So my parody video, “Party in the UK,” is doing really well so far, with over 300 views in just about two days. It’s so nice to be getting multiple comments a day on YouTube, almost all of which are really supportive. (Who would have ever guessed YouTube commenters are capable of being nice!??!?! Haha)

I got a google alert this morning telling me that the lyrics I wrote for the parody have now been posted on a lyric site, which is funny, but the really odd thing about that is that they copied my lyrics exactly, except for one little word that they left out… take a look at the page and tell me in a comment below if you can figure out which word is missing–isn’t that funny!? I’m baffled as to why they left it out. Who the hell is their audience that they think that word in that context would be a problem?

Here’s the site where the lyrics are posted: http://www.getalyric.com/listen/KJriUVGo71Q/party_in_the_uk_parody_of_party_in_the_usa_by_miley_cyrus_by_jc_cassis

So what’s the missing lyric? Please answer in a comment below.

Old fashioned public relations has a lot to offer as part of the holiday fundraising mix, even in this time of the Great Shrinking News Media.

National news stories researched and reported by sources like the AP are having have an increasing influence on local news outlets.  Besides using their content outright, editors may hunt for a local tie-in.

So here’s not-to-late tip #2:  take advantage of Google Alert.  Google Alert is a cheap way of staying on top of news that might represent an opportunity for your non-profit, besides its value as a basic listening tool.

Example:  the US Department of Agriculture released a report this week that documented a rapid rise in hunger, which triggered an AP story.  Cynthia Hubert, a Sacramento Bee reporter, localized the story of the federal data by reaching out to local non-profits that provide emergency food and shelter.  Having a Google Alert set up for “hunger”, for example, could give food closets and other emergency social service providers a chance to suggest a local angle to key news organizations.

Even if your call to an editor or reporter doesn’t result in a story, you can still construct a brief news release regarding your organization’s data or experience, and use the information  in electronic or printed materials to add credibility to your messages.

Ein Plädoyer gegen den Dialog um jeden Preis
Social Media ist Dialog und Märkte sind Gespräche. Dennoch kein Grund immer mit jedem unbedingt ins Plaudern kommen zu müssen, findet Bernhard Jodeleit.

Tags: Dialog, Kommunikation, Überlegungen

Warum Sie mindestens einen Google Alert haben sollten
Diese Frage beantwortet PR-Doktor Kerstin Hoffmann und zeigt auch gleich auf, was man mit Google Alerts alles anstellen kann.

Tags: Monitoring, Google Alert, Tools

Ever feel like the Internet has become a big ole dumping ground for our most prurient desires and darkest thoughts? I won’t bother to detail the various kinds of trash content that can be found on the net – you know exactly what I mean and can form your own list. My mission, which you can read about here, is to expose the brighter places on the Internet – and believe me, there are TONS of them.  People teaching, learning and sharing with each other in ways that are truly inspiring.

My joyous Google Alerts recently brought me this little glimmer of joy; a lovely blog all about a young family consisting of a mom, dad and beautiful daughter adopted from China.  The post that caught my eye, however, goes beyond the beauty of this family and goes to a small, gracious, totally moving kindness from another blogger to help the family celebrate their baby girl’s birthday. I can’t do the story justice, so click here for the deets!

Is using the Internet for the purposes of good the next big thing? One can only hope.  Leave a comment and share your experiences of kindness from behind the keyboard.

search1x.com

When it comes to Social Media, I devote a lot of attention toward making the time I spend as productive as possible. Being active in this medium is, I believe, essential. Trying to do so without taking advantage of the myriad of tools that are available … well, that’s just plain dumb.

Mind you, there are literally 100’s of these apps and, certainly, there are some really great ones that I am either not using or, quite likely, not even aware of. Got to go with what I know and here are my top 12. Today (smile).

iGoogle: This is my home page and this is my command center. Many of the tools that we are going to discuss are found right on this page. Google has a tremendous selection of gadgets that you can bring onto your iGoogle page and what this allows me to do is communicate and coordinate with Twitter, FaceBook, and even LinkedIn without ever having to open a new tab unless I wish to.

