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If you're like me, you spend a good deal of time on the road. Whether it's at an airport, on a train or in a car, you're mobile and your digital life is mobile too.

The pervasiveness of tablets and smartphones (in addition to the already ubiquitous laptop) is growing daily. Just this week, Apple announced that it sold 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads in the fourth quarter of 2011 alone. It means that more of us are doing things on the web (or mobile web, as the case may be) while we're on the go, and there are certain things those of us in the digital world look for when we travel - at least with regard to infrastructure.

The Airlines
To my knowledge, Southwest was the first airline (or at least the most prominent early on) to get involved with social media. Their blog, Nuts About Southwest, has been a perennial leader in the corporate blogging space. They've made great use of Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and more and have always led with a very human and very customer-centric approach.

JetBlue made a name for itself in the social media space after a difficult travel situation thanks to severe winter weather in 2007. Their CEO David Neeleman was direct and honest in his approach, the video of him was sincere and emotional, and JetBlue made it clear that it put customers first. And to think that my colleague Morgan Johnston at JetBlue had started his job on that very day...

Delta got a late start in social media (and was the subject of its fair share of complaints, including a dramatic rant ), but now has @Delta and @DeltaAssist looking after its customers on Twitter. Not to mention some personal interaction from a certain member of the crew from their famous safety video.




The other airline that's going above and beyond in social media is Virgin America. Based out of Silicon Valley, they're in the thick of the action from a technology standpoint. And their use of Groupon, Loopt, Foursquare and more prove it. But their always-on monitoring is essential when it comes to catching consumer complaints, especially after their switch to a new reservation system last year.

Overall, customers want interaction - they want to be heard, certainly, but they also want action - when they take to Twitter to voice a concern. According to an eMarketer article, the expectation that a company will respond increases by age cohort from 38% of 18-24 year-olds all the way up to 65% of those in the 55+ age category. And it clearly matters in terms of satisfaction:


If you'd like to see a comprehensive roster of airlines on Twitter, check out @Kayak's list of some 160 or so.

Staying Powered - and Connected
I've been in the unfortunate circumstance of leaving for a trip without power cord for a device. There are two points of good news: many times, you can charge your phone directly from your laptop using a USB port; and quite often, the hotel will have a power cord for your phone that you can borrow from their lost and found collection (I was once told by a concierge that phone cords are like currency at most hotels).

There are a few gadgets that I'd recommend as well. If you're travelling internationally, it's essential to have an all-in-one adapter that has attachments for every major country's electrical sockets. And because the hotel where you're staying or the airport may not have many readily available sockets to charge your laptop, phone, tablet, etc., it's handy to have a cord with 4 outlets, an all-in-one charging station, or even a PowerSquid that will allow up to 5 others to connect. You'll be the most popular person at the airport! (Note on all of the links in this paragraph: http://cmp.ly/5).

Then again, a number of airports have recognized that passengers travel with gadgets and need places to charge.

Thanks, Delta!

If you happen to have a non-3G iPad or a laptop without an air card, you depend on local wi-fi networks for connectivity. I've been in my share of airports that have had plenty of network access, but I didn't want to spring for a Boingo account to get connected. For that reason, it's helpful to know which airports have free wi-fi. Here's a quick list for your reference:

Airports with free wi-fi:
Boston (BOS)
Charlotte (CLT)
Cincinnati (CVG)
Denver (DEN)
Fort Myers (RSW)
Honolulu (HNL)
Indianapolis (IND)
Kansas City (MCI)
Las Vegas (LAS)
Oakland (OAK)
Orange County (SNA)
Orlando (MCO)
Palm Beach (PBI)
Phoenix (PHX)
Pittsburgh (PIT)
Portland (PDX)
Sacramento (SMF)
San Antonio (SAT)
San Diego (SAN)
San José (SJC)
Tampa (TPA)
Washington Dulles (IAD)
Washington Reagan (DCA)


But it goes farther than wi-fi and charging stations. FareCompare has developed a list of the top 12 airports for social media power users, with a list of the top airports that are also known to take good care of their customers. I've reproduced the table here.

