G+ Quick Survey

What is the first thing you think about or comes to your mind when you hear about, "Texas Instruments?"

What comes to mind first?

Silly commercial featuring Lionel Messi & Kobe Bryant. Just glad Messi will be back for the Betis game tomorrow for +FC Barcelona! 

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How will Google's social search affect your business?

It's Friday night and you decide to go to the movies with your date. Once there you got your popcorn and drinks and step into the movie theatre only to discover its packed with bikers... what do you do?

Corny but takes guts to try something like this!

TI’s Community Engagement Manager

My job at Texas Instruments got an update this morning in switching from being the community manager over the Embedded Processing (including DSP, MCU and also including OMAP 4/5 and Open Source) to now being the Community Engagement Manager across the entire company. I look forward to the challenge and opportunity to continue to build this as a program and that now will span the entire company.

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Classic!

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How did I not think of this??

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This is a good list indeed and good note by Mari to expand following influencers beyond just these. Usually with these types of lists I find myself scratching my head wondering how people made it on there that have relatively done nothing other than speaking (though the speaking circuit is littered with people who are great storytellers and may have zero experience on what they are talking about, ha).

How many followers does it take to be a social media guru?
In general for myself I don't care what size following someone has. I care more about their real world experience they bring to the table. In this age where anyone can be an overnight "social media expert" or instant expert analyst I'm going to pay more attention to the people of substance and have real world experience and have been a part of efforts to back up what they are saying. I'm often baffled when I see various people speaking and I look at their experience and wondering why anyone would take advice from someone who hasn't walked the walk to any degree.

Substance matters when it comes to influencers
In terms of substance I'm drawn to people like the +J.C. Kendall, +Denis Labelle, +Tom Parish and +Mark Traphagen who when they talk their rich view of subject matter, depth and experience shines and comes through. Their ability to tell stories and back it up while winning the hearts of minds of people is what sets them apart. Influencers who have something to say for me will always trump influencers with thousands of followers that when it comes right down to it have nothing to say outside of buzzwords like paradigm, synergy, win-win, brand advocacy, etc, as I already get all that in daily Dilbert comic strip: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-09-14/

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Are These The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers? -- for sure an excellent article and it's always a joy and honor to be featured on a prominent list on a prestigious site/magazine like +Forbes. The list was compiled by writer +Haydn Shaughnessy using data from +PeekYou's "social pull metric." I'm a big fan of Haydn; he's a great writer and I enjoy his articles. I do also agree that there is a correlation between popularity and influence, quote from the article:

I don’t think you can separate popularity from influence in this new media world. To suggest that one is better than the other or to suggest that popularity does not reflect influence seems to me a tricky claim.

Here's the thing, though -- I truly believe we all need to take these leaderboards and scoring systems with a grain of salt. Yes, there are companies now that take into account influence scores and make decisions based on the scores (whether to elevate you up their customer service chain... or not). But I think we should also look beyond the lists (based on data from possibly only one or two out of many sites), and see who else is a top influencer... and who are the up-and-coming influencers?

And there's influencers within specific niches and those who've chosen a particular platform in which to specialize. For example, my friend +Beth Kanter is my go-to-gal when it comes to social media for non-profits. And +John Haydon for Facebook for non-profits. And +Dave Kerpen is another great Facebook expert, as is +Andrea Vahl. (Glad to see our fellow Facebook expert +Amy Porterfield on Haydn's list, she rocks!)

For LinkedIn, it's good to see friends +Viveka von Rosen and +Neal Schaffer on Haydn's list - they're both excellent LinkedIn Ninjas.

And we all know the awesome presence and reach +Chris Brogan and +Guy Kawasaki have on +Google+ (and Twitter) - they're high on Haydn's list, of course. In addition, keep a close eye on my buddy +Chris Lang - his Google+ Marketing book will be out later this year too. For more great leaders on Google+, be sure to circle +Jesse Stay, +Louis Gray, +Denis Labelle, +Natalie Villalobos, +Mike Elgan and +Linda Lawrey. (More on this great post by +Louis Gray: https://plus.google.com/100535338638690515335/posts/YUQEUx88Ck9)

+Haydn Shaughnessy does make it clear that this +Forbes Top 50 is his list. He's incorporated the +PeekYou data and his own analysis. Stay tuned for more from Haydn; his research on influence and influencers continues and he'll be sharing more insights with us.

Meantime, who are some of your favorite leaders out there that you'd have on your own top list(s) - and why?! If you've previously shared as a G+ post, feel free to share the permalink in the comments below.

What I currently see when browsing Twitter.

Love the simplicity of Google+ business cards.

Big Stellaris news announced today!

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Is the new +The Muppets movie worth seeing? Trying to prioritize this against seeing The Descendants and Hugo. Which to see first?

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Did you see our new movie over the weekend? If so, you probably can't get this song out of your head...

Red (Morgan Freeman): Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Life can often throw you curve-balls and present you with new opportunities when you least expect. What you thought was going to be your day to day for some time to come can instantly change overnight. When these life challenges and defining moments happen to me I often think back to when Morgan Freeman utters the unforgettable lines in Frank Darabont's, Shawshank Redemption... "Get busy living, or get busy dying." I look at life at wherever I am or whatever I'm doing I want to leave it all on the court with not an ounce left at the end. Everything I can to to make the most of any day, job and overall life. When I look back on my life many years from now I don't want to look back and have any regrets, not having taken any chances or risks and instead I want to be able to sit there with a solemn smile with tears of joy in my eyes and think to myself, "yes that was a life well lived!"

