the use of social media by jurors and witnesses and to develop media access policies.  In addition, court adminstration can develop internal staff use policies and create a strategic plan for outreach to increase court transparency using social media.  PR departments could add social media to the press release list.  The clerk’s office can post announcements, spotlight frequently asked questions or create a tour of the court’s work flow.

The best way to learn about these new technologies is to jump right in and sign up and see how it all works for yourself.

I'm a Beauty Killer

Muahahaha! I am amazing. Who else in the world can say that they have had no sleep thanks to Jeffree Star and Twitter? Maybe a few people, but I’m at least one of those few. Yes, I knew I had to get up at 6:30 this morning but I stayed up until around five trying to get #BeautyKiller as the number one trending topic on Twitter for the queen of the club scene, Jeffree Star.

It was fun as. And, although we didn’t reach number one, I still think us J* fans did a bloody amazing job for third place.

So yeah, I ended up getting no sleep at all and in bed all I could think of was other things that “Beauty Killer sounds like” – yeah, some of them were very, very wrong. Like, seriously, my brain is fucked; why would any sane person put a new born baby, a cat and a vibrator in one sentence? Luckily I didn’t end up tweeting that one.

Anyway, after I got “woken up” I got ready and pretty much left the house straight away. I was being a nice brother today and going with my sister to get her braces put on. Haha, so, yeah, I just wanted to see her suffer.. but yeah!

The drive to the city was so gross and busy and it was just so annoying being in the city at like, eight in the morning. My mum makes such annoying appointment times for us.

Oh, I organised for Alex to meet me there cause we’re cool (y)

After driving around for years we finally parked and then had to walk a billion anyway. That was shit. I was tired. Tired and walking up hills does not mix. Why are there so many hills in Melbourne?

First stop was getting x-rays. That was amusing cause the x-ray place was really creepy and I got to scare my sister. I wish mum was more fun though cause I came up with a brilliant plan to make my sister freak out. What I wanted to do was just start talking backwards after she got her x-rays. Hahaha, it’s such a funny idea even now!

I don’t know how I would have talked backwards though.. fluently, I mean.

Then we walked all the way again to the orthodontist place which happened to be right near The Regent Theatre. Walking there made me feel poor cause there was all these shops (Prada and Gucci and all that) and I really wanted to buy everything there but I doubt I could even afford to breathe in those shops.

Anyway, the orthodontist place was weird as. I’ve been there before obviously but I don’t think I realised how odd it is. There’s like, a fish tank and all this weird gospel type music and it really spaces you out. I don’t know if I was just tired but watching the fishies swim around and all that music made me want to just find some clouds and float away.

Ahh, even now that sounds bliss. Hahaha, Blisstonia!

But yeah, um, she got called in to put her braces on and I got bored so I went downstairs and “accidentally bumped into Alex who just so happened to be sitting, randomly, at the steps of The Regent.”

hahaha

I can’t remember much from then but I think we went for a bit of a walk and I think I was just going on and on and on and on and on about absolutely nothing at all. I’m such a spaz when I’m.. haha, I was just about to write “drunk.” Haha, I’m such a spaz when I’m tired. But yeeeah.

My sister got her braces on pretty quickly actually and it’s so amusing cause she’s got braces. I dunno. But we went and got lunch at McDonald’s and they have new boxes for their nuggets and they’re purple and lovely. That’s all I remember from then.

Did you know, I’m tired as?

Umm, after that, omg it was still so early by the way! But after that, we walked back to the car (and got lost, but I knew we were lost so it was just fun watching mum be all confused) and then drove to gross and scary Footscray for me to buy shoes. Me and mum left Alex and Deni in the car and we went and aww, the old lady that was there was so sweet and cute and fuck me, if I worked in a shoe shop I would want to die. Sooo boring.

I ended up getting two pairs of shoes.. I shall be returning sometime this week to pick up some other purple ones cause they ran out. Yay for purple!

Afterrrr that we went home and really, all I was doing was just doing random things waiting for the Wizards of Waverly Place Movie to start. Haha, oh, do you know how happy I was that Alex was there to watch it too?

But gosh! That movie was really good. It’s kinda weird though cause there was no laugh track so it was like, yeah, but I got over that pretty quickly. Oh, I just remembered that the Hannah Montana Movie also lacked a laugh track.. hm. OH! Why do all TV show movies end up really sad? Like, WOWP was totally sad and emotional and if I wasn’t so tired and I was alone I probably would have cried.

Great movie though. I can’t wait to get it for Christmas *hint hint*

Um.. yeah… then we watched a bit more Disney Channel.. oh yeah, we spent like, the whole afternoon watching Phineas and Ferb. It was great. I really like watching Disney with Alex for some reason.. hahaha.

But yes! After Alex went home I slept for about half an hour.. but it didn’t really do anything. I’m so tired and I feel like I’ve died! Yay!

All because of one pink-haired, fierce cunt.

So, I felt really boring last night and decided that I was over having all the things on my computer either black or gray or whatever, so, I’ve gone and fagged up everything and made it all pink!

Do you love that I’ve made everything pink and fun?

Sooooooooo yeah. Um. I have no thoughts. My head is just too tired to think and yeah. Forgive me.

Today I learned that, unless you wanna feel like death for the whole day, it’s probably better to get off the computer and go to bed.. I mean, it’s just a trending topic after all.

Aw, but he’s so cute and excited!

As you were.

Affordable Healthcare Word for the day.

seize |sēz|

verb

1 [ trans. ] take hold of suddenly and forcibly : she jumped up and seized his arm | she seized hold of the door handle.

• capture (a place) using force : army rebels seized an air force base.

• assume (power or control) by force : the current president seized power in a coup.

• (of the police or another authority) take possession of (something) by warrant or legal right; confiscate; impound : police have seized 726 lb of cocaine.

• take (an opportunity or initiative) eagerly and decisively : he seized his chance to attack as Delaney hesitated.

• (of a feeling or pain) affect (someone) suddenly or acutely : he was seized by the most dreadful fear.

• strongly appeal to or attract (the imagination or attention) : the story of the king’s escape seized the public imagination.

• formal understand (something) quickly or clearly : he always strains to seize the most somber truths.

2 [ intrans. ] (of a machine with moving parts or a moving part in a machine) become stuck or jammed : the engine seized up after only three weeks.

3 (also seise) ( be seized of) English Law be in legal possession of : the court is currently seized of custody applications.

• historical have or receive freehold possession of (property) : any person who is seized of land has a protected interest in that land.

• be aware or informed of : the judge was fully seized of the point.

4 archaic Nautical fasten or attach (someone or something) to something by binding with turns of rope.

PHRASES

seize the day make the most of the present moment. [ORIGIN: see carpe diem .]

PHRASAL VERBS

seize on/upon take eager advantage of (something); exploit for one’s own purposes : the government has eagerly seized on the evidence to deny any link between deprivation and crime.

DERIVATIVES

seizable |ˈsizəbəl| adjective

seizer |ˈsizər| noun

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French seizir ‘give seisin,’ from medieval Latin sacire, in the phrase ad proprium sacire ‘claim as one’s own,’ from a Germanic base meaning ‘procedure.’

If you are commited to afforddable healtcare, Just do the RED words.

