Monthly Archives: September 2010

On October 1, a new movie will premiere in theaters around the country and soon in the world that millions of people will find interesting in their lives. Why? Because it involves a product that they use practically on a daily basis: Facebook.

The Social Network claims to be an unauthorized telling of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s life and how Facebook came to be. After seeing it, I seem to have a new perspective on how everything came to be. Sure, a startup has a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved, but the way director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin portrays Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, Eduardo Saverin and the Winklevoss twins is somewhat dark. In fact, one way to look at Zuckerberg is how tech commentator Leo Laporte puts it “socially inept nerd”.

Last Monday, I was fortunate enough to attend a private screening hosted by the social media blog Mashable where dozens of social media and industry professionals came out to watch what was claimed to be the movie of our generation. It seemed somewhat surreal seeing this movie about a product which had not yet reached its prime. In fact, it was like watching a movie about an event that happened just yesterday. Naturally it seemed to be appealing to those who use social networking tools like MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and, of course, Facebook and it might have some draw to non-social media users especially since the producers chose to focus on the beginnings of Facebook from the dorm room where Zuckerberg first got into trouble and then followed along as he dealt with all his legal issues. You’ll get to see his different interactions and the whole cast and crew that he affected and influenced since that fateful day at Harvard and wonder who was really the victim, the winner and villain – well, if there was one, that is.

So who showed up at the Mashable screening? Practically the who’s who of the social media scene, including Rafe Needleman of CNET, Debbie Landa of Dealmaker Media, Danielle Morrill of Twilio, Leo Laporte of TWiT.tv, Cathy Brooks, Eston Bond, Pete Cashmore, Lisa Bettany, Ben Parr, Jolie O’Dell, Karen Hartline, Daniel Brusilovsky, Derek Overbey, Marcus Nelson, Vanessa Camones, Brian Wong, Dana Oshiro, Tara Hunt and dozens more!

Would I recommend The Social Network to watch in theaters? If you’re an avid fan of social media and understand that this is an unofficial telling, then yes, I would. If anything, it’s quite entertaining to watch and see how manipulative everyone was in the movies and the anger that Zuckerberg exuded throughout that people might find would rub them the wrong way. The actors playing Zuckerberg and co-founder Sean Parker are pretty spot-on and the look behind the top social network in the world with over 500 million monthly active users is fascinating.

The Social Network is out in theaters on October 1.

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

By Julie Blaustein

The Social Email Marketing Conference held in San Francisco, brought together marketing experts, email companies and brands to discuss integrated email and social media campaigns. It was a packed one-day conference held at Hotel Nikko.

A number of great speakers offered expertise including Brian Solis of Future Works, author of Engage! and founder of our very own Bub.blicio.us who talked about the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications and publishing. In other words, Brian spoke about how to be social while reaching out and influencing people. Tyler Willis of Involver who spoke about the differences between email marketing & social marketing and how you can experience social marketing success along with Mark Schmulen of Constant Contact who spoke about email and how it is the hub on one’s social media interactions. There were a number of additional great speakers who spoke on topics such as CRM and other tools to use in social media, Trust and Privacy issues, the power of A/B testing and more. But truly you need to attend the conference to not only hear from the experts but to meet them in an intimate setting where you can have real, in-depth conversations and make real-life connections.

San Francisco was the kick-off for a series of packed one-day conferences scheduled in major cities throughout the US, UK and in Europe. The series of conferences focusing on Social Media including Monitoring, Marketing, Emailing and Advertising will be held in not only San Francisco, Miami, Boston, New York City, and in London and Paris too through December. Murray Newlands and Luke Brynley-Jones are the Co-founders of Influence People and the force behind them. They advise companies and individuals in the UK and USA on how to utilize social media and to connect with people and deliver value. Great people to know and to meet on-hand at their conferences.

And don’t miss the first San Francisco Blog Club Meeting for FREE hosted by Influencer People on October 19th. from 6:30-10:0o pm at 111 Minna Gallery. Hurry and sign up as there are only a few spots left!

Pictures from the Conference below and more here:

The Social Media Email Marketing Conference Audience

Brian Solis signing for his new book, Engage! after his presentation.

