Monthly Archives: July 2009

Vodafone customers will be able to access Facebook for free on their mobile or their computer using Vodafone’s mobile broadband service for a whole week starting on Friday 24th July.

Giving customers free access to Facebook is part of Vodafone UK’s Free Friday series, which launched with Free Mobile Internet in May to mark the start of a flat daily rate of just 50p to browse the mobile internet, and continued with Free Music Friday in June when Vodafone became the first mobile operator in the UK to launch DRM free music. This time the only difference is that Free Facebook is the first offer to last seven days.

To check out what you can do with Facebook on your mobile click here to see the N97 in action

Connecting to Facebook on a computer or laptop using Vodafone’s mobile broadband service will also be free. Customers who use their mobile will not pay any data when they look at their Facebook account. Browsing other sites will be chargeable at Vodafone standard rate – 50p per day for pay as you go customers and customers without data bundles. Anyone using mobile broadband to access Facebook will see their data counter stop for the time they use and browse Facebook.

Free Facebook marks the start of Facebook text alerts from July 24. Vodafone customers will be able to sign in to www.facebook.com/mobile and select those notifications they wish to receive as free text alerts, from status updates to pokes, and from which friends. They will also be able to respond to these alerts by text. These texts will be charged at the standard text rate.

To find out more about the promotion and how to set up alerts go to www.vodafone.co.uk/facebook. To get you or your Facebook friends set up simply text ‘Friends’ to 97886. You’ll receive a link that will take you straight to Facebook. To view Vodafone’s full mobile phone range and find out more about mobile broadband, please visit our website at vodafone.co.uk

For more information visit http://www.vodafone.co.uk

MyTrybe.com – a social network that connects users to like-minded people today announced its launch. Users can now communicate with their like-minded people – a.k.a. their “Trybe” – like they currently do with friends and colleagues on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks.

“People naturally gravitate to others who share personal values. They become friends, colleagues, lovers, and sources of valued information,” says CEO Daniel Gluck. “MyTrybe’s main focus is now on facilitating communication between you and your most like-minded people.”

MyTrybe’s interface highlights a simple, real-time newsfeed from a user’s Trybe. Users can post thoughts, ask questions, share ideas and links as they do with people they know on Facebook and Twitter – but with their most like-minded people. Users can also send private messages, follow, poke, and interact in other ways.

“People are excited to discover and build social connections to others who share their personal opinions, values and behavior. It’s like going to a friend’s party or social event where you don’t know anyone personally but do know they share your sensibilities,” says Gluck. “MyTrybe enables users to connect to their personal psychographic of users and interact with them as they do with known friends and colleagues.”

MyTrybe believes people increasingly value quality over quantity in their social connections. Whereas Twitter, Facebook and other networks can encourage mass follows and friend fatigue, MyTrybe offers users the ability to build meaningful social networks by vetting only the most behaviorally similar people.

A user’s Trybe is built through the processing of ratings, quizzes, and other user behavior with its patent-pending algorithms. MyTrybe’s engine continually searches for and refines a user’s Trybe in real-time, keeping them connected to the activity of their top 200 most similar people in areas like style, art, humor, and more. Users can check see a visual compatibility breakdown between themselves and any other user by visiting their profile page.

About MyTrybe: Founded in 2007, MyTrybe’s mission is to bring together like-minded people based on their shared values. Anyone can sign up for MyTrybe and interact with people like themselves, based on their behavioral similarity. MyTrybe is privately held and headquartered in New York, NY. www.mytrybe.com

