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I love polls, but not every poll taken is going to exactly reflect the whole of a target audience. Every opinion has its nook and cranny to observe. TechCrunch wrote on The Death Of The Impulse Shopper saying that more shoppers are prepared when shopping these days due to technology allowing the consumer to find out information quickly from tools like smartphones and in general, the Internet.

The problem is impulse shopping is different from informed shopping. This is where you still are aware of a products information, but make a last minute choice to actually purchase it. For example, my son loves Pac Man and even though it is not his birthday yet, I saw an offbrand Pac Man snuggie. I have seen it online, but never planned to get it at first. It was not based on price or the product’s general information. When I was in the store, on impulse, I snatched it up from the shelf and paid for it.

My son’s surprise and happiness was the fuel for getting the item on impulse, not the Internet.

I think the best way to title such a post is to “The Death of Uniformed Shopping.” The Internet has been an awesome wealth of information for consumers. You can really get just about anything online, including groceries and medication delivered to your door.

However, the products are inserted by real people, just like the real people that price and stock the shelves or racks at any type of store. If I want a Pepsi right this second, I will go get one, not consult the information and price on a smartphone or on my computer.

TechCrunch, please be a little more conscientious of how you title your articles.

Klout, an Izea property that measures how much reach and influence a person has over several social network platforms recently rolled out a new algorithm. Along with this, an influx of angry users due to their major drops in their Klout scores.

According to Klout, they score individuals based on three areas: True Reach, Amplification, and Network Impact.

Together these mean that Klout measures how many people you really are reaching, and if you are influencing them to actually do something. For example, doing something could mean retweeting a link or your words, or even talking with you.

According to Klout’s post A More Accurate, Transparent Klout Score they added subscores to allow you to see how your score has changed. They also mention that there may be people that do have drops, but significant ones are rare.

A lot of people use Klout for advertising, whether for their own website, or even monetizing their Facebook or Twitter Streams. Izea definitely uses this in consideration with working with advertisers for SponsoredTweets and some of their other properties.

As for this new algorithm, for those who experienced that “rare” significant drop in score, is it just the new Klout system trying to catch up, or how flawed is Klout.

Here are some of the reactions in the community.

Facebook (from Klouts fan page)

From Twitter:

Oh, and do not forget about Yoda!

What are your thoughts on Klout, either before or after this new algorithm implementation?

There are a lot of new technologies. No question about that. The question is that, do you know that there are a lot of imitations of these technologies? They are created by people who want to earn money in a not-so good manner.

Imitations are those things that have been copied illegally and those that resembles like that of the original ones. Say for example and imitated iPods or cellular phone. These imitations are not good. Here are the reasons why:

• They are of low quality- Imitations are just using the brand name of the specific item but they are not of guaranteed best performance.
• They are cheap- This one is a disadvantage because almost all cheap devices are also cheaply-made. They do not last longer.
• They are illegal- Imitation is against the law. A copied DVD is not original because the company is not authorized to have a recopy of these things. And so as the cell phones. Imitations are sued by the government. There a criminal offense for those who are selling or creating fake gadgets using the brand name of a certain company.
• Some imitations aim to destroy the quality of the brand it is copying.

Given the said reasons, one must therefore be aware of the possible purchase of these illegal things. Here are some tips on how to be sure one has purchase the original stuffs:

• Purchase stuffs in trusted stores. – Never ever buy devices from the common place where one can not guaranty that the goods sold are original. As much as possible, one may ask from people. Survey to where a certain device can be bought. Ask from friends and some trusted friends
• Check the device- Look for the brand and the seal. Be sure that the seal is not broken. Check also if the device is not damaged and there is no trace of being used.
• Inspect the packaging. – Original devices have their own specific boxes. Take a look at them and see if they are really made by the brands.
• Check the warranty- One must see to it that the warranty is stated. The warranty may ran for a period of time. Check them well so as not to fret over the purchase.
• Ask for receipt. – Do not forget to ask for receipt. If there are problems that one will encounter upon the purchase, this can easily be returned to there is a receipt

Being vigilant about this fraud is good. This is not a sin or a mistake. This thing is not being freaky over things. This is only being prudent. By being prudent one means that one has the positive discretion to look over the things that are necessary to avoid the future problem. This is like being cautious. “We can not trust everybody”, that is what they say. And so, it is just the right attitude to be a little cautious about things.