Mark Scmulen, General Manager of Social Media, Constant Contact

Tyler Willis, Head of Brand Management of Involver

Chase McMichael, Co-Founder and CEO of Infinigraph and Murray Newlnads, Co Founder of Influence People

vChatter, the popular video chat application on Facebook, is now expanding its service with the launch of a stand-alone site and personal URLs.

vChatter lets users chat with friends and meet new people in a safe and clean environment unlike similar services plagued by bad behavior such as Chatroulette. Account activity is tied to the user’s Facebook identity which helps filter out “undesirable” activities.

The new destination site improves on the typical ‘random chat’ found by letting users pick who they meet based on geography, gender, and age. Factoring demographic data into the equation helps connect people with shared interests and experiences.

The company also rolled out personal URLs for private video chatrooms. With a vChatter badge, users can add a new social layer to their blog, email, or website – and invite readers and recipients to reach out in a live video chat.

You can check it out here: http://www.vchatter.com

On October 21st, marketing strategists, communications managers, bloggers and journalists will come together to learn about the latest trends and techniques in monitoring social media. This fully-interactive conference will include presentations, case studies, Q&A sessions and panel discussions.

The 1-day conference will be followed by a half-day Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp on October 22nd. This intensive series of workshops will be the ultimate ‘how-to’ event for companies and organizations looking to measure the effects of their interactions in the social web.

Confirmed Presenters Include:

• Luke Brynley-Jones - Social Media Consultant, Influence People
• Murray Newlands – Blogger & Social Media Consultant, Influence People
• Giles Palmer – Founder & CEO Brandwatch
• Mark Schmulen – General Manager, Social Media, Constant Contact
• Marcel LeBrun – CEO, Radian6

Topics to be covered include:

• Social Media Monitoring Tools and Services
• Brand and Reputation Management
• Sentiment Detection and Analysis
• Data Quality and Filtering
• Identifying and Connecting with Influencers
• Beyond Listening: Measurement and ROI
• The Future of Social Media Monitoring
• Case studies and Best Practice

Contest: Two lucky Bubblicious readers will get access to the conference for free. Simply submit a comment below with your #1 question or concern with social media monitoring.

Discount: Bubblicious readers can register right now with a 10% discount using the code “bub10”.

Good luck!

By Julie Blaustein

Have you ever just completed writing a blog post that you are wicked excited to share with the blogosphere, only to hit “publish” and upon reviewing it, discover that it’s a disaster? You find spelling and grammatical errors, and it just doesn’t flow. No doubt you have had that experience at some point in your blogging life.

I am excited to introduce you to The Universal Desk, a copy desk for the rest of the internet — all those bloggers out there who are working on their craft one blog post at a time. Every professional news writer has a hidden team of editors and copy editors that make them shine. The Universal Desk is staffed by copy editors who have worked for Random House, the International Herald Tribune and CNET, among others. They offer fast, professional editing for marketers, companies and students.

The idea for the site grew out of Ryan Singel’s experiences as a writer for Wired.com, where he had a front-row seat to the online publishing revolution. As a professional writer, he’s saved on a weekly, if not daily basis, by having editors tweak and improve his words, including catching embarrassing factual errors and unclear sentences.

Blogging software has put a printing press in the hands of anyone who wants one, democratizing the world of publishing — up to a point. The Universal Desk is meant to bring the power of a newspaper’s copy desk to anyone on the internet, whether they are a blogger, a marketer or a company. Copy editing is not just for professional news writers any more. They also handle heavier editing — such as in-depth tweaks and re-workings of marketing campaigns, press releases or websites. Their slogan is, “Everyone Needs an Editor.”

Check this out! The Universal Desk is offering 30 Bub.blicio.us readers a 1,000 words of copy editing and light editing free for a limited time until October 31st. for small start-ups and freelancers. All you have to do is contact Ryan at ryan@theuniversaldesk.com and say you saw this offer here. You will be provided credit in an account tied to your e-mail address, and you have three months to redeem it. Other businesses can try Universal Desk free for up to 500 words, for a limited time.