A New Beginning at Tumblr

I've successfully migrated over to Tumblr. I think it just suits me so much better in terms of what I want to share and my believe to deliver information in a way that makes it easier for busy people to stay in the loop.

http://allisontsui.tumblr.com

Temporarily Closed

I'm temporarily away working on a better and improved blog that is almost ready to go. Hang in there and I'll be right back!

Inside Googleplex

A look at life inside. Very interesting.

How Mobile Will Change The Way We Shop

Last night, I found myself playing with a relatively new app I installed on my iPhone called RedLaser. I’m determined that apps like these will impact the way we shop. You ‘scan’ the barcode with RedLaser with the camera's phone and through local and online retailers it’s able to bring back a list of places selling the same product with all the prices, making it extremely easy to compare.



What does this mean for me and you?
The biggest advantage with this barcode scanning for consumers is the accuracy. You cannot go wrong with searching the product name or brand name because it's uniquely identified by a series of numbers or a Universal Price Code (UPC). Now, consumers have a walking scanner in their hands. Going down that path, apps like RedLaser enables us to bargain hunt much quicker and faster, making price comparison almost effortless. There's no more need to open a browser to search. There's no more need to type in the product you're trying to look up unless you want to type in the Universal Price Code (UPC) manually. Some people didn’t bother with comparing prices before but this might change, especially with the shift in consumer purchasing behaviour following the recent recession. (Check out this report by PwC about changing shopping behaviours.)

One of my favourite features of the app is that it helps you record down products you scan so you can spend more time looking it up later. For added convenience, you can also e-mail yourself the items you've scanned. Another favourite is its capability to search food items against allergens and returns a mini report. If you live in the US, a book scan will also tell you which library it's available at.

What a great app! I can only see it get better.

Website: http://www.redlaser.com/

Inside Facebook by ABC News

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, recently sat down with Diane Sawyer of ABC for an interview. I've always been curious about how he is like and how he thinks. Afterall, Facebook has been a huge influence on the social movement we're all currently experiencing.



Source: ABC News

At the moment, ABC's website still has a few more video clips from the interview.
http://bit.ly/9fFxnw

My Whitepaper Frustration

Like many out there, my inbox is flooded with social media whitepapers desperately waiting for me to open. To be honest, having read a lot of them over the past year or two, a lot of these whitepapers say very similar things to me. Today, I was somewhat interested in taking a look at one that talks about how to improve service through social media.

Is it just me or are these companies making it way too inconvenient to download these whitepapers? I clicked on ‘Download’ and it brought me to a page requesting for my info. “Just 3 Easy Steps” it claims. Unfortunately, I think it’s “3 Steps” too many. Don’t they already have my email? Why are they asking for it again? If another company’s whitepaper is featured, perhaps it’s time for a re-examination of the privacy policy and allow us an option to transfer our permission to third parties to access our information. I’ve gone through this process too many times and today I decided to go against it. I closed the email and deleted it. I didn’t feel it was worth my time to do it all again, to read information I most likely have read already or can get easily elsewhere.

Now they’ve lost the opportunity for me to share information with the rest of the team. I’ll tolerate signing in with existing information to view the information. I’m also willing to sign up from scratch where I haven’t before. That’s fair game. Making me sign up again and making me answer the same questions from the same place? Not acceptable.

Just Watch This. Metaweb and How It's Going to Change Searching Online.

Google recently acquired Metaweb, a semantic web and real world database company that believes it can help improve search and make for a richer web experience. For more than four years, Metaweb has built an open database called Freebase which has a collection of structured data of over 12 million "entities." Each entity can be anything that's a person, place or thing and can be connected with other entities to derive meaning.

Have you noticed that when you do a search in Google a word can have multiple meanings. What Metaweb and Google hope to do is to better distinguish between all the definitions a word may have and deliver better search results.

A very interesting, but complex topic. I find the way they are set up very similar to linguistics. Perhaps, this could be the birth of a new topic, social linguistics?

The video explains this whole idea very well.

Global Social Media Insights Tool

Trend Stream has released a lite version of its Global Web Index, a syndicated market research service of behavior on the web and social media. Although only a lite version, it is an interactive tool that will give insights to what drives the audience, their activities online, and their feelings toward brands in social media.

The data in this lite version was extracted from their "Wave 2" dataset from January 2010. A newer data set, Wave 3, from July 2010 is available but is only accessible to current clients. Still, a very neat tool. Best of all, the data is displayed in a very infographic-like manner.

Due to the width limitations with my current template, I suggest hopping on over to site to check the tool out. http://www.globalwebindex.net/widget/index.html



Source: http://globalwebindex.net/thinking/lite/

New YouTube Mobile Website

http://m.youtube.com/ is where all mobile users can now go for YouTube.

