Meet Mr. Tweet: Your New Personal Twitter Assistant.

Mr. Tweet is definitely someone you should meet if you’re passionate about social media. And even if you’re (currently) not. Mr. Tweet just may convince you that Twitter.com is more than just a trip down humanity’s lane, it also may be one of the most compelling market research tools today. The deeper and faster marketers can get into fresh, relevant data and consumer insights, the more likely it is that monetization is ahead for our favorite technologies. It was very clear at the recent awesome WOMMA Summit in Vegas that big brands are indeed intrigued by new trends in social media research and given compelling reasons to explore, will absolutely do so.

Besides, who doesn’t want a hot new assistant?

Here’s Mr. Tweet’s bio line on Twitter: I am your personal twitter assistant - add me as a friend, and I’ll suggest to you which influencers and followers you should check out. (More coming soon! )

Mr. Tweet is exploding out of stealth start-up, as thousands flock to this neat new way to optimize Twitter.

In fact, Mr. Tweet is so busy that as of today, he tells me it will take ‘roughly 94 hours to be ready to serve you.’ He did apologize profusely. Hey, it ain’t easy being the new tweet on the block.

While you’re waiting for Mr. Tweet to serve you up neat new information, ideas and inspiration, go check out Mark “Rizzin” Hopkins’ post on Mashable.

Mr. Tweet was created by: mingyeow and ambivalence.

The New Potluck Economy: What Will You Bring to the Table?

The old-fashioned, Leave It To Beaver, church-basement concept of the Potluck Supper is back in style.

For those of you who missed this very 50’s ‘harvest gold, Kraft Recipe way of life: a Potluck supper is one in which everybody brings a ‘covered dish’ to the table. Usually this is a family favorite, a specialty of each particular cook. One woman may bring her Sunday best chicken casserole; another brings his homemade wheatberry muffins; yet another bakes up a sumptuous Red Devil’s food cake. And so on and so forth, until the table is rich with the imaginative recipes of each of the chefs.

A potluck gives everyone a chance to shine in their own special way. No one dish is the star; no one cook dons the apron. Which is why, even if you haven’t potlucked in eons, you ought to think about the enduring idea behind it.

In life, we all bring something to the table. Some of us are talented artists, others excel at sports, others are savvy in business. No one quality is necessarily greater than another– no one talent whups another. Sometimes we meet someone and say ‘Wow, look at the way she aced that serve. I can’t do that!’ Or ‘gee, he’s really great at closing a deal. Sure wish I was that good.’ We tunk ourselves because we feel we don’t stack up. Sometimes we let this stop us from trying, from going further, from expressing our own abilities — whatever they are, wherever they may be on the path to excellence.

That’s when we need to remember the concept of Potluck. Each of us, every single human being, brings something unique to the table. Each of us brings something worth sharing. Whether it’s boundless ideas and energy (Adryenn), an eye for making everyone look their photographic best (Monica), the gift of loving support (Allie), creative business savvy (Claire) or style to die for (Corinne) . . . all are making an important contribution. It takes everyone, every flavor, every taste and texture, every dish to make a Potluck.

Today, more and more people are RSVP-ing a resounding YES to the new Potluck Economy. We’re bartering, trading, link-exchanging, Freecycling, donating, giving of ourselves and our stuff in a myriad of imaginative ways. New technology is letting us collaborate, communicate, co-work and co-create. We’re couch surfing, ooffoo-ing and crowdsourcing.  We’re innovating breakthrough ways of working, living and being. It’s definitely not business as usual. Thank God.

This then, is the new Potluck Economy. Welcome to the table. What will you bring?

Guru’s Note:  This is an excerpt from my upcoming book:  Rock Your Future. The New Trends, Tips & Tricks.

Guru’s Update: Here’s a good article on bartering from the Monterey Herald.

Shoot The Focus Groups? Not This Time.

