IdeaEconomy.Net

Companies are flocking to social media and crowdsourcing platforms in the hopes of finding cheaper or more effective ways to market their wares. This is understandable for we all need to make a living, however, I think the real promise of social media is bigger than just a financial transaction. People give their time and money for reasons above and beyond financial gain.

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It has been almost 600 years since Gutenberg invented the printing press, so next generation books are long over due. I have written several times about the inevitable revolution in book publishing. The introduction of Apple’s iPad is a major advancement in the transformation of the idea of a book as printed words to a full multi-media experience. There is now an iPad application for three interactive children’s stories.

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How do you market your business in this age of social media? There is no denying the impact of online marketing and social media but I think many companies are doing it wrong. The best social media strategy in the world is not going to help a poor quality business. On the other hand, companies that deliver amazing service probably don’t need to invest much in social media because their ardent fans will market their business for free. I think the Canadian printing company JukeBox Print Shop is one of those fantastic companies doing everything right.

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Here is short animation poking fun at our excessive preoccupation with productivity. Some of us spend so much time reading books and blog posts to try to be more productive; isn’t that defeating the purpose?
While it is important to be efficient I also think that real creative breakthroughs can’t be time optimized. So much of our lives are spent in front of screens that we can sometimes lose focus on what is important.

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Here is a fascinating video by the BBC called Century of the Self. It is about public relations master and nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays. Bernays was instrumental in creating our consumerism culture, invented PR, advised governments and was a key influence on the propaganda of Nazi Germany.

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What does it take to find a job in this economy? Does sending out generic emails out to hundreds of companies work? How about using the popular employment sites and applying for all jobs vaguely interesting? You can’t differentiate yourself by doing what everyone else is doing. This is what it takes to succeed.

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Money motivates people only if you don’t pay them enough to want to do the work in the first place. After that, there are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction: Autonomy, Mastery and Contribution. The embedded animated video is a great watch.

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How would you like to create your own TV commercials and have them played on National TV? With Google TV Ads it is possible to find low cost times to place ads that can deliver traffic to your site.

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Forget PowerPoint, presentations are getting a lot more fun. Prezi.com is taking those boring linear presentations to a new level. Watch this short video and take a look for yourself.

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Book publishing is an archaic industry long over due for a revolution. In this Internet age, when information is instantly available from anywhere on the planet, it doesn’t make sense to go through a long publishing cycle only to have a product that is already dated. Books should be a work -in-progress of constantly enhanced and updated material. Books need to be a community, not a static product. While there are many experiments with the new mode of publishing, Leo Babauta of ZenHabits, latest book Focus is most likely going to be one of the early large scale successes.

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