Monthly Archives: June 2009

Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to Harvard research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a study of 300,000 users found.

Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

The Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter updated their page less than once every 74 days.

And most people only ever “tweet” once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

“Based on the numbers, Twitter is certainly not a service where everyone who has seen it has instantly loved it,” said Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard Business School who carried out the work.

On a typical online social network, he said, the top 10% of users accounted for 30% of all production.

“This implies that Twitter’s resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network,” the team wrote in a blog post.

Twitter is a social networking website where people can post messages of up to 140 characters – known as tweets – that can be seen by other users who subscribe to their feed.

Its growth has been described as “explosive” and it has become the poster child of social networking sites, particularly among media companies.

“Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends”
Bill Heil

Recent figures from research firm Nielsen Online show that visitors to the site increased by 1,382%, from 475,000 to seven million, between February 2008 and February 2009

Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company Ltd has tweaked its online marketing strategy yet again. In addition to the recently launched www.blenzstore.com which provides products to Blenz coffee, tea and chocolate fans worldwide, and blenzcares.com which supports charity and fundraising drives with a turnkey coffee distribution program, Blenz has now taken a turn onto the new and rapidly growing branch called Twitter.

Blenz uses Twitter to announce special events, store openings, and promotions.
Blenz Daily Twitter Sweepstakes launched on www.Twitter.com on Monday, sparking an immediate flurry of “tweets” among the social media mavens and fans, and Blenz followers grew from 0 to over 300 in just a matter of hours. On Monday morning, BlenzCoffee (@blenzcoffee) tweeted that George Moen, president of Blenz, wants to buy you a coffee – mention Blenz in your tweet, and your tweet may be chosen as the Tweet of the Day.

The first Blenz Daily Twitter Sweepstakes winner, Shane Gibson (@shanegibson), was impressed when his $5.00 gift card was hand-delivered by George himself, who happened to be in the neighbourhood that afternoon. Shane was so excited by the transaction that within minutes he had posted a picture recording the event, and his post was re-tweeted by one of his followers, and so on, and so on…
Blenz activity in Twitterworld has resulted in a myriad of benefits, including more personalized relationships with Blenz customers, attracting new customers to Blenz stores, and reinforcing the Blenz brand in the local market.

Blenz online marketing philosophy is well communicated in this quote, from the site where Sweepstakes Winners are sent to claim their prizes, “We use this format to connect with our existing and future customers in a respectful manner because we believe that companies of any size can have a direct relationship with their customers.”

About Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company Ltd™
Blenz The Canadian Coffee Company Ltd is a premium retailer of handcrafted coffee, tea and other innovative and delicious specialty beverages. All of Blenz’ beverages are made in-store from only the highest quality ingredients available. Blenz’ commitment to serving a great cup of coffee, providing an excellent customer experience, and providing world-class staff training, has fueled Blenz’ growth from its inception. Blenz operates a network of over 85 franchise locations in British Columbia, Japan, China, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Philippines.

Find Blenz on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BlenzCoffee

Business Wire, exhibiting at the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) 2009 Annual Conference, will be highlighting its improved press release presentation at its Business Wire is High Definition booth.

Business Wire’s superior formatting and delivery technology will demonstrate the continued benefit of using a widely-distributed press release — including full financial tables — as the cornerstone of disclosure strategy, rather than a standalone web posting or a “Notice & Access” release which requires market participants to attempt to retrieve financial results from a company’s servers.

The Business Wire model of a widely-distributed financial press release conforms to NIRI’s Standards of Practice for Investor Relations regarding Earnings Release Content, which states that the best practice for financial statements is to “provide sufficient line item information for the investor to follow the calculation from revenue to net income.”