Gmail Gadget: Until I find someone to “Wave” to, email remains king. Maybe even after Wave becomes widely adopted which is, for that matter, still a question very much remaining to be answered. The gadget does reside on my iGoogle page. Google has many to choose from including those for hosted Gmail accounts as I have. Yesterday, the look and feel of this app was updated making it even more functional in its ability to allow me to conduct, if I wish, all email activities without even going to my Gmail page.

TwitterGadget: Also on my iGoogle page. This is actually a very functional Twitter client much like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or HootSuite. Not as sophisticated, mind you, and it does not have the added capability to post to or monitor FaceBook but, it’s a great little gizmo none the less.

Google Reader: Again, you guessed it, on my home page (smile). I probably subscribe to 15-20 news sources and blogs that I find to have consistently interesting articles. Whenever a new article is posted on one of these sites, it gets added to my reader which I can them peruse at my convenience. My iGoogle gadget allows me to get a quick look at all items in my reader by title and source, drill down to get a synopsis of the article, or click to go to the original source. If I wish, I can go to my full reader and check articles based on everything that is in there or by folders that I have established for each to be filed under. I also have the ability to, right from within Reader, share any article to Twitter, FaceBook, Posterous, or many other sites. Pretty cool.

Google Alerts: I am using Google Alerts to scan the internet for articles that may be of interest to me. Alerts are generated based on keywords that I have specified. All articles pulled by alerts are fed to …. my Google Reader.

ReadTwit: This is a very cool little tool! One of the frustrating things about Twitter is that you have all of these folks posting links and 99% of these are in a url shortened format which makes it impossible for you to determine what that particular link might be about, or might take you to, without having to click on it. On top of that, folks are tweeting so fast that there is an excellent chance that you will miss that one really cool link that could make or break your day. ReadTwit monitors the tweets of those folks that I follow on Twitter, grabs the links from each tweet, moves them into my Reader, and actually gives me the title and a synopsis of each. Very cool (smile).

PowerTwitter: This is a FireFox add-on that actually installs itself as an overlay onto your Twitter home page. I know it does a number of things but what I really like is that it takes those shortened urls and translates them and actually shows me the source and the title of the link. When I go to somebody else’s Twitter page it does the same. It also allows me to re-tweet that article from that person’s page if I so desire. I find this invaluable combined with my Reader and ReadTwit. When I view an article on my Reader that was generated by a Tweet, I follow that article back to the Tweeter, find that tweet, and then re-tweet as opposed to just sharing that article. Credit where credit is due. I have also discovered that re-tweeting is scoring me big points in the Twitter community and is also increasing visits to this blog. A win-win.

HootSuite: Hootsuite is a very powerful Twitter client that is gaining an increasingly wide following. There are many out there that prefer it to any Twitter client that is available. I use it for the Hootlet bookmarklet. The Hootlet is a little button that sits on my browser toolbar. When I am looking at an article that I would like to share on Twitter, I just click on the Hootlet. A tweet is prepared along with a shortened link. I can add my comments if I wish and based on space available and then ………. I can send it now or schedule to send it later. As I like to say … HootSweet! (smile).

Ping.fm: This app also sits on my iGoogle page. It allows me to send updates to one or a multiple of sites with one single post. I use it when I want to send an update not only to Twitter but also maybe to FaceBook and/or LinkedIn. By the way, Ping.fm can also integrate with HootSuite. HootSuite is pretty much a Twitter client only. Combined with Ping.fm it can become much more.

Share On FaceBook: Also a button on my toolbar. If I am reading an article I like, I can share that directly to FaceBook along with the link, an article synopsis, an image I can choose for the article, and my comments.

TwitterFeed: I am using TwitterFeed to automatically post to Twitter new articles that I have written along with the new articles that some other special folks (ones that I trust to be consistently good and appropriate) have written. At this time, it is the only auto-post tool that I am using.

SocialScope: Twitter and FaceBook for my BlackBerry Curve 8900. Only available, at this time and as far as I know, for the BlackBerry. May not have yet been generally released. I had to request an invitation to a closed beta launch. These invitations, incidentally, appear to be quite easy to get. You may have to wait a day or two for yours but no biggie. Sweet, very sweet, app. I’ve looked at other Twitter clients for the BlackBerry and, in my opinion, the others don’t even come close!

