Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media

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Very Important Massage (must read)

I appreciate All blogs or sites that use the its contents in this blog,and apologize about don,t mentioned its resource name .I must mention the source.

Next to this I would do it.This blog is as a collection useful content.

success go with you.

Amir

Google Adds More Options To Image Search

by Erick Schonfeld on July 31, 2009

Image search is an area of intense competition between Google, Yahoo, and now Bing. Today,Google Images added some search options to make it easier to filter a search by color, type (face, photo, clip art, line drawing), and file size.

Most of these filters were available before in advanced search, but now they are available in the left-hand column. (A similar option column was introduced to the main search page in May, 2009). You can choose more than one option to automatically narrow down your search. Another option Google could add is sorting by images with a Creative Commons license. Italready does this in its advanced search options, but it is hidden there.

Yahoo and Bing have similar filtering options, Although Google’s color filter is the most advanced. It allows you to sort by 12 different colors, wheras Bing and Yahoo only let you sort by color or black-and-white images. Bing, however, does a better job with related searches, something Google is experimenting with in a slightly different way by actually trying to find And Yahoo has its own set of novel features in image search which Google doesn’t. You can compare the three with a search for “fruit” on Google Images, Yahoo Images, and Bing Images.

Digital strategy, a methodology

Ah yes, digital strategy. It's one of those ambiguous terms with lots of promise attached to it. But what exactly does a digital strategist do? The answer will most likely vary depending on who you ask. I, for one, believe that it's not simply sitting around "thinking." Rather, developing an actionable digital strategy--one that helps an organization meet its business goals--requires some clear actions to fully understand the challenges and opportunities at hand.

I approach digital strategy projects by looking at four key elements on a needs/opportunity continuum: brand, business, market and user. (Note that this is not a new process, in fact many types of strategists use it. It works for digital and social media only when coupled with a deep understanding of this domain).

1. Brand

Why it matters: Understanding a brand's core attributes is key to developing a digital and social media strategy that syncs with an organization's character and essence. The user experience should convey a brand's attributes. Getting clear on what they are is essential to developing that experience. For example, if "daring" is a brand attribute then the interaction design and creative should embody that attribute. In many cases, brand attributes aren't communicated clearly online, or maybe the brand is evolving. In both cases, digital can help.

How to get there: The easiest and most effective way to understand the brand is to work with your planner or brand strategist as well as take a good read through the company's Annual Report, if available. I also like asking key stakeholders a series of brand related questions during Stakeholder Interviews. In addition, an audit of current digital properties against brand goals is useful input.

2. Business

Why it matters: As much as I love twitter, twitter for twitter's sake doesn't cut it. Real creativity is required when it comes to defining a features and functionality set and interaction dynamic that can help an organization meet its goals. This input also plays a key role in defining the project's success metrics.

How to get there: The key here is Stakeholder Interviews, and the more the better. I've found that 20 to 30 60-minute interviews done on a one-on-one basis provide a great foundation for understanding an organization's needs. The goal is to listen and document what each stakeholder knows about the brand, the organization's challenges, as well as to clearly understand what goals they will personally be measured on. Stakeholder Interviews also help identify what organizational challenges exist, both from philosophical and resource standpoints. Finally, findings from this phase can help key stakeholders (who often differ on important matters) align.

3. Market

Why it matters: An industry understanding of best practices is key to developing a strategy that is differentiated. Especially with social media, a relatively new space, it is important to understand what others have tried and what has succeeded, or failed, and why. (This is in addition to general digital best practices, which are vital to getting a project right. Digital Strategists, in my opinion, should have experience with user experience concepts).

How to get there: I like to complete a Competitive Audit as well as a literary review from services such as Forrester, eMarketer and any industry publications.

4. User

Why it matters: In the digital space, the end user or consumer is especially important because they are directly involved in the conversation. Understanding who the user is and what activities they have a propensity for, as well as what interaction models they will best respond to, is necessary to developing a feature set which will be embraced. Also of interest is how key users find information, what they feel is credible online and who they trust.

How to get there: Primary user research is vital to a solid digital strategy, especially because each target segment within each industry can differ. Primary research does not just include focus groups but may take the form of one-on-one interviews, photo studies, shadowing, etc. In addition to primary research, secondary research in the form of industry analysis and web site metrics are important. Understanding how current users use an organization's website and their behavior in relation to that site can be powerful.

This is a high level look at what I would consider comprises a digital strategy. The entire process is more detailed and complex, in my experience. Thoughts and feedback, as always, are welcome.

Facebook to accept OpenID, now the real fun begins

I'm so excited by last week's announcement from Facebook that they will soon accept OpenID.

