Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

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Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

Forrester Research, one of the world’s leading technology and market research companies, says marketers are expected to spend over .5 billion on social media in 2010, an increase of 10.4% over 2009. Offline advertisers will increasingly move online and internet advertising will make up 21 percent of overall advertising budgets, up from 12 percent last year. There will be an accelerated migration of ad dollars from traditional to digital media and this will gather momentum over the year.

Forrester Research continues: “In 2009, the majority of interactive marketers tested Social Computing tactics, ranging from Facebook pages to blogs and communities. In 2010, marketers will move out of test phase and treat Social Computing as a mature channel, setting budgets and establishing formal listening and measurement plans. This maturation will push the value of Social Computing and its insights deep into company departments beyond marketing, setting up organizations to fully embrace Social Computing and becoming more transparent and interactive with consumers. As Social Computing matures, both marketers and vendors will feel pressure to not only prove its profitability but also ensure consumer privacy.”

There are major shifts in social media marketing as well. Facebook, with 350 million users worldwide, is the number one destination for marketers in the US and many worldwide markets. It will surpass its rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010.

Marketers will make social networks a priority for 2010, but a large part of their spending will go toward building and maintaining a social network presence. Paid social network advertising will be secondary.

Social marketing will also see the biggest growth with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34 percent for the next four years, double the average growth rate for overall online marketing spending. It will increase in the U.S. to more than .1 billion by 2014, a 34% compound annual growth rate, according to Forrester Research

The Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet – Who Says It’s not a Beauty?

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The Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet – Who Says It’s not a Beauty?

It was passion at best view. I was sitting at my customary board at my customary chocolate browse a pair of weeks backwards when my friend pulled away his original infant. It was slick, it was tiny, it was distinct and I just stared. “It” was the just-released Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet PC that he had picked upward that afternoon. He noticed me staring, and being the tasty, sharing character of guy that he is instantly offered to let me offer his original infant a swirl. Love at best view may be an understatement.

The Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet is the latest upgrade to Lenovo’s X series. Just 1. 1 inches dense, it’s about the size of a spiral bounce notebook, but does then often much. And I’m not the simply one to believe then. The X60 Tablet has garnered some amazing reviews since it debuted in November. PC Magazine awarded it 4. 5 of 5 stars and calls it “the eventual pill experience. Independent reviewers at GottaBeMobile. com tell it “sets the measure for redeemable pill PCs. And Laptop Magazine claims, “…it just may be the better redeemable still. ” All I know is that it has just about everything I’d seek in a redeemable pill PC, and so some. Here’s a peek at some of the most-wanted features that the Lenovo X60 Tablet offers.

Small Footprint

At 10. 8” x 9. 6” x 1. 1-1. 3” (the extra. 2 inches comes into drama if you select the 8 cubicle battery instead of the 4 cubicle battery. It too adds a wee piece to the weight), the X60 Tablet is just about the size of a basic spiral notebook.

Multiple Screen Options

You go a selection of three cover options – 12. 1″ XGA, 12. 1″ SXGA+, or MultiView/MultiTouch 12. 1″ XGA screens, all with Super Wide Viewing Angle engineering and Anti-Reflective/Anti-Glare coatings. The Multi-View cover is a lovely matter. Even in complete sunshine, the cover is legible and crispy, unlike most new displays that I’ve used. Since I do my happiest writing sitting away in the backyard or poolside, the complete sunshine screening means that I wear’t get to deform myself into a pretzel in decree to have some darkness on the cover so I can view it. The MultiTouch cover gives you a selection of using the digitizer stylus or your finger for simple navigation.

Another leading plus – the Active Rotate senses the cover preference and automatically adjusts the exhibit to equip. That means no demand to manually shift between portrayal and landscape preference. Coordinating with that, the NavDial keys which go you up and down on the cover too automatically feel which instruction is upward then you wear’t get to adapt the manner you take them when you shift orientations.

Connectivity Plus!

The Lenovo X60 Tablet can manage just about any sort of connectivity that exists. You have a selection of just Bluetooth, a/b/g WiFi, cellular WWAN, 802. 11n MiMo for wireless, as easily as a modem jack and a basic LAN jack. One manner or another, you WILL link. And the Lenovo care to less details shows here, overly – a button on the exterior of the lawsuit allows you to move wireless on or off still when the lawsuit is closed to maintain battery living.