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Do you still go to movie theaters? Less/More?

In Austin you have +Alamo Drafthouse Cinema which offers peace of mind in a quality experience (no talkers or texters) and in Dallas you have the thetexastheatre.com both of which offer compelling and rich cinema going experiences. Outside of that at least for me movie theater going is a mixed bag (a part from amazing theaters at film festivals ranging from Cannes to Udine, etc). A big part of the movie theater experience for me is the audience I'm seeing it with in addition to everything else. Each audience for instance I saw Attack the Block with be it at the world premiere at SXSW, US theaters or in Spain all had different excitement levels, laughed at times in completely different places and/or wildly applauded and got into it in key moments making the experience far more better than I'd have sitting at home and watching it. In that respect alone I'll always be going to movie theaters and as well with films I love always enjoy seeing them with different audiences.

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How often do you go to the movies?
http://www.lockergnome.com/media/2012/01/02/top-five-reasons-to-go-to-the-movies/

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#BeagleBone

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Nicolas Le Lan from Texas Instruments France talks about the BeagleBone open source hardware platform at the ARM European Technical Conference in Paris. Thanks to EETimes Europe for the video.

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich runs on Texas Instruments OMAP4460

The new awesome Samsung Galaxy Nexus was just unveiled in Hong Kong. It has an amazing 1280x720 4.65" HD Super AMOLED screen, LTE/HSDPA+ and runs on the new Texas Instruments OMAP4460 1.2Ghz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. This is what TI's Vice President of OMAP platform business unit Remi El-Ouazzane has to say about this:

Today is a great day for our collaboration with Google…The long-awaited Android 4.0 release is finally being revealed with the OMAP4460 processor powering the absolutely gorgeous Samsung Galaxy Nexus device. I am so excited about this launch. What I may be the most excited by is not only the ability to converge to one Android release for both smartphones and tablets, but to be able to pack that level of performance across graphics or video on an HD screen and within the power envelope of a smartphone device…This is where our OMAP smart multicore architecture makes a huge difference. At the end of the day, brute force (number of cores, for instance) does not rival sophistication.

and a further statement from TI:

Today, TI proudly revealed a major OMAP platform milestone: yes, the highly-anticipated Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” release runs on the OMAP4460 processor. This advancement is an exceptional demonstration of what OMAP processors uniquely do, and what separates them from competitors in the mobile processing world: the ability to provide hardware-integrated security, distinctive and advanced imaging features, enhanced memory and more, all on a smart multicore architecture.

Here are some of my impressions and expectations for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich:

- This means Samsung can maybe "easily" update processor speed to 1.5Ghz and maybe also later to the OMAP4470 1.8Ghz http://armdevices.net/2011/06/10/texas-instruments-omap4470-1-8ghz-dual-core-sampling-in-october/ when those faster OMAP4 processors become available.

- I don't know how fast Samsung can manufacture these screens and how much it costs them, my guess is this screen is the most expensive Super AMOLED yet, and I guess that Super AMOLED is already quite a bit more expensive than LCD and I wonder if Samsung is able to manufacture enough of these screens to not create major shortages for the availability of this Galaxy Nexus worldwide for the months to come. If there is one phone worth queuing up for if you want to be sure to get one in the first weeks/months at release, this may be it.

- They haven't yet shown what happens when you connect to HDTV output, I wonder if the "pins" on the side provide HDMI and data output/input or/and if an MHL connector takes care of this like on the Samsung Galaxy S2. I expect the full Motorola Atrix type Laptop Dock, Desktop Dock, Multimedia Dock, all those features are likely part of Android 4.0, which is why I think Ice Cream Sandwich means the merger of Android with Chrome OS and Google TV.

- Samsung Galaxy Nexus is likely going to be expensive. This is not news though for high-end smartphones, those are all ridiculously expensive today. But that's just how things are, and they are able to sell tens of millions at those expensive prices. Consider that you are paying $2000 to $3000 for this phone with a 2 year contract. Considering the possibility that Samsung may not be able to manufacture enough of those 720p HD Super AMOLED screens, they may even purposefully increase the price even further at launch.

I posted this at: http://armdevices.net/2011/10/19/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-runs-on-texas-instruments-omap4460/

Stay connected with Dallas on Google+

Want to keep up with Dallas on G+? Be sure to circle and follow this new directory page I've setup. For anyone wanting to get listed, let me know and be sure to circle.

Could also use some extra contributors so please contact me if you want to help out!

#Dallas #DallasonGoogle+

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Amazed to see something like this exists in the world today as it feels more like a scene from an upcoming sci-fi film.

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This is what amazon's spend nearly 1 billion for.

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there's no kill switch on awesome!

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My new slogan - there's no kill switch on awesome. http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/50000/1000/200/151221/151221.strip.gif

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So impressive!

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Online Community Professionals to Circle

I'm often asked which online community professionals most influence me and that I recommend to add to their circles, follow on Twitter, blogs to read, books to read, etc. I'll continue to add to this circle and here is a great start for 6 individuals to follow immediately. Some might be more active across other channels but regardless this will give you a good head start! Each in their own ways has and continues to be a huge influence on me and even better are some of the best trailblazers in this profession.

