This week I had the opportunity to have Justin Bryant sit in as a guest blogger. Watch the video as Justin discusses the importance of branding yourself in 2009. Check out Justin’s blog.
The Importance of Branding Yourself in 2009
December 31, 2008
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Blogging, branding | Tagged: Blogging, brand yourself, facebook, how to brand yourself, importance of branding, justin bryant, linked in, microblogging, twitter | 
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Posted by Derek McClain
Customize Your Facebook Experience with Greasemonkey
December 31, 2008Facebook is a great social tool for staying in contact with your friends, family and even business associates. I don’t need to tell you how successful Facebook has been or how many people are using it- you already know. And if you are a frequent user I am sure you enjoy the overall Facebook experience. There a few things, however, that could be improved to customized the Facebook experience and fortunately Greasemonkey has created some scripts that can help.
Below is a segment of a blog post taken from Mashable with links to several of these applications:
Auto-Colorizer – An interesting script that analyzes the default image for any profile you visit and adjusts the color scheme of the page to match it. Also works on photos, events & group pages.
Autopoke – Allows you to automatically poke those users that have poked you.
Customize Word “Friend” – While probably not a burning problem for most people, this script will allow you to change every instance of the word “friend” to whatever your heart desires.
Facebook: Cleaner – Unlike other ad removal scripts that remove everything, Facebook: Cleaner will let you pick and choose areas you want left untouched.
Facebook App Faviconizer – If you open your apps in separate tabs, this will replace the Facebook favicon with the one used by each application so you can more quickly identify what is in each window.
Facebook Colour Changer – Not only can you set the Facebook colors to anything you desire, but you may also change the logo image in the top left corner to whatever you want.
Facebook Fixer – Instead of loading several scripts, you can load Facebook Fixer and get larger profile images, video download links, Google Calendar integration and several other features.
Facebook Highlight Birthdays – With all of the info on your homepage, it can be easy to overlook the birthday notices. This script will highlight them for easier spotting.
Facebook Image Download Helper – This script will allow you to use a Firefox extension like DownThemAll! to download all of the images on a page in Facebook.
Facebook News Feed Sanitiser – Cleans up your news feed by removing application stories, sponsored stories, sponsored polls, and social ads.
Facebook Refresh 2 – Still in Alpha, Facebook Refresh 2 will automatically reload your news feed, home sidebar status updates and number of messages in the navigation bar every 30 seconds. Eventually it will also do this for wall posts and messages.
Facebook to Google Calendar – Allows you to add Facebook events to whatever Google Calendar you happen to be logged into at the time.
Facebook Remaker – Allows you to do things such as remove ads, take out the “People You May Know” section, remove the “Home” link, add a “Reload” link, and several other tweaks.
Facebook Video – This script will not only give you the ability to download videos hosted on Facebook and convert them, but it will also provide you with the option of embedding the videos on other sites. It is also available as a stand-alone Firefox extension.
Facebook View All Photos – Since the redesign of the Facebook profiles, it seems the only function left for this script is viewing photos from private profiles.
Facebook View Photo in Album – A powerful script that allows you to view the photo albums of people you aren’t friends with, and it also gives you the ability to see a person’s pictures no matter who took them.
Friend Quick Remove – Streamlines the usual three steps to remove a friend down to just one easy step.
inYOf4ceBook – Tired of squinting at thumbnail images of people in search, thinking they kinda look like the person you meant to find? inYOf4ceBook will let you place your mouse over the image and see a large view of it so you can actually tell who you are looking at.
MobWars Helper – The popular game of MobWars gets some help in the form of a script that will automate tasks such as depositing money in the bank, healing you at the hospital, giving you investment advice and more.
New Facebook Layout Adjuster – Allows you to remove ads, sidebar and more to make a smoother looking version of the new Facebook.
Remove All Facebook Ads – As the name implies, this script removes all of the various ads that show up around Facebook such as banner ads, sponsored news items and so on.
2 Comments | facebook | Tagged: customize facebook, facebook, google calendar facebook, greasemonkey, remove facebook ads | Permalink
Posted by Derek McClain
Discovering New Customer Touch Points with Comments
December 18, 2008One of the key success factors to a blog is having “guest” bloggers help in producing content. This week I was fortunate enought to have Chip McComb, Director of Internet Marketing at Fusework Studios stop by the set and share some of his thoughts on customer touchpoints. Look for plenty more guest appearences from Chip on my blog. Thanks for tuning in!
