This over-reaching legislation to prevent pirated software, music, and IP has too many unintended repercussions. SOPA would likely affect the websites of the IP owners represented by the very media companies that support the proposed legislation.
The Digital Millennial Copyright Act of 1998 requires websites to remove links
to fraudulently obtained material when the copyright holder requests it, and this provision has already been successfully invoked millions of times. This is documented in testimony of Katherine Oyama, Copyright Counsel, Google, Inc., before the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, hearing on HR 3261, November 16, 2011.
SOPA Case: Throws Baby Out with the Bathwater
Carrie Underwood is a very well-known American singer and songwriter on the Arista Nashville music label – a label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, an RIAA member. Ms. Underwood’s website includes user-generated content on its forum: http://www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com/us/forum. If a fan posted a link on that forum to a Carrie Underwood song hosted without permission, under SOPA the entire site could be shut down – and Google.com and Bing.com could be punished if they allowed fans to find the site via their search services.
On the other hand, the song pirate – and people who download stolen material – would have no more
incentive to stop than under existing law.
Written on December 14, 2011 at 10:16 am, by gzola
2012 Interactive Marketing Predictions
In 2012, marketers will get this concept and realize that their customer is truly “always on.” The customer of 2012 expects customized, value-added interactions across the interactive screens they use, anytime, anywhere.
We predict that in 2012, surging social-local-mobile adoption will serve as a catalyst for interactive marketers to provide customized value to a new multiscreen clientele. We’ll see this shift through marketers’ innovations in how they message across screens, buy media, globalize their programs, and measure success.
This short report examines these changes and their implications for interactive marketers. – Forrester Research, December 2011
Searching for things to do on your 2011 holiday visit to the Big Apple? You’ll be glad you visited and experienced these great new and old New York City experiences.
1) The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
Top of the list. It’s a must-see.
As New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg says, the experience doesn’t tell you what happened or what to think, rather; it challenges you and gets you to reflect on what happened. Watch this video. It’s an amazing recap of the journey that led to the building of more than an attraction. It’s become sacred ground on US soil and is both inspiring and beautiful.
Listen to Joe Daniels, President of the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum as he describes the memorial and museum. It’s worth a few minutes of your time to view this, and certainly worth a visit in person, whether you’re a local or planning a trip there this holiday season or in the 2012 New Year.
2) TIMES SQUARE | 42nd Street – Not Just for New Year’s Eve, But…
If you can make it there for New Year’s Eve, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And what I mean by that, is after you’ve experienced New Year’s Eve in Times Square, you can check it off your bucket list and attend something inside or in a warmer climate next time!
3) Museum of Natural History | Future Space Exploration
Lots of amazing exhibits to see at the Musuem of Natural History (amnh.org) including the special exhbition about the World’s Largest Dinosaurs. A favorite is one of the shows in the Planetarium projected onto the dome above your seats where you can journey beyond the night sky and our solar system to distant galaxies. The shows never cease to amaze and inspire you. It’s Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration (November 19, 2011-August 12, 2012) offers a vision of the future of space travel as it looks at humanity’s next steps in our solar system and beyond.
4) Rockefeller Center | “Top of the Rock”
Rockefeller Center or Rockefeller Plaza is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acre between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Between 49th & 50th Street, and between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue is where there’s a high concentration of great sights and activities related to Rockefeller Plaza. You can’t go wrong checking out one of the best views of the city (replaced as a top scenic overview of Manhattan since the World Trade Center Towers Windows on the World is no longer). It’s called Top of the Rock.
Get some exercise and partake in ice skating at the Rink at Rockefeller Center which is under the big Christmas tree (can’t miss it) and then wander down Fifth Ave to check out the animatronics window displays at the big retailers like: Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdoff Goodman, Barneys, Lord & Taylor, or Bloomingdales either displays across the street or nearby.
