Archive for February, 2010

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DR. WHAW? – February 26, 2010


2010
02.27

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Posted in DR. WHAW?, Measurement, PR metrics, Social Media, Twitter, public relations | View Comments

Hey y’all! I write to you direct from the Edelman Digital Chicago office! I stayed late to help on my friend Eliza as she works on her first new business project. I am thrilled to pitch in and offer support, and I’m also just so happy to be working with her again! So with that in mind, here comes what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) today.

DR. WHAW? – February 26, 2010

1. WAA puts social media measurement definitions out to consultation by Brian Tarran — This is incredible! More and more organizations are recognizing the importance of social media measurement, and they are realizing that it’s necessary to have standards. It’s incredibly encouraging to see, and I cannot wait to watch this and see results and concrete rules emerge.

2. Relief from your Social Media ROI Angst by MetricsMan — While I am all for finding a concrete, universal standard for social media ROI, this report definitely made me laugh. There is too much angst about ROI. And often there will not even be a concrete ROI to measure, which is hard for someone like me to accept sometimes, but definitely true. I recommend this post to anyone who is worried about measuring.

3. The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor by Nick O’Neill — I like this because I think it provides a good jumping off point for companies who are just jumping into social media. You should always be monitoring, but it’s hard to know where to start if you’re still new to social media. This should by no means limit your monitoring, but it should provide a great start.

4. Webtrends Adds Facebook Measurement Capabilities by Nathania Johnson — The analytics tool Webtrends now has greater Facebook capabilities, and these metrics are better than any other measurement tool I’ve seen before. This could mean greater social media measurement is now possible if this actually works well. Anyone have experience with this yet?

5. Measuring Social Media ROI: How Did You Hear About Us? by Anne Giles — This offers a unique look at social media ROI, and how you can easily tie social media efforts to your sales. I’m not sure this is the end-all for ROI, but this is a different angle than most I’ve seen before. What do you think?

6. MRM Worldwide Working to Define an “Engagement Score” from Ballista Blog — This is so incredible! OMMA is looking for a universal definition of the ever-elusive engagement score. I would love to help out with this, and I’m incredibly excited to see if this become a reality in the near future.

7. How To Track Twitter Friendships for Business and Pleasure by Marshall Kirkpatrick — I really enjoyed this article because it takes a look at how to use Twitter for both business and pleasure. Often it seems as though all focus is on how to use Twitter and other social media for business purposes only, and it’s nice to see an article highlight personal uses, as well.

And with that, I hope y’all have a great weekend! I plan to visit PAWS Chicago again in hopes of finding a new (and furry!) love of my life.

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You can’t force engagement, no matter who you are


2010
02.26

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Posted in Community management, Social Media | View Comments

Last week, Justin Kownacki wrote a blog post telling his audience that they needed to step up their game and write better comments.

Are you kidding me??

Social media is all about organic engagement, right? It seems as though we’re always telling companies that they need to give up on the idea of control in the social media space, but what about us? Do we think that we have control because we’re part of the space?

Before you get sassy, I understand that Justin was not simply whining because he doesn’t get enough comments. And believe me, I do agree with his complaints about readers’ comments.  It always feels nice to get a virtual pat-on-the-back, but my favorite comments are definitely those that make me say, “I did NOT think of it that way!”

While I would love to have these insightful and unique-perspective-filled comments on every single blog post, I realize that not all of my content provokes or inspires these kinds of responses from my readers. I understand that making a list of my favorite articles or blog posts each day isn’t going to provoke awe-inspiring thoughts from my readers.

Even when I write timely and opinionated blog posts that ask questions, I know that I can’t expect to get thorough comments from my readers. Why? Because you can’t force engagement.

As frustrating as it may be, there will always be passive readers and consumer of online content. They may come back day after day, but they may never leave a comment beyond the generic, “Great post! Loved your thoughts!” And you know what? That’s life.

I chatted briefly with my friend Stephan Spiewak about this issue on Twitter, and he said something that really hit home:

“I think many times, there are insightful comments and “great job” comments on the same post. I’m certainly guilty of both :) ”

He’s exactly right. We are all guilty of leaving pat-on-the-back comments minutes after writing a paragraph long comment giving our opinion in detail on a different post. I know I’ve done this, and it’s because sometimes I think I have something valuable to add to the conversation and sometimes I don’t. That’s life.

