So, essentially, they give you a copy of Tweetdeck pre-loaded with a list assembling some musical artists. THAT makes it neat.

You see how you could do this for your customers, right? For your boss? For the person who needs to “get” social apps like Twitter?

What would your list look like? What OTHER kinds of lists could you make that would pre-populate the recipient’s mind with a new understanding of what it all means?

What about RSS? Can you think of building a pack of good blogs to follow? You can do that with Alltop, for instance. Here’s my list.

Doing just a bit of extra work would make a huge difference. Don’t you agree?

10 Things You Could Do Better Today

1. Improve your response time to requests.
2. Improve the brevity and simplicity of your email correspondence.
3. Connect with five new people and seven existing colleagues or friends each day.
4. Inspect your business process cycle from start to finish for improvements.
5. Rethink your approach to helping others succeed.
6. Increase the amount of times you connect others together to build new relationships.
7. Resolve three pieces of unfinished business, no matter how painful.
8. Live closer to your goals and your main points of focus, and less by reaction.
9. Take time to thank the people who make your life possible.
10. Rest and unplug.

Like I said, the list is every bit as much for me as for you.

57 Internet Possibilities to Investigate

Streams of Information

1. Think about FriendFeed as your own personal newsroom or communications center.
2. Revisit Reddit as a news source, and also as a roll-your-own tool for information clustering.
3. Use Alltop as an idea-starter, or as competitive analysis of content spaces.
4. Cook up six powerful searches on Twitter Search and add those RSS outputs to your feed reader.
5. Visit Slideshare weekly and search for new presentations to learn from.
6. Use YouTube as a source for lectures and learning. Use Magnify as a curation tool.
7. Rediscover what’s interesting in Delicious/Popular. Go back and find tags that matter more to you.
8. Reconsider your current blog reading list. Do some quick math. If it is more than 60% related to your industry, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Find the outliers.
9. Pick at least one news source from outside your country to monitor information from a different perspective. One of my sources is The Guardian.
10. Subscribe to at least one blog with a strong opposing view. Learn from it. Learn where your position is different. Learn how they say what they say successfully. Discover what has impact and what doesn’t.

Web-Based Work

Quickly, what I mean by this is that you might consider looking for web-based equivalents to most of your applications, or web-desktop hybrids. Here’s a list of applications for your consideration, and how they might fit into your work flow. In almost all cases, the apps mentioned work well on both Mac and PC.

11. Notes and Storage – Evernote
12. Project Management – Pelotonics or BaseCamp, maybe Staction. (Any others you recommend?)
13. Sales CRM – Pipeline Deals (evaluating it now). Contact management – Batchblue.
14. Invoicing – Freshbooks
15. Scheduling – Google Calendar
16. Brief Communications – Tweetdeck for Twitter. If you haven’t tried it, do it. (Requires Adobe Air.)
17. Online documents, spreadsheets, etc – Zoho or Google Docs.
18. Online presentation management – SlideRocket (or if that scares you, Zoho Show).
19. Info storage (wiki) – PBWiki.
20. Instant messaging – Skype (video, chat, audio), Trillian for PC, or Adium for Mac.

The Video Thing

21. Hulu is good. So is Fancast. The new stuff on Fancast is cool. The OLD stuff is amazing. (**Update: Embeds are there. D’oh!)
22. If you’re making and uploading videos and not using TubeMogul, why not?
23. Most responsive to their community – Blip.tv.
24. If you’re not rocking the Flip MinoHD to make portable video easy, why not?
25. Devices like Panasonic’s new line of Viera TVs (not out yet) and the Samsung LN52A650 are not just TVs. They do Internet stuff, and Panasonic’s will offer direct Video On Demand service to Amazon Video.
26. If you’re looking for Netflix instead, check out the Roku box, or check out Boxee.
27. Video as marketing tool is hot again. Check out PermissionTV, for example. Look past the entertainment angle a moment. See?
28. Video meets mobile phone? News says Sling has a SlingPlayer Mobile expansion coming for other networks shortly.
29. I believe (prediction alert) that the 2009 US switch to all digital signals will also shepherd in a huge side-effect shift of high speed Internet adoption. Some of this will be for video.
30. Need to prove something about all this to the boss? Your research paper.