Whoa! I can, and do, drone on (smile). Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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SWill Squidoo Kill Your Company’s Shot at (Free) Feel-Good PR on Twitter?
Today Squidoo founder Seth Godin announced that his company would begin launching websites for major companies that collect social buzz–good and bad–from around the Web. In his blog, Godin says that these “conversations” are already happening, so Squidoo is simply going to funnel them into one aggregate spot. That lets any customer or company see what the buzz is around Brand X. But for companies to get on the page and respond, it will cost them money. Is this fair to companies? More importantly, is it good for customers? (Below, one such page for In-and-Out Burger.)

Nine Ways For Luxury Brands To Use Social Media
Rohit Bhagava believes “luxury brands are the IDEAL brands to be using social media and that social networking, microblogging and online content creation represent big opportunities for these brands to really stand out, improve their customer loyalty, drive sales and, in fact, maintain the image they have worked hard to create for their brands.”

This is weird in an incredibly surreal way. I have a Google Alert on my name, not only to see which things I post online show up through the service, but to see who the other Mary Warners are in the world. There are a lot of them. Today, the Google Alert I got was for a Wikipedia article on a song called “Like Mary Warner” by the all-female Russian pop group Serebro. The song is also called “Sweet.” Of course, I had to have a listen on YouTube. This is the English version. This is the Russian version. It’s rather catchy no matter which way you have a listen.

Hubby is pretty sure the song is referencing marijuana, because Mary Warner is a slang term for the wacky weed.

If there’s one thing anyone tackling any project in the music industry knows, it’s vital to experiment. But let’s be clear here: an experiment is testing causal relationships among variables or testing a hypothesis. How can you test a hypothesis if you don’t have accurate instruments with which to test it?

The advertising industry has already recognized “how poor metrics are undermining digital marketing“, and the same is absolutely true for music marketing.

I mentioned BandMetrics in my last post, and I’m also a fan of Trendrr. Google Alerts is a clumsy but useful tool – and there are many off-shoots or versions of Google Alerts (such as Addictomatic) that can be used to track buzz, but they all feel like blunt instruments.

Here’s my question: WHERE are the great innovators in music metrics? What metrics or services are YOU using to find out where, when and how often fans are listening to your music?

Update: Just heard about a very interesting metrics tracking site called www.trendly.com – it more usefully interprets your Google Analytics data, presenting trends etc. Just dipping into it now, but looks very promising!

“If you’re constantly on the lookout for talent, your goal is to create what I call a ‘pull’ strategy for recruitment — you want to pull candidates in even when you’re not actively searching for them. This contrasts with what a lot of companies do, which is wait for an opening to occur and ‘push’ out employment ads in order to attract job seekers. On the surface this might sound easy, but it does take some planning. You need to build a foundation so you’re not viewed as just constantly recruiting,” says Mashable writer Sharlyn Lauby.

1. Connect with People in Your Industry or Local Areas. Get to know nearby Tweeters. Use apps like TwitterLocal or Tweetmondo to find local users; these online contacts can become face-to-face contacts via Tweetups, and can aid in finding good candidates.
2. Organize your Connections. Make sure to keep Twitter friends separate from business contacts. Use applications like Tweetdeck or Seesmic to help.
3. Post Jobs Directly (and Get Your Network to RT Them).
4. Search using Hashtags (or Create Your Own!). Hashtags are essentially a way for Twitter users to organize tweets under topical tags that are included in the tweet itself. You can use a hashtag of a job opening to have it show up more readily in search queries.
5. Set up Alerts. Use alert systems like Google Alerts and Notify Me to see what jobs are being offered. You can also see if anyone else on Twitter is recruiting for a specific position you are interested in.

For more information about hiring with Twitter and the list above, check out this Mashable post.

Internet ofrece herramientas que le permiten comparar la imagen y los resultados de su compañía con los de su competencia.

El e-marketing comenzó como una nueva forma de dar a conocer, expandir y mejorar el nombre de una marca o compañía. Sin embargo, preceden a esta primera impresión una serie de utilidades subyacentes, entre ellas, la investigación de mercado.

