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Silicon Valley blogger Louis Gray posted a great entry to his blog last night in regards to the new features that the iPhone has. Here are a few of his key points:
And here's a direct quote of his last three paragraphs, as everything he says is right on the money:
"What I was looking for today was not a device that offered feature parity or similarity to what I have now somewhere else - on a platform that isn't limiting me to the manufacturer or to the carrier. I wanted more flexibility and more functionality. An iPhone 4-only parlor trick of video calling much like that on AIM or Skype or Yahoo! Messenger from the last decade isn't what is going to make my phone buying decisions made up, but instead, a promise to create a high quality experience for all aspects of my using the device.
AT&T has failed that litmus test of quality and has done so consistently for years. Today, Apple had the opportunity to look customers in the eye, and either apologize for the poor service we have come to accept from AT&T and Apple, and the missed promises, or better yet, offer an alternative. They didn't. That tells me either they do not fully understand the magnitude of the problem, or they think they can get away with continuing to ignore it.
Apple, I didn't want a thinner iPhone that's slightly faster and better looking. I wanted a promise that the new one would make phone calls, act as a fantastic Web device, and provide 3G access to other devices. Today, you didn't do that, and it's disappointing. A smartphone can't be smart if it's married to a company as dumb as AT&T."
[via blog.louisgray]
For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides
New iPhone Features Won’t Slow Android
The iPhone 4 is here now and it's all that we had hoped for and...well, that's about it. Apple's now predictable keynote began with stats, ended with "one more thing" and detailed a few highlights throughout regarding the company's latest creation, the iPhone 4.
But one thing didn't happen today: we weren't blown away. We weren't surprised. We didn't jump up and down, screaming. We don't even know if we'll rush right out and get one.
In fact, we might just skip the iPhone altogether and get an Android phone instead.
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Blame Gizmodo if you will, for spoiling all our fun with their spy shots of the iPhone prototype "found" in a bar. But we don't think that was the problem. No, the problem is that iPhone has lost its edge. Meanwhile, Android is killing it.
Case in point, here's the conversation this blogger had with the spouse:
Me: It's only $199 to upgrade my iPhone!
Him: Is it 4G?
Me: No.
Him: What's cool about it?
Me: Um, it's got a better camera. And it's faster. And it's has a 3-axis gyro thingy.
Him: What's that?
Me: This thing for games, it helps when you rotate the phone, the game rotates.
Him: That's cool, but you don't really play games, do you?
Me: Not really. But it has HD video recording!
Him: So does your camera.
Me: And threaded email...And video chat!
Him: Over 3G?
Me: Well, no. Over Wi-Fi. And only with other iPhones. But EVO has Qik, and that works over 4G, actually. Hmm, maybe I should just get an EVO.
In fact, maybe I just will.
While I'm at it, here are a few more things that Apple didn't announce today:
No, it was not the "iPhone 4G," it was the iPhone 4. Why? Because AT&T isn't set to roll out its 4G network until next year. And Apple didn't surprise us by finally confirming the mythical Verizon iPhone, not that we expected it at this point. But still. Where's my iPhone 4G already?
Sure, Apple just bought Lala.com, but couldn't they have at least teased us about the forthcoming "cloud iTunes?" After all, that's what Google did. At its recent I/O conference, Google announced that an upcoming version of the Android Market would allow music and app downloads and automatic over-the-air sync. Is Apple even thinking about doing this? We have no idea.
FaceTime, Apple's new mobile iChat-like application, will probably be fun, but it's not game-changing. It only works over Wi-Fi for one thing (thanks, AT&T), not 3G. Meanwhile, Qik and Fring already have video chat apps for Android and Skype is hinting at an Android app arriving this year. Oh, and Qik on EVO offers 4G video chat, too.
In the current version of the Android operating system (the operating system!), there's a feature that lets an Android phone function as a mobile hotspot. Carriers can choose to implement this feature or not. The iPhone, meanwhile, can be tethered for $20 extra per month via USB or Bluetooth on AT&T.
Apple wants to compete with Google, but still charges $99/year for MobileMe (for the smallest package) while Google gives away its low-end services for free. That's not working for us either.
Trying to stop your dangerous texting while driving habit? Better get an Android phone. Although universal voice input is probably coming to the iPhone thanks to Apple's acquisition of Siri, a cutting edge, voice-based digital assistant, it's not here yet. When it is arriving, though? Apple's reluctance to disclose future plans has us again, looking to Android, which does this right now.
Navigation on the iPhone? There's an app for that! *Yep, but it's not free. Google, meanwhile, offers Google Maps Navigation for free on all Android phones. Apple, either provide your own app or make nice with Google and use theirs, for goodness' sake.
We were halfway hoping that the recent news about Apple killing off all the "dashboard" apps on the iPhone and iPad meant the company was going to launch its own dashboard-like app similar to Android's widgets. Guess we were wrong here, too.
All this being said, the iPhone 4 is still a great smartphone thanks to other hardware-based innovations like its "retina display" (326 pixels per inch!), its integrated antennas, and its glass and stainless steel casing housing the thinnest iPhone to date: 9.3 mm thick. But maybe now that the hardware has been modernized, maybe Apple can focus on the software?
