Right now, I wish I would have taken a screen shot of my message, so you could see it was not rude.

So I went back to her site today to see if it was posted, and I can’t find it. Seems it was removed for a “Terms of Service” violation.

What about… um, violations of the Do Not Call list? And the right to free speech?

My parent’s received five calls in one day. Think maybe she is desperate? Good news is no more calls.

Vote Ron Paul for President.

CYBER MONDAY

As we all know, yesterday was Cyber Monday. What we may not have know is that it’s really NOT the biggest online shopping day of the year. It’s actually the three Monday’s following Cyber Monday: this year, December 3rd, 10th and 17th.

COOL TRAVEL VIDEOS

If you’re looking for travel videos — check out Travercial.com. This new site has thousands of videos featuring almost any destination you’re contemplating visiting. Or if you just need a short break, it makes for some interesting surfing.

TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES - OCTOBER 2007

With Facebook hogging up so much of the Social Networking news, maybe you missed the Social Networking Top 10 List? If so, here’s a recap by Neilsen Online of the top sites for October 2007. Also interesting to note is that while MySpace is still the heavy-hitter — LinkedIn is the fastest growing, by a huge margin. Also worth mentioning — FaceBook is ticking off its users for compiling and sharing personal information (to the point there is a petition circulating), while MySpace is taking steps to keep its users happy. For example, the site sent out cease and desist notices top companies of the automated friend adders, including Friend Adder, to help the users combat SPAM. I know some folks love FaceBook more than MySpace, but if you ask me, FaceBook could use some PR help and common sense. Sure the idea of making money selling off your users’ information is tempting, but if makes them all angry and you lose their trust, you won’t have any users left and your company won’t be worth diddly-squat. Is it worth the bad rap? Hey Tom, wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to speak up and let FaceBook users know their data is safe with you?

AND A LITTLE FENG SHUI

Of course, I took a few minutes and listened to Jo Davidson’s podcast last week. You’ll have to listen for yourself, but it was on Feng Shui and it was with an expert that’s worked with the Donald (Donald Trump). I already knew a little bit about the topic, but though I might learn something from a master. If you’re not familiar with the topic, Feng Shui is more than just moving some furniture around the room or placing mirrors on a specific wall. It is CUSTOM for each person, depending on your birth date, goals and environment. I had my chart done a couple years ago, and though it might be fun to check and see how my consultant did. Turn out, she was pretty accurate.

How to Tap Your Auspicious Directions

• Try to sleep, eat, work, or be in this sector of your home
• Do as many activities as possible in this sector
• Face this direction when working, eating, or sitting in your living room
• Sleep with the top of your head pointed in this direction
• Enter your home or office from a door that faces this direction

Your Wealth & Success Direction: South

• Enhance this direction with lights, candles, or lamps. Add objects in groups of nine, such as nine candles or nine outdoor lights. Red colors are also extremely beneficial. This direction helps boost your prominence and stature, so do be sure to face this direction as much as possible — particularly at work.
• Decorate in colors of red, orange, pink, green, brown or purple. Fame comes to you if your front door faces this direction.
• Do everything you can to use this direction to promote your wealth and success! Images like this one below are perfect for placing on the wealth and success wall of your home or office.

Your Health Direction: North

• A front door facing this direction will increase your prosperity and bring you wealth! Facing north will also help improve your health. Try facing north while dining to doubly improve your health. Boost the north with black, blue, or purple colors, double fish symbols and/or an aquarium to give your health an extra shot in the arm!

Your Love Direction: Southeast

• Enhance this direction with the colors of light green, blues, blacks, or purples. Add symbols such as green or wooden dragons, snakes, fish, or toads. Small plants are excellent in this direction as are flowers — particularly those that bloom in water, such as lilies or lotus. Water is also excellent in this location for you, so consider having a fountain or aquarium here.

Your Growth Direction: East

• In personal feng shui, the east is your growth and wisdom direction. Work in this location to improve your standing, study in this direction, and locate beneficial activities here, such as dining to improve all areas of life. Are you trying to start over from any kind of setback? If so, this is direction to face or be in. Add a beautiful plants here — such as bamboo — to get your growing again! Lights are also excellent enhancers for plants, so consider draping white lights on your plants for an extra dose of good feng shui.

