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Author: Search Influence Alumni

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Search Optimization and 404 Errors — SEOChat

    If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably seen a colorful or visually engaging 404 page that pops up when you’ve reached an invalid page on a website. What you may not know, though, is that these pages have SEO potential and should be optimized for ease of use by your viewers. Check out this article to find out the four most important elements of a user-friendly 404 page, along with a bevy of other tips.

    How to Use 3 New Facebook Features for Better Social Media Marketing — CopyBlogger

    Facebook’s recent roll-out of the Timeline has many marketers worried that display ads and other traditional forms of Facebook marketing are kaput. Fortunately, CopyBlogger is here to show you how to adapt to these strange new waters and give your ‘book campaigns the updated punch they need to stay fresh and effective.

    Essential Checklist for Writing Guest Blogs — Pronet Advertising

    Being asked to guest blog is quite an honor, and it’s important to do it right. Jennifer Moline of PsPrint Blog elucidates some of the best practices for guest-blogging, including tips on how to be respectful of your host, engage your audience and format like a champ. (Speaking of guest blogging, have you read Influencer Colette Bennett‘s piece on the SEM Group Bad-Ass Blogger Contest? Check it out here — But I Don’t Have Enough Klout: How To Be Good At Social Media By Not Being A Jerk.)

    Are Google’s Local Efforts in Trouble? — Marketing Pilgrim

    As our own Joseph Henson blogged about earlier, Google’s new Place page policy is taking its cue from the “asking for forgiveness is easier than permission model,” updating page information with user-submitted information and allowing business owners to give input on the changes only after the fact. Marketing Pilgrim’s Frank Reed dissects some of the more troubling implications of this switch and throws out some thoughts on the potential future of Google’s local system.

    Speedy Site Prospecting Using Social Metrics & Natural Language Processing — SEOMoz

    With natural language processing, it’s now possible for an application to browse a website and algorithmically determine any given page’s topic and help humans determine what’s worthwhile and what’s not — effectively taking the elbow grease out of site prospecting. SEO Moz takes you through this exciting new capability and shows step-by-step how you can apply the concepts to your own campaigns.

  • There Will Be Blood – Competitors Can Now Destroy Your Google Listing

    The Villain

    Google is feeding local business owners to the wolves with their latest Places update. Lior Ron, Google Places Product Manger, announced yesterday evening that Google will be “helping” business owners keep their business listings updated by now allowing anyone, mischievous competitors included, to edit your entire Places listing for you. Yes, even if it is verified.

    How… thoughtful of Google.

    Google was already heading down this path. Earlier this year they started allowing verified business listings to be marked as closed by anyone and everyone. With this update, someone with ill-intent can now make changes to your business listing that can have detrimental effects on local search traffic.

    Yes, Google will be sending an email updating you about the recent changes to your Places listing. But, here’s the catch. Instead of giving the person that manages the listing the option to decline the edits, Google is “streamlining” the process by automatically updating the listing and basically saying, “well, if you don’t like it, go change it back and, after an unreasonable amount of time in which there is real potential for losing customers, we’’ll update it only for it to possibly happen again.”

    The most laughable part of this update announcement is Mr. Ron trying to spin these new features as something that Google hopes will “make it even easier for business owners to manage their online presence.” Yeah, maybe if we lived in a world where all of your competitors have scruples, and enough money to go around, but we don’t. The competition can be cut-throat in some industries and Google just gave them a knife.

     

     

     

  • Influencer Profile: Joe Luft

    Hailing from the frosty northlands of Chicago, IL, SI Internet Marketing Associate Joe Luft graduated from Tulane University in 2010 with a degree in Political Economy and no desire to be a politician or a lawyer. As an IMA Joe is responsible for a wide variety of tasks around the office, but finds hands-coding to be a productive and rewarding area. Some of his favorite things in the world include his family, dog, painstakingly broken-in denim jeans and, of course, his beloved Chicago Bears. (It’s okay, Joe. We don’t judge you… too much.)

    Joe showing off that rad 'tude and kicking style we love him for.

    First, and arguably most vital, question: if you were an antiquated dance craze, what antiquated dance craze would you be?

