Although Widgenie is still in beta, the tool can create six different types of widgets from uploaded data in Microsoft Excel and Comma-Separated Values (CSV) spreadsheets. Widgets include:tabular, animated line chart, animated bar chart, animated area chart, animated pie chart and text cloud widget. Users can even opt to use a URL instead of the six widget options offered.

The free tool also offers tracking for the popularity and usage of the widgets you create. Widgenie shows how many times the widgets are viewed and how many unique visitors are visiting.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: The best feature about Widgenie is the concept of portable, online visuals. Knowing your uploaded data is accessible from any computer connected to the Internet and having it ready for use at any time is very convenient. I also enjoyed playing with the different options for presenting data. Visuals definitely make presentations and blog posts more interesting and enticing.

Negative: Right after I signed up to use the beta, it said that my password was wrong and I had to change it when I finally had access to my account. One feature I did not agree with was the text cloud widget. I created a mini cloud of just the first five letters of the alphabet and instead of having different text sized letters, they were just different colors.

Conclusion: I predict that the makers of Widgenie will be able to bring out the full potential of this tool. I applaud the creators for making it so easy to use. After getting all of the kinks out of the beta, I envision Widgenie to be a common tool for business pros and social media gurus.

It’s not much, but it wasn’t meant to be. BlogPotomac profits totaled $491 and change. And as promised we donated them to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Here’s a little schtick from EFF on their mission:

EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people’s radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

BlogPotomac was meant to be a not for profit event, and as such charge only the cost of the event. Any ancillary monies have been donated on behalf of the attendees. Again, thank you to everyone who made BlogPotomac a success.  We look forward to June 12, 2009!

(Photo Credit: Sven Jones)

Social Media Connects Startups with Influencers

The development of Startuply and similar sites proves that there is a huge market for startups, and all of these companies are searching for ways to connect with one another, find talented employees, and share in their successes. What better way to do that than through social media?

It appears that social media can serve to project or repel startups. Consider the successes of Twitter this year. Even among the “Fail Whale” times of downtime, thousands of tweets led to thousands of blog posts which have led to thousands of news articles on Twitter. Now that’s the kind of buzz a startup can only dream of.

Factor in the success of Startup Weekends (and other events like PodCamp and BarCamp) across the country that are filled with attendees who Twitter, post Flickr photos, and blog the events - creating a bustling community of Web 2.0 evangelists and influencers just itching to get their startup out there.

Influentials are the 10% of the population who shape the attitudes and behaviors of the other 90%. And, these influencers are online. According to a recent Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive and RoperASW study, two-thirds of online influentials (67%) are asked for or forward advice and information about products and services, whether it’s about career choices, computers, restaurants, or web sites. They spend an average of 2 hours a day online and nearly all (95%) access the web at least once a day.

(Picture Credit: Social Media.biz)

So What If I’m Not a Web 2.0 Startup?

Companies who cater to Web 2.0 savvy people benefit from interacting with that community. But, what about the companies who are financial (Mint.com), IT and heavily technology oriented, or have a more traditional business focus? They can still benefit from utilizing Web 2.0 strategies.

For example, a client of ours, StackSafe, chose to integrate traditional PR and marketing efforts with social media outreach to help build their online brand. Before the company officially launched at DEMO ‘08, they researched their market and online communities, started a blog, got onto Twitter and Facebook, and hit the ground running. They also developed online solution center portals that integrated RSS feeds, video, Flickr photos and real-time Twitter updates.

The results have been tremendous. A Forrester report touted the advantages StackSafe had by using Web 2.0 tactics to launch their product. InfoWorld named StackSafe a Top 10 Tech Startup in 2008, Gartner named StackSafe a Cool Vendor in IT Operations, and the company was a finalist for the 2008 American Business “Stevie” Award for “Best Marketing Campaign”.

What Can You Do?

Startups should seriously consider social media as a way to get word-of-mouth buzz going about their company. A recent study from Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research found that 35% of enterprises supporting online communities have increased word-of-mouth for their brands and 28% have seen an increase in brand awareness.

By thinking proactively about your brand online and how you want to connect with your community and users, startups can benefit by gathering favor from influentials and developing great relationships that will carry them through the startup phase and beyond.

- David Bowie, opening lyrics to Fame

You’re Internet famous! So what?

Seriously, so fricking what?

Does it really matter? Apparently so, or at least that’s what WIRED wants you to think based on the cover of this month’s issue.

But perhaps the catch comes early in this How-to celebration of Julia Allison’s rise to fame. It doesn’t raise money, it’s not part of her day job, and there is no financial reward. But, hey she gets invited to lots of parties with folks that most people  read about in US or People.

