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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!

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

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.)

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

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:

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

The Story of Journalist Henry Stanley, I Presume

April 2, 2008 | 3 Comments

The story of journalist Henry Stanley starts out with Dr. David Livingstone. Livingstone traveled to Africa in 1840 as a missionary/explorer/physician and spent most of his adult life traveling the continent. “In 1866, Livingstone set out at the head of an expedition charged with the task of finding the headwaters of the Nile River. His lack of contact with the outside world over a period of four years raised concerns for his welfare,” according to Eyewitness to History.

As a publicity stunt, New York Herald Publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr. sent explorer and journalist Henry Stanley to find what he termed “the lost” Dr. David Livingstone in the middle of Africa. Stanley went to Africa and, with the help of natives, did find Livingstone and began sending reports back to the Herald, according to historian and newspaper collector Mark Mitchell.

According to Wikipedia, Stanley found Livingstone on November 10, 1871, in Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania, and greeted him with the immortal, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Wikipedia goes on to say:

This famous phrase may be a fabrication, as Stanley has torn out the pages of this encounter in his diary[3] Even Livingstone’s account of this encounter doesn’t mention these words. However, the phrase appears in a New York Herald editorial dated 10 August, 1872 and the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography both quote it without questioning its validity.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia got the New York Herald issue date wrong. The first report actually ran on July 2, 1872. Click the image above to enlarge the masthead. In this extremely rare issue, a giant map of equatorial Africa is included with the inside headlines “LIVINGSTONE” and “Herald Special from Central Africa.” Within the giant story is the famous quote “Doctor Livingstone, I presume?” According to Mitchell, he has only seen two of these issues in 30 years of collecting.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, History, Media, Newspaper Collecting

The Mile-High Club of Skyscraper Construction

March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

This proposed $10 billion (USD) skyscraper will reach one mile into the atmosphere - more than two times the height of the Burj Dubai! This I-can-build-a-taller-tower competition has officially gone CRAZY and will soon give new meaning to the mile-high club.

According to the Daily Mail article (from March 31, so this isn’t an April Fool’s joke):

Experts say the technical challenges are enormous. Much of the lifting will be carried out by helicopters, which will also be used as commuter transport for builders. The tower will have to be capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures, with its top baking in the desert sun by day but dropping to well below freezing at night. To resist the strong winds prevalent in the area and stop it swaying, giving its occupants a form of high-rise seasickness, it will be fitted with a giant computer-operated damper.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Design, Educational, Random

Age of Sharing Industry Secrets, Manifestos, Tactics, Tragedies and More

March 27, 2008 | 3 Comments

In 2007, more than 100 authors - from 10 countries and four continents - joined forces to write The Age of Conversation, a book about emerging media and marketing. I was one of those co-authors.

Social Computing Magazine called it an “e-blockbuster.” Business Week said “Little did we know that social media would soon begin to tie us together digitally in ways that we are only just now beginning to understand. That’s why a new book called The Age of Conversation may be important to comprehending what’s going on in our society, economy and even polity today.”

If you don’t own a copy of the original, please consider ordering one this Sunday, March 29 from this Amazon link. Dozens of bloggers around the net are promoting that purchase date in order to push the book up the Amazon charts. As a reminder, all book proceeds go to Variety, the children’s charity.

In 2008, the sequel will hit the shelves. This time, nearly 300 authors - experts of all walks - will collaborate on what will likely be the most massive authorship undertaking in history. We’re talking Guinness Book baby! I’m honored to be participating again.

The sequel’s theme is “Why don’t they get it?” and will include manifestos, secrets, transitions, tactics, ideas, tragedies, business concepts and life stories. Stay tuned for more updates. In the meantime, here are the 275 co-authors:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Authors+Books, Blogging, Educational, Links, Marketing, Media, Social Media

This is an Awareness Test

March 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Educational, Humor, Random, Video

Future Trends in Advertising

March 23, 2008 | 5 Comments

Nod: Neil Perkin

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

New Todd And Feature for Authors and Their Books

March 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

UPDATE: Click here to access the new authors + books section.

Since launching this blog in July of 2006, dozens of authors and publishers have asked me to promote their books. While I am all about promoting a good book, I just don’t have the time to read that many books from cover to cover.

In an effort to support authors and give my readers a glimpse of new marketing and media books, I am launching an “authors + books” series. The series will feature guest-written posts by authors of new or recently-published marketing and media books. Starting today, authors wanting to participate in my promotional series can email me a short pitch.

The guest author submissions, preferably 300 to 700 words, can either be 1) an edited excerpt, so that it can stand alone, from the forthcoming or recently-published book, or 2) an original byline column not previously published anywhere else. When I say “not previously published,” I mean not verbatim. You can still use previously-published ideas, concepts and topics, but the content should be somewhat unique from any other previously-published version.

The only other requirement is that your book and post must relate to marketing, media or one of the other categories in the left sidebar of my blog. Not all author pitches will be accepted - they must fit appropriately with the theme and content of this blog.

If your pitch is approved, please submit your post with a short biographical byline (no more than three sentences) as well as front cover artwork and a head shot. Your guest posts will be archived in a new category on my blog called “authors+books.”

Lastly, I will ask that you send me a physical copy of your book, so that I can also read it when/if I have time and perhaps add some of my own commentary down the road (no guarantees). It will also become a part of my ever-growing library of marketing and media books that I keep at work for me and my colleagues to read and reference.

According to my server stats, my blog - toddand.com - currently gets 93,000 hits per month, of which almost half are unique visitors. My visitors include many of the world’s top marketing agencies, media companies, corporations and educational institutions.

Thanks for your interest in Todd And = Marketing + Media, and I look forward to your pitch.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Authors+Books, Blogging, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, News, Personal Finance, Public Relations, Random, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics

Crystal Ball 2.0

March 17, 2008 | 3 Comments

Advertising Age asked a handful of the Power 150 bloggers “what technology marketers should be paying most attention to in 2008?” Click here for Crystal Ball 2.0.

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