Digging in the Cache is a series where we go back in time to look at fun tidbits of Internet and computer history. This week I want to introduce you to one of my favorite computer icons (pun intended) — Clarus the Dogcow, who is a bitmapped image created by Susan Kare for Apple back in 1983 as part of the Cairo font (originally as a dog). Fonts are created on a very small scale, so when the image was increased in size for use in a page setup window to show orientation, it became less clear if it was a dog or a cow. [Read more...]
Apr
29
2011
Digging in the Cache – Clarus the Dogcow (says Moof!)
Apr
27
2011
5 Strategies for Managing the Twitter Firehose
Twitter can be very difficult to use, especially for new users. A lot of the difficulty comes in trying to manage the fire hose worth of incoming information. Just following a small number of people, even 5 or 10 can lead to a lot of tweets (depending on their frequency). Since the idea is to try to connect to a wider audience, most businesses would like to have several hundred (or thousand) followers, which usually comes with following a good number as well (for building relationships, sharing, etc.). So how do you use Twitter effectively and still keep a handle on all the information that’s bombarding you?
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Apr
26
2011
Thoughts on Education & Careers….
Thanks to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, I had the opportunity this morning to speak to a classroom of 9th graders at Pontiac High School for Career Day. The United Way is involved in a program with troubled schools to increase the graduation rate. Career Day was put together to expose students to potential careers and help them start to think about their futures. While I was only at the school for a morning and spoke for only about 15 minutes or so, I wanted to share some observations because our current high school students are our future workforce… [Read more...]
Apr
25
2011
What to Expect from Social Media
The message about social media taking time is starting to get out. I’ve spoken with less people lately that expect miracles from social media, but often people still have fairly large expectations. So, if we accept that social media takes time and is not a magical wand, what can we expect?
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Apr
22
2011
Digging in the Cache – the show with zefrank
After showing a friend some Internet memes she hadn’t seen before, I thought it might be fun to do a bit of Internet history on Fridays, starting with one of my favorites (although not too old). “the show with zefrank” was a short daily video show produced for exactly a year (March 17, 2006-March 17, 2007, ok technically a year and a day) which featured snarky commentary (often topical). While not every show was awesome, I did look forward to each one, as a nice little distraction during the day (look for the rubber duck that makes cameo appearances in most shows). “the show” proved that good video content could be produced daily with a small budget and a little talent. [Read more...]
Apr
21
2011
Who Are You?
One of the best ways to continue building relationships with people you’ve met online is to meet them in person. However, if you don’t have your picture on your social media profiles, nor on your website (or you don’t have a website linked in your profile), you’re making it really hard for people to connect with you in person. Without knowing what you look like, people have to reach out specifically to set up a time and place to meet (which can be hard for people who are a little shy). Also, people may not know you’re at an event if they don’t know what you look like in person. [Read more...]
Apr
20
2011
Paying It Forward
It happens to all of us: someone in your network who you hardly know asks you for something that’s a bit involved. It’s one thing to retweet someone’s blog post, it’s quite another to pass on a business referral or make a recommendation for someone you don’t really know. Most people are very happy to help people out when asked, but they’ll be more comfortable if you’ve built a relationship with them before you ask for help. Tapping into your network to ask for help is fine, but make sure you pay it forward before you need to ask. [Read more...]
Apr
19
2011
The Necessity of Sharing with Your Competitors
“I don’t ever want to link to or talk about anything my competitor has written or posted.” “I don’t want to link to any websites where my competitor has any type of presence.” Are you so fearful that your competitor is better than you that you want to limit your own online presence and increase the amount of work you have to do for people to engage with you online? There are very few industries where the competition is so fierce that you have to fight your competitors tooth and nail — even those generally benefit if everyone at least has mutual respect. The same is definitely true online and with social media. Sharing with your competitors and having open discussions is not only necessary online, it also opens doors to a much wider audience (of potential customers). [Read more...]
Apr
18
2011
A Story of Team Work, Community Support & Fun #ignitedetroit
As many of you know, last Thursday evening was Ignite Detroit #2, which I co-organized with Brandon Chesnutt and Norm Witte, along with John Policicchio from the MotorCity Casino Hotel. From most of the responses we’ve had, the event was quite a success, due, in no small part, to the overwhelming community support we received from everyone who promoted, tweeted, blogged, reported, snapped pictures, spoke at and attended. Thank you! We had a lot of fun and hope you did too! [Read more...]
Apr
14
2011
Social Media Success takes Planning
If you jump headlong into social media and setup Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. and start posting stuff, you may start getting great engagement and conversations, but have have difficulty in measuring ROI (return on investment) and increase in sales. We’re all in business to sell something (for the most part), and the hope is that social media will in some way help increase future sales. While some of social media’s benefit is certainly long-term, properly planning out marketing and measurement strategy will help you understand what’s working. [Read more...]
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