My Daughter’s Christmas Cards are available online! November 24, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Fun, Online Communities , add a comment
Buy ten of my daughter’s cards online for £6.50, and £1.50 will be donated to her school.
They’re lovely - I bought 60 already! You can also get the same design as a gift tag. On sale here: http://httv/biz/cards/
BBC News: Meet the digital biographer. July 16, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Digital Biography, Emedia, Networks, News, Online Communities , add a comment
Having been interviewed by the BBC last week, the results appeared online at the BBC website today. The article focuses on my work for Thomas Power at Ecademy who reveals that I am the “digital biographer” who helps to manage his online presence.
I am glad I managed to embed the term “digital biographer” in the mind of the interviewer, and was delighted it made its way into the headline. (Not least because I now own digitalbiographer.com)
It does sound a little more literary and glamorous than ‘blog butler’ or ‘cyberspace concierge’ I think!
>> Read the full article ‘Meet the Digital Biographer’ at the BBC Web Site
You’re a Nobody unless your name Googles well - Wall Street Journal May 9, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Emedia, Networks, News, Online Communities, Reports , add a commentIt’s official - well, it is if you rate the Wall Street Journal’s front page as authoritative - if your name doesn’t Google well, you can have problems with your credibility - and not just with prospective employers.
You’re a Nobody Unless your Name Googles Well published on the 8th of May 2007, cites the example of Abigail Garvey, who, when she adopted the married name of Wilson, began to be questioned on publications she listed on her CV (résumé) because they weren’t finding the publications in online searches.
In the age of Google, being special increasingly requires standing out from the crowd online. Many people aspire for themselves — or their offspring — to command prominent placement in the top few links on search engines or social networking sites’ member lookup functions. But, as more people flood the Web, that’s becoming an especially tall order for those with common names. Type “John Smith” into Google’s search engine and it estimates it has 158 million results. (See search results.)
Ask.com estimates about 7% of all searches are for a person’s name, and more than 80% of executive recruiters said they routinely use search engines to learn more about candidates, according to a recent survey by ExecuNet. ExecuNet published “Growing Number Of Job Searches Disrupted By Digital Dirt” in June of 2006, which found that “35% (of executive recruiters) have eliminated a candidate from consideration based on the information uncovered online - up significantly from 26% just one year ago.
So, aside from naming your children carefully after a Google search, and including your full name in all online postings, how can you reach the top of Google?
The answer is actually very simple: Join Ecademy for Search Success: - Just create an online profile at Ecademy, and within as short a timescale as a few weeks, by following simple techniques to add structured information to your profile, and adding blogs and marketplace content relevant to your expertise within Ecademy, Google will rank your name, link to your web content and web sites. The cost is minimal - £10 ($20) a month lets you raise your visibility, as well as become part of a strong business network that’s been growing quietly and organically since 1998, when social media really was not on anyone’s radar.
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US Lawyers suing YouTube infringe YouTube trademark with class action website May 6, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, News, Online Communities, Reports , add a comment
A little blog can go a long way….
I’ve caught the attention of franticindustries.com with my suggestion that YouTube sue the lawyers trying to sue them.
Youtube, as I reported here yesterday, are being sued by The English Football League and Bourne Music in what their lawyers hope will become a class action lawsuit. However, they have seen fit to set up a web site at http://www.youtubeclassaction.com/ which invites others to join in if they have a complaint against YouTube infringing copyright.
Stan Schroeder at Franticindustries.com has published my suggestion that YouTube should sue these lawyers for infringement of the YouTube trademark - as the domain name appropriates the YouTube name. Stan agrees that a cease and desist letter would be an appropriate response to these people. I wonder if it will happen - I know that Stan’s blog gets around 100,000 monthly unique visitors, so at least it might cause pause for thought in the YouTube legal department.
Are there any trademark experts or lawyers who would like to give an opinion on the matter?
![[speaka's plain english blog]](http://searchsuccess.net/images/cc-speeka-100wh.gif)
David Petherick | Profile Makeover | Makes words make sense
MySpace to be renamed NewsCorpRevenueMakerSpace March 21, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Blogs, News, Online Communities , add a commentDigital Music News reports that MySpace has blocked artist/apparent pornstar Tila Tequila from posting an Indie911 Hoooka widget/MP3 store on her MySpace page, and apparently, MySpace is considering banning other third-party music widgets as well. MySpace makes revenue when a sale is made through the MyStore/SnoCap widget it promotes, but does not get a cent from the Indie911 Hooka widget.
One of MySpace’s strengths is that you can create and modify an online presence without needing to know any code, and can embed your other online presences into the MySpace page using all sorts of widgets - independent and official. If MySpace restricts and proscribes the content one can add, there will be a significant backlash from MySpace users, and MySpace has already allegedly removed blog content from Tila Tequila’s page.