Real Feel Digitizer Pen

The digitizer pen feels _correct_ in your hand. It’s another one of those less details that makes then more disagreement. The digitizer has the size, configuration and weight of a genuine pen so that it just feels correct in your hand. You can take it as a cursor, or take it to cartoon and go notes. The acknowledgement software is top-notch. I’m an utter artwork oddball, so the best matter I did with Jeff’s Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet was flip into an artwork plan and begin drawing. I won’t tell it was JUST like sketching with a pencil or charcoal, but nothing else still comes good. Laying downward the bones for a present took seconds and was nearly as simple as sketching it away on newspaper. Oh! And did I cite the cushioned finger grasp and eraser? Yes, the digitizer pen has an eraser on the opposite conclusion of the hint where it belongs and it truly works. And following that ‘less details’ thinking, Lenovo has a warehousing bay for your digitizer and offers optional tethers to hold your pen connected and forbid losing it.

Long Long Battery Life

The Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet offers you a selection of batteries. Go with the 8 cubicle, which will offer you 8+ hours of battery procedure. Even the 4 cubicle battery out-performs most others though. And you have a choice of ability savers that will assist maintain battery accusation for the significant tasks.

Duo Processor

The large design in the X60 Thinkpad Tablet is the Intel Low Voltage Core Duo mainframe. This is what everyone has been waiting for, and they eventually did it. The Core Duo mainframe supports upward to 4 GB RAM and a 120 GB HDD, runs tight and chill, and gives you the ability of a desktop in a pill.

The Cons The unmarried biggest con is that the X60 Tablet doesn’t include a built in optical effort. Lenovo decided to get with the high living battery mob instead, then if you need CD/DVD capacity, you’ll get to put in a distinct effort or in the ThinkPad X6 Tablet UltraBase, which is tiny enough to transport anywhere, and gives you an entire reality of enlargement options

• Ultrabay Slim with accessible optical effort.

• 4 USB 2. 0 Ports; parallel and sequential ports.

• VGA output.

• Microphone input & earphone production.

• Stereo speakers.

• Ethernet and modem pass-through.

• Cable lock slot and important lock.

The Wrap-up

The Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet is the redeemable pill PC that everyone has been waiting for. It’s not ideal – it could be a little more chic and racy, and it would be nice to get an optical effort built in – but it does include just about everything you’d need in a portable ultra-solution for just about everything you do.

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NJ Court Says Determines Whether Woman Is A Journalist or Not

admin    Web Marketing     Court, Determines, Journalist, Says, Whether, Woman

The online world is interesting for all of us when it comes to defining who we are. While it’s easy to call yourself a blogger what does that actually mean from a legal standpoint? How is a blogger truly defined when it comes to the legal side of the coin?

A case in New Jersey has brought attention to the rights and protections provided to someone but whether it is about a blogger is something that seems to be up for debate. MediaPost’s report is titled “Jersey Court Rules Blogger Not Protected By Shield Law, Must Divulge Source”. A pretty astounding headline but after reading the report I am not convinced this ruling is about bloggers at all.

An appellate court in New Jersey has ruled that a woman who slammed the software company Too Much Media on a message board isn’t a “journalist” for purposes of the state’s shield law. The controversial ruling means that the post’s author, life coach Shellee Hale of Washington state, can be ordered to divulge her sources for her online remarks about Too Much Media, which is suing Hale for defamation.

New Jersey’s reporter shield law broadly allows journalists to protect the identity of their confidential sources. But the appellate court ruled that not all writers are entitled to claim the benefits of that law “lest anyone with a webpage or who posts materials on the Internet would qualify.”

Now, this whole case is around a message board “post” on a site called Oprano which calls itself the “Wall Street Journal for the online adult entertainment industry”. Oh yea, the plot thickens, doesn’t it? The credibility of all involved is starting to really come to light. Nevertheless, how any court defines a journalist can be important to any online “reporter” or “blogger” because if brought to the courts legal precedence will often help determine which way a case will go.

