El video del fin de semana

Psychedelic Furs, Heaven

Advanced Twitter Marketing System

Advanced Twitter Marketing System

Tweet This Post by TheSpotter

Advanced Twitter Marketing System
cuts through the crap that seem to be flooding the internet and
delivers Twitter strategies that actually work! Better yet, they work
by using common sense and knowledge that comes from years of experience!

Twitter has become so popular that everyone jumps on band wagon and
since there are many new comers - there is demand for knowledge!
Knowledge on how to use Twitter effectively for accomplishing whatever
goals you have set when you joined it! And when there is a demand -
offers didn’t make us wait long!

Problem is - majority of the “Twitter Guides” are pure crap that
teaches variations of twitter spamming and shares info any person with
common sense should avoid. Advanced Twitter Marketing is different in a way that it actually gives you knowledge that is genuine…

I know my opinion is biased but hey - it’s my blog!

So allow me to discuss Why You Should consider purchasing Advanced Twitter Marketing

Besides the fact that strategies within will work, I think one of the most important factors here is a person behind the guide.

I’m a strong believer that we learn best from someone we can
associate with, someone for whom we have respect and become more
receptive to learn! Doug Champigny is a man I have a deep respect for
and he is the strategies behind the guide!

Coming from years of experience in offline Direct Marketing he
managed to successfully migrate that knowledge into Online World and
build his own marketing empire. Not only does he have a direct
knowledge of how to market - he knows how to do in most effective
manner while contributing to the social scene!

One of the major aspects I liked about the guide is that unlike
majority of the others - Doug actually teaches you how to not only
build a huge following on Twitter but also how to become a central
focal point for those who choose to be part of your community and
service their needs by providing relevant info, which includes
marketing!

If you want to dive into Twitter or perhaps want to use strategies that actually work - Advanced Twitter Marketing guide will get you there FAST, ETHICALLY and EFFICIENTLY!

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The power of word of mouth

we are social

The power of word of mouth

by Sandrine Plasseraud in News on 27 May 2009 at 16:31

A very important part of what we do
at We Are Social consists in helping brands engage in social media by
having meaningful conversations with people and igniting positive word
of mouth. So as I was watching Loïc Le Meur’s video on ‘How to launch a product using your community’,
I thought it was a brilliant illustration of why word of mouth is so
important. As it’s in French, I’ll try and recap some key learnings
here.

According to Loïc, traditional advertising, PR and marketing are all
still very valid but are nowhere near as important as the power of word
of mouth. He illustrates this by saying that when you are about to buy
a product, what you want is to know what your friends think about it
before you purchase it. You want to know what your community has to say
about that product.

And to be honest, in some ways, this has always been the case. In
the past, we would probably have asked our neighbors, colleagues or
‘real’ friends what they thought about product X or Y. Nowadays, those
conversations about products and brands alike are happening online. And
rather than transiently involving two or three of your friends, these
conversations can now potentially reach millions of people and are
permanent (as they’ll appear in Google’s results for ever). This is
good if the conversation is positive and not so good otherwise.

Loïc adds another interesting point about online conversations: the
years 1993-2000 were about static media – i.e. the online environment
was a reproduction of traditional media; since 2000, we’ve seen the
explosion of what we refer to as ‘social media’ – i.e. people
interacting with people but also brands, via blogs, social networks,
etc. And now, as Loïc highlights, since the beginning of 2009, the web
has entered a new area. People still want to interact with their
community but they want to do so in real time, via Twitter or Facebook
statuses for example. Which means that when people talk about products
and brands, they also do it in real time.

Hence the importance of listening and responding in real time as Robin was highlighting in his interview with emarketer ‘Social Media: Joining the conversation’.
And both Seesmic & Twhirl are a great examples of brands who have
understood the importance of listening in real time to the community’s
feedback, to get insights into what’s good, or not so good about their
products. And Loïc is the first one to say that this means sometimes
he’s checking Twitter Search at 3am to read about the community
feedback and to reply to it. Because Loïc knows that if 1,000 of
Seesmic’s fans are convinced about the product, they’ll tell another
10,000 of their friends about how great the product is.

It’s all about ‘micro interactions’
as David Armano calls them. It’s about turning your fans into brand
advocates.  And it works - this is how how he managed to get Seesmic Desktop application downloaded 1.5 million times in a few days. This is the power of word of mouth.

Twitter for financial institutions

The Financial Brand » Blog Archive » How to: Twitter for financial institutions

How to: Twitter for financial institutions

Everywhere you turn, it seems people are talking about Twitter. Sure, you hear a lot of hype about how “you need to get on Twitter!” But there isn’t much in the way of practical, actionable advice.

* Why is Twitter important?
* Who is using it? And what for?
* How do you get started?

Find out in “Connecting to Customers with Twitter: The Comprehensive Guide to Twitter for Financial Institutions.” This report will show you exactly what you should and shouldn’t do to harness the power of Twitter. It will answer your questions, explain how it works, how to get started and the choices you will face as you develop your financial institution’s Twitter strategy.

Twitter offers an unprecedented opportunity for financial institutions to reach out and communicate directly with key constituents whether they be customers/members, shareholders, businesses, the media/press or the general public. There are already hundreds of financial institutions using Twitter to:

* Promote new products and offers
* Share personal finance tips
* Express their brand and reveal their personalities
* Build community outreach programs
* Provide information about community events and activities
* Increase exposure for their charitable and philanthropic efforts

One of the secrets to Twitter’s power is its simplicity and ease-of-use. The barriers to entry are almost non-existent. For no- or low cost, and a nominal investment of staff time, financial institutions can use Twitter to communicate directly with consumers — potentially thousands of them.

Whether you’ve never used Twitter before, or you’ve been using Twitter for a while now, there’s something in it for everyone. It’s 80 pages of strategies, analysis, examples and how-to advice.

The report was authored by Jeffry Pilcher, president of financial brand consultancy ICONiQ and publisher of The Financial Brand, along with Jim Bruene from Online Financial Innovations, and publisher of both Netbanker and the Online Banking Report.

