Thank You, My Friends

This is the last post I'll be writing from the Boston area - or at least as a full-time resident of the Boston area - for the foreseeable future. I've lived in the region for 20 years and I've developed a number of friends and colleagues in the area, many through the advent of social media over the last couple of years.

Last night, I was roasted by a number of people who were kind enough to give up their Friday night and turn out for a very unique and memorable event. Instigated by none other than Chris Brogan and flawlessly orchestrated by John Wall, I was the recipient of fun-filled barbs at my expense.

Admittedly, I'm an easy target for a roast, but when stacked up against the auto industry and Detroit, there's an abundance of material. Last night's roasters spared no expense. They included:

• Susan Getgood - was a fine dinner companion who refrained from flinging insults at the end of the evening.
  
• Todd Van Hoosear - a man with Michigan roots himself, he set me up with the 3-1-3 gang hand gesture that might get me out of a jam if caught in downtown Detroit
• John Wall - who noted that my new color a crayon should be "turd brown"
• Laura "Pistachio" Fitton - who still thinks there's an opportunity to monetize our Twitter concept
• Chris Brogan - who thought that crayon's thinning ranks should result in the company renaming itself "pencil"
• Adam Zand - favoring his Elton glasses, he played the Henry-Ford-was-a-Nazi card
  
• Len Edgerly - a class act, if ever I met one, he used skills akin to Sherlock Holmes to deduce why I would choose to go to Ford
  
• Doug Haslam - he compared me to that other Renaissance man, George Plimpton, leaving me with a copy of Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback. He also showed a copy of my crayon resignation letter:

John manned the control panel and took care of the audio recording of the entire event. I've got to say, I have a very funny and talented group of friends who unleashed without mercy. Since I've got a good sense of humor, I took it all in the spirit it was meant, but I also got a chance to offer a rebuttal.

If you're not familiar with the concept of a roast, check out the Wikipedia definition. According to tradition at the Friars Club, "we only roast the ones we love."

I'm reminded of what the Wizard said to the Tin Man about his heart:

A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.

And after last night, my heart is filled with gratitude for the tribute paid to me by my friends, and not a little sadness for leaving Boston behind. It's a major hotbed of social media, with many bright, creative and selfless people. It's not going to be the same without you.

Farewell, my Boston friends. I look forward to many more interactions, both online and off, where I'm sure we'll continue our collaborations and our friendship.

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Now That's One Savvy Entrepreneur

Actually, I should probably say "Auntrepreneur." That's one term that's a good description for Melanie Notkin, the found of SavvyAuntie, a new online community for - you guessed it - aunts.

Now before you start wondering about the relevance of a site specifically for aunts, just take a moment and think about all of the women in your life who aren't mothers. Odds are they've got nieces & nephews, either through family or friends. These are what Savvy Auntie calls ABRs or ABCs - Aunts by Relation or Aunts by Choice.

This demographic has long been ignored, or at least not catered to the way that parents have been. And that's where SavvyAuntie.com comes in.

One of the most shrewd observations about the PANK (Professional Aunt, No Kids) demographic is that these are professional women with disposable income. Marketing to parents assumes discretionary income exists, but most parents are weighed down by significant costs already, such as mortgage, saving for college, and household expenses related to raising kids.

SavvyAuntie opens up the world of parenting advice and support for non-parents, providing sections titled Expertise, Activities, Gifts and Community designed just for Aunts and their perspective. For a more comprehensive review of the site, check out Mashable's write-up.

I think it's a - dare I say it - savvy business move. The site really provides something that fills a gap, plus it has real value, aside from the cool "Web 2.0" concept. I'm also honored to be on the advisory board for SavvyAuntie, where I'll be offering advice on social media marketing.

What I like most about this entire venture is that Melanie is an active member of the social media community - she writes a blog about her experiences in founding and running SavvyAuntie, and she's a very active and generous member of Twitter, where she continuously engages with others. I know this has been a significant method of getting out the word about the site, getting to know experts who in some cases have joined the advisory board, and most importantly, getting ideas and input for making the site as robust as it could be.

But don't take my word for it; check out the site yourself. What do you think? Is this something that has some potential? Are there other features that should be included?

