May 2007
Rush Hour Episode 15
Written by Neil Patel on May 31, 2007 | 1 comment
This week on Rush Hour Cameron and Cshel talked about Facebook, Digg, SMX and Bar Camp San Diego.
Get Popular On YouTube Through Mediocre Content
Written by Neil Patel on May 31, 2007 | 6 comments
If you ever release a video on YouTube your main goal is probably to get millions of views. In most cases great videos get thousands of views, but if you actually create a mediocre video that others want to respond to you can get millions of views.
The Marlboro Man - Tapping in to Popular Culture and Trends
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 30, 2007 | 4 comments
I was doing some research on online trends earlier today when I stumbled onto something that serves as an excellent example of how a company managed to capitalize on popular trends to increase its sales.
Free iPod Video
Written by Neil Patel on May 29, 2007 | 8 comments
Today on Pronet I added a social stock prediction widget to the sidebar. I usually like to keep the design clean, but for roughly 2 weeks there will be a widget on the site that allows you to predict stock prices for Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Interactive Corp, and News Corp. Whoever has the highest score at the end of 2 weeks will be given a free video iPod from Jambaz (the creators of the widget).
Satisfying the Vocal Minority - Why it Matters
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 29, 2007 | 6 comments
When I wrote about Dell's IdeaStorm I mentioned that one of the key factors to their success was the ideas in action section of the site that allows Dell to show its community that the company is not only listening to them but also implementing their recommendations. Today, Dell has taken this a step further.
Google's Slow Shift to Social Unification?
Written by MG Siegler on May 29, 2007 | 3 comments
One of the aspects largely overlooked in Google's recently unveiled Hot Trends is the prominent link on a topic's page to 'Discuss with others'. While the feature is currently flawed, and as such is basically useless, it could signal a move by Google towards unifying their services with a more social approach.
The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising, and Branding
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 28, 2007 | 11 comments
Ads of the World is an online archive of the best and most interesting advertisements from across the world. Today I came across an advertisement on their site that uses four simple pictures to explain to you the difference between marketing, pr, advertising, and branding.
How-To Make Your Own coRanked Digg
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 27, 2007 | 5 comments
coRank, the social bookmarking site that launched a little while ago has now launched a new Pligg-like service that allows you to make your very own socially driven service and even let's you skin it to look exactly like Digg.
How-To Make Believers out of Detractors - Steps to Success
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 26, 2007 | 1 comment
After hearing from Guy Kawasaki this past week and talking to Tim Ferriss about his road to success, I came away learning something incredibly important: how to make detractors believe in your products or services, and how to make them believe in you.
On The Tail of Warner's Viral Campaign
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 24, 2007 | 3 comments
Warner Brothers' viral campaign for The Dark Knight is going so well that we've decided to cover it from start to end. Like any good viral campaign, we've only seen the beginning and more pieces are developing, falling in place, and further whetting our appetites for the movie.
The Facebook Platform Unveiled
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 24, 2007 | 1 comment
Facebook - one of the most popular social networking sites - held an event in San Fransisco today to officially launch the Facebook Platform and announced over 65 developer-partners including Microsoft, Amazon, Washington Post and many more; that have already built applications on the new platform that allows companies to develop and directly integrate applications with the Facebook website and reach an audience of millions of users. The developers and press alike were given unprecedented access.
Rush Hour Episode 14
Written by Neil Patel on May 23, 2007 | 2 comments
This week on Rush Hour Cshel, Cameron and I discuss the acquisition of Feedburner, Technorati redesign, Digg tips and making money online through MySpace.
Technorati Redesigned - Get Realigned Here
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 23, 2007 | 4 comments
Technorati has pushed a redesigned to their site today and I thought this would be a great time to introduce all our readers to Technorati and walk you through the new and definitely improved site.
Tim Ferriss - Social Media and The Social Proof - Part 2
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 23, 2007 | 8 comments
Here's the second part to yesterday's interview with Tim Ferriss.
Tim Ferriss - Social Media and The Social Proof - Part 1
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 22, 2007 |
As a follow up to Darren Rowse's three-part interview with Tim Ferriss, I sat down with the author (through the magic of instant messaging) of The 4-Hour Workweek, to discuss efficiency when blogging, media training for bloggers, different content promotion methods, social media, and much much more. Here is the first part of a two-part interview. Tim has a lot of interesting insight to share so please read and enjoy.
Wallop - More Than Your Average 'Sneak Peek'
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 21, 2007 | 8 comments
I was able to get an invite to join the private beta of Microsoft's social networking site Wallop, which describes itself as 'the exclusive place where you connect with your real friends and expand your relationships'. Here's my report.
