Look what I found!

Google Reader gives me hours of entertainment and information.  So what I’ve decided is to share with you each Friday (try to anyway) some cool things that I’ve come across.  So here we go!

The first 2 come courtesy of Read Write Web.  Want to look back on 2010?  Google and Twitter take a look back on what happened this year.

Zeitgeist 2010: Year in Review

Twitter 2010: Year in Review
There is still some content to come but either way, I’ll be interested in seeing how they fill in the circles!  CLICK HERE to go to the site!

Finally, if you are a Twitter user, wouldn’t it be interesting to see where your followers are?  Church Crunch posted a link to this site yesterday.  Check it out here, plug in your Twitter ID and it will do the rest!

There you have it!  What do you think?  If you have any interesting things you came across, I’d love to hear about them too!  Have a great weekend!

A New Set of Eyes

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Read Write Web has become my one of my “go to” sites each day with all of the great content they provide on a daily basis.  I’m lucky I came across this article given the volume of content that is published daily from the folks at RWW!

Redefining What It Means To Be A Mobile Marketer introduced me and those that read it to a new type of marketing as a result of the evolution of digital marketing…cross channel marketing.

The most-simple way to understand cross channel is that it’s the inverse of a multi-channel, siloed approach where plans and actions occur in relative isolation. This is happening today in many businesses, where separate teams aligned to mobile, social media and email collaborate little, if at all.

After reading this, my head immediately went to how technology has changed “traditional” digital marketing and CRM.  Not only has it forced brands to rethink how they convey their message but it has also given them a new set of eyes to see and remember that consumers are people.

Take a look at what I see as the “hot topics” of the day…

• Mobile
• Social Web
• Tablets (click for really compelling infographic)
• Connected TV
• Cloud Computing (another infographic worth looking at)

All of these are redefining what was “new” just a few years ago.  They also show how technology is putting influence back into the hands of consumers rather than the brands themselves.

As a consumer, I want the content I want when I want and where I want (mobile).  I’ll likely ignore brands that shout irrelevant messages at me and tell my friends about it (social).  I enjoy “laid back” computing while sitting on the couch with my wife (tablets).  I want a browser experience on the new 50” television I just bought (connected TV).  I won’t give you a cloud example because that is something still new to me and I’m trying to determine how that helps me as a consumer, but you get the point.

Technology will not go away and it will continue to play a major role in our lives.  I get frustrated when people tell me they don’t have time or understand Facebook or have a need for a smartphone or tablet.  I might be stubborn (only child) but I’ve found so much value in all of these things and I haven’t even scratched the surface on what they can do to enhance my productivity.

He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.” (John 9:25 – The Message)