Part of the reason social media is so powerful is because it allows for all of us to pick and choose communities online, and it allows us to pick and choose how we participate. I use Twitter and LinkedIn in very different ways, and I use Facebook in another way entirely.

Telling your readers that the way in which they are engaging in your community isn’t good enough will only drive them away. If your content constantly makes me feel like writing insightful comments, then I will. If I’m not inspired, I won’t. And if you try to tell me how to participate, I’ll leave.

I think it was noble of Justin to encourage his readers to engage more for their own good and for their own continued learning. At the same time, as a reader, I resent being told what to do in a world of choice.

What it comes down to is I take offense in the way he chose to encourage more engagement and interaction on his blog. The way in which he did it was brash and hypocritical. I admire his desire to teach and understand what helps his readers, but I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to tell them how to read his blog and how to interact with it.

What do you think about instructing readers how to comment? Do you find pat-on-the-back comments water down conversations online?

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DR. WHAW? – February 25, 2010


2010
02.25

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Posted in Caleb, Community management, DR. WHAW?, Marketing, Measurement, Social Media | View Comments

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Caleb Gardner.

Trying to collect myself to write this post. I’ve been feeling sickly today, but I know the DR. WHAW audience is counting on me to deliver. So I’m mustering the strength!

Here’s what I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work (and feeling sickly):

    DR. WHAW? – February 25, 2010

  1. Considering a Social Media Monitoring Investment? Ask Questions First. (Beth Harte) Writing for the MarketingProfs Daily Fix, Beth reminds us that all social media monitoring tools are not created equal, and as such, the decision about which one to spend money on should not be taken lightly.
  2. The Dark Side of Blogging: When Free Gets Ugly (Dave Navarro) Great post about how “free” for bloggers usually doesn’t mean free, and if you give everything away, you’ll get a backlash the minute you start charging for something. Great things to ponder.
  3. Webtrends Launches Analytics for Facebook Marketers (Mashable) This was great news to me, because Facebook’s native analytics sucks.
  4. Do You Know Your Customers Enough to Be a Social Media Hit? (Susan Baier) Great post on the power of knowing your customers; of being like your customers. Plus it uses ThinkGeek as an example, so that’s a plus.
  5. The Paradox of Building Stronger Online Relationships (Jackie Adkins) Fascinating post on the power of physical touch, and the importance of taking your online relationships offline.
  6. How to Kill Innovation: Keep Asking Questions (Scott Anthony) On the dangers of asking, “What about… ?” in the face of potential growth.
  7. Mad Men vs. Bewitched (Kara James) As an avid Mad Men fan, this is just amazing. Coincidence? You decide.

And now I’m going to go sleep away my germs. G’night.

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DR. WHAW? – February 24, 2010


2010
02.24

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Posted in Clay, DR. WHAW?, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Measurement, Social Media, public relations | View Comments

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Clay Schossow.

Hey Everyone!  It’s only Wednesday and it has already been a long week.  I know it felt to get home and catch up on some reading.  So, here’s what helped me unwind and I hope it does the same for you.  Heres what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to).

DR. WHAW? – February 24, 2010

  1. Measurement Alone Will Not Lead to Better Marketing — Article in Ad Age releasing a survey of 400 top marketers.  The survey shows that measurement alone will not lead to success.  This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise and relates to one of my previous WHAW items about how it’s important not to just measure vanity metrics.  The article delves into what techniques should be combined with metrics to make an organization’s marketing successful.
  2. For Startups, How Much Process is Too Much — Interesting column from the Harvard Business Review looking at how much process and infrastructure is really necessary for a startup.  This topic is one that my company struggles with everyday, deciding whether we need to get a documented process in place, which can be resource-intensive to setup, or to just keep chugging along in startup mode.  Totally agree with Eric’s  assessment that some processes are necessary, but you need to be careful not to stifle your startup’s innovation.
  3. Most Businesses Still Only “Experiment” With Social Media — This study reveals that 61% of businesses admit they still have only experimented with social media, but not really embraced it.  This is interesting news for us in the web, PR, and social media spaces, as it shows that even though social media is ingrained in our day to day lives, there are still plenty of others to help and teach.  Also, reinforces the value of writing a lot of your blog posts, etc. from a high viewpoint.
  4. A New Global Visual Language for the BBC’s Digital Services — Wow.  Great article on the upcoming BBC online presence (mobile and web).  They walk you through the history of their previous designs and introduce you to the standards associated with the new one.  I think this article does a phenomenal job of driving home the importance of usability and design theory.
  5. The Millenials Quiz — This is a cool little quiz that was going around on Twitter today.  Answer 14 easy questions and get your Millenial Score.  How Millenial are you?  I scored an 86 — a Millenial

These were totally random, but were a nice welcome home for me.  One marketing article, one startup column, one social media survey, one design overview, and one quiz.  That’s about as random as you can get.  Hope it helps push you over this hump day.