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Why I'm Blue

In branding and design, color plays an important role in evoking emotions. It also plays a key role in my life - in general, as well as at crayon, where I'm fortunate enough to be called "Consigliere."

When I joined crayon, I chose Midnight Blue as my official color - I believe I explained that here previously. It's the color of my blog, of one of the many sports coats you'll see me in, and a color that tends to inspire the sort of impression from clients that a consultant wants.

According to Brain Based Biz, Blue signifies:

Confidence, travel, freedom, truth, professionalism, wealth and power. Also tranquility, dependable, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security. It is one of the most calming colors and is associated with the sky and the sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust.

In short, it's a traditional, conservative and corporate color.

So perhaps it should be no surprise that my corporate genes have finally gotten the better of me and I'll be leaving the startup life at crayon to join the very blue corporate ranks. In fact, I'll be joining a company that's got one of the most recognized logos in the world incorporating the color blue. Next month, I'll be joining Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), to head the social media efforts there.

My time with crayon has been rewarding as I've had the opportunity to work with some marketing and social media greats like Joseph Jaffe, Greg Verdino, C.C. Chapman, Steve Coulson, Gary Cohen, while just missing working with Shel Holz and Neville Hobson. And it's been gratifying working with clients like Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Audi, ooVoo and more, who are all experimenting with conversational marketing in one form or another.

Now I'll have the opportunity to work with another talented team of communications executives at Ford, as well as Maggie Fox and the Social Media Group, who have been so successful in launching Digital Snippets with Ford.

Of course, it means leaving the Boston area and relocating out to Dearborn. There are so many friends and colleagues that I'll be leaving behind, particularly in the social media field. Having been here for nearly 20 years, it's going to be difficult to move on. You might even say I'm feeling a little blue.

But I'm looking forward to new friends and opportunities, and the prospect of building a solid digital communications strategy from within a company, making a difference to customers, employees, partners and stakeholders. It's going to be a nice ride.

Photo credit: Financial Aid Podcast

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Back to Basics: B2B

When I first started writing this blog, it was focused on social media in the b-to-b space. I was working at a B2B agency at the time so it made sense, plus I saw a lot of potential.

Fast forward to today. I've broadened the focus of the blog (sacrilege!) but I've probably become better known for offering perspectives on the tools and my level of knowledge in general (or you tell me what I'm known for). But occasionally I dabble back into business-to-business applications, because there are some worthy examples and that market is finally starting to catch up.

Which makes a perfect segue to refer to a conference at which I'll be speaking in Boston next month: the Marketing Profs Business to Business Forum 2008. There are going to be some heavy hitters there, talking about all sorts of marketing in the b-to-b space:

• Marketing Profs own Roy Young and Ann Handley will be there;
  
• Valeria Maltoni, that Conversation Agent, will talk about making your site engaging for your customers;
  
• My colleague Greg Verdino will walk everyone through the essence behind how to stay current with trends to support your business acumen;
• Boston's own Chris Brogan will talk about social media and sales leads;
• The inimitable David Meerman Scott will give one of his famous keynotes;
  
• I'll be on a panel with Lewis Green and Robin Carey moderated by Paul Dunay titled "Is Social Media Harder for B2B vs. B2C?"
  

This is but a small sampling of the entire conference. Take a look at the conference web page and see what you think. And since you're a faithful subscriber to my blog (you have subscribed for free, right?), let me offer you something in return: if you sign up to attend this blockbuster conference and submit the code ESPK08, you can get $200 off the price of registration - make it $350 off if you register before May 19.

I hope you'll take the opportunity to avail yourself of some of the best current thinking on this subject today and consider attending. If you do show up, please introduce yourself, as I'd be delighted to meet you.

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Doing Good with Influencer Outreach

Last week on Media Bullseye, Connie Reece wrote about the overnight success of the Frozen Pea Fund, a charity that sprang to life in response to the cancer diagnosis of fellow blogger and Twitter community member Susan Reynolds. If you haven't done so, please take a look at Connie's article, to get the full story - I couldn't possibly do it justice here.

