Facebook IPO Expected to be $100 Billion, Largest of Any Tech Company in History
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM
While it hasn’t been confirmed, reports are circulating that Facebook Inc. will go public this year. Facebook has kept quiet about the move, but many anticipate the IPO to hit this May. If and when this happens, it will be huge.
This article and infographic posted by Joann Pan of Mashable, projects Facebook’s IPO to be six times larger than Google’s and will be the largest of any tech company in history.
How Facebook’s Expected $100 Billion IPO Breaks Down [INFOGRAPHIC]
Rumors are flying about Facebook Inc. going public this year. So, just how much money is the world’s largest social network worth?
Reports project that Facebook will go public some time between April and June. The company itself has remained hush-hush about the initial public offering.
The infographic below shows how the company’s projected valuation of $100 billion breaks down and which Facebook Friends will be getting a piece of the pie.
Facebook’s IPO will be the biggest of any tech company in history — six times that of Google’s, according to Accounting Degree Online.
The company itself is preparing to raise $10 billion this year, according to reports, to push the company’s public value to $100 billion. More than Disney ($61 billion), Amazon ($88.3 billion) and McDonald’s ($95.6 billion).
Who will be cashing in? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder Eduardo Saverin, co-founder Chris Hughes and Sean Parker, Napster co-founder and Facebook partial owner (he owns 4% of Facebook). Zuckerberg will make an estimated $25 billion, owning 24% of the company.
And just how will Facebook reach the $10 billion excess profit by April or June? By increasing Facebook revenue from advertising, Facebook fan pages and display ads.
Is MySpace Worth Saving?
Posted by: Valerie Jennings, CEO of JSMM
Is MySpace worth saving: Justin Timberlake thinks so. In this new campaign to save the dying social network, Timberlake joined with MySpace and Panasonic to propose a new way to draw users back.
I think there could be some potential still on MySpace, but it will need to be more aggressive than Facebook to catch up. It might be worth a campaign to understand the user-base that Timberlake will attract. The new approach to integrate TV with MySpace is a good way to go.
This article from Mashable outlines just what Justin Timberlake and MySpace have in the works.
Bringing MySpace Back: Timberlake Unveils TV Service
Justin Timberlake just took the next step in his campaign to bring MySpace back. The pop super star and MySpace co-owner joined Panasonic on stage at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show to announce a new service that will make TV a whole lot more social.
Available on the next generation of Panasonic VIERA ConnectT-enabled HDTVs, an app called MySpace TV will allow viewers to see what their MySpace friends are watching, and enable them to make comments through the TV set and via smartphone and tablet devices.
The app will be available on Panasonic’s new HDTV line, as well as some devices created in 2010, via a software update.
Early channels on MySpace TV will focus on music, and then expand to movies, news, sports and reality channels.
“We see MySpace as a companion to what the social community is watching,” Marcus Liassides, executive VP of MySpace, told Mashable. “We plan to integrate the service with other social networks such as Facebook in the future too. But we aren’t trying to reinvent TV. We’re just evolving it and make it a shared experience even when you’re not in the same living room.”
Liassides said the experience will likely be optimized by viewers using tablets and smartphones. A companion app will be available on tablets and smartphones.
“Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe?” Timberlake said in a press release. “As the plot of your favorite drama unfolds, the joke of your favorite SNL character plays, or even the last second shot of your favorite team swishes the net, we’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they’re actually occurring.”
Although the company hasn’t revealed when MySpace TV will become available, it’s expected to roll out in the first half of 2012. Liassides noted that it’s also working with other TV manufacturers to offer the app on other devices.
The Future of Google+: Integrating Brand Pages with the Social Network’s 40 Million User Profiles
Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking r&d
Last Wednesday at the Web 2.0 conference held in San Francisco, Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president in charge of Google+, discussed the possible changes coming to the social networking site. One of those changes included the idea of Google+ brand pages for companies anxiously waiting to reach out to the more than 40 million users. Here is an article from Mashable.com on what Google+ brand pages could look like when made available to companies.
What Google+ Brand Pages Could Look Like [PICS]
A few weeks ago, Mashable contacted some ad agencies and asked them to imagine how brand pages on could change in light of that platform’s planned redesign.
