The Top 50 Sites
1. Flickr
2. California Coastline
3. Delicious
4. Metafilter
5. popurls
6. Twitter
7. Skype
8. Boing Boing
9. Academic Earth
10. OpenTable
11. Google
12. YouTube
13. Wolfram|Alpha
14. Hulu
15. Vimeo
16. Fora TV
17. Craiglook
18. Shop Goodwill
19. Amazon
20. Kayak
21. Netflix
22. Etsy
23. PropertyShark.com
24. Redfin
25. Wikipedia
26. Internet Archive
27. Kiva
28. Consumer Search
29. Metacritic
30. Pollster
31. Facebook
32. Pandora and Last.fm
33. Musicovery
34. Spotify
35. Supercook
36. Yelp
37. Visuwords
38. CouchSurfing
39. BabyNameWizard.com's NameVoyager
40. Mint
41. TripIt
42. Aardvark
43. drop.io
44. Issuu
45. Photosynth
46. OMGPOP
47. WorldWideTelescope
48. Fonolo
49. Get High Now
50. Know Your Meme
I suggest you read the actual article from Time to get a nice summary of each of the sites.
Monday, November 30, 2009
In Business, Early Birds Twitter Most Effectively
Companies can work wonders before Twitter's vast interactive audience of consumers, but it's best to start slowly and build credibility
By Shel Israel
Like so many others, Lionel Menchaca, Dell Computer's chief blogger, thought Twitter was "fairly worthless for business" when he first looked at it in March 2007, but trying new social media tools was part of his job. Menchaca opened an account and started posting links whenever he posted on Direct2Dell, the company's oft-praised corporate blog, where he serves as principal author.
The results exceeded his expectations. When he posted a link on Twitter, people clicked on the URL in minutes. They commented often—and at Twitter, rather than on the blog. They were the first viewers to spread word of his new blog posts. Twitter moved fast and sent his words further than any medium he had previously encountered.
But that turned out to be less than half the story. Listening to others turned out to be even more valuable than distributing what he wrote. Menchaca discovered that by using the Twitter Search feature, he could monitor and sometimes join conversations about PCs. "Tweeters," as they call themselves, regularly posted links to relevant content he might otherwise have missed.
Menchaca's experience is far from unique. Businesses, ranging from the largest multinationals to home-office practitioners, often come for one reason and are surprised to find greater value in some other aspect they hadn't considered. The surprise plus can bring help in marketing, sales, recruiting, feedback, support, sales or just getting closer to geographically scattered networks (as has been the case with IBM.)
Business uses for Twitter are proving to be as diverse as those for the telephone or e-mail. They generally break into two categories: ways to follow customers and ways to increase efficiency.
Recruit clients and soothe consumers
Companies are joining Twitter for the same reason politicians attend the funerals of famous people: It's where they can find their constituents and hold close, informal conversations with them. For example, CrowdSPRING, a tiny Chicago-based startup, uses Twitter to find buyers and sellers for its online professional graphics marketplace. (Business buyers declare what they want to see in a new logo or website and then, on average, 70 designers bid on each project.)
Conversations start in Twitter and then spread beyond the platform's seamless boundaries, rapidly reaching customers, vendors, recruits, and partners in a wide variety of markets. You can find potential customers on Twitter and perhaps snag a sale. You can also find conversations with consumers who are unhappy with your products and assuage them quickly and publicly.
Twitter may owe its blastoff to the dive the economy took. Microblogging became a much-discusssed option just as businesses began axing marketing, advertising, and public relations budgets and reducing their participation at conferences and social networking events. Because of those cuts, companies understood they still needed to reach out to customers. Twitter turned out to be a less-expensive and more efficient way to achieve this.
Twitter works well with other social media platforms, such as blogs, video, and audio podcasts, creating a whole new kind of interactive integrated communications solution. It is proving not just faster and cheaper—but more credible. Surveys consistently report that people tend to trust their Twitter friends more than formulated company messages. Users increasingly rely on one another for tips on what to buy, watch, read, or listen to.
While Twitter shares similarities with phones and e-mail, there's a major difference: It works best in public. Anyone can see real people in a company trying hard to help.