Note:
Admittedly the word "online" in the title gets a bit misleading as really the best community professionals are regularly building community agnostic of offline or channel though they can't loose sight by any means of cultivating their own earned properties.

RIP Marilyn Monroe

Today marks 50 years since the untimely death Marilyn Monroe. Seen here in this year's official poster for the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

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Coming soon the George Foreman grill with USB ports.

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How to recycle your old PC.

6 Pandaboards running a Google App Engine = cool!
via +David Anders

Snow Day 3 where I live in Texas and hoping the temps warm up enough to thaw out the driveway (unfortunately one with a steep slope). We are supposed to get above freezing today but at the moment it's lightly snowing again.

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I want one!

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Very cool Android watches. Even cooler to see a tech startup coming out of Milan.

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"Jeff Dean writes directly in binary. He then writes the source code as a documentation for other developers."

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It's really funny, it is.

Different G+ notification stream results?

Noticed tonight my notification stream in my Android Google+ app showed different results than notification stream in Chrome browser. In one instance I got a notification someone had added me via Gmail that doesn't show up in my notification stream in Chrome but does in the Android app. I cleared my Chrome cache and restarted to be sure and still was off. I did check to see if I showed up in that users circle of people they added and found myself there. Perhaps this is just a temporary glitch.

Crazy! The rise of Pinterest continues. Seemed like a big fuss was made with its recent design updates but those seemed to have fizzled out. I can't tell if people ultimately were won over in that regard or became indifferent and moved on. I wonder how often Ben meets users for coffee these days?

Source: +Esteban Contreras

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Shazam! Yo Adrian G+ did it!

Roughly 8 months to hit 100 million users = impressive.

A big LOLZ to everyone who said G+ not only would never take off but also in its first few years would never hit over 100 million users!

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Google+ Passes 100 Million Users

I'm doing some analysis this morning on the growth rates of Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Foursquare and Facebook.

The big news today is that Facebook may file its S-1. I'm monitoring sec.gov, but haven't seen anything surface yet. When it happens, it should show up with this link/query: http://1.usa.gov/AcHUXi

Meanwhile, I think it's noteworthy that Google+ membership has grown more than 10% since Jan. 19th when Larry Page announced 90 million users. I have them at 100.8 million users by the end of the day. They have been growing by more than 750,000 new users per day since the 19th, based on analysis of users with hundreds of different surnames. If that rate holds steady, Google+ will end the year with 345 million users. But as I have said before, Google has many dials and levers to use this year to increase signups and usage, including its Android 4.0 rollout. I stand by my prediction of at least 400 million users by the end of 2012.

Here is my earlier detailed analysis of growth prospects for Google+ in 2012: http://bit.ly/zkAgER

It will be fascinating today, or this week, or whenever Facebook actually files, to see if they will announce something startling like 1 billion active users (have they been sandbagging?) or if they, for the first time ever, announce how many total user accounts they have. (They have always announced "active users", which means accounts that have been used in the past 30 days.)

It will also be interesting to see if Facebook delivers some other kind of "IPO Surprise," speculation that I read about yesterday in the Chicago Sun Times. Will they somehow carve out shares for Facebook users? Will Mark Zuckerberg do something unique to make his mark in the annals of tech IPOs, in addition to this being the largest internet IPO ever? Here's the interesting speculation: http://bit.ly/A2cosc

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Too funny. I tried to share from the original, but the "Share" button didn't work!

Started my day by signing this petition.

Sometimes I wish Google Translate had a Twitter Translate option. Sometimes when people condense something into 140 characters or less it's like trying to decipher the DaVinci Code to figure out what they are saying.

Texas Instruments Incorporated Rings The NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell

Article and pictures on Rich Templeton, Chairman, President & CEO of Texas Instruments ringing the Closing Bell at NASDAQ:
-> http://goo.gl/YYrri

More:
-> Pictures http://goo.gl/656Vb
-> Video (WMV) - http://goo.gl/Ss9GX

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Everyone loves Facebook, right? Did you know the powerful blue-lit servers in Facebook's Datacenters use TI's C2000™ real-time microcontrollers! - http://www.ti.com/c2000

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If Apple made water.

Google+ Tip - Use the Volume Slider to Filter Your Circles & Better Manage Your Streams

One new G+ feature that you might have missed is the new slider feature. Using this you can help filter specific circles and/or your main stream. Whether you are feeling overwhelmed or want to limit some streams to only show up when you click on them, you can do so using this filter. Additionally highly recommended to go through your existing circles and change them where applicable to how you want them setup as the default setting on them will be, "Show most things from this stream in my main stream."

Example: If I only wanted to see my NBA circle stream when I clicked on it, I could use the "Show nothing from this stream in my main stream." If I wanted everything in my main stream from my NBA circle stream I would then change it to "Show everything from this stream in my main stream."

In terms of circle management and building factor in how you want to ingest this content and stay connected with this new ability to filter it.

To see the slider in action and setup:
* Click on any circle in your stream (on left under Stream and click on any circle you have created).

* Next scroll to the slider at the top right (as shown in the video below) and adjust your settings.

