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On this blog we assemble the world's sharpest minds in marketing and strategy innovation. People who spark exceptional insights in their field of expertise and inspire their readers to action.

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March 9, 2008

Free Web Page Heat Maps?
by: Roger Dooley

The common belief is that neuromarketing is trying to find the mythical "buy button" in the brain. If you are an ecommerce web designer, though, the "buy button" is one thing you want to be sure your visitors can find very easily!

Continue reading "Free Web Page Heat Maps?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:17 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

March 6, 2008

Social Media Biggest Shift In Marketing Strategy Since Television?
by: Karl Long

Hyperbole? I don't think so. I believe that social media is reshaping the business landscape and is changing, or requiring change from every aspect of the business, from business strategy, to product development, to marketing, to human resources (hey, even Microsoft is taking notice see this FT article "A revolution is taking shape").

Continue reading "Social Media Biggest Shift In Marketing Strategy Since Television?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:35 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

March 5, 2008

The Widget Bell Curve
by: Josh Hawkins

No matter how you slice it, the numbers are compelling. MySpace now has over 110 million users and Facebook just passed 65 million. And the demographic profile is prime with the majority of users falling into the 18-35 bucket.

Continue reading "The Widget Bell Curve" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:55 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 28, 2008

The Globalization of Facebook

by: Scott Goodson

Fred Wilson points out in his blog that Facebook is not experiencing a decline but rather it has reached a plateau in the USA. Look a few feet outside the US border and we see a very different picture.

Continue reading "The Globalization of Facebook" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:17 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 26, 2008

Avenue A Razorfish 2008 Digital Outlook Report

by: Guy Kawasaki 

GrabberRaster 0000.jpg

Avenue A Razorfish released the 2008 Digital Outlook Report yesterday. The purpose of the report is to help Avenue A's clients understand consumer behavior in the digital space.

Continue reading "Avenue A Razorfish 2008 Digital Outlook Report" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:22 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 24, 2008

The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet
by: danah boyd

When I was last in DC, I had lunch with Daniel Solove and we were talking about book publishing. He had been thinking of making his book downloadable under Creative Commons and I was like DO IT DO IT! This is the kind of book that is sooo relevant so many different audiences who would never hear about it through traditional advertising. My thought is that if it were available online, it could whet folks appetite before buying it (cuz printing it out is painful and reading it online is not wonderful either and your Kindle doesn't support PDFs). Introducing...

Continue reading "The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:41 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 17, 2008

Who clicks on ads? (Revisited with data)
by: danah boyd

Two months ago, I ruffled some feathers with a post called Who clicks on ads? And what might this mean? Lacking any good public research, I pointed to a blog post by an AOL Global Advertising Strategy guy talking about research they did on AOL ad clickers. The report was by no means generalizable to all ad clickers, but it made a significant point: ad clickers are not representative of the population at large. Still, there were folks that were annoyed that I wasn't pointing to pubic data, especially when I continued on to make my own hypotheses about who these heavy clickers are.

Continue reading "Who clicks on ads? (Revisited with data)" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:00 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 16, 2008

Discover Magazine video of moi

by: danah boyd

Last fall, I did an interview for Discover Magazine about my research. I still think that I look strange in video, but I figured others might appreciate it.

Continue reading "Discover Magazine video of moi" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:18 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 15, 2008

Factlet About Dating

by: Dick Stroud

According to the ceo of Match.com (in this article in Forbes) there are about 92 million single people in the U.S. - about 3 million of them pay a fee to an Internet-based dating service for access to a pool of possible mates. That's a lot.

Continue reading " Factlet About Dating" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:23 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 14, 2008

Changing Your Marketing Mindset: 12 Steps to the Interactive Future

by: Christian Smagg

Marketing_to_social_web_bookWe recently touched on the subjects of the many forms of web marketing tactics that could potentially be utilised as part of your digital marketing arsenal as well as the effectiveness and increased use of these online tools. So while we are on the topic of integrating innovative techniques into your marketing plan, let's consider this from a broader, more strategic perspective, rather than a pure tactical point of view.