Two AtomicPR Campaigns Are Nominated for PRWeek’s Campaign of the Year Awards

Two of AtomicPR’s recent public relations campaigns were each nominated for a PRWeek Campaign of the Year Award. Atomic PR was recognized in the Product/Brand category for its success in re-launching the Polaroid brand. In the Non-Profit category, Atomic PR was recognized for their work with The Trust for Public Land to save land around the Hollywood sign in California.

AtomicPR’s Proprietary ComContext Analytics Platform Essential to Campaign Success

Crucial to the success of both campaigns was AtomicPR’s ComContext analytics platform. This proprietary program uses real world data, analytics and metrics to develop strategies and gain insights for PR campaigns. In a change from traditional PR methods, which rely more on experience and opinions, ComContext gives clients solid proof of direction to achieve maximum public relations results. By following the ComContext analysis, many AtomicPR clients have seen a 100% improvement in their PR performance measures. That’s not to say traditional PR methods don’t have a place in today’s PR campaigns. The Polaroid re-brand is a good example of how new and traditional PR methods can work together for greater effectiveness. The campaign owes its success to the combination of traditional press conferences and media outreach with social media campaigns and on the ground presence.

Two of AtomicPR’s recent public relations campaigns were each nominated for a PRWeek Campaign of the Year Award. Atomic PR was recognized in the Product/Brand category for its success in re-launching the Polaroid brand. In the Non-Profit category, Atomic PR was recognized for their work with The Trust for Public Land to save land around the Hollywood sign in California.

AtomicPR’s Proprietary ComContext Analytics Platform Essential to Campaign Success

Crucial to the success of both campaigns was AtomicPR’s ComContext analytics platform. This proprietary program uses real world data, analytics and metrics to develop strategies and gain insights for PR campaigns. In a change from traditional PR methods, which rely more on experience and opinions, ComContext gives clients solid proof of direction to achieve maximum public relations results. By following the ComContext analysis, many AtomicPR clients have seen a 100% improvement in their PR performance measures. That’s not to say traditional PR methods don’t have a place in today’s PR campaigns. The Polaroid re-brand is a good example of how new and traditional PR methods can work together for greater effectiveness. The campaign owes its success to the combination of traditional press conferences and media outreach with social media campaigns and on the ground presence.

The past few years I have tried out Adbrite on some of my fanfiction community sites. Why? Because their rates on paying were a little more attractive and getting payout was a little faster than Google Adsense. Sometimes it still is depending on placement of the ad, or if a site own is using a full page ad. However no matter if it is a text link, banner or full page, Adbrite has not been monitoring their advertisers as closely as they should.

Case in point – Fanfiction.net, the largest collection of fanfiction online uses Adbrite. They are infamous for using an occasional full page loading advertisement. For those who are a little confused on what a full page advertisement is, it is where you click to go on a page, and instead of it going there, the advertisement loads. You have the option of clicking to go back to the original page.

The problem is that more often than not the page loads to a site that alerts you that you may be visiting and untrusted or harmful site. Sometimes it is malware. This is also possible in some of the text links as I had this issue with my own fanfiction community. Some of the regular members were kind enough to send me word that the text link they clicked on put malware.

This is not a most recent development. This has happened for the past few years and has not been corrected. Is Adbrite not monitoring their advertisers as closely as they should?

While the site owner can set their settings to manually approve advertisements, I would think Adbrite would at least be a little more pro-active about making sure malware sites are not in their system.

Though the pay is good, I am hesitant to even put Adbrite on Blondish.net. This would not look good if someone clicks on an ad and it goes to a malware site. I am sure Adbrite has been informed many times throughout the years about this issue. Why is it not being caught?

Have you used Adbrite? How has that worked for you?

Motorola have just released their latest handset, the Motorola DEFY. But is the DEFY just another Smartphone among a sea of similar handsets? Read on to find out more about this unique mobile phone.

First impressions of the Motorola DEFY are that it looks like yet another slab type smartphone. Yawn. But wait – there’s more. The DEFY is more than just a large slab. It’s a real hard nut. Upon closer inspection, a somewhat rubbery case becomes apparent. Great for absorbing the odd knock and bumps. Then you realise the Motorola DEFY is more than just another smartphone – its rugged and tough-as-nails – a unique feature among the current batch of smartphones, most of which wouldn’t survive a small bounce off the carpet.

The Motorola DEFY features a dust proof case as well as a scratch resistant, touch sensitive display Motorola term “Gorilla Glass”. It is also water-resistant up to 1 metre – this mobile phone deals with water by laughing in its face; just don’t go swimming with it in your pocket, or the water will laugh back.