Do these things, join in the transformation of health care in America

We can Make it SO!

very truly yours,

Babe T. Border colie

New Study Reveals: Content is King... Not Social Media!

A conversation I constantly have with my clients is how important unique great content is to  helping them ”Getting Found Online” so when the study by “Online Publishers Association” came across my screen recently, it was good to find more hard numbers to back up the evangelism. 

The study on online activity titled the “Internet Activity Index” released by  the Online Publishers Association shows the  trends of the types of activity that have ocurred on the Internet over the past 6 years. The study’s findings has important implications for online marketers and how they should be focusing their time, resources and strategies in 2009 and beyond.

The 5 Categories and the the types of sites that were measured were:

• Content (Sites like NYTimes.com, ESPN.com and Edmunds.com (Content sites)
• Communications (websites offering email, and Instant messaging)
• Community (Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn)
• Commerce (such as Ebay, Amazon)
• Search (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc) 

So what were 5 Key findings of the study?

1. Internet users continue to spend a majority of their “time” with Content sites, up from 34 percent of total time spent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2009, a 24 percent increase
2. Emergence of Community (it wasn’t measured in 2003 as it wasn’t statistically significant enough and not on the radar)
3. Content is still king; the content rich sites continue to be a place where consumers spend the majority of their online time and provide an environment for brand marketers to reach and engage with consumers despite the emergence of  community sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace
4. Community sites are reducing the share of online time by communications sites due to community sites ability to offer the same activities such as email and instant messaging more efficiently
5. Time spent with Search doubled 

 

When comparing how people used the Internet in 2003 with how they use the Internet today, the Online Publishers Assocation found a number of factors behind the changes, including monthly average time per person:

Change in “Time Spent” of Each Categories Internet Activity

Category 2003 Avg Time*
(hours: minutes)

2009 Avg Time (hours: minutes)

Change in Time Content 3:42 6:58 +88% Communications 5:20 4:54 -8% Commerce 2:07 2:40 +26% Community N/A 3:01 N/A Search 0:27 0:57 +111% *Note: 2003 average is May through December 2003, and 2009 average is January through May 2009.

Note: When we shift from Internet Activity Index’s time spent to the share of online time each category attracts over six years, we see significant changes as to how consumers spend their online time.

The 5 Categories Share of Time of Online Activity

Category

2003 Avg Share*

2009 YTD Share

Change in Share

Content                      34%

42%

+24%

Communications

46%

27%

-41%

Commerce

16%

13%

-19%

Community N/A

N/A

13%

N/A

Search

3%

5%

+67%

*Note: 2003 average is May through December 2003, and 2009 average is January through May 2009.

The share of time helps to provide further context. For example, Content consumption, as a share of online time, surpasses Communications as the leading way online audiences spend their time. Furthermore, although time spent with Search doubled, its share of time is very small and has only increased by two percentage points. Monthly time spent with Communications decreased by less than half an hour, but declined by 41 percent as a share of a consumer’s online time.

Note: The Online Publishing Associations Internet Activity Index is derived from a categorization of Web properties accounting for more than 90 percent, on average, of active Web users and approximately 55 percent of total usage time.

 So the top takeaway from this study for me is:

“Consumers Spend More Time Online with Content (+ 24% since 2003) than Community and Communications and its importance for getting found online should be given priority and with the emergence and growth of Social Media from nowhere 6 years ago and the continuing growth and importance of Search (+ 67% since 2003) pursuing an integrated approach to Online marketing involving all 3 elements of Content, Social Media and Search is vital and from this has emerged the New Rules of Marketing.. that your company ignores at its peril. “

“So if  content is King?  ”How Do You Best Optimize and Utilize Your Content for Social Media” .. and what are the “New Rules of Marketing” well that’s for another blog post. 

So have you already realised the importance of publishing great unique content for your website?… or are you still thinking about it, looking forward to hearing your stories.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2009 featuring all Def Jam Artists

The VH1 Def Jam Hip Hop Honors schedule of performers and honorees have been announced and it proves that all you really need is money to make the top list.

VH1 Def Jam Hip Hop Honors 2009

“The sixth annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors show will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Def Jam Records, as talents from across all artistic genres come together to celebrate this significant milestone in American hip-hop music. Eminem, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Ludacris, DMX, Mary J. Blige, Redman, The Roots, Method Man, ONYX, Public Enemy, Warren G, Kid Rock, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Brett Ratner, Trey Songz, Ja Rule, Gym Class Heroes, and Scarface are scheduled to show up and show out to celebrate the label that served a catalyst for this American musical phenomenon.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2009 will be taped from the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, New York. 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan returns as host for the 3rd year, as he will be joined many of hip-hop biggest luminaries. The VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2009 broadcast will premiere on VH1 on Tuesday, October 13 at 9PM ET/PT”

You can see the entire VH1 Hip Hop Honors lineup here. Take our poll today and let us know how you really feel!

View This Poll
polls

*SHOCKER* ELLEN DEGENERES NEW 4th JUDGE!!!

I cannot wait to hear the banter between her and Simon!

Here I am (09/09/09), standing in line at the Music Box in Hollywood for the David Cook concert (amazing btw!), I check my twitter and what do I see… Anoop Desai (follow him at @anoopdoggdesai) tweets

“Cool, looks like Ellen is the new fourth judge on American Idol”

*BTW: SOME of the fans that show up to David Cook are insane! SOO…with that said. I will post a seperate post about the concert experience*

None of the 40+ year olds in the line believed me when I said it. I can honestly say I didn’t believe it either. I mean Ellen has arguably the most successful daytime tv show on the planet. It’s widely admired and rarely dogged. So, there’s no WAY that she could take on another full time role on a rival network!

But it’s true! Ellen is the new permanent 4th judge on American Idol!

I think of all the possibilities:

1. She will put Simon in his place! Can you imagine her quick comebacks when he makes a snide (yet seemingly accurate comment)?

2. For once, articulated sentences on a full time basis! I love Paula. I really do. She has given me some good laughs in the past.

3. The way she would stare down certain male contestants (Season 4’s Constantine Maroulis, Season 5’s Ace Young, Corey Clark was much more than a stare down) as if she wanted to pounce them right then and there.

How does everyone feel about it? I had predicted Tommy Lee but I guess a legendary Comedienne will do!

Understanding the Search Process

Last week, my PR and New Media class discussed why and how understanding the search process is a relevant public relations skill.  Search matters to PR professionals and companies for several reasons.  To put this into a better perspective, I chose popular American airline Jet Blue to analyze in regards to their presence in digital space.  

Jet Blue’s home page is the first link to appear upon Googling the company.  A Wikipedia article, recent news result and a You Tube video appear on the same page of search results.  Their brand and web pages are search friendly.  A diverse array of links help paint a well-rounded picture of the company.  The company’s content helps to define their brand and present their services in an informative yet conversational tone.  This illustrates how Jet Blue’s professionals understand the search process.  On a tangent, Jet Blue currently has 1,243,035 followers, interacts with them on a regular basis, and offers full-on customer service. They are easily accessible and have a prominent place in the realm of social media.

To be relevant and findable on the Web, it’s important to utilize a lot of text and links.  It’s also important to distinguish on-the-page versus off-the-page elements when it comes to search process optimization.  On-the-page strategies include proper usage of titles, whereas off-the-page strategies focus on descriptions, alt-text, meta keywords and more.  In short, links allow instantaneous connectivity when it comes to good search results. Visibility is key to becoming relevant and directly accessible via the Web.