Continue reading "Changing Your Marketing Mindset: 12 Steps to the Interactive Future" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:07 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 13, 2008

The Application Economy
by: David Armano

Over at Forrester's Groundswell blog, Josh Bernoff recently wrote this in the context of social applications doing well in a recession:


Continue reading "The Application Economy" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:54 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 10, 2008

Tapping the Emerging Celebrity Power of Online Influentials

by: David Wigder

Today, online influentials are emerging as "celebrities" of sort, based not only on their domain knowledge but on their ability to attract and engage audiences online.

Continue reading "Tapping the Emerging Celebrity Power of Online Influentials" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:29 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 9, 2008

a google horror story: what happens when you are disappeared
by: danah boyd

Earlier this week, an acquaintance of mine found himself trapped in a Kafka-esque nightmare, a nightmare that should make all of us stop and think. He wants to remain anonymous so let's call him Bob. Bob was an early adopter of all things Google. His account was linked to all sorts of Google services. Gmail was the most important thing to him - he'd been using it for four years and all of his email (a.k.a. "his life") was there. Bob also managed a large community in Orkut, used Google's calendaring service, and had accounts on many of of their different properties.

Continue reading "a google horror story: what happens when you are disappeared" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:24 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 8, 2008

Edelman - Where Have You Been for the Past 5 Years?

by: Dick Stroud

There is an article in advertising Age called the:" The Misunderstood Generation". I can never work out if AdAge is on subscription or not. Anyway here is the gist of the thing.

Continue reading " Edelman - Where Have You Been for the Past 5 Years?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:18 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 7, 2008

open-access is the future: boycott locked-down academic journals

by: danah boyd

On one hand, I'm excited to announce that my article "Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck: Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence" has been published in Convergence 14(1) (special issue edited by Henry Jenkins and Mark Deuze). On the other hand, I'm deeply depressed because I know that most of you will never read it.

Continue reading "open-access is the future: boycott locked-down academic journals" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:04 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 4, 2008

How are Companies Marketing Online?

by: Christian Smagg

Although there are many online tactics available to supercharge your digital marketing plan, not all of them deliver the same effectiveness or even are appropriate. It is obviously highly depending on the target audience you are trying to reach and develop relationship with, the product and services you are promoting as well as the marketing objectives you are trying to achieve.

Continue reading "How are Companies Marketing Online?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:41 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

February 2, 2008

After The Click

by: David Armano

"...Journalists and PR professionals, the influence brokers of traditional media, have lost a huge degree of influence on the web in large part because they don't link to anything. While traditional media brands are still powerful channels on the web, they are losing influence everyday to the link-driven web network -- journalists and PR professionals can no longer depend on controlling these former monopoly channels to exert influence online."
~The New Influentials (PSFK)

Continue reading "After The Click" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 30, 2008

36 Online Techniques to Supercharge Your 2008 Digital Marketing Plan

by: Christian Smagg

Digital_MarketingGot your marketing plan ready for 2008?

Let me first ask you this simple question since you would be surprised (or not) to discover that a startling 40% of marketing professionals don't even have a formal marketing plan. Surprisingly, not everyone develops a plan - even though most will agree that it is the foundation to successful and effective marketing.

Continue reading "36 Online Techniques to Supercharge Your 2008 Digital Marketing Plan" »

Posted by Futurelab at 5:32 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 29, 2008

Bridging The Gap Between Online and Offline Shopping
by: Ilya Vedrashko

A couple of years ago, I posted a small blurb on Fast Company's blog about how customer expectations of offline retail are being shaped by their online shopping experiences. Last month, Business Week published an article pretty much to the same effect: 

Continue reading "Bridging The Gap Between Online and Offline Shopping" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:31 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 23, 2008