Setting Options are:
- Show everything from this stream in my main stream
- Show most things from this stream in my main stream
- Show fewer things from this stream in my main stream
- Show nothing from this stream in my main stream

Further Reading:
* +Greg Marra has a great comment going into more detail on it here:
https://plus.google.com/113117251731252114390/posts/2zuBhTTMVuG
* Towards the end or search on the page for text, "I'm a Googler working on the stream"

* http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/19/circles-volume-slider/

* http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/google-few-big-improvements-before-new.html

#Google+ #Google+Tip #Google+VolumeSlider

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Sneaky. If this goes viral expect lots of elevator delays in coming days :)

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Tried this yesterday and it works. hahaha

Finally started my online tech blog tonight. First up I look at five ways online communities fail to keep active members.

Once Upon a Time in America
New restored 4 1/2 hour cut at Cannes Film Festival 2012

The 253 minute updated cut of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America tonight at the Cannes Film Festival was incredible. Sitting front row only a few rows ahead of Ennio Morricone and his wife along with members of Sergio Leone's family with many from the cast of the film in Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern and Jennifer Connelly really made it one of a kind cinema event. Salma Hayek and Alexander Payne were also there.

New cut just shimmers with new life and most of the restored scenes (25 minutes of restored footage never screened) is good with some a bit faded. The main parts of the film along with score have never looked or felt better. Note it did have an intermission during it.

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Here is a dog that even +Tim League could love.

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Can't help but laugh every time I see this.

Last day at Telligent's Big Social tradeshow in Dallas. Main highlights so far have been hearing +Lionel Menchaca and +Bill Johnston session. Love the passion they both showed in speaking. So many times even at SXSW hearing anyone speak on online community is like being in Ferris Bueller's classroom listening to Ben Stein speak, "Community, community, community (yawn)" instead of "Bueller Bueller Bueller." So very refreshing when you get two people like Lionel and Bill up exploding out of the gates to talk online community. Though they weren't worked up to the point of Tom Cruise energy where they were jumping on couches.

Finally had a chance to get a demo of Couto Solutions Bragger Badges (think BadgeVille or any virtual badge program) for Telligent. Like what I saw for its current 1.0 state and that it will work in Telligent 6.0. With a more mature API for it sounds even more promising for some of the custom work we will need to do. Gave them some ideas on 2.0 features that would be useful and talked on some of the ways we've been using Telligent for virtual ribbons and customer program efforts at TI.

I also really enjoyed a session that +Andrea Pesoli gave. Some really progressive work going on in Italy by OpenKnowledge.

Introducing our new TI E2E Community coffee mugs! They come in both Tall and Venti sizes. #magnifico

Just created this G+ page to be a directory for all things NBA on Google+. Be sure to add it to your circle and spread the word.

Thanks to +Chris Lang for the suggestion!

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Good look under the G+ hood.

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Hi everyone! I’m an engineer on the Google+ infrastructure team. When +Joseph Smarr made an appearance on Ask Me Anything back in July (http://goo.gl/GbdYv), many of you wanted to hear more about Google+'s technology stack. A few of us engineers decided to write a few posts about this topic and share them with you.

This first one has to do with something we take very seriously on the Google+ team: page render speed. We care a lot about performance at Google, and below you'll find 5 techniques we use to speed things up.

1. We <3 Closure

We like Closure. A lot. We use the Closure library, templates, and compiler to render every element on every page in Google+ -- including the JavaScript that powers these pages. But what really helps us go fast is the following:

- Closure templates can be used in both Java and JavaScript to render pages server-side and in the browser. This way, content always appears right away, and we can load JavaScript in the background ("decorating" the page, and hooking up event listeners to elements along the way)

- Closure lets us write JavaScript while still utilizing strict type and error checking, dead code elimination, cross module motion, and many other optimizations

(Visit http://code.google.com/closure/ for more information on Closure)

2. The right JavaScript, at the right time

To help manage the Javascript that powers Google+, we split our code into modules that can be loaded asynchronously from each other. You will only download the minimum amount of Javascript necessary. This is powered by 2 concepts:

- The client contains code to map the history token (the text in the URL that represents what page you are currently on) to the correct Javascript module.

- If the Javascript isn’t loaded yet, any action in the page will block until the necessary Javascript is loaded.

This framework is also the basis for our support for making client side navigates work in Google+ work without reloading the page.

3. Navigating between pages, without refreshing the page

Once the Javascript is loaded, we render all content without going back to the server since it will be much faster. We install a global event listener that listens for clicks on anchor tags. If possible, we convert that click to an in page navigate. However, if we can’t client side render the page, or if you use a middle-click or control-click on the link, we let the browser open the link as normal.

The anchor tags on the page always point to the canonical version of the URL (i.e. if you used HTML5 history for the URL), so you can easily copy/share links from the page.

4. Flushing chunks (of HTML)

We also flush HTML chunks to the client to make the page become visible as soon as the data comes back, without waiting for the whole page to load.

We do this by
- Kicking off all data fetches asynchronously at the start of the request
- Only blocking on the data when we need to render that part of the page

This system also allows us to start loading the CSS, Javascript, images, and other resources as early as possible, making the site faster and feel more responsive.

5. iFrame is our friend

To load our Javascript in parallel and avoid browser blocking behavior (http://goo.gl/lzGq8), we load our Javascript in an iframe at the top of the body tag. Loading it in an iframe adds some complexity to our code (nicely handled through Closure), but the speed boost is worth it.