City	Airport Code	Twitter Hits	Outlets per Gate	Other Amenities
Atlanta	ATL	14.7 million	8.1	Charging stations, work desks
Baltimore	BWI	7.92 million	7.3	Charging stations
Dallas	DFW	2.7 million	7.2	Charging stations, work desks
Detroit	DTW	3.4 million	6.7	Charging stations, Boingo data ports
Fort Lauderdale*	FLL	120,000	2.65	Fast, free Wi-Fi
Los Angeles	LAX	153 million	5.3	Charging stations, internet kiosks
Minneapolis	MSP	2.11 million	Varies by terminal	Charging stations, iPad kiosks coming 2012-13
New York City	JFK	8.45 million	Varies; Terminals 2, 3, and 5 have the most	Charging stations, work desks, iPad kiosks
New York LaGuardia	LGA	1.05 million	7.2	Charging stations, iPad kiosks
Salt Lake City*	SLC	8.97 million	5.4	Charging stations, work desks
San Francisco*	SFO	110 million	13.6	Charging Stations, lounge areas, work desks
Seattle	SEA	6.68 million	2.7	Charging Stations, fast Wi-Fi

* Airport has free Wi-Fi

The Airports
I've had experience with some airports that are downright personal. For example, I traveled to Kansas City last year and was pleasantly surprised at the greeting and send-off that I got from the Kansas City International Airport (@KCIAirport) on Twitter:
Followed by a warm greeting waiting for me at home (@DTWeetin):
When you're travel-worn and checking in on Foursquare or commenting on a queue, sometimes it's heartening to realize that there are teams of people looking out for you. For example, Logan International Airport (BOS) in Boston has a team of five people handling their social media; @LAX_Official gives travelers in Los Angeles tips, newsletter and other helpful information. For a roster of over 130 airports on Twitter, see @Kayak's list.


What's your experience with regard to social media and travel? Do you have any other examples of airlines, airports or other entities who get it right, campaigns that resonated with you, or personal touches that made the difference in an otherwise difficult circumstance? Please leave a comment with your input.

Image credit: ~Oryctes~ (Flickr)

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Ford Motor Company has been at the forefront of social media for some time. The Fiesta Movement, the Explorer reveal on Facebook, Doug the Spokespuppet, Ford Social (formerly known as The Ford Story) and being the first brand on Google+ all stand as examples of Ford's success that spans from clever campaigns to a daily commitment to engage.

Ford played a significant part in how the automotive industry thinks about social media (and in some cases how large companies think about social media) and now, as we near the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), at Ford we have an opportunity to again reinvent how we give our fans a chance to engage in shared experiences around our brand.

The all-new Ford Fusion will be making its debut at NAIAS in January, but starting today, consumers have an opportunity to go behind the scenes at Ford to hear about how we've remade this mid-size car and see the car revealed gradually over the course of the next few weeks - including a chance to drive the car in slot-like environment. If you go to FordFusionApp.com, you can download an iOS or Android version of the app to experience it for yourself.

Each weekday between now and January 9, you’ll be able to launch the experience by finding and capturing a Ford logo using the mobile device’s camera. It works on any Ford logo - the one on your car, online, in print - this is one of the coolest features. The Ford logo will then appear on the screen as a button that starts the program. Operating like a video game, the app then allows consumers to drive a digitally camouflaged new Fusion on a track toward video clips that feature insights on technology and design from key Fusion team members.



You'll have a chance to unlock more vehicles and more worlds as the days progress, but it's only through completing the driving experience that you'll be rewarded with more content. Original music, the ability to change the view around the car and sharing functionality via Facebook and Twitter are all part of the experience. Over the course of the 19 weekdays from now until the reveal of the vehicle, more of the digital camouflage will be removed and additional videos will cover the design, technology, engineering, safety features and more of the 2013 Ford Fusion.

The video below will help you get a sense as to how it works. Be sure to pop over to FordFusionApp.com to get a copy for your iPad2, iPhone or Android device. And let us know what you think!


