While I don’t usually cover social issues on my blog, I do care about them.

And with so many people today talking about global warming, I thought it important to touch on a subject that affects each of us who spend our days in front of the computer. Bloggers, business owners, web and graphics designers - all of us can take something of value from this video…

And, it’s hilarious…

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First off, I love Christine Kane - the person and the musician. Though, truthfully, they really seem to be one and the same.

Anyhow, I find Christine’s music full of witty lyrics (free song download) and tons of emotion - like she’s singing from her soul. I’ve only seen her play live twice - once on a rocking boat. And each time at least one of her songs has brought tears to my eyes (no kidding). Spending time with her it’s obvious she’s found an inner peace and a grounded depth that gushes through her personality.

Yeah, I could go on. But let’s leave it at - she’s quite a lovely person and an excellent singer/songwriter. If she’s playing near you, it’s worth a evening to see her play.

Beyond Christine’s music, however, you’ll find a savvy and knowledgeable a niche marketer. She’s learned over the years that she can serve an audience’s needs while maintaining a music career. And like any niche marketer, she’s had to learn how to position herself correctly to reach a market who’s interested in her. In other words, she makes is more possible for people who like her type of music to find her.

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I get asked all the time why a business owner should be blogging or engaged in social media.

The answer I give almost always revolves around creating relationships. If you’ve been reading a while, you know one of my favorite statements is people don’t do business with businesses, they do business with people. So relationships become key to business success.

Before the internet, before social media, much of the business world seemed to focus on producing and selling. You’d produce a product or create a service and do everything you could to get people to buy. In other words, marketing was about peddling what you had.

Today, however, [ continue reading & share your thoughts → ]

A couple weeks ago I got into a nice, heated debate with a friend over how manipulated we are by media - specifically commercials.

My friend’s position was that you’re manipulated only if you’re ‘weak of mind.’ He believes that if you’re aware that someone’s trying to manipulate you with subliminal messages, it doesn’t have any affect on you.

My opinion is quite the opposite. I feel that advertising companies are highly advanced at subtly manipulating us through constant subliminal messaging. Those subliminal messages, then, set us up for being highly suggestive to whatever stimulus is meant to get us to buy. Think about the last time a simple conversation with someone brought up the desire to have a Big Mac.

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I’m sure you’ve seen Apple’s new hyper-thin laptop the MacBook Air - touted the world’s thinnest notebook. It’s so thin it can fit in a manilla envelope. If you haven’t seen the 30 second TV spot yet, check this out…

Now that you have the background of the original, watch this great parody.

Yes, I’m a Mac user and a huge fan (though I don’t consider myself one of the cult). And yes, I’m planning to get a MacBook Air very soon.

I was just getting used to Web 2.0.

Want to know what Web 3.0 is going to be about?

So did an audience member at the Seoul Digital Forum back in May when he asked Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt to define Web 3.0. Schmidt’s first response was that Web 2.0 is nothing more than “a marketing term” - which I partly agree with. I think Web 2.0 used in the mass media to create hype is a marketing term. But when I consider Web 2.0 from a user’s perspective (gotta watch this video as well), I can honestly see the difference from the web of yesteryear.

But Web 3.0 already. My oh my!

Schmidt gave a great answer, which you can watch in the video below. What his answer boils down too is much easier application building along with much more robust access to data. And, of course, that data will be stored in ‘the cloud.’

Take a look at the 2 minute video and tell me what you think…