DiscussiPhone Letdown? 8 Things Apple Didn't Announce
- Rob DianaRT @JimKukral: 5 Plugins to Boost Contact With Your Readers and Users http://bit.ly/b6IFiG
A blogger or admin who takes the time to answer visitor questions, engage commenters or interact with readers always gets return visitors.
If visitor loyalty is important to your blog, you should do all you can to solve their problems, answer questions, respond to comments and messages – and even let them call you from your website.
Here are a few great Wordpress plugins that give you various ways to get in touch with your readers, streamline the communication process and answer some questions if need be.
FAQ Builder is a Wordpress plugin that lets you create a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page for your users.
Once you install the plugin, you can add it on any page. You can use the simple plugin interface to add questions, answer user generated questions, and organize your FAQs for ease of access. You can also add a search field for users to search through your FAQs.
Google’s chat badge is a wonderful tool that lets you talk to your site’s visitors using the familiar Gtalk.
If you have a Gtalk account, you can create a custom code and paste it into your blog. This will create a chat window for your visitors, and it will show if you are available for chat. Using this system, you users can talk to you from your website.
You can use the click2call plugin to allow users to call you directly from your website. You can modify the code to customize the design of the interface.
You can also download the optional Kermit app to setup a voicemail system that sends you an email transcription of your voicemails. Currently, you need a US or UK number to use this plugin.
Support tickets are important if you are running a major website with an active help and support forum.
They let you track visitor support queries and respond to them in an organized and efficient manner. Support Tickets is a Multilanguage enabled plugin that lets you create support tickets for your visitors. It uses the Contact Form 7 plugin to let you answer your users’ technical questions.
Wordpress-to-Lead is for bloggers or businesses that want to use the functionality of the Salesforce CRM and adapt it to their WP blog. It converts emailed contact info from your WP contact form into CRM entries that you can manage easily.
The plugin adds its own contact form for this purpose. Using the form will automatically convert emailed user data to CRM entries for you, and you will not have to go through the cumbersome stages of copy pasting this data into your Salesforce CRM.
About the Author: Loren Baker is a partner at Search & Social, a digital marketing agency with an emphasis on social media engagement and search engine marketing. He’s also a professional blogger and the owner of Search Engine Journal, an AdAge Top 10 marketing blog.
Cori is what I call a "Natural-born blogger." She tells the story of her own life. http://r2.ly/3xeu
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I was talking with Rob Hatch about his experience with Touchpoints, an approach to help child development practitioners work with children and families. In that system, there are “assumptions” and “principles.” This has me thinking about how Julien and I talk about “frames,” and frameworks, and how this all applies to human business.
In Touchpoints, an assumption is “The parent is the expert on his/her child.” This means, no matter what you know as a pediatrician, you’re still not the expert of THAT child. You know stuff. The parent knows that child. See the difference?
Squint a bit, and you could say “you are an expert on YOU.” Meaning, you know more about yourself than a doctor, than a teacher, than anyone. In this case, we’ve shifted the frame from “parent” or “child developer” into “person,” and the assumption is still usable.
You with me?
Think of a frame as “a perspective, with boundaries.” So, when I frame myself as running a media company, it gives me a way of thinking and creating assumptions for my business. If I just framed myself as a blogger, those assumptions are quite different.
We haven’t talked about principles. Principles don’t change. They’re something we apply to various situations. One of my principles is “be helpful.” In all circumstances, I ask myself is there’s a way to be helpful. So, presuming you have a sense of the principles by which you live and operate, then what you can work with are your frames and your assumptions.
The single-most powerful thing I do with all things business and self-improvement is to start by setting my frame.
When I took my role at CrossTech Media, I was hired to build out their strategy and grow the business. I pushed everything through the frame of, “I’m here to grow this business.” It was a great way to stay on target, and a great way to look at the opportunities.
Set your frame. Consider who you are and your role in the situations that matter the most to you. At home, how do you frame yourself? What are the right assumptions to carry that frame? At work, same thing. Now more so, do you frame yourself around your place of employment? I say no, by the way.
Your frame is around you. You’re the CEO of your future (or pick a title that you love). And now? Let’s go one layer deeper.
One thing where people get tripped up is that we have to re-set our frames from time to time. I’d argue that we have to reset them often. For instance, at CrossTech, I went from being VP of strategy to telling my bosses that I wanted to take over a division and run it as my own company. That’s certainly a bit different than my frame of “define strategy and grow the business.” I changed my frame and decided I’d frame around “do social media marketing well.”
Resetting your frame is so important to your development. I think we get locked up in keeping our old frames around, especially when we consider our job to be the same as our frame. I’m a newspaper reporter; I can’t find work as a newspaper reporter (versus “I’m a content developer; there are tons of jobs for me!).
Once you have a new frame, determine your assumptions, and make sure you stay aware to how they alter your perception. For instance, if you decide you’re a content developer, maybe you’ll assume that you should always be making new media. But that might have you miss a different type of opportunity. Decide how your assumptions will support your efforts.
What do you consider your frames? Do you anchor your frame currently to your job description? How would things change if you alter that?
And how do your assumptions line up? Have you ever given them much thought? What’s helping or hindering?