On a side note, you may have noticed that we load our CSS via a XHR instead of a style tag - that is not for optimization reasons, that’s because we hit Internet Explorer’s max CSS selector limit per stylesheet!

Final Comments

This is just a small glimpse of how stuff works under the covers for Google+ and we hope to write more posts like this in the future. Leave your ideas for us in the comments!

Contests/Promotions on Google+ off Brand Pages

Anyone have a good breakdown of best practices for running any type of contests or promotions on a Google+ Brand page? I've seen a lot of brands do giveaways in the form of drawings for people participating in Google+ Hangouts and others including links to external sites to redeem offers/coupons. I'm trying to sort out a play book now of what is and isn't possible. Any feedback, thoughts or suggestions appreciated!

New eBook on Monetizing Online Forums out July 2nd. Patrick offers up some details of it here:

"Forums take a lot of work. To run one well can turn into a full time job. But, at the same time, forums can be more sensitive to monetization than other spaces. This book is not about squeezing every last dime out of your forums, but making money in the right way with the right methods. Over monetization can kill a forum – with this guide, I want to help people monetize appropriately, ensuring the long-term stability of their forums. This is why it means something to me."

Seeing the Ridley Scott Alien Prequel Prometheus this weekend?

It finally hits US theaters this Friday (released in UK last weekend) and while getting rave reviews for its visual splendor has been getting more mixed reviews on its story. No idea really what to expect but can't wait to finally see it in IMAX 3D and as well in good 'ol regular 2D ;)

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Very cool! Glad to see this in place.

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Google+ now has Finally Backlinks to Original Posting

One of the most used features on Google+ is the SHARE
Sometimes postings have a few hundred shares and there was only a link to the original profile of AUTHOR of the posting, but not to the exact shared posting.

Now a link to the original posting is included
Try it by yourself and share this posting and you will see.

It is really hard to understand, why it took the Google+ team so long to include this feature.


On Wednesday I had posted a question in the Google+ hangout but it was not answered in the hangout. Because in the Google+ API all information is available for the backlink. And now this nice makeup is there.

Thanks Google+ Team

+Andrew Brown has spotted it in a one of my share first.

PS: sorry for taking this reshared posting for demonstration +Robert Anderson

Exciting start to the week with +Arsenal facing off against +Manchester United! Can't wait!

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If you have to carry 60+ bricks and only one bicycle to do so what would you do?

In this case they solved this question in a clever way though would seem like depending on the duration and state of back tire they might or might not get to their destination.

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Mobile wall

Quick reminder on film party in Dallas on Saturday. I've teamed up with the Texas Theatre! For a Few Dollars more from Leone should end the night and this seems a bit even more perfect on the 1st with Ryan Gosling and Refn flying out to Thailand on this day to shoot their new film.

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"Well I think we've gone far enough for today..."

Still fearful of heights which I can track back to my first ever vacation outside of my home when I was little and parents driving through Colorado mountains. Recall being in the back seat and looking out the window and seeing barely anything separating the road from side of mountain with no railing or bars and the bottom of the mountain nowhere in sight (seeming to plunge into infinity).

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Decisions, decisions.

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If you are new to Google+ or wanting to learn more ways to use it for personal or business interests be sure to add +Denis Labelle.

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7 Google+ Infographics
by +circled.us / +Michael Delgado

1.> Google+ for Business: goo.gl/7vWNk

2.> Who's Using Google+: goo.gl/hFesi

3.> Google+ Facts & Figures: goo.gl/sztsp

4.> SXSW Fireside Chat with Vic Gundotra & Guy Kawasaki about G+: goo.gl/Qh5Kl

5.> Facebook vs Google+: goo.gl/tnki1

6.> Google+ Reaches 100 Million Users Faster Than Facebook or Twitter: goo.gl/2HRzO

7.> Google’s Long History of Forays into Social Media: goo.gl/wZS1j

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Excellent! Great way to start the weekend.

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Oh my! Adele!

Her voice is simply exquisite, damn this lady has pure, undeniable raw talent.

Enjoy these three wonderful songs and you will remember why music soothes the soul.

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Amazing to see the different time periods all at a glance in one setting.

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New York City Skyline 1876 - 2013

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Just compiled this list of all things NBA on Google+. If you haven't already be sure to follow +NBA G+ Directory and help spread the word!

#NBAonGooglePlus

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The NBA on Google+ Definitive List
If you spot anyone missing or want to be added in, drop me a line!

Looking for NBA teams, players and more on Google+? Look no further than this list of all things NBA on Google+ that I will continue to edit and update as more join.