Small businesses account for 99.7% of all employer firms in the United States. On August 10, 2009, Greenergy2030.com will launch its free media network as a place to bring “green change” to the world through education, legislative efforts, media outreach and the dissemination of information about alternative energy and sustainable business practices. Through the Greenergy2030 Business Alliance, Greenergy2030.com will serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurs and business professionals seeking to take an active role in their community/industry while positively impacting others’ lives and the world. Green Change is what the Greenergy2030 Business Alliance is all about.
“Our vision is to have 1 million entrepreneurs/professionals on this network by 2030 representing a conservative $2.5B in overall annual energy savings/reductions. Through the power of technology and real member commitment to green change, we CAN accomplish these goals,” says JD Carr, Co-Founder Greenergy2030.com.
With Greenergy2030.com, a small business will positively impact others by bringing sustainable business practices to their community and life. It is entirely possible for small business owners to realize an average cost savings of $2,500 or more per year when implementing energy saving initiatives. In every industry, it is increasingly important for entrepreneurs to understand sustainable business practices and how to deploy them effectively in their organizations.
The Greenergy2030 Business Alliance also offers an eco-certification program which is designed to step a small business through the process of becoming an eco-friendly organization while implementing sustainable business practices that will positively impact a company’s bottom line.
For more information contact Lisa Parelli at 972-342-9331 or visit their web site at www.greenergy2030.com

dotSyntax, the startup behind Digsby, announced today that Digsby has passed 1 million users with over 3 million managed accounts. Digsby, an innovative product that integrates all your instant messaging, e-mail, and social network accounts into one application, has shown explosive growth as users look for an easy way to manage their social connections.

The year long public development effort has resulted in what dotSyntax is calling a 360º communication tool, designed to facilitate online conversations across all mediums with an intuitive interface and feature-rich options. With the ability to communicate via email, two-way text messaging, IM, Facebook, Twitter, GTalk, and audio/video chat, Digsby eliminates the need to have several browser windows and programs open.
The continuing growth of social networks has made online account management seem like a part-time job as people dedicate more and more time to maintaining those networks. A recent Nielson Online report showed that in the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year in 2009. Similar trends can be found for other social networks such as Twitter, which saw over a 3700 percent growth in the same year.

“We built Digsby to simplify people’s lives so they can focus less on signing in and more on staying connected,” said Steve Shapiro, president of dotSyntax, “Our rapid growth shows the utility people find in Digsby and why it’s become the preferred platform for high efficiency digital communication.”

Digsby’s growth has been fueled by the word-of-mouth efforts of satisfied users. To encourage their users to keep spreading the word, dotSyntax is also announcing the launch of the Digsby Affiliate Program. A first in the IM industry, the program will pay affiliates up to $1.00 for every new Digsby user they bring. Affiliates can promote Digsby by placing banners or buttons on their blog or website, or by simply inviting their friends with their affiliate link.

To download this free software or to learn more about Digsby visit http://www.digsby.com.

About dotSyntax:
dotSyntax was founded in December, 2005 with the goal of simplifying online communication through its flagship product, Digsby. Digsby is the first desktop application which allows for simultaneous management of all IM, e-mail, and social network accounts from one easy-to-use application. dotSyntax was founded by Rochester Institute of Technology graduates in RIT’s Venture Creations Incubator. For more information, please visit http://www.digsby.com.

Twitter proves to be an effective way to get broadband problems solved as pioneering broadband providers venture into the Tweetosphere, according to Top 10 Broadband.

Customer service has, on occasion, been neglected by certain internet service providers, amid a backdrop of huge growth in the broadband sector in recent years. Principally the problems have arisen from complications when switching broadband supplier, opaque contract terms and technical faults.

Top 10 Broadband’s research shows that customers can dramatically improve their provider’s response time and eliminate costly phone calls by harnessing the power of micro-blogging service Twitter to air their grievances. Broadband providers including BT, PlusNet, TalkTalk and Be are currently posting up to 100 tweets a day in response to customers queries and problems.

The Twitter effect was highlighted recently when a Be Broadband customer Tweeted that certain file-sharing websites were inaccessible. Within minutes Be had responded that it was attempting to the get to the bottom of the issue. After discovering that a technical problem affecting some IP ranges of some networks based in Scandinavia, the issue that could have taken months to resolve was addressed almost instantly.