Small and Local

31. Think about EveryBlock. Is there a model there for you? Should you consider your local web presence?
32. Have you looked at Google results lately, if you ask about a location? There’s room for reviews and other information. There are easy tools to submit more search results. What does that mean to you?
33. On a different tack, Google can’t own local, because it doesn’t scale well. What can you do in helping local information and resources flourish? Is there business in that for you?
34. Is your organization growing too large? Have you considered the pirate ship strategy?
35. Have you thought about small communications? What about tools like SocialCast?
36. What does location mean on platforms like Facebook? It serves local ads well. What else?
37. Have you built a small, powerful network for your needs?
38. Have you built a group around your interests like the So Cal Action Sports Network did?
39. What could Flickr be doing for you? Is there value in coming up with projects that draw attention to your efforts?
40. Are you adding your local events to Upcoming and Eventful?

Mobile Applications

41. Explore iPhone apps, even if you don’t have an iPhone. There are ideas there.
42. Keep your eye on BrightKite. It’s a key to the annotated world.
43. Mobile audio is a useful communications tool. Have you tried Utterli? (disclosure: I’m an advisor.)
44. Microcontent is really here. Seen Jesus and Vishnu on Christmas Eve? (YouTube video. Might be offensive on religious grounds.) That’s microcontent. Verizon’s V-Cast is the old thinking, but not far off.
45. If you’re not thinking about games, do. See things like Gameloft and think about the value of the mobile casual games market.
46. Have you seen and thought about Modu? It’s hot. The concept is hot. Can you leapfrog anything with that concept?
47. You think computer viruses are nasty? What about phone viruses?
48. If snaptell doesn’t blow your mind, why not?
49. There is more than beer money to be had in developing applications for mobile devices these days. And there is more exposure to be had with that market.
50. When I say mobile, you think “phone.” Stop. Nike+ is a mobile device. So’s your GPS. So, technically, is a Chumby.

Money

51. Banking on the net is here. Have you tried Mint? Also, if you haven’t broken down and done it, get a PayPal account. Tie it to a small checkings account with limited funds if you want.
52. If you’re hoping to help a charity, try a ChipIn widget to help raise funds. It shows progress nicely.
53. Timing is funny. Christopher S. Penn wrote about money as trust as I was compiling this list. Worth checking out.
54. You should be eagerly awaiting Chris Anderson’s Free: The Past and Future of a Radical Price
55. Explore the Freemium model. See if it makes sense.
56. Affiliate marketing will be a $13 Billion dollar market in 2009. Check it out. (I’m keynoting Affiliate Summit West this fall in New York.)
57. Have you seen StockTwits? Real time stock talk.

That’s all I’ve got. Here’s hoping we get tons of interesting add-on links and ideas on the comments. Oh, don’t forget that comments with URLs often get flagged as spam. Give me a little while to fish you out.

And hey, if you like this post, please subscribe for free to get more information daily (if not more).

What do you think? Willing to try?

12 Things to Stop Doing in 2009

1. Stop writing about Twitter. (See also)
2. Stop writing “inside baseball” posts.
3. Stop putting yourself down.
4. Stop waiting for something to come that will make everything better (if only).
5. Stop thinking you can read minds.
6. Stop trying to do it all yourself.
7. Stop trying old things in new places, unless they’re really old.
8. Stop making excuses for not doing things to move your career ahead.
9. Stop presuming everything will get better because someone else will fix it.
10. Stop writing “me too” posts, or doing “me too” work. Build on the body of work.
11. Stop beating yourself up when you don’t create something on a given day.
12. Stop striving for perfection, and strive for execution instead.

Here’s the Secret

The secret is this: it’s ridiculously hard to focus on STOPPING anything. Think about the beginning of the post. How do we print up tee shirts and rally around “No ____.” It’s just not nearly as cool as getting behind something you want to support. So maybe let’s you and me throw out the first list (don’t tell people who skim blog posts, and maybe they’ll just stop those 12 things), and let’s do some new things in 2009. Cool? And because it’s hard to actually remember 12 things, let’s just do 6 things in the to do list.