So the NJ court has basically decided that this message board rant that eventually created a charge of defamation (that’s rich considering the industry, huh?) suit is not protected under the state’s Shield Law. These laws are designed to allow reporters etc to protect sources. The ruling was upheld in an appellate court as well.

The bottom line is this

A trial judge rejected Hale’s argument and an appellate court upheld that ruling this week. The appellate court said that Hale’s posts to the message board were more akin to a letter to the editor than a work of journalism.

“Although any attempt at defining ‘news’ would ultimately prove illusory, some delimiting standards must pertain lest anyone with a webpage or who posts materials on the Internet would qualify,” the court stated.

The judges then went on to outline specific reasons why Hale didn’t qualify as a journalist: “Defendant has produced no credentials or proof of affiliation with any recognized news entity, nor has she demonstrated adherence to any standard of professional responsibility regulating institutional journalism, such as editing, fact-checking or disclosure of conflicts of interest.”

Too Much Media’s lawyer, Joel Kreizman, says that the court correctly decided that Hale wasn’t acting as a journalist when she made the posts. “A journalist would issue a report,” he says. “These posts were on a message board as opposed to any kind of blog.”

Well, now the blogging world may want to be concerned if there is a need for credentials and standards to have some protection under the law. Those aren’t exactly commonplace in the world of blogging. If they are please update me.

Hale’s lawyers, of course, don’t think this ended the way it should

But Hale’s lawyer, Jeffrey Pollock, criticized the decision. He says that New Jersey doesn’t require that journalists have credentials or work for established news outlets to qualify for the shield law. Instead, he says, the only criteria is whether people gathered information for the purpose of publication.

“If she doesn’t qualify, who the hell does?” he asks. “How do you decide who’s in and who’s out?”

Interesting question really. As a blogger, how covered or how exposed you are in any legal case will be more a subjective matter than objective depending plenty of variables. Where you live, where a case is filed and more. As a result, what do you think are the protections afforded someone who has a blog rather than just posts to a forum? Should there be journalistic “rights” for bloggers? If so, how far should they go?

Any thoughts?

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Are SEOs & SMMs the Same? SEMPO Says Implies Yes

admin    Web Marketing     Implies, Same, Says, SEMPO, Seo's., SMMs

Spring is the time of year where everything changes. New life begins. It used to be the time of year when new homes were sold. It apparently is also the time of year for market research to blossom in the online marketing space. Everyone and their brother is coming out with something that proves something else to someone. If you are a regular reader here you know that I am a high skeptic on these things.

So not to be outdone, SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) has released findings from research conducted with Econsultancy in its “SEMPO’s State of Search Engine Marketing Report 2010”. The report ((this link is for a purchase of the report. Please note: MP gets no compensation related to its sale and SEMPO members and report participants get the report for free) looks at last year’s ‘real’ numbers as compared to 2010’s predictions for search and social media spends and trends etc. Respondents represent agencies and client side Internet marketers alike. Here is the methodology used for the findings

The State of Search Report is based on an online survey of nearly 1,500 client-side marketers (advertisers) and agency respondents, which took place in January and February 2010. SEMPO and Econsultancy promoted the survey to their respective members, offering a complimentary copy of this report as the incentive for taking part.

It should be pointed out that this year’s survey was carried out slightly later than in previous years, with previous surveys going live before the end of the year.

Some highlights given in the pre-report press release:

The rise of social media marketing budgets, although still modest compared to search engine optimization and paid search, represents the biggest opportunity for search marketers this year.

OK, I’m going to stop there for a moment and ask my own informal polling question here. Should it automatically be assumed that search marketers have a right to social media budgets? Do they even have the same skill sets?

I asked Andy Beal the same question. His response:

An SEO has no more SMM skills than he does PPC. He can learn both, but knowing one well, does not mean he can just jump straight into the other.

It looks to me that the search marketing world is making the assumption that the social media budget of their clients is there for the taking as well. It appears that the client side is already thinking this way and is responding accordingly since search marketers are not exactly “top of mind” for handling social media campaigns for now.

