I'm selling some domain names

It's been a while since I posted here, but thought this was the best place to list some domain names I'm selling. Had no time to turn them into projects or anything.

Here they are:

ourdeals.ca
drugsdrone.com
gamificationnews.com
spaceflightcompany.com
companyceo.com
alcoholdrone.com
clothesdrone.com
petfooddrone.com
specialforcesdrone.com
graphene.computer
yuccie.ca
yuccie.info
yuccie.xyz
socialmediagod.com

Please contact me at johncarson@gmail.com if you want to make an offer.

Thanks!

#owned

Who owns the hashtag?

So I had a very interesting chat on Twitter yesterday about the subject of hashtags. Tracy Viselli put forward the position that a brand could possibly sue someone over the use of a hashtag if it damages their reputation enough.

I disagreed with that comment. In my opinion, the hashtag does not exist as an entity in itself. It is part of a comment, statement, position, point of view etc. Therefore, no one can "own" a hashtag in as much as they can "own" a Tweet. It's all part and parcel of the same comment.

For example: Say I tweeted (disclaimer: I like Pepsi!) "Pepsi sucks. It tastes horrible and I hate it. #pepsisucks."

Are the brand protection people at Pepsi going to exclaim, "WTF?! Look at that hashtag. Get our lawyer on the phone now!"

I think not. I believe they will look at the statement in general, gauge and monitor reaction to it, press fallout, social mentions ... and then decide whether to act or not.

I see a lot of hashtags used all the time. One popular one is #LoveThisTeam used in relation to the Toronto Blue Jays. I could tweet, "Tottenham Hotspur. Massive fan. #lovethisteam."

Am I going to get sued? No, because no one owns that hashtag. It's just a phrase that's being used. I could use that hashtag for anything if I wanted to.

This is an interesting article on the subject too. #readit

I Love You Social Media! I Hate You Social Media!

I was kinda thinking that social media hasn't advanced that far since it became the staple in a communicator's toolbox all those years ago ... 2005. That's my personal date when I think it began, and others will concur or differ on that timeline, I'm sure.

I abhor those "20 ways your brand should be getting a million followers by 2:00 p.m. tomorrow" automated tweets. So lazy, no respect to the recipient, it may have worked for you but might not for me etc. I hate you social media!

Connecting with strangers at random, finding out you have something in common and inviting them to chat more over -- gasp! -- a face-to-face coffee IN REAL LIFE next time they're in town. I love you social media!

I just got off the phone with an organization in the education space needing a little guidance with their social media. Very professional company, good ethics and transparency, just working out their next steps in connecting a little more via online channels.

It struck me that there's still an element of nervousness about being "out there" in the space. Understood. Slow and steady is the way, get comfortable, know what you want to achieve, remember that social media is all about human beings and not the tool you decide to use ... and success (depending on your wish list) will follow.

In general, I am 87.6% on the positive side when it comes to social media as a tool to do good things. There's obviously the trolls, spambots, fake followers bought from some shady company, paid-for blog posts that don't state that disclaimer, LinkedIn contacts that see fit to spam with their not-relevant messages and so on.

It's all part and parcel of the game though. You have to keep focused and let that stuff wash off you before it clogs your thinking.

So, when will social media grow up? I think it's past its teen years and is now starting the early '20s of deciding what direction in life it wants to go. Still a bit unsure and willing to bend a little with circumstances, but finally striking out on a path of discovery.

The love/hate relationship is what keeps it interesting.

I, Spambot

So, I blogged the other day about automated tweets = not a fan. But the aspect of Twitter that REALLY gets me riled up is spambots. What purpose can they serve? Seriously?

That's great, spambot. Thanks! I owe ya one

For one thing, I have no idea who that "person" is. So, why would a complete "stranger" be doing me a favour by direct messaging me a link to something I have no idea what it is, with no subject, context or reason?

There's NO WAY I'm clicking that link. The end result will probably be me having a hacked Twitter account (or worse, computer) and then all my contacts get a nice DM from "me" encouraging them to click on something half-disguised as useful.

Where do spambots hang out? Do they message each other, thus creating an infinite loop of DMs, swirling into a Twitter wormhole of egg-shaped avatars, bad grammar and loads of SMILEY FACES :-)

Now, I've been around the block. Before e-mail came along I travelled a great deal and -- because my parents were separated -- wrote exactly the same postcard to them both and sent them one each so the other wouldn't feel left out. Early spam?