With a redesigned and friendlier user-interface, the YouTube experience on mobile devices will finally be a much better one! More importantly, high quality (HQ) video streams for mobile on YouTube has arrived. To best honest, I can't quite understand why it took so long for this to happen...

Seth is Right. Validation IS Overrated.

"Validation is overrated... If you have a book to write, write it. If you want to record an album, record it. No need to wait for someone in a cubicle halfway across the country to decide if you're worthy." - Seth Godin

I read a blog post by Seth Godin over the weekend and it couldn't be more true. Why wait for somebody to tell you you're good enough to do something. That's not to say things should be done blindly though. In the past, we wait for someone to tell us we're worthy of recording an album or writing a book because they have the skills and marketing to help push it further. At a mental level, by them saying that and willing to provide resources also gives a big shot of confidence to the author.

The thing is though, why? Is it because we've been taught at a very young age to get approval from those above us before we can continue moving ahead? I understand there are rules and there should be rules to help keep society in working order.

However, it doesn't have to be this way. Most of us are now equipped with a decent desktop computer with recording and writing capabilities. Digital cameras have never been cheaper than before. If you don't have internet at home, there's always the library for that connection to push your work out. The only thing missing is the mentality to believe that you can do it. You don't need to wait for someone to validate your thinking. "Believe" just like Melanie Oudin did when the 17 year old defeated a three-time tennis grand slam player at the US Open last year.

I think I finally understand what Nike's slogan truely means. JUST DO IT!

The Art of Innovation - Guy Kawasaki

Some good pointers in there indeed.

How Long It Takes to Earn USA Mininum Wage Around the World

A visualization of how long it would take to earn the annual U.S. Minimum Wage from different countries around the world. Quite interesting. I guess one is better off flipping burgers for the Queen than for Obama or Harper at McDonalds. This, of course, does not put into consideration purchasing power or the different costs of associated with living in different countries.

Click the image to enlarge

Source: Fixr

NXNEi (North by Northeast Interactive) 2010

North by Northeast Interactive (NXNEi) successfully unfolded itself in Toronto at the beginning of this week where a series of presentations were made about the newest cutting edge tools available to us today for music production and distribution. A series of panelist and presenters covered off everything related to technology, social media and other trends important to the music industry.

This was actually the first year the interactive component was put into NXNE (something I got to be a part of, as a NXNE Conference Volunteer this year) up here in Toronto, which replicates the interactive component of South by Southwest (SXSWi) held every March down south in Austin, Texas.

As luck shall have it, I found a link to the unofficial SXSW presentations channel. It's a place to share and find presentations from SXSW. Not only does it include 2010, but also previous years.

http://www.slideshare.net/sxsw2010

TED Talks: What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Child prodigy Adora Svitak talks about what adults can learn from kids. It quickly reminded me of the book "The LIttle Prince/ Le Petit Prince." Kids are often ignored and discredited because of their age and the resulting lack of trust. What we adults fail to acknowledge is that kids can bring a lot of value to this world too and have qualities and thinking this world needs to progress.



I liked this talk. Very impressed with Adora's thinking.

Google TV Explained

There's been quite some buzz around Google TV since March but what is it that Google intends to do with TV? No one explains it better than Google themselves in this video. The question is - What do you think? Do you want one?

Canadian Mobile Phone Penetration and Subscription to Increase

Stepped inside a mobile phone store lately? If you haven't I can tell you that a lot of the cell phones inside Bell, Rogers, Telus are all now mobile devices with more than cellular capabilities. And, most of them require you to be on a voice and data plan if you want to get the phone at a cheaper price. 

And, unsurprisingly... “eMarketer forecasts the number of mobile subscribers in Canada will rise from 24.5 million this year to nearly 30 million by 2014, an increase of about 20%. Subscriber growth will level off as the market approaches higher penetration levels, reaching 84.7% by 2014.” (Source: eMarketer)

Comparing Canada against other countries reveal that smartphone penetration in Canada is quite high (near the top) which would match the expected increase in mobile subscriptions over the next couple of years. A good piece to know if you're planning for media spend/ penetration on your customers.

 
The interesting thing is that not even ten years ago I asked why anyone would want to go online with their small screened cell phones. It was inconvenient because you can barely see anything on the screen and the keys were a disaster to use with three letters designated to one button. Mobile internet has since come along way. It finally is more convenient to use and allows you to stay connected no matter where you are. They are addicting (but fun) to have and use as long as you don’t become a slave to it.

What Do You Expect Out of a Facebook Brand Page?

