I like the way this helps you to connect your friends and contacts with your on-line presence. For instance

After we receive the cards, we turn them into contacts you can import into your email application, you can view your contacts online and export the contacts in a variety of formats. For instance there is “where possible, one-click connect to your contacts on business social networks including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter”

Post from: EveryJoe

Cloud Contact – New Business Card Scanner

Because of that rapid pace, some people are claiming that the Death of the Influentials will happen sooner than later. Some digerati (Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble to name a few) are claiming that the best way to create an internet strategy is to obtain massive reach.  The Online Media Metrics Newsletter suggests that Guy’s argument is that the internet and social media have eliminated or at least reduced any semblance of information dissemination hierarchy.

Basically, what they’re suggesting is that if you stretch your reach as far and as fast as you can, through as many network nodes as possible, you’ve got a chance to reach more prospective customers and ideally, increase your results.

My problem with that is my own network, which is just now beginning to reap benefits, has taken me almost exactly a year to build. Social media, reach, influence and anything else you can measure is not going to be a silver bullet of any sort of marketing campaign you could begin. Reach and influence aren’t something you can buy off a shelf. They’re something you need to build, nurture and encourage.

After reading Pat LaPointe’s article, I’m not clear on whether or not he’s saying that brands shouldn’t bother focusing on the Influentials because they’re not a magic bullet (we’re not!), or if he’s suggesting that the right influentials need to be targeted still…

Whatever he’s saying, it’s important to remember that reaching the influentials is still important, because they can disseminate your message further and sometimes deeper, depending on how many conversations they can begin, but those influentials are still not the be all and end all. And they never will be.

Tags: Influential, Twitterati, Influentials. Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Silver Bullet Marketing

Post from: EveryJoe

Have the Influentials become Passe?

Nadia Nascimento, the head of Vancouver’s User Generated Video Contest Platform, memelabs, is in Washington DC for Obama’s inauguration. "I realized that we were part of a story." Nascimento came up with the plan to record users hopes dreams and allowing them to record for prosperity where they were, at noon on January 20th, 2009.

Here are some of the videos already uploaded, taken by Nadia, while in DC. This was my favourite from Japan:

Memelabs partnered with The Young and Powerful Group, Farmstead Wines, and JCM Entertainment to produce the campaign, which is a completely goodwill project. The four organizations have donated their resources, and there is no financial benefit or cost of participation.

[videos provided by Memelabs]

Tags: memelabs, Obama, Inauguration, User Generated Content

Post from: EveryJoe

Obama’s Inauguration: Where Were You? Share Your Story

Back when my people started talking about going to BlogWorldExpo, I knew I had to find a way to get there. So, I started thinking about ways to do that. I was talking to Lucretia one night and she suggested that ideablob might be interested in some content creation and visibility at the event.

So, I put together a little profile, a little presentation and a little bit of a suggestion and sent it off to darling Annie.

A few days later, I had an agreement, I had a plan an Annie and I were going over talking points.

So, next Thursday, I head down to Blogworld Expo to talk to everyone there about ideablob and what they do. So what do they do?

Well, essentially, idealob is a community of people who share ideas: business owners, entrepreneurs, inventors, philanthropists, nonprofits, free-thinkers and problem-solvers and the like. They post, comment, advise, critique, and compare ideas.  Every month, they decide through voting which idea is worthy of $10,000 in seed money.  ideablob gives ‘blobbers’ the tools and resources for this culture and philosophy to flourish.

What would you do with $10,000 in seed money? Leave a comment here or, better yet, come and find me at BlogWorldExpo and tell me in person!

Post from: EveryJoe

Me + ideablob = BlogWorldExpo

We’ve, at least in my opinion, pretty much leveled the playing field for any woman who wants to get out there and actually play. Sure, it might mean you get your hands dirty or break a nail (and yes, I am using sexist metaphors on purpose), but hell, that’s what soap and manicurists are for.