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Mobile is the new hybrid: doesn’t live up to the craze


2010
02.24

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Posted in Marketing, Mobile | View Comments

This post was written by Kasey Skala, the owner of Interactive Revolution – a communications and new media consulting firm in Minneapolis. His experience includes work in beauty & healthcare, education, finance, nonprofit and sports & entertainment. Additionally, he spent time as a sports journalist at a small daily. He currently blogs at The Electric Waffle and iFinance. You can find him on Twitter at @kmskala.

Last week when I was listening to a presentation put on by MIMA, I mentioned that I believe the talk around mobile is a lot of hype. Hype I don’t believe in. Let me be perfectly clear, I think mobile is a highly effective medium. However, the “potential” being associated with the mobile platform, in my opinion, is a bit premature.

Again, the mobile platform can be quite effective for businesses. After all, the mobile device is the one item that most people carry on them at all times. So it would make sense to focus your attention on mobile, right?

One big misconception, and one that can easily be countered, is the idea that a small percentage of mobiles phones are considered “smartphones.” But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here – mobile doesn’t necessarily need to be smartphone-focused.

Mobile marketing started back around 2000 – 2001, when it really caught steam for a few years, but then phased away (in a purely “trending” sense) around 2006-2007. It’s only due to the development of the iPhone and Droid that hype has returned.

So back in the early 2000s, we had SMS marketing. The beauty of SMS, which I feel is still relevant, is that it’s essentially like email marketing. It’s quick and we’re able to measure it quite easily. You have users “opt-in” and you simply push strategic content out to a highly targeted audience, allowing for users to “opt-out” at any time. Pretty painless, right?

Imagine you’re a bar or restaurant. What better way to promote events and specials? The fact that you know how many people you’re reaching and the fact that they’re at least partially interested (otherwise they’d opt-out) is highly valuable information. SMS is effective (if done properly) for any industry. Put it this way, there’s a reason American Idol and other big brands continue to utilize SMS.

As technology and mobile devices evolved and got smarter and faster, we’ve switched to MMS marketing. While SMS could essentially be considered text marketing, with MMS, we’ve traveled quite a distance. With the introduction of smartphones, mobile marketing has been taken to a whole new level. With this opportunity and power, however, I think there are a lot of misconceptions – which ultimately lead me to believe the mobile trend is more hype than anything.

Why I don’t believe the hype & what we’re doing wrong with mobile

  • Mobile is NOT social. We need to stop thinking that it is.
  • How effective is mobile web marketing? What’s the conversion compared to platform-based web marketing or SMS?
  • We access information and share content via mobile, but do we want to be marketed via mobile?
  • Things get lost in the clutter.
  • Marketing is targeted, but is it relevant?
  • Browsing on mobile improving, but not ideal

The type of mobile marketing that’s getting the most hype is location-based markerting, with Foursquare and Gowalla being labled as the next “big thing.” A few things about location-based markerting:

Why neither will work…right now

  • Too much noise
  • Lack of knowledge – business usage
  • Lack of acceptance amongst “general” population

Why it can work….eventually

  • Consumers want to be rewarded
  • Consumers enjoy the “chase”, competition
  • Inexpensive & low maintanence.

Another area of mobile that is of high interest to me is augmented reality (AR). Like location-based marketing, I feel we’re a year or so away from digging into AR as a means of mobile marketing; however, I think there’s an incredible amount of opportunity if businesses figure out how to utilize.

I’m not arguing that mobile doesn’t have the potential to be a major player in 2010. In the past few years, we’ve already seen great advancements within the space. All the stars are beginning to line up and we’ve finally been able to have the key ingredients – technology, access, acceptance. Again, mobile marketing has and will continue to be an effective practice. SMS is not going away, MMS is not going away. We’ll continue to find new and creative ways to use the mobile device to reach our audiences.