Business Wire’s advanced press release features include:

Delivery via Business Wire’s exclusive, patented NX platform. NX provides high-speed, simultaneous transmission of Business Wire’s technologically and aesthetically advanced news file to all recipients, including analysts, institutional investors, retail investors and financial information systems.
Exclusive XHTML formatting, enhancing press release functionality by embedding multimedia and data tags, as well as enhancing SEO through search-engine-friendly style benefits, such as embedded hyperlinks, bolds, and bulleted lists.
Earnings tables are presented in a format that closely mirrors the original spreadsheet presentation — wider tables, with underlined headers that can be cut and pasted into a spread sheet.
Delivery of XBRL-tagged financials. Business Wire offers complete in-house tagging and delivery of financial results in XBRL, helping companies to meet the SEC mandate on XBRL.
NewsTrak reports which provide measurement information including press release views, referring links, click-throughs and other crucial audience data.
Business Wire’s industry-leading technology and presentation make the press release more valuable than ever as the leading tool for maintaining best practices in disclosure.

When you distribute material news via Business Wire, your financials are available to all market participants simultaneously. Institutional investors, retail investors, automated financial news systems and algorithmic trading systems (which now comprise 40 percent of total US equities trading) all have instantaneous, simultaneous access to your financial results and other material news. Because our patented NX Network is push-driven and bi-directional for verification of receipt, capital markets and thousands of media have access to your press release. This model also fits with the SEC’s XBRL mandate, making your tagged financials instantly consumable by investors, analysts and financial news systems.

In contrast, Notice & Access releases require market participants to come to your servers, via a variety of routes, to retrieve your financials which must then be transferred manually, increasing the risk of errors and/or slowdowns in trading decisions and news delivery. Delivery is non-simultaneous, as users may access yours at different times and download speeds. These limitations in technology and information flow can increase the cost of capital for issuers and result in less efficient, less transparent markets.

Further information on the advantages of wire disclosure over “Notice & Access” and web posting will be available via a set of handouts available at the Business Wire booth.

Business Wire will also be hosting XBRL educational opportunities at the conference, with XBRL School. Disclosure and XBRL expert Gary Purnhagen will lead six 45-minute sessions on Monday, June 8 and Tuesday, June 9, to teach attendees all they need to know about XBRL, including what it is, how it fits each company’s mission statement, and what the SEC’s rules are regarding XBRL.

Visit Business Wire at Booth #312 & 314 to register for any of the XBRL School sessions and to register to win a Blu-Ray player and Blu-Ray discs in a raffle to be drawn at the conference.

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by tens of thousands of member companies and organizations worldwide to functionally enhance and communicate investor relations and public relations content to target audiences. As a recognized disclosure service in the United States, Canada and a dozen European countries, Business Wire facilitates the simultaneous flow of market-moving press releases from corporations to financial markets and their audiences, including regulatory authorities, media, investors, financial information systems and consumer news services. Business Wire also handles XBRL tagging, document formatting and regulatory filing into EDGAR, SEDAR, FSA and other systems.

Communications professionals turn to Business Wire to optimize and issue press releases, photos and multimedia to news organizations, journalists, trade publications, search engines, and individuals, with full-text posting to web sites, online services and databases. A range of distribution options enables members to target by geography, industry, news theme and audience demographics.

Founded in 1961, Business Wire has dual headquarters in San Francisco and New York, with 30 bureaus in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney and reciprocal offices throughout the world. Business Wire’s patented NX data platform supports XML, XHTML and XBRL code that enhances news release interactivity, social media sharing and search engine optimization. More information about Business Wire and its services is located on its website at www.BusinessWire.com.

Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, Inc. (www.mmimarketing.com), a Raleigh-based public relations firm, has announced the release of a podcast outlining the public relations applications of Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging website that is growing in popularity. In the podcast, MMI new media specialist Bobby McDonald discusses how to use Twitter, who is using Twitter and what benefits Twitter provides for public relations professionals. MMI is launching the podcast as part of its initiative to provide a full range of new media services to clients.

The podcast is now available for download at www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/mmi-new-media-specialist-discusses-twitters-public-relations-applications.

Visit MMI on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MMIAssociates.