Photo credit Katie Tegtmeyer
Frames and Assumptions http://bit.ly/awx72P
- TorbjornSharing: Social Media Strategy from A to Z http://bit.ly/czWCcv
Social media might be old. It might even be a dead buzzword. That’s why you need to paint a picture that’s more meaningful and encompasses what “social media” as a label really is.
Some of us have been thrust into social media simply because the online landscape showed potential for online conversations. Others have been there for over a decade. Regardless of the many years of experience you have in the online space, the ideas behind social media and social media marketing are applicable to everyone. Let’s take a look at some lessons, takeaways, and tips.
Always be Listening. Social media rocks because it’s one of the most amazing tools for “free” market research. Your investment is merely that of time. Take the time to hear what people are saying about your business. If you’re the frugal type, take advantage of the free alerts from Google, YackTrack, Social Mention, BackType (which gives you alerts from blog/article comments, which other services do not include), and Trackur.
Blogging. Who said that blogging was dead? Perhaps 140 character streams have replaced regular blogging, but I’ve been blogging more than ever lately. Blogging helps you build community (especially via comments), establish thought leadership, bring links to your website (both internally, perhaps to products or to other articles on your blog, and externally, when people like what you say and opt to link to you), and get you some nice traffic. If you can blog, you should. And read these tips on how to become a great blogger.
Customer Service. The letter “C” could be a lot of things, like “content,” “consistency,” and “community,” but customer service is a big part of the evolution of social media. This shift is becoming increasingly more obvious. The role of customer service online is becoming equivalent to social media marketing. If you use the online space to offer customer service, you are essentially marketing yourself. Showing a public interest in your customers and genuinely offering help helps nurture a positive perception of your brand.
Drive Leads through LinkedIn. Lead generation and client acquisition can be had on LinkedIn, especially in the B2B space, just as long as you’re active and engaging. Linkedin lead generation requires commitment to answering and asking questions on Groups/Answers, taking advantage of the deep searches, and connecting directly with those around you in your network. Effective use means more business.
Engagement. It’s not enough to broadcast. “Look at this! Twitter! Let me port my RSS feed to it and be done with it!” Nope, that’s the wrong approach. Engagement requires regular interaction between you and others. These are conversations, not broadcasts. You may not want to do it super frequently, but you should do it everyday. Be responsive. Offer value. Give to your community.
Friendships. Thought I was going to say “Facebook?” Sorry. The best types of social media marketing arise from genuine concern as if your customers are true friends. How many of you have made true friends from merely engaging in this space? Exactly. There’s so much to gain from being networked, and you’ll find that there’s a real reward in finding out that these relationships turn into something much more.
Goals. You shouldn’t jump into social media just because “everyone else is doing it.” There’s a lot of potential, of course, and it looks mighty appealing, but setting goals is advisable as well. You might want to consider the SMART formula for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals. Whatever goal methodology you adopt, don’t jump into social media without having something you want to gain from it.
Human Business. Social media marketing is what you might call “human business.” I often use explain it as follows: “social media marketing is all about ‘leveraging’ the social through its media to market to your constituents.” “Leverage” may sound a tad too exploitative, because the idea is to build genuine relationships that put the customers first before promoting your own agenda. As such, it’s important never to lose sight of the “human” in the business. Social media marketing recognizes the fact that this online space allows millions of people to congregate and to communicate with one another, and it’s not much different than sitting in a real room talking to real people. Never lose sight that the online space is a human medium.
Influence. Social media gives you an opportunity to exert influence onto customers and prospects. If you’re active in any particular medium, you become influential. That influence often translates to interest; people want to hear what you have to say. Here are tips on becoming an influential blogger.
Kirtsy and Other Niche Social Networks. Did you know there’s a social news website catered to women called Kirtsy? There is. For any interest in the world, there’s an online community for it. You just need to look. Kirtsy is a social news network; there are also forums and even Yahoo! Groups. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these communities and not to focus merely on the big players. Your target market might be hiding in a niche forum somewhere out there. Start digging and maybe you’ll reap some serious rewards.
Location. People always ask me what the “future” of social media is. I think that where we are will continue to evolve, but we’re seeing that face-to-face connections have a role in social media marketing as well. FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and other location-aware services are social networks, unifying real connections. Beyond that, though, there’s the potential for businesses to run with special promotions, bringing more people to a business location and maybe even cultivating new friendships as well.
Marketing Beyond the Social. This is a blog post intended to address social media strategy, but social media marketing is not a panacea. It alone is not the only marketing solution. There’s display advertising, print/TV ads, SEO, PPC, email marketing, snail mail, etc etc. Focusing solely on social media might be nice, but your marketing reach should be a little more extensive than focusing on Twitter and Facebook. That said, marketing beyond the standard mediums (see letter K) should also be a given. I’m going to bet that 99% of you have not tapped into some the most powerful online communities that can serve you or your own clients.
Nurture Perception. Sure, people don’t want to lose control of the conversation. That’s one of the biggest reasons for companies not to engage in social media at all. They like dictating and broadcasting, and they’re afraid of a two-way conversation and the potential negative impacts of engaging. They’re especially worried when people are already saying negative things about them. That’s where you as a business, one that genuinely cares about building true relationships, can shine. You may not be able to change perceptions overnight, but you can certainly nurture those perceptions and give customers reasons to give you a chance in the future.
