Photo Cred: greencolander on flickr.

Admit it, you’ve always wanted to make beer in your closet

Who hasn’t! Well now it’s within reach, if you have $5,000 to spare ( a heck of a lot cheaper than buying your own beer company )

From the inventors:

The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery is the miracle that beer drinkers have been praying for. After 5000 years of brewing, the technology finally exists to allow you to brew the perfect beer. Your Personal Brewery is a breakthrough created by our brewmasters through a combination of their deep love of beer and their extensive knowledge of brewing.

Read more about their Brewing Methods, this ain’t your average home brew.

Who’s in for a Closet Beer Co-op?

5 years of YouTube

Mrs. Lee BusyBee knows online videos

Turns out, yesterday, on May 16, 2010, YouTube turned 5 years old, according to their Official Blog. Now pack a lunch for this kid and send them off to Kindergarten!

Oh wait, they are claiming they get 2,000,000,000 views/day. Whatever they were packed for lunch, it has worked! I guess nap times help too. They must excel at painting paper fishes too.

Why you should you care?

Too put this into perspective, 2 billion views/day is like 20 Superbowls worth of viewership potential, each and every day of the year. That’s actually 7,300 Superbowls worth of potential a year. Think your business could benefit from that potential exposure? (if done properly)

Sources:

1. The Official Blog of YouTube, May 16, 2010

If I told you that a yet to be built social network, with no Venture funding, has raised over $100,000 from “the internet”, would you believe me?

What if I told you that their goal was to raise $10,000 in individual donations, a number that was surpassed in just 12 days. As I write this post, they’ve raised $123,000 or 1230% of their target (it’s undoubtedly higher than that now).

Did I mention that the service doesn’t even exist yet? Get Out, I know!

What gives?

The internets are up in a huff (hell they have to be to part with $123,000 of their hard earned money). In many people’s view, Facebook, the worlds biggest social network, has taken too many liberties covertly changing privacy settings, holding our data hostage and generally making life on the network less fun for users and less profitable for businesses.

People are looking for another option to the omniscient Face_Over_Lord, and group of just graduated NYU students think they have the answer.

Say hello to Diaspora

Diaspora; an open source personal web server that will put individuals in control of their data.

From the Diaspora Blog

We believe that privacy and connectedness do not have to be mutually exclusive. With Diaspora, we are reclaiming our data, securing our social connections, and making it easy to share on your own terms. We think we can replace today’s centralized social web with a more secure and convenient decentralized network. Diaspora will be easy to use, and it will be centered on you instead of a faceless hub.

Click Here to View the Diaspora Project Video

Give it a Try

Oh wait, we can’t. That’s because it’s not built yet, a fact that makes this whole project 1 million times cooler. If these four dudes manage to pull off everything they say they will, this will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the coolest business founding’s the Social Web has ever seen.

So until you and I can connect on our “Privacy Aware distributed Social Network” you should click through to see the Diaspora Project Page or follow the team on Twitter. I guarantee that you’ll be hearing more about this project.

The Diaspora team is obviously tickled pink with all of our attention, just check out this quote from their blog,

Thanks to all for being so awesome, we can’t wait till our finals are over so we can get crackin’ on Diaspora! 

Freaking awesome.

PS. Here’s another group that is doing something similar. Apprently they’re further ahead (and possibly jealous of the huge popularity Diaspora has achieved already) Check them out too! Visit One Social Web for more.

Conclusion: Cats love iPads! (photo: Veronica Belmont)

Twinkles and Frisky buy an iPad

In the 28 days the iPad has officially been on the market, it has sold 1,000, 000 units.

In comparison, the iPhone only sold 1,000,000 units after 74 days.

Conclusion : Wow, CATS LOVE iPads!

