Who would have ever thought that you would be able to communicate with your friends on facebook just by taking off your hood?  A designer out of Seattle, Jennifer Darmour, had this vision and created a concept hoodie that gives you the capability to perform simple tasks like poke a friend by taking off your hood, receive a new notification by getting a vibration in your shoulder and even accept a friend request by tying the waist bow.  Check out the picture that CNET posted.

 This is an interesting idea, but does it have legs?  Will the general public think this is silly or jump at the chance to use something like this?  Personally, I would be concerned how you wash something like this.

Through the LinkedIn grapevine, I learned about a really interesting opportunity for patients, providers, insurers, and healthcare experts to explore, discuss, and brainstorm what is happening in the healthcare 2.0 realm. HealthCa.mp is described on its own website as an “un-conference” with the mission encouraging open dialogue on how “social media, open source and the best of the Internet, Mobile web and process innovation to work for better health care and health technology.”

As a healthcare marketer, I’m intrigued. So I’ve paid my $25 to attend and see what the rest of the world (or at least Raleigh/Durham) is thinking - and add my own two cents-worth, of course. Anyone out there attended a healthca.mp? If so, please comment and let me know about your experience.

Having just blogged about WebMD a couple of weeks ago, I thought it interesting that the #8 most trusted brand has, earlier this month, introduced a social component to their website. Similar to other sites dedicated to allowing consumers with key health concerns interact and share support online, the new WebMD feature pulls in subject-matter experts to share reactions with readers. It’s a great new addition to a site that so many already love and live by. Check it out and tell us about it!

Do you remember the good old days when Facebook was meant for college kids?  That is clearly not the case anymore and I am not the only one taking notice.  There is a great music video out right now that spoofs what Facebook has become.  I know that I can relate to a few things mentioned in this video and I bet you can too.

While doing social media training here at the agency, I finally figured out why so many people do not respond or follow on Twitter…

They don’t know how!

Although Twitter seems pretty self explanatory, especially to those of us that were in college when Facebook and MySpace first hit the social media scene, that doesn’t mean everyone can follow along and quickly grasp the concept.  For those who need the extra help, it means there will be some research involved… yes, you have to google how to twitter. Sounds like a simple enough request, right? Wrong. Most people look to social media because it should be fun, easy and exciting… not one of those words implies having to LEARN first.

I can now say from experience, that little effort to learn something new goes a long way to gaining a positive new tool to promote your business and yourself.  Do you disagree? I’d love to see your thoughts.

P.S. If you can’t get somebody’s attention through social media like this poor man, maybe you should try a new tactic!

The thing that’s kind of numbing about Facebook is the number of messages suggesting “I’m going to the refrigerator now.” “I’m looking at my cat.”  “I’m thinking of going to a movie. hmmmm.” It’s like your dog has begun talking and you’ve suddenly learned he’s dull. Geez. Disappointing. Friends have an obligation to be perky. Fun. Tell me something new. Show up interesting or stay home.

We read about smartphones and all of the capabilities that they have now-adays, but the newest use for the smartphone that I just read about blew me away…. 

Apple is now looking at launching applications and morphing the iPhone into a diagnostic device for taking blood pressure, etc.  Some medical apps would even offer a feature that would allow patients to check what procedures are covered under their insurance provider. 

Talk about an untapped market. 

I’m interested to see how this pans out.  Not sure how I feel about taking my cholesterol with a phone.  What do you think?

Social media is nothing new these days, but it’s the latest catchphrase to enter the advertising industry so now companies are finding new ways to broaden their consumer outreach.  Facebook and Twitter seem to be providing the perfect outlet for that need.
Many brands are getting excited about using social media. Starbucks, Kraft, Target, and Burger King are just a few of the big brands reaching out on a person-by-person basis.  Kraft used a charity approach by vowing that every single person who downloaded their app would in turn be donating 6 meals to Feeding America in Kraft’s name.  Within a few weeks more than 200,000 people had downloaded the application and the numbers are still growing.

What makes this so amazing is that people are involved, they are having a conversation, talking to each other, to big companies, the world is now a place where consumers are choosing to open the dialogue between themselves and the brand, this is everything we could have hoped for and dreamed of in advertising. Social media is a tool with endless possibilities.  Is it possible that we have discovered the holy grail of advertising?

Check out this Simpsonize Me website. It turns you into a Simpsons character. Cool man!

There are many sites that can create cool pictures of you for your social media profiles. Here’s 12 of them:

1. South Park Studio
2. Yahoo! Avatars
3. Simpsonize Me
4. Meez
5. WeeWorld
6. BeFunky
7. Buscar Messenger
8. Cartoon Me
9. Joystiq Mii Characters
10. MyPlay
11. Portrait Illustration Maker
12. Moonjee

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

The social network site is blowing up.  I feel like I don’t go a day without hearing the word Twitter.

I am sure you all read the news about Ashton Kutcher and CNN racing to see who could get 1 million followers first. Of course, Ashton won - he’s much cuter. But now, even without the support of a billboard campaign – Oprah has hit the mark. She joined twitter exactly one month ago. At first, I was hesitant to follow her – thinking I would get a million tweets with shameless self promotion, but it hasn’t been the case. What is Oprah doing right?

• She’s being herself
• She’s listening, not just talking
• She isn’t bombarding people with tweets
• She is plugging herself (and her brand) – moderately

Other brands could learn a few things from her.

Looking for more etiquette tips for twittering? Visit the Global Geek News Blog

I’ve been joining a lot of social networks for a while now and developed a handful of them. LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, Delicious, Digg, etc., the list goes on. If you’re like me, you’d like to have one universal remote control that can operate all of your entertainment at once.  Check out Flock and Minggl:

A web browser (powered by the same people who created FireFox) built for the networking gurus in us that can view all  of our friends’ activities, status, pics, videos, etc. Like iGoogle, you can also stream in RSS and news feeds, mail, share your stuff, even blog straight from Flock.

It’s an add-on to your IE or FireFox browser, but like Flock, you can view all of your friends’ activities and status in one place. You can also update your status on all of your profiles with one click.

Like any online tools, they’re not perfect, but what do you expect from an ever changing platform. It’s just exciting to see tools made with the user’s behavior in mind. If you know other must have networking tools, please share.

Monday’s New York Times included an article about a summer internship opportunity with Pizza Hut.  The position was for a summer Twintern.  That’s Twitter language for a person to Tweet 24/7 about how wonderful Pizza Hut is in its community, service, etc. 

The kicker is that job seekers are required to demonstrate their social media ability in a creative way.  Of course this got me thinking….hmmm…if I were a 20 something college student applying for this prestigous position how would I creatively show my social media prowess???  Well, instead of using too much of my own brain power, I took a quick poll of agency youngins and here are the top 5 ideas they provided:
1) Submit a YOUTUBE video resume using a Pizza skin as the core graphic.
2) Send resume via a Tweet but use Pizza in front key words (i.e. Pizzalicious, Pizzadiculous).
3) Have your Twitter followers Tweet your resume to Pizza Hut.
4) Submit your resume as a Tweet.
5) Via Twitter or YouTube or Facebook, provide a list of social media ideas that could be deployed over the summer for Pizza Hut.

It’s your turn…what other creative social media ideas can you come up with to help a college student a summer Twintern with Pizza Hut???  Send us your toughts.