Just as Facebook was announcing its tweaks, though, Google was on track to add brand pages to Google Plus. Though it looks like that will happen any day now, the integration hasn’t been announced yet. Meanwhile, a handful of brands, including Ford, are already enjoying the possibilities.
There are several barriers to designing brand pages for Plus. For one thing, it’s hard to stand out the way Plus looks now. The somewhat rigid format has a leveling effect. But Colin Murphy, director of social for Skinny, one of the agencies that accepted our challenge, says there are potential advantages to Plus, too. “A primary gripe among Facebook and Twitter users is that brands bombard them with messages they don’t want or care to see,” said Murphy. “In its current form, Plus doesn’t solve that problem, but Plus Brand Pages might, if they implement Public Circles.”
Skinny outlined how this might work with a hypothetical example for Mini, the auto brand. In this case, a Mini Countryman fan could join the Countryman circle and see just Countryman updates in her feed. “This level of selectivity isn’t possible on Facebook or even Twitter, unless of course you are a fan or follow the specific product you’re interested in — but there’s a major drawback to that method because the user has to seek out content streams,” Murphy says. “With Google+ it’s all in one place, and the all the admin has to do is feed pertinent content to the appropriate circles.”
In addition to Skinny, Fantasy Interactive created some fictional Coca-Cola and Starbucks brand pages. Are these on the mark? We’ll know soon enough, but in the meantime, let us know what you think of these agencies’ vision of how Google+ can accommodate brands.
Social Media and Mobile Applications: 8 Best Practices for Deploying a Top-Ranked Mobile App
Posted by Micah Pratt: social networking research and development
The convergence of social media with mobile applications has led to cross promotional marketing, and if done correctly, can lead to major success. Here is an article by Krishna Subramanian from Mashable.com about eight ways to make sure your mobile application gets noticed.
8 Best Practices for Deploying a Top-Ranked Mobile App
Developing a mobile app is the easy part. Getting that app noticed is difficult. And getting the app to go viral is like winning the lottery. Yet many developers get millions of downloads time after time. How?
It’s all about app store SEO, and some developers have mastered it. Here are a few tips and tricks of the trade to help get your app to the top of heap.
Time Is of The Essence
The first two weeks of an app’s life are critical and will likely determine its future visibility in the app store. Top applications develop popularity within two weeks of release, and most applications have a tendency to drop in chart position over time. Remember, whatever you do — marketing campaigns, cross distribution and so on — the quicker you do it, the bigger the impact.
Valuable Data: More than a billion opinions posted online about products & services last year
Posted by: Micah Pratt, social networking research & development
Today, more and more marketers are turning to online marketing programs because of the noticeable role that peers play in consumers’ purchasing desicions. What many of these interactive marketers are failing to realize is the volume of social data created by the influence of peers in purchase decisions. Here is an article by Nate Elliott, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, about how to effective utilize social data.
HOW TO: Utilize Social Data More Effectively
Last year, American consumers posted more than a billion opinions about products and services online, according to data collected by my company. With peer influence playing such a prominent role in consumers’ purchase decisions, it’s no surprise many interactive marketers are tapping into that influence via viral marketing programs and influencer outreach.
However, the vast majority of marketers ignore the staggering volume of social data all this influence creates. And those who do study social data typically use it for the wrong reason: to measure the brand impact of their marketing campaigns.
Social Data Is Often Based On Small Sample Sizes
With so many opinions posted online, you might assume it would be easy to find a reliable sample of data to analyze for brand impact. But even popular consumer brands often find it difficult to collect usable social data.
For instance, I recently reviewed a listening report for a global sporting goods brand — one that sponsors leading teams and athletes around the world and has strong brand awareness. I was surprised to see that the brand was mentioned in social media only a few hundred times each week in the U.S., and less than 100 times each week in other key markets around the world.
To make matters worse, the low quality of many social sentiment analysis tools reduces sample sizes further. When listening tools can’t decide whether comments are positive or negative, they’re usually labeled as having “no sentiment.” Three-quarters of the mentions for this brand were tagged as such, leaving less than two-dozen weekly usable posts in some markets.