With everyone talking about internet marketing these days, don’t get overwhelmed by all of the cool new toys and forget to actually interact with your clients. With Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email marketing, and tons of other social media touchpoints, the lonely little “comment” button is easily forgotten as companies try to market online. Don’t make this mistake!
Comments, @ replies, and status updates are easily the best way to begin having a relevant and profitable discussion with a new or already existing client. Why? Because it allows for you to engage… Watch the video and see what I mean.
1 Comment | Blogging, facebook, twitter | Tagged: blogs, email marketing, facebook, fusework studios, social media, touchpoints, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Derek McClain
Twitter Management with TweetDeck
November 29, 2008Twitter is a great micro-blogging tool for staying in touch and allowing others to stay in touch with you. If you are not using Twitter currently, create a Twitter account right now.
There are a variety of different applications out there to use with Twitter. You have: TwitterBerry (Twitter for the Blackberry), Twitterific (Twitter for the iPhone), TwitterFox (Twitter for Firefox). Each of these can be very beneficial depending on what your specific needs might be with the phone or browser you are using. One thing we all have in common, however, is the fact that we are using a computer. So how do you better manage your tweets when you are using Twitter on your desktop or notebook PC? The answer is TweetDeck.
TweetDeck is the most efficient way that I have found to utilize Twitter. Simply put, it breaks all tweets down into managable pieces. It’s column view and sorting functionality make it much easier to know who is following you, replying to your tweets, or sending you a direct message. TweetDeck does require Adobe Air to run, but once this is installed your Twittering experience will be a breeze. TweetDeck will ensure that you stay up to date with the people you want to follow, while making it easy to see who is following/replying to your tweets. With TweetDeck you are sure to increase your Twitter Grader score in no time!
Leave a Comment » | apple, blackberry, facebook, iphone, technology, twitter, twitterberry | Tagged: apple, blackberry, election, facebook, iphone, mac, mccain, obama, tweetdeck, twitter, twitter grader, twitterberry, twitterfox, twitterific | Permalink
Posted by Derek McClain
Blackberry Storm Less Than 24-Hour Review
November 25, 2008The Blackberry Storm finally arrived today via FedEx priority delivery. While I was unable to pick one up the day it was released, I am not going to complain as Verizon offered an instant $50 rebate instead of having to go through the whole mail-in process. I was able to get the phone, a silicone case, a screen protector and car charger all for $202 with a new 2 year contract. This makes the Blackberry Storm a very cost effective purchase.
Having spent some time with the Blackberry Storm today, I can say that so far I am very pleased with the purchase. The functionality of the phone definitely takes some time for adjustment, but I love the clickable screen. It is so nice to hover over something, see what you are going to click before it is registered, then be able to make your selection. The setup was pretty easy as I was able to move all contacts, personal email accounts and media over in under an hour. If you are planning to get this phone, you will want to make sure to install the Blackberry Desktop Manager as there are several device updates already available.
I will admit there are a few areas where the iPhone is much better. The text messaging on the Blackberry Storm, while easier than most phones to manage is not as aesthetically pleasing as the iPhones layout. Then of course there are the applications. The Blackberry Storm does come with a few applications available, including a Facebook app. I really like the Facebook app, but other applications such as Google Maps and Twitterberry are not optimal for frequent users. I imagine Blackberry will roll out some updates for these in the near future. I was able to find a cool site with high-quality home screen images for the Blackberry Storm.
Overall, the Blackberry Storm is a high-quality Smartphone. While it may not be as fashionable as the iPhone and does lack some of the nice features that will come with time…all of the basic functionality that has made Blackberry so successful in the past is there. I am unsure at this point how it is going to compete with the iPhone, but do know that I can’t wait to see what applications Blackberry is going to release in March of 09.
5 Comments | blackberry, google, iphone, twitter | Tagged: blackberry, blackberry storm, facebook, fedex, google, google maps, iphone, twitterberry, verizon | Permalink
Posted by Derek McClain
Blackberry Storm Moving In…Look Out iPhone?
November 2, 2008When you think about all of the different types of cell phones out there, 2 really come to mind- iPhone and Blackberry. Blackberry is set to release its newest module, The Blackberry Storm sometime in November. This poses the question on everyone’s mind: Will the Blackberry Storm be the iPhone killer?
Only time will tell….
1 Comment | blackberry, facebook, google, twitter | Tagged: blackberry, cell phone, facebook, g1, google, iphone, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Derek McClain
