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Grounded In Reality

Webcast - Mastering the Four Essential Elements of Conversational MarketingAugust 1

This Wednesday, Rachelle Spero (SVP Digital Media) will be participating in a webcast titled, “Mastering the Four Essential Elements of Conversational Marketing: Listen, Relate, Create, Aggregate.” The Webcast, which is put on by the American Marketing Association (AMA) and sponsored by SAS (a Cohn & Wolfe client) will cover the essentials of social media marketing, including how to effectively:

o Build a listening infrastructure
o Identify market influencers and join the conversation
o Create engaging content and experiences
o Aggregate people and content to build branded communities

SPEAKERS:
Jeff Gilleland, Global Strategist, SAS
Rachelle Spero, SVP of Digital Media, Cohn & Wolfe
Bob Pearson, VP of Communities and Conversations, Dell

EVENT DETAILS:
Day: Wed, Aug. 6th
Time: 1pm ET
Length: 60 min
Register: Registration Page

Twitter Does Maintenance During BlogHer 08July 19

Andrew Foote, Andrew Silver and I are at BlogHer 08 Conference this weekend in San Francisco. It has been aware that posting to Twitter in 140-character format has been much more popular than full blog writing. Well, get back to your blogging roots ladies because Twitter’s Fail Whale is in FULL FORCE. I am not sure if Twitter planned this or they are just simply unaware of the popularity the application has among the women influencers online, but this is the most inopportune time for a shut-down.

If you look at the top Twitter search trends for the past 3 days, just under the new Batman movie is #BlogHer08. Moms are on Twitter, and I am honestly waiting for the day that mommybloggers go on strike against Twitter…and I have a feeling its coming soon.

‘The Andrews’ and I will be back a little later with conference updates, but for now, I can say that these women are amazing and the learning curve is steep. Be ready to step up.

AIDS Walk New YorkMay 19

After a terrible week of grey New York weather, myself and the rest of the New York Digital team were thankful for a bit of sunshine at the AIDS Walk in Central Park on Sunday. The AIDS Walk is the largest AIDS fund raising event in the world, and with over 45,000 participants in New York, it raises millions of dollars annually for those affected by HIV and AIDS.

For me, being new to the city and a Brit, it was a good opportunity to see more of New York, and I was excited to check out Strawberry Fields and the Dakota apartment block, the scene of late Beatle, John Lennon’s, death.

Of course, we also made use of some new technology and shared photo updates in realtime on Andrew Foote’s Twitpic page. If you want to keep up with the latest developments in mobile social networking, download Twitpic, a new Twitter application which means you can now Twitter with pictures and video. It’s great fun and designed so that you can update your friends with pictures, video and a short message direct from your mobile. I am definitely a convert!

Thanks to family, friends and all at GCI who sponsored us. Our first foray into fundraising was pretty successful and we managed to raise over $1,000 for charity. Oh, and for t

Google’s Offline ExperienceMay 19

Google’s recent spectacle of lights in NYC was impressive. If you missed it, earlier this month the company turned the meatpacking district into a canvas of psychedelic video projections to celebrate the introduction of 70+ iGoogle artist themes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDY4xWg_hus

Stunning projection technology aside (Obscura Digital did the work), I love that Google used an offline event to spark interest online. They could have stuck with the standard homepage promotion and logo re-design (aka Google Doodle) to announce the new iGoogle themes. Instead, they brought the designs to life and created a memorable experience.

Search superiority and intuitive services aside, Google is loved because it has mastered the ability to humanize a 100% online brand. Everything they do is centered around the user. Check out this post by David Armano about Google’s razor sharp focus on user experience.

For me, user experience means every touchpoint with a brand, whether it be online, offline, functional or observational. Google understands the importance of a 360 exp

Health 2.0: Where Does One Begin?May 12

Interesting read here on SocialButterfly related to defining Health 2.0. I found this post most valuable because of the examples of online resources related to Health 2.0, especially because it’s hard to grasp the concept of the amount of health info online. It’s not a complete list, but it will give the general consumer a good sense of what’s out there related to Health 2.0 websites, podcasts, wikis, social networks, blogs, video sharing and online forums. Check out the post if you’re interested in a quick read and some great online health resources.

The author raises some solid questions related to Health 2.0 and its future. The first, “Is Health 2.0 helpful or harmful?” This could be debated for days, but as we’re a society that thrives on evolution, we should embrace Health 2.0 and the potential positives for patients and physicians. Yes there will be setbacks, but that’s how we learn. Sermo, for example is a positive example of Health 2.0 because physicians can discuss real world clinical issues and make changes to their practices based on online consensus.

What are your thoughts on Health 2.0 being helpful or harmful?