It took more than a half-century for focus groups to die. From their invention in the 1940’s via noted sociologist Robert K. Merton through their glory days in the 80’s and 90’s, last century’s leading qualitative methodology had a great run. It wasn’t until 2005 or so, when then Yahoo CMO Cammie Dunaway plotted to ‘kill’ all the focus groups and author Douglas Rushkoff dubbed them ‘useless’ that the death knell officially sounded. Yes, there was a sputtering revival or two. (Online focus groups) But CNN finally nailed them completely with this year’s Election Coverage of perpetually undecided voters, ‘moderator’ Soledad O’Brien, and the ratings-friendly perceptual analyzer dials decorating the screen in happy primary colors.

Which is why (as a veteran Focus Group moderator and advocate) I was so surprised and gratified to read the latest news on last weekend’s wildfire VOM (Voice of Moms) aka Motrin Gate. Ad Age details the frenzied timeline plus the general take-away, including this paragraph:

Ultimately, Ms. Presnal (key Mommy blogger) said she sympathizes with J&J’s plight after having received at least two e-mails from (VP) Ms. Widmer last week. Reading from one, she noted that J&J had worked with focus groups of moms in developing the campaign.

“We listened extensively to moms, the insights about their lives, and how their pain impacts them,” Ms. Presnal said, reading from Ms. Widmer’s e-mail. She continued from the e-mail: “I think where this went wrong was the creative expression we used. … The tone was intended to be real and lighthearted, but it came off as irreverent. … We did conduct focus groups with moms. But truthfully they probably weren’t extensive enough to uncover this.”

Mon dieu! Amazingly, the ‘creative’ is getting blamed here. No quotes about how ‘useless’ or ‘dishonest’ the Focus Groups were. The only perceived glitch in the groups is that J&J believes they didn’t do enough of them.

With hundreds of Focus Groups under my moderator’s black belt, I certainly understand both the limitations of the tried-and-true and the temptation to switch to the newer, sexier Social Media Research methodologies.  I am deep into shiny new things myself: Twitter Product Parties, Hybrid Chats, Buzz Audits and Crowdsourcing Polls.  In fact, more than half of my research requests in the past 6 months have come from clients itching to jump on the intriguing Social Media Research bandwagon.  There’s good news from key social networking fronts: both Facebook and Linkedin have big plans to help researchers get uber-targeted, fresher data.

Still, I have to defend the original concept of Focus Groups, which I firmly believe is still viable — when effectively designed and conducted.

Guru’s Note:  Stay tuned for Part 2: Five tips to bring your (traditional, that is, f2f) Focus Groups into the 21st Century.

New Design Cool: The Tea Bag Coffin Lets You Bury That Bag.

The best design ideas are so elegant in their simplicity most of us feel like dunderheads for not thinking of them.

Here from Jonas Trampedach comes one of those ideas: The Tea Bag Coffin.

With the ‘Tea bag Coffin’, the drinker can tidily bury the bag under the cup and out of the way.”

Well, duh.

(Thanks to Likecool.com)

More Than Mangled Messages! VLingo Also Ate Half My Phonebook + 648 Emails.

Note2Self: Do NOT beta test anything on the Blackberry. Do not even fall for version 1.1. No matter how cool it seems, no matter how easily it installs. No matter how many blogs swear that it’s ready for prime time.

Note2Self #2: The next time you hear the siren-call of “state of the art voice recognition software” or even “Voice-enabled”, RUN for the hills, even if said hills are teeming with rattlesnakes like the ones here in Carmel Valley. Haven’t you been falling for those sexy vox promises going way back to Dragon Naturally Speaking Software circa 1996?

Here’s what the smart folks at the usually reliable Lifehack said about Vlingo:

Voice-enable your Blackberry with Vlingo, which goes beyond voice-dialing to voice-texting and even voice-emailing. Vlingo takes over one of your Blackberry’s application keys (my Curve has two, one on each side; I’ve assigned it to the one on the right, the one that controls the camera by default). Hold the key down, say a command, and Vlingo goes to work. For example, I say “Send email to Bob Smith subject You’re an idiot Message You forgot to take the coffee off your car’s roof as you drove away” and Vlingo creates an email reading “You forgot to take the coffee off your car’s roof as you drove away” with the subject line “You’re an idiot” and the email address from Bob Smith from my Blackberry’s address book. You can search the web, update your Facebook status, create tasks and memos, even open built-in applications and a handful of third-party Vlingo-enabled apps, all using your voice.