ALso, PR professionals need to know where and how to get more information when it comes to the search process.  The five ideas a professional needs to utilize in becoming more visible online are:

1. Research
2. Teamwork
3. Planning
4. Experimentation
5. Benevolence

Overall, the search process encompasses a variety of important skills while working in the digital space. PR professionals working for big and small companies alike need to remember to go where the people are while keeping their message interesting, informative, and easily attainable.  Jet Blue performs solidly in search and maintains an active stance in its social media outlets.

Follow Your Twitter News With Twitter TV

Twitter Times is a personalized newspaper generated from your Twitter account.  Think feedreader with a twist — the news presented is curated by your social circle.  The site looks at all the people you follow on Twitter and finds their tweets with links in them.  Unlike a feedreader where you only get a straight stream of stories, Twitter Times considers and ranks stories based on how many people have tweeted the same link, both in your personal social circle and outside your circle.  You get both a “What’s Hot” section with the new information and a “Top News History” section with the links that more people tweet.

According to Tech Crunch, Twitter Times is similar to Tweetmeme with its stream of news and TweetMixx with its use of your social graph, but potentially more compelling because of its newspaper-style visual layout.  It’s interesting to me that “tv” and “newspaper” are being used to describe a new idea.  Are we getting nostalgic for the “good ole days” already?

Tips and trik: banyak pengikut di twitter

Pengen khan?? punya banyak pengikut di twitter?? nie, ada cara yg SUPER DUPERR cepet tanpa ribet, untuk ngedapetin followers yg banyak. Saya sudah membuktikannya. Coba aja klik link ini: http://tweetergetter.com/Lovinaaisha . Udah dech. Nah, ini merupakan sistem bawahan dan atasan. Jadi, saya merupakan atasannya, maka anda bawahan saya. Kalau anda ingin jadi atasan dan mendapatkan bawahan, selalu copy-paste, link yg anda miliki (misalnya: http://tweetergetter.com/yanticute). Cara ini cepat dan tidak ribet. Ini asli tidak bohong. Selamat mencoba!!!

Three project ideas

I know that I want my project to be related to Mass Communication and journalism. It is something that I am very interested in.

I’ve been putting most of my time into making this a project on what journalism students can do to get a job out of college. It’s tough out there right now. Everybody knows that, and I’m not going to complain about the economy. However, I will show how getting on twitter, blogging and networking is beneficial. It is all about branding one’s self.

Then I started thinking about goals. For example, you might have told your mom growing up that you wanted to be a rock star. She most likely replied, “That’s great honey, but you’re going to need a backup plan.” It’s smart to have a backup plan, like going to college to get a business degree, but why can’t you still work on your dream at the same time? I want to do a project on individual goals and how students can still work on accomplishing them while in school.

After those ideas settled in, I decided on my last idea. I’m going to combine them. One of classmates suggested it, and I couldn’t agree more. The theme is going to be the “me” network. It will show how people need to brand themselves and not be afraid to follow their passions. All of this will hopefully help by the time it’s ready for graduation.

HomeFur-ever Animal Rescue Suffers Huge Loss from Robbery; Ability to Help Animals Currently Hindered!

You never think it can happen to you – unfortunately, HomeFur-ever Animal Rescue is proof that it can happen to anyone; even those who dedicate their lives to doing good works!  We were robbed!  Yes, you read that correctly.  HomeFur-ever Animal Rescue was victimized by thieves this week who stole our donated van and trailer and everything contained within.

On the postive side, they abandoned our vehicle and trailer after removing almost every single thing contained inside.  A city-contracted towing company retrieved it, and we were eventually notified by police that we could claim the vehicle.  We are hopeful that vehicle damages sustained in the theft will be covered by insurance – we sure could use that bit of luck!

Unfortunately, luck is not on our side when it comes to the contents of the vehicles.  All we were left with were a few small crates (unfortunately, most of our dogs are large).  So now we’re in a quandry – do we cancel our participation in Saturday’s adoption event because we have nothing with which to transport our animals safely, or do we appeal to the community to assist us short-term and then develop strategies to help us obtain donations to replace all our stolen items (which, by the way, was pretty much everything we own – we don’t have a building; that van and trailer serve as our permanent storage).

We’ve decided to appeal to the community for help and try to re-group as quickly as possible.  Our dogs need us to keep moving forward as quickly as we can!  They need new homes!  But in the meantime, they also need fed, medicated, groomed, etc.  So we’ve all jumped into action and all of our volunteers are making extra efforts to get the word out and help us get back on track.

We’re starting to see some results.  So far, we’ve had TV coverage on two stations in Detroit. Click HERE to view our coverage; we’ll keep adding to it if we obtain more so feel free to check back.   We also posted our News Release on Twitter and Facebook; it’s getting re-tweeted and shared ALOT, so we’re hoping that will start to generate some donation activity. (By the way, if you would like to join us on Twitter and Facebook, our sites are located at:  http://www.twitter.com/homefurever and http://profile.to/homefurever).  Our volunteer marketing firm, Strategic Growth Concepts, will also be placing information about our dilemma on LinkedIN.

We hope you’ll send good thoughts our way as we work to recover from this setback and keep moving forward to help our animals.  If you are motivated to make a contribution, you may do so by clicking HERE.

Edward Norton Blog se une a Twitter

He creado una cuenta en Twitter con el nombre del Blog, para así poder seguir el Twitter de Norton y manteneros siempre informados y de paso, darle a conocer un poquito más a él, ya que así podré publicar las noticias más importantes a través del Twitter. De paso a ver si hay suerte y Norton echa un ojito a sus seguidores y por lo menos ve que en España se le sigue y se le admira, jejeje. ¡De ilusión también se vive, qué pasa!

Lo dicho, que tenemos cuenta en Twitter, así es que si queréis seguirla para estar a la última, sólo tenéis que pinchar en la imagen.

CMC busca hogar

Las cosas de la vida se vuelven a repetir. Por razones que no vale la pena exponer, aunque no es nada malo, no seguiré en la casa donde he vivido los últimos 5 años. Y el detalle es que la fecha de salida es el 1 de Octubre, es decir en 2 semanas más.

Por lo tanto, algo que había pasado en Marzo cuando ocurrió lo mismo (me decían que tenía que irme y luego se arrepintieron), vuelve a ocurrir. Una vez más la incertidumbre de donde viviré en los próximos meses me tiene nervioso, aunque no tanto, ya que esto lo pasé antes y ahora me siento con ganas de hacer algo distinto.

Creo que puede ser el momento de jugármela, cambiar mis planes de corto plazo, dejar de soñar con viajes y cosas así y entrar al mundo laboral casi de inmediato y radicarme en Santiago. Puede ser una buena opción arrendar un departamento y vivir solo. Puede ser el momento de pegar un salto del que, casualmente hablaba en mi casa el otro día. Será que el momento ha llegado?.

Mientras tanto nace la campaña #cmcbuscahogar, así que todo aquel que tenga datos de piezas o departamentos de 1 dormitorio, dignos y en lugares relativamente centrales en Santiago me los haga llegar a mi correo, al twitter o a alguna cosa social. Gracias de antemano!