Opt-in, not out. Using social media is a privilege, but someone friending you on a social network doesn’t mean they agree to receive unsolicited messaging. This explicitly references the LinkedIn or Facebook connections that give you access to a person’s precious “commodity,” his email address. Just because you have access to it doesn’t mean he wants your newsletter. A relationship is not a newsletter opt-in, and quite frankly, it’s spammy. If I give you my phone number at a dinner party, it’s probably because I want to know about you, but I’m not inviting you to start hounding me with sales calls. Don’t opt someone into communications just because they’re your newest LinkedIn contact. Do it because they want to be a subscriber and explicitly opted in first.
Participation is Marketing. This term was coined by Chris Heuer five years ago and still rings true. The idea is that when businesses participate in social media (and do so because they want to actually be members, not marketers), their sheer presence and activity on the service translates to marketing. What does that mean for you? By engaging, being yourself, being altruistic (and coming bearing gifts, looking to offer value and not to receive), you’ll gain some followers and fans, and maybe even customers.
Queen. That’s what marketing is, according to Gary Vaynerchuk. Content is king, but marketing is the queen, he said. (I even have the shirt.) Content alone is not enough. Blogging is wonderful, but if you’re not going to market those blog posts, you might as well not be blogging at all. With billions of pages of content and yottabytes of data, marketing is how you’ll get people to see what you have to offer to the world.
Reputation Management. If you’ve seen a negative search result for your business name, social media marketing might be able to help. By creating social media profiles, updating content regularly, and actively participating on social media networks, you may be able to successfully push down those negative mentions of your business name.
Simplifying with Tools. One of my favorite things about social media marketing is simply the many tools that make your life so much easier. Tools that especially help consolidate the actions across social networks in one single location are quite helpful. Social media doesn’t have to be a challenge thanks to tools that help you track measurement, assess the reach of campaigns, give you updates when someone talks about you, and more. I’ll go into some tools in future posts (and we’ve seen some great listening tools under the letter A), but it becomes obvious that those of us involved in the social media space are quite fortunate; our jobs are made much easier thanks to so many software applications out there. Of course, never forget that this is human business, and the tools aren’t supposed to replace relationships.
Time. Want to be an “overnight success?” Sorry, that’s not something you can do in social media marketing. Sure, you can have viral campaigns that truly rock, but at the end of the day, it’s all a substantial time investment. I’ve said it before; social media is not a silver bullet. While some campaigns are formulated to broadcast and promote on social channels quickly, true social media marketing relates to building relationships with customers and constituents. That takes time. It won’t happen overnight and you shouldn’t expect it to happen in one month’s time either. If you’re in it to win it, you better be doing it for the long haul.
Understanding Your Community. Three years ago, I wrote that owning your community requires understanding of who they are. People love the prospect of submitting to Digg, for example, and some immediately submit the spammiest articles to the service. I’ve seen press releases, non-English releases, and everything else in between. Before you jump in, you need to actually observe and understand the culture on these services. Learn the rules, the language, and the things that make them tick. You can’t succeed in social media without understanding the community.
Value. Your success as a blogger and promoter really comes from offering value to your audience. It’s not about regurgitating content through twitterfeed, and it’s not about summarizing a post from Mashable without giving additional insights. Value-add comes from injecting your own thoughts, opinions, and feelings. It’s about giving someone else an education and/or leaving them with something to think about.
Word of mouth marketing. Social media is a big part of word of mouth marketing. After all, you’re using social media to talk, but hopefully you’re also working harder to get people to talk about you. People listen to their friends’ recommendations. In fact, are you surprised that Google now takes advantage of this in the form of social search?
Xperiment. Okay, that’s not a word. But experimenting is critical for success. You won’t know until you try. You can always run with some tests, get some feedback, and see if you can run with it full scale. Use the feedback others give you to improve or to go ahead with it. And don’t be afraid if you fail. Just consider that an opportunity to grow and do better the next time around. If you as a newcomer to the space see social media marketing as an experimental pilot program and use any feedback you receive as input for tweaks, you’ll consistently see improvements.
YouTube. YouTube now has 2 billion views per day. It’d be silly to ignore YouTube as a potential medium for marketing your business. It would also be silly to limit distribution of video by preventing them from being embedded onto other websites. That’s how the message spreads. If you’re considering video, do something creative; look for the traits of the most successful videos and do it better. And of course, don’t only focus on YouTube; there are other video syndication sites that you can spread your message to.
Zealous. Let’s put it this way: the most successful social media marketers are both passionate about what they represent and the act of marketing. They don’t shy away from putting their best foot forward — they know that the fact that your favorite search engine does not forget means you need to be on your best behavior always. This doesn’t get to them; they’re still offering service with a smile.
Sure, this only scratches the surface of social media marketing, and there are only 26 takeaways, but hopefully these tips, tricks, and tools will be able to get you thinking. What other social media ideas would you add to the list?
Photos by Shutterstock..
[ Social Media Strategy from A to Z is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]
Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.
