'Jumping the Shark'—Are ‘Happy Days’ Over for Twitter?

By Julie Tangen
A colleague and I were discussing all the celebrities now on Twitter and she said 'Oh yeah, Twitter jumped the shark.' What does this mean? I'm interested! She reminded me about the episode on Happy Days where Fonzie jumps over a confined shark while water skiing, and how that event signified the end of the series.

The phrase has been used more recently outside the realm of popular culture, representing anything that has reached its peak and has declined in quality. With Twitter ‘Kingpins' like Oprah, Ellen, and Kim Kardashian signing up for an account, along with that silly Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN stunt that I blogged about last month, one could argue that Twitter has reached its peak, or "jumped the shark." Do these celebrities even matter?

As editor Harry McCracken puts it in a Technologizer article earlier this week, 'I have nothing against following the rich and famous via Twitter, but it’s not the thing I’d be proudest of if I’d invented Twitter." Well said.

Twitter has proved to be useful in my line of business, but for how long?

Let me know what you think. And, of course, follow me
on Twitter :-) @julietangen

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SEO Experts Be Damned!

By Tami Casey
I recently attended the Inbound Marketing Summit (#ISM09) in San Francisco where I met many new friends and learned about the latest news and trends from industry experts. The schedule was jam packed and most days left my head spinning. But some of the more “sticky” presentations for me were on content and search. In fact, my key take away from the conference is that marketing in 2009 is about being found online via search, media sites, blogs and social networks.

Do we need the latest hot shot SEO Expert? While SEO expertise is great—the search algorithms and details change at whim. A big part of the strategy for showing up on page one of a search must include provisions to drive organic traffic. Say what? Yep, don’t place all your bets on gaming Google and the SEO gods. Provide a good Web site that helps users find what they are looking for, know who your audience is, where they congregate online, establish a presence on that site, and then create content that your users want. And don’t forget to make that content free and easy to access. Then add a little secret sauce to the recipe. Let your businesses humanity shine through in all that you do online and don’t forget to surprise and delight the prospects that find you. If you manage to do these key things—you will be found online and customers will be sure to come back again and again.
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Windows 7 adoption in the enterprise: Never underestimate the power of public opinion

By Scott Lechner
A recent ‘Windows 7 adoption in the enterprise’ survey commissioned by KACE showed that 75 percent of the 1,200 IT professionals polled would not make the move to upgrade to Windows 7 over the next year. Why is this? Turns out that an overwhelming number of respondents cited Windows Vista’s bad reputation as the number one reason they will not make the upgrade. Many of the 15 percent that do plan on upgrading to Windows 7 will choose the more complicated jump from XP to the new OS—completely bypassing the Vista version. An incremental upgrade from XP, to Vista to Windows 7 seems much easier, so it is interesting to see that IT pros are choosing a more complex deployment strategy rather than deal with Vista.

A ‘black cloud,’ such as the one looming over Vista, has the potential of overshadowing future product rollouts and launches, no matter how great the product promises to be. Never underestimate the power of public opinion!

A developer friend of mine said he has been running the Windows 7 beta for a couple months now and loves it. What do you think? Any one else have Windows 7 experience they would like to share?
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Enough with the Swine Flu Already...I'm going to Cabo!

By Kelly Indrieri
In the midst of a swine flu media frenzy, I booked a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Why, might you ask? Because sometimes I just don't buy what the media is selling. Don’t get me wrong, I'm a PR person and can appreciate the value of the media because I work with reporters regularly. But do a Google news search for “swine flu” and there are over half a million articles and it’s only been a week since the story broke. It’s depressing and overdone. Even the happy stories get to me after a while—Susan Boyle anyone?

But I digress. I appreciate the warning, but I also like other news along with my episode of ‘Fear Factor.’ Yes there is an outbreak. Yes we need to know. But can someone give me a side dish of ‘citizen makes good’ or ‘business owner wins big’ along with my main course of Swine? National media, hear my plea—I can’t be the only one, can I? (And did I mention that we have a few clients you could cover?) Seriously though, I’m putting away the paper, turning off the news this week and I’m going to Cabo in two months—flu or no flu! Care to join me?
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