Mitt, the Campaign is Over, Pull Down Your Google AdWords

Type “Barack Obama” in Google. Everything’s in order: sponsored link on top, then organic search results of his three books, news feeds, official campaign website, Wikipedia entry, official Senate website, grassroots T-Shirt sales, MySpace profile, a website on whether Obama is a ‘radical Muslim,’ CNN profile, Washington Post profile, Twitter feed, and YouTube page.
On [...]

Hip Shopping Advice

What if people congregated daily to share places to shop for designer brands, microbrands and everything in between? They are — right here at superfuture’s supertalk, where “superbored” shoppers provide advice and recommendations, as well as display their clothing style preferences and tastes with uploaded images from around the world. The website is closed to [...]

Work is for People Who Don’t Golf

A New York Times clip today on golf is the most emailed (as of 10:30 a.m. PST). It points out the struggles of the business (in fairness, Callaway Golf had a record year in 2007).
Factors contributing to slide in number of golfers? Rounds take 4 or more hours, too few players want to pick up the game, and kids’ soccer games have become weekend priority. Here’s [...]

Tracking Happiness on Twitter

One amazing thing about the web is what can be tracked. Several companies chart website visits and most popular keyword searches, which can be helpful data points for marketers on social trends. Now there’s an online tool to track Twitter.
I don’t Twitter, but I’m fascinated with the hoopla over it. Twittermeter allows you to see real-time the popularity of words being [...]

Aerosmith and Slacker Logos: Coincidence?

One’s been around since roughly 1970 and hails from Boston. The other came onto the scene at SXSW via San Diego.
Aerosmith’s logo led the way and remains iconic in the rock world. Slacker’s logo was born last year to herald a new type of digital music experience.
Both work well.
Logo development can be tricky. So much [...]

Secret Blog Weapon: Humor

Formulas and advice for successful blogging are rampant. Most of it is friendly and proof that the Internet is a place where people can help each other. However, there’s a hint of snake oil to some of the messaging out there: Monetize your content! Make six-figures! Master search algorithms! Link-baiting!
It’s enough to make a non-geek blogger feel inadequate.
What we need is humor. William Zinsser, who wrote [...]

As Expected: Facebookers and Privacy

A check of blog feeds over lunch turned up this: Facebook members aren’t too worried about their privacy settings. According to Compete, traffic of Facebook members to the social networking website’s privacy settings pages has been essentially flat for several months, Beacon uproar nothwithstanding.
This reinforces a thought from last week about people in social networks. They’re in [...]

What Joe McNally Taught Me About Photography

Ever have one of those career moments?
You know, when you were part of something you cherish? One such time for me was working with a premier U.S. photographer: Joe McNally.
Joe didn’t teach me how to take pictures. He taught me how to treat people.
If you check Joe’s portfolio, you can see he’s a photography [...]

Borrowing Someone’s Personal Brand: No-No

I saw this last week in the Wall Street Journal and forgot to share it. High school teachers and college professors have software that can detect plagiarism.
Now it appears that Internet dating service enthusiasts or social networkers may also want to do a little background checking when considering getting serious with someone they meet online. [...]

Tuesday Confession: I’d Buy a Kindle But I Don’t Want to Wait in Line

Amazon, you spoiled me.
It’s true. I’m spoiled by 2-day shipping you offer through Amazon Prime. I click the “Proceed to Checkout” button and feel giddy about what will soon arrive at my front door. A shipment is like a birthday present without the foil wrapping paper and card. You do it perfectly. Two business days [...]