• My First Follow
  A handy little tool that tells you the name of the first person you followed on Twitter (whom you're still following). Now, how about a tool that tells you who the first person to follow YOU was?
  (tags: free web2.0 tools twitter clever)

Funny that it would come from Microsoft, but they have been making some real strides in a more conversational approach to marketing. And while there isn’t a lot in here you couldn’t have read in the Cluetrain Manifesto almost a decade ago, it’s always a little reassuring to see ideas like these getting some traction with the bigger players… Read more...

If the weather forecasters are right, we’re nearly over the worst of the Vancouver snow. That said, here are two photos from today:

It could be a simple traffic sign. Or it could be our desperate appeal to the skies.

And this is my street:

• Creating An SEO Strategy, Part 5: Community
  Gregory Heller wraps a superb series on SEO and Drupal by pointing out how critical a community strategy is to any search engine plan.
  (tags: drupal howto tutorial seo socialmedia)
• Building Custom WordPress Themes
  A really well-structured guide to building your own WordPress theme.
  (tags: howto

It’s amazing how many directions this Christmas thing comes from, homing in with laser-like accuracy on our kids’ tender hearts and minds. And it’s often the most sentimental, HeartWarming™ stuff that sticks. So, courtesy of a particularly bad mood last week, here are two modest proposals for counteracting its effects:

One of the reasons we’re seized with the power of social media is that we’ve seen its potential for engaging people in the most important conversations of our time. With such urgent crises as climate change on the global agenda, I draw a lot of my hope for the future from the way I see people coming together from a wide range of backgrounds – some of them unlikely – to tackle the big challenges.

A case in point: DeSmogBlog. It’s a project from someone who might seem to be an unlikely participant in trying to hold clear, informed conversations: a PR executive, namely Jim Hoggan.

A few years ago, Hoggan decided to tackle the campaign of doubt and deliberate misinformation that surrounds so much of the discussion around climate change by launching DeSmogBlog. As the site’s writers put it, “Using tricks and stunts that unsavory PR firms invented for the tobacco lobby, energy-industry contrarians are trying to confuse the public, to forestall individual and political actions that might cut into exorbitant coal, oil and gas industry profits. DeSmogBlog is here to cry foul – to shine the light on techniques and tactics that reflect badly on the PR industry and are, ultimately, bad for the planet.”

With so much of the mainstream media caught up in he-says, she-says reporting that puts climate change denial on the same footing as a broad scientific consensus, DeSmogBlog has enthusiastically dived into the fray, exposing the sources of the industry smokescreen. And what started as a pretty simple blog has since blossomed into a team of top-flight writers, media channels (including a fledgling speakers bureau) and campaigns – including the hilarious Arctic Front. DeSmogBlog is now a leading social media voice around climate change, and ranks in Technorati’s top 10,000.

They’ve done it with the help of talented folks like Kevin Grandia and Sarah Pullman on their team, and from such outside firms as Capulet Communications, Catalyst Internet and Junxion.

Issues like climate change demand not only our attention, but our engagement, with whatever energy and expertise we have at our disposal. And while Hoggan might not be a climate change scientist, he knows PR — and how it can be used both to confuse and to clarify. Thankfully, he’s chosen to use it for the better purpose. Read more...

From the iTunes store’s page for the movie Fun With Dick and Jane:

What’s lovely about this is the word “Dick” appears in big, bold red letters in the movie poster. That, and the fact that my brain immediately tries… Read more...

Let’s cut straight to Mayor Gregor Robertson’s message, in full. It’s directed to members of Vision Vancouver, but it applies to anyone who cares about what’s happening tonight, and tomorrow night:
Early this morning, a homeless woman known on our streets as Tracey, died tragically, trying to stay warm during a freezing night in Vancouver.

Tracey’s death is exactly what we’re all trying so very hard to prevent by… Read more...