Let’s get the ball rolling on this post with a discussion of Google Alerts. My integration of this app was borne out of an incident that I recently experienced using another app called ProxiFeed. The two have certain similarities. With ProxiFeed, you teach it to look for new relevant content on the web around a given set of key words or phrases that you specify. ProxiFeed then goes out and finds articles and Tweets them automatically through your Twitter account. You do … nada (smile). Pretty sweet unless a “cloaked website” slips through the cracks and a Tweet goes out, with your name on it, and the content includes scenes taken right out of Hustler Magazine. Yikes!  Here’s the problem. As of right now, you have no way to preview these Tweets. They just go out. In ProxiFeed’s defense, properly screening these is pretty darn impossible to be 100% effective. They are working at making this better and they have told me that in the fourth quarter they will be integrating a “preview” function. Cool. Maybe then I can turn it back on (smile).

Google Alerts is similar in that you teach Google to go out and find those same kinds of articles using keywords or phrases. Like ProxiFeed, you can have it search on multiple parameters. The huge difference is that Alerts will then deliver links, and a brief description of the article, to you in a aggregated email format either daily or immediately when they are identified. You can then look at the articles and decide whether or not they are “Tweet Worthy”, FaceBook, or wherever else you may wish to share them. There is also an alternative to email alerts. You can have these articles go directly to ……..

Your Google Reader. I have my Google Reader loaded into my iGoogle Home Page. What I like about this is that I can scan articles as they come in and then click on the article name and get a pop-out of the article itself for my review. Then, if I wish, I can click on a link to take me to the original article site and I can decide what, if anything, I want to do with it. However, I can also go to my reader screen itself, manage my subscriptions, look at an individual feed to see articles on file (even those I have read) and then look at the full article within Reader. A recent feature that has been added lets me go to the settings screen and select services that I might wish to send this article to including, for example, Twitter, FaceBook, or LinkedIn. Even to something like Posterous.

For what it is worth, LinkedIn also makes a toolbar for your browser that you can click on any article and share it on LinkedIn. FaceBook has a browser button for their site that does exactly the same thing. ShareThis will also put a button on your browser to select where you want to share a page. And, if those are not enough to get you by, HootSuite will grab a page and let you Tweet it now or later at a time of your choosing and, if you have integrated Ping.FM to HootSuite, you can send those pages out to your other services also. I also have one for Posterous. Believe it or not, I use all of these apps daily. Yes, I am a sick puppy the meds are helping (smile).

Here’s something kind of fun and new, Google Voice. This app is by invitation only at this time which means you go to the site and ask to be allowed to try it out. I received an email back in a couple of days that extended that invitation. And, if they invited me, you know that they are not that discriminating (smile). So, what’s the dealio with Voice? Well, watch this ….

I’m still playing with Voice but it’s pretty cool. Among other things, your voice mails are registered on your account page with the person’s phone number, and name, if you have taught it that. You can listen to the voice mail and/or read the translated written description (needs a little work) and choose to call that person back or send them an SMS. How will I use this? Still working on it but, for example, were it not for my T-Mobile Hot Spot connection in my home, my cell phone would be virtually useless. So, with Voice, I can tell it to ring both my land line and my cell line and then choose which phone to answer the call with. Keep in mind though, you will choose/be assigned, a Google Voice phone number and, for it to work, calls must come in via that phone number.

Well, that’s enough fun for today! Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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Google bietet nicht nur kostenlose Suchmöglichkeiten! Mit google Alerts habe ich die Möglichkeit, mich automatisch über neue Themen, zu meinem Keywort, informieren zu lassen. Gibt es eine NEWS zum entsprechenden KeyWort, dann kommt in Zukunft diese NEWS als gesammelte Teaser-Übersicht in mein Mailpostfach. Dabei bestimme ich z.B. selbst ob ich täglich oder lieber wöchentlich diese Mail erhalte.

google Alerts

Ok, you’ve already Googled your own name a few times and laughed at some of the things people with your name (henceforth called your “dopplegangers”) have done. Now, while you know what you’ve done in your online life, a hiring manager or HR person could easily mistake these doppelgangers for you while doing a background check prior to a job offer. With that in mind the following is a list of tips and resources to check out just what can be found out about you or any of your doppelgangers and how to boost your online presence at the same time.

