Seeing as the vast majority of the world now seems to be inclining themselves towards increased social media use, it makes sense that eventually those in political power would have to integrate it into their public image as well. This is exactly what President Barack Obama has done in the run up to this fall’s election and here is an overview of why. He clearly felt the need to connect with a younger demographic, particularly those who have lost confidence in him or were not supportive of his 2008 victory. If he wants to gain their votes, then he must speak their language, as they say, which is where social media comes in.

President Obama recently took part in a digital interview at the White House, that was hosted by Google+. During this time, he answered questions from various members of the public, using this opportunity to prove that he is versatile and keeping up with the times. Digital interviews are always a good idea, as they enable the interviewee to get their message across to as many people as possible. Anyone who wants to can have access to the goings on from their home computers, before playing a game of partypoker or checking their own social media sites. The online “hangout” that President Obama took part in was geared towards the part of the constituency that it appears his popularity has fallen in, and he will be hoping that this has helped his cause.

This digital interview, done by the way of social media, is a good idea which companies should keep in mind. If you want to keep in touch with your customers and receive direct feedback from them, then holding an interview is a good way to do this. If you conduct a digital one, then this also enables many more people to participate than would usually be able to, thus increasing your influence and overall benefit.

Today I tried changing my profile picture on Twitter and got the following error message:

Twitter is just “stressing out”. I get it. Who doesn’t get stressed out from time to time? Had I just received a conventional error message I would have probably felt a bit more stressed out myself about the situation. Twitter managed to turn a technical problem into something that actually humored me. That is the magic of brand personality.

Rohit Bhargava, notable marketer and author of the book Personality not Included, does a great job of showing the importance of having brand personality in this presentation:

Quotes from Rohit:
“Personality is the unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about”
“Brand personality is like batteries. They aren’t included, but you still need them.”

What brands do you feel have personality? Here are some of the brands I relate to:

I came across the Time’s top 50 sites list yesterday and to my surprise, most sites were new to me. I was expecting the typical technoratis – Facebook, Google, YouTube and them. Then I started thinking about my favorite sites and I drew a blank. How could this be? I go through thousands of sites a month. I realized that the only way to objectively answer this question was to dig through my blog for sites I’ve written about or linked to since the creation of socialmediaguy. This is what I found:

theshortestblogintheworld.blogspot.com – The Tina Fey of copy
I just made your day. Amy Flanagan is a brilliant copy writer from Boston who will have you peeing in your pants with her daily one liners.

Facebook – my home
I was one of the first 50k members on Facebook (yea that’s right) back when I was a freshman at BU and Zucky was across the pond hacking away in his Harvard dorm room.

Vimeo – the upscale YouTube
They have one of the sexiest players out there, HD, a beautiful layout, awesome customization options and apps for their channels, and they cater to a more high end, artistic crowd.

Undercurrent
Every Friday we live stream a dance party at 3:45pm. How can I not add that?

barackobama.com
Do you know how much money this guy is making off this site?

TED
Free videos of the world’s smartest visionaries talking about their work with unbelievable passion (see Majora Carter’s Greening the Ghetto, Isabella Alledes’ Tales of Passion and J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box). I watch these videos on my ipod when I need a boost of inspiration.

noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com
The simplicity of this site is pure genius

utterz.com
Although I never use it, it is everything Twitter should be. Why don’t I use it?

goodurlbadurl.com
Proof that there are very dumb people with decision power in online marketing

marryourdaughter.com
This sent millions of WTFs across the web

technomarketer & Chris Brogan
I love these guys. Matt Dickman’s (Technomarketer) how-to videos and Chris Brogan’s grasp of technology and community have been an invaluable resource. They’ve been my mentors since my first days as the socialmediaguy.

themostamazingthingever.com
Just click it

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Former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnacle thinks that you bloggers are nothing but “nitwits at home with computers” who think you’re “part of the news media.” Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart later agreed with his assessment.

Via Hugging Harold Reynolds

www.skitch.com <— Skitch puts fun and sexiness into screen capturing with macs, earning it a spot in this week’s Wet 4 Widgets edition. Snag It, watch out (unless you come up with a mac version).

And they are PINK branded. Very UC hot. I just wish they had scrolling screen capture…And that they would respond to my feedback messages. HELLO, do you know who I am?

It’s brevity, stupid. What AdLab calls “The shortest PR pitch”, by Julia Roy.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=FaSF1gPBKrA]

Fuser is a web application that allows you to aggregate your social networks and email accounts into one management destination. This sounds promising for guys like me with 7 email accounts and several active social networks. I’ve decided to test Fuser for 15 days and report a daily account of my experience. By the end of the 15 days, I’ll be able to tell you if this is worth your time.

Day 1

Activity: aggregated my main gmail account

Pros:

1. You can create OutLook style folders. This is my favorite way to organize my messages and you can’t really do that with gmail

2. Clean interface and the process of adding networks and email accounts to Fuser is super simple

What I’d like to see:

1. Color coding options. I would rather be able to see my unread emails highlighted in a color of my choice rather than have the text be bolder.

2.Drag and Drop functionality

3. Integration of Yelp into their social networks (only Facebook and MySpace)

4. Faster retrieving of email messages