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I’m going to Disney World!

25 Apr
Digital media and Walt Disney World. My two favourite things have actually collided to produce the perfect conference. In a few short weeks I will be off to sunny Florida to attend Mashable Connect to exchange information with leading social media experts from around the world!

If you are wondering why an iconic tourist draw like Disney World was chosen for an important social media conference, it is most likely because it has completely embraced social media as part of how it does business. Most recently Disney partnered with Gowalla to customize a stamp or pin for every park-sanctioned hotel, attraction, restaurant and ride to help visitors explore the parks and attractions – the largest Gowalla partnership with a brand to date. I am sure Josh Williams, the CEO of Gowalla who is a Mashable Connect speaker will speak to this when he presents on Day One of the conference. I am hopeful the organizers will have an activity planned that will allow us to experience this partnership first-hand via our mobile devices and Gowalla app.

The weekend is packed with an incredible line up of speakers. To name just a few….

  • Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Global Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy
  • Sabrina Caluori, Director of Social Media & Marketing, HBO
  • Cameron Death, Senior Vice President and General Manager, NBCUniversal Digital Studio
  • Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
  • David Karp, Founder, Tumblr
  • Steve Rubel, SVP/Director of Insights, Edelman Digital
  • Raymie Stata, SVP, Chief Technology Officer, Yahoo
  • Josh Williams, CEO, Gowalla

I will be blogging while at the conference so look out for a few videos, posts, photos and tweets!

Watching Something Go Viral In Real Time

23 Nov

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever truly witnessed something go viral? Here is a good example. Take Cookie Monster, a beloved Sesame Street muppet and a classic live television program, put the two together and you have the ability to make the combined idea something for people to talk about.

Simply broken down: Sesame Street + Saturday Night Live = internet trending topic!

 

The clever marketers behind the Sesame Street franchise realized an opportunity to take two cultural icons, Cookie Monster and SNL and put them together, to do something that had never been done before.

The Facebook fan campaign for Betty White to become a host on SNL was a hit and like Betty White who had never hosted SNL before, neither has Cookie Monster.

When I saw the first tweet….

RT @sesamestreet: Cookie Monster needs your help – he wants to host SNL! Watch the video and hit LIKE here: http://bit.ly/CookieSNL

….I knew this idea was going to catch on. In a matter of minutes, the number of people who ‘liked’ this idea on Facebook jumped from about 300 to 600 people. That’s when I knew I better start documenting how fast the trend was going to spread.

 

12:38 pm…

 

12:39 pm…

12:40 pm…

12:45 pm…

12:47 pm…

12:58 pm…

3:06 pm…

3:10 pm…

3:27 pm…

 

…and so on…and so on… If you would like to ‘LIKE’ Cookie Monster on Saturday Night Live to, go to: http://bit.ly/CookieSNL

FABulous $10 iPad Giveaway from FabFind

6 Oct

Kudos to the fine people at FabFind. You created mass hysteria on the web when you announced the daily deal today would be a $10 iPad. Hard to believe? Absolutely! In fact, when learning of the deal this morning I had to turn to my Twitter tweeps to double check the deal was legit. When I signed into Twitter, I found out I was late to the party. The discussion was in full gear and as I found out, half of Toronto already knew about it before I did.

Word spread like wildfire, which caused their website to go down. At around 1:00 p.m. the CEO of the company sent out an e-mail to all subscribers with the subject, “Re: $10 iPads…whoa, people!”

 

FabFind CEO Response

 

http://www.youtube.com/v/8ZVMXtgBghE?fs=1&hl=en_US

The deal was most definitely legit and if you don’t believe me, just watch proof of the delivery of an iPad to a reluctant believer in this video.

Since the possibility of getting your hands on an iPad were like winning the lottery, FabFind decided to give away the last iPad to the winner of a Facebook contest. The rules are: you submit a reason for why you need/want an iPad in 140 characters, submit and vote on the best answer. The answer with the most responses, wins! Before you can submit your answer, or even view others’ responses you have to “like” their fan page on Facebook first…very smart marketing! Not only are people going to “like” this service, they are going to spread the message far and wide so people will vote for their answer.

I submitted an answer but not before realizing there was only one iPad to be given away, not the first 100 as my friend informed me.

As of right now their website is still down and I’m sure the owners are basking in a 1000% increase in traffic to their FabFind.com.

Jimmy Fallon’s Hashtag Segment

2 Oct

The other day my sister and I were watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon when his hashtag segment came on.

On Twitter Jimmy asked his viewing audience to use the hashtag #worstjobieverhad so he could compile the best tweets to read on his show. I can honestly say, I haven’t laughed out loud that much in a long time.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – Hashtags (9/29/10) – Video – NBC.com.

Run for the Cure’s Social Media Connection

8 Sep

CIBC’s Run for the Cure is one of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s biggest fundraising initiatives. To compliment their advertising and marketing efforts, the organization has also created a site called areyourunning.ca which focuses on the ways you can get involved online and off.

Included on the website:

  • Facebook app called Wig Out, that allows you to upload your own photos from Facebook and plant a digital pink wig on your head, so you can share with your online friends
  • Twitter backgrounds, that show you are supporting the cause
  • 10% off digital music downloads
  • WigTube, with links to CBCF’s YouTube videos
  • The World’s Largest Handholding Chain, where you can search for family and friends to hold onto or join as an individual

If you are running, I will see you there on October 3, 2o1o!