Hotmail got swamped. Gmail is getting swamped ... but their spam filter seems to cope pretty well. (Side note: I wrote a post once for the company blog when I worked at GCI Canada hinting that, sometimes, when you send an e-mail using Gmail, a spam comes in immediately. The conspiracy theorist in me senses that ... maybe ... the spam comes from Gmail itself to justify the filter and demonstrate its success. Nah! Couldn't be! Right?)

But, all these years later, spam still exists. Nigerian princes have tons of cash to give you; really good penny stocks that are cheap now but will only go up in value can be bought; medicines to cure what ails you are on offer aplenty.

Sign me up!

Someone must be making money somewhere. I don't believe people send these for a joke. Waste of time. There must be an ROI (Return On Idiots) otherwise why waste their time?

It's more of an annoyance than anything. Clutters up the really good content from smart people with utter crap and drivel. Wonder how long spambots will continue to thrive?

Not too many years I hope. Otherwise we could be in trouble!

This Is Definitely The Best Way To Get Clicks On Your Content

See, it worked. Thanks for clicking.

I forgot to mention there's no actual content of value. Feel a little cheated? Sorry -- the title explained the whole post ... and that was my point.

The aim is to get clicks to the content. Whether people actually read it is another matter entirely. I could list tomorrow's lottery numbers here and if you don't get that far, well, your loss.

Sounds like I'm being an arse. That's not my intention. I'm trying to highlight the disconnect of those link-bait headlines that flood Twitter all day, but have no real value. Like this.

I see so many similar links scrolling down my TweetDeck stream all day. Those in the early hours (I'm a night owl) are the worst as you just know they're automated = lazy.

If I was to respond to one of those links with a question, there's probably no one actually there to answer me. Very disrespectful. Don't treat me like an idiot or a stat to add to your ROI ("Look! We had 259 clicks on this link at 2:00 a.m.! My invoice is in the mail.")

/Rant. Normal service resumed soon.

Twitter Is NOT A Cocktail Party

I meant to write this post as a follow-up to a thread Danny Brown (Scottish, but he's OK) wrote on Facebook about the whole "social media, join the conversation etc." angle. He's been around the block and I have to agree, social media -- and Twitter in particular -- is NOT (shout that) like a cocktail party.

Granted, I don't go to many cocktail parties. Not my scene or crowd. But the ones I have attended have been ultra-polite. Guests hover around in their little groups, murmuring over a carefully-crafted beverage, chatting about this and that, sprinkled with occasional bursts of laughter. All fine and dandy.

If I equated Twitter to a cocktail party, all I would have to do is wait for one guest to start chatting to another guest ... and then barge in, unannounced, and start talking to them. No introduction, No, "May I?"

I would certainly never do that. Too polite, old chap.

But I do on Twitter. I see strangers chatting to each other and just jump straight in. I don't waste my allotted, precious 140 on introducing myself or saying what I do for a living. My bio handles that for me.

Rude? My conscience says no. It's just the way Twitter works, which is why I love it and can't understand the "cocktail party" comparison.

So, jump straight into my conversations. It's your round anyway.

Life Is Like A Train Journey

Life is like a train journey. Hopefully it will be a long and eventful one, but after a while, you can’t recall where you boarded. Certain people will begin that journey with you, but not last the distance. Others will accompany you for the whole trip, and you may even travel further than them.

Yet more passengers will get on at various stages and others may realize that they have reached their stop, and depart. Quite often the train will run into the sidings or hit trouble -- then you should put your faith in the driver to see you through.

But don’t ever jump off a moving train, no matter how long the tunnel seems to last. There is always light at the end of it. The scenery that you pass through should remain in your memory forever, even when it’s something that you would rather not witness.

If you have bought the right ticket, then the journey should pass happily and with success. Above all, you should bear in mind the destination that you hope to eventually reach.

More intense thoughts in Beer and Bagels for Breakfast.

Do We Still Need Community Managers? I'm 50/50 On That One

So Susan Murphy was kind enough to answer my Question of the Week on her Jester Creative blog. She can also be found at SuzeMuse and on Twitter.