Antídoto contra copiones · ELPAÍS.com

Antídoto contra copiones · ELPAÍS.com

Antídoto contra copiones
Approbo es un nuevo programa gratuito y español para comprobar si estudiantes (y profesores) copian de Internet

LAIA REVENTÓS 28/05/2009

A Josep Lluís Mancho le van los desafíos. Primero creó el antídoto para el virus Viernes 13, que causó estragos a finales de los años ochenta, cuando las infecciones todavía viajaban en el prehistórico disquette.

* "Los valores de calidad universitarios están en entredicho"

La noticia en otros webs

* webs en español
* en otros idiomas

Después retó a la comunidad hacker a burlar su sistema de seguridad. Su empresa organizó tres concursos y "nunca nadie consiguió romper el cortafuegos de Xifra. Ninguna persona envió al notario el contenido del fichero protegido y eso que tuvieron un año de plazo y había en juego 18.000 euros", recuerda este informático de 47 años de edad, actualmente director de la empresa Symmetric.

Mancho y su equipo en la compañía están dispuestos ahora a dificultar una socorrida práctica académica (no sólo del alumno): el fenómeno del "copiar y pegar", íntegra o parcialmente, contenidos de Internet y presentarlos como obras originales y, en algunos casos, hasta cobrar por ello (como el informe oficial de la estación de esquí San Glorio en Castilla-León).

Si la tecnología hace extremadamente fácil fusilar un texto de Internet, sostiene Mancho, "la misma tecnología también debe hacer muy sencillo verificar si ese texto ha sido plagiado". Approbo es una "utilidad gratuita, sencilla e intuitiva" para comprobar si el documento es una copia. "Muchos maestros están hartos de sospechar que sus alumnos fusilan contenidos. Ahora tendrán la certeza de que es cierto", asegura Mancho.

No es la única herramienta disponible. Compilatio, Turnitin, CopyScape o Antiplagio Educared, entre otras, son aplicaciones similares a la catalana Approbo. Gratuitas unas, de pago otras.

Approbo es una aplicación online multiplataforma (Windows, Mac, Linux) que automatiza los procesos para saber qué partes de un texto son originales o no. La comparación se realiza en cualquier formato textual y su funcionamiento es sencillo. Basta con subir el archivo a Approbo. En minutos (según la velocidad de conexión) el programa, que funciona desde cualquier navegador de Internet, da su veredicto: si la copia es íntegra o parcial, y de qué fuentes proviene. La búsqueda de documentos se hace en Google, es decir, compara con los millones de webs que indexa el buscador.

Además, explica José Luis Mancho, al autor "puede comprobar el grado de difusión de su obra en la Red o saber en qué webs o blogs aparecen las mismas frases sin su permiso". El objetivo, explica el informático, no es sólo evitar que los chavales copien, sino "elevar el nivel de estudios". Y añade: "Más allá de la polémica sobre si cada alumno debe tener su ordenador en el aula, lo importante es que lo que hagan con las aplicaciones informáticas sea de provecho".

Quien desee utilizarlo deberá registrarse antes, porque el Citilab de Cornellà de Llobregat cede espacio de su servidor a este desarrollo de Symmetric, cuya sede también está en el centro tecnológico. En el Instituto Bernat el Ferrer de Molins de Rei (Barcelona), donde imparte clases su esposa, Àngela Rams, lo probaron primero. Una semana después de su lanzamiento hay 8.000 registrados y se han analizado 62.000 textos. Incluso se registran estudiantes para hacer la prueba inversa: ver si son sus profesores quienes copian.
Aprender a citar

Seis de cada diez universitarios españoles admitieron en 2007 que plagiaban sus trabajos académicos, según un estudio de la Universidad de las Islas Baleares entre los internautas de Universia.

Educared ofrece Antiplagio desde hace cinco años. "Los docentes estaban asustados por el uso que sus alumnos hacían de Internet. Temían que no pensaran por sí mismos y se limitaran a copiar", dice su gerente, Chabela Dragoevitch. Educared creó esa aplicación para que los docentes tuvieran mecanismos de detección y como herramienta educativa. "Los alumnos deben saber que es un delito, una infracción del derecho de autor. Es imprescindible que aprendan a documentarse, citando las fuentes de las que obtienen los datos". Muchos maestros la emplean, dice, como herramienta de persuasión.

La aplicación es gratuita, pero se debe descargar en el PC y sólo funciona con Windows. Antiplagio analiza los contenidos de servicios como El Rincón del Vago y Enciclonet. Los profesores pueden subir sus apuntes y los trabajos de otros alumnos para alimentar la base de datos.

Turnitin "rastrea entre más de 12.000 millones de web, 80 millones de trabajos de estudiantes, 10.000 periódicos, magacines y revistas científicas, y miles de libros, incluidos los clásicos", dice Will Murray, directot de iParadigms, su desarrolladora.

Este software se puede usar desde cualquier navegador y, además, se integra en las plataformas de aprendizaje como Blackboard, WebCT, Angel o Moodle. "Recomendamos que sean los alumnos quienes empleen la aplicación para que vean que pueden redactar excelentes textos sin necesidad de copiar. Se trata de que aprendan la cultura de las cosas bien hechas", asegura Murray.

Creada en 1995 en Estados Unidos, la empresa desembarcó en Europa en 2002 vía Reino Unido, donde ya " lo utilizan el 97% de las instituciones educativas", dice Murray. Sólo en la secundaria británica el 30% de los trabajos son copiados, según datos de la compañía.

Turnitin no es gratuita. Su precio varía entre 5.000 euros anuales (escuelas) y 9.000 ( universidades). Unos 850 centros de 103 países emplean esta aplicación, que acaba de estrenar versión en español. Entre ellas, la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. "Cuatro profesores de master realizan un piloto y, en paralelo, trabajamos para integrar Turnitin en la plataforma Aula Global 2, basada en Moodle. El objetivo es abrirla a toda la comunidad universitaria", explica Carmen Vázquez, vicerrectora de calidad.

Compilatio lleva dos meses en España. Esta aplicación llega de Francia, donde presta sus servicios desde hace seis años y funciona online desde cualquier navegador, aunque no se puede integrar en las plataformas docentes. Su precio, según el número de alumnos de la institución, oscila entre 800 y 1.000 euros.