Oli White, Head of Marketing at Be Broadband, said: “The most important use of Twitter is to open another communication channel between Be and its members, which is why we’ve linked our team on Twitter directly into our customer services.

“Twitter is a channel that’s been adopted by a number of our members so it became pretty clear that it was a sensible thing for us to bring in to our business as usual because it’s how they wanted to communicate.”

Jessica McArdle, marketing manager at Top 10 Broadband, said: “Twitter is allowing broadband providers to reach out to their customer base as never before and address problems faster and more efficiently.

“Companies see the public forum of Twitter as a means of showing thousands of existing and potential customers the standard of service they can expect.”

Top 10 twittering ISPs

1. twitter.com/virginmedia
2. twitter.com/BTCare
3) twitter.com/VodafoneUK
4) twitter.com/TalkTalkTips
5) twitter.com/bebroadband
6) twitter.com/plusnet
7) twitter.com/OrangeWorldwide
8. twitter.com/OfficialTMobile
9. twitter.com/PostOfficeUK
10. twitter.com/O2

Rankings are based on number of followers, frequency of tweets, relevancy of the profile and interactivity levels.

Top 10 Broadband is the UK’s most popular dedicated broadband comparison site.
The website offers a range of comparison tools, allowing users to make quick and easy broadband buying decisions.

Links:

Top 10 Broadband is run by Formula, a leading web design and marketing company.
Top 10 Broadband homepage: http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/
Top 10 Broadband Twitter page: twitter.com/top10compare
Top 10 Broadband Be Broadband page: http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/providers/be/

Kirstie Alley and philanthropic organizer Steve Woods will host Aquathon 2009 tomorrow, the first 24-hour telethon on micro-blogging site Twitter and Live Video Streaming Site Ustream. The event will raise money for clean water in Africa by purchasing water pumps from PlayPumps International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to clean drinking water to millions in Africa.

“Can you imagine your child drinking filthy contaminated water? Neither Can I. . .Let’s make sure NO child ANYWHERE ever has to. Thank you, Kirstie.”

Event URLS:
Aquathon Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/aquathon
Aquathon Direct Donation: http://www.knowh2o.org/aquathon
Aquathon Blog: http://aquathon2009.blogspot.com
Aquathon Ustream Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/Aquathon
Kirstie Alley Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/kirstiealley
Kirstie Alley Ustream Channel: http://www.ustream.com/kirstiealley

Aquathon 2009 is the first Twitter & Ustream 24hr fundraising telethon effort of its kind. Twitter users will be able to donate funds as little as one dollar or as large as one million dollars on Saturday, July 25, beginning at 6am EDT. Alley and Woods have been encouraging Twitter followers to donate via their tweets at @kirstiealley, @_stevewoods, and @aquathon. Twitter users can also add a Twibbon to their profile in support of the campaign. A “Twibbon” is a visual show of event solidarity via an Aquathon 2009 icon that appears over a Twitter profile picture overlay.

“Each PlayPumps structure costs $14,000 to install,” said Aquathon organizer Steve Woods. “It is our goal to raise enough donations to install 10 pumps.”

PlayPumps devices are roundabouts, or merry-go-rounds, attached to a water pump, a storage tank and a tap. When children play, the water pump provides clean drinking water to schools and communities. More than 1,300 PlayPumps water systems have been donated in South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia and Mozambique.

Over 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have reliable access to clean drinking water. One water pump can bring safe, clean water to thousands, improving sanitation and enhancing general public health.

About Aquathon:
Aquathon is a 24-hour Twitterthon to raise money for 10 fresh water wells in African communities using PlayPump(R) water systems. Together, our goal is to raise $140,000. That’s 10 PlayPump(R) water systems! On July 25, 2009, celebrity Kirstie Alley will join with 24 hours of tweets and live video dedicated exclusively to Aquathon and PlayPumps International. We hope that you can help us by tweeting and donating to this worthy cause.