News Facts:
• Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, Inc. (www.mmimarketing.com), a Raleigh-based public relations firm, has announced the release of a podcast outlining the public relations applications of Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging website that is growing in popularity.
• In the podcast, MMI new media specialist Bobby McDonald discusses how to use Twitter, who is using Twitter and what benefits Twitter provides for public relations professionals.
• MMI is launching the podcast as part of its initiative to provide a full range of new media services to clients.
• The podcast is now available for download at www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/mmi-new-media-specialist-discusses-twitters-public-relations-applications.
• Visit MMI on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MMIAssociates.

Quotes:
“Twitter is an exciting frontier for conversations drawn from all kinds of social circles,” said Briguglio. “There is tremendous opportunity for people and businesses to weave ideas into a larger discussion.”

About MMI Associates, Inc.:
MMI Associates, Inc. is a full-service public relations firm offering a wide range of services to help clients achieve measurable results in brand awareness, name recognition, market penetration and crisis management. Established in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona, this award-winning firm was named one of the top 10 public relations firms in the state. In North Carolina, the Triangle Business Journal’s Book of Lists has recognized MMI as one of the top five public relations firms in the Triangle. The firm has received numerous awards for its work and was awarded the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 and 2008 Pinnacle Award for Steady Growth and Profitability, and was named a Best Place to Work by the Triangle Business Journal. For more information, please call (919) 233-6600 or visit the Web site at www.mmimarketing.com.

Veteran web copywriting company Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial, LLC, has relaunched with a new name, new website, and several new services. Now called Sumèr, LLC, the Charleston-based company specializes in web copywriting, SEO copywriting, and the marketing and promotion of websites after ch.

Marketing a business online differs greatly from marketing offline. For many business owners, necessary online marketing techniques such as optimization for the web and social media marketing sound like a foreign language.

“Over fifty percent of websites disappear within three years of launching,” says S?mèr president, Michelle Salater. “Even with hard work, a good idea, and well-written copy, sites often fail to connect to their target audience. In order for businesses to survive online, many need help connecting to their customers from someone who understands the ways of the web.”

Sumèr, LLC, helps clients around the country who are passionate about their brand message, dedicated to great results, and willing to make the investment required to fulfill their goals. With a focus on keeping websites current and search-engine friendly, S?mèr offers four services geared toward generating exposure and maintaining a robust online presence. These innovative services include Web Copywriting, Rank Your Site, Life after Launch, and Optimized Press Releases.

“Our name is inspired by the Sumerian civilization,” says Salater. “Their innovation inspired us to approach websites and online marketing possibilities in a more comprehensive way. From SEO web copy to the promotion of websites after launch, we are reinventing how companies communicate and connect to their target audience by providing a clear message and sharing that unique message with the world.”

Sumèr’s website describes the services offered in detail and features an ezine, S?mèr’s Secrets. In each issue, readers discover how to market their businesses and drive traffic to their websites without spending a fortune, while expanding their customer base and accelerating profits. Subscribers learn about marketing tools such as ezines and email marketing and receive special promotions on services and upcoming events such as teleseminars and workshops.

According to Salater, “Sumèr’s philosophy revolves around the power of personal connection, with the hope that capitalism across the globe can be healed through conscious entrepreneurship in small businesses and large corporations. Anything is possible—and great things can happen if everyone learns to communicate effectively.”

About Sumèr, LLC:
Sumèr, LLC, is a unique web marketing company located in Charleston, South Carolina, specializing in web copywriting, SEO copywriting, and the promotion and marketing of websites after they launch. Approaching websites and online marketing possibilities in a more comprehensive way, Sumèr’s mission is to continuously help clients craft a simplified message that clearly conveys their vision and objectives.

In a world where people barely have time to gesture a friendly wave to a neighbor or stand in line long enough for fast food, micro-blogging Twitter has found an effective and increasingly acceptable place within todays micro-managing society.

