I saw this on a client’s Facebook post this morning. Interesting, eh?

This looks like one of those throw-it-and-see-if-it-sticks things.

I’m mourning the announced death of my beloved Google Reader later in the summer. It only seems like yesterday that I watched that YouTube video with Scoble showing how he processed through thousands of articles in a matter of minutes. Ah, good times.

While Scoble ( and apparently a majority of others ) have move on, I’ve used Reader to monitor blogs and find interesting stuff. It’s the first thing I hit in the morning. So, it’s impending demise has left me a little depressed. However, I believe that I’ve found an alternative.

Feedly coupled along with Pocket has become my goto solution. I’ll run through Feedly pretty quickly as I send interesting items to Pocket where I actually read them and then further tag them for sharing on Twitter through Hootsuite. In a way, it’s very similar to a process I had set up where starred items in Reader were shared through Twitter, but I shut that down because I felt like it was a firehose of information. This second layer helps me further prune my list down to the more interesting stuff.

**This was originally shared over the summer on Facebook (Like Meeeee!), but I thought it’d be good to share it here too.

Someone tell Britt’s Donuts that they’re doing it wrong. No web page. They have Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Britts-Donut-Shop/189424071099111 ) & Twitter ( http://twitter.com/BrittsDonuts ) but never update either one.

But, hey… look at that Facebook page. 5,946 likes, 4,601 checkins, 327 mentions? How can they do that without engaging?

Photo by akiramedia • Instagram.

Billionaire, humanitarian, and adventurer Sir Richard Branson was interviewed by Mashable on how he uses social media.

The takeaway quote?

“Be authentic and organic. It can’t be forced or it won’t work. And most importantly, have fun.”

Read More over at Mashable: Why Richard Branson Always Makes Time for Social Media.

Came across this via Darren Rowse on G+. Evidence seems to show that posting to Facebook via a 3rd party app decreases the weight they assign to it and thus lessens the probablilty that followers/fans will see it.

Does Using a 3rd Party API Decrease Your Engagement Per Post? | EdgeRank Checker.

Google+ has been up for a few weeks now and it’s all the rage. Will it fly or will it flop? Honestly, I don’t know. But, I’m doing this imaginary Q&A to show that I’m relevant and on top of the new stuff.

Q: What is Google+?

A: Google+ is the Big G’s latest attempt at creating a social media platform. After the abysmal failure of Wave & the less abysmal failure of Buzz, they’re giving it another shot. To oversimplify it; this is Google’s version of Facebook.

Q: What makes it different?

A: The big big difference between Facebook & Google+ is the concept of grouping people you follow into circles. You can choose which circles you share a post with and in doing so, not annoy your business friends with a constant stream of lol catz videos. Think of it as being able to target your posts. (altho, at this point, most people are sharing everything with everybody which is kind of a fail if you ask me).

Q: Can I promote my business there?

A: For right now, they only have personal accounts, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t promote yourself. Business profiles are coming at some point in the near future.

Q: Should I even waste my time with this?

A: Only you can really answer that. There are currently no tools like Hootsuite to cross post to Google+, so you’ll have to post manually. Those things will arrive soon, but for now you’ve got to do it the old fashioned way unless you want to resort to some hacks that aren’t for the entry level geek, if you know what I mean.

Q: How do I sign up?

A: As of right now, you need a invite. Which means that you need to beg.  If you want one and I know you, send me your email address and if I’ve got any, I’ll shoot one your way.

If you want to take the jump, Mashable has a nice cheat sheet to get you started. And, you know, add me to a circle. You can find my profile here: https://plus.google.com/117859567275558223886/about

Eli Pariser makes some good points about filters, gatekeepers, and the personalized internet. His concern is that as the web serves us the information that we want, it also deprives us of the information that we should have. In the realm of information & opposing ideas, this is something to be worried about.

However, I’m looking at this as a low-brow marketing type.

• Google uses 57 criteria to filter your search results and that’s if you’re not logged in to your Google account. What you see when you’re searching for restaurants is not going to be what I see.
• Facebook filters out friends from your feed based on whose links you click on.

Here are two big areas of internet marketing that are being personally filtered: Search Results & Social Media. There are two ways you can look at this; panic that your message isn’t reaching as far as it can or be happy that your business or product is being targeted to people that are actually more likely to sample your services & design your marketing with that in mind.

YouTube – Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”. via Lifehacker

Bridging The Gap In Social Media Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] via @spikejones

Facebook is launching their deals platform in the US today. If they can beat Groupon’s pricing structure and offer more flexibility for business owners, I think they’ve got a good shot at dominating this particular end of the market.

Oh, before you think about a Groupon campaign, you should read this article: Entrepreneur.com :: Groupon Nightmares (and How to Avoid Them)

Fortune has an excellent behind-the-scenes article on Conan O’Brien and how social media changed and kept his career alive in the days after he walked away from the Tonight Show. (link via @MikeAdamsNC)

It’s a inspiring story on several fronts, but here are some points that I walked away with.

1. Conan & his team used social media to communicate directly with fans in a non-traditional way.
2. Fans initiated the “I’m with Coco” campaign as a grassroots-type effort without any prodding from Conan & his Team
3. They took immediate steps to position themselves both online and offline (the “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour”) to take advantage of the growing fan reaction.
4. Conan’s production company owns his new show and they are constantly looking for ways to take advantage of non-traditional points of distribution.
5. In the end, he realized that what he had become was greater than what he always dreamed he wanted.

And all of the above is great, and there are lessons to be learned from his experience.

But–

None of this would have been happened if he wasn’t open and honest through the whole situation. Beginning with his letter, he showed his true colors and we all identified with him. If he had been bitter & angry or manipulative in any way, I think very few of us would have bought it.

Strategy is important and I’m not discounting that. However, all the strategy in the world isn’t going to give you long term success if nobody wants what your selling, or (worse) they don’t like who you are.

What does this have to do with web design? Probably not a lot. Websites & Facebook & Twitter & [fill in the blank here] are all great things to have. Broadcast & print are both still relevant no matter what people would like for you to believe. All these things are really secondary to you and your business. Done well, they tangibly reflect what your business is about.

Not the other way around.