White House collects Web users’ data without notice

Audrey Hudson

The Washington Times

September 16, 2009

The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama’s promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the White House signaled that it would insist on open dealings with Internet users and, in fact, should feel obliged to disclose that it is collecting such information.

“The White House has not been adequately transparent, particularly on how it makes use of new social media techniques, such as this example,” he said.

Read entire article

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/white-house-collects-web-users-data-without-notice/

Facebook imitating Twitter?

With Twitter gaining more popularity and in the fear of users losing interest in Facebook, the social networking site Facebook seems to be updating itself to look a lot more like Twitter.

On Facebook friends have to mutually agree to let each other check out their online profiles, whereas Twitter lets people share updates and links with anyone who cares to read them. This feature has turned Twitter into a tool for people to peer into the collective mind and see what people are talking about in real time.

Now Facebook seems to be very interested in those features. Since last fall, when Facebook tried and failed to acquire Twitter, it has been slowly trying to imitate Twitter by introducing similar features.

Last week, Facebook added two new, Twitter-like features. Users can now “tag” friends or companies that they mention in status updates, and they can use a the lighter version called Facebook Lite that resembles Twitter’s stream of status updates.

To tag another Facebook member in a status update, users type the @ symbol before the friend’s name. The @ symbol is a convention that Twitter users started.

Facebook has long allowed people to tag friends in pictures, but until now, not in status updates. When people are tagged, they get notified by e-mail, the update appears on their profile pages and their names are hyperlinked to their pages.

Mr. Huang, who developed the new tagging feature, said it would enable users “to talk about their real-world connections” and “interact with each other more.”

It will also enable people and businesses to monitor what others are saying about them on the site, which was previously much harder to do. That has been one of Twitter’s vital selling points to businesses.

About Online Piracy - Stop The Theft of Your Dealership’s Name!

Many dealers remain in the dark about online piracy: when your dealer rivals or third-party sites purchase YOUR dealership’s name in pay-per-click keyword buys – or incorporate your name into their website meta-tags. The fallout? Your rightful business is hijacked, because when customers are specifically searching for you, the pirates benefit by plundering the ‘gold’ of your search position.

Why is this sneaky behavior on the rise? Not only because the World Wide Web acts increasingly like the Wild, Wild, West – but because your competitors know your search real estate is super-valuable property, generating big business. Search is huge: more than 4 in 5 online new-car shoppers turn to search engines today, and search is the #1 most-used resource consumers use to research dealers. And roughly 40% of dealer-related searches specifically involve the dealership’s name.

Common types of dealer piracy:

1. Pay-per-click: PPC piracy is when your dealer rivals or third-party sites purchase your name(s) as keywords, so their ad comes up (to the right of the search results), when someone’s searching YOU.

2. Organic: Third-party sites can embed your name in their website meta-tags, so the ever-spidering search engines find THEM, when a searcher is looking for YOU. Third-party lead providers you partner with are authorized to use your name and inventory – but some third-party sites masquerade as quasi-directories, when they’re just using your name to generate leads. Typically, hitting their official-looking landing pages you’ll see: ‘Get a price quote from Dealer X (you),’ with a form gathering customer info. (And there’s usually an option to submit leads to your competitors!) These parasite pirate-sites typically sell leads to larger lead providers, who can sell them right back…to you. Even with a lead aggregator a dealer uses, they shouldn’t use your trade name to gather leads.

Dealers need to put piracy on their radar. All businesses should be in tune with what comes up in both paid and organic results when their specific name/URL is searched.

It’s unfair and often illegal, but that’s the reality of online piracy. More information on how to spot some piracy and take action, while explaining new technology that protects you from this time-consuming, COSTLY headache will be forthcoming.

Design Star - Tony Pulls It Off

I HATE reality TV! With that said, I enjoy Design Star on HGTV …I know it seems a bit hypocritical, but it’s my blog. I like this show because the contestants are critiqued in a similar fashion to what we professional creatives sometimes hear from our supervisors and/or clients. Vern Yip is my favorite when it comes to comments. Season after season he comes up with some real gems like: “It looks like a rainbow threw up in there” and “I always think the goal of this exercise is to not make it look like you shopped at the 99¢ store.”

This season I was betting that Dan and Antonio would be the last two designers standing, but what happened next I was not expecting. Both designers have shown real strengths in design, and Antonio is the only designer in the season not to have ended up in the bottom two (Dan was there twice, if I remember right). I was betting on Dan. He is branded more for HGTV and has pushed the envelop with class. Antonio is cocky, but knows how to get the work done. He came up with some elements that the judges really liked – think pink geese on a white wall – he definitely pushes the envelope and a different, and sometimes unexpectedly, and exciting way. He enjoys what he does, and by working as a set designer knows what tight deadlines are really like.

I thought Dan had the upper hand in the final challenge. His design was mostly finished and polished; he presented a cohesive aesthetic experience that included flow and real world solutions. Antonio’s work I thought lacked overall composition and aesthetic aptitude. The use of green was too prevalent, the groupings of accessories and wall-mounted artwork were done poorly in respect to balance, and the space plan was confusing. His past work was much stronger than what he showed in the final challenge.

One really cool thing about this finally is that I was monitoring and contributing to the #designstar hashtag on twitter in real time. I could sum up what I thought of Antonio’s space with:

“Antonio’s house on design star looks like a college kid had a budget and some time …sorry Tony, Dan’s gonna win”

but to my dismay Antonio pulled it off, which warranted this tweet in regards to Dan not making the final cut:

“That’s like Kevin Dyson falling at the 1 yd line to lose Super Bowl XXXIV”

According to the poll on AOL, I’m not the only one who thinks that – at this time 52% of voters feel Dan should have one to 42% who voted for Antonio.

This season of Design Star was good; I think I’ll continue to watch next season. Antonio, you are a talented designer and have the cojones to stick to your guns. You may represent a new direction for the HGTV brand, and I wish you luck with the new show.

B2B Traffic Strategy: Embedding Content at Third-Party, Social Networking Sites

Other Twitter Topics:     Tools for Business Teams      Multiple Account Layering Strategy      More Analytics      Email The Scoopdog Team

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 (Read time = 2 minutes)  Amazing how tangent conversations creep in from unexpected places.  Recently, I was in a client discussion on video production.  With talent direction, content and milestone conversations sated, the producer and I bridged into a “where best to host” (YouTube the obvious answer) and then widened to an adjacent discussion that challenged the default of hanging content only on the corporate web site.

 

With great delight, my producer friend, an acknowledged social media advocate herself (thanx Spooner!) with both business and academic credentials, argued for an external ”content embed” strategy using third-party hosting sites.  Essentially, dropping assets onto third-party, content-specific sites which brought added traffic value beyond just the hosting itself; making it easy to share and find (think SEO).  Assets would then be served into a promotional site (think Facebook Fan Page, corporate blog site, or the like)

Indirectly, bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg serve a similar virtualized function.  While not content hosts per se, these sites provide audience communities and search capabilities, therefore additional traffic possibilities.  But that’s a slight tangent. 

Hoping that the debate stimulates some thinking and challenges the default solution of “everything on the company site”.

The set-up:  An upcoming product launch would be augmented by social media outreach and promotion: some traditional content (collateral, whitepapers, etc.), some rich-media new content (video clips, anecdotal short case study write-ups, a podcast or two).