List Organized by:
* NBA Teams (by Conference & Division)
* NBA Players
* NBA Teams and Personnel (by Owners, Coaches, Staff)
* NBA Dancers
* NBA Blogs
* NBA Media
* NBA Media Personalities
* Former NBA Players
* NBA Games

NBA Teams on Google+ By Conference & Division

+NBA - Official NBA G+ Page

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
+Boston Celtics
+New Jersey Nets
+NY Knicks
+Philadelphia 76ers
+Toronto Raptors

Central Division
+Chicago Bulls
+Cleveland Cavaliers
+Detroit Pistons
+Indiana Pacers
+Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division
+Atlanta Hawks
+Charlotte Bobcats
+Miami HEAT
+Orlando Magic
+Washington Wizards

Western Conference

Southwest Division
+Dallas Mavericks
+Houston Rockets
+Memphis Grizzlies
+New Orleans Hornets
+San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division
+Denver Nuggets
+Minnesota Timberwolves
+Oklahoma City Thunder
+Portland Trail Blazers
+Utah Jazz

Pacific Division
+Golden State Warriors
+Los Angeles Clippers
+Los Angeles Lakers
+Phoenix Suns
+Sacramento Kings

NBA Players on Google+

+Boston Celtics
+Paul Pierce

+Dallas Mavericks
+Dirk Nowitzki
+Jason Kidd

+Los Angeles Clippers
+Blake Griffin
+Chris Paul

+Miami HEAT
Dwyane Wade - Add here: http://goo.gl/g0Btx
+LeBron James

+NY Knicks
+Carmelo Anthony
+Tyson Chandler

+Orlando Magic
+Dwight Howard

NBA Teams and Personnel (by Owners, Coaches, Players, Staff)

+Boston Celtics
- +Paul Pierce (Player)

+Dallas Mavericks
- +Mark Cuban (Owner)
- +Earl K. Sneed (Mavs.com)
- +Dirk Nowitzki (Player)
- +Jason Kidd (Player)
- +Dallas Mavericks Dancers (Dancers)

+Houston Rockets
- +Daryl Morey (General Manager)

+Los Angeles Clippers
- +Blake Griffin (Player)
- +Chris Paul (Player)

+Miami HEAT
- Dwyane Wade - Add here: http://goo.gl/g0Btx (Player)
- +LeBron James (Player)

+New Orleans Hornets
- +Matthew Rose (Digital Marketing Manager)

+NY Knicks
- +Carmelo Anthony (Player)
- +Tyson Chandler (Player)

+Orlando Magic
- +Dwight Howard (Player)

+Phoenix Suns
- +Alvin Gentry (Coach)
- +Jeramie McPeek (VP of Digital)
- +Suns Gorilla (Mascot)

+Portland Trail Blazers
+Dan Harbison (Director Of Interactive Marketing Media)

NBA Dancers

- +Dallas Mavericks Dancers

NBA Blogs

+6th Man NBA Blog
+Sebastian Pruiti (NBAPlaybook)

NBA Media

+NBA on ESPN
+ESPN
+CBSSports.com

NBA Media Personalities

+Henry Abbott
+Arya Ahmadi
+Sam Amick
+Kevin Arnovitz
Ken Berger - Add Here: http://goo.gl/a7gJK
+Maurice Bobb
+Jon Bois
+Daniel Buerge
+Bryan Crawford
+Shaun Dodge
+Chad Ford
Mark Friedman - Add Here: http://goo.gl/zakko
+Benjamin Golliver
+Kurt Helin
+Jemele Hill
+john krolik
+Bret LaGree
+Chris Littmann
+David Locke
+Rob Mahoney
+Arash Markazi
Ryan McNeill - Add Here: http://goo.gl/W6fuf
+Eric Pincus
+Chris Ramsay
Ben Rogers - Add Here: http://goo.gl/xkJmy
+Jonathan Santiago
+J.E. Skeets
+Ben Swanson
+John Converse Townsend
+Justin Verrier
+Barry Vigoda
+Royce Webb
+Kris Willis
+Ben York
+Tom Ziller

Former NBA Players

+Dennis Rodman
+Bill Walton

NBA Games

+NBA 2K
+Tatiana NBA King (NBA: King of the Court)


#NBAonGooglePlus #NBA #Basketball

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Fitting in.

Anyone know if Google+ AdWords Social Extensions are fully available and/or if anyone using needs a verified page first? Any clarity on those two points would be helpful.

Some photographs I took of South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook.

Laptop Backpack Recommendations?

Unfortunately my laptop backpack of many years is nearing its end and need to find a new one. Hoping to find something economical, clever (geared for storing tablets as well, cameras, etc) and travel oriented. Any recommendations for a great laptop backpack is welcome!

So far I've looked at the Swiss Army laptop backpacks (linked below) and off the Google store as well: http://www.googlestore.com/googlesearch.aspx?category=all&q=laptop+backpack&x=0&y=0
* Not sure on either though probably will buy a G+ t-shirt there and the cool looking light up USB hub.

Any help appreciated!

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New stats on who uses all those QR codes. Do you? I never do, myself.

What is the current state of the Dallas cinema scene? Are we at critical mass or still a ton of room to grow? Also, how do we get more people involved in the Texas Theatre & the Dallas Film Society and Festival? Coming from Austin my own view is that Dallas has lots of opportunity and room to grow and not doing enough to support Texas Theatre and Dallas Film Society and Festival. +James Faust +jason reimer +sarah harris +Peter Martin

Goodnight G+ Land!
Signing off for the day.

10 points if you can name the actor/director in this still and 20 points if you can name which film this still is for. ( cue the Jeopardy music )

A framed version of this exists at my desk at Texas Instruments.