I am a woman who knows how to promote myself, how to ask for things and how to get people do help me do those things, and am usually thanked for the opportunity to help me when it’s all said and done. Sometimes, I use traditional "old fashioned" methods like the telephone (and a land line at that! gasp!) or email, and sometimes I use the new-fangled technology. No matter which way I go about it, the worst thing that’s going to happen in that moment is that the person I’m talking to will say "no". Doesn’t mean I’m a horrible person or that I am an idiot for asking. It means that, for whatever reason, the other person can’t accommodate me.

I got into a discussion about this very thing with @MissRogue and @Aruni one day over Twitter, and I just got frustrated. A few other people feebly joined the conversation and said they didn’t understand how we  could be so strong and passionate about what we do and that they envied our ability to be that strong, capable, passionate woman. They claimed they could never be as "brave" as we are.

It’s not about brave.

Lemme give you a minute to let that sink in.

It’s not about BRAVE.

It’s about smart, which we all are; it’s about confidence, which we all need to find (it’s there, and it’s been there all along, you just have to find it), and it’s about learning how to take "no" for an answer and then don’t stop asking until you get a yes!

I think every woman should be able to be as successful as they want to be in business, however that looks to them. I think that no woman should ever bemoan the fact that the world is run by an "old boy’s club". You know what? 50 years ago, that might have been the case, but guess what? All those "Old Boys" are all sitting around in retirement, in their private clubs and congratulating each other on past victories, while you’re out there, getting things done, making things happen and living your life. They don’t affect you unless you let them.

There is no try, there is only do. There’s no such thing as willpower – you either do something or you don’t, but you make that choice to do or not do, consciously.

So get out there, take the bull by the horns, throw stones at people living in glass houses and break their ceilings. (How many other metaphors can I throw in there?)

/steps off soapbox. @Aruni, upon hearing this rant, told me I need to write a book. I haven’t talked to her about it in a while because I’ve been too busy writing the book proposal. @Aruni, it’s in the works baby!!

Post from: EveryJoe

F*ck the glass ceiling

BWE, as it’s affectionately known in my circle, is coming up in September. Together, with Kristen King, a fellow b5 blogger, I entered a contest to win airfare to Vegas and hotel so we could attend BWE.

There was international coordination, crude Photoshop images, an “argument” “break ins” and a subsequent “make up”. It was complicated and required some serious skype conversations to get it all organized.

To even show you these, I have to give you a bit of explanation. See, Ed is the b5 mascot. He’s our social director and various other things. Ed’s the man. Ed’s also the man-equin.

Part of the contest was to tell the b5 Toronto crew what you would do to get a girlfriend for Ed. Kristen professed her love,

I told her she was going to ruin her marriage.

It went on from there.

and on.

and on.

and on. and on. and still further.

And then, a guy came in and usurped us. He made this amazing video at the mall, and I don’t know how he even managed to film in store, but he did. Whatever, dude beat us out.  (but seriously, congratulations Jon. This really did rock)

So now, I have a full conference pass for BWE, but I need to find me a sponsor to cover airfare and hotel. Are you, or do you know, a company interested in sending a prolific blogger to BlogWorldExpo? Someone who will produce stellar images, excellent video content, Twitter almost nonstop and blog about it? All "brought to you by…"?

If you think this might be you, or you know someone who’s alley this might be right up, let me know. You can find me here, here, here, here, or here or call me at 604-837-6748.

Post from: EveryJoe

BlogWorld Expo

I tweeted it, and I blogged about it. My twitter feed had a very unexpected result.

I tweeted that I offered to marry the general manager of Morton’s. His name is Josh. His wife tweeted back to me that all I had to do was flirt. She has since told me she was terrified to send me that tweet because she didn’t know me. And yet, she did.

She and me started talking. Within about .. oh, 20 minutes (which is about 6 months in social media time) she and me had quickly established a wicked friendship,

We have SO much in common, I have NO idea how we have not managed to meet in real life yet. Seriously. She is amazing. She is totally my stunt double.

I just find it so .. odd that we connected on Twitter, and yet we have SO much in common…. it’s absolutely ridiculous. We’re meeting, face to face, for the first time on Saturday, and I CAN.NOT wait. And ideally, to eat the amazing little sandwiches. We’re going to Morton’s, natch.

She’s guest posting the next entry. She’s just amazing. Seriously.

Post from: EveryJoe

Social Media Connections are so WEIRD