Month: January 2008

I’m an avid Twitter user and fan (you can follow me here). I love when politicians use the service for updates and quick thoughts such as what Democrats John Edwards and Barak Obama have been doing in the presidential campaign as well as what Republican Rep John Boehner has been doing with Congressional business.

My favorite person to argue with, Shawn Collins, let me know that Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain has brought the straight talk express to Twitter with his own account. I noticed what I think might be the first political attack tweet from a candidate:

Other candidates that have been using Twitter have been posting info about events for local followers or either links to YouTube video of rally’s, etc. It would be a shame if the candidates follow McCain lead and bring the negativity so associated with TV political messages into the Twitter medium.

Evidently, I’m a spammer…

This was sent to me by my pal and super uber affiliate marketer Scott Jangro today. Clearly, that’s my name, my MySpace profile pic and my “identity.”

Seriously, WTF? Clearly this did not come from “me” yet it did come from “me” according to MySpace. If you thought Facebook’s Beacon was bad, then this is terrible.

I’ve logged into my MySpace account (which I rarely do) and everything seems in order. Just to be on the safe side I changed my password.

How in the hell did this happen? Did all of my MySpace “friends” get this? Worse yet, it’s for a ringtone offer. Shoemoney would be proud. I digress.

Ah, the joys of social networks.

[Update] Evidently, I’m not alone. Although the “change your password and everything will be cool” advice really doesn’t make me feel better.

For the past three years, I’ve bookmarked a great deal of things using del.icio.us. Last Spring, I decided to start using Ma.gnolia.com to bookmark marketing and tech related items that might be interesting for readers here and using Feedburner’s “Link Splicer” option to import those bookmarks into the RSS feed and daily email subscription newsletters.

I wasn’t sure if people would enjoy the bookmarks or find benefit but soon realized they did. With the craziness of having a newborn, I feel behind on linking through Ma.gnolia and decided to start again recently. After turning on the Link Splicer again this week, I’ve notice RSS numbers and actives jump up 12% and the most popular feed items are consistently the bookmarks.

I’m not sure if that’s saying more about people’s opinion of my blogging or the benefit that they are finding in the things I bookmark, but I’ll take the increase either way 🙂

So, if you are using del.icio.us or Ma.gnolia (or Furl or Digg) for bookmarks and Feedburner for feed management, make sure to turn on Link Splicer. People do want to see what you think is interesting from your daily web browsing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (45.1MB) | Embed

https://samharrelson.com/thinking Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Lisa Picarille, Shawn Collins, Jim Kukral and Sam Harrelson discuss the week's news in affiliate marketing and online tech news.

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=Pa1fdef232c02f041ef8ffbaa9d13d84aYl9wRVREYmdw&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&brand=1&player=ap28

MP3 File

Show Notes
– Affiliate Summit Tips
– Scoble Sells Out
– Ethical Standards and Blogging
– 45n5 and Affiliate Spam
– WickedFire N00bery
– John Chow
– Izea, PayPerPost and Ethics
– 5 Seconds of Suck
– Shawn is Yoko Ono
– Why is Jason Calacanis Affiliate Summit Keynote?!?
– Auto Approval Sucks… or Does It?
– Affiliate Certification?

Visit GeekCast.fm for More Great Geek Marketing Podcasts!

One of my favorite events (or at least the one with the best food) at the Affiliate Summit is the Christian Affiliate Marketing Assoc’s Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues.

This is the second year the CAMA is putting on the event, and it should be even better this year since transportation is being provided from the Rio (where the Affiliate Summit is being held) down to the House of Blues. Last year, I walked from where Wayne Porter and I were camping all the way to the H.O.B. and I have to say that I got my exercise on that chilly morning. Good times.

The 2nd Annual Gospel Brunch, presented by the Christian Affiliate Marketing Association, is taking place at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Sunday, February 24, 2008 from 8:45 AM to 11:30 AM. Yes, it’s early and most of you will have been partying late into the night on Saturday night, but you could probably use some good food and fellowship to cure that hangover and wash away some of the Sin City taint. In all seriousness, it’s a great event and I highly recommend. As the CAMA points out, you don’t have to be a Christian or from any denomination to attend (and no one is going to beat you over the head with the book of Deuteronomy to make you change your sinnin’ ways…).

So, if you need a moment of respite, rest and fellowship during a hectic Affiliate Summit week, make sure to attend the Gospel Brunch.

Missy Ward and Shawn Collins of the Affiliate Summit Conference are heading up a “pre-show” on WebMasterRadio tomorrow at 1pm. I’ll be taking part as a participant along with Jim Kukral, Wil Reynolds and Stephanie Agresta:

The Affiliate Summit Pre Show will feature the following guests:

Stephanie Agresta – Founder of Stephanie Agresta Consulting, which helps online entrepreneurs and emerging technology companies realize effective, cost-efficient online marketing programs

Sam Harrelson – VP of Biz Dev for OnCard Marketing and one of performance marketing’s best-known voices, designer of affiliate programs for top retailers, operator of marketing networks and manager of a variety of consumer advertising channels

Jim Kukral of JimKukral.com and active, multiple-roled participant in the affiliate marketing industry and leading expert in the blogosphere, recently awarded the Affiliate Summit “Best Blogger” award for his voice and participation, also former publisher of ReveNews.com

Wil Reynolds – Founder of SEER Interactive, dedicated to driving traffic to sites from search engines and analyzing the impact that traffic has on the bottom line of companies

More on Affiliate Summit at http://www.affiliatesummit.com.

Make sure to listen in as this should be a very good show. I’ll try to get a copy to post here and we’ll hopefully have one up on GeekCast.fm for you to tune into as well.