However, I liken mobile to the hybrid phases with automobiles: we saw the technology and we jumped on the first models; we realized there were ways to improve the models and starting proclaiming hybrids as the next movement; the technology has continued to improved but it hasn’t lived up to the craze.

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DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010


2010
02.23

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Posted in DR. WHAW?, Job search, Melissa, PR metrics, Social Media, public relations | View Comments

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Melissa Cafiero.

I discovered a Dr. Seuss quote today and, while Dr. Seuss is for kids, it really struck a chord. I’m going to keep it in mind and because I think it’s a wonderful piece of advice, I thought you might enjoy it as well: “You have brains in your head; you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”

So, with those inspiring words, let’s get to today’s suggested reading shall we?

DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010

  1. 5 Guaranteed Ways to Hate Your Own Writing by Steve Errey – I love to write, but I hate my writing. It’s good to see I’m not alone. Keep in mind as you’re reading this that Steve is being sarcastic (yet another argument for that sarcasm font). Check out the comments, too. Due to the tone of the article, it generated a lot of controversy.
  2. It’s Not About Listening, It’s About the Green by Kasey Skala – While I don’t completely agree with Kasey’s viewpoint, I did enjoy the comments because the commenters brought up the points that kept popping in my head as I was reading the post. I love when the info in a post gets expanded by a lot of commenting action!
  3. What You Don’t Do by Jeffrey Tang – This was a refreshing article. Sometimes I get so tired of hearing, “You should do this,” and “You should be doing that,” but you have to be able to say, “You know what? I am who I am. These are the things that I do, and this over here? Well, I don’t do that.” You’re not going to be able to please everyone, and what happens if you do? Will it change the world? Probably not.
  4. Resource Alert! My Best Of: Social Media Learning by Amber Naslund – I saw this scroll by my Twitter feed today and accidentally refreshed the page… panic set in and I thought, “Oh noooo!” because I was afraid I’d lost the link. I quickly found it, though, and perused the articles. THIS. IS. AWESOME.
  5. 7 things social media can’t do by Denise Zimmerman – The title says it all. This is a lengthy article, but is full of good info. I’ve even bookmarked it for future reference.
  6. How HAPPO Helped Public Relations Professionals by Valerie Simon – In case any of you were wondering how #HAPPO went, this is a great recap of an awesome event!
  7. The 10 Worst Winter Olympics PR Disasters Of All Time by Bianca Male – In the spirit of current events, we’ll end with an Olympics-related article… with pictures.
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DR. WHAW? – February 22, 2010


2010
02.22

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Posted in Clay, DR. WHAW?, Entrepreneur, Social Media | View Comments

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Clay Schossow.

Hope your weekend dominated as much as the good ol’ USA did up in Vancouver.  Today’s DR WHAW is pretty heavy on entrepreneurship.  I think all of these articles are stellar and encourage you to check them out, whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur or not.  Enjoy and let me know your thoughts about what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work!

