Sonic Season's Greetings

 Wishing everyone a happy holiday, with a nifty viral piece from the folks at Sonic ID --

 click here to play sonic snowflakes. 

 Thanks to Martyn Ware (founding member of 80's pop bands Heaven 17 and The Human League and head of The Illustrious Company) for the tip about this holiday treat.

 Signing off 'till next year,

-Lisa

PR Gets More Social: 5 Tips

  Normal 0 Emerging experts in the PR field are shaping new ways of communicating brand messages and figuring out the best way to navigate through social media, online and with new trends like Twitter.

Content and Motion is a content optimisation and online PR agency that offers up five tips for applying social engagement to PR. They suggest:

1)      Listening to audiences

2)      Being interesting

3)      Looking for your audience

4)      Giving away free content

5)      Being socially useful

Applying C&M’s five observations will help anyone using online PR to manage the scene better, and the advice is really based on common sense. You wouldn’t want to go to a party and over-network the crowd, so why should you do it online?

Read the full blog post here.

Being a better social PR networker,

-Lisa

For Beta Lovers: Jinni, The Filter, Skyfire

 Working with new technology companies I hear about beta testing opportunities fairly often, and here are three picks to share with Brand Republic readers: Normal 0

Jinni

http://www.jinni.com

Are you in the mood for a certain kind of movie but not sure what film to select? Simply type in information about what type of film you might want to see and Jinni will get back to you with everything from romantic comedy to science fiction to action and more.

The Filter

http://www.thefilter.com/

Another way to personalize your content -- use The Filter much like you already use Last.FM and get pointed to your taste in music, movies and video content. It reads your personal taste and feeds back new selections that you may enjoy. For 80s music fans, you might appreciate that it has Peter Gabriel's involvement.

Skyfire

http://www.skyfire.com

New to the UK is mobile browser Skyfire, that lets you browse the internet from your mobile phone. Point your mobile browser to www.get.skyfire.com for a quick download to your phone (check this link for phones supported by Skyfire) and it will render websites quickly onto your mobile for viewing. Skyfire helps you explore online content just as you would expect to find it on your PC. Great for viewing through Skyfire is BBC iPlayer, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and listening to music via Last.FM

Note: I’ve been working with Skyfire to help with the company’s UK launch here this week, and based on this service's huge popularity in the states, it is likely to attract thousands of fans here. For more coverage about Skyfire see what Daniel Robinson of VNUNet.com has to say here, and Contagious Magazine has listed it this week as a top pick. 

Loving being beta,

-Lisa

Ustream.TV’s Shiba Inu Puppy Cam

  Normal 0 Puppies! Fluffy cute Shiba Inu puppies doing puppy stuff is captured by Ustream.TV’s Shiba Inu Puppy Cam for your viewing pleasure. What could be better than checking in on cute and fluffy animals sleeping, eating and playing periodically throughout the day.

Credit for this find goes to the agency 1000 Heads who originally reported it on their blog here.

Having a cuteness attack,

-Lisa

Third Culture Kids to Rule US

Barack Obama is filling out his staff with many appointments of Third Culture Kids (TCK), those who straddled living in countries outside America as kids, according to TheDailyBeast.com 

The trend looks positive for making sure those in his office are adept at handling foreign policy and have a global perspective, are socially adaptable and intellectually flexible people who think outside the box. Being a TCK himself, he is moulding the demographics of his closest advisors to reflect his own experience and leadership style.

Thanks to Marc Seago, expert marketer and a TCK living in New York City, for pointing out this article, written by TCK author of the book Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds, by Ruth E.Van Reken.

Keeping a foot in two worlds as an adult,

-Lisa