Blogs...Read This: A PPT and Top Blogs

So in the past few days I've added about 10 more RSS feeds to the list. Most are design and planning/culture-oriented. Yay for ideas!

Also, I was reading through Aki Spicer and Ed Cotton's ppt, "Blogging the Agency" and found the tips to be really helpful. As a hopeful junior planner/strategist (read: NOT yet snapped up by an agency/communications group), I'm trying to hone this blogging thing. It's no easy task, given the onslaught of information I'm shown every day, every minute. Of-course, I like having all of this 'stuff' at my fingertips, even if it gives me a headache to read through at times.

Now I just found myself on Heron Preston's blog (by way of searching for specific NYC strategists on LinkedIn - gotta love creative web stalking!) and found a great list of the top young planner blogs. Advertising's Young Minds gives us The Top 27 Blogs of People Under 27. I already subscribe to a few of these, but now I must busy myself with adding the other 25...

This all shows me I need to step up my game. But, I suppose my game would be a lot better if I was actually working in planning/communication strategy - I'd be forced to integrate my own interests with work experiences. Well, until then, I'll just pretend I'm a junior thinker at some shop and continue to work at adding to the blogosphere.

(Please note Daniel's (from Advertising's Young Minds) ranking criteria - he is not calling it a "best of" list. So when reading the comments below his list, take it all with a grain of salt. One point Aki and Ed point out is that there's a tendency for bloggers to toot their own horns and blogging is an ego-booster. I agree, so keep in mind that blogging is not a popularity contest. It's about contributing to your like-minded community, sharing ideas, and finding inspiration from within yourself and others.)

Wispa Back Thanks to Facebook

Another example of the power of social networking sites/communities banding together to get what they want.

• 14,000 users in 'bring Wispa back' groups in
• 93 groups
• fans posted 1980s spots
• fans joined online petitions

The result? A temporary revival of the chocolate bar (23 million) to test the sales demand.

Ok, who wants to start a Bring Back Zubaz!! Facebook group? Shall I start it?

Lover's Cups

Here's an interesting product concept from Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung at the MIT Media Labs: the Lover's Cup. This is an LED-enhanced, wi-fi enabled pair of cups meant for sharing the experience of drinking from afar. An example usage scenario - say my lovah and I are in separate locations and I wish to connect with him. All I need to do is pick up my cup and take a sip. My lovah will then see his own cup light up, which tells him I wish to share a drinking moment with him.

But wait - the Lover's Cup does more than act as a virtual toasting gimmick. With a sip or a shake of the cup, users are communicating their affinity towards one another. The soft beacon of light reminds the user that their special someone is thinking of them.

(Now if only I'd known of these cups sooner...they could have been useful in past long-distance relationships that ended up on the cutting room floor...)

Planning For Good: IdeaBlob

Here's another example of the idea of planning for good:

Ideablob, recently launched by Advanta Bank Corp., is a social networking platform that gives entrepreneurs and small business owners the space to share ideas and potentially win $10,000 to help their business grow.

" IdeaBlob is where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them.

Great ideas are generated every day by people all across the country, and now these ideas have a place to live and grow. Eligible individuals with a good business idea can post it to IdeaBlob.com, and based on votes from the IdeaBlob online community – which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers and mentors – one idea every month will win $10,000.

As individuals take part in IdeaBlob’s growth, their business has the potential to grow right along with it."

Advanta issues Mastercard credit cards for small business owners and has been in business for the last 50 years. After doing some brief digging, I found they were started by a schoolteacher who helped fellow teachers get loans. I'm curious as to what the rest of the story is behind the founder and how Advanta evolved to become what it is today.

As we're seeing over and over, there is power in community, and truth in authenticity. Ideablob has been added to my list of 'great new ideas' and goodness that aims to provide real things for people who need it.

See StyleStation for more information.

Write a Sentence to Help Save Lives

One mysterious Ann (no email, no profile) has set up the beginnings of a story in the hopes of publishing it and donating the profits to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Write a Sentence to Help Save Lives was thought up by Ann, who starts the story off with one sentence and invites anyone to add their own sentence in the comment page. I immediately jumped to the most recent comment and thought about adding something from there, but decided to read from the beginning. For the most part, contributors seem very intelligent and creative. Also very passionate. (a few don't take the task too seriously).

I was surprised to find myself so engaged in the story, as we learned the characters' names, location, backstory of their dreamed up connection, and so on. The creator of the blog/story leaves no information on herself, so we don't know where she is. Many contributors are in the Middle East. I'm in MN and found the link to Ann's blog off of Facebook. Hussein Dajani, brand planner at J.Walter Thompson, posted it in the IPA Strategy Group group, of which I belong. How did he hear of this community-created story?

To date, there are about 100 posts, some of them containing contributor information (name, city, etc). Some seem to be repeat contributors. I wonder what percentage got involved because they believe in the cause, and what percentage wanted to join to simply be a part of this global storytelling project? I admire Ann's idea and the cause, but I was drawn to contributing because I wanted to help create the story. I'll have to come back closer to December to see how it's evolved.

Miami U Cheezies a capella "Facebook"

Hilarious.

I get it. Is that bad?

Blog Action Day - More Good Stuff

I'm signing up to blog about the environment as part of Blog Action Day. (See Faris post "We Need Each Other" to the right in the pink box or All Day Buffet.) The date is set for 10/15. So far, 6,109 blogs have signed up, which is not counting mine. This initiative asks "What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day?" What will happen? Sign up and be a part of this mass communication of idea sharing.