CopyScape suministra dos servicios. Uno localiza los contenidos que se copian de una web a otra. Otro, los plagios. En ambos casos hay versiones gratuitas, pero limitadas a un número de escaneos mensuales. "Nuestros clientes son proveedores de contenidos que necesitan verificar si los textos que les entregan los autores son auténticos", explica Benjamin Isaacs, director de mercadotecnia de la compañía, con sede en Gibraltar. CopyScape cobra entre 0,5 y 0,10 dólares por un texto de entre 2.000 y 3.000 palabras.

Con Fair Share podrá saber cómo se difunde sus creaciones y cómo se utilizan en Internet, siempre que emplee sindicadores de contenidos RSS.
"Los valores de calidad universitarios están en entredicho"

"Tenemos que cambiar la cultura de tolerancia. La Universidad tiene que ser garante del saber en la sociedad del conocimiento, pero por desgracia hay demasiada permisividad; los valores de calidad están en entredicho", asegura Rosa María Medina, que, junto con otros 40 profesores de la Universidad de Granada, impulsa la plataforma antiplagio.

Les preocupan dos cosas: la copia de trabajos por parte de los alumnos y el plagio de tesis y proyectos de investigación entre los académicos. "Sé de docentes que han traducido libros y se han adjudicado su autoría. Es grave, pero lo peor es que sigan impartiendo su magisterio". De momento, la plataforma cuenta con el apoyo del Defensor Universitario y aspiran a que la memoria de la Universidad dé cifras de una práctica que, desde la copia textual al robo de ideas, "está muy extendida".

Si pillan a un investigador plagiando o manipulando datos en EE UU se arriesga (en función de la gravedad) a cinco años sin fondos para investigar. Desde 1988 una oficina vela por el cumplimiento de la ética.

El Ministerio de Ciencia español confirma que la nueva ley de ciencia prevé la creación de un Comité Español de Ética de la Investigación. Entre sus tareas, establecerá "los principios para la elaboración de códigos de buenas prácticas de investigación científica y técnica".

Is social media making you anti-social?

Is social media making you anti-social? | Philly | 05/27/2009

Is social media making you anti-social?

By Wailin Wong

Chicago Tribune (MCT)

CHICAGO - The turning point came around November for Jessi Odenbach.

"I noticed I was online more and more often," said the 26-year-old Chicagoan. "I'd go home and immediately turn on my laptop. I finally took the plunge and got the iPhone, and I can't get away from it now. ... I'll wake up in the morning and before I even get out of bed, I'm checking my e-mail and my Twitter stream on my phone."

It probably doesn't help that Odenbach started this month as the social media manager for a local camera equipment company. But she is aware of how tethered she has become to technology, and has tried to set boundaries.

Every Tuesday, for example, she plays euchre with her girlfriends.

"I make sure to put the phone down and interact with them because it's the only time during the week where we get to see each other," Odenbach said.

The strong pull of technology that can interfere with social engagement is a common experience in a culture accustomed to easy Internet access, a 24-hour news cycle and instant communication.

Even critics who recognize the benefits of social media warn against rapid and unchecked adoption of technology that has the potential to erode intimacy and further fragment attention spans. Many Web denizens are aware of the Internet's addictive quality and the anxiety that can accompany a foray into social media, such as worrying that even a temporary distraction from the screen will mean missing crucial updates and in-jokes. As a result, some consumers are partially unplugging or seeking other ways to integrate technology into life.

Yet the dark side exists. One extreme example of what counselor Hilarie Cash calls "uncritical" involvement with technology is a college dropout who spent six years playing video games and surfing the Web.

When he decided to return to school, he had to re-learn focus through Sudoku puzzles and teaching himself Japanese, said Cash, who worked with him. Cash, of Redmond, Wash., is an Internet and video-game-addict counselor.

Cash said her client realized that his self-discipline was like a muscle that had atrophied. "(He said) 'I have to build it back before I can possibly be successful again,'" she recalled.

David Levy, a professor at the Information School at the University of Washington, believes the social media phenomenon is part of a cultural swing that started with the industrial revolution.

"Really nothing has slowed us down," said Levy. "In other words, we've been witnessing a 200-year acceleration."

A computer scientist by training, Levy has studied how the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century emerged as a reaction against the potentially dehumanizing effects of industrialization.

Levy, who also has a degree in calligraphy and bookbinding, argues that modern society needs to restore a balance between the contemplative and technology-driven, goal-oriented sides of life.

Then there are those who believe technology can help or hinder work and even artistic pursuits, depending on how it's used.

Take Brian Mazzaferri, the lead singer of I Fight Dragons, a Chicago band that blends video-game music and sounds with pop rock. When publicizing his music online, Mazzaferri felt guilty he wasn't spending enough time writing and practicing. His early promotional efforts involved adding friends on MySpace, which he found ineffective because it didn't lead to communication with fans.

"There's so many things you can do online that make you feel you're doing something, when in reality you're doing nothing," Mazzaferri said.

He now works with Natiiv Arts & Media, a local firm that provides social media training for artists. He started talking with fans and fellow musicians on Twitter and discovered that he could share ideas directly with them, receive feedback and enhance his music.

"A lot of people, especially in our culture, tend to view artists as rarefied," Mazzaferri said. "You go off and have a meditative, creative state and shut yourself off from the world. I really like the idea of viewing it the other way - that artists have to go to work like everyone else."

But for others, the boundaries between work and play have blurred to become non-existent.

"My personal life and business life have become one, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," said Michael Brito, a social media strategist at Intel. He estimates he's online 18 hours a day, either behind a computer or on his iPhone.

"At this point, it's not detrimental to any of my real relationships," said Brito, referring to family and friends that he sees offline. "If it ever did, I'd have to sit back and re-evaluate my behavior."

Still, Brito limits his children's computer time and has enrolled them in swim and dance lessons. "They don't have to be behind a computer 20 hours a day," he said. "We really want them to be more balanced."

Not everyone feels like they can push back against the inertia of a technology-driven consumer culture.

Levy said he has informally surveyed more than 200 undergraduate students across the country and more than 80 percent of them say they spend too much time online. Younger people "are actually reflecting on this and they are concerned about it," Levy said. "They also feel like there is no way to deal with it."