Your Unlucky Directions:

• Try to avoid the southwest sector and/or direction. To do so can cause arguments and legal problems or some kind of accident. You will receive blame for problems if you occupy this sector too much.
• The northwest and northeast can cause accidents, misfortune, and difficulties, such as lawsuits, burglary or fire. If your front door faces this direction, your family may leave you. If you have a business with a front door facing this direction, employees may leave. This is a good location for a kitchen or toilet.
• Strenuously avoid the west because it can cause it is the VERY worst direction for you. A front door facing this direction can lead to a loss of children or other close family members. Infertility can also arise, causing the family name to die out. Wealth will also be lost. This is a good location for a kitchen or a toilet.

See, I did my homework. In general (we’re speaking broadly, of course) gay and lesbians spend more money on travel than the average straight person. They also have more disposable income to spend due to higher incomes and fewer children. And market research indicated as a group, they tend to be loyal customers.

In case you are wondering how I figured this out: In addition to other research, Tom Roth of Community Marketing / TAG flew in from San Francisco. Over dinner in Miami, we talked about my ideas and the challenges that gay travelers faced - and how we could work together to resolve them.

(Background: Tom launched Community Marketing in 1992, and has served as its President for 15 years. Tom and his team have developed a spectrum of products and services to skillfully lead the company’s clients to their goals. Tom is now primarily dedicating his industry-leading expertise to head up Community Marketing’s “Gay Market Research + Development Lab®” division, which produces the Gay Consumer Index and the Lesbian Consumer Index. Tom engages in strategic consulting to industry-leading clients and conducts educational seminars for corporations and organizations.

In addition to many other things, Tom provides pro-bono consulting and marketing services to non-profits and serves on the board of the Commercial Closet Association; and has served as an officer on the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) board of directors.)

That was back in 2000. Needless to say, the idea didn’t fly - for whatever reason, it didn’t fit into the bigger picture. It was however, quite a humorous situation, as the looks on my boss’s faces indicated that the idea of working with a gay travel organization was the last thing they expected me to suggest. (Of course, I thought I was just doing my job - trying to sell more hotel reservations!)

So imagine my delight when I woke up this morning and found this Emarketer newsletter in my mail box:

Gay & Lesbian Online Travel

In a nutshell, the articles says the same thing I said:

Data indicate that the GLBT market has a greater amount of disposable income and discretionary time on their hands than the straight population, so they can afford and enjoy travel more often.

The Travel Institute estimates the US travel market at $1.3 trillion.

Working on the assumption that the GLBT community makes up 5% to 7% of the population (6.8% as measured by Witeck-Combs), this translates to GLBT travel spending of $65 billion at the low end and $91 billion at the high. The US Travel Industry Association (TIA) actually pegs GLBT travel at 10% of travel industry spending.

eMarketer estimates US online leisure and unmanaged business travel sales in 2006 at $78.8 billion. Of this number, eMarketer estimates that GLBTs make up 8% of online travel sales, or $6.3 billion in 2006.

Throughout the newsletter I found all the charts you scattered throughout my post, including this one - which lists PlanetOut’s gay travel awards for 2007.

Now I’ve been out of the travel industry for a couple years… and it’s true that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender market (LGBT) has been an attractive market to the travel industry for quite some time.

But I couldn’t help as smile as I read the newsletter - glad to see the proof that marketers everywhere were finally open-minded enough and willing to follow the data… regardless of the road it traveled down.

As marketers, we have a responsibility to at least know and understand what opportunities are available, even if pursuing them ends up not being part of our brand’s overall marketing strategy.

And of course, if the data is convincing enough - as I felt in this case it was - perhaps it means that the brand strategy or company goals need re-evaluated, so that it can better serve some of it’s top potential markets.

Unfortunately, the truth is that sometimes the market isn’t always ready for the data - even when marketers are aware of the potential. For example, in this case, perhaps there was a risk of alienating current customers, advertisers or other partners. At a minimum, however, a company should at least understand what market opportunities it is passing up.

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents on this lovely cold Ohio morning

And supposedly, it’s the fastest way news is spreading these days. Earthquake? Crazy person in a gorilla suit running down the street? Traffic jam on the highway? Sale on cool shoes? Or just painting your nails and getting ready to hit the sack? If anything (or nothing) is happening, chances are someone is twittering about it.

Here’s the REAL significance: Twitter’s breaking news stories, left and right.

(If you’re a journalist — pay attention!)

Another cool feature is that Twitter lets you “follow” people. For example, you can follow Barack Obama to see what he’s up to at any given time of the day. And you can text him back your thoughts. Now there’s a good way for a politician to connect with constituents — especially the younger generation. Hmmmm. Wonder if he will send out a Twitter reminding his followers it’s time to go vote?