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This infographic was created by Voltier Digital, a content marketing agency based in Florida, specializing on the creation and promotion of impactful content marketing campaigns for businesses of all sizes.

We all know the usual names of companies that are doing well in social media. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the lesser-knowns and why they've had success, either on an ongoing basis or with some one-off efforts that stood out.

And since infographics are all the rage, what better way to look at them? Of course, for SEO purposes, I've listed them here as well.

• Dell is presented as a master in the art and science of listening. 
• Morton's made headlines with its surprise-and-delight effort with influencer Peter Shankman recently, but goes beyond that with helpful information regularly.
• Unisys uses social media internally for effective collaboration and a boost to company productivity.
• KLM is using Twitter and Facebook for real-time customer service and encouraging customers to submit ideas.
• ABC is having fun with the way viewers can engage with their new show Pan Am by providing some goodies on Facebook.

Are there other companies that are doing some interesting things with social media that are worth talking about? Drop a comment in below.

Please feel free to share this post or embed the image on your own site. The code is provided below.

Copy and paste the code below to embed this graphic

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I was recently introduced to a compact guidebook for businesses trying to get a sense of Twitter. The microblogging site that allows you to update in no more than 140 characters at at time is deceptively complex and nuanced - especially for a newcomer.

This short guide, entitled Twitter Business Guide: Communication and Marketing was written by Jean-Christophe Barré and Dr. Andreas Schroeter and in just 32 pages covers some of the things that may be keeping you and your business away from this platform.

 For someone who is new to Twitter, this e-book will prove a helpful compass as you begin to explore Twitter. Everything from setting up an account to understanding the vernacular, the difference between communications and marketing with Twitter, and some of the tools you'll need to use to make it effective.

Please feel free to download and share this e-book, and by all means, if you have additional suggestions, please leave a comment.Twitter Business Guide

As with any tool or platform, this should be seen as just that. Twitter itself is not a strategy. You should be thinking in terms of how it integrates with the rest of your communications and marketing strategies and how it will help you attain your business goals.

Image credit: clevercupcakes (Flickr)
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Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56. His life's work at Apple literally changed the face of the earth. Undoubtedly, he'll go down in history alongside the likes of Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

Let's remember Steve in his own words, "How to live before you die," in his Stanford Commencement speech of 2005:



R.I.P. Steve Jobs. We thank you for the innovation you brought to this world. May we all live such a life.

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Often times, we use humor to find common ground. An observational comic can take the everyday mundane things and makes make them seem funny with a unique spin. Or slapstick teams use physical gaffes to go for the primeval notion that when someone else gets hurt, we laugh. Comedy on the heels of tragedy helps forge a bond for those who have suffered together, in an effort to pull them through.

But in attempting to use humor, it's important to realize that it's all based on perspective. When a brand or a cause attempts to use humor - especially in the age of social media, where information, rumors and outrage fly fast and furious - it has to be used carefully.

Now that's funny
There are plenty of positive examples out there. One of the most prominent examples in the past year or so has been the Old Spice Man efforts. By using video and going almost for the absurd, "the man your man could smell like" leaves us wondering "I wonder what they'll do next?"

Super Bowl ads tend to be laced with humor, and this year was no exception. But the one that stood out for most, especially with its early airing on YouTube was the Volkswagen commercial The Force. The familiar "Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back, combined with the ridiculously large Darth Vader helmet on the boy's tiny frame, along with the universal frustration we've all felt at trying to bring to life our make-believe dreams all come together to create one of the most memorable and funny ads in recent memory.



Ford (my employer) has attempted something this year that has been successful in its own right as well: the Focus Doug campaign, featuring a wise-cracking orange spokespuppet that is anything but politically correct. Directed by Paul Fieg from The Office, Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development (disclosure: http://cmp.ly/5) and starring John Ross Bowie and Paul F. Thompkins, the videos were aimed at a particular audience that appreciates the improv style and straight-man vs. envelope pusher. The series was designed to showcase product features using humor and situations, rather than simply highlighting product features. As an example, here's how Ford demonstrated the text-to-voice functionality in the 2012 Ford Focus:



Even the recent Roast of Charlie Sheen, hosted on Comedy Central, was successful in its use of humor. You might ask "Why? All people did was cut each other down with their remarks." Well, the point of a roast is that you're supposed to say funny and insulting things about the people there, but everyone is in on it; they understand that being roasted is partly about being able to be the butt of a joke for the sake of entertainment.