I asked if there's still a role these days for social media community managers? As more brands and users become proficient in these tools, I wondered if they could collaborate together and take on the task, or whether it still needed an individual to "manage" (not keen on that word in regards to overseeing a community) that online gathering.

In her answer, Susan writes: "The people I think are the best at managing communities are people who have much more broad ranging experience than just being proficient at tools like Facebook and Twitter. Because just being able to use the tools well doesn’t mean you can communicate effectively with them."

I agree. I believe it's unreasonable and risky to hand off the community manager role to someone who doesn't have a previous background of customer service, or dealing with large groups of people pre-social media.

As I mentioned before: "Whether you talk to them face-to-face or send them an e-mail or a Tweet, be polite, use manners, show courtesy. If a customer walks into an electronics store and wants to know more about your products, you're not going to stand there shouting [at them to] buy this. There's nothing worse than tweeting 'buy my products!' People switch off ... because it's like you're being shouted at with advertising." [Full article.]

Susan also writes: "Likewise, I don’t think that down the road, 'social media consultants' and 'community managers' will thrive if that’s the only thing they know how to do."

I disagree. I think -- in maybe three years tops -- there won't be the words "social media" included in these type of job titles. It will be a given that if you are in the marketing, PR, promotions, communications, online editorial and content management business, then you will use all the NECESSARY and RELEVANT tools available to you to get the best results for yourself/clients/brands/companies or whatever ROE (Return on Engagement) that you planned to achieve. [Full article with some more thoughts.]

So, as the blog post title says, I'm 50/50 on this question at this particular point in time. But thanks again to people like Susan that inspire me to write a few words down each day on subjects such as this!

Quote: "IRL Is So 2013" Unquote

That quote is from Elena Yunusov who I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday over a lunchtime coffee (next one's on me!) and enjoying a very interesting conversation. Elena is the founder of Communicable, and co-organized fundraising events like HoHoTO and HaiHaiTO.

An invite came out of the blue from Elena via my LinkedIn account asking to meet for a coffee. That is a rare thing in this "Please RT me even thought we've never met!" social media society, so I accepted. (p.s. Anyone can invite me on LinkedIn -- I am an open networker and may be able to help you with something, a job lead or an introduction. It's my name at Gmail dot com, cheers.)

I feel more comfortable meeting new people one-on-one rather than in a big group. The amount of meetups and other techie gatherings I've been to where the person you're talking to is constantly looking over your shoulder at other people's name tags to chat to. Rude. (Or maybe I'm boring.)

Elena explained that I was part of a project. That intrigued me as I've never been someone's project before, but listened. She is embarking on the 50 Coffee Meetings challenge whereby, quite simply, she's inviting 50 people she's never met before out for coffee. (Elena -- correct me if I'm wrong in the comments!)

I thought that was a pretty bold idea. I get nervous at meeting new people, so respect the fact that she's trying to move (some of, not all) the conversation offline and actually shaking the hand of people that swirl around in Twitter feeds, LinkedIn profiles and other social media avenues.

I also learned about some cool stuff from her, including the Toronto Mini Maker Faire being held from September 21-22. I am away so can't attend, but promised to mention it ... so there you go!

Hopefully I was also able to offer some interesting stuff in return. It was great to do that kind of thing in person, and I hope to be able to meet some more people for coffee or lunch this year that I only see online, but feel like I kinda know.

My 10,000th Tweet!

I finally reached a personal milestone today of my 10,000th tweet, so wanted to make it memorable and mean something, rather than just post a food pic or something -- which I often do too, much to the chagrin of some.

Celebrations break out at the 10,000th tweet

Don't get me wrong; there are users out there with tenfold more tweets, very prolific people who seem to spend all day on Twitter and tweet their lives for posterity. Nothing wrong with that -- we all get something different from the service.

I joined Twitter on April 1, 2008 (no joke) and didn't understand it AT ALL. As a professional writer from a journalism background, I was used to telling stories, crafting prose, taking my time to create in-depth and well-researched articles and news items.

Suddenly, I only had 140 characters at my disposal ... including spaces, symbols and numbers! The humanity! How on earth would I be able to get anything meaningful in there?

So, I started off with the requisite "eating my lunch" and "drinking coffee" and "good morning" tweets (if I recall) until I got a little more adventurous, and started RTing people, following those who I thought I'd have no interest in (was I wrong!) and generally becoming more comfortable with the platform.

