Trees' Long Term Plan To Create Internet And Destroy Post Offices Finally Coming To Fruition

By embracing online bill pay, e-cards, e-mail, electronic signatures, and more, we've unwittingly played right into the Trees' hands.

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14756838&source=hptextfeature

Google improves music searches - so you can finally figure out the name of that awesome Starship song from Mannequin...and buy it legally!

Further refining their Searches for music - Google rocks.  If you're not already, do think seriously about Search Engine Optimization.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/28/google.music/index.html

Privacy Vs Social Media Sharing (aka - Privacy, The Bell Tolls For Thee)

Is privacy equal to obscurity?  Are we all publishers of our own social media?  Must we all now publish or perish?

According to Pete Cashmore, the social media savvy will inherit the earth.  Or at least its riches.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/28/cashmore.online.privacy/index.html

Not Sure How To Feel About This - Facebook Memorializes Deceased Members

This is just kind of weird, but in an odd way, kind of sweet/appropriate/of the times?  Or just weird.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8327607.stm

Tech's Leach suspends one player, bans Twitter

You tell'em Coach.  Our athletes can't be distracted by doings things like communicating thoughts and feelings.

Tech's Leach suspends one player, bans Twitter.

"Control Over the Corporate Website is Shifting to the Customers"

Google’s SideWiki Shifts Power To Consumers –Away From Corporate Websites « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.

Online Database of Social Media Policies

This might take a while to get through, but it's interesting nonetheless.  I'd like to see if any patterns emerge with the policies of various business sectors.

Online Database of Social Media Policies.

Video Search Engine Optimization.

Yes, typical of social media, my title is littered with buzz words.  However, this is exactly what this post is about, how to get people to watch my video.  As I am developing a great list of how to's for Video SEO, here are some sites I have come across.  Marketing Jive has 14 Best Practices for Video SEO as well as growth chart of some common video sharing sites.  My other great find is put out by a company called Stone Temple Consulting.  In which they have provided some explanations as to how search engines look at your video.

• The video file itself. This will usually accomodate a title, a description/summary, and some keywords / tags. Note that this is only useful for those video search sites, such as Truveo, that look at this data, which is currently a small percentage of the video universe. On the other hand, entering this data does not take very long.
• The web page on your site where the user can access, or read about, the video. This is normal HTML we are talking about, so you can customize the content to your heart's content. Title, keywords, meta description, and on page text, etc. Pay particular attention to the on page text as you can write a nice, keyword-rich and compelling description of the video.
• Keep your video files in one directory. This makes it easier for the crawler to find them all.
• Stay away from flash video players. Flash is still not search engine friendly.
• Make use of a Video Sitemap. This will make it easier for the crawlers to find your videos.   

These are some great reads among, I'm sure, thousands.  

NY Times Discovers That Advertising Is Content; Content Is Advertising

NY Times Discovers That Advertising Is Content; Content Is Advertising | Techdirt.

For many years we've been repeating the idea that advertising is content and content is advertising, and if you think one is different than the other, than you're not going to understand today's content business models at all.

Storytelling is the Game Storytelling is the most...

From the "they've been reading our business plan" department... the brilliant Gary Vaynerchuk, by way of our friends at LightburnDesigns... 

Storytelling is the Game Storytelling is the most....