There are plenty of other statistics in the report including:

-The research highlights Google’s dominance as a search engine, with 97% of companies paying to advertise on Google AdWords. Nearly three quarters of companies (71%) pay to advertise on the Google search network while 56% use the Google content network (keyword targeted).

-More than half of advertisers (56%) and agencies (62%) say that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year. Meanwhile, only around a third of advertisers noted an increase in Yahoo (32%) and Bing (29%) keyword costs.

-From a range of trends and marketplace developments, company respondents are most likely to say the personalization of search results is having an impact. Just under a third of companies (31%) say this is “highly significant,” and a further 44% say it is “significant.” Agency respondents felt the “rise of local search” was the most significant emerging trend with 38% saying this was “highly significant” with 47% labeling it as “significant.”

There are no real surprises in the report. There is a ton of data to mullover but the takeaway I am seeing is this perception from the search industry that search marketers are also social media marketers by default. Do you see it that way?

If you are a consultant or an agency are you looking to secure both social media and search marketing dollars? It can be done, don’t get me wrong, but it takes the right kind of approach and people to make this happen.

Search and social media practitioners: One in the same or two different animals? What’s your take?

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Google Should Obey Us Even if They Leave, Says Chinese Government

admin    Web Marketing     Chinese, Even, google, Government, Leave, Obey, Says, Should, They

Maybe I missed the point of the whole China/Google kerfluffle, but I could have sworn the reason Google was pulling out of China was because they didn’t want to obey China’s rules on censorship anymore. Apparently China has decided to conveniently ignore that fact as they remind Google to continue to obey China’s Internet rules, even if Google does decide to leave the country.

Riiight.

According to Reuters:

“On entering the Chinese market in 2007, it clearly stated that it would respect Chinese law,” the spokesman, Yao Jian, told reporters in answer to a question about Google.

Google opened its Chinese search portal in 2006.

“We hope that whether Google Inc continues operating in China or makes other choices, it will respect Chinese legal regulations,” Yao told a regular news conference.

“Even if it pulls out, it should handle things according to the rules and appropriately handle remaining issues,” he said.

Yes, of course Google should continue to obey the law for remaining “issues” within the country (possibly its other services, if Google decides to only pull its search engine). However, although I’m not in favor of China’s censorship, I don’t think Google should wage a direct Internet war against the country.

China’s admonition seems a little like a parent expecting a child to keep the same curfew when they leave the house. Google is leaving precisely because they just can’t abide those rules anymore. They’re going to live their life the way they want to now.

Or, for another analogy that might hit home a bit more with the Chinese government, maybe this is more akin to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling China to investigate the hack attacks (to which China said Clinton damaged the countries’ relations, and basically she should mind her own business).

What do you think? Could China seriously expect to dictate to a company even if they won’t have any jurisdiction to do so?

View full post on Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim

My Personality Says No to Traditional Network Marketing

admin    Website Marketing Companies     marketing, Network, Personality, Says, Traditional

I’m an Introvert. I have learned to be more extroverted, but I’m still an Introvert at heart. I don’t feel comfortable going to live events and being around a bunch of people I don’t know. I don’t feel comfortable cold calling prospects, handing out DVD’s, CD’s, or Magazines in my local community. I also don’t feel comfortable sharing my business opportunity with my friends, family, and neighbors because I’m always wondering what they think of me. My personality says NO to traditional network marketing.

I have tried for years to change my personality to no avail. I’ve gotten better, but I still have this desire to stay in my shell. I would rather sit in my office and market online and have a system close my prospects and do all the work for me. I get this funny feeling in my stomach when I know I need to personally call my prospects. I would rather not call anyone, but have money flood into my bank account every month without speaking to a soul.

My personality says NO to traditional network marketing.

Does this mean that I’m in the wrong business?

In my opinion the answer is NO. There is a place for me in this industry. I heard a trainer say that Introverts make the best salesman because they are good listeners. They are also good at emphathizing with prospects. I know this is just one man’s opinion but I feel that listening and emphathizing with people are natural talents for me.

My major point in this article is to share that if you are Introverted there is a place for you in this industry. If you are afraid to open up and network, one of the best things to do is to read personal development books. Personal development helps change your self-concept. If we have a better self image of ourselves we won’t care what others think of us.