10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive in a Recession

 by: David Armano

The question isn’t if we’re heading into a recession. It’s how bad will it be—and what we learn from it? As marketing budgets feel the squeeze of the housing crisis and a slowing U.S. Economy, now is a good time to think about opportunities. That’s right. Opportunities. It just happens that the digital medium could be your best friend in a time when belts tighten. Here’s a few starters for how digital can help your business or brand thrive in a recession:

Continue reading "10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive in a Recession" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:19 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 20, 2008

Green Content Syndication: Part I - "Deconstructing" Websites

by: David Wigder

Traditionally, publishers have viewed websites as content destinations, challenging marketers to drive traffic to specific websites in order to engage consumers with relevant content.  

Continue reading "Green Content Syndication: Part I - "Deconstructing" Websites" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:38 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 16, 2008

Digital Experience Design + A New Book From David Lee King

by: David Armano

Meet David Lee King.  David's a librarian.  David's interested in transforming the library experience.  He's also interested in Experience Design—specifically, Digital Experience Design.

Continue reading "Digital Experience Design + A New Book From David Lee King" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:22 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 15, 2008

MySpace Builds Game Portal?
by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business & Games)

Looks like MySpace is working on a gaming portal. The URL for this page is games.myspace.com. This could be a hit if the games are less like the ones you can find on other casual game destinations (Yahoo Games, for example) and more like Facebook app games with a stronger social component to them. Social advergames on MySpace would also be an interesting ad channel.

Continue reading "MySpace Builds Game Portal?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:06 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

The Economist Debate on Social "Networking"
by: danah boyd

The Economist is doing an "Oxford-style debate" on the following proposition:

"Social networking technologies will bring large [positive] changes to
educational methods, in and out of the classroom"

Given that MySpace and Facebook are ubiquitous, can social networking be defined as the "collective power of community to help inform perspectives that would not be unilaterally formed" or is it simply a distraction for students? Can these tools could be used in the classroom?


Continue reading "The Economist Debate on Social "Networking"" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:53 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 14, 2008

Phone quest, or Please be less creative
By: Marina Natanova

Like in many other countries, telecom operators in Russia do not have fixed contracts with phone producers: you buy a phone and a contract (sim-card) separately. To my mind, it is quite convenient: you can change phones or operators as often as you like or need.

Continue reading "Phone quest, or Please be less creative" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:20 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Corporations Foster Dialogue On the Environment

by: David Wigder

While many corporations leverage the Internet to distribute information about environmental initiatives, a few companies are going much further by facilitating two-way dialogue with stakeholders.  

Continue reading "Corporations Foster Dialogue On the Environment" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 12, 2008

Serious Games And Blended Learning

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Blended Learning involves the use of multiple learning environments - usually some combination of physical/face-to-face and online/virtual approaches.

In the strictest sense, blended learning is when an instructor combines two methods of delivery of instruction. However, this term most often applies to the use of technology on instruction.

Continue reading "Serious Games And Blended Learning" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:58 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 11, 2008

Technology and the World of Consumption
by: danah boyd

I had just finished giving a talk about youth culture to a room full of professionals who worked in the retail industry when a woman raised her hand to tell me a story. It was homecoming season and her daughter Mary was going to go to homecoming for the first time. What fascinated this mother was that her daughter's approach to shopping was completely different than her own.

Continue reading "Technology and the World of Consumption" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:47 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 10, 2008

The Art of the Signup Page
by: Guy Kawasaki

iStock_000001093093XSmall.jpg

A site's signup page is the second most important page on a site (the most important is the home page itself) because this is where you're asking for committment. Everyone worries about the home page (and still don't do a good job), but most companies do a poor job with the signup page.