The marketing goal:  Integrate a company domain splash page with social media promotional networks such as: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn while taking advantage of content-specialty sites such as YouTube;  do so as simply as possible with a delivery/management process as near to a “post once, deliver to many” model;  capture robust metrics.

At issue:  where best to (practically) hang (embed) the content:  centralized w/in the company’s own domain on the splash page itself (what are the pros/cons) v. using third-party sites such as:  YouTube,  SlideShare, Docstoc , Vimeo,  Scribd, Flckr, issuu, whitepapers.org .  Which, if any, work, will depend on your audience and goal. Notable web strategist Jeremiah Owyang discusses the concept of embeddable content/give the love away in a blog post here.

Some ”pros” for the third party approach:  added audience reach into communities loyal to the hosting site itself, visitors likely never to visit the company domain main website; also, by posting on sites that allow content to be re-purposed (embedded by others, elsewhere) the viral spread widens.  BEWARE:  many third-party sites include “ownership” clauses for posting to their sites.

Cons:  No single third-party site seems to be a logical aggregation point:  ie, videos would go to YouTube, podcasts to iTunes, slideware to SlideShare, etc.  Management complexity, multiple metric sources to integrate.

Biggest “pro” for the HIY approach:  internal web team can own it, optimize it, marketing can be hands off (at least in the ideal world ).

Cons: Internal web teams can be very inefficient and/or have tool delivery systems less than current best practice models.  Integration of various media delivery systems inside a band aided, enterprise web architecture.

The solution remains an active discussion.  Feel free to weigh-in with thoughtful prose or quirky advice. While the resolution is not quite the beast of Trek-Piccard proportion, in our own small way, we’re Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, eyes open…  end of day, HIY + third-party site content embeds is probably not a bad solution.

*****************************************************************************

Welcome! If you like/are interested in B2B Marketing, the Agency-Client Relationship discussion and/or other Marcom mysteries, please subscribe to my RSS feed.

Monday Morning JetLawg

In the news . . .

Flickr alters its DMCA policy to preserve more user information.

Microsoft-Yahoo deal faces antitrust scrutiny.

In consideration of Monica Seles attack, U.S. Open boosts security after another player-fan incident.

Lawyer who leaked BALCO information released from prison after serving sixteen months.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show sued for using over 1,000 songs without permission.

Lawyer for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger rejects settlement offer as alleged rape victim seeks to acquire list of women from quarterback’s past.

Charges brought and dismissed against NFL player Shawne Merriman by reality star girlfriend Tila Tequila.

Twitter changes its terms of service, including a license to user’s tweets.

Spaz Twitter client and Adobe AIR

Linux Mint and Twitter Client

This post is a result from finding some Twitter client that can be run on my Linux Mint 7.

After some minutes of finding, I found some popular programs such as

gTwitter, gWibber, Twittux and so on.

I can guarantee to you that in case of you want some eye candy, these program is totally eye pollutions for you.

Then I found some better looking clients, that are twhirl and Spaz.

Twhirl itself is quite well known, so I choose Spaz instead. However, both program required Adobe AIR for running.

What is Adobe AIR

Adobe AIR is a platform to develop an applications with rich of effect and great user interface. In order to use program developed in Adobe AIR platform, user need to install Adobe AIR client and Installer. By following this step:

1. Download the file from here:

http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/1.5/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

The name of the file is AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

2. Save the file in the Home folder (Places > Home Folder)

3. Open the Terminal

4. Run this command:

chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

5. Now run this command:

sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

6. Follows installer instruction until finish.

After done, we can install Adobe AIR applications by double-click on its installer.

credit: http://www.sizlopedia.com/2008/04/06/how-to-install-adobe-air-on-ubuntu/

Spaz installation

After Adobe AIR is installed, you can just go to

http://funkatron.com/spaz/#desktop-download

then download the Spaz from website.

Then just double-click on the installation file and done.

[Via http://rorasa.wordpress.com]

Cheiro no twitter

A leoa vai piar.

Com um respeitável delay, este blog e seu pastor aderiram ao twitter. Da utilidade informativa e social do cujo eu nunca tive dúvidas, mas adiava o embarque por uma certa preguiça de mais conexão e dispersão – são fontes demais para isso hoje, não?

Como aqui, meio ambiente, literatura, comunicação e Bras-Ilha serão assuntos na certa. E me parece um bom lugar para servir as tradicionais iscas de zebra.

Em tempo: estamos lá com nome de fabricante, não de produto. Como pedro_biondi (já havia um eu-não-eu sem _ ).

Enfim, que venham as novidades. Agora, picadinhas em 140 toques.

[Via http://pedrobiondi.wordpress.com]

Week 3- Blogging & Notes

So I am really finding myself enjoying class…and feeling overwhelmed at the end of every class.  Although I must say that the M&M’s really helped at the end of class this past week. 

I am finding myself lost at times and am wondering if anyone can offer me some advise.  There is so much information that we are taking in every class.  I am learning so much, new programs, new websites and how to do new things with programs I already knew about.  Here is my problem…I have not mastered doing to things at once: listening to what is going on while exploring and following along on my computer, and taking clear notes that I can follow later on my own.  I find that while I am in class I feel like I almost know what I am doing, things make sense and I can almost keep up.  However, I get home and try to do it again and not only am I sitting at a PC so things look a little different, but my notes are so sparse that I have no clue what I am doing.  Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can multi task enough to know what is going on in class and still be able to recreate it when I get home?

Also, I was wondering how you track and follow other wiki’s and twitters.  Prof. Ransom mention that he followed the 104 year old twitterer/blogger as she discussed her tea and visitors.  How do you get into that?  Where do you start?  And how do you even begin?

[Via http://adibacc9.wordpress.com]

Unique British sense of humor.. | FT.com

FACEBOOK vs. TWITTER series 18/800

The Brits are at it again, looking at their tea cup and making up the stats..

zyakaira notes: USA, India and Brazil remain the largest and most active twitter users, high mobile and broadband penetration remain bullwarks of the Chinese and Indian economies growth, but I guess the British must also get ahead

London is staking its claim as the Twitter capital of the world as a flock of local start-ups ride the communications network’s huge wave of growth.

While Twitter is the toast of its native Silicon Valley in California, London boasts more users than any other city in the world. Twitter allows its 40m users to post 140 character updates or “tweets” on the web or via mobile phones.

Even though Twitter itself is yet to generate any revenue, early-stage investors are pouring millions of pounds into small companies in the Twitter “ecosystem” in the London area.

London has produced the most popular of the many third-party tools used to post to Twitter, called Tweetdeck. Reading’s Tweetmeme, which tracks the most popular news stories discussed on Twitter, is attracting millions of visitors a month while Twitterfeed, based in Tooting, is used by thousands of publishers to post their latest headlines on to the site.

“In the UK we’ve got a real phenomenon going on,” says John Borthwick, the British-born chief executive of Betaworks, a New York company that has invested in Tweetdeck, Twitterfeed and Twitter itself. Just as Scandinavia took an early lead in mobile technology, “the UK has become fast-forward in terms of social”, thanks to high broadband penetration.

via FT.com / Media – Twitter branches out as London’s ‘ecosystem’ flies.