6 Things to Do in 2009

1. Find a new way to improve someone’s day (and determine if there’s value in it).
2. Synthesize new ideas from outside your audience’s circle (and help us make meaning from them).
3. Promote the great people out there ( and and keep doing it).
4. Learn from brilliant people (and share what you learn).
5. Work on interesting projects that matter to you (and empower others to participate).
6. Discover your passions (and share them openly).

What do you think? Does any of it grab you? Am I full of it? What’s your take?

Photo credit, rightee

Oh, and if you don’t like my list, make your own. Link back here and people will find it and see what you you think. That would be fun.

8 Bloggers to Watch in 2009

**Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick, superstar from ReadWriteWeb, made a nifty OPML file if you want to subscribe to these guys all in one whack.** Thanks, Marshall!

Social Media Explorer – Jason Falls is not only an advertising guy, but a pioneer. His work in 2008, including tweeting a race for a company are the kinds of things that you can expect from him. Jason is quite the thinker. He raced into the public eye in 2008, but I think his best work is still ahead of him. Stay tuned.

Conversation Agent – Valeria Maltoni has been knocking the cover off the ball for a while over on her blog, but still, I feel she’s undervalued. Her work is consistent, has strong strategy elements, and leads one to think about execution. I recommend her work highly, and if you’re not on board yet, get there.

Feeds – Jennifer Leggio writes about social media for Ziff Davis. I think her writing has been solid all year long, and I expect even more quality posts in 2009. It’s frankly one of two blogs I still read over at Ziff. She’s a great writer, and delivers balanced thinking and ideas.

Danny Brown – Danny has roared up out of nowhere. His blog is a consistent read, and the quality is improving every day. I find myself gnawing on his posts and deciding how they might impact things. For 2009, I hope Danny turns that insight out and away from the social media crowd and starts exploring his thoughts on various verticals. I think he has the chops to deliver good stuff in those areas.

Very Official Blog – Shannon Paul makes great pieces that help me better understand the hybrid mindset from traditional PR and marketing into the new stuff. Her perspective and sense of humor bring me a lot of happiness each time she posts. Keep an eye on this one. She’s a force of nature.

Take Me To Your Leader – First off, if I owned this domain, I’d cherish it. Freddie Laker’s who I know from this little outfit, and he spoke at this year’s New Marketing Summit, which is where I got a glimpse into Freddie’s style. I hope to see more deconstruction and analysis in 2009. I’m watching you, Laker.

Technotheory – not only is Jared Goralnick the creator of AwayFind, he’s a thinker. Jared and I got together a few months back, and that one conversation has spawned several changes in how I do business, from something as simple as buying a new laptop bag to more strategy-level things, Jared keeps me thinking.

Learn to Duck – Micah Baldwin isn’t new to blogging nor is he new to marketing. But he’s someone I’m watching. His work is always thought-provoking, and gets me moving in a new direction. If you don’t add Micah, you’re missing a voice that will impact your thinking.

**Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick, superstar from ReadWriteWeb, made a nifty OPML file if you want to subscribe to these guys all in one whack.** Thanks, Marshall!

Veterans

Here’s a quick listing of people I love and follow for their perspective that aren’t exactly new, but still worth perusing, while I’m writing a post with links in it. This list doesn’t include the obvious people that you already read like Seth or Brian or Darren. You know about them. But are you reading:

• Six Pixels of Separation – Mitch Joel
• PR Squared – Todd Defren
• Web Ink Now – David Meerman Scott
• Awaken Your Superhero – Christopher S. Penn
• Successful Blog – Liz Strauss
• C.C. Chapman – CC Chapman
• Altitude Branding – Amber Naslund
• Paul Gillin – Paul Gillin
• Brian Solis – Brian Solis
• Technosailor – Aaron Brazell

Your Turn

Either add a comment or write a blog post with YOUR picks. I bet you’ll find some different ones. Let’s see what comes of it. And if you’re not on my list, I probably still read you. I’ve got hundreds of people I’ve started reading by way of my Rockstars page. Are you on it? (If you’ve submitted recently, it takes about 2 weeks for me to add you).