DR. WHAW? – February 22, 2010

  1. Don’t Become an Expert — Great article from a successful entrepreneur on what it means to be an expert.  In the past few years, seems as if so many people have adopted the Gladwellian  notion that you’re not an expert, and therefore worthless, without 10,000 hours of practice.  Jason gives an extreme example of an uber-accomplished woman who deems her life a failure, because she doesn’t match up to today’s distorted facts of expertise.  A great read that helps you realize you should live and work for your own ideals, not some author’s.
  2. No Accounting for Startups — This piece focuses on accounting for startups and how entrepreneurs can get obsessed (or pushed to obsessing over) data that isn’t really relevant for a brand new idea and company.  I love how Steve says that a startup is really just testing a series of hypotheses and you should do the same with your most important metrics.  I know that when we launched our company, it was fundamentally very different than the company that we have become.  It’s all about flexibility and obsessing over metrics that are meant for mature companies that have already been tested will simply lead to the rigidity than can kill a startup.
  3. How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web — I absolutely love this Wired article and have recommended it to just about everyone I’ve seen today after I read it in (gasp!) the actual magazine.  Don’t let the title fool you, it’s not some SEO article that’ll help you game the system.  Instead, it’s a closeup account of how Google has built perhaps the most valuable algorithm in the history of the world.  It explores things like bi-grams (e.g., new york) and how those can break other search engines, but Google has mastered handling them — the “hot dog” story is awesome.  It’s a great look at how a company has continued to strive to get better and push the envelope of technology.
  4. Nature vs. Nurture in Entrepreneurs — This is a thought provoking piece (and comments) from Fred Wilson.  UNC has an entrepreneurship minor, and while I didn’t take any classes in that set, our company works closely with the program and takes an intern from the minor every year.  It always has caused me to wonder if Entrepreneurship can actually be taught?  Certainly, people can learn lessons about entrepreneurship and inherit its passion, but are some preselected to have the necessary traits to be entrepreneurs?  It’s a really tough question.  What I am sure of is that classes can make someone aware of their entrepreneurial talent and push them to try starting something that they previously wouldn’t have — would that be considered teaching entrepreneurship?  It’s a toughie, but definitely a good, short read.
  5. Why IT Shouldn’t Be Involved in Marketing Software Decisions — I must admit, I’m pretty jealous that I didn’t write this one myself.  Great piece from HubSpot on why IT shouldn’t be involved in marketing decisions.  As someone who markets and sells web solutions for my profession, I can say that I deal with this dilemma all the time.  Marketers bring their IT team on the phone to ask us irrelevant questions and to try and posture by showing off their knowledge.  There’s most definitely a time and place for an IT discussion, but it’s not around the marketing of your company and product.  This fact has especially gotten more true over the past 5-10 years, as web hosting, domain names, databases, etc. have gotten exponentially cheaper.  This is a great reference if you’re ever forced to stare down a pocket protector to win someone’s business.
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So now that Foursquare is popular on the social media playground, let’s measure it!


2010
02.22

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Posted in Measurement, PR metrics, Social Media | View Comments

If you haven’t seen it in your own Twitter stream yet, get ready for it. Foursquare is the new hit on the social media playground.

This location-based application allows users to tell their friends and followers where they are exactly and rewards users the more they check in. As more and more people sign up for this game of sorts, there are huge implications for social media marketers and consumers on the horizon.

Alright, so it’s big. Let’s measure it!

Sooner or later companies are going to begin to wonder how often consumer check in at their retail stores or restaurants. How often does someone check in at the local Dairy Queen? How many unique users are there and do they tell their friends?

I can’t help but feel frustrated as we will run into the same issues with Foursquare that we have with Twitter. Even if someone Tweets about your brand or company every minute of every day, does it actually matter? Does anyone else see it? This is the part where it gets tricky.

With Twitter, I’m still struggling to find a complete set of metrics that will accurately depict how influential a message or Tweet really is for any given brand. Why? It depends on how many followers a user has, but also how many of those followers are likely to see the Tweet or even pass it on to their own followers. If a Tweet has a link, is that better than one without a link? Is it better than a Tweet with a picture?

Foursquare presents similar issues. So a user checked in at your restaurant, but did they tell their followers on Twitter of their friends on Facebook? How many friends do they have on Foursquare and how many were likely to see it? How influential is a check in by me as compared to a check in by David Armano?

It all comes back to influence. And unfortunately, influence is still quite difficult to quantify in a reliable way.

I don’t mean to suggest that stores and restaurants shouldn’t try to engage with Foursquare users, but I do think it’s still pretty early to understand how effective any integrated program may be.

If you were to try to engage Foursquare users, what metrics would matter most to you? How would you measure success of an integrated program?

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Crowdsourcing creates freedom of choice, if you think about it


2010
02.19

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This post was written by Michiel Daalmans, a consultant at De Wijde Blik in Amsterdam. Michiel has been someone I find myself chatting with on Twitter, and he never fails to bring a completely unique and thought-provoking perspective. He adamantly disagreed with my post on Monday, so I thought it was about time he was a guest on my blog. So here’s Michiel to share his rebuttal to why crowdsourcing actually does make me a bit lazy.

Rebecca wrote this interesting post about ‘crowdsourcing’. Actually, she cleverly crowdsourced on crowdsourcing. Brilliantly done! ;)

Richard Nevins puts it well in his comment: “Modern societies are built upon a division of labor. If every person were expected to accomplish every task on their own, then many of the complex and powerful organizations that have come to be in society would not function.”