[Via http://twitterone.com]

Dreams of...

the wrong book. This so isn’t helping me to reclaim my mojo to get this scifi done. So, I feel a weekend scifi fest coming on. And what treasures will be up for my watching pleasure over the weekend? Fifth Element, Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Lost in Space, umm, I know there are others but I’m totally blanking on them at the moment. I have turned to Twitter for recommends for other films to spark the muse back into scifi mode.

Having wonderfully vivid dreams since watching Supernatural last night (season premier). It’s kicked one of my paranormal ideas into high gear, but I’m attempting to slam on the brakes. Scifi first, paranormal later. However, the mind isn’t cooperating at the moment. Though I did try to write last night, only to run into a snag.

The problem with switching from a Mac to a mini-PC netbook is that I forgot to convert my Pages documents into something Office 2007 can read, since I don’t yet own MS Office for Mac. Why is it that Pages can read Office documents without prior conversion, yet Office cannot read Pages documents without using Pages to convert the file into an Office friendly version? I swear, it sometimes feels as though the programming community is against the writer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the features of Pages when it comes to writing, especially since I write with the “invisibles” (paragraph breaks and such) showing and those are customizable in Pages (make those babies large enough to see and any color I want) whereas I can barely see them in Word. Sadly, I need Word to do edits with since Pages won’t read the comments/edits in a Word document, or if it can, I can’t figure out how to get them to show up. Not to mention Pages and Word have slightly different formatting styles, so I have to convert the Pages file to a Word file before sending it in to the publisher. Pain in the ass. That’s all I can say about that.

Why a netbook to write on rather than my trusty, much adored and loved Mac? It’s a size/weight issue. With my illness, I’m sensitive to the positions in which I sit (have trouble sitting up with my legs down rather than propped up for very long) and with weight and how things touch my legs in certain areas (like the backs of my knees, which could account for the need to prop them up). Anyhow, the smaller size and lighter weight of the netbook really helps with this issue. Plus, I have Office for the PC already so the netbook comes in handy in that way as well, since as I stated above, the file has to be converted to Word before I can send it in. Whenever I get a Mac copy of Office, I will be one VERY happy writer because I can do it all on one machine, with a larger screen, however the weight issue will still be a problem. But I just can’t deny the stability of the Mac, part of the reason I only installed Office on the mini and don’t plan on putting anything else on it, especially now that there’s a Mac version of the Sony reader library program. Yay Sony for that little treasure.

Speaking of Sony, I’m having an issue with my reader. While trying to change up the books actually loaded onto the device itself rather than a memory card, it came up with an error on me. Now, it says I have sixty some odd pictures on the thing, when I most certainly do not. I must add that I had to reformat the things internal memory, because before the sixty some odd pictures, it had one hundred pictures on it, which were really book files reading as picture files and where the one hundred number came from, I have no clue, because it did not have that many books on it. Only a couple dozen at best and most of those were shorts. Anyway, as I said, I reformatted the internal memory which got rid of the one hundred, but when I tried again to upload books onto it, it now says there’s the sixty some odd “pictures” on it, which as I said, is not the actual case. Anyone else have this issue? I would say it was the switch to Mac, but I was using a PC as always when the error occurred. This is also the only problem I’ve had with the reader thus far. I am totally baffled and frustrated over this mess.

On to something else now. I have noticed something about the morning wait for the bus ritual. A variety of wildlife lives in town (I realized much to my surprise) and is out early in the morning (which could be why it came as such a surprise to me). My son, as I’ve mentioned before, is severe ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome (medicated for such) and has a big problem with sitting still and being quiet. The wildlife is helping in this issue. I keep reminding him that if he’s not still and quiet, he’ll scare them all away, and he loves watching them go about their morning routines. Some frequent visitors are a variety of birds, including a hummingbird which is a real treat to see, a baby rabbit as well as several adults, and squirrels galore. There’s also quite a few small dogs that are frequently walked in the mornings, though some are not on a leash, which aggravates me. They let their tiny dogs out without supervision and I cannot tell you how many times the school bus has had to slam on the brakes so as not to hit one of these little guys. Irresponsible much? My dogs are never outside the backyard fence unless they are on a leash, the rare instances where the wind is extreme and knocks part of the fence down not counted. That’s to save my sanity and keep them safe. Though, some people view their dogs as their “kids” and some of the neighbors allow their kids to run rabid all over the neighborhood and in the streets as well, so why it surprises me I haven’t yet figured out.

Anyhow, back on the topic of writing, I have a bit of the writing bug today, though in the wrong genre with the wrong story and yet a part of me really wants to get back to sleep where I’m surrounded by gorgeous guys. Ah, the dilemmas of being an author. I do need the sleep, but I do need to write, though on a story that is not at the forefront of my mind at the moment, which is a real issue. Should I take the day to write on something new, just to get back into the habit of writing or forgo it altogether? That is the big question of the day.

Ah, the kiddo is now gone and on his way to school so decision time is upon me. Though I’m more awake this morning than I have been all week, I’m still very tired and not quite feeling right. I didn’t sleep well last night thanks to another asthma attack, though this one was mild compared to the ones before it. Sleep and dream or write on a paranormal? Or ignore both options and go with “C”, which is my trusty standby, play WarCraft. lol I’ll figure something out. Maybe sleep until the worst effects of the morning meds are over, then work on something and then play. *grin*

Oh yeah, and one last note on editing and proofing. While going back over the chapters already done on the monster WIP, I have really been tightening that baby up. I’m rather pleased with myself and have noticed how much my style, my voice has grown with this project. Yes, I feel bad it’s taking so long and I am struggling to get through it, but it has really opened my eyes. I’m evolving as an author, a writer, and I suppose it has me in awe because for once, I can actually see the progression happening within one story rather than over the course of several. I’m really cutting down on the passive voice that slips in. I’m cutting way back on the extra or stray words, those pesky orphan words that fit but really have no place there. The words that and of and just and so are being stricken from the pages left and right, because as I’ve stated numerous times, I do have a love affair with those words. Maybe that’s another reason this project is taking so long. I’m growing as an author with it, so it’s taking longer to perfect, though I know there’s no such thing as perfect, especially when it comes to writing. A story is never truly done. There’s always a different way to say something, a different way to describe it. But at least I’m that much closer to being finished with it.

[Via http://heatherholland.wordpress.com]

Why I am Happier Living Gluten Free

I saw a tweet on twitter a few days ago that has inspired this blog post.  It was from @glutenfreedude and the tweet was: “GF Discussion Forum: What are your reasons to celebrate being gluten-free? Article Link #gfree #celiac”

Here is why I personally celebrate my gluten free lifestyle:

My health: I feel like I can enjoy so much more now because I don’t feel sick all the time.

My sanity: I don’t feel crazy for feeling so bad all the time, I now know it wasn’t all in my head

Eating on Purpose: I feel blessed to have to think about what I put into my body. I can no longer mindlessly eat fast food and junk food.

The Education: I feel like I have learned so much about health, our bodies, and the true impact the American lifestyle has on our bodies. I love learning about Celiac disease and other peoples experiences with it. I also love being able to pass the things I learn onto other people who may not understand what we go through

Getting Creative with Food: When I first went gluten free EVERYTHING tasted the same. 2 years later I can now cook some great gluten free dishes and I love learning and creating new recipes all the time.