It would be so lovely if the above gushing geeky paragraph were true. But aside from the disappearing phonebook and email snafu, what I got when speaking clearly and distinctly into my beloved Berry “I am testing Vlingo and sending a message to you” was “D lingo is beating Paul with you.” Now folks, I am a former (really bad) weathergirl and (really good) dj. I rid myself of any lingering Cheesehead accents years ago. So when I tried again with my perfectly enunciated vowels and consonants, and the text that emerged from Vlingo was “org hooking by d ing”, I reluctantly resigned myself to the currently sorry state of Voice-enabled technology and hit delete.

Note2Self#3: Before installing any new app, check to make sure that the FAQ includes UNINSTALL directions in addition to INSTALL. Nowhere on Vlingo’s site — including the Troubleshooting and User Info — could I find information on how to UNINSTALL. And an email sent to them has so far gone unanswered.

Improv Everywhere Strikes Again. This Time at JFK Airport.

Their slogan is “We Cause Scenes.” And that they did, as comedy performance masters Improv Everywhere flash-mobbed at JFK, apparently on behalf of Absolut. Their stated mission is to cause ‘chaos and joy.’ I would so love to see them do another Freeze like they did in Grand Central, only this time on a glacier as First Dude Todd Palin zips by on his snow machine.

HandMeDowns.com. Now The Mommalution Has Its Own Classifieds.

Handmedowns.com is a perfect example of what Web 2.0 does best. The site takes a highly relatable concept — hand me downs – and upgrades it for today. It’s a great example of what today’s Mommalution is all about — taking that powerful VOM (Voice of Moms) and putting it to savvy, sensible good use.

Here’s what the site says:

Handmedowns is a new online classifieds site for moms where you can buy, sell, give away or donate your new and “gently used” baby gear, toys, clothes, childcare services and more in a family friendly atmosphere.

We pull together and organize the best baby/child/mom listings from around the web AND combine them with handmedowns.com listings posted on our site to create a one-stop destination for busy moms.

Handmedowns.com’s CEO and founder, Norah Weinstein, who is a lawyer and founded The Hollywood Reporter, ESQ., is a mom who was frustrated with searching online for much needed items for her 14-month-old daughter. “The classified sites that were available had some great listings, but were not designed with parents in mind. Moms are too busy to sift through thousands of listings to find the items they need, especially those in good enough condition for their children. Our goal is to raise the bar for baby & kids classifieds.”

Guru’s Take: There are a couple of notable adds that make this site particularly Mom-friendly. Love the Eco focus. Love the Mom Police, a system for moms to flag any listing that appears unsafe or inappropriate. Love the focus on product safety, including a link to recalls. All right on. But those buttons at the top, which let users choose whether they’d like to Buy, Sell, Give Away Free, or Donate. Smart. That’s how we roll these days, managing our stuff in every permutation known to momhood.

Dentyne’s Anti-Facebook “Make Face Time” Campaign Encourages Us To Get Real.

So I was deep into editing Trend 6: The Return of Real & The Urgency of Touch for my upcoming book when I discovered this refreshing (pun intended) new campaign from gum-giant Dentyne and ad agency, McCann. The creative suggests we log off occasionally to go out and “make face time” with a friend.

“We’ve got nothing against the internet, but when people are surfing the web, they’re missing the best part of life — being together.”

It’s a compelling concept, one that reminds me a little of the YouTube phenom Free Hugs, now a user-generated-content classic with 33,644,908 views. The idea is made all the more engaging by the Make Face Time website that automatically shuts down after 3 minutes. The site also features a ‘Smiley Chamber of Doom’ intended to smash to smithereens those icons of fakery.

I’ve been kvetching lately about the importance of being a real friend during these recessionary times rather than just a Friended Friend. Then Jason Anello, Yahoo Buzz’s Ideologist, gave a great talk at the WOMMA Summit last week on the importance of connecting the online and offline worlds –and mentioned the increasing value of touch. Another project reminded me that massage therapy has been in explosive growth mode, jumping to $11 billion a year industry.

