Tuesday’s Top 5 for 05.05.09

1. On Beet.TV, you get a better sense of the success of JibJab and how they hit it big through online video.

2. I enjoy reading The Simple Dollar, always good links and money advice, like “My 25 Favorite Personal Finance, Career and Personal Development Blogs.”

3. Church Marketing Sucks has some new info on the encouragement of church-goers tweeting sermons. Personally, I think the cellphones should be off in church. It irks me when I see – usually – a teenager texting in church while mom or dad sitting next to them allows it to happen. People in the pews and seats should be paying attention. Let a church staff member tweet the sermon as a community outreach effort, not the church-goers.

4. From Adweek, “General Mills Recruits Blog Backers.” Is it a sign of blogger relations to come?

5. CRM.com has details of a report from Forrester Research, in a post titled “Social Media: The Five Year Forecast,” that projects more interesting shifts in online power and influence to consumers. The sooner businesses realize that’s where we’re heading, the sooner brands will be more effective on the Web.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 04.28.09

1. I’ve vowed not to type the name of the British woman in the middle of massive media overkill, just because she’s gotten enough play right? But Jeff Pulver smartly cites her as just one of the reasons why “Old Media + New Media: NOW Media.“

2. The future of publishing got an interesting treatment in The Wall Street Journal’s “How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write.”

3. From Inc.com, “6 CEOs Share Their Biggest Regrets.”

4. If you’re like me, you see a ton of apps for Twitter, go to sign up, and then realize they want your password to be able to use them. No thanks. That’s why I was glad to go to TwiTip and see “11 Useful Twitter Tools That Don’t Require Your Password.”

5. We’re all into looking to see where we are on the Web, right? From TIME, here’s “Why Google Wants You to Google Yourself.”

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 04.21.09

1. The question portion of any of the major beauty pageants are now the main creators of YouTube moments from the show. The questions are lame. And you can almost see the contestants’ heads spinning as they search for anything remotely intelligent to say. Almost.

Sunday night’s Miss USA show didn’t disappoint. Before Sunday night nobody knew Carrie Prejean’s name outside California. Little did she know when she reached into the jar and pulled out Perez Hilton’s judge number that Prejean – Miss California – would be making news as the unlucky recipient of a question Hilton had planned about gay marriage,

Forget the question, forget the answer… this post isn’t about that. The story that isn’t out there yet is if NBC knew what Hilton was going to ask. I’m assuming they did. Doesn’t matter I suppose.

I bet Prejean – or any of the other finalists – wished she would have drawn Kelly Monaco’s judge number out of the jar… because the winner, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, got Monaco’s hard-hitting “Do you believe that taxpayers money should be used to bail out struggling U.S. companies?”

Dalton actually started her answer by saying,”That’s a tough one.”

That’s the YouTube moment nobody’s talking about. And that’s your Miss USA 2009, America.

2. Speaking of Web hysteria, B.L. Ochman offers up timely “Lessons from the Amazon, Domino’s Debacles” on BusinessWeek.

3. From Brandweek, “What It Takes To Be a Top Marketer,” is a profile of Proctor & Gamble’s Roxanne Watson, who manages the Tide brand.

4. Some great stuff once again on Conversation Agent, “50 Content Ideas that Create Buzz.” Including #18, Add value in exchange for attention. One of the best ways to add value to others is by being generous with links to other good content.

5. I went to college in Wisconsin, worked in TV in two cities in the state…. so I know the folks in Dairyland can be a little… um… er… off. But you have to admire this research at UW-Madison involving Twitter, highlighted by MSNBC.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 04.14.09

1. I’ll start with a video this week, a commercial for Alaska Airlines. I think I’ve seen this guy in every airport I’ve been in, in the last year. I like to call him Mr. Bluetooth. Though, sometimes it’s Ms. or Mrs. Bluetooth, too.

What is it about these idiots that makes them talk louder than if they would just put their cellphone to their ear like the rest of us? Ugh:

2. On Media Bullseye, Albert Maruggi offered up a comparison that this basketball – and social media – fan can appreciate. “Traditional & Social Media = Football vs Basketball.”

3. David Meerman Scott recently posted the “Top Gobbledygook phrases used in 2008 and how to avoid them” and his Gobbledygook Grader site where anyone can plug in their news release text to test it for corporate crap. No surprise that some of the most annoying words used in news releases in 2008 were “Innovate” in the top spot and “Leading Provider” at number five. Anyone who writes a news release should read this post.

4. Time to channel your inner Marty McFly… From 11 Points, “11 Predictions That Back to the Future II Got Right”, which includes the sport of “Slamball.”

5. Democrats had their fun with Dick Cheney. While Republicans, and Saturday Night Live, are going to enjoy Joe Biden, as this video shows.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 04.07.09

1. From “slatester” on YouTube: “It’s pretty obvious Flutter is the next big thing.” It’s a nice effort at mocking Twitter. Not a laugh riot but it’s somewhat amusing:

2. CNW Group and Leger Marketing released an interesting report on social media in Canada. Among the findings in the “Social Media Reality Check,” 31% of consumer social media users and 55% of PR practitioners agree that social media is more credible than advertising. Why that gap?

3. I spotted this on Creativity Online. H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) is using virtual models on a Website where you can essentially create your own fashion show. Here’s a screen shot:

Try it out. I’m no fashion guru, but this is a really cool way to help customers envision how clothes look and fit. H&M even created a video showing the behind-the-scenes creation of the site. Are they the first clothing line to develop a site like this?