    Honest answer, the Cha Cha Slide. It takes me back to my days in middle and high school. Second choice would be “The Dougie” mainly cause my thirteen year old sister listens to it and does the dance at least twice a day. Guess those really aren’t antiquated, already failing at this interview.

    So what do you find yourself doing around here?

    On a daily basis I’m making edits to the code on our clients’ sites and publishing content for our clients. Whenever people ask me this, I always kind of pause and think for a second, then ramble on about computers and codes and the Google and by the time I look up that person is no longer standing there and I’m talking to myself about the computers. I’d say all my fellow Search Influencers are in that same boat, so many different things happening around here on a daily basis.

    Have you done any Internet or marketing work before working at SI? How’s the transition been so far?

    Just kidding! Here's the man himself.

    Yes, I have. I started dabbling with internet marketing in college when I worked for a sneaker store in the French Quarter. After a couple months working there they set me up with an admin account for their blog and I really got into it. From working at that sneaker store I was able to meet a lot of other local business owners and got a side gig running a blog for a men and women’s clothing store Uptown, and eventually created an e-commerce site for them. So my main focus, prior to SI, has been Internet marketing for fashion. I can’t even count how many pictures of shoes I have on my computer right now. I’d say a thousand.

    The transition at Search Influence has been fun and challenging. Instead of managing every aspect of a couple of websites, I’m in and out of numerous sites making edits on a daily basis. Along with working on more sites, I am doing more in-depth edits to site templates.

    How did you acquire an interest in coding? Any tips or favorite tools of the trade?

    I got interested in coding pretty soon after I started blogging. While WordPress and Tumblr can make some pretty cool templates, I always wanted to make the blogs I worked on a little more unique. During winter break of my senior year of college I bought a massive book about HTML and CSS coding and started poking around the world of Hyper Text Markup Language and Cascading Style Sheets.

    Biggest tip I would offer is to do it every day.

    What’s your favorite thing to do around the office? In an ideal world, what would you be sitting around doing all day?

    The most favorite thing I do around the office happens at 5 o’clock on the dot every Friday, I play “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan out loud on my computer. Lets the people know it’s the weekend.

    In an ideal world I’m a “Whispers in the Dark” DJ on an old school Hip-Hop and RnB radio station spinning slow jams for the lovers all around the world. By law “Whispers in the Dark” programs can only occur during the hours of 11 at night until 2 or 3 in the morning (it’s whispers in the dark, not the light), so for the other portion of my day I’d like to design, clothing, sneakers, furniture. I’ve always found My Personalised T-Shirts to be the most interesting and often overlooked forms of art.

  • Netflix Pulls Plug on Qwikster

     

    You may recall that we were mulling over the whole Netflix situation only a few weeks ago, which has seemed to be getting more ridiculous ever since the company announced pricing changes in July that made users choke on their dinners. Twice the price for what they were getting before? Streaming-only services? People were just starting to recover, but Netflix had clearly spent a lot of time sitting alone in the dark listening to sad music; they knew they hadn’t pleased their audience. And so they decided to try to make it better (which as, many men can attest to, never works).

    I guess the Qwikster debacle was more than they could handle, what with people getting more upset than ever (not to mention the stoner squatting on the Qwikster Twitter account and all that jazz). Netflix has updated their blog yet again and emailed all their users to let us know that Qwikster is not going forward after all, which looks about as professional as taking off your shirt at an office party. There was also no word about the aforementioned video game rental plan that Qwikster was going to include, so I suppose we can assume that has been scrapped as well. Oh, the hoopla.

    What does this mean for Netflix now? Well, their stock has suffered dramatically since the original price change announcement. As of today their shares are still down 4.4%, which means this whole Qwikster cancellation thing has not eased anyone’s mind yet. Maybe Netflix didn’t go ahead with the crazy plan, but they announced the crazy plan and then reneged on it, which kind of makes them look even more nutty and unstable even if it was the right thing to do. It’s no surprise that investors don’t feel comfortable. It is commendable that Netflix has paid attention to the social media buzz surrounding the unpopular decision and realized that they’ve made a dumb move, but it also signifies that they aren’t thinking through major decisions enough — which is not a great sign for a company their size.