GreenNationGardens.com is accommodationg busy customers with lightning fast updates and announcements.
“While email delivers relevant information to customers such as feature articles, tips, updates and pricing, it does not measure up to the real time value of Twitter”, explains Mark Pappas, Co-owner of Internet based retailer, Green Nation Gardens. Twitter is a real time blogging platform where members can follow one another, reading short entries from each member. Of course, the idea is to let each other know what you are doing.

Green Nation Gardens recognizes the advantages of sending out frequent updates to customers and fellow Twitter followers including up to the minute price changes, new product listings and select articles featured on the E-commerce site. Pappas goes on to say, “Twitter is the perfect communication machine and this is the perfect time to change the way we stay in contact with a busy and fast paced society.” You can follow Green Nation Gardens at http://www.Twitter.com/GreenNation

Mark Pappas, is Co-owner of Green Nation Gardens, a leading Internet retailer of Green Living Products for Home and Garden. You can visit Green Nation Gardens at http://www.GreenNationGardens.com

The Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition, announced the 2009 award winners to highlight this year’s “best of the best” in interactive media production.

The Carlsbad Department of Development, located in Carlsbad, New Mexico, was recognized for their excellence with a Bronze award for the government website category.

“This is a fantastic honor,” said John Waters, Executive Director of the Carlsbad Department of Development. “We spent many hours planning and designing our website to be as user-friendly to site selectors, current residents and people moving to Carlsbad. Our entire team works very hard to make our website as up to date and accurate as possible. Receiving this award was a surprise and I am glad the efforts of our entire team are recognized.”

The eighth annual, international competition saw just over 2000 entries from 32 countries around world and nearly all 50 of the United States of America. An international panel of judges, consisting of industry professionals with diverse backgrounds, as well as an end user panel evaluated 19 different categories ranging from online advertising to video games. The 2009 winning entries showcase the industry’s best interactive media solutions including web sites, CDs and DVDs, online ads, video and more.

“The 2009 competition was an all new level for the competition,” said Mike Sauce – Founder of the Horizon Interactive Awards. “The overall quality of entries was far and away the best we have ever had and judging was very competitive. Year after year, we are amazed at the level of creativity and overall technical excellence of the entries that are recognized by the competition. They truly are the best of the best!”

In its 8th year, the Horizon Interactive Awards was created to recognize excellence in interactive media production worldwide. Since 2001, the competition has received many thousands of entries from countries around the world and nearly all 50 US States. Each year, those entries are narrowed down to the best of the best to be recognized and promoted on and international stage for their excellence. The judging process involves a Horizon Interactive Awards advisory panel, end user panel and a worldwide panel of judges consisting of industry professionals. For more information, visit www.horizoninteractiveawards.com.

The Carlsbad Department of Development (CDOD) is a private non-profit agency incorporated as a 501(c)(6) organization in 1966. The membership of the CDOD represents over 100 chief executive officers in industry, business and finance, the City of Carlsbad, Eddy County Board of Commissioners, New Mexico State University-Carlsbad, and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. The goal of the CDOD is to promote the economic and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Carlsbad and South Eddy County through job retention and creation by recruiting new industry, identifying new job opportunities, expanding and retaining existing business and diversifying their economy. For more information, visit www.developcarlsbad.org.

The Carlsbad Department of Development promotes the economic and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Carlsbad and South Eddy County, New Mexico.

PRESSMART, a global leader in the interactive digital publishing solutions, today announced the availability of its eMag 3.0, a highly advanced digital publishing and delivery solution, to enable publishers world over offer a new, compelling and enriching experience to their users over the web.

The new version provides faster rendering engine and a striking new interface making Pressmart a very powerful-hosted print-to-online publishing service.

The feature rich eMag 3.0 offers 3D Thumbnails, Superior caching technology, Article text view and Multi-format XML based delivery that place the news back in a format that users can use on a multitude of devices including Mobile, RSS and Audio. It also enables management of Subscriptions, Ads, Analytics and Support in a single view.