Then after a few weeks of that, something clicked in my head and I actually began to crave the challenge of still trying to tell the same stories, but being ultra-conservative on wasted words. It was great.

And then when people were actually kind enough to start following me, I upped my game to try and include some interesting content they'd find useful. (I get a lot of hip hop users following me, no idea why!)

Since those heady, early days, Twitter has become one of my daily routines, whether connecting, tweeting jobs (which I enjoy), learning interesting stuff ... and posting about FOOD! (That won't change.)

Onwards to my 100,000th tweet ...

Log Off, Shutdown And Store The Computer In The Attic

Ads. Cookies. Spyware. Malware. Phishing. Hacking. Analytics.

Take a look at the above list and you'll see that we're being tracked online all the time, have been for years. And now suddenly, everyone is up in arms about the recent "revelation" that international security services using PRISM have been accessing data from around nine (probably more) Internet-based companies, including Facebook and Google.

Canadian users aren't exempt either, it seems.

I find it seriously hard to believe that no one in this technological day and age doesn't understand that what they do online is recorded on a server somewhere, and people other than them know what they've been doing. There's obviously tech involved that is far more wide-reaching than most were aware of, but it's now coming to light due to intelligence community insiders like Edward Snowden.

[From the article: His responsibility for maintaining computer network security meant he had clearance to access a wide array of classified documents. -- There's another whole issue there of how these security companies vet their employees, but that's another story.]

As is now par for the course when something big like this breaks, social media explodes, people go crazy RTing each other, venting against governments, authority in general, offering their own insights, rebuttals, cross-checking, arguments, praise etc. I think that's when social media really comes into its own: you dip in, monitor the conversation for a while, form an opinion and don't take anything for granted.

Pros: there are no rules in social media. Cons: there are no rules in social media. Use it as you will and how it suits you to jump in and participate in the news of the day.

All those tweets are being stored and monitored somewhere, probably this blog post and millions of others too. It's just the way it seems to be these days. Google knows what e-mails I send; Facebook knows what restaurants I like; LinkedIn knows what industries I'm interested in.

There really is no online privacy anymore, and if you think there is, log off, shutdown and store the computer in the attic.

Is It Possible To Use Social Media In An Ethical And Respectful Way To Interact With Other People, Add Value And Not Be A Douche?

Yes.

We Don't Need No Social Media Education, We Don't Need No Thought Control

I had a brief little Twitter interaction with Ryan Deschamps the other day about teaching people how to use social media. He was running a course for a small fee and I was curious exactly what was being taught. Social media is such a vast spectrum, how can you choose what to hone in on?

IMHO, we all have to start somewhere. I remember the day when the lightbulb went off for me. It was back in May 2008 and I'd just heard Marcel LeBrun (then CEO of Radian6) talk at a Third Tuesday Toronto event about monitoring brands in social media.

I rushed home and put Marcel to the test. He came through. That was extremely exciting to me (yeah, I know how geeky that sounds) that whenever you mention someone or a brand on the Internet, it was possible to track it, read it and reply to it -- almost in real time. I was hooked.

From then on I dived headfirst into social media. I joined (and subsequently left) any new social media tool or platform that came along. Plurk, anyone? I tested them, played with them, loved them, hated them ... and so on.

In short, I educated myself. I like to think that today I have a good handle on what to expect, how to use social media for various gains, and how to spot cowboys.

As a disagreement with Ryan, I don't believe you can "teach" social media as much as "introduce" social media. Let the student play around with it and see what happens.

One of the great things is to show someone Twitter or get them blogging, and see where they take it. The jaded, old social media hands among us can learn from that too and see the platforms through a fresh set of eyes again.

Remember how good that felt?

Each Day I Long So Much To See

Each day I long so much to see

By John Carson

Each day I long so much to see

Doctors say beer is good for me

Endless plates of spicy curry

England enjoy a World Cup victory

I’m a Brit, see?

Each day I long so much to see

Society start to respect the tree

Countries begin to clean the sea

Animals protected like they should be

I’m a hippie, see?

Each day I long so much to see

Children learn their A-B-C

An end to global poverty

Wars to become history

I’m an optimist, see?

Each day I long so much to see

That change can be very easy

People to say, “It’s not just about me”

We’re all human

Aren’t we?