A lot of brands are on Facebook now but there isn’t one I go to religiously. A lot of them don’t provide enough value nor give me enough reasons to go back.

Brand pages on Facebook gives a brand the opportunity to establish a community where they can educate their followers about the company, what the brand represents and the products it has. There’s a lot of room for creativity in terms of information display and the way it’s executed will give customers a glimpse of how the company operates.

Having said that, here are a few things I would like to see more brands have on their Facebook pages to enhance the experience of a prospect or an existing customer : 

• Teach DIY projects with the brand’s products
• Creative uses for the brand’s products
• An application to book appointments, order goods and services, sign in to member-loyalty programs
• Coupon codes or other perks
• Promoting new products based on features
• Promoting upcoming events
• Tips to help customers enhance/ get the most out of the current product
• Make references to the lifestyle attributes of the product
• Show some transparency into how the company achieves quality and innovation in its products
• Highlight and link any new mobile apps
• Promote the sharing of stories with the use of the brand’s products
• Have fan specific content where they have to ‘like’ you to see it.

At the end of the day, what's important is leveraging social media as a tool to help facilitate and keep conversations going among like-minded followers in a space that's unique to prospects or existing customers.

Inside Facebook Headquarters

Ever curious about what the working environment at Facebook is like? The people at Time have a collection of images.

Click on the link here or the image below - Inside Facebook Headquarters.

I'm Back!

After two weeks, I'm now back as promised!

Infographics

BRB in 2 Weeks. I promise. In the meantime, here's something to ponder over.

Infographics!
Lately, I've been quite obsessed over infographics because I feel that we're living in an information-overloaded society. How often do we sit in a presentation and a lot of data is presented? The same goes for all the metrics reporting we're asked to do on spreadsheets. Sometimes, there's so much data and information that our brain turns numb.  It's inefficient and yet we're always looking for new ways to capture more data and more information.

Information needs to and CAN BE presented in an user-friendly and appealing way. That's where infographics come in. It's the concept of the "ideas, issues, knowledge and data being visualized!" (David McCandless, The  Visual Miscellaneum) The right amounts of information and design can be combined to successfully convey a point.

"Charts and Graphs Can Communicate Data; Infographs Turn Data into Information" - Randy Krum, Coolinfographics.com

There are variations of how it looks like but typically:

• Holds stats and main insights of the idea being conveyed by the author
• Presents ideas in a concise and intuitive manner
• Makes the reader think and realize what the big picture is
• Are visually appealing
• Are easy to understand
• Have the potential to be cross-cultural and cross-language

What Makes Good Information Design


Source: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/interesting-easy-beautiful-true/

Want Links to Good Infographic Sites?

• Cool Infographics
• Information is Beautiful
• Flowtown

I'm still going through David McCandless's Visual Miscellaneum. He's the guy behind the Information is Beautiful website. If you're thinking about getting the book, feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to share with you my two cents on it.

See you all in two weeks.

Kevin Harrington - The King of Infomercials

Kevin Harrington is known as the "King of Infomercials" who has launched more than 500 products, generating over $4 billion in sales worldwide. He currently stars on ABC's Shark Tank and is the CEO of TVGoods Inc.

The industry generates about $150 billion of sales a year and Kevin talks more about it on Business New Network. I have linked to the clip below. Unfortunately, the video was not embeddable. The video will open in a new window and load on the right side.

King of Infomercials [05-19-10 5:30 PM]

Loyalty Cards? Nah, Just Build An App Like Starbucks

Loyalty cards. Like everyone else, I'm tired of carrying a wallet full of them. By 2015, it's expected that at least 50% of all US mobile users will be doing transactions through mobile devices. (eMarketer, May 2009)

So Many Opportunities to Engage with Mobile
What I don’t get is why companies aren’t leveraging this more. There are mobile apps that can store all the loyalty cards a person owns, but some of them aren't free. And, this is what gives companies with retail outlets the opportunity to truly engage their customers. Why not include your brand’s loyalty program in there by letting the app be the loyalty card? It lets your customers participate in promotions and you’re helping them de-clutter their wallets. Of course, it doesn’t have to stop there. What about an app that actually facilitates the shopping process and also lets me login to my member’s area? Or, what about an app that lets customers locate you without needing internet access. There’s a lot of iPod Touch owners out there.

Starbucks, An Example
Starbucks makes it so easy for customers to drop in and satisfy any coffee cravings. I haven't see another brand that has been able to make an app for its customers that's fun, facilitates the brand experience and is actually useful at the same time.

