PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

I must admit I am a bit cynical when it come to aid charities.

Especially when I know that they have collection processes through the affiliate networks and offer the affiliate 30 percent of the donation, plus the percentage the network takes.

I won’t promote them if they do this. Its totally misleading to the person donating. Same as the street collectors. In many cases they are not volunteers but on similar commission rates.

But here is a different way to help third world countries Kiva - Loans that change lives.

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I have been reading a few blogs in the past few days, and one thing that strikes me is the high number of, well… AWFUL photos that are used to show the blog owner or post author.

While there has been talk around the net this week about not putting up videos of yourself doing something that is likely to embarrass your employer (with examples of footage of people in booze-ups at college seeing them sacked years later by their employer when someone discovers it and decides it reflects badly on the company) surely people must realise that a really bad photo of themselves on their blog, social media site or website does them no favours.

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I was reading a blog about how the world was no longer round, it was flat.

This was written from a marketing and branding approach and used McDonalds as the example. No matter where you go there is a McDonalds - a type of constant on a world of changing cultures and beliefs.

Which started me thinking about how the internet fits into all of this.

When I first heard of the internet, when really he only think available were those old-fashioned BBS services, I was fired up at the thought of being able to access NASAs site and look at their pictures of Mars.

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A new service launched in Canberra this week offers companies and associations with a cost effective solution to their political monitoring and analysis needs.

The “Canberra Listening Post” allows companies to keep an ear to the ground in the area of collecting information on Federal Government policy and regulatory issues which affect their interests and helps them make timely analysis for strategic decision-making and lobbying.

Director of the service, Philip Eliason, said often companies and associations lacked the resources to maintain an adequate watching brief on changes to the government’s agenda.

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What I cannot get over is that it rang more than once.

AMTA asks this question
What do you do with a judge whose phone goes off in court? And what if the judge is the Acting Chief Justice of Australia?

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The impact of China’s restrictions on access to certain websites may have spilled over to other web services.

Today we find we have been unable to connect to our business associates in Chine using Yahoo IM, and attempts to reconcile communication using Skype and Twitter have also proven unsuccessful.

All Skype users in China appear offline, and the usual quick responses from people when contacted using the Twitter service have been met with a stoney silence.

Has anyone else been experiencing difficulties contacting people in China using these live services?

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If you are looking at where the humble mobile phone is going, this story from AMTA is worth looking at. Seems the modern journalist will be able to go places and do things with an element of subterfuge as they won’t have to lug around lots of equipment…

Journalists use their “mojo” to find new ways of storytelling

Reuters news agency in London has equipped its journalists with a mobile journalism toolkit about a year ago. Reuters’ product manager of mobile and emerging media, Ilicco Elia, says this is the start of a future form of journalism and a new way to tell stories.  In fact, the BBC’s technology editor, Darren Waters, has been filing mojo (mobile journalist) reports from various parts of Europe since late last year, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

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If you have ever had the misfortune to deal with PayPal, you will know what a frustrating time it can be. Response after response that does not deal with your question.

Sadly I have had the same experience with the Telstra email help desk.

This was my question “Can you please provide me with a direct contact number for someone who can talk to me about commercial opportunities with the new Quick Codes. (These are bar codes that can be scanned by new Telstra phones - a VERY useful and exciting prospect - I have been trying to get other suppliers of this style of technology to get it auto installed on Nokia phones ex factory, to no avail…..)

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Wondering how to make a commercial run on the surge to mobile web browsing? It seems at present its pretty clear cut. People look at different things on the weekend that they do during the week.

So here’s the tip….develop products and servcies athat are very much focussed on recreation and leisure.

If you have a web site that deals in recreation or leisure, then make sure you develop a mobile browser friendly version.

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This articles examines the predicted surge in mobile advertising in Australi a with the increased market penetration of 3G handsets that have enhanced data capabilities.

The main drawback as hinted at in this article is that Australia has comparatively high mobile data charges - though lower than some countries like Canada. Telstra is under pressure from 3 who is lowering its data charges to more realistic levels.

Telstra is pushing mobile with several new offerings for marketers about to hit the streets. The main aim is to drive dtat charges onto consumers.

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