Avoid one-way, targeted marketing
Comcast, North America's largest cable carrier, has a 10-member Twitter support team. Tens of thousands of tweeters witness employees trying—with customary success—to help customers. Conversely, consumers do not witness call-center conversations and the greatest failures among those interactions tend to make the most noise in the marketplace. Surveys show measurable improvements in Comcast's customer satisfaction ratings since the company began using Twitter for customer service.
Of course, Twitter is no elixir. Companies who try to use the tool as yet another marketing arrow in their quiver—one that mostly carries targeted, one-way messages—usually fail.
While Twitter has had remarkable results in times of crisis, companies that jump in just when an emergency is breaking have joined too late. Their customers don't know they are there. It takes time to establish your credibility in Twitterville and you need to understand how it works before that credibility gets tested.
It also takes time to understand how this deceptively simple-looking tool works. Nearly everyone I interviewed in my recent book mentioned how confused and disoriented they once felt. According to Twitter founder-CEO Ev Williams: "People are pretty much clueless when they first try Twitter."
A smart business will start early. Nearly every company cited in the accompanying slide show stumbled and fumbled for a while before they discovered how Twitter could help business in many ways.
Shel Israel is author of TWITTERVILLE: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods (Portfolio 2009).
See the original article here.
By Shel Israel
Like so many others, Lionel Menchaca, Dell Computer's chief blogger, thought Twitter was "fairly worthless for business" when he first looked at it in March 2007, but trying new social media tools was part of his job. Menchaca opened an account and started posting links whenever he posted on Direct2Dell, the company's oft-praised corporate blog, where he serves as principal author.
The results exceeded his expectations. When he posted a link on Twitter, people clicked on the URL in minutes. They commented often—and at Twitter, rather than on the blog. They were the first viewers to spread word of his new blog posts. Twitter moved fast and sent his words further than any medium he had previously encountered.
But that turned out to be less than half the story. Listening to others turned out to be even more valuable than distributing what he wrote. Menchaca discovered that by using the Twitter Search feature, he could monitor and sometimes join conversations about PCs. "Tweeters," as they call themselves, regularly posted links to relevant content he might otherwise have missed.
Menchaca's experience is far from unique. Businesses, ranging from the largest multinationals to home-office practitioners, often come for one reason and are surprised to find greater value in some other aspect they hadn't considered. The surprise plus can bring help in marketing, sales, recruiting, feedback, support, sales or just getting closer to geographically scattered networks (as has been the case with IBM.)
Business uses for Twitter are proving to be as diverse as those for the telephone or e-mail. They generally break into two categories: ways to follow customers and ways to increase efficiency.
Recruit clients and soothe consumers
Companies are joining Twitter for the same reason politicians attend the funerals of famous people: It's where they can find their constituents and hold close, informal conversations with them. For example, CrowdSPRING, a tiny Chicago-based startup, uses Twitter to find buyers and sellers for its online professional graphics marketplace. (Business buyers declare what they want to see in a new logo or website and then, on average, 70 designers bid on each project.)
Conversations start in Twitter and then spread beyond the platform's seamless boundaries, rapidly reaching customers, vendors, recruits, and partners in a wide variety of markets. You can find potential customers on Twitter and perhaps snag a sale. You can also find conversations with consumers who are unhappy with your products and assuage them quickly and publicly.
Twitter may owe its blastoff to the dive the economy took. Microblogging became a much-discusssed option just as businesses began axing marketing, advertising, and public relations budgets and reducing their participation at conferences and social networking events. Because of those cuts, companies understood they still needed to reach out to customers. Twitter turned out to be a less-expensive and more efficient way to achieve this.
Twitter works well with other social media platforms, such as blogs, video, and audio podcasts, creating a whole new kind of interactive integrated communications solution. It is proving not just faster and cheaper—but more credible. Surveys consistently report that people tend to trust their Twitter friends more than formulated company messages. Users increasingly rely on one another for tips on what to buy, watch, read, or listen to.
While Twitter shares similarities with phones and e-mail, there's a major difference: It works best in public. Anyone can see real people in a company trying hard to help.
Avoid one-way, targeted marketing
Comcast, North America's largest cable carrier, has a 10-member Twitter support team. Tens of thousands of tweeters witness employees trying—with customary success—to help customers. Conversely, consumers do not witness call-center conversations and the greatest failures among those interactions tend to make the most noise in the marketplace. Surveys show measurable improvements in Comcast's customer satisfaction ratings since the company began using Twitter for customer service.