If you asked your market insights team or your survey provider to analyze 25 consumer survey responses, they’d tell you it’s impossible to find statistical significance in such a small sample. The same standards must be applied to social data as well.
Mashable: Watch the Space Shuttle Launch LIVE!
Posted By Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Update: Space shuttle Atlantis has been cleared to embark on the final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program at approximately 11:26 ET today.
Jennings Social Media Marketing Reviews Mashable.com Article: Why do People Follow Brands?
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
According to mashable.com article, Why Do People Follow Brands? “On Twitter, Facebook, and dozens of other social sites, normal consumers often choose to keep tabs on the brands they love.”
“In fact, many brands have highly optimized their marketing and PR strategies to accommodate that behavior, even going to far as to do one-to-one CRM (that’s customer or consumer relationship management) through avenues such as Facebook and Twitter.”
“As social CRM specialists Get Satisfaction found, many consumers who follow brands online are only in it for the perks. Around 40% of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users in a recent study said they followed brands to get access to discounts and special deals.”
How To Use Web Videos For SEO & Ecommerce: Mashable Article Shares 8 Reasons Why Every Ecommerce Site Should Get Serious About Video
By Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing
Web videos are one of the most beneficial marketing tools online to generate higher search engine rankings, website traffic, leads and conversions.
This mashable.com article, written by Yaniv Axen, offers 8 reasons why every Ecommerce site needs Web videos.
Mashable Article: How to use Web video for ecommerce
1. Video Attracts New, Relevant Search Traffic
2. Video Assets Can be Easily Syndicated
3. Videos Encourage Sharing
4. Video Engages Site Visitors
5. Video’s “Halo Effect” Drives Conversions
6. Video Increases Customer Loyalty
7. Video Creates Online Personalization
8. Video Production Costs Are Falling, ROI Is Rising
Mashable Announces: Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Posted By Jared Cook:
Here is a recent post from Mashable, written by Stan Schroeder, about Goolge expanding their social search feature to 19 more languages.
Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Google will roll out its somewhat controversial Social Search feature to 19 more languages next week, the company announced on its official blog.
Launched in October 2009, Social Search is a feature that combines regular search results with publicly available data created by your friends’ social media activities.
Your “friends” are quite loosely defined and include people in your Google Talk friends list, your Google Contacts, people you’re following on Buzz and Google Reader and other networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. Google can also find your friends on public networks such as Twitter and Facebook and gather the data from their public connections as well.
The feature was recently the subject of controversy, as Facebook hired a PR company to push negative stories about Social Search in the press. Facebook claims that Google’s practices raise “serious privacy concerns,” and it’s unhappy with the fact that Google can use Facebook data for its service without Facebook’s permission.
For the most part, Google has stayed silent about the issue, although it’s noticeable that in its latest blog postabout Social Search, Twitter is mentioned three times while Facebook is nowhere to be seen.
Social Search should be available in 19 languages next week, with more languages on the way. Check out a video overview of the feature below.
The Royal Wedding Breaks Record for Live Streaming
Posted By: Jared Cook
Here is a recent article from Mashable, written by Adam Ostrow about the recent Royal Wedding breaking the record for live streaming.
Royal Wedding Breaks Live Streaming Records
The Royal Wedding has already taken over trending topics across the web, and we can now report that it has broken at least one record: concurrent viewers on Livestream.
The company says that its livestream of William and Kate’s wedding topped 300,000 concurrent viewers at 6 a.m. ET on Friday morning. CEO Max Haot tells us that he expects “at least 2 million” unique viewers by the time the broadcast is done. Livestream partnered with the Associated Press, UK Press Association, CBS and Entertainment Tonight for its coverage.
Akamai reports that the event broke broader live streaming records as well. A representative for the company — whose network hosts some of the web’s largest news sites — reports that “concurrent live streams of Royal Wedding on Akamai surpassed the 1.6M peak set by World Cup in June of 2010.”
However, the event does not appear to be the biggest news event in web history. While the 4.6 million page views per minute reported on the news sites Akamai delivers content for this morning surpass the total for Barack Obama’s presidential election victory, they fall well short of the 10.3 million page views per minute record set last June when a World Cup qualifying match and the longest Wimbledon match in history took place simultaneously.
