Engage by Brian Solis – A Review

Apr262010
Sarah Findle

I recently finished Brian Solis‘ new book, Engage, after some stop and go reading over the past month. Overall I thought it was a great book with some good examples and case studies to keep in my back pocket.  In the end though, I think it could be broken into two separate books: New Media University and Postgrad.

The first half does a great job of breaking down social media theory and tools via courses in the “New Media University”.  Solis encourages even those who consider themselves social media PhD’s to start from square one and review what makes up the intricacies of social media:

“For those well versed in social media and the tools that connect us to those we wish to reach, enjoy this chance to hit “ctrl-alt=del” and restart with a fresh perspective.  For those new to the socialization of media and influence, please take your time here. This is were everything begins.”

By the time you receive your New Media U. MBA you have covered an extensive library of tools available and have been introduced to a myriad of examples and case studies that prove the value of those tools.  I enjoyed reviewing and reminding myself of the resources that can foster relationships, conversation and reputation both personally and for brands and business. Continue Reading >

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Tweet Tweet…Shhh! Library voices!

Apr152010
Sarah Findle

Notturno by gualtiero.The 140 characters of the little blue bird have found a nesting place among the stacks at the Library of Congress.

Fellow Tweeps, if you never thought you would get your 15 minutes of fame as a published author with enough clout to  be among the greats in the card catalog, never fear! Thanks to Twitter’s collaboration with the Library of Congress every 140 character message you have posted over your Twitter lifetime will soon be on display for all to see.

There is a six-month lag in storage so you can’t look back to yesterday’s gossip, but the archive will prove useful to look back at significant moments such as the very first tweet ever posted and events such as coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

One other reason to check yourself before you Tweet – your great great grandkids can look back and find out when you had a “fail whale” of a day. You don’t want to be rolling over in your grave now do you?

Side note: Another neat tool released recently by Google is Google Replay. It lets you re-live real-time search results from a certain moment in time (right now only back to Feb. 2010, but it will soon go several years back).

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How marketers manipulate you

Sep212009
Maximillian Hill

Jeff Atwood, a programmer and experienced blogger, recently wrote about Predictably Irrational, a book that attempts to uncover the truths behind why we make the decisions we make. The article is rather long, but worth reading if you’re interested in learning about how marketing-folk do what they do to get you to make the choice they want you to make.

Here’s an excerpt from the book that simply tickled my fancy:

Ariely and Shin conducted an experiment on MIT students. They devised a computer game which offered players three doors: Red, Blue, and Green. You started with 100 clicks. You clicked to enter a room. Once in a room, each click netted you between 1-10 cents. You could also switch rooms (at the cost of a click). The rooms were programmed to provide different levels of rewards (there was variation within each room’s payoffs, but it was pretty easy to tell which one provided the best payout).

Continue Reading >

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