    What do you think — are you relieved there will be no Qwikster, or are you disappointed in the parent company for caving to the negative social media hubbub?

     

     

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

    Will small businesses survive the future of SEO? — Skyrocket SEO

    The SEO industry is constantly in flux and, while it can and has been dominated by those with deep pockets, small businesses have some significant advantages that the savvy marketer can leverage into a tightly-coordinated and effective campaign. Skyrocket SEO’s James Agate provides us with an informative overview of the links between getting your story out there and forming a bond with your consumer base, nurturing the community and establishing strong thought leadership.

    Mental Model for Minimal Viable Products — Chris McCann

    Have a great idea that you’re interested in testing on the open market, but don’t want to go straight to launch? Chris McCann’s concept of “minimal viable products,” or MVP for short, may be able to help. In this blog post he goes into the details of getting your concept out there to receive feedback from real potential customers on your initial concept without the risk of sinking time and money into a startup or campaign.

    Can Google Searches Predict Stock Price Performance? — Freakonomics

    Several recent objective studies have shown strong data evidence that Google searches can predict stock market findings by up to ten percentage points per year. This direct method of gauging investor interest is at loggerheads with tried-and-true methods of speculation such as news and advertising data; if one Googles a certain stock, it seems self-evident that one is paying particular attention to it. Check out this blog post to get the data and learn how El Goog has the potential to function as a real-time economic speculation barometer.

    Demystifying Facebook’s “People Are Talking About This” Metric — Search Engine Land

    Facebook has seen some big shakeups in the last few days, not the least among them the introduction of an algorithmically-sorted “people are talking about this” display on some pages. But where does this number come from and how is it aggregated? Search Engine Land has the scoop from both an external user and page owner perspective.

    What Does Eight Years Of Blogging Get You? — Six Pixels of Separation

    Twist Image president Mitch Joel has been blogging since 2003, accumulating over 2700 entries and some 20k comments over the years. Here, he takes us on a retrospective of his experiences with this unique medium. Was it worth it? His answer is an overwhelming “yes.”

  • “i” in the Sky: iPhone 4S and iOS 5 Release

    Apple iOS 5
    It’s that time of year again, when tech lovers gather around in a dimly lit room and attentively watch a group of middle-aged men dressed in overtly casual attire deliver the State of the iPhone. A tradition since the iPhone was
    first unveiled in 2007, this semi-annual (depending on Apple’s desire to have consumers fawn over the new stuff) gathering can be over-hyped, ridiculed or dismissed, but always seems to end in a state of awe. While technologies have faded, excitement has managed to intensify with each release, and this year was no different. On the docket for this year’s iPhone release is the highly coveted and mysterious Apple cloud technology. The new software aims to seamlessly intertwine all of one’s Apple devices. No longer do users have to download on one device and transfer via a clunky 5-inch cord. Apple also introduced an 8 mega-pixel camera, dual core processor and Siri, the ultra-intelligent voice recognition software. Despite all of these coups, though, there is an unsung hero of today’s news: iMessage. iMessage was actually announced in June at WWDC 2011, but the ramifications are just now becoming extraordinary. The software will allow users to communicate via 3G and WiFi over an Apple network at no cost to the consumer. Users will be able to send messages in real time, as well as see when someone else is typing and group chat. To further expand iMessage’s reach, Apple has made it accessible on all devices that support its cloud technology, not just limiting usage to individuals with iPhones.What does iMessage mean for the mobile landscape? iMessage is massive body shot to competitors. Many Blackberry users, myself included,  use to overlook the many shortfalls of Blackberry because it had the ever so mighty and addictive BBM (Blackberry Messanger) system. No, iMessage is not BBM, and users on iMessage can not communicate with Blackberry users. But with a similar product, iMessage, on a better operating system, i0S 5, Apple has made it likely that many folks will jump ship from their archaic Blackberries.

