Posts filed under 'Web 2.0'
By Ben Haber
Want to cut down your gas costs? Do you enjoy carpooling? Are you concerned about the environment?
If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, then you’re going to love PickupPal, a global social network that is connecting drivers and passengers online, to save money and the environment.
The site allows passengers and drivers and drives to select where they are located and where they are going, and matches up people that are going the same direction. Following these matches, drivers are informed of potential pickups, and they can make an ‘offer’ to a passenger, which includes the cost of the ride. The passengers then weigh their offers and make a selection.
Both parties are also able to take into consideration the feedback that each passenger and driver has received from other users (which really seems like the most important and crucial part of this site). While this can offer a less expensive way to travel, and cut down on some carbon emissions, it will be interesting to see how many people completely trust this method of transportation.
Amazingly, this site is having some legal problems in Ontario (which TechCrunch translates into Canada hating the environment), where it’s against the law to carpool unless you meet all of the following criteria, according to PickupPal’s blog:
- You must travel from home to work only (no rides to schools, hospitals, food banks, etc.)
- You cannot cross municipal boundaries (no driving to adjacent municipality to GO Station, TTC Subway, City Centers, Airports, etc.)
- You must ride with the same driver each day (no exceptions sorry).
- You must pay the driver weekly only (bring your calculator).
The blog includes some more information on this law, and what PickupPal’s trying to do to overcome it:
Some examples of illegal ridesharing according to Ontario Government’s current Law: If you arrange with your wife to pickup your uncle at the airport - you have broken the law. If you travel with a friend and give her $5 for gas money - you have broken the law.
Bottom line: Reasonable rideshare or carpooling with someone in Ontario is illegal. Ontario is currently the only jurisdiction in the World aiming to shut down PickupPal’s 100% free global service. We appear before the Ontario Highway Traffic Board on October 16th and are fighting for our members and all Ontario residents and we need your support right NOW! Click HERE to sign our petition and then tell your friends to do the same.
August 26th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
Peter Shankman, the creator of the much talked about HARO (Help A Reporter Out) service has been a feel good media story. Guy starts a free service to help reporters find sources. Guy sends the list to PR folks for free so they can get their clients mentioned as sources. Guy grows the list on his own to over 23,000 to compete with paid service from Profnet. Guy signs on advertisers to keep it free for users and gets “way over $100 CPM’s,” as advertisers reach a very targeted group. Everybody wins. What’s not to love about this story? Capitalism at its very best.
Unfortunately, fairy tales don’t usually last forever.
This morning while scanning some Twitter updates my colleague stumbled across this:
and then this:
My first thought - Maybe Hamilton Nolan is right and this is some sort of cult. Folks what are we thinking? I realize Peter does use shock value, he did agree to get tasered after all. But his use of the word “lynching” and all the connotations that come with the word is totally uncalled for and wrong. Now I obviously don’t know the race of the PR person that he is referring to and despite our name, we don’t usually get into racial discussions on our blog. If the PR person happens to be white - then perhaps it’s nothing more then an egregious error in judgement. If the PR person happens to black his use of the word is unconscionable. Either way, the use of the word that brings back images of one of the most despicable acts in our Nation’s history is wrong.
There’s obviously some comparisons that can be made here to the recent incident involving Golf Channel host Kelly Tilghman and her use of the word “lynch” in referring to Tiger Woods. Her use of the word in context was “young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should lynch him in a back alley.” Tiger’s race, being an issue on the tour since he first set foot on it, made the remark a punishable offense and the network rightly suspended her for two weeks.
Since I started this post Shankman has updated his Twitter feed and let everyone know that the PR person has sent him a heartfelt apology:
At the very least Shankman owes everyone a heartfelt apology of his own for the consistent use of the word.
August 19th, 2008
By Ben
Since eBay has become the world’s online auction site, there have been some pretty crazy things auctioned off online. In the past, people have auctioned off bellybutton lint, human teeth, and a slightly used body-bag. Even Manny Ramirez has gotten into the action and auctioned off his grill, which later turned out not to be his.
Well, Australian resident Ian Usher added to this list of weird auction items this week when he decided to make his life open for bidding. After his five-year marriage ended, he held a week-long auction for everything in his life, which included all of his belongings, three-bedroom home, his friends, motorcycle, a jetski, and a trial-run at his job.