Jennings Social Media Marketing Office and Staff Photos on CNN iReport
Posted By: Jared Cook
Recently, we uploaded some pictures of the Jennings office and staff on CNN iReport.
Here was our message to iReport
iReport —
Hi CNN,
Thank you for this great opportunity to share our office with your viewers.
We are located in the Kansas City metro area. Here are the names of the individuals in the pictures, who work at Jennings Social Media Marketing (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Valerie Jennings; CEO and founder
Jamie Sutera; VP of R&D
Jared Cook: VP of marketing
Ben Parks: senior VP of Web design and development
Micah Pratt: social networking R&D
Mikimoto: office dog
Here are the pictures. Enjoy!
Twitter Looks To Buy TweetDeck for $50 Million
Posted By: Micah Pratt, Social Networking R&D
Twitter has recently been in talks to buy TweetDeck, a third-party client of Twitter that allows users to connect with contacts across a variety of social networking sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more. According to an article by Chris Taylor on mashable.com, Twitter does not know the exact number of TweetDeck users, but believes it includes the most obsessive power users in social media.
Twitter In Talks To Buy TweetDeck [REPORT]
Twitter is in talks to purchase TweetDeck Inc. for $50 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
TweetDeck is one of the most popular third-party Twitter clients, available in desktop, iPad, iPhone and Android versions. It displays your Twitter news feed, @mentions and direct messages, along with your Facebook feeds — all on the same screen, all updating in real time. TweetDeck can also support updates from MySpace, LinkedIn and Foursquare.
The 15-person company, based in the U.K., has never revealed how many users TweetDeck has. The number may be small — but it is also likely to include the most obsessive power users in social media.
Jennings Social Media Reviews Video Interview: Guy Kawasaki Talks With Mashable at SXSW
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
I would like to share this video regarding well-known author, venture capitalist and former Apple luminary Guy Kawasaki.
At SXSW 2011, Guy Kawasaki sits down for an interview with Mashable’s Christina Warren. In the wide-ranging discussion, he talks about his new book,Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, and points out useful tools he’s discovered at SXSW this year. Along the way, he talks about his two different stints working with Apple, musing about what might have happened if he had stayed with the company (http://on.mash.to/eILzqG).
Social Media Coupons and Promos Reach Audiences and attract “Followers” for Brands
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga 
More than half of consumers follow at least one brand on a social networking site. A new study shows that consumers chose to follow a brand in order to receive a deal or promo or to find more brand information. This article from InformationWeek.com was written by Alison Diana and it reveals the results of the new social media research.
Coupons, Promos Attract Social Media Brand ‘Followers’
The majority of consumers are willing to follow a brand on Facebook or Twitter — especially if there is a financial motivator such as coupons or special promotions, a new study found.
In fact, 60% of consumers polled follow at least one brand via a social network, and one in four said they did so in order to search for coupons or promotions, according to a poll of more than 15,000 residents of the United States and Canada by Empathica, a developer of customer experience management (CEM) solutions. Thirty percent cited their desire to seek more information on a brand, the study found.
“The challenge for companies is to identify the triggers that make consumers want to follow their brand, further engage with them and keep them top-of-mind,” said Gary Edwards, Empathica executive VP of client services. “Our survey results suggest consumers show preference to interacting with brands that offer coupons and promotions via social media outlets. It’s important for brands to recognize consumer preferences and what will help encourage them to visit an establishment.”
Foursquare Check-Ins Show Where Shoppers Went on Black Friday
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
Retailers promoted their Black Friday sales heavily this year. Social media was a reliable tool for many retailers who chose to use apps, Twitter and Foursquare among other social media tools. This article written by Jolie O’Dell from mashable.com uses graphs to show where shoppers checked in on Foursquare.
Which Retailers Got the Most Checkins on Black Friday? [STATS]
We’re still breaking down the metrics for Black Friday 2010, but if Foursquare checkins are any barometer, Target probably had a pretty good day.
A tiny percentage of the population uses location-based checkin tools like Foursquare; and in all likelihood, these digital citizens are more likely to be shopping online than in stores during the holiday season. So numbers gathered by Trendrr and AdAge represent a tiny sliver of what in-store numbers might have actually been.
