With March Madness finally winding down (always trickles into April), I figured I’d quickly blog about a few things that caught my eye over the last few weeks:
- The top Google searches in Canada over the 12 months are “facebook” & “youtube”. Proves that: a.) People don’t use URL’s b.) The internet is primarily a social platform.
- The term “social marketing” , properly defined here , is being misused left, right, and centre. Now Shaklee has filed an application to trademark the term, and true social marketers are in an uproar (rightfully so). You can follow the discussion by joining the Social Marketing Listserv.
- Thanks to R. Craig Lefebvre, there is once again talk of creating a Global Social Marketing Community. Let’s turn talk into action by getting involved!
- Public Safety Canada has launched a Social Media Press Release for their Emergency Preparedness campaign. Much more yet to come (full disclosure: PSC is a client of mine).
- University of Ottawa incorporates social media into its recruiting initiative Seek To Know
- Twitter hits 8 million users and increases the slope of its growth curve even more!
- Twitter potentially going to be bought by Google for a massive sum. Here’s a good explanation why in case you’re jealous.
- Twitter hashtagging is rising in popularity and in the number of potential applications. Search/follow the latest hashtags here.
- Changecamp Ottawa is gaining momentum and will surely catch the attention of some key public servant decision makers. Follow the Twitter hashtag here: #changecampottawa.
- Malcolm Gladwell is coming to Ottawa thanks to United Way. You can get your tix here.
- Rahaf Harfoush (member of Obama’s new media team) will be speaking at Marcom 2009 in Toronto.
- A plethora of new entries have appeared on the Government 2.0 Best Practices Wiki that I haven’t even had a chance to look at.
- The #gov20 Twitter hashtag is seeing lots of usage.
Ok, that’s my 5 minute midnight spontaneous brain dump. Upon re-reading it I realized that Twitter dominates the list. No surprise there. I’m finding myself using Twitter (via Tweetdeck) more than ever. Why? Like all social apps, the more people that use it, the more beneficial the tool. From a marketing/communications perspective (public or private sector), Twitter is an absolute dream come true. Remember, the key secret is the fact that you have the ability to FILTER conversations (e.g. Twitter Search).
For continuous live brain dumps like this be sure to follow my tweets: twitter.com/mikekujawski