Fringe Theatre Adventures, producers of North America’s oldest Fringe Festival have brought in one of Canada’s leading social media engagement firms, fusedlogic inc., for the 2009 Fringe Festival. The two organizations are excited about working together to draw more global attention to North America’s largest Fringe Festival.

The work performed within social media by fusedlogic inc. will be a part of Industry Canada’s Marquee Tourism Events Program. Its purpose is to increase awareness about the Edmonton Fringe Festival internationally, as well as, to increase tourism from regions outside of Alberta and Canada.

Founded in 1982, the Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival regularly sees more than 500,000 Canadian and international visitors entertained by over one thousand performances over eleven days of the festival.
“We believe social media to be the perfect environment to describe why Edmonton is such a fantastic tourist destination. Specifically, it will allow us to share with the world why the Edmonton Fringe Festival is such an amazing event and well worth experiencing in person,” says fusedlogic inc. CEO Walter Schwabe. “Also as part of this project, we will encourage and enable Edmontonians to share with theatre-goers in places like Edinburgh, Scotland as to why everyone should consider Edmonton’s Fringe.”

“We know that fusedlogic’s excellent connection into the social web world will take full advantage of the excitement of the festival, promoting the on-site excitement to the on-line networking and viral opportunities,” says Fringe Executive Director Julian Mayne. “What a great addition to a festival that has been pushing the boundaries of human communication for 28 years.”

More information:
This year’s Fringe Festival is taking place from August 13 to August 23 in its usual area around the Transalta Arts Barns. Tickets for Fringe performances can be purchased online or in person at the Transalta Arts Barns anytime after July 28.

Fusedlogic is one of Canada’s leading social media engagement and Web 2.0 strategy firms. Based in Sherwood Park, Alberta just outside Edmonton, fusedlogic has operated since 2000. Their goal is to effectively engage the online community using social media and other Web 2.0 technologies.

TipDrop.com is a place where people come to give and receive tips on just about anything. In fact, in its first five days the site has had 1,000,000 page views and more than 3,000 tips.

Do you want tips on the best new digital camera to buy? Need tips on how to drive traffic to your Web site? Check out TipDrop.

“Many other micro blogging sites are flooded with useless information about what people had for breakfast or when they walked their dog,” Jonathan Leger, creator of TipDrop.com, says. “And, while that’s fine for friends and family, most people could care less.”

TipDrop takes a fresh approach to how information is shared. People who participate in TipDrop do not want to read inane bits of information; they want credible tips. TipDrop also serves as a platform for people to showcase their personal areas of expertise.

So, how does it work? People post tips that relate to specific topics found in tip sheets. For instance, a user might create a tip sheet with the title, “How to save money in a down economy” and another user might add a tip that advises, “Pack your lunch instead of eating out when at work.”

As more users add more tips, the tip sheets become valuable sources of information. And, to keep the best tips on top, users can vote. This raises/lowers the credibility of tips, tip sheets and the users who created them.

The whole system is built around what Leger refers to as a “credibility engine.” A user’s credibility level determines his or her tips and tip sheet credibility in ranking order. And, as users improve their credibility and ranking, their votes become more powerful.

“All of this works to keep the best on top and the spam and junk out of the system,” Leger adds.

Another advantage of TipDrop is that many other micro blogging sites limit characters. For instance, Twitter is limited to 140. TipDrop allows for 255 characters which is typically enough space for a quality tip.

“Ultimately, I took the best of what many social media and informational sites had to offer and created TipDrop.com to build valuable, topic-driven content,” Leger explains.

For more information: www.TipDrop.com.

Seekopia.com, a new social network for bloggers today celebrated being online for 100 days since launching last April. Still in Beta, Seekopia is currently advertising to a very limited audience but has nonetheless already attracted close to 400 bloggers and over 750 posts have been submitted to date.

Asked about the numbers, Seekopia founder Mr. Marc von Brockdorff said: “While the numbers are nowhere close to other online networks like Facebook or Twitter, we are completely on target considering we have chosen a very limited market for our Beta release. In fact, I would probably say the feedback has been even better than expected. Social Networking for bloggers is something relatively new and we believe it’s the next step in the Blogging world.”

