Tom Funk's Blog, page 3

Timberline Email Energetics - Leveraging Minor Holidays

I recently read an article about leveraging minor holidays by Chad White that was very inspiring called Standing Out Among All the National Pecan Pie Day Messaging. In the article he says:

 

"It's a major strategic and creative challenge to stand out during the holiday season -- as well as during other major holiday seasons like Mother's Day, Father's Day and Valentine's Day. It's significantly less challenging to stand out during the April Fool's Day or Cinco de Mayo season. Show up and the...

Your Ning Network Is Being Shut Down

Ning is pulling the plug from the little social network I built. And they're doing the same for literally millions of other Ning sites whose owners didn't step up to the plate to pay for the previously free service.

I used to sing the praises of the Ning platform, but I don't like the way they've handled the transition. Granted, they need to make money, and a modest fee for a strong social software platform like Ning is perfectly fair. But I'm turned off by Ning's new tone. First it was the g...

Seth Priebatsch at TEDx: Building the Game Layer on Top of the World (Video)

This TED Boston presentation by Seth Priebatsch provides lots of food for thought for anyone developing websites or mobile apps today. Seth is "Chief Ninja" at SCVNGR, a mobile app that describes itself as "a game about going places, doing challenges and earning points."

Seth jokes that there are "seven game dynamics that can get anyone to do anything," and he shares four of them with the audience (keeping three to himself so his company might still maintain at least some competitive...

Seth Priebatsch at TED: Building the Game Layer on Top of the World

Seth

Vermont Web Marketing Summit

I'm thrilled to be participating as a speaker in the first-ever Vermont Web Marketing Summit, which will be held at Main Street Landing in Burlington, Vermont, on Thursday, September 16, 2011 from 8 am to 4 pm.

The event, brought to us by Curve Trends Marketing, will be a much-needed get-together of regional ecommerce and online marketing talent. As anyone in the area will tell you, Vermont has a vibrant and talented community of online professionals, at companies large and small, as well as ...

Attention Women Bloggers: Announcing SheCon 2011

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We just heard from SheBlogs, the women's blog network, that more than 150 female bloggers have registered for their conference, SheCon '11 since they announced it last Thursday, during the SheBlogs First Birthday Bash.

"SheCon '11 - the industry's first event with FREE admission for bloggers and social media mavens - will be taking place in May, 2011, at the Broward Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida," says SheBlogs's Julie Wohlberg. "We'll be featuring an expo floor with 100 ...

Cyber-Libel: Legal Issues Surrounding User-Generated Content1

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Mississippi television news anchor Toni Miles has lost her defamation case against her former station, WLOX, which she sued after the station ran an article on its website reporting Miles's arrest in connection with a cocaine bust. At issue wasn't her arrest on drug possession charges, which Mediapost reports occured at a house Miles was visiting. (Reportedly, a grand jury later voted not to indict the anchorwoman.)

Instead, Miles sued WLOX over defamatory comments written by visitors to...

LL Bean Homepage Flash Video Makes Me Want to Pee

Have you seen the new homepage "hero shot" video at LL Bean? The still shot, which launches a video when clicked, is a Flash file that depicts a trio of kids hiking across a moving stream, while trickling water sounds play in an endless audio loop.

Yikes! All that running water, plus all the coffee I've been drinking, I can't help feeling like I need to pee . . .

Also interesting: When we last looked at it on an iPad, the LL Bean homepage pretty much broke. Ouch.

Thumbs up for our beloved LL ...

2011 eCommerce Conferences - Calendar

Here's our list of 2011 ecommerce and direct marketing conferences to consider if you're an online retailer, cataloger or direct marketers. We'll be adding dates and events as schedules are finalized.

January 9 - 11: Affiliate Summit (Las Vegas)

January 31 - February 2: DMA Email Evolution Conference (Miami)

February 7 - 10: Online Marketing Summit (San Diego)

February 14- 16: Internet Retailer Web Design (Orlando)- Tom Funk will be speaking, with wine of the Month Club's Paul Kalemkiarian

...

Employing Game Mechanics in eCommerce

Today I got a morning wakeup call from Erica Napoletano (aka Redhead Writing, @readheadwriting on Twitter) who posted her first video blog entry -- great coverage of an Xbox Kinect "sneak peek" demo hosted in Denver by Edelman PR.

I'm not a gamer. Nor is Erica (although she has some serious Frogger and Ms. Pacman creds from the late Seventies and early Eighties). But her vlog on the Xbox Kinect demonstrates that games without controllers -- optically tracking hundreds of motion-points on the ...