november 2007

This post is from from my other blog here

Wow, when those Facebook guys launch a new service, they really know how to create some buzz. Their latest addition is a service called Beacon. Quite simply, Beacon is a way for marketers to allow users on their sites to send information to Facebook. Some examples include making a blog post on Typepad and having it automatically fed into Facebook or eBay sellers having their products pushed to their profiles. This is a great way to bring chunks of information into one central location and when paired with Facebook's Social Ads, it's a powerful, integrated marketing tool.

Some big name marketers are using Beacon at this very moment. They include AllPosters.com, Blockbuster, Bluefly.com, CBS Interactive (CBSSports.com & Dotspotter), ExpoTV, Gamefly, Hotwire, Joost, Kiva, Kongregate, LiveJournal, Live Nation, Mercantila, National Basketball Association, NYTimes.com, Overstock.com, (RED), Redlight, SeamlessWeb, Sony Online Entertainment LLC, Sony Pictures, STA Travel, The Knot, TripAdvisor, Travel Ticker, TypePad, viagogo, Vox, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com and Zappos.com.

But, Beacon is causing quite a stir with privacy advocates. One reason is that some sites are using Beacon to send data to Facebook without asking the users if they want to do participate. Beacon looks to see if you have a valid Facebook cookie on your machine and uses that to push content to your account. (Multple people using one machine will undoubtedly have problems with Beacon since it is machine specific.) Charlene Li at Forrester has one such story while making a purchase on Overstock.com. Many other people are talking about Beacon across the blogosphere.

Facebook is only partly to blame. Marketers who use Beacon to exploit their users should be held fully accountable.

In a TechCrunch article, Facebook is quoted as saying: Facebook is listening to feedback from its users and committed to evolving Beacon so users have even more control over the actions shared from participating sites with their friends on Facebook…Facebook already has made changes to ensure that no information is shared unless a user receives notifications both on a participating website and on Facebook.

Check out the video as I take you through a real example and be sure to jump down below for more information and some guidelines all marketers should follow.

[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Here is a diagram of how it works (click for a larger image):

1. Marketers apply for and install the beacon code on their site
2. Marketers then set up actions on their site to send information with Beacon
3. Beacon looks on the user's local machine to see if they have a valid Facebook cookie, if it finds one, it sends the data to Facebook
4. When users log in, they are presented with a message asking to allow the data to be pulled in
5. Users can automatically allow all, request to authorize each or deny all on a site-by-site basis
6. If approved, the message is added to the users timeline (mini-feed) and is presented to their friends on the main landing page

Guidelines for marketers:

1. Make sure that you are allowing ...

This post is from from my other blog here

Wow, when those Facebook guys launch a new service, they really know how to create some buzz. Their latest addition is a service called Beacon. Quite simply, Beacon is a way for marketers to allow users on their sites to send information to Facebook. Some examples include making a blog post on Typepad and having it automatically fed into Facebook or eBay sellers having their products pushed to their profiles. This is a great way to bring chunks of information into one central location and when paired with Facebook's Social Ads, it's a powerful, integrated marketing tool.

Some big name marketers are using Beacon at this very moment. They include AllPosters.com, Blockbuster, Bluefly.com, CBS Interactive (CBSSports.com & Dotspotter), ExpoTV, Gamefly, Hotwire, Joost, Kiva, Kongregate, LiveJournal, Live Nation, Mercantila, National Basketball Association, NYTimes.com, Overstock.com, (RED), Redlight, SeamlessWeb, Sony Online Entertainment LLC, Sony Pictures, STA Travel, The Knot, TripAdvisor, Travel Ticker, TypePad, viagogo, Vox, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com and Zappos.com.

But, Beacon is causing quite a stir with privacy advocates. One reason is that some sites are using Beacon to send data to Facebook without asking the users if they want to do participate. Beacon looks to see if you have a valid Facebook cookie on your machine and uses that to push content to your account. (Multple people using one machine will undoubtedly have problems with Beacon since it is machine specific.) Charlene Li at Forrester has one such story while making a purchase on Overstock.com. Many other people are talking about Beacon across the blogosphere.

Facebook is only partly to blame. Marketers who use Beacon to exploit their users should be held fully accountable.

