From Joshua Rappeneker at flickr under a Creative Commons License.

For the first few years of the new millennium, social media was an exclusive club.  It remained relatively untouched by traditional advertising, and the lucky first adopters of MySpace and Facebook could live in peace.  Why, then, are communities that were originally designed for people increasingly being hijacked by companies?

Recent articles in the NY Times and on social media hub Mashable have highlighted how the traditional marketing community is barking up the wrong tree in its use of social media (thanks to Seth for pointing thelinks out).  We all know that it’s only a matter of time until advertising hits social media channels full-on, and until then we get to watch the first adopters - like P&G, and Crest - give it their best shot, and sometimes fail.

Not all social media channels are created the same, however. 

Read more of this story »

From subqns at Flickr under a Creative Commons License

As the mercury drops this winter season, the Grande Latte is in vogue again - but will set you back almost $4.  Here are 5 tips for how to have your cup o’ Joe without breaking the bank.

While I sat sipping my Grande Latte on a cold December day, I was taken aback by how much lighter my wallet felt as a result.  In between sips I managed to calculate that at the rate of 20 sips per cup, each sip  was costing me $0.20!  The realization that I could just as easily down a gallon of crude oil instead and still have some left over for a biscotti, made me vow to do whatever it took to ween myself from my addiction - here’s my story:

1. Bring your own mug

At first I went easy, and brought my own travel mug to the store.  At Starbucks this will save you a paltry $0.10 a visit, but I figured it was better than nothing.  Besides, I found my spiffy Starbucks Mug made me feel ultra cool since I was saving trees by not using paper cups.  I also discovered that I wasn’t re-heating my coffee in the microwave, an extra boon in my book.

2. Skip the milk

Read more of this story »