Eco-Friendly Digital Marketing Internship

This week a new Firefox plug-in that allows drunken social media users to monitor their actions on sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, and G-mail was released. All a user has to do is download the plug-in and create settings that will allow their drunken posts to never make it on the Internet. Users will have to set their hours of intoxication and if they try to log onto their social media sites they will be asked to pass a sobriety test before they are allowed access. The test asks the users to complete what should be a simple task of typing the alphabet backwards, but that’s sometimes even hard to do sober.

The plug-in is not available for mobile phone applications though, so when a person is out drinking at the bar they can update their Facebook status and send out as many e-mails as they want, whether they’d like to or not.

Visit Mashable’s “Don’t Drink and Facebook: New Plugin Mitigates the Fallout”

Photo Credit: Zazzle

If you use Foursquare and plan to vote this year get ready to receive an “I Voted” Foursquare badge. Foursquare is trying to encourage civic participation this year with the introduction of a Foursquare badge that will be given to users that check in to one of the 107,000 recorded polling places. Any user that checks in and includes the hashtag “#ivoted” will receive the badge.  Not only will users receive a badge but people will be able to visualize voting trends throughout the country. Foursquare has set up a website that includes interactive real-time maps that show check-in numbers and locations, data on the total number of check-ins, and even breakdowns of the gender of those who voted.

Foursquare has teamed up with MTV’s Rock the Vote, Pew Center, Google, and the Voting Information Project to continue the growing trend in the number of voters seen in 2008. Similar to Twitter’s #VoteReport, seen in the 2008 election, Foursquare wants to keep real-time data for all to see. The company is also hoping this years results will help them to develop a similar project for 2012. For more information, visit Foursquare’s election site.

Photo Credit – Mashable

Photo Source – TEDxDetroit

This Wednesday, September 29, 2010, the team at Ingenex Digital Marketing and I will head to downtown Detroit to attend TEDxDetroit. TEDxDetroit is held at the Detroit Institute of Art on Wayne State University’s campus. It runs from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and is free to people who register (although a $21 donation is encouraged).

TEDxDetroit is an annual event that brings together CEOs, scientists, creatives, and other extraordinary speakers. The list of speakers was released last week and it looks to me that there is going to be a variety of interesting speakers this year. The list of speakers is as follows:

• Jeff DeGraff, Dean of Innovation, Competing Values
• Dianne Marsh, CEO & Technologist, SRT Solutions
• Geoff Horst, Chief Science Officer, Algal Scientific Corporation
• Paul Savage, CEO, Nextek Power Systems
• Stephen Clark, Interactive anchor & Reporter, WXYZ Detroit
• Erik Proulx, Filmmaker, Lemonade the Movie & Lemonade Detroit
• Karl Gude, Visual Journalist & Professor, Newsweek/MSU
• Ben Bator & Lauren Leto, Founders, TFLN
• Paul Nielsen, Geek, Entrepreneur, Magician, Wunderground Magic
• Jerry Paffendorf & Mary Lorene Carter, Founders, Loveland
• Steve Kahn, Professor & Founder, WSU Math Corps
• Victor Green, Director, Community Relations, WSU
• Kami Pothukuchi, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, SEED & WSU
• Henry Balanon, Founder, Bickbot
• Will Smidlein, Boy Wonder, Null Fear
• Bil Moore, Solutions Consultant, Strategic Products & Services
• Anuja Rajendra, Creator and CEO, BollyFit
• Dave Blair, Performance Artist
• Jocelyn Rainey, J Rainey Gallery
• Jim Scapa, CEO, Altair Engineering
• Rick Devos, Founder, ArtPrize
• Jessica Care Moore, Moore Black Press
• Herman Moore, Entrepreneur & Detroit Lions Hall of Famer

With so many diverse speakers idea spreading, one of the main reasons for TEDx, is sure to occur. By putting so many cool, creative, and talented people in the room there are going to be a lot of ideas flying around. I’m very excited to head down to Detroit for my first, and hopefully not my last, TEDxDetroit experience.

If you’re like me you probably check your Twitter almost every time you log onto the Internet. So it is no surprise that yesterday morning as I was waiting for class to begin I visited Twitter. What was a surprise was the fact that I could not view anyone’s tweets without a confusing popup showing up on my screen and my Twitter began auto-retweeting a user I had never heard of. I was at first confused but then news came out that someone had hacked Twitter and was causing all of these problems.