She concluded her post by alluding to ooVoo (a client of my employer, crayon) and the promotion that we called My ooVoo Day With... In short, we asked two dozen bloggers, podcasters and authors to use ooVoo to connect with their respective communities to talk about anything they wanted to. And as a way to thank them for their valuable time, ooVoo generously agreed to give $1,500 in their names primarily to the Frozen Pea Fund (or to any charity they felt passionate about).


The event was a major success, with over 450 seats filled over the course of 10 days, resulting in some 187 blog posts about the program in the month of February, as well as 1,600 mentions of ooVoo on Twitter. Many of the posts and mentions were from participants on the chats, so our idea of using the technology to influence other influencers was borne out.

More importantly, we helped out some other great charities in the process, thanks to these hosts: Scott Sigler -$1,500 to the Disabled American Veterans; Irina Slutsky - $1,500 to Pie Ranch; C.C. Chapman - $750 to Whitney Hoffman's Ma Chen Autism School fund; David Meerman Scott - $1,500 to the Massachusetts Air & Space Museum; Karen Putz - $750 to Hands & Voices.

But the biggest news is for the Frozen Pea Fund. On Saturday night in New York City, at the famed Blogger Social, I had the honor of presenting a check from ooVoo to the Fund in the amount of $30,000 in honor of: Mitch Joel, Steve Hall, Bob Garfield, Joseph Jaffe, John Wall, iJustine, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Connie Reece, Chris Thilk, Erin Kotecki Vest, Dave Delaney, Geoff Livingston, Allan Cox, George Parker, Chris Brogan, Susan Reynolds, Laura "Pistachio" Fitton, Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton, Robin Good, C.C. Chapman, and Karen Putz.

Photo courtesy of ck_epiphany

Susan Reynolds' husband Bill and daughter Kate were on hand to accept the check, as well as Connie Reece and Cathleen Rittereiser, two of the board members of the Fund, which now officially a 501(c)3 corporation. To say that this money has made a difference in the future of the Frozen Pea Fund is an understatement. I join ooVoo and crayon in taking great pride knowing that this gift will make a difference in the lives of many people suffering from cancer.

One final note. In his absence from the dinner (he was under the weather), Joseph Jaffe had been lampooned all night on Twitter by the attendees. I decided that, rather than be taken in vain, Joe's name should be used for good, so directly after the check presentation, I held an impromptu auction of his name badge. After some pretty aggressive bidding, Geoff Livingston went home as Joseph Jaffe for the sum of $500, payable to the Frozen Pea Fund.

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Conversation is Like the Weather

"Everybody talks about the weather,
but nobody does anything about it."

- Mark Twain

Well, that's not entirely true - there are a committed group of marketers, writers, citizens, and passionate people who are not only talking about conversation, but they're doing something about it.

Last year, I was among one of 102 other individuals who were hand-picked by Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton to co-author The Age of Conversation. If you haven't bought a copy of this book yet, I highly recommend that you do. Just last Saturday, through the enterprising Chris Wilson and the support of the community, the book managed to rise to #262 on the Amazon.com charts. We'll soon know how much money was raised for the book's cause: Variety, the Children's Charity.

After that successful (but stressful) venture, the pair are at it again, but this time, they've outdone themselves. Not only have they gotten a majority of the original authors to return for Volume 2, but they've recruited almost three times as many: 275 people will be putting fingers to keyboard to crank out The Age of Conversation: Why Don't People Get It? (that is, why they don't get the concept, not the book - we hope they'll get that)

Now you can imagine that with nearly 300 cats to herd authors to organize, asking them to write on a single topic might be a recipe for disaster. Instead, there's been a bit of self-organization that Drew & Gavin foisted upon us. We've each been asked to select one of the following sub-topics:

• Manifestos
  
• Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
• Moving from Conversation to Action
  
• The Accidental Marketer
• A New Brand of Creative
• My Marketing Tragedy
• Business Model Evolution
• Life in the Conversation Lane

I'm very excited about this - there's some really great potential here, between the topics and the authors, new & old, who have signed on to the project.

What's more, I'm looking forward to developing a kinship with my co-authors, as this is a very special initiative that bonds us together. If nothing else, the Age of Conversation has the ability to get us all talking with and learning from each other.

My fellow Conversationalists:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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I Owe You. Big Time.

