Social Media is Fun

You know, things like …

• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Squidoo
• Del.icio.us
• Technorati
• Sphinn (for search and Internet marketers)
• and the list goes on …

Here is a useful article about the basics of Social Media, written by a guy in Cape Town, South Africa. (I heard that because of the sun’s angle in Cape Town, lots of production companies fly there to shoot. The money they save on lighting makes up for the cost of flying there, and everyone lives happily ever after.) I especially enjoyed this bit of advice:

Search Engine Land: 15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media

Create something that is honest. Sony was famously outed online when the company created a fake blog called All I Want For Xmas Is A PSP (no longer live), where two people were trying to get others to promote their wish for a PSP. Turns out these people were actors. Sony subsequently was subjected to a backlash of brand bashing which really highlights the risk involved in a dishonest marketing campaign.

Did you click the PSP link in the above article? Haagen-Dazs bought it!

Oh, Internet. You are so funny sometimes.

Detroit Design

Bet you never expected great design to come out of a rusty, half-abandoned city like Detroit. But here it is. Straight from a great design blog, run by ex-San Franciscans, no less. Eat it up:

Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » detroit design guide
As far as I know, we have no ceramic antler peddlers or artists working around the clock to draw owls in every conceivable fashion. We do, however, have a sizable population of ring-necked pheasants. And packs of wild dogs.

Detroit is an underdog. I love underdogs. Michigan is an underdog, too.

I am rambling, but I hope you dig the Design Sponge blog. There are a lot of great things  happening in Detroit.  It’s such a worthwhile place to visit or hunker down.

Creative Business » Seminar

Neat: A free seminar (in London) about ways to share creative ideas/products/services over the internet.

Creative Business » CBDE Application Pack
… the internet creates exciting new ways to distribute and promote creative works and should be seen by the creative industries as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Too bad I don’t live in London. The question IS … will this be broadcast over the internet, free? That would put their whole philosophy into action.

A day and an email later … the answer is yes! Their kind and timely response:

Yes, we will be recording the presentations, either in audio or video, and will put those online. Please do keep an eye on the blog – http://www.openrightsgroup.org/creativebusiness/blog/ – where we will announce everything. All course materials will be released under a Creative Commons licence, so anyone will be able to reuse, localise or build upon them.

Thinnovation!

I am intrigued and skeptical of the new MacBook Air. I don’t have a problem with the weight or thickness of my current mac (iBook G4) … but can’t help wondering what new personality the internet will have on something so new and tiny. New and tiny, like a baby. Maybe I will see the internet like a baby, too, free of preconceptions. Maybe I would discover great Truths and solve the problems of the world. Maybe I will write the Great American Novel on it.

Whatever happens, here’s an article on NOTCOT:

MacBook Air NOTCOT

I’m going to be sad if I open the box for this and it’s not in a manilla envelope … It’s just like a ginormous ipod…

Update! Check this out. You can buy a real protective sleeve/case that looks like a manila envelope:

Pitchfork: YACHT Designs Clever Sleeves for New MacBook Air
Taking to heart Steve Jobs’ claim that the MacBook Air will fit in a standard manila business envelope (seeing is believing), Bechtolt and frequent collaborator Claire L. Evans devised the perfect accessory: the manila envelope-styled protective laptop sleeve (pictured above). The pair readily admits it’s an “obvious” idea, but who cares when it’s also probably a massively lucrative one?

Master of Space and Time

I’m no science fiction reader, but I’m pretty excited that Michel Gondry might be making this into a movie. Or, rather, that he’s collaborating with the author and other people to chop pieces out of the book and make them into something like a movie.

Michel Gondry on Master of Space and Time
I also want to design a car where the universe is inside it, and the inside of the car is on the outside.

Yep. That sounds awesome.

How To Be Creative

Haha!

Is it just me, or are all the books/blogs/podcasts/whatevers about “How to be Creative,” a little … weird? A little weird, because reading or hearing about how to be creative will probably not make you more creative.

It’s something you have to figure out for yourself.

But, they’re fun to read. With that said, here’s a great post from gapingvoid. I especially love the drawings on business cards.

How to Be Creative: Gapingvoid.com (Cartoons on Business Cards)

I liked those suggestions best. They make me want to go and actually do something creative … printing T-Shirts, sewing stuffed creatures with friends, painting, and writing. Cheers to the weekend and being wary of turning hobbies into jobs!

Puddingmedia. Gross.

This is just about the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.

Mashable: Puddingmedia
In the same way that Gmail matches ads to your email conversations, Pudding Media will match ads to phone conversations.

I don’t see this happening at all, unless they discover a society of people willing to get punched in the face for a dollar.

David Esrati for Congress

Speaking of the internet’s giant role in politics, a great Ad man (of The Next Wave) and colleague in Dayton, Ohio is running for congress. He announced mid-December.

Congress: David Esrati for Congress
I hope that my open campaign, utilizing the Internet and Web 2.0 technology, along with the power of true ideas- can not only power this campaign to win, but that we can bring the disenfranchised and disgusted back into the fold.

And Ernie Schenck, author of The Houdini Solution and big-time Ad man himself, is spreading the word.

David puts it best here:

Ernie Schenck Calls This Advertising?: Esrati For Congress. Or Else.
I’ve used my personal blog to share my ideas for a better future for the last three years- it’s my intention to continue to use this technology to keep in touch with the people I hope to represent.

Hope that gets you started into the web of articles and information encircling his run for office. It’s a new day in politics. A great time for change.

Dare I say … The Next Wave?

Good Morning, Internet! Where’s Your Vote?

Whoa! On December 16, 2007, Ron Paul collected more money in a single day through Internet donations than any presidential candidate in US history, with over $6 million.

You are sitting in an important seat right now – one in front of a computer. Things are happening online this election, and smart candidates are taking advantage of the fact that their online behavior plays a big part in the election.

You’re in the driver’s seat. Here, you can go wherever you want, read whatever you want, and make your own decisions.

Good or bad, it’s on the internet. For you.

Fear the family sitting in a pastel-colored living room, eating complacent popcorn on a floral-patterned couch as they watch whatever the TV stations allow them to watch. Whatever the monopolistic network companies have filtered through this family’s satellite. Whoever the TV wants them to vote for.

So, as people turn to the internet for real, objective answers (or as they search, and hopefully find them), candidates are learning to give them what they want.

What better place to lay it all out? Straight from the source. Bam.

2008 Presidential Candidates

Go here for a list of every candidate.

Here are some that I’ve chosen to research and link for your convenience. Sweet!

Ron Paul, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Daily Paul

Barack Obama, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter

John Edwards, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter

Hillary Clinton, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter