MySpace is testing new profile pages.

Too Little, Too Late is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

If you had to choose just one, would you rather give up Facebook or Twitter?  Which one has more value in your life? Which one has more staying power? Discuss.

Question Of The Day is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

ReclaimPrivacy.org has a handy bookmarklet that shows which potentially insecure and privacy-invading settings are enabled on your Facebook account when you click it.

ReclaimPrivacy’s bookmarklet focuses on just a few key areas where Facebook can share information with the public—having your contacts, connections, and tagged photos exposed to the public, as well as allowing your friends to accidentally expose that information themselves. It also looks at your relationship with Facebook’s personalization, applications, and other aspects to see what Facebook and independent developers can find out about you, then rates your exposure level in simple Good, Caution, or Insecure levels, along with offering links to change those settings.

ReclaimPrivacy Bookmarklet Rates Your Facebook Exposure Levels.

Threat Level Orange. Find Out How Much of Your Life is Exposed on Facebook. is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

If you’re a WordPress user, its now even easier to create your own social network with BuddyPress.  Previously you had to install a different version of WordPress called WordPress MU to get this functionality.  Here’s how to get started.

BuddyPress Now Supports WordPress Single User: No WPMU Required! – WordPress MU and BuddyPress plugins, themes, support, tips and how to’s.

Setting Up Your Own Social Network With BuddyPress is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Come out to Social Camp Memphis on Saturday, September 19th at the Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering.  Social Camp is all about social media, social networking and the community of people behind it.

They’re still looking for good people to present their ideas and knowledge. So if you’ve got some burning knowledge or something you’d like to share, let them know.

To register, sponsor the event, or find out more, go to socialcampmemphis.com or follow them on twitter @socialcampmem

Social Camp Memphis – Saturday, Sept 19th. Grab Your Tickets Today! is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Razorfish recently released their social influence marketing report. Download it, read it, give it to your boss.

Social Influence Marketing (SIM) is about employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization.

Social Influence Marketing is about recognizing, accounting and tapping into the fact that as your potential consumer makes a purchasing decision, he or she is being influenced by different circles of people through conversations with them, both online and off. It is not enough to market to the consumer anymore; as a marketer you also have to market to each individual’s social influencers throughout the marketing funnel.

Razorfish Releases Social Influence Marketing Report is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Facebook let it all hang out to a select group of members to test their new search interface.  The system would allow members to search their news feed for recent updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared on friends’ profiles and fan Pages. Users who have made their profile and content available to anyone will also be searchable.

SEOMoz yammers it up during Whiteboard Friday to talk about visualization.  I think visualization is one of those new and sexy fields that you’ll hear more and more about in the near future.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Visualization from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

12seconds is updating their iPhone app to take advantage of the new OS 3.0.  The app, which should be available soon, will allow you to send short video messages directly to your friends via twitter.

Back ‘dat thing up and pick up some great tips about landing page design through CopyBlogger’s Landing Page Makeover.  Their most recent tutorial covers CarsHelpingAmerica.org.

If you’re a fan of Indie Rock, I highly recommend The Veils – Sun Gangs. Rock out this weekend.

Facebook Universal Search, Visualization, 12Seconds and Landing Page Design is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Facebook Updates Payment Terms In Preparation For Payment Platform Launch.

Facebook has decided to post its payment terms to the Facbeook Governance page and is open for user feedback for the next 3 days.

While the initial payment system on Facebook will only be a beta test, the company is expected to finalize testing and roll out an official payment API in the coming months.

Could this finally signal the payment system that Facebook promised us back 2007?  I can already see developers salivating.

Facebook Payment Platform Coming? is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Come out to Social Camp Memphis on Saturday, March 7th at the Memphis College of Art.  Social Camp is all about social media, social networking and the community of people behind it.  Learn about Twitter, Facebook, using new media in business and much more.  For more information or to register, check out the official Social Camp Memphis site.

Can’t get enough of Tommy?  Check out the Tommy the Toilet outtakes.

Tommy the Toilet Invites You To Social Camp Memphis is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.”