Roast of Charlie Sheen

This? Not so much.
When a brand or a cause tries to use humor at the expense of others - especially when the others aren't part of the creative process - it can be harmful. Here are a few cases in point:

Ragu
Earlier this week, Unilever brand Ragu reached out to a number of dads and moms online to get their opinions on cooking. C.C. Chapman saw the video and wondered if Ragu Hates Dads, following it up with some free advice and finally recounting his interaction with the brand manager. There was lots of discussion about Ragu's approach, with some not seeing any harm in it. The thing is, C.C. is a dad who cooks for his kids and he didn't take the stereotyping lightly. Opinions fell on both sides, but it was clear that brands need to consider how they're using humor if they're concerned about their reputation.



The Onion
When is it okay to joke about matters of national security? Never, apparently. Even if you're a news satire site like The Onion. This week, the parody outfit tweeted that there was an emergency in Washington, DC:
Needless to say, this wasn't taken lightly. From news organizations to the Capitol police themselves, people were upset - probably not only at their level of gullibility but of the insensitivity of The Onion to stoop to using humor around a scary topic in this post-9/11 world.

The Next Web
Today, as I was on my treadmill, I shared a link with Mark Horvath, an advocate for bringing attention to the problem of homelessness. The link was to a story on The Next Web about a homeless man who is using Square to accept credit card payments. At first, it sounded like someone in Mark's circles, who like Mark, was innovating in this age of advanced technology. Then I actually took a closer look at the article and watched the video, and it was clearly a fake.

Whether the fake video was designed to bring more awareness to homelessness or simply exploited the homeless issue to be funny, it clearly did more harm than good, as noted in a tweet by a follower:


If you're responsible for a brand or a campaign, the next time you think about humor and its spread online, it may be helpful to think about the subject of the joke. Humor should not be done at the expense of others or in a way that can be misinterpreted. It may turn out to be something that isn't so funny for your brand after all.

Do you have any similar examples? Please consider sharing them.

Image credit: jwalsh (Flickr)
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In the last week, we've seen major changes from Google+ and Facebook. You can now add Delicious to that mix.You'll recall that last December, Yahoo! decided to sell Delicious, and then in April, Delicious announced it had been acquired by AVOS.

And for the following five months, everything seemed to be moving ahead steadily, with no visible change in the interface or service of Delicious.

Until today, that is.

If you head over to Delicious.com, you'll find that rather than being greeted by a wall of links, tags and descriptions, you'll be met with a much more visual interface - completely driven by images, as a matter of fact. It's very reminiscent of Flipboard or other similar iPad apps that rely on a thumbnail and a headline to encourage further exploration.


The images are taken from a new feature on the site called Stacks. Everyone can group their tagged items together in a broader category called "Stacks." This is akin to what used to be called "bundles" on Delicious. Now, you can share a set of links in a visual way to tell a story, provide context or help walk colleagues or customers through concepts in a step-by-step way. This video from their help page helps to explain it:






Image credit: Nrbelex (Flickr)

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At the f8 developer conference today, Facebook unveiled some major platform changes that will profoundly affect how we use and interact with the site. In his keynote, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook's job is to "make it the best way to express who you are." And with a company whose vision is to make the world more open and connected, it's absolutely essential to make it feel like a place you prefer to spend time.

In doing so, Facebook has introduced the Timeline - something of an online scrapbook - that better categorizes and highlights your actions, rather than the current Wall of everything. The new system will summarize your events and actions over time, so that only the significant things remain. New Reports apps will group things together in a sensible way and the entire experience will be more visual.

