Thoughtpick: A unique perspective of the Web and social media...
A unique perspective of the Web and social media...

November 16, 2009

Does Social Media Have the Power to Deteriorate the Economy?

More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.” ~ according to The Telegraph (article linked to below)

If Twitter ‘costs British economy £1.38bn’, then how much is the total economic cost of using social media in other countries worldwide? Consequently, in the long run, does social media have the power to deteriorate the economy in general? And is social media to blame for information leakage and lack of privacy?

World Economy

World Economy

I Told You So! Or Did I?

In recent posts, I have discussed the power of social media both positively and negatively. May it be in terms of its privacy concerns, the personal safety threats it represents or its ability to motivate us to waste time, social media has been blamed for almost every mishap in our lives since Web 2.0.

However, when it comes to actual facts, figures and numbers, I highly doubt that it is a true statement that social media does have the ability to actually hurt the economy! Here is why:

  1. There WAS technology before Web 2.0 & social media; we were not living in the dark ages! Whether we used to spend hours sending e-mails, making phone calls or just sending messages via our mobile phones, there has always been a reason or a way to waste time! Before the mobile phone, there were landlines, before those, there was the television and so on so forth! [read full article >>]

November 5, 2009

Apple Putting Ads in Mac OS X? [video]

Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake“! Napoleon Bonaparte

I wonder if, for once, Microsoft is being very very quiet while watching Apple make its mistake! The video and my analysis will explain what I mean!

The Apple/Microsoft fight seems to be never ending! Yet, since its market share is relatively low when compared to Microsoft, Apple is constantly trying hard to overcome its opponent in terms of advertising content and style, using both humor and personification to attract new potential customers and retain the current ones.

Nevertheless, it seems to me that Apple might be running out of creative brand promoting ideas and resorting to “intrusive” advertising within its latest release of Mac OS X. The video below explains it all!

Therefore, the question that needs to be asked now is: Will this new method that Apple is using result in turning people against Apple, even if it entails a free reward?

The way I see it, Apple targets a niche market since their prices are relatively high as opposed the average PC or laptop. With that said, Apple’s potential customer base should not be that different and the way for advertising to them should not dramatically differ. Apple users seek a certain type of recognition which this type of advertising might deprive them of!

What is your take on that? Please share below.

October 12, 2009

How to Best Promote Your Brand Using Social Media [read @ bkmacdaddy.com]

This article was written as part of our first article exchange with Brian McDaniel (@bkmacdaddy on Twitter). Brian wrote us a great article entitled ‘Google Wave: First Impressions from Real People, Not “Experts”‘ which got more than 700 views and 50 RTs in under a day. In exchange, we wrote this article (click here to read full copy at bkmacdaddy.com) for his blog. Enjoy!


People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps”. Mary Kay Ash

Celebrating Success By Michael D. Brown

Celebrating Success By Michael D. Brown

Whether we like it or not, people – customers- are and will always be the main focal point of any marketing, promotional and research and development efforts. They are, as the quote above clearly indicates, the real assets of any business with which it can’t operate or function without. Therefore, when considering the best practices for promoting any brand or product, through social media or offline,  the first thing the company has to consider is its target audience, in terms of demographics, education, backgrounds, likes, dislikes and so on and so forth.

Yet, since the simple marketing mix theory consists of 4 main elements: product, place, promotion and price, the tricky part is figuring out the right mix that suits a liquid medium such as social media.

Therefore, this article will discuss, in details, the best 10 top tips and ideas that can help steer a brand towards success and away from mistakes that might lead to utter failure and losses!

[read full version at bkmacdaddy.com]


September 8, 2009

50 Top Noise-Free Twitter Tips & Links in Social Media, Marketing, SEO, Design & More! Part 3

Wouldn’t it be just great if you could find the most useful tweets and links about the hottest most interesting topics online, all in one place? Wouldn’t it be just convenient if you could link that valuable information to the tweeple who posted it so you can have continuous access to his/her tweets by following him/her accordingly?tips

Below you will find our third specialized well researched list of 50 Top Twitter Tips and Links divided into 5 distinctive categories: 1) Social Media & Technology, 2) Marketing & Advertising 3) Design, 4) SEO, 5) Motivational & More.

1. Social Media & Technology Tips & Links:

2. Marketing & Advertising Tips & Links:

August 7, 2009

50 Top Noise-free Twitter Tips & Links in Social Media, Marketing, SEO, Design & More! Part 2

Wouldn’t it be just great if you could find the most useful tweets and links about the hottest most interesting topics online, all in one place? Wouldn’t it be just convenient if you could link that valuable information to the tweeple who posted it so you can have continuous access to his/her tweets by following him/her accordingly?

Below you will find our second specialized well researched list of 50 Top Twitter Tips and Links divided into 5 distinctive categories: 1) Social Media & Technology, 2) Marketing & Advertising 3) Design, 4) SEO, 5) Motivational & More.

1. Technology & Social Media Tips:

[read full article >>]