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Cool find via +Scott Roller

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amazing

Really well done and captivating new UK trailer for Jacques Audiard's new film "Rust & Bone" starring Marion Cotillard & Matthias Schoenaerts. Loved this film when I saw it at Cannes and found it beautiful and absorbing end to end. It's currently playing at the Telluride Film Festival and will next screen at the Toronto International Film Festival. In US theaters in limited release from Sony Pictures Classics starting November 16th.

Newly Restored Jaws at the Cannes Film Festival

Steven Spielberg introduces the brand new digital 4k restoration of his classic film Jaws at the Cannes Film Festival. The film IMO has never looked or sounded better. Absolutely amazing experience! Despite seeing it countless times I still jumped 3 times while watching this new restored version. Note it hits home video and Blu-ray in mid-August.

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What is the second-largest economy on earth, after the United States?

Would you believe the system D economy.

In his new book, Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy, Neuwirth points out that small, illegal, off-the-books businesses collectively account for trillions of dollars in commerce and employ fully half the world’s workers. Further, he says, these enterprises are critical sources of entrepreneurialism, innovation, and self-reliance. And the globe’s gray and black markets have grown during the international recession, adding jobs, increasing sales, and improving the lives of hundreds of millions. It’s time, Neuwirth says, for the developed world to wake up to what those who are working in the shadows of globalization have to offer. We asked him how these tiny enterprises got to be such big business.

In most developing countries, it’s the only part of the economy that is growing. It has been growing every year for the past two decades while the legal economy has kind of stagnated.

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This is incredibly clever. They have created a giant conga line effectively of user submitted videos doing Mahna Mahna intercut with Muppet Characters. See it in action here and submit your own! :) https://www.muppetsmahnamahna.com/

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Some familiar faces have joined our Mahna Mahna Phenomahna. See more of them here: http://di.sn/Qh

Certainly noted today after getting a pizza that I ordered that "peperino" must mean red pepper in Italian and not pepperoni. Pizza itself was amazing with a real rich & fresh taste that closest thing in the states that even compares is Fireside Pies. Who knew I'd have my own Eat Pray Love moment in Udine, Italy!?!

Few pics of hanging out in Venice, Italy today!

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Being Social with Social

Read on for a quick note on engaging with your audiences through social channels.

Great post from Christina that anyone working in social should read and as well comments (though one or two are a bit out of hand).

How users feel about their engagement and interaction with brands through social channels is part of my main social media survey I just put up here: https://plus.google.com/111748113885183560250/posts/2PU7wsfVYjj

I felt it was time to start getting a pulse and state of mind for where things stood in this regard. What people were saying and what their experiences have been.

What is not working with companies using social channels?

* Social media channels are used as a megaphone (one way with next to zero two way ever taking place).
* Social media campaigns use the "post and run to social channels" tactic. A post (often including a link) is posted on a social channel and from that point forward its not monitored. By it not being monitored no one is watching the conversations that it generates and likewise no one is engaging back.
* Why do so many social campaigns simply fail? Everything ends the second something is posted on a social channel. They have no engagement calls to action and no engagement strategy in place for being active and managing conversations. What this means is for many companies their efforts come to a complete stop once something is posted on a social channel. As most in the field of social know the part after posting something on a social channel is where the beauty of social media starts. Posting on a social channel isn't the end in this regard its the beginning and the after of this part of it is where the magic happens. There are many companies out there that get this right but there are many that haven't evolved yet into having social media strategies and campaigns that extend to the "after post" as most focus only on getting content posted. The "after post" on social channels is the most critical part of social media and where we even the best of us have to continually evolve and grow our efforts and work to provide even better and better experiences.

In Summary:
If a social media strategy only has a "post and run" strategy and nothing a part of it dealing with engagement and "after post" then it is likely to do more harm than good for your brand as otherwise all you are doing is using social channels like a megaphone when users can simply just tune you out and subscribe to your RSS feeds instead. There is a lot more to this discussion and stay tuned for my new tech blog coming soon where I will discuss this in even more detail and as well talk about it from the online community side of it for companies leveraging existing social software solutions in this new hyper form of forums.

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Dear All the Brands on the Social Internets,

Hi. I'm your consumer. If I'm following you on a social media platform and you don't interact with me when I take the time to say hi or ask a question, you are totally missing out. I'm awesome. When I feel listened to, I sing the praises of the listener to, like, all of my real life friends. Furthermore, when you surprise and delight me by responding with a human touch to my comment, it makes me want to buy your stuff.

When you just post coupons or screenshots from your TV ads, you make me frown.

As Captain Picard would say, "Engage!"

Your pal,
Christina

Ah French Riviera how I miss you today! About the closest thing we have to this in Texas is Padre Island.

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Love it!

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Oh, the places you could go...

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Revenge of the dog...

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Perro bromista!

Pic I took of sunset here in Spain yesterday. Did seem ironic that I had left the cool of Texas only to be right back in a place that had what felt like our crazy Texas heat from the past summer.

Funny G+ comic strip from xkcd: http://xkcd.com/918/

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Some Google April 1st humor...

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Introducing: Google Translate for Animals

Hey! It's Friday... :)

Have a fun weekend everyone. - Denis

If you are on LinkedIn you probably want to change your password asap. I've had my account compromised there before in the past and it was no fun getting everything back restored.