The current app in Canada displays product offerings, allows you to locate the store with GPS and see store hours. In the US, I know there's a lot of experimentation going on. The customer can make payments with their digital Starbucks card built in the app and accumulate their loyalty points at the same time. While it’s not perfect, it’s evident that they’re working towards an app that customers can embrace.



Takeaway
Now is a great time to start transitioning customers from plastic cards to digital cards, which is exactly what they’ve done. Hopefully, this example gives an idea as to how good mobile apps for brands should look like.

Now, if you were to make an app for your customers, how would it look like? How would it work? Does it provide your customers with value? Does it facilitate a better customer experience? How does it tie back into your overall marketing goals?

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

An interesting spin on leadership by Simon Sienk on TED Talks. Examples used in the talk include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers. A few things you might disagree with or find controversial but for the most part I would say it's good.

Deliver Presentations Like Steve Jobs [Video]

Steve Jobs as a Speaker
Steve Jobs of Apple is considered one of the most effective speakers in (North) America. He knows how to create hype and deliver his ideas in a fun and easy-to-understand way. If you haven't seen him speak before, that's okay. I have embedded a video below that'll give you a glimpse.

We Need to Make Our Presentations Fun and Less Boring
We're often asked to make presentations or give a pitch about an idea. The question is - How do we do it effectively? Sometimes, presentations last for 10 minutes and sometimes it lasts for an hour. We've also packed our presentations so full of information and stats that it has almost become pointless to present. It would probably be easier to send your stakeholders the presentation in an email.

I've Been Guilty of That and I Want to Change
I hope you'll join me on this quest to make presentations more interesting and fun after watching this clip on The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo. (He also wrote a book about this that I think I might end up buying. Has anyone read it? Any good? Let me know!) I want to create hype, make my ideas easy to understand and leave my audience members wanting for me. Do you? Join me!

Why Brands Need to Build and Nurture Social Currency [Infograph]

A wonderful infographic from Fast Company I wanted to share. It's based on data gathered in a report on social currency from Vivaldi Partners. Some interesting numbers in there not on this infograph. If you have time, take a peek at the full report.

Click on the image to get an enlarged version.

Have You Noticed the Facebook "Like" Button? It's Facebook Open Graph.

It's almost widely-known in the social web/ tech space that Facebook is looking to be the standard for "social personalization" for pretty much everything people do online. And lately, there's been a lot of mention around Facebook's Open Graph API.

What is Open Graph?
It's a collection of everything a web user likes across the internet. Some of you may have noticed a new "Like" button at the bottom of webpages surfacing lately. It's one of the new tools that's a part of Facebook's Open Graph program. The thought is that people click on the button as they surf the web and share what they like with their network. In the background is an API used to gather all of this information, which will allow other sites to highlight content based on user preferences. Over time, Facebook will have a collection of all the things you and your demographic group likes - books, music, food, events, clothing, etc. all stored in one place.

Impacts of the Open Graph on the Social Shopping Experience
1. With Facebook Open Graph, companies will be able to provide an online shopping experience customized to a customer's "Likes", item previews, and past purchases. So far, not a lot of companies have the ability or luxury of this competitive advantage except for giants like Best Buy.

2. It's a known fact that people trust reviews and recommendations from peers. At least most of them are. As people become more transparent with their online shopping process and share with their friends that process, consumers will become even more powerful in spreading the word about a product. Good or bad. Try and leverage the former.

3. Have you noticed yourself more likely to buy when you're with someone else as opposed to shopping alone? Making the shopping process more social will allow a friend to give their opinion about a product that may make the sale faster. Sometimes, people hold back on a purchase simply because they're indifferent between two miniscule things (e.g. colour). Unless it's really bad, I usually find that friends will encourage you to buy anyway.

The Wrap Up
Last year, there was a statistic that showed Facebook being one of the top drivers of traffic to Google. A few weeks ago, Facebook had already surpassed Google in web traffic. At this rate, watch to see that more and more web traffic to online stores will start to come from Facebook. Perhaps, now, we'll all have a better reason to buy Facebook credits (to use towards online shopping) as opposed to buying virtual gifts for our friends. That is, if you do.

I'll leave you with a video of the 2010 f8 Keynote Remarks from Mark Zuckerburg. Enjoy.

POP QUIZ - Do YOU Know What the Current State of the Internet Is?

A video created back in Febuary by JESS3, a creative agency in the US. This video gives a quick snapshot of the current state of the internet and how far we've gone in a mere 15 years. Don't expect these numbers to stay the same though. This space moves so fast it truly is hard to track. Good to know for reference sake.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Social Media Revolution 2

About a month ago, I posted a video called Social Media Revolution by the author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman. It's a very good video and persuasively tells us that social media is more than just a fad.

