Usually my posts are of a more general nature but since our company is located in Dallas, I feel it is my duty to promote an awesome new resource for Dallas: Dallogy.

Dallogy is a blog site started by Matthew Rogers, who also organizes an awesome SEO meetup. The site is the combined project of everyone involved in the Dallas Interactive Marketing meetup and its goal is to be the premiere place for Dallas Technology.

The site is just getting started but it reviews the Denton Jelly, Free Software Day and the Start-Up Tech Happy Hour with Alexander Muse. The site allows anyone to contribute after a simple registration, so you can post your own tech events and news. The site also lists different tech businesses in the Dallas area and other tech meetings.

Dallas has long been on the verge of an explosion in the tech-industry. Now more than ever, sites like Dallogy are important to help everyone keep up-to-date with the wealth of events and information out there.

So stop by, list an event and show your support for the internet central of Dallas tech: Dallogy.

Yup, its exactly what is sounds like, a blog and a wiki all in one magical place. A bliki allows you to write in a blog setting but provides community to go with it. Your readers can blog along with you, respond, edit, change, link… its all there in one place. I think a bliki really reminds me of a forum (remember those?) with a blog-twist.

Some of the above graphic may look a little daunting but overall it shows that you can have blogs, user pages, wiki-type definitions, and more. Its a neat little tool that for some people will be very useful. If you like a lot of feedback and get motivated by discussion, a bliki may be the answer for you.

Cynthia Wunsch, classical musician and voice-teacher extraordinaire, has a bliki: the Unlikely Entrepeneur, that I have had the opportunity to collaborate on. This is a great example of a bliki just starting. Check her out, not only does she have some great content, but she is an awesome example of a business that isn’t usually associated with technology stepping out and making the internet work for them.

Side Note: A bliki is also something great to get involved with, even if you aren’t the owner of one. A bliki can give you an opportunity to promote your website (if it is applicable to the theme of the bliki), as well as linking to your site through a userpage. Just like commenting on a blog, being actively involved in a bliki may bring you traffic if you are making thoughtful and appropriate comments.

You know exactly the kind of site I’m talking about: 5 minute intro, loud repetitive music, no where to click through to the information you are doing a quick web search for: Flasher sites. Over all, there is nothing wrong with flash, it can be a beautiful addition to a website but like all things, moderation is the key.

Flash is one of those things many businesses want on their site because “it looks cool”. But flash has reputation for being inappropriate to the website’s content and annoying to its viewers. Also, flash was impossible to optimize. So if you had any text built into your website that you wanted search engines to find, it was a nightmare to program.

However, in July, Adobe released a product that should make Flash websites searchable. This is good news for Flashers but many web designers are less than thrilled. So my small warning is, Flash is the spice of a website but its your content and overall presentation that make your sale. Keep this in mind when you’re designing your site and remember, no one likes a Flasher.

When I first wrote about my experiences with Plurk, the social media site was still very new, and I had only been toying with it for a few days. Now that its been a month, I wanted to write a follow up post.

Plurk and Twitter: The Continued Saga

Everyday I see someone on Plurk post a blog or other entry comparing Plurk and Twitter. Overall, most of the social media savvy say that the two websites are very different and not comparable.

Bitter Twitter

Are Twitter users boycotting Plurk? Its a rumor in Plurkland. Obviously, not everyone will like Plurk. The rapid pace and disjointed time line can be more than one ADD person can handle. However, many Twitter users are trying plurk on for size. The Twitter community is full of techies and early adopters, most of them will at least use Plurk before they knock it.

Plurkopia

It is true, that many “Tweeple” have left Twitter in favor of Plurk. I do not believe Plurk is stealing Twitter user. Many people have become fed up with Twitter’s lack-of reliability and were bound to leave anyhow. Plurk just happened to offer a vibrant, similar experience.

Plurk has many of Twitter’s good points. In fact, users often grow to love (and obsess) over their Plurkiness. Will the utopia of Plurk last? Maybe. Plurk grew quite rapidly the past few weeks and though it hasn’t experienced anything like Twitter’s Failwhale, there have been a number of small glitches. Is it due to over-capacity? Or is the Plurk team working hard to prevent the problems Plurk developed? Its hard to say.

Plurk Fever

Over the past month I plurked a few questions to take Plurk’s temperature, so to speak. At the beginning of June I asked how people felt about the service. I asked a similar question last week. Some of the answered varied in that period of time, for example:
June 5th:

And then on June 23rd:

Many people who plurk regularly think website takes up a lot of time and becomes addicting. But more people toward the end of the month felt like they had adjusted to plurking reguarly and were enjoying it. Some commented that the interface took time to adjust to (I felt the same way). But overall, Plurkers feel positive about Plurk.

