I’m having a really hard time understanding some employers today. As I travel the country and spend time with business leaders, it’s very disturbing to me how many have firewalls installed that prevent their employees from using the social networks during business hours. As if they aren’t just using their phones to get online during the day. Some business leaders go so far as to take phones away as soon as a person walks in the door to prevent even that. really don’t understand it. We can allow smoke breaks, but not social media breaks. Madness. MORE >>

We all have had these moments. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the clouds of confusion part and you look at the world with new- found clarity. Of all places, my “moment” came today at my doctor’s office, while waiting nervously for the results of my annual mammogram. During our usual small talk at the end of visits, it somehow emerged that my doctor had been the president of her professional association and a passionate advocate of its causes.  Instead, her “go to” resource was a small, online network that another association member had launched and now boasted a few hundred members.  MORE >>

?. Location based (or geo-located) marketing continues to receive a huge amount of buzz at the minute, as Twitter apps connect location tweets to its service,  Foursquare is credited with Domino’s Pizza’s UK success  and  smartphone users get ready for augmented reality  to guide their leisure time. All good stuff. And yet…. For the most part, we’re still being safe and boring when it comes to how we, as marketers, use these geo-location services such as Foursquare and  Gowalla  to drive traffic and sales to our clients and own business. Cross-Platform Marketing. Mayorship Shmayorship. MORE >>

Vida Tamoshunas. In the midst of preparing for an internal training session on data visualization, I was thinking about why we don’t remember to do all the simple things to improve our analyses and reports so they can be more easily interpreted by others. The GEICO commercials came to mind as a perfect metaphor. If you can save 15% on insurance in 15 minutes, then why not improve your analysis by 15% in 15 minutes? challenge all of us who share data with others to take 15 minutes to make a few improvements before we hit the send button for an analysis or report. What can you do in 15 minutes? MORE >>

Bloggers are increasingly important in public relations, according to a white paper published today by DWPub.  Eighty-two per cent of PR professionals work with bloggers to provide coverage for clients, while 98% find bloggers useful or invaluable. Results of the survey of 252 PR professionals conducted in March this year accompany a new whitepaper called ‘The smart PR’s guide to blogger outreach’. Daryl Willcox. Our survey results show an overwhelmingly positive response. Bloggers are here to stay and the PR industry is beginning to embrace them. 20% don’t have strong relationships. MORE >>