Thanks Kenny!

Putt’s Law is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted Jan 10, 2009

Another brilliant online marketing campaign courtesy of Burger King.  Burger King Sacrifice wants you to ‘unfriend’ 10 people on facebook in exchange for a Whopper. (http://www.whoppersacrifice.com/)

When you usually remove someone from your friends on facebook they are not typically notified. Unfriend them via Burger King’s application and it notifies your ex-friends that they have been delisted. To add insult to injury, it also reveals that it only took a free Whopper coupon to persuade you to make that decision. I’m lovin’ it….err, is that McDonalds?

Courtesy of @rachiley

Burger King Sacrifice Wants You to Unfriend 10 People in Exchange for Whopper is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted December 30, 2008

Everyone is making their 2009 online predictions these days, so I’d thought I’d throw my hat in the ring. Here are my online marketing and social media predictions for the new year. Tell me what you think will happen in the comments below. PS – I’ve made it super easy to comment. You can now login using your Facebook profile. No fuss, no mess.

1. Twitter finds a way to make money. I don’t think this will be through advertising. I envision a subscription model based exclusive content and features. This could be in the form of storage for music and photos or the ability to record and host videos.
2. Google will make a large acquisition of a TV network which will allow them to (1) further blur the lines between the different types of media we consume and (2) sell a larger market of TV ads on an auction basis.
3. Social networks become a thing of the past…..kinda. The web itself becomes a social network as sites take the first step with integrating Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect. Content will no longer live behind the walled gardens of Facebook and MySpace. I think Google will be the first to make significant strides in this direction.
4. Media companies will continue to pump out free content, but will look beyond advertising as a business model. They will tie-in more exclusive deals with content distributors, makers and services.
5. The death of the banner ad. As online budgets shrink, more and more companies will move away from the typical banner ad and move to better integrate advertisements as content. Companies will work to expand customer ‘experiences’ over simply advertising.
6. More advertisers will begin to negotiate on a cost-per-action basis (where the advertiser pays for each specified action linked to the advertisement such as a purchase or form submission) rather than the traditional CPM or CPC model.
7. Grainy, low-quality web video will finally see its demise. 2009 will be the year of HD web video.
8. YouTube becomes the new Google. Users (beginning with the younger crowd) will start their queries at YouTube instead of a traditional search engine. Advertisers will shift funds to this channel.
9. Hot job trend will be for companies to hire community managers more often as voices for their brand. People like Matt Cutts , Jerimiah Owyang or Dave Delaney will be the passionate individuals employed to help evangelize brands and serve as the main community figurehead. Smart organizations will realize that social media efforts come from all areas of the organization.
10. As more smart phones such as the iPhone, G1 and Blackberry enter the market, Google will work to control the platforms and mechanisms we use to surf the mobile web. This will lead to Google leading and controlling the mobile advertising market. Expect a big announcement in terms of mobile advertising before June.
11. As more advertisers shift budgets online, the PPC market becomes very crowded. Increased competition over the same keywords mean that companies will need to work on capitalizing (and customizing) every click and customer interaction. Marketers that fail to do this will see click cost and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) begin to erode and eat away their once stable profits.
12. Google project that fails in 2009: Knol
13. Second Life use plummets

Online Marketing and Social Media Predictions for 2009 is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted Dec 23, 2008

Festivus was made famous by Frank Costanza as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas. Along with other activities such as wrestling, Festivus also embraces the “Airing of Grievances”, in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year. In celebration of Festivus this December 23rd, I’ve compiled a few social media marketers and the ways they’ve disappointed me over the past year.

Motrin Moms patronizes consumers. It all began with a simple online ad posted on the company’s website. The ad eluded that “baby wearing” (carrying your child in a wrap instead of pushing them in a stroller) was simply a fashion statement and a pain in the back.  As the company mocked and disrespected practitioners of babywearing, it kicked up some relatively strong feelings among the community and resulted in a lot of loud racket on Twitter, YouTube and many blogs. Why they disappointed me – failure to listen to their community, disrespect of the consumer.