Although I sense a certain amount of “news engineering” behind Tila’s promotion of Indie911, and I can understand MySpace wishing to maximise revenue - if the site restricts how content can be displayed on its pages, and perhaps more specifically, if it restricts what content can be displayed, then it is in trouble. If MySpace actually means NewsCorpApprovedRevenueandContentSpace, it will surely die.
We all know web sites like MySpace need a revenue model - but this could be a meltdown model, as there are a lot of independently minded people on MySpace who are all perfectly capable of moving their content to other networks, and, like Tila, to draw traffic to their their own independent blogs. In 2007, we can all publish our content freely (and through multiple channels) - it’s Web 2.0 guys - big media trying to make us think and act as they dictate is so very last century.
MySpace need to remember that the most important element of any social network is the content the members of that network create, and the sense of community that their interaction around that content creates. Try to control or curb that content, and you are taking away the very reason many will have joined the network in the first place - to express themselves freely. It will take about a New York Second for a smart outfit to provide an “instant port” of your MySpace content onto another platform - let’s call it QuiteIndependent - and they will flourish.
Now, QuiteIndependent.com (URL is available, by the way) might be bought up in six months by the next NewsCorp, but by then, it’s likely that even NewsCorp will have learned, just like Microsoft, that if they want to make a profit, they can no longer do it by trying to shove competitors off their platform, stifling competition and innovation, controlling people, limiting their choices, and forcing them to use proprietary software that is only designed to make money. They have to be smarter than that. I hope that MySpace is clever enough to start hiring some smart new talent soon…
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Inside Ecademy BlackStar: Belonging, Sharing, Winning (25 days of Attitude) January 27, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, BlackStar, Blogs, Emedia, Online Communities , add a commentWhy do people stop reading your Ecademy Profile? | Complete Certainty: Reliable Business Hosting | Do you Speaka Plain English? | Seats at David Petherick’s Barcelona Masterclass: 12-Feb-07
1: Act 1 Scene 1
On the 28th of January 2006, I joined Ecademy, having come across it as part of my ongoing research and investigation into blogging, social networks, and ‘web 2.0′ in general. Within ten minutes, I knew that PowerNetworker status was the only sensible starting point, and I also recognised that Ecademy had something that an Israeli company I’d been working with needed - and vice versa. I wrote to, and had a response from, Thomas and Penny Power, the very next day.
By February, Ecademy had a deal on the table with Conduit to create the Ecademy Toolbar, and I was beginning to recognise that by sharing ideas and contacts, I might not be getting paid for “the deal” in cash, but I was earning goodwill from all the parties I brought together. Goodwill, in my years of building businesses, I consider is more valuable than money - because you can’t buy it - you have to earn it - and when you need to spend it - it’s inflation-proof.
I started to recognise that my skills could be used in Ecademy in a very specific way: to rewrite profiles, and market place adverts. After all I am a journalist, copy writer, photographer, designer, can code HTML and tell a story. So the “profile makeover” service was created. After honing my talents on a few willing friends and volunteers at Ecademy, I finally managed to persuade Thomas Power that I should rewrite his profile in July 2006. When he published the result and posted a blog about it, I soon realised that I had just invented an industry. By October of 2006, I had a constant three week waiting list of customers, and they were almost half referrals from existing customers.
I decided that I should investigate joining BlackStar: for two reasons. 1) Some of the best networkers in Ecademy were Blackstars; 2) Many of my customers were Blackstars; and 3) The energy and focus these people all seemed to have intrigued me, as did the idea of a wealth profile - something that I kept seeing and hearing about.
In correspondence and meetings with Thomas and other Black Stars, I saw that being “a member” somehow helped other Blackstars to get to the point quickly, establish a level of intimicy and trust that seemed almost automatic, intuitive. I also read up on wealth profiles and the work of Roger Hamilton. I decided to apply in December, filled out an application form, and had an interview of about an hour and a half, at the end of which, I was accepted as a member.
I made my payment, and within two hours, was astonished to see that I had an inbox message welcoming me to BlackStar. What? How did that colleague know so soon? I looked at my profile summary, and it suddenly dawned on me: my little membership icon had changed from orange to black. I was a BlackStar.
It was the 29th of December, 2006. I did not quite know it then, but I had the most stimulating, fulfilling and rewarding three weeks of my life ahead of me, which were beautifully crystallised on Monday 22nd January, at my first ever (and I hear the biggest ever) BlackStar Monthly Meeting in London.
(Free MP3 Recorded version of this story will be available shortly - just send an email to blackstar25@searchsuccess.net and you’ll get to grab it when it’s edited.)
David Petherick’s Online Profile Masterclass: Barcelona, 12 February 2007 January 2, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Barcelona, Emedia, Fun, News, Online Communities , add a commentDavid Petherick, the Profile Makeover Expert, is offering a one-day Masterclass on how to edit, format and promote your business and personal brand through your online profile.