Social Media Strategy from A to Z
- Rob DianaSocial Media Strategy from A to Z
- Mike FruchterRT @SourceBlogger: Do You Consider Your Fellow Blogger To Be Friend Or Foe? http://ow.ly/17wXUQ
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A long time ago (or rather 7 years which is ancient in geek time) a Matt Mullenweg unveiled WordPress to the world! These were the early days when services like LiveJournal and Xanga ruled the blogosphere, along with a zillion do-it-yourself blogging platforms.
WordPress was a new comer to the scene, having just branched away from its b2evolution cousin with nothing more than a vision and the phrase “Code is Poetry.”
Flash forward towards today and WordPress is one of the worlds most popular blogging platforms around, second only to Google’s Blogger in both the US and probably internationally as well.
Used by both commoners and heads of state, WordPress continues to redefine blogging as we know it, and whether you prefer to blog from your PC, your iPad or through a fancy (and expensive) smartphone, WordPress continues to provide users with the necessary tools to blog from where they are regardless of location.
So happy birthday WordPress! Thanks for 7 years of awesomeness, and here’s too 7 more years of success!
(via WordPress for Android)
Following up on yesterday's discussion with new Foursquare product manager Siobhan Quinn, North Carolina blogger Wayne Sutton (@waynesutton) and I took time this afternoon to talk about how we see businesses benefiting from location-based services, and Google's role in the market. Additionally, we took a few minutes to talk about Facebook's announced changes to their approach to privacy, updated today in an event chaired by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Yesterday Twitter announced that it will be against their terms of service to post advertisements using a third-party service. Initially the thought was services like SponsoredTweets would be out of business in 30 days when the new rules go into place. But alas, the new rules only apply if you aren’t posting your ads directly on the twitter.com website. As I noted last night, all the people who get fat bankrolls using this method will be able to continue but will have to run the ads manually. Frankly there really is no change if this roundabout method remains.
I’ve written in the past that I think most of the content on Twitter is advertisements but it really bears repeating with the new changes that Twitter is looking to implement. Twitter noted in their post yesterday regarding the advertising terms change, “for this reason, aside from Promoted Tweets, we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API.”
So fine, make the third party timeline ad services handle their transactions manually. Frankly it looks like the advertising companies just beat Twitter at their own game.
But more importantly, isn’t all of the content on Twitter advertisements nowadays? What percentage of content from your followers isn’t an advertisement of some sort? There’s nothing wrong with Twitter creating the world’s largest ad network – it’s just a different route than the one that the Twitter train was on originally. Everything about Twitter today screams ad network.
Here are some types of content I see posted on Twitter — are these ads?
I could easily add more bullets but I am sure you get the point. It will be interesting to read the specific wording once the Twitter API terms are revised. Will applications like Tweetdeck and Seesmic be required to make changes? I continue to suggest that building completely on Twitter is a mistake – leveraging is still acceptable.
Find more stories about: online advertising, social advertising, Twitter
RT @another_blogger: RT @another_blogger AdSense Revenue Sharing Reveals http://bit.ly/bchJiK #Adsense #for #contents #search #Advertisement
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After seven years at Google, including the last two and a half as a product manager on the company's Blogger platform, Siobhan Quinn handed in her badge yesterday, and will start on June 7th as the second product manager at the fast-growing, location obsessed, Foursquare, in New York City, joining Alex Rainert. Siobhan is the second of Blogger's three product managers to have recently made a move, following Rick Klau's move to manage Google Profiles last month. I talked with Siobhan today to find out her thoughts on Foursquare's potential, and how the company can transition from one beloved by "Silicon Valley nerds" to a more mainstream audience, delivering real value.
Siobhan Quinn Exits Blogger, Checks In at Foursquare
- Atul Arora
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addresses Facebook users’ privacy concerns in a column in the Washington Post on Monday.
Zuckerberg admits that users find their privacy settings confusing, and promises new, simplified settings “in the coming weeks”. The public statement follows a private email exchange with a blogger in which he admitted “we’ve made a bunch of mistakes“.
The majority of Monday’s column (the thrust of which is quoted below) doesn’t really provide us with new information. It’s the standard patter about Facebook’s mission, and the company’s belief that sharing makes the world a better place. But Zuckerberg does outline a plan to revise the site’s privacy settings:
Facebook has been growing quickly. It has become a community of more than 400 million people in just a few years. It’s a challenge to keep that many people satisfied over time, so we move quickly to serve that community with new ways to connect with the social Web and each other. Sometimes we move too fast — and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding.
…The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information. Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.
We have heard the feedback. There needs to be a simpler way to control your information. In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. We are working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible. We hope you’ll be pleased with the result of our work and, as always, we’ll be eager to get your feedback.
I find Zuckerberg’s private response far more impressive than this public one. His private email to Robert Scoble, reprinted with Zuckerberg’s permission, included honest phrasing like “we’ve made a bunch of mistakes” and ” I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time”. Those concessions to critics verge upon being a mea culpa, even if they stop short of a direct apology. The Washington Post piece is much less direct: No doubt vetted by multiple members of the Facebook team, it almost seems to blame the users for being unable to work their privacy controls.
Nonetheless, Facebook is smart to address critics in such a public fashion. Whatever the resolution of this privacy debacle, I’ve no doubt the controversy will eventually be forgotten, just like every other Facebook flap over the years. Simply put, Facebook is on an unstoppable roll right now: It’s the dominant force on the social web, with Google and Twitter trailing far behind.