Seekopia allows bloggers to start their own blog or import an existing one for free. However, its primary feature is an online blog magazine which allows users to view posts from multiple blogs customized to their preferences. “The aim is to create a platform on which users can find blogs easy and quickly by choosing what topics they enjoy reading. Instantly, Seekopia will customize itself to become a blog with several posts from several blogs, all related to the topics of your choice.” Mr. Marc von Brockdorff admits that there is still a lot of work to be done but firmly believes that Seekopia is moving in the right direction.

Another benefit Seekopia provides is its shared advertising system. Bloggers who sign up may advertise on each and every Seekopia blog. Unlike other PPC companies which charge per click, advertising on Seekopia is free of charge and your adverts are shown based on how much you have written on your blog, how often you write, and the overall quality of your posts.

Social Media expert Michael Azzopardi commented “In essence, this is changing the way advertising works online. It’s a bold move and no doubt it will take a while for its real benefits to appear. I don’t think anyone has attempted anything similar before so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.”

Mr. Marc von Brockdorff confirmed Seekopia will launch officially by the end of the year but several other features are in the pipeline and should be online shortly. He concluded by saying: “We take our feedback very seriously – In fact, I’d say around one forth of our features were suggestions by members.”

For more visit: http://www.seekopia.com

Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV), a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, introduced a new B2B e-commerce solution called Business Direct. Through Business Direct companies can offer their global resellers, and business customers and partners private online portals for making direct purchases and renewing subscriptions. The login-based portals complete with tailored purchasing plans, custom pricing and financing options, are designed exclusively to help companies strengthen business relationships and increase their online sales.
“Today’s challenging market conditions call for companies to examine their prospective revenue streams and expose those that are untapped,” said Joel Ronning, Digital River’s CEO. “With Business Direct, we can help businesses efficiently unlock the revenue potential in the B2B market and turn their business relationships into long-term partnerships that continue to generate sales on an ongoing basis.”

Business Direct is designed to help companies manage their B2B businesses in a highly efficient and scalable way. The solution allows companies to launch as many self-service online portals, which are accessible through custom logins, as their business customers and partners require, based off of one, central product catalog. Further, companies can use Business Direct to easily design and deploy customized purchase plans for each partner. The plans can be tailored with unique product prices and selections, custom IDs and passwords, and pre-set purchase limits based on quantity or time-period thresholds. Through Business Direct, companies also can offer their partners a wide range of payment options, including Bill Me Later® Business, as well as extend lines-of-credit. As an integrated part of Digital River’s comprehensive global e-commerce platform, Business Direct offers companies end-to-end e-commerce services and tools, including transaction processing, digital and physical product fulfillment, and subscription renewal capabilities, among others.

The Business Direct solution complements Digital River’s recently announced Channel Partner Network program, also designed for the B2B market segment. Both solutions can help businesses mitigate channel conflict and enhance efficiencies with powerful program management tools. Channel Partner Network offers online businesses a comprehensive toolset to automate and simplify the complicated tasks related to managing their reseller and distributor relationships, including tracking and reporting sales and commissions, and running specialized marketing programs.

About Digital River, Inc.

Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, builds and manages online businesses for software and game publishers, consumer electronics manufacturers, distributors, online retailers and affiliates. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company’s comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud management, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-lingual customer service, advanced reporting and strategic marketing services.

Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call +1 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

The Branning Group has just launched a feature-packed, independent social networking platform. This package will allow investors and businesses to launch their own social network (like MySpace, Facebook, etc) targeted towards a local and/or niche market. The first site that launched off of the platform is bluecanvas.com; a social networking site geared towards the artist community.

