What’s Cooler Than a Million Dollars?

Facebook employees are about to find out what turned their boss on about a billion dollars. The company is looking to unload around $1 billion in employee-owned stock, as the worker bees who have sacrificed cash for years look for a bit of upside. And, Facebook is doing it in style.

The social media company is looking to help its devoted employees cash out of some shares at a valuation of $60 billion … that’s “cool” 60 times over. It’s also a 20 percent jump over the company’s previous valuation of $50 billion.

Filed under: Finance, social media, Business, economics, Facebook, investing, IPO, Private Equity, social media, social networking, venture capital

Ringing the Opening Bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange

I attended with IR magazine, where I am now the group marketing director. Look closely at the photo and video: I’m the baldest guy on the left.

Filed under: Finance, Media, Personal, Canada, investor relations, IR magazine, opening bell, TMX, Toronto, Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX

WOW: Deloitte to Open Baghdad Office

Okay, file this under WTF, zOMG and STFU. Deloitte, the top-shelf global professional services firm, is taking a big step and opening an office in Baghdad. Yes, that one – the one in Iraq.

The office will open in Q1 2011. According to Iraqi Directory, the firm is also “working on an add-on acquisition to grow its Middle Eastern presence.” That is pretty wild. I used to complain about gigs in Tennessee and Nebraska. I don’t think I could wrap my head around this one.

Deloitte plans to open its first Iraqi branch in Baghdad in the first quarter of 2011. http://ow.ly/37N4O—
  (@Deloitte) November 10, 2010

Filed under: Finance, Baghdad, Business, consulting, Deloitte, Iraq, Libya, Middle East

Blackbird Pie Is Finally Here! It’s about Time

WordPress Enables Blackbird Pie. Just Grab A Tweet URL And It Appears In Your Content http://tcrn.ch/acymjt by @parislemon—
  (@TechCrunch) November 05, 2010

I’ve been using Twitter’s Blackbird Pie utility almost from the day it was released. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places where I can use it. It works on Gadling, Luxist and HuffPo, but not Business Insider. Until recently, it didn’t work on WordPress … but that just changed!

WordPress is actually making it incredibly easy to use Blackbird Pie (far easier than the original utility, which was pretty easy anyway.

So, what’s the implication of this … aside from my having a new social media tool to play with? Well, I have a lot more latitude in embedding tweets in my posts. So, I can start presenting Twitter users in their own words. This is particularly useful for me with people who don’t think before they tweet.

Filed under: social media, Blackbird Pie, blogging, microblogging, social media, Twitter, WordPress

How Well Does Social Media Drive Blog Traffic?

Okay, you’re not going to find out here. Instead, head over to the guest post I wrote on Scene by Laurie, exploring how travel bloggers can fall victim to niche audiences that generate plenty of social media chatter but never really click through. If you are over-reliant on Twitter or Facebook for traffic, this is the downside to which you’re exposed. And yes, I do anchor it with a real world travel example.

Travel Blog Analysis: Does Social Media Drive Real Traffic? >>

And, here’s the source story from the case study …

Five Reasons Flight Attendants Should Shut up and Push the Cart >>

Filed under: social media, Travel, Blog, blogging, blogs, business insider, Facebook, social media, social networking, Twitter

Are Content Businesses a Fool’s Endeavor?

I guess it really does suck to be a writer …

It’s pretty clear that this isn’t a road to riches. Traditional publications don’t pay hefty salaries, and it’s difficult to break into them. Freelance writing provides some opportunities for a solid living, if you know how to manage your personal business effectively, but you have to work at it. Starting your own business seems to be the only way to hit it big, but this isn’t exactly news. It’s one of the few ways one can generate real wealth. For writers, however, even this angle may be inherently constrained.

Two recent news stories got my attention and made me think about this.

Filed under: Finance, Media, AOL, Bill Gates, Blog, blogging, blogs, Business, Gawker, Michael Arrington, Steve Jobs, TechCrunch, Writing

Social Media Survival Tips for Travel PR

As the date of a press trip approaches, itineraries are flying around, details are being finalized and media kits are assembled and distributed. Amid all of this, I’ve noticed over two and a half years of travel writing, there is no social media “kit” provided at the beginning of a trip … and it wouldn’t be hard to do. Look at the top of any itinerary: you see property and agency contact information. How hard would it be to include a Twitter account, too?

Hey, travel PR folks: in addition to thinking about the coverage you hope to secure in a magazine or on a blog after the trip has run its course, think about the incremental gains you could realize during the trip itself – especially for a group trip.

When you’re planning your next press trip, consider the following social media essentials:

Filed under: Media, social media, Travel, blogging, Facebook, Flickr, marketing, microblogging, social media marketing, Twitter, Writing, YouTube

Five Most Recent Social Media Marketing Guest Posts

Okay, I’ve been busy lately, which is why I’ve been neglecting Migrant Blogger. Just so you can have a sense of what I’ve been up to, here are my recent social media marketing guest posts for Social Times and Technorati:

Four Ways Corporate Bloggers Can Lure Readers Back >>

Four Ways to Hedge Against Twitter Platform Instability >>

Four Terrible Objectives for Your Corporate Blog >>

Corporate Blogging: Ignore Your Metrics >>

Top Five Ways to Turn Blog States into Sales Intelligence >>

Filed under: social media, Business, social media, social media marketing

Why the Twitter Startup Market Won’t Get More Cash

Peter Kafka’s latest article over on AllThingsD (a must-read for me) caught my attention quickly. He found that the amount of investment cash flowing into “pure play” Twitter startups fell to $10.4 million for the June 2009-to-May 2010 period … from $21.6 million the previous year. The 52 percent year-over-year decline probably feels like a shock to the system, but it looks like there are some clear drivers for this change.

Kafka cites the natural ebb and flow of venture capital deals, as well as Twitter’s rush to fill gaps in its services. The latter, to me, is a no-brainer, as I remember trying to keep up with it. During last spring’s Chirp conference, Twitter announced a number of new measures that rounded out its product set. Of course, it came at the expense – whether Twitter wanted to admit it or not – of the many companies that had arisen as a result of the market opportunities created by Twitter’s gaps.

Filed under: Finance, social media, technology, Business, chirp, social media, social media marketing, social media platforms, startup, startups, Twitter, venture capital

I Write Like …

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Okay, these games can be fun. To see who I write like, I took the first three paragraphs of “Pre-nuptial last rites get fun, expensive,” which I wrote for Gadling, and fed it into the “I Write Like” tool. The results? Well, I apparently write like David Foster Wallace, but only when it comes to strippers at bachelor parties.

Filed under: Media, Personal, blogging, david foster wallace, Writing