July 2010

Everybody Wants to Rule the World…Wide Web

July 30th 2010

Recently, numerous political groups have been quite upfront about their intent to exert authority over different parts of the online world.  It seems everybody want to rule the Web. Dept of Justice moves to regulate Web through accessibility standards. FCC proposes to regulate Web access via broadband, claims it’s part of regulating telcos. Commerce Dept […]

Jive Takes 30 Million in Funding – Positions for Future IPO

July 26th 2010

It’s been six months since my post that 2010 investment in digital marketing would occupy an increasing share of marketing dollars.  Since then, Oracle, CDC, and Hearst Media have taken the leap. And now, social business software company Jive has taken a $30M series C investment round from  Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB).  Here’s […]

Update: Post About BigBad Interactive Draws Insider Views of Agency Demise

July 23rd 2010

When you partner with a firm, their weaknesses become yours.  So reading an agency and its stress points is a client-side survival skill. With that in mind, last month I connected the stories of three Boston-area interactive agencies, each of which diversified from selling services to products: BigBad Interactive, Magic Hour and Fable Vision. To […]

Social Media ROI: How to Track Social Visitors to Your Firm’s Site with Google Analytics

July 22nd 2010

Yesterday I tweeted about a technique for using images to get traffic statistics on Facebook fan pages.  While sizing traffic on social sites is fascinating, the playbook for many businesses is to acquire awareness on social sites and then drive qualified leads to the corporate site for deeper engagement. If you can segment social traffic, […]

How to Get Twitter Followers If You’re Starting From Scratch – Thoughts Please

July 16th 2010

A friend of the blog emailed this question last week.  He’s new on Twitter and wants advice on getting going. What would you say? Q: How does anyone know I’m on Twitter?  Spam?! A: People know you’re on Twitter because you use it Okay, let me put some meat on that bone. Why do you […]

What is Art? In <100 words

July 13th 2010

Another day away from law blogging. Recently I’ve been thinking on the differences between art, craft, and expression. Art takes thought. What is art without thought? Don’t know, but kids are great at it.  Maybe joy, or play. Remember play? Play is the work of childhood.  So is art the work of life? Perhaps on […]

UsefulArts is Back from July Vacation

July 12th 2010

I took about 10 days off from blogging, and I noticed a few things changed in my life.  First up was vacation, both for me and the fantastic copyeditor who is the first reader of most this blog’s posts.  This was also a chance to start work on some related web projects that I’ll share […]