Photo credit, makou0629

In the case of the list above, it was intended to be helpful. I find it helpful. I found a few other people that I’ve yet to pay attention to that add to the information mix of what we learn about on the web. There are some really great names on there. And then, I’m on there, so it makes me feel good.

It’s the same if you list companies. I, for instance, intend to write up the kinds of social software platforms I recommend most often to people. I know that when I publish the list, I will hear from several companies who feel I surely made a mistake by not including them on the list.

When writing a blog post, sometimes we include people as examples. Sometimes, that’s a flattering thing. Other times, we’re throwing a few extra people under the bus.

When we call names, we exclude. When we don’t, we are too bland and neutral. I don’t think there’s a way to do it without someone feeling offended, excluded or otherwise.

What do you feel when you see lists where you think you belong and you don’t find yourself there? How do you proceed? How do these lists help you, or do they?

Photo credit, foundphotoslj

For those of you who are getting involved in social media a little bit at a time, consider this a list of things you might check out a little bit at a time to see what appeals, what fits into your workflow, and what you can dismiss as unnecessary for your needs.

AND, if you have some resources you think would be good to add to the list, feel free to add them in the comments section.

50 Online Applications and Sites to Consider

Blogging

1. Blogger – free blogging and hosting.
2. Movable Type – paid software, needs host.
3. TypePad – paid blogging and hosting.
4. WordPress.com – free blogging and hosting.
5. WordPress.org – free blog software, needs host.
6. Tumblr – free blogging and hosting.

   Microblogging

7. BrightKite – microblogging, mobile, location.
8. FriendFeed – microblogging/ aggregator.
9. Identi.ca – open source microblogging.
10. Jaiku – microblogging, mobile too.
11. Posterous – microblogging, and/or sends to other sites.
12. Pownce – microblogging and file sharing.
13. Plurk – microblogging and threaded conversations.
14. Seesmic – video microblogging.
15. Twitter – microblogging and mobile.
16. Utterz – microblogging, mobile, video.

    Social Bookmarking

17. Delicious – bookmarking.
18. Ma.gnolia – enhanced bookmarking.
19. Sphinn – bookmarking/voting.
20. StumbleUpon – bookmarking and browsing.

    Social News Sites

21. Digg – social news.
22. Mixx – social news.
23. Reddit – social news.

    Social Networks

24. Facebook – general networking.
25. Flickr – photo and video sharing.
26. Last.fm – music sharing.
27. LibraryThing – book lovers.
28. LinkedIn – professional social networking.
29. MySpace – general networking.
30. Ning – white label social network.
31. Pandora – music sharing.
32. Yelp – rating restaurants and businesses.

    Miscellaneous and Useful

33. Twitter Search (formerly Summize) – search for what matters to YOU.
34. Picnik – free online photo editing. Good for avatar pic touchups.
35. Evernote – online and desktop note syncing/storage.
36. Upcoming.org – event sharing site (great for finding cool conferences).
37. Netvibes – web start page (has Ginger social features now, too).
38. Twingly – blog search.
39. Compete – web ranking analysis.
40. AideRSS – rates your blog posts.
41. Skitch – screen capture tool (mac).

    Video Platforms

42. Blip.tv – video hosting, sharing.
43. Google Video – video hosting, sharing.
44. Viddler – video hosting, sharing.
45. Vimeo – video hosting, sharing.
46. YouTube – video hosting, sharing.
47. Mogulus – live video platform.
48. uStream.tv – live video platform.
49. BlogTV – live video platform.
50. ooVoo – live video chat.

Photo credit, klynsis

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Je ne parle pas bien, et pardonnez moi pour mon francais mal.

I have about seven friends I know about from Montreal, so hi to you, but if you’re here because of the Gazette, I’m glad to see you. Salut!

Here’s Mitch’s article, and by the way, congrats to Mitch for getting a column in a mainstream paper to help educate the masses on the values of all Six Pixels. : )

Photo credit, Mister C.C. Chapman

Note: I use Skitch to do screenshots. It’s cool.