Do you Twitter?

I do. Do you?

Just recently has Twitter become the talk of the town. Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about Twitter.Twitter-this, Twitter-that. I "tweet" quite frequently. Sometimes, they are deep and philosophical and other times, they are fun and sarcastic.

Mike Massimino, a mission specialist on the space shuttle Atlantis, announced this week that he will use Twitter from space during the shuttle's next mission in May. It is official, this trend has been taken to new heights. Pun intended--of course.

Massimino is a relatively new "tweet-er". Within two weeks of beginning to use Twitter, Massimino has accrued 119,893 followers. By the time you read this, he will most likely have more. He is proving himself to be a pretty popular guy. NASA's PR team is responsible the idea of Massimino twittering in preparation for the May mission as well as while actually in space.

If you don't Twitter, you should. Mike goes by Astro_Mike.
Go follow him and I'll see you on Twitter.

Here's an app, there's an app...

Everywhere an app-app...

I own an iPhone and iLove it. Oops, I mean I love it. I'm sure you're aware of one of its hottest features: the "App store". This aspect of the iPhone allows users access to more than 25,000 programs, with 5,000 new added every month. There is seriously an app for everything.

Apple is in a league of their own---a market solely dominated by their genius idea. Others have tried to grab an edge and catch up, but they can't really compete. Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, and Research in Motion (BlackBerry's maker) have already opened app stores this year or plan to do so.

Did you know there were about 80,000 "apps" for the BlackBerry before anyone had even heard of the "App store"? No. It is ALL about how you market and project your message, clearly.

Many apps are free, some cost--but remain inexpensive. Consumers view them as disposable and therefore won't invest too much of their wallet.

This feature connects the product directly to the consumer-- direct market-- a really great thing. Apple has got the idea. It's profitable and it shows.

So, I'm sorry for all you out there without an iPhone. They are amazing. You really should join the club and go get one :)

Constructive Criticism

Feedback is a great thing.

How will you ever know what isn't working if no one tells you?

Yelp is a user-submitted small business and restaurant review site. It has some controversial policies as well as pretty intense influences in local markets. Originally, business owners could not respond to or retaliate against harsh reviews their companies received. Recently, Yelp has softened on this protocol-- letting businesses respond to damaging comments.

It's a win-win situation. This recent change in policies will give Yelp positive publicity and also will mean that business owners will be spending more time on their website.

Complaints are "free customer research." View them that way and they will be 100% more helpful and 100% less frustrating.

My Kind of School

Mattias Hansson is 40 and the CEO of Hyper Island. He helps to train more than 1,000 students a year in digital media and digital business management. The "school" is located in Stockholm, on a former prison island off the coast of Sweden. Graduates are quickly recruited by well-known firms such as Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Ideo.

"Look into the eyes of the creatives you know and ask them: If they could choose, would they pick the traditional academic world or an opportunity to learn by doing real stuff such as building e-communication solutions for MTV, Ikea, and others. We don't have classrooms or auditoriums, and we don't focus on grades. We don't educate people to become something. They have to decide that themselves."

This sounds so incredible to me. I learn best with hands-on activity. A main reason I chose to attend the University of Memphis was the amazing basketball team. Well, Memphis no longer has that. I might as well transfer.

Hansson's "school" gives "students" opportunities to boost their skills and increase their demand after graduation the program. Every student has at least five job offers from top international agencies according to Hansson. One student alone received 56 offers this year.At least 80% go abroad to work.

"We're more of a household name in Manhattan, Paris, or San Francisco than in Sweden."

Seriously, where do I sign up?