CNN usually is not a good source for learning new tech trends. But when CNN finally catches up to something, it may be an indicator that a saturation point has been reached. Take this latest Facebook story, for example:  All in the Facebook family: older generations join social networks.
 It states:
• Women older than 55 make [...]

We told you about how one restaurant used customer feedback on Yelp to better their product and service. Well, now Yelp is making it official. They’re allowing restaurants to respond directly to customer comments.
Previously, Yelp had limited small businesses’ voice on the site to paid advertisements. But in the past year, Yelp has been taking steps to foster their relationships with these local businesses starting with allowing them to update their own business profile and contact reviewers privately.
This is great news for smaller local restaurants like Zumba just outside of Detroit, whom I first wrote about emailing customers to encourage them to write Yelp reviews. They then followed up by letting customers know that they indeed acted upon those requests.
Yelp doesn’t screen comments, but users can flag inappropriate ones. Until now, this has been cumbersome for businesses who simply want to publicly rectify their name. Other reviewer sites like TripAdvisor have been allowing businesses to post responses for some time, though Yelp still remains a favorite among locals. Yelp has been accused of bias towards some restaurants in certain communities. So is this Yelp’s way of rectifying itself?

This week one brand harnessed the power of Facebook connect. In order to grab the attention of risk-takers, the movie Crank High Voltage (the sequel to the first action-thriller-comedy) encouraged users to allow the movie to take over their Facebook page.  That’s like allowing someone you don’t know too well to borrow your car. They [...]

In the growing field of Neuro Marketing, we’re beginning to understand the neuro science behind what appeals to a consumer from the primordial recesses of the brain. Susan Weinschenk, researcher and author of the book Neuro Web Design, What Makes Them Click?, is applying this principle to web design. She presented some of her findings at the Internet User Experience 2009 conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. What an eye opener!

Edward Vielmetti,
one of the more interesting presenters at this year’s Internet User Experience conference, brought
up a profound question that every business… and every consumer should ask
themselves…
Am I seen as an
expense or an opportunity? Or in the
case of a business, do you see your customers as an expense or do you see
potential to sell product?
We are [...]

Source: Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Jason “Pesky” Yeske lives in Detroit. He went to Michigan State. But he picked the Tar Heels to whoop up on his alma matter in the Championship…and that decision made all the difference as he soared to victory. Well done.

Honestly, the Detroit office as a whole did very well…likely [...]

image credit:  informationarchitects.jp/wtm
For the past three years, Information Architects Japan has been producing stunning visual maps of web trends based on Tokyo’s iconic subway system. Their 2009 final beta map is now online.
It’s their best map yet for recording the most popular, successful, influential web sites, the sites’ ownership, inspirational leadership along with visualizing the [...]

(Source: Detroit Free Press)

Simple as this…

If the finest University in the State of Michigan wins this evening:

–An angel gets his/her wings
–America Wins
–oh…and JAMES MCASTRONAUT WINS the Organic Pool*! (we’re working on decoding this obvious cover name…I mean, “James”? Right.)

If the North Carolina Tar Heels win:

–JASON YESKE (himself a Spartan and resident of Metro Detroit) WINS [...]

image credit: nerovivo
There’s been a lot of flack from breastfeeding advocates around the free formula samples that doctors and hospitals give out.
But from a marketer’s perspective and one customer, they’re doing something right. Is it what was inside the bag? Definitely, according to one new dad at Organic. Is it the fact that it was [...]

It’s hard to believe that the frigid cold temperatures we have experienced these last months in Michigan can actually inspire someone.  But it inspired me and many in the Detroit office by hosting our first Beer Bash “with a purpose.”  A “Party with a Purpose” so to speak.  We decided to clean out our overstuffed [...]