When you get to that point my friends, you will be unstoppable.

Once your self image is rock solid, all it comes down to is learning sales and marketing techniques. If you learn how to sell yourself to your prospects as a mentor who can can lead them to success, and drive massive amounts of traffic through marketing to your offers you can have massive amounts of cash stuffed in your bank account each month.

Internet network marketing is perfect for Introverts

The awesome thing about Internet network marketing is there are so many free ways to generate prospects. There are also many paid ways. The key is to believe in yourself and know that any skill can be learned. No one was a master copywriter in one day, they had to learn as well. This is the same with building websites, marketing funnels, etc.

Take care my friends, and know that the power is within you.

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Discover how to earn a whopping $4,567,09 per month in your spare time even if nobody joins your MLM business. Forget cold calling. Forget those home meetings. In fact, forget everything you’ve ever been taught about building a solid income in Network Marketing from the “gurus”. Let this 25- yr “unknown” marketer show you how he built an organization of over 4,120 in 14 short months without making one phone call! ==> http://www.CarlCoffin.net – My Online Marketing Systemhttp://www.MLMTheLazyWay.net – My Personal Bloghttp://www.myspace.com/carlsmlmsecrets – Become my friend today!!

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Usability Resource Says Microsoft Fluent User Interface is not so Fluent

admin    Misc     Fluent, Interface, Microsoft, Resource, Says, Usability, User

I do not have emotional reactions to the software applications I use on a daily basis.  They are necessary tools which I use to accomplish my job and produce documentation that is of benefit to my team members and to the client. I neither love nor hate them; they are merely a fact of my life.

Until Microsoft Office 2007.

Trying to use the new Fluent User Interface (aka the ribbon) illicit feelings of confusion, frustration, and depending how quickly I need to get something done and am unable to find where it is hiding, anger. 

And I know I am not alone.  Where there is demand, someone is willing to program a solution, and sell it. There are at least two applications that will provide the simple and easy menu system I love (yes, I discovered I harbored feelings of attraction for those classic gray text menus, only realizing the depth of my amour when they had disappeared from my life). Interestingly enough, these third party add-ons are also available on the Microsoft Office Marketplace.

Am I just a technological curmudgeon, unwilling to embrace the new wave of UI? Or is the wholesale change of a twenty-four year-old interface with no inherent option for backward-customization not in the user’s best interest?

What makes something simple? Easy? Intuitive?

Simple is defined as “not elaborate; plain”.  Point for the classic menus; desktop or laptop, they used a minimal amount of space to get things done.  The ribbon’s overabundance of icons, which still need text to explain what they are, crowd my work area.

Easy is defined as “not hard or difficult; requiring no great labor or effort”.  This is a tie.  For those accustomed to the classic menus, they were not difficult to use. Click on a tab and the options appear in a menu list.  Arrows indicated more options with fly-out menus.  The ribbon presents a lot of common, useful tasks right from the start, and other commands are available by clicking on the text heading of the tab.

Intuitive is defined as “spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency”. Ah, there’s the rub.  Because my natural tendency when wanting to save a file is to click the “File” menu. Not an option in the ribbon.  My natural tendency to find and replace a word is to click the “Edit” menu. Not an option in the ribbon. In fact, one of my most frustrating interactions with the Fluent User Interface was trying to locate the “Replace” command. The Help system in Excel was anything but.   I understand what the task “replace” entails, I didn’t know it is now located on the far right side of the Home toolbar. I guess it was user error that I didn’t try the Help system in Word first, since that had exactly the information I needed.

For those whose first interaction with the suite of Microsoft products is the ribbon, no doubt they will find it simple and easy.  I am curious how much of that UI is truly intuitive, compared to learned.  Driving a car is not intuitive; it is a learned skill that once accomplished, is simple and easy.

At least until they replace my dashboard with a ribbon.

by Heidi Berthiaume, Usability/Information ArchitectureMarketNet

 

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What Does It Mean When Facebook Advertising Says You “pay Per Click (cpc)”?

admin    Web Marketing     Advertising, Click, Facebook, Mean, Says

When you create an advertisement on Facebook.
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