Google and Bing released their top Internet searches of 2009 and it looks like a lot people wanted to find social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Hi5 and Hulu. Understandably, Michael Jackson was hugely searched as well.
As listed on ReadWriteWeb, here are the top search queries for 2009:
| Google – Fastest Rising Search Queries in the US |
Google – Fastest Rising Search Queries Globally |
Bing – Top Trending Topics |
| 1. Twitter |
1. Michael Jackson |
1. Michael Jackson |
| 2. Michael Jackson |
2. Facebook |
2. Twitter |
| 3. Facebook |
3. tuenti |
3. Swine Flu |
| 4. Hulu |
4. Twitter |
4. Stock Market |
| 5. hi5 |
5. sanalika |
5. Farrah Fawcett |
| 6. Glee |
6. New Moon |
6. Patrick Swayze |
| 7. Paranormal Activiy |
7. Lady Gaga |
7. Cash for Clunkers |
| 8. Natasha Richardson |
8. Windows 7 |
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin |
| 9. Farrah Fawcett |
9. dantri.com.vn |
9. Billy Mays |
| 10. Lady Gaga |
10. torpedo gratis |
10. Jaycee Dugard |
According to the 2009 Google Zeitgeist survey, the “spirit of the times” was all about the King of Pop’s songs.
As a Twilight fan, I nod in understanding at the high number of searches on New Moon (have you visited Twilighters Anonymous yet?) The Lady Gaga searches gave me pause though. I didn’t think she was that popular. Guess I’ve been living under a rock or something.
The results really are a sign of the times though with high searches on celebrities and people who made news this year. You can bet that Tiger Woods would have made one of these lists if Google and Bing had waited just a wee bit longer to collect their findings. 
Queries on “Swine Flu”, “Cash for clunkers” and the “stock market” also indicate what has been top of mind for many people this year.
That “paranormal activity” (or “activiy” as spelled above) made it to number 7 in fastest rising searches in the US makes me wonder if those Ghostbusters out there have seen an increase in business.
Categories: pop culture
As a new mom, I heart gDiapers. As a marketing communications professional, I heart the community they’ve built around their brand.
I learned about gDiapers last year in a Chatelaine article and thought I’d try them out. They work really well and are easy to use and I plan to keep using them.
A mom and pop shop based out of Oregon, gDiapers marries the convenience of a disposable diaper with the eco-friendliness of a cloth diaper. Essentially, they consist of a washable, cotton outer little “gPant” and a plastic-free biodegradable diaper liner called a “gRefill”.
The liner gets lined with a paper insert that is 100% biodegradable and can be flushed down the loo, tossed into the compost or even the garbage. The insert will biodegrade within 150 days which is considerably less time than a typical disposable diaper (it takes 500 years for one disposable diaper to bite the dust).
Using the disposable liners can get expensive but not any more expensive than buying disposable and the company also offers gCloth inserts as another earth-friendly alternative to work with little gPants.
Moms and Dads across the US and Canada love gDiapers. And gDiapers is deeply engaged with its customer base.
You just have to visit the gDiapers fan page on Facebook to see how much. Customer post photos of their little ones wearing gDiapers. They also give feedback to gDiapers and ask questions about using the product. Not only does the gDiaper team respond to these questions and use the page to engage with customers, other customers also answer questions and offer advice.
If you go to the gDiapers website, there are multiple ways to join the gDiapers community including CEO Jason’s blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more. And through the company website you can call their 1-800 number to speak to a member of their “Diaper Therapy Team” who are ready to answer customer questions and provide assistance with using gDiapers.
Shipping to Canada from the gDiapers website is expensive. They’ve told me that the company is looking for ways to broaden their distribution in Canada but there is no timeline yet on when this will happen. An economical solution is to go to a local retailer that sells gDiapers and purchase two or more of the gDiaper starter kits. It’s actually cheaper to do this than to pay for shipping from the gDiaper website.
Alternatively, there is another website called www.nappyshoppe.com that sells gDiapers and has much more economical shipping rates from the US.
They key here is that gDiapers listens and makes the effort build real dialogue with their customers. In doing so, they’ve created a brand experience where customers feel like they are part of something really fun. Oh and of course good for their babies and the planet. 
*images used are from the gDiapers website
Categories: social media · uncategorized
Tagged: customer engagement, gDiapers
I’m a new mom…my daughter is three months old this week and wow has the time gone by fast since her birth. I realized yesterday that while a full year of maternity leave may sound like a long time, it’s going by in a blink. So I plan to enjoy every minute I have with her.
I’ve only been separated for any length of time from my daughter twice, and both times it was to attend Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa (hashtag: #GGDOttawa). As one of the co-founders, I have a lot of fun planning these events, networking and learning from the many smart and savvy women in our city. But wow, is it ever hard to be away from my daughter!
I used to sneer at the term “babywearing” because I thought it referenced your baby as an accessory instead of a person in her own right. I’m still not crazy about the term but I get it. The idea of keeping your baby snuggled close while you carry on with the day-to-day necessities of life (e.g. never-ending loads of laundry to fold) makes sense. It’s comforting for both mom and baby. So I “wear” my baby in a sling as much as possible.
