02-16-2010
Read this line in an article today, another reason why in customer service you need to treat everyone special..
Nobody walks around with a Twitter follower count or blog URL painted on his or her forehead, and many extremely popular bloggers still live in relative physical anonymity, which means that the customer relations business is like a game of Minesweeper–you can never be sure what might blow up in your face.
This line came in response to the recent blowup when Southwest airlines kicked a passenger off their plane for being too fat. And as it were, this overweight individual was actor, director, writer, blogger Kevin Smith.
Full story
Buzzfeed is one of my favorite sites to catch trends and kill time. They just posted some tips on how to make the front page, nothing new but good recap.
The best way to get on BuzzFeed’s front page is to make something that has a high chance of going viral. Have a look at our most viral posts to get a sense of what works. Then use these tips to help you create something that is just viral as all hell.
- Don’t Just Link
- Make Lists And Quizzes
- Find An Angle
- Share!
- Start a Channel
See what what just happened there? They made a list and now I am sharing it.
How To Get on BuzzFeed’s Front Page!!: Pics, Videos, Links, News.
It is about time. It took Apple a while to come around, and now Verizon.
Verizon customers will now be able to bypass the outlandish international calling rates on their mobile phones and make free Skype-to-Skype calls or use their much cheaper Skype Out minutes instead.
Surprised there is so much resistance from the carriers end. The more that people use data intense programs like these, the more customers will upgrade their data plans. Win-win, right?
Also, just because its interesting..
Skype accounted for 12 percent of all international calling minutes last year, and that number will just keep going up.
Verizon Swallows Hard And Embraces Skype.
Sketchbook in the shape of an iPhone or iPad, sure!
If you still love doodling with pencil and paper, and who doesn’t, these pads are a great way to map out your next project.
The front of both sizes is set up to match the bezel of a popular mobile computing device, while the back is ruled with a light 6mm grid, perfect for writing notes or jotting down the phone number of a hot geek.
Notepod: The sketchbook for your app ideas.
Ads on twitter and monetizing the twitter stream is a hotly debating topic, and I have to say I like this service.
Ad.ly’s platform is designed to be self-service for both Twitter users and the advertisers. So for example, an advertiser for Dell could choose which Twitter power-user to pitch their ad too and then submit a bid to a particular user. The publisher then approves or denies the request. Once the publisher approves the Tweet, the message is sent out via their account by Ad.ly.
Will be interesting to see if this service picks up, but I imagine most people wont mind inserting a sponsored tweet now and again if they can pick, especially for a little $$.
Ad.ly Launches Self Serve Platform For Advertisers To Push Sponsored Tweets.
Facebook Zero opens the door for carriers to monetize the mobile web, while giving users a Facebook on the go. Important to note, this is an opt in service that individual carries need to sign up for.
This system is apparently called zero-rated pages, and allows operators to use a trimmed down version of a web application as a sort of teaser, driving the adoption of certain mobile services or apps, and more data usage revenue down the line.
Facebook Launches Zero, A Text-Only Mobile Site For Carriers.
09-18-2009
Jason Fried over at 37 Signals is not to thrilled bout Intuit’s acquisition of Mint
Mint was a key leader of the next generation of game changers. And now it’s property of Intuit — the poster-child for the last generation. What a loss. Is that the best the next generation can do? Become part of the old generation? How about kicking the shit out of the old guys? What ever happened to that?
Its difficult for innovation to come from within a company that is set in its ways, so I can see this as positive move for Intuit. But from Mint’s perspective I do question the move as it feels that they are at risk of losing what made them special in the first place.
The full rant – The next generation bends over – 37signals.
09-17-2009
Robert Fabricant has taken a business approach in an attempt to find out if the Kindle has any chance of success.This is not a ‘Is this device cool’ type of article, but looks at different strategies and applies them to the Kindle.
- The TiVo Strategy
- The iTunes Strategy
- The Wii Strategy
- The App Store Strategy
- The MySpace Strategy
Full Article Is the Kindle Destined for SkyMall? | Blog | design mind.
Jive Software has integrated Radian 6′s social listening services into their community software and wrapping it up in a neat package called the Jive Market Engagement Solution.
Relevant tweets, blog posts, comments in a traditional news website, or trend reports can be pulled directly into a team community with designated places for specific topics and focus areas from the brand monitoring tool (such as competitors, industries, or product lines).
The team community is now the central place where virtual, topic-specific “war rooms” engage the broader team and facilitate collaborative decision-making.
Sounds like a pretty cool tool, love to see it in action sometime.
Version 1.6 of Android has finally launched, and with it are a bunch of new features that developers will be excited for. And in grand Google tradition they have put out a fun little video demoing the new features.
Check it out in full