Of course, Twitter is no elixir. Companies who try to use the tool as yet another marketing arrow in their quiver—one that mostly carries targeted, one-way messages—usually fail.
While Twitter has had remarkable results in times of crisis, companies that jump in just when an emergency is breaking have joined too late. Their customers don't know they are there. It takes time to establish your credibility in Twitterville and you need to understand how it works before that credibility gets tested.
It also takes time to understand how this deceptively simple-looking tool works. Nearly everyone I interviewed in my recent book mentioned how confused and disoriented they once felt. According to Twitter founder-CEO Ev Williams: "People are pretty much clueless when they first try Twitter."
A smart business will start early. Nearly every company cited in the accompanying slide show stumbled and fumbled for a while before they discovered how Twitter could help business in many ways.
Shel Israel is author of TWITTERVILLE: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods (Portfolio 2009).
See the original article here.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Software for Writers
For those hardcore writers and writer wanna be's here's a software which they say may be helpful to you. I guess it sets the mood for you when you write on your laptop or PC. Unfortunately they only have it for Mac right now. Check out their site for more information. They call it the Ommwriter...I guess it puts you on a meditative state thus the 'ommmmmmm'
If you use it I guess you have to cut and paste it to your blog though.
If you use it I guess you have to cut and paste it to your blog though.
Imagine Leadership
Here's a good presentation that will inspire you to lead. We can change the world in our own small way ...slowly changing it in a big way. It's time to lead.
10 Big Marketing Predictions for 2010
If you want to see the whole article now simply click: The Rise to the Top.
1. Big Brands Will Learn From Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses and Niche Brands.
2. Digital Schmoozing: Networking Online
3. Death Of The One-Way Website
4. Content Marketing: Brands As Media Sources And Publishers
5. Online Video: Forget Viral Focus On Function
6. Death Of The 30-Second Ad: Rise Of Creative Paid Content
7. Reputation Marketing: Customer Service And Caring
8. Event Marketing
9. Social Media: No Longer A Buzzword In Marketing
10. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
To preview the whole article click here.
I think this is very relevant here in the Philippine context as Rogue Digital has actually implemented some campaigns based on what has been mentioned in the article. Big name clients has opted for more efficient pay-per-click (PPC) campiagns versus traditional print advertising and they were very happy with the results. As such, we have actually implemented several PPC campaigns and they have proven a good draw for potential clients.
My current favorite case study for event and relationship marketing is our Century Corned Tuna event where our bloggers really enjoyed the event and gave rave reviews on their blogs. We are thinking of other events to make the experience more enjoyable for the bloggers and readers alike.
We have also started doing Social Media Marketing and in fact we have been looking and observing at how other local Philippine companies are utilizing the social media networks. SmartCares Twitter account is another favorite of mine since they really answer you rants on Twitter. As a customer I felt assured that someone over there was doing something about my complaint - which was actually not thier fault (I loaded the wrong account).
1. Big Brands Will Learn From Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses and Niche Brands.
2. Digital Schmoozing: Networking Online
3. Death Of The One-Way Website
4. Content Marketing: Brands As Media Sources And Publishers
5. Online Video: Forget Viral Focus On Function
6. Death Of The 30-Second Ad: Rise Of Creative Paid Content
7. Reputation Marketing: Customer Service And Caring
8. Event Marketing
9. Social Media: No Longer A Buzzword In Marketing
10. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
To preview the whole article click here.
I think this is very relevant here in the Philippine context as Rogue Digital has actually implemented some campaigns based on what has been mentioned in the article. Big name clients has opted for more efficient pay-per-click (PPC) campiagns versus traditional print advertising and they were very happy with the results. As such, we have actually implemented several PPC campaigns and they have proven a good draw for potential clients.
My current favorite case study for event and relationship marketing is our Century Corned Tuna event where our bloggers really enjoyed the event and gave rave reviews on their blogs. We are thinking of other events to make the experience more enjoyable for the bloggers and readers alike.
We have also started doing Social Media Marketing and in fact we have been looking and observing at how other local Philippine companies are utilizing the social media networks. SmartCares Twitter account is another favorite of mine since they really answer you rants on Twitter. As a customer I felt assured that someone over there was doing something about my complaint - which was actually not thier fault (I loaded the wrong account).
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