In a TechCrunch article, Facebook is quoted as saying: Facebook is listening to feedback from its users and committed to evolving Beacon so users have even more control over the actions shared from participating sites with their friends on Facebook…Facebook already has made changes to ensure that no information is shared unless a user receives notifications both on a participating website and on Facebook.

Check out the video as I take you through a real example and be sure to jump down below for more information and some guidelines all marketers should follow.

[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Here is a diagram of how it works (click for a larger image):

1. Marketers apply for and install the beacon code on their site
2. Marketers then set up actions on their site to send information with Beacon
3. Beacon looks on the user's local machine to see if they have a valid Facebook cookie, if it finds one, it sends the data to Facebook
4. When users log in, they are presented with a message asking to allow the data to be pulled in
5. Users can automatically allow all, request to authorize each or deny all on a site-by-site basis
6. If approved, the message is added to the users timeline (mini-feed) and is presented to their friends on the main landing page

Guidelines for marketers:

1. Make sure that you are allowing ...

This post is from from my other blog here

• Boston.com picked up my Fram story on their blog. (tags: boston fram blog blogging)
• ClickZ: U.S. Wireless Subscriptions Surge Past 250 Million US Wireless subs passed 250 million, 22 million of whom have access to high-speed internet on their devices. (tags: mobile state data wireless broadband)
• The Book Proposal: Tips for Writing a Winning Book Proposal Chris Webb tells about the nine tips for writing a book proposal that gets noticed. (tags: chris_webb publishing book proposal)
• The Blogger's Guide to Search Engine Optimization Great info on SEO for blogs and social media (tags: blogs seo marketing blogging analytics)

This post is from from my other blog here

• Boston.com picked up my Fram story on their blog. (tags: boston fram blog blogging)
• ClickZ: U.S. Wireless Subscriptions Surge Past 250 Million US Wireless subs passed 250 million, 22 million of whom have access to high-speed internet on their devices. (tags: mobile state data wireless broadband)
• The Book Proposal: Tips for Writing a Winning Book Proposal Chris Webb tells about the nine tips for writing a book proposal that gets noticed. (tags: chris_webb publishing book proposal)
• The Blogger's Guide to Search Engine Optimization Great info on SEO for blogs and social media (tags: blogs seo marketing blogging analytics)

This post is from from my other blog here

What's worse than spam in your inbox?

Spam from your friends!

I've been getting so much of it that I've given it its own name, Fram (short for friend-spam). This differs from bacn, because your friends are generating the emails/updates/requests/invitations, not from a subscription.

Fram has really taken root with the rise in popularity of Facebook. Facebook's viral, social nature is perfect for spreading these messages, invites, applications and other bits like wildfire. So how does this work you ask. It's simple really and I don't think a lot of people even know they're doing it. On Facebook (et.al.) every time you do something, it tells people about it. You join a group, you can tell your friends. Add an application? Why not invite your friends to enjoy it with you? Each one of those interactions sends an email. That's where Fram becomes a problem.

As your network grows, the level of Fram can become overwhelming. If you have 25 friends that's one thing. If you have 100+ it becomes a pain. If you are a super connector with 500+ I don't know how you deal with the flood.

Another problem with Facebook/MySpace/everybody-else is the way they message you. Each of these sites sends you an email telling you you have an update. It doesn't send you the update, mind you, it just tells you you have an update. So, not only do you have an extra email, you have to log in to the site and deal with it there too.

Many blame spam for the downfall of email. Could Fram lead to the downfall of social networks? It could, but that tipping point is likely to be years down the road. It is one more hurdle that will paralyze most people just like spam has done with email. (Will there be Fram filters in the future?)

Here are the top five ways to prevent Fram:

1. If you join a cause or group, don't invite me. I'll see it in my friend timeline and join if I am interested. I add all of my groups/apps from there.
2. If you install an application you think I have to have, don't invite me. If I already have it installed I'll find you. Again, I'll see your addition in the timeline.
3. If you're a corporation/band/whatever with a Fan page on Facebook, limit your messages to few and far between.
4. If you're a group administrator, limit the emails to only those that add value to the group.
5. If you're either of the previous two groups, focus on the value proposition for your members/fans. How are you adding value? If you just have a group/page to have one, you're in the wrong space.