Tags: facebook, privacy, Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO: "I know we've made a bunch of mistakes" http://bit.ly/cBsbCl
According to an email from Facebook CEO earlier today, Facebook is planning some sort of changes to their much-debated privacy policies.
Mark Zuckerberg told blogger Robert Scoble, "We're going to be ready to start talking about some of the new things we've built this week."
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The full text of the email exchange is available on Scoble's blog and a screenshot of the exchange is available on Flicrk.
We've been listening to all the feedback and have been trying to distill it down to the key things we need to improve. I'd like to show an improved product rather than just talk about things we might do.
We're going to be ready to start talking about some of the new things we've built this week. I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time.
I know we've made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve.
If Facebook does in fact improve the "key things" that people have been worried about, then perhaps Zuckerberg's hope my be realized. People may understand the company's intentions, and recognize them as positive, as well as recognize its willingness to listen to, and learn from, its users. The key will turn in tangible changes, though, and not just in presenting the way in which the privacy decisions were made.
Screenshot from Robert Scoble
Discuss
Facebook CEO: "I know we've made a bunch of mistakes"
- Niklas SjostromAn East Village Blogger Hangs Up His Mouse. http://r2.ly/8n2s
[Direct Link]An East Village Blogger Hangs Up His Mouse. http://r2.ly/
[Direct Link]Office Annoyances Entry #4: The Sales Meeting | Blogs | Blogger Luv http://bit.ly/aEqNU4
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If you're anything like me, then you take in a lot of information. You might be reading a ton of RSS feeds or watching the streams from Twitter, Google Buzz and other social networks. You might be creating a lot of content on your own - be it on our own blog, or through various social media outposts. You might consider yourself a podcaster or a photographer or a video blogger. But no matter your venue, or tool of choice, you're no doubt seeing a lot of duplication of content or low-quality content, as the metrics by which we are all measured are driving for quantity instead of quality.It's Time to Stand for Something Better (Again)
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)It's Time to Stand for Something Better (Again)
- Rob DianaIt's Time to Stand for Something Better (Again)
- Niklas Sjostrom
CNBC confirms what many already knew, Apple was behind the raid that saw Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen’s home blasted into.
Today the judge involved in the case, Clifford Cretan, deemed details of the search warrant should be made available to the public since most people already now know which Apple employee lost the phone (Gray Powell), and who the person was who found it (Brian Hogan) and ultimately sold it to Gizmodo.
A disappointed deputy district attorney Chris Feasel confirmed that it was Apple that called police to report the phone was stolen, which set the investigation in motion. Feasel also says that instead of investigating this case as a stolen property crime, it was referred to the county’s REACT high tech crimes unit, or Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, as a trade secrets case.
The search warrant is expected to be released later today and should provide a much needed insight into exactly what took place, the individuals directly involved and how Chen was viewed in the eyes of the law, blogger or journalist.
A Guest post by Ali Hale – author of The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing.
March 11th – 16th 2010: I went to South by South West (SXSW) and had an amazing time. I went to panels and parties; I saw friends and personal heroes … and I even got to give Darren a hug. I was there for Ev William’s now infamous keynote speech. Chris Brogan admired my Metallica t-shirt. I went to a great panel by Tim Kring (the writer of Heroes.) I failed to guard Naomi Dunford’s drink. (She forgave me. I think.)
Okay, that’s enough name dropping for one paragraph…
Last year, South by South West felt like an extravagant dream. I live in the UK, so my expected costs looked like this:
That came to a grand total of $1,873.60 – and that’s without allowing for costs like taxis, food and drink. Although I met some of the up-front costs from savings, I wanted to replace the money which I’d withdrawn from my savings account.
The solution? I wrote an ebook, The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing, and launched it on February 9th – just a month before the start of SXSW. Two months after that launch date, I’ve made $2,146.50 profit, which covers the flight, hotel, ticket, and sundry expenses in Austin:
(NB: I’ve deducted the affiliate share and what I paid for cover and banner design from the “sale amount”, to get the profit.)
In just a couple of months, that one ebook covered all my SXSW costs. Without it, I’d have really struggled to afford the conference. And, of course, the ebook is continuing to sell … even though I had a busier-than-expected start to 2010 and haven’t yet done much promotion.
But here’s what I did do. I’m hoping you can take some of these tips and use them to see just as much success – and more! – with your own ebook or product.
Okay, this is a bit obvious – but I had to start off by actually writing an ebook. However great your launch plan is, you’re never going to be able to implement it without a product to sell.
I’m a writer by both training and profession, so words come easily to me. If you hate writing, or really struggle to make your thoughts coherent, then you might want to consider a different product – perhaps a series of audio downloads instead of an ebook (you can get someone to transcribe these, or you can provide notes, to add extra value).
Whatever type of product you choose to create, you’ll find that the process requires self-discipline and stamina. I find that Dave Navarro’s writing really inspires me: he has a number of blog posts specifically about product creation, and he’s got a great way of being encouraging and no-nonsense all at once!