Having grown up through the digital age, social media to me now is a lesson of applying what you know. That's all it took. People weren't sure of how to use it at first but it caused a fundamental shift in behaviour after they figured out how it worked. Look at all the the unique and creative ways that social media is used today for personal and product branding.

Social Media Revolution 2 (Refreshed Video of Last Year's)
Anyway, good news. Erik Qualman has updated the video from last year to reflect recent changes. Another well-done video.

Want A Good Book To Read? Read "Trust Agents"

Read this one - Trust Agents. It's amazing. It's exactly what the title says it is. Great book. Great take on examples. Had action items for readers throughout the book.

It reached:

• New York Times bestseller list (#13)
• Wall Street Journal bestseller list (#8)
• Amazon top 100 list (#30)
• The Amazon Best Books of 2009 list (Business and Investment category)

Cover  

A Visual Description
Chris and Julien, the authors of Trust Agents, talk trust and technology with Dan Patterson of ABC News. The clips below broken into two parts will give you an idea about the book.

Part 1

 Part 2

People With Mobile Devices Use Apps to Get Data Off the Net

Steve Jobs made a point at the recent iPhone OS 4 preview keynote: The way people pull data off the internet from their desktops is different from mobile devices. Rightfully said. Basically, the difference is what allows apps to exist. People use apps to pull information not their mobile web browsers.

Why Apps Work
I think a lot of that has to do with the size limitations of the device. The screen size of most mobile devices make it hard to browse the internet, especially when you’re out and about doing something other than sitting down in front of a computer at work or at home. The whole web page would be shrunk down to fit the screen alright but you wouldn’t be able to do much unless you zoomed in. That really kills the experience. That was until Apple came along with their iPhone. Let’s be honest now. Apple has a good product out there.

The iPhone and the proliferation of apps really filled in a lot of the gaps around the mobile experience. When I’m out and want to check something quickly whether it's for information or email, I want it back instantly and in a manner that’s easy to digest. What I’ve also noticed more and more nowadays is my growing hunger for information. I’ve become so accustomed to Googling things that I’ve built a habit of relying on it regardless of where I am. The development of mobile apps allow that.

My Apps Satisfy My Hunger for Info on Mobile
Currently, I have an app that takes me directly to:
- Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc
- My email accounts
- Weather temperatures
- Restaurant suggestions
- Address search
- Maps
- Dictionary definitions
- News headline
- My bank account

Looking at this list alone reveals how it can be different from search on a desktop. At the desktop level, I do more in depth searches, such as shopping and real researching that require more time.

Takeaway
So, the takeaway? If you were ever to create a mobile app for your customers, make sure it gives them value and that it’s created in a manner that’s easy to navigate around and allows information to be digested easily.

The Digital Empires

Nick Bilton of the New York Times put together a chart of all the big tech companies together making it much easier to compare the big players.

One thought though. I wonder how this chart will change with mobile adoption expected to balloon over the next couple of years.



Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/a-big-picture-look-at-google-microsoft-apple-and-yahoo/?src=twt&twt=nytimesbits

What is BumpTop? More 3D ... 3D Desktop Manager

Google continues to build its empire with the acquisition of BumpTop, a 3D desktop manager. The idea and concept sounds neat but I`m not sure if I want my computer to mimic the mess or piles of folders I have lying around. Isn`t that the point of having computers to begin with?

Here's a video that demonstrates how the BumpTop works. It's probably not necessary to watch the whole thing. After a little while, I'm sure you'll get the jist of it. Sorry I couldn't find a more interesting video to post.

The Case for "Added Value"

There is so much competition in today's global economy. I always believe that a product is a product. Under the right circumstances, a product or service can be substituted. What sets one apart from another aside from branding (and assuming you have a good product) is added-value, especially after the sale.

Demonstrate how else your customers can use or apply your product with a little bit of creativity.
Check out these videos Toyota has made for the Sienna. It's about how each parent in this family use their Sienna. It's quite comical (because it was purposely done up that way) but it helps deliver the point.





Provide information in the form of tips, advice or what's new that is relevant to the wants and needs of your customers.
If you're a small business providing service to your clients, consider letting them know of new and better methods to help them achieve their results more effectively. Make sure your clients are on par with the rest of the industry if not exceeding it. If you notice something that they should be doing, suggest it to them. This also represents how forward-thinking and up to date with trends your company is. What can you tell them to help them get ahead of their competitors?

If you're a company providing goods or services to a group of customers, provide tips and advice that are relevant to them. With the cost of digital communications being so low, this is a perfect way to provide after sales service. Give them information that will help deepen the connection between them with the product or service. What can you tell to help them achieve the best experience out of the new dishwasher, the new TV or new car they just bought from you? What can you do to make things interesting so that your customers can brag about you and click on that "Send to a  Friend" button?