It is possible to scale back. Ken Salkover, a 39-year-old Skokie, Ill., resident, joined Facebook and started a personal blog about a year ago. He also signed up for Twitter around the holidays.

Now Salkover rarely updates his blog, limits Facebook usage to 15 minutes a day and switched to a new e-mail account to cut off unwanted messages. The digital diet stemmed from a realization that it was too easy to "spend almost all my free time on the computer, either social networking or switching to the television network Web sites."

"I'm doing better than I was once was," Salkover said. "At some point, you realize how valuable your time is."

(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

I've seen things you people wouldn´t belive

En QUOR 2.0 además de Internet tenemos ciertas filias comunes como BLADE RUNNER, nos dimos cuenta de que algunos nos habíamos hecho con la edición especial de coleccionista, con todas las versiones y contenidos extras de Blade Runner. Además de ir casi en peregrinación tras la última versión de Scott de hace unos meses al cine en versión original. Escena mítica entre las míticas, esta de I've seen things you people wouldn´t belive

"Yo he visto cosas que vosotros no creeríais. Naves de ataque en llamas más allá de Orión. He visto rayos-C brillar en la oscuridad cerca de la puerta de Tannhäuser. Todos esos momentos se perderán en el tiempo, como lágrimas en la lluvia. Es hora de morir."

Vía Mike Arauz: Google CEO: Good Advice for Digital Agencies

Interesante síntesis realizada a partir de una entrevista al CEO de Google en un power point por Mike Arauz
Google CEO Eric Schmidt

View more Microsoft Word documents from Mike Arauz.

Si Dios ha muerto, imaginaos la publicidad

Aunque parece quien le puede atribuir la frase "Dios ha muerto" (Gott ist tot - literalmente Dios está muerto) a Hegel (aunque quiero recordar que identificaba al estado con Dios de alguna forma); es, sin duda, a Nietzsche a quien le debemos la popularización de semejante declaración de finitud.

La frase de Nietzsche Gott ist tot se refría explícitamente a un dios dentro de la cultura occidental. En La gaya ciencia es dónde podemos encontrarla: "Dios ha Muerto. Dios sigue muerto. Y nosotros los hemos matado. ¿Como podríamos reconfortarnos, los asesinos de todos los asesinos? El más santo y el más poderoso que el mundo ha poseído se ha desangrado bajo nuestros cuchillos: ¿quién limpiará esta sangre de nosotros? ¿Que agua nos limpiará? ¿Qué rito expiatorio, qué juegos sagrados deberíamos inventar? ¿No es la grandeza de este hecho demasiado grande para nosotros? ¿Debemos aparecer dignos de ella?

Mi aproximación a los medios tiene más de vocación de comprensión sociológica (consumo, influencia, motivaciones de uso) que interés por su vertiente publicitaria. Solo un dato: hace cuatro meses en la salida de metro de cerca de casa, en el centro de Madrid, llegaron a dar hasta seis periódicos gratuitos (ADN, Metro, 20 Minutos, Su vivienda, uno deportivo y algún otro que no recuerdo ahora mismo) desde hace dos días ya no dan el único que sobrevivía desde hace unos meses... y en cuanto a la prensa de pago mi escepticismo ante representaciones de la realidad completamente opuestas y contradictorias me hace no comprar prensa desde hace meses (comencé a comprar EL PAIS cuando era adolescente)... Será lo que le oí decir a la quiosquera, unos cientos de metros más abajo, en la misma calle: si no vienen regalos ya no se compra prensa... ¿quiénes son los gurús de las promociones? ¿Dónde están los gurús de que el periodismo es el espacio que queda libre entre anuncios?

PD: dedicado (humildemente) a pensadores y opinantes presionados y represaliados por los grandes grupos de comunicación; tan arrogantes antes y tan cerca de la suspensión de pagos ahora. Como digo a menudo últimamente: la ventaja de haber visto caer el Muro de Berlín en directo es que todo parece posible, ya (casi) nada sorprende.


¿Cuál es tu opinión sobre el tema de la publicidad y sus efectos?
Envía o comenta tu experiencia "feel free" de escribir tu comentario. Gracias.

When to Use Which User Experience Research Methods (Alertbox)

Jakob Nielsen's
Alertbox, October 6, 2008:

When to Use Which User Experience Research Methods

By Christian Rohrer

Summary:


Modern day user experience research methods can now answer a wide range
of questions. Knowing when to use each method can be understood by
mapping them in 3 key dimensions and across typical product development
phases.

The field of user experience, is blessed (or cursed) with a very
wide range of research methods, ranging from tried-and-true methods
such as lab-based usability studies to those that have been more
recently developed, such as desirability studies (to measure aesthetic
appeal).

You can't use the full set of methods on every project, but
most design teams benefit from combining insights from multiple
research methods. The key question is what to do when. To better
understand when to use which method, it is helpful to realize that they
differ along 3 dimensions:

• Attitudinal vs. Behavioral
  
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative
  
• Context of Website or Product Use
  

The following chart illustrates where several popular methods appear along these dimensions:

Each dimension provides a way to distinguish between studies in terms
of the questions they answer and the kinds of purposes they are most
suited for.

The Attitudinal vs. Behavioral Dimension

This distinction can be summed up by contrasting "what people say" with
"what people do" (very often quite different). The purpose of
attitudinal research is usually to understand, measure, or inform
change of people's stated beliefs, which is why attitudinal research is
used heavily in marketing departments.

While most usability studies should rely more on behavior, methods that use self-reported information can still be quite useful. For example, card sorting
provides you with insights about users' mental model of an information
space, which can help you determine the best information architecture
for your site. Surveys measure attitudes or collect self-reported data that can help track or discover important issues with your site. Focus groups tend to be less useful for usability purposes, for a variety of reasons.

On the other end of this dimension, methods that focus mostly on
behavior usually seek to understand "what people do" with minimal
interference from the method itself. A/B testing
only changes the site's design, but attempts to hold all else constant,
in order to see the effect of site design on behavior, while eyetracking seeks to understand how users visually interact with interface designs.

Between these two extremes lie the two most popular methods we use: usability studies and field studies.
They utilize a mixture of self-reported and behavioral data, and can
move toward either end of this dimension, though leaning toward the
behavioral side is generally recommended.