5) Central Park | Wollman Rink
Head into Central Park from any number of entrances, along Central Park South (57th Street) or Fifth Ave, or the western edge – Central Park West. It’s a treat whatever time of year. Follow any of the roads and paths to the Great Lawn and look around for spectacular views of the NYC skyline with Central Park as your foreground. Head over to John Lennon’s memorial – Strawberry Fields, then meander back outside of the Park toward the Upper West Side neighborhood, then down Columbus past Lincoln Center and end up on the Southwest corner of the park – Columbus Circle.
For you avid ice skaters, a larger rink than Rockefeller Center’s is right in Central Park – Wollman Rink. Just getting there is the journey you’ll enjoy. Enter from near the Plaza Hotel on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue or from Central Park West or the Upper East Side (further up Fifth Avenue).
There is networking, and then there’s networking after your morning Starbuck’s Grande Iced Coffee – “Black Eye” (2 extra espresso shots added). The latter is how networking works using LinkedIn. Yes, it’s all about relationships, but the tools available through LinkedIn offer you a powerful way to stay top of mind and reach potential clients.
1) LinkedIn Applications Directory
Before you start populating your profile with your social media content to help differentiate you from the pack, make sure you have the basics covered with a completed profile:
Include the relevant employment history. Describe your role and include objectives, how long you had those responsibilities and don’t forget those important achievements or awards. By keeping it concise, you’ll avoid boring those who are browsing your profile.
Keep the website links that are provided (up to 3) - professional. If you have a great photo-sharing site with the last family Disney vacation photos on it – save it for Facebook. On the other hand, if you have a blog that’s relevant to your work – use that in addition to your current employer’s website. There’s a great option to create your own label for the name of the sites you list and I encourage you to use it.
You have a myriad of ways to integrate content from your other social media properties for your LinkedIn profile via applications found in the LinkedIn Applications Directory.
2) Build Your Personal Network – “Personally”
Start with the people you know (see list below). Then, as those people accept your invitation, look at their network to see if there is anyone with whom you would like to connect. For the first phase of networking with those that you know, make sure to personalize each invitation.
Say you haven’t heard from a former colleague in years. Are you more likely to accept their LinkedIn profile with this message:
“I’d like to add you to my LinkedIn network”
OR
“Hi Frank. I’ve recently started a new job with Company X [or - ... just getting up-to-speed on LinkedIn] and was going through my contact list and realized we’d lost touch. How have you been since … ?”
Send invitations to these people:
Co-workers at your present employer
Customers, Suppliers and other relevant vendors for your work
Old High School & College Classmates
Friends &/or Family (Only if there’s an expectation that comments are kept professional)
3) Power Networking on LinkedIn
Using LinkedIn to really build your network besides those you already know? Then engage with the community via the different LinkedIn features such as Polls, Questions or Groups.
Start with a group aligned with your profession (say DMA – Direct Marketing Association). Whatever group is tuned to your specific area of interest is the way to engage. As you meet others, include them in your network.
Answering Questions is good exposure if you’re a subject matter expert, or you can choose to put a questions out there yourself. Others can vote on which is the ‘best’ answer – and if you become the provider of “best answer” confirmed by many others, it’s good ‘cred’.
4) Recommendations
If you’re late to the game and feel comfortable, reach out to old colleagues from prior employers to get a sampling of recommendations to publish on your profile. I’ve seen profiles with tons of recommendations. They start to get watered down when they’re a dime a dozen. Choose carefully whom you would like to ask.
5) Leveraging LinkedIn Networking Potential
Review the profiles of someone with whom you want to connect. It’s valuable when contacting them to reference a point of interest or commonality
Share relevant information through status updates, but be careful not to inundate your network with needless dribble. This isn’t Twitter, or Facebook for that matter.
Comment on someone else’s posts or updates. Keep it professional and add useful info when you can.
Make a point to check-in with LinkedIn regularly (weekly). It’s easier to do with the Blackberry and iPhone mobile LinkedIn apps.