4. From PR Junkie, “Obama administration loves rebranding… and jargon,” with a link to a clip featuring Jon Stewart’s take on the new name for the War on Terror, or should I say, “Overseas Contingency Operation.” And “man-caused disasters”, that’s terrorism to you and I. Good to see Stewart give Obama some grief. Didn’t think that was possible.

5. CBS put its 2009 edition of One Shining Moment on the Web. Great shots. Great video editing. Enough said.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 03.31.09

Happy Birthday to my son, C.J.!

1. First up, some love for Twitter, with “27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today” from Small Business CEO.

2. From Tony Morgan at NewSpring Church, “25 Free Web Apps That Make Life Easier.” Proving yet again, that just when you think you’ve heard of “what’s new”… There are several on this list I had never heard of before. Good stuff.

3. Appreciate how the Washington Post did some reporting and outed five people who posed questions to President Obama during the live portion of his town hall last Thursday. So, were the other 95 people in the room some of Obama’s biggest fans too?

4. From AdAge, Forget frying up chicken, KFC is filling potholes. What?

5. And from Jeremiah Owyang, a funny take on life on the Web, though this one should be watched without the kids in the room. Here’s “Social Network Humor: Friendster, MySpace and Facebook”.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 03.17.09

1. I’ll start this week with a good post I saw from a pastor in North Carolina, on the difference between friends and fans. Good thoughts from Steven Furtick. Fans aren’t bad. “Just don’t mistake them for friends.”

2. Maine is putting a MacBook in the hands of every 7th to 12th grader in the state. 100,000 of them for $25 million. Even in a recession, it might be a great deal. For Apple, and for Maine. Giving more kids access to computers, especially those who don’t have one at home, is a good thing.

3. Video of Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” is up on the TED website featuring an intriguing talk on explaining the history of the creative process, and who can “be” a genius vs. “have” a genius. We’re all capable, creatively, Gilbert says. “Even I have had work or ideas come through me from a source that I honestly cannot identify. What is that thing? And how are we to relate to it in a way that will not make us lose our minds?”

4. Jimmy Kimmel commissioned Ernie and Cookie Monster to explain the Bernie Madoff scandal. Seriously:

5. And, my two boys crack up – no pun intended – every time they see this T-Mobile commercial. Love the way the actress in this spot delivers her lines. I bet it was a riot to shoot this commercial.

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 03.10.09

1. I enjoyed this from Paul Dunay, “How Long Does It Take to Become a Social Media Expert?” Anyone who claims to be a social media expert – especially in the arena of marketing and outreach for a business – without actual experience working on successful social media campaigns, is not an expert. You’re an enthusiast, perhaps. An evangelist, maybe. But not quite an expert.

2. Michael Gray goes a step farther on the expert thing, referring to many in expert land as “Web 2.0 Weenies.” A funny, and engaging post.

3. Still playing around with the Electric Artists Twitter Tracker.

4. If this 60 Minutes report from January on the impact of the economy on one American city doesn’t bring the reality home I don’t know what will.

5. I’m a huge Cal Ripken Jr. fan, so if you are a youth sports coach/parent like me I encourage you to check out some videos he did with KidsHealth.org on YouTube.

This one in particular has been helpful to me, during the last few months of my son’s 6th grade travel basketball season. His team hadn’t won a game until this past weekend. But it’s not just about winning though, is it? Too many parents don’t get that.

Here’s Cal on the right approach to youth sports:

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 03.03.09

1. Web-hip VP Joe Biden wants to know the “website number” in this video:

2. More politics here in this video as CBS News caught up with Twitter-hip Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. John McCain about their love of sending tweets and using lingo like LOL, which Grassley defines as “laugh a little.”

3. In “Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt,” the New York Times presents an interesting take on the fair use of news content on the Web.

4. The Church of the Customer Blog examines “The Tropicana Effect,” the result of the grief Tropicana recently took from loyal customers for a redesign of their orange juice carton. Interesting to note that some of that grief predictably came on Twitter, which Tropicana doesn’t have a presence on.

5. “It’s going to space!” Some much-needed perspective on “the crappiest generation” that’s worth passing along, on tech, travel and more, thanks to Louis CK on Conan:

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Tuesday’s Top 5 for 02.24.09

1. I’m a little late on linking this one, but if you haven’t read “Boy Photoshops girl: A Flickr love story” you will enjoy this unique Web collaboration between two photographers, sure to be copied in other ways if it hasn’t been already.

2. From the Grow My Company blog, you get “10 easy steps to put yourself out of business fast.” A good take with good advice on what not to do. Like, “Copy everything that your competitors do.”

3. Edelman Digital’s “Five Trends to Watch for 2009″ are on Scribd, courtesy of Steve Rubel. It’s well-written and organized. Pay particular attention to the thoughts on trend IV, “Corporate All-Stars,” for an interesting take on personal branding in a corporate setting.

4. Caught David Meerman Scott’s appearance on HubSpot TV, good stuff about marketing and PR and his new book World Wide Rave, which will be released next week.

5. I’ll close it out with this video, which features a clip from the fictional Hitler talking about Twitter in the movie “Der Untergang.”

Sort of.

Could have been done without the profanity, but you will laugh out loud throughout it. It’s been on the Web for about seven months, but definitely deserves a few more links. Make sure you hang with it to the end, it’s a very well-done parody from YouTube user “yesdeleon”:

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