You're busy. You have many demands on your schedule. Which means that the time you spend glancing over my mutterings and thoughts is valuable time indeed.

Thank you for choosing to spend some of your day with me. Your participation here and in other forums where you link to my posts or talk about a concept I've brought up means a great deal to me.

A few months ago, I was seriously injured and in dire need of help. I asked for your assistance - one of the hardest and most humbling things I've ever had to do. I was embarrassed to ask anything of you, but I was in an incredible amount of pain with no end in sight. But you were very supportive, both emotionally and financially, in my effort to raise money for a snowblower. In the end, you came through remarkably well and donated a remarkable $1,065.

I can't tell you how much your collective concern and gratitude helped me get through a tough time. You made it possible for me to make it through the rest of the winter so that I could recover. As of the end of February, my back and ribs were nearly back to normal. There's still some residual pain, but I was able to literally weather the storms for the rest of the season.

Here's a Seesmic video that I recorded in direct response to your kindness:

And as I said in the video, I'd like to continue to pay back the kindness. I've done so in a variety of ways, supporting other charitable causes that my Twitter network has notified me of, suggesting the Frozen Pea Fund as the charity of choice for My ooVoo Day With, and trying to be helpful and responsive as my community has asked for it (yes, I do owe a couple of colleagues some blog posts - stay tuned).

Also, some time in the next week or so, I'll be posting about a way that I'm planning to give to my community on an ongoing basis. I think it's a method that you'll want to read about, as you may be able to do the same thing yourself. Stay tuned.

Finally, here's some evidence that I didn't run off to Vegas or something:

Thank you.

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Watch Your Frickin' Mouth

When you have kids, you naturally censor yourself when you're around them (or at least you try to - sometimes you just let an expletive slip out). But when you're in marketing, is there an obligation to keep it rated PG?

Racy ads, like some more mature prime time shows, have traditionally been reserved for after-bedtime hours. But with the advent of so many social media tools for sharing video content or photos, marketers can bet that their ads will pretty much been seen any time of the day.

The reason I bring this up is that there's a billboard campaign by the regional convenience store chain Sheetz that's created quite a stir. Evidently, a Harrisburg, PA family took a look at this billboard and balked, claiming it contained offensive language:


Having been raised in a household where the offending word was banned, I can understand how this might have ruffled a few feathers. They claim it's an approximation of another word that has an 'F' a 'C' and a 'K' in it. Whether you agree or not, you have to admit two things: (a) how pervasive foul (fowl?) language has become these days and (b) how easy it is to get more mature subjects into younger hands.

Every website that contains a signup process, whether it's a social network, newsletter, etc. typically has language asking to verify that you're 13 years of age or older. This is in cooperation with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. But when we create portable or distributable content (to say nothing of billboards), there has to be some acknowledgment that this content, however edgy it may be, could end up in the hands of an unintended minor.

While I snickered at Sarah Silverman's "I'm F*cking Matt Damon" on late-night TV, it was quickly and widely distributed over the Web within days (current count of this version: over 7.8 million views). Jimmy Kimmel came up with the rejoinder in his equally as funny/disturbing "I'm F*cking Ben Affleck" (currently at just over 4 million views). So, this content isn't remaining in the sole domain of late-night viewing.

There are always going to be sensitive eyes & ears about any variety of things. The politically-correct movement is always trying to change our phraseology so no one gets offended, but the reality is, someone is always going to be offended by something. My question is: with the ease of syndication, embedded videos, and widgetized content, is their anything we can do to minimize the exposure of tiny eyes and ears to this stuff? Or is doesn't it matter any more?

As to the above, I guess this family won't be eating chicken fricassee any time soon. At least they won't be putting with with any more Sheetz. Maybe they'll be frickin' Jimmy Kimmel...

Whoops! Can I say that here?

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Acquiring My Attention in Communities

In case you haven't heard, there's a social media acquisition in play. Community builder Mzinga has announced that it's acquiring white label social networking company Prospero.

This is certainly a newsworthy item from a business standpoint: a leading company in the communities space, Mzinga has a number of major entities as clients, including AOL, ABC, ESPN and many others that aren't acronyms. Barry Libert, one of Mzinga's founders, co-authored a book that speaks to the wonder of communities - We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business. And Prospero is equally as impressive, having built social networks for the likes of iVillage, Comcast and the New York Times. You can check out their press release for more details.