Choose your wisdom wisely

Ask yourselves why you want to be generally skilled if you have easy access to specialists? And did you know that unnecessary knowledge clogs our brain. Researchers recently found, that you only can retain a certain amount of information. So choose your wisdom wisely ;)

Why bother trying to learn everything, especially if crowdsourcing works for you. Otherwise you will have to keep up on HTML because it continuously changes and evolves. And if it’s not your core thing, that’s not a pleasant thought. So praise the pro by asking for help. In return you can help the specialist with your own abilities or your network so he doesn’t have to be a pro at what you’re a pro at. And perhaps you both can pick up some relevant knowledge on the side – if needed of course.

One for all, all for one

In my vision, we are more and more evolving into an ant farm. We are all equipped with special abilities and if we work well together, we will succeed as a group. Learning it all by yourself is hard, time consuming and inefficient. Doing it all by yourself was the world after the trend ‘individualization’, but before the rise of ‘social media.’ The paradigm was: if you want it done, you have to do it yourself.

Today that isn’t the case. By crowdsourcing, we can achieve and learn a lot. (Hoping to do so right now by posting this.) We can reach goals beyond our own individual and physical restrictions. And this behavior is also embedded in human history. Look back and see that we’ve always lived in tribes.  Now we have the amplifying power of social knowledge in our tribes. So why not use it? One for all, all for one!

Crowdsourcing isn’t beatific, but it creates the chance of acquiring new abilities – by free choice. So you don’t have to learn it all, you can choose to learn the stuff you want to learn. So if you want to be lazy, you can. If you want to learn new stuff, you can. In a way, crowdsourcing creates freedom. Freedom of choice.

But, there’s always a but…

Beware of the ‘sheep’-factor. Remain open to think for yourself and to form your own opinion. Because crowdsourcing does have one major disadvantage: we tend to follow the masses blindly… “Auto-pilot on,” and we’re off! Sometimes we forget that common knowledge can be wrong. Didn’t we ‘know’ for sure that the Earth was flat?

Luckily for us, social media amplifies the spread of information, so our shared knowledge is getting more and more correct. But that can only happen if we remain active thinkers while tapping into it. Select, scan, assess, conclude and (re)act. Don’t just select and accept.

So scanned, assess, compared and concluded this post? Let’s crowdsource: love to hear your vision on this!

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DR. WHAW? – February 18, 2010


2010
02.18

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Posted in Caleb, DR. WHAW?, Marketing, Measurement, PR metrics, Social Media, public relations | View Comments

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Caleb Gardner.

I’m going to call this post what I Didn’t Read While Wishing The Snow Would Melt. (Although DR. WWTSWM isn’t as pretty as DR. WHAW.)

  1. We Are Still Learning Lessons When it Comes to Social Media (Beth Harte) The Kevin Smith/Southwest Air debacle of the last few days reveals questions marcom people still need to ask themselves about their social media strategy, including what constitutes a ‘crisis’.
  2. The Dividends of Trustworthiness (Andrew O’Connell) Great article that reminds us that companies are still intensely social environments, and the benefits of being perceived as trustworthy.
  3. Why Some PR People Deserve and Get a Seat at the Table and Others Do Not (Katie Paine) What’s more important? The media placement, or the impact on organizational goals? (Preach it, Katie!)
  4. 25 Things Email Marketers Don’t Seem to Know–But Should (Kara Trivunovic) Little nuggets of (not so) conventional wisdom about email marketing. My favorite? “Blast” is a dirty word.
  5. Confessions of a Recovering Measurement-aholic (Blagica Bottigliero) OK, so this was technically published a few days ago, but I just read it today, so I’m cheating. Blagica reminds us that accountability “made the web what it is today.”
  6. How to Rock Facebook But Maintain Some Respectability (Matt Stratton) If you’re still treating Facebook like you’re in a college frat, it may have negative consequences on your professional career. These are some practical tips to find the balance between personal and professional.
  7. A Facebook Petition to Stop Facebook from Powering Its Data Center with Coal (Fast Company) Lastly, a bit of disappointing news. Facebook, the number two most popular web destination, is powering its first data center with coal. A bit disappointing considering the lengths Google has gone through to cut down on data center power use. (Joined the petition after reading this.)

PS, If you live on Chicago’s north side, you must see Colbert do Illinois’s 5th. Hilarious.

Caleb out.

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