ExxonMobile twitter account hijacked. In August, a supposed representative of Exxon named “Janet” had the twittersphere abuzz as she answered questions about the oversight of the company, where resources are being spent, made comments about the Exxon Valdez and even the lack of sugar babies at one Exxon retail outlet. The company wasn’t aware of the hijacked twitter account until the Houston Chronicle called to ask about it. Spokesman Alan Jeffers said  “That’s not us” and “..isn’t using mediums such as blogs and social networking sites to communicate with consumers.” Why they disappointed me this year – Lack of brand monitoring.

3M Carjacks Post-it Campaign. After Scott Ableman and a few co-workers placed thousands of 3M Post-It Notes onto a friend’s Jaguar they gained a groundswell of attention. Trying to capitalize on the attention, the folks from 3M Post-Its contacted Scott asking if they could use these photos on their back-to-school campaign this summer. Scott, looking for some compensation asked the Post-it foks what their budget was. Not wanting to pay to use the photos, 3M balked and instead copied what Scott had done, took their own photos, and used them to create a national marketing campaign. Why they disappointed me this year – lack of transparency and being cheap.

Pizza Hut’s lame facebook application. Pizza Hut decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a facebook application this year. Pizza Hut took their regular online ordering site, watered it down and cooked it to be a facebook app. There are no additional social features included to enhance the experience of the app. The issue I take with the application is not the fact that it brings nothing new to the table in terms of functionality, it’s that it spams all of your friends with advertisements and notifications.  Why they disappointed me this year – lack of creativity and spamming my friends.

What social media marketers have disappointed you this year? What blunders stick out most in your mind? For every reader that comments, a contribution will be made to The Human Fund.
Looking for the best social media marketing of 2008?  Check out the Groundswell Awards.

Celebrating Festivus – Social Media Marketers That Disappointed Me This Year is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted December 4, 2008

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress recently shot himself in the leg in a New York nightclub.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend Social Media Breakfast here in Memphis (which turned out to be a HUGE success) and got the chance to ask attendees how to avoid shooting yourself in the leg using social media.  To hear what they had to say check out the video below.

How to Avoid Shooting Yourself In The Leg Using Social Media is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!

Originally posted September 15, 2008.

Over the past 5 years or so, Facebook, MySpace and every other social network have been getting a lot of press about how their site(s) brings millions of people and information together.  We’ve come a long way and many of these sites have opened up the internet in ways we could have never imagined. Friends you never thought you’d see again are suddenly a click away, the latest band from across the ocean playing in your living room. If you’re impressed at what’s available now, baby you ain’t seen nothing yet.

I strongly believe that behind the scenes, Google is putting together the pieces on not just another social network, but an amazing social platform built on a legion of social tools backed by a solid foundation of search. Think about the mass of instruments that Google has built or acquired in their short existence.  I’ll help you out; start with GMail, Youtube, Open Social, Blogger, Android, Lively, Friend Connect, Google Reader, Google Documents, GTalk, Jaiku, JotSpot (Now Google Sites), Feedburner, Picasa, Chrome, Panoramio, Google Maps/Earth, Phatbits (Google Desktop Gadgets) and DoubleClick.  Essentially what Google has here is a platform that gives them the front door to the web.  They will be able to control (and index) multiple forms of content being created, give users multiple ways to connect with friends and then advertise to those users in the most appropriate way.

Google understands that it’s not the particular site that drives users, but rather the connections, the relationships, the content and the tools that work in harmony with each other that makes a network more plentiful. They understand that you must build tools that work in succinct with the internet (and internet ready devices) as a whole.  They understand the mistakes made before them.

I will admit that their biggest challenge will be working with these different standards – getting each service to ’speak’ a common language, but with the collective talent they have at their disposal, its only a matter of time.  Their strategy is slow and deliberate, but one day, when you’re not looking or paying attention, they will drop the guillotine on your idea of what a social platform should look and feel like.  They will change the game as they’ve done so many times before.  Mark my word on it.

Google Creating a Social Platform to Change the Web is a post from Bob Hazlett, a digital marketer who writes at One Half Amazing!