Sources:

1. Apple beats iPhone pace with 1 million iPads sold, Globe and Mail, May 3, 2010

Hewlett-Packard, Palm, and someone's watch for no reason (photo: nateOne)

Don’t call it a comeback … because it isn’t

Remember all that stuff you heard about the Palm Pre? … Yeah, neither do I, and that is why this has happened, “Hewlett-Packard buys Palm“.

And, now I am just imagining a whole new smartphone that somehow uses ink cartridges, that run out when you least expect them to, possibly monthly, and can only be replaced by spending enormous amounts of money at Costco.

Count. me. out.

Sources:

1. Hewlett-Packard buys Palm, Globe and Mail, Apr.28, 2010

For some this is a reason to drink light beer. For others, not so much. Funny!

What is the Big Rock Eddies event?

“It’s an annual event held to preview amateur beer commercials. Organized as a parody on the Oscars, the evening provides much entertainment, great food, and beer – of course. Plus, we raise fund for some very deserving local charities.”(*2)

The Big Rock Brewery Eddie’s Campaign started in 1993, long before Facebook, YouTube, etc. It started with a simple premise, “Who better to make Big Rock beer commercials than those who know and love our beer?”(*1). Marketing genius? Yeah, I think so.

It’s a Win Win Win

There advantages for participants, Big Rock, and all of us.

Advantages for All of Us

With such an established event, and with all the effort that goes into it, we get to sit back and watch the fruits of participants labour, laughing often. I like that. Win.

Advantages to the Participants

Big Rock provides a healthy amount of prize money, and large scale event to promote the finalist’s work. “Eddies is a great way to generate exposure for the design industry and as an opportunity to work with … friends to make a beer commercial”(*1). As one winner said, the Eddies “super charged my design career”(*1). So, it’s fun, and it has some potential, profound, professional benefit. Yeah, that’s a win.

Advantages for Big Rock

Customers, beer lovers, designers, amateur, but creative people, all battling it out to create quality advertising for your brand. Crowd sourced marketing on steroids, where it is to all of their advantage to promote their work through various means. They started the Eddies 17 years ago, and now with the age of YouTube, etc, this campaign has really become an amazing example of how utilizing your customer’s passion, while rewarding them for it, can be of exponential benefit to your brand. The winner!

The deadline for submissions was March 31, 2010; but keep it in mind for next year if you’re interested. And, in the meantime check out some of your competition via YouTube, etc. More laughs are only a click away.

Sources:

1. AND THE BIG ROCK EDDIES CAMPAIGN GOES TO, marketwire.com, Jan.26, 2010

2. Big Rock Eddies’ Facebook Page

3. About the Eddies, bigrockbeer.com

(image: ShrinkingViolet.ca)

… And so you read some books

A few weeks ago, you started reading our blog, thinking, ‘damn socialsquared.com is so awesome’; and, then you were like, ‘whoa, I wish I was more social media savvy and could figure this stuff out a little. Like, whoa’. So, you ran down to Indigo and stocked up on social media books from their Business section. You read them all. Okay, you get it, social media has potential for you personally, and for your business. But, still, you have a few questions. Mainly, what is this social media thing again? Now what? Where to start? What then? Twitter? What’s my USP? Do I have an RSS feed? Does it matter? Should I read another book???

Stop what you are doing. If you are in Vancouver, I know where you need to start, Shrinking Violet’s, Social Media for Wallflowers.

Nice backswing, good contact, and nice follow through

I was invited to attend @shrnkngviolet‘s seminar earlier this week. There, social media coach, Chelsea Bell, lead a diverse group of people from various business backrounds, and social media abilities, through the core concepts, and real-life steps of getting started, and focused, on their online presence.

