Check out the 2012 Pogies from David Pogue

Check out David Pogue's annual Pogie Awards for the Brightest Ideas of 2012. These aren't for the best-selling or best-executed ideas, but for the best concepts.  

If Social Media Can Work for George Takei, Could It Work for B2Bs?

The New York Times wrote an interesting article about former A-list and B-list celebs who are using social media to recapture relevancy. Check out the article: Tasting Fame Again, Tweet by Tweet, which profiles George Takei's success on Twitter and efforts by Jennifer Grey, Sally Jessy Raphael.

Key points include:

• Without social-networking platforms such as these, “I think I’d be in, ‘Is she still alive?’ heaven,” Ms. Raphael told the Times.
• No longer must celebrities of yore resort to appearing on campy reality shows to remind the public they exist.
•  “When you look at these faded personalities, imagine what the pitch would be if you were a publicist trying to get press on one of these people,” said Janice Min, editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter. “You absolutely could not.”

For a lot of B2B companies, it can be difficult to generate coverage in major market newspapers. We think social media can work to make B2B companies relevant, and that smart B2Bs are using social media as a  key aspect of their thought leadership programs.

Zuckerbergs Confront Online Privacy Issues

We continue to think online privacy issues will be important -- and confusing -- to navigate.  The recent situation involving the leak of home photos posted by Randi Zuckerberg onto Facebook in a way she thought made them private (check out the USA Today article here: http://usat.ly/RTlnSQ) raises etiquette questions and highlights privacy issues.

First, if Randi Zuckerberg, Mark's sister and former FB insider, has trouble navigating FB's privacy controls, what hope is there for the rest of us.

Second, some suggest that Randi was able to get the photos taken down because no one wants to mess with a Zuckerberg -- and that the rest of us would not have been able to convince someone else to pull down similar, mundane photos. (Disclosure: I have had prior contact with Randi on behalf of a client, and have found her to be smart and professional.)

What do you think are important issues with regard to online privacy in 2013?

Getting Ready to Issue Report Card on Our 2012 Predictions

It's one of my favorite times of the year -- when we start evaluating our annual trends to determine how well or poorly we did.

My gut tells me we did particularly well this year. But we'll lay it out by early January.

In the meantime, we're also gearing up to finalize our annual trends for 2013 (also due in Jan. 2013).