I rarely use the Stumble! button on the StumbleUpon toolbar. Basically, what it does is when you press it, it offers you a random site that others have "stumbled," or voted for, as good sites. It's actually pretty fun to discover these sites that you'd never come across otherwise. Well, today I decided to test my luck, and StumbleUpon showed me this cartoon, which really spoke to me because I grew up with Cookie Monster, and now I deal with big-people cookies. Oh, Cookie Monster, you are so...consistent. What do we learn from this (since everything must have a purpose): Social media can be fun. Social ...

About a month ago I spoke at the Techshoret Conference for technical writers. Techshoret is an active mailing list for technical writers in Israel, but it includes many members from overseas as well. The people on the list are very supportive and helpful, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the best email groups in the world for technical writers. Techshoret holds an annual conference in Jerusalem, and I was invited to speak on the topic of Blogging and Social Media as Marketing Tools for Hi-Tech Companies since they decided to add some non-technical writing lectures to the mix. My lecture covered case studies of businesses and their successes and failures in the ...

Bill Gates has just joined LinkedIn, and I can see why. I just visited LinkedIn and was pleasantly surprised to see their amazing new interface. The modifications to the interface, and the addition of new options and features has made it into a serious business networking tool that I could see myself visiting on a regular basis. Before the changes were made, having a LinkedIn profile was like being at a party where everyone was deaf and mute. You could wave at people and/or shake hands (i.e. create and view connections), but aside from moderate signing ...

GM is one of the few automobile giants who has enthusiastically adopted social media as part of their marketing strategy. And now GM sales are reported to be up, while other auto companies like Ford and Toyota are reporting drops in sales. Is there a connection? First GM blog launched in 2005 General Motors was an early adopter of blogging and social media with their first blog, Fastlane, launched in January 2005. The goals of the blog were to: Develop a fast way to reach out to and hear from customers, and attract significant web traffic. Help GM overcome its lumbering-dinosaur image, and close the gap ...

SphinnCon Israel is sold out! SphinnCon Israel is a SphinnCon networking event focused on search and internet marketing, and is taking place this coming Tuesday, February 5 at the Jerusalem College of Technology (also known as Machon Lev). This event is exciting thanks to the incredible lineup, with representatives from well-known international companies like Google, TechCrunch, Kenshoo and Yedda (see my previous interview with Yedda's Lior Haner, who will be speaking at the conference), and thanks to the location: Jerusalem! For once I don't have ...

We at illuminea try to encourage our clients to incorporate blogs into their websites since, in our opinion (and in the opinion of many others), the typical corporate website is not as effective as it could be. With content that rarely changes, and little to no engagement with clients and potential clients, traditional corporate websites are little more than online brochures, and do not utilize the power of the medium on which it sits: the web. Jeremiah Owyang, a Web Strategist with Forrester, wrote a great article on the topic called "The Irrelevant Corporate Website," explaining why the typical corporate website is increasingly ...

Burger King has hit viral video payday with their new Whopper Freakout viral video. In the video, customers at Burger King in Las Vegas are told that the Whopper has been discontinued. They are shocked and even outraged, or as the website puts it - they "freaked out."Viral video success is basically about getting lots of people to talk about your thing, whatever it is. In this case, Burger King has succeeded since their videos on YouTube have been viewed thousands of times, and many people, myself now included, have written about their stunt.However, it's one thing to get people ...

Part of the entry of new media into the world of marketing and advertising is that companies are losing control, and have lost their ability to monologue their message to us. This does not mean that the end of advertising is nigh, but rather that marketers need to rethink and reinvent their strategies, and actually work to gain our "permission" rather than hold us hostage in the middle of our favorite TV sitcom. One of the blessed results of this loss of control is that ads are becoming more and more entertaining. Take this ad from about a year ago:  ...