Hidden Messages in Christmas Specials

OK - Gawker - I have a weakness for conspiracy theory nuts.

Here is the story on the "REAL MESSAGE"  - I love jokes.

Be sure to click on the pictures in the post to see the real story.

Stand By Me

Yesterday while driving to Charlotte and back for a meeting I heard the song Stand By Me on the old sattelite radio. I love that song and hadn't heard it or thought about it in a long time.




This morning I was thinking - what a great song for brand building for any company offering sercurity and protection - like an insurance company.

I mean, it is nice to hear that everyone can save me 15% or $500, but you know what, I don't really believe that no matter how loud they shout.

But I would want and believe that when I needed some one they would Stand By Me.

That is what I am buying after all.

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along...

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No I won't be afraid
No I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Darling, darling stand by me
Stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me 

Which Twitter Client do You Use

More interesting data gleaned from ReadWriteWeb


Which Twiiter clients have the most marketshare?

Which client's users are the most frequent Tweeters?

Book Review

I am a fairly active book reader. Maybe more than I should be - after all my reading directly impacts my TV viewing - I feel as if I am not helping the economy.

Anyhoo - Mashable had a nice video book review this week of the Top Five Must Read Social Media Books.

I have not read them all. Oh well, more missed TV. Thank goodness for DVR.

Real Time Streams of Micro Messages

I think about things a lot. To my dismay I often find I can not clarify my thinking well enough to express it clearly. Of course this allows me to think highly of my thinking abilities without having to hold myself to any bothersome form of proof. Very handy in the self image game.

Tech Crunch has a post which clarified my thinking on Twiiter and real time better than I have been able to. As Clint Eastwood said in Bronco Billy - I like it when people come around to my way of thinking. Like I am saying here - especially when they can express my way of thinking better than I can.

Getting to the point...

The post All Aborad the Micro Bus says this...

"Realtime streams can be thought of as a micro-message bus which carries information instantaneously between people. The power of a micro-message is its ability to carry data, usually in the form of a link. It is a vehicle for passing links and other information. The value of a Tweet or status update or a Yammer or a Wave is not only in what it conveys about the sender, but where it leads to."

It has taken me two years but I also have come to the conclusion that the greatest current value of Twiiter and other micro messages is carrying links. These links take me to more information or bring others to more of my information.

Here is the next thought - today's web is still a web of pages. I think tomorrow's web is a web of data and pages. What will be the version of micro messages which will carry data? How will it be received and accepted and acted on? By people or by services?

Agency Boot Camp

Last week I had the interesting experience of running a one day boot camp on how to use the Internet for your local insurance agency.

As part of doing that I set up a new blog - http://agencybootcamp.blogspot.com

I will be posting material on that blog about the basic and the mechanics of getting started moving your business online.

I will be continuing to post things on this blog that follow the same types of things I have been posting for teh past year.

Average Age of Social Network Users

Ever wonder about the average age of users of the most popular social networks?

According to a post on ReadWriteWeb the average age for the leading networks is

MySpace 26

Twitter 31

Facebook 33

LinkedIn 39

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has this graph showing young users adopting Twitter.

Scamming Social Networks

TechCrunch has an ongoing series of posts educating us about how we are being scammed on social sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The original post titled Scamville - the Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell is an incredible eye opener. Did you have any idea what is really happening with your data and personal information?

Here is a link to a post from two CEO's that said no to these scams and millions of dollars http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/scamville-hotornot-plentyoffish-facebook-myspace/

Here is another link to a post by a former scammer http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/how-to-spam-facebook-like-a-pro-an-insiders-confession/

This is an BIG issue and a series worth following.