Getting Creative with my Social Life: Because I don’t eat at restaurants anymore I have to put thought into meaningful and fun things I can do with my friends.  This may not sound like a good thing, but I feel like I spend more quality time with people now, we don’t default to eating out in order to spend time together.

All and all, even though it hasn’t been all fun I really truly enjoy the gluten free lifestyle. I feel like it is a blessing in my life.

[Via http://chelseawillis.wordpress.com]

Things that tweet... Robots, evaluation and sales

In the course of this week I have come across three things that so impressed me that I tweeted them.

Chances are, if you know my blog, then you also know my tweets, but if not:

• Introducing the ‘voicebot’

An installation in Parliament from Vinspired.com. Part of the Voicebox initiative – ‘a data visualisation project, curating young people’s views on issues that matter, visualising the findings, and then setting the data free for you to do the same.’

• Innovation and evaluation are inseparable

GOOD Magazine is hosting a blog-based conversation for participants from across the globe to explore innovative approaches to evaluation. Not surprisingly, it is good – very good.

• How to sell me stuff

Steph Gray is a digital specialist in the Civil Service and a patient man. But even he has his limits. Tired of cold calls and clumsy pitches, @lesteph has posted eight tips on how to sell him right. I’m ditto on all 8.

[Via http://basiccraft.wordpress.com]

Amusing Musings & MKE Today

I had a good day. A few things:

Firstly, today I spoke with Journal Sentinel veteran and current co-worker, Tom Strini, at Milwaukee’s Intercontinental to request sponsorship to nearly every art & culture group in Milwaukee. It lasted over an hour and went very, very well. It was for ThirdCoast Digest, a company I was promised equity in and a place I very much want to succeed.

Also… I would like to address my non-involvement in Twestival 2.0. it’s a pity that it isn’t going to happen, but it’s a volunteer effort and given that I’m busy and we just had one on February – I think it’s ok to sidestep this event. I officially asked the governing body to skip our town this time ’round considering no one else that I saw stepped up.

As I organized and MC’d the first Twestival, I didn’t have the energy, or surprisingly, the “Twitter power” to garner enough interest. Yes, it seems as if Twitter’s first “coming out” party of global involvement has waned amidst the countless “tweetups” and newbies that think Twitter tweets are a full fledged answer to a genuine message – or as it’s commonly known as good pr and solid advertising.

This despite the fact that  less than .1% of ANY community is using Twitter equaling is most cases, little market reach. I digress…

I also want to point out a few other items in new media of interest.

1. This site, Milwaukee Web Media, which came from a site I bought, MilwauekeeWebMedia.com is going for nearly $3,000.00 on the domain boards. I thought of it first, but couldn’t capitalize with such a general name, but then again - is there a market for common names- or is this just smoke and mirrors? I simply say write better. It’s what I tell bikers with the nicest bikes and sleeker spandex as I pass them on the road. “Pedal Harder” it’s what work is all about. (fyi i don’t wear spandex, just making a point dear god)

Winding down

And so as Obama made his pitch for health care reform and Steve Jobs returned today to the stage to announce new products on the Beatles deemed 9.9.09, there is always “One more thing…”

And I am no different.

Final Thought

I recently took the covers off MKE Today. A little site I run myself and without advertising and broadcast with social media using sites like Twitter. I received 50hits on it’s second day. Not bad. And for kicks, I thought – well… I just sent out  a mass tweet or two to over 3,000 people as MKE Today. I wonder what that stained service MKE Online is up to.

As far as the domain, dormant. But most interesting.

On Twitter it’s back, as of tonight. Yup. someone is tweeting from MKEonline.com as of tonight in the name of JS Online. Fake? Likely. It would be a mistake for Journal Communications to show how inept they at new media only speeding their downward decent into the ground.

Seriously LOOK. (5 tweets within 5 minutes seemingly out of no where)

But it is interesting to think that someone would actually try to bring back a dirty, tarnished brand. Perhaps it’s the same fella that is leasing the original domain for this site, milwaukee web media? I dunno.

At any rate, I hope to see you at MKE Today soon. Thanks for your time and ear on such a historic, trans-formative night.

[Via http://milwaukeewebmedia.wordpress.com]

Dairy Checkoff Sponsors Social Media Workshop at Word Dairy Expo

from: blog.fieldassignment.com

“For those that still haven’t quite caught up with the social media mania, World Dairy Expo brings to you social media tutoring. New to this year’s Expo, a social media workshop will help teach producers and industry influencers to speak out for dairy through the Internet.

Social media, such as Field Assignment, Twitter and Facebook, offer many opportunities for producers to tell the public the story of modern dairy farming and build a strong online dairy presence.”

Full Article Here

[Via http://purdueorganicandalternative.wordpress.com]

Twitter makes you dumb - Facebook makes you smart

According to a new research, microblogging site Twitter turns you into a dodo while social networking giant Facebook makes Einsteins out of you.

Dr Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling in Scotland has stated that using Facebook increases your IQ and makes you sharper and smarter, while Twitter will in all probability weaken your ”working memory’. A working memory is basically the ability both to remember information and to use it. this will be used most effectively at instances like a job interview.

Dr Alloway has been studying working memory and considers it as something that people need more than happiness and IQ. She has developed a working memory training programme that effectively increases the performance of slow learning kids between 10 to 15 years of age. Eight weeks into the training programme, the children exhibited 10 point improvements in IQ, literacy and numeracy tests. The kid who initially started off at the bottom of the class ended up at the top.

According to Dr Alloway war games that involve strategy and planning will only improve the working memory of children. “Of course they are not that great for socialisation skills but they make you use your working memory,” she said. So in a way, playing games like ‘Total war’ will only make you smarter! Other exercises like playing Sudoku, and networking on Facebook also stretche the working memory.

However, the ‘instant’ nature of smsing, using Twitter and watching Youtube video is apparently not healthy for a working memory. “On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it’s also very succinct and does not need to be processed. This reduces your attention span is being reduced and you’re not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections.” she said.

[Via http://newshyderabad.wordpress.com]

Active Twitter user celebrates 104th birthday

CNN

by Melissa Gray

BRADFORD, England (CNN) – Tuesday is her 104th birthday, but that hasn’t stopped Britain’s Ivy Bean from being an avid Twitter user and possibly the oldest person on the social networking site.

From the care home where she lives in the northern English city of Bradford, near Leeds, Bean updates her more than 27,000 Twitter followers about the ups and downs of her life — from getting her hair done with her good friend Mabel, to eating fish and chips and watching her favorite game show, “Deal or No Deal,” on TV.

Last month, she tweeted her sadness that her friend Norma had passed away overnight.

Before getting onto Twitter, Bean was already active on Facebook, where she maxed out her 5,000-friend limit in no time.

Bean says she prefers Twitter because it’s easier than Facebook — it only requires updating. She has linked both accounts so that her tweets automatically show up on Facebook.

Bean says she knows people must think it’s amazing that she’s so active on online, but she thinks it’s a good way of keeping in touch with people.

And for those who find it hard to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, Bean offers this advice: “Keep on at it”.

“Old” is not the first — or second or even 10th — word that comes to mind with Bean, an engaging, lively and friendly lady with a warm and infectious smile.

A resident of Hillside Manor, she recently won a gold medal at the residential home’s Over-75 Olympics in the Frisbee-throwing category. And she enjoys bowling on the home’s Nintendo Wii.