Create a special area that allows you to connect with your customers.
This special area where your customers have access to your channel would also be the perfect opportunity for you to deliver added-value to them. One big faux-pas is to focus only on selling. No! Don't do it! I beg you! No one appreciates that and before long your customers will find you cheesy and then word will spread that your community (in the words of my generation) "sucks." Think in their shoes in terms of what you would like to see or find of value if you were the customer. You can also establish this on Facebook, Twitter, your own community, etc. Snoop around and check out the programs Starbucks has for its customer.

Create a mobile application that allows your customers to see their profile online to book appointments, make payments, or connect with the community.
The penetration of mobile devices is increasing and will continue to increase. This gives your customers added convenience to access your service even on the go. In Canada, two of the biggest banks (TD Canada Trust and CIBC) now offer mobile applications to access your bank account.

What is the Big Picture?

Each and everyday we're bogged down with our tasks at the workplace. It's very easy to get lost in the miniscule details of things and lose sight of the big picture.

We need to step back more and ask ourselves:
- How does everything all tie in together?
- How does what we're doing support the goals and missions of the organization?

Use the big picture as a guiding map. It gives us an idea of what projects we should engage in and what metrics we should use. It lets leaders know what direction they should be paving away at so that they can delegate and continuue to look for new ideas to help them get further ahead.

The Future of Search

Google Goggles - Google’s experimental Android visual search application that will also be available on iPhone and other platforms. It uses pictures to search the web, whether it be landmarks, books, contact info, art work, places, wine, logos, etc. It also has the ability to translate text in photos. Check out the video.



Neat, eh? I know this is not necessarily new news but I was just thinking how Google is using its existing databases and linking it all together to make this all work. They're linking pictures to search entries to book titles of different languages to people. There's a lot of intricacies involved but they're one of the few companies that fully leverage their data creatively.

Pivot - Turning Information Into Insights

Today, information is readily available at the tip of our fingers. And, probably too much. The internet was not as enriched with information before as it is today, most of which I believe have been fostered through the growth of social media.

If you step back to think about it, a lot of the information we use are supplied to us through blogs, Wikipedia, Slideshare, Flickr, etc. by the global online community. In some ways or another, we're all information overloaded. We have more information than we know and it's all scattered across the Web.

A new tool to help people make better use of digital information is a data visualization technology called Pivot. Created by Microsoft Live Labs, it's still in its experimental stages. "Pivot allows people to visualize data [see video how this is done] and then sort, organize and categorize it dynamically. The result is that correlations, exceptions and trends become immediately apparent in ways they can’t when information is stuck in rows and columns." (Microsoft)

Having applications such as this can help us in making better choices and decisions. By allowing users to interact with data, the process becomes less intimidating and lets people truely see how powerful and informative putting information together can be. Those who can make sense of the mountains of data obtains intelligence and competitive advantage over those who don't.

Watch Microsoft Live Labs Director Gary Flake demonstrate how an insight can be drawn with Pivot. Perhaps, consider experimenting the tool as well. Free at the moment. http://www.getpivot.com/download/

FedEx (Brazil) Delivers the Message

A brilliant ad from DDB Brazil for FedEx. What an interesting way to depict "fast, reliable and easy delivery." It's simple, effective and gets the message across.


Source: Ads of the World (http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/fedex_londonspain)

Credits:
Advertising Agency: DDB, Brazil
Creative Directors: Rodrigo Almeida, Renata Florio, Sergio Valente
Art Director: Max Geraldo
Copywriter: Aricio Fortes
Photographer: Manolo Moran
Via: adgoodness

Square - A Step into the Future of Mobile Payment is Here

Another reason why mobile will dominate over the next few years. There's just so much that can be done.

What is Square?
Square is a small little device that accepts credit and debit cards from your mobile device created by Jack Dorsey, the founder and chairman of Twitter.

It’s essentially a small magnetic reader that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone. When a credit card (or a debit card) is swiped through the reader, it reads the data and converts it into an audio signal. The microphone picks up the audio, sends it through the processors and then is routed to Square’s software application on the iPhone. From there the encrypted data is transmitted using either Wi-Fi (for iPod touch) or a 3G Internet connection to back-end severs, which in turn communicate with the payment networks to complete the transactions.





Official site: http://www.squareup.com/

Aardvark: The First Social Search Engine

Aardvark for the First Time
I decided to check out Aardvark for the first time this morning.

Aardvark "finds people, not web pages, that have specific information" by leveraging the knowledge people have and pooling their expertise into one place. It uses social media distribution channels to get live answers to your questions.

