MY ONLINE FOOTPRINTS

LinkedIn - Todd And

Facebook - Todd And

Technorati - Todd And

Google Shared Items

Twitter - Todd And

Delicious - Todd And

iTunes iMix - Todd And

SlideShare - Todd And

ADMIN

Video of George Bush’s Funnies

April 20, 2008 | 2 Comments

I wish we had camcorders, the internet and YouTube back in the 1700s… it would be great to watch funny videos of the Founding Fathers like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, etc…

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Politics, Video

Two Case Studies Demonstrating the Power and Speed of Social Networks

April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As a marketing professional, I quickly understood the potential of social networking platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, and blogs. However, many friends, family and professionals still find it difficult to fully grasp their power, capabilities or uses.

For those who don’t “get it,” I have two practical and personal case studies that shed light on the speed, reliability and benefits of social networks:

Case Study No. 1 // Earthquake – Friday morning (April 18), shortly before 4:40 a.m., my wife and I suddenly awoke to our entire house shaking! The walls, bed and dressers were all rattling and continued to shake for a good five seconds after I was fully awake.

I quickly turned on the alarm clock radio, which was set to WGN 720 AM.

No news.

Being from the Chicago suburbs where tornadoes are the natural disaster of Mother Nature’s choice, I never suspected earthquake, so I leaped out of bed and circled the house looking for what caused the shaking. I thought the house was about to blow up!

By 4:50 a.m., I was in front of my computer checking news sites. Still nothing. I turned on WGN’s streaming radio and still nothing. I remembered Matt Dickman’s Micromedia presentation and how he referenced the quick Twitter responses to the Minnesota bridge collapse, so I checked Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service. So, I checked Twitter.

Sure enough… the first message I read was from a St. Louis user who exclaimed EARTHQUAKE!?

A quick search found dozens of Twitter messages already posted about the earthquake - the first I could find was from @safetyguy1656 at 4:40 a.m. CST, only three minutes after the quake was officially documented by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Adding reliability, many of the twitter posts (”tweets”) included links to the United States Geological Survey website with information about a then-reported 5.4 magnitude tremor (later confirmed 5.2). My wife and I were both glued to Twitter for the next 20 minutes, exchanging messages with fellow members to get the latest info and “eye witness” reports. here are what some of the messages looked like:

As we read Twitter, WGN finally reported the quake. Twitter had scooped Chicago’s “superstation”… and by nearly 10 minutes! According to fellow Twitterer (a Twit?) @badgergravling, Twitter and Wikipedia had scooped mainstream media (MSM) for a recent UK earthquake, Heath Ledger, etc. And, according to Matt Dickman, Twitter announced the Minnesota bridge collapse almost 45 minutes before MSM.

Thanks to the instant emergency information gratification of Twitter, I’m hooked.

Case Study No. 2 // Tricia – A few weeks ago, my family was shocked to hear that my sister, Tricia, was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer. We knew it was serious when the doctors immediately scheduled her for bilateral mastectomy surgery.

With no history of cancer, this hit Tricia and our entire family hard… and with absolutely no warning. Needless to say, it was and still is very scary.

Days after the diagnosis, friends and family asked how they could help. With Tricia’s permission, I created 4tricia.com to give people ideas and help raise a few extra dollars to offset the giant costs associated with battling breast cancer (i.e., medical expenses related to surgery, hospital care, doctors visits, prescriptions as well as wigs/headwraps, travel, lost work time, etc.). As a blog, 4tricia.com also serves as a therapeutic writing outlet for Tricia to share her progress and feelings.

With the family in a state of emergency, I asked Tricia if she wanted me to share her story with my network of blogger friends. I explained it would reach thousands of altruistic people around the globe. She agreed as she thought it was more important to share her story and raise awareness than keep private. Plus, the fact that it hit a young, 30-something with no family history of cancer may help open some eyes and push people get get more regular check-ups.

Two days before Tricia’s double mastectomy, I sent out a distress signal via toddand.com and a personal email to several friends and family.

“I’m asking for your thoughts and prayers this weekend,” I said. “And if you have a dollar or two to spare, your contributions would be greatly (greatly) appreciated.”

I posted the message and sent the email just around midnight, just before I went to bed. When I woke up six hours later, the signal had been heard by many and echoed across Twitter and several other blogs.

Within 10 hours of launching the website and sending an email, we had 10 donations.

Within 72 hours, we had more than 60 contributors and about $6,000 had been raised! Donation amounts ranged from $5 to $500!

The prayers, well-wishes and donations came from all over the world – Australia, Iceland, Belgium, England, Canada and across the United States.

What made this outpouring of support unique and so completely amazing to my entire family was that 1) it was so unbelievably quick and generous, and 2) it came from people we had never met face to face. I explained to my family that, by blogging, I am part of a close-knit community of like-minded professionals who are willing to help fellow bloggers at a moment’s notice.