The number-one store by Foursquare checkins was Target, which captured almost one quarter of all Black Friday checkins — no small feat considering the substantial Foursquare marketing efforts of other brands.
How to Shop The Web: NEW YORK Fashion Week
Posted by: Carlee Vellinga
With New York Fashion Week upon us, many of us are becoming more excited about our personal style. We know that social media is beneficial for networking, marketing, and many other activities. However, if you are looking to improve your wardrobe and save money while doing it, look to social networking. Mollie Vandor, from mashable.com, shows you how to use online resources that appeal to your fashion sense in this article filled with tips and links.
HOW TO: Score the Best Fashion Deals on the Social Web
Just because the economy is still depressed doesn’t mean you have to be. In fact, there are plenty of ways to live it up without seeing your bank balance plummet — especially if you know how to use social media to live the good life on tight budget.
Even the most reclusive social media shut-ins need to leave the house for some in-person networking at some point. And when you do, you don’t want to look like the poor slob who just threw on whichever pants were closest to the computer screen. Nor do you want to be the designer diva who can’t afford cab fare because she blew all her bucks on a brand name bag. Fortunately, thanks to a few online tips and tricks, high fashion doesn’t have to come with a high price tag.
Google TV Set for Fall Launch
Posted by: Carlee Vellinga
Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, confirms the fall release of Google TV. This new device will integrate Internet content and television. Apple’s announcement of a similar product has generated conversation about the two options. Read this article by Christina Warren at mashable.com to get the facts about Google’s latest development.
The Apple TV refresh isn’t the only new connected device headed to living rooms this fall; Google CEO Eric Schmidt has reaffirmed his company’s plans to release the Google TV set-top box in the U.S. later this year, with launch in the rest of the world coming in 2011.
First officially announced at Google I/O, Google TV aims to bring Internet video to the living room. Users will be able to search the web and switch back and forth between web video, TV and other content all from the remote control.
Top 5 Mobile Commerce Trends for 2010
Posted by: Micah Pratt
What do you use your smart phone for most? Is it to find the nearest bakery, or get directions to the airport, or is it to check the latest scores of the Royals vs. Angeles game while at work? Whatever it is you use your phone for the fact is life is made a lot easier with it. Here is an article from mashable.com about the top five mobile commerce trends in 2010.
Top 5 Mobile Commerce Trends for 2010
The mobile trends series is supported by Samsung. Read more about the Samsung Galaxy here.
Considering that most people would rather lose their wallet than misplace their cell phone, it’s fitting that the mobile world is quickly becoming a new hub for business. For many of us, our cell phone never leaves our side. It holds a place at the dinner table, is easily accessible in your bag’s front pocket, and often, somehow it even manages to end up sharing your pillow at night. Busy schedules mean people are often on the move and when marketers and companies can’t reach consumers at their computers, on TV, before the previews at the movies, with billboards, or magazine and newspaper ads, they must feel assured that they can still reach them on their cell phones.
Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is simply the ability to conduct business transactions through a mobile device. With smartphone sales rising 49% in the first quarter of 2010, never before has it been so easy to shop, anywhere, anytime from the palm of your hand. There is an enormous amount of ongoing market research, and though there has been a variety of numbers estimated and reported, they all conclude that mobile commerce is a profitable and rapidly growing market.
By 2015, it’s estimated that shoppers from around the world will spend about $119 billion on goods and services bought via their mobile phones, according to a study by ABI Research released this past February. In the United States alone, mobile shopping rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009, and mobile campaign spending also increased by 25 to 30% over the past year, with companies shelling out just under $313 million according to the same study. Senior Analyst Mark Beccue, said that he’s forecasting U.S. sales to reach about $2.2 billion in 2010.
Here are five mobile commerce trends to keep an eye on for the remainder of 2010.
1. Bargain Hunting
It would seem that mobile purchasing often lends itself to an impulse buy. Maybe you just have to suddenly download that song from the iTunes Store or really want to make sure you have tickets to that hot concert. In this case, it’s the savvy shopper that has taken note of mobile commerce. Beccue said that in the fourth quarter of 2009, he started to notice something unexpected and a bit “weird.”