It's quick and it happens in real-time, something that is possible with access made available over e-mail, Instant Messenger, Twitter, and the iPhone. Best of all... it works! My favourite part of this is that it's user-friendly and easier on the eyes than Yahoo! Answers.







So, back to this morning. I asked a question about Sakuras in Toronto and before long (within 20 minutes or so) someone from California had an answer to my question. It wasn't a cheesy answer either. I understand that for some questions it may take a longer waiting time but this example definately shows the potential of where Aardvark can go. More importantly, there's an atmosphere in there that makes it easy and fun to communicate questions and answers.

Aardvark Has Potential
Now that Aardvark has been acquired by Google, the big search giant will have access to a database of search queries and insights of what people want to know. Looks like there's going to be a few things Google will be able to do with this.

Now, we'll just have to sit back and see how Google propels this in the near future.

Company Site: http://www.vark.com/

Pick Up A Book!

In today's digital age, most of us are texting away on our mobile device or on the internet surfing, watching videos, Tweeting, posting on someone's wall in Facebook, chatting away on MSN, and the list goes on and on. While I'm a big advocate of using technology and digital media, I still believe that picking up a book to read is a good habit to keep or even re-start.

I've always had a liking for non-fiction books and I recently found out why. It's more than just facts or made up stories. Books have the ability to provoke thoughts, give insights and inspire. They're a great point of reference for when you get lost or unsure of what to do. It unleashes you into another world. If it's someone's memoirs, you can live through and see the consequences of their decision making and know the what-could-be's if you take similar steps. It opens you to other people's perspective and thinking processes. It gives you the ability to learn from the best.

Growing up I couldn't understand why anyone would want to read anything like that. Someone else's biography? How boring! It wasn't until I had to read up on different business leaders for a University assignment that I started to realize how valuable that information is. The ones who are successful (the ones with the books) all had very unique traits about them. The way they see things and the way they approach things are uniquely different and when you read up their stories you understand why they have the success they have. Sometimes, all it takes is just to have a different perspective.

Having said that, the attitude must be there too. Be hungry for information. Be receptive to new thoughts. Want to learn. Want to improve. Then, apply what you read to see how it can help you become a more successful person in life and at work.  All in all, the point I'm trying to make is to unleash yourself in the bookstore and pick up a few books.

Cheers.

Do You Know Your Competitors?

Today I was thinking about how to best stay on top of your game whether you’re an individual, a small business or a big business. This goes beyond knowing what they sell or what they do but rather to put the emphasis on HOW they do it. No matter what the current success is, it’s always good to look at how your competitors are leveraging the tools they are using, their processes, their campaigns or communication strategies with customers. See how everything ties in together. And, do it often. It's quite useful if you’re about to enter into an area you aren't familiar with, such as social media.

Knowing your customers is key to your marketing strategy. You know what you’re up against. Moreover, for a generation that isn't as brand loyal, Gen Y-ers maybe less forgiving if they aren’t treated right or if their customer experience doesn’t match that of the underdog. All it takes is one unhappy Gen Y customer to do up a quick text message from their phone that is linked to their Twitter and Facebook accounts before their entire network finds out about it.

Questions About Your Competitors

So, here are a few questions to ask yourself about your competitors (using my example for social media):

• What social media platforms are they on?
• What other tools are they using to help them integrate the different communications they have with customers or to manage the relationship with customers?
• What are they doing on these different social media platforms?
• What is unique about what they are doing?
• How does your company online image compare to your competitors?
• How does your competitor interact with their customers? Is their service prompt and efficient?
• How does your online experience compare to your competitors?
• Who does a better job in keeping customer profiles and how is this information being leveraged?
• Who appears more often on these different social media platforms over the same period of time?

How to Get Started
Try the following:

• Subscribe to their newsletter
• Become a fan on Facebook
• Follow them on Twitter
• Download their mobile apps
• Check their website statistics with analytics-type tools
• Set a Google alert for your name as well as your competitors

Social Media Resources

I've been following the growth of social media and its impact on businesses well over a year now. The biggest mistake I made was thinking that a lot of people already know about some of the most basic resources readily available. It wasn't until recently that I realized I was wrong. A lot of people don't have time or the passion to follow it as closely as they need to. What makes it even more difficult is that there are a gazillion articles and tons of research being pumped out everyday because the industry is developing so fast.

I think a great starting point for anyone just diving into the social media scene is to look at case studies or what other companies and organizations have done. Thankfully, Facebook and Twitter now have a dedicated space to share how their tools can be leveraged optimally for businesses.