Guy Kawasaki Responds to Truemors Criticism
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 20, 2007 | 13 comments
Guy Kawasaki opened Truemors up to the public about a week ago, and the feedback wasn't very good. I even wrote a review and guide to the site and even offered some advice. Now, Guy fires back at the detractors and justifies his decisions.
Learn Viral Marketing From Warner Bros.
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 20, 2007 | 10 comments
Making a truly successful online viral marketing campaign is not an easy feat to accomplish. So when a golden opportunity to see a brilliant execution of a successful viral marketing campaign - and learn from it - presents itself, we're definitely taking it! Here's how Warner Bros. pulled it off.
Spotting and Reporting a Digg 'Gamer'
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 19, 2007 | 12 comments
In theory, the way socially driven news and content sites like Digg, Netscape, Reddit and so on work is that the community decides what content is good and what content is bad, and then the content is either buried or promoted to the home-page of the site for mass consumption. But there are always those that try to manipulate these sites to their advantage.
A Marketer is No One without a Programmer
Written by Neil Patel on May 19, 2007 | 4 comments
Lately, many companies who have requested my marketing services for their new product or web application feel that I can work my magic and make it so their sub-par product does really well. In reality, this is impossible. Marketing can only be successful when you have a genuinely compelling product. Sites like YouTube, Skype, and Flickr all did well because of all the programming and product development that went into building great services which enabled great marketing to do its trick.
Petition For a Transparent Digg
Written by MG Siegler on May 18, 2007 | 8 comments
After reading the comments from Neil's post on burying within Digg it seems that many of you are in favor of Digg opening up their bury data and making it transparent. In fact it seems to me that even those who didn't like the post may be in favor of this because some truly believe the burying is legit - and this would prove it one way or the other once and for all.
Collactive - An In-Depth Look
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 17, 2007 | 4 comments
Collactive, which dubs itself as a software service company that enables groups of people to share their opinion with each other and take action collectively, was all over news yesterday, with many people simply calling it a venture-funded way to 'game' socially driven news and content sites. Here's an in-depth look at the what exactly Collactive aims to achieve, whether you should use it, and how exactly to use it.
Chris Winfield and Kevin Rose on Rush Hour
Written by Neil Patel on May 16, 2007 | 5 comments
This week on Rush Hour Cameron, Cshel and I talk to Chris Winfield from 10e20 and a mystery caller who claims to be Kevin Rose from Digg. Throughout the show we discussed all the latest happenings with Digg, Guy Kawasaki's new social site called Truemors, and if it really was Kevin Rose or not on the show.
uTube.com and the Price of Brand Integrity
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 16, 2007 | 10 comments
When I first wrote about uTube.com and how they were leveraging the popularity of YouTube to make money, I wasn't aware how much money was involved. Now that we have estimates to how much money uTube.com is making from these tactics, we know how much their brand integrity is worth.
Tumri - Design Your Own Interactive Advertisements
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 16, 2007 |
Tumri, a web start-up that launched about a week ago, allows you to create and put up custom advertisement 'pods' on your site. Here's a look at what you need to know, and how to navigate through the process.
Guy Kawasaki's 'Truemors' - Dissected
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 15, 2007 | 11 comments
When Guy made the help wanted post on his site about two weeks ago, I was intrigued and sent him an email right away, hoping to get access to the new service he was launching. Now that the service has officially launched, I can safely share my findings with you.
Yahoo's Academic Take on Social Networking
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 15, 2007 |
Barry pointed out an interesting piece of news that I hadn't previously had a chance to comment on. Yahoo recently hired an economist and a social scientist to help them 'shape the future of the web'. Here's a look at social networking communities and where these academics fit into Yahoo's plans.
Protect Your Site's Content
Written by MG Siegler on May 15, 2007 | 4 comments
You'll probably recall a couple of months ago when Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain's MySpace page was hacked. McCain's site wasn't really hacked at all per se, instead whomever had set up the page for McCain had done so using a popular template but instead of using their own hosted files (as was requested), they took the lazy route and simply hotlinked to the template's creator, (who also happened to be Newsvine founder and CEO) Mike Davidson's hosted images. Since McCain's crew was hotlinking, all Davidson had to do was change the image that was being linked to and viola - McCain had a nice big banner in support of gay marriage (particularly between women) on his page.
Digg is Censoring Content by Burying Stories Internally
Written by Neil Patel on May 14, 2007 | 56 comments
We all know that the main reason why stories don't hit the Digg homepage is because they get buried. Some say the buries are caused by specific Digg users who have it out for us while others just blame it on the content saying it wasn't Digg worthy. Well last week we did a test on Pronet Advertising that shows Digg might be burying stories internally.