Two people are attempting to take credit of the social media sites security flaw. Pierce Delphin, a 17 year old from Australia, and Masato Kinugawa, a Japanese developer, are the two to blame. Delphin says he released the flaw by tweeting a code that caused the pop-ups to appear on users screens. Delphin states that he did it just “to see if it could be done [and that he] had no idea it was going to take off how it did.” Delphin hopes he can avoid getting punishment but exposing a security flaw could get him into trouble.

It seems that Delphin was not alone in creating the security flaw. Japanese developer Madato Kinugawa is also being blamed for the Twitter flaw. It is believed that Delphin created the code and Kinugawa modified it. Kinugawa used the modification to not only expose Twitter’s security flaw but to also make his tweets colored.

Within hours of the security flaws discovery Twitter had patched the problem. But this brings questions to all Twitter users. How safe is Twitter and how can they ensure that their page has enough security so this does not happen again?

Although the code affected thousands of Twitter users, it did not affect Twitter use on mobile applications, so users with smart phones were free to tweet away.

Photo Source – TechXter

While being an intern at Ingenex Digital Marketing, one of the areas of digital media that I have gained a lot of insight into is the world of social media. Social media and the phenomenon it has become, has created a platform through which companies, and individuals alike, can share their voice. We live in a world that has been profoundly changed by the interaction between technology and humanity. Social media has allowed companies a way to take action and take hold of the power of social networking. It has increased fundraising and charitable efforts while creating a new level of insight for both the company and the consumer.

Technology has continued to play an unprecedented role in creating opportunities and bringing awareness to causes that otherwise may go unnoticed. Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, are all powerful platforms that can create change and promote action. They have all united users around the world and brought an awareness to important issues ranging from poverty to animal rights.

Endorse for a Cause is a charitable social organization that has just recently announced its social media platform with a big list of charity-based launch partners including the American Cancer Society, American Red Cross and HandsOn Network. The new platform allows users to share their online purchases, or retail site links, with their friends via Twitter and Facebook. When you and your friends visit the retailer sites and make purchases, Endorse for a Cause collects money from the retailer and in-turn gives most of that money to your favorite Cause. They have over 500 online retailers and the number continues to grow. When you join and your friends join and your friend’s friends join, you are not only creating an impact, you are also helping to make supporting a cause social.

Derek Mehraban, Professor of Michigan State University’s New Media Driver’s License and CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing in Ann Arbor, Michigan has been ranked as the #23 Top Marketing Professor on Twitter by the Social Media Marketing Magazine.

About the Top Marketing Professors on Twitter list:

The magazines Co-Publisher Kent Huffman, CMO at BearCom Wireless compiled the list as an exclusive for the magazine. To be considered as a top marketing professor on twitter, the professors, located all around the world, must meet the following criteria:

• Have at least 500 followers on Twitter
• Provide useful information and actively engage with those followers
• Demonstrate that they understand the best methods for social media marketing outlets such as Twitter

Derek Mehraban and the New Media Driver’s License at Michigan State University:

Derek Mehraban (@Mehraban) started this venture as a professor at Michigan State University in the spring of 2009, with the kick-off for the New Media Driver’s License class. He and Co-Instructor Dr Richard Cole, Chairman for the Department of Advertising, Public Relations & Retailing worked together to develop the class as an opportunity for students within the college to gain exposure to new media and its effect on marketing and advertising.

According to Mehraban, “The goal of the New Media Driver’s License is to certify students in new media so that they can go on after the conclusion of the course and use new media and digital marketing in their career, job search and everyday life. The course has proven itself as a great learning experience for college students, which is why we also offer it as a life long education course and for corporations.”

The semester-long class meets twice physically during the semester, with weekly assignments due on the New Media Driver’s License website. The assignments are submitted in blog format and teach students the ins and outs of blogging, rules for online public relations, digital presentation skills, search engine optimization techniques,  and how to build you personal online profile.

An innovative digital marketing professional at Ingenex Digital Marketing and new media professor at Michigan State University, it is no wonder that Derek Mehraban has the twitter following to place him in the ranks of Top Marketing Professors followed on Twitter.