Facebook Marketing Solutions
http://www.facebook.com/marketing
Lots of yummy information and examples here.

Twitter101
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101
Check out the Twitter 101 Special Guide deck that can be downloaded via the 'Download the slides' link on the left column at the bottom.

Social Media Revolution

This video, which is produced by the author of Socialnomics, details social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. There are still a few companies who haven't jump on to the bandwagon yet but this is in fact one of the best ways to get connected with your customers. Hopefully these numbers (although from 2009) are motivating enough.


Source: Socialnomics

Bell Canada's Commitment to Service Commercial

Bell Canada Commercial - 2010 from Chris on Vimeo.

Two Months and Still Impressed
It's been about two months now since I first saw this commercial but it continues to impress me. With rising competition and the widespread of the internet and social media, managing the brand and the customer experience is important. I've been a long time Bell customer and there were times when Bell service really just came from the gutter. It seems that is of the past with this new commercial and perhaps other companies experiencing reputation damage can learn a thing or to from this commercial message.

Bell's New Message Cleverly Communicated
The commercial communicates what normally isn't seen by the customer, the backend of any requests or issues submitted. Bell cleverly shows how "behind every client is an entire company devoted to service" by making its logo transparent with all of their different departments hard at work for you. As a customer, it makes me feel special and begin to understand all the small intracacies taking place behind the scenes. The message is concrete and share how they are achieving this:

• Extended working hours and grown the team to offer more flexibility
• Over 11,000 service representatives to take calls
• 9000 technicians to provide same or next day service on repairs and installation

They nicely summarize it off with "the idea behind all of this is to provide you with the best fastest service in the country."

Now, they just need to deliver on their promises and stay consistent with their messaging because I"ll be expecting that the next time I make a call in. At least for now, Bell's got me rooting for them again! [/Hands up!]

My Insights from Guu Izayaka

Guu
Guu is the latest hype in Toronto, offeringTorontonians an authentic Japanese pub experience. Located on Church and McGill in Downtown Toronto, two-hour long lineups are not unheard of. The well-established chain from Vancouver is giving Torontonians hungry for new and unique places something to talk about.



So, How Special is Guu?
I sat there last night with a buddy and I asked myself what’s vaccuuming all these people in here? What’s making this place more successful than others? What are they doing right?

Let me share with you my thumbs-up experience. There weren't any lineups when I went during the middle of the week but the place was 90% full. A line was forming by the time I left.

What's Vaccuuming People in Here?

The Experience is Uniquely Different.
A Japanese pub experience that is. It's fun! How often do you get to go to such a crowded energetic place with the staff shouting out Japanese greetings to welcome you when you go in and to thank you when you leave?

Service is Great.
You are handed a hot moist towel pretty much right after you sit down. You can see that the place is busy (and typically many servers at other places will start to neglect you) but here at Guu all of the servers try their best to attend to your needs.

The Food is Different.
There are tons of Japanese restaurants in Toronto but Guu 's Japanese items are more on the snacking/ appetizer side. You don't get to taste those often here. Oh yes, did I mention the presentation of the food? And, by the way, even their cocktail drinks have an unique slant to it. The concept of a Sake Mojito just sounds cool even before drinking it! See my slideshow of pictures below.

They Pay Attention to Small Details.
Two things here.
1) Japanese marble soda is nothing too unique to the Asian population here in Toronto but if you've never had it before, I must say it's quite neat. However, that's not even the main point here. If you look at the photo near the end of my slideshow with the soda bottle, pay attention to how the bottle packaging is customized to the restaurant. "Guu is Guuud!" Bravo for thinking of that.

2) Next thing. At the very bottom of the receipt, they'll write their thank you in Japanese but it'll also say "Becareful! Guuing is addictive." It shows how consistent they are with their theme of business and it certainly adds to the fun and energy of the place.

Smart Choice of Location
Like they always say in business school: location, location, location. After all this hype is over, who will be their true customers? I think they chose a good area because it's just right by one of the liveliest part of town. There's the Eaton Centre, Nathan Phillip Square and Yonge and Dundas Square, all within walking distance from and to Guu. Great for tourists and local people who are enjoying a day Downtown. Then, you've got a ton of students with Ryerson University pretty much right next to it. Finally, for blue collars wanting to swing by after work, it's not out of reach either.

My Only Complaint
The portions are a little too small for what you pay. I understand the food is more unique but if you want me to come more often, give me bigger portions. Just slightly bigger portions.

Overall
Despite all the different Japanese restaurants in the city, Guu is the first of its kind in Toronto. The overall experience from the joint makes it easy for the Gen Y crowd to share within their network online!

It'll be interesting to see what happens as time passes.