Brindle Media

Archive for the ‘small business’ Category

Groupon is one of the hot social media tools which is changing the way businesses are connecting with consumers (aka B2C marketing). Groupon Now is about to launch with an augmented reality component which just makes sense. Watch an example by clicking here: Groupon Now

Radio sales people seem to be in denial about Groupon and are focusing on complaints from business owners who haven’t seen success using the service. Of course, for years the radio industry also has had to deal with those kinds of complaints as well from small business owners with unrealistic expectations. Meanwhile, Groupon is putting boots on the ground in local markets to compete with radio, TV and newspaper ad sales departments.

If you own a smartphone, would Groupon Now be a useful tool for you? How about your friends & family? Would be interested to learn your thoughts.

Have you transitioned to a smartphone yet? Traded in your Blackberry for an Android. Finally bought that iPhone? By 2020, it’s predicted that the primary source for accessing the internet will be via mobile technology.

Mobile technology is changing the way we do things every day. The folks at MobiTV created this graphic to provide some perspective and I thought that you’d like to see it. Click on it to see the full infographic.
(Hint: After clicking on the graphic, if you see a slim picture to the left of the screen and a lot of white space. Click on the picture and the whole piece should appear.)

Created by MobiTV,  Inc. a Mobile Technology Platform

Thanks to Jacobs Media for making me aware of this graphic.

Last week, Fareed Zakara interviewed Sony Chairman Howard Stringer on CNN. During their discussion about the impact on Japan’s economy of the recent disaster, Stringer also discussed SONY’s mistakes in creating products for vertical vs horizontal platforms. The conversation offers some useful perspective about platform thinking in the 21st century.

The internet has certainly made researching a topic, company or individual easier but, if you’re like me, you still encounter a lot of stumbling blocks. Ann Smarty offers some very useful advice in this blog about Advanced Social Media Search
http://mashable.com/2011/03/25/advanced-social-media-search/

I’ve never used Google Adwords and, to be honest, feel a bit daunted by the process. Here’s a good primer from Matt Silverman:
http://mashable.com/2011/03/27/google-adwords-tips/

I’m not a member of Rotary but my wife was once president of a local chapter and I have a lot of respect for the work that its members do. One of the missions of the International Rotary organization is to help eradicate polio. Here’s their latest :60 PSA

The March 7th edition of Time magazine features a cover story about pain management and discusses how the new medical concept that chronic pain is a disease of the central nervous system is impacting the approaches that science and medicine are taking to help provide relief.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2057269,00.html

Time also discusses non-pharmaceutical approaches using alternative treatments to ease pain including acupuncture and massage therapies. While reading these articles, I started thinking about about my daughter’s current project for her U.S. History course in which she’s researching PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and how it’s been viewed and treated in the context of various combat situations: The Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea , Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also reminded me of a technique which I’d just learned about called “Tapping” which, in my admittedly primitive understanding, combines a mash-up of massage and acupuncture theories. “Tapping” is a term being used to describe EFT (Emotional Freedom Therapy) which was originally created by Gary Craig. This 19 minute video on the Stress Project site features vets from Vietnam and Iraq who suffer from PTSD and who have employed this therapy. I don’t doubt that you’ll be moved when you watch it.
http://www.stressproject.org/

EFT originator, Gary Craig retired in 2010 & transferred resources to the EFT Universe site. Craig warns about watered down or bastardized versions of EFT as “tapping” or “meridian tapping” therapies. You can see more details here.
http://www.eftuniverse.com/

The concept makes a certain amount of intuitive sense to me but I would need to explore it more fully. You can judge for yourself.

In the meantime, to quote Monty Python, “Now for something completely different”.

Digital media specialist and consultant, Shelly Palmer recommends that we fund PBS for just 3 more years and then cut them out of the budget. His argument centers around digital trends, not politics and whether or not you agree it’s an interesting read:
http://www.shellypalmer.com/2011/03/public-broadcasting-needs-three-more-years/