What tips would you add to this list? Are you overwhelmed yet?

[Update:] This is definitely a hot topic. Hat tip to Iain Tait @ CrackUnit.com for pointing out this cartoon by the brilliant Hugh MacLeod.

Also, Mitch Joel posted the following two tweets on Twitter just a couple moments ago:

To show you more of what I am talking about ...

This post is from from my other blog here

What's worse than spam in your inbox?

Spam from your friends!

I've been getting so much of it that I've given it its own name, Fram (short for friend-spam). This differs from bacn, because your friends are generating the emails/updates/requests/invitations, not from a subscription.

Fram has really taken root with the rise in popularity of Facebook. Facebook's viral, social nature is perfect for spreading these messages, invites, applications and other bits like wildfire. So how does this work you ask. It's simple really and I don't think a lot of people even know they're doing it. On Facebook (et.al.) every time you do something, it tells people about it. You join a group, you can tell your friends. Add an application? Why not invite your friends to enjoy it with you? Each one of those interactions sends an email. That's where Fram becomes a problem.

As your network grows, the level of Fram can become overwhelming. If you have 25 friends that's one thing. If you have 100+ it becomes a pain. If you are a super connector with 500+ I don't know how you deal with the flood.

Another problem with Facebook/MySpace/everybody-else is the way they message you. Each of these sites sends you an email telling you you have an update. It doesn't send you the update, mind you, it just tells you you have an update. So, not only do you have an extra email, you have to log in to the site and deal with it there too.

Many blame spam for the downfall of email. Could Fram lead to the downfall of social networks? It could, but that tipping point is likely to be years down the road. It is one more hurdle that will paralyze most people just like spam has done with email. (Will there be Fram filters in the future?)

Here are the top five ways to prevent Fram:

1. If you join a cause or group, don't invite me. I'll see it in my friend timeline and join if I am interested. I add all of my groups/apps from there.
2. If you install an application you think I have to have, don't invite me. If I already have it installed I'll find you. Again, I'll see your addition in the timeline.
3. If you're a corporation/band/whatever with a Fan page on Facebook, limit your messages to few and far between.
4. If you're a group administrator, limit the emails to only those that add value to the group.
5. If you're either of the previous two groups, focus on the value proposition for your members/fans. How are you adding value? If you just have a group/page to have one, you're in the wrong space.

What tips would you add to this list? Are you overwhelmed yet?

[Update:] This is definitely a hot topic. Hat tip to Iain Tait @ CrackUnit.com for pointing out this cartoon by the brilliant Hugh MacLeod.

Also, Mitch Joel posted the following two tweets on Twitter just a couple moments ago:

To show you more of what I am talking about ...

This post is from from my other blog here

Two cool announcements in one post today. First, the Age of Conversation book is stepping into prime time. After a very successful 4 month run, the 103 book authors (myself included) achieved our initial goal and raised $11,000 for Variety, the Children's Charity. To raise even more money, however, we're going to take a new approach.

On November 30th, the hardcover version of the book will be discontinued and the paperback version will no longer be able on Lulu. Instead we're moving the paperback version to Amazon and other book sellers around the world. Get your copy while they're still at $16.95, because after November 30th the price will go up to $30 so we can give the reseller their cut and provide the same amount to the charity. Finally, you can join us on December 14th and bumrush the Amazon charts to propel the book up the rankings.

Fellow authors include:

Gavin Heaton Drew McLellan CK Valeria Maltoni Emily Reed Katie Chatfield Greg Verdino Mack Collier Lewis Green Sacrum Ann Handley Mike Sansone Paul McEnany Roger von Oech Anna Farmery David Armano Bob Glaza Mark Goren 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 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 Andy Nulman Amy Jussel AJ James Kim Klaver Sandy Renshaw Susan Bird Ryan Barrett Troy Worman CB Whittemore S. Neil Vineberg

Second, on April 4-6, 2008 a gathering of bloggers will take place like no other. Blogger Social 08 already has an impressive list of people whom I admire slated to attend from all over the globe. If you blog and would like to attend click here to signup. They include:

Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Terry Dagrosa Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Darryl Ohrt Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford

Here is a map of the attendees: View Larger Map

Technorati Tags: ageofconversation, Blogger Social 08, Blogging, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer

This post is from from my other blog here

Two cool announcements in one post today. First, the Age of Conversation book is stepping into prime time. After a very successful 4 month run, the 103 book authors (myself included) achieved our initial goal and raised $11,000 for Variety, the Children's Charity. To raise even more money, however, we're going to take a new approach.