There are three major concepts that make up the new Timeline: all of your stories, all of your apps and a new way to express who you are. Here's the video that Facebook released to help you see how Timeline will transform the thing that you share:



While the more significant things will be grouped into these apps, your less interesting updates and actions - Zuckerberg called them "lightweight actions" - will be visible through the Ticker on the sidebar. But what's even more interesting (to me, at least) is that there will be a social aspect to the apps: if you visit a friend's Timeline and see an app that interests you, you'll be able to instantly put it on your own.

There's a New App in Town
The significant advance on the app front is that the Open Graph will allow for "a new class of apps," according to Facebook. These apps will all have three things in common:

1. Frictionless experiences: no longer will an app interrupt your activity to ask you if you'd like to share it. If you authorize an app, your actions will automatically be posted. For example, if you authorize Netflix or Spotify, the movies you watch or songs you listen to will be automatically posted.
2. Realtime serendipity: the good news is that we're already doing these things; the Open Graph is simply going to allow people to see more of what we do and allow people to connect on common interests.
3. Finding patterns: over time, the graph will recognize the things you do and begin grouping them together, making the Timeline a much more organized structure.

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In case you're coming out from the rock you've been living under for the summer, Google+ arrived on our digital doorsteps in early July - but only for limited field testing. Yesterday, it was announced that Google+ had finally been released as a public beta, meaning that you no longer require an invitation to join the network. The announcement was certainly strategically timed, with Facebook's f8 developers conference scheduled for Thursday - so strategic that Facebook itself made a few announcements early.


Before I get into some of the specifics about the new platform, I'd like to share with you why I think it's different from Facebook and why I think it makes sense to pay attention to Google+ rather than dismissing it out of hand as others have done (even prior to the public release, may I remind you).

Not Just a Social Network but Glue
When Facebook was created, it began as a private network only available to individuals with .edu email addresses. As it slowly and deliberately expanded, it kept growing from the inside out. It was truly a big deal when Facebook Connect was introduced, as it became the most significant way that Facebook was making an attempt to integrate with the rest of the Web. And Facebook's own mission statement, "Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected," is consistent with this inside-out approach to growing its platform.

Google, on the other hand, has gone about things in a different way. There are dozens of Google or Google-owned products and services that span across the web. And while Google+ has begun as a social platform that acts a bit like Twitter and a bit like Facebook, it has the ultimate potential: to be able to bring these disparate parts together in a much more integrated fashion.

Some of the Google products that you may know and use include:

• Email (Gmail)
• Video (YouTube)
• Photos (Picasa, Panaramio, Picnik)
• Links (Reader, Bookmarks)
• Files (Docs)
• Location based services (Places, Latitude, Maps)
• Blogging platform (Blogger, Feedburner)
• Events (Calendar)
• Mobile solutions (Mobile, Voice)
• IM (Chat, Messenger)
• Video chat (Hangouts)
• Groups (Groups, Circles)
• Browser & OS (Chrome)
• Metrics (Analytics, Trends)
• Revenue (Affiliate Network, Adsense, Checkout)
• Integration services (App Engine)
• Forums (Moderator)
• Connecting the world (Translate)

Not to mention everything related to search - News, Blog, Book, Realtime, Images, Videos, Patent, Product, Finance and more...

When you think about the power of all of those being woven into a single social platform, the possibilities are endless. The analytics alone would be enough to catch my attention. Although, as a regular user of a number of those services above - including Blogger, Gmail, Reader, Docs and more - I will admit that I'm predisposed to liking it.

Back when I first started thinking about the potential integration of services, began to see articles like this one from TechCrunch ('Gmail+: Google Already At Work On "Several" Gmail/Google+ Integrations'), which is why I continue to be excited about it.

For a really nice visual exploration of what G+ is - as well as a creative use of the platform for storytelling, take a look at this photo set from Vincent Wong:

An early watcher developed a blog called PlusHeadlines.com and developed a point of view titled "How I See Google+ as Unique" which is worth looking at as well.