“The eMag 3.0 offers deep analytics into the digital edition online traffic and user reading behavior, giving invaluable insight to the editorial and ad marketing teams of a publication.” said Sanjiv Gupta, Founder and Executive Chairman of Pressmart. “Customers can also launch their new media platform faster, far more efficiently and cost effectively”.

Readers demand for content that is more interactive, rich and ‘now’, scattered across different virtual channels is rapidly increasing. Traditional online sites do not carry the print brand online and lack the interactivity and richness of the eMag 3.0 interface.

With Pressmart’s on-demand digital platform Publishers can go digital on web, mobile, podcast and RSS in a matter of minutes even if they do not have technical knowledge. Additionally it offers access to state-of-art marketing, subscription and advertising tools using which Publishers can start monetizing from digital delivery from almost day one.

About Pressmart
Pressmart (www.pressmart.com) powers the digital editions of publications in 22 languages from 47 countries on Web, Mobile, RSS, Podcast, and other digital channels. Millions of users across the world access a digital edition powered by Pressmart. Publishers get Conversion, Hosting, Subscriptions, Ads and Analytics – packaged in a single easy-to-use service.

Cyber-Duck, a multi-award winning London web design agency today announced that is has won two prestigious, international Communicator Awards 2009, for the second consecutive year.

LONDON, UK- Cyber-Duck, a multiple award winning London web design agency today announced that is has won the prestigious, international Communicator Award 2009, for the second consecutive year.

The Communicator Awards are endorsed by the highly-renowned International Academy of the Visual Arts and recognise outstanding achievement and excellence in media production, honouring the media projects that demonstrate the highest level of international skills and expertise.

The judging panel awarded Cyber-Duck their Award of Distinction accolade for Anton Kreil – The Blog. Judges were impressed by the clean, corporate feel of the blog which is beautifully juxtaposed between intelligent and witty writing and sleek flash animation.

The 2009 Communicator Awards, held in the US, received over 7000 entries, making it “the most prestigious award of its kind,” according to Linda Day, Executive Director of the International Academy of the Visual Arts.

She continued, “Being honoured with a Communicator Award is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to the work that [the winners] do.”

The London web design company received its second Communicator Award this year for its design and development of the Halcyon Gallery website. Halcyon required a sleek, clean and uncluttered design to support the fine artwork being showcased via the site.

Thanks to Cyber-Duck’s user-centred web design ethic, the new Halcyon website (http://www.halcyongallery.com/) is incredibly easy to use with a tailor-made navigation system and an overall look and feel that supports the gallery’s existing branding. Judges were impressed with the site’s simple interactive slideshow system used on the homepage which allows user to browse the collections currently on show at the gallery.

This is the second consecutive year in which Cyber-Duck has won this prestigious accolade. Cyber-Duck first won the Gold Communicator Award for its Ajax-driven company website back in 2008. The site combines user-centric design and fun flash animations with clear and concise messages.

Matt Gibson, Head of Production at Cyber-Duck commented, “We are delighted that our hard work has been recognised again by the Communicator Awards panel. I work with a fantastic team of highly-skilled individuals who continue to delight our clients with their innovative ideas and superb attention to detail. The Cyber-Duck team is dedicated to consistently maintaining high standards and we aim to raise the bar year on year.”

To learn more about award winning London web design agency Cyber-Duck please visit: http://www.cyber-duck.co.uk

The Agriculture Industry now has support from the Rogers Online Business Management website to help them learn how to use the Internet to grow their business. Sue Rogers, Owner of Rogers Executive Administrative Services recently launched the site to support this industry as she becomes more involved in the Agriculture Industry Partnership that was formed on behalf of the Northwest Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board and the Regional Center for Workforce Excellence. This partnership was formed to identify a plan of action to assist the agriculture community in providing the necessary workforce, economic developments, and education/training supports necessary for retention and growth within the Pennsylvania Counties of Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Venango, and Warren.