Due to its ruggedness, this phone is obviously made for use in the great outdoors; take it camping, hiking or even on a construction site – just don’t go using it as a skateboard. Motorola are keen to state that this isn’t a “rugged” phone as such, its more “life proof”. It does however conform to IP67 International Protection standards, which makes it pretty hard.

Another great feature of the DEFY is that is has not one but two microphones. This a truly ingenious feature, helping cut unwanted noise in even the busiest of environments.

For such a “life proof” phone, it’s surprising to find out that the Motorola DEFY is also a pretty light and slim handset. It’s measures in at 107 x 59 x 13.4mm and weighs just 118g; which really is a marvel for such a tough nut.

However, it’s not all about how “life proof” a phone is. The DEFY sports some pretty impressive features; certainly what you would come to expect in a mid to high-end smartphone. It has a large 3.7 inch capacitive touch sensitive display, with a screen resolution of 480 X 854 pixels. It has a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and records video at 26-30 fps. It comes with 2GB of internal memory, as well as a 2GB microSD card, expandable to 32GB.

On the Connectivity front the Motorola DEFY supports all the latest Wi-Fi standards including 802.11 b/g/n, has a microUSB slot, assisted GPS and Bluetooth 2.1. In place of a mini HDMI port we have a DNLA compatible device, meaning streaming photos, video and your tunes to a DNLA compatible device is easy. DNLA is fast becoming the defacto standard in media sharing around the home, you will find most of the latest televisions are DNLA certified.

On the down side the Motorola DEFY is powered by Android 2.1 (Éclair); although Android is a very good operating system for a phone, it’s a shame they couldn’t get the latest Android OS, Android 2.2 ‘FroYo’ on there. Under the hood the DEFY features a 800MHz processor; not quite up there with the top of the range handsets but by no means a slow coach.

I like the Motorola DEFY. It is a fully featured, rugged, medium to high-end smartphone. And you can bounce it off the floor (note to reader – don’t do this).

I know, I know – I love WordPress enough that I am really hardcore about persuading people to using WordPress.org self-hosting, especially for those investing in a domain and hosting. I even recommend it for the free hosting on WordPress.com.

I want to ask those using Blogger – why are you still using it?

Once you get a your own domain, it would be much easier to maintain your website. Matt Cutts even uses WordPress. Yeah, blogger is free, but for business owners, you always want more control over your site.

What? More control?

Yep, that is the number one thing I hear from business owners. While a business owner might not use everything on the site’s backend, they still like that luxury of freedom. WordPress offers that freedom to do what you want. That is the beauty of Open Source software.

WordPress is a CMS (content management system), not blog software alone like it was notoriously known for in its early days. While it might seem intimidating, it really is not. This just means that you can do a lot more things than just having a blog.

Coding a theme is not difficult. WordPress.org provides detailed documentation and the community itself has loads of resource sites fill with tutorials and code snippet tricks.

I have even worked with clients who have used other CMS like Joomla and Drupal, and it was hands down, far more user-friendly and easier to run a WordPress powered site. WordPress even allows Blogger users to import their posts when they want to convert. How nifty, right?

What I want do is open the floor and allow Blogger users to ask questions or place their concerns on why they have not taken that step to choose WordPress for self-hosting? What is it that you think WordPress cannot do for you? Are you afraid of losing SEO value or even traffic? Are you uncertain about learning WordPress, which in the long run will save you time? Why are you still using Blogger?

Fiverr has been a good place for people seeking to pay little for a service or goods. It works well for those willing to do those jobs for little money. One of the worthwhile jobs is using Fiverr for monetizing your Twitter social network stream. In other words – create your own version of Sponsored Tweets.

You can name what you will tweet about and how often. Of course, keep in mind how much you believe your Twitter stream is worth and that you are not going to spam the heck out of them. Putting guidelines down on what type of tweets will allow buyers at Fiverr to know if their content will be of any interest to them. That is what they are looking for – people to click on their link and perhaps purchase their produce.

So be honest when putting yourself out on Fiverr because you could get repeat buyers and with each feedback left, it will look good for your reputation.

Please note that if you do live in the United States, you are still required to disclose endorsements. This is even if the buyer’s country is not within the United States. Using the hashmarks #ad or #spon will suffice. Also, “sponsored by” is fine.

Have you tried Fiverr? How have you used it (as a buyer or a service provider)?