On November 30th, the hardcover version of the book will be discontinued and the paperback version will no longer be able on Lulu. Instead we're moving the paperback version to Amazon and other book sellers around the world. Get your copy while they're still at $16.95, because after November 30th the price will go up to $30 so we can give the reseller their cut and provide the same amount to the charity. Finally, you can join us on December 14th and bumrush the Amazon charts to propel the book up the rankings.

Fellow authors include:

Gavin Heaton Drew McLellan CK Valeria Maltoni Emily Reed Katie Chatfield Greg Verdino Mack Collier Lewis Green Sacrum Ann Handley Mike Sansone Paul McEnany Roger von Oech Anna Farmery David Armano Bob Glaza Mark Goren 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 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 Andy Nulman Amy Jussel AJ James Kim Klaver Sandy Renshaw Susan Bird Ryan Barrett Troy Worman CB Whittemore S. Neil Vineberg

Second, on April 4-6, 2008 a gathering of bloggers will take place like no other. Blogger Social 08 already has an impressive list of people whom I admire slated to attend from all over the globe. If you blog and would like to attend click here to signup. They include:

Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Terry Dagrosa Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Darryl Ohrt Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford

Here is a map of the attendees: View Larger Map

Technorati Tags: ageofconversation, Blogger Social 08, Blogging, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer

This post is from from my other blog here

Please take a moment and check out my guest post at Drew McLellan's blog today when you have a moment. The topic is creating a solid 1.0 digital foundation before moving into a 2.0 world.

A quick excerpt: Pardon the idiom, but if you don't have your marketing ducks in a row it's hard to make a move into emerging media.

Too many companies try to jump to Web2.0 and skip many important steps in the process. This makes for a hard sell internally and an even more awkward transition.

This post focuses on what you're already doing online and how to make a smooth transition to 2.0.

Here is the link to the post. Thanks Drew!

Technorati Tags: marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer, usability, user experience design, Web2.0, Drew McLellan

This post is from from my other blog here

Please take a moment and check out my guest post at Drew McLellan's blog today when you have a moment. The topic is creating a solid 1.0 digital foundation before moving into a 2.0 world.

A quick excerpt: Pardon the idiom, but if you don't have your marketing ducks in a row it's hard to make a move into emerging media.

Too many companies try to jump to Web2.0 and skip many important steps in the process. This makes for a hard sell internally and an even more awkward transition.

This post focuses on what you're already doing online and how to make a smooth transition to 2.0.

Here is the link to the post. Thanks Drew!

Technorati Tags: marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer, usability, user experience design, Web2.0, Drew McLellan

This post is from from my other blog here

On this US holiday of Thanksgiving, it gives me a chance to reflect on the past year and count my blessings. I have a fantastic, beautiful wife, two hilarious dogs, a great family and marvelous friends.

On top of that, though, I have you guys. My readers. Without you there is no reason to blog. You give me fabulous insights, cheer me on and call me out. I look forward to waking up every morning and creating content so I can get your thoughts.

So, no matter where you are in the world, I send you my thanks! You guys really make it all worth while.

Here is a quick video (featuring the dogs):

Technorati Tags: Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, thanksgiving

This post is from from my other blog here

On this US holiday of Thanksgiving, it gives me a chance to reflect on the past year and count my blessings. I have a fantastic, beautiful wife, two hilarious dogs, a great family and marvelous friends.

On top of that, though, I have you guys. My readers. Without you there is no reason to blog. You give me fabulous insights, cheer me on and call me out. I look forward to waking up every morning and creating content so I can get your thoughts.

So, no matter where you are in the world, I send you my thanks! You guys really make it all worth while.

Here is a quick video (featuring the dogs):

Technorati Tags: Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, thanksgiving

This post is from from my other blog here

What do you get when you combine video, social networking, micromedia and a very savvy French entrepreneur? You get Seesmic. Seesmic is the brainchild of French blog-star Loïc LeMeur and aims to do to video conversations what Twitter did to text-based conversations. The site is a social network where the primary content is video. Users record video, post it to the site and other users reply in video.

