As you may know, I’m a pretty voracious reader and generally share a bunch of news & reviews via my social platforms. Here’s a countdown of the top six most important articles I’ve shared in the last day. I curate this top six based on number of retweets, clicks, favorites, and mentions, so you guys are a large part of what ends up listed here :).
#6 Twitter Doghouse Lets You Temporarily Dump Annoying Tweeps
Are you a non-sports fan but have a few Olympic-obsessed tweeps who will be hijacking your entire Twitter feed for the next two weeks? For situations like these, there’s a new app called Twitter Doghouse. Mashable writer Sam Laird says the new app will allow users to unfollow tweeps for scheduled periods of time. Personally, I’d prefer a way to just block people temporarily without actually letting them see they’ve been unfollowed – but hats off all in all to the developers of Twitter Doghouse!
#5 Using Instagram for Your Small Business
This piece by the Direct Selling Education Foundation says you should consider using Instagram as a networking and marketing tool. This is very much an Instagram for beginners type of article, with a business angle – but plenty of you found this useful, so on the list it goes!
#4 Clif Bar Launches First Geo-Location Twitter Campaign
Organic foods and beverage maker Clif Bar is attempting to launch the first geo-location Twitter campaign. Lauren Indvik of Mashable says the company wants you to send a geo-tagged tweet to @CLIFMojoGo the next time you’re in a park, at the beach or on a trail. Twitter does allow advertisers to target users in U.S. regions, but this is really the first true geo-location campaign on Twitter. Hats off to Clif Bar for being innovative!
#3 New Digg Team Publishes Redesign in Progress
As most of you know, Digg was recently purchased by Betaworks, and will be undergoing a major underhail. “Digg 2.0” released screenshots and additional details on its reimagining of the platform, which used to be a vibrant part of the social media conversation. My take? Digg is taking a big step in the right direction with giving its audience a clear sense of the product roadmap, and this should woo back some lapsed Digg users and perhaps even recruit many new ones.
#2 How Big Companies Are Becoming Entrepreneurial
Most believe that big companies are the opposite of entrepreneurial – but that’s not always the face. Larger corporations do run entrepreneurship programs for several years, like the fabled Lockheed Martin “Skunk Works” – a small group of employees working on revolutionary products such as famous aircraft designs including the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Dan Schawbel of TechCrunch wrote this very useful piece going into the entrepreneurial efforts of Amazon, Microsoft, and others – worth a few minutes!
#1 Why No One Will Watch Your Crappy Corporate “Viral” Video, and How to Fix It
What separates great branded video content from the bad? Scott Stratten of Fast Company says he gets asked this question all the time: “How do we make our video/post/content go viral?” The truth is you can’t make something become extremely popular. I don’t decide, and neither do you; the audience does. Asking for something to go viral is one of the best ways to ensure it doesn’t! Calling your newest launch a “viral marketing campaign” is pretty silly. Going viral isn’t a campaign, it’s a result of being good or bad, and resonating with your target audience.