    Apple iOS 5While iMessage might have Apple ahead of Blackberry, what does the iPhone 4S mean in regards to the smartphone market, specifically Android? iMessage and iOS 5 are another opportunity for Apple to bundle its multiple products into one giant, dynamic force. iMessage is an exclusive communication platform that will engage and retain users. Similar to stubborn Blackberry users that were devoted to BBM, iMessage will create a subculture of communication that connects users with each other and will further tie them to the Apple brand. What does this mean for businesses? Users are only going to increase the amount of time socializing with and living within the confines of their smartphone. With constant improvements of devices such as the iPhone 4S, users are beginning to interact with technology in an incredibly life-like way. In terms of reaching out to customers, the newest wave of successful businesses and marketers will not only have to be able to comprehend the rapidly-growing mobile media landscape, but also use this technology to connect with and engage consumers on multiple platforms.

  • 5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend (Plus An Announcement!)

    The Content Strategy that Made Justin Bieber a Star — Content Marketing Institute

    You may or may not be a fan of the teen star Justin Bieber and his ubiquitous haircut, but there’s no denying that some serious marketing has gone into making him one of the most famous and adored pop sensations in recent memory. Disney Media, geniuses that they are, have floated a unique campaign to make Bieber famous and skyrocket him to domination of his niche — in this case, pre-teen music. Content Marketing Institute’s Scott Aughtmon dissects the tactics Radio Disney undertook to market their star and how you can apply these concepts to your own campaigns.

    5 Keyword Research Alternatives for Mobile, News, Social, Image & Video Optimization — TopRank

    Search marketing isn’t just for Googlers sitting in front of their PCs anymore. Mobile search drives a huge portion of web traffic, while ancillary optimization opportunities such as video and images are a goldmine of untapped potential for the right marketers. This handy article by TopRank’s Lee Odden provides you with tools to hunt down the perfect keywords to target your audience — no matter what platform or medium they’re using.

    B&H Photo Shows How To Convert Customers Into Fans & Followers — Small Business SEM

    While we’ve elaborated on many good practices for small business SEO campaigns, but those carefully-tuned broadcasts can seem like a waste if there’s nobody there to listen. If your business is hitting all the marks in your social media sphere but just can’t seem to gain the followers, check this article out for several handy tips on converting your real-life fans into online followers.

    How Marketers Can Connect with the 3 Mindsets of Search [STUDY] — Search Engine Watch

    In this recently-released study, About.com and Latitude conclude that customers use search engines with one of three specific mindsets: Educate Me, Answer Me and Inspire Me. Check out Search Engine Watch’s writeup for in-depth exploration into these searchers’ motivations, as well as how to apply the concepts to your own campaigns.

    5 Cheat Sheet Basics for International SEO — TopRank

    As we’ve noted before, cross-borders SEO can be a tricky area — but also a rewarding one. No matter the distance between you and your client, these basic international SEO tips are sure to have you on your way to an effective and well-planned campaign.

     

    As a special bonus sixth feature, we’re proud to announce that several of our talented SI bloggers are taking part in the 2nd Annual Bad Ass SEO Guest Blogging Contest at Search Engine Marketing Group! Keep your eyes peeled for quick tips and insightful search marketing commentary from our homegrown team of experts. Our first entry, Doug Thomas‘s The Real Meaning of the Facebook Timeline – Are Display Ads Dead? has just been published today, so head on over and tell him what you think. All of us over here at SI thank SEM Group and the contest’s sponsors from the bottom of our hearts for enabling a great opportunity. Check out the great groups and businesses they have sponsoring this event:

    Contest Media Partner

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    RankPop.com Affordable SEO

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    Daniel McGonagle Link Building

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    Hesham Zebida Thesis Skins

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    Scott Bradley Simple Weight Loss Tips For Entrepreneurs

    Milan Matchev Health Directory

    Jacob Share JobMob Job Search Tips

    Ileane Smith Blogging Tips

    Search Engine Marketing Group

    John Britsios www.SEOWorkers.com

    Magento Developer Magento Developer

    Doc Sheldon’s Clinic Critical Thinking for the Discerning SEO

    $50 Sponsors

    Vertical Measures Internet Marketing Services

    Whitney Michael Segura Greenhouses for Sale

    Butch Segura Wholesale Greenhouses by EarthCare

    Whitney “WeedyP” Segura Internet Marketing Blog by Whitney Segura

    Ernest Segura Greenhouse Supplies @ OurCrazyDeals.com

    Raxa Design Houston Internet marketing

    Ana Hoffman – Traffic Generation Cafe Web Traffic

    James Brown James Brown

    Anwar Barake Wholesale Herbal Incense

    Understand Technology with TechFume

    The Tech Blog TechnoZeast

    Wilderness Aware Rafting Colorado White Water Rafting

    Sales Nexus online CRM

    SEO Prize Sponsors

    David Harry A full years membership at SEO Dojo, a value of $250.SEO Training Dojo

    Lifetime membership to: My Blog Guest. MyBlogGuest.com is the free guest post exchange community where users meet to exchange guest posts and network.