No surprise, perhaps, for a lady who was a gymnast when she was younger.

What do her friends think of her online popularity? “I think they might be jealous,” she said with a joking laugh.

Others at Hillside Manor also have Twitter accounts, but not Bean’s friend, Mabel Davis, 87.

“Just put me on yours, Ivy,” she says.

Already, Bean’s centenarian tweeting and Facebooking have attracted international attention, and news outlets from around the world have interviewed her.

Bean’s daughter, Sandra Logan, 61, said she arrived for a visit one day only to find her mom busy with a call.

“I’m on the phone with Israel,” Bean called out to her daughter.

Part of the reason Bean is so active online is because the care home makes activities for its residents a priority. One resident wanted to learn more about photography, so he now takes a course once a week at a local college. The home also helped another resident get a passport so he could visit his son in Spain.

Hillside Manor also recently hosted a quiz with students from the local college. The subject was history. The Hillside Manor residents won.

“We’re trying to do something different than knitting or crochet,” explained Pat Wright, the home’s manager.

Bean came from a large family with four brothers and three sisters. All are gone, Logan said.

Bean, who was in the middle of her siblings, was approaching 40 when she got married during the “great war” to Harold Gibson Bean. He was a cook in the army, and she worked in a mill.

After the war, the couple got a job “in service” to a wealthy family. Ivy Bean was a housekeeper and her husband was the cook and butler to Lord and Lady Guinness in Northamptonshire, England. Daughter Sandra, their only child, was born two years later, in 1947.

The couple retired together but Harold Bean died a few years later, when he was in his 70s, Logan said.

Bean now has three great-grandchildren with two more on the way, Logan said. They all call their famous great-grandmother “Little Nan”.

Wright says Bean is “very open” to new suggestions and new ideas and is always willing to have a go at something.

“She must have been like that all her life,” Wright says. “It’s not a new thing. I think if you’re one of those people that’ll try anything through your life, it doesn’t stop when you get old”.

As she types an update on her Twitter page, Bean certainly seems to be displaying an open mind. Would she agree? ”I don’t know if I have or not,” Bean says. “But there’s something there. There must be!”.

[Via http://luishipolito.wordpress.com]

9/7/09: Tweets of the Week

I would like to take this week to, instead of comically dissecting tweets from NFL players, to write a tribute to what was Chad Ochocinco’s Twitter account.

Ocho shut down his Twitter account this week, citing these reasons:

Due to the many rules the NFL has made I’ve found it difficult to enjoy Twitter and I’ll be deleting my account

I thank and love you all for following, hope you enjoyed getting to know the real me: Esteban out

Damn it Chad! This blog isn’t even a month old, and you’re leaving me with half the amount of content! Why would you quit Twitter so soon? Hell, your popularity was skyrocketing with the thing, and now you decide to quit just

Ochocinco quitting Twitter? Child please!

 as it was making you more and more famous, which has always been your ultimate goal in life. Why would you do this? It doesn’t make any sense.

Not that you’ve ever made much sense, but damn it all, you are a hell of a piece of entertainment. Your scenes on Hard Knocks plus your tweets has not only increased our looking at the Bengals, but has made you even more headline stealing than you Twitter counterpart, Terrell Owens. Why quit at the top of your celebrity game?

I implore you Chad – get back on Twitter. Give us all something to look forward to when we log in.

It would all help us get through this daily grind we call life.

[Via http://mondaymorningdouche.wordpress.com]

I SPY GODSGIRL HOTTIE OF THE WEEK ANJA

ISPY: Name and Occupation?

ANJA: My name is Anja, I work in retail. I also model for several websites, and perform in adult films.

ISPY: What type of music do you listen to?

ANJA: I listen to a lot of things; I like metal, hardcore, punk, etc. My favorite bands are New Order, Most Precious Blood, The Birthday Massacre, Le Tigre, American Nightmare.

ISPY: What would be the perfect date for you?

ANJA: I’m all about getting to know people, so my ideal date would be cooking a meal, and then going on a walk around town, or maybe a beach, in the middle of the night. And all the while, having a conversation that enables me to understand this person more.

ISPY: Any Stalkers that you’ve had to deal with?

ANJA: I’ve had some bitches from my high school who stalked me even after I graduated and moved to another town. They posted my number somewhere so I received phone calls from random people. They’d call me every day and speak in fake accents and voices, but I knew it was them. Then they moved on to stalking my twin sister. I seriously wanted to murder them.

ISPY: Classic car or exotic car? Why?

ANJA: Exotic, I guess. I’m not at all a fan of American-made cars. They’re too muscle-man for me, and not very good for the environment. I drive a SmartCar Fortwo; it’s not exotic, but I love it. I’m looking to include a Smart Roadster Brabus in my collection.

ISPY: Whats a typical weekend like for you?

ANJA: This is when I expose the glitz and glamour of my life. A typical weekend for me includes cleaning my apartment, doing laundry, organizing my office, everything I’m too lazy to do during the week.

ISPY: What do you love about being a Gods Girl?

ANJA: I love the network and community of like-minded people, who are also individual at the same time. I learn knew things from reading the blogs, forums, and talking to the models and members. The girls give great support and advice that has really helped me. I am grateful for GodsGirls because of that.

ISPY: Do your tattoos have meaning to them or do you just enjoy the art?

ANJA: I definitely enjoy the art, and not all of my tattoos have meaning. I got some of my tattoos purely for cosmetic reasons, why else are they visible? I have “Vegan” tattooed on the back of my neck, and that’s self-explanatory. My next piece will be a my parents’ wedding photo on my chest, with their names (in Chinese characters) next to it. I love my parents, so that’s my little dedication to them.

ISPY: Chuck Taylor or high Heels?

ANJA: I love the look of high heels, but I can’t walk in them without looking like I’ve been assfucked by 100 guys. Unless that’s their appeal…

ISPY: A moment in your life you are most proud of?

ANJA: I’m proud that I can take care of myself, my extremely lazy husband, our two needy dogs, and work full-time. I swear, I’m like a wife, mom, chef, maid, accountant, clerical assistant rolled into one. And I manage all that without tearing myself apart from frustration.

ISPY: Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?

ANJA: I’d like to see myself living in London, Italy or Japan. I’d have my a degree in something useful, and a high-paying job.

ISPY: Any shout outs?

ANJA: Er….Free Tibet! No, seriously.

ISPY: If you had one word to describe yourself what would it be?

ANJA: Passionate.

ISPY: Where can people find you?

ANJA: GODSGIRLS, MYSPACE, TWITTER, DEVIANT NATION, INKY GIRLS, ZIVITY

[Via http://ispyriches.com]

Down Goes Twitter

By the looks of it, twitter is having some serious issues today. The popular microblogging site, which I occasionally make use of, has been down by my watch for about 90 minutes now, or since 9am ET.

Twitter doesn’t have a huge staff – i’m told under 20 people – and with their buggy interface, loads of new users signing up each day it’s a wonder they are able to keep that ship afloat.

I’ve sent in support tickets and they do take a while to get answered – sometimes weeks! But credit to them, the product is a hit.

But with the twitter outage, it’s interesting to see all the apps take one on the chin this morning. Let’s hope for the tweeple they get this sorted out.

[Via http://newshyderabad.wordpress.com]