The Qualitative vs. Quantitative Dimension

The basic distinction here is that, in qualitative studies, the data is usually being gathered directly, whereas in quantitative studies, the data is gathered indirectly,
through an instrument, such as a survey or a web server log. In field
studies and usability studies, for example, the researcher directly
observes how people use technology (or not) to meet their needs. This
gives them the ability to ask questions, probe on behavior or possibly
even adjust the study protocol to better meet its objectives. Analysis
of the data is usually not mathematical.

By contrast, insights in quantitative methods are typically derived
from mathematical analysis, since the instrument of data collection
(e.g., survey tool or web-server log) captures such large amounts of
data that are coded numerically.

Due to the nature of their differences, qualitative methods are much better suited for answering question about why or how to fix a problem, whereas quantitative methods do a much better job answering how many and how much type of questions.

The following chart illustrates how the first two dimensions affect the types of questions that can be asked:

The Context of Product Use Dimension

The final distinction has to do with how and whether participants in
the study are using the website or product in question. This can be
described by:

• Natural or near-natural use of the product
  
• Scripted use of the product
  
• Not using the product during the study
  
• A hybrid of the above
  

When studying natural use of the
product, the goal is to minimize interference from the study in order
to understand behavior or attitudes as close to reality as possible.
Many ethnographic field studies attempt to do this, though there are
always some observation biases. Intercept surveys and data
mining/analytic techniques are quantitative examples of this.

A scripted study of product usage is done in
order to focus the insights in very specific ways, such as on a
redesigned flow. The degree of scripting can vary quite a bit,
depending on the study goals. For example, a benchmarking study is
usually very tightly scripted so that it can produce reliable usability metrics.

Studies where the product is not used are
conducted to examine issues that are broader than usage and usability,
such as a study of the brand or larger cultural behaviors.

Hybrid methods use a creative form of product usage to
meet their goals. For example, participatory design allows users to
interact with and rearrange design elements and discuss why they made
certain choices.

Most of the methods in the chart can move along one or more
dimensions, and some do so even in the same study, usually to satisfy
multiple goals. For example, field studies can focus on what people say
(ethnographic interviews) or what they do (extended observation);
desirability studies and cardsorting have both qualitative and
quantitative versions; and eyetracking can be scripted or unscripted.

Phases of Product Development (the time dimension)

Another
important distinction to consider when making a choice among research
methodologies is the phase of product development and its associated
objectives.

1. STRATEGIZE: In the beginning phase of the product
   development, you are typically considering new ideas and opportunities
   for the future. Research methods in this phase can vary greatly.
   
2. OPTIMIZE: Eventually, you will reach a
   "go/no-go" decision point, when you transition into a period when you
   are continually improving the design direction you have chosen.
   Research in this phase is mainly formative and helps you reduce the
   risk of execution.
3. ASSESS: At some point, the website or
   product will be available for use by enough users where you can begin
   measuring how well you are doing.

The table below summarizes these goals and lists typical research approaches and methods associated with each:

	Product Development Phase
	Strategize	Optimize	Assess
Goal:	Inspire, explore and choose new directions and opportunities	Inform and optimize designs in order to reduce risk and improve usability	Measure product performance against itself or its competition
Approach:	Qualitative and Quantitative	Mainly Qualitative (formative)	Mainly Quantitative (summative)
Typical methods:	Ethnographic field studies, focus groups, diary studies, surveys, data mining or analytics	Cardsorting, field studies, participatory design, paper prototype and usability studies, desirability studies, customer emails	Usability benchmarking, online assessments, surveys, A/B testing

Art or Science?

While many user experience research methods have their roots in
scientific practice, their aims are not purely scientific and still
need to be adjusted to meet stakeholder needs. This is why the
characterizations of the methods here are meant as general guidelines,
rather than rigid classifications.

In the end, the success of your work will be determined by how much
of an impact it has on improving the user experience of the website or
product in question. These classifications are meant to help you make
the best choice at the right time.

Minando la reputación online de una empresa o el silencio como equivocación

Un conocido de Twitter @mcimino dejó hace unos días varios twitts exponiendo su caso en relación con Caja Madrid y como una inadecuada gestión de un incidente que podría haber sido solucionado de forma rápida. Ha generado un cierto nivel de crítica, primero y de detracción, después, en relación con esa marca. En la medida en que investigamos, monitorizamos y gestionamos desde QUOR 2.0 la reputación online de marcas, productos e instituciones creo que el caso de mi colega presenta grandes dosis potenciales de un caso con importantes aprendizajes de cómo no se debe gestionar un caso y cómo puede afectar a la reputación online de una marca.

Como comenté en la mesa redonda del OME09, y cómo nuestras investigaciones van confirmando regularmente, los casos de reputación online (positiva o negativa) se producen offline y acaban teniendo una inesperada repercusión online. El canal online, se presenta a los consumidores como el canal idóneo para compartir experiencias de todo tipo. Tal y como él lo describe lo sucedido es lo siguiente:

"Agradezco la oportunidad que me brinda el amigo y compañero de Twitter, para explicar un caso real bastante increíble... de como Caja Madrid es capaz de echar por la ventana todo el esfuerzo publicitario y de marketing, destruyendo (por lo que a mi respeta) su reputación con un simple hecho: no dar la cara.

Hago un resumen de los hechos (todos los detalles están publicados en mi blog ):

A finales de Abril nos dimos cuenta que el informe de riesgo de la compañía de la cual soy director de ventas, que emite el Banco de España (y que se compone de la información que bancos y cajas de ahorros facilitan al mismo BdE), indica que tenemos un riesgo indirecto contraído con Caja Madrid de 467.000 € que evidentemente no tiene ningún fundamento.

A más de un mes de distancia los responsables de Caja Madrid todavía están pensando en explicar cómo a una empresa que ni siquiera tiene una cuenta corriente con su entidad, de que forma se les haya podido “colar” similar “garrafada” sin que sus sistemas cruzados de control múltiple hayan podido darse cuenta. Y peor aún, que todo el mensaje de compromiso, confianza, gobierno corporativo no es otra cosa que un mero mensaje publicitario; en absoluto compartido por los empleados de la entidad con los que nos hemos cruzado en nuestro peregrinaje (o ¿calvario?) hacia la verdad.