How To Sell Yourself on the Facebook Marketplace
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 14, 2007 | 3 comments
A few days ago we covered Facebook Classifieds, or more accurately, Oodle Classifieds on Facebook. Now Facebook has launched its own integrated version of classifieds on the site, called Facebook Marketplace. The marketplace is much better integrated with the rest of the site and as a result does a much better job of taking advantage of the social networking aspects of Facebook.
Measuring Success through Copycats
Written by Neil Patel on May 13, 2007 | 1 comment
We talk about measuring success all the time and it seems that there is no one perfect way to measure success. Return on investment is usually the way I measure success but another great way to see if you were successful is to see if anyone copied you. If someone is willing to copy what you just did then you are probably doing something right.
Social Network Ad Spending and Return on Investment
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 13, 2007 |
eMarketer published a press release a few days ago highlighting the growth in spending on advertising on social networking sites, a possible reaffirmation of the results from Fox Interactive Media's study on social networks and marketing.
Forced Ideologies Only Spell Disaster
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 12, 2007 |
One of the major reasons that I loved blogging with Matt Craven at The Blog Herald, David Krug at 901am, and love blogging with the Pronet Advertising team is that when they hired me and during my tenure at all of these sites, none of these people forced their ideologies on me or forced me to approach something in a manner that I don't agree with.
Digg API Contest Reminder/Update
Written by MG Siegler on May 11, 2007 | 4 comments
There's less than a week to go until the Digg API Contest deadline. Be sure to get your submissions in by 8pm (Pacific) on next Wednesday, May 16th.
Rush Hour Episode 12
Written by Neil Patel on May 10, 2007 | 1 comment
This week Cameron, Carolyn, and I discuss Neil's new blog, QuickSprout, as well MySpaces acquisition of PhotoBucket, Ebays impending acquisition of StumbleUpon, the differences in user behaviors between various social media sites and the subsequent impact on strategies for leveraging those sites. We also discuss online reputation management and answer a chatroom question about how one would go about starting up a new social media site.
Facebook Classifieds Launched - Everything You Need To Know
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 10, 2007 | 5 comments
Facebook Classifieds - in partnership with Oodle - is now live, and just in time. As the end of the year approaches and students get ready to part with used books, furniture, appliances, and other miscellaneous items they have collected over the year but now see no need for, many of them will find their answer (i.e. prospective buyers) on Facebook and through Oodle.
Social Media Dulling Pharma's Marketing Knife
Written by Aneil Weber on May 9, 2007 | 7 comments
I was planning to write a long article about Pharma (Pharmaceuticals) and what their deal is with social media however instead I decided to just jot down things as they come since there is ever so much to talk about.
Dell IdeaStorm - A Brilliant Idea
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 9, 2007 | 4 comments
If you have a user base consisting of millions of people, many of whom are technology-savvy, why not use this to your advantage? That is exactly what Dell did by essentially converting their community into a free and enormous product development team.
Kevin Rose is More Powerful Than Math
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 9, 2007 | 10 comments
We all know that Kevin Rose has a lot of clout in the social media world because of his socially driven news and media site Digg. But did you know that the founder of Digg transcends math? Well, he does.
Beginner's Guide to Netscape
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 8, 2007 | 8 comments
In an effort to help our readers completely understand the various social media sites out there, we have decided to do a series of 'beginner's guides' dedicated to teaching you how to get your feet wet. Following in the footsteps of Neil's beginner's guide to Digg and based on the same model, here's your beginner's guide to Netscape.
iminlikewithyou: Hot or Not for the Web Savvy
Written by MG Siegler on May 7, 2007 | 14 comments
When I was in college, the site Hot or Not became wildly successful based on a very simple premise: is the person in this picture hot or not? A new service, iminlikewithyou, takes the same idea, and massively expands upon it - creating something that can best be described as a hotornot-meets-facebook-meets-ebay-meets-game, hybrid.
Branding Yourself for Success - QuickSprout
Written by Neil Patel on May 7, 2007 | 2 comments
Personal branding is something I get a lot of questions about. People often ask me what they should do in order to get an established name out there and be seen as a major influencer in their industry. The reason they want this is because the second you accomplish this, the opportunities will come your way and you'd be amazed at the kind of business or money that just lands in your lap.
Automattic's Free Stats Plugin for Wordpress Blogs Reviewed
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 6, 2007 | 10 comments
There are practically hundreds of useful plugins and services that you can use to track your website's traffic-related statistics. Some are free and others you have to pay for. Automattic, the company behind the blogging software Wordpress, has now released their official version of a statistics-management plugin for Wordpress blogs.