Continue reading "The Art of the Signup Page" »

Posted by Futurelab at 5:12 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 9, 2008

Merrill Lynch 2008 Internet Trends Report
by: Guy Kawasaki

A broker friend of mine sent me this Merrill Lynch report, "Top Internet Themes for 1H'08", by Justin Post. The report contains useful information if you're in online businesses. It discusses these six themes/events:

Continue reading "Merrill Lynch 2008 Internet Trends Report" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:58 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

January 3, 2008

B2B Public Relations & Blogs: Policy, Resources, Process & Promotion
by: Josh Hawkins

A recent survey of business reporters shows that over 80 percent say they use, or would use, blogs as a primary or secondary source of information for news stories. This is a pretty serious wakeup call for anyone doing B2B PR. If you don't already have a social media program in place, it's time to get started. But while the mechanics of launching a blog are straightforward, there are a number of questions to ask and strategic decisions you need to make in order to ensure a successful blog initiative.

Continue reading "B2B Public Relations & Blogs: Policy, Resources, Process & Promotion" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:58 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

New Year's top resolution: Managing your online reputation!
by: Christian Smagg

Well, 2008 has arrived, along with the New Year's resolutions and the ever-present pundit predictions. Now that we're on the other side of the New Year, I thought I would share my thoughts on what I feel should be one of the companies' top priorities - and probably their number 1 resolution for this year: Efficiently managing their online reputation.

Continue reading "New Year's top resolution: Managing your online reputation!" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:51 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

December 30, 2007

A Few 2008 Predictions (Not Exhaustive) and Happy New Year to You All!
by: Idris Mootee

I guess this is the time to make some predictions. This is by no means exhaustive and some are more important than others. Here they are but not particular order of importance other than just some random thoughts at this time of the year in front of my fireplace. If you have some good ones to add, pls send them this way.

Continue reading "A Few 2008 Predictions (Not Exhaustive) and Happy New Year to You All!" »

Posted by Futurelab at 6:10 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

December 27, 2007

Flashy Micro-sites Are So 2007. Look for Distributed Content Experiences in 2008.
by: David Armano

Update:
I'm having a real-time Twitter conversation with Adweek's Brian Morrissey who, as an avid runner is not a fan of the site and offers this opinion:

"the content is one-size-fits-all lame, the redirect to forums sucks out loud and it's still nike talking at me."


Continue reading "Flashy Micro-sites Are So 2007. Look for Distributed Content Experiences in 2008." »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:20 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

December 19, 2007

Matt Cutts and Blogging for Traffic
by: Roger Dooley

Got a brand new website you want to promote? Wondering how to get traffic and improve Google rankings? Google’s webmaster Svengali Matt Cutts clued us in at the recent Pubcon in Las Vegas: start a blog. (You were expecting, maybe, “buy a bunch of links?” ;) ) Matt pointed out that Wordpress was mostly pre-optimized for search engines - the latest versions reduce duplicate content issues, page structure, titles, etc., fit Google’s recommendations, and keyword URLs are easy to generate. We’ve been blog advocates for years, but Matt’s blunt recommendations was still a bit of a surprise. Let’s look at why adding a blog to a new (or even old) site can be a good idea.

Continue reading "Matt Cutts and Blogging for Traffic" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:34 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Driving successfully web 2.0 into the enterprise
by: Christian Smagg

Web20atWork_WhiteBoard

There are risks and challenges associated with adopting any new technology, and Enterprise 2.0 is no different. 

It is quickly becoming evident that successful implementation is arising from business strategy, aligned with clearly defined outcomes & objectives, and supported by organisational structures, company's culture and adapted technologies. Like any other project, it requires thought, preparation, support, energy, and communication.

Continue reading "Driving successfully web 2.0 into the enterprise" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:58 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

December 13, 2007

Word of Mouth Versus Key Influencers

by: Guy Kawasaki

This summary of an article from the December issue of the Journal of Advertising Research (good luck finding the issue online because I couldn’t) says that common word-of-mouth advertising by regular folks is more powerful than “key influencers.” Which is to say that sucking up to A-list bloggers may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. It seems like it’s bad day for celebrity endorsements.

Continue reading "Word of Mouth Versus Key Influencers" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:13 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

December 12, 2007

10 Forces That Shape Headline Writing