1. Google

Google is the first and most obvious place to start. I typed in my name and  straight away found two comedians: Rick Byrne and Richard Byrne. There’s also another Richard Byrne, a professor of sociology at the University of St Andrews who has published many books on primate psychologist. Nor am I likely to be mistaken for the Richard Byrne, the Martial Arts Grand Master.

You might think “so what?” Well, I certainly hope a HR person wouldn’t think I was this Ricky Byrne. It’s good to know about what’s out there and to combat potentially being mistaken for all these other Rick/RIchard Byrnes I send people my email address (based on my site’s URL), my site’s URL, my LinkedIn profile as well as my cell phone number as the signature of all my emails. This cuts out the possibility of people having to track me down online by directing them specifically to the sites I can control.

2. Check out variations on your URL

I focus on my ByrneCommunications.com URL as sometimes people looking for me often end up on RickByrne.com which shows some guy stroking an Alligator. Ok, I’m probably not going to be mistaken for him but I have been mistaken for another designer also named Richard Byrne. One Creative Director thought he was me and had very negative comments about the work on his website. As a result I created as much distinction as possible from his website. I’ve taken the same approach to dealing with Byrne Communications Inc., a small marketing agency in New York. Not only will a distinctive look help with this problem but also making sure that all emails have your site’s URL in the signature so people don’t have to google you to find it.

3. LinkedIn

Make sure your LinkedIn Profile is up to date and has a photo so that you can be discerned from all the other people with the same name.  LinkedIn’s ability to show your contacts is also likely to point to the right ”you” too. Get involved with the discussion groups that are specific for your industry (or segment of your industry). This will put you in direct contact with peers in a format that gives you a chance to shine by commenting or providing insight.

For more details see my posting on LinkedIn here.

4. Facebook

On Facebook I remove all personal details and set everything in the privacy settings to “friends only” for security reasons. A genuine friend looking for me will know it’s me specifically from my name and photo alone. Put up a photo you’d like HR/hiring managers to see – I’d rather be found as me than this guy who may be too old for positions I might be applying to. I also know someone who deliberately has a false name on their Facebook profile so that no one from their professional world will find them there. Also keep posting things to your page to push it higher up in the Search Results.

5. Intelius

I did a search for myself using my legal name and home town on intelius.com. There I was – or so I thought. It turns out that there is someone with the same name (including the same middle name) liveing just a few blocks away. Armed with these details you can actually physically locate your dopplegangers which is relevant for the next point…

6. Crimes and Misdemeanors

Check for any accidental attributions of crime to you by running your name through any of these sites (http://www.criminalsearches.com,  http://mybackgroundcheck.com and http://www.peoplefinders.com) just in case a doppelganger of yours is out there breaking the law. I found another Rick Byrne with lots of traffic violations – luckily in another state but what if he had been in the same State/County? Would a HR/hiring manager take the time to check that it wasn’t the same person if the incident was in a town I had worked in previously?

You might think “so what” but I am a little sensitive because at a previous address the IRS mistook me for another person with the same name who lived on the same 12 mile long road. They probably thought ‘how could there be two people with the same name on the same road?’ and promptly sent me the bill for THEIR tax arrears. If I hadn’t found out about it and cleared it up the IRS could have really blighted my credit rating. I also found another Rick Byrne in a different town who had traffic violations and there it all was online.

7. Yasni

Yasni provides a composite of information from a number of sources including Wikipedia, Amazon, LinkedIn, NamesDatabase, MySpace, Friendster, Jigsaw, Vox, jobster, IMDb, Google News and blog search, Bloglines, Find a Grave and many more. I was amazed at some of things that turned up here but not in a Google search such as old webpages from my website that I thought were down, my birthday and book wishlist (both on Amazon – see below) photos of me (one from Facebook and one from LinkedIn). The site is not comprehensive but seems to be getting increasingly popular as companion to a Google search.

8. Online comments

Comments on Hulu.com, TV.com and similar websites can easily be found in a search as can reviews on Amazon.com so be careful what you say. Check these sites for comments under your name – again just in case there is someone else out there. If you find a topic you can excel in keep track of it through BackType.

Type your name in to http://www.thinkexist.com/quotes/ just in case their is something there under your namesake. You could be surprised what you find like this.

