Abstract Edge: Brand Interactivism

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

Paul Graham is right on the money about the disconnect between the most productive schedules for producers vs. managers. Great managers understand the disconnect and protect their producers.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Yahoo! Getting Out of the Search Business

It appears that Yahoo!, one of the earliest pioneers of search, is getting out of the search business. No, they are not exactly conceding the race to Google. Rather, they decided that they needed to combine with Microsoft in order to become Pepsi to Google's Coke. Basically, Yahoo! is dumping their own search engine and integrating Bing as a substitute.

Fix your terrible, insecure passwords in five minutes. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

via slate.com

Slate publishes a clever way to have a more secure, but still memorable set of passwords for the web. This is important, especially in light of the Twitter - TechCrunch fiasco.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Marketing Small Businesses With Twitter

via nytimes.com

This is currently the 3rd most emailed article on NYTimes.com. Not a ton of depth, but worth a quick read for a few anecdotes about how using Twitter is helping some small businesses.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Zappos/Amazon Merger - Will This Affect the Agency Review?

I wonder if this will affect their agency review.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-buys-online-shoe-retailer-zappos-for-800-million-2009-7#

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Agencies Have to Take Their Own Medicine - Small Agency Diary - Advertising Age

via adage.com

Peter Madden is correct when he posits that agencies (especially small ones) don't do enough to promote themselves - and certainly not at the level of work they do for their clients. We frequently find ourselves in this predicament, but I think the major culprit is simply the old "shoe cobbler's children" syndrome. We always put ourselves last. We always wish we had more time to do great work for our clients, so the last thing we're going to do is steal from our most limited resource - time - to promote ourselves.

That said, at some point it has to be done.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Curating the Web - Best Practices

Publishing 2.0 has listed some best practices for media organizations that want to "create significant value for readers by curating the web." Click on the post, "Best Practices for Journalists Curating the Web" for the details, but their list includes:

1. Make it a collaborative effort
2. Comment to explain why the link is worth clicking
3. Attribute links to individual journalists
4. Share links on Twitter
5. Integrate into existing workflow
6. Complement original reporting

Good advice.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Magazines Struggling on the iPhone

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/14/iphone-magazines-mobile-technology-wireless-iphone.html

According to Forbes, magazines are having a really hard time figuring out how to make any money on the iPhone. Any ideas?

Posted via email from Thinking on the Edge

Zappos Review Ignites Agency Ire

From adweek.com: NEW YORK The chance to work with a hot brand like Zappos is too much for many agencies to pass up, even when it means pouring in tons of time, effort and money into a Byzantine review process in which they have little chance of succeeding. Zappos recently got RFP responses from 104 agencies, with 22 then chosen to do 90-minute presentations at Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas this week. In an unusual twist, it required shops to submit storyboards and ad mockups for the initial round, all in a tight two-week turnaround.

Frankly, the sheer amount of time Zappos has spent on this is insane. This is a broken process. I know Zappos is all about openness, but this sort of thing isn't fair to anybody.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge

Twitter CEO: How Not To Get Hacked Like Us

via businessinsider.com

Do you use the same, weak password for all of your assorted logins? Don't.

Posted via web from Thinking on the Edge