Vizu, a brand advertising measurement company, offers a free web widget that may interest you.
They enable you to put customizable polls on your site.
Toyota’s Open Road Blog is using it effectively to ask its readers what type of blog posts they would like to read.

Here are a 10 snapshots I took over the last few weeks. I think number 6 is my favorite. Yours?

1. I took this at a social media event in Helsinki. I love the irony of sitting at a table of wonderful geeks, all of whom are being social online while not talking to one another.

2. That’s my friend Nicky. He’s an excellent photographer of the NYC young and beautiful. Check out his site here.

3. I was flying on the plane with two Marines on my left and this father and son on my right. The younger Marine says to the older Marine, “I haven’t seen my father in seven years. I write him sometimes. Sometimes he writes back. I hope to be a better father than that.”

4. This restaurant in New York knows how to use its Zagat endorsement to market itself.

5. An unappetizing look at McDonald’s NYC….I’m not lovin’ it.

6. Even McDonald’s can be beautiful in the right light. I’m lovin’ it.

7. I don’t understand this positioning statement. Don’t tell me what you’re not—tell me what you are.

8. The masses have spoken. And the masses want a whopper.

9. Obama fashion at Urban Outfitters

10. Of course, this was at a state fair.

I like this idea for a business blog: post 10 snapshots of your last few weeks – it’s one way to add a human touch to your content.

Check out this UK promotion aimed at bloggers. Berocca appeals to bloggers in three ways: their tone is perfect, they are offering exposure and a free blogger relief pack.

They feature bloggers’ blogs who register on its landing page, which is brilliant. Bloggers want to be recognized.
They also provide blogger relief packs, “containing a stress ball, usb ‘stress’ button, bubble wrap key ring, ‘Dead Fred’ pen holder and a pack of Berocca.”

Notice that the emphasis of the page is on relieving bloggers, not on selling product.

I like how they have subtly invited bloggers to learn more about Berocca by clicking to do so. However, when you click on “Click here for more information about Berocca,” you are dumped onto the homepage—it’s like a date abruptly ending without a goodnight kiss.
They missed an opportunity to customize the message to bloggers and to speak to them in a more personal tone about their product.

Nevertheless, great idea and execution.

Pecha-kucha is a movement that refers to a type of  presentation structure. At a Pecha-Kucha event a presenter gets 6:40 to share a total of 20 slides, each 20 seconds long. And some very cool things happen when a presentation is structured in this way. Presenters arrive at their point much faster. And audiences pay attention too. There’s a chance they will miss something interesting. 12 seconds, a new video website, will hopefully do for videoblog what Pecha-Kucha has done for presentations. The site asks members to express themselves in 12 seconds of video. Here’s an example of Julia Roy doing just that.

Me <3 Ben Folds (Encore) on 12seconds.tv

I asked Julie why she uses 12 seconds. She replied: “I use it because I think it has potential. The 12 second interactions are unique, and it is surely easy to use as a Twitter video extension.”

So, if you have 12 seconds, go check it out.

(image from Flickr, by Pear Biter)

I live in two worlds.

The first values transparency, collaboration and humanity. In this world, I bog, tweet, review, share pictures and videos and constantly update my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

The second worships results. An individual’s value is defined by his or her ability to make things happen.

Sometimes these worlds pull me in opposite directions.

During a recent interview I was conducting for one of my clients, the agency I was interviewing made a snide comment about my blog. The comment was awkward and inappropriate – I ignored it, but felt its sting. I thought of my options: Should I create separate blogs for business and personal reflections? Should I delete my Twitter account? Should I research the online profile of the person who made the comment?

I didn’t act for several weeks. During this time, I reflected on how social media brings my personal life into my business relationships. Clients may actually see the tweet I sent from South by Southwest at 3 a.m., my blog entry about adult communities online or photos of spring break from back when I was in college.

Does this mean we should sanitize our online footprints? Running a marketing agency focused on social media makes this question even more complicated. In some cases, my online footprint can enhance my credibility in one world while undermining it in another.