Rogers says, “I wanted to bring the web to the Agriculture Community by educating them on how easy it is to build an effective online marketing campaign that will help them become known through their expertise. I also thought it was important that we reach out to the younger generation by using the technology that has become a big part of their everyday lives. By utilizing what the Internet has to offer, we can create interest within the younger generation that just might get them more involved in agriculture.”

When you visit the Online Business Management for the Agriculture Community website you will find information such as how to ease your record keeping, book keeping, what to include in your employee handbooks and safety manuals, how to write press releases, book resources, and much more, but most importantly how to generate income from your expertise using the Internet. And as long as you’re part of the Agriculture Industry, Rogers has created the Ease Your Workload Agriculture Business Directory where you can list your business for Free!

For more information on the Online Business Management for the Agriculture Industry website go to http://agriculture.easmyworkload.com. You can also contact Sue Rogers at [email protected]. For more information on the Agriculture Industry Partnership go to www.nwpawib.org.

AW Media Group, an Atlanta-based lifestyle public relations agency specializing in fashion, beauty, entertainment, and luxury brands, announced today the signing of a new client, D.R. Elite.

Founded by Dawn Dickson and LaTish Roach, D.R. Elite is a national event management, non-profit business development, fundraising and marketing consulting firm with divisions in Atlanta, GA; Miami, FL; and Phoenix, AZ. Combined, they have sourced and secured more than $350,000 in grants, sponsorships, in-kind donations, and advertising revenue for clients through 2008.

AW Media Group will be responsible for creating and implementing a media relations program for the 2nd Annual Back 2 Camp Charity Weekend scheduled July 9 – 12, 2009 in Atlanta, GA. Originally a weekend to mark the time when NFL players would leave their homes and return to their team cities for training camp, D.R. Elite has evolved the event into a charity weekend dedicated to promoting philanthropy. The 2nd Annual Back 2 Camp charity recipient is Communities in Schools of Atlanta (http://www.cisatlanta.org).

“We are excited to have D.R. Elite as one our clients,” said Angela Watts, Director of PR & Special Events of AW Media Group. “D.R. Elite is unique not only because they create successful events with a purpose, but because they actually deliver.”

AW Media Group and D.R. Elite anticipate a successful, effective relationship because both firms are focused on the delivery of a well-defined marketing communications plan that will increase awareness for the 2009 charity recipient and generate positive exposure for all organizations involved.

For more information about AW Media Group or the 2nd Annual Back 2 Camp Charity Weekend, visit www.awmediagroup.com .

www.kent.co.uk is a new social networking website aimed at business and consumer audiences in the county of Kent in south east UK.

It’s the latest in a line of new niche social networking sites to have emerged over the last 12 months.

Kent.co.uk has been created using the free Google Maps API to integrate users’ personal data about their friends and favourite places with on screen mapping, creating a custom visual social networking map for each user.

The resulting social networking map is interactive – data such as friends, places and events can be toggled on or off the map, and clickable icons can be used to access more information about each element or initiate actions like joining groups or becoming a fan.

Due to the geographic focus of Kent.co.uk, the categories of data have been intentionally broadened to include physical Places, which can range from a popular bar to a favourite beach or scenic spot.

The social networking map also features suggested places, groups and events, which are intelligently matched to the users own interests based on a range of different criteria, from content keyword matching to postcode proximity and linked user behaviour.

User privacy and security have also been carefully considered. The social networking maps only display personal user icons to accepted friends, and there is an auto cut out of icons at closer zoom levels, so specific address locations can never be identified. Furthermore users of kent.co.uk can choose not to be displayed on the map at all.

The unique structure of Kent.co.uk presents a range of interesting commercial and marketing opportunities. Discussions are underway with a major chain of pubs to show their sites on social networking maps with specially branded icons, and link their sites with other nearby data and events. Local business organisations are investigating using Kent.co.uk to operate private business to business networking groups linked to specific venues and events.

Kent.co.uk is currently undergoing a soft launch phase with new users being gained through targeted viral marketing to key user groups. A wider regional press launch will take place in the summer.