I also bought “How to Launch the**** Out of Your Ebook” by Dave Navarro and Naomi Dunford. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be worth the price, but it turned out to be a huge help and I’m now really glad I’ve got it. I’d purchased it mainly for help on the launch process, but there were also plenty of tips and encouragement on the writing itself. They manage to be honest and realistic while giving hope!
If you schedule out 6 months to write your ebook it will probably take 7 or 8 months in reality. But that doesn’t matter, because the damned thing will get done. And that’s the magic. Saying you’ll ‘get to something when you have the time’ never works out. Putting something on your calendar? Much more likely to happen.
(Dave Navarro and Naomi Dunford, How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook, p45)
(I’ll let you into a secret here. “How to Launch” helped me get The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing into great shape even though I only used a fraction of Dave and Naomi’s advice and didn’t do any of the worksheets and didn’t listen to any of the extras which came with the ebook. Yet even the little bit which I did do meant that I sold enough extra ebooks to more than justify the purchase price. Don’t tell them!)
Once I’d finished the first draft of the ebook, I wanted to try the ebook out on readers (something which Dave and Naomi strongly advise in “How to Launch”). I posted on the forum of a membership group, asking if anyone would be willing to read the draft and offer feedback.
Several people did volunteer to, and provided invaluable feedback. Often this was easy to use – for example, most of the readers mentioned that I had three separate, somewhat repetitive sections which dealt with using images in blog posts, and I merged these into one simple, succinct chapter:
Occasionally, the feedback made it clear that I needed to do more thinking. One reader said that the ebook seemed very basic and that the content of the early chapters didn’t teach her anything new. Another reader felt that it was too complex, and struggled with quite simple blogging terminology. I realised that this wasn’t a problem with the ebook – but it was an issue with audience. I needed to clarify that this book was aimed at people who have already had some experience with blogging (even if that’s very limited) but who want to take their writing a lot further.
I finished the second draft of the ebook, rewriting several chapters, cutting out some material, and adding new sections. It took some extra work, but I was proud of the end product: it was as good as I could make it.
While the ebook itself was all there, there were a couple of elements which weren’t quite in place. One was the title. I’d been using the working title of “Writing Blog Content”, but my good (and honest!) friend Charlie Gilkey gently pointed out that this wasn’t the catchiest title ever.
I agreed. But I was stumped. Titles aren’t my forte, and I just couldn’t come up with anything which was attention-grabbing but which also summed up exactly what the ebook was about.
In a Skype session with Charlie, we came up with “The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing”. (If you’re ever stuck on a project, Charlie offers project coaching.)
The other area where I needed help was with the design. I mentioned earlier that words come easily to me. Sadly, graphics and layout don’t! Again at Charlie Gilkey’s suggestion, I bit the bullet and paid for a designer. This was a big step for me – what if my ebook didn’t even sell enough copies to cover the design cost? What if I didn’t like the design? And I’d left design until the last minute, so I needed the designer to get me the finished cover and advertising banners within a week if I was going to meet my launch date.
Fortunately, another Charlie, this time “Charfish Charlie” from Charfish Design, came through for me splendidly. I loved the cover design and the banners which he produced, and I know that if I’d cobbled together something in Paint, it would have looked amateur and wouldn’t have done justice to the contents of the ebook.
This is a lesson I learnt the hard way! I launched my previous ebook with a badly optimised page on the website that I had at the time – and I definitely lost out on sales. Even after Daniel Scocco from Daily Blog Tips told me that the sales page needed work, it took me several months to get it right.
It just didn’t look professional, and potential customers were getting distracted – clicking away to look at other material, rather than clicking through to buy.
This time, I knew what to do. I got a sales page set up on its own domain right from the start. Although I designed it myself, I thought this through and drew on design elements from sales pages that looked good to me.
I used the†eCover Software Pro to make a 3D book graphic, rather than using the flat cover image. †And, inspired byDave Navarro’s sales page for Becoming an Early Riser, I put readers’ quotes down the side.
These testimonials came from readers who’d provided first-draft feedback – many of them emailed me to say that they’d found the ebook really useful. I checked with several individuals that they were happy to be quoted on the sales page:
As you saw from the screenshot above, $706 was earned by my affiliates between February 9th and March 16th. That’s money I’m more than happy to pay out, because the other $706 (the 50% that I get when an affiliate makes a sale) is money which I’d otherwise not have had!
Ideally, you want affiliates with a larger audience than your own. Darren is an affiliate for The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing, and†a single tweet from him saw a couple of extra sales:
If appropriate, you might want to come up with a special campaign with one or two affiliates. I got Charlie Gilkey on board – he’s not just a good friend, but who also has a great blog with very engaged readers. I worked closely with him on the launch, and he posted a review of The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing, along with an exclusive sample (Chapters 3, 7 and 13) for download which included a discount code and his affiliate link to the sales page. Charlie made hundreds of dollars as an affiliate as a result, and I made hundreds of extra dollars in sales.
Don’t discount smaller affiliates, though: every extra sale matters, especially when it comes from reaching someone else’s audience. In order to encourage people to sign up as affiliates and to make things as straightforward as possible for them, I created a special page with step-by-step instructions and advertising banners for download – you can take a look at it here: The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing Affiliate Page.