Thank you to those who quickly wrote about or pointed to Tricia’s website and helped raise prayers and dollars: Todd Defren, Kami Huyse, Shannon Whitley, Connie Reece, Melissa, Scott Baradell, Leo Bottary, Drew McLellan, Kristie Wells, Gavin Heaton, Steve Woodruff, Susan Reynolds, Lani Anglin-Rosales, Joel Postman, Karl Long, Karen Swim, Dan Mosqueda, Brendan Cooper, Sally Whittle, Brian Solis, Scott Monty, Douglas Karr, Bob Mertz, etc.

As Tricia said in an update post, “Your unending prayers, words of support and encouragement, and generosity are what keep me going and have touched me in a way words cannot express. To simply say ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem like near enough.”

While my family probably still doesn’t fully comprehend social networking and blogs, they are now completely aware of the power and responsiveness of the community. Whereas before my parents would have likely just smiled-off any mention of “blogging,” now their ears perk up with keen interest at any mention of the word. For instance, my dad recently clipped and gave me a magazine article about blogging.

To incentivize the 4tricia.com fundraising (which clearly wasn’t needed), I said I’d raffle off four prizes to those who donated more than $1 in the first week. Those winners are: Leigh Householder (Power 150 t-shirt), Scott Baradell (4tricia t-shirt), Merredith Branscombe (Power 150 pen) and Brendan Cooper ($25 iTunes gift card). Please email me your snail mail addresses and I’ll get the prizes in the mail asap. Thanks!

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Blogging, Educational, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

Power Profile: CrapHammer

April 17, 2008 | 6 Comments

“When all you have is a craphammer…” Those are the famous first words of Sean Howard when you visit his blog, CrapHammer, which currently sits at No. 113 on the Power 150. Sean is director of strategy and innovation at Lift Communications, a brand experience studio in Toronto, Canada. Sean is clearly special. And complex. For instance, his profile uses words like teletype, womb, hacker, military, unicycle, juggler, fad, vegan, cats and hippy… all in the same paragraph. A short Google search away is even more evidence of Sean’s special purpose - I’ll let you discover these for yourself. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the CrapHammer profile:

What two blogs do you read most often?
This is an insanely difficult question. Adliterate and Servants of Chaos, but there are like 10 I read at the same frequency: Hee Haw Marketing, Get Shouty, Communities Dominate Brands, Mind Hacks, Punk Planning, Pan-dan, Johnnie Moore, Own Your Brand, Leigh’s Blitherings, The Digital Perm

Which blogger would you most like to meet in person?
Richard Huntington (Adliterate)

Which blogger would you least like to run into in a dark alley?
Katie Chatfield (Get Shouty)

Continue to the juicy parts: Read more

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Humor, Power Profiles

Social Is The New Search

April 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

Popular Mechanics has an interesting article titled “How Social Networking Could Kill Web Search as We Know It.“

According to the venture capitalist friend of reporter Glenn Derene, “search, as we know it, is dead.”

In a nutshell: As we continue to populate our Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, building bonds with like-minded users, people will turn to their networks rather than search algorithms for information. According to the article, “the people in your online social network should know you better than a mathematical equation, right?”

Check out the whole article, but here is one noteworthy paragraph:

But what may turn out to be the strongest signal of all is the footprint you make with your online identity. Consider how much information you voluntarily provide on your Facebook profile. Now imagine if you could combine that with your Netflix renting and Amazon buying habits. Then throw in the suggestions of your friends and the pages you visit the most often. All those various sources of information about you are currently stored in different locations—on your computer’s browser history, on your Facebook page, on the servers for Netflix and Amazon—but just imagine how accurate a search could be if every time you had a query, the mass of data about you that exists on the Internet could inform the results. (Google and Yahoo already do this to a limited extent by tracking your search history to refine results, and surely startups will try.)

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

Power 150 in Wall Street Journal

April 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

I woke up to an email from Scott Baradell (of Spin Thicket fame) informing me that the Power 150 made The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a short excerpt from the article:

Small businesses looking to pitch their products or services to influential blogs have some help these days.

A host of Web sites and free tools are allowing companies to find out who the top bloggers in their industry are, what they are writing, and how readers are responding. Being informed about what is being said can help a small business craft a pitch that will garner the attention of both the bloggers and readers.

Some Web sites list the most influential blogs in a specific industry. For example, AdAge Power150, run by Advertising Age magazine, shows the top media and marketing blogs, while eDrugSearch.com’s HealthCare100 ranks the top English-language health-care blogs.

UPDATE: Check out Mr. Baradell’s flattering tribute. Thanks, Scott!

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Media, News, Power Profiles, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology

Ad Age Power 150 Roundtable

April 14, 2008 | 4 Comments

To kick off Blogger Social 2008 and take advantage of so many marketing bloggers being in NYC, Advertising Age Editor Jonah Bloom hosted a Power 150 roundtable discussion, which the magazine covered in this week’s issue with an article titled Separating Brilliance from Blabber. In addition to the edited transcript, Ad Age also ran a related story on corporate blogging and the chief blogger role.