As I looked over the announcement, one of the things that struck me about this is how many of the players I know in this exciting development:

• Aaron Strout & Jim Storer are both at Mzinga and are a couple of top-notch social media guys, both of whom I recently saw at Boston's Social Media Breakfast (and Jim was one of my co-presenters)
• Colin Browning of Prospero lives in the next town, and I've been following his Northern & Southern Hemisphere tweets for a while
• PerkettPR is handling Mzinga's public relations - I've gotten to know Jeff Glasson & Christine Perkett through various social media & tech functions in Boston
• Doug Haslam works for Topaz Partners, Prospero's PR firm

And, to make things even more interesting, Aaron, Jim and Colin are basically holding a press conference on Twitter at 8:30 a.m. to discuss online communities. Since Twitter is a community of sorts, it's entirely appropriate. If you'd like to get in on the discussion, you need a Twitter account (it's free) and you should follow everyone I mentioned above. Here are their Twitter IDs/links, just in case:

• @astrout - Aaron Strout
• @jstorerj - Jim Storer
• @crbrowning - Colin Browning
• @missusp - Christine Perkett
• @jeffglasson - Jeff Glasson
• @DougH - Doug Haslam
• @scottmonty - what the hey, if you're not following me yet, you should be

I'm not only looking forward to seeing how this little Twitter experiment turns out, but I'm expecting some great things to come from the combination of these two social media powerhouses.

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MicroHoo?

Breaking news this morning is that Microsoft has made a $44 billion offer to buy Yahoo. There's a lot of shock & surprise out there, but I think it makes a lot of sense. Here's why:

• MSFT has been lagging behind Google in many areas, and this is a way to shore up the gap
• YHOO owns some pretty attractive social media sites: Flickr, del.icio.us, Upcoming, to name a few - this is a great way for MSFT to get in the game
• The combined search capabilities of the two would be something
• And the online advertising opportunities would abound

Lots of people are excited about it. But no one more so than Microsoft's CEO. Let's see just how crazy Steve Ballmer gets:



Happy Friday.

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For You, and for the Children

I've been receiving Search Marketing Standard for the better part of a year - and if you don't subscribe, you should really consider doing so.

To my surprise, they've been around for a little longer that I thought; this month, they're celebrating their 2-year anniversary as a matter of fact! And as part of their celebration, they're giving a discount to readers of the Social Media Marketing Blog.

If you would like to subscribe, you can receive a 67% discount off the normal rate, bringing the U.S. cost down to just $4.95 a year! In addition, SMS will donate $1 for every new subscription to the Toys for Tots Foundation.

Just use the coupon code HOLIDAY67 when you subscribe to Search Marketing Standard between now and December 10th and you can begin receiving a top-notch publication related to search for a great price and you'll be making a difference in the lives of children for the holidays.

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Facebook's Beacon Gets a Little Brighter

Modest doubt is call’d
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst.

- William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act ii Sc. 2

If you've missed the whole Facebook Beacon dustup, here's a quick recap of what went wrong. Boiled down, it goes like this: the new program Facebook is running shows the details in your news stream of your purchases with any of the 22 or so Facebook partners who are part of the Beacon program (Overstock.com, Fandango, Zappos, etc.), so your Facebook network knows what you've been doing.

Kind of creepy, right? Well, the public first reacted with modest doubt, then became vehement over what can only be described as a huge lapse in judgment by Facebook. At first, Facebook gave only passing mention that your details would be shown, then the gradually released more information - but the problem was, there was no way to opt out (or in, for that matter).

To their credit, Facebook has listened.

The New York Times did a great job illustrating the Evolution of Facebook's Beacon. Visually, the evolution looks like this:




The latest update is that the two-day deadline on replying is gone. Now, if you don't respond, you're assumed to have opted out. But this is not a blanket opt-out, just an opt out on a particular transaction.

Update: Facebook has changed the requirements so that you can opt in or out of each partner program. Hat-tip to Jeremiah for that one.