I guess if that’s what you want, great, but I see no value in it. Too many of the daily business activities that occur in creating social media brands are really thinly veiled disguises to pursue personal Internet Fame (a.k.a. Personal Brand). And that’s a management error, as well as a youthful mistake on the part of the individual.  Because quite frankly, if it doesn’t have a business objective, that junk belongs on the p.m. dial for the ambitious seeking to reclaim their high school popularity contests.

Nothing screams bubble to me more than social media activity for the sake of people getting to know you. That’s a waste. Have an objective, find the people that matter, build value for them and your organization, and make a real difference that will keep you in your seat for a long time. 

Or you can have a lot of "friends." That can work if you want to be a parasocial type headed to the parties, and if I was younger that may still appeal to me. But it doesn’t. For me, branding and relationship building online in social media is the 21st century equivalent of networking and relationship building. And popularity doesn’t necessarily pay the bills.

Doug Haslam is a great example of a personal brand that matters. He is not Internet famous for sheer popularity. His brand means something in the social media marketing world because he brings value to the table. I respect what he brings to SHIFT (see his take on personal brands here).

Think about it. Is it business or personal? Does it make you valuable?

Better is in the eye of the beholder. On one hand, our new, combined team will see improved processes, standards and best practices.

Growth leads to improved resources, too. All of which will trickle over to outstanding client service, social media strategy, and PR. That’s good for business. [Image credit: Clear Growth by catchesthelight]

Even better: enhanced capabilities will position us to serve up more widely known, Grade A social media strategy for social good. A few agencies serve this space already, but none that I know of are wholly dedicated to digital deeds for the social sector.

Terrific work is underway combating illiteracy (First Book), championing people with disabilities (Ideal-Way), and straight on ’til morning. Communities are surging, too (as tricky as they can be). Via NetSquared, the recent launch of CARE Connections, an online community dedicated to global poverty work and women’s empowerment, is one example.

We’ve worked on a number socially focused initiatives, including Goodwill and SpeakeasyDC, not to mention our previous experiences. I am personally thrilled at the prospect of working with more of these groups as we join forces with Social Media Group.

If you know of a spot on case study related to “social media for social good,” please blog and tweet it. Share it, too - leave a comment here with an overview, email me with the details, tell others in our marcom community. More than that, how would you improve what’s already happening?

Are social networking sights a businesses’ Friend or Foe? Network Observations‘ Stephen Brown highlights a study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. that considers this matter in great depth. Brown offers insight into some of the positive and negative aspects of social networks in the workplace, and includes some of the study’s key statistics. For example, the fact that “social networks are banned by 25% of businesses,” and that 50% of businesses say that social networking isn’t a problem, so long as employees get their work done.

Ben Lorica of O’Reilly Radar takes a deeper look at Facebook’s prevalence throughout the world. In his post, Ben examines the “number of users by country and region, along with growth rates for select regions and countries.” Interestingly, Facebook’s fastest growing regions are South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Ben also points out that there are over 32,000 applications on Facebook, but the total usage of applications remains flat.

“The raw power of one-to-one relationship marketing is enough to make even the most experienced marketers cringe and shout for joy, often at the same time.” Find out from John Burg on Future Vision 10 “easy” steps for “kick-starting social media marketing.” Some of his suggestions are to set up Google Alerts, create an open communication channel with Legal, and enable indirect response to social media. Check out his post for the complete list, and leave your own suggestions.

Guest blogger Amanda Vega shares her experiences working as a consultant for top ad agencies on Metz Mash. Amanda offers “some of the truths and realities that are at the root cause of their failed attempts at real social media integration.” It has been Amanda’s experience that ad agencies don’t understand what they don’t know and that agencies are unwilling to adapt their corporate culture to the new environment.

For five months, Facebook has been promoting a new redesigned interface. That day is now here. Scott Gilbertson of Webmonkey points out that the new look has great similarities to FriendFeed, as, “under the new interface, your status updates, wall posts and news feed items have been combined into a single content stream.” Take a look at the ‘new Facebook,’ and heed Scott’s advice – let Facebook know what you think.

Some of you may have seen the news today. I’ve sold Livingston Communications to the Toronto region’s Social Media Group (SMG). Maggie Fox, CEO of SMG will be my new boss, and I will serve the organization as Executive Vice President, Americas (Image: Maggie and I at Ford Headquarters last week).

Basically, I will serve major accounts as a lead strategist, head the DC office, market the company and continue blogging at the Buzz Bin (which will get a resulting content upgrade). There’s lots of coverage, and yes, even a press release (oh boy), so check it out for details.

Some of you may be asking why did he do this, so in Letterman fashion here are the top ten reasons why I sold out:

10) Maggie has bigger sunglasses than me. Have to respect that.

9) I like Maple Syrup.

8) Now I get to do what I like, and pass the bills, HR matters and computer problems to Maggie. What a great lady!

7) Family reasons, a Washington DC favorite for government official resignations. Cliched, but true.

6) Air Canada has a great frequent flyer program.

