The next time you're in line somewhere, look around you--how many are fiddling with BlackBerrys, texting over cell phones, and so on? Mobile devices are everywhere, and they represent the best way to contact the ultra-connected. Wayne Kurtzman explores this changing landscape of customer contact. (continue reading)

In the weeks since Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, there has been considerable discussion in the blogosphere over how the campaign would take advantage of its massive email list now that the race is over and governing has begun. The first clues emerged early this morning when campaign manager David Plouffe asking each supporter to "Share your campaign experience and your thoughts on the best way to keep supporting our agenda for change." (continue reading)

Okay, so you've set up the social networks, now how do you attract and retain users? If the "build it and they will come" method isn't working for you, Nathan Burke has some great tips on how to build a user base through promotions. (continue reading)

Research firm Gartner has identified "Generation Virtual," a marketing segmentation with no age, gender, social demographic or specific geography. How will marketers respond to this segmentation--or will they simply ignore it in favor of the standard, readily identifiable groups? (continue reading)

Our world today is changing the way we work: Gas prices are driving an increasing number of professionals to telecommute and the economy is driving more and more employers to cut back on internal staff. The result is significant growth in the number of professionals working from home. And while it has its obvious benefits, telecommuting has its unique challenges. Sara Adams has advice for telecommuters interested in growing their careers. (continue reading)

One of the many challenges social media companies face is reaching out beyond the computer screen and converting a digital connection to a personal one. The Plaid Nation tour, now in its second year, is an innovative method one company is using to solve the problem. Leslie Poston speaks with Plaid's Darryl Ohrt about the tour. (continue reading)

In the age of DVR, Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, and other sites that make it possible to watch our favorite programs without commercial interruption, I'm surprised many ads resonate at all, but some have been making a splash of late--online. Outside of the Super Bowl (and sometimes even not then) commercials are generally nothing to write home about. They do, however, make a decent jumping off point for creative online content producers. (continue reading)

The illustrious Christopher Penn joins us on the Media Bullseye Roundtable this week to discuss small businesses using social networks to band together online, the decline of print journalism (is there anything left to save?) and the tricky economics of Twitter, which received plenty of mainstream media attention this week at the same time it suffered another major malfunction. (continue reading)

Many thanks for Scott Monty for this post--let's all say it together: you can't just invent a viral video. You can try your hardest to create something that's valuable, interesting, and that you hope will catch fire on YouTube, but nothing is guaranteed. Also: PR vs marketing, the power of female bloggers, and the importance of monitoring strategy. (continue reading)

We were delighted to welcome Debbie Weil, author of the Corporate Blogging Book, to the Roundtable this week. She joins us to discuss corporate blogging issues, creative marketing, and the latest addition to the BlogHer community. (continue reading)

We've all seen movie trailers, and most of us have seen promotional TV spots for books, particularly from high-profile authors (John Grisham comes to mind, as does James Patterson). But a new marketing technique in the literary world takes the ideas and combines them, in hopes of reaching audiences traditional spots might not. (continue reading)

It's so easy to forget just how much information we are putting online about ourselves. Jeremiah Owyang rightly points out that Facebook knows more about its users than the government does. Also: Social media real estate, and reasons to reach out to your customers. (continue reading)

ICANN, the international body that regulates domain naming, announced their unanimous vote to open up restrictions on top level domains (TLDs). Starting in 2009, it will be possible to apply to have just about anything as a TLD. So what does that mean for marketers? Adele McAlear explains. (continue reading)

After a brief hiatus, Two Thoughts on Tuesday is back--this week, Jen looks at the social media news release and then asks what the sweet spot is for marketing. (continue reading)

Welcome to another edition of CustomScoop's PR Pod Jots, our weekly rundown of the best of the PR and marketing podosphere. This week features less discussion of the now-infamous Andrew Cohen remarks from last weekend than I'd have thought there'd be, but there are still plenty of juicy tidbits. (continue reading)

After a few days Jots-free, today's edition is a slightly plumped up version of the Jots, with thoughts on everything from Andrew Cohen to the infamous "Sex and the City" movie, with some advice on blogging and reputation management in between. (continue reading)

Welcome to CustomScoop's PR Pod Jots, our weekly roundup of the best of the PR and marketing podosphere. After a vacation last Friday, we are back and ready to go with a fresh batch of all your latest podcasts. First up this week is CC Chapman's Managing the Gray, as CC becomes the latest blogger to fall under the spell of Comcast's latest customer service development--responding to complaints via Twitter. (continue reading)

Most of us think we know what our customers want. Why would we have stayed in business this long if we didn't have a clue, right? And it's especially tempting to make this assumption when we're in charge of the client relationship in an agency setting. It's our job to know the customer better than anyone else. But I would argue that if you're only looking inward to determine customer needs, you're leaving revenue on the table. (continue reading)

Many will argue that there is no such thing as a social media expert, because of the new and ever-changing nature of this medium (not to mention that in PR, you should have many more skills in your arsenal than just a good knowledge of social media). Ed Lee points out that the strategies you employ are ultimately far more important to your overall success than just expert knowledge of the shiny new toys. Also: crisis comms in the new media era of direct communicaiton, and the changing role of marketers. (continue reading)

While PR traditionally works as a behind-the-scenes entity, Joe Thornley argues that the future of PR is in the spokesperson as the public face of the company, and as a public figure. Social media has forced that into being. Also: Finding an audience in the Tivo era, media databases and PR spam, that blasted Kindle and Zappos on Twitter. (continue reading)

Welcome to another edition of CustomScoop's PR Pod Jots, our weekly rundown of all the best of the PR and marketing podosphere. It seems many of our favorites have returned from spring break refreshed and ready to discuss PR, social media, and all the latest online tools and trends. (continue reading)

In today's Blog Jots, Mitch Joel has thoughts on the idea of citizen journalism, noting that citizen journalists have achieved a level of credibility whether people like it or not. Also in this round, more answers to John Cass' Cluetrain questions, and more proof that customer service is important to PR and marketing. (continue reading)

While Second Life itself may have hit the "trough of disillusionment" on its hype cycle, it's on the way to the enlightenment phase; and virtual worlds beyond Second Life are still something to which you ought to be paying attention, because they're on the cusp of a major expansion. (continue reading)

Online shoe retailer Zappos and CEO Tony Hsieh have developed a dedicated following online, particularly on popular microblogging platform Twitter. Soren Jacobsen delves into the company's culture, ideas on transparency, and customer service to discover how they became an online force to be reckoned with. (continue reading)

Vanity Fair shoots a revealing photo of teen star Miley Cyrus, and the media loses its mind. Am I the only one who thinks this entire scandal and the ensuing media circus was completely coordinated by a PR machine? Whether it was the publication, photographer, Disney or Miley herself, everything about this story seems calculated. Was this reaction truly not anticipated? (continue reading)