Significance #2: What a great tool to communicate with customers, clients, employees — anyone you need or want to communicate with on a regular basis.

(PR Professionals, Publicists and Agents — pay attention!)

Always one to test something out, I’ve joined Twitter. I uploaded my pic and hooked up my cell. Even downloaded the Firefox extension, TwitBin.

And yes, there are tons of people Twittering. Some in languages I can’t read. But nobody that I know. And that’s the only problem I see — you need friends to Twitter with… So, I’ve sent out all my Twitter invitations. We’ll see who responds.

Want to Twitter with me?

p.s. Anyone finds Julian McMahon on here, let me know so I can stalk - I mean follow - him!

Outside magazine calls The Global Scavenger Hunt, “…one of the most amazing trips in the world.” A former participant said, “It is like Survivor, The Amazing Race and the Eco-Challenge all rolled into one except with MUCH more cultural interaction!”

A recent travel poll conducted by National Geographic Traveler/Yahoo!, found that for every 2 of 3 travelers, the circumnavigation of the globe is the greatest journey left and called it the “ultimate travel experience.” GreatEscape2008 offers real travelers that chance.

“GreatEscape is all about allowing real travelers to compete in a real travel adventure competition, for all the right reasons–the love of travel, trusting strangers in strange lands and giving something back to the planet,” says Event Director, William Chalmers, “Some have called our annual event the ‘Olympics of Travel’, some refer to it as A Blind Date with the World because our travelers won’t have any foreknowledge as to which countries they’re going to until they’re onboard a 747 bound for parts unknown, and some have even called it a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. ”

For three magical weeks, 25 Teams of two will travel the globe visiting at least 10 countries scattered across 4 continents hot on the path of the Holy Grail. Teams earn points by completing a series of cultural-oriented scavenges (finding Buddha’s tooth in Sri Lanka; explaining Thai cooking flavors; visiting King Tut) and challenges (take a photo of a wild orangutan in Indonesia; enter a camel race in India; learn to belly dance in Turkey) in exotic destinations. A cultural immersion at its best, the event is designed to be a rally rather than a flat out race. The object is to test each Team’s ability to combat not only the inevitable jetlag, but language difficulties, cultural differences, their appetite for strange foods, logistical snafus and Team dynamics in the milieu of a well organized competition.

GreatEscape2008 is for those who crave authentic adventure, genuine exotic travel, real competition and world-class fun.

Teams and single travelers alike, looking to participate are asked to visit The Global Scavenger Hunt website and enter online or call 310.281.7809. Travelers will be interviewed for suitability and asked to help in the events fundraising goal of raising a million dollars for charities like: KIVA, CARE, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and Partners in Health, among others. The $9,900 entry fee includes all international airfare and hotels over the 23-day event. Winners of the event will defend their The World’s Greatest Travelers title in the next event for free.

Of course, the site also provides you with a “fix” to prevent this from happening to you!

More information about the new Google AdWords algorithm changes:

• Google Watch
• Threadwatch
• Traffick [Andrew Goodman]

Guiding readers through the six roles of domination—the goddess, the queen, the governess, the amazon, the nurse and the schoolgirl—the author Lisa Robyn describes the attributes of each role and how to play them in order to gain positive results from bosses, co-workers and direct reports. For instance, assuming the amazon role can smooth the way when merging staffs after a reorganization; the schoolgirl role creates opportunities to borrow power and learn from mentors; and if a queen rules with a velvet glove, not an iron fist, she can build support by fortifying those below her. More than a standout title, Robyn offers advice for getting serious results in a most readable fashion. Leather, whips and chains are optional! book reviews, corporate dominatrix, lisa robyn]]> http://www.gokissmedia.com/bookreviews/remember-ginger-had-to-do-everything-fred-did-but-backward-and-in-heels/feed http://www.gokissmedia.com/inspirational/is-youtube-paying-you http://www.gokissmedia.com/inspirational/is-youtube-paying-you#comments Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:14:47 +0000 kisscom social networkingvideoweb 2.0youtube http://www.gokissmedia.com/?p=10 Social networking and video site YouTube (recently purchased by Google) has created a user-backlash by cutting content deals with everyone EXCEPT its core users: the everyday visitors that upload their own content onto the Web. Some of the site’s most popular video posters are getting angry enough to express it in their video posts…

Get the full scoop at the NY Post: Video Venom.