Bargain hunting has become extremely popular with apps like RedLaser that allow users to scan product bar codes and discover it’s various prices at different retailers. Shoppers are melding the two worlds of online/mobile shopping with actual physical shopping to make sure they get the best prices.
Mobile Advertising with Smart Phones a Success
Posted by: Micah Pratt
Smart phones are becoming more and more popular and advertisers have begun using them as a tool to reach large audience with the use of applications. Here is an article from mashable.com about how people are welcoming advertising with smart phone applications.
Consumers Embrace Mobile Advertising
Advertisements on mobile devices are both welcome and effective, a recent study from mobile audience media company JiWire revealed.
This is especially true of advertisements that appear in apps. Of the roughly 1,000 smartphone users surveyed, 52% claim they have acted on an advertisement in an app and 18% have made a purchase directly from an ad in an app in the last month.
In addition, 53% said they were willing to share their location to receive more relevant advertising and a full 76% said they would prefer to download a free, advertising-supported app instead of paying an upfront fee for the same app.
This is great news for social gaming apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, which enable users to unlock special deals from advertisers based on their locations. It’s also great news for Apple, whose mobile app advertising platform, iAds, will debut this summer with the iPhone 4.0 OS.
Nielsen Study Reviews Social Networking Activity
Posted by: Micah Pratt
Have you ever wondered how much time the average person spends on the Internet? And have you ever wondered how much of that time is spent on social networking sites? Thanks to Neilsen, we now know that people spend more time on sites such as Facebook and Twitter than on any other site. Here is an article from mashable.com by Adam Ostrow about the Neilsen findings.
Social Networking Dominates Our Time Spent Online [STATS]
Social networking now eats up twice as much of our online time as any other activity. According to new stats from Nielsen, sites like Facebook and Twitter now account for 22.7% of time spent on the web; the next closest activity is online games, which make up 10.2%.
The stats also show the degree to which social networking is displacing other forms of communication, with e-mail as a percentage of online time plunging from 11.5% to 8.3% from June 2009 to June 2010. Instant messaging also saw a significant drop in share, with a 15% decline from last year.
However, e-mail use on mobile is still on the rise – from 37.4% to 41.6% — presumably as users continue to migrate to smartphones from feature phones.
15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow
Posted by: Micah Pratt
Twitter Lists have become a popular way for people to talk to a group of people who share the same interests, are in the same profession or who want to be informed about a current topic. CEO’s, CFO’s and other top business executives are increasingly taking advantage of Twitter Lists in order to stay updated on the latest information concerning their industries. Here is an article from mashable.com by Erica Swallow about the top lists for business executives to follow.
15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow
This series is supported by The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, a leading enterprise-grade application for marketers struggling with the social media chaos of managing multiple social channels. Click here to learn more.
Twitter Lists are a great way to follow a group of like-minded Twitter users. By following a List, you can get an overview of a particular subject by simply taking a look at the stream from time to time. A well-curated Twitter List can be focused on a specific topic, industry or interest.
With the increase in C-level executives joining and taking part in social networks across the Internet, there are bound to be questions. While Twitter is one of the simplest social media tools out there, Lists are one of the more complicated features for new tweeters to comprehend.
We recommend using tools like TLists, Listorious and TweetMeme Lists to scope out and follow Lists of interest. To get you started or to beef up your current List inventory, here are 15 Twitter Lists for C-suite executives to follow, separated into categories for CEOs, CMOs, CIOs and CTOs, and CFOs.
Twitter Lists for CEOs
For the latest business, management and leadership tweets, here are three Twitter Lists for CEOs to follow:
CEOs: If you’re a CEO and not on this Twitter List, send a friendly tweet to Brand Strategist Valeria Maltoni, and she’ll likely add you to what seems to be the most comprehensive list of CEOs on Twitter. Look to this List for the latest tweets from over 150 CEOs. The List seems to be highly concentrated on digital and technology.
Business News: Curated by The New York Times, this compilation is a short list of the most essential business news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Reuters Business and Silicon Alley Insider.
Management & Leadership: This TLists SuperList compiles the top tweeters from 216 Twitter Lists, tweeting about management, leadership and power.