Tales From A Toronto Job Seeker - Part 3

Excited to announce my new role starting in January as Manager, Digital Communications for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Tales From A Toronto Job Seeker - Part 2

It's been a couple of months since I last blogged about my job hunt, so here we go.

In the last week alone, I have twice been told it's down to me and another candidate ... and the other person got it. So of course I vented my frustration on Facebook, until a trusted friend with more wisdom than me (thanks Patrick!) mentioned that many people aren't even getting to the job interview stage.

He's right. Point taken. In this competitive environment it's much appreciated to get face time with a hiring manager for an hour and put your best foot forward in convincing them you're the best fit for that particular role.

"So, John," you're asking (probably not but it reads better), "It's been four months and nothing yet. What gives?"

Well, quite simply, I have been very careful in choosing what jobs I apply for. I have been taking the sniper rather than the shotgun scatter approach and being selective. Roles that interest me, are a good fit with my skills and experience and have room for growth and development are the ones I have been applying for.

Those roles are like buses. Nothing for a few weeks and then four come along at once. (That's not to say I haven't been "cold calling" and networking on LinkedIn too.)

Most job ads list the role, the experience required and the responsibilities. I'm going to flip that now.

Here's what I can offer and the kind of organization that I'd like to work for.

Work/Life Experience
Newspaper delivery round at 9. Worked in a grocery store after school from 13-15. Cleaned the coffee machine and delivered packages across London for a stockbroking company in 1986 dressed like Rick Astley (cool at the time). Took night school after work for my dealing exam. Failed it the first time. Retook it and passed. On the dealing desk at 19. Not for me so quit and went travelling for a few years, including two years in Israel on a kibbutz (www.kibbutzvolunteer.com) working for food and lodging. (Book published about it in 1999.) First journalism job in 1995 (small business magazine). First editing job in 1998 (security magazine). [Hello Canada in 2000!] Created and developed six websites. Second editing job in 2005 (technology newspaper, nominated for science and technology reporting award). Managing Editor of major single-word domain website in 2005 (Beer.com, loads of fun, especially creating a podcast on a shoestring budget that made the Top 10 of North American Comedy downloads on iTunes). Joined a private school as Acting Communications Manager in 2007 (won two awards). Third editing job for alumni magazine. PR agency work in 2008. Joined my second private school in 2009. Also co-founded my own green, non profit called Greenscroll (www.greenscroll.org). Loads of freelancing, social/digital media work/consulting in the gaps from around 2006 onwards (www.johnjamescarson.com). Full story here, plus testimonials, plus mugshot www.linkedin.com/in/johncarson

Requirements
Working for an organization that gets all of the above.

Where Does The Food Network Get Its Diners From?

As a massive foodie, I like to follow chefs and restaurants, attend events such as Soupalicious (parsnip and white chocolate puree with pistachio and sour cherry anyone?) and religiously watch the Food Network and Food Network Canada.

Food, the scene around it and the people who can make it well are really interesting to me.

I was watching Chef Wanted With Anne Burrell last week (the Old Homestead episode) and noticed a very familiar face as one of the diners = none other than Restaurant Impossible's regular contractor, Tom Bury. He wasn't happy with the quality of the steak that one of the contestant chefs had cooked during their job interview to work at the restaurant.

Tom Bury is not happy with his steak!

Of course, it may have just been as simple as one Food Network participant appearing on another Food Network show, but I would have thought there may have been a caption to identify him as such? A lot of those people probably know each other and hang out in the same circles, but it just struck me as odd.

I asked Food Network, Food Network Canada and Tom himself, but no reply to date.

Now I wonder where the diners come from in these shows, and if they are out-of-work actors, real customers who get a free meal for being on the show or simply friends of the Food Network.

I also spotted The Next Food Network Star's Adam Gertler as the dinner party guest of a Chopped contestant (the "leftovers" episode).

Yeah, I know. Too obsessed with food and the shows.

Tales From A Toronto Job Seeker - Part 1

So, I haven't blogged for a while and thought it was time to put fingers to keyboard and get back into it. More for the creative outlet than anything.

I started this blog on November 21, 2006 to document my job search after leaving Beer.com. It was an interesting way for me to keep track of the process, and to also fill in those gaps in the day when not scouring job boards, networking, Linking In and partaking in other top secret stuff that I can't mention here in case the other Toronto Job Seekers read it and leapfrog me into a plum role!

