Franck Vinchon launched ‘My Own Epitaph’ a Facebook app to help readers understand the thinking behind his book ‘Tranches de mort’. The book suggest that death is not just an accident but the result of everything we experience in life. Based on this concept, the app uses information from your Facebook profile and generates words written on your gravestone. Continue reading “Facebook App Generates Words Written on Your Gravestone”
Tag: Innovation
What I care about for those who care
I like the conversations that I have on the go, but I have to admit that for some reason conversations feel better when I’m at home talking with a small and more intimate group of friends. It’s that intimacy that I think got lost with online communication today. Continue reading “What I care about for those who care”
Top 20 Social Media Influencers and Beyond…
Kristi Hines (@kikolani) published a nice list of “The 20 most influential people in social media” and Simon Kemp (@eskimon) did a good job in this thread reminding us all that since more than 80% of the world’s social media users live outside of the US it would be a good idea to add some other influential names beyond America’s shores to the list.
Brava Kristi and bravo Simon. So far so good.
Krishna De is an outstanding communicator and a long time digital-friend. She suggested that I could be considered as an influencer in Finland. First of all, I’d like to thank Krishna for mentioning me as an influencer. I tend to work with my “head down”, putting all the passion and commitment I have into everything I do in this industry. Ultimately, my greatest reward is to see a satisfied smile on the face of whoever I’m working with because what we did together meant something to them and made a difference. So, when someone points me out for any reason related to what I do, I feel honored.
Secondly, though, after reading the following comment I felt that I should probably clarify my position a bit and give out a little bit more information about what I do since I have been – and still am – very involved in the Finnish social media and technology space…
If you can’t see/load the picture above:
Jaana Nyström – +Krishna De New York in Finland now? 🙂 +Andrea Vascellari has nothing to do with Finland, I think? Must be an error this…
Not wanting to promote myself but I’m the “Google+ envoy in Finland”, according to the local Google Industry Manager… At least I’m diligent! 😀
For those of you who have been connected with me for a while now, you are probably aware that my company and I work on international projects, but for the sake of this thread on G+, here’s my reply which just focuses on some of the ways I’ve been “influential” in Finland.
Hi Everyone,
Hi Jaana,
Jaana I’ve been living and working in Finland since 2005 and I’ve been researching and studying the Finnish information society cluster since 2002.
In Finland, I’m currently running several projects for national and local governments, regional development, B2B, B2C, pharma and education. If you have a look at the people/connections we commonly share here on Google+ you’ll notice that I’m well-networked with the Finnish social media sphere 😉
I’m often a contributor to various international podcasts sharing my point of view from the Finnish perspective (but not only, since I have Italian-Canadian roots) specifically in the fields of PR, marketing and communications. In addition to that, since public speaking is part of what I do, I’ve been invited to speak at some of the largest conferences in Finland i.e. Mindtrek, ITK, etc. If you quickly browse through my Linkedin profile you’ll notice that I’ve been invited as an official blogger to many industry conferences, such as the LeWeb, Web 2.0 Expo, etc. and I’ve also represented Finland at two editions of the Bloggers World Forum respectively in Bucharest and Vienna. So these are most likely some of the reasons why you’ll find a fairly large group of people worldwide referring to me when they think of Finland – it’s the same for me when I think of Ireland and 2 names immediately come to mind Krishna De (@krishnade) and Bernie Goldbach (@topgold).
On the other hand, leading an international digital strategy agency requires me to travel quite often, but my home is currently in Finland. My team and I work across 4 continents and we recently opened a new office in New York (NYC) so the information you see on my Twitter profile refers to that. I hope this explains and clarifies everything.
Andrea @vascellari
– Good to meet you, Jaana. Andrea
Foster Innovation, Don’t Fake it
photo credit: bass_nroll
Speed of Innovation? It’s fast, fast, fast and in case you didn’t get it, it’s faster than ever before.
New fields are emerging and with no surprise we have a huge number of new jobs emerging.
The crazy growth of some of these fields forces anyone who wants to stay on top to invest not just a couple of hours a week but to focus full time on it.
Organizations that pretend to achieve objectives in these new emerging fields only by stretching internal resources, aka overcharging existing staff with even more work, are not going to go anywhere. The only thing they will achieve is stressing people out and lowering the overall level of performance.
You must invest in new internal or external resources.
Organizations must foster innovation, and not suppress it under fake illusions just to convince themselves that they are moving in the ‘right’ direction.
Andrea
Communications Report for April 27th 2011 – AndreaVascellari.com
Do you want to get these report-updates in real time? Subscribe to the live-report RSS feed! This feed includes only report related items. It’s not a substitute but a complement to my main RSS feed which still remains the official one that brings you all my blog posts.
- Metrics & ROI – 2011 Trends: Turning Data Into Action; Mobile; Social Marketing – Most marketers understand the value of good customer data, but they still struggle to organize and use it effectively: 62% cite “turning data into action” as their top marketing issue in 2011, according to a report by Unica.