Udine Far East Film Festival
Udine, Italy

How do you see 47 films in 6 days?
I'm not entirely sure how I will get to see everything I hope to while at the Udine Far East Film Festival this year but will certainly try! Films there this year range from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Phillippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Lineup is primarily comprised of the popular box office hits of each of those countries with also individual stand outs and selections also made. There is also a side bar retrospective focusing on dark films from South Korea in the 70's that has 10 titles never before seen or screened in the west. Mix in some Japanese hard rock bands that will be performing at parties there and I have a great time in store!

At Getting the most out of Google+ #SXSW session led by Keri Kandel #SXG+pages #SXGpages

I do find value in LinkedIn's Endorsements and don't expect everyone to also find value as something like this can get very subjective. However in articles like this the main contention against it seems to be people endorsing incorrectly on skills you don't have and/or skills you aren't as proficient in.

This brings up these points:
* How are you vetting who you add as a connection or not on LinkedIn and how well do you know them that they are incorrectly endorsing you? It won't matter how LinkedIn sets it up if you have individuals you are connected with and don't know well enough and/or for whatever reason endorse random skills or propose random skills to endorse for you. If someone incorrectly wanted to endorse me for a new skill I wanted complain I'd reach out to that person directly and state that wasn't something I wanted to be endorsed in. Secondly for any skill I had listed I didn't want endorsed, I wouldn't list.

* If there is a repeat trend of people incorrectly endorsing me I think that says more about who I've added in as connections and how well or not I know them than placing blame at LinkedIn. I personally added those connections and gave them a seal of trust to engage with me on LinkedIn.

* If your skill chart and its weight in terms of endorsements looks funny in that your secondary or third skills or ranked at the top you might consider revising your skills listed to focus only on your primary skills. The more skills you list and the better chance your endorsed matrix will be skewed.

* Due to Legal restrictions not every company allows their employees to give recommendations where their new Endorsements becomes the only way they can give a social signal and nod to their fellow or recent co-workers or partners they've worked with.

* Is the box at the top of LinkedIn profiles making it too easy for Endorsement abuse? Again I think if you are managing your connections and focused on only added in skills you care to be endorsed for you should never run into any situations of people incorrectly endorsing you.

* At the end of the day since value of Endorsements on LinkedIn can really get subjective a compromise that could work is if LinkedIn offered when you added someone as a connection how they could or couldn't interact with you with check-boxes for: send message; write recommendation; endorse, etc... Though a solution like that could lead to awkwardness when people realize they can't engage with you in certain ways on there. So perhaps the best track when a incorrect endorsement happens is to reach out individually to address and/or just opt out of its program if you are completely against it. 

For Dog Lovers and/or Anyone That Has Seen a Paranormal Activity Film
New Short Film From Axelle

Love it!

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Good tips for using Hangouts on Air!

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A little more help managing your Hangouts On Air

Two months ago, I announced the cameraman app, which helps you manage your Hangouts On Air.  It lets you bring people “on stage” and “off stage” on cue.  You can be your own talk show host!  Today, we’re rolling out an update that also lets you give the “Vaudeville Hook” to one guest so you can bring your next guest in.

Next time you host a Hangout On Air, hover over the thumbnail video for people in the room, and you’ll see a new “eject” button.  

#googleplusupdate

Glad to see open source DIY projects extend to KickStarter! Currently OpenROV has reached $44,000 already (current goal for it was $20,000). Really curious to see how services like KickStarter can compliment existing open source projects and communities as well as create new ones overnight.

Now even Mashable has an article up on this effort:
http://mashable.com/2012/07/03/openrov-underwater-robot/

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That's some serious cake making going on!

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+Cadbury UK loves Google+. Not only has the UK-based chocolatier launched a product through Google’s social network, has also now created a chocolate version of its Google+ page.

The confection was created to celebrate a recent milestone: 500,000 “circlers,” or fans.

Check it out: http://on.mash.to/AesDEj

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How To Tell HTML from HTML5

source: http://www.hornoxe.com/wp-content/picdumps/picdump246/thumbs/thumbs_hornoxe.com_picdump246_025.jpg

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+Louis Gray has an Official Google+ Page for his blog. Check it out, add, re-share... you know the drill!

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#blogs #googlepluspages #marketing

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Funny Modern Life :)
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This summarizes me perfectly ;)

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This is awesome!

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In case of fire...

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Good read and great subject worth discussing.

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My latest +CNET column on common sense manners when it comes to social media sharing. Thanks to those who helped with suggestions!

All the way from the Philippines brought legendary Filipino horror actress Lilia Cuntapay (Aswang, Shake Rottle & Roll series, etc) into Udine Far East Film Festival today. Ended up skipping South Korean court room thriller Unbowed for the rare chance to meet her after doc screening of film Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay.

Another day another G+ meeting. I've led about 50+ Google+ presentations in the past few weeks alone. I feel like Neo at the end of Matrix at this point in talking about Google+. The biggest challenge with presentations is keeping up with the pace that Google+ team is rolling out new features and/or changes. Feels like a full time job just doing that :) I love the stat below on Google+ and I'm experiencing similar. Twitter still ranks as my top social channel with over 16,000 followers there. In terms of sharing Google+ tips/tricks I have a tech blog I'm launching soon where I'll cover that and many other topics.

Years to reach market audience of 50 million people:
- Radio: 38 years
- TV: 13 years
- Internet: 4 years
- Facebook: 2 years
- Google+: 88 days