That thing in the middle

21 May

Cupcake Camp Toronto 2010

4 May

Seriously, what makes you happier than a cupcake? Okay, a few things but the cupcake I’m sure ranks high on most people’s lists of stuff they like.

Enter Cupcake Camp. A meet-up for cupcake fanatics, makers and bakers and shakers in the cupcake-making industry. Based on the BarCamp/DemoCamp style of conference, Cupcake Camp allows cupcake entrepreneurs and hobbyists the chance to showcase their sweet creations to the eager samplers of Toronto.

Traditional cupcakes like the vanilla, chocolate, red velvet and mint chocolate variety were available for sampling but interestingly enough people went to the extreme with some flavours. Elvis cupcakes in particular were all the rage. There were at least three different cupcakes that featured the banana-peanut butter combo that the King made so famous and one even had bacon on it! Speaking of bacon, there were three kinds of cupcakes that included bacon. I can’t say that I’m a big fan of meat with my sweets but it was worth trying out.

There were edible gold cupcakes, pear and green tea, strawberry daiquiri, orange creamsicle, black forest flavoured ones among the 50 or more varieties they had to try.

The most creative had to be the cupcakes in the flower pots, with crumbs on top to look like dirt, a flower sticking out and gummy worms for added realism. My favourite of the day though, was the cheeseburger cupcake that looked so much like an actual hamburger you would think there was meat in it.

If you ever want to sample more cupcakes than you can imagine, then find a way to get yourself to Cupcake Camp Toronto 2011!

Bieber Takes Over Funny or Die

2 Apr

The Bieb took over funnyordie.com as an April Fool’s prank on their viewers. Bieber or Die as they called it spoofed the dentist kid and other classic YouTube clips. Aziz Ansari also got in on the joke. Watch a clip from Justin Bieber’s take over.

The PodCamp Toronto 2010 Survival Guide

17 Feb

PodCamp Toronto 2010

February 20 to 21, 2010

Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University

Ah PodCamp…a great event that demands your full attention. Can you handle the responsibility of learning from great veteran speakers and ambitious newbies this weekend?

If you have never been to a camp before or even if you have and you saw the schedule of events on podcamptoronto.com, it’s enough to intimidate the most fearless of conference hoppers.
Fear not young PodCampers! If you are ready to tackle PCT 2010, I assure you it will be a fun and exciting weekend.

The PodCamp Challenge:

  • Pick 5 sessions that stand out to you – Attend at least 5 sessions if you can. You may not want to stay for the whole weekend as a first timer but if you are going to come out, make it worthwhile and attend a few sessions you think you will enjoy.
  • It doesn’t matter which sessions you attend – The great thing about PodCamp is you learn from everyone. You learn from the speakers, from the people you network with and that includes the time in between sessions.
  • Meet at least 5 new people – That shouldn’t be hard to do considering PCT attracts hundreds to its event every year.
  • Write down people’s Twitter handles and other contact information – Be sure to follow up with them post-event.
  • Bring some business cards – Even if you are student, there are cheap and easy ways to get your information down on a piece of paper to hand out to people.
  • Take a recording device – Bring a video camera, digital camera, paper and pen or computer and share your ideas with other people who attended.
  • Attend the after parties – Sure this sounds like fun..and it is but it is also a great way to meet people and network in a social setting.
  • Follow the Twitter stream @PodCampToronto, to hear what people are saying about the event in real time.
  • Take notes, learn, take more notes, ask questions and soak up as much information as you can.

If you are very new to the world of social media, attend these sessions:

  • Podcasting for Amateurs: It’s Priceless
  • Social Media 101
  • The PodCamp Three (or Maybe Four or Even Five)

 

The bottom line is anyone who attends PodCamp is in a unique position to collect and absorb a ton of insight from leading experts for free! This event is one of the best because of the quality of speakers and knowledge that is shared over the course of the weekend. So get as much as you can out of PCT 2010 and have fun!

A New Open Source Project that Will Change the World

30 Jan

Combine a remarkable humanitarian, open source technology, a Hollywood producer, Hugh Jackman and millions of volunteers from around the world and you have a project that has the potential to change the world. 1.4 Billion Reasons is a presentation being viewed around the world in person and online. The best part is you don’t have to wait for Hugh Evans, like Al Gore 2.0 to come to your city to understand that extreme poverty is a crucial issue that can be eradicated in our lifetime with the right tools and the willingness of everyday people to want to do something.

Hugh Evans, sort of like the Craig Kielburger of Australia started the movement in his hometown and picked up momentum when Chris Adams, Executive Producer of An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and other Hollywood films wanted to film Hugh and his team as they toured their presentation around the world. Hugh Jackman jumped on board as the celebrity spokesperson and soon you may see, Adams, Evans and Jackman on stage at the Oscar’s accepting an award for best documentary film.

We had the chance to talk with the GPP team when they rolled into town for the Toronto International Film Festival and debuted their presentation to North America at the Danforth Music Hall.

The GPP team are using the power of the web to spread the extreme poverty message to the masses. Through the use of social media, you can share the presentation in your home town, in front of your class, youth group or community by going to www.globalpovertyproject.com and downloading the slides. You can even customize the presentation to the audience you will be speaking to.

Harnessing the power of social media to do some good in this world…to learn more visit www.globalpovertyproject.com

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