Searching for a job is something that most people will have to do at some time in their life. It can be pretty worrying not to feel that you're actively earning a living, but balancing that is the thought that when on your deathbed, you're not going to say, "I wish I'd spent more time in my office cubicle. Too late now!"

As a firm believer in the work/life balance, it is very important that you work hard for yourself or your employer, but find time to forget that and relax a bit ... otherwise you're never "off" and will burn out very quickly.

The same goes for the daily job search. Spend a few hours a day engaging in that process, but realize it's not a bottomless well of jobs. There are only so many APPLICABLE and RELEVANT jobs you are suited for and have a good chance of getting, so don't spread your net too wide. (The Caps Lock was intentional by the way to show that people are only suited to certain jobs, so don't panic ... and wait to apply for those you really have a passion for and think you'd be good at. Your fake enthusiasm for jobs you don't want will soon show, and then you'll be parting ways with that company pretty soon after. A waste of your time and theirs, and also hurting the person who was qualified for that particular job in the first place.)

My personal aim is to apply for an average of two jobs a day. Sometimes it's none -- sometimes it's four. Depends on the timing of when they are advertised or you hear about them behind the scenes via contacts, friends and family.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of being on LinkedIn. At the very, VERY least, research the company you're applying at -- even if the application form is one of those crappy "import from resume, no formatting, computer reads it first before a human sees it" online hiring tools. That way you can at least show some respect and address your cover letter to the hiring manager personally. The little touches go a long way and might elevate you over the competition.

Talking of respect, it goes both ways. Usually you get an auto-generated response to acknowledge your job application, so at least you know it got there. Sometimes you hear diddly squat. I would like to give a shout out to Shawn Mitchell, Director of Content and Communications at CharityVillage who took the time to send two personal e-mails explaining the delays in the hiring process on their end. That kind of response is very rare, so hats off to him for representing what looks like a great place to work!

This will be an ongoing series, so more to come in Part 2. As always, open to job leads. You can find me on my LinkedIn profile. Thanks!

Back On The Market Again

Unfortunately, after three years at Greenwood College School my job was terminated yesterday, so I am back on the market and looking for my next opportunity.

I'd like to stay in the education sector if possible, but definitely want to stay in the realm of communications.

Any job leads gratefully accepted!

Here is my LinkedIn profile.

A Milestone For Greenscroll

So, very proud to say Greenscroll greened over a million pages last week. Cheers to all our supporters!

Chief Vice-President Of Rainbows And Puppies

Back in the heady days of March 2009 I wrote a post on this blog about social media job titles. At the time I was freelancing so was Chief Bottle Washer, but had ambitions to move up to Chief Letter Opener.

What brought this to mind was a job posting I saw today for "Director of Customer Success." What the hell does that mean?

In this non-fad (read: ingrained) social media era, is there a competition to think up the most vague job title going? How does a Director of Social Media, Director of Community Management or -- heavens above! -- Director of Marketing and Communications relate or compare their level of employment with a Director of Customer Success?

When they go to job interviews, how do they get a gauge on salary expectations when there is nothing to relate to? Does a Director of Customer Success earn more than a Director of Community Engagement, for example?

The point I'm trying to make is with all these weird, made-up social media job titles starting to propagate, anyone can call themselves something ... but it doesn't mean anything! There's no yardstick to rate the position or job role against.

Agree? Disagree? I'm open to opinions.

Regards,

John Carson

Chief Vice-President of Rainbows and Puppies

Gamification News

www.gamificationnews.com is for sale too if anyone wants it.

Gamification Guru

What with the success of people becoming mayors of coffee shops and such like, I have been reading that gamification is set to be the Next Big Thing in 2012, so I splashed out another hard-earned $9.99 on the domain name www.gamificationguru.com.

Since I know nothing whatsoever about gamification, I immediately put the domain up for sale ... so if anyone wants it, then please stop "playing around" (ha!) and contact me at johncarson AT gmail DOT COM.

And a happy 2012 to you all!

Is Brampton Media Group Behind RobFord.Ca?

I was amused at the recent reports that someone had snapped up RobFord.ca once it expired. I like to dabble in domains too, so wish I'd thought of it!

Being a little bored tonight, I did some digging and this is what I found.