There are times however, when babywearing just isn’t practical. You can move faster and get more done while your baby plays in her bassinet, bouncy chair, crib or playpen. I look around my house sometimes at what looks like the aftermath of a tornado. There is just baby stuff everywhere and the dishes are piling up, not to mention those piles of laundry. All I want to do is tidy up and get my house looking like it did before my daughter arrived.
And it’s yesterday that I realized all of this chaos is the way it should be. Now is the time to enjoy every moment I have with my daughter and not concern myself (too much) with the state of my home. A new routine will work itself out eventually. If my home will looks tornado-aftermath’ish right now, that’s ok.
For now, I’m going to enjoy snuggling my daughter into her sling and doing what we can together without worrying too much about what more I could be doing. For now, I’m going to embrace the chaos.
ps: The movie Away We Go has a funny scene in it where characters Burt and Verona (played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) try to gift a stroller to babywearing mama LN (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal):
LN: [to Roderick] They bought us a stroller.
Burt Farlander: What’s wrong with a stroller?
LN: I LOVE my babies. Why would I want to PUSH them away from me?
Categories: miscellaneous · uncategorized
Tagged: Away We Go, babywearing, GGDOttawa
Those are the words Amy Mengel cited as the mantra of last week’s Inbound Marketing Summit. In her post Five reasons corporations are failing at social media, Amy summarizes why companies aren’t finding success with social media. And as Amy writes, it’s not because social media is hard to do.
When you boil it down it’s about listening to your customers, being helpful by offering your knowledge and giving them interesting content to share and thereby advocate for you.
The failures Amy wries about are really a lack of preparedness and commitment to the process. But I’d also like to add this: A big question a company needs to ask before implementing a social media strategy is how do their core audience (aka customers) use social media, if at all? This may seem like an obvious question to ask but I think part of the reasons for the failure many organizations experience is a lack of this understanding. If your customers don’t read blogs, there’s no point in setting one up on your site to engage them in dialogue. Ditto for Twitter, Facebook and other social tools out there.
But if your audience does use social media, and you as a company are committed to using it to engage them via this channel, you need to be aware of how to use it effectively. There are tons of examples of companies who have implemented social media strategies with great success – hint: google “social media success stories”.
The pitfalls that Amy lists come from forgetting a key point: social media is about connecting with people. Your customers aren’t stupid. If you’re not contributing something of value to them via social media, they will ignore you. And it’s not about using social media because everyone else is. Find out first how your customers use social media (if at all), then create a plan to engage them in a way that provides value (to them).
Social media isn’t “rocket surgey” but it does require thought, planning and dedication.
Categories: marketing · social media
Tagged: failure at social media, Inbound Marketing Summit, social media
Last year when I worked for Ramius Corporation, one of my interns – Shannon Harvey – wrote a song promoting Ramius’ social networking site Sixent. The song is written to the melody of Don McLean’s classic ditty, American Pie, and provides all the details of why Sixent is a great tool for managing and sharing your online life the way you want.
So here it is…The Sixent Song.
Categories: pop culture · social media
Tagged: Ramius Corporation, Sixent, Sixent Song
I don’t normally write about food…usually I write about social media and marketing…but this is one soup recipe that a) is delicious and b) is very timely to share since Canadian Thanksgiving is just days away. I’ve made this soup several times and always to great appreciation from those I’ve served it to.
It’s a nice way to make something pumpkin’ish without going the traditional pumpkin pie route (although I’m not knocking pumpkin pie in any way).
So here it is. If you decide to make the soup – let me know what you think. I’m pretty sure you’ll love it!
Curried Pumpkin Soup with Masala and Coconut
Ingredients
* 1 small apple
* ¾ cup shaved dried unsweetened coconut (optional)
* 1 tbsp butter
* 1 small onion, sliced
* 1 stalk celery, sliced
* 1 large garlic clove
* 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
* ¾ tsp mild curry powder
* ¾ tsp masala tandoori or garam masala
* ¼ tsp ground cumin
* 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
* 2 ½ to 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock/broth
* 1 cup thick puréed unsweetened pumpkin, canned or homemade
* One 400 ml can unsweetened coconut milk, divided
* ½ cup chopped coriander, divided
* ¼ tsp salt
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Peel, core and slice apple. Toast coconut by spreading out on a baking sheet; bake in over for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden. Set aside.
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in ginger, curry, masala and cumin; cook 1 minute. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute.
4. Slowly stir in 2 ½ cups stock. Add pumpkin purée and apple slices. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Purée soup in a blender or food processor. Whirl in 1 cup coconut milk, 2 tbsp coriander and salt. If soup is very thick, thin with remaining stock. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (Soup can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
6. Heat and ladle into warmed soup bowls. Drizzle 1 tbsp of coconut milk over each portion of soup; garnish with pinches of cocunt and remaining coriander.
Voilà! Deliciousness.
