After lots of negative media attention, negative word-of-mouth advertising by consumers and a scheduled protest – Time Warner has decided to pull back on its new Internet billing structure. This doesn’t mean they are done with the idea though. Rep’s from the company say they are going to circle back and talk with customers to better flush out the the new billing structure. To be continued.
“Twitter is dumb.” Or not!
Have you ever heard someone say something that absolutely made you cringe? Yesterday, I overheard someone say the following in regards to Twitter. “Twitter is just dumb. Who in the world is so important that they have to constantly update what they are doing? It’s just stupid.” The person that said this should absolutely “get” social media and I found it to be a bit disappointing.
Rather than focus on the obvious ignorance of the statement, let’s focus on why Twitter is useful and hopefully inform those that aren’t educated on the matter. It is a connector. It is a conversation starter. It is real time. It allows individuals to connect in ways that has never before been an option. It is a massive information portal. It is many other things as well, and it’s likely the list will only grow.
One of the folks I follow on Twitter is Lance Armstrong; I’m an avid cyclist so I’m intrigued by the goings on in his life. This morning when I logged on I saw the following tweets from Lance (start with bottom post).
By reading these tweets I quickly learned that the New York Times has included a story about Twitter in today’s paper. I’m sure I would have eventually seen the story, but by posting this tweet he shared useful information with me and thousands of other individuals. Then he went a step further to explain the value he sees in Twitter.
Twitter will continue to grow and I urge you to get involved sooner rather than later. Isn’t it rather insane to ignore a new form of communication, especially if you are a marketer? I say yes.
Follow me on Twitter. I’m @ryanshell.
How to take an iPhone Screen Shot
I will openly admit that this post should be filed under the “nerd” category, but if you’re an iPhone user you’ll appreciate the info. If you aren’t an iPhone user, you should be. I mean, who wouldn’t want a phone that allows you to dance around waving your phone as it produces your favorite light savor sound from Star Wars? Not that I’ve ever done that (wink).
Every now and then I’ve found myself wanting to take a screenshot of what is on my iPhone screen, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to do it. I knew people were doing it somehow, but really hadn’t put a lot of energy into figuring out the conundrum… until last Friday.
I needed a screenshot of my credit union’s new mobile banking application so I did a quick Google search and the mystery was solved. All you have to do is push the home button on the front of the phone followed by a click of the on/off button on the top right corner of the phone and it will snap a photo. The jpg will go straight to your photos folder and you can instantly email it via your email client.
Again, I know this might be worthless information, but somewhere along the line it might help someone, just as the article I found helped me.
PS – for you iPhone fanatics, I understand that “home” and “on/off” might not be the official terms.
Google Reader: I’m Now a Fan
How many Web sites do you visit on a reoccurring basis each day? If you are like me, the answer is probably a lot. For example, I typically visit 10 – 15 different marketing sites / blogs each day (and that just tips the iceberg), and do so very efficiently, but that isn’t to say there wasn’t some room for improvement.
Enter Google Reader.
I’ve known about Google Reader (or any RSS service) for some time, and even set it up with some feeds a while back. Originally, I simply wasn’t fond of the format and it didn’t tie in well with how my “Web life” was configured; my how things have changed. Let me explain why.
I now use Gmail as the hub of my email activity (can send and receive ryanshell.com emails from Gmail) and I also use iGoogle to tie in things such as Twitter, my local newspaper, blogs and national news… all on one page. I also have Google Reader on my iGoogle page which enables me to quickly view updates from the various sites I’m interested in.
I’m an extremely busy guy and Google Reader simply makes sense for me. It feeds me new content when it’s available and doesn’t require me to waste time bouncing from site to site. It also allows me to keep track of articles of interest and discard others. No more emailing myself links to articles that inevitably get lost in mounds of email. Ever found yourself doing that?
Why didn’t I like Google Reader my first time around?
When I set up an account some time ago I found that not going to the physical Web site bothered me. I’m not sure why, it just did. I now chock that up to “change,” and have realized that I needed to accept a new way of surfing the Internet.
Bottom line: Work smarter, not harder.
PS – My RSS feed can be found here.
Brainstorming: A Few Tips
Brainstorming. When is the last time you did it? I tend to have multiple brainstorming sessions a week and it’s one of my favorite things to do. An impromptu session arose last night when my friend Christian (a fellow social mediaholic – sorry, domain is already taken) and I went to a place called Kiha in Greensboro, NC for dinner. If you’re ever in Greensboro you should visit them on High Point Road. It’s not the most attractive place – but they have the best ginger dressing you’ve ever tasted! I digress.
If brainstorming isn’t something you do on a regular basis, there are several things I should note.
1) Do not restrict yourself to budgets or anything of that nature during the initial idea stage. That comes in step two. By not restricting your ideas your creativity will be allowed to expand.
2) Who should you brainstorm with? Other “idea people” as I like to say. For instance, I have a coworker that I try to have involved in my brainstorming sessions at work. We work in completely different departments, but this individual is full of ideas and he really seems to get it.
3) Who should you not brainstorm with? Do you know anyone that sucks the energy right out of a room when they walk in? Yeah… you probably shouldn’t brainstorm with that person. And those folks that are always saying why you shouldn’t do something – leave them out as well.
Have fun and be creative. It’s good for you.