Held in a quality location overlooking a waterfront park, @Chez_Michel, it started with a delicious breakfast, so I was smiling from the beginning. From there, Chelsea guided the group through a variety of social media topics, drawing on her experiences, but focusing on the needs of the various participants. Overall, it was a well thought out, personalized, and accessible experience. Even though I am involved in social media, I was reminded of things I perhaps wasn’t as focused on as I should be, and little things I could do immediately to improve my presence. So, I was impressed with the quality of the information; but, moreover, when the seminar was done, she did not simply leave the participants hanging. Later in the day, @skrnkngviolet sent out some social media exercises, to help everyone get started; and encourage questions online. So, unlike other seminars that pump and dump you, @shrnkngviolet added immense value with her follow up. Thanks for the great experience @shrnkngviolet!

Now what?

So, if you have decided that social media is an avenue that you want to explore, and maybe even have a good idea of what it is all about, but still don’t know where to start, and what to do next; Shrinking Violet is an informal and personalized solution that can help you get there.

Need more than a seminar? Have questions right this second? No worries, @shrnkngviolet also offers 1-on-1 consultation, helping you to setup, and show you how to navigate your social media landscape, with specific attention to your needs.

To contact Chelsea or more information, go here.

(Photo cred: Tony Law/Redux)

Prepare to be impressed

With well over 340,000,000 million visits to his blog, he is most certainly the owner of the most popular blog in the world. Meet Han Han.

One of the great things about the ongoing Google vs China spat, is that it has given me a reason to further explore some of China’s usage of social media. I found my way onto one of Han Han’s popular blogs, trying to discern what it was all about, and who this guy was anyways?

Han Han, 28 years old, is a Chinese professional rally car driver, best-selling author(14 books), singer, China’s most popular blogger, magazine publisher, music producer … and also owns and operates his own online bookstore. Wow. Mini mogul alert!

“MR. Han has been reinventing himself since he dropped out of high school and promptly went on to become one of China’s best known writers. His first novel, “Triple Door,” plumbed the adolescent angst of those withering under the pressures of family and school. With two million copies in print, it is the best-selling book of the last 20 years“(*3).

So, youngish and certainly talented. What is more interesting is the content of his blog follows a similar pattern, “Since he began blogging in 2006, Mr. Han, 28, has been delivering increasingly caustic attacks on China’s leadership and the policies he contends are creating misery for those unlucky enough to lack a powerful government post. With more than 300 million hits to his blog, he may be the most popular living blogger in the world“(*3).

For those about to rock, we salute you

The most popular blog in China could be categorized as a dissenting voice to the government’s policies. Some of his posts are in fact censored by the government, but, in a country where freedom of speech is not at the forefront, his wildly popular blog remains largely intact, and allowed to continue.

For one, “Mr. Han is partly insulated by his celebrity, but also by his avoidance of the most politically charged topics.

“He uses humor and wit to laugh at the injustices he sees,” said Mr. Ran, whose own blog is blocked in China and available only to those with the technical means to hop over the Great Firewall. “Perhaps the reason he’s tolerated is because he does not name names directly and he doesn’t go after the heart of the problem, which is China’s one-party dictatorship.”

His other trump card is his financial independence. With 14 books to his name and a successful career as a race car driver, he is not susceptible to pressures that constrain other critics, many of them academics or journalists whose jobs tend to evaporate when their public musings cross an invisible line.”(*3)

Furthermore, “when his anti-establishment writings began to affect his parents’ state-run jobs, Mr. Han encouraged them to retire early, offering to support them financially”(*3).

Fire!

In a way, this is perhaps the best example of how content trumps flash on the internet. You need things to be attractive, pizazzy, yes; but it is the content, the story, that will keep people coming back.

Living the dream

“Despite the sarcasm and griping, Mr. Han is an optimist at heart. The Internet, he says, will eventually prod China toward greater openness. No army of censors can completely constrain free expression. “I think the government really regrets the Internet,” he said, pausing for effect. “Originally, they thought it would be like the newspaper or the television — just another way to get their view out to the people. What they didn’t realize is that people can type and talk back. This is giving them a really big headache“(*3).

Nice work Han Han!!! … you are our Zen Master. Respect.