Plurking: Serious Business

I’d like to end on how I think businesses can benefit from Plurk. After discussing business ideas with an internet postcard company, I realized how much they could benefit from plurking about their concept. Most plurkers are early-adopters and many of them have a business closely tied to the internet. So if your business can be marketed to knowledgeable internet users, welcome to your perfect market! Plurk, at the moment, is mostly a niche market. Not all companies have the time to devote to social media as it is, and would not be able to build relationships with other Plurkers. But if you use the internet on a regular basis and so do your clients… isn’t one of the keys to marketing, go where your clients are?

If you have also written an article about Plurk please put a link in the comments. I love reading other Plurkers views.

Let’s be practical, advertisement can only be so effective. For example, I went and saw the new Pixar film this weekend: Wall-E.

I’m a huge Pixar fan, and I knew as soon as I saw previews that I would go see it. Some of my friends however, were less enthused. In fact, they automatically assumed it would be “kiddy” and didn’t want to go with me.

I went anyhow and loved it. In fact, I raved about the stunning visual art and great story line to everyone I met. Today, I found out, because I talked up the movie so much, two of my friends decided they would go see it.

These people saw the same advertisements I did, listened to the same hype I did; but they would never have gone to see Wall-E if I hadn’t opened my mouth. I gave Pixar free publicity.

We do it everyday. We like totalk about our favorite, products, services and brands. We create sales for companies who don’t even know we exist.

So how can you harness the awesomeness of word-of-mouth (or, in the case of the internet, word of net) power?

eMarketer put out a study in April about the Influence of “Social Shoppers”. These are people who test products or services, then review them. Its not surprising that we are three times more likely to trust a peer than an advertising campaign. So, if you already have a good product and offer worthwhile service how do you get these “peers” to review you?

The Most Important Thing is Presence.
Being aware of these sites, and making your products visible is the first step. Many of these sites (for example, Kaboodle) allow you to “join”. Once you are an accepted retailer, you can post your products to be reviewed. Its that simple. Of course, some sites have an associated cost, so weigh carefully.

Follow the Golden Rule.
As with any other kind of online social media, “give to receive” is key. If you join a social shopping site, do some reviews yourself. Put meaningful comments on product spotlights. Offer the same quality you’d want from someone else.

Simplify.
If someone wants to review your product: make it simple. Make your website and products easy to navigate. Don’t create a profile, put up a link to your site and expect people to find you. Many sites allow you to upload images or link straight to your shopping cart. Explore your options! Check out other retailers and see what’s worked for them.

Be Active.
Many social shopping sites are also social networking sites. Of course you don’t have to dedicate time to networking, but it does help! Get involved, have fun! Who knows, you may learn something from your experiences that can make your product even better!

Everyone is a potential marketer.
The best way to ensure you get good reviews is to treat everyone like they are marketing for you. If you have great service, its going to eventually make it on to the internet. The same is true for bad service. Everyone has potential to be your personal salesman.

These are just some tips to get you started. The best thing to do is take action. Check out some social shopping websites and create a presence for your business.

I have only minimal experience with these kinds of sites, though I often browse them when I am considering a purchase. If you have joined or participated on a social shopping site, what was your experience like?

So I’m at the library and I notice this front page article displayed near the book drop. The cover of The Atlantic says in big colorful letters: Is Google Making Us Stupid? written by Nicholas Carr. Of course, this sparked my interest so I picked it up and read. After finishing it, I felt the need to respond. I found the article online but there is no way to reply (surprise, surprise). So I decided to post this in my blog instead.

Let me give you a quick synopsis… in case you don’t want to read such a long article. Mr. Carr claims that he has trouble sitting down and reading lengthy articles or novels. He believes this is because the internet is programming the general public so that they cannot assimilate large chunks of information. He accuses Google of making information too available. He ties this all in to a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey where Dave unplugs the insane supercomputer HAL.

To start with, since Mr. Carr cited a personal experience as an example, I’d like to do so as well. Personally, I have no problem digesting large pieces of text. I read lengthy novels every week, check blogs, keep up with tech and marketing articles and occasionally treat myself to a neurology study (I know, I’m a nerd). The only problem I have is this, sometimes I don’t want to stare at my computer screen, so I print out the article to read on paper. Other than that… nope, no problems with understanding or following long works.