What has been fascinating to me is how the Google+ team has fanned out across the platform not only to observe how people are using the site, but to interact and engage with them. The Hangout group video chat feature has been particularly helpful as they've had some interactions with me and my team, for example. And in doing so, Google+ is changing right before our very eyes, making near-realtime tweaks based on customer feedback. The product has been live for 90 days and they've made 91 documented changes.

Just yesterday, along with the announcement that the platform would be public, Google+ also announced eight other improvements to the service, including:

• Hangouts on your phone
• Hangouts On Air - group video chat had been limited to 9 people; now you can broadcast your conferences so others can watch and follow along.
• Extras for Hangouts:
• Document sharing
• Screensharing
• The ability to sketch/doodle
• Named Hangouts for public events
• Availability of the Hangouts API
• Search

The last one was a particularly sensitive improvement, as Google was taken to task for being a search engine company (even though it's much more) that didn't integrate search into its platform. That has been amended.

How Does it Work?
Rather than me trying to explain what it is, I'll leave it to the Google+ team to explain it directly via video. I've created a playlist that includes a quick look at the overall system, Circles, Hangouts, Instant Uploads and Messenger:





Circles really are a nice feature of the platform. They're intuitive, you can name them whatever you want, put people in more than one, move them around easily and are visually appealing to play with. They do take a little while to get used to and can be overwhelming, but my advice is to pay attention to them and create your Circles early, to help you think about who you're listening to and posting to. It will save you a lot of trouble down the line.

When you begin posting on Google+, one of the major benefits it offers is that you can target your updates to certain Circles, individuals or the public - and your post can be of any length. I've seen examples of short, Twitter-like updates both with and without media attached (such as photos, videos or links). And I've also seen extraordinarily long updates that are more blog-like in nature. The beauty of Google+ is that the platform is completely flexible depending on what you need.

Other features that make it user friendly include the ability to block a person who may not be welcome in your Circles (you don't have to follow everyone to see their updates - they can post on your site; blocking prevents that). Also, there are a number of rather "noisy" individuals who not only post frequently, but whose posts are commented on to a high degree; if you've commented, you'll be repeatedly notified of the updates. A way to prevent that is to "Mute" the post. A rather handy trick.

Resources & Getting Started
So by now you've either left the page out of sheer boredom or you've gone off and started an account. Either way, I can't blame you. But if you'd like some help as to how to go about getting things set up and looking for some pointers, you've come to the right place. I've developed a list of resources to at least get you grounded in what's in store for you and some best practices.

Google+ Resources

• Your Google+ Guide: 15 Tips for Newbies (HuffingtonPost)
• Google+: The Complete Guide (Mashable)
• The Google Plus 50 (Chris Brogan)
• Your Complete Guide to Google+ (CNET)

For your convenience, I have compiled all of these resources, as well as a number of others with a Google+ tag on my Delicious page. This will continue to update as I find relevant information.

Sounds Great! I Need One for my Business
Not so fast! At this time, Google+ is only open to individuals. For just about every business and website that joined when it first went live, Google asked the owners of those accounts to revert to using their names rather than their businesses. The sole exception was Ford Motor Company (ahem). We have a strong working relationship with Google and together we determined that Ford could act as something of a test account to help discern what features would be helpful versus awkward for a business account.

Google+ has publicly stated that they are working on a version for businesses; the timing hasn't been announced at this point. But they have said that the reason they're waiting is because they'll be able to better understand and serve the business population with a product that is specifically built for business purposes rather than trying to force fit brands into personal profiles.

One other outcropping was a debate that raged (and perhaps is still raging) about Google's insistence that individuals use their real names as part of the service. There were many people who were upset about it, but Bradley Horowitz from the G+ team outlined a number of consideration points in a post on his account.

Your Thoughts
So there you have it. This is a post that I had been meaning to write - at least the introduction of Google+ and its implications - for the last two months. Now that it's public, we'll have a lot more to discuss and to watch, I'm sure.

In the meantime, if you would like to add me to your Circles, I would be honored.


So, what do you think? Are you ready to jump into Google+ with both feet? Or are you just fine where you are?
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