Is this enough? Has Facebook saved itself with this evolution, or do they need to go further? I'd argue that they at least need to do a little more research or bring someone on board who understands the user experience when designing notifications. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

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Act Now! Last Chance!

One week. That's all you've got to buy The Age of Conversation at its original price.

As of December 1, the book will no longer be available on Lulu in hardcover, paperback and e-book formats. Instead, Drew & Gavin are moving it to Amazon in an effort to broaden the reach. But with broader reach comes a higher price ($30), as we still need to meet our obligation to the charity we're supporting and also give a cut to Amazon.

If you haven't gotten a copy or two yet, please click on this link to buy yourself or a colleague a copy of the softcover at $16.95 before next Friday. If you would like to place bulk orders, please get in touch with me privately.

And while you're at it, you might want to check out the blogs of my fellow co-authors, to get a sense as to their collective insights and perspective on all things conversational.

Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Emily Reed, Katie Chatfield, Greg Verdino, Lewis Green, Sacrum, Ann Handley, Mike Sansone, Paul McEnany, Roger von Oech, Anna Farmery, David Armano, Bob Glaza, Mark Goren, Matt Dickman, Scott Monty, Richard Huntington, Cam Beck, David Reich, Luc Debaisieux, Sean Howard, Tim Jackson, Patrick Schaber, Roberta Rosenberg, Uwe Hook, Tony D. Clark, Todd Andrlik, Toby Bloomberg, Steve Woodruff, Steve Bannister, Steve Roesler, Stanley Johnson, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Robert Hruzek, Rishi Desai, Phil Gerbyshak, Peter Corbett, Pete Deutschman, Nick Rice, Nick Wright, Michael Morton, Mark Earls, Mark Blair, Mario Vellandi, Lori Magno, Kristin Gorski, Kris Hoet, G.Kofi Annan, Kimberly Dawn Wells, Karl Long, Julie Fleischer, Jordan Behan, John La Grou, Joe Raasch, Jim Kukral, Jessica Hagy, Janet Green, Jamey Shiel, s, Dr. Graham Hill, Gia Facchini, Geert Desager, Gaurav Mishra, Gary Schoeniger, Gareth Kay, Faris Yakob, Emily Clasper, Ed Cotton, Dustin Jacobsen, Tom Clifford, David Polinchock, David Koopmans, David Brazeal, David Berkowitz, Carolyn Manning, Craig Wilson, Cord Silverstein, Connie Reece, Colin McKay, Chris Newlan, Chris Corrigan, Cedric Giorgi, Brian Reich, Becky Carroll, Arun Rajagopal, Amy Jussel, AJ James, Kim Klaver, Sandy Renshaw, Susan Bird, Ryan Barrett, Troy Worman, S. Neil Vineberg, C.B. Whittemore, Mack Collier, Andy Nulman

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Verizon Gets It; Others May Too

Recently, Verizon launched a promotion in Pennsylvania where they're giving five families a chance to win a FiOS home makeover. And before you mention it, no not those Five Families; I know I'm the Consiglieri at crayon, but Verizon has a reputation to keep.

This is all part of a show called My Home 2.0 and it's part of Verizon's effort to give families' homes an amazing technology update, including Verizon's FiOS service. What an amazing opportunity! All you have to do if you live in the area is submit an audition video on the My Home 2.0 site.

My friends and former colleagues C.C. Chapman and Steve Coulson of The Advance Guard are in charge of this campaign and you can tell it's got their creativity behind it. The social media news release page is nicely done, plus there are all sorts of social media sites attached to it. My favorite has to be the Facebook group, as it centralizes the experiences, photos and videos.

Ugh. What I wouldn't give for FiOS TV and Internet service. But my area isn't even wired yet, and this contest is only for the Pittsburgh & Philadelphia areas. Best of luck to all who audition!

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I'll Be Seeing You

This weekend, I'll be participating in PodCamp Boston 2. If you're there, please be sure to stop me and say hello if you see me.

I'll be giving the first presentation in the 2.0 track after Mitch Joel's keynote on Saturday morning. My session is titled Web 2.0 Tools That Are Actually Useful. I plan to post the links from the presentation here on the blog next week.

And if everything goes according to plan, I'll have a set of community-suggested links that my audience is going to recommend as well.

Happy PodCamping!

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