Alex Branning, the founder and Chief Technology Officer of the Branning Group, was ecstatic when asked about the possibilities: “Our platform will allow investors to leverage their existing relationships to create a stand-alone Internet business with an organically expanding community that is actively involved in content creation and word-of-mouth marketing.” When asked about the security and capabilities of the platform Branning responded, “I learned from the best of the best. My co-workers were a who’s who of social networking development; I have taken those lessons and applied them to a solid, secure code base that can be transplanted into an existing web site or used to create a new online venture.” Branning argues that there is no better time to invest in an online business with the instabilities on Wall Street and the ever-dropping real estate market, saying “an online business provides a constant cash return, provided you have a solid marketing plan to get it started.”

The Branning Group Social Networking Platform comes with the following feature set out of the box: user management (with full statistics and reports); peer relationships through the network (users can become “friends” with each other); micro-blogging, complete content management system; image upload with folder system; activity feed; blog system for members; classifieds system; events broadcasting; internal messaging; powerful search engine that can retrieve content from all areas of the site; a message “wall” that allows users to leave notes on their friends’ profile pages; and many more (see http://www.branninggroup.com/Feature_Set_Branning_Group_Social_Networking_Platform.pdf for complete list).

Social networking is a new concept to many people but it has been around for over ten years. What is a social network? A social network is a way for people to make a public profile within a system that will allow them to connect with others. Within the social network a person is able to create content for their specific profile and share it with people that he or she is connected with. The most popular social networks are Facebook and MySpace; many media-centric sites have been adding social components to their sites.

For more information please contact Alex Branning at (661) 946 9008 or go to http://www.branninggroup.com .

Motivity™, a website optimization platform, has been recognized by Google as an official Google Website Optimizer™ Technology Partner (WOTEP). Of the thousands of content management (CMS) companies worldwide, there are only seven Google Website Optimizer Technology Partners. Motivity™ is currently the only partner that integrates with Website Optimizer to make ecommerce testing easy.

Motivity’s integration with Google Website Optimizer allows site owners to simultaneously test combinations of website content and layout to determine the best modifications to increase conversion and usability.
CEO, Kayden Kelly says, “Google Website Optimizer is an amazing tool that has the potential to help businesses opt-out of the recession and increase their revenues and market-share. Now integrated into the Motivity™ ecommerce and content management system, it allows marketing teams to easily setup and manage tests without the IT department since no website code needs to be touched.” Kayden Kelly is an evangelist for Google Website Optimizer and believes the tool takes website analysis to a new level that provides actionable data for clients. In a recent Motivity™ client test, Google Website Optimizer helped us to identify an improved page variation that increased the conversion rate 591%. (View the Google Website Optimizer case study)

Motivity™ is focused on improving the user experience of websites through ongoing website testing and analysis. With the integration of other Google tools like Google Analytics™, Webmaster Tools™, and AdWords™, Motivity™ helps you to improve your free and paid advertising so you can drive more, quality traffic to your website.

“Motivity™ is a website optimization platform that measurably drives business growth for ecommerce and B2B lead generation websites” states Ken Colborn, Vice President and Engineering Director of Motivity™, “and the content and ecommerce management capabilities can be customized to meet a client’s exact needs based on their unique business processes.”

To be considered an authorized partner for Google Website Optimizer applicants must demonstrate a history of success and a proficient knowledge of the tools, which Blast Advanced Media has exhibited through numerous articles on the subject published on their blog and web site, speaking and training at various industry related conferences and seminars, and through the documented results Blast has achieved for its clients.

About Motivity:

Motivity™ is the marketing and web site optimization platform for ecommerce and lead generation focused companies. Motivity™ makes it easy for your marketing team to improve campaign ROI and user experience with tools to analyze site activity, make and test changes, manage and verify search optimization and drive more quality traffic. The Google Website Optimizer module makes it easy to run A/B and Multivariate tests anywhere on your site(s). Motivity™ is the product of 10 years of experience and development at Blast Advanced Media, an online marketing and web development agency located in Northern California. Learn more about Motivity’s Ecommerce, CMS and Website Optimization features.