As David Armano writes, Ad Age is engaging new voices and broadening its editorial net to include alternative sources of information.

Along with myself, list manager Charlie Moran and Jonah, the marketing bloggers (along with today’s Power 150 rank) who participated in the roundtable included:

1. David Armano (Logic+Emotion) – P: 26
2. Rohit Bhargava (Influential Marketing Blog) – P: 44
3. Matt Dickman (Techno//Marketer) – P: 123
4. Anna Farmery (The Engaging Brand) – P: 107
5. Mark Goren (Transmission Content + Creative) – P: 236
6. Lewis Green (bizsolutionsplus) – P: 148
7. Ann Handley (Marketing Profs) – P: 57
8. Gavin Heaton (Servant of Chaos) – P: 97
9. Sean Howard (CrapHammer) – P: 138
10. Geoff Livingston (The Buzz Bin) – P: 76
11. Paul McEnany (Hee-Haw Marketing) – P: 198
12. Darryl Ohrt (Brand Flakes For Breakfast) – P: 115

Blog coverage of the roundtable:
Advertising Age Proves that Bloggers Can Sit at Large Tables (Hee-Haw Marketing)
darryl: too sexy for online adage (Brand Flakes for Breakfast)
Power 150 roundtable (Techno//Marketer)
The Chief of Blogs (Servant of Chaos)
Understand. Act. in that order (Blog’M)
Ad Age Summons Bloggers To The Table (AdPulp)
Ad Age Engages Industry Bloggers (Logic+Emotion)

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Blogging, Management, Marketing, Power Profiles, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology

RSS, Printers, Comedy and Twitter

April 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Seven Tips for Making the Most of Your RSS Reader (ReadWriteWeb)
“RSS is a big deal, as anyone who’s subscribed to even a few feeds probably knows. Once you get past just a few feeds, though, it can quickly get overwhelming. RSS can leave you feeling inadequate, brain-dead and uninspired.”

Newspaper Vendors Worry About Downturn (AP)
“As newspaper publishers build up their online operations and struggle through an advertising slump, one group is worried about being left behind — the folks who make printing presses and other equipment used to make newspapers.”

The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time (Nerve.com)
“But of the sketch comedy that remains viewable, this is some of the best. Is the list definitive? That’s for you, the audience to tell us. And we’re sure you will, loudly and angrily. Before you do you, though, remember: it’s comedy. Best not to overthink it.”

How to Get Customer Service via Twitter (ReadWriteWeb)
“But what we wanted to find out is which companies are using Twitter for customer service? And how can you get a company’s attention via Twitter?”

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Humor, Links, Media, Social Media

First Flickr Video: Dancin’ Machine

April 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I didn’t want to lug around my bulky camcorder in NYC, so I bought a Flip Ultra to shoot some video at Blogger Social 2008. Unfortunately, I got a faulty Flip that captured absolutely no audio. (Flip’s customer service has been great and they’re going to be servicing or replacing it soon.)

Before sending the Flip in for service or replacement, I downloaded the only video that could stand alone without its original audio and added my own song. It’s a video of some break dancers I stumbled upon while walking to Friday night’s festivities at Blogger Social. This is also my inaugural Flickr video.

Song: Dancin’ Machine a Michael Jackson remix by Rhymefest.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Random, Video

Grand Opening: 250,000 Square Feet of News

April 11, 2008 | 1 Comment

The Newseum opens today in Washington, DC and features 250,000 square feet of news history, technology and hands-on exhibits. As a historic newspaper collector and news junkie, I will definitely be making the pilgrimage to the Newseum before I die.

According to newseum.org, the Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made. Here is a great video tour:

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, History, Media, News, Video

Marketing Bloggers Converge in NYC

April 10, 2008 | 6 Comments

Last weekend, dozens of the most creative and influential marketing bloggers from around the world gathered at Blogger Social ‘08 in New York City. They came from near and far, including Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and all over the U.S.

While most are finding it hard to describe the weekend in words, I think Gavin Heaton may have summed up the experience best when he said the time together helped solidify the transition from community to friends.

I have too many great memories from the weekend to share in one post, so I’ll highlight just one conversation that stands out. Friday night, at the 14th floor lounge in the Library Hotel (quite possibly the best hotel in all of NYC), Luc Debaisieux, Matt Dickman and I discussed how big agencies are extremely slow to integrate emerging media and social networks with their tactical menus while the nimble smaller firms have quickly embraced everything. Luc tossed out a Jurassic Park metaphor that was spot on - the big agencies are the T-Rex dinosaurs slowly pounding along and the small firms are the Velociraptors zooming by. Coincidentally, the Jurassic metaphor also applies to the merger and acquisition activity.