May 31, 2006 in Media Orchard, Web Design by sbaradell@ideagrove.com
50 Million Americans Throw Stuff Against the Wall (the Internet) to See What Sticks (Gets Indexed by Google)


From ClickZ News:

According to “Home Broadband Adoption 2006,” a report published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project … 48 million American adults have contributed some form of user-generated content on the Internet… That’s 35 percent of Internet users. Of those adults who have posted content on the Web, 73 percent, or 31 million, have a broadband connection at home…

“There is an element of the Internet being the medium for creativity and the Internet being an outlet for creativity people bring to the Worldwide Web,” according to the report. It considers blogging, Web site creation, contribution of work on Web pages or blogs and submissions of artwork, photos, stories or videos as user-generated online content.

You’re all geeks. Buy your key chain here.

 
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May 31, 2006 in Brand launches, Media Orchard, Naming and Logos by sbaradell@ideagrove.com
Herb’s a True Entrepreneur


True is an Internet dating service. If you spend much time online, you’ve probably seen the Dallas-based company’s ads before.

What you might not know is that True was founded by an old boss of ours, Herb Vest.

You might find it surprising that Herb is a CPA by training. He was a tax accountant until the age of 39, in fact, when he had an idea for a new business — H.D. Vest Financial Services. H.D. Vest specialized in selling mutual funds through a network of tax preparers — people like Herb.

The business was a huge success, became a public company, and eventually was purchased by Wells Fargo.

So now Herb has started True. Does he know as much about Internet dating as he knows about accountants? No. But we wouldn’t bet against him; he has the passion of an entrepreneur.

Note: If anyone’s wondering, Herb’s not currently a client. He’s using Milly over at Ogilvy.

Technorati tags: ,

 
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May 31, 2006 in Media Orchard, Social Media Marketing by sbaradell@ideagrove.com
Media Orchard Fixes Technorati

In Month 1 of Operation OSSTE (Obnoxious, Self-Serving Technorati Experiment), the following linkers were picked up by Technorati:

Susan Getgood
Bill Green
Brian Clark
Luke Armour
Antony Mayfield
Sherrilynne Starkie
Nick Douglas
Steve Field

Which, as far as we can tell from referrals, represents 100 percent of those who linked to us. (If you linked to us and are not referenced above, let us know and we’ll amend our findings.)

After all our indignant complaining, some might think that this perfect performance by Technorati might make us look like a complete jackass.

We prefer to believe that our belly-aching spurred Technorati’s panicked engineering team to work through the night to solve its link-recognition problems. They know an eight-pound gorilla when they see one.

We’ll be back at the end of June for Month 2.

Update: Uh-oh. We’re hearing rumblings that at least two other blogs linked, pinged, but are not on the Technorati big board. As Drudge would say, “Developing…”

 
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May 31, 2006 in Media, Media Orchard, Politics, SEO by sbaradell@ideagrove.com
How Words Lose Their Meaning: WMD, Part 2


First we had the Dallas pot brownie case. You know, pot brownies — those infamous “weapons of mass destruction.”

Now we have this:

WALDO, FL — Detectives say it’s an act of local terrorism. An adult bookstore is cleaning up after a chemical attack by a homemade device that investigators are calling a “weapon of mass destruction.”

In Waldo, people have held prayer vigils and protests aimed at an adult bookstore along US 301, trying to keep the “Cafe Risque” from opening its doors on time.

Those efforts have all failed, so investigators say it looks like someone has turned to what they’re calling a clear act of terrorism to keep the store’s owner from opening up shop. The device, discovered Sunday morning, was made of two gallon-size sports drink jugs connected by hoses. Someone set it on top of the store’s window air conditioning unit.

Detectives say that person then strung one hose from a water spigot on the outside of the building, and pushed another hose into the building through a gap above the air conditioner.

“That water hose would churn it up, mix it up in the gallon jug, and enter it into the building,” said Alachua County Sheriff’s Sergeant Keith Faulk…”We haven’t identified what was actually in the bottle, in the system that delivered it into the building. We do know that it was caustic, it was corrosive, it had a high pH level.”…

Investigators say the state Department of Environmental Protection will test the contraption in its labs Tuesday to figure out exactly what was inside.

(Via Fark)

 
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May 31, 2006 in Celebrity, Media, Media Orchard by sbaradell@ideagrove.com
Happy Birthday, Walt


No — not Disney. Whitman.

(That’s what we get for writing for eighth-graders.)

A few of our favorite Whitman quotes, pulled especially for professional communicators:

  • “All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor.”
  • “Be curious, not judgmental.”
  • “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”
  • “To have great poets, there must be great audiences.”
  • “If you done it, it ain’t bragging.”

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