Thomas Power is Chairman of Ecademy, and Penny Power is its Founder. Together, they have perhaps the most-visited profiles online at Ecademy. However, both asked David Petherick to makeover and rewrite their profiles. Why was that?
The answer is that they were objective, and recognised that they were not the best person to author their profile. Being objective about what to include and how to structure your own profile is very difficult. Most people can not be objective when describing themselves - that’s why so many autobiographies are unreadable.
Your profile is your first and often your last chance to make an impression online. No matter how impressive your online contribution to discussions, groups, clubs, assisting and advising others - your profile is the touchstone and reference point. It’s a combination of a sales pitch, a personal presentation, a business card, a brochure, a personal statement, a list of recommendations, a mini web-site, and a wave from across the room.
It has a lot of work to do. Is your profile doing you proper justice?
Date: Monday 12th February 2007
Time: 10:00 - 16:30
Place: Barcelona, Catalonia
Fee: £97
Click here to Reserve your Place at the Barcelona Profile Masterclass today!
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Why not buy me a pint - virtually? September 23, 2006
Posted by David Petherick in : Emedia, Fun, News, Online Communities , add a commentI’ve often been criticised for being far too generous with my time and advice, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, there are issues with paying for life’s little luxuries when you don’t really have a ‘proper’ job…
So now, I think I have the solution - when people want to say thanks for my help or advice, they can now buy me a pint, virtually…
Well, they can buy me a pint virtually, at www.buy-me-a-pint.com and they can also advertise the fact that they have bought me a pint, and link to their own web site… all automatically, as I patiently wait the 119.6 seconds required for the next pint of Guinness to be poured…
Pouring Pints by PayPal…
What www.buy-me-a-pint.com does is quite simple - it passes payments to PayPal for services and amounts which the site visitor can define, either by selecting a ‘drink’ to buy me, or ‘mixing their own’ and setting the price. And once the payment is cleared, they can elect to add their details and a link to the web site of their choice to my site as a sponsor, or as someone who’s bought a drink!
Sponsors are those who elect to set up monthly payments through PayPal in the same way, allowing them to sponsor me, or buy me a drink regularly - I like that idea, and can have my daily newspaper, or monthly magazines sponsored!
And being a Scot - don’t think I haven’t thought of offering to set up the same service for you, so you can have drinks bought for you by your friends! It’ll cost from $197 for a software license and for a custom installation so people can buy you a pint! The systems is enabled for English, French, German and Portuguese as standard.
Ecademy’s Thomas Power gets his online profile Makeover… July 24, 2006
Posted by David Petherick in : Authority, Emedia, News, Online Communities , add a comment
Thomas Power is Chairman of Ecademy, and has perhaps one of the the most-visited profiles online at the community. However, Thomas asked me to makeover his profile last month. Why was that?
The answer is that Thomas was objective, and recognised that he was not the best person to author his profile. Being objective about what to include and how to structure your own profile is very difficult. Most people can not be objective when describing themselves - that’s why so many autobiographies are unreadable.
Your profile is your first and often your last chance to make an impression on Ecademy. No matter how impressive your contribution to discussions, clubs, assisting others - your online profile is the touchstone and reference point. It’s a combination of a sales pitch, a personal presentation, a business card, a brochure, a personal statement, a list of recommendations, a mini web-site, and a wave from across the room. It has a lot of work to do. Is your profile doing you proper justice?
Reaction to Thomas Power’s online profile Makeover
Online Networking: Now it’s BBCu, not BBC2… May 3, 2006
Posted by David Petherick in : Emedia, News, Online Communities , add a commentThe headline in the Financial Times on 25th April was: BBC to shake up web with more interactivity. Thomas Power of Ecademy brought this to my attention in his recent blog.
It’s been a while coming, but the BBC’s Action Network started the ball rolling in this direction, and it’s no surprise to me that they are embracing the kind of success that sites like of myspace, 15megsoffame.com and the astonishly fast-growing www.tagworld.com (Population: Zero at 11 November 2005, Current Population: 1,601,233) have shown. [Tagworld cornered a $7.5 million series A round of financing in early March.]
The BBC understands, as Murdoch does, that there’s a major change in what online content people are buying into. They are catching the wave that Apple rides with iTunes, and podcasting, videocasting, and sites that coherently challenge ‘big media’ are all riding: People can make content, and people are interested in ‘People opinion’ much more than they are in ‘Broadcaster opinion’ - especially when they can provide their own opinion, and can see, and contribute to the feedback that generates. It’s interactive media, so it beats passive media every time. We are fickle, and we want to be entertainedvwith ‘Channel Me’. Now we can, whether we’re 17 or 70.
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