I couldn't find Fresh Grape Solutions, so went to www.bramptonmail.com and found this:

I then checked out www.bramptonmedia.com and found this:

So, I searched to see what other domains they had registered and found this:

Halifaxmayor.com -- two Canadian mayor-related domains linked to the same company.

What do you think? Let's solve this mystery!

OurDeals.ca

I wanted to get a slice of the booming Canadian daily deals action, so registered the domain OurDeals.ca at the beginning of October. Still working with my development team on the form it will take, but pretty excited about the project.

Someone already expressed an interest last week in buying it before we even launched, but never followed through on my consideration to sell it. Maybe they want to wait and see the final site?

The traffic has already started and I'm not sure why as we haven't promoted it yet. If anyone has linked to or mentioned it, would appreciate a heads-up for a thank you!

Update November 3, 2011

Here's a cool, timely article from Techvibes detailing the Canadian daily deals sector.

Update December 1, 2011

We have decided to sell the domain. Offers welcome!

Klout Really Pisses Me Off

I read Danny Brown's post on Klout, and was very surprised to learn that people who have never even signed up with them still get a profile and Klout "score."

Here is mine: I am a 46. Not sure what that relates to, but it bothers me greatly that I even have a "score." If, as I have heard, companies are now starting to look at Klout "scores" when considering job applicants, then this means someone with a Klout "score" of 47 may get the job ahead of me.

I view this pretty seriously. Klout could therefore be "influencing" prospective employers not to hire me, because my Klout "score" is not up to par, and therefore I am not an "influencer" or well connected.

Over a week ago I e-mailed Klout's "support" and asked to be taken off. Nothing yet. So I asked politely on Twitter. Still nothing.

Maybe, because I am not an official account holder, I am deemed not worthy to get a reply. So, in that case, why do they still bother giving me a profile I never even asked for? It's pretty hypocritical of them.

Klout also call themselves "The Standard for Influence." I'm curious as to whose "standard." Certainly not mine!

But, the fact I have a "profile" up there, makes it look like I am endorsing the "service." (Yes, I know there's a lot of these "" in this post, but I am making the distinction with what I consider a real profile and a fake "profile.")

Anyway, there you go. Klout really pisses me off.

Very Unfortunate Random Ad Placements

I was on a video website today and noticed these two very random ad placements under a list of advertisers. Poor lady!

Does @raymitheminx Owe Me $100?

Hi Raymi,

Took me a few days, but here we go ...

On Monday, I took offence to your use of the word "retard" -- having a family member with developmental disabilities -- so expressed surprise that "Canada's most famous blogger" still uses words like that.

Your reply, after the "get over it" comment:

That sounded like a generous offer. So, I reached out and found this guy.

As you can see, (1) He's Canadian, (2) He's been blogging since August 1999, and (3) Your use of the word "famous" is very subjective. I had never heard of you until your "retard" tweet, but one person pointed the other guy out to me, so therefore -- to me, technically -- he was more "famous" than you.

If you feel so inclined, please donate the $100 you mentioned to Good Foot Delivery. They are a Toronto-based non-profit courier service that employ people with developmental disabilities.

If not, no hard feelings ... I gave it my best shot.

Thank you,

John.

Don't You Talk About The #@!&# ROI Of My Mother That Way!

So, the new social media phrase du jour is, "The #@!&# ROI of your mother!" thanks to wine expert and marketer, Gary Vaynerchuck. Apparently, this was a retort to some guy in the audience repeatedly asking about the ROI of social media, or something. I don't know the full details.

My sense of humour is fantastic. Yes, it is. But I thought this reply was a bit over the top. I understand Gary's style is abrasive, he calls it as it is, and he's very successful. I admire all that. But to me, addressing a member of the audience in a way that's worded to imply a slur on his mother, seems a bit sound-bitey.

Anyway, I'd like to have a coffee, beer -- or wine -- with Gary one day and get to know the persona.

Salesforce.com Buys Radian6

The social media fishbowl is buzzing today with the news that Salesforce.com bought Radian6 for a large chunk of change. It's a shame that a Canadian suitor didn't step in, but it's nice to see a company north of the border do very well in this space. Hats off to the team, well done.

Reminds me of the time way back in 2008 when I put CEO Marcel LeBrun to the test. A pretty speedy reply considering he was speaking at a Third Tuesday Toronto event that night. Kudos!