    Link-Assistant.Com SEO PowerSuite Enterprise (max. functionality license) SEO tools

    SEMrush.com – the best tool to spy on your competitors ($210 value) www.semrush.com

    3 month Pro subscription to Raven Internet Marketing Tools ($297 value) Raven Internet Marketing Tools

  • Social Media For Readers and Writers: Cursor Takes the Publishing Industry To The Next Level

    Is the traditional trade paperback and remainder-bin production model of books doomed? With new devices for the digitization of books appearing every day, from the freshly-announced Kindle Fire to slick iPad e-reader apps, the conclusion that the publishing industry will soon go the way of the dodo is easy to come to. After all, literacy rates are plummeting, book sales are down and one of the original giants of big-box retail bookstores has recently crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion. Despite the failing numbers of traditional methods of publication, there are more novels and poems and stories and essays being written and consumed now than ever before. In the face of the instant-gratification model the Internet provides, where does the written word go from here? Richard Nash, former editor of Soft Skull Press, has an idea.

    The traditional delivery of a book from author’s pen to reader’s hand is long, complex and prone to errors in translation. The author-agent-publisher-printer-wholesaler-retailer-reader chain has failed in a significant way because it by its very nature promotes isolation between the reader and the writer. With that in mind, Nash and his business partner Mark Warholak have launched a new project called Cursor, designed to apply the concepts of social media and successful crowdsourcing to the creative writing world. In his Publisher’s Weekly article, Nash elucidates many of his problems with the industry as it stands today and how the diversification of Cursor’s services are key to promoting success both financial and artistic. Its first imprint Red Lemonade is just one of the many “self-organizing, self-selected, self-perpetuating communities [created] around a reading-writing platform” that are to come. Red Lemonade is “pop-lit-alt-cult” operation with charmQuark, a science fiction-fantasy genre community, soon to follow.

    Each of these subgroups will publish approximately one or two books a month using the Cursor software platform in both digital and trade paperback format, staggering the release dates in order to maximize profits. Importantly, though, Cursor’s source of revenue isn’t just from pure sales of its product. There are paid membership options available to widen the availability of tools and services, for example peer-to-peer writing groups, recommendation engines, access to established authors from within the Cursor system and beyond, and professional editing and marketing assistance. Other sources of income are available via advertising (this is social media, after all), connecting writers with providers of publishing services, agent fees and more. All of this will be balanced with the social component that allows writers and readers to interact and comment on each others’ works and postings. With the ability of the Internet to disseminate quality material and enable discussion thereof from commentators all over the world, this network hopes to create a thriving series of sensitive feedback loops that allow the showrunners to quickly identify and implement the features writers want, not to mention publishing the works that have gained the most reader support. “Book publishing doesn’t work with top down advertising,” says Nash. “It’s always done its best when one person says to another person: ‘You should read this book.’” The sharing and viral campaign potential for this kind of system seems self-evident, as the community, not the marketing department, is responsible for deciding what is ultimately rewarded with publication.

    Perhaps the most daring move that Cursor is taking is the eschewing of the traditional author copyright agreements. Contracts are limited to three-year terms with an option to renew as opposed to the old “seventy years after author’s death” chestnut. This is such a significant move because the latter type of agreement was largely what kept traditional publishing houses in business — the acquisition of intellectual property rights for, say, a movie adaptation or the backlist of a previously-obscure author who’s now selling like hotcakes because a prestigious award. With Cursor, authors will have the option to simply walk or renegotiate at the end of their three-year period. The philosophy of simple business tends toward the “maximize the profit from the property” mode. Nash’s viewpoint that authors deserve the benefit of renegotiation if and when the underlying value of their contribution increases. Quid pro quo, however; in exchange for this freedom to walk or adjust the terms of the deal, Cursor-owned properties will be licensed under “a fairly broad basket” of rights, including audio, English-language foreign publication, translation, and magazine republication, among others. It’s a bold move, and one that’s very indicative of the hyper-flexible approach Cursor is taking to publication instead of the narrow but powerful beam of traditional retail book-selling and marketing.