Rush Hour - The Industry Revolts on Digg
Written by Neil Patel on May 6, 2007 | 4 comments
This week on Rush Hour Cshel and Cameron discuss a big story where a where a story was removed the main page of Digg and the poster was banned after his story had 16,000 Diggs. The story removal lead to an uproar from the community.
Would You Review an Avril Lavigne Album?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 6, 2007 | 5 comments
Before you even ask, the answer is no, I'm not looking for someone to review the album, and yes, listening to Avril is a guilty pleasure of mine. That said, when I was looking for a review of her latest album, I realized that Tom at Shoutmouth knows his audience and he knows what he is doing. Rather than reviewing the album himself, he let his mom review the album instead. Here's why it's relevant.
The Pepsi Approach to Advertising
Written by Neil Patel on May 5, 2007 | 4 comments
Most TV commercials suck which is why I love Tivo, but there are a lot of great commercials that are actually very addicting. These great commercials are rare, but it seems that Pepsi's commercials usually shine above the rest. So before you try to create some sort of advertising campaign, get creative like Pepsi and you too will be successful.
Twitter Launches Mobile Version
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 5, 2007 |
If you recall, I mentioned three hidden dangers of Twitter, and one of them was the hidden costs accrued through the use of SMS (text messaging). Shortly thereafter, I pointed out a lightweight utility that could help you avoid the 'Twitter tax'. Now Twitter has made move to address Twitter's hidden danger number 2, itself.
How Much Exposure Are You Really Getting?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 5, 2007 |
Whenever you see a list of top sites, whether it is the Technorati top 100, the Alexa top 500, or the Schroeder top 40, each of these ranking methods exclusively use one metric to calculate popularity, and therefore is inherently inaccurate. I got an email today about what could be the most accurate method of ranking top sites. Let me know what you think about this.
Technorati Updates User Interface, Adds Authority
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 5, 2007 | 6 comments
Technorati has made several changes to their site and the way they display information about the sites that are indexed by them. Here's a look at what's new.
BlogSigs - Increase Traffic With Your Email Signature
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 4, 2007 | 4 comments
It's surprising how much email I get from people who simply sign their email with their name, telephone number, and street address. Nowhere to be found is their web presence or how to get in touch with them over instant messaging clients. Not inserting a link to your online presence is simply free traffic lost, but just throwing a link on there isn't going to work either. Here's how to use your email signature to increase traffic, the right way.
Bloggers Often Have Real Lives Too
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 4, 2007 | 5 comments
There is a secret amongst bloggers. We never speak of it, and we never try to show it, but sometimes matters are out of our hands and it becomes apparent even though we don't want it to (though it's okay and even good to talk about it). Well today I'm going to let that secret out of the bag.
Pronet Advertising - Technorati Top 100 Blog
Written by Neil Patel on May 4, 2007 | 16 comments
I was browsing through the Technorati Top 100 list today and it seems that Pronet Advertising is on it.
How Social Media Gave Mike Gravel an Identity and a Platform
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 3, 2007 | 17 comments
There are kings and there are king makers. Social media is an example of a 'space' that serves both functions. Take for example the case of Mike Gravel, until about a week ago he was a complete unknown, but since the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary Debate of April 26th, he is all that the people can talk about.
ReviewMe Launches Marketplace
Written by Neil Patel on May 2, 2007 | 1 comment
The pay per blog post market has always been cluttered with tons of options, but none of them provided a one stop shop solution. Because of this ReviewMe launched a marketplace that allows advertisers to have more control while still giving the blogger full control of accepting or declining the review. With this modification ReviewMe is now more flexible to meet the needs of advertisers and bloggers.
Digg, Cut the Bullshit - You Are Not Democratic
Written by Neil Patel on May 1, 2007 | 15 comments
Today Jay Adelson from Digg wrote on removing the HD-DVD story from Digg. As a business owner I understand why Digg removed that story, but within that blog post Jay said:
Mob Takes Over at Digg, Widespread User Revolt
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 1, 2007 | 46 comments
Just a few hours ago I was writing that there was a reason why Digg had censored an article pointing out the HD-DVD Processing Key. While Digg is right to do so, and Jay Adelson has explained the reasons on the Digg blog, this hasn't stopped the Digg community from a full-fledged revolt.
The Reason Why Digg Removed That Story
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 1, 2007 | 15 comments
Many people have contacted me today wondering why Digg is censoring content, and wanting me to 'expose' it. Well, to be honest, the answer is that they had to, and they were right to do it. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, a story that made it to the front-page of Digg earlier was removed from all views on the site and the url for the site where the content originated from has been blocked from being submitted to Digg.
