Internet became the favorite tool where people can share and speak freely. Popular social-media  such as Facebook and Twitter are used to share about anything we have in our mind. It can be the funny anecdote that happened in the subway or a link to that cute video of a cat found on YouTube. But when it comes to release your frustration those are not the best forums… I came across this site Fmylife.com – a forum where people stream everyday anecdotes likely to happen to anyone. After all, my life is not that bad – think of this: “Today, my boyfriend gave me a card for my birthday and told me to open it 10 minutes after he leaves. I waited 5, in the card it said “it’s not working out, but here’s 20$”.“

In order to not cut the flow of the Recession Series on the Trendwatch, I’ll refrain from doing big posts. But I found today that Dell is communicating and offering discounts via Twitter. This is a brilliant way that shows some of the potential Twitter has (I told you I wasn’t giving up on this theme anytime soon…).
While communicating to a short number of users – if you consider 11.000 followers a short number, of course – Dell managed to increase sales with little effort, basically by targeting their communication and focusing on what they needed – to find the people interested in the company (thus, followers) and giving them added value connected to the companies’ objectives. And believe it or note, it worked!
Like written on the first post of the Recession Series, it’s not about inventing new technologies, it’s about using the current ones in different and obvious ways. There is a golden rules in Tweeter that I think that applies to any Marketer out there who has to be straight to the point and budget oriented to effectively reach their target – think about what you would like to receive. When users Tweet, they consider what they would like to see in other posts and if it’s not interesting, they unfollow. It’s all about bringing VALUE – as small is it may be, like communicating a drop in prices, a link to better invest your money or simply a link to a funny cartoon to brighten your day. It all comes down to giving.
And now, back to the Recession Monster!

In Radio 4’s ‘Advertising: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On!’, Robin Wight presents a wonderful history of the advertising industry; from classic TV ad campaigns to Cadbury’s Gorilla and a fascinating view of the future. Listen to the second (and last) broadcast now – it’s only available until Jan 19th!

Stop touching yourself! StickyScreen will save you from the perils of distraction at work. This service saves anything you type on a single sticky note. Save it as your homepage, and each time you open a window, StickyScreen will remind of what you should probably be doing.

Here is a fun link. If you are tired of stupid people asking you the same old same old or stupid questions they could find themselves on the Internet here is LMGTFY.com: submit the question and it generates you a link to the Google page and an animation proving you it’s not so hard to use Google. Click this link yourself.

Never know if you should start a Facebook Group or a Facebook Fan Page for your client/brand? Well, Advergirl can help you ›

Two technologies spotted on CNN during Elections 08 season, supposed to enhance the viewer’s experience.

1/ Interviewing an hologram

2/ Large Touch Screen that allows the anchor to manipulate images and data

Both have been heavily mocked by the Saturday Night Live and Daily Show teams, and you can understand why. But I really enjoyed watching the presentator dig into layers and layers of data, state by state, last Thursday.

The Esquire issue with an e-ink cover, that we were mentioning last month, is out! Who’s gonna be one of the happy fews to get one?

10 Tips for Being a Greener Web Designer: buy green energy, use green hosting, ditch your desktop machine for a laptop, switch your old CRT monitor for an LCD, turn off your computer and monitor overnight… More at sitepoint ›