Usher must have been disappointed in the result, as collective eBay bidders deemed that his life was only worth $380,286. The buyer is reported to have a 100 percent feedback rating.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen being auction off online?
July 2nd, 2008
By Ben
When it comes to the Internet, you can never be too careful about what you say.
For those who believe that the content on their Facebook, MySpace profiles and personal blogs will not get them in hot water, they’re in for a shocking realization. The Internet is a public domain, and anything put on the Web can be found, and can be used against you.
London resident James Brennan discovered this the hard way, when he was fired from his job in London. His crime? Writing “F— the Partnership” as his Facebook status. (The Partnership refers to the John Lewis Partnership, the chain of stores where he worked.)
Brennan thought his comments would remain private, but some of his co-workers saw his page and showed it to his boss. Brennan was fired on the spot.
Unhappy with his boss and colleagues, Brennan commented on the situation:
“At the end of the day what I wrote was private. You would never get sacked for saying something like that in the pub. I was sacked from Waitrose for something I said on Facebook in my own time. The bosses only saw it because one of my colleagues grassed me up. They printed out a copy of the Facebook page to use as evidence against me. It is an infringement of my privacy.”
Do you think Brennan should have been fired from his job?
June 30th, 2008
By Ginger
Are you overwhelmed by your social networks? Do you feel there is just not enough time in the day to SuperPoke on Facebook, update your MySpace mood, add your Flickr pics, Plurk and follow fellow Twitterers? Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles “social Web browser” applications that can make your social networks work for you.
- Toolbar that runs on left-hand side of Firefox browser (will be on IE in July)
- Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Last.fm
- Chat on AIM, GTalk, MSN and Yahoo!
- Drag, Drop and Share videos you find on YouTube and MetaCafe and add pics to Flickr
- Universally update your profile status
- Interactive screen saver and desktop viewer called chirpscreen (Mac only runs viewer)
- Aggregates friends’ photo updates on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter
- Users can comment and share photos without stopping the screen saver
- Gives you live updates on eBay auction items you like
- Toolbar that runs on Firefox browser
- Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Digg, Pownce, Twitter, del.icio.us, Magnolia, Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal, TypePad, Wordpress and Xanga
- Check email on AOL, Gmail or Yahoo! Mail
- Media MiniBar has a scrollable filmstrip view of photo and video streams from YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Piczo
- Toolbar that runs on top of Firefox and IE browsers
- Aggregates friends’ updates to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Twitter (coming soon: YouTube, Bebo, Orkut, LiveJournal, Flickr, Yelp and Flixster)
Any other sites or tools that help simplify your social networking world? Post a comment and give us your suggestions!
June 18th, 2008
By Ben
Google’s street view car has caused some commotion about privacy issues lately, especially in the EU where it may breach some privacy laws. Even in the United States, one town in Minnesota has told Google to stay away from their streets.
Well, for those opposed to Google’s street view, they can take solace in knowing that even Google’s street car isn’t above the law: A Google street view car was pulled over the other day in San Francisco for some sort of driving infraction.
No details were given on the violation, but it should be noted that Google is using an environmentally responsible Toyota Prius for its mapping.
June 17th, 2008
By George
As business issues around globalization, sustainability, green IT and social responsibility become crucial for any corporate communications strategy, Racepoint Group is excited to announce today a deepening and expansion of our corporate and public affairs capabilities.
Racepoint has added David Whitmore as executive vice president of our new Washington D.C. offices. David will be heading a growing office that now includes: Brian Lunde, senior consultant of issues management and government relations; Timothy Binning, senior consultant of issues management and government relations; and Rich Blewitt, senior advisor crisis and issues management (who joined Racepoint several months ago).
The new Washington D.C. office will join our offices in Boston, London and San Francisco.
Using Racepoint Group’s expertise in digital and social media, the Washington D.C. practice will deliver a next-generation corporate practice to help companies enhance their reputations and navigate the challenges of 21st century communications.
For more information, read our press release on the new offering.