Take a Tour of Mars with NASA & Microsoft
Posted by: Micah Pratt
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to explore Mars? Now, thanks to Microsoft and NASA, it is possible to experience Mars in a new way. I would like to share an article from mashable.com by Stan Schroeder about a new application that allows you to take a virtual tour of Mars.
NASA and Microsoft Let You Explore Mars Like Never Before
Microsoft Research and NASA have teamed up once again and brought the “most complete, highest-resolution coverage of Mars available” to WorldWide Telescope. Microsoft’s app lets you explore space either through a zoom-and-pan interface or guided tours.
This imagery is the handiwork of a group informally called the Mapmakers, led by NASA’s Michael Broxton. Their job is to take satellite images from Mars and elsewhere in our solar system, and turn them into maps.
Yes, it sounds like every geek’s dream job, and having a name that sounds like something from a William Gibson novel doesn’t hurt, either. Director of Microsoft Research’s Earth Dan Fay has worked with Broxton to turn these images and maps into an immersive new experience for the Worldwide Telescope.
“NASA had the images and they were open to new ways to share them. Through the WorldWide Telescope we were able to build a user interface at WWT|Mars that would allow people to take advantage of the great content they had,” Fay says.
As far as what kind of imagery you can expect here, one example is a new dataset from the University of Arizona’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), which is a remote-sensing camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These images are taken in an incredibly high resolution — each image is a gigapixel in size — and the team took all 13,000 HiRISE images and stitched them onto one map. This map, says NASA, is the “highest-resolution map of Mars’s surface ever constructed.”
WorldWide Telescope is available as a desktop application or a web client (which requires Microsoft Silverlight) over at www.worldwidetelescope.org.
10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics
Posted by: Micah Pratt
I would like to share an article from mashable.com, by Grace Smith, about 10 infographics that present social media tools in an appealing format.
10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics
This series is supported by Ben & Jerry’s Joe, Ben & Jerry’s new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here.
Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format. With social media growing at an ever increasing pace, there is now a wealth of data about how people interacting with one another on the web. Naturally, infographics have proven an excellent aid in expressing high volumes of social web information in a clear, visually appealing manner.
Here are 10 infographics that prove as beautiful as they are interesting.
1. Social Web Involvement
This is a global map of social web involvement which illustrates that hundreds of millions of web users are creating and sharing content every month. It provides a clear visualization of the ways in which social technologies are adopted differently across the world, showing the number of active bloggers, social networkers, video sharers, photo uploaders and microbloggers.
Interestingly, it reveals that despite the Twitter hype, microblogging is still not a mass social activity and is nowhere near the size and scale of blogging.
2. Social Marketing Compass
A compass is a device for orientating oneself and guiding physical direction. The social marketing compass points a brand in a physical and experimental direction, allowing them to connect with their customers, peers, and influencers, where those users already interact and seek guidance online.
Created to illustrate social marketing within the book Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, this infographic was also available as a poster to celebrate the book’s pre-sale.
Six Ways to Manage International Relationships Online
Posted by: Micah Pratt
As the world becomes a more global place, businesses are increasingly building relationships with international clients, which can often be difficult. I would like to share an article from mashable.com about six ways to manage international relationships online.
6 Ways to Manage International Relationships Online
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
Sometimes the hardest part of having international clients is finding a way to connect with them. Small businesses often have to worry about different time zones, different languages, and even different customs and traditions.
While there’s no catch-all, golden resource that can solve every problem a small internationally-minded business could have, there are some easy ways to keep your business up-to-date and in the overseas loop.
Here, we’ll help you through the basic steps of interacting with overseas clients, from translating pleasantries to tracking shipments to making sure you don’t accidentally call them in the middle of the night.
1. Basic Information
Before you even get started, it’s important to know the basic information about your client’s country. Usually the most thorough and reliable way to bone up is through the country’s official webpage. England, for example, has a good site with lots of information. Unfortunately, most of these sites are geared towards tourism and less so the time-pressed businessperson.
Wikipedia can actually be a great, quick and comprehensive alternative. Wikipedia pages exist for most major countries and include a helpful info bar on the right side of the page (usually just below the country’s flag). This information includes official languages, government make up, population estimates, GDP, currency, time zone, and calling code.
Also check out The World Factbook, maintained by the CIA. It includes “information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities,” according to their website.