Then there was this weekend’s MotrinGate, in which Moms railed against the baby-wearing, baby-bonding experience being labeled ‘a fashion accessory.’ Mombotv.com has a nice post on this age-old practice, especially the way health workers in many developing countries promote skin to skin contact between mother and newborn.  Didn’t we all write termpapers in college citing the wire-mother-monkeys?

Author Desmond Morris says, “Something special happens when two people touch each other physically, whether it be a handshake, a pat on the back, or a slap on the face.”

Obviously I am a huge advocate of the life-changing, life-building, boundary shattering Internet. But I am also a huge advocate of getting the hell offline and LOL-ing the real way.

Does Spreading The Retail Gloom Help Us or Hurt Us?

I have very mixed feelings about an email I received from a friend early this evening.

On one hand, I appreciate the warning. I appreciate the sentiment about celebrating the holidays with family and friends, not bling and things.

But the business person in me can’t help but think that these email blasts only spread the gloom-and-doom that’s already keeping us out of the stores. Yes, we absolutely should slip the Visa cards into a drawer and head toward the mall bearing cash — a new study says 22.8% of us plan to, up from last year — or use our debit cards, like 41.5% plan to do. A return (even if possible) to the bloated excess of the boom-boom years doesn’t work either. But some of us believe firmly that innovation and new opportunities can emerge even in these highly unsettling times. These gloom and doom emails are a viral megaphone that threaten to to drown out our never-say-die American spirit.

Interestingly, the mood on the newer Social Media is much perkier. Tweeters tend to get het-up and pesky but try to share positives; bloggers get mad but share link love; Facebookers are tribal, joining groups, events, causes and status-donations. MySpacers are busy pitching their music while Ning’ers are simply passionate about their own thing. New Social Media is very different than the traditional old media world of email. Socialyzers are in-the-know junkies, wanting to be au courante 24/7. We feel our power (check my post on MotrinGate) and wield it deftly and swiftly. We’re passionately participating in this participatory media — not merely passing iffy information along as in the days of legendary email from Bill Gates, NPR, Disney, etc. If nothing else, Socialyzers want to believe we are in control; that crowdsourcing matters. After all, didn’t we just elect a new President? Traditional emailers are simply passing along the gloom-and-doom with scant hope of effecting change.

Hope and heart live on Social Media sites. Even in 140 characters life is bubbling up.

Here’s the email:

Wow, interesting times. I love gift cards but…maybe not this year.
Personally, it’s a good year to celebrate our family and friends.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
XXOO ~ Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Circuit City stores… most recent (? how many)

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered

Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 store
nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down all stores

J. Jill closing all stores

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Guru’s Correction: I am thrilled to correct this — as Home Depot is one of my hang-outs. I’ve heard from them and this is very old news dating back to May.

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pacific Sunware closing stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard’s to close some stores.

Guru’s Note: I have not verified this information. It’s too depressing. I’d rather hang out at the Apple Store with the Nano Chromatix and drool over the juicy colors.

Here’s the update on store closings from Snopes.com.

Now That’s Jerry’s Finally Given Up The Royal Purple, Who Will Be Yahoo’s Next CEO?

Techcrunch is reporting that Jerry Yang is finally stepping down as CEO of the company he founded — but will remain as Chief Yahoo. The stock closed today at $10.63, legions away from the $33 Microsoft offered for the company last spring.

Scuttlebutt centers on Sue Decker and a possible return of tech veteran Dan Rosensweig.

Here’s the official press release:

Yahoo! Conducting Search for New CEO
Co-Founder Jerry Yang to Step Down Following Appointment of New CEO
and Return to Former Role as Chief Yahoo! and Board Member

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform.

Chairman Roy Bostock, working with the independent directors and in consultation with Jerry Yang, is leading the process of assessing potential candidates and determining finalists for consideration. The search will encompass both internal and external candidates, and the Board has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading international executive search firm, to assist in the process.

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues,” said Roy Bostock. “Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” said Jerry Yang. “When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation.”

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