Tras esta experiencia prpongo un Vademecum de cómo destruir una reputación empresarial en 4 pasos:

1) Preparar el terreno con un amplio presupuesto que hable de vosotros y de vuestro compromiso hacia vuestros clientes y la sociedad en general. Cuanto más alta sea la expectativa, más fácil será la destrucción de vuestra reputación.

2) Compromiso de vuestros empleados: es importante que cuando el cliente se presente con un problema a una oficina bancaria, la persona que la atienda le explique con mucha amabilidad que existe un servicio de reclamación que estará encantado de atenderos y que hay que llamar a un número (que posiblemente estará siempre comunicando). Nunca humanizar el trato con el cliente, nunca demostrar que nos interesamos por su problema.

3) Una vez “deshumanizada” la relación (aquí está la clave), el contacto con el cliente (canalizándolo a través de un call center) hay que pasar a la fase de la mala educación. Dejar muy claro que el problema de nuestro cliente no es nuestro problema; y, si podemos, ampararnos en alguna ley o normativa que nos defienda ante la insistencia del cliente de que les proporcionemos una respuesta en un período razonable de tiempo. Y si en algún momento tenemos que levantar la voz para que se nos entienda... pues adelante.

4) Silencio. Es fundamental que la llamada o la carta de explicación de lo ocurrido no llegue nunca. Si somos capaces esconder nuestra cabeza debajo de la arena entonces aseguraremos la destrucción de nuestra reputación.

Esta mañana (25 de mayo) hemos recibido una carta certificada del Banco de España que dice:

En contestación al escrito recibido en Banco de España... se adjunta el informe generado con los datos facilitador por las entidades declarantes …. el el cual podrá comprobar que no figura la entidad CAJA MADRID..... para su información les indicamos que la citada entidad declaró en los meses de diciembre 2008, enero y febrero 2009 ….. un riesgo indirecto aceptante de efectos, lo cual significa que dicho titular figura como aceptante en uno o varios efectos negociados en la entidad declarante.

¿Cuál es tu opinión sobre el tema de la reputación? ¿Has sufrido alguna experienca semejante?

Envía o comenta tu experiencia "feel free" de escribir tu comentario. Gracias.

El video del fin de semana

The Dandy Warhols, Every Day Should Be A Holiday

No recomendamos marcas a amigos porque nos gusten las marcas sino porque apreciamos a nuestros amigos

Hay días, para qué negarlo, en los que uno tiene la oportunidad de reconciliarse consigo mismo. Andaba buscando unos gráficos sobre metodología de gestión de proyectos web que cree hace unos años, con la idea de reutilizarlos en clase de User Experience (#UX) en el IED, cuando me he encontrado lo escrito en la imagen para alguna reunión de e-summit marketing, como se llamaban en la última empresa en la que trabajé; y por tanto, tienen un cierto pragmatismo empresarial que considero aún válido. Así que lo recupero y comparto.

• Todas las acciones en los nuevos medios de la web social o web 2.0 por parte de las empresas tienen necesariamente una vocación de obtener alguna tasa de conversión positiva (los más financieros lo llaman ROI).
• 
  

• Los diferentes mercados y distintos sectores de los mismos están cambiando pero no a la misma velocidad ni sufriendo el mismo impacto en sus cuentas de resultados de los cambiso tecnológicos, sociales y de consumo derivados de la irrupción de Internet.
• 
  

• La principal recomendación es conocer a nuestros consumidores (actuales y futuros) lo mejor posible, a partir de un adecuado proceso de investigación y sintesis de la misma se podrá tomar decisiones correctas a corto, medio y largo plazo. El problema es que aunque las empresas hablen de clientes siguen pensando en productos.
• 
  

• No por repetirlo deja de tener vigencia "be relevant, my friend"; gran parte de la comunicación carece de la vocación de ser relvantes; y simplemente, parece olvidarse que el medio no es el mensaje; que el mensaje es lo que se comunica y las personas que lo comunican. No recomendamos marcas a amigos porque nos gusten esas marcas sino porque apreciamos a nuestros amigos.
• 
  

• Optemos por nuevas formas de comunicación publicitaria que no se basen necesariamente -debido a sus dramáticas limitaciones- en GRP,s; OTS,s; y coberturas sobre targets puramente estadísticos. Hay nuevas formas de aproximación más allá de las demográficas y el bombardeo clásico en los medios tradicionales.

¿Cuál es tu opinión sobre las razones para recomendar una marca?
Envía o comenta tu experiencia "feel free" de escribir tu comentario. Gracias.

A List Apart: Articles: Taking the Guesswork Out of Design

A List Apart: Articles: Taking the Guesswork Out of Design

Creativity breathes life into successful websites. However, creative
ideas and solutions can sometimes seem like guesswork—and guessing is
risky business. So what can designers do to show clients they’re using
a solid strategy and have the best intentions? The following exercises
are a great way to start discussing and documenting aspects of design
to help clients shed their fear of creativity and encourage them to
join the design process.

Set clear goals

Some people feel they know why a website should exist, but struggle
to create direct and measurable goals. Ambiguous goals force people to
assume things, and assumptions can lead to broken expectations—which
can, in turn, destroy trusting relationships. Goals such as “selling
more stuff” or “getting more exposure” are vague and provide little
direction.

A modified acceptance criteria exercise is the simplest and most
effective tool I’ve found for setting clear and powerful goals. Agile
developers use acceptance criteria to demonstrate why tasks need to
happen and define how they fit into the big picture. With a few tweaks,
it works perfectly for capturing design goals.

Example request:

• We’re redesigning our website because we need more traffic
  and an updated look, and want to become more respected in our industry.

Example goal template:

• We want to __________ because ____________ so that ___________.

Example goals:

• We want to increase traffic by 20% because we need more exposure so that we can generate eight more leads per month.
• We want to update to a current look because we need to be more relevant to our customers so that we can raise our rates by 10%.
• We want to write four industry-related articles per month because we want to help our industry so that we can form two partnerships per month.

