The University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research recently completed a longitudinal study on how Forbes Magazine’s list of the US’s 200 largest charities used social media in 2007 (their first year studying the topic) vs 2008.  The charities interviewed include well known names like Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Catholic Charities USA, Habitat for Humanity International and Easter Seals.  This research represents one of the first statistically significant studies of its kind, and it shows that in 2008, big non-profits were “leading both corporations and universities..in their familiarity with, usage of, monitoring of and attitude towards social media.”  (more…)

Having trouble convincing your organization to invest in social media?  You’re not the only one.  Many of my prospective clients are in the same boat.  They understand that social media can be used to help their organization grow and manage customer perception, but unable to estimate a realistic return on investment grounded in a real-life case study, they have trouble rationalizing a significant investment in social media.  Unfortunately, there aren’t enough companies that measure AND talk openly about the dollar-value ROI of their social media investment.

One company that is talking openly about their social media ROI is Dell, who today announced that since June of 2007, they’ve earned more than $3 Million in revenue via Twitter alone.  (more…)

Today at The WallStreet Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s executive chairman, and Roger McNamee, Palm’s director and co-founder of Elevation Partners announced some brand, spanking new features for Palm’s new webOS, the operating system that will power the Palm Pre when it launches on Sprint in the US on June 6.  So, will it be THAT good?  Here’s the scoop: (more…)

Today, I’m diverting from my standard mobile and social media musings to talk about something that’s bugging me: laptop bags.  I’ve been casually shopping for a new laptop bag for weeks now… I currently own the Tumi laptop bag, below.  It’s functional, but it’s your typical bleh laptop bag- grey, sporty, and not particularly feminine.  I love its durability, but carrying it is killing my mojo.

I want to replace it with something black, stylish, contemporary, high-quality, professional, and durable (i.e. no “pleather”/vinyl) – a bag that looks like it was made for a woman – not a 60-year-old salesman or a college student.  Call me demanding, but I won’t carry a laptop bag that’s pink, blinged out in gold cursive lettering, glittery, is made by Juicy Couture or Betsy Johnson, or pattered with leopard or flower prints.  I’m a business woman in technology, not an eccentric fashion maven, college student, or somebody’s “boo”.  If I showed up to a meeting with a bag like this, I’d feel ridiculous: (more…)

You hear that? … What about that? …  Still can’t hear it?  What you’re probably not hearing is the sound of people talking about your brand online.  Right now, you could be missing tens, hundreds, thousands, perhaps even millions of consumer led conversations about your brand.

Unconvinced?  If you’re based in America, how many times in the last six months have you heard a friend utter the word “Snuggie” or a “ShamWOW!” versus the number of times you’ve actually seen an advertisement for a “Snuggie” or “ShamWOW!”?  If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably heard the words uttered and seen them printed on social networks more than you’ve actually seen the commercials.  Brands infiltrate both in person and online conversations every second of every day.  While you can’t eves drop on every voice to voice conversation about your brand, it’s now easy to find out what people are saying about your brand online. (more…)

Do you shutter at the mention of the word “Twitter”?  Have the words “My Face” or “Spacebook” ever crossed your mind or (gasp) lips?  Do you know someone who falls in one of the above (or similar) categories?  Take a deep breath.  You’re not alone…  There are tons of good people out there who “just don’t get it.”

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spoken with dozens of people who haven’t signed up for Facebook, Twitter, or any other social sites…When I ask them “why?”, they tend to site one of the following excuses:

Ahhh… It’s a new day, and there’s yet another 3rd party developer jumping on the Twitter train…

TwitPub is a 3rd party developer that is leveraging Twitter’s infrastructure to monetize tweets through subscriptions. TwitPub is run by AdExcel Online Networks Sdn. Bhd., which is based out of Malaysia. TwitPub operates a bit like a premium SMS subscription (though not on your mobile) – users pay to subscribe to the private tweets of content owners/ publishers.  The idea is that content publishers sell access to their private tweets, which can contain information about any number of topics (daily horoscope, finance alerts, music news, etc… anything – you get the idea).  (more…)

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) recently soft launched Twitgoo, a new media hosting site that makes it easy to post text, images, and video to Twitter. Twitgoo was incubated inside of Photobucket, and unlike many of it’s competitors, it was built to scale, leveraging the same core infrastructure as Photobucket and Tinypic (which process more than 10 million uploads a day and more than 5 billion image requests daily). (more…)

If you’re a Facebook user in the US with a pre-paid mobile phone, there’s a new app called “Embee Mobile Minute Wallet” that can help you earn, buy, redeem, share, and manage top-up minutes – all through Facebook.  (more…)

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to test drive three of Nokia’s latest mobile phones: E71, E75, and N97 and see the latest “Nokia Messaging” app in action. (more…)