Imagine a search engine that understands more than your search query, it understands your personality. Or, imagine never leaving your inbox — search, play games, collaborate, work, all in one location. We have examined the emerging and established technologies from the past year to project what we should expect in…
Also read the Digital Influence in Social Cause Report Continue reading
The platform for Twitter is pretty simple – say what you want in 140 characters or less, share links you find interesting, follow other users you find interesting, and converse back and forth through mentions or direct messages. The page is straightforward – no bells…
Also read Top 5 Tips to Increase Your Social Capital on Twitter Continue reading
As an early leader in the social entrepreneur wave, TOMS Shoes has inspired many to do better and make a real impact on the lives of thousands of people worldwide. TOMS has a simple one-for-one mission: when you buy a pair of TOMS Shoes, a pair is donated to a… Continue reading
Imagine yourself sitting in front of a computer, happily listening to music from your favorite online streaming service. All of a sudden, the music stops, and the page refreshes to something you’ve never seen before, with an announcement that your favorite… Continue reading
The emergence of location-based apps, the rise in smartphones, successful competitors… why shouldn’t FourSquare succeed? Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove recently wrote a glowing review of the location-based mobile app — examining key trends that should catapult FourSquare to a Twitter-like status. “Everyone is making their predictions about whether Foursquare is the next… Continue reading
It was only last week that Google released “First Click Free,” a service that blocks avid users from taking advantage of Google to avoid pay walls. The move sought to strengthen Google’s historically tenuous relationship with the publishers. In another attempt to reconcile its relationship with mainstream media publishers, Google launched the Living Stories experiment. Google… Continue reading
In June 2008, China was still grappling with transparency in reporting from the earthquake in May, the SEC was deciding how to demystify credit default swaps, Barack Obama was on the campaign trail and more than willing to divulge details about… Continue reading
Driving across the country is enough to remind anyone not only how geographically expansive the US is, but also just how disparate a culture we are “under one nation”. Besides surprise at how much of the country really is corn fields, one is also forced to recognize that American culture is not just that of its individual metropolitan centers. On the contrary, much of American culture is characterized by the ethos of the people in its heartlands and beyond. An examination of the top American brands… Continue reading
Though Twitter has captured much of the social media attention in the past year, LinkedIn continues to pick up steam. While the professional-focused social network recently reach the 50 million user mark, we set out to discover how the site could accelerate its growth. We used Quantcast to analyze LinkedIn and other top-tier… Continue reading
Earlier this year, we conducted a survey of emerging leaders and presented the results in our America State of the Union 2009 report. We covered the ideal traits of America, including opportunity, innovation, diversity, and generosity. Since that time, Brand America was ranked #1 in FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index and President Barack Obama has been characterized by some as the new Brand Manager for Brand America. While it appears that we are on the right track, there are significant challenges to strengthening Brand America. We interviewed branding expert Ed Burghard of The Burghard Group to gain new perspective on the challenges and best practices for place branding. Continue reading
Coca-Cola is the leading brand on Facebook with over 3.7 million fans. More and more brands are creating fan pages to capture the hundreds of millions of Facebook users across the world. Facebook can be a powerful tool to generate website referrals, engage existing and acquire new customers. It’s about creating meaning in your digital space that people want to be a part of. We’ll discuss how to brand your page, build relationships and engage and empower your… Continue reading
I have been reading the writings of Dave Capece and have been very impressed with how practical his perspective is on social media. Dave is an entrepreneur who aspires to pioneer the world of branding, digital marketing and business development. He authored a piece on social capital that I found very interesting. Dave is a fan of BIG challenges, so he and I connected to discuss the Strengthening Brand America Project. I took the opportunity to get his thinking on the use of social media in economic… Continue reading
As we find more and more ways to connect online, the trend of crowdsourcing only seems like a natural progression to solve problems, collaborate, and join in discussion with people from around the world. Crowdsourcing’s scope – from social networks to intellectual capital and microfinancing – covers nearly every industry imaginable, and continues to be adopted by new ones… Continue reading
With the availability of devices like Tivo, DVR, and online video streaming platforms, we have access to nearly every show on television, whenever we want it. Our growing media consumption – whether it’s through TV, YouTube, iTunes, or streaming video – is no doubt growing each year, and expanding beyond the television set itself to ever more popular on-demand streaming platforms.
Online video streaming will get even… Continue reading
All of the clicks for online ads are derived from a mere 16% of internet users, according to a recent study by comScore. That means, you’re optimizing your ad for that 16% of users — a very small audience to capture. As consumers become more digitally savvy, they are less inclined to click on advertisements. What happens for those business owners that do not have audiences in that 16% of users?
Across the board, people are simply not clicking on banner ads as much as they were two years ago. The number of people who… Continue reading
After Rupert Murdoch proposed blocking his paid sites from Google (saying, search engines are “feeding off the hard-earned efforts and investments of others”), the search engine giant has made a surprising move to reach across the table and help publishers like Murdoch. In the past, Google has been criticized for thinking like engineers (for instance, the copyright infringements that made Google Books possible), not business people. They might be… Continue reading
Brands are taking two tough punches right now: 1) the economic downturn has continued to spur consumers to buy private label and 2) digital social influencers are taking control from brand managers. The question is not just how brands can survive, but more importantly, how can brands thrive? Continue reading
If you were to develop a site seven or eight years ago, you would likely need at least a basic understanding of programming codes like HTML or Javascript. Such coding was a significant barrier to entry for many non-digitally savvy users. The game changed when WordPress was developed in 2003. Since its release, Wordpress has grown to an incredible 62.8 million websites in the… Continue reading
Optimizing your blog post headlines often seems like a mysterious, esoteric, black art. With data-rich online resources, optimizing blog post headlines can be simple, straightforward and actionable. Such resources, like Google, eliminate much of this mystery surrounding the issue.
We will walk you through the simple steps of optimizing your blog post headlines — from how to identify your keywords and… Continue reading
While I am a big fan of LinkedIn, it’s critical to understand that LinkedIn is not a substitute for human connection. LinkedIn and other social networks help you more easily navigate to like-minded professionals. However, you still need to activate these relationships. Richie Hecker, who blogs at Bootsrapper.com says, “I have a policy that I will meet and buy anyone a cup of coffee that asks to meet with me and try to help them if I can. I give away a lot of free ideas and advice and make a lot of introductions for people.” Continue reading