Written on December 23, 2010 at 10:45 am, by gzola
With the rise of Facebook web traffic, could we possibly see the eclipse of Google as the premier search engine? Not likely, but Facebook can give Google a run for their money, especially on PPC ad revenue and in-line content sponsorships in Facebook users’ news feeds – a big hit with advertisers!
Similar to “Do Not Call”, we may have the option for “Do Not Track” in the future. It would require an act of Congress to pass, but if would effectively work within browsers such as Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox.
How effective could this be? According to a Senior VP of Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), “you cannot turn off data sharing online” and that the “consumer experience would be severely diminished” without the benefits of their tracking third party cookies. At CarbonFoot Interactive we are often challenged with web analytics reporting that sometime does not match up with other vendor reports on click-throughs, web traffic and other important key performance metrics. This is because some computer users do already prohibit third-party cookie tracking and that makes digital marketing and reporting more difficult.
Disclosure would serve to address the privacy concerns, but that can interfere with your user experience, but having an ‘opt-out’ mechanism that is easy to use may be the answer.The FTC’s new incoming Chief Technologist Edward Felton said the system would have to offer “comprehensive opt-out”. The reason is that while “Do Not Call” registry uses a unique telephone number, “Do Not Track” registry cannot depend on a unique identifier because IP addresses and other internet IDs are often times changing.
TACO, is a new Firefox plugin that enables users to opt-out of tracking programs. So too does Google offer an ‘Ads Preferences Manager’, where you can adjust your privacy settings.
For the amount of time US netizens spend online, behavioral targeting can dramatically enhance a user experience – and most certainly the digital marketing return-on-investment for companies leveraging web marketing services. Stay tuned…
“Google, known for its all-purpose Web search engine, is adding features to its separate service for shoppers, Google Product Search, that, among other things, will make it easier for users to look for soft goods like clothes – a fast-growing area in the $140 billion U.S. e-commerce market.” – WSJ, November 4 2010
An October 2010 Comscore survey showed shoppers planned to shop or buy holiday gifts on these top sites this holiday season:
European Union (EU) antitrust authorities allege Google discriminates against rivals in its search results and claims that G even bars some sites from using competitive ad services with its AdSense contracts. Specific allegations are that Google makes it difficult for advertisiers to move data live search terms from AdWords to other services. Wouldn’t you know, these accusations started fro
m an antitrust suit of several companies – one of which is Microsoft.
Google says it’s always tried to “do the right thing” for its competitors. But “there’s always going to be room for improvement, and so we’ll be working with the commission to address any concerns.”
Your holiday ‘greening’ card. We’re getting it out early! Consider these smart choices to minimize your carbon footprint:
Have a Happy Holiday and a Carbon & Calorie Reduced 2011!
Get rechargeable batteries for toys, flashlights, radios. In one year alone, you can save $200 by using rechargeable batteries instead of disposables in a CD player that is on for two hours a day.
Avoid using disposable cameras. If you take just 24 pictures each month using a standard digital camera, you’ll save $144 annually.
Invest in a washable commuter mug for your morning coffee. Doing so will eliminate up to 365 Styrofoam or plastic cups in the landfill over the course of one year.
Bring your own cloth, paper or plastic bags to the market. Many grocers will credit your bill for using your own bags. When buying only a few items, don’t take a bag.
Say “no” to ATM receipts. According to Market Watch, if everyone in the United States would select the no-receipt option at the ATM, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the equator 15 times! (Market Watch)
Bank online: If all U.S. households paid bills online, the reduction in automobile usage would eliminate 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Request online statements. Reduce paper waste by receiving your bank statements online. If all US households viewed and paid bills online it would save 2.3 million tons of wood, or 16.5 million trees.
In 2012, marketers will get this concept and realize that their customer is truly “always on.” The customer of 2012 expects customized, value-added interactions across the interactive screens they use, anytime, anywhere.
