easy reader RSS ready for action
I'm always surprised at the number of people who don't use RSS readers. (In reality, it's probably the minority of internet users that do.) And if you're not using an RSS reader, you're probably spending way more time reading a lot less than the rest of us.
If you fall into this category, Laura Newman points to a really simple, fun reader called Feedly that looks almost like a magazine page. Looks easy, looks nice, and will save you hours and hours of reading and clicking the old fashioned way.
Labels: productivity, rss, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:03 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
twitter tells you when to send marketing email
Chris Penn and Toddle show you how to use Twitter and your Google RSS reader to find the most excellent time to send that email newsletter to prospects. From @ogilvydigital
Labels: email, rss, social media, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:16 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
google reinvents the newsstand
Yesterday Google launched a fun new tool called Fast Flip. This news aggregator pulls together content from a kazillion sources and lets you flip through it as if you're looking at a newsstand in the old timey world of print publishing.
Very fun. Think of all the time you'll save so that you can tweet more during the day!
Labels: google, publishing, rss
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:25 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
all the news that's fit to tweet.
Introducing the Twitter newspaper. Because it needed to happen.
Check out TwitterGrep. It's a virtual newspaper of what's being tweeted in the twitterverse. Yeah. People at old school papers are freaking out and saying things like "really?" and "are you f*&king kidding me??" right now.
Some are already saying that RSS is dead - replaced by the immediacy of Twitter and FriendFeed. So TwitterGrep doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
Idea: Here's an IMMENSE opportunity for a brand to create a custom, branded paper. Why can't I have a custom Twitter paper, with my own feeds, customized with my own tags? And then include a column with your brand's news, too. Seriously. Let's build this. Call us.
Labels: news, publishing, rss, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:49 AM
1 comments
Monday, March 23, 2009
news alarm. for when the aliens take over.
In the old days, news was delivered across AP machines. Like fax machines on a continuous roll of paper, spewing the news. They had alarms on them, so if there were a national emergency, someone in the newsroom might notice.
Artist/hacker Jer Thorp has created just such a device to alert him of important news. And he's done it all with a smoke alarm and RSS feeds. Amazing.
Labels: art, creativeinspiration, hacks, rss, technology
posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:48 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 23, 2009
news, presented in a link cloud of beauty
Newsmap is a webalicious new way of looking at the news. They've taken the Google news feed and produced a colorful tag cloud that presents the news based on the popularity of the stories.
Who would of thought that a page full of text could be so wonderful? From ANGUS WHINES, a blog overflowing with awesomeness.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:39 AM
2 comments
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
a bunch of stuff that you already knew...
but that's ripe for sharing with your boss: This social media stuff is really, really popular.
Universal McCann just released a new report showing that people really dig social media. That people watch video online. And are participating in social networks. And are beginning to understand RSS.
You will probably say "DUH", but you know you need these bullets for that PowerPoint presentation to the board:
- 83% watch video clips, up from 62% in the last study in June 2007
- 78% read blogs, up from 66%
- 57% of internet users are now members of a social network
- RSS consumption is growing rapidly up from 15% to 39%
- Podcasts are now mainstream digital content, listened to by 48%
More highlights of the 17,000 internet users surveyed last month on ReadWriteWeb.
The photo of Rob's smirk has absolutely nothing to do with this post. I just thought a graph or chart would be really boring. Let's just pretend that Rob is thinking of social media trends in this pic. Which, I believe he is.
Labels: facebook, podcasting, rss, social media, trends
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:32 AM
1 comments
Monday, March 10, 2008
another cool list of blogs you need to read
Check out this new blog directory, Blogged.com. I was just introduced to the site after meeting some of their people at SXSW. More importantly, they've given BrandFlakes a ranking of 7.5, on a scale of 1 - 10. Apparently, that's a pretty strong rating. Either that, or they were just kissing my butt.
Anyway - the directory does indeed look to be a cool new resource to finding more blogs for you to read. Because you're already spending too much time working. When you really should be reading the internets.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:09 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
two new habits to form in 2008
Happy New Year to all of our clients, friends and BrandFlakes readers!