    In 2008, more than 275,000 new titles were published through a variety of sources. Data suggests that more recent numbers will be even higher. The music industry has gone almost completely digital, and sociality is being emphasized even further with Facebook’s recent seamless inclusion of Spotify plays into home page feeds. With the ubiquity of high-speed Internet becoming more and more a fact of daily life and the communication and sharing potential of the social web continuing to evolve, books still have a long way to go to catch up with their other media counterparts — but Cursor promises big things in the way of making up for lost time. As Nash himself says, “technology has emphasized a simple truth at the heart of my new enterprise: we are what we read, we are what we write, and we organize ourselves around and connect with one another through what we read and write.” Red Lemonade already has a number of titles in its store in both paperback and ebook format, and the word of mouth around them has been ebullient. Broadening the way readers and writers interface, Cursor isn’t designed to “save publishing” — it’s designed to bring it into its new form.

  • Influencer Profile: Colette Bennet

    Search Influence Internet Marketing Associate Colette Bennett is also a freelance writer who has been producing content across a wide variety of geeky topics since 2006. She has written for a wide variety of videogame blogs, including Kotaku, Destructoid, GamesRadar, Touch Arcade and Gamasutra. She also does work on color theory, culture and fashion for TIME magazine top 50 blog Colourlovers. Her most current project is running the Japanese culture section of Geek Out!, a new pop culture blog from CNN. At SI, she puts her word-nerd skills to work creating and editing a wide variety of web content, not to mention being one of our most prolific bloggers!

    Personality test time: if you were an old-school gaming system, what old-school gaming system would you be?

    The Nintendo Entertainment System, all the way. It’s my favorite to this day, and the reason why is because it was a low-cost platform to develop for and because of that, it had a lot of really wonky games on it. My childhood was spent on gambling/role playing game hybrids and far eastern war strategy. Guess it gave me a taste for the wild and weird, which comes in handy when you write about topics like I do!

    So you’ve been a blogger-at-large for some time now– how’d you get into the community?

    I moved to Los Angeles in late 2005 with the idea I was going to change careers and try to shift towards writing, and I ended up meeting some great circles of people in creative careers. One friend worked in comics and I used to hang out with him while he drew panels, which was tremendously inspiring. One day I mentioned to him I wanted to start a blog about gaming, and he looked up from his work directly at me and said, “Why haven’t you done it yet?” I never forgot that moment — it was the pivot that turned me in a new direction. I started my own gaming/tech blog, pitched myself as a freelancer to my favorite blogs, and cut my teeth over at several of the Gawker network blogs. Six years and a whole lot of published work have passed, and somehow I’m still scribbling.

    As one of the more regular writers for the SI blog, have you noticed any incongruity between writing for SEO/marketing topics and the more pop-culture focused stuff you’ve done in the past? Any skills you’d like to hone or bad habits to get rid of?

    I think the key to reaching people with any topic, be it pop culture, SEO or dog shampoo, is a passionate voice. If you believe strongly in the thing you are telling your audience, it is inevitable they will catch some of your enthusiasm and perhaps want to learn what it is that generates that enthusiasm. The more you continue to pursue those topics, the more you evolve as an authority. One thing I see on some SEO blogs is writers picking apart other SEO practices. I think challenging how people do things is fine, but pop culture suffers from this issue too — arguments cause page views and generate discussion, but they don’t necessarily get anything new accomplished. When I sit down to write something for an audience, I consider what I am going to say, and what effect it will have on my audience. Is it colored with my opinions, and if so, are they expressed in a way that is well-supported with evidence and makes sense? Or are they a rant? What can I contribute to the community I am writing for, in other words.