A Special Thank You to Kent Huffman and the Social Media Marketing Magazine for publishing the Top Marketing Professors on Twitter.

Check out the New Media Driver’s License website, http://NewMediaDL.com

Follow Derek Mehraban on Twitter, @Mehraban

Google Chrome is the newest addition to the Web browser game. According to recent browser stats, Chrome is ranked number 3 as of May. The folks at Google have implemented an interactive marketing strategy that allows designers and programmers to create “Experiments” for visitors using Javascript, HTML5, Canvas, and more. It has been tagged as “Not Your Mother’s Javascript,” and indeed, it is much more. One such designer, Mr. Doob, created Harmony- a procedural drawing tool. By clicking around, I made this:

It’s not much in the way of art, but it is quick, easy, accessible, and an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon researching at Ingenex Digital Marketing. Other experiments are more geared toward gaming such as Stewart Smith’s “Browser Pong” and Paul Brunt’s “Bert’s Breakdown”. Google is taking submissions and posts the best experiments so design away.

Developers at Google have also developed a race across the internet called Chrome Fastball. Google takes you on a scavenger hunt around the internet. Time yourself and see how quickly you can tweet, find a bike route, or translate text. See if you can beat me!

Social Media, Twitter, Blog, RSS, many words and phrases used today to describe components of digital marketing. But maybe you are wondering what these words and phrases mean, or maybe you are having a hard time explaining it to someone else.

If that is the case, I introduce you to, Common Craft, a company based out of Seattle, Washington that produces simple, short and informational videos “in plain english.” Each video features paper cut outs, increasing the ease of comprehension.

Simply put,  Common Craft, is a simple company, that gives perfect explanations, and that is all there is to it. This video is one of the many technology related videos on the website, and will explain “Blogs in Plain English:”

Now that you have see the Common Craft explanation of a blog,  visit other Ingenex blog pots:

• The Digital Bus, to learn about digital marketing from the professionals at Ingenex
• Eco-Friendly Internship Blog, to find out what is new in digital marketing and eco-friendly from the interns at Ingenex
• New Media Drivers License, will feature posts by students as they learn about new media in the course instructed by Derek Mehraban, Ingenex CEO

Twitter, the simple 140 character status update social media site is experimenting with more opportunities in the realm of trending topics to advance their availability of digital marketing opportunities.

Twitter trending topics allow Twitter users to see what other users in their chosen geographic location (country or well-known city) are talking about. By clicking on the topic, users can see all updates that contain that topic.

Recently Twitter confirmed that Pixar paid for a trending topic placement for the recently released Toy Story 3. The topic was marked as “Promoted” taking away any potential hidden issues.

Thank You Flickr User: tsand

There is no doubt that somewhere in the release of Twitter updates there is a hidden potential for high volume advertising media placements. The question I find myself asking now is if paid trending topics is the answer. A few things to think about:

THE TWITTER USER:
If trending topics are paid for, does that take away the relevancy and uniqueness of the feature? It is possible that followers of trending topics will lose interest in the feature all together if it is overly populated with paid placements.

As an advantage, keeping the ads in the trending topic field may discourage growth of ads within the Twitter updates field and crowded banners, taking away from personalized Twitter backgrounds.

THE TWITTER PROMOTER:
The company sponsoring the promoted tweet has an opportunity to take control of their reach on the social media platform and increase conversation, but only to a certain extent. What happens if the topic is negatively tagged and  revealed upon following the trending topic updates? This presents itself to be more of a problem for competing brands than for “Toy Story 3,” but a concern all the same.

TWITTER:
Will this earn enough revenue as an ad source? Currently, the program requires a double-click for payment, which means that the twitter user has to click on the trending topic, and then on the link within the actual tweet. Do enough Twitter users follow the link to make the program worth the potential of losing the relevancy of trending topics? And is there more opportunity for Twitter to attract competing brands to this platform?

It may not be a bad idea for Twitter to limit who has access to the trending topic spots, like movies, non-profit organizations or other less competitive companies.

Twitter has shown its potential, now it is up to them to decide what to do. The idea of promoted trending topics as a use of digital marketing is growing on me (possibly because Toy Story 3 was a pilot promotion to the idea) as a way to make Twitter users aware of things that may have been outside of their radar. However, if not well thought out before implementation, Twitter could have quite a mess on its hands.