5 Keys to Twitter

Without a doubt, 2009 has been the year of Twitter. More than billion keystrokes from mainstream media have breathlessly chronicled the 40-person company’s rise to the heights of pop culture. If you’re in media, consume news or surf the Web, think of the last day in which you didn’t hear the word. See what I [...]

Wasted Away in Swine Flu Ville

Cinco de Mayo used to be dream date for Tequila makers, Mexican beers breweries and margarita mix devisers.
Not this year.
The unfortunate hype around “H1N1″ aka Swine Flu and our friends in Mexico has cast a cloud over Cinco de Mayo. For places like San Diego (just 30 miles north of the border), today’s a barometer [...]

Kilroy is Here… And Here… And Here

Hop around on the Web (especially Twitter) and you’ll see a common design trend: Cropped head shots–cropped for bios, avatars, for a lot.
If eyes are the window into the soul, a photo of a cropped human face is the window into Web 2.0 personal, digital branding.
Consider:
There’s the famous top half of a head (Seth Godin, [...]

Twilight: Take That, Big Studios — and Critics

When a $37 million movie brings in almost $80 million during its first box office weekend, who really cares about “playability” — a term one industry watcher used this weekend to describe how a movie appeals to more than one demographic? One demographic can carry the day.
Some Twilight “fangirls” who queued up for Nov. 21 [...]

Markets and Psychology

Advice from James Surowiecki in the Nov. 10 New Yorker:
“Markets work best when investors are thinking for themselves, and tend to go awry when obsession with what everyone else is doing becomes a dominant concern. Maybe what investors really need is to periodically take a market information vacation.”
This could also apply to markets for consumers, [...]

Winter Thaw for Facebook?

A 5% drop in Facebook members, according to Nielsen Ratings, may be a temporary blip, due to user fatigue. 
What will be the most telling is this summer when users are outdoors. Facebook’s recent IM testing shows how much it needs to be embedded in desktops to keep users tethered. The company would do well to invest more into its mobile offerings [...]

Intimate vs. Impersonal

Remember when music concerts by successful artists were stadium-style events? I mean Rolling Stones-thank-goodness-we-have-a-Jumbo-Tron-to-see-what’s-going-on productions? Sure, summer “tours” that combine several popular acts remain so fans can have a quasi-Woodstock experience.
But they are rare.
I took in an Angels and Airwaves show at the SOMA last night in San Diego. Just two doors over from the aging San Diego Sports Arena, a [...]

Great Way to Soften Hard Edges

After airing the infamous “telephone” ad, the Clinton campaign went with comedy on Saturday night to soften the edges and appeal to voters’ kindness. This is a splendid viral PR move and creative use of free airtime and press to reach a good-sized audience. It gets people talking about you — and not him.
We’ll [...]

That’s Amore

Do you like dining out on Italian food? The restaurant business has a reputation for high failure rates. I’m not sure whom to believe on the statistics, but I believe cabbies who recommend Italian eateries.
And they’re never chains.
Which brings me to Cafe Luna in San Diego. You’d think a quaint place in a shopping center [...]

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 [...]