5) I was hoping to get a discount on a Ford Flex.

4) I can’t stand watching the large agencies of the world continue to guide large social media programs, often ineffectively. Together we have the strength and breadth to compete head to head with the big guys. I’m looking forward to it!

3) Canadian companies have better benefits. Shocking.

2) My internet, nano fame created a fat head. The best way to deflate my king size ego was to take the name off the door.

1) I’ve spoken to several potential buyers over the past eight months. Maggie Fox is the one CEO that I felt comfortable trusting with my career, my team, my company and its clients. She is a winner.

To our bright future as Social Media Group members!

The Human Capital Institute asked me to do just that yesterday, in what was one of the more challenging discussions I’ve given in a long while. Why? Because while companies know they need to shift internal and external workforce communications, social media tools are new, and use in these circumstances has not been well documented or widespread. Ironically, while HCI asked me to draft this webcast, I also recently received two inquiries from clients trying to determine internal social media communications use for these very purposes.

Largely new social media theory, this presentation discusses how the new communications tool set applies to the current economic environment. Specifically, the following presentation goes into basic principles of social media, then discusses six scenarios (the discussion will be recast four times over the next four days):

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Well, you can with Sendible! I stumbled across the tool and decided to do a ‘test’ email before I actually signed up to use the service. After a successful test run, I wanted to see what else the ‘messaging sender manager’ had to offer.

Sendible not only enables setting emails to send in the future, but lets their users update their Facebook and Twitter statuses, schedule birthday reminders for Facebook friends, maintains a contacts list and calendar with alerts, and allows users to send SMS messages for free – even internationally. Sendible also allows for blog post updating. The most interesting feature Sendible offers is “My Ads.” Users or advertisers can take this opportunity to create relevant ads that will be sent with messages via email, SMS and through social networks such as Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, Hi5 and Orkut. Those who use this service can track their ads through keywords and messaging types.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: The idea of being able to write an email and have it self-sent at a particular time is great! I believe this would lessen some stress for people with continuous deadlines. The reminders are also helpful, especially since they provide a link to send e-birthday cards!

Negative: The one downside I do found is only Blogger account holders can update their blogs. What about WordPress users?

Conclusion: Sendible is awesome. Again, I love tools that offer that ‘one-stop-shop’ kind of service. I’ll be honest though; I’m not that big on Twitter and often find myself using Plurk more. Hopefully Sendible will be able to integrate more social networking tools (such as blogging/micro-blogging sites), since it is still in beta. Overall, great concept and great tool!

This means that more and more, traditional media and new media are in sync. Eventually it won’t be a question of how to interact with traditional print media and journalists or bloggers and online publications. It will become a question of best practices across the board for any communications professional.

Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher shared ten basic new media skills journalists need to know. John Bell shared skills for the public relations practitioner of the future. But what about skills for new media evangelists?

We talk about "getting it" and understanding how cutting edge Web 2.0 technology works. However, I think there are some basic lessons from PR professionals that new media folks should take note of to truly become well rounded communications experts.

Cross your "T"s and dot your "I"s. Strong writing is a key skill for any communicator. New media professionals should not expect anything less. Although blogs are generally more conversational, writing should still be eloquent and clean. Be mindful of grammar, punctuation and style. In fact, read The Elements of Style. It will do wonders for your blog posts.

Media relations=blogger relations. We talk about it over and over, how bloggers should be treated like media professionals and PR people should pitch them as such. Well, how about we take our own medicine and be extra aware when pitching other social media professionals? Make sure that you’re treating them how you want to be treated, considering how they like to be contacted (e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter), understanding exactly what they want/need/cover, and for Pete’s sake, avoid sending a form pitch.

Tailor messages to your audience. Just like PR firms have to consider their audience and the right medium for their message, social media pros need to understand where their audience is participating and communicating. Political campaigns that once solely focused on traditional media (print, radio, TV) have had to change their structure to reach out to voters through text messages, IM, Facebook and other non-traditional means. Social media experts should evaluate their campaigns the same way. Not everyone can benefit from engaging on Facebook and Twitter, some valuable communities may be on Ning and Squidoo.

Understand the value of earned media. The structure may be different, but the end result hasn’t changed. Traditional PR is considered earned media through editorial influence. Social media is very often a grassroots effort, based on trusted relationships, word of mouth and reputation. But in the end, blog placements in top ranked blogs (think TechCrunch or Engadget) should be given the same kudos as traditional media superstar hits (think WSJ, NYT). Earning placements in smaller blogs (say with a Technorati Authority of 50-150) also plays a critical role for influence and reputation (the "magic middle"). In the end, it’s all online, and all contributes to Google ranking and reputation.

These are just a few tips that social media experts can takeaway from traditional public relations professionals. These are tips that apply across the board, because the board is increasingly, and will become, the same.

What other PR rules are out there that can translate into value for social media?