The book Wikinomics offers up the idea that Internet technologies will enable companies to more closely collaborate with customers in product development. I don't know if they had yogurt in mind, but why the heck not? The Stonyfield guys have done a nice...

Because she listens. I posted a review of her book, Brazen Careerist, on my personal blog (as well as this one) and she wrote a comment. You know what that says to me? She's scanning the net for discussions about her. She's listening to what people are...

At first I thought, "another self-help book by a would-be know-it-all." I'd read Penelope Trunk's columns over the years in a few different places and she struck me as someone with a big ego. Hey, just being honest here. But, I'd heard some...

The appeal of blogs to a corporation is the ability for an individual to effectively scale his communication. There is no doubt that you can reach a huge audience through your blog. But that audience is built one at a time. Not literally. But, by how...

More than one person ( Ben Gordon and Mike Fox , for starters) have asked the question of how I measure/track the blog. Let me start by offering this... RSS is the KEY The single most important measure of blog success is "how many people have subscribed...

There's a lot of debate in the blogosphere about the value of a recommendation on LinkedIn. Are they fluff pieces? Are they valuable? Obviously, you should take them with a grain of salt (but that's true of traditional references as well, I suppose),...

If you are a power Outlook user, there is still no SaaS/online substitute for what you do. But, Facebook's recent feature add of "Lists" is the closest thing I've seen to the 'Categories" feature that is so critical to my relationship management...

If you read my review of SuperCrunchers and are as convinced as I am about the value of using smart data to help your customer acquisition efforts, then the next step is to figure out how to actually DO IT. Short answer: not easy Long answer: there's...

Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. Ok, well it might, but the odds are seriously against you. Mark Cuban had a great post on this at More on Blogs, The Long Tail and Following vs Leading . So, if you are not going to get rich and famous by becoming...

One of the smartest things I've done in my home PC setup was to install Virtual PC (also a version for Mac). Why? Simple: Test with no regret I love testing out new software. But, we all know what it can do to your system (just slow it down to outright...

By now, you've been on the receiving end (and perhaps the sending end) of someone's vacation photo album. The sites are so easy now that with a few clicks, you can upload 300 pictures. But, because it's easy for you to do it, doesn't mean it's easy for...

And I'm talking to myself on that one. In this attention economy , when the headline of my blog posts are syndicated via twitterfeed , to Twitter and then on to FB, Skype, and Plaxo, the key is to have a good headline (and now I've added FriendFeed to...

    Is doing the right thing for the wrong reason ok? Let's take T-mobile for example. I've been a customer for 10 years (since they were VoiceStream) and very satisfied. For whatever reason, I've been getting a paper bill in the mail all these...

I know I said that the purpose of a status update is to stimulate conversation , but, I am going to modify that slightly. The purpose of the status update is to build your online brand. Or, as Hugh MacLeod might say, your " global micro-brand " So, how...

At least one part of the ad inventory that MS has purchased on Facebook seems to be directed at existing MS employees on Facebook. Good for them. In building a community of passionate evangelists/advocates, one of the best (if not the best) place to start...

In a simpler time, I had everything about my contacts in Outlook. My strategy is simple. At a minimum, a network contact will get an email from me with a brief update quarterly get a call from me on his/her birthday Over time, as my network has expanded...

Community marketing in a nutshell: Find the people who are naturally interested in your product/service. Reach out to them. Inform them (don't sell them). Excite them They will take it from there. A little bit of work and a big impact. Here's the evidence...

Once you have your status syndicated across multiple social networks , the next thing is to have your content syndicated as well. The objective is the same...stimulate the conversation. If each of us is our ow n channel , we need to think of the type...

I'll throw out there that the purpose of a status update is to: stimulate conversation... If you can write a short note that gets awareness and attention (see attention economy), that's remarkable. And, if by doing so, you create a conversation...

When planning an in-person marketing event, the first thing I do is put together an "Experience Brief." Much like a business plan, it is my vision for how the guests at the event will experience the day.   Read more here at the new blog...

I would be honored if you subscribed to the new RSS feed for Igniting the Revolution. Why is it moving? See here .

My dad used to say to us growing up: "Act as if what you are doing will be on the front page of the New York Times." In an analog era, there was some, but not much risk of that happening. In a digital era, the exposure opportunity on the scale ...

Ok, not me, but my blog. And I need your advice, please The question: what are the pros/cons of moving my blog off the msdn platform? The Pros Individual Brand Equity - Look, let's face it. I'm not going to be at Microsoft forever. At some...

Here are my guidelines. It'll help you build your relationships. Don't drone on REPEAT your phone number. It' s really the only thing I have to have. Don't just say "call me." Tell me WHY you are calling. Be quick. I hate it when people don't tell me...

I've had a few people ask me to blog on "social networking for business." Thought about this for a while and my answer is: It doesn't exist A bit extreme, perhaps, but business ultimately comes down to relationships with other people and whether you like...