May I suggest that Mr. Carr’s problem is a result of… old age? I mean, I don’t want to get too technical and lose anyone but, well, its just a thought.

Mr. Carr reports that scientific studies prove that our brains adapt based on what we experience the most. For example, if we read only novels the size of War & Peace, we create a habit and our brains expect to learn via that medium. If we only read headlines, the same thing happens. I won’t argue that this is fact. However, it also proves that if we continue to read long articles or books just as often as we surf the web… this problem will not exist.

But now I challenge you: Is this really a problem? Let’s say all Mr. Carr’s assumptions are true, the majority of people learn primarily through short snippets of information. Is there any harm in this? The internet has made more information readily available than we ever thought possible. In fact, things are simpler. I used to miss the news because I was in class at 6:00. Now I can get it off their website at two a.m. if I want!

Here’s a better example. Let’s say you wanted to give a speech on the current politics of Iran but you’re not an expert. Ten years ago you would need to access a university library and ask permission to see their foreign policy journals, if they’d let you. And even then, those journals are often a month or two behind. Then, if you wanted to quote a politician or other leading expert you’d need to track them down by phone or in person which takes time, effort and possibly money. However, today, you could just go to the CIA’s website and then read some political blogs and then you could deliver something educated at the very least.

In addition, the speed at which we can now read things on the internet, gives us a chance to spend more time interpreting and analyzing what we’ve read. Then the reader can spend more time deciding what information is true and what can be left behind instead of spending hours getting to the heart of a one-sided argument. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tolstoy, but when it comes to making a decision on who to vote for, I want to having a multitude of information that I can quickly absorb and then decide for myself what to think.

If Google makes us stupid (which I doubt it does) it is our own faults. Google and other search engines merely offer a vehicle to get to information. In fact, this article has nothing to do with Google at all, it was merely dropped in as a big name that Mr. Carr could easily point to and therefore blame. I would even go so far to say the purpose of this article is just a backlash to the internet in general. The primary motivation: Fear. The internet is big and taking over. I can understand how someone whose job security relies on the printed page might see that as a threat. Of course, on the other hand, this article appears online as well as print, so the point is relatively obsolete.

If you want to see a different response to this article please do check out Google isn’t making us stupid at Lost in Translation.

I’ve stated my case. I believe Mr. Carr is using strawman arguments and relying mostly on sensationalism to promote his ideas. So, take a minute to consider, check out Chris’s article and then let me know you think - internet: friend or foe?

When it comes to the economy’s impact: Size matters. Big companies/websites are the most affect. Mid-size, hardly touched and small continue to grow. At least that’s what the numbers say if you are interested in that kind of thing.

Of course, I’d challenge people to really consider what makes an economy bad. Not too sound terribly mind-over-matter but don’t you think that what we hear influences us? If we think the economy is going to be bad because the media says so, it becomes reality, where as if we continue to believe business will be good, it does? Lots of companies grow during a recession. Finding a niche and keeping standards can create an atmosphere of growth despite what might be happening at a national level.

By no means am I saying don’t plan and pretend nothing is happening. Use this as a chance to hone your organic SEO, increase customer service and stand out. The news is full or alarmist, get the facts and plan your strategy to win accordingly. Best example: Dallas real estate. We’ve all heard national news bemoaning America’s real estate market. Well Dallas is having one of its best years! It is completely false for DFW.

Does anyone know other ways to make a recession or bad economy help your business? Or good areas to focus on during that time?

Youtube, the sensational and borderline illegal website for all your badly-made video needs. Youtube grew to fame with the youth of today with the same voracious speed as MySpace. Personally, I’ve been looking forward to seeing what change would happen after Google purchased them. I was expecting a lawsuit but instead, the brilliant guys at google are capitalizing on new trends yet again.

Viral. That’s what they call a video or marketing material that stands small and then (for debatable reasons) takes off with sudden popularity. With new technology its called “the tipping point” but with youtube its Viral Videos. Which I must admit, every time I hear “viral” I feel icky. Anyhow, Youtube created an algorithm to try and figure out what the next popular video is. Companies can then pay to be featured beside these videos with Google’s new marketing strategy: Buzz Targeting.

My personal stance on paid advertisement is very clear if you’ve read anything else in my blog but this is just from the presses and worth talking about. I wonder if anyone else has thoughts about viral marketing and how to make it work for companies who might not b able to afford Youtube’s pricing.