The new year is the perfect time to form new habits and routines. I visit a lot of clients and brands across the country, and am always surprised at how many marketing folk still aren't using RSS to read their blogs, and are still a flutter about Twitter. If you fall into this category, I'm begging you to explore. Start now, with two easy resolutions:
1. Use an RSS reader. If you don't know where to start, Google's reader is awesome and easy. You'll be up and reading in minutes. Add blogs frequently. Whenever you come across something you like. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can read a HUNDRED blogs.
2. Start a Twitter account. You don't even have to Tweet. Not at all. But follow some other people who do. You can start with the NY Times, or Techmeme. Look at other people in the industry, and who they follow. (Look me up, too!) And now, check your Twitter feed a few times a day. I guarantee you'll be more informed.
Here's to more information, more fun, and more social/marketing/branding/design goodness for 2008!!
Labels: productivity, rss, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:07 AM
6 comments
Monday, December 17, 2007
google launching their social network...slowly?
When I logged into my Google RSS Reader this weekend, I was prompted to complete a profile. And to start adding friends. Looks like this might be the first stage of the Google social empire. Christmas is coming.
Labels: google, rss, search, social media
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:10 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
aggregation. the solution for social media overload?
Fleet Street PR has an excellent post about the growing number of social media tools, and how there's less and less time in your life to use them. The graph above shows the number of social tools being used by the author David Fleet, over time.
This is the same dilemma that I hear from all of my blogger/social media friends. We're running out of time in the day. David points to the answer to all of our problems: aggregation.
Totally agree. But we need more of it. Faster. Now. I believe Facebook will become this in the near term. But there's another problem, too:
Content overload. I can no longer read all of my RSS feeds in a single day. Too many subscriptions. My Twitter feed is growing, and many days I miss important Tweets. I can see my Facebook newsfeed going in the same direction. I've decided not to participate in the Digg social profile/tool. Something's got to give.
Aggregation will be a part of the solution, but I fear that it's going to be necessary to limit the amount of content we consume, too. I've sadly nearly eliminated books from my life. No time. Replaced by RSS and other media. Aggregation can allow us to consume more, faster - but there's still a limit to the amount of media that a human can ingest. So...until Facebook can solve this problem for us, I think it still comes down to....content is king. The best will bubble up to the top, and the rest will sink to the bottom.
Labels: facebook, rss, social media, technology, trends, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:38 AM
7 comments
Thursday, July 19, 2007
the future of blogs, micro demos and other heady things
Steve Rubel has some interesting perspective on what the attention crash, shiny object syndrome and technology trends mean to the future of blogging.
Real genius insight - and things are definitely evolving to new places. New tools. New devices. Social networking.
But at the same time, I meet people every day who still don't understand what a blog is. Or realize that they read one. As media users, we're becoming a more fragmented society. Early adopters are blogging less and using even newer tools. Others are just learning how to use RSS. Some still even use television as their primary media!
This is true in marketing demographics, too. What used to be described as "male, 25-34, 40K income, etc" can no longer be viewed as a single demographic. Because within any single demo, there are now many, many micro demos. And changing every day.
Geez. That's too much thinking. My head hurts. Time to watch Bobbing for glasses again.
Labels: blogging, facebook, marketing, rss, technology, trends, twitter
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:24 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
the attention crash is coming
Steve Rubel predicts a coming crash. An attention crash. I'm soooo feeling this. Even with RSS and the techwonderous tools at my fingertips, there just aren't enough hours in the day to take it all in. And, there's that job thing people keep expecting me to do too...a coworker and I were just discussing the desire to be able to eliminate sleep. So many things to read, to watch, to do. So little time. Crash is coming...
(The only crash photo that I could find in the Plaid library was Giuli, falling off of a bouncy ball. Enjoy.)
Labels: rss, social media, technology, web2.0
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:45 AM
4 comments
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
pageflakes includes brandflakes. let's all get flaky together.
Sticky Figure has produced an RSSelicious feed-a-mator that pulls together feeds from the best (I only say that cuz we're included) design, branding, and marketing blogs.
It's called Pageflakes. This is a great set of feeds. I know a lot of clients and marketers STILL haven't setup an RSS reader. (Try Google's...it's easy, and you'll love it.) Pageflakes (clearly, named after, and inspired by Brand Flakes) is a great place to visit daily, to quickly catch up on design and branding news - and to see the power of the RSS feed.
I use a few of these aggregators to keep up on things, and this is a good one. Check it out.
Labels: adindustry, blogging, branding, marketing, rss
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 AM
2 comments