Sources:

1. Han Han, http://blog.sina.com.cn/twocold

2. Han Han, Wikipedia.

3.Heartthrob’s Blog Challenges China’s Leaders, NYTimes.com, Mar.12, 2010

In this Video: Generation Y and New Technology: How companies can prepare for fast approaching global connectivity

This video and post were created by Filip Matous, a London based GenY consultant at Naked Generations. Go say hi to him on Twitter (we want him to do more cool interviews from across the Atlantic for us!)

Global Connectivity, Anywhere

Thomas Friedman warned us, in 2004, that businesses were no longer restricted by borders and explained the future of outsourcing and communication. His words have proven largely true.

Today, I sit in a London café with my headphones on and laptop, chatting with a logo designer in Canada via Skype, then I move on to discussing a live Ustream video conference with a mate in Idaho. Later I take an incoming chat with a biz partner 30 minutes away, passing research files back and forth. I take another ten minutes to leave a comment on a blog post from a New York blogger, pay for my tea and leave.

Later that day I finish editing this video and upload it to YouTube so that can be viewed virtually anywhere in the world, on computers, iPhones etc. Then the video ends up in Vancouver, Canada for socialsquared.com.

Consequences of Anywhere Connectivty

In this video, I had the chance to speak with Emily Nagle Green CEO of global connectivity experts, Yankee Group. She discusses her book ANYWHERE: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business. From amazon.com:

A pill bottle helps health care professionals monitor patients taking medication. A vending machine reports its own inventory over a wireless network. A telephone speeds checkout by serving as a debit card in retail stores around the world.

The future of the world—and business— is ubiquitous connectivity, the total interconnection of people, ideas, and products through a global digital network. As the network grows and the world of data expands, every citizen will have instant access to virtually anything he or she wants.

Where is this network? Anywhere. And you must learn to use it to the fullest if your business is to thrive in the coming years.

Questions Covered in our 6mins

What does ANYWHERE mean?

What are the main signs that global connectivity is rushing at us?

How does a small business prepare and benefit from connectivity?

How can a company learn from and harness their GenYs to become tech savvy?

What are the consequences of failing to prepare for ANYWHERE connectivity?

If you like this post, leave a comment! Otherwise Filip won’t interview cool people for us anymore!

(photo : @6S)

What is Foursquare?

“People use foursquare to “check-in”, which is a way of telling us your whereabouts … cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices … Think of foursquare as an “urban mix tape” … We’ll help you make lists of your favorite things to do and let you share them with friends … As you check-in around the city, you’ll start finding tips that other users have left behind”(http://foursquare.com). So, a mix of social media and networking game.

Foursquare is evolving into analytics for businesses

When you sign up for the social media application, Foursquare, you are consenting to having your location and some personal information passed onto fellow users, but you can set your privacy settings. The application essentially knows where you are, how long you have been there, and the places you frequent.

Now, as reported in the NY Times ‘BITS’ blog, some of that information will be made available to the businesses that users are ‘check’ing into. A free to business, analytics format with the intent of promoting the needs of the Foursquare community to businesses.

(photo : BITS blog)

Businesses will be watching you. Some say creepy, some say great. What do you think?

Advantage for businesses?

Businesses should be salivating at the idea of access to these free analytics, that can give some valuable information, as to the actions and needs of their customers. In turn, it gives the business an opportunity to reach out to their best, or worst, customers; attempting to develop a more reciprocal relationship. Fantastic for the business. A lot of opportunity there from an analytics and service standpoint.

Advantages for consumers?

The idea is that businesses will be able to better pinpoint your wants and needs, leading to better service and targeted promotions in those areas, and even targeted promotions to specific users. Ultimately, you should get more of what you want, at a better price. Seems like a win. Although, some Foursquare users are not thrilled with the idea of potentially being contacted in any way by the businesses.

What do you think? Are you a Foursquare user? Does this new level of analytics for businesses affect the way you will interact with the application/game?

Sources:

1.Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses, NY Times.com, march 9, 2010.