    I always love a chance to hone my skills on subjects outside of my natural pool of knowledge, so the SI blog is a nice arena for me to explore more SEO-based issues as well as social media, which is rapidly becoming a favorite topic.

    What do you find yourself doing around SI? Anything you’re excited about coming in to work on? In a perfect world, what would you be doing all day?

    I tend to focus on content here at SI, and my favorite thing to do is edit it and tweak it to make it better. Once an editor, always an editor! One thing I’ve actually been enjoying seeing on my task list is press releases, because I have never written them for any other job, and I think it’s a great skill to have. I’m getting better, but I still have a long way to go before they feel easy to do. Challenge is great — I have always thrived on it.

    Let’s see, in a perfect world… believe it or not, I would still be working. I thrive on accomplishment, so I don’t think I could just go to the beach (although I would totally put the four day work week into effect!) I feel like I could do a wide variety of things that would make me very happy. But as long as I’m writing, I feel good. I guess in my dream world, I would write about Japanese history and culture all day, cause you know, I’m kind of a nerd like that. And have to take “business trips” to Kyoto frequently, of course…

    Cranking out a steady stream of creative material can be hard — any techniques or tricks you use to get yourself psyched up or bust through writer’s block?

    My key rule for writer’s block is pretty old school: Write every day. If I could frame these words and put them over the desk of every writer who has ever struggled, I would. If you ignore going to the gym, it gets harder — writing is no different. Just keep flexing the muscle. If I don’t feel like writing, I sit down and I do it anyway. Maybe it won’t be as good at first, but eventually I fall into the rhythm. Staring at the blank page expecting yourself to perform on some perfect level is worse because it’s paralyzing. No matter what you write, always write something.

  • Social Media and the 2012 Election

    Facebook And Presidential Election Power

    As the 2012 presidential hopefuls cultivate their public personas through careful manipulation of social media outlets, it’s easy to forget that before the 2008 presidential election, social media had never been used on such a scale.

    Politicians had relied on old school phone banks and direct mailing campaigns for decades to mobilize their troops and direct voters to the polls on election day, but the power of the Internet had yet to be fully leveraged in a political campaign.

    What was groundbreaking in 2008 has become the standard for the 2012 presidential election, and politicians of all stripes are turning to the power of social networking sites to reach out to potential voters.

    Political Engagement Meets Social Engagement

    It all starts with a numbers game. How many times have you voted for president in your lifetime? How many times have you checked your inbox today? How about your curbside mailbox?

    If you are under 30, chances are you have cancelled and restarted your Netflix account more often than you have played a direct role in electing the most powerful politician in the world. You probably also have the Internet in your pocket or purse right now, just a few swipes and taps away from an email or a political tweet that could change your weekend plans from watching Arrested Development reruns to attending a political rally.

    Just as the 1993 Motor Voter bill was intended to give the young, the poor, the marginalized, and the otherwise politically disenfranchised a quick and easy way to register to vote, Obama leveraged the instant connectivity and infinite scalability of social media to energize his voting base through the free, easily accessible, and already tremendously popular medium of social media. And don’t think his competition didn’t notice.

    Social Media Comes of Age as a Political Tool

    Mobilizing the Internet generation has proven difficult, if not impossible, for many politicians that haven’t fully embraced the latest ways we communicate. And since energizing your core population of voters is the name of the game in modern American politics, it’s easy to see why every politician is turning to social media.

    While Sara Palin may have enjoyed berating the “community activist” ways of her one-time opponent back in 2008, by the end of the election cycle she had become one of the most vocal politicians on one of the largest active communities on the internet: Facebook.  And while she relied on her Facebook page as the main means of communication between her camp and the media, Palin has gone to great lengths and hired a team of “social media secret police” to control what ends up on her profile.

    While deleting comments made on your wall may be seen as either a necessity or black hat manipulation, it serves to underscore the importance of social media in American politics today. Now every major candidate for the 2012 election has a Twitter feed, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

    So don’t be surprised if your mailbox remains empty as your Twitter feed and Gmail fill up as the election nears. Just as FDR proved the power of radio and JFK leveraged television to get into the White House – each game changing new technology forever altering the way the American public interacts with elected officials – President Obama ushered in the era of social media as a political tool. For better or worse.