June 16th, 2008
By Ginger
I had the opportunity to attend PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference the past few days in New York City, and discovered quite a few new resources that I wanted to pass along, as we all try to identify the best ways to make our digital and social media marks online. Check them out when you get a chance!
SEO / Linking and Ranking Tools
- Seodigger.com - Shows how a company ranks for organic search
- Market Leap - Add in a URL and see how many links your site has versus competitors, and what their ranks are
- Yahoo! Search Site Explorer - Tells you how many inbound links there are to a particular domain name
- SEO Book Rank Checker - Free Firefox rank-checking tool that lets you see how your website stacks up to competition
- SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool - See how one certain word ranks for SEO purposes
- Search Rascal - Shows the sites that are ranked for use of one certain word, and how it changes over time
- “Link:” on www.Google.com – If you type “link:” immediately followed by a domain name (ex: link:racepointgroup.com) into Google search, the results will show you which and how many sites are linking to that domain name
Twitter
- TweetScan - A real-time search engine for Twitter that lets you find the conversations on the topics you want.
- Who Should i Follow - Enter in your Twitter username, and this tool will give you suggestions of people you might want to follow.
- TweetWheel - A tool that shows you which of your Twitter friends know one another
- TwitDer – A Twitter directory that shows you the most popularly followed people on Twitter, and the people that send the most updates
Video
- Icyou.com - Healthcare video community that brings you everything from late-breaking medical research videos to exercise tips
- Blinkx - Search online video
- Tubemogul - Video analytic tool that shows you when, where and how often videos are being watched, letting you measure how powerful your video marketing campaign is against competitors
- RedLasso – Search national and local TV and radio broadcasts and make clips to post to your site
Podcasts
- Podscope - Search engine that lets you search podcasts by typing in a phrase of spoken words
- Podcast Alley - One of the biggest collections of podcasts on the Internet – features the top 10 podcasts as rated by listeners
- Podcast Directory - A podcast search site similar to Podcast Alley
Any really great tools that you have come across that you would like to share? Let us know about the sites that you have found!
June 12th, 2008
Forrester VP and Author Outlines Four Steps to Digital Relations
By George
Josh Bernoff, Forrester Research vice president and co-author of the upcoming “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” kicked off the PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference in New York City today.
Bernoff, who focuses on social technologies for the research firm, got right to the point. “Concentrate on the people, not the technologies,” he told a crowd of about 200 public relations people during his keynote address.
Bernoff said that marketers and PR people need to understand that controlling the conversation on the Web is an impossible task. He said he wrote “Groundswell” with fellow Forrester analyst Charlene Li as a manual for using social technologies effectively. Bernoff said participation and a willingness to engage freely are the keys.
During his presentation, Bernoff outlined his four step process for engaging with what he calls the groundswell of people using social and digital technologies.
1. People. Companies first priority should be assessing their customers’ social activities. What technologies are their customers using? How are they communicating? Where can they be found online?
2. Objectives. Companies then need to decide what they want to accomplish with social and digital media relations. What are the goals? Is digital and social media the best channels?
3. Strategy. Thirdly, companies need to expend the energy up front to plan for how social and digital media relations with change relationships with customers. What are the short and long-term consequences of engaging on the Web?
4. Technology. Lastly, companies need to decide which social networks, widgets and tools are best for them and their customers.
June 10th, 2008
By Ginger
Today, the first p2p network for scientists – ResearchGATE – was launched to give researchers a global web-based community to interact, collaborate on projects, and exchange resources and information.
This Web 2.0 community – labeled the Facebook for Scientists – allows scientists to create profiles similar to those found on Facebook. ResearchGATE members fill out an “about me” section to describe their research skills, submit their CV – Research Vitae, and list recommended scientific resources to connect with other members with similar scientific interests and projects.
One of the most significant aspects about this social network, which was created by researchers, for researchers, is that members can search for partners for research collaborations and grant applications. This search functionality is guaranteed to change the way researchers connect with one another, giving them the opportunity to identify the ideal person to work with on a collaborative project that they might have not found otherwise.
Providing researchers with free global access to one another, quickly and easily connecting some of the world’s brightest minds on collaborative projects could mean limitless possibilities for the scientific community – this is definitely a site to keep an eye on.
May 23rd, 2008
Previous Posts