Notice how separating “the means,” “the reason,” and “the ends”
clarifies the project owner’s goals and describes why they want them
and how they intend to achieve them. Acceptance criteria for design is
a great way to flush out deeper, possibly unknown, intentions that will
help the designer and project owner make better decisions and dodge
surprises later in the process. Revise the goals until all parties
agree on them and understand them.

Bonus points: Create several goals so that you
can capture secondary and tertiary goals, but don’t let it get out of
hand—no single website should have more than a handful of high-level
goals.

Organize the pages

People will grow fond of a website where they can accomplish their
goals without having to think. Users’ mental energy should be spent on
solving their problems, not figuring out how the website works.

Card sorting is a great way to organize a website. To conduct a card
sort, list all the pages of your website and write their titles on
index cards. Then, lay the cards out on a table and move them around
until all the categories and subcategories make the most sense.

If you can’t card sort in person or don’t have the time for card
sorting as a team, try collaborating online with a spreadsheet. Here’s
an example of a New Zealand investment website created in Google Docs
using fictitious statistics:

An example of card sorting using a spreadsheet.

If you’re working on a redesign, consult analytics to find out which
pages are getting high and low traffic. It’s a great opportunity to
figure out where the design’s content is over and under served. Then,
tighten and combine similar pages and separate and simplify complex
pages.

Even after the official design process, a good card sorting exercise
can greatly increase the usability and effectiveness of a website. It’s
a smart practice that can keep a website relevant and effective. To
learn more about how it’s done see Boxes and Arrows’ card sorting guide, Usability.gov’s card sorting article, or get a whole book on card sorting.

Bonus points: Card sort with someone unfamiliar with the company to spot biases and get unexpected feedback.

Lay out the pages

Next, we need to develop a solid understanding of the design’s visual hierarchy. Enter attention maps and a little bit of math.

An attention map is a list of goals for a page with point values
assigned to each goal. Allow just enough points to see a good
distribution, but not too few that you force a lot of similar point
values. The idea is to get a firm understanding of how the goals relate
to each other so you can form a solid hierarchy of content.

Example point distribution:

• Fifteen points allocated among four goals

Example result:

• Service description: seven points
• Benefits of use: four points
• Industry articles: two points
• Relevant news: two points

An attention map is more effective than a prioritized list because
it helps determine how much space to dedicate to each goal on the page.
Since the service description has three points more (almost twice as
many) than the benefits of use, you can bet the service description
needs a lot of attention.

Use attention maps to classify areas of importance on a webpage.

Sketching out options that fit the goals, organization, and
attention map should now be straightforward and strategic. There will
probably be a lot less sketcher’s block!

Bonus points: When you’re done, try flipping
the sketches over, or look at them through a mirror to see if they
still work. Critiquing your own sketches, including the odd mirror
sketch, can generate a lot more ideas.

Develop a personality

A strong archetype can create an immediate and powerful emotional bond. An archetype
is a group of characteristics and traits that are commonly seen in
groups of people of any language, history, and size around the world.
Every archetype has strengths, weaknesses, gifts, and fears. When you
apply these aspects of personality without shame, people will identify
emotionally with a design. This helps strengthen memory and build trust.

The Hero and the Outlaw, by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, powerfully captures 12 archetypes covering nearly every aspect of humanity.

The archetypes:

• Innocent
• Explorer
• Sage
• Hero
• Outlaw
• Magician
• Regular Guy/Gal
• Lover
• Jester
• Caregiver
• Creator
• Ruler

If you choose the outlaw (think Harley Davidson), start critiquing
everything you do against the outlaw’s traits. You might be surprised
at the amount of new and interesting ideas generated.

Outlaw traits:

• Desires revenge and/or revolution
• Wants to destroy what is not working
• Hates being powerless or trivialized
• Tries to disrupt or shock people
• Hopes to give people radical freedom
• Is often misunderstood as evil
• Has a tendency to become a criminal

If you can keep this “personality” consistent through different
designs, consider applying it to other areas where customer interaction
happens, and pay close attention to customer reactions. You’ll build a
very strong brand.

Bonus points: People often confuse their
company’s personality with their own. Determine the archetype of the
project owner and other key people involved to differentiate individual
personalities from the company personality.

Define the fit and finish

Design traits directly support and reinforce content. Unfortunately,
traits are very hard to boil down to a visual style that’s consistently
understood across a large audience. It’s good to have groups of
opposing traits to create boundaries. This helps you clarify the
specific look of the design and gives you something to measure and
critique against when the design is up for review.

A great way to do this is to figure out the opposing traits that
significantly affect the design and put them on sliding scales. Here’s
an example:

An example of a sliding scale used to define opposing design traits.

With trait scales, the designer can get a real sense for how things
should feel to the website visitor. If the designer’s idea of “lively”
is too intense, it will be easy to debate where it lies on the calm vs.
lively scale and adjust accordingly. This can generate a lot more
constructive criticism than “it’s too intense.”

Add, delete, and change the trait scales as needed. But remember
that the criteria needs to be measurable and debatable. A trait such as
“high tech” is too dependent on the tastes and opinions of the
designer. Most of the time, a specific trait such as “high-tech” will
be a combination of broader traits, including “modern,” “simple,” and
“formal”—all of which can be easily placed on a scale and discussed by
people without design backgrounds.

Bonus points: After the project, evaluate which
sets of traits had the most impact on the project’s success and keep
track of any sets that you wish you had put in.

Design confidently

A solid and common understanding of goals, organization, layout,
personality, and fit and finish will create an environment in which you
(and the project owner) can rely on rigorously discussed and well
documented ideas. Together, you’ll create smaller margins of error,
purposeful exploration, fewer broken expectations, and, ultimately, a
better design.

Ser doctor en España

Ayer leyendo los suplementos de economía de El Mundo y El País encontré un reportaje sobre el problema de tener un doctorado en España. Apenas un 5% de las empresas valoran positivamente que sus empleados o futuros empleados tengan un doctorado. Esto es un signo de atraso de nuestro país, en Alemania o Reino Unido ser doctor supone un reconocimiento no solo académico sino social. Aquí diríase que es un signo de gente demasiado intelectual, como se desprendía del artículo en cuestión al que me refiero. Lástima que el conocimiento no se sepa gestionar aún eficientemente en nuestro país. Sigue faltando un mayor nodo de unión entre el mundo universitario que en muchas ocasiones desprecia o considera al mundo empresarial como un mundo menor o explotador. Como me decía el Decano de una Facultad de empresariales de una Universidad privada de Madrid: "Miguel, aquí el 90% de los profesores odian las empresas". Y por el lado empresarial los doctores se consideran poco "manejables" para adaptarlos a las "culturas empresariales". Lo dicho por un lado que inventen ellos y por otro también. Así que tomo nota.

