Pgillin's Favorite Links on daily_reading from Diigo

WordPress 2.6 Adds Some Great New Features

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:43:57 -0000

They include wiki-like functionality for shared authoring, the ability to add other sites to your blog through a pop-up window and image captions. If there was any doubt about what is the best open-source blogging software, this release should dispel them. Have a look at the video.

Tags: daily_reading

Posted by: pgillin

36 Credit union social media do’s

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:19:35 -0000

Here's a useful list of actions you can take to make your social media programs more effective.

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Posted by: pgillin

Scrabble Comes To Facebook, Way, Way Too Late

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:05:40 -0000

Hasbro badly fumbled the opportunity to profit from the popularity of Scrabulous, a knock-off version of Scrabble that is a megahit on Facebook. Instead of partnering with or buying the developers of Scrabulous, Hasbro sued them instead. Now it is bringing an officially sanctioned version of Scrabble to Facebook - a year late. Expect audience indifference.

Tags: daily_reading facebook

Posted by: pgillin

Practical Search Engine Optimization Advice

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:56:05 -0000

An SEO pro looks at three business websites and offers practical advice to improve their search performance. There is good meat-and-potatoes wisdom in this article. Any company could benefit from these tips.

Tags: daily_reading search

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The Social Web Analytics eBook

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:38:57 -0000

Philip Sheldrake of Racepoint Group sums up a variety of tools - both free and paid - that marketers can use to tap in to online conversations. There are some in here that I had never heard of.

Tags: daily_reading conversation_monitoring

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Are virtual worlds old news? TechCrunch begs to differ

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:38:28 -0000

A lot of people have been dissing virtual worlds lately, but that hasn't stopped the inflow of investment. TechCrunch surveys the scene and says that $345 million have been invested in new virtual properties this year - a record. The blog has a list of who's getting funded and with how much. There are also links to a few of the players.

Tags: daily_reading virtual_worlds

Posted by: pgillin

Has social media lost its luster?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:28:54 -0000

The inevitable disillusionment is setting in with social networks, which has proven to be poor outlets for banner advertising. But anyone who is relying on these outlets to deliver banners is missing the point. As this story states, "The premium inventory on social networks isn't a highly trafficked page, it's an individual user."

Tags: daily_reading social_networks advertising

Posted by: pgillin

Did the “Enron of Norway” Pull a Fast One On Microsoft? More Details About the Mess at Fast Search & Transfer

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:15:40 -0000

I used to share a building with this company. How "fast" the mighty can fall.

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Posted by: pgillin

MediaPost Publications - Forrester: B2B Blogging Takes Nose Dive - 07/07/2008

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:23:14 -0000

Surprise! Corporate b-to-b blogs aren't a cure-all. Forrester examined 36 companies that touted blogs a year ago and found that only half of them were sustaining the commitment. The problem: topics are boring, the voice is institutional and uninspiring and the authors don't invite conversation. There are tricks to blogging right, but just yammering about your products and company isn't going to stimulate conversation.

Tags: daily_reading corporate_blog

Posted by: pgillin

Fair Use and Online Video

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:33:07 -0000

The Center for Social Media at American University has come up with some fair use guidelines that attempt to preserve copyright-holder rights without infringing on people's ability to mash up content.

Tags: daily_reading

Posted by: pgillin

Some coffee fans get grim delight in Starbucks woes | U.S. | Reuters

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:28:50 -0000

Over-expansion and high prices are no doubt a big part of the coffee shop's woes, but the persistent tide of negative customer sentiment can't be ignored. Bloggers have trashed Starbucks for its packaged coolness and its insincere corporate responsibility.The current political incorectness of coffee is probably a factor, too.

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The easiest blogging platform in the world?

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:45:19 -0000

Online Journalism blog writes about a new service that makes it possible to launch and maintain a blog with just an e-mail message. The downside: limited flexibility.

Tags: daily_reading

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LoyaltyMatch - Rewarding Yourself

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:11:22 -0000

Cool new service that lets frequent travelers barter their loyalty points for goods and services. This may be especially timely as airlines cut back further on reward options and increase fees.

Tags: daily_reading tools

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Telling statistic of our times

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:07:50 -0000

Jeff Jarvis is writing a piece on George Carlin and so looked up the frequency with which Carlin's famous seven words you can't say on TV show up in Google. He finds a striking equivalency. You have to click to see.

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Google Docs now appears to be an official Microsoft Office competitor

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:59:10 -0000

Among an impressive list of recent enhancements is offline access. Google says you can now edit any word processing, spreadsheet or presentation document when disconnected from the Internet and then synch with your online account when you reconnect. At this point, what's the difference between Docs and Office?

Tags: daily_reading

Posted by: pgillin

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:38:19 -0000

A lot of people have been buzzing about Nicholas Carr's brief opinion piece in the Atlantic in which he argues that information overload is making us less able to think in any kind of depth. Are we becoming "pancake people?" I don't agree, but his views are worth considering.

Tags: daily_reading

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What it takes for an ad to go viral

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:33:29 -0000

There's no secret formula for "going viral," but Tom Hespos draws some interesting conclusions about why some campaigns work.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Humor in an ad needs to be comparable to that in other content you might find online. In other words, a funny commercial is still a commercial. If you're hoping humor value will spur a significant viral effect, the content better be funny. It's not just competing with other commercials

Someone high up at Apple understands the value exchange that occurs when a brand fan is among the first to find out about a new Apple product.

This incentivizes the insider to tell everybody and their grandmother that they were among the first to see the new iPhone.

Tags: daily_reading

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This Ad Stinks: Let Readers Vote

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:29:01 -0000

Advertisers increasingly are paying to have website visitors render judgments on their ads in public for all to see.

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Meet a blogger: Run up the Score | By Daniel Victor

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:10:25 -0000

Run Up the Score is a successful football blog focused on Penn State. In this interview, the bloggers offers practical advice for positioning a blog as well as driving traffic. He also comments on some important tactics to avoid.

Tags: daily_reading

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Ongoing list of Social Media Efforts from Banks, Credit Card, Financial Institutions and Lenders

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:12:23 -0000

Jeremiah Owyang has a nice list of the Web 2.0 activities being pursued by financial institutions in the name of serving existing customers and finding new ones.

Tags: daily_reading

Posted by: pgillin