For those of you unfamiliar with OpenID, it is, essentially an open-source single sign on for the Web. It allows you, the user, to have one name and one password that works across many sites, as long as those sites accept OpenID. 

Obviously, for OpenID to be significant, many sites need to accept it. To date, more than 30,000 do just that, including highly trafficked sites such as Yahoo!.

So Facebook accepting OpenID is a very big deal. In fact, I'd suggest that Facebook will be to OpenID what Oprah was to Twitter, for a number of reasons:

1. Facebook will take OpenID mainstream
Facebook, more than any other site out there to date, has achieved acceptability among the mainstream U.S. population. With more than 200 million members ranging from your boss to your nanny to every one of your former college classmates, Facebook is present everywhere, which means that OpenID could be too.

2. Facebook users pay attention
Facebook, like it or not, has a user base that pays attention to changes in both interface and policy. Hopefully they will notice this change and embrace it.

3. People sign into Facebook more often than they brush their teeth
What's the saying ... it takes 20 days of daily use to form a new habit, or something like that? Facebook's users visit daily, which means that they may become accustomed to signing in via OpenID, which will mean their propensity to use it will increase (as well as other sites' willingness to consider it).

Once OpenID becomes accepted by the Internet population, as well as the majority of substantial websites requiring sign-in, we are well on our way to a single sign-on for the entire Interweb. 

What would that look like? I'm not completely sure, but I do know that it is a building block to the next iteration of wherever it is we are going.

Brave new advertising: experience the experience

Have you heard the story about the woman who trimmed the ends of her pot roast before she put it in the pan?

One day, her older sister was watched her do this, and asked, "Why do you trim the ends of your pot roast before putting it in the pan?" "Because that's how mom did it," the sister responded.

"True," the older sister said, "but mom's pan was too small."

The advertising industry is in exactly this position right now. We do things because "that's the way we've always done them." We have a process and a vocabulary which served us well in a different time. We talk of "Big Ideas" and "Creatives" and "Mass Mediums." Advertising, as we knew it, was certainly the best we could do with the tools we had at the time. 

But what happens when the big idea is a small one, the experience is just as important as the message the channels are many and distributed? Today we can create true interactive experiences and dialogs. It's a far better way to engage with people than shouting at them and hoping they'll listen.

So why, I wonder, do we hold onto antiquated processes and vocabularies when we have so much more to work with? 

My best guess is two fold. First, change is hard. And second, we can't see the opportunity. But let's for a moment, assume that change is possible. How would we do things better? Here are three simple suggestions to get started:

1. Expand your vocabulary

If you talk in terms of the "big idea" and "creative briefs," think about learning a few new words. For example: experience brief, semantic web, interaction design, wire frames, user experience, meta-data. Do you know what those mean? If not, you should. These word are your future.

2. Be collaborative

Let go of the idea that the creatives own creative. (In fact let go of the idea of creative, see point 3). The digital medium, by nature, is more collaborative, and the process should be too. Who’s in your brainstorms? If it’s just art directors and copywriters think about inviting a diversity of team members to the table. The process needs to change for the output to change.

3. Embrace the experience

The consumer experience must go beyond the traditional messaging strategy. How do you create experiences? Start by hiring a team of sharp information architects, content strategists and analysts, and integrate them well. Add to that designers and copywriters. Voila, you have an Experience Group. Creative is simply a subset of experience, albeit a vital one.

I just joined a great advertising agency in Seattle called WONGDOODY. While they are rooted in traditional, they are smart, open-minded and collaborative, and because of that, we are making phenomenal strides in the digital space. I'll keep you updated on our work.

In the mean time, be well, ask questions, and push the status quo. We all can do so much better. We just need to be open to the possibilities.

Think global, tweet local

The Internet is a great activator. Here's just one, small, local story that I'd like to share.

About 40 minutes ago, our local news station King 5 (@King5Seattle on twitter) tweeted that the Cherry Street food bank was about to run out of baby food. Here's a photo from @chrisdaniels5 of all the food that is left. 

They also encouraged people to re-tweet, and posted a few more updates, one with a link to the food bank and how to donate.

About 15 minutes ago, two local business, Boom Noodle and Blue C Sushi (@boomnoodle and @bluecsushi) responded that they would be at the food bank within the hour with food.

For those interested in helping, here is a map and a link toNorthwest Harvest.

Thank you twitter. Thank you King 5, Boom Noodle, Blue C Sushi and Seattle. You are awesome.

I'll update as I learn more, or get on Twitter and follow the story yourself. And keep retweeting!