Curried Pumpkin Soup with Masala and Coconut
Ingredients
- 1 small apple
- ¾ cup shaved dried unsweetened coconut (optional)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 tsp grated frsh ginger
- ¾ tsp mild curry powder
- ¾ tsp masala tandoori or gram masala
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour (Marice you can probably omit the flour without affecting the recipe)
- 2 ½ to 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock/broth
- 1 cup thick puréed unsweetened pumpkin, canned or homemade
- One 400 ml can unsweetened coconut milk, divided
- ½ cup chopped coriander, divided
- ¼ tsp salt
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Peel, core and slice apple. Toast coconut by spreading out on a baking sheet; bake in over for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in ginger, curry, masala and cumin; cook 1 minute. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute.
- Slowly stir in 2 ½ cups stock. Add pumpkin purée and apple slices. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Purée soup in a blender or food processor. Whirl in 1 cup coconut milk, 2 tbsp coriander and salt. If soup is very thick, thin with remaining stock. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (Soup can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
- Heat and ladle into warmed soup bowls. Drizzle 1 tbsp of coconut milk over each portion of soup; garnish with pinches of cocunt and remaining coriander.
Categories: miscellaneous
Tagged: Canadian Thanksgiving, pumpkin soup
September 24, 2009 · 7 Comments
I’m suffering from iPhone envy. It’s been going on for some time now but peaked to an intolerable level yesterday upon watching The Ellen Degeneres Show. (I’m on maternity leave and have been sucked into daytime talk shows in lieu of being able to participate in regular adult conversations during the day).
Yesterday on Ellen, T-Pain made a surprise appearance to announce his new iPhone app – I Am T-Pain. Basically the app allows you to change the pitch of your voice so you sound like T-Pain when he sings using the Auto-Tune microphone in many of his songs. The app also comes with a few T-Pain songs you can sing along to. You can record yourself singing and then share your hits with your friends on Facebook, etc.
Yes a bit of frivolity but talk about fun. And also great marketing by T-Pain. Not only does he make money from the app (it retails for $2.99 on iTunes), but this is an easy way for him to get his songs shared across the social web because it’s a fun way for people to share a personalized version of those songs. That’s social marketing at its finest.
Now…how to convince my husband to get me an iPhone for Christmas…
Categories: pop culture · social media
Tagged: I Am T-Pain app, iTunes app, social marketing, T-Pain
At last night’s Girl Geek Dinner (GGD Ottawa) event with Tara @missrogue Hunt, we discussed the importance of mentors in helping with personal and professional success. It can be difficult to seek out mentors but if you take a look around, you’ll see they’re easy to find.
Mentors serve as a trusted teacher or counselor, but a mentorship doesn’t always have to be a formal relationship and a mentor doesn’t always have to be a person working in the same field as yourself. Yes, of course it helps to have a go-to person who’s been there and done that and can give you advice or guidance as you strive to reach your career goals, etc. But…a mentor can pop up in the most unlikely places.
If you take a moment, who in your life represents that role? Perhaps there is a person or persons – a friend, relative or colleague – who already fit into this role but you didn’t consider them in this light before. Perhaps you are a mentor yourself without even realizing it.
Whatever the case, mentors are extremely important. Mentorships are a nurturing relationship giving us the courage to bring ideas into action, to take risks and to learn from our mistakes. But the rewards of mentorship is reciprocal. Mentors get just as much out of the relationship and the mentoree. Sharing your knowledge and experiences provides you the opportunity to “pay forward” from your own experience with success and failure.
When seeking a mentor, you first need to define your goals (business goals, personal goals, whatever they may be). What kind of guidance are you looking for? If you have a specific person in mind to fulfill this role – what experiences does this mentor have that aligns with your own goals?
Seek your mentors by networking. This can be a professional or personal process. Attend events in your career field, find people who share your passions and nuture those relationships. Research the Web and join online communities like Twitter to seek people with the knowledge and expertise you’re looking for. This also gives you the opportunity to share your own experiences and expertise.
Mentoring is a lifelong process. Although a mentor may only be in your life for a short time, there is always going to be someone you look to for guidance and advice. And in turn, you can become a mentor to someone else. The process is ongoing!
Last night at GGD Ottawa, Tara counted her own personal mentor in helping her to keep moving forward with her dream to own her own business even when her first attempt to own a business didn’t work out so well. I count my mentors as a mix of people in my personal and professional life who have helped me build confidence to pursue my career goal in social media. I’ve also mentored students entering the marketing field and count it as one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life.
Take a look around. Who are your mentors? What have they helped you to achieve? Are you a mentor yourself? I’d love to hear your stories.
Categories: miscellaneous
Tagged: mentoring, mentors
Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa (GGD Ottawa) will be featured on CTV Ottawa’s Tech Now on Sunday, September 13 as part of the 6 p.m. local news. The interview is with the GGD Ottawa co-founders: Kelly Rusk, Veronica Giggey and myself, and gives us the opportunity to promote GGD Ottawa to the community.
FYI – did you know that the core audience of CTV’s Tech Now is primarily women between the ages of 18-34?
The interview also gives us the opportunity to get the word out about how social media, technology and all things geeky are offering exciting opportunities to women.
If you get a chance to see the interview, let me know what you think!
Categories: GGDOttawa · social media