10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media

10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media

Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President.

3510979839 50ba116a2f m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social MediaOur children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It’s also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you’d like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

3510970897 1e71f53fee m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates “opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms” through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. “People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak — all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs.” You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning…which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

3511782550 e3a4f6715f m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it’s certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it’s become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3510970955 e9abc77e79 m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media3. Visit White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President’s virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he’d have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He’s establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don’t have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

3511782420 3e86500d1c m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media4. Claim your Zumbox: What happens when all mail can be sent and delivered online to any street address in a paperless form? That’s the big question for Zumbox, which has created an online mail system with a digital mailbox for every U.S. street address. And while the answer to that question remains to be seen, it promises to be as liberating as it is disruptive. A key quality for Zumbox is that it’s closed system much like that of Facebook, only instead of true identity it’s true address. This will enable people to better connect with their communities including their neighbors, local businesses, and the mayor’s office. The primary agent of change, though, might not be that this uses street addresses but that it enables direct and potentially viral feedback, which is a virtue that e-mail and the USPS do not offer. The first methods are to request exclusive paperless delivery and to block a sender, but others are certain to evolve such as real-time commenting and ways to share mail with friends, family, and colleagues. Welcome to Mail 2.0. (Disclosure: Zumbox is a client of Rob Reed, the founder of Max Gladwell.)

3511782298 aecb6a094e m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media5. Host a Social Media Event: This is the year of the social media event. No meaningful gathering of people is complete without an interactive online audience, especially when it’s so easy and cost effective to pull off. Essential tools include a broadband connection, laptop, video camera, projector, and screen. Add people and a purpose, such as entrepreneurship. Promote it through social media channels, and you have a social media event. A recent example in the green world is the Evolution of Green, which was hosted by Creative Citizen, a green wiki community. It celebrated the launch of a new Web property, EcoMatters, while also establishing a new Twitter tag. By posing the question, “How can we go from green hype to green habit?” and including the #GreenQ hashtag, it sparked a conversation between attendees and the Twittersphere in real time. Thus was born a new mechanism for getting answers to green questions via Twitter.

3511782346 d39787b982 m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media6. Travel the World: More than anyone else, Tim O’Reilly knows the potential for social media to change the world. In his opening keynote at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo, he called for a new ethic in which we do more with less and create more value than we capture. This provided the context for SalaamGarage founder Amanda Koster, whose presentation followed O’Reilly’s. The idea is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience. Whether through Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. What’s more, it can be used for good. SalaamGarage coordinates trips for citizen journalists (that means you) to places like India and Vietnam in conjunction with non-government organizations like Seattle-based Peace Trees. The destination is the story, as these humanitarian journalists report on the people they meet and discoveries they make. Their words, images, and video are posted to the social web to gain exposure and because these stories just need to be told.

3510970933 4215de025b m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media7. Build It on Drupal: You may not have noticed, but the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) has quickly become the dominant player on the social web. While we still prefer WordPress as a strict blogging application, Drupal has emerged as the go-to platform for building scalable, community-driven Web sites. It powers Recovery.gov, a key part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency and accountability. PopRule uses it as a social news platform for politics. And Drupal will soon become the platform for Causecast, a site where “media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.” This is especially significant because Causecast CEO Ryan Scott is transitioning the site off of Ruby on Rails because Drupal has proved more efficient, user friendly, and cost effective. (Disclosure: Max Gladwell founder Rob Reed is co-founder of PopRule.)

3511782362 0de2746b66 m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media8. Green Your iPhone: Looking for an organic diner within biking distance that has a three-star green rating? There’s a app for that. It’s called 3rd Whale, and you can download it for free. (Except that the star rating is actually a whale rating.) Complete with Facebook Connect, this iPhone app locates green products and businesses in 30 major North American cities. It uses the iPhone’s dial function to select a category (food), sub-category (restaurants), and distance (walking, biking, or driving). In Santa Monica, this might give you Swingers diner for its selection of veggie and vegan fare. You could then get directions from your current location using the iPhone’s built-in Google map, rate your experience on the three-whale scale, and write up a quick review. 3rd Whale recently released a new feature that integrates green-living tips, which can show how much energy or waste you’ll save by taking a given action.

3510970833 cb57221988 m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media9. Unite the World Through Video: Matt’s dancing around the world video inspired many to tears. Today, more than 20 million people have viewed his YouTube masterpiece, where he performs a kooky dance with the citizens of planet earth. The most recent example of this approach is Playing for Change, which connects the world through song. The project started in Santa Monica with a street performance of the classic Stand By Me and expanded to New Orleans, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, and The Netherlands. The project was superbly executed via social media, complete with a YouTube channel, MySpace, Facebook, and Blog. It’s received tremendous mainstream media exposure and also benefits a foundation of the same name.

3510971003 fb095231da m 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media10. Rate a Company: The conversation about corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes place across the social web on blogs, Twitter, and YouTube, but a central hub for this information and opinion is still to be determined. SocialYell seeks to address this by building an online community around the CSR conversation, where users can submit reviews of companies together with nonprofit organizations and even public figures like Michelle Obama. The major topics are the Environment, Health, Social Equity, Consumer Advocacy, and Charity. The reviews are voted and commented on by the community in a Reddit-like fashion with both up (Yell) and down (shhh) voting. The site is relatively new and still gaining traction, but there’s no question that a resource like this is needed to shine a bright light on CSR and and other related issues.

11. Publish a collective, simultaneous blog post on a universal topic: As Nigel Tufnel might say, this list goes to eleven. Let the #10Ways conversation begin…

Final note: This is Max Gladwell’s third list of “10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media.” The first was posted a year ago today on Sustainablog.org, and the sequel followed five months later. If a single headline can capture the Max Gladwell raison d’etre, this is it.