The site is in pre-alpha (only about 300 users testing right now) and a lot will change over the course of the next couple of months and I'll re-post when it goes into beta. Enjoy the video:

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Here is an example of the user-side of the video experience from Seesmic:

Key takeaways for marketers:

• The move toward video as an intimate, personal form of communicating is here
• Technology has caught up to consumers and video is easy to record on Seesmic right through the browser
• Conversations will be mobile on this site down the road so you can create, send and reply to videos from a mobile device
• Content created by the users is re-mixed into a daily video best-of video that is then shared with everyone
• Hooks into YouTube, Twitter and Skype help auto-promote content to larger, external networks
• The company is asking for suggestions and proactive responding to them in video
• The openness that the company is providing as they share how they are growing is a model more companies should follow

Through the videos they've created I have found myself becoming attached to the company and the model they are using to build a company. I will keep an eye on this in the future and let you know when more invites become available.

If you have a site that you would like me to look at and possibly do a post like this on, drop me an email or leave a comment on the post.

To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

If you use another podcatcher you can grab my podcast RSS feed here.

You can watch this and other Techno//Marketer videos on your video channel of choice:       

Technorati Tags: First//Look, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, technology, trends, video, Seesmic, Loic LeMeur

This post is from from my other blog here

What do you get when you combine video, social networking, micromedia and a very savvy French entrepreneur? You get Seesmic. Seesmic is the brainchild of French blog-star Loïc LeMeur and aims to do to video conversations what Twitter did to text-based conversations. The site is a social network where the primary content is video. Users record video, post it to the site and other users reply in video.

The site is in pre-alpha (only about 300 users testing right now) and a lot will change over the course of the next couple of months and I'll re-post when it goes into beta. Enjoy the video:

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Here is an example of the user-side of the video experience from Seesmic:

Key takeaways for marketers:

• The move toward video as an intimate, personal form of communicating is here
• Technology has caught up to consumers and video is easy to record on Seesmic right through the browser
• Conversations will be mobile on this site down the road so you can create, send and reply to videos from a mobile device
• Content created by the users is re-mixed into a daily video best-of video that is then shared with everyone
• Hooks into YouTube, Twitter and Skype help auto-promote content to larger, external networks
• The company is asking for suggestions and proactive responding to them in video
• The openness that the company is providing as they share how they are growing is a model more companies should follow

Through the videos they've created I have found myself becoming attached to the company and the model they are using to build a company. I will keep an eye on this in the future and let you know when more invites become available.

If you have a site that you would like me to look at and possibly do a post like this on, drop me an email or leave a comment on the post.

To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

If you use another podcatcher you can grab my podcast RSS feed here.

You can watch this and other Techno//Marketer videos on your video channel of choice:       

Technorati Tags: First//Look, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, technology, trends, video, Seesmic, Loic LeMeur

This post is from from my other blog here

You've heard the old riddle right? If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, the same is true with web sites that take the time to create RSS feeds, but don't tag them properly on the page. Not every visitor to your site hunts for the hidden little orange icon buried deep on the page (). The majority of people use the RSS indicator built in to their web browser. Did I lose you? Let's take a look at some examples.

If you go to a site that does this right, when you land on the page your browser should display an RSS icon in, or around, the main URL address bar.

If you look on FireFox on a PC, here is what the consumer sees (note the orange icon next to the URL of the blog):

If you're on FireFox on a Mac, you see something like this (very similar to the PC version):

If you look on a PC running Internet Explorer, you will see the following at the top of your screen. Note the RSS icon in orange on the lower right-hand side. If there is no feed detected, that icon will be gray.

Now, if the short bit of code I am about to show you is not in place, here is what they see. I found it very ironic that this happened on Microsoft's main RSS listing page, go figure.

The solution is to add a bit of code to the pages that have RSS feeds available. The code looks like this (but just ask your IT folks to figure out the details).

The reason I bring this up is that if I land on a page that doesn't have their code in place, I will keep moving, not subscribe and they've lost the chance to communicate in the future. Bloggers are lucky here as this is automatically built-in, but other sites need to add this into the code.