9. Photos

Check out photos of you on Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, KodakGallery.com or similar photo sites. Click “remove tag” from the ones you might deem inappropriate for a someone thinking of hiring you to find. Check your name in Google Images to just to see what you find. If undesirable images are found you may be able to contact the site to have them removed. When uploading photos make sure your name is not in the title if you don’t want them to be found by search engines and vice versa.

10. Amazon

The good thing about writing reviews on Amazon is that you can target specific books, perhaps career related and display your “thought leadership” and insight. These reviews then come up in a search. However I was shocked to find that by birthday could be found out through my Amazon account. I had naturally assumed that because it has credit card details that my Amazon account’s default privacy settings who prevent this. You could even see the books I had on my wishlist. Click “Privacy Notice” at the bottom of the page. Then Click “Your Content”  in the left hand column and click any of the options that appear below so that you get the sub-nav with the “Edit Profile” option (I’m not sure why they make it so hard to find…).

11. Blogs

Blogs can provide a great opportunity to display your insight, experience and thought leadership. If you’re not starting one of your own  then find blogs in your area of expertise (or an area you’d like to become an expert in) and practice there.

To find a doppleganger use Google Blog Search, a search engine that targets blogs specifically. I found this Rich Byrne. Luckily he blogs about totally different things.

12. MySpace

Remember that if you have a MySpace page everyone can see it so be careful what you say and post. Just being on MySpace could take away from how you are perceived for a more senior position. If you are designer make sure it looks good as you will be judged.

Conclusion

While you can’t totally eradicate all negative references to you or your doppelgangers at least being aware of what’s out there will help you bring it up in a jokey way in an email or interview. I’ve done this several times and it really helps break the ice. It also reveals whether they’ve done a Google search on you or not.

If you have a doppelganger in an area of the web where you have no presence (such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc) you may want to put something up just to make sure that the right “you” can at least be found by a HR/hiring manager.

Just like Spring cleaning you’ll need to come back and go through the exercise again once a year. It gets easier as there will (hopefully) be very few new entries in your search – unless one of your dopplegangers suddenly becomes famous. Luckily Google Alerts makes it easier by sending you an email every time something new with your name is posted online.

]]> http://bluemediaboutique.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/what-are-people-saying-about-you-online/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:57:14 +0000 torirose http://bluemediaboutique.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/what-are-people-saying-about-you-online/

Have you ever wondered what is being said about you or your business online? Google Alert and Tweetbeep are tools you can employ to monitor what’s being said about your company, brand or name.

iGoogle is a dashboard you can personalize with widgets and feeds, including Google Alert. This alert service watches blogs and websites and will notify you when anyone mentions a word you have input.

Tweetbeep is one of the existing Twitter monitoring services. This tool can be set up as an alert or to send you an email each day with every mention of you or your brand.

Although it may seem like something you would rather be in the dark on, it’s important to be aware of the things the online community is saying about you, your company or your brand. With this information, you can correctly deal with the negative or positive feedback.

Johnson and Johnson recently discovered the power of social media backlash after releasing an ad that outraged mothers. Read this article to get the full story of the Motrin Moms.

For instructions on setting up Google Alert and more information on monitoring, check out this Spark Plug article.

After a year of testing a new interface for Google News, Google has launched its redesign. The new design is more cheerful and visually richer than the previous design with the ability to show videos and photos as well as most of the clutter has been removed.

Click to know about redesigned spreadsheet in Google

The feature that allowed users to post comments on the newer stories has been removed, but still it will show the all comments that have been posted.

[ More ]

E.J. Montini ’76 of the Arizona Republic

While cleaning out my office this weekend in anticipation of getting new carpet installed, I weeded some of the many piles of paper that clutter my shelves and my floor. One little gem I found was a note to myself that E.J. Montini, a writer for the Arizona Republic, is a Penn State grad (journalism, class of 1976). I apparently knew that at one time, but must have forgotten.

(See? It just goes to show you: Never throw anything out.)

I set a Google Alert to his name, so I can keep up with what he’s doing. And already here’s a nice little hit: a piece he wrote for today’s edition about dogs—it’s partly about the Obama family’s new dog Bo and partly a sweet reminiscence of a dog named Lucky from E.J.’s own childhood.

Tina Hay, editor