Monday, April 26, 2010

what's up with FTP and blogger.com? May 1, 2010 changes!

A reminder about the news about your blogger.com account - Blogger.com is no longer supporting FTP publishing in Blogger after May 1, 2010. Blogger.com realizes that this will not necessarily be welcome news for some users, and they are committed to making the transition as seamless as possible.

For more details please visit: http://blogger-ftp.blogspot.com

What does this means for you?

Well, we need to discuss some options of how you can continue (or not) using blogger.com on your website. If you would like to continue using this tool, then we need to make some changes to how the blog shows up on your site.

Our suggestions are:

OPTION A:
stop using the blog, either remove it or use it as an archive
OPTION B: migrate using the blogger.com tool to a yournamehere.blogspot.com
OPTION C:
set up a subdomain and migrate the blog there (see blog.yourplanb.com for an example)
OPTION D: convert your site to a CMS solution like Drupal, Joomla or WordPress allowing you to edit all pages through your browser and use the included CMS blog tool (no longer using blogger.com)

And remember, on May 1, 2010 your blog will no longer work as is. So please, let's get a change in place sooner rather than later!

Monday, April 19, 2010

EARTHDAY is April 22nd!

A few green ideas for you and your company or organization:


  • receive e-bills instead of mailed bills from vendors and utilities
  • turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth and take shorter showers
  • support local farmers, by shopping at the farmers markets
  • change incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs
  • turn the thermostat down by three degrees during the winter/turn the thermostat up by five degrees in the summer
  • sweep the carpet each week instead of using the vacuum cleaner
  • combine all errands for one day each week
  • unplug all charging devices when not in use
  • shop with cloth tote bags - give us a call and we can send one over for you! (it is lime green)


Your Plan B Company joins the Earthday celebrations by continuing to work towards lowering the size of our footprint - both personal and corporate. You can too :)


Check out these sites for more information:

earthday.org
earthday.net/earthday2010
epa.gov/earthday
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

Monday, April 12, 2010

Couldn't resist passing this article to you from Mashable.com

Our Social Media Obsession by the Numbers

From the time we wake up in the morning to the moment we call it a day, and every moment in between (think bedroom, bathroom and dinner table), we’re checking in on our favorite social media sites.

This conclusion comes from data gathered by an independent study (commissioned by Retrevo), which surveyed 1,000 online individuals.

Per the report, our Facebook and Twitter (Twitter) activities continue even after we’ve hit the hay, with 48% of respondents checking in on activity when they wake up in the middle of the night or as soon as they wake up in the morning. Unsurprisingly, these night owl social media behaviors skew heavily toward those under the age of 25. Continue reading: http://mashable.com/2010/03/17/social-media-usage-stats/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Monday, April 5, 2010

What is Google Buzz?

Go beyond status messages
Share updates, photos, videos, and more.
Start conversations about the things you find interesting.


http://www.google.com/buzz
(you can watch a video about what this new tool is all about)

So what exactly is Google Buzz? It is a tool you use on your desktop PC or mobile, Buzz makes us think of an RSS combined with all of your social networking—all within the existing Gmail and Google.com infrastructure and (good/bad) security wall.

On Tuesday, February 9th, Google launched Buzz for Gmail, a service for sharing thoughts, multimedia, and your social media feeds with your friends utilizing Gmail (Gmail) as the conduit. The result: over 160,000 Google Buzz posts and comments per hour.

Buzz is an open platform, meaning that developers will soon be able to create new apps for Buzz — everything from iPhone apps to analytical services will be built on top of it.

Buzz's five key features include:

• Automatic friends lists (friends are added automatically who you have emailed on Gmail)
• "Rich fast sharing" combines sources like Picasa and Twitter into a single feed, and it includes full-sized photo browsing
• Public and private sharing (swap between family and friends)
• Inbox integration (instead of emailing you with updates, like Facebook might, Buzz features emails that update dynamically with all Buzz thread content, like the photo viewer we mentioned above)
• "Recommended Buzz" puts friend-of-friend content into your stream, even if you're not acquainted. Recommendations learn over time with your feedback.

Read more at Wikipedia...
And check out GeekSystem...
Stay up to date with Google news, by reading their blog.

The question is, do YOU need Google Buzz if you are already on Facebook, Twitter and Blogger.com?
Should you continue your social marketing reach on this new tool for your company or organization?

Reviews are mixed.

According to Mashable.com (The Social Media Guide) "The social media landscape has been permanently altered. To ignore Buzz would be a costly mistake, because Google has finally created the definition of a game-changer." So they feel we need to be using this new tool.

PCWorld.com asks "How big is the potential market for Buzz? In theory, at least as big as the total number of Gmail users, I guess." Again, that is a big pool of users, but do you want to jump in?

Your users already have a what feels like hundreds of ways to share content with their friends: Facebook and Twitter are two popular choices. Blogging is another. E-mailing text and images to friends is still very popular. We are not seeing how Buzz will add positively to those choices, but then again, past Google tools have been wonderful!

YourPlanB.com will continue to monitor and test this new cool toy from Google. We will keep you posted on our opinions. If you have any questions about social marketing and your marketing plan, give us a call!