Each visit is an opportunity to build a relationship and, with the opt-in nature of RSS, this is a no brainer. Even if a page contains multiple feeds, pick one as your default (it is possible to list multiple). People don't want to hunt for icons like they're hunting for Waldo.

Technorati Tags: interactive marketing, marketing, Matt Dickman, RSS, social media, Techno//Marketer, technology

This post is from from my other blog here

You've heard the old riddle right? If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, the same is true with web sites that take the time to create RSS feeds, but don't tag them properly on the page. Not every visitor to your site hunts for the hidden little orange icon buried deep on the page (). The majority of people use the RSS indicator built in to their web browser. Did I lose you? Let's take a look at some examples.

If you go to a site that does this right, when you land on the page your browser should display an RSS icon in, or around, the main URL address bar.

If you look on FireFox on a PC, here is what the consumer sees (note the orange icon next to the URL of the blog):

If you're on FireFox on a Mac, you see something like this (very similar to the PC version):

If you look on a PC running Internet Explorer, you will see the following at the top of your screen. Note the RSS icon in orange on the lower right-hand side. If there is no feed detected, that icon will be gray.

Now, if the short bit of code I am about to show you is not in place, here is what they see. I found it very ironic that this happened on Microsoft's main RSS listing page, go figure.

The solution is to add a bit of code to the pages that have RSS feeds available. The code looks like this (but just ask your IT folks to figure out the details).

The reason I bring this up is that if I land on a page that doesn't have their code in place, I will keep moving, not subscribe and they've lost the chance to communicate in the future. Bloggers are lucky here as this is automatically built-in, but other sites need to add this into the code.

Each visit is an opportunity to build a relationship and, with the opt-in nature of RSS, this is a no brainer. Even if a page contains multiple feeds, pick one as your default (it is possible to list multiple). People don't want to hunt for icons like they're hunting for Waldo.

Technorati Tags: interactive marketing, marketing, Matt Dickman, RSS, social media, Techno//Marketer, technology

This post is from from my other blog here

• The Trend Junkie » The Importance of Public Speaking Why speaking is good for your personal brand and your business. (tags: speaking professional brand brandyou)

This post is from from my other blog here

• The Trend Junkie ?? The Importance of Public Speaking Why speaking is good for your personal brand and your business. (tags: speaking professional brand brandyou)

This post is from from my other blog here

What happens when we rely on an online service too much? Just a couple of minutes ago, via Twitter, I started hearing murmurs of one such service going down. I immediately felt a bit of a panic since I use it all the time. The service is Tinyurl. Tinyurl has a very simple model, they take long, complex URLs and make them short. Services like Twitter rely on Tinyurls to fit more content into the 140 character limit, but it's used more widely than that.

The service is free, and there is no uptime guarantee. I'd thought about this scenario a while back when an author asked if it would be wise to use Tinyurls in their book to make re-typing them easier for readers. I hadn't given it too much thought since then.

Are there other online services that you rely on with no guarantees? What if Google Maps crashed or YouTube was attacked and lost service? Have you thought about contingency plans in case they go offline? It certainly makes you think.

Technorati Tags: Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, technology, tinyurl

This post is from from my other blog here

What happens when we rely on an online service too much? Just a couple of minutes ago, via Twitter, I started hearing murmurs of one such service going down. I immediately felt a bit of a panic since I use it all the time. The service is Tinyurl. Tinyurl has a very simple model, they take long, complex URLs and make them short. Services like Twitter rely on Tinyurls to fit more content into the 140 character limit, but it's used more widely than that.

The service is free, and there is no uptime guarantee. I'd thought about this scenario a while back when an author asked if it would be wise to use Tinyurls in their book to make re-typing them easier for readers. I hadn't given it too much thought since then.

Are there other online services that you rely on with no guarantees? What if Google Maps crashed or YouTube was attacked and lost service? Have you thought about contingency plans in case they go offline? It certainly makes you think.

Technorati Tags: Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, technology, tinyurl

This post is from from my other blog here

• Social Networking with the Elite Private social networks are becoming more mainstream. Some of these are invite only, some you have to qualify for. Look for more of these to pop up all over the place in a number of industries. (tags: business networks socialnetworking private)