Archive for September, 2007
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SMX Social Media + Charity Party = Networking to the Next LevelSep 27 2007 | Conferences |
In a little over 2 weeks (October 16th & 17th) some of the brightest minds in the social media world will be converging on New York City for the first ever SMX Social Media conference which is being put on by Danny Sullivan and co-chaired by Neil Patel. I am speaking on the first day as part of Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites panel along with Neil and Tamar. Here’s a quick overview of the panel:
Digg, Netscape, Reddit, Newsvine and others allow community members to share and rate news stories. They are primary news sources and influential outlets that must be considered by marketers. But don’t expect to post your old-school press release and get a good response! Learn how these sites work and how to best tailor your message for maximum visibility on them.
4 Comments » - Posted in Conferences by Chris Winfield
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Asmallworld.net: Online Social Networking Goes Upper CrustSep 26 2007 | Social Networks |
Asmallworld.net is a social networking site where membership is by invitation only and is intended to have members of only the most elite social spheres around the world.
Would you like to join this network? If so, have your diplomas and financial info at the door folks. Do you have a first home on
2 Comments » - Posted in Social Networks by Jake Matthews
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4 Cool Features Reddit Has (That Digg Doesn’t)Sep 25 2007 | Social Networks |
The top two social news website, Reddit and Digg have their differences. Even though Digg is more popular, Reddit might have the edge right now due to these four cool features (you might not have known were even there).
What’s Hot Now
Reddit’s main page is a lot different from Digg’s. Reddit’s main page stories are all current stories based on the amount of points it has and the time it was submitted. So, if you submitted a story first thing in the morning and throughout the day it only received 10 points, the chances of it being on the main page at night is very slim, but if the story has 100 point it’s a whole different story. Once your story on Digg reaches the homepage, that story can be moved off the homepage within a couple of hours, due to the ongoing stories reaching the same page as yours. It would be great to see a section on Digg for “what’s hot now.”
4 Comments » - Posted in Social Networks by Adam Fuhrer
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MicroFacebook? Microsoft in Talks to Buy Facebook StakeSep 24 2007 | Microsoft, Social Networks |
Microsoft has approached Facebook in recent weeks and the two companies are in talks about Microsoft making an investment in the social-networking startup. Microsoft’s investment would give them up to 5% in the company and that would value Facebook at $10 billion or more according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft’s approach to Facebook in recent weeks with proposals to invest in the fast-growing site is part of the software giant’s effort to catch up with the Internet rival Google. If successful, Microsoft’s talks with Facebook could give it an up-to-5% stake in the closely-held startup—a stake potentially valued at roughly $300 million to $500 million, the people familiar with those talks said.
The article states that this is likely to lead to another battle with Google, who has also expressed interest in Facebook.
8 Comments » - Posted in Microsoft, Social Networks by Chris Winfield
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Transforming Text: Photoshop Tutorial |
Some things are easier to do than others when manipulating type. Here is a quick tutorial on how to transform and distort your type in an easily scalable way with a vector mask.
This works on the same premise as distorting or transforming a basic shape. When you convert a text layer to a shape a vector mask is applied to it and ables you to make many transform functions. Very quick, very easy, very effective.
Step 1. Create a new layer with your text on it. Experiment with various widths and styles. For exaggerated distortions I find that a thick or Bold Condensed type form works best.
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Step 2. With the type layer selected go to Layer/Type/Convert to Shape.
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4 Comments » - Posted in Design, Tutorial by Patrick Winfield
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In Today’s Internet Landscape, Age is Really Just a NumberSep 24 2007 | Business |
Every time that I see one of my younger cousins or nieces/nephews I implore them and their parents to get them involved with the Internet right away. Forget having to work at a supermarket for their after school job (nothing against this - I did) but they can be working right from their house, earning good money and more importantly learning skills that will prove invaluable later on. And in many instances companies are looking for younger people to help them understand what their customers want and in many cases market themselves online. This is why I got my 16 year old cousin Kayla involved with my company.
Last February, the Wall Street Journal profiled a bunch of top users from different social networks in a story titled The Wizards of Buzz. The person that got a lot of people’s attention was Adam Fuhrer, not only because of his mastery of Reddit but even more impressive was his age:
9 Comments » - Posted in Business by Chris Winfield
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Hitting a Search PotholeSep 23 2007 | SEO |
Sometimes I wish I was a movie star simply because I would have more occassions to wear gowns. I don’t even watch that many movies. But if I did have a chance to wear one gown this year it would have been this one from Oscar De La Renta. I loved it when I saw it on the runway, and it still looks amazing when on a real life person too.
So lovely. Sigh….
I decided to head on over to the site to take a look at some more gowns, and it seems that the folks in charge of Oscar’s website need to rework the homepage a bit.
10 Comments » - Posted in SEO by Danielle Winfield
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Social Media News Quick HitsSep 19 2007 | Social Networks |
1) Today Digg will be rolling out a major update to make the site into a much more “social” environment. I did a complete write-up on the changes in an article for Search Engine Land. The main enhancements are going to be:
- Increased friend capabilities.
- ”Shouting” and “posting”.
- Enhanced profiles.
Read: Digg to Get Truly “Social” With Major Update Today
2) Netscape Social News is officially dead. Long live Propeller. We talked about this last week and its now official. Netscape has redirected their homepage to netscape.aol.com and the social news site is now live at Propeller. The site looks almost exactly the same (save for the new logo):
Read more about the changes at Netscape’s blog: Propeller lives!
No Comments » - Posted in Social Networks by Chris Winfield
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Simple Hollow Type Effect: Photoshop Tutorial |
More text style tips! Text styles are a great way to get away from the same solid color on a background and add some subtle ‘pizazz’ to the type.
For this tutorial we will need a photograph or an illustration to go behind the text that we will be applying the style to.
Step 1. Place your photo on the first layer and create a new layer for the text. Use a large font and fill it with black.
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Step 2. With the text layer selected apply a new Layer Style of Inner Glow to it. Select black as the color for this and set the Blend Mode to Multiply.
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1 Comment » - Posted in Design, Tutorial by Patrick Winfield
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Highlighted Chrome Style for Text: Photoshop Tutorial |
Text styles are always a great way to get away from the same solid color on a background and add some flair to the type.
Text style is used to further express the mode of a piece. Chrome could be considered mechanical or cool. This technique can be applied to text, an object or shape to add a cool chrome effect.
Step 1. On a new document created a letter in white on a darker background with a large point size. I am using 287 points and the font is Myriad Pro.
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Step 2. Go to Layer/Rasterize/Type.
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Step 3. Hold down Control and click on the Text Layer. This will select the outline shape of the letter.
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