- Companies increase outsourcing for SEO, PPC and social media: survey – The report is based on a survey which polled 900 client-side advertisers and agencies. It found that the number of companies handling SEO exclusively in-house fell from 51% in 2010 to 44% in 2011, and the number handling paid search in a similar fashion dropped from 47% to 38% over the same time period.
- 25 reasons why you should be blogging – The main benefit of a blog in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO) is that it builds backlinks to your pages. If your content is good then people will discuss and share it, creating links to your pages on their websites, their own blogs and through social platforms like Twitter.
- TEDxEdges – Ricardo Sousa on Teen Entrepreneurship – @ricardojrsousa – Wow!
- Free and Easy Email Reminders with FollowUpThen – Handy tool.
- 6 Smart and Effective Email Marketing Tactics – Here are several simple, emerging email marketing methods with which brands are seeing success.
- IAB: Internet Advertising Reached $26 Billion In 2010, Display Grew Twice As Fast As Search – Compared to other forms of advertising, Internet advertising surpassed newspaper ads in the U.S. last year ($22.8 billion) and is now second only to TV ($28.6 billion).
- Google’s collateral damage after algorithm changes, illustrated – TNW Google – SEOBook has created an interesting infographic that details the effects that changes to Google’s algorithms have had on the web.
- Search Marketing To Grow 16% This Year [REPORT] – Search marketing will grow 16% this year to $19.3 billion and 74% of North American ad agencies say their clients use Facebook, according to a study released Wednesday.
- Cost of Facebook Ads Jumped 40% This Year [REPORT] – Search engine marketing grew 17% year-over-year primarily because of increases in the retail and finance categories. Display advertising showed a 300% jump in exchange ad inventory and a 30% cost-per-thousand (CPM) decline, which Efficient Frontier attributes to “greater gains in reach and efficiency within the ad exchanges.”
- Google Research Shows How Online Ads Drive Offline Sales – The relationship between online search advertising and online sales can be easily quantified, and that’s part of what makes Web advertising so powerful compared to its print and broadcast counterparts.
- HOW TO: Improve Engagement on Your Brand’s Facebook Page [STATS] – Here findings along with tips about when and how to make the most of a Facebook post.
- 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report – A significant 3300 social media marketers provided valuable insight.
- Moblie Marketing & Tagging Infographic – Infographic.
- 7 tips for a killer Facebook landing page – A great Facebook landing page should turn visitors into subscribers, engage people, and encourage them to explore your products and services further.
Do You Need an Infographic?
Do you need an infographic? You might want to talk to these guys.
These are some nice graphical summaries that Daniel, Carla and Bauke created during my talk last week at the Switch Conference in Porto (Portugal). Their contact info is below, enjoy!
Andrea
Daniel, Carla, Bauke and me in Porto
Digital Evolution at Switch 2011
This weekend I’ll be speaking at the 2011 edition of the Switch Conference in Porto (Portugal).
“Switch is a two-day event that gathers people with different background experiences to discuss technology, science, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation in a network-friendly environment.”
My presentation will focus on ‘Digital Evolution’. I will talk about why the need to constantly evolve in the digital space has become something that isn’t just important but necessary for anyone who wants to succeed. I’ll explain why we have to re-think of websites as ‘digital brains’ instead of a simple ‘online presence’ and I’ll give 5 practical tips on how to prevent and eventually overcome 5 of the most frequent causes of digital extinction that brands, organizations and at times also individuals are facing today.
I hope to see you there!
Andrea
UPDATE: These are the slides of my presentation. Enjoy!
Embracing Imperfection
Nothing and nobody are perfect.
You can aim at perfection, but what you have to keep in mind is that in the end you, your ideas, your creations will be born, live, change shape, form, and die in an imperfect world. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.
Like many people, I spent most of my life aiming for the top, trying to reduce the number of mistakes, risks, or problems I would have to deal with. I devoted hours, days, and, in the end, years of my life to achieve goals according to certain standards.
Then, one day I came to a point where I realized that those thresholds are just simply irrelevant and actually counter productive. Sure, you could argue against this statement, but in my opinion those “certain standards” of achieving one’s goals actually reduce overall progress and flatten the wonderful nature of things which is dominated by an uncontrollable imperfection, which ultimately takes everything back to a flawless equilibrium.
Look at where you started from and think of the path you still have ahead. The fact that you are not there yet doesn’t mean you haven’t succeeded. If you slow down for a second, you’ll realize that success lies in each and every single step you take to move forward, in every time you fall, in every time you stand up again and keep moving forward.
I believe that success is itself a paradox because it restricts potential to the sole achievement of certain goals which, especially in today’s dynamic, ever-changing fast-paced environment, are nothing more than mere moments in time that neither belong to what has passed nor to what will be.
“But we need to measure something to know we are on the right path, correct?” Sure. Nothing wrong with that, but just don’t get stuck in measuring and end up forgetting the big picture. Temporary or mid-term achievements and even unsuccessful moments are all small pieces of the big vision.
