I finally found what I'm looking for

Finally, a social media site that speaks to me:)

I like Facebook, but I don't love it. Not by a long shot. The games and apps are pretty cool, but I often feel like I'm playing Six Degress with the 500 million other Facebook users.

Path - Nervous at Home from Path on Vimeo.

So I think I'm going to give Path a shot. Limiting your interactions to only your best friends, selected co-workers and family is ... I don't know ... kind of reinvigorating. Like an anti-popularity contest.

A Bunch of Hot Air

I tend to think that marketing people tend to complicate things, especially when it comes to social media. Too often we lose sight of just how disturbing and compelling something as simple as the human voice can be. If you want a clear example of the power and impact of audio--and only audio--listen to the five minutes of this audio clip, from a survivor of the Joplin, Missouri tornado earlier this week.

If you ever needed a reminder of why you should show, and not tell, a story, this is it.

Hello from Gas, Kansas...

I love branding mistakes, especially if they are intentional and serve some official capacity. Like in Gas, where the tagline is, "Don't pass gas, stop by and enjoy it." Or Hooker, Oklahoma, who populace implores that their beloved city is a "...location, not a vocation."

Well, now that we have that all straightened out.

The problem with taglines is that everyone thinks they need one. Here's a tip: If you really think you need one, more than likely you don't. Customers are smart enough to know that Hooker is probably not the heartland's red light district.

Taglines can't really change perception and, far too often, they reinforce ideas you're trying to avoid. I recently looked at a few business school taglines to see whether they contribute anything to my understanding of the core values of the college. Here's some of what I found, both official and unofficial:

At Cornell, you have a "Real Impact." About three hours south at PSU Smeal, they have "Vast Resources. Personal Focus." At Duke's Fuqua, all I could find on its Web site is their commitment to "Rethinking the Boundaries of Business School."

Well, yeah. I hope so.

All three are fantastic schools and, more important, each is incredibly different. But you wouldn't think that from their tags.

The point: Tags and other key branding messages are only good if they are true differentiators and reinforce positive attributes. Most of the time, you should just let your name speak for itself.

Politics is Just a Fancy Word for Marketing

Just the other day, we were discussing politics and the fact that Republicans are winning the communications war. From renaming global warming as "climate change" and the estate tax as the "death tax," to framing themselves as just a bunch of small-business men trying to protect American workers from elitist politicians, they beat the Democrats again and again.

Now Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) has come out with a nifty new video that simply and clearly breaks down his proposed budget. The video is brief (only 3 minutes) and dramatic (that ominous score!). It eschews the stereotypical PowerPoint presentation in favor of dynamic graphics that overlay the screen without obscuring Ryan. And it has more than 125,000 views on YouTube. Now that's how to communicate with your constituents!

How to Use a Magazine

Khoi Vinh made an infographic that mocks explanatory screens on iPad magazines and apps. Vinh is calling attention to the bad user experience design that makes these explanations necessary, but I think the parody stands alone as a commentary on the changing experience of reading.

Eek!

Skittles ads have been offbeat for as long as I can remember, but this new interactive campaign is really creepy! In a good way, I suppose, because it gets people talking. What's your reaction to this video? Be sure to keep your finger on the screen... (Or at least try. I reflexively yanked my hand back when the "other cat" came out!)

Now I want Skittles.

The Internet Loves Cats

I first saw this ad for a British dairy on a blog I read. Then I saw it on another blog. Then my friend shared it on Facebook. Now, the original video has more than 300,000 views on YouTube. All for a dairy that I've never heard of.

The marketing team behind the ad has also developed a spinoff Facebook page for the ad's main character, Bertrum Thumbcat. I liked it and I think I'll keep wanting to read Bertrum's updates because they're actually funny, especially if you like cats.

Neither the ad nor the Facebook presence has anything overtly to do with milk. They don't tell you that milk is good for you, or that Cravendale's milk is tastier or fresher than any other. They're just silly fun.

Despite (or perhaps because of) this, the campaign has garnered a lot of positive attention for Cravendale. By tapping into a popular web meme and creating silly copy with only a tangential relationship to the product, they have struck marketing gold.

Keep on moving. No story here.

I can't really disagree with anything in this New York Times piece. In fact, I'm not even sure it's a story to begin with. I see more and more an attempt to drive a wedge between social media platforms, but the truth is they remain complementary. Teen-agers, especially those in high-school, don't blog. Nor should they, when Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr do the job nicely, thank you very much. If they want more deliberative platforms, there are other avenues, but most teen-agers just aren't looking for that kind of conversation.

Question is, are blogs really waning, like the headline suggests? No. So why do media outlets like the New York Times continue to plead ignorance about blogs and social media, especially when they boast over 50 of them?

Because Bears Make Everything Better

When people complain about how the Internet causes information overload, or go even farther and claim it's ruining society, I can't help but point to something like this blog, Marketing Client Bear. Because to me, this is part of what's great about the Internet: it makes small, wonderful things cheap and easy enough to create and share.

College Dropout Encourages Kids to Stay in School

Slightly more than half of college students complete their degrees, and that rate is much lower for some groups. Students leave college for a lot of reasons, but a pretty common one is a feeling of exclusion. Going to college is a huge transition and many students struggle to find a place where they fit.

A Facebook app from Inigral aims to fix that problem by helping to build welcoming communities at colleges across the country. The Schools App helps admissions offices with recruitment and may even increase retention.

The company recently received a $2.1-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the service. The investment reflects the Gates Foundation's focus on improving education and is focused on bringing the Schools App to colleges whose students receive Pell Grants.