I didn’t have the time and resources for a big launch, so I went for quick results by offering generous discounts to key groups. I looked for areas where I already had a presence or connection, and here are just a few examples of what I did:
When you’re preparing to launch, think through any groups which you could utilise in this way. It’s a win-win situation: †you get to publicise your ebook, and group members feel special because they get a discount.
Create unique discount codes for each group, so that you can track where buyers have come from. For example, I used the code “ProBlogger” to give ProBlogger readers a $5 discount on the purchase price.
You could consider giving a discount to:
Although it can feel like leaving money on the table if you’re giving out discounts, the truth is that many customers might not have bought your ebook otherwise. Plus, getting a discount makes them feel special – they’re primed to feel good about your product before they even download it.
This is the one step which I didn’t take very far in the promotion, because it requires a solid investment of time and energy. However, now that the busyness of SXSW is over, I’m going to be doing another round of guest posting in order to promote The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing, as I found guest posting really effective with my last ebook.
And this time round, even a single guest post on Problogger (Navigating the Middle of Your Post – Without Getting Lost) resulted in an almost-instant 15 extra sales.
If your time is limited (and let’s face it, whose isn’t?) then guest post strategically. Your ideal guest post opportunity is on a blog where:
I’m going to be taking guest posting further in the next few weeks, and making sure that I get The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing in front of the people who’d find it most useful.
And, with a bit of luck, that’ll pay my way to Blog World Expo…
If you’ve been holding back on publishing an ebook (or an audio series), a conference trip just might be the motivation that you need. It really is possible to make a significant amount of money by investing some time and energy into creating and launching a product. It worked for me, and I’m hoping it’ll work for you too.
See you at SXSW next year?
Ali Hale is a freelance writer and blogs for a number of large sites. She’s the proud author of The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing – if you want to take your blogging further, check it out. ProBlogger readers get a $5 discount: just type in the code “ProBlogger” (no quotes).
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
How My Ebook Paid for South by South West – in Just Two Months
Nothing like an #exorcism to make your dorm stay more comfortable -> http://ow.ly/1K8Ny Creepy indeed!
We have confirmed with Twitter that beta testing of the new business features, dubbed the “Twitter Business Center,” has begun.
According to the company, “only a handful of accounts have these features presently,” but it will expand on a gradual business to more accounts. One of the biggest additions: the ability for business accept Twittter direct messages, even from people they don’t follow.
We were able to grab exclusive information and screenshots of the Twitter Business Center thanks to our friend Dave Peck, a social media strategist at LSF Interactive/blogger at New Media Chatter.
Here is an overview of some of the new features that businesses can expect to enjoy in the near future:
A small group of business users are getting emails from the Twitter team, inviting them to test “the Twitter Toolkit.” This is how the invite email begins:
“Congrats!
Your account has been invited to participate in testing one of Twitter’s newest business-centric features, the Twitter Toolkit. We’ll be rolling it out to you within the next few days (if you don’t have it already) for your business or organization’s Twitter account. To get started, visit your business’ Twitter account settings…
http://twitter.com/settings/account
…and look for the “Business” tab. From there you’ll be directed to fill out some information which will help us verify your business or organization.”
Once businesses clicks the link, they have to activate the business features for their accounts. It then takes them to a page where they fill in information such as business contact info and whether they are a small business, large company, or an individual/group:
Once a business activates its account, it is automatically verified. This is important because Twitter Verified Accounts have been limited to individuals thus far. It seems like Twitter has finally decided to expand the Verified Accounts program to brands and organizations.
After activation, four tabs appear: Overview, Business Info, Verification, and Contributors. Overview provides basic information about business accounts and Business Info allows a company to change the information that it submitted during initial registration. The Contributors tab, which we revealed several months ago, gives businesses the ability to add multiple users to a business account so that they can tweet on its behalf.
The tab that interested us the most though was the “Verification” tab. Take a look at the “Preferences” section in this screenshot we obtained of the Verification tab:
Twitter has a new feature for businesses: the ability to accept direct messages from any of its followers, regardless of whether they follow that person or not. This is huge for businesses that perform customer service via Twitter: they can get feedback and deal with private customer issues without having to follow the person back first.
The microblogging startup seems focused on getting more businesses the tools they need to effectively manage their Twitter accounts. There are no details yet as to how much Twitter will charge businesses for these features. For now though, the company is refining and testing its Twitter Toolkit before its eventual public debut.
Tags: business, contributors, EXCLUSIVE, twitter, Twitter Business Center
Twitter to Launch Twitter Business Center [SCREENSHOTS]
- Sarah PerezRT @another_blogger: Now I'm looking for advertiser to support my blog http://another-blogger.com/2010/05/selling-ads-space-advertisespace/
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When TBK created her Twitter profile, she filled out her real name expecting that only her handle would be visible. Unfortunately, the Twitter search engine Topsy already had cached the details and was displaying her name alongside her handle all this time.
- Mitchell TsaiAccording to TBK, her boss – at the suggestion of top management – searched the web for information about employees, and discovered the sex blog. When she arrived at work April 27, she was fired on the spot.
- Mitchell TsaiQuote: "I dressed like a freaking Mormon when I went in," she wrote... #facepalm
- Louis Gray