You must look at the flow. We are all part of a unique, imperfect flow in which what’s official, determined and fixed it’s already dead and gone, old, far and surpassed. Nothing is perfect and nothing ever will be perfect. Perfection exists in being able to read through the imperfections and smartly move in synergy with the rhythm that moves the natural course of life. As a brand, an organization, and as an individual, think of how much you are in synergy with this flow. Stop for a second and switch off from the craziness that is imposed by the controlled standards we are often forced to embrace. You’ll be surprised at how much you are missing and by how much more you could achieve.
Andrea
Embracing Imperfection
Nothing and nobody are perfect.
You can aim at perfection, but what you have to keep in mind is that in the end you, your ideas, your creations will be born, live, change shape, form, and die in an imperfect world. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.
Like many people, I spent most of my life aiming for the top, trying to reduce the number of mistakes, risks, or problems I would have to deal with. I devoted hours, days, and, in the end, years of my life to achieve goals according to certain standards.
Then, one day I came to a point where I realized that those thresholds are just simply irrelevant and actually counter productive. Sure, you could argue against this statement, but in my opinion those “certain standards” of achieving one’s goals actually reduce overall progress and flatten the wonderful nature of things which is dominated by an uncontrollable imperfection, which ultimately takes everything back to a flawless equilibrium.
Look at where you started from and think of the path you still have ahead. The fact that you are not there yet doesn’t mean you haven’t succeeded. If you slow down for a second, you’ll realize that success lies in each and every single step you take to move forward, in every time you fall, in every time you stand up again and keep moving forward.
I believe that success is itself a paradox because it restricts potential to the sole achievement of certain goals which, especially in today’s dynamic, ever-changing fast-paced environment, are nothing more than mere moments in time that neither belong to what has passed nor to what will be.
“But we need to measure something to know we are on the right path, correct?” Sure. Nothing wrong with that, but just don’t get stuck in measuring and end up forgetting the big picture. Temporary or mid-term achievements and even unsuccessful moments are all small pieces of the big vision.
You must look at the flow. We are all part of a unique, imperfect flow in which what’s official, determined and fixed it’s already dead and gone, old, far and surpassed. Nothing is perfect and nothing ever will be perfect. Perfection exists in being able to read through the imperfections and smartly move in synergy with the rhythm that moves the natural course of life. As a brand, an organization, and as an individual, think of how much you are in synergy with this flow. Stop for a second and switch off from the craziness that is imposed by the controlled standards we are often forced to embrace. You’ll be surprised at how much you are missing and by how much more you could achieve.
Andrea
Communications Report for March 30th 2011 – AndreaVascellari.com
Do you want to get these report-updates in real time? Subscribe to the live-report RSS feed! This feed includes only report related items. It’s not a substitute but a complement to my main RSS feed which still remains the official one that brings you all my blog posts.
- Data: How the Advanced Corporations Spend on Social Business – A glimpse into the future.
- Top 25 Best Practices for Drafting Policies and Guidelines – The rules of social media engagement.
- Pepsi Innovates with Social Media Metrics – Shiv Singh, Head of Digital PepsiCo Beverages America, talked to eMarketer writer/analyst Kimberly Maul about how PepsiCo measures social media and the role Facebook plays in its social media outreach.
- The PR Influencer Index: Let Your Peers Rate You – Here is the Exercise for you to share with your peers…
- My Blackberry is not working – Fun!
- Twitter isn’t very social: study – A whopping 50% of all content consumed on Twitter is generated by only 20,000 users.
- Mobile internet stats round up – 84% use mobile search to look for information on local retailers, such as opening hours, address and contact details. 82% look for online retailers, 73% find a specific product or manufacturer website.
- Google Page Speed Now Available as Chrome Plugin – Google has finally released an experimental Chrome extension for its popular Page Speed service. Page Speed, which is already available for Firefox, analyzes Web pages and gives developers suggestions for improving performance.
- Mobile commerce: ten reasons to choose the web over apps – This doesn’t mean that apps don’t have their place, but retailers should look to mobile commerce sites before they create an app.
- Mobile commerce: 25 essential tips – Mobile commerce is continuing to grow, and there are now plenty of compelling reasons why retailers should sell via mobile.
- e-book sales exploded by 116% this January, totaling $69.9 million in the U.S. – Paperbacks were down 30.9% from the reporting companies, falling to $39.0 million, $30 million below the sales of e-books. Hardcover sales fell 11.3% in January.
- How to Activate Facebook Insights for Your Website – Handy!
- New Rules for the New Internet Bubble – We’re now in the second Internet bubble.
- US Social Network Usage: 2011 Demographic and Behavioral Trends – In 2011, 63.7% of US internet users will use social networks on a regular basis, amounting to nearly 148 million people. Although the pace of growth will be less dramatic in the next few years than it was in 2009 and 2010, usage will remain strong and shows no sign of declining.
- Advertising – B2B Brands Undervalue Online Display Marketing – Only 13% of B2B interactive marketers say they